The Midrash of the Messiah

Table of Content......Page 5
PREFACE......Page 13
I INTRODUCTION......Page 19
II,1 The concept of Midrash and its relation to Pesher and Targum......Page 23
II,2 Midrash Ruth and its position in Midrashic literature......Page 30
II,2,1 The early Midrashim......Page 31
II,2,2 The middle Midrashic period......Page 33
II,2,3 The later Midrashic period......Page 34
II,3 The literary methods of Midrash......Page 35
II,3,1 Common Rabbinic regulations......Page 36
II,3,2 The special characteristics of Midrash......Page 39
II,4,1 The characterization of Greek wisdom and biblical thought by Thorleif Boman and Shalom Ben-Chorin......Page 41
II,4,2 The topical method  	           as expounded by Aristotle, Giovanni Battista Vico and Jacob Neusner......Page 43
II,4,3 The present dilemma in Midrashic studies......Page 48
II,4,4 Our methodological approach to Midrash Ruth......Page 51
III,1 The various manuscripts and their literary evaluation......Page 56
III,2,1 The content and the division of Midrash Ruth.......Page 58
III,2,2 The Book of Ruth and the Targum.......Page 60
III,2,3 Ruth Rabbah compared with other Midrash Rabbah collections......Page 61
III,2,4 The moral conduct of the people of Israel in the dispersion......Page 67
III,2,5 The national disappointment expressed in Midrash Ruth and its equivalents in Jewish sources......Page 69
III,2,6 The national disappointment in the light of the Siddur......Page 72
III,2,7 The psychological and symbolic message of Ruth Rabbah......Page 74
III,2,8 The \"hot potato\": Elisha Ben Abuyah......Page 76
III,2,9 The six parables of the King and their equivalents in the New Testament......Page 79
III,2,10 The total lack of halakhic purification rules in Ruth Rabbah......Page 82
IV THE TRANSLATION OF THE MESSIAH-PARASHIYOTH IN MIDRASH RUTH V,6, VII,2 AND VIII,1......Page 83
Midrash Rabbah - Ruth V:6......Page 84
Midrash Rabbah - Ruth VII:2......Page 90
Midrash Rabbah - Ruth VIII:1......Page 92
V,1 The numerical pattern \"six\",......Page 95
V,1,1 Seth and other Messianic allusions in the Book of Genesis......Page 96
V,1,2 The logic of the numeral six......Page 98
V,2 \"Come here\" \"near to the kingdom\",......Page 101
V,3 \"The bread of the kingdom\",......Page 103
V,4,1 The place of \"vinegar and sufferings\" as a whole......Page 104
V,4,2 The message of the true vine......Page 106
V,5 Does Isaiah 53 speak of the personality of the Messiah?......Page 109
V,5,1 Isaiah 53 in the Talmud......Page 115
V,5,2 Isaiah 53 in the Zohar tradition related to Midrash......Page 117
V,5,3 Isaiah 53 in Jewish prayer literature......Page 121
V,5.4 Reflections on Isaiah 53 in the Middle Ages......Page 122
V,6,1 A conceptual analysis of \"eating to the days of the Messiah\"......Page 125
V,6,2 The tradition of Elijah and the Messianic age......Page 126
V,6,3 The fate of the Torah in the Messianic age......Page 130
V,6,4 The interplay between.........Page 132
V,7 The first and the last Redeemer......Page 133
V,7,1 The Rabbinic exposition of these concepts......Page 134
V,8,1 The potential denial of the Messiah for a time......Page 136
V,8,2 The potential second advent of the Messiah......Page 139
V,8,3 The \"kingdom\', one of the favorite concepts of Midrash Ruth......Page 142
V,8,4 The heavenly \"seat\" in the light of Psalms 2 and 110......Page 143
V,8,5 The vision of the kingdom in the Siddur......Page 148
V,9 The \"blessing in the stomach\" of Ruth,......Page 150
V,10 Recording of good deeds,......Page 155
V,10,1 Good deeds in the Jewish and Christian context......Page 156
V,10,2 Elijah the celestial scribe......Page 158
V,10,3 Elijah and the Messiah in the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur......Page 161
V,10,4 Penuel, the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of the Covenant, the Prince of the Countenance and the Lord of the Covenant......Page 163
V,10,5 The Messiah as the Prince of the Countenance and the Metatron in the Siddur......Page 164
V,10,6 The heavenly scribe in the light of Talmudic literature......Page 165
V,10,7 Why does Midrash Ruth deal with the disputation concerning the heavenly scribe?......Page 168
VII,1 A concealed solution to the Messianic mystery......Page 171
VII,2 The secret of the \"closed Mem\",......Page 172
VII,3 The Song of Songs as a key-text for Messianic interpretation......Page 174
1 The tainted descent ... of Ruth and the evil inclination ... in Jewish and Christian  literature......Page 177
1,1 The problem of free will and original sin......Page 178
1,2 Some extracts concerning free will in Midrash Ruth and the New Testament......Page 180
1,3 The evil inclination in the writings of Qumran......Page 182
1,4 The evil inclination in the light of the Siddur......Page 183
2 Discussion concerning Perez,......Page 184
3 The \"ladders of princes and kings\"......Page 187
4 The genealogical tree of the Messiah linked with the New Testament......Page 190
VI THE SAGES BEHIND THE MESSIANIC PARASHIYOTH IN MIDRASH RUTH......Page 194
VI,1 The Sages in the \"Messiah-Parashiyoth\"......Page 195
VI,2 The tradition of Midrash Ruth visualized in schemes......Page 201
1. The bridge to the relevant literature......Page 205
1.1 Preliminary results of our intertextual approach......Page 206
2,1 The common characterization of the Qumran Scrolls in this context......Page 209
2,2 The Messianic meal at Qumran and its special aspects......Page 214
3,1 The limits of our inspection......Page 217
3,2 The historical background of the Passover meal......Page 221
3,3 The message of the bread......Page 223
3,4 The message of the wine......Page 228
3,5 The eternal perspective in the Holy Communion......Page 231
3,6 \"The blessing of the song\"...and the \"hallel\"......Page 232
4,1 The Didache as a bridge between Jewish and Christian thinking......Page 237
4,2 The Didache as source material for the Holy Communion......Page 238
5,1 The third meal and its specifications in the Zohar......Page 242
5,2 The third meal in the tradition of the Talmud......Page 244
5,3 The third meal reflected in the New Testament......Page 247
6. The Messianic meal in the light of Jewish prayer literature......Page 249
6,1 The banquet of King David in the Siddur......Page 250
VIII,1 Conclusions concerning the method and content of our study......Page 255
1. The enigma of Isaiah 53 in its Jewish frame of reference......Page 260
2. The Messianic age and the Torah......Page 262
4. The enigma of the birth of the Messiah......Page 264
5. Elijah and Metatron......Page 265
6. The secret of \"the closed Mem\" in Isaiah 9:6......Page 267
7. Good deeds and free will......Page 268
8. The genealogy of the Messiah......Page 270
VIII,3 New light on the Messianic meal......Page 272
1. The \"piece of bread\" projected in old sources......Page 273
2. The wine and its interpretations......Page 274
4. Other similar Messianic banquets in the old tradition......Page 275
5. The special message of the so called \"third meal\"......Page 277
6. The holy banquet in Didache......Page 279
7. The third meal in the book of Siddur......Page 280
VIII,4. \"What then shall we say\",......Page 283
VIII,5. The scheme of the content and the roots of our study......Page 285
APPENDIX......Page 289
INDICES......Page 302
LITERATURE CONSULTED......Page 309