He was apparently a humble, ascetic and pious individual, wearing ragged clothes, and removing himself to live alone on Mount Tiyal. At some point he began to indicate that he was no longer the messenger of the Messiah, but rather the Messiah himself. He inscribed messianic formulas on his hands, and "corrected" Isaiah 45:1 to read כה אמר ה' למשיחו לשוכר ("Thus said the Lord to Shukr, His anointed one...") instead of the traditional כה אמר ה' למשיחו לכורש ("Thus said the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed one..."), in this manner reading himself into the Biblical narrative.
