 These wars touched Byzantine Palestine and stirred Messianic hopes among Jews, including the author for whom the wars appear to be eschatological events leading to the appearance of the Messiah.Armilus is thought to be a cryptogram for Heraclius, and that the events described in the Sefer Zerubbabel coincide with the Jewish revolt against Heraclius.However, firm evidence of the work's existence prior to the tenth century is elusive.