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00:00Here, a dream was born. A dream as old as this promised land. And here, the Bible says, the dream will become reality. Here, the Messiah will appear.
00:16According to some, when the Messiah comes, the whole order of nature will be different. The lion will lay down with the lamb. There will be universal peace.
00:25Why is a simple peasant from Galilee, who never publicly claims to be the Messiah, the one man much of the world reveres as the Messiah for 2,000 years?
00:39Why is his contemporary, once worshipped in great temples and shrines, now forgotten by history?
00:48In the ancient world, many were embraced as the Messiah, including the warrior hero, Bar Kokhba.
00:55How much of this Messiah's legend is confirmed by a grisly discovery in a remote desert cave?
01:01In the Middle Ages, a mystic named Shabtai Tzvi becomes the most widely acclaimed Messiah in Jewish history.
01:11How did a man believed by many to be demented achieve so great a following?
01:17And why was his name erased from Jewish history?
01:20For 3,000 years, the Jewish people endure to a great extent because of a promise.
01:26The promise of the Messiah.
01:29Is he man or myth?
01:32When will he arrive?
01:33And why, through all of history's disasters, has faith in the Messiah never wavered?
01:41These are but a few of the mysteries of the Bible.
01:45And why, God bless you?
01:52You have to repent.
01:58No seeds, but ever in temple love.
02:44In this book of mysteries, the most mysterious figure of all is a man without a name.
02:56Since the beginning, scholars have searched the Bible for clues to his identity and proof of his existence.
03:05Who is he? This man we call Messiah.
03:09In ancient Hebrew, Messiah is a simple word with one clear definition, the Anointed One.
03:18But somehow, through the centuries, Messiah has come to mean war, rebellion, persecution, and the unbridled hope of all humanity.
03:27It has very, very ancient origins in a ceremony, starting from the time of Moses,
03:36where Moses took a vial of oil and poured it over the head of his brother Aaron and anointed him a priest.
03:42The Lord said to Moses, Put on Aaron the sacred vestments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest.
03:57Exodus 40, 13
04:00Through an evolution shrouded in antiquity, the word Messiah gradually takes on new meaning and new promise.
04:13In the beginning, only priests were anointed.
04:18They are the chosen ones.
04:21But centuries after Aaron, Saul is anointed the first king of Israel.
04:27The people believe the king of Israel is chosen not by them, but by God himself.
04:32King Saul is succeeded by David, in accordance with a sign from God.
04:44To some, God's choice of David is beyond all understanding.
04:49Once a leader of a bandit tribe, he's a notorious adulterer and a self-confessed murderer.
04:57David, for all of his faults, was beloved of God.
05:00And so, it was David who was chosen to be the head of the line that would eventually bring the Messiah.
05:10The messianic vision is a vision that looks forward, but it also looks backward.
05:15Because it looks back to the time of King David as being the ideal time of Jewish history.
05:23In history and lore, David stands alone as the unrivaled hero of the Jewish people.
05:30In history and lore, David stands alone as the unrivaled hero of the Jewish people.
05:36An invincible warrior, he conquers the Philistines, unites his kingdom of Judah with Israel,
05:42and drives all enemies from the promised land.
05:45He creates a new capital in Jerusalem.
05:49And here, at approximately 1,000 before the common era, David is anointed king of the free and independent country he has founded,
06:03the nation of Israel.
06:05To his people, he becomes, for all time, the personification of the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior of Israel.
06:16For 40 years, King David rules over a powerful empire, which extends from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea,
06:31and eastward through the great desert.
06:33And now, God makes a promise to David.
06:46Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.
06:53Your throne shall be established forever.
06:56From this time on, by an edict of the Lord, the Messiah must be a descendant of the house of David.
07:13Israel and its people flourish under David, Solomon, Jeroboam, and the unbroken line which extends from David through 20 generations.
07:29And the village of Jerusalem grows and becomes a hub of earthly power.
07:34But it's more.
07:35It's also the spiritual center of Judaism.
07:38For here, Solomon has built the great temple for the Ark of the Covenant.
07:47For three centuries, Jerusalem is the sacred heart of the Jewish Empire.
07:58And then, the heart of a nation is broken.
08:08In 586 BCE, the Babylonians invade.
08:13The great temple is burned.
08:18Jerusalem is destroyed.
08:21The last king falls, and with him, the house of David.
08:24In the following centuries, the once invincible nation of God will be swallowed up by the worldly empires of the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Ottomans.
08:44Through the centuries, desperation and hope nourish the vision of a Messiah, of a king like David, who will lead the people to redemption and restore their nation.
09:00The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will cause a righteous branch to spring up from David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
09:19Jeremiah 33, 14
09:222,000 years ago, a penniless itinerant preaches a revolutionary gospel of love and self-sacrifice.
09:52The sick cluster around him, praying to be cured.
09:58According to his followers, he casts out demons, and he raises the dead.
10:03He is said to be the Son of God.
10:07His name is Apollonius of Tyana.
10:13Temples and shrines are erected to him all across Asia Minor, in Greece and Turkey.
10:18For over 300 years, Apollonius is worshipped as a savior.
10:26This is only one of the many mystery religions that grow up in ancient times.
10:31The worshippers of Dionysus and Orpheus believe in salvation and a savior God.
10:43The cult of Mithraism practices rites of baptism and communion.
10:48They believe in heaven and hell.
10:51They keep the Sabbath on Sunday, and celebrate their major holiday on December 25th.
10:56All these religions disappear forever and are forgotten.
11:03Only one survives.
11:08One will roll across a world not yet known, through nations still unborn.
11:20By the late 20th century, one-fourth of all the people on earth will call this man Messiah.
11:33There are other figures in the time of Jesus who apparently made messianic claims and attracted a certain following.
11:42The riddle of Christianity is intriguing and daunting enough for me to hesitate to say that some other movement could have done the same thing.
11:56I wish I knew for certain how Christianity pulled it off.
12:00In his own time, in his own nation, among his own people, Jesus is rejected by most as the Messiah.
12:13Jews traditionally believed that the Messiah would defeat the enemies of Israel,
12:18that the Messiah would bring world peace, that the Jewish people would be independent,
12:21that there would be prosperity.
12:22And they just looked around at these great prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel,
12:27and they just felt that these things hadn't happened.
12:30And if they hadn't happened, then Jesus couldn't be the Messiah.
12:36But for 2,000 years, people around the world celebrate prophecies they believe Jesus did fulfill from birth.
12:43His father, Joseph, is a simple peasant carpenter.
12:51But amazingly, he is a direct descendant of King David.
12:57Stranger still is the claim reported in the Bible
13:00that a Roman emperor's decree compels Joseph to journey to the village of his ancestors
13:05to register for a census.
13:07And so Jesus is born, the Bible tells us,
13:15not in Nazareth, but in Bethlehem,
13:18as the prophet had written eight centuries before.
13:27And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
13:31are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
13:34for from you shall come a ruler
13:38who is to shepherd my people, Israel.
13:42Micah 5, 2.
13:51And then Jesus vanishes from the Bible,
13:54almost completely.
13:57At about the age of 30, he suddenly reappears.
14:04And it came to pass in those days
14:08that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
14:11and was baptized by John in the River Jordan.
14:16Mark 1, 9.
14:24The incident in Jesus' life,
14:26which is most usually held up as the example
14:30or the instance of his anointing,
14:32is the time of his baptism
14:33by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
14:39Jesus is now, by historic definition,
14:41one of God's anointed ones,
14:43a Messiah.
14:45In ancient Greek,
14:46the word Messiah is Christos,
14:49Christ.
14:49Today, Christians refer to Jesus as Jesus Christ,
14:56almost as if Christ is his last name.
14:59But many of them realize it's actually a title.
15:02It's the Greek word for Messiah.
15:07Jesus wanders penniless and homeless.
15:09He ministers to outcasts,
15:14to the poor, the diseased,
15:17to beggars, thieves, and prostitutes.
15:22He has no political power,
15:24no royal title.
15:26And strangest of all,
15:27at a time of rampant messianic fervor,
15:30there is one subject
15:31he never mentions publicly.
15:33Jesus gives numerous parables.
15:40He gives many speeches.
15:42Why doesn't he ever speak about the Messiah?
15:46He never mentions the Messiah.
15:48The word never comes off his lips,
15:50as far as we know.
15:51Why?
15:52He admits it to a Samaritan woman at the well,
15:55and that's the one time
15:56in the Gospel of John
15:58where he publicly states it.
15:59The woman said to him,
16:04I know that the Messiah is coming,
16:07who is Christ.
16:09And when he comes,
16:10he will tell us all things.
16:13Jesus said to her,
16:15I who speak with thee,
16:17am he.
16:20John 4, 25
16:22For 2,000 years,
16:32biblical scholars have wrestled
16:33with the question,
16:35why did Jesus never proclaim himself
16:37the Messiah?
16:40It might represent his knowledge
16:43of the political situation.
16:45And one of the things you don't do
16:47in that context of the Roman Empire
16:49with Pontius Pilate,
16:51the procurator of Judea,
16:53is walk in Jerusalem and say,
16:55yeah, here I am,
16:56I'm the Messiah.
16:57That's the way you get killed
16:58the next day.
17:03According to all four Gospels,
17:05Jesus does enter Jerusalem
17:06a few days before his death,
17:08not on foot as usual,
17:10but riding on a donkey.
17:12In so doing,
17:17he fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah
17:19and gives rise to future speculation.
17:23Is his behavior part of a calculated plan
17:25to satisfy the Messianic prophecies?
17:32To my mind,
17:33many of these reflections
17:35of the prophecies
17:36of the Hebrew Scriptures,
17:38like riding on a donkey
17:39and other such things,
17:40are really the efforts
17:42of the New Testament writers
17:44to picture Jesus as Messiah
17:46because from their point of view,
17:48he's Messiah.
17:48This does not speak
17:49to what Jesus really did,
17:51what he really felt
17:51and believed about himself.
17:54I'm more of the opinion
17:55that the basic framework
17:58is historical,
17:59that Jesus indeed
18:00did make these strategic moves
18:03right at the end,
18:04purposely to bring about
18:06the confrontation
18:07with the forces of evil
18:09that he expected,
18:11trusting God for the outcome.
18:14But there is one
18:15centuries-old prophecy of Isaiah
18:17over which this man from Galilee
18:20has no control.
18:22He was wounded
18:23for our transgressions.
18:27By a perversion of justice,
18:30he was taken away.
18:31He poured out himself
18:35to death
18:36and he bore the sin
18:38of many
18:39and made intercession
18:43for the transgressors.
18:47Isaiah chapter 53
18:49Why has this one religion,
18:55founded by a peasant preacher,
18:58dominated the world
18:59for 2,000 years?
19:01Some say the answer lies
19:03not in the life of Jesus,
19:05but in his death
19:06and in the ultimate mystery
19:08on which Christianity
19:09itself is founded.
19:13To explain the long-term appeal
19:16of Christ and Christianity,
19:18you have to start
19:19with the resurrection.
19:20That is to say,
19:21Christians believe
19:22that Jesus died
19:23but that God raised him
19:25to life again.
19:26If the early Christians
19:28had not believed
19:29that he was dead
19:30but was alive,
19:32Jesus very likely
19:33would have gone the way
19:34of all revolutionaries
19:36and prophets
19:37of his time.
19:40With his resurrection,
19:42the followers of Jesus
19:43will come in time
19:44to see him
19:45not just as the Messiah
19:46but as God himself.
19:48Now there is a new meaning
19:54of Messiah,
19:55a new testament,
19:57a new religion
19:57and a new understanding
19:59of God himself.
20:04But after Jesus,
20:06the people of the promised land
20:07still suffer
20:08under the Roman Empire
20:09and most still wait
20:11for the Messiah
20:12who will liberate them.
20:13When we return,
20:20the warrior messiahs
20:22who do drive
20:23the forces of Rome
20:23from the promised land,
20:25each one believe
20:26to be the savior
20:27sent from God.
20:29with the promised land
20:52still held in bondage
20:53by the Romans
20:53after the death of Jesus,
20:55the oppressed people of Israel
20:57still await the Messiah.
20:59As taxes,
21:02oppression and famine grow,
21:04so does the anger
21:05born of desperation.
21:09And now in the year 66,
21:11the countryside erupts
21:12in open revolution.
21:16With no unified command,
21:18each village on its own
21:20rises up to fight
21:21the Roman soldiers.
21:22As they battle hand to hand,
21:24they unleash
21:25a bewildering phenomenon.
21:27The battlefield becomes
21:28the birthplace
21:29of not just one,
21:30but a number of messiahs.
21:34Large numbers of Jews
21:35followed various leaders
21:37into the revolt
21:37of 66 to 73
21:39against Rome.
21:40So this is a period
21:41in general
21:42of messianic belief
21:43and messianic speculation.
21:49Throughout the first century,
21:51many see in the most
21:52courageous leaders
21:53the heroic qualities
21:54spoken of by prophets.
21:58We had in those days
22:00a variety of teachers
22:01who claimed that they were messiahs.
22:04Because in the revolts,
22:05they gained military victories.
22:07And those military victories
22:08led them to be thought of
22:10as messiahs.
22:11Judas, son of Ezekias
22:17of Sepphoris
22:17in Galilee,
22:19was hailed as the messiah.
22:25Athronges
22:25was a tall man
22:27and was so bold
22:28as to set up
22:29for king.
22:34Simon Bar-Giora
22:36acknowledged the title
22:38King of the Jews.
22:42Josephus,
22:44Antiquities of the Jews.
22:52For two years,
22:54the mighty Roman army
22:55is driven back
22:56by peasants,
22:57armed with determination
22:58and shielded by faith.
23:03Then the enraged
23:04Roman emperor
23:05hurls the full force
23:07of the imperial army
23:08against the people of Israel.
23:11In the year 73,
23:13the peasant revolt
23:14is brutally crushed.
23:18And those that were messiahs
23:20in victory
23:20are outcasts in defeat.
23:22Somehow, in the ashes of defeat,
23:35hope continues to flicker
23:37for six decades.
23:39Then, the last revolt
23:41against the Romans
23:42is ignited.
23:44But stories are passed
23:45from generation to generation
23:46about a mythological figure
23:48called Bar Kokhba,
23:51a warrior messiah
23:52who fights like David,
23:54drives out the Romans
23:55and reestablishes
23:56an independent Israel.
24:02It's held by many
24:03that Bar Kokhba
24:04is merely myth.
24:06Why, then,
24:07have stories persisted
24:08for nearly 2,000 years
24:10that Bar Kokhba's followers
24:12carve these treacherous trails
24:14in a last attempt
24:16to escape the Roman legions?
24:17Is there any truth
24:22in the stories
24:23that the last survivors
24:24of his rebellion
24:25risked death
24:26on these sheer cliffs
24:27rather than face death
24:29by the Romans?
24:37Here, in 1960,
24:39in the Wadi Meribat caves
24:41above the Judean desert,
24:42the myth of Bar Kokhba
24:44becomes a horrible reality.
24:49One of the things
24:50about the Bar Kokhba revolt
24:51that our archaeology reveals
24:53that we otherwise
24:54would not have known
24:55is the tragic human side
24:57of the story.
24:59One of the caves
25:00that Yagel Yadin excavated
25:02has come to be known
25:04as the cave
25:06of the Horas
25:07because in it
25:08were found
25:09the starved skeletons
25:10of some of his followers
25:13or recruits.
25:20A handful of coins
25:22identify Bar Kokhba
25:23as President of Israel.
25:27They are dated
25:27year one
25:28of the redemption
25:29of Israel.
25:32The most incredible
25:34find of all
25:35records,
25:36notes,
25:36and letters
25:37telling the story
25:38of the second rebellion
25:39against the Romans.
25:41Some are signed
25:41by a man
25:42who calls himself
25:43Bar Kokhba,
25:45Prince of Israel.
25:48One of the most
25:49moving things
25:50I've ever experienced
25:51is to go through
25:52the museum in Israel
25:54where they house
25:55these materials
25:56at the shrine
25:57of the book.
25:58And stare
25:59under glass
26:00a few inches away
26:01at Bar Kokhba's
26:02actual signature
26:03from almost
26:062,000 years ago.
26:09One of the things
26:10we learned
26:11that we didn't know
26:12is his name
26:13is really
26:13Bar Kosaba.
26:16And Bar Kokhba,
26:18Kokhba in Hebrew
26:19means a star.
26:20And so the word
26:22Bar Kokhba
26:22is actually
26:23a coin name
26:24or a nickname.
26:25In other words,
26:25are you the star man,
26:26meaning are you
26:27that one
26:28who is to come,
26:29the Messiah?
26:37Coins and scrolls
26:39and archaeological
26:40detective work
26:41prove that Bar Kokhba
26:42not only lived
26:43and led
26:44the last rebellion
26:45but was acclaimed
26:46as the true Messiah.
26:50Bar Kokhba was a person
26:51who began a revolt
26:52against Rome,
26:53conquered the entire
26:55land of Israel,
26:56kicked out
26:56all the Romans
26:57and basically set up
26:58a whole administration
26:59and may,
27:00from some indications
27:01on his coins,
27:02have actually appointed
27:03a high priest,
27:04Elazar,
27:05and restarted
27:06the Jerusalem temple.
27:07So we're talking
27:08about a guy
27:09that started to deliver
27:10on the Messianic promises
27:12as understood
27:13by the Jews.
27:13So this is not
27:14just some kind
27:15of pipe dream.
27:19Bar Kokhba's rebellion
27:20against the Romans
27:21lasts more than
27:22three years.
27:23Then the story goes,
27:25Bar Kokhba is killed
27:26and his severed head
27:28displayed
27:28to break the spirit
27:30of his followers.
27:32The nation of Israel
27:33is laid waste.
27:35600,000 people
27:37are slaughtered.
27:38The dream of a Messiah
27:39becomes a nightmare
27:40of destruction.
27:43In the end,
27:44the Bar Kokhba revolt
27:44caused really one
27:45of the greatest tragedies
27:46in Jewish history
27:47because untold numbers
27:49of people had been killed.
27:50The whole country
27:51had been destroyed.
27:52The Romans eventually
27:53prohibited Jews
27:54from entering
27:54into the city
27:55of Jerusalem.
27:56I think that this
27:57is one of the reasons
27:58why Jews moved away
27:59from immediate Messianism,
28:01pushing off the Messianic era,
28:03pushing off the notion
28:04the Messiah would come.
28:07It will be 1,500 years
28:09before despair
28:11and hope
28:11conspire to raise
28:13another Messiah.
28:14When we return,
28:16the most revered
28:17and the most reviled
28:18Messiah
28:18in the Jewish world.
28:20The Messiah
28:21who with one single act
28:23has his memory
28:24and his very existence
28:25erased from Jewish history.
28:32Mysteries of the Bible
28:33will be right back.
28:34We now return
28:38to Mysteries of the Bible.
28:55With their sacred land
28:56ruled by a succession
28:58of conquerors,
28:59the Jewish people
29:00seek peace and freedom
29:01not in a Messiah
29:02but in other nations.
29:07By the Middle Ages,
29:09they have spread
29:09across Europe.
29:12Only once
29:12after 16 centuries
29:14do they turn
29:15to a Messiah
29:16with catastrophic results.
29:18For two years,
29:26Jews around the world
29:27hailed Shabtai Tzvi
29:28as the true Messiah.
29:32But suddenly,
29:33in September 1666,
29:35the chief rabbis
29:36everywhere
29:37wage a frantic campaign
29:38to expunge him
29:40from history.
29:41His name
29:42is never uttered.
29:43Shabtai Tzvi
29:44still lives
29:45but in the Jewish world
29:47he does not exist.
29:50His bizarre story
29:51begins 300 years before.
30:00In the year 1340,
30:02a deadly curse
30:03seeps into the continent
30:04of Europe.
30:06One quarter of its people
30:07die an agonizing death.
30:09Whole cities
30:10are wiped out.
30:12The silent killer
30:13goes by a scientific alias.
30:16Bubonic plague.
30:17But 14th century Europe
30:19knows him
30:19by his real name,
30:21the Black Death.
30:27This grotesque,
30:28historic disaster
30:30lets loose
30:30an avalanche
30:31of fear and panic.
30:34This in turn
30:35will trigger
30:36a new messianic age.
30:38The terrified people
30:39of Europe
30:40level their anguish
30:41and their anger
30:42against those
30:43they see
30:43as strangers
30:44in their midst.
30:49The Jews
30:50are blamed.
30:52Accused
30:52of poisoning
30:53the wells.
30:55They are driven
30:55from their homes
30:56and into ghettos.
30:58Isolated
30:58from society
30:59by walls
31:00of ignorance
31:00and hate.
31:03Across Europe
31:04they are despised
31:05as agents
31:06of the devil.
31:06Then in Poland
31:11in 1648
31:13a barbaric
31:14Cossack chieftain
31:15Bogdan
31:16Schmielnicki
31:16unleashes a bloodbath
31:18to annihilate
31:19the Jews.
31:26Before it's over
31:28at least one quarter
31:29of all the Jews
31:30in Poland
31:30are slaughtered.
31:32For many Jews
31:36wherever they are
31:37there is only
31:38one last
31:39desperate hope.
31:42The Messiah.
31:44After 1600 years
31:46messianic fervor
31:47runs wild
31:48across the known world.
31:51This was a period
31:53in which Jews
31:54were on some level
31:56aching for redemption.
31:58And there are
31:58a variety of causes
31:59that have been cited
32:00for this.
32:01some Jews
32:02were enormously
32:04affected by
32:05major massacres
32:06of Polish Jews
32:07back in 1648
32:09and some years
32:10thereafter.
32:14Fleeing the hatred
32:15and persecution
32:16many sail
32:17for the Holy Land
32:18to await the coming
32:19of the Messiah.
32:21According to
32:22Jewish astrologers
32:23the time is near.
32:27Unnoticed
32:28among the immigrants
32:29is a young
32:30rabbinical scholar
32:31from Turkey
32:31though neither he
32:33nor his fellow travelers
32:34realize it now
32:35he will soon be hailed
32:37as the very one
32:38they are searching for
32:39the Messiah.
32:41His name is
32:42Shabtai Tzvi.
32:44He had been born
32:4539 years before
32:47in Smyrna
32:47a Turkish seaport
32:49on the Aegean Sea.
32:50The precocious son
32:56of a wealthy merchant
32:57he grows up to become
32:59a celebrated mystic
33:00and scholar.
33:06He leads an eccentric life
33:07of abstinence
33:09seclusion
33:09and prayer.
33:11There are troubling stories
33:12of strange
33:13and erratic behavior.
33:16Addicted to bizarre rituals
33:17he marries the Torah
33:19in a formal wedding ceremony.
33:24He commands the sun
33:26to stop.
33:27He violates sacred scripture
33:29and thanks the Lord God
33:31who permits the forbidden.
33:33Some say
33:34that he's deranged.
33:35But when he arrives
33:41in Jerusalem
33:41none of this is known
33:43and Shabtai Tzvi
33:44is widely accepted
33:46as a holy man.
33:52In 1665
33:53Shabtai Tzvi
33:55meets with Nathan of Gaza
33:56a renowned charismatic mystic.
34:00He tells Nathan
34:01that he has come
34:01to find peace
34:02for his soul.
34:05Instead of peace
34:08he will be plunged
34:09into one of the most
34:10chaotic episodes
34:11in Jewish history.
34:13Nathan
34:14perhaps inspired
34:15by Shabtai's reputation
34:16as a holy man
34:17tells him
34:19that he is
34:19the King Messiah.
34:27On the 31st of May
34:29in Gaza
34:29Shabtai Tzvi
34:31declares himself
34:32the true Messiah.
34:33The news
34:43ricochets
34:44around the world.
34:48In their excitement
34:50the people
34:50ignore all warnings
34:52about false
34:53Messiahs.
34:53the followers
34:57of this movement
34:57at its height
34:58were
35:00almost certainly
35:02a majority
35:03of the Jewish people
35:04in the world.
35:06From the Middle East
35:07through Europe
35:08and Africa
35:09wherever Jews
35:10have migrated
35:11Shabtai Tzvi
35:12is hailed
35:13as the Messiah.
35:14We have a diary
35:17of a medieval Jew
35:19from Poland
35:20her name was
35:21Gluckal of Hamelin
35:21and she says
35:22that when
35:23Shabtai Tzvi
35:24came through
35:26the Jewish world
35:27and when that
35:27messianic
35:28ferment
35:28started
35:29her father
35:30packed his bags
35:31and kept them
35:33packed
35:33for two years
35:34expecting at any
35:36moment to be
35:36magically transported
35:37to Jerusalem.
35:38Perhaps one of the
35:40biggest mysteries
35:41of the whole
35:41Shabtai Tzvi
35:42episode
35:43is how a person
35:44who appears
35:45in retrospect
35:45to have been
35:46demented
35:46could attract
35:47such a great
35:48following
35:49in his own time
35:50and how he could
35:51have really
35:51projected himself
35:52so greatly
35:54onto the screen
35:54of Jewish history.
35:58Perhaps the answer
35:59is insanity.
36:01As with other
36:02spellbinding figures
36:03in history
36:04neurosis
36:04sometimes
36:05becomes
36:06charisma.
36:08It may be
36:11that he was
36:11a manic depressive
36:12but manic
36:13depressives
36:14are not
36:15always
36:16in a depressed
36:16state
36:17and
36:18in their manic
36:20state
36:21they can actually
36:22sometimes
36:23appear to be
36:25in a state
36:25of illumination.
36:27Certain aspects
36:28of that mental
36:29illness
36:29could actually
36:30have enhanced
36:31his appeal.
36:32fearing that
36:38messianic
36:39fanaticism
36:39will lead
36:40to violence
36:41and insurrection
36:42the Sultan
36:43of Turkey
36:43has Shabtai Tzvi
36:44arrested
36:45and brought
36:46to Constantinople.
36:49Before the Sultan
36:50himself
36:51Shabtai Tzvi
36:52is tried
36:52and given
36:53an astounding
36:54choice
36:54convert to Islam
36:56or die.
36:59On September
36:5916th
37:001666
37:01the long
37:02awaited
37:03messiah
37:03the hope
37:04of the Jewish
37:05people
37:05converts
37:06to Islam.
37:11The millions
37:13of people
37:13who had
37:14believed in
37:14him
37:15were
37:16tremendously
37:17ashamed
37:17embarrassed
37:18upset
37:19overwrought
37:21and many
37:22of the books
37:22that were
37:22written about
37:23him
37:23the letters
37:24that were
37:24exchanged
37:25were burned
37:26and so
37:27the evidence
37:28had to be
37:28very carefully
37:29pieced together
37:30for what was
37:30once a giant
37:32movement
37:32because
37:33there was
37:34such a deep
37:34sense of shame
37:35that the Jewish
37:36people wanted
37:37to erase
37:37its collective
37:38memory
37:39of the whole
37:40fiasco.
37:45When we
37:46return
37:47the messiah
37:48yet to come
37:49the unseen
37:51messiah
37:51whose power
37:52has already
37:53helped shape
37:54the 20th
37:54century
37:55Mysteries
38:01of the
38:01Bible
38:02will be
38:02right back
38:03We now
38:06return to
38:06Mysteries
38:07of the
38:07Bible
38:07The Odyssey
38:27of the
38:27Jewish people
38:28is a journey
38:29through a land
38:30called
38:30hate
38:31Their enemies
38:34along the way
38:35are living
38:35milestones
38:36of evil
38:37In the beginning
38:41the pharaoh
38:42who enslaves
38:43them
38:43In the first
38:47century
38:47King
38:48Herod
38:48has hundreds
38:49of thousands
38:50of Jews
38:51slaughtered
38:52in the middle
38:54in the middle
38:54ages
38:55Bogdan
38:55Smielnicki
38:56who determines
38:57to massacre
38:58every Jew
38:58in Poland
38:59And in the
39:0720th century
39:08Adolf Hitler
39:09depravity
39:11incarnate
39:11Hitler
39:15Hitler's final solution
39:16is to exterminate
39:17the Jewish people
39:18Six million
39:20die
39:20Only hope
39:23survives
39:23as it has
39:24for 5,000 years
39:26The belief
39:27that someday
39:28they will be
39:29delivered
39:29The messianic faith
39:35was very important
39:37to those Jews
39:38facing
39:39the Nazi
39:40crematoria
39:41This was seen
39:44as the age
39:45of suffering
39:46that precedes
39:47the redemption
39:48Many religious Jews
39:50walked to the
39:51crematoria
39:52singing
39:53a song
39:54based on
39:55Maimonides'
39:5712th principle
39:58of the Jewish faith
39:59which is the belief
40:00in the messiah
40:00which says
40:02I believe
40:02with absolute faith
40:04in the coming
40:05of the messiah
40:06and though he tarries
40:07I wait for him
40:09every day
40:10hoping that he will come
40:11Perhaps
40:15some have argued
40:16the messiah
40:17is present
40:18in their final agony
40:19for it is their belief
40:21in him
40:21which gives them strength
40:23Some see
40:27in the holocaust
40:28the prophet's terrifying vision
40:30of the messianic age
40:31and the horrors
40:32of what comes before
40:34our bones
40:41are dried up
40:42and our hope
40:43is lost
40:44we are cut off
40:46completely
40:47Ezekiel
40:4937
40:5011
40:52Ezekiel's vision
40:57of the dry bones
40:58is a vision
40:59of national resurrection
41:01it's of a people
41:02coming to life
41:03that has been
41:04dead
41:06decimated
41:06hear the word
41:12of the lord
41:13behold
41:14I shall bring
41:15spirit unto you
41:16and ye shall live
41:18come from the four winds
41:21I will put my spirit
41:23within you
41:24and you shall
41:25live
41:26and I will place you
41:31on your own soil
41:32O my people
41:33and I will bring you
41:35back to the land
41:36of Israel
41:37Ezekiel
41:39chapter
41:4037
41:41on May 14th
41:471948
41:47after 3,000 years
41:49a nation
41:50is reborn
41:51the people
41:53of Israel
41:53are home
41:54and once again
42:01the nation
42:02of Israel
42:02is led
42:03by a man
42:04named David
42:05David Ben-Gurion
42:06the country's
42:07first president
42:08religious Zionists
42:12have often seen
42:13the establishment
42:13of the state of Israel
42:14as part of
42:16such a messianic scenario
42:17initiated by human effort
42:20in fact
42:21the standard prayer
42:22for the
42:23welfare
42:24of the state of Israel
42:25contains a
42:27brief
42:28and somewhat
42:29controversial phrase
42:30describing the state
42:32as the beginning
42:33of the flowering
42:34of our redemption
42:35if it is not
42:38the Messiah himself
42:39who has led them here
42:41it is the promise
42:42of the Messiah
42:43in that promise
42:44lies the spirit
42:45of the Messiah
42:46the spirit
42:47which has saved
42:48these people
42:49through the ages
42:50one of the great
42:53mysteries
42:54not only of the Bible
42:55but of human history
42:56is the survival
42:57of the Jewish people
42:58through persecution
43:00through hatred
43:01through exile
43:02through abandonment
43:03they managed to survive
43:05and surely
43:07a part of the answer
43:08to that mystery
43:09is
43:10that because
43:11of the vision
43:12of the Messiah
43:12they believed
43:14that there was
43:15a hope
43:15at the end of history
43:17and if they made it there
43:19if they survived
43:20there would be
43:21a redemption
43:22that somehow
43:23would make
43:24all the suffering
43:24and all the pain
43:26worthwhile
43:26according to all
43:30the ancient prophecies
43:32the Messiah
43:32will not only
43:33restore Israel
43:34but will usher in
43:36an era of peace
43:37for all humanity
43:38it is true
43:46that for thousands
43:47of years
43:48the idea
43:48of the Messiah
43:49was one of the things
43:50that divided Jews
43:51and Christians
43:52but in a strange way
43:54as often happens
43:55that which divided us
43:56can bring us together
43:58and the notion
43:59of the Messiah
43:59can be the bridge
44:00over the chasm
44:02over the gap
44:03between Jews
44:04and Christians
44:05because
44:05we both believe
44:07that somehow
44:09eventually
44:10God's promise
44:12will be fulfilled
44:13and that this world
44:14will be redeemed
44:15and that our children
44:17and our grandchildren
44:18and all our descendants
44:20will live in a world
44:21that is better
44:22than the one we know
44:23and that to hope
44:24I think Jews
44:25and Christians
44:26and for that matter
44:28all of humanity
44:29can share
44:29through the ages
44:35the image of the Messiah
44:37has evolved
44:38and changed
44:39but one thing
44:40remains the same
44:41Messiah is still
44:43a synonym
44:44for hope
44:45here a dream
44:54was born
44:55a dream
44:56as old
44:57as this promised land
44:58and here
44:59the Bible says
45:00the dream
45:01will become reality
45:02here
45:03the Messiah
45:04will appear
45:05according to some
45:06when the Messiah
45:08comes
45:08the whole order
45:09of nature
45:09will be different
45:10the lion
45:10will lay down
45:11with the lamb
45:12there will be
45:12universal peace
45:13why is a simple
45:16peasant from Galilee
45:17who never publicly
45:18claims to be
45:19the Messiah
45:20the one man
45:21much of the world
45:22reveres as the Messiah
45:23for two thousand years
45:25why is his contemporary
45:30once worshipped
45:31in great temples
45:32and shrines
45:33now forgotten
45:34by history
45:35in the ancient world
45:39many were embraced
45:40as the Messiah
45:41including the warrior
45:43hero
45:43Bar Kokhba
45:44how much of this
45:46Messiah's legend
45:47is confirmed
45:47by a grisly discovery
45:49in a remote desert cave
45:50you