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Summary of Chapter 9- 10:4

Even though these people are in darkness, yet a time is
coming when there will be no more gloom for the land of
Zebulun and Naphtali and the Galilee of the Gentiles. They will
finally see a great light, which will dawn for those in the
shadow of death. People are then to rejoice as at the harvest, or
as when dividing spoils, at the defeat of Midian.

For a child is to be born. The government will be his. He
will be called Wonderful Counsellor, even Mighty God, Everlasting
father, Prince of Peace. There will be no limit to the increase
of peace under Him, for he will sit on David's throne,
establishing it - for it had fallen - and upholding it with what
is right, from then on, and forever. The jealous love of the
Almighty Lord will bring this about.

But now, after the pleasant vision of the future, in 9:8,
Isaiah's vision turns to God's punishment of Jacob
(Israel:northern kingdom:there are four woes, and a refrain at
the end of each).

Woe to those who say in pride that if the brick houses are
destroyed, they will rebuild with dressed stone. But the Lord has
given the foes of Rezin power against them, "Even so, after all
this, His anger is not appeased: He still raises His arm against
them."

Woe to those who have not returned to the Lord:the Lord will
cut off the rulers, the head, and the tail, the false prophets.
So even the Lord will not take pity on the fatherless and widows,
for all are wicked. "Even so, after all this, His anger is not
appeased:He still raises His arm against them. "

Woe to those whose ungodliness is like a fire, so that no
one spares his brother: Manasseh against Ephraim; Ephraim against
Manasseh. Both will turn against Judah. "Even so, after all this,
His anger is not appeased: He still raises His arm against them.
"

Woe to those who make unjust laws, laws that should protect
the poor, but are now turned against the poor. But a day of
reckoning is coming. "Even so, after all this, His anger is not
appeased:He still raises His arm against them."

Comments on Chapter 9 -10. 4

The chapter opens with a cheerful prediction of the coming
of the Messiah. The people who have been in darkness in the
territories of Zabulon and Naphtali and the northern part of
Naphtali, with its heavy gentile population, hence called
"Galilee of the gentiles", will see a great light, the Messiah.
For He is to grow up in Galilee, and do much of His public
preaching there. The joy of the people will be great, like that
of men at the harvest, or of men who divide the spoils of war.
Formerly the boots of warriors trampled the land. Now the great
light will come.

"For a child is born to us, a son is given us, and the
government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called
'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty-God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace. '"

<Here the Septuagint omits the greatest title>: "A child is
born to us, and a son is given to us, his government is upon his
shoulder, and his name will be called messenger of the Great
Council."

But the great title is found in the <Targum Jonathan>: "A
child is born to us, a son is given to us, and his name has been
called from of old Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, He who lives
forever, Messiah in whose day peace shall increase for us. "

The sense of the Targum is disputed. We have rendered it
substantially as does J. F. Stenning (<The Targum of Isaiah>,
Oxford, 1949). However Samson Levey (<The Messiah. An Aramaic
Interpretation>, (Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 1974) turns
the sentence structure around so as to read: "his name has been
called Messiah. . . . by the Mighty God." The difference hinges
on the Aramaic words <min qedem> which can mean either "by" or
"from of old". As to the words "Mighty God" which the New
American Bible renders God-hero - that version is not defensible,
for the Hebrew <El gibbor> in the Old Testament always means only
Mighty God, never God-hero. Levey makes a similar change in
sentence structure for the Hebrew: "the Mighty God. . . has
called his name 'Prince of Peace'." That translation raises the
question of which terms belong to whom.

The Septuagint, which omits <mighty God>, testifies to the
Jewish discomfort. We recall that the LXX since Qumran is thought
to be in general a careful translation of the Hebrew, but of a
Hebrew text differing from our Masoretic text, for the text then
had not yet been stabilized.

Naturally, the ancient Jews, with their emphasis on monotheism,
would have difficulty calling the Messiah God. Yet there are some
other OT passages that could indicate divinity of the Messiah:

   Psalm 80. 15-18: God is asked to visit this vine "which your
right hand has planted. . . . Let your hand be upon the man of
your right hand, upon the son of man whom you have strengthened
for yourself." Samson Levey (<The Messiah:An Aramaic
Interpretation>) here comments: "It would appear that the Targum
takes the Messiah to be the son of God, which is much too
anthropomorphic and Christological to be acceptable in Jewish
exegesis." He notes that neither the earlier nor the later rabbis
took up this interpretation by the Targum. Rather, he says that
some of the later rabbis "carefully steer clear of any messianic
interpretation" by the Targum here. (In passing:we note that here
the Messiah is called Son of Man!)

   Psalm 45. 7-8: "Your throne, O God, is ever and ever. . . .
God your God has anointed you with the oil of rejoicing." Even
though some think the Psalm was occasioned by a royal marriage,
the Targum saw it as messianic. Levey even remarks that the
Hebrew word for king, <melech>, in verses 2, 6, 12, 15, and 16 is
understood as God.

   Ezekiel 34. 11: God Himself said: "For thus says the Lord
God:Behold I, I will search out my flock and seek them out." We
notice the repeated "I", which seems to stress the thought that
God Himself would come. But in verse 23 of the same chapter: "I
will set one shepherd over them, my servant David." The Targum
Jonathan does treat the psalm as messianic. Of course this is far
from clear, but there could be an implication that the Messiah,
called here "my servant David" would be God Himself.

   Jeremiah 23. 3: God said: " And I myself shall gather the
remnant of the my flock from all the lands to which I have driven
them." But in verse 5: "I will raise up for David a righteous
branch." That word "branch" is often taken by the Targums to
indicate the Messiah. Hence Targum Jonathan on verse 5 does use
"a righteous Messiah" instead of "branch". Then, surprisingly, in
verse 6: "And this is the name which He shall call him: "the Lord
is our righteousness." In the later Midrash, <Lamentations
Rabbah> 1. 51 we read: "What is the name of the King Messiah? R.
Abba b. Kahana said:'His name is 'the Lord'". In the Hebrew text
of that passage, the word for Lord is Yahweh! It is astounding to
find a later rabbi doing such a thing. (cf. Levey, <op. cit>, p.
70).

   Jeremiah 30. 11: "For I am with you - oracle of Yahweh - to
save you." The Targum clearly calls this passage messianic. Levey
notices this, and comments: "in v. 11 the apparent
anthropomorphism of God being with Israel, in the physical sense
is softened by the use of the word Memra" - Memra is a puzzling
word in the Targums, which seems in general to refer to the
complex interplay between God's constancy and the fickleness of
His people - but a times, it seems to mean God Himself. (On Memra
cf. Bruce Chilton, <The Isaiah Targum>, Glazier, 1987, p. lvi).

Jewish thought on the Preexistence of the Messiah:

a) Scripture: Micah 5. 2: "And you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah,
you are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall
come for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, <whose origin is
from of old, from the days of eternity>." The Targum Jonathan on
this verse reads: "whose name was spoken from days of old, from
the days of eternity." Samson Levey, a major Jewish scholar (<The
Messiah. An Aramaic Interpretation>, p. 93) comments that
although there does not seem to be a Rabbinic doctrine of a
preexistent Messiah, yet the last words of the Hebrew text do
tend to suggest such a preexistence.

   Malachi 3. 1: "Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare
the way before my face, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly
come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you
delight." R. H. Fuller (<The Foundations of New Testament
Christology>, Chas. Scribner's Sons, NY, 1965, p. 48:The starting
point for this expectation is Mal 4:5 f. (Mt. 3:23f. ). In this
passage, an editorial note commenting on Mal 3:1, Elijah appears
as the forerunner not of the Messiah but of Yahweh himself. . .
followed by the coming of Yahweh to his temple for the
eschatological judgment." Fuller uses the number Mal 4. 5,
following some English versions and the Vulgate. The Hebrew has
it at 3:23-24. Jesus in Mt 11. 13 used a modified form of the
text (by influence of the familiar and similar sounding Ex 23.
20, and makes clear that he is the one, the Messiah, and by
implication, is Yahweh Himself.

b)Intertestamental literature:

First Enoch 48. 1-6 (Charlesworth, Pseudepigrapha I:
(p. 35): ". . . even before the creation of the sun and
moon, before the creation of the stars, he was given a name in
the presence of the Lord of Spirits. . . . he was concealed in
the presence of (the Lord of Spirits) prior to the creation of
the world and for eternity.

  (p. 9) Comments by editor of segment, E. Isaac: "The Messiah in
1 Enoch, called the Righteous One, and the Son of Man, is
depicted as a <preexistent heavenly being> who is resplendent and
majestic, possesses all dominion, and sits on his throne of glory
passing judgment upon all mortals and spiritual beings." Isaac
also thinks (p. 8) that the work originated in Judea and was in
use in Qumran before Christian times.

c)Rabbinic thought:

<Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim> 4. 4. 54a: "Seven things
were created before the creation of the world, namely:Torah,
repentance, paradise, gehenna, the throne of majesty, the temple,
and the <name> of the Messiah. "

<Pesikta Rabati, Piska 33. 6> (775-900 AD). From: W.
Braude, <Yale Judaica Studies>, 18., 1968, p. 641-43): "You find
that at the very beginning of the creation of the world, <the
king Messiah had already come into being, for he existed in God's
thought even before the world was created>. But where is the
proof that the king Messiah existed from the beginning of God's
creation of the world? The proof is in the verse, 'And the spirit
of God moved,' words which identify the king Messiah, of whom it
is said, 'And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Isa 11.
2)."

COMMENTS:1. As Levey notices, Micah 5 implies
preexistence of the Messiah. Mal 3. 1 as used by Jesus implies
even divinity. The words of 1 Enoch do state a real preexistence.
The Rabbinic texts are at least close. For in Hebrew thought the
name at times approaches identification with the person. The
naming of things brings them into existence:Is 40. 26. To cut off
a person's name means not only death but obliteration of his
existence:cf. 1 Sam 24. 22 and Ps 9. 6.

   2. We noticed that in 1 Enoch the Messiah is called Son of
Man.

Now even if the stiff=-necked Jews did not understand the
divinity of the Messiah, what of Our Lady, filled with grace
beyond all other creatures? And at the annunciation she had
readily learned her Son was to be Messiah, for the angel said He
would rule over the house of Jacob forever. But further, the
angel explained that the Holy Spirit would 'overshadow' her, the
same word used of the divine presence filling the tabernacle in
the desert, and that as a result of that, a unique reason, the
Son would be called Son of the Most High. With the further help
of the above texts, it is hard to suppose she did not know of His
divinity.

Amos had come from Judah to prophesy of the punishment of
Israel, the northern kingdom. Here Isaiah does the same. Just as
Amos had a remarkably structured presentation (5:7-6:14) so does
Isaiah here, with four woes, prediction of punishment, each
ending with the ominous: "Even so, after all this, His anger is
not appeased:He will raises His arm against them." the fourth woe
is in 10:1-4.

In the first woe, the basic cause of punishment is pride. Pride
is the master vice, there is no virtue which it cannot mimic. One
can even act humble to be praised for his humility. And when Eve
listened to the tempter and looked at the fruit she as it were
said:God may know what is right in some things, but right now, I
know better!"

In the second: God will cut off both the head, the prominent
men, and the tail, the false prophets - we note how he ridicules
the prophets by making them just the tail. And the anger of God
is great, for normally He is the protector of the widows and
orphans, but here He says He will not pity the fatherless and the
widows, for everyone is so wicked.

In the third: No one will spare his brother, strife it will
spread like a forest fire in the wind. As to the time referred
to:after the death of Jeroboam one usurper came after another.
And fraternal strife broke out under Pekah.

In the fourth woe: God strikes out against the abuse of
legal and judicial power, which should promote justice, but
instead is used to promote wickedness.