THE PROPHETS WHO APPEARED AFTER THE EXILE

The prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi who were active after the Babylonian captivity focussed their Messianic hopes on the new Temple. The historical background to this time is described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Haggai

received his prophecy in the second year of King Darius in 520 BC and continued his proclamation for 4 months. He depicts the contradiction in which "the people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built,' " whereas the LORD said, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses?" Nevertheless, God "stirred up the spirits" of the governor Zerubbabel and the priest Joshua to the extent that they "came and began to work on the house of the LORD". And it was of this Temple the promise was given that, "The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house" (2:9). In this spirit Haggai was able to encourage his contemporaries:

    "But now be strong, O Zerubbabel...  Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land... 'This is what I covenanted with you... ' declares the LORD...  'And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth... ' " (2:4--6). " 'From this day on I will bless you'...  I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,' declares the LORD Almighty" (2:19,23).
This general message is associated by the Rabbis with an expectation of "salvation" which is aimed at the time of the "end of the end" and the "last days". God will move heaven and earth and the hearts of the nations. Commenting on the "signet ring" the Metsudat David says that, "Just as a signet ring is not removed from the owner's hand, so my love will not recede from him, for 'I have chosen you'. I have chosen one from your seed to be the Messiah-King". And indeed this Zerubbabel, who is mentioned in Jesus' genealogy, became the seal of the Messianic idea (see Matt. 1:12).

Zechariah

began his ministry two months after Haggai in 520 BC. The high priest Joshua and his friends were living prophecies, in that they had to take off their "filthy clothes" as a symbol of the way the LORD Almighty would "remove the sin of this land in a single day" (3:9). "The LORD will again comfort Zion (1:17). Of Israel the LORD said: "Whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye". One day the nation will celebrate a great "Feast of Tabernacles" and then even the bells of the horse and the cooking pots will be "HOLY TO THE LORD". Nevertheless, at this time the "day of small things" is not to be despised (2:8, chap. 14 and 4:10).

The Targum interprets the promise in Zech. 3:8, "I am going to bring my servant the Branch," as that God "will bring his servant the Messiah, who is to come". Speaking of the "capstone" of 4:7 the Targum says, "In this way the Messiah will be revealed, for his name is from the most ancient times and he rules all the kingdoms". The words of 6:12, "Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place", are translated as: "Behold the man! His name is the Messiah. He will come and will be great, and he will build the Temple of God." And also 10:4, "From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent-peg", are interpreted by the Targum as: "From Judah will come his king, from him his Messiah". The Metsudat David sees here the "king who is exalted by the people, and who is placed as the cornerstone in the building, the most polished... as it is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner."

The Talmud too touches upon the Messianic idea in its discussion of Zechariah. When, for example, 1:20 speaks of the "four craftsmen" which were shown to the prophet, the Talmud says that here we can see the "Messiah Son of David, the Messiah Son of Joseph, Elijah, and the Angel of Righteousness".46 The Talmud also touches upon the King of the Daughter of Zion who rides on a donkey. At one point reference is made to the well-known words of Rabbi Hillel, who said that as early as the time of Hezekiah the Israelites rejoiced over the Messiah, but "they ate him", and the Talmud hopes fervently that God will forgive Hillel, because "Hezekiah lived in the time of the first Temple and Zechariah was speaking in his prophecy about the age of the second Temple".47 Zechariah 12:10, "they will look on me, the one they have pierced" is interpreted by the Talmud as referring to "the Messiah, Son of Joseph", in other words Ephraim, of whom we have spoken at several points.48

The Midrash contains an interesting discussion of the secret names of the Messiah. Zechariah 9:1 speaks of "the land of  Hadrach". The Midrash to the Song of Songs mentions, regarding that name, that it refers to "the Messiah, who is had [sharp] and rach [tender] -- sharp in his dealings with the Gentile nations, but tender towards Israel, which means that this  Hadrach, the Messiah-King, will "lead" [lehadrîch, from a similar root] the people of the whole world into repentance".49

Christian exegesis finds a great deal of Messianic material in Zechariah. Christ is "my servant the Branch", and "he will branch out from his own place" (3:8, 6:12).50 He is "gentle and riding on a donkey" (9:9). He was betrayed for "thirty pieces of silver", which were then thrown "into the house of the LORD" (11:12--13). He was pierced, and through his redemptive work we have "a fountain opened... to cleanse ... from sin and impurity" (12:10 and 13:1). "If someone asks him, 'what are these wounds on your body?' he shall answer, 'The wounds I was given at the house of my friends' " (13:6) In Hebrew the phrase is literally "the wounds between your hands or arms, ben yadeichâ, and so the Rabbis interpret this as being a beating "on the shoulders, between the arms". The next verse reads: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" This word "close", amiti, means in Hebrew 'of equal standing' or 'peer'. The Metsudat David says of this shepherd that "he is of equal standing in the sense that he is the shepherd of his people, just as I am Israel's shepherd". Ibn Ezra refers in this context to "the death of the Messiah, son of Joseph". Jesus himself quoted these verses during the Last Supper when he spoke about how his disciples would all fall away on account of him: "For it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered' " (Matt. 26:31 and Mark 14:27). Zechariah displays an apocalyptic strain when we read in ch. 14 of the Christian hope that: "On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives...  It will be a unique day...  When evening comes there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem... " (14:4, 7--8). We must always bear in mind, however, that such apocalyptic, dream-like features should be interpreted in their wider context. Nevertheless, they too belong to OT Messianic expectation.

The book of Malachi

finally closes the circle of prophetic revelation. Here we are in the late echoes of the revival of Haggai and Zechariah, around the year 516 BC. Some 60 years later the work of Ezra and Nehemaiah will begin. The prophecy starts with pointed words: "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' " The people were serving the LORD with deception; they brought "blind, crippled and diseased" animals for sacrifice, and had forgotten to give tithes to the Lord. Worst of all was that they had "violated the covenant with Levi" and forgotten their call as a priestly nation. Many had divorced their wives: "Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his... 'I hate divorce,' says the LORD God of Israel" (2:14--16).

It is into just this kind of situation that the Messiah is to come:

    " '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."
The phrase "the LORD Almighty" (Yahweh Tsebaoth) is repeated 20 times in Malachi.
    "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites... " (3:1--3).
RaDaQ, Rabbi David Qimhi, "without whom there would be no correct exposition of the Bible," says of the "Lord" who will come to his temple that, "He is the Messiah-King and the Angel of the Covenant". The Metsudat David distinguishes between the Angel of the Lord and the Angel of the Covenant: "The Lord is the Messiah-King, for whom the eyes of everyone wait and long and wish to come, but by the 'Angel of the Covenant' is meant Elijah." The final passage of Malachi agrees with this:
    "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" (4:5--6).
In Micah 2:13 we have already come across this thought that "one who breaks open the way" will come before the Messiah. Again RaDaQ sees Elijah here, and in the "king" of the following verse 14 the Branch, the Son of David. The Metsudat David says that "Elijah will come before the Deliverance to turn Israel's hearts to their fathers", and in the King of Micah 14 it sees "the Messiah-King". The work of John the Baptist cannot be understood without these interpretations.

The Midrash makes its own contribution to the Messiah picture in Malachi. Mal. 4:1 says:

    "Surely the day is coming: it will burn like a furnace". On this the Midrash says: "When He who is to come finally arrives the Holy One will reveal his fire from its vessel, burning up sin, as it is written: 'The day that is coming will set them on fire."51
Malachi 4:2 promises that one day "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings". The Midrash speaks of the "rising of the sun when the Messiah comes, as it is written: 'To you who revere my name will dawn the sun of righteousness and healing".52 One of Professor Joseph Klausner's pet ideas was that through the Messiah a kind of "golden age" would dawn upon humanity, an age in which mankind would find healing under his wings, to use Malachi's figure.53

In this overview we have seen it to be true that "all the prophets prophesied not but of the days of the Messiah". The Jewish Messianic idea can be seen to be based, particularly in its older aspects, on more extensive material than its Christian counterpart. Even if the expectation of a future Saviour does often arise from the historical situation of the time in which the prophets lived, it displays to a surprising extent, even among Jewish scholars, features which are supra-historical in nature.
----------
46.    Sukka 52b and the Yalqut for Exodus
47.    Sanhedrin 99a.
48.    Sukka 52a.
49.    Midrash for the Song of Songs, 7th parasha.
50.    See also Jer. 23:6. Is. 11:1 and 53:2.
51.    Midrash Bereshit, par. 6.
52.    Midrash Shemoth Rabbah par. 31.
53.    Klausner, Messianic Idea, eg. p8.

The next chapter "THE BIRTH  AND THE CHARACTER  OF THE MESSIAH"

Back to the main page of Risto Santala's books