Cyber-Chapel Blog

This week’s message (April 19, Isa 11:2-5) focuses on the spiritual endowment of the promised King, which enables him to sense directly whether or not people fear the Lord (v. 3), thus avoiding the perils of superficial judgment and ensuring a rule of righteousness and truth.

This week’s study on Isa 9:7 explores the government that the Child of v. 6 will establish. Each of the four names that the child carries corresponds to a different aspect of this platform, illustrating the Bible  study principle, “Pay attention to repetition.”
Continue reading The Lord’s Everlasting Zeal…

Isa 9:5 (English translations v. 6) gives a series of names for the promised Child. Modern translations, motivated by the idea that the names are paired, group them into four, of which the first is “Wonderful Counselor” or (NIV) “Extraordinary Strategist.” Older versions such as the KJV and the ASV, set “Wonderful” apart as a name by itself. How many should we understand?

Continue reading How many names does the Child have?…

Here are the questions that some of you suggested in our discussion on Feb 15. Feel free to add others or comment on these by replying to this post.

We noted that one important question, in the light of alternative translations, concerns the number of names given to the child in v. 6. Are there five (as in the KJV, ASV, and Handel’s Messiah), or four (most newer translations)? My answer to this question (five) requires a knowledge of Hebrew, and is discussed in an additional post here.

1. What is the distinctive meaning of each name? You might want to consider how these names are used elsewhere in the Bible
2. Is there some grouping or significance in the order in which they are presented?
3. How are these names related to the description of Messiah’s reign in v.7? Clearly, “prince of peace” corresponds to the statement that “of peace there shall be no end.” Are others also reflected?
4. Both verses 6 and 7 mention “the government” instituted by this child. How does this government contrast with the previous administration?
5. Try to diagram v.7. How are the phrases and clauses related to one another?
6. Verse 7 contains several pairs of parallel words. List them, and compare and contrast the words in each pair.
7. What point in history does v. 7 describe? Are there other Scripture passages that might help situate the events described here?
8. (A general question applicable to any passage:) So what? How will my understanding of this passage change my life this week?

The study for Feb 15 expounds the three reasons that Isaiah gives for the joy described in 9:3. Each is introduced by the conjunction “for,” at the start of verses 4, 5, and 6. The repetition of logical connectives like this is a key indicator of how the author is developing his argument, and merits careful attention.

Isa 8:21-9:7 has three parts:

• 8:21-22, prediction of the darkness of those who have abandoned the law of God (8:20)
• 9:3-7 (ET; MT 9:2-6), prediction of the light that will come upon them
• 9:1-2 (MT 8:23-9:1), a transition that moves back and forth between the dark past and the bright future.

This week’s study discusses this transition, and gives attention to some points of translation that are clarified once we observe the broader progress of the argument.

In this week’s message, God responds to the Messiah’s words, and confirms the importance of cleaving to “the law and the testimony,” apart from which there is no light. This sad condition explains the dismay that the nation feels. Its remedy awaits the coming of the Messiah mentioned already in 8:13-15, and presented as the dawning of a new day in 9:1-2.

These three verses suddenly switch from the third person of the context to the first person, and the commentaries are rife with proposals for who is speaking at this point. There is not even agreement that all of the “I”‘s are spoken by the same person. Some commentators hear two different voices here (Targum, Calvin, Alexander, Young), or even three (Gill, Motyer). Candidates for the speaker include the Lord, Isaiah, or the Messiah.
Continue reading Who is speaking in Isa 8:16-18?…

This week’s study explores two verses (8:14 and 8:18) that are quoted in the NT as applying to the Messiah. Be sure to take a look at the handout that accompanies the message. We show how this interpretation is consistent with the context in Isaiah, and learn about the Messiah’s own trust in God, his care for his people, and the judgment he will bring on those who reject him. In a separate post, I will explain why we should understand 8:16-18 as being uttered by the Messiah.

Isaiah 7:1-8:10 is structured as a chiasm, with 7:17-25, the predicted coming of the nations against Israel, as its center and focal point. The encompassing material has three levels, organized as follows:

This week’s message deals with the first (8:1-4) and second  (8:5-10) of these levels as we work out way back out from the center. The first of these contains a promise of a symbolic son that balances, but does not fulfill, the Immanuel prophecy of 7:10-16, while the second, with two references to Immanuel, repeats the assurance of 7:7-9 that it is futile for the northern coalition to attack God’s people.

(This post was erroneously entered originally on 1/12/09 as a page.)