In the previous two posts I have been looking at prophets in the Bible, examining their integrity and their accuracy, or lack thereof. Let’s continue, starting with one of the best-known “prophecies” of Jesus in the Old Testament.
Isaiah gives us a passage that made its way into Christian tradition, often quoted during Christmas celebrations. It is Isaiah 7, the passage which “prophesies” the virgin birth of Jesus (see Matthew 1:22, 23). The situation is that King Ahaz of Judah is worried about two kings coming to attack Jerusalem. God tells Isaiah to go to Ahaz and tell him “have no fear” for the plans of these kings “shall not stand or come to pass.” Isaiah offers Ahaz a sign that this will be true (even though Deuteronomy tells us signs don’t prove anything).
Behold, a virgin [Heb: maiden] will be with child [Heb: is pregnant] and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken. “
Isaiah 7:14-16
When this passage was translated into Greek, or now into modern English, the word “maiden” or “young woman” gets mistranslated into “virgin” and the author of the Gospel of Matthew uses this as a proof text for Jesus’ virgin birth. However, in the Hebrew the word is more accurately “maiden” (there is another specific word for virgin) and it says she is “pregnant,” not that “she will conceive.” I see two possibilities. It is possible that one of the women present is pregnant, and Isaiah points to her to say that before her boy grows up the situation will resolve. However, if you read into the next chapter Isaiah gets his wife pregnant and then “before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother’” Damascus and Samaria will be defeated. It seems like Isaiah himself is taking part in his prophecy. But either way he is not talking about some future messiah; what comfort would that be to King Ahaz?
The question is, was Isaiah’s prophecy even correct? Did the plans of the two kings come to pass, or not? Well, 2nd Kings 16:5 in a very terse account suggests that Isaiah may have been correct, but 2nd Chronicles 28:5-7 paints a different picture, telling us that the king of Aram took away many captives and the King Pekah “slew in Judah 120,000 in one day.” In fact, the passage tells us that “a prophet of the Lord” said to the victors that because Yahweh was angry with Judah “He has delivered them into your hand.” This doesn’t sound like the reassuring prophecy that Isaiah gave Ahaz. Also notice that Isaiah said of the child in his prophecy that “she will call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God is with us,” which Christians take to mean that Jesus is “God with us” but in the Isaiah story it means that “God is on our side,” not that God was physically present with them. In chapter 8 when Isaiah himself fathers the child, instead of naming him “Immanuel” he names him “Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” , meaning “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.” It was rough being a kid in those days with these difficult names! So, apparently Isaiah failed to follow through on his own prophecy when naming his child. And of course, Jesus was called “Jesus” by his mother, not “Immanuel.”
Isaiah also lists predictions against various places. Of Damascus he says, “Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, and it will become a fallen ruin” (Isaiah 17:1). Damascus was still a populated city in Jesus’ day just as it is today. In chapter 19 he speaks against Egypt, saying that its river (the Nile) will be parched and dry, fishing will fail, the weaving industry will fail, and he is not above throwing in the ultimate insult among the ancients: “In that day the Egyptians will become like women.” He goes on to describe God sending the Egyptians a savior and they “will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering.” When did the Egyptians ever convert to Judaism? Yes, at times there were Jews living in Egypt, but he is clearly speaking of Egypt itself, not of some Jews living in Egypt. Of course, there were Christians in Egypt in the 1st Centyury CE and some Christian apologists try to make this passage speak of that time. Why would a Jewish prophet speaking to a Jewish audience familiar with the Law of Moses refer to “sacrifice and offering” when in fact he was referring to a future religion that considered sacrifices and offerings obsolete? You really have to twist the text to come to such a conclusion. There will even be a union between Israel, Egypt and Assyria, “a blessing in the midst of the earth.” No such alliance has ever been recorded. Apologists try to allegorize such prophecies by making them refer to theological concepts rather than history but to do so renders prophecies meaningless; you can make up whatever meaning that fits if that is your approach. It would be like me “prophesying” that the United States and Iran will worship the Lord and offer sacrifices together, and then claim it was fulfilled because there are Christians in both countries that offer up the “sacrifices” of their lives devoted to God. If a prophecy does not mean what it actually says then its interpretation is entirely subjective and therefore meaningless.
The book of Ezekiel includes some errant prophecies as well. Which is not surprising, because when you read the opening chapters of his book you get the impression he was high on something. Ezekiel was the most interesting of the Biblical prophets, not just because of his fantastic imagery, but also because of his habit of acting out prophecies, such as lying down on his left side for 390 days, cooking his food over dung, and shaving off his hair and beard and the burning it in the center of the city. He often depicts God as using brutality to get people to recognize and acknowledge Him, which is an odd way to picture God when you think about it. Here is one interesting comment from him:
[God speaking:] I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances by which they could not live.”
Ezekiel 20:25
Ezekiel has God speaking very frankly here. Well, study the Law and the history of Israel and you will see that Ezekiel was right about God’s laws (see post #18 for more about that).
But there are more specific prophecies we can examine. In chapter 26 Ezekiel prophesies that God will bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, against the city-state of Tyre, concluding that:
“I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more, for I the Lord have spoken… When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited…you will not be inhabited…you will be no more; though you will be sought, you will never be found again.”
Ezekiel 26:14 – 21
Now, if you know your Bible you know that both Jesus and Paul visited Tyre and found it to be a populated and prosperous city. It is still so today; I have an acquaintance that was born there. In chapter 29 he also makes similar dire predictions about Egypt:
“I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation…A man’s foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years…And her cities…will be desolate forty years; and I shall scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”
An “utter waste.” “Desolate.” Scattered and dispersed. This will come as quite a surprise to all the Egyptians living there now who can trace their nation’s history back through the time of Ezekiel. Of course, one can always “allegorize” this: he didn’t mean literally, just figuratively. What good is a prophecy that can be twisted to mean anything you want and clearly not what is actually written?
Then in chapter 43 Ezekiel tells us of the temple in Jerusalem:
He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever…”
Of course, the temple that was rebuilt did not last forever, but was destroyed in 70 CE. Jesus Himself is recorded as saying that the temple would be destroyed; He apparently did not agree with the prophets that the temple would be God’s dwelling place forever.[1] Lest you think this is a prophecy of a future temple to be built note that God says “this is the place” referring to the temple Ezekiel was speaking of in the preceding chapters. Now, some might argue that God’s prophecies are conditional; when people repent or do evil then He is free to change His mind about things (marginalization?). Why would God say “forever” if He knew it was not going to be forever? He could have said, “…where I will dwell among the sons of Israel as long as they are faithful to me,” but He did not say that; He specified “forever.” Again, you can marginalize it or allegorize it to have some other meaning, but what good is a prophecy if it does not mean what it says so that you can know what it means?
If prophecies are of interest to you there are books and websites that will discuss those that seem to be wrong, and others that will explain why they really are right. Decide for yourself.
Well, what have we learned from the prophets about prophets? They can:
> Lie
> Fail to discern lies
> Be deceived by spirits and by God
> Prophesy while drunk
> Be bought off
> Tell prophecies that fail to come true
But not the prophets that made it into the Bible, right? Well, how would one know? If God allowed, and at times even made the prophets speak falsely, then they can also write falsely. Perhaps God wants us to weigh all writings carefully, to discern what is right and what is wrong, rather than blindly accepting everything without thought. Perhaps the Bible is a test to see what we are willing to accept as truth and what we are willing to reject as false.
Thinking exercises:
1. The prophets often go on at length pronouncing judgment on people of their day, like the kings of Babylon, Tyre, Arabia, etc. Nobody today knows those people or the details of their lives. Do you think that this is an effective teaching method for you personally?
2. Given what we know about how the Bible was compiled and edited over the centuries, is it reasonable to assume that everything that was included in the Bible was written by someone inspired by God? Since the Bible itself says that God can test people with false prophecies and even induce prophets to lie, is it reasonable to assume that something is true just because it was included in the Bible?
3. Deuteronomy 13 says that God might test people with false signs and wonders. Is it possible that God is testing us with the Bible, which contains many stories that make God appear cruel, insensitive, unfair and narcissistic, to see if we really are willing to believe in such a portrayal of Him? Might God’s reaction to some people be, “Why would you believe that about Me?!”
[1] Jesus prophesied that the temple would be destroyed; He never prophesied it would be rebuilt except as His own body: see John 2:19-21. This goes against modern fundamentalists who preach that a physical temple is going to be rebuilt again.