Our survey of the Pentateuch and the Psalms has already mapped out for us a picture of how the oldest Jewish sources reflect all the features which are essential to the message of the New Testament. This kind of 'topikal' -- in the Aristotelean sense -- procedure shows the many-sided nature of the Messianic idea in Jewish thinking. We discussed the fact that the historico-critical approach cannot do justice to the revelatory character of the New Testament. Sometimes those who follow this line would have us believe that they represent only "historical" criticism. But there is seldom any real deep familiarity with the historical sources or with archaeology. We run into problems when a representative of that school extends his inferences into the rights of the contents of the Christian faith. For this reason there has been a move, particularly in Norway, towards an alternative to the historico-critical method in the form of a "revelatory-historical" approach. This excludes neither historical nor literary analysis, but prefers to let the Bible illuminate itself.

Old Testament and New Testament exegesis should not be carried out in isolation one from another. Jesus said to his disciples that everything must come to pass which is written of him in the Prophets and Psalms; Paul declared before Felix the governor that he believed "everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets"; and Peter said that "all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days". In the Jewish understanding Samuel is one of the prophets, and from his books there is a direct line of Messianic promise from David to Solomon and to the promised anointed king whose throne will be established "for ever".¹

The Jewish prayer book contains RaMBaM's Confession of Faith, the 13th article of which gives the basis for joint discussion to which appeal might be made: "I believe with perfect faith that everything the prophets have spoken is the truth." The Talmud also, as we have seen, stresses that "all the prophets which have spoken have foretold the days of the Messiah."

Jewish theology, however, if it is at all possible to speak of such, is not founded on the Old Testament alone. Shalom Ben-Chorin, the well-known Jewish writer and theologian, has said that Judaism is reminiscent of "Catholic divinity in which there are two fixed points: the Scriptures and Tradition". The Old Testament is to be interpreted in the light of tradition. The Rabbis often say that, "The Old Testament without the expositions of our scholars -- may their memory be blessed -- is not comprehensible." The study of the Prophets is avoided particularly in the Jewish schools, the Yeshiva, because they confuse the pupils' thoughts. In some religious schools pupils are even punished if a scroll of the Prophets is found in their possession. In order to increase the authority and standing of the teachers it is said that if "a pupil repeats the words of his Rabbi, it is as if he repeated the words of the Holy Spirit".²

Even the oral tradition was said to have been given as early as the time of Moses.³ The Jerusalem Talmud states that "some of the precepts were given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and they are all preserved in the Mishna"⁴ "Furthermore, everything an older student teaches under the auspices of his Rabbi has already been given to Moses on Sinai."⁵  Sometimes this attitude is taken to its logical conclusion as in the Rabbinic saying that "The words of the old Sages are of greater import than those of the prophets."⁶  This attitude is very deeply rooted in the soul of the devout Jew.

Also typical of Jewish thought is the fact that Moses, in the spirit of Deut. 18, is called a "prophet". RaMBaM's 7th article states: "I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of our teacher Moses -- peace be to him -- is true, and that he was the father of the prophets, of both those who came before him and those who came after." It was with this in mind that we looked in great depth at the Messianic expectation associated with the "books of Moses". Even though the traditional interpretation of the Law has pushed the Judaic hope for a deliverer out of the picture, RaMBaM stresses in his 12th article: "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even if he tarry, still I will wait for him every day until he comes."

As a general observation regarding the exposition given up to this point it could be said that in the Pentateuch only Jacob's blessing, Balaam's vision, and the promise of the coming of a prophet like Moses have from an early stage been for both Jews and Christians indisputable Messianic proofs. Similarly the Psalms contain points of departure acceptable to both parties. The expectation of a coming deliverer has in Judaism, however, given rise to a discussion more variegated than that to which we within Christianity are accustomed. In Latin the word textus, 'text', means 'something woven'. This multicoloured textile woven from different styles of exegesis will be brought to completion when we start to search for the roots of our Christian faith in the prophets.

THE GENERAL NATURE  OF THE MESSIANIC OFFICE IN THE PROPHETS

We have already seen that there are 72 Messianic interpretations in the Aramaic Targums associated with different passages in the Bible. Critics cannot, it is true, know for certain the date of this oral tradition's origin -- the literature received the written form we know now only in the course of transmission through the centuries. The Talmud places Targum Onqelos in the second Tannaite generation, in other words, between the years 80 and 110. Rabbis Eliezer and Yehoshua consider it to be the work of Onqelos himself, of whom it is known that he was a gêr or 'proselyte'. Speaking of this, the Talmud also says that Jonathan Ben Uzziel, who lived in Jesus' time and was a pupil of the great Hillel, received his traditions from Haggai Zechariah and Malachi.⁷ The Targum officially accepted by the Synagogue, that of Onqelos, is called with justification the Babylonian Targum, and it is indeed closely bound with the Babylonian Talmud -- the Jerusalem Talmud is actually only one twelfth of the size of its vast Babylonian counterpart. Targum Jonathan, the most strongly Messianically tinged, contains material from pre-Christian times. For example, in connection with Deut. 33.11 Jonathan has a long prayer which refers to Johannes Hyrcanos, who lived from 135--105 BC. It would appear that a significant part of Jonathan's exegesis is indeed representative of pre-Christian ideas.⁸ This same Jonathan also dealt with the prophets.

It is estimated that the Old Testament contains altogether some 456 prophecies concerning Christ. Of these 75 are to be found in the Pentateuch, 243 in the Prophets and 138 in the "Writings" and Psalms. Most of these references are isolated verses, in which the Rabbis in particular see the Messianic motif. In some cases there are whole chapters to be considered.

Critical study of the Messianic hope is difficult in that it is an ideographic matter, a concept which has its own specific way of using language. The Bible is God's revelation to us. Peter says that,

"concerning this salvation, the prophets... searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ... " and "Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." For this reason, "no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation."⁹

The father of church history, Eusebius, divided the Messianic office into three parts: the kingly, the priestly and the prophetic.¹⁰ The most distinctive feature of the prophetic books is that their Messianic predictions generally have eschatological overtones: "in that day", "behold the days will come", "at the end of the days", "in the day of the Lord", "in these days", or "in the last days". We have also seen that eschatological terminology is used in conjunction with the most important of the Messianic prophecies in the Pentateuch. In RaDaQ's exposition of Isaiah 2:2, "every place which mentions the latter days is also a reference to the days of the Messiah". We will first present an overall view of what the prophets say concerning the Messiah and then look at prophecies connected with his birth and sufferings.
 
The prophets of the Northern Kingdom, Israel

Amos, Hosea and Jonah associate the coming deliverance with the Davidic line, even though the northern kingdom was no longer ruled by the royal house of David. King Solomon had erected the temple in Jerusalem in an attempt to unite the whole country religiously. The northern kingdom, consisting of 10 of the tribes of Israel, soon broke away, however, from the southern kingdom, Judah. King Jeroboam I (931--910 BC) had two golden calves made, one at Bethel and one for the northern border at Dan, which were intended to supplant the spiritual hegemony of Jerusalem. This ancient Canaanite rite associated with the worship of Baal was indeed "Jeroboam's sin". Israel went through almost a score of kings before the judgement of God fell on them in the form of Assyria, which took the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom into captivity in 722 BC.

The prophet Amos

was born in Tekoa in the vicinity of Bethlehem, but his main work was to be within the northern kingdom. He linked his vision of the future deliverance with the house of David, proclaiming the coming "day of the Lord", in part reminiscent of Joel's near cosmic description of the time of judgement  (Amos 5:18--20 and 8:9). It contains, however, a message of hope:

"'Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites?' declares the LORD...  'Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth -- yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob', declares the LORD. 'For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations... In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins...  I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them...  I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them' " (9:7--15).

It is worth at this point referring to Yair Hoffman's Hebrew work "Prophecies in the Bible concerning the Gentiles".¹¹ In this book the writer brings to the Jews a new point of view when he reveals the universalist thinking of the prophets of Israel: their prophecies are not merely the product of a narrow nationalistic outlook, nor do they strive to transmit a message of deliverance only for the nation of Israel! This voice is somewhat novel among Jewish critics.

Yalqut Mechiri, a collection of miscellaneous comments on the OT in the Talmud, points out in relation to the verse which refers to the Cushites that both Moses' wife Zipporah, which means "little bird", and the Ethiopian Ebed-Melech, who rescued Jeremiah from the well (Jer. 38:7--13), were dark-skinned. The Talmud attaches a discussion to the picture of "David's fallen tent" in which it is stated that the Messiah was affectionately known as "Bar Naphli" because he was to restore David's fallen tent. In Hebrew the verb "fall" carries as in English the other meaning of falling physically, and the Rabbis do indeed see a connection in this cryptic name to the fact that he has "fallen down from heaven".¹² The Rabbis also refer to the Messiah at times by the name  Anani, 'from the clouds', or Ben ha-Ananim, 'Son of the clouds' -- he will indeed come, in the words of Daniel chapter 7, "in the clouds". The Greek Huios nephelôn, 'Son of the clouds', used of the Messiah, is also derived from the discussions of the book of Amos.

In its comment on Amos the Yalqut makes many references to the Messiah. Amos 4:7 says that God will "withold the rain" and will send rain "on one town but not on another". The Yalqut alludes to the long discussion in the Talmud about the signs of the End Times to which this characteristic belongs and at which time the "Son of David" will come.¹³ Amos 5:18 says that the day of the Lord "will be darkness, not light". Again the Yalqut cites the Talmud, which speaks of the coming of the Messiah when "darkness will cover the land and blackness will cover the people".¹⁴ The events of Amos 8:11 and 9:13, which speak first of the "famine of hearing the words of the LORD" and then of the material flourishing which will be extended even to nature, are seen by both the Yalqut and Talmud as taking place in the days of the Messiah. The Midrash Rabbah on Genesis sets forth an interesting discussion of Amos 9:11 and Zephaniah 3:9, which could profitably be written in gold letters:

"And what of the fact that God will restore the fallen tent of David, as it is written, 'In that day I will restore David's fallen tent'? This means that the whole world will be one family (Hebr. agudah, 'organisation' or 'body of people'), as Zephaniah (3:9) promises: 'Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name af the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder'."¹⁵

The prophet Hosea

attached his hope to David in the same way, although he too functioned as a prophet of Israel. The appearance of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah took place at about the same time. When Isaiah's work is said to have begun in the year that King Uzziah died, 740 BC, Hosea began his ministry 20 years earlier and continued it for over 40 years. Hosea's hope was aimed very far ahead:

"For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterwards the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days."(3:4--5).

"In that day I will make a covenant for them...  I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD."(2:18--20).

"The Israelites will be dispersed for a long period and will await deliverance...  and they will have no sacrifice, because the Temple will be in ruins...  and they will turn to false gods, because they lack the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the worship at the altar... but after a long time the Israelites will return to their own country and then they will seek the Lord to ask him for what they need, because he will return and pour out his spirit upon them; and David their king, for they will also seek the Messiah-King."

"Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear... "

Yet again in the last chapters of Hosea there is mention made of the power of the resurrection which the people will one day experience:

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?...  I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots...  his fragrance will be like a cedar of Lebanon" (13:14 and 14:6).

The prophet Jonah,

also one of the prophets of the northern kingdom, has achieved a status of some significance in the gospels. Jesus referred to him often (eg. Matt. 12:39--41, 16:4, Luke 11:29--32 etc). Jonah son of Amittai was born in Gath-Hepher in Upper Galilee (2Kings 14:25), and so a prophet did, in fact, come from Galilee, even though John 7:52 describes how Nicodemus was pressed for an answer as to how such was at all possible. Jonah's ministry took place during the lifetime of Jeroboam II (782--753 BC), which makes him the earliest of the so-called "minor prophets". According to Jewish tradition Jonah was the son of the widow of Zarephath whom Elijah raised from the dead and who is said to have subsequently become his apprentice. Later, when Jonah was swallowed by the great fish and then escaped, it was as if he had risen from the dead a second time. This "sign of Jonah", which is referred to even by the Midrash, is thus appropriate as a confirmation of the NT belief in the resurrection. The book of Jonah speaks in particular of love for one's enemies, as God took pity on the city of Nineveh to which he had sent his prophet.

Since Jewish Messianic expectation is often closely bound up with the End Times, it is worth remembering that eschatology is not merely concerned with the history of the last days but in particular with how we are to understand death, resurrection, and the reality of life after death -- all of which are "ultimate issues". As we have seen, even the books of Hosea and Jonah contain references to these.
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1.     See 1. Sam. 15:28, 1 Sam 28:17, 2 Sam. 7:13 and Ps 89:4.
2.     Sanhedrin 110a.
3.     Shabbah 31a and Berakôth 5a.
4.     Masechet  piâ II, halacha 6.
5.     Megilla 19a.
6.     Jer. Talmud, Masechet berakôth chap. I, article 4.
7.     Megilla 3a.
8.     See Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament, pp173-180.
9.     1. Pet. 1:10-11 and 2 Pet 1:20-21.
10.    Eusebius, Church History, I,3.
11.    Jair Hoffman, Ha-nevuôt al ha-goyyim bamikrah, Tel-Aviv University puplication, 1977, 335 pp.
12.    See Sanhedrin 96.
13.    Sanhedrin 97a.
14.    Sanhedrin 98b and Is. 60:2
15.    From the Cairo finds, Ber. Rabbah 59,11.