Christ Conspiracy_ The Greatest Story Ever Sold - Acharya S [198]
One fact has always astonished me. Through all the sacred books of primitive times of Egypt and the East, the old tradition of the Messiah had passed into the Hebrew law. How is it . . . that the Jews refused to recognize this Redeemer whom they expected so impatiently-and whom, even today, they still expect?30
The Jews were literally dying for a supernatural deliverer and-lo and behold-an astounding, divine incarnation came along, with all the scriptural requirements of the messiah and the requisite miracles to demonstrate that he had the full power of God behind him, yet the Jews (and all historians of the day) completely ignored him-nay, they put him to death! In fact, the world that followed Christ's alleged advent would have been impossible had he really existed at that time.
Of course, in order to be saved by a deliverer, one has to have enemies, and the zealous Jews had created them everywhere by being extremely sectarian, arrogant and bigoted. The Jews as a whole were the only group exempt from a Roman law that compelled all subjects to conform to some degree to the state religion and political system, and their extreme sectarianism made them an annoyance to the empire. As Larson says:
Philostratus, agreeing with classical writers generally, declares that "the Jews have long been in revolt not only against the Romans but against humanity"; and that they are "a race . . . apart and irreconcilable." This separation stemmed from, and then intensified, the Jewish faith. At least half a dozen times in three thousand years, their annihilation has been decreed ... It was experiences such as these which enabled the Hebrew genius to create a savior-cult which could defeat all others.31
Yet, the Jews were losing badly in their battle to maintain their separation, as they were being swallowed up by the Greek and Roman cultures, with their numerous cults and religions. In addition, many Jews disdained the oppressive Mosaic Law. These factors forced the priesthood to resort to its time-honored method of financing Zealots to re-establish its centralized religion. Larson describes the climate in Palestine during this time:
Palestine was filled with robbers, and no man's life was secure. Any wild-eyed seditionists could procure a following through extravagant promises. The activities of the Zealots were supplemented by those of the Sicarii, a secret society of assassins who mingled with the multitude in the crowded streets especially during feast and holy days, and struck down their victims with daggers.... Roman indignation was aroused since the Jews alone were rebellious.32
In order to accomplish their ends, Jews and other Israelites such as the Levitical priesthood, which had split into two main, competing sects, the Sadducees and Pharisees, financed and organized military operations. Some of these operations no doubt emanated out of the fortress at Qumran, financed by the Zadokites/Sadducees, whose wealthy compatriots had a stronghold at Alexandria. During this time, several violent, zealous "messiahs" such as Judas, Theudas the Egyptian, and others burst forth and attacked each other, Romans and wealthy Jews, until they were put down, with the result of the loss of much Jewish blood. After the First Revolt, famine struck, and mothers ate their children, even though the Romans had attempted to prevent these abysmal circumstances: "Again and again Titus offered generous terms for capitulation, which were scornfully rejected by men hourly awaiting the apocalyptic Messiah."33 Emperor Titus finally burned the temple and destroyed the city, during which time, Josephus claims, over a million Jews were killed or died from starvation, and hundreds of thousands more were enslaved. The two centuries around the beginning of the Common Era were, therefore, an utter disaster for the Jews. As Graham says: