Second Jewish Revolt (A.D. 132-135) Bar Kokhba
The documentation is reportedly sketchy regarding this second Jewish revolt. It took place under emperor Hadrian who ruled from 117-38.1 The loss of the Temple meant the loss of certain groups whose identity were tied to the Temple (e.g. the Sadducees). More importantly, the greatest upheaval to Jewish inner life was the dissolution of the Sanhedrin and the dissolution of sacrificial worship.2 The fall of the Temple would gradually lead to a shift from the priests to the rabbis. According to Sch?er, "the Pharisees and the rabbis entered into the heritage of the Sadducees and the priests."3 They devoted themselves to the study of the Torah and in light of the Torah contemplated their glorious future as promised in the Scripture.
Apparently, Hadrian founded his own city upon the ruins of Jerusalem, and then named it "Aelia Capitolina." This was certainly offensive to the Jews, but when Hadrian then erected a temple to the pagan god Jupiter on the same site as the Temple mount, this infuriated Jewish sensibilities.4 In addition to this, he apparently forbade the practice of circumcision. In the light of all the upheaval they had gone through, the messianic-minded Jews only needed a leader. It was one Simon Bar Kosiba that emerged to lead the second Jewish revolt against Rome in 132-135 A.D. Perhaps the timing of the revolt reflected an expectation of a third temple.5 Highly esteemed Rabbi Akiba called Simon Bar Kosiba the "Bar Kokhba," which means "son of the star." This was a reference to Numbers 24:17 ("a star shall come out of Jacob"), a passage interpreted messianically. Akiba's moniker for Kosiba was clearly a designation that the leader of the revolt is indeed the Messiah.6
Under Kosiba's leadership the revolt was mounted. They marshaled a form of guerilla warfare, hiding "wherever strongholds, forts, caves and underground galleries offered a hiding-place."7 In the three-year period of the revolt's success, coins were minted commemorating their rise to power and independence. But this independence was neither total nor long-lived. VanderKam summarizes its tragic ending well:
Bar Kokhba and his forces eventually made their last stand against the Romans at a fortress called Bether, located southwest of Jerusalem. It fell in the year 135 CE, and there Bar Kokhba met his death. The devastation brought on by the violence of the revolt and the efforts to smash it was again immense. Once again thousands of lives were lost and numerous people enslaved. Jerusalem itself continued to be Aelia Capitolina, and the Jews were not permitted to enter it. A temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was in fact built on the old temple site.8
Because Kosiba proved to be mortal and a failure, his moniker was changed from "son of the star" to "son of a lie." This was a pejorative pun by a simple change of one letter with barely a change in vocalization (from "Kosiba" to "Koziba"). Over time, things leveled out for the Jews once more. Nickelsburg reports that by the fourth century the Jews were permitted re-entry into Jerusalem once a year for the purposes of mourning for their personal and religious losses. Then he concludes: "Despite this loss and through these tears ? the rabbis preserved, transformed, and passed on to future generations the religion of their ancestors."9 The Jews' response to these times of crises is found primarily in the Jewish apocalyptic writings of this time period.
Notes
1James C. VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001):48.
2Emil Sch?er, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C.-A.D. 135), Vol. 1, ed. Matthew Black (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1885-1924, reprint 1973): 523.
3Ibid., 524.
4VanderKam, 48.
5VanderKam suggests this as a possibility (Ibid., 49) since it had been 62 years after the destruction of the Temple (A. D. 70) and the Second Temple had been completed 70 years after the destruction of the first. Add to that the fact that the Jews were 70 years in captivity and also that both Temples were destroyed on the same calendar day.
6VanderKam, 49.
7Sh?er, 545.
8VanderKam, 49.
9W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981): 313.
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