Question
Why didn’t the Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah?
Answer
The Jewish view (Maimonides, Kings 11:4) is that the Messiah will be a descendant of David who will inspire the Jews to follow him, establish a monarchy in the Land of Israel, bring back the exiled Jews, and rebuild the Temple. (See Talmud Berachos 34b and Sanhedrin 912). The Messiah will be recognized by the Jews if he succeeds in doing these things. The last requirement wasn’t applicable to Jesus because in his time the Temple still existed, but evidently he didn’t succeed in fulfilling the other requirements.