Josephus believed the Jewish People were waiting for the messiah; and that the Jewish people were indeed gripped by an intense and widespread expectation of a coming ruler, though he carefully frames this through the lens of a "star prophecy" or an "ambiguous oracle" found in their sacred scriptures. He notes that this belief—the conviction that someone from their country would soon become governor of the habitable earth—was a primary catalyst that incited the nation to revolt against Rome. However, Josephus characterizes this expectation as a tragic misunderstanding of the divine will; he argues that while the Jewish masses and their leaders interpreted the prophecy as a promise of a nationalistic Jewish Messiah who would break the Roman yoke, the "oracle" actually pointed toward the rise of Vespasian, who was proclaimed emperor while on Judean soil. Thus, while he acknowledges the fervor of the expectation, he treats it as a misinterpreted religious impulse that led to the destruction of the Temple rather than a valid hope for a Davidic savior.