IN VIEW of the fact that the Messianic hope was the heart of prophetic utterances and of the further fact that, during Israel's long exile since the destruction of the Second Temple, it has sustained the nation in every crisis, this treatise would be incomplete without investigating the interpretation of such prophecies by the sages of Israel. From their writings we can gather much valuable information that will assist us in our study of the Messianic hope. At the same time we can evaluate their interpretations in the light of the historic past and see wherein the ancient synagogue and great men of Israel failed in their computation relative to Messiah's appearing. Time, we are told, proves all things. These rabbinic interpretations, therefore, have been subjected to the acid test of the historic past. Only the genuine elements have survived. From these we may gather much valuable information which will assist us in the proper understanding of the prophetic word and which will enable us in avoiding their mistakes. Hence, I shall devote this chapter to a study of the high-lights of Messianic speculations in Israel and in Christian circles.

That the reader at the outset may understand the important role which the Messianic hope has played in Israel during the centuries, I wish to quote the introductory paragraphs of Chapter I of Rabbi Abba Silver's book entitled Messianic Speculation in Israel.

"The pathetic eagerness to read the riddle of Redemption and to discover the exact hour of the Messiah's advent was shared in common by the Jews in Palestine and throughout the Diaspora, and continuously from the time of the loss of their national independence. In spite of rabbinic injunction and the admonitions of the more discerning among them, the quest proceeded with varying intensity clear down the ages. At times it seems to be the idle speculation of leisure minds, intrigued by the mystery; at other times it is the desperate search of men in great tribulation. Saadia, analyzing the locus classicus of Messianic prophecy--the Book of Daniel--appears in the role of a pious exegete, mystically biased, attempting to unravel a knotty problem. Isaac Abarbanel, an exile, crushed by the tragedy of the Spanish expulsion, seeks refuge and hope for himself and his afflicted brethren in the selfsame field of adventism.

"The critical events in the history of the world which affected Jewish life invariably stimulated interest in such speculation. Great political changes, boding weal or woe for Israel, accelerated the tempo of expectancy. Wars, invasions, migration of peoples, the rise and fall of dynasties, were fraught with significance for the scattered Jewish communities, and the rich fancy of the people, stirred by the impact of these great events, sought to find in them intimations of the Great Fulfilment. The Maccabean wars, the struggle with Rome, the fall of the Temple, the Bar Kochba uprising, the Perso-Roman wars, the fall of Rome, the rise of Islam, the Crusades, the coming of the Tartars, the expulsions, the Ottoman conquests, the religious wars of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, the Cossack rebellion of 1648, and many other momentous occurrences intensified, each in its time, the Messianic hope among the people, and precipitated adventist speculations and movements in Israel.

"That successive calculations proved false and seemingly certain forecasts never materialized did not at all discourage renewed essays in the field. The troubled heart would not surrender this precious enterprise. In dark hours the Messianic promise was the one prop and stay of suffering Israel, and the desperate wish for Redemption expressed itself in Messianic prognostications, even as desires often fulfil themselves in dreams. The forecasts were, of course, doomed to non-fulfilment, and the people in consequence suffered from disillusionments commensurate with the ardor of their expectations. Leaders in Israel, aware of the demoralizing effects of such frustrated hopes, attempted to dissuade the people from continuing their efforts to solve the mystery, but without avail. The dire urgencies of their life forced them to seek surcease from despair in apocalyptic fancies and Messianic romanticism.

"These calculators sought, and apparently found, support in the Bible. The Bible seemed to offer precedent and warrant for such an occupation. The Book of Daniel, the one canonized apocalyptic tract out of the many which were widely circulated and held in high regard by the people, dwelt upon the mystery of the 'end of days' and seemingly gave a clue to its solution. There were many other Biblical passages which seemed to point to the Messiah, and which, if properly interpreted, could be made to yield up the secret of his coming. All the ingenuity of rabbinic method in hermeneutics and homiletics was therefore brought into play, and words, phrases and letters, vowels, accents, and tropes, and all the mystic science of letter and numeral were marshaled into service.

"Prior to the first century the Messianic interest was not excessive, although such great historical events as the conquest of Persia by Alexander, the rule of the Ptolemies and the Seleucides, the persecutions under Antiochus, the revolt of the Maccabees, and the Roman aggression find their mystic-Messianic echo in the apocalyptic writings of the first two pre-Christian centuries. Calculations, however, as to the exact hour of the Messiah's appearance are wanting. Mention of the Messiah is made in some of the books of the Apocrypha, e.g., in Enoch (2 c.b.c.e.), in the Psalms of Solomon (1 c.b.c.e.) and at times in a well-defined technical sense; but it is significant that such books as Tobit (3 c.b.c.e.) which, through Persian influence, contains a rather well developed eschatology and angelology. Ben Sirach (3 c.b.c.e.) and the Wisdom of Solomon (1 c.b.c.e.) make no mention whatever of the Messiah. Even in the apocalyptic Book of Jubilees (2 c.b.c.e.) he is mentioned only once.

"The first century, however, especially the generation before the destruction, witnessed a remarkable outburst of Messianic emotionalism. This is to be attributed, as we shall see, not to an intensification of Roman persecution but to the prevalent belief induced by the popular chronology of that day that the age was on the threshold of the Millennium.

"In the procuratorship of Cuspius Fadus (44 c.e.) the false prophet Theudas appeared, 'and many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild attempt but sent a troop of horsemen out against them, who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive and cut off his head and carried it to Jerusalem.' The Romans' severity was undoubtedly due to the fact that Theudas either entertained Messianic notions himself or announced himself as the Messiah. The Messianic hope, of course, always implied the overthrow of the Roman power in Palestine.

"The movement gained headway under the procuratorship of Felix (52-60 c.e.). Numerous outbreaks are reported. 'There were such men as deceived and deluded the people under the pretense of divine inspiration, but were for procuring invocations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them the signals of liberty; but Felix thought the procedure was to be the beginnings of a revolt; so he sent some horsemen and footmen, both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.' An Egyptian prophet, undoubtedly an Egyptian Jew, now appears on the scene, whose short Messianic career brought sharp reprisals upon the Jews.

"When Jesus came into Galilee 'spreading the gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand,' he was voicing the opinion universally held that the year 5000 in the Creation calendar, which is to usher in the sixth millennium--the age of the Kingdom of God--was at hand. It was this chronologic fact which inflamed the Messianic hope of the people rather than the Roman persecutions. There is no evidence anywhere to show that the political fortunes of the people in the second quarter of the first century of the common era--the period of many Messianic movements--were in any degree lower than those in the first quarter, in which no Messianic movements are recorded.

"Jesus appeared in the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate (26-36 c.e.). The first mention of the appearance of a Messiah in Josephus is in connection with the disturbances during the term of office of the procurator Cuspius Fadus (c.44 c.e.). It seems likely, therefore, that in the minds of the people the Millennium was to begin around the year 30 c.e."

From this lucid statement of Rabbi Silver we can see that the Messianic hope has been one of the most formative factors in the life of Israel. The Rabbi has rendered an invaluable service to humanity by giving to us the result of his historical studies on this subject. The thesis of Dr. Silver's volume may be stated in the following words: Regardless of all circumstances the pious in Israel have always sought comfort in the Messianic hope whenever any crisis arose that affected the nation. In this splendid work, containing 268 pages, he has marshaled indisputable proof of his proposition. As our author has very cogently pointed out, these pious souls did not attempt to pry into the mysteries of the unknown future simply for the gratification of a morbid curiosity. Of course, it is to be expected that many would, through idle inquisitiveness, attempt to read the future, but history shows that in the majority of instances those who gave themselves to the study of Messianic prophecy were driven to do so by the pressure of the times and the persecution waged by anti-Semitism. All right-thinking people, therefore, can have but the highest regard for these earnest souls, who have sought in times of crises comfort and consolation in the Messianic hope.

In this chapter I shall not endeavor to give an historic survey of Jewish speculations relative to Messianic hopes but only to typical cases which illustrate the various methods of interpreting* prophecy employed by the great men of Israel. Dr. Silver summarizes the Messianic expectation in Israel during the third and fourth quarters of the first century of the common era in the following quotation:

"As the crisis approached in the life of the nation with the sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, the Messianic excitement of the people was at fever heat. While the Temple was burning a prophet appeared announcing that the Messiah was at hand. 'A false prophet was the occasion of these people's destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day that God commanded them to get up upon the Temple and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants (i.e., the Zealots--the militant patriots) to impose upon the people, who denounced this to them that they should wait for deliverance from God.'

"Josephus also recounts a Messianic calculation popularly held at the time of the destruction based upon 'an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their sacred writings, how "about that time, one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth." Josephus applies this prophecy to Vespasian.' "

Beyond the boundaries of Israel there was a general expectation among the peoples that the world was reaching a crisis and that there would appear a great personage in the world who would bring deliverance to humanity. For instance, Tacitus in his history of Rome gives us the following information:

"The majority were deeply impressed with a persuasion that it was contained in the ancient writings of the priests that it would come to pass that at that very time, that the East would renew its strength and they that should go forth from Judea should be rulers of the world" (History, V. 13).

Likewise Suetonius confirms this general Messianic expectation:

"A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East that it was fated for the empire of the world at that time to devolve on someone who should go forth from Judea. This prediction referred to a Roman emperor, as the event showed, but the Jews applying, it to themselves broke out into rebellion" (Life of Vespasian, par. 4).

After the national collapse and the destruction of the Temple the people of Israel centered their interests for the future in the Messianic hope. This expectation, of course, was grounded in the predictions relative to the reestablishment of the Davidic throne and kingdom. According to prophetic utterances, the reinauguration of the Davidic dynasty and the setting up of a world kingdom involved supernatural intervention. Nevertheless the Messianic hope at this time was largely a political ideal.

As scholars have pointed out, the first century was a transitional period for the entire world. Many things long-considered as standard and unchangeable were thrown into the discard. New ideals were proposed and accepted. There was an influx into the West of philosophy and religion from the East. The impact between these oriental religions, largely the warm, nature cults, and Greek philosophy brought about dire and far-reaching consequences in the fields of speculative thought and practical religion. Under these conditions naturally the century was one characterized by an eclecticism.

The elements which eventually bring about national decay were eating at the vitals of the body politic of the empire. This fact forebode the eventual modification and final overthrow of the pagan Graeco-Roman civilization. The nation of Israel in its homeland was not exempted from these maladies. Discontent and unrest seized the nation. Such conditions always prove fertile soil for the growth and development of Messianic speculation and the appearance of false claimants to these honors. Under such conditions many good and noble men found themselves enmeshed in the confusion of the day. The collapse of the nation, the destruction of the Temple, and the subsequent dispersion of the nation among the peoples of earth all but demolished the civilization and the culture of Israel. Immediately refuge was sought in the Messianic hope. The tenseness of the situation heightened this general expectation. The saying that "The desire is father to the thought" finds a striking illustration in the case of Israel at that time. The people naturally yearned for the appearance of Messiah; this desire developed into the general and speedy expectation of His coming in the immediate future. Of course, there were those who opposed the general trend of thinking on this point, but they seem to have been in the minority. As we have already seen by the quotation given from Dr. Silver's book, the general impression in Israel was that the period was the close of the fifth millennium, that would soon burst into the glorious era which the prophets foretold. The result of these combined factors was that the Messianic ideal was fanned into a flame of intense expectation of the soon-coming of King Messiah.

In this section I wish to call attention to a number of outstanding men who heralded the near approach of the glorious kingdom era.

Before his death Yohanan ben Zakkai said to his followers: "Remove all vessels lest they be rendered unclean, and prepare a throne for Hezekiah, king of Judea, who is come."

King Hezekiah, whom many of the ancients in Israel considered the defender of the law, was considered by many as the Messiah. There is some discussion, however, as to who was meant by Hezekiah. Hillel inveighed against expecting the Messiah, affirming that he had already appeared in the days of Hezekiah. But who was this Hezekiah? The son of Amon who instituted great reforms in Judah, or Hezekiah the Galilean the father of Judah the Zealot who was killed by Herod? The answer is undetermined. Ben Zakkai, who died about 80 C.E., expected the Messiah in the immediate future.

This rabbi believed that the "days of the Messiah" would last for 40 years. According to one source this position was based upon Psalm 95:10: "Forty years long was I grieved with that generation." According to another source, he founded his interpretation upon Deuteronomy 8:3: "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna." The bitter wilderness experiences continued 40 years; hence her present troubles will last the same length of time. And, again, "Make us glad according to the days wherein thou has afflicted us" (Psa. 90:15). According to a Midrash on Psalm 90:15, Rabbi Akiba, a loyal supporter of Bar Kochba, also believed that the days of Messiah would be 40 years.

In order to see the bearing of this position upon the general question of Messiah's appearance, one must understand the interpretation generally held by the ancient rabbis relative to "the days of the Messiah." The scholars of Jewry were divided in their opinion relative to this question. Some held that "the days of Messiah" followed His appearance, whereas others believed that His coming would be subsequent to these days. At the same time others held that "the days of Messiah" embraced both the period preparatory to His advent together with the great golden age of the future. These varying opinions naturally affected the interpretation concerning the length of "the days of the Messiah."

As a rule the leaders of Israel who lived in the period between the destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kochba revolt assigned short terms for the days of the Messiah. For instance, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus interpreted them as 40 years, whereas Eleazar ben Azariah affirmed that they would continue 70 years. Jose, the Galilean, believed them to be 60 years. Those who lived after the Bar Kochba revolt, on the other hand, assigned longer terms for "the days of Messiah." For instance. Rabbi Dosa attributed 400 years to this period of trials, whereas Judah ha-Nasi affirmed that they would be only 365. Others considered that they would be still longer.

Rabbi Silver in the following quotation tersely summarizes the reason for the change of opinion:

"The explanation may lie in the fact that the earlier Rabbis took the 'days of the Messiah' to mean the days of travail immediately preceding the advent of the Messiah, and they expected the Messiah to appear in the very near future. The Bar Kochba revolution shattered these Messianic hopes and brought tragic disillusionment into the hearts of the people, so that the Rabbis who lived after this fateful apocalyptic debacle sought to project the Messianic hope to a more distant future, thereby discouraging, if possible, a recrudescence of such intense hopes in the immediacy of the Messiah's advent."

Not only did the troubles and disasters of the time bring into prominence the Messianic expectation, but also the chronology of the day accentuated the importance of this hope. On this point Dr. Silver gives us the following illuminating remark:

"The Rabbis generally believed on the basis of the Biblical Creation week, that 'The world will last 6,000 years and will be in chaos 1,000 years.' The thousand years prior to the destruction of the world (5000-6000) would be the years of consummation and universal blessedness."

The various apocalyptical works appearing at that time, or worked over by later redactors, likewise confirmed the sentiment that the consummation of the age was near at hand. Josephus voiced the sentiments of the age in the following quotation: "Those Antiquities contain the history of 5,000 years, and are taken out of our sacred books" (Bk. 1:1). On the position held prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and that espoused after that event, I wish to quote again from Dr. Silver's important volume:

"The collapse of this movement at the close of the putative fifth millennium prompted the Rabbis not only to project the Messianic date to a more distant future, but also to revise their notion of the Creation calendar. They were living not at the close of the fifth but at the close of the fourth millennium. The people need not despair of the Messiah. He is still to come. He may come at any time within the fifth millennium, not necessarily at its close; perhaps in 4231 A.M. or 4250, or 4291. The Messianic age has actually begun with the destruction of the Temple, but before its final denouement 365 or 400 years or more may elapse."

This rabbi, a contemporary of Rabbi Eliezer, firmly believed that the Messiah would come within 70 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. Hence the time of His appearance was, according to his calculation, scheduled to be in 140 C.E. This interpretation is based upon the following quotation: "And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king" (Isa. 23:15). Our author considered this king to be Messiah.

This rabbi approached the question from a different angle. He concluded from Psalm 72:5 that Messiah would come 60 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, i.e., in 130 C.E. He arrived at this conclusion by noting the fact that the word generations in the original is first in the singular and then in the dual; hence three generations. He allowed 20 years for a generation. Rabbi Ishmael had the same view, but made his computation upon Psalm 80:5: "Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in a threefold measure." The word שׁלישׁ by this author is interpreted to mean three generations. Among those expecting the coming of the Messiah at that time may be mentioned Rabbi Akiba who, according to an ancient source, based his opinion upon Haggai 2:6 which declares: "Yet once, it is a little while and I will shake the heavens, and the earth." In reply to the question as to when the son of David would come, the Tanna, Jose ben Tishma, said "When this gate will fall and rise and fall and rise again, and fall a third time, then the Messiah will come before they have time to rebuild it." Dr. Silver interprets "this gate" as a reference to Jerusalem and sees in this statement a reference to the fall of Jerusalem under the Babylonians, also the collapse of the nation by the Romans, and the third fall of Jerusalem before Julius Severus. This rabbi expected the soon overthrow of Rome by the Parthians through whom this expectation would be realized. The rabbis living immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem were very clear in their statements relative to the exact time when Messiah would make his appearance. For instance, according to Dr. Silver, Rabbi Joshua declared: "In Nisan (the 14th day) were they (the children of Israel) redeemed, in Nisan will they again be redeemed." Rabbi Eleazer of the first and second centuries likewise believed that redemption for Israel would occur in Tishri (on New Year's day).

The basis for this position is found in a comparison of Psalm 81:3,4 with Isaiah 27:13. According to Dr. Silver, all the rabbis interpreted the intense suffering of Israel entailed by the overthrow of the Jewish nation as the birth pangs preceding the advent of King Messiah.

"The Rabbis regarded the demoralization which set in the life of the people as a result of the fall of Jerusalem, the unsuccessful rebellion of Bar Kochba, and the subsequent persecutions, as the heble Mashiah, the travail pains of the Messianic Age. These teachers were not describing theoretically, in an academic vein, the conditions which would prevail at some future time when the Messiah would come. They were concretely depicting the unprecedented conditions which actually were existing in their own time, and they were sincerely anticipating a swift change through the advent of the Messiah."

Quotations from the Mishna could be multiplied which show that there was a general expectation, on account of the sufferings and persecutions, that Messiah would soon make his appearance. Of course, since He did not come and deliver the nation, the disillusionment of the people and their reaction to the non-fulfilment of such intense expectations were disastrous.

From its bitter disappointment the nation finally rallied under the influence of later teachers who projected the date for Messiah's appearance into the more distant future. The calendar was thrown into the discard and men no longer considered that they were approaching the close of the fifth millennium. A new principle was adopted for the interpretation of Messianic prophecy. The foundation for this new theory was laid by drawing a parallel between the deliverance from Egypt and that from their present exile. After 400 years of bondage Israel was delivered from Egypt. Therefore, after four hundred years of exile among the nations she again would be redeemed. For instance, Rabbi Dosa (2-3 C.) stated that Messiah would come at the conclusion of 400 years, proving his proposition by comparing Psalm 90:15 with Genesis 15:13.

Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (c.135-220 C.E.), the compiler of the Mishna, believed that Messiah would come 365 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, i.e., in 435 C.E. The basis for his calculation was Isaiah 63:4: "For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." This great sage in Israel adopted what is known as the "year-day theory," i.e., a day in prophecy foreshadows a year in history. The year of redemption, consisting of 365 days in this passage, foreshadowed 365 years in history. He, of course, was reckoning in terms of solar years. An early ancient author stated that the redemption of Jerusalem would occur 354 years after the fall of the nation in 70 C.E.; hence, according to him, Jerusalem would be restored and the Jews rehabilitated in their land by the year 425 C.E. The basis of this calculation was the lunar year.

Another method of computing the date of Messiah's appearing is found in an ancient source which declares "The world will endure no less than 85 jubilees (4250 years), and in the last jubilee the son of David will come." This calculation placed Messiah's appearance, therefore, between 440 and 490 C.E. Elijah himself is accredited with this speculation.

Still another method of unraveling the future was adopted. It is set forth in the following quotation from Dr. Silver:

"A teacher of the school of Elijah expressed the belief that the Messiah could have come as early as 240 C.E., but the sins of the people delayed his coming. 'The world will exist 6000 years. The first 2000 years were those of chaos (without the Torah), the second 2000 years were those under the Torah, and the last 2000 years are the Messianic years. But because of our many sins there have already elapsed the years which have gone by (and the Messiah has not yet come).' According to this belief those living after 240 C.E. are definitely within the Messianic cycle and may expect his coming at any time, provided the people are prepared through repentance and self-purification to receive him."

During the period from the second to the fifth centuries there were hopes at different times that Messiah might come, but they never attained the heights of fervid expectation until the last quarter of the fifth century. In the second century when the Parthians were fighting against the Roman emperors in the East, some of the leaders of Israel saw the approaching collapse of Rome and, of course, the coming of the Messiah. In the third century when the Sansannian dynasty of Persia warred against Rome, the hopes of Israel were again stirred to fervid expectation. When the fifth century arrived and it became evident that the Roman empire in the West would crumble under the titanic blows of the invading tribes from the North, the expectation of Israel was fanned into a flame of ecstatic hope of Messiah's immediate appearance. This result was to be expected. Messiah, according to this view, was to make his appearance about the year 470 C.E. According to current interpretation, Rome was the last world empire preceding the Messianic era. This city, the proud mistress of the ancient world, was crumbling; therefore, the logical conclusion was that Messiah's appearance was imminent. The plain teachings of the Scriptures buttressed by the logic of the sufferings of stern realities proved conclusively to the leaders of Israel that the age was about to close. It is to be noted that the glowing expectation of the consummation of all things was accentuated in the West. The center of this anticipation naturally was in Palestine. The stirring events of the western world heightened, of course, this expectation. On the other hand, we find little speculation concerning Messianic times among the Jews of Babylon who fared far better in this period than their Palestinian brethren. The schools of the Babylonian Jews enjoyed prosperity and security at this time with few exceptions, whereas those of Palestine were closed. It was natural that such hard and bitter experiences should heighten the Messianic hope among the sufferers.

Footnotes:

* I wish to acknowledge my great indebtedness to Rabbi Silver for the valuable information which he made available in his excellent volume, Messianic Speculations in Israel. Much of the historical data contained in this chapter is taken from this book. Many of his references I have verified by my own researches. Some, however, I have embraced upon his excellent authority without personal investigation.

Much information and data, however, I have gleaned from others to whom I wish at this time to express my indebtedness.

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