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Nathan of Gaza 71<br />
messianic pretenders appeared from Vital’s passing until the rise of Shabbatai<br />
Zvi. 49 <strong>The</strong> Safed kabbalists had proffered both messianic personalities<br />
and writings thick with inherent messianic themes, fueling expectations of<br />
redemption. When the members of the circle died out, it was as if the apocalyptic<br />
dynamite had been left undetonated, but with a live cap—there remained<br />
a sort of messianic ambiance awaiting a catalyst. Indeed, many<br />
understood that the role of messiah son of Joseph had been claimed by<br />
Luria and Vital, but the greater crown, messiah son of David, remained unclaimed.<br />
50 <strong>The</strong> prophetic and messianic tools were in place, and Nathan simply<br />
exploited them, beginning with two explosive prophecies in the Lurianic<br />
style. Messianic identities in <strong>Sabbatean</strong>ism had changed, but the connection<br />
with Luria and Safed is unmistakable.<br />
Wherever Jews heard of Nathan’s prophetic experiences, therefore, they<br />
understood the meaning clearly: the prophetic messianism of the great kabbalists<br />
had returned. This recognition opened the door for the acceptance of Nathan’s<br />
prophecies about Shabbatai Zvi as well as the radical new kabbalistic<br />
system introduced by Nathan. Finally, Nathan’s possession by a maggid inspired<br />
an unprecedented outbreak of spirit possessions among the <strong>Sabbatean</strong>s.<br />
51<br />
<strong>The</strong> stage is now set for an examination of the two earliest <strong>Sabbatean</strong> texts<br />
by Nathan, focusing principally on Nathan’s interest in past messianic figures<br />
and traditions.<br />
<strong>The</strong> “Vision of Rabbi Abraham”<br />
Early in Nathan’s <strong>Sabbatean</strong> career, around May of 1665, he produced a<br />
short apocalypse which he claimed to have found in a jar in a cave, following<br />
a hint from spiritual sources; according to other traditions, it was given<br />
to him directly by Elijah the prophet. In some versions of the story, this<br />
work, the Vision of Rabbi Abraham, was purported to be part of a larger<br />
work called the Greater Wisdom of Solomon. Nathan himself explains that it<br />
was composed by one R. Abraham, a holy ascetic from the period of the German<br />
pietists in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Some of the<br />
salient passages are presented below, with no attempt to preserve the original<br />
flow of the complex mystical narrative.<br />
And I, Abraham, after having been shut up for forty years grieving over the<br />
power of the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, [wondering]
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