Isaiah 9:5[6] about what?

By: Menachem

I was going over some of the "prophecies" that christians point to to "prove" that jesus is the messiah. This one came across as particularly weak so I would like to take a look at it and get everyone's opinion on the matter. The Christian position is that Isaiah 9:5[6] points to everything that J-sus is or that is in his name. It is claimed by christians that he is "the eternal father", "the Mighty G-d" and "the prince of peace." along with "wonderful counsellor." Lets post the Hebrew so that we can see what is going on here

The Hebrew reads:
כִּי-יֶלֶד יֻלַד-לָנוּ בֵּן נִתַּן-לָנוּ וַתְּהִי הַמִּשְרָה עַל-שִכְמוֹ וַיִּקְרָא שְמוֹ פֶּלֶא יּוֹעֵץ אֵל גִּבּוֹר אֲבִי-עַד שַר-שָלוֹם

A Jewish Translation from the Hebrew:

Isaiah 9:5. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called "wonderful counselor, mighty G-d, eternal father, a peaceful ruler."


For the sake of argument the KJV reads:
Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (KJV)

The differences are very visible between my translation from the Hebrew and what the KJV renders. The main differences being the usage of the word "the" improperly and the tanslation of "Sar Shalom." Now in order for the terms to read "the mighty G-d,The everlasting father, or The Prince of Peace(?)" the particle Heh ( ה ) would have to appear in each of the terms in hebrew which it does not. So saying "The....." would be gramatically incorrect to say the least.So what is in this person's name. I submit that all of the terms but the last one "Sar Shalom" are not part of the person's name but are descriptions of G-d himself. for evidence I give the Aramaic targum of Yonatan to Isaiah to clarify the misconception of the person's name:

Targum Yonatan:
אַמַר נְבִיָא לְבֵית דָוִד אֲרֵי רָבֵי אִיתְיְלִיד לָנָא בַּר אִתְיְהַב לָנָא וְקַבֵּל אוֹרַיְתָא עֲלוֹהִי לְמַטְרָהּ וְאִתְקְרֵי שְמֵיהּ מִן קַדָם מַפְלִיא עֵצָה אֳלָהָא נִבָּרָא קַיָם לְעַלְמַיָא מְשִיחָא דִשְלָמָא יַסְגֵי עֲלָנָא בְּיוֹמוֹהִי

Translation:
The Prophet said to the House of David, For a Child is born to us, to us a son is given; and he will accept the Torah upon himself to observe it, and his name shall be called before the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty G-d, who exists forever, “The anointed one in who’s days peace will increase upon us.”

From the Targum we can tell that the terms "Pele yo'etz ( פֶּלֶא יּוֹעֵץ )," "El gibbor ( אֵל גִּבּוֹר )," "Avi-Ad ( אֲבִי-עַד )" were never meant to be human attributes but that of G-d's himself. the only thing that was left to the child mentioned was "Sar-Shalom ( שַר-שָלוֹם )" rendered correctly as "Peaceful Ruler." The Targum calls this person "the anointed one in who's days peace will increase upon us." the Targum makes a careful play on the words "Sar-Shalom" trying to place it as a future King who will bring peace in his days.

I happen to like Radak and Rashi's view of this being King Hezekiah and how he was this peaceful ruler or rather how peace increased in his days as the Targum put it.

Rashi was regarded saying:

כי ילד יולד לנו. אע"פ שאחז רשע הוא בנו הנולד לו זה כמה שנים להיות לנו תחתיו למלך צדיק יהיה ותהיה משרת הקב"ה ועולו על שכמו שיהיה עוסק בתורה ושומר מצות ויטה שכם למשאו של הקב"ה ויקרא שמו הקב"ה שהוא מפליא עצה ואל גבור ואבי עד, קרא שמו של חזקיהו שר שלום כי שלום ואמת יהיה בימיו:

Radak said as thus:

כי ילד ילד. זה אמר על חזקיהו לפי שבימי מלכותו היתה התשועה הזאת לישראל שנגף מחנה אשור, כאלו אמר זה יהיה בזכות הילד שילד לנו: