Jesus as the Messiah

Part 1: The Messiah
Part 2: Messianic Expectation
Part 3: Jesus as the Messiah


In the study of the Messiahship of Jesus, several questions arise: Did Jesus know that he was the Messiah? If he did, when did he, in his lifetime, realize that he was the Messiah? Did Jesus proclaim to his disciples and to others that he was the Messiah? These questions are not easy to answer, and a simple answer to these questions may, perhaps, be a way to get out of the problem. Many scholars agree that the question whether Jesus ever declared openly that he was the Messiah or that he had a Messianic self-consciousness is one of the major problems for understanding Jesus’ life and teachings.

Messianic consciousness presupposes the claim to belong to a realm which extends far beyond the range of ordinary human possibilities. The Messianic claim presupposes that everything the prophets of the Old Testament had predicted about the coming Messiah, the son of David, was finding fulfillment in the person of Jesus. The Messianic hope proclaimed by the prophets includes the eschatological nearness of salvation, the nearness of the Kingdom of God, and the advent of reconciliation and redemption.

The message of the early church was that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, the assertion that Jesus was the Christ was proclaimed by the church and this assertion became one of the most important characteristics of the Christian message. To deny that Jesus was the Christ is also to deny the focal point of the Christian message.

The Messiahship of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity. Christianity was born not with the birth of the man who was called “Jesus,” but in the moment in which one of his followers was driven to say to him: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16 NRSV).

If Jesus is the Messiah, how and when did he become conscious of his Messiahship? The answer to this question is not easy, for the gospels do not provide much information as to the manner in which Jesus’ Messianic consciousness arose.

Some scholars affirm that Jesus never made any explicit Messianic claim and that he displayed no direct Messianic consciousness. However, the New Testament clearly indicates that the disciples regarded Jesus as the coming Messiah. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah Israel had been expecting. It is important to understand an important problem in the Messianic claims of the New Testament: some of the passages in the Synoptic gospels in which the disciples recognized Jesus as Messiah reflect the Easter story projected backward into Jesus’ life and ministry. But the fact remains that the New Testament, the proclamation of the apostles, and the traditions of the early church affirm that Jesus was the promised Messiah. In addition, the events related to Jesus’ death reveal that he was crucified as a Messianic pretender.

As one studies the Messiahship of Jesus, two questions must be asked. First, did Jesus declare that he was the Messiah? Second, when did Jesus become aware that he was the Messiah? To answer the first question, several passages must be considered.

When Jesus was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, the high priest asked him: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61). In Matthew, the question appears in the form of a request: “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). When asked whether he was the Messiah, Jesus answered: “I am” (Mark 16:62).

When Jesus was brought before Pilate, Pilate asked him: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus told Pilate: “Yes, it is as you say” (Mark 15:2). Another passage that indicates that Jesus was aware of his Messiahship is Matthew 16:13-20 (cf. Mark 8:27-30), a passage that contains Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. When Jesus asked his disciples, “who do you say I am?” Peter answered: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” According to Matthew, Jesus commanded his disciples “not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

The restraining order of Jesus to his disciples, asking them not to proclaim to others that he was the Messiah is known in scholarly circles as “The Messianic Secret.” Jesus’ reluctance to be proclaimed as the Messiah of Israel was based on the fact that he did not want people to be led to a false conception of the Messiah, the same conception he had rejected during his temptations in the wilderness.

The second issue that arises in the study of the Messiahship of Jesus is: when did he become conscious of his Messiahship?

Some Christians believe that at the age of twelve, the occasion when Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover (Luke 2:41-52), he was aware that he knew that the Father had sent him to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) and that he would inherit the throne of David (Luke 1:32). Others believe that the Messianic consciousness came during his baptism, when the voice from heaven declared that he was God’s son (Luke 3:22). Still others believe that this consciousness came during the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13).

Although no specific occasion can be described as the exact moment when Jesus became aware of his Messiahship, it is clear that, early in the ministry of Jesus, the Synoptic gospels give evidence that Jesus was conscious of his special relationship with God and maybe even of the necessity of' suffering as a way to fulfill his mission.

During his baptism, a voice from heaven said: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). These words combine different Messianic ideas from the Old Testament. The first part of the statement, “You are my Son” identifies Jesus as the Messianic Son of God (2 Samuel 7:14). The second statement identifies Jesus as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 42:1).

The temptations in the wilderness are based on the assumption that Jesus was conscious of his Messiahship, for apart from this assumption, the temptations are without meaning. What the gospels attempt to affirm is that after Caesarea Philippi the disciples recognized and acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah. Up to this point Jesus had been waiting for the disciples to recognize him as the Messiah. Once they accepted him as the promised Messiah, Jesus changed the focus of his ministry and taught them what kind of Messiah he was to be, namely, a suffering Messiah.

The gospels affirm that Jesus was the promised Messiah but he was a different Messiah. Jesus did not fulfill the popular expectation that the Messiah would “restore the kingdom of Israel” (Acts 1:6) during the time of his visitation. His work as the Messiah was not to establish a temporal and political kingdom, but to bring about the good news of the kingdom of God to all the nations of the earth (Matthew 28:16-20).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Christ, Jesus, Messiah, Religion

Messianic Expectation

Part 1: The Messiah
Part 2: Messianic Expectation

According to the narratives of the biblical text, David, the second king of Israel, was one of the greatest kings Israel ever had. A leader, both in battle and in politics, a good administrator, organized, and a musician, David became a hero to his people very early in his life. Because of the exceptional qualities ascribed to him in the biblical text, to the biblical writers, David became the model for all the kings who succeeded him, both in Judah and in Israel.

The dynasty of David obtained its religious legitimation by the so-called Nathan prophecy found in 2 Samuel 7 (cf. 2 Samuel 23:l-7) where God made an everlasting covenant with David (2 Samuel 23:5), a covenant in which God promised to establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13). In this covenant between God and David, the dynasty of David was promised eternal existence (2 Samuel 7:16, 29; cf. also Psalm 89:3-4, 29-37; 132:11-12).

Thus, the Messianic expectation in Israel is linked to God’s covenant with David and to a well-developed world of ideas that came with the aggrandizement of David and the idealization of the Davidic kingdom. This Messianic ideal in Israel grew as the monarchy declined. It appears that the beginning of what is known as the Messianic hope in Israel begins to take place in the eighth century, primarily with some of the oracles of the pre-exilic prophets Isaiah and Micah. These two prophets begin to speak of a deliverer in terms which suggest that this deliverer will be an ideal king like David. Passages such as Isaiah 9:l-7; 11:l-9 and Micah 5:2-4 speak of a “shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse” and a ruler who will come from Bethlehem, one “whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The ancient time mentioned by Micah is a reference to the times of David.

The Messianic hope that God would send an ideal king, one who would be like David, increased during and after the exile, at a time when the people in Babylon hoped for a return to the promised land and the reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom. However, the lack of detail about a Messianic expectation in the prophetic books indicates that a developed Messianic hope in Israel did not come into full bloom until later in post-exilic times.

Later additions to the prophetic books provide a good overview of the development of the prophetic hope in the exile and the post-exilic period. For instance, an addition to Hosea declares that the Son of David would be the bond of union among the tribes (Hosea 3:4-5). An addition to Amos says that David’s tent, which had fallen down, would be set up again (Amos 9:11). Micah promised that the remnant of Israel would become a strong people and the Lord would reign over them and that Bethlehem would be the birth place of the son of David who would rule in Israel (Micah 5:2-4). Isaiah said that David’s throne would be occupied forever and that the Gentiles would come to the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:10). Jeremiah (Jeremiah 33:15-16) and Ezekiel (34:23-24) pointed to the reestablishment of the kingdom under one Shepherd and King, who should be David (that is, a son or descendant of David). The book of Daniel speaks about the coming of the Son of Man who should become ruler over nations (Daniel 7:13-14). Haggai and Zechariah speak of a son of David who was destined to be the great temple builder who would rule as the Lord’s “signet ring” (Haggai 2:23) and as the Lord’s servant and he would be known as “the Branch” (Zechariah 3:8).

In the inter-biblical period, at a time when many people began to believe that revelation had ceased, the expectation of a coming Messiah grew. The idea of a coming Messiah is present in the several apocalyptic writings of this time.

William Barclay, in his book, Jesus As They Saw Him (London: SCM Press, 1962), pp. 112-137,
developed a list of events and ideas associated with the coming of the Messiah. This list was drawn from the Old Testament and from the literature of the inter-biblical period:

(1) Elijah will return to be the herald and the forerunner of the Messiah.

(2) The Messianic Age was to begin with what was called the “travail of the Messiah.”

(3) Before the arrival of the Messianic age, there will be a time of terror.

(4) This time of terror will be a time of complete disintegration of society.

(5) The coming of the Messiah will be preceded by a time of cosmic upheaval.

(6) The beginning of the Messianic Age will be a time of judgment.

(7) The Gentiles will have a place in the Kingdom.

(8) The time of the Messiah will be a time for the ingathering of Israel.

(9) In the Messianic Age, Jerusalem would be restored and renewed.

(10) The resurrection of the dead is a regular hope and expectation of the Messianic Age.

At the beginning of the first century, the Messianic hope in Israel was in full bloom. In the Judaism of the time of Jesus, the Messiah expected by Israel was to be someone who would reveal God’s glory. This Messianic hope included the expectation of a deliverer who was to free the people of Israel, who for centuries were ruled and oppressed by foreign conquerors. The Messiah, who would be a man of Israel, would defeat Israel’s enemies and rule over the nations.

Thus, the Messianic expectation in Israel pointed to a coming king, a king who would be raised up from the family of David, reign over the house of Israel, who would rule supreme over the nations, and who would bring the end of time. This was the Messianic expectation of the first century.

This picture of the Messiah is not what the writers of the gospels presented in their writing. The Synoptic gospels’ presentation of Jesus’ life and work, when measured by Messianic expectations of first century Judaism, leaves no doubt that Jesus Christ was not the kind of Messiah people expected.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Christ, David, Messiah, Religion

The Messiah

The Hebrew word messiah (מָשִׁיַח) means “anointed one.” The word is derived from the verb מָשַׁח which means “to anoint.” The word occurs thirty-nine times in the Old Testament. Of these, thirty-seven times the word is translated as "anointed” and twice it is translated as “Messiah” (Daniel 9: 25-26). This latter meaning appears only in the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Other versions, however, differ in the translation of Daniel 9:25-26. For instance, the NIV translates the word as “the Anointed One,” the RSV as “an anointed one,” and the New Jerusalem Bible as “an Anointed Prince.”

There are two specific uses for the word messiah in the Old Testament. The word is used to refer to the anointed priest and to the anointed king. The word messiah is used to designate kings Saul and David as “the Lord’s anointed.” Although all the kings of Judah were anointed at the time of their accession to the throne, the word messiah is never used to identify another king of Judah by name. The only exception is found in the prayer of Solomon where, speaking to God, Solomon called himself “your anointed one.”

A reference to an “anointed one” appears in Habakkuk 3:13: “You came to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.” The mention of the anointed one in Habakkuk is a reference to an unidentified anointed king and not to Jesus Christ as some commentators have interpreted. The reference to “the anointed of the Lord” in Lamentations 4:20 could be a reference to Jehoiachin who was considered the legitimate king of Judah (Ezekiel 1:12) or to Zedekiah, the last king of Judah who was deported to Babylon (2 Kings 25:7). The mention of the anointed one in Lamentation is a reference to the theocratic king as spiritus vitalis. The word messiah was also applied to the priest who served in the Tabernacle and the Temple (Leviticus 4:3, 5, 16; 6:22). The reference to the Messiah in Daniel 9:25-26 may be a reference to the high priest. However, these two verses in Daniel have been interpreted in different ways by scholars. Because of its controversial nature, these two verses will not be considered here since I have dealt with Daniel 9:25-26 here, here, and here.

The Hebrew word messiah is also applied to the patriarchs who were regarded as prophets: “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm” (Psalm 105:15; cf. 1 Chronicles 16:22). In 1 Kings 19:16 Elijah is told to anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, a man from Abel Meholah, to succeed him as prophet. However, there is no evidence that the patriarchs or the prophets were anointed. Finally, the word messiah is used to describe Cyrus, king of Persia, as the agent YHWH used to deliver Israel from exile: “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus” (Isaiah 45:1).

The form of the title “The Lord’s anointed” is used of Saul (1 Samuel 24: 6, 10) and of David (2 Samuel 19:21). Another form of the title appears as “His anointed” referring to Saul (1 Samuel 12:3, 9), referring to David (2 Samuel 22:51), and to a king who is not identified (Psalms 2:2; 20:6). The form “Mine anointed” is used of a Davidic king (Psalms 132:10). The title “your anointed one” refers to a Davidic king (Psalm 89:38, 51); it refers also to Solomon (2 Chronicles 6:42). The expression “the anointed of the God of Jacob” (KJV; NIV: “the man anointed by the God of Jacob”) is used of David in 2 Samuel 23:1.

The use of the word messiah to describe the king as “the Lord’s anointed” is due to the Israelite conception of the inviolability of the king and the belief that the king was endowed with the Spirit of YHWH (1 Samuel 24:26; 2 Samuel 1:14, 16).

The word messiah is also found in the Qumran literature. In reality, because the Messianic doctrine present in the documents found at Qumran includes many unique features that are closely related to the teachings of the early church, some scholars have suggested that John the Baptist and even Jesus himself borrowed many of their ideas from the people who lived at Qumran. However, such a suggestion has been rejected by most scholars for nowhere at Qumran, at least in the documents that have survived, is there a reference to the unique idea present in New Testament Christology: the pre-existence of the Messiah. One aspect of the eschatological view of the community at Qumran was that the community expected the coming of a Royal Messiah. This Messiah would be the head of the New Israel and the commander of the troops in the Final War against the sons of darkness.

In the New Testament, the transliterated Aramaic form messiah is found only in John 1:41 and 4:25, both times followed by the Greek translation Christos. Elsewhere in the New Testament, when the translation of the Hebrew word messiah is found, that is, “Christ,” the use of the word is a result of the Easter faith.

The form "Christ” became part of the name of Jesus who in the beginning was called “Jesus the Christ” (Matthew 16:20 KJV; cf. John 20:21) and later came to be known simply as Jesus Christ. It must be noted, however, that the word “Christ” is always used by other people to refer to Jesus and not by Jesus to refer to himself. One exception is found in Matthew 16:20 where Jesus “warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Anointed One, Christ, Messiah

Is Barack Obama the Messiah?

Barack Obama has won the battle with Hillary Clinton to become the nominee of the Democratic Party to run against John McCain for the presidency of the United States in November. Despite the charges of improprieties that has been lodged against him by an investigative reporter, the rise of Barack Obama to the nomination has been meteoric.

The campaign of Barack Obama to the nomination has been presented in messianic terms. In fact, there is a whole blog dedicated to answer the question whether Barack Obama is the Messiah. The blog, Is Barack Obama the Messiah? introduces itself with a quote from Obama taken from a speech Obama gave in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on January 7, 2008, a quote that reflects the words of Isaiah 9:2:

“... a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany . . . and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama.”

The messianic movement associated with Obama seems to be growing. A Google search of the words “Obama” and “Messiah” yields more than 300,000 entries. The blog dedicated to finding out whether Obama is the new messiah quotes the words of several individuals who are fascinated with the Obama phenomenon. Here are some of the quotes taken from that blog:

“This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament.” “I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event.”

-- Chris Matthews

“I would characterize the Senate race as being a race where Obama was, let's say, blessed and highly favored. That's not routine. There's something else going on. I think that Obama, his election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. . . . I know that that was God's plan.”

-- Bill Rush

In an article that appeared in the Jewish World Review titled “A Messiah in Our Midst?”, Jonah Goldberg writes about the messianic fervor that characterizes the Obama campaign. Goldberg wrote:

Obama's apostles are hard to dismiss. Oprah simply calls him "The One," because "we need politicians who know how to be the truth." (Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth ...") Oprah goes on to say Obama will help us "evolve to a higher plane," which would put Obama in the role of our Intelligent Designer.

Michelle Obama is arguably Obamanity's greatest evangelist, even though she has a streak of Old Testament smiting and wrath to her. She insists her husband has redeemed the entire nation (hence her newfound pride in America). She proclaims her husband is the sort of leader who will fix our broken souls. But don't hope for grace on the cheap. "The change Barack is talking about is hard," she insists, "so don't get too excited, because Barack is going to demand that you, too, be different."

When asked in an interview what sin is, Obama defined it as "Being out of alignment with my values."

On the night he gained the majority of delegates needed to secure his nomination, Obama gave a victory speech in which he used words that come close to the words of the Servant in Isaiah 61:1. He said:

I am absolutely certain, that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless.

The purpose of this post is not to take a political position or to endorse one candidate over another. My fear is that so many people are mesmerized by the charismatic persona of Barack Obama that they are saying with words and actions that he is the new messiah. It is at this time that people must remember the words of Christ:

If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here's the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don't fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better (Mark 13:21-22 The Message).

If Jesus said that false messiahs and false prophets will appear in the last days and with words, signs, and wonderful deeds will deceive, if possible, “those who ought to know better,” then one must be aware because whoever that false messiah will be, he will be very convincing.

Is Barack Obama the new Messiah? No, he is just a politician!

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Barack Obama, False Messiah, Messiah

The Release of Jehoiachin from Prison

The conclusion of the book of Kings (2 Kings 25:27-30) is an appendix to the book which was written in exile. The text describes the release of Jehoiachin from prison. According to the text, in the thirty-seventh year of his exile (560 BCE), Jehoiachin was set free by Evil-merodac and was given preference and a position of honor above the other kings who were vassals and captives in Babylon.

Evil-merodach was the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He is also called Amel-marduk. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah and he reigned three months before he surrendered to the Babylonian army and was deported to Babylon with the royal family and many members of the nobility of Judah.

In Babylon, he spent thirty-seven years in prison. So, when he was set free in 560 BCE, Jehoiachin was fifty-five years old. What changes can happen to one’s life after thirty-seven years in prison? Jehoiachin was born to be a king, a man of power and authority and yet, because of the sins of his people, he was taken into exile, put in prison, and forgotten by all.

As an heir of God’s promise to David, Jehoiachin ruled as the servant and as the son of God, as a seedling from David’s root. As king, he represented the nation and as such, he had to pay for Israel’s rebellion. Even the people in exile recognized this fact: “Our king, the Lord’s anointed, the very life of our nation, was caught in their snares. We had foolishly boasted that under his protection we could hold our own against any nation of earth” (Lamentations 4:20 NLT).

In prison, Jehoiachin lost his dignity as king. He endured suffering and pain; he was ignored by one and all. Some people believed he was an evil king and that his suffering was a punishment sent by God because of the sins of his father Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:9).

No one ever heard a word spoken by Jehoiachin while he was in prison. It was as if he were dead, as if the prison were his grave. He was arrested, deported, and led off to Babylon to die in prison there. But after thirty-seven years in prison, Jehoiachin again was recognized as a king, given a place of honor at the king’s table, and exalted above the other captive kings. The thirty-seven years of humiliation and suffering were forgotten and a new life began for Jehoiachin.

This privileged situation of Jehoiachin lasted as long as he lived. The date of his death is unknown. Thus, the conclusion of the book of Kings provides a ray of hope, a light shining for the Jewish community, announcing the coming of a new day. God had brought judgment to his people but his anger would not last forever: Israel’s king was alive.

The news that their anointed one, their Messiah, was alive and out of prison brought great joy among the exiles. It is possible that most of them had no idea whether the king was dead or alive. It is possible that many people believed that the king was put to death as punishment for the people’s rebellion and that he was buried with the evil men that had destroyed their land.

To celebrate this special occasion, the prophet of the exile known as Deutero-Isaiah composed a song of thanksgiving for the people in Babylon to celebrate the release of their king from prison.

A Song of Thanksgiving
Celebrating the Release of the King

Who would have believed what we now report?
Who could have seen the Lord’s hand in this?
It was the will of the Lord that his servant
should grow like a plant taking root in dry ground.
He had no dignity or beauty
to make us take notice of him.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing that would draw us to him.
We despised him and rejected him;
he endured suffering and pain.
No one would even look at him -
we ignored him as if he were nothing.

But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,
the pain that we should have borne.
All the while we thought that his suffering
was punishment sent by God.
But because of our sins he was wounded,
beaten because of the evil we did.
We are healed by the punishment he suffered,
made whole by the blows he received.
All of us were like sheep that were lost,
each of us going his own way.
But the Lord made the punishment fall on him,
the punishment all of us deserved.

He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly;
he never said a word.
Like a lamb about to be slaughtered,
like a sheep about to be sheared,
he never said a word.
He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die,
and no one cared about his fate.
He was put to death for the sins of our people.
He was placed in a grave with the wicked,
he was buried with the rich,
even though he had never committed a crime
or ever told a lie.

The Lord says,
It was my will that he should suffer;
his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness.
And so he will see his descendants;
he will live a long life,
and through him my purpose will succeed.
After a life of suffering, he will again have joy;
he will know that he did not suffer in vain.
My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased,
will bear the punishment of many
and for his sake I will forgive them.
And so I will give him a place of honor,
a place among the great and powerful.
He willingly gave his life
and shared the fate of evil men.
He took the place of many sinners
and prayed that they might be forgiven.
(Isaiah 53:1-12)

There was hope for the future. As Deutero-Isaiah had spoken: “My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up” (Isaiah 52:13).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Isaiah 53, Jehoiachin, Messiah

Hendel’s Messiah: An Anti-Judaism Oratorio?

Michael Marissen, in a very interesting article titled “Unsettling History of That Joyous ‘Hallelujah’” published in The New York Times on April 8, 2007, reviews Hendel’s Messiah and concludes that the oratorio is a veiled attack on the Jews and Judaism.

Marissen’s understanding of the Messiah is completely contrary to the traditional interpretation that it has received in the past. According to him, the Messiah was not written for Christmas but to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70.

In addition, he proposes that the Messiah is an anti-Jewish polemic and that it was written to demonstrate that the Jews were the enemies of Christians. Below are a few excerpts from the article:

So "Messiah" lovers may be surprised to learn that the work was meant not for Christmas but for Lent, and that the "Hallelujah" chorus was designed not to honor the birth or resurrection of Jesus but to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in A.D. 70. For most Christians in Handel's day, this horrible event was construed as divine retribution on Judaism for its failure to accept Jesus as God's promised Messiah.

"Messiah" does exactly this, culminating in the "Hallelujah" chorus. At Scene 6 in Part 2 the oratorio features passages from Psalm 2 of the Old Testament set as a series of antagonistic movements that precede excerpts from the New Testament's Book of Revelation set as the triumphant "Hallelujah" chorus: type and antitype, prophecy and fulfillment.

The bass aria that opens Scene 6 asks, "Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing?" But in the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, the passage, Psalm 2:1, reads not "nations" but "heathen." Why the difference, and where does it come from?

Jennens took his reading from Henry Hammond, the great 17th-century Anglican biblical scholar, whose extended and fiercely erudite commentary on Psalm 2 suggests the advantage of "nations" over "heathen": "Nations" can readily include the Jews. In the 18th century no one would have uncritically used the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer's word "heathen" for Jews or Judaism. Even children would have known this, from the famous hymn writer Isaac Watts's wildly popular "Divine Songs for the Use of Children," which includes the verse "Lord, I ascribe it to thy Grace, /And not to Chance, as others do, /That I was born of Christian race, /And not a Heathen or a Jew."

Later in Scene 6, at the tenor aria, Jennens skips to Psalm 2:9, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron." His excision of verses 5 through 8 makes the violent language in "Thou shalt break them" refer to the Jesus-rejecting Jews, because without the intervening verses, "them" refers to "the nations" (including the Jews) and "the people" (the Jews) of the bass aria, rather than the gentiles referred to in the missing Verse 8.

I have to confess that this is the first time I have read that the Messiah is an anti-Jewish polemic. It is possible that this deconstructionist reading of the Messiah may reflect a bias on the part of the reviewer. These days everyone finds fault with the past.

What Marissen has done is to challenge me to study the issue more carefully and evaluate the evidence for or against his views. Until then, I will listen to the Messiah with the same amazement I had the first time I heard it.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Antisemitism, Hendel, Messiah, Psalm 2