Dharma

According to Old Testament scripture, the Messiah of Israel will be born of a virgin AND be an heir to the throne of David. What do Jews and Christians who think Jesus is the Christ think of this?


http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/messiah.htm

[snip cut and paste that was impossible to read anyway. Please check the link above. - mod]

Avatar

Well, you might want to read a bit about unfilfilled prophecies first:

http://www.infidels.org/library/mode.../prophecy.html
http://www.infidels.org/library/maga.../983front.html
http://www.askwhy.co.uk/truth/180Questions.html

As I recall there is a book out somewhere that explains the Jewish perspective on Jesus as well...perhaps someone else can direct you to it.

BTW: A whole lot of your "prophecies" in your post are little more than fawning complements that say little to nothing about the future.

Dharma

Not very good scholarly sites...I mean the first one says that Devaki (Krishna's mother) was a virgin (not even mentioned in any story) and that his foster father was a carpentar (he was a cowherder)...I mean really, if you can believe these sites, you might as well believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible.

sharon45

According to christians that is, not the OT. The expected Messiah is not to be born of a virgin, that prophecy has nothing to do with it, besides, it is not even about a virgin, it is a child from a young woman instead, to be consistent. Jesus is also not from the line of David because that line comes from the father, of which there is none to be correct. The expected Messiah is only suppose to be a very gifted human ruler, not a real son of god, god, or part of god.

Dharma

one of the questions many people have is WHAT IS THE CRITERIA? I mean, how would Jews determine who the Messiah actually is and BY WHAT CRITERIA (in the Tenakh or only in the Torah and which sections discuss this exactly) and who amongst the Jews (the priests??) would determine the validitity of this Messiah? This was the only site that seemed to delineate all the Messianic prophecies into one page.

motorhead

I concur with this post. The orthodox Jewish view on the Messiah is a human being who will rule Israel like David, get all peoples of the world to worship Yahweh and maintain peace and order all over the world. This view does not include a virgin birth or that the Messiah will be an incarnation of Yahweh. The view also includes nothing about the Messiah dying for the sins of the world and being resurrected.

Dharma

Suppose this is true (although the site I gave you pretty much gives scriptural evidence and you only give us your voucher ), now did David get all the people of the world to worship Yahweh, for this to happen this supposed Messiah must rule the world, no?

motorhead

Well, these issues will always come down to an interpretation of the Biblical text. I disagree with the standard Christian interpretation of certain verses of the Hebrew scriptures they claim proves Jesus was the expected Messiah. I guess Jesus met one criteria for the Jewish Messiah, he did make Yahweh known to the world. Although, even this point I would not credit to Jesus but to Paul and the early Gentile Church, which then became the Catholic Church, and well, you know the rest of the story...

chokmah

No, Jesus did not fulfill the criteria of the Jewish Messiah. The things that Christians claim will be fulfilled in the Second Coming are more or less what is left out.

Only problem: there is no prophecy for a second coming for the Jewish Messiah in the Tanakh.

Wallener

If his arrival produces the Messianic age, then he is/was the Messiah. If it doesn't, he's not.

It's that simple.