Two Messiahs? What gives?
Daniel - Chapter 7
13 I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him.
14 And He gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; his dominion is an eternal dominion, which will not be removed, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
The “man” in Daniel’s vision is Mashiach and he sees him coming with the clouds of heaven. The assumption is that Mashiach will arrive, riding on the clouds of heaven.
However, we find a conflicting prophecy in the book of Zechariah (9:10):
Zechariah - Chapter 9
9 Be exceedingly happy, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold! Your king shall come to you. He is just and victorious; humble, and riding a donkey and a foal, the offspring of [one of] she-donkeys.
10 And I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim, and the horses from Jerusalem; and the bow of war shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace to the nations, and his rule shall be from the sea to the west and from the river to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah too is prophesying about king Mashiach, but he sees him arriving as a humble man riding on a donkey.
How then will Mashiach arrive? Will he come, riding on the clouds of heaven or as a poor man riding on a donkey?
According to the Bible and our respected elders there is also the teaching that one day HaMelekh Mashiach (The Anointed King) will come, restore Israel and bless all inhabitants of the Earth through the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3).
Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David will both appear on the world stage. The former will be 'a messiah, the later will be THE Messiah. Together they will vanquish the enemies of Israel and establish Kingdom of Zion throughout all of Eretz Y'Israel, all of the Land deeded to Avraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the people of Israel. Their individual tasks will be different but harmonious
The real Messiah will be a King of Profound Peace and Righteousness. His personal holiness and his great wisdom will inspire the entire world to Peace and Faith. The Gentile nations will voluntarily come to him seeking his wisdom and leadership.
HaMashiach's main weapon will be prayer!
Despite this, the sages are clear that before King Messiah ben David establishes global peace there will be extremely difficult times. We may well be witnessing the birth pangs of these day NOW
We know from the Prophets that the Messianic age will advance in two stages: the first is to be led by Mashiach, son of Joseph [Yosef], and the second by Mashiach, son of David
The Gaon of Vilna, the great 18th century sage, in his book Even Shleima, writes about the era of Mashiach, the son of Joseph, as the era of the physical return to the Land of Israel. This era precedes the spiritual repentance of the actual Messianic age, that of Mashiach, the son of David.
There is a hiatus between the period of Mashiach the son of Joseph and the revelation of Mashiach the son of David...
The Biblical prophecies of the latter Prophets describe a horrendous time, when all the nations will come up against Jerusalem.
By the sovereign will of HaShem, through Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, the Hovevei Zion, the First Zionist Congress of the Zionist Organization in 1897, and the other early Zionists, the government of Israel has now been re-established. But as we see by recent events, there are those in the Israeli government on the left that wish to destroy Israel from within.
A little over half of the world's Jews have returned home to Israel and more are making aliyah ('ascending' to our homeland) every year (wish I was among them). This, we may assume, began the countdown to HaMashiach and the birth pangs of the future Messianic Kingdom. How he will take his reign remains to be seen! That is up to the Jewish people and of course to HaShem.
There will only be one "HaMashiach", that is Mashiach ben David. He will be a Torah observant descendant of King David, of the tribe of Judah, and he will meet all of the requirements of this holy office. Don't let the term 'two messiahs' confuse you: Two anointed tzadikim, one THE Messiah.
We know from many sources that THE Messiah will be Mashiach ben David (Isaiah 11:1 etc.), the anointed descendant of King David. So who is this talking about?
Mashiach ben Yosef will by definition be a son of Joseph. This tells us that he will arise from Ephraim, i.e. from the 10 Lost/Divorced Houses that HaShem exiled from His presence due to spiritual adultery and lack of emuna. Judah (and Benjamin) alone remained of Klal Israel. This is confirmed at II Kings 17:18 when discussing how the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell before Assyria circa 710 BCE. Mashiach ben Yosef is also sometimes referred to as Mashiach ben Ephrayim, or Ephraim's anointed descendant. This mysterious and important figure is not and cannot be Mashiach ben David and his tasks have not yet been accomplished. We therefore have two end time "mashiachs."
According to numerous scriptural references the "Ten Lost Houses of Israel" (collectively called Ephraim) will not be restored until the coming of Mashiach ben David (see Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 3:6-18; Hosea 1-3; Amos 9:8-10; Obadia 15-21; Micah 2:12-13; 5:3-15; Zechariah 8:13; 9 & 10; Ezekiel 34-37 etc.). Those who suggest that Mashiach ben Yosef has already come face this and other biblical problems. Likewise, had Mashiach ben David already come as some wrongly believe, then the Ten Houses would long ago have been re-established to the Holy Land. This has never happened. Even today only a small sliver of our Land has been restored
and only a few people thought to be descended from the tribes of Ephraim have been identified. Neither of these foretold leaders have yet come. The prophecies remain unfulfilled.
Mashiach ben David will re-assemble the Twelve Houses (Tribes) of Israel and assign them each the land granted to them by HaShem to be their eternal possession in the Torah. These Ten Houses will follow Mashiach ben Yosef and he will follow Mashiach ben David, the servant of HaShem.
Zechariah - Chapter 2
18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken.
Rashi’s commentary:
for the Lord has spoken: Now where did He speak? (Num. 24:19) “Out of Jacob shall come a ruler, and he shall destroy him that remains in the city.” [from Mechilta Bo 12:16, Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer ch.37]
19. And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the Lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
Rashi’s commentary:
And [the inhabitants of] the southland shall inherit: Israel, who were dwelling in the south of Eretz Israel, shall inherit the mountain of Esau, which is at the southern boundary; and the people of the plain shall inherit the land of the Philistines and Mt. Ephraim and Mt. Shomeron.
and Benjamin with [the inhabitants of] Gilead: And the children of Manasseh, whose territory was the land of Gilead, shall spread beyond the borders of Eretz Israel on the east.
20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, that are among the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, that is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.
Rashi’s commentary:
And this exiled host: Heb. הַחֵל. Jonathan renders: This people. הַחֵל, An expression of a host. Cf. (Isa. 36:2) “And he came (sic) to Jerusalem with an army (חֵיל) of a great multitude,” which deals with Rabshakeh, only that this one is missing a “yud.” It is also possible to explain גָלֻת הַחֵל as “the exile of this valley.”
who are [with] the Canaanites as far as Zarephath: The exile which is of the children of Israel who were exiled from the ten tribes to the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath
and the exile of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad: who are of the people of Judah who were exiled to Sepharad - they shall inherit the cities of the southland, which are in the southern part of Eretz Israel. The exegetes claim that Zarephath is the kingdom called France in French.
Sepharad: Jonathan renders: Spain.
21. And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.
Rashi’s commentary:
shall ascend: Princes of Israel as saviors on Mt. Zion.
to judge the mountain of Esau: to exact retribution from the mountain of Esau for what they did to Israel.
to judge: Heb. לִשְׁפֹּט. joustiser in O.F.
the mountain of Esau: Jonathan renders: the great city of Esau.
and the Lord shall have the kingdom: This teaches you that His kingdom will not be complete until He exacts retribution from Amalek.
Here we see, from verse 18, that the House of Joseph (including its leader) has a military role in the end-times drama. Verse 21 indicates that this is a joint effort. From this we see that the time when the Mashiach ben Yosef comes, ends with a period of peace. This would indicate the period we have seen above when there is world peace, a renewal of the Davidic kingdom, etc. Let’s summarize the Rabbinic writings with regards to Mashiach ben Yosef:
There will be a period of about seven years of terrible famines and other troubles. The land of Israel will at that time be under Non-Jewish control, and a leader of the tribe of Ephraim, will arise to lead militarily against these nations who control Jerusalem. He will be successful, but after his initial victory he will die in battle. This will cause a great mourning and many will lose faith. At that time (still within the seven years) the Mashiach Ben David will be revealed, he shall finish the battle. After which, he will resurrect all the dead, starting with the Mashiach Ben Yosef. Both of them will go up to Mount Zion to fulfill the prophecy in Ovadiah verse 21: "And the saviors (plural - both Messiahs) shall go up onto Mount Tzion and judge Mount Esav, and the kingdom will be for Hashem." There is the fulfillment of ALL the major prophesies like an end to war and a world at peace with the Jewish people in a restored Jerusalem with the third Temple.