The Messiah Question: The Tanakh, the Old Testament, and the Latter Scriptures

By Will J. Harris

For the last two thousand years, three unanswerable questions have perplexed Jewish religious scholars:
 

1. When will Messiah appear? (Jews, in general, do not believe He has come.)
2. Why were the Jews dispersed from their nation for two thousand years? (Israel’s statehood was only recently restored, in 1948.)
3. When in the biblical timeline does Messiah appear? (Again, most Jews are still waiting for Messiah to come the first time.) 

 
The Messiah Question answers each question by exploring the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), historical rabbinical commentary, “Latter Scriptures” (New Testament), and Bible prophecies, explaining Messiah’s appearance in both the Tanakh and rabbinical texts.
 
Thus The Messiah Question is a great witnessing tool for Messianic Jews or Gentile believers seeking to reach unbelieving Jews for Yeshua (Jesus). It will amplify your knowledge of the Old Testament and fortify your faith in God’s plan for humanity.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Life
• Release date: Apr 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781629985084

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KING, HIGH PRIEST, AND LEVITES

TODAY I WAS contemplating the passages toward the end of the Book of Zechariah (12:10–14 and 13:6–9), in both the Tanakh (JPS, the Jewish Bible, approximately equivalent with the Old Testament) and the Old Testament (OT, from the New King James Version) when the Conquering Messiah returns to claim His kingdom and the Jewish people. And two things occurred to me after rereading and comparing these passages in the Tanakh (based on the Masoretic text, which evolved at least seven hundred years after the older source text upon which the Old Testament translation is based) and the Old Testament.

The first realization is that although Zechariah is taken as a Messianic book in the Tanakh, and although the Messianic kingdom is clearly established by the end of chapter 14 of the book, the Messiah never overtly appears in the Zechariah passages of the Tanakh as He does in those of the Old Testament.

While Isaiah gives us the clearest overview of the Messiah’s ministry and destiny, perhaps Zechariah gives us the most specific rendering of the Messiah’s conquest and the day of His coming. On several occasions the prophet Zechariah indicates that within the scope of his prophecies the Messiah will come and conquer. Zechariah 3:8–10 says:

. . . Harken well, O High Priest Joshua, you and your fellow priests sitting before you! For those men [Joshua’s attendants who clothed him in clean priestly garments] are a sign that I am going to send My servant the Branch [understood in the Jewish tradition to be the future king of David’s line¹]. For mark well this stone which I place before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes. I will execute its engraving—declares the LORD of Hosts—and I will remove that country’s guilt in a single day. In that day—declares the LORD of Hosts—you will be inviting each other to the shade of vines and fig trees.

—JPS

Zechariah 6:11–13 also foresees the Messiah’s reign:

Take silver and gold and make crowns. Place [one] on the head of High Priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and say to him, Thus said the LORD of Hosts: Behold, a man called the Branch shall branch out from the place where he is, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall build the temple of the LORD and shall assume majesty, and he shall sit on his throne and rule. And there shall be a priest seated on his throne, and harmonious understanding shall prevail between them.

—JPS

Perhaps the editors of the Tanakh, allowing for the possibility that the rulership and the priesthood will remain separate, notes the Septuagint, which interprets verse 13’s statement that there shall be a priest seated on his [the Branch, that is the Messiah’s] throne as on his right side²—in other words, that a lesser throne or seat for the high priest will be set to the right of the Branch’s throne. This reading also makes sense, from the Jewish perspective, because of the phrase that follows this statement, and harmonious understanding shall prevail between them, suggesting two persons. Such a reading also makes sense from a Jewish vantage point because the Levitical priesthood is assumed to be restored and continue under the Messiah’s reign.

From the Old Testament’s perspective, the (returning) Son of David will not be just eternal ruler, but a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek the eternal (High) Priest (Ps. 110:4), as David prophesied. Even the Tanakh reads The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever, a rightful king by My decree’ (Ps. 110:4), thus linking the priestly and kingly roles. (The Tanakh adds as an alternative reading after the manner of Melchizedek in the footnotes.³) This concept of the Messiah’s combined, eternal rulership and priesthood underlies not just the entirety of the Old Testament, but the New Testament as well, as exemplified in the Book of Hebrews (see verse 5:6 in particular), where the Messiah’s eternal priesthood is reaffirmed. If we as readers affirm the prophecy of David to be true, then we must also be willing to consider that the Levitical roles of the Messianic kingdom may be somewhat different from what Judaism now envisions in its plans to rebuild the temple. For instance, since the Messiah will also be High Priest, will the restoration of a Levitical priesthood as existed before the temple’s fall in AD 70 still be valid or necessary? Will the Messiah assert His prerogative and declare a new order of Temple servants and services? Zechariah 11:10 hints that the former covenant (and Levitical priesthood and servanthood of that covenant) as it previously existed was abolished with the last fall of the temple: Taking my staff Favor, I cleft it in two, so as to annul the covenant I had made with all the peoples . . .

Given this perspective, it is interesting to look at the Old Testament translation of Zechariah 6:11–13:

Take the silver and gold, make an elaborate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Then speak to him, saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, saying: ‘Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, And He shall build the temple of the LORD; Yes, He shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So He shall be a priest on His throne, And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.’"

The editors of the Old Testament translate a singular crown, and unify the ruler and priest on the throne in one person who fulfills both functions. This choice reflects the fact that the Old Testament editors are not committed to the Jewish tradition of necessarily perpetuating the Levitical priesthood as it has previously existed into the Messianic kingdom (although, as we will explore later, the Levitical priesthood and servanthood are restored under the Messiah) or to the necessity of mitigating David’s prophecy that the Messiah will also serve as High Priest forever.

The verse that follows Zechariah 6:11–13 emphasizes the fact that Joshua’s wearing of the crown is purely symbolic, and not suggestive of a perpetual co-reign of the Levitical priesthood as well. Zechariah 6:14 (OT) says, Now the elaborate crown shall be for a memorial in the temple of the LORD for Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah. The Tanakh version is essentially the same—The crowns shall remain in the Temple of the LORD as a memorial to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah. Crowns in the Tanakh is pluralized, again presumably to make space for the possibility of the Levitical priesthood’s continuance as a separate, highly privileged office from the Messiah’s rulership. But the crown on high priest Joshua’s head has a symbolic significance here as well, as a memorial.

THE LORD MANIFESTED

ZECHARIAH CHAPTERS 12 and 14 give varying perspectives on the Lord’s definitive triumph over all the enemies that come against Jerusalem and Israel. Here I quote exclusively from the Tanakh, since the variances between the Tanakh and the Old Testament are minor and inconsequential.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a bowl of reeling for the peoples all around. Judah shall be caught up in the siege upon Jerusalem, when all the nations of the earth gather against her. In that day, I will make Jerusalem a stone for all the peoples to lift; all who lift it shall injure themselves. In that day—declares the LORD—I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But I will watch over the House of Judah while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. And the clans of