Grayson Logue's Historical Abstracts

Grayson Logue is a freelance researcher and writer. You may contact him by the contact form.

 

Messianic Seal Abstract

Bar Kokhba Revolt

The Second Jewish War

 

Messianic Seal Abstract

I. The Backdrop

Alexander the Great had conquered the greater portion of the world by means of his vast armies, but with his sudden death his empire was divided. The Seleucids now ruled the area surrounding Judea in wake of Alexander. Starting in 173 BCE, Antiochus Epiphanius was the Seleucid king and quickly made a grave mistake. He basically fired the current house of Zadok priest and sold the office to the highest bidder, desecrating the set apart Temple. Antiochus continued to desecrate the Temple by killing a swine on the altar and decreeing that anyone who practiced the religion of the Jews did so under pain of death. Fortunately, Mattathais and his sons, the Maccabees, took to the hills and waged a guerrilla war against the Greeks. Returning victoriously to Jerusalem they rededicated the Temple and restored it to its former glory.

 

II. The Plot Thickens

To this day the Maccabees are heralded as heroes of the Jewish nation. A less known fact about them is that they took over the priesthood. The Hasmoneans, Maccabees, stole the office from the Zakodites and since the house of Zadok considered the new line of priests a profanity, they were exiled by the Hasmoneans into the forests of Damascus. These acts transformed the house of Zadok into the sect of Essene. Fragments of a document were found in 1896 which referenced Essene. In 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and confirmed that the fragments were from the Damascus Document, which was drawn up by the Essenes. The Essene sect moved forth, expanding and preaching, “The Kingdom is at Hand.” Their message was that the current desecrated temple and its priests along with the Romans and all other evil doers, would be killed. Then a new Temple would come down from heaven and a Zadokite would be placed in the office of high priest.

 

III. The Seat of David Usurped

No one had sat on the throne of David for a long time, but the people called for a king. Then Aristobulus, a Hasmonean, crowned himself king directly defying the line of David. Not only was the priesthood taken over, now the throne of David was overrun by the Hasmoneans. These acts were too much to bear and the House of Zadok and the House of David revolted. The Sect of Essene grew rapidly, stretching from Damascus to the Golan. The House of David anointed the House of Zadok as priest. In the sect of Essene, there were many sub-sects, such as the Nazarenes, who fought against the Hasmoneans, but had different beliefs.

 

IV. The Stage is Set

At that time John the Baptist taught in Judea. He was a devoted to Yahweh and a Nazarene by birth. He was clearly an Essene. It is likely that John’s mother gave him to the Essenes since they were accepting other people’s offspring to raise them into their doctrine. When Yahshua was baptized by John, he began preaching a message similar to the Essenes and he shared their disgust of the Temple’s current state. Yahshua threw over the tables of the bankers at the Temple and prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed. Surprisingly, the sect of Essene is never mentioned in the New Testament.

 

V. The Throne of David

The location of the last supper isn’t very important to most people when they read the Bible, however it has a hidden significance. Inside the Quarter of the Essenes, near the Gate of Essene, at the top of Mount Zion, David rested in his ceremonial Tomb. A top the Tomb a sacred upper room was built; the same room where Yahshua partook of the last supper with his disciples. The disciples and Yahshua ate their Seder meal on the throne of David. The Zadokites had diligently kept that upper room ready for when the Messiah would come. However, the room has even more significance. The upper room became the first church established by the disciples, and in that same place it was decreed that Gentiles who were not circumcised could come into the body of Messiah. After James the Just, bishop of the Jerusalem assembly, was murdered, the task of guarding the throne of David fell to the Family of Yahshua. It wouldn’t have been possible for the Nazarenes, family of Yahshua, to take up their new role as guardians had they not supported the Essenes. Many scholars contest that the Tomb of David was on the lower hill of Mount Zion and not on the higher Western hill which the Nazarenes traditionally believed. However, since the city’s destruction it has been unclear whether or not those contentions are valid. After the Temple was destroyed, priest’s roles were severely demoted. The imperative job of the priests has been forgotten by Judaism. Unfortunately, as the house of Zadok fell, so did the condition of the nation. After Yahshua died, the Essenes changed their message so that the messiah would be a son of Aaron. Similar to their past beliefs, they stated that the messiah would lead the sons of light in a battle against the sons of darkness. The resurrected David messiah would also fight against the sons of darkness. After Satan, his demons, the Romans, and all other doers of evil were defeated, a New Jerusalem and temple would descend from the skies bringing the Kingdom age with them. Predictably, these events did not occur, however practically the opposite did. Roman Legions lead by Titus swarmed into Jerusalem and raised the Temple to the ground. For the second time the Essene’s predictions did not come to pass. The Nazarenes fled to the hills as Yahshua had told them, however they once again claimed their job as guardians of the Tomb of David and the sacred upper room. As usual the Essenes developed a new doctrine stating a priestly line of Melchizedek would come again and restore liberty. Almost two millennia later, a Greek monk, Tech Otteeoos, discovered while digging on Mount Zion, the Messianic Seal!

 

An Explanation of the Symbol

The Seal’s unique design can’t be compared to any other Judeo Christian symbols. The Seal could only have been used by the Nazarenes because they were the guardians of David’s Tomb during the time of its use.             

 

The Second Jewish War (Kitos / Quietus War)
 

The Second Jewish War, aka the Kitos War, began in one hundred and fifteen AD and ended in one hundred and seventeen AD, bu, there is a little uncertainty as to the exact dates. Some books say it took place sixteen years before the Bar Kochba rebellion. The Romans were busy invading the Parthian empire and the Diaspora Jews decided to revolt against the Romans. A factor that might’ve triggered the revolt was that the Parthian empire treated the Jews a lot better than the Romans. The idea was suggested that the Parthian empire urged the Jews to revolt, but there is no official documentation of any collaboration between the two. As a result of the revolt the Romans had to divert forces from the Parthian front to snuff out the rebellion. The revolt started in Cyrenaica, but eventually overtook Aegyptus, Cyprus and Judaea. The main players of the revolt and the Roman army are first, Lukuas, who called himself the King and headed the revolt, and then there is Trajan, the leader of the Roman forces at war with the Parthian empire. Also there is Artemion who lead the revolt in Cyprus, and finally there is Lucius who served under Trajan and was in charge of subduing the revolt. Lukuas, the head of the revolt, lead his men through Cyrenaica wrecking havoc on all in their path. They destroyed pagan Greek temples to Hecate, Jupiter, Apollo, Artimis, and Isis. Also all the Roman buildings and structures were destroyed and burned by the rebel forces. Then Lukuas headed into Aegyptus where he burned the city of Alexandria and destroyed more temples and the tomb of Pompey. At the other end of the revolt Artemion lead his men to victory and took control of the entire island. Unfortunately, Trajan diverted troops to both locations and by one hundred and seventeen AD the revolt was defeated.

Suggested Books
1. Jewish Revolts Against Rome. By James J. Bloom
2. The Cambridge History of Judaism: The Late Roman-Rabbinic period. By William David Davies, Steven T. Katz, Louis Finkelstein.

 

Bar Kokhba Revolt

 

The Revolt of Bar Kokhba, the third and final Jewish Revolt, started in 132 CE and ended in 136 CE. The Bar Kokhba revolt was extremely large and inflicted staggering amounts of casualties on both sides. Unlike the other Jewish revolts, the facts of the Bar Kokhba revolt are still being uncovered and many events still uncertain. There is still an ongoing debate on what exactly caused the revolt and there is no exact documentation of the cause.

 The revolt started right after the tomb of Solomon collapsed as a result of Roman construction in the area. This might have been interpreted as an omen by the Messianic Jews (The Jewish people who thought Bar Kokhba was the messiah), but no one knows for sure. Surprisingly, coins were made with Simon Bar Kokhba’s name on them and the date said the first year of the redemption. The main players of the Jewish side of the revolt were of course Simon Bar Kokhba and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva set the stage for Bar Kokhba, preaching that Simon was the messiah since Bar Kokhba means son of a star in Aramaic and Numbers 24: 17 says, “There shall come a star out of Jacob.” Messianic Jews believed Akiva eagerly, and even changed the calendar so that the dates of Daniel’s prophecy would be in agreement with the dates of Bar Kokhba’s uprising. The revolt really conveyed the difference between the Messianic Jews and the Christian (Nazarene) Jews who did not participate in the rebellion.

 Once Simon was in control he carefully planned the revolt and the sequence of attacks along all of Judea. When the revolt started, Simon quickly cut off the Roman forces in Jerusalem from any aid and once eliminating the small garrison there, he captured Jerusalem. After he took Jerusalem, Simon established a Jewish Sovereign state which lasted two and a half years before falling. The Romans, who had hardly any reason to expect revolt, were caught off guard. Hadrian diverted General Sextus Julius Severus and his army of 3 legions all the way from Britain to combat the revolt. Unfortunately, Hadrian had underestimated the magnitude of the revolt and it took an entire 12 legions to pacify it. The Romans committed many atrocities in this war towards the people of Judea. It is rumored that the Romans wrapped children in Torah scrolls and burned them. On the Jewish side Bar Kokhba and his army fought effectively against the Romans, never confronting them in the open and using hit and run tactics.

 However, the outcome of the war was inevitable, and in late 135 CE the Romans finally ended the revolt. Bar Kokhba and what was left of his army retreated to Betar once Jerusalem had fallen. There they were crushed and the Romans showed no mercy. The Talmud states that the Roman soldiers, “Went on killing till their horses were submerged in blood to their nostrils.” It is recorded that over 580,000 Jews were killed and the Talmud says the number was in the millions, but never-the-less the outcome was catastrophic. All of the Jews, Christian and Messianic, were prohibited from entering Jerusalem and they were prevented from burying their dead at Betar until 17 years later. Simon Bar Kokhba was executed by the Romans. Most scholars list the revolt as the start of the dispersion since it resulted in so many Jews dying and being exiled.

 

Suggested Books

1.         The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: by Peter Schafer

2.         The Mystery of Bar Kokhba: by Leibel Reznick

3.         The Cambridge History of Judaism: by William David Davies, Steven T. Katz, and Louis Finkelstein

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