Believers have the misconception that Jews generally rejected Jesus as Messiah. While it is impossible to know how many Jews accepted Jesus, James tells us that “many thousands (myrias)” (Acts 21:20), elsewhere translated as “tens thousands,” (Jude 14, ESV)(Rev 5:11), of the Jews living in Jerusalem believed. Given the first century population of Jerusalem, it is conceivable that at least one-quarter and up to one-third of the Jews living in Jerusalem believed in Jesus as the promised Messiah. In addition, we know that Jews in Samaria and other parts of Israel also believed. A balanced reading of scripture makes it clear that it was the leadership of the Jewish Nation, not the Jewish people as a whole, that principally rejected Jesus as Messiah.
"The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (Luke 9:22)
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." (John 11:49-50)
The rejection of Jesus can be sub-divided into four aspects:
(1) the rejection of Jesus by the leadership of first century Israel,
(2) the subsequent and continuing rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation,
(3) the rejection of Jesus as part of the LORD’S greater plan, and
(4) the role of the Church in the continuing rejection of Jesus by the nation.
THE FIRST CENTURY LEADERSHIP
“When the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
(Matt 21:38-41)
The audience for Jesus’ parable of the vineyard were the “chief priests and the elders,” (Matt 21:23), and not the nation as a whole. In the parable of the vineyard, it is the wicked tenants, the rulers of the vineyard, who reject the owner and kill his son. In scripture, the vineyard is consistently seen as a metaphor for the nation, “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel,” (Isa 5:7). In this context, the tenants are seen as the leadership of the nation, the shepherds of Israel, who have acted wickedly.
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says, ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should, not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock,’” (Ezek 34:2-3)
The rejection of Jesus by the rulers of Israel is no great exercise in theology. The leadership was primarily composed of Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection or the coming judgment. This world, and this world alone, represented both the present and future reality to the Sadducees. The Sadducees were simply living out the words of Paul, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die,’” (1 Cor 15:32).
In the 1990’s, archeologists found what they believed to be the homes of the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas. They were located where you would expect them to be, in the Beverly Hills of Jerusalem overlooking the Temple Mount. In addition, archeologists found stone tables and mosaics of animals and people. Both were rare and expensive to acquire, while the latter was a Pharisaic violation of Deuteronomy against the making of human and animal images. This cost of this life style was unobtainable by most, but the High Priests had access to the revenues from the operation of the temple.
From the days of Herod the Great through the Roman procurators, the High Priest became a political and financial appointment determined by a person’s social status and wealth rather than their lineage and holiness. Whereas scripture appointed the High Priest for an entire lifetime, the officials ruling over Judea made it a regular practice to replace the High Priest. To maintain the position of High Priest, it became necessary for an individual to raise an ever increasing amount of money. Annas (Luke 3:2), was apparently able and willing to do this. For the majority of the first century, as long as the temple existed, Annas, each of his six sons, and son-in-law Caiaphas all functioned as High Priests. The Bible refers to the collective group of Annas and his family as “the chief priests.” They maintained their power through their close association with the ruling Herodians and Romans. This association was possible by the continuous tribute that Annas paid to the authorities. The operation of the temple made that tribute possible.
Jesus was a danger to the chief priests and Sadducees because he threatened their source of income which protected their position of power. Jesus died for the sins of the world, but his death was precipitated by the greed of individuals who sought to protect their empire. The overturning of the money changers table near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry must have been the final straw. It was paramount for the survival of the Sadducees that Jesus be silenced.
"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." (John 11:48)
THE CONTINUING REJECTION OF JESUS BY THE JEWISH NATION
The corrupt nature of the Sadducees helps explain the rejection of Jesus by the ruling authorities of first century Israel, but believers have a difficult time understanding the continuing rejection by the Jewish nation. In particular, believers do not understand why fulfilled prophecy is insufficient to change the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. The principle arguments expressed by believers generally fall into two categories:
(1) Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah
(2) Jesus performed miracles demonstrating that he was the Messiah
Although Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies in scripture, many remain unfulfilled. It is these unfulfilled prophecies that form the primary foundation for the continuing rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation. Maimonides, the codifier of Jewish law during the middle ages, summarized the general Jewish belief in the Messiah as follows:
King Messiah will arise in the future and will restore the kingship of David to its ancient condition, to its rule as it was at first. And he will rebuild the Temple and gather the exiled of Israel. And in his days all the laws will return as they were in the past. They will offer up sacrifices, and will observe the Sabbatical years and the jubilee years with regard to all the commandments stated in the Torah. And he who does not believe in him, or he who does not await his coming, denies not only the (other) prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our master. For, behold, the Torah testifies about him (the Messiah), as it is written, (Deut 30:3-5), “then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will proper you and multiply you more than your fathers”. (Maimonides Hilkhot M’lakim)
Within this passage, Maimonides established the basic Jewish tenants for the national rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, Son of David. Jesus did not…
• Build the Temple,
• Gather the Exiles,
• Restore the kingship of David, nor
• Restore the commandments of the Torah.
The expectations identified by Maimonides are all responsibilities of the king of Israel. It was the king of Israel (Solomon) who first built the Temple. It is the king who has the power to sit on the throne, to gather the nation together, and to teach and impose the Torah on the people. Jesus did not reign as king on the earth sitting on the physical throne of David when he first appeared, but suffered at the hands of the Gentiles (Mark 10:33). Instead of rebuilding the temple, it was destroyed forty years later by the conquering Roman army and remains in ruins unto this day. Instead of gathering the exiles, the nation was dispersed forty years after the crucifixion to live in the Diaspora until 1948. With the exile of the nation from the land of Israel, the throne was lost, the temple was destroyed, and with the temple, any hope of fulfilling all the commandments in the Torah.
From the Jewish perspective, the failure of Jesus to fulfill certain prophecies disqualifies him and every other person who claimed to be the Messiah. Believers counter that any unfulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled at the “Second Coming” of Jesus. However, the Jewish people do not generally recognize a “Second Coming” of the Messiah in scripture. They argue that if Jesus can return, so could other righteous men who lived in the past. Moses, Elijah, Ezra or any number of prophets, might be eligible to return as Messiah and fulfill what was not accomplished during their life on earth. Objectively speaking, this argument is not without merit.
However, believers should take heart. Scripture is filled with examples of two comings. Moses, considered the greatest prophet in Jewish history, twice descended off Mount Sinai after being in the presence of the LORD. Joseph reappeared to his brothers after a long absence, during which, his father and brothers thought he was dead. Hosea related the coming of the LORD to the two seasons of rain that fall each year in the land.
“Let us acknowledge the LORD, let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." (Hos 6:3).
The two annual rain cycles in Israel produce two individual growing seasons that result in two separate harvests. The two harvests are celebrated by four spring feasts and three fall feasts of the Jewish calendar. Jesus produced a crop of righteous believers at His crucifixion in the spring (Passover/Pentecost) and believers anticipate a second crop will be harvested at His reappearing in the fall (Trumpets/Tabernacles), the time when kings are crowned in Israel.
What About the Miracles?: Believers like to point to the miracles as proof that Jesus was the Son of God. These miracles are important demonstrations of the kingdom of God, but by themselves are not sufficient to proclaim Jesus as Messiah. The Jews have a literagy of many righteous men who performed similar miracles. It is the resurrection from the dead that declared Jesus to be the Son of God, (Rom 1:4), but that miracle was discounted by the Jewish authorities shortly after it occurred, (Matt 28:13). Miracles by themselves do not testify that an individual is from God. The servants of Pharaoh were able to perform counterfeit miracles to oppose Moses and Aaron. In addition, John tells us that the future Beast will perform “great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men,” (Rev 13:13). Further, Jesus warned his disciples that “false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracle to deceive even the elect,” (Matt 24:24).
If miracles are not sufficient by themselves to demonstrate that an individual is the Messiah, how does a person know if a miracle producing individual is from God or not? Jesus gave his disciples these words to distinguish the true believer from the false deceiver, “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit…So then, you will know them by their fruits,” (Matt 7:16-20). The pattern is the same for the Messiah. Miracles must be accompanied with the fruits of righteousness, as defined by the commandment of the Torah.
Since Jesus is not presently walking the earth for Jews to observe, they must judge who he is by the actions of his followers. Jesus told the disciples, "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” (Matt 10:24-25). No amount of words spoken by a believer to an unbelieving Jew will be sufficient to overcome a lifestyle that is inconsistent with the words of Jesus. Believers are further handicapped by a history that includes times of violent persecution against the Jewish people and a consistent attitude that any person who accepts Jesus as the Messiah must relinquish all that makes him or her Jewish. For many Jews, Christians are no different than the Greeks who came before us and tried to force the Hebrew people to convert to pagan worship at the point of the sword.
Paul tells us that the leader of the future rebellion at the end of days will be known as “the man of lawlessness,” (2 Thes 2:3). This is not a reference to general lawlessness, as most believers understand, but a specific disregard by the anti-Christ for the commandments of Moses. Daniel told us that the anti-Christ, “will speak against the Most High and try to change the set times and the laws,” (Dan 7:25). Instead of the law going forth from Zion (Isa 2:3), as prophesized by Isaiah, the anti-Christ will declare an end to the law. This position runs contrary to the Jewish belief that the law is eternal, and the words of Jesus that support this position, “I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stoke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished,” (Matt 5:18).
The LORD specifically warned Israel through Moses against false prophets by saying, “
“If a prophet or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God,” (Deut 13:1-5)
This warning from God makes it clear that miracles are insufficient by themselves. Sometimes the LORD may even allow miracles to test the hearts of His people to see if they truly love Him. When believers require Jews to abandon their Jewish traditions, culture, and the underlying commandments, we only reinforce the broader Jewish position that Jesus was a false Messiah according to the Deuteronomy warning. The Apostolic text never tells Jews to abandon the principles that make them Jewish, only to acknowledge that works of the Law are not sufficient by themselves to save an individual.
Throughout history, the Jewish rabbis have been reluctant to proclaim any person as Messiah since the days of Rabbi Akiva (50-135 AD), who announced the leader of the second Jewish revolt (132-135 CE), to be the Messiah by naming him “bar Kokhba,” Son of the Star. The title alludes to the prophecy “A star will come out of Jacob,” (Num 24:17). After the failure of the revolt, the rabbis renamed Simon “bar Kozeba,” Son of a Lie. (To be continued...)
"The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (Luke 9:22)
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." (John 11:49-50)
The rejection of Jesus can be sub-divided into four aspects:
(1) the rejection of Jesus by the leadership of first century Israel,
(2) the subsequent and continuing rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation,
(3) the rejection of Jesus as part of the LORD’S greater plan, and
(4) the role of the Church in the continuing rejection of Jesus by the nation.
THE FIRST CENTURY LEADERSHIP
“When the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
(Matt 21:38-41)
The audience for Jesus’ parable of the vineyard were the “chief priests and the elders,” (Matt 21:23), and not the nation as a whole. In the parable of the vineyard, it is the wicked tenants, the rulers of the vineyard, who reject the owner and kill his son. In scripture, the vineyard is consistently seen as a metaphor for the nation, “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel,” (Isa 5:7). In this context, the tenants are seen as the leadership of the nation, the shepherds of Israel, who have acted wickedly.
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says, ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should, not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock,’” (Ezek 34:2-3)
The rejection of Jesus by the rulers of Israel is no great exercise in theology. The leadership was primarily composed of Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection or the coming judgment. This world, and this world alone, represented both the present and future reality to the Sadducees. The Sadducees were simply living out the words of Paul, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die,’” (1 Cor 15:32).
In the 1990’s, archeologists found what they believed to be the homes of the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas. They were located where you would expect them to be, in the Beverly Hills of Jerusalem overlooking the Temple Mount. In addition, archeologists found stone tables and mosaics of animals and people. Both were rare and expensive to acquire, while the latter was a Pharisaic violation of Deuteronomy against the making of human and animal images. This cost of this life style was unobtainable by most, but the High Priests had access to the revenues from the operation of the temple.
From the days of Herod the Great through the Roman procurators, the High Priest became a political and financial appointment determined by a person’s social status and wealth rather than their lineage and holiness. Whereas scripture appointed the High Priest for an entire lifetime, the officials ruling over Judea made it a regular practice to replace the High Priest. To maintain the position of High Priest, it became necessary for an individual to raise an ever increasing amount of money. Annas (Luke 3:2), was apparently able and willing to do this. For the majority of the first century, as long as the temple existed, Annas, each of his six sons, and son-in-law Caiaphas all functioned as High Priests. The Bible refers to the collective group of Annas and his family as “the chief priests.” They maintained their power through their close association with the ruling Herodians and Romans. This association was possible by the continuous tribute that Annas paid to the authorities. The operation of the temple made that tribute possible.
Jesus was a danger to the chief priests and Sadducees because he threatened their source of income which protected their position of power. Jesus died for the sins of the world, but his death was precipitated by the greed of individuals who sought to protect their empire. The overturning of the money changers table near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry must have been the final straw. It was paramount for the survival of the Sadducees that Jesus be silenced.
"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." (John 11:48)
THE CONTINUING REJECTION OF JESUS BY THE JEWISH NATION
The corrupt nature of the Sadducees helps explain the rejection of Jesus by the ruling authorities of first century Israel, but believers have a difficult time understanding the continuing rejection by the Jewish nation. In particular, believers do not understand why fulfilled prophecy is insufficient to change the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. The principle arguments expressed by believers generally fall into two categories:
(1) Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah
(2) Jesus performed miracles demonstrating that he was the Messiah
Although Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies in scripture, many remain unfulfilled. It is these unfulfilled prophecies that form the primary foundation for the continuing rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation. Maimonides, the codifier of Jewish law during the middle ages, summarized the general Jewish belief in the Messiah as follows:
King Messiah will arise in the future and will restore the kingship of David to its ancient condition, to its rule as it was at first. And he will rebuild the Temple and gather the exiled of Israel. And in his days all the laws will return as they were in the past. They will offer up sacrifices, and will observe the Sabbatical years and the jubilee years with regard to all the commandments stated in the Torah. And he who does not believe in him, or he who does not await his coming, denies not only the (other) prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our master. For, behold, the Torah testifies about him (the Messiah), as it is written, (Deut 30:3-5), “then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will proper you and multiply you more than your fathers”. (Maimonides Hilkhot M’lakim)
Within this passage, Maimonides established the basic Jewish tenants for the national rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, Son of David. Jesus did not…
• Build the Temple,
• Gather the Exiles,
• Restore the kingship of David, nor
• Restore the commandments of the Torah.
The expectations identified by Maimonides are all responsibilities of the king of Israel. It was the king of Israel (Solomon) who first built the Temple. It is the king who has the power to sit on the throne, to gather the nation together, and to teach and impose the Torah on the people. Jesus did not reign as king on the earth sitting on the physical throne of David when he first appeared, but suffered at the hands of the Gentiles (Mark 10:33). Instead of rebuilding the temple, it was destroyed forty years later by the conquering Roman army and remains in ruins unto this day. Instead of gathering the exiles, the nation was dispersed forty years after the crucifixion to live in the Diaspora until 1948. With the exile of the nation from the land of Israel, the throne was lost, the temple was destroyed, and with the temple, any hope of fulfilling all the commandments in the Torah.
From the Jewish perspective, the failure of Jesus to fulfill certain prophecies disqualifies him and every other person who claimed to be the Messiah. Believers counter that any unfulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled at the “Second Coming” of Jesus. However, the Jewish people do not generally recognize a “Second Coming” of the Messiah in scripture. They argue that if Jesus can return, so could other righteous men who lived in the past. Moses, Elijah, Ezra or any number of prophets, might be eligible to return as Messiah and fulfill what was not accomplished during their life on earth. Objectively speaking, this argument is not without merit.
However, believers should take heart. Scripture is filled with examples of two comings. Moses, considered the greatest prophet in Jewish history, twice descended off Mount Sinai after being in the presence of the LORD. Joseph reappeared to his brothers after a long absence, during which, his father and brothers thought he was dead. Hosea related the coming of the LORD to the two seasons of rain that fall each year in the land.
“Let us acknowledge the LORD, let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." (Hos 6:3).
The two annual rain cycles in Israel produce two individual growing seasons that result in two separate harvests. The two harvests are celebrated by four spring feasts and three fall feasts of the Jewish calendar. Jesus produced a crop of righteous believers at His crucifixion in the spring (Passover/Pentecost) and believers anticipate a second crop will be harvested at His reappearing in the fall (Trumpets/Tabernacles), the time when kings are crowned in Israel.
What About the Miracles?: Believers like to point to the miracles as proof that Jesus was the Son of God. These miracles are important demonstrations of the kingdom of God, but by themselves are not sufficient to proclaim Jesus as Messiah. The Jews have a literagy of many righteous men who performed similar miracles. It is the resurrection from the dead that declared Jesus to be the Son of God, (Rom 1:4), but that miracle was discounted by the Jewish authorities shortly after it occurred, (Matt 28:13). Miracles by themselves do not testify that an individual is from God. The servants of Pharaoh were able to perform counterfeit miracles to oppose Moses and Aaron. In addition, John tells us that the future Beast will perform “great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men,” (Rev 13:13). Further, Jesus warned his disciples that “false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracle to deceive even the elect,” (Matt 24:24).
If miracles are not sufficient by themselves to demonstrate that an individual is the Messiah, how does a person know if a miracle producing individual is from God or not? Jesus gave his disciples these words to distinguish the true believer from the false deceiver, “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit…So then, you will know them by their fruits,” (Matt 7:16-20). The pattern is the same for the Messiah. Miracles must be accompanied with the fruits of righteousness, as defined by the commandment of the Torah.
Since Jesus is not presently walking the earth for Jews to observe, they must judge who he is by the actions of his followers. Jesus told the disciples, "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” (Matt 10:24-25). No amount of words spoken by a believer to an unbelieving Jew will be sufficient to overcome a lifestyle that is inconsistent with the words of Jesus. Believers are further handicapped by a history that includes times of violent persecution against the Jewish people and a consistent attitude that any person who accepts Jesus as the Messiah must relinquish all that makes him or her Jewish. For many Jews, Christians are no different than the Greeks who came before us and tried to force the Hebrew people to convert to pagan worship at the point of the sword.
Paul tells us that the leader of the future rebellion at the end of days will be known as “the man of lawlessness,” (2 Thes 2:3). This is not a reference to general lawlessness, as most believers understand, but a specific disregard by the anti-Christ for the commandments of Moses. Daniel told us that the anti-Christ, “will speak against the Most High and try to change the set times and the laws,” (Dan 7:25). Instead of the law going forth from Zion (Isa 2:3), as prophesized by Isaiah, the anti-Christ will declare an end to the law. This position runs contrary to the Jewish belief that the law is eternal, and the words of Jesus that support this position, “I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stoke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished,” (Matt 5:18).
The LORD specifically warned Israel through Moses against false prophets by saying, “
“If a prophet or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God,” (Deut 13:1-5)
This warning from God makes it clear that miracles are insufficient by themselves. Sometimes the LORD may even allow miracles to test the hearts of His people to see if they truly love Him. When believers require Jews to abandon their Jewish traditions, culture, and the underlying commandments, we only reinforce the broader Jewish position that Jesus was a false Messiah according to the Deuteronomy warning. The Apostolic text never tells Jews to abandon the principles that make them Jewish, only to acknowledge that works of the Law are not sufficient by themselves to save an individual.
Throughout history, the Jewish rabbis have been reluctant to proclaim any person as Messiah since the days of Rabbi Akiva (50-135 AD), who announced the leader of the second Jewish revolt (132-135 CE), to be the Messiah by naming him “bar Kokhba,” Son of the Star. The title alludes to the prophecy “A star will come out of Jacob,” (Num 24:17). After the failure of the revolt, the rabbis renamed Simon “bar Kozeba,” Son of a Lie. (To be continued...)
Scott
