Israel S Messiah In The Bible And The Dead Sea Scrolls

""This volume is exemplary of evangelical scholarship at its best. The theme is pertinent, indeed basic, to all expressions of Christianity, and the contributors engage their subject with the passionate inquiry and critical acumen it deserves. The essays are comprehensive in scope but unpredictable in conclusion, displaying a diversity of perspective united only by common allegiance to the advancement of biblical understanding. Anyone interested in biblical prophecy or a historical understanding of Jesus will find here a useful survey of the relevant materials and some surprising new insights."" --Mark Allan Powell, Trinity Lutheran Seminary ""Israel's Messiah is a very timely, helpful work on one of the more important topics for our day. In fairly short compass, it manages to cover nearly everything the student will want to know about the development of the messianic idea in Judaism and the early church. It is a must reading "" --Grant R. Osborne, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School ""There has been a notion circulating in certain circles of New Testament scholarship that the concept of a messiah was of little significance in early Judaism. This volume helps dispel that notion and in the process gives us some keen insight into how the messianic material in the New Testament fits into the larger matrix of Old Testament and early Jewish messianic thought. Highly recommended."" --Ben Witherington III, Asbury Theological Seminary ""The complexities of biblical scholarship are all too often hidden from most students of the Bible. This collection of essays, however, opens up contemporary issues concerning the concept of the messiah. The main authors and respondents offer helpful and insightful presentations on the messiahship of Jesus Christ. The format of essays and responses enriches the volume by permitting the reader to weigh differing viewpoints on the vitally important topic. Here we have constructive, critical, evangelical scholarship of the highest quality."" --T. D. Alexander, Union Theological College, Belfast, Ireland Richard S. Hess (Ph.D., Hebrew Union College) and M. Daniel Carroll R. (Ph.D., University of Sheffield) are professors of Old Testament at Denver Seminary.

Offering readers a fascinating glimpse of life and religious belief in first-century Palestine, the author analyzes the mysterious "suffering servant" described in the Dead Sea scrolls, a messianic figure with remarkable similarities to Jesus.

"In The Scepter and the Star, John J. Collins turns to the Dead Sea Scrolls to shed new light on the origins, meaning, and relevance of messianic expectations. The first Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah - the Christ; Christians could be called "followers of the messiah." Other Jews did not accept this claim, and so the Christians went their own way and grew into a separate religion. The disagreement about the identity of the messiah is the root difference between Judaism and Christianity." "The recent disclosure of the full corpus of the Dead Sea Scrolls now makes it possible to see this disagreement in a fuller context than ever before. The most stunning revelation of the new evidence is the diversity of messianic expectations in Judaism around the beginning of the common era. The Hebrew word "messiah" means "anointed one." According to the scrolls, the messiah could be a warrior king in the line of David, a priest, a prophet, or a teacher. He could be called "the Son of God." Jesus of Nazareth fitted the expectations some Jews of the time had of the messiah. The majority of Jews, however, had quite different expectations."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The author is convinced that the early Byzantine Church deliberately cut out sections from an historic text to conceal the truth about the crucifixion of a man they were promoting as their Messiah. She solves the mystery by reconstructing the deleted sections. King pieces together what happened in Jerusalem during the trial and attempted crucifixion of the real Messiah and shows that the key passages that were tampered with are actually the missing link that connects the Dead Sea Scrolls to the New Testament Gospels. Using those passags and the history of the period, she identifies the figures mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Who Should Be King in Israel? attempts to link common messianic issues found in some Dead Sea Scrolls with the Gospel of John. These messianic issues are studied in relation to the political situation facing the Johannine community in dealing with the Roman empire. The readers/hearers of the Fourth Gospel had to deal with different challenges from the Roman government and the non-Christian Jewish community in the era between the Jewish Revolt and the Bar-Kochba Revolt. Jesus is presented as the new David, the Son of God, who is the solution to all of humanity's problems. The fall of the Temple in 70 CE had created a political and religious situation that meant early Christians of the post-70 CE socio-political environment had to deal with Roman suspicion and Jewish disappointment. The Fourth Gospel uses vocabulary and imagery designed to communicate the message that Jesus is the Christ without inflaming either Roman or Jewish sensibilities. This book is written in a manner designed to deal intelligently with that difficult era in Christian history.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is one of the most important archaeological finds ever for Christians. This find confirms that the Bible was translated accurately over the centuries. The scrolls also tell us about life at the time of Jesus and the New Testament. Dead Sea Scrolls includes the story of how the scrolls were discovered, a map, time line, photos of the caves where they were discovered and photos of the scrolls themselves. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a fascinating source of material regarding biblical times and the scrolls hold even greater importance to Christians. The Dead Sea Scrolls tell us: • The reliability of Old Testament translation over the years • Interesting information on the culture and times of Jesus Christ • What the people of Jesus' time expected from the Messiah The Dead Sea Scrolls examines the discovery of the oldest known copies of portions of the Old Testament. These ancient documents confirm the accuracy of modern Bible translations, but what were they doing hidden in caves in Qumran? Who were the people who hid them there? What do these scrolls reveal about Jewish history, the Old and New Testaments and early Christianity? The Dead Sea Scrolls investigates the amazing discovery. Includes a map of the region, a time line, and photos of caves and parchment scrolls. Includes insights on the Isaiah Scroll and other key discoveries. The pamphlet reveals: • What we know about the site • How the scrolls reveal the accuracy of Old Testament Bible translation over the centuries • What the scrolls reveal about Jewish history • What the scrolls reveal about early Christianity • What the scrolls reveal about the New Testament

Jesus: Is He Israel's Messiah? Indeed he is! This book seeks to give evidence for Jesus being the Messiah of Israel and the world by drawing on various sources ranging from certain ideas observed in the Dead Sea Scrolls produced by the Qumran community, including illuminating certain writings concerning Messiah generated by ancient rabbis. The author also seeks to establish many prophecies fulfilled by Christ as spoken of in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and gives a strong case for miracles and the resurrection of Jesus. An exposition of selected parables taught by Jesus at the end of this book will reveal that the very claims he made about himself came from no other than Messiah-authenticated by his own ministry of miracles, fulfilled prophesy, performing resurrections including his own literal and physical rising from the dead.