A curious statement is brought in Sanhedrin 99a:
The statement is very famous and has brought upon some discussions as to how R' Hillel could dare to say something like that, for example here.
I've found myself pondering this view over the last couple of days, mostly because I came upon an interesting suggestion by Yehudah Even Shmuel. Apparently (I only saw this in a second-hand source, haven't yet checked the original) he had suggested that when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said, on his deathbed, to prepare a chair for Chizkiyah, King of Yehudah, he was referring to the then-Reish Galuta, Chizkiyah ben Shechanyah. I haven't completely formulated an opinion on this suggestion yet, but that got me thinking:
A couple of months ago I had started to consider the possibility that the Chizkiyah R' Hillel was referring to was not Chizkiyahu the famous Tanachic king, but actually, perhaps, Chizkiyah the Galilean, head of anti-Roman rebels who had been put to death by Herod. The reason I had considered this because there's a suggestion that Menachem ben Chizkiyah, the aggadic name of the Mashiach, is connected in some way to Menachem, a descendant of Chizkiyah who led a faction of zealots during the Great Revolt (here's a thread I made on it). This would make R' Hillel's statement more aggadic in fashion and probably not intended to be taken literally, in historical terms.
But now I have a different idea: What if R' Hillel's statement was referring to the Reish Galuta Chizkiyah ben Shechanyah? Consider this: R' Hillel isn't saying that Chizkiyah himself was the Mashiach. He's just saying that he lived during his time and was destroyed somehow. So this does not match with the famous idea the King Chizkiyah was supposed to have been the Mashiach. On the other hand, we don't know the exact years that Chizkiyah the Reish Galuta held his position. But he might have lived circa the end of Rabban Yochanan's life, which puts us at the end of the 1st century CE. What if Chizkiyah lived long enough to see Bar Kochva? Yes, it's a bit of a bold suggestion, that the Mashiach R' Hillel was referring to was none other than Bar Kochva.
The key point that I think this idea would work is R' Hillel's reasoning for the fall of the Mashiach: "שכבר אכלוהו בימי חזקיה" - "because they already ate him in the days of Chizkiyah" - this is fairly similar in conceptual terms to the explanation for the fall of Bar Kochva given by the Rambam, who evidently had sources we don't have about that period of time (we don't know, for example, how he knew that Rabbi Akiva was the נושא כלים of Bar Kochva): "וְדִמָּה הוּא וְכָל חַכְמֵי דּוֹרוֹ שֶׁהוּא הַמֶּלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ. עַד שֶׁנֶּהֱרַג בַּעֲוֹנוֹת" - "and he and all of the sages of his generation thought that he was the King Mashiach. Until he was killed by sins" Not by his sins, but by sins in general. Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Zini had suggested in an essay on Bar Kochva that Rambam is pointing out that Bar Kochva had been killed because of the sins of Klal Yisrael, i.e., that the term "בעוונות" as used by the Rambam typically refers to "our sins" (see Rambam's commentary here for example)
This, I believe, serves to explain the odd term used by R' Hillel, that he was "eaten in the time of Chizkiyah". In Hebrew it works better, because it is more obvious that the "they" who ate him are Yisrael. In short, שכבר אכלוהו (ישראל) בימי חזקיה = עד שנהרג בעוונות (ישראל).
Of course, we still have the question of why R' Hillel would choose to refer to that era with Chizkiyah's name. I still don't have a clear answer to that, although yesterday I chanced upon an interesting tradition brought in Seder Olam Zuta 9 which states that Chizkiyah was buried in the estate of the kohen Yehoshua ben Nisraf in Givat Arbel. This is interesting to me because Yeshua Nisraf Arbel was the piyutistic title of the priestly division (mishmar) Yeshua. Perhaps this tradition about Chizkiyah hints somehow to a connection to Bar Kochva. Chizkiyah was not at all the only famous person living outside of the land to be buried in the land, but perhaps there's a hint of something more. A sign of strong Zionism? Or perhaps he died in connection to the Bar Kochva Revolt itself? Who knows.
Thoughts, comments, ideas, further sources - of course welcome.
"ר' הילל אומר אין להם משיח לישראל שכבר אכלוהו בימי חזקיה"
"R' Hillel says: Yisrael do not have a Mashiach any longer because they already ate him in the days of Chizkiyah."
The statement is very famous and has brought upon some discussions as to how R' Hillel could dare to say something like that, for example here.
I've found myself pondering this view over the last couple of days, mostly because I came upon an interesting suggestion by Yehudah Even Shmuel. Apparently (I only saw this in a second-hand source, haven't yet checked the original) he had suggested that when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said, on his deathbed, to prepare a chair for Chizkiyah, King of Yehudah, he was referring to the then-Reish Galuta, Chizkiyah ben Shechanyah. I haven't completely formulated an opinion on this suggestion yet, but that got me thinking:
A couple of months ago I had started to consider the possibility that the Chizkiyah R' Hillel was referring to was not Chizkiyahu the famous Tanachic king, but actually, perhaps, Chizkiyah the Galilean, head of anti-Roman rebels who had been put to death by Herod. The reason I had considered this because there's a suggestion that Menachem ben Chizkiyah, the aggadic name of the Mashiach, is connected in some way to Menachem, a descendant of Chizkiyah who led a faction of zealots during the Great Revolt (here's a thread I made on it). This would make R' Hillel's statement more aggadic in fashion and probably not intended to be taken literally, in historical terms.
But now I have a different idea: What if R' Hillel's statement was referring to the Reish Galuta Chizkiyah ben Shechanyah? Consider this: R' Hillel isn't saying that Chizkiyah himself was the Mashiach. He's just saying that he lived during his time and was destroyed somehow. So this does not match with the famous idea the King Chizkiyah was supposed to have been the Mashiach. On the other hand, we don't know the exact years that Chizkiyah the Reish Galuta held his position. But he might have lived circa the end of Rabban Yochanan's life, which puts us at the end of the 1st century CE. What if Chizkiyah lived long enough to see Bar Kochva? Yes, it's a bit of a bold suggestion, that the Mashiach R' Hillel was referring to was none other than Bar Kochva.
The key point that I think this idea would work is R' Hillel's reasoning for the fall of the Mashiach: "שכבר אכלוהו בימי חזקיה" - "because they already ate him in the days of Chizkiyah" - this is fairly similar in conceptual terms to the explanation for the fall of Bar Kochva given by the Rambam, who evidently had sources we don't have about that period of time (we don't know, for example, how he knew that Rabbi Akiva was the נושא כלים of Bar Kochva): "וְדִמָּה הוּא וְכָל חַכְמֵי דּוֹרוֹ שֶׁהוּא הַמֶּלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ. עַד שֶׁנֶּהֱרַג בַּעֲוֹנוֹת" - "and he and all of the sages of his generation thought that he was the King Mashiach. Until he was killed by sins" Not by his sins, but by sins in general. Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Zini had suggested in an essay on Bar Kochva that Rambam is pointing out that Bar Kochva had been killed because of the sins of Klal Yisrael, i.e., that the term "בעוונות" as used by the Rambam typically refers to "our sins" (see Rambam's commentary here for example)
This, I believe, serves to explain the odd term used by R' Hillel, that he was "eaten in the time of Chizkiyah". In Hebrew it works better, because it is more obvious that the "they" who ate him are Yisrael. In short, שכבר אכלוהו (ישראל) בימי חזקיה = עד שנהרג בעוונות (ישראל).
Of course, we still have the question of why R' Hillel would choose to refer to that era with Chizkiyah's name. I still don't have a clear answer to that, although yesterday I chanced upon an interesting tradition brought in Seder Olam Zuta 9 which states that Chizkiyah was buried in the estate of the kohen Yehoshua ben Nisraf in Givat Arbel. This is interesting to me because Yeshua Nisraf Arbel was the piyutistic title of the priestly division (mishmar) Yeshua. Perhaps this tradition about Chizkiyah hints somehow to a connection to Bar Kochva. Chizkiyah was not at all the only famous person living outside of the land to be buried in the land, but perhaps there's a hint of something more. A sign of strong Zionism? Or perhaps he died in connection to the Bar Kochva Revolt itself? Who knows.
Thoughts, comments, ideas, further sources - of course welcome.