# Who is the Messiah?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 29, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341 "2012-04-29T18:13:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/1 "2012-04-29T18:13:00Z")
If this isn’t the proper place for this ? will the Mod., plz. move it?Though i believe this is a factual question.
In the time of Jesus, why didn’t the Priests believe that Jesus was the Messiah?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/2 "2012-04-29T18:21:18Z")
On a cynical level, any church is too invested in itself to declare anyone the Messiah, even with proof.
For Jesus, it’s hard to tell if any of the miracles credited to him actually occurred. So her was just another guy wandering the Holy Land whose followers thought he was the messiah. Why would he be when others were not?
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/3 "2012-04-29T18:51:27Z")
Short answer: Because Jesus didn’t fit what they were expecting or looking for in a messiah.
For more info, see the thread [Why didn’t most or all Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=440058) and/or the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah) it links to.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/4 "2012-04-29T19:27:01Z")
For the same reasons that they didn’t accept any of the myriad other purported Messiahs. Jesus was hardly the first claimant, nor the last.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/5 "2012-04-29T21:00:56Z")
Well, in fairness, does anyone today believe that some guy that just showed up into town claiming to be the Messiah really is one?
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### Author:  [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/6 "2012-04-29T22:19:20Z")
“Messiah” means “anointed one,” a reference to the Jewish investiture ceremony for their kings, which involved anointment. The priests were looking for a Jewish king who could restore Jewish independence. Jesus did not appear to them even to claim to be the kind of messiah they were looking for.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/7 "2012-04-29T22:57:15Z")
[moderating]
Thread moved to Great Debates.
[/moderating]
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/8 "2012-04-30T12:43:29Z")
“He’s not the Messiah. He’s just a naughty boy.”
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/9 "2012-04-30T13:13:51Z")
It’s my understanding the Messiah is a conquering hero, not a slaughtered martyr.
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/10 "2012-04-30T14:11:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> On a cynical level, any church is too invested in itself to declare anyone the Messiah, even with proof.
Didn’t the Jews think that Cyrus the Great was a messiah?
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/11 "2012-04-30T14:14:58Z")
I’ve been led to believe it is Mr. Obama.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/12 "2012-04-30T14:30:10Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> It’s my understanding the Messiah is a conquering hero, not a slaughtered martyr.
That was before they gave it to George Lucas to “fix” the story
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/13 "2012-04-30T15:12:41Z")
> [@CurtC](#):
>
> Didn’t the Jews think that Cyrus the Great was a messiah?
Depends on the Jews - Josephus thought that Vespasian was the Messiah.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/14 "2012-04-30T15:46:11Z")
The priests believed anyone **claiming** to be the Messiah had better be treated as dangerous, because he might start a rebellion the Romans could and would crush. (The Sadducees – priestly party – were a bit more sophisticated than the Zealots, and understood that Judea could not fight Rome the way the Maccabees once fought the Seleucids.) If the claimant actually were the Messiah, he would be unstoppable anyway, wouldn’t he?
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### Author:  [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/15 "2012-04-30T15:47:37Z")
> [@Meatros](#):
>
> Depends on the Jews - Josephus thought that Vespasian was the Messiah.
That sounds really funny when you imagine it said with a lisp.
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/16 "2012-04-30T16:01:37Z")
> [@Meatros](#):
>
> Depends on the Jews - Josephus thought that Vespasian was the Messiah.
Sure, and there can be more than one. But the Jewish Bible itself (Isaiah 45) refers to Cyrus as “anointed one,” which means “messiah.”
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/17 "2012-04-30T16:34:30Z")
> [@fumster](#):
>
> That sounds really funny when you imagine it said with a lisp.
Vewy well. I shall welease… Wespasian !
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/18 "2012-04-30T16:36:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> That was before they gave it to George Lucas to “fix” the story
Judas shot first.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/19 "2012-04-30T16:37:20Z")
I’m scratching a dog’s belly right now saying, “Who’s the Messiah?”, and from her response, I’m pretty sure she thinks she is.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-messiah/620341/20 "2012-04-30T17:51:00Z")
> [@jtgain](#):
>
> Well, in fairness, does anyone today believe that some guy that just showed up into town claiming to be the Messiah really is one?
How **would** the Messiah announce himself, then?
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