ONCE Christianity's biases against the Law and the Jews are cleared away, the reason most Jews will give for still not accepting Yahshua of Nazareth as the Messiah is that He did not fulfill all Messianic prophecy. True, Scripture speaks of a Messiah who is a Servant -they say- but the prophets also refer to a Messiah who is a King.

John 18:33. Pilate then went back into the palace and called Yahshua, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" [36] Yahshua answered him, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is My kingdom not from hence."

The counter-missionaries readily use this against Nazarene Israel and Yahshua's claims as Messiah, conveniently bypassing the rest of Yahshua's answer that "I am a King. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world..." (John 18:37) As it happens, they also bypass Pilate's epitaph which read, "YAHSHUA of Nazareth, King of the Jews", for reasons which we will address in a later chapter. But for the present, it is true that there are both "Kingly Messiah Prophecies" and "Suffering Servant Messianic Prophecies". Also true, however, is that these two types of prophecy comprise two sets which intertwine beautifully, although separated in their fulfillment by a considerable span of time.

Suffering Messiah Prophecies

• Garments divided (Psa. 22:18)

• Offered gall to drink (Psa. 69:21)

• Beaten, beard pulled out, spit upon (Isa. 50:6)

• Disfigured (Isa. 52:14)

• Homely, despised, oppressed, afflicted, pierced, condemned, killed (Isa 53:1-10)

• Cut off, having nothing (Dan. 9:26)

• Betrayed for silver (Zech. 11:12)

• Impaled on a stake (Zech. 12:10)

• Smitten, pierced with sword (Zech. 13:7)

Kingly Messiah Prophecies

• A wise King from David's lineage (Jer. 23:5)

• Ruler in Israel (Micah 5:2)

• A King over the entire earth (Psa. 2:6-8)

• Enthroned on High (Psa. 68:18)

• Wonderful, Counselor, Everlasting Father, Mighty El, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6)

• Reigns in righteousness (Isa. 32:1-3)

• Judges the nations and does not become weak or crushed. (Isa. 42:1-4)

• Coming in the clouds (Dan. 7:13)

• Everlasting ruler (Dan. 2:44; 7:14, Isa. 9:7)

• Cleanses the Levitical priesthood (Mal. 3:1-3)

• Builds the third Temple (Zech. 6:12-13)

The rabbis perceived a contradiction between these two sets of prophecy and to explain it they determined that there must be two Messiahs - the first a servant and the second a King. What they failed to see was that, in the prophecies of the Tanakh, the Messiah comes first as a servant who is rejected, and later returns as a conquering King.

Psalm 118:21. I thank You for You have answered me, and have become my salvation. [22] The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone. [23] This was from Yahweh. It is marvelous in our eyes.

Isaiah 11:10. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse standing as a banner to the people. Unto Him shall the gentiles seek, and His rest shall be esteem. [11] And it shall be in that day that Yahweh SETS HIS HAND AGAIN A SECOND TIME to recover the remnant of His people who are left.

Clearer still is the prophecy in ZechariYah.

Zechariah 9:9. Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem)! See, your King is coming to you, He is righteous and endowed with deliverance, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Not only did multitudes of first century Jews understand this prophecy; they also participated in its fulfillment.

Mark 11:1. And when they came near Jerusalem... (Yahshua) sent out two of His disciples [2] and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you and immediately entering into it you shall find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loosen it and bring it. [3] And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Master needs it and shall send it back straightaway.'" [4] So they went away and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street and they loosened it. [5] And some of those standing there said to them, "What are you doing, loosening the colt?" [6] And they said to them as Yahshua had said. So they let them go. [7] And they brought the colt to Yahshua and threw their garments on it, and He sat on it. [8] And many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees and were spreading them on the way. [9] And those going before and those following cried out, saying, "Hosana! Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of Yahweh! [10] Blessed is the coming reign of our father David - in the Name of Yahweh! Hosana in the highest! [11] And Yahshua went into Jerusalem and into the Temple. And having looked on all, He went out to Beth Anyah with the twelve, as the hour was already late.

John 12:13. And (the crowds) were crying out, "Hosana! Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of Yahweh, the King of Israel! [14] And Yahshua.... sat on (the young donkey) as it has been written.... [16] At first His taught ones did not understand this. But when Yahshua was ascended, then they remembered that this was written about Him and that they had done this to Him.

Although the rabbis' later teachings concerning "two Messiahs" were wrong in terms of a literal PASHAT application, they remain of interest, however, in light of several things.

First, the two expected messiahs were identified in Jewish tradition, albeit ironically, as Mashiyach ben Yoseph and Mashiyach ben David. While the second was founded on Yahweh's promise to David that his seed would secure an everlasting reign, the first sprang from an erroneous belief that the "suffering Messiah" would be a descendant of the tribe of Joseph, specifically from the half-tribe of Ephraim, and that he would be from the household of Joshua, the son of Nun. In error as this tradition may be, significant parallels nonetheless exist between it and the historical types and lineage of Messiah Yahshua.

Joseph's (or Yoseph's) rejection and betrayal by his brothers, for example, and his later exaltation among the gentiles in Egypt is an exact pattern of what Yahshua experienced in His role as Mashiyach ben Yoseph.

Acts 13:46. But speaking boldly, Paul and Barnabas said, "It was necessary that the word of Elohim should be spoken to you first, but since you thrust it away, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the gentiles. [47] For so the Master has commanded us, 'I have set you to be a light to the gentiles, that you should be for deliverance to the ends of the earth.'"

One rabbi even drew "an allegory between the role of Yoseph in Egypt and the role of the Mashiyach."⁽¹⁾

Second, Yahshua's adoptive father or earthly guardian as a youth was named Yoseph. Aramaic scholar, Andrew Gabriel Roth, also presents convincing evidence from the Aramaic text of Matthew 1:16 that Mary's (step-)father or guardian shared this same name, thereby correcting the Greek text's "flawed genealogy".⁽²⁾

Third, the name, Joshua (or Yahshua), whom the rabbis believed that Mashiyach ben Yoseph would be a descendent of, is the original (and prophesied) name of the Hebrew Messiah, as seen in the previous chapter.

Fourth, the Messiah came to call sinners to repentance and to begin the process of regathering Israel's lost sheep from Samaria and the ends of the earth. This faction of Israel is known in Scriptural terminology as the House of Ephraim or Joseph.

So although the man, Yahshua, was not physically descended from the tribe of Joseph, nor from Joshua the Ephraimite, and successor to Moses, the rabbinical traditions still provide interesting analogies and the title, Mashiyach ben Yoseph, remains applicable to Yahshua of Nazareth in a REMEZ (or allegorical) and prophetic sense.

MENTION OF MASHIYACH BEN YOSEPH

Amongst the rabbis, Mashiyach Ben Yoseph is mentioned much less frequently than Mashiyach Ben David, but "a good number of (Jewish) commentators do refer to him briefly or at length."⁽³⁾ Here is what some of them say:

"It is well according to him who explains that the cause (of mourning in Zechariah 12:10) is the slaying of the Messiah the son of Yoseph, since that well agrees with the Scripture verse: 'And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced: and shall mourn for Him as One mourns for His only Son."⁽⁴⁾

"'They shall look unto Me,' for they shall lift up their eyes unto Me in perfect repentance, when they see Him whom they have pierced, that is Messiah, the son of Yoseph; for our rabbis of blessed memory, have said that He will take upon Himself all the guilt of Israel, and shall then be slain in the war to make atonement in such manner that it shall be accounted as if Israel had pierced Him, for on account of their sin He had died; and therefore, in order that it might be reckoned to them as a perfect atonement, they will repent and look to the Blessed One, saying that there is none beside Him to forgive those that mourn on account of Him who died for their sin: this is the meaning of 'They shall look upon Me'."⁽⁵⁾

"Our rabbis interpreted it as referring to Messiah ben Yoseph."⁽⁶⁾

In fact, the book, "The Messiah of the Targums, Talmuds, and Rabbinical Writers" includes 47 quotes from ancient Jewish writings that declare the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 to be the Messiah! The rabbis not only said that Mashiyach ben Yoseph would suffer and die, but that shortly after his death, Mashiyach ben David would come to resurrect him.⁽⁷⁾ Although the rabbis' understanding of the details and sequence of events was somewhat off, they nonetheless expected a Messiah who would suffer and die, and be resurrected shortly thereafter. Saadiah Gaon, the greatest Jewish sage of the tenth century, actually taught that the sequence of events was not definite, but contingent upon "the spiritual condition of the Jewish people at the time the redemption (took) place."⁽⁸⁾ Likewise, when asked whether the Messiah would come "with the clouds of heaven" as foretold in Daniel 7:13, or "lowly and riding upon a donkey" in accordance with Zechariah 9:9, rabbi Joshua said, "If they are meritorious, He will come with the clouds of heaven; if not, lowly and riding on an ass."⁽⁹⁾

Now to some this may sound strange -- to suggest that the Messiah's mission was contingent upon the spiritual state of the people -- and yet Yahshua Himself expressed this same understanding when He prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.... (But) if it is impossible for this to pass unless I drink it, let your desire be done" (Matthew 26:39,42), in the garden of Gethsamene

HARMONY BETWEEN THE 'TWO MESSIAHS'

At any rate -- whether Judaism holds that Mashiyach ben Yoseph and Mashiyach ben David are one entity or two -- there has always been a clear understanding that they are in complete cooperation and unity of purpose; this being to accomplish the restoration of all Israel and the eternal establishment of Israel as its own land. Traditional Jewish rabbi, Jacob Schochet, states that the harmony between Messiah son of Joseph (whom the rabbis thought would arise from the tribe of Ephraim) and Messiah son of David (whom the prophets foretold would arise from Judah) "signifies the total unity of Israel, removing the historical rivalries between the tribes of Judah and Joseph"⁽¹⁰⁾ This very thing is happening today with the re-gathering of Israel's divided houses and the restoration of what is known as the "two house truth", which states that the "Jews" are only two of Israel's tribes and the other ten are still dispersed (but being re-gathered) from the four corners of the earth. Indeed, this re-gathering had begun to occur two-thousand years ago when Yahshua proclaimed, "I was not sent except to (gather) the lost sheep of the house of Israel" in Matthew 15:24.

In light of their incredible harmony, the overlapping of prophecies concerning the two, and their overall inextricableness, Schochet himself even suggests the possibility that Mashiyach ben Yoseph and Mashiyach ben David are actually one and the same Messiah. He writes:

"R. Isaac Lurai (Arizal) notes that the descendant of Joseph, by being the precursor of the ultimate Mashiyach, is in effect King David, the 'seat' or 'throne' of David, (or in other words) of Mashiyach. Thus when praying in the daily Amidah, 'speedily establish the throne of Your servant David', one should consider that this refers to Mashiyach ben Yoseph..."⁽¹¹⁾

Not only this, but seeing that time is running out and no one else meeting the criteria of either Mashiyach ben Yoseph or Mashiyach ben David has appeared, the rabbis even admit that some of the events relating to Messiah son of Joseph "may have occurred already".⁽¹²⁾ What serves to make this information most astounding, however, is that, while revealing this truth, Schochet rejects the proposition that Yahshua of Nazareth was the Messiah who caused these events to occur.

Luke 24:25. "And (Yahshua) said to them, 'O thoughtless ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophet's have spoken! [26] Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these and to enter into His esteem?' [27] And beginning at Mosheh (or Moses) and all the Prophets, He was explaining to them in all the Scriptures the matters concerning Himself." 1 Peter 1:10. Concerning this deliverance, the prophets have sought and searched out, prophesying concerning the favor for you, [11] searching to know what, or what sort of time, the Spirit which was in them was pointing out concerning the Messiah, when it was bearing witness beforehand the sufferings of the Messiah, and the glory that would follow."

THE PROPHESIED TIME OF MESSIAH'S COMING SERVES AS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE

At Jacob's blessing of His twelve sons (who would later become the twelve tribes of Israel) in Genesis chapter 49, we find prophecy of One called Shiloh who would arise from the tribe of Judah and establish the kingdom of Yahweh.

Genesis 49:10. The scepter shall not turn aside from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to Him is the gathering (or obedience) of the peoples. [11] Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choicest vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.

Historically, this prophecy has been attributed by the Jewish sages to the Messiah.

In the Targum Onkelos we read:

"The transmission of dominion shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his childrens' children, forever, until Messiah comes."⁽¹³⁾

Targum pseudo-Jonathan states that:

"Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah...until King Messiah comes."⁽¹⁴⁾

Likewise, in Targum Yerushalmi we read:

"Kings shall not cease from the house of Judah...until the time of the coming of the King Messiah...to whom all the dominions of the earth shall become subservient."⁽¹⁵⁾

And finally, in the Babylonian Talmud, rabbi Yochanan says:

"'The world was created for the sake of the Messiah; what is this Messiah's name?' The school of rabbi Shila said 'his name is Shiloh, for it is written; until Shiloh come.'"⁽¹⁶⁾

Shiloh literally means "tranquil";⁽¹⁷⁾ a clear reference to Yahshua's position as the "Prince of Peace" (see Isaiah 9:6), and in Genesis 49:10 we read that Shiloh is the Lawgiver whom Israel is to obey. The characteristic of "lawgiver" is one which Yahshua of Nazareth clearly fills.

Matthew 28:18. "And Yahshua came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. [19] Therefore go and make taught ones of all the nations.... [20] teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.'"

Romans 7:25. I thank Elohim through Yahshua Messiah, our Master. So then....I myself serve the Torah (or Law) of Elohim.

Galatians 6:2. (Therefore) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the Law (Torah) of Messiah.

Second, we find that Shiloh binds his donkey to the vine. Accordingly Yahshua said:

John 15:1. I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.... [5] I am the vine, you are the branches. He who stays in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. Because without Me, ye are able to do naught.

Third, we find that Shiloh is mounted on a donkey's colt, as a humble King.

Zechariah 9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! See, your Sovereign is coming to you, He is righteous and endowed with deliverance, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

This characteristic of Shiloh was filled by Yahshua in Matthew 21:1-9, in the account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem just preceding the season of Pesach or the annual Passover.

Fourth, we find that Shiloh's robe is washed in the blood of grapes.

Matthew 26:27. And taking the cup, and giving thanks, (Yahshua) gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. [28] For this is my blood, that of the renewed covenant, which is shed for the forgiveness of the sins of many.

Revelation 19:11. And I saw the heaven opened, and there was a white horse. And He who sat on him was called trustworthy and true, and in righteousness he judges and fights... [12] and on His head were many crowns, having a name that had been written, which no one perceived except Himself - [13] and having been dressed in a robe dipped in blood - And His name is called: The Word Of Elohim.

Fifth, we find that the dwelling place of Yahweh was in Shiloh: a clear foretelling of Yahweh's indwelling within the body of Yahshua the Messiah.

Judges 18:31. ...The house of Elohim was in Shiloh.

1 Samuel 3:21. And Yahweh continued to appear in Shiloh, because Yahweh revealed Himself....by the Word of Yahweh(or the Messiah).

But how do we know when Shiloh was supposed to come? The first key is that the scepter, signifying rulership and the right to apply and enforce the Torah (including the administration of capital punishment) would not depart from Judah until the Messiah appeared. Even during the 70-year Babylonian captivity, although Judah had lost its national sovereignty, they nonetheless retained their own lawgivers and judges.⁽¹⁸⁾ During the next five centuries Judah suffered in turn under the rulership of the Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, yet retained the scepter until the first quarter of the first century C.E. The Talmud records that:

"A little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the power of pronouncing capital sentences was taken away from the Jews."⁽¹⁹⁾

In 6 or 7 C.E. Herod Archelaus was dethroned and banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul,⁽²⁰⁾ and replaced by a Roman procurator named Caponius. Josephus writes:

"And now Archelaus' part of Judea was reduced into a province, and Caponius, one of the Equestrian order of the Romans, was sent as a procurator, having the power of life and death put into his hands by Caesar!"⁽²¹⁾

When Archelaus was banished the Sanhedrin immediately lost their ability to judge capital cases, which were instead transferred to the Roman procurator.

"After the death of the procurator Festus, when Albinus was about to succeed him, the high-priest Ananius considered it a favorable opportunity to assemble the Sanhedrin. He therefore caused James the brother of Yahshua, who was called Messiah, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. All the wise men and strict observers of the law who were at Jerusalem expressed their disapprobation of this act...some even went to Albinus himself, who had departed to Alexandria, to bring this breach of the law under his observation, and to inform him that Ananius had acted illegally in assembling the Sanhedrin without the Roman authority."⁽²²⁾

Not only does Josephus mention Yahshua of Nazareth and his half-brother, James, as historical figures, but also declares that the Sanhedrin had no authority to pass the death sentence.

"When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them: they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: 'Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come'"⁽²³⁾

The prophet, Amos, however, testifies that, "The Master Yahweh does no matter unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7) and Daniel verifies the time-frame of His appearance down to the very year, confirming that when the scepter was removed from Judah, the Messiah had in fact arrived.

Daniel 9:24. Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your set-apart city, to put an end to the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to cover crookedness, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Set-Apart. [25] Know then and understand: from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince is seven weeks and (then) sixty-two weeks....[26] And after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah, the Prince, shall be cut off and have naught, and the people of a coming prince shall make the city and the sanctuary (into) ruins..."

Rabbi Moses Abraham Levi wrote,

"I have examined and searched all the Holy Scriptures and have not found the time for the coming of Messiah clearly fixed, except in the words of Gabriel to the prophet Daniel, which are written in the ninth chapter of the prophecy of Daniel."⁽²⁴⁾

That the Messiah was to come before the city and sanctuary were turned to ruins places Him before the Temple was again destroyed (this time by the Romans) in 70 C.E. Furthermore, the prophecy states that "seventy weeks" are determined until the anointing of the Most Set-Apart. The Hebrew word translated "weeks" is "SHABUIM", and means "a cycle a seven years",⁽²⁵⁾ the seventh of which is characterized, according to the Torah, by allowing the land to remain fallow, and the release of Hebrew servants.

Leviticus 25:3. Six years you sow your field, and six years you prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruit, [4] but in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to Yahweh....

Deuteronomy 15:12. And when your brother is sold to you, a Hebrew man or woman, then you shall let Him go free from you in the seventh year of release.

Sixty-nine prophetic weeks (7+62) multiplied by seven totals 483 years, which means that the Messiah had to come 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued. When did this occur?

Nehemiah 2:1. In the month of Abib, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes.... [2] the sovereign said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is none else but sorrow of heart."... [3] And I said to the sovereign.... "Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste and its gates are burned with fire? [4] And the sovereign said, "What are you asking for?" Then I prayed to the Elohim of the heavens, [5] and said to the sovereign.... "I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so that I build it.... [6b] So it seemed good to the sovereign to send me, and I set Him a time, [7] And I said, "If it seems good to the sovereign, let letters be given to me for the governors beyond the river, that they should let me pass through till I come to Judah, [8] and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the sovereign's forest, that he should give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace that belongs to the house, and for the city wall, and for the house I would enter." And the sovereign gave them to me according to the good hand of my Elohim."

The Encyclopedia Britannica (1990 edition) states that Artaxerxes ascended the throne of the Medo-Persian Empire in July 465 B.C.E. By Hebrew tradition, when the day of the month is not specifically stated, it is given to be the first day of that month. Therefore the day of the decree by Artaxerxes was the first day of the Hebrew month, Abib (or March 14^th according to calculations at the British royal observatory) in 445 B.C.E. Four-hundred-eighty-three years later would appear to come out at 38 C.E., except that prior to 701 B.C.E., a year was exactly 360 days long. That year calendars around the world all had to be recalculated due to a planetary pass-by that changed an earth-year to 365 days.⁽²⁶⁾ In the nineteenth century, Sir Robert Anderson recognized that any prophetic year has 360 days in his book, The Coming Prince. Therefore all together we are dealing with a period of 173,880 days, or 476 years and 25 days as reckoned according to the Gregorian calendar. Taking into account lunar cycles and intercalary years, as measured prior to 360 C.E., Anderson determined that this 483-year period ended on Abib 10, 32 C.E.: the day Israel is commanded to select the Passover lamb. This was the very day on which Yahshua, upon seeing Jerusalem, said, "If only you had known on this your day what could lead to your peace, but you did not recognize the time of your visitation." (Luke19:42-44). This was the day that anyone reading Daniel should have known the Messiah was to appear. According to Judaism itself, the Messiah was to exit by 33 C.E.⁽²⁷⁾ Even the Talmud records that "the Sanhedrin wept and said, 'Woe to us! Where is the Messiah? He had to have come by now.....Perish all those who calculate the end, for men will say, since the predicted end is here and the Messiah has not come, he will never come!.....All the calculated ends have already passed, and now it depends entirely on repentance and good deeds.'"⁽²⁸⁾

"The school of Eliyahu (Elijah) teaches: The world is to exist six thousand years. In the first two thousand there was desolation; two thousand years the Torah flourished; and the next two thousand years is the era of the Messiah, [He will come within that period] but through our many iniquities all these years have been lost. [He should have come at the beginning of (it); the delay is due to our sins.]"⁽²⁹⁾

David Stern, commenting on this passage of the Talmud in "Jewish New Testament Commentary", states:

"It should be obvious that the Messiah who 'should have come at the beginning' of the last 2,000-year period is in fact YAHSHUA, who did come then. The delay is not of His coming but of our recognizing Him, and this delay is indeed 'due to our sins'....

"Yet, as Peter points out, there is a delay in his second coming; and this is, in a different sense, 'due to our sins': [YAHWEH] is not slow in keeping his promise...; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is...His purpose that everyone should turn back from his sins, literally, 'that everyone should come to repentance' (2 Peter 3:9)." ⁽³⁰⁾

In the years which have followed many have arisen claiming to be the Messiah (see Matthew 24:5; Mark 13:6; Luke 21:8) and all have died, leaving the prophecies unfulfilled. The fact remains that only Yahshua of Nazareth has fulfilled all the prophecies of Mashiyach ben Yoseph,⁽³¹⁾ and consequently, only He is qualified to fulfill the remainder of prophecies concerning Mashiyach ben David in the Tanakh.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Schochet, Jacob Immanuel; Mashiach, p. 96, fn..7

2. Roth, Andrew Gabriel; Ruach Qadim pp. 71-91, The Gowra Scenario: Exploding The Myth Of A Flawed Genealogy (pp. 84-88 specifically); Tushiyah Press <www.tushiyah.org>

3. According to Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet

4. Sukkah (52a)

5. Rabbi Moses Alshech

6. Rashi, also Radak

7. Schochet; Mashiach, p. 98

8. Schochet; Mashiach, p. 98

9. Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a

10. Schochet; Mashiach, p. 94

11. Schochet; Mashiach, p. 99

12. Schochet; Mashiach, p. 100 (emphasis Schochet's)

13. Levy, Samson H.; The Messiah: An Aramaic Interpretation; The Messianic Exegesis of the Targum, p. 2 (Cincinnati:Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, 1974)

14. Levy; The Messiah: An Aramaic Interpretation, p. 7

15. Levy; The Messiah: An Aramaic Interpretation, p. 8

16. Sanhedrin 98b

17. Strong's Heb. #7885

18. Ezra 1:5,8

19. Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, folio 24

20. Josephus; Antiquities Of The Jews 17:13

21. Wars of the Jews, Book 2, chapter 8

22. Antiquities 20:9

23. Babylonian Talmud, Chp. 4, folio 37

24. The Messiah of the Targums, Talmuds and Rabbinical Writers, 1971

25. Heb. #7620, period of seven (days or years); a week; Feast of Weeks (Penetcost); heptad, seven (of years) --Thayers

26. Coover, MattithYah; Quest For The Calendar, chp. 19

27. Midrash Bereshith Rabah, p. 243 Warwaw Edition

28. Sanhedrin 97b

29. Ibid. 97a-97b, Soncino English Edition

30. Stern, David; Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 763-764

31. See "Appendix C: Sode Messianic Prophecies" for others