626TH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING,

HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, S.W., ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST, 1921, AT 4.30 P.M.

WILLIAM HOSTE, ESQ., B.A., IN THE CHAIR.

The CHAIRMAN called on Lieut.-Colonel HOPE BIDDULPH, the acting Secretary, to read the Minutes of the previous meeting, which were confirmed and signed.

The election of Lieut.-Colonel A. H. D. Riach, R.E., as an Associate. was announced.

The CHAIRMAN then called on Lieut.-Colonel F. A. Molony, O.B.E., to read his paper on Prophecy."

66

PREDICTIONS AND EXPECTATION OF THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST. BY LIEUT.-COL. F. A. MOLONY, O.B.E., LATE R.E.

N the days of our fathers the pendulum of thought swung strongly towards the predictive element in prophecy. Now that element is minimized, and sometimes its existence is denied altogether. The question before us is, whether the second swing of the pendulum has not taken it too far, and whether we have not, in Messianic Prophecy at least, very real prediction duly fulfilled.

After being cut down some trees sprout again from the roots. It would seem that Isaiah had this fact in mind when he wrote (Chapter xi): "And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit." This was surely a prediction that, after the house of Jesse or David was cut down and apparently ruined, a movement should spring from it that should grow with amazing vitality because of the strength of the old root below it.

And Isaiah represented the movement as centring in a person, because he continued, "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him." It was on Scriptures like this that the Jews

based their expectation of a Messiah; the word, meaning anointed, is the same as the Greek word Christ.

I propose to show that the coming was predicted of a wise Teacher, a beneficent King, a perfect Example, an unanswerable Debater, a patient Sufferer, a Saviour from the power of sin, and a Shelter in certain of the ills of life. I propose to lay special stress upon the fact that, where it would be useful, a definite expectation was created and to argue that the predicted one duly came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The reason I lay special stress on the expectation of Messiah is this. Many learned men are telling us that the Prophets did not mean what we take them to mean. For instance, that when Isaiah wrote of the suffering servant of Jehovah he was personifying the loyal remnant of the Jewish nation. Now this really detracts very little from the evidential value of his Messianic prophecies, because the wonder of them lies in their being fulfilled, and not in their being recorded; but it has cast so much dust in the eyes of ordinary people that the whole subject appears to be tabooed in our churches, and the best way to meet the situation seems to me to show that the expectations of the Jews just before Christ came centred on a person, or at most three persons, a prophet and two messiahs, and so arguments that the predictions related to a nation are, to say the least, belated.

Permit me to give a simple illustration. Seven years ago Lord Roberts was advising us to increase our army because he foresaw that we should shortly be engaged in a serious war. People understood him to refer to Germany, and officers prepared defence schemes against an aggressor coming from the east. And it was from the east that the danger came. Now suppose a man to state that Lord Roberts referred to Brazil, and not to Germany. Should we not remark to each other that his view did not greatly interest us, and could at most only affect Lord Roberts' personal reputation for foresight; seeing that he was understood to refer to an eastern Power, men worked on that assumption, and thus the crisis was successfully met. Thus we see that the expectation created should usually be taken into account if we wish to assess the practical value of fulfilled predictions; though, as we shall see, some classes of prediction would thwart their own purpose if they created an expectation of too defined a character.

If prediction and subsequent events run on the same lines, it may still be reasonable to argue that the prediction is

misunderstood, and referred to something else. But (and this is the chief point of this paper) if we can prove that between the two there existed expectation, also on the same lines, it is evidently probable that this was due to the prediction, and the probability is increased that the prediction has not been misunderstood.

The rabbinic writings which authoritatively decide how the Jews did understand their Scriptures are the Targumim, the two Talmuds, the most ancient Midrashim and the Yalkut. And these are first-class witnesses, having been in the custody of those who are hostile to the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah. We are therefore sure that neither these, nor the prophetic Scriptures, have been altered so as to assist the proofs which follow.

We also have other witnesses. Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius confirm the fact that the Jews were expecting a Deliverer when Christ came; the two former expressly declaring that this was based on certain passages in the old Jewish Scriptures.

In the ninth appendix to his Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Edersheim gives a detailed list of 456 passages in the Old Testament applied to the Messiah or the Messianic times in the most ancient Jewish writings. So this was clearly a favourite topic with the Jews. There are many incidental references to the expectation of Messiah in the New Testament, and these fit in so exactly with what we have learnt above that it is impossible to suppose them to be forgeries. Moreover, nothing can be more dangerous for an author's reputation than to misrepresent what popular opinion was on any favourite topic within a century of his own time. Further, we have the following striking agreement between our witnesses of expectation. Deut. xviii, 15, in which the coming of the Prophet was particularly foretold. is not included in the 456 passages mentioned above; which means that the Jews did not regard it as Messianic; in agreement with which we note that the deputation to John the Baptist made a distinction between "the Christ" and the "Prophet." Thus we have every reason to believe that the incidental allusions to the Messianic hope in the Gospels are quite accurate, and they will therefore be quoted as additional proof on some points.

It is, of course, unquestioned that the whole Old Testament was written long before Christ came, and was already translated from Hebrew into Greek.

After

It was foretold that Messiah would be a wise Teacher. writing "the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him," Isaiah

G

continues (Chapter xi), “ the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Surely a good foundation for a teacher.

Isa. ix, 6: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor." Now a counsellor is a teacher of a high order, for whereas most men can be trained to teach one subject well, men only go for counsel to those on whose all-round judgment they can thoroughly rely.

Isa. lv, 3 and 4: "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples." A witness is, of course, a teacher of those matters to which he witnesses. David having been long dead when Isaiah wrote, the reference is naturally to his posterity; the Jews read practically all such passages as referring to Messiah.

Psa. xxii, 22: "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." The name, in Scripture, stands for the qualities, and as this psalm is accepted in the Yalkut as referring to the Messiah, it was a prophecy that He would declare the qualities of God to His brethren—that is, that He would be a teacher of theology.

Deut. xviii, 15: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren." The first office of a Prophet was, of course, to teach. We have seen that the rulers of the Jews did not regard this prophecy as Messianic, but apparently some of the common people did, for Philip said to Nathaniel (John i, 45), “ We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

The prophecies created a definite expectation that Messiah would be a wise teacher. On Ps. cxix, 33, the Midrash remarks that there were three who asked wisdom of God: David, Solomon, and the King Messiah.

On Cant. viii, 2, the Targum has it: "I will take Thee, O King Messiah, and make Thee go up into my temple, there Thou shalt teach me to tremble before the Lord, and to walk in His ways."

In the Midrash on Eccles. xi, 8, it is noted that, however many years a man might study, his learning would be empty before the teaching of Messiah.

The above and similar quotations are from Edersheim. There is no evidence that they are verbally pre-Christian, but a high probability that they reflect pre-Christian opinion.

The expectation that Messiah would be a wise Teacher can be illustrated from the New Testament. The woman of Samaria said to Jesus (John iv, 25), "I know that Messiah cometh (which is called Christ); when He is come, He will declare unto us all things." And when Simeon had the child Jesus in his arms, he said that He would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (quoting Isa. xlii, 6).

These sayings show that it was expected that Messiah would be a teacher of Samaritans and Gentiles, as well as Jews.

It is universally admitted that Jesus of Nazareth was a very wise Teacher. The Sermon on the Mount is generally regarded as a masterpiece of teaching. What profound wisdom there was in Jesus' teaching that true greatness lies in rendering great services to the community! What practical wisdom in what He said about the settlement of personal quarrels ! Consider the beauty of the parables! that of the Good Samaritan alone would entitle Jesus to be looked upon as a wise Teacher.

Confucius was a wise teacher. If the Chinese were able to prove that the coming of Confucius as a teacher had been foretold and expected, would they not argue from this that he had been sent to them from heaven? But these are the actual facts with regard to Jesus of Nazareth: so we have here a proof that certain of the prophecies were inspired by superhuman wisdom.

It was foretold that Messiah would be a King of most beneficent character. Jer. xxiii, 5: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute judgment and justice in the land." Isa. xvi, 5, is even more relevant : And a throne shall be established in mercy, and One shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of David; judging and seeking judgment, and swift to do righteousness."

66

Ezekiel, however, preferred to present the coming Messiah as a Shepherd, and wrote (xxxiv, 23): " And I will set one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even my servant David." The Jews' conception of a shepherd was, of course, one who protects as well as feeds his flock. The great war has reminded us that both these are most important functions of government, and the only idea of government in the time of the Prophets was kingship.

Other interesting prophecies of Messiah as King are Gen. xlix, 10; Hos. iii, 5; Jer. xxx, 9; Amos ix, 11.