Messiah

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In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ Standard Hebrew Mašíaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew Māšîªḥ, Aramaic משיחא) —literally "anointed one— originally meant any person anointed by a prophet or priest of God, especially a Davidic king. In English today, it is used in two major contexts: the anticipated savior of the Jews, and any person who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a savior or liberator.

Samuel anoints David as Israel's future king.

In the first century B.C.E., Jews interpreted the prophecies of their scriptures 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, Christos, "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: to "anoint in token of consecration" (Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon).

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

Some sch0lars believe that the Jewish concept of the Messiah originated in the Zoroastrian idea of Saoshyant, which was fused with the Jewish idea of the restoration of the Davidic dynasty during the Babylonian exile. For similar figures in other religions, refer to the "See also" section in this article.


In the Hebrew Bible

Israelite priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil in consecration to their respective offices. The Bible contains a number of prophecies concerning a future descendant of King David who will be anointed as the Jewish people's new leader (mashiach). 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.

Pre-exilic references

One of the earliest of these was written in the time of the prophet Isaiah, who hoped for a more powerful and righteous ruler than the current occupant of David's throne. It refers to the coming of a king who will unite Israel and Judah and enable the Israelites taken into captivity in the Assyrian Empire to return:

In that day the Root of Jesse [David's father] will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria... Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim [Israel] will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. (Isa. 11:10-14)

The prophet Jeremiah, who lived roughly a century later than Isaiah but still during a time when Davidic kings occupied the throne, echoed Isaiah's prediction:

"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord [is] Our Righteousness." (Jer. 23:5-6)

Exilic references

The prophet Ezekiel, writing from exile in Babylon, was the first to speak of the Messiah in terms of the restoration of the Davidic line of kings:

I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. (Ezek. 34:22-24)

The Book of Isaiah's later prophecies (thought to have been written by disciples of Israiah during the Babylonian exile) envision a ruler who would not only make Israel/Judah into a powerful regional empire, but even a world power:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isa. 9:6-7)
Cyrus of Persia, called God's "mashiach" by the Book of Isaiah.

Interestingly, one of the first uses of the actual term "Messiah" as the savior-liberator of Israel refers to a gentile king: Cyrus of Persia. These prophecies — also belonging to "Second Isaiah" — portray Cyrus as a ruler anointed by God to bring the Jews back to their homeland and rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem:

I am the Lord... who says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, 'Let it be rebuilt,' and of the temple, 'Let its foundations be laid.'" This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus... I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. (Isa. 44:24-45:3)

Post-exilic references

The post-exilic prophets Haggai and Zechariah indicate that Jerusalem's governor, Zerubbabel, may in fact be the "branch":

"I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel," declares the Lord, "and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you." (Hag. 2:23)... "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!'" (Zech. 4:7)

These prophets' hope in Zerabbabel apparently were not completely realized. Zechariah's prophecies, however, become important in later years, as he predicted the coming of two "anointed ones" generally interpreted to be a prieslty messiah (a son of Aaron) and a kingly messiah (son of David):

Then I asked the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?"... So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth." (Zech. 4:11-14)

Inter-testamental developments

In the period between the writing of the last of the prophetic books and the first century B.C.E., the concept of the Messiah developed considerably, as did the Jewish people's hope in the coming of an anointed deliverer.

The ideals of the books of Isaiah and Zechariah, emphasizing the Messiah as a Prince of Peace and a deliverer of Israel from oppression, represented one strain of thought. The Book of Daniel's promise of a supernatural "son of man" coming on the clouds of heaven represents another. The Books of Enoch, though of disputed authorship and never accepted into the Jewish canon, further demonstrate the apocalyptic trend in Jewish thought. At the same time, it should be remembered that the idea of the Messiah does not exist in many of the biblical books and that therefore the concept of the Messiah was far from universal. In terms of intertestamental literaute (the Old Testament Apocrypha), the Jewish Encylopedia points out that "Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, II Maccabees, and the Wisdom of Solomon contain no mention of the Davidic hope."

Apparently, some Jews saw Alexander the Great as a messianic figure, and the Book of Daniel itself is seen by some as a messianic tract encouraging Jews to resist the desecration of the Temple by the Selucid ruler Anitiochus Epiphanes. The successful rebellion of Judah Macabbee was a quasi-messianic event, but hope in the restoration of a glorious Jewish kingdom quickly faded as Judah's Hasmonean successors fell into corruption and collabation with Roman gentile rulers. The Qumran sect reacted against the corruption of both priestly and political authorities, forseeing the immiment Day of the Lord in which both and Aaronic and a Davidic Messiah whould arise to lead the "children of light" against the gentiles and other "children of darkness." Some among the emerging sect of the Pharisees, meanwhile, hoped in a Messiah as a political deliverer along the lines of the Book of Isaiah.

Messianic hopes thus flourished just prior to, during, and after the reign of Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.E.). Herod slaughtered 45 members of the Sanhedrin who had supported the Hasmonean rebel Anigonus as a messianic forerunner. Later, he put do death several leading Pharisees who predicted the imminent birth of the Messiah would signal the end of Herod's reign. And of course, in Christian tradition, Herod slaughtered the infant boys of Bethlehem in fear that one of them was the Messiah.

The most famous of the several known messianic candidates of the era (see list below), of course, was Jesus of Nazareth, who will be treated more fully in the section on Christian views of the Messiah. For now, let us mention only that early rabbinic Judaism continued to develop its ideas of the Messiah in a dialectical relation against the Christians, who sought to prove that the resurrected Jesus was in fact God's anointed one.

After the Jewish rebellion, the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by Rome, and the dispersal of the Jews from Jerusalem in 70 C.E., Jewish messianism continued to flourish as Jews hoped desperately, if in vain, for a deliverer from Roman oppression. The most successful of the messianic pretenders was Simon Bar Kochba, who gained the support of the famous Talmudic rabbi Akiva and succeeded in establishing a state independent of Roman rule from approximately 132-135 c.e.. His rebellion was eventually crushed at a cost estimated to be as high as half a million Jewish lives, and from then on rabbinic Judaism took a decidedly anti-messianic stance.

Christian view

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

Jesus enters Jerusalem as disciples proclaim him "Son of David."

According to the New Testament, the disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah that Jews were expecting. John 1:41-42 says:

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Scholars today debate whether Jesus actually considered himself to be the Messiah. In the synoptic Gospels his indenty as Messiah is kept secret from the public until his triumphal entry into Jerusalem a few days prior to his death. In that scene, Jesus rides into the city on a donkey to shouts of "Hosanna! Son of David!" (Mt. 21:1-9) in conscious fulfillment of Zechariah's messianic prophecy:


Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech. 9:9)

Although the Gospels reflect a later theology in which Jesus' rejection and death on the Cross are predestined by God, it is likely that during Jesus' life, his disciples thought of his mission in terms similar to the Jewish messianic concept of a political deliver and teacher of righteousness. Luke's gospel shows that after Jesus' crucifixion, the disciples were shocked and disillusioned, seemingly having no inkling that Jesus' death was part of his plan:

Now that same day [Eatser Sunday] two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem... [The unrecognized risen Jesus] asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast... "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. (Luke 24:13-21)

In the Book of Acts, Luke indicates that the disciples continued to hope that the risen Jesus would perform the role Israel's political redeemer rather than primarily a spiritual savior: "So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)

Eventually however, the Christian concept of the Messiah grew into something fundamentally different from the Jewish concept. Rather than being primarily a deliverer of the people of Israel from political oppression, in Christian theology, the Christ/Messiah serves four main functions:

  • He suffers and dies to make atonement before God for the sins of all humanity, because God's justice requires that sins be punished.
  • He serves as a living example of how God expects people to act.
  • At his Second Coming, he will establish peace and rule the world for a long time.
  • He is an incarnation of God, who pre-existed his human birth as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

(Ankerberg & Weldon, pp. 218-223)

In developing these doctrines, Christians came to interpret several passages of the Old Testament very differently from Jews. For example:

  • The Servant Songs of Isaiah were interpreted not as descriptions of Israel's suffering and redemption, but as predictions of the redemptive suffering of Jesus as the Messiah.
  • A minor prophecy of Isaiah, namely his prediction of the coming of Immanuael in Isaiah 7, was interpreted to refer to Jesus' Incarnation and Virgin Birth, rather than to the normal birth of child — not the Messiah — in Isaiah's day.
  • The "son of Man" passages in the Book of Daniel were interpreted as refering to Jesus' Second Coming on the clouds of heaven.
  • Similarly, the exepectation that the Messiah would re-establish David's Kingdom on earth and reign as a universal Prince of Peace was postponed to the Second Coming.

Views of Maimonides

The predominant Jewish understanding of moshiach ("the messiah") is based on the writings of Maimonides, (the Rambam). His views on the messiah are discussed in his Mishneh Torah, his 14 volume compendium of Jewish law, in the section Hilkhot Melakhim Umilchamoteihem, chapter 11. Maimonides writes:

"The anointed King is destined to stand up and restore the Davidic Kingdom to its antiquity, to the first sovereignty. He will build the Temple in Jerusalem and gather the strayed ones of Israel together. All laws will return in his days as they were before: Sacrificial offerings are offered and the Sabbatical years and Jubilees are kept, according to all its precepts that are mentioned in the Torah. Whoever does not believe in him, or whoever does not wait for his coming, not only does he defy the other prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our teacher. For the Torah testifies about him, thus: "And the Lord Your God will return your returned ones and will show you mercy and will return and gather you... If your strayed one shall be at the edge of Heaven... And He shall bring you" etc.(Deuteronomy 30:3-5)."
"These words that are explicitly stated in the Torah, encompass and include all the words spoken by all the prophets. In the section of Torah referring to Bala'am, too, it is stated, and there he prophesied about the two anointed ones: The first anointed one is David, who saved Israel from all their oppressors; and the last anointed one will stand up from among his descendants and saves Israel in the end. This is what he says (Numbers 24:17-18): "I see him but not now" - this is David; "I behold him but not near" - this is the Anointed King. "A star has shot forth from Jacob" - this is David; "And a brand will rise up from Israel" - this is the Anointed King. "And he will smash the edges of Moab" - This is David, as it states: "...And he struck Moab and measured them by rope" (II Samuel 8:2); "And he will uproot all Children of Seth" - this is the Anointed King, of whom it is stated: "And his reign shall be from sea to sea" (Zechariah 9:10). "And Edom shall be possessed" - this is David, thus: "And Edom became David's as slaves etc." (II Samuel 8:6); "And Se'ir shall be possessed by its enemy" - this is the Anointed King, thus: "And saviors shall go up Mount Zion to judge Mount Esau, and the Kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Obadiah 1:21)."
"And by the Towns of Refuge it states: "And if the Lord your God will widen up your territory... you shall add on for you another three towns" etc. (Deuteronomy 19:8-9). Now this thing never happened; and the Holy One does not command in vain. But as for the words of the prophets, this matter needs no proof, as all their books are full with this issue."
"Do not imagine that the anointed King must perform miracles and signs and create new things in the world or resurrect the dead and so on. The matter is not so: For Rabbi Akiva was a great scholar of the sages of the Mishnah, and he was the assistant-warrior of the king Bar Kokhba, and claimed that he was the anointed king. He and all the Sages of his generation deemed him the anointed king, until he was killed by sins; only since he was killed, they knew that he was not. The Sages asked him neither a miracle nor a sign..."
"And if a king shall stand up from among the House of David, studying Torah and indulging in commandments like his father David, according to the written and oral Torah, and he will coerce all Israel to follow it and to strengthen its weak points, and will fight Hashem's [God's] wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one. If he succeeded {and won all nations surrounding him. Old prints and mss.} and built a Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the strayed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, and he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together, as it is stated: "For then I shall turn for the nations a clear tongue, to call all in the Name of the Lord and to worship Him with one shoulder (Zephaniah 3:9)."
"But if he did not succeed until now, or if he was killed, it becomes known that he is not this one of whom the Torah had promised us, and he is indeed like all proper and wholesome kings of the House of David who died. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, only set him up to try the public by him, thus: "Some of the wise men will stumble in clarifying these words, and in elucidating and interpreting when the time of the end will be, for it is not yet the designated time." (Daniel 11:35)."

Views on Jesus and Muhammad

Maimonides next writes why Jews believe that Jesus was wrong to create Christianity and why they believe that Muhammad was wrong to create Islam; he laments the pains that Jews felt as a result of these new faiths that attempted to supplant Judaism. However, Maimonides then goes on to say that both faiths help God redeem the world.

"As for Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the anointed one and was killed by the court, Daniel had already prophecied about him, thus: "And the children of your people's rebels shall raise themselves to set up prophecy and will stumble" (Ibid. 14). Can there be a bigger stumbling block than this? All the Prophets said that the Anointed One saves Israel and rescues them, gathers their strayed ones and strengthens their mitzvot whereas this one caused the loss of Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant and humiliate them, and to change the Torah and to cause most of the world to erroneously worship a god besides the Lord. But the human mind has no power to reach the thoughts of the Creator, for His thoughts and ways are unlike ours. All these matters of Yeshua of Nazareth and of the Ishmaelite who stood up after him (Muhammad) are only intended to pave the way for the Anointed King, and to mend the entire world to worship God together, thus: "For then I shall turn a clear tongue to the nations to call all in the Name of the Lord and to worship him with one shoulder."
"How is this? The entire world had become filled with the issues of the Anointed One and of the Torah and the Laws, and these issues had spread out unto faraway islands and among many nations uncircumcised in the heart, and they discuss these issues and the Torah's laws. These say: These Laws were true but are already defunct in these days, and do not rule for the following generations; whereas the other ones say: There are secret layers in them and they are not to be treated literally, and the Messiah had come and revealed their secret meanings. But when the Anointed King will truly rise and succeed and will be raised and uplifted, they all immediately turn about and know that their fathers inherited falsehood, and their prophets and ancestors led them astray."

Textual requirements

Most of the textual requirements concerning the messiah and what he will do are located within the Book of Isaiah, although requirements are mentioned in other prophets as well.

  • The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26)
  • Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)
  • The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17)
  • He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via King Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10)
  • The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)
  • Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)
  • Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)
  • He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)
  • All Jews will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)
  • He will swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:8)
  • There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)
  • All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)
  • The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)
  • He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)
  • Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
  • For My House shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (Isaiah 56:3-7)
  • The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)
  • The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)
  • Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)
  • The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvos
  • He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together, as it is written (Zephaniah 3:9)
  • Jews will know the Torah without Study (Jeremiah 31:33)
  • He will give you all the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)
  • He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9)

Present-day positions

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism maintains that Jews are obligated to accept 13 Principles of Faith which is based on the Prophets, including an unwavering belief in the coming of the messiah. Template:Stub-section

Conservative Judaism

Emet Ve-Emunah, the Conservative movement's statement of principles, states:

"Since no one can say for certain what will happen in the Messianic era each of us is free to fashion personal speculation. Some of us accept these speculations are literally true, while others understand them as elaborate metaphors... For the world community we dream of an age when warfare will be abolished, when justice and compassion will be axioms of all, as it is said in Isaiah 11: "...the land shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." For our people, we dream of the ingathering of all Jews to Zion where we can again be masters of our own destiny and express our distinctive genius in every area of our national life. We affirm Isaiah's prophecy (2:3) that "...Torah shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem".
"We do not know when the Messiah will come, nor whether he will be a charismatic human figure or is a symbol of the redemption of humankind from the evils of the world. Through the doctrine of a Messianic figure, Judaism teaches us that every individual human being must live as if he or she, individually, has the responsibility to bring about the messianic age. Beyond that, we echo the words of Maimonides based on the prophet Habakkuk (2:3) that though he may tarry, yet do we wait for him each day."

The messiah in Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism generally do not accept the idea that there will be a messiah. Some believe that there may be some sort of "messianic age" (the World to Come) in the sense of a "utopia," which all Jews are obligated to work towards.

In 1976, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the official body of American Reform rabbis, authored "Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective". While not an official statement of principles, it is meant to describe the spiritual state of modern Reform Judaism. In regard to the messianic era, it states:

"Previous generations of Reform Jews had unbound confidence in humanity's potential for good. We have lived through terrible tragedy and been compelled to reappropriate our tradition's realism about the human capacity for evil. Yet our people has always refused to despair. The survivors of the Holocaust, being granted life, seized it, nurtured it, and, rising above catastrophe, showed humankind that the human spirit is indomitable. The State of Israel, established and maintained by the Jewish will to live, demonstrates what a united people can accomplish in history. The existence of the Jew is an argument against despair; Jewish survival is warrant for human hope. We remain God's witness that history is not meaningless. We affirm that with God's help people are not powerless to affect their destiny. We dedicate ourselves, as did the generations of Jews who went before us, to work and wait for that day when "They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Talmud

Template:Cleanup-date "The Talmud nowhere indicates a belief in a superhuman Deliverer as the Messiah." (Cohen, 1949. Chap. XI, The Hereafter, § I. The Messiah, p. 347) But rather mentions Moshiach and the Era of Moshiach as a period of freedom and peace. A time of ultimate goodness for the Jews, and for all mankind. However, there are statements in the Talmud which describe a truly supernatural Era as well. These two concepts- involving a natural era of goodness, and a supernatural one which is beyond nature- can be understood through the explanation which brings down a two-step process.

The first period will include and bring the world to complete perfection, which includes the Jews being brought to Israel, and the Third Temple being built (although this is supernatural, since it is primarily built by G-d.) The person of Moshiach is the leader who will lead the world to and in that era. The second period will include an existence beyond one which man can currently imagine. As explained in numerous places, the second period will be one where all of mankind will 'know G-d' in a physical and 'visual' sense.

See also

  • Messiah
  • Davidic line
  • List of messiahs
  • Jewish eschatology
  • Jewish view of Jesus
  • Jewish Messiah claimants

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cohen, Abraham [1949] (1995). Everyman's Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages (paperback), Neusner, Jacob, paperback (in English), New York: Schocken Books, 405. ISBN 0-8052-1032-6. 
  • Philosophies of Judaism by Julius Guttmann, trans. by David Silverman, JPS. 1964
  • Mishneh Torah, Maimonides, Chapter on Hilkhot Melakhim Umilchamoteihem (Laws of Kings and Wars)
  • Mashiach Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet, published by S.I.E., Brooklyn, NY, 1992
  • Moses Maimonides's Treatise on Resurrection, Trans. Fred Rosner
  • Emet Ve-Emunah: Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism, Ed. Robert Gordis, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1988
  • Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective, Central Conference of American Rabbis

External links

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)


In Islam

Main articles: Isa, Mahdi, and Muhammad al-Mahdi

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 claim 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.[citation needed]

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 religion, 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 St. 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].

This is a list of people who have been said to be a messiah either by themselves, or by their followers. The list is divided into categories, which are sorted according to date of birth (where known).

Jewish messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers, to be the Jewish Messiah.

Christian messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers to be Jesus Christ, or a Messiah under the umbrella of Christianity.

  • Aldebert (eighth century)
  • Tanchelm of Antwerp (c. 1110)
  • Ann Lee (1736-1784) central figure to the Shakers.
  • John Nichols Thom (1799-1838), Cornish tax rebel
  • Hong Xiuquan, China (1812-1864), claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus.
  • Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), claimed to be the promised one of all religions, and founded the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1892-1975), Messiah of the Rastafari movement.
  • Georges-Emest Roux (1903-1981), the Christ de Montfavet, founder of the Eglise Chrétienne Universelle
  • Sun Myung Moon (b. 1920), founder of the Unification Church
  • Abbott "Vaughn" Meader (1936-2004), grammy-winning comedian and impersonator.
  • Vince Taylor (1939-1991), rock and roller who ended his career by claiming to be Jesus.
  • Michael Travesser, born Wayne Bent (b. 1941). Claims to be the beginning of the Second Coming of Jesus.
  • Inri Cristo (b. 1948) a claimant to be the second Jesus in Curitiba, Brazil
  • David Koresh (1959-1993)
  • Maria Devi Christos (born 1960), founder of the Great White Brotherhood
  • Sergei Torop (b. 1961) who started to call himself "Vissarion," founder of the Church of the Last Testament

Muslim messiah claimants

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Islamic tradition has a prophecy of the Mahdi, who will come alongside the return of Jesus. The following people claimed to be the Mahdi.

  • Syed Mohammad Jaunpuri (1443 - 1505) of Northeastern India.
  • The Báb in 1844 declared to be the promised Mahdi in Shiraz, Iran.
  • Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892): Here as well as he'd been born Shiite and relates to both Islam as well as Christianity.
  • Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835 - 1908) of Qadian, 'the Promised Messiah' return of Jesus, founder of the Ahmadiyya religious movement in Islam.
  • Muhammad Ahmad in the late 19th century founded a short-lived empire in Sudan.
  • Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan of Somaliland engaged in military conflicts from 1900 to 1920.
  • Juhayman al-Otaibi seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca in November of 1979.
  • Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran (1900-1989) was believed by a number of followers to be the Mahdi. Upon his return to Iran from exile in 1979, the headline on Tehran's largest-circulation newspaper read, "The Mahdi Returns!"

Other messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers to be some form of a messiah outside of the sphere of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

  • Aradia de Toscano (b. 1313) active in Italy, said to be the human incarnation of the Roman demigoddess Aradia.
  • Jacob Joseph Frank (1726-1791), founder of the Frankist movement.
  • André Matsoua (1899-1942), Congolese founder of Amicale, proponents of which subsequently adopted him as Messiah.
  • Maitreya (unknown), A messianic figure promoted by Benjamin Creme through his organization, Share International.
  • Rashad Khalifa (1935 - 1990), claimed to be a prophet after the Prophet Muhammad and even included his name in his translation of the Quran.
  • John Nichols Thom(1799-1838) was a Cornish self-declared Messiah in the 19th century.

Bibliography

  • Hogue, John Messiahs: The Visions and Prophecies for the Second Coming (1999) Elements Books ISBN 1862045496

References

References

Books

  • Evangelical Christian:
  • Ankerberg, John and Weldon, John [1997]. "Chap. 11. Biblical Prophecy-Part One", Ready With an Answer for the Tough Questions About God (paperback) (in English), Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers. ISBN 1-56507-618-4. 
  • McDowell, Josh [October 22, 1999]. New Evidence that Demands a Verdict—Fully Updated to Answer the Questions Challenging Christians Today, The (hardcover), 1st Ed. (in English), Nelson Reference. ISBN 0785243631. 

On-line

Judaism

  • See also: Jewish Messiah claimants: General Bibliography.

Christianity

Islam

  • Shaukat Ali: Millenarian and Messianic Tendencies In Islamic Thought: Lahore: Publishers United: 1993
  • Timothy Furnish: Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, Jihads and Osama Bin Laden: Westport: Praeger: 2005: ISBN: 02759833838
  • Abdulaziz Abdulhassan Sachedina: Islamic Messianism: The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi'ism: Albany: State University of New York Press: 1981: ISBN: 0873954580

Non-specific religious


General

See also

  • Anointing of Jesus
  • Chosen one, a person who was chosen, usually by fate or God (or a godlike being), to save a group of people.
  • God complex
  • Jewish Messiah
  • Kalki
  • Mahdi
  • Maitreya
  • Messianic prophecy
  • Millennialism
  • Muhammad al-Mahdi
  • Messiahs in fiction and fantasy
  • Sun Myung Moon
  • Saoshyant
  • Second Coming
  • Shambhala
  • List of people considered to be avatars

External links

Non-specific religious

Jewish

Christian

Moslem

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