Messianism in Early Jewish Texts

The figure of the Messiah appears in many Second Temple–period texts. In some, the Messiah is a human chosen by God to mark the beginning of a new era. For example, 4 Ezra (included in the Apocrypha as part of 2 Esdras) depicts a Messiah along these lines who in fact dies after a period of time. Other texts speak of the Messiah in such godlike terms that the relationship—or rather, the separation—between God and Messiah becomes blurred. The Messiah of 2 Baruch, for example, is the “servant” of God and seemingly a human being who “will call all the nations together.” Yet his power surpasses that of mere mortals; he is described as sparing some nations and destroying others. Similarly, b. Sanhedrin 97b weaves together a variety of prophetic verses from the biblical books of Isaiah and Habakkuk, pointing to a people waiting for “him,” a redeemer whose identity is ambiguous. Are they waiting for God or a separate being, the Messiah? Perhaps most ambiguous of all is the Synoptic Gospels’ depiction of Jesus, who is described as the Davidic “son of God” and the Messiah—both human and divine. This also evokes one of a range of positions regarding the lineage of the Messiah. For some, the Messiah is a human descendant of King David, building on 2 Samuel 7, in which God promises David an eternal kingdom. In other texts that also draw on the language of 2 Samuel 7, the Messiah is a “son of God.” These two lineages are not mutually exclusive, as Matthew 1 makes clear. Still other texts depict the Messiah as a priestly figure.

The power of the messianic figure, either due to his divine nature or as harbinger of the end times, means that the threat of a false messiah or a messianic pretender looms large. Thus, texts ranging from the histories of Josephus to the Gospel of Matthew warn against following such impostors, and post–Second Temple thinkers (including, famously, Maimonides) would continue to rail against this danger.