MESSIAH is a Hebrew word, of the same signification as the Greek Xpurros• (Christ), anointed. In the Old Testament the word is repeatedly applied to persons who were consecrated to the service of God in some sacred office. Thus the Jewish priests, prophets, and kings are called anointed (Messiah), or the anointed of God. From this general meaning the word has passed into a particular use, referring to the illustrious personage whom the ancient Jews expected, and whom their descendants still expect, to confer some signal blessings on their nation and the world. The word is found in this sense twice in the Ohl Testament, in Psalm ii. 2, and in Daniel, ix. 25, 26.
The expectation of the Messiah, first excited by the promise given to Eve after the fall of man (Genesis, iii. 15), may be traced from the exclamation of Eve at the birth of Cain, " I have gotten a man from Jehovah," or "a man Jehovah" (Genesis. iv. I), down through the patriarchal history, the Mosaic law, and the whole series of the Jewish prophets ; and it is very generally admitted that remnants of the early belief upon this subject are plainly seen in the religion and traditions of nearly all heathen nations. For information on these traditions, see Dr. J. P. Smith's ` Scripture Testimony to the Messiah,' book ii., c. 2; and Bp. Horsley's ` Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Mes siah, dispersed among the Heathen.' See also Hengstenberg'e Chris tologie des Alien Testaments.' The expectations of the Messiah among the Jews in the period between the close of the Old Testament and the birth of Christ, as indicated by the Targums, the Apocrypha, the Book of Enoch, and the writings of Philo and Josephus, were confused and often inconsistent. From Josephus we learn nothing on the subject, a fact sufficiently accounted for by his own temporising disposition and the circumstances in which be was placed.
At the time of Christ's advent various expectations respecting the Messiah prevailed among the Jews. It is sufficiently evident from the New Testament, that, while some looked for a human prince who was to deliver them from the Roman yoke and exalt them to national supremacy, others expected a divine teacher who was to confer spiritual blessings not only upon them but also on the Gentiles. (Bertholdt'e
Christologia Judaeorum Jesu Apostolorumque Aetate,' and Kuinoel's Comment. in Lib. Hiat. N. T. ' Proleg, ad Johan., § 7.) The opinion of the Samaritans, recorded in john, iv. 42, that the Messiah would be a religious teacher and " the Saviour of the world," is worthy of special attention, because the Samaritans received no part of the Scriptures but the Pentateuch, and were cut off from all intercourse with the Jews by national hatred.
It is the belief of all Christians that Jesus Christ is the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. The evidence of this fact is contained in the New Testament, especially in the four gospels, trom which it appears that his lineal descent, the place, time, and other circumstances of his birth, the constitution of his person, the history of his life and death, the 'Miracles he performed, and the doctrines he taught, all agree to the minutest particular with the prophecies respecting the Messiah.
The Jews, having rejected the claims of Jesus Christ, arc still looking for the Messiah, whom they almost universally expect to be a mere man and to confer on them only temporal blessings. Most of the Rabbinical writers of the middle ages speak of two Messiahs : one, the son of David, the conquering monarch ; the other, the suffering Messiah, the son of Joseph, who is to fall in battle, fighting for hie countrymen against Gog and Magog, and in this sense to die for them. This opinion may be traced up to the 6th century, and perhaps higher. In these Rabbinical writings, especially in the book Zohar,' there are scattered valuable fragments of the more ancient belief of the Jewish people on this subject. (Schottgenii, `Horns liebraiem et Talnaudiew ;' and Lightfoot'e Works?) In different ages there have appeared numerous "false Messiahs" (Matt., xxiv. 24). Of these ecclesiastical historians reckon twenty-four, for an account of whom the reader is referred to Johannes h Lent's ` History of False Messiahs.'