Words · Hebrew Words · Lesson 4, word 2 of 5
מָשִׁיחַmashiach
An anointed one, king, priest, or the promised Messiah.
Why this word is here. Our word 'Messiah' itself; used of Saul and David, of priests, even of Cyrus, and gathered into the hope of one final Anointed.
What it means
From mashach, to anoint, smear with oil. The lexicon range: an anointed one, of the Messiah, the Messianic prince; of the king of Israel; of the high priest; of Cyrus; of the patriarchs as anointed kings. Anointing marked a person as set apart and empowered for an office: kings (Saul, David), priests (Aaron's line), occasionally prophets.
No single Old Testament verse contains the whole later doctrine of the Messiah. The hope is assembled across the canon: an anointed king from David's line (Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7), an anointed priestly figure, and Daniel's 'anointed one' who is cut off.
Where you meet it
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One:
Psalm 2:2 (BSB)
Anchor verse 'The kings of the earth take their stand... against the LORD and against His Anointed One (mashiach).' The royal psalm the apostles quote in Acts 4.
So he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed. May I never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.”
1 Samuel 24:6 (BSB)
David refuses to harm Saul: 'I will not lift my hand against my lord, because he is the LORD's anointed (mashiach).' Even a failing king carries the title.
Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.
Daniel 9:25 (BSB)
Gabriel speaks of 'the Messiah (mashiach), the Prince' to come, and in the next verse of the Messiah being 'cut off'. The only places Daniel uses the word, and the most debated timetable in prophecy.
Why it matters
Mashiach explains the New Testament's central claim in one word: 'Christ' is not Jesus' surname but this title in Greek dress. It also explains the misunderstandings around Jesus: crowds expected the anointed king of Psalm 2, and the cross forced a re-reading of what the Anointed had come to do.
Watch out
The over-claim is that every occurrence of mashiach is a direct prediction of Jesus. Cyrus is called God's mashiach (Isaiah 45:1), as are Saul and the high priest; the word means an anointed officeholder, and the messianic hope is the pattern these figures build together. Flattening each use into a prediction actually weakens the case, because it cannot explain the texts where the title plainly means a present king.
In this lesson
- goel (from ga'al) (גֹּאֵל): The kinsman-redeemer who buys back and defends his own.
- nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ): A living being, the self, one's whole life.
- lev / levav (לֵב): The inner person: mind, will and conscience, not only feelings.
- dabar (דָּבָר): A word, a matter, a thing, speech that does things.
Sources
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906)
- Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible / STEP Hebrew data
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