Why was Jesus called the King of the Jews and the King of Israel?

Answer 1

In actuality this was meant as a poke at the Jews by the Romans but was actually true not only spiritually but in the natural realm also. As the first born through the line of King David that was preserved by the Lord, Jesus was by rights the TRUE king of the Jews.

Answer 2

Quick references;

King of Jews (KJV)Matt.2

1. [2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matt.27">Matt.27

1. [11] And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
2. [29] And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
3. [37] And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Mark.15">Mark.15

1. [2] And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
2. [9] But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
3. [12] And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
4. [18] And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
5. [26] And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Luke.23">Luke.23

1. [3] And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.
2. [37] And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
3. [38] And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

John.18">John.18

1. [33] Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
2. [39] But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

John.19">John.19

1. [3] And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
2. [19] And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
3. [21] Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

King_of_Israel_(KJV)">King of Israel (KJV)Matt.27">Matt.27

1. [9] Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
2. [42] He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Mark.15">Mark.15

1. [32] Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

John.12">John.12

1. [13] Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Answer">AnswerThe terms 'Jew' and 'Israel' are entirely synonymous in the context as they are merely different names for the same people. Different writers used these interchangeable terms at different times as it suited them, with no particular significance in mind, as quoted above.

The quotes above are all relevant to the question, but the questioner should understand that the title, "King of Jews" was posted above Jesus by his persecutors, not to honor Him, but to mock Him.

It was common practice amongst the Romans to post the crime of the one crucified on his cross - to identify the reason for the punishment. Jesus Christ was guilty of no crime, although the Sanhedrin brought him before Pilate on false charges of sedition against Caesar.

When Pilate asked Jesus (Mark 15:2) "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered him "It is as you say." This was the only answer Jesus would give to any of the false charges. Therefore, when Jesus was nailed to the cross (John 19:18-22) Pilate wrote "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS." in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek. The Chief Priests of the Jews read this, and said to Pilate "Do not write 'The King of the Jews'"... But Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." Pilate's proclamation was not made to expose the truth, but it did just that. When Jesus comes again, He will be called King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

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There is another possible answer...

According to some sources Yeshua (most probable Jewish name of Jesus) was a descendant of the line of King David, and as such a threat to not just the Roman imperial establishment in charge in the Roman occupied Kingdom of Judea at the time. This, of course, put him on a collision course with the Roman powers in Jerusalem.

But, to whom Yeshua really was a greater threat was to the Jewish Temple Priests, who were profiteering at the expense of the Jewish pilgrims coming to the Temple in Jerusalem. You must remember that Yeshua (Jesus) had become were irate at the sight of the profiteering going on at the Temple, and he took action, attacking and beating some people profiteering there, as he condemned them for what he was seeing going on at that holy site.

So, in order to get rid of him, the Jewish Temple Priests backed up the accusations of Yeshua trying to be King of the Jews, to make it more likely that the Romans would kill him, and therefore they would eliminate this threat to their status quo.

_________

The answer "The quotes above are all relevant to the question, but the questioner should understand that the title, "King of Jews" was posted above Jesus by his persecutors, not to honor Him, but to mock Him." is correct.

The issue with the claim that Jesus was descended from King David and therefore a threat to the Romans ignores the fact that the two conflicting lineages given to Jesus in the Christian Bible trace through to to invalid paths that would have rendered him ineligible for kingship. Furthermore, Jewish law of lineage specifies that biological father specifies tribe and as Joseph was not Jesus's biological father according to the Christian Bible, Jesus would have been considered without a tribe.

As for the claims of profiteering at the Temple, that story is evidence that the authors had no real knowledge of the activities surrounding the Temple. One of the accepted offerings to HaShem was coin. However, the Roman coins had the image of the Roman Emperor printed on them. This image would have rendered the coins not acceptable for sacrifice as it was a form of idolatry. As a result, there were money exchangers outside of the Temple who would exchange the Roman coins for those suitable for sacrifice.

Answer 3

Jesus is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords, becasue he is above all of the lords or kings that were here during those area that had kings and lords. in other words Jesus Christ is the head of the Kings and lords

Answer 4

Jesus is a Jew, and as he said he is the Song of God(which the Romans did not believe), that would make him the "King of the Jews" in a sense. But really, it was a mild kind of insult, more sarcastic than anything else, but ironically turned out to be true. Think of it this way, no one else had claimed to be Son of God, until Jesus, so the Romans thought it was a giant joke. They wanted to try to rub salt in His wounds.

Answer 5

A:In Mark's Gospel, Jesus is never called a king until he stands before Pilate on the way to the cross, yet from that point forward, within the space of thirty verses, he is called king six times: three times by Pilate (15:2, 9, 12), twice by mockers just before and just after his crucifixion (15:18, 32), and once on the inscription over his cross (15:26). In the four passion narratives, "king of the Jews" is not something that Jesus claims for himself, nor a title that his followers used, but is hurled at him by mocking outsiders as he makes his way to the cross and suffers on it. Use of the term can be considered part of Mark's irony, followed and developed further by the other gospel accounts.

Answer 6

Jewish answer:

Jesus was named king of the Jews because his believers (of Jewish birth or otherwise) called him that. They originally hoped that Jesus would lead the Jewish people, but the masses of Jews never joined his group. This has no bearing on any Jew (both then and now) who is even minimally connected to his/her traditions, because traditional Jews never accepted him in any capacity.

More information:

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 who did hear of Jesus) - would have given heed 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.
We do not believe that Jesus is or was anything other than a regular human being. 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 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 God. We have had a number of meshichim (plural) in the form of kings and priests. 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 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, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:4)
* 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)
* 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 7

First of all, Jesus is not the symbol of Christianity. He is the divinity of Christianity.

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the Jews had been anticipating the arrival of the Messiah (sometimes called a king). It was prophesied that the Messiah would be a descendant of David and born in Bethlehem.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem (just before His crucifixion), an Old Testament prophecy of Zechariah was recounted:

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey'" (Matthew 21:4-5).

The Jewish high priest questioned Jesus at his mock trial, in order to charge Him with treason for declaring that He was Israel's king, the Messiah (Luke 22:67-71). Then Pilate asks him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" (John 18:33). And, the Roman soldiers mockingly gave Jesus a crown of thorns and the sign above His cross read, "Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews"Â.

Even though most Jews at the time that he lived on earth didn't believe in him, they will when he returns.

Answer 8

It was foretold in biblical prophecy that the 'scepter' - a symbolic wand held in the hand of the ruling monarchy - King in this case, would come from the tribe of Judah - descendants are commonly called Jews even to this day:

Genesis 49:10New King James Version (NKJV)10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

This was the reason why Jesus was born a Jew in the line of King David, fulfilling many prophecies. The Jews considered the coming of the Messianic Kingdom to be in one stage and not two as indicated in many Scripture (see Isaiah 53:3 for one). Indeed, His own inner circle of disciples did not fully understand - until receiving God's Holy Spirit - of these two comings (see Acts 1:6). Even John the Baptists needed reassurance (see Matthew 11:26). So it would be fair to say for most first-century Jews, there was no distinction between the prophecies of the Messiah's first coming and those of His second hence some few followers (only 120 after 3 1/2 year Ministry (Acts 1:15).

Though Jesus attempted to keep His 'Kingship' quiet so as not to cause a great stir and battle between the Jews and Romans, He did state it rather clearly near His time of Crucifixion (see Mark 14:61-62 and John 18:36) So much so that it was Pilate who gave Him the title 'King of the Jews' in John 19:14-22.

Even when Christ returns, in the 2nd Coming this time to rule the entire planet and all peoples, mankind will not accept Him (see Matthew 24:30 and Revelation 16:14).

Answer 9

Because He was (and still is) a king. Shortly He will return and will rule the saints in New Jerusalem.

Answer 10

Jesus was the king of jews because ;

1) the jews were the ones whom believed in christ

2) jesus was a jewish man