1383; in
_Lightfoot_, _disquis. chorog. Johan. praem. opp._ II., 578 sqq.;
_Eisenmenger_, I., p. 3139. It is true, _Gieseler_ (on Matth. ii. 23,
and in the _Studien u. Kritiken_, 1831, III. S. 591) has tried to give
a different interpretation to this appellation. He is of opinion that
this appellation has reference to Is. xi. 1; that it had come to the
Jews from the Christians, who called [Pg 107] their Messiah [Hebrew: bN
ncr], because He was He who had been promised by Isaiah. But this
supposition is correct thus far only, that, no doubt, this appellation
was chosen by the Jews with a reference to the circumstance that the
Christians maintained that Jesus was the [Hebrew: ncr] announced by
Isaiah, just as, for the very same reason, they also assign to Him the
names [Hebrew: ncr napvP] "adulterous branch," and [Hebrew: ncr nteb]
"abominable branch" (from Is. xiv. 19); comp. _Eisenmenger_ I. S. 137,
138. But _Gieseler_ is wrong in deriving, from this reference to Is.
xi. 1, the origin of the appellation, be it properly or mainly only.
Against that even the very appellation is decisive, for in that case it
ought to have been _Nezer_ only, and not _Ben-Nezer_. _Gieseler_, it is
true, asserts that he in whom a certain prophecy was fulfilled is
called the "Son of the prophecy," and in confirmation of this _usus
loquendi_ he refers to the circumstance that the pseudo-Messiah under
Hadrian assumed, with a reference to the [Hebrew: kvkb] in Numb. xxiv.
17, the name [Hebrew: bN kvkb] or [Hebrew: bN kvkba], in so far as the
star there promised had appeared in him. But this confirmation is only
apparent; it can as little be proved from it, that Christ could be
called _Ben-Nezer_ because He was He in whom the prophecy of the
_Nezer_ was fulfilled, as it can be proved from the appellation _Ben
Nezer_ that that pseudo-Messiah could be called _Bar Cochba_, only
because it was believed that in him the prophecy of the star was
fulfilled. _Reland_ has already proved (Geogr. II. p. 727) that
_Barcochba_ probably had that name because he was a native of Cocab, a
town or district in the country beyond Jordan. And the reason why he
laid such special stress upon that descent was, that he sought a deeper
meaning in this agreement of the name of his birth-place with the
designation of the subject of the prophecy in Numb. xxiv. Moreover the
supposition that, by the Jews, he in whom some prophecy was fulfilled,
was called the son of that prophec