Is It In the Bible? Who Was the Messiah Supposed to Have Been?

A lecture on Early Christian Belief & Practice. The Messiah was a late development within Judaism. By the 1st century BC, nearly all Jews believed in a Messiah who would save them from their present travails, but beyond that there was little agreement. The new belief in a Messiah required a colossal re-interpretation of Scripture that allowed Jews to mine their writings for Messianic prophecies.