Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE QUESTION OF JESUS' SELF-UNDERSTANDING §15.2
First, however, we need to pause and to remind ourselves that the confidence
of an older generation which assumed a single, coherent, widespread Jewish
hope for the coming of 'the Messiah' has long since been abandoned. 11 Talk
of 'the messianic age', as of Jesus' 'messianic self-consciousness', traded on that
assumption. But the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and more careful analysis
of the texts of the period have highlighted several important features.
(1) Anointing was traditionally associated with three principal roles — king,
priest, and prophet; 12 as we shall see, all three figures featured in Israel's eschatological
expectation. (2) However, the term itself, 'Messiah' (masiah), 'anointed
one', while variously used in the OT, predominantly in terms of a continuing
Davidic line, 13 nowhere appears as the title for an eschatological figure. 14 (3) We
have already noted (§ 12.2c) that a messianic figure was not integral to Israel's eschatological
expectation, which was often expressed without reference or allusion
to such a figure. (4) Where a messianic hope is articulated it is not always
the same figure/role which is in view. 15 As we shall see, the hope of a royal Messiah
was one of a more diverse hope, which featured also, or alternatively, a
priestly and prophetic figures. Nevertheless, as we attempt to clarify the categories
which Jesus' audience might have been expected to attempt to fit him into, it
is the role of royal Messiah which calls for first attention.
11. E.g., O. Cullmann, The Christology of the New Testament (London: SCM, 1959)
111-12; Neusner, et al., eds., Judaisms and Their Messiahs; J. H. Charlesworth, 'From
Messianology to Christology: Problems and Prospects', in Charlesworth, ed., The Messiah 3-
35 (here 14). 'It was Primitive Christianity's exclusive concentration on Christ that first reduced
this tradition to a single person' (Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 191-92). See also Schreiber's
review of recent literature {Gesalbter und König 5-19).
12. (1) Predominantly the king (e.g., 1 Sam. 16.13; 2 Sam. 2.4,7; 5.3, 17; Ps. 89.20): 'the
Lord's anointed' (1 Sam. 24.6, 10; 26.9, 11, 16, 23; 2 Sam. 19.21; Pss. 2.2; 89.38, 51; 132.10);
(2) the (high) priest (Exod. 28.41; 30.30; Lev. 4.3, 5, 16; 6.22; Dan. 9.25-26; note also 2 Mace.
1.10 and T. Levi 17.2-3); (3) occasionally a/the prophet (1 Kgs. 19.16; 1 Chron. 16.22; Ps.
105.15; Isa. 61.1-3); details in F. Hesse, TDNT 9.497-509; the concept of prophets anointed by
the Spirit may have been more prominent at Qumran (CD 2.12; 6.1; 1QM 11.7; 4Q270 2.14).
13. S. Talmon, 'The Concepts of Masiah and Messianism in Early Judaism', in
Charlesworth, ed., The Messiah 79-115: 'It must be emphasized that in practically all its occurrences,
the noun masiah serves as a royal title' (87-93); similarly A. S. van der Woude, TDNT
9.509: in post-biblical Judaism as in the OT, ' "the Lord's anointed" or "my, his anointed" is
used only for a royal figure'.
14. J. J. M. Roberts, 'The Old Testament's Contribution to Messianic Expectations', in
Charlesworth, ed., The Messiah 39-51 (here 51).
15. G. S. Oegema, The Anointed and His People: Messianic Expectations from the
Maccabees to Bar Kochba (JSPSupp 27; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998) concludes that it
is not possible to speak of a messianic 'idea' in Judaism or of a history of ideas in the development
of messianic expectations. 'We can only locate its historical realizations, but not the idea
itself (306).
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