The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy: Studies and Expositions of the Messiah in the Old Testament

by Michael Rydelnik (Editor), Edwin Blum (Editor)

The ultimate, all-in-one resource on what the Old Testament says about Jesus

As Jesus walked the Emmaeus road, he showed his companions how the whole of Scripture foretold his coming. Yet so often today we’re not quite sure how to talk about Jesus in the Old Testament. How do you know what applies to Jesus? And how do you interpret some of the strange prophetic language?

Get answers and clarity in this authoritative and reliable guide to messianic prophecy from some of the world’s foremost evangelical Old Testament scholars.

In this in-depth, user-friendly one volume resource you get:

-essays from scholars on the big ideas and major themes surrounding Messianic prophecy

-A clear and careful commentary on every passage in the Old Testament considered Messianic

-Insights into the original Hebrew and helpful analysis of theological implications

Watch the Scriptures come into full color as you see new meaning in familiar passages and further appreciate God’s masterful handiwork in preparing the way for Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah.

Genres: Theology, Reference, Christian, Faith, Religion, Biblical Studies

1436 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 10, 2019

About the author

Dr. Michael Rydelnik is Professor of Jewish Studies at Moody Bible Institute where he has taught Jewish Studies and Bible since 1994. The son of Holocaust survivors, he was raised in an observant Jewish home in Brooklyn, New York. Michael trusted in Jesus the Messiah as a high school student and has been teaching the Bible ever since. A sought after speaker and teacher, Michael is a biblical scholar specializing in the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish people, the land of Israel, and biblical prophecy.

Michael can be heard answering listener Bible questions every Saturday morning from 9-11 AM (Central Time), on Moody Radio's Open Line with Dr. Michael Rydelnik. He is a Resource Scholar for RBC Ministries and appears frequently on the Day of Discovery TV programs. He recently appeared in the Lee Strobel film The Case for Christ. Michael also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Dallas Theological Seminary, Talbot School of Theology and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Dr. Rydelnik is the co-editor and contributor, with fellow faculty member Michael Vanlaningham, of The Moody Bible Commentary, a one-volume commentary on the whole Bible written by the faculty of Moody Bible Institute. He is the author of Understanding the Arab Israeli Conflict: What the Headlines Haven‘t Told You (Moody Publishers, 2007) and The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? (B&H Publishers, 2010). He has contributed to numerous books, scholarly journals and magazines. He served on the translation team of the new Holman CSB version of the Bible and has contributed to both the Apologetics Study Bible (B&H Publishers) and the Holman Study Bible.

Michael graduated in Jewish Studies from Moody Bible Institute, earned his B.A. degree from Azusa Pacific University, his Th.M. degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and his doctorate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, focusing his studies on the Messiah of the Hebrew Bible.

Michael and his wife, Eva (an adjunct faculty member at Moody, teaching literature, education and Jewish studies) live in a historic Jewish Chicago neighborhood. Israel is their favorite place in the world and they enjoy showing people the Land as often as possible. Michael and Eva enjoy black and white movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood, classic literature and hiking with their two collies, Feivel and Darby (especially in the Adirondack mountains of Upstate NY). The Rydelniks have two wonderful adult sons--who always call and write.

- http://www.michaelrydelnik.org/about

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was originally going to give this four stars, because, while there's a lot of great information in here, some of the article are presented in such a technical and academic way, making it difficult to follow and thus less accessible. I firmly believe you do not have to be a Hebrew or Greek scholar in order to understand God's Word, including Messianic prophecy.

I had to dock another star due to the wildly premillennial interpretation of one passage by one of the articles.

All that being said, I learned a lot, and really enjoyed doing this study this year. It fit well alongside my church's Bible reading plan through the gospels this year. If you're interesting in understanding more about the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament - or simply curious how many there (debatably) are - I'd recommend this as a guide.

[Ben K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t read the whole book. The first 200 pages or so had some interesting and helpful articles on the messianic nature of the OT.

[Debra Southern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quote "This is a book about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Although it has become accepted in critical scholarship that the term “Messiah” has no technical usages in the OT and that the concept of a messianic deliverer did not develop until the second century BC,1 this book has taken a decidedly different direction. It seems necessary, before addressing any other subject or passage, to be clear about the subject—to understand what is meant about the Messiah. Therefore, this article will address two foundational elements of this entire study. First, it will seek to develop a biblical, theological definition of the word “Messiah.” Then, it will examine some (though not all) of the other titles the OT uses for this individual."
And that is what this book did. I'm not a scholar or a student of theology. I'm an everyday Christian who came across this book through NetGalley and received a E Book ARC copy. I wanted to see if I could dig further into the understanding of Jesus through the Hebrew OT. Although, I don't think this book was written for the common man, I did receive plenty of information, to improve my Biblical studying.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this indepth and scholarly book, the various authors give full attention to the many different passages that are messianic prophecies. Avoiding the Christo-centric abuse of interpreting the Old Testament and trying to force Jesus on every page of the Old Testament, the authors that penned this book provide interesting explanations and insight into each passage that truly pointed to the coming Messiah.

Some of the strengths of the book are: 1) The faithfulness to cover every passage in specific detail, examining the various interpretations of said passage, exegetical considerations, and stating specifically why the particular author believes that the passage is indeed, a prophetic statement about the future Messiah; 2) The scholarly study given to each passage; 3) The number of authors used, provided various reading styles that would allow the reader to perhaps resonate with some of the authors' writing style, thus being able to understand the authors' writings; 4) A faithfulness to take on passages that are disputed by those of other Hermeneutic persuasions and, in doing so, show reasonable arguments for why the author holds the view he/she holds.; 5) The section covering Isaiah through Zachariah was incredible and very helpful for understanding prophecies of the Messiah.

Some weaknesses of the book are possibly: 1) Such a technical, academic approach that I believe some of us who are not as academic may be lost in the pages of analysis; 2) There seemed to be some confusion in the section where the various authors unpacked the numerous psalms. The confusion was seen in that one author seemed to be poking fun at the literal grammatical historical hermeneutic and left a dangling question mark over his understanding of that particular psalm; 3) The section covering the psalms was brutal to wade through and I almost gave up reading the book, as the writings became laborious and overwhelmingly technical.

Overall, I thought this book was very helpful and would be an amazing resource for a pastor or a studious Christ-follower who wants to understand the plethora of passages that provide a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of academic essays on the topic of Messiah references in the Old Testament. Each chapter is written by a different author, but they're all written in an academic tone and have plenty of end notes. The initial essays were more generalized essays about the word Messiah, where it is found in the Old Testament, and what was said of the Messiah, and things like that. Then the authors would take a group of verses and talk about context, word studies, and such showing how this is a reference to the Messiah. This book appears to be written to counter the critics claims that the Messiah is not mentioned in the Old Testament, so the essays argue the case for these verses referring to the Messiah. Overall, this huge book takes a long time to read from front to back but it gives an interesting look at the messianic verses of the Old Testament.

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

[Richard Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Bible Study Group has just finished this book after 5 years. We have taken a week per chapter or more; most are 10 pages or less and so quite accessible. The content of each chapter centers on finding evidence of Messiah in OT passages; some well-known and others less so. (Example: Isaiah 52 for the former; Psalm 32 for the latter.)
This book works well on multiple levels-- sober, technical studies of passages combined with easy to comprehend concepts and summaries.
Particularly, the sections on Genesis, Ruth, Psalms, and Isaiah are masterful.
This book has greatly expanded my understanding of the unified theme of the OT--all pointing to a Singular Solution for redemption--rather than a loose collection of moral tales.

[William Barrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

One hundred essays by forty-six contributors makes for a hefty volume, but it can be devoured in easy-to-read chunks (an essay per day). Since the days of Hengstenberg's Christology of the Old Testament, Christians have desired a newer and more up to date manual of Messianic prophecies. Here it is. This reader found its essays a marvelous way of supplementing the Christmas season with more meditation and thoughtful consideration of our Messiah as revealed in key Old Testament scriptures. In fact, for those who have a daily Bible reading plan for the coming year, I recommend reading one of these essays each day for the first 100 days of the New Year.

[Allie Fleury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike most other contemporary Christian writings on the topic, Moody's Handbook leaves no stone unturned in the exposition of Old Testament Messianic Prophecy. The reader will appreciate all scripture infinitely more than he ever could before, and see with new eyes God's beautiful handiwork in the Salvation of Man through Jesus Christ.

Undeniably the most comprehensive and thorough - yet accessible - examination, this book takes an in-depth look at every single passage considered prophetic, and analyzes the original Hebrew to provide deeper examination of the prophecies themselves.

[Jacob Sabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between a 4 and 5, I will upgrade to 5 due to the work which into it. Some articles are phenomenal while others were a chore to get through. With so many different authors, some you are going to agree with more than others. But I think it is a wonderful resource if you were teaching on OT Messianic prophecies or wanted to read a book on the subject. Just know, it is more on the academic side, so it may not be as accessible for some people as other books maybe on the topic.

[Emily Vancleave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is helpful and I definitely learned a lot from it, but I definitely don’t fully agree with all their views on certain passages. I don’t think we need to stretch every possible messianic prophecy into something that it’s not, in order to see the messianic expectation of the OT. But nevertheless, a good resource.