"God's anointed").
From a simple title for any of the kings of Israel, it grew in meaning
until it comprised the highest hopes of the nation. The Jewish vision of
the future was not the twilight of the gods, which meant the end of the
world with its deities, but the dawn of a new world, bright with the
knowledge of God and blessed by the brotherhood of man. This, the
Messianic ideal, is the creation of the prophetic genius of Israel, and in
turn it influenced man's conception of God, lifting Him out of the
national bounds, and making Him the God of humanity, Ruler of history.
Israel's Messianic hope has become the motive power of civilization. In
the time of deepest national humiliation it gave the prophets their power
to surmount the present and soar to heights of vision; through it the
Jewish people attained their strength to resist oppression, buoyed up by
perfect confidence and sublime hope. At the same time its magic luster
captivated the non-Jewish nations, spurring them on to mighty deeds. Thus
it has actually conquered the whole world of man. With every step in
culture it points forward to higher aims, still unattained; it promises to
lead mankind, united in God, the Only One, to truth and justice,
righteousness and love. As the banner of Israel, the Messiah of the
nations, it is destined to become the lode-star of all nations and all
religions. This is the kernel of the Jewish doctrine concerning the
Messiah.

2. This Messianic hope, on closer analysis, reveals two elements, both of
prophetic origin: one national, the other religious and universal. The
latter is the logical outcome of the monotheism of the great exilic seer,
who based his stirring pictures of the glorious future of Israel upon the
all-encompassing knowledge of God possessed by the Chosen People. The
classic expression of this hope appears in Isaiah II, 1-4, and Micah IV,
1-14: "And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of
the Lord's house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And
many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His
ways, and we will walk in His paths,' for out of Zion shall go forth the
law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between
the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat thei