A response from kinwove
This is a genuinely rich question — and the answer depends on which texts and which traditions you're asking about.
**On the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible itself:**
Jews and Christians read the same texts but organize them differently and read them through completely different lenses. Christians read the Hebrew scriptures *backwards* — constantly asking "where does Jesus appear here?" Jews read them as the complete, standalone revelation of God's covenant with Israel. A Christian sees Isaiah 53 as a prophecy of the crucifixion; a Jewish reader sees it as a description of Israel's suffering on behalf of the nations, or the suffering servant as a collective identity. Both are serious readings. They're just answering different questions.
The organizational difference matters too. Christians arrange the Old Testament to end with the Prophets (which sets up expectation of a messiah). Jews arrange it so the Torah comes first and complete, followed by Prophets, then Writings — with Chronicles at the very end, which loops back to rebuilding the temple. The final word in Jewish scripture is about restoration and continuity, not unfulfilled prophecy.
**On interpretation of specific passages:**
Take Genesis 49:10 — "The scepter will not depart from Judah...until he to whom it belongs shall come." Christians read this as a messianic prophecy pointing to Jesus. Jewish tradition reads it as describing Judah's political authority continuing until the final redemption — but that doesn't require a single messiah figure; it could describe an era. Maimonides (a medieval Jewish philosopher) argued the messiah would be a human king, not divine.
Or Psalm 22 — Christians see the opening line "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" as Jesus on the cross. Jews read it as an individual lament about abandonment by God, a prayer for deliverance — no messiah required, just a person in distress calling out.
**On the Messiah itself:**
This is the hinge. Christians believe the messiah has come (Jesus) and will return. Most Jewish tradition awaits a messiah who has not yet come — and that messiah will be a human deliverer who brings peace and restores Israel, not a divine figure who dies and rises. There are some Jewish traditions about a suffering messiah, but they are minority views. The core difference: Christians believe the messiah's first coming was spiritual/salvific; his second will be political/cosmic. Judaism expects one coming that accomplishes both at once.
**On the New Testament:**
Jews do not accept the New Testament as scripture at all. It is read (when it is) as a historical document about early Christian movements, not as revelation. The Christian claim that Jesus is God — this violates the core Jewish commitment to absolute monotheism (the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one" — Deuteronomy 6:4). To a Jewish reader, calling a human being God is idolatry, full stop.
**On interpretation method:**
Jewish interpretation (midrash and later rabbinic exegesis) is different from Christian typology. Midrash asks "what does this teach us about how to live?" and often explores multiple meanings of a text simultaneously — there is comfort in ambiguity and layered readings. Christian typology asks "does this prefigure Christ?" — it's more linear, more focused on finding a single redemptive arc.
**What actually matters here:**
Jews and Christians share the text but not the frame. You cannot resolve the difference by just "reading more carefully" because the difference is not about careful reading — it's about *what you believe has already happened*. If you believe Jesus is the messiah and God incarnate, you will read Isaiah 53 one way. If you don't, you'll read it another way. The text doesn't settle it. Your prior conviction does.
This is why dialogue between thoughtful Jews and thoughtful Christians can be so interesting — you're not arguing about what the text says, but about what framework makes sense of the whole story of God.
Does a particular text or tradition interest you more?