A Hebrew conundrum: -the Saviour who needs to be 'saved'.

By Elon Moreh

This originally appeared in the Moriel Bulletin.

Here in Israel sometimes issues arise that probably would never come up in an English believing environment; for example I was discussing recently with a friend the significance of Zechariah 9:9 and I thought it might be of interest also to our readers:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

My friend was translating an English book into Hebrew, and its exposition of this Messianic prophecy was heavily dependent on the wording of the English bible version being used. For this exact reason my translator friend had hit a problem and said something like this to me: 'his whole point depends upon where the English says “having salvation”; but it doesn't say that in Hebrew'. My friend was quite correct -it doesn't say that in Hebrew. The underlying text in Hebrew is 'נשע' (NoSha) and is clearly a passive form of the verb 'ישע' (YaSHa), from which we get the word 'ישועה' Yeshuah 'salvation' and the name 'ישוע' -Yeshua. 

Strictly speaking this verb in the form it occurs in Zechariah 9:9 does not quite mean 'having salvation' at all, but 'saved'. The rendering 'having salvation' is a bit of a fudge. The English translators did not want to render this passive verbal form (in which the subject the recipient of the action) as an active form -'saviour', for they did not want to misrepresent the underlying Hebrew. On the other hand they were uncomfortable with the idea of a Messiah that needed 'saving'; hence they opted for something betwixt the two. So we have a conundrum here; in English we wouldn't even notice this, it has been 'lost in translation', but in Hebrew it exists.

Consequently this is not the right verse to use to demonstrate that the Messiah is Saviour if you are speaking to Israelis. All right, you might say; but if the Messiah needs 'saving' wouldn't this undermine what Scripture teaches us about the his sinlessness? This is where we hit another problem, a form of one-dimensional Christian thinking, which tends to always think of 'ישועה' 'salvation' only in terms of 'salvation from sin'; however that is not its primary usage in the Old Testament, where it is more often seen in contexts of victory over, or salvation from enemies or deliverance from a bad situation. Now if we take this information into account and start to look at some other messianic passages we can actually see that they support this idea of the Messiah needing or receiving 'salvation' e.g. Psalms 21, 22, 118; Isa. 49:1-12; Heb. 5:7 etc.

A very good example from these is psalm 22 particularly verse 19-21 where the same verbal root is employed:

But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.  Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.  Save me ('הושיעני' from the same root 'ישע') from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the wild oxen. 

In the Servant Song of Isaiah 49 we see both ideas combined, the Messiah is presented as both Saviour and a recipient of salvation. He is presented as one who raise up the tribes of Jacob, restores the preserved of Israel, is the light of the nations and the LORD's salvation to the end of of the earth. He is also described as the One who is given for a covenant of the people who would bring the prisoners out of darkness; but in the very same breath God says to the Messiah 'in an acceptable time I have heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee'. If we look back to passage from Psalm 22 we see the same terms 'salvation' and 'help' occurring together also.

So putting it all together; the Gospels show us that Zechariah 9:9 is speaking of the Messiah in his first coming as the Suffering Servant king, Moshiach ben Yosef; of his humbling himself and laying aside his glory for our sakes; of his total dependence on the Father for all things, including deliverance out from death; now the idea of the Messiah being 'saved' actually makes perfect sense when seen this way. The Messiah of course had no sin to be saved from, but in his first coming he relied totally on the Father to save, preserve, help and sustain him to the end of his task, and ultimately raise him up from the dead (Rom. 6:4); and now mission accomplished he has become 'מושיע', Moshia --Saviour; and author of eternal salvation to all who trust in him (Heb. 5:9).