Psalms 83:4

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ¹ 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

Isaiah 7:6-7

7:6 They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. ²  Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” ³  7:7 For this reason the sovereign master, ⁴  the Lord, says:

“It will not take place;

it will not happen.

Isaiah 8:9-10

8:9 You will be broken, ⁵  O nations;

you will be shattered! ⁶ 

Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! ⁷ 

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ⁸ 

For God is with us! ⁹ 

Matthew 2:8

2:8 He ¹⁰  sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.”

Matthew 2:16

2:16 When Herod ¹¹  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ¹²  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ¹³  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

Matthew 27:63-64

27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 27:64 So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body ¹⁴  and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

Matthew 28:2-6

28:2 Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord ¹⁵  descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 28:3 His ¹⁶  appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 28:4 The ¹⁷  guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him. 28:5 But the angel said ¹⁸  to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know ¹⁹  that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ²⁰  28:6 He is not here, for he has been raised, ²¹  just as he said. Come and see the place where he ²²  was lying.

Acts 4:17-18

4:17 But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more ²³  to anyone in this name.” 4:18 And they called them in and ordered ²⁴  them not to speak or teach at all in the name ²⁵  of Jesus.

[83:4]  ¹ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[7:6]  ² tn Heb “and let us break it open for ourselves”; NASB “make for ourselves a breach in its walls”; NLT “fight our way into.”

[7:6]  ³ tn Heb “and we will make the son of Tabeel king in its midst.”

[7:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 14, 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:9]  ⁵ tn The verb רֹעוּ (ro’u) is a Qal imperative, masculine plural from רָעַע (ra’a’, “break”). Elsewhere both transitive (Job 34:24; Ps 2:9; Jer 15:12) and intransitive (Prov 25:19; Jer 11:16) senses are attested for the Qal of this verb. Because no object appears here, the form is likely intransitive: “be broken.” In this case the imperative is rhetorical (like “be shattered” later in the verse) and equivalent to a prediction, “you will be broken.” On the rhetorical use of the imperative in general, see IBHS 572 §34.4c; GKC 324 §110.c.

[8:9]  ⁶ tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

[8:9]  ⁷ tn The initial imperative (“get ready for battle”) acknowledges the reality of the nations’ hostility; the concluding imperative (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speakers’ firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. (See the note on “be broken.”) One could paraphrase, “Okay, go ahead and prepare for battle since that’s what you want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll be shattered.” This rhetorical use of the imperatives is comparable to saying to a child who is bent on climbing a high tree, “Okay, go ahead, climb the tree and break your arm!” What this really means is: “Okay, go ahead and climb the tree since that’s what you really want to do, but your actions will backfire and you’ll break your arm.” The repetition of the statement in the final two lines of the verse gives the challenge the flavor of a taunt (ancient Israelite “trash talking,” as it were).

[8:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ⁹ sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[2:8]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[2:16]  ¹¹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.

[2:16]  ¹² tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[27:64]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “him.”

[28:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[28:3]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[28:4]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[28:5]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “But answering, the angel said.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[28:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “for I know.”

[28:5]  ²⁰ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[28:6]  ²¹ tn The verb here is passive (ἠγέρθη, hgerqh). This “divine passive” (see ExSyn 437-38) points to the fact that Jesus was raised by God.

[28:6]  ²² tc Expansions on the text, especially when the Lord is the subject, are a common scribal activity. In this instance, since the subject is embedded in the verb, three major variants have emerged to make the subject explicit: ὁ κύριος (Jo kurio", “the Lord”; A C D L W 0148 Ë^1,13 Ï lat), τὸ σῶμα τοῦ κυρίου (to swma tou kuriou, “the body of the Lord”; 1424 pc), and ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (Jo Ihsou", “Jesus”; Φ). The reading with no explicit subject, however, is superior on both internal and external grounds, being supported by א B Θ 33 892* pc co.

[4:17]  ²³ tn Or “speak no longer.”

[4:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “commanded.”

[4:18]  ²⁵ sn In the name of Jesus. Once again, the “name” reflects the person. The person of Jesus and his authority is the “troubling” topic that, as far as the Jewish leadership is concerned, needs controlling.