And
second, another way competent Bible scholars have interpreted the meaning of this name is with the understanding that it (as with many, if not most, of the other Israelites’ personal names) does not apply
directly to the Messiah (as we have already seen with “Elijah,” “Abijah,” etc.) but is, instead,
a statement praising the Father, Jehovah God.
Personal names in the ancient Hebrew and Greek are often somewhat cryptic to us today. The English Bible translator must fill in the missing minor words (especially in names composed of two or more Hebrew words) such as “my,” “is,” “of,” etc. in whatever way he thinks best in order to make sense for us today in English.
For instance, two of the best Bible concordances (
Young’s and
Strong’s) and a popular trinitarian Bible dictionary (
Today’s Dictionary of the Bible) differ greatly on the exact meaning of many Biblical personal names because of those “minor” words which must be added to bring out the
intended meaning.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, for example, says the name
“Elimelech” (which is
literally just “God King”) means “God
of (
the) King
.” Young’s Analytical Concordance says it means “God
is King.”
Today’s Dictionary of the Bible says it means “ God
his king” - p. 206, Bethany House Publ., 1982. And an online meaning is given as “My God
is the King
.” - http://www.kveller.com/jewish_names/display.php?n=Elimelech&k=840.
And, “God
is my King.” -
http://www.jhom.com/calendar/sivan/symbolism.htm .
Those missing minor words that the translator must supply at his own discretion can often make a vital difference! - For example, the footnote for Gen. 17:5 in
The NIV Study Bible: The name ‘Abram’ “means ‘Exalted Father,’ probably in reference to God (i.e., ‘[
God is the] Exalted Father’).” - bracketed information is in the original.
But perhaps most instructive of all is the name given to the prophet’s child in Isaiah 8:3 shortly before his giving the name found in Is. 9:6.
Is. 8:3
Maher-shalal-hash-baz: Literally, “spoil speeds prey hastes” or “swift booty speedy prey.” Translated by various Bible scholars as: “
In making speed
to the spoil
he hasteneth
the prey” - - “swift [
is] booty, speedy [
is] prey” - - “
the spoil speeded,
the prey hasteth” - - “Speeding
for spoil, hastening
for plunder” - - “
There will soon
be looting
and stealing”- - “Speeding
is the spoil, Hastening
is the prey” - - “
The Looting
Will Come Quickly;
the Prey
Will Be Easy” - - “
Take sway the spoils
with speed, quickly
take the prey” - - “Swift
is the booty, speedy
is the prey” - - “Swift
the Spoils
of War and Speedy
Comes the Attacker” - - “
Make haste
to plunder! Hurry
to the spoil!” - - “
Make haste
to the spoil;
fall upon the prey.” - - “
Your enemies will soon
be destroyed.’” -
TLB.
- - “
They hurry
to get what they can.
They run
to pick up what is left.” -
NLV.
And John Gill wrote:
“‘hasten
to seize the prey,
and to take away the spoil.’ Some translate it, ‘
in hasten
ing the prey,
the spoil
er hastens’; perhaps it may be better rendered, ‘hasten to the spoil, hasten to the prey.’”
In light of the above therefore, the personal name at Is. 9:6 has been honestly translated in the footnote as:
“And his name is called: Wonderful
in counsel
IS God the Mighty, the Everlasting Father, the Ruler
of Peace” -
The Holy Scriptures, JPS Version (Margolis, ed.)
to show that it is
intended to praise the God of the Messiah who performs great things through the Messiah.
Also,
An American Translation (by trinitarians Smith and Goodspeed) says:
“Wonderful Counselor
IS God Almighty, Father forever, Prince of Peace.”
From the Is. 9:6 footnote in the trinity-supporting
NET Bible:
".... some have suggested that one to three of the titles that follow ['called']
refer to God, not the king. For example, the traditional punctuation of the Hebrew text suggests the translation, 'and the Extraordinary Strategist, the Mighty God calls his name, "Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."'"
And
The Leeser Bible says:
“Wonderful, counsellor
of the mighty God,
of the everlasting Father, the prince of peace”
Of course it could also be honestly translated:
“The Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God
Is the Eternal Father
of the Prince of Peace.”
And the
Tanakh by the JPS, 1985, translates it:
[1]“The Mighty God
is planning grace;
[2] The Eternal Father [is] a peaceable ruler.”
This latter translation seems particularly appropriate since it is in the form of a parallelism. Not only was the previous symbolic personal name introduced by Isaiah at Is. 8:1 a parallelism (“Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz” means [1]“quick to the plunder; swift to the spoil” -
NIV footnote) but the very introduction to this Messianic name at Is. 9:6 is itself a parallelism: [2]“For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given.” It would, therefore, be appropriate to find that this name, too, was in the form of a parallelism as translated by the
Tanakh above.
So it is clear, even to a number of trinitarian scholars, that Is. 9:6 does not imply that Jesus is God.
“A child is born” — Humanity
“A son is given” — Divinity
“The government shall be upon His shoulder” — Authority
“Wonderful, Counsellor” — Wisdom and Wonder
“The Mighty God” — No Debate
“The Prince of Peace” — Ruler of Reconciliation