Messiah: (Heb. mashiah), in all the thirty-nine instances of its occurring in
the Old Testament, is rendered by the LXX. "Christos." It means
anointed. Thus priests
(Exodus 28:41; 40:15; Numbers 3:3) prophets
(1 Kings 19:16)
and kings
(1 Samuel 9:16; 16:3; 2 Samuel 12:7) were anointed with oil, and so
consecrated to their respective offices. The great Messiah is anointed
"above his fellows"
(Psalms 45:7) i.e., he embraces in himself all the
three offices. The Greek form "Messias" is only twice used in the New
Testament, in
(John 1:41; 4:25) (R.V., "Messiah"), and in the Old
Testament the word Messiah, as the rendering of the Hebrew, occurs
only twice
(Daniel 9:25,26) R.V., "the anointed one". The first great
promise
(Genesis 3:15) contains in it the germ of all the prophecies
recorded in the Old Testament regarding the coming of the Messiah and
the great work he was to accomplish on earth. The prophecies became
more definite and fuller as the ages rolled on; the light shone more
and more unto the perfect day. Different periods of prophetic
revelation have been pointed out,
1. the patriarchal;
2. the Mosaic;
3. the period of David;
4. the period of prophetism, i.e., of those prophets whose works
form a part of the Old Testament canon.
The expectations of the Jews were thus kept alive from generation to
generation, till the "fulness of the times," when Messiah came, "made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law." In him all these ancient prophecies have their fulfilment. Jesus
of Nazareth is the Messiah, the great Deliverer who was to come.
(Comp.)
(Matthew 26:54; Mark 9:12; Luke 18:31; 22:37; John 5:39; Acts 2:1)ff
(Acts 16:31; 26:22,23)
