the jewish tradition of two messiahs - david sper, kevin williams

8/13/2019 The Jewish Tradition of Two Messiahs - David Sper, Kevin Williams

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THE JEWISHTRADITION OF

TWO MESSIAHS

IIn a culture that so oftenclaims Judeo-Christian roots,there is often a curiosity

even a fascinationwith things

Jewish. The Jewish people hadthousands of years of historywith God, a relationship thatformed the foundation upon

which the New Testament wasintroduced to the world. As we

read the Bible, we cant help butencounter Jewish places, names,and traditions.

In this booklet, staff writerKevin Williams helps us exploreone of those traditionsthe

Jewish expectation of twoMessiahs. Its our prayer thatthis examination will help us findsimilarities, and differences, thatchallenge both cultures toward amore open dialogue around thetimeless wisdom of the Scriptures.

Martin R. De Haan IIManaging Editor: David Sper Cover Photo:Terry BidgoodScripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by ThomasNelson, Inc. Used by permission.All rights reserved. 2004 RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan Printed in USA

CONTENTS

Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The TraditionOf Messiah . . . . . . . . . . . 5

One EndtimeDeliverer . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

A MessianicAnticipation . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Tradition OfTwo Messiahs . . . . . . . . . 9

A MessiahWho Suffers. . . . . . . . . 10

A MessiahWho Delivers . . . . . . . . 15

The TensionReconciled. . . . . . . . . . 16

What Do TheScriptures Say? . . . . . . . 22

IntermingledPromises . . . . . . . . . . . 22

One MessiahIn Two Missions . . . . . . 23

Was Yeshua ThePromised One? . . . . . . . 28

RBC Ministries. All rights reserved.


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TRADITION

OOne of the most

memorable songsfrom the musical

Fiddler On The Roofis inthe Prologue of Act One.Tradition introduces thestory of a Jewish family andcommunity living in thesmall village of Anatevka,Russia, during the harsh eraof Tsarist rule. The maincharacter, Tevye, complainsto God about the difficultyof being a chosen people

during an era of pogromsthe systematic eliminationof Jewish villages. Heconcludes, however, that

without tradition their liveswould be as unsteady as a

fiddler on the roof.Tradition plays a role

in the Jewish communityand in all of our lives.Customary ways of thinkingand acting give structure to

daily living and a sense ofconnection from one

generation to the next.

To help keep inperspective the Jewishtraditions we explore inthis booklet, we need toask ourselves, What

would our lives bewithout traditions? Frombirth to death, traditionstouch nearly every area oflife. Yet they often take onspecial significance in ourhouses of worship. Fromthe highly liturgical to the

very contemporary worshipservice, tradition plays apart in how we approach

the King of the universe andhow our theology is molded.The prayers we pray, thesongs we sing, the creeds

we recite, and the calendarwe use are all influenced by

tradition to some degree. Noless is true in the synagogue.

If one word coulddescribe Judaism, many

would agree that it istradition. It has been

cultivated like a fine artby the Jewish community.Especially during periods of

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exile, the family customs ofdiet, dress, holidays, rest,and worship becameextremely important. Even

when scattered among thenations of the world, thepeople of Israel haveretained a sense of identityand shared history bypassing on customary waysof living and thinking fromone generation to the next.

Judaism has many formsand branches, from the ultra-

Orthodox to the extremelyliberal: Hasidic, Orthodox,Conservative, Reformed, andReconstructionist. Amongnonreligious Jewish people,there is often a special

awareness of traditionevenif its only reflected in thedusty menorah on the

bookshelf, or the Star ofDavid kept in a jewelry box.Such faint remembrancesstand in contrast to thedisciplined, highly observantHasidic man who wears hisblack hat, curled sidelocks,and a long black coat.

Whether placed at the centeror outer edge of a Jewishpersons life, these traditionsreflect a communitys often-expressed need for identity,even when living away fromtheir historic homeland.

Wearing a skullcap,

which is called a kippah bysome or ayarmulke (ya-ma-kah), is an example. Thereare no records as to theorigin of this tradition. AnOrthodox rabbi will tell you

that, as important as thismasculine head coveringis to shared Jewish identity,it is not required by theScriptures. Yet the kippahalso shows how one custom

can give birth to others. Inan attempt to explain whyJewish males wear a head

3

If one word coulddescribe Judaism,many would agreethat it is tradition.



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covering, traditionalexplanations are handeddown from one generationto the next. Some Jewishfathers tell their childrenthat the kippah is a reminderof the separation that existsbetween man and God.Others explain that thetradition is a symbol of theturbans the Levites wore inthe temple, as a reminderof the Jewish personsrole as priest (Ex. 19:6).Even among cherishedtraditions, there is not

always agreement onwhat they mean or howthey are to be applied.

One of the mostcherished traditions in anobservant Jewish home is

the Sabbath meal, which isheld on Friday evenings aftersundown. According to thecollected oral traditions ofthe Talmud, one rabbi heldthat the Sabbath candles

must be lit first, followed bythe blessing over the breadand wine. Another rabbi

held that the bread andwine must be blessed first,and then the candles shouldbe kindled. The Talmuditself does not set downthe law but offers opinionsfrom which the studentdetermines his own opinion.In the majority of Jewishhomes, however, the practiceof lighting the candles firstbecame the time-honoredtradition that has held itsown for hundreds of years.

Tradition plays asignificant role in Jewish

life and thought. Sometimestraditions provide structureand continuity. Other timesthey take on a life of theirown and become ways ofexplaining beliefs, even

though many no longerremember or understand

why. The latter seems to bethe case with the traditionalbelief in two Messiahs. Yet,as we shall see, the tradition

has an understandableexplanation that is groundedin the Jewish Scriptures.

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THE TRADITIONOF MESSIAH

FFaith in the comingMessiah is deeply

rooted in historicalJudaism. Rambam(11351204), one of theirmost-read sages, wrote,Whoever does not believein him [the Messiah], ordoes not await his coming,denies not only the otherprophets but also the Torahand Moses, our teacher, forthe Torah attests to his

coming. 1

The New JewishEncyclopedia definesthe Messiah as a modifiedform of the Hebrew

wordMashiah meaning

anointed, applied in theBible to a person appointedfor special function, such asHigh Priest or King. Laterthe termMessiah came toexpress the belief that a

Redeemer, that is a divinelyappointed individual, will inthe end bring salvation to

the Jewish people and to theentire human race (p.317).

The Dictionary OfJewish Lore And Legendencapsulates the term

Messiah a bit moresuccinctly: The anointedking of the House of Davidof Bethlehem who will besent by God to inauguratethe final redemption in theend of days (p.132).

For the Christian reader,there will be many familiarthemes that surfacebetween these two views

of Messiah. For the Jewishreader, we can onlyattempt to paraphraseand summarize hundredsof years of theology intoa few pages. In an attempt

to do this, and beforelooking more closely atthe Scriptures themselves,lets take a look first atsome of the extrabiblicalJewish writings that reflect

messianic themes of theHebrew prophets.

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ONE ENDTIMEDELIVEREROne view of the Jewishanticipation of the last days,for instance, is summarizedby Raphael Patai in The

Messiah Texts:The pangs of themessianic times areimagined as havingheavenly as well asearthly sources andexpressions. Fromabove, awesomecosmic cataclysms willbe visited upon the earth:

conflagrations, pestilence,famine, earthquakes, hailand snow, thunder andlightning. These will beparalleled by evilsbrought by men upon

themselves: insolence,robbery, heresy, harlotry,corruption, oppression,cruel edicts, lack of truth,and no fear of sin. Allthis will lead to internal

decay, demoralization,and even apostasy.Things will come to such

a head that people willdespair of redemption.This will last seven years.

And then, unexpectedly,the Messiah will come(pp.95-96).

As seen above, themessianic expectation inJewish literature is very real.This anticipation is basedon the Hebrew prophets

who saw a time of terribletribulation called the timeof Jacobs trouble. In themidst of that darkest of ages,the Messiah will come, the

conquering King who will siton His throne in Jerusalemand establish the kingdomof heaven here on earth.

TheApocalypse OfAbraham, an extrabiblical

book, says:Then I will sound thetrumpet out of the air,and will send mine ElectOne [the Messiah],having in him all my

power, one measure [ofeach of my attributes];and this one shall

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summon my despisedpeople from the nations,and I will burn with firethose who have insultedthem and who have ruledover them in this Age(ibid, p.96).Jewish sources are

consistently clear that KingMessiah will be known asthe Prince of Peace, andduring His reign, there willbe a resurrection of the dead,followed by the great day of

judgment for all mankind.The way to the Garden of

Eden will be revealed. 2

A MESSIANICANTICIPATIONThe anticipation ofnational deliverance

through a person anointedby God has been a themeof Judaism throughout theages. Sometimes this sharedexpectation became a hopein false messiahs. At other

times, the title of messiahcame to rest on men whoreflected characteristics

of the great King andhope of Israel.

The word messiah literallymeans anointed, as doesthe word Christ. In Israel,priests were anointed, kings

were anointed, and some

theologians believe Goddivinely anointed others forthe purposes of redeeming

Israel from some calamity.Therefore, rabbinic traditionhas often seen messianiccharacteristics in thedeliverers of Israel. Hereare just four in a long list

of persons referred to asmessiah in extrabiblicalJewish literature.

7

The anticipation of

national deliverancethrough a personanointed by God

has been a

theme of Judaismthroughout the ages.



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Enoch. That angelcame to me, . . . saying,You are the Son of man[i.e., the Messiah] who artborn for righteousness, andrighteousness has restedupon you. The righteousnessof the Ancient of days shallnot forsake you (1 Enoch70:17-18).

Moses. My belovedis like a gazelle (Song 2:9).Rabbi Yitzhaq said, Just asthis gazelle can be seen andthen again hides itself, sothe first Messiah [Moses]

revealed himself to theChildren of Israel and thenagain hid himself fromthem. 3

Hezekiah. The HolyOne, blessed be He, wanted

to make Hezekiah [king ofJudah] the Messiah. 4

Menahem benAmiel. This is theMessiah of the lineage ofDavid, and his name is

Menahem ben Amiel. Hewas born during the reign ofDavid, king of Israel. 5

Often, however, theanticipation of a delivererallowed the people of Israelto put their faith in persons

who raised their hopeswithout being able todeliver. According to The

New Jewish Encyclopedia,Most leaders of messianicmovements are known asfalse messiahs. The mostimportant of these wereDavid Alroy in the 12thcentury; David Reubeni inthe 16th century; ShabbetaiTzevi in the 17th century;

and Jacob Frank in the 18thcentury. It is important tonote that some of the so-called false messiahs hadthe support of the greatintellects and spirits of their

day. Shabbetai Tzevi wasaccepted enthusiastically byscholars, rich men, and poormen alike (p.318).

The list goes on andon. In short, in Judaism

there is room for manypotential candidatesspanning the entirety

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of Israels history. Mostrecently, a sect of ultra-Orthodox (Lubavitchers) inNew York believed (and stillbelieve) that Chief RabbiMenachem Schneerson wasthe messiah. When he diedin 1994, they turned toIsaiah 53 to predict hisresurrection and ascensionto the throne in Jerusalem.To this day, this sect has notchosen another chief rabbias they await Schneersonsresurrection.

THE TRADITIONOF TWOMESSIAHS

WWithin Judaism,however, there is

another way ofapproaching the anticipationof Messiah that deservesspecial attention. This ideais not simply messianicin principle, but is a way of

explaining descriptions ofthe great King Messiahthat is deeply rooted in the

Jewish Scriptures. An often-repeated concept within thetradition of Israel is thatthere is not one Messiahbut two:Moshiach ben YosefandMoshiach ben David(Messiah son of Joseph andMessiah son of David). Likethe kippah and the candles

weve already mentioned,this is a tradition establishedby the rabbis long ago and amatter we shall examine incloser detail.

Pick up almost anyJewish dictionary or

encyclopedia, look up theword messiah, and you willfind references to not onemessianic figure but two:Messiah ben Joseph andMessiah ben David. But

why? How did such adichotomy come to be?

In the years following thedestruction of the temple in

AD 70, Jewish sages lookedat the Scriptures and saw

two distinct characteristicsof the promised Messiahin the texts. As they

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studied these dissimilarcharacteristics, they sawpromises so divergent as tobe seemingly incompatible.

A MESSIAHWHO SUFFERSAccording to Isaiah 53:2-8,

He shall grow up beforeHim as a tender plant,and as a root out of dry

ground. He has no formor comeliness; and whenwe see Him, there is nobeauty that we shoulddesire Him. He is despised

and rejected by men, aMan of sorrows andacquainted with grief. Andwe hid, as it were, ourfaces from Him; He wasdespised, and we did not

esteem Him. Surely Hehas borne our griefs andcarried our sorrows; yetwe esteemed Him stricken,

smitten by God, andafflicted. But He was

wounded for ourtransgressions, He wasbruised for our iniquities;

the chastisement for ourpeace was upon Him, andby His stripes we arehealed. All we like sheephave gone astray; we haveturned, every one, to hisown way; and the Lordhas laid on Him theiniquity of us all. He wasoppressed and He wasafflicted, yet He openednot His mouth; He wasled as a lamb to the

slaughter, and as a sheepbefore its shearers is silent,

so He opened not His

mouth. He was takenfrom prison and from

judgment, and who willdeclare His generation?For He was cut off fromthe land of the living; for

the transgressions of Mypeople He was stricken.Some modern rabbis

insist that this passagehas nothing at all to do

with the Messiah. They

say the unidentified Hein this passage should beinterpreted as the people of

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Israel. In other words, theend of verse 3 might read,And we [the Gentilenations] hid, as it were, ourfaces from Israel; Israelwasdespised, and we did notesteem Israel. Surely Israelhas borne our griefs andcarried our sorrows.

This explanation has itsown difficulties, as it wouldsuggest that Isaiah was not

written for the Jewish peoplebut for the Gentiles. Evenif that were true, thisinterpretation views the

chosen people as aninnocent sacrifice for thesinning nations of the world.

Yet the prophecy of Isaiahbegins with the words of aGod who is brokenhearted

over the sins of His peopleIsrael. Isaiah begins withthe following words:

Hear, O heavens, andgive ear, O earth! For theLord has spoken: I have

nourished and brought upchildren, and they haverebelled against Me; the

ox knows its owner andthe donkey its masterscrib; but Israel does notknow, My people do notconsider. Alas, sinfulnation, a people ladenwith iniquity, a brood ofevildoers, children who arecorrupters! They haveforsaken the Lord, theyhave provoked to angerthe Holy One of Israel,they have turned awaybackward (Isa. 1:2-4).Further complications

arise by interpreting Isaiah

53 as a people and not aperson. To suggest thatall of Israel must dieas a sin offering wouldcontradict the promisesof Jeremiah 31:35-36.

Thus says the Lord, whogives the sun for a light byday, the ordinances of themoon and the stars for alight by night, whodisturbs the sea, and its

waves roar (The Lord ofhosts is His name): Ifthose ordinances depart

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from before Me, saysthe Lord, then the seedof Israel shall also ceasefrom being a nationbefore Me forever.Gods promise is that

Israel shall never cease toexistthat they will neverbe cut off from the living. Tosuggest that the people ofIsrael must die for the sinsof the nations is problematicbecause biblically, wheneverIsrael suffered, it wasinvariably because of herown sin, not for the sins of

others.Israels experiences teach

all of us, Jew or Gentile,about the character of God.Israels history is a wordpicture for all people to better

understand who God is andwhat the consequences of sinare. But to insinuate that theJewish people as a wholemust suffer and die as anatonement for the iniquities

of the Gentiles is withoutbiblical precedence.

In contrast to the thought

that Israel is the sufferingservant of Isaiah 53, RabbiJonathan ben Uzziel fromearly in the second century

wrote:Behold my servantMessiah shall prosper;he shall be high, andincrease, and beexceeding strong: asthe house of Israellooked to him throughmany days, becausetheir countenance wasdarkened among thepeoples, and their

complexion beyondthe sons of men. 6

This disciple of Hillel,one of Israels mostrenowned and respectedrabbis, saw the suffering

servant of Isaiah 53 asbeing the Messiah.

The Babylonian Talmudagrees:

The Messiahwhat is hisname? . . . The Rabbis

say, the leprous one;those of the house ofRabbi say, the sick one,

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as it is said, Surelyhe hath borne oursicknesses. 7

The 16th-centuryscholar Rabbi Moshe

Alshekh wrote:Our Rabbis with one

voice, accept and affirmthe opinion that theprophet is speaking ofking Messiah. 8

Alfred Edersheim(18251889), noted scholarand author of a number of

books on Jewish life andworship in the years beforethe destruction of the

temple, wrote:As the Old Testamentand Jewish traditiontaught that the objectof a sacrifice was itssubstitution for theoffender, so Scripture andthe Jewish fathers alsoteach that the substituteto whom all these typespointed was none otherthan the Messiah. 9

To entertain the notionthat the people of Israel

would have to become anoffering for sin (Isa. 53:10)

breaks with the simplemeaning of the text anddeparts from their owntraditions concerningIsaiah 53. For the Jewishpeople to become a sin

offering, or asham in theHebrew, would meanbecoming a substitutionaryatonement for a repentantsinneran offering withoutspot or blemish. Without

repentance by the sinner,there could be noatonement for him. For

13

A disciple of Hillel,one of Israels

most renowned andrespected rabbis,saw the suffering

servant of Isaiah 53as being theMessiah.



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a substitutionarysacrifice to be acceptable,it had to be made in thetemple in Jerusalem by thesinner or there could be noatonement. At no time inhuman history have Jewishpeople died as an asham (asin offering in the temple)to atone for Gentile sins.

It seems more practicaland in keeping with the textthat the prophet is speakingof a unique person, theMessiah. This continuesto be the interpretation in

many Jewish circles today.Consider the followingprayer offered insynagogues around the

world on Yom Kippur, theDay of Atonement:

Our righteous Anointed isdeparted from us; horrorhas seized us and wehave none to justify us.He has borne the yoke ofour iniquities. He bears

our sins on his shoulderthat we may find pardonfor our iniquities. We

shall be healed by hiswounds, at the time thatthe Eternal will bring himanew. Hasten the day

when he will assembleus a second time by thehand of the one whoshall endure forever. 10

The overtones of Isaiah53 cannot be missed. Thefact that the Jewish peoplepray for him to accomplishall these deeds leaves one

with the impression thatthey are not praying forGentile atonement but for

their own, by the hands ofthe Messiah.

While many modernrabbis believe Isaiah 53 tobe about Israel, the oldertradition, that the suffering

servant is the Messiah, isno less respected. Judaism isalso known for having morethan one opinion. As thestory goes, you can havetwo Jewish men and three

Jewish opinionsand theycan all be accepted aslegitimately Jewish.

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So Isaiah 53, from atraditional Jewishperspective as well asa plain reading of thetext, appears to say thatsomeonea uniquepersonis going to sufferand die, and that thissuffering servant is theMessiah.

A MESSIAHWHO DELIVERSIf you were an oppressedand dispersed peoplehoping for a conquering

king (as the Jewish peoplewere in AD 70), thenIsaiah 53 would not be veryencouraging. Passages likeDaniel 7:13-14 would bemuch more appealing:

I was watching in thenight visions, and behold,One like the Son of Man,coming with the clouds ofheaven! He came to the

Ancient of Days, and they

brought Him near beforeHim. Then to Him was

given dominion and glory

and a kingdom, that allpeoples, nations, andlanguages should serveHim. His dominion isan everlasting dominion,which shall not passaway, and His kingdomthe one which shall notbe destroyed.This regal and victorious

description of Messiah hasbeen the expectation ofmany people for millennia.Jewish people of faith haveclung to the tradition andpromise of a deliverer, a

Savior who would throwoff the yoke of oppressive

governments and establishan indestructible kingdomon earth.

Certainly, the Bible

appears to support sucha king:

Of the increase of Hisgovernment and peacethere will be no end, uponthe throne of David and

over His kingdom, to orderit and establish it with

judgment and justice from

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that time forward, evenforever. The zeal of theLord of hosts will performthis (Isa. 9:7).

In mercy the thronewill be established; andOne will sit on it in truth,in the tabernacle of David,

judging and seekingjustice and hasteningrighteousness (Isa. 16:5).Even the New Testament

mirrors the hope of aMessiah seated on a throne:

He will be great, and willbe called the Son of the

Highest; and the LordGod will give Him thethrone of His fatherDavid (Lk. 1:32).

THE TENSION

RECONCILEDThese scriptural dichotomiesbetween a suffering and aconquering Messiah were sodiscordant that for at leastsome Jewish students and

scholars, there was only oneway it could be reconciledthere had to be two

Messiahs: one who suffersand dies, and the other a

great king who conquers allof Gods enemies.

In the 10th century,as Catholicism had spreadthroughout Europe, andIslam had taken root in theMiddle East, there was a

great deal of discussionabout who the Messiah

would or should be. TheJewish people were feelingpressed on both sides and

yearned for a Savior.The collective oral

traditions of the Talmud hadbeen recorded 400 yearsearlier but gave no singleand clear expectation. Infact, the oral tradition ofthe rabbis presented many

views, some of whichappeared contradictory toone another and spurred

great debate. One highlyregarded rabbi duringEuropes Medieval Period

was a Babylonian rabbi,Saadiah Gaon (882942),

who attempted to narrow

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the scope of the debate witha two-Messiah position.

According to MichaelBrown:

[Rabbi Saadiah Gaon]explained that there

would actually be twoMessiahs, the Messiahson of Joseph (mentionedexplicitly in the Talmudin b. Sukkah 52a), who

was associated with atime of victory mixed

with hardship andcalamity, and theMessiah son of David,

who would establishGods kingdom on theearth. 11

Apart from the singularTalmudic reference, RabbiGaon is the earliest known

Jewish scholar to articulatethis two-Messiah position,and one of the only peopleto develop it into theMessiah son of Josephtheology. However, for Rabbi

Gaon, the coming of theMessiah son of David wascontingent entirely on the

work of the sufferingservant, Messiah sonof Joseph. Rabbi Gaonappears to have been alone voice in an era ofupheaval, persecution, andJewish assimilations into theChristian and Muslim world.

His work was picked upa few decades later by RabbiHai Gaon because theJewish community in what isnow modern Iraq was stilllooking for clarification on

what to expect about thecoming Messiah.

The biblical referencesto Joseph as a type ofMessiah are mysterious yetunderstandable in light of allthat the patriarch Josephendured in order to become

the eventual deliverer of hispeople. Josephs redemptivesuffering and life story wasthought by some to be aparallel to those messianicpassages that spoke of a

suffering servant.The extrabiblical

bookJoseph And Asenath is

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based on the two biblicalcharacters. Asenath,according to Genesis,became Josephs wife inEgypt and bore him twosons: Ephraim andManasseh (Gen. 46:20).

Joseph And Asenathwasoriginally written in Greek,likely in Alexandria, Egypt,and adopted by both Jewishand Christian movementsfor its many rich pictures ofpagans becoming faithfulbelievers and a holy bride.

In the years during the

formation of the Talmud,Joseph And Asenathwas stillquite popular, though laterrejected as nonbiblical. Itsinfluence presenting Josephas a type of a redeemer

during such a historicaljuncture cannot beoverlooked.

But the Bible alonedemonstrates many clearand godly characteristics of

Joseph, certainly suitable fora comparison with theexpected Messiah. The same

is true of King David, whothrough a covenant withGod founded an everlastingdynasty, expanded theborders of Israel, andplanned to build a housefor God.

In the two-Messiahapproach, some texts pointto Messiah son of David, yetother texts of Jewish traditionspeak of another mighty

warrior who more closelyreflects the experience ofJacobs son Joseph. RaphaelPatai, in The Messiah Texts,

writes:He is the warrior-Messiah

whose coming waspredicted to his firstancestress, Rachel.

When, after years of

barrenness, Rachel finallygave birth to a son, shecalled his name Yosef,saying, May the Lordadd [yosef] to me anotherson (Gen. 30:24).

A Midrash fragmentexplains: Hence [weknow] that the Anointed

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of War will arise in thefuture from Joseph. 12

This warrior in whommuch hope was placed,however, suffers and dies.

As noted earlier, thisdeath is importantbecause, according to thetwo-Messiah position, theMessiah son of David

cannot appear until this firstMessiah suffers and dies.

The second Messiahs arrivalis contingent on the firstarrival. According to yet

another extrabiblical sourcewritten in Aramaic aroundthe time of the templesdestruction in AD 70:

And whosoever isdelivered from thepredicted evil shall seeMy wonders. For My son,the Messiah, shall berevealed, together withthose who are with him,and shall gladden thesurvivors four hundred

years. And it shall be,after those years, that Myson, the Messiah, shall

die (Esdras 7:27-30).Though Jewish in origin,

it is understandable thatsuch a text would not beconsidered an authoritativebook within Jewish theology

as it calls the Messiah Godsson. Esdras uses languagethat is similar to that usedof Yeshua (today recognizedby the anglicized nameJesus), who was attested

by His followers to be GodsSon. But from a historicalperspective, because the

19

According tothe two-Messiah

position, theMessiah son

of David cannotappear until theMessiah son

of Joseph suffersand dies.



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messianic figure in Esdrasdies, he is considered byHebrew scholarship to bethe Messiah son of Joseph.

Speaking of the Messiahwho would suffer and die,Rabbi Hai Gaon wrote:

At that time a man willarise from among theChildren of Joseph . . .and he will be calledMessiah of God. Andmany people will gatheraround him in UpperGalilee, and he will betheir king. . . . But most

of Israel will be in theirexile, for it will notbecome clear to themthat the end has come.

And then Messiah benJoseph, with the men

who rally around him,will go up from theGalilee to Jerusalem. 13

According to this rabbinictradition, then, Messiah sonof Joseph will come from

the region of Galilee, andthough many will notrecognize the importance

of the age in which they live,this man will go with hisfollowers to Jerusalem. Butthe rabbis predictionscontinue:

And when Messiah benJoseph and all the people

with him will dwell inJerusalem, Armilus willhear their tiding and willcome and make magicand sorcery to lead manyastray with them, and he

will go up and wage waragainst Jerusalem, and

will defeat Messiah ben

Joseph and his people,and will kill many ofthem . . . . And he willslay Messiah ben Josephand it will be a greatcalamity for Israel. 14

Armilus in Jewishtradition is considered to bethe devil, an anti-messiahcharacter originating fromGog and Magog. It wouldappear that this Armilus

defeats this messianiccharacter and crushes thepeoples messianic hope.

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The text continues:Why will permission begranted to Armilus to slayMessiah ben Joseph? Inorder that the heart ofthose of Israel who haveno faith should break,and so that they say:This is the man for

whom we have hoped;now he came and waskilled and no redemptionis left for us. And they

will leave the covenantof Israel, and attachthemselves to the

nations, and the latterwill kill them. 15

Continuing with this two-Messiah position, the rabbipredicted that many wouldplace their hope in Messiah

son of Joseph. Their hopeswould be dashed so thatthey would fall away fromJudaism. And then they

would fall into calamityamong the Gentiles. But the

story does not end here:When Messiah benJoseph is killed, his body

will remain cast out [inthe streets] for forty days,but no unclean thing willtouch him, until Messiahben David comes andbrings him back to life,as commanded by theLord. And this will bethe beginning of thesigns which he willperform, and this isthe resurrection ofthe dead which willcome to pass. 16

Although Messiah son ofJoseph is killed, Messiah son

of David brings him back tolife.

For the Christian reader,these themes may sound

very familiar, though notparticularly accurate. For the

Jewish reader, these rabbinicprophecies may border onthe absurd.

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WHAT DO THESCRIPTURES SAY?

BBecause the Hebrewword translatedmessiah means

anointed, the Scripturesspeak of both kings andpriests as being anointedones. In one text, even thePersian King Cyrus isreferred to as Godsanointed because he wasused by God to deliver Hispeople from exile (Isa. 45:1).Even so, the Scriptures point

to an anointed prophet,priest, and king who woulddo for Gods people whatthey could not do forthemselves. Jewish literatureoften refers to this unique

individual as KingMessiah.

INTERMINGLEDPROMISES

The scepter shall not

depart from Judah, nor alawgiver from between hisfeet, until Shiloh comes;

and to Him shall be theobedience of the people(Gen. 49:10).

Written approximately4,000 years ago, thisprophecy attributed to thepatriarch Jacob states thatthe rule or authority overIsrael as a nation would beestablished and maintainedthrough the tribe of Judah.

Behold, the days arecoming, says the Lord,that I will raise toDavid a Branch ofrighteousness; a King

shall reign and prosper,and execute judgmentand righteousness in theearth (Jer. 23:5).

Written nearly 2,600years ago by the prophet

Jeremiah, the lineage andrule of the Messiah is onceagain predicted to comethrough King Davidsbloodline.

Therefore the Lord Himself

will give you a sign:Behold, the virgin shallconceive and bear a Son,

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and shall call His nameImmanuel (Isa. 7:14).Immanuel means God

with us, and His birth wasto be miraculous. A virgin,one who never knew a man,

would bear a child.But you, BethlehemEphrathah, though

you are little amongthe thousands of Judah,

yet out of you shall comeforth to Me the One tobe Ruler in Israel, whose

goings forth are from ofold, from everlasting

(Mic. 5:2).The birthplace of this

Messiah is Bethlehem.In the Hebrew languageit means House of Bread.How can we assume that

this verse is referring to theMessiah? Because He isset to rule Israel. Butmore important, His goingsforth are from everlasting.He has been waiting in the

wings of eternity for theright moment to cometo the earth.

ONE MESSIAH INTWO MISSIONSThere are many otherprophecies that could belisted and discussed beyondthe scope of this booklet.But its important to seehow the Hebrew Scripturesthemselves allude to themerging of suffering andpower in one Person.

God said through theprophet Isaiah, Say to thedaughter of Zion, Surely

your salvation is coming;behold, His reward is with

Him, and His work beforeHim (Isa. 62:11). This ishow it is rendered in nearlyevery English translation.Grammatically, it is a bitawkward: Salvation is

coming, and His reward iswith Him, and His workbefore Him. It sounds as ifsalvation in this passage isan actual person. PerhapsGod has planted another

clue in His Word. The wordsalvation in this passage isalso a proper Hebrew

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nameYeshua. So, it wouldthen read, Say to thedaughter of Zion, Surely

Yeshua is coming; behold,His reward is with Him, andHis work before Him.Grammatically, it makessense.

Was there ever a mannamed Yeshua of the tribe ofJudah, from the house ofDavid, attested to have beenborn of a virgin in the townof Bethlehem? Yes! But mostpeople know Him by Hisanglicized nameJesus.

For those who believeYeshua was the predictedMessiah who was born inBethlehem to die outside the

walls of Jerusalem, the dualthemes of a suffering and

powerful Messiah merge intoone Person. In His firstcoming, He fulfilled thepicture of Joseph whosebetrayal and suffering wasused by God to save His

people. In His promisedreturn, He will fulfill the

word picture of David who

will reign in Jerusalem asConqueror, Deliverer, andKing of the world. As Godsultimate Anointed One,

Yeshua fulfills the wordpictures of every provision ofthe Law, the Prophets, andthe Psalms (see Lk. 24:44)that God has ever given.

Some rabbis have builttheir case for two (or more)Messiahs on the opinions ofother rabbis. But the casefor Yeshua was made bymultiple witnesses who lived

with Him 2,000 years ago.

Those around Him routinelysaw the manifestation ofGod in and through Him,and they proclaimed Himthe Messiah, the Son of God.

Suffering Messiah.

Like Messiah son of Joseph,Yeshua suffered and diedfulfilling the prophecy:

Surely He has borne ourgriefs and carried oursorrows; yet we esteemed

Him stricken, smitten byGod, and afflicted. But Hewas wounded for our

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The historical Yeshuawas taken by force andexecuted by the Romans.

Yet another remarkableevent was witnessed notby a few, not by dozens,but by hundreds of menand women in Jerusalem.He rose from the dead!

Orthodox Rabbi PincasLapide writes, This Jesus

was utterly true to the Torah,as I myself hope to be. Ieven suspect that Jesus wasmore true to the Torah thanI, an orthodox Jew. 17

Lapide also writes, Iaccept the resurrection ofEaster Sunday not as aninvention of the communityof disciples, but as ahistorical event. 18 This

too was in keeping withthe prophet Isaiah:

Yet it pleased the Lord tobruise Him; He has putHim to grief. When Youmake His soul an offering

for sin, He shall see Hisseed, He shall prolong Hisdays, and the pleasure of

the Lord shall prosper inHis hand (Isa. 53:10).The Messiah was to be

an offeringa sin offeringthat had to be slaughtered.But His days would beprolonged nonetheless.He would die, but death

would not hold Him. Thistoo was prophesied by thepsalmist: Nor will You let

Your Holy One see decay(Ps. 16:10 NIV).

If there was ever a personwho fit the description of the

rabbis concept of a Messiahson of Joseph, it was thishistorical figure, Yeshua.

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If there was ever

a person who fitthe description ofthe rabbis conceptof a Messiah sonof Joseph, it was

this historicalfigure,Yeshua.



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The Returning,Conquering Messiah.Does Yeshua also fit thedescription of the rabbisMessiah son of David?

Yes. He was of the lineof the house of David andsaid He would return as theconquering King of Israel.

If you read His wordsand the teachings of Hisdisciples, you will see thatHe promised to come again.

And when He returns, Hewill establish His throne inJerusalem:

Then the sign of the Sonof Man will appear inheaven, and then all thetribes of the earth willmourn, and they will seethe Son of Man coming on

the clouds of heaven withpower and great glory.And He will send Hisangels with a great soundof a trumpet, and they will

gather together His elect

from the four winds, fromone end of heaven to theother (Mt. 24:30-31).

For the Lord Himselfwill descend from heavenwith a shout, with thevoice of an archangel, andwith the trumpet of God(1 Th. 4:16).

I saw heaven opened,and behold, a white horse.

And He who sat on himwas called Faithful andTrue, and in righteousnessHe judges and makes war.His eyes were like a flameof fire, and on His headwere many crowns. Hehad a name written that

no one knew exceptHimself. He was clothedwith a robe dipped inblood, and His name iscalled The Word of God.

And the armies in heaven,

clothed in fine linen, whiteand clean, followed Himon white horses. Now outof His mouth goes a sharp

sword, that with it Heshould strike the nations.

And He Himself will rulethem with a rod of iron.He Himself treads the

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winepress of the fiercenessand wrath of AlmightyGod. And He has on Hisrobe and on His thigh aname written: KING OFKINGSAND LORD OFLORDS (Rev. 19:11-16).

Yeshua, or Jesus if youprefer, will return again asthe conquering king. Theexpected messianic figureof Daniel 7:13-14 will be

visible:I was watching in thenight visions, and behold,One like the Son of Man,

coming with the clouds ofheaven! He came to the

Ancient of Days, and theybrought Him near beforeHim. Then to Him was

given dominion and glory

and a kingdom, that allpeoples, nations, andlanguages should serveHim. His dominion isan everlasting dominion,which shall not pass

away, and His kingdomthe one which shall notbe destroyed.

WAS YESHUA THEPROMISED ONE?

IIn this booklet, wehave examined Jewishtheology concerning

two Messiahs. The first,Messiah son of Joseph,

would come as the onewho would suffer, die, andbe resurrected. And Hisdeath would prepare the

way for the coming of theMessiah son of David, theconquering King of kings.

For the Christian

reader, based on repeatedtestimony from Jewish menand women in the NewTestament, it becomes clearthat these two Messiahsare one and the samethe

historical person known asJesus, who came, suffered,died, and rose again.In the fullness of time, Hisresurrection will reach itspinnacle when He returns in

power and glory to assumeHis throne in Jerusalem.

For the Jewish reader,

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they shall lift up theireyes unto me in perfectrepentance, when theysee him whom theypierced, that is Messiah,the Son of Joseph; for ourRabbis, of blessedmemory, have said thathe will take upon himselfall the guilt of Israel, andshall then be slain in the

war to make atonementin such manner that itshall be accounted as ifIsrael had pierced him,for on account of their sin

he has died; and,therefore, in order that itmay be reckoned to themas a perfect atonement,they will repent and lookto the blessed One,

saying that there is nonebeside him to forgivethose that mourn onaccount of him who diedfor their sin: this is themeaning of They shall

look upon me. 19Messianic rabbi Bruce

L. Cohen writes:

For us to have piercedHim, He would haveto have been here onearth before the scenedescribed in Zechariah12. He could not havepierce-marks on Him that

we would recognize ashaving been given Himby us (humankind)unless there weresomething recognizableabout Him and thepierce-marks on Him. 20

Someone was pierced.Yeshua was nailed to the

execution stake, suffered,and died. This resonates

with the scholarship ofRabbi Hai Gaon:

And at that time a manwill arise from among the

Children of Joseph . . .and he will be calledMessiah of God. Andmany people will gatheraround him in UpperGalilee, and he will be

their king . . . . But mostof Israel will be in theirexile, for it will not

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become clear to themthat the end has come. 21

Rabbi Hai Gaon(mentioned earlier onpp.17,20-21) writes thatMessiah son of Joseph willbe resurrected, And this

will be the beginning of thesigns which he will perform,and this is the resurrectionof the dead which will cometo pass. 22

A day is coming when allIsrael will mourn becausethey did not know the One

who had been pierced. Theywill mourn because so many

generations will have passedand missed the PromisedOne, Gods Anointed.

You need not be amongthe mourners. Whether youare Jewish or Gentile, theLight of the world waits for

you to acknowledge that Heis the one true Messiah, who

was pierced and who iscoming again.

Blessed are YouO Lord, our God, King ofthe universe, who fulfillsHis promises and has

promised us the Messiah,our Redeemer. May ourhearts be turned toward

You, Almighty One, and maywe be found faithful on theday of the Messiahs return,the One in whom the NewCovenant, Your promised

salvation, is made manifest

according to Your eternalplan. Though our sins bemany, though they be redas scarlet, make themwhite as snow throughthe death and resurrection of

Your Son. Blessed are You,O Lord, who gives us

salvation.

31

A day is comingwhen all Israel will

mourn because theydid not know the

One who hadbeen pierced.



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ENDNOTES1. Hilchos Melachim FromThe Mishneh Torah Of TheRambam,11:12. Dictionary Of JewishLore And Legend (London:Thames and Hudson Ltd,1991), p.1323. Pesikta de Rav Kahanaby Bernard Mandelbaum(Jewish TheologicalSeminary Of America,1962), pp.91-924. B. Sanhedrin 94a5.www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jcreeves/sefer_

zerubbabel.htm6. Targum Jonathan onIsaiah 53, ad Iocum7. Sanhedrin 98b8. What The RabbisKnow About The Messiah

by Rachmiel Frydland(Columbus: MessianicPublishing Co, 1993), p.539. The Temple: Its Ministry

And Services by AlfredEdersheim (Hendrickson

Publishers, 1994), p.9810. Prayer Book For TheDay Of Atonement (Hebrew

Publishing Co., 1928)11.Answering JewishObjections To Jesus, Vol. 2by Michael Brown (GrandRapids: Baker Books, 2002),p.21212. The Messiah Textsby Raphael Patai (Detroit:

Wayne State UniversityPress, 1988), p.16513. ibid, p.16814. ibid, p.16915. ibid, p.16916. ibid, p.16917. The Resurrection Of

Jesus: A Jewish Perspective

by Pinchas Lapide (Eugene:Wipf and Stock Publishers,2002), p.1118. ibid, p.1319. Everymans Talmud:The Major Teachings Of The

Rabbinic Sages by A. Cohen(Schocken Books, 1995),p.9520. The Suffering MessiahIn Jewish Sacred Writ,

www.bethelnyc.org/

sufferingmessiah.asp21. The Messiah Texts, p.16822. ibid, p.169

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