Concerning Isaiah 9:6

Here is my answer to a query concerning Isaiah 9:6; from a discussion forum in 2004.

 

Quote:

The term mighty God has been given to both Jesus and the Father: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 And compared to: The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. Isaiah 10:21 Both are called mighty God …

My Response:

There is always the possibility that Isaiah 9:6 is simply a name being given to a child
(similar to Mahershalalhashbaz, Isaiah 8:3,
or Immanuel, Isaiah 7:14, 8:8 ).
This is suggested by the Jewish Publication Society’s Masoretic Text rendering of Isaiah 9:6:
“And his name is called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom.”
Incidentally, many ancient rabbis had understood Isaiah 9:6-7 to be speaking of King Hezekiah as well as the Messiah e.g.

Quote:

“Hezekiah, who was very unlike his father Ahaz. This passage is acknowledged, not only by Christians, but by the Chaldee interpreter, to relate in the same manner, but in a more excellent sense, to the Messiah.” —Annotationes ad vetus et Novum Testamentum, by Hugo Grotius, 1583-1645.

The Jewish Publication Society’s Masoretic Text, as cited above, says this …

Quote:

There are good reasons to apply the name to Hezekiah, since this is one of those outstanding texts of Isaiah that speak in exalted and royal terms both of Israel’s kings and the coming human Messiah. The hope of Israel was resting on the permanence of David’s dynasty. The symbolic name given to the royal child signified more than a continuation of the dynasty. It meant a decisive intervention by God whose own greatness would become manifest in his dealings with and blessings upon Hezekiah. This is suggested by the Jewish Publication Society’s Masoretic Text rendering of Isaiah 9:5: “And his name is called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom”.

Either way, whether Jews saw this verse, as Messianic or not, they all interpreted this verse as speaking of an Israelite king – they never interpreted Isaiah 9:6 as speaking of deity!!
They had NO CONCEPT of ALMIGHTY GOD being born! IT NEVER EVER ENTERED THEIR MINDS!


Nevertheless, let us individually look at the terms mighty god & everlasting father.


The term ‘mighty God’ in Hebrew is ‘el gibbor’, which in fact, is never used of the Father! The Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p.42 (hereafter cited as BDB), the best lexicon around, informs us that ‘el gibbor’ in Isaiah 9:6 means “divine hero (as reflecting the divine majesty)”.
In fact, the Hebrew bible speaks of more than one ‘el gibbor’.

The plural ‘elei gibborim’ can be found in Ezek 32:21, the BDB informing us that thereby it means
“mighty heroes”. It is translated in the KJV as “The strong among the mighty”. It is therefore talking about
the strongest mighty men and definitely not deities!
(NJB translates it as “the mightiest heroes”. The RSV/NRS translates it as “the mighty chiefs”.)

How much more the Messiah, who is the most mightiest man/hero in the universe, the most ultimate representative of GOD Himself, who so perfectly reflects the divine majesty of GOD. How rightly he is the ultimate ‘el gibbor’, the strongest, mightiest one of them all, next to GOD the Father.

In the Hebrew bible, men that are human beings, are not only sometimes called elohim [e.g. Exo 7:1, 21:6, 22:8-9,28; Psa 82:6] but they are also sometimes called el(ei) or el(im) as shown above.
(For example, Ezek 32:11, Nebuchadnezzar, the el {mighty one} of the heathen).
In each of these cases, these men have not been deified neither have they somehow become ‘god-men’!!

When men are called elohim (Strong’s 430) it is as representatives of GOD ... they represent Almighty GOD.
The same goes for the Messiah. [Psa 45:6 cp. Heb 1:8].

When men are called el (Strong’s 410, 352 and 193) it is used to denote that they are MIGHTY, STRONG men.
[e.g. Exo 15:15, Job 41:25, Ezek 17:13, 31:17, etc]

How much more the ‘warrior-king’ whose return we are awaiting, the King Messiah.
He won’t be ‘No Gentle Jesus, Meek & Mild’ at his return. Oh no! He will be the ‘mighty one of GOD’ who will execute the wrath and judgment of GOD; [Isa 61:2, 2 Thess 1:7-8, Rev 6:16-17, 19:15] whose enemies will be made his footstool! [Psalms 110:1, Heb 10:13]


Now concerning Isaiah 10:21 ... the fact is the definite article ‘the’ is NOT in the Hebrew text of this verse.

The text actually reads “… the remnant of Jacob, unto [a] mighty god” i.e. ‘el gibbor’, the ‘el gibbor’ of
Isaiah 9:6, the Messiah. The text is talking about Israel acknowledging the Messiah after the Messiah destroys The Assyrian. Look at the context of Isaiah 10, noting the fact that Isaiah called the Messiah, el gibbor in Chapter 9; in the very next chapter he uses the title again; there is no need to believe he is not referring again to the Messiah. See the context :- Isaiah 10:5-11:4:

• {10:5} “Woe to the Assyrian…[the instrument for the punishment of Israel, to bring her back to God and the Messiah]. {v. 12} When the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say: ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the King of Assyria…’ {v. 16} The Lord will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors. And under Assyria’s glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. And the light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame and it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and his briars in a single day…
  
• {v. 20} Now it will come about in that day that the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on YAHWEH, the Holy One of Israel.
  
• {v. 21} A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to a Mighty God
  [Divine Warrior, the Messiah – note: there is no ‘definite article’].
  
• {v. 22} For though your people Israel may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return. A destruction is determined overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, ADONAI YAHWEH of Hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land. Therefore, thus says ADONAI YAHWEH of Hosts, ‘O my people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian, who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff…{v. 25} For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to the destruction of Assyria… {v. 33} Behold, Adon YAHWEH of hosts will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash…
  
• {Isaiah 11:1} Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. And the spirit of YAHWEH will rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of YAHWEH…
  
• {11:4} With righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he will destroy the wicked one.”
  
• How does Paul deal with this information?
  He gives inspired commentary on it. In Romans 9:27, 28 he quotes Isaiah 10:22, 23, repeating the prophet’s vision of the future when the Messiah returns. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8 he warns of the coming of the Wicked one and describes the destruction of the Wicked one by Jesus, using the words found in Isaiah 11:4 (above).
  
• Paul, in other words, expects the Wicked one to be the Assyrian of the end-time and he sees the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:4 at the coming of Jesus. Jesus will eliminate the Assyrian “with the breath of his lips.” All this is part and parcel of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom to which the Gospel invites us and the Kingdom, which will assert divine government across the globe.
  

Hence the ‘el gibbor – mighty god’ spoken of in Isaiah 10:21 is indeed the Messiah.
In conclusion then, since ELOHIM  is used in regards to men and judges; and since EL is used in regards to ‘power’ (e.g. Gen 31:29, Micah 2:1, etc), idols (Isaiah 44:10,15,17, etc) and mighty men including heathen kings such as Nebuchadnezzar (e.g. Ezek 31:11);
EL (and ELOHIM) being used in a title for the Messiah is no proof of the so-called deity of the Messiah.

Quote:

… but furthermore Jesus is also called the Everlasting Father as in God the Father, do you see the connection here my friend?

My Response:

You are kidding, right? Am I misunderstanding you? Are you saying that Jesus IS the Father!!!
I assumed you were a trinitarian not a modalist neither ‘Oneness’ in your theology!!! Guess I got that wrong as well. Beside the very obvious fact that Jesus is clearly called the ‘Son of the Father’
[2 John 3] in the Scriptures; maybe I am misunderstanding you.

Let us look at the Hebrew phrase translated as ‘everlasting father’
i.e. abi-ad (Strong’s 1 & 5703)

Practically every name that begins with ‘ab(i)-’ (Strong’s 1) is translated ‘father of’. e.g.

1. Abraham – father of a multitude
   
2. Abimelech – father of the king
   
3. Abidah – father of knowledge
   
4. Abiasaph – father of gathering
   
5. Abidan – father of judgment
   
6. Abihail – father of might
   
7. Abinoam – father of pleasantness
   
8. Abner – father of light
   
9. Abiathar – father of abundance
   
10. Absalom – father of peace
    
11. Abinadab – father of generosity
    
12. Abishai – father of a gift
    
13. Abishua – father of plenty
    

ET CETERA

‘Abi-ad’ can therefore be translated ‘father of the age’ hence
the Messiah will be ‘the father of the age to come’; as translated in :-

• “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty One, Potentate,
  Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come.”—The Septuagint as found in the Codex Alexandrinus, translated by Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton, c. 1850. (Also translated in this manner by Archimandrite Ephrem Lash)
  

See also

• “Wonder-Counsellor, Divine Champion, Father Ever, Captain of Peace.”—Byington
  
• “A wonder of a counsellor, a divine hero, a father for all time, a peaceful prince.”—Moffatt
  
• Interestingly, the Catholic Douay-Rheims Version of the Bible calls Messiah
  “the Father of the world to come.”
  

Of course being called ‘father’ doesn’t make Christ ‘deity’ anymore than Abraham or Eliakim or Joseph being ‘deity’ even though they are called ‘our father’ or ‘a father to the inhabitants of Israel’ or ‘a father to Pharaoh’ respectively [John 8:53, Rom 4:12, Isa 22:20-21, Gen 45:8].

In the age to come, the Messiah will be the ‘father’ of that age in fulfillment of Isa 9:6 (also compare Isa 22:20-22 with Rev 3:7). Jesus will demonstrate that he is the “Father of the Coming Age” because he will “raise the dead and gives them life” in the age to come. Clearly, Jesus will be an ‘eternal’ “Father of the world to come,” the “Father of the age to come,” since both he and the children given to him by God will live forever.

 

PS See also the blog articles:

• Isaiah 9:6: What is Meant by the Messiah being “God” and “Father”?

• Isaiah 9:6: A New and Accurate Translation of Messiah's "Names" or Attributes

• and http://www.focusonthekingdom.org/65.htm#1 concerning the Assyrian & Isaiah chs. 10-11