על 'בן האל', ארמילוס ומשיח בן יוסף

Document 4Q246 from Qumran treats a figure called 'the Son of God', who is described as being destined to be a great person in the world, whom all will serve. Scholars disagree as to the identification of this figure. Some claim that it refers to a positive messianic figure, while others believe that it refers to a negative historical personage who they identify with Alexander Ballas, the Seleucid ruler. David Flusser argues that 4the son of God' is to be identified with the figure in the Oracles of Hystaspes who is called 4the son of God and the false prophet' and with the second beast which is described as a false prophet in the vision in chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Flusser claims that all these figures represent the anti-Christ. The author of this paper accepts Flusser's thesis, but rejects his claim that the figure is purely mythical. The paper argues that the reference is to an historical person, who is described in mythical terms, i.e., Augustus, emperor of Rome, who claimed to be 'the son of God' and who was worshipped as a deity. The sources referred to above were in fact opposing the Augustan propaganda and the notion of emperor worship. Augustus, who claimed to be the redeemer of mankind, is described as the anti-Christ. Similarly, according to the author, the mythical figure of Armilus-Romulus, who appears in Sefer Zerubbabel and other midrashim, is also to be identified as Augustus, who represented himself as the heir and successor of the legendary Romulus, the founder of Rome. In the Oracle of Hystaspes, as well as in the Book of Revelation and Sefer Zerubbabel, 'the son of God', 'the false prophet', 'the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit', or 'Armilus' kills a religious leader. Hystaspes describes the victim as a true prophet; Revelation (chapter 11) tells how the beast will kill the two messianic witnesses; and in Sefer Zerubbabel we read of the murder of Messiah, son of Joseph. The author claims that these descriptions refer to an historical event which took place in 4 BCE. In the suppression of the revolt which broke out after the death of Herod, Augustus' troops killed a messianic leader. They refused to allow his body to be buried and it remained on a Jerusalem street. This event was the basis of the myth regarding the slaying of 'Messiah, son of Joseph' by 'Armilus'. It is further suggested that that event had a great influence on the messianic doctrines of Jesus Christ.