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Belief in the coming of the Messiah has always been a fundamental part of Judaism. Thus, for example, Maimonides counts the belief in the Messiah as one of the thirteen cardinal principles of Judaism. It is a concept that is repeated again and again throughout the length and breadth of Jewish literature.
There have been many people in Jewish history who have claimed to be this Messiah. The most famous, of course, was Jesus. His followers therefore gave him the title Christ. Mashiach — the Hebrew word for Messiah—literally means the "anointed." The Greek word for "anointed" is Christos, and thus, Christ is really just another word for Messiah.
Although Christians claim that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews, there are a number of important differences between the way the Jew looks at the Messiah, and the way the Christian does. It is most important to know these differences.
The Jewish concept of the Messiah is that which is clearly developed by the prophets of the Bible. He is a leader of the Jews, strong in wisdom, power and spirit. It is he who will bring complete redemption to the Jewish people, both spiritually and physically. Along with this, he will bring eternal peace, love, prosperity, and moral perfection to the entire world.
The Jewish Messiah is truly human in origin. He is born of ordinary human parents, and is of flesh and blood like all mortals.
As described by the Prophet (Isaiah 11:2), the Messiah is "full of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of God." He has a special feeling for justice, or, as the Talmud put it (Sanhedrin 93b), he "smells and judges." He can virtually sense a man's innocence or guilt.
The Prophet (Isaiah 11:4) goes on to say that the Messiah will "smite the tyrant with the rod of his mouth, and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips." Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand up before the Messiah.
Still, the Messiah is primarily a king of peace. Jewish Sages therefore teach (Derech Eretz Zuta : 1): "When the Messiah is revealed to Israel, he will only open his mouth for peace. It is thus written (Isaiah 52:7), 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace.' "
The first task of the Messiah is to redeem Israel from exile and servitude. In doing so, he will also redeem the entire world from evil. Oppression, suffering, war and all forms of godlessness will be abolished. Mankind will thus be perfected, and man's sins against God, as well as his transgression against fellow man, will be eliminated. All forms of warfare and strife between nations will also vanish in the Messianic age.
Most important, the Jewish Messiah will bring all peoples to God. This is expressed most clearly in the Alenu prayer, which concludes all three daily services:
"May the world be perfected under the kingdom of the Almighty. Let all humans call upon Your Name and turn all the world's evildoers to You. Let everyone on earth know that every knee must bow to You . . . and let them all accept the yoke of Your kingdom."
We find a very similar thought in the High Holy Day Amidah, where we pray, "Let all creatures bow before You. May they form a single band and do Your will with a perfect heart."
The Jewish Messiah will thus have the task of perfecting the world. He will redeem man from servitude, oppression and his own evil. There will be great material prosperity in the world, and man will be restored to an Eden-like existence, where he can enjoy the fruits of the earth without toil.
In the Messianic age, the Jewish people will dwell freely in their land. There will be an "ingathering of the exiles," when all Jews return to Israel. This will eventually bring all nations to acknowledge the God of Israel and accept the truth of His teachings. The Messiah will thus not only be king over Israel, but, in a sense, ruler over all nations.
Ultimately, redemption comes from God alone, and the Messiah is only an instrument in His hands. He is a human being, consisting of flesh and blood like all mortals. He is, however, the finest of the human race, and as such, must be crowned with the highest virtues that mortal man can attain.
Although the Messiah may achieve the upper limit of human perfection, he is still human. The kingdom of the Jewish Messiah is definitely "of this world."
Judaism is a religion based on a people serving God. It is from the Jew that God's teachings emanate to all humanity. The redemption of Israel must therefore precede that of the rest of mankind. Before God redeems the world, He must redeem His oppressed, suffering, exiled and persecuted people, returning them to their own land and restoring their status.
The ultimate promise, however, is not limited to Israel alone. The redemption of the Jew is closely linked to the emancipation of all humanity as well as the destruction of evil and tyranny. It is the first step in man's return to God, where all mankind will be united into a "single band" to fulfill God's purpose. This is the "Kingdom of the Almighty" in the Messianic Age.
Although the Messiah may occupy a central place in this "Kingdom of Heaven," he is still not the primary figure. This position can only belong to God Himself.
This, in brief, is the concept of the Jewish Messiah.
The primary figure in Christianity is its Messiah. Its very name indicates that Christianity is completely based on the personality of the Messiah. As mentioned in earlier articles, the name "Christ" comes from Christos, the Greek word for Messiah. The Christians are thus those who make the person of the Messiah central to their teachings.
The first major difference between the Jews and the early Christians was that the Christians believed that the Messiah had already come, while the Jews believed that he was yet to come. At first, this was the main point of controversy.
The Jews had one minor objection to the Christian Messiah, and that was the fact that he had been unsuccessful. Judaism had always taught that the Messiah would redeem Israel in a political sense, and Yeshua had failed to accomplish this. Instead, he had been scourged and humiliated like a common rebel, and finally crucified along with two ordinary thieves.
Answer for yourself: How could the career of Yeshua be reconciled with the glorious picture of the Messiah as taught by the Prophets of Israel?
The early Christians faced this dilemma, and, in justifying Yeshua as the Messiah, readily altered the entire concept. These new Messianic ideas were developed in by the writer of the Gospel of John, and even more so in the Epistles of Paul.
If we look in these sources, we find a gradual transition. The Messiah of the Jew progressively becomes transformed into the Christ of the Christian. This can be traced in a series of logical steps.
For his followers, there could only be one answer. The fact that Yeshua was scourged, humiliated and crucified had to be the will of God. But still, another question remained. If Yeshua did not sin, what purpose could there be in his suffering and death?
For this, the early Christians found a most ingenious solution. The only answer could be that he suffered and died because of the sins of mankind.
Answer for yourself: But the question was still not completely answered. Had there not been suffering and death before this? Why did Christ himself have to suffer and die? What sin was so great that it required his sacrifice?
The Messiah of the Christians therefore willingly went to a disgraceful and painful death in order that humanity might be redeemed from this "original sin." Mankind is therefore redeemed from evil, sin, suffering, death and the powers of Satan only by the blood of Christ.
Support for this belief was found in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, where the Prophet speaks of God's suffering servant, who "bore the sin of many." But take special note of what I say next. Such concepts cannot be found in the Jewish Tanakh but only in the altered Greek translations of it! Those who taught such concepts had to look outside the Jewish Bible to find such "twisted Scriptures" that would allow such a belief. Instead of interpreting it to refer to the persecuted people, Israel, the early Christians claimed that it referred to Yeshua (read our articles on Essene corruption of the Jewish Scriptures when they were translated as well as our series on Isaiah 53 for proof of what I say).
Answer for yourself: But still the question remained, how could the career of the Redeemer end in such a shameful death?
The story had to be given a sequel. Such an epilogue was found in another traditional Jewish belief, namely, that of the Resurrection of the Dead. The early Christians therefore taught that Yeshua had risen from the dead, and furthermore, that he was the first one to do so. Therefore Yeshua was not mortal like other men.
The death of Yeshua was therefore only temporary. The only reason why it was needed at all was to atone for the sin of Adam. His followers taught that Yeshua was resurrected for eternity and ascended to heaven. There he sits at the "right hand of God," even higher that the angels.
This was the first step toward the deification of Yeshua, and it was not very difficult for the pagan world to take the second step. Yeshua was credited with such statements as (John 10:30), "I and the Father are one." He had also spoken of (Matthew 28:19), "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." It was easy for the paganized Christians to identify Yeshua with the "Son."
Yeshua therefore became God-man—one person with two natures. He is God and man at the same time. This is the Essene's Messiah but not the Messiah of the traditional Jews! Christians therefore soon found themselves speaking of Mary as the "mother of God."
It is only after this judgment that Satan will be conquered. Evil will then end, sin will vanish, and death will pass away. The powers of darkness will thus be eliminated, and the kingdom of heaven established.
This, in essence, is what the early Christians did to the Jewish concept of the Messiah. The Messiah ceased to be a mere man, and passed beyond the limits of mortality. They taught that man cannot redeem himself from sin, and therefore God, clothed in the form of the Messiah, had to freely shed his own blood to redeem mankind. Since Yeshua did not fulfill the most important Messianic prophecies, they expected him to return to complete this task in a "second coming."
At first, Christians expected that this "second coming" would come very shortly, and prayed that they would see it in their lifetime. When their prayer was not answered, they began to hope that it would come a thousand years after Yeshua' death. This was the millennium or "thousand year kingdom." Finally, after a thousand years passed and Yeshua still had not returned, they postponed his "second coming" to an indefinite time.
We therefore see that the early Christians were forced to radically alter the Jewish concept of the Messiah in order to explain Yeshua' failure. This, compounded with the pagan influence in the early church, gave birth to a Messianic concept totally alien to Judaism.
Therefore it is not very difficult to understand why the Jews totally rejected the contentions of Christianity.
First of all, the Jews had a tradition, well supported in the teachings of the Prophets, that the Messiah would bring about major changes in the world. The "spiritual kingdom" did not in any way fulfill these prophecies. The Jews were furthermore unconvinced by the answer of the "second coming" since it was not even hinted at in Biblical literature, but was later written "backwards" into the Gentile Church's New Testament as an attempt to explain the failure of Yeshua to manifest himself as the Messiah of the Jewish Bible.
Thus, first of all, the Jew found absolutely no evidence to support Yeshua' claim to having been the Messiah. On the other hand, Yeshua's lack of success appeared to repudiate it.
Even more important, however, was the fact that the Christians had logically developed their belief in Yeshua in such a manner that they radically altered many of the most basic Jewish beliefs. Even such a basic concept as God's unity was threatened by their teachings. Even if the evidence of Yeshua's Messiahship was more concrete, its logical consequences would have to be rejected.
The early Christians tried to justify their contention by finding hints of it in the Jewish scriptures. They went over the entire Bible with a fine tooth comb, looking for any evidence, however flimsy, to prove that Yeshua was the Messiah, and that their entire logical structure was in accord with ancient Jewish teachings. In many cases, they were not above using verses out of context, changing texts, and even purposely mistranslating them, in order to prove their point and their "unique" interpretation of the Scriptures. One today would call such actions by this group a "cult." One needs no further evidence than the fact that most modern Christian Bible scholars totally reject almost all the "proofs" of the early Christians. Indeed, some of the best refutations of these "proofs" may be found in contemporary Christian Bible commentaries.
Most important, Christianity tried to set itself up as the new "Israel," and looked upon the Jews as utterly rejected by God. It therefore taught that Judaism was a corrupt and dying religion, with little hope of growth or success.
The Jews, on the other hand, did much more than argue this point with words. They refuted it by embarking upon one of the most creative periods in their history. The entire scope of Talmudic literature was developed essentially during early post-Christian times.
Thus, to the Jews, the strongest refutation of Christianity was the fact that Judaism itself remained alive and vital. The Jew has found that he can both exist and flourish without accepting Christian beliefs. He believes that the Messiah is yet to come, and that at that time, the truth will become known and the Jew will be justified before all the world. To this I concur wholeheartedly. Shalom
