Jew would allow," says a writer of that time, "that any
prophet ever said that a Son of God would come; but what the Jews do say
is that the Christ of God will come."

This circumstance, that the Jews did not expect the Messiah to be a
Divine Person, throws light upon certain passages in the Gospels. When,
for example, our Lord put the question, "What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He?" The Pharisees promptly answer, "He is the Son of David."
And, that they had no thought of ascribing to the Messiah a properly
Divine origin, is shown by their inability to answer the further
question, "How then does David call Him Lord?"--a question presenting no
difficulty at all to any one who believed that the Messiah was to be
Divine as well as human.[37]

So, too, if the Jews had expected the Messiah to be a Divine person, the
ascription of Messianic dignity to one who was not the Messiah was
blasphemy, being equivalent to ascribing Divinity to one who was not
Divine. But in no case in which Jesus was acknowledged as the Messiah
were those who so acknowledged Him proceeded against as blasphemous. The
blind men who appealed to Him as the Son of David were told to be quiet;
the crowd who hailed His entrance to Jerusalem scandalized the Pharisees
but were not proceeded against. And even the blind beggar who owned Him
was excommunicated by a special act passed for the emergency, which
proves that the standing statute against blasphemy could not in such a
case be enforced.

Again, this fact, that the Jews did not expect the Messiah to be
strictly Divine, sheds light on the real ground of accusation against
Jesus. So long as it was supposed that He merely claimed to be the
promised Christ, and used the title "Son of God" as equivalent to a
Messianic title, many of the people admitted His claim and were prepared
to own Him. But when the Pharisees began to apprehend that He claimed to
be the Son of God in a higher sense, they accused Him of blasphemy, and
on this charge He was condemned. The account of His trial as given by
Luke is most significant. He was tried in two courts, and in each upon
two charges. When brought before the Sanhedrim He was first asked, "Art
Thou the Christ?" a question which, as He at once pointed out, was
useless; because He had taught quite openly, and there were hundreds who
could testify to the claims He had put forward. He merely says that they
themselves will one day own His claim. "Hereafter shall the Son