Did unbelieving Jews obscure messianic prophesy?

[Andrew]

An excerpt from David Bercot on Discovering the Septuagint.

Within just a few decades after the close of the first century, the Jewish religious leaders totally rejected the Septuagint.

In fact, they commissioned a Jewish proselyte named Aquila to make a new Greek translation, using the Masoretic Text as its basis. But why? Why would the Jews reject a translation they had held in great esteem for nearly 300 years?

The answer is simple: The Christians were thrashing them with the Septuagint—particularly as to the Messianic prophecies.

Many of the Messianic prophecies are found only in the Septuagint—not in the Masoretic Text.

I’m talking about prophecies about the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Deity of Christ, the Gentiles turning to God, and the Virgin Birth. Christians were successfully proving the truth of Christianity to both the Jews and the Gentiles based upon these Old Testament prophecies. So now let’s look at some of these Messianic prophecies that are found only in the Septuagint.

Incarnation

In Hebrews 10:5, the writer quotes the following prophecy from Psalm 40:6

“When He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for Me.’”

Let’s compare how Psalm 40:6 reads in both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text:

Septuagint: “Sacrifice and offering you did not want; but a body You prepared for me.”

Masoretic Text “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears you have opened.”

So the Septuagint contains an important prophecy about the Incarnation that is lost in the Masoretic Text. In the Septuagint, it is foretold that God would prepare a body for Christ. In place of this key prophecy, the Masoretic Text merely says, “My ears you have opened.”

Crucifixion

Although the New Testament writers quote many of the key Messianic prophecies, there are many more such prophecies that they never quoted. One such prophecy, Psalm 22:17, foretells the crucifixion—that is, if a person is reading from the Septuagint:

Septuagint: “For many dogs surrounded me; an assembly of evildoers enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet.”

Masoretic Text: “For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil doers have enclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.”

Here, an obvious prophecy about the Crucifixion is completely lost in the Masoretic Text.

Divinity of Christ

Another important Messianic prophecy concerns the deity of Christ. Hebrews 1:6 quotes the following prophecy from Deuteronomy 32:43:

“But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

Here is how Deuteronomy 32:43 reads in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, respectively:

Septuagint: Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people.”

Masoretic Text: “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants....

In this instance, an important Messianic prophecy about the deity of Christ is completely missing in the Masoretic Text. The Gentiles Accepting the Messiah Many Messianic prophecies concern the fact that a large number of Gentiles would trust in Christ.
Matthew 12:15 tells us:

“And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet.”

Jesus then quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4, ending with the words found in verses three and four:

“A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory. ....And in His name Gentiles will trust” (Matt. 12:20-21).

Now let’s compare how Isaiah 42:3,4 reads in the Septuagint and Masoretic Text, respectively:

Septuagint: A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench; but he will bring forth judgment to truth....And in his name the Gentiles will trust.

Masoretic Text: A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. ... And the coastlands shall wait for His law.

Although the wording in these verses is similar between the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, in the end the Masoretic Text misses the big point of this prophecy: that the Gentiles would trust in Jesus.

The Jews Being the Cause of God’s Name Being Blasphemed In Romans chapter 2, Paul rebuked the unbelieving Jews, quoting Isaiah 52:5 to them, saying:

“For ‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ as it is written” (Romans 2:24).

There, Paul was paraphrasing Isaiah 52:5 as found in the Septuagint, which reads,

“On account of you, My name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles.”

However, in the Masoretic Text, the Jews aren’t the ones who are the cause of this blasphemy. Isaiah 52:5 reads in the Masoretic Text:

“My name is continually every day blasphemed.” In the Masoretic Text, the phrase, “on account of you” is missing.


So all blame on the Jews has been removed from the verse. Now let’s move to what is perhaps the most important Messianic prophecy of all—the virgin birth.

 

[Andrew]

The Virgin Birth

As big and as important as all of these Messianic prophecies were, there was still one prophecy that irked the unbelieving Jews more than any of these: It was the prophecy of the virgin birth, found at Isaiah 7:14.

Matthew quotes this prophecy in chapter one of his Gospel, in verses 22 and 23, as follows:

“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Now, if you happen to have a copy of a Jewish Bible translated from the Masoretic Text, such as the one put out by the Jewish Publication Society of America, you will find that it does not say “the virgin shall be with child,” but the “young woman” shall be with child. Did the Jews deliberately change something here? Actually, no.
The Hebrew word in the Masoretic Text that is translated “young woman” is ‘almah. And, indeed, the normal meaning of ‘almah is a “young woman.”
There is a masculine equivalent of ‘almah, which is normally translated as “young man” in the Scriptures. Jewish scholars today say that ‘almah can refer to a young single woman who is a virgin or it can refer to a young single woman who is not a virgin.
They also say it can also refer to a young married woman who is not a virgin—but who has not yet given birth to a child. In fact, the rabbis were saying essentially the same thing back before the year 150. If what the rabbis and scholars are saying about the word ‘almah is correct, then it is further evidence that God was overseeing the translation of the Septuagint.

Why else would the Seventy have translated ‘almah with the Greek word parthenos, which means a physical virgin. To me, the only answer is Divine providence.

Absent God’s direction, saying a virgin would give birth to a son would go against all logic and reason. However, since western Christians eventually threw their lot in with the Masoretic Text, they are now forced to insist that ‘almah is properly translated as “virgin” in our Old Testaments.

Some traditionalists insist that ‘almah primarily means a virgin in a biological sense—even though Jewish scholars say otherwise. However, most Christian scholars will concede that ‘almah doesn’t necessarily mean a physical virgin—but it can mean that. They then go on to argue, “Isaiah said that the birth of this child would be a sign. But a young woman giving birth wouldn’t be a sign, since it’s an everyday occurrence. Therefore, ‘almah has to mean a biological virgin in this passage.” That argument sounds plausible until we read the entire passage.

The passage reveals that there was more to the sign than simply the birth of a son. Reading from the Masoretic Text, Isaiah says:

“Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.”

Isaiah was giving this prophecy to King Ahaz. So the big sign that King Ahaz would have been excited to hear was that the land that he dreaded—i.e. his major enemy—would be forsaken by both her kings before this child would reach the age of accountability. That the sign did not depend upon a miraculous birth accords perfectly with other times in the Old Testament when God gave signs to the Israelites.

I’ll give you some examples:

1 Samuel 2:34:
“Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them.”

1 Samuel 14:10:
“But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.”

2 Kings 19:29:
“This shall be a sign to Prosecutor: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And in the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.”

So the unbelieving Jews are not being unreasonable in claiming that Isaiah 7 in the Masoretic Text does not require that the young woman giving birth had to be a virgin. On the other hand, the Septuagint specifically requires her to be a virgin. This difference is perhaps the foremost reason why the rabbis rejected the Septuagint in the second century. ‘Almah vs. Bethulah Finally, I need to mention that there is a Hebrew word that specifically means “virgin” in the sense of never having known a man. That word is bethulah. It specifically means a virgin, that is a woman who has never had sexual relations. It’s special meaning, in contrast with ‘almah is demonstrated in the passage in Genesis when Abraham’s servant has gone to find a wife for Isaac. After he meets Rebekah, the servant later tells Laban what he had prayed for.
Here is the servant’s prayer as found in the Masoretic Text in Genesis 24:43 (from the Jewish Bible):

“Behold, I stand by the fountain of water; and let it come to pass, that the maiden that comes forth to draw, to whom I shall say. . .”

And he continues. The word translated maiden there is ‘almah. Abraham’s servant certainly is using ‘almah in the sense of a young, unmarried woman.
Her virginity would be prized, but not necessarily essential. However, in that same chapter, we read this about Rebekah:

“And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, no man had known her” (Gen. 24:16).

Now, in that verse, it is specifically saying that she was not just a young woman, but also a physical virgin. This time, the Bible uses the word bethulah, not ‘almah. So we would expect Isaiah to have used bethulah in Isaiah 7:14 if he was wanting to make it clear that it was a virgin who would give birth. That is why I feel the rendering of ‘almah in Isaiah 7:14 in the Septuagint with the Greek word parthenos was through Divine providence.

If ‘almah clearly meant virgin in Isaiah 7:14, why would Matthew have quoted it from the Septuagint, and not the Masoretic Text. Matthew quotes from the Masoretic Text a higher percentage of the time than any of the other New Testament writers. Yet, when he quotes Isaiah 7:14, he quotes from the Septuagint, not the Masoretic Text. I think it’s clear that he did so because the Septuagint rendered the Hebrew word ‘alma by the Greek word parthenos, meaning a biological virgin.

As I said, I think this passage was the Messianic prophecy that irked the rabbis the most. Because of this prophecy, coupled with the other Messianic prophecies in the Septuagint, the Jewish religious leaders decided to just jettison the Septuagint altogether. Those rabbis would stop at nothing to silence the Gospel. After all, it was their very forefathers who put Jesus to death.

These kind of rabbis were the ones that Jesus refers to in Revelation 3:9 as a “synagogue of Satan.” So around the beginning of the second century, the rabbis ordered the Greek synagogues to quit using the Septuagint. And, as I’ve previously mentioned, they commissioned the Jewish proselyte Aquila to make a new Greek translation the Old Testament—this time from the Masoretic Text. Soon after the Greek-speaking Jews started using the translation of Aquila in place of the Septuagint, the early Christians addressed the matter. In speaking the Jews, Justin Martyr writes: But you and your teachers venture to declare that in the prophecy of Isaiah it does not say, “Behold, the virgin will conceive,” but, “Behold, the young woman will conceive, and bear a son.” Furthermore, you explain the prophecy as if [it referred] to Hezekiah, who was your king. Therefore, I will endeavor to discuss shortly this point in opposition to you.19 He wrote those words around the year 150.

Later, another Jewish proselyte, Theodotion the Ephesian, made a second Greek translation from the Masoretic Text. Afterwards, Irenaeus says this about both translations: The Lord Himself saved us, giving us the sign of the virgin. But it is not as some allege, who are now presuming to expound the Scripture as
“Behold, a young woman will conceive, and bring forth a son,” as Theodotion the Ephesian has translated, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes.

So simply by dropping the Septuagint and switching to the Masoretic Text, the unbelieving Jews were able to wipe out Isaiah’s prophecy about the virgin birth, plus many other prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus.

Before leaving this subject, I want to mention that if you look up Isaiah 7:14 in the King James Version (or in practically any English Bible), you will find that it reads “virgin,” not “young woman.” This is because this prophecy is such an extremely important one that most Christians would never tolerate a translation that said “young woman.” So even after western Christians switched from the Septuagint to the Masoretic Text, they continued to translate Isaiah 7:14 with the words, “the virgin shall be with child.”

 

[pinacled]

The oral Torah(Talmud) has many messianic prophecies that mirror ole sh'auls messages.
There is student of Torah on YouTube that shares these findings.

Blessings Always

 

[NathanH83]

An excerpt from David Bercot on Discovering the Septuagint.

Within just a few decades after the close of the first century, the Jewish religious leaders totally rejected the Septuagint.

In fact, they commissioned a Jewish proselyte named Aquila to make a new Greek translation, using the Masoretic Text as its basis. But why? Why would the Jews reject a translation they had held in great esteem for nearly 300 years?

The answer is simple: The Christians were thrashing them with the Septuagint—particularly as to the Messianic prophecies.

Many of the Messianic prophecies are found only in the Septuagint—not in the Masoretic Text.

I’m talking about prophecies about the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Deity of Christ, the Gentiles turning to God, and the Virgin Birth. Christians were successfully proving the truth of Christianity to both the Jews and the Gentiles based upon these Old Testament prophecies. So now let’s look at some of these Messianic prophecies that are found only in the Septuagint.

Incarnation

In Hebrews 10:5, the writer quotes the following prophecy from Psalm 40:6

“When He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for Me.’”

Let’s compare how Psalm 40:6 reads in both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text:

Septuagint: “Sacrifice and offering you did not want; but a body You prepared for me.”

Masoretic Text “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears you have opened.”

So the Septuagint contains an important prophecy about the Incarnation that is lost in the Masoretic Text. In the Septuagint, it is foretold that God would prepare a body for Christ. In place of this key prophecy, the Masoretic Text merely says, “My ears you have opened.”

Crucifixion

Although the New Testament writers quote many of the key Messianic prophecies, there are many more such prophecies that they never quoted. One such prophecy, Psalm 22:17, foretells the crucifixion—that is, if a person is reading from the Septuagint:

Septuagint: “For many dogs surrounded me; an assembly of evildoers enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet.”

Masoretic Text: “For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil doers have enclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.”

Here, an obvious prophecy about the Crucifixion is completely lost in the Masoretic Text.

Divinity of Christ

Another important Messianic prophecy concerns the deity of Christ. Hebrews 1:6 quotes the following prophecy from Deuteronomy 32:43:

“But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

Here is how Deuteronomy 32:43 reads in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, respectively:

Septuagint: Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people.”

Masoretic Text: “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants....

In this instance, an important Messianic prophecy about the deity of Christ is completely missing in the Masoretic Text. The Gentiles Accepting the Messiah Many Messianic prophecies concern the fact that a large number of Gentiles would trust in Christ.
Matthew 12:15 tells us:

“And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet.”

Jesus then quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4, ending with the words found in verses three and four:

“A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory. ....And in His name Gentiles will trust” (Matt. 12:20-21).

Now let’s compare how Isaiah 42:3,4 reads in the Septuagint and Masoretic Text, respectively:

Septuagint: A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench; but he will bring forth judgment to truth....And in his name the Gentiles will trust.

Masoretic Text: A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. ... And the coastlands shall wait for His law.

Although the wording in these verses is similar between the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, in the end the Masoretic Text misses the big point of this prophecy: that the Gentiles would trust in Jesus.

The Jews Being the Cause of God’s Name Being Blasphemed In Romans chapter 2, Paul rebuked the unbelieving Jews, quoting Isaiah 52:5 to them, saying:

“For ‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ as it is written” (Romans 2:24).

There, Paul was paraphrasing Isaiah 52:5 as found in the Septuagint, which reads,

“On account of you, My name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles.”

However, in the Masoretic Text, the Jews aren’t the ones who are the cause of this blasphemy. Isaiah 52:5 reads in the Masoretic Text:

“My name is continually every day blasphemed.” In the Masoretic Text, the phrase, “on account of you” is missing.


So all blame on the Jews has been removed from the verse. Now let’s move to what is perhaps the most important Messianic prophecy of all—the virgin birth.

Exactly. Good share.

 

[Andrew]

The oral Torah(Talmud) has many messianic prophecies that mirror ole sh'auls messages.
There is student of Torah on YouTube that shares these findings.

Blessings Always

Edited: even I can't give details about what the talmud says about Jesus, had to delete it because its too horrific and blasphemous.. stay away from the Talmud its pure blasphemy and dangerous