An entirely new religion was spawned by the teachings and events surrounding Jesus of Nazareth – Christianity. Something profound eventually changed the official views of the Roman empire with Christianity going on to become the largest religion in the world, over 2 billion people today.[1]
Religion archenemies of Christianity commonly agree on the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth. The fact that Jesus was crucified is a fundamental component of the Jewish religion to disavow Jesus as the Messiah.[3]
Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are accounts about the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They point out many Messiah prophecies that were fulfilled and cite many witness accounts to corroborate their accounts. Whether or not they were just a series of extreme coincidences points to the legal Doctrine of Chances.
Messiah prophecies that may have been fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth originate in the Tenakh, the Old Testament. Christianity views prophecies that they believe refer to the Messiah were fulfilled by Jesus, such as the Branch prophecies of Isaiah,Jeremiah, Zechariah; the Psalms; the crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Judaism does not unanimously recognize some of these prophecies pertain to the Messiah. Renowned Jewish sages, including Rabbi Rashi and Rabbi Maimonides, had differing views on some prophecies deemed to be messianic by Christians.
One Messiah prophecy; however, is virtually undisputed by Jews or Christians alike – the Messiah would be born in the lineage of King David.[11] Gospels Matthew and Luke report that Jesus was a royal heir to David, a fact not a disputed by Judaism.
Birth circumstances described in Matthew and Luke spell out a scenario that uncannily lends credence for the Nativity story being dubbed “the greatest story ever told.” The Nativity story begins in three diverse countries of Rome, Persia and Judea, involves non-Jewish and non-Christian Magi, astronomy and a Roman Caesar. The Nativity story ends by converging in one place – Bethlehem.
Months in the making by the Roman government, the decree by Caesar Augustus forced the location change of the birthplace of Jesus. The decree in Nazareth compelled Joseph and Mary in her late-stage of pregnancy to abruptly make the days-long trek to Bethlehem where she went into labor. Had Jesus been born in Nazareth, it would have completely eliminated the potential fulfillment of Micah’s Bethlehem prophecy.[7]
Magi from the East presumed to be from Persia made preparations to travel around the edges of the vast Arabian Desert on a month’s long journey to Judea to find the newborn King of Israel. They were compelled by what they saw in the sky, not by any prophecies or scriptures.
Multiple rare planet and star conjunctions occurred in an unusually brief period of time shortly before the birth of Jesus, seconds in astronomical time. Typically these close conjunctions occur centuries or millennia apart; however, all occurred over the course of only months. [8]NASA astronomy science and technology confirms it all happened, both in timing and close proximity.[9]
Assessing all the circumstances involving the life of Jesus of Nazareth obviously has a direct impact on believability. The U.S. legal Doctrine of Chances suggests it was not an accident. Aside from prophecies coinciding with the birth, life, death and Resurrection, secular history and astronomy science corroborate the conclusion of the Doctrine.
What are the odds that Jesus was born as the Son of God, the Messiah?
Three Hebrew prophets over the span of 200 years – Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah – had one particular prophecy in common.[1] All foretold of the coming the “Branch” or the “Shoot.”
Generations after King David’s reign, some 700 years before Jesus of Nazareth was born, the remnants of Israel were in a downward death spiral. Despite many warnings from numerous prophets, for centuries the Hebrews and their kings failed to abide by their contractual Covenant made with God at Mt. Sinai.[2]
Renowned as a foremost prophet of God by both Judaism and Christianity, Isaiah warned Kings Ahaz and Hezekiah of the consequences their nation faced for disregarding God. Isaiah prophesied the “King of Babylon” would one day take away their descendants to serve as eunuchs in his palace.[3]
Warnings also came with good tidings when Isaiah prophesied about the coming future Messiah.[4]Isaiah foretold of a “Branch” or “Shoot” that would grow or “sprout” from the root of Jesse:[5]
Is 11:1-2 “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.”(NKJV)
Is 11:10 “And it shall come to pass on that day, that the root of Jesse, which stands as a banner for peoples, to him shall the nations inquire, and his peace shall be [with] honor.”(Complete Jewish Bible)
Prophet Jeremiah added more bad news prophesying the secession of sitting kings in the House of David would end with Jeconiah aka Jehoiachin.[6] Amidst the doom and gloom forecast, Jeremiah also predicted good news about the coming Messiah twice prophesying that God would raise up a King in the lineage of David who will be a righteous judge:
Jer 23:5 “”Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth…””(NKJV)
Jer 33:15 “‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth…’” (NKJV)
Continued defiance by the Hebrews led to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s judgement prophecies at the hands of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the city and captivity of some of Israel’s finest are documented in the Book of Daniel.[7]
Cyrus, ruler of the Persian Empire, bloodlessly conquered Babylon and took control of the Hebrew captives eventually ending the Babylonian captivity. One of Isaiah’s prophecies was then fulfilled after two centuries having prophesied that a future ruler named “Cyrus” would arise and allow Jerusalem and the Temple to be rebuilt.[8] Soon after capturing Babylon, Cyrus issued a decree:[9]
Ezra 1:2 ‘The Lord God of the heavens has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build for him a temple in Jerusalem in Judah. May the Lord your God energize you who belong to his people, so you may be able to go back there!”(NET)
Darius honored Cyrus’ decree to allow the Hebrews to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. Supporting decrees by the ruler and another by King Artaxerxes were required due to enemies of the Hebrews thwarting efforts to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.[10]
Prophet Zachariah, during the reign of Darius, wrote of a vision in which the prophet was present. Joshua the Priest stood before the angel of the LORD along with Satan who was there to accuse the priest.[11]
Satan was rebuked by God and Joshua was given fine new clothes.[12] In the vision prophecy, the angel of the Lord delivered God’s message speaking directly to the high Priest:[13]
Zech 3:8 “‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.’” (NASB)
Jewish sage Rabbi Maimonides identified “My Servant” as the Messiah whom Zachariah had identified as the Branch.[15] Issued two hundred years earlier, Isaiah’s parashah prophecy of Isaiah 52-53 is about “My Servant” who is subjected to unusual cruelties consistent with a Roman crucifixion described by the Gospels.
Narrating his eighth vision, Zechariah received instructions from God to choose people from among the exiles to make a crown of gold and silver, then set the symbolic crown upon the head of Joshua, the high Priest. Zechariah was then directed to deliver this message to the Priest:[14]
Zech 6:12-13 “…‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, saying: “Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, And He shall build the temple of the LORD; Yes, He shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So He shall be a priest on His throne, And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’” (NKJV)
In the oracle prophecy, God said the Branch would sit upon the throne as both King and priest who would build the Temple. Jewish sage Rabbi Rashi commented he believed the prophecy was in reference to Zerubbabel although the Rabbi did acknowledge others viewed the prophecy as referring to the Messiah.[16]
Prophecies from Isaiah before the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah during the Babylonian captivity and Zechariah after the Babylonian captivity point to a future figure called the Branch. The foretold Branch would have the characteristics of being wise and understanding; come from the lineage of David; and righteously judge the earth with a counsel of peace as a Servant of God.
What are the odds that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of the Branch prophecies?
Isaiah is considered to be the greatest of all the prophets by Judaism and Christianity making the Book of Isaiah the greatest of all the prophetic books in the Bible.[1] Many references and interpretations of Isaiah’s prophecies are found in the Talmud with Sanhedrin tractate 98 alone making ten references.[2]
Paramount to the prophecies of Isaiah is having confidence that his prophecies are reflected accurately in today’s Bibles.[3] Sciences of archeology and textual criticism enhanced by technology play a major role in making that determination.
Produced from 285-247 BC, the Septuagint LXX translation is the primary foundation for Christian Bibles. Josephus, a Jewish Pharisee, described in detail the origin of the Septuagint translation. Egypt ruler Ptolemy Philadelphius wrote to Priest Eleazar in Jerusalem requesting six of the best elders from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to make a Greek translation from the official Hebrew text.[4]
Elders including priests traveled to Egypt with scrolls from the Temple for the translation project.[5] King Ptolemy was most impressed with the condition of the scrolls:
“…and when the membranes, upon which they had their law written in golden letters, he put questions to them concerning those books; and when they had taken off the covers wherein they were wrapt up, they showed him the membranes. So the king stood admiring the thinness of those membranes, and the exactness of the junctures; which could not be perceived, (so exact were they connected one with another;)…”[6]
Upon completion, the Greek translation was reviewed again by “both the priests and the ancientest of the elders, and the principal men…” and finalized with a promise that it would never be changed.[7] “Septuagint” in Latin means 70 as does the Roman Numeral “LXX” representing those who worked together on the translation.[8]
Hebrew Bible translations are based on two surviving Hebrew Masoretic Texts (MT), the Aleppo Codex dated to 925 AD and the Leningrad Codex circa 1008-10 AD.[9] About a third of the Aleppo text was destroyed in a synagogue fire resulting in a dependency on the Leningrad manuscript to fill in the missing text.
Spanning the timeline between the Septuagint and the MT is at least 1150 years. In the interim, many events transpired in Judea– the Greek Empire with its language and Hellenism influences; the rule of King Herod; and domination by the Roman Empire which destroyed Jerusalem with the Temple in 70 AD.[10] These seismic events affected the purity of the MT translations.
Addressing these impacts opened the door to the Miqraot Gedolot HaKeter Project to produce a “precise letter-text” translation of the Masoretic text. Director Menachem Cohen, Professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University of Israel, said the project was intended to address the “thousands of flaws of the previous and current editions.”[11]
The Great Isaiah Scroll
Dead Sea Scroll discoveries at Qumran, beginning in 1947 continuing over the next decade until 1956, revealed a treasure trove of ancient scrolls determined to be about 2000 years old.[12] Two scrolls of Isaiah were among the discoveries, one virtually complete scroll known as “Qa” and the second scroll known as “Qb” which is about 75% complete.[13]
For good reason, the Qa scroll has been dubbed “The Great Isaiah Scroll” and is on display in Jerusalem at the Shrine of the Book.[14]The Scroll can be viewed in its entirety on the Internet.[15]
Dated to c. 125 BC, The Scroll is compromised of 17 pieces of leather sewn together, each strip containing from 2 to 4 pages of text.[16] For the MT, it serves as a side-by-side, older Hebrew text comparison and precludes the claim of any Christian influences because it predates the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth.
A precept of the science of textual criticism is the shorter the time interval between the original and the existing text, the greater the level of textual purity – the shorter time frame assumes a fewer number of interim handwritten copies where variations are inevitably introduced.[17]
Translation nuances are to be expected in the Greek translation because some ancient Hebrew characters do not have a direct Greek equivalent.[18] As with any translation, some words or phrases must be deciphered by the translators with a heavy dependence on the context.[19]
Josephus revealed the translation of the Greek Septuagint is based on a side-by-side Hebrew text taken directly from the Temple suggesting textual purity of the highest degree.[20] Inevitably, the lack of not having a side-by-side text significantly impacted the MT purity. Text variations posed a huge challenge to the Miqraot Gedolot HaKeter Project team where even the spelling of “Israel” appears differently.[21]
“…the aggregate of known differences in the Greek translations is enough to rule out the possibility that we have before us today’s Masoretic Text. The same can be said of the various Aramaic translations; the differences they reflect are too numerous for us to class their vorlage as our Masoretic Text.” – Menachem Cohen[22]
Focus is placed only on the two major controversial prophecies of Isaiah 7:14 and the Chapter 52-53 parashah. Differences are found in the very small vowel punctuations seen more easily with technology enhancements.[23]
“The major difference between the Aleppo Codex and the Dead Sea Scrolls is the addition of the vowel pointings (called nikkudot in Hebrew) in the Aleppo Codex to the Hebrew words.” – Jeff A Benner[24]
Isaiah 7:14 is entirely written in the future tense making it an undisputed prophecy although there are several potentially meaningful differences between the MT and Septuagint reflected by The Scroll.[25] Variations include the translation controversy of the two Hebrew words ha-alamah, a text pronoun difference and two name differences.[26]
MT translates ha-almah as “a young woman” while The Scroll translated the words as “a young maiden. ” According to Rabbi Maimonides, a “virgin maiden” is a female who has not reached the age of maturity whereas a “woman” implies she is not a minor i.e. a virgin maiden is between 12 1/2 and 13 years of age.[27]
Hebrew ha exclusively means “the” – specific to the noun that follows.[28] The Septuagint translates the Hebrew words ha-almah into Greek as “ha Parthenos” precisely meaning “the virgin.”[29]
Pronoun differences appear where the MT says “she” will call his name; The Scroll says “he” will call his name; and the Septuagint generically refers to “you” earlier in the text.[30] Presumably, “He” refers to God in The Scroll whereas “she” refers to the mother in the MT and “you” refers to the audience.
Two other noteworthy differences are the MT and Septuagint use of the word Adonai for “Lord” (rather than “LORD”) while The Scroll translation uses YHWH, the name of God.[31] At the end of the verse, the MT writes Immanu-el as two words; however, The Scroll writes it as a single word “Immanuel.” In Hebrew, one word always indicates a name.
Interestingly in Column XLIV, The Scroll begins the Isaiah 52-53 parashah with the reference to “my servant.”[32] Differences found in The Scroll are mostly grammatical and do not change the general text; however, there are some notable exceptions.[33]
First is not a textual difference where a note written in the margin of The Scroll equivalent to 53:2 reads, “before us” or “him.” No Bible translation includes these words in the first sentence which would otherwise say something like, “out of dry ground before us or him.”[34]
A significant Biblical issue between the Septuagint and the MT in Isaiah 53:4 is not settled by The Scroll using the Hebrew word חֹ֑לִי (choliy). Bible translators have used a myriad of words: “pain,” “weakness,” “sorrows,” “grief,” “suffering” “sickness,” “evil,” “illness,” “infirmities,” or “disease.”[35]
One last noteworthy difference revealed by The Scroll is the appearance in the equivalent verse 53:11 of the word nephesh/nap̄·šōw translated most commonly from Hebrew text as “life” while other translations sometimes use the word “soul” or “light.” Other Christian and Jewish Bibles including the MT translate the word as “it.”[36]
How likely is it that The Great Isaiah Scroll accurately reflects the original Hebrew text written by the prophet Isaiah?
BSB = Berean Study Bible
CSB = Christian Standard Bible
ISV = International Standard Version
NAB = New American Bible
NHEB = New Heart English Bible
NIV = New International Version
NRSV = New Revised Standard Verson
WEB = World English Bible
