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The christological title ... ("the Holy One of God") appears a total of three times in the New Testament (Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, John 6:69) and is unattested in other Jewish and Christian literature. While scholars offer a wide range of proposals concerning the background and significance of this title, no one has demonstrated the possibility of a link with messianic traditions. In this article I examine four texts (Ps 88:19 LXX, LAB 59:2, Pss 152, 153) that explicitly refer to the anointed David as God's "holy one" and two additional sources that indicate awareness of the archaic tradition that the oil used to anoint Israel's kings was holy (Ps 89:21 [88:21]; 11QPsa XXVIII, 11; Josephus, Ant. 6.157). Next I explore how the underlying logical connection between "messiah" and "holy one" in these texts illuminates certain features of Mark's Gospel: (1) Jesus's baptism as a messianic anointing and his ensuing wilderness temptation (Mark 1:9-13), (2) the logical connection between the baptism-temptation sequence (1:9-13) and Jesus's first act of public ministry (1:21-28), and (3) the exorcistic connotations surrounding the title "son of David."
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It has become almost obligatory to begin a discussion of ... ("the Holy One of God") by conceding that it "was not a messianic title in Judaism."1 The title never occurs outside the New Testament and, outside of Mark 1:24, it occurs in only two other places (Luke 4:34, John 6:69).2 In light of such paltry attestation, some scholars reach the conclusion of Edwin Broadhead that ... is a "largely inconsequential description."3 Such pessimism is perhaps further warranted by the fact that, despite the efforts of a number of scholars, no compelling explanation for the derivation of this title has been proposed.4 Rather, it would appear that the best one can offer is a range of possible connotations that ayıoç tou Øsou might evoke.
In the secondary literature, four scriptural categories are suggested to offer potential points of resonance with Mark 1:24. These can be listed in descending order of popularity. First, many scholars recognize that ... echoes traditions about two of Israel's most famous charismatic prophets: (1) a widow of Zarephath addresses Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God?" (... 3 Kgdms...