(10) The IVIessianic Hope. (1) Israel was a nation of hope and promise. Unlike other peo ples, its Golden Age was in the future, not in the past. From the earliest beginning of national consciousness it was a gradually developing belief that Israel had a special mission, separate from the rest of the world, yet in some important de gree connected with the spiritual life of the world. The Divine purpose for humanity was believed to lie implicit in the unfolding history of this peo ple. The Hebrew records preseryed the first promise made to the race (Gen. iii :t5), a prom ise that though the struggle between good and evil should be long and bitter, yet in the end the good should triumph. This Divine purpose mani fested itself in the selection of certain individuals or tribes through whose life the disclosure of the plans of God was to be made. Such men were Noah (Gen. vi:8; ix :8-/7) ; Shem. (Gen. ix :26, 27), and through him the Semites as a race; Abraham (Gen. xii:/ sq.) and his descendants, the Hebrews; Jacob (Gen. xxviii :to-t6) and his de scendants, called after him Israel ; and Judah, as the royal tribe, and the one which should stand as the representative of the nation (Gen. xlix :8-to). This process of selecting men for the special pur pose of leadership in this nation continued throughout its history. It was the application of the universal principle of selection. But it was not a selection for favor, but rather for service. Israel was the chosen people of God, but not for its own sake. It had a ministry for the world. Its leaders were prophets, priests, and kings, and these men, especially the prophets, were unique in their character and work. Their counterpart is not to be found in any other history. But in the last analysis the nation as a whole was re garded as royal, as priestly, as prophetic (Exod. xix :6). What these special men did as leaders for the nation, Israel as a unit was to do for the world. Herein lay its unique office.
(2) But from the time of Amos and Hosea it was seen that the nation as a whole was unpre pared for such a ministry. (gee Amos and HosEA.) The religion of Jahveh was set aside too often for that of other gods, or was mixed with unworthy elements that robbed it of its effective ness. .A purgation was seen to be necessary,. A cleansing process alone could purify the people and make them worthy of then- high ministry ; and the power through which this regeneration was to be wrought was recognized by all the prophets of that period as being Assyria, and later Babylonia. Only such a purification as should come through national disaster and suffering could avail to prepare Israel for its true mission. But after this period of suffering had passed, the rem nant would be worthy, and a glorious future would be expected. That future would be the Messianic age, holy and marked by the presence of God. Tim' consecration of kings and priests was signified .ity their anointing with the holy oil. From.this word "Anointed," or "Messiah," grew up the idea of the future glorious time as "Anointed," o, "Messianic." The conception of
a person, who stands a5 the common denomina tor of the new period of national salvation and purification, is first presented by Isai- !I. In his rebuke of King Ahaz for presumptuo, . disregard of God and an attempted defense o_ his capital by resort to arms and alliance with Assyria, the prophet announces the birth of a child, in whose day, soon to dawn (Is. vii :14), and under whose leadership as a conqueror, and yet a Prince of Peace (Is. ix :6, 7), the national deliverance was to be achieved; after which there would come the period of happiness and peace (Is. xi :t sq.). That Isaiah expected this child-king of the house of David in his own day seems certain, otherwise the predictions of deliverance from Assyrian op pression would have been meaningless, and herein is disclosed one of the interesting factors of proph ecy. The outlines of the coming order of things were apparent to the eyes of the prophet, but the hour of arrival was not so clear. The drama of redemption was ,:ontracted into a single scene, but its larger meaning lay implicit in the slowly unfolding movements upon which they looked. Deliverance from Assyria came, but not through the rise at that time of the Messianic King. Yet the vision was true, for the larger outlines of the Messianic time yet ahead fitted in no small degree the local distress and the certainly foreseen de liverance.
(3) It remained for a later prophet to see %vith yet clearer vision the true character of the Mes sianic work and outlines of the Messianic figure. The Evangelical Prophet sets forth the Messianic hope in its fullest light, and Ile does this under the figure of the Suffering Servant of God. To him at first Israel as a whole is the Servant (Is. xli :8 ; xliv :I sq.). Though fallen upon unhappy days, yet this very time is one of purification ; and now that the process of purgation is reach ing its completion, it is time to prepare for larger things to come. Redemption is not to be wrought by war and strife, as was the earlier view, but by peaceful methods (Is. xlii :1-4), and therefore the figure of the King no longer appears, but the Ser vant in a humble and yet successful work. Pres ently, however, the idea that the nation as a whole can do the great work appears to be aban doned. Too many are indifferent. The remnant, the best part of the nation, is all that can be counted upon in such an enterprise. This rem nant will save not only the apostate part of the nation, but the world at large (Is. xlix :5-7). But even the remnant was weak and unable to accomplish the Divine work; and at last One rises from the remnant, a representative of both it and the whole nation, able to do that which both had failed to accomplish, the Divine Servant, the Messiah. From Is. hi :13 to the success of the Servant's mission is set forth in terms that show the blending of the personal and national ideas about the Messianic figure. That this c-on ception of the Messiah finds its fulfillment in the historic work of Jesus Christ is the teaching of the Ncw Testament. H. L. W.