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The Gospel of Matthew's Use of Isaiah, Part III

The November 5, 2007 issue of Bible Study began to explore the relationship of the Gospels with the Book of Isaiah.  Part II was issued on November 19.  This week's issue of Bible Study will continue that exploration. Using the Gospel of Matthew, we will highlight any verses which the New American Bible relates to words from Isaiah, and list them in relation to the Isaian verses that correspond.  This article will conclude our coverage of Matthew; subsequent Bible Study articles will continue this format with regard to the other Gospels.   The New American Bible translation will be used.

Each paragraph will being with several possible abbreviations: "Q" meaning quotation in which most of the words correspond; "R" meaning "Reference" which means the Gospel text is in some way related to the Isaiah verse; and "QR" which indicates both elements of "Q" and "R."

24:29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken"  ->  Is 13:10,13: "The stars and constellations of the heavens send forth no light; The sun is dark when it rises, and the light of the moon does not shine. . . .  For this I will make the heavens tremble and the earth shall be shaken from its place, At the wrath of the LORD of hosts on the day of his burning anger."

Mt 24:31: "And he will send out his angels with a trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the one end of the heavens to the other."   ->  Is 27:13: "On that day, A great trumpet shall blow, and the lost in the land of Assyria and the outcasts in the land of Egypt Shall come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem."

Mt 24:35: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."  ->  Is 40:8: "Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever."

Mt 25:35-36: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you visited me."  ->  Is 58:7: *Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.*

Mt 26:24: "The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him...."  ->  Is 53:8-10: "Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny?  When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.   (But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.)  If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him."

Mt 26:28: "for this is the blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins."  ->  Is 53:12: "Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses."

Mt 26:63: "But Jesus was silent . . . ."  ->  Is 53:7: "Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth."

Mt 27:30: "They spat at him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head."   ->  Is 50:6: "I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting."

Mt 27:57: "When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus.  He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed over.  Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock."  ->  Is 53:9: "A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood."

In a future Bible Study issue, we will make similar comparisons with verses in the three other Gospels.

Text: Isaiah 17:1 - 18:7

17:1  Oracle on Damascus: Lo, Damascus shall cease to be a city and become a ruin;

2  Her cities shall be forever abandoned, given over to flocks to lie in undisturbed.

3  The fortress shall be lost to Ephraim and the kingdom to Damascus; The remnant of Aram shall have the same glory as the Israelites, says the LORD of hosts.

4  On that day The glory of Jacob shall fade, and his full body grow thin,

5  Like the reaper's mere armful of stalks when he gathers the standing grain; Or as when one gleans the ears in the Valley of Rephaim.

6  Only a scattering of grapes shall be left! As when an olive tree has been beaten, Two or three olives remain at the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches, says the LORD, the God of Israel.

7  On that day man shall look to his maker, his eyes turned toward the Holy One of Israel.

8  He shall not look to the altars, his handiwork, nor shall he regard what his fingers have made: the sacred poles or the incense stands.

9  On that day his strong cities shall be like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites When faced with the children of Israel: they shall be laid waste.

10  For you have forgotten God, your savior, and remembered not the Rock, your strength. Therefore, though you plant your pagan plants and set out your foreign vine slips,

11  Though you make them grow the day you plant them and make your sprouts blossom on the next morning, The harvest shall disappear on the day of the grievous blow, the incurable blight.

12  Ah! the roaring of many peoples that roar like the roar of the seas! The surging of nations that surge like the surging of mighty waves!

13  But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away; Windswept, like chaff on the mountains, like tumbleweed in a storm.

14  In the evening, they spread terror, before morning, they are gone! Such is the portion of those who despoil us, the lot of those who plunder us.

18:1  Ah, land of buzzing insects, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2  Sending ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and bronzed, To a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.

3  All you who inhabit the world, who dwell on earth, When the signal is raised on the mountain, look! When the trumpet blows, listen!

4  For thus says the LORD to me: I will quietly look on from where I dwell, Like the glowing heat of sunshine, like a cloud of dew at harvest time.

5  Before the vintage, when the flowering is ended, and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes, Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.

6  They shall all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts in the land; The birds of prey shall summer on them and on them all the beasts of the earth shall winter.

7  Then will gifts be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers-to Mount Zion where dwells the name of the LORD of hosts.

Discussion/Reflection Question:

Verse 17:4 speaks of the glory of Jacob fading and uses the image of his full body growing thin.  Isaiah continues to picture disaster through other images, such as a poor a harvest (verses 5 & 6).   The punch line is verse 7 which seems to say: on that day, look to your creator with your eyes turned toward the Holy One of Israel.  In what ways have you seen the need to turn to God in the face of tragedy in your life or in the lives of others?