How do the Jews Reconcile Their Beliefs about the Messiah?

The question “how do the Jews reconcile their belief that the Messiah has not yet come with the Messianic prophecies in Old Testament scripture?” has come up a few times. From the little bit that I have researched, I think they believe that Jesus did not fulfill “all” the prophecies, at least not in the manner they expect them to be fulfilled. According to this particular website, they also seem to reject the idea that the Messiah will be a “savior”, or that he will have a divine nature. This was astounding to me. I had always assumed that they were waiting for the same Messiah that we understand Him to be, but that He just hadn’t arrived yet. According to this website (Judaism 101) http://www.jewfaq.org/moshiach.htm , written from an observant orthodox Jew’s point of view, who has a background in legal research, this is what Jews believe about the Messiah.

The word "moshiach" does not mean "savior." The notion of an innocent, divine or semi-divine being who will sacrifice himself to save us from the consequences of our own sins is a purely Christian concept that has no basis in Jewish thought. Unfortunately, this Christian concept has become so deeply ingrained in the English word "messiah" that this English word can no longer be used to refer to the Jewish concept. The word "moshiach" will be used throughout this page.

The Moshiach

The moshiach will be a great political leader descended from King David (Jeremiah 23:5). The moshiach is often referred to as "moshiach ben David" (moshiach, son of David). He will be well-versed in Jewish law, and observant of its commandments (Isaiah 11:2-5). He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example. He will be a great military leader, who will win battles for Israel. He will be a great judge, who makes righteous decisions (Jeremiah 33:15). But above all, he will be a human being, not a god, demi-god or other supernatural being.

It has been said that in every generation, a person is born with the potential to be the moshiach. If the time is right for the messianic age within that person's lifetime, then that person will be the moshiach. But if that person dies before he completes the mission of the moshiach, then that person is not the moshiach.

If you peruse the rest of the website you can get a fuller picture of the orthodox Jewish belief system. The "welcome" page tells you a little bit more about the author of the website.