Global InformationOld Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament information
The books of the New Testament frequently cite Jewish scripture to support the claim of the Early Christians that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. Scholars have observed that few of these citations are actual predictions in context; the majority of these quotations and references are taken from the prophetic Book of Isaiah, but they range over the entire corpus of Jewish writings.[1]
Jews do not regard any of these as having been fulfilled by Jesus, and in some cases do not regard them as messianic prophecies at all. Old Testament prophecies that were regarded as referring to the arrival of Christ are either not thought to be prophecies by biblical scholars, as the verses make no stated claim of being predictions, or are seen as having no correlation as they do not explicitly refer to the Messiah.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Historical criticism has been agreed to be a field that is unable to argue for the evidential fulfillment of prophecy, or that Jesus was indeed the Messiah because he fulfilled messianic prophecies, as it cannot "construct such an argument" within that academic method, since it is a theological claim.[8]
No view of the Messiah as based on the Old Testament predicted a Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of all people.[9] The story of Jesus' death, therefore, involved a profound shift in meaning from the Old Testament tradition.[10]
- ^ Blomberg 2007, p. 2: "The problem is that only a small handful of these Old Testament references were predictive in their original contexts."
- ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2000). The Historical Jesus. Part I. The Teaching Company, p. 36. "Early Christians began searching their Scriptures to see how these things could be. 1. The Hebrew Bible did not discuss the messiah's suffering. Some passages refer to the suffering of a righteous man (cf. Isaiah 53), who feels abandoned by God, but whose suffering is accepted as a sacrifice for others. 2. Some passages, such as the Psalms of Lament (e.g., Pss. 22, 35, 69) and the songs of the Suffering Servant of the Lord in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 53), were taken to refer not just to any person who was suffering, or even to Israel as a whole (cf. Isaiah 49:3), but to the future messiah of Israel. 4. Jews and Christians began to debate the meanings of these texts, and the debates continue to this day."
- ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2009). "7. Who Invented Christianity? A Suffering Messiah. Jewish Expectations of the Messiah". Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them). HarperCollins, USA. pp. 228–229. ISBN 978-0-06-186327-1.
But doesn't the Bible constantly talk about the Messiah who would suffer? As it turns out, the answer is no. Since the beginning, Christians have frequently cited certain passages in the Old Testament as clear prophecies of the future suffering Messiah, passages such as Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, in which someone suffers horribly, sometimes expressly for the sins of others. These passages, Christians have claimed, are clear statements about what the Messiah would be like. Jews who do not believe in Jesus, however, have always had a very effective response: the Messiah is never mentioned in these passages. You can check it out for yourself: read Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22 ... The term 'Messiah' never occurs in them. In Jewish tradition, these passages refer not to the Messiah but to someone else (or to lots of someone elses).
- ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (22 March 2011). Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. HarperOne. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-06-207863-6.
The truth, of course, is that Jews throughout history have been no more illiterate, blind, or stupid than Christians. The typical response of Jews to the Christian claims that Jesus fulfilled prophecy is that the scriptural passages that Christians cite are either not speaking of a future messiah or are not making predictions at all. And one has to admit, just looking at this set of debates from the outside, the Jewish readers have a point. In the passages allegedly predicting the death and resurrection of Jesus, for example, the term 'messiah' in fact never does occur. Many Christians are surprised by this claim, but just read Isaiah 53 for yourself and see.
- ^ Rydelnik, Michael (2010). The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic?. New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology Series. B&H Publishing Group. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4336-7297-2. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
In a thoughtful essay, Gordon McConville has articulated the issue at hand. According to McConville, "Modern Old Testament scholarship has been largely informed by the belief that traditional Christian messianic interpretations of Old Testament passages have been exegetically indefensible."
- ^ Rydelnik, Michael (2010). The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic?. New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology Series. B&H Publishing Group. pp. 22, 26. ISBN 978-1-4336-7297-2. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
non-critical scholars by their prooftexting actually discredit the claims of Jesus in the eyes of literary and historical critics ... much of contemporary critical scholarship on messianism, which argues that the messianic idea did not develop until the intertestamental period ... Old Testament scholarship is now divided: The majority takes a more historical approach to the Old Testament, resulting in a minimalist view of the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible.
- ^ Harrell, Charles R. (2011). "This Is My Doctrine": The Development of Mormon Theology. Greg Kofford Books. p. 153. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
Critical scholars question the legitimacy of claims that this and other Old Testament messianic prophecies were alluding to Christ. They see nothing in Old Testament writings that would connect messianic prophecies with a redeemer of the world who would establish a spiritual kingdom and in whom all must put their faith or perish.
- ^ Miller 2015, p. 325. "Historical criticism cannot argue that Jesus really did fulfill prophecy and then treat that fulfillment as evidence that he was the messiah. Historical criticism simply has no method by which to construct such an argument."
- ^ Farmer 1991, pp. 570–71.
- ^ Juel 2000, pp. 236–39.