RLD: isa8-14
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Jehovah or Jesus? Isaiah 18:13-15 Yahweh of hosts, him, shall ye hallow, - And let, him, be your fear, and let, him inspire you with awe; So shall he become a hallowed asylum, - But a stone to strike against, and a rock to stumble over unto both houses of Israel A trap and a snare to the dweller in Jerusalem; And many, shall stumble among them, - and fall and be torn, and snared, and captured. -- Rotherham's Emphasized Bible translation. Romans 9:32,33 Why? Because they didn't seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; even as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And no one who believes in him will be put to shame." 1 Peter 3:7,8 For you therefore who believe is the honor, but for such as are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected, Has become the chief cornerstone," and, "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Unless stated otherwise, all Biblical quotations are from the World English bible translation
Our trinitarian neighbors (and some others) often point ot Isaiah 8:13-15; Romans 9:32,33 and 1 Peter 2:8 as proof positive that Jesus is Yahweh. Basically, the idea is that since Yahweh [supposedly] speaks of himself as stone of stumbling in Isaiah and Paul applies this to Jesus in Romans, then this should prove that Jesus is Yahweh. However, did Isaiah, by saying "he" in Isiah 18:14, mean this to refer to Yahweh, or back to Immanuel of verse 8? (Isaiah 8:8) What was Paul's intentions in quoting Isaiah 8:14? Let us see exactly what Paul did say: Why? Because {they did} not {pursue it} by faith, but as though {it were} by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." -- New American Standard Bible translation Paul appears to give indirect quotations of two scriptures: Isaiah 8:14,15 and Isaiah 28:16. He first quotes Isaiah 28:16, in which it is Yahweh who speaks: "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone". Then he jumps to Isaiah 8:15 for the phrase: "for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense". And next returns to Isaiah 28:16 for the last part: "he who believes shall not be in haste." It should be easy to see from Isaiah 28:16 that the stone is laid by Yahweh, and thus the stone is not Yahweh. Paul's application of these scriptures actually tends to show that Jesus is not Yahweh, but rather Jesus is the stone laid by Yahweh. Realizing that Paul's thought is not to say that Jesus is Yahweh, but that Jesus is the stone laid by Yahweh, his quote of Isaiah 8:15 could be viewed as making it clear that Isaiah 8:15 is speaking of Jesus, not Yahweh. The prophecy of Isaiah often changes from one person to another without clear indication of context that such is being done. Even verses 1 and 2 of this very chapter, Isaiah begins to quote Yahweh and suddenly stops in verse 2 and 3 and begins to speak of himself. The earlier context speaks of the prophetess who conceived and bore a son.
(Isaiah 8:3,4) This son is evidently the one referred to in Isaiah 7:4, 8:8
as Immanuel. Concerning this, the JFB commentary states:
"prophetess -- perhaps the same as the "virgin" (Isaiah 7:14), in the interim
married as Isaiah's second wife: this is in the primary and temporary sense.
Immanuel is even in this sense distinct from Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Thus
nineteen months at least intervene from the prophecy (Isaiah 7:14), nine
before the birth of Immanuel, and ten from that time to the birth of
Maher-shalal-hash-baz: adding eleven or twelve months before the latter
could cry, 'Father' (Isaiah 8:4), we have about three years in all, agreeing
with Isaiah 7:15,16." -- Fausset, A. R., A.M. "Commentary on Isaiah 8".
"Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible". 1871 Concerning Immanuel in verse 8, this same commentary states: "Though temporarily applied to Isaiah's son, in the full sense this is applicable only to Messiah, that Judea is His, was, and still is, a pledge that, however sorely overwhelmed, it shall be saved at last; the 'head' is safe even now, waiting for the times of restoration (Acts 1:6); at the same time these words imply that, notwithstanding the temporary deliverance from Syria and Israel, implied in 'Immanuel,' the greatest calamities are to follow to Judah." Thus we can see that in Isaiah 8:14, the prophet is probably referring back to Immanuel of verse 8, and not Yahweh of verse 13, since Paul does apply verse 13 to Jesus, not Yahweh. Now let us look at 2 Peter 2:7,8. We find that what Peter says agrees with what is presented above, and actually adds more proof that the stone being referred to Isaiah 8:14 is Jesus, not Yahweh. This is further attested to by Peter's reference to Psalm 118:22. In Psalm 118:23, we read that "This is Yahweh's doing." Thus, we conclude that the stone of Isaiah 8:14 is the doing of Yahweh, but that the stone is not Yahweh himself. However many insist that Isaiah 8:14 seems to be Yahweh speaking of himself as "a stone of stumbling and rock of offense". Even if Yahweh is speaking of himself here, would this necessarily make Jesus and Yahweh the same being? No. When Jesus is representing his Father and God Yahweh, it is hard to draw a line between the two in terms of how the prophecies apply. For "The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me." -- Luke 10: 16. Many of the scriptures which Yahweh applies to himself are often fulfilled in others, especially Jesus. This does not make Jesus the same being as Yahweh. For instance, in Deuteronomy 32:12 we read: "Yahweh alone did lead him
(Israel), There was no foreign god with him." Yet we also read in Psalm
77:20: "You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron."
And in Exodus 15:22 we find: "Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea." If
we put the first and last scripture together, one could assume from the two
that Moses is Yahweh. However, as we can ascertain from the scriptures as a
whole that Moses is not Yahweh, so we can ascertain from the scriptures as a
whole that Jesus is not Yahweh. Taken out of context, Jeremiah 21:6 and Jeremiah 52:4-7 could be seen as saying that Nebuchadnezzar is Yahweh, but we know from the context and the rest of the Bible that Yahweh used Nebucadnezzar to fulfill what Yahweh said he was going to do. Likewise, we can see from Romans 9:32,33 and the rest of the Bible that Jesus is not Yahweh, thus we can see Yahweh uses Jesus as the fulfillment of stone of stumbling to Israel, as though the stone were Yahweh himself. The scriptures abound with cases where Yahweh speaks of various ones as accomplishing what he says that he himself accomplished. Yet by context and the rest of the scriptures we can see that the ones used are not Yahweh. -- Exodus 3:10,12; 12:17; 18:10; Numbers 16:28; Judges 2:6,18; 3:9,10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:24,25; 14:6,19; 15:14,18; 16:20,28-30, 2 Kings 4:27; Isaiah 43:11, 45:1-6; etc. Regardless, there is nothing in Isaiah 8:14 that proves that Jesus is Yahweh, and certainly no reason to add to the scriptures the fable of three persons in one God. This document may be reproduced and distributed for non-profit purposes.
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