The entire Old Testament is prophetic of the Messiah

In a very true sense the whole of the Old Testament is prophetic of the Messiah, indeed it may be said to have no other raison d'ètre; in St. Augustine's well-known words: in Novo Testamento patent quœ in Veteri latent. And herein lies the typical (i.e., allegorical type) sense of Holy Scripture; the persons who figure in its pages, the things they do, and the words they utter, are prefigurative of things spiritual and future. At the same time the Holy men of old as St. Peter says: inquired and diligently searched . . . what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them did signify, 1 Peter 1:10-12; they only saw vaguely what we now see so clearly. Hence many of their utterances are only with difficulty recognized as Prophetic, and none but the same Holy Spirit of God Who revealed these things to them, can declare to us, through the Church, in what sense we are to understand their words in St. Peter's words again: Understanding this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation. For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time; but the Holy men of God spoke inspired by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:20-21. Thus we are often surprised to find in N.T. passages from O.T. quoted as of the Messiah in a Way we should never have expected, e.g., Heb. 1:10-12; where Ps. 102[101]:26-27, is quoted; cf. Romans_10:20 and Is. 65:1, etc.

Hence in drawing up a list of Messianic passages we must not be understood as giving all those which are referable to the Messiah but rather those which, from their directness or importance, are most striking.

Following, then, the order of the Books, we have:

Genesis 3:14-15, to Eve, the Protevangelion as it is often termed, i.e., the first echo of the Gospel.

Genesis 12:3, 22:18, to Abraham

Genesis 26:4, to Isaac.

Genesis 28:14, to Jacob.

Genesis 49:8-12, of Judah as the chosen tribe in which the Messiah should come; spoken by Jacob when dying.

Numbers 24:17, spoken by Balaam.

Deuteronomy 18:15, of the whole series of Prophets, culminating in The Prophet Whom the others but heralded; spoken by Moses.

2 Sam. 7:15-29, the great promises to David by which his house was singled out forever, cf. 1 Paral. 17:7-27; on these promises the whole subsequent Messianic doctrine was based, and in their light alone can we understand the Messianic Psalms, 8, 15, 21, 44, 71, 109, and 131. But here, again, we must remember that the whole Psalter was, in a sense, Messianic; it was the Messianic hymn-book of the nation. Yet in certain Psalms, e.g., in those just enumerated, the Seer seems to be for a moment uplifted, the mists which are natural to prophecy are dissipated for an instant, and he breaks out into words which astonish us by their clear insight into the future; then again the mists settle down, and the mountain summits which had been visible for a moment are once more shrouded in gloom. As an example of the Messianic sense of the whole Psalter as the New Testament writers divinely understood it we should note Ps. 69, which we should hardly have thought of referring to the Messiah, yet this Psalm is more often quoted as referring to Him than any other Psalm in the whole collection.

Isaias is more than once spoken of by St. Jerome as rather an Evangelist than a Prophet, and the Saint's reason for so terming him is that the great Prophet sees so clearly into the future, and depicts in such striking language the sufferings of Our Lord that he might almost seem to have witnessed them. Hence it is difficult to single out special passages as Messianic when the whole Prophecy from start to finish may be called Messianic. Certain passages, however, stand out as pre-eminent:

Is. 7:14, 8:10, 9:6, 11:1-10, 16:1, 42:1-7, 52:13, 53:12, 61:1-6, 63:1-6, 64:1-4, 65:1-2.

In the Prophecies of Jeremias we have not such startling references to the King Who is to come, but amongst explicit declarations we may cite 1:32 and 23:14.

Baruch, 3:36-38 - God was seen upon the earth and conversed with men

Ezechiel, 44:1-3 - no man shall pass through the gate except the Lord

Daniel, 9:21-27 - Christ shall be slain; and the people that shall deny him shall not be his

Amos 9:11 - I will raise up the tabernacle of David

Micheas 5:2 - out of Bethlehem shall he come forth ... from the beginning, from the days of eternity.

Habacuc, 3:2, in LXX. cf. Introduction to Habacuc.

Aggeus, 2:8 - the desired of all nations shall come

Zacharias, 3:8, 6:12, 9:9 - The rising sun, the savior, come riding on the foal of an ass

Malachias, 1:11, 3:1-3, 4:2 - the Lord, whom you seek, shall come; they shall offer sacrifices to him; the Sun of justice shall arise

The student will do well to notice how these Prophecies grow in clearness and precision; thus the vague promise of Gen. 3 is in Gen. 49:10 limited to the tribe of Juda; in 2 Sam. 7 it is further defined as belonging to the House of David. In certain Psalms, e.g. Ps. 21 as also in Is. 53, the Messiah is depicted as suffering; in others, e.g., Ps. 92-98, He is described as the "triumphant King." In Isaias we begin to have specific Names for Him. He is the "Holy One of Israel," "My Servant," the "Servant of the Lord;" in Jeremias He is the "Just One;" in Ezechiel He is the "Prince;" in Daniel the "Saint of Saints;" in Micheas He is the "Ruler;" in Aggeus and Zacharias He is the "Orient;" in Malachi He is the "Angel of the Lord."


By Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.