Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889) was born in Vienna in a Jewish home. He was educated in Vienna in the Talmud and Torah at a Hebrew school. In 1841 he entered the University of Vienna but was forced to leave when his father suffered financial reversals. Edersheim emigrated to Hungary and supported himself by taking employment as a teacher of languages.
While in Hungary he befriended ‘Rabbi’ John Duncan, then a Free Church of Scotland missionary in Budapest. Edersheim was soundly converted to Christianity, and accompanied Rev. Duncan on his return to Scotland. He studied theology at New College, Edinburgh, and at the University of Berlin. In 1846 he was ordained to the ministry in the Free Church of Scotland. He was a missionary to the Jews at Iaşi, Romania, for a year, after which he returned to Scotland to minister in the Free Church.
In 1861 he resigned his ministry due to health problems. Edersheim authored numerous well-known devotional and historical works including History of the Jewish Nation after the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.