The Kitos War
War and Rumor of War
Our Master warned His disciples about a series of coming signs, which He referred to as the beginning of labor pains. He said, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs" (Matthew 24:7-8). He warned His disciples that, as the birth pains intensified, "They will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name" (Matthew 24:9).
These things came to pass during the days of the apostles, but in the early second century, Yeshua's words found new fulfillments. Nation rose against nation and kingdom against kingdom as the great Roman Empire of the West went to war with its arch-rival, the Parthian Empire, the kings of the east. The whole world watched spellbound in fascination as the vast armies of Rome mobilized and converged to fight a great world war. Also during those days, a massive earthquake rocked the seat of Roman power in Syria, and a fresh Jewish revolt triggered a great tribulation that decimated Jewish population centers in the Diaspora.
The conflict started in the sixteenth year of Trajan's reign (II3 CE) when the Parthians appointed a new puppet king over Armenia in clear violation of existing treaties with Rome. The nation of Armenia provided a buffer between the two empires. Trajan chose to respond with military action.
As Trajan's legions advanced toward Armenia, the new Armenian king sued for peace. Trajan did not accept the offer. While Trajan conducted his military campaigns in Armenia and Parthia, he moved the seat of his government to the city of Syrian Antioch. The imperial army, navy, and legions operated out of Antioch, and the city already had the reputation as the Roman capital of the east. When Trajan brought his court there, Antioch became the new imperial city.
During those days of war and political intrigue, the Christians of Antioch came to the emperor's attention. Trajan ordered arrests and persecutions. He arrested Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, convicted him of Christianity, and sent him to Rome under heavy escort, doomed to die in the arena.
That same year (II4 CE), Trajan's forces marched on Armenia, deposed the king, and annexed the country to Rome as a new province. The following year, Trajan set out from Antioch again. This time, he brought his forces to Osroene and its capital city of Edessa and secured the loyalty of King Abgarus. Abgarus was a descendant of King Abgar the Black, whom the Apostle Thaddaeus had healed and brought to faith.
From Osroene, Trajan sent his forces into Adiabene and took the capital city of Nisibis, where King Izates and his mother Queen Helena had once ruled.
Both the kingdoms of Osroene and Adiabene had large Jewish populations and significant numbers of believers. Thaddeus, Bartholomew, Mar Mari, and other apostles had labored in those kingdoms and planted the gospel in that soil.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Diaspora Revolt: North Africa
The tragedies of the Jews increased, and they underwent a constant succession of evils. In the eighteenth year of Trajan's reign (115 CE), there was another disturbance of the Jews, through which a great multitude of them perished. In Alexandria and in the rest of Egypt, and especially in Cyrene, as if driven by some terrible and seditious spirit, they rushed into rioting against their fellow-citizens, the Greeks. In the first attack it happened that they were victorious over the Greeks. The Greeks fled to Alexandria and imprisoned and slew the Jews that were in the city. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.2.I-3)
In 115 CE, Jewish communities in Cyrene, Alexandria, Judea, Cyprus, and perhaps Syria revolted against the Roman Empire and took up arms against their non-Jewish neighbors. In the ensuing years, the revolution spread into Trajan's recently acquired provinces in Mesopotamia and Parthia. Jewish sources refer to it as the "Kitos War" and the "The Revolt of the Diaspora."
While Trajan made war with Parthia, some spark ignited another Jewish revolt. It might have been a Roman massacre of a Jewish population in the Diaspora; it might have begun as a tax revolt under the oppressive Fiscus Judaicus. The Jewish revolutionaries in Cyrene probably carried out a massacre of the local Greek and Roman population. Refugees from Libya fled to Alexandria, Egypt.
Alexandria was the second-largest city in the Roman Empire, and it had the largest Jewish population in the whole Diaspora. Two of the city's five quarters were Jewish; synagogues stood in every part of the city.
Alexandria was an important city for believers in Yeshua, too. The assembly in Alexandria had influence and prestige commensurate with the status of the city. The traveling evangelist and teacher Apollos had come from that community. According to tradition, John Mark, the disciple of Peter, served the kingdom in Alexandria and left behind a copy of his gospel for that assembly. In the eighth year of Nero (62 CE), a Jewish believer named Annianus (Chananiah) became bishop and presided over the assembly in Alexandria for twenty-two years. Subsequent bishops may have been Jewish as well, at least until the bishopric transferred to a man named Primus, "the fourth in succession from the apostles," during the era of Trajan.
In those days, a Roman governor named Lupus (i.e., Wolf) administered the city. When the Jewish riots began, he employed the Roman legion under his command to suppress the uprising. As Greek and Roman refugees from Cyrene began to arrive with stories of the massacres in Libya, the citizens of Alexandria were outraged and fearful. Rather than wait for the Jews of Alexandria to organize against them, the citizens of Alexandria decided to strike first.
Anti-Semitism exerted a powerful influence in Alexandria. The Alexandrians had a long-standing feud against the Jews in their city. The Greeks and Romans of the city emptied the large Jewish quarters, putting everyone to death or taking them into slavery. Survivors and refugees fled for their lives. Jewish believers and God-fearing Gentile believers who were too closely associated with Jewish practices must have vanished along with the rest of the Jews of Alexandria. The Talmud says that the Romans "killed sixty myriads on sixty myriads in Alexandria, twice as many as went forth from Egypt."
After the purges in Alexandria, scarcely any Jews remained in the city. From then on, the large and influential assembly of Yeshua in the city of Alexandria lost all connection with its Jewish origins. Under the climate of open hatred against Jews and the general populace's revulsion for all things Jewish, the Alexandrian Gentile assembly of Yeshua could survive only by renouncing its Jewish origins and any telltale Jewish practices that might have identified those Christians with the hated name of Israel.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Kipros
The Jewish revolution also erupted in the large Jewish communities on Cyprus. Seventy years earlier, the Apostles Paul and Barnabas brought the gospel from Antioch to the island of Cyprus. Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew himself. The apostles testified for Yeshua in the Jewish quarters of Cypriot cities and established communities for the Master. They even introduced the proconsul over Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, to faith in the Master. In later years, Barnabas and John Mark returned to Cyprus several times to nurture the assemblies of Yeshua.
When news about the revolution in Cyrene reached Cyprus, the Cypriot Jews joined the revolution and turned against the Gentiles of the island. The citizens of Cyprus retaliated by putting all the Jews on the island to death. They spared none. They went one step further and made a permanent ban against Jews. Cassius Dio says, "For this reason no Jew may set foot on that island, but even if a Jew is shipwrecked and driven onto its shores by a storm he is put to death."
The anti-Jewish legislation on Cyprus forced the surviving believers in that place to distance themselves from Jewish associations. The Christians best adapted for survival in this process of natural selection were those who had the least in common with Jews.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Time of Travail
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:7)
As the Jewish uprising ignited across the empire, Trajan settled into Syrian Antioch to wait out the winter before continuing his campaigns against Parthia. During the night of December 13, 115 CE, a terrible earthquake suddenly leveled the city of Antioch. Many other cities in the vicinity suffered damage as well. The earthquake destroyed Apamea and badly shook Beirut. It triggered a tidal wave that damaged harbors on the Mediterranean's eastern seaboard, including Caesarea and Yavneh. Our Master warned His disciples, "[There will be] dismay among nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves" (Luke 21:25). The tidal waves that swept ashore after that quake dismayed and perplexed many.
The quake devastated the enormous metropolis of Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman Empire and the second largest Jewish population in the whole Diaspora. Cassius Dio describes the earthquake as follows:
First, there suddenly came a great bellowing roar, immediately followed by a tremendous shaking. The whole earth heaved. Buildings leapt into the air. Some rose up only to collapse and break in pieces, while others swayed this way and that way as if bobbing in the surging sea before overturning. The debris spread out widely, even into the open country. The crashing and grinding of snapping timbers, crumbling tiles, and toppling stones made a terrifying sound. An indescribable amount of dust filled the air, making it impossible for anyone to see anything or to speak or hear a word. Even people who were outside the houses were injured, snatched up and tossed violently about and then dashed to the earth as if falling from a cliff. Some were maimed and others were killed. In some cases, whole trees, roots and all, leapt into the air and fell. The number of those who were trapped in the houses and perishing was beyond reckoning. Multitudes died under the falling debris, and great numbers suffocated in the ruins. Those who lay with a part of their body trapped under the stones or timbers suffered terribly, no longer able to live nor to find a quick death. (Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.24)
Cassius Dio describes further carnage and chaos: people vomiting blood, victims losing limbs, people trapped for days, and piles of corpses pinned beneath the rubble. The aftershocks continued for several days. Starvation descended on the survivors, and those who survived wished that they had not. (Compare the damage in Antakya from the February 6, 2023, quake in Turkey.)
Trajan survived the calamity with only a few injuries. When the earthquake started in the middle of the night, he leapt out through a window of the palace in which he was staying. The earthquake must have damaged the Roman military that kept bases and garrisons at Antioch and docked its fleet at Seleucia.
Neither the disaster in Antioch nor rumors of a Jewish uprising could dissuade Trajan from pursuing his ambitions against Parthia. That spring, his armies set out again. They crossed the Tigris and took the rest of Adiabene and Babylon. Trajan divided the new territories into Roman provinces under the ancient territorial names of Assyria and Babylon.
Meanwhile, news about the Jewish Revolt in Libya and Egypt reached the emperor. The Jewish revolutionaries shook the world with their unexpected successes in Africa. Determined to strike the Roman Empire at the heart, they attacked the trade routes and harbors that facilitated the critical flow of grain to Rome. They burned fields and set granaries on fire. They hoped to starve Italy while the emperor and the army were preoccupied with making war against Parthia.
Trajan was just about to push his advance into Parthian territory. He had no forces to spare, but the Jewish revolutionaries left him no choice. The Egyptian grain supply took precedence over everything. Trajan sent the elite Roman fleet Classis Misenensis to put down the revolution in Africa. He also dispatched legions of footmen and cavalry to sweep through Judea and into Africa.
Fierce fighting ensued. The Romans secured Libya and the grain supply only after long, difficult battles. They punished all the Jews of Africa with genocide. Believers in Libya and North Africa found themselves in a position where the best strategy for survival involved a complete repudiation of all things that might associate them with Judaism and the Jewish people.
When Trajan's war against Parthia suffered losses, he blamed the Jews and their revolt.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Mesopotamia
The emperor was afraid that the Jews in Mesopotamia would also make an attack upon the inhabitants of that country. He commanded Lucius Quintus (Lusius Quietus) to clear them from the province. Quintus marched against them and slew a great multitude of those that dwelt there. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.2.5)
With the whole empire in turmoil behind him, Trajan should have halted his war against Parthia on the Parthian border, but he could not resist pressing in further while he had a strategic advantage. He sailed his fleet down the Euphrates, hauled the ships overland on carts, and dropped them into the Tigris to capture Seleucia and the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. The Parthians melted away before him.
He continued marching his legions through Mesopotamia. Kings and kingdoms fell prostrate before the advancing Roman army.
Trajan arrived at the Persian Gulf. He compared himself to Alexander the Great. No emperor before him had accomplished such an astonishing series of victories and expansions. He sent captives and trophies back to Rome.
Meanwhile, the Jewish Revolt continued to burn.
The flame of revolt spread into the newly conquered territories. Jews in Armenia, Osroene, Adiabene, Babylon, and Mesopotamia revolted against the Roman invaders. The conquered peoples and the Parthians joined them. By the end of 116 CE, Trajan realized that he had to execute a tactical retreat to retain what he could of his new provinces. His rapid over-expansion had stretched his forces thin. The revolutionaries cut off his escape route.
Trajan blamed the Jews for his losses. He instructed his general Lusius Quietus to put down the Jewish Revolt by crushing the Jews in all the conquered territories and clearing the new provinces of all Jewish inhabitants. Quietus carried out his orders with ruthless efficiency.
He recovered Nisibis, and he burned Edessa. He used genocidal purges to put to death the Jews in those places. Uncounted thousands died. A whole portion of the Diaspora vanished. Rome's decisive anti-Jewish actions must have impacted the surviving believers in that important cradle of Eastern Christianity.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Hadrian and Yerushalayim
Early in 117 CE, Trajan became ill and decided to sail back to Rome. He never completed the voyage. He died on August 9, I17 CE. His wife announced that, before he died, he had named the legate Publius Aelius Hadrianus as heir and next emperor. The Roman Senate endorsed the appointment.
Hadrian managed the affairs of the empire well. His first order of business was to settle the conflict with Parthia. He accomplished that by surrendering the Mesopotamian territories Trajan had conquered. He also settled the Jewish Revolt. According to Jewish sources, he worked closely with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah (the disciple of Yochanan ben Zakkai and colleague of Eliezer ben Hyrcanus). Ever since the death of Rabban Gamliel, the elderly Rabbi Yehoshua had become the default leader of the Jewish world.
Rabbinic literature contains numerous anecdotes about interactions between Rabbi Yehoshua and Emperor Hadrian. The inquisitive emperor was curious about other cultures, religions, and ideas. He consulted Rabbi Yehoshua concerning a variety of topics to learn about Jews and Judaism. Rabbi Yehoshua accompanied Hadrian on some of his travels, and he even had conversations with the emperor's daughter.
The affable relationship between Rabbi Yehoshua and the most powerful man in the world must have begun shortly after Hadrian took power. Apparently, Hadrian asked the wise rabbi how to pacify the Jews. If so, Rabbi Yehoshua would have responded without hesitation: "Allow us to rebuild our Holy Temple and the city of Jerusalem." Hadrian agreed at once.
The offer to rebuild the Temple apparently had the desired effect. The Jewish revolution came to an abrupt ending. When the Jewish world heard the news about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, they celebrated and began to make preparations. It seemed as if the nightmare of exile was passing. Just as the Babylonian exile had concluded after less than seventy years, the Roman exile was almost over. The highway from Antioch to Akko flowed with Jews who wanted to return to the land and participate in the rebuilding of the Temple. Refugees from the war-torn Diaspora communities made their way back to the Holy Land in anticipation of a new beginning.
Scholars believe that the apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas dates from that era because the epistle makes reference to immediate plans for the rebuilding of the Temple under the Romans:
It is written, "Behold, they who have cast down this temple, even they shall build it up again." It has so happened. For through their going to war, it was destroyed by their enemies [i.e., the Romans]; and now: they [i.e., the Jews], as the servants of their enemies, shall rebuild it. (Epistle of Barnabas 16:3-4)
This passage, especially when read in context, reveals that second-century Gentile Christians were not at all enthusiastic about the idea of the Temple being restored. The author of Barnabas compares the Temple to pagan idolatry, and he misapplies several passages from the Bible to condemn the Temple and the sacrifices.
The Jewish believers still living in Perea and Judea under the leadership of their bishop, Judas called Justus, also longed for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. They were the first to re-establish a Jewish presence in Jerusalem in anticipation of that rebuilding. Nevertheless, they must have been leery about a Roman initiative to rebuild the Temple. They anticipated no rebuilding of the Temple until Yeshua Himself arrived to carry out the task, as He had predicted: "Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19).
Hadrian assured the Jewish people that, just as soon as he had time, he would visit Judea and make plans for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but he insisted that the project should be conducted only under his supervision. He loved to travel and initiate building projects in the places he toured. The imperial court followed him from place to place. A large retinue of architects and builders followed in his wake. Everywhere he went, he issued funding and instructions for the construction of new infrastructure and public buildings.
The Jewish people held on to hope and waited thirteen years while Hadrian made his rounds through the empire. He traveled to Britannia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Finally, in 129 CE, while on his way to seek medical treatment in Egypt, the emperor stopped in Judea.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Hadrian and the Temple
When leprosy appeared on Hadrian's body, he summoned the whole multitude of the physicians under his dominion and demanded healing for his body. After they had labored much and tried many remedies, all to no avail, he scorned them. He wrote an abusive letter concerning them, criticizing their practice as devoid of knowledge. The illness compelled him to undertake a journey to the land of Egypt. On his way there, he visited other places in order to inspect them for the Romans, for he was a man who loved to see places. So he passed through the city of Antioch and passed through Syria and Phoenicia and came to Palestine-which is also called Judea ... after the destruction of Jerusalem. Then he went up to Jerusalem, the famous and illustrious city which Titus, the son of Vespasian, overthrew in the second year of his reign. (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 14)
According to Epiphanius, who apparently obtained the story from earlier sources, Hadrian's original visit to Judea came as the result of a medical condition. Epiphanius says that, in the twelfth year of his reign (128 CE), Hadrian developed some type of skin condition. When his physicians could not cure it, he decided to set out for Egypt to see if the physicians there might help him. He went overland from Asia Minor, traveling to Antioch (fourteen years after the earthquake), and then south toward Egypt along the eastern seaboard. Since Judea was in his path, he visited the ruins of Jerusalem.
Hadrian inspected the garrison of the Tenth Legion and observed the ruins of the holy city. He admired the fine Herodian towers that still stood on the Western Hill, and he tried to visualize how grand the city must have been before its fall.
Standing like abandoned huts among the ruins, he saw the seven synagogues, a small handful of houses, and the Synagogue of the Apostles:
He found the temple of God trodden down and the whole city was devastated save for a few houses and the church of God, which was small, where the disciples, when they had returned after the Savior had ascended from the Mount of Olives, went to the upper room. For there it had been built, that is, in that portion of Zion which escaped destruction, together with blocks of houses in the neighborhood of Zion and the seven synagogues which alone remained standing in Zion, like solitary huts. (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 14)
The people showed him the Holy Temple Mount, where they hoped to see the Temple soon standing again in keeping with the emperor's promise. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah was probably with the emperor as he surveyed the Temple Mount. The Jewish believers in the New Zion community might have also brought him to see the empty tomb of the Master. Both locations became significant in the rebuilding.
Hadrian tried to imagine what the field of rubble that was once Jerusalem could look like once the city was rebuilt. He began to dream about rebuilding and dedicating the city to himself. He would rename it Aelia Capitolina, named after himself, Aelius Hadrian, and make it even more splendid than it was before.
According to the Midrash Rabbah, some wicked Samaritans came to him privately and said, "Let it be known to the emperor that if this rebellious city is rebuilt and the walls are established, the Jews will no longer pay levies on agricultural land, they will no longer pay the annual Jewish tax, nor will they pay the ten percent tithe on produce and livestock" (Genesis Rabbah 64:10. Cf. Ezra 4:12-13). The long-standing feud between the Jewish community and the Samaritan community, particularly the debate about the proper place for the Temple, lends the story some credibility. The Samaritans did have a good point. The Romans had been collecting taxes and tithes from the Jews that were once paid to the Temple ever since Titus destroyed Jerusalem. If Rome allowed the Jews to rebuild their Sanctuary, the Jews would seek to redirect those tax revenues to the Temple.
Hadrian replied to the Samaritans, "What can we do, for I have already decreed that the Temple will be rebuilt." The Samaritans replied, "Send the Jews an order and tell them that they must move the Temple from its original location. Then they will withdraw from the agreement."
Before he left the city, Hadrian announced that he would rebuild the city as a Roman city, but he had no intention of rebuilding the Jewish Temple unless it could be rebuilt according to his new design specifications and in the precise location he designated. These demands created an insurmountable obstacle for the Jews. The location of the Temple cannot be moved.
At that time, a large multitude of Jews had gathered in the Galilee. They expected to receive word that the emperor had endorsed the building project and that they could begin the rebuilding of the Temple. They rallied in the valley of Beit Rimon, waiting for the happy announcement. They planned on hurrying to Jerusalem to begin the rebuilding as soon as they received Caesar's permission.
When the emperor's written directives finally arrived, the people began to weep and lament. Some called for a revolt. The sages sent Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah to address the people and avert war. Rabbi Yehoshua stood up and made the following parable:
A lion once made a kill and a bone became lodged in the lion's throat. The lion said, "Anyone who comes and removes the bone from my throat will receive a reward for his service to me." An Egyptian heron, with a long beak, came and inserted his beak into the lion's mouth and removed the bone. Then the bird said, "Now give me my reward." The lion replied, "Let this be your reward. Now you can go and brag that you entered the mouth of the lion in peace and departed in peace." Similarly, it is sufficient for us that we entered into an agreement with this nation in peace and that we emerged from the agreement in peace. (Genesis Rabbah 64:10)
With these words and other warnings against revolution, Rabbi Yehoshua sent the crowds away.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Akilas of Pontos
Hadrian took Aquila, ... who served Hadrian as an interpreter since Hadrian also was a Greek. Now Aquila was related to the king by marriage and was from Sinope in Pontus. And he assigned him to oversee the work of building the city in Jerusalem. And he gave to the city that was being built his own name and the appellation of the royal title. For as he was named Aelius Hadrian, so he also named the city "Aelia" after himself. (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures I4)
A man from Sinope named Aquila traveled in the emperor's entourage as a member of his court and household. Aquila served as an administrator and translator. He was related to the emperor. According to Epiphanius, he was married to someone in Hadrian's family. According to Jewish sources, he was the son of Hadrian's sister (Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 5; b.Gittin 56b). Aquila had a talent with languages, and he could fluently translate between Aramaic and Greek. He was also trained in astrology and other arcane matters. He had a keen interest in the unseen world and the supernatural.
When Hadrian decided to rebuild Jerusalem, he departed for Egypt. He left Aquila behind in Jerusalem with a team of architects and planners. He placed Aquila in charge of the construction project. Hadrian explained that he wanted the new city to bear the name Aelia Capitolina, named after himself, Aelius Hadrian. The emperor made Aquila responsible for overseeing the plans and designs of a small army of architects and build-ers. He was also responsible for coordinating and working with the local, Aramaic-speaking labor force.
Aquila began to collect laborers and make local connections. That brought him into direct contact with the Jewish believers in Jerusalem.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Akilas the Believer
While he was in Jerusalem, Aquila also saw the disciples of the disciples of the apostles flourishing in the faith and working great signs, healings, and other miracles. For they were such as had come back from the city of Pella to Jerusalem and were living there and teaching. For when the city was about to be taken and destroyed by the Romans, it was revealed in advance to all the disciples by an angel of God that they should remove from the city, as it was going to be completely destroyed. They sojourned as emigrants in Pella (the city mentioned above) in Transjordania. And this city is said to be of the Decapolis. But after the destruction of Jerusalem, when they had returned to Jerusalem, as I have said, they wrought great signs, as I have already said. So Aquila, after he had been strongly stirred in mind, believed in Christianity, and after a while, when he asked, he received the seal in Christ (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 15)
Working in the ruins of Jerusalem as the administrator over its reconstruction, Aquila had the opportunity to meet the local population of the New Zion community. The believers in Yeshua impressed him. Their warmth, integrity, and simple faith inspired him. Even more intriguing, he found that they had a reputation as powerful healers. He was a superstitious man interested in the supernatural, so he investigated the stories. He discovered that a legacy of signs, healings, and other miracles surrounded the community of believers. He saw some inexplicable things with his own eyes, and he could not deny the evidence.
His language skills allowed him to ask questions and learn directly from men like the bishop of the assembly, Judas Justus. Aquila quickly developed a hunger for the Jewish Scriptures, and he fell in love with them. Not content to read them in Greek or the Aramaic Targums, Aquila asked for help learning Hebrew. The Jewish believers in the New Zion community gladly tutored him.
He became convinced of the truths of Torah and faith in Yeshua. He renounced the gods and idols. He believed in the God of Israel and in His Son Yeshua, but he was afraid of how his uncle, Hadrian, might react.
Aquila went to meet the emperor and give him a report on the preparations at Jerusalem. Then he told the emperor, "I wish to engage in some commercial enterprise in the land."
Hadrian replied, "Are you lacking silver or gold? My treasuries are open to you!"
Aquila insisted, "I want to do some business so I will have opportunities to travel and learn about the beliefs of other peoples. I only need your advice on how to proceed." Hadrian gave Aquila some business advice-buy low and sell high: "Here is how to do business. If you see any merchandise which is undervalued, go and purchase it, for it will eventually rise in value and you will profit" (Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 5).
Aquila returned to Jerusalem and purchased the merchandise he had in mind: He went to the believers and asked if they would immerse him for the name of Yeshua. They agreed to do so. So it was that the man in charge of building Aelia Capitolina became a disciple of the Master.
Aquila immersed into the name of Yeshua. The believers in the New Zion community did not ask him to receive circumcision. They accepted him as a God-fearing Gentile disciple and continued to tutor him in the ways of the Master and the things of the Torah.
Aquila applied himself diligently to Torah study.
The rabbis noticed that his appearance was changing. They said to each other, "Aquila must be studying Torah." They came to him and began discussing matters of Torah with him (Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 5).
Meanwhile, Hadrian received word that his nephew was studying with the Jews. He sent him a message, inquiring, "Why do you hanker after this people? See how we have degraded them and how many of them we have slain. Do you really wish to ally yourself to the lowliest of peoples? What do you see in them?" (Exodus Rabbah 30:12).
Aquila replied, "You told me, 'If you see any merchandise which is under-valued, go and purchase it, for it will eventually rise in value? Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, to the despised One, to the One abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers, 'Kings will see and arise, princes will also bow down, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You"" (Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 5, quoting Isaiah 49:7, a messianic prophecy about the Servant of the LORD). In other words, Aquila considered the despised and rejected Servant of the LORD (i.e., Israel and/or the Messiah) a highly undervalued commodity with a guaranteed high return in the future. He chose to invest in the Servant of the LORD. Aquila explained further, "The least among the Jews knows how God created the world and what was created on the first and second day, and how long it is since the world was created and on what the world is founded. Moreover, their Law is one of truth."
Hadrian sent a reply: "Go and study their Law then, but do not become circumcised" (Exodus Rabbah 30:12).
Perhaps it was the situation with his nephew Aquila that triggered Hadrian's decision to enact a law against circumcision. Many years earlier, the Emperor Domitian had enacted a law against castrating men to make eunuchs— a common practice in the ancient world. Hadrian reinterpreted and expanded that existing law to also forbid circumcision. Thus, in his reign, both castration and circumcision were capital offenses.
The prohibition on accepting circumcision did not trouble Aquila. In accordance with Paul's teachings, the believers in the New Zion community did not require it of him. They accepted him as a member of the assembly and an heir of the kingdom by virtue of his faith in Yeshua and his immersion for the Master's name.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Akilas Among the Sages
Aquila's high-profile conversion to Messianic Judaism caught the attention of the sages. Not only was Aquila a member of Caesar's family, but he was also the general contractor in charge of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. They could not help but feel jealous and threatened. The implications were enormous. Aquila might convince Hadrian to turn the Temple Mount over to the authority of the sectarians. The new Temple, if it were ever rebuilt, might fall under the control of the believers in Yeshua. So long as he was a believer, Aquila was certain to place believers in prominent positions over the administration of the new Jerusalem.
The sages began to court Aquila. They taught him Torah and encouraged him to renounce the teachings of the believers. They encouraged him to convert and accept circumcision as a proselyte.
Aquila felt the magnetic pull of acceptance and approval within the larger Jewish community. The matter troubled him. He knew that, to be accepted as a Jew by the sages outside of the Messianic community, he needed to renounce Yeshua publicly and renounce His name. He also needed to disobey the emperor and become circumcised. Was it worthwhile to become Jewish? On one occasion, Aquila sought out the advice of the venerable Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. He asked the rabbi, "If the commandment of circumcision is so important, why didn't the Holy One, blessed be He, include it in the ten commandments?" (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 20).
Aquila further asked, "What advantage is conversion? What advantage does a man derive if he becomes a proselyte? The Torah says that the Almighty 'shows His love for the [proselyte] by giving him bread and clothing, but I have plenty of both already (Deuteronomy 10:18)."
Rabbi Eliezer replied with his sharp temper, "Is that such a small matter in your eyes? Our father Jacob prostrated himself in prayer and asked for nothing more than bread and clothing. Now comes this man and turns up his nose!"
When Rabbi Yehoshua heard about this conversation, he said to Aquila, "It means more than just physical food and clothing. 'Bread' alludes to Torah, as it says [in Proverbs 9:5], 'Come, eat of my bread? 'Clothing' refers to the cloak (i.e., the tallit with the four tassels on the fringes). Moreover, the proselytes can marry their daughters into the priesthood, and their children's children will offer burnt offerings upon the altar. Therefore, 'bread' refers to the bread of the Presence and 'clothing' refers to the robes of high priesthood" (Numbers Rabbah 8:9).
Rabbi Akiva, who had become a famous master of Torah study, also began to try to influence Aquila. Akiva had developed his own unique methods of exegesis based on deriving a hermeneutical meaning from every jot and tittle of the Torah. He had hundreds of students and broad prestige among the Jewish people. The church father Jerome says that, according to Jewish tradition, Akiva became Aquila's tutor.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Akilas the Astronomer
In accordance with his former habits, while he still thought like a pagan, he had been thoroughly trained in vain astronomy. Even after he became a Christian, he never departed from this fault of his. Every day he made calculations about the horoscope of his birth. The teachers reproved him and rebuked him for this every day, but their reproofs did not accomplish anything. Instead of accepting the rebuke, he argued with them boldly and tried to prove things that have no existence, such as notions about fate. Hence, as one who is proven useless and unable to be saved, they expelled him from the assembly. (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 15)
While the sages were working to draw Aquila away from the influence of the sectarians in Jerusalem, the bishop Justus/Judas and the other Messianic Jewish teachers in the New Zion community had some reservations about their high-profile convert. Despite repeated warnings, Aquila refused to give up his addiction to astrological readings of the stars and creating horoscopes for himself.
Like all Romans, Aquila believed that the stars and the motion of the planetary bodies predicted and determined the course of events. He believed that a person adept at reading the motion of the stars could predict propitious days, avoid unlucky ones, and accurately determine the future. He made calculations every day to determine his daily horoscope.
Judaism frowned on astrology: "Torah does not go together with the art that studies the skies" (Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:6). Nevertheless, Jewish opinion did permit the practice of astrology for Gentiles, even for God-fearing Gentiles. The sages taught that the motions of the planets and stars hold no influence over the nation of Israel, but they do indicate the fates of the Gentile nations. They based this interpretation on a passage in the Torah:
Beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. (Deuteronomy 4:19)
The passage warns Jews not to study the skies or worship them because God allotted them to the peoples. The sages reasoned that, since God had allotted the skies, sun, moon, stars, and host of heaven "to all the peoples under heaven," this meant that astrology was valid for all peoples except the Jews. Therefore, they had no objection to the idea of Gentiles using astrology.
If Aquila ever asked Rabbi Yehoshua or Rabbi Akiva about astrology, they would have told him that he was permitted to continue to practice it so long as he was a Gentile. The apostolic community, on the other hand, explicitly forbade God-fearing Gentile believers from engaging in astrology:
My child, do not be a diviner, because this leads to idolatry; nor be one who casts spells, nor one who studies astrology, nor one who performs purification rites. Do not even desire to see these things, for from all these things idolatry results. (Didache 3•4)
This discrepancy of opinion explains why Aquila refused to heed the warnings of his teachers and leaders in the believing community. He disagreed with their ruling, and he probably cited the rabbinic opinion that, as a Gentile, he was permitted to practice astrology. The believers would have countered that, as a disciple of Yeshua, he was no longer "merely" a Gentile, but had become an adjunct member of the nation of Israel and therefore prohibited from participation in all things contaminated by idolatry (Acts 15:20; cf. 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 John 5:21). Judas/Justus and the elders employed the Masters' protocol for rebuke and correction. They went to Aquila privately. They warned him repeatedly. When he refused to heed the warnings of two witnesses, they assembled the beit din, a court consisting of community elders and leaders. Judas/Justus probably presided. The court ordered Aquila to desist from astrological practices. When he refused to obey the authority of the court, they had no choice but to follow the Master's directives. They expelled him from the assembly:
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly; and if he refuses to listen even to the assembly, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. (Matthew 18:17-18)
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Akilas the Proselyte
As one who had become embittered in mind over how he had suffered dishonor, he was puffed up with vain jealousy, and having cursed Christianity and renounced his life, he became a proselyte and was circumcised as a Jew. (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 15)
Expulsion from the community is a measure intended to bring the expelled member to repentance. It did not work in this case. Aquila did not take the expulsion well. No one likes to be treated as a "tax collector" or a "Gentile," even if he is a Gentile. Aquila turned bitter toward the disciples of Yeshua.
He remembered how his friends among the rabbis had warned him about the sectarians. He fulfilled the Master's words, "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another" (Matthew 24:10).
In bitterness and resentment of heart, Aquila went to his teachers and told them about how the believers had mistreated him. He told them that he was ready to renounce Yeshua and all his learning as a believer if they would receive him as a proselyte. They gladly agreed to do so, so long as he agreed to abandon his messianic beliefs about Yeshua and demonstrate his sincerity by reviling the name of the Crucified One. Aquila blasphemed the Master and the believers, whom he referred to as "the sinners among Israel." When Hadrian heard that his nephew was now a Jew, he said to him, "You should have studied Torah without becoming circumcised."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Lost In Translation
Being painfully ambitious, he dedicated himself to learning the language of the Hebrews and their writings. After he had first been thoroughly trained for it, he made his translation. He was not moved by a pure motive but by the desire to distort certain of the words that occurred in the Septuagint translation so that he might proclaim the things testified to about Christ in the divine Scriptures to be fulfilled in some other way. He did this to justify himself because of the shame he felt. (Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures I5)
Aquila knew that Christians and Greek-speaking Jewish believers relied on the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and considered it almost as authoritative as the Hebrew. Since he was himself a linguist and a trained translator, he offered his services to the sages and proposed to create a new, Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. He made his translation under the supervision of Rabbi Akiva. He followed an extremely literal mode of translation and avoided translations that could lend themselves to a pro-Yeshua interpretation. The sages immediately endorsed the new translation and recommended it for Greek-speaking communities above the Septuagint.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Municipal Planning
Aquila's resentment for the believers in Yeshua may account for an unexpected feature of municipal planning. The city planners who designed Hadrian's city of Aelia Capitolina placed the Temple of Venus (Aphrodite) directly above Golgotha and the tomb of the Master, an obvious attempt to desecrate the venerated holy place. Aquila may have had a part in that decision.
Rabbi Akiva and the rest of the sages must have prevailed upon Aquila to beseech his uncle Hadrian for permission to rebuild the Temple in its proper location according to its proper design. They hoped that Aquila's influence might win Hadrian's favor, but they lost the gamble. Hadrian did not grant permission. Instead, he shocked them with the announcement of new plans for the Temple Mount. Since the Jews had rejected his offer to build their Temple for them, he had decided to build a different temple on the location.
When Titus first conquered the Temple Mount, he claimed it in the name of Jupiter (Zeus) and the gods of Rome. He celebrated his victory by bringing the idolatrous Roman standards to the Temple Mount and offering sacrifices to the gods of Rome before the Temple gates. From then on, the Tenth Legion kept a shrine to their gods, and particularly to Zeus, on the Temple Mount. Our Master had foreseen this. He predicted a day when "the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet" would stand "in the holy place" (Matthew 24:15).
In view of the presence of the Roman shrine on the Temple Mount, Hadrian decided that it would be inappropriate to rob Jupiter of his glory and return the holy place of Jerusalem to the defeated God of the Jews. Instead, he decided to adorn the acropolis of the city that would bear his name with a grand temple for Jupiter, the chief god of the Roman Pantheon. Aquila reported the emperor's decision to his teachers. The news stunned them and shocked the Jewish world. Aquila's teacher, Rabbi Akiva, went to the Zealots and revolutionaries and began to make plans to fight for the Temple Mount.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.