Christ in the Old Testament

CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Erroneous beliefs and preconceived ideas are a lock on the door of the human mind; they have proven to be very effective in keeping the truth at bay. In the past, the belief systems of most people were acquired directly from their parents as they grew up. Countless generations clung to their inherited beliefs with great tenacity, vigorously promoting them as bequeathed truth. Yet in the vast majority of cases, the origin of these beliefs was not based on fact, but rather on supposition or hearsay.

Unfortunately, this has been doubly true in the case of religious convictions. Most who have professed to be Christians have not studied God's Word to prove or disprove their beliefs, as God commands and expects (I The. 5:21; Acts 17:11). Instead of the Bible, many have relied on their priest, pastor, or minister to explain God and His purpose to them. Some of those who did look into the Bible for themselves sought out "proof texts" that seemed to substantiate their original views. Usually taken out of context, these "proof text" verses were esteemed at the expense of the rest of the Bible. Any Scripture which appeared contradictory to their beliefs was ignored or rationalized away.

Satan the devil has used this prevalent flaw in human nature to deceive almost the entire world about one of the central topics of the Bible, the prophesied Messiah. The identity and activities of the one to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given (Matt. 28:18; I Cor. 15:27) remains a mystery to most of the world. However, the Bible discloses who this being is and what he's been doing to accomplish God's plan for mankind. In this article, we're going to see what God's Word has to say about the Messiah before his birth to Mary.

Many believe that God the Father was the one who interacted with ancient Israel personally, appearing and speaking to the patriarchs and to Moses. Yet the Bible plainly and absolutely contradicts this belief:

JOHN 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (NKJV)

JOHN 5:37 "And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form." (NKJV)

JOHN 6:46 "Not that any man hath seen the Father, except he who is from God, he hath seen the Father." (RWB)

I TIMOTHY 6:14 . . . Our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no man has seen and no man is able to see: to him be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (Jerusalem Bible)

I JOHN 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (NKJV)

As you can see, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that the Father has never been seen by mankind. So who was the one called "God" (Heb. 'elohim) or "the LORD" (Heb. YHVH) who appeared and spoke to Noah, Abraham, Moses and others in the Old Testament? The information we will examine in this article strongly indicates that it was the one who later came in the flesh as Yeshua of Nazareth!

Let's begin by reviewing some generally overlooked evidence from ancient Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures called Targums. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) gives us some background on what the Targums are and where they came from:

The most elementary meaning of the word targum is "translation" or "interpretation" . . . In later times the term targum became associated primarily with the various Aramaic translations of the OT . . . Often these translations tend to be paraphrastic, and sometimes they contain extensive annotations rather than pure literal renderings of the Hebrew text.

. . . The Hebrew Scriptures were the primary source and inspiration for the Jewish way of life. Thus it was imperative to interpret the meaning of holy writ. The oral tradition, like the Targums, provided a more or less official interpretation of the meaning of Scripture . . . The Targums, like the oral law, contain a wealth of information concerning the way the Jewish interpreters of late antiquity understood the Scriptures . . .

. . . Most scholars agree that the practice of translating the Bible into Aramaic was an early custom. Certainly the large Jewish community that remained in Babylon after the decree of Cyrus (537 B.C.) would have eventually required a translation of the sacred literature into Aramaic. . . . The Targums were indeed an actualization of the Bible, and they often elucidate the ancient Jewish understanding of particular texts.

The earliest Targums known are those discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. . . . It may well be that the Targums were preserved and transmitted as oral tradition long before they were committed to writing. Already the Mishnah and the Tosefta described the custom of reading the Hebrew Bible and having it translated into Aramaic . . .

The study of the Targums is of paramount importance, for they reflect early Jewish ideas, customs, and Halakah as well as Jewish interpretation of Scripture. Hence the Targums are relevant sources for the study of the Hebrew OT not only because they demonstrate how the text was translated and understood, in much the same way as the LXX and other ancient Bible translations, but also because the Targums preserve remnants of Jewish thought from late antiquity. In this respect . . . they can elucidate Jewish life and understanding of the Scripture from the time of nascent Christianity. (pp. 727, 728, 729, vol. 4, "Targum")

As the ISBE points out, the Targums can be helpful in understanding the way a first century Jew at the time of Christ would have understood the Hebrew Scriptures. When the Tanakh shows God ('elohim) or the LORD (YHVH) conversing with human beings, who would Yeshua's Jewish contemporaries have understood this to be?

The Targums help us to answer this question. We're going to examine some Old Testament appearances of God and see how the Targums interpret these appearances. First, let's look at the story of Hagar's flight into the desert away from Sarai:

GENESIS 16:7 Now the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai." 9 The Angel of the LORD