The Jewish Messiah The Jews. unlike the Christians, do not believe that the Messiah is Jesus. The Jewish Messiah must be a descendant of the original Messianic figure, King David of the Jews, who is shown depicted in an illuminated manuscript at left. It is interesting to note that the Messiah is expected to be a mortal person who, through his charisma, background and power, proves himself to be the actual redeemer.

The Jewish Messiah is often split into two, and sometimes even three parts corresponding to the requirements stated in the Messianic Idea. Messiah needed to be spiritual and political at the same time in order to be able to achieve the Messianic hope. The Messiah ben Joseph comes first as the political and military leader. He fights Gog and Magog and falls to them in battle at which time the Messiah ben David comes to defeat the enemies of Israel, bring the Jewish people back to their land, reconcile them with God, and bring about a period of political, spiritual, and physical bliss.

The art and imagery produced during the history of Judaism is often a very helpful factor in understanding the ideas talked about in this web-site.The image on the right is a drawing of one of the wall paintings at Dura-Europos, which became a Jewish community after the exile from Jerusalem. The imagery contained can only be understood in terms of the expectation of the Messiah. The vine, representing the "vine of the Lord" and the vine of the Temple- Israel is the vineyard of the Lord- has no fruit because prophecies by Isaiah and Zechariah say that the vine "would only be rich with fruit at the time of the coming of the Messiah.

This is the second phase of the same wall painting. It shows the figure of the Messiah-King seated upon a throne surrounded by two men who are supposedly prophets. The bare vine remains but one can see King David on the left playing the harp, reinforcing the messianic allusions, as he is author/singer of the psalms. The lion of Judah lies underneath the Messiah-King representing the tribe from which the Messiah will come.

The original model for the Messiah was actually Moses, who led his people, the Israelites, out of Egypt and away from the tyrannical and unjust rule of Pharaoh. He was both a spiritual and political leader and had the qualities expected of the future Messiah. Many connections are made in literature and scripture between the life and actions of Moses and those of the expected Messiah, such as the gathering of the Jewish people and the return to their homeland. Although there are many similarities between Moses and Messiah, David is the true ancestor and prototype. During David's reign, it was thought that his family would continue to rule through until the end of time or God's intervention. After the collapse of his empire, a new idea emerged that a descendant of his would come to bring the Jewish people together and usher in a reign of peace. One of the aspects stressed most about the Messiah's reign is justice, stemming from the fact the Jews have suffered so much injustice in their past. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed regarding the characteristics of the Messiah: "The foundation of his throne will be justice; he will be distinguished by his zeal for justice, and finally, he will be charismatically endowed for sensing the rights and wrongs of a case and for executing justice (Encyclopedia Judaica)." For more information about the Messiah, see Historical Messiah.

To the right is a stained glass window by Marc Chagall, one of twelve which were placed in the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center synagogue in Jerusalem. It is the Judah window, and Judah is the tribe out of which the Messiah will come and of which David was the king. The lion of Judah is seated at the bottom and divine or priestly hands hold up the crown of King David and the coming Messiah. The lion symbolizes the Messiah himself.

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