MESSIAH, The, is a term which is, in John i, 41, and, in John iv, 25, but without the article, applied to Jesus of Nazareth, as the ap pointed king of the Kingdom of God. The Greek word which is the translation of the Aramaic term meaning Messiah, namely, xer076c, in English Christ, is used of Jesu in this same sense throughout the New Testa ment. The word Messiah itself is a modified transcription of the Greek word hfertulor. The extract transcription would be Messias, as the word appears in the Authorized Version in both the passages cited above, and the form Messiah is due to the influence of the form of the original Aramaic and Hebrew word. For the word which appears in Greek as hfecraia was, in Aramaic and Hebrew, a "0 Q.(initit'6). All the forms of the term Messiah, as well as the Greek equivalent, Xpwr* , and the English Christ, mean Anointed One, and refer to Jesus, when applied to him, as God's Anointed King.
In the Old Testament, (rail %) (English Messiah) is used, in a few cases, without the article, and as an adjective, of priests, who were anointed to their office (Lev. iv, 5 and 16, vi, 22). But, in the definite sense of the Anointed One, or the Messiah of Jehovah (the Lord's Anointed), it is used, with a very few possible exceptions, only of kings. Thus, in 1 Sam. ii, 35, it is used of the kings of Israel in general. In 1 Sam. xii, 3 and 5, xxiv, 6 and 10, it is used of Saul; and, in 2 Sam. xiv, 21, xxiii, 1, it is applied to David. In Lam. iv, 20, it denotes Zedekiah, King of Judah; and, in Isa xlv, 1, it is applied to Cyrus, King of Persia. two possible exceptions to its use to denote kings may be found in Psa. cv, 15 (quoted in 1 Chron. xvi, 22) and Hab. 13, where it seems to be used to mean the nation of Israel as the priest people of Jehovah, al though, even in these cases, it may refer only to the king. In Daniel ix, 25 and 26, it is very difficult to decide the true meaning of this word, because of the great uncertainty in rela tion to the correct interpretation of these verses. According to the various interpretations which have been given to them this word would mean a high priest, a royal ruler, or that great king of the kingdom of God known to us as Jesus of Nazareth. It is not certain, however, that both times it is used in these verses it has the same meaning. In Psalm ii, 2, the best and
most probable interpretation would make the term denote the great coming king known to us as Jesus the Christ. This is the only pas sage in the Old Testament in which this term can be taken with any reasonable degree of probability to refer to our Saviour.
In the post-canonical literature, the first clear application of the term Messiah to the great coming king of Israel is found in the Psalter of Solomon, dating from about 63 In this poetical collection we have a full and clear description of 'this king and his work under this title. There are, indeed, in the Sibylline Oracles and the Book of Enoch, ex pressions and terms which must be supposed to refer to the coming and expected king of Israel, but the name Messiah is not used in these writings.
While the pre-Christian use of the term Messiah to denote the divinely appointed and eternal king of the Kingdom of God is thus limited, the Old Testament abounds in state ments and teachings relating to this king, and that form of the Kingdom of God in which he is to be ruler and sovereign. In some of the passages relating to this final form of the Kingdom of God it is said that Jehovah him self will be the king, as he was, in reality, in all the history of the kindom of Israel. Consult as examples of passages of this kind, Isa. 2-4, Isa. xxxiii, 22, Ezek. xx, 33, Ezek. xxxiv, 15, Zeph. 15, Zech. xiv, 16. In other pas sages, in harmony with the idea that, while Jehovah was always the real king of Israel, he was represented in the government by a vice gerent king, his anointed on the throne of David at Jerusalem, it is declared that a great and eternal coming king, who, in some of the passages, is stated to be of the line of David, shall reign as king in the final form of the Kingdom of God. Among the passages of this kind may be cited Psa. cx, Isa. ix, 6 and 7, Jer. xxiii, 5-8, Jer. xxx, 8 and 9, Ezek. xxxiv, 23 and 24, Ezek. xxxvii, 24 Hosea iii, 4, Micah v, 2-5, Zech. ix, 9. Just what will be the relation, in person and in nature, between Jehovah and this Davidic king, is not made clear, or even asserted, in the Old Testament.