māšîaḥ

Semantic range

1. 1anointed — of kings, priests, and the patriarchs
2. 2the Lord's anointed, a title of the reigning king
3. 3the promised deliverer

Anointing with oil was Israel's rite of installation, and the anointed one was, by definition, the person God had placed in office. David repeatedly refuses to strike Saul because Saul is "the LORD's anointed" (1 Samuel 24:6) — a phrase about office, not merit.

By the post-exilic and intertestamental periods the title had concentrated on a coming deliverer. Daniel 9:25–26 speaks of "Messiah the Prince," and by the first century expectations were high and various. Latter-day Saints, reading the Book of Mormon, encounter a pre-Christian people who use both the Hebrew title and its Greek equivalent knowingly (1 Nephi 10:4–11; 2 Nephi 25:19).

See also

• ΧριστόςChristos
• כֹּהֵןkōhēn
• יהוהYHWH (Yahweh)