The Conquering King
Finally, let us take a moment and view some of the expected exploits of the all-powerful Messiah Ben David,
the conquering King Messiah. Once again, the quotes are taken from The Messiah Texts, by Raphael Patai.
First comes the war victories.
"The final confrontation takes place on two planes: in heaven, were God chastises and subdues the celestial
princes of the nations of the world, thereby weakening the earthly armies under their protection; and down on
earth where God intimidates and devastates those armies with fearsome portents. Thus the small nation of
Israel, led by Messiah ben David, can overcome its enemies despite their vast superiority in numbers‖.
(p. 171).
One of the passages which Patai quotes in this chapter of his book is from the works of Philo of Alexandria.
Philo was a noted Jewish philosopher who lived from about 20 B.C. to A.D. 50, the very time when Y‘shua
was alive. In the passage quoted, De confusione linguarum 4:45, Philo takes the Messianic term 'Branch'
and defines it as being the very 'Son of God‘.
"I have heard also an oracle from the lips of one of the disciples of Moses which runs thus: Behold a man
whose name is the rising* (Zech. 6:12), strangest of titles, surely, if you suppose that a being composed of
soul and body is here described. But if you suppose that it is that Incorporeal One, who differs not a whit
from the divine image, you will agree that the name 'rising' assigned to him quite truly describes him. For that
man is the eldest son,** whom the Father of all raised up, and elsewhere calls him his first-born, and indeed
the Son thus begotten followed the ways of his Father, and shaped the different kinds, looking to the
archetypal patterns which that Father supplied‖. (Ibid.,p. 172).
[* Patai here translates Philo's translation of Zech. 6:12 as "rising‖. In the original Hebrew, the word is
tzemach; which today is usually translated as "Branch" or "Shoot‖.]
[** For a Jewish sage of the First Century to equate this term with the Father's firstborn Son is quite
remarkable to say the least.]
Along with Messiah Ben David's war and victory theme comes another, which speaks about the gathering of
all the exiles of Israel. The Lost Ten Tribes are expected to be gathered into the land of Israel by Messiah
Ben David along with the exiles of Judah – the Jewish people.
Not only is all of Israel to be gathered and 'saved‘, they will once again have YHWH Elohim dwelling with
them through the presence of the Shekhina ("dwelling" or "presence"). The Sages also identified the
Shekhina as being the Holy Spirit. They taught that when the children of Israel went into exile and the
Temple was destroyed, the Shekhina also went into exile with them. Therefore, she (the Shekhina is always
spoken of in the feminine form, thus the syllable "na" at the end of the word) will return to Jerusalem when
the exiles are allowed to return because of the victories effected by Messiah Ben David.
After all of this occurs, what remains is the complete triumph of YHWH. Once again, let us turn to the writings
of Raphael Patai:
"With the victory over Armilus and the defeat of Gog and Magog, followed by the ingathering of the exiles of
Israel led by the divine Shekhina, the Messiah will have accomplished the greater part of the tasks for which
he was created in the six days of the Beginning. Then comes the time of triumph, in which all the nations of
the world recognise him as their spiritual leader and ruler, and he becomes a veritable pantocrator, world
ruler-always, of course, in has capacity as the faithful servant of God.
"Thus the victorious conclusion of the Messianic wars is a triumph, not so much of the Messiah who acts
merely as an agent of the Lord, but of God Himself‖. (Ibid., p. 189).
At this point, the final triumph of Messiah Ben David is complete. There is now only cleanup work that
remains before the one thousand-year Kingdom of YHWH on earth can come into full bloom.
Summary
We have quoted at length from Raphael Patai's book in order to show that many of the understandings of
modern Messianic Believers about the person of Y‘shua (who He was, what He did, when He was here, and
what He will do in the future). They are also found to be similar, if not identical, with the understandings of
the ancient Jewish Sages. Without a doubt, when the many writings from the period extending from the