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Click on title of any pericope numbered in red to access the original language text.
| 187. | Testimonium Flavianum | |
| from Greek | from Arabic | |
| 63 | Now
about this time there happened to be Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is right to call him a man. For he was a doer of amazing deeds and a teacher of men who were pleased to receive the truth. He attracted many Jews and many Hellenists. He was the Messiah [Christos]. |
And at this time there was a wise man named Jesus. He did good deeds and was known to be virtuous. And many from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. |
| 64 | When Pilate
condemned him to the cross on an accusation from prominent men among us, those who were first drawn to him did not quit. For he appeared to them on the third day as again having life. These wonders and a thousand others were told about him by God's prophets. And up till now the clan of "Christians," so-named after him, still did not give up. |
Pilate
condemned him to be crucified and die. Those who became his disciples did not abandon their discipleship. They reported that he appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. So--perhaps--he was the Messiah about whom the prophets told wonders. |
| --- Josephus, Antiquities 18.63-64 | ||
| [NOTE:
This passage follows two Jewish protests (involving imperial
images & temple
funds) that Josephus
reports under Pontius Pilate. It was quoted by the Christian
historian Eusebius of Caesarea
ca. 340 CE. But for the past 400 years its authenticity has
been questioned for two reasons: (a) the wording of the Greek
version, which is unabashedly Christian (proclaiming Jesus as
a super-human Messiah), does not sound like Josephus, who
elsewhere identified himself as a Pharisee; and (b) this
pericope is not parallel to the passages to which it is linked
(since there is no hint of a Jewish disturbance crushed by
Pilate). On the other hand, Josephus did probably introduce
Jesus here since (a) unlike Christian writers, he identifies
Jesus as a sage & assigns
responsibility for his crucifixion to the Roman governor
and (b) he later presupposes that his non-Christian readers are
already familiar with Jesus by claiming Pharisees protested
the execution
of James "the
brother of Jesus the reputed Messiah." Since 1971
attempts to
reconstruct the original wording of Josephus' text have been
aided by Shlomo Pines' discovery of an Arabic version of this
passage that lacks the overt Christian proclamations (italics
in the Greek version). The Arabic was probably translated from
a Greek ms. that lacked the Christian interpolations
(italics). Whether the original text also associated Jesus'
execution with some sort of Jewish disturbance (as R. Eisler
proposed in 1931) is harder to
prove, since any hint of social unrest would have to have been
expurgated from the Greek text before the transcription of the
ms. from which the Arabic translation was made.]
Other resources on line:
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| 188. | Jews expelled from Rome |
| 25 | Since the Jews were in constant turmoil due to the influence of one "Chrestus," (the emperor) Claudius expelled them from Rome (ca. 52 CE). |
| --- Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars 5.25 | |
| [NOTE: The imperial biographer apparently had no detailed information about the cause of the Jewish community's agitation other than that it concerned the name of a person. "Chrestus" is probably a Roman misunderstanding of a debate about the Messiah [= Christos for Greek-speaking Jews], since the emperor took unprecedented action against the whole community rather than a single agitator. This incident probably preceded the founding of a distinct Christian church in Rome such as that presupposed by Paul's letter to the Romans.] |
| 189. | Nero persecutes Christians in Rome |
| 44 | Neither human effort nor
princely largesse nor divine appeasement was able to dispel
the scandal that the fire (which burned much
of Rome in 64 CE) was believed to have been commanded (by the
emperor Nero).
So, to do away with the rumor, Nero substituted as culprits
those who were commonly called "Christians,"
who were hated because of their absurdities. And he inflicted
them with the most extraordinary punishments. "Christus," the source of this name, was executed during the reign of Tiberius by the sentence of the procurator, Pontius Pilate. And the destructive superstition was suppressed, only to break out in the present, not only in Judea---the source of this evil---but also in the city (of Rome), where all hateful and shameful things flow and find a following. Thus, first those who confessed (to being Christians) were seized; then, on their testimony a huge crowd as convicted---not so much on the charge of arson as for hatred of the human race. And while they perished there was additional ridicule. Having been covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn apart by dogs. Or they were fixed to a cross or were set aflame. And when the daylight faded they were used as lamps by night. |
| --- Tacitus, Annals 15.44 |
| 190. | A Rabbinic view of Jesus' Execution |
| It is taught: They hanged Jesus [Yeshu] on the eve of Passover. Now a crier went forth for forty days before this (saying): --"He goes forth to be stoned because he practiced magic and stirred up Israel to apostasy. Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward and speak up for him!" But they found nothing in his favor and they hanged him on the eve of Passover. Ulla said: --"Do you suppose a revolutionary had anything in his favor!" He was an instigator [mesith] (to apostasy) and the Merciful has said: --'You shall not spare or conceal him!' (Deut 13:8)" But it was different with (Jesus), for he was near to the kingdom! |
|
| --- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a | |
| [NOTE: this account was probably formulated to contradict Christian claims that Jews engineered Jesus' execution without giving him a fair hearing. It agrees with the Fourth Gospel in dating Jesus' death prior to the Passover meal. Otherwise its details are based on Jewish procedures for stoning rather than on information in the gospels.] |
| 191. | Jesus' Age |
| A heretic [min] said to
Rabbi
cHanina (bar Hama): --"Have you heard how old Balaam* was (when he died)?" (Hanina) said to him: --"The record does not record (it). But (I would say) he was 33 or 34 years old from the text: --'Men of blood and frauds shall not live out half their days' (Ps 55:23)." (The heretic) said to him: --"What you say is right! I myself have examine the account of Balaam and it is written:** --"Balaam the lame was 33 years old, when he was killed by Phineas the Robber."*** |
|
| --- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b | |
| * | "Balaam" the false prophet; a frequent epithet for Jesus by later rabbis to avoid Christian censorship. |
| ** | The calculation of Jesus' age as 33 at the crucifixion is based on Luke 3:23 plus the Fourth Gospel's account of a public career spanning three Passovers. |
| *** | "Phineas the Robber" is probably a code name for Pontius Pilate, who confiscated temple funds. |
| 192. | Eliezer's Lament |
| 15 | Rabbi
Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus)
the great says: --"From the day the Temple was burned the sages started to be like scribes, and the scribes like superintendents and the superintendents like peasants [ama dar'a]. And the peasantry grew weak and died. And there is none who seeks. On whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven! With the footsteps of the Messiah arrogance will spread and prices will rise; the vine will give its fruit, but the wine will cost more. Those who serve idols will turn to heresy [minuth]* and there will be no reproof. The council house will be for prostitution. Galilee will be laid waste and Golan ruined. The men of the frontier will wander from city to city and there will be no favors. The wisdom of the scribes will decay. Those who fear sin will be loathed and truth will be rejected. The young shall shame the elders and the elders will stand up before inferiors: 'The son dishonors the father, the daughter rise against her mother the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies (will be) men of his own house' (Micah 7:6). This generation's face is like a dog's face: the son is not ashamed before his father. And on whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven! |
| ---- Mishna, Sotah 9.15 | |
| * | "heresy" [minuth]: probably a reference to Jewish Christianity with its mission to Gentile pagans [cf. 1 Thess 2:14-16]. |
| [NOTE: This lament presents a 1st century rabbi's assessment of the social turmoil among Palestinian Jews after 70 CE, about the same time the gospels were being written. Urgent Messianic expectations are particularly evident in the gospel of Mark (8:38-9:1, 13:21-26), while scorn for scribes & disrespect for elders were prominent in Jesus sayings in the Q source (Matt 23:13-36 //Luke 11:43-54, Matt 10:34-37//Luke 12:49-53, 14:25-26)]. |
| 193. | A Rabbi Arrested for Heresy |
| Our rabbis taught: When Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) was arrested for heresy [minuth]* they brought him up to the platform** for judgment. The (Roman) governor said to him: --"Is an elder like you interested in such empty matters?" He said to him: --"The Judge is faithful concerning me!" The governor thought he was referring to him, but he was speaking of none but his Father in heaven. (The governor ) said to him: --"Since you trust me, so I will be to you. Pardoned! Dismissed!" When (Rabbi Eliezer) came to his house, his disciples gathered round to comfort him. But he would not take comfort. Rabbi Aqiba said to him: --"Rabbi, let me tell you one word of what you taught me!" (Rabbi Eliezer) said to him: --"Speak!" (Aqiba) said to him: --"Perhaps some heresy came to you and pleased you; and you were arrested for that." (Rabbi Eliezer) said to him: --"Aqiba, you have reminded me! Once I was walking in the upper market at Sepphoris and I encountered one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene,*** Jacob of Kephar Sichnin by name. He said to me: --'It is written in your Torah: --'You shall not bring the harlot's pay (to God)...' (Deut 23:19), but may it be used to build a latrine for the high priest?' I said nothing at all to him. He said to me: --'Thus is is taught by Jesus the Nazarene:*** 'For a harlot's pay she gathered them and to a harlot's way they shall return' (Micah 1:7). They came from a polluted place, let them return to a polluted place,' His saying pleased me. So for this I was (now) arrested for heresy!" |
|
| --- Babylonian Talmud, Aboda Zara 16b-17a | |
| * | The suspected "heresy" [minuth] was probably being a "Nazarene" (i.e., Christian). The Galilean Eliezer was arrested by the Roman civil authority, not by his fellow rabbis. |
| ** | "platform": Talmud's "gallows" [garedum] is probably a corrupt reading. An earlier shorter version of this story found in Tosefta cHullin 2.24 has "tribunal" [bema]. |
| *** | "Jesus the Nazarene" appears only in manuscript M, but was probably deleted by Christian censors from other Talmud mss. Tosefta cHullin 2.24 has "Jesus ben Pantiri." The words of Jacob are not given in the Tosefta version of this story. |
| 194. | Healing in Jesus' Name Forbidden |
| 22 | The case of Rabbi
Eleazar ben Dama, whom
a serpent bit: Jacob of Kephar Sama came in to cure him in the name of Jesus [Yeshu] ben Pandira.* But Rabbi Ishmael did not allow it. He said: --"Ben Dama, you are not permitted!" (Ben Dama) said: --"I will bring you a proof (text) that he may heal me!" But he had not finished furnishing the proof when he died. Rabbi Ishmael (ben Elisha) said: --"Happy are you, ben Dama! For you have departed in peace and have not violated the commandments of the sages!" |
| 23 | For lasting punishment comes on
anyone who breaks through a fence of the sages, as it is written: --"A serpent shall bite him who breaks through a fence" (Eccles 10:8). |
| --- Tosefta, cHullin 2.22-23 | |
| * | Yeshu(a) ben Pandira [Jesus son of Pantera]: reference to a Talmudic tradition that Jesus was fathered by a Roman soldier named Pantera or Pandira. This name is spelled differently in various mss. & is omitted from some editions of the Tosefta |
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