December 12th, 2020

The Old Testament text for the Third Sunday in Advent is again from Isaiah [61:1-4, 8-11], but the first part of this text is important enough to have found its way into the New Testament as well. Here are the first two verses of the Isaiah text in a somewhat literal translation of the Hebrew, and perhaps you remember seeing at least some of those words somewhere else:
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The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me, because Yahweh anointed me to evangelize the afflicted, he sent me to bind up those broken of heart, to proclaim to the ones being captive liberty, and to the ones being bound complete opening, to proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh….

It might be helpful to see the Greek translation of these verses before looking at their use in the New Testament. The entire Old Testament (and more!) was translated into the language of the New Testament a few years before the New Testament was written, and that translation provides a good context for understanding many aspects of the New Testament, especially when it comes to the life of Jesus.

In the version that the following text is from, The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English, edited by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton [Published by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 1980; page iii], in the introduction, this very broad statement concerning the Greek translation is given: ‘The Pentateuch is considered to be the part the best executed, while the book of Isaiah appears to be the very worst.’ The reason for the Isaiah translation being called ‘the very worst’ might be seen below, since this translation is also somewhat literal, but the Greek text has some significant differences from the Hebrew:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me, he sent me to evangelize the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to call the acceptable year of the Lord….

There are obviously some small differences, but one significant difference between this text and the one above is that the Hebrew text nowhere mentions those who are blind. What text was used for the Greek translation? That question is difficult to answer, since the translator is no longer around.

Perhaps this translation should not be called the worst because Jesus, in his reading of this text in the synagogue in Nazareth, follows this translation at least in some places. If Jesus liked it, perhaps we should as well. Here is a somewhat literal translation of Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me to evangelize the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and sight to the blind, to send away in release the ones having been crushed, to proclaim an acceptable year of the Lord.

Our same question might be what text did Jesus use? There might be other questions as well. What happened to the brokenhearted? (The phrase about the brokenhearted does appear in some ancient manuscripts.) And why is release mentioned twice? Unfortunately, there was not a record of ALL the details that happened that day. There are some questions about scripture that cannot be answered.

The important questions of the scripture are certainly answered. Who was sent with the Spirit? Who was anointed? Who ultimately evangelizes? Who ultimately saves? Those questions are answered in Jesus. And Jesus certainly emphasized good things when he was on earth, and he also brought a fuller meaning when he spoke the text. This good news (but not the gospel) is certainly emphasized by Jesus the word ‘release’. And it is not a coincidence that the word ‘release’ is also the word for forgiveness (see Luke 24:47).

What is similar between the Hebrew and the Greek is that both texts talk about a day of vengeance or revenge for God that is coming, and Jesus definitely left that out. He wanted the good news to predominate. And Jesus wants his followers to know what ‘release’ really means.