Jewish Messiah, The

The Jewish Messiah. By Dan Cohn-Sherbok. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1997, xx + 211 FP., $24.95.

Many modern Christians tend to speak of "messianic expectations" in the same way in which they speak of "first-century Judaism," as if there were some sort of established set of beliefs or expectations. There were neither, and this work shows that the expectations about who the Messiah was to be and what he was to do were widely divergent. This book is an examination of these divergent expectations down through the ages. Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales, Lampeter.

The work begins with a chronological chart that helps the student to place people and literature into their proper place in history. While there might be minor quibbles here and there, the chart will prove to be very helpful to a beginning student. After the introduction, the work is divided into ten chapters. These chapters look at the messianic hope from the time of the Hebrew Bible (chap. one) to the modern period (chap. ten).

The most interesting chapter for readers of JETS will be chap. four ("Jesus the Messiah"). Here Cohn-Sherbok argues that for the Jewish community Jesus did not fulfill the messianic role as outlined in Scripture (p. 61) and explains a number of Jewish objections to seeing Jesus as the Messiah (pp. 76-79). Cohn-Sherbok proceeds to lay out these objections, many of which, in my (admittedly Christian) view, simply miss the point of what the Gospel texts are saying about Jesus. A short example will have to suffice. The first objection rests in the fact that Jesus did not, contrary to popular messianic expectations, regather Israel, bring an end to the exile, and restore the kingdom to its former glory. A reading of N. T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God, however, will show that it is possible to understand Jesus' mission as fulfilling each of these points, albeit in a different manner than was popularly expected. So it may be correct to argue that Jesus did not fulfill popular messianic expectations, but the larger question is whether these expectations were truly Biblical or merely popular. The answer to that question depends a great deal upon how one reads the evidence. Other objections that are raised are not nearly so serious as they might first appear. This is, however, a good, popular-level setting-forth of Jewish objections to acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah.

Despite these differences of opinion, the book, is a very good general introduction to Jewish messianic hopes. A great deal of material is dealt with, and this necessitates a fairly broad brush, but overall the painting seems to be fair and accurate. The work could have been improved through the use of footnotes and a larger bibliography, but this work is not a technical monograph written for scholars; it is an entry-level work. Any student, either Jewish or Christian, who wants a good overview of messianic expectations would do well to start here.

Samuel Lamerson

Knox Seminary/Trinity International University, Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, FL

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Mar 2000
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