Muslim apologist Sami Zaatari has jumped on the so-called
“Christian” unitarian bandwagon by rehashing the same old worn out arguments
and objections of these heretics against the true historic Christian faith
which is based on the accurate interpretation of the Holy Bible.
In one of his articles, Zaatari appeals to the unitarian
interpretation of Psalm 110:1 to
prove that Jesus is nothing more than a mere man whom God has exalted (*).
Here is the verse in question:
“A Psalm of David. The Lord says
to my Lord (neum YHWH l’adoni): Sit at My right
hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’”
In this psalm we have king David addressing the Messiah as
his Lord, which in Hebrew is Adoni. Zaatari parrots the argument of his
unitarian mentors by claiming that the Hebrew Bible never employs this specific
term for Yahweh, and therefore proves that the Messiah cannot be God (or so he
thinks).
Zaatari writes that,
The first thing that everyone should notice are the clear
distinctions, the verse says that Jehovah said to my adoni (lord). If David
really believed that the Messiah was God then he could've made it even more
clear by saying "and Jehovah said unto my Jehovah". If the Messiah was
Jehovah, then the Messiah would have been called Jehovah, yet a distinction is
made between Jehovah, and the Messiah, called adoni.
Now comes the major problem for the missionary, and
basically the refutation to their argument. The word adoni in the Hebrew Bible
is never used in reference to God; rather the word adoni is always used when
referring to men. More specifically, adoni is always used when referring to
leaders and judges amongst the men.
-David calls the Messiah adoni
-The Hebrew word Adoni is never used when referring to God
-The Hebrew word adoni is always used when referring to men
We have decided to address Zaatari’s claims in order to
show him that it is not a wise thing for a Muslim apologist to starting aping
the claims of unitarian heretics since this will end up backfiring against
him/her, as we are about to see.
David’s theology proves that Muhammad was
a false prophet
In the first place, no one in the Holy Bible ever speaks of
Yahweh or Jehovah as “our Yahweh” or “my Yahweh” since Yahweh is a proper name,
and the inspired Scriptures do not attach singular or plural suffixes to proper
names.(1) As such, it was
actually more appropriate for the prophet David to refer to the Messiah as his
Lord, especially since a key and crucial theme of this Psalm is to highlight
the Messiah’s preeminence over David, i.e. that the coming Anointed King is far
greater than his human ancestor.
However, this raises a problem for Zaatari since the Quran
denies that Allah would ever permit anyone to worship prophets as their lords:
He would never order you to take the angels and the
Prophets as Lords; what, would He order you to disbelieve, after you have
surrendered? S. 3:80 Arberry
And yet according to the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit moved
David to worship and honor Christ as his exalted Lord!
“And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple,
‘How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the
son of David? David himself said in
the Holy Spirit, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Until I
put Your enemies beneath Your feet.”’ David
himself calls Him “Lord”; so in what sense is He his son?’ And the large
crowd enjoyed listening to Him.” Mark 12:35-37
This means that the Quran is wrong, which makes Muhammad a
false prophet, since God has commanded his followers to worship one specific
prophet, namely the Christ, as their sovereign Lord. The reason God would do so
is because Christ is more than a mere prophet, since he is the unique Son of
God whom the Father loves and delights in,
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was
baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of
the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending
upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: ‘You are My
beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’” Mark 1:9-11
“And Jesus was saying to them, ‘Truly I say to you, there
are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see
the kingdom of God after it has come with power.’ Six days later, Jesus took
with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by
themselves. And He was
transfigured before them; and His garments became radiant and
exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah
appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said
to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles,
one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ For he did
not know what to answer; for they became terrified. Then a
cloud formed, overshadowing them,and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is
My beloved Son, listen to Him!’” Mark 9:1-7
And who therefore demands that everyone honor his beloved
Son in the same way that they honor him:
“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given
all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son EVEN AS they honor the Father. He who does
not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” John 5:22-23
“For this reason also, God
highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so
that at the name of Jesus every
knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians
2:9-11
This, too, is a fact which Muhammad denied!(2)
The Jews say, 'Ezra is the Son of God'; the Christians say,
'The Messiah is the Son of God.' That is the utterance of their mouths,
conforming with the unbelievers before them.God assail them! How they are
perverted! S. 9:30 Arberry
As such, Muhammad stands condemned as a false apostle by
the message of God’s true emissaries.
Is Adoni never used of Yahweh?
The second problem that Zaatari faces is that it is simply
not true that Adoni is never applied to Yahweh, since it is definitely used in
reference to him in what is typically referred to astheophoric
names (Gr. theoforētos, "bearing a
deity”), e.g. proper names which contain or embed a name and/or characteristic
of the deity worshiped by a particular individual.
In the Hebrew Bible there are certain theophoric names
which identify Yahweh as Adoni, i.e. as the God whom the person bearing that
specific name confesses and worships (or is supposed to confess and worship) as
his/her Lord. These include the following:
“Sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was
Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; and his second, Chileab, by
Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of
Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth,
Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, by
David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David at Hebron.” 2 Samuel 3:2-5
“Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,” Nehemiah 10:16
“and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah,
Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah,
Tobijah and Tobadonijah,
the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.” 2 Chronicles
17:8
“Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. These
were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest; Elihoreph
and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of
Ahilud was the recorder; and Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada wasover the army;
and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; and Azariah
the son of Nathan wasover
the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s friend; and Ahishar was
over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.”
1 Kings 4:1-6
“Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel;
and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men. He sent them to
Lebanon, 10,000 a
month in relays; they were in Lebanon a month and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the forced laborers.” 1 Kings
5:13-14
“Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households and the genealogical enrollment of
those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes… and of
the sons of Adonikam,
the last ones, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and 60
males with them;” Ezra 8:1, 13 – cf. 2:13; Nehemiah 7:18
Therefore, it is simply not true that Yahweh is never
called Adoni since he definitely is, just as the foregoing examples clearly
demonstrate. Besides, Adoni simply means “my Lord,” and if Yahweh isn’t a
believer’s Lord than nobody is!
We are not through yet since we have a lot more to say in
the next part of our rebuttal.
Endnotes
(1) It is interesting to note that
according to the late great Bible expositor, Adam Clarke, a Hebrew manuscript
actually exists where Psalm 110:1 has Yahweh speaking to Yahweh!
Psa 110:1 Said unto my Lord. Instead of לאדני ladoni, "my Lord,"
one MS. seems to have read ליהוה layhovah, "Jehovah said unto Jehovah,
'Sit thou on my right hand,'" etc. See De Rossi. (Adam
Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible; *)
If Clarke wasn’t mistaken then this indicates that there
was at least one scribe or group of scribes who realized that David must have
been speaking of Yahweh as his Lord since there was no one greater than him in
rank and honor besides Yahweh. This in turn suggests that the scribe or scribes
responsible for this reading were aware that the God is a multi-Personal Being.
For more on this topic of none being greater than David besides Yahweh God,
which therefore proves that the Messiah must be God in order for him to be
David’s Lord, please consult the following article:
(2) To make matters worse for Zaatari, the Hebrew Scriptures also
proclaim that a day is coming when Yahweh will require everyone to serve the
Messiah in the same way that they serve their God!
“‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of
hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their
bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But
they shall SERVE the Lord their God AND DAVID THEIR KING (wa'abadu 'et YHWH elohim wa'et Dawid malkam), whom I
will raise up for them… Their
leader shall be one of them, And their ruler shall come forth from their midst;
And I will bring him near and he shall approach Me; For who would dare to risk
his life to approach Me?’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 30:8-9, 21
As the context itself shows, David here doesn’t refer to
the historical king who had long been dead but to one of his descendants whom
the prophet prefigured. In other words, the term David is a reference to the
Messiah whom the deceased king foreshadowed.
This is brought out more clearly by what Jeremiah states
elsewhere:
“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘When
I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and
act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will
be saved, And Israel will dwell securely;And this is His name by which He
will be called, “The Lord our righteousness (YHWH tsidqenu).”’”
Jeremiah 23:5-6 – cf. 33:15-16
According to this passage, it is not David whom God will
raise up for Israel, but a branch or descendant from David’s line who shall
reign wisely and bring salvation to the people of God.
What makes this a rather remarkable prophecy is that the
name of this Davidic King is said to be Yahweh our righteousness, a name which
implies that this Ruler shall be more than a mere human descendant of David.
This One who shall come from the household of David is actually Yahweh God
Almighty coming to fulfill the Davidic promises!
Lest we be accused of reading too much into the text, or of
wrongly applying it to the Messiah, note how the following rabbinic sources
interpreted this specific passage:
Midrash Tehilim 21:12
“God will call the King Messiah after His own name, for it
is said of the King MessiahThis is his name whereby he shall be called: the
Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah
23:6). Jerusalem also shall be called after the Lord’s name, for it is said
of Jerusalem The name of the
city from that day shall be the Lord…” (Douglas Pyle, What The Rabbonim Say About
Moshiach [N. P., Third
edition, paperback, published in 2010], p. 23)
Rabbi Joseph Albo:
“In the same way the Bible calls the name of the Messiah, ‘The Lord our righteousness’(Jeremiah
23:5, 6), because he is the medium through whom we obtain justice from God.
For this reason he is called by the name of God. Similarly Jerusalem is called, ‘The Lord is there.’ Because it is a place where the
glory of the Lord was revealed more constantly than anywhere else.” (Ibid.)
Rav Saadia Gaon:
“‘And behold with the clouds of heaven, one like a man
was coming.’ This is Messiah
our righteousness.” (Ibid., p. 24)
Yemenite Midrash:
“In the future, the Holy one, blessed be He, will seat
Messiah in the supernal Yeshiva [House of Study], and they will call him
‘Lord,’ just as they call the Creator [Jeremiah 23:6]…
“And the Messiah will sit in the Yeshivah, and all those
who walk on the earth will come and sit before him to hear a new Tora and new
commandments and the deep wisdom which he teaches Israel…” (Ibid., pp. 32-33)
The foregoing helps us understand why God would permit – in
fact, command – his people to serve the Messiah in the same way that they serve
Yahweh their God, even though the Law expressly forbids serving and worshiping
anyone other than the true God:
“Then God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
slavery. You shall have no
other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any
likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water
under the earth. You shall not worship them orserve them (ta'abadem); for I,
the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,’”
Exodus 20:1-5
“You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him (ta'abod),
and shall take oaths in His name.” Deuteronomy 6:13 New King James Version
(NKJV)
The Messiah is not simply a man from the line of David, but
is actually God Almighty who will (and has) become a flesh and blood human
being in order to perfectly realize and fulfill all of God’s promises to his
servant David.
All of this causes additional problems for Zaatari since
the Quran denies that the Messiah is divine or shares in the worship and
service due to God alone. In fact, the Quran expressly says that Allah will
never permit anyone from serving someone besides him:
It was not to a human that God gives him The Book and the
judgment/rule and the prophethood then he says to the people: "Be/become worshippers/slaves ('ibadan) to me, from other than God".
And but: "Be knowledgeable Lord worshippers with what you were teaching
The Book and with what you were studying ". S. 3:79 Muhammad
Ahmed – Samira
Zaatari must therefore face the music and come to terms
with the fact that the Holy Bible, God’s inspired Word, condemns Muhammad as a
false prophet.
IHS
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