Simple question: why is the word “Anointed One” translated as “Messiah” in the “OT”, and as “Christ” in the “NT”. Isn’t English a singular language?
Simple answer: Translators were caught up in the “de-Judaising” of the faith.
In Psalm 2, King David writes:
1Why do the nations rage? And the peoples plot in vain? 2The kings of the earth revolt, and the rulers take counsel together, against יהוה , and against His Messiah!
The King James and others read very similarly:
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD, and against his anointed”.
King James’ translators did well translating “Mashi’akh”/Messiah as ‘anointed’, but it probably would have been better as “Anointed One”, since it really is speaking of a person. The last verse of the psalm tells us this Messiah is “The Son”.
But, when we see these verses quoted in the book of Acts, where most versions, including King James’, were translated from the greek, we see this:
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ”.
Now obviously, if we were reading in the greek, the text would not have lost its integrity as much, as “Χριστοῦ”/”Christou” in greek does mean “anointed one”. But, the English did not give us a translation, only a transliteration.
Notice also that instead of like the KJV “OT”, the KJV “NT” renders “Κυρίου”/”kuriou” as “Lord” and not “LORD”. In Psalm 2, it is “against יהוה and against His Messiah.” The translators replaced the Sacred Name of God with LORD there, but in the NT, the translators left kuriou as Lord.
These distinctions are subtle. Are they intentional? Probably not on the part of the original King James translators as individuals, as they were working on the behest of a protestant king, and bound to his desires. They were inculcated in a culture that was, up to just one generation before, Catholic. Their ‘protest’ was against the papacy, papal authority, and indulgences. They were scholars of the Hebrew language, having consulted Jewish Hebrew scholars, but they were completely ignorant of Jewish first century culture, and oblivious to first century Jewish worship and practice, other than what they learned from scant few books. Their goal was both linguistic and doctrinal, and they were part of a very anti-Semitic culture themselves.
King James, and most English renderings since, have inserted words to support doctrine. They know that “Messiah” was the term in English. Handel wrote his “Messiah” oratorio nearly 130 years after the first publication of King James’ Bible; he used the King James translation for the wording, but, he ALSO used the “Coverdale” Bible; this Bible was the very FIRST COMPLETE English Bible in ‘modern’ English, but it also calls him “Christ” in Acts 2! But, both translations recognize the term “Mashi’akh” in Daniel 9:25-26 as “anointed one” and translate it there, “Messiah”. Hence, the very well-known celebration of Messiah in English music was called “Messiah”, and Hallelu Yah for that! [Hallelu Yah” is “Praise Yah” in the plural imperative].
The point is, the English speaking world has dressed the Messiah in Greek clothing, Greek language, and Greek culture. The Western Hemisphere was built on Greco Roman thought and architecture, with a Hebrew twist in the religion. So, people today are married to the English word “Christ”, and most of them do not even know what it means.
David was promised that his son would be the heir of his throne eternally. David was promised that the Messiah would come out of his loins. God was so thorough in showing us that Yeshua is descended from David in the book of Luke, going all the way back through David, to Abraham, and even to Adam, from His mother Miryam’s father, where we are given His full surname: בֶן יוֹסֵף בֶּן הֵלִי , Ben Yosef Ben Heli. “Son of Joseph Son of Heli”. Through this man, Yeshua is seen as a son of David 28 generations before. Not only so, but we are also shown in Matthew that Yeshua’s earthly, adoptive father was thoroughly a son of David. This makes Yeshua both legally and genetically a Jew. He will inherit the throne of David on both accounts.
But the world understands Him to be something other than Jewish. And many seem to despise His Jewishness, and they still have him shrouded in Greco-Roman clothing and culture. Worse, today some make Him into a surfer-dude, rock n roll “Jesus”.
But, so much did Greco-Roman thought permeate the English mind in 1611 that they did the same thing with His given name: Yeshua. Rather than just translate it, they changed it; they made it utterly Greek, and not English at all, to preserve the Greek mystique of “the christ”. “Jesus”.
Both the Coverdale and the KJV originally called Him “Iesu”, but the KJV was altered in 1711, adding the “J” in the front and the “s” in the back. Whereas, both bibles called the ancient “Yehoshua” [Yeshua is the short-form and Aramaic of Yehoshua] as “Joshua”. So, if we are being honest about bringing Yeshua’s name into English, it should be “Joshua”. So, why “Jesus”?
Same reason as “Christ”, I’m certain: they needed to preserve the Greco Roman mystique.
All of this is not surprising, as our Jewish people treated Yeshua much the same way as their fathers treated Joseph, who bore the name of Yeshua’s adoptive father. And the world has treated him much the same was as Egypt did Joseph, taking advantage of Him and His ability to bless.
Joseph was ‘murdered’ by his brothers, as far as their father was concerned. But, they took him out of the pit and sold him to Ishmael, who took him to Egypt, the predecessor to the Greco-Roman empires. The Egyptians dressed Joseph in Egyptian garb, gave him an Egyptian name, an Egyptian title, an Egyptian family, and an Egyptian tongue. But, Joseph knew who he was! And when his brothers came to him, he situated them such that they would understand their betrayal first, and then he revealed himself to them. He began to speak to them in Hebrew, he took off his Egyptian headdress, and probably makeup [as royal Egyptian men also wore makeup], and told them he was their brother, assuring them that while they had betrayed him and done the worst, it was for the purpose of saving people.
And yes, that is why God allowed His Son to be clothed in Greco-Roman garb and language, even after His Word was rendered into a language that would soon be the most spoken language in the world, to save all the people of the earth. But, there came a time, right in the middle of “tribulation”, where it was time to take off the garb and change back to the holy language.
But, I want you to consider this: Joseph’s bride, his family, did not go through that! They knew who he was [his wife certainly did], and they were safe and had provision aplenty.
Yeshua’s Bride knows that He is Jewish! They know that “Messiah” is not just a cool word that means their religion is superior, but that The Son of God that King David predicted has indeed been Anointed to be the Savior of all mankind, and the King of a Kingdom that is built on the Word of God alone.
Tonight, we celebrate the Passover, the event that is predicted in Daniel 9: “Messiah the Prince” will be “cut off”. Just like Psalms 16 and 22 predict.
In the Passover Seder, we see the Jewish Messiah in great detail, whereas in most “communion” ceremonies that try to achieve the same thing fall far short in showing the complete ministry of Messiah.
I truly wish that everyone I love would have come to experience the ‘revelation’ of the Son of God, the Jewish Messiah and Savior of all mankind.