THE

JEWISH MESSIAH

A CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE MESSIANIC IDEA AMONG THE JEWS FROM THE RISE OF THE MACCABEES TO THE CLOSING OF THE TALMUD

BY

JAMES DRUMMOND, B.A.

professor of theology in manchester new college, london

Ὦ μακαριστὸς ἐκεῖνον ὃς ἐς χρόνον ἔσσεται ἀνήρ

Sib. Orac. 4:190

LONDON

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1877

All rights reserved

Preface

The object of the present work is twofold. It endeavours to exhibit, in a properly classified form, the doctrine concerning the Messiah, as it was held among the Jews in the centuries during which Christianity appeared; and, as subsidiary to this main purpose, it seeks to introduce the English reader, more fully than has hitherto been done, to the Apocalyptic and kindred literature.

In accepting this literature as in any way a trustworthy expression of Jewish belief, we run counter to the judgment of so high an authority as Jost, who pronounces it to be destitute of value in the history of Jewish religion.1 It cannot, I think, be denied that Christian scholars have been inclined to attach too much importance to works of this kind. Such writings do not possess even the authority of distinguished names, for the real authors are unknown; and, when we except the Book of Daniel, there is no evidence that they exercised any appreciable influence upon the course of Jewish thought. But in the study of religious belief we do not confine ourselves to the decrees of councils or other authoritative documents, but have recourse to the sermon, the pamphlet, or even the lampoon. The former present us with the finished product, and mark the completed stages of advance; the latter admit us into the process by which dogmas are formed, and give us a vivid picture of the turmoil and passion, the vicissitudes of happiness and misery, of hopes and fears, by which the shapes of human thought are so largely influenced. So the Apocalyptic literature, if it does not possess the authority which attaches to the discussions and decisions of the Rabbinical schools, yet brings us nearer to the popular heart, and speaks to us in the very tones of hope and despair, of aspiration after an ideal kingdom and hatred of heathen domination, which so deeply coloured the Messianic belief. It possesses also for the Christian student the advantage of proximity to the Christian era. It thus furnishes a sample of the soil in which Christianity was first planted, and may assist those who have the courage for the task, to strip off the ephemeral popular conception from the permanent nucleus of spiritual truth. And, lastly, it will be found that the Messianic views presented by this literature are to a large extent confirmed by the Rabbinical authorities, so that it has at least the merit of proving that these views are much earlier than the writings in which they find their first authoritative expression. For these reasons the Apocalyptic works appear deserving of more respectful consideration than is allowed to them by Jost.

It was, however, ...