Why do Jews not believe in Jesus as God or son of God or a prophet of God?

Answer 1

First off, the concept of the "Son of God" is a purely Christian concept. It does not exist anywhere in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible). The Jewish Messiah is to be an Earthly King, not an incarnation or union with God. As a result, a person claiming to be God himself is instantly recognized as not being the Messiah. John 5:16-18 asserts that Jews clearly believed that Jesus was articulating that he was the physical progeny of God. As a result, even if Jews were to accept the claim that Jesus was the Messiah (which they reject), they would still reject the claim that he was the "Son of God".

Second, Jesus fails across the board at being the Messiah according to Jewish understanding. There are several relevant prophecies that Jesus fails to fulfill 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, since the Temple in Jerusalem was already built when Jesus was alive, only the latter part would have applied.)
  
• 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) - which Jesus could not have if he was sired from a virgin woman.
  
• 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 Jesus fails all of these requirements. There is also no Old Testament scriptural reference for a number of concepts Christians associate with Jesus in their claim that he is the Messiah. While some of them may appear to have Old Testament sources, they are read out of context from the original Jewish understanding of those texts. 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 2

Answer 1

Jews do not believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. Here are possible reasons:

• He died, and at the hands of humans, and they don't believe that the true Son of God would subject himself to that

• Jews believe that when the messiah comes, the "lion will lie down with the lamb," there will be worldwide peace, etc. Since lions do not currently lie down with lambs, and the world is far from peaceful, Jesus cannot be the messiah.

• My knowledge is rather weak, but from what I have come to understand there is an ancient old argument among the Jewish people about the continuation of the old testament recorded agreement that God made through Abraham, Moses, and David and the futuristic views in the old testament concerning prophecy or end of time. In other words from among the Jewish people it is read and understood differently. The more fanatical or claimed adherents to the bible fight against what they perceive as replacement theology and therefore denounce Jesus as the son of God.

• Because Jesus was a pacifist. The Hebrew-Israelites were simply calling out for deliverance from their God, which they had done periodically throughout their long history, especially in times of great personal or national crisis (as in the time of Jesus, when the land of Israel was under the control of the hated pagan Roman conquerors of Judea.

• The Old Testament does not foretell of a "new" one and say it should be followed. In fact, clearly everything in it says it should never be superseded or revised in any way, and anyone suggesting so is to be disregarded. The concept of the messiah being a son of God is, is if not entirely contrary to all primary ideals of the Old Testament and the primary point of an always single all powerful, totally encompassing and ethereal element known as God, it certainly is not one that could even be suggested by it. (Messiahs are not replacements for God.)

Answer 2

The answer above addresses a slightly different question. See discussion page for something more conceptually on point.

However, the question is perplexing and circular in ways:

If Jews believed what Christians did, then they would be Christians, wouldn't they?

And by the way:

If Muslims believed what Christians did, then they would be Christians.

If Buddhists believed what Christians did, then they would be Christians.

If Hindu's believed what Christians did, then they would be Christians.

And on and on it goes, many, many more spiritual beliefs in "other than Christ" than the one that includes him. Amazing how many other, seemingly enlightened peoples chose not just views that are different than yours, but apparently even see them, while you seemingly can't.

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Please appreciate, that while Christians may need to make an affirmation of their belief with a positive "acceptance of Christ as..", it is not that all these other valid and worthy beliefs ever have any need to actively disaffirm, address or "not accept" it. I guess, it's as much a part of the equation as Buddha is to Christians. That is to say, not particularly relevant and no need for it to be specifically mentioned - affirmatively or not. More simply - your hypothesis, is based on the common Christian expression of "since Christ is God, how can anyone not believe..." which by putting the carriage in front of the horse, is a rather self serving hypothesis stated as fact. (How many other of your understandings do you think may be based entirely on false self serving premises/teachings too?) There is nothing in Judaism that says Jesus is NOT the son of G-d. He isn't addressed as such (again, he isn't addressed at all) and doesn't need to be. More correctly, the ideals are everyone is "of G-d".

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Hence, a more valid inquiry, may be something along the line of - why would Christians think Jesus is the only son of (a) God, and how could God want/need just a son? Or maybe, why can't Christians believe like others? Why do Christians insist on supposing and imposing that their beliefs are required to be considered by others, yet never feel others beliefs could have validity? I guess these Q's could go on.

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But, maybe it would be offensive, wrong and meaningless to challenge someones personal views like that. Especially if it's done with a hidden pretext of trying to justify/proselytize ones own view and especially to demean another's. I guess that's one reason why I've never had a Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. knock on my door to do so.

The Jews don't deny that Jesus is the son of God. For the Jews, all of us are the sons (and daughters) of god. What they deny is, that Jesus was the promised Messiah, because Jesus did not free them from their enemies (Romans).

Answer 3

Clarification:

In Judaism, the concept of a literal child of God violates the Tanach and all that God has taught us. The Chrisitian type of Messiah does not exist anywhere in Judaism and the Tanach.

Answer 4

They feel that He didn't fill the description of the messiah through the prophecy in the Old Testament.

Answer 5

The assumption that the Christian ascription of Jesus' redemptive qualities (i.e. He is the Christ, the truth, and the way) accords with Jewish principles or understandings of the Messiah is false. It is on account of this major issue that Jews opposed what Jesus was saying and doing, even assuming that the Gospels are accurate or historical materials.

The Jewish Messiah is to be an Earthly King, not an incarnation or union with God. As a result, a person claiming to be God himself is instantly recognized as not being the Messiah. John 5:16-18 asserts that Jews clearly believed that Jesus was articulating that he was the physical progeny of God. Additionally, John 3:16 is at fundamental odds with the Torah's prohibition on Human Sacrifice, its prohibition of blood consumption, its prohibition on cannibalism, and its prohibition on expiation for another's sins. There is no verse in the Old Testament that explains that one of the purposes of the Messiah is to die for sin at all (never mind for the sins of other people).

Jesus failed to perform requirements to be the Messiah and additionally performed actions contrary to the established Commandments. The Bible makes clear that one of the defining marks between a True Prophet and a False Prophet is that no True Prophet will ever deviate from the Law as it was established (Deuteronomy 13:1). A Messiah must also comport to this standard, since he is to be a Holy King. Lists of several of these actions continue below.

Functions of the Jewish Messiah that Jesus failed to fulfill (this list is not exhaustive):

• Setting up a lasting and Eternal Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28) -- Especially important since, seeing as the Temple was extant during his life, he should have been able to "keep it going eternally" if he were the Messiah. There wouldn't even have been any need to rebuild it. By contrast, Jesus explicitly claimed that the Temple would be completely destroyed in Matthew 24:1-2, betraying his duty to make it lasting and eternal.
• Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6) -- This should have been relatively easy since most Jews at that time were still in the Middle East (Judea and Babylon). After his death, (for unrelated reasons) the Jews were scattered all across the Roman Empire and later the entire world. Jesus did not facilitate any migration of Jews to Israel.
• 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) -- More wars have been fought in the name of Christianity and Islam since the time of Jesus than for any almost any other single cause; and both claim him to be the Messiah (even though they define that term differently). Additionally, Jesus claims specifically that he did not come to bring peace but a sword in Mark 10:34.
• Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, 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) -- When Jesus died, no larger population knew about God than when he was born. Still today, after many centuries of missionizing, only half of the world professes to believe in one God.
• The Messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1) -- While the Christian scriptures may allege this, they also allege that Jesus' Earthly father played no part in making him, so to speak. Therefore, he has no patrilineal lineage to speak of (save for God himself) and cannot therefore be descended from King David.
• The Messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. -- Since the Messiah is the resolution of the problems of this world and nothing can be added or detracted from the Law, people will naturally follow the Law.
• The dead shall rise from their graves and death shall be abolished for eternal life (Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2).-- Jesus allegedly rose a few individuals from the dead, but did not raise all of the dead nor did he abolish death for everlasting life.

Commandments that Jesus actively violated (all quotes from the NIV). This list is not exhaustive:

• Matthew 15:11: "That goes into someone's mouth does not defile them; but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them." -- This is a blanket denial of some of the laws of ritual purity and all of the Laws of Kashrut, which tell us foods to eat and which foods not to eat in Leviticus ch. 11. This is an abrogation of the Law.
• Matthew 19:8-9: Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery." -- Jesus specifically rebukes the Mosaic Law and denies the permissibility of divorce which is expressly permitted according to Deuteronomy ch. 24.
• Matthew 19:29: "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." -- Jesus actively supports the break-up of families, which runs counter to an entire tradition of family unity and tribal unity throughout Israelite and Jewish history. This also runs counter to the Messianic Prophecy that the Messiah will bring bickering families back together in Malachi 4:6.
• Mark 1:43-44: Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." & John 18:20-21: "I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said." -- These verses show that Jesus lies (not to mention the issue with absconding truth in parables). If he said everything openly, he would not tell people to be quiet and secretive about who he was. Lying is prohibited in Leviticus 19:11. The Law being clear and accessible, not secretive, is stated in Deuteronomy 30:10-14 and Deut. 31:9-13.
• Mark 14:24-25: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. "Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God." -- The consumption of blood is specifically forbidden in the Torah because it is the life-source of all creatures. This is made clear in Leviticus 17:10-12.

Additionally. Judaism makes clear that there are those who can perform wondrous deeds even though they lack faith in God at all (see also Deuteronomy ch.13). The Magicians in Pharaoh's Court are a perfect example. They are able to replicate (Exodus ch.7-8) some of the early plagues. If God had stopped after the second plague, who could say that these Magicians were not Prophets, revealing the words of Amon Ra? Additionally, Balaam is recounted as a wicked prophet who was able to see the Will of God and prophesy. In Numbers ch.25 (see also Numbers ch.31), he cleverly devises a plan to get the Israelites to sin against God and incur His wrath. The plan succeeds and results in a pestilence afflicting the people. On account of these individuals and others sprinkled throughout the Bible, it is clear that being able to hear God's voice and/or perform miracles does not necessarily make someone a True Prophet.

Answer 6

Just as Muslims, Hindi, Buddhists, and Shintoists have their own non-Christian belief systems, so does Judaism. Christians and Jews share a common history, yet the Jews insist that there is only One God. What Judaism and Christianity do agree upon is the belief in an Anointed One. The word used is Messiah, and the Christians maintain that Jesus was/is this Messiah.

Judaism has read the Old Testament (Tanakh) and knows that there are many prophecies about the Messiah. Jews believe that Jesus did not fulfill all the prophecies, therefore he could not be THE Messiah.

There is also the issue of Christians claiming that Jesus is God. While Trinitarianism is a cornerstone of Christian faith, for the Jew it is not permitted, since Judaism doesn't see it as belief in One God. Judaism maintains that there is only One God and no other; no combination.

Answer 7

Jews believe that Jesus existed: that he was possibly a rabbi, who taught people what he knew. Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah because the Messiah had specific parameters, and Jesus did not fill most of these. Some Jews believe that Jesus himself did not say that he was the son of God, but that his disciples interpreted things he said to mean that. Others believe that he may have said himself that he was the son of God, but that he actually was not.

Answer 8

Jewish people do not believe that a human is God.

And the Messiah was supposed to restore peace and justice to the world. This has not happened.

Answer 3

Jewish Answer

Judaism teaches that HaShem is not man or son of man. The Tanach (Jewish Bible) is very specific in this regard. The idea of a man being the literal son of HaShem is blasphemy from the Jewish perspective. There is no dispute amongst Jewish scholars on this topic.

The word 'messiah' is the anglicisation of the Hebrew 'moshiach'. The literal meaning of 'moshiach' is 'anointed' and is a title given to any person who was properly anointed with oil as part of their initiation to serving HaShem (The Creator), examples of moshiachim (pl) are kings, priests, and prophets. There is absolutely nothing supernatural about a moshiach.

Based on the stories about Jesus in the Christian Bible, Jesus would not have met any of the requirements of a moshiach either king, priest, or prophet. The very lineages given for him in the Christian Bible alone disqualified him from being a king or priest and the teaches attributed to him would have made him a false prophet at most. Whether or not he was Jewish is irrelevant.

Christian Answer

Jews do not believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. Here are possible reasons:

• He died because humans crucified him. and they don't believe that the true Son of God would subject himself to that
  • Jews believe that when the messiah comes, the "lion will lie down with the lamb," there will be worldwide peace, etc. Since lions do not currently lie down with lambs, and the world is far from being peaceful, Jesus can't be the Messiah.
• Jews believe that when the messiah comes, the "lion will lie down with the lamb," there will be worldwide peace, etc. Since lions do not currently lie down with lambs, and the world is far from peaceful, Jesus cannot be the messiah.
• My knowledge is rather weak, but from what I have come to understand there is an ancient old argument among the Jewish people about the continuation of the old testament recorded agreement that God made through Abraham, Moses, and David and the futuristic views in the old testament concerning prophecy or end of time. In other words from among the Jewish people it is read and understood differently. The more fanatical or claimed adherents to The Bible fight against what they perceive as replacement theology and therefore denounce Jesus as the son of God.
• Because Jesus was a pacifist. The Hebrew-Israelites were simply calling out for deliverance from their God, which they had done periodically throughout their long history, especially in times of great personal or national crisis (as in the time of Jesus, when the land of Israel was under the control of the hated pagan Roman conquerors of Judea.
• The Old Testament does not foretell of a "new" one and say it should be followed. In fact, clearly everything in it says it should never be superseded or revised in any way, and anyone suggesting so is to be disregarded. The concept of the messiah being a son of God is, is if not entirely contrary to all primary ideals of the Old Testament and the primary point of an always single all powerful, totally encompassing and ethereal element known as God, it certainly is not one that could even be suggested by it. (Messiahs are not replacements for God.)

Answer 4

First off, the concept of the "Son of God" is a purely Christian concept. It does not exist anywhere in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible). The Jewish Messiah is to be an Earthly King, not an incarnation or union with God. As a result, a person claiming to be God himself is instantly recognized as not being the Messiah. John 5:16-18 asserts that Jews clearly believed that Jesus was articulating that he was the physical progeny of God. As a result, even if Jews were to accept the claim that Jesus was the Messiah (which they reject), they would still reject the claim that he was the "Son of God".

Second, Jesus fails across the board at being the Messiah according to Jewish understanding. There are several relevant prophecies that Jesus fails to fulfill 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, since the Temple in Jerusalem was already built when Jesus was alive, only the latter part would have applied.)
  
• 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) - which Jesus could not have if he was sired from a virgin woman.
  
• 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 Jesus fails all of these requirements. There is also no Old Testament scriptural reference for a number of concepts Christians associate with Jesus in their claim that he is the Messiah. While some of them may appear to have Old Testament sources, they are read out of context from the original Jewish understanding of those texts. 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 5

In Judaism there is no concept of a son of God.

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.

• Link: What in Christianity is unacceptable in Judaism?
  

The few who came in contact with Jesus 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.

In Judaism, Jesus was a regular human being who lived in olden times, and is not part of Jewish religious belief.

• Link: What do Jews believe about God?
  

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.

Here is a related topic:
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 6

Although the question really asks two distinct things: Why do Jews reject the Christian claim as to Jesus' nature? and Why do Jews reject the Islamic claim as to Jesus' nature? many of the points serve both arguments, so it makes sense to explain them together

Messiah Issues
The assumption that the Christian ascription of Jesus' redemptive qualities (i.e. He is the Christ, the truth, and the way) accords with Jewish principles or understandings of the Messiah is false. It is on account of this major issue that Jews opposed what Jesus was saying and doing, even assuming that the Gospels are accurate or historical materials (which most Jews do not hold).

The Jewish Messiah is to be an Earthly King, not an incarnation or union with God. As a result, a person claiming to be God himself is instantly recognized as not being the Messiah. John 5:16-18 asserts that Jews clearly believed that Jesus was articulating that he was the physical progeny of God. Additionally, John 3:16 is at fundamental odds with the Torah's prohibition on Human Sacrifice, its prohibition of blood consumption, its prohibition on cannibalism, and its prohibition on expiation for another's sins. There is no verse in the Old Testament that explains that one of the purposes of the Messiah is to die for sin at all (never mind for the sins of other people).

Jesus failed to perform requirements to be the Messiah and additionally performed actions contrary to the established Commandments. The Bible makes clear that one of the defining marks between a True Prophet and a False Prophet is that no True Prophet will ever deviate from the Law as it was established (Deuteronomy 13:1). A Messiah must also comport to this standard, since he is to be a Holy King. Lists of several of these actions continue below.

Messianic Failures
Functions of the Jewish Messiah that Jesus failed to fulfill (this list is not exhaustive):

• Setting up a lasting and Eternal Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28) -- Especially important since, seeing as the Temple was extant during his life, he should have been able to "keep it going eternally" if he were the Messiah. There wouldn't even have been any need to rebuild it. By contrast, Jesus explicitly claimed that the Temple would be completely destroyed in Matthew 24:1-2, betraying his duty to make it lasting and eternal.
• Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6) -- This should have been relatively easy since most Jews at that time were still in the Middle East (Judea and Babylon). After his death, (for unrelated reasons) the Jews were scattered all across the Roman Empire and later the entire world. Jesus did not facilitate any migration of Jews to Israel.
• 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) -- More wars have been fought in the name of Christianity and Islam since the time of Jesus than for any almost any other single cause; and both claim him to be the Messiah (even though they define that term differently). Additionally, Jesus claims specifically that he did not come to bring peace but a sword in Mark 10:34.
• Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, 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) -- When Jesus died, no larger population knew about God than when he was born. Still today, after many centuries of missionizing, only half of the world professes to believe in one God.
• The Messiah must be descended on his father's side from King David (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1) -- While the Christian scriptures may allege this, they also allege that Jesus' Earthly father played no part in making him, so to speak. Therefore, he has no patrilineal lineage to speak of (save for God himself) and cannot therefore be descended from King David.
• The Messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah observance. -- Since the Messiah is the resolution of the problems of this world and nothing can be added or detracted from the Law, people will naturally follow the Law.
• The dead shall rise from their graves and death shall be abolished for eternal life (Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2). -- Jesus allegedly rose a few individuals from the dead, but did not raise all of the dead nor did he abolish death for everlasting life.

Violations of the Law
Commandments that Jesus actively violated (all quotes from the NIV). This list is not exhaustive:

• Matthew 15:11: "That goes into someone's mouth does not defile them; but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them." -- This is a blanket denial of some of the laws of ritual purity and all of the Laws of Kashrut, which tell us foods to eat and which foods not to eat in Leviticus ch. 11. This is an abrogation of the Law.
• Matthew 19:8-9: Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery." -- Jesus specifically rebukes the Mosaic Law and denies the permissibility of divorce which is expressly permitted according to Deuteronomy ch. 24.
• Matthew 19:29: "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." -- Jesus actively supports the break-up of families, which runs counter to an entire tradition of family unity and tribal unity throughout Israelite and Jewish history. This also runs counter to the Messianic Prophecy that the Messiah will bring bickering families back together in Malachi 4:6.
• Mark 1:43-44: Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." & John 18:20-21: "I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said." -- These verses show that Jesus lies (not to mention the issue with absconding truth in parables). If he said everything openly, he would not tell people to be quiet and secretive about who he was. Lying is prohibited in Leviticus 19:11. The Law being clear and accessible, not secretive, is stated in Deuteronomy 30:10-14 and Deut. 31:9-13.
• Mark 14:24-25: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. "Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God." -- The consumption of blood is specifically forbidden in the Torah because it is the life-source of all creatures. This is made clear in Leviticus 17:10-12.

Prophet Issues
In addition to making clear that the difference between True Prophet and a False Prophet is that no True Prophet will ever deviate from the Law as it was established (Deuteronomy 13:1), Judaism makes clear that there are those who can perform wondrous deeds even though they lack faith in God at all (see also Deuteronomy ch.13). The Magicians in Pharaoh's Court are a perfect example. They are able to replicate (Exodus ch.7-8) some of the early plagues. If God had stopped after the second plague, who could say that these Magicians were not Prophets, revealing the words of Amon Ra? Additionally, Balaam is recounted as a wicked prophet who was able to see the Will of God and prophesy. In Numbers ch.25 (see also Numbers ch.31), he cleverly devises a plan to get the Israelites to sin against God and incur His wrath. The plan succeeds and results in a pestilence afflicting the people. On account of these individuals and others sprinkled throughout the Bible, it is clear that being able to hear God's voice and/or perform miracles does not necessarily make someone a True Prophet.

As to Jesus specifically, the first thing that should be said here is that Jews hold that the closing of the Tanakh or Jewish Bible means the end of prophecy, so by virtue of that rule, Jesus could not have been a prophet and Malachi was the last possible prophet. This view is informed by the Jewish belief that God is becoming increasingly distant from the world. He walked in the Garden of Eden; He spoke above Abraham, but at roughly ground level; He spoke to Moses from the top of a mountain; He saw King Hezekiah's good works from afar and could save him, but later King Josiah's good works were not enough to bridge the gap. Correspondingly as God moves further away, the connection with God weakens. It is for this reason that Malachi was the last prophet, until the Messiah comes and will be able to bring humanity into a rapprochement with God. Since Jesus is not the Messiah, see above, he cannot be a prophet.

Jewish Issues with Claims of Jesus' Prophecies
Jesus performed no act of prophecy from the Jewish perspective. Unlike Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, he did not come to common places and reveal what God had told him.

1) Healing of the Sick: Jesus moved in secret, healed the sick, and did other small miracles. Those things are certainly nice, but they do not rise to the level of prophecy. There were a number of soothsayers and faith healers in Ancient Israel, but they too were never considered prophets. Prophecy requires communication with God and public revelation of what was said.

2) Virgin Birth: Being born of a virgin birth is not relevant to being a prophet from a Jewish perspective (as it is not an act of communication with God). It is not seen as a miracle indicating any holiness of the child so conceived and, additionally, it is not even relevant to being a Messiah. The Christian prophecy of Immanuel is taken entirely out of context based on a mistranslation. Matthew, a Greek-speaking Jew, was looking for a biblical reference he could use to prove that Jesus was prophesied to be born of a virgin. The Septuagint. a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, incorrectly translated Isaiah 7:14 to say that a virgin (parthenos in Greek - betulah in Hebrew) would conceive and bear a child, whereas it should have said a "young woman" (almah in Hebrew). To put it into context, in Isaiah Chapter 7, King Ahaz of Judah was threatened by the two Kings of Syria (Pekah and Retsin). Isaiah made a promise that by the time this young woman (not virgin) had a son and named him Immanuel, that the crisis would have abated and the situation resolved itself. 2 Kings Chapters 15-16, shows that within several months of the crisis beginning the two Syrian Kings were assassinated and the problem abated. This prophesy of Isaiah's has nothing to do with the Messiah or making Jesus' birth special.

3) Revelation of the Gospel: From the Jewish and Christian perspective, Jesus had no hand in writing the Gospels; they were written by Christian followers of Jesus. As a result, if anyone was to be considered prophetic for writing the Gospels, it should be Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, not Jesus. The Islamic counterpoint to this was that the original Gospel written by Jesus as a Holy Book sent to him by God has been edited and changed. Jews see this as further evidence of the incorrectness of the Islamic position if only because they are claiming that they believe in something that they cannot actually demonstrate even exists (the original Injil) and then ask Jews to believe in it too.

4) Prophecy of Muhammad's Arrival: Concerning the arrival of Muhammad, this would be a false prophecy (if it were a prophecy at all) because of the cardinal rule that no prophet could come after Malachi unless it is the Messiah. As a result, in Jewish thought, Muhammad could not have had access to prophecy unless he were the Messiah, which Jews and Muslims both agree he was not. Since Muhammad was not the Messiah according to the definition set in the "Messianic Failures" section, prophetic revelation ended with Malachi. As a result, even if we suspend the rule in Jesus' case and say that Jesus could have prophecy (which is also barred by this rule), the prophecy that he had, the arrival of Muhammad, would have been a prophecy in direct contradiction to established Divine Will and therefore it would have been a false prophecy.

5) Prophecy of the Second Coming: Judaism holds that the entire concept of a Second Coming is a violation of Jewish Teaching, which holds that the Messiah just comes once. It was added by Christianity so that they could explain why it was that Jesus completely failed to achieve any of the major Messianic benchmarks while he lived.

6) Jesus was Not Crucified: Avoiding death, even by a miracle, does not make the person who avoided death into a prophet. For example, in the Book of Daniel, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are all cast into the fiery kiln where they should have died. They were all miraculously saved from death. However, only Daniel is considered a prophet, on account of prophecies elsewhere in the book. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not considered prophets because they performed no act of prophesy; their "only" credentials were that they were miraculously saved from death.

Answer 7

The Jews believe that Jesus was a false messiah.