of Him>elf whicli He adopted was, according to the Sj^noptics, ' Son of Man,' whicli, we have already shown, implied a high eschatological func- tion and dignity : (iii. ) He also regarded Himself as ' Son of God' (cf. Mk 1^""), though He restrained the annoimcemenl of the title (Mk 3"- '-). (rf) He was wholly out of sympathy with the popular national and materialistic conceptions of Messiah- ship with wiiich Southern Palestine at this time was rife. This we can clearly discern in His warn- ing against false prophets and messiahs (Mk lo^, Mt 24""^), who attempted bj- violent revolutionary means to force on the advent of the ' kingdom of God' (Mt 11*-). From these data the conclusion may be derived, that Jesus from very early times — even as early as the date of His baptism, according to the triple tradition of the Sjnoptics — was con- scious of His unique relation to God as His Father, and of His Messianic dignity and mission, but that He tilled it with an ethical as well as apocalyptic content. It was for this rea.son that He hesitated to declare Himself a^ Mes.siaii at the opening of His public ministry, knowing tlie perils of the material and unspiritual conceptions with which the national expectations of tiie Jews invested the name. The true representation of His Person and of His mission was to be found in the apocalyptic title ' Son of Man.' He was thinking of the exalted cosmic spiritual dignity which attached to this title when, in answer to Pilate's question, He acquiesced * in the ambiguous honour ' King of the Jews' (Mk 1.5-). The name connoted to Him the same personal authority as He claimed in the previous reply to the high priest (Mk 14*-). So the Fourth Gospel interprets the enigmatic answer of Jesus to Pilate (Jn 18*^, cf. also 19-i).
3. With reference to the time when the Messi- anic consciousness possessed Jesus, and ^\hen His Messiahship was proclaimed, few will dissent from Bousset's dictum, that it is liighly probable that the tradition is right in dating Jesus' awakening to the Messianic consciousness from the moment of His baptism, that is, before the opening of His ministry.+ As we have already indicated, there were, nevertheless, powerful motives wiiiih dictated the withholding of His claims from immediate public announcement. It is eWdent that the sig- nificant declaration which He drew from Simon near to Coesarea Philippi, that He was the Messiah, and more than prophet, marks the decisive point after which His Messianic title was generally juo- claimed. Though He still imposed upon His followers great reser^'e (Mk S^), we find that shortly after this He is hailed by the blind Barti- UKPus^Mk \y)^) and by His enthusiastic followers (Mk IP-*") as 'son of DaWd,'— a title which He probably regarded ^ritli mixed feelings.
V. Varied Features is the Messiasic ExPECTATioy currest is the TniE OF Christ. — 1. That the Messiah of Jewish tradi- tional expectation icould be endoiced leifh the virtues of justice and understanding through the Spirit of God, was an obviously fundamental con- ception derived from the old Isaianic prophecy, Is 9" [Heb.'5] 11^-, cf. Ps 72. These ethical qualities are reproduced in varied forms in, e.g., Ps-Sol 17, Test, of the XII. Patr., Levi 18. In this last l)a-<<age the Hasmonivan priest-i)rinces seem to hover Ijefore the writer's imagination. In this portraiture the Messiah is king and priest of the whole earth ; the nations of the earth and the angels in heaven rejoice over him. All iniquitj- disappears under his swaj-. He again opens Para-
* The present vsTiter, thougrh with considerable hesitation, differs from Swete's comment upon the words r-^ ?.-yej; in Mk 15- (Mt 2711). For Pilate app«irs to have understood these words as an affirmation of his own suggestion (ir^ 159) ; so also the Roman soldiers (iHi 15", cf. v.-.»). Cf. Lk 2r2^0{- with 23».
t Jesui (Eng. ed.), p. 174.
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178
MESSIAH
MESSIAH
dise, and the devil (Beliar) is bound by him. It is not easy to be quite sure whether Christian elements have been interpolated here as elsewhere in the Test, of the XII. Patriarchs. Moreover, in the Sibyll. Oracles (S^s-^^) the Messiah is called a ' holy kiuR- ' of universal sway. In the Psalms of Solomon (HStf. 41. 42) ^j^g sinlessness of the Messiah is empliasized, and expressly referred to his endow- ment with the Holy Spirit (of. Mt 31"- ^\ Ro 1*).
2. The element of mystery and marvel shrouds the appearance of the Messiah, cf. Apoc. Bar 29^ (text, however, somewhat doubtful ; see Charles) 32', 2 Es 7-", Test, of the XII. Patr., Levi 18, Sib. Or. 3'"'2. According to Targ. Jon. on Mic 4^, the Messiah is already in the world, but is concealed owing to the sins of the people ; see Schiirer, GJV'^ ii. 531 ti'. Witli this tradition cf. Jn V.
3. The Messiah is to be preceded by a messenger of God who is tojmrify Israel (Mai S^-^).— This angel of the Covenant is identified by Malachi (or per- haps by an interpolator) with the returning Elijah (45f. [Heb. 3-^^-]). This jmssage, we know, exerted a far-reaching influence over later times ; cf. Sir 48i»- " and Mt l?!""'^ (Mk 9"f-).
i. The scattered tribes of Israel are to be gathered together to Jcruscdem, and Jerusalem and its Temple rebuilt. — Often we find that tiie apocalyptic features of a heavenly Jeruscdem usurp the place of the terrestrial lineaments of the older forms of Messi- anic anticipation ; cf. Rev "i*^- 21'<*"'-. Here, again, the sources of these traits are found in the OT, i.e. in exilic and post-exilic literature : Ezk 39^™-, Is 11^^-1^ (which tell of the gathering of the Dia- spora from Assyria, Babylon, Egypt); cf. Is 27^-- ^^ 358«'-, Mic 7^-, Is 60^-" 6(3-". In many cases these expectations may be called by the general term 'Messianic,' but are without tlie presence of a Messiah. God brings about the blessed change, not by a gradual evolution of the earthly order, but by a mighty destruction of world-empires, in which Israel's foes (pre-eminently Edom) are over- thrown without the instrumentality of any human or superhuman intermediary. Perhaps the most characteristic passage is Is 27^^ ' In that day the great trumpet shall be blown, and all who are being lost in Assyria, and are driven into Egypt, shall come and bow to Jaliweh in the holy mount in Jerusalem.' Similarly in tlie earlier Enoch 90*^'*, Ps-Sol 11, and Bar 43^-5*, and even in Philo {de Exsecrationihiis, % 8-9, de Prce.m. et Pcen. ; see Schiirer^, ii. p. 515), where the ethical traits are not forgotten.