Izaija 48:16

16 Pristupite k meni i počujte ovo: "Od početka nisam vam govorio tajno, i kad se zbivalo, bijah ondje." - "A sada me Gospod Jahve šalje s duhom svojim.

קִרְבוּ אֵלַי שִׁמְעוּ זֹאת לֹא מֵרֹאשׁ בַּסֵּתֶר דִּבַּרְתִּי מֵעֵת הֱיוֹתָהּ שָׁם אָנִי וְעַתָּה אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה שְׁלָחַנִי וְרוּחוֹ

Kirvu elai šimu zot lo meroš baseter dibarti, me et hejovtah šam ani, veatah adonai Jehovah šelahani veruhov.

 

 

 

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Isaiah 48:16 – Yahweh has sent me

 

{Isaiah 48:16} “Come near to me and hear this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I.” Now the Lord Jehovah has sent me, with his Spirit.
{Isaiah 48:17} Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am Jehovah your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. — RLIV

The claim is made that this verse shows three persons in one Godhead. One even claims that this verse contains one of the clearest statements of the trinity doctrine in the Old Testament. In fact, however, we find nothing at all about the trinity doctrine in Isaiah 48:16. What the trinitarian actually presents as the trinity is the imaginative assumptions that the trinitarian places over the scripture.

As usual with the trinitarian proof-texts, there is nothing in this verse about three persons in Yahweh. The trinitarian has to imagine the trinitarian dogma applies, formulate assumptions based on that imagination, and then read those assumptions into what is stated, so that, in effect, what they actually present as proof is what one can imagine and assume concerning the scripture, not what is actually said in the scripture. Evidently what they are assuming here is that Jesus is one of the persons of Yahweh, and the Jesus is sent by another person of Yahweh, and the spirit is another person of Yahweh,  and either that Yahweh’s spirit as a  person of Yahweh was sent by Yahweh, or that Yahweh’s spirit as a person of Yahweh sends another person of Yahweh, that is, Jesus. In reality, all through the Bible, Yahweh is presented as a unipersonal God; He is never presented as being more than one person.

Actually, Isaiah is the prophet who is writing the above, and is evidently the one referred to as being sent (Isaiah 6:9,10) by Yahweh. Isaiah speaks of himself as sent to Israel by Yahweh, and he also speaks of Yahweh’s spirit being sent. In much of the book, Isaiah is quoting what Yahweh has said, but in this verse he suddenly stops quoting Yahweh and speaks of himself as being sent by Yahweh. This is not all that unusual in Isaiah’s writings, that is, that he stops quoting Yahweh, and starts speaking of himself, or someone else, without giving any indication of such a change.

A similar case is Isaiah 8:1-3. One could read verse three as a continuation of the quotation of Yahweh’s words in verse one, thus making Yahweh as the one who went to the prophetess, but common sense tells us that Isaiah stopped quoting Yahweh and began referring to himself.

We find the same principle  in Isaiah 48:16,17. There we can see that the the latter part of verse 16 goes with the beginning of verse 17, and is not part of the quotation of Yahweh, but rather Isaiah’s own remarks: “And now the Lord Yahweh, and his spirit, has sent me — this what Yahweh says, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel,…” after which Isaiah returns to quoting the words of Yahweh.

Below are some translations that have punctuation similar to ours.

“Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit. — Revised Standard Version.

“Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true.” (Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.) — Today’s English Version

“Come to me and listen to this. From the beginning I have spoken openly. From the time it began, I was there.” Now, the Lord God has sent me with his Spirit. — New Century Version

“Come near to me, YOU people. Hear this. From the start I have spoken in no place of concealment at all. From the time of its occurring I have been there.” And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has sent me, even his spirit. — New World Translation, 1971 edition.

A slightly different punctuation appears in this translation:

Come to me and hear this! Not from the beginning did I speak it in secret; At the time it comes to pass, I am present; “Now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his spirit.” — The New American Bible

Even if this verse were referring to Jesus as the one sent, it still does not say anything about three persons in one Yahweh. The one who sent Jesus is still the only true God, and the one sent by the only true God is still not the only true God who sent him. — John 17:1,3.

Thus it should be apparent to all that the doctrine that Jesus is Yahweh is not found in Isaiah 48:16 (as it is not found anywhere else in the Bible). There is definitely nothing here to indicate that God’s spirit is a separate sentiency yet the Supreme Omniscient Being. And even more definitely we do not find anything in the verse about Yahweh as three persons, or of three persons in one “Godhead.”

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