Now the case for missing, corrupted and altered scripture for the cause of distorting the identity of the Messiah could continue on, but there is more to the story. Not only were the records manipulated but the historical traditional interpretations which support Jesus Christ as the Messiah purposefully altered. The Messiah which was known to be the one and only begotten of the Father, the son of God was to be rewritten by the Jewish scholars into being two Messiahs. They divided the Messiah into his two primary roles, the 'suffering atoneing Messiah' and the 'triumphant glorious Messiah'. Being Jewish, they chose the asspects of the triumphant glorious Messiah to be their supposed 'Jewish' son of David or Messiah Ben David. Yet they would remove him from being the Son of God. And the Jewish would make the suffering Messiah the son of Joseph or Messiah Ben Joseph for he would be shown to die and exhibit the trait of mortality. But the Samaritans of Ephraim have maintained that the Messiah Prophet of their tradition was to be the immortal and glorious Messiah. And from one Messiah the Jewish have made two Now this division of the Messiah into two is coved in item number 33.

But not covered in the division of the Messiah is the fact that the Rabbis did purposefully remove the coming of the Messiah as far away as possible from the time of Christ as they could. They moved the coming of both their now two corrupted images of Messiah to the latter-days. And they entirely muddled the identies of their contrived Messiahs by purposefully mixing them with other prophecies such as the prophecy of Joseph Smith as the promised prophet contained in the promises of Joseph of Egypt of the latter day restoration. And they further muddled the picture by associating their now divided Messiah by attributing to them the works of another two latter-day prophets who are to come.

If we can keep can keep three things in mind, we can attempt to back out of the muddle of mis-identity thrust upon us by the post Atonement of Jesus Christ Rabbis. First, we must recognize that there is but one Messiah and like the warning of Joseph of Egypt with respect to prophets such as Moses, other such appointed prophets of God are not to be considered the Messiah (IV Genesis 50:24 & 2 Nephi 3:5). There is not a separate Messiah Ben Joseph/Ephraim, and a separate Messiah Ben Levi/Aaron, and a separate Messiah Ben David/Judah, or any other additional 'Messiahs'. There is not 'two' Messiahs or 'three' Messiahs or multiple Messiahs. There is but one Messiah and that is Jesus Christ, even Jehovah, our Lord and Redeemer. And this first point must be held to fast throughout the unraveling of the corrupted creation of these 'false Messiahs' and 'false Christs' of which the Rabbis and others do contrive.

Second, Joseph Smith, while being the promised prophet of the lineage of Joseph as stipulated in the promises and prophecies of Joseph of Egypt, is not to be confused as being the Messiah Ben Joseph which the Rabbis have divided out from the only true Messiah by giving that Messiah the attributes of the 'suffering atoneing Messiah'. By so confusing Joseph Smith with this mixed fabrication, various scholars are tempted to attribute various scriptures which can and should only be attributed to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We cannot let ourselves be confused by the Rabbis' muddling of the water of identity by attributing some of Joseph Smith's latter-day prophet attributes to their fabrication of their latter-day mortal Messiah Ben Joseph. We must not mix apples and oranges as they have in their attempt to make of the Messiah only latter-day figures, thus removing the Messiah from Jesus Christ of the meridian of time.

Third, the rabbis have further mixed Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David into being the two latter-day prophets of sepcial assignment. In so doing they have tied their contrived mixture of multiple Messiahs into such latter-day events to which the one true Messiah should not be so mixed. Now if we can keep these three things in mind in guiding our unraveling of the Rabbis' muddle of multiple Messiahs, then we can made our way out of the muddle of lies and corruption back to the true identity of our one true Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, even Jehovah as the one true Messiah.

"Q. What is to be understood by the two witnesses, in the eleveth chapter of Revelation?
A. They are two prophets that are to be raised up to the Jewish nation in the last days, at the time of the restoration, and to prophesy to the Jews after they are gathered and have built the city of Jerusalem in the land of their fathers." ~ D&C 77:15 (Zechariah 4:12-14, Revelations 11:1-14, Isaiah 51:17-20, 2 Nephi 8:18-20 etc.)

Curious enough, it is the Zechariah verses which the Rabbis use to confuse Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David as being these two 'delivering' Messiahs of the latter-days. And where we have in our revealed scriptures of the latter-days a clear and concise statement that they are but prophets and not the Messiah this or the Messiah that. Now the fact that the Rabbis had access to various sources of information that under inspired interpretation may well have further clarified the roles to be played by these two prophets has been wasted upon them in that their intent was to mix the apples of these two latter-day prophets with the dual roles played by our one known true Messiah, Jesus Christ. These two latter-day prophets to the Jews are not the Messiah! Neither are they Messiah Ben Joseph or Messiah Ben David. And it bears repeating the quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie about the 'Davidic Myth':

"The wresting of the written word assumes that someone of prophetic stature will arise in the Church in the last days, to preside as a Second David, and prepare the way before the Second Coming of the Son of Man. That there may be one or many brethren called David who preside over the Church in this dispensation is of no moment. The scriptures that speak of King David reigning in the last days are Messianic, they have reference to the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ." ~ Bruce R. McConkie, 'A New Witness for the Articles of Faith', p. 518

Before we go further into the matter of David, it is well to understand what it means to 'wrest' the written word. As used in 2 Peter 3:16, wrest means to 'twist' or 'distort'. And as given in the Topical Guide, wrest is associated with the word 'pervert'. Thus 'wresting' the written word is to 'twist', 'distort' and 'pervert' the truth of the matter. Elder McConkie thus states that the scriptures tht speak of King David reigning in the last days have reference to the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is Jesus Christ is this David, this King David of the last days. And he is no one else but Christ. Thus when one reads the various verses and considers the various statements about this David, this King David, of the last days, the Millennial days, it is to be remembered that it is Christ who is being spoken of and not some supposed, contrived, manufactured, engineered, imagined, feigned or manipulated individual. And those who present such a person have more created a 'myth' than a matter of fact. And whether 'honest' contrivance, or manipulation based in bias and prejudice, or out and out forcing of truth to lies in order to get various levels of recognition and gail, their wresting, twisting, distorting and perverting the truth does but muddle the waters of clear understanding and hide the truth in the corruption of lies.

Now this 'David Myth', as it is referred to by Elder McConkie, has various forms. Some say that he will be a prophet of the LDS faith named David. Some speak of the two prophets of scripture who are to lie dead in the streets, and they make one of these two prophets this latter day David. Others say another 'David' entirely such as a Jewish leader named David of the nation of Israel. And they continue to mix apples, organes, turnhips, and onions in their wresting efforts of self detection as to who this person is. And some Rabbinic teachings do even make him the non-divine Jewish sought after Messiah ben David in relation to the separate Messiah ben Joseph, the two prophets of Gog and MaGog fame. But the danger is in taking what rightfully belongs to Christ as David's descendant being made to rule and reign on earth and applying it to another. And in that concept lies some truth mingled in much false assumption. This topic of the latter day King David will be further developed in item number 51.

With all the emphasis upon the 'great' King David, the father of King Solomon, we need to understand that Jesus Christ did not get his right to rule from King David. King David just happened to be in the line of 'legal' and 'rightful' descent under the covenant promises of the fathers that the Messiah would be of that lineage. That promise goes back to Adam and from thence through the righteous bears of the covenant promises which include, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob as Israel, Joseph of Egypt, and these to Ephraim the Lord's proclaimed firstborn and Jacob's blessed firstborn, taking hte place of the unworthy Reuben in that order. And as stipulated in this work, Obed who was raise to the dead, the house of Mahlon and Elimelech, Ephrathites, was the source by right and legality under the Law of Moses which transfered those rights through David, not because of David, David not being their source. And Christ rules and reigns due to the appointment of the Father and the covenant promises made which come by way of those patriarchal fathers of the covenant. And as Elder McConkie points out the name 'David' does rest upon the Messiah, in that it is Christ who is by this right the King and Redeemer of mankind. And there is none else.

Let it be stated clearly and imphatically, Joseph Smith is not the Rabbi contrived Messiah Ben Joseph. Joseph Smith is not the Messiah. When the Rabbis built there latter-day suffering Messiah, they needed references which tied him to being of the latter-days rather than of the meridian of time. They needed to sepparate him from Jesus of Nazareth and that time frame. They did this by taking the 'suffering Messiah' passages and interweaving them with various known prophecies of the latter-day prophet, the descendant of Joseph of Egypt and with the two prophets of the Jewish latter-days. This effectively removed the 'suffering Messiah' from the meridian of time and into the last days, where the Jews where happy to deal with their contrived Messiah than to recognize that they had cause his death and crusifixion.

Now we need to remove the 'suffering Messiah' back out of being associated with Joseph Smith as the 'Messiah Ben Joseph'. We do this by recognizing and using two approaches, The first is to recognize that Jesus Christ did have both a dual role to fulfill and a dual or multiple ancestry First lets remove the part of the Savior's dual role of the 'suffering Messiah' and seaver any connection with that from Joseph Smith. Those who fall into the Jewish scholarly traditional mixed Messiah Ben Joseph consideration to the extent that they begin to make Joseph Smith this character of 2nd century Rabbinical design, begins to associate many Messianic scriptures with Joseph Smith which are only to attributed to Jesus Christ the one true Messiah. Thus we must seaver Joseph Smith from the muddled mixed of the Rabbinical Messiah Ben Joseph completely. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, not Messiah Ben Joseph, though the Rabbis have borrowed some of Joseph Smith's roles in assigning them to their split Messianic character.

Joseph Smith was the promised prophet of the latter-days who was to be a descendant of Joseph of Egypt through whom the gospel of Jesus Christ would come forth and thus on throughout the nations of the world in fulfilling the covenant promise to Abraham that through his seed the nations would be blessed. But Joseph Smith was only the 'temporal leading prophet' of that singlular promise. The 'divine role' in bring to pass the covenant blessings to the nations of the earth could only be fulfilled by the promised Messianic descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Ephraim, and that was not Joseph Smith. He was not the 'suffering Messiah' or that suffering servant by whom the world would be saved. He was not that Messiah Ben Joseph. That the one and only Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. True, Jesus Christ was of the bloodline of Judah through Boaz, but Jesus Christ was not only descendant from Jesse. He was as well as descendant from Joseph of Egypt. And this was by legal right which overshadowed the bloodline. Boaz had entered into the Law of Moses of vicariously raising up seed to the dead. Obed the father of Jesse, was legally of the house of Mahlon and Elimelech, Ephrathites, and only by blood related to Boaz and Judah. Thus only Christ can be rightfully entitled Messiah Ben Joseph, and be called rightfully 'the son of Joseph.'

Joseph the carpenter was not the father of Christ. God the Father was the father of Christ. And it is from God the Father that Christ has all his rights of appointment. And it is only in conjuction with the covenant of the gospel that any mortal line can lay claim to the ancestry of Christ. And it is Mary that we must look to for that 'mortal' line of descent. Mary was a 'pure cousin' to Joseph the carpenter, meaning they where both of the same lineage and rightful line from King David, and did thereby lay claim to the 'Jewish' throne of King David. Now the Pharisees and learned scholars of Jesus day understood this dual ancestry of Jesus being of the House of David and that David was of the bloodline of Judah through Boaz, but by right of the Law of Moses, Jesus was that promised 'Son of Joseph' even the very sought after Messiah who was promised through the blessing of Joseph of Egypt by Jacob to be the 'sheperd and stone of Israel' (Genesis 49:24).

But what is clear, is that Joseph Smith is not this Messiah Ben Joseph under any circumstance. And just because some Rabbis did mix the calling of the promised prophet of the latter days of the promises and prophecies of Joseph of Egypt into their contrived mixture of a latter-day Messiah Ben Joseph as the 'suffering Messiah', does not make it right to claim such as being Joseph Smith. Certainly Joseph Smith should not be labelled with that title, neither should he be mixed into having any purely Messianic 'suffering Messiah' scriptures attributed to him.

From a pure Jewish point of view, the only true 'priesthood' came through the 'Aaronic' lines of Moses and Aaron. And if you where not a descendant of Aaron, the rights of the priesthood were not to be claimed. And the only way a person could rightfully be considered a 'High Priest in Israel' was to be of the Levitical line. Thus when the Messiah was designated as being the 'Great High Priest' of the priesthood of God, the only way this could be is if that Messiah was a 'pure Levite'. Thus the basic premise of there being a Messiah Ben Levi/Aaron.

Now the Jews refused to consider any days and ways of things before the time of Moses. And while they do consider that Melchezidek was the Great High Priest of the Old Testament from whom Abraham recieved his priesthood, after the time of the Law of Moses, they forevermore would not recognize any priesthood authority out side of the lineage of Aaron. This narrow minded thinking was likely a point of friction between God's prophets and those priest who where called of the linage of Aaron to administer the rights of the temple and of the people. What priesthood the prophet held who were not of the tribe of Levi in the minds of the Jews, I leave to the Jews. The truth is that a prophet of God hold the Melchezidek priest after the order of Melchezidek, which is after the order of the Son of God. And it did not come by right of birth from Levi or Aaron.

Yet various sects of Jews and the Jewish Rabbis have held tight to their priesthood by right of birth, and while exceptions abound, they will not allow the Messiah, the Son of God, the very source of that priesthood power and right to man to be anything but Messiah Ben Aaron in the instance which they consider this role to apply. But neither could the Rabbis solve the problem of the Messiah of the 'Great High Priest' priesthood to be of any other descend than from Levi/Aaron. And since there were understanding which also made the Messiah to be more than that of a 'Great High Priest', being the promised Messiah descended from King David, they thence divided the Messiah. And certainly he could not be of the tribe of Ephraim/Joseph. He had to be Levite. Thus the multiplicity of Messiahs is born.

Now we know that the Aaronic priesthood was a lesser priesthood of the administration of the sacrifical temporal temple ordinance of the ancient Jewish temple rites. And we know that that Law and Order was fulfilled in Christ. And we know that the higher priesthood of the Messiah is the order of the priesthood after the order of the Son of God, who the Messiah is. And therefore we must fully understand that a sepparation of the Messiah into a Messiah Ben Levi/Aaron commponent is totally unnecessary. But the uninspired Jewish Rabbis and scholars were not of this inlightened understanding. But we can readily dismis any need for a 'Messiah Ben Levi/Aaron' as another vain Jewish corruption of understanding of the one and only true Messiah, Jesus Christ.

So we are almost completely out of the woods of the Multiple Messiahs. And back to point number one. There is but one Messiah. Now, while in the minds of some there is a conflict of false perception, there is really no dicotomy at all of the titles of Messiah Ben David and Messiah Ben Joseph. I can be a decendant of my father named Philip David Hender. And I can be a descendant of my 2nd great grandfather Thomas Rowe Hender. I can be both son of Philip David and son of Thomas Rowe as they are both my ancestor. And this is the simple case of being both Messiah Ben David and Messiah Ben Joseph. David was the son of Jesse. Jesse was the son of Obed. And Obed by right of the Law of Moses, and adoptive vicarious marriage raising seed to the dead, was the son of Mahlon and of the house of Elimelech and Naomi who where Ephrathites of the tribe of Ephraim. Thus David was a legal and rightful heir and descendant from Joseph of Egypt. Thus like David, Jesse and Obed, Jesus Christ was rightfully an Ephrathite or Ephraimite and a rightful descendant of the covenant line of the promises of the fathers which had been passed from Jacob to Joseph and from thence to Ephraim, as Jacob pronounced that Ephraim recieved the rights, blessings and covenants of the first born in Israel, which where the covenant rights of the fathers to bring about the salvation of the world, both in temporal performances and in divine performances as Christ suffered for sin as the redeemer of the world.

Thus Christ is son of Joseph, Christ is son of David, and Christ is the one and only begotten Son of God the Messiah, Redeemer and Savior of the world. There is none other beside Him. He is the one and only true Messiah, the Son of God. He is not to mixed with those other wised assigned prophets such as Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elias, Joseph Smith, or the two promised prophets to the Jews of the latter-day. And they in turn are not the promised Messiah and should not be confused as being him in any way, shape or form. There is but one Messiah.