Worshiping the Messianic King
- samshmn
- 11 hours ago
- 10 min read
In this post I will quote specific Old Testament texts, which Jewish traditions interprets as Messianic prophecies, in order to show that the nations are commanded to worship the Messiah. I will provide those Jewish traditions to affirm the Messianic understanding of thes verses. All emphasis will be mine.
Psalm 45
6 Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever. The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
7 You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong. That is why Elohim, your Elohim, has anointed you, rather than your companions, with the oil of joy...
11 The king longs for your beauty. He is your Lord (Adonayik). Worship him...
17 I will cause your name to be remembered throughout every generation. That is why the nations will give thanks to you forever and ever. Names of God Bible (NOG)
Jewish Interpretation
Radak on Psalms 45:1:1
Lilies. A musical instrument called "Shoshanah" (Lily), and this psalm was said about the King Messiah, and it is called a song of love because it expresses the Lord's love for His anointed.
Metzudat David on Psalms 45:2:2
R I. At the opening of my words I say that the subject of this song is about the Messiah King:
Ibn Ezra on Psalms 45:2:1
Murmur — his heart will speak the words of the psalmist. And some say: the words that he brings forth from his heart. And this psalm was said about David or about the Messiah his son, as it says: “and David My servant shall be prince over them forever.”
Meiri on Psalms 45:1:1
For the leader, etc... However, the correct understanding is that, since the preceding psalm dwelt at length on the suffering of the exile, this psalm now dwells at length on the consolation of the redemption, alluding to the matter of the King Messiah, for whom we long.
Your beauty, O King Messiah, is greater than that of the sons of men; the spirit of prophecy was given upon your lips. Therefore we bless you, the Lord, forever. (Aramaic Targum: https://www.sefaria.org/Aramaic_Targum_to_Psalms.45.3?lang=bi)
Your glorious throne, O LORD (YHWH), endures forever and ever; the upright rod, the rod of Your kingdom: (Ibid.: https://www.sefaria.org/Aramaic_Targum_to_Psalms.45.7?lang=bi)
Psalm 72
Of Solomon.
1 O Elohim, give the king your justice and the king’s son your righteousness...
8 May he rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
9 May the people of the desert kneel in front of him. May his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings from Tarshish and the islands bring presents. May the kings from Sheba and Seba bring gifts.
11 May all kings worship him. May all nations serve him...
17 May his name endure forever. May his name continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations be blessed through him and call him blessed. NOG
Jewish Interpretation
Ibn Ezra on Psalms 72:1:1
For Solomon, for the king, give — the prophecy of David, or one of the poets about Solomon or about the Messiah, and it is the letter lamed, like “because of,” like “And of Levi he said: Your Thummim and your Urim,” facing the Name.
Meiri on Psalms 72:1:1
To Solomon etc... Some interpret it as referring to the Messianic king and attribute it to Solomon as an allusion to perfection.
Radak on Psalms 72:1:1
For Solomon. This psalm was composed by David for Solomon his son when he made him king, and at the end of the entire psalm he said: “The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended,” because at the end of his days this was the one who was lying on his bed, and no other event occurred for which he would say another psalm about him. In this psalm all his prayers and psalms are completed, and it is the end of the first book of the five books that are in this Book. The compilers did not arrange it so that this book would be the last, because it would be fitting to conclude the book with words of praise and with psalms of “Hallelujah,” since the psalms concern the future, when Israel returns from exile. Some explain it as referring to the King Messiah, and so it is called in the Song of Songs: “A thousand for you, Solomon.”
Romemot El on Psalms 72:1:1
For Solomon, God, etc. This psalm was composed about Solomon, who is the filling of the moon on the fifteenth day from Abraham onward, and about the Messiah King, who is the return of the renewal of the moon in continual fullness in the future to come.
By the hands of Solomon it was said in prophecy: O God, give the ways of your judgment to the Messiah King. (Aramaic Targum: https://www.sefaria.org/Aramaic_Targum_to_Psalms.72?lang=bi)
Chomat Anakh on Psalms 72:17:1
Forever, etc. Some explain that he interpreted “may His name be known,” as our sages of blessed memory said, that three are called by the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and one of them is the Messiah, as it is written: “And this is the name by which he will be called: The LORD is our righteousness.” And now it is before the sun, meaning before the future light of morning; “Yinon” is his name, which are the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, except that in the place of the second Heh there are two Nun letters. This is the abridged wording of his statement: that He should save him from the Sanhedrin, and as happened when a heavenly voice went forth:
Ibn Ezra on Psalms 72:17:1
May his name be - the name Solomon or the Messiah.
Torah Temimah on Psalms 72:17:1
May his name endure forever: this is to exclude [the opinion] of Rabbi Hillel, who said: “There is no Messiah for Israel, for they already consumed him in the days of Hezekiah.” Rav said: “The world was created only for David”; and Samuel said: “For Moses”; and Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “For the Messiah.” What is his name? The school of Rabbi Shila said: “Shiloh is his name,” as it is stated: “Until Shiloh comes.” The school of Rabbi Yannai said: “Yinnon is his name,” as it is stated: “May his name endure forever; before the sun, Yinnon is his name,” etc. (Sanhedrin 98b)
Romemot El on Psalms 72:17:1
“May His name endure forever,” etc. The Sages of blessed memory said in the Midrash Shocher Tov: Why is his name called Yinon? Because he is destined to make those who sleep in the dust flourish again. Their meaning is that through what he will accomplish in favor of Israel in the days of the Messiah, he will hasten and bring nearer the resurrection of the dead, so that they will arise like a mighty man rejoicing after wine. It is appropriate to know how this connects to what came before. And why should the fact that he is called by this name be made central, since a name does not appear to raise or lower anything?
However, we have already written in the previous verse that in the future the grain will come without straw and chaff and husk that cover the kernels. What exists until that time—the days of the Messiah—is that the earth will bring forth its produce clothed, with the grass standing upon the wheat like a garment. This is a hint that the dead will sprout from the city like the grass of the earth, for the wheat that emerges after it has decayed in the earth and with the covering of grass, even though it was buried naked, and so a person, by a fortiori reasoning, who is buried clothed will rise after his decay and will also be clothed, like the wheat. Therefore, until the days of the Messiah, the produce emerges in a manner and way that draws attention to the matter of man, that he too will die and rise in the resurrection and stand as though clothed.
Therefore, until that time the Blessed One desired that the wheat should not emerge except clothed with grass and straw, as explained. Now a question arises: if so, in the days of the Messiah, when there will be a handful of grain in the land, what thing will be a hint and remembrance of the resurrection of the dead? For it is known that from the beginning of the days of the Messiah until the time of the resurrection, even according to the most minimal opinion, there are forty years. To this he says: “May His name endure forever”—a hint to this matter, for “before the sun,” meaning before the creation of the world, Yinon was His name, as the Sages of blessed memory said that this is one of the things that preceded the world: Yinon is the name of the Messiah, because he is destined to make those who sleep in the dust flourish. Thus, in the name of the Messiah, which endures forever, there is a remembrance and hint of the resurrection of the dead...
Alternatively, it may be said: At first he was called Adam, and afterward he was called David. But the name by which he will be called in the future will remain forever and will never again change. This is what the Sages of blessed memory said: Three were called by the name of the Holy One, blessed be He: the righteous, the Messiah, and Jerusalem, etc. The Messiah, as it is written: “This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness.” This will be forever.
And perhaps you will say that just as it happened with Adam, who sinned and whose name was changed, perhaps it will also happen to him; and just as David was not so forever from the beginning, so this will also happen to him. Not so. For “before the sun, Yinon was his name,” meaning, as the Sages of blessed memory said, that he is destined to make those who sleep in the dust flourish. Why was he called by this name from then on, if not to hint that the death that came through Adam had been destined from the outset, and from now he is called by the name of the one who repairs? Therefore it cannot be said that he too might corrupt, for from then he was destined to repair what Adam had distorted.
And if through Adam the world and all that is in it became corrupted, then the opposite will happen through him, for behold, “and they will be blessed in him.” His honor will also grow greater than David’s in his time, because David was not praised by all the nations, but rather had enemies who hated him; whereas then all the nations will praise him.
And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah. whence David emanated, as it is stated (I Sam. 17:58): “The son of your bondsman, Jesse the Bethlehemite.” And Bethlehem is called Ephrath, as it is said (Gen. 48:7): “On the road to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.”
you should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah. You should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah because of the stigma of Ruth the Moabitess in you.
from you shall emerge for Me. the Messiah, son of David, and so Scripture says (Ps. 118:22): “The stone the builders had rejected became a cornerstone.”
and his origin is from of old. “Before the sun his name is Yinnon” (Ps. 72:17). (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary: https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16191/showrashi/true#v1)
Jeremiah 30:9
“You will serve Yahweh your Elohim AND David your king. I will establish him for you.” NOG
Jewish Interpretation
Metzudat David on Jeremiah 30:9:2
And David their king. This is the coming Messiah king from the seed of David:
Radak on Jeremiah 30:9:1
whom I will raise up for them. It is possible that he said this about King David, that he will raise him from his dust at the time of the resurrection of the dead, and it is possible that it is said about the Messiah his son, and his name will be called David:
And they shall worship before the Lord their God and shall obey the Messiah, the son of David, their king, whom He will raise up for them: (Aramaic Targum: https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Jeremiah.30.9?lang=bi)
R. Giddel said in the name of Rab: "In the future Israel will enjoy the abundance which the Messianic period will bring." R. Joseph said to him: "Is this not self-evident? Who else should then enjoy it, Hilek and Bilek?" By this he intended to disprove the theory of R. Hillel, who said [later] "Israel has no Messiah to expect, for they have already enjoyed him [through the glory] in the days of Hezekiah." Rab said: "The world is created only for such [great] men as David." And Samuel said: "For such men as Moses [for the purpose of giving a Torah]." And R. Jochanan said: "For such men as the Messiah." But what is his (Messiah's) real name? At the college of R. Shila, it was said: "Shila is his real name, as it is said (Gen. 49, 10) "Until Shilah will come." At the college of R. Janai, it was said: "Yinon is his real name, as it is said (Psalms 72, 17) "In the presence of the sun, Yinon is his name." And at the college of R. Chanina, it was said: "Chanina is his name, as it is said (Jer. 16, 13) So that I will not grant you Chanina (favor)." According to others, Menachem b. Hezekiah is his name, as it is said (Lam. 1, 16). Far from Me is Menachem, (comforter) that should refresh my soul." R. Juda, in the name of Rab, said: "In the future the Holy one, praised be He! will create for them (Israel) another David, as it is said (Jer 30, 9) And David, their king, whom I will raise up unto them. It does not read, I raised [in the past], but I will raise." R. Papa said to Abaye: "Is it not written (Ezek. 37, 25) David, My servant, shall be prince unto them forever? This is as it is now [the custom], a Caesar and a prince." (Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11, Samuel Hirsch Glick, New York, 1916-1921: https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov_(Glick_Edition)%2C_Sanhedrin.11.52-53?lang=bi)
Daniel 7:13-14
13 I kept watching the night visions, and there, in the clouds of heaven, I saw one like a son of man coming. He came to the Ancient of Days, and he was brought before him.
14 To him was given dominion, honor, and a kingdom. All peoples, nations, and languages will worship him. His dominion is an eternal dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
Jewish Interpretation
Metzudat David on Daniel 7:13:1
“I was seeing”: I was seeing in the visions of my sleep at night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like the likeness of a son of man; and this alludes to the King Messiah.
Ibn Ezra on Daniel 7:14:7
And dominion and the rest of its vitality were removed—because from the first beasts, the kingdom of each one had departed, and the bodies remained; but this fourth beast, its body will perish completely, and no remnant or survivor will remain for Ishmael. And Rabbi Yeshua said: "For this is already the Son of Man, the Messiah." And the statement is correct, except that it refers to the holy people, who are Israel.
Joseph ibn Yahya on Daniel 7:14:1
And to him shall be given the government, the honor, and the kingdom. And all peoples, nations, and languages shall serve him, and his dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away as the former ones did, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. And he is our righteous Messiah, who shall come before the Lord. And Elijah the prophet shall bring him near before Him, and to him shall be given the government forever and ever.
one like a man was coming. That is the King Messiah.
and… up to the Ancient of Days. Who was sitting in judgment and judging the nations.
came. arrived, reached. (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary: https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16490/showrashi/true#v13)
Further Reading