Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site philabs.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!jah From: jah@philabs.UUCP (Julie Harazduk) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Trinity and the Son of David Message-ID: <418@philabs.UUCP> Date: Mon, 19-Aug-85 16:16:25 EDT Article-I.D.: philabs.418 Posted: Mon Aug 19 16:16:25 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 21-Aug-85 07:04:36 EDT References: <411@philabs.UUCP> <975@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> Organization: Philips Labs, Briarcliff Manor, NY Lines: 64 > > For instance, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah says: > > > For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government > > shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, > > Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of > > Peace. Is. 9:6 (KJV). > > > If this child were not actually God, it would be Blasphemy to call Him > > these names. There are numerous other places where similar things are > > said about The Anointed One, though not quite so blatantly. (Ps. 2:7; > > ICh17:11-14; IISa7:12-16; Micah 5:2; Ps 110:1) > > All these passages refer to the king of Judah. All the kings of Judah > were descendants of king David. All kings were "messiahs." "Messiah" > is, by devious routes, a transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "the > anointed one." ("Christos"--Christ--is a translation, rather than a > transliteration, of this word into Greek.) Anointing was part of the > ceremony of installing a king. To call a king a "messiah" was like > calling Queen Elizabeth II "the crowned one." > > Now I am not going into the history of the development of "messianism" > here. Suffice it to say that nowhere does the the Hebrew Bible refer to > a hitherto unknown type of being by the term "messiah." All the > passages that were cited, except Micah, express the belief, not > uncommon in the ancient Near East (and pushed to extremes in Egypt) > that the king was divine. Another examples of this belief may be found > in Ps. 89.26-27 (verse numbering according to the English versions). > The Samuel passage, with the parallel in Chronicles, expresses the > promise that the Davidic line would be eternal. Which is basically what Jesus, through the ressurection, achieved. An eternal line. I see your point about the annointing ceremonies, and I think there is certainly validity there, but many of the prophecies did not concern necessarily the next king, but a special king. Many had been called the son of God (maybe, I won't argue that) but none were ever called mighty God (which is entirely different in a monotheistic culture such as Israel's). That would be blasphemy. That's why I say that this king would have to be God Himself and not only (the loose term) son of God, rather the Son of God. > The reason why it was important for Matthew and Luke to establish Jesus' > Davidic heritage should now be easy to understand. If Jesus was to be > accepted as the messiah, he had to be of royal lineage. He had to be the > rightful heir to the Davidic throne. This would then establish his > claim to messiahship, which is another way of saying kingship (see the > discussion above). Now if the king was the son of God (Ps. 2.7, and > elsewhere in the passages cited at the beginning of this discussion), > and if Jesus was king, then Jesus, too, would be the son of God. So would all before him and after him. I wonder why they never claimed their heritage rights and came foward with such a statement. I know that the Roman Empire under Cesaerian rule also shows signs of this common belief in divinity of kings. However, I don't think that early believers were as impressed with Jesus' lineage as they were with his claims and his powers. Though you are right that his lineage is important in terms of prophetical messiahship. Without the heritage, prophecy would hold no validity. And to the ancient's, it was the one guidance that they could trust. > This > is in fact what is claimed. Historically, I view it as the final > statement of the ancient Near Eastern belief in the divinity of kings. Julie A. Harazduk