Matthias Henze in Mind the Gap has a thought-provoking discussion of how understanding the writings that emerged during the 400 year gap between Old and New Testaments affects such a foundational Christian concept as messiah.
Christ is the basis for the word Christian. Christians, most would agree, are those who believe Jesus was the–Greek– christos or–the Hebrew/Aramaic– masshiach. This means that Jesus is the “anointed one”. You may have heard preachers say that Jesus was the messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. I have probably said that myself.
But the Old Testament contains no straight-forward prediction of a coming messiah. Kings were said to be anointed of God, including the Persian king, Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1). Priests and prophets also were anointed ones. However, Henze says, “…there are no texts in the Old Testament that know of the concept of a messiah as an awaited agent of God, a…
View original post 675 more words
James' Ramblings 