Did Jesus fulfill most Jews' expectations for a messiah?

Answer 1

Answer 1: Jewish View

The word 'messiah' is the anglicisation of the Hebrew 'moshiach'. The word moshiach translates to 'anointed'. The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of HaShem. We have had many moshiachim (pl) in the form of kings, priests, prophets, and judges. There is absolutely nothing supernatural about a moshiach.

This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach, however, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanach.

The Jewish requirements of hamoshiach are:

• Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28)
• Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)
• Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "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 unite humanity as one. As it says: "HaShem will be King over all the world -- on that day, HaShem will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9)
• Hamoshiach must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1)
• Hamoshiach will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. The Torah states that all mitzvot remain binding forever, and anyone coming to change the Torah is immediately identified as a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-4)

There is no prophecy of a virgin birth - Isaiah 7 contains a short term prophecy that was fulfilled in Isaiah's lifetime. The prophecy itself makes no mention of a virgin. The Hebrew word for virgin is 'b'tulah' which Isaiah uses throughout his writings. However, in this chapter, the word 'almah' is used. Almah means young woman and in this chapter, the young woman in question was already pregnant. The issue was that the Greeks did not have a word that was the equivalent to 'almah', instead, the translators used the word 'parthenos' which can mean either young woman OR virgin. In the prophecy itself, the young woman's child simply served as the timeline for the prophecy: by the time the child is old enough to know good from bad, X would have occurred.

There is no specification as to where hamoshiach will be born. Mentions of Bethlehem are in reference to hamoshiach being a descendant of King David.

There is no specification as to when hamoshiach will be born. Daniel was talking about the destruction of the first Temple, construction of the second Temple, and then the destruction of the second Temple.

As to whether Jesus met any of the requirements of being hamoshiach, the answer is that no, he did not meet a single one.

Answer 2: Christian View

No. He fulfilled ALL the scriptural prophecies about Messiah, but many Jews were mistakenly expecting a politicalhero, not a spiritual one, at one point even trying to make him king (John 6:15). When he refused, they rejected him. The Jews were anxiously "waiting for Israel's consolation" and "Jerusalem's deliverance"(Luke 2:25, 38)from the Roman yoke. The Jewish Encyclopedia observes: "They yearned for the promised deliverer of the house of David, who would free them from the yoke of the hated foreign usurper, would put an end to the impious Roman rule, and would establish His own reign of peace." (1976, Vol. VIII, p. 508). The prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures described Messiah as coming in two different roles; "...humble, and riding upon an ass," and "with the clouds of the heavens" to destroy his enemies (Zechariah 9:9; Daniel 7:13). These prophecies related to two distinct appearances of the Messiah, at two distinctly separate times, and this was not understood. Even John the Baptizer and the disciples were confused at first (Luke 7:18-23, Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6).
No, because the Jews said that the works that he was performing were unresponsible.

Answer 2

No. The Jewish messiah will do the following:

* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred and oppression. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).
* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity 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).
* The messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1).
* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance. The Torah states that all of its mitzvot (commands) remain binding forever.

Judaism says very little about Jesus. According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of him. The Torah-sages (Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, Chanina ben Dosa, Bava ben Buta, Shimon ben Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Akiva, and hundreds of others) were active at that time and their yeshivot (Torah-academies) were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. As Josephus (Antiquities book 18) writes, "the cities give great attestations to them." The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.
The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to violate anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian famously wrote:
Hecateus declares again, "what regard we [Jews] have for our laws; and we resolve to endure anything rather than transgress them." And he adds: "They [Jews] may be stripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."

No one (even any who did hear of Jesus) - would have given heed to what was and is considered unacceptable for us. The few who came in contact with him soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews.

Judaism does not believe that Jesus is or was anything other than a regular human being.

(See: What do Jews believe God is like?)

We may also note that according to our tradition, prophecy ceased about 340 years before the birth of Jesus; and public miracles stopped even earlier.

Answer 3

NO. The Jews were (and continue) expecting a Messiah with specific characteristics, which Jesus did not fulfill, such as:

• The Messiah will reign over Earth as an actual Righteous King on Earth (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
  
• The Messiah or God will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and make the services operate properly (Ezekiel 37:26-28) (Obviously, if the Temple in Jerusalem was already built, only the latter part would apply.)
  
• All Jews, living or dead, will be gathered back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)
• The Messiah's ascendance to power will usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
• Because of the righteousness of the Messiah universal knowledge of the God of Israel will spread across the world, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world -- on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9)
• The Messiah must have direct paternal lineage from King David via Solomon and Rehoboam (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1)
• Foreigners will help rebuild Israel and help serve it (Isaiah 60:10)
• The Natural Order will be abrogated, with a cessation of all predation and violence within the animal kingdom (Isaiah 11:6-8) and with the sun never setting (Isaiah 60:19-20)
  
• The Messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. Any person who comes in an effort to abrogate laws, alter laws, or add new laws is clearly not the Messiah, but a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-4)
• The Dead will rise from their graves and resume life among the living (Isaiah 26:19)
• Death shall be abolished for eternal life (Daniel 12:2)

It is quite clear that based on these references that whoever the Messiah is supposed to be, Jesus, nor any other person who has lived, would qualify. There is also no Old Testament scriptural reference for a number of concepts Christians associate with their Messiah. While some of them may appear to have Old Testament sources, they are read out of context or are based on mistranslations, so the concepts in the Old Testament do not support the argument given. They include the following concepts without proper reference:

• The Messiah is to be a blood sacrifice
• The Messiah is to be born of a virgin
• The Messiah is to face bodily torture of any sort
• The Messiah is to die
  
• The Messiah is to have a second coming
• The Messiah is supposed be a form of expiation
• The Messiah is supposed to be a demi-god or divine in some way
• The Messiah is supposed to oppose the Temple structure
• The Messiah is supposed to vague or speak in riddles/parables

Answer 4

No. Some, perhaps many, but certainly not most.