Bible Prophecy: The Jesus Years part II

JesusYears2In our first part in this series we examined the supposed “virgin birth” and “Immanuel” prophecies. We found that they were not messianic prophecies, but rather comprised a botched “sign” attached to a failed prophecy concerning the king of Assyria rescuing the King of Judah from the clutches of Syria and Israel.

We surmised that the writer of Matthew wrote of it as a messianic prophecy due to the word “maiden” being mistranslated as “virgin” in the Septuagint version he used (we were being kind; the alternative would be to accuse the writer of Matthew of deliberate fraud.) So, yes: at the very start of our investigation we have found a mistake in the supposedly “inerrant” Bible.

In this second part we’re going to begin examining the five “prophecies” the Watchtower lists as having been fulfilled by Jesus. This list is from the introduction to their recently revised New World Translation of the Bible. We will quote them exactly as they appear there.

1. Born in Bethlehem

“Prophecy”
“You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, … from you will come out for me the one to be ruler in Israel.”
— Micah 5:2

“Fulfillment”
“After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, look! astrologers from the East came to Jerusalem.”
–Matthew 2:1

The ellipsis in the “prophetic” quote is important, as is its context. First, here is the quote from Micah in the NIV with the missing phrase restored:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel”

So, first of all: the ruler was to be of the clan of Bethlehem: not just someone who happened to be born in the town of Bethlehem. [The 12 tribes of Israel were further subdivided into clans of a thousand or more people.] There is no evidence that Jesus was of that clan, nor does any Bible writer claim that he was.

Luke tells us that the family’s hometown was Nazareth: not Bethlehem (Luke 2:39). In his story, he has the family journey to Bethlehem for the sole purpose of taking part in a census (Luke 2:1-7)–not that they had any family ties there (especially since they ended up searching in vain for an inn with a vacancy, rather than spending the night with family.)

It wouldn’t make much sense to hold the census-taking in Bethlehem if it was a small town–how could it handle the influx of people?–but it makes more sense if it was just the clan of Bethlehem that was small. In fact, Bethlehem the city does not seem to be small according to Mt 2:6: “And you, O Bethlehem of the land of Judah, are by no means the most insignificant city…'”

We know that the census took place in the second term of Cyrenius (aka Quirinius): between 6-9 CE. Yet the visit of the “astrologers” to Herod (when they told him of Bethlehem) would had to have taken place at least eight years earlier–since Herod died in 4 BCE! Someone is lying somewhere, and it’s either Matthew or Luke, or more likely: both.

Mt_Lk_Timeline

So, having our hero born in Bethlehem does not fulfill a prophecy about the messiah being of the clan of Bethlehem. But, what if it did? Writing at least half a century after the supposed time of Jesus’ death, the writer of Matthew could have written that Jesus had been born anywhere he pleased, to whatever clan he liked, without fear of contradiction. [If he’d understood Micah, no doubt he would’ve written that Jesus was of the clan of Bethlehem, rather than having him born in the city of Bethlehem.] But there is no record that Jesus was of the clan of Bethlehem or that he was born in Bethlehem or anywhere else.

In addition: Jesus never was a ruler over Israel. So, he did not fulfill any prophecy regarding a “ruler over Israel.” (Duh!)

Let’s put it in a non-religious context for a moment. How convinced would you be if I were to show you a prophecy about a future President of the United States being a member of the Native American Peoria Tribe, and then I claimed that Joe Blow fulfilled that prophecy by being born in Peoria, Illinois (though I don’t have any record of his birthplace, and he has since died and never was President of the United States)? Such a statement would make me appear rather foolish–which is how I now find myself regarding the writer of Matthew: mistaken and foolish.

Conclusion

Just as in the first “proof-text” of the supposed prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, this second one has been a complete disappointment, and has just served to reveal still more errors in the Bible.

Part 3: Dividing the Garments

Bible Prophecy: The Jesus Years part III

JesusYears3
Continuing our examination of the five prophecies that the Watchtower claims found fulfillment in Jesus.

In part two we examined the “born in Bethlehem” claim and found it sorely wanting in its “fulfillment.” But even if it could be established that the prophecy really did mean that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem (which it can’t), and even if we could establish that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem (which we can’t), how remarkable would that be, really? Lots of people were born in Bethlehem: that didn’t make them the Messiah.

This isn’t rocket science. The prophecy was about a ruler of Israel. Jesus never was a ruler in Israel. Therefore, Jesus did not fulfill that prophecy.

Let’s look at the next piece the Watchtower presents as evidence:

2. Garments.

Prophecy
“They divide my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.”
— Psalm 22:18

Fulfillment
“Now when the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the stake, they took his outer garments and divided them into four parts… But the inner garment was without a seam, being woven from top to bottom. So they said to one another: ‘Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots over it to decide whose it will be.’”
–John 19:23, 24

Here are some interesting facts about this so-called prophecy:

  1. This was not a prophecy; it is part of the lyrics to a song (sung to the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn” according to the superscription.)
  2. The lyrics referred to David: not the Messiah (see the superscription again.)
  3. The poetical context is being ignored.

In this song, someone had their garments stolen. There’s nothing extraordinary about such an incident. This happens to lots of people every day, and it does not make them the Messiah.

Let’s examine the context by looking at the surrounding verses (from the KJV):

Ps.22:16: For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Ps.22:17: I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
Ps.22:18: They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Ps.22:19: But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Ps.22:20: Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Ps.22:21: Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Now, if we’re going to take verse 18 of this song literally, then we should at least be consistent and take the other verses literally as well. But this presents a problem because:

  • Jesus was not surrounded by dogs.
  • Nor was he ever described as being remarkably thin (“telling all his bones.”)
  • Nor was his soul ever threatened with a sword (Jesus claimed that a sword could not harm the soul in any event. Mt. 10:28)
  • Nor did Jesus have a “darling” who was threatened by the power of a dog.
  • Nor was Jesus ever in a lion’s mouth.
  • Nor was Jesus ever near any horns of unicorns, since such mythical beasts do not exist.
  • Nor did God help Jesus when they pierced his hands and feet and cast lots for his garments. That is why Jesus–quoting from the first verse of this song–cried out: “My God, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46)

Now, this last point is simply not possible according to another Psalm [following the Watchtower’s lead of using songs to establish biblical doctrine]:

The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Psalm 34:17, 22 (KJV)

According to the Bible, Jesus was the most righteous servant of God who ever lived. If the above verses are true, then God would have heard his cry and delivered him. According to the “Gospels”, however, Jesus’ cry went unheard, and God left him desolate. So, the above verses cannot be true if the Gospel stories are true, and vice versa.
Since the book of Psalms is not in harmony with the story of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, we can’t use it as proving the truth of that story.

The Psalm strikes me as something of a “blues” tune. The singer (taking on the persona of David) is lamenting the hard times he’s having. It’s as if he’s in the mouth of a lion, surrounded by snarling dogs, his clothes ripped from his body and made the object of sport. He’s starving and his feet and hands are pierced by the horns of unicorns. It seems that even his god has forsaken him! It’s all poetical: as we would expect in a song.

Did you ever hear the song “The Gambler” made famous by Kenny Rogers? Someone took this once-popular song and wrote a screenplay based on it. The writer had to manufacture a biography for the screenplay’s main character, as well as a series of anecdotal incidents to fill out the story for the made-for-TV movie. The song lyrics provided the grist for his mill, suggesting many of the incidents and dialog that made it into the screenplay.

I think the same thing happened here with the once-popular song now known as Psalm 22. Matthew manufactured a biography of Jesus (“son of David”) partially based on this song about David. That’s why seemingly trivial incidents (such as how the soldiers divided up his clothing, and how they didn’t bother to break a dead man’s legs) are so carefully recorded, and the main character is even given to quoting the first verse of the song!

Part 4: Bones and Piercing.

Biblical Prophecy: The Jesus Years part IV

JesusYears4Continuing our examination of the five prophecies that the Watchtower claims found fulfillment in Jesus.
In part 3 we examined the “garments” claim. We found that this was not a messianic prophecy (or any kind of prophecy for that matter.) It was part of the lyrics to a song about David: a blues song. Poetic in nature, and not to be taken literally (unless you’re into pet unicorns.) We also saw how other verses of that song pleaded for help, while another Psalm assured us that the righteous plea for help would never go unanswered. Yet, Jesus’ cry for help went unanswered. Go figure!

All of which brings us up to number:

3. Bones

Prophecy
“He is guarding all his bones; not one of them has been broken.”
— Psalm 34:20

Fulfillment
“On coming to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs.”
— John 19:33

So, here’s some more song lyrics mistaken for prophecy. This is another song about David, and once again I encourage you to read the entire lyrics at Psalm 34. According to the superscription, the topic of the song is the time “when [David] disguised his sanity before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.” [Though this is another biblical error; it was King Achish not Abimelech according to the provided cross-reference: 1 Sam. 21:10-15.]

This song depicts David praising his god for protecting him when he was in danger of being recognized and held accountable for his war crimes (because Achish’s men had heard another song in which it was declared that David had killed tens of thousands of people!) David hid his real identity by feigning madness (principally by drooling on himself and doodling), and so managed to escape with ‘no bones broken.’
[Ironically, this song declares that god will protect the “righteous.” David may have been self-righteous, but he certainly wasn’t a moral individual.]
So, what does any of this have to do with Jesus not having his legs broken once he had been tortured to death? Nothing. If someone standing next to the cross torture-stake had begun singing this song about how Jehovah protects the righteous from harm, I think the singer would’ve gotten some very dirty looks from Jesus’ family and friends for engaging in such cruel sarcasm.

4. Piercing

Prophecy
“He was pierced for our transgression.”
— Isaiah 53:5

Fulfillment
“One of the soldiers jabbed his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
–John 19:34

Lots of folks are pieced these days and, I suspect, even in those days: ears, noses, navels, nipples, eyebrows, even tongues! But who is the “he” being pierced in the book of Isaiah? It is the personified nation of Israel. You’d have to read all the way back to Isaiah 52 to see this context. Notice how this verse is in the past tense; it was describing something that had already happened rather than prophesying a future event. So the piercing of this symbolic Israel was also, of necessity, symbolic.

The book of Isaiah also states the following about this personified Israel:

“No stately form does he have, nor any splendor; And when we see him, his appearance does not draw us to him. He was despised and was avoided by men, A man who was meant for pains and was familiar with sickness. It was as if his face were hidden from us. He was despised, and we held him as of no account.”
(Isaiah 53:2-3 NWT)

Was this true of Jesus? Not according to the Gospels. There we are told that he was charismatic: people were drawn to him.  Being a “perfect” man (Heb 5:9) it’s hard to imagine him matching Isaiah’s description of his having been sickly. Far from being held of no account, people worshiped him (or “did obeisance” if they were loyal Jehovah’s Witnesses.) (Mt. 21:9; 14:33-36) At one point his splendor caused him to appear to “glow”–and he hadn’t even had too much wine at the time! (Mt. 17:2) And, just as with Elvis or the Beatles, people practically swooned just to touch the hem of his garment as he walked by. (Mt. 14:35-36)

Nailing just one out of half a dozen or more attributes of the personified Israel is not a very good score (16% at best: turn in a paper with such a score and you’re going to get a grade of ‘F’ for Fail.) So, if we look at the context and consider the misses as well as the one hit, we have to conclude that Isaiah was not making any kind of prophecy that Jesus fulfilled here.

Next: Part 5: The 30 Silver Pieces, and Crying in the Street.

Bible Prophecy: The Jesus Years part V

bible-prophecy-part5We did a two-for-one deal in our previous episode: the “no bones broken” and the “piercing” claims.

Guess what we found? If you’ve been faithfully following along you’ll already know the answer; it’s the same one we always come up with in examining the claims of the Watchtower and Christianity in general: false claims.

In this episode we’re going to take a look at the fifth and final claim from the NWT intro on “prophecies fulfilled by Jesus.” And we’ll even throw in a bonus one that they missed!

5. Wages

Prophecy
“They paid my wages, 30 pieces of silver.”
— Zechariah 11:12, 13

Fulfillment
“Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: ‘What will you give me to betray him to you?’ They stipulated to him 30 silver pieces.”
–Matthew 26:14, 15; 27:5

It’s interesting that the Watchtower chose to use these particular verses as the “fulfillment” when the writer of Matthew actually mentions the fulfillment a few verses further on:

Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the 30 silver pieces, the price that was set on the man, the one on whom a price was set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, according to what Jehovah had commanded me.”
MT 27:9-10

Why did the Watchtower avoid the above verses? Perhaps because there is no quote remotely like this in Jeremiah. The only mention of silver pieces in Jeremiah is when he purchased some land for “seven shekels and ten silver pieces.” (Jer. 32:9) So, did the writer of Matthew make another mistake? Okay, big deal, you say: He meant Zechariah. But hold on: Zechariah says something quite different than the quote the writer of Matthew gives. Here’s the full quote from Zechariah (I have underlined the verses that the NWT cross-references us to):

“This is what Jehovah my God says, ‘Shepherd the flock meant for the slaughter, whose buyers slaughtered them and are not held guilty. And those who sell them say, “May Jehovah be praised, for I will become rich.” And their shepherds have no compassion for them.

“‘For I will no longer show compassion on the inhabitants of the land,’ declares Jehovah. ‘So I will cause each man to fall into the hand of his neighbor and his king; and they will crush the land, and I will not rescue them out of their hand.’”
And I began to shepherd the flock meant for slaughter, in your behalf, O afflicted ones of the flock. So I took two staffs, and I called one Pleasantness, and the other Union, and I began to shepherd the flock.

And I dismissed three shepherds in one month, for I became impatient with them, and they detested me as well. And I said: “I will not keep shepherding you. Let the one who is dying die, and let the one perishing perish. As for those who are left, let them devour one another’s flesh.”

So I took my staff Pleasantness and cut it up, breaking my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken in that day, and the afflicted ones of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Jehovah.

Then I said to them: “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, withhold them.” And they paid my wages, 30 pieces of silver. Then Jehovah said to me: “Throw it into the treasury—the magnificent value with which they valued me.” So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the treasury at the house of Jehovah.

Then I cut up my second staff, the Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And Jehovah said to me: “Now take the equipment of a useless shepherd. For I am letting a shepherd rise up in the land. He will not take care of the sheep that are perishing; he will not seek out the young or heal the injured or feed those able to stand. Instead, he devours the flesh of the fat one and tears and tears off the hooves of the sheep. Woe to my worthless shepherd, who is abandoning the flock!
A sword will strike his arm and his right eye. His arm will wither completely, And his right eye will go completely blind.”
Zechariah 11:4-17

Notice that Zechariah doesn’t say anything about “the price set on a man” or a “potter’s field” as the writer of Matthew claims.

Zechariah had been paid a certain wage for having acted as a shepherd. However, as we just read, he was a horribly bad shepherd (firing the other shepherds, and then letting the sheep die while he was off playing with his Pleasantness rod). The man seriously needed to find other work. That’s why they paid him an insulting amount (the price of a slave: Ex. 21:32 –which may explain the reference to “the price set on a man” in Matthew) and sent him packing.

But, to be fair to Zech, he was only “following orders” and emulating Jehovah: a “god of love” who declared that he would not be compassionate(!), and who prophesied the coming of a worthless shepherd who would abandon the flock and then suffer serious injuries to his arm and eye from a sword. Does this sound like a prophecy about “the Good Shepherd” Jesus? Was Jesus ever struck in the arm and the eye with a sword, rendering him blind in his right eye? Not according to the Bible.

Anyway, it seems that the wages Zechariah was paid match to the silver-piece the sum Judas was paid for pointing out Jesus to the priests’ men. [Right: because the priests had no idea who Jesus was, after having debated with him and having suffered his face-to-face insults for years! They really needed Judas to point him out to their band of ruffians. Uh-huh.]

Based on what we see in Zechariah, thirty pieces of silver was considered an insulting sum since it was connected with the price of a slave (can’t you just hear the sarcasm in the phrase “the magnificent value with which they valued me”?) Because of that, it may also have been the going rate for any kind of dirty-work. Other than that, there is no connection between the price paid to Judas and anything written in Zechariah or Jeremiah. Jeremiah never said anything about thirty pieces of silver. What Zechariah said about 30 pieces of silver was not a messianic prophesy, but just happened to be the amount he was paid for being the world’s worst shepherd.

A Bonus “Prophecy”

And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.”
Mt. 12:15-19 (NKJV)

Here, the writer of Matthew tells us that by Jesus asking a multitude of people not to make himself known, he fulfilled another prophecy of Isaiah’s (Isaiah 42:1-2). The “prophecy” consisted of five things:

  1. Having god’s spirit.
  2. Declaring justice to the gentiles.
  3. Not quarreling.
  4. Not crying out.
  5. Not having anyone hear his voice in the streets.

Did Jesus fulfill each of those five items? Number one (having god’s spirit) would be hard to prove either way. According to Watchtower doctrine, every living person has god’s spirit enlivening them, so that would not be something unique to the Messiah. Yes, the Bible records Jesus doing “great signs and wonders,” but he reputedly discounted that when he said: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will perform great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones.” (Mt. 24:24 NWT)

Number two on the list: Declaring justice to the gentiles. The Bible claims that Jesus stated point-blank that he had nothing to do with gentiles: “I was not sent to anyone except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt. 15:24) And he explicitly prohibited his followers from preaching to gentiles: “These 12 Jesus sent out, giving them these instructions: ‘Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter any Samaritan city; but instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'” (Mt. 10:5-6) He even disparaged gentiles as “dogs” to their face! (Mt 15:22-26) Jesus did not “declare justice” to the gentiles; he displayed prejudice towards them.

Number three on the list: Not quarreling. The Bible records Jesus quarreling with the Scribes and Pharisees, even to the point of name-calling, and casting aspersions on their lineage by calling them offspring of snakes! (Mt 23) He also quarreled with the money-changers in the temple to the point of committing vandalism and physical violence: “So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.” (John 2:15)

Number four: Not crying out. “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).” (Mt 27:46)

And finally, number five: Not having anyone hear his voice in the streets. The Bible tells us that Jesus preached in cities and towns (Mt 11:1). Most cities have streets, and though we can’t say with absolute certainty, it’s quite probable that if what the Bible relates about Jesus is true, then his voice was indeed heard in the streets. For the “multitudes” to hear him, he no doubt had to raise his voice, and people in the streets of the cities he supposedly preached in would’ve heard him.

If the verses in Isaiah (as interpreted by the writer of Matthew) were meant to convey that the Messiah would preach in secret and keep a low profile rather than declaring his message publicly, then this can hardly apply to Jesus in light of his Sermon on the Mount given in front of “multitudes” (Mt 5:1) and his grand entrance into the streets of Jerusalem on a donkey’s/colt’s back as a “great multitude” of people hailed his arrival, lining his route with their clothes and palm branches. (Mk 11:7-10)

So, it seems that for at least four out of five of the items in this “prophecy” Jesus not only failed to fulfill them, he did the exact opposite of what they prophesied! Isaiah said, in effect: ‘The Messiah will not do any of these four things.’ But the Bible relates Jesus doing those four things. Therefore, the prophecy cannot honestly be said to have been fulfilled by Jesus.

In the end, we have found no significant prophecies that Jesus fulfilled.

Please also see this external link, which totally nails it: Did Jesus Fulfill Prophecy?