Messiah

For other uses, see Messiah (disambiguation).

In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ "anointed one", Standard Hebrew Mašíaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew Māšîªḥ Arabic المسيح;) initially meant any person who was anointed by a prophet of God. In English today, it is used in two major contexts: the anticipated saviour of the Jews, and one who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a saviour or liberator. Jews, however, don't generally use the word "saviour" in reference to the messiah, primarily because of the Christian connotation of the word "saviour."

In the first century, Jews interpreted the prophecies of the Tanakh to refer more specifically to someone appointed by God to lead the Jewish people in the face of their tribulations with the Romans. Christians believe that these prophecies actually referred to a spiritual savior, and consider Jesus to be that messiah. The word Christ (Greek Χριστός, Khristos, "the anointed one") is a literal translation of "mashiach" used in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and derived from the Greek verb χριω "rub, anoint with scented unguents or oil, as was done after bathing", "anoint in token of consecration" (Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon).

In Islam, Jesus (Isa) is also considered the Maseeh, or Messiah, and his eventual return to the Earth is expected with that of another messianic figure, the Mahdi.

Some speculate that the Jewish concept of the Messiah did not arise as depicted in the Hebrew Scriptures, but rather originates in the Zoroastrian idea of Saoshyant. For similar figures in other religions, refer to the "See also" section in this article.

The Septuagint, an ancient Jewish translation of the Old Testament into Greek, translates all thirty-nine instances of the word messiah as Khristos. The New Testament records the Greek form Μεσσίας, Messias, only twice, in John 1:41 and 4:25.

In the Hebrew Bible

The concept of the messiah is neither common nor unified in the Hebrew Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, Israelite priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil in consecration to their respective offices.

The Hebrew Bible contains a number (the number is debated) of prophecies concerning a future descendant of King David who will be anointed as the Jewish people's new leader (moshiach).

The prophecies regarding this person refer to him as a descendant of King David who will rebuild the nation of Israel, bring world peace by restoring the Davidic Kingdom, destroy the wicked, and ultimately judge the whole world.

The mainstream Jewish understanding of mashiach (the messiah) has little, if anything, in common with the Christian understanding of Jesus as Christ (messiah). This subject is covered in more detail in the entry on Jewish eschatology.

Traditional and contemporary Judaism

The concept of the messiah varies in traditional and contemporary Judaism. The view of the messiah in talmudic literature is that there are two messiahs, Mashiach ben Yossef (Messiah son of Joseph) and Mashiach ben David (Messiah son of David). [1] The Hebrew ben can mean either son or descendant. In this sense it can also mean "in the manner of", i.e., there will be a "suffering servant" messiah in the manner of Joseph son of Israel/Jacob and a different messiah in the manner of King David.

A common rabbinic interpretation is that there is a potential messiah in every generation. The Talmud tells of a highly respected rabbi who found the Messiah at the gates of Rome and asked him "When will you finally come?" He was quite surprised when he was told, "Today." Overjoyed and full of anticipation, the man waited all day. The next day he returned, disappointed and puzzled, and asked, "You said messiah would come 'today' but he didn't come! What happened?" The Messiah replied, 'Scripture says, "Today, if you will but hearken to His voice . . ." (Psalm 95:7)

Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism believe in a future physical messiah who will bring peace to the world.

Reform Judaism teaches there will be a time of peace, etc., but that it will be the result of tikkun olam ("repair of the world") through human efforts toward social justice, not the actions of one man.

"Choice is the underlying reason the Reform Movement gave up the need for and belief in a messiah who would one day bring judgment, and perhaps salvation, to the world. The fact that God imbues us with free choice mitigates the need for a messianic figure." (Schwartzman, 2004)

Christian view

Christianity emerged in the first century C.E. as a movement among Jews (and their Gentile associates and converts) who believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah; the very name of 'Christian' refers to the Greek word for 'Messiah' (Khristos). Although Christians commonly refer to Jesus as the "Christ" instead of "Messiah", in Christian theology the two words are synonymous.

The Christian concept of the Christ/Messiah is substantially different and much broader than the Jewish and Moslem (Shafaat, 2003) concepts because Jesus claimed to be God. (John 10:37-38; 14:7-11; 17:5; 17:11 and the following)

John 10:30 (NIV) I and the Father are one.

John 10:33 (NIV)  "you, a mere man, claim to be God."

John 14:9b (NIV) "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."

In Christian theology, the Christ/Messiah serves four main functions (Ankerberg & Weldon, pp. 218-223):

He suffers and dies to make atonement before God for the sins of all humanity, because God's sense of justice requires that sins be punished. See, e.g., Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and Psalm 22, which Christianity interprets as referring to Jesus.
He serves as a living example of how God expects people to act.
He will establish peace and rule the world for a long time. See Nicene Creeds of 325 and 381 C.E.; Revelation 20:4-6: (NIV) " They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 6  they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years." (see Millennialism).
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and he came to earth as a human. John 1:1-2,14a: 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 2. He was with God in the beginning. 14a The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

In the New Testament, Jesus often referred to himself as 'Son of Man' (Mark 14:61b-62; Luke 22:66-70), which Christianity interprets as a reference to Daniel 7:13-14 (NIV):

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed..

Because Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that he claimed to be the Son of Man referred to by Daniel, Christianity interprets Daniel 7:13-14 as a statement of the Messiah's authority and that the Messiah will have an everlasting kingdom. Jesus' use of this title is seen as a direct claim to be the Messiah.

Jesus offered no denial when others identified him as the Messiah and successor of King David (Mark 8:27-30, 10:47-48, 11:7-10); his opponents accused him of such a claim (Luke 23:2), and he is recorded at least twice as asserting it himself directly (Mark 14:60-62, John 4:25-26).

Christianity interprets a wide range of biblical passages in the Old Testament (Hebrew scripture) as predicting the coming of the Messiah (see Christianity and Biblical prophecy for examples), and believes that they are following Jesus' own explicit teaching:

He said to them..."Did not the Christ/Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Luke 24: 25-7, NIV)
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:45-47, NIV).
The book of Matthew repeatedly says, "This was to fulfill the prophecy ". See (the concept of) Messianic prophecy.

Christianity believes many of the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in the mission, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and seeks to spread throughout the world its interpretation that the Messiah is the only Saviour.

(The role of Jesus in Christian theology goes far beyond identification as the Messiah described in the Hebrew Bible.)

Section references: Ankerberg & Weldon, 1997; McDowell, 1999

In Islam

In the Qur'an, the scripture of Islam, Isa (Jesus) is described as a Messenger of God as well as "the Messiah." The belief is that he was raised to heaven and will return at the end of days to live out the rest of his natural life.

Some Muslims claims the Messiah was prophesized in the "testimony of Levi" in Genesis as a descendent of Levi, and that the prophecy about "the shoot of Jesse" was displaced in antiquity from the Joshua section to other Prophets scrolls, and that both Joshua prophecy and the Testimony of Judah (the star, shoot) were already achieved in David.

The Mahdi (al-Mahdi, Imam Mehdi, etc.), is a different person from Jesus/Isa and is another messianic figure in Islam. The Mahdi will usher in a new age of peace, and restore a perfect Islamic society. Shia and Sunni opinions on al-Mahdi differ somewhat, but both sects agree that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.

As for Islamic sources, they do not mention a King-Messiah who restores the kingdom of David or a Priest-Messiah who restores the temple rites. Not only the Qur`an does not mention the King-Messiah or the Priest-Messiah, but it also does not give much importance to the institutions of kingship and priesthood. (Shafaat, 2003)

Section references: Vaca, 2001; Shafaat, 2003

Other Messiahs

See Jewish Messiah claimants for an overview of such claimants and links to more detailed articles.

In Stregheria, Jesus Christ is believed to have been a sort of "evil messiah" or false messiah, while Aradia de Toscano is seen as the true saviour who came to free the poor and the oppressed from the bondages of Christianity.

Adherents to the Unification Movement consider Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The Shakers believed that Jesus was the male Messiah and Mother Ann Lee, the female Messiah.

For the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was the messiah.

The Ahmadi/Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, considered heretical by mainstream Islam, believes that the Messiah and Mahdi have come in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India (1835-1908).

Messianic figure

A messianic figure is a person who is viewed as having a number of the characteristics of the Messiah in the eyes of a particular group. These usually include that the person is charismatic, influential, develops a power base, is appealing to a large group that views itself as oppressed in some way, and appears to offer a way to overthrow that oppression. Examples of messianic figures include Joan of Arc, said to have visions to deliver France from English domination near the end of the Hundred Years' War and Adolf Hitler who claimed he would deliver post-World War I Germany from economic oppression caused by reparations and protect Germany from Communists. George Washington and Boris Yeltsin could be viewed as messianic figures of a sort^{[citation needed]}.

References

Books

Ankerberg, John. "Chap. 11. Biblical Prophecy-Part One". Ready With an Answer for the Tough Questions About God. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers. ISBN 1-56507-618-4. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

McDowell, Josh. New Evidence that Demands a Verdict—Fully Updated to Answer the Questions Challenging Christians Today, The (1st Ed. ed.). Nelson Reference. ISBN 0785243631. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |origdate= ignored (|orig-date= suggested) (help)

On-line

Judaism

Schwartzman, Rabbi Joel R. (2004). "Our Lives: Our Choices". Living Torah Torat Chayim. 8 (43): p. 1. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help) (Reform Judaism)

Miller, Glenn (1996). "Messianic Expectations in 1st Century Judaism--Documentation From Non-Christian Sources" (HTML). Retrieved 2006-04-07.

Christianity

Islam

Vaca, Daniel (2001). "The Development and Characteristics of Islam's Messianic Figure: The Mahdi". Monitor: Journal of International Studies. 8 (1).

Shafaat, Ahmad (May 2003). "Islamic View of the Coming/Return of Jesus" (HTML). Islamic Perspectives. Retrieved 2006-04-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

Non-specific religious