Exodus 18:1–20:23 | Isaiah 6:1–7:6; 9:5–6 | Luke 14:16–30

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

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

Questions & Commentary on Shabbat 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, the verses, 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 with which to acclaim the Divine Messianic King who comes to bring grace and peace to Israel and indeed the whole world. 

2. Why would the people coil in fear at hearing the voice of God? 

Benjamin Ehrenfeld

The culminating narrative in Parashat Yitro is the revelation at Sinai. The aseret diberot "Ten Words" are of primary interest to those exploring this parasha, but what of the people's fear of drawing nearer to the God who has delivered them from Egypt? 

"You speak to us," they said to Moses, "and we will obey; but let not God speak to us lest we die." . . . So the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

Exodus 20:16, 18, NJPS 

The God the Israelites encountered was a mighty warrior and a shaker of the world. They knew him to be capable of turning everything they were used to upside down. They were a slave nation for as long as they could remember, and now they were the chosen people of the God who overcame Pharaoh. There is something remarkably "unsafe" in this God. There is something that was missed, however, in the midst of the fear. They were chosen because of a promise. They were brought out because God heard they're crying (Exodus 6:5). God loved them. Enveloped in cloud, fire, and smoke is the God of love. But could they see beyond the cloud? It could be said that maybe this was not what was behind the cloud. For the truth is, as long as God is hidden, his real face could reveal anything. Our sages saw something profound in this moment, and so they built the following midrash from Song of Songs Rabba around the Sinai event: 

Rabbi Yehudah says, "From the hour that Israel heard, ‘I am the Lord your God' the study of Torah was lodged in their hearts and they would learn and they would not forget [what they had learned]. They came near to Moses and they said to Moses, ‘Our teacher Moses, you be our ambassador, a messenger between us [and God],' as it is said in Exodus 16, ‘Speak to us and we will listen' [and in] Deuteronomy 5:22 ‘Let us not die.' What benefit is there to perish.' Then they returned to learning and forgetting [what they learned]. They said, ‘Just as Moses is flesh and blood and passes so to his learning is going to pass.' Immediately they returned to Moses and they said to him, ‘Our teacher Moses, may it be that he ‘kiss me with the kisses of his mouth' (Song of Songs 1:2), i.e., may it be that the learning of Torah be lodged in our hearts as it was.' He [Moses] said to them ‘this you will not have now, but [you will] in the future, as it is written in Jeremiah 31:32, ‘I will put my Torah in their innermost parts, and inscribe it upon their hearts.'" 

What our sages saw was that Sinai was a kiss, a moment of intimacy. Furthermore, they saw a profound sadness in what Israel lost because she withdrew from hearing God's direct voice. Ultimately, a future time would come when we would hear God's direct voice. In this time he would, kiss us with the kisses of his mouth. What if what the Israelites were afraid of was of the deepest intimacy of all? What if God was Father, lover, and friend? Are we sometimes afraid, too? Let us remember what is revealed to us of God in the person of Messiah Yeshua. Let us not stay at a distance, ‘lest we die.' May we accept his Torah . . . his love . . . his kiss.

Luke 4:16-30 - A Spirit-Empowered Messiah 

David J. Rudolph, Ph.D.

Our weekly besora reading begins with Yeshua entering a Nazareth synagogue on Shabbat and reading from the Isaiah scroll. The particular text he reads (Isaiah 61:1-2 with 58:6) could be described as his Messianic mission statement:  

The Spirit of ADONAI is upon me because he has anointed me to announce Good News to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned and renewed sight for the blind, to release those who have been crushed, to proclaim a year of the favor of ADONAI

Luke 4:18-19 CJB 

Yeshua lived out this Messianic mission statement over the course of three and a half years. The four Besorot (Gospels) describe how he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, freed people from spiritual bondages, healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, strengthened the weak, and forgave sins. It is notable that Luke 9-10 describes Yeshua sending out the 12 and the 72/70 to do all these things. And Luke's sequel, the Book of Acts, details how the Messianic community ministered as Yeshua did.

But what often goes unnoticed, especially by those of us who honor the Father and Son but give less attention to the Spirit, is that the Ruach (Spirit) empowered Yeshua to fulfill his messianic mission. Leading up to Luke 4:16-30, we are told that the Ruach descended on Yeshua in bodily form like a dove (Luke 3:22). Yeshua was "filled with the Ruach" (Luke 4:1). He walked "in the power of the Ruach" (Luke 4:14). Yeshua was saturated and overflowing with the Ruach! 

Have you ever thought about the fact that the term "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew word mashiach, which means "anointed one"? Anointed with what? Prune juice? In Luke 4:18, Yeshua tells us that he was anointed (mashach) with the Ruach ADONAI (the Spirit of the LORD). Similarly, in Isaiah 11:1-2, the first thing Isaiah tells us about the son of Yishai (Jesse), the Messiah, is that "the Spirit of ADONAI will rest on him." My point is that Spirit-empowerment was inherent to Yeshua's "Messianic" identity, even as it should be fundamental to the identity of "Messianic" (Anointed) Jews and gentiles (cf. Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4, 17-18, 33, 38; 4:8, 31; 5:32; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:13; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 3:3; 5:5). 

Do you have vision to live out Yeshua's Messianic mission statement in the here and now? If we are going to dare to proclaim the besora (good news) to our people, if in holy chutzpa and humble acknowledgement of our own shortcomings we want to free our people from addictions and see them healed from afflictions, if we want to see eyes opened, the weak strong, and the sinner make teshuva in the name of Yeshua, then we are going to need the power of the Ruach, even as Yeshua did. Lord, may you deluge our hearts and synagogues with your Ruach and give us a taste of the world to come as you describe it in the second part of Isaiah 61!

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - MISHPATIM

Exodus 21:1–24:18
Exodus 30:11–16
2 Kings 12:1–17
John 7:1–13