Messiah

(Or Messiah.)

The Greek form Messias is a transliteration of the Hebrew,
Messiah, "the anointed". The word appears only twice of the
promised prince (Dan., ix, 26; Ps. ii, 2); yet, when a name was
wanted for the promised one, who was to be at once King and
Saviour, it was natural to employ this synonym for the royal
title, denoting at the same time the King's royal dignity and His
relation to God. The full title "Anointed of Jahveh" occurs in
several passages of the Psalms of Solomon and the Apocalypse of
Baruch, but the abbreviated form, "Anointed" or "the Anointed",
was in common use. When used without the article, it would seem to
be a proper name. The word Christos so occurs in several passages
of the Gospels. This, however, is no proof that the word was
generally so used at that time. In the Palestine Talmud the form
with the article is almost universal, while the common use in the
Babylonian Talmud without the article is not a sufficient argument
for antiquity to prove that in the time of Christ it was regarded
as a proper name. It is proposed in the present article: I, to
give an outline of the prophetic utterances concerning the
Messiah; II, to show the development of the prophetic ideas in
later Judaism; and III, to show how Christ vindicated His right to
this title.

I. THE MESSIAH OF PROPHECY

The earlier prophecies to Abraham and Isaac (Gen., xviii, 17-19;
xxvi, 4-5) speak merely of the salvation that shall come through
their seed. Later the royal dignity of the promised deliverer
becomes the prominent feature. He is described as a king of the
line of Jacob (Num., xxiv, 19), of Juda (Gen., xlix, 10: "The
sceptre shall not pass from Juda until he comes to whom it
belongs"), and of David (II kings, vii, 11-16). It is sufficiently
established that this last passage refers at least typically to
the Messiah. His kingdom shall be eternal (II Kings, vii, 13), His
sway boundless (Ps. lxxi, 8); all nations shall serve Him (Ps.
lxxi, 11). In the type of prophecy we are considering, the
emphasis is on His position as a national hero. It is to Israel
and Juda that He will bring salvation (Jer., xxiii, 6), triumphing
over their enemies by force of arms (cf. the warrior-king of Ps.
xlv). Even in the latter part of Isaias there are passages (e.g.
lxi, 5-8) in which other nations are regarded as sharing in the
kingdom rather as servants than as heirs, while the function of
the Messiah is to lift up Jerusalem to its glory and lay the
foundations of an Israelitic theocracy.

But in this part of Isaias also occurs the splendid conception of
the Messiah as the Servant of Jahveh. He is a chosen arrow, His
mouth like a sharp sword. The Spirit of the Lord is poured out
upon Him, and His word is put into His mouth (xlii, 1; xlix, 1
sq.). The instrument of His power is the revelation of Jahveh. The
nations wait on His teaching; He is the light of the Gentiles
(xlii, 6). He establishes His Kingdom not by manifestation of
material power, but by meekness and suffering, by obedience to the
command of God in laying down His life for the salvation of many.
"If he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a posterity
and prolong his days" (liii, 10; cf. Knabenhauer, in loc.); "
Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide
the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto
death, and was reputed with the wicked" (liii, 12). His Kingdom
shall consist of the multitude redeemed by His vicarious
satisfaction, a satisfaction confined to no race or time but
offered for the redemption of all alike. (For the Messianic
application of these passages, especially Is., lii, 13-liii, cf.
Condamin or Knabenbauer, in loc.) In spite, however, of Justin's
use of the last-mentioned passage in " Dial. cum Tryphone",
lxxxix, it would be rash to affirm that its reference to the
Messiah was at all widely realized among the Jews. In virtue of
his prophetic and priestly offices the title of "the Anointed"
naturally belonged to the promised one. The Messianic priest is
described by David in Ps. cix, with reference to Gen., xiv, 14-20.
That this psalm was generally understood in a Messianic sense is
not disputed, while the universal consent of the Fathers puts the
matter beyond question for Catholics. As regards its Davidic
authorship, the arguments impugning it afford no warrant for an
abandonment of the traditional view. That by the prophet described
in Deut., xviii, 15-22, was also understood, at least at the
beginning of our era, the Messiah is clear from the appeal to his
gift of prophecy made by the pseudo-Messiah Theudas (cf. Josephus,
"Antiq.", XX, v. 1) and the use made of the passage by St. Peter
in Acts, iii, 22-23.

Special importance attaches to the prophetic description of the
Messiah contained in Daniel, vii, the great work of later Judaism,
on account of its paramount influence upon one line of the later
development of Messianic Doctrine. In it the Messiah is described
as "like to a Son of Man", appearing at the right hand of Jahveh
in the clouds of heaven, inaugurating the new age, not by a
national victory or by vicarious satisfaction, but by exercising
the Divine right of judging the whole world. Thus, the emphasis is
upon the personal responsibility of the individual. The
consummation is not an earth-won ascendancy of the chosen people,
whether shared with otter nations or not, but a vindication of the
holy by the solemn judgment of Jahveh and his Anointed One. Upon
this prophecy were mainly based the various apocalyptic works
which played so prominent a part in the religious life of the Jews
during the last two centuries before Christ. Side by side with all
these prophecies speaking of the establishment of a kingdom under
the sway of a divinely-appointed legate, was the series
foretelling the future rule of Jahveh himself. Of these Is., xl,
may be taken as an example: "Lift up thy voice with strength thou
that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift it up, fear not. Say to
the cities of Juda: Behold your God. Behold the Lord your God
himself shall come with strength and his arm shall rule." The
reconciliation of these two series of prophecies was before the
Jews in the passages--notably Ps. ii and Is., vii-xi--which
clearly foretold the Divinity of the promised legate. "His name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father
of the world to come, the Prince of Peace"--titles all used
elsewhere of Jahveh Himself (cf. Davidson, "0. T. Prophecy", p.
367). But there seems to have been little realization of the
relation between these two series of prophecy until the full light
of the Christian dispensation revealed their reconciliation in the
mystery of the Incarnation.

II. MESSIANIC DOCTRINE IN LATE JUDAISM

(See also APOCRYPHA). Two quite distinct and parallel lines are
discernible in the later development of Messianic doctrine among
the Jews, according as the writers clung to a national ideal,
based on the literal interpretation of the earlier prophecies, or
an apocalyptic ideal, based principally on Daniel. The national
ideal looked to the establishment on earth of the Kingdom of God
under the Son of David, the conquest and subjugation of the
heathen, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the
gathering in of the Dispersed. The apocalyptic ideal drew a sharp
distinction between aion outos and aion mellon. The future age was
to be ushered in by the Divine judgment of mankind preceded by the
resurrection of the dead. The Messiah, existing from the beginning
of the world, should appear at the consummation, and then should
be also manifested the heavenly Jerusalem which was to be the
abode of the blessed.

National Ideal

The national ideal is that of official Pharisaism. Thus, the
Talmud has no trace of the apocalyptic ideal. The scribes were
mainly busied with the Law, but side by side with this was the
development of the hope of the ultimate manifestation of God's
Kingdom on earth. Pharisaic influence is clearly visible in vv.
573-8O8 of Sibyl. III, describing the national hopes of the Jews.
A last judgment, future happiness, or reward are not mentioned.
Many marvels are foretold of the Messianic wars which bring in the
consummation--lighted torches falling from heaven, the darkening
of the sun, the falling of meteors-but all have for end a state of
earthly prosperity. The Messiah, coming from the East, dominates
the whole, a triumphant national hero. Similar to this is the work
called the Psalms of Solomon, written probably about 40 B.C. It is
really the protest of Pharisaism against its enemies, the later
Asmoneans. The Pharisees saw that the observance of the law was
not of itself a sufficient bulwark against the enemies of Israel,
and, as their principles would not allow them to recognize in the
secularized hierarchy the promised issue of their troubles, they
looked forward to the miraculous intervention of God through the
agency of a Davidic Messiah. The seventeenth Psalm describes his
rule: He is to conquer the heathen, to drive them from their land,
to allow no injustice in their midst; His trust is not to be in
armies but in God; with the word of his mouth he is to slay the
wicked. Of earlier date we have the description of the final
glories of the holy city in Tobias (c. xiv), where, as well as in
Ecclesiasticus, there is evidence of the constant hope in the
future gathering in of the Diaspora. These same nationalist ideas
reappear along with a highly developed system of eschatology in
the apocalyptic works written after the destruction of Jerusalem,
which are referred to below.

Apocalyptic Ideal

The status of the apocalyptic writers as regards the religious
life of the Jews has been keenly disputed. Though they had small
influence in Jerusalem, the stronghold of Rabbinism, they probably
both influenced and reflected the religious feeling of the rest of
the Jewish world. Thus, the apocalyptic ideal of the Messiah would
seem not to be the sentiment of a few enthusiasts, but to express
the true hopes of a considerable section of the people. Before the
Asmonean revival Israel had almost ceased to be a nation, and thus
the hope of a national Messiah had grown very dim. In the earliest
apocalyptic writings, consequently, nothing is said of the
Messiah. In the first part of the Book of Henoch (i-xxxvi) we have
an example of such a work. Not the coming of a human prince, but
the descent of God upon Sinai to judge the world divides all time
into two epochs. The just shall receive the gift of wisdom and
become sinless. They will feed on the tree of life and enjoy a
longer span than the patriarchs.

The Machabean victories roused both the national and religious
sentiment. The writers of the earlier Asmonean times, seeing the
ancient glories of their race reviving, could no longer ignore the
hope of a personal Messiah to rule the kingdom of the new age. The
problem arose how to connect their present deliverers, of the
tribe of Levi, with the Messiah who should be of the tribe of
Juda. This was met by regarding the present age as merely the
beginning of the Messianic age. Apocalyptic works of the period
are the Book of Jubilees, the Testament of the Twelve patriarchs,
and the Vision of Weeks of Henoch. In the Book of Jubilees the
promises made to Levi, and fulfilled in the Asmonean priest-kings,
outshadow those made to Juda. The Messiah is but a vague figure,
and little stress is laid on the judgment. The Testament of the
Twelve Patriarchs is a composite work. The foundation portion,
conspicuous from its glorification of the priesthood, dates from
before 100 B. C.; there are, however, later Jewish additions,
hostile in tone to the priesthood, and numerous Christian
interpolations, Controversy has arisen as to the principal figure
in this work. According to Charles (Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs, p. xcviii) there is pictured as the Messiah a son of
Levi who realizes all the lofty spiritual ideals of the Christian
Saviour. La range on the other hand (Le Messianisme chez les
Juifs, pp. 69 sqq.) insists that, in so far as this is the case,
the portrait is the result of Christian interpolations; these
removed, there remains only a laudation of the part played by
Levi, in the person of the Asmoneans, as the instrument of
national and religious liberation. A conspicuous instance in point
is Test. Lev., Ps. xviii. While Charles says this ascribes the
Messianic characteristics to the Levite, Lagrange and Bousset deny
that it is Messianic at all. Apart from the interpolations, it is
merely natural praise of the new royal priesthood. There can be no
question indeed as to the pre-eminence of Levi; he is compared to
the sun and Juda to the moon. But there is in fact a description
of a Messiah descended from Juda in Test. Jud., Ps. xxiv, the
original elements of which belong to the foundation part of the
book. He appears also in the Testament of Joseph, though the
passage is couched in an allegorical form difficult to follow. The
Vision of Weeks of Henoch, dating probably from the same period,
differs from the last-mentioned work principally in its insistence
on the judgment, or rather judgments, to which three of the
world's ten weeks are devoted. Messianic times again open with the
prosperity of Asmonean days, and develop into the foundation of
the Kingdom of God.

Thus the Asmonean triumphs had produced an eschatology in which a
personal Messiah figured, while the present was glorified into a
commencement of the days of Messianic blessings. Gradually,
however, the national and apocalyptic ideals. The Apocalypse of
Baruch, written probably in imitation, contains a similar picture
of the Messiah. This system of eschatology finds reflection also
in the chiliasm of certain early Christian writers. Transferred to
the second coming of the Messiah, we have the reign of peace and
holiness for a thousand years upon earth before the just are
transported to their eternal home in heaven (cf. Papias in
Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", III, xxxix).

III. THE VINDICATION OF THE MESSIANIC DIGNITY BY CHRIST

This point may be treated under two heads (a) Christ's explicit
claim to be the Messiah, and (b) the implicit claim shown in His
words and actions throughout His life.

Christ's explicit claim to be the Messiah

Under this heading we may consider the confession of Peter in
Matthew 16 and the words of Christ before his judges. These
incidents involve, of course, far more than a mere claim to the
Messiahship; taken in their setting, they constitute a claim to
the Divine Sonship. The words of Christ to St. Peter are too clear
to need any comment. The silence of the other Synoptists as to
some details of the incident concern the proof from this passage
rather of the Divinity than of Messianic claims. As regards
Christ's claim before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, it might appear
from the narratives of Matthew and Luke that He at first refused a
direct reply to the high priest's question: "Art thou the Christ?"
But although His answer is given merely as su eipas(thou hast said
it), yet that recorded by St. Mark, ego eimi (I am), shows clearly
how this answer was understood by the Jews. Dalman (Words of
Jesus, pp. 309 sqq.) gives instances from Jewish literature in
which the expression, "thou hast said it", is equivalent to "you
are right"; his comment is that Jesus used the words as an assent
indeed, but as showing that He attached comparatively little
importance to this statement. Nor is this unreasonable, as the
Messianic claim sinks into insignificance beside the claim to
Divinity which immediately follows, and calls from the high priest
the horrified accusation of blasphemy. It was this which gave the
Sanhedrin a pretext, which the Messianic claim of itself did not
give, for the death sentence. Before Pilate on the other hand it
was merely the assertion of His royal dignity which gave ground
for His condemnation.

Christ's implicit claim shown in His words and actions throughout
His life

It is in His consistent manner of acting rather than in any
specific claim that we see most clearly Christ's vindication of
His dignity. At the outset of His public life (Luke, iv, 18) He
applies to Himself in the synagogue of Nazareth the words relating
to the Servant of Jahveh in Is., Ixi, 1. It is He whom David in
spirit called "Lord!" He claimed to judge the world and to forgive
sins. He was superior to the Law, the Lord of the Sabbath, the
Master of the Temple. In His own name, by the word of His mouth,
He cleansed lepers, He stilled the sea, He raised the dead. His
disciples must regard all as well lost merely to enjoy the
privilege of following Him. The Jews, while failing to see all
that these things implied, a dignity and power not inferior to
those of Jahveh Himself, could not but perceive that He who so
acted was at least the Divinely accredited representative of
Jahveh. In this connection we may consider the title Christ used
of Himself, "Son of Man". We have no evidence that this was then
commonly regarded as a Messianic title. Some doubt as to its
meaning in the minds of Christ's hearers is possibly shown by
John, xii, 34: "Who is this Son of man?" The Jews, while
undoubtedly seeing in Daniel, vii, a portrait of the Messiah,
probably failed to recognize in these words a definite title at
all. This is the more probable from the fact that, while this
passage exercised great influence upon the apocalyptists, the
title "Son of Man" does not appear in their writings except in
passages of doubtful authenticity. Now, Christ not merely uses the
name, but claims for Himself the right to judge the world (Matt.,
xxv 31-46), which is the most marked note of Daniel's Messiah. A
double reason would lead Him to assume this particular
designation: that He might speak of Himself as the Messiah without
making His claim conspicuous to the ruling powers till the time
came for His open vindication, and that as far as possible He
might hinder the people from transferring to Him their own
material notions of Davidic kingship.

Nor did His claim to the dignity merely concern the future. He did
not say, "I shall be the Messiah", but "I am the Messiah". Thus,
besides His answer to Caiphas and His approval of Peter's
affirmation of His present Messiahship, we have in Matt., xi, 5,
the guarded but clear answer to the question of the Baptist's
disciples: "Art thou ho erchomenos?" In St. John the evidence is
abundant. There is no question of a future dignity in His words to
the Samaritan woman (John, iv) or to the man born blind (ix, 5),
for He was already performing the works foretold of the Messiah.
Though but as a grain of mustard seed, the Kingdom of God upon
earth was already established; He had already begun the work of
the Servant of Jahveh, of preaching, of suffering, of saving men.
The consummation of His task and His rule in glory over the
Kingdom were indeed still in the future, but these were the final
crown, not the sole constituents, of the Messianic dignity. For
those who, before the Christian dispensation, sought to interpret
the ancient prophecies, some single aspect of the Messiah sufficed
to fill the whole view. We, in the light of the Christian
revelation, see realized and harmonized in Our Lord all the
conflicting Messianic hopes, all the visions of the prophets. He
is at once the Suffering Servant and the Davidic King, the Judge
of mankind and its Saviour, true Son of Man and God with us. On
Him is laid the iniquity of us all, and on Him, as God incarnate,
rests the Spirit of Jahveh, the Spirit of Wisdom and
Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Fortitude, the Spirit of
Knowledge and Piety, and the Fear of the Lord.

L.W. GEDDES
Transcribed by Donald J. Boon

From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.

Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).

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