Messianic Appearance
By The Late Rev. Sam Stern
An answer to the question, “When Will Messiah Come?”, using as references Gen. 49:10 and Daniel's “seventy weeks” (Daniel 9:24-27).
Waiting for the Messiah
In the ghettos of Poland before World War II, devout old men stood daily looking out of their windows, their worldly goods packed for travel. They were expecting the Messiah and did not want to be late when he arrived to take them home to Eretz Yisrael. After the Holocaust, no one stood at the window. No one waited with bags packed. Most Jews who survived the brutal near annihilation of their people had lost their faith that Messiah would ever come. Their changed attitude is expressed by the following example of Yiddish humor:
Abe: "Well, Max, you'll be glad to know that I finally found a job that has security. I can keep it as long as I want, even forever."
Max: "Really? What kind of job is it?"
Abe: "It's very easy. All I have to do is stand on the mountain and blow a trumpet when Messiah approaches."
The Biblical truth of when the Messiah is scheduled to come lies between the two extremes; he was not scheduled to appear in a small Polish village in the early twentieth century, nor were we taught to give up hope of his coming some day. God's plan still includes the coming of Messiah, but when he comes does not depend upon our whims or our understanding. His coming does not rely on our attitudes, but only on the Word of God in the T'Nach (the Law, the Prophets and the Writings), because both Moses and Daniel prophesied about the time when the Messiah would come.
Until Shiloh Come
Moses, in Genesis 49:1-10, reveals Jacob giving his twelve sons a prophecy:
Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father (verses 1 & 2).
To Reuben, Jacob said that even though he was his firstborn (bchor), Reuben was unstable and sinful (verses 3 & 4).
Jacob called both Simeon and Levi instruments of cruelty -- they slew a man:
... I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (verse 7).
In verses 8-10, Jacob deals with his son Judah. He prophesies that although the Jewish nation would be divided and scattered, despite God's judgment on the tribes of Israel, Judah's brethren shall bow down before him. Jacob likened Judah to a lion, who is King.
Genesis 49:10 clarifies the time and conditions under which the Messiah would come:
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall be the gathering of the people.
Who is Shiloh?
Although Shiloh is also the name of a city, in this verse it refers to a person who will come, because the Hebrew words "ad kee yavo Shiloh" literally mean "until Shiloh come." They could in no way mean "come to Shiloh," which would be in the Hebrew "ad hoo yavo Shiloh."
Regarding Genesis 49:10, Targum Onkeles says:
The ruling of the house of Judah will not be over, and writers from his children's children until the coming of the Messiah whose kingdom is his, and nations will listen to him.
The word Messiah does not appear in Genesis 49:10, but here Onkeles interprets the word "Shiloh" to mean "Messiah."
Sipurni also comments that Shiloh in Genesis 49:10-12 refers to the Messiah, who will ride humbly into power. He will reign in peace as King, through God, as the nations gather to him. He will perform miracles:
The kingdom will not depart from Judah to another tribe in Israel as it was taken away from Saul and given to Judah, but Israel will lose her kingdom completely, and a lawgiver will not sit and judge according to tradition until Shiloh comes, and to him the nations will gather, but the Messiah will come and he will be revealed. There will be peace and the end will be that the nations will gather to him.
He will bind his colt unto the vine (verse 11), the miracles of the Messiah who is one. He will reveal himself on a donkey, not on a horse like in time of war, because it will be peace through God, who is blessed, will be king.
The Rambam, in his comment, sums up this subject in a few words of wisdom, stating that the Messiah is the son of a King who will come to receive his Kingdom:
… The rod will not depart from Judah, the kingdom will not be given to another brother of Judah, and a lawgiver with the stamp of a king, until his son comes. And all the nations will gather unto him. All of them will do his will. And this is the Messiah.
Rashi's comment on Genesis 49:10 also gives Shiloh divine status:
The rule of the tribe of Judah will not stop. From David's rule these are the heads in the Babylonian captivity where they were beaten with rods (Sanhedrin 5). And the lawgivers from between his feet. These are the leaders in the land of Israel until the coming of Shiloh, the King Messiah whose kingdom is his...
Finally, Jonathan ben Uzziel writes succinctly:
The kingdom and rule will not cease from the house of Judah and scribes of the Torah from his seeds until the time of the coming of the Messiah, and to him people will gather.
We conclude, therefore, from the preceding examples, that Jacob told his children, and the Jewish sages cited agree, that the Messiah would come when Israel loses her independence, the sceptre being the symbol of rule. Israel lost her independence and the sceptre departed under the Romans. Messiah came during that time. If the Jewish people are looking for him to appear now for the first time, they do so in vain.
Daniel Chapter Nine, Verses 9:24-27
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
The Time of Messiah's Coming
The prophet Daniel gives other substantiating information of when the Messiah would come, which is the precise time that Jesus came:
Seventy weeks (shevuim shivim) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy (Daniel 9:24).
This introductory verse gives a time of seventy sevens (shevuim shivim). It concerns Daniel's people Israel and the end of their transgressions against God in general as well as an end to their individual and national sins. There is to be a reconciliation, after which God will bless them with everlasting righteousness (tsedek olamim). The following verse, Daniel 9:25, gives more information regarding the time and also uses the word Messiah, the Anointed One. Actually, the word Messiah appears here in the T'Nach for the first and only time:
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks (shevuim shiva), and threescore and two weeks (yeshavuim shishim ushnaim): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times (Daniel 9:25).
The Bible in this verse teaches that one day Jerusalem is to be rebuilt for Messiah the Prince. The angel Gabriel had given Daniel the skill to understand this prophecy. Some believe that the counting of the weeks begins when Cyrus gave the command for the Jews to return from captivity in Babylon and to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Others believe that the time of the counting begins in the time of Nehemiah, during the reign of Artaxerxes (Ahasuerus), when the wall was rebuilt (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Still other commentators tie the counting of "weeks" standing for years, to the time of the Babylonian captivity and the time of the First and Second Temples. Time is referred to again in terms of shavua, weeks. From the time of the command to rebuild until the coming of Messiah would be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks, a total of 69 weeks. They assumed the 70 weeks would be continuous. At this time the street and the wall would be rebuilt even though opposition would arise (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Daniel's prophecy continues in the following verse:
And after threescore and two weeks [62 weeks] shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary ... (Emphasis added; Daniel 9:26)
The rabbis know that the word shavua means seven and also means weeks, and that in addition it could mean any kind of sevens—days, months or years. For example, the word shavua is used in Leviticus 25:8 to mean years:
And thou shall number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
In this instance, the sheva Shabbat, seven Sabbaths or rest years, also means that the Sabbaths, or weeks, are counted as years. Another example of the use of seven weeks to mean seven years is found in Genesis 29:18:
And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years (sheva shanim, seven weeks) for Rachel thy younger daughter.
In verses 27 and 28 of Genesis Chapter 29, the word shevua is used, not as year, but as week; thus, the same word can be translated "week" or "year" when the writer refers to the same event and the same time period.
Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service, which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years [Jacob had already served seven years for Leah]. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
Thomas Mann, an anti-Nazi German writer whose work regarding Jacob's marriage to the two sisters, Leah and Rachel, was translated into Yiddish, points out that a week can mean a year and seven weeks can mean seven years. Therefore, when we substitute the word "years" for "weeks" for which we find precedence in Jewish interpretations, and even in worldly literature, as well as Biblical usage, our only conclusion, based on the Bible, is that the Messiah must have come at the exact time and under the specific conditions that Jacob prophesied in Genesis 49:10 - when the sceptre departed from Judah.
For two thousand years the Jewish rabbis who believe in the teachings of the Talmud have been looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, who is called "the son of David." They expect him to bring them to the land of Israel, where they will build a third Temple in the city of Jerusalem. Then Messiah will set up his kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital city.
Until Messiah comes, however, the strict Orthodox Jews oppose the creation of a Jewish government in Israel. They are against the Zionist movement for that reason. Instead their motto is: "Let us wait for the Messiah." The Neturei Karta (Watchmen of the City), who reside mainly in the section of Jerusalem called "Mea Shearim," support this belief in waiting. Leaders of this Jewish sect are in close contact with the Arabs, believing that they, not the Jews, should rule in Israel until Messiah comes. The American counterparts of the Neturei Karta are the Satmar Chasidim, who propagate the same belief as their co-religionists in Jerusalem.
In Daniel 9:24 God reveals the reason Messiah was to come: to make an end of sin and to reconcile us with God. The Scriptures also tell us exactly the time when Messiah would come. In the following verse, Daniel 9:25, God reveals this time.
483 years after the proclamation to rebuild the temple
The figuring of the years from the date of this proclamation based on Daniel's "seventy weeks" works out to the time that Jesus came. When we use a week as seven years, the seven weeks would be 49 years. The threescore and two years would be 62 years times 7, or 434 years. 49 years plus 434 years equals 483 years.
Ezra 6:14-15 relates that the building of the wall lasted through the rule of three kings:
And the elders of the Jews builded…. And they builded and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
The commentators calculated the approximate time Messiah was to appear, but they identified the wrong person. Thus, whoever is looking for the Messiah to appear now for the first time to set up his kingdom on earth does not take into account the prophet Daniel or the testimony of history.
More importantly, the commentators did not consider that Messiah would be cut off after 69 weeks according to Daniel 9:26 (and the city destroyed and the sanctuary).
The Messiah of the commentators is never cut off. Another prince, whose people would destroy, not build, is mentioned in this verse as well as Messiah the Prince. In the following verse, 9:27, this anti-Israel prince is portrayed as making a covenant with Israel for one week (the seventieth week).
In the midst of the week, after three-and-a-half years, he will cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. The second three-and-a-half year period of the seventieth week is the time of Jacob's Trouble, which is mentioned in the following Scriptures:
When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shall be obedient unto his voice; (Deuteronomy 4:30).
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's Trouble; but he shall be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:7).
And I will cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant (Ezekiel 20:37).
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The LORD is my God. (Zechariah 13:8,9).
Rashi, in his comment on Daniel 9:27, writes that someone will make an agreement with Israel, but will break it:
Titus will make peace with the Jewish princes for seven years but will destroy the agreement in the midst of the seven years. And he will strengthen an agreement ... and will exist until the Messiah will come.
Regarding Daniel 9:26, Rashi explains what he thinks will occur after the seventieth week:
After the seventieth week, Agrippa, king of Judah, will be cut off and will not be any more. And the Holy City will be destroyed by Titus and his army, and he will be destroyed by Messiah. He will be cursed until the war of Gog until the Messiah will come and he will rule, but he will be destroyed by the Messiah.
It appears from Rashi's comments that Messiah would have had to come during Titus's lifetime in order to destroy him and also that Messiah would rule at that time. Furthermore, Jacob's trouble is mentioned in Daniel 12:1 as coming upon his people Israel in the future:
... there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation ... and at that time thy people shall be delivered.
The duration of this period, called the Great Tribulation, is clarified in Daniel 12:7:
...that it shall be for a time, times, and a half...
Daniel 7:25 also deals with the time of trouble:
...they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
In both verses, Daniel 7:25 and Daniel 12:7, the Aramaic words "kilemoaid moadim yachaitel" appear, which translated mean "time, times and a half." This means time (1), times (2) and (1/2), which corresponds to the last 3½ years of Daniel's seventieth week.
The seventieth week prophesied by Daniel in Chapter 9 has not yet occurred. Therefore, the transgression is not finished, neither the end of sins, nor the reconciliation of iniquity. When the seventieth week does arrive, we can ultimately expect everlasting righteousness, the vision and the prophecy to be sealed and the anointing of the most Holy (Daniel 9:24). The seventieth week is postponed to bring the Gentiles also into God's will.
The Jewish commentators figured out the timing of the seventy weeks correctly to be a period of 490 years, but since tradition taught them that Jesus was not the Messiah, they have disregarded the fact that he came at the appointed time. They did not offer any explanation why the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 was not yet fulfilled.
The following are the comments of Rashi, who is acknowledged by the Jewish leaders to be the greatest of the commentators, as well as the insights of Rabbi Sadia Geon and Metsidat David.
Rashi writes on Daniel 9:24 as follows:
From the first destruction from the days of Zedekiah until the second destruction, that Israel will take their punishment in the time of Titus [which occurred in 70 C.E] — punishment so that their sins will be finished and forgiven in order to bring upon them everlasting righteousness, and anoint upon them the Holy of Holies in the ark and the altars, and the holy vessels that the King Messiah will bring. The count is: the punishment in Babylon is 70 years and the Second Temple stood 420 years, equals 490 years.
In his comment , another great Jewish sage, Rabbi Sadia Gaon, clearly has the same understanding:
Seven weeks times seven is 490 weeks equals years. Seventy years Babylonian diaspora and 420 the Second Temple, 420 plus 70 equals 490, when Messiah is supposed to come and the sins will be forgiven. The everlasting righteousness means the erection of the Third Temple, which will stand forever, then the prophecy will be no more. They will use a bat kol (direct voice from heaven).
Metsidat David, who lived at a later time than Rashi, concurs with him:
Seventy weeks means seventy years. The prophet [Daniel] said that from the destruction of the first temple to the destruction of the second temple will take 490 years, 70 years in Babylon and 420 years the second temple, equals 490 years. When the second temple will be destroyed, the righteous King Messiah will come and rule forever in everlasting righteousness.
History shows that Titus destroyed the second temple in 70 C.E. According to these eminent commentators, King Messiah was to come at that time, then his reign was to begin.
Rashi refers to the end of Titus's destruction of Jerusalem, which will be a curse. The curse will last until the Messiah comes. In his comment on Daniel 9:26, the prophetic events are still to take place:
After threescore years and two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off. Agrippa the King of Judah will be killed. Herod ruled in the days of destruction and he will be no more. Messiah in this verse means a great leader. Titus will destroy the city and its surroundings. The end will be a curse until the coming of the Messiah and the end of the war of Gog [a power to the north now believed to be Russia].
In this comment, why did Rashi say that Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the land would be cursed until the coming of the Messiah, and end of the war of Gog, which would come some time in the future? This interpretation opens the possibility that Rashi may have been referring to two Messiahs in which the Jewish people believe:
He who would be cut off after 69 weeks, Messiah ben Josef, who came to suffer for our sins and
He who will come when the curse will end, Messiah ben David, who will come to rule and reign.
In conclusion, we find that according to the Jewish view, the Messiah would come 490 years after the command to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. His coming would be in accordance with Daniel's prophecy of the "seventy weeks" and with Moses' record of Jacob's prophecy to Judah, which depicted the sceptre's departing and the coming of Messiah (Shiloh).
© 2001 Dorothy Stern - Mayim Hayim Ministries