Is there any biblical evidence to support the concept that the Messiah had to be divine?

Question

thanks bungyow,. but you did not answer my question.

Thanks again Heron. I was hopeing to get some answers from Christians, but I do not get any you will clearly get best answer.

jaherrera- what OT prophecy was the high preist well aware of?

That is what I want to know.

Answer 1

Because this is a limited forum, I'll concentrate on Isaiah 9:5. The Tanakh (Stone Edition Tanakh, Art Scroll Series, published by Mesorah Publications Ltd.; Brooklyn, NY, 1998) reads at Isaiah 9:5:

"For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us, and the dominion will rest on his shoulder; the Wondrous Adviser, Mighty God, eternal Father, called his name Sar-shalom [Prince of peace]."

Because of the way this passage is translated, the common view among many Jews today is that this child is not the Messiah. Some claim Hezekiah was the Messiah and is the one referenced at Isaiah 9:5. But is this translation and understanding supported by all Jewish scholars?

1) Rabbi Ibn Ezra: "There are some interpreters who say that ‘wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father’ are the names of God, and that only ‘prince of peace’ is the name of the child. But according to my view, the right interpretation is that they are all the names of the child." (Walter Riggans, Yeshua Ben David [Wowborough, East Sussex; MARC, 1995], p. 370)

2) The Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 9:5: “For to us a son is born, to us a son is given; and he shall receive the Law upon him to keep it; and his name is called from of Old, wonderful, Counselor, Eloha [God], The Mighty, Abiding to Eternity, >>>The Messiah,<<< because peace shall be multiplied on us in his days.”

3) The Midrash on Deuteronomy also confirms these verses refer to the Messiah:

"Rabbi Samuel, the son of Nachman, said, ‘When Esau met Jacob he said unto him, “My brother Jacob, let us walk together in this world. Jacob replied: Let my Lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant” (Genesis 33:14) What is the meaning of, I pray thee, pass over? Jacob said to him; I have yet to supply the Messiah, of whom it is said: Unto us a child is born."

As I wrote above, I understand some commentators (such as Hillel) believe Hezekiah fulfilled these verses, others such as Bar Kapparah stated emphatically that Hezekiah was NOT the Messiah. For example, Bar Kapparah's comments may be found in Sanhedrin 94a:

"R. Tanhum said: Bar Kappara expounded in Sepphoris, Why is every mem in the middle of a word open, whilst this is closed? — The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to appoint Hezekiah as the Messiah, and Sennacherib as Gog and Magog; whereupon the Attribute of Justice said before the Holy One, blessed be He: 'Sovereign of the Universe! If Thou didst not make David the Messiah, who uttered so many hymns and psalms before Thee, wilt Thou appoint Hezekiah as such, who did not hymn Thee in spite of all these miracles which Thou wroughtest for him?' Therefore it [sc. the mem] was closed. Straightway the earth exclaimed: 'Sovereign of the Universe! Let me utter song before Thee instead of this righteous man [Hezekiah], and make him the Messiah.' So it broke into song before Him, as it is written, From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. Then the Prince of the Universe said to Him: 'Sovereign of the Universe! It [the earth] hath fulfilled Thy desire [for songs of praise] on behalf of this righteous man.' But a heavenly Voice cried out, 'It is my secret, it is my secret.' To which the prophet rejoined, 'Woe is me, woe is me: how long [must we wait]?' The heavenly Voice [again] cried out, 'The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously: which Raba — others say, R. Isaac — interpreted: until there come spoilers, and spoilers of the spoilers."

(Also, Hezekiah didn't bring about the end of sins before the 2nd Temple was destroyed, as required by Daniel 9:24.)

So the answer to your question is "yes." There is CLEAR proof that the Messiah -- whoever He may be -- will be Divine.

Answer 2

That's a great question. We certainly know that when Jesus stood before Ciaphas and He admitted that He was the Messiah, Ciaphas tore his robe for Jesus' supposed blasphemy. Daniel 7, the Son of man stands before the Ancient of Days (God the Father) and Psalm 110:1"the LORD said to my Lord" which is a reference to the deity of Christ in the New Testament. A good place to start is to read the sermons in the book of Acts. You might want to start with Peter's sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2.

Answer 3

Of course there is biblical evidence. It comes from the bible itself. It's mentioned in the gospels as well as several other biblical books.

There are also many other religious texts that refer to divine messiahs of other faiths. Again, they are referenced in the holy books of those religions.

The problem arises because of the lack of any external records or evidence that supports any divinity of any of the proclaimed messiahs. And so, any acceptance of a Messiah's divinity can only be derived from one's faith - or by accepting the teachings of others who have (or claim to have) such faith.

Answer 4

No.
But the "Son of Man" figure which comes from Daniel comes close to being a divine figure in some sense. The "Son of Man" came to be seen as a cosmic judge who would come in the end. Whether this was the same person as the Messiah depended on the school of thought. In fact, I think you could argue fairly well that Jesus expected the "Son of Man" to come after him, and did not originally see himself as that figure. Later Christians believed that when Jesus was talking about the "Son of Man" coming on the clouds of heaven, etc, that he must have been talking about himself, and slowly Jesus became divinized.

Nowhere that I am aware of do the Hebrew Scriptures say that the Mashiach is to be divine. You will have Christians quote you certain scriptures to attempt to make that claim - but when those scriptures are looked at in their context, it is easy to see that they did not even refer to the Messiah at all.

Answer 5

Matthew 26:63
Caiaphas, the high priest, tells Jesus to answer him if He is the Christ, the Son Of God.
The high priest was well versed in old testament prophecy and understood that the Christ would be divine. They just could not accept that Christ would suffer and die for the sins of all humanity.

Answer 6

There are many places in the New Testament where Jesus points to His divinity, but the one I like the best is John 8:58.

58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

Answer 7

One needs to understand the whole purpose of the Messiah, and of the nature of sin, in order to understand why he was of necessity, divine.

This can be logically gleaned from the entirety of scripture, but it takes some work, and a good understanding of theology.

Send me an unrestricted email address and I'll send you a free 10MB e-book which completely explains it, from several different aspects, including that of scripture.

Or send me a shipping address, and I'll send it to you on CD, along with a bunch of other good stuff.

Answer 8

The divinity of Jesus was an afterthought, as was the resurrection, the virgin birth and most other supernatural events attributed to him. It was used as a hard sell to legitimize the new religion; saying how it was a fulfillment of prophesies that had been around for hundreds of years. There is no indication that Jesus thought of himself as many Christians today think of him.

Answer 9

YES! Jesus had to be divine and perfect and sin free to save us. he didnt die on the cross for his sins b/c he had no sins. he died on the cross for our sins so we could have a way to get to heavan.

Answer 10

Yes. I don't remember exactly where, though. I know Elijah is said to come before him, to proclaim that he is coming.