by Nomad
History has all kinds of interesting lessons to teach us. Here is one I recently found.
The Saviors that Failed
The ancient concept of the Messiah, (mâšîah, "the anointed one") once figured prominently in the Jewish faith. In its basic form, the prophecies foretold of a divinely inspired leader who will save the world, or at least the nation of Israel.Scholars tell us the belief originated with the exiled Jews in Babylonia in sixth century BC. It was practically a mania six centuries later when Israel fell under Roman rule.
As the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth represented only one candidate. Many others appeared before and after the Christ and drew large followings. The majority of them were religion-obsessed lunatics or outright charlatans.
There was the "comely" slave of King Herod named Simon of Peraea who, in the confusion after Herod died, rushed in and put the crown on his head. His reign over the Jewish Kingdom didn't last long, less than a week. Yet, in that time, he burnt down the royal palace at Jericho and many other royal homes and plundered what he could. The moral of that tale is that it doesn't take long to make a mess of things under the "right" conditions.
All this zeal, bloodlust and rebellion was to lead to grim consequences. Four years later, in 70 AD, the Roman armies marched in and destroyed the Jewish kingdom, looting the great Temple and annihilating all resistance. Within 60 years, the Jews were scattered throughout the Empire. That diaspora lasted up until the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
About this period a great number of Jews who dwelt in Crete were converted to Christianity, through the following disastrous circumstance.
A certain Jewish impostor had the impudence to assert that he was Moses, and had been sent from heaven to lead out the Jews inhabiting that island, and conduct them through the sea. For he said that he was the same person that formerly preserved the Israelites by leading them through the Red Sea.
During a whole year there, therefore, perambulated the several cities of the island, and persuaded the Jews to trust in his assurances. He moreover bid them renounce their money and other property, pledging himself to guide them through a dry sea into the land of promise.
Deluded by such expectations, they neglected business of every kind, despising what they possessed, and permitting anyone who chose to take it. When the day appointed by this deceiver for their departure had arrived, he himself took the lead, and all following with their wives and children, they proceeded until they reached a cliff that overhung the sea, from which he ordered them to fling themselves headlong into it.
Those who came first to the precipice did so, and were immediately destroyed, part of them being dashed in pieces against the rocks, and part drowned in the waters. And more would have perished, had not some fishermen and merchants who were Christians providentially happened to be present. These persons drew out and saved some that were almost drowned, who then in their perilous situation became sensible of the madness of their conduct. The rest they hindered from casting themselves down, by telling them the fate of those who had taken the first leap.
When, at length, the Jews perceived how fearfully they had been duped, they blamed their own indiscreet credulity and sought to lay hold of the pseudo-Moses in order to put him to death.
But they were unable to seize them, for he suddenly disappeared, which induced a general belief that it was some malignant fiend, who had assumed a human form for the destruction of their nation in that place.
There is perhaps something in our DNA that longs for one person to solve all of our insoluble headaches, to be our voice and to quell our discontent. That's the only explanation for cults and their leaders. Dismissing their individual will and conscience, some people just prefer to be the sheep for the wolves of this world.
The story of the Moses of Crete is a reminder of the danger of blind obedience and following leaders that claim to be saviors with all the answers.
Upon the Cliffs of Crete
A historian of the early Christian Church, Socrates Scholasticus tells us about one such false savior who lived on the island of Crete around 40 AD.
About this period a great number of Jews who dwelt in Crete were converted to Christianity, through the following disastrous circumstance.
A certain Jewish impostor had the impudence to assert that he was Moses, and had been sent from heaven to lead out the Jews inhabiting that island, and conduct them through the sea. For he said that he was the same person that formerly preserved the Israelites by leading them through the Red Sea.
During a whole year there, therefore, perambulated the several cities of the island, and persuaded the Jews to trust in his assurances. He moreover bid them renounce their money and other property, pledging himself to guide them through a dry sea into the land of promise.
Deluded by such expectations, they neglected business of every kind, despising what they possessed, and permitting anyone who chose to take it. When the day appointed by this deceiver for their departure had arrived, he himself took the lead, and all following with their wives and children, they proceeded until they reached a cliff that overhung the sea, from which he ordered them to fling themselves headlong into it.
Those who came first to the precipice did so, and were immediately destroyed, part of them being dashed in pieces against the rocks, and part drowned in the waters. And more would have perished, had not some fishermen and merchants who were Christians providentially happened to be present. These persons drew out and saved some that were almost drowned, who then in their perilous situation became sensible of the madness of their conduct. The rest they hindered from casting themselves down, by telling them the fate of those who had taken the first leap.
When, at length, the Jews perceived how fearfully they had been duped, they blamed their own indiscreet credulity and sought to lay hold of the pseudo-Moses in order to put him to death.
But they were unable to seize them, for he suddenly disappeared, which induced a general belief that it was some malignant fiend, who had assumed a human form for the destruction of their nation in that place.
There is perhaps something in our DNA that longs for one person to solve all of our insoluble headaches, to be our voice and to quell our discontent. That's the only explanation for cults and their leaders. Dismissing their individual will and conscience, some people just prefer to be the sheep for the wolves of this world.
The story of the Moses of Crete is a reminder of the danger of blind obedience and following leaders that claim to be saviors with all the answers.