Messiah in the Old Testament - some final thoughts (for now)

A Final Post on The Messiah in the Old Testament (Walter Kaiser)

            I am loathe to write this post because if you read my blogs regularly, you know at the beginning of 2016, I intended to write blog posts throughout the year reacting to Kaiser’s book.  He makes the case that anticipation of Jesus coming as Messiah (Anointed one of God, the Christ) is seen in the Old Testament.  According to Kaiser, from Genesis to Malachi, there is unmistakable evidence of the Messiah’s presence in the Old Testament.  I wanted to learn Kaiser’s perspective and share it with you, my readers. 

            I did OK through the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and I reviewed his assessment of OT books up through the Psalms.   Alas, time caught up with me.  Some of Kaiser’s meatiest work is done in the prophets.  In 2016, other interests (family life, church, study of racial dynamic in American life) took me away from working on writing my responses to the ideas in this book. 

            So now, I conclude by recommending that you go to Amazon (or whatever site you prefer) and get your own copy of Kaiser’s book. 

            I do offer this.  I have only recently come to appreciate just how important and controversial it is to think that New Testament concepts arose first in the Old Testament and then served as fulfillment of the Old Testament.  For Jewish people who do not believe Jesus is the Messiah, this is a great insult.  For them, the Old Testament is not “Old.”  It is “the Bible,” the Torah.  Some Jews may feel that their book was stolen from them by the same Christians who perpetrated the Pogroms and ignored the Holocaust.  I think the story is more complicated than that, but I want to be gentle with the feelings of others, especially those who have suffered enormous wounding in history.

            I want to respect the Jewish reading of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).  I want to be in dialogue with Jewish friends and neighbors.  I want to learn about this sacred text from them; they’re the experts.  If I see something about the Messiah (Jesus as Messiah) in Psalm 22 or Genesis 3 or Isaiah 53, something my Jewish friends don’t see or refuse to see, I want to come to that knowledge humbly.  I want to hold that reading reverently and with no intent to marginalize or discard the Jewish viewpoint.

            At the same time, I recognize the absolute nature of this conversation.  Either Jesus is the Messiah or he isn’t.  I believe he is.  I believe His Holy Spirit resides in me and compels me to read the Hebrew Bible through Gospel-tinted lenses.  I believe what Kaiser says is true.  “A straightforward understanding and application of the text leads one straight to the Messiah and to Jesus of Nazareth, who has fulfilled everything these texts said about his first coming” (p.232).

            Thus, I live in this tension.  I want to love and respect my Jewish neighbor who says “Don’t undermine my Bible by insisting that its message is fulfilled in Jesus.”  At the same, I believe scripture (including the Old Testament) can be properly only when read in such a way that we see that the message points to Jesus.  The Bible is about God’s relationship with humanity, and God’s relationship with humanity is made whole through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ, the Messiah.  I believe that with all my being, all my soul.

            I pray that conversations around this topic can be peaceful and friendly, even if they end in disagreement.

The Messiah in the Old Testament –the book of Job

            Throughout this year I am examining a book called The Messiah in the Old Testament by Walter Kaiser, of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.  He attempts to illustrate how OT texts show that the Messiah, God’s anointed savior, has been a part of God’s plan from the start.  In this installment, I share Kaiser’s observations from the book of Job. 

In my own opinion, Job should be treated as a post-exilic work.  I believe Job is a parable and possibly the compilation of different works.  The events of the book may be rooted in a historic person named Job, but the greater message of the work speaks to how readers engage with God during times of immense suffering.  It is a mistake to too quickly say, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Yes, Job says that (1:21), but then he spends many chapters expressing extreme bitterness. One who claims Job suffered with dignity and never indicted God is one who stopped reading after chapter 2.

Are there hints of Messianic faith in Job?  Here is Kaiser’s evidence: first, he mentions 9:33.  Job complains “there is no umpire between us” (between himself and God).  The word umpire is one who would arbitrate between Job and God.  He suffers unjustly and God lets it happen, but how can he, a mere mortal, bring his case against Almighty God?  An umpire or arbitrator would speak on Job’s behalf.

Second, Kaiser mentions 16:19-21, where Job sounds more hopeful.  “My witness is in heaven and he … vouches for me … on high.  He would maintain the right of a mortal with God as one does for a neighbor.”  In referring to terms witness and neighbor, Kaiser says the text indicates ideas like an intercessor and even a friend (Kaiser, p. 63). 

Kaiser’s third identification of passages in Job that hint at Messianic theology is 19:25-27.  “I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon on the earth.”  Kaiser unabashedly asserts that Job anticipates an end-times living person on earth who can and will vindicate him and redeem him from his myriad troubles.  Resurrection theology developed gradually over the course of Israel’s history and is not uniformly presented in the OT.  This is one reason I am hesitant to locate Job (in its final form) in the era of Abraham.  Kaiser does not insist Job lived at that time either, by the way.  However, regardless of when he lived, this passage, Job 19:25-27, clearly asserts hope, a hope rooted in the belief that a savior will speak on Job’s behalf.

The fourth example from Job comes not from Job’s speech but that of Elihu in Job 33:23-28.  Kaiser notes that in these verses “is a call for a messenger who will act as an interpreter” (Kaiser, p.64).  The end result of this interpreter’s work is that the sufferer (in this case Job) will be redeemed from “the Pit” and shall again “see the light.”  Like the redeemer passage (19:25-27), here is a reference to a last-day salvation. 

From these hopeful passages, scattered throughout the dark world of suffering presented in the book of Job, Kaiser sees seeds of Messianic hope.  “The Messiah will be an arbitrator, a mediator, a heavenly advocate and witness, a redeemer, and an interpreter of the enigmas of life” (Kaiser, p.64).  The New Testament, especially the book of Hebrews, presents Christ in all these roles.

The Messiah in the Old Testament - Balaam, Moses

The Messiah in the Old Testament –Balaam, Moses (in Deuteronomy)

            I began this year by examining a book called The Messiah in the Old Testament by Walter Kaiser, of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.  He went through OT texts to show how the Messiah, Jesus, had been a part of God’s plan from the beginning.  In reviewing Kaiser’s book, so far I have looked at his ideas about early Messianic anticipation in Genesis 3:15 (Adam, Eve and the Serpent), in Genesis 9 (Noah),  in the promise God made to Abraham that through him God would bless all the peoples of the earth (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18); and, in Genesis 48:10, which Kaiser believes it meant to mean that the one from Judah will govern until the Messiah comes at which point the Messiah (Jesus) will rule the world.

            You can check my blog from January and February to read my posts reviewing Kaiser’s assessment of these passages (http://honesttalkwithgod.blogspot.com/).   I did not get to blog about the book in March or April, but am back to it now.

            Kaiser cites Balaam’s’ prophecy “the man whose eye is clear … who hears the words of God … who sees the vision of the Almighty” (Numbers 24:15-19).  Kaiser takes those vanquished kingdoms mentioned in the latter stanzas of v.17 to be representative of kingdoms throughout history who have opposed God’s plans.  He says, “The picture painted by Balaam of … the man who would rise out of Israel” is a picture of the coming Messiah.  He will literally clean house of all opposition to his rule and reign.”[i]

            In Deuteronomy, Kaiser cites 18:15, 18, which forecasts the prophetic role of the prophet.  Jesus was seen to supremely fill the roles of prophet, priest, and king.  It is common to call him king of kings.  We would be equally right in calling Him prophets of prophets.  And the book of Hebrews refers to him as the supreme High Priest. 

            By the time Jesus burst upon the scene, many in Israel were watching for a prophet who would surpass all previous prophets in greatness and knowledge of God.  So when he calmed storms at sea and fed multitudes and drove out demons, those around him were sure he was the expected one.  Kaiser points to John 6:14 where the crowds said, “Surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world.”  Also Kaiser observes that Peter surely saw Jesus this way as he quoted Deuteronomy 18 in his second temple message (Acts 3:11-26).  Stephen made the same connection in his preaching (Acts 7:37).[ii] 

            The Messiah, Jesus, was and is the ruler who surpasses all and is the prophet supreme.  In the next installment, we’ll see how Kaiser assesses passages from the book of Job in relation to the Messiah and to Jesus.

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[i] Kaiser, p.57.

[ii] Kaiser, p.60.

Messianic Prophecy –Abraham, Judah

The Messiah in the Old Testament –Abraham, Judah

            In his book The Messiah in the Old Testament, Walter Kaiser, of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, notes 8 promises God made to Abraham.[i]  The seventh of these was that through Abraham, God would bless all the peoples of the earth (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18).  Kaiser feels this promise points to the heart of the Gospel.  Salvation comes as a gift given by God apart from human works.[ii]  In Galatians 3:8 & Romans 4:10-12, the Apostle Paul looks to this early expression of the Gospel in Abraham’s life.  The Messiah – Jesus – fulfills this promise by overcoming the divide between Jews (the Chosen People) and the gentiles (those without knowledge of God). 

            I find Kaiser’s identification of the anticipated Messiah in the promises made to Abraham to be very convincing.  The continuity from Genesis 3:15 and “the seed,” born of woman t0 Abraham to the promise to Jesus and then to Paul’s discourse on Jesus is easy for me to accept. 

I am not as inclined to follow Kaiser’s assertion that Abraham knew God would raise Isaac or provide a substitute when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22).[iii] I think for our ancestors in the faith, things were not as settled as for us with the benefit of hindsight.  I don’t know what Abraham knew or believed when he took Isaac up Moriah to be a human sacrifice.  That story is problematic and I find that it is unhelpful to try to dampen the cruelty and the lack of moral clarity in that story.  But it is quite easy to see the birth of a Messianic hope in the promise to Abraham. 

            This Abrahamic promise is specified four generations later when his great, great grandson Joseph is giving blessing to his 12 sons.  Jacob reserves the most important blessing not for the oldest, but for the fourth son, Judah. 

             Genesis 49:8-12New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

⁸ Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,     like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?

¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.

¹¹ Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes; ¹² his eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

            The key word in this prophecy from Genesis 48 is in verse 10, ‘shiloh’ (translated ‘tribute’ in the NRSV).  This Hebrew word, based upon its usage in Ezekiel, means his ‘due,’ or that which is ‘rightfully his.’  Based on understanding ‘shiloh,’ this way, Kaiser understands Genesis 48:10 to mean Judah will govern until the Messiah comes at which point the Messiah (Jesus) will rule the world.[iv]  This is why we call Him King of Kings and Lord of the Lords.  The roots of this idea reach all the way back to Genesis and the constituting of the nation of Israel.

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[i] W. Kaiser (1995).  The Messiah in the Old Testament.  Zondervan Publishing (Grand Rapids), p.46.

[ii] Ibid, p.47.

[iii] Ibid, p.50.

[iv] Ibid, p. 53.