Messiah Son of David

Messiah Son of David

Introduction
Recently it was claimed that the idea of a future Messiah son of David is a later concept and is not found in the Bible itself or if it is found in Scripture then only in the later books. This is mistaken. It is not our task to go around correcting all the mistakes of others.
Brit-Am, Movement of the Lost Ten Tribes is concerned mainly with proving the identity of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Incidentally we are also interested in furthering and intensifying interest and belief in the Bible. The concept of a future Messiah son of David to our mind is important and is worth studying.
We therefore have begun this series of studies that will go through all Biblical passages concerning the future Messiah and see what is there.
Veteran followers of our efforts are doubtlessly aware that the Brit-Am Commentary often proposes interpretations of the Bible that do not exactly always coincide with those found in conventional translations and commentaries.

In the present case however we are interested in seeing what is said concerning the Messiah according to interpretations that most people accept.
We will therefore point out here and there where our own understanding differs from the given one but we will try not to dwell on our own understanding overduly. We propose at first to go through Scripture and see what is said according to the simple literal meaning of the verses. After that, God willing, we will also look at what was said on the subject, according to these verses, by some of the major Commentators.

The Term "Messiah"
The word "Messiah" in Hebrew is "Mashiach" meaning "anointed".
"Mashiach" is pronounced a little like "Mash-i-a-h" with the final "h" taking a slight guttural sound.
A similar word exists, "Mashia", which means "Saviour".
The "Messiah" or "Mashiach" for our purposes means a future Leader who will arrive in the End Times or at some time before a fundamental and drastic change takes place in world affairs. The Messiah will be one of the extremely numerous descendants of David (Jeremiah 33:22). He will bring about a union between the Jews of Judah and the Ten Tribes. This is described in some detail in Isaiah chapter 11. [ See the Brit-Am Commentary and Summary to this Chapter.]
In his time the Temple will be rebuilt or the rebuilding of the Temple will precede his coming by a short period. The Exiles of Israel will return.
The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of these events quite expressly. Ezekiel prophesied during the Babylonian Exile. We will show in these studies that the predictions of Ezekiel were preceded and foreshadowed by prophecies of the earlier Prophets.

One of the first explicit indications of a future Messiah is found in Genesis, in the Death-Bed Blessing of Jacob to Judah.

Genesis: Messiah and the Prophecy of Jacob
Jacob before he died blessed his sons. He prophesied what would happen to them "in the last days".

Genesis 49
1 And Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:

Jacob was predicting what would happen in the Last Days. Jacob gave a prognostication for each and every one of the Twelve Tribes. The predictions of Jacob concerning Judah already preadumbrate (i.e. foreshadow) the coming of the Messiah.

The Prophesy to Judah indicates the coming of a future leader who will change everything . This is the Messiah..

Genesis 49
8 Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father's children shall bow down before you.

9 Judah is a lion's whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.

In our Brit-Am Commentary we show how the promise to Judah that his brothers "shall praise" (Genesis 49:8) should preferably be translated "will acknowledge the righteousness of".
So too, the expression #Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people# (Genesis 49:12)

should be " #Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the gathering of the peoples #

The Messiah will tell (or cause to be informed) each individual Israelite what particular Tribe they pertain to.
Whether or not our translation is accepted the overall gist of the message is that a future ruler will arise and he will rule over the People(s) and after his arrival the regular order of world affairs will be altered. This prophecy was for the "the last days" (Genesis 49:1). It was not therefore to be fulfilled through King David though David may be considered a forerunner.