From: ljmorly@polaris.utu.fi (Laura Johanna Manninen)
Newsgroups: alt.messianic
Subject: Re: The Messiah In The Old Testament
Date: 10 Jan 93 17:54:20 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: University of Turku

I wrote:

> If there's only one book you can have about the earliest Rabbinic
> ideas about the Messiah, get yourselves THE MESSIAH IN THE OLD 
> TESTAMENT written by Risto Santala. You can order it from 

>     Keren Ahvah Meshihit
>     P.O.Box 10382
>     Jerusalem, Israel

Just forgot to mention that one Rabbi kept that book three years in 
his library and didn't dare to open it, and when he finally opened 
it and read it, he became a Messianic.

And furthermore, it's not only the earlist Rabbinic ideas that are
presented in this book, but Jewish teaching all the way to our days.

Here's a quote for you as an example:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. The Messiah, the Mimra or 'Word' of God

When looking at the Proto-Evangel we saw how the serpent of bronze
which Moses raised up in the wilderness was, according to the Wisdom
of Solomon, a "sign of salvation". The Targum Jonathan Ben Uzziel
says here that "He who turns his heart to the LORD's Mimra will be
spared". Professor Gottlieb Klein identified Metatron, used as an
epithet for the Messiah, with Yahweh's Mimra or 'Word'. In Klein's
opinion it was precisely this Aramaic word which gave the grounds 
to the belief that Christ is "the Word or Logos of God become flesh".

The Jewish philosopher Philo, who lived about the same time as Jesus,
considered the Logos to be God's delegate, his emissary and angel
who "prays as High Priest before God on behalf of the world". [1]
The Mimra concept associated with God and his manifestations appear
596 times in the Targums -- but not once in the Talmud. [2] Targum
Onqelos uses the word 179 times, Targum Yerushalmi 99 times, and 
Targum Jonathan 321 times. Over half of these references to the Mimra
approach it as if it were "personified". [3] The absence of 'Mimra'
from the Talmud may be a reaction to the first Christians' interpre-
tation of it as indicating Jesus. But are there really grounds for
understanding 'Mimra' to mean the same as the New Testament's 'Logos' ?

In answering this question there is good reason to appeal to the Rabbis'
way of grading the old writings according to their source value: "The
Old Testament leads to the Targums, the Targums lead to the Mishna, 
the Mishna to the Talmud, and so on." [4] Proceeding in this way the 
Targums give earlier information on the Rabbis' exegesis than even the
Mishna, the oldest part of the Talmud. Therefore, from the point of
view of our subject, it is worthwhile familiarizing ourselves with these
roots of our Christian faith which are concealed in the Targums.
 
The Mimra appears in the Targums in the following contexts, among others:
On the creation of man in Gen. 1:27 the Targum says: "And the LORD's 
Mimra created man" (Targum Yerushalmi); in Gen. 16:13 Hagar speaks with
the "angel of the LORD" and "calls him the LORD's Mimra" (Yer.); in 
Gen. 22, where Abraham speaks with the angel of the LORD, who is given 
the name "the LORD's Mimra", and in v.8 "the LORD's Mimra himself will 
provide the lamb for the burnt offering" (Yer.); in Gen. 28:20 Jacob 
makes a vow and says, "If the LORD's Mimra will be with me... then the
LORD's Mimra will be my God" (Onqelos); Gen. 15:6 in interpreted by the
Targum as follows: "Abraham believed in the LORD's Mimra, and it was 
credited to him as righteousness" (Onq.); Along with the giving of the 
Law in Ex. 20:1 the Targum reads, "And the LORD's Mimra spoke all these
words" (Yer.).....


[1] Gottlieb Klein's Sex foeredrag, p88
[2] Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah I,
    pp46-48
[3] Ibid vol II pp659-664
[4] Sifrei Shoftim, piska 160a
------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Laura

--
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government 
will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Councellor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."  - Yeshaya 9:5 (9:6)
 
"To the Jews who had believed him, Yeshua said, "If you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.""   - Yochanan 8:32-33