It is rare for me to rate a book as 5 stars even when it was written as recently as 20 years ago; it is even rarer for me to rate a non-fiction book so. For me, five stars means a book is not only good now, but it will be good for fifty or a hundred years. Yet Walter Kaiser's book 'The Messiah in the Old Testament' will be regarded as a standard apologetic work on Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament at least 50 years from now.

Dr. Kaiser begins by examining different methods of prophetic interpretation and settles on: '1) the meaning of the OT references to the Messiah must reflect the author's own times and historical circumstances, and 2) the meaning must be a meaning that is reflected in the grammar and syntax of the OT text'. Using these criteria he filters out many OT messianic references.

Dr. Kaiser then goes through the Messianic scriptures in chronological order, from Genesis 3:15 to Malachi 4:2. His second criterion necessarily requires him to delve extensively into Hebrew grammar. This is where his writing may become difficult for the lay reader of the Bible.

Persistence through these grammatical sections will lead the reader to a deeper understanding of the progressive revelation of the Messianic theme through the OT and how it unites the OT and NT. Detail upon detail concerning the coming Messiah will be revealed until the conclusion is inescapable: Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. ( )

NO OF PAGES: 256 SUB CAT I: Theology SUB CAT II: Tanach SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: This book approaches Israel's concept of the Messiah as a developing theme and shows how a proper grasp of the textual meaning of each stage of Old Testament revelation is necessary for understanding messianic prophecy.NOTES: SUBTITLE: