It has been held by many Christians that Numbers 25:17, which is a prophecy by Balaam, the sorcerer, about the Jewish people, is actually about the Messiah, which it isn't, and by extension, certainly not about Jesus.
Remember, in the NT, Jesus doesn't have an earthly father, and if one's father isn't a Jew, one is not part of any tribe. And if Jesus wasn't part of the tribe of Judah, and not his descendant, he certainly wasn't a descendant of Judah's father.
But here's the verse, with Balaam speaking:
"What I see for them [the Israelites] is not yet, and what I behold will not be soon: a star rises from Jacob, a scepter comes forth from Israel, it smashes the brow of Moab, the foundation of all children of Seth."
We read in 2 Samuel 8:2 and in 2 Kings 3 that the Israelites, the sons of Israel/Jacob defeated Moab, crushing it.
THIS is what the verse from Balaam is talking about. The use of the name "Jacob" is a collective term, not the patriarch by that name. Many writings refer to Israel in this way. And the expression of a star often occurs in the Tanach, and refers to the rise (and sometimes, fall) of the fortune of a nation.
It is not about a Messiah long after Moab has fallen.
And not only has Jesus not fulfilled this prophecy by a sorcerer, but it was fulfilled long before Jesus was even born.
And Jesus was not the "son of Jacob", for that's a patriarchal relationship that he was missing.
So the style here is: misapplied meaning, non-messianic prophecy, not fulfilled by Jesus.
And here's the meme:
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