In a well-known rabbinic legend, a group of rabbis are walking on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, a city destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, and see a fox wandering among the ruins of the Temple. They respond with tears—except for Rabbi Akiva, who bursts into laughter. Justifying their sorrow with a biblical verse, they ask Akiva to explain his bizarre behavior; he does so, citing a series of verses of his own. Meir Ben-Shahar offers a novel reading of Akiva’s answer, arguing that it originally served as an immediate call for armed revolt against Roman rule.

Akiva uses an innovative interpretation of Isaiah 8:1-2 to link a destructive prophecy—“Zion shall be plowed as a field” (Micah 3:12)—“with the prophet Zechariah’s redemptive vision that “there shall yet be old men and women in the squares of Jerusalem” (8:4-5). . . .

Micah’s prophecy about Zion being plowed as a field fits nicely with seeing the Temple Mount in shambles. But why, of the many prophecies of consolation in the book of Zechariah, did Akiva choose to quote these particular verses?

Note that the verse preceding the aforementioned prophecy in Zechariah states, “Thus said the Lord: I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the City of Faithfulness, and the mount of the Lord of Hosts the Holy Mount.” . . . Significantly, the only other verse in the Bible that place the terms “Zion, Jerusalem, and the mountain of the house / mountain of the Lord” alongside each other is the verse cited from Micah that predicts the calamity. . . . For this reason it is likely that Zechariah 8:3, and not the following verses, was originally quoted in Akiva’s homily. . . .

For some 60 years after its destruction [in 70 CE], Jerusalem served as a camp for a Roman legion. This situation changed after Emperor Hadrian’s visit to the East in 129-130 CE. If Hadrian indeed founded a new city on the ruins of Jerusalem during this visit, [as mounting historical evidence suggests], then Akiva’s interpretation essentially constitutes a call to revolt, together with the reassurance that now, when Micah’s prophecy of devastation has been realized in full, the time has come for God to return to Jerusalem as Zechariah promised.

Indeed, in 132 CE, the Jews, led by Simon bar Kokhba (whom Akiva is known to have supported) rose up against Roman rule. Ancient sources confirm that this revolt was provoked when Hadrian began rebuilding Jerusalem as a pagan city. According to Ben-Shahar, the text’s redactors, writing after the Bar Kokhba revolt ended in failure, altered Akiva’s words to leave the reader with a message of hope in the messianic future rather than with a call to arms.

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.