are involved In it. The simplest of these is ' the The Simple Coming One,' based apparently on Messianic Mai 3^ or Ps 40''' or 1 1 8^'', and itself the Designations ^^sis of a Customary method of pregnant speech of the Messiah as " coming.'"^'' This designa- tion Is applied to Jesus in the question of the Baptist — " Art thou the Coming One, or do we look for an- other? " ( 1 1^) , which Matthew records as having been called out by the report brought the Baptist of the " works of Christ " — using the name of ' Christ ' here Instead of ' Jesus,' contrary to his custom, apparently under the Influence of this train of thought. And the evangelist records In accordance with this designation a series of sayings of our Lord in which He speaks pregnantly of having "come" (5^^ 9^^ 10^* 20"^ cf.
2- See the passages carefully enumerated in Thayer-Grimm, sub moc. h'p^ofiac^ I. I a. /?. (pp. 250-1 near top). Dr. Edersheim, Life, etc., i. 668, says: "The designation, 'the Coming One' {habba), though a most truthful expression of Jewish expectations, was not one ordinarily used of the Messiah. But it was invariably used with reference to the Messianic age . . ." Dr. Edersheim is speaking, of course, of what is to be garnered from extant Jewish writings. The employment of the phrase in Mt ii^ and Lk 7^^ is sufficient proof that it bore among the Jews of the day " a technical sense " as a title of the Mes- siah (cf. Westcott on Jno i^^). With reference to the appearance of this designation precisely here, Zahn {in loc.) remarks: "While Mat- thew expresses the dignity, as the possessor of which Jesus has mani- fested Himself by means of His works heretofore described, by the long established title of 6 XpcffTO'g (cf. esp. z*), he makes the Baptist (who also in his public preaching seems to have avoided this title) give expression to the same conception, consonantly with the manner in which he had spoken of the future founder and King of the Kingdom of Heaven (3I1, Mk i^, Lk 3^^, Jno 1-^) by the term 6 kpy6ij.£vo<i^ the Coming One, the Great Expected. No doubt other expected per- sonalities might be similarly spoken of (Mt ii^'* 17^° ^^i-, Jno 6^*), but in the mouth of the Baptist the expression was without ambiguity: for he had spoken of One only who was already on the way, which John was to prepare for Him."
w f^ "Z-H The Designations in Matthew 77
10'*^), as well as certain popular ascriptions to the same effect (21^ 23^^). 2^
Even more directly connected with the title, ' Christ,' however, is that of ' King ' : and we find Matthew accordingly recording the ascription of that title to Him in the heathen form of ' the King of the Jews,' alike by the wise men of the east who came to worship Him in His cradle (2^) and by the Roman governor at His trial (27^^ cf. 27^^) and the mocking soldiery (27-''). Jesus accepts it at Pilate's hands, despite the heathen form which he gives it, and which the priests (27^-) correct to the more acceptable ' King of Israel.' Of more significance Is Matthew's appli- cation to Him, when He entered Jerusalem In triumph, of the prophecy of Zechariah, " Behold thy King com- eth unto thee," etc. (21^). But, of course, the deepest significance of all attaches to our Lord's own use of the title ' King ' with reference to Himself In the great judgment scene of Mt 25^^^^'^- (verses 34 and 40). Here, calling Himself the ' Son of Man,' He ascends the throne of His glory, and as King, not of Israel, but of all flesh, dispenses their final awards tO' all, accord- ing to their several relations to Himself. Such a King certainly was something more than a ' Son of David ' (22^^^®''-). But that designation also belongs to Him as the ' Christ,' God's Anointed, who was to occupy the Davldic throne, and accordingly it is represented that the sight of His Messianic works led Him to be recognized no more as 'the Coming One' (11^) than
23 Cf. W. C. Allen on Mt ii^^. Commenting on the aorist, Tzapedody]^ he remarks : " The idea involved is of a pre-temporal act, and carries with it the conception of the preexistence of the Messiah. The same thought probably underlies ^XOov of s^^ io^*> ^"d the anoars Xavra of io*o."
78 The Designations of Our Lord
as 'the Son of David' (12-^ 9-" 15" 20^"'^^ 2i^'^^ cf. 1') — and that He by no means refused the ascription (esp. 21^'^^).
Obviously, however, no lower title would suit the state of this Messianic King than that highest con- Meaning celvable one, ' the Son of God.' It is of the likely that there were supernatural im-