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MESSIAHS OF THE WRONG SEED
Three of the false messiahs are mentioned in the Brit Hadasha
(New Covenant). Theudas boasted himself to be a
"savior," and he attracted about 400 people. He was killed and his
followers scattered. Then Judas of Galilee arose, probably contesting the
Roman registration for taxation. He gathered a large following, but he too
perished and his followers were dispersed. 2 The
third figure mentioned is "that Egyptian. " who led people to
follow him to the wilderness. He was pursued but escaped, and then went into
hiding with a few of his followers. 3
Outside of the New Covenant records we learn of Simon of East Jordan who
crowned himself king. He burned the royal house in Jericho and the homes of
the rich, before dying in combat. Another messianic claimant, "the
wonder working Bedouin,” promised the people liberty if they would follow him
to the desert, but he too was slain. 4
According to the historian, Josephus, the Jewish people were aroused to wage
war against the Romans in 68-70 C. E. because of a prophecy contained in the
Holy Scripture that convince them to believe that there would arise a man who
would rule over the whole world. 5
One of the most famous of the false Messiahs, however, arose in the early
second century. he was Simon Bar Kosiba.
The Jewish leadership of the time under Rabbi Akibah proclaimed him
Messiah. His name, which can mean “son of a liar”, was changed to Bar
Kochba, which means "son of a star." In support In support of his messiahship, a prophecy in the book of Numbers was
applied to him :
There shall arise a kochav
(star) out of Jacob. 6
Bar Kochba sought to overthrow the yoke of Roman rule and regain independence
for the nation. A Talmudic passage describes both his military zeal and
his arrogance:
There was Bar [Kochba] who had an army of 200,000 men who had a finger
cut off of each of his men to show their prowess and fearlessness. ... When
he went out to war he would say: Master of the Universe, do not help us and
do not help our enemies. 7
There was great confidence that Bar Kochba would succeed; in fact Jewish
coins were minted with the inscription "year one” and "year two of
the freedom of Jerusalem." 8 By 135 C.E., however, the campaign was
utterly crushed by the Romans. Tens of thousands were slain and a large
part of the Jewish Community was driven from Jerusalem. Thousands of Jewish
captives were sold into slavery; others were forced into slave ships and and
many died at sea. 9 The Roman rulers changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina in an effort to wipe out its spiritual significance for Jewry, and the figure of
a swine was engraved on the marble gate that led to Bet-lechem
(Bethlehem).
In spite of the immense disaster brought on by Bar-Kochba, claimants to the
office of Messiah continued to come forth in Jewish history. Probably the
most prominent false messiah who came after Bar Kochba was the 17th century
Turkish Jew, Shabbetai Zevi.
He proclaimed himself to be the Messiah, and traveled widely to Egypt,
Jerusalem, Constantinople, and other places. He attracted rabbis, scholars
and common people, and concocted a strange mixture of teachings and bizarre
customs, based in part on kabbalism, and, in part,
on a manic-depressive psychosis.
When finally he was arrested by the Turkish authorities and given the choice
of being put to death or converting to Islam, Zevi
chose Islam. His followers, however, continued to explain his conversion in a
way favorable to his claims to messiahship, and Shabbateanism survived to the 18th century.10
Though there are no official claimants at this time, hassidic
Jews (as in the Chabad movement) often look to their Chief Rabbi as a
possible Messiah.
Why did these false Messiahs attract such large
numbers of Jewish people? No doubt it is normal for an
oppressed people to seek to throw off the yoke of oppression, and too long
for liberation from foreign bondage. Moses showed the people what a “Redeemer"
could do, and how a small number of people could escape the grasp of a
powerful nation. The wars of the Maccabees also proved that a minority with
God can be victorious over a heathen majority, because they believed that
"with God all things are possible."
The Jewish people related their oppression to national sin. The
Babylonian captivity resulted in a rejection of sinful idol worship in
Israel, and a partial national and spiritual restoration followed. The
Maccabees sought a purge of non-religious Jews, and again a partial
restoration followed. The more the people believed they were faithful to the
Torah, the more intolerable and impossible became the thought of
heathens ruling over them. They believed that if they resisted under a
"Messiah," like Hezekiah and Judah Maccabee, God would vindicate
them and give them the victory.
Most of the false Messiahs also appealed to the Torah and to immorality of
paying taxes. They said that it was not right to pay taxes to Caesar, since
some of the money was also used to support heathen temple worship. This
appealed to the masses, especially the economically depressed among them.
Jewish leaders during the first century also deduced from Scripture that the
time of the Messiah was near. The false messiahs did not, however, possess
the characteristics of the Messiah of Scripture. They did not seek to prove
their messiahship by their lineage, but instead the
power of the sword, and by an appeal to physical deliverance. The
Messiah, however, was to have proof of his descent from King David. He
was to bring peace and a kingdom that was eternal.
The inner spiritual person yearned for redemption, and the time seemed
right. Yet all have sinned, and there is no righteous person that does
good and sins not. 11 In order to cleanse the people,
animal sacrifices (korban) were offered daily in the Jerusalem Temple. These
sacrifices alone were insufficient, as the prophets had already pointed out
in their messages. The people were offering sacrifices without
sincerity. 12 Even with these sacrifices. there was still the longing for the Messiah in the hearts
and hopes of the people.
The prophets also foresaw that God would provide a special korban and kohen g’dol (High Priest) who
had done no violence, neither was
there any deceit in His mouth. 13 Of
this one, the prophet goes on to say, Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. ..When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin. 14 Only
such a pure and perfect sacrifice was acceptable to God for atonement.
Yeshua (Jesus), the Nazarene, was different
from the others. Yeshua
performed verifiable miracles; neither did He come in his own name but he
came in the name of his Father in heaven. 15 He
did not appeal only to the Jewish people, but attracted many Gentiles as
well. While He was aware of the wickedness of Roman rule, He took the Roman
denarius and pointed out that a truly spiritual person is not to be overly
concerned with Roman money that bears the image of the heathen Caesar. The
main concern should be to give to God what is God's. 16
He saw his own people in sin, and his call, therefore, was first for his own
to repent, for the kingdom of God
is near. 17 He declared that except you repent, you shall all ...
perish. 18 Josephus the historian who
was living during the early first century said : In those days was
Yeshua, a wise man, if we can call him man. He did miracles...
. He attracted many of the Jews
and Greeks. He was Messiah. 19 References: 1 See e.g., Aaron Zeev Aescoli, Jewish Movements
(Bialik 1956). [hereafter referred to as
Messianic Movements] 2 Acts 5:37 3 Acts 21:38; Josephus,
Antiquities 2, 20:8 Messianic Movements 5 Josephus, Wars
6;5,4 6 Numbers 24:17 7 Ta’anit
84:68, 4 8 In fact, recent archaeological evidence indicates he
actually freed Jerusalem and governed during this time for a few years. Yigael Yadin, Bar Kokhba
(Random House 1971) 9 Talmudic sources
exaggerate the massacre: "Eighty thousand war companies entered the city
of Betar and the Romans were killing men, women and
children. until their blood was oozing out from the
doors, windows and the pipes. The horse would drown in the blood to its nose
and the blood would cause stones of 40 se'ah
to roll away. and would proceed 40 miles to
the sea. ... There is a tradition that the Gentiles fertilized their fields
with the blood of Israel for seven years, not using any other
fertilizer." (Ta'anit 68:4)
10 Encyclopedia Judaica, Shebbetai Zevi. p. 1220 11 Ecclesiastes 7:20 12 E.g.,
Isaiah 1:11 13 Isaiah 53:9 14 Isaiah 53:9-10 15 He
alluded to the false messiahs who would come after him when he said "I
am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in
his own name, him will ye receive." (John 5:43) 16 Matthew 22:21 17 Luke
21:31 18 Luke 13:1-5 19 Josephus, Antiquities 18:3,3. There
are some authorities that believe the rendition, "He was Messiah"
was a later amendation of the Josephus text. What
The Rabbis Know About The Messiah by Rachmiel
Frydland For further
information contact
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