In his article about the synoptic apocalypse (Matthew 24 = Mark 13), Detering argues that both it and the gospels themselves date to after the days of Simon bar Kokhba. By far his best set of arguments derives both from the passages I have posted on this thread ("many will come in my name") and from the passage I posted on
another thread earlier today ("they will deliver you up" to persecution):
Hermann Detering, "The Synoptic Apocalypse (Mark 13 par.): A Document From the Time of Bar Kochba," JHC 7/2, pages 189-191:
With reference to Bar Kochba, there is a word-for-word parallel in rabbinical literature to the claim of the false messiah transmitted by Matthew (24:5): “I am the Christ.” In Sanh. 93b one reads: (i) “Bar Koziba reigned for two and a half years. He said to the rabbis, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They said to him, ‘It is written of the Messiah that he has a reliable sense for what is right. We wish to see whether this man has such a sense.’ Once they saw that he did not have it, they killed him.” (ii) In the Seder ha-Qabbalah of Abraham Ibn David, from the 12th century: “In their days a man with the name stood up and claimed that he was the Messiah, the son of David.” With regard to Mt 24:23, cf. y Taan 4:8 fol. 68: (iii) “Rabbi Aquiva said [namely] when he saw Bar Kozeba, ‘This is the king Messiah!’”
Even if the historical value of any given source may be questioned, one must observe that there is no other figure in Jewish history of the first and second century regarding whom one can say with more certainty than for Bar Kochba that he appeared on the scene with messianic pretensions. There can hardly be any doubt that Bar Kochba expressed messianic ambitions, probably even in the first-person “I” style. The relationship to Mt 24:5, therefore, could hardly be more clear cut. In light of the fact that Bar Kochba is the only messianic pretender in Jewish history of the first and second centuries for whom claims can be documented which have word-for-word parallels in the Gospels, it is incomprehensible how this figure as well as the events of 130-135 have remained totally disregarded by historical-critical exegesis of the SynApoc. The explanation can only be that the interpretation of the SynApoc on the basis of the dating of Mark and Matthew in the second half of the first century functions as an axiom, which itself is still maintained even if the text can be reconciled with the historical events of the first century only with great difficulty (i.e., by positing redactional insertions).
The false messiahs in Matthew and Mark are referred to as pseudochristoi (Mt 24:24/par). In Apoc. Pet. 2 as well there is a reference to “deceitful Christs.” “These deceitful men are not Christ.” The concept of the pseudo-Christ (from pseudos = deceitful) still reflects the fact that according to later Jewish tradition Bar Kockba was a Bar Koziba, a “Liar’s son.”
The assumption that at the time the SynApoc was written and the author referred to the pseudo-messiah he had primarily a specific person in view, namely Bar Kochba, would also explain the singular in Mt 24:23: “Then if someone (tis) says to you, ‘Lo, here is the messiah!’.” Similarly, just as when the SynApoc was written everyone would have first thought of a specific pseudomessiah, Bar Kochba, so also with the reference to a single (tis) false prophet everyone would think of that person who proclaimed Bar Kochba to be the Messiah (= Christ), namely, Rabbi Akiba.
.... Matt 24:24/par speaks of being misled by signs and wonders of the false Christ. Such “signs and wonders” are also mentioned in traditions concerning Bar Kochba. According to Jerome, Bar Kochba performed “deceitful wonders,” e.g., spewing fire from his mouth (cf. 2 Thess 2:8; Isa 11:4b; Ezra 13:10, 27). There were also rumors of his enormous physical strength. Item (6): Not only can a connection be established between Bar Kochba as the “pseudo-Christ” probably referred to in Mt 24:24 and the “signs and wonders” (Mt 24:24/par), there also seems to be a connection between the persecution referred in Mt 24:9 and Bar Kochba’s persecution of Christians. For Theißen and others there is finally no inner connection between the themes of being deceived and being persecuted. The two themes appear alongside one another with no inter-relationship. Their connection immediately becomes clear, however, as soon as one recognizes that the deceiver and false Christ (Mt 24:24) is also the persecutor (Mt 24:9) and that this person is obviously none other than Bar Kochba.
Could these passages date from as late as Hadrian? On the one hand, it is a great point that we have attested from various sources for Simon bar Kokhba and no other that he himself claimed, "I am the Messiah/Christ," and that others, like Rabbi Akiva, claimed of him, "He is the Messiah/Christ," pretty much in the exact words posited in the synoptic parallels. On the other hand, the synoptic parallels say that "many" will claim this, and the Son of the Star is not "many," so we find ourselves having to allow that Christians may well have interpreted prophets like Theudas or royal claimants like Simon ben Giora as Messiah figures (whether those figures made those claims for themselves or not), the same as we would if we were to date these passages to earlier than Hadrian's Judean campaign. Simon bar Kokhba can be one of the many, but
only one of the many. Nevertheless, the exact verbal parallel is exciting, is it not? Does anything
prevent us from taking advantage of it in our interpretation and dating of these passages?