The Jewish Bible was the sacred scripture of early Christians, and many of them knew it well, whether from hearing it orally or being able to read it. Thus, as they told the story of Jesus, they used language from the Jewish Bible to do so. This practice produced what we call “prophecy historicized.” A passage from the past (in this case, from the Jewish Bible) is “historicized” when it is used in the narration of a subsequent story (the gospels and the New Testament). “Historicizing” here does not make something historical or historically factual. It simply means using an older passage in a
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