Messiah

The term Messiah (Hebrew משיח Maschiach or Moschiach, Aramaic ܐܪܡܝܐ, in Greek transcription Μεσσίας, translated into Greek Χριστός Christós, Latinized Christus) comes from the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, and means "anointed one". Thus, in the Tanakh, it refers primarily to the rightful, divinely appointed king of the Jews, whose throne, according to Jer 33:17 EU, was always to be occupied by a successor of David for eternity. (also 2 Sam 7,13 EU) From this arose since the prophet Isaiah (~740 B.C.) and especially since the end of the Israelite kingship (586 B.C.) the expectation of a future Messiah who would finally realize YHWH's will, bring all Jews together, free them from foreign rule and bring about a kingdom of justice and freedom.

Early Christianity related the biblical promises of the Messiah to the man Jesus of Nazareth and referred to him according to the Greek Old Testament as Χριστός Christós (the anointed one). In the resulting early church Gentile Christianity, the creed Jesus is the Anointed / the Christ became the name Jesus Christ. And it became dogma that the now divine Jesus as the Christian Messiah, according to the New Testament, was the reconciler between the Christian God and man and the redeemer of the whole world.

Overview

In the Tanakh, this sovereign title designates the person chosen and empowered by God with special tasks for His people Israel. After the fall of the kingdom of Judah (586 B.C.), some biblical prophets also announced a savior and bringer of peace for the end times, while others proclaimed that a descendant of King David would one day rule over Israel and Judah as the anointed, rightful king just like him and redeem the Jews from foreign domination. Both ideas began to merge over time.

The Septuagint always translates Mashiach as Christos. After Judea had come under Roman rule, persons who claimed to be the Messiah appeared there several times, causing unrest, as reported by Flavius Josephus. Jesus of Nazareth was also referred to in the Gospels by the Greek title Christos, which was later Latinized to "the Christ." With the creed "Jesus Christ," which eventually became a proper name, the followers of Jesus expressed that God had begun to fulfill the prophetic promises in this man. For this reason his followers attached great importance to the fact that Jesus was descended in a direct male line from King David. That the designation "Messiah" at the time of Jesus could (also) be interpreted as a claim to earthly power could be concluded from the fact that the Romans executed him as Rex Iudaeorum because they considered him to be a political rebel. However, whether a messianic claim by Jesus and/or a corresponding accusation by his opponents was actually made during his lifetime remains controversial in New Testament scholarship. Since Paul at the latest, Christians no longer understood the Messiah or Christos as the prophesied liberator and king of the Jews, but as the redeemer of all mankind.

The interpretations of the biblical concept have subsequently developed further and further apart due to the mutual demarcation of Judaism and Christianity. The hope for final world peace, which was linked to a human individual, often also influenced political ideologies (see Messianism).

Tanakh

In the Tanakh one finds either historical persons who exercised political power over the Jews and are called Mashiach (Messiah), but to whom no eschatological expectations of salvation were attached, or eschatological expectations of salvation to a savior and mediator figure who is not called Mashiach. The first Mashiach was therefore Saul, the first king over Judah and Israel.

Authorization

The term "anointed one" comes from an ancient Near Eastern ritual of anointing high officials. In the Bible, however, no king anoints a successor, minister, or vassal. Rather, God, through his prophets, appoints a previously unknown or oppositional person (1 Sam 16:13 EU; 2 Sam 2:4 EU; 2 Kings 9:3 EU, etc.) to be the future ruler even before his acclamation by the people. Accordingly, the term combination anointed of YHWH denotes the rightful kings of Israel "chosen" by God (Ps 2:2 EU; Ps 18:51 EU; Ps 20:7 EU; Ps 132:10, 17 EU).

Thus the prophet Samuel anoints Saul as savior from the threat of the Philistines (1 Sam 10:1f EU). After first military successes, an election by lot confirms Saul (1 Sam 10:21 EU), after further ones a tribal assembly makes him king (1 Sam 11:15 EU). In his farewell speech, Samuel hands over his theopolitical leadership office to him (1 Sam 12:3, 5 EU). Therefore, Mashiach probably originally denoted a prophetically appointed political-military leader who was to take over and perpetuate the earlier pre-state role of the spontaneous and situational charismatic "judges" of saving God's people from external enemies. The judges were still overcome by God's Spirit directly; now spiritual endowment was considered a consequence of anointing by a prophet (1 Sam 10:1, 6 EU; 1 Sam 16:13 EU; 2 Sam 23:1f EU), thus was an expression of an indirect theocracy.

In the southern kingdom of Judah, which according to the account of the Tanakh, unlike the northern kingdom of Israel, formed a stable royal dynasty, the anointing then frequently appears before or at an accession (2 Sam 19:11 EU; 1 Kings 1:39 EU; 2 Kings 11:12 EU). It placed the future king under God's protection and thus made him inviolable (1 Sam 24:7, 11 EU; 2 Sam 1:14ff EU; Ps 89:21ff EU), but thus also obligated him to obey God's will for Israel (1 Sam 9:16 EU). The anointed leader was thus regarded as God's earthly servant and representative, who was to care for God's people, rule them justly, protect them from foreign domination, and deliver them from oppression. If he failed, God could "reject" him by a prophet announcing God's judgment to him, for example defeats against foreign rulers or replacement.

Maschiach means one who is authorized to lead Israel according to God's will: Biblically, the king is always under God. Thus Mashiach ultimately became the designation of the rightful, legitimate ruler over the Jews from the biblical point of view. That is why after the downfall of the kingship also a foreign ruler, the Persian king Cyrus, could be called Mashiach, the executor of God's will for Israel (Is 45:1 EU).

In or after the Babylonian Exile, the orphaned title was transferred to the high priest. These had previously also been consecrated by anointing for their temple service, but were not called "anointed" (Ex 29 EU; Lev 4:3ff.16 EU). However, they now received political powers in place of the king, which is why in the most recent books of the Old Testament, written at the earliest from 200 B.C. and included late in the Tanakh (1 Chr 29:22 EU. Cf. later also Sir 45:15 EU; 2 Macc 1:10 EU), the title Mashiach is consequently also applied to them. But there was also criticism: the alleged desecration of the temple by Antiochos IV Epiphanes (around 170 BC) ended this tradition, at least according to the author of the book of Daniel: only in the future kingdom of God would the temple be consecrated anew (Dan 9:25 EU).

Only very rarely prophets are anointed in the Bible (1 Kings 19:16 EU); Isaiah (Trito-Isaiah) is figuratively called anointed by God's Spirit (Is 61:1 EU). Also the archfathers are once called "prophets and anointed ones" in Ps 105:5 EU.

The end-time bringer of salvation

Israel's prophets, in view of the end of the kingship (586 B.C.), not only announced its future renewal, but increasingly also an end-time savior figure whose coming would change everything. This bringer of salvation was for them also a man chosen by God, but in contrast to all previous leaders he was to bring a radical change to shalom (peace, salvation, good for all). His task was not to be temporary, temporary and revocable, but final and eternal. These bringers of salvation were not meant to be political rulers. This is probably why the prophets avoided calling this figure a Mashiach.

The prophecies of an eschatological savior are considered to be:

• Isa 9,1-6 EU (often we see the beginning of this promise already in Isa 8,23 EU)
• Isa 11,1-10 EU
• Mi 5,1-5 EU
• Hos 2,2f EU
• Jer 23:5f EU
• Ezk 34,23f EU
• Ezk 37,22ff EU
• Hag 2,22f EU
• Zech 3,8ff EU
• Zech 6,12 EU
• Zech 9,9f EU

At the same time, however, older texts that referred to anointed kings were reinterpreted in and after the exile as referring to the future bringer of salvation or supplemented with end-time prophecies of salvation, among them:

• the promise of eternal succession to the Davidic dynasty (2 Sam 7:12ff EU)
• the Psalm of the King Ps 2 EU
• the promise of salvation of Amos (Am 9,11f EU)
• the promise of a successor to David in the Balaam narrative (Num 24:17 EU)
• the promise of a future ruler to the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10 EU).

It is disputed whether also

• the prophecy of Immanuel (God with us, Is 7:14ff EU),
• the so-called servant songs of Deutero-Isaiah (Isa 42,1-4 EU; Isa 49,1-6 EU; Isa 50,4-9 EU; Isa 52,13-53,12 EU) as well as
• the vision of the coming of the human-like after the final judgment (Dan 7,13f EU)

are to be referred to the Savior and Judge of the Last Days. Judaism has always rejected the latter as an "idiosyncrasy of Christian doctrine" as, in its view, false.

Isaiah

Isa 9:1-6

is considered the first true messianic prophecy. The prophet Isaiah proclaims it around 730 BC as a message of joy to the people of Israel oppressed by the Assyrians. He prophesies a soon end of oppression as in the day of Midian (Ri 7), furthermore of the end of all tyranny (v.4)

and the birth of a child whom God had destined to be the future ruler on David's throne. Isaiah gives him throne names that were not usual for earthly kings in Israel, but were reserved for God himself (v.5): the Wonderful One, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His reign would be far-reaching and bring peace without end; it would be based on justice and righteousness - observance of the Torah - and would therefore last from now until eternity (v.6). Isaiah is noted for the method of presenting many of his messages through the use of prophetic names (Isaiah 7:3; 7:14; 8:3). In the above verses, he expounds his message by formulating a prophetic name for King Hezekiah († 697 BC).

Isa 11:1-10

elaborates the regency of the God-born based on the divine right: He would come forth from the stump of Jesse (v.1). Since God's Spirit rested on this "offspring", he would combine all the kingly virtues such as wisdom, insight, decisiveness, knowledge and fear of God (v.2). These would enable him to judge the poor righteously without regard to sight or rumor, but to strike down the violent: with the rod (scepter) of his mouth alone, that is, with the judgment itself (v.4). This justice would transform all creation and lift the curse of Gen 3: Wolves and sheep, children and poisonous snakes will live together in harmony (v.6ff). The whole earth will know God, so that no one will do wrong any more (v.9). The regent will stand as a sign that moves the nations to ask about God (v.10).

The historical origin and occasion of these promises of salvation are unclear. Ancient models are missing, since the oriental empires proclaimed god-like titles of sovereignty just to exalt and secure an existing kingship, not as an unexpected hope for the future for a powerless, defenseless people of the oppressed. An explanation based on the promise of eternal succession to David (2 Sam 7:12ff) also falls short: Isaiah's "Prince of Peace" is neither a new conqueror and great ruler like King David nor a god. For he no longer wages war, but rules only after God himself has eliminated the power of war by enforcing and preserving God's holy legal order without any power of his own. The recourse to David's father Jesse reveals criticism of the Davidic dynasty, which here appears as a cut down tree, although it still existed.