Bill's Bible Blog

(More Christmas in May)

There is another prophecy of the Messiah written about 733 BC that also calls Him a ‘son.’ Isaiah 9:6:

At the beginning of the verse we see the typical Hebrew literary technique of repeating what is said, but in a different way. That is, the ‘son’ is the same as the ‘child,’ and ‘born’ is the same thing as ‘given.’

What is not so clear are the following descriptions. Are there two singles and then three doubles, or are there four doubles? Some English translations, beginning with the King James, put a comma between ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Counselor,’ indicating they are separate descriptions. Some of the modern translations don’t, therefore creating another double to match the three other double adjective+noun descriptions.

So, I was wondering one day recently, “To ‘comma,’ or not to ‘comma’…”

DISCLAIMER: I am not a recognized Bible scholar. My scholarship lies in education. I share the results of my Bible study because I find it interesting and hope that you will too.

Looking at the Hebrew, we see the word translated as ‘wonderful’ is a noun. ‘Wonderful’ is actually an adjective and maybe that is what has led some translators to drop the comma and use it to modify ‘counselor.’

However this noun is most often applied to someone who works ‘wonders,’ that is, miraculous signs that indicate they were sent and thus empowered by God. The word is most often applied to Moses.

Therefore, the name could be translated “Wonder-Worker.”

And what about ‘counselor?’ It is a common Hebrew word used to name anyone who gives advice. The word is most often used in Proverbs, especially to describe soneone who gives WISE advice. A wise Counselor is one who gives advice from God and His Word, and this ability is often taken to indicate a special gift of wisdom given to someone by God, such as Solomon asked for and received.

Therefore, in keeping with the following duos, we could translate this name as  ‘Wise Counselor. ‘

The following three pairs of words for titles of this prophesied child/son are fairly straightforward.

‘Mighty God,’ is not the ‘El Shaddai’ that I was expecting, but ‘El Gibbor.’ El Shaddai is usually translated the ‘Almighty God.’ It emphasizes the unlimited innate power of God, as in ‘All-powerful, and goes along with His other attributes of ‘All-seeing, ‘ and ‘All-knowing.’

El Gibbor, on the other hand, refers more to applied power as in winning a battle or carrying out His will. This would be an appropriate name for the Messiah as He would be the instrument of God’s will on earth. This Hebrew word is used elsewhere, but Psalm 24:8 well communicates its meaning, which is also considered a prophecy of the Messiah.

The Hebrew word for ‘Everlasting Father’ is a contraction of ‘Abba-ad,’ which can also be translated as ‘Father of Eternity.” Hebrew can be difficult to translate like that. The place where the meaning of this name is well communicate is Psalm 90:2.

The last title, “Prince of Peace,’ in Hebrew is ‘Sa Shalom.’ ‘Sa’ is just the general word for a ruler and hearkens back to the earlier, “the government shall be on His shoulder.” (And yes, it is singular in Hebrew, whereas we would say ‘shoulders.’)

King Solomon is an example of a ruler of peace. His name in Hebrew, Shalomo,’ actually contains the Hebrew word for peace.

This “peaceable kingdom” of the Messiah is prophesied in more detail in Isaiah 11:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down
with the young goat,
    and the calf and the lion
and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.

So, to sum up, this child/son/Messiah is Jesus Christ to us who are Christians, ‘Christ’ being the Greek/Latin equivalent of ‘Messiah,’ meaning ‘annointed.’ Let me show how Jesus embodied all five Names.

NOTE: Hebrew doesn’t use any articles in this verse, that is ‘a’ or ‘an,’ which is the nonspecific article, meaning it could be anybody; and ‘the,’ which is the specific article for a singular, specific person or thing.

The first two names are applied to other people, so we would say, ‘A Wonder-Worker,’ and ‘A Wise Counselor.” This pair of names establishes the ‘bona fides’ of the child/son as being FROM God and having His favor. The Jews of Jesus’ day knew this.  When Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night, he started with: “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” John 3:2

The best testimonies to Jesus’ wisdom were actually given by His enemies. 1) The Jewish leaders:

And 2) the soldiers they sent to arrest Him:

The next pair of names are unique to God, so we would say, ‘THE Mighty God,’ and ‘THE Everlasting Father.’ These names say that the child/son IS God. Jesus claimed to be God clearly several times. Here are a couple: His eternal nature:

What Jesus was claiming was clear to the Jewish leaders–that He existed before Abraham, progenitor of the Jews, was born, and that He was YHWH, (Yahweh, or Jehovah), the Great I AM, the self-existent God since eternity began.

And just in case you think we’re reading too much into a simple statement, the Jewish leaders knew what He was saying. “They took up stones to kill Him with…” The second time they did this, Jesus asked them, ‘Why?’ They answered,

There were no doubts about Jesus’ claims to be God among the Jewish leaders, but they chose to reject Him and reject His claims.

Jesus claimed to have God’s Mighty power:

The last name, ‘THE Prince of Peace’ is a unique identifier of the Messiah. So this name clearly indicates the child/son is THE Messiah.

At least 21 times in benedictions in the epistles, the authors mention the peace (shalom) of Jesus. This prevalence is probably based on Jesus’ promise to His disciples:

What about the government and rule of peace of the Messiah? What happened to that prophesy?

The ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ is still to come at Jesus’ Second Coming. The delay between the two comings is so the gospel can be proclaimed to the ‘ends of the Earth.’ That means we of the other nations outside of Israel have the chance to hear about God and Jesus Christ, believe in the gospel and be delivered from Satan’s kingdom of darkness into God’s Kingdom of Light, which will then be forever, and we will be a part of it forever, and with Them forever.

I’m okay with the delay…