In פרשה בלק, the Torah tells us all about the נבואות of Bilam, the prophecies of Bilam. And towards the end of his prophecies, he told Balak that he's going to tell him what's going to happen to the אידן באחרית הימים. As he said in קפיטל כ״ד, פסוק י״ד, that I will ועתה הנני הולך לעמי לכה איעצך אשר יעשה העם הזה לעמך באחרית הימים, that he's going to talk about what's going to happen at the end of days. And therefore, the mefarshim learn that what he said later on, he was talking about the time of Mashiach. As he said from פסוק י״ז on, אראנו ולא עתה, אשורנו ולא קרוב, I see him but not now, I behold him but not close, דרך כוכב מיעקב, there shall step forth a star out of יעקב, וקם שבט מישראל, and a scepter, meaning a person who will use a scepter, shall rise out of ישראל, ומחץ פאתי מואב, and he shall smite through the corners of מואב, וקרקר כל בני שת, and he will break down all the sons of שת. And then he said והיה אדום ירשה, and אדום shall be a possession, והיה ירשה שעיר, and also שעיר shall be a possession, אויביו, for his enemies. And the mefarshim learn that this goes on Mashiach. Rashi learns that all these words go on Mashiach, but the Rambam learns that this this nevuah was divided in half. Each phrase, the first part refers to David Hamelech, and the second part refers to Mashiach. And this is what the Rambam writes in the end of Hilchot Melachim, פרק י״א, הלכה א׳. He says like this, he speaks about Mashiach, and then he says, וכל מי שאינו מאמין בו, anybody who doesn't believe in him, או מי שאינו מחכה לביאתו, or somebody who doesn't wait, doesn't hope for his coming, לא בשאר נביאים בלבד הוא כופר, he doesn't only deny the words of other נביאים, אלא בתורה ובמשה רבינו, but this person denies in the תורה and in משה רבינו, שהרי התורה העידה עליו, because the תורה testified about the coming of משיח. שנאמר, as it says, first he quotes the פסוק ושב ה׳ אלקיך את שבותך, and then he says אף בפרשת בלעם נאמר, ושם ניבא בשני המשיחים. And also in the פרשה of Bilam, it says that Bilam prophesied concerning two Mashichim, two Mashiach's: במשיח הראשון שהוא דוד, concerning the first Mashiach, which is דוד המלך, שהוא הושיע את ישראל מיד צריהם, he helped the Yidden from their enemies, ובמשיח האחרון שעומד מבניו, and the last Mashiach that's going to come up from his children, from David's children, שהוא מושיע את ישראל באחרונה, he's going to help the Yidden at the end. And he quotes the Pesukim. ושם הוא אומר, there it says like this, and this is how the Rambam explains the Pesukim that we just quoted: אראנו ולא עתה, where it says I see him but not now, זה דוד, that refers to דוד, that בלעם prophesied that there will come a time when we will have דוד; אשורנו ולא קרוב, I behold him but not close, זה מלך המשיח, that refers to משיח; then דרך כוכב מיעקב, זה דוד, and it says a star will step forth from יעקב, that refers to דוד; וקם שבט מישראל, and a scepter, a person with a scepter will come out of ישראל, זה מלך המשיח, that refers to משיח; ומחץ פאתי מואב, and he shall smite through the corners of מואב, זה דוד, that's דוד, and he brings a ראיה to that; וקרקר כל בני שת, and he will break down all the children of שת, זה מלך המשיח, it refers to משיח, and he brings a ראיה to that; והיה אדום ירשה, and אדום shall be a possession, זה דוד, it refers to דוד, and he brings a ראיה to that; והיה ירשה שעיר אויביו, and also שעיר will be a possession to his enemies, זה מלך המשיח, it refers to משיח. So the Rambam here takes every part of the Pasuk, and wherever the pasuk repeats itself in different words, he explains that the first part refers to David, and the second part refers to Mashiach.

But we have to understand: why is it that we refer to David Hamelech and Hamelech Hamashiach with the word shnei hamshichim, two Mashiach's? Why is it that David is called Mashiach, and why is it important to know that David is called Mashiach? Because if it's just because David was nimshach, David was anointed with שמן המשחה, and therefore he is called Mashiach Hashem, as it says in Shmuel Bet kapitl י״ט, פסוק כ״ב, but he wasn't the only one! Even before him, Shaul was also nimshach, he was also Mashiach Hashem, he was also called Mashiach Hashem, as it says in Shmuel Alef kapitl כ״ד, פסוק ו׳, and other places. So why is it that we refer to David as Mashiach Harishon, and why, when we talk about two, it is is David and Mashiach. If we do want to put it into two, it would fit more to say Moshe Rabbeinu and Mashiach, because Moshe Rabbeinu is the goel rishon, he's the first redeemer, and Mashiach is the goel acharon, the last redeemer. As we know the maamar חז״ל that says, משה הוא גואל ראשון משה הוא גואל אחרון, that Moshe is the first redeemer and Moshe is the last redeemer. There is an explanation why we say Moshe is the last redeemer, but whatever the pshat is, we see that we refer to Moshe as goel rishon, the first redeemer, and the last redeemer is Mashiach. So, if we do want to say that there are two Mashiach's, it would fit to say Moshe and Mashiach. Now, the truth is we can't say that that's what the pasuk means. The pasuk definitely is not talking about Moshe Rabbeinu, because he says, אראנו ולא עתה, I see him, but not now. So, obviously, the first part of the pasuk also is not talking about something that was in that time, in the time of Bilam. So, the פסוק couldn't be talking about Moshe Rabbeinu. But the question here is not that the פסוק should be talking about that, that we should explain the פסוק that way. The question is בכלל, if we do say that there are two Mashiach's, it's Moshe and Mashiach. But why refer to David Hamelech as the first Mashiach?

But this can be explained based on a question that can be asked. Why is it that the Rambam put הלכות מלכים, the laws of the kings, the last הלכות of his ספר? The Rambam wrote all the הלכות. The last הלכות, the last חלק, is הלכות מלכים. לכאורה, this doesn't fit to the order of time. The Rambam himself says in the beginning of הלכות מלכים, שלש מצות נצטוו ישראל בשעת כניסתן לארץ, three מצוות were the אידן commanded when they entered ארץ ישראל: למנות להם מלך, they have to appoint a king, להכרית זרעו של עמלק, then they have to destroy the children of עמלק, and then ולבנות להם בית הבחירה, then they have to build the בית המקדש. So it comes out that appointing a king comes before the בית המקדש and before destroying עמלק. How come the Rambam puts הלכות מלכים, the laws of appointing a king, at the end after the הלכות of בית המקדש, when really you're supposed to appoint a king before you build a בית המקדש? And the answer is the Rambam wants to show with that, that this is the ultimate level. Being that this is the end of his ספר, this is, so to speak, the שלימות, the completion of תורה ומצוות, which means like this: it is impossible to fulfill completely all the מצוות of the תורה unless we appoint a king. Being that in order to have a בית המקדש we have to first have a king, and many, many מצוות depend on the בית המקדש, so therefore, in order to be able to build a בית המקדש and bring korbanot and fulfill all the mitzvot of the Torah, it can only be done if we first have a king. And that's why the Rambam puts Hilchot Melachim at the end, to show that the שלימות of Torah and halacha, the completion of fulfillment of all the halachot of the Torah can only be done when you have a מלך. When did actually that take place? By David Hamelech. When David Hamelech became king, then the whole concept of מלוכה became, even though there was a king before, but as the Rambam himself says in הלכות מלכים פרק א׳ הלכה ז׳, כיון שנמשח דוד זכה בכתר מלכות, when David was anointed, he was zoche in כתר מלכות, in the crown of מלכות, that's when the real מלכות became. He was the מלך on all of the Yidden, Israel and Yehuda. And he conquered Eretz Yisrael, which means he finished all the מלחמות. And he already started the הכנות, the preparations, to building the בית המקדש in Yerushalayim. And therefore, from when he became king started the possibility of the fulfillment of all the mitzvot. Till he became king, it was impossible even to keep all the mitzvot, because there are certain dinim that couldn't have been done, certain korbanot couldn't have been brought on the במות, on the מזבחות that they had till then, in the Mishkan that they had till then. Certain things couldn't have been done because not all of Eretz Yisrael was conquered yet. But after he became king and did what he had to do, at that point already was there was an ability of being able to fulfill all תרי״ג mitzvot of the Torah completely, all 613 mitzvot of the Torah. When Mashiach will come, the same thing is going to happen. When Mashiach will come and will gather all the Yidden together, and he will build the בית המקדש, then again we will be able to fulfill all the mitzvot of the Torah completely, because there are some mitzvot that even in the time of the second בית המקדש they couldn't do. There are certain mitzvot that depend on קיבוץ גלויות, there are certain mitzvot that depend on all the Yidden being in ארץ ישראל. For instance, the mitzvah of יובל, to celebrate the 50th year as יובל, you have to have כל יושביה עליה, you have to have all the Yidden living in ארץ ישראל. So as long as there was no קיבוץ גלויות, no gathering of the exiles, we can't fulfill that mitzvah. So in order to be able to fulfill again all תרי״ג מצות of the Torah completely, that will only be after Moshiach will come, and he will be the king, he will build the בית המקדש, he will gather all the Yidden together, and then all the mitzvot will be able to be fulfilled.

And this is actually the גדר of Moshiach in halacha. And we know there is a halacha we have to believe in Moshiach, as the Rambam says, as we mentioned before, that if you don't believe in Moshiach, you don't believe in the Torah. What is the גדר, the idea, the inyan of Moshiach according to the halacha? People have all kinds of different things they speak about Moshiach. When Moshiach will come, then we will be free, we won't have any צרות, we will have all kinds of different things, and they are all true. But in halacha there must be a certain גדר of what Moshiach is all about. What is the halachic concept of Moshiach? What are we waiting for according to halacha for the coming of משיח? What will he bring along with his coming? The ענין of משיח according to הלכה, his גדר, is the fact that he will bring back the fulfillment of all מצות of the תורה. And this is what the Rambam says in the beginning of the eleventh perek of Hilchot Melachim, which is the perek that deals with the inyan of Mashiach. He starts off by saying: המלך המשיח עתיד לעמוד, when משיח will come, ולהחזיר מלכות דוד ליושנה, he will bring back the kingship of דוד המלך to its original state, לממשלה הראשונה, to its original control, ובונה המקדש, he will build the בית המקדש, ומקבץ נדחי ישראל, he will gather all the יידן who are pushed away, וחוזרין כל המשפטים בימיו, and all the laws will return in his time כשהיו מקודם as they were before, מקריבין קרבנות, we'll be מקריב קרבנות, ועושין שמיטין ויובלות ככל מצותה האמורה בתורה, we will make shemitah and יובל as the Torah says. This is the geder of Mashiach the way the Rambam describes it according to halachah. When he starts telling us about Mashiach, this is what he says. In other words, all the other things that will happen when Mashiach will come are all true, but that's not the geder of what Mashiach is. The geder of what Mashiach is, that he will bring back מלכות David, which means he will accomplish exactly what David accomplished. He will make it so that we will be able to fulfill all the mitzvot of the Torah. That's what the halachah of Mashiach is. And this is the reason why the Rambam says that David is called משיח הראשון and מלך המשיח is called משיח האחרון, because they both have the same thing in common: just like till the time of David Hamelech it was impossible to fulfill all the mitzvot, but only from the time of David there was a possibility to fulfill them all, even though technically it wasn't, because the Beit Hamikdash was not built in his time, but when he became king and he started preparing the Beit Hamikdash, so the potential of keeping all the mitzvot started already, so too, when Mashiach will come, there will be the fulfillment of all the mitzvot. So Mashiach and Dovid Hamelech have this thing in common, that their inyan is to bring the completion of the fulfillment of Torah u-mitzvot. And this is how the Rambam learns peshat in the נבואה of Bilam, that the pasuk talks about שני המשיחים, there are two meshichim and they both are the same inyan: משיח הראשון which is Dovid, and משיח האחרון which is מלך המשיח. And that's why the Rambam, when he speaks about Mashiach, says his inyan will be להחזיר מלכות דוד ליושנה לממשלה הראשונה, his inyan will be to bring back the malchut of Dovid Hamelech, he is going to do the same thing as Dovid Hamelech did. And that's what the inyan of Mashiach is all about. And since the Rambam writes this in his sefer, we know that the sefer of the Rambam, Mishneh Torah or it's called Yad Hachazakah, is a sefer of halachot. As the Rambam writes in his introduction to the sefer, that he writes all the halachot, so everything in the Rambam is a halacha. The Rambam doesn't tell us stories or facts, even if they're true, and even if they're taken from the Torah, but if it's not a halacha, the Rambam doesn't write it. The Rambam, when he writes about Mashiach, it's because it's a halacha. There is a halacha that we have to believe in Mashiach. And since the Rambam writes this in his sefer, that the inyan of Mashiach is that he will bring back all the halachot of the Torah, which means the fulfillment of all the halachot of the Torah will come, and this is what Mashiach is all about, this is a halacha. In other words, when there is a halacha that we have to believe in Mashiach, this is part of the halacha: the belief has to be that the inyan of Mashiach is that he will bring back the fulfillment of all the Torah u'mitzvot. And this is included in what the Rambam says, that if someone doesn't believe in him, or someone doesn't wait for his coming, not only does he deny in the other nevi'im, but he also denies in the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu. That means that there is an obligation upon every single Yid to believe in Mashiach's coming, and also to wait for Mashiach's coming, and also To understand what it mean that will Mashiach, with Mashiach will come, what Mashiach will do. What it means is that Mashiach is going to be the one that's going to bring back all the Torah and mitzvot, the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot. And this is what a Yid is supposed to believe, and he's supposed to wait for. And as the Rambam says, believing is not enough, but we pashut have to wait for him. A person who doesn't feel that he's waiting for Mashiach also doesn't fulfill the halacha of ביאת המשיח, as the Rambam says that כל מי שאינו מאמין בו, או מי שאינו מחכה לביאתו, if someone doesn't believe in him, or if someone who does believe in him, but doesn't wait for him, לא בשאר נביאים בלבד כופר, אלא בתורה ובמשה רבינו.

So therefore, it is upon every single Yid that he must actually wait for Mashiach, and if he doesn't, he has to work on himself, and try to think about it, and try to bring himself to get this feeling that he is waiting for Mashiach. Just like when a person is waiting for something physical that's going to happen, something good, so he actually physically waits for it, so too every single Yid has to actually feel that he is waiting for the