Question for our Christian friends. Was Jesus familiar with the Hebrew Bible? Did he know how to interpret those text just like any other Jewish rabbi? How well was his understating of the Hebrew text. One may wonder what kind of a question is this. Jesus was aware of the Hebrew text "didn't he read from the scroll in the temple as mentioned in book of Luke".
The reason we are asking question is not yo baffle or trick you, rather after reading a certain passage from the gospel we find that maybe Jesus wasn't really sure about the Hebrew text he was quoting from. Below we shall produce the text in question. Let’s first analyse both statements from the Old and New Testament and come to our conclusion.
The reason we are asking question is not yo baffle or trick you, rather after reading a certain passage from the gospel we find that maybe Jesus wasn't really sure about the Hebrew text he was quoting from. Below we shall produce the text in question. Let’s first analyse both statements from the Old and New Testament and come to our conclusion.
Of David. A psalm. The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of your enemies!" (Psalm 110:1-2)
Now let’s read the text from the New Testament from
context.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked
them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They
said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in
the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put
your enemies under your feet”’? If then
David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matthew 22:41-45)
Did Jesus really quote psalm 101:1, or did
the author just make it up pretending it came from Jesus? if the former is
correct and the latter is false, then Christians have serious problem to deal with.
Firstly according to the saying of Jesus the
Messiah could not be the son of David. Interestingly this contradicts what Paul said about the Messiah “being
the son of David”
concerning his Son, who was descended from David according
to the flesh (Romans1:3)
note the Greek text uses the word (seed spermatos) to indicate he was a “descendent” . What’s
troubling about this is, if Jesus claimed that the Messiah could not be the son
of David why did Paul say the contrary that the Messiah was the son of David
i.e. (descendent). Was Paul not inspired by the Holy Ghost?
Was Jesus well versed with the Hebrew Bible? It
seems like he wasn’t sure how to interpret Psalm 110:1 and what is hard
to believe is the Jews were left speechless “And no one was able to answer him a
word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”
Here’s the interesting part. The text which Jesus was
trying to claim that two Lords were mentioned by David is a gross
mistranslation. Let’s explore what the text really means by
citing a few Jewish commentators.
The word of the Lord to my master: Our Rabbis interpreted it as
referring to Abraham our father, and I shall explain it according to their
words (Mid. Ps. 110:1): The word of the Lord to
Abraham, whom the world called “my master,” as it is written (Gen. 23: 6):
“Hearken to us, my master.” (Rashi commentary)
As it is stated: “And he
blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and
earth, and blessed be God the Most High” (Genesis 14:19–20). Abraham said to him: And does one place the
blessing of the servant before the blessing of his master? You
should have blessed God first. Immediately the
Holy One, Blessed be He, gave the
priesthood to Abraham, as it is
stated: “The Lord says to my lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make your
enemies your footstool” (Psalms 110:1), and afterward it is written: “The Lord has
sworn, and will not repent: you shall be a priest forever, because you are a
king of righteousness [al divrati malki tzedek]”(Psalms 110:4), which is explained homiletically
to mean: Due to the improper words [divrati] of Melchizedek, the
offspring of Abraham shall be priests of God forever. (Talmud Nedarim 32b:7)
Rav Ḥana bar Leva’ei says that Shem
the Great said to Eliezer, servant of Abraham: When the four great kings of the east and the west came upon you to
wage war with Abraham, what did
you do? Eliezer said
to him: The Holy One, Blessed be He, brought Abraham and placed him to His
right, and we would throw dust and it became swords, and we
threw straw and it became arrows,
as it is stated: “A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my master: Sit to My
right, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalms 110:1), and it is written: “Who has raised up one
from the east at whose steps victory attends? He gives nations before him, and
makes him rule over kings; his sword makes them as the dust, his bow as driven
straw” (Isaiah 41:2).
(Talmud Sanhedrin 108b:21)
R. Zechariah said in the name of R. Ishmael : "The Holy
One, praised be He ! desired to bring forth priesthood from Shem (son of Noah),
as it is said (Gen. 14, 18) And Malkizedek, king of
Salem, brought bread, and wine, and he was a priest of the most high God, but
since he preceded the blessing of Abraham to that of the most Holy One, the
Lord [decided] to bring it forht from Abraham, as it is said (Ib., ib., 19) and
blessed be the most high God; i.e., Abraham said to Shem: 'Is it proper to
utter the blessing of a servant before the blessing of his master?' Therefore
it (priesthood) was brought forth from Abraham, as it is said (Ps.
110, 1) By David a psalm. (Midrash Ein
Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 3:15)
"Who
roused (the exemplar of) righteousness, (i.e., Avram) from the east, summoned
him to His service? … He pursues them. He passes on, unscathed." And thus
is it written (Psalms 110:1-5) "This is the word of the L rd to my master (David).
Sit at My right hand until I make your foes your footstool. The sceptre of your
strength will the L rd send from Zion. (Midrash Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:7:1)
And he brought
back all the goods; and he also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods,
and also the women (ibid., v. 16). The “also” in this verse indicates
that he brought back to his people every usable article, even if its value was
only a perutah. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, etc., at
the vale of Shaveh—the same is the King’s Vale (ibid., v. 17).
Henceforth, it would be called the King’s Vale. Which king? Abraham, who was
victorious over all the kings and their hosts, as it is said concerning him: The
Lord saith unto my lord: Sit thou at My right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool (Ps. 110:1). (Midrash
Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 13:4)
Its clear David was speaking about Abraham. the
ironic part is how the Jews according to Matthew were “speechless”, whereas we
have tons of Jewish commentary on this specific verse telling us who is “Lord”
was. Let’s get a little deeper into the Hebrew text.
The Hebrew word translated
"my lord" is adoni (pronounced "Adon nee" in
the standard Hebrew texts. This word is always used in Scripture to describe
human masters and lords, but never God.
The Bible in Psalm 110:1 actually
gives the Messiah the title that never describes God. The word is adoni and in all of
its 195 occurrences in the Old Testament it means a superior who is human (or
occasionally angelic), created and not God. So Psalm 110:1 presents the
clearest evidence that the Messiah is not God, but a supremely exalted man.
(Anthony Buzzard, ed., Focus on the Kingdom,
Atlanta Bible College, Morrow, GA, March 2000), p. 3, Emphasis his. We found
198 uses of adoni, but in a personal conversation with Mr. Buzzard he stated
that his figure of 195 could understate the situation slightly since it was not
the result of an exacting study.
The form ADONI ("my
lord"), a royal title (1 Sam. 29:8), is to be carefully distinguished from
the divine title ADONAI ("my Lord") used of Yahweh. ( Geoffrey
Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Eerdmans, Grand
Rapids, MI, 1979), "Lord." )
The difference between adon (the root word), adoni ("lord,"
always used of men or angels) and adonai (which
is used of God and sometimes written adonay)
is critical to the understanding of Psalm 110:1. The Hebrew Lexicon by Brown,
Driver and Briggs (BDB),
considered by many to be the best available, makes the distinction between
these words. Note how in BDB the
word adoni refers to
"lords" that are not God, while another word, adonai, refers to God: (Hebrew reads from right to left, so the first letter
of the word looks like a glorified "X." )
(1) Reference to men: my lord, my
master: (adoni)
(a) master:
Ex. 21:5 (Covenant code) Gen. 24:12+, 44:5 (J, 20t.), 1 Sam. 30:13 and 15; 2
Kings 5:3, 20 and 22; 6:15;
(b) husband:
Gen. 18:12 (J);
(c) prophet:
1 Kings 18:7 and 13; 2 Kings 2:19; 4:16 and 28; 6:5; 8:5;
(d) prince:
Gen. 42:10 (E), Gen. 23:6,11 and 15 (P), Gen 43:20; 44:18+ ; 47:18, + (J,
12t.); Judges. 4:18;
(e) king:
1 Sam. 22:12+ (S&K 75t.);
(f) father:
Gen. 31:5 (E);
(g) Moses:
Ex. 32:22; Num. 11:28; 12:11; 32:26 and 27 (J); Num. 36:2 (2x) (P);
(h) priest:
1 Sam. 1:15 and 26 (2x);
(i) theophanic
angel [an angel representing God]: Josh. 5:14; Judges. 6:13;
(j) captain:
2 Sam. 11:11;
(k) general
recognition of superiority: Gen. 24:18; 32:5+; 33:8+; 44:7+ (J
13t.), Ruth 2:13; 1 Sam. 25:24+ (15t.).
So now Christians fall into a big
dilemma. Did Jesus know the scriptures and deliberately try to change them? Or did
the author make this scenario up twisting the Hebrew Bible so it fits his
agenda to make Jesus look like a God. You choose!
