Messiah b. Joseph & Messiah b. David are False Ideologies- Not Torah Based

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Nov 23, 2017

News Letter 5853-034
The 1st Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 22nd year of the Jubilee Cycle
The 5th day of the 9th month 5853 years after the creation of Adam
The 9th Month in the First year of the Fourth Sabbatical Cycle
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

November 25, 2017

Shabbat Shalom To the Royal Family,

9th New Moon

The New Moon of the 9th month.
There was no new moon sightings from Israel, Sunday, November 19, 2017. As this Sunday evening was the end of the 29th day, and a month cannot be more 30 days, the 9th month began Monday evening, November 20, 2017, by default. So Monday Evening and Tuesday day are day 1 of the 9th month.

 

In The Mail

Shalom and thanks Joseph, I really appreciate the enormous work you have done that I understand to date, and I am desperate to now know the full, unmixed, unvarnished TRUTH, whatever that means, whatever I must do and whatever happens to me in this life.

Thank you for the weekly newsletter and homework, and thank you also for being uncompromising in asserting the standard we have to reach for.
(Per your last newsletter, I am fully reconciled to perhaps dying sooner than I thought I would, just would prefer not a sticky end!)
Been holding you up in my prayers as well.
Praise to our loving heavenly father.
Blessings, Jane

Thank you, Jane and all those who are praying for me. Please also pray for each other. We need more labourers and we need them out there doing this work now. Also, pray for those who are hearing the message to answer the calling as you all did and not to dilly dally around. Time is quickly coming to a close for this age. But not before a whole lot of pain fist comes in the childbirth delivery. Pray for Telesphore and all the Pastors he is working within the 5 nations around him. Pray for Bro Aike in the Philippines and the work he is doing. Know these men do this full-time week in and week out, reaching into the Christian Churches and presenting the Torah to them with great success. Please do pray for them. I am very Blessed to have come to know both of them and to be able to continue to work with them as we work towards the Kingdom of Yehovah. But we need more men to step up and do the work. Not telling me about what they want to do, but to already be out there doing the work and teaching the Torah in all nations around the world.

I have met many from various countries and offered to help when we saw the fruits but the crickets are making more noise than most of you are right now. So please pray for more workers and more support and for more men to come from all these other nations who are going to do the work. Imagine how you would feel knowing what you now know if someone had never talked to you when you were first converted and told you the truth of the Torah. Then you would never have known the many wonders that you now know. But someone did say something to you and you are obligated to do the same and help find those others Yehovah is calling just as He did for you.

 

The 70 Years of Daniel

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution, which adopted the plan for the partition of Palestine, recommended by the majority of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). 33 states voted in favor of the resolution and 13 against. 10 states abstained.

We are now in 2017, which is the 70th year since this took place. Many groups have declared 2017 the Jubilee year. These same groups have also said that the 3 1/2 years of tribulation would be coming to a close at this time. And after this year we would begin the 7th Millennium with Jesus ruling over us.

These same groups have also used this following information to help them conclude these thoughts.

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government during World War I announcing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a minority Jewish population. It read:

His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917.


50 years after the Balfour Declaration was the Six Day War was fought from June 5th to June 10th in 1967 in Israel. This was believed to be a Jubilee Cycle. Yes, it was totally based on these two events being 50 years apart. And then they said let’s add the 70 years from the time the UN voted on the mandate to partition Palestine, which also landed in the year 2017. So they concluded just from this alone that the Jubilee year had to be 2017. And that the 7th Millennium was to begin in 2018.

Now, these groups are singing a different tune. Maybe the Jubilee year is 2018, they say because Israel became a nation May 14, 1948, when it was declared after the end of the civil war that was raging for 6 months in Palestine after the vote by the United Nation to partition Palestine between Palestinian Jews and Arabs Nov 29, 1947.

Many of these people are still hanging on to the Daniel Timeline Prophecy. It should have never have been taught because a Jubilee cycle is not and never was 50 years. It is as we have repeatedly proven a 49 year period with the 50th year also being the 1st year of the next cycle. Then, when the Great Tribulation that was to come and be a time unlike any other in history nor ever would be again like it, failed to begin in 2013, 3 /12 years before 2017, or even 2018 if you want to say that year, instead of admitting it was wrong they then began to say the tribulation would begin in 2017 and go for 3 1/2 years into the 7th Millennium.

Brethren, when will you stop guessing and stop being blown from one doctrine to another. Prove the facts for yourself and know! Know when the Jubilee years are, and know how many are allotted to man and know which one we are in right now. Yehovah would not give you the Sabbatical and Jubilee year instructions without you being able to know when to keep them. Then once you have proven them to yourself, then you too will be able to understand end-time prophecy and Know.

What Saudi Arabis is now doing in the Middle East should send chills down the spines of each one of you as they position themselves to take on Iran in Lebanon. And Saudi Arabia has allied themselves with Israel. This is part of the plan President Trump laid out in Riyad earlier this year. Once Iran is neutralized then the Palestinians would be placed in all the surrounding Arab countries. If on the other hand, Iran is allowed to continue to build up arms and missiles and Nuclear armaments as the Obama Deal allowed them to, then there would be a Nuclear race unlike anything we have seen before as Saudi with their vast wealth would begin to build up a Nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to Iran.

 

The King of the South is about to strike the King of the North which will lead to the United European Army invading the Middle East and putting them down. This will then lead to attacks on the USA and UK and the continued attacks and destruction of these two great superpowers for 6 1/4 years or 2300 mornings and evenings. A genocide of many of us.

Are you ready to prove fact from fiction? Are you ready to start to obey Yehovah for the sake of your loved ones? It is up to you to learn. Time is marching on and it is not waiting for you to get your ducks in a row. This horror that is coming is not 3 1/2 years as many falsely teach. Once this starts there will be death, destruction, disease, cannibalism, famines and droughts and sorrow not for 3 1/2 years, not for 6 1/4 years. This time of Jacobs trouble which has already begun and this time of the world’s trouble will take place over 13 years. Islam is going to rule over you for a large part of that time.

Again I ask you, ARE YOU READY?

I cannot urge you strongly enough to get these two books and read them or give them to others to read. Daniel’s Timeline is a lie. It is a false teaching and fake prophecy. But Daniel did reveal the 70 Jubilee Cycles that Israel would be a Nation starting when they crossed the Red Sea with Moses. And now in this 70th Jubilee Israel is about to become as if they never were. Yes, all 13 tribes. Get the books and read them. You can order both books at this link https://www.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdetail.aspx?bookid=SKU-000942982

 

Shortening of the Days

We recently spoke to you all about the Sabbath and how breaking it would result in Yehovah saying to you, begone you workers of Lawlessness, I do not know you.
With the days quickly becoming shorter and shorter as we approach the winter solstice, I wanted to write you and remind you that if you are still working after sunset on Friday then you are breaking the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is from Sunset to Sunset. It is not the day only as some will tell you.

Genesis 1:4 So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:8 So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31 So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

To make sure you did not misunderstand when the Sabbath was on this very special Holy Day Yehovah spells out exactly when the Sabbath day or the Holy Days are. From sunset the previous day until Sunset that same day. It is from sunset to sunset.

Lev 23: 26-32 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”

Here in my area of Canada, the sun now sets at 4:49 PM and will soon be 4:40 before the days begin to lengthen again. If my job requires me to work until 5 PM then I am breaking the Sabbath. You need to excuse yourself before the sunsets. Work through lunch or coffee breaks or work extra hours during the week to be able to take this time off.

Far too many are more afraid of being fired than of being afraid of Yehovah. Each Sabbath is a test. Will you obey? It was easy during the summer when the sunset late in the evening. Now when it sets early in the day will you still obey Yehovah and keep the His Sabbath Holy?

With winter fast coming when the ground will be rock hard here, construction sites are again racing to get the work done before the ground freezes. I am constantly being asked to work late or to come in on Saturday and work for the time and half wages. I say it firmly and with confidence ‘No”. I do not offer excuses or try to reason with them. I just flat out say no. They have come to know I do not work on Sabbath and they respect that I do what I do. But even now after 35 years of walking this walk, I am still being tested at work and at home and in various ways to see if my words are followed by my actions.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Either you obey and you’re blessed with doing so or you disobey and receive the curses for doing so.

 

Recap of the Messiah Studies

Let us recap what we are doing and have done thus far.
A Torah teacher has claimed that Yehshua is not the Messiah and that the New Testament is a hoax. He dared everyone to prove him wrong.
We have taken up that challenge and so two weeks ago I challenged all of you to prove from the Torah the Prophets and the Psalms why we were expecting a Mashiach about 4 BC. Many of you wrote in those scriptures that proved to you the Messiah would be coming. Thank you. Keep those comments coming at the end of each News Letter.

Last week we showed you two areas where the Messiah was promised. The very first verse can be seen looking back in time with our knowledge after the fact. But Adam and Eve were expecting a Messiah and in the naming of Cain showed they thought Cain was the Messiah. They did not expect the Messiah to come in the 4th Millennium as we have shared in the very first verse of Genesis. Again that is us looking back with 20/20 vision or so we think it is 20/20.

But we have not shown you why there was so much expectation around 4 B.C. for the Messiah to come at that time. We have some rather dry historical reading to do this week. I do not apologize for this because it will show you the whole history of why and how they came to be expecting a Messiah at that time. Like many today they had an inaccurate understanding of the scriptures. They got parts not others. You are the same today as they were then. You have some understandings but have ignored or not understood other sections. I hope to explain all of this over the coming weeks.

Some of those things they expected around 4 BC are still passed on today and some of you are victims of these false teachings. Why do some of you teach and look for Messiah ben David and think Yehshua was Messiah ben Joseph? To learn how this concept developed is to learn the history of the Messiah expectations.

Last week I also gave you an article from Judaism 101 showing you what Judah today considers its Messianic scriptures. I will post them this week at the end of this News Letter with my comments. But all of their scriptures they use are all referring to the end of this age and they do not consider what most of the Christians use to prove the Messiah. I will share those in a later News Letter. As I said this is now a series and was 4 in length and is now about 6 or 7 News Letters. I have been finding this research awesome. So thank you for allowing me to share it all with you.

I also gave you homework last week to read the introduction to The Witness of the Stars and to read Chapter one about Virgo. Pages 1 to 44 covering the 3 decans of Virgo also. If you did not do this homework then you will not understand some of the things we are going to say later on. Then your false teachings and false understandings are going to cloud your perspectives and you will not learn the truths but continue in the lies you have been taught but right now think are the truth. So please do the homework as it is assigned to you.

This was one of the reasons you were rebuked repeatedly for your studies in conspiracy teachings that lead you away from Yehovah. Now that you are not doing those things you should have time to read the homework assignments. Get them done as there is much more coming. I am sharing these things with you and giving you these assignments to help get you up to speed. Without the historical background, the truth does not always make sense. This then leads people to false understandings.

Messiah Ben Joseph or Messiah Ben David

I was expecting this section to be much bigger and more detailed than what I had found. I was expecting to find a lot of scriptures to back up each position and I did not. What I found about Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David was that it was a debated theory. A theory going back and forth amongst debaters. We are here to prove all things. I do not want to get into endless debates. HEre is what I learned on this subject. And for me, it is the end of talking about this. I see no point in it. We are looking to show that a Messiah was expected and did come. There is much more to learn and to unlearn in this process. So let’s not waste our time on some theory.

In Jewish eschatology Mashiach ben Yoseph or Messiah ben Joseph, also known as Mashiach bar/ben Ephraim, is a Jewish messiah from the tribe of Ephraim and a descendant of Joseph. The figure’s origins are much debated. Some regard it as a rabbinic invention, but others defend the view that its origins are in the Torah. The exact origins of Messiah ben Joseph are a matter of debate among scholars. It has been suggested that Messiah ben Joseph arose out of a Jewish collective memory of Simon bar Kokhba. Others suggest that his origins are older. Some academic scholars have argued to varying degrees that Christianity and Judaism did not separate as suddenly or as dramatically as sometimes thought and that the idea of two messiahs, one suffering, the second fulfilling the traditional messianic role, was normative to ancient Judaism, in fact predating Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus would have been viewed as fulfilling this role. Traditional Christian views Traditional Christians do not believe that Jesus was a candidate for the Messiah ben Joseph. They believe rather that he was the Messiah ben David and that he was of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David, whereas the Messiah ben Joseph will be a descendant of Joseph from the tribe of Ephraim. Furthermore, some assert that the passages associated with Messiah ben Joseph have no power of redemption. Christians have associated the Four Craftsmen in varying ways with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Messianic Jews See also: Proselytization and counter-proselytization of Jews Certain Messianic Jewish groups have associated Messiah ben Joseph with Jesus based on the New Testament account in which Jesus’s stepfathers name is given as Joseph. Ben in this context literally translates from Hebrew as “son of”.

As I read this account of the two Messiah’s, in my mind I am thinking, where are the scriptures to back it up? Then as I read this over again, I see the answer. It is a debate.

When Did we Begin to Look for a Messiah?

As you go through this next section I want you to pay close attention to exactly where Messianic influences have come from and why during the ages. Many of those same false books which were written during those times are still today influencing the way people think. Are you one of those who has given into this twisted thinking?

MESSIAH (Hebr., “Ha-Mashia?”; Aramaic, “Meshi?a” = “anointed one”): By: Joseph Jacobs, Moses Buttenwieser

The Name.

The name or title of the ideal king of the Messianic age; used also without the article as a proper name—”Mashia?” (in the Babylonian Talmud and in the midrash literature), like ??????? in the Gospels. The Grecized ??????? of the New Testament (John i. 41, iv. 25) is a transliteration of the Aramaic form, Aramaic being the spoken language of Palestine in the time of Jesus. “The Messiah” (with the article and not in apposition with another word) is, however, not an Old Testament expression, but occurs for the first time in apocalyptic literature. Similarly, in all probability the use of the word “Mashia?” to denote the Messianic king is not found earlier than the apocalyptic literature. In the Old Testament the earliest use of the word is with Yhwh (or with a pronominal suffix referring to Yhwh) as a title of the ruling sovereign Meshia? Yhwh (“God’s anointed one”; I Sam. ii. 10, 35; xii. 3, 5; xvi. 6; xxvi. 9, 11, 16, 23; II Sam. i. 14, 16; xix. 21; II Chron. vi. 42; Ps. xviii. 51 [A. V. 50]; xx. 7 [A. V. 6]; cxxxii. 17 [applying to David]; Lam. iv. 20). In post-exilic times, the high priest, filling the place formerly occupied by the king, is spoken of as “ha-Kohen ha-Mashia?” (the anointed priest; Lev. iv. 3, 5, 16; vi. 5), also (Dan. ix. 25, 26) as “Mashia? Nagid” (an anointed one, a ruler) and simply “Mashia?” (an anointed one), referring to Onias III. As the anointing of the high priest consecrated him above all his brethren to God’s service and gave him immediate access to God (comp. Lev. viii. 12, xxi. 10-12; Zech. iii. 7), so the anointing of the king made him Meshia? Yhwh, placed him in a special relationship to God, and established him as the one chosen by God to represent His rulership in Israel and to bear witness to His glory before the nations (comp. II Sam. vii. 8-11, 14; Isa. lv. 4; Ps. lxxxix. 4, 21-29). As “God’s anointed one” the king was sacrosanct and inviolable (comp. I Sam. xxvi. 9). Hence the later applications of the title “Meshia? Yhwh” in the Old Testament.

In Isa. xlv. 1 Cyrus is called “God’s anointed one,” because God has called him and given him victory after victory for the distinct purpose of putting an end to the Babylonian kingdom and the worship of idols, of setting free exiled Israel, and thus introducing the new era of God’s universal dominion. In Ps. cv. 15 the Patriarchs are called “God’s anointed ones” because they are under the special protection of God and therefore inviolable. Finally, in Hab. iii. 13, Ps. xxviii. 8, lxxxiv. 10 (A. V.9), and possibly in lxxxix. 39, 52 (A. V. 38, 51), the title is applied to Israel, God’s chosen people. See Anointing.

“Mashia?” (anointed one of God) in Ps. ii. 2, which was formerly thought to have Messianic reference, is now taken as referring either to a Hasmonean king or to Israel. The latter interpretation is that prevailing in the Midrash (comp. Midr. Rabbah and Tan?uma, Emor; Yal?u?, Toledot, near end; Midr. Sho?er ?ob, ad loc.), though the Messianic interpretation occurs in the eschatological description (Pesi?. Zu?arta, Bala?).

The Ideal in Isaiah.

But though the name is of later origin, the idea of a personal Messiah runs through the Old Testament. It is the natural outcome of the prophetic future hope. The first prophet to give a detailed picture of the future ideal king was Isaiah (ix. 1-6, xi. 1-10, xxxii. 1-5). Of late the authenticity of these passages, and also of those passages in Jeremiah and Ezekiel which give expression to the hope in a Messiah, has been disputed by various Biblical scholars (comp. Hackmann, “Die Zukunftserwartung des Jesaiah”; Volz, “Die Vorexilische Jahweprophetie und der Messias”; Marti, “Gesch. der Israelitischen Religion,” pp. 190 et seq.; idem, “Das Buch Jesaia”; Cheyne, “Introduction to Isaiah,” and edition and transl. of Isaiah in “S. B. O. T.”).

The objections of these scholars, however, rest principally on the hypothesis that the idea of the Messiah is inseparably bound up with the desire for universal dominion, whereas, in reality, this feature is not a characteristic of the Messianic hope until a later stage of its development. The ideal king to whom Isaiah looks forward will be a scion of the stock of Jesse, on whom will rest the spirit of God as a spirit of wisdom, valor, and religion, and who will rule in the fear of God, his loins girt with righteousness and faithfulness (xi. 1-3a, 5). He will not engage in war or in the conquest of nations; the paraphernalia of war will be destroyed (ix. 4); his sole concern will be to establish justice among his people (ix. 6b; xi. 3b, 4). The fruit of his righteous government will be peace and order throughout the land. The lamb will not dread the wolf, nor will the leopard harm the kid (xi. 8); that is, as the following verse explains, tyranny and violence will no longer be practised on God’s holy mountain, for the land will be full of the knowledge of God as the water covers the sea (comp. xxxii. 1, 2, 16). The people will not aspire to political greatness, but will lead a pastoral life (xxxii. 18, 20). Under such ideal conditions the country can not but prosper, nor need it fear attack from outside nations (ix. 6a, xxxii. 15). The newly risen scion of Jesse will stand forth as a beacon to other nations, and they will come to him for guidance and arbitration (xi. 10). He will rightly be called “Wonderful Counselor,” “Godlike Hero,” “Constant Father,” “Prince of Peace” (ix. 5).

The “Immanuel” Passage.

This picture of the future fully accords with Isaiah’s view, that the judgment will lead to a spiritual regeneration and bring about a state of moral and religious perfection; and it agrees also with the doctrine, which, in his bitter opposition to the alliances with Assyria and Egypt, he preached to his people—the doctrine, namely, that their sole concern should be God and their sole reliance be on Him, for thus, and thus only, might they endure (vii. 9; comp. also v. 4, viii. 13, xxx. 15). The prophets advocated a government which would be in conformity with God’s will and be regulated by His laws of righteousness. In connection with Isaiah’s Messianic hope it remains to be observed that the “Immanuel” passage, Isa. vii. 14, which is interpreted in Matt. i. 23 as referring to the birth of Jesus, has, as Robertson Smith (“The Prophets of Israel,” pp. 271 et seq., 426 et seq.) and others have pointed out, no Messianic import whatever. The name has reference merely to events of the immediate present. He means to give a token by which the truth of his prophetic word may be tested, saying that any young woman giving birth to a son in the near future will call him “Immanuel” (= “God with us”), in remembrance of the withdrawal of the Syrian-Ephraimitic armies from the country (v. 16). “‘Almah” does not mean “virgin” (as given in A. V. and other versions; the only word meaning this is “betulah”), but “a young woman sexually mature,” whether married or unmarried; the article “ha-” of “ha-‘almah” is the generic article.

I had wanted to comment on this in another article. I may have to teach this now in this one as this has been brought up. It is with this understanding of Betulah to which Isaiah is talking about that leads us to answer the question that has begun this series. Where are we told to expect a Messiah? Isaiah has just told you but most will read right over it. Let us finish reading this article as we search for the start of the Messiah promised. Your homework last week was to read about the Constellation Virgo which is also known in Hebrew as Bethula.

In Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The idea of a personal Messiah is not met with again until the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (the Messianic picture of Micah v. 1, 3-8, as is proved by the fact that in it Israel and the Messiah hold dominion over the nations, according to this view can not be a pre-exilic product of prophecy; in fact, it must have originated late in post-exilic times). Jeremiah’s picture of the Messiah is not a detailed one; but, like his future hope in general, it agrees in all essentials with that of Isaiah. The Messiah will be “a righteous sprout of David,” who will establish just judgment and wise government in the country, and whose name will be (YehovahTsehdek)  (= “God is our salvation”; xxiii. 5, 6; these two verses recur in almost the same form in xxxiii. 15, 16, but in the latter verse the name is applied to Jerusalem, an application which did not originate with Jeremiah. Ch. xxx. 9 et seq., 21 does not claim consideration here, as it is of later origin).

In Ezekiel, the Messiah is a purely passive figure, the only personal reference to him being in xvii. 23—”he will become a mighty cedar” (Hebr.). The regeneration of the people, like their restoration, is exclusively the work of God.

But in xxxiv. 23 et seq., xxxvii. 24 et seq., which passages date from exilic times, there is an entirely new feature—the prophecy that David will be the king of the future state. As after the decline of the Holy Roman Empire the saga arose of the return of the emperor-hero Barbarossa, so, after the fall of the nation, the Jews of the Exile dreamed of the coming of a second David, who would reestablish them as a glorious nation. So Ezekiel lays emphasis on the fact that the future Israel is to be a united nation as it was under David of old. The hope in the return of David is expressed also in the spurious passage mentioned above (Jer. xxx. 9) and in the gloss to Hos. iii. 5 (“and David their king”), and ismet with sporadically also in Neo-Hebraic apocalyptic literature (see below).

In post-exilic prophetic literature the hope in a Messiah is found only in the first two prophets of the post-exilic community, Haggai and Zechariah, and in Deutero-Zechariah, ch. ix., which, probably, dates from the time of the Seleucids. Haggai and Zechariah see in Zerubbabel the promised “sprout of David”; but they state merely that he will rebuild the Temple and attain great eminence as a ruler (Hag. ii. 23; Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12).
Deutero-Zechariah’s Messiah has much in common with Isaiah’s. He is described (Zech. ix. 9, 10) as a righteous Prince of Peace, who will rise from the ranks of the pious and oppressed, who will ride into Jerusalem not in military splendor, but on an ass (comp. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on an ass, and also Ibn ?u?aibah’s account of Salman, the governor of Medina at the time of the dissensions of the califs, who rode upon an ass in order to show his advocacy of peace). For, unlike worldly rulers, he will not maintain his dominion by the sword—he will destroy all the instruments of war (if, instead of  , is read in accordance with the LXX.  , 3d s. m.); but, by his jurisdiction, which will extend to the ends of the earth, he will establish peace among the nations. Thus Deutero-Zechariah’s conception of the Messiah combines Isaiah’s conception with the hope of world-dominion cherished by his own age.

Ideal of the Second Isaiah.

The personal Messiah does not figure at all in the future hope of Deutero-Isaiah, whose lofty universalism marks the final step in the development of the religious ideas of the Prophets. The salvation of mankind is the goal of history, and Israel’s prerogative becomes but the privilege of suffering for the good of the whole world. God has called Israel for the realization of His purpose toward man. Israel, and not an individual, is “the servant of God” (Isa. xlii. 1-6, xlix. 1-6, l. 4-9, lii. 13-liii. 12), through whom the regeneration of mankind will be accomplished, who will spread the true religion among all nations, convert all men into willing servants of God, and lead all tongues to confess Him (xlv. 23). Naturally, not the actual Israel of the present is meant, but the ideal Israel of the future, risen to spiritual heights in consequence of his wonderful deliverance by God. For this high destiny Israel has been especially fitted by reason of the religious experience which God has stored up in him in the course of his history; and, by submitting, in accordance with God’s will, to suffering and ignominy, he fulfils his mission and advances toward his final goal. In Isa. ii. 1-4 and Micah iv. 1-4 there is the same picture of the Messianic future as in Deutero-Isaiah—Jerusalem as the religious center of the world, whence salvation will radiate to all men—but contain the additional promise that universal peace will ensue in consequence thereof. In like manner the post-exilic prophets Trito-Isaiah, Malachi, and Joel, and the post-exilic Apocalypse of Isaiah, xxiv.-xxvii., have no personal Messiah. According to them, God Himself, without the instrumentality of a man, will redeem Israel from his present misery and bring about the new era of salvation. The conclusion, however, of Malachi (the authorship of which is doubtful) speaks of a messenger, Elijah, whom God will send to convert men and thus pave the way for His own coming.

In the Apocrypha.

As in the prophetic writings just enumerated, so in the Apocrypha of the Old Testament the figure of the Messiah has no prominence whatever. In I Maccabees there is a brief general reference to the promise given to David, that his throne would be reestablished (ii. 57), but Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, II Maccabees, and the Wisdom of Solomon contain no mention of the Davidic hope. The Hellenistic author of the Wisdom of Solomon is so thoroughly universalistic that the idea of a Messiah is precluded. His eschatological picture shows no nationalistic feature whatever.

Alexander as Messiah.

The natural deduction from the facts thus far outlined is that while from the time of the Prophets the belief in an ideal future determined the character and tendency of Jewish religious life and thought to such an extent that this belief may be called the special characteristic of the Jewish genius, still, in the periods thus far covered, the idea of a personal Messiah is far from having that general prominence which one would, at first, be inclined to assume. Further, it has been seen how Deutero-Isaiah heralded Cyrus as the favorite of God, the hero called by God to introduce the new era of universal bliss. In like manner, no doubt, as Kampers has shown in his “Alexander der Grosse und die Idee des Weltimperiums in Prophetie und Sage,” the Jewish contemporaries of Alexander the Great, dazzled by his glorious achievements, hailed him as the divinely appointed deliverer, the inaugurator of the period of universal peace promised by the Prophets. Proof of this is: (1) The legend related in Josephus (“Ant.” xi. 8) and in the Talmud (Yoma 67b) of the audience of the high priest Jaddua (in the Talmud it is Simon the Just) with Alexander the Great in Gaza. Alexander recognizes in the high priest the man who had appeared to him in a dream, urging him to the conquest of Asia and promising him that he himself would lead his army and deliver the Persian kingdom into his hands; he prostrates himself to worship God, whose name he sees inscribed on the plate of gold on the high priest’s cidaris, accompanies the high priest to Jerusalem to sacrifice to God in His Temple, and is there shown the Book of Daniel, in which it is written that the Persian kingdom will be conquered by a Greek—a prophecy which Alexander applies to himself. (2) The various sagas which sprang up about Alexander, chiefly among the Jews in Alexandria, and out of which the Alexander romance of pseudo-Callisthenes grew, the only explanation of which is that Alexander had once been the central figure in their future hope. (3) The apocalyptic traditions about Alexander the Great in medieval apocalyptic literature and also in the midrashic literature—for example, the tradition (mentioned by Josephus) of Alexander imprisoning Gog and Magog behind the mountains of darkness in the far north. The version of this legend given by Jacob of Serug (521 C.E.) and in the Koran, sura 18 (comp.Kampers, l.c. pp. 73, 76 et seq.) leaves no doubt that it was purely of apocalyptic origin.

But while all these hopes centering in Alexander the Great bear witness to the liberality and broad-mindedness of the Jews of that time, they, on the other hand, corroborate the conclusion, expressed above, that the hope in the Messiah had, as yet, no definite form and can not have been commonly an article of faith. This is true, not only of the time of Alexander the Great, but even as late as the first period of apocalyptic literature, and is proved by the absence of a personal Messiah in the oldest apocalyptic writing, the Book of Daniel, as well as in the oldest part of the Book of Enoch (“The Apocalypse of the Ten Weeks”) and in the Book of Jubilees, which also date from the Maccabean period, apart from the fact, pointed out above, that in the contemporaneous apocrypha there is but vague reference to the Messiah. The “one of the likeness of man” (“ke-bar enash”) of Dan. vii. 13 (Hebr.), to whom the rulership in the divine world-monarchy will be entrusted, is, according to the author’s own explanation (vii. 18, 22, 27), the nation of God’s holy ones (i.e., the faithful Jews). These constitute the earthly representatives of God in the “civitas Dei,” and in contrast to the other nations of the world, who are represented under the figures of animals, they are represented under the figure of a man in order to signify that in them the divine ideal of manhood has preserved itself most faithfully.

Rise of Popular Belief in a Personal Messiah.

Not until after the fall of the Maccabean dynasty, when the despotic government of Herod the Great and his family, and the increasing tyranny of the Roman empire had made their condition ever more unbearable, did the Jews seek refuge in the hope of a personal Messiah. They yearned for the promised deliverer of the house of David, who would free them from the yoke of the hated foreign usurper, would put an end to the impious Roman rule, and would establish His own reign of peace and justice in its place. In this way their hopes became gradually centered in the Messiah. As evidence that in the Roman period the Messianic hope had become universal among the Jews may be adduced: (1) Jesus’ conviction that he was the Messiah, a conviction inspired in him by the current belief in a Messiah, as is shown by the fact that on his entry into Jerusalem the populace hailed him as such; (2) the testimony of Josephus (“B. J.” vi. 5, § 4), Tacitus (“Hist.” v. 13), and Suetonius (Vespasian, iv.) regarding the Messianic belief of the Jewish people at that time; (3) the fact that even in Philo’s picture of the future, in spite of its moralistic tendency, the Messianic king has a place (comp. “De Præmiis et Pœnis,” § 16). It may be noted in this connection that the “Prayer for the Coming of the Messiah,” as the version of it given both in the Babylonian and in the Palestinian recensions of the Shemoneh ‘Esreh shows (see Nos. 14 and 15 respectively), can not have become an integral part of the daily prayers later than the time immediately following the destruction of the Temple, for in that period the “Shemoneh ‘Esreh” received its present form. Hillel’s assertion (Sanh. 98b) that there would be no future Messiah for Israel since the latter had had its Messiah in the days of Hezekiah, can have no weight as a contrary argument, as Hillel lived in the reign of Herod the Great, at the beginning of the period which marks the development of the popular belief in the Messiah.

Development of Conception.

As the future hopes of the Jews became Messianic in character the figure of the Messiah assumed a central and permanent place in apocalyptic literature; and as apocalyptic literature in general, so the Messiah-concept in particular, embodies a multitude of bizarre fantasies which can not possibly be reconciled or woven into anything like a connected picture. There are many factors which contributed to this manifold and variegated imagery. Not only was all the Messianic and quasi-Messianic material of the Scriptures collected, and out of it, by means of subtle combinations, after the manner of the Midrash, a picture of the Messiah sedulously drawn, but everything poetical or figurative in the Prophets’ descriptions of the future was taken in a literal sense and expounded and dogmatized accordingly. Many foreign elements, moreover, crept in at this time and became part of the general potpourri of imagery relating to the Messiah. This being the case, an exceedingly complex and difficult question arises—where, in the Messiah-pictures, and, indeed, in the pictures of the future in general, presented by apocalyptic literature, has one to deal with organic development from prophetic ideas, and where with foreign religious elements? At present it is not possible to form a final judgment in regard to the place of origin of these foreign ideas. The material from the Assyro-Babylonian religion and mythology which has been offered in recent years by Assyriologists shows what an involved question is presented in this one point, and that a series of preliminary and exhaustive studies is necessary before a final decision can be reached regarding it or the various questions bound up with it. The one thing safe to maintain in this connection is, perhaps, that, according to the time at which the heterogeneous character of the conceptions becomes noticeable in the literature, Alexandria must have had a prominent part in the fusion of the native and foreign elements, since that city had been from the time of Alexander the Great the seat of religious syncretism as well as the intellectual metropolis of the civilized world.
For the better understanding of the Messianic pictures in apocalyptic literature it is important to point out that, although frequently interlaced, two distinct sets of ideas may be traced—the one set concerned with this world, hence realistic and national; the other directed to the world to come, hence transcendent and universalistic. The Messiah presents a correspondingly double character. Side by side with the traditional idea of an earthly king of the house of David is the new conception of a heavenly pre-existent Messiah, from which it follows that in regard to the question of the Messiah the older apocalyptic literature, as well as the younger rabbinical branch, falls naturally into two groups.

In the Older Apocalyptic Literature.

In the older apocalyptic literature the first book to be mentioned in which the Messiah figures as an earthly king is “The Vision of the Seventy Shepherds of the Book of Enoch” (ch. lxxxv.-xc.) of the time of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.C.). The Messiah appears under the figure of a white bull at the conclusion of the world-drama (xc. 37 et seq.) and commands the respect and fear of all the heathen, who eventually become converted to God. Yet he does not take any actual rôle. It is God Himself who wards off the last attack of the heathen against Israel, gives judgment, and establishes the world-dominion of Israel. Second in this group come those parts of the Sibylline Books whose date, as Geffken’s recent critical analysis has established (“Komposition und Entstehungszeit der Oracula Sibyllina,” pp. 7-13), is about the year 83 B.C. The Messiah is pictured (verses 652-666) as a king sent by God from the rising of the sun, who will put an end to war all over the earth, inasmuch as he will destroy some peoples and make permanent treaties with the others; in all his actions he will be solicitous not to follow his own counsel, but to obey the commands of God. The writer then describes at length the attack by the heathen nations on the magnificent Temple of God and on the Holy Land, and the annihilation of the nations by God; the Last Judgment, with the ensuing conversion of the heathen to God; the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom over all men and the reign of universal peace; but, strange to say, throughout the description there is no mention of the Messiah. In fact, in verses 781 et seq. the Israelites are spoken of as the prophets of God, the judges of mankind, and the just kings who will put an end to the sway of the sword upon earth.

In the Psalms of Solomon.

“The Vision of the Seventy Shepherds” and Sibyllines, iii. 652 et seq. say nothing whatever about the lineage of the earthly Messiah, but in the Psalms of Solomon (xvii.), which were called forth by the conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey (63 B.C.), he is designated as the “son of David,” who will appear at a time known only to God. These Psalms (l.c.) contain a more detailed description of his personality and of his reign than any other writing of that period. The Messiah will first crush the unjust rulers and rid Jerusalem of, and destroy, the impious heathen. Then he will gather the scattered ones of Israel, distribute them through the land according to their tribes, and found his own kingdom of peace and justice. No wicked person will be tolerated in his kindgom nor will foreigners be allowed to dwell there. He will subject the heathen nations to his rule, glorify the Lord before the whole world, and make Jerusalem pure and holy as of old, so that the nations will come from the ends of the earth to witness God’s glory. The description which follows of his righteous reign shows the influence of Isa. xi. 1 et seq. Free from sin, strong in the divine fear, and filled with the spirit of God, of valor, and of justice, he will tend the flock of the Lord faithfully, hold the higher officers in check, and make sinners cease by the power of his word, so that injustice and tyranny will not be practised in the land. He will not rely upon horses and warriors, nor heap up gold and silver to wage war, nor keep armies. In God alone will he place his trust, and his strength will be in Him.

In the Apocalypse of Baruch (70-100 C.E.) the earthly Messiah will appear at the close of the fourth (i.e., the Roman) world-empire and destroy it. The last ruler of the empire will, after his hosts have been destroyed, be brought in chains before the Messiah on Mount Zion, and there, after the impiousness of his rule has been pointed out to him, he will be put to death by the Messiah’s own hand. Of the other nations, those hostile to Israel will be put to the sword and the remainder subjected to the rule of the Messiah, who will establish himself on the throne of his kingdom, inaugurate the reign of morality and bliss, and hold dominion until the end of time, that is, until the consummation of the present world (xxix. 3, xxxix. 5-xl. 3, lxxii.-lxxiii. 4. Ch. xxx. 1 is to be taken, with Volz [“Jüdische Eschatologie,” pp. 37, 203], as Christian interpolation).

In the Testaments of the Patriarchs.

The Testament of Levi (ch. viii. and xviii.) shows a unique conception of the Messiah. He is not, as in the Testament of Judah (see below) and according to the popular belief, a descendant of David, but a priestly king of the tribe of Levi. His character and activity are altogether spiritual. The pouring out of the spirit and knowledge of the Lord over all mankind and the cessation of sin and evil will be the fruit of his ideal priesthood, which will last for all eternity. He himself will open the doors of paradise, cast aside the sword threatening Adam, and give the saints to eat of the tree of life. He will chain up Belial and will give his children power to trample on the evil spirits. The picture of the Messiah in the Testament of Judah (ch. xxiv.), although far more brief, resembles, in its spiritual character and in its universalistic tendency, that in the Testament of Levi. The sole mission of the Messiah will be the regeneration of mankind, and his kingdom will be one of justice and salvation for the whole world. If, as Bousset sought to prove (“Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft,” i. 193 et seq.), the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs date mainly from the time of the Maccabees, then the Messiah conception of the Testament of Levi is easily accounted for; the author expects that the future Savior will be a prince of the reigning priestly house of the Maccabees.

The Heavenly Messiah.

The oldest apocalypse in which the conception of a preexistent heavenly Messiah is met with is the Messiological section of the Book of Enoch (xxxvii.-lxxi.) of the first century B.C. The Messiah is called “the Son of Man,” and is described as an angelic being, his countenance resembling a man’s, and as occupying a seat in heaven beside the Ancient of Days (xlvi. 1), or, as it is expressed in ch. xxxix. 7, “under the wings of the Lord of spirits.” In ch. xlviii. 3, 6, xlix. 2b it is stated that “His name was called before the Lord of spirits before the sun and the signs of the zodiac were created, and before the stars of heaven weremade”; that “He was chosen and hidden with God before the world was created, and will remain in His presence forevermore” (comp. also lxii. 6); and that “His glory will last from eternity unto eternity and his might from generation unto generation” (that “his name” in xlviii. 3 means really “son of man” is evident from verse 6; comp. the similar use of “Shem Yhwh” for “Yhwh” in Isa. xxx. 27). He is represented as the embodiment of justice and wisdom and as the medium of all God’s revelations to men (xlvi. 3; xlix. 1, 2a, 3). At the end of time the Lord will reveal him to the world and will place him on the throne of His glory in order that he may judge all creatures in accordance with the end to which God had chosen him from the beginning. When he rises for the judgment all the world will fall down before him, and adore and extol him, and give praise to the Lord of spirits. The angels in heaven also, and the elect in the Garden of Life, will join in his praise and will glorify the Lord. “He will judge all hidden things, and no one will be able to make vain excuses to him”; he will judge also Azazel, with all his associates and all his hosts. The wicked ones of the earth, especially all kings and potentates, he will give over to damnation, but for the just and chosen ones he will prepare eternal bliss, and he will dwell in their midst for all eternity (xlv. 3, 4; xlvi. 4-6; xlviii. 4-10; xlix. 4; li. 3; lv. 4; lxi. 7-lxii. 14).

It is worthy of special note that in the appendix to the Messiological section of Enoch, the latter himself is the Son of Man = Messiah (lxxi. 14), and, as in the Slavonic Book of Enoch and the Hebrew Book of Enoch (see Jew. Encyc. i. 676, s.v. Apocalyptic Literature), as well as throughout rabbinical literature, Enoch is identical with Metatron = ?????????? or ??????????? (i.e., the highest, ministering spirit, who stands next to God and represents His rulership over the universe), so there is an important connecting-link between the conception of the Son of Man = Messiah, and the Logos, which appears repeatedly in Philo in place of the earthly future king (comp., e.g., his interpretation of “?ema?,” Zech. vi. 12, in “De Confess.” § 14; see Memra). The Fourth Book of Ezra (about 100 C.E.) presents both the pre-existent and the earthly Messiah. The latter is seen in ch. vii. 28, xi. 37-46, xii. 31-34, where the Messiah is represented as the Lion “who will spring from the seed of David,” will destroy the fourth (i.e., the Roman) world-monarchy, will rule 400 years till the end of the Messianic interim, and then will die, together with all men. The former appears in the vision of the man rising from the sea (ch. xiii.). Here, as in the Messiological section, the Messiah is described as “one resembling a man” and is called “ille homo” or “ipse homo” (verses 3, 12). The statement is made also (under the influence of Dan. vii. 13) that he “flew with the clouds of heaven.” Other points of contact with the Messiological Book are: the statement that “he is the one whom the Most High has reserved for many ages to deliver creation” (verse 26); the reference to his being hidden with God (verse 52)—”Even as no one can fathom nor learn what is in the depths of the sea, so none of the inhabitants of earth can see My son nor his escort [i.e., the host of angels who will accompany him when he appears upon earth], unless it be at the appointed hour”; and, finally, the obvious reference to his preexistence in heaven, where the promise is given to Ezra, “Thou wilt be taken from among men [to heaven] and wilt dwell with My son and with thy comrades until the end of time” (xiv. 9).

In Rabbinic Literature.

Whether the Messiah in Sibyllines v. 415-430, where he is called “a blessed man coming from heaven,” is the preexistence or the earthly Messiah can not be determined. In the Assumptio Mosis, however (c. 4 B.C.), it may be concluded, on the ground of the identification of the Son of Man = Messiah with Enoch = Me?a?ron in Enoch lxxi. 14, that it is the preexistent Messiah who is referred to (x. 2), for it is stated that, at the end of the last tribulation, when God’s dominion will be established over all creation, “the hands of the angel who stands in the highest place will be filled, and he will immediately avenge them [Israel] on their enemies.” As the author of the Fourth Book of Ezra (xiii.), as well as the author of the Messiological Book, evidently had Dan. vii. 13 in mind when he described the preexistent Messiah, it may be mentioned here that, while the Messianic interpretation of this passage prevails in the rabbinic literature (the oldest example is the Messianic tradition in Sanh. 98a, for which Joshua b. Levi is mentioned as authority), the Greek text of Dan. vii. 13 presents not only the Messianic interpretation of “Bar Nash,” but unmistakably also, in ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? added after ?? ???? ???????? ??????, the conception of the preexistent Messiah. Moreover, contrary to the view held by many that all the passages concerning the Son of Man = Messiah in the Book of Enoch and IV Ezra are of Christian origin, it may be pointed out that the phrase “Bar Nash” (= “Son of Man”) must have been a common name for an angel of the highest order among the Palestinian Jews of the first Christian centuries. Yer. Yoma v. relates that, when reference was made in the bet ha-midrash to Simon the Just’s having, every year of the forty during which he was high priest, been accompanied into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement by an “aged one,” veiled and garbed in linen (i.e., by a heavenly being; comp. the “labush ha-badim” in Ezek. ix. 1, 3 et al.), R. Abbahu objected: “Does not the prohibition, ‘No man shall be present in the Tabernacle when the high priest enters the sanctuary,’ extend to those of whom it is said, ‘the appearance of their countenance was that of a man’s countenance’?” (Lev. xvi. 17; Ezek. i. 10). Whereupon the rejoinder was made, “Who says that that being was Bar Nash? It was the All Holy Himself.” It may be noted in passing that this haggadah is of importance for the Greek text of Dan. vii. 13 as well as for the identification of the Son of Man = Messiah with Enoch = Me?a?ron.

In the rabbinical apocalyptic literature the conception of an earthly Messiah is the prevailing one, and from the end of the first century of the common era it is also the one officially accepted by Judaism. As proof of this may be given: (1) “The Prayer for the Coming of the Messiah,” mentioned above, inwhich the Messiah is called “descendant of David.” (2) The information given in the second century by Justin (“Dialogus cum Tryphone,” ch. xlix.) and by the author of “Philosophumena” (ix. 30). Both writers state expressly that, contrary to the belief of the Christians, the Jews emphasize the human origin of the Messiah, and the author of “Philosophumena” adds that they expect him to be descended from David. (3) The liturgy of later times, which, like the Daily Prayer, calls him the descendant of David throughout. His mission is, in all essential respects, the same as in the apocalypses of the older period: he is to free Israel from the power of the heathen world, kill its ruler and destroy his hosts, and set up his own kingdom of peace (comp. the descriptions of him in Jew. Encyc. i. 675, s.v. Apocalyptic Literature, Neo-Hebraic).

Heavenly Preexistence.

The conception of the preexistent Messiah is met with in Pesi?. R. xxxiii., xxxvi. (pp. 152b, 162, ed. Friedmann; comp. Yal?. i. 339). In accordance with the Messiological section of Enoch the former of these two passages says: “At the beginning of the creation of the world was born the King Messiah, who mounted into God’s thoughts before the world was made”; and in the latter passage it is related that God contemplated the Messiah and his works before the creation of the world and concealed him under His throne; that Satan, having asked God who the Light was under His throne, was told it was the one who would bring him to shame in the future, and, being then allowed, at his request, to see the Messiah, he trembled and sank to the ground, crying out, “Truly this is the Messiah who will deliver me and all heathen kings over to hell.” God calls the Messiah “Ephraim, my righteous Messiah.”
The preexistent Messiah is presented also in the Haggadah (Pes. 54a; Ned. 39a; Yal?. i. 20; et al.), where the name of the Messiah is included among the seven things created before the world was made, and where he is called “Yinnon,” reference being made to Ps. lxxii. 17 (which passage probably was in the mind of the author of the Messiological section of Enoch when writing xlviii. 3). That, contrary to the view of Weber (“Jüdische Theologie,” 2d ed., p. 355) and others, it is actual preexistence which is meant here, and not predestination, is evident from the additional remark—”According to another view, only the Torah and the Throne of Glory were [actually] created; as to the other [five] things the intention was formed to create them” (Yal?., l.c.; in regard to “the name of the Messiah” compare the comment above to Enoch, xlviii. 3). Finally, the preexistence of the Messiah in paradise is minutely described in “The Revelation of R. Joshua b. Levi” (see Jew. Encyc. i. 680), in Midrash Konen (Jellinek, “B. H.” ii. 29), and in “Seder Gan Eden” (ib. iii. 132 et seq., 195). In the first two, regardless of the apparent anomaly, the preexistent Messiah is called “Messiah ben David.”

Earthly Preexistence.

The conception met with in the rabbinical literature of an earthly preexistence of the Messiah must be distinguished from that of his heavenly preexistence. It occurs in various forms, representing, probably, different stages of development. First, he is expected to lead a hidden life and then to step forth suddenly. (On this conception of the sudden, unexpected appearance of the Messiah comp. Matt. xxiv. 27, 43-44, where it is said that the Messiah will come like a thief in the night or like a flash of lightning.) This is the conception of him in Ex. R. i. and in Tan., Shemot, both of which say that as Moses, the first deliverer, was reared at the court of Pharaoh, so the future deliverer will grow up in the Roman capital; in agreement with this, in the Agadat ha-Mashia? (Jellinek, l.c. iii. 142) it is said that the Messiah will suddenly be revealed to Israel in Rome. Then, again, the Messiah is represented as born, but not yet revealed. This conception appears as early as the second century in Justin Martyr’s “Dialogus cum Tryphone” (ch. viii.), and in accordance with it is the passage Sanh. 98b, where R. Joshua ben Levi is quoted as saying that the Messiah is already born and is living in concealment at the gates of Rome. In Targ. Yer. to Micah iv. 8 the Messiah is on the earth, but because of the sins of the people he is still in hiding. Finally, the Messiah is thought of as born at a certain time in the past. This is the case in Yer. Ber. ii., which states that the Messiah was born at Bethlehem on the day the Temple was destroyed, and in the Apocalypse of Zerubbabel (see Jew. Encyc. i. 682), which declares he was born in the days of King David and is dwelling in Rome.

The notion, traceable to Ezek. xxxiv. 23 et al., that David himself is the Messiah, is another variation of the conception of earthly preexistence. It occurs in the apocalyptic fragment of the “Siddur” of R. Amram (see Jew. Encyc. i. 678, s.v.Apocalyptic Literature, 2) and in Yer. Ber. ii. The latter states that whether the King Messiah belongs to the living or to the dead, his name is David.

Messiah ben Joseph.

Finally, there must be mentioned a Messianic figure peculiar to the rabbinical apocalyptic literature—that of Messiah ben Joseph. The earliest mention of him is in Suk. 52a, b, where three statements occur in regard to him, for the first of which R. Dosa (c. 250) is given as authority. In the last of these statements only his name is mentioned, but the first two speak of the fate which he is to meet, namely, to fall in battle (as if alluding to a well-known tradition). Details about him are not found until much later, but he has an established place in the apocalypses of later centuries and in the midrash literature—in Saadia’s description of the future (“Emunot we-De’ot,” ch. viii.) and in that of Hai Gaon (“?a’am Ze?enim,” p. 59). According to these, Messiah b. Joseph will appear prior to the coming of Messiah b. David; he will gather the children of Israel around him, march to Jerusalem, and there, after overcoming the hostile powers, reestablish the Temple-worship and set up his own dominion. Thereupon Armilus, according to one group of sources, or Gog and Magog, according to the other, will appear with their hosts before Jerusalem, wage war against Messiah b. Joseph, and slay him. His corpse, according to one group, will lie unburied in the streets of Jerusalem; according to theother, it will be hidden by the angels with the bodies of the Patriarchs, until Messiah b. David comes and resurrects him (comp. Jew. Encyc. i. 682, 684 [§§ 8 and 13]; comp. also Midr. Wayosha’ and Agadat ha-Mashia? in Jellinek, “B. H.” i. 55 et seq., iii. 141 et seq.).

When and how this Messiah-conception originated is a question that has not yet been answered satisfactorily. It is not possible to consider Messiah b. Joseph the Messiah of the Ten Tribes. He is nowhere represented as such; though twice it is mentioned that a part of the Ten Tribes will be found among those who will gather about his standard. There is a possibility, however, as has been repeatedly maintained, that there is some connection between the Alexander saga and the Messiah b. Joseph tradition, for, in the Midrash, on the strength of Deut. xxxiii. 17, a pair of horns, with which he will “strike in all directions,” is the emblem of Messiah b. Joseph (comp. Pir?e R. El. xix.; Gen. R. lxxv.; Num. R. xiv.; et al.), just as in the apocalyptic Alexander tradition in the Koran (referred to above) the latter is called “The Double-Horned” (“Dhu al-?arnain”). See also Eschatology; Jesus; Judaism.

Jewish Messianic Scriptures

I would now like to look at those scriptures Judah says are about the Messiah that is to come. Last week I asked you to prove from the scriptures that He was to be expected. I hope you did that. In the section from last week on Judaism 101, I gave you those scriptures Judah uses in expecting the Messiah.
I will highlight what I see to help you.

Isaiah 2:1-22 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days

Whenever the Latter Days is used it depicts either the end of the 6th millennial day or the end of the 7th millennial day depending on the context.

That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. The Day of the Lord O house of Jacob, come and let us walk In the light of the Lord. For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they are pleased with the children of foreigners. Their land is also full of silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land is also full of horses, And there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That which their own fingers have made. People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore do not forgive them. Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up— And it shall be brought low— Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall; Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. Sever yourselves from such a man, Whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he?

As I read this section to me it is all about the Day of Yehovah when He comes to destroy the wicked and set up His Kingdom. I see how Judah would use this as their Messiah ben David who comes in as a mighty warrior Messiah. I think next week we will look at Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph.

Isaiah 11:1-16 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dryshod. There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

Again as I read this I see the end of this 6th Millennial day and the start of the happy 7th Millennial day of rest. The 7th Shabbat Millennium. It is not telling me of the Messiah that is to come except that when He comes in the 7th Millennium. Take note of my words here. Again this will be explained by Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph.

Isaiah 42:1-25 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.” Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Praise to the Lord Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, You coastlands and you inhabitants of them! Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, The villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, And declare His praise in the coastlands. The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. Promise of the Lord’s Help “I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once. I will lay waste the mountains and hills, And dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, And I will dry up the pools. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them. They shall be turned back, They shall be greatly ashamed, Who trust in carved images, Who say to the molded images, ‘You are our gods.’ “Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but My servant, Or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, And blind as the Lord’s servant? Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he does not hear.” Israel’s Obstinate Disobedience The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, And they are hidden in prison houses; They are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!” Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, Nor were they obedient to His law. Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger And the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, Yet he did not know; And it burned him, Yet he did not take it to heart.

Wow, this section of Isaiah is jumping out at me all over the place. Speaking to Ephriam or to Israel who do not see nor hear the voice of Yehovah. Yehovah who does not give His glory to another. But in all of this, I do not see anything that relates to the Messianic calling.

Isaiah 59:20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord.

Here we have the Redemption of Israel by the Redeemer Yehovah. This tells me that we are going to be redeemed from something at some point. So for me, this is a Messianic verse I can see.

Jeremiah 23:1 The Branch of Righteousness “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord. “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Note: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS in Hebrew is YEHOVAH-TSIDKENU

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” False Prophets and Empty Oracles My heart within me is broken Because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the Lord, And because of His holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right. “For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord. “Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the Lord. “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err. Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ” Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, “The Lord has said, ‘You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord. “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the Lord. “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord. “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house. Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ But since you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

This section in Jeremiah also tells me it is for the last days of this age.

Jeremiah 30:1Restoration of Israel and Judah The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ” Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. “For thus says the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

This was declared by the sages in Jerusalem Thursday, March 22, 2001. Take note that 9/11 started six months later.

‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘That I will break his yoke from your neck, And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them. ‘Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lord, ‘Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’ “For thus says the Lord: ‘Your affliction is incurable, Your wound is severe. There is no one to plead your cause, That you may be bound up; You have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you; They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the chastisement of a cruel one, For the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased. Why do you cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. ‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, And all who prey upon you I will make a prey. For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.” ’ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, And the palace shall remain according to its own plan. Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as before, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all who oppress them. Their nobles shall be from among them, And their governor shall come from their midst; Then I will cause him to draw near, And he shall approach Me; For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the Lord. ‘You shall be My people, And I will be your God.’ ” Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord Goes forth with fury, A continuing whirlwind; It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until He has done it, And until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will consider it.

Jeremiah 33:1 Excellence of the Restored Nation Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’ “Thus says the Lord: “Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: “Praise the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For His mercy endures forever”— and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the Lord. ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’ ” The Permanence of God’s Covenant And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ” Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them. “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ”

Jeremiah 48:47 For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, You also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, His priests and his princes together. Jeremiah 49:39 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies And before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the Lord; ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them. Ezekiel 38:16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” Hosea 3:4-3:5 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. God’s Charge Against Israel Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days. Micah 4: The Lord’s Reign in Zion Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God Forever and ever. Zion’s Future Triumph “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast And those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, And the outcast a strong nation; So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on, even forever. And you, O tower of the flock, The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, To you shall it come, Even the former dominion shall come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, You shall dwell in the field, And to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered; There the Lord will redeem you From the hand of your enemies. Now also many nations have gathered against you, Who say, “Let her be defiled, And let our eye look upon Zion.” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, Nor do they understand His counsel; For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; For I will make your horn iron, And I will make your hooves bronze; You shall beat in pieces many peoples; I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.” Zephaniah 3:9 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord. Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “The Lord is one,” And His name one. Daniel 10:14 Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”

All of these scriptures that I have posted here from Judaism 101 which they claim are their Messianic era scriptures show me they are looking for the last days which are now. So today they are expecting the Messiah to Come.

 

8 Comments

  1. Johan Koch

    “A Torah teacher has claimed that Yehshua is not the Messiah and that the New Testament is a hoax.” A person who cannot see the Messiah in the Torah is not a Torah teacher’s backside. You also rebuke people for their studies in conspiracy teachings, yet refuse to do so when someone denies Messiah. It just makes no sense to me and I am really confused as to your silence regarding this matter.

    Reply
  2. Johan Koch

    “………………..Aramaic being the spoken language of Palestine in the time of Jesus.” Why would you give credence to a made up land and nationality?

    Reply
  3. Joseph F Dumond

    How many people rebuke the Chinese for believing in Buhdah? How many people rebuke the Muslim for believing in Mohamid? Neither believes in Jesus. But let someone who says they no longer believes in the Jesus of the New Testament and you want to condemn him to hell and spit on him.
    I am taking up the challenge he has put out there. Have you? Can you prove those things he is saying to be true or false? We are walking each week through each of his statements and teaching all those who want to learn how to prove them true or false. The Brethren will be able to defend themselves once they know the truth. Some of what he has said is true and some not. Can you separate the two? I think not.
    You condemned me to hell last year because you disagreed with me over the timing of the barley. 3 months later you had to publicly apologize. But during those three months, many other people read your rants against me. How many of them did you write to let them know I was indeed correct and you were wrong. Like gathering feathers scattered to the wind once you spout off at the mouth you cannot take it back nor know to what ends of the earth it has traveled.
    I have warned you privately before and you just do not get it. The tongue although small can do great harm. Your comments here on this News Letter and last weeks and on facebook testify to your lack of judgment about him and about me.
    I would rather reason with a brother to win them back by showing them the facts. Doing that never works when you condemn them to hell to start with.
    Do you also condemn every Jew who does not believe as you do?
    I have challenged you this week to PROVE where it says in the Old Testament that God would come in the Flesh and die. This was one of the challenges of the man you want to condemn. I have the answer and will post it in due time. I will not be goaded by anyone to condemn someone. So show me the scriptures in the old testament where it says God was going to send someone or come in the flesh and die. Prove it if you can. I can.
    But stop these subtle accusations causing others to doubt my beliefs’. They are public knowledge.

    Reply
  4. David Hemphill

    I have read the last three newsletters to learn what OT scriptures indicate the first coming to be 4 BC. so far, I am only confused. But, you say that you will make your point eventually. So I will wait patiently for your proof. However, in none of those letters have I read any suggestion that the writer believes what the previous reply’s claim. Perhaps Johan should unsubscribe to this letter?
    Thank you JD for all of the time and effort you put into these newsletters. Most of us do appreciate you.

    Reply
  5. Kurt MacPherson

    Shabbat shalom, I too am confused and concerned about where this is leading. I cannot prove this matter yet. I am looking forward to the punch line. I am getting the feeling that my foundations may be about to be shaken once again. Like the question said only from torah and leaving off any notions that come from the new testament.

    Reply
  6. Johanan Maerschalck

    Joseph, I’d like to thank you for the effort you put in to send these newsletters out every week. Even though they are lengthy, they show truths of Yehovah like never before. Though, I’ll be honest with you: I’m a relatively new believer in Yeshua (around Aviv 5851), and, at present, I have the feeling I might need to dial down the amount of information I take in. I’ll follow these chain of newsletters, but I can not tell whether I’m able to take on the challenges mentioned in them. Though, I’ll try.
    Just know that your teachings are a blessing and greatly appreciated.
    Yehovah be with you.

    Reply
  7. jesse zirkle

    Thank you for teachings that you have shared.
    The first teaching i wrote that I could not prove anything. Yes i could give you scripture, but could not back it up .
    Now I am learning how to back it up . It is all because of your work that you do. With out your work and long hours
    I would not be where I am in my walk, may it be straight and narrow. I do test the things that you teach , best as I can . I see every day the things you
    have said come alive on the news and it dose scare me . Not so much for me but my family and friends, they just don’t get it
    and I don’t know how to present it to them so they will.
    Shalom Joseph
    May YaHoVaH bless you and keep you

    Reply
  8. Harvard H. Newberry

    From the preceding posts, it all seems to unravel doesn’t it.
    The best one can do through the imperfect and incomplete nature of personal reality is to peer through a glass darkly in the attempt to interpret future history by those distant faint shadows seen from the past, and then compose words that are in some sense factual to secular (history, [root: his-story]); and furthermore, reconcile all this to the many prophetical texts (sighted both in or out of context) and from various religious sources and beliefs… both canonized, extra biblical and even non-biblical.
    Not an easy task for anyone , even if it were possible to find common ground.
    It has been postulated that truth separates from fact at the rate of inverse the square of the distance in time from the fact. That is to say: When the time from the fact doubles, then the truth reduces by 4 .
    There are many reasons for this. including the workings of the medulla oblongata, where racial and long term memory resides, which contributes to decay during recall, re-writing, editing and translation.
    Is it any wonder then that present public law requires official records and eye-witness testimony of momentous national events be placed in the national archives for 60-years before release to historians and the public at large ? This, buy the way, this non-releasement is not just a modern innovation. It’s a time proven method of keeping confidential information confidential to a select few throughout the ages.

    Reply

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