Ronald A. Knox - Waiting for Christ

Knox, Ronald Arbuthnott, 1888-1957

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K X LIBRIS

#77

WAITING FOR CHRIST

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based on the translation of the Old Testament Messianic Prophecies by

arranged in a continuous narrative with explanations by

RONALD COX, cm, s.t.l., s.s.l.

SHEED AND WARD NEW YORK

Sheed and Ward, Inc., i960

The Old Testament Text in the Translation of Ronald Knox Copyright Sheed and Ward, Inc. 1948, 1950

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 60-11681

Manufactured in the United States of America

Table caption PAGE

V

THE title of this book is taken from Marthas confident act of faith in Jesus just before he raised her brother Lazarus from the dead: I have always believed that you are the Messiah; you are the Son of God; the whole world has been waiting for you to come. For almost two thousand years the Jewish people had been watching eagerly for the coming of the Saviour promised by the Lord God himself to their father Abraham. That is why these Messianic prophecies, scattered all through the Old Testament, are essential reading if the portrait of Christ in the four Gospels is to be appreciated.

As in the other Knox-Cox volumes, the Scripture passages flow continuously on the left-hand pages, with a matching commentary, paragraph by paragraph, on the opposite pages. I have made a few slight changes in the Knox text here and there when the Latin Vulgate, from which he translated, differs from the original text. For example, She shall crush thy head (Gen. 3, 15) is now He shall crush your head (p. 10). The second person singular has been replaced by the more common modern usage of the plural. I have quotation marks for direct speech; I have paragraphed the text more frequently than Mgr. Knox did; for easier reading I have omitted chapter and verse numbering; the layout is that of a modern book.

The Jewish rabbis list some 458 Messianic texts; a recent Catholic author, Heinisch (Christ in Prophecy), restricts the number of literally Messianic texts to 50. I have followed a middle course with 120 literal and 30 typical references. Not all of them can be established with equal certainty; where there is proof of fulfilment in the New Testament, I have indicated it in the commentary.

This book is divided up into six chapters; the first five treat of the literally Messianic passages, the sixth deals with the

types of Christ (with an appendix on our Lady in the Old Testament). Each chapter opens with a list of contents and an historical introduction, outlining the main developments of Jewish life and thought during that period. Then follow the Messianic excerpts in chronological order. In an index at the back of the book all Scripture passages are listed in biblical order: first the historical books, next the didactic books, and finally the prophets. Of the 54 books of the Old Testament 35 are represented in Waiting for Christ; the bulk of those omitted belong to the historical books. The outstanding contributors to the Messianic picture are Isaias and the Psalms; between them they have almost half (66 texts) of the total content. The most famous individual passage is the fiftythird chapter of Isaias (p. 170).

These prophecies were the subject of much of our Lords instruction to his apostles: This is what I told you, while I still walked in your company; how all that was written of me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, must be fulfilled (Lk. 24, 44). There are about 100 references in the New Testament to our Lord fulfilling what was written of him in the Old Testament. The early Christian apologists, like SS. Peter and Paul, often appealed to the Old Testament to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, and the Lord God himself.

To understand the prophecies it must be remembered that they are a New Testament picture in an Old Testament frame. The background of the times in which they were written colours the different presentations of the Messiah; the Gospel fulfilment gives new light for a correct interpretation. That is what is meant by the saying: What is latent in the Old is patent in the New.

The two outstanding characteristics of the Messiah are: He will be a conqueror, and his kingdom will embrace all peoples. Both the Messiah and the Lord God are spoken of

as coming to save their people; these two divergent lines converge in Christ, who was both Messiah and God. The divinity of Jesus Christ is the key to understanding much of the Old Testament prophecies.