{"id":301,"date":"2020-01-23T12:51:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T18:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazarenespace.com\/blog\/?p=301"},"modified":"2024-07-02T10:13:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T15:13:44","slug":"they-have-pierced-my-hands-and-my-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nazarenespace.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/23\/they-have-pierced-my-hands-and-my-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"They have Pierced My Hands and My Feet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

They have Pierced My Hands and My Feet<\/strong>
\nby<\/strong>
\nJames Scott Trimm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 22 is an amazingly prophetic Psalm which describes the crucifixion of Yeshua in great detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Matt. 27:46 = Mk. 15:34 Yeshua recites Ps. 22:2(1) from the \ngallows. Matt. 27:39 alludes to Ps. 22:8(7) about on lookers shaking \ntheir heads at him. In Matt. 27:43 the people use the same phase as \nthose in Ps. 22:9(8) (see also Luke 23:35) Luke 23:34 and John 19:24 (as\n well as the Hebrew text of Matt. 27:35) allude to Ps. 22:19(18) about \nthe casting of lots to divide his clothes, and Hebrews 2:12 also quotes \nPs. 22:23(22) as a reference to Yeshua as the Messiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not just the so-called NT that understand Psalm 22 as \npropheticly speaking of Messiah, the concept is also to be found in \nMidrash Pesikta Rabbati which applies verses from Psalm 22 to the \nMessiah ben Yosef, the Suffering Messiah also known as \u201cEphraim\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the seven-year period preceding the coming of the son of \nDavid, iron beams will be brought low and loaded upon his neck until the\n Messiah\u2019s body is bent low. Then he will cry and weep, and his voice \nwill rise to the very height of heaven, and he will say to God: Master \nof the universe, how much can my strength endure? How much can my spirit\n endure? How much my breath before it ceases? How much can my limbs \nsuffer? Am I not flesh and blood?<\/em>
\nIt was because of the ordeal of the son of David that David wept, saying My strength is dried up like a potsherd (Ps. 22:16).<\/strong>\n During the ordeal of the son of David, the Holy One, blessed be He, \nwill say to him: Ephraim, My true Messiah, long ago, ever since the six \ndays of creation, thou didst take this ordeal upon thyself. At this \nmoment, thy pain is like my pain . . .<\/em>
\nAt these words, the Messiah will reply: Now I am reconciled. The servant is content to be like his Master.<\/em>
\n(Pesikta Rabbati, Piska 36.2, translated by William G. Braude, Yale University Press, pg. 680-681)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is taught, moreover, that in the month of Nisan the Patriarchs\n will arise and say to the Messiah: Ephraim, our true Messiah, even \nthough we are thy forbears, thou art greater that we because thou didst \nsuffer for the iniquities of our children, and terrible ordeals befell \nthee . . . for the sake of Israel thou didst become a laughingstock and a\n derision among the nations of the earth; and didst sit in darkness, in \nthick darkness, and thine eyes saw no light, and thy skin cleaved to thy\n bones, and thy body was as dry as a piece of wood; and thine eyes grew \ndim from fasting, and thy strength was dried up like a potsherd<\/strong> \u2013 all these afflictions on account of the iniquities of our children . . .<\/em>
\n(Pesikta Rabbati 37.1, translated by William G. Braude, Yale University Press, pg. 685-686)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ephraim is a darling son to Me . . . My heart yearneth for him, \nin mercy I will have mercy upon him, saith the Lord (Jer. 31:20). Why \ndoes the verse speak twice of mercy: In mercy I will have mercy upon \nhim? One mercy refers to the time when he will be shut up in prison, a \ntime when the nations of the world will gnash their teeth at him every \nday, wink their eyes at one another in derision of him, nod their heads \nat him in contempt, open wide their lips to guffaw, as is said All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head (Ps. 22:8<\/strong>);<\/strong> My\n strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my \nthroat; and thou layest me in the dust of death (Ps. 22:16).<\/strong> Moreover, they will roar over him like lions, as is said They\n open wide their mouth against me, as a ravening and roaring lion. I am \npoured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is \nbecome like wax; it is melted in mine inmost parts (Ps. 22:14-15).<\/strong><\/em>
\n(Pesikta Rabbati 37.1, translated by William G. Braude, Yale University Press, pg. 686-687)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most amazingly prophetic verse of Psalm 22 is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For dogs have encompassed me;<\/em>
\na company of evildoers have enclosed me:<\/em>
\nthey have pierced my hands and my feet.<\/em>
\n(Ps. 22:17 (16))<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his series Let\u2019s Get Biblical\u201d Tovia Singer has made the claim \nthat Christians changed Ps. 22:16 (17) to read \u201cthey have pierced\u201d \nrather than \u201clike a lion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let us seek the TRUTH on this matter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Hebrew the difference between these two readings is only one letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KARU ( \u05d1\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5) \u201cThey have pierced\u201d
(\u05db\u05d0\u05e8 means \u201cpierced\u201d and the \u05d5 means \u201cthey\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KARI (\u05db\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9) \u201cLike a lion\u201d
(\u05db means \u201clike\u201d and \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9 means \u201clion\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference between these two words is between a \u05d5 and a \u05d9. The misreading of a \u05d5 for a \u05d9 or a \u05d9 for a \u05d5 is a frequent scribal error in Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts. A \u05d5 is simply a \u05d9 with a long tail. This scribal error is clearly not an intentional change but a common scribal error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let us determine which was the original reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now if we look up this passage in the BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia). Here we find a footnote that reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cpc Mss Edd \u05db\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5  , <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2Mss Edd <\/em>\u05db\u05e8\u05d5 cf G(S)\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To transalate this note into lay terms it says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few manuscripts read KARU (\u05db\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5) and two manuscripts read KARU (\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5)and the Greek Septuagint has [pierced]\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words while MOST Masoretic Text manuscripts read KARI (\u201clike\n a lion\u201d) SEVERAL read \u201cthey have pierced\u201d (two possible spellings) as \ndoes the Greek Septuagint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Tanak that was completed by about 200 to 160 BCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Peshitta Aramaic Tanak also has \u201cthey have pierced\u201d in this passage. According to the Encyclopedia Judaica article on \u201cBible\u201d The Peshitta Aramaic was produced by Jews for Assyrian and Syrian converts to Judaism in the first century BCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now lets look at the oldest extant Hebrew copy of this Psalm which \nwas found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. If we look in THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS\n BIBLE under Psalm 22 on pages 518-519 we read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have pierced my hands and my feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are directed to footnote 41 which says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c5\/6HevPs MT(mss) LXX. Like a lion are MT.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In layman\u2019s terms this note means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Dead Sea Scroll manuscript designated \u201c5\/6HevPs\u201d, some
\nMasoretic Text manuscripts and the Septuagint the reading is \u201cthey
\nhave pierced\u201d while most Masoretic Text manuscripts read \u201clike a
\nlion are\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A header above this section of Psalm 22 reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPsalm 22 is a favorite among Christians since it is often linked in<\/em>
\nthe New Testament with the suffering and death of Jesus. A well-<\/em>
\nknown and controversial reading is found in verse 16, where the<\/em>
\nMasoretic Text reads \u201cLike a lion are my hands and feet,\u201d whereas<\/em>
\nthe Septuagint has \u201cThey have pierced my hands and feet.\u201d Among the<\/em>
\nscrolls the reading in question is found only in the Psalms scroll<\/em>
\nfound at Nahal Hever (abreviated 5\/6HevPs), which reads \u201cThey have<\/em>
\npierced my hands and my feet\u201d!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover the grammar does not work for \u201clike a lion\u201d since the phrase\n would lake a verb. Many insert additional words to MAKE the text read \n\u201cLike a lion [they are at] my hands and my feet\u201d. The understood verb of\n being does not work here because \u201cLike a lion are my hand and my feet\u201d \nmakes about as much sense as \u201cLike a pizza are my hands and my feet\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK lets review the facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Only the Masoretic Text (which originated in the 9th Century CE)
\nhas \u201clike a lion\u201d and even then some copies have \u201cthey have pierced\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. ALL other versions INCLUDING the Greek Septuagent and Aramaic
\nPeshitta Tanak read \u201cthey have pierced\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The error itself is an accidental scribal error and NOT an
\nintentional change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. By far the OLDEST Hebrew copy of the Psalm from the Dead Sea
\nScrolls reads \u201cthey have pierced\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The reading \u201clike a lion\u201d does not fit the grammar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Several copies and versions from BEFORE the life of Yeshua
\nhave \u201cthey have pierced\u201d and NO copy or version prior to the 9th
\ncentury CE has \u201clike a lion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tovia Singer\u2019s claims, once again, are without merit. The reading \n\u201cthey have pierced\u201d existed BEFORE Christianity existed, the scribal \nerror in question was clearly NOT intentional and the textual evidence \npoints STRONGLY to \u201cthey have pierced\u201d as the original reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that Psalm 22 is a prophecy of the suffering of Messiah and verse 17(16) speaks specifically of the crucifixion of Messiah, having his hands and his feet pierced, pointing clearly to Yeshua as having fulfilled this amazingly clear prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n