After 158 supposed prophecies we actually come to a possible messianic prophecy -- even though Jesus did not fulfill it! Y'shayahu / Isaiah 4:2 says "On that day, the sprout of the L-rd shall be for beauty and for honor, and the fruit of the land for greatness and for glory for the survivors of Israel." Note that the Hebrew word translated as "branch" by most Christian versions should be translated as "sprout." The word is צֶמַח / tsemah and it means a sprout or shoot (of a plant that sprouts from the ground). In Hebrew the word for a branch would be עָנָף / 'anaf or סָעִיף / sa'if, not צֶמַח / tsemah. Some Christian translations further add insult to injury by capitalizing the "b" in "branch" (as "Branch"). There are no capital or lower case letters in Hebrew so this capitalization is a way of influencing the reader to see the word as somehow "divine" and pointing to Jesus. It is interesting that in this claim the list maker does not "tie" Y'shayahu / Isaiah 4:2 to a passage in the Christian bible. The problem for the list maker is that Jesus was:
If you look up the word "messiah" ("christ" is a modified Greek translation for the word) in your average English dictionary you will find it defined as "the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible" or "the expected king and deliverer of the Jews" or even "Jesus regarded by Christians as the Messiah of the Hebrew prophecies and the savior of humankind." The word "christ" in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) is "The title, also treated as a name, given to Jesus of Nazareth (see Jesus)." This may be the Christian definition of the word, but it is not the biblical definition of the word. Quite simply the Hebrew word מָשִֽׁיחַ (moshiach) -- or "messiah" in English translates to "anointed one." The noun מָשִֽׁיחַ (moshiach aka anointed one), in English "messiah" occurs 39 times in the T'nach. Thirty-four are nouns and the remaining five are adjectives. The anointing for a Jewish king or priest must be done in a very specific way and with a very specific anointing oil which is mentioned in the Torah. This was a special mixture of spice and olive oil that was used for “anointing” of kings and priests. It is called שֶֽׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ / shemen mish'hat kodesh (“Oil of Anointment of Sanctity”) in the passage of Sh'mot / Exodus 30:22-33 which gives the formula for making it and how to properly use it. . . "G-d spoke to Moses, saying: 30:23 You must take the finest fragrances, 500 [shekels] of distilled myrrh, [two] half portions, each consisting of 250 [shekels] of fragrant cinnamon and 250 [shekels] of fragrant cane, 30:24 and 500 shekels of cassia, all measured by the sanctuary standard, along with a gallon of olive oil. 30:25 Make it into sacred anointing oil. It shall be a blended compound, as made by a skilled perfumer, [made especially for] the sacred anointing oil. 30:26 Then use it to anoint the Communion Tent, the Ark of Testimony, 30:27 the table and all its utensils, the menorah and its utensils, the incense altar, 30:28 the sacrificial altar and all its utensils, the washstand and its base. 30:29 You will thus sanctify them, making them holy of holies, so that anything touching them becomes sanctified. 30:30 You must also anoint Aaron and his sons, sanctifying them as priests to Me. 30:31 Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'This shall be the sacred anointing oil to Me for all generations. 30:32 Do not pour it on the skin of any [unauthorized] person, and do not duplicate it with a similar formula. It is holy, and it must remain sacred to you. 30:33 If a person blends a similar formula, or places it on an unauthorized person, he shall be cut off [spiritually] from his people." Sh'mot / Exodus 30:22-33. Thus Saul, David and Solomon were all messiahs -- anointed kings. And Jesus was not anointed with this special oil and was thus not a Jewish messiah, no matter what the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) might say. Note that Y'shayahu / Isaiah 4:2 says that this person reigned -- and Jesus never reigned. Christians may say that Jesus will reign when he comes back (second coming) -- but that means he did not fulfill this prophecy yet. Is this a messianic passage? Some Jewish sages say that this sprout is the messiah to come and others see it as a reference to the Jewish people surviving many tribulations and troubles that have been mentioned by Isaiah in earlier chapters.
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