Micah 4, 1–7 – A Prophecy About the Return of the Jews from Babylon, and Not About the Church? Problems in the Exegesis of Prophetic Texts in Theodore of Mopsuestia

Abstract

Theodore of Mopsuestia, for apologetic purposes in the 5th century, reexamined the traditional messianic interpretation of the prophetic texts of the Old Testament. The tools for this work were the fundamental principles of philological and historical analysis known at that time. The attempt to resolve the contradictions and problems in the area of messianic prophecy in the Old Testament led to a radical reduction of the messianic reading of most prophetic texts. A striking example of this is Micah 4, 1–7. Theodore’s commentary on this passage clearly shows his hermeneutical strategy, its strengths and weaknesses. When considering the interpreter’s arguments, it becomes obvious that the proponent of a precise literal interpretation of the Scriptures is forced to sacrifice the literal meaning of significant structures of the text in order to justify a narrow historical understanding of the prophetic text.