Why Jews Don't Believe In
Jesus
For 2,000 years Jews have
rejected the Christian idea of
Jesus as messiah. Why?
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
with thanks to Rabbi Michael
Skobac, Jews for Judaism
One of the most common
questions we receive at
Aish.com is: "Why don't Jews
believe in Jesus?" Let's
understand why ― not in order
to disparage other religions, but
rather to clarify the Jewish
position.
Jews do not accept Jesus as the
messiah because:
1. Jesus did not fulfill the
messianic prophecies.
2. Jesus did not embody the
personal qualifications of the
Messiah.
3. Biblical verses "referring" to
Jesus are mistranslations.
4. Jewish belief is based on
national revelation.
But first, some background:
What exactly is the Messiah?
The word "Messiah" is an
English rendering of the
Hebrew word Mashiach, which
means "anointed." It usually
refers to a person initiated into
God's service by being anointed
with oil. (Exodus 29:7, 1-Kings
1:39, 2-Kings 9:3)
1. Jesus Did Not Fulfill the
Messianic Prophecies
What is the Messiah supposed
to accomplish? One of the
central themes of biblical
prophecy is the promise of a
future age of perfection
characterized by universal
peace and recognition of God.
(Isaiah 2:1-4, 32:15-18,
60:15-18; Zephaniah 3:9; Hosea
2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15; Micah
4:1-4; Zechariah 8:23, 14:9;
Jeremiah 31:33-34)
Specifically, the Bible says he
will:
A. Build the Third Temple
(Ezekiel 37:26-28).
B. Gather all Jews back to the
Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
C. 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)
D. 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).
If an individual fails to fulfill
even one of these conditions,
then he cannot be the Messiah.
Because no one has ever
fulfilled the Bible's description
of this future King, Jews still
await the coming of the
Messiah. All past Messianic
claimants, including Jesus of
Nazareth, Bar Cochba and
Shabbtai Tzvi have been
rejected.
Christians counter that Jesus
will fulfill these in the Second
Coming. Jewish sources show
that the Messiah will fulfill the
prophecies outright; in the Bible
no concept of a second coming
exists.
____________________
2) Jesus Did Not Embody the
Personal Qualifications of
Messiah
A. Messiah as Prophet
The Messiah will become the
greatest prophet in history,
second only to Moses. (Targum -
Isaiah 11:2; Maimonides - Yad
Teshuva 9:2)
Prophecy can only exist in Israel
when the land is inhabited by a
majority of world Jewry, a
situation which has not existed
since 300 BCE. During the time
of Ezra, when the majority of
Jews remained in Babylon,
prophecy ended upon the death
of the last prophets ― Haggai,
Zechariah and Malachi.
Jesus appeared on the scene
approximately 350 years after
prophecy had ended, and thus
could not be a prophet.
B. Descendent of David
Many prophetic passages speak
of a descendant of King David
who will rule Israel during the
age of perfection. (Isaiah
11:1-9; Jeremiah 23:5-6,
30:7-10, 33:14-16; Ezekiel
34:11-31, 37:21-28; Hosea
3:4-5)
The Messiah must be descended
on his father's side from King
David (see Genesis 49:10, Isaiah
11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, 33:17;
Ezekiel 34:23-24). According to
the Christian claim that Jesus
was the product of a virgin
birth, he had no father ― and
thus could not have possibly
fulfilled the messianic
requirement of being
descended on his father's side
from King David. (1)
According to Jewish sources,
the Messiah will be born of
human parents and possess
normal physical attributes like
other people. He will not be a
demi-god, (2) nor will he
possess supernatural qualities.
C. Torah Observance
The Messiah 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)
Throughout the New
Testament, Jesus contradicts the
Torah and states that its
commandments are no longer
applicable. For example, John
9:14 records that Jesus made a
paste in violation of Shabbat,
which caused the Pharisees to
say (verse 16), "He does not
observe Shabbat!"
____________________
3) Mistranslated Verses
"Referring" to Jesus
Biblical verses can only be
understood by studying the
original Hebrew text ― which
reveals many discrepancies in
the Christian translation.
A. Virgin Birth
The Christian idea of a virgin
birth is derived from the verse
in Isaiah 7:14 describing an
"alma" as giving birth. The word
"alma" has always meant a
young woman, but Christian
theologians came centuries
later and translated it as
"virgin." This accords Jesus'
birth with the first century
pagan idea of mortals being
impregnated by gods.
B. Suffering Servant
Christianity claims that Isaiah
chapter 53 refers to Jesus, as
the "suffering servant."
In actuality, Isaiah 53 directly
follows the theme of chapter
52, describing the exile and
redemption of the Jewish
people. The prophecies are
written in the singular form
because the Jews ("Israel") are
regarded as one unit.
Throughout Jewish scripture,
Israel is repeatedly called, in the
singular, the "Servant of
God" (see Isaiah 43:8). In fact,
Isaiah states no less than 11
times in the chapters prior to
53 that the Servant of God is
Israel.
When read correctly, Isaiah 53
clearly [and ironically] refers to
the Jewish people being
"bruised, crushed and as sheep
brought to slaughter" at the
hands of the nations of the
world. These descriptions are
used throughout Jewish
scripture to graphically describe
the suffering of the Jewish
people (see Psalm 44).
Isaiah 53 concludes that when
the Jewish people are
redeemed, the nations will
recognize and accept
responsibility for the inordinate
suffering and death of the Jews.
______________________
4) Jewish Belief is Based Solely
on National Revelation
Throughout history, thousands
of religions have been started
by individuals, attempting to
convince people that he or she
is God's true prophet. But
personal revelation is an
extremely weak basis for a
religion because one can never
know if it is indeed true. Since
others did not hear God speak
to this person, they have to take
his word for it. Even if the
individual claiming personal
revelation performs miracles,
they do not prove he is a
genuine prophet. All the
miracles show ― assuming
they are genuine ― is that he
has certain powers. It has
nothing to do with his claim of
prophecy.
Judaism, unique among all of
the world's major religions,
does not rely on "claims of
miracles" as the basis for its
religion. In fact, the Bible says
that God sometimes grants the
power of "miracles" to
charlatans, in order to test
Jewish loyalty to the Torah
(Deut. 13:4).
Of the thousands of religions in
human history, only Judaism
bases its belief on national
revelation ― i.e. God speaking
to the entire nation. If God is
going to start a religion, it
makes sense He'll tell everyone,
not just one person.