One of the basic premises upon which Christianity rests is that
Jesus was the Messiah predicted in the Jewish Bible. Judaism has
always rejected this belief. Since the goal of "Hebrew Christian"
missionaries is to convince Jews that Jesus did in fact fulfill
the requirements of the promised Messiah, it is necessary to examine
the Jewish understanding of the Messiah to understand why such claims
are simply not true.
THE HEBREW ROOTS OF THE WORD "MESSIAH"
The Hebrew word for "Messiah" is "Moshiach --
."
The literal and proper translation of this word is "anointed," which
refers to a ritual of anointing and consecrating someone or some-thing
with oil. (I Samuel 10:1-2) It is used throughout the Jewish Bible
in reference to a wide variety of individuals and objects; for example,
a Jewish king (I Kings 1:39), Jewish priests (Leviticus 4:3), prophets
(Isaiah 61:1), the Jewish Temple and its utensils (Exodus 40:9-11),
unleavened bread (Numbers 6:15), and a non-Jewish king (Cyrus king
of Persia, Isaiah 45:1).
THE CRITERIA TO BE FULFILLED BY THE JEWISH MESSIAH
In an accurate translation of the Jewish Scriptures, the word "Moshiach"
is never translated as "Messiah," but as "anointed."1Nevertheless,
Judaism has always maintained a fundamental belief in a Messianic
figure. Since the concept of a Messiah is one that was given by
G-d to the Jews, Jewish tradition is best qualified to describe
and recognize the expected Messiah. This tradition has its foundation
in numerous biblical references, many of which are cited below.
Judaism understands the Messiah to be a human being (with no connotation
of deity or divinity) who will bring about certain changes in the
world and who must fulfill certain specific criteria before being
acknowledged as the Messiah.
These specific criteria are as follows:
1) He must be Jewish. (Deuteronomy
17:15, Numbers 24:17)
2) He must be a member of the tribe of Judah
(Genesis 49:10) and a direct male descendent of both
King David (I Chronicles 17:11, Psalm 89:29-38,
Jeremiah 33:17, II Samuel 7:12-16) and King Solomon.
(I Chronicles 22:10, II Chronicles 7:18)
3) He must gather the Jewish people
from exile and return them to Israel. (Isaiah 27:12-13, Isaiah
11:12)
4) He must rebuild the Jewish Temple
in Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1)
5) He must bring world peace. (Isaiah
2:4, Isaiah 11:6, Micah 4:3)
6) He must influence the entire world to acknowledge
and serve one G-d. (Isaiah 11:9, Isaiah 40:5, Zephaniah
3:9)
All of these criteria for the Messiah are best stated in the book
of Ezekiel chapter 37:24-28:
"And My servant David will be a king
over them, and they will all have one shepherd, and they will
walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes,
and observe them, and they shall live on the land
that I gave to Jacob My servant...and I will make a covenant of
peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant
and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever
and My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their
G-d and they will be My people. And the nations will know
that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary
is in their midst forever."
If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions,
he cannot be the Messiah.
WHY JESUS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE JEWISH MESSIAH
A careful analysis of these criteria shows us that, although Jesus
was Jewish, he did not fulfill any of the other criteria. An examination
of the contradictory accounts of Jesus' genealogy demonstrates a
number of difficulties with the fulfillment of the second criterion.
Specifically, the New Testament claims that Jesus did not have
a physical father. The Jewish Scriptures, however, clearly
state that a person's genealogy and tribal membership is transmitted
exclusively through one's physical father (Numbers 1:18,
Jeremiah 33:17). Therefore, Jesus cannot possibly be a descendent
of the tribe of Judah nor of King David and King Solomon.
There are even further problems with any attempts to use the Jewish
Scriptures to prove Jesus' genealogy through Joseph, the husband
of Mary (Jesus' mother). For the New Testament claims that Joseph
was a descendent of King Jeconiah, who in the Hebrew Bible was cursed
to never have a descendent "sitting on the throne of David and
ruling any more in Judah" (Jeremiah 22:30). Joseph's genealogy,
even if it were transmittable to Jesus, would only serve to further
disqualify Jesus as the Messiah.
Finally, there is the problem of the contradictory accounts of
Jesus' genealogy in Matthew, Chapter 1 and Luke, Chapter 3. The
common Christian explanation of this contradiction claims that Luke's
genealogy is that of Jesus' mother, Mary. However, this is unfounded,
even according to the Greek original. In addition, it has already
been established that genealogy is transferred solely through the
father, making this attempted explanation completely irrelevant.
Even if one could trace one's genealogy through one's mother,
there would be the additional problem that Luke 3:31 lists Mary
as a descendent of David through Nathan, Solomon's brother,
and not through Solomon himself as required according to the prophesy
in I Chronicles 22:10 of the Jewish Bible.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth criteria have obviously not
been fulfilled -- neither during Jesus' time nor since. Any Christian
claims that these final criteria will be fulfilled in a "Second
Coming" are irrelevant because the concept of the Messiah coming
twice has no scriptural basis.
To summarize, we cannot know that someone is the Messiah until
he fulfills all of the above criteria.
The Christian understanding of the Messiah and Jesus differs greatly
from the Jewish biblical view. These differences developed as a
result of the Church's influence during the time of the Emperor
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea that issued the Nicene Creed
in 325 CE.
The Messiah was never meant to be an object of worship. His primary
mission and accomplishment is to bring world peace and to fill the
world with the knowledge and awareness of one G-d.
