RT Article
T1 ‘Anointed' and ‘Messiah': A New Investigation into an Old Problem
JF Journal for the study of the Old Testament
VO 42
IS 4
SP 393
OP 413
A1 Shahar, Meir Ben
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2018
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1582260532
AB In most scholarship, the term ‘Messiah' is used to describe a divinely appointed figure who will come at the end of days. In contrast, in the Bible the term ??????, ‘anointed', is reserved for a person anointed with oil who holds a high office. This clear-cut distinction has led many scholars to search for the origin of the figure of the Messiah in Second Temple Judaism. This article argues that the origin of the former understanding of the term ‘Messiah' is found already in biblical anointment narratives. In the historical books of the Bible that narrate the monarchic period (Samuel-Kings), only those who were not eligible for kingship by birth were anointed—some of them by divine decree. When anointing is performed in compliance with divine ordinance, as is the case with Saul, David, and Jehu, it has a soteriological facet.
K1 David
K1 Jeroboam
K1 Messiah
K1 Saul
K1 anointed
DO 10.1177/0309089216677672