A messiah, literally, the anointed [1] has come to be seen as a saviour or liberator of a group of people, most commonly in the Abrahamic religions . In the Hebrew Bible , a messiah (or mashiach ) is a king or High Priest traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil. [2] However, messiahs were not only Jewish, as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great , king of Persia, as a messiah [3] for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple . The Jewish messiah is a leader anointed by God, physically descended from the Davidic line , who will rule the united tribes of Israel[4] and herald the Messianic Age [5] of global peace also known as the World to Come . The translation of the Hebrew word Mašíaḥ as Χριστός (Khristós) in the Greek Septuagint [6] became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth. Christians believe that prophecies in the Hebrew Bible (especially Isaiah) refer to a spiritual savior and believe Jesus to be that Messiah. Islamic tradition holds that Jesus, the son of Mary , was the promised Prophet and Masîḥ (ﻣﺴﻴﺢ) (Messiah) sent to the Israelites, and that he will again return to Earth at the end of times, along with the Mahdi, and they will defeat al- Masih ad-Dajjal , the false Messiah or Antichrist .[7] Etymology Messiah (Hebrew : מָשִׁיחַ , Modern Mashiaẖ Tiberian Māšîăḥ; in modern Jewish texts in English spelled Mashiach; Aramaic : משיחא, Greek : Μεσσίας, Classical Syriac : ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ, Məšîḥā, Arabic : ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺢ , al-Masīḥ, Latin : Messias) literally means anointed one. [8] In Hebrew, the Messiah is often referred to as מלך המשיח (Meleḵ ha-Mašīaḥ in the Tiberian vocalization , pronounced [ˈmeleχ hamaˈʃiaħ] , literally meaning the Anointed King. The Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament renders all thirty-nine instances of the Hebrew word for anointed (Mašíaḥ) as Χριστός (Khristós). [6] The New Testament records the Greek transliteration Μεσσίας, Messias twice in John. [Jn. 1:41][4:25] al-Masīḥ (proper name, pronounced [mæˈsiːħ] ) is the Arabic word for messiah. In modern Arabic, it is used as one of the many titles of Jesus. Masīḥ is used by Arab Christians as well as Muslims , and is written as Yasūʿ al-Masih (ﻳﺴﻮﻉ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺢ ) by Arab Christians or ʿĪsā al-Masīḥ ( ﻋﻴﺴﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺢ ) by Muslims. The word al-Masīḥ literally means the anointed, the traveller, or the one who cures by caressing. [9] In Quranic scripture, Jesus is mentioned as having been sent down by Allah, strengthened by the holy spirit, [10] and hence, anointed with the task of being a prophet and a recipient of sacred scripture. [9] The Israelites , to whom Isa was sent, had a traditional practice of anointing their kings with oil. An Imam Bukhari hadith describes Jesus as having wet hair that looked as if water was dripping from it, possibly meaning he was naturally anointed. [11] Muslims believe that this is just one of the many signs that proves that Jesus is the Messiah.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 12:38:16 +0000
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