Jewish conceptions of the messiah and Old Testament candidates

Messiah

Jesus is not a seen as a directly relevant religious figure by the majority of Jewish people and because of the fact that there are so many diverse beliefs and perspectives among Jewish individuals, there isn't much contemplation when it comes to Jesus at all; however, there is a very firm belief that Jesus -- if one is to believe that Jesus did exist - could not be the Messiah (Brown 2007). Not only do Jews not believe that Jesus could be the Messiah, but their definition for the word Messiah is distinct from Christianity's definition, which has pervaded our culture's definition of the word as well. To understand how the Jewish people view a Messiah, it is important to go back to the word and understand what it means by definition and what is has become symbolic of for people of the Jewish faith.

The word "Messiah" is an English interpretation of the Hebrew word mashiach, which means "anointed." In most cases, the word refers to the ancient tradition of anointing kings with oil when they assumed the throne. The Messiah is the king who will be anointed at the End of Days. However, every King and High Priest was anointed with oil, so they may be referred to as "an anointed one" -- a Mashiach or a Messiah. For example, in 1 Samuel 26:11, "God forbid that I [David] should stretch out my hand against the Lord's Messiah [Saul]."

The Jewish idea of Messiah comes from the fact that one of the core themes of Biblical prophecy is the promise of an age of perfection -- the Messianic age -- that will be representative of universal peace and acknowledgment of God. Many of the prophetic writings speak of a descendant of King David who will govern Israel during this time of perfection -- the Messianic age. Since every King is a Messiah, by agreement, Jewish people call this future anointed King the Messiah. The Messiah will only be known when the King of Israel is reigning.

The word Messiah does not mean savior and it is only a Christian concept that there is some kind of divine (or semi-divine) being who will sacrifice himself in order to save mankind from its sins. This concept has become associated with the word Messiah and it is deeply embedded into our society. Many Jewish scholars refer to the Messiah in Hebrew (mashiach) as the definition has become so corrupted by the English rendering.

According to the Bible, the Messiah will construct the third temple in Ezekiel 37: 26-28; bring all the Jews back to the Land of Israel in Isaiah 43:5-6; bring in a time of world peace, ending all hatred, domination, suffering and sickness - "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4); spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will fuse mankind as one -- "God will be King over all the world -- on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One (Zechariah 14:9).

For the Jewish people, Jesus did not satisfy any of the aforementioned messianic prophecies. Christians believe that Jesus will satisfy all of these prophecies in the Second Coming, but Jewish people believe that the Messiah will fulfill these prophecies outright, and no concept of a second coming can be believed (Scholem 1995).

According to Jewish beliefs, Jesus was not a prophet because prophecy can only exist in Israel when the land is populated by a majority of Jews. During the time of Ezra -- circa 300 BCE -- when the majority of Jews resisted moving from Babylon to Israel, prophecy ended upon the death of the last prophets -- Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. For Jews, this would put Jesus on the scene approximately 350 years after prophecy ended (Simple to Remember 2010).

According to Jewish sources, the Messiah will be born of human parents and possess normal human attributes like any other person. He will not be half God and he won't have any paranormal characteristics. The Messiah must also be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1). Christians believe that Jesus' mother was a virgin, which means that he didn't have a father so he could not have fulfilled the messianic obligation of being descended on his father's side from King David (Simple to Remember 2010). Finally, the Messiah will offer the Jewish people a full observance of the Torah. The Torah says that all mitzvoth (commandments) are obligatory forever, and anyone coming to alter the Torah will be seen as a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-4) (2010).