for
the dawning of a day when God alone would rule in absolute sovereignty
over the entire world. Now, in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, with its
frequently changing dynasties, the old patriarchal conception was
dominant, while in the kingdom of Judah, which remained loyal to the house
of David, the monarchical idea developed. Isaiah, living in Jerusalem and
favorably disposed towards the monarchy, prophesied that a shoot from the
house of David, endowed with marvelous spiritual powers, should come
forth, occupying the throne in the place of God, and through his victories
would plant righteousness and the knowledge of God everywhere upon earth,
and establish throughout the world a wonderful reign of peace.(1055) Upon
this royal "shoot" of David(1056) rested the Messianic hope during the
Exile, and amidst the disappointments of the time this vision became all
the more idealized. In contrast to this the great prophet of the Exile
announced the establishment of the absolute dominion of God as the true
"King of Israel"(1057) over all the earth by the nucleus of Israel, "the
servant of God," who would become conscious of his great historic mission
in the world and be willing to offer his very life in its cause. In all
this the prophet makes no reference to the royal house of David, but makes
bold to confer the title of the "anointed of God"--that is, Messiah--upon
Cyrus, the king of Persia, as the one who was to usher in the new
era.(1058) Subsequently these two divergent hopes for the future run
parallel in the Psalms and the liturgy as well as in the apocryphal and
rabbinic literature.

4. While the Messianic aspirations as such bore rather a political and
national character in Judaism (as will be explained in Chapter LIII), yet
the religious hope for a universal kingdom of God took root even more
deeply in the heart of the Jewish people. It created the conception of
Israel's mission and also the literature and activity of the Hellenistic
propaganda, and it gave a new impetus to the making of proselytes among
the heathen, to which both Christianity and Islam owe their existence. The
words of Isaiah, repeated later by Habakkuk, "The earth will be full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,"(1059) became now
an article of faith. While in earlier times the rule of Israel's God,
JHVH, was attached to Zion, from whose holy mount He ruled as invisible
King,(1060) later on we find Zechariah proclaiming Him who