{"id":527,"date":"2020-12-31T18:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T18:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/wordpress\/?p=527"},"modified":"2024-03-11T17:56:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T17:56:29","slug":"exploring-your-faith-xii-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/2020\/12\/exploring-your-faith-xii-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ in the Psalms"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The second spiritual evening within the program <\/span>Exploring Your Faith!<\/span><\/i> took place on December 17, 2020, online, on the YouTube channel<\/a> of the monastery. The theme of the evening, \u201c<\/span>These are the words which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me<\/span><\/i>\u201d (Luke 24.44) had as its central subject the testimony on the Savior Christ, contained in the psalms.<\/span><\/p>

Messiah: The Anointed One<\/b><\/p>

Messiah, Heb. \u05d7\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05de, <\/span>mashiah<\/span><\/i>, derived from the verb \u05d7\u05e9\u05b7\u05de\u05b8, <\/span>mashah<\/span><\/i>, to anoint, means \u201cthe anointed.\u201d In Greek the <\/span>Messiah <\/span><\/i>(<\/span>the Anointed One<\/span><\/i>) translates as Christ. Thus, the translation of the name <\/span>Jesus Christ<\/span><\/i> is <\/span>the Anointed Savior<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>

In the Old Testament, anointing was the act by which priests, kings, and prophets were consecrated. Thus, they became God\u2019s representatives, sent by Him. The Messiah becomes an established term in the prophetic biblical literature (Daniel 9.25\u201326) and post-biblical as a title for a future Person, a person in whom were concentrated all the expectations of a world reminiscent of Paradise (cf. Isaiah 11.1\u201310). The Messiah becomes the focal point of rabbinic exegesis and the explanation of the Law in the Synagogue. Texts that have not been exploited as messianic in Christian exegesis are often interpreted as such in Judaism. One such example is Ruth 2.14: \u201cCome here and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.\u201d The Midrash\u2014an old rabbinic commentary on the Old Testament\u2014by exposing a tradition based on the personality of Rabbi Jonathan (135\u2013170 AD), considers the text a powerfully messianic one,<\/span> the bread<\/span><\/i> being <\/span>the bread of Messiah\u2019s kingdom<\/span><\/i>, which will rain <\/span>manna from heaven on his people<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>the vinegar<\/span><\/i> refers to<\/span> the sufferings of the Messiah, for it is written<\/span><\/i>: \u201cHe was wounded because of our lawlessness\u201d (Isaiah 53.5).<\/span><\/p>

Messiah: Son of David<\/b><\/p>

The Messiah is the son of David because God swears to David that He will always put a descendant of his on the throne (Psalm 131.11: \u201cThe Lord swore to David this truth, and He shall not reject it: \u2018I shall set upon your throne one from the fruit of your loins.\u2019\u201d). The connection between the figure of the Messiah and that of David lies in the fact that David, through the Psalms, is the one who outlines for the first time, more clearly, the image of the Messiah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Psalms<\/b><\/p>

The psalms are part of the third category of Old Testament writings (Law; Prophets; Writings; Tanakh: Torah, Nevi\u2019im, Ketuvim).<\/span><\/p>

There are psalms that refer to the glory of the Messiah-Christ (2.6\u20139; 44.8\u20139; 71.10; 109. 1\u20134; 117.20\u201326) and psalms that refer to the sufferings of the Messiah (15.10; 21; 68, 108.21\u201330).<\/span><\/p>

Verses 7\u20138 of <\/span>Psalm 2<\/b>, \u201cThe Lord said to Me, \u2018You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession\u201d were interpreted by rabbis to be <\/span>about the Messiah, the son of David, who will soon arrive in our time<\/span><\/i> (Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 52a).<\/span><\/p>

Psalm 109<\/b><\/p>

\u201cThe Lord [\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4\u05d9\u05b0 \u2018Yahweh\u2019] said to my Lord [\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05b9 \u05d0\u05dc\u05b7 \u2018la\u00b4d\u00f6n\u00ee\u2019; \u2018ad\u00f6n\u2019-Lord]: \u2018Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies the footstool of Your feet.\u2019 The Lord shall send forth the rod of Your power from Zion, and rule in the midst of Your enemies. With You is the beginning in the day of Your power, in the brightness of Your saints; \u2018I have begotten You from the womb before the morning star.\u2019 The Lord swore and will not repent, \u2018You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek\u2019\u201d (1\u20134).<\/span><\/p>

\"\"<\/b><\/p>

This is the classic case of a psalm interpreted messianically in ancient Judaism and is no longer interpreted as such beginning with Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1041\u20131105 AD). But when the Talmud speaks of Zechariah 4.14 (\u201cThese are the two sons of richness who stand beside the Lord of all the earth\u201d), it refers to this Psalm saying, <\/span>These are Aaron and the Messiah, and I do not know which one to prefer. When it is written: \u201cThe Lord swore and will not repent, \u2018You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek\u2019\u201d (Psalm 109, 3\u20134), we know that this refers to King Messiah rather than to the priest of justice<\/span><\/i> (Babylonian Talmud, <\/span>Avoth<\/span><\/i>, 34, Rabbi Nathan, 2nd century AD).<\/span><\/p>

It is a psalm that tells us a lot about the Messiah: \u201cSit at My right hand,\u201d \u201cI have begotten You from the womb before the morning star,\u201d \u201cYou are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.\u201d It is clear that the Messiah was not to be a mere man. This is also reflected by the Savior when He asks the Pharisees:<\/span><\/p>

What do you think about Christ [the Messiah]? Whose Son is He? They said to him, \u201cThe Son of David.\u201d And He said to them, \u201cHow then does David in the spirit call him \u2018Lord,\u2019 saying, \u2018The LORD said to my Lord; Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies your footstool?\u2019 If David then calls him \u2018Lord,\u2019 how is He his son?\u201d And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore (Matthew 22, 41\u201346).<\/span><\/p>

Psalm 21<\/b><\/p>

Among the psalms of the passions, Psalm 21 is the one that testifies to these, par excellence. The first verse \u201cGod, my God, hear me; why have You forsaken me?\u201d represents the very words spoken by the Savior on the cross before He gave His Spirit. Or: \u201cAll who see me mock me; they speak with their lips and shake their head, saying, \u2018He hoped in the Lord, let Him rescue him; let Him save him since He delights in him\u201d (8\u20139), also accentuated by the Gospel of Matthew (27.39\u201343): \u201cAnd those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads. (\u2026) He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, \u2018I am the Son of God.\u2019\u201d We see how from these psalms a portrait of the Messiah is drawn, both of glory (superhuman) and of self-emptying, of suffering. These two, glory and passion, appear together in almost all the prophetic writings concerning the Messiah who was to come and were fulfilled in the person of the Savior Christ.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second spiritual evening within the program Exploring Your Faith! took place on December 17, 2020, online, on the YouTube channel of the monastery. The theme of the evening, \u201cThese are the words which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me\u201d (Luke 24.44) had as its central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-xii-2020","tag-exploring-your-faith","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1431,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/1431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}