a word signifying one anointed, or installed into an office by unction. It was usual among the Jews to anoint kings, high priests, and sometimes prophets, at the designation or installment of them, to signify emblematically the mental qualifications necessary for discharging these offices. Saul, David, Solomon, and Joash, kings of Judah, received the royal unction. Aaron and his sons received the sacerdotal, and Elisha the disciple of Elijah received the prophetic unction.—The name MESSIAH, Anointed or Christ (Χριστός), was given to the kings and high priests of the Jews. The patriarchs and prophets are also called by the name of Messiah, or the Lord's anointed. See I Sam. xii. 3, 5. 1 Chron. xvi. 22. Pf. cv. 15.

But this name Messiah was principally and by way of eminence given by the Jews to their expected great deliverer, whose coming they still vainly wait; and is a name the Christians apply to Jesus Christ, in whom the prophecies relating to the Messiah were accomplished. The sum of these prophecies is, That there should be a glorious person named Messiah, descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who should be born at Bethlehem, of a virgin of the family of David, then in its decline, before the Jews ceased to be a people, while the second temple was standing, and about 500 years after Ezra's time; who, though appearing in mean circumstances, should be introduced by a remarkable forerunner, whose business it should be to awaken the attention and expectation of the people. That this illustrious person called Messiah should himself be eminent for the piety, wisdom, and benevolence of his character, and the miraculous works he should perform: yet that, notwithstanding all this, he should be rejected and put to death by the Jews; but should afterwards be raised from the dead, and exalted to a glorious throne, on which he should through all generations continue to rule, at the same time making intercession for sinners. That great calamities should for the present be brought on the Jews for rejecting him; whereas the kingdom of God should by his means be erected among the Gentiles, and disperse itself even unto the ends of the earth; wherever it came, destroying idolatry, and establishing true religion and righteousness. In a word, That this glorious person should be regarded by all who believed in him as a divine teacher, an atoning sacrifice, and a royal governor? by means of whom God would make a covenant with his people, very different from that made with Israel of old; in consequence of which they should be restored to, and established in, the divine favour, and fixed in a state of perpetual happiness. See JESUS Christ, and CHRISTIANITY.

The Jews, as was already observed, still wait for the coming of the Messiah, being impressed with the notion of a temporal Messiah, who is to be a mighty conqueror, and to subdue all the world. Most of the modern rabbins, according to Buxtorf, believe that the Messiah is already come, but that he keeps himself concealed, and will not manifest himself because of the sins of the Jews. Some of the Jews, however, in order to reconcile these prophecies that seem to contradict each other as to the character and condition of the Messiah, have had recourse to the hypothesis of two Messiahs, who are yet to succeed each other; one in a state of humiliation and suffering; the other of glory, splendor, and power. The first, they say, is to proceed from the tribe of Ephraim, who is to fight against Gog, and to be slain by Annibulus, Zech. xii. 10. The second is to be of the tribe of Judah, and lineage of David, who is to conquer and kill Antichrist, and restore the kingdom of Israel, reigning over it in the highest glory and felicity.

Jesus Christ affirms himself the Messiah. In St John iv. 25, the Samaritan woman says to Jesus, I know that when Messiah comes, who is called the Christ, he will tell us all things. Jesus answered her, I that speak to thee am he.

There are several impostors, who have endeavoured to pass for Messiah, as Christ himself predicted. J. Lent, a Dutchman, has written a history De Pseudo-messis "Of False Messiahs." The first he mentions was one Barcochab, who appeared under the empire of Adrian. The last was Rabbi Mordesai, who began to be talked of in 1682. A little before him, viz. in 1666, appeared Sabbethai Sebi, who was taken by the Turks, and turned Mahometan.