Who do the Jews think the Messiah is?

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.

There is a prophecy about a future moshiach, however, he'll be a mortal man who will lead the country of Israel. There will be no first or second coming, in order to be accepted as the moshiach, the person in question will have to meet all requirements in one lifetime.

In reality, the moshiach plays a rather minor role in Judaism.

Answer 2

The Old Testament more or less confirms the Jewish view of what a Messiah should be. Firstly, at no point does the Old Testament make the claim that the Messiah will be divine, but actually a man.

Regardless there are several relevant prophecies such as:

• The Messiah will reign over Earth as an actual Righteous King on Earth (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
  
• The Messiah or God will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and make the services operate properly (Ezekiel 37:26-28) (Obviously, if the Temple in Jerusalem was already built, only the latter part would apply.)
  
• All Jews, living or dead, will be gathered back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)
• The Messiah's ascendance to power will 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)
• Because of the righteousness of the Messiah universal knowledge of the God of Israel will spread across the world, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "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 have direct paternal lineage from King David via Solomon and Rehoboam (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1)
• Foreigners will help rebuild Israel and help serve it (Isaiah 60:10)
• The Natural Order will be abrogated, with a cessation of all predation and violence within the animal kingdom (Isaiah 11:6-8) and with the sun never setting (Isaiah 60:19-20)
  
• The Messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. Any person who comes in an effort to abrogate laws, alter laws, or add new laws is clearly not the Messiah, but a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-4)
• The Dead will rise from their graves and resume life among the living (Isaiah 26:19)
• Death shall be abolished for eternal life (Daniel 12:2)

It is quite clear that whoever this person is, he has not come yet. There is also no Old Testament scriptural reference for a number of concepts Christians associate with their Messiah. While some of them may appear to have Old Testament sources, they are read out of context or are based on mistranslations, so the concepts in the Old Testament do not support the argument given. They include the following concepts without proper reference:

• The Messiah is to be a blood sacrifice
• The Messiah is to be born of a virgin
• The Messiah is to face bodily torture of any sort
• The Messiah is to die
  
• The Messiah is to have a second coming
• The Messiah is supposed be a form of expiation
• The Messiah is supposed to be a demi-god or divine in some way
• The Messiah is supposed to oppose the Temple structure
• The Messiah is supposed to vague or speak in riddles/parables