48 Cornelis Bennema In sum, 4 Ezra portrays a non-nationalistic Davidic warrior- messiah rooted in Isaiah 11, who will liberate “Israel” from the Romans not by human military means but by supernatural agency, namely, through forensic speech (11,36-46; 12,31-34) or a Spirit- imbued word (13,9-11) (42). 5. Conclusion Although the Palestinian messianic apocalyptic literature presents no homogenous view of the messiah and his functions, some common traits can be detected. In order to respond to the present political-religious crises, messianic apocalypticism envisaged the new age of peace and justice (God’s rule) on earth to occur through God’s Spirit-endowed messiah, and many of the texts we elucidated draw on or allude to Isaiah 11 (esp. v. 4), and sometimes Isaiah 42. We argued that the primary and powerful means by which the messiah executes judgment, sifts the righteous and the wicked, and establishes the new age is his Spirit- imbued word (of wisdom and power). Although messianic apoca- lypticism emphasizes the judgment aspect of the messiah’s Spirit- imbued word, this is not its only function. In Psalms of Solomon and Qumran, the messiah is also expected, with this same word, to provide cleansing, moral instruction and justice for the righteous. However, whereas Psalms of Solomon envisages only one messiah in whom both aspects of judgment and teaching are combined, Qumran could visualize two messiahs — the Davidic warrior-messiah and a teacher-messiah. Thus, Palestinian messianic apocalypticism developed, with various nuances, the picture of a Davidic Spirit-empowered messiah of Isa 11,1- 4.9; 42,1.4 (certainly the teaching function). We further discovered that, in Palestinian apocalyptic literature, the principal religious-political conflict is not between Israel and Rome but between the righteous and the wicked (whether the latter be Romans or Jewish aristocracy, collaborators or apostate high-priestly rulers) (43). The messianic figures that the apocalyptic literature presents, then, are (42) Although 2 Baruch, compiled around the same time as 4 Ezra, also depicts a traditional warrior-messiah, it does not reveal by what means he will achieve his task. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs do not shed more light on our agenda either. The apocalypse of Revelation, contemporary with 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, is more informative: it describes a messianic figure who destroys the wicked by a two-edged (s)word from his mouth (19,13-15; cf. 1,15-16; 2,12.16-17). (43) Cf. HORSLEY, Jesus, 133, 140; HORSLEY – HANSON, Bandits, 245.