Mashiach and Christianity

(7) Take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

(39) The priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the Tent and anointed Solomon. They sounded the horn and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!”

(3) Then take the flask of oil and pour some on his head, and say, ‘Thus said the LORD: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee without delay.”

(1) But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. (2) The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him: A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the LORD. (3) He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the LORD: He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive. (4) Thus he shall judge the poor with equity And decide with justice for the lowly of the land. He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. (5) Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his waist. (6) The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard lie down with the kid; The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together, With a little boy to herd them. (7) The cow and the bear shall graze, Their young shall lie down together; And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw. (8) A babe shall play Over a viper’s hole, And an infant pass his hand Over an adder’s den. (9) In all of My sacred mount Nothing evil or vile shall be done; For the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD As water covers the sea.

(5) See, a time is coming—declares the LORD—when I will raise up a true branch of David’s line. He shall reign as king and shall prosper, and he shall do what is just and right in the land. (6) In his days Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure. And this is the name by which he shall be called: “The LORD is our Vindicator.”

(7) Ah, that day is awesome; There is none like it! It is a time of trouble for Jacob, But he shall be delivered from it. (8) In that day—declares the LORD of Hosts—I will break the yoke from off your neck and I will rip off your bonds. Strangers shall no longer make slaves of them; (9) instead, they shall serve the LORD their God and David, the king whom I will raise up for them. (10) But you, Have no fear, My servant Jacob —declares the LORD— Be not dismayed, O Israel! I will deliver you from far away, Your folk from their land of captivity. And Jacob shall again have calm And quiet with none to trouble him;

(14) See, days are coming—declares the LORD—when I will fulfill the promise that I made concerning the House of Israel and the House of Judah. (15) In those days and at that time, I will raise up a true branch of David’s line, and he shall do what is just and right in the land. (16) In those days Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure. And this is what she shall be called: “The LORD is our Vindicator.”

(23) Then I will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them—My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them.

(24) My servant David shall be king over them; there shall be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws.

(4) For the Israelites shall go a long time without king and without officials, without sacrifice and without cult pillars, and without ephod and teraphim. (5) Afterward, the Israelites will turn back and will seek the LORD their God and David their king—and they will thrill over the LORD and over His bounty in the days to come.

(1) The King Messiah will arise and re-establish the monarchy of David as it was in former times. He will build the Sanctuary and gather in the dispersed of Israel. All the earlier statutes will be restored as they once were. Sacrifices will be offered, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will be observed, as commanded in the Torah. Anyone who does not believe in him or one who does not anticipate his coming not only denies the Prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our Teacher. For the Torah has given testimony about him saying, “And the Lord your G-d will turn your captivity and have compassion with you. He will return and gather you from all the peoples…If any of you should be dispersed at the ends of Heaven, from there G-d will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord, your G-d will bring you…” (Deut. 30:3-4). These matters are explicit in the Torah and include everything said by all the Prophets. It is even written in the Chapter of Balaam who prophesized about both the Messiahs. The first Messiah was David who saved Israel from her adversities. The final Messiah will be from his sons and will deliver Israel from the hands of the descendants of Esau. There it says, “I shall see him, but not now” (Numbers 24:17) - this refers to David; “I behold him, and not soon” (ibid.) - this is the King Messiah; “A star from Jacob shall step forth” (ibid.) - this is David; “and a scepter shall arise out of Israel” (ibid.) - this the King Messiah; “and shall smite through the corners of Moab” - this is David; and so it says, “And he smote Moab and measured them with a rope” (II Samuel 8:2); “and break down all the sons of Seth” (Numbers 24:17) - this is King Messiah of whom it says, “and his dominion shall be from sea to sea” (Zechariah 9:10); “and Edom shall be a possession” (Numbers 24:18) - this is David, as it says, “And Edom shall become slaves to David” (see II Samuel 8:6 and II Samuel 8:14); “Seir also, even his enemies, shall be a possession” (Numbers 24:18) - this is King Messiah, as it says, “And the saviors shall come upon Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau…” (Obadiah 1:21).

(2) Because of this, all Israel their prophets and their scholars craved for the Messianic era so that they may rest up from tyrannical government which do not give them the tranquility to study the Torah and observe the precepts as they ought to, and so that they may find the peacefulness of mind to increase wisdom in order to acquire life in the World to Come. For, in those days knowledge and wisdom and truth will increase, even as it is said: "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Is. 11.9); and it is again said: "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother" (Jer. 31.34); and it is yet again said: "And I will take the stony heart out of your flesh" (Ez. 36.26), as that king who will arise from the seed of David will be gifted with wisdom more than Solomon, and great in prophecy nigh unto Moses our Master. He will, therefore, teach the whole people and point out to them the Lord's path, and all nations will come to listen to him, even as it is said: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains" (Is. 2.2). Nevertheless, the end of the whole reward, and the last good which has neither interruption nor diminution is life in the World to Come. As for the Messianic era, it is in this world, and the world goes on after its fashion, save only that Israel will again have a government. Indeed, the ancient sages have long since said: "There is no difference between this world and the Messianic era, save alone in the oppression of government.¹

(3) It should not occur to you that the King Messiah must bring wondrous signs or perform marvels or invent new things or revive the dead or anything like what the fools say. It is not so. For Rabbi Akiva, one of the wisest of the Sages of the Mishna, was King Ben Coziba’s¹²⁴Bar Cochba. arms-bearer¹²⁵I.e. his staunch supporter. and said that he was the King Messiah. He and all the Sages of his generation thought that he was the King Messiah, until he was killed because of his sins¹²⁶He killed Rabbi Elazar HaModai.. Since he was killed, they then understood that he was not the one. The Sages never asked of him neither a sign nor a wonder. So, the essence of the matter is like this: The Laws and the Statutes of the Torah never change. We may not add to them nor detract from them. ¹²⁷This last sentence is absent in most editions.Anyone who adds to or subtracts from them or reveals some new dimension to the Torah or understands the Commandments differently than their plain meaning is, for sure, an evil person and an Apikoris.

(2) In the long process of time, there arose among the sons of man false prophets, who asserted that God commanded them saying: "Worship yon star, or all of the stars, and offer sacrifices to it, and compound for it thus and such, and erect a temple for it, and hew its image so that all of the people, women and children and the rest of the populace included, bow down to it". He, moreover, describes for them a form which he invented and tells them that this was the image of yon star which was pointed out to him in his prophecy. In this manner they commenced to draw images in temples, beneath trees, upon mountain-tops and elevated places, where they congregated to bow down to them and sermonize to the people, saying: "This image has it in its power to do good and evil, and it is proper to worship it, and be in awe of it." Their priests, moreover, say unto them: "By this worship you will increase and succeed; do thus and such, but not that and this". Then still other frauds rose up to assert that the star itself, or the planet, or the angel spoke to them and instructed saying: "Worship me thus and such", and thereat made known to them the way to worship them, instructing them, "Do so but do not do so". In this manner this thing spread throughout the world, and the worship of images with varied ceremonies, to sacrifice to them and to bow down to them was inaugurated. After the lapse of a long time the Glorified and Awful Name was forgotten to be mentioned by the mouth of all substance and blotted out from their consciousness, so that they gave Him no recognition, as a consequence whereof all the people of the earth as well as women and little children knew not save the image of wood and stone, the stony temple wherein they were brought up from their infancy to bow down to it, to worship it and to swear by its name. As for their wise man, for example, their priests and their like, they supposed that there was no God save the stars and planets for whose sake, and in whose likeness, those images were made; but the Rock of Ages not a man was there to recognize Him or know Him, save some individuals in the whole world, for example, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, and Eber. And, on this path the world continued its course of circuity until the birth of the firmest pillar of the world, Abraham our father.