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Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (Isaiah 53:1)

In our last post from Romans, Paul posed the question: “. . . how are they to hear without someone preaching?” And we explored what that can mean for you, and for me, as Jesus followers. If you’re interested you can read more here: You Matter and Everything You Do Is Important–Romans 10:14-15. Today we’ll look at how Paul referenced certain passages from the Jewish scriptures, and we’ll dive deeper into one Old Testament passage in particular.

Romans 10:16-21

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Paul cites from Isaiah 53:1)

But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
    and their words to the ends of the world.” (Paul cites from Psalm 19:4)

But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
    with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” (Paul cites from Deuteronomy 32:21)

Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” (Paul cites from Isaiah 65:1)

But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” (Paul cites from Isaiah 65:2)

Paul’s Appeal to his People

Paul, here, is asking a series of rhetorical questions addressing his Jewish brothers and sisters who don’t believe in Jesus. He’s showing his Jewish kinsmen how their own scriptures predict the coming of Jesus as the Messiah, and yet they don’t believe in him. They don’t believe even though they have heard, Paul says when he cites from Psalm 19:4.

So, God will make you jealous by making himself available to the Gentiles, those who are not a nation or a foolish nation, Paul says when he cites from Deuteronomy 32:21 and Isaiah 65:1-2.

But Paul starts with Isaiah 53, verse 1:

Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (Isaiah 53:1)

Many scholars say, and I would agree, that by starting with Isaiah chapter 53, verse 1, Paul is pointing his Jewish brothers and sisters to the entire chapter, Isaiah 53.

For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, (Isaiah 53:2)

Two or three years ago, I was hanging out with my grandson Andrew. He was eleven or twelve years old at the time.

He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

And I was reading the Bible.

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

And a thought occurred to me.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

I wonder what Andrew would say . . .

All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

If I read to him Isaiah 53.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

And after reading that chapter . . .

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people? (Isaiah 53:8)

I asked him the question . . .

And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)

“Andrew, who do you think the author is writing about?”

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

And so that’s what I did.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)

So after reading Andrew Isaiah 53, and asking him who he thought the author was writing about . . .

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)

Andrew answered:

Jesus.

Which is not at all surprising.

Wes Huff and his Hyperbole on the Joe Rogan Experience

About a year ago, Joe Rogan interviewed a Bible scholar named Wes Huff. And during their three hour conversation, much to Joe Rogan’s amazement, Wes Huff made the statement that when they examined and translated the scrolls that make up the book of Isaiah, found in the Qumran caves, a discovery often referred to as the Dead Sea Scrolls, they found it to be “word for word” the same as the next oldest copy of Isaiah.

So that was an astounding claim, because the Qumran caves copy of Isaiah is dated hundreds of years before the coming of Christ. And the next oldest copy of Isaiah is found in the Masoretic text, dated somewhere between the 6th and 10th centuries, AD. The translations we find in our Bibles today come from the Masoretic text.

So yeah, that’s amazing.

But what happened after that interview was fascinating to me. Many scholars, atheists, and social media influencers pointed out to Wes Huff that his “word for word” claim was incorrect. There are thousands of textual variants between the Dead Sea scrolls version of Isaiah, and the Masoretic text version.

And that’s true. Even Wes Huff himself acknowledged his inappropriate use of hyperbole on his own YouTube channel: Wes Huff debunks himself.

What came to my mind when I was taking all this in, is a (mis-)quote from Shakespeare:

“Me thinketh thou protest too much.”

Because all the noise about the textual variants only served to distract from the astounding prophecy about Jesus written hundreds of years before he was born. The truth is that there’s overwhelming agreement between the Isaiah scroll found at Qumran and the later Masoretic text. Even if it’s not precisely identical, the substance of the text is the same.

The truth is Isaiah, under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, was writing about Jesus.

Anyone who reads that passage with an intellectually honest eye would have to agree.

Even my twelve-year-old grandson can see that.

Notes:

Scott W. Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Romans: (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars – CCSS) (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture), Baker Academic, November 7, 2017

Joe Rogan Experience #2252 – Wesley Huff

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