Hello there!
I have found some very interesting info regarding Messiah ben Joseph that you may want to ponder. I believe with all my heart that the following is true and I just wanted to share it with you for you to think about. Please email me any comments or questions. Thank you! :)
From the book "The Third Thousand Years" by Cleon Skousen
Modern Jews expecting a "Joseph" to prepare the way for the tcoming of their Messiah:
"...there is a persistent tradition among the Jews which has previously puzzled scholars. From the most ancient times, Jewish tradition has proclaimed that a great servant of God from the House of Joseph would come in the latter days to prepare the way for the coming of Shilo, the Great Messiah.
In fact, so profound was the respect of the rabbis for this "Joseph", that they began calling him "Messiah ben Joseph" and called their Shilo "Messiah ben David". Literally translated, these appellations mean "The anointed One, son of Joseph" and "The anointed One, son of David".
A comprehensive study of this mysterious "Messiah ben Joseph" was made by Dr. Joseph Klausner, Professor Emeritus of Hebrew literature and Jewish history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr.Klausner did everything possible to explain away this "Joseph" but, being an honest scholar, he was compelled to put down the basic attributes which Jewish tradition variously ascribed to him. These include the following:
1. He will rise up shortly before the coming of Shilo, the great Messiah ben David." (page 486)
2. He will be a descendant of Joseph through Ephraim (page 487)
3. His mission will commence about the time the prophet Elijah comes as promised in Malachi 4:5-6 (page 498)
4. In preparing mankind for the coming of Shilo, Messiah ben Joseph will enter into a great contest with the Anti-Christ forces (page 496)
5. In the heat of this contest with the anti-Christ, Messiah ben Joseph will be killed.
... Messiah ben Joseph has come!
If these fine scholars only knew it, the most exciting message of the modern age is now sweeping across the earth: "Messiah ben Joseph has come!"...
My dear friend,
Messiah ben Joseph has indeed come. Joseph Smith is that modern day prophet. He transcribed the plates that passed down from Joseph of Egypt throughout the centuries and eventually buried in 400 A.D. in a hillside by the last remaining righteous person on this continent after the crossing to America. These plates were translated into the Book of Mormon. Through Joseph Smith, the prophecies concerning Messiah ben Joseph were literally fulfilled. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fills the earth and will continue to do so until Messiah ben David, Jesus Christ comes to reign upon the earth. To these things I humbly testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
thanks you for your email. I have read it through very carefully. Can I please ask that you will read my response right through and very carefully also. Thanks! :o) It is correct that the Rabbis believed that there would be two Messiahs. And it is also correct that that saw that these two Messiah's would come in the character of both Jospeh and David respectfully. What they didn't understand is that there would only be one Messaih, but in two comings. When He came 2000 years ago, Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah ben Joseph in that, like Joseph, He was rejected by His own brethren.
If you want to read more about this, please have a look at my study here:
http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/studies/online/JCJoseph.htm
Or check out this page for what the Rabbis believed about the Messiah:
http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/messiah/messiah.htm
But look at this scripture (taken from a study on my website):
Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Israel a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look to Me, the One they have pierced, and mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn Son."
An astonishing prophecy indeed! God claims that they will personally pierce Him. Yet, at the same time God refers to the pierced One as someone that is personally distinct from Him for whom the nations mourn and weep as for a firstborn Son.
Now look at how the Rabbis interpreted this:
This prophecy is confirmed by the Rabbis to be referring to the other “Messiah” which the Talmud calls Messiah Ben Joseph, the suffering Messiah. (T.V. Moore, Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi [Carlisle, PA; Banner of Truth Trust, 1974], p.199)
Edersheim states that this prophecy “is applied to the Messiah the son of Joseph in the Talmud (Sukk.52a) and so is verse 12…” (Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, [one volume edition], p.737)
T.V. Moore substantiates Edersheim’s statement by declaring: “… the later interpreters explaining it of Messiah Ben Joseph, or the suffering Messiah, whom they invented to meet the passages of Scripture that speak so clearly of this characteristic (i.e.,… the sufferings) of the promised redeemer. But as they believed that this Messiah son of Joseph was a mere man, the difficulty met them that Jehovah declared ‘they shall look on ME whom they have pierced’, so that if it refers to the Messiah he cannot be a mere man, but must be divine.” (Ibid., pp.199-200)
Rabbi Moshe Alshekh also confirms the messianic overtones of this prophecy:
“I will do yet a thing, and that is, that ‘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 Joseph; 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 has died; and therefore, in order that it may 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.’” (Schwarz, “Dear Rabbi,” p.10)
Messiah ben Joseph, as the Rabbis interpreted the scripture, would be pierced for their sin to make atonement for sin. This is exactly what Jesus did 2000 years ago. It is actually blasphemy to say that Joseph Smith was this Messiah!
You seem like a very genuine person who wants to know the truth. I very much appreciate that. That is why, in love, I need to give you this warning... The word of God says that:
Gal 1:6-9 'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!'
So Paul says that if someone comes and preaches a different gospel, even if an Angel comes down from Heaven and preaches a different gospel from the one already preached and recorded in the Bible, then that person is eternally condemned. Very serious stuff! That is why you need to be incredibly careful and you need to always be going back to the Bible, not any other book, to determine whether something is correct. This is of the utmost importance as our eternal destinies are at stake!
I have looked at the teachings of Mormonism and Joseph Smith and I am under no doubt that Joseph Smith preached 'another Jesus' and 'another Gospel'. I only say this because I care that you know the truth. Because of the warning that Paul gave us above, this becomes all the more important.
I would very much like you to respond and write back.
All the best.