� 29. The Messianic Hope
§ 29. THE MESSIANIC HOPE
THE LITERATURE[1823]
[1823] See the older literature in Hase, Leben Jesu, § 34. De Wette, Biblische Dogmatik (3rd ed.), p. 163. Bretschneider, Systematische Entwickelung aller in der Dojmatik vorkommenden Begriffe (4th ed. 1841), p. 553 sqq.
Schöttgen, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae, vol. ii. De Messia, 1742. (A work of eminent scholarship, but ruled by the effort to make the Rabbis into Christian theologians. Even the doctrine of the communicatio idiomatum is proved from Rabbinic works.)
Bertholdt, Christologia Judaeorum Jesu apostolorumque aetate in compendium redacta observationibusque illustrata. Erlangae 1811.
Moraht, De iis, quae ad cognoscendam Judaeorum Palaestinensium, qui Jesu tempore vivebant, Christologiam evangelia nobis exhibeant, deque locis messianis in illis allegatis. Gotting. 1828.
De Wette, Biblische Dogmatik Alten und Neuen Testaments (3rd ed. 1831), pp. 159-179. The same, Commentatio de morte Jesu Christi expiatoria (Opuscula theologica, 1830, pp. 1-148).
Von Cölln, Biblische Theologie, vol. i. (1836), pp. 479-511.
Mack, Die messianischen Erwartungen und Ansichten der Zeitgenossen Jesu (Tüb. Theol. Quartalschr. 1836, pp. 3-56, 193-226).
Gfrörer, Das Jahrhundert des Heils (also under the title, Gesch. des Urchristenthums, vols. i.-ii. 1838), ii. 195-444.
Bauer (Bruno), Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker, vol. i. 1841, pp. 391-416.
Zeller, On the Assertion that prae-Christian Judaism had no Messianic Dogmatic (Theol. Jahrb. 1843, pp. 35-52).
Hellwag, Baur, and Zeller’s Theol. Jahrb. 1848, pp. 151-160 (in the article, On the notion of the pre-existence of Christ in the primitive Church).
Hilgenfeld, Die jüdische Apokalyptik in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung. Jena 1857.
Oehler, art. “Messias,” in Herzog’s Real-Enc., 1st ed. vol. ix. p. 408 sqq., 422-441. In the 2d ed. revised by Orelli, ix. 641 ff.
Colani, Jésus-Christ et les croyances messianiques de son temps, 2nd ed. Strasbourg 1864, pp. 1-68.
Langen, Das Judenthum in Palästina zur Zeit Christi. Freiburg 1866, pp. 391-461.
Ewald, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. v. (3rd ed. 1867) pp. 135-160.
Keim, Geschichte Jesu, vol. i. 1867, pp. 239-250.
Holtzman, Die Messiasidee zur Zeit Jesu (Jahrbb. für deutsche Theol. 1867, pp. 389-411). The same in Weber and Holtzmann’s Gesch. des Volkes Israel (1867), ii. 191-211.
Hausrath, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, vol. i. (2nd ed. 1873) pp. 165-176.
Weiffenbach, Quae Jesu in regno coelesti dignitas sit synopticorum sententia exponitur (Gissae 1868), pp. 47-62.
Ebrard, Wissenschaftl. Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte (3rd ed. 1868), pp. 835-849.
Wittichen, Die Idee des Reiches Gottes, dritter Beitrag zur biblischen Thevlogie insbesondere der synoptichen Reden Jesu (Göttingen 1872), pp. 105-165.
Anger, Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der messianischen Idee, edited by Krenkel (Berlin 1873), pp. 78-91.
Castelli, Il Messia secondo gli Ebrei, Firenze 1874 (p. 358).
Vernes, Histoire des idées messianiques depuis Alexandre jusqu’ à l’empereur Hadrien, Paris 1874 (p. 294).
Stähelin, Jahrb. für deutsch Theologie, 1874, pp. 199-218 (in the article, Zur paulinischen Eschatologie).
Schönefeld, Ueber die messianische Hoffnung von 200 vor Christo bis gegen 50 nach Christo, Jena 1874.
Drummond, The Jewish Messiah, a Critical History of the Messianic Idea among the Jews from the rise of the Maccabees to the closing of the Talmud, London 1877 (p. 395).
Stapfer, Les idées religieuses en Palestine à l’époque de Jésus-Christ (2nd ed. 1878), pp. 111-182.
Weber, System der altsynagogalen palästinischen Theologie aus Targum, Midrasch und Talmud dargestellt (Leipzig 1880), pp. 322-386.
Reuss, Geschichte der heiligen Schriften Alten Testaments (1881), § 555, 556.
Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie für Bibel und Talmud, Div. ii. (1883), arts. “Messianische Leidenszeit,” “Messias,” “Messiasleiden,” “Messias Sohn Joseph,” “Messiaszeit” (pp. 735-779). Comp. also “Armilus,” “Belebung der Todten,” “Ewiges Leben,” “Lohn und Strafe,” “Paradies,” “Vergeltung,” “Zukunftsmahl.”
Within the sphere of the religious ideas held by the Jewish people during the period with which we are occupied, two groups may be distinguished: (1) General religious ideas, with respect to the relation of man and of the world to God, and (2) Specific Israelitish ideas, which have for their object the relation of the Jewish people to Jahveh as the God of Israel. The latter are those which are the really prevailing ideas, they form the centre around which the others are grouped and to which they are related. These specific Israelitish ideas however received again their special tinge in later times from the legal view of the relation between Jahveh and Israel. The thought, that God had selected this one people for His possession and therefore bestowed His benefits upon them exclusively, was now supplemented by the other, that He had also given them a law, and thereby bound Himself to bestow His benefits under the presupposition, that they observed this law. Thus the maxim, that God gave many commands and ordinances to the people of Israel for the purpose of providing them with much reward now formed the core of the religious consciousness.[1824] Very simple observation however showed, that this reward was in present experience bestowed neither upon the nation as a whole, nor upon individuals, in the proportion to be expected. The more intensely therefore the consciousness of the nation and the individual was penetrated by this thought, the more must their gaze have been directed to the future, and the worse the state of the present, the more ardent must that gaze have been. Hence we may say, that in later times the religous consciousness was concentrated upon the hope of the future. The better future to be expected was the special object towards which all other religious ideas teleologically referred. As the work of the Israelite was virtually the observance of the law, so was his faith virtually belief in a better future. Round these two poles (as we have already remarked, p. 93) did the religious life of the Jewish people revolve during our period. They were zealous for the law in order one day to obtain reward. This central position of the hope of the future in the religious consciousness of Israel justifies us in again specially directing our attention thereto.
[1824] Makkoth iii. 16.