Two public services were held each day, the first, at sunrise, consisted in the offering of a sacrificial ram with the accompaniment of prayer and song. The same rites were repeated at sunset. After the morning sacrifice the private offerings were presented. On the sabbaths, new moons, and great festivals, the number of sacrifices was greatly increased and the ritual made more elaborate. Upon the Jews, instructed in the synagogue in the details of the law and taught to regard the temple and its services with deepest reverence, the elaborate ceremonies of this great and magnificent sanctuary must have made a profound impression. As the people streamed up to Jerusalem by thousands at the great feasts, their attention was fixed more and more upon the ritual and the truths which it symbolized. Herod's temple also strengthened the authority of the Jewish hierarchy with the people, and gave the scribes and Pharisees the commanding position which they later occupied in the life and thought of Judaism.
Section CXX. THE MESSIANIC HOPES AND THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF JUDAISM
[Sidenote: Sibyl. Oracles, III 767-784] Then a kingdom over all mankind for all times shall God raise up, who once gave the holy law to the pious, for whom he pledged to open every land, the world and the portals of the blessed, and all joys, and an eternal, immortal spirit and a joyous heart. And out of every land they shall bring frankincense and gifts to the house of the great God. And to men there shall be no other house where men may learn of the world to be than that which God hath given for faithful men to honor; for mortals shall call it the temple of the mighty God. And all pathways of the plain and rough hills and high mountains and wild waves of the deep shall be easy in those days for crossing and sailing; for perfect peace for the good shall come on earth. And the prophets of the mighty God shall remove the sword; for they are the rulers of mortals and the righteous kings. And there shall be righteous wealth among mankind; for this is the judgment and rule of the mighty God.
[Sidenote: Ps. Sol. 7:23-35a] Behold, O Lord, and raise up to them their king, the son of David, in the time which thou, O God, knowest, that he may reign over Israel thy servant; and gird him with strength that he may break in pieces those who rule unjustly. Purge Jerusalem with wisdom and with righteousness, from the heathen who trample her down to destroy her. He shall thrust out the sinners from the inheritance, utterly destroy the proud spirit of the sinners, and as potters' vessels he shall break in pieces with a rod of iron all their substance. He shall destroy the ungodly nations with the word of his mouth, so that at his rebuke the nations will flee before him, and he shall convict the sinners in the thoughts of their hearts. And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness; and shall judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord his God. And he shall not suffer iniquity to lodge in their midst; and none that knoweth wickedness shall dwell with them. For he shall take knowledge of them, that they are all the sons of their God, and shall divide them upon earth according to their tribes, and the sojourner and the stranger shall dwell with them no more. He shall judge the nations and the peoples with the wisdom of his righteousness. And he shall possess the nations of the heathen to serve him beneath his yoke; and he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen by the whole earth; and he shall purge Jerusalem and make it holy, even as it was in the days of old.
[Sidenote: Ps. Sol. 7:35b-46] And a righteous king and taught of God is he who reigneth over them; and there shall be no iniquity in his days in their midst, for all shall be holy and their king is the Lord Messiah. For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and bow, nor shall he multiply unto himself gold and silver for war, nor by ships shall he gather confidence for the day of battle. The Lord himself is his King, and the hope of him who is strong in the hope of God. And he shall have mercy upon all the nations that come before him in fear. For he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth, even for evermore. He shall bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness. He himself also is pure from sin, so that he may rule a mighty people, and rebuke princes and overthrow sinners by the might of his word. And he shall not faint all his days, because he leaneth upon his God; for God shall cause him to be mighty through the spirit of holiness, and wise through the counsel of understanding, with might and righteousness. And the blessing of the Lord is with him in might, and his hope in the Lord shall not faint. And who can stand up against him; he is mighty in his works and strong in the fear of God, tending the flock of the Lord with faith and righteousness. And he shall allow none of them to faint in their pasture. In holiness shall he lead them all, and there shall be no pride among them that any should be oppressed.
[Sidenote: Enoch 46:1-3] And there I saw One who had a head of days, and his head was white like wool, and with him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of Days? And he answered and said to me, "This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, with whom dwelleth righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, and his lot before the Lord of Spirits hath surpassed everything in uprightness for ever."
[Sidenote: Enoch 48:3-6] Before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, his name was named before the Lord of Spirits. He will be a staff to the righteous on which they will support themselves and not fall, and he will be the light of the Gentiles, and the hope of those whose hearts are troubled. All who dwell on earth will fall down and bow the knee before him and will bless and laud and magnify with song the Lord of Spirits. And for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before him before the creation of the world and for evermore.
[Sidenote: Enoch 49:27-29] And he sat on the throne of his glory, and the sum of judgment was committed to him, and the Son of Man caused the sinners and those who have led the world astray to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth. With chains they shall be bound, and in their assembling-place of destruction shall they be imprisoned, and all their works will vanish from the face of the earth. And henceforth there will be nothing that is corruptible; for the Son of Man hath appeared and sitteth on the throne of his glory, and all evil will pass away before his face and depart; but the word of the Son of Man will be strong before the Lord of Spirits.
[Sidenote: Enoch 51:1, 2] And in those days will the earth also give back those who are treasured up within it, and Sheol also will give back that which it has received, and hell will give back that which it owes. And he will choose the righteous and holy from among them; for the day of their redemption is at hand.
I. The Growth of Israel's Messianic Hopes. Eternal hopefulness is a marked characteristic of the Hebrew race. Throughout most of their history the greater the calamities that overtook them the greater was their assurance that these were but the prelude to a glorious vindication and deliverance. This hopefulness was not merely the result of their natural optimism, but of the belief, formed by their experiences in many a national crisis, that a God of justice was overruling the events of history, and that he was working not for man's destruction but for his highest happiness and well-being. It was their insight into the divine purpose that led the Hebrew prophets to break away from the popular traditions that projected backward to the beginnings of history the realization of man's fondest hopes. Instead they proclaimed that the golden era lay in the future rather than the past. The hopes of Israel's prophets regarding that future took many different forms. Often the form was determined by the earlier experiences of the nation. At many periods the people looked for a revival of the glories of the days of David. In later days, when they were oppressed by cruel persecutions, they revived in modified form the dreams that had been current in the childhood of the Semitic race, and thought of a supernatural kingdom that was to be inaugurated after Jehovah and his attendant angels, like Marduk in the old Babylonian tradition of the creation, had overcome Satan and the fallen angels. Israel's messianic hopes were also shaped and broadened by the teachings of the great ethical prophets. A growing realization of the imperfections of the existing order led them to look ever more expectantly to the time when the prophetic ideals of justice and mercy would be realized in society, as well as in the character of the individual. These different expectations regarding the future are broadly designated as messianic prophecies. The word "messianic," like its counterpart "Messiah" (Greek, "Christ"), comes from the Hebrew word meaning to smear or to anoint. It designated in ancient times the weapons consecrated for battle or the king chosen and thus symbolically set aside to lead the people as Jehovah's representative, or a priest called to represent the people in the ceremonial worship. The common underlying idea in the word is that of consecration to a divine purpose. In its narrower application it describes simply the agent who is to realize God's purpose in history, but in its broader and prevailing usage it designates all prophecies that described the ideal which Jehovah is seeking to perfect in the life of Israel and of humanity, and the agents or agencies, whether individual or national, material or spiritual, natural or supernatural, by which he is to realize that ideal.