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1Who has believed our message?

To whom has Yahweh’s arm been revealed?

2For he grew up before him as a tender plant,

and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no good looks or majesty.

When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3He was despised

and rejected by men,

a man of suffering

and acquainted with disease.

He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;

and we didn’t respect him.

4Surely he has borne our sickness

and carried our suffering;

yet we considered him plagued,

struck by God, and afflicted.

5But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought our peace was on him;

and by his wounds we are healed.

6All we like sheep have gone astray.

Everyone has turned to his own way;

and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7He was oppressed,

yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.

As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he didn’t open his mouth.

8He was taken away by oppression and judgment.

As for his generation,

who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living

and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

9They made his grave with the wicked,

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him.

He has caused him to suffer.

When you make his soul an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring.

He will prolong his days

and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.

11After the suffering of his soul,

he will see the light and be satisfied.

My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;

and he will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore I will give him a portion with the great.

He will divide the plunder with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was counted with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sins of many

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Interpretation of Prophecies in Matthew's Gospel

Interpretation of Prophecies in Matthew's Gospel

Topical Study | | Hershel Wayne House • Daniel G Garland

New Testament writers followed identifiable practices of rabbinic interpretation without going to the fanciful extremes that were common at the time.Examples of the four kinds of rabbinic methodology are found in the second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.   

First, Matthew’s quotation of Micah 5:2 in Matthew 2:5-6 is an example of Pshat, in which meaning is plain or simple.Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is a plain and simple fulfillment of what was prophesied.

Second, Matthew’s quotation of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15 is an example of Remez, in which meaning is hinted at, or suggested.  God’s calling of Messiah (Yahweh’s individual son) out of Egypt following Herod’s death is seen as fulfilling the type of Yahweh’s calling Israel (his national son) out of bondage in Egypt at the time of the exodus. 

Third, Matthew’s reference to Rachel weeping for her children, in Matthew 2:17-18, is an example of Drash, in which meaning is the result of exposition or investigation.  The mourning of mothers whose infants were slaughtered by Herod at the time of Christ is seen as an application of a single point of similarity to the mourning of Jewish mothers at the time their sons were taken in captivity (Jer. 31:15).  As a wife of Jacob (Israel), and mother of some tribes (Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh), Rachel serves as a timeless representation of all Jewish mothers.

Fourth, Matthew’s reference to Jesus being called a Nazarene (Matt. 2:23) is said to be the fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophets.  This is an example of Sod, in which meaning is mysterious or secret.  While none of the prophets actually predicted that Jesus would be called a Nazarene, there are several references to his being despised and rejected, including Isaiah 53:3.  At the time of Christ, to be from Nazareth was to suffer the stigma that Matthew saw as a summation of the messianic prophecies regarding his rejection.