As Yochanan was well aware that Y‘shua was Messiah (John 1:29, Luke 3:22), one may ask, "Why would he
ask such a question at this point?" Note that Yochanan is not asking if Y‘shua is Messiah, but if there may be
"another one‖.
Among the various opinions in First Century Judaism concerning the Messiah, was the idea of there being
two Messiahs. One of these was considered to be the suffering Messiah (Messiah ben-Joseph) and another,
the victorious or king Messiah that would bring Israel to glory (Messiah ben David).
Messianic Expectations: Prepare the Way of YHWH................................................
―(3) The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
(4) Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
(5) And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together:
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it‖.
(Isaiah 40:3-5)
A Scripture passage that is often puzzling to people occurs at the point in time when the imprisoned
Yochanan the Immerser sent two of his disciples to Y‘shua to ask the following question:
―(2) Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, (3) And said
unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?‖ (Matt 11:2-3)
The first question that must be asked about this passage is: why would Yochanan even question whether or
not Y‘shua was the Messiah? After all, Yochanan had already testified to that fact when Y‘shua came to be
immersed. Did Yochanan suddenly have doubts about Y‘shua? Was there something that Y‘shua was doing
or teaching that made him wonder if he should look for a different Messiah?
In order to answer this question and for you to understand it fully, we need to go all the way back to the
conception, birth, and teachings of Yochanan the Immerser to see if we can determine why he had this
sudden need to question Y‘shua in this manner.
The Parents of Yochanan
―There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of
Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord
blameless‖. (Luke 1:5-6 NKJV)
Here we find a priest named Zacharias, whose wife is also a descendant of Aaron. The Torah does not
require that the wife of an ordinary priest also be from the lineage of Aaron, or even from the tribe of Levi.
However, it was considered a good deed (mitzvah) for a priest to marry within the tribe of Levi, and
especially within the family of Aaron.
―And the LORD said to Moses, 'Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them...‖‘ They shall not
take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for
the priest is holy to his God‘‖. (Lev 21:1, 7 NKJV)
However, the marriage qualifications for the High Priest were much stricter:
― ̳And he who is the high priest among his brethren... shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow or a divorced
woman or a defiled woman or a harlot – these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people
as wife‘‖. (Lev 21:10, 13-14 NKJV)
Not only was Zacharias a legal Temple priest, the Scriptures tell us that both he and his wife, Elizabeth, were
'righteous' and 'blameless' before YHWH. They were strict observers of the Torah instructions concerning
their manner of living and their obligations as a priestly family. Luke tells us they walked ―...in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord...‖