1S-INTRO-14: Here’s Your Answer To The Question ‘Did God Want A King For His People?’

Are you aware there are two Messiahs in traditional Judaism?

One is known as Messiah Ben Yoseph (the son of Joseph)…

And the other is known as Messiah Ben David (the son of David).

Messiah Ben Yoseph is one who comes in gentleness and meekness and NOT to fight a war.

The prophet Zechariah spoke of this messiah as follows:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
And He will speak peace to the nations;
And His dominion will be from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.”
–Zechariah 9:9-10

On the other hand, Messiah Ben David seems in many ways to be the exact OPPOSITE of Messiah Ben Yoseph.

This Messiah will be a warrior king who comes to conquer Israel’s enemies in order to free her from gentile oppression…

And is anything but meek and peaceful.

Zechariah also spoke about this ruler as follows:

“For I will gather all the nations
against Jerusalem to battle,
and the city will be captured.
Then the Lord will go forth and
fight against those nations,
as when He fights on a day of battle.
In that day His feet will stand
on the Mount of Olives,
which is in front of Jerusalem on the east;
and the Mount of Olives will
be split in its middle from east to west
by a very large valley,
so that half of the mountain
will move toward the north and
the other half toward the south.”
Zechariah 14:2-4

Isn’t that interesting?

In Zechariah Chapter 9, the messiah is humble and meek…

But in chapter 14, he is a warrior to be feared.

Of course, Christians and Messianic believers understand that both Messiah Ben Yoseph and Messiah Ben David are one and the same person (Yeshua of Nazareth) in spite of their radically different character attributes.

The point I wanna make here is that throughout history God has always sent leaders to Israel who provided hints about who the Messiah will be and what his character and attributes will be like.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

First we have Moses.

Moses served as a MEDIATOR between the people and God.

That was his primary function.

Then we have Joshua.

Joshua served as a WARRIOR-LEADER who led Israel into the Promised Land.

Next we have the era of the Shophetim or the Judges.

The primary attribute of the judges was DELIVERANCE from Israel’s enemies who constantly tried to harass Israel and steal her land and possessions.

Finally, we come to the book of Samuel.

This is the era that transitioned Israel into the period of the kings.

In this book we’ll see God inching His way towards the goal to give Israel a leader who demonstrated the attribute of ULTIMATE RULING AUTHORITY over ALL of Israel…

But there was a caveat to that.

This King would have to be a ruler who paid attention to the Lord’s laws and commands and was under Holy Spirit guidance.

If a ruler of Israel failed to pay heed to God’s commands, he would end up losing his power and fading away into dust just as EVERY other gentile ruler throughout the ages.

In these examples, we can see that every leader the Lord sent Israel had one or two of the attributes necessary to lead His people…

But they were still lacking in ALL of the qualities God wanted.

Nevertheless, they were hints of the ultimate ruler to come…

A ruler who would demonstrate a perfect balance between humility and firm justice.

So this answers the question I posed to you all a couple of days ago when I asked “Does God want Israel to have a king or not”?

The answer to that question is YES.

I’ve already said before the whole purpose of the era of the Judges was to show Israel they needed a king…

That without a king, they would descend into complete chaos.

So actually the question shouldn’t be “Did God want Israel to have a king?”.

It should be WHAT KIND of King does the Lord want for His people?

Ya feel me homies?

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

“’The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand until
I put your enemies under your feet.”’
-Matthew 22:44

“Yeshua answered,
‘My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world,
my servants would have been fighting,
that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.
But my kingdom is not from the world.'””
-John 18:36

“…that he worked in Messiah when
he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority
and power and dominion,
and above every name that is named,
not only in this age
but also in the one to come.”
-Ephesians 1:20-21

“He is the radiance of the glory of God
and the exact imprint of his nature,
and he upholds the universe
by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high,
having become as much superior
to angels as the name he has inherited
is more excellent than theirs.”
-Hebrews 1:3-4

“They will make war on the Lamb,
and the Lamb will conquer them,
for he is Lord of lords
and King of kings,
and those with him are
called and chosen and faithful.”
-Revelation 17:14