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Course 6 · Lesson 7.2

Messianic texts in the prophets and psalms

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 6 outline

Module 1: Israel in the Ancient Near East

  1. Egypt, Mesopotamia and Canaan: the world of the Old Testament
  2. What archaeology and ancient texts can and cannot show
  3. Genesis 1 to 3 beside other ancient creation accounts
  4. Ancient cosmology and how Christians and Jews read Genesis

Module 2: Covenant: Abraham and Moses

  1. What a covenant is, and covenant forms in the ancient world
  2. The covenants with Noah and Abraham
  3. The exodus and the covenant at Sinai
  4. The Torah: law, worship and the tabernacle
  5. Covenant in Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Reformed thought

Module 3: Kingship in Israel

  1. From the judges to the first kings
  2. David, Jerusalem and the promise of a lasting house
  3. Solomon, the temple and the divided kingdom
  4. How Samuel and Kings tell the story: sources and purpose

Module 4: The Prophets, Exile and Restoration

  1. What a prophet was in Israel and in the ancient world
  2. Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah: justice, loyalty and judgment
  3. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the fall of Jerusalem
  4. The return, Ezra, Nehemiah and the rebuilt temple
  5. How the prophetic books were formed: the debate over Isaiah and others

Module 5: Wisdom and Apocalyptic Writing

  1. Proverbs and the way of the wise
  2. Job and Ecclesiastes: wisdom that questions
  3. What apocalyptic writing is: Daniel and its setting
  4. Reading apocalyptic images responsibly

Module 6: Second Temple Judaism and the Development of Jewish Thought

  1. Persian, Greek and Maccabean periods
  2. Temple, synagogue and the main groups in Jewish life
  3. Development in Jewish thought: angels, resurrection, wisdom and law
  4. Sources: the Dead Sea Scrolls, the deuterocanonical books and Josephus

Module 7: Messianic Expectation and the Shape of the Covenants

  1. Anointed ones in the Old Testament: king, priest, prophet
  2. Messianic texts in the prophets and psalms
  3. How Jews and Christians read the messianic texts
  4. The promise of a new covenant
  5. Mapping the development of covenant across the Old Testament

All courses

Program / Course 6: Old Testament Theology and History / Lesson 7.2

What you will learn

  • Read key texts about a coming king in Genesis, Numbers, the psalms and the prophets in their own settings.
  • Identify the qualities that these texts expect of the ideal ruler.
  • Distinguish texts that mention an anointed king in the poet’s own time from texts that look ahead.
  • Describe how hope for a Davidic king grew after the monarchy ended.

The big idea

Many Old Testament texts speak of an ideal king who will rule with justice, bring peace and extend God’s rule to the nations. Some were first written about a reigning king and celebrated the ideal he was meant to meet. After the monarchy ended, such texts were read as promises for a king still to come. Reading them well means asking first what they meant when composed, then how later readers heard them, and holding both questions together.

Key terms

Messianic
Relating to the hope for an anointed deliverer, usually a king from David’s line.
Oracle
A message from God given through a prophet or a poet.
Shoot (or branch)
An image in Isaiah 11 and Jeremiah 23 for a new ruler growing from the line of David after the old tree is cut down.
Royal psalm
A psalm about the king, composed for coronations, weddings, battles or thanksgiving.
Typology
A way of reading in which an earlier person or event is seen as a pattern pointing to a later one.
Fulfillment
The coming to pass of a promise. Jews and Christians use the word differently about messianic texts.
Psalms of Solomon
A Jewish collection from the first century BC, not in the canon, whose psalms 17 and 18 describe the expected son of David.

Background

The hope for a king from David’s line did not come from a single text. It grew from the promise of 2 Samuel 7, from the royal psalms and from the prophets’ words about the failures and the future of the kings. When the monarchy ended in 586 BC, these texts took on a new weight. The promise had not been withdrawn, and so readers turned to it as a source of hope.

Messianic hope in the strict sense developed gradually. Early readers, including the prophets, spoke of a future king and a future time of peace, without necessarily using the word messiah. In the Second Temple period, the word acquired its later meaning. A student does well to distinguish three layers: what a passage meant for its first hearers, how it was read in the Second Temple period, and how Jews and Christians read it afterward.

The following lesson deals with the disagreement between Jews and Christians. This lesson concentrates on the texts and their ideas.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Early hints

In Genesis 49:10, Jacob blesses Judah: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. The Hebrew of this verse is difficult, and the meaning of Shiloh is disputed. Some take it as a name, some as until he comes to whom it belongs. Ancient Jewish translations and the Targums read it as the messiah, and Christians have read it as pointing to Christ.

In Numbers 24:17, the seer Balaam says, There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel. Many scholars link the verse with David, who conquered Moab and Edom, while later Jewish and Christian readers heard it as looking ahead. The Qumran writings and the revolt leader Bar Kokhba in the second century AD were linked with it.

Step 2: The ideal king in the psalms

Psalm 72 is a prayer for the king: that he may judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgment, that he may defend the poor, and that his dominion may extend from sea to sea. It describes an ideal ruler whose reign brings justice, long life and blessing to the nations. The psalm is headed for Solomon, and was probably used at the coronation of kings. The ideal is higher than any actual king achieved.

Psalm 2 describes the nations raging against the Lord and his anointed and the Lord installing his king on Zion. Psalm 110 speaks of the king at God’s right hand. Psalm 89 recalls the promise to David and then cries out when the king has been cast off. These psalms were first sung of reigning kings. After the exile, they could be sung as hope for one still to come.

Step 3: The prophets’ promises

Isaiah 9:6 and 7 says that unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Scholars debate whether it first celebrated the birth or accession of a king such as Hezekiah, and how to translate the names. Isaiah 11:1 to 10 speaks of a shoot from the stump of Jesse on whom the Spirit rests, who judges the poor with righteousness, and under whom the wolf dwells with the lamb.

Jeremiah 23:5 and 6 promises a righteous Branch raised for David who shall reign and prosper. Ezekiel 34:23 and 37:24 promises one shepherd, my servant David, over the restored people. Micah 5:2 names Bethlehem as the origin of a ruler. Zechariah 9:9 describes a king who comes humble, riding on a donkey. Amos 9:11 speaks of raising up the fallen booth of David. Together these texts picture a king who brings justice, peace and the return of exiles.

Step 4: Hope in the Second Temple period

By the first century BC, many Jews cherished the hope of a son of David. The Psalms of Solomon, probably written in response to the Roman conquest, pray that God would raise up a king who would purge Jerusalem of foreign rule and shepherd the Lord’s flock in righteousness. The Qumran texts interpret Genesis 49:10 and Numbers 24:17 as speaking of a coming leader. The Targums, the Aramaic translations of Scripture, add the word messiah to several of the passages in this lesson.

Not all hopes had the same shape. Some expected a warrior, some a teacher, some a heavenly judge, as in Daniel 7 and the Book of Enoch. The New Testament shows several of these hopes at work, and Christians have read them as converging on Jesus.

  1. Which qualities does Psalm 72 expect of an ideal king?
  2. How would Isaiah 9 have sounded to those who first heard it?
  3. Why might the promises about a coming king have grown stronger after 586 BC?
  4. What is the difference between reading a psalm as about the poet’s king and reading it as about a future one?
  5. Which texts in this lesson speak of the nations as well as Israel?
  6. How did the Psalms of Solomon express the hope for a king?

Examples

The peaceable kingdom

Isaiah 11 describes the wolf dwelling with the lamb and a little child leading them, because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. The picture of peace among enemies has shaped art and hope for centuries and is read by Jews and Christians as a picture of the age to come.

The king on a donkey

Zechariah 9:9 says that the king comes just, having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass. The king is contrasted with a warrior on a horse. In the Gospels, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the evangelists cite the verse (Matthew 21 and John 12).

A star out of Jacob

Numbers 24 appears in the story of Balaam, a foreign seer hired to curse Israel who blesses it instead. Later readers took the star as a king. Matthew’s account of the star at Jesus’s birth may allude to the verse, and Bar Kokhba’s name, meaning son of the star, may as well.

Different perspectives

Jewish readers

Jewish tradition reads these texts as promises of a future king, the messiah son of David, who will gather the exiles, rebuild the temple and bring peace. Maimonides listed belief in the coming of the messiah among the principles of Jewish faith. Jewish readers treat the passages first in their setting and hold that the promises are not yet fulfilled.

Catholic readers

The Catholic Church reads the texts both in their original senses and as pointing to Christ, in what it calls the fuller sense. The Catechism teaches that the Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled in Christ and that the Jewish people still await the messiah, a hope that Christians partly share, since they await Christ’s return.

Orthodox readers

The Orthodox sing many of these passages in the feasts of Christ’s birth and entry into Jerusalem. They read them as prophecies of Christ, and they hold that the Old Testament speaks of him through types and words.

Protestant readers

Protestants widely read these texts as foretelling Christ. Scholars among them often distinguish the first meaning in the poet’s time from the later meaning. Dispensationalists expect some to be fulfilled in a future reign of Christ on earth.

Scholarly views

Many scholars read the royal psalms and Isaiah 9 and 11 as originally about Judean kings and as reinterpreted after the exile. Others find a direct future reference in the prophets. They agree on the importance of reading in context.

Why it matters

These are some of the best-known passages in the Bible and they are quoted in the New Testament, in the liturgies and in music. Reading them in context respects the text and avoids the error of treating them as simple predictions. It also lets Jews and Christians see where they share a hope for a just ruler and where they differ on whether and how it has come.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Every verse that Christians quote about Christ was written as a prediction of him.

Correction: Many were written about kings of the poet’s own day or about general hopes. Christians read them as finding a deeper fulfillment in Christ, a reading Jews do not share.

Misunderstanding: Jews had no interest in the ideal of a future king.

Correction: Hope for a messiah son of David is a long-standing part of Jewish prayer and thought, although its form varies between movements.

Misunderstanding: Messianic texts all describe the same figure.

Correction: They describe a shoot of David, a shepherd, a priest-king, a star and a heavenly judge. The unity is something later readers have drawn.

Knowledge check

What qualities does Psalm 72 ask for in the king?

It asks that he judge the people with righteousness and the poor with justice, defend the afflicted, save the needy and crush the oppressor. It prays for long life, abundance in the land and a rule that extends from sea to sea, with the kings of other lands paying tribute. The ideal is a king who protects the poor and blesses the nations.

What does Isaiah 11:1 to 10 describe?

It describes a shoot from the stump of Jesse, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rests with wisdom, understanding and the fear of the Lord. He judges the poor with righteousness and strikes the earth with the word of his mouth. Under his rule the wolf dwells with the lamb, and the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord.

Why did hope for a Davidic king strengthen after the exile?

The monarchy had ended in 586 BC, yet the promise to David was never withdrawn. Texts such as 2 Samuel 7, the royal psalms and Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, read in a time of foreign rule, became promises of a king to come. The failure of actual kings made the ideal king more precious as a hope.

What was the Jewish use of the Targums in relation to messianic texts?

The Targums were Aramaic translations and expansions of Scripture used in synagogue. In several passages, such as Genesis 49:10, Numbers 24 and Isaiah 11, they add the word messiah to the translation, showing that these texts were read as speaking of the messiah. Their dates are debated, but they preserve older traditions.

Think it through

  1. What do you think it is about a promised ruler that gives hope to a suffering people?
  2. How can the same text have a first meaning and a later meaning without losing either?
  3. Why might a writer describe the ideal king as lowly and on a donkey?
  4. Which passage in this lesson speaks most to the needs of your own time?

Independent assignment

Reading one royal text in three settings

In your own notebook, choose Psalm 72, Isaiah 9 or Isaiah 11. Write 100 to 150 words on what it likely meant in the time of a king, 100 to 150 words on how a Jew in the Second Temple period might have read it, and 100 to 150 words on how Christians read it. Then add a paragraph naming what all three readings share. Keep it for yourself.

Further study