What Scripture passage did the Jews have for rejecting Jesus as Messiah?

Answer 1

Jesus was sentenced to death because He claimed to be God.

Mat 26:63-66 KJV ... And the high priest .. said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. [v. 64] Jesus saith unto him, [basically, 'Yes'] [v. 65] Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. [v. 66] What think ye? They ed and said, He is guilty of death.

Christ was regarded by many as a prophet; for example, when He brought the dead boy back to life amid other miracles

Luk 7:16 ... they glorified God, saying, That agreat prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

Joh 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

The Samaritan woman regarded Jesus at first as a prophet:-

Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

The Pharisees knew Jesus was from Nazareth in Galilee, but they knew that Scripture said the Messiah had to be a descendant of David's and be born in Bethlehem, so He couldn't be the Messiah as claimed, and certainly not a prophet, Joh 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Joh 7:41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Joh 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? Joh 7:52 They ed and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

The Scriptural passage they had in mind was Micah chapter 5 verse 2, which says:

Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Another Old Testament verse said that a prophet found guilty of speaking without God's permission was to die:- Deu 18:20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my [ie God's] name, which I [ie the High priest (Caiaphas) as God's representative] have not commanded him to speak, ... eventhat prophet shall die.

This is not the only verse that could have been used - there are others. The High Priest could easily have twisted this verse to give a scriptural reason for seeking the death penalty, but there is no mention in any of the four Gospels of this being done. (Then again, a "kangaroo court" doesn't need evidence, proof, or justification anyway; a definition of a kangaroo court: "We'll give you a fair trial and then we'll hang you anyway.")