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Jesus appeared at a time when the Jews were gripped with a Messianic and apocalyptic excitement. The arrival of the promised Messiah was expected, and with him the destruction of the pagan empires, especially Rome, and it was believed that the visions of the prophets of the kingdom of peace would be fulfilled in the near future under the rule of one God. Suetonius reports in his biography of Vespasian (4:5): "An ancient superstition was current in the East, that out of Judea would come the rulers of the world." Tacitus writes in his 'Histories (5:13): "Most of them were convinced that according to the old writings of the priests it would come to pass in that time that the East would grow strong and the power which would gain world dominion should come out of Judea." This expectation was pitched very high: "The end of all things is right at the door. Only a few more decades, years, months, perhaps only a few weeks, then the Kingdom of God will appear with power and glory" (Stauffer). (100:4) The Jewish theologians had quite specific ideas about the expected Messiah: he was the anointed Prince of Peace, from David's line, subject to the Law of Moses, equipped with earthly power, who would ascend the throne of world dominion in Jerusalem. Jewish apocalyptics had no doubt prophesied the Messiah of Israel at least twenty times in the New Testament age. Finally Rabbi Akiba greeted the "Son of the Star, " the revolutionary leader Bar Kochba, as God's Anointed and the fulfilment of the prophecy in Numbers 24:17. (101:1) see These expectations were not fulfilled, and Israel "is still expecting that the idol of her own handiwork will appear with such signs as she herself hath conceived" (Baha'u'llah). Why did they repudiate the Promised One (as accepted by Christians and Baha'is alike)? Because the Rabbinical exegesis of the Messianic passages was wrong. Jesus was not the expected warrior hero bringing liberation from the Roman yoke, and yet he sat on the throne of power. For all his apparent powerlessness and his crucifixion-- shocking to the disciples-- he was the King. His dominion was a spiritual, no an earthly one. His message has conquered and transformed men's hearts. As expected, the power came out of Judea-- only in a different way from the interpretations of the scribes. Because the majority of the Jews followed their religious leaders, this people fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, echoed in Matthew (13:13): "They seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." (101:2) see The Gospels are full of complaints about man's stubbornness and wilfulness. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (John 3:19). "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." (John 1:9-10). Jesus, who "exploded" the Jewish expectations of the Messiah, appealed to the testimony of scripture, the same scripture on which the scribes based their verdict of repudiation: "Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words." (John 5:45-7).
(102:1)
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