How many times is Jesus mentioned in the Book of Isaiah?

Answer 1

AnswerStrictly speaking, the Book of Isaiah never refers to Jesus. It was written long before the time of Jesus, about events current at that time. However, there is a trick that Burton L. Mack sees happen all the time, in the classrooms of the School of Theology at Claremont. At first the study of a text may not seem to support a traditional Christian conviction or the answer one hopes to find in The Bible, but with a little ingenuity, one can set up new assumptions or other emphases and make the answer come out right. This trick allows us to discover that Isaiah refers to Jesus as many times as we would like.

One such reference is the alleged prophecy to the virgin birth, in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. Here, Isaiah prophesied that 'the young woman' would conceive and bear a child, whose name would be Immanuel. This prophecy came true just a few verses later in chapter 8. However, the early Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, mistranslated this to say that a virgin would conceive and bear a child. Centuries later, the author of the Gospel of Matthew would rely on this mistranslation to show that it was prophesied that Jesus would be born of a virgin. When this error was pointed out to the early Christians, they insisted that the Jews had altered their sacred texts so as to undermine the Christian Gospel.

Another lies in a series of verses known as the Servant Songs (Isaiah 42:1-4, 49:1-6,50:4-11, 52:13-53:12). In these passages, God promises to choose a servant who will teach his true way to the nations. In some verses, the servant appears to be a person, in others a group, in some a real figure and in others imaginary. The only time the 'servant' is named, the reference is to Israel. It is even possible that Second Isaiah is, in places, putting himself up as the servant. However, Christians have seen the Servant Songs as prophecies of Jesus.

Answer 2

A:

Jesus is mentioned not even once in the Book of Isaiah. His name does not occur in the entire book, and there is not even an indirect reference that unambiguously refers to him. Nevertheless, Christians have long held that Isaiah refers to Jesus Christ, so we should look at these supposed references.

Matthew's Gospel, relying on the Septuagint, a flawed early Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, says that Jesus was born of a virgin, just as Isaiah 7:14 prophesied. Although not actually mentioning Jesus, the Septuagint copy of Isaiah 7:14 does say: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." What the prophet Isaiah actually wrote in the original Hebrew was, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (The young woman in question did have a child just a few verses later in Isaiah's book).

In a series of verses known as the Servant Songs (Isaiah 42:1-4, 49:1-6,50:4-11, 52:13-53:12), God promises to choose a servant who will teach his true way to the nations. In some verses, the servant appears to be a person, in others a group, in some a real figure and in others imaginary. The only time the 'servant' is named, the reference is to Israel. However, Christians have seen the Servant Songs as prophecies of Jesus.