From *The Skeptical Review*, 1999 / July-August. [This is the sixth of seven posts dealing with alleged biblical prophecies. Number seven will immediately follow this one]:
by Farrell Till
In the past several issues I have been analyzing alleged prophecy fulfillments for Bruce Weston, a subscriber whose biblical skepticism has been restrained by lingering feelings that some prophecies may have been fulfilled. In my last article in this series, I will look at the often-trumpeted claim that creation of the state of Israel in 1948 fulfilled biblical prophecies.
This one seems to be a favorite of prophecy-fulfillment buffs who are desperately looking for something substantial on which to pin their hopes that the Bible is the inspired word of God. The history of Israel was checkered with periods of foreign captivities that began as early as the time of the judges (Judges 3:7-11; 4:1-3; 6:1-6) and extended through the most famous captivity of them all when Nebuchadnezzar removed many of the Judean captives to Babylon (2 Kings 25). For an ethnocentric people who thought that they were the "chosen ones" of their god Yahweh, these captivities were hard to comprehend. That they could be explained by the simple fact of military science that the side with the largest army would usually win a war was foreign to their way of thinking, and so the prophets of Israel always attributed Israel's defeats to "evil" that the people had done "in the sight of Yahweh." This optimism that the Israelites were the chosen people of the mightiest of all the gods inspired many of the prophets to predict that although they were taken into captivity, Yahweh would one day bring them back to their homeland.
After a unified Israel split following Solomon's reign, the northern kingdom (still known as Israel), consisting of ten tribes, was defeated in 722 B. C. by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser, and his successor Sargon II deported the population of the northern kingdom to Mesopotamia and Media (2 Kings 17) and brought other captive people in to occupy the territory of Israel. Although the southern kingdom Judah continued to exist, the Assyrian captivity ended the existence of the northern kingdom. The deported Israelites were assimilated by the Mesopotamians and became known as the "lost tribes of Israel," whose ethnic identity remains "lost" until the present time.
This situation sparked a rash of restoration prophecies. Isaiah, who lived during these troubled times and prophesied and wrote after the Assyrian deportation of the northern population, made several predictions that the Israelites would be returned to their homeland. Isaiah 11:11-12 is one of his better known "restoration" prophecies, and it is often quoted as a prophecy that was fulfilled by the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. In his article, Bruce Weston cited this passage as one of the prophecies that troubled him. At this point, I would recommend that those who have not yet read Dave Kroll's letter and my editorial comments on pages 12-13 of this issue interrupt the reading of this article to notice what Kroll and I said about the importance of considering the context of a "prophecy" before proclaiming that a "fulfillment" has occurred. When the contexts of the so-called restoration prophecies are analyzed, it is easy to see that the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 fails to satisfy all of the predictions in these "prophecies."
Isaiah 11:11 says, "It shall come to pass in that day that Yahweh shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left." Biblicists desperately wanting to see evidence that the Bible is the "inspired word of God" will quote this verse out of context and proclaim that it is a wonderful prophecy fulfillment. Yahweh had called his people out of Babylon to return them to their homeland, and now for the second time, he restored their nation with the establishment of Israel in 1948.
A major problem with this fulfillment claim is that when this prophecy is analyzed within its full context, too many other aspects of it were obviously not fulfilled in 1948 to consider the establishment of Israel as a fulfillment of Isaiah's prediction that Yahweh would recover a "remnant" of Israel a second time. The best way to see this is to examine what Isaiah predicted in the verses before and after his "restoration" statement.
There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. His delight is in the fear of Yahweh, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist (11:1-5).
Biblical references to a "branch" or "stem" from Jesse are almost universally seen as allusions to a Messiah who would come from the lineage of David, the son of Jesse (Zech. 3:8). Furthermore, the coming of this Messiah or branch from Jesse or David was invariably associated with a regathering of the dispersed people of Yahweh.
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture," says Yahweh. Therefore thus says Yahweh God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people: "You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says Yahweh. "But I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking," says Yahweh.
Behold the days are coming," says Yahweh, "that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness; a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:1-8).
The context of Isaiah 11 also very clearly associated the coming of this branch from Jesse or David with the second regathering of Yahweh's people predicted in verse 11. That is very obvious to anyone who hasn't been blinded by fanatical desires to find fulfilled prophecies in the Bible. Isaiah not only began this prophecy with the reference to the "stem of Jesse" but alluded to the "root of Jesse" in the verse just before the one that predicted the second regathering of the Israelites: "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious" (v:10). Immediately after this verse, Isaiah made the prophecy that was allegedly fulfilled in 1948: "It shall come to pass in that day that Yahweh shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left" (v:11). So if prophecy-fulfillment buffs are going to claim that Isaiah's restoration prediction was fulfilled in 1948, they need to identify for us the person who was the "branch" or "stem" of Jesse that accompanied this fulfillment and stood "as a banner to the people" (v:10). When did this "branch of Jesse" "strike the earth with the rod of his mouth" in 1948, and when did he "slay the wicked with the breath of his lips" (v:5)? Biblicists could save themselves embarrassment if they would just examine the full context of a "prophecy" before they shout, "Fulfillment!"
Another problem that they have to explain is why the apostle Paul quoted Isaiah 11:10 in a context that clearly shows that he thought that Jesus was the "root of Jesse" that Isaiah referred to: "Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written..." (Rom. 15:8-9). At this point Paul quoted four Old Testament scriptures in support of his claim, the last of which was Isaiah 11:10, "And again, Isaiah says, `There shall be a root of Jesse, and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope.'" The reading is slightly different, but Paul was quoting from the Septuagint, which rendered the verse as he wrote it. So if this "root of Jesse," whom Isaiah said would come with the second regathering of Yahweh's people, was Jesus Christ, how can prophecy-fulfillment proponents claim that the establishment of Israel in 1948, which came almost 2000 years after Jesus, fulfilled a prophecy that said Israel would be restored "in the day" that the "root of Jesse" came forth? I'll just let prophecy-fulfillment fanatics argue with their own inspired, inerrant word of God.
A time of peace? Besides predicting that a "root of Jesse" would accompany the second return of Yahweh's people, Isaiah also prophesied that this would be a period of unparalleled peace.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,the calf and the young lion and the fattling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea (11:6-9).
So when did any of these events accompany the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948? Prophecy-fulfillment buffs will be quick to point out that the language in this text is obviously figurative, but that won't gain them anything. Even figurative language has intended meaning, and the intention of the language here was to describe a time of perfect peace. The history of Israel had been filled with oppression and struggles to maintain a hold on their homeland, and at the time that Isaiah wrote this, their northern kingdom had been gobbled up by Assyrian expansion, and ten of their tribes had been deported to Mesopotamian provinces. This, then, was a prophecy that those who had been scattered abroad would not just be regathered to their homeland but would also enjoy a time of peace so complete that it could be described as a time when lambs, goats, and calves would dwell together with natural enemies like wolves, leopards, and lions, and little children would be able to play unharmed with venomous reptiles. Needless to say, no such period of peace accompanied the restoration of Israel in 1948. To the contrary, the history of modern Israel has been filled with wars and conflicts with the Arab nations that surround it. Its very survival has depended on continuous vigilance through military preparation. The children of modern Israel certainly don't play "on the cobra's hole" and put their hands "into the viper's den." They live under a constant threat of injury or death from terrorist activities of their nation's enemies.
A contemporary audience: The language that follows the prediction that the people of Israel would be returned to their country clearly shows that Isaiah intended the prophecy for a contemporary audience. The last part of verse 11 states that the people would be regathered from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, and Hamath, but with the exception of Egypt, none of these countries existed in 1948 when the nation of Israel was established. Biblicists will quibble that Isaiah wasn't saying that these nations would still exist at the time of the fulfillment but only that the people would be regathered from the geographical locations once occupied by these countries. Using the names of the nations then in existence was necessary, they say, in order for the people of that time to understand the prophecy, but in so arguing they are admitting that Isaiah was speaking to a contemporary audience. What possible meaning or hope could the prophecy have had for that audience if it was referring not to Isaiah's contemporaries but to Jews who would be living centuries later?
A context broader than just chapter 11 gives even more compelling evidence that Isaiah's prophecy of Israel's restoration was directed to his contemporaries. In 10:5, he pronounced a "woe to Assyria," the nation that had conquered the northern kingdom and sent its people into foreign captivity, and then after a scathing denunciation of Assyria, he proclaimed that a "remnant of Israel" would return and "never again depend on him who defeated them [Assyria] but will depend on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel" (v:20). Then after repeating the promise of the return of a "remnant of Jacob," he assured the people that they should "not be afraid of the Assyrian" (v:24). "He [Assyria] shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you in the manner of Egypt," Yahweh said through Isaiah, but "yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will my anger in their destruction" (vs:24-25). In addition to his promises to bring the people back to their land, Yahweh also assured them that he would "punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks" (10:12), but it would be difficult even for Yahweh to punish the king of Assyria after there is no Assyria to have a king to punish, and certainly doing something 2700 years later could hardly be called doing it in "yet a very little while." To argue that such passages as these had reference to the distant future rather than to Isaiah's time is a desperate attempt to find something to support an irrational belief in divine inspiration of the Bible.
The plundering of Israel's enemies: The context of Isaiah's "restoration" promise also predicted that when Yahweh had "set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people," the enemies of Israel would be plundered and their resources destroyed.
They [the assembled outcasts of Israel, v. 12] shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; together they shall plunder the people of the East. They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon shall obey them. Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and strike it into seven streams and make men cross over dry-shod (11:14-15).
The continued references to people and places that didn't exist in 1948 (Philistines, Edom, Moab, and Ammon) give added indication that Isaiah was directing his prophecy to contemporary times, but even if fulfillment buffs contend that these names were only figurative references to territories that had these names in Isaiah's time, they must show us when the reassembled outcasts of Israel plundered and destroyed these places in 1948 and when the people of what was once Ammon obeyed them. They must also show us when Yahweh "utterly destroyed" the tongue of the Egyptian Sea and struck the river of Egypt into seven streams. None of this happened. Even when Israel later succeeded in its wars with the Arabs, nothing of this magnitude happened.
This chapter of Isaiah closed with a final verse that conclusively shows that the prophet was predicting a restoration of Israel that would happen in contemporary times: "There will be a highway for the remnant of his [Yahweh's] people who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt" (11:16). Assyria was the nation that had overrun the northern kingdom and taken its people into Mesopotamian captivity, and so this chapter was prophesying an end of that captivity and the captives' return home, and not to a time of restoration so remotely distant in the future that it would have no meaning to Isaiah's audience.
The prophecy failed even for that time, because no such restoration of the northern tribes ever occurred, and they remain "lost" until this time. Biblical inerrantists, however, can't afford to admit prophecy failure, and so they lifted two verses entirely out of context and assigned to them an interpretation that the complete context will not support. If you are ever confronted by a claim of biblical prophecy fulfillment, examine the statement in its full context, and you will almost always find elements (like wolves that didn't dwell with lambs) that don't fit into the fulfillment event. It's the easiest way to debunk fulfillment claims.
No comments:
Post a Comment