I have been studying your 2012 contribution to stack exchange re: Is. 9:6. I like to sort things out as I believe in the grammatical version of ‘handsome is as handsome does’, which I submit to you here to see if you agree with it. Please note that words bracketed by squiggles were strikethrough’s, and my edits are in brackets. My interest is in this specific issue, which is significant to me for reasons I will be happy to discuss if you are interested. If you send me an email, I can send you the original.:
To whom does El-Gibbor refer in Isaiah 9
I’ve asked about the translation philosophy of the long title in Isaiah 9. This question drills down into one of the phrases: El-Gibbor. According to Wikipedia, there are two basic options:
The meaning of “Pele-joez-el-gibbor-abi-ad-sar-shalom”, is variously interpreted as:
“Wonderful in counsel is God the mighty, the Everlasting Father, the Ruler of Peace” (Hertz 1968), or
“his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (KJV).
(I’ve reformatted the quote slightly in order to make the options more clear.)
Under option 1, the phrase name is a general statement about [characterisation; an epithet, rather than an appelation.] God. A parallel name would be, [for] Eleazar; (“God has helped”), Joel (which combines the general word for god with the covenant name), or Israel. In other words, the name applies to God, but is used by a person as a statement of truth.
Option 2, at least in English, strongly suggests that the child that gets the name is God. In this case, the name would be on the same list as El Shaddai.
If we take away doctrinal preconceptions, is there any way to [know] how the name would have been understood by its earliest Israelite audience? Are there grammatical or contextual clues that will point us in the right direction?