DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9552#0476
132
FINAL APPEAL
to the Deity of Jesus, is in these words : " To secure to
Hezekiah that passage in ch. ix., our author gives us a
translation, or rather a paraphrase of it by Jonathan,
in his Targum, to which we shall merely oppose that
given by Bishop Louth." Can the interpretation of the
Old Testament given by Jonathan and other celebrated
Jewish writers, some of whom lived prior to the birth of
Jesus, be discredited from the authority of one, or one
thousand, Christian Bishops, to whom, at any rate,
Hebrew is a foreign language ? Can a Trinitarian,
in arguing with one not belonging to the orthodox sect
and establishment, quote with propriety, for the refuta-
tion of his adversary, the authority of a Trinitarian
writer ? The public may be the best judges of these
points. As these Jewish writings are not unprocurable,
the public may refer to them for their own satisfaction.
Is there any authority of the sacred writers of the New
Testament, authorizing the Editor to apply Isaiah ix. 6,
even in an accomodated sense, to Jesus? I believe
nothing of the kind :—it is mere enthusiasm that has
led a great many learned Trinitarians to apply this verse
to Jesus. The Editor avoided noticing the context,
and the historical circumstances which I adduced in my
Appeal to prove the application of the verse in question
to Hezekiah. It may be of use, however, to call his
attention again to the subject. I therefore beg of him
to observe those facts, and particularly the following
instances. Ch. ix. i, promises that Israel shall not suffer
so severely from the second as from the former invasion
of the king of Assyria, when he invaded Lebanon and
Naphtali and Galilee 'beyond Jordan. So we find it
mentioned in 2 King xv. 29 : "In the days of Pekah,
FINAL APPEAL
to the Deity of Jesus, is in these words : " To secure to
Hezekiah that passage in ch. ix., our author gives us a
translation, or rather a paraphrase of it by Jonathan,
in his Targum, to which we shall merely oppose that
given by Bishop Louth." Can the interpretation of the
Old Testament given by Jonathan and other celebrated
Jewish writers, some of whom lived prior to the birth of
Jesus, be discredited from the authority of one, or one
thousand, Christian Bishops, to whom, at any rate,
Hebrew is a foreign language ? Can a Trinitarian,
in arguing with one not belonging to the orthodox sect
and establishment, quote with propriety, for the refuta-
tion of his adversary, the authority of a Trinitarian
writer ? The public may be the best judges of these
points. As these Jewish writings are not unprocurable,
the public may refer to them for their own satisfaction.
Is there any authority of the sacred writers of the New
Testament, authorizing the Editor to apply Isaiah ix. 6,
even in an accomodated sense, to Jesus? I believe
nothing of the kind :—it is mere enthusiasm that has
led a great many learned Trinitarians to apply this verse
to Jesus. The Editor avoided noticing the context,
and the historical circumstances which I adduced in my
Appeal to prove the application of the verse in question
to Hezekiah. It may be of use, however, to call his
attention again to the subject. I therefore beg of him
to observe those facts, and particularly the following
instances. Ch. ix. i, promises that Israel shall not suffer
so severely from the second as from the former invasion
of the king of Assyria, when he invaded Lebanon and
Naphtali and Galilee 'beyond Jordan. So we find it
mentioned in 2 King xv. 29 : "In the days of Pekah,