ABSTRACT
In a puzzling talmudic passage attributed to Bar Kapara, an illustrious pupil of Judah Hanasi in the first half of the third century CE, Hezekiah, king of Judah in the late eighth century BCE, is identified as a would-be Messiah. The rabbis had some justification for viewing Hezekiah as a prototype of the Messiah. In a rogues’ gallery of persistent royal offenders, Hezekiah certainly had better credentials than most Israelite kings for a messianic role. The rabbis of the Talmud frequently used biblical characters, kings and prophets, to hint at current events, and particularly conflicts between the patriarchs and their followers. It seems that they use Hezekiah as a cover for Judah Hanasi. The death of Judah Hanasi, after which ‘troubles multiplied’, is similarly linked in talmudic literature to Hezekiah’s death. Judah was a putative descendant of King David, and therefore, like Hezekiah, eligible for the messianic crown.
