Featured Study · The Book of Isaiah
Unto Us a Child Is Born
Isaiah names the coming child four ways, and each name only fits God. Seven centuries later the angel Gabriel stands before a young woman in Nazareth and echoes the same promise, almost word for word. This page walks the four names, the throne with no end, a strange sealed letter in the Hebrew text, and the oldest Jewish reading of the verse.
Rembrandt, Simeon's Song of Praise (1631) — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A Light in the North
the darkness Isaiah 9 answers had a name and a date
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.The gloom is not a figure of speech. In 733 to 732 BC the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III annexed Galilee and carried its people away. Zebulun and Naphtali were the first tribal lands to fall, so Isaiah names them as the first to see the light. Seven centuries later Matthew records that Jesus left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum, on that same lake road, and quotes this very oracle:
the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:1-2 over Capernaum, in old Naphtali, where the Assyrian darkness first fell.
The land of Zebulun - Zebulun, Naphtali, Manasseh, that is, the country of Galilee all round the sea of Gennesareth, were the parts that principally suffered in the first Assyrian invasion under Tiglath-pileser; see 2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26. And they were the first that enjoyed the blessings of Christ's preaching the Gospel, and exhibiting his miraculous works among them.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832
Galilee's very debasement made it feel its need of a Saviour, a feeling not known to the self-righteous Jews (Mt 9:13). It was appropriate, too, that He who was both "the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel," should minister chiefly on the border land of Israel, near the Gentiles.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871
Born, or still to come?the Hebrew tense of verse 6
The verbs of Isaiah 9:6 are Hebrew perfects: a child “has been born,” though the birth lay seven centuries ahead. This is a known prophetic idiom, not a puzzle to solve, and Wesley states it on the darkness of verse 1, spoken of the same way:
Of which calamity, though yet to come, he speaks as if it were past, as the manner of the prophet is.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765
- 733 BCTiglath-pileser III takes Galilee
- 4throne names, one child
- ~700 yearsfrom Isaiah's oracle to Gabriel's words
- 1closed letter, unique in the Hebrew Bible
The Four Names
the government is on His shoulders, and His name is called
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.פֶּלֶא יוֹעֵץ אֵל גִּבּוֹר אֲבִיעַד שַׂר־שָׁלוֹם
Today was born the child, and his name was called Wonderful! For a wonder it is that God should reveal himself as a baby.
Ephrem the Syrian· Hymns on the Nativity 1, 373
The Hebrew accents split this into two names, Wonderful and Counsellor, which is why the King James Version prints a comma. This page frames the four names as most grammarians read them today, joined into pairs, and names the older separate count honestly under the first card.
Pele Yoetz
Wonderful Counselor
A wonder beyond figuring out, who plans and rules with perfect wisdom.
ONE EVENING LAST WEEK I stood by the sea-shore when the storm was raging. The voice of the Lord was upon the waters; and who was I that I should tarry within doors, when my Master's voice was heard sounding along the water? I rose and stood to behold the flash of his lightnings, and listen to the glory of his thunders.
Charles Spurgeon· New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 214: “His Name—Wonderful!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1858
Is it one name or two?the Masoretic accents
The oldest Hebrew accents separate the words, which is why Jerome, writing in the fifth century, counted six names rather than four:
After two names, therefore [child and son], he will be called by another six names: wonderful, counselor, God, mighty, father of the coming age, prince of peace. For the names are not to be joined into couplets as many think, such that we would read "wonderful counselor" and "mighty God." Instead "wonderful," which is pele in Hebrew, is to be read separately, as is "counselor," or what is called yôʿēṣ in their language.
Jerome· Commentary on Isaiah 3:9.16-17, 420
Most grammarians since have judged that pele stands in construct with the word that follows it, despite the accents, giving the familiar compound and a symmetry of four names. Spurgeon preached the older count, one sermon for Wonderful and a second for Counsellor. Both readings are honest history; this page frames the four.
When Scripture wishes to show that God needs no one, it says that he has no counselor. When it wishes to show the equal honor of the Only Begotten, it calls the Son of God his counselor.
John Chrysostom· Against the Anomoeans 11:14, 407
El Gibbor
Mighty God
Not a hero or a title of honor only. The same two Hebrew words Isaiah gives back to God himself eleven verses later.
And "mighty," which comes next, is called gibbôr in Hebrew. Hence when the same prophet remembers "They will lay their trust upon God, the Holy One of Israel in truth, and the remnant of Jacob upon the mighty God," the Hebrew text has ēl gibbôr for "mighty God."
Jerome· Commentary on Isaiah 3:9.16-17, 420
Isaiah answers his own questionIsaiah 10:21
Whatever el gibbor means here, it means the same eleven verses later, and there it names the God to whom the remnant of Israel returns:
A remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.Some translators have proposed softer readings, a mighty hero or a godlike warrior. Spurgeon reviewed such proposals in his own sermon on this name, before landing on the plain rendering:
OTHER TRANSLATIONS of this divine title have been proposed by several very eminent and able scholars. Not that they have any of them been prepared to deny that this translation is after all most accurate; but rather that whilst there are various words in the original, which we render by the common appellation of "GOD," it might be possible so to interpret this as to show more exactly its definite meaning.
Charles Spurgeon· New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 258: “His Name—the Mighty God” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1859
Avi-ad
Everlasting Father
Not that the Son is the Father. The name says he is eternal, and forever fatherly toward his people.
How complex is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ! Almost in the same breath the Prophet calls Him a "Child," and a "Counselor," a "Son," and "the Everlasting Father."
Charles Spurgeon· Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 724: “His Name—The Everlasting Father” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1866
Father of eternity, not the Fatherthe idiom, and the Trinity
Hebrew often uses “father of X” to mean possessor of X, not literal parent, the way Job is called “a father to the poor.” Avi-ad reads as the eternal one, or the father of eternity:
And his name shall be called - אל גבור El gibbor, the prevailing or conquering God. The everlasting Father "The Father of the everlasting age" - Or אבי עד Abi ad, the Father of eternity.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832
The name does not collapse the Son into the Father. He is eternal, and he is fatherly, protective and caring, toward the people God has given him; the Trinity is not at stake in a throne name.
Sar-Shalom
Prince of Peace
A ruler whose peace is wholeness and right order, not just an end to fighting.
The Prince of peace - not only the Author of peace, and the Dispenser of peace, but also he that rules by peace, whose rule tends always to perfection, and produces prosperity.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832
Why there is no Spurgeon sermon on this nameJohn 14:27
Spurgeon preached a sermon on each of the first three names, and said he hoped to preach the last two:
If God shall spare me, on some future occasion I hope to take the other titles, "The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." But now this morning the portion which will engage our attention is this, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."
Charles Spurgeon· Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 291: “A Christmas Question” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1859
He reached the Everlasting Father seven years later. No sermon on Prince of Peace survives, so this card rests on Clarke and Wesley instead, and on the Lord’s own words about the peace He gives:
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.peleʼ: a miracle
The category of wonder that belongs to God's own acts alone.
13 occurrences · open the word study →
yâʻats: to advise
To plan and advise, the verb behind Counselor.
79 occurrences · open the word study →
ʼêl: strength
The bare word for God, joined here to Mighty.
241 occurrences · open the word study →
gibbôwr: powerful
A warrior's strength, the same word Isaiah gives back to God in Isaiah 10:21.
158 occurrences · open the word study →
ʼâb: father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application
Father, used here of possession and care, not begetting.
1,212 occurrences · open the word study →
ʻad: properly, a (peremptory) terminus, i.e. (by implication) duration, in the sense of advance or perpetuity (substantially as a noun, either with or without a preposition)
Perpetuity without end, the second half of Avi-ad.
49 occurrences · open the word study →
sar: a head person (of any rank or class)
A commander who governs, the root of Sar-Shalom.
421 occurrences · open the word study →
shâlôwm: safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly
Wholeness and right order, not merely the absence of war.
236 occurrences · open the word study →
Of the Increase, No End
the throne of David, and the same words in Nazareth
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.This is the Davidic covenant carried forward: God's promise to David that his house and his kingdom would stand forever. The growth of that kingdom is the point, not merely its arrival.
Of the increase of his government,.... That is, of the Prince of peace, on whose shoulders it is; which, from small beginnings, will rise to a very great pitch and height of glory; this is signified by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands; that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, Dan 2:34
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748-1763
The throne - Which was promised to David, and to his seed forever. For ever - From the beginning of it to all eternity. The zeal - This great work shall be brought to pass by almighty God, out of that fervent affection which he hath to his own glory, to the honour of his son, and to his people.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765
Seven hundred years after Isaiah wrote this, the angel Gabriel stood before a young woman in Nazareth and spoke almost the same sentence:
Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!Gabriel, Luke 1:31
“you will conceive and give birth to a son”
Isaiah, Isaiah 9:6
“unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”
Gabriel, Luke 1:32
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”
Isaiah, Isaiah 9:6
the fourfold name, Wonderful Counselor to Mighty God
Gabriel, Luke 1:32
“The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David”
Isaiah, Isaiah 9:7
“He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom”
Gabriel, Luke 1:33
“He will reign over the house of Jacob forever”
Isaiah, Isaiah 9:7
“to establish and sustain it... from that time and forevermore”
Gabriel, Luke 1:33
“His kingdom will never end”
Isaiah, Isaiah 9:7
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end”
The old commentators heard the same echoLuke 1:32-33
He shall be great - There is undoubted reference in this passage to Isa 9:6-7. By his being "great" is meant he shall be distinguished or illustrious; great in power, in wisdom, in dominion on earth and in heaven.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, 1832-1869
He shall be called the Son of the Highest - In this respect also: and that in a more eminent sense than any, either man or angel, can be called so. The Lord shall give him the throne of his father David - That is, the spiritual kingdom, of which David's was a type.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755
(Geometer.) But to reign for ever is of none save God alone; and hence though because of the incarnation Christ is said to receive the seat of David, yet as being Himself God He is acknowledged to be the eternal King.
Ancient Greek Expositor· Catena Aurea by Aquinas, 1274
For the Angel when he says that the very same has David for His father whom he declares is called the Son of the Highest, demonstrates the one Person of Christ in two natures.
Bede· Catena Aurea by Aquinas, 735
The Sealed Letter
one Hebrew letter, written closed in the middle of a word
Look again at the Hebrew word behind “of the increase” in verse 7, l’marbeh. In the standard Hebrew text, the letter mem in the middle of that word is written in its closed form, the shape it normally takes only at the end of a word. It is the one unambiguous case of its kind flagged anywhere in the Hebrew Bible.
The codices and the ancient scrollthe Aleppo and Leningrad codices · 1QIsa-a
This is real, old, and traceable, not a preacher's invention. The great medieval codices (Aleppo, Leningrad) actually write the letters as two separate words, with a margin note directing the reader to read them as one. Textual scholar Drew Longacre has shown the reading is ancient: the Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran, copied in the second century BC, already leaves a space at the same spot, and the old Greek translation reflects the same division. The anomaly goes back at least two thousand years before any printed Bible.
Sanhedrin 94a · Babylonian Talmud, redacted c. AD 500
This page of the Talmud, the Gemara of the tractate Sanhedrin, tells why the sages remembered the letter this way. Rabbi Tanchum passes on a teaching from bar Kappara of Tzippori: the Holy One “sought to designate Hezekiah as the Messiah” after his deliverance from the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The attribute of justice objected, reasoning that if David, who sang many songs of praise, was not made Messiah, Hezekiah, who offered none, should not be made Messiah either. So, the passage says, “the mem was closed.”
Later readings, held as homileticsnot textual claims
Later teachers, Jewish and Christian, have found further meaning in the sealed letter: a closed door on Hezekiah's chance at the Messiah's title, or a hint of the sealed virgin womb, or kabbalistic pictures of things concealed. None of these are textual claims about why the letter is written this way. They are homiletic readings built on a real anomaly, and they are named here as homiletics, nothing more.
Whatever the sealed letter means, the verse itself does not stay sealed. It ends in the open: “The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.”
How Israel's Teachers Read It
named, dated, placed, and heard on its own terms
The oldest Jewish reading of this verse is already messianic. Targum Jonathan, the ancient Aramaic paraphrase of the Prophets read aloud in the synagogue and compiled in the early centuries AD, renders the verse this way:
Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 9:5 (Hebrew numbering; English 9:6)
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and he has taken the law upon himself to keep it. His name is called from before Him who is wonderful in counsel, the mighty God who liveth to eternity — the Messiah whose peace shall be great upon us in his days.”
The Targum can be read two ways. One reading takes the wonder names as belonging to the one who names the child, so the child himself carries only Messiah and Prince of Peace. The other takes the whole chain, wonder-Counselor, Mighty God, the one who lives forever, Messiah, Prince of Peace, as the child’s own name, the way the Aramaic reads at face value.
Where the first reading routes the wonder-names to the one naming the child rather than to the child himself, it parts from a confession the church makes from this very verse: that the child himself is called Mighty God, the same title Isaiah gives back to God in Isaiah 10:21. This is named here as a difference between two ways of reading one sentence, not as a judgment on the tradition that reads it the first way. The Targum itself, it is worth remembering, already calls this child the Messiah.
The Talmud carries a related reading, applying the verse to king Hezekiah, whose deliverance from Sennacherib is told in Sanhedrin 94a above. The tradition itself reading this verse messianically concedes its messianic register; the church simply reads the same verse of a greater Son of David. Hezekiah’s own kingdom did end, in the Babylonian captivity his own sons would live through, while this verse promises a kingdom that does not. John Wesley, writing gently but plainly about the older reading, put it this way:
Us - Unto us Jews, of whom Christ was born, and to whom he was primarily sent. A child - The Messiah by the consent of interpreters, not only Christian, but Jewish: for so the ancient Hebrew doctors understood the place, and particularly the Chaldee paraphrast; although the latter Jews, out of opposition to Christ, wrest it to Hezekiah.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765
Wesley wrote in the language of his own century. This page's own point is gentler: two traditions, ancient and both honestly held, land on different men, and this study explains why it lands on Christ.
The Old Greek: Angel of Great Counselthe Septuagint's Isaiah 9:6
The oldest Greek translation of Isaiah does not carry the four names at all. It reduces the whole title to one phrase, Angel of Great Counsel, messenger in the old sense of the word, one sent with authority. Jerome offers a motive for the change:
The Septuagint in my opinion, terrified as it was by the majesty of these names, did not dare to say of a child that he must be called God and so forth but wrote in place of the six names, which it did not have in Hebrew, "angel of great counsel, and I will bring peace and his salvation upon the princes," which seems to me to have the following meaning: He who announced to us that Israel would be thrown down for a while and that the nations would be healed is the angel of great counsel who also gave peace to its princes, apostles and apostolic men, and bequeathed dogmatic healing to their believers.
Jerome· Commentary on Isaiah 3:9.16-17, 420
The early church read the title as functional, an office and not a lesser nature:
And when Isaiah calls Him the Angel of mighty counsel, did he not foretell Him to be the Teacher of those truths which He did teach when He came [to earth]? For He alone taught openly those mighty counsels which the Father designed both for all those who have been and shall be well-pleasing to Him, and also for those who have rebelled against His will, whether men or angels.
Justin Martyr· Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXVI, 165
Where It Points
the same child, the same peace, the same throne
The whole New Testament stands on this promise made good. An angel announces the child’s birth in almost Isaiah’s own words, Paul calls him the church’s peace, and Revelation ends the story with the kingdom Isaiah said would have no end.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”The Voices
with the work named
New Park Street and Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Nos. 214, 258, 291, 724 (1858-1866) · public domain
A sermon on each name he reached, from Wonderful to the Everlasting Father, and his own note that the Prince of Peace sermon never came.
Wesley, Clarke, Gill, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Barnes (1748-1871) · public domain
The page's working floor: the Tiglath-pileser history, the closed mem, the Davidic throne, and the idiom behind Everlasting Father.
Jerome, Chrysostom, Justin Martyr, Bede
Named works throughout: Jerome on the six names and the Septuagint's Angel of Great Counsel; Chrysostom on the Counselor; Justin on the second-century reading; Bede on the two natures in Luke 1.
Marcus Brown's own commentary leads above all; within a tier, all voices are equal. No modern roster voice ships on this page: none has a verified specific work on Isaiah 9:6-7 on hand.
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