Exodus 18:1-20:23 – Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6 – Luke 7:1-17

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Yitro
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Yitro

1. In this week's Haftara reading (Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6), we read one of Isaiah's great Messianic prophecies (9:5-6). How are we to understand the meaning of the second half of Isaiah 9:5?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

In this week's Haftara reading, Isaiah 9:5-6 are appended to the end of a narrative in 7:1-6 which tells of the impending invasion of Judah by Aram and Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) and their plans for regime change in the south. The words of 9:5-6 come as a comforting, divine announcement that their plans will not prevail, and God will ensure the continuance of the reign of the House of David. The promise of a child, born to the royal house is a sure sign that God will bring about justice and equity for David's "throne and kingdom" (9:6).

Translating and understanding the name of this child has proven, however, difficult for scholars since before the days of Yeshua. The Hebrew reads: pele yo‘etz el gibbor avi‘ad sar shalom. All agree that these are royal epithets or titles given to a king. But are they titles indicating the king's Divine nature or titles God bestows upon the king? Interestingly the Brit Chadasha does not quote these verses as a Messianic prophecy about Yeshua, though it perhaps alludes to them in Luke 1:33. These verses are, however, certainly significant in Jewish messianic expectation; Christians also include them in their liturgical readings leading up to Christmas.

One option for understanding these verses is offered by the New Jewish Publication Society translation and follows the traditional Hebrew pointing of the text. They render it "He has been named, ‘The Mighty God is planning grace; The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler'." The purpose of this translation is to avoid the suggestion that a human king has been given the title "Mighty God" or "Eternal Father." Rather, these epithets describe what God is going to bring about through this king - peace and grace. The noted medieval scholars Rashi and David Kimchi also understand the verse in this way. This approach is somewhat problematic because, though it follows the traditional pointing or punctuation of the text (which dates from the Middle Ages), it departs from the actual syntax of the Hebrew. 

Ibn Ezra takes a slightly different approach. He understands these words as a series of royal epithets: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." He is not troubled by the apparent ascription of the title "Mighty God" to a human king but rather understands it as a statement of the power God will exercise through the expected king (whom he believes to be Hezekiah). This is similar to how this text was understand by the Qumran community from the Dead Sea in the Thanksgiving Scroll where they alluded to this text by calling the male child pele yo‘etz im gevurato or "Wonderful Counselor with His (i.e. God's) Might" (1QH 3:10).

Jerome, an early Christian commentator who wrote his commentary on Isaiah in conversation with rabbinic commentators and working from the Hebrew text, understands Isaiah 9:5 as a series of titles for the Divine Messianic King (an interpretation in concert with Christian and Messianic Jewish readings of this text). His interpretation, however, departs from some traditional renderings of this text:

After the Lord has been called by two names (Emmanuel and Swiftly Spoil, Quickly Plunder), he is now given six others: Wonderful, Counselor, God, Might, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  These names are not to be joined together in groups of two - as some think - and read, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. Rather, they are to be read separately.

Excerpted from Robert Louis Wilken, The Church's Bible: Isaiah, 129

Jerome's reading challenges us to meditate more deeply on the different aspects of Messiah's person and work. Rather than mighty and wonderful being simple adjectives describing God or Counselor, they are actual messianic titles.

However, one divides these words - as four or six titles - they offer us beautiful language for the Divine Messianic King who comes to bring grace and peace to Israel and indeed the whole world.

2. How many of the Ten Commandments did God directly speak to the children of Israel at Sinai? Did they hear all of them directly from the mouth of God or only some? What is this meant to teach us?

Rabbi Jason Sobel

Our Sages disagree on the number of commandments that our ancestors heard at Sinai. Maimonides, for example, says that Israel only heard God directly speak the first two commandments. The midrash teaches that they heard all Ten Commandments. Which is correct? According to Rashi both are.

In Exodus 20:1 we read, "God spoke all these statements." The phrase "all these statements" seems to be entirely unnecessary if God had only spoken the first two commandments. Thus, Rashi teaches that God miraculously spoke all of the Ten Commandments in one incomprehensible utterance. Then, God clearly articulated the first two commandments word for word. After hearing God speak the first two commandments, the people feared that they could not continue to hear the voice of God and live so they asked that Moses communicate the rest of the commandments to them.

Although the Torah does not explicitly state that God clearly communicated only the first two commandments, there is biblical support for this view. The grammar of the Ten Commandments itself seems to support this conclusion. The first two commandments are spoken in the first person (I am the Lord your God - Commandment One; you must not have any other gods before me - Commandment Two), whereas in the other commandments God speaks in the third person (You shall not . . .). The fact that the first two commandments are placed together in the same paragraph while the all the others are separated also alludes to the unique way in which they were communicated (Meam Loez).

The way God communicated the Ten Commandments to us at Sinai reveals several important spiritual truths about the Torah. Based on God's miraculous, incomprehensible utterance of the Ten Commandments, we learn that the Torah is a unified, inseparable whole. The Ten Commandments cannot be separated from the rest of God's mitzvot. All are equally God's word and will for our lives, and, as such, we should strive to understand and live out all of them. As Rabbi Yehuda says in Pirke Avot, "Be as scrupulous in performing a minor mitzva as you are in performing a major one, for you do not know the reward for each." We cannot, therefore, conclude that it is acceptable to keep only the weightier matters of the Torah while disregarding the lesser aspects even if we believe it is humanly impossible to keep all of them (Matthew 23:23; James 2:10). 

God's direct articulation of the first two commandments teaches us to be especially mindful of cultivating faith and trust in God alone and to be on guard against creating and worshipping idols. Thus, the first two commandments had to be heard clearly by Israel for they are the foundation and bedrock of the Torah as is evidenced in the words of the Shema, "Hear O' Israel, Lord is God, the Lord alone." Believing that there is one all powerful Creator and Redeemer who alone is worthy of worship is the perquisite for obeying God and keeping all of God's commandments. As the author of Hebrews writes, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).