ratives. The question of how far Jesus
himself was influenced by it is one of the most vital and difficult
problems of early Christian history.

IV. The Ethical and Universalistic Type of Messianic Prophecy.
Far removed from the kingly, messianic hopes of the people and the
supernatural visions of the apocalypses were the plain, direct, practical
ideals of Israel's great ethical prophets. Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and
Jeremiah all united in declaring that the realization of Jehovah's purpose
in history depended primarily upon the response of his people. They
regarded the kingdom of God as a natural growth. It represented the
gradual transformation of the characters of men under the influence
of God's truth and spirit working in their minds. They hoped and labored
to see the nation Israel living in full accord with the demands of
justice, mercy, and service. The II Isaiah, under the influences which
grew out of the destruction of the temple and the closer contact with the
heathen world, voiced this type of messianic hope in its broadest and
most spiritualized form. He declared that the Israelites had been called
and trained for a unique service and that that service was to be performed
by them quietly and unostentatiously, as prophets and teachers of men. He
also presented most clearly Israel's missionary ideal, and showed that its
task was not to destroy but to bring light to the Gentile world. He and
the more enlightened prophets who followed him saw an ever-widening
kingdom established without the aid of the sword and freed from all racial
barriers--the eternal, universal, spiritual kingdom of God on earth. It is
evident that in contrast to the other types of messianic prophecy this
form was comprehensible, practicable, and alone capable of realization.

V. The Messianic Hopes of Judaism at the Beginning of the Christian Era.
Unfortunately, as a result of the varied experiences through which Judaism
passed in the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era, its
ethical and universal messianic hopes were largely eclipsed. The ideal of
the suffering servant appears to have been almost forgotten. As the later
Jews read the earlier scriptures of their race in order to determine what
the future held in store for them, they fixed their eyes upon the
kingly and apocalyptic prophecies. Regarding all scriptures as equally
authoritative, they attempted the impossible task of blending these
fundamentally different types of prop