Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Yigal,

> I'm sure that everyone on this list knows that the literal meaning of Ma$iax
> in the Tanakh is "anointed" - someone who has had oil poured on his head.
> This can be either a king or a priest, and even a foreign king (such as
> Cyrus in Isaiah 44-45). "Christos" is simply the Greek translation of the
> same. "The Mashiah" in the sense that the word is used in Judaism (or in
> Christianity, for that matter) is a late Second Temple and later
> development, both linguistically and conceptually. I don't know of a single
> place in the Tanakh where I would read the word Ma$iax to LITERALLY mean
> "Messiah" in the later sense.
> Does anyone have any examples to the contrary?

HH: In my opinion, Dan 9:25 is such a case, but you probably disagree.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard