Bar Cochba revolt from Jewish sources:
Lamentations Rabbah, 2.2 section 4:
When Rabbi Akiva
beheld bar Cochba, he exclaimed “this is the king Messiah!” Rabbi Johanan
ben Torta retorted “Akiva, grass will have grown in your cheeks and he will
still not have come.”
Eighty thousand
trumpeters besieged Bethar where Bar Cochba was located, who had with him two
hundred thousand men with an amputated finger. The Sages sent him the
message, “How long will you continue to make the men of Israel blemished?”
He asked them, “How
else should they be tested?
They answered, “Let
anyone who cannot uprrot a cedar from Lebanon be refused enrollment in your
army.”
He thereupon had two
hundred thousand men of each class; and when they went forth to battle, they
cried, “O God, neither help nor discourage us.”
That is what is
written: Have you not, O God, cast us off? And go not forth, o God,
with our hosts?
And what used Bar
Cochba to do? He would catch the missiles from the enemy’s catapult on
one of his knees and hurl them back, killing many of he foe. On that
account, Rabbi Akiva made his remark.
For three and a half
years, the emperor Hadrian surrounded Bethar. In the city was Rabbi
Eleazar of Mode’in who continually worse sackcloth and fasted, and used to pray
daily, “Lord of the universe, do not sit in judgment today.” So that
Hadrian thought of returning home.
A Cuthean went [to
the emperor] and found him and said: “My lord, so long as that old cock
wallos in ashes, you will not conquer the city. But wait for me, because
I will do something that will enable you to subdue it today.”
He immediately
entered the gate of the city where he found Rabbi Eleazar standing and
praying. He pretended to whisper in the ear of Rabbi Eleazar of
Mode’in. People went and informed Bar Cochba: “Your friend, Rabbi
Eleazar, wishes to surrender the city to Hadrian.”
He sent and had the
Cuthean brought to him and asked: “What did you say to him?”
He replied: “If I
tell you, the emperor will kill me, and if I do not tell you, you will kill
me. It is better that I should kill myself and the secrets of the
government will not be divulged.”
Bar Cochba was
convinced that Rabbi Eleazar wanted to surrender the city, so when the latter
finished his praying, he had him brought into his presence and asked him: “
What did the Cuthean say to you?”
He answered: “I do
not know what he whispered in my ear, nor did I hear anything because I was
standing in prayer and am unaware what he said.”
Bar Cochba flew into
a rage, kicked him with his foot and killed him. A heavenly voice issued
forth and proclaimed: “Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the
flock! The sword will be uon his arm, and upon his right arm!”
It was intimated to
him, “you have paralyzed the arm of Israel and blinded their right eye;
therefore your arm will wither and your right arm grow dim!”
Forthwith the sins
[of the people] caused Bethar to be captured. Bar Cochba was slain and
his head taken to Hadrian. He asked: ‘who killed him?”
A Cuthean said to
him: “I killed him.”
“Bring his body to
me,” He ordered.
He went and found a
snake encircling its neck. So Hadrian, when told of this, exclaimed: “If
his God had no slaim him, who could have overcome him.”
And there applied to
him the verse: “Except their rock had given them over.” (Deut 32:30)
Lamentations Rabbah, 2.2 section 4:
Rabbi Jonathan said:
“The voice is the voice of Jacob—the voice of distress caused by the emperor
Hadrian, who slew eighty thousand myriads of human beings at Bethar.
They slew the
inhabitants until the horse waded in blood up to the nostrils, and the blood
rolled along the stones (with the size of 284 litres) and flowed into the sea,
staining it for a distance of six kilometers.
Now Hadrian
possessed a large vineyard 46 kilometers square, as far as from Tiberias to
Sepphoris, and they surrounded it with a fence consisting of the slain of
Bethar. And it was decreed that they should not be buried, until a
certain emperor arose and ordered their interment.
Rabbi Huna said: “On
the day when the slain of Bethar were allowed burial, the benediction ‘who is
kind and deals kindly’ was instituted –‘who is kind’ because the bodies did not
putrefy, and ‘deals kindly’ because they were allowed burial.
Lamentations Rabbah, 2.2 section 4:
Rabbi Johanan said:
“The brains of three hundred children were dashed upon one stone, and three
hundred baskets of capsules of phylacteries were found in Bethar, each capsule
having the capacity of 2130 litres.
Rabbi Gamaliel
said: “There were five hundred schools in Bethar and the smallest of them
had no less than three hundred children. They used to say: “If the enemy
comes against us, with these styluses we will go out and stab them.”
When, however, the people’s sins did cause the enemy to come, they enwrapped
each pupil in his book and burned him, so that I alone was left.” He
affected to himself the verse: My eye affects my soul because of all the
daughters of my city.” (Lam 3:51)
Rabbi Simeon ben
Yohai taught: “Akiva, my master, used to interpret ‘a star goes forth
from Jacob’ as ‘Cochba goes forth from Jacob.’ Rabbi Akiva, whne he saw
bar Cochba, said ‘This is the king Messiah.’ Rabbi Johanan ben Torta said
to him, “Akiva, Grass will grow on your cheeks and still the son of David does
not come!”
Eusebius (260-340 CE) , History of the Church, 4.6.1-4
The rebellion of the
Jews once more progressed in character and extent, and Rufus the governor of
Judea, when military aide had been sent to him by the emperor, moved out
against them, treating their madness without mercy. He destroyed in heaps
thousands of men, women and children, and, under the law of war, enslaved their
land.
The Jews at that
time were led by a certain Barchochebas, which means “star” [bar Cochba = son
of the star] a man who was murderous and a bandit, but relied on his name, as
if dealing with slaves, and claimed to e a luminary come from heaven and was
magically enlightening those who were in misery.
The war reached its
height in the eighteenth year of Hadrian in Betar, which was a strong citadel
not very far from Jerusalem. The siege lasted a long time before the
rebels were driven to final destruction by famine and thirst and the instigator
of tiehr madness paid the penalty he deserved.
Hadrian then
commanded that by a legal decree and ordinances the whole nation should be
absolutely prevented from entering from thenceforth even the district round
Jerusalem, so that it could not even see from a distance its ancestral home.
Ariston of Pella
tells the following story: ‘Thus then the city came to be bereft of the
nation of the Jews, and its ancient inhabitants had completely perished, it was
colonized by foreigners and the Roman city which afterwards arose changed its
name, and in honor of the reigning emperor Aelius Hadrian was called
Aelia The Church, too, it was composed of gentiles and after the Jewish
bishops the first who appointed to minister to those was Marcus.
Eusebius, Chronicle:
Hadrian, year
16: The Jews, who took up arms, devastated Palestine during the period in
which the governor of the province was Tineus Rufus, to whom Hadrian sent an
army in order to crush the rebels.
Hadrian, year
17: Cochbeas, the duke of the Jewish sect, killed the Christians with all
kinds of persecutions, when they refused to help him against the Roman troops.
Hadrian, year
18: the Jewish war that was conducted in Paestine reached its conclusion,
all Jewish problems having been completely suppressed. From that time on,
the permission was denied them even to enter Jerusalem; first and foremost
because of the commandment of God, as the prophets had prophesied; and secondly
by the authority of the interdictions of the Romans.
In Jerusalem, the
first bishop was appointed from among the gentiles, since bishops had ceased to
be appointed from among the Jews.
Hadrian, year
19: Aelia was founded by Aelius Hadrian. And before its gate, that
of the road by which hto to to Bethlehem, he set up an idol of a pig in marble,
signifying the subjugation of the Jews to Roman authority.
Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica 6:13:
We have seen in out
time Sion [sic] once so famous ploughed with yokes of oxen by the Romans, and
utterly devastated, and Jerusalem, as the oracle says “deserted like a lodge.”
(Isa 1:8)
There were, then,
among the Jews certain men who were prophets of God, through whom the prophetic
Spirit published beforehand things that were to come to pass, ere ever they
happened. And their prophecies, as they were spoken and when they were uttered,
the kings who happened to be reigning among the Jews at the several times
carefully preserved in their possession, when they had been arranged in books
by the prophets themselves in their own Hebrew language. And when Ptolemy king
of Egypt formed a library, and endeavoured to collect the writings of all men,
he heard also of these prophets, and sent to Herod, who was at that time king
of the Jews, requesting that the books of the prophets be sent to him. And
Herod the king did indeed send them, written, as they were, in the foresaid
Hebrew language. And when their contents were found to be unintelligible to the
Egyptians, he again sent and requested that men be commissioned to translate
them into the Greek language. And when this was done, the books remained
with the Egyptians, where they are until now. They are also in the possession
of all Jews throughout the world; but they, though they read, do not
understand what is said, but count us foes and enemies; and, like
yourselves, they kill and punish us whenever they have the power, as you
can well believe. For in the Jewish War which lately raged, Barchochebas,
the leader of the revolt of the Jews, gave orders that Christians alone should
be led to cruel punishments, unless they would deny Jesus Christ and utter
blasphemy. In these books, then, of the prophets we found Jesus our Christ
foretold as coming, born of a virgin, growing up to man's estate, and
healing every disease and every sickness, and raising the dead, and being
hated, and unrecognised, and crucified, and dying, and rising again, and
ascending into heaven, and being, and being called, the Son of God. We find it
also predicted that certain persons should be sent by Him into every nation to
publish these things, and that rather among the Gentiles [than among the Jews]
men should believe in Him. And He was predicted before He appeared, first 5000
years before, and again 3000, then 2000, then 1000, and yet again 800; for in
the succession of generations prophets after prophets arose.
And those among yourselves who are accused you do not punish
before they are convicted; but in our case you receive the name as proof
against us, and this although, so far as the name goes, you ought rather to
punish our accusers. For we are accused of being Christians, and to hate what
is excellent (Chrestian) is unjust.
The strange reference to “Chrestian” tells us that Suetonius’ brief reference to those expelled from Rome had begun to have some currency, but that those who read the reference in his history, or heard of it, did not understand that by “Chrestos” he was referring to “Christ.”
Since Justin Martyr wrote this at in a period following the revolt, it seems likely that the "gospels" (texts which had been written to try to incorporate the bar Cochba revolt into the Judean canon) had sufficient time to circulate, had been read by Greco-Romans and had been conflated with both the LXX and with Philo's writings.
The obvious question, from a historical perspective, is why did Justin wait until after Hadrian's death to write a letter to Hadrian's successor explaining the nature of "christians" and complaining (incidentally) about how badly those "christians" had been treated by Judeans? Why did he wait? Why did he not write the same letter to Hadrian?
The obvious answer, also from a historical perspective, is that the "gospels" narratives were written in the aftermath of the Bar Cochba revolt, so the early "christians" did not yet have all the necessary elements to conflate to arrive at a comprehensive cultic polity and finally, because Hadrian would have known the letter, in particular the claim of "persecution" by Judeans, was nonsense.
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