THE MESSIAH WHO WILL RULE THE NATIONS

It has been often emphasized by Christian scholars that the "Critical science admits only two pre-prophetic texts from the OT literature as Messianic", the first of which being Jacob's blessing. Christian exegesis contents itself here with the general statement that the Messiah is of the root of the tribe of Judah. The old Jewish interpretation sees a Messianic reference in the very first words of that blessing, which speak about 'the end of the days'. As we have already seen in Rabbi Qimhi's name, "Everywhere that there is mention made of the last days, the days of the Messiah are intended."

The saying 'the end of the days' makes its first appearance in the Bible in Jacob's blessing, in Gen. 49:1; "Then Jacob called for his sons and said: 'Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you at the end of the days.' " The blessing which Judah received speaks of the Messiah as the ruler of the nations. All the expository works of the Rabbis beginning with the Targumim and Midrashim see here a clear Messianic prophecy. The various shades of the Messianic expectation can be seen in their interpretations almost as if refracted through a prism. Verses 11 and 12 read:

    "The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes."

In Christian theology and in Judaism the attempt has been made to deny altogether the doctrine of the 'end times'. Martin Buber, a Jewish professor considered a master of religious dialogue, once told me in a private conversation an old anecdote bearing on Jacob's blessing: The Holy Spirit departed from Jacob, the story goes, when he mentioned the 'last days'. "Personally", Buber explained, "I completely reject eschatology [the doctrine of the end times]. Eschatology is not history, neither is history eschatology. The prophets were not fortunetellers; they wished to reveal what was necessary and relevant to their own time, just as God reveals himself in each age according to our needs."

I can well understand Buber's attitude. It brings to mind the words found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, that the prophets recorded of the visions they received "only that which is needful for Mankind".25 Even Midrash Rabbah maintains that, "Jacob wished to reveal the end times, but they were hidden from him".26

But can we prove anything about the historical background of this blessing? Is it possible that it actually did originate in Jacob's time, or is it later? Are the patriarchical accounts mere fireside stories, as modern exegetes sometimes openly assert? What do the Targum, Midrash and the Rabbinic literature have to say about its Messianic character?

The archaeologist W.F. Albright has made some interesting observations on Jacob's blessing. He claims that it was not of course written down before the 11th century BC, but it nevertheless derives from a much older tradition.27 We know nowadays about the so-called Mari texts from Mesopotamia, written on over 20,000 clay tablets.28 Albright shows from the Mari text mule-sacrifice descriptions that the same three words for 'colt' used in Jacob's blessing are found in Northern Mesopotamia, even in the same order. Similarly the phrase 'the blood of grapes' resembles an old Ugaritic expression 'tree-blood' which was used of wine. Such being the case, Jacob's blessing is based on a very old tradition.

If we take into consideration the fact that the Babylonian king Hammurabi conquered and destroyed the city of Mari in 1759 BC, according to the average reckoning, or in 1695 BC by the later estimation, there is no reason to doubt that, from a linguistic point of view, Jacob's blessing is from Jacob's own time. The well-known orientalist E.W. Hengstenberg mentions the Arabic poets Lebid and Hareth, the former of which composed a poem on his death bed at the age of 157, and the latter recited poetry when he was 135 years old -- in any case at a very advanced age, even if there should prove to be exaggeration in the accounts of how long they lived. With the increase of literacy in humanity there has been a corresponding decrease in the capacity for memorisation. Jacob's blessing does not lend itself to dissection by modern methods of criticism.29

Christian exegesis has considered Jacob's blessing Messianic since the time of Justin Martyr in the middle of the second century. The Jewish Messianic understanding of this text is founded on older material. Targum Onqelos says of Judah's sceptre that it will not depart "until the Messiah comes, he who has the power to reign". Targum Jonathan puts it that the verse refers to "the age of the Messiah-King, the King who will come as the youngest of his children". Targum Yerushalmi speaks of the 'time' when "the Messiah-King will come".

The Midrash literature attaches to the blessing additional features based on the nature of the Hebrew language. Midrash Rabbah states that,

    " 'The sceptre will not depart from Judah... until Shilo ('he') come', this is the Messiah-King... 'Judah's sceptre' means the Great Synagogue, the Sanhedrin, which was struck and which collapsed... until Shilo come."
In this connection the Wise discuss such matters as the ancestry of the celebrated Rabbi Hillel and declare that, "A genealogical table was found in Jerusalem which said that he was descended from David". " 'He will tether his donkey to a vine' ", the Midrash continues, "means the city which he has chosen" [the unusual word îyroh used here for 'donkey' or 'colt' sounds the same as îyrô 'his city', ie. Jerusalem]. Then follows a shattering observation:
    "Rabbi Hanin said that Israel will not require the teaching of the Messiah-King, because in Is. 11:10 it is written; 'In that day the Gentiles will rally to the root of Jesse', but not Israel. If this is so, why will the Messiah-King come, and what will he do? He will bring Israel back from their dispersion and give them 30 [new] precepts." 30

The commentary known as 'The Priestly Gift' explains what this means from the point of view of the Torah or Law:

    "The Messiah-King will clearly elucidate for them the Torah and the errors into which they have thus far fallen... The 30 precepts are ordinances which the nations of the world must observe". 31
It is significant that the Midrash doubts whether Israel will receive the Messiah's teachings. At the same time the possibility is entertained that the Rabbis might have been mistaken. Generally it is strictly maintained that even the words of a Rabbi's disciples are given by the Holy Spirit, and that "The fear of a Rabbi is the same as the fear of God". This is connected psychologically with the child's relationship with his parents: "Just as a man is commanded to respect and fear his father, so he must respect and fear his Rabbi more than his father." 32

It is this point which is indirectly at issue in Mark 7:9--13 where we see Jesus opposing the Rabbis' custom of freeing a person from his duties to his parents if he gives a Corban gift to the Temple. In this way the word of God was nullified by the traditions of men. The Midrash goes as far as to assert that, "...all decisions to be hereafter given by eminent scholars already existed and were communicated as law to Moses from Sinai". 33

Midrash Tanhuma proposes the following in its discussion of Judah's portion of Jacob's blessing:

    "Why did your brothers praise you, Judah [v.8]? Because all Israel would be called 'Jews' after you; and not only for that reason, but also because the Messiah will be your descendent, he who will save Israel; as it is written, 'A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse' (Is. 11:1)." 34
And indeed, in every corner of the world where we find Jews we find in them a people who were called to make known the coming of Christ and his redemptive work.

The Midrash Rabbah on Lamentations, one of the six oldest Midrashim, speaks of Israel as a "virgin, the daughter of Judah". It appends to this a long discussion, which also appears in the Talmud, of the name of the Messiah, concluding with the word 'Shilo' from Jacob's blessing. Lamentations 1:15--17 reads;

    "In his winepress the LORD has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah. This is why I weep . . . for no-one is near to comfort me . . . Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no-one to comfort her."
The Midrash elaborates on these words as follows;
    " 'My eyes overflow with tears, for no-one is near to comfort me, no-one to restore my spirit', thus Israel is called the 'eye of the Holy One'. . . 'The comforter that should restore my spirit is far from me'; and what is the name of the Messiah-King? . . . The LORD is his name, because Jer. 23:6 says, 'This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD our Righteousness . . .' The 'BRANCH' is his name, because Zech. 6:12 states, 'Behold, here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place . . .' 'COMFORTER' is his name, because it is written, 'The comforter is far from me'."
Then the Midrash introduces also the name 'LEBANON', which refers to the Temple, because Is. 10:34 says, "Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One".
    " 'SHILO' is his name, because it is written in Gen. 49:10, 'Until Shilo comes'. . . 'MERCY' is his name, because Jer. 16:13 says, 'And I will show you no mercy'. . . 'YINNON' is his name, as Ps. 72:17 says, 'Before the sun was, his name was Yinnon." (That is, 'may he sprout') 35

The Messiah's name, the Rabbis maintain, is one of the seven things which were ordained before creation.36 These names describe the nature of the Messiah's mission. If we do not take into account the Biblical way of thinking which underlies these concepts we might well conclude, as one critic did, that they are "enigmatic or half-humorous".37 Nevertheless, it is specifically here that we can see the full gamut of the earliest Jewish Messianic expectation.

But what is meant by the phrase 'until Shilo comes'?

Jewish scholars find meanings for the Hebrew word 'Shilo' which are unknown to Christian Theology. Some see in it the root shâlêv which means 'peaceable', and from that can then be derived shalvâh, 'peace'. In other words, the Messiah is the Prince of Peace. Some scholars maintain that shilo in its original form was moshlô, 'their ruler', making the Messiah the Ruler of the Nations. RaSHI -- the leading OT and Talmudic exegete of the Middle Ages who also had a particular affection for the Targums -- says of Shilo that,

    "He is the Messiah-King and his (shelo) is sovereign power. This is how Onqelos understood the matter. The Midrash explains it with the words shai loh, 'gifts for him', because Ps. 76:12 says, 'Let them bring gifts to the One to be feared'."38
And so the idea of the 'one to be feared', MORAH, also became an epithet for the Messiah. The Gospels tell us here and there that those who heard Jesus were overcome with great fear.39

When the Rabbis begin to open up the Bible's secret 'hints', the remazim, they wish at the same time to reinforce ideas already current in the synagogue. In one of these methods of interpretation, known as gematria, the numeric value of the letters of words were counted and then compared with other words yielding the same value. This method is founded upon the statement in the Wisdom of Solomon 11:22 that, "God has prepared everything according to measure, number, and weight".

But what did the sages find out about the 'Shilo' idea with the help of their gematria? The numeric value of 'Shilo will come', yavô shilôh, is 358, which corresponds exactly to that of mashiah, 'Messiah'. The gematria value of nahash, 'snake', is also 358. Gottlieb Klein wrote that in terms of the Jewish mystical Qabbalah this meant that "the Messiah is to crush the head of the serpent".40 Such observations have no scientific basis, but they illustrate the Rabbis' understanding that the Messiah will overthrow the corruption of sin. This same expectation is reflected in 1 John 3:8, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil".
 
 

And what significance do the images of the Donkey and the Vine have?

The Talmud and Midrash Tan .huma have devoted particular attention to the symbols of the donkey and the vine in Jacob's blessing. The vine is most commonly understood to mean Israel, and the strange word for 'donkey',  îyrôh, as 'his city' (Heb. 'city'=  îyr, 'his city =  îyrô), in other words 'Jerusalem', where the Messiah is to arrive. Both of these words are also understood in their primary sense. When discussing the donkey, reference is made to Moses, "who took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey" (Ex.4:20) and likewise to the "second Moses", the Messiah, as "he is lowly and riding upon a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zech.9:9). Thus will the Messiah humble himself.41

"Our Rabbi Obadiah" describes Jacob's blessing as follows: 42

    "The Messiah will not come on a warhorse, for he is the King of Peace...  On the other hand 'he will tether his donkey to a vine', which means that his kingdom of peace will reign in Israel, which is likened to a vine...  And when it is made known that he comes in peace then will the nations obey him...  And the weak, who are left behind, will hear him and return to him."

In the Talmud it is said that if someone dreams about a donkey, he may hope for the Messianic salvation.43 Both the Talmudic and the Zohar traditions state that, if someone "dreams of a vine he may look forward to seeing the Messiah, for it is written: 'He will tether his donkey to a vine' ".44 The symbols of the donkey and the vine are further set in relief by the fact that in Aramaic both words are written in exactly the same way in the unpointed writing: hamara, 'donkey', and hamra, 'vine'. These Aramaic words do not, of course, appear in the Hebrew OT text.

The most natural points of comparison for Jesus' work are found among these Jewish Messianic expectations. He rode into 'his own city' choosing a donkey as a sign of lowliness and subjection. There is a hint in this which we find also discussed in the Talmud:

    "The Son of David will come only in a generation which is either altogether righteous or altogether wicked. 'In a generation which is altogether righteous;' as it is written: 'Then will your people be righteous and they will possess the land for ever' (Is 60:21). Or 'altogether wicked;' as it is written: 'He saw that there was no-one, and he was appalled that there was no-one to intercede' (Is 59:16)... 'And behold, one like a son of man, coming in the clouds' (Dan.7:13). It is also written, 'gentle and riding on a donkey' (Zech 9:9): if they are righteous he will come in the clouds. If not, he will come humbly and riding on a donkey." 45

The comparison of the Messiah to a vine also appears in the NT. Jesus declared in the 15th chapter of John that, "I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener...  Remain in me and I will remain in you". It is perfectly possible that the traditional thoughts preserved in the Talmud regarding hopes attending pious dreams were known even in Jesus' time. The background of the Vine allegory can thus be better understood.

In their translations of Gen. 49:12, Targums Jonathan and Yerushalmi speak of "the eyes of the Messiah-King". How beautiful they are, "as resplendent as wine" -- the AV has it that they are "red with wine". The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT made ca. 200 BC) however, follows more or less the same interpretation as the Targums. The Revelation of St. John, which in the words of the Mediaeval Rabbi Abraham Ben  Ezra was written "under the power of the Holy Spirit" and was "acceptable for all Jews to read", says three times about Jesus' eyes that they were like "a flame of fire".46 The Gospels tell us how Jesus "looked at" the rich young man "and loved him", and how he "turned and looked straight at Peter" who, broken by that glance, started to weep bitterly.47

Franz Delitzsch drew attention to the fact that the Proto-evangel speaks of "him" in its account of the "woman's seed", aiming collectively at the salvation promised to "the whole of humanity"; the promise given to the Patriarchs was given in the singular through the Messiah as a "seed" which would impart a blessing to all peoples. In this case, however, the issue of Jacob's blessing would seem primarily to concern the "tribe" of Judah, and here we have the beginning of a certain nationalistic   "narrowing down". 48

The Messiah depicted in Jacob's blessing is nevertheless the Ruler of the nations. We see in this a vision of a salvation which is universal in its intent. The Hebrew word for 'ruler's staff', me hôqêq, means literally 'lawgiver' -- thus the Rabbinic emphasis that, "the Messiah will clearly elucidate the Torah". The Rabbis question whether Israel will need the Messiah's teaching, since the Gentiles will obey him. Nevertheless he will come "to his own city".

The Jews have dreamed of the Messiah as a noble "vine," something which is brought out by the Hebrew word sôrêqâh (Gen. 49:11), 'a vine yielding purple grapes', the richest variety. The Messiah will not be prepared for war but rather will come as the Prince of Peace. He will cleanse his people with the "blood of grapes". And all Israel will, on account of the blessing Judah received, be called 'Jews'. The main thing, however, is that the Messiah will be descended from him. In this way Jacob's blessing already reflects all the shades of the Jewish Messiah expectation as if seen refracted through a prism.
----------
25.    Masechet Megilah 14a.
26.    Midrash Bereshith Rabbah par 98.
27.    W.F. Albright, The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra, New York 1963, p12.
28.    A. Malamt, Mari and the Bible. A Collection of Studies, Jerusalem 1977 - articles in Hebrew and English
29.    E.W. Hengstenberg, Christology  of the Old Testament, p.28.
30.    Midrash Bereshith Rabbah par 98.
31.    Matanoth Kehuna, corresponding section.
32.    Hilchot Talmud Torah 10:5
33.    Midrash Qoheleth Rabbati 1.
34.    Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshith vayehi, 64.
35.    Midrash Rabbah De-eicha 1:16. See also Sanhedrin 98b.
36.    Pesahim 54a and Nedarim 39b.
37.    S. Mowinckel, He That Cometh, p293 - "enigmatic or half-humorous".
38.    Mikraoth Gedoloth, corresponding section.
39.    Luke 5:26, 7:16, 8:25 and 37
40.    Gottlieb Klein, Sex föredrag, p.113.
41.    See eg. Strack-Billerbeck 1, pp842-3
42.    Mikraoth Gedoloth, Sipureinu, the "explanation of Our Rabbi Obadiah".
43.    Berakoth 56a.
44.    Berakoth 57a.
45.    Sanhedrin 97b.
46.    Revelation 1:14, 2:18 and 19:12
47.    Mark 10:21 and Luke 22:61. The Septuagint uses the phrase kharopoioi, 'making glad'.
48.    Franz Delitzsch, Messianische Weissagungen, pp40-1.

The next chapter "THE MESSIAH AS THE SECOND MOSES"

Back to the main page of Risto Santala's books