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40-600: The groundwork for the book was probably written in Palestine between 629 and 636, during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 for control of the region. These wars touched Byzantine Palestine and stirred Messianic hopes among Jews , including the author for whom the wars appear to be eschatological events leading to the appearance of the Messiah. Armilus is thought to be a cryptogram for Heraclius , and that

80-594: A hostile environment as well. Variants of the Mosaic religion were still at large from the 4th until the 6th centuries, practiced by ethnoreligious communities of Samaritans and Jews . However, with the decline of the Samaritan and Jewish populations through war, emigration and conversion during the 6th and 7th century, the religion declined as well. By the late Byzantine period, fewer synagogues could be found and many were destroyed in violent events. The city of Hebron

120-557: A new High Priesthood. After only a few months, a Christian revolt occurred. The Jews fled to Shahrbaraz's encampment at Caesarea . The Christians were able to briefly retake the city for 19 days before the walls were breached by Shahrbaraz's forces. In 617 CE, the Persians reversed their policy and sided with the Christians, probably because of pressure from Mesopotamian Christians. It has been suggested that Nehemiah ben Hushiel

160-480: A significant wine producer, as evidenced by archeological sites like Horvat Hesheq  [ he ] and Horvat Bet Loya . Nehemiah ben Hushiel Nehemiah ben Hushiel was as a leader of the Jewish revolt against Heraclius and the last Jewish leader to control Jerusalem until the modern state of Israel. Nehemiah ben Hushiel appears in the 7th century Jewish book Sefer Zerubbabel where he represents

200-558: Is mentioned by Eleazar of Worms and supposedly by Rashi . Abraham ibn Ezra criticized the book as "unreliable." One edition of the Pirqe Hekhalot gave a figure of 890 years until the return of the Messiah, making the Messianic year 958 AD, within a decade of the birth of Saadia Gaon. That date perhaps led to a message sent by Rhenish Jews to Palestine inquiring after rumors of the Messiah's advent. The sefer describes

240-621: Is notable in being one of the last Jewish cities remaining (although the Cave of the Patriarchs had been converted into a Church). Written sources from the Byzantine period describe Ascalon and Gaza as important commercial hubs that exported wine to many places throughout the empire. Jerome points out that the region was home to numerous monastic settlements at the time and had a landscape dotted with vineyards . The church may have been

280-511: Is our sanctuary it has nothing to do with you. The Arabs agree that both will present offerings and whoever's offering is accepted, the other will follow his ways, stating that “we will become one people ummah .” Satan then denounces the Jews before God, causing the Arabs' offering to be accepted and the Jews' offering to be rejected. The Jews, however, refuse to commit apostasy. A battle erupts between

320-678: Is thought to date from the early years of the Arab invasion. Nehemiah ben Hushiel is not mentioned. The Messiah ben David of the Sefer Zerubbabel Menahem ben Ammiel is now called the Messiah ben Joseph. Another medieval Hebrew apocalypse the Otot ha-Mašiah also casts Nehemiah ben Hushiel as a Messianic leader. It gives a less detailed account but is also thought to be dated to this period. The following texts also mention Nehemiah and they are all similar to 'Otot ha-Mašiah (Signs of

360-487: The Dioceses Orientis , a diocese grouping the near eastern provinces. Despite Christian domination, until the 4th and 5th centuries Samaritans developed some autonomy in the hill country of Samaria , a move that gradually escalated into a series of open revolts. The four major Samaritan Revolts during that period caused a near extinction of the Samaritan community as well as significant Christian losses. In

400-568: The Byzantines either not knowing or not caring about his persecution of the Exilarchs and suppression of Jews in the east. Frank Meir Loewenberg speculates that in order to gain Jewish support Khosrow II appointed an Exilarch of his choosing. Named Hushiel, this Exilarch had a son named Nehemiah - hence Nehemiah ben Hushiel. According to this guess Nehemiah was placed as the symbolic leader of

440-600: The Messiah ben Joseph arises among them and within three months reaches the top. However, he is killed by the Persian chief commander in a small sanctuary shortly after. In a second piyyut, which is undatable, the Messiah ben Joseph is named as Nehemiah ben Hushiel. A third piyyut titled Oto ha-yom is dated later, as the Persians have been defeated by the Byzantines. However a king from Arabia then invades. This poem

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480-472: The Messiah ben Joseph . In 590-591 CE, according to Karaite sources, the Exilarch Haninai was put to death by Khosrow II , for supporting Bahram VI . The next Exilarch (Haninais' son Bostanai ) would not reign until around 640 CE. Bostanai would be the first Babylonian Exilarch under Arab rule. This would leave a fifty-year gap, where no Exilarch reigned. It is thought that after Haninai

520-531: The Sefer Malkiel in Vilna in 1819, and again by Adolph Jellinek in his Bet Ha-Midrasch (1853–77) and S. A. Wertheimer in his Leqet Midrashim (Jerusalem, 1903). The fullest edition of the work was prepared by Israel Levi in his book L'apocalypse . Because the book gave an unequivocal date (1058 AD) for the return of the Messiah, it exerted great influence upon contemporary Messianic thought. The book

560-573: The True Cross and other relics as trophies to the Persian capital Ctesiphon . The event sent shock-waves through the Christian world . Since the days of Constantine the Great , Jerusalem had been the emblematic capital of Christianity and the symbolic center of the world. The Jews gained dominance over Jerusalem, but the Persians found it more expedient to side with the Christians who constituted

600-544: The eschatological struggle between the Antichrist Armilus , who is the leader of Rome and the Messiah ben Joseph , who fails in battle but paves the way for the Davidic Messiah and the ultimate triumph of righteousness . The original author expected the Messiah would come in the immediate future; subsequent editors substituted later dates. Set after Nebuchadnezzar 's destruction of Jerusalem ,

640-499: The Jewish forces. The Persian Sassanians, commanded by Shahrbaraz , were joined by Nehemiah and the wealthy Jewish leader Benjamin of Tiberias , who had mustered a force of Tiberian Jews. The combined force captured Jerusalem in 614 CE without resistance. Nehemiah was then appointed the ruler of Jerusalem. He began the work of making arrangements for the building of the Third Temple , and sorting out genealogies to establish

680-567: The Jews pardon for their revolt. However, at the prompting of the Christian leadership, Heraclius went back on his promise. The Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and thousands were massacred. Byzantine control of the province was again and irreversibly lost in 636, during the Muslim conquest of Syria . The population of Palestine reached an all-time peak during the Byzantine era. Greek-speaking Byzantine Christians and Samaritans dominated

720-639: The Jews together with the pagans, constituted the majority in Palestine in the 5th century. However, some historians have questioned that claim. Depending on the time, either a notable Roman or Persian military presence would be noted. During the Byzantine period, Palestina Prima gradually became a center of Christianity , attracting numerous monks and religious scholars from the Near East and Southern Europe, and abandoning previous Roman and Hellenistic cults. Arianism and Christianity found themselves in

760-539: The Messiah ben David will resurrect him. The Sefer Zerubbabel mentions Gog and Armilus rather than Gog and Magog as the enemies. In the narrative, Zerubbabel is led to a "house of disgrace" (a church ), a kind of antitemple. There, he sees a beautiful statue of a woman (the Virgin Mary ). With Satan as the father, the statue gives birth to the Antichrist Armilus. Forces associated with Armilus and

800-512: The Messiah ben David, doomed to abide there until his appointed hour. Zerubbabel asks when the lamp of Israel would be kindled. Metatron interjects that the Messiah would return 990 years after the destruction of the Temple (approximately 1058 AD). Five years prior to the coming of Hephzibah, who would be the mother of the Messiah ben David , the Messiah ben Joseph, Nehemiah ben Hushiel , will appear but he will be slain by Armilus. Afterwards,

840-547: The Messiah). For example, Nehemiah will confront Armilos with a Torah scroll in all of them and in some cases the text is almost identical. The texts are Tefillat (Prayer of) R. Shimon b. Yohai, 'Otot of R. Shimon b. Yohai and Ten Signs The medieval Hebrew apocalypse Pirqe Mašiah also mentions Nehemiah without his surname. It was clearly written later, as it mentions Arabs controlling the Temple Mount. The Arabs say this

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880-529: The Talmudic academies of Babylonia , probably knew the book but never mention it by name. The Book of Zerubbabel is extant in several manuscript and print recensions . What may be the oldest manuscript copy is part of a prayerbook reportedly dated to about 840 AD. The first publication was in 1519 in Constantinople within an anthology called Liqqutim Shonim . It was reprinted again along with

920-591: The ability of provincial governors with strong garrisons to stage revolts and to improve efficiency by reducing the area controlled by each governor. Provinces were clustered into regional groups called dioceses . Thus, the province of Syria Palaestina and neighboring regions were organized into the provinces Palaestina Prima , Palaestina Secunda , and Palaestina Tertia or Palaestina Salutaris (First, Second, and Third Palestine). Palaestina Prima with its capital in Caesarea Maritima encompassed

960-681: The antitemple come to rule over the entire world. But in the end, these forces are defeated. The work concludes with Zerubbabel's vision of the descent of the Heavenly Temple to earth. Thus, the "form of the eternal house" is revealed; unlike the Second Temple, it is made in heaven . According to Martha Himmelfarb alongside a passage in the Tractate Berakhot 2.4 10ff in the Talmud Yerushalmi , dealing with

1000-447: The book begins with Zerubbabel, whose name was associated with the first restoration , receiving a vision after praying for "knowledge of the form of the eternal house." In the vision he is transported by the angel Metatron to Ninevah , the "city of blood" representing Rome by which the author likely means Byzantium . There he finds in the marketplace a "bruised and despised man" named Menahem ben Ammiel who reveals himself to be

1040-732: The central parts of Palestine , including the coastal plain, Judea , and Samaria . Palaestina Secunda had its capital in Scythopolis and included northern Transjordan , the lower Jezreel Valley , the Galilee , and the Golan area. Palaestina Tertia with its capital in Petra included the Negev , southern Transjordan, and parts of the Sinai Peninsula . These provinces became part of

1080-426: The central regions of Palaestina Prima, while Christian Ghassanid Arabs and Nabataean Arabs dominated Palaestina Secunda and Tertia respectively. The Samaritan revolts in the 5th and 6th centuries, and the subsequent suppression of their communities, took its toll on their numbers. Many also converted to Christianity. According to the 6th century hagiography Life of Barsauma , about a wandering monophysite monk,

1120-408: The city of Tiberias . After Nehemiah ben Hushiel takes possession of Jerusalem, he proceeds to sorts out Israel's genealogical lists according to their families. He is killed in the fifth year which would be 619 during the month of Av (July - August). The Sefer Zerubbabel states that Shiroi King of Persia will stab Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Israel. His thoroughly crushed corpse will be thrown down before

1160-468: The city walls to escape. The remaining Jews fled to the Sasanian general Shahrbaraz . Shahrbaraz assembled his troops and went and encamped around Jerusalem and besieged it for 19 days. The Christian death toll was 17,000 in addition 35,000 people including the patriarch Zacharias were deported to Mesopotamia. For three days the Persian forces slaughtered and plundered the inhabitants of the city. The city

1200-502: The events described in the Book of Zerubbabel coincide with the Jewish revolt against Heraclius . However, firm evidence of the work's existence before the tenth century is elusive. The Zohar is cognizant of the legend of Hephzibah , whom the apocalypse first names as the mother of the Davidic Messiah and a female warrior credited with killing multiple evil kings. Saadia Gaon (892–942) and Hai ben Sherira (939–1038), both heads of

1240-501: The gates of Jerusalem. And sixteen of the righteous shall be killed with him. Armilus enters Jerusalem on the 14th day of the new year during the month of Nisan. Presumably, this would coincide with March 28, 628. The Sefer Zerubbabel does not claim that Nehemiah ben Hushiel will be the Messiah ben David. Rather it asserts that he is the Messiah ben Joseph and a descendant of Joseph . The exilarchs traced their line back to David . Kavadh II made peace with Heraclius in 628 after

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1280-748: The late 6th century, Byzantines and their Christian Ghassanid allies took a clear upper hand in the struggle. In 602, the final war between the Byzantine Empire and its eastern rival the Sasanid Empire (Persian Empire) broke out. In 613 the Persians invaded the Levant and the Jews revolted against the Byzantines, hoping to secure autonomy for Jerusalem. The following year Persian-Jewish forces captured Caesarea and Jerusalem , destroying its churches, massacring its Christian population, and taking

1320-620: The mother of the Messiah Menahem ben Ammiel , Sefer Zerubbabel is the only early Jewish text to import a mother of the Messiah into Judaism. In the Sefer Zerubbabel, Menahem is Menahem ben Ammiel, and his mother is Hephzibah, the same name as the wife of Hezekiah and mother of Manasseh . Hephzibah plays an important role as she finds and uses Aaron's rod . Palaestina Prima Canaan State of Israel (1948–present) Palaestina Prima or Palaestina I

1360-547: The overwhelming majority of the population and in 617 the Persians returned the city to them. Meanwhile, the Roman emperor Heraclius began a successful counter-offensive. By 627/8 he was advancing into the Persian heartland . The Persians sued for peace and had to return the Roman provinces they had captured and the stolen relics. In March 629, Heraclius triumphantly returned the True Cross to Jerusalem. Heraclius had promised

1400-472: The reign of Khosrow II . Armilus is thought to be a cryptogram for Heraclius. Three piyyutim attributed to Eleazar ben Kalir are thought to be based on an early version of the Sefer Zerubbabel . The first is believed to be dated between 629 and 634. In the text the Jews set up an altar and offer sacrifices, however they are not allowed to erect a sanctuary. The Jewish leader who is called

1440-578: Was a Byzantine province that existed from the late 4th century until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, in the region of Palestine . It was temporarily lost to the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) in 614, but re-conquered in 628. The province of Palaestina Prima came into existence in the late 4th century through a series of reforms of the Roman provincial administration which subdivided many provinces into smaller administrative units. The intent of these reforms were to circumscribe

1480-422: Was also demolished. The Armenian bishop and historian Sebeos wrote an account of the fall of Jerusalem. He writes that at first the inhabitants of Jerusalem voluntarily submitted to the Jews and Persians, however after a few months, the ostikan appointed by Khosrau II to rule Jerusalem was killed in a Christian revolt. Sebeos writes that during the revolt many Jews were killed, some throwing themselves off

1520-541: Was burned down. The Jews were then driven from the city and an archpriest named Modestos was appointed over the city. The Sefer Zerubbabel is a medieval Hebrew apocalypse written in the style of biblical visions (e.g. Daniel, Ezekiel) placed into the mouth of Zerubbabel. It is thought to have been written at least partially during the beginning of the 7th century. In the Sefer Zerubbabel Aaron's rod , Elijah and Nehemiah ben Hushiel will be hidden in

1560-412: Was killed then. Nehemiah ben Hushiel and his "council of the righteous" were killed along with many other Jews, some throwing themselves off the city walls. However, it does not appear that Jews were violently expelled from Jerusalem as Sebeos thought. Instead, Modestos' letter seems to imply that further Jewish settlers were banned from settling in or around Jerusalem. A small synagogue on the Temple Mount

1600-418: Was put to death, Khosrow II suspended all forms of Jewish self-governance and created many difficulties for the rabbinical academies. By 609 CE, both of the major academies Sura and Pumbedita are known to have been holding classes and led by a Gaon . Nehemiah ben Hushiel was the leader of the Jewish revolt against Heraclius . Jacob Neusner guesses that Jews of the west supported Khosrow II against

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