Grafted-In Ministries

I would like to share something which I learnt last night, that may interest some of you.

It is a bit of a detective story, and is a bit lenghthy... make yourself a cuppa Joe and sit back and enjoy this post

It might be a bit difficult to follow, but again, maybe some will "ah-ha" and get my drift ...

What happened last night,

I have been pondering about why so many Messianic Jews I have read about (their websites) seem to say that Yeshua is Yehovah (or "Elohim") in the flesh, or even say that He is equal to the Father (the trinity doctrine).

It is something that puzzles me, because we hear from Yeshua Himself saying that His Father is greater than Him, that Yeshua will sit on the right hand of His Father...

I know that some will say that Yeshua said "My Father and I are One" and say that it means Yeshua is the Father... but to this I reply, Yeshua also said we are One with Him and the Father... yet this doesn't make us Yeshua or the Father, or equal to them... rather it means, One in mind, or agreement.

Well, last night, I pondered about it all, about Yeshua being the Father and how it doesn't make sense, and thought about Isaiah 9:5/6 where it says:

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty Elohim, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

My big puzzle is that Isaiah above seems to say that the child, whom I take to mean Yeshua, is called the Mighty Elohim, and the everlasting Father........

Yet, it doesn't make sense, with Yeshua always affirming that the Father is greater than Him, and never saying that He is the Father........

Something within me quietly prompted me to go and read the Stone Edition's Tanach that I have next to my bed (which has Hebrew on one side and English translation on other side), and I shook off the prompting abruptly... I was puzzled about my being so abrupt in shaking off this prompting and it occured to me that it may be the Spirit that is telling me to go and read the Tanach. Sometimes the spirit is so quiet and gentle that it is easy for my nature to refuse and turn my back on it's promptings... when I realised this, I struggled within myself and got myself to obey the quiet prompting and open the Tanach.

I took this opportunity to read the Isaiah 9:5/6 part, (which I shared above, about the son, child, being called Eternal Father), wanting to know what the Jews' translation of it in English was, and the actual Hebrew wordings are.

What I found in there was interesting!

In the Tanach, the Hebrew part says:

The english translation part on the opposite page says:

For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us, and the dominion will rest on his shoulder; the Wondrous Adviser, Mighty Elohim, Eternal Father, called his name Sar-shalom [Prince of Peace];

Wow, this translation is different to KJV above, it's saying that the Eternal Father calling the son, "Prince of Peace", instead of the son being called "the Eternal Father" and "the Prince of Peace" and I wondered why...

Then I read in the commentary section beneath in the Tanach, which is on this part in Isaiah, and this is the eye-opener:

This wondrous salvation took place in the days of the child of Ahaz, the righteous King Hezekiah, whom Elohim - the Wondrous Adviser, Mighty Elohim, Eternal Father - called "Prince of Peace."

Please note, I am not focusing on the part about the child being of Ahaz, the righteous King Hezekiah - because I am aware that Yehovah has closed the Jews' eyes regarding Yeshua as Messiah for the time being... I am instead drawn to how Hebrew is written and translated in the commentary - the above Jewish commentary reminded me about the time when I was learning Hebrew using Jeff Benner's "Learn to Read Biblical Hebrew"...

In Jeff Benner's book, he shows how Hebrew grammar is different to English. One example that stuck with me was this:

English: Moses gave to us the Torah.

Hebrew:

Hebrew transliteration: natan mosheh lanu es hatorah

Hebrew's grammar is... drumroll...

"Gave Moses to-us the-Torah".

In case you're struggling to understand the grammar (as I did when I first started to learn Hebrew), another example is, say,

English: Anna called Susan, "Queen"

In Hebrew, it'll be:

Called Anna Susan Queen

(Hebrew doesn't have comma or quotation marks)

So, with this understanding of Hebrew grammar, going back to read Hebrew in Isaiah 9:5/6,

The Hebrew transliteration (saying aloud in Hebrew) is:

Ki-yeled yulad-lanu ben nitan-lanu vat'hi hamishra al-shichmo vayikra sh'mo pele yoetz el gibor avi-ad sar-shalom

And translating (keeping Hebrew grammar intact)...

Ki-yeled (for-child) yulad-lanu (born to-us) ben (son) nitan-lanu (given to-us) vat'hi (and rest) hamishra (the government) al-shichmo (on-his shoulder) vayikra (and-called) sh'mo (his-name) pele (wondrous) yoetz (adviser) el gibor (great el) avi-ad (father forever) sar-shalom (prince-of peace)

What it looks like (no commas or quotation marks, as it is in Hebrew)

For child born to us son given to us and rest the government on his shoulder and called his name wondrous adviser great el father forever prince of peace

With commas and quotations, it could look like this:

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government rest on his shoulder, and called his name, Wondrous, Adviser, Great El, Father Forever, "Prince of Peace".

i.e. the above Hebrew grammar,

Called his name, the Father ---> "Prince of Peace"

Means, in English,

The Father called his (the son's) name, "Prince of Peace"

Using similar example,

Gave Moses ---> to us the Torah

Means in English,

Moses gave to us the Torah.

Only, in Isaiah 9:5, instead of

Hebrew: Called his (the son's) name, the Father ---> "Prince of Peace"

English: The Father called his (the son's) name, "Prince of Peace"

Isaiah mentions the Fathers' other names as well,

The Wondrous Adviser, Mighty El, and Eternal Father, called his (son's) name, "Prince of Peace"

Original Hebrew:
For child born to us son given to us and rest the government on his shoulder and called his name wondrous adviser great el father forever prince of peace

This is how it should probably have been translated in English, keeping the Hebrew meaning intact:

For a child born to us, a son given to us and the government rest on his shoulder and, the wondrous adviser, the great el, father forever, called his (the son's) name, "prince of peace"

Just like what the Jewish translation and commentary on the Hebrew shared.

That's it - what I wanted to share with you... it was a bit hard explaining, I hope you get my drift... it all made so much sense.

To me, the Hebrew grammar I've learnt (albeit slowly and a bit at a time) seemed to confirm that in Isaiah, the KJV is an English mistranslation as English translations doesn't get the drift of Hebrew grammar.