Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

mâshîyach - משיח (Strong's #4899)
Messiah, anointed one

There are 39 or 40 Old Testament references to the word משיח mâshîyach Messiah (Strong's #4899), though 30 or more of these don't refer to THE Messiah! Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon went so far as to say that it was "never" used "of the future Messiah", to which the evangelical editor in the Baker Book House edition wrote, "This is an awfully false statement". The Anchor Bible Dictionary agrees with Gesenius, "in the OT the term 'anointed' is never used of a future savior/redeemer"^F1.

Nonetheless, Jewish expectation of the Messiah was real in the period leading up to the coming of Jesus. Indeed, both then and later, the clear indications of a messiah figure with all the accompanying and sometimes contradictory indications led to a more developed Jewish expectation, possibly of two messiahs or one who would come twice. These were variously named including messiah of Aaron, messiah of Israel and especially later messiah son of David and messiah son of Joseph. The latter was regarded as a suffering or defeated messiah and the former in the mould of David and davidic Psalms as a victorious figure. Many now regard Jesus' first coming as "son of Joseph" to suffer, only to return as "son of David" riding on Revelation's white horse to conquer and rule.

משיח mâshîyach comes from משח mâshach "to anoint" (Leviticus 2:4; 7:12

As with the verbal use in strengthening the hide on a shield, so the noun is linked with strength too. In the following verse horn and strength are paralleled as synonyms, just as king and "anointed one" are.

"He will give strength / to His king,
And exalt the horn / of His anointed."
(1 Samuel 2:10 F1: Freedman, D. N., The Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1996, c1992)
F2: CD 2:12; 5:21-6:1; 1QM 11:7, 8; 11QMelch 18

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Meet the Author

Charles Loder has an MA in Jewish Studies from Rutgers University. His work is in Biblical Hebrew and comparative semitic linguistics, along with a focus on digital humanities. His work can be found on his Academia page and Github.