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torial power is developed. The prophet may have been trained in one of the brotherhoods of the ‘sons of the prophets,’ in which case he corre- sponds to the second class of the Greek prophets ; but he may have been called without any such preparation, and quite apart from professional associations, as in the case of Amos the herd- man (Am 715). Yet in any case he must have a Divine call and commission (e.g. Is 6). Then he comes forth with a Divine message, frequently asserted in the phrase ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ Such a man mediates in the region of revelation. Prophets also mediate with God on behalf of Israel. Thus Jeremiah intercedes in prayer for Jerusalem (Jer 32!°*), and Ezekiel for his people (Ezk 13"). But prophetic mediation of the ascending kind is most explicitly described in the classical passage Is 53. hoever the ‘servant of the Lord’ may represent,—whether Israel, the spiritual Israel, the ideal Israel, Jeremiah, Zer- ubbabel, the Messiah, or some unknown prophet or martyr,—it is equally clear that the passage assigns to him lofty mediatorial functions in giving his ife as an offering for sins.
4. Mediation in the Wisdom Literature. —The famous passage in Job where, socording to AV, the sufferer exclaims, ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’ ete. (Job 19*-*7), formerly appealed to as an OT anticipation of the mediation of Jesus Christ, cannot be so employed on any principle of sound exegesis. The ‘redeemer’ is the géel (5x3), i.e. the next of kin whose duty it is to serve as the ps ag of blood; and the context shows that this can only be God, who is described as the great Deliverer in an earlier passage (5!) ; see Davidson, ‘Job,’ in Camb. Bible, 143ff., 291 ff. We must look for this doctrine of mediation in a totally different quarter. It emerges in the personification of Wisdom. That is seen in a purely imaginative and metaphorical form in the Bk. of Proverbs, where Wisdom appears exhorting her son to receive her words (e.g. Pr 1°"). Thus Wisdom says what, if it appeared in the Prophets, would assume the form of a message from God. Wisdom is now the prophetic mediator. In the Books of Wisdom and Sirach the personifi- cation is carried still further, and yet it must be regarded as wholly ideal. Philo consummates the acd in his doctrine of the Logos, repeatedly
escribed in personal language, and even mentioned as τὸν δεύτερον θεὸν (in a fragment preserved Ὁ Eusebius ; see Drummond, Pio, ii. p. 197). He 18 the mediator of creation, of the Jaw, of all the OT theophanies and revelations. And yet it isa mistake to regard Philo’s Logos as an actual
erson. Strong as his language is in this direction, it is only the aeneunee of allegory, and in the exact interpretation of it we cannot take the Logos to be other than the Divine Reason, or, when regarded more objectively, God’s ideas and plans concerning the universe (see Leg. Allegor. 1. 19). Still less can we admit that Philo identifies the Logos with the Messiah. Any Messianic mediation is entirely foreign to his philosophy. See, further, art. Logos,
. 135. " 5. The mediation of angels.—Closely associated with this subject, the Wisdom mediation, is that of angels—the one representing the trend of Alex- andrian Jewish thought, and the other the specu- lations of the Jerusalem Rabbis. In both cases the same cause is behind. Both Alexandrian and Palestinian Judaism were profoundly influenced in their conceptions of the Divine nature by the dread of anthropomorphism, and by the conse- quent tendency to widen the interval between God and man. The result is an immense enlargement of the necessity for mediation. God does not come into direct contact with man and the universe ; creation is carried out by means of angels; the
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law is given by angels; the OT theophanies arc angel appearances. Preparation is made for these ideas in the OT itself, where we have not merely angels communicating between earth and heaven, as on Jacob’s ladder (Gn 28%"), but one—‘ the angel of Jeliovah’ (J; e.g. Gn 167"), or ‘ the angel of God’ (E; e.g. Gn 21"""-)—in direct dealings with men. But the mediation of angels is all in one direction —the descending. The OT nowhere teaches the intercessory mediation of angels (see ANGEL).
iii. MEDIATION IN THE NT.—The doctrine of mediation in the NT is wholly centred in Jesus Christ. Intercessory prayer 1s recognized as a means of securing blessing when offered by Chris- tians on behalf of their brethren ἴδ ΤῊ δ, 2 Th 3', Ja 815); but this is quite secondary to the mediation of Christ, and may be regarded as dependent on it, since Christian prayer is in the name of Christ (e.g. Jn 1616). Similarly, gifts of healing being limited to certain persons, the exer- cise of them on behalf of others may be regarded as a kind of mediation ; but here, too, the power is through Christ and exerted in His name, as that of the real Mediator (e.g. Ac 3° 9%),
1. Christ as Mediator.—The very Messianic conception essentially involves the idea of media- tion. From the thought of God coming to deliver Israel and judge the oppressors in His own Person, in a theophany, the later Jews came to look for deliverance and judgment in the advent of the Messiah, who was to execute the Divine will and realize the blessings of Divine grace for Israel. At first regarded as an exalted king of the line of David restoring the throne of his ancestor, the Messiah came in course of time to be invested with superhuman powers. In the Psalms of Solomon the hope is very vivid. Sinless himself, he will come as a king both to purify and to liberate Israei (Ps.-Sol 17% 38, 47 185-18), As the son of David, he will feed Israel like a shepherd (17° 3). A Jewish Sibyl hopes for the Holy Ruler who will come to his byariasane kingdom. In the Apocalypse of Enoch the Messiah is the righteous one who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden (38? 53° 468). He will come to be both Ruler and Judge (45° 46°"), There is some doubt as to the date of these passages. But Charles has success- fully vindicated the pre-Christian origin of the Series part of the Messianic references (see The