Jesus and His prophecies

AbRah2006 wrote: OnE Of THE Prophecies Christians Use to Verify Jesus as the Messiah, Yet Clearly Fail: (1) "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."  Micah 5:2 The gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:5-6) claims that Jesus� birth in Bethlehem fulfils this prophecy.  But this is unlikely for two reasons.     A) "Bethlehem Ephratah" in Micah 5:2 refers not to a town, but to a clan: the clan of Bethlehem, who was the son of Caleb�s second wife, Ephrathah (1 Chronicles 2:18, 2:50-52 & 4:4).     B) The prophecy (if that is what it is) does not refer to the Messiah, but rather to a military leader, as can be seen from Micah 5:6.  This leader is supposed to defeat the Assyrians, which, of course, Jesus never did.  It should also be noted that Matthew altered the text of Micah 5:2 by saying: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah" rather than "Bethlehem Ephratah" as is said in Micah 5:2. He did this, intentionally no doubt, to make this verse appear to refer to the town of Bethlehem rather than the family clan.

Actually this is a distortion of the facts. You should be somewhat more careful with your exegesis. Let me help you out here:

Ephrathit is the ancient name of Bethlehem in Judah ( see Gen 35:19, 48:7).

Now examine 1 Samuel 17:12

12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul's time he was old and well advanced in years.

You should note that Jesus was prophesized to be of the line of David and David was the son of an Ephrathite.

One final point, In the first chapter of Ruth Vs 1-2

1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Yet another case where inhabitants of Bethlehem are called Ephrathites. Notice Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Kilion are called Epharthites from Bethlehem-Judah.

So we know that David was the Son of an Ephrathite thus Jesus was an Ephrathite, by virtue of the fact he was of the live of David via Jesse.  It has also been demonstrated that Ephrathite is often used to refer to inhabitants of Bethlehem-Judah. You argument, while eloquent does not diminish Micah whatsoever.

Abednego

BMZ,

It's in "is Jesus God or not" topic, page 28, but I copied the relevant part in my first post.

You are confused with Jesus' Second Coming and the events prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD.  Those prophecies came true.  Jesus' Second Coming is yet to come.

Peace

Jesus fullfilled His prophesy because what was coming back was not him but the Holy Spirit which moves us all.

We are the Messiah, the Prophets, the Manifestations of God and People of Spirit a Living Messiah in the Multitudes not one of us but all of us. We are all Messengers of God and we are equally according to our ability responsible for the care and well being of each other and the world.  AM Elderkin Habibi

No one person cantains more of the Holy Spirit than others some are just more aware of their power and use it wisely and some use thier power negatively it is all depending on their background, their skills, eduvcation, training, what kind of counseling they recieved and whether they have been consulted on their lifes issues and dreams.

You see the goal is to inspire that Holy Spirit within us to rise to be good and juste people , people who care about ourselves and others and the world.

There is hope we are that hope.

Anne Marie

Salams Brother

And I thought this was an inter faith place to chat!  LOL

Where is your patience brother?

Actually it is the other way around, why I waste good ideas on a few block heads is a good question.

Actually brother some people find my inspirations interesting.

Your just too serious sometimes.