Isaiah 53:9 - Buried in a Rich Man's Tomb

 THE CLAIM

The claim by many Christians is that Isaiah 53 prophesied that the messiah would be killed (Matthew 57:50) and then buried in a rich man’s tomb. This is based on Matthew 27:57-60 which reads (KJV):

And when the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple;

He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. The Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

And laid it in his own tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

There are those who claim that this fulfilled a prophecy in Isaiah 53:9, which says none of this, at least in the Greek and the Hebrew versions (Masoretic and Dead Sea Scroll versions).

ISAHAI 53:9

First, here is the KJV version:

“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth.”

The latter half after “BECAUSE” doesn’t make a lot of sense. He was killed and buried because he was non-violent and honest?

Now let’s look at the Greek Version, translated from the Lexham English Septuagint:

“And I will give the wicked in place of his tomb, and the wealthy in place of death, because he committed no lawlessness, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

This makes more sense, that the wicked and the wealth were being killed instead of the protagonist because he, not they, was innocent to be given such a fate.

Now let’s move onto the Hebrew. There is one difference (other than the errors in writing the text) in that the scribe originally wrote “wealthy” in the plural form, and then the pluralization suffix was scrapped away to adjust it to the normal singular. Although, traditionally, even though it is singular, we read it as if it is plural. It’s a small difference. To see images of the scribal problems for this verse, click on this link where I show screen prints of the different issues, none of which are dramatic.

So, here’s a correct translation of the Hebrew (mine):

“And he cast the wicked and the wealthy into his burying place with its dead ones, because he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

(Note, I give a 5 minute explanation of why my translation is accurate at this YouTube link).

So, this is definitely not what Matthew is describing at all. There is vengeance by [someone/Someone] against the bad people who, unlike the protagonist, deserved death.

COMMENTARY

There are no capital letters in Hebrew, so “he” or “He” and “his” or “His” don’t indicate if this is a person, a people, or God killing these people, nor do we know if “his grave” refers to the mass grave with all of its dead ones means it belonged to a person, a people, or God (the latter might make it a euphemism for Sheol, the realm of the dead, which is often a biblical euphemism for “being killed”.

But in any case, Matthew does not fulfill the retributional verse of Isaiah 53:9, which is referring to Babylon before it gets decimated (something mentioned by Isaiah and other prophets). And the killing of the wealthy is likely the source for later one, when God tells the protagonist that he gets a share in the physical booty looted.

So, no, the claim that “buried in the tomb of a rich man” is a prophecy and that it was fulfilled is blatantly false.

Here’s the meme used.

 

Psalm 22:16 - Stared Upon

General Overview

Psalm 22 belongs to a category of more than 3 dozen psalms known as “Psalms of Lament”. This type of psalm has 5 elements: addressing God, complaining, asking for help, making a vow of trust, making praises (which often includes demanding that others do so as well). Another important element is that the protagonist doesn’t die, but glorifies God for having heard and being a protector.

I describe more about this and the superscription that many Christian translations leave out (at this link that explains why “piercing” is an ideological force).

The Claim and the Verse

The claim that Jesus was stared at can be found in Luke 23:35 (I will cite the KJV), where it states that Jesus was still alive for a short time after being crucified on the cross, and before he can have a conversation with two other men who were hanging on either side of him we read:

“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.”

Notice that, like so many other supposed “fulfilled prophecies”, there’s nothing in the text itself to call this a fulfillment, and so calling it a “prophecy” appears to be a much later forced interpretation. There is a lack of agreement among the classical Christian commentators about those who derided, since it could have been just the Jewish leadership (the Sanhedrin) or the Jews as a whole.

Here’s the verse from Psalm 22:17 that is cited (or 22:18 in the Jewish version, since the superscription isn’t counted as a separate verse within Christian texts):

“I will count all of my bones; they look at me with disdain.”

The expression “I will count my bones” is unclear and there is no universal agreement among classical Jewish commentators as to it’s meaning. One such example is that “Bones” could refer to the protagonist being emaciated and being mocked for that. Others claim that the enemies made his bones become disjointed and was looking at them in his agony (see Ibn Ezra and the Radak).

The Hebrew expression that I translated as “with disdain” implies that the people seeing this are elated at what they are seeing, which is his suffering that is going to be replaced with joy in a couple of later verses as he praises God as the One who will save him from his condition. There’s a similar use of “look at him” in Ezekiel 25:17.

Now, it’s important that we compare the verse from Psalms within its context as opposed to that from Luke.

And unlike the verse from Luke, we see that:

·        The people mocking are not Jews but enemies of the Jews.

·        There are no leaders mentioned.

·        “I will count my bones” has no counterpart in Luke.

·        The protagonist isn’t being killed.

·        The protagonist sees himself surviving this, typical of lamentation songs.

Verdict

Given that Luke never calls “looking at him” the fulfillment of a prophecy, and that it doesn’t address the verse in Psalms in its entirety, and that the people doing the looking are the enemies of the Jews rather than Jews, and because the other four points that I have already mentioned, one cannot call Luke 23:35 a fulfillment of Psalm 22:16/17 without forcing it into an impossible fit.

Yes, Psalm 22:17 has the protagonist being made fun of for having suffered at the hands of the enemy, but how the protagonist in Psalms is suffering and who is doing the seeing and mocking, is completely different than what we see in Luke 23:35.

And here is the meme used:

Psalm 109:25 - People Shook their Heads

There’s a claim that Psalm 109:25 is a prophecy that was fulfilled in Matthew 27:39, when Jesus, already crucified upon his cross, watched his detractors shake their heads at him. Hence the claim: “People shook their heads”.

If this psalm number seems familiar to you, it should, since it was used in a previous claim, that declared that it was a prophecy about Jesus falling beneath a cross that he was carrying, even though there’s no cross, execution, or a condemned man leaving his trial to walk to his final end.

So apparently, one is able to use one “prophecy” to fulfill a number of claims.

And like the previous one, this one too is forced. It is forced so much that an Olympic gymnast would be required to match its contortions to fit the preconceived view.

The text in Matthew 27:39-40 says:

“And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads. And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself if though be the son of God, come down from the cross.”

Let’s look at Psalm 109:25:

“And as for me, I have become a person of disgrace for them, and when they saw me, they shook their head.”

And, as in the earlier claim, this person is not on a cross, is not a criminal, is not going to be executed, is not a messiah. Rather, he is a poor man, impoverished, weak from hunger and his struggles, and is ignored, crying out to God for help (next verse). He represents the downtrodden who is being ignored by others.

Keep in mind, as I have mentioned before, in ancient times it was believed that all misfortune was a chastisement from God, and therefore deserved. And the lack of empathy from such a view should not be surprising. And this Psalm is incorporating that view concerning the poor (the “ahni”) by those who remain indifferent, and declaring that God will be such a person’s salvation.

But it’s not about a crucified messiah where people are basically saying “Where’s your God now?!” In fact, the people in the psalm aren’t saying anything. They notice the poor man, shake their heads, and move on, avoiding him, ending the psalm with:

“Because He stands at the right hand of the needy, and will save him from they who judge him.”

In short, Matthew 27:39 doesn’t fulfill anything in psalm 109:25, which proclaims that God will defend those who are judged by others for His afflictions, a possible reference to “He will afflict they who judge the afflicted.”

Definitely not referring to the crucifixion!

Here's the meme used:

Psalm 38:11 - Friends Stood Afar Off

There is a claim that, in Luke 23:49, where it says:

“And all his acquaintance, and the women who followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.”

Now, what they beheld was the death of Jesus.

There is a claim that this fulfills a Psalm (38:11), where the protagonist’s friends are avoiding him because of his disease.

To understand this, you have to first know how the ancient people viewed disease.

In the Babylonian Talmud (7^th century text), there is an emphasis that all disease and affliction come from sin and that “if not for sin, man wouldn’t die”. Sin was biblically held as the cause of all of one’s pains and suffering.

Psalm 38 is the first of the group of 4 psalms (38-41) where the protagonist admits being a sinner and is seeking forgiveness to relieve himself of disease and affliction. He repeatedly tells God that He knows of his sins and he regrets them, wanting relief from the suffering that He put there to cause the man to repent.

And because of this view of sin causing illness, people keeping their distance is expected. Not simply because you are diseased, but because you deserve what you got, and suffering of the body is a form of repentance.

4. “…nor is there health in my bones due to my sin.”
5. “…for my iniquities are gone over my head…they are too heavy a burden for me.”
6. “My wounds are noisome, they fester, because of my foolishness.”
19. “For I do declare my iniquity, I am full of care because of my sin.”

In short, this is about a person riddled with disease because of his sins, and wants his suffering to go away and is willing to repent.

So, if someone cites psalms 38-41 as being a prophecy of anything doing with Jesus, you can immediately discount that claim as utter nonsense.

Here’s the meme used.

Psalm 69:5 - Hated Without a Cause

The Claim Referring to John

The claim is that John 15:25 fulfilled a prophecy written in Psalm 69:4. In order to understand how problematic this claim is, let’s first look at the KJV text of John 15:24-35:

“If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.

But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”

It should be noted that “they” is referring to the Jews. The Gospel of John refers to the religious Jews negatively more than any other Gospel. To him, they are a hateful people who are to be replaced, and, therefore, their hat fulfills a tiny segment of a song that is about Jews, collectively in Babylon, complaining about their life there, narrated in the first-person, and how the people who hate them call them thieves and mock them, and hate them.

The verse in Psalm 69.

Remember, there is no verse anywhere in the Tanach that says that the Jews will hate the messiah and seek to annihilate him. That is solely the view of the writers of the New Testament. Think about it rationally: what would be the point in writing such a song and then maintaining it for centuries when the core message of the prophets was that the Jews will desire and yearn for them messiah who will get them out of their mess?

Now, many psalms begin with what is known as a “superscription”, which often contains an idea of the theme of the song. Many Cristian translations will either drop the superscription in some cases, or will join them to the second verse, thus causing the numbering to differ from the traditional Hebrew versions. So in the Christian numbering, the verse 69:4 is being referenced, but maps back to verse 69:5 in the Hebrew text.

Now the superscription “To He who grants victory concerning roses” (or some “for the conductor, about roses”), has a lot of room for interpretation. Many imply that “roses” are reflected in the verse in that they are desirable, want to be plucked, and have an inherent protection (thorns) that can make it difficult. However you want to interpret it, the idea does seem to be a positive implication.

And here is the verse in question about those hateful Jews that John was referring to:

“Those who hate me for no reason outnumber the hairs on my head: it is they who would annihilate me, being my lying enemies, claiming I robbed and I should return what I stole.”

Nowhere in John 15 is the wrongful claim made by the Jews that Jesus was a robber and must return what he stole. That is, of course, the verse that is being referred to, a verse that has the nation who are holding the Jews captive, saying this about the Jews, and not the Jews saying this about a messiah that they are yearning for to get them out of that exile.

In fact, the very next line, after “they have me and lie about me” has the person admit that he has sinned, and that his sins are not hidden from God.

So, again, this does not refer to the sinless and innocent Jesus being mentioned by John.

Conclusion

John’s claim that the hateful Jews hating their messiah was foretold in song is a forced claim that takes two Hebrew words out of 14 to make it seem so, until one actually reads the rest of the words, and considers the context.

So, was the Jews hating a messiah a fulfilled prophecy?

No according to the Tanach. So, it’s a failed “prophecy”.

And here’s the meme used.

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 53:3 - Rejected by his own Countrymen

 The claim is based on two verses from John. Here are the KJV versions:

 John 7:5 - "For neither did his brethren believe in him."

 John 7:48 - "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?"

Now, the claim is that this was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:3. Here is the KJV version:

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

There are two problems with this association.

The first is the assumption that the Pharisees are the ones voicing their views, when we read later (verse 12) that the protagonist was one and the same with the pesha'im (Jews who ignored or rebelled against the prophets).

The second is that it's based on a very bad translation.

Here's mine:

"He was despised and abandoned by men, a man of pains who was no stranger to sickness; and like one who hides one's face from us, he was despised and worthless."

Here's the Dead Sea Scrolls version:

"He was despised and abandoned by men, and a man of pains who was no stranger to sickness; and like one who is caused to hide one's face from us, they were despised and worthless."

This one is interesting in that it makes the protagonist as representing the exiled Jews as a whole. But still, they are hiding their face, not the faces being hidden from them.

Finally, the Greek version, from "The Lexham English Septuagint":

"Instead his appearance was dishonored and was coming to an end among the sons of humans, a human who is in misfortune and knows how to bear sickness, for his face had been turned back; he was dishonored and not esteemed."

 So, the belief that Jesus being rejected by some in the Gospel stories was predicted in Isaiah 53:3 was a forced view dependent upon bad (or ideologically driven) translations.

We have seen this before. And we'll see it again.

Here's the meme used:

 

 

Isaiah 53:12 - Made Intercession for his Persecutors

Introduction

Note: Half of this post appears in a different blog post concerning the supposed prophecy about being crucified between a pair of thieves. That means that about half of this post is unique and new.

This blog post has a focus on a portion of Isaiah 53:12, and as a result, a lot of detail concerning this song is going to be omitted for the sake of brevity. When writing about Isaiah 53 in general, it took me 43 pages in MS-Word to describe the history and language to my satisfaction, and that won’t work in a short blog post. So, to be brief, let’s begin looking at Isaiah 53:12.

Quick Overview of Isaiah 53

The book of Isaiah is generally broken down into three sections, which we will call “Proto Isaiah”, “Deutero-Isaiah”, and “Trito-Isaiah”.

Isaiah 53 is near the end of “Deutero-Isaiah”, which consists of chapters 40-55. The entirety of Deutero-Isaiah covers the period when the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, and will sometimes backward reference for the reason for that exile. Chapter 53 is in the style of a Biblical song, a narrative with rhyme, metaphor, and cadence, and, being near the end of Deutero-Isaiah is recapping what came before and celebrating the end of the exile.

There is a general theme that runs through many of the books of the prophets and writings (referred to as “Nach”) which is that the Jews got what they deserved, and that their exile to Babylon will have a fixed duration, that God (or His servant leading an army) will wipe out Babylon, killing all of the evil people and the wealthy, turn Babylon into a wasteland, and the Jews will gather up the booty from the dead rich Babylonians and rush to Jerusalem where they will return to God (literally and metaphorically), and a return to glory.

And chapter 53, being close to the end of that timeline celebrates the end, and so I call it Isaiah’s “Song of Salvation”, where “salvation” means the redemption from forced exile.

There are, generally, two ways that this song is read. The first, as I stated, was it being messianic in the way that there will be freedom and a reestablishment of Jewish dominance in the land. The other way, which is how Christians hold it, is that it’s messiah-centric, and that it’s not about how the Jews suffered, but how the messiah, many centuries after the fall of Babylon, would suffer.

And that brings us to the last verse in what is near the end of the Babylonian period narrative texts, which Christians see as referring to Jesus’ last day on earth, as they do with most of Isaiah 53, which requires some interesting mental gymnastics in order to make that work.

The Claim

There is one claim that says that Luke 23:34, a verse that describes Jesus as asking God to forgive the people who harmed him, fulfills a prophecy in Isaiah 53:12. Amazingly enough, Jesus didn’t have to die for God to forgive the sins of mankind.

Here is Luke 23:34 (KJV):

“Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots.”

It should be noted that Isaiah 53:12 does not have the protagonist telling God to forgive anyone, saying that his abusers didn’t know what they were doing, nor does it contain any word referring to “intercession”.

As we have already seen in the many posts that I have already written about the subject, in order to get a prophecy to “work”, the verse being assigned as a “fulfillment” is typically chopped up with some of it ignored entirely, especially when it is contrary to the claim. In this case, selecting 3 Hebrew words out of a verse composed of 22 words to make a case for a “fulfillment”.

So here is the KJV version of Isaiah 53:12, with me highlighting in bold the supposed “intercession prophecy”:

               Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great,
               and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because
               he hath poured out his soul unto death;
               and he was numbered with the transgressors;
               and he bare the sin of the many,
               and made intercession for the transgressors.

But let’s look at the version based on the Hebrew text. I will put in brackets any variance that is found in the Dead Sea Scroll that contains this same verse.

               Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many,
               and a plunder of great ones he will share, because
               he had publicly exposed himself to death;
               And he had been one with the pesha’im,
               and he tolerated the sin[s] of many,
               it was due to [her] pesha’im that he was harmed.

As you can see, there’s no intercession. And it says that the protagonist was one of the pesha’im, and it was his association with them (rebelling against the prophet) that caused him to be harmed by being in exile with them.

Pesha’im

What were these pesha’im?

The Hebrew word used is “פשע” (“pesha” - the singular form), or “פשעים” (“pesha’im” - the plural form).  The prophets use this term of a personal condemnation of the Jews who were being disobedient to the prophets and, by extension, to YHVH. In Isaiah, as we will see below, when it is speaking of people, pesha’im only refers to the exiled Israelites as a whole who were in exile specifically because they didn’t listen and obey the prophets of YHVH. When it is speaking of actions, it is referring to the rebellious actions of the Jewish people, of disobeying the prophet. And when one goes against a prophet, one goes against YHVH.

Turning away from pesha is to obey the prophet. Being cast out because of your pesha is to ignore the prophet. And YHVH wiping away one’s pesha with is a statement of being forgiven through the prophet. So, translating pesha as a sin as if it is the same as a cheit is inadequate to the task. Therw is always a disobedience and rebellion against a prophet being referred to, and YHVH always takes that personally.

We see this throughout Isaiah as in:

1:2 – “…they [Israel] have pesha (פשע) against Me!”
1:28 – “But the pesha’mi and the sinners shall be crushed…”
24:20 – “…her pesha shall weigh her down…”
43:25 – “But it is I, I, for My own sake, wipe away your pesha’im…
43:27 – “Your first patriarchs sinned against Me, and your advocates pesha against me.”
44:22 –“I wipe away you peshaim like a cloud…”
46:8 – “Keep this in mind and stand firm, take this to heart you pesha’im.”
48:8 – “…you were called a pesha while in the womb.”
50:1 – “…for your pesha I have sold you off…”
53:5 – “But he was harmed because of our pesha…”
53:12 “…and he was one of the pesha’im (disobedient)…
53:12 – “…and it was due to pesha’im he was harmed.”
53:8 – “…through the pesha of my people he was afflicted.”
59:20 – “[YHVH] will come as the redeemer to Zion, to those in Jacob who torn away from pesha.”
57:4 – “…you are children of a pesha, the seed of a lie.”
58:1 “…declare to My people their pesha”
59:12 – “For you many pesha’im are before you…we know well your pesha’im.”
59:13 – “pesha and faithlessness in YHVH and turning away from our God…”
66:24 – “They shall go out and gaze upon the corpses of those who rebelled (pesha) against Me…”

Summary

Isaiah 53:12 does not say that the messiah will intercede on behalf of his abusers. In fact, the protagonist’s abusers are all killed off in verse 9.

Also, this verse begins by the Prophet promising that YHVH is going to give the loot, the booty that belonged to the wealthy ones who were killed in the defeating of Babylon in verse 9, as well as the abusers of the protagonist. The protagonist is reminded that he too is one of the pesha’im who deserved what he got for not listening to the prophets, but since he endured his punishment without complaint, he will benefit.

Here is the meme used: