Matthew 11 and the Septuagint

John the Baptist is in prison and hears of Jesus' miracles, so he has his disciples question Jesus.

Matt 11:2 ¶ Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent {word} by his disciples
Matt 11:3 and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"
Matt 11:4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see:
Matt 11:5 {the} BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and {the} lame walk, {the} lepers are cleansed and {the} deaf hear, {the} dead are raised up, and {the} POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.
Matt 11:6 "And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."

Does this seem a bit strange? Upon first glance it looks like John hears about Jesus' miracles and then inquires if he really is the Christ. And, what's strange is you would think miracles would be the very thing that would confirm Jesus is the Christ. Not to mention that John has already had clear revelation from God that Jesus was "the Expected (or Coming) One." See here and here. To make things more awkward Jesus then sends his disciples back in response telling John that he is doing miracles, which John already knew!

But actually, a lot more is happening here. And for me it all solidifies with the Septuagint. Jesus' response isn't merely a statement about his miracles helping define them for John, it is a quote from the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, you may already realize that if you have a bible that sets OT quotes apart from the rest of the text either by capitalization or indention. I've known this for a while, but what always troubled me was that the Scriptures listed in the margin as being quoted (Isa. 61:1 and Isa. 35:5) never seemed to line up with Jesus' quote.

He said:

The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

But Here is Isa. 61:1 (NASBUE)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;

And compare it with the other cross reference:

The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Is 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

So I always just kind of thought that you sort of combine the two and you come out with something close to Jesus' quote. But that sure seems odd if he's trying to convince John the Baptist by quotation. That is after all, I believe, what John was needing, Scriptural proof. He had seen it with his eyes, and knew it in his heart, but now in prison needed some Scriptural testimony, because (assumedly) all the Scripture he could think of pictured Jesus as a conqueror, Spirit and fire baptizer, and sovereign Judge.

So here was the watershed. This is indeed a quote from Isa. 61:1, but from the Septuagint, which has it worded quite a bit differently. In the Septuagint it specifically says Jesus preaches the gospel to the "poor" not "afflicted," and it also has an extra statement "recovery of sight to the blind." That, to me, helps a lot. It explains why the NASBUE capitalizes both phrases about the blind and the poor in that section. Why didn't Jesus quote Isa. 61:1 verbatim from the Septuagint? Not to delve into all the issues, but surely at least in part he was quoting from it while also wanting to recap what he has been doing (healing the blind - 9:27, healing the lepers - 8:2, healing the lame - 9:2, healing the deaf - 9:32 [this word often refers to the mute], and even raising the dead 9:25). And then it's at the end of all that he tacks on the memory jogger, "The poor have the gospel preached to them!" All of this shows John that Jesus' healing ministry is valid and according to Scripture, and whether or not John can understand Jesus' fulfillment of the other things running through his head, he need not stumble or be offended. But the real thing to note in all this is that Jesus is quoting from the Septuagint. Realizing that clears everything up.

Don't take my word for it:
If you ever want to check the Septuagint an online version can be found at http://septuagint.org/LXX/.

Or for you non-greekers, or if you're like me, a baby-greeker, check out this incredible resource! Google Book - Brenton's Septuagint Translation I've marked the spot in Isa. 61:1 for you... because I'm nice... and I love technology. This is just too good not to share.