Originally posted November 2019
The word Messiah, is a Hebrew word, and means The Anointed One. The Greek word is Christ!
In the term Jesus Christ, Christ is not a second name, but a title. Jesus The Anointed One!
The word “anointed” refers to the fact that in the Old Testament, certain individuals could be endowed with the Holy Spirit to perform certain functions, for a specific time. Amongst these were kings, priests and prophets. Oil, symbolising the Holy Spirit was poured over the head of the individual in a ceremony of consecration.
Jesus was the one who was uniquely anointed with the Holy Spirit – as the Son of God (see Mk. 1,9-11), who received the Spirit without measure, to quote John (Jn. 3,34).
What does it mean that Jesus was the son of David?
Why was it important that he was born in the City of David?
These questions will need answers as we in a short time celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
To answer them, we need to know something about messianic expectations in the Old Testament.
In the Jewish scriptures (OT), the Messiah is a person who will appear towards the end of time. Though the word Messiah is used only twice in the Old Testament (Daniel 9 verses 25 and 26), there are references to this person scattered about, predominantly in the prophets and the psalms. But not exclusively: There are also important messianic texts in the Pentateuch (the 5 books of Moses).
A central prophetic expectation is that he will be a descendant of David. The Messiah will be appointed, and sent by God, to bring redemption to the people of God, and to vanquish all his (the Messiah’s) foes.
THE MESSIAH IS OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID
David was born in Bethlehem of Judea, to Jesse – the youngest of his 8 sons.
Chosen by God to be Israel’s second king, and anointed by Samuel (1Sam 16), he was the man after God´s own heart (Acts 13,22; 1 Sam. 13,14; 1 Sam. 16,7), who was to do all his will.
He was the shepherd king; the great warrior king.
By the end of his reign, Israel had peace with its neighbours, and Israel´s borders were extended.
David desired to build a temple for God in Jerusalem, but that was to fall to his son Solomon. Instead, the prophet Nathan prophesied that God would build a house for David. David´s house, and kingdom would be made sure forever; his throne established forever.
All this is in 2 Samuel 7, 1-17, which forms the basis for any understanding of the Messiah as the son (descendant) of David. I recommend you read the text.
THE FAILURE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID
After David´s death, Solomon started off well, but did not end his reign well. His many wives led his heart astray, and Jerusalem became filled with the idols of their gods. Rehabeam, his son, was an absolute disaster! His arrogance and stupidity led to the divided kingdom, the first step towards the downfall of the House of David.
The writer of Kings defines a good king as one who promotes the worship of God (that is Yahweh); a bad king as one who strays into idolatrous practices. On this definition, the succession of kings which followed in what remained of the House of David – the southern kingdom of Juda – were mostly bad.
Josiah, one of the last kings, before the downfall of the kingdom and the exile into Babylon, was the best of them. Under Josiah (2 Kings 22,1-23,30) the Book of the Law (held commonly by scholars to be a version of the Book of Deuteronomy) was found in the temple by Hilkia the high priest. It was read to the king, and reforms were carried out.
Sadly, this did not save Juda, and in 587, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and exiled its inhabitants to Babylon. From there, the first party of a remnant returned in 538/7, with Zerubbabel.
This brief sketch has been necessary, in order to explain, in the light of the great promises God gave to David of a continuing kingdom, why an expectancy among the Jews grew that God would again give Israel redemption and peace, this time under a new David – The Messiah – the Anointed One.
THE NEW DAVID
Perhaps the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, was Isaiah of Jerusalem. There are several oracles of the davidic Messiah in the Book of Isaiah. I will be talking about 7,14 in the next text, on the birth narrative in Matthew´s Gospel, but 9,2-7 is the next in line, and regularly read in churches at Christmas time.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone……. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Isaiah 9:2,6-7 ESV
I am not going to comment on this. Let the text speak for itself.
When writing about the Gospels in future texts we may look at other types of messianic expectation than the davidic king, such as the prophet (see Deut. 18,15, Jn 1,21), the Suffering Servant (see Is. 53), or the Son of Man (see Dan 7,13-14).