One of the first points emphasized in connection with the advent of Jesus is the claim that it was _in exact fulfilment of Hebrew prophecy_. Certain orthodox Christian writers claim that there are _two hundred_ prophecies in the Old Testament relating to Jesus, while certain other eminent German and English Christian scholars deny that there is even one prophecy which does not admit of another and a more rational explanation. The quotations from Old-Testament prophecies in the Gospels are, to say the least, unfortunate, and rather suggest the hypothesis that certain things, if done at all, were done to make the history fit the prediction. Learned Bible critics contend that there is not to be found a single example of such redemptive prophecy, even though the theory of the double sense of prophecy be admitted. These predictions or hopes were intended to apply to eminent characters in Hebrew history as _deliverers_, and can only be applied to Jesus by a _forced and unnatural_ construction; and, though Cyrus and others appeared, the expectations of the Jews have not yet been realized, and some of them are still awaiting _their_ Messiah, spurning the idea that the predictions of their prophets were fulfilled in the humble Man of Nazareth. One or two examples of so-called Messianic prophecies must suffice. Matthew (27: 9) says the prophecy of “Jeremy the prophet” regarding the thirty pieces of silver was fulfilled in the betrayal of Jesus; whereas no such prophecy is found in Jeremiah, and, though similar words occur in Zechariah, they have another obvious application. Then in Matthew (chap. 2) Hosea is quoted to prove that Jesus dwelt in Egypt to fulfil a prophecy, whereas it is evident (Hos. 11:1) that it was of Israel, not Jesus, that those words were spoken. Again, in Matt. 22:41 the quotation from the Psalms is obviously misapplied—“The Lord said unto my lord,” etc.—as it was not written by David, but Nathan addressed it to David. It was the poet that called David _lord_, which spoils the prophecy and ruins the argument of the evangelist. Many things recorded in the New Testament are unwittingly admitted to have been done to fulfil a supposed prophecy—“that it might be fulfilled.” There is one very amusing example of an attempt to fulfil an alleged prophecy—that of Jesus dwelling in Nazareth, because it had been prophesied that he should be called a Naz-arene, no such prophecy ever having been uttered.