Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted sentinels;

            all day and all night they shall never be silent.

            You who remind the LORD, take no rest,

            and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem

               and makes it renowned throughout the earth. (Isa. 62:6-7 NRSV).

God designates Ezekiel as a “sentinel”: “whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me” (Ezek. 33:7). Here, too, the sentinels are probably prophets (Victor R. Gold and William L. Holladay (NOAB), but the message is good news, “to remind Jerusalem of her imminent salvation, the certainty of which the LORD’s oath (vv. 8-9) underscores” (Gold and Holladay). The prophet calls for preparation of “the highway,” “the way for the people” (Isa. 62:10, with echoes of 35:8, “highway” and 49:22, “ensign”) and promises that the LORD’s “reward is with him,/and his recompense before him” (Isa. 62:11; cf. 40:10).

            They shall be called, “The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD”;

            and you shall be called, “Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken” (Isa. 62:12 NRSV).

These “names” for Jerusalem hold promise for better times, for redemption. They remind us of Hosea’s use of names, “Not Pitied” (Lo-ruhamah, Hos. 1:6) and “Not My People” (Lo-ammi, v. 8) which are changed to “My People” (Ammi, Hos. 2:23) and, implied, “Pitied” (“And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah, Hos. 2:23). Compare the use of the names “My People” (Ammi) and “Pitied” (Ruhamah) in Hos. 2:1, and Paul’s use of these texts in Romans 9:25-26 regarding “a remnant” (v. 27) “from them,” that is “from the Jews” (v. 24).. God has made “known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy . . . including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:23-24).

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Heb. 2:10)

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. (Heb. 2:14 NRSV)

Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. (Heb. 2:17 NRSV)

The writer to the Hebrews reminds us of the purpose of the incarnation, our word for the virgin conception (a term borrowed from Raymond E. Brown?), Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus’ birth that we celebrate at Christmas. He had to become like us, sharing flesh and blood, so that “through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death” and be “a merciful and faithful high priest” for us. I was reminded by my wife’s (Barbara Worden’s) Christmas poem this year that the sufferings began when he was circumcised as “was customary under the law” (Lk. 2:27; cf. v. 39, “everything required by the law”), suffering the wound as a human being.

The Gospel reading is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth (Mt. 1:18-25). He reports the engagement of Joseph and Mary, “but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (v. 18). When Joseph, considering the circumstances, “planned to dismiss her quietly” (v. 19),

an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt. 1:21-22 NRSV).

Matthew says that this is in fulfillment of prophecy. In my comments on Isaiah 7:14 (Dec. 10 and 11), I pointed out that there is an Old Testament context and meaning, but that there is a “fuller sense” in which the text points to Matthew’s use of it in application to the birth of Christ. This is the first of several “formula quotations in which Matthew uses the introductory formula (sometimes shortened), “All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet” (Isa. 1:22; cf. 2:17; 4:14 and others). Note the prepositions: by the Lord, through the prophet. Even when the formula is shortened, as in 2:17 and 4:14, by omitting “by the Lord,” this understood. Thus, “This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah” (Mt. 12:17), continues the formula as first set in 1:22. The word of the Lord comes through the prophet Isaiah, but it is the word spoken by the Lord. The prophet is not a mere channel, God’s typewriter, so to speak. His personality and capabilities are involved. As we understand Jesus to be fully divine and fully human, so do we understand inspired scripture. There is a human side to Isaiah’s life and work, including his prophecy. And as a man of the eighth century B.C., he probably focused mainly on the immediate threat to Jerusalem. But God spoke through him of the birth of Jesus centuries later. When Joseph awoke he followed the angel’s command (Mt. 1:24) and when Jesus was born, “he named him Jesus” (v. 25).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com