In Israel it is sometimes asked why the New Testament quotes "our" Old Testament here and there, or what John the Baptist has to do from a prophetic point of view as Jesus' forerunner. The words "ours" and "yours" recur again and again in the questions. However, the New Testament is, with the exception of Luke, "Jewish" literature in its entirety, and the Messianic idea, by its very nature, must be grounded in the OT prophetic light.

We have seen that the fate of John the Baptist occupied the thoughts of the historian Josephus, who considered the failure of Herod Antipas in his border skirmishes with King Aretas to be a consequence of his execution of John. The Slavic version mentions further that John had reproached Herod for his marriage to his brother's wife Herodias. But how does all this relate to the Jewish Messianic expectation and to the Biblical prophecies?

The gospel of John provides us with a remarkable detail concerning the inception of John the Baptist's ministry:

"Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests ans Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, 'I am not the Christ.' They asked him, 'Then who are you? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.' Finally they said, 'Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?' John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, 'I am the voice of one calling in the desert,"Make straight the way for the Lord""' (1:19-23).

The gospel of Matthew mentions that his disciples asked him,

"'Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?' Jesus replied, 'To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him, but they have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist" (17:10-13).

The Rabbis do not see the same connection between the "voice calling in the wilderness" of Isaiah 40 and the Messiah. For them discussion of the herald of the Messiah's coming is primarily associated with Micah 2:13 and Malachi 3:1 and 4:5-6 but also with Isaiah 52:7-8, some verses in the Psalms and even the prayers from the Jewish prayerbook.

We read in Isaiah 52:7-8:

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!' Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes."

In Micah 2:13 the Sages find a reference to the Messianic herald: "One who prepares the way will go before them . . . and the Lord will lead them." Rabbi Shlomo Yitshaq (1040-1105AD), the most famous Mediaeval expositor of the Talmud and the whole Old Testament, of whom the abbreviation RaSHI, made from the initial letters of his first names, is generally used, says of this 'one who prepares the way' that he is "the one who opens up the way of their deliverance". Rabbi David Qimhi, or RaDaQ, of whom it is said, "without him there is no correct understanding of the Bible", considered the 'opener of the way' to be Elijah, but the 'King' and the 'Lord' of this verse to be "the Branch, the Son of David". The popular Jewish commentary on the prophetic scriptures, the Metsudat David, which was composed at the end of the 17th century, understands this verse as referring to:

"the prophet Elijah, who will come before the time of deliverance to extend the hearts of the Israelites to their heavenly father in order to be a herald of redemption to them". . . "but their king is the Messiah king and the Lord will go before them, because at that time he will send back his Holy Spirit to Zion."²

At the beginning of Malachi chap. 3 we read,

"'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the LORD Almighty."

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers." ³

The Jews always remember Elijah as the Herald of the Messiah's coming at the Passover meal, with the so-called "cup of blessing" or "third cup". At the Sabbath afternoon meal, popularly called the "Messiah's meal", reference is still today made to the name of Elijah side by side with the Messiah. In the beautiful prayer composed by Elazar Kalir we read: "I rejoice and make merry in my heart . . . argue, my quarrel, and bring the Redeemer to Zion. Let the Branch sprout, Elijah and the Messiah-King."⁴ So much inner defensiveness, so many concealed hurts and mental blocks build up within us that God, in his foreseeing grace, often sends to us those who prepare our hearts for the gospel message.
 
Another remarkable Messianic Herald interpretation is connected with Ps. 43:3: "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me." The Midrash for the Psalms explains these words as meaning: "To that generation you will send two deliverers, as it is written [Ps. 105:26]: 'He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen'. And to that generation he will also send two who will correspond one to the other: 'Send forth your light and your truth'; here 'light' means the prophet Elijah from the house of Aaron, and 'truth' means the Messiah, Son of David."⁵ To this could be added many popular Rabbinic stories of Elijah as the herald of the Messiah's coming, and we can understand in the same way what the New Testament says about John the Baptist as Jesus' forerunner.

That Luke devotes over 40 verses plus a beautiful poetic hymn to the birth of John the Baptist is revealing.⁶ John's father Zechariah praises God because he has "raised up a horn of salvation for us" -- 'horn' in Hebrew expressing radiance and glory. Zechariah continues:

"And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."