Isaiah 9:6–7: The coming Child who would be called ‘Mighty God’
by Jonathan Sarfati
Published: 30 March 2010(GMT+10)
[Editor’s note: this article was originally published
here on the
Messiah.com.es site, where Dr Sarfati was one of
12 Jewish scholars invited to contribute on how Yeshua fulfills
the Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Bible.]
Hebrew text of Isaiah 9:6–7 (9:5–6 in Hebrew numbering)
Handel’s wonderful Messiah is full of biblical references to the
coming Anointed One, and none is more gripping than this prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 (9:5 in Hebrew numbering):
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be
upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
At first, this seems quite strange, since it talks about a coming child to be born,
a son, yet it describes this child in four divine terms.
Unfortunately, Handel follows a slightly misleading translation of the first term
that has a comma between Wonderful and Counsellor. In the Hebrew (פלא יועץ Pele’-Yô‘ēts), the two words
belong together, since the first is in the construct state. The English term doesn’t
seem particularly divine, but in Hebrew pele is used only of God, never
of man. Isaiah’s other writings make it clear, using related Hebrew terms
about God Himself: “O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise
Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of
old are faithfulness and truth” (Isaiah 25:1); “This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom” (Is. 28:29).
Mighty God (אל גבור El Gibbôr)
is clearly divine. The Jehovah’s Witness cult, which denies the deity of the
Messiah, tries to blunt the force of this by claiming that it’s “mighty
God” not “almighty God”, who is Jehovah. Yet in the very next
chapter, we read, “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty
God” (Isaiah 10:21), showing that El Gibbôr is
none other than the God of Jacob, Jehovah. Thus this future Messianic Child is Jehovah
as well.
Thus Father of Eternity means that this coming Messianic Child is an eternal being,
and He is the one who provides eternal life. This can be compared with Isaiah 63:16b: ‘you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer
from of old is your name.’ No mere man, or any created being, could possibly
fit this description.
“Everlasting father” is an errant translation of the Hebrew (אבי
עד ’abî ‘ AD).
The word ‘ AD (eternity) is in the
construct state, the normal way Hebrew expresses the possessive—the noun possessed
is put into this state. Thus a better translation is “Father of Eternity”.
This is likely a reflection of the Hebrew idiom that “Father of X” means
“Possessor of X”. For example, the father of knowledge means
intelligent, and the father of glory means glorious. Thus Father of Eternity
means that this coming Messianic Child is an eternal being, and He is the one who
provides eternal life. This can be compared with Isaiah 63:16b: “you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer
from of old is your name.” No mere man, or any created being, could possibly
fit this description.
“Prince of Peace” (שר שלום Sar-Shālôm)
is the only one of the four titles of this Child which could be used of a mere man
or of God. Yet Isaiah makes it clear that God is the ultimate source of peace, showing
that he intended this title to be divine too. In Isaiah 26:3, the prophet praises God: “You keep him
in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” He
continues in v. 12: “O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, you have done for
us all our works.”
Support for Messianic interpretation of Isaiah 9:6(5) comes from the Targums, paraphrases of the
Tenach (Old Testament) into Aramaic, composed in Talmudic times. Targum Jonathan
renders the verse:
“For to us a son is born, to us a son is given; and he shall receive the Law
upon him to keep it; and his name is called from of Old, Wonderful, Counselor, Eloha,
The Mighty, Abiding to Eternity, The Messiah, because peace shall be multiplied
on us in his days.”
Furthermore, Perek HaShalom; Numbers Rabbah XI:16–20
has:
“Rabbi Jose the Galilean says: ‘The name of the Messiah too is “peace”;
as it is written: “God the mighty, the everlasting Father, the ruler of peace”’
(Quoting Isaiah 9:5–6 (6–7))”
The next verse (Isaiah 9:7(6)) further establishes the Messianic credentials
of this coming child:
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon
the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with
judgment and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts shall perform this.”
God prophesied through Zechariah 12:10 that one day Israel will repent bitterly
‘when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced’. When was God
pierced? When this Child, the Mighty God, was nailed to a cross, and a Roman soldier
pierced His side (John 19:34).
Once again, this Child could be no mere man. This Prince of Peace will one day reign
righteously for eternity, and on the promised eternal throne of David (1 Chronicles 17:10b–14). Who could this be but the
Messiah? Certainly not the long-dead flawed King Hezekiah, as some Jewish revisionists
claim, contrary to the Targums.
Yet He must have come once already, before the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. After this catastrophe, the records of the Davidic
lineage were destroyed, so no messianic claimant after that could prove that he
is a descendant of David. Yet Yeshua of Nazareth was a descendant through both His
adopted father Joseph (Matthew 1) and His birth mother Mary (Luke 3).
Instead of recognizing Yeshua as the Messiah, Israel rejected Him, even crucified
Him (Matthew 27:22–25, Acts 2:36, 13:27–28). While the Tenach predicted
two comings of the Messiah, many Jews around Yeshua’s time misunderstood this
as teaching two Messiahs. The first would be Messiah ben Joseph,
who would die for our sins, as Isaiah 53 prophesies. Then a second one, Messiah ben David
would resurrect the first Messiah, then conquer evil and occupy David’s throne
for eternity. In reality, there was only one Messiah who would come twice:
the first time to die, then to rise again the third day as the “firstfruits
of the Resurrection” (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).
Only later would He return. Messiah’s chosen emissary Sha'ul (Paul) promised
that God has not forgotten Israel, and one day “all Israel will be saved”
(Romans 11). When will this happen? God prophesied through
Zechariah 12:10 that one day Israel will repent bitterly
“when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced”. When was God
pierced? When this Child, the Mighty God, was nailed to a cross, and a Roman soldier
pierced His side (John 19:34).
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