Bible Difficulties (59 page)

Third, idolatry is set forth in Isaiah 40-66 as a current vice in Israel. The prophet addresses his countrymen as flagrant idol worshipers in 57:4-5: "Against whom do ye sport yourselves?...Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?" Compare with this Isaiah 1:29:

"They shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired" (oak groves being the setting for ritual prostitution and excesses connected with Baal worship). The reference to infant sacrifice suggests the conditions prevailing during the reign of Manasseh (697-642 B.C.), who made a practice of sacrificing babies to Moloch and Adrammelech in the Valley of Hinnom (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6). Isaiah 57:7 makes a clear allusion to sacrifice on the "high places," which was practiced in Judah during the time of Ahaz (743-728 B.C.) and Manasseh. Again, in Isaiah 65:2-4 we read: "Ì have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people....a people that provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks; that sit among the graves and lodge in the 265

secret places; that eat swine's flesh; the abomination, and the mouse. They shall come to an end, all of them,' says Yahweh."

These references to the practice of idolatry by the Israelites demonstrate conclusively that the author is writing in a historical setting prior to the Babylonian exile. This is so for two reasons.

First, the mountainous terrain, the high and lofty hills, are not to be found in Babylonia at all; for there is nothing but a broad, flat, alluvial plain. Moreover, the trees that are mentioned as possibilities for making wooden images out of and then using the scrap for the stove or fireplace--the cedar, the cypress, and the oak (41:19; 44:14)--are all unknown to Babylonia. Therefore, if we have any respect at all to the internal evidence of the text itself, we have to conclude (Doederlein to the contrary notwithstanding) that Isaiah 40-66

could never have been composed in Babylonia.

Second, the references to idol worship exclude the possibility (advocated by Duhm and many of the later scholars) that Isaiah 40-66 was really composed
after
the Fall of Jerusalem, up in Lebanon, and partly back in Judah, after the Fall of Babylon. The reason that this possibility is excluded is that only the earnest, pious men of religious conviction were involved in the resettlement of Jerusalem and Judah after Cyrus gave permission for the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland. Only a mere 10 percent of them responded to the invitation (about fifty thousand in all), and their expressed purpose was to reestablish a commonwealth dedicated to the worship and service of Yahweh as the one true God.

We have positive control evidence that no idolatry was practiced in post-Exilic Judah within the sixth and fifth centuries BC. That evidence comes from the writings of Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. In the prophecies and historical records of these five post-Exilic authors, we meet with a good deal of denunciation of sins that were prevalent among their countrymen at that time; but there is never a mention of idolatry in Israel. There was intermarriage with foreign women of idolatrous background, there was oppression of the poor by the rich, there was desecration of the Sabbath, there was a withholding of tithes, and there was the presentation of diseased or defective animals on the altar to God. But there was never a mention of idolatry--which had been emphasized by the pre-Exilic prophets as the cardinal sin of the nation, the very particular sin for which God would bring down on them the weight of His wrath and the total destruction of their country. There is no other logical deduction to draw from the evidence of the text of Isaiah 40-66 but that it demands a pre-Exilic setting, which absolutely destroys the Deutero-Isaiah and the Trito-Isaiah theories. Such antisupernatural hypotheses can be maintained only in the teeth of the objective evidence of the Hebrew text, on which they were allegedly founded.

The final consideration we adduce at this point is the attitude of Christ and the New Testament authors toward the authorship of the Book of Isaiah. Consider the following: (1) Matthew 12:17-18 quotes Isaiah 42:1 as "that which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet." (2) Matthew 3:3 quotes Isaiah 40:3 as "spoken by the prophet Isaiah." (3) Luke 266

3:4 quotes Isaiah 40:3-5 as "in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet." (4) Acts 8:28

reports that the Ethiopian eunuch was "reading Isaiah the prophet," specifically Isaiah 53:7-8. He then inquired of Philip, "Of whom is the prophet speaking, of himself or of some other man?" (5) Romans 10:20 quotes Isaiah 65:1, stating, "Isaiah is very bold and says...." (6) In John 12:38-41 we find two quotations from Isaiah: Isaiah 53:1 (in v.38) and Isaiah 6:9-10 (in v.40). Then in v.41 John affirms concerning these two verses, one from Isaiah "I" and the other from Isaiah "II": "These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him." This surely implies that the inspired apostle believed that both Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 53 were written by the same Isaiah.

In view of this decisive New Testament testimony, it is hard to see how those who claim to be Evangelical can espouse the Deutero-Isaiah theory, or even regard it as a legitimate option for Evangelicals to hold. Or are there really Evangelicals who can embrace antisupernatural theories that completely deny the possibility of predictive prophecy and still call themselves Evangelical? It is questionable whether they can do so with integrity!

How can Isaiah 7:14 be considered a prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ? Isaiah
7:16 seems to preclude this entirely, and Isaiah 8:3 seems to fulfill the prophecy.

In a time of great national crisis, the kingdom of Judah was threatened with conquest by the northern alliance of apostate Samaria and pagan Damascus (Isa 7:4-6). Had they succeeded, Judah would have become a mere satellite to Samaria and later would have been destroyed as a nation by the Assyrian invaders (who destroyed Samaria itself within fifteen years of this time).

Since Judah was governed by a wicked and ungodly king named Ahaz, its position as the one Bible-believing nation on the face of the earth was gravely imperiled. Therefore its greatest need was for a deliverer who would rescue it from sin and exalt it to a position of great spiritual force, witnessing to the rest of mankind about the way of salvation. In these prophecies concerning Immanuel, the Lord met Judah's needs.

Isaiah 7:14 promises that "the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [i.e., `God with us']." Who is this sign to be? In what sense will he be "God with us"? From the references that follow, it is quite apparent that there is to be a
type
of Immanuel who will be born in the near future as proof that God is with His people to deliver them.

Yet also an
antitype
will be born in the more remote future who will be both God and man, and He will deliver His people not only from human oppressors but also from sin and guilt. Furthermore, He will reign as David's descendant and successor forever and ever. Thus the twofold need will be met both by the typical Immanuel and by the antitypical divine Redeemer.

Isaiah 7:16 clearly refers to a child who is to be born within a very few years: "For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good [i.e., before he reaches the age of full moral responsibility], the land whose two kings you dread [i.e., Pekah of 267

Samaria and Rezin of Damascus] will be forsaken" (NASB). Normally at the age of twelve or thirteen, the Jewish lad was considered old enough to assume full responsibility for his own sins; then he would learn to read and expound the Pentateuch as a barmitsvah (a "son of the commandment").

Now if this promise was given in 735 B.C., and if the time-indicator child was born within a year or so thereafter, then he would have been twelve by 722 B.C., when Samaria fell to the Assyrian besiegers and was permanently destroyed as a nation.

Damascus had already been stormed and pillaged by the troops of Tiglath-pileser III in 732. This earlier date was also predicted, for in Isaiah 8:4 we read of the son who is to be born to Isaiah by the prophetess: "Before the boy knows how to cry out `my father' or

`my mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria" (NASB).

By 732 the boy who served as the type of Immanuel would be two years of age, and therefore old enough to say "Daddy" and "Mommy." Quite clearly this little son of the prophet who bore the God-given name of Maher-shalal-hash-baz (see Isa. 8:3) was to be the time-indicator for the fulfillment of this prediction of Judah's deliverance from the current crisis.

At the time Isaiah 7:14 was given, the "prophetess" mentioned in 8:3 would have been a virgin and would have been known to King Ahaz and his court as the woman to whom Isaiah (presumably a widower by this time, having lost through death the mother of Shear-jashab mentioned in 7:3) was engaged. Before they married, the Lord revealed to Isaiah that the first child he would have by this godly young woman would be a boy: and the Lord told him what name to call him: "Hasten to the booty, the spoil is running away!" (which is the meaning of Maher-shalal-hash-baz, intended as an encouragement to the Assyrian invaders against the Damascus-Samaria coalition).

By the time this boy reached the age of twelve the invaded regions of Israel would be so utterly laid waste by the Assyrians that much of it would revert to pastureland; and the erstwhile cultivator of orchards and wheatfields would find his property reduced to a mere "heifer and a pair of sheep" (Isa. 7:21), and he would be living on a diet of curds and wild honey (vv. 15, 22). Clearly, then, Isaiah's second son was to serve as the type of the coming Immanuel.

Yet it is also apparent from what follows that there is a far greater person in view, who will come as the divine-human antitype and will in His own person be Immanuel, God Incarnate. It is significant that Palestine is from that time on to be known as the land of Immanuel (see Isa. 8:8: "your land, O Immanuel"). This is something far more meaningful than the land of Maher-shalal-hash-baz. It is because of Immanuel that the people and land of Israel are guaranteed a key role in God's program of redemption.

There will come that mighty Redeemer of whom it is promised in 9:6; "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on his shoulders; and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity [as the Hebrew
'abi-àd
should properly be rendered], Prince of Peace." Verse 7 continues to 268

speak of His messianic rule. Plainly, this refers to God Incarnate, the divine-human King, Jesus Christ, whose sovereign rule will eternally endure, because He Himself will never pass away.

In confirmation of this Christ reference of Isaiah 7:14, the New Testament says in Matthew 1:22-23: "Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, `Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which translated means, `God with us'"

(NASB).

Perhaps a brief comment should be made concerning the word for "virgin" used in Isaiah 7:14. The root meaning of
àlmah
is "maiden" or "young woman." It is therefore not as precise a word for virgin as the Hebrew
betulah
, which is defined in Genesis 24:16

(in reference to Rebekah) as a young woman who has never had sexual relations.

Yet it is also true that in the seven occurrences of
àlmah
in the singular throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the word never refers to a maiden who has lost her virginity but only to one who is in fact unmarried and chaste--as in Genesis 24:43, where Rebekah the virgin (
betulah
) is also referred to as an
àlmah
. By Hebrew usage, then, this word is about equivalent to the idea of "virgin," even though it is less precise than
betulah
.

It should be observed that
àlmah
was an ideal term for the twofold aspect of the Immanuel prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. The future mother of the antitype, Isaiah's wife-to-be, was a virgin up until the night of her wedding. But the Virgin Mary was a
virgo intacta
at the time the angel announced to her that she would become the mother of Jesus. Joseph had no carnal knowledge of her until after her firstborn Son was delivered, according to Matthew 1:24-25.

If Christ is God the Son, how is it that he is called "the everlasting Father" in Isaiah
9:6?

Isaiah 9:6 says of the coming Savior, the God-man Jesus Christ, "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." At least, this is the way it is usually translated. But the basis for so doing is very dubious, since the Hebrew reads
'abi àd
, which literally means "Father of Eternity." It is true that both
àd
and
òlam
are often used as constructs in an adjectival sense and might be so construed here, were it not for the context. The preceding portion of the verse stresses His sonship in terms suggestive of His incarnation, in such a way as to make an assertion of His paternity or paternal status within the Godhead seem quite incongruous. For this reason we should understand this phrase in the most literal way, that He is father of (that is, the author of)
àd
, a term meaning "perpetuity," used at least nineteen times in connection with
òlam
("age," "eternity"). It usually points to the indefinitely continuing future and is often used to imply "eternal" or "everlasting," in much the same way as
òlam
is. In other words,
àd
and
òlam
seem to be nearly synonymous and may even be substituted for each other without any change in meaning.

269

In view of the above, it seems reasonable to understand the phrase
'abi àd
as "Father of Eternity" in the sense of "Author of Eternity"--not in the sense of beginningless and endless eternity (such as would be predicated of God), but in the sense of all the stretch of time between the beginning of creation and its ultimate termination. In other words, this title points to Christ as the Creator of the world--the world viewed as a time continuum--