The Jewish World in the Time of Jesus by Guignebert Charles

Author:Guignebert, Charles.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-136-20184-4
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

V

THE PLACE OF MESSIANISM IN JEWISH LIFE

Finally, it is clear that in practice, eschatological and Messianic speculation led to beliefs that varied widely as between different circles, groups, or even individuals.2 Each formed conclusions determined by his temperament or culture. To the Zealot the Messiah appeared as a kind of glorified Judas Maccabees. To the Pharisee he was the righteous ruler over God's people, freed at last from the yoke of the goyim. For the pious Essene he was God's envoy, invested with supernatural power. Apparently the only opponents of these comforting speculations were the priests of Jerusalem and the aristocracy of the Holy City. Those in office, who found it more profitable to maintain an attitude of compromise towards foreigners and unbelievers, had good reason to fear the unrest and disturbance that Messianism might kindle among those who were less contented with their lot and more spiritually minded than themselves. The politicians of Palestine were prudently opposed to hopes which they knew to be deceptive and to a faith pregnant with disastrous enterprise. The Romans shared this distrust and were for ever on the alert with regard to this Jewish illusion.

It is obvious, from the way in which Josephus avoids the question of the eschatological expectations of Israel, that the Jewish teachers attached the utmost importance to it. It is possible that sober-minded men like himself sought to neutralize Messianic enthusiasm by producing a contemporary Messiah. We know that there was a time when the returned exiles were fully convinced that Zerubbabel was the Blessed One of Jahweh. At the same time Cyrus,1 and even Alexander,2 were suspected of being the Messiah, and Josephus has the incredible effrontery to claim that the Promises found their fulfilment in Vespasian.3 Suetonius and Tacitus naturally echo the Jewish historian4 and allege that Vespasian and Titus are indeed the objects of the prophecies which promised that the world should be ruled by “certain men coming out of Judœa.”5 It need hardly be said that the Jewish people were not affected by such interpretations.

It is no exaggeration to say that just before the birth of Jesus, speculations as to the date and duration of the Messianic reign, the coming of the Messiah, the Day of Jahweh, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment, were central in Jewish thought, and occupied the chief place among the politicoreligious questions which engrossed the inhabitants of Palestine. The Scribes discussed them in their schools, they were the inspiration of the synagogues, and the common people found in their expectation of what was to come consolation and stimulus, not unmixed with anxiety. Up till this time interest in the coming of the Messiah does not seem to have been keen, and the Messiah finds no great place in the texts, but this can no longer be said of Jesus' contemporaries or of the following generation. Interest and enthusiasm increased till the time of the Great Revolt; a crop of prophets and Messiahs arose,6 and there were numerous incidents portending an imminent divine manifestation.

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