He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept In The Old Testament And Later Judaism (the Biblical Resource Series)

Before we can understand the message of Jesus, we must have some knowledge of the messianic concepts of his time. "He That Cometh" by Sigmund Mowinckel offers the most comprehensive study available of messianic thought in the Bible.

Featuring here a new retrospective foreword by John J. Collins, "He That Cometh" first explores the antecedents of the term bMessiahb in the Old Testament, focusing on the idea of a coming future king in early Jewish eschatology. It then examines the messianic concept as used in later Judaism and in the early church. The book concludes with an impressive discussion of the phrase bSon of Man, b the term Jesus himself used to interpret his own messianic mission.

Every student of biblical history and theology can profit immensely from a careful study of this monumental work. Mowinckelbs exhaustive documentation and his comprehensive analyses of both scriptural sources and modern scholarship have earned for this volume a high standing among studies of Jewish and Christian thought.

Before we can understand the message of Jesus, we must have some knowledge of the messianic conceptions of his time. Exploring first the antecedents of the term bMessiahb in the Old Testament, Mowinckel begins with a study of the future king in early Jewish eschatology, pointing out that during this period the future king was clearly regarded as a this-worldly political figure.

Mowinckel then turns to an examination of the messianic concept in later Judaism, in which he includes the teaching of Jesus and the thought of the early Church. He discovers that the Jewish concepts of the Messiah manifested a double character: one a national, this-worldly, political figure, and the other a super-terrestrial, other-worldly figure, rich in religious content and mythological concepts. The study is concluded with an impressive discussion of the bSon of Man, b the term Jesus used to interpret his messianic mission.