Who can legitimately claim to be the Messiah?

0:00 Outline
0:20 Jewish and Christian Christologies
1:40 Common account
4:19 Criteria for legal succession
5:41 Claims to Davidic succession
7:38 Who is King David's legitimate successor?

This video discusses the legal succession to the throne of Jerusalem. Jesus was succeeded by his brothers James the Just and Simeon of Jerusalem, who became the patriarchs of the Church of Jerusalem, whose followers were called Nazarenes, as the Qur’an refers to Christians (e.g., v. 5:14). That is, Jews or Jewish converts who believe Jesus is the Messiah.

The Church of Rome, however, later supplanted the Church of Jerusalem, even though Rome allegedly crucified Jesus. Jesus’ brother James—and hence Jesus, it can be assumed—also disavowed Pauline Christianity in theory (cp. Romans 4:4-12 & James 2:14-26) and practice (cp. Acts 21:20-25 & 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

Note that if King Solomon had at least a thousand wives and concubines as the Bible claims (1 Kings 11:3), then the probability that “Palestinians”—as the Romans called Judeans, who are mostly Judahites—are descendants of King David is very high, just as most native Mongolians descend from Genghis Khan.

Note also that modern orthodox Judaism—which is mainly comprised of Ashkenazi Lubavitchers—does not trace its biological or cultural lineage to the Talmud scholars, who believed Bar Kokhba is the Messiah. However, Bar Kokhba turned out to be a complete failure. The Romans executed him and his followers and supporters, including Rabbi Akiva—one of the most eminent Talmud scholars—and renamed the country Palestine and its people Palestinians after their ancient enemies, the Philistines, to insult them and erase their memory; see Jodi Magness, “The Archaeology of the Holy Land” (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012) at 260.

The Talmud scholars were based in Jerusalem and Babylon (modern-day Iraq), around Baghdad—the capital of the Abbasid caliphate—and had no ties to Europe. In fact, the Roman general Vespasian, who later became Caesar, conquered Judea (where Jesus resisted) and Brittania (where Boudica resisted). In the simplest terms, Boudica has nothing to do with Jesus.

Modern orthodox Jews follow edited versions of the Talmud and books like the Bahir and Zohar, which was forged in the 13th by Moses de León. Most Jews also followed Sabbatai Zevi in the 17th c. and many Ashkenazis followed Jacob Frank, who claimed to be his reincarnation, in the 18th c. Like the Roman Christ, Zevi taught that what is unlawful becomes lawful in the Messianic Age. Thus, all sins are righteousness and forgiven—which corresponds to the Islamic concept of the Antichrist (Daniel 7:25).