Since
the days of Moses, what were the people expecting from the Prophet that Moses
foretold would appear (Deut 18). Were they expecting a King, a Prophet, or a
Priest. Were they expecting 1, 2 or even 3 Messiahs?
Today
there is a common Jewish understanding that there will be two ‘end-times’
Messiah’s:
“A
Kabbalistic tradition within Judaism is that the
commonly-discussed messiah who will usher in a period of freedom and peace (Messiah ben David) will be preceded by Messiah ben Joseph, who will die sacrificing himself while uniting all
of Israel in preparing the world for the arrival of Messiah ben David.” – see http://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/48909612.html
The
Qumran scrolls, the Book of Jubilees and the Testaments of the Tribes—all of
which are close to the Essene[1]
worldview and written prior to the first century of the Common Era, reflected
the belief in three messiahs: an
eschatological messiah, along with the messiahs of Aaron and Israel.
So what were
the characteristics of this eschatological (end-times) Messiah?
Messiah is the
English transliteration from the Hebrew ‘Mashiach’ meaning ‘anointed one’ i.e.
someone chosen specially by God for some purpose. This term is translated into
‘Christos’ in Greek and then to ‘Christ’ in English. The term occurs some 37
times in the Hebrew Scriptures (KJV OT version - Strong’s #H4886) and is not
always a prophetic reference to the eschatological Messiah. It is used to refer
to the kings of Israel, the high priest, the patriarchs, as well as the
Assyrian Cyrus (see Isaiah 45).
Look at Isaiah
11 where we read of his characteristics. His seven main attributes are
described in Isaiah 11:1-10 and they are:
(1)…
and the spirit of Adonai will rest upon him,
(2)
the spirit of wisdom,
(3)
and understanding,
(4)
the spirit of counsel,
(5)
and might,
(6)
the spirit of knowledge,
(7)
and the fear(awesome respect) of Adonai. …
He was also to
redeem the Land of Israel; remove the oppressors and return all of Israel from
the four corners of the Earth. He was to introduce a time of great peace, a
time when all would know the Almighty, as per the New/Renewed Covenant prophecy
of Jeremiah 31. This would also involve the cessation of war; the universal
conversion of the world to Judaism or ethical monotheism; the rebuilding of the
Temple; the recognition that it is the Jewish people who know God as prophesied
in Zec 8:23, and the ‘swallowing up of death’ (Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 26:19;
Ezekiel 37:12)!
To read more, check out my article at www.circumcisedheart.info - Click here
http://globaltruthinternational.com/2012/09/10/who-is-the-messiah-from-a-hebraic-perspective/
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