1) The word “Messiah” is an English rendering
of the Hebrew word “Mashiach”, whose translation is “Anointed”. It usually refers
to a person initiated into G-d’s service by being
anointed with oil. (Having oil poured on his head. Cf.
Exodus 29:7, I Kings 1:39, II Kings 9:3).
2) There are many Messiahs in the Bible. Since every
King and High Priest was anointed with oil, each
may be referred to as “an anointed one” (a Mashiach
or a Messiah). For example: “G-d forbid that I
[David] should stretch out my hand against the
L-rd’s Messiah [Saul]...” I Samuel 26:11. Cf. II
Samuel 23:1, Isaiah 45:1, Psalms 20:6.
3) The Hebrew word “HaMashiach” (lit. the Messiah)
describing a future anointed person to come does not appear
anywhere in the Bible. Since the Bible makes no
explicit reference to the Messiah, it is unlikely
that it could be considered the most important
concept in the Bible. Indeed, in Jewish thought,
the Messianic idea is not the most crucial. However,
in Christian thought, the Messiah is paramount-
a difficulty in light of its conspicuous absence
from scripture.
4) Where does the Jewish concept of Messiah come from? One
of the central themes of Biblical prophecy is the
promise of a future age of perfection characterized
by universal peace and recognition of G-d. Isaiah
2:1-4; Zephaniah 3:9; Hosea 2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15;
Isaiah 32:15-18, 60:15-18; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah
8:23, 14:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34.
5) Many of these prophetic passages speak of a descendant
of King David who will rule Israel during the age
of perfection. Isaiah 11:1-9; Jeremiah 23:5-6,
30:7-10, 33:14-16; Ezekiel 34:11-31, 37:21-28;
Hosea 3:4-5.
6) Since every King is a Messiah, by
convention, we refer to this future anointed
one as The Messiah. The above is the
only description in the Bible of a Davidic descendant
who is to come in the future. We will recognize
the Messiah by seeing who the King of Israel
is at the time of complete universal perfection.
7) The Bible never speaks about believing in
the Messiah. Because his reign will be an historically
verifiable reality, self-evident to any person,
it won’t require belief or faith.
8) Because no person has ever fulfilled the picture
painted in the Bible of this future King, Jewish
people still await the coming of the Messiah. All
past Messianic claimants, including Jesus of Nazareth,
Bar Cochba and Shabbtai Tzvi have been rejected.
9) The claim that Jesus will fulfill the Messianic prophesies
when he returns does not give him any credibility
for his “first” coming. The Bible never speaks
about the Messiah returning after an initial appearance. The “second
coming” theory is a desperate attempt to explain
away Jesus’ failure. The Biblical passages which
Christians are forced to regard as second coming
(#5 above) don’t speak of someone returning, they
have a “first coming” perspective.
10) According to Biblical tradition, Elijah the prophet
will reappear before the coming of the Messiah
(Malachi 4:5-6). In the Greek Testament, Jesus
claims that John the Baptist was Elijah (Matthew
11:13-14, 17:10-13). However, when John the Baptist
was asked if he was Elijah, he denied it (John
1:21). The Gospel of Luke 1:17 tries to get around
this problem by claiming that John the Baptist
came in the spirit of Elijah. However:
a] Malachi predicted that Elijah himself would return,
and not just someone coming in his spirit.
b] When asked about his identity, John the Baptist
didn’t claim to have come in the spirit of Elijah
- he claimed no association with Elijah at all.
c] The prophesy about the return of Elijah says
that he would restore the hearts of the fathers
to their children, and the hearts of the children
to their fathers. There is no evidence that John
the Baptist accomplished this.
11) According to the Jewish Bible, the Messiah must
be a descendent of King David. (Jeremiah 23:5,
33:17; Ezekiel 34:23-24) Although the Greek Testament
traces the genealogy of Joseph (husband of Mary)
back to David, it then claims that Jesus resulted
from a virgin birth, and, that Joseph was not his father. (Mat.
1:18-23) In response, it is claimed that Joseph
adopted Jesus, and passed on his genealogy via
adoption.
There are two problems with this claim:
a) there is no Biblical basis for the idea of a father
passing on his tribal line by adoption. A priest
who adopts a son from another tribe cannot make
him a priest by adoption;
b) Joseph could never pass on by adoption that which
he doesn’t have. Because Joseph descended from
Jeconiah (Mat. 1:11) he fell under the curse of
that king that none of his descendants could ever
sit as king upon the throne of David. (Jeremiah
22:30; 36:30).
To answer this difficult problem, apologists claim that
Jesus traces himself back to King David through
his mother Mary, who allegedly descends from David,
as shown in the third chapter of Luke. There are
four basic problems with this claim:
a] There is no evidence that Mary descends from
David. The third chapter of Luke traces Joseph’s
genealogy, not Mary’s.
b] Even if Mary can trace herself back to David,
that doesn’t help Jesus, since tribal affiliation
goes only through the father, not mother. Cf.
Num. 1:18; Ezra 2:59.
c] Even if family line could go through the mother,
Mary was not from a legitimate Messianic family. According
to the Bible, the Messiah must be a descendent
of David through his son Solomon (II Sam.
7:14;
I Chron. 17:11-14, 22:9-10, 28:4-6) The third chapter
of Luke is useless because it goes through David’s
son Nathan, not Solomon. (Luke 3:31)
d] Luke 3:27 lists Shealtiel and Zerubbabel in his
genealogy. These two also appear in Matthew 1:12
as descendants of the cursed Jeconiah. If Mary
descends from them, it would also disqualify her
from being a Messianic progenitor.
If you have questions about what Judaism has said about
the promised Messiah for the last three millenia
or want to know how to answer the Christian claims,
please check out our website: www.jewsforjudaism.org,
drop us a line or give us a call. The concept of
Messiah is Jewish. To find out about it go to the
source.
