prophesied only of the days of the Messiah,'7 and 'The world was created only for the
Messiah.'8
7. Sanh. 99 a.
8. Sanh. 98 b.
In accordance with all this, the ancient Synagogue found references to the Messiah in
many more passages of the Old Testament than those verbal predictions, to which we
generally appeal; and the latter formed (as in the New Testament) a proportionately
small, and secondary, element in the conception of the Messianic era. This is fully borne
out by a detailed analysis of those passages in the Old Testament to which the ancient
Synagogue referred as Messianic.9 Their number amounts to upwards of 456 (75 from the
Pentateuch, 243 from the Prophets, and 138 from the Hagiographa), and their Messianic
application is supported by more than 558 references to the most ancient Rabbinic
writings.10 But comparatively few of these are what would be termed verbal predictions.
Rather would it seem as if every event were regarded as prophetic, and every prophec y,
whether by fact, or by word (prediction), as a light to cast its sheen on the future, until the
picture of the Messianic age in the far back- ground stood out in the hundredfold
variegated brightness of prophetic events, and prophetic utterances; or, as regarded the
then state of Israel, till the darkness of their present night was lit up by a hundred
constellations kindling in the sky overhead, and its lonely silence broken by echoes of
heavenly voices, and strains of prophetic hymns borne on the breeze.
9. See Appendix IX., where a detailed list is given of all the Old Testament passages
which the ancient Synagogue applied Messianically, together with the references to the
Rabbinic works where they are quoted.
10. Large as this number is, I do not present the list as complete. Thus, out of the thirty-
seven Parashahs constituting the Midrash on Leviticus, no fewer than twenty-five close
with an outlook on Messianic times. The same may be said of the close of many of the
Parashahs in the Midrashim known as Pesiqta and Tanchuma (Zunz, u.s. pp. 181, 234).
Besides, the oldest portions of the Jewish liturgy are full of Messianic aspirations.
Of course, there was the danger that, amidst these dazzling lights, or in the crowd of
figures, each so attractive, or e lse in the absorbing interest of the general picture, the
grand central Personality should not engage the attention it claimed, and so the meaning
of the whole be lost in the contemplation of its details. This danger was the greater from
the absence of any deeper spiritual elements. All that Israel needed: 'study of the Law and
good works,' lay within the reach of every one; and all that Israel hoped for, was national
restoration and glory. Everything else was but means to these ends; the Messiah Himself
only the grand instrument in attaining them. Thus viewed, the picture presented would be
of Israel's exaltation, rather than of the salvation of the world. To this, and to the idea of
Israel's exclusive spiritual position in the world, must be traced much, that otherwise
would seem utterly irrational in the Rabbinic pictures of the latter days. But in such a
picture there would be neither room nor occasion for a Messiah-Saviour, in the only
sense in which such a heavenly mission could be rational, or the hear t of humanity
respond to it. The Rabbinic ideal of the Messiah was not that of 'a light to lighten the
Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel' - the satisfaction of the wants of humanity,
and the completion of Israel's mission - but quite different, even to contrariety.