* Cf. above, p. 6752,
5. The so-called ‘ Messianic prophecy.’ —(a) So far as words are concerned, we have to deal here, properly speaking, only with such predictions as have for their subject the Messiah, the ‘ Anointed,’* i.e. the King of the house of David, who, after the purifying judgment is over, is to hold sway as an ideal ruler over the regenerate people. But it has long been customary to speak of ‘ Messianic pro- phecy’ in a wider sense, to include such predictions as occupy themselves with the conditions of the Messianic era inaugurated by the Messiah. Nay, predictions are included which do not even men- tion the person of the Messiah at all, and of which it is even doubtful whether they look for any such personality. In what follows we purpose to deal also with those Messianic prophecies in the wider sense. But one reservation must be made. Every expectation of a restoration after the purifying judgment (as, for example, Is 176, Dt 30°") cannot be set down right off as a Messianic prediction.t On the contrary, it is essential to the latter that the transformation be brought about by an extra- ordinary interposition of Jahweh (for the most part accompanied also by violent natural pheno- mena), and, no less, that the new-created condi- tions represent not merely a copy of those that have been already experienced by the people (e.g. in the era of David and Solomon), but in some way transcend anything hitherto known. Apart from certain fundamental characteristics, the descriptions in question exhibit a very great variety. Moreover, the question has not infre- quently to be asked how much the prophet means to be taken literally, and how much is to be set down simply to the account of poetical embellish- ments, and even of poetical hyperbole.
Owing to the extraordinary importance attached by the early Church to the OT predictions (which were viewed as much as possible in a magical light) about the Person and the Work of Christ, the literature on this subject has been all along very copious. We confine our attention here naturally to such works as have either actually advanced the knowledge of the subject, or exercised for a longer or a shorter period some con- siderable influence on the view taken of Messianic prophecy. The titles of the following works are arranged in three classes, and in chronological order; we leave out of account the relevant sections in works on Biblical Theology and articles in Dictionaries of the Bible.
I. The standpoint of the so-called mechanical theory of inspiration, or at least a specifically dogmatic point of view, is represented by : E. W. Hengstenberg, Christologie des AT, und Commentar uber die messianischen Weissagungen der Pro- pheten, Berlin, 1829-1835, 2nd ed. 1854-1857, 3 parts [accord- ing to Hengstenberg, the prophets always pronounce their oracles in the ecstatic condition, often without themselves understanding the contents and scope of their words, and, in virtue of Divine inspiration, thus anticipate the whole Christ- ology of orthodox dogmatics] ; Joh. Chr. von Hofmann, Weissa-
* Cf., on the history and meaning of the anointing of persons, above, p. 695>f. The term Messias, which is frequently used, is derived, as is well known, from the NT Mescias or Mecias (so only in Jn 141 and 425 ; elsewhere, as in the LXX, 6 Xpores [so for the most part in the Gospels] or Xpieces [so generally in St. Paul])—a form which itself springs not from the Hebrew n'wiD (mashiah), but from the Aramaic form NTwD (méshihd, the so-called status emphaticus, with the determinative ending =, which corresponds to the Hebrew article, so that the name =6 Xporés). The written form Mescies is after the same analogy as Tecvodp= Wa, or "leroy =730>, and does not justify the assertion of de Lagarde (Bildung der Nomina, Gottingen, 1889, p. 93 ff.) that Meccias cannot go back except to a form Mw (mishshiah=Arab. missth) whose meaning would be ‘ oft anointing.’
t In the same way, of course, every threatening against the nations hostile to Israel is not to be summarily assigned to the realm of Messianic prophecy. Such threatenings may spring simply from a general faith in the righteous conduct of Jahweh as the Ruler of the world (so Am 1%#:) or from special faith in the righteousness of the God of Israel, who chastises the over- weening pride of the world-power employed by Him as the rod of chastening (so with Isaiah’s threatenings against Assyria [see above, p. 693], Nahum’s against Nineveh, Habakkuk’s [28M] against the Chaldwans). The case is different, to be sure, where the threatening stands in connexion with an allusion to the personal Messiah or other indubitable characteristics of Messianic prophecy.
RELIGION OF ISRAEL
gung und Erfiillung im AT und NT, Nordlingen, 1841-1844, 2 parts [attempts to prove that the time and all the details of fulfilment were already predesignated in the facts of the OT history of salvation, the word of prophecy simply accompany- ing the facts by way of supplement and confirmation. The types of Christ which were supposed to be embodied in the history were arrived at by an extremely artificial system of exegesis, without any regard to literary criticism].
Ul. A scientific but critically conservative standpoint is occu- pied by: C. v. Orelli, Die alttest. Weissagung von der Vollen- dung des Gottesreiches in threr geschichtlichen Entwickelung dargestellt, Wien, 1882, Eng. tr. 1885 [contains a number of specimens of translation and a commentary on the individual prophecies]; Ch. A. Briggs, Messianic Prophecy, New York, 1886 ; Franz Delitzsch, Messianische Weissagungen in geschicht- licher Folge, Leipzig, 1890, Eng. tr. 1891.