Messiah 2

No Expectation
As we look through Jewish literature from the latest books of the Jewish Bible/OT to the time of Christ, we find that a significant portion betrays no sense of a coming king. For example, we find no clear expectation of a messiah in any of the so called Apocrypha, books that are in the Roman Catholic but not most Protestant Bibles.<1> Some of their authors may have had such expectations and simply not have brought up the subject. In other cases they may have content with the form of governance they had at the time.

Thus Tobit expects the return of Jewish captives from afar to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of a splendid Jerusalem with a glorious house of God (14:5; cf. 13:10). But in all these predictions nothing is said of a new king for that city. It is of course possible that such a king was part of the deal at the end of the age (14:5). Of course, the Jerusalem of Tobit's day had no king, and this fact alone may be enough to explain why no king is mentioned in its prophecies.<2>

Similarly, Baruch and Sirach give no indication of a coming king. Baruch has high expectations of the return of Israel from all over the world (e.g., 4:37; 5:5-6), but mentions no restored king.<3> Sirach, written about 200BCE, seems perfectly content with its ruling high priests in the absence of a king.<4> Its list of praises understandably focuses on Aaron rather than Moses, because Aaron started the lineage of priests. No doubt because the high priest was the dominant political figure in Jersualem at the time, David receives a scant mention in one verse (45:25) and even that verse quickly returns to speak of Aaron. So we find no mention of a Messiah in either of these books of the Intertestamental Period.

At first we might be a little surprised to find that the books of Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees have no clear conception of a coming king. These books all relate to the Maccabean crisis in which guerrilla fighters of Israel successfully defeated the dominant Syrians until they allowed Israel to keep the laws and practices of the Jewish Bible/OT.<5> On the other hand, it seems likely that these books were all written during the time that the descendants of the Maccabees were in control of Jerusalem. Since Aristobulus actually took the title "king" in 104BCE, Israel in effect had a king at the time. Accordingly, we would not expect to find a mainstream writing of this time expecting a different anointed one to come.<6>

It is also little surprise to find that few Jewish writings from outside Palestine have any clear expectation of a Messianic king. Thus neither the Wisdom of Solomon, 3 nor 4 Maccabees have any real sense of a coming messiah. Most of the Diaspora writings that have survived come from Alexandria in Egypt. Here we can find such strange things as Sibylline Oracle 3 which actually speaks of one of the kings of Egypt in messianic terms, the "King from the Sun."

Probably the most important witness on this topic is none other than Philo of Alexandria, who lived at the same time as Jesus and Paul (ca. 20BCE-50CE). His treatise on Rewards hopes that the nations will come to their senses and realize that Israel has a corner on the truth but believes God will give victory in battle if they refuse (Rewards 79-97). Part of this expectation involves a king (Moses 1.290; Rewards 95).<7> There can be no doubt but that what he has in mind is a human, earthly king. He has no expectation of some heavenly figure to come to earth or for God to become human. Still less does he expect such a king to die on a cross. Quite the opposite, it is possibly the humilation of the Jews during Caligula's reign that sparks some of Philo's rhetoric here.<8>

Messianic expectation is thus something that largely flourished when the Jews or a particular group of Jews were particularly disaffected with the current political state of Israel. For example, we can imagine that most of the high priests and Sadducees of Jerusalem did not particularly look for any Jew to ascend to the throne of Israel. While some Jews no doubt preferred someone from Herod's family to rule over a Roman procurator,<9> it is doubtful that many thought of any Herod as a continuation of David's royal line.

<1> The Roman Catholic Old Testament includes not only expansions of Esther and Daniel (Susannah, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Azariah) but seven other books: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees.

<2> Here we remember that Tobit is broadly written from the perspective of the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom that took place in 722/21 BCE. But Tobit was actually written in the Persian (539-332BCE) or early Hellenistic Period (ca. third century). Its author thus knows that the rebuild temple of 516BCE would "not be like the former one" (*14:5).

<3> Again, we might simply explain Baruch's failure to mention a restored king from the fact that Baruch knew there would not be one in Israel for the foreseeable future. Although the setting of Baruch is the Babylonian captivity that began in 587/86BCE, Baruch itself was written much later.

<4> E.g., Sirach 50 praises the high priest Simon at the end of a long list of heroes from Israel's past. This Simon is probably Simon II who served around 219-196BCE.

<5> The date of Judith is somewhat debatable, but many if not most would date it to the Maccabean period.

<6> On the other hand, we are not surprised to find such expectation among the disaffected of the time, such as the disempowered sect at the Dead Sea.

<7> For the debate over what precisely Philo had in mind, see Tobin****

<8> I refer here first to the persecution of the Jews in the city of Alexandria in the year 38CE and then the attempt of Caligula to set up a statue of himself in the Jerusalem temple, probably in the year 40CE.

<9> Perhaps the "Herodians" of Mark * are such individuals. See J. P. Meier***, JBL...