8 Those “raised” by Jesus alive after 117

Philip of Side quoting Papias, says

Concerning those who were raised from the dead by Christ, [he relates] that they lived until Hadrian.

According to the gospel of Mark, Jairus’ daughter who was raised from the dead by Jesus, was twelve years old. (5:42) Assuming Jesus performed this miracle in the year 30, the girl would have lived to be more than 99. Other adults such as Lazarus (John 11) and the young man from Nain (Luke 7) would have been well over a hundred when Hadrian became emperor in 117. While not accepting that anyone was actually raised from the dead, the passage speaks of people much more recently touched by Jesus, however that may be interpreted. It points to an origin or source for the stories much more recent than 30 CE.

9 Aphrahat: “from the time the new was given the old was abolished”

Aphrahat, a Syriac-Christian monk (c. 280–c. 345) says,

For the uses of the law are abolished by the advent of our Life-giver, and He offered up Himself in the place of the sacrifices which are in the law, and He was led as a lamb to the slaughter in the place of the lambs of propitiation, and He was killed for us (as) a fattened bull, that there might be no necessity for us to offer the offspring of cattle. He came and He was lifted up upon the cross; oblations and sacrifices are not required from us; He gave His blood in place of all men, that the blood of animals might not be required of us; He entered the sanctuary which was not made by hands, and He became the priest and minister of the holy place. For from the time in which He came He abolished the observances which are of the law, and from the time that they bound Him the festivals were bound for them by chains; and because they wished to judge the innocent One He took the judges away from them; and because they rejected His kingdom He took away the kingdom from them, . . ., and the works which are in the law have grown old and become antiquated and fit for destruction, for from the time the new was given the old was abolished.

In another place Aphrahat says, “But Daniel testifies that, when Christ comes and is slain, Jerusalem shall be destroyed.” The sacrifices continued under the Mosaic Law right up to the year 70 therefore Jesus “came” in the year 70, the same year that Jerusalem was destroyed.

10 Clement of Rome and Paul

The letter to the Corinthians assigned to Clement of Rome is dated to about 97CE. This bishop may be the same Clement mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Philippians (4:3). Church historian Eusebius thinks so and equates the writer of the epistle with the bishop and co-worker of Paul. Clement explains that the writing of the letter was delayed due to some “sudden and successive calamitous events” in Rome. He is probably referring to persecution under Domitian. (see Item 14) Clement says Paul and Peter are from “our own generation.” Clement says Paul had recently been executed “under the prefects”. Eusebius says,

He [Clement] had seen and conversed with the blessed apostles, and their preaching was still sounding in his ears, and their tradition was still before his eyes. Nor was he alone in this, for many who had been taught by the apostles yet survived.

If the letter is genuine, and Eusebius thought it was, Clement and Paul shared the same generation. In fact, they knew each other, and they both flourished late first century after the Jewish War.

11 The evidence from Jerome

Jerome intimates that Paul was active AFTER the Jewish War. In his Lives of Illustrious Men, he asserts that:

Paul, formerly called Saul, an apostle outside the number of the twelve apostles, was of the tribe of Benjamin and the town of Giscalis in Judea. When this was taken by the Romans he removed with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia.

Again in his Commentary on Philemon Jerome says:

They say that the apostle Paul’s parents were from the region of Giscala in Judea; and that when the whole province was laid waste by the hands of the Romans, and the Jews were dispersed into the world, they were moved to the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. As a young man he followed the condition of his parents. And thus what he testified about himself can be confirmed, “Are they Hebrews? So am I…” (This is from 2 Corinthians 11:22)

Giscalis or Giscala was taken by the Romans midway through the War. It was the last town in Galilee to be captured. (Wars of the Jews, Book 4.2.1) It is clear from the history of the period that only one time and one event fits these passages. (Note that the scenario presented by Jerome is at odds with what we find in Acts. In Acts, Paul first appears on the scene as a young man witnessing the stoning of Stephen. This event is dated by orthodox scholars to  about the year 34.)

12 More evidence from Jerome

Jerome says in Letter 46,

The veil of the temple has been rent [Matthew 27:51]; an army has encompassed Jerusalem, it has been stained by the blood of the Lord. Now, therefore, its guardian angels have forsaken it and the grace of Christ has been withdrawn. Josephus, himself a Jewish writer, asserts that at the Lord’s crucifixion there broke from the temple voices of heavenly powers, saying: Let us depart hence.

But the holy site was abandoned in the year 70. [Wars of the Jews, Book 6.5.3] Therefore, according to Jerome, the Lord was crucified in the year 70.

13 Heresies mentioned by Paul

Heresies mentioned by Paul were invented late first century or early second century according to the church historians.

Irenaeus (c 130 – c 200) says,

They [the heretics Basilides and Saturninus] declare also, that marriage and generation are from Satan. Many of those, too, who belong to his school, abstain from animal food, and draw away multitudes by a reigned temperance of this kind.

Paul makes mention of the same heresies in his letter to Timothy.

They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:3)

The Cerinthians believed that Jesus was crucified and buried but not yet raised. Some believed that the dead will never rise. Paul refuted these doctrines which were extant in Corinth in his day. (1 Corinthians 15:12-34)

Epiphanius says,

Now this man [Cerinthus] is one of the ones who caused the trouble in the apostles’ time, when James wrote the letter to Antioch and said, ‘We know that certain which went out from us have come unto you and troubled you with words, to whom we gave no such commandment.’ (Acts 15:24)

Tertullian admits that the heresies existed in the time of Paul.

Besides all this, I add a review of the doctrines themselves, which, existing as they did in the days of the apostles, were both exposed and denounced by the said apostles.

If these heresies existed in 40 to 50CE why are there no documents relevant to these heresies, either apologetic or polemic, from the mid first century? It is much more likely that the heresies arose at the same time as the orthodox version of Christianity, not 40 years later.

14 The first persecution of Christians

The first general persecution of Christians seems to have occurred during the reign of Domitian (81-96). (The so-called first persecution under Nero is spurious.)

In Suetonius we have,

Domitian’s agents collected the tax on Jews [the Fiscus Judaicus] with a peculiar lack of mercy; and took proceedings not only against those who kept their Jewish origins a secret in order to avoid the tax, but against those who lived as Jews without professing Judaism.

From Philip of Side, we have,

Domitian, the son of Vespasian, having demonstrated many wicked [qualities/acts] to the Romans who were governmental officials, was the second [sic] to conduct a persecution against the Christians.

Church historian Orosius (c. 375- c. 418) declares,

For fifteen years this ruler progressed through every degree of wickedness. Finally he [Domitian] dared to issue edicts for a general and most cruel persecution to uproot the Christian Church, which was now very firmly established throughout the world.

In Eusebius we read,

He [Domitian] was in fact the second [sic] that stirred up a persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us.

The reason Vespasian and Titus did not persecute Christians may have been because the adherents were not numerous enough at that time (between 69 and 81CE) to attract imperial attention or they may have felt some sympathy for the plight of Jews and those with Jewish leanings in general. However, it is likely that there was initially local opposition, from Jews and pagans. Where only Jews were involved these matters may have been dismissed by Roman authorities as “questions about words and names and your own law.” (Acts 18:15) The Romans would only have intervened if there were threats to public order. Various incidents are recorded in Acts which may be based on actual events. (For example Acts 17:1-9)

By analogy the Book of Mormon was published in 1830 and local persecution of Mormons began almost immediately. The persecutors were “composed of various religious parties, but mostly Campbellites, Methodists and Baptists.” These events did not escape the notice of the media, and the general populace. In the same fashion, we can rightly surmise that if Christians had existed between 30 and 70 the reaction of orthodox Jews to their presence would have been noted by Josephus, and other Jewish historians.

Paul records persecution in the late 70’s which was probably local and not instituted by the emperor.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, perhaps written in 78)

In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. (1 Thessalonians 3:4, possibly written early 79)

Later in his career, Paul is on trial in Rome. (2 Timothy 4:16, Philippians 1:12-14, 4:22) Everything points to this occurring under Domitian. When Domitian was murdered in 96 all records of his deeds were destroyed by order of the Senate, and this may explain why we do not have more information about persecution of Christians at this time.

15 Daniel, Tertullian and the coming of the “Leader”

Concerning the Old Testament Book of Daniel, Schurer says,

The high estimation in which from the first this book was held by believing Israelites is best shown by the fact that it always continued to retain its place in the canon.

Daniel was quoted and referenced by both Jews and Christians in the first century as predicting the imminent end-time. For our purposes the relevant passage in the context of a somewhat obscure prophecy is,

After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. (Daniel 9:26)

The early Christian author, Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240) in arguing against the Jews for the coming of Christ as a past event says that the “leader” is destroyed at the same time as the city is destroyed. Everyone agreed that the city had been destroyed. He says,

Accordingly, the times must be inquired into of the predicted and future nativity of the Christ, and of His passion, and of the extermination of the city of Jerusalem, that is, its devastation. For Daniel says, that “both the holy city and the holy place are exterminated together with the coming Leader, and that the pinnacle is destroyed unto ruin.”

He also says in another place,

For the Scripture says thus, that “the city and the holy place are simultaneously exterminated together with the leader,” ― undoubtedly (that Leader) who was to proceed “from Bethlehem,” and from the tribe of “Judah.” Whence, again, it is manifest that “the city must simultaneously be exterminated” at the time when its “Leader” had to suffer in it, (as foretold) through the Scriptures of the prophets.

Although Tertullian in a contradictory fashion goes on to argue for the orthodox chronology of the birth of the Christ it can be seen that an observer in the first century would quite naturally link the destruction of the sanctuary (that is, the Temple) with the death of the anointed one (that is, the Christ). There would have been no reason from the point of view of Daniel’s prophecy to backdate the death of Jesus.

16 The new ruler: Vespasian or Christ?

Near the end of the reign of Nero a rumour circulated widely throughout the empire that a new leader would arise in the East. (See Item 49 Messianic hopes were highest just prior to 66) The Jewish historian Josephus elaborates on the source of this rumour.

But now, what did the most elevate them [the rebel Jews] in undertaking this war, was an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their sacred writings, how,” about that time, one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth.” The Jews took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now this oracle certainly denoted the government of Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Judea. However, it is not possible for men to avoid fate, although they see it beforehand. But these men interpreted some of these signals according to their own pleasure, and some of them they utterly despised, until their madness was demonstrated, both by the taking of their city and their own destruction. (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.5.4)

The church historian Eusebius comments on this excerpt from Josephus as follows:

He [Josephus] says that a certain oracle was found in their [the Jews’] sacred writings which declared that at that time a certain person should go forth from their country to rule the world. He himself understood that this was fulfilled in Vespasian. But Vespasian did not rule the whole world, but only that part of it which was subject to the Romans. With better right could it be applied to Christ; to whom it was said by the Father, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession.” (Psalm 2:8) At that very time, indeed, the voice of his holy apostles “went throughout all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” (Psalm 19:4 quoted by Paul in Romans 10:18) (Ecclesiastical History, Book 3.8.10-11)

Note that Eusebius aligns the timing of the destruction, the coming of the prophesied leader and the preaching of the gospel. An obscure 4th century text called De excidio urbis Hierosolymitanae or On the Ruin of the City of Jerusalem, expresses the same idea.

Some thought that it [the prophecy] made reference to Vespasian, the wiser thought it made reference to the lord Jesus, who in the flesh born of Maria in their lands spread his kingdom over all the space of the world.

The above passages show that events which confirmed the veracity of the oracle in the case of Vespasian also confirmed the veracity of the oracle in the case of Christ. In other words both leaders were thought to have arisen at the same time, that is on or around AD70.

Evidence from astronomy

17 The sign of a star

The sign of a star (actually Halley’s comet) appeared in 66 CE. Its previous appearance had been in 12 BCE. Josephus says,

… they [the Jews in Jerusalem] did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, … Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.288)

Tacitus says that in Rome,

At the close of the year [64] people talked much about prodigies, presaging impending evils. Never were lightning flashes more frequent, and a comet too appeared, for which Nero always made propitiation with noble blood. Human and other births with two heads were exposed to public view, or were discovered in those sacrifices in which it is usual to immolate victims in a pregnant condition. And in the district of Placentia, close to the road, a calf was born with its head attached to its leg. Then followed an explanation of the diviners, that another head was preparing for the world, which however would be neither mighty nor hidden, as its growth had been checked in the womb, and it had been born by the wayside.

An allusion to this portent is written into Matthew’s gospel as the heavenly sign, the star that the wise men from the east followed. (Matthew 2:2). That Jesus was neither “mighty nor hidden” is also related in the second chapter of the gospel according to Matthew.

Ignatius of Antioch says specifically that Jesus was revealed as a star, which heralded the ruin of the ancient kingdom.

How then, was he [Jesus] revealed to the ages? A star, brighter than all other stars, shone in the heaven, and its brightness was ineffable and its novelty brought forth astonishment. But the rest of the stars, together with the sun and the moon, formed a choir around the star; but it exceedingly outshone them all with its light. Now it was perplexing to know the origin of this novelty which was unlike anything else. Thereupon all magic was dissolved, every bond of malice disappeared, ignorance was destroyed, the ancient kingdom was ruined, when God appeared in the form of a human to give us newness of an eternal life. (Letter to the Ephesians 19)

It would have been obvious to first century Jews that Old Testament prophecy had been fulfilled in the year 66. The divine seer Balaam is reported to have said,

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near—a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel. (Numbers 24:17)

The star prophecy was also mentioned in the War Scroll (11) found at Qumran.

18 The sign of the sword

Josephus says, “There was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city…” (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.288)

Jesus says,

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)

The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel was instructed to warn Israel and Jerusalem. In chapter 21 we read,

The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries; prophesy against the land of Israel and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: I am coming against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. (1-3)

A sword, a sword is sharpened, it is also polished; it is sharpened for slaughter, honed to flash like lightning! (9-10)

Remove the turban, take off the crown; things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, abase that which is high. A ruin, a ruin, a ruin—I will make it! (Such has never occurred.) Until he comes whose right it is; to him I will give it. (26-27)

The coming of the one whose right it was to govern is associated with the appearance of the sword over the city.

Evidence from the New Testament

19 Paul wrote after the Jews were punished

The humiliation and defeat of the Jews is a past event in Paul’s writings. In Paul’s first letter to the believers in Thessalonica, he writes

…the Jews . . . killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God’s wrath has overtaken them at last. (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16)

The letter to the Romans must have been written after 70, for Paul says, regarding the Jews,

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? (11:1)

They were broken off because of their unbelief. (11:20)

There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. (2:9)

Four years after the end of the Great War in 1918, Pope Pius XI issued his first encyclical Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio. In this work of about 11,500 words the Great War is mentioned 14 times. Nine years later the same term gets only one mention in his much longer Quadragesimo Anno. Both encyclicals deal with similar themes.

Using the writings of the Pope as a guide and noting the indirect references to the War in Paul, we can reasonably speculate that he was writing about 10 years after the event.

20 Paul wrote after the Temple was destroyed

Many New Testament scholars conclude that the letter to the Ephesians was written after 70CE, because it refers to the destruction of the dividing wall between the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of Israel in the Jerusalem Temple. This letter was recognised by the early church as authored by Paul. Irenaeus c. 170 declares it is the work of Paul. Eusebius writing about 320 declared that all of Paul’s fourteen epistles were well known and undisputed.

According to Josephus a five-foot wall separated the Outer Court of the Gentiles from a set of stairs that led to the sanctuary, the platform on which the Temple stood. Gentiles were warned by Greek and Latin inscriptions fixed on pillars not to proceed beyond that point. The Romans had given permission to the Jews to execute any who transgressed the prohibition.

The warning tablet found in Jerusalem bears the following inscription in Koine Greek:

ΜΗΘΕΝΑ ΑΛΛΟΓΕΝΗ ΕΙΣΠΟΡΕΥΕΣΘΑΙ ΕΝΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ

ΤΟ ΙΕΡΟΝ ΤΡΥΦΑΚΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΟΥ ΟΣ Δ ΑΝ ΛΗΦΘΗ

ΕΑΥΤΩΙ ΑΙΤΙΟΣ ΕΣΤΑΙ ΔΙΑ ΤΟ ΕΞΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕΙΝ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ

Translation: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue.”

In Ephesians we read,

For he [Christ Jesus] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups [Jews and Gentiles] into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. (2:14)

Barth notes that, “the (aorist) tense ‘he has broken down’ reveals that Paul wants to speak of the factual, historical, completed destruction of the obstacle.”

The context of the passage is reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles and the constitution of a new temple. (v. 19-20) The author of Ephesians is clearly alluding to the wall which was broken down when the Romans destroyed the Temple at the conclusion of hostilities. Paul tells the believers that they now constitute a NEW temple, a new dwelling place for God. The passage in its context could only have been written after 70 CE.

21 Paul and the prominent Gospel character, John the Baptist

Paul never mentions a forerunner to Jesus; he never mentions John the Baptiser, although he must have heard of him. John the Baptiser seems to have had no theological significance for Paul. This is odd because John the Baptiser is a central character in the Gospel narratives, and the baptism of John is also mentioned in Acts. We can explain the lack of interest by Paul by noting that John the Baptiser died about the year 36 and the rumour of Jesus appearance, in line with our argument, began about 70. Hence there would have been no reason for Paul and the earliest Christians to connect John to Jesus.

However, we read in the gospels that the disciples of John fasted while the followers of Jesus did not, so it may be true that John’s teaching or a variation of it survived into the 90’s. Arguments against the status of John can be found in the gospels. See John 5:36. The ancient sect of the Mandaeans honoured John and rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

Matthew, the writer of the first gospel, was responsible for connecting the two lives as the contrived fulfilment of some passages from the prophets—or perhaps Matthew was reporting what had become a common belief. Either way it served a theological purpose to have John meet Jesus so that the superiority of Jesus could be demonstrated. The existence of John in history also served as an anchor for stories about Jesus.

22 The witness of James as recorded in Acts

The witness of James as recorded in Acts, makes the mission to the Gentiles contingent on the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

After they finished speaking, James replied, “My brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written, ‘After this I [the Messiah] will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; from its ruins I will rebuild it, and I will set it up, so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called. Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things known from long ago.’ (15:13-18)

The rebuilding of the city of David (that is Jerusalem) can only occur after its destruction. It was destroyed in the year 70, hence the Gentiles were called after 70 CE.

23 The parable of the widow and the unjust judge

He [Jesus] said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:2-8)

This parable contains many clues that show that it was based on events in the 60’s. To confirm this, I recommend reading the original story in Josephus. (Wars of the Jews, Book 2.15.1)

• The city is Jerusalem
• The unjust judge is the procurator, Gessius Florus (64–66) who was renowned for being thoroughly unscrupulous, corrupt and impious.
• The widow is Berenice, widow of Alexander (d.44 CE) and widow of Herod of Chalcis (d.48 CE), who tried by constant efforts to relieve the plight of the Jews.
• The chosen ones are the Jews, suffering injustice and oppression from the Romans under Florus.
• But they received no political justice, no political help from God. The Son of Man, Jesus, did come, but as the unexpected suffering servant – hence he was unrecognized. When he came as the parable says, he found no faith on the earth.

24 Save us from the Romans

At Jesus’ supposed triumphal entry into Jerusalem the crowd celebrates. The gospel of Mark says,

Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Mark 11:9-10)

Hosanna

Hosanna means “Deliver [us] please!” or “Save [us] please!” It is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew hoshia-na, or the Aramaic hoshana. Ziffer notes that,

It is used to this day in the synagogue in the special collection of Psalms found in all Jewish prayer books under the title of “Hallel!” that consists of Psalms 113-118. These psalms are chanted on certain festival days.

Hosanna in the highest!

As it stands this phrase makes little sense. Why would the Jews in Jerusalem on earth be crying out for help “in the highest”?

Greek, “in the highest” is, en tois hupsistois. There could be, but there are no connecting words in the phrase such as “you who are” which would make the sentence meaningful. This would translate as “Please help, you who are in the highest.”

The acclamation was probably made originally in Hebrew and translating back into that language, we get bameromiym. ba in Hebrew before another word means “in the…” For example, in Job 16:19, we read, “Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high (or in the heights) (Hebr. bameromiym).” meromiym is the plural of the noun marom which means “elevation, high place.”

But the phrase still lacks an object. A useful solution to this problem presents itself if we omit the ba altogether. We then get a different expression all together, but one which makes much more sense. Hence, we can safely say that the original expression was not hoshia-na bameromiym, but hoshia-na meromiym. me in Hebrew means “from.” romiym means “Romans.”

Now the phrase becomes “Please save us from the Romans!”

This urgent appeal to God makes sense as taking place between 66 and 70 CE as the Romans prosecuted their military action first in Galilee and then in Judea, and finally in the siege of Jerusalem.

25 The gate of Nain

We are told in the gospel of Luke that Jesus raised from the dead a young man who had lived in a town called Nain.

Soon afterwards he [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. (7:11-12)

Josephus describes Nain as a village in lower Galilee, which appears to agree with archaeological surveys. Conder and others who visited the site in 1882-8 say that “there are numerous traces of ruins extending beyond the boundary of the modern hamlet to the north, showing the place to have been once larger . . . There is a small spring north of the village; a second, ‘Ain el Baz, exists on the west, and beside it are rock-cut tombs, much defaced, and a tree.”

Prior to the Jewish War it appears that the town had no wall as Josephus says that the infamous leader of the revolt, Simon bar Giora “built a wall at a certain village called Nain, and made use of that as a fortress for his own party’s security.” Luke says that Jesus and his party approached the gate of the town. Clearly there could only have been a gate if there had been a wall. Hence the story appears to be set in a time after June 68 when, with Nero dead and the Roman campaign temporarily halted due to the confused state of affairs in Rome, the rebel leader Simon bar Giora set up a wall around the town and used it as a fortress.

The Gospel of Barnabas connects the Roman occupation with this miracle by Jesus. Barnabas says, “At that time the army of the Romans was in Judea, our country being subject to them for the sins of our forefathers.” (48.1)

26 Jesus reports the murder of Zechariah which occurred in 69

Zechariah, the son of Baruch was murdered by Zealots in a show trial in the Temple court in the year 69. (Wars of the Jews, Book 4.5.4)

Jesus refers to this incident.

Therefore I [Jesus] send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:34-36)

27 Jesus and familial division

Jesus preaches,

Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51–53)

Jesus says from now on… indicating that this generational division would come into effect immediately. However, when we search the gospels and Acts we do not find this. We do find division but it is never along the lines described in the prophecy. (Luke 12:13, John 10:19, Acts 14:4, Acts 23:7)

However, Josephus records demographic strife and division within families in Jerusalem about the year 68, as described by Jesus.

There was also a bitter contest between those that were fond of war, and those that were desirous for peace. At the first this quarrelsome temper caught hold of private families, who could not agree among themselves; after which those people that were the dearest to one another brake through all restraints with regard to each other, and everyone associated with those of his own opinion, and began already to stand in opposition one to another; so that seditions arose everywhere, while those that were for innovations, and were desirous of war, by their youth and boldness, were too hard for the aged and prudent men. (Wars of the Jews, Book 4.3.2)

Jesus’ saying accurately describes the demographic strife (young versus old) that attended the period of turmoil in Jerusalem about the year 68.

28 Baptised by fire

In the gospel story, Jesus declares, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49) John the Baptist says of Jesus that he, “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

It is significant that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the power that energised the first believers, is linked to the theme of fire.

To explain the link, the writer of Acts has Peter quote the Old Testament prophet, Joel. Peter allegedly spoke these words to explain the phenomena of Pentecost witnessed in Jerusalem after the ascension of the saviour.

In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. (Acts 2:17-20)

The portents of blood, fire and smoke are designated signs of the last days and actually appeared when Jerusalem was consigned to the flames. Peter’s speech refers to a contemporaneous event. The baptism by fire was experienced by believers who were trapped in Jerusalem or was imagined by those who observed it from a distance.

Josephus says,

Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did nowhere appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it. …but they [the Romans] ran everyone through whom they met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men’s blood. And truly so it happened, that though the slayers left off at the evening, yet did the fire greatly prevail in the night. (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.5.1)

Indeed, what Isaiah had prophesied was fulfilled.

And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. (66:24)

29 Poverty in Palestine

Paul collected money from the diaspora Church to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. Paul says,

They [the Jerusalem elders] requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do. (Galatians 2:10)

For Macedonia and Achaia are pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. (Romans 15:26)

Poverty would have been the norm in Jerusalem and indeed throughout Palestine after the War. Wilson names economic collapse as one result of the War, “exacerbated by the awarding of lands to Roman veterans.”

30 Taking the kingdom by force

In Matthew we read,

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, [OR has been coming violently] and the violent take it by force. (11:12)

There were several futile and violent attempts after John the Baptist (d. c.36 CE) to set up a Jewish kingdom. These attempts culminated in the general insurrection of 66-70 and effectively ceased when the Temple was destroyed, and Jerusalem was taken. Other attempts at setting up a Jewish kingdom occurred after this, in 115 and 130, but assuming the gospel of Matthew was written before 115, we can adduce this passage to confirm that Jesus did not “appear” until after the rebellion was crushed in the year 70.

31 I will destroy this temple

At Jesus’ trial before the Council, Matthew says,

Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” (26:59-61)

This so-called “false” testimony contains a kernel of truth. The destruction of the physical temple created the conditions for the building of a new temple, the church. And the temple “made without hands” (Mark 14:58) was planted in the same place as the old temple was destroyed; Jerusalem. (Acts 6:7) The linking of the two events in time and place is significant.

32 The consolation of Israel

In Luke we read,

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. (Luke 2:25)

This consolation would have been sought AFTER 70 CE, that is after the city, the temple and the country had been laid waste.

33 The Acts of the Apostles is out of sync with its literary setting

The author of Acts has the disciples say,

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

This passage would only have made sense in the 70’s not the 30’s, that is after Israel had been destroyed as a political state.

34 Paul quotes from a text that was written after 70

Paul quotes from an anonymous text called Biblical Antiquities that was written after the year 70, as it refers to the date Jerusalem was taken by Titus.

This is Paul’s quotation from this book:

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

This passage does not occur in the Old Testament, but does occur in Biblical Antiquities.

The phrase as it stands could have been in common use before the year 70, but why would Paul say, “as it is written” if he did not have in mind a particular written text?

35 Christ is “born” when Titus is powerful

Counting from Augustus, the seventh emperor in Rome was Titus if we leave out the three who reigned briefly in 68-69. (Galba, Otho and Vitellius) The great red dragon of Revelation chapter twelve has seven heads and ten horns. The reference is clearly to Titus, who was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. John says,

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. (v.4)

Then the dragon stands before a pregnant woman who is about to give birth in order to devour the child of the woman. The child is born and is snatched away to God and to his throne. It is clear from the context that the child is the potential political Messiah Jesus.

Later we are told that

. . . the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. (v.17)

The woman’s other children are Christians persecuted by the Roman authorities. The imagery of this passage strongly suggests that Jesus is born during the reign of the dragon which has seven heads, that is Titus.

36 Look, your house is desolate…

The house (that is the Temple) was already laid waste when Jesus “came.” His lament over Jerusalem is not written as a prediction of future events but as a lament over its present state. Jesus is made to say in the gospel of Matthew,

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ (Matthew 23:37-39)

The original source for the saying is Jeremiah 22.5, ‘But if you do not obey these commands, declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’ When did God make his house a ruin? Josephus says,

Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.” (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.5.3)

37 The martyrdom of Stephen

In the book of Acts, Stephen is brought before the council of Jews, and his accusers assert, ‘This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.’ (6:12-14) Central to the dispute is the question of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Stephen defends himself by saying that the Most High does not live in houses made by hands, and quotes the prophet Isaiah (66:1):

Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. (Acts 7:47-49)

Why would Stephen say this if the Temple was still standing and all the ancient rituals according to the Law of Moses were still being performed?

Josephus reports that shortly before the War “when the city was in very great peace and prosperity” a certain Jesus, the son of Ananus, beset the inhabitants of the city with his continual cries of doom. The populace duly complained to the governor who tried the man and after concluding that he was insane, dismissed him. (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.5.3) But the reaction of the Jews to Stephen’s speech is much more brutal. He is stoned to death. Why is this? I think we can rightly surmise that Stephen infuriated the Jews not because he made implausible predictions (and supposedly some thirty years before the events reported by Josephus) but rather because the Temple had already been destroyed and its destruction was not lamented by the Christians. Indeed the first Christians would have viewed the destruction as a benefit, as an opportunity to return to a more primitive and authentic religion which did not rely on physical structures and complex rituals. Stephen’s final insult was to lay at the feet of the Jews, the crime of killing ‘the Righteous One,’ a crime which according to the Christian worldview God punished by destroying the state of Israel and the Holy Place. Stephen, not being prescient of future events, either as a real martyr or as a character in a plausible story, could only have expressed these opinions and been the cause of this response after AD70.

38 Paul’s defence before the Athenians

It is written in Acts that Paul attempted to persuade the Athenians to become Christians (Acts 17:16ff). In his speech at a meeting of the Areopagus Paul is reported to have said,

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. (Acts 17:24-25)

The same idea is expressed by Paul in one of his letters.

For we know that, if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Corinthians 5:1)

Paul’s speech in Athens, according to the chronology of Acts, was made while the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing and the priesthood were still functioning. (Subsequent to this episode, Paul visits the Temple. See Acts 21:26.) It is inconceivable that Paul made this speech while the Temple, which was certainly made by hands and considered by the Jews to be God’s dwelling place (Psalm 84), was still standing. The speech must have been made after AD70 at a time when the Temple and the priesthood no longer existed

Evidence from extra-canonical works

39 The Epistle of Barnabas written after 70

The Epistle of Barnabas is preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament. Jerome (4th century) testifies that,

Barnabas the Cyprian, also called Joseph the Levite, ordained apostle to the Gentiles with Paul, wrote one Epistle, valuable for the edification of the church, which is reckoned among the apocryphal writings. (Lives of Illustrious Men)

Barnabas, the very important companion of Paul and fellow apostle (Galatians 2:1ff) wrote the epistle after the year 70.

Furthermore he says again, ‘Behold, those who tore down this temple will themselves build it.’ It is happening. For because of their fighting it was torn down by the enemies. And now the very servants of the enemies will themselves rebuild it. (16:3-4)

This letter was accepted as genuine by every early church father. One example is Clement of Alexandria.

Barnabas, too, who in person preached the word along with the apostle in the ministry of the Gentiles, says, I write to you most simply, that you may understand. (Stromata)

In his eschatology, Barnabas speaks of the three kings being subdued by one king. (4:4) This seems to indicate that he was writing in the time of the third king of the Flavian dynasty, Domitian (81-96), while awaiting the emergence of the resurrected Nero.

40 Peter comes after Simon Magus

Simon the Magician, or Simon Magus who flourished during the reign of Claudius Caesar (41-54) is portrayed as the arch-heretic, and he preceded Peter, according to the theological principle that darkness always precedes light. Peter says in one of the Clementine Homilies,

It were possible, following this order, to perceive to what series Simon belongs, who came before me to the Gentiles, and to which I belong who have come after him, and have come in upon him as light upon darkness, as knowledge upon ignorance, as healing upon disease.

Justin Martyr (mid second century) apprises us of this Simon.

There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome—”Simoni Deo Sancto,” “To Simon the holy God.” And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god; and a woman, Helena, who went about with him at that time, and had formerly been a prostitute, they say is the first idea generated by him.

It is recorded in Acts chapter 8 that Philip converted this individual to Christianity before the conversion of Paul.

41 Jesus died in the year 58

An ancient document written by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (late 2nd century) asserts that Peter did not preach to the Gentiles until twelve years after the preaching to the Jews. Clement relying on the authority of an older document called The Preaching of Peter, says,

Therefore Peter says that the Lord said to the apostles: If then any of Israel will repent, to believe in God through my name, his sins shall be forgiven him: (and) after twelve years go ye out into the world, lest any say: We did not hear.

From the account in Acts, preaching to Israel, that is the Jews, commenced at Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection, and we get the impression, although it is not specifically stated, that Peter’s preaching to the Gentiles followed shortly after the other early events recorded there.

There is another ancient source, a fragment published by Muratori, which deserves serious consideration. (Ludovico Muratori was an eighteenth century Italian historian, notable as a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian canon, the earliest known list of New Testament books.) The German theologian Von Dobschutz claims that this fragment is evidence of a tradition which rivals in antiquity and authority the chronology given by the writer of Acts.

The fragment contains the following information for Jesus.

1. Year of Birth: Q. Sulpito Camerino and C. Poppaeo Sabino (Consuls) – 9 AD

2. Year of Baptism: Valerio Asiatico II. and M. Juno Silano (Consuls) – 46 AD

3. Year of Death: Nerone III. and M. Valerio Messala (Consuls) – 58 AD

There are twelve years between the baptism of Jesus and his death, or to put it another way his ministry lasted twelve years. This may explain the twelve years mentioned by Clement. Jesus dies at the age of 49. We have already seen that another source, Irenaeus bishop of Lyon, has Jesus living into his late forties or fifties. (Item 1)

In our hypothesis, the religion (or preaching to all comers) began in the year 70. If we subtract twelve from 70 we get 58, which agrees with Muratori. Preaching to the Gentiles did not commence till after the Jewish War, which also agrees with Item 6. Our hypothesis neatly explains both sets of data – Muratori and The Preaching of Peter.

Numismatic evidence

42 For the redemption of Jerusalem

The phrase for the redemption of Jerusalem, a catchcry during the revolt turns up in the gospel of Luke and also on a coin minted in Gamala, in northern Galilee, around 66 CE. The capture and destruction of Gamala and its inhabitants is reported in great detail in Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 4.1. Luke says,

At that moment she [the prophetess Anna] came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child [Jesus] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38)

Danny Syon, of Israel Antiquities Authority reports the following.

Perhaps the most intriguing single find at Gamla is a coin. Only six of its kind are known, all of them found in the western quarters at Gamla, and all from the same pair of dies. It is a very crudely made bronze coin, obviously minted under improvised conditions and by an unskilled artisan. The obverse shows a cup, in clear imitation of the famous Jerusalem silver shekels which made their first appearance in the winter of 66 CE, which are generally accepted as showing one of the Temple utensils (AJC2:106–108). No doubt one of the Jerusalem coins served as a prototype for the Gamla coin, though no examples of the ‘models’ have been found to date.

The inscription starts around the cup and ends on the reverse, which carries no design. It states, in a mixture of paleo-Hebrew (biblical) and Aramaic (square) characters: “For the redemption of Jerusalem the Holy.” Ironically, a coin of ‘Akko-Ptolemais was found together with one of these, minted in honor of Vespasian when he landed there some months earlier on his way to crush the revolt.

No doubt these coins were produced during the siege or immediately preceding it, more as a propaganda effort than as currency, to make a political statement to the Jews, and possibly to the Romans. This coin challenges the traditional view of a fragmented Jewish front that was preoccupied mainly with internal strife and the defense of isolated sites by pockets of rebels, presenting Vespasian with an easy prey of towns and strongholds instead of a unified front. It shows that even under the most difficult conditions, the people of Gamla still remembered the original aims of the revolt, symbolized by ‘the redemption of Holy Jerusalem’.

43 Mary gives birth to Jesus under a date palm

In the Koran at Surah 19, Surah Maryam we read,

19. (The angel) said [to Mary]: “I am only a Messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son.”

20. She said: “How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?”

21. He said: “So (it will be), your Lord said: ‘That is easy for Me (Allah): And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (Allah), and it is a matter (already) decreed, (by Allah).’ “

22. So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place.

23. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: “Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!”

24. Then [the babe ‘Iesa (Jesus) or Jibrael (Gabriel)] cried unto her from below her, saying: “Grieve not! Your Lord has provided a water stream under you;

25. “And shake the trunk of date-palm towards you, it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you.”

26. “So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being, say: ‘Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allah) so I shall not speak to any human being this day.’”

27. Then she brought him (the baby) to her people, carrying him. They said: “O Mary! Indeed you have brought a thing Fariya (an unheard mighty thing).

As interpreted by Islam, the angel Gabriel, the date palm, the water stream and Mary the mother of Jesus are depicted on more than one series of Roman coins first minted in the year 71. The winged angel did not appear in Christian art until the 4th century.

Another version of this story, also based on the coin motifs, is found in The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. This Latin text originated in the sixth or seventh centuries, about the same time as the Koran was written. In this version Mary is escaping to Egypt with the baby Jesus and being “fatigued by the excessive heat of the sun in the desert” rests under a palm tree. The man in the scene is not an angel but this time it is Joseph. In the story, the child Jesus commands the palm tree to bend down and provide fruit for his mother. When the tree rises again it releases “a spring of water exceedingly clear and cool and sparkling.”

Both versions of the story as inspired by the coins tell of the coming of Jesus in the year 71.

That coins were used to settle questions of doctrine is illustrated by Matthew’s use of the Roman denarius in the teaching of Jesus about paying taxes. (22:17-21) In Lucian’s study of the religion of Astarte-Europa in Sidon he calls as witness the coinage of the district. (The Syrian Goddess)

Jewish evidence

44 The witness of the Jewish Aggadah, Part 1

Theological disputations between Christians and Jews took place in the Middle Ages and there are detailed records of three of these. The Barcelona Disputation of 1263 before King James of Aragon was recorded by Nahmanides, one of the greatest figures in the history of Jewish learning, and Jewish spokesman at the disputation. He reports as follows,

Fray Paul [the Christian disputant] now resumed, and argued that it is stated in the Talmud that the Messiah has already come. He cited the Aggadah in the Midrash of Lamentations [II:57]: A certain man was ploughing and his cow lowed. An Arab passed by and said to him, “Jew, Jew, untie your cow, untie your plough, untie your coulter, for the Temple has been destroyed.” He untied his cow, he untied his plough, he untied his coulter. The cow lowed a second time. The Arab said to him, “Tie up your cow, tie up your plough, tie up your coulter, for your Messiah has been born.”

From the same Aggadic text, one detail omitted is that the birth of the Messiah, at the time of the destruction, is located at Bethlehem in fulfilment of the prophet Micah at chapter 5v1.

According to Yehiel another disputant from that era, the Aggadic parts of the Talmud were not regarded as having the same authority as the Halakhic parts. ‘You may believe them or disbelieve them as you wish, for no practical decision depends on them.’ Nevertheless, the Midrash shows that a Jewish tradition was supported at some time that the coming (or birth) of Jesus was tied to the destruction of the Temple.

45 The witness of the Jewish Aggadah, Part 2

A Jewish tradition has Jesus invisibly present in Rome, until he has caused its ruin. In the Vikuah of Nahmanides we read,

Fray Paul asked me [Nahmanides] whether the Messiah of whom the prophets spoke has come, and I said that he has not come. And he cited an Aggadic book in which it is stated that on the day that the Temple was destroyed, on that very day, the Messiah was born.

Nahmanides admits this is true but goes on to say that he does not believe this. After some discussion the King asks; “Where is the Messiah at present?” And after further discussion, “But have you not said, in the Aggadah, that he is in Rome?” Nahmanides replies,

I said to him, ‘I did not say that he was permanently in Rome, but that he appeared in Rome on a certain day, for Elijah told that Sage that he would find him there on that particular day, and he did appear there; and his appearance there was for the reason mentioned in the Aggadah, but I prefer not to mention it before such throngs of people.’ The matter which I did not wish to reveal to them was what is said in the Aggadah: that the Messiah would remain in Rome until he brought about its ruin. This is just as we find with Moses our teacher, on him be peace, that he grew in the household of Pharaoh until he called him to account and drowned all his people in the sea.

The ruin of Rome is to be brought about by the Messiah as an act of revenge for the Roman treatment of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem. The appearance of the Messiah in Rome occurs after the Jewish revolt.

46 The Evangelium: “since the day that you were exiled from your land”

It is reported in the Babylonian Talmud (c. 200-500 CE)

‘Since the day that you were exiled from your land [ie 70CE] the Law of Moses has been superseded [lit. taken away] and another book given. [The reading in Cod. Oxford is – and the law of the Evangelium has been given.]

The full context of the above passage follows. The philosopher or judge in the story appears to be a Christian Jew. The other actors in the story are Jews.

Now, a certain philosopher [sectarian] lived in his vicinity, and he bore a reputation that he did not accept bribes. [he was a judge] They wished to expose him [lit. make sport of him], so she brought him a golden lamp, went before him, [and] said to him, ‘I desire that a share be given me in my [deceased] father’s estate.’ ‘Divide,’ ordered he. Said he [R. Gamaliel] to him, ‘It is decreed for us, Where there is a son, a daughter does not inherit.’ [He replied], ‘Since the day that you were exiled from your land the Law of Moses has been superseded [lit. taken away] and another book given [The reading in Cod. Oxford is – and the law of the Evangelium has been given.], wherein it is written, ‘A son and a daughter inherit equally.’ [There is no passage in any known Gospel that a son and daughter inherit alike. However, Paul in Galatians 3:28 says, There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.]

The story illustrates the notion that the Law ended when the new law of the Christian Evangelium (the “good news” or gospel) began, that is in the year 70.

47 The witness of the Avodah Zarah

The Avodah Zarah is the name of a tractate of the Talmud that deals with foreign worship. In it we find the following words which indicate that Jesus was alive during the lifetime of the Rabbi Akiva, who lived from about 50 to 135 CE.

Rabbi Eliezer said to him: Akiva, you are right, as you have reminded me that once I was walking in the upper marketplace of Tzippori, and I found a man who was one of the students of Jesus the Nazarene, and his name was Ya’akov of Kefar Sekhanya. He said to me: It is written in your Torah: “You shall not bring the payment to a prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord your God.”

48 The witness of Maimonides

The coming of Jesus (and Christianity) is linked to the destruction of Israel.

Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah (1170-1180) says,

Jesus of Nazareth who aspired to be the Mashiach [the Messiah] and was executed by the court was also alluded to in Daniel’s prophecies, as ibid. 11:14 states: ‘The vulgar among your people shall exalt themselves in an attempt to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble.’ Can there be a greater stumbling block than Christianity? All the prophets spoke of Mashiach as the redeemer of Israel and their saviour who would gather their dispersed and strengthen their observance of the mitzvot [commandments]. In contrast, Christianity caused the Jews to be slain by the sword, their remnants to be scattered and humbled, the Torah to be altered, and the majority of the world to err and serve a god other than the Lord.

It was not Christianity that caused the Jews to be slain but rather the slaying of the Jews in the Jewish Revolt that gave rise to Christianity.

Evidence from Roman historians

49 Messianic hopes were highest just prior to 66

Messianic hopes were highest just prior to the year 66, NOT during the reign of Tiberius. The destruction of the temples in Rome in the great fire of 64 may have caused many to question the efficacy of the old gods.

Suetonius records a fervent Messianic expectation during the reign of Vespasian.

A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East, that it was fated for the empire of the world, at that time, to devolve on some who should go forth from Judea. This prediction referred to a Roman emperor, as the event shewed; but the Jews, applying it to themselves, broke out into rebellion. (Vespasian, 4)

Also noteworthy is the fact that the prophecy recorded by Suetonius had traction with Gentiles as well as Jews. This would explain the appeal of Christianity to Gentiles who had absorbed these expectations; hence fertile ground for the preaching of Paul and others at that time.

50 Titus, the destruction of the Temple, Judaism and Christianity

A fragment from Tacitus links the destruction of the temple, and the attempted annihilation of the religions of the Jews and the Christians.

It is said that Titus first called a council and deliberated whether he should destroy such a mighty temple. For some thought that a consecrated shrine, which was famous beyond all other works of men, ought not to be razed, arguing that its preservation would bear witness to the moderation of Rome, while its destruction would for ever brand her cruelty. Yet others, including Titus himself, opposed, holding the destruction of this temple to be a prime necessity in order to wipe out more completely the religion of the Jews and the Christians; for they urged that these religions, although hostile to each other, nevertheless sprang from the same sources; the Christians had grown out of the Jews: if the root were destroyed, the stock would easily perish. (Fragments, 2.1)

This story seems to be another Tacitean invention as there is no other evidence that the Christians were persecuted by Titus, or that he regarded them as a threat. The Christians for their part would have had no interest in the Temple as a place of worship. But the passage does show that the emergence of Rabbinical Judaism and Christianity were linked to the same event, the destruction of the Temple.

51 Paul, circumcision and the poll tax

Paul disavows the Jewish custom of circumcision and sides with the Romans under Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, thus creating a theologically acceptable way for his Gentile followers to avoid paying the poll tax.

The Jewish poll tax was instituted by Vespasian to replace the temple tax after the temple was destroyed. Proceeds went instead to the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter in Rome. It seems to have continued until the year 362 when it was abolished by the emperor Julian. Suetonius reports that under Domitian, the scope of the tax was broadened.

Besides the exactions from others, the poll-tax on the Jews was levied with extreme rigour, both on those who lived after the manner of Jews in the city, without publicly professing themselves to be such, and on those who, by concealing their origin, avoided paying the tribute imposed upon that people. I remember, when I was a youth, to have been present, when an old man, ninety years of age, had his person exposed to view in a very crowded court, in order that, on inspection, the procurator might satisfy himself whether he was circumcised. (Domitian, 12)

Those who lived after the manner of the Jews would be God-fearers (Gentiles sympathetic to Judaism) or Jewish proselytes and could also be Jewish Christians or just ethnic Jews who didn’t want to pay the tax. The distinguishing mark was physical circumcision. Gentile Christians who followed Paul would have been exempt. Paul says,

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. (Romans 2:28-29)

Promoting a promising sect that avoided a tax while reaping all the benefits of its parent religion would have suited the apostles to the Gentiles and their followers. Berger and Lukmann in The Social Construction of Reality explain how this works at the group level.

Frequently an ideology is taken on by a group because of specific theoretical elements that are conducive to its interests. For example, when an impoverished peasant group struggles against an urban merchant group that has financially enslaved it, it may rally around a religious doctrine that upholds the virtues of agrarian life, condemns the money economy and its credit system as immoral, and generally decries the luxuries of urban living. The ideological ‘gain’ of such a doctrine for the peasants is obvious. Good illustrations of this may be found in the history of ancient Israel.

Evidence from Josephus

52 A new Roman religion predicted by the high priest Ananus in 69 CE

After robbers, zealots and renegades plundered Jerusalem, dishonoured the temple and killed the eminent citizens, the high priest Ananus (69 CE) predicted the emergence of a new, better religion with Roman sensibilities. Josephus, the Jewish historian, reports that Ananus said,

How then can we avoid shedding of tears, when we see the Roman donations in our temple, while we withal see those of our own nation taking our spoils, and plundering our glorious metropolis, and slaughtering our men, from which enormities those Romans themselves would have abstained? to see those Romans never going beyond the bounds allotted to profane persons, nor venturing to break in upon any of our sacred customs; nay, having a horror on their minds when they view at a distance those sacred walls; while some that have been born in this very country, and brought up in our customs, and called Jews, do walk about in the midst of the holy places, at the very time when their hands are still warm with the slaughter of their own countrymen. For truly, if we may suit our words to the things they represent, it is probable one may hereafter find the Romans to be the supporters of our laws, and those within ourselves the subverters of them. (Wars of the Jews, Book 4.3.10)

53 Praying for those in authority

Paul’s instruction to pray for kings and all in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2) echoes the moral imperative that Josephus stated in his history of the Jewish Wars. It was during that time that certain of the seditious including Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high priest, “persuaded those that officiated in the Divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner.” According to Josephus this affront “was the true beginning of our war with the Romans; for they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar.” This prohibition was seen as the highest form of impiety. Paul’s instruction to the church to pray for Caesar makes more sense if given after the War. He didn’t want the church to repeat the mistakes of the past.

54 There is no mention of Paul (or Christians) in Josephus’ histories

There is no mention of Paul (or any other Christians) in Josephus’ histories of the Jews. The book Wars of the Jews ends in 75 CE with the death of Catullus, the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis. The book Antiquities of the Jews ends in the 13th year of Domitian or 93 CE.

Josephus was a friend of Herod Agrippa II (c. 28–c. 95) who was the last client ruler of Rome from the Herodian dynasty. Josephus says that Agrippa wrote 62 letters to him, and “attested to the truth of what I [Josephus] had therein delivered” and that he, Josephus, used this information to compile his history of the Jews. Apparently in one of these letters, Agrippa wrote that he would inform Josephus of a great many things which he didn’t know. The emperor Titus as the patron of Josephus also took a keen interest in the contents of the histories.

In the Acts of the Apostles there is a long interview between this king and the apostle Paul, in which Paul is given every opportunity to defend himself and the new religion. (Acts 25:13, 26:32) The date of this interview is set around 59 when the Roman governor, Porcius Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over as the new procurator of Judea. According to the account in Acts the king expressed a great deal of interest in the philosophy of Paul and the career of Jesus, and Paul in the presence of the king and Festus says,

Indeed the king [Agrippa] knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. (Acts 26:26)

However, despite the alleged clear interest shown by the king in Paul and his theology, and his apparent prior knowledge of the new religion, none of this appears in the history of Josephus, who was the king’s friend and confidante.

This indicates that either Josephus deliberately omitted any reference to Paul and Christianity or the account in Acts is partly or wholly fabricated. I favour the latter conclusion as it is most unlikely that the king Agrippa would have given audience to an itinerant preacher who had no standing within the Jewish community, and whose reputation as a troublemaker had been well established. It is also worth noting that Josephus never mentions Christians even though they existed on the Italian peninsula while he was in Rome after the year 70. This could be because their numbers were too small to attract his attention in so large a city or if he did write something about them those references have been redacted from his histories by Christian scribes or else simply lost.

55 The Father and the Son

Jesus says,

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53)

The father-son motif, which is so strong in Christianity, was exemplified for all to see in the Vespasian–Titus partnership.

Church historian Orosius (4th century) declares,

The emperors Vespasian and Titus celebrated their victory over the Jews by a magnificent triumphal entry into Rome. Of all the three hundred and twenty triumphs that had been held from the founding of the City until that time, so fair and strange a sight had not been seen by man—father and son riding in the same triumphal chariot after their glorious victory over those who had offended the Father and the Son. (Book 7.9)

The son basks in the glory of the father

…of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father (Mark 8:38)

At the victory parade in Rome,

And as soon as ever it was day, Vespasian and Titus came out crowned with laurel, and clothed in those ancient purple habits which were proper to their family… After these spoils passed by a great many men, carrying the images of Victory, whose structure was entirely either of ivory or of gold. After which Vespasian marched in the first place, and Titus followed him. (Wars of the Jews, Book 7.123ff)

The son hands out punishments and blessings

For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. (Matthew 16:27)

The Jews are punished by Titus, the son.

Vespasian [the father] turned his thoughts to what remained unsubdued in Judea. However, he himself made haste to go to Rome, as the winter was now almost over, and soon set the affairs of Alexandria in order, but sent his son Titus, with a select part of his army, to destroy Jerusalem. (Wars of the Jews, Book 4.11.5)

Josephus, the righteous one, receives his reward from Titus, the son.

Titus was then present with his father, and said, “O father, it is but just that the scandal [of a prisoner] should be taken off Josephus, together with his iron chain. For if we do not barely loose his bonds, but cut them to pieces, he will be like a man that had never been bound at all.” (Wars of the Jews, Book 4.10.7)

The son copies the father

… the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)

Vespasian [the father] accepted of these shouts of theirs; but while they were still disposed to go on in such acclamations, he gave them a signal of silence. And when everybody entirely held their peace, he stood up, and covering the greatest part of his head with his cloak, he put up the accustomed solemn prayers; the like prayers did Titus put up also. (Wars of the Jews, Book 7.5.4)

The Holy Trinity

Josephus records,

But what made the most splendid appearance in Titus’s opinion was, when his father met him, and received him; but still the multitude of the citizens conceived the greatest joy when they saw them all three together, [Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian] as they did at this time. (Wars of the Jews, Book 7.5.3)

And Jesus proclaims,

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

Arguments from theology

56 Domitian hates the shedding of sacrificial blood

Suetonius says that Domitian,

Upon his first succeeding to power, . . . felt such an abhorrence for the shedding of blood, that, before his father’s arrival in Rome, calling to mind the verse of Virgil, . . . he designed to have published a proclamation, “to forbid the sacrifice of oxen.” (Domitian, 9)

The teachers of the new religion had said that Jesus’ death put an end to the Temple sacrifices. Paul says,

They [the believers] are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood. (Romans 3:24-25)

The writer to the Hebrews declared that the cult of temple animal sacrifices had been discharged in the shedding of the blood of one man, Jesus. “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4)

The Old Testament prophets could also be quoted to support this idea.

I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. (Amos 5:21-22)

It is significant fact that the opinion of the emperor agreed with a basic tenet of the new religion. No doubt there were others in the empire who shared the views of the emperor. Whatever the extent of the feeling or the changes in sacrificial procedures, Christianity would benefit; the arguments of the apostles would make more sense in this social environment. Note that Domitian had this proclamation in mind before his father Vespasian came to Rome. That would have been in the year 70.

57 Paul wrote after the law was ended

Paul’s attitude to the Mosaic Law was shaped by the events of 66-70.

Paul says that:

• those under the Law lack freedom – as the Jews did in the siege of Jerusalem (Romans 7:25)
• those under the Law are under a curse (Galatians 3:10)
• the Law brings the wrath of God (Romans 4:15)
• the Law brings death (2 Corinthians 3:7)
• the Law provokes sin (Romans 5:20)
• the Law locks people up (Galatians 3:23)

All these things happened in the seminal period of the insurrection, due to the Jew’s stubborn insistence on keeping the letter of the Law.

Now Paul says that God has “abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances.” (Ephesians 2:14) This has been achieved by the sacrifice of Jesus. Paul says,

For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)

Christ is the culmination of the law τελος νομου (telos nomou) “the close of the Law,” i.e. “He who brings it to an end.”

By an act of God through the agency of the Romans, the Law was ended dramatically in 70 CE, at the same time as Jesus appeared and was sacrificed for national sins.

58 The believers are the spiritual stones of a new Temple

Paul says,

Do you not know that you [plural] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you [plural]? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Peter says,

. . . like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, … acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5)

And,

So then you [Gentiles] are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. (Ephesians 2:20-21)

The idea that the believers metaphorically fulfilled the functions of stones in a new temple would have more easily arisen after the stones of the physical temple had been thrown down in the year 70.

59 The destruction of the temple in 70 CE left a prophetic vacuum

The destruction of the temple and the Sanhedrin in 70 CE left a prophetic vacuum, that needed to be filled. Ananus, the good high priest had been murdered. The prophetic vacuum was filled theologically by Jesus.

Justin Martyr in his argument with the Jews asserts that,

But after the manifestation and death of our Jesus Christ in your nation, there was and is nowhere any prophet: nay, further, you ceased to exist under your own king, your land was laid waste, and forsaken like a lodge in a vineyard. (Dialogue with Trypho, 52)

A parallel situation had occurred 200 years before. In the first Book of Maccabees, we read,

So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them. (4:46)

The Jews and their priests have resolved that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise. (14:41)

60 The punishment of the Jews not delayed

Was there a forty-year delay between the killing of Christ and the punishment of the Jews? The writer of the second book of Maccabees says this is not how God deals with his people. In referencing recent events in the second century BCE, he says,

Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by such calamities, but to recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people. In fact, it is a sign of great kindness not to let the impious alone for long, but to punish them immediately. For in the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins; but he does not deal in this way with us, in order that he may not take vengeance on us afterward when our sins have reached their height. (6:12-15)

61 The Jerusalem survivors are called by God

There was not a total massacre of the besieged in Jerusalem as Titus sold many into slavery and spared some 40,000.

And indeed the number of those that were sold was immense; but of the populace above forty thousand were saved, whom Caesar let go whither every one of them pleased. (Wars of the Jews, Book 6.8.2)

In the continuation of the passage from the prophet Joel quoted by Peter in Acts 2:17-20, we read,

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:32)

The Jewish believers naturally read themselves into the prophecy as the survivors whom the Lord had called, and their physical baptism by fire did indeed empower the new religion. As Isaiah prophesied,

Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:3-4)

62 The Way

Early Christians were called people of the Way. This term would have gained currency in the aftermath of the War as it was linked to key prophecies, which cited Jerusalem.

Skarsaune and Hvalvik make the following observation.

The way (η οδος): This was evidently the term the first Jewish Christians used for their form of Judaism. The absolute usage occurs five times in Acts (9:2; 19:9,23; 24:14,22; cf. 22:4: “this Way”), where we also find “the Way of the Lord” (18:25) and “the Way of God” (18:26).

The Way is connected with the conclusion of God’s punishment upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The punishment ended in the year 70.

Isaiah proclaims,

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ (40:2-3)

Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (30:19-21)

The Teacher was Jesus. The new religion was called the Way.