Yeshua the Messiah Foretold in the Life of Joseph

Genesis 37–41 The Life of Joseph—A Foreshadow of Messiah Ben (Son of) Yosef

The spirit of Antimessiah (Antichrist) is on a dramatic rise in our day. It is even rampant among those who are returning to the Hebraic, Torah-centric roots of the Christian faith where some people are losing their faith in Yeshua the Messiah. A few are even converting to Rabbinic Judaism, which denies the messiahship and deity of Yeshua and the divine inspiration of the Testimony of Yeshua. Some of the blame for this can be laid at the feet of a few of the modern-day descendants of the non-believing Pharisees (i.e. the Rabbinic Jews), who use clever arguments to beguile unstable and unlearned souls into humanistic reasoning devoid of a living faith in Yeshua their Savior and the Redeemer of man. Because of a spiritual blindness that Scripture prophesied would come upon the Jews producing a hardness of heart toward Yeshua the Messiah, unbelieving Jews ignore the numerous prophetic shadow-pictures pointing to Yeshua the Messiah contained in their own Tanakh.

May the following study strengthen your faith in Yeshua the Messiah, in his divine origination in the very heart, mind and essence of Elohim, and in the fact that he was foreordained to come to this earth to reconcile sinful man to his Heavenly Father through his self-sacrifice on the cross. All this was prophesied long ago in the Tanakh. The ancient Jewish sages speak of a messianic figure coming called Messiah son of Joseph (Mashiach ben Yosef), the Suffering Servant, whose life and ministry would parallel that of Joseph, yet these same Jewish sages fail to see the connection between Joseph’s life and that of Yeshua. Let’s now chronicle the striking and uncanny parallels between Joseph and Continue reading

 

Two Messiahs from Two Tribes, One Messiah From Two Tribes … or What?

Genesis 49:24, Shepherd…Stone of Israel. This seems to be an irrefutable prophetic reference to the Messiah of Israel whom Scripture refers to in various places as “the Stone the builders rejected,” “the Chief Cornerstone,” “Precious Cornerstone” and “the Rock of our Salvation” (Ps 118:22; Isa 28:16; Mark 12:10; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6–8). Yet this verse appears to be saying that this Messiah is coming from the tribe of Joseph. At the same time, Jacob’s prophecy to Judah contains another classic Messianic prophecy in the reference to the Shiloh to come (Gen 49:10). These two prophecies led some Jewish sages to believe that two Messianic figures would arise out of Israel: one from Judah and other from Ephraim.

What kind of blessing was this prediction that one day his descendants—the Ten Tribes—would be scattered among the nations? R. Munk explains: while it is true that the dispersion was caused by the unfaithfulness and sinfulness of Ephraim’s descendants (Hos 7:8ff), Jacob’s blessing was not in vain for “they will return to God” and will have their share in the world to come (Sanhedrin 110b). And R. Eliezer adds: “Even the darkness in which the Ten Tribes were lost will one day become as radiant as the day’ (according to the version of Avos d’Rabbi Nosson 36). And in the perspective of history, did not these exiled children of the Patriarchs enlighten the nations among whom they were scattered? They did so by teaching their conquerors the fundamental ideas of the knowledge and love of God, ideals they had never forsaken. Hence they too have a messianic vocation and their Messiah the. … Messiah son of Joseph (Succah 52a), also called Messiah son of Ephraim (Targum Yonasan on Exod 40:11), will play an essential role in humanity’s redemption, for he will be the precursor of the … Messiah Son of David …” (The ArtScroll Bereishis/Genesis Commentary, pp. 2121–2122).

How do we explain this seeming contradiction in view of the facts that there was only one Messiah, and his name was Yeshua, and he came from the tribe of Judah? These two Messiahs are explained in Yeshua’s two comings. In his first coming, he was like Joseph, a suffering servant who then become a king after enduring great hardships (read Isa 53). When he comes back the second time, he will be like David, the conquering, triumphant or warrior king where he will rule over the world and a united Israel (Rev 19:11–16). The Jewish sages had a concept of these two Messiahs, as well, but were unclear as to whether they would be the same person or not and how much time would separate their two comings. With perfect 20-20 hindsight, we can now ook back and see how Yeshua fulfilled this prophecy as the Messiah Son of Joseph (figuratively speaking) at this first coming, and how he is yet to come as the Messiah Son of David at his second coming where as the Conquering King he will defeat Babylon the Great and establish his earthly millennial kingdom where he will rule as King of kings (Rev 19–20).