Early Judaism Messianic Claimants/Messianic Expectations...

A messiah is a rather ambiguous term. It mainly means an anointed one; usually a messiah is considered to be a son of David and would reestablish Israel to what it once was. Because messiahs are anointed ones they would typically be Jewish priests, prophets and kings. However, a Messiah can also be a warrior, or a man of peace. (CITE) A messiah was to reestablish unity among the Jewish people and navigate through the hardships and oppression that they went through during early Judaism and bring a sense of freedom and relief. An array of messianic claimants came forth during the two peaks of Jewish rebellion, the death of King Herod the Great and the first Jewish war against the Romans. The first search for a messiah started in the sixth†¦show more content†¦At this point the Jews believed a messiah would restore their unity and take away the Roman state of oppression. Among the different sects, each one had a different messianic expectation or none at all, the aristocratic Sadducees held no messianic expectations because they worried that a messianic claimant would instigate friction with the Romans, therefor ridding the Sadducees of their lifestyle. The Essenes predicted the coming of two messiahs, a priestly messiah and a Davidic King messiah. Many of the leaders that appeared as messianic claimants came forth with numerous and creative solutions to free the Jewish people from their social, political, and religious suffering. While some of these leaders revolted for an immediate change, others rebelled just to fulfill their given or claimed messianic role. Flavius Josephus is the main source of information for messianic claimants, although he wrote to defend Judaism, he is somewhat bias as a source of information because he is closer tied to Romans and Hellenization than he is Judaism. Josephus was born into a Sadducee family with close aristocratic roots and it is noted that he was extremely