לתשובת המינים

Isaiah 11:10

Who will the Nations Seek?

Romans 15:12

"It shall be on that day that the descendant of Jesse who stands as a banner for the peoples, nations will seek him, and his resting place will be glorious."

We have been examining each verse of T’nakh cited by the Christian Bible as Messianic. We have followed them in the order in which they appear in the T’nakh and only now have we ran across one that actually refers to the Mashiach in it's primary meaning. So the question now is does this passage in anyway point to the Nazarene being that Mashiach?

In the book of Romans Paul writes, "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy...And again, Isaiah says, 'The Root of Jesse will spring up, once who will arise to rule over the Nations, the Gentiles will hope in him.'" The first thing one might notice when comparing Paul’s quote to the actual text he refers to is that he begins midway through the first sentence. You will see that Paul omitted the phrase, "It shall be on that day".

But what day does Yeshayahu HaNavi (the Prophet Isaiah) speak of? Isaiah begins chapter 11 speaking of the coming of Mashiach. He elaborates about them in verse 6-9:

The wolf will live with the sheep and the leopard will lie down with the kid; and a calf, ca lion whelp and a fatling [will walk] together, and a young child will lead them. A cow and a bear will graze and their young will lie down together; and a lion, like cattle, will eat hay. A suckling will play by ca viper s hole; and a newly weaned child will stretch his hand toward an adder’s lair. They will neither injure not destroy in all of My sacred mountain; for the earth will be as filled with knowledge of Hashem as water covering the sea bed.

Then we have our verse, "And it shall be on that day..." Now some understand the above passage literally, that is, these animals shall live peacefully with man and each other. Others understand it symbolically, that humanity will live at peace with each other. Either way, has this level of peace ever been known on earth? Was it known at the time of the Nazarene? This type of peace is unknown in human history and since our verse takes place "on that day" it means that it has yet to occur. It has not yet been fulfilled by anyone.

Likewise we see that on that day the world is filled with knowledge of God. But throughout the history of the world their have been many false religions that have obscured the knowledge of Hashem. Then subsequent to our passage Isaiah again says, "It shall be on that day..." and describes the complete re-gathering of the exiles, another event which has yet to occur.

One also may have noticed that although Isaiah says, "nations (Goyim can imply nations or gentiles) shall seek him" while Paul quotes it as, "Gentiles will hope in him." So while Paul’s misrendering seems to suggest the Christian belief that people are saved through belief, or hope, in the Messiah, no such concept is suggested by the original. What is suggested is that the world will consult the Mashiach on how to properly serve God, as Isaiah said earlier, "He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths". (2:3).

So, while this time the Christian Bible cites a legitimate prophecy of Mashiach, we see it in no way refers to the Nazarene. Suspiciously, the part of the verse that says it will occur at the time of the fulfillment of several other prophecies of Mashiach which the Nazarene did not fulfill is left out, and we are told explicitly that the seeking of the nations will occur "on that day." If the other prophecies have not been fulfilled then the "seeking" being described has yet to occur either. While often the discrepancy between what is claimed to be fulfilled and what hasn’t been fulfilled yet in the verses is explained by analogy with a mountain tops where it seems that the peaks are joined together but they are actually separated by a great valley. Here however, a "valley" of time is insufficient to explain the discrepancy because the supposedly fulfilled prophecy is to be preceded by events which have yet to take place.