Blessed is He who
comes in the Name of the Lord
B.R. Burton
A myriad of proposals
concerning the role of the Messiah, exploring his nature
and task, flourished in ancient Judaism. Modern
Judaism has developed a defined concept of the function
of the Messiah, but such definitions crystallized after
years of controversy, 'Christian' persecution, and
messianic disappointment. To seek an unobstructed view
of the Mashiach, the Anointed One, untainted by
tragic history and distortion from both sides of
the coin, one must travel back to the earliest sources
and thoughts in a period of development and expectation.
2,000 years ago, in a blossoming era of anticipation of
the Redemption, conflicting passages about the character
of the Messiah led to confusion. Biblical references
certainly point to an anointed descendant of King David,
who will gather the Jewish exiles, rebuild the Temple,
establish shalom, peace, upon the earth and sit
on the throne of David to rule from sea to sea. Other
sections of the Tanakh, or Older Testament, however,
apparently indicated a Messiah who willingly endures
great suffering, and is "cut off from the land of the
living."1 The question of whether there would
be two Messiahs, or one Messiah who appears twice,
possibly resonated in the minds of Jewish scholars,
living in the Second Temple period. At this time, a
collection of Jewish writings that guided a new sect of
Judaism, powerfully emerged. These documents proclaimed
eyewitness and contemporary accounts proclaiming the
Jewish Mashiach had come, was slain, and
resurrected from the dead to return with power and great
glory.
Forty years before
the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Rabbi
Yeshua ben Yosef of Nazareth, or monumentally known as
'Jesus', endured cruel torture and was executed by the
Roman government. Considerable numbers of Jews and
Gentiles believed that He was the Messiah, even after
His death. Declaring that He had risen from the dead,
believers suffered torture and horrible death rather
than deny His Name. Though He was corporately rejected
as Messiah by the nation of Israel, within 30 years of
His Resurrection approximately 30,000 Jewish people
became believers in Him, and were zealous for the Torah,
the Instruction of Moses. 2 Today, in modern
Judaism, a resurrected Messiah rings like an extremely
foreign concept to Jewish ears, though the notion has
been entertained, not without controversy, however. Some
followers of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menechem
Schneerson, thought he was the Messiah, and had actually
expected him to raise from the dead. Such an idea is the
entire foundation for the literature of ancient Nazarene
Judaism, which, along with the Tanakh, has become the
most influential Book that the world has ever set eyes
upon. The New Testament did not surface in a vacuum,
however. As one delves into the thought of the 1st
century Jewish religion, the concepts that the New
Testament brings into beautiful focus and alignment, can
be discovered scattered like seeds among a field. The
understanding of these antique, New Testament
contemporary theories can enhance one's understanding of
views in early Messianic Jewish literature and the
person of Messiah in ancient Judaism.
Rabbinical Judaism
maintains believe in two anointed ones who come
once. Messianic Judaism, in contrast, finds its
foundation firmly established upon the concept of one
Messiah who makes two appearances. Traditional
Judaism says that the King Messiah, who succeeds in his
task of creating world peace, will be preceded by a
warrior Messiah, who will be pierced, suffers and dies
in the great battle with Gog and Magog. The military
Messiah is dubbed the designation of "Messiah ben
Joseph," which indicates his lineage from the most
famous of the twelve sons of Jacob. This Messiah ben
Joseph will be resurrected by his Messianic successor
"Messiah ben David," the descendant of the Israelite
king to whom the throne belongs. Jewish anthropologist
and former professor at Hebrew University in Israel,
Raphael Patai, states,
"Messiah ben Joseph,
also called Messiah ben Ephraim, referring to his
ancestor Ephraim, the son of Joseph, is imagined as
the first commander of the army of Israel in the
Messianic wars. He will achieve many signal
victories, but his fate is to die at the hands of
Armilus in a great battle in which Israel is
defeated by Gog and Magog. His corpse is left
unburied in the streets of Jerusalem for forty days,
but neither beast nor bird of prey dares to touch
it. Then, Messiah ben David comes, and his first act
is to bring about the resurrection of his
tragic forerunner...."3
The death of the
Messiah, son of Joseph, establishes it's foundation upon
such Biblical passages as Zechariah 12:10b,
They will look on me,
the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for
him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve
bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn
son." (NIV)
Nazarene
scholar, James Trimm, identifies this as one of the
places "in which the Talmud applies the Tenach passages
to the Messiah which clearly speak of YHWH."4
The speaker in this Scripture appears to be God Himself,
but in the second part of the verse, the person is
shifted to the second person point of view. The main
Talmudic proponent of the messianic significance in the
aforementioned reference in Zechariah arrives in the
person of Rabbi Dosa, who lived at the time of the
compilation of the Mishna (130
C.E.). His interpretation of this
verse is cited in the Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 52a,
What is the cause of the
mourning [of Zech. 12:12]---... It is well according
to him who explains that the cause is the slaying of
Messiah the son of Joseph, since that well
agrees with the scriptural verse: " And they shall
look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for him as one mourns for his only son."
(Zech. 12:10)
Trimm notes,
"Similarly the Targum to Zech.
12:10 has:
"Afterwards, the Messiah
son of Ephraim shall go forth to engage in battle
with Gog, and Gog shall kill him before the gate of
Jerusalem."
Now the speaker in Zech
12:10 is YHWH (see Zech 12:1). So "Me" in context must
refer to YHWH, but the Talmud is identifying "Me" as the
Messiah."5
"How did the the idea
of a twofold Messiah arise; and why is the second
Messiah called "son of Joseph? It seems to me that the
idea of a twofold Messiah inevitably arose from the
conception of the twofold character of the
essentially single Messiah,"
6
writes Dr. Joseph Klausner, professor
of Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem. Klausner explains that "two different
conceptions" of the Messiah, united in one, developed in
the "evolution of the Messianic idea." He notes the
twofold character of Messiah consisting of "political-national
salvation and the religion-spiritual redemption."
Professor Klausner expounds upon the thought thoroughly,
"The Messiah must be
both king and redeemer. He must
overthrow the enemies of Israel, establish the
kingdom of Israel, and rebuild the Temple; and at
the same time he must reform the world through the
Kingdom of God, root out idolatry from the world,
proclaim the one and only God to all, put an end to
sin, and be wise, pious and just as no man had been
before him or ever would be after him. In short, he
is the great political and spiritual hero at on and
the same time," 7 (emphasis his).
However, nowhere
in the Scriptures does it say that the Messiah must
accomplish these tasks "at the same time." The twofold
nature of the Messiah, is also noted by Dr. Patai,
"When the death of the
Messiah became an established tenet in Talmudic
times, this was felt to be irreconcilable with the
belief in the Messiah or redeemer who would usher in
the blissful millennium of the Messianic age. The
dilemma was solved by splitting the person of the
Messiah in two: Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben
David."8
Thus, apart from the
consideration of one Messiah who will make two
appearances, a necessary separation of the twofold
Messiah was unavoidable. Consider Rabbi Joshua's
statement in the Talmud, " . . .
it is written, 'And behold, one
like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven
whilst [elsewhere] it is written, [behold, thy king
cometh unto thee...] lowly, and riding upon an ass! --if
they are meritorious, [he will come] with the clouds of
heaven; if not, lowly and riding upon an ass."9
But how could both of these prophecies be
fulfilled? If the prophecy is conditional then
one of them will fail to come to pass.
It was impossible to
conceive the idea of a King, whose throne would be
established forever in peace, and subsequently being
violently killed in war. But what of a Messiah who comes
peacefully, only to be violently killed for the sins of
many, to accomplish the religio-spiritual task of
reforming the world, and then resurrected to
return again, establish peace and the Kingdom of Israel?
Messianic Jew, Dr. Michael Brown writes,
"Our rabbis tell us that
when Messiah comes, He will establish peace on
earth. When the real Savior comes, He will remove us
from sin. But a savior who takes us out of sin
without taking the sin out of us is really no savior
at all. And a Messiah who establishes peace on earth
without first establishing peace in our hearts is
really no Messiah at all. . ."10(emphasis
his.)
However, this conclusion
could not be possibly considered in Rabbinical Judaism
due to the fact that the Nazarenes already maintained
belief in such a 'foreign' concept.
Amazingly, in
Rabbinical literature, the concept of the King Messiah
suffering for the sins of Israel is not foreign!
In the Zohar, a book of mystical Jewish literature, it
states,
"In the Garden of Eden
there is a hall that is called the "hall of the
afflicted." Now it is into this hall that the
Messiah goes and summons all the afflictions and
pains and sufferings of Israel to come upon him. And
so they all come upon him. And had he not eased the
children of Israel of their sorrows, and taken their
burden upon himself, there would be none who could
endure the suffering of Israel in the penalty of
neglecting the Torah. Thus it is written: "Surely
our diseases he did bear and our pains he carried."
(Is. 53:5) As long as the children of Israel dwelt
in the Holy Land, they averted all afflictions and
sufferings from the world by the service of the
sanctuary and by sacrifice. But now it is the
Messiah who is averting them from the habitants of
the world," Ex. fol. 212a.11
This is clearly an
allusion to the highly debated and controversial passage
found in Isaiah 53. Skeptics and 'anti-missionaries'
contend that this passage is speaking of Israel, despite
the fact that numerous rabbis have interpreted it to
speak of the Messiah. A striking parallel to this
passage is found in Rabbinical literature in application
to Messiah ben Joseph, as Pesikta Rabbah 36a states,
"The Holy One, blessed
be He, will tell him (the Messiah) in detail what
will befall him... their sins will cause you to bend
down as under a yoke of iron and make you like a
calf whose eyes grow dim with suffering and will
choke your spirit as with a yoke, and because of
their sins your tongue will cleave to the roof of
your mouth. Are you willing to endure such
things?... The Messiah will say: ‘Master of
the universe with joy in my soul and gladness in my
heart I take this suffering upon myself provided
that not one person in Israel shall perish, so that
not only those who are alive be saved in my days,
but also those who are dead, who died from the days
of Adam up to the time of redemption.’"12
RADAK, Rabbi David
Kimchi comments, "If we search the prophets we shall
find that He who is promised as the Shepherd of Israel
is the Messiah. The Messiah therefore is the person to
be smitten before the scattering of the sheep."13
Dr. Klausner, illustrates the parallels between
Messiah and Moses, the prototypical deliverer and
precursor to the Anointed King,
"[The authors of the
Talmud and Midrash] name Moses "the first redeemer"
in contrast to the Messiah, who is the "last
redeemer." They compare Moses to the Messiah in
various phraseology: for example, just as Moses
brought redemption to the people, so also would the
Messiah bring redemption; just as Moses was brought
up in the house of Pharoah, so also will Messiah
dwell in the city of Rome, among the destroyers of
his land; just as Moses, after revealing himself to
his brethren in Egypt and announcing to them that
deliverance was near, was forced to go into hiding
for a time, so also will Messiah be forced to
hide himself after the first revelations; just
as Moses crossed from Midian to Egypt riding on an
ass (Exod. 4:20), so also will Messiah come riding
on an ass; just as Moses caused manna to rain from
the sky, so will the Messiah bring forth
different kinds of food in a miraculous way; and
just as Moses gave to the children of Israel wells
and springs of water in the wilderness, so also will
the Messiah make streams of water flow in the
desert. Not only this, but the acceptance of
suffering because of the iniquities of others, which
late Jewish legend attributes to the Messiah, is in
the Talmud and is also attributed to our master
Moses. (This may be called "suffering for
atonement;" Christian scholars call it "vicarious
suffering" and in Christianity this idea has become
an important article of faith.") [Emphasis and
italics mine.]14
"It was taught in the
School of Elijah, the world will endure 6,000 years -
2,000 years in chaos, 2,000 with Torah, and 2,000 years
will be the days of the Messiah. but through our many
iniquities all these years have been lost."15
Today, the current Jewish calendar is 5760. Messianic
Jewish scholar, Dr. Michael Brown states in his book
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, ". . . the
Messiah was supposed to come 2,000 years ago! As
explained by Rashi, "After 2,000 years of Torah, it was
God's decree that the Messiah would come and the wicked
kingdom would come to an end and the subjugation of
Israel would be destroyed." Instead, because Israel's
sins were many, "the Messiah has not come to this very
day."" Brown goes on further to note,
"Most traditional
Jews follow Rashi's dating putting the expected time
of the Messiah's arrival at 200
C.E. However,
Rashi based his figures on a significant
chronological error in the Talmudic tradition,
probably the most famous error of its kind in
Rabbinic literature. It is a miscalculation of
almost 200 years! You see, when the Scriptures were
not explicit in dating times and events, the rabbis
had to rely on other sources and traditions to
figure out how long certain periods were, sometimes
getting these historical periods wrong. In the case
in point, they believed that the Temple stood for
only 420 years, whereas it stood approximately 600
years. Adjusting Rashis' calculations by roughly 180
years, therefore, we find ourselves right in the
middle of the time of Yeshua. He was the one who
came at the time the Messiah was expected to come,
and this according to a Rabbinic tradition."16
Accordingly, the times
for the Messiah have passed by long ago as the Talmud
goes onto confirm, "Rab said: All the predetermined
dates [for the Messianic Kingdom] have passed, and the
matter [now] depends only on repentance and good deeds."17
Dr. Trimm notes an interesting fact citing a
previous discussed passage in the Talmud, "In examining
the text of Isaiah 60:22 the ancient Rabbis noticed what
they called a "contradiction" in the phrase "I, the
L-RD, will hasten it in its time." The Talmud discusses
this verse as follows:
R. Alexandri said: R.
Joshua b. Levi pointed out a contradiction. It is
written, "In its time [will the Messianic Kingdom
come], whilst it is also written, "I [the L-RD] will
hasten it!"-- If they are worthy, I will hasten it;
if not, [it will come] at the due time. [b.San. 98a]
Thus, the Rabbis
understood this verse to mean that the L-RD would offer
to hasten the Messianic Kingdom, if they were worthy but
if not, the Kingdom would not come until its due time."
One of the most shocking statements in the Talmud
notes in Yoma 39a,
"Our Rabbis taught:
during the last forty years before the
destruction of the Temple, the lot for the L-rd
(on Yom Kippur) did not come up in the right hand;
nor did the crimson-colored strap become white (on
the neck of the scapegoat); nor did the western-most
light shine; and the doors of the Hekal (Temple)
would open by themselves."18
The scarlet thread
turning white was a sign that their sins were forgiven.
History records that the Temple in Jerusalem was
destroyed in 70 CE.
The doors of the Temple opening by themselves was seen
as an omen that the great structure was soon to be
destroyed. What event in 30 C.E.
could have caused such a horrible judgement upon the
nation of Israel? Why was the Temple destroyed? Talmudic
tradition answers in Yoma 9b, "Why was the Second Temple
destroyed, seeing that the people were engaged in Torah,
commandments and charitable deeds? Because at that time
there was hatred without a cause."19 Who was
hated without cause? The Romans? Certainly not! Rabbi
Yeshua ben Yosef quoted Psalm 35:19 which states,
Let not those gloat over
me who are my enemies without cause; let not
those who hate me without reason maliciously
wink the eye."
His words recorded in
the book of John read,
But this is to fulfill what is written in
their Torah: `They hated me without
reason,' (John 15:25)
At Messiah
Yeshua's death, the parochet, the veil, was rent in two.
This event is paralleled by the Rabbinic statement that
the doors opened by themselves. Believers in Messiah
Yeshua claim that His death was a sacrificial offering
for sin. His execution in 30 C.E.,
remarkably occurred at the exact same time when
the Passover lamb was sacrificed in the Temple.
"In the religion section of Time Magazine, May 7,
1979, was a curious story. An orthodox rabbi had written
a book claiming that the resurrection of Jesus was a
true historical event. The rabbi, Pinchas Lapide, did
not become a follower of Jesus, but had to admit that
the evidence for the factuality of the resurrection was
overwhelming,"20 an article at Light of
Messiah Ministries noted. Rabbi Lapide wrote,
"In none of the cases
where rabbinic literature speaks of such visions did
it result in an essential change in the life of the
resuscitated or of those who had experienced the
visions....It is different with the disciples of
Jesus on that Easter Sunday....If the defeated and
depressed group of disciples overnight could change
into a victorious movement of faith, based only on
autosuggestion or self-deception--without a
fundamental faith experience--then this would be a
much greater miracle than the resurrection itself."21
The article goes on to
observe Rabbi Lapide's conclusion,
"Remarkably Pinchas
Lapide believes Jesus rose from the dead, but does
not believe he is the Messiah. In his view, Jesus
was a Galilean rabbi of extraordinary righteousness
. . . [and] God raised Jesus from the dead, not
because Jesus was the Messiah, but out of mercy and
in foresight. Seeing such a faithful follower killed
unjustly, God raised him. God also had foresight of
the effect that Jesus' resurrection would have on
Gentiles, drawing them to faith in one God and to
read the Hebrew scriptures. But the disciples then
misunderstood Jesus' message and God's purpose in
raising him."
Or the other conclusion
could be that maybe Yeshua
was and is the Messiah. It is written
that the Messiah would have the Gentiles as His
inheritance, and that He would be a light to them long
before Yeshua ever came to earth. Anyone with eyes can
see that this has literally happened. Maybe the Jewish
writing, Midrash Ruth Rabbah, was correct when it
stated,
"He will be with the
last deliverer, (Messiah), as with the first
(Moses); as the first deliverer revealed himself
first to the Israelites and then withdrew, so also
will the last deliverer reveal himself to the
Israelites and then withdraw for a while,"
(5:6).22
When one looks into the
ancient beliefs on the Messiah in relation to Yeshua, it
can be seen that the Messiah came when He was
supposed to, accomplished what He was supposed to
accomplish, revealed Himself, was slain,
resurrected, only to return in power and great glory.
"As [Yeshua] approached
Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and
said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day
what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden
from your eyes."23
Yeshua declared in Matthew
23:37,
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to
you, how often I have longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is
left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not
see me again until you say,
"Barukh
haba b'Shem Adonai"
- Isaiah 53:8, For
Jewish interpretations of this Messianic prophecy
see The Fifty-Third Chapter of Isaiah According to
Jewish Intepreters, By E. B. Pusey, Regius
Professor of Hebrew, Oxford Translations by
S.R.Driver and Ad. Neubauer.
- Acts 21:20.
- Raphael Patai,
The Messiah Texts (New York: Avon Books,1979),
pp. 165-66, cited from
http://www.jews4jesus.com/topics/issues/11-02/judaism.htm,
Judaism Teaches...or Does It?, Moishe Rosen,
Jews for Jesus
-
http://ihms.net/kabbalah/KABBALAH1.htm, "KABBALAH,
An overview the Godhead and Sefirot," By James Trimm
- Ibid.
- Dr. Joseph Klausner,
The Messianic Idea in Israel, trans. by Dr.
W. F. Stinespring, (London: Bradford and Dickens,
1956) pp. 492-93
- Ibid, p. 392.
- Babylonian Talmud,
tractate Sanhedrin 98b
- Ibid, p. 166.
-
http://www.sidroth.org/brown/, Yeshua Who is
He? By Dr. Michael Brown
- Cited from Dr. James
Trimm's, Let's Get Truthful workbook.
- Cited from
http://www.bethmessiah.com/BM_Topic1.htm,
Jewish Rabbis and Historians Reveal the Messiah.
-
http://www.shalom.org.uk/Messiah/deserted.htm,
The Messiah Pages, His Desertion
- Ibid. Klausner, p.
16
- B. Talmud, Sanhedrin
b.San. 96a-97b, cited in
http://www.Nazarene.net/offer2.htm, The
Kingdom Offer, by Dr. James Trimm
- Dr. Michael L.
Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books 2000), pp. 70-71.
- Ibid, Trimm.
- Cited from Ibid. Cf.
Rosh HaShannah 31b.
- Ibid. Brown, pg. 75
-
http://www.light-of-messiah.org/pages/perspective.htm,
A Jewish Perspective on the Resurrection of
Jesus, Light of Messiah Ministries
- Pinchas Lapide,
The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective
(Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1983),
pp. 125-26, cited from cited from
http://www.jews4jesus.com/topics/issues/11-02/judaism.htm,
Judaism Teaches...or Does It?, Moishe Rosen,
Jews for Jesus
- Cited from Ibid,
http://www.bethmessiah.com/BM_Topic1.htm
- Luke 19:42
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