Waiting for the Messiah

The first century Jewish world was just as diverse as any religious movement today is. There were theological arguments, divisions based on class, geographic differences, interpretive schools, and political squabbles. Two thousand years later and halfway around the globe we read about these things in the New Testament, especially in how they relate to Jesus. However, that difference in time and geography causes to be blind to many of the distinctions that existed within first century Judaism.

One thing of particular interest to us is what the Jews of that time expected in their Messiah. We normally give a standard answer of “a military leader” and leave it at that. The truth is the expectations for the Messiah in that world were just as diverse and varied as any set of opinions on an important subject.

Some Jews were looking for a military leader, as we often say, who would slaughter the Romans and establish the nation of Judah once again as a world superpower. Others were looking for a priestly figure who would purify the temple and return the glory of God to Jerusalem. Still others thought that the Messiah would be a prophet that heralded the destruction of the old temple and structures and would begin anew, and there were many more views besides this.

The one common thread through all of these various expectations of the Messiah is that Jesus defied them all. All of them were right on certain points, but they were also all wrong too. In the next few posts I will examine some of these individual groups and what they expected Jesus to be. I’ll look at what they got right and what they got wrong, and also how they show us things about our own expectations about Jesus. Just like them, sometimes we get it right, and other times we miss the mark.