Peter Kirby

In the thread "Are there any messianic prophecies in the OT?", Evangelion recommended this site as a "reasonable overview" of messianic prophecy in the Hebrew Bible:

http://www.messianic-prophecy.net/

This article is intended to help people judge whether these passages are actually predictions about the Messiah, as understood by the original authors.

This is a new thread mainly because of length. I still welcome comments in the original thread.

All biblical quotes are from the Revised Standard Version.

Isaiah 7
14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el.
15: He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16: For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

See the discussion in this thread, which I will not rehash here.

Genesis 12
1: Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
2: And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3: I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."

Genesis 22
18: and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."

This is a promise of land and blessing for the descendants of Abraham, which was first fulfilled in the time of United Monarchy at the latest. There is no prediction about an individual to be descended from Abraham in these passages.

Genesis 49
8: Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.
9: Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?
10: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11: Binding his foal to the vine and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes;
12: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

John S. Kselman writes: "Gen. 49:10-12, one of the most obscure passages in the poem, is a promise to Judah of dominion and royal sovereignty among the tribes because of Judah's military prowess." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 127)

This could be an eschatological prophecy, or it could have been applied to the king of Judea prior to the Exile. If it is a messianic prophecy, can we assume that the Messiah will wash his garments in wine? What's the significance of that bit anyway?

There is a fragmentary comment on the passage among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q524): "The sceptre [shall not] depart from the tribe of Judah . . . Whenever Israel rules, there shall [not] fail to be a descendant of David upon the throne (Jer. xxxiii, 17). For the ruler's staff (xlix, 10) is the Covenant of kingship, [and the clans] of Israel are the divisions, until the Messiah of Righteousness comes, the Branch of David. For to him and his seed is granted the Covenant of kingship over his people for everlasting generations which he is to keep . . . the Law with the men of the Community, for . . . it is the assembly of the men of . . ." (Vermes 462-463)

2 Samuel 7
4: But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan,
5: "Go and tell my servant David, `Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in?
6: I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
7: In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"'
8: Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel;
9: and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
10: And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,
11: from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
12: When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13: He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14: I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men;
15: but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
16: And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.'"
17: In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

There is a comment on this passage in the DSS (4Q174):

Donald Juel writes: "The interpreter takes for granted that these prophetic passages are messianic, as do the rabbis. The identification is made easier by the omission of several phrases from 2 Samuel 7 that might tend to suggest that the seed of David was literally one of his offspring (i.e., Solomon). The omission of 'And when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers,' 'seed which shall come forth from your body,' and 'He will build a house for my name' is particularly striking." (Messianic Exegesis, p. 67)

James C. Turro says of verse 13: "The reference is to Solomon's building the Temple (cf. 1 Chr 22:7-10), and the assurance of divine favor is extended to the dynasty (vv. 14-16)." (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 1, p. 175)

The passage has a historical fulfillment in Solomon. If it applies to the Messiah, it implies that the Messiah will commit iniquity (verse 14).

Micah 5
1: Now you are walled about with a wall; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel.
2: But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
3: Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth; then the rest of his brethren shall return to the people of Israel.
4: And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Philip J. King writes: "The Davidic ruler of Israel will rise from the district of Ephrathah. This king is not the present, but a future, monarch. The prophet is not saying that the Messiah will necessarily be born in Ephrathah, but that he will spring from the royal line of David. Jesse and David (I Sm 17:12) came from Bethlehem. Bethlehem seems to be a gloss in the MT; it is lacking in the Gk text. Originally, the text probably read bet epratah--i.e., 'house of Ephrathah'--and Bethlehem would be an explanatory gloss on Ephrathah." (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 1, p. 287)

This may be understood as a messianic prophecy, where the Messiah is from the Ephrathah clan of Judah and will rule the great Kingdom of Israel, secure against foreign powers.

Hosea 11
1: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
2: The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Ba'als, and burning incense to idols.

Obviously the son is Israel. No sense dwelling on this one.

Jeremiah 31
15: Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not."
16: Thus says the LORD: "Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17: There is hope for your future, says the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.
18: I have heard E'phraim bemoaning, `Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for thou art the LORD my God.
19: For after I had turned away I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
20: Is E'phraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.
21: "Set up waymarks for yourself, make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities.
22: How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman protects a man."

Thomas W. Overholt writes: "This unit [30:1-31:40] displays a logical sequence of thought. Though there is a note of hope in 30:7, 17, the focus is on the distress of the nation, whose ruin the prophet justifies as Yahweh's punishment of the people's sins. There follows in 30:18-22 and 31:2-6 an account of the restoration of northern Israel's land and cities, the multiplication of its population, and the return of prosperity and festivities, culminating in a pilgrimage to Zion (31:6). To this point no mention has been made of the Israelites deported by Assyria, and 31:15-20 begins with Rachel weeping for those, her lost children. In response, Yahweh promises to bring about their return, a change of heart made possible by their repentance (vv. 18-19). The unit concludes with a summons to the dispersed Israelites to return (31:21-22). The reversal of fortune is portrayed in a striking way: the 'strong man' who a century earlier had quaked before the attackers like a woman in the pangs of labor (30:6) will now be sheltered (31:22)." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 635)

The event, the response to which is described in Jeremiah 31, lies in the past. The crying woman is comforted with the thought that the children of Israel will return to their homeland. There is nothing about Herod here.

Isaiah 11
1: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2: And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3: And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
4: but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
5: Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.
6: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
7: The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8: The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9: They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
10: In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.
11: In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12: He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13: The jealousy of E'phraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; E'phraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass E'phraim.
14: But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15: And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching wind, and smite it into seven channels that men may cross dryshod.
16: And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant which is left of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

I think that this is a messianic prophecy. It predicts that the dispersed Jews will return to Israel and peace will be known throughout the Earth when the Messiah comes. The Messiah here is of the line of David and guided by the Lord's spirit.

Isaiah 40
1: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2: Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3: A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4: Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
5: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6: A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7: The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people is grass.
8: The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever.

Walter Brueggemann writes: "These verses appear to be a discussion among the members of Yahweh's heavenly government about how best to implement the new decree of comfort. First a voice speaks, authorizing a superhighway across the desert between Babylon and Jerusalem for an easy, triumphant, dazzling return home (vv. 3-5). We have already seen in 35:8-10 the image of a highway, a construction project to make the return home dramatic, easy, and speedy. Indeed, highways were built in that ancient world primarily for processional events, when ruler and gods could parade in victory. Now, it is Yahweh and Israel who will parade in victory. Thus the forgiveness (vv. 1-2) issues in homecoming, a persistent theme in chapters 40-55. Judah can now return home because Yahweh overrides the will of Babylon to keep exiles; Babylon's will for exiles is no match for Yahweh's resolve for homecoming. The homecoming, moreover, will be quite public; onlookers will see the exile go by and will be able to see that it is Yahweh who makes this joyous return possible. The return of Judah amounts to an exaltation of Yahweh, who exhibits power and fidelity trhough the act. Yahweh has 'gotten glory' over Egypt in the past (Exod. 14:4, 17); now Yahweh will 'get glory' over Babylon." (Isaiah 40-66, pp. 18-19)

The passage is about the return from exile in Babylon, not John the Baptist.

Isaiah 35
1: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
2: it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
3: Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
4: Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."
5: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6: then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
7: the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8: And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein.
9: No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.
10: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Gerald T. Sheppard writes: "The wilderness left in the wake of Judah's destruction will blossom; the weak will be made strong; waters will flow in the desert; and wild animals will no longer roam the ruins of the city. This great reversal of earlier misfortunes will be greeted by the people as they march to Zion with joyful songs." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 567)

The prophecy here is about what God will do for Israel in exile.

Isaiah 61
1: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2: to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3: to grant to those who mourn in Zion -- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
4: They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
5: Aliens shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6: but you shall be called the priests of the LORD, men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory.
7: Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion, instead of dishonor you shall rejoice in your lot; therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion; yours shall be everlasting joy.
8: For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9: Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
10: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11: For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Walter Brueggemann writes: "Thus our verses seem to be situated between Leviticus 25 (a torah vision of jubilee) and Luke 4:18-19, where the vision is taken up in the ministry of Jesus. Isaiah 61:1-4, however, is not directly an anticipation of Jesus. Rather, it concerns the concrete issues of a community in trouble, and it proposes a transformative response out of Yahweh's resolve. The proclamation is something of a test case for the way in which the Old Testament holds together theological vision and concrete economic practice." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 214)

John Scullion writes: "The prophet speaks in the first person conscious of his mission from Yahweh under the spirit; he is to proclaim salvation, vv. 1-3. He anticipates the consequences and the fulfillment of Yahweh's intervention already begun by the first returns from Babylon and which consists in the complete reversal of the present situation, vv. 4-9. Then, speaking in the name of Zion, he bursts into a hymn of thanksgiving, v. 10, following up with a further assurance that God will be faithful to his word, v. 11. The main motif of the previous chapter are found here, in particular the flow of the wealth of the nations, vv. 6-7, and the glorification of Yahweh in his glorifying Zion." (Isaiah 40-66, pp. 177-178)

This is the poet speaking.

Isaiah 9
1: But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

This passage refers to the incursions of the Assyrians on northern Palestine. The words "great light" refer here to what joy was felt in breaking free of their oppressor.

Malachi 3
1: "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
2: But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? "For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap;
3: he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD.
4: Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
5: "Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Carroll Stuhlmueller writes of Malachi 3:1: "The fulfillment of the divine promise is announced. It is difficult to know if Malachi is here thinking of one or many messianic precursors in the titles 'my messenger' (mal'aki), 'the Lord,' and 'messenger of the covenant' (mal'ak habberit). Horst (op. cit., 271), Elliger (op. cit., 206), and Chary ([i]op. cit., 117-18) consider these terms to be various symbols for God himself. The fact that the author of the prophecy would later be named mal'aki implies that no precise future messianic person is intended by the title. The name 'messenger of the covenant' has already been given to the Jerusalem clergy in Mal 2:4,7. Furthermore, Malachi completely ignores the messianic pretensions of the Davidic family, nor does he otherwise speak of any messianic figures. In 3:1, therefore, he seems to be presenting the eschatological moment in the language of God's great interventions in sacred history: God's speaking to the Patriarchs (Gn 16:17ff.; 22:11) and to Moses (Ex 3:2); God's leading the way through the Red Sea (Ex 23:20) and giving the covenant (Jgs 2:1-5; Acts 7:53; Gal 3:19; cf. Frey, op. cit., 164). These various, wondrous ways in which God has manifested himself will later be applied to messianic precursors (see 3:23). The Tg., Jerome (PL 25. 1541-42) and Von Bulmerincq have identified the messenger as the priest-scribe Ezra. Jesus adapted the words to John the Baptist (Mt 11:10)." (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 1, p. 400)

Thus there are many interpretative possibilities other than a specifically messianic one.

Daniel 9
22: He came and he said to me, "O Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding.
23: At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
24: "Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
25: Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
26: And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed.
27: And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

There is an extensive literature on this passage, but a single quote here can stand for the scholarly consensus. Louis F. Hartman writes: "25. one who is anointed and a leader: Probably Cyrus the Great (cf. Is 45:1); less likely Zerubbabel or the high priest Joshua. Only if one reckons from the second utterance of Jeremiah's prophecy (ca. 595) to the anointing of Cyrus as king of Persia (558--a date the writer of Dn 9 would hardly know!) could the required 49 years be approximately obtained. But the following words imply that the first period extends to the beginning of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which would embrace much more than seven weeks of years. sixty-two weeks: The 62 weeks of years, or 434 years, allowed for the rebuilding of Jerusalem are too many by far; from 538 to 171 (the next date) is only 367 years. 26. an anointed shall be cut down: The reference is certainly to the murder of the deposed high priest, Onias III, in 171, in Antioch; hence, 'when he does not possess the city of Jerusalem' (cf. 2 Mc 4:5, 33-36). the people of a leader: The Syrian army of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, which plundered the Jerusalem Temple in 169 and 167. 27. for one week: if counted from the murder of Onias in 171, this period would last from 170 to 163. The writer's hopes that the persecution would not last beyond 163 were fully realized. He probably wrote a few months before the persecution ended in December, 164." (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 1, p. 457)

Zechariah 9
1: An Oracle The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and will rest upon Damascus. For to the LORD belong the cities of Aram, even as all the tribes of Israel;
2: Hamath also, which borders thereon, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3: Tyre has built herself a rampart, and heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4: But lo, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and hurl her wealth into the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.
5: Ash'kelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ash'kelon shall be uninhabited;
6: a mongrel people shall dwell in Ashdod; and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia.
7: I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jeb'usites.
8: Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again overrun them, for now I see with my own eyes.
9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.
10: I will cut off the chariot from E'phraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11: As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.
12: Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13: For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made E'phraim its arrow. I will brandish your sons, O Zion, over your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword.
14: Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet, and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15: The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour and tread down the slingers; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.
16: On that day the LORD their God will save them for they are the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.
17: Yea, how good and how fair it shall be! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.

Ralph L. Smith writes: "V 10 has three major motifs. (1) The new king will destroy every implement and semblance of war. Here as elsewhere in the OT the eschaton will be a time when wars will cease. . . . Both northern Israel and southern Judah are included in this total disarmament program. The language sounds very much like Mic 5:10; HOs 2:20 (Eng. 2:18); Isa 2:4; Mic 4:3; Isa 9:5; Ps 46:9. (2) A second motif in v 10 is that the new king will speak 'peace' to the nations. This idea is in line with the prophecy of Isa 2:4 and Mic 4:3. 'Peace' means 'blessing,' 'wholeness.' The prophet sees the new king extending the blessings of Yahweh, which the psalmist reserved for Israel (72:7-11), to all the world. (3) The third motif is similar to the second. The new king will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth (cf. Ps 72:8). Again, the assertion is made of the universal reign of Yahweh's king. But there is quite a difference between this prophet's concept of the place of the Gentiles in the new kingdom and the concept of the writer of Ps 72. After the psalmist asserted Yahweh's universal rule he prayed for his foes and enemies to lick the dust before him (cf. Ps 72:9-11). Here the prophet stops after quoting Ps 72:8. He believes that the universal reign of the Messiah will include all nations and will be one of peace." (Micah-Malachi, pp. 256-257)

This seems to be a messianic prophecy along the same lines as Isaiah 11: specifically, that the Messiah will reign over the nations, and his reign will be characterised by peace. The detail is offered that this king enters Jerusalem on an ass, a symbol of his humble and irenic character.

This is difficult to accept on the face of it. Why would the Jews have a prophecy that the Messiah would be rejected by the Jews? Here's the passage.

1: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
2: Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures for ever."
3: Let the house of Aaron say, "His steadfast love endures for ever."
4: Let those who fear the LORD say, "His steadfast love endures for ever."
5: Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.
6: With the LORD on my side I do not fear. What can man do to me?
7: The LORD is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8: It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9: It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
10: All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
11: They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
12: They surrounded me like bees, they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
13: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
14: The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
15: Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
16: the right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"
17: I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.
18: The LORD has chastened me sorely, but he has not given me over to death.
19: Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
20: This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.
21: I thank thee that thou hast answered me and hast become my salvation.
22: The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
23: This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24: This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25: Save us, we beseech thee, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech thee, give us success!
26: Blessed be he who enters in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27: The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar!
28: Thou art my God, and I will give thanks to thee; thou art my God, I will extol thee.
29: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!

Verse 22 is a proverb that could be applied to more than one situation. In this context, Roland E. Murphy writes: "the stone: A symbol of the psalmist, who has just related the story of his distress, and of the restoration by the Lord. These lines must be spoken by those ('our eyes') who accompany him to the Temple to offer thanksgiving." (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 1, p. 598)

First I will discuss Isaiah, which is the source of seven of these references. Then I will discuss Psalm 22, from which come three, and finally five additional verses from other psalms and Zechariah.

Isaiah 50:1-51:8
1: Thus says the LORD: "Where is your mother's bill of divorce, with which I put her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was put away.
2: Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water, and die of thirst.
3: I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering."
4: The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5: The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward.
6: I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
7: For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
8: he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
9: Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
10: Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the LORD and relies upon his God?
11: Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who set brands alight! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the brands which you have kindled! This shall you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.
1: "Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance, you who seek the LORD; look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were digged.
2: Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him and made him many.
3: For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4: "Listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go forth from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples.
5: My deliverance draws near speedily, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.
6: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be for ever, and my deliverance will never be ended.
7: "Hearken to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, and be not dismayed at their revilings.
8: For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my deliverance will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations."

Richard J. Clifford writes: "Isaiah, frustrated by his eighth-century audience's refusal to prepare for the judgment, commanded his disciples to write down his message (8:16-18; 30:8-14) so that when judgment finally came, the people would see that their defeat resulted from Yahweh's plan. In this speech, the prophet declares that he is one of those disciples of Isaiah (50:4-9); his faithful bearing of punishment and his rescue enable him to teach his fellows where salvation is now to be found (50:10-51:18)." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 581)

R. N. Whybray writes: "This is the third of the 'Servant Songs'. Although the word 'servant' (ebed) is not used, the similarity of this passage with the second 'Song', together with the use of the first person sing., leaves no doubt that it belongs to the same series. There are, however, some important developments which show that this poem comes from a somewhat later stage in the prophet's life. To the temptation to despair the success of his mission (49:4a) there have now been added the pain and humiliation of actual persecution (verse 6). There is no reason to doubt that this verse describes insults which were actually inflicted upon the prophet. No direct indication is given of the circumstances, but verse 8 suggests that he had been arrested by the Babylonian authorities and put on trial. In view of his public predictions that Babylon would shortly fall to the Persians, it is not surprising that he should have been regarded as a danger to the state. The situation of the prophet and his reaction to it in some respects strongly resembles those of Jeremiah as revealed in that prophet's 'confessions', especially Jer. 11:18-20; 15:15-18; 18:19-23; 20:7-12, though there are significant differences: unlike Jeremiah, Deutero-Isaiah accepts his sufferings willingly, does not complain about them, and does not call on Yahweh for vengeance against his persecutors. He is confident that Yahweh is on his side, and that he will vindicate him. Appropriately the form of the passage is strongly influenced by the 'songs of confidence' of the individual in the Psalter (e.g. Ps. 22)." (Isaiah 40-66, pp. 150-151)

Isaiah 52
13: Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
14: As many were astonished at him -- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men --
15: so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.
Isaiah 53
1: Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2: For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3: He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8: By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9: And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10: Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
11: he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
12: Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

John Scullion writes: "How then is this fourth song to be interpreted? The servant signifies, is a symbol of, Israel in history and captive Israel. Israel will recognize herself in the persecuted, suffering, sick man, just as she had recognized herself in the words of Isaiah of the 8th century: 'A, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, . . . The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds; they are not pressed out, or bound up, or softened with oil.' (Isa. 1:4-6)." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 122)

Walter Brueggemann writes: "First, there is no doubt that the poem is to be understood in the context of the Isaiah tradition. Insofar as the servant is Israel--a common assumption of Jewish interpretation--we see that the theme of humiliation and exaltation serves the Isaiah rendering of Israel, for Israel in this literature is exactly the humiliated (exiled) people who by the powerful intervention of Yahweh is about to become the exalted (restored) people of Zion. Thus the drama is the drama of Israel and more specifically of Jerusalem, the characteristic subject of this poetry." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 143)

Walter Brueggemann continues: "Second, although it is clear that this poetry does not in any first instance have Jesus on its horizon, it is equally clear that the church, from the outset, has found this poetry a poignant and generative way to consider Jesus, wherein humiliation equals crucifixion and exaltation equals resurrection and ascension." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 143)

John Scullion writes: "The servant is regularly identified with Israel outside the songs: 41:8-10; 43:10; 44:1-2; 44:21; 45:4; 48:20; 49:7; in 54:17 the 'servants of the Lord' are God's loyal Israelites; in 42:19 the servant is Israel in exile. There are in all some fourteen instances where the servant is Israel. In the songs, however, the term servant describes an individual: 'my servant' 42:1; 49:3, 6; 'his servant 49:5. The commentary on or elaboration of the third song refers to 'his servant,' 50:10, while the 'Yahweh statements' of the fourth song speak of 'my servant' 52:13; 53:11. The name Israel occurs but once in the songs, 49:3. But if the servant songs belong to chaps. 40-55 and are the work of the prophet then there is no option but to understand the servant as Israel. The servant of the songs speaks or is spoken of as an individual: he is 'thou,' 42:8-16; he has a right hand, 41:13; he has eyes and ears but cannot see or hear, 42:19; he is formed by Yahweh from the womb, 44:1-2, as he is in the second song, 49:2. The servant-prophet speaks as one with his people, 49:1-6; 50:4-9, yet stands over against the people; the people, Israel, is the Israel of history, empirical Israel, faithless Israel, yet at the same time the true Israel which is to be God's instrument to redeem Israel; the servant-people is Israel with a mission to Israel; and the prophet is conscious that he is one with the people that has been hewn from Abraham, 51:1-2. When Israel suffers, she suffers for Israel and for the vindication of Israel by Yahweh (see comments on individual songs). The salvation of Israel by Yahweh the creator and redeemer is the theme of the whole of chaps. 40-55; Israel the people is the centre of the prophet's pronouncements." (Isaiah 40-66, pp. 135-136)

R. N. Whybray writes: "for our transgressions; for our iniquities: these phrases are usually intepreted as implying vicarious suffering: the people sinned, buth the Servant was punished. But this is made improbable by the choice of the word translated for. If the author had intended to imply such a transference of guilt, hew ould almost certainly have used the particle be, which denotes an exchange. The fact that he chose instead the particle min indicates that he regarded the Servant's ill treatment as the result of the people's sin but not as a substitute for the punishment which they had deserved: though more intense than theirs; though intense was fundamentally due to the same causes. They speak of his identification with them in their suffering: there is nothing to suggest that he suffered in their place. They--that is, the whole exilic community in whose name they make their confession--had previously thought of him quite difficulty undergone unusually intense misfortune, with the implication (though smitten by God perhaps means no more than 'terrible smitten') that he had brought divine punishment on himself through his own wickedness--possibly as a false prophet. See further on he bore the sin of many in verse 12." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 175)

Whybray continues: "In the second half of the verse the speakers assert that the prophet's suffering has not been in vain. In saying that they have been made . . . whole and healed, they are summarizing Deutero-Isaiah's own essential message, that Yahweh has forgiven them and is on the point of rescuing and restoring them. They affirm their faith in this message, and recognize that without his readiness to suffer in the course of his prophetic duty, the prophetic word, which was the means used by Yahweh to achieve his purpose (55:11), would not have been pronounced." (Isaiah 40-66, pp. 175-176)

R. N. Whybray writes: "and he shall bear their iniquities: this verb (an imperf.) should also be rendered as a past tense. This statement, like he bore the sin of many in verse 12 (see below), is usually interpreted as a statement that the Servant's suffering was vicarious and atoning. But there is no evidence for this. The phrase 'bear iniquities' (sabal awonot) occurs in only one other passage in the OT: 'Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities' (Lam. 5:7). Here it is clear that although the speakers complain that their punishment is the consequence of their dead ancestors' sins, they can hardly claim to be vicariously atoning for them. So also here the Servant, though innocent, has suffered punishment which is the consequence of the sins of others, and which should rightly have fallen only on his guilty compatriots (compare verses 2-6); but he has not suffered in their stead. The meaning of the phrase is 'yet he suffered punishment which only they deserved'." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 181)

R. N. Whybray writes: "It may be noted here that several phrases in this chapter--he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (verse 4); and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (verse 6); and he shall bear their iniquities (verse 11); and he bore the sin of many (verse 12)--have been discussed by some commentators as if they were identical in meaning with another phrase, nasa awon, 'bear guilt' or 'bear punishment', which does not occur in this chapter. But even if we can assume that the phrases are virtually interchangeable, nasa awon does not in fact refer to vicarious punishment or suffering. In the four passages from the laws (Exod. 28:38; Lev. 10:17; 16:22; Num. 18:1) which have been cited as proof of this meaning, the subject of the verb 'bear' is not involved in suffering at all. Rather these passages express a belief that a certain ritual actions neutralize or take away a punishment which would otherwise fall on the people. They have nothing in common with the idea of one person's suffering instead of another. Further, in Ezek. 4:4-6, where the prophet Ezekiel 'bears the punishment' of the house of Israel, his suffering is in no sense a vicarious punishment: on the contrary, it is a sign of the punishment which the people are themselves called upon to bear. The roles of Deutero-Isaiah and Ezekiel are here similar in the sense that both share the suffering of the people rather than suffering in their stead." (Isaiah 40-66, p. 183)

Donald Juel writes: "The messianic reading of Isaiah 53 in the Targum does not support the thesis that there existed a pre-Christian concept of a suffering Messiah whose career was understood in light of the chapter. In the Targum, virtually every element of suffering is eliminated from the career of the Servant-Messiah. The resulting portrait, though purchased at the expense of the obvious meaning of the text, accords in every respect with the portrait of the Messiah elsewhere in the Targum and in other Jewish literature. It is thus difficult to argue, as Jeremias does, that the striking interpretation by the targumist represents an effort to conceal an earlier tradition of a suffering Messiah that Christians found too useful. Were that the case, the image of a suffering Messiah would represent a complete anomaly in the Targum as a whole. The painstaking redoing of the passage by the targumist required by the initial identification of the servant as the Messiah need not obscure the usefulness of the passage to the targumist even apart from anti-Christian polemics. The initial description of the servant as exalted and glorified is perhaps sufficient cause for the messianic 'translation.'" (Messianic Exegesis, pp. 126-127)

The identity of the suffering servant in Isaiah has been and continues to be a subject of controversy. The essentials of a consensus can be indicated: sometimes the subject is the prophet Deutero-Isaiah himself (clearly as in the third song 50:4-9) and sometimes the subject is Israel who was in Exile (as in the references noted by Scullion, e.g. 41:8-10). Scullion would argue that Israel is the figure in the fourth song, while Whybray maintains that it is the individual prophet in view. It is not necessary to resolve that debate here. And it is certainly not necessary to interpret Deutero-Isaiah in a messianic way, given the context of the entire work, which is the return from Exile in Babylon.

Now, about Psalm 22.

Psalm 22
0: To the choirmaster: according to The Hind of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2: O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
3: Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4: In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5: To thee they cried, and were saved; in thee they trusted, and were not disappointed.
6: But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people.
7: All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads;
8: "He committed his cause to the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"
9: Yet thou art he who took me from the womb; thou didst keep me safe upon my mother's breasts.
10: Upon thee was I cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me thou hast been my God.
11: Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.
12: Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13: they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast;
15: my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death.
16: Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet --
17: I can count all my bones -- they stare and gloat over me;
18: they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.
19: But thou, O LORD, be not far off! O thou my help, hasten to my aid!
20: Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!
21: Save me from the mouth of the lion, my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!
22: I will tell of thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee:
23: You who fear the LORD, praise him! all you sons of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!
24: For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
25: From thee comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26: The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live for ever!
27: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28: For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
29: Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive.
30: Posterity shall serve him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation,
31: and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.

Donald Juel writes: "First, despite repeated attempts by source critics to isolate the OT allusions in the passion story from royal motifs (i.e., from Jesus' death as King of the Jews), the psalms were in all likelihood employed from the earliest stages of the tradition to recount the death of Jesus the King. Psalms 22, 31, and 69 were thus from the outset read as 'messianic.' No precedent exists in Jewish tradition for such a messianic reading of the psalms. The presupposition for such exegesis is the death of Jesus as a messianic pretender. The logic of such argumentation is midrashic. Precedent for reading these psalms as describing Jesus' death must be sought not in traditions about righteous sufferers but in the logic of messianic exegesis. Other biblical passages, like Psalm 89, which were read as messianic by Jewish interpreters, provided links in a chain of argumentation that can explain how these psalms came to be part of the passion tradition and why precisely Psalms 22, 31, and 69 should have been selected to tell the story of the death of the King of the Jews." (Messianic Exegesis, p. 90)

There is no evidence that the psalmist of chapter 22 intended a predictive element in the prayer.

Psalm 41
0: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1: Blessed is he who considers the poor! The LORD delivers him in the day of trouble;
2: the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3: The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.
4: As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against thee!"
5: My enemies say of me in malice: "When will he die, and his name perish?"
6: And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers mischief; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
7: All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8: They say, "A deadly thing has fastened upon him; he will not rise again from where he lies."
9: Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10: But do thou, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may requite them!
11: By this I know that thou art pleased with me, in that my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12: But thou hast upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in thy presence for ever.
13: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

Carroll Stuhlmueller writes: "After a prayer, wisdom style picks up again in Ps. 41:11-13 with its theory of retribution: the evil are punished and the good are rewarded by God. 'Stand before you' refers to Temple worship. The psalm may have been an offering at the sanctuary from a sick person now restored to health who is now repaying a vow (Neh. 10:35-36; 13:31)." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 453)

There is no indication of a messianic sense in the passage.

Zechariah 11
4: Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.
5: Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, `Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich'; and their own shepherds have no pity on them.
6: For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, says the LORD. Lo, I will cause men to fall each into the hand of his shepherd, and each into the hand of his king; and they shall crush the earth, and I will deliver none from their hand."
7: So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep. And I took two staffs; one I named Grace, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep.
8: In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.
9: So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another."
10: And I took my staff Grace, and I broke it, annulling the covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
11: So it was annulled on that day, and the traffickers in the sheep, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.
12: Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.
13: Then the LORD said to me, "Cast it into the treasury" -- the lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.
14: Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15: Then the LORD said to me, "Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd.
16: For lo, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the sound, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
17: Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword smite his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!"

Ralph L. Smith writes: "Although NT writers connect this passage about the thirty pieces of silver paid to the prophet for his unappreciated service as a shepherd to his people to the money Judas received for betraying Jesus, the original passage makes no reference to a future Messiah." (Micah-Malachi, p. 272)

Zechariah 12
9: And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10: "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born.
11: On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrim'mon in the plain of Megid'do.
12: The land shall mourn, each family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;
13: the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shim'e-ites by itself, and their wives by themselves;
14: and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Carroll Stuhlmueller writes: "This verse is involved in textual difficulties. The MT reads 'on me,' and is followed by almost all the ancient versions: LXX, VL, Vg, Tg, Aq, Sym, and the Syr version. But OT theology would never permit the daring anthropomorphism that God was 'thrust through,' in place of which the LXX reads 'insulted' or, more lit., 'dance in triumph over.' In support of the LXX, M. Delcor understands the Hebr word to mean 'profane,' as in Lam 4:9 (RB 58 [1951] 194); the ordinary meaning of the Hebr dqr, however, is 'to pierce with a sword' (1 Sm 31:4) or 'to pierce with a lance' (Nm 25:8). Dhorme (op. cit., 865-66) and Jones (op. cit., 161) understand the Hebr particle et to be the prep. 'concerning,' rather than the particle indicating a definite object: 'They shall look on me [i.e., Yahweh], concerning the one[s] whom they have pierced.' The CCD translation, 'look on him,' is supported by 45 Hebr manuscripts, most of the early Fathers, and such NT texts as Jn 19:37; Ap 1:7. The identification of the transpierced or insulted one remains an open question with many possible solutions. Besides those already mentioned (good shepherd of ch. 11 and possibly of 13:7-9; Suffering Servant; Josiah), the other martyrs of Jewish history are presented--e.g., Onias III, high priest (2 Mc 4-5). Delcor (RB 58 [1951] 189-99) offers an interesting solution. He understands God to say, 'they shall turn towards me [in repentance], because they once insulted and profaned my name.' Jerusalem, in the midst of messianic victory, does not forget her former idolatry and laments it in a penitential spirit. Delcor rests his case upon a strong dependence of Zech 12 upon Ez 36:16-28." (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 396)

John J. Collins writes: "The 'one whom they have pierced' has been identified with a range of historical figures from Josiah to Simon Maccabee. More probably, it refers to some incident that is no longer known to us, near the time of composition. Inevitably, it has also been interpreted in a messianic sense. So some scholars find in this passage 'a martyrdom of the eschatological good shepherd or Davidic king.' There is nothing in the text, however, to confirm that the one who was pierced was a king. Since there is no parallel for such a notion of messianic martyrdom in Second Temple Judaism, it seems unwise to derive it from such a cryptic and controversial text as Zech 12:10." (The Scepter and the Star, p. 33)

Psalm 69
0: To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Psalm of David.
1: Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
2: I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
3: I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
4: More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
5: O God, thou knowest my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from thee.
6: Let not those who hope in thee be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
7: For it is for thy sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.
8: I have become a stranger to my brethren, an alien to my mother's sons.
9: For zeal for thy house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.
10: When I humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
11: When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12: I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
13: But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me. With thy faithful help
14: rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
15: Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
16: Answer me, O LORD, for thy steadfast love is good; according to thy abundant mercy, turn to me.
17: Hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.
18: Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies!
19: Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to thee.
20: Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21: They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22: Let their own table before them become a snare; let their sacrificial feasts be a trap.
23: Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; and make their loins tremble continually.
24: Pour out thy indignation upon them, and let thy burning anger overtake them.
25: May their camp be a desolation, let no one dwell in their tents.
26: For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and him whom thou hast wounded, they afflict still more.
27: Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from thee.
28: Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29: But I am afflicted and in pain; let thy salvation, O God, set me on high!
30: I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31: This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32: Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33: For the LORD hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
34: Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves therein.
35: For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and his servants shall dwell there and possess it;
36: the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Carroll Stuhlmueller writes: "The psalmist is a disciple of the prophet Jeremiah and like this prophet was hounded unjustly (v. 5), even by close friends and family members (v. 9). The delicate sensitivity of this writer shows up not only in the personal agony of forced isolation (v. 21) but also in the resultant outburst of anger and cursing (vv. 23-29). It is not surprising that the writer becomes physically sick (vv. 4, 15-16, 19). There are a number of contacts between the book of Jeremiah and this psalm: vv. 2-5, in the deep mire, Jeremiah 38; v. 4, crying out, Jer. 45:3; v. 8a, shame before God, Jer. 15:15; v. 9, betrayed by family and friends, Jer. 12:6; and v. 21, God knows the brokenhearted and their shame, Jer. 15:18; 18:23; and 23:9." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 464)

There is no indication of a messianic sense in the passage.

Psalm 34
0: A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
1: I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2: My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and be glad.
3: O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
4: I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5: Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.
6: This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7: The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8: O taste and see that the LORD is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!
9: O fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no want!
10: The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
11: Come, O sons, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12: What man is there who desires life, and covets many days, that he may enjoy good?
13: Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
14: Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
15: The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry.
16: The face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17: When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18: The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20: He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
21: Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22: The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

This passage is about God's protection of the righteous generally, not the presentation of the Messiah as the sacrificial Lamb without blemish.

Psalm 16
0: A Miktam of David.
1: Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge.
2: I say to the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee."
3: As for the saints in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
4: Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their libations of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
5: The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.
6: The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7: I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
8: I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9: Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.
10: For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.
11: Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.

This passage says nothing about resurrection from the dead.

Psalm 68
0: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1: Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him!
2: As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before fire, let the wicked perish before God!
3: But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy!
4: Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds; his name is the LORD, exult before him!
5: Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
6: God gives the desolate a home to dwell in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7: O God, when thou didst go forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, [Selah]
8: the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, at the presence of God; yon Sinai quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9: Rain in abundance, O God, thou didst shed abroad; thou didst restore thy heritage as it languished;
10: thy flock found a dwelling in it; in thy goodness, O God, thou didst provide for the needy.
11: The Lord gives the command; great is the host of those who bore the tidings:
12: "The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!" The women at home divide the spoil,
13: though they stay among the sheepfolds -- the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with green gold.
14: When the Almighty scattered kings there, snow fell on Zalmon.
15: O mighty mountain, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
16: Why look you with envy, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount which God desired for his abode, yea, where the LORD will dwell for ever?
17: With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.
18: Thou didst ascend the high mount, leading captives in thy train, and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
19: Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. [Selah]
20: Our God is a God of salvation; and to GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death.
21: But God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
22: The Lord said, "I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23: that you may bathe your feet in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe."
24: Thy solemn processions are seen, O God, the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary --
25: the singers in front, the minstrels last, between them maidens playing timbrels:
26: "Bless God in the great congregation, the LORD, O you who are of Israel's fountain!"
27: There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zeb'ulun, the princes of Naph'tali.
28: Summon thy might, O God; show thy strength, O God, thou who hast wrought for us.
29: Because of thy temple at Jerusalem kings bear gifts to thee.
30: Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.
31: Let bronze be brought from Egypt; let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
32: Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, [Selah]
33: to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; lo, he sends forth his voice, his mighty voice.
34: Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and his power is in the skies.
35: Terrible is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel, he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

Carroll Stuhlmueller writes: "Ps. 68:16-19 records the installation of the Ark in the Jerusalem Temple, transferring to the Temple the theological significance of Sinai. God, accordingly, is no longer revealing the law but, through the Levites and priests, is intepreting and applying the law (Deut. 31:9-29). Ps. 68:19 reads, 'You [God] have gone up the mountain . . . received human beings as gifts . . . the Lord God within the [holy] dwelling.' At first this verse mirrored a ceremony in which the Ark was returned to the Holy of Holies after a triumphal procession through the city (Pss. 47; 132) and the booty of war, including slaves, was offered to the Temple (Josh. 9:23; Neh. 7:72). Later Israelite armies no longer marched to war, so weak and miniscule had the country become. The scribes were scandalized that God should need gifts, particularly slaves. A new reading, therefore, was provided in what is called the style of midrash or rabbinic interpretation. Moses, not Yahweh, ascends the mountain of Sinai and receives gifts from Yahweh, namely the Torah. Eph. 4:7-13 relies upon the midrash and reinterprets the passage about Christ who ascends on high and, by sending the Spirit, confers the gifts of leadership in the church." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 464)

Of course this reinterpretation was not present in the mind of the original Hebrew writer.

Psalm 110
0: A Psalm of David.
1: The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool."
2: The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes!
3: Your people will offer themselves freely on the day you lead your host upon the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning like dew your youth will come to you.
4: The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchiz'edek."
5: The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6: He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
7: He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

Carroll Stuhlmueller writes (Harper's Bible Commentary, pp. 483-484):

And so on. This passage is about the Davidic king being installed and not necessarily a future Messiah.

What have we gained? Well, I can identify four passages that are the most likely candidates of the lot to be messianic prophecies. These are:

Genesis 49
8: Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.
9: Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?
10: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11: Binding his foal to the vine and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes;
12: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Micah 5
1: Now you are walled about with a wall; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel.
2: But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
3: Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth; then the rest of his brethren shall return to the people of Israel.
4: And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 11
1: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2: And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3: And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
4: but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
5: Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.
6: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
7: The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8: The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9: They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
10: In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.
11: In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12: He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13: The jealousy of E'phraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; E'phraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass E'phraim.
14: But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15: And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching wind, and smite it into seven channels that men may cross dryshod.
16: And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant which is left of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Zechariah 9
9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.
10: I will cut off the chariot from E'phraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11: As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.
12: Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13: For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made E'phraim its arrow. I will brandish your sons, O Zion, over your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword.
14: Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet, and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15: The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour and tread down the slingers; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.
16: On that day the LORD their God will save them for they are the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.
17: Yea, how good and how fair it shall be! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.

If these are indeed messianic prophecies, then there are a few items about the hoped-for Messiah in them:

1. The Messiah would be descended of the house of Judah.
2. Specifically of the clan of the house of Ephrathah.
3. The Messiah, victorious in battle, will enter Jerusalem on an ass.
4. The Messiah will be a king.
5. The Messiah will rule over many nations, to the ends of the earth.
6. The remnants of the Jewish people will be gathered into the holy land.
7. The Jewish people will be secure militarily.
8. When the Messiah comes, there will be world peace.
9. The Lord's spirit is with the Messiah.
10. The Messiah will bring justice to the poor and slay the wicked.
11. There will be agricultural abundance while the Messiah reigns.
12. The Messiah will wash his garments in wine. (Huh?)

Of course, it is possible that I have misidentified these as messianic prophecies. Comments from others would be appreciated.

best,
Peter Kirby

Peter Kirby

Any comments, guys? If you don't agree, don't be silent.

best,
Peter Kirby

Kilgore Trout

Thanks for the informative list.

Notice Psalm 41:4 says
This proves Psalm 41:9 is not talking about Jesus because christians know Jesus did not sin. However in John 13:18 Jesus says that prophecy must come true. So Jesus created the universe and he can't even read the psalms correctly. Some messiah.

Christians probably aren't going to bother debating these because they can't argue with logic. As far as I can tell the rules of apologetics must be:

(1)........ Tell people these "prophecies" and they will realize Jesus is the promised messiah and worship him.:notworthy
(2)........ If (1) doesn't work, revert to circular reasoning. e.g. "I don't know why Jesus says he fulfills Psalm 41:9, but since he is the messiah he must have his reasons!"
(3).........If (2) doesn't work, revert to "Pearls before swine." e.g. "You heathen are just blind and refuse to listen! I'm not going to waste my time with you!"

Ted Hoffman

I think title of this thread is comparable to one titled "some alleged miracles" or "the alleged existence of God".

I say this because if one sets out as a rationalist, one will find almost all theistic claims/beliefs to be false.

The fact is, Matthew 1:21-23 treats Isaiah 7:14 as a messianic prophecy.

Is it the place of a skeptic/rationalist to tell a believer what does/doesn't constitute a messianic prophecy? The way I see it, its like an atheist telling a theist there is no God. Theism, by its very construction, warrants belief in prophecies - however unsupported/ falsifiable. Belief in God and fabricating spurious yarns about fulfilled prophecies are one and the same thing.

Besides, the bible, as someone said, is like a flute: you can blow it to any tune you want.

Just look at http://www.messiahtruth.com/isa714o.html and messianic prophecy.net :

But that was an excellent OP Kirby

Jack the Bodiless

Yes, it does. Even though this is obviously not true, from the context.

I've seen even reasonably intelligent Christians try to rationalize this one with an argument from authority: because the author of Matthew obviously wasn't THAT stupid or dishonest, the prophecy must have had a double meaning all along, and was therefore a legitimate Messianic prophecy.

...To which my answer is "yes, I DO believe that the author was that stupid or dishonest". I see no reason to believe that most of the NT authors were any more competent or honest than (for instance) modern creationists. Why is it so difficult to believe that they wouldn't use similar tactics: the infamous creationist misquote?

These guys weren't like medieval theologians, drawn from the well-educated elite of Europe. They were a handful of cultists. There is a tendency among Christians to credit the NT authors with an integrity and sophistication that they simply don't deserve: to read into the NT a profundity that really isn't there.

Clutch

Peter, just a tangential remark about the extent of your quote of Micah 5. I've heard it said -- eg, by apologists like WL Craig -- that the Jews assumed that their Messianic prophecies would be fulfilled by a military leader. Indeed, the discordance between that expectation and the spiritual kingship attributed to Jesus is given as evidence that the Jesus story was not cobbled together for the purpose of fitting Jewish expectations of the time.

But it seems not so much an assumption but just a straightforward reading of the text that supports the military-ruler idea, at least in the case of Micah 5. Your carving of the quote is the one often given by Christian apologists; that is: Ah, peace! Breaking verse 5 here, and leaving out the remainder of the chapter, certainly helps to accommodate a Christian interpretation. But the verse itself, and the whole chapter, go on to make the military-ruler reading irresistible.Ouch! That's promising some serious ass-kicking, and surely by the "He" of verse 6, which seems to refer pronominally to the "He" of verse 4.

Secular Pinoy

I've been perusing this site, and the author argues that the servant referred to in Isaiah could not refer to Israel. He points out that:

Peter Kirby

This author's problem is that he assumes that either all the references are messianic or that all the references are collective. This is false. It neglects the opportunity for an individualistic interpretation--most prefer Deutero-Isaiah for that role, although there are many suggestions--and ignores those passages where the servant is clearly Israel. I pretty much addressed this already.

John Scullion wrote, "The servant is regularly identified with Israel outside the songs: 41:8-10; 43:10; 44:1-2; 44:21; 45:4; 48:20; 49:7; in 54:17 the 'servants of the Lord' are God's loyal Israelites; in 42:19 the servant is Israel in exile. There are in all some fourteen instances where the servant is Israel." Here are the passages.

Isaiah 41
8: But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9: you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off";
10: fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 43
10: "You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

Isaiah 44
1: "But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!
2: Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshu'run whom I have chosen.

21: Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

Isaiah 45
4: For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, [an identity in Hebrew parallelism] I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.

Isaiah 48
20: Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chalde'a, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!"

Isaiah 54
17: no weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, says the LORD."

So, clearly, in some passages of Isaiah, the servant is Israel. But I have already said that it is also clear that in some passages, particularly in some of the four songs, the servant there appears to be Deutero-Isaiah. The clearest example of that is in the third song, 50:4-11.

John Scullion wrote: "The servant-prophet speaks as one with his people, 49:1-6; 50:4-9, yet stands over against the people; the people, Israel, is the Israel of history, empirical Israel, faithless Israel, yet at the same time the true Israel which is to be God's instrument to redeem Israel; the servant-people is Israel with a mission to Israel; and the prophet is conscious that he is one with the people that has been hewn from Abraham, 51:1-2. When Israel suffers, she suffers for Israel and for the vindication of Israel by Yahweh (see comments on individual songs). The salvation of Israel by Yahweh the creator and redeemer is the theme of the whole of chaps. 40-55; Israel the people is the centre of the prophet's pronouncements."

The passage to which the author of the web page above refers most is the second song, which is found in this passage.

Isaiah 49
1: Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
2: He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.
3: And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
4: But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God."
5: And now the LORD says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength --
6: he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
7: Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
8: Thus says the LORD: "In a time of favor I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages;
9: saying to the prisoners, `Come forth,' to those who are in darkness, `Appear.' They shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10: they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.
11: And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be raised up.
12: Lo, these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene."
13: Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14: But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."
15: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16: Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
17: Your builders outstrip your destroyers, and those who laid you waste go forth from you.
18: Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament, you shall bind them on as a bride does.

There is a curious mixture of collective and individual references here: in verse 3, the servant is identified with Israel, although the NAB says that "some regard the word Israel here as a gloss." Given the first person narration in verses 4-5, I prefer to see the servant here as the prophet speaking (or a disciple of Deutero-Isaiah speaking for the prophet). See the quotes from Whybray above for some elaboration on this.

best,
Peter Kirby

Secular Pinoy

What I would like to see are some Messianic Prophecies compiled by Jews themselves. The list of MPs here are from a christian site that Evangelion recommended to PKirby, and obviously starts from the conclusion that Jesus is the messiah, and then quote mines the OT to find anything that could be twisted around to become prophecies. I've tried googling for a Jewish MPs, but all I've been finding are sites from Magus' brand of Messianic Judaism.

Peter Kirby

You could get a book by a Jew, such as The Messianic Idea in Israel by Joseph Klausner.

best,
Peter Kirby