The real meaning of Mashiach

Can I share with you an excerpt from my latest book? I am very excited about it because this Bible study is the first in my new Digging Deeper series. The Book of Daniel reveals a man (and his friends) who knew how to stand firm in their faith. But it is also a book that is historical and prophetic in nature.While writing it I stumbled upon something that I had taken for granted for years: that Daniel 9:25-26 was talking about Jesus, our Messiah. What I found however, sent me on a hunt to discover how such an innocent word like "mashiach" was so badly misinterpreted. The following is a snippet on what I found out.

Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince,
shall be seven weeks.
Daniel 9:25 JPS, emphasis mine

 (Notice that the word Messiah is missing and replaced with “anointed” in the Jewish version of this verse. This is because the Jews never saw the word “Messiah” in their scriptures. They saw the word mashiach, which means “anointed.” It comes from the root word mashach, which means to “smear, rub, spread a liquid, or anoint.” It does not mean “Messiah” or “Saviour” as we Christians interpret it. It simply means “anointed,” nothing more. In addition, you will notice that the JPS has the word “one” before the word “anointed,” whereas, the NASB says “Messiah the Prince.” The NIV translates this part as “the Anointed One” and places the word “one” after anointed. Why is this important?

The word mashiach is used throughout Jewish scriptures no less than 100 times and refers to individuals, places, and objects. For example, it refers to priests, kings, and prophets (Leviticus 4:3; 1 Kings 1:39; Isaiah 61:1). It also refers to anointed places like the Temple altar (Exodus 40:9-11) and anointed things like unleavened bread (Numbers 6:15). And finally, it refers to King Cyrus, a non-Jewish King (Isaiah 45:1).

In Christian Bibles, 99 percent of the time, mashiach is translated as “anointed,” with two exceptions: Daniel 9:25 and 26. So the question one has to ask is this: why? Especially since in Daniel 9:24, mashiach was correctly translated as “anointed.” This does not make sense. It is inconsistent. You cannot translate mashiach to mean “anointed” in the entire Bible and then translate it to mean “Messiah” in two verses. I cannot explain why this was done. It’s as if those who originally translated this part of Daniel imposed their own Christian beliefs about what the verse actually means. I am not a linguist, but even I can see that something is odd here. How does one word translate to mean “anointed” everywhere else in the Christian Bible, but in Daniel 9:25-26 it translates as “the Messiah”? When you read the Torah (the Jewish Bible), it is immediately clear it has not been changed in this way.

I believe this is why the Jewish people get so upset with our interpretation of their scriptures. Imagine the audacity it takes to say to a Jewish person who speaks and reads Hebrew that they aren’t reading or interpreting their own scriptures correctly. That’s like trying to tell a Christian that Jesus didn’t die for their sins and He never existed. They would be adamant they are right, just as the Jews are adamant about their scriptures and the interpretation of them. We need to respect that and stop seeing things that aren’t there.

Daniel 9:25 should read as “until an anointed prince” and not as “until Messiah the prince.” And Daniel 9:26 should read, “An anointed one will be cut off” and not, “The Messiah will be cut off.” (Unlocking the Truth of Daniel, Copyright © 2016 by Laura J. Davis).

I go on to discuss this issue further in the book if you want to look at it further. One Amazon reviewer said:

"I gave this book five stars not because it is thoroughly researched, although it is very thorough indeed. It gets five stars not because it interprets Daniel in the light of scripture in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation, although it does that very well. It gets five stars because it is a theologically sound book you can hold in one hand with your Bible in the other hand and say, "Ah, now I see: I always wondered what that meant." This is not a book of Ms. Davis opinions. Every significant statement is backed up with proof - she lets scripture interpret scripture. - Dave F.

If you are interested in purchasing a paperback copy of Unlocking the Truth of Daniel visit www.amazon.com and let me know you purchased it. Why? Because I will send you a free ebook of my last book He Who Has an Ear, Who the Seven Churches of Revelation are Today and I will also throw in an ebook of Unlocking the The Truth of Daniel so that you can read it on your tablet as well.