Interfaith Dialogue - What diff. does "Divinity" of Jesus make?

BMZ,

I typed this out from my Tanakh:

Isaiah 9:5-6

For a child has been born to us,

A son has been given us.

And authority has settled on his shoulders.

He has been named

"The Mighty God is planning grace;

The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler"�

In token of abundant authority

And of peace with limit

Upon Davids' throne and kingdom,

That it many be firmly established

In justice and in equity

Now and everymore

The zeal of the LORD of Hosts

Shall bring this to pass.

The oldest Jewish Scriptures are based on the Septuagint. Everything was translated from Hebrew into Greek between the third and first century BC. There were a couple additions; Esther and Macabees. Their order of books is different and I think Kings and Samuel had different names prior to the LXX translation. The Septuagint is beyond contestation. Since Christianity didn't exist yet there was not reason or motivation to alter the text. It was simply a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures with no visible agenda.

Translation from the Septuagint:

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (very close to my Tanakh translation)

The Targum, while explicitly identifying this as a Messianic prophecy, renders the verse in Aramaic with an interest twist," �and his name will be called from before the One who is wonderful in counsel, the might God who exists forever, Messiah, because there will be abundant peace upon us in his days" (translated literally). The problem with this translation, aside from the fact that it is grammatically strained, is that almost all the names are heaped upon God, and only the last two are given to the son�although it is the naming of this royal child that is central to the verse. How odd! Clearly, the names refer to the son, not to the Lord who gave them. In other words, the Tarumic rendering would be like saying: "And God�the great, glorious, holy, wonderful , eternal, unchangeable Redeemer and King and Lord�calls his name Joe." There is no precedent or parallel to this anywhere in the Bible and no logical explanation for this rendering, nor is it even a natural, grammatical rendering of the Hebrew. The characteristics of the royal child are central�highlighted here by his names�not the characteristics of the Lord. As the brilliant Hebrew and Rabbinic scholar Franz Delitzsch noted, even Samuel David Luzzatto, one of the greatest of the Italian rabbis, rightly observed that "you do not expect to find attributes of God here, but such as would be characteristic of the child." This agrees with statements in the Talmudic and midrashic writings, along with the comments of Abrahm Ibn Ezra, all of which state that the names refer to the child.

This verse point s out the inescapable fact that the Messiah is God Almighty appearing in human form. That this passage was considered Messianic is evident from the fact that verse7 says that the Child would sit on the throne of David forever, a description which only fits the Messiah.

In the Targum of Isaiah we read: "His name has been called from old, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, He who lives forever, the Anointed One (Messiah), in whose days peace shall increase upon us."

Pereq Shalom: R. Yose the Galilean said: "The name of the Messiah is Peace, for it is said, "Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Midrash Mishle, S. Buber edition: The Messiah is called by eight names: Yinnon, Tzemah, Pele ["Miracle"], Yo'etz ["Counselor"], Mashiah ["Messiah"], El ["God"], Gibbor ["Hero"], and Avi 'Ad Shalom ["Eternal Father of Peace"]

In an attempt to avoid the impact of this passage�s significance to the divinity of the Messiah, certain Jewish Publications have translated it in a way as to suggest that the divine titles are not messianic in nature. Rather, they are descriptions of God:
For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us, and the dominion will rest on his shoulder; the Wondrous Adviser, Mighty God, eternal Father, called his name Sar-shalom [Prince of peace]. (This appears as Isaiah 9:5 in the Stone Edition Tanakh, Arts Scroll Series, published by Mesorah Publications Ltd.; Brooklyn, NY, 1998)

The great rabbi Ibn Ezra responds: There are some interpreters who say that �wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father� are the names of God, and that only �prince of peace� is the name of the child. But according to my view, the right interpretation is that they are all the names of the child. (Walter Riggans, Yeshua Ben David [Wowborough, East Sussex; MARC, 1995], p. 370)

Jeremiah 23:5-6 'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'When I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be called; The Lord our Righteousness (YHVH Tseidkeynu).'

The Targums concluded that this passage was speaking of Messiah.

For instance, the great Rabbi David Kimchi wrote in reference to this verse, 'By the righteous Branch is meant Messiah.' The compilers of the Targum agreed with Kimchi since they introduced Messiah by name in this passage. (David Baron, Rays of Messiah�s Glory: Christ in the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan, 1886], p. 78)

Hebrew scholar Alfred Edersheim quotes other Rabbinic writings in reference to this passage:

On Jer. xxiii, 5, 6 the Targum has it: �And I will raise up for David the Messiah the just.� This is one of the passages from which, according to Rabbinic views, one of the names of the Messiah is derived, viz.: Jehovah our Righteousness. So in the Talmud (Babha Bathra 75b), in the Midrash on Ps. xxii.1, Prov.xix.21, and in that on Lamentations I 16. (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 1972], pt. 2, p. 731).

Hence, we find the Hebrew Scriptures testifying to the fact that Messiah would be the Lord Himself. (Hebrew YHVH / Adonai)

BMZ, I am quite surprised at you. From what I have read about the Hebrew translations by the Jews, they bend over backwards to try to make these characteristics apply to God, rather than the son. Some of them are very sad, indeed and their motive is crystal clear. It seems that their motive is also your motive and you have fallen for the mistranslations by certain Jews. Doesn't the Qur'an say that the Jews twist the meaning of their Scriptures with their tongues, and stuff? They don't change the Scriptures of course, but they try to change the meaning.

And you now being Buggs Bunny, hopping around and jumping from fence to fence to suit your own purposes have fallen for it for exactly for the same reason