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: