Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

John the Baptist and Jesus - Where do the authenticating "signs of the messiah" come from?
Matthew 11:3-5, Luke 7:20-22

"⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: ⁵ The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.'" (Matthew 11:3-5 & 3) why Jesus probably omitted references to release from prison, promised in Isaiah 61:1 (cf. Leviticus 25:10, Isaiah 49:9) and declared as fulfilled by Jesus himself in Luke 4:18-19. This was to deliver a hidden message to John that he would not be released. It is for another occasion to discuss whether release from captivity was meant to be taken literally or not. It was spoken at a time or during the recent memory of physical exile and captivity and freedom was something the Israelites hoped for again when under Roman rule. However, Jesus appears to regard deliverance from demonic oppression as a sign of the kingdom's arrival (Matthew 12:28 // Luke 11:20), which would indicate a more "spiritual" and metaphorical fulfilment of that sign.

Indeed, if we are to take deliverance as a spiritual fulfilment of physical liberty, especially since demonic exorcism is not elsewhere explicitly predicted, then should we take the other healings as 'spiritual' and not 'physical'? This would not appear to be the case as the other signs were literally and practically performed before witnesses and were part of Jesus' appeal, though not always to his approval when people followed the gifts and not the giver (John 6:26).

So, that covers the signs not mentioned, what about those that are:

• Blind see
• Lame walk
• Lepers cleansed
• Deaf hear
• Dead raised
• Poor have good news preached

The blind seeing is mentioned in Psalm 146:8, Isaiah 29:18; 35:5 and 61:1 (only in the Greek Septuagint version and in Luke's quotation, Luke 4:18) and fulfilled in Matthew 9:27-30; 12:22; 20:30; John 9:1,30. The giving of sight to the blind was a peculiarly messianic miracle for no prophet had previously performed it.

The lame leaping as deer is poetically prophesied in Isaiah 35:6 and fulfilled in Matthew 9:2-7.

The lepers being cleansed is fulfilled in Matthew 8:3 but not obviously and clearly predicted in Scripture. "Heal the sick" is not a biblical quotation but is used in a Dead Sea Scroll fragment (4Q521, see below) of the signs of the Messiah and this would encompass cleansing lepers.

The deaf hearing is again predicted in Isaiah 29:18; 35:5 and 61:1 and fulfilled in Mark 7:32-35. According to Isaiah 29:18 the restored hearing is, furthermore, for the specific purpose of being able to "hear the words of the book", presumably Scripture.

The dead's being raised are recorded several times in fulfilment: Jairus' daughter (Matthew 9:18,25), the widow's son of Nain (Luke 7:15), Lazarus (John 11:38-44), and at Jesus' death (Matthew 27:52-53), though of course, this was not known at the time of John's enquiry. So the fulfilled deed is widely reported in all the gospels but what about its prediction, where do we find it? Not in the Bible, although Daniel 12:2 hints at a future resurrection of the saved, but nothing specific during Messiah's coming. Isaiah 26:19 also speaks similarly, "Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise". However, a Dead Sea Scroll fragment, 4Q521, includes the following:

"Over the poor His spirit will hover and will renew the faithful with His power.
And He will glorify the pious on the throne of the eternal Kingdom.
He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the b[ent]
And f[or] ever I will cleav[ve to the h]opeful and in His mercy . . .
And the fr[uit . . .] will not be delayed for anyone.
And the Lord will accomplish glorious things which have never been as [He . . .]
For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring good news to the poor . . ."
(4Q521, tr. Michael O. Wise, BAR 18:06, Nov/Dec 1992)

BAR wrote that "The more we study it, the clearer the conclusion becomes: 4Q521 is an extremely important text."

The poor having the gospel preached to them is again part of the famous Isaiah 61:1 prediction and is more generally fulfilled in all of Jesus' sermons, as on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-3ff. // Luke 6:17-20ff.). It is prophesied again in Isaiah 29:19, where the poor are paired with the humble, possibly indicating a spiritual rather than a material state of being. Indeed, the Aramaic targum (paraphrase) of this passage says that the poor will rejoice "in the word of the Holy One of Israel". Although adding "the word of…" is simply a Jewish circumlocution, avoiding direct reference to God, it does spiritualise the passage somewhat.

It is probably best saved for a later discussion whether the poor were socially and economically deprived, had low self-esteem or were spiritually bereft, or were just humbly poor in spirit in a positive sense.

The physical poor can hardly be meant along the lines of a liberation or political gospel since Jesus didn't dole out money other than to help Peter with his taxes (Matthew 17:24-27) and the various miraculous feedings were not because of the people's poverty but rather the magnetism of Jesus' preaching meant they had stayed too long and hadn't brought packed lunches! However, the poor were ideally suited as expectant hearers as they were not encumbered by self-sufficiency or material distraction other than where to get their next meal from. The rich were generally too busy or superficially happy to be concerned with good news. The gospel is for rich and poor alike, but it is often only the poor who, having nothing else, are willing to listen. That said, the food Jesus offered was not intended for the physically hungry but the spiritually aware (John 6:33-35,47-58).

So we have a mix of signs, physical and spiritual, prophesied in written Scripture and oral tradition, fulfilled in Jesus — surely enough to satisfy John and keep him from being 'offended'?

More next week...

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KJ Went has taught biblical Hebrew, hermeneutics and Jewish background to early Christianity. The "Biblical Hebrew made easy" course can be found at www.biblicalhebrew.com.

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