Having faith in the coming of the Messiah is 1 of the 13 principles of Jewish faith. The philosopher Maimonides – also called Rambam – expressed this point as follows:
“I believe by complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he tarry in waiting, in spite of that, I will still wait expectantly for him each day that he will come.”[1]
Having faith in the coming of the Messiah is important because it is directly related to the belief in the Tanakh that speaks of the coming of the Messiah. In addition to the belief in the coming of the Messiah, there is the expectation of his coming. Faith is a passive attitude, expectation is a proactive approach. If you are expecting guests in your house, you clean your house and make your preparations for the arrival of those guests, this proactive approach must be adopted in the expectation of the Messiah.
The above-mentioned brings us to the question of whether this important point of faith to Jews, is also significant to Noahides. And the answer to that is: yes. The 13 principles of the Rambam are also good and applicable to non-Jews, as they all come from the Yeshodei Ha’Torah (Fundamental Principles of the Torah) part of Rambam.
There is however this caveat: Note that while a non-Jew has no obligation to these principles of faith, a Jew has an obligation to these principles of faith Yet, since these 13 principles represent the foundation of the Jewish faith, they also apply to Noahides who believe in G-d the way that traditional Judaism teaches.[2]
By Angelique Sijbolts
Sources:
[1] Rambam, Principles of the Faith, Principle 12.
[2] Background and Principles of an Affirmation by Chassidei Umot Ha’Olam – Ask Noah International.
Wat is de betekenis van de Messias voor Noachieden
Thanks to Dr. Michael Schulman for the feedback
Translated by Withney Ann Sieverink-McNair and Angelique Sijbolts
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