Messiah, Mashiach, Moshiach

"Jewish Messiah", "Messiah of Israel", "Mashiach", and "Moshiach" redirect here. For the Israeli windsurfer, see Nimrod Mashiach. For individuals who claimed to be the Jewish Messiah, see Jewish Messiah claimants. For the religious movement, see Messianic Judaism. For an overview of the title in Abrahamic religions, see Messiah.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_in_Judaism

The messiah in Judaism (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ‎, translit. māšîaḥ; Greek: χριστός, translit. khristós, lit. 'anointed, covered in oil') is a savior and liberator of the Jewish people. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism,[1][2] and in the Hebrew Bible, a messiah is a king or High Priest traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil.[3]

However, messiahs were not exclusively Jewish, as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, as a messiah[4] for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.

In Jewish eschatology, the Messiah is a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age and World to come.[1][2][5] The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah" (Hebrew: מלך משיח‎, translit. melekh mashiach) or malka meshiḥa in Aramaic.[6]

In Jewish eschatology, the term mashiach, or "Messiah", came to refer to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age.[1][2][5] The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah", or, in Hebrew, מלך משיח (melekh mashiach), and, in Aramaic, malka meshiḥa.[6]

Orthodox views hold that the Messiah will be descended from his father through the line of King David,[7] and will gather the Jews back into the Land of Israel, usher in an era of peace, build the Third Temple, father a male heir, re-institute the Sanhedrin, and so on. Jewish tradition alludes to two redeemers, both of whom are called mashiach and are involved in ushering in the Messianic age: Mashiach ben David', and Mashiach ben Yosef. In general, the term Messiah unqualified refers to Mashiach ben David (Messiah, son of David).[1][2]

Belief in the future advent of the Messiah is one of the fundamental requisites of the Jewish faith, concerning which Maimonides has written: "Anyone who does not believe in him, or who does not wait for his arrival, has not merely denied the other prophets, but has also denied the Torah and Moses, our Rabbi."[8]

Scriptural requirements
Many of the scriptural requirements concerning the Messiah, what he will do, and what will be done during his reign are located in the Book of Isaiah, although requirements are mentioned by other prophets as well. Views on whether Hebrew Bible passages are Messianic may vary from and among scholars of ancient Israel looking at their meaning in original context and from and among rabbinical scholars.

Tribes... 1830 From Lynda Cherry

I find the timing of the letter -- October 1830 -- to be important and meaningful. An excerpt from the handout follows:

Rabbi Israel believed that the Ten Tribes held certain keys to the redemption and restoration of Judah, the holy lands and the temple. He wrote that there would be a certain order that would occur in that redemption, and felt that anything taken out of order would corrupt the whole process. In other words, in his mind, Jerusalem would not be rebuilt until after the gathering and unification of the tribes began, and proper judges, counselors, or those who were “ordained” by authority were called to lead them.

Most interesting to the LDS scholar, would be Rabbi Israel’s reliance on a teaching by Maimonides that the “renewal of ordination was a necessary precondition to the Messiah’s advent,” and that this ordination would “establish an authorized court of ordained sages” or judges. Maimonides wrote: “And this [renewal of ordination] will no doubt be when the Creator, may He be blessed, prepares the hearts of men and increases their merit and their desire for God, may He be blessed, and for the Torah, and augments their wisdom before the coming of the Messiah” (Sha’arei Zedeq le-Zera Yizhaq, p. 14a, as quoted by Arie Morgenstern, Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, pp. 100-101).

Is it a coincidence that the Jerusalem rabbis were looking for a group of men who properly held the priesthood — in the very year that the Melchizedek priesthood was restored?

Maimonides taught that as the Jews did not have this proper ordination, the Ten Tribes must have a leader amongst them who possessed the ordination, or authority, and could thereby ordain others to sit in the councils of judges (Sha’arei Zedeq le-Zera Yizhaq, p. 40a). Arie Morgenstern explains that “this was the first time in the history of Jewish messianism that there was an effort to assign the Ten Tribes a central role in the redemptive process through renewal of ordination. The Ten Tribes had always been taken into account, particularly during times of messianic awakening, but only insofar as it was believed that they would be discovered at the end of days and might bring their military prowess to bear against the enemies of the Jews. Never before had they been seen as those who would renew ordination” Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, p. 102).

About "Joseph and Judah"

Therein is an issue I've had on my mind for years. Basically we have a Mormonism going. How many other than the well-studied ones really understand what functions we are talking about, when we talk about Joseph and Judah. Tell it to a youth, he's heard it, but does he know? Tell it to the boy in our ward who said over the pulpit that Babylon is somewhere in Israel.

 

We are really talking about 

 

(1) Mormons (and gentiles) understanding the value of the Jewish/Hebraic/ancient Israelite roots of the gospel, and better understanding the meaning of the scriptures that were written in different cultural and linguistic environments. Oh, and regarding and treating with respect, not those unthoughtful simple remarks or disdain of those today who identify as "Jews". You have dealt with this in lecture, and I will tell you that Sister Lynda Needham Cherry deals with it very often, directly but gently, in her classes. This applies to temple, covenants, and festivals - the continuing significance of them to us, little understood and respected in general.

 

(2) Jews - those who have the Jewish roots, who enjoy the Jewish traditions and become alive with it on High Holy Days: perceiving and understanding the spiritual continuation into the Latter-day Gospel; the connections. How they become better Mormons (if they stick to it with gusto) because they have the "Judaic" foundation and understanding.

My wife and I were talking about Hasidim aspects a few hours ago, and I find that quite interesting. The statement that they are closer to what a truly fervent Mormon is than are the other branches or levels.

I have been building in my mind a long standing stream about the difference between going through all the motions (read the book of Joel) and having a great spirit of inspiration and love about God and all mankind (read the book of Joel). I reference that book but my point is not clear in it. I read, 16 years ago in a Messianic mag, an article about how it was saying that this group was going through the motions without the spirit; the checkboxes were checked; God was not pleased. They restored the spirit to be foremost, and God was well pleased.

May we grow to understand the full """Gospel""" from beginning to end, fully, and realize the fullness, the full value, of what we have when we REALLY put the sticks (you know them) together.

That's my passion with this organization - and in the temple. And thank you, thank you, Lynda and Marlena Tanya Muchnick-Baker for making that more clear all the time.

 http://www.latterdayisraelite.com/bofmfulfillment.html

By 'Rabbi' James Trimm

Jeremiah 31:31-33    Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH:  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.

When the Book of Mormon talks about the 'unfolding of the revelation of John' at Ether 4:7-16, it is refering to this time in Biblical history in the future, when the seals will be opened for a complete manifestation of the renewed covenant with Israel.
The Book of Mormon tells us that the sealed portion will not be opened in the day of wickedness, so the final sealed portion would be at the culmination of renewed covenant with Israel [Jer 31] and is a reference to a book mentioned in Isaiah 29:

For YHWH has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep...
The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book
that is sealed...
therefore, behold I will again do a marvelous work among this
people, a marvelous work and a wonder...
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and
the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of
darkness.
(Is. 29:10, 11, 14, 18)

Dt. 30:1-4:

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon
you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you,
and you call them to mind among all the nations where YHWH
your God drives you, and you return to YHWH your God and
obey his voice, according to all that I have commanded you
today, you and your children, with all your heart and with
all your soul, And YHWH your God will bring you back from
captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again
from all the nations where YHWH your God has scattered you.

Many passages skipped

All of these things demonstrate that the Book of Mormon is a fulfillment of the typology of Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur. 

 Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon on Sept. 21, 1827 and that day was Rosh HaShanna and the year was the birth of Zionism wherein the beginning of the restoration of the children of Israel to the land of Israel occured.  More importantly, it also marked the beginning of the days of repentance leading to the fulfillment of  Yom Kippur with the revealing of the sealed portion. 

The Lamanites are descendants of the Jews, as Manasseh attached to Judah while Ephraim was dispersed.  The last ‘Gentiles' to receive the gospel in Judea, were the ‘first' to receive the gospel of the Book of Mormon which is in the hand of Ephraim.  Ephraim was last born, but given the firstborn position for a time by Jacob and that time is ending with the fullness of the gentiles.  At that time, the first, who is Ephraim will become last again, so that Manasseh, who is the true firstborn will be given the keys of the priesthood, due to the lack of repentance from the Gentiles and he will take his position and rule as the Jewish progeny of the House of Israel/Joseph.
Yahushua predicted that when the Lamanites came into the knowledge of the true gospel, that a parallel event would be that the Gentiles would reject Torah [3 Ne 16:4-17/Isaiah 52:8-10].  Those Gentiles are the Gentiles who brought the Book of Mormon gospel to the Lamanites and many of them will not repent and hear the Torah, due to listening to the precepts of men over the Word of YHWH.
 

To the latter day saints

The Lord provided a means to dispel the partial spiritual blindness resting on the Jews when he commanded Latter-day Saints to “seek diligently to turn … the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews. …” (D&C 98:16-17.) As the mission of Ephraim unfolds, we may expect great things from Judah.

Elohim plural - singular

Virtually all Hebrew scholars do recognize that the word Elohim, as it stands by itself, is a plural noun. Nevertheless, they wish to deny that it allows for any plurality in the Godhead whatsoever. Their line of reasoning usually goes like this: When "Elohim" is used of the true God, it is followed by a singular verb; when it is used of false gods, it is followed by the plural verb.
However, there are places where the word is used of the true God and yet it is followed by a plural verb:
Genesis 20:13: "And it came to pass, when God (Elohim) caused me to wander
[literally: They caused me to wander] from my father's house...
Genesis 35:7: "...because there God (Elohim) appeared unto him..."
Literally: They appeared unto him.
The singular form for Elohim (Eloah) exists and is used in such passages as Deuteronomy 32:15-17 and Habakkuk 3:3. This singular form could have easily been used consistently. Yet it is only used 250 times, while the plural form is used 2,500 times. The far greater use of the plural form again turns the argument in favor of plurality in the Godhead rather than against it.

On Death

These two snippets are from the periodical Shabbat Shalom.

1. In Mishna Avot 2:9, we read "repent one day before your death." Because no person knows when that time will be, each of us ought to view each day as if it were possibly our last.
   
2. The current prayer book of the Reform movement in Judaism: We do best homage to our dead when we live our lives more fully, even in the shadow of our loss. For each of our lives is worth the life of the whole world."
   
   In this way we are challenged to create lives of meaning in which we strive to fulfill the blessing of being created b'tzelem elohim -- fashioned in the image of God.

Surely the latter is something to reflect on. While you do, also reflect that Covey's 8th Habit speaks to this in an indirect but very definite and inspiring way.