Why was it so hard for Jesus to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah???

by James Mixon 38 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  James Mixon

  ???????
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  Vidiot

  'Cause everybody (and their dog) was doing it at the time? :smirk:
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  My Name is of No Consequence

  Because he wasn't?
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  James Mixon

  Vidiot: that's a good one. lol
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  Finkelstein

  Possibly due to the many self described Messiahs that lived prior to his existence in Judea.

  Interesting that even the Jews thought Jesus as a Rabbi or prophet and not ' The" Messiah..
  
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  James Mixon

  Finkelstein: I though about that" many self described Messiahs", but how many

  of those supposed messiahs were Hebrew or Israelite ? Just a few, Horus (not sure),

  Krishna (India), Dionysus(Greece) and Mithra (Persia).

  My point is how many among the Jews claimed to be the Messiah????
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  Mephis

  Four types of Messiah, and Jesus only really fits the 'wise man' type. He's kind of a 'prophet', but not hugely so. He's not really a high priest type, although he does cleanse the temple so that may be an attempt to tick that box. But he wants nothing to do with all the military expectations of a Messiah - the leading of the Jewish nation to independence.

  Still a very odd thing for everyone to be so chilled about the guy who makes dead people alive again. You'd think that would get some attention. But obviously not. Curious.

  There were a few Jews who claimed to be a Messiah James. Theudas is a good example. Both in what a Messiah would claim and what happened when the Roman military caught up with them.

  "It came to pass, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain charlatan, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him to the Jordan river; for he told them he was a prophet, and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over it. Many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them. After falling upon them unexpectedly, they slew many of them, and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem. " - Josephus, Antiquities. 20:97-99

  
  
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  Finkelstein

  Jewish messiah claimants

  Main article: Jewish messianic claimants

  In Judaism, "messiah" originally meant a divinely appointed king, such as David, Cyrus the Great[1] or Alexander the Great.[2] Later, especially after the failure of the Hasmonean Kingdom (37 BC) and the Jewish–Roman wars (AD 66-135), the figure of the Jewish Messiah was one who would deliver the Jews from oppression and usher in an Olam Haba ("world to come") or Messianic Age. However the term “false messiah” was largely absent from rabbinic literature. The first mention is in the Sefer Zerubbabel, from the mid-seventh century, which uses the term, mashiah sheker, (“false messiah”).[3]

  • Simon of Peraea (c. Unknown – 4 BCE), a former slave of Herod the Great who rebelled and was killed by the Romans.[4]
  • Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BCE – 30 CE), leader of a Jewish sect who was crucified by the Romans at the instigation of Jewish leaders; Jews who believed him to be the Messiah were the first Christians, also known as Jewish Christians.[5] Muslims,[6] Christians[7] and Messianic Jews[8] believe him to be the real Messiah.
  • Athronges (c. 3 CE),[9] a shepherd turned rebel leader.
  • Simon bar Kokhba (died c. 135), founded a short-lived Jewish state before being defeated in the Second Jewish-Roman War.
  • Moses of Crete, who in about 440–470 persuaded the Jews of Crete to walk into the sea, as Moses had done, to return to Israel. The results were disastrous and he soon disappeared.
  • Ishak ben Ya'kub Obadiah Abu 'Isa al-Isfahani (684–705), who led a revolt in Persia against the Umayyad Caliph 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
  • David Alroy, born in Kurdistan, who around 1160 agitated against the caliph before being assassinated.
  • Moses Botarel of Cisneros, active around 1413; claimed to be a sorcerer able to combine the names of God.
  • Asher Lämmlein, a German near Venice who proclaimed himself a forerunner of the Messiah in 1502.
  • David Reubeni (1490–1541?) and Solomon Molcho (1500–1532), messianic adventurers who travelled in Portugal, Italy and Turkey; Molcho, who was a baptised Catholic, was tried by the Inquisition, convicted of apostasy and burned at the stake.
  • Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676), an Ottoman Jew who claimed to be the Messiah, but then converted to Islam; still has followers today in the Donmeh.
    • Jacob Querido (?–1690), claimed to be the new incarnation of Sabbatai; later converted to Islam and led the Donmeh.
    • Miguel Cardoso (1630–1706), another successor of Sabbatai who claimed to be the "Messiah ben Ephraim."
    • Löbele Prossnitz (?–1750), attained some following amongst former followers of Sabbatai, calling himself the "Messiah ben Joseph."
  • Jacob Joseph Frank (1726–1791), who claimed to be the reincarnation of King David and preached a synthesis of Christianity and Judaism.
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  James Mixon

  Thanks Mephis: Yes I found a few before Jesus, Judas Maccabeus (167-160 B.C E), Simon

  of Peraea (4 B.C.E) and Athroges (4-2 B.C.E) and many after Jesus.

  Finkelsten: yes I can see why the Jews thought he was a nut, another Lett of the GB....
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  Mephis

  The interesting thing about it all is how the idea of Messiah doesn't seem to be claimed directly. Rather they try to do things which incite others to give them the 'title'. So Jesus' is ambivalent about claiming the title, according to the writings of his followers much later on. And other claimants are only loosely Messiahs because they're described elsewhere as doing what seems to be the Messianic career path - step one of which involves going into the desert like Moses. Leader/prophet ideals being fulfilled with that.