The concept of Messiah was widely used among Judaism to refer to different people whose tasks are liberating people. Due to the confusion that existed on the term Messiah and the person’s perceived duties in society, many people could claim that they were Messiah. The Hebrew Bible regarded the term Messiah as a person anointed by God ( Shahar, 2018). The anointed one was the liberator of people from sin. He was also the person who would and show people the right path of righteousness. From the Jewish perception, there are two comings of the Messiah. In each of the two comings, the Messiah comes purposely to deliver people from the sin ( Swidler, 2016). The first prediction on the coming of a Messiah is in many Books in the Hebrew’s Bible where the Messiah was to come to liberate people from sin. The second coming of the Messiah is particularly in the New Testament, which shows that He will come again at the end of the world.
The concept and the roles of the Messiah were confusing during this time. As a result, different people took advantage of this to claim that they were Messiah. Among the claimants was Jesus of Nazareth, who was the most influential claimant ( Shahar, 2018). Another person is Bar Kochba who held a revolt against Rome and gained influence and would later be known as Messiah. Moses of Crete is another claimant and Khuzestan who was the Messiah that led the Jews to destroy numerous Christian churches in Iraq and coastal Iran ( Walls, 2017). The list is long, but the mentioned messiahs are some of the most famous during their time. In the Gospel, Messiah is Jesus of Nazareth. People perceive Him as the son of God that died to liberate people from their sin.
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References
Shahar, M. B., (2018). ''Anointed ' and ''Messiah': A New Investigation into an Old Problem. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament , 42 (4), 393-413.
Swidler, L., (2016). Focus on Jewish-Christian-Muslim Commonalities. Journal of Ecumenical Studies , 51 (2), 157-164.
Walls, A. (2017). Christianity. A New Handbook of Living Religions , 55-161.
