Israel's Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls

by Richard S. Hess (Editor)

Was Israel expecting a messiah like Jesus? If not, how did Jesus challenge the messianic preconceptions of the time? With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include messianic writings dating from around the time of Jesus, the debate over just exactly what sort of messiah Israel was expecting has been reignited. In Israel's Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, leading scholars provide a comprehensive discussion of messiah as it was understood in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the words of the editors, Israel's Messiah "summarizes and evaluates the best of modern biblical scholarship and applies this material to a mature and fully developed understanding of the figure who lies at the center of the Christian faith." The book does not stop there, however. After discussing and debating the relevance of Messiah to those of Jesus' time, it returns to the present and takes a critical look at how Christians can and should understand Jesus as a source of hope and liberation.

Genres: Old Testament, Theology, Biblical Studies

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

Richard S. Hess (PhD, Hebrew Union College) is Earl S. Kalland Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado, and editor of the Denver Journal. He is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including Israelite Religions, Song of Songs in the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, and the commentary on Joshua in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series.

Reviews

[Caden Colson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is helpful as an interaction of scholars around what the Messiah was expected to be and do in various time periods and contexts. It's a collection of essays by different scholars on different topics with another scholar or two responding to each major essay. I read the book because I'm interested in studying what messianic expectation looked like prior to Jesus actually arriving on the scene. For this, the chapters on what kind of Messiah was expected by the Old Testament Jews and by those in the Qumran community were most relevant. While I found none of the essays especially ground-breaking, they are valuable in stimulating thought about how Scripture presents the Messiah (in both Testaments) and how we ought to think about Him in light of that. My main takeaway is that we all have too narrow an understanding of what "Messiah" and "Christ" entail, and lose some very valuable aspects of who Jesus is and what He has done, is doing, and will do. We often oversimplify in an attempt to better understand. The scholars in this book help to show that He is worthy of much more consideration than we give Him on a daily basis. My main personal takeaway is that I want to think of "Christ" merely as another name for Jesus or way of identifying and talking about Him, but rather to call to mind every time what this name and title actually communicates about Him.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read that provided much reflection about the nature and expectation of the Messiah and Messianism in the Old Testament, inter-testamental period, the apostolic era, and - to provide some modern day relevance - it's relevance for Latin American Liberation theology.



If anything this book gave a healthy reminder that controversy in Biblical scholarship and theology is not limited to a neat liberal vs. conservative polemic. These conservative scholars remind me that disagreement and nuance of interpretation runs the entire spectrum of scholarly leanings.



Second, I found the approach useful and helpful for a more balanced approach at Messianic scholarship. To structure by featuring an essay followed by a response allows the reader, who probably do not have ready access to relevent theological journals, to see multiple sides of the issue. I wish more editors of anthologies and collections would consider this approach. As a result it allows the reader a better chance to make up his or her own mind because she or he has a greater sense of the magnitude of opinions.



Overall, the book is extremely readable and easy to follow for the scholar and lay person alike. It is a good choice for anyone looking to research further in the area of Messiah in the Christian and Hebrew Bible.