Muhammad and The Jews — Page 120
MUHAMMAD AND IBE JEWS pangs of the Messiah (hevlei Mashi'ah)-the time of troubles and turbulence that precedes his coming. Hence, periods in which massacres of Jews occurred have also been periods of fervent messianic expec- tations and movements. The Jews have never ceased their vigil for "one like the son of man'~, who will be given "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him". Many of the Jewish patriots who fought in the Great Revolt against Rome (66-70 A. D. ) believed that they were participating in a battle which was to be followed by the Messiah. Their unflinching heroism can be understood in the context of a messianic movement. The Jewish revolt against Emperor Trajan in 115-17 and the Bar Kochba uprising in 132-35 were influenced by messianic speculations. In the fifth century a Jew in Crete said he was Moses and promised the Jews of the island that he would take them to Judea without ships. He fixed a date for the miracle and the Jews gathered at the appointed time. They were ordered to jump into the sea and many of these credulous Jews were drowned. During the sixth century the continuous conflict between the Byzantine and Sassanid empires gave rise to messianic expectations, which most probably played a major role in shaping the image of Arab Jewry. Zerubbabel, a grandson of King Jehoiachin, was the leader of the Jewish exiles who returned from Babylonia to Judea with the consent of Cyrus. Under Darius I in 521 B. C. he was appointed governor of Judea and thus became the last ruler of Judea from the House of David. The pseudepigraphical work, the Book of Zerubbabel written in his time tells about the visions of Zerubbabel concerning the appearance of the Messiah. The literature which developed around the messianic hopes arising from the Book of Zerubbabel, is vast. Though "it is difficult to date the various works in this literature; some of them may even be earlier than the Book of Zerubbabel. . . (yet it) had an enormous impact upon medieval Jewry". 1 Until the beginning of the sixth century at least two successive Judaised dynasties ruled in the Yemen. There was a large Jewish population in Arabia and it is very likely that the messianic hopes might have sustained the Jewish people of Arabia during the destruc- 1 'Messianic Movements', Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971), Vol. XI, Column 1413.