You do realize that healing is giving sight, right?
No prophet in the Old Testament ever healed someone who was blind from birth. Moses split the Red Sea, but he never healed the blind. Elijah raised a boy from the dead. But he never healed the blind.
But Isaiah 61:1 says that the “anointed one” (Messiah) is going to
bring recovery of sight to the blind.
This is a very significant Messianic prophecy, since nobody had ever done this before.
Then along comes Jesus, who stands up in the synagogue, quotes Isaiah 61:1, sits down and says he just fulfilled this scripture verse, and then goes off healing blind people right and left.
This is very clear confirmation for the Jews that Jesus IS the promised Messiah.
Even one blind man who was healed, when being questioned by the Pharisees, acknowledged that nobody had ever healed a man blind from birth:
“Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.”
-John 9:32
Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.
www.biblegateway.com
Even Jesus himself acknowledged that he did among them that which no one else had done:
“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.”
-John 15:24 -
Bible Gateway passage: John 15:24 - New King James Version
The fact that Jesus was doing that which no one else had done -this was a HUGE piece of confirmation and evidence that Jesus IS the promised Messiah, and fulfilled Isaiah 61:1.
Now, the Pharisees could not deny that this miracle took place. They brought in the blind man’s parents and asked, “is this really your son?” And they said, “Yes this really is our son.”
The Pharisees asked, “Was he really born blind?” And the parents replied, “Yes he really was born blind.”
And, of course, everyone could see for themselves that the man now has the ability to see.
Now, Moses laid down a principle in the Old Testament…. The principle of 2 or 3 witnesses.
We’ve got the parents saying that this really is their son. There’s your 2 witnesses. You’ve got the man healed of blindness confirming these really are his parents. There’s your 3rd witness.
By the principle of 2 or 3 witnesses, it is undeniable that this man really was healed of blindness. The Pharisees CANNOT deny that this miracle took place without denying the principle of 2 or 3 witnesses, which was established through Moses. And they can’t deny the law of Moses.
So instead of acknowledging that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1, they just ALTERED THE PROPHECY.
So you look up Isaiah 61:1 in the Hebrew Tanahk today (Hebrew Masoretic), and the phrase “and recovery of sight to the blind” is MISSING from the text! And since most Bibles are translated from the Hebrew Masoretic, then most Bible translations are missing this phrase from Isaiah 61:1.
The phrase is still in Luke 4:18, since Jesus quoted it. Luke comes from our Greek New Testament. But it’s missing from Isaiah 61:1 in most translations.
But the Greek Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) was translated 250 years BEFORE Christ, and therefore reflects an OLDER Hebrew text, before the Jewish Pharisees and leaders had any motive to change text. They had no motive and no desire to change it BEFORE the time of Christ, because Jesus hadn’t fulfilled it yet. And the Greek Septuagint contains the phrase
“and recovery of sight to the blind.”
And this is just one of HUNDREDS of examples of how the Greek Septuagint better reflects the original Hebrew.
