The First Messiah: Investigating the Savior Before Jesus

by Michael Owen Wise

Most Christians don't know what to think about the Dead Sea Scrolls except that they predate Jesus, and simple interpretations of history and textual authority claim that whatever existed first must have the greatest authority. Michael O. Wise, a leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, now offers a smart, accessible argument about the relationship between Jesus and the Scrolls. The First Investigating the Savior Before Jesus argues that Judah, a messianic figure described in the Scrolls, anticipated Jesus' coming in many respects--Judah was perceived by his contemporaries as fulfilling many of the same prophesies as Jesus, he taught many of the same principles Jesus taught, and after his death he inspired a movement that prefigured early Christianity. The First Messiah is not a hatchet-job on Jesus, however; Wise is not out to torpedo anybody's faith. Instead, he's offering readers a valuable lesson in humility. While respecting the possibility of Jesus' unique cosmic significance, he convincingly shows that Jesus' assumption of messianic status reenacts a social and religious drama that had clear historical precedents. This drama continues to be enacted by people around the world today. --Michael Joseph Gross

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Judaism

342 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Daniel]

Really, really good book. This compares historical parallels between Judah (the 'first messiah') and Jesus and introduces lots of information most of us haven't seen before. I read this about 10 years ago, and will again.

[Raylee Thomas]

A lot of the book is simply the author's speculation. His prejudice towards certain groups is blatant throughout the entire work. While some of the book is historical fact others are complete works of imagination, with very little distinction between the two except to disclaim the name Judah. While I did enjoy some of the book, other more opinionated parts really through me for a loop.

[Matthew]

Most Christians don't know what to think about the Dead Sea Scrolls except that they predate Jesus, and simple interpretations of history and textual authority claim that whatever existed first must have the greatest authority. Michael O. Wise, a leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, now offers a smart, accessible argument about the relationship between Jesus and the Scrolls. The First Messiah: Investigating the Savior Before Jesus argues that Judah, a messianic figure described in the Scrolls, anticipated Jesus' coming in many respects--Judah was perceived by his contemporaries as fulfilling many of the same prophesies as Jesus, he taught many of the same principles Jesus taught, and after his death he inspired a movement that prefigured early Christianity. The First Messiah is not a hatchet-job on Jesus, however; Wise is not out to torpedo anybody's faith. Instead, he's offering readers a valuable lesson in humility. While respecting the possibility of Jesus' unique cosmic significance, he convincingly shows that Jesus' assumption of messianic status reenacts a social and religious drama that had clear historical precedents. This drama continues to be enacted by people around the world today. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Update: This book was quite uninteresting of a read. For such an interesting topic, it still could not hold my own interest. I put it down for now for other items of interest

[Karen Floyd]

One always has to wonder with speculative books like this how much is true and how much is author speculation. Even this man's name did not survive, only some of his writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls, where he is known as the Teacher of Righteousness. But his followers did apparently interpret his writing in the way the author did, which is only stated in the notes. So the author is not completely drawing a bow at a venture.

[Theresa]

A very interesting look at a prophet named Judah who lived at least 50 years before Jesus and whose life parallels Jesus in many ways. Except one -- his followers weren't able to establish a new world religion.