The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature: False Messiah and National Hero (review)

176 SHOFAR Spring 1998 Vol. 16, No.3 of certain biblical events and characters, Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography would have been strengthened by a sophisticated discussion ofthe critical issues fueling this scholarly debate. These cautions aside, Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography is truly worthwhile. Shanks has taken full advantage of the resources available to him through his many years as director ofthe Biblical Archaeology Society and editor ofBiblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review. His insights into the history and archaeology ofJerusalem are valuable. The photographs are sumptuous, the maps and plans excellent, the writing style is engaging. The book is a most worthwhile investment for scholars and other interested readers, and would be of value for any library collection. So read, enjoy, learn, and then ... go visit! Beth Alpert Nakhai Near Eastern and Judaic Studies University ofArizona The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature: False Messiah and National Hero, by Richard G. Marks. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994. 226 pp. $15.95. Marks' Image ofBar Kokhba is "a history of the perceptions" (p. 3) of the ancient hero. Spanning some 1500 years, it has required exacting study ofvaried genres ofprimary sources in their ideological and historical contexts, further informed by an extensive range of relevant modem scholarship. That the historical Bar Kokhba remains essentially elusive is obvious even from the brief overview of"the modem historiographical image" (p. 9) with which Richard Marks introduces his study of the premodern "image" of the ancient hero. The elusive quality fIrst emerges from the classical rabbinic traditions and legends in which Marks fInds the dominant portrayal of Bar Kokhba to be that of a flawed military hero "associated with the down fall ofBetar." Still, the less prominent rabbinic image ofhim as "a messianic impostor ... associated with eschatological expectation" (p. 56) also found important echoes in the later Jewish literature which Marks examines. After all, the highly regarded R. Akiba is reported to have declared Bar Kokhba the messianic king. The relevant talmudic and midrashic sources "offer no historical references" (p. 16) for this tradition, but, interestingly, they also refer to R. Yohanan ben Torta, an admittedly little-known contemporary sage, as having fIrmly rejected R. Akiba's assertion. Even more suggestive is the midrashic passage which reports that R. Judah Ha-Nasi strongly contradicted Akiba's messianic exposition ofNumbers 24:17 ("a star shall step forth from Jacob") as an allusion to Bar Kokhba, or rather, "Koziva," as he Book Reviews 177 was generally known. For the Patriarph R. Judah, whom Marks identifies with the "moderate" sages who sought accommodation with the Romans, "Koziva" was not the I messianic "star" but rather a "liar" (lwzav). In any event, there is no indication here that Bar Kokhba himselfmade any messiariic claim. I The one encounter reported in the Talmud, in which he ostensibly declared his messiahship before the rabbis, in "its p!esent form seems to be late" (p. 21), as Marks quite convincingly observes. Indeed, intended to exemplify a biblical exposition for the I meth04 ofverifying a messianic claim :which was first enunciated by a fourth-century I sage, it inspires far less confidence about the state of messianic speculation in Bar I Kokhba's time than the story concerning Akiba. These problems aside, Marks elic~ts "the political implications" (p. 45) from the rabbinic accounts. The failed rebellio~ encouraged "military and political quietism," failure itself, despite Bar Kokhba's great military gifts, having resulted from the presumptuousness of human heroism. Divine redemption and restoration would come when the generation was spiritually wohhy. Nevertheless, the "moderation" and "quiet I resignation" which modem scholarS point to in the post-rebellion period were accompanied by what Marks aptly desdribes as the building of "public institutions and political relationships needed to ensute the community's survival until the Messiah arrived" (p. 48). I Messianism as associated with Barl Kokhba takes an interesting tum in Ibn Daud's historical work, notably his Sefer Ha-Qabbalah and in Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. Both posited a more naturalistic conce~tion ofBar Kokhba, whose military and political rather than miraculous feats led to ~ "tentative" messianic legitimacy which had "justified rabbinic support" (p. 57), at lbast until the disaster...