Why are the Jews still waiting for their messiah?

Answer 1

Because the Jews refused to accept Jesus Christ as the prophecied Messiah. Many Jews had been faithfully following Bible prophecies and were expecting the Messiah to appear around the time that Jesus was baptized and became 'the Christ'. (Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 2:4; John 1:19-28; 4:25) Until the 'Christ' or Messiah came, the Jews had been God's chosen people. Their government was a religious government, with God as their King, until they wanted a human as their king, as the rest of the nations had. (Deuteronomy 17:14-20; 1Samuel 8:5-8, 19) Jewish sources agree with Luke 2:38 that the the Jews were waiting a Messiah. The Jewish Encyclopedia observes: "They yearned for the promised deliverer of the house of David, who would free them from the yoke of the hated foreign usurper, would put an end to the impious Roman rule, and would establish His own reign of peace". (1976, Vol. VIII, p. 508) They even tried to make Jesus an earthly king. (John 6:15) When he would not fulfill their expectations, they rejected him. The Jews were then rejected by God as his chosen people (Matthew 21:43; Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:11-14).***{Although the book of Revelation refers to the 'New Jerusalem' (Revelation 3:12; 21:3,4;) or the 'Israel of God' (Galatians 6:16***{Note: the list of those "sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel" (Revelation 7:4-8) does not match the list of the original 12 tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:3-27) and is only prophetic} To this day, Jews leave their front door open to permit "Elijah" to return as the Messiah.Jewish Answer The word messiah is the anglicised version of the Hebrew 'moshiach'. Moshiach literally means anointed and was a title given to any person who was properly anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of HaShem (The Creator). Historically, we had many valid moshiachim (pl): kings, priests, prophets, judges. There is a prophecy of a future moshiach, however, there is nothing supernatural about him, he'll be a religious Jew who will lead the country of Israel. The idea of the moshiach is a relatively minor subject in Judaism.

Answer 2

God promises the Jews on several occasions in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) that the Messiah will come and redeem the Jewish people. As a result, Jews have been expecting the Messiah to come for nearly 2500 years. There was no "special" amount of expectation that existed around the time when Jesus lived, simply that the repression the Jews experienced under the Romans made Jews more desperate for the arrival of the Messiah than they were otherwise.

Answer 3

Because the Jews refused to accept Jesus Christ as the prophecied Messiah. Many Jews had been faithfully following Bible prophecies and were expecting the Messiah to appear around the time that Jesus was baptized and became 'the Christ'. (Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 2:4; John 1:19-28; 4:25) Until the 'Christ' or Messiah came, the Jews had been God's chosen people. Their government was a religious government, with God as their King, until they wanted a human as their king, as the rest of the nations had. (Deuteronomy 17:14-20; 1Samuel 8:5-8, 19) Jewish sources agree with Luke 2:38 that the the Jews were waiting a Messiah. The Jewish Encyclopedia observes: "They yearned for the promised deliverer of the house of David, who would free them from the yoke of the hated foreign usurper, would put an end to the impious Roman rule, and would establish His own reign of peace". (1976, Vol. VIII, p. 508) They even tried to make Jesus an earthly king. (John 6:15) When he would not fulfill their expectations, they rejected him. The Jews were then rejected by God as his chosen people (Matthew 21:43; Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:11-14).***{Although the book of Revelation refers to the 'New Jerusalem' (Revelation 3:12; 21:3,4;) or the 'Israel of God' (Galatians 6:16***{Note: the list of those "sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel" (Revelation 7:4-8) does not match the list of the original 12 tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:3-27) and is only prophetic} To this day, Jews leave their front door open to permit "Elijah" to return as the Messiah.

Jewish Answer

The word messiah is the anglicised version of the Hebrew 'moshiach'. Moshiach literally means anointed and was a title given to any person who was properly anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of HaShem (The Creator). Historically, we had many valid moshiachim (pl): kings, priests, prophets, judges. There is a prophecy of a future moshiach, however, there is nothing supernatural about him, he'll be a religious Jew who will lead the country of Israel. The idea of the moshiach is a relatively minor subject in Judaism.

Answer 4

Throughout the Old Testament, God promised the Jews a Messiah, but when Jesus Christ came on the scene the Jews did not believe that He was the Messiah although everything He did was in accordance to the coming Messiah. He fulfilled all of the prophecies that were to be fulfilled on earth by the Messiah and yet they did not believe because God had in a sense blinded them from believing.

Answer 5

There are two questions really molded into one. The first is why the Jews continue to wait for the Messiah (as opposed to having given up) and the second is why the Jews do not accept any currently promoted Messianic Candidate.

1) As to the first question, Jews continue to wait for the Messiah because the Messiah is supposed to make the current world into a perfect world. Who would not want to live in a perfect and just world?

2) As to the second question, Jews, as of yet, recognize no historical figure (past or present) who could be the Messiah since no such person has fulfilled all of the necessary qualifications.

Many of those qualifications include the several relevant prophecies referenced below:

• 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

Answer 6

Jews have always awaited the future messiah, based on several prophecies and statements in the Talmud. There have been some false pretenders over the millenia, but they have disappeared one by one in the mists of history past.

Answer 7

1) The Jews were (and are) waiting for the messiah because it is a Divine prophecy. Believing in the words of the Prophets is one of the central tenets of Judaism.

2) Did Jesus fulfill the relevant prophecies? Not according to Judaism.

The Jewish requirements of the messiah 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.

Other information:

Judaism says very little about Jesus. According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of him. The Torah-sages (Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, Chanina ben Dosa, Bava ben Buta, Shimon ben Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Akiva, and hundreds of others) were active at that time and their yeshivot (Torah-academies) were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. As Josephus (Antiquities book 18) writes, "the cities give great attestations to them." The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.
The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to violate anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian famously wrote:
Hecateus declares again, "what regard we [Jews] have for our laws; and we resolve to endure anything rather than transgress them." And he adds: "They [Jews] may be stripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."

No one (even any of them who did hear of Jesus) - would have given any consideration to what was and is considered unacceptable for us. The few who came in contact with him soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews.

(See also: What do Jews believe God is like?)

We may also note that according to our tradition, prophecy ceased about 340 years before the birth of Jesus; and public miracles stopped even earlier.

Answer 8

The Jews were (and are) waiting for the messiah because it is a Divine prophecy. Believing in the words of the Prophets is one of the central tenets of Judaism. See also:

Why didn't they accept Jesus?

Answer 9

There are two questions here: The first is why the Jews were waiting for the Messiah at all and the second is why the Jews do not accept any currently promoted Messianic Candidate (specifically Jesus).

1) As to the first question, Jews continue to wait for the Messiah because the Messiah is supposed to make the current world into a perfect world. This had been a Jewish tradition for centuries, dating from the writings of the Prophets like Isaiah. Who would not want to live in a perfect and just world?

2) As to the second question, Jews, as of yet, recognize no historical figure (including Jesus among a litany of other candidates like Zerrubabel, Bar Kochba, Shabbetai Zevi, Moses Mendel Schneerson, etc.) who could be the Messiah since no such person has fulfilled all of the necessary qualifications.

Many of those qualifications include the several relevant prophecies referenced below:

• 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 (that are rejected by Judaism):

• 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

Answer 10

Simply because things will improve when he chooses to arrive, which has not occurred yet.