Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Christian M. M. Brady" <cbrady AT tulane.edu>]

On 1/30/01 6:37 PM, "Moshe Shulman" <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> At 08:58 PM 1/30/01 +0200, Jonathan D. Safren wrote:
>> ----- 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
> 
> I understand that, but the term 'messiah' is post Biblical, so that when we
> want to discuss this 'Davidic King' we need to look at it that way. He is
> not the only 'messiah' of Jewish tradition. It's liek calling Hillel 
> 'Rabbi'.

I don't understand how you can say that the term "messiah" is "post
Biblical." The term occurs extensively throughout the Hebrew Bible from 1
Sam onward in reference to a King (and specifically to a descendant of
David). 

Now, if you meant "messiah" with all of its eschatological baggage, then
that is another matter and Jonathan clarified that this was not what he
meant. 

Cb
cbrady @ tulane.edu
-- 
Writing bows one's back, thrusts the
ribs into one's stomach, and
fosters a general debility of the body.
                       Ancient Colophon