No one understood the crucifixion, Lady. No one. To this day, I still do not understand the crucifixion. Oh, I know its theological implications for my life. But I shake my head each Lord’s day and must confess that I do not understand the crucifixion.
But your question is really, Who can [fully] understand the mind of God? If there is one that exists that can, then He is no God. Did the nation of Israel understand pre-Christ? Aside from the precious few who were justified by faith, there were few who did anything that was God-honoring. But even these did not fully comprehend God’s sovereign will. When God saw faith, He justified those people who demonstrated that faith. It was a faith that trusted in a God that would impute His righteousness to an unrighteous sinner. When Christ came upon the scene, were there those who understood? Again, no. There were those who, again, believed and it was accounted to them for righteousness. And today, are there those alive today, who absolutely and fully understand God’s ways? His ways are past understanding (though, again, there are some who can say, “we have the mind of Christ” which enables us who are being saved to comprehend with all the saints something of the depth and width and breadth and height and to know the love of God which is past understanding.)
Your question about what the nation of Israel ought to have expected to know about God’s advancing kingdom, His Messiah, His Deliverer, His Christ, misses the point. The real question is, why weren’t they all looking for the manifestation of the character of God—which would have led them to see “the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ”? Why aren’t people looking for God today? That is the only real question.
Your intellectual exercise speaks of nothing else but an avoidance of the real questions: Is Christ the Son of God?
No, you are misunderstanding my question. I don't think they "ought to have" imagined a Messiah the way you perceive him today. My question is: how did they expect to recognize the Messiah.
Until you can understand what my question really is, and not rephrase it to say "you mean this" and "you mean that" we won't be able to continue.
My question is: How did the Jews of that time expect to recognize the Messiah?
Now you either understand those 12 words and the order in which they came, or you don't. Do you?