Messiah In Judaism

A Pre-teaching Interpretation Paper:
Today, the word “Messiah” commonly incites George Handel’s renowned oratorio or the person of Jesus Christ, whose second name is a Greek translation of the word. This is understandable given the pervasiveness of Christianity as a religion in the world. However, not only has the word been understood differently in different circles, it has also been attributed to and claimed by different individuals throughout the history. This paper seeks to evaluate the claim made by third-century Rabbis Bar Kappara and Hillel II that King Hezekiah of Judah is the Messiah.  In order to do that, what the word means to Jews in Ancient Near Eastern and Rabbinical contexts needs to be considered.
Although Rabbi Joseph has refuted Hillel II’s claim,  it is still a worthy endeavor to give the claim a second hearing, especially as Mika Pajunen noted that “there was renewed interest in these traditions,” referring to Deuteronomistic and Chronistic traditions, “to highlight the unity of the people and hence also their common heritage” after the destruction of the second temple.  Therefore, the account of Hezekiah in Chronicles will be exegeted, highlighting its uniqueness from that in Kings and, by extension, Isaiah, and drawing implications if the thesis, “King Hezekiah is the fulfillment of Yahweh's promise for THE Messiah,” is supported by Chronistic perspective.

This article examines the references to Messiah bar Ephraim in the
Targums, and concludes that the Targumic Tosefta to Zech. 12.10, where
Messiah bar Ephraim is vanquished, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to
Exod. 40.9-11, where he is the vanquisher, both predate the Christian
period. The apparent conflict between his suffering and conquering roles
may indicate a belief that bar Ephraim’s death effects the final redemption. References in the Targum to the Song of Songs are also considered.

“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus...” The prophecy concerning King Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1, which utilizes messianic language to describe the pagan Medo-Persian King, has confounded theologians, historians, and laypeople alike. In Scripture, King Cyrus is the only non-Israelite to ever be designated this way.  The question of how Cyrus can be designated as “Messiah” or “Anointed” despite his pagan roots and the implications of the title continue to be formulated and tested. An example of this would be the idea that the name “Cyrus” was added at a later date or that the “anointing” merely denoted kingship and nothing more. This thesis clarifies the intended meaning of the messianic language ascribed to Cyrus in Isaiah. Explaining who Cyrus was before and after his arrival in Scripture along with an examination of the term מָשִׁיחַ will aid in the process of understanding why he is called “anointed.” This is not to say that Cyrus converts to YHVHism,  but it displays how YHVH  can use any person, no matter who he/she is, to fulfill His purposes.

Abstract. Tractate Suk. 52a/b features the earliest known references by name to Messiah ben Joseph, a figure who appears throughout rabbinic literature. An examination of these talmudic references suggest that this figure was established in all essentials in Temple times.

This paper will be a survey of the development of God as King through the development of the concept of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament, the further development of the Messianic hope in the Intertestamental years, the revelation of the Messianic hope and the Kingdom of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and further looking at the issue of the Church and the Kingdom of God in the New Testament epistles and Revelation.  This survey of Scripture and Intertestamental writings will seek to draw unity of the Kingdom of God concept into the person of the Messiah.

The author reviews the frequent claim that Messiah ben Joseph’s death has no atoning significance. An examination of rabbinic literature from Renaissance to temple times, and a consideration of the conceptual background of atoning death in the near east, suggests that this view is mistaken, and that Messiah ben Joseph’s death was indeed viewed as an atonement in every period.

MUL.BABBAR The White Star Over Bethlehem is a historical novel about the wise men and the Star of Bethlehem. The book places Dwight Hutchison's theory of the star into a historical context. There are about 400 pages of the main text and an additional 60 pages of appendices. The book begins with a prophetic  section before the main text of the story about the star.

The 37th Chapter of the Book of Ezekiel contains two prophetic messages in verses 1-14, the prophecy of the valley of dry bones that come to life and in verses 15-28, the prophecy of the two sticks and the restoration of the Jewish People as one people.  The below will be a brief examination of the historical, cultural, literary and covenantal background of Ezekiel 37:15-28.

This two-part paper begins with an attempt to reconstruct an apoca-lyptic work from the first century CE. It then compares the nature of the messianic expectations found in this reconstructed text to messianic expectations at Qumran. I hope through this study to identify some features of Jewish messianism common to both, and thereby make a contribution to the larger question of the nature of Jewish messianic hopes from the first century BCE to the first century CE.

Abstract
This study is going to analyze the theoretical and practical bases derived from the political theology, especially messianism, as a social construction, in the text of the Jewish discourse and the Israeli social and political context. The main question is that “in analyzing the historical evolution of Israel’s messianic discourse, what is the relation between the abstract (sacred-historical) aspects and the concrete (social) ones, and this implies the foregrounding of which objective or subjective aspects in relation to the Israeli state and reviving the Promised Land? According to the primary hypothesis, “Israel’s politics has been maximally affected by the pragmatic aspect of the Jewish political theology especially messianism. And, in spite of the influence the based on political mysticism approach and the national and transnational missionaryism and obligationism have had, and despite the efforts towards gaining emancipation, redemption and salvation in Judaism, the behavioral dominant pattern and hegemon aspect is based on the individual, social, national and international security-centered pragmatism”. This study is about to both analyze the messianic bases of the political and the social in the history of the Zionism thought, and investigate the theoretical and practical essentials and representations through the framework of analyzing the Jews’ socio-political history. The theoretical and methodological framework of this study is based on “The Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA)” of Ruth Wodak.       

Key Words:
Jewish Political Theology, Political Messianism, The Political and The Social in Judaism, Israel, Messiah (Mashiach).

Селезнев Н.Н., Ал-Макӣн ибн ал-ʿАмӣд о Моисее Критском // Иудаика и арамеистика. Сборник научных статей на основе материалов Третьей ежегодной конференции по иудаике и востоковедению 17 декабря 2013 г. / Петербургский Институт иудаики; Кафедра библеистики Филологического факультета СПбГУ; ред. К.А. Битнер, Л.А. Лукинцова. (Труды по иудаике: Филология и культурология, выпуск 3). Санкт-Петербург: Петербургский Институт иудаики, 2014, С. 151–161. ISBN 978-5-906555-95-3.

В первом, остающемся неизданным, томе исторического труда ал-Макӣна ибн ал-ʿАмӣда, арабоязычного христианского автора XIII века , – «Благословенное собрание» (ал-Маджмӯʿ ал-мубāрак) – среди прочих имеется глава, посвященная царствованию византийского императора Феодосия Младшего (402–450) . В этой главе Ибн ал-ʿАмӣд воспроизводит известную историю о Моисее Критском, «явившемся среди иудеев» и объявившем себя мессией к последующему трагическому разочарованию поверивших ему. В настоящей статье читателю предлагается источниковедческий обзор и объяснение разночтений по арабским текстам.

The Quests for the Historical Jesus resulted in a move “back to the Jewish roots!” Jewish Jesus research positioned Jewry within a dominantly Christian culture and permitted Jews to feel more at ease with Jesus the Jew. Christians are challenged to respond now with a new Christology.

The rabbi and professor of Jewish theology and interreligious dialogue at Potsdam university, Walter Homolka, leads the reader through 2000 years of Christian-Jewish conflicts in behalf of Jesus as historical person and as Jesus the Christ. The critical research of Jesus as Jew by Jewish scholars has openend new insights and are clear challenges for christologies which have been often dominated by a colonial behaviour against the Jews. During the last 50 years the situation has slowly changed.  The emphasis on Christ as Messiah remains problematically, but the covenant between God and his people may become a bridge between Jews and Christians. Fair-minded dialogue can only be effective if the partners discuss as truly equal partners.

Judaism in the late Second Temple period (in that case whole history of Jewish people) was a family of diverse religious systems, where different groups of Jews express their world view and a way of life in the social world they were being part of, however, all of them confess their allegiance to the “written Torah” and claimed to be the true “Israel”. Hence, Jacob Neusner characteristically calls these varied family of Jews as “Judaisms”. (Judaisms and their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era, 1987) The messianic belief has been central to the Jewish faith, and it became palpable in late Second Temple Jewish literature.

Together with many basic conceptions of two religious systems of the first-century AD, namely Judaism and Christianity; the discovery of the Qumran Scrolls has altered their long-standing ‘messianic’ beliefs. The portrayal of the Early Christianity has became more clear and also the messianic figure of the New Testament, Jesus Christ, got new impetus as the one who fulfils various messianic expectations in himself.

The debate on the Qumranic Messiahs has taken two turns: first, with a general agreement among scholars about twofold messianic expectations – king and priest, they disagree on translating it as ‘Messiah’ or ‘anointed’, or perhaps about the use of capitals for the one or the both; the next twist is, many recent scholars question the general view about ‘two Messiahs’ in Qumran literature.

This paper is examining various references of messianic figures in critical Qumran writings to understand the nature and function of messianic figures mentioned, their prominence and roles, and their relationship with each other and to the overall understanding of the messianic belief.