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..(24:4-5)-- Jesus' Warning Concerning False Christs-- As a preface to answering the disciples' questions, Jesus begins with an important warning. They are very eager to know about Christ's Second Advent, perhaps too eager, and therefore Jesus warns them that they must be cautious in order to avoid being deceived by false claimants. (43:2) Many Christian commentators point out that, from the earliest Christian times, such individuals did appear. There is, of course, Bar-Jesus mentioned in the Book of Acts 13:6. However, the first truly significant false Christ or Messiah appears to have been Simeon Bar Cochba (AD ?-135), the Jewish rebel leader. (43:3) For three years the rebels fought valiantly against the legions; finally they were beaten by lack of food and supplies. The Romans destroyed 985 towns in Palestine, and slew 580,000 men; a still larger number, we are told, perished through starvation, disease, and fire; nearly all Judea was laid waste. Bar Cochba himself fell in defending Bethar. So many Jews were sold as slaves that their price fell to that of a horse. Thousands hid in underground channels rather than be captured; surrounded by the Romans, they died one by one of hunger, while the living ate the bodies of the dead. (Caesar and Christ 548)
(43:4)
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