saiah's prophecy was fulfilled by the appearance of King
Hezekiah."(1221)

8. Throughout the Middle Ages, when the political or national hopes rose
high, we find various Messianic movements in both East and West revived by
religious aspirations. But Maimonides, the great rationalist, in his
commentary on the Mishnah and in his Code, formulated a Messianic belief
which was quite free from mystical and supernatural elements. His twelfth
article of faith declares that "the Jew, unless he wishes to forfeit his
claim to eternal life by denial of his faith, must, in acceptance of the
teachings of Moses and the prophets down to Malachi, believe that the
Messiah will issue forth from the house of David in the person of a
descendant of Solomon, the only legitimate king; and he shall far excel
all rulers in history by his reign, glorious in justice and peace. Neither
impatience nor deceptive calculation of the time of the advent of the
Messiah should shatter this belief. Still, notwithstanding the majesty and
wisdom of the Messiah, he must be regarded as a mortal being like any
other and only as the restorer of the Davidic dynasty. He will die and
leave a son as his successor, who will in his turn die and leave the
throne to his heir. Nor will there be any material change in the order of
things in the whole system of nature and human life; accordingly Isaiah's
picture of the living together of lamb and wolf cannot be taken literally,
nor any of the Haggadic sayings with reference to the Messianic time. We
are only to believe in the coming of Elijah as a messenger of peace and
the forerunner of the Messiah, and also in the great decisive battle with
the hosts of heathendom embodied in Gog and Magog, through whose defeat
the dominion of the Messiah will be permanently established." "The
Messianic kingdom itself," continues Maimonides with reference to the
utterance of Samuel quoted above, "is to bring the Jewish nation its
political independence, but not the subjection of all the heathen nations,
nor merely material prosperity and sensual pleasure, but an era of general
affluence and peace, enabling the Jewish people to devote their lives
without care or anxiety to the study of the Torah and universal wisdom, so
that by their teachings they may lead all mankind to the knowledge of God
and make them also share in the eternal bliss of the world to come."(1222)

9. Against this rationalized hope for the Messiah, which merges the
natio