[398] Zech. 9. 9; 11. 12-13; 12. 10; 14. 9; Luke 19. 37-38.
The Divinity of the Messiah is also involved in some hints which occur in the Old Testament as to the doctrine of the Trinity. For instance, the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, is a plural word, though, strange to say, it generally takes a singular adjective, and verb. Thus if we tried to represent it in English, the first verse of the Bible would read, 'In the beginning the Gods, He created the heaven and the earth.' Attempts have of course been made to reduce the significance of this by pointing out that a few other Hebrew words, such as lord and master, sometimes do the same; or by regarding it as a survival from some previous polytheistic religion; or else as being what is called the plural of Majesty, a sort of royal We. This, however, does not seem to have been in use in early times, and never occurs in the Bible, where kings always speak of themselves in the singular.[399] Anyhow it is very remarkable that the Jews should have used a plural word for God with a singular verb; especially as the same word, when used of false gods, takes a plural verb.
[399] E.g., Gen. 41. 41; Ezra 6. 12; 7. 21; Dan. 4. 6.
Moreover, God is at times represented as speaking in the plural,[400] saying, for instance, Let us make man in our image, as if consulting with other Divine Persons; since it is obvious that the expression cannot refer to angels, who are themselves created, and not fellow Creators. Yet just afterwards we read, 'God created man in his own image,' thus implying that there is still but one God. Another and even more remarkable expression is, Behold, the man is become as one of us. This cannot possibly be the plural of Majesty; for though a king might speak of himself as We or Us, no king ever spoke of himself as one of Us. Such an expression can only be used when there are other persons of similar rank with the speaker; therefore when used by God, it shows conclusively that there are other Divine Persons. So again when God says, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' it implies that He is both one, and more than one; which the previous thrice Holy, points to as being a Trinity.[401] The existence of such passages seems to require some explanation, and Christianity alone can explain them.
[400] Gen. 1. 26; 3. 22; 11. 7.
[401] Isa. 6. 8.
(D.) Conclusion.
Before concluding this chapter there is still one objection to be considered. Why, it is said, if these prophecies really refer to Christ, are they not plainer? Surely if God wished to foretell the future, He would have done it better than this: and a few words added here and there would have made the reference to Christ indisputable. No doubt they would; but possibly God did not wish to make the reference indisputable. Moreover, if the prophecies had been plainer, they might have prevented their own fulfilment. Had the Jews known for certain that Christ was their Messiah, they could scarcely have crucified Him; and it seems to many that the prophecies are already about as plain as they could be without doing this. The important point, however, is not whether the prophecies might not have been plainer, but whether they are not already too plain to be accidental.
Lastly, we must notice the cumulative nature of the evidence. We have only examined a few instances, but, as said before, Messianic prophecies of some kind more or less distinct, occur at intervals all through the Old Testament. And though some of those commonly brought forward seem weak and fanciful, there are numbers of others which are not. And here, as elsewhere, this has a double bearing on the argument.
In the first place, it does not at all increase the difficulty of the Christian interpretation; for twenty prophecies are practically no more difficult to admit than two. Indeed, the fact that instead of being a few isolated examples, they form a complete series, rather lessens the difficulty than otherwise.