I think I can confidently say that. So don’t let it be said that I have never defended President Barack Obama. It’s ridiculous that I even have to say that, but I saw the video below over at Nuke’s blog and felt like I need to address it.
There’s so many problems with this type of biblical interpretation that I don’t even know where to begin. Off the top of my head…
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Jesus didn’t speak in Hebrew, but spoke in Aramaic so how cares what it says in Hebrew.
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God when He inspired Luke to write this Gospel, he wrote it in Greek, not Hebrew (as the entire New Testament is Koine Greek, with a few exceptions of some quotes in Aramaic).
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Barack Obama’s name is not Hebrew.
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Also Luke was also a Gentile, and he was writing to Theophilus, (Luke 1:3) initially, but also likely to be circulated to other Gentiles.
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Why would a Jewish Rabbi today read Luke 10:18 in Hebrew? Unless they are an Israeli and that is their primary language. Otherwise they’d read it in the vernacular.
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This video refers to Luke 10:18 as a prophecy of Jesus, which it is not. The context of the verse is not prophetic, and isn’t referring to the end times. Also, assuming that Jesus is referring to Isaiah 14:4-17 in Luke 10:18 is not at all certain or agreed upon.
This is what we call doing linguistic gymnastics to have a passage say something it doesn’t say. It’s irresponsible at best. God in Scripture has revealed what we are to know about salvation and living life in Christ. We don’t need to look for secret meanings or code in the text. What we need to do in light of eternity is to be ready for it, whether it comes by death or Christ’s return.
Videos like this just make those who believe it look crazy and conspiratorial. Not to mention it is a misuse of scripture.
Update: Rob Harrison, a pastor in Indiana, who knows Hebrew (I can use Hebrew study tools, but that’s about it), soundly debunked this video… saying this guy doesn’t even have an understanding of Hebrew:
This guy doesn’t even fall into the "knows just enough Hebrew to be dangerous" category, because he doesn’t actually know any Hebrew at all—or, indeed, much of anything about Hebrew. For all his pompous statement "I will report the facts. You can decide," he’s precious short on facts and long on false assertions.
Read his breakdown here.