Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

I think the job description of the biblical messiah
(as opposed to the Christian) was based on the job description
of Cyrus the Messiah (Isaiah 45:1):
he would rebuild YHWH's temple and the city of Jerusalem,
he would return the exiles to their land,
and apportion their desolate heritage.
The disappointment in Cyrus led to the emphasis on the Davidic line.
I suggest passages such as Isaiah 11, which emphasize the Davidic
line are later, and post-exilic.
Prior to 2nd-Isaiah and Cyrus you have such exilic poems as Psalm
89 which show the extreme disappointment in the promises to David.
In these biblical texts I don't see an eschatological Messiah.
I think you have to wait for Enoch, which I place later, and which
is influenced by Zoroastrianism.

Liz


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan D. Safren [mailto:yon_saf AT bezeqint.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 1:58 PM
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Re: The Messianic Idea (Was:Re: virgin: _BETHULAH_ and/or
> _(ALMAH_ )
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Moshe Shulman" <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>
> To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 7:28 PM
> Subject: Re: The Messianic Idea (Was:Re: virgin: _BETHULAH_ and/or
> _(ALMAH_ )
> > I wouldn't mind discussing this if we could first agree as to
> what we mean
> > bu 'messiah' and which one we are talkign about.
> >
> >
> I  mean the classical Jewish belief in the Davidic Messiah, which
> had become
> so important by the first century CE that within the space of a hundred
> years three claimants to this title appeared, of whom the death of one led
> to a new religion, and the last of which led to an even worse
> devastation of
> Judaea than had been caused by the First Revolt (and, as you should know,
> there were later claimants to this title as well, such as Shabbetai Zevi,
> Solomon Molcho, and, most lately, the Lubavitcher Rebbe). I mean
> the belief
> which had originated in the term used for every king of Israel
> and Judah, "
> the anointed one", which combined with the prophetic ideal of the
> ideal king
> as expressed in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, continued by the early
> post-exilix prophets, and, when their prophecies and hopes did not come
> true, turned from real to eschatological.
> Sincerely,
> Jonathan D. Safren
> Chairman
> Dept. of Biblical Studies
> Beit Berl College
> 44905 Israel
>
>
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