The Hebrew Text.
The form of these verses is quite different from what precedes? The
earlier verses were addressed to YHWH, but these are not. Here the text says “For
to us a child is born.” The child takes the centre stage as saviour, not YHWH.
The passage is not a song of thanksgiving to YHWH, but a song of enthronement.
All attention is drawn to the new prince on the day of his birth or the day of
his enthronement. On that day, he receives various honorific names (v. 5).
Basically what we have here is an
enthronement of a prince with honorific titles. With regard to the titles, it
is usually noted in Egypt five titles are given to new rulers. Here, however, we
seem only to have four. For this reason, some exegetes like to split the four titles
to make five out of them. Support for this endeavour can be found in the final ם
in למרבה at the beginning of the MT v. 6, which may conceal an original fifth
title.
Contents.
Most important in this section is the announcement concerning a prince or king
who will rule with justice and righteousness. If we read this in conjunction
with 9,1-4, the suggestion is that he will bring salvation to Israel. Who is
the announced one? He sits on the Davidic throne (9,6). The reference can
hardly be to Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz. Israel happened to be defeated in its
war with Syria against Judah. It is highly unlikely that Judah’s king Hezekiah
would have been viewed as a saviour for the defeated northern kingdom. Most
probably, the prince referred to is Josiah (c. 640). His reign began almost 100
years after the Syro-Ephraimitic war. By that time the wounds of the war may
have been healed. Josiah seems to have been successful in once again reunifying
the Norther and the South for a short period of time and may thus have returned
Israel to its old Davidic boundaries. This appears to be confirmed by the
historical narrative in 2 Kings 22-23. The passage in Isa 9,5-6 may have been
his enthronement song. In that case the song would not have been written by
Isaiah, but by someone living much alter. It is not strictly messianic, but it
refers to a Josiah who was on the throne shortly before the exile.
The Greek Text.
The names given to the child in v. 5 (LXX v. 6) seem to be reduced to one item:
Messenger (αγγελος) of Greek Counsel. The child is
no longer called “Great Counsel”, but “Messenger” of Great Counsel. In fact,
through the insert of “Messenger”, the single name is given to the Lord who
sent the “messenger”, or it may have lost its character of a personal name and been
reduced to the common name “counsel” and the adjective “great”. Seeligmann is
most impressed by the peaceful character of the Child-Messiah in the Greek text.
With reference to Jer 32(39),19 he interpreters his title μεηαλης βουλης αγγελος as “the Delegate who carries out
the Divine Dispensation of the age-old plan”. Hanhart follows him on this.
The other names are given a completely
new interpretation. The term αγγελος itself is probably a rendition of the second name אל-נבור.
The first part of the third name אבי (father) is read as a verb אביא: αξω “I shall
bring”. The second part עד is interpreted as the preposition עד and
consequently rendered by επι. The two components of the fourth name are also
treated separately. The noun שׂר “prince” is read as a plural αρχοντας and is
seen as the indirect object (destination) of the verb, whereas the noun שׁלום ειρηνην “peace” is
interpreted as its direct object.
The Greek text has a “plus” which
may be a doublet of the phrase we have just discussed, or a free rendition of a
fifth name missing in the MT. Also, the Greek translation underlines the first
person pronoun intervention by the translator is that the emphasis is taken
away from the child and placed on the Lord. Moreover, the importance of a final
peace is strongly emphasised.
The immediate motive behind these
features in the LXX may have been the divine character of the names. The
translator may not have liked the name “Mighty God” being applied to any human
person, king or not. Therefore, he inserted the words “messenger of” or αγγελος before the names. Through this insertion, the first name refers to YHWH
and not to the child. (Johan
Lust, “Messianism in the Septuagint Isaiah 8,23b-9,6 (9,1-7),” in Messianism
and the Septuagint: Collected Essays by J. Lust, ed. K. Hauspie [Bibliotheca
Ephemeridium Theologicarum Lovaniensium CLXXVIII; Leuven: Leuven University
Press, 2004], 166-67, emphasis added)