No, I'm not looking for after-the-fact explanations of what God must have been up to. I'm looking for Old Testament references to the Messiah as the Jews understood him. Not as you understand him today. Since you think something completely different from what the Jews of the time thought, to you, EVERYTHING references the Messiah.
But that's in hindsight.
I want to know what the Jews thought the Messiah was, specifically before Jesus lived.
Why?
Would 'knowing' this enable you to accept Jesus as He is now?
What the record shows what some Jews thought who Jesus was:
(Notice Jesus refers to himself as the Son of man)
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18
So the Jews of the time were divided as to who they thought he was.