So can there be more than one messiah? Are there any other messiahs in Judaism? Talut would be an example I suppose. I don't know his hebrew or english name but he was appointed by Shamweel (Samuel?) to fight Jalut (Goliath?) and his army included Dawud (David).
They have to be a Jewish king (or a direct decendant of a Jewish king).Ansar Al-'Adl said:
There are many righteous Jews today who are direct decendants of king David.mule said:
When he was alive, he was certainly a righteous man, and had the potential to be Moshiach, just as all living Jews who are good and are decended from David have the potential to be Moshiach, but when he died, so ended his running for the position.mule said:
He will be recognized by that which he accomplishes.Ansar Al-'Adl said:
There can only be The One! :shade: Actually, the moshiach we speak of will be only one who will revolutionize the world into fulfilling the phrophetic criteria of for the Moshaich to restore Israel to it's former glory, but in doing so, he will reestablish the line of kings as well, resulting in many more annointed ones.
Only certain individuals who fulfill the criteria as stated before, such as "The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with “fear of G-d”" (Isaiah 11:2).
That's interesting. So in a sense, the Messiah will only be recognized after he's done his messiah-job. So does this mean that he won't have that his followers will never be sure that he is the messiah until he's done? I'm puzzled as to how this works.SpaceFalcon2001 said:
I think i didn't make my question clear. Has the messiah already been decreed by God? Has God decreed who it shall be? Or is it a matter open to the Jewish community to 'elect' a Messiah based on who is doing the best work for Israel?
There are MANY criteria as to who is Moshiach. We will only know 100% once he completes the job, but that does not mean he will not gain a following. If he does the easiest parts of the prophecy, no one takes notice, if he fulfills more and more prophesized requirements, people may begin to think he is Moshiach (as with Bar Kokhba, or the lubavitcher Rebbe (Z"l)), but he could complete 99% of the prophecies, and although it would look extremely likely that that man was Moshaich, failing that one remaining percent (i.e. dying before completion of his mission) will tell us that he is not truly Moshiach.Ansar Al-Haq said:
Oh most certainly, otherwise, what would be the point of the prophecies? They are there to let us know when HaShem's Moshiach has arrived so that we should not doubt the true Moshiach.
His lifetime, as I said, when he dies, he is dead, and you can't fulfill any more commandments when you are dead.mule said:
As well as most here can read Arabic, is there something you want me to translate?mule said:
Ansar Al-Haq said:
The true Moshiach can't be cut off, by the way cut off doesn't mean death nessicarily. Daniel speaks of a false prophet arising who would confuse many and he would be cut off.mule said: