Isaiah 9:5-6 – Historic Events or Messianic Prophecy?

 

 

I.            Introduction

 

The passage Isaiah 9:5-6[1] is an important "proof-text" in the portfolio of Christian apologists and missionaries, one that is claimed to foretell the advent of the Christian Messiah, Jesus.

 

A detailed study and analysis of the Hebrew text of Isaiah 9:5-6 within its proper context, and using other relevant passages found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, demonstrates how this passage describes historic events that occurred during the era in which these words were spoken by Isaiah, and is not messianic prophecy.

 

II.            Review and Comparison of English Translations of Is 9:5-6[6-7]

 

Table II-1 shows the Hebrew text and side-by-side English renditions of the passage Isaiah 9:5-6[6-7]; the King James Version (KJV) translation in the left column and a Jewish translation in the middle column next to the Hebrew text.  The KJV rendition also points to cross-referenced passages in the New Testament, references that were taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

 

Table II-1 – Isaiah 9:5-6[6-7]

 

(1) Luke 2:11(KJV) – For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is

                                  Christ the Lord.

(2) John 3:16(KJV) - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that

                                 whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(3) Matthew 28:18(KJV) – And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given

                                          unto me in heaven and in earth.

     1 Corinthians 15:25(KJV) - For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

(4) Luke 1:32-33(KJV) – (32) He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest:

                                        and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

                                      (33) And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his

                                        kingdom there shall be no end.

 

The most significant differences in the two translations are found in the first verse, Isaiah 9:5[6].  One such difference is that the Hebrew text, as reflected in the Jewish translation, uses verbs that are conjugated in the past tense, and which describe a sequence of events that has already occurred, while the KJV translation uses the present and future tenses, thereby describing events that are contemporary and also still to come.  The other important difference between the two renditions of the first verse is in the various names/titles ascribed to this child.  The Jewish translation lists four, none of which is modified with a definite article the (as in the Hebrew text).  The Christian translation lists five, the first two of which are split out of the first Hebrew one and are without a definite article, and each of the last three has a definite article attached, and it is capitalized in all three cases. 

 

With the exception of a subtle difference in the respective renditions of the second verse, Isaiah 9:6[7], other differences are, in general, insignificant with respect to the context of the passage; they are reasonable variations in translation due to the fact that Hebrew and English/Greek belong to different language families.  Both the Hebrew text and the Jewish translation of this verse capture the message – the explanation of the series of names/titles from the previous verse – in one sentence.  Yet, the KJV translators start a new sentence with Isaiah 9:6[7], which removes the continuity from the previous verse, and then break this verse into two separate sentences, which results in an abstruse redirection of the focus in order to support their translation of the previous verse, as will be demonstrated later.

 

III.            Overview of Christian and Jewish Interpretations of Is 9:5-6[6-7]

 

A.     The Christian Interpretation

 

Only a summary of the Christian interpretation is provided here.  More complete and detailed descriptions by well-known Christian commentators, such as Matthew Henry and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, are outside the scope of this essay and may be found in other sources.

 

In the common Christian perspective, this passage is a messianic prophecy that foretells the birth of Jesus, his divinity, and his destined mission as the promised King/Messiah.  Though the authors of the New Testament never explicitly cite any portion of these two verses, Christians will often point to the passages shown under Table II-1, which are hindsight references inserted by the translators, not by the authors, as evidence that the prophecy in Isaiah 9:5-6[6-7] was fulfilled.

 

B.    The Jewish Interpretation

 

This, too, is only a summary of the Jewish interpretation.  A detailed analysis and commentary will follow.

 

According to the Jewish perspective, Isaiah 9:5-6 is not a messianic prophecy.  The correct context of this passage is that it describes events that had already taken place in Jewish history, namely, events concerning the birth of this child (believed to be Hezekiah, the son of King Ahaz), and a prophecy concerning his future as King of Judah.  Hezekiah's role was to lift Judah from the degenerate conditions into which it had sunk, and he would lead the indestructible faithful "Remnant of Israel".  This passage speaks of the wonders performed by G-d for Hezekiah as King of Judah, and in it, the Prophet expresses his praise of G-d for sparing Hezekiah and his kingdom from demise at the hands of Sannheriv, who besieged Jerusalem.

 

IV.            Historic Events or  Messianic Prophecy?

 

A comparison of the Christian and Jewish perspectives on Isaiah 9:5-6[6-7] shows that both cannot be valid simultaneously.  The question is: “Which of the two interpretations is consistent with the Hebrew Bible (and the historical record)?”

 

A.     Hebrew Linguistic Analysis

 

Significant differences exist between the Hebrew text of the passage and its rendition by the KJV.

 

1.      Tenses

 

As was noted above, the Hebrew text of the opening phrases of Isaiah 9:5 utilizes verbs which are conjugated in the past tense, while the KJV translation of this verse, which is Isaiah 9:6 in Christian Bibles, utilizes a combination of present and future tenses in the corresponding phrases.

 

The first verb that appears in the verse is  (yulad).  This is a conjugation of the root verb  (yalad), [to] bear, in the 3^rd-person, singular, masculine, past tense, in the pu'al stem, a passive verb construct, that gives it the meaning has been born or was born, depending on the context of the passage in which it appears.  The KJV renders  (yulad) at Isaiah 9:6 as is born, in the present tense, which conflicts with the Jewish translation.  A simple word study, using other applications of this identical term in the Hebrew Bible, helps resolve this issue.  Although it is, in general, preferable to study identical terminology as applied within a specific Book of the Hebrew Bible, this is not always possible.  There are 15 identical instances (in terms of both spelling and vowel markings) of the term  (yulad) in the Hebrew Bible, only one of which appears in the Book of Isaiah - at Isaiah 9:5.  Of the remaining 14 instances, on seven occasions (Gen 10:21,25, 35:26, 46:22,27, 51:50; 1 Chron 1:19), the KJV correctly renders the term as were born, where the references are to more than one son (Biblical Hebrew does, at times, interchange singular with plural nouns and conjugated verbs).  These cases will be excluded from the analysis since they concern a plurality and not a single subject, which leaves a sample of eight cases to be included in the analysis, which is shown in Table IV.A.1-1.

 

Table IV.A.1-1 – Analysis of the term  (yulad)

 

 

While the Jewish renditions cast all eight occurrences in some form of the past tense, the KJV renditions are inconsistent – in the past tense on five occasions, and in the present tense on three occasions (including Isaiah 9:6).

 

The next verb that appears in the verse is  (nitan).  This is a conjugation of the root verb  (natan), [to] give, in the 3^rd-person, singular, masculine, past tense, in the niph'al stem, a passive verb construct, that gives it the meaning has been given or was given, depending on the context of the passage in which it appears.  The KJV renders  (nitan) at Isaiah 9:6 as is given, in the present tense, which conflicts with the Jewish translation.  A simple word study, using other applications of this identical term in the Hebrew Bible, will help resolve this issue.  As was noted above, it is best to remain within a given Book when doing a word study, though it is not always possible to do so.  There are 14 identical instances of the term  (nitan) in the Hebrew Bible, two of which appear in the Book of Isaiah - at Isaiah 9:5 and at Isaiah 35:2.  Since a sample of two is inadequate, all 14 cases are included in the analysis, which is shown in Table IV.A.1-2.

 

Table IV.A.1-2 – Analysis of the term  (nitan)

 

 

While the Jewish renditions cast all occurrences in some form of the past tense, the KJV renditions are inconsistent – in the past tense on six occasions, in the present tense on seven occasions (including Isaiah 9:6), and once in the future tense.

 

The next verb that appears in the verse is  (va't^ehi).  This term is a combination of the conjugated verb,  (t^ehi) and a special form,  (va-), of the preposition  (v^e-) [called  (vav-ha'khibur), the conjunctive-vav, which is the preposition and].  The verb  (t^ehi) is a poetic form of the conjugation of the root verb  (haya), [to] be, in the 3^rd-person, singular, feminine, future tense, in the pa'al/qal stem, an active verb construct, which translates as [it {fem.}] shall be.  [Note: Since the Hebrew language has no neuter gender, all nouns are either masculine or feminine, and the neuter gender must be inferred from the context when translating].  Together with the preposition  (v^e-), and, this would then be and [it {fem.}] shall be.  However, as noted above, the preposition appears in a special form called in Hebrew  (vav-ha'hipuch), the conversive-vav, which, in addition to functioning as the preposition and, also reverses the tense of the verb it modifies.  In other words, if the verb is in the past tense, it is changed to the future tense, and vice versa.  Putting all this together, the verb  (va't^ehi) translates as and [it {fem.}] was [placed], i.e., a verb conjugated in the 3^rd-person, singular, feminine, past tense.  The KJV renders  (va't^ehi) in Isaiah 9:6 as [it] shall be [placed], in the future tense, which conflicts with the Jewish translation.  There are 85 identical instances of  (va't^ehi) in the Hebrew Bible, five of which appear in the Book of Isaiah - at Isaiah 5:25, 9:5, 23:3, 29:11,13.  This sample of five cases is included in the analysis, which is shown in Table IV.A.1-3.

 

Table IV.A.1-3 – Analysis of the term  (va't^ehi)