113. in Ps. xi.
114. in Ps. xvii.
115. xviii.
116. xvii. 5.
117. v. 23.
118.
v. 35.
119. v. 36.
120. v. 41.
121. vv. 42, 43.
122. v. 47.
123. vv. 25-35.
If we now turn to works dating after the Christian era, we would naturally expect them,
either simply to reproduce earlier opinions, or, from opposition to Christ, to present the
Messiah in a less exalted manner.124 But since, strange to say, they even more strongly
assert the high dignity of the Messiah, we are warranted in regarding this as the rooted
belief of the Synagogue.125 This estimate of the Messiah may be gathered from IV
Esdras,126 127 with which the kindred picture of the Messiah and His reign in the
Apocalypse of Baruch128 may be compared. But even in strictly Rabbinic documents, the
premundane, if not the eternal existence of the Messiah appears as matter of common
belief. Such is the view expressed in the Targum on Is. ix. 6, and in that on Micah v. 2.
But the Midrash on Prov. viii. 9129 expressly mentions the Messiah among the seven
things created before the world.130 The passage is the more important, as it throws light
on quite a series of others, in which the Name of the Messiah is said to have been created
befo re the world.131 132 133 134 Even if this were an ideal conception, it would prove the
Messiah to be elevated above the ordinary conditions of humanity. But it means much
more than this, since not only the existence of the Messiah long before His actual
appearance, but His premundane state are clearly taught in other places. In the Talmud135
it is not only implied, that the Messiah may already be among the living, but a strange
story is related, according to which He had actually been born in the royal palace at
Bethlehem, bore the name Menachem (Comforter), was discovered by one R. Judan
through a peculiar device, but had been carried away by a storm. Similarly, the Babylon
Talmud represents Him as sitting at the gate of Imperial Rome.136 In general, the idea of
the Messiah's appearance and concealment is familiar to Jewish tradition. 137 138 But the
Rabbis go much farther back, and declare that from the time of Judah's marriage,139 'God
busied Himself with creating the light of the Messiah,' it being significantly added that,
'before the first oppressor [Pharaoh] was born, the final deliverer [Messiah, the son of
David] was already born.'140 In another passage the Messiah is expressly identified with
Anani,141 142 and therefore represented as pre-existent long before his actual
manifestation. 143 The same inference may be drawn from His emphatic designation as the
First.144 Lastly, in Yalkut on Is. lx., the words 'In Thy light shall we see light' (Ps. xxxvi.
9) are explained as meaning, that this is the light o f the Messiah, - the same which God
had at the first pronounced to be very good, and which, before the world was created, He
had hid beneath the throne of His glory for the Messiah and His age. When Satan asked
for whom it was reserved, he was told that it was destined for Him Who would put him to
shame, and destroy him. And when, at his request, he was shown the Messiah, he fell on
his face and owned, that the Messiah would in the future cast him and the Gentiles into
Gehenna145 Whatever else may be inferred from it, this passage clearly implies not only
the pre-existence, but the premundane existence of the Messiah. 146
124. In illustration of this tendency we may quote the following evidently polemical
saying, of R. Abbahu. 'If any man saith to thee, "I am God" he is a liar; "I am the Son of
Man," he will at last repent of it; "I go up to heaven," hath he said, and shall he not do it?'
[or, he hath said, and shall not make it good] (Jer. Taan. p. 65 b. line 7 from bottom). This
R. Abbahu (279-320 of our era ) seems to have largely engaged in controversy with