But if the Messiah is to suffer and die to atone for the sins of others, how can he rule as king, as Isaiah had also prophesied? Isaiah himself alluded to this apparent paradox when he said of the Messiah: “When now his soul hath brought the trespass-offering, then shall he . . . live many days,” and “with the strong shall he divide the spoil; because he poured out his soul unto death.” How could such an apparent paradox actually occur? How is it possible for a person to “live many days” after having “poured out his soul unto death”?

As another servant of God once asked, “If a man die, may he live again?” (Job 14:14) The Hebrew Scriptures answer with a resounding Yes! Not only are there recorded instances when God’s prophets brought dead persons back to life, but we are also told of the time when “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.”​—Daniel 12:2; compare 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:32-37; 13:20, 21.

So for God’s Word to be fulfilled, the Messiah must also be brought back to life or be resurrected. Only then would he be able to rule as king and bring further blessings to mankind. The words of David could thus fittingly be applied to him: “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to the grave.”​—Psalm 16:10, Le.

This motif of a dying Messiah continued to develop in the years following Bar Kokhba’s death and eventually came to be applied to a yet future Messiah who would die in battle. Elucidating this, Patai explains: “One suspects that what one must understand is that . . . [the Messiah] as the Son of Joseph, will die on the threshold of the End of Days, but then will come back to life as the Son of David and complete the mission he began in his earlier incarnation.”

How strangely parallel this is to the beliefs of the first-century Christians! Both groups were claiming belief in a Messiah who would die and be resurrected before the foretold era of peace!