What are the two Jewish beliefs about the messiah?

Answer 1

The word 'messiah' is the anglicisation of the Hebrew 'moshiach'. The word moshiach translates to 'anointed'. The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of HaShem. We have had many moshiachim (pl) in the form of kings, priests, prophets, and judges. There is absolutely nothing supernatural about a moshiach.

This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach, however, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanach.

The Jewish requirements of hamoshiach are:

* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28)

* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)

* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "HaShem will be King over all the world -- on that day, HaShem will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9)

* Hamoshiach must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1)

* Hamoshiach will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. The Torah states that all mitzvot remain binding forever, and anyone coming to change the Torah is immediately identified as a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-4)

Answer 2

The word "messiah" is the transliterated form of the Hebrew "moshiach." The word moshiach means "anointed." The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of God. We have had a number of meshichim (plural) in the form of kings and priests. There need be nothing supernatural about a moshiach.

This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach. However, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanakh.

The Jewish requirements of the messiah have not yet been fulfilled. They are:

* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred and oppression. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).

* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. "God will be King over all the world. On that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).

* The messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1).

* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance. The Torah states that all of its mitzvot (commands) remain binding forever.

Answer 3

* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred and oppression (Isaiah 2:4).
* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel (Zechariah 14:9).
* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance.

Answer 4

The word "messiah" is the transliterated form of the Hebrew "moshiach." The word moshiach means "anointed." The title of moshiach was given to any person who was appropriately anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of God. We have had a number of meshichim (plural) in the form of kings and priests. There need be nothing supernatural about a moshiach.
This being said, there is a prophecy of a future moshiach. However, this is a relatively minor topic in Judaism and the Tanakh.
The Jewish requirements of the messiah have not yet been fulfilled. They are:
* Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
* Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
* Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred and oppression. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4).
* Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. "God will be King over all the world. On that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
* The messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1).
* The messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah-observance. The Torah states that all of its mitzvot (commands) remain binding forever.

Answer 5

The Messiah refers to the anointed one. The Torah describes the ritual for consecrating the high priest, and this ritual includes anointing the high priest with oil. Every high priest who served the Children of Israel and later the Jews was technically a Messiah. Similarly, when the prophet Samuel makes Saul the first king of the Israelites, he does it by anointing him, not by crowning him. King David and all of the later kings were technically Messiahs because all of them were anointed when they rose to the kingship.

With the Babylonian exile, the line of Davidic kings ended. After the exile, Jerusalem and the lands of Judah and Samaria were never fully independent, but were protectorates of one or another nearby empire. Messianism became important then because dreaming of a restored Davidic monarchy was a way of pushing back against domination by the surrounding empires.

Meanwhile, there was a second messianic stream. Whenever the priesthood was in danger or possibly illegitimate, for example, during the Babylonian exile or when King Antiochus Epiphanes installed his own pick as high priest, similar messianic dreaming focused on a restoration of a legitimate priesthood.

Both stream of messianic thought always focused on the restoration of Jewish independence. When things got really bad, notions of messianic restoration became entangled with escatology, and the idea emerged that the Messiah would come in the end of time to put right all that was wrong, carry out God's judgement, and rule over a world made just and good. None of these messianic visions made the Messiah anything other than human. Jewish messianism did not view the Messiah as divine or even semi-divine.