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Bishop Alexander (Mileant) Toward understanding the Bible IntraText CT - Text |
Messianic prophecies in the Pentateuch.
The Pentateuch contains several important Messianic prophecies: About the .Seed of the
woman,. Who will crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15); about the descendant of Abraham,
in Whom all the nations will be blessed (Gen. 22:16-18); about the coming of Messiah in times,
when the tribe of Judas will fall from power (Gen. 49:10); on the Messiah, in the image of the
Rising Star (Num. 24:17); and about Messiah, as the greatest Prophet (Deut. 18:15-19).
Jesus Christ, scorning the unbelieving Jews, remind them of these prophesies: “For had ye
believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me” (John: 5:46). Here these
prophecies are listed together with references of their fulfillment.
The Messiah shall be
Genesis 3:15 And I [the Lord] will put enmity be-
tween thee [Devil] and the Woman, and between
thy seed and her seed; He shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Explanation: In this first prophecy about the Messiah the Lord
promises that the Descendant of the Woman (Virgin Mary) will
crush the Devil, although in doing so He will suffer physically.
The prophecy was fulfilled when He died on the Cross.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 3:15 (ancient rabbinic lit-
erature): .And it shall be that when the sons of the woman study
the Torah [the books of Moses] diligently and obey its injunc-
tions, they will direct themselves to smite you [the serpent] on
the head and slay you; but when the sons of the woman forsake
the commandments of the Torah and do not obey its injunctions,
you will direct yourself to bite them on the heel and afflict them.
However, there will be a remedy for the sons of the woman, but
for you, serpent, there will be no remedy. They shall make peace
with one another in the end, in the very end of days, in the days
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
1 John 3:8 For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of
the devil.
Matthew 8:29 [Seeing Jesus, the demons] cried out,
saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus,
thou Son of God? art thou come hither to tor-
Luke 10:18-19 [Jesus to His disciples:] I beheld Satan
as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpi-
ons, and over all the power of the enemy: and
nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Revelation 12:11 And they [the faithful] overcame
him [the dragon] by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony; and they loved not
Genesis 22:18 [The Angel to Abraham:] And in thy
Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He saith not, And to
seeds, as of many; but as of one: And to thy
Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from his loins, until Shi-
loh comes [He, to Whom it is determined to come]; and
He is the expectation of nations. [Septuagint trans-
Explanation: The Jews always had rulers from their own tribe.
King Herod, being an Idumean, was the first ruler of foreign de-
scent. Precisely during his reign the Messiah was born, fulfilling
the prophecy. .Shiloh. most probably means .Conciliator.. Je-
Romans 9:5 Of whom [Jews] as concerning the
flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed
for ever.
Hebrews 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake
nothing concerning priesthood.
John 18:31 Then said Pilate unto them [the
Jewish authorities, accusing Jesus], Take ye
him, and judge him according to your law. The
sus reconciled us with God. Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for
us to put any man to death. [Here the Jewish authori-
ties recognized that they lost the power to administer the
He Shall be a prophet
Deuteronomy 18:18-19 [God says to Moses:] I will
raise them up a Prophet from among their breth-
ren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his
mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I
shall command him. And whatever man shall
not hearken unto My words which that Prophet
shall speak in My name, I will take vengeance
on him.
Explanation: The postscript, made at the end of the book of Deu-
teronomy more than 450 years B.C., states that among the many
prophets which were sent to the Jews not one was as great and
important as Moses. The Jews always expected to see in the
coming Messiah their greatest prophet and lawgiver.
Ralbag (Gersonides, ancient rabbinic literature) comments on
the above text: .A prophet from the midst of thee. In fact the
Messiah is such a Prophet... .
Matthew 21:11 And the multitude said, This is
Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
Luke 7:16 And there came a fear on all, and
they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet
is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited
his people.
John 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when
they heard this saying, said, of a truth this is the
Acts 3:20-23 [Deacon Stephen to the Sanhedrim:] God
shall send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you, Whom the heaven must re-
ceive until the times of restitution of all things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets since the world began. For Moses
truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your breth-
ren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall
come to pass, that every soul, which will not
hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from
among the people.
Numbers 24:17 I shall see him, but not now: I
shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come
a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out
of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab,
and destroy all the children of Sheth. [i.e. He will
destroy all the enemies of God]
Matthew 2:1-2 When Jesus was born in Bethle-
hem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men from the east to Je-
rusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King
of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the
east, and are come to worship him.
Revelation 22:16: I Jesus have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I
am the root and the offspring of David, and the
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world; he that fol-
loweth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
Acts 13:47-48 For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation
unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gen-
tiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the
word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained
Explanation: Jesus is called the .Star. because He guides all to
their salvation.