Subject: Christians before Jesus came |
Bible Note: Hi Tim, Like I said, Jesus did fulfill Zech 9, but that is not who God was talking about in Zech.9. Jesus fulfilled (gave full and ulitimate meaning) to the whole OT...that is not what I am talking about. I am simply explaining the original intent of the OT passage. Matthew 2 and Hosea 11 might illuminate my point more clearly. In Hos.11, God clearly was not talking about Jesus. He was talking about the literal community of Israel, whom He brought up out of Egypt. Jesus was also called out of Egypt, so he in effect fulfills this, but God was not talking about Jesus in Hos.11- He was talking about the Hebrew nation whom He saved from Egyptian bondage. In reference to Micah 5, I think that I stated somewhere else that these Messianic hopes of a Priest and King (and Prophet and Great Teacher) were developed in the Inter-Testamental period. Take a look at CD (the Damascus Document) xii.23; CD xix.10-11; CD xx.1ff; 1QS ix.10-11, and also the Testament of the 12 Patriarchs. Zech.4:14, Haggai 2:20ff were seed passages for the messiah theology of the 1st century, which were developed in the Inter-Tesamental period as shown above. This is why we have all of these expected figures in the gospels which were never spoken of in the OT. (cf.Jn.1:19-22) Joel 2:28ff was the seed passage for the prophet theology of the 1st Century, and was developed in the IT period as well. (cf.Jn.4:25) [footnote: I do not consider the IT works to be inspired, but they did have a large influence on the 1st Century view of the Messiah.] chesed |