The Messiah Our Redeemer: Part 7 of 12

VII. Messiah, The Son Of David

"Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matt 11:3)

This statement from the apostolic text is not the wavering of John the Baptist’s faith in Yeshua, but more likely John was reflecting a concept established in first century rabbinical thinking. Even though the possibility of two Messiahs was held in concept, the predominant expectation of the people in first century Israel was for a “Messiah, the Son of David” who would free the nation from the bondage of Roman oppression. This is reflected in the conversation recorded between Yeshua and the Pharisees.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Yeshua asked them, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied. (Matt 22:41-42)

The term “The Son of David”, was used first by Solomon (Prov 1:1), and came to be associated not only with the descendants of David, but as a title for the specific individual from the line of David who would “reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Isa 9:7).

The Messiah, Son of David, has become the sole image and the expectation for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. Maimonides, the great middle ages codifier of Jewish law, summarized the general Jewish belief in the Messiah as follows:

King Messiah will arise in the future and will restore the kingship of David to its ancient condition, to its rule as it was at first. And he will rebuild the Temple and gather the exiled of Israel. And in his days all the laws will return as they were in the past. They will offer up sacrifices, and will observe the Sabbatical years and the jubilee years with regard to all the commandments stated in the Torah. And he who does not believe in him, or he who does not await his coming, denies not only the (other) prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our master. For, behold, the Torah testifies about him (the Messiah), as it is written, (Deut 30:3-5), “then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will proper you and multiply you more than your fathers”. (Maimonides Hilkhot M’lakim)

Within this passage of Maimonides are some of the primary reasons given for the national rejection of Yeshua as the Messiah, Son of David. Yeshua has not yet…

 Reconstructed the Temple,
 Gathered the Exiles,
 Restored the kingship of David, nor
 Restored the commandments stated in the Torah.

The aspects described by Maimonides are all responsibilities of the king of Israel. It was the king of Israel (Solomon) who first built the Temple. It is the king who has the power to sit on the throne, to gather the exiles, and to impose the Torah on the nation. Yet, Yeshua did not reign as king on the earth when he first appeared, but suffered at the hands of the Gentiles (Mark 10:33). So the question that should be asked, “If Yeshua lived and died as ‘Messiah, Son of Joseph’, can He also return in glory as ‘Messiah, Son of David’?”

Can it be possible, that a person who suffered and was thought to be dead, may actually be alive, and will return as king to gather the nation and restore the kingship of David? We again need look no farther than the story of Joseph. The story of Joseph is actually two stories divided in the middle by the story of Judah and Tamar. Because the story of Judah and Tamar seems to interrupt the narrative of Joseph, the Sages came to see this story as having special significance relating to the lineage of the Messiah. History bears this out as King David descended from the line of Judah and Tamar and the promise is given to David of one who will reign on the throne of David forever.

On either side of the Judah-Tamar story is Joseph. Joseph appears as the favored son of his father who suffers unjustly at the hands of his brothers and the Gentiles. Sold into slavery by his brothers, Joseph is thought to be dead by Jacob and probably his brothers. After the Judah-Tamar story, Joseph’s life is much different. He is given the signet ring of Pharaoh and made to ride in a chariot as Pharaoh’s second-in-command, while men proclaimed, “Bow the knee!” (Gen 41:31, NASB). The brothers of Joseph were unaware of these events supposing, as their father had, that “Joseph is no more” (Gen 42:36).

Yet, while the brothers of Joseph were suffering under the burden of the famine, Joseph was being glorified in the land of Egypt. As the years of the famine followed, Joseph’s brothers came before him bowing down to him as Joseph had seen in his dream years earlier (Gen 37:9-11). In Joseph, we have the example of one individual who has gone from a position of suffering to a position of total authority, second only to Pharaoh. Through Joseph came the gathering, the salvation, and the glory of the nation.

There are incredible parallels in the story of Joseph to Yeshua. The rejection of Joseph by his brothers was all part of God’s plan to bring salvation not only to the family of Jacob, but also to the entire world, as it was spoken by Joseph,

"Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." (Gen 50:19-21)

In the same way, the rejection of Yeshua by the nation of Israel was part of God’s plan to bring the salvation of God to the entire world (Rom 11:25-26).

The original rejection of Joseph brings no chastisement from Joseph at his reunion with his brothers, but only tears. Three times we are told that Joseph wept upon seeing his brothers. The third time, “He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it…Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph!’” (Gen 45:2-3). In a similar manner, “When He (Yeshua) approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it” (Luke 19:41). From the cross Yeshua said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). After the pattern of Joseph, there will only be rejoicing at the reunion of Yeshua and the nation of Israel, as it is written in the apostolic text,

“Did they (Israel) stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to Gentiles…But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!” (Rom 11:11-12)

In the story of Joseph, the nation of Egypt can be seen as Gentiles already receiving blessings through their relationship with Joseph. When Pharaoh hears that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials rejoiced, just as there will be much rejoicing among the Gentiles when the Messiah is revealed and the nation of Israel accepts Him and enters into a relationship with Him. When news reaches the Patriarch, he is referred to as “Jacob”. Upon hearing the news, the spirit of Jacob is revived as disbelief is turned into faith. Upon believing, he is now called “Israel”, as it is written, “And Israel said, ‘I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive” (Gen 45:28). When the nation of Israel comes to Egypt, they are given the best of the land and possessions, just as the prophets have spoken of a future time for Israel when, “Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations” (Isa 60:10-11).

Yeshua fulfilled the role as “ben Joseph” during His first appearing as He was literally born son of Joseph, suffered unjustly as Joseph had, and died as foretold by the prophets. Yeshua was even placed in the tomb of a man named Joseph and came out of the grave as Jacob’s son had when they moved his bones from Egypt to Israel. But as “ben Joseph”, Yeshua was not called to fulfill the attributes of the son of David.

In the future at the appointed time, Yeshua will return as Messiah, son of David, to reign over the nation as a King from the line of David to perform what has not yet been fulfilled. Moses, considered the greatest prophet in Jewish history, became a pattern for the two comings of the Messiah by descending twice off Mount Sinai. The first time he came and delivered the Torah to a rebellious people who were in the mist of making a golden calf. The second time he descended with a new copy of the commandments, a set of instructions on how to build the tabernacle after a pattern he had seen of the heavenly reality, and a reminder from the LORD to “observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you” (Ex 31:14).

Even the LORD is said to come twice in scripture, as the prophet has written,

“Let us acknowledge the LORD, let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." (Hos 6:3).

The two rains spoken by Hosea are associated with two separate growing seasons in Israel that produce two separate harvests, as celebrated by the spring feasts and fall feasts of the Jewish calendar. Yeshua produced a crop of righteous believers at His first appearing and a second crop will be harvested at His reappearing.