Is God the Messiah?

Even though the idea of a Messiah probably did not occur to the prophets, the foremost purpose of this book is to establish why such a character exists in the biblical narrative. Ultimately, the question, "whose son is he?" will be resolved. Because, if David thus calls the Messiah Lord, how can the Messiah be David's son? To definitively answer both questions, this book illustrates how the entire biblical narrative keeps a coherent theme. The divine covenants build in succession in...
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Even though the idea of a Messiah probably did not occur to the prophets, the foremost purpose of this book is to establish why such a character exists in the biblical narrative. Ultimately, the question, "whose son is he?" will be resolved. Because, if David thus calls the Messiah Lord, how can the Messiah be David's son? To definitively answer both questions, this book illustrates how the entire biblical narrative keeps a coherent theme. The divine covenants build in succession in a manner that appears to require a Messiah from outside the human context to resolve them.

The opening portion of this book presents new arguments that undo conventional opinions that do not recognize the thread which runs through the Abram covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the Davidic covenant.

Tradition sees those covenantal promises as unconditional guarantees or as unbreakable promises. However, it will be illustrated here why each covenant has caveats that caused the land Promise to be readdressed several times. Since a sworn oath was broken repeatedly, a new covenant became necessary. Establishing that concept creates a context in which to shift the focus away from geography (the land of Canaan), so that more attention can be paid to theology (re-imagining the parameters for Messiahship).

Apparently, the author of the Gospel of Matthew asserted that Jesus, a person who met his Messianic expectations, was in the patriarchal lineage of David and was conceived by the Holy Spirit, at the same time. It seems that the author did this because he was trying to appeal to a Jewish audience. However, a virgin birth, along with a lineage that includes four women, would totally exclude a person from that scenario from being "The Messiah," according to Jewish tradition, because he would have no patriarchal blood ties to the line of David. So, even though it seems that the lineage according to Matthew appears to hurt, not helped, Jesus' case for satisfying the traditional requirement for being "The Messiah" (being in the patriarchal lineage of David), it could be that a person came from David's body (loins) without being in his patriarchal lineage (see 2 Sam. 7:16). Therefore, it will be argued how Matthew's lineage, which includes four women, has validity.

Since each Synoptic Gospel author asserted that Jesus rhetorically denied that "The Messiah" was the Son of David, this book presents an original argument that re-imagines the parameters of Messiahship. First, it is pointed out that the idea of a "messiah" probably did not occur to the prophets. Then, it will be illustrated why it is difficult to discern, or maybe even impossible to tell, if a Davidic "Messiah" can materialize. Herein, it is illustrated why the authors of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah were not asserting that any "messianic" figure in their narratives was from the patriarchal lineage of David. An original argument illustrates that there is a Messiah, i.e., a person anointed with oil who holds a high office, in the biblical storyline that is not in the Davidic line; instead, he appears to be fully Divine. All of this is done in a way that does not violate the Law of Moses.

Hence, the entire purpose of this book is to answer theological questions, not raise them.