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| A Potential Mashiach Gathering Followers |
Hello My Friend and Welcome.
Today we look at the very
interesting phenomena of the Sheker,
or False Messiah. Jewish yearning for the Mashiach
seems reached a fever pitch in the years prior to and in the years after the
birth of Christ. Why? Well, part of the reason could have been the oppressive
conditions under Roman rule, but the expected fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy
was probably also a factor.
THE BIBLICAL CONTEXT
The Law of Moses commanded that
every 7th year be a Sabbatical Year. As
the name suggests, the Sabbatical year is tied to the biblical concept of the
Sabbath, the seventh day of the week and a time of rest. The Jubilee and Sabbatical
years provided a form of regular debt release to stabilize social and economic
gaps that naturally develop within every society.
According to the Hebrew Bible,
during the seventh year all land had to be left untilled and unplanted, and
debts from close neighbors that were unpaid during the previous six years were cancelled.
These laws of land use and debt remission are not necessarily originally
connected but appear to have been grouped together under a single general
category of the Sabbatical year or Shemittah
(Exodus 21:2-6, Exodus 23:10-11, Leviticus 25:1-7, 18-22, and Deuteronomy
15:1-11, 12-18) by the time the Bible was written.
In particular these laws
addressed three specific concerns. First, they controlled overuse of the land.
The laws also covered debt concerns. Because of drought and other cyclical crop
failures, the poor needed to have a way to start over rather than languish in
poverty. A similar consideration led to the introduction of Bankruptcy Laws in
modern society. And, lastly, they addressed land ownership and management
concerns that affected families in inter-generational settings. Other ancient
near-eastern texts from the laws of Hammurabi and Ras Shamra (Ugarit) suggest similar concerns, but none of them have
formulations as advanced or as specific as the laws of the Hebrew Bible.
THE HISTORIC REALITY
Jeremiah foretold that God would
withhold His blessings and protection, because the nation of Judah had fallen
away. He said Judah would be conquered and taken into a captivity which would
last for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:12; 29:10). This was later fulfilled when
Babylon conquered Judah and took them into captivity.
There is a belief that the observance
of a Sabbatical year had apparently been neglected for most of Israel's
history, so the Lord decreed they would spend one year in captivity for every sabbatical
year they had failed to keep. They had missed 70 sabbatical years during their
490 years as a nation. The first deportation took place in 605 BC and the
return occurred in 535 BC — 70 years.
Some validation for this belief can be found in the system
of Rabbi Hillel, who lived in the First Century. He created a legal fiction (a prosbul or transference) that allowed for the repayment of a debt through a
transfer of that debt from a personal loan to an institutional loan, thereby technically
meeting the Sabbatical requirements, but allowing for repayment after the
Sabbatical year. This prosbul is an
example of the ways in which some Jews in the time of Christ ostensively met
the spirit of the law, yet circumvented them in practice. Hence, his criticism
of the Pharisees.
However, Daniel’s prophecy not
only looked back in time, it also looked forward. It promised a Messiah who would
come to make atonement for iniquity.
The general consensus is that the some groups of Jewish teachers believed that
the arrival of the Messiah was imminent. (Recall the meeting with Herod the
Great after the Wise Men appeared searching for the Christ Child.) We also must
keep in mind that the Sadducees accepted only the Torah, so the Temple
aristocracy would have rejected any Messianic claims.
A LONG LIST OF FAILED ATTEMPTS
The list of Messianic
Pretenders, or Shekers, can be short or long depending upon the criteria used.
(One list continues into the Twentieth Century. Its most recent entry being an Hassidic Rabbi
who died in the 1990’s.) For our purposes, the real interest lies with those
who arose just prior to, or shortly after, the birth of Yeshua of Nazareth.
This yields a list of thirteen individuals beginning with Athrongeus and ending
with Simon bar Kokhbar in 132 AD.
My novel, WITNESS
chronicles the rise and fall of the two earliest pretenders, Judas the Galilean
and Athrongeus of Judea. Of the two, Judas had the greater impact. The Roman
army executed most of Judas’ followers after his uprising. He, however, lived
to fight another day. Retreating into the Galilean hills with a handful of
supporters, he waged a guerilla war against the Romans for many years. The
party of the Zealots arose from his movement.
Jacob & Simon, both sons of
Judas the Galilean, are listed among
the Messianic Pretenders. They were crucified by the Roman Governer Tiberius
Julius Alexander in 47 AD. Seventy years after Judas’ revolt in Sepphoris the
Zealot party seized control of Jerusalem, which led to the the famous Jewish Revolt
and the city’s destruction by the Romans in 70AD.
Another Messianic Pretender is
mentioned by Gamali’el in his speech to the Great Sanhedrin recorded in the Acts
of the Apostles. (Acts 5:34-39) “But a Pharisee in the council named
Gama'li-el, a teacher of the law, held in honor by all the people, stood up and
ordered the men to be put outside for a while. And he said to them, "Men
of Israel, take care what you do with these men. For before these days Theu'das
arose, giving himself out to be somebody, and a number of men, about four
hundred, joined him; but he was slain and all who followed him were dispersed
and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the
census and drew away some of the people after him; he also perished, and all
who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away
from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this undertaking is of
men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
You might even be found opposing God!”
The Bar Kokhbar Revolt marked the
last attempt by the Jews to establish a nation in ancient Israel. Though the
Temple had been destroyed in 70AD, Jews still inhabited the territory in and
around Jerusalem. Simon bar Kokhba ―Simon Son of a Star― is referenced in the
Babylonian Talmud, in Cassius Dio’s Roman
History, and in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical
History. He led a major Jewish revolt that took the Romans three years to
put down. Coins minted during his reign are stamped “Year one of the redemption
of Israel.” His defeat led to the absolute leveling of Jerusalem and the
expulsion of all Jews from the Holy Land. His critics referred to him as bar
Kozeba – Son of Disappointment.
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| The Unfortunate End of a Failed Revolt |
WHAT MOTIVATED THESE MEN?
It’s tempting to write these people
off as rabble-rousers and riff-raff. Surely, some of them were. We see that same
phenomena in modern society. How often does a city’s celebration of a
championship team devolve into a riot in which shops are vandalized and looted?
Clearly a share in the potential spoils motivated some of the followers of
these failed rebellions.
However, to paint them all with
such a broad brush seems unfair. Place yourself in their shoes. You’re
dissatisfied, angry about the Roman occupation and a devout follower of the
Judaism. You believe the prophecies of a coming Mashiach with all your heart. Who is he? Where is he? It suddenly
occurs to you that maybe…just maybe, God is calling you to this task. After
all, many Biblical heroes were reluctant heroes at best. How can you find out
whether or not you’re the long awaited Mashiach? The only way is to test the
vocation. If you succeed, the call is true.
Unfortunately, such a process
forces you to place your life on the line.
A CLOSING THOUGHT
Interestingly enough one, if not
two, of Judas the Galilean’s followers apparently found a home among Yeshua’s
disciples. Luke refers to the first as Simon Zelotes (Simon the Zealot). In
Matthew and Mark the KJV identifies him as a Canaanite. This is an incorrect translation of the Hebrew word Cananean, which in Greek becomes Zealot.
It has been suggested that the name Judas Iscariot derives
from the Greek word sikarios ― dagger
bearer. The Sicarii were a band of fanatical nationalists who broke with the
Zealots and assassinated perceived enemies with their daggers.
On Friday we’ll be examining the First Century game known as
Tabula.
Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.
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