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The Contours of the Messiah in Pesiqta Rabbati

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2013

Rivka Ulmer
Rivka Ulmer*
Affiliation:
Bucknell University
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Extract

Jewish messianic expectations have had multiple expressions. One such expression was Messiah Ephraim. The midrashic work Pesiqta Rabbati contains numerous messianic passages, as well as entire homilies, that focus mainly upon Messiah Ephraim. Ephraim, a son of Joseph, was adopted by Jacob (Gen 48:5). In Jewish texts other than Pesiq. Rab., the Ephraimite Messiah was consistently portrayed as a militant figure, a warrior. The objective of this article is to examine the messianic contours that apply both to Messiah Ephraim in Pesiq. Rab. and to Jesus in order to determine whether there are any Christian elements in the composition of certain passages in Pesiq. Rab.

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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 106 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 115 - 144
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Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2013 

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References

1 Pesiq. Rab. 1:7; 1:9; 1:10; 1:12; 1:15; 1:17; 1:19; 1:20; 11:22; 13:3; 15:20; 15:25; 15:35; 15:36; 15:39; 21:2; 32:11; 33:33; 33:37; 34:3; 34:5; 34:7; 34:8; 35:8; 36:2; 36:3; 36:5; 36:8; 36:9; 37:3; 37:4; 37:5; 37:6; 51:14; 51:26. All citations refer to Ulmer, Rivka, Pesiqta Rabbati: A Synoptic Edition of Pesiqta Rabbati Based upon All Extant Hebrew Manuscripts and the Editio Princeps, vol. 1 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997)Google Scholar; vol. 2 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999); vol. 3 and index (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2002; repr., 2009).

2 Pesiq. Rab. 34, 35, 36, 37.

3 Previous scholarship on the Messiah in Pesiq. Rab. includes: Bamberger, Bernard J., “A Messianic Document of the Seventh Century,” HUCA 15 (1940) 425–31Google Scholar; Fishbane, Michael A., “Midrash and Messianism: Some Theologies of Suffering and Salvation,” in Toward the Millennium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco (ed. Schäfer, Peter and Cohen, Mark R.; Leiden: Brill, 1998) 57–71Google Scholar; Goldberg, Arnold, Erlösung durch Leiden. Drei rabbinische Homilien über die Trauernden Zions und den leidenden Messias Efraim (Pesiqta Rabbati 34.36.37) (FJSt 4; Frankfurt am Main: Gesellschaft zur Förderung Judaistischer Studien, 1978)Google Scholar; idem, Ich komme und wohne in deiner Mitte. Eine rabbinische Homilie zu Sacharja 2,14 (Pesiqta Rabbati 35) (FJSt 3; Frankfurt am Main: Gesellschaft zur Förderung Judaistischer Studien, 1977); Mitchell, David G., “Messiah ben Joseph: A Sacrifice of Atonement for Israel,” Review of Rabbinic Judaism 10 (2007) 77–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 See Ulmer, Rivka, “Pesiqta Rabbati: A Text-Linguistic and Form-Analytical Analysis of the Rabbinic Homily.” Journal of Jewish Studies 64 (2013) 64–97, at 65–66, 81CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Zech 9:9, 12:9; Ps 2; Ps 22 are interpreted as referring to a messiah in both Christianity and rabbinic texts, whereas other passages are regarded by Christian interpreters alone as messianic (for example, Isa 52:13–53:12; Mic 5:5).

6 For example, see Matt 5:17.

7 Azariah dei Rossi (16th cent.) suggested the passages of the suffering Messiah were added to Pesiq. Rab. as a result of Christian influences in the Middle Ages. His argument may be a partial response to Christian polemics attacking rabbinic ideas. See de Rossi, Azariah, Me'or ‘Enayim (Vilna, 1863–1866, repr., Jerusalem: Makor, 1970) 250Google Scholar; The Light of the Eyes (trans. Joanna Weinberg; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001) 545–46, 554.

8 Midrash Bereshit rabati. Nosad ‘al sifro shel R. Moshe ha-Darshan 1–2 (ed. Chanoch Albeck; Jerusalem: Mekitse Nirdamim, 1966) 10; Pirqei Mashiaḥ in Bet Ha-Midrash (ed. Adolph Jellinek; Jerusalem: Sifre Vahrman, 1967) 3:70–80; Martinus, Raimundus, Pugio Fidei (ed. Carpzov, Benedikt; Leipzig: Johannis Wittegau, 1687; facsimile repr., Farnborough: Gregg Press, 1967) 416Google Scholar. Raimundus often edited and altered the texts at his disposal. I am grateful to the Special Collections at the Harvard Divinity School for providing access to the Leipzig edition.

9 Regarding messianism in the first century, see Gager, John G., The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985) 121–23Google Scholar; Horbury, William, Messianism among Jews and Christians: Twelve Biblical and Historical Studies (London: T&T Clark, 2003)Google Scholar; Parkes, James W., The Conflict of the Church and Synagogue: A Study of the Origins of Antisemitism (New York: Hermon Press, 1974) 22–25Google Scholar. For messianism in general, see Simon, Marcel, Verus Israel: A Study of the Relations between Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire, AD 135–425 (trans. McKeating, Henry; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986) 204Google Scholar. Concerning the interaction of Judaism with Christian polemics in patristic times, see Ruether, Rosemary Radford, Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism (New York: Seabury Press, 1974) 165–67Google Scholar.

10 Purported Judaizers among Christians were the object of Christian polemical attacks, for example, by Jerome; see Stemberger, Günter, “Hieronymus und die Juden seiner Zeit,” in Begegnungen zwischen Christentum und Judentum in Antike und Mittelalter. Festschrift für Heinz Schreckenberg (ed. Koch, Dietrich-Alex and Lichtenberger, Hermann; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1993) 347–64Google Scholar; Harkins, Paul W., Saint John Chrysostom: Discourses against Judaizing Christians (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1979)Google Scholar; Schwartz, Joshua, “Hieronymus ve-yahadut erets yisra'el,” Zion 47 (1982) 186–91Google Scholar.

11 See for example, Levine, Amy-Jill, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (San Francisco: Harper, 2006) 8Google Scholar. This book includes bibliographical references to previous literature on the subject.

12 These academic studies commenced with the outdated, but innovative, study by Zeitlin, Solomon, “Jesus in the Early Tannaitic Literature,” in Abhandlungen zur Erinnerung an Hirsch Perez Chajes (Vienna: The Alexander Kohut Memorial Foundation, 1933) 295–308Google Scholar.

13 See for example, Zellentin, Holger, “Rabbinizing Jesus, Christianizing the Son of David: The Bavli's Approach to the Secondary Messiah Traditions,” in Discussing Cultural Influences: Text, Context, and Non-Text in Rabbinic Judaism (ed. Ulmer, Rivka; Studies in Judaism; Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2007) 99–127, at 117Google Scholar.

14 Craig Evans contends that the definition of “messiah” is problematic; this may be related to the diversity of messianic expressions (Jesus and His Contemporaries: Comparative Studies [Leiden: Brill, 1995] 54–55, 58).

15 Pomykala, Kenneth E., The Davidic Dynasty Tradition in Early Judaism: Its History and Significance for Messianism (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995) 214–15Google Scholar.

16 The earliest reference to the title “son of David” is probably found in Pss. Sol. 5:21 in connection with eschatological ideas; this descendant of David will not permit evil to dwell in Israel. Pss. Sol. 17:18, 21 states that Messiah ben David will be revealed to Israel.

17 Messiah ben Joseph is mentioned in Tg. Ps.-J to Exod 40:11; b. Suk. 52a (on a lemma in m. Suk. 5:2); y. Suk. 5:2. The slaying of Messiah ben Joseph initially appears in the Tannaitic stratum, since Rabbi Dosa (Tannaitic) is cited. According to y. Suk. 5:2, mourning the slain Messiah is a possible interpretation of Zech 12:12 (see Pickup, Martin, “The Emergence of the Suffering Messiah in Rabbinic Literature,” in Approaches to Ancient Judaism [N.S. 11; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997] 143–62, at 145Google Scholar). However, the Bavli (b. Suk. 52a–b) version states that when Messiah ben David sees the slain Messiah ben Joseph, he asks God for the gift of life. Ben Joseph is also portrayed as a fighter in b. Soṭah 42a; Gen. Rab. 75:6, 99:2; Song Rab. 2:13.

18 Joseph Heinemann sets forth some bold interpretations concerning Messiah Ephraim: Messiah Ephraim was identified with Kokhba, Bar, both before and after his defeat (“The Messiah of Ephraim and the Premature Exodus of the Tribe of Ephraim,” HTR 68 [1975] 1–15, at 9Google Scholar). Heinemann sees a parallel between the early exodus of the Ephraimites and Messiah Ephraim; furthermore, Ezek 37 (the valley of the dry bones) was understood by Heinemann to apply to Messiah Ephraim. These theories have mainly been discounted; see Pearson, Brook W. R.'s critique of Heinemann (“Dry Bones in the Judean Desert: The Messiah of Ephraim, Ezekiel 37, and the Post-Revolutionary Followers of Bar Kokhba,” JStJ 29 [1998] 192–201, at 199)Google Scholar. Pearson relates the “dry bones” motif to the reburial from desert graves to cave tombs.

19 y. Suk. 5:2; b. Suk. 52a–b.

20 See the collection of essays edited by Neusner, Jacob, Judaisms and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)Google Scholar. Cohen, Shaye J. D. (The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999] 190–91)Google Scholar documents the wide range of meanings assigned to the Greek term ἰουδαΐζειν; Christians were sometimes referred to as Iudaei (26). See also Mason, Steve, “Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History,” JStJ 38 (2007) 457–512, at 471, 489Google Scholar.

21 Schwartz, Seth, “Some Types of Jewish-Christian Interaction in Late Antiquity,” in Jewish Culture and Society under the Christian Roman Empire (ed. Kalmin, Richard and Schwartz, Seth; Louvain: Peeters, 2003) 198–210, at 199–204Google Scholar.

22 See Stemberger, Günter, Juden und Christen im Spätantiken Palästina (Hans-Lietzmann Vorlesungen 9; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007) 46–47, 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 Stemberger, Juden und Christen, 64.

24 Alexander, Philip S., “The King Messiah in Rabbinic Judaism,” in King and Messiah (ed. Day, John; Sheffield: Sheffield University Press, 1998) 456–73, at 456, 458Google Scholar.

25 Alexander states: “The relationship of Saadia to the extensive messianic material in Pes. Rab. 34–37 is unclear” (“The King Messiah,” 467).

26 Concerning Pesiq. Rab. 34, see Marmorstein, Arthur, “Eine messianische Bewegung im dritten Jahrhundert,” Jeschurun, Monatsschrift für Lehre und Leben im Judentum 13 (1926) 16–28Google Scholar, 171–86, 369–83, at 20, 171. For other third-century passages of Pesiq. Rab., see Lieberman, Saul, “Palestine in the Third and Fourth Centuries,” JQR, N.S. 37 (1946/47) 31–54, 329–36, at 33–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gry, Léon, “La Ruine du Temple par Titus,” Revue Biblique 55 (1948) 215–26Google Scholar; Feldman, Louis H., “Some Observations on Rabbinic Reaction to Roman Rule in Third Century Palestine,” HUCA 63 (1992) 39–82, at 54, 65Google Scholar.

27 Rashi on Exod 6:14 cites Pesiq. Rab. 7:11; Rashi on 2 Sam 24:9 refers to Pesiq. Rab.

28 Sefer ha-roqeaḥ, sections 215–17.

29 For example, Pesiq. Rab. 1:1 in Maḥzor Vitry (ed. Shimon Hurwitz; Nuremberg: Bulka, 1923; repr., Jerusalem: Offset, 1988) sect. 286.

30 See n. 8.

31 For example, Pesiq. Rab. 20 in Shu“t ha-Rambam (ed. Yehoshua Blau; Jerusalem: Mekitse Nirdanim, 1960) section 313, s.v. ve-omnam ha-yotzer.

32 ‘Arugat ha-bosem (ed. Ephraim E. Urbach; 4 vols.; Jerusalem: Mekitse Nirdanim, 1939–1963) 3:74.

33 For example, Pesiq. Rab. 16 in Shu"t Ha-Rid. (ed. Avraham Josef Wertheimer; Jerusalem: Makhon ha-Talmud, 1967) section 50, s.v. Ben Azzai.

34 For example, Pesiq. Rab. 25 in Shu"t Maharam me-Rothenburg, Prague ed., pt. 4, section 1,23, s.v. Tanu rabbanan lo (She'elot u-teshuvot Mahram ben Barukh [Jerusalem: Ha-mosad le-‘idud limud ha-torah, 1999]).

35 See n. 8.

36 Pesiq. Rab. 30 refers to events that are only attested to in Josephus, B. J. 6.148. (Josephus IV, The Jewish War, Books 5–7 [trans. Henry St. J. Thackeray; Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928]). Pesiq. Rab. 21:52 cites Ben Sira.

37 Some of the contours are found in Lenowitz, Harris, The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) 37–48Google Scholar; see also Silver, Abba Hillel, History of Messianic Expectation in Israel (New York: Macmillan, 1927; repr., Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2010) 6–29Google Scholar.

38 Philostratus: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (trans. Christopher P. Jones; The Loeb Classical Library 16 and 17; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005).

39 Sanders, E. P., Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985) 234Google Scholar; Lenowitz, The Jewish Messiahs, 26–7. Theudas modeled himself on Moses (Acts 5:36), as confirmed by Josephus, Ant. 20.5, “the magician tried to divide the river Jordan” (Josephus, V, Jewish Antiquities, Books 1–3 (trans. Henry St. J. Thackeray; Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1930).

40 See n. 1. A polemical reference to Jesus is found in Pesiq. Rab. 21:3, which refers to the son of a prostitute (concerning this passage, see, e.g., Robert Travers Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash [London: Williams & Norgate, 1903; repr., Ktav: New York, 1975] 304–5). This polemical denotation, “son of a prostitute,” follows well-established tropes in Tannaitic and Talmudic Judaism.

41 See Ulmer, Rivka, Tröstet, tröstet mein Volk! Zwei rabbinische Homilien zu Jesaja 40,1. PesR 30 und PesR 29/30 (FJSt 7; Frankfurt am Main: Gesellschaft zur Förderung judaistischer Studien, 1986) 69–73Google Scholar; Lieve Teugels, “Consolation and Composition in a Rabbinic Homily on Isaiah 40: Pesiqta de Rav Kahana 16,” in Studies in the Book of Isaiah: Festschrift Willem A. M. Beuken (ed. Jacques T. A. G. M. van Ruiten and Marc Vervenne; Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 132; Louvain: Louvain University Press, 1997) 433–46, at 433; Stern, Elsie, “Beyond ‘Nahamu’: Strategies of Consolation in the Jewish Lectionary Cycle for the 9th of Av season,” SBLSP 37 (1998) 180–204Google Scholar. In respect to the consolation of Israel and the Messiah, see Neusner, Jacob, Beyond Catastrophe: The Rabbis’ Reading of Isaiah's Vision: Israelite-Messiah Prophecies in Formative Judaism. An Anthology of Pesiqta de-Rab Kahana for the Seven Sabbaths after the Ninth of Ab (South Florida Studies in Judaism 131; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996) 27–28Google Scholar. Werner, Eric (The Sacred Bridge: The Interdependence of Liturgy and Music in Synagogue and Church during the First Millennium [London: Dobson, 1959; repr., New York: Ktav, 1984] 32, 57, 77, 80–81, 140, 196)Google Scholar comments upon the Christian lectionary and Pesiq. Rab.

42 See Ulmer, Rivka, “Psalm 22 in Pesiqta Rabbati: The Suffering of the Jewish Messiah and Jesus,” in The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation (ed. Garber, Zev; Shofar Suppl. in Jewish Studies; Purdue University Press, 2011) 106–28Google Scholar.

43 See the seminal study by Krauss, Samuel, “The Jews in the Works of the Church Fathers,” JQR 5 (1892–1893) 122–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; JQR 6 (1894) 225–61. See also n. 9 and n. 10.

44 A survey of several rabbinic passages relating to the suffering Messiah is found in Pickup, “The Emergence,” 145–49.

45 For a thorough analysis of the martyrdom of Rabbi Aqiva, see Goldberg, Arnold, “Das Martyrium des Rabbi Aqiva. Zur Komposition einer Märtyrererzählung (bBer 61b),” Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge 12 (1984) 1–83Google Scholar. Daniel Boyarin also discusses the martyrdom of Aqiva, Rabbi and refers to him as “the Polycarp of Judaism” (Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999] 102–7, at 105)Google Scholar.

46 Marcus, Ivan G. (“A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis: The Culture of Early Ashkenaz,” in Culture of the Jews [ed. Biale, David; New York: Schocken Books, 2002] 449–516, at 463Google Scholar) mentions the martyrs during the Crusades, as well as the range of Jewish polemics (479–96).

47 Mork, Gordon R., “Dramatizing the Passion: From Oberammergau to Gibson,” in Mel Gibson's Passion (ed. Garber, Zev; Shofar Suppl. in Jewish Studies; West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2006) 117–23, at 117Google Scholar.

48 This material is also found in the editio princeps of Pesiq. Rab. (Prague, 1653/7), which is not dependent upon the Parma ms. The extant manuscripts, other than the Parma manuscript, do not contain the suffering messiah passages, either because they are too fragmentary or were excised by Christian censors.

49 Jewish exegetical responses to Christianity in the twelfth/thirteenth century are well-documented. Heinz Schreckenberg mentions that the medieval commentator Radak (David Kimhi, died in Narbonne, 1235) responded to Christian theology (Die christlichen Adversos-Judaeos-Texte und ihr literarisches und historisches Umfeld (13.–20. Jh.) [Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994] 88–96). Schreckenberg mentions the Christian council of Narbonne, which took place in 1227 and perpetuated anti-Jewish polemics (71–73). Narbonne was an important center of the transmission of Jewish texts, for example, Moshe Ha-Darshan of Narbonne utilized Pesiq. Rab. in his work, Bereshit Rabbati. Furthermore, Schreckenberg discusses the biblical exegesis of Joseph Bekhor Shor (12th cent.), which contained anti-Christian commentaries (52–53).

50 Hourihane, Colum (Pontius Pilate, Anti-Semitism, and the Passion in Medieval Art [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009])Google Scholar has collected numerous anti-Semitic depictions relating to the passion in medieval art.

51 Peters, Francis E., Jerusalem: The Holy City in the Eyes of Chroniclers, Visitors, Pilgrims, and Prophets from the Days of Abraham to the Beginnings of Modern Times (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985) 397, 437Google Scholar.

52 For specific topics addressed in these discourses, see the Christian debates discussed in Schreckenberg, Heinz, Die christlichen Adversos-Judaeos-Texte und ihr literarisches und historisches Umfeld (1.–11. Jh.) (2nd ed.; Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1995)Google Scholar. A survey of a few polemical texts is found in McMichael, Fr. Steven J., “The Resurrection of Jesus and Human Beings in Medieval Christian and Jewish Theology,” Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 4 (2009) 1–18, at 4Google Scholar.

53 Cited in Yal., Zephaniah 567.

54 Jewish practice requires reciting special sections from the prophetic books in synagogues on the Sabbaths during the three weeks before the Ninth of Av, a day of mourning and fasting in the Jewish calendar to commemorate the destruction of the first and second temples and other national tragedies. Seven special portions of prophecies from Isaiah that foresee the redemption of Israel are read on the seven Sabbaths immediately following the Ninth of Av. These portions are known as the “Seven of Consolation.” See n. 41.

55 Braude, William G., Pesikta Rabbati: Discourses for Feasts, Fasts, and Special Sabbaths (2 vols.; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968)Google Scholar. I have translated the applicable passages of the Parma manuscript of Pesiq. Rab., including interpolations from the editio princeps (based upon Ulmer, Synoptic).

56 See Ulmer, “Psalm 22,” 115–16.

57 The context of the biblical passage, which is important for the midrashic interpretation, is Jer 31:6–11.

58 Zech 9:9 is also utilized in a messianic context in b. Ber. 56b–57a and b. Sanh. 99a.

59 Compare Matt 21:5; John 12:14–15.

60 See Leske, Adrian M., “Context and Meaning of Zechariah 9:9,” CBQ 62 (2000) 663–78, at 672Google Scholar; Instone-Brewer, David, “Two Asses of Zechariah 9:9 in Matthew 21,” Tyndale Bulletin 54 (2003) 87–98, at 90Google Scholar.

61 Fishbane (“Midrash and Messianism,” 65) understands this interpretation of the Messiah as a polemical assertion, which, according to Fishbane means, “there will be only one messianic figure.”

62 Collins, Adela Yarbro and Collins, John J., King and Messiah as Son of God: Divine, Human, and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) 58Google Scholar.

63 Another suffering messiah with the epithet “Pierced One” appears as Messiah Ephraim in Tg. Ps.-J. to Exod 40:9–11 and in b. Suk. 52 a–b. This epithet is based upon Zech 12:10.

64 Compare Matt 21:5 and John 12:15; see Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, 306–9.

65 Matt 21:5 quotes Zech 9:9. Among the many treatments of this topic, see Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, 235, 306.

66 See the depictions by Giotto di Bondone, The Flight into Egypt and Entry to Jerusalem, both 1304 (Padua).

67 Matt 21:10.

68 Ivan G. Marcus, “Jews and Christians Imagining the Other in Medieval Europe,” Prooftexts 15 (1995) 209–26. Jews appear to have been well-integrated in their communities according to Elukin, Jonathan, Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007) 27–29Google Scholar.

69 With regard to a discourse in medieval Europe concerning the Passover Haggadah, see Leonhard, Clemens, “Die Pesachhaggada als Spiegel religiöser Konflikte,” in Kontinuität und Unterbrechung: Gottesdienst und Gebet in Judentum und Christentum (ed. Gerhards, Albert and Wahle, Stephan; Paderborn: Schöningh, 2005) 143–71, at 168Google Scholar.

70 Goldberg mentions that Ephraim could have been based upon a messianic pretender (Erlösung, 24–26). In my view, this is very unlikely, since we do not have any information regarding such a historical figure.

71 Peters, Jerusalem, 228. The theatrical element in Jewish preaching and the relationship between sermons and satiric plays was recognized, for example, by Moshe D. Herr, “Beyn bate knessiyot le-vein bate teatrot ve-kirkasot” [Synagogues and Theatres], in: Kneset Ezra: Sifrut ve-hayim be-veit ha-kneset. Asufat ma'amarim mugeshet le-Ezra Fleischer (ed. Shulamit Elitsur, Moshe D. Herr, Avigdor Shinan, and Gershon Shaked; Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1994) 105–19.

72 Alexander, Philip S. postulates that this group “may have done something to keep alive messianic longings in the Talmudic era” (“The Rabbis and Messianism,” in Redemption and Resistance: Messianic Hopes of Jews and Christians in Antiquity [ed. Bockmuehl, Markus and Paget, James Carlton; London: T&T Clark, 2007] 227–44, at 231)Google Scholar. Mann, Jacob identifies the Mourners of Zion as a group that was active in the first half of the ninth century, in early Islamic times (The Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fātimid Caliphs [2 vols.; New York: Ktav, 1970] 1:47–49)Google Scholar. Zucker, Moses considered the Aveley Zion as Karaites (“Teguvot le-tenu'at avelei tzion ha-kara'im be-sifrut ha-rabanit,” in Sefer yovel le-rav Hanokh Albeck [Jerusalem: Magnes, 1963] 378–401, at 379)Google Scholar. However, Goldberg (Erlösung, 131–34) did not see any Karaite presence in Pesiq. Rab.

73 Mitchell (“Messiah ben Joseph,” 87) states that the suffering prior to the arrival of the Messiah results in the destruction of the fallen angels who are consigned to hell. See Pesiq. Rab. 36:2.

74 Pesiq. Rab. 15:20 states that there will be great afflictions immediately prior to the arrival of the Messiah; Israel will be oppressed especially during the seven-year period preceding his appearance.

75 In Tg. Jonathan to Zech 12:10 and in Tg. Ps.-J. to Exod 40:9–11, the Messiah ben Ephraim kills Gog.

76 Isa 52:7 (“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation”) is similar to Nah 1:15 (“Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!”). A comparable passage in Rom 10:15 also quotes the prophets in a conflated version: “And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings’.”

77 Lenowitz, Jewish Messiahs, 4.

78 Compare Luke 23:28; Jesus accepts his suffering for the sins of humanity.

79 Ulmer, “Psalm 22,” 117. See the discussion below.

80 See also b. Sanh. 98b.

81 The text has “ben David,” although it continues with Messiah Ephraim. This may indicate the conflation of messianic ideas in Pesiq. Rab.; alternatively, this may be one of the numerous scribal errors in ms Parma 3122.

82 See Ulmer, Rivka, “Consistency and Change in Rabbinic Literature as Reflected in the Terms ‘Rain’ and ‘Dew’,” JStJ 26 (1995) 55–75, at 65Google Scholar.

83 Fishbane, “Midrash and Messianism,” 65; see also Goldberg, Erlösung, 40–41, 63, 172, 260.

84 Matt 27:40; Luke 9:23, 14:27.

85 See Chapman, David W., Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008) 204Google Scholar.

86 This text is inscribed in stone; see Knohl, Israel, Messiahs and Resurrection in “The Gabriel Revelation” (New York: Continuum, 2002)Google Scholar xiii; idem, The Messiah before Jesus (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000) 27–42. In particular, Knohl relies upon the pre-Christian epithet “son of God” as it appears in Joseph and Aseneth 6:3, 5; 13:13. Concerning this epithet, see the critical remarks in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. James H. Charlesworth; 2 vols.; New York: Doubleday, 1983–1985) 2:191. Presently the name of the Messiah in the Gabriel Revelation is disputed among scholars. See Collins, John J., “Gabriel and David: Some Reflections on an Enigmatic Text,” in Hazon Gabriel: New Readings (ed. Matthias Henze and [Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011]) 99–112, at 108Google Scholar.

87 See Bogaert, Pierre, Apocalypse de Baruch: Introduction, Traduction du Syriaque et Commentaire (2 vols.; Paris: Cerf, 1969) 1:222–41Google Scholar; Ulmer, Synoptic, 1:xiv.

88 Noted by Mitchell, “Messiah ben Joseph,” 93.

89 The Messiah as the light of the world is found in b. Šabb. 116b; similarly in Gen. Rab. 2:4.

90 Goldberg, Erlösung, 233.

91 In Luke 6:20–26, the sermon was given on a plain.

92 Pesiq. Rab. 33:31 states that the Messiah was “born” or perhaps “formed” () before creation.

93 This passage in Pesiq. Rab. is based upon the Pseudepigrapha (T. Mos. 1:14).

94 Yuval, Israel J., Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) 36–37Google Scholar.

95 Similar statements are found in 4 Ezra 7:26ff; 12:26, 32; 1 En. 46:1–2; 48:3; 62:7; 2 Bar. 30:1; the pre-existence of the Messiah is also found in Pesiq. Rab. 33:33–37; 36:3–4; b. Pesaḥ. 54a–b.; b. Ned. 39a.; Midrash Konen, in Bet Ha-Midrash, 2:29, Seder Gan Eden (ibid.) 3:132.

96 Pss. Sol. 17:21–28.

97 See Ulmer, Rivka, “The Culture of Apocalypticism: Is the Rabbinic Work Pesiqta Rabbati Intertextually Related to the New Testament Book The Revelation to John?” Review of Rabbinic Judaism 14 (2011) 37–70, at 61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

98 This phrase has entered the Siddur (New York: Feldheim, 1974) 113, the Amidah of the Shabbat Morning Service.

99 For example, Yal., Isaiah 499.

100 John 19:14.

101 Ulmer, “Psalm 22,” 122.

102 As Reuven Kimelman has shown, there was such rhetoric in the Amidah; see Kimelman, Reuven, “The Literary Structure of the Amidah and the Rhetoric of Redemption,” in The Echoes of Many Texts: Reflections on Jewish and Christian Traditions. Essays in Honor of Lou H. Silberman (ed. Dever, William G. and Wright, J. Edward; BJSt 313; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997) 171–218, at 217Google Scholar.

103 Lescow, Theodor, “Psalm 22 und Psalm 88: Komposition und Dramaturgie,” ZAW 117 (2005) 217–31Google Scholar.

104 Stolz, Fritz, “Psalm 22: Alttestamentliches Reden vom Menschen und neutestamentliches Reden von Jesus,” Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 77 (1980) 129–48, at 137Google Scholar.

105 See also Pss. Sol. 17:24; 4 Ezra 13:9–11.

106 A collection of rabbinic passages concerning resurrection is found in Sysling, Harry, Teḥiyyat Ha-Metim: The Resurrection of the Dead in the Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch and Parallel Traditions in Classical Rabbinic Literature (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996)Google Scholar.

107 See also Pesiq. Rab. 1:19 and 35:27.

108 See n. 37.

109 See Rivkin, Ellis, “The Meaning of Messiah in Jewish Thought,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review 26 (1971) 383–406, at 390Google Scholar.