pug846

I have a pretty simple quesiton that I am sure has a really complicated answer. I know it has been discussed here before, but i can't locate the relevant threads.

Why didn't and don't Jews believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I understand that He didn't meet their expectations (As I recall, weren't they expecting more of a moses type?), but why did they have these expectations?

I'd apprecaite any thoughtful insight, helpful links or book suggestions.

Bill

Actually, there isn't any historical evidence that the actual Jews didn't take the actual Jesus character seriously as the actual Messiah.

The main thing that the Messiah was supposed to do was to lead the Jews back to independence from Rome. So, the Messiah was supposed to gather together an army of Jews and rout the Romans in battle.

It is, at this juncture, interesting to note that not many crimes in ancient Rome carried the penalty of crucifixion. One of the very few that did was "insurrection against Rome." So, if the actual Jesus had begun to make actual moves towards gathering together an actual army of Jews, that would have provided all of the reasons that the Romans would have needed in order to crucify Jesus.

Of course, once you get to the actual revolt against Rome (the first time around, in 66-70 CE), there wasn't any clear "Messiah" leader of the Jews.

About 60 years later, Bar Kochba would claim to be the Messiah and he would lead the Jews against Rome once again. The end result of his efforts was that Hadrian obliterated Jerusalem as a Jewish city, mandating that no Jew could enter the city under pain of death, and renaming the city after himself (Aelia Capitolina). But the fact that Bar Kochba was able to even raise a Jewish army simply by claiming to be the Messiah should give you an excellent understanding of exactly what the Messiah was expected to do.

I will leave it to others to list the references to Old Testament sources that underlie this belief in a Messiah as the warlord leader of the Jews.

== Bill

Logan

A good site with several articles concerning this is the Jew for Judaism website, created to counter the underhanded Jews for Jesus organization.

An excellent book on the subject is Ben Zion Bokser's "Judaism and the Christian Predicament," which explores many of the issues concerning this very question. It's out of print, being published in the sixties and about a subject matter many Christians are interested in but I found it in both my local library and the university library so anyone else should have good luck as well.

Take care,
Logan

sailor74

the jews didnt except that jesus was the son of god, because they knew he was the sun.

And they wrote the kabalah, and the old testament was just a carry over from that.

Adam kadmon, sephiroth (whirling energy centers) chakras. The jews knew of the ancient myths.

Oresta

A Jewish messiah was not a demi or incarnate god, as an early Christian sect came to believe Jesus to be. To Jews, the messiah was a learned or enlightened teacher who would inspire righteousness in the Chosen People. To the Greeks, the idea of a demi-god, e.g. Hercules, was an acceptable concept. To Jews it was alien to their belief system.

Boshko

Messiah means annointed which his a reference to the fact that the old kings got annointed with oil during the coronation ceremony. So basically the Messiah was expected to be a scion of David who would restablish the old Monarchy. In this respect the Messiah myth has a lot in common with the return of Arthur/Barbarossa/etc. etc. myths that are more tied to a past "golden" age than anything...

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: Boshko ]

Bedouin

Why didn't and don't Jews believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
The answer is very simple Jews don’t believe that God could beget a Son.also Jesus never clams to be a real begotten Son of God. And there are many Jews who followed Prophet Jesus (the messenger of God) and remember that early Christians where Jews (not Romans)
I understand that He didn't meet their expectations (As I recall, weren't they expecting more of a Moses type?), but why did they have these expectations?
Acutely he did meet their expectations, but Jews’ priest will lose their job if every Jew followed Jesus. (hint, Remember the conflict between Prophet Jesus and the priests)

if the actual Jesus had begun to make actual moves towards gathering together an actual army of Jews, that would have provided all of the reasons that the Romans would have needed in order to crucify Jesus
If Jesus was anti- Romans .Romans will never convert to Christianity. And Christianity will not spread Romans Empire .



The plain TRUTH about Jesus


peace

Marduk

Boshko said "Messiah means annointed which his a reference to the fact that the old kings got annointed with oil during the coronation ceremony."


Yes, and it is very old indeed, The ancient Egyptians had this same practice, they annointed their kings with crocodile fat, Mesa was Egyptian for crocodile, I've read.

Nomad

A pretty even handed treatment as to why Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah (as well as a quick explanaition of what they do think the Messiah will be like) can be found at Moshiach: The Messiah.

The Jews for Judaism site recommended by Logan is pretty good, and does have a discussion forum as well. Their arch-rivals are the Jews for Jesus site. A big part of the problem in looking at this question is that almost no Jew will consider any Jewish convert to Christianity to be a Jew any longer. They will tell you that this person is apostate, and has lost their birthright unless they recant and return to Judaism.

It makes rational discussion with members of either group very near to impossible.

Another site you may wish to research is The Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies. You will find a lot of information from both Jewish and Christian sources there, and it will be far less inflammatory than Jews for Judaism or Jews for Jesus.

Nomad

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: Nomad ]

LadyValar

WHY THE JEWS DON'T BELIEVE IN JESUS...HE DID NOT MEET THE CRITERIA FOR THEIR MESSIAH....
http://aish.com/societywork/philosop..._In_Jesus$.asp