Sabbatai Zevi The false Messiah?

what do you think?

Sabbatai Zevi The false Messiah?

Christians today regard Jesus Christ as the Messiah (‘anointed one’) sent by God. But he is not the only man to have claimed that title and many men over the centuries have proclaimed that they are God’s true Messiah. Perhaps the most famous of all was the Jewish Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi.

1648 and the coming of the Messiah

Sabbatai was born in Smyrna in Turkey on 1 August 1626 —a significant Jewish holy date commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Sabbatai was named after the planet Saturn which, in Jewish tradition, was linked to the coming of the Messiah. In Europe at this time, the view that the coming of the Messiah was imminent was flourishing and, in particular, many believed the age-old prophecy that in 1648 the Messiah would come and Israel would be restored to God.

In that year, at the age of 22, Sabbatai declared to his followers in Smyrna that he was the Messiah sent from God. He performed bizarre rituals, claimed miraculous powers and began to challenge the old laws of Judaism and publically spoke the sacred words of the Tetragrammaton (the name of God), which only the high priest, as God’s representative on earth, was permitted to say. Sabbatai’s message of change and deliverance was well received by the ordinary people and he grew in popularity, much to the annoyance of the Jewish leaders who in 1654 banished him and his followers from Jerusalem. But his popularity flourished and in 1658 the famous preacher Abraham Yachini prophesied:

‘A son was born in 1626 and he is called Sabbatai…he is the true Messiah.’

Sabbatai claimed that God had visited him in a dream and told him to lead the Jews back to Israel and rebuild the great Temple in Jerusalem. He and his band of followers travelled through Salonika and into Egypt and befriended many wealthy patrons, including Raphael Joseph Halabi. Modern scholar Karen Armstrong wrote of Sabbatai in A History of God (1999):

‘…prophets wandered the streets describing visions in which they had seen him sitting upon a throne.’

Sabbatai hysteria ’

Returning to Jerusalem in 1663, Sabbatai continued to attract huge crowds of followers. In front of them, he frequently fasted and showed great piety and holiness, sang religious hymns all night and prayed and cried at the graves of the famous. He also married a girl named Sarah whom he claimed had been promised to him in a dream from God as the ‘bride of the Messiah’. Finally, in 1665 before vast crowds, Sabbatai publically declared that he was the long-awaited Messiah, promised by God. His name spread far and wide, even into Germany and the Netherlands, where ‘Sabbatai hysteria’ filled the land and many Jews from all over Europe prepared to return to Israel with their Messiah.

But, in 1666, Sabbatai was arrested in Constantinople by Sultan Medmed IV, who feared that he would overthrow him. As Sabbatai waited in prison, his followers continued their support — his name was written and chanted everywhere and songs were sung for him, day and night. Fearing conflict and bloodshed, the sultan decided to bring matters to a head by giving Sabbatai three choices: to die in a volley of arrows, to die by beheading, or to convert to Islam — as the sultan put it, ‘Your head or the Turban.’ Zevi stood before the sultan, cast off his Jewish garb and put a turban on his head — he had chosen Islam. His followers were devastated, despite the fact that Sabbatai claimed he had been filled by the Spirit of God and would convert all Muslims to Judaism. Few believed what he said — the self-proclaimed Messiah had lost his support. Sabbatai Zevi died in 1676, some say of hanging, others say by natural causes. Was he the Messiah? What do you think?