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At the beginning of the first century, in which Jesus and his future disciples and followers were raised, a number of Jews held to messianic ideas and hopes. It is quite likely that at least two of the persons who attempted to gain control of Israel when Herod the Great died (4 or 1 BC) saw themselves as Israel’s anointed kings. During the revolt against Rome (AD 66–73), it is probable that another one or two men claimed to be Israel’s divinely anointed king.

A survey of the literature that was produced in the intertestamental period (i.e., between the Old and New Testaments, or from about 400 BC to the beginning of the first century AD) shows that Jews held to a variety of messianic ideas and expectations.⁵ Much of this expectation was anchored in a few specific Old Testament texts, such as Genesis 49:8–12, Numbers 24:17 and Isaiah 11:1–16. The idea that Israel’s anointed king would in some sense be God’s son is expressed in 2 Samuel 7:12–16 and Psalm 2:2, 7; 89:26–29. The latter texts provide much of the inspiration for the prophecy found in a first-century BC Aramaic text recovered from among the Dead Sea Scrolls:

[His son] will be called “The Great,” and be designated by his name. He will be called the “Son of God,” they will call him the “Son of the Most High.” But like the meteors that you saw in your vision, so will be their kingdom. They will reign only a few years over the land, while people tramples people and nation tramples nation. Until the people of God arise; then all will have rest from warfare. Their kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all their paths will be righteous. They will judge the land justly, and all nations will make peace. Warfare will cease from the land, and all the nations shall do obeisance to them. The great God will be their help, he himself will fight for them, putting peoples into their power, overthrowing them all before them. God’s rule will be an eternal rule. (4Q246 1:9–2:9)⁶

The expected figure in this prophetic vision will be called “The Great,” “Son of God,” and “Son of the Most High.” He and the people of God will experience an “eternal kingdom.” Those who know the Gospels well will immediately be reminded of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary regarding the conception and birth of her son Jesus:

“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end…the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:32–33, 35)

Here we find the same titles and concepts: Jesus will be “great,” he will be called the “Son of the Most High” and the “Son of God,” and he will reign forever (or eternally).

Another fragmentary scroll from Qumran, this one written in Hebrew and also dating to the first century BC, describes what will take place when God’s Messiah makes his appearance:

The heavens and the earth shall obey his Messiah and all which is in them shall not turn away from the commandments of the holy ones. Strengthen yourselves, O you who seek the Lord, in his service. Will you not find the Lord in this, all those who hope in their heart? For the Lord attends to the pious and calls the righteous by name. Over the humble his spirit hovers, and he renews the faithful in his strength. For he will honor the pious upon the throne of his eternal kingdom, setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, raising up those who are bowed down (Ps 146:7–8). And forever I shall hold fast to those who hope and in his faithfulness shall […] and the fruit of good deeds shall not be delayed for anyone and the Lord shall do glorious things which have not been done, just as he said. For he shall heal the critically wounded, he shall revive the dead (Isa 26:19), he shall send good news to the afflicted (Isa 61:1), he shall satisfy the poor, he shall guide the uprooted, he shall make the hungry rich. (4Q521 frag. 2, col. ii, lines 1–13)⁷

Once again we hear echoes in the New Testament Gospels. On one occasion, Jesus is asked if he is the “Coming One” (Matt 11:3, NKJV). He replies that the “blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matt 11:5 = Luke 22:7). The implication is that, yes, Jesus is the Coming One, the Messiah (cf. Matt 11:2). When Jesus stills the storm, the disciples ask, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41), which is consistent with the Qumran scroll’s declaration that the “heavens and earth shall obey (God’s) Messiah.”⁸

Several other Jewish texts from the intertestamental period speak of the expected Messiah. According to the Psalms of Solomon (mid-first century BC), Israel’s messianic king (twice called “Lord Messiah”) “will gather a holy people who he will lead in righteousness; and he will judge the tribes of the people that have been made holy by the Lord their God” (17:26) and “he will be a righteous king over them, taught by God” (17:32; cf. 17:4, 21, 28, 30, 36–37, 40, 42). According to 4 Ezra (first century AD), “the Messiah whom the Most High has kept until the end of days, who will arise from the posterity of David” will come and will judge the wicked and deliver the righteous (12:32–34).

In Enoch 37–71 (a major section called the Parables of Enoch) we find several references to the “Son of Man,” the “Chosen One,” and even two references to “Messiah” (1 Enoch 48:10; 52:4). The Son of Man references are clearly based on the vision of Daniel 7 (cf. 1 Enoch 46:1–6). The Son of Man becomes the “Chosen One” (48:6) and probably should be identified with the “Messiah.” The Messiah will sit on a throne and judge the kings of the earth. The Messiah envisioned in Enoch is reminiscent of the king in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25:31–46). Referring to himself, Jesus begins his parable by saying “when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne” (Matt 25:31). This language alludes to the description of the Son of Man in Daniel 7, which speaks of “thrones” (v. 9), a “son of man” (v. 13), “myriads” (i.e., angels, v. 10, NASB), and “glory” (v. 14). Just as the Son of Man/King in Jesus’ parable will gather all the nations and judge them (Matt 25:32), so the messianic Son of Man of 1 Enoch will judge the kings of the earth (e.g., 1 Enoch 46:5). The Son of Man will even sit on God’s throne (1 Enoch 51:3; cf. 1 Chr 29:23).

There is no question that many Jews expected the appearance of the Messiah, though not everyone defined this figure or his mission the same way. That the Messiah would be an exalted figure seems clear, but whether he was expected to be in some sense divine is doubtful.⁹ How did Jesus understand himself? Did he think of himself as in some sense divine?