Different periods of prophetic revelation have been pointed out:
The expectations of the Jews were thus kept alive from generation to generation, till the "fulness of the times," when Messiah came, "made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law."
Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the great Deliverer who was to come. (Comp. Matt. 26:54; Mark 9:12; Luke 18:31; 22:37; John 5:39; Acts 2; 16:31; 26:22, 23.)
Herod killed all infants younger than 2 in Bethlehem (Matt 2:16)
Jesus' parents took him to Egypt
Jesus: Matt 4:2
Jesus: John 1:18
Jesus: Matt 17:1-5
Jesus: Matt 17:2
Jesus: Luke 22:20
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
BTW: the Jews reject Jesus as the great Messiah because of the "Prince of Peace" phrase - to them, Jesus did not bring peace, things did not get better (well, things did not get better for those that did not believe...)
Psa 2:7 I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You.
Postscript: one of Israel's most prominent rabbis agrees: click here or here for a locally saved copy: click here
"See my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness - so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
NOTE: Consul the following webpage on WHY the Messiah MUST die to atone for our sins - click here
So although David wrote this psalm, I don't think David wrote about himself
We do know that God reveal things to David - for example, David wanted to build a temple for God, but God told him that he would NOT be the one to do so.
So it is quite possible that God reveal to David what one of his son will become....
NOTE: now you can debate that since Jesus knew about this psalm and wanted to "make a prediction come true". But somethings predicted by Psalm 22 cannot be arranged by Jesus - for example, (1) the prediction of the insults and (2) the casting of lots to divide his garment done by the Roman soldiers !
Matthew 27:46: "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi lama sabacthani?,' which means, 'My God, My God why have you forsaken Me?' "
(Clearly, Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1, but why ? Maybe a hint for us to go look there to find the truth ???)
Matthew 27:41-44: "In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Elders mocked Him. 'He saved others.' they said, 'But He can't save Himself! He's the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God, let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said "I am the Son of God." ' In the same way the robbers who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him."
NOTE - This is a precise description of the crucifixion process where the hanging weight of a person's body would eventually cause his bones to come out of joint, and would make him as one lying in the "dust of death"
John 19:34: "Instead one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water."
Medically the flow of blood and water would mean that the heart of the person had literally burst , i.e. had "turned to wax" and "melted away"
John 19:28: "Later, knowing that all was completed, and so that the scripture may be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.' "
Jesus was crucified among two convicts. (NOTE - This prediction was made when crucifixion did not even exist at the time! Crucifixion was invented by Alexander the Great around 350 BC.)
John 19:33: " they did not break his legs" (to speed up death because Jesus was already dead - the soldiers checked and made sure of that when one of them pierced his heart)
John 19:23-24: "When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 'Let's not tear it,' they said to one another, 'let's decide by lot who will get it.' "
(BTW, there are manuscripts of Daniel that dates BEFORE the birth of Christ, so this prediction by Daniel could NOT have been written AFTER the fact.)
(Daniel 9:24-26) "Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and the Holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy. Know and understand this; from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One (Messiah), the Ruler comes, there will be Seven sevens and Sixty-two sevens. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off (i.e., die) and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. "
| In other words: beginning with the moment of the decree that "Jerusalem will be rebuilt" to the moment that the Messiah will present himself, there will be "69 sevens". |
Neh 2:1 And it happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine was before him. And I (Nehemiah) took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence before.
Neh 2:5 and I said to the king, If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I pray that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so that I may build it.
It clearly state that the CITY of Jerusalem will be rebuilt - not just the wall
Nisan 1 444 BC is March 4, BC according to the Gregorian calendar
The use of this 'prophetic year' in these prophecies is confirmed by comparing the 1,260 days (Rev 11:3, 12:6) with the 42 month (Rev 11:2, 13:5) and with the 'time, times, and half a time' or three and a half years of Dan 7:25, 12:7, Rev 12:14).
That is equal to 483 x 360 173880 days
What happened that day is recorded in Luke 19:28-40:
Luk 19:37 And when He had come near, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, all the multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King coming in the name of the Lord! Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest!
--- The Messiah had not been reveal until that moment !
Jerusalem and the (second) temple were destroyed in 70 AD
BTW, Jesus himself reminded their disciples about this prophecy
An ordinary Christian will be baffled by the above sentence - you need to read the Jewish commentary to find out who Shiloh is.
From the Targum Onkelos (Targum is a translation of the Hebrew Bible in Aramaic - the spoken language of the Jews in Israel - click here . The official Targum to the Pentateuch is designated by the name of Onkelos. More details: click here)
From the Targum Jerusalem:
In other words, Genesis 49:10 says: "The power to rule the people of Israel shall not depart from Judah until the Messiah come.”
And here is a page from the Targum of Jerusalem (Palestine) on the same topic:
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The Jews maintained their identity and judicial authority over their own people even during 70 years of slavery. The scepter had not been lost during the Babylonian captivity.
Yet, Judah retained its tribal identity up until the first quarter of the first century A.D.
According to Josephus (Antiquities 17:13) around the year A.D. 6-7, the son and successor to King Herod, a man named Herod Archelaus, was dethroned and banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul.
| But in the tenth year of Archelaus's government, both his brethren, and the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him before Caesar, and that especially because they knew he had broken the commands of Caesar, which obliged him to behave himself with moderation among them. Whereupon Caesar, when he heard it, was very angry, and called for Archelaus's steward, who took care of his affairs at Rome, and whose name was Archelaus also; and thinking it beneath him to write to Archelaus, he bid him sail away as soon as possible, and bring him to us: so the man made haste in his voyage, and when he came into Judea, he found Archelaus feasting with his friends; so he told him what Caesar had sent him about, and hastened him away. And when he was come [to Rome], Caesar, upon hearing what certain accusers of his had to say, and what reply he could make, both banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation, and took his money away from him. |
Archelaus was the second son of Herod the Great. Herod's oldest son was Herod Antipater and he was murdered by Herod the Great along with a number of other family members (to retain power).
Archelaus' mother was a Samaritan, giving Archelaus only a quarter or less Jewish blood.... never the less, he is still Jewish.
At the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Archelaus was placed over Judea as "Entharch" by Caesar Augustus.
Archelaus was never accepted by the Jews and he was removed from office in 6 or 7 A.D..
Now.... Archelaus was replaced, not by a Jewish king, but by a Roman Procurator named Caponius.
According to Josephus, the legal power of the Sanhedrin was then immediately restricted:
| "And now Archelaus' part of Judea was reduced into a province, and Caponius, one of the equestrian order of the Romans, was sent as a procurator, having the power of life and death put into his hands by Caesar!" |
With the ascension of Caponius, the Sanhedrin lost their ability to adjudicate capital cases.
HOWEVER, the province of Judea had been spared from this policy UP TO THIS POINT !!!!
The Talmud confirms that the Rabbi's in those days realised that their power was lost:
--- Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, filoi 24.
In the minds of the Jewish leadership, this event signified the removal of the scepter (or national identity) of the tribe of Judah!
You bet.....
The reaction of the Jews to these monumental events is recorded in the Talmud. Augustin Lemann, in his book "Jesue before the Sanhedrin", records a statement by Rabbi Rachmon:
But the fact of the matter was that in 7 A.D., the Messiah HAD ALREADY COME !!!! In 7 A.D., there was a 12 year old Jewish boy living in Nazareth whose name was Jesus !
The Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus - the odd of this happening is not worth mentioning.
Counter argument 1: The gospel was not preached in secretcy. Also, when the gospel were preached, there were hostile witnesses living in Judea. These hostile witnesses will no doubt testify that the gospels were not true if they could - but this did not happen.
Counter argument 2: Most disciples died a violent death because they preach a gospel that the Jewish authority did not like - it does not make any sense for the disciples to fabricate a fall gospel and then willingly allow themselves to be executed for a lie that they invented themselves.
Admittedly, that can be done, but only in regard to some prophecies, but not all.
Counter argument 1: Jesus cannot control the fact that the Sanhedrin offering Judas 30 pieces of silver
Counter argument 2: Jesus cannot control the timing of his birth - precisely at the time of Daniel's prophecy
Also, it seems to me that someone that wants to maneuvere his life in such a way so that he can die such a miserable death needs to see a psychiatrist and Jesus was certainly no nutcase - a nut will not be able to teach so wisely.
Counter Argument: Nope, history is on the side of the truth. Most of these passages were also referenced by the Talmud (ancient Rabbinic writing) and the Jewish rabbi's certainly usd to consider them to refer to the Messiah - see: click here . Now, if modern day rabbi's change the story, that's their problem. It's not unlike people changing the story on an event to suit their agenda, like denying that the Hollocaust ever happened - it's called "revisionary history".