Why do Jews say that Jesus blasphemed God on the cross?

Question

I heard Jews saying Jesus can't be the Messiah because he blasphemed God on the cross when he said this:

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Matthew 27

What confuses me, is that King David wrote the exact same words in one of his Psalms, directing them to God:

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.[b]
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.[c]

I have never heard a Jew saying "King David blasphemed God. They honor him.

So why is there a double standard?
Why can they say Jesus is not the Messiah for saying the exact same thing King David said?

WinterRose · Answer

The Old Testament contains many many sayings and quotations  which were very well known to the Jews at the time, as those Scriptures were read every week on the Sabbath from the Torah in the Temple.  You think Jesus did not attend and read from the holy books of the time on the Sabbath?  He did, and it is recorded that  the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom after he died..This is  very symbolic as it refers to the "direct access" we have now to God, after the death of Jesus, and his subsequent Resurrection from the dead.  To cry out in agony and use David's words is not to blaspheme God.  Jesus often quoted the Scriptures, and I don't see how doing so is considered blaspheme!

Fly G · Answer

Good point.

Why do Jews say that Jesus blasphemed God on the cross?

2 Answers