MESSIANIC PROPHECIES
IN
HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
BY
FRANZ DELITZSCH.
TRANSLATED BY
SAMUEL IVES CURTISS,
PROFESSOR IN CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
1891.
Copyright, 1891, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
TO
THE MEMORY OF
MY BELOVED AND ONLY DAUGHTER
PAULINE,
WHO ENTERED INTO REST
THREE DAYS AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF
MY REVERED FRIEND AND TEACHER
PROF. FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
THIS little volume is a fitting crown to the exegetical
studies of Dr. Delitzsch. From various points of
view it is likely to be of unusual interest, not only to
those who have been accustomed to peruse his works,
but also to others.
The proofs of the original were read by the
lamented author as he was confined to his bed by his
last illness, weak in body, but clear in mind. The
preface which he dictated five days before his
departure was his final literary work. The last
printed sheet was laid on his bed the day before he
died.
Already the original has received high praise from
appreciative scholars. It is hoped that the transla-
tion may be found not unworthy of this legacy to the
cause of Jewish missions by a revered teacher and
friend.
SAMUEL IVES CURTISS.
CHICAGO, Feb. 2nd, 1891.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
As in the summer of 1887 I delivered my Lectures
on the Messianic Prophecies, perhaps for the last
time, as I had reason to believe, I sought to put the
product, of my long scientific investigation into as
brief, attractive, and suggestive a form as possible. At
the same time the wish inspired me to leave as a
legacy: to the Institutum Judaicum the compendium
of a Concordia, fidei; to our missionaries a Vade
mecum.
Thus arose this little book—a late sheaf from
old and new grain. May God own the old as not
obsolete, the new as not obsolescent!
FRANZ DEL1TZSCH.
LEIPZIG, Feb. 26, 1890.
CONTENTS.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
INTRODUCTION.
SECT. PAGE
1. The Twofold Character of the Problem expressed by the
Name, 9
2. The Historical Significance of that which is apparently
isolated, 10
3. The Indispensableness of Literary and Historical Criticism, 12
4. The Reasonableness of the Supernatural, 12
5. The Redemption a Logical Necessity, 14
6. Messianic Prophecy with and without mention of the
Messiah, 15
7. Messianic Prophecies in the Narrowest Signification, 16
8. The New Testament Glorification of the Conception of the
Messiah, 18
9. Messianic Prophecies in a Broader Signification, 21
10. Historical Sketch of the Subject, 22
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL
SUCCESSION.
CHAPTER I.
THE DIVINE WORD CONCERNING THE FUTURE SALVATION BEFORE
THE TIME OF THE PROPHETS.
1. Justification of the Beginning in Gen. iii., 31
2. Beginning and Object of the Theophanies, 33
3. The Primitive Promise, 34
4. The Primitive Promise in the Light of Fulfilment, 36
ix
x CONTENTS.
SECT. PAGE
5. Finest Effects and Verifications of the Primitive Promise, 39
6. The Expected Comforter, 42
7. The Promise of the Blessing of the Nations in the Seed
of the Patriarchs, 43
CHAPTER II.
THE PROPHETIC BENEDICTIONS OF THE DYING PATRIARCHS.
8. Jacob's artful Procurement of the Blessing of the
First-Born, 47
9. The Designation of Judah as the Royal and Messianic
Tribe, 50
CHAPTER III.
THE PREDICTIONS OF THE MOSAIC PERIOD CONCERNING THE
FUTURE SALVATION.
10. The Promise of a Prophet after Moses, and like him, 59
11. The Prophecy of Balaam concerning the Star and the
Sceptre out of Israel, 65
12. Course and Goal of the History of Salvation after Moses'
great Memorial Song, 69
CHAPTER IV.
THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF THE TIME OF JOSHUA AND
OF THE JUDGES.
13. Yahweh and His Anointed in the Thanksgiving Song of
Hannah, 74
14. The divinely-anointed One in the Threatening Prophecy
concerning the House of Eli, 76
CHAPTER V.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE AGE OF DAVID AND SOLOMON.
15. The Transition of the Kingdom from Benjamin to Judah, 80
16. David's View of Himself after his anointing, 82
xi
CONTENTS. xi
SECT. PAGE
17. The Binding of the Promise to the House of David, 85
18. The Separation of the Image of the Messiah from the
Person of David, 89
19. David's Testamentary Words, 94
20. Messianic Desires and Hopes of Solomon, 97
21. Prophecy and Chokma, 99
22. The Goël and the Mediating Angel in the Book of Job, 102
CHAPTER VI.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE FIRST EPOCHS OF THE DIVISION
OF THE KINGDOM.
23. The Prophets after the Division of the Kingdom until the
Reign of Jehoshaphat and the Dynasty of Omri, 106
24. The Metaphysical Conception of Wisdom in the Intro-
duction to the Book of Proverbs, 108
25. The Epithalamium, Ps. xlv., 112
CHAPTER VII.
THE MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN THE PROPHETIC LITERATURE
FROM JORAM TO HEZEKIAH.
26. The Relation of the three oldest Prophetic Writings to
the Messianic Idea, 116
27. The View of Hosea, the Ephraimitic Prophet of the Final
Period, 126
28. Isaiah's Fundamental Ideas in their Original Form, 135
29. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies, Isa, vii., ix., xi., 138
I. Immanuel, the Son of the Virgin, 138
30. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies, Isa. vii., ix., xi., 143
II. The Beginning of a new Period with the new Heir
of the Davidic Throne, 143
31. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies, Isa. vii., ix., xi., 147
III. Characteristics of the Second David and of his
Government, 147
32. The Son of God in Psalm ii., 152
33. The Messianic Elements in the Addresses of Isaiah, xiv.
24–xxxix., 156
34. The Elements of Progress in Micah's Messianic Proclama-
tion, 160
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROPHECY FROM THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH UNTIL THE CATASTROPHE.
SECT. PAGE
35. The Domain of Nahum's and Zephaniah's Vision, 168
26. Habakkuk's Solution of Faith, and Faith's Object, 171
37. Mediately Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's Announce-
ment until the carrying away of Jehoiachin, 176
38. Immediate Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's Prophecies
under Zedekiah until after the Destruction of Jerusalem, 180
CHAPTER IX.
PROPHECY IN THE BABYLONIAN EXILE.
39. The Messiah in Ezekiel, 188
40. The Prince in Ezekiel's Future State, 193
41. The Metamorphosis of the Messianic Ideal in Isa. xl.–lxvi., 197
42. The Servant of Yahweh in Deutero-Isaiah, 201
43. The Mediator of Salvation as Prophet, Priest, and King in
one Person, 203
44. The Great Finale, Isa. xxiv.–.xxvii., 206
CHAPTER X.
THE PROPHECY OF THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION.
45. Post-Exilic Prophecy in view of the New Temple, 210
46. The Two Christological Pairs of Prophecy in Deutero-
Zechariah, 214
I. The First Prophetic Pair in Chaps. ix.–xi., 214
47. The Two Christological Pairs of Prophecy in Deutero-
Zechariah, 219
II. The Second Prophetic Pair in Chaps. xii.–xiv., 219
48. Concluding Prophecies of New Testament Contents in
Malachi, 223
49. The Antichrist in the Book of Daniel, 228
50. Christ in the Book of Daniel, 230
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
IT is undeniable, and is universally recognised, that
in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, One
divinely anointed, a Messiah, who is to go forth from
Israel, is promised and hoped for, who makes His
people victorious and powerful, and who from them
extends His dominion to a world dominion. The Jews
still look for this Messiah Christianity—and to a
certain extent also Islam—sees the promise fulfilled in
Jesus. This Jesus is regarded by us Christians as the
promised Christ, i.e. the Messiah. Christianity is the
1 Sadly morbid exceptions to this Christian recognition of
Jesus as the Christ are made in Konynenburg's investigations
concerning the nature of the Old Testament prophecies respecting
the Messiah, who entirely denies the existence of Messianic
prophecies, which have been fulfilled, or are to be fulfilled,1 since
he considers 'the expectation which the Jews entertain of an ideal
King as a product of moral perversity: also by Lord Amberly,
who declares that the rejection of Jesus as Messiah is fully
justifiable, since it is an astonishing assumption on the part of
Gentile Christians, that they are more competent than the Jews
themselves to give an opinion, as to what the name of the Messiah
signifies and requires.2
_______________________________________________________________
1Konynenburg, Untersuchungüber die Natur der Alttestamentl. Weissa-
gungen auf den Messias aus don Holländischen übersetzt, Lugen 1759,
395ff
2An Analysis of Religious Belief, London 1876, vol. i. p. 388 f.
2 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
same as the religion of the Messiah, the religion
which has the Christ, who appeared in Jesus, as its
principle and centre.
Hence the name Christianity indicates that it
claims to be the religion which is being prepared in
the history and word and writing of the Old Testa-
ment. Even when we call it the New Testament
religion, we thus recognise that it is the religion of a
covenant which has taken the place of the old, but not
without having the old as a first step, and not without
standing in connection with it as the fruit with the
tree, the child with the mother.
Hence Christianity in the Old Testament is in the
process of development. With the same propriety we
can say: Christ, through the Old Testament, is in the
act of coming. Is is true that the man Jesus has a
temporal beginning, beyond which His existence as a
man does not extend. But in this fact, that He
appeared in the fulness of time, God's counsel was
fulfilled and since Jesus is certainly the man who
above all others had God dwelling in Himself, the
approach of God, who proposes to reveal Himself and
perfect the work of salvation through Him, is at the
same time an approach of Jesus. His coming in the
Old Testament is therefore something more than
merely ideal.
These are views which Christians hold in common
—indisputable propositions which, from a Christian
standpoint, express a historical fact without pre-
supposing any closer dogmatic statements. We em-
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3
phasize this intentionally, in order to attract as far as
possible the circle of those to whose sympathy we
appeal for the following investigations. How much
we should rejoice, if we could also secure the sym-
pathy of those belonging to the Jewish confession who
are seeking after the truth. It is indeed worth the
while for such to see how Christianity justifies itself as
the religion if fulfilled prophecy; and this all the
more, since the self-testimony of Christianity, in the
present condition of the investigation of the Scriptures,
and in view of the restless sifting and decomposition
of almost everything which has hitherto been accepted,
must be more thoroughly revised, more exact, more
many-sided, in many respects different, from that
which was usual in earlier centuries, and which has
been handed down even to the later missionary
literature.
It is a delightful theme, a joyful work, in which we
propose to be absorbed.1 The Lord is in the process
of coming in the Old Testament, in drawing near, in
proclaiming is appearance, and we design to transport
ourselves into this Old Testament period, and follow
the steps of the One who is coming, pursue the traces
of the One who is drawing near, seek out the shadows
which He casts upon the way of His Old Testament
1 This view, indeed, was not held by Schleiermacher, who,
in his second Sendschreiben to Lücke, Theologische Studien u.
Kritiken, Hamburg 1829, vol. ii. p. 497, says: "I can never
consider this effort to prove Christ out of the Old Testament
prophecies a joyful work, and am sorry that so many worthy
men torment themselves with it."
4 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
history, and especially seek to understand the intima-
tions of prophecy respecting Him.
The old theology made scarcely any distinction
between the time of His coming and His entrance into
the actual domain of history. The historical mode of
view is a charism, granted to the Church in the period
after the Reformation. We have reason to rejoice on
this account. The Old Testament may be compared
to the starry night, and the New Testament to the
sunny day, or, as we may also say, the New Testament
period, in its beginning, is related to the Old Testa-
ment as the coming of spring to winter. The spring
in the kingdom of God suffered itself to be long waited
for; and when at length spring days seemed to
announce the end of the darkness and coldness of
winter, the winter soon made its presence felt again.
Then, however, when the Lord appeared, it became
spring. He was indeed predicted as the embodiment
of spring. Would, then, that in the following inter-
pretations of Old Testament prophetic images there
might also be fewer traces of the winter of life in
which I stand, than of the spring-like freshness, of the
living power, of the pentecostal nature of the subject
of which I treat!
We live in an age, in which the Christian view of
the world, through which the antique heathen view
was overcome, threatens on its side to be overcome by
the modern view of the world, which recognises no
system of the world except that which is in accord-
ance with natural laws, and no free miraculous
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 5
interference of God in it. Christian truth, as it is
attested in the Holy Scriptures, will also outlast this
crisis. But since it must maintain its position
against ever new antagonistic principles of advanc-
ing civilisation, culture, and science, it will be itself
drawn into the process of development; for it stands
indeed as firm as a rock which is not shaken by any
dashing of the waves, yet not motionless as a rock,
but it is living, and therefore, as regards the kind of
life, is ever supplementing itself anew. It cannot be
otherwise; since in Christ, as the apostle says, lie
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
hence the history of Christianity must be the history
of the constant raising of these treasures. Chris-
tianity remains the same in its essence, but it is all
the while more occupied with the depth of its essence,
and ever coins new forms of thought and expression.
Even in the age of Darwinism, and of his great dis-
coveries in natural science, it will retain its unfading
and inexhaustible power of life.
There is a crisis in the domain of the Bible, and
especially in that of the Old Testament, in which the
evening of my life falls. This crisis repels me on
account of the joy of its advocates in destruction, on
account of their boundless negations and their un-
spiritual profanity; but also this crisis, as so many
crises since the time of the apostles, will become a
lever for progressive knowledge, and it is therefore
incumbent [upon us] to recognise the elements of
truth which are in the chaos, and to gather them
6 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
out; for as the primitive creation began with chaos,
so in the realm of knowledge, and especially of
spiritual life from epoch to epoch, that which is new
goes forth from the chaos of the old. It is indeed
not the business of an individual to complete this
work of sifting and of refining and of reorganization.
Nevertheless, we take part in it, although with a small
degree of strength.
It is a depressing observation that Judaism has
strong support in modern Christian theology, and
that its literature is like an arsenal, out of which
Judaism can secure weapons for its attack on Chris-
tianity. Nevertheless, in the midst of the present
confusion we can be comforted with the consideration
that this resource does not suffice for the maintenance
of Judaism. For whether one takes with reference to
Christianity the unitarian or trinitarian, the rational-
istic or supernaturalistic standpoint, it is established
that Christianity, as contra-distinguished from Judaism,
is the religion of consummated morality, and that
Jesus is the great holy divine man whose appearance
halves the world's history. Christianity and the
person of its founder are more to us than this, but
we rejoice nevertheless in this firm position, which
can bid defiance to all the attacks of Judaism, and
in whose defence all who bear the name of Christ
stand together. For every Christian as such, however
he may understand the relation of the divine and
the human in the person of Jesus, recognises in
Jesus the end of Old Testament development, and
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 7
in Christianity the completion of the religion of
Israel.
We must admit that the treatment of our subject
will vary, according as the one who treats it answers
the question which Jesus once raised: "What think ye
of Christ; whose son is He?" For the understanding of
the process of becoming is dependent upon the concep-
tion of the goal; the understanding of the Old Testa-
ment process of becoming is dependent upon the truthful
valuation of the person of Jesus. It is indeed just in
this respect that we Christians are distinguished from
the Jews: we do not expect any other; Judaism
also does not really expect any other. Its hope of a
Messiah, since the rejection of Jesus, the Christ of
God, has sunk to a fantastic image of worldly patriot-
ism, which as no power to warm the heart. We
consider Jesus, on the contrary, as the end of the
law, the goal of prophecy, the summit of Old Testa-
ment history, and with respect to the mystery of His
twofold existence and work as mediator, we hold to
His utterances respecting Himself, and to the testi-
mony of His apostles; for a Christianity torn loose
from these authorities, and otherwise understood, is
only a scientific abstraction, an arbitrary excerpt
according to a self-made pattern, an artificial pro-
duct according to the demands of the spirit of the
age. We are, so far as we are concerned, persuaded
that gospels and epistles harmonize most intimately.
We are certain of this that in all essential points
they admit of a reciprocal control. In the preparation
8 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
for the New Testament in the Old, however, we are
concerned with such essential points, the recognition
of which is dawning, and which sometimes also breaks
through like lightning. The noble ones in Beroea
subjected even the word of the apostle to the test
according to the Holy Scriptures which they had in
their hands. We too shall see whether prophecy and
the apostolic word reciprocally correspond and pro-
mote each other, so, indeed, that the Old Testament
word of prophecy in relation to the New Testament
dawn is only as the apostle says (2 Pet. i. 19): like
"a lamp shining in a dark place."
INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. The Twofold Character of the Problem expressed by
the Name.
IN all Intellectual productions much depends upon
finding the right name; for the name designates
the goal, and indicates at the same time the way by
which it is proposed to reach it. A suitable desig-
nation in itself would be: History of the Preparation
for the Appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testa-
ment Consciousness; but the exegetical side of our
problem does of in this way find the desired expres-
sion. Nor de we say "Old Testament Christology,"
because this designation leads us to expect a system-
atic rather than a historical and exegetical treatment.
We therefore choose the title: "Messianic Prophecies
in Historical succession," because it affords expression
both to the exegetical and historical side of the prob-
lem. It is true that our doctrinal material does not
consist merely in predictions in the strict sense of the
term, but the promises and hopes which have reference
to the future salvation may be included under the
conception of prophecy, for the promises of God are
indeed pledged predictions, and the hope is estab-
9
10 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
lished upon such sure prospects. The designation
"Messianic" also appears to be too narrow, for in the
domain of our theme are all such predictions which
speak of the future salvation, without mentioning a
human mediator by the side of the God of salvation.
But in a wider sense we may nevertheless, as we shall
see, call all those predictions Messianic which refer to
the completion of the divine work of salvation, and of
the divine kingdom in the Messianic age.
§ 2. The Historical Significance of that which is
apparently isolated.
But can we from the passages of Scripture which
lie before us form a history of the Messianic expecta-
tion of Israel with respect to a future salvation?
These passages of Scripture are, indeed, like isolated
points without connecting lines, and they are testi-
monies, not of the people, but of individuals among
the people, so that we are not able to determine their
effect upon the belief and hope of the mass. This
doubt must be considered, but disappears on a further
investigation of the subject. All progress in civili-
sation in the human race is accomplished through
individuals, whose new discoveries and attainments
become new impulses for the advancing dominion of
man over the world of nature, and for their advancing
spiritual culture. This is also true of religious pro-
gress; in every place where this takes a new turn, it
has been men who were far beyond their age within
INTRODUCTION. 11
whom this new turn has been accomplished. All
religions which deserve this name, as express repre-
sentations of Deity, and the right mode of worshipping
Him, are to be traced back to single individuals who
have founded them or transformed them. That which
has finally become common property was first a pos-
session of individuals; but it will never be common
of property to the extent, that it will penetrate all the
members of the people, or of the religious society in
complete purity and original power. We need not
be surprised if the Christological development, which
goes through the Old Testament, is like a path of
light, which consists of rays of light proceeding from
single points of light. Moses, David, Isaiah—these
are, above all others, the three whose profound natures,
filled by the Spirit, were the source of the light of the
Old Testament religion. We know, indeed, and if we
did not know it, we must presuppose it, that the vital
cognitions which went out from them were adopted
only by the kernel of the people in consciousness and
life. The condition of the mass was like a dark
cloud which was irradiated by the light of revelation,
but was not absorbed by it. But this is not prejudicial
to the historical character and the execution of our
task. We shall describe the gradual rising of the
light as we represent the Christological development,
whose essence is not conditional through a successful
result; for as the true light appeared the darkness did
not comprehend it.
12 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 3. The Indispensableness of Literary and Historical
Criticism.
Those great personalities of the history of revelation
have no other way of being known to us than in the
Old Testament Scriptures. The knowledge of them is
mediated, partly through writings which relate con-
cerning them, partly through writings which go back
to them. In the former case we must raise the
question, to what period the accounts belong, and
whether they are credible; in the latter case, whether
the works in question are authentic, that is, really
have those persons as authors to whom they are
ascribed. The course of development of the Christo-
logical views cannot therefore be mediated without the
co-working of literary criticism and historical criticism,
and all critical questions even here give way in signi-
ficance in comparison with the Pentateuchal question,
which in all directions is the fundamental and chief
question of the Old Testament. We shall not avoid
the influence of modern criticism in unwarranted self-
confidence or in childish fear—we shall also use
criticism, but without employing the grounds of decision
which are now common, and which from principle deny
objective reality to everything that is supernatural, and
especially to the spiritual miracle of prophecy.
§ 4. The Reasonableness of the Supernatural.
While we recognise the supernatural factor in the
INTRODUCTION. 13
Old Testament history of redemption and in the
history of the recognition of redemption, we proceed
from the presupposition that the supernatural would
be subject to the suspicion of that which is mythical
and purely subjective if it merely belonged to the
past and had no present. There is not only a king-
dom of nature in which the natural laws of the system
of the world have sway, but also a kingdom of free-
dom, that is) the reciprocal working of God and of the
free creatures, in which a moral system of the world,
which interferes in the course of nature and makes it
serviceable to itself, has sway. The ultimate goal of
this divinely-ordained reciprocal relation can be in-
ferred. If a difference exists between the absolute
God and all other beings as His creatures, the history
of finite personal beings can have no other true and
final goal than an ever deeper entrance into a living
communion with God. A continuance in this way is,
however, not possible without an actual interchange
between God and these His creatures. Man must
direct words and deeds to God which He understands;
and, on the other hand, God must make Himself known
to men in disclosures and acts which he distinguishes
in the midst of the course of the laws of nature as
the free inworking of the absolute God. The divine
necessity of this reciprocal relation follows with
necessity from the universal impulse of mankind to
prayer; and the reality of this reciprocal relation is
proved to every man who stands in living relation to
God, through his experiences in prayer, and through
14 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the admonishing, warning, comforting voices of God,
which he perceives in himself.
§ 5. The Redemption a Logical Necessity.
But man is caught in the toils of sin; not only
individuals of the race, but also the race as a species,
has incurred the penalty of sin and death, and has
been driven from their moral duty of a continual
approach to God into alienation from Him. If,
nevertheless, mankind is to attain the end of their
creation, it cannot take place without their being
released from the labyrinth of their lost condition
through sin, and without their being brought again
into the path which leads to the goal of their creation.
The work of salvation concerns mankind, and is
designed for every individual, so that all who wish to
be saved can be. The conclusion is not mathematically
certain that this is to be the course of human history,
for God is absolutely free, and He is under no law
except His own will. But nevertheless it is logically
necessary for us, that the final end for which God
has created man can in no way be frustrated. He
is indeed the omniscient One. As such He has
foreseen that man would fall through sin from his
vocation. We must therefore suppose, that if He had
not determined to raise man again from his fall, He
would not have created him at all. These are thoughts
whose logical necessity is apparent, but which would
not come into our minds if we did not know from the
15 INTRODUCTION.
Holy Scriptures, as the record of the will and way of
God, that God the Creator is also God the Redeemer,
who, on account of His decree before the foundation
of the world, nevertheless brings human history, in
spite of sin, to its culmination.
§ 6. Messianic Prophecy with and without mention of
the Messiah.
The religion of revelation is the religion of redemp-
tion, planned by God the Creator from eternity. The
Old Testament religion is the religion of the redemption
a believed and hoped for as future, and the New Testa-
ment religion is the religion of the redemption which
was fundamentally consummated by the Mediator who
s appeared, in the fulness of time. Faith is, in both
Testaments, faith in God the Creator and Redeemer.
The recognition of human mediation, through which
God accomplishes the redemption, came only gradually
about by means of an intricate process of development.
But that the redemption is to be mediated in a human
way is even in itself to be presupposed. God's help
in behalf of the multitude of men is ever to make
individuals, or one an instrument for many, as appears
in the fact that God elected a people from the midst
of the peoples, as a mediator, in attestation of Himself,
and of the redemption of mankind from the labyrinth
of idolatry. It must be admitted that this national-
izing of the religion obstructed and endangered the
recognition of the universal and spiritual character of
16 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the work of redemption. The opposition in which
Judaism until the present day remains to Jesus the
Christ, actually proves how great a danger this un-
avoidable nationalizing brought with it. But the
history of the Messianic prophecies, which we shall
describe, is designed to show, that in spite of appear-
ances to the contrary, the Saviour who has gone forth
out of Israel in the person of Jesus is the end of
Old Testament leadings, and the fulfilment of the
deepest pre-Christian hopes and longings.
§ 7. Messianic Prophecies in the Narrowest
Signification.
The high priest is called an anointed one in the
Pentateuchal Torah, because he, and only he, not the
other priests, was set apart for his office by anointing
—that is, through the pouring of oil upon the head
(Lev. viii. 12, cf. v. 30). The expression Haywim.Aha NheKoha,
Lev. iv. 3 [the anointed priest], signifies the same as
lOdGAha NheKoha [the great priest]. The post-Biblical lan-
guage (perhaps also even in Dan. ix. 26, if Onias III.
is there intended, after whose removal, 171 B.C., Antio-
chus Epiphanes plundered the temple) also calls him
simply HaywimA, as when, in Horayoth 8a, there is a dis-
crimination between dyHiyA, xyWinA, HaywimA, private man,
prince, and high priest. But outside of the Torah it
is the king of Israel who is called the anointed,
and indeed the anointed of Yahweh, e.g. Saul, 1 Sam.
xii. 3; David, Ps. xviii. 51, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1; Zedekiah,
17 INTRODUCTION.
Lam. iv. 20; also Cyrus is honoured in Isa. xlv. 1
with the title of an anointed one of Yahweh, because
Yahweh has brought about his elevation as king, and
has chosen him as His instrument. For HwamA signifies
not only to anoint (i.e. to pour oil upon, or to apply
oil in some other way), but has, aside from the external
ceremonial completion of the anointing, the further
meaning of anointing through word and deed (1 Kings
xix. 16; Ps. cv. 15). In the time of the Judges, in
which there was no united government of the entire
people, it was a divinely-anointed king to whom hope
and promise were directed; and when in the time of
the Kings the kingdom went counter to its divinely-
determined end (as, for example, in the time of Ahaz),
promise and hope were directed all the more earnestly
to a divinely-given righteous and victorious king.
Messianic prophecies in the narrowest signification are
accordingly such prophecies, as connect the hope of
salvation and the glory of the people of God with a
future king, who, proceeding from Israel, subjects the
world to himself. This ideal king—that is, the one
who completely actualizes the theocratic idea is as
such hv,h;ya HaywimA; but this is not yet the distinguishing
characteristic name in the Old Testament. It is, for
example, questionable whether in Hab. iii. 14, j~H,ywim;
refers to the present king or to the great One of the
future; and in general there is no Old Testament
passage in which HaywimA indicates the future One with
eschatological exclusiveness (not even Dan. ix. 25,
where, as it appears, dyginA HaywimA is intended of the
18 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
priestly king of the future).1 This only can be cer-
tainly held, that even the congregation of the exilic
period understood by the divinely-anointed One in
Ps. cxxxii. and Ps. ii. the King of the final period.
§ 8. The New Testament Glorification, of the Conception
of the Messiah.
First, in the doctrinal language of post-Biblical
Judaism the future One is called, almost with the
significance of a proper name, HaywimA, Greek Messi<aj,2
after the Aramaic form of the name Haywim;, or with the
post-positive article xHAywim;. Although the royal dignity
is involved in HaywimA when this word is used as a noun,
the Targums and the literature of the Talmudical
period prefer the designation hHAywim; hKAl;ma, Heb. j`l,m,
HaywimA.ha (when both are blended together like a proper
name, as in tOxbAc; hv,h;ya j`l,m,, Zech. xiv. 16 f.); but some-
times simply HaywimA, Aramaic Haywim;, is found.3 In the
1 Luther translates Dan. ix. 25: "Until Christ the Prince,"
and also ver. 26 "And after sixty-two weeks Christ will be
destroyed."—This is the only place in the Old Testament where
he has used the name of Christ.
2 De Lagarde holds that M<essi<aj is the Greek form of Haywi.mi,
a trans-Jordanic Arabic nominal form like ryfiWe, for ryfiWi. It is,
however, the Greek form of xHAywim;; the H remaining unexpressed
between the two long vowels as in mida = xdAyHim; Neh. vii. 54,
and Mesi/aj or Messi<aj was written like ]Abesalw<m or ]Abessalw<m,
since through duplication greater stability was given to the short
vowel.
3 See e.g. Lev. rabba c. xiv.: "The Spirit of God brooded over
the waters Hywmh jlm lw Hvr hz.” And without the article
Pesachim 54a, according to which Hywm lw vmw belong to the
INTRODUCTION. 19
so-called Psalms of Solomon, which were written in
Hebrew about the year 48,—the year of the battle of
Pharsalias, —and which have been preserved for us in
a Greek translation which is to some extent difficult
to understand, the future One is called (xvii. 36,
xviii. 8) Xristo>j ku<rioj (as in Luke ii. 11; Hebrew
NOdxAhA HaywimA). Even in the Septuagint Xristo<j is the
translation of the Hebrew HaywimA. While, however, the
New Testament designation of Jesus is coextensive
with the Hebrew and Jewish HaywimA, philologically, it
is not really; for, since the name Xristo<j becomes
the name of Jesus, it gives to the personality of Jesus
its Old Testament stamp, not, however, without at the
same time receiving a new stamp from Him. The name
Xristo<j receives a wider, deeper, more exalted meaning.
It experiences in the light of the Saviour a metamor-
phosis (glorification). The royal idea which it expresses
is not removed, but it is relieved of its one-sidedness.
It indicates the Son of God and the Son of man, who,
as the reward of His priestly self-sacrifice, receives the
royal crown instead of the crown of thorns, and as the
risen and exalted One rules the world, hence in a
manner worthy of God, at whose right hand He sits.
Remark 1.—Within the course of the evangelical
history the Lord is called ]Ihsou?j. First after God
seven things which preceded the Creation. And Sanhedrin 93b,
says Simeon, called Bar-Cochba: Haywim; xnAxE. Targ. jer. to Gen.
xlix. 11 may serve as a proof passage for xHywm xklm, which
occurs frequently in the Targums: "How beautiful is xklm
xHywm, who shall one day rise from the house of Judah!"
20 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
raised Him from the dead, and, as is said in Acts ii. 36,
made Him both Lord and Christ, He receives in addition
to the proper name ]Ihsou?j as the designation of honour,
which has likewise become a proper name, Xristo<j.
Within the Gospels, however, except in John i. 17,
xvii. 3, this double designation occurs only in Matt.
i. 1, 18 (but here with the article prefixed tou? ]Ihsou?
Xristou?; Mark i. 1. Aside from John xvii. 3 the
evangelists write this double designation over the
gates of their Gospels like a summary or emblem of
the entire following history, with a similar signification
as when the Torah prefixes the double designation hv,h;ya
Myhilox: to Gen. ii.—iii. Both names express everything.
In the name Jesus the idea of salvation predominates;
in the name Christ, that of glory. We can say: the
course in the Old Testament leads from Christ to
Jesus, the course in the New Testament from Jesus
to Christ.
Remark 2.—In spite of the one-sidedness of the
royal image the royal dominion still remains one side
in the image of the future One; and far from denying
the royal dignity of His Messiahship, Jesus answers
the question of Pilate (Mark xv. 2): su> le<geij, and
over His cross stands: o[ basileu>j tw?n ]Ioudai<wn (Mark
xv. 26), which the Jews would have liked to have
changed, because He was not the King of the Jews, but
said that He was (John xix. 21 f. Observe that this
is the Gospel of John). But the kingdom which lies
at the end of His course, while it embraces the world,
is nevertheless not a worldly kingdom. He will one
day be King of the Jews, and will again raise up the
kingdom of Israel, but not before the Jewish people
have subjected themselves to His sceptre in penitence
INTRODUCTION. 21
and faith. As Yahweh became the King of Israel at
Sinai when they accepted the law with the words hW,fEna
fmAW;niv;, —we will perform and be obedient, —so Jesus
will become King of Israel when, worshipping Him,
they render Him homage; but even then He will not
be a king in an external, earthly, narrow, and national
way, as unspiritual natural pride dreams; for the
kingdom of God in Christ is a basilei<a tw?n ou]ranw?n,
that is, of heavenly origin and heavenly nature.
§ 9. Messianic Prophecies in a Broader Signification.
Even in the Old Testament the royal image of the
future Anointed One is proved to be one-sided and
inadequate, since it is neither coextensive with the
need of salvation, nor exhausts the expectation of
salvation. But not this alone. Since the idea of the
God-man is first announced in single rays of light, the
Mediator of salvation, in general, does not yet stand
in the centre of Old Testament faith, but the comple-
tion of the kingdom of God appears mostly as the
work of the God of salvation Himself with the reces-
sion of human mediation. But we also classify these
prophecies under the general conception of Messianic,
because, indeed in the history of fulfilment it is God
in Christ who from Israel works out and secures for
mankind the highest spiritual blessings. Our prayer
to Christ is prayer to God revealed in the flesh.
Therefore, from a historical point of view, we regard the
prophecies concerning the ultimate salvation, which are
even silent concerning the Messiah, as Christological.
22 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 10. Historical Sketch of the Subject.
The New Testament references to Old Testament
prophecies are limited, rather accidentally than
designedly, by the occasions afforded in the Gospel
history and the apostolic trains of thought. Hence
it has come to pass, that many Messianic passages of
prime importance have remained unnoticed, e.g. Isa.
ix. 5, 6; Jer. 5, 6; Zech. vi. 12, 13. A richer
and, to a certain extent, more systematic discussion of
the predictions and representations concerning Christ
in the Old Testament begins with the Epistle of
Barnabas (71-120 A.D.), which is related to the
Epistle to the Hebrews, but which stands far below
it, and in Justin's Dialogue with Trypho (d. about
163 A.D.). This is, to a certain extent, a missionary
document, the only one of the ancient Church, which
breathes a spirit of love that seeks the lost, of
which we can discover but little in the First Book
of Cyprian's Testimonia adversus Judaeos1 (d. 258),
and in the Altercatio Simonis Judaei et Theophili
Christiani.2 Justin is in so far inferior to his Jewish
opponent, that he is acquainted with the Old Testa-
ment only through the secondary source of the
Septuagint. On the other hand, Origen (d. 254),
who, in his Eighth Book, written against Celsus
1 See W. Faber in Saat auf Hoffnung, Erlangen 1887, vol.
xxiv. pp. 26-29.
2 See Gebhardt-Harnack's Texten und Untersuchungen, Leipzig,
i. 3.
INTRODUCTION. 23
(about 247), contends against the heathen and Jewish
misrepresentations of the person of Christ and of
Christianity, is acquainted with Hebrew, but his inter-
pretation of the Scriptures suffers from his effort at
that arbitrary allegorization in which the Alexandrian
school is the successor of Philo. Nevertheless, the
historical method of the Antiochian school brought
about a reaction, which even referred direct Messianic
prophecies like Micah v. 1 to Zerubbabel and in
general to objects before Christ, and only, with refer-
ence to the result of their higher fulfilment, to Christ.
Theodore of Antioch (d. 428), bishop of Mopsuestia,
did this in a rash and offensive way. It was not
taken into account by the ancient Church, down to the
time of the Middle Ages, that there is in the Old
Testament a preparation for the salvation in Christ
through a connected and progressive history.1 Nor
was it taken into account in the time of the Reforma-
tion, when the predominantly anti-Judaistic, apologetic
interest of the ancient Church was replaced by one
which was predominantly dogmatic, and a spiritualistic
interpretation took the place of an allegorical, which
removed the national elements of the old prophecy by
means of a symbolical or a mystical interpretation.
First, Spener (d. 1705) and his school made way for
a better understanding of the prophecies, while, with
reference to Rom. xi. 25, 26, he recognised that which
is relatively authorized in the national form of the Old
1 In this connection special attention is called to Abelard's
(d. 1142) Dialogus inter Philosophum, Judaeum et Christianum.
24 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Testament prophecy. John Albert Bengel (d. 1752)
and Christian Augustus Crusius (d. 1775) began to
modify the stiff idea of inspiration, since they regarded
the prophets not only as passive, but also at the same
time as active instruments, and placed their range of
view under the law of perspective. With Cocceius
(d. 1669) began the method of treating the Old Testa-
ment in periods. But they were not able to divide
this history into periods according to its internal
development, in which chance and plan, freedom and
necessity interpenetrate. When then rationalism, for
which the way had been prepared by the Arminian
Grotius (d. 1645), and Spinoza in his Tractatus theo-
logico politicus (1670), and which was founded by
Semler (d. 1791), degraded Jesus to a teacher of
religion and morals, the Messianic prophecies of the
Old Testament became almost entirely without an
object, until the gradual unfolding of the idea of the
Messiah was recognised in them, and, as there was a
return from a merely nominal Christianity to that estab-
lished by documents, the gradual subjective prepara-
tion of the essential salvation was acknowledged. This
revolution was established by Hengstenberg's (d. 1869)
Christologie des Alters Testaments (in three volumes,
Berlin 1829-1835, second edition 1854-1857), which
formed a new epoch in the treatment of the subject,
followed in a spirit of freer criticism by Tholuck's
(d. 1877) work, Die Propheten und ihre eissagungen,
Gotha 1860, and by Gustav Baur in his Geschichte der
alttestamentlichen Weissagung, Theil 1, 1861. The
INTRODUCTION. 25
proper mean between conservatism and progress was
taken by Oehler (d. 1872) in his articles "Messias"
and "Weissagung" in the first edition of Herzog's
Real-Encyklopädie, vols. ix., Stuttgart 1858, and xvii.,
Gotha 1863, and in his Theology of the Old Testament,1
which appeared after his death. The same praise is
clue to Orelli's work, The Old Testament Prophecy of the
Completion of the Kingdom of God,2 and to Briggs'
Messianic Prophecy.3 We should be guilty of inex-
cusable ingratitude if we were to make no mention of
Hofmann's (d. 1877) work, which still remains unique,
entitled Weissagung und Erfüllung, in two parts,
Nördlingen 1841-1844. This treatise is a com-
panion piece to Hengstenberg's Christology. The Old
Testament account is here reconstructed historically
and exegetically in a masterly way as an organic
whole, developed in word and deed until the time of
Christ, with which the history of the fulfilment, as the
other half, reaching to the end of the present dis-
pensation, is joined together. Many views of truth
which have come into the modern scriptural theology
have sprung from this original work, whose main fault
is the straining of the type at expense of the prophecy.
In his conception of the prophecies concerning Israel's
future Hofmann's standpoint is realistic. He leaves
the conception of Israel in the national estimation of
it, without understanding by it the Church gathered
out of Israel and the heathen, nevertheless in such
1 First edition, Tubingen, 1873-74; second edition, 1882-85.
2 Edinburgh. 3 Edinburgh 1886.
26 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
a way as to exclude the restoration of all which
cannot be harmonized with the Christian denational-
izing of the religion and the doing away with the law.
Also Bertheau in his lengthy article, "Die alttesta-
mentliche Weissagung von Israel's Reichsherrlichkeit
in seinem Lande," in the fourth volume of the
Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie, Gotha 1859, seeks
to separate the present idea of the fulfilment from the
particular national form. In like manner Riehm (d.
1888) in his work, Die Messianische Weissagung, Gotha
1875, which fails to do justice to the words of
prophecy with reference to the conversion of Israel.
The rationalistic standpoint, in which the historical
method is carried out, is represented by Stähelin's
work, Die Messianisehen Weissagungen, Berlin 1847;
Anger's lectures, published after his death (d. 1866),
edited by Krenkel, Ueber die Geschichte der Hessian-
ischen Idee, Berlin 1873; Hitzig (d. 1875) in his
Vorlesungen über biblische Theologie und Messianischen
Weissagung des Alters Testaments, Karlsruhe, 1880,
issued by Kneucher; and Kuenen's work, The Prophets
and Prophecy in Israel, London 1877, which is dis-
tinguished more for its learning and sharp apprehen-
sion of the subject than for originality and genius,
which, on principle, dismisses all that is supernatural
as unhistorical, and regards ethical monotheism as the
kernel of prophecy. Duhm's Die Theologie der Pro-
pheten, Bonn 1875, is peculiar in this respect, that
he sets out with the proposition that the Old Testa-
ment literary prophets belong to an earlier age than
INTRODUCTION. 27
the Mosaic law, and that in the writing of every prophet
there is a special system of teaching, by means of which
he hinders or helps the progress to greater freedom in
religious things. In opposition to this rationalistic
standpoint Edward König in his work, Den Offenbar-
ungsbegriff des Alten Testaments, Leipzig 1882, defends
the supernatural character of Old Testament prophecy.
A sketch of the history of the interpretation of Old
Testament prophecy is given by Tholuck in his Das
Alte Testament im Neuen, in the Supplement to his
commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and especi-
ally in the sixth edition, 1868; also in Oehler's article,
entitled "Weissagung," in the first edition of Herzog's
Real-Encyklopädie; and its progress since Bengel is given
in Delitzsch's work, Die biblisch-prophetisehe Theologie,
ihre Fortbildung durch Chr. A. Crusius und irhe neueste
Entwickelung seit der Christologie Hengstenberg's, Berlin
1845. Many materials bearing upon the subject
are afforded in Diestel's (d. 1879) Gesehichte des Alten
Testaments in der christlichen Kirche, Jena 1869.
Remark.—The representation of the course of de-
velopment in prophecy will differ according as the
supernatural factor of the history is recognised or not
recognised by the writer as specifically different, and
yet at the same time as historical, and Christianity as
only the religion of perfect morality, or as the religion
of redemption. But also aside from this, the representa-
tion will differ according to the position of the writer
with reference to the results of modern literary his-
torical criticism, and the new construction of the Old
Testament history which is based upon it.
28 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
It is a postulate of our consciousness, that human
history is engaged in a movement toward a definite
end. This movement, far from being absolutely
in a straight line, takes place under all kinds of
deviations and retrogressons, and the valuation of
that which is new is wont to be different, not only on
the part of contemporaries, but also on the part of
those who come later, since it does not treat of the
things of nature, but rather of those of the spiritual
life. Nevertheless there arises, in spite of all these
devious ways, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of
judgment, the demand for actual progress. And in view
of the revolution which has taken place in the domain
of Biblical investigation, the question is justified, what
permanent religious advantage is to proceed from it.
All recognition of the truth is of a religious char-
acter, so far as God Himself is the truth, and the
endless background of the recognition of all religious
truth. Biblical questions, however, are immediately
religious. I shall not presume to determine in ad-
vance that which in the year 2000 will be considered
pure gold, which will have endured the smelting fire
of criticism, and will have been won by means of it;
but one thing we know, that the Holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments will be and will remain
the document of the revelation of the one true
God. And since the Old Testament religion is a pre-
paration and a preliminary step for the New, we shall
not take any offence if in the Old Testament Scrip-.
tures, which have the character of an effort to attain
perfection, much appears more imperfect than before.
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL
SUCCESSION.
CHAPTER 1.
THE DIVINE WORD CONCERNING THE FUTURE SALVATION
BEFORE THE TIME OF THE PROPHETS.
§ 1. Justification of the Beginning in Genesis iii.
IF the historical succession, in which we propose to
treat the Messianic prophecies, were to be under-
stood as a succession in literary history, we should
only be justified in beginning with Gen. iii., if we
considered the so-called Jehovistic book, from which
the history of Paradise is drawn, the oldest Old Testa-
ment historical book. But this is not our opinion.
We consider it a very old historical source, older than
modern criticism concedes, but not the oldest. Never-
theless we are justified in beginning with Gen. iii.
For the narrative concerning the primitive condition
and fall of man was not invented by the narrator, but
was an old "sage" found by him, which he communi-
cates to us in a form in which, stripped of its heathen
mythological accessories, it has sustained the criticism
of the Spirit of revelation. We may therefore begin
where the documentary sacred history begins, since it
contributes not a little to its recommendation, that
although recorded by an Israelitish pen, it begins, not
31
32 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
with a nation, but with mankind. The Biblical primi-
tive history is the history of mankind, and does not
have the peculiar national and mythological colours of
the primitive traditions outside of Israel. But does
not the narrative in Gen. ii., iii. sound mythical? If
we understand by myth (mythus) the investiture, not
only of universal thoughts, but also of definite realities
in symbolical dress, we may nevertheless regard the
history of Paradise as a myth, so far only as we hold
fast the following as realities:—(1) that there was a
demoniacal evil one, before evil had taken possession
of man; (2) that this demoniacal evil one was the
power of temptation before which man fell; (3) that
God after mankind had fallen punished them, but at
the same time opened a way of salvation, by which
they could again secure communion with God; (4)
that He placed before them in prospect the victory
over that power of temptation through which they had
lost the communion with God in Paradise.
Remark. —Also in the Babylonian " sage " the
serpent is Tiamat (Tihâmat), the source of all evil,
the personified MOhT;. This expresses a profound
thought, since the essence of evil is the falling back
into the natural elements, out of which the world in
mankind is raised to the image of God. The serpent
is called aibu (the enemy, byexo), kat ] ]ec; it is called
sêru=mahhu (rabbu), like o[ dra<kwn o[ me<gaj in the
New Testament Apocalypse. It seduces mankind to
sin, since it seeks to sustain itself in its authority.
It is also said of it, that it destroyed the grove of
BEGINNING AND OBJECT OF THEOPHANIES. 33
life.1 Much here is uncertain. In comparison, the
Iranian "sage" is far clearer, according to which the
serpent is the first creation of Ahriman, who himself
is both represented and called a serpent. The serpent
disturbs the peace, destroys paradise, and casts down
Yima, the ruler of the golden age, that is, the first
man. We have here reminiscences, which are worthy
of attention, respecting the origin of evil, although in
a mythical garb.
§ 2. Beginning and Object of the Theophanies.
Between us and God there is now a wall of separa-
tion. God has become far from us, and is concealed,
as it were, behind an impenetrable veil. The "sagen"
of the [different] peoples testify in many ways, that at
the beginning of human history God was immediately
near to man, and had intercourse with him, and that
our present distance from God is a loss. It follows
from our present nature that we cannot make any
representation to ourselves of that original intercourse
of God with men. Even in Gen. ii. iii. we are not
raised above this inability of representing it. The
narrative retains a mysterious background, but it has
a transparent deep meaning. After the fall, which
destroyed the union of God and man„ man perceives
the steps of God, who is drawing near, and flees from
Him. He comes indeed as a Judge who is to be feared,
1 See Friedrich Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 87 ff.; and Assyrische
Lesestücke, p. 95: Texte zur Weltschöpfung und zur Auflehnung
and Bekämpfung der Schlange Tiamat.
34 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
not, however, to destroy for the sake of punishing, but
through bitter chastisement to win back the lost.
And in a significant manner the one who appears is
called Yahweh-Elohim. God, as Creator of the entire
creation and as its Finisher (Vollender), that is, as the
Power which finally fills it completely with glory
(1 Cor. xv. 28), is called Myhlox<; and God as Redeemer,
that is, as Mediator of this completion (Vollendung)
through sin and wrath, is throughout called hv,h;ya.1 His
audible steps after the fall are His first steps toward
the goal of the revelation in the flesh (1 Tim. iii. 16),
which is the restoration and completion of the imma-
nence of divine love in the world.
§ 3. The Primitive Promise.
Thus presenting Himself, God announces their
sentence to the serpent, to the woman, and to Adam—
to these three together, as concerned in their solidarity.
The serpent, and in it the spiritual being, whose
mask it became, or if we understand the account
mythically, whose image it is, are cursed on account of
the temptation which proceeded from them, which
plunged mankind into sin and death. The earth is
1 [This is a liberty which we are compelled to take. Most of
the Hebrew words in the German text are unpointed. Prof.
Delitzsch, however, never pronounced hvhy, Jehovah, which he
considered a philological monstrosity. But, as in the trans-
literation which he has given of the name, he could only
recommend his students to say Yahweh, or to follow the example
of the Jews in reading Adhonai.]—C.
THE PRIMITIVE PROMISE. 35
cursed on Adam's account, while the natural world,
after its destiny as a means of blessing to mankind
has been thwarted, is turned into an instrument of
wrath against them. Adam himself, however, is not
cursed, but in the midst of the curse on the tempter
the hope of a victory in the contest with the power of
evil rises upon mankind. The verdict pronounced
upon the serpent, after it has been humbled to a worm
in the dust, is (iii. 15): "And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed." The woman, as the one first seduced,
and the serpent, who served the seducer as an instru-
ment, are here representatives of their entire race.
The divine retribution places, that is, establishes,
between the race of serpents and of men a relation of
internal and actual enmity. And who will conquer in
this war, which is enacted as a law of the further
history?" He shall crush thee on the head, and thou
shalt crush him on the heel." In no Semitic idiom
does JUw have the signification of JxaWA, to snap, or look
eagerly for something and never is or indeed any
verb indicating a hostile disposition, construed with a
double accusative. This construction with the accusa-
tive of the person, and the part which is affected, is
peculiar to verbs which indicate a violent meeting, e.g.
hKAhi, to smite; HcarA, to murder. Hence JUw, which is
repeated, neither has the first nor the second time the
meaning of lying in wait (Septuagint, threi?n; Jerome,
insidiari). The verb JUW is used by the Targum for
xKADi, to crush; NhaFA, to grind to powder; qHWA to pulverize.
36 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
It has the meaning which is there presupposed also in
Job ix. 17 (on the contrary, neither the meaning
inhiare nor conterere is suited to Ps. cxxxix. 11), and
the signification of the root Jw (Jk), terere, to grind, is
confirmed through an extensive tribe of Semitic words,
according to which among the old [versions] the trans-
lation is given by the Samaritan and Syriac. Only
when we translate it: "He (the Seed of the woman)
shall crush thee on the head" (suntri<yei, Rom. xvi.
20), does the sentence include the definite promise of
victory over the serpent, which, because it suffers the
deadly tread, seeks to defend itself, and sinking under
the treader is mortally wounded (Gen. xlix. 17).
§ 4. The Primitive Promise in the Light of Fulfilment.
It is the entire decree of redemption which is
epitomized in this original word of promise, so far as
we only maintain that the serpent as a seducer is
intended, and that the curse, which falls upon it, has
a background with reference to the author of the
seduction. The malignant bite of the serpent in the
heel of men, which they retaliate in the midst of their
defeat by treading on its head, is only a natural picture
of that which ever constitutes the most central purport
of history—namely, the conflict of mankind with
Satan, and with all who are e]k tou? diabo<lou (ponhrou?);
for, after the power of grace has entered mankind by
means of the promise, they are placed, through the fall,
in the attitude of a second decision for themselves,
PRIMITIVE PROMISE IN LIGHT OF FULFILMENT. 37
which will result in such a way, that many of the seed
of the woman who had the promise, separate themselves,
and take a position on the side of the serpent. The
promise indeed has reference to mankind as a race, for
the word xUh refers to hw.Axi fraz,. Nevertheless, since the
promise of victory refers to that serpent from whom
the seduction went forth, hence to the victory over the
one seducer (o[ o@fij o[ a]rxai?oj), we may consequently
infer that the seed of the woman will culminate in
One in whom the opposition will be strained to the
utmost; and the suffering in the struggle with the
seducer will rise to the highest pitch, and the victory
will end for ever in complete conquest. This primitive
promise is also intended to be coextensive with the
fulfilment; for Christ, the son of Mary, is the seed of
the woman, geno<menoj e]k gunaiko<j (Gal. iv. 4), in a won-
derfully unique way. Hence the new humanity, which
has its head in Him, and which, through Him, stands
in the relation of children to God, is indeed born of
a woman, but in so far as it overcomes Satan is not
begotten by man. This authority is not a work of
nature, but a spiritual gift (John i. 12 f.). The entire
history and order of salvation are unfolded in this
protevangelium. Like a sphinx, it crouches at the
entrance of sacred history. Later in the period of
Israelitish Prophecy and Chokma, the solution of this
riddle of the sphinx begins to dawn; and it is only
solved by Him through whom and in whom that has
been revealed towards which this primitive prophecy
was aimed.
38 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Remark 1.—But how is it consistent with the divine
order of salvation that the meaning of the protevan-
gelium, and in general of the history of the fall, should
be first recognised so late, and should be first fully
and completely disclosed through the New Testament
revelation? It can only be explained on the supposi-
tion that the faith which brought salvation in the Old
Testament was a faith in God the Redeemer. The
deeper the Israelite felt the curse and the burden of
sin, and was attacked on every side by sufferings and
miseries, and was anxious on account of the darkness
of death and of the next world, the more ardently he
longed for redemption from sin and death, and espe-
cially from this evil world; and the faith in which he
found rest was faith in God the Redeemer according to
His promise. He longed for the visible revelation of
the supramundane God—His coming down from heaven
to earth; but that He would complete the work of
redemption, through a man in whom He dwelt as the
angel of the Mosaic redemption; that was an appre-
hension which was developed only gradually, and first
became fully clear to faith in the face of Jesus Christ.1
Remark 2.—The Alexandrian Book of Wisdom ii. 24
says that through the envy of the devil death came
into the world. Also in the Palestinian Jewish litera-
ture such gleams of light are found—Christian per-
ceptions before Christ—which Judaism first gave up in
opposition to Christianity; for (1) as the designation
1 One of the most precious utterances of Bengel's is the follow-
ing thesis: "Gradatim Deus in patefaciendi regni sui mysteriis
progreditur sive res ipsae spectentur sive tempora. Opertum
tenetur initio quod deinde apertum cernitur. Quod quavis aetate
datur, id sancte debuit amplecti, non plus sumere, non minus
accipere."
FIRST VERIFICATIONS OF PRIMITIVE PROMISE. 39
of the first man with Nvmdqh Mdx (o[ prw?toj a@nqrwpoj
]Ada<m, 1 Cor. xv. 45) is old Jewish, so also is the
designation of the serpent which led man astray with
Nvmdqh wHn ( [O o@fij o[ a]rxai?oj, Rev. xii. 9, xx. 2);
(2) the Palestinian Targum testifies that in Gen. iii. 15
there is promised a healing of the bite in the heel from
the serpent, which is to take place "at the end of the
days, in the days of King Messiah." In the Palestinian
Midrash to Genesis 1 we read: "The things which God
created perfect since man sinned have become corrupt
(vlqlqtn), and do not return to their proper condition
until the son of Perez (i.e. according to Gen. xxxviii.
29, Ruth iv. 18 ff., the Messiah out of the tribe of
Judah) comes." According to this the Messiah is
Saviour and Restorer, as the apostolic word says of
Jesus (1 John iii. 8), that He has appeared, i!na lu<s^
ta> e@rga tou? diabo<lou.
§ 5. First Effects and Verifications of the Primitive
Promise.
A first echo of the divine word, received in faith
concerning the victory of mankind, is the name hUAHa
(Septuagint, zwh<), which Adam gives his wife; for
as the narrator explains (iii. 20b) the meaning and
propriety of this name—she became "the mother of
all living;" that, is, in spite of death, the mother of
each individual of the race, which is destined to live,
to whom the victory over the power of the evil one
is promised, and hence as mother of the Seed of
the woman who is to crush the head of the serpent.
1 Bereshith rabba xii.
40 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
We consider as a second echo the language of Eve
when she became mother for the first time. Although
this cannot possibly be understood as an expression of
the belief that her first-born was the incarnate Yahweh,
—for the terms of the primitive promise do not give
any occasion for such an expression, —but must rather
indicate that, with Yahweh as helper and giver, she
has brought forth a man-child, which she has received
as her own, nevertheless her exclamation stands related
to iii. 15, since she designated God with the name of
Yahweh, and in any case as the God of the promised
salvation, for this Hebrew name of God belongs to
the later period of the origin of the peoples. Through
the marvel of this first birth she is placed in a joyful
amazement, which is powerfully increased, because that
thus the promise of the victory of the Seed of the
woman appeared to be realized. But her first-born
was the murderer of his brother; Cain was e]k tou?
ponhrou? (1 John iii. 12), he took his position on the side
of the seed of the serpent. The religious congregation
which was formed at the time of Enosh, the son of Seth,
could already name one of their members as a martyr.
When it is said, iv. 26, that at that time men began
to call on and to call out the name of Yahweh,—that
is, to pray together to God as Yahweh, and publicly to
recognise Him as such,—this, too, stands in connection
with iii. 15, for this historical notice is designed to
indicate that men at that time joined a congregation
which worshipped the God of the promised salvation.
But if mankind is ever to be free from the bondage of
FIRST VERIFICATIONS OF PRIMITIVE PROMISE. 41
sin, as is promised in iii. 15, they must likewise be
free from the curse of death. The end of Enoch's
life, the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, shows
that man, if he had proved true in the probation of
free will, could have gone over into another stadium of
existence without death and corruption. Death is,
indeed, since the fall a law of nature; but God, who
has enacted this law of nature, can also make it in-
operative when He will through the exertion of His
almighty power. The translation of Enoch, as well
as of Elijah, is a prophecy in act of the future end of
death (Isa. xxv. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 54). The primitive
promise includes this end of death in itself, for the
crushing of the serpent is the disarming of him "who
has the power of death " (Heb. ii. 14).
Remark 1.—The impression that txe in hv,h;ya-tx,,
iv. 1b, indicates the definite object, as vi. 10, xxvi. 34,
is so strong that the Jerusalem Targum translates: "I
have gotten a man, the Angel of Yahweh." But this
interpretation cannot be maintained, for the reason
that the Angel of Yahweh first enters into history and
consciousness after the time of the patriarchs.
Remark 2.—Enoch announced, according to Jude,
ver. 14, the parousia of the Lord in judgment. It is
indeed in itself probable that Enoch, since he walked
with God, —a commendation which only Noah shares
with him, vi. 9,—also knew about the ways of God;
but his prophecy, which Jude quotes, belongs to the
"sage" (Haggada), and serves the author of the Epistle
a didactic purpose. That it refers to the coming of
the Lord in judgment, although the history of mankind
42 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
had not begun so very long ago, is strange in itself.
Not long after the beginning of the Church, the
parousia of Christ as judge was longed and hoped for.
The corruption through sin was so great at all times,
that the believers longed that God, through a judicial
interference, might help the Seed of the woman to a
victory over the seed of the serpent.
§ 6. The Expected Comforter.
While in Lamech, the seventh from Adam within
the Cainitic line, the worldly tendency of this line
rises to blasphemous arrogance, there appears in Enosh,
Enoch, and Lamech, the third, seventh, and ninth of
the Sethitic line, an indigenous tendency toward the
God of the promised salvation. Lamech, the Sethite,
when his first son was born, hoped that in him, the
tenth from Adam, the period of the curse would come
to a comforting conclusion. This is evident from his
elevated words when he says (v. 29): "This one shall
comfort us for our work and for the toil of our hands
[according to the signification of the Hebrew word:
comforting, to make one free from painful work],
because of the ground [i.e. that which the ground
renders necessary] which Yahweh hath cursed." In
this hope he calls him Noah, i.e. breathing out, rest
(connected with MHena, to comfort, by causing to breathe
out). The comfort which he expects from God through
him is not comfort in words, but the comfort of an act
of salvation. This comfort was also fulfilled through
him, although not fully and in entirety, but in a way
THE EXPECTED COMFORTER. 43
preparatory to the completion. The rainbow after the
flood was a comfort, the blessing of which extended
from that time on until the end. It pledged mankind,
after the wrathful visitation in judgment, of their
continuance, and of the dawn of a better time, in
which, instead of wrath, a blessing predominates, a
time of favour, patience, and long-suffering of God
(Acts xvii. 30, xiv. 17; Rom. iii. 26). Noah is the
first mediator of the sacred history, a mediator of
comfort. Comfort (nechama) is one of the pregnant
words in which all that is hoped from the God of
salvation is combined. Yahweh, as Redeemer of His
people, is called their Comforter, Isa. xlix. 13, 9.
And the Servant of Yahweh, the Mediator of salvation,
explains it as His calling to comfort all that mourn,
Isa. lxi. 2. Noah is a forerunner of this great Com-
forter, in whom all who labour and are heavy laden
find rest to their souls.
Remark.— Comforter, MHenam;, is an old synagogical
designation for the Messiah; compare Schoettgen, De
Messia, Dresdae 1742, p. 18. Jesus Himself is called
para<klhtoj, Comforter, for His promise, "He shall
send you a@llon para<klhton" (John xiv. 16), presup-
poses that Christ Himself is para<klhtoj (Fyliq;raP;=MHenam;).
§ 7. The Promise of the Blessing of the Nations in
the Seed of the Patriarchs.
In Gen. ix. 24-27 we read how Noah in spirit
penetrated the moral and fundamental character, and
44 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
consequently the future, of the three groups of peoples
springing from Canaan, Shem, and Japheth; and how
he awards to Canaan the curse of servitude, to Japheth
far-reaching political power, and to Shem a central
religious significance which also draws Japheth to
him. The God of salvation is the God of Shem;
Shem is therefore for himself and the nations a bearer
of the revelation of this God. According to this it
is a Shemite whom God, after Noah, entrusts with
the second epoch-making mediatorship. Abraham
is chosen out of the midst of the nations to become
a mediator of the revelation of salvation, and the
promise of the salvation of the entire race is con-
nected with him and his seed as centre, and starting-
point: "And all the kindreds of the earth shall bless
themselves in thee and in thy seed." This promise
is made three times to Abraham (xii. 3, xviii. 18, xxii.
18), and once each to Isaac and Jacob (xxvi. 4, xxviii.
14). It is given three times with Ukr;b;niv; (xii. 3,
xviii. 18, xxviii. 14), and twice Ukr;BAt;hiv; (xxii.
18, xxvi. 4). It is questionable whether it should be
translated as a passive: "they shall be blessed," or
as a reflexive: "they shall bless themselves." The
Niphal j`rab;ni occurs only in this promise, but the
Hithpael, wherever it occurs, e.g. Jer. iv. 2, has a
reflexive signification. Nevertheless, the Septuagint
(Acts iii. 25; Gal. iii. 8) translate all of the five
passages with a passive e]neuloghqh<sontai. Since a
longing desire for salvation, according to God's plan
of salvation, is always accompanied with actual attain-
THE BLESSING OF THE NATIONS. 45
ment, the sense remains essentially the same, whether
we translate passively or reflexively. The promise
makes Abraham and his seed possessors of a divine
blessing, which is to become the end of the desire
of all nations, and at the same time also their posses-
sion.1 Israel is the seed of Abraham (Isa. xli. 9), as
the people who mediate salvation (Isa. xix. 24; Zech.
viii. 13); but this mediation of salvation comes to
its final completion in Christ, the one descendant of
Abraham, in whom the seed of Abraham, according
to his calling as mediator of a blessing, finds its
consummation.
Remark.—The inference of Paul from the singular
j~fEr;ziB; (Gal. iii. 16) has indeed a rabbinical character;1
but the thought is perfectly correct, that the singular
j~fEr;zeb;U includes that which a plural would precisely
exclude, namely, that the seed of Abraham, which is
the means of a blessing, is a unity which will finally
be concentrated in One; for fraz, can be just as well
used of one (Gen. iv. 25) as of many. The poet of
Ps. lxxii. begins in ver. 16 with the same idea: The
promise of the blessing upon the peoples will be
1 The Targum translates: "They shall be blessed through
thee, through thy children, on account of thy merit, and of
theirs" (tvkz). The Jewish doctrine of the merit of works casts
its shadow into the understanding of the Scripture.
2 In like manner the Mishna, Sanhedrin iv. 5, where it is
remarked on ymeD;, Gen. iv. 10, "he does not say j~yHixA MDa, but
j~yHixA ymeD;: that is, his blood and the blood of his posterity,"
vytvfrz (plural of frz); cf. Abraham Geiger's article, "tOy.fir;za,
xtAyAfEr;za, spe<rmata,” in the Zeitschrift der morgenländ. Gesellschaft,
Leipzig 1858, pp. 307-309.
46 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
fulfilled in King Messiah, whose name continues and
buds forever. In this One the mediatorship of the
blessing of the people of Abraham attains its con-
summation, nevertheless without its then having an
end, since the blessing which is effected by One, and
which going out from Him has extended over the
nations of the earth, has not been secured without
the co-operation of Israel, through the apostle from
Israel. But since the One appeared, the mediatorship
of salvation through Israel is conditioned in this way:
that, first, it must be blessed by Him whose blessing,
first of all, pertains to those who are children of the
prophets and of the covenant (Acts iii. 25 f.).
CHAPTER II.
THE PROPHETIC BENEDICTIONS OF THE DYING PATRIARCHS.
§ 8. Jacob's artful Procurement of the Blessing of the
First-Born.
CICERO says:1 Appropinquante morte [animus]
multo est divinior. It is an experimental fact
that precisely through the approach of the night of
death the most intense effulgence flashes through the
human spirit, which has sprung from the being of
God; and it is in connection with this psychological
natural phenomenon that the patriarchs just before
their death become seers, and utter testamentary words
of a prophetic character concerning their children.
Their blessings are not merely wishes, whose effect
is coextensive with the granting of the prayer of
faith, but they are at the same time predictions, which
proceed from the divinely-mediated view into the
future, as it has been decreed. Of such a sort is
the blessing of the first-born, which Isaac utters
regarding his second son, since Divine Providence
frustrated that which his natural will intended. It
arose from the divine promise which had already gone
1 De Divinatione, lib. i. § 63.
47
48 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
forth, which Isaac had grasped in faith (Heb. xi. 20),
and had further unfolded in the spirit of prophecy.
This blessing of the first-born consists of four parts
(xxvii. 27-29). It promises the one whom it con-
cerns: (1) The possession of the land of Canaan
under the divine benediction (vers. 27b, 28):
See, the smell of my son
Is as the smell of a field which
Yahweh hath blessed.
And God will give thee of the dew of heaven,
And of the fat fields of the earth,
And plenty of corn and must.
(2) The subjection of the nations, and indeed without
limitation, in such general terms, that the limitation to
the nations of Canaan, perhaps including the neigh-
bouring countries, is contrary to the words of the
text (ver. 29a):
Peoples shall serve thee,
And nations bow down to thee.
(3) The primacy over his brothers, that is, the tribes
of Israel, and over those blood relations who were
outside the posterity of the line of promise (ver. 29b):
Be Lord over thy brethren,
And thy mother's sons shall bow down to thee.
(4) So high a position in redemptive history, that
blessings and curses are conditioned by the attitude
which men take to him who has received the blessing
(ver. 29c):
Cursed be every one that curseth thee,
And blessed be every one that blesseth thee.
PROPHETIC BENEDICTIONS OF PATRIARCHS. 49
When Esau, weeping bitterly, also begs for a bless-
ing, he has for him, too, some promises, but of such a
sort that they bring a dimness into the pure light of
the blessing of Jacob, which is deserved through
his artifice; but Isaac cannot recall any of the
promises made to Jacob, for he knows that God has
spoken through him, and that, against his own will,
he has become God's instrument. It is the blessing of
Abraham that Isaac, as if passing by himself, lays upon
Jacob, for he promises him the possession of Canaan
(cf. xii. 7) and victorious power (cf. xxii. 17); also the
addition: "I will bless those that bless thee, and him
that curseth thee will I curse," was already spoken to
Abraham (xii. 3). The blessing and the curse of men
are to be determined by the relation which they take
to the one who has been blessed by God,—a deter-
mination which must have a deep moral ground, since
the God of revelation is the holy One, who, as such,
neither gives the preference in a partizan way nor
promotes worldly pride of rank. Whoever blesses the
patriarchs evinces thereby—as, for example, the bless-
ing of Abram through Melchisedek shows (xiv. 19)
his belief in God, whose confessors they are. The
salvation, which is finally to find its complete historical
representation in the person of Jesus the Christ, has
now, according to the measure of its stage of prepara-
tion, the patriarchs, His ancestors, as possessors and
bearers.
50 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 9. The Designation of Judah as Royal and
Messianic Tribe.
After the three patriarchs had been enlarged from
Jacob to twelve heads of tribes, the question arises,
from which of the twelve tribes the promised salvation
shall go forth. Jacob's prophetic blessing (Gen. xlix.)
answers this question. Reuben, through his incest
with Bilhah, had forfeited the right of primogeniture.
It could not be transmitted to Simeon and Levi, on
account of their outrage on the inhabitants of Shechem.
Hence Jacob, in view of his near death, transfers the
double inheritance (the hrAkoB;, in the narrower meaning
of an inheritance), which is connected with the right
of primogeniture, to Joseph, his favourite son, but
primacy and the world-position in the history of
salvation, to Judah, his fourth son (1 Chron. v. 1 f.).
Jacob promises him the leadership of the tribes of
his people as an inalienable right, won through his
lion-like courage, until, on his coming to Shiloh,
his dominion of the tribes should be enlarged to a
dominion over the world:
8 Judah thee, thee shall thy brethren praise!
Thy hand is on the necks of thine enemies,
The sons of thy father shall bow down to thee.
9 Judah is a young lion,
From the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
He lies down, he couches as a lion, and as a lioness,
Who dares to wake him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the leader's staff from between his feet,
Until he comes to Shiloh;
And to him will be the obedience of the peoples.
JUDAH AS ROYAL AND MESSIANIC TRIBE. 51
We understand hloywi xboyA in the sense which it has
elsewhere hlowi xOB signifies to come to Shiloh (Josh.
xviii. 9; 1 Sam. iv. 12), as hlowi xybihe signifies to bring to
Shiloh (Judg. xxi. 12; 1 Sam. i. 24); also, after j`lahA
and HlawA, hlowi, is used to indicate the place whither. It
is also certain that hloywi is not a proper name, since, in
vers. 11, 12, Judah is the subject, who, after he has
fought his way through, rejoices in prosperous, happy
peace in a land richly blessed with wine and milk, so
that Judah also in ver. 10 must be the subject, with-
out the interposition of another. And that which
Jacob promised Judah actually came to pass. For as
Israel, at whose head was the tribe of Judah, pitched
the tent of the testimony in Shiloh, between Shechem
and Bethel, hence in the heart of Canaan, the land, as
is said in Josh. xviii. 1, was subdued before them: the
conquest had made progress in a direction which, with
persistent, similar energy, bore in itself the pledge of
completion. But, furthermore, Judah really became
the royal tribe in Israel, which, in David and Solomon,
had command, not over the tribes of Israel alone, but
also over the neighbouring peoples. The weakening
and the breaking through of the power and perman-
ence of the kingdom of Judah are relatively unim-
portant elements for the prophet. But since the
Chaldean catastrophe made an end of the Davidic
kingdom,—which arose in Zerubbabel after the exile
only in a shadowy way and for a short time, —the
fulfilment of the blessing concerning Judah would
certainly lack its crown if the divinely-anointed One,
52 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
to whom the Lord (Ps. ii. 8) gives the heathen for
His inheritance, and the ends of the earth for His
possession, had not arisen out of Judah. But it is
evident, says the Epistle to the Hebrews (vii. 14), that
our Lord sprang from Judah; and the Apocalypse,
since it calls Him the Lion from the tribe of Judah
(v. 5), points back to this blessing of Jacob. Hence
the prediction concerning Judah remains Messianic,
even when we understand Shiloh as the name of a
place. Since Jacob names the tribe of Judah as the
royal tribe of Israel, the preliminary history of the
Messiah has advanced so far, that now Judah is
chosen as the place for the appearance of the future
One.
Remark 1.—When hloywi is understood as indicating a
place, only the rendering preferred by Hitzig need be
considered in connection with the one given above:
"so long as they come to Shiloh," that is, from the
standpoint of the speaker forever, since (according to
this interpretation) he does not know any other central
place of worship. But this supposition is contrary to
history (Ps. lxxviii. 60 ff.), the generalizing of the
subject of xboyA disturbs [the connection], the explana-
tion of yKi dfa through "as long as" (equivalent to
rw,xE dfa) is contrary to the dominant idiom, which
knows yKi dfa, only in the signification of donec or adeo
ut (Gen, xxvi. 13; 2 Sam. xxiii. 10; 2 Chron. xxvi.
15), and this expedient in order to arrive at [the
meaning] "forever" is unnecessary, since [the expres-
sion] "until that" frequently indicates (e.g. Gen. xxviii.
15) a climax and a culmination, beyond which that
EXPLANATIONS OF SHILOH. 53
which is said does not cease, but continues, or even,
as in the preceding case, is heightened. It is surprising
that none of the ancient translators and intrepreters
thought of hloywi as the city of Shiloh. This interpreta-
tion of the word first became current after Herder,
who adopted it from W. G. Teller (1766). But we
have a similar example in Lamech's Song of the
Sword (Gen. iv. 23 f.). The significance of the
blasphemous praise of the iron weapon was first
perceived by Herder and Hamann.
Remark 2. —The ancient translators, who pre-
suppose the reading hlw (without y, as in the Samaritan
Pentateuch), take this hlw, in the sense of Ol.w, and
understand it either of a fact: "until that come which
belongs to him" (to Judah), ta> a]pokei<mena au]t&?
(Septuagint, Theodotion), namely, the dominion over
the world; or personally: "until he comes, to whom it
(the sceptre or the rule) belongs, &$ a]pokeitai (Aquila,
Symmachus, Onkelos, second Jerusalem Targum,
Syrian). Perhaps Ezekiel (Ezek. xxi. 32) presupposes
this interpretation of hlw, since he names the future
ideal king FpAw;mi.ha Ol rw,xE in the Septuagint FpAw;mi.ha is
omitted, as it; is simply rendered &$ kaqh<kei. But the
following reasons may be urged against the meaning
which has been incorporated with the word, as the
one originally intended:--1. The abbreviation w for
rw,xE is foreign to the prose style of ancient Hebrew;
there are only two uncertain references in support
of it: (1) the combination of particles Mna.waB; (Gen.
vi. 3, provided this reading is to be preferred to the
dominant one MnA.waB;; (2) the name of the Levite lxewAymi
(Ex. vi. 22, provided it signifies, like its synonym lxekAymi,
"who is like God?"). 2. Although the writing hBo
54 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
occurs once for OB (Jer. xvii. 24), hlo is never found
for Ol. Moreover, the Massoretic reading hloywi excludes
the supposition that w is equivalent to rw,xE. In the
Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b, it is read thus: for the pupils
of Rabbi Shila (xlyw) remark in honour of their teacher,
that hloywi which sounds similarly is the name of the
Messiah. We do not know how they interpreted it.1
It is a proof of the power of fashion even in
exegesis, that several of the most recent exegetes have
again taken up hlw, as equivalent to Ol.w,, which was
heretofore considered as worthy of mention only as
a matter of history. Driver and Briggs interpret
according to the Septuagint: "until his own [that
which belongs to Judah] shall come;" von Orelli:
"until he [Judah] come into his own [the land of his
inheritance],—an explanation which has not hitherto
been set forth, by any one, according to which hlowi is
equivalent to Ol-rw,xE-lx,; Wellhausen expunges and
translates: "until he come to whom the obedience
of the people belongs." Stade2 goes still further than
Wellhausen, as he expunges the entire tenth verse as
a post-exilic addition; Kautzsch and Socin translate
Olv;, but under the impression of this modern confusion
treat hloywi as untranslatable. And so it goes: the best
and truest has the fortune gradually to become old, and
people hasten after that which is new, until this also
becomes old and they return to the old. The old
[interpretation], which will ever reappear, is in the
1 See G. H. Dalman, Der leidende and der sterbende Messias der
Synagoge, 1888, p. 37. The word vlyw occurs in the Talmudic
proverb as the name of a man: xmltwm xnHvyv xFH wlyw, Shilo
has sinned and Johana must suffer for it.
2 Geschichte Israels, Leipzig, 1887, vol. i. p. 160.
EXPLANATIONS OF SHILOH. 55
present case the understanding of hloywi xboyA in Josh.
xviii. 9, and in other places where it occurs, in a
geographical signification.
The name of the place (hloywi, Olywi), defectively
written hlowi (Olwi), is formed from lUw, hlAwA, to hang
down in a flabby way, to be unstrung, to rest, and
hence, as the gentile yniOlywi shows, contracted from
NOlywi; it indicates stretching out, relaxation, recrea-
tion, rest,—certainly a fitting name of a place, and
one which recommends itself. The form has the
character of a proper name, as the name of a man,
hmolow;, and the name of a place, hloGi, Josh. x v. 51; also
Prov. xxvii. 20, is the indication of Hades as a
proper name, hence it cannot be translated, as Kurtz
maintains, as an appelative: until he (Judah) comes
to rest. We might rather consider hloywi like hmolow;,
as the name of a person, so that the Messiah can be
called the bodily hvAl;wa (Ps. cxxii. 7), as the One in
Himself full of rest, and as the One producing rest
from Himself. This view commends itself not a little,
and we could consider the prediction as a prediction
concerning Solomon,—like the Samaritan translator of
the Pentateuch into Arabic,—and beyond Solomon of
his antitype. But vers. 11, 12 contradict this view,
for in them Judah is the subject; the images apper-
tain to the tribe which comes to Shiloh, and which
rests from conflict in peace, not to the person of a
single prince of peace.
Remark 3. — The polemic against the Jews has
carried on a traditional misuse, which extends back
to Justin's Dialogue with Trypho. According to this
prophecy the subjugation of the Jewish people under
heathen dominion is regarded as a preliminary sign of
56 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the coming of the Messiah; and the conclusion is
drawn that since the people is in exile (rWA Nyxev; j`l,m, Nyxe,
"without a prince and without a king," Hos. iii. 4),
the Messiah must have come long since. This
explanation of the prophecy is even for this reason
inadmissible, because the prediction in this blessing,
that Judah should at length lose dominion, would
bring a gloom for which there would be no occasion.
Isaac Troki, in his hnvmx qvzH, i. 14, is quite right,
where he contends against this interpretation with its
consequences. He is quite right when he maintains
that yKi dfa does not indicate that when the given
turning-point shall come Judah shall lose the
dominion, but that then Judah's dominion shall be
extended to world dominion (the so-called llkb dfv df,
see. Levy, Neuhebraisches Wörterbuch, iii, 619b); and
also because this interpretation is in contradiction
with the Christian faith, since Jesus sprung from
Judah, and is called the King of the Jews; and also
after He came the sceptre remained with the tribe of
Judah. But we do not agree with him in giving
qHeqm; a personal interpretation, as in Deut. xxxiii. 21,
as referring to the legislators, to those who handle the
law, the chiefs of the people, which involves our
understanding vylAg;ra NyBemi in the indecent signification
of Deut. xxviii. 57; nor do we agree with him
when he combines hloywi with hyAl;wi in the same
passage of Deuteronomy, and, according to the
Targum of Onkelos on this passage, understands
xHAnAB; rfez; of the youngest, that is, of the final Son
of Judah, while hyAl;wi has also through the Mishna,
Talmud, and Syriac, rather the assured signification
of after-birth (secundinae). But in the main point
EXPLANATIONS OF SHILOH. 57
he is quite right, that according to the prophecy
concerning Shiloh the kingdom of God from Judah,
through the Messiah, will overcome all the kingdoms
of this world, hence that the dominion of Judah
without diminution will become extended to world
dominion.
Remark 4.—Kurtz rejects the personal interpretation
of hloywi for this reason, because the promise of a king,
and, indeed, of one ruling the world, hence of the
Messiah, here at the end of the patriarchal period is
an anachronism. And, indeed, although along with
the prediction concerning the blessing of the people in
the seed of the patriarchs the prediction is connected,
that the patriarchs shall be tribal ancestors of many
peoples, and kings of peoples (Gen. xvii. 6, 16,
xxxv. 11), the preliminary conditions for the future
image of a king of Israel are not yet in exist-
ence: the tribes of Israel are only first in process of
becoming a people; the theocratic relation of God
begins first with the legislation, and the patriarchal
house is not yet involved in wars, which press for a
demand for one leadership. It is true that the promise
respecting Judah has a royal sound; for Fb,we is the
usual designation of honour for a king, but it does not
have to do with a person, but with a tribe, and in such
a way that from the standpoint of the further develop-
ment, and especially of the fulfilment, one is the goal.
As in the protevangel xUh is mankind, and one is the
centre; as in the promise concerning the blessing on
the peoples j~fEr;zaB; is the family of the patriarchs, and
one is the centre: so here hdAUhy; is the tribe, and one
is the centre. If we compare the prophecy concern-
ing Shiloh with the protevangel there appears to be
58 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
rather retrogression than progression, but it is only
apparent. The proclamation of salvation in its begin-
ning was with reference to victory over the evil, and
this beginning is the impelling germ of the following
development until its utmost limit. A blessing on
the nations is the contents of the proclamation of
salvation in its second stage, the development goes
forward from this point, but departing from the all-
comprehensive ideal placed in the beginning, as the
plant, before it attains its ultimate end in the fruit
which is preformed in germ, goes out in root, stem,
and branches. The nationalizing of the proclamation
of salvation is the root through which it is fastened,
and the trunk which is to bear the fruit. With the
blessing of Judah the nationalizing begins, after the
way has already been prepared through the promise
of the blessing of the nations in the seed of the
patriarchs.
CHAPTER III.
THE PREDICTIONS OF THE MOSAIC PERIOD CONCERNING
THE FUTURE SALVATION.
§ 10. The Promise of a Prophet after Moses, and
like him.
THE future mediator of salvation appears later on
as king, who as the chosen of Yahweh reigns
over Israel, and from Israel over the nations. The
prophecy of Shiloh is like the frame, which the later
image of the Messiah fills out. But before we meet
with a proper Messianic prophecy, there is given
because of a special occasion, without connection with
the expectation of an ideal king, the promise of a
prophet like Moses. As the people at the giving of
the Sinaitic law could not bear to hear the voice of
Yahweh, on account of its dreadful nearness, and
accordingly Moses must act as mediator (Deut.
v. 23-28; cf. Ex. xx. 19), Yahweh promised the
people for the future a prophet, who should be
raised from their midst like Moses, and demanded
for him in advance unconditional obedience (Deut.
xviii. 15-19). [This is] an appendix to the history
of the legislation, which is to be inserted after Deut.
59
60 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
v. 28, which is connected with the command not to
make use of idolatrous means of witchcraft (Deut.
xviii. 9-14), and which is completed in the indica-
tion of the signs through which a true is to be dis-
tinguished from a false prophet (Deut. xviii. 20 ff.).
In order that we may not be led to take a position
against the individual and personal interpretation of
the prophet who is promised, through the connection
in which the prophecy concerning the prophet like
Moses stands, we have to consider: (1) Moses is,
according to the view of the Torah, the incomparable
prophet. The true character of his personality in
redemptive history proceeds from his prophetic calling,
from which the legislative is never specially dis-
tinguished. Hence the unique character of the
intimate relation of God with this His servant (Num.
xii. 6-8) is compared with God's usual relations with
the prophets, and he is called, as the one who is
incomparable, by his proper official name xybinA (Deut.
xxxiv. 10; cf. Hos. xii. 14). (2) Moses is, according
to the history as it is given us in the Torah, not
the only prophet of his time. His sister also bears
the designation of prophetess, hxAybin; (Ex. xv. 20).
Miriam and Aaron are conscious that God also speaks
through them as well as through Moses (Num. xii. 2).
The seventy elders, whom Moses appoints as his assist-
ants, have a part of the Spirit of God which rests on
him, and begin to prophesy, and the prophetic ecstasy
seizes others also among the people (Num. xi. 24, 29),
—there were also prophets at that time besides Moses,
THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES. 61
and the Torah presupposes that there always have been,
and always will be prophets (Deut. xiii. 1 ff.). When,
therefore, looking through forty years back to the
first year it is promised (Dent. xviii. 15): "Yahweh
thy God will raise out of the midst of thy brethren a
prophet like me (ynimoKA); unto him shall ye hearken,"
and ver. 18: "a prophet will I raise up to you out
of the midst of thy brethren, like thee the
point of the prediction lies in the (j~OmKA) and j~OmKA.
The sense is not that God will always raise up a
prophet to the people (Rosenmüller semper per futura
tempora), who, like Moses, will be His organ. It is
exactly the emphasis on the continuation which is
lacking. The imperfect MyqiyA (MyqixA) is not an
adequate expression for "always." Moreover, xybinA
cannot be understood as a plural, for the singular is
retained throughout, without being exchanged with
the plural. The prophecy indicates a definite prophet,
it indicates a single person; and the history of the
following period confirms the [view], that the character-
istic marks of the one in contradistinction to the
many, which the concluding section (Deut. xviii. 20 ff.)
presupposes, are involved in the ynimoKA and j~OmKA. For
all the prophets who followed Moses are not mediators
of such a revelation as the Sinaitic; but the divine
revelation which is like the Sinaitic lies for all in the
domain of the future, and their duty consists in repre-
senting the spirit of the Sinaitic divine revelation, and
thus preparing the way for a future divine revelation,
whose mediator is to be the predicted prophet like
62 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Moses! Only so understood is Deut. xviii. 15-19
justified as a part of the prophetic words which are
to be discussed by us in historical succession. If the
prediction only referred to the continuance of pro-
phetic mediation in general, it would be without any
Christological significance, for it would not contain
any indication that the prophetic office after Moses
would culminate in One, who would be greater than
all the preceding. But the use of the singular, as
has been pointed out, shows that not a succession
of prophets is intended, but one prophet, who stands
before the spirit of the speaker; and as the expressions
ynimoKA and j~OmKA demand, such an One, who is not only
a continuation, but also an antitype of the mediator-
ship of Moses. That the future will not be without
prophets is presupposed in the Torah, and not only
especially promised, but it is promised that among
these prophets there will be another Moses. It
remains undetermined whether this other Moses is to
be hoped for in the nearer or more remote future.
The prediction brings that which is separated near
together, and flies away over that which lies between
the now and the coming time, which is separated
perhaps by a gulf of more than a thousand years.
Remark 1.—Our interpretation of this passage gives
again the impression which it makes on us, but we
are not so daring as to attribute to the grounds of
probability in its favour a compulsory power of proof.
The impression which it makes on interpreters like
Hävernick, Hofmann, Gustav Baur, Eduard König,
THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES. 63
von Orelli, Dillmann, and others is just the opposite.
These interpreters contend against the reference to a
single definite prophet, and find only one thought
expressed, that God will raise up a mediator for His
people, such as it now has in Moses, as often as it
needs a mediator of a divine revelation. By the ex-
pression ynimokA xybinA we are not to understand a prophet
who stands on the same plane with Moses; it indicates
only one who is to be an organ of God like him,
since here Moses and the other prophets are not com-
pared as in Deut. xxxiv. 10, but Moses and the
prophets like him as organs of God are compared with
the heathen sorcerers. Hofmann says,1 the singular
is indeed not a collective, but is used with relation to
the single case where the people need a mediator of
the divine revelation. He also understands ynimoKA
(j~OmKA) in connection with j~yh,xAme j~B;r;qi.mi (Mh,yHexE br,q.,mi),
which stands by it, as meaning a prophet who like
Moses is one of the people, which has this in its
favour, since the warning against heathen sorcerers
precedes. Among Jewish interpreters the reference
to prophets after the time of Moses in a general sense
predominates. But Aben Ezra is doubtful, and con-
siders it possible that Joshua is intended. That was
also the view of a part of the Samaritans.2 The
passage is used in the same way in the Assumptio
Mosis, i. 5-7. In Jalkut the view is also maintained,
that Jeremiah may be the. One promised.
Remark; 2.—It is a weighty reason against the
single personal and eschatological interpretation of
xybinA, that we never find in the canonical Scriptures
1 Schriftbeweis, vol. ii. part 1, pp. 138-142.
2 See the citations from Photius in Lightfoot on John iv. 19.
64 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
of the Old Testament an echo of this promise. On
the other hand, if in the pre-Christian and apostolic
age this interpretation was adopted to a considerable
extent, it must yet have had a tradition for it reaching
back we do not know how far. Among the Samaritans,
whose canon consists exclusively of the five books of
Moses, Deut. xviii. 15, 18 was regarded as the only
proper Messianic prophecy. The word of the Sama-
ritan woman, John iv. 25: "I know that Messiah
comes: when He shall come He will declare unto us
all things," shows that the Messiah was represented as
a mediator of salvation. A Samaritan, whose name was
Dositheus,1 who claimed to be the Messiah, maintained
that he was therefore the prophet who was promised
in Deut. xviii. But also in the New Testament
Scriptures this passage is considered as a locus illustris
of eschatological meaning, as a prophecy which has
come to its realization in Jesus Christ. In the
address of Peter, which was made in the porch of
Solomon, the prophet who is predicted by Moses is
compared with the prophets who have prepared the
way for his coming since Samuel (Acts iii. 22-24).
And Stephen, presupposing the meaning of the passage
as referring to Christ, emphasizes Dent. xviii. 15 as one
of the most significant words of Moses (Acts 37).
When Philip says to Nathanael (John i. 45) : " We
have found Him of whom Moses in the law did write,"
there is nothing fitter there, as well as in John v. 46,
than to think of this prophecy of the future prophet.
We are led with probability to conclude that this
interpretation of the passage was not isolated, since
1 Uhlhorn in Herzog and Plitt's Real-Encyklopadie für pro-
testantische Theologie und Kirche, Leipzig 1878, vol. iii. p. 683.
BALAAM'S PROPHECY ABOUT THE STAR. 65
also the expectation of the people in the time of
Christ was directed to a great prophet who was
absolutely called o[ profh<thj (John vi. 14). But
how this prophet was related to the Messiah was not
clear. The people distinguished both (John i. 19-21,
vii. 40-42), although in the face of Jesus Christ the
perception of the oneness of the prophet and of the
Messiah disappeared (Matt. xxi. 9-11).
§ 11. The Prophecy of Balaam concerning the Star and
the Sceptre out of Israel.
It is related in the grandiloquent parasha (section)
of Balak, in Numbers (xxii. 2 and elsewhere), that
Balak, king of the Moabites, when the kingdoms of
Sihon and Og became subject to the military prowess
of Israel, summoned the celebrated Balaam of Pethor,
north-east of Aleppo, in order that he might utter a
curse against the people who were pressing forward
so victoriously; but that, overcome by the Spirit of
Yahweh, in spite of all Balak's efforts, he blessed Israel
and prophesied their glorious future. This is an event
which also, outside of that parasha, is celebrated as an
integral part of the miracles of the Exodus (Deut.
xxiii. 5; Josh. xxiv. 9 f.; Micah vi. 5; Neh. xiii. 2).
We admit that the narrative, as it lies before us, is
combined out of several sources that may be clearly
distinguished, and that the historical element, as it
survived in the "sage," has been reproduced, not with-
out literary co-operation, but without doubting the
fact that the heathen sorcerer, contrary to his natural
66 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
disposition, became a prophet of Yahweh, and that he
received an insight into the future of Israel, whose
significance only has its counterpart in the second
part of the Book of Zechariah and the Book of Daniel.
As Balaam reached Moab, especially the district
above the Arnon, which Sihon, who was now conquered
by Israel, had snatched from the Moabites, Balak shows
him three times a place from which he has a view of
Israel (Num. xxii. 41, xxiii. 14, 28). He brings
great offerings in order, if possible, to secure the com-
pliance of Yahweh; but Balaam must, in spite of
these, bless instead of curse. This takes place in three
predictive utterances, which are joined on to the three-
[fold] setting up [of altars] (Num. xxiii. 7-10, 18-
24, xxiv. 3-9). Finally, giving up signs, he submits
to the will of God, which he now recognises as un-
changeable, and unveils to the king, as he departs from
him, the future in four great predictive utterances:
concerning the great king out of Israel (xxiv. 15-19),
destruction of Amalek (ver. 20), captivity of the
Kenites through Asshur (ver. 21 E), destruction of
the world power out of the west (ver. 33 f., cf. on
MyTiKi dy>ami Myci, 1 Macc. i. 1, viii. 5; Dan. xi. 30). It is
characteristic in connection with the political element
of the older announcement of the Messiah that we
receive the first prophecy of this kind within the course
of Old Testament history from the mouth of a heathen
seer. The fourth of the seven MyliwAm; of Balaam, intro-
duced through ver. 14--"And now, behold I go unto
my people: come, permit thyself to be reminded of
BALAAM'S PROPHECY ABOUT THE STAR. 67
what this people shall do to thy people in the course
of the days "—is as follows:—
15 Utterance of Balaam the son of Beôr,
And utterance of the man with punctured 1 eyes.
16 Utterance of the perceiver of divine words,
And of the knower of the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees visions of the Almighty,
Sunk down and with eyes unveiled.
17 I see him, though not yet;
I behold him, though not near.
There comes forth a star out of Jacob,
And rises a sceptre out of Israel,
And dashes in pieces the flanks of Moab,
And tears to the ground all the sons of Sheth;2
And Edom shall be a conquest,
Yea Seir, his enemy, shall be a conquest,
And Israel retains the victory.
19 And he rules from Jacob,
And destroys those who have escaped from [hostile] cities."3
1 [German: Aufgestochenen Auges, Latin of the ed. of 1880,
perforatus oculo] —C.
2 Thus we translate with the Septuagint and Jerome, but
without understanding who or what is meant by Sheth (twe). Jer.
xlviii. 45 transforms twe ynaB; into NOxwA yneB; "sons of the tumult
of war;" perhaps he understands twe in the sense of txwe Lam.
iii. 47, from hxAwA, to roar, to make a desolate noise. We
might also choose the reading tWe=txeW;, elevation, pride, which
gives an admirable meaning; for a characteristic trait of Moab is
pride, as that of Edom the hatred of heirs, so that Zunz trans-
lates: "All the sons of boasting." The Pilpel rqrq, according
to post-biblical literature (see Levy, Neuhebräisches Wörterbuch,
iv. p. 391), certainly signifies to rend, to tear down, and this can
also be said of persons in an objective way, just as much as j`pahA,
Prov. xii. 7, and srahA, Ex. xv. 7; Ps. xxviii. 5; Jer. xlii. 10.
3 As in Num. xxiv. 9b, Gen. xxvii. 29 is repeated, and in Num.
xxiii. 24, xxiv. 9a, Gen. xlix. 9, so here 19b reminds us of Gen.
xxii. 17b.
68 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Here first the object of the Old Testament hope is
personified, for star and sceptre are images of a ruler
who, like a star, appears out of Israel, a ruler of earthly
extraction and heavenly splendour. Before the eye of
the seer there stands in the distant future a king who
is to be expected, who subjugates Moab and Edom,
and makes Israel a victorious, powerful people. That
which the last three predictions express concerning
Amalek, Kain (the Kenites), and the world powers of
the East (Asshur) and of the West (ships from the
coast of Kittim), has no connection with this king. It
is not said that the downfall of these peoples and
kingdoms will be mediated through him. Since only
the subjugation of the Moabites and Edomites is
expressly imputed to him, that which is predicted does
not rise beyond that which was accomplished by Saul
(1 Sam. xiv. 47), and more permanently by David
(2 Sam. viii.). Nevertheless the subjugation through
David was only a temporary one; hence Jeremiah, in
chaps. xlviii., xlix., again takes up Balaam's prophetic
words concerning Moab and Edom, and places them in
the future. And that which is said in ver. 19 is
indefinite, and is understood in the Messianic echoes of
Ps. lxxii. 8, Zech. ix. 10, in an absolute sense. But
in order to understand this prophecy as one which is
to have a New Testament fulfilment, we must remove
its kernel, which consists in this, that the Messiah
will subjugate the world through the power of the
Spirit, and, scourging, will subdue those who oppose
Him;—thus understood, the ultimate fulfilment of that
EXODUS XV. AND DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 69
which is prophesied yet belongs to the future. But in
every case where an empire like the old Roman world
empire gives up its national gods, and acknowledges
the God who has revealed Himself in Christ, Christianity
celebrates a victory over the world; and when this
shall once lie at the feet of the Lord and of the Christ
who is enthroned at His right hand, then the dominion
of the Messiah out of Jacob, and the completion of His
punishment on those who contend against Him, will be
ultimately fulfilled spiritually, but not only inwardly,
also externally, but not in a military way.
Remark.—Also in the New Testament the star is a
Messianic emblem and attribute. The Oriental magi
say (Matt. ii. 2) "We have seen His star;" and He
calls himself, Rev. xxii. 16, the radiant morning star."
Rabbi Akiba called that Simeon who placed himself at
the head of the national rising under Hadrian, with
reference to Num. xxiv. 17, as the King Messiah, the
son of the star (xbkvk rb). On the contrary, that which
is said in Rev. xii. 5 concerning the Messiah, who is
born out of Israel, with the iron sceptre, does not refer
immediately to Num. xxiv. 17, but to Ps. ii. 8 f.
§ 12. Course and Goal of the History of Salvation,
after Moses' great Memorial Song.
The two pentateuchal songs, Ex. xv. and Deut.
xxxii., each stand in its way in a closer relation to the
further development of the proclamation of redemption.
When Balaam, before his spiritual eyes discern the
ideal human king of Israel, celebrates God Himself as
70 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the king of this people (Num. xxiii. 21b, xxiv. 7b), this
takes place because of the theocratic relation which
dates from the Sinaitic legislation, for their Yahweh was
king in Jeshurun, as is said in Deut. xxxiii. 5, from
the standpoint of the forty years of the exodus; and
the hymn which rung out in the year of the exodus,
after the deliverance through the Red Sea, closes with
the words, which are to be regarded as a fundamental
part of the song, which was enlarged in the mouths
of the post-Mosaic congregation (Ex. xv. 58), "Yahweh
shall be king for ever and ever." This kingdom of
Yahweh is the presupposition of the Messianic kingdom,
the basis of the kingdom of the promise. And Moses'
testamentary song, although it speaks only concerning
the God of salvation, and not the mediator of salvation,
is nevertheless like a chart of the ways of God, an
outline of the stations of the history of redemption,
into which later disclosures concerning the human
mediation of the redemption are to be introduced.
Summoning heaven and earth as witnesses of his
proclamation, the poet takes his stand in the midst of
the time, when Israel, borne by Yahweh his Creator
on eagle's wings through the wilderness to the
land overflowing with milk and honey, and there
blessed with the richest abundance of temporal benefits,
in fleshly arrogance and contemptuous unthankfulness
rewards his God and Father with apostasy to the idols
of the heathen. At this time this song proclaims to
them the word of God. The word rm,xova ("and he
said") introduces the divine discourse, to which the
EXODUS XV. AND DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 71
mouth of testimony is to be opened. Israel, because
of his apostasy, is to be brought through God's judg-
ments to the brink of destruction. But now, in the
midst of the threatened punishment, there is the
budding comfort, that the honour of Yahweh in respect
to Israel's enemies does not suffer the punishment to
proceed to complete overthrow. He makes use of the
heathen as instruments of punishment against His
people; but after He has shown Himself against them as
a strict judge, and after He has destroyed the apostate
mass, He manifests Himself as a pitier and avenger of
His servants, and the result of Israel's history is finally
this, that God's people, sifted and expiated, again
inhabit their native land, and that all peoples unite in
praising God who has revealed Himself in judgment
and grace.
The shout, Om.fa MyiOg Unynir;ha, admits of two explanations:
"Break forth in rejoicing, peoples, his people," which
is an asyndeton, as there immediately follows
Om.fa OtmAd;fa a similar, although less hard, expression,
—or, "ye peoples cause his people to rejoice." In
the latter case Nynrh has an objective accusative, like
Nn.eri (Ps. li. 16, lix. 17).1 The thought remains the
same, for the rejoicing in both cases has reference
to God, who in the history of Israel shows Himself to
be the living and holy One, who, after He has punished
1 The Targum also wavers: Onkelos and the first Jerusalem
consider vnynrh as transitive; the second Jerusalem—where we
are to read xymmf yhvmdq vslq, not xFf—consider Vmf, like Myvg,
as in the vocative.
72 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
His apostate people, does not proceed to extremes, but
again has compassion on those who finally serve Him,
and avenges the blood of His servants. It is, in
reality, the same conclusion as that which is reached
in chaps. x. and xi. of the Epistle to the Romans:
"God hath shut up all under unbelief, that He might
have mercy upon all." The apostle, too, shows there
how the history of redemption in intricate ways
reaches a glorious result, and concludes with a song of
praise to the all-compassionate God (Rom. xi. 32 ff.).
Modern criticism, indeed, denies that the great song,
Dent. xxxii., was composed by Moses but it contains
nothing which betrays a post-Mosaic origin, for Mh,yxep;xa
(ver. 26a) does not refer to an exiling, but to an
annulling and an abundance of evident connections
with the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xix.-xxiv.), with
the blessing of Moses (Deut. xxxiii.), and with the
Tefilla Moses (Ps. xc.), prevent us from holding that
the testimony of Deut. xxxi. 22 is self-deception, or
deception for a purpose (tendentiöse Täuschung); and
it can be more easily conceived that the legislation is
not indicated in it with a single word—for Uhnen;Oby;
(ver. 10b) does not signify erudivit eum—when the
legislator is the speaker, whose poetic gift is attested
through such highly poetical words as Ex. xvii. 16,
Num. x. 35 f., than when a later poet who has put
himself in the spirit of Moses is the speaker.1
1 See concerning the Song of Moses my Pentateuch-kritischen
Studien, x. Die Entstehung des Deuteronomiums, Zeitschrift für Kirch-
liche Wissenschaft and Kirchliches Leben, Leipzig 1880, pp. 505-508.
EXODUS XV. AND DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 73
Remark 1.—In harmony with its high antiquity,
the song does not exhibit any strophical form. In
four pictures it describes the history of Israel until its
completion: first, Israel's creation and gracious prefer-
ment, vers. 1-14; then Israel's unthankfulness and
apostasy, vers. 15-19; then God's punitive judgments,
vers. 20-34; and, finally, when Israel's foot totters,
and he is near the brink, the revenge and retri-
bution against his enemies and those of his God,
vers. 35-43. It is significant here that the people
which experiences this vengeance, new life, and healing,
is called vydAbAfE, vers. 36a, 43a. In its apostasy it is
called MmAUm vynABA xlo "not his children, a shame to
themselves " (5a, cf. Prov. ix. 7); the turning from
wrath to mercy has reference to the people who are
brought again from their apostasy, and who no longer
serve strange gods, but the God whom they had for-
gotten (vers. 15-18).
Remark 2.—It is indicated that Israel will draw
the heathen to a common worship of their God in the
benedictions of Moses concerning the heathen territory
bordering on the northern tribes of Zebulon and
Issachar, when it is said (Dent. xxxiii. 18 f.): "They
will call peoples to the mountain [the place where
Yahweh is worshipped]; there they will sacrifice sacri-
fices of righteousness." The word Mym.ifa is not to be
understood here as in ver. 3 of the tribes of Israel;
and rha probably does not have another meaning than
in Ex. xv. 17.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF THE TIME OF JOSHUA
AND OF THE JUDGES. —
§ 13. Yahweh and His Anointed in the Thanksgiving
Song of Hannah.
THE great song of Moses really treats of the chang-
ing relation of Israel to his God, without there
being an occasion to mention a divinely-anointed One;
but the Mosaic law of the king (Deut. xvii. 14 ff.)
shows how near the thought of a king was immediately
before the conquest of Canaan. The peoples with
whom Israel had to do were all under a monarchial
form of government.1 The royal rule which the legis-
lation had in view, and for which it had prudently
given rules, became in the time of the Judges an object
of longing and hope. The song, 1 Sam. ii. 1-10, in
which Hannah in Shiloh, as a richly blessed mother,
after long disgrace, praises the Lord, closes with words
which show how the people, during the torn condition
of the popular bond at that time and of heathen
1 See concerning the law of the king, Der Gesetzkodex des Deutero-
nomiums, Zeitschrift für Kirchliche Wissenschaft, u .s.w., Leipzig 1880,
pp. 559-567.
74
YAHWEH'S ANOINTED IN HANNAH'S SONG. 75
degeneration, comforted themselves with the future
prospect of a united royal government
10 Yahweh, His adversaries shall be broken in pieces,
It thunders before Him in heaven
Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth,
And will grant power to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.
We do not deny the possibility that the song,
without being composed by Hannah, may only have
been assigned to her by a historian; but we deny
decidedly that it does not harmonize with her position
and feelings, and that therefore it could not be com-
posed by her. She sees in her elevation from disgrace
to honour the wonderful power of God, which humbles
the high and exalts the lowly; for that is the manner
of the true poet, to idealize his experiences, that is, to
place them under a universal point of view, and to
behold the great in the small, the whole in the indi-
vidual, the essential in the accidental. And why
should not Hannah, who had borne Samuel under her
heart, the founder of the school of the prophets, who
anointed David the sweet–singer of Israel, not have
possessed the gift of poetry?1 Or are we to think of
1 Klostermann calls this song merely one speaking out of the
soul of Hannah, but not a psalm composed by her. A dictatorial
assumption of that which cannot be proved! This song, like all
old songs, is not strophical; but he forces upon it a form of com-
position in tetrastichs, and concludes from this arbitrary pre-
supposition that the last two lines (ver. 10b) must be a later
addition, after the example of Ps. xxix. 11. Moreover, the song
pleases us in the traditional text far better than in his wild
corrected one, as, e.g., ver. 10: "It is Yahweh who frightens
76 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
David in the mention which is made of the divinely-
anointed one, so that the close of the song expresses a
hope out of David's age assigned to the time of the
Judges, and which therefore excludes Hannah's author-
ship? But the true state of the case is this, that the
anointed of God who is hoped for is neither David nor
an ultimate Messiah alter the conclusion of a long
series of kings; rather there stands before the soul of
the poetess an ideal king whom Yahweh has appointed,
and through whom He brings His cause to victory.
We have to do here with the casting down of the
enemies of Yahweh from one end of the earth to
another, and with the raising up of the Messianic
kingdom, or, as we can say without introducing any-
thing which does not belong there, with the raising
up of the kingdom of God in His Christ, after the
thunder and lightning of divine judgment have made
way for this kingdom. The political use of power,
which concerns the preservation and elevation of the
nation, attain here to an ethical inwardness, which
does not appear in Balaam's prophecy.
§ 14. The divinely-anointed One in the Threatening
Prophecy concerning the House of Eli.
The prophecy in 1 Sam. ii. 27-36 shows how
anxiously the period of the Judges looked after a
away His enemies, He who rides on high in heaven and thunders.
Cf. on vylf in his commentary on Ps. xlii., and in mine. We
cannot decide whether Mfer;ya, is considered active: "He thunders,"
or impersonal: "it thunders."
THE ANOINTED ONE IN THE PROPHECY ABOUT ELI. 77
future king of Israel, in which an unknown wyxi
Myhilox< [man of God] announces to Eli and his
house the loss of all previous high-priestly dignity
and all sorts of punishment without absolutely deny-
ing to the members of this house entrance to the
priestly service. This prophecy in connection with
1 Kings ii. 27, 35 and Ezek. xliv. is a main prop
for the degradation of the Elohistic Torah, or the
so-called Priests' Code, into the post-exilic period,
since it is thought that this prophecy, which is
assigned from the post-Deuteronomic standpoint to
the time of the Judges, deprives the entire Aaronic
original house of Eli of the priestly prerogatives, and
prepares the transition to Zadok, an upstart from an
unknown race. Indeed the prophecy sounds as if
not only the house of Eli, which, as appears from
1 Chron. xxiv. 3, 5, was derived from Ithamar, the
second son of Aaron, but as if his entire priestly
patriarchal house, was to be destroyed. But [the
assumption] that Zadok was not a Levite contradicts
the sense of the Old Testament Scriptures in all their
parts, hence it is emphasized as one of the illegal acts
of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 31), that he even appointed
priests who were not Levites; and there is not adequate
ground for holding that the genealogical tracing of
Zadok back to Eleazar, the first-born of Aaron, by the
chronicler (1 Chron. v. 30-34, vi. 35-38, xxiv. 3,
cf. xxvii. 17; Ezra vii. f.), is designed to be a
concealment of his obscure origin. The true state
of the case is therefore this, that in ver. 27 the
78 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
patriarchal house of Eli is regarded as the same with
the priestly house of Levi, chosen since the exodus
from Egypt in the person of Aaron, and those descend-
ants of Aaron are excluded from the promise of a
constant official service before God made to the entire
priestly house of Levi, who do not honour the Lord
through their walk, but who dishonour Him. This
concerns, however, the present priestly house of the
line of Ithamar. This line is threatened with deep
degradation and with the transition of the high-
priestly office, whose insignia is the wearing of the
ephod, to a better priest than Eli. This better priest,
according to ver. 34 f., seems to belong to the imme-
diate future; but the prophecy was fulfilled only
gradually, and not in its entire severity.
Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, who, as Saul caused
the priests in Nob to be assassinated, escaped with the
ephod to David, and shared with him the troubles of
the time of persecution (1 Sam. ii. 20 and further), is
the last high priest of the line of Ithamar. He it was
who, for the benefit of Adonijah, had entered into the
conspiracy against Solomon, and was therefore deposed
by Solomon and banished to Anathoth, which, accord-
ing to 1 Kings ii. 27, was regarded as a fulfilment of
the divine word which went forth against the house
of Eli. But, according to 1 Sam. xiv. 3, Ahijah, a
grandson of Eli, still wore the high-priestly ephod in
Shiloh; later according to 1 Sam. xxi. 2, xxii. 9 ff.,
Ahijah's brother, Ahimelech, served in Nob and made
known the divine will, and also that Abiathar, who
THE ANOINTED ONE IN THE PROPHECY ABOUT ELI. 79
escaped from the massacre by Saul, and who along
with Zadok remained true to David in the persecution
of Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 24, xvii. 15), is still named
under Solomon as priest (1 Kings iv. 4) along with
Zadok, although in the second place.
The threatening prediction, therefore, concerning the
house of Eli, has not at all the appearance of a fiction;
it also has in the two difficult passages with NOfmA
(1 Sam. ii. 29a, 32a) the stamp of ancient tradition.1
According to this, we are not to think that it is
Solomon who is intended, when it is said in ver. 35:
"And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall
do according to that which is in my heart and in my
mind; and I will build him a permanent house; and
he shall walk before my anointed (yHiywim;-ynep;li) for
ever." If this is really a divinely-granted glimpse
into the future, we are obliged to recognise its ideal
character without looking at the historical details.
It pertains to a priest after God's heart, and to a king
after God's heart, and to a lasting unbroken co-opera-
tion of both, and contains an actual proof that the
hope of the believers toward the end of the period
of the Judges was directed to a king, to be realized
according to the theocratic idea, to a Messiah (Xristo<j)
of God.
1 It remains ever most probable that in 29a NOfmA is the accu-
sative of relation, and in 32a NOfmA rca signifies the "distress of
the dwelling of God" (cf. yHiUr rca, Job vii. 11. See Keil). The
Septuagint reads in 29a, Nyefom; (a]naidei? o]fqalm&?), which involves
the transmutation of UFfEb;Ti into the contradictory Ffbt, and it
leaves 32a entirely untranslated.
CHAPTER V.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE AGE OF DAVID
AND SOLOMON.
§ 15. The Transition of the Kingdom from Benjamin
to Judah.
SAMUEL, the late-born son of Hannah, whom she
dedicated to the service of Yahweh in Shiloh,
is the new founder of the order of the prophe