There are two strains or types of prophecies about Messiah. One describes a figure known in Jewish literature as Mashiach Ben-Yosef, and the other is Mashiach ben-David. Ben-Yosef (son of Joseph) is the sad Messiah, rejected and tortured. The other, the son of David, is the victorious Messiah who brings peace and redemption. The popular imagination tends to focus on the second and forget about the former. Nevertheless they are all in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible). How can we make sense of it? Either there are two Messiahs (or kinds of Messiahs) or one Messiah must somehow fulfill them all. If one Messiah must fulfill them all, either he is victorious first and comes to a tragic end, or returns victorious from rejection (even death) to bring world peace at a later time? The latter answer is certainly the more desirable scenario, and fits well with the story of the Besora HaTova (Good News). The rejection and suffering of Messiah are past, and we now await his return and the restoration of Israel. (See Ma’asim Acts 1:6,7)

Belief in the appearance of the Mashiach ben Yosef is derived from Scripture and tradition, just as Mashiach ben David, who is descended from Judah. But what is the relationship between these two Messiahs, and how do they complement each other? Why is one Messiah not enough? What are the differences between them, and the similarities they share?  Yosef’s role was to provide the other tribes with the means to develop their individual roles. Thus Yosef preceded his brothers to Egypt and lay the foundation for his brothers’ eventual sojourn there. Yosef’s descendant Yehoshua (Joshua) conquered the land that the tribes then developed into the Jewish common wealth. And at the end of time, Mashiach ben Yosef will prepare the way for Mashiach ben David. I do not think that is by accident that Yehoshua (Yehoshua is Hebrew, Yeshua is Aramaic) is the same name with a slight variation to that of the Messiah whom will complete the work He started, accomplish the final redemption by brining the children of israel to the promise Land. So we see after Moshe is Yehoshua, this means, Torah points to the coming of the Mashiach. Amen…

Note #1: Now some comments on Mashiach ben Yosef: Then Yehuda came near to him (Joseph), and said: Pardon, my lord, let your servant, speak a word in my lord’s ears…” (Bereshit / Genesis 44:18) Judah brings rectification to the world through prayer.  We know that Judah’s method was to serve God through prayer, for his mother Leah was Divinely inspired to say the following upon naming him: "This time I will praise God" (Bereshit 29:35).   Following in the tradition of his  forebear, King David, a descendant of Judah, wrote the book of Psalms, which is f illed with prayers and praises to God. Whom is the forefather of our Rabbi, Maran Yeshua HaMashiach! Halleluya!

Note #2: Zechariah 12: 10 refers to the “piercing” of the Messiah. The Hebrew word translated as “pierced” in this verse is “daqar” (daw-kar’). It means “to stab” or “to thrust through.” This is what the Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 52a) says about Zechariah 12: 10—“What is the cause of the mourning? It is well according to him who explains that the cause is the slaying of Messiah, the son of Joseph, since that well agrees with the Scriptural verse, ‘And they shall look upon me because they have thrust Him through, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son.’” I will not go into much detail about this issue, but many Jewish sages and rabbis over the millennia have had difficulty with the notion that the Messiah Son of David had to suffer for His people. They understood that the Bible describes a suffering Messiah, but they could not accept the fact that He was the Messiah referred to as the Son of David. Therefore, they called Him by another name—the Messiah son of Joseph—even though the only Messiah referred to in the Bible by Name is the Messiah Son of David.