xxxvii. TITUS’ EDICT: After being surrounded on every side, the leaders of Jerusalem still refused to accept that defeat and destruction were inevitable. Josephus softens Titus’ edict, but it is fierce enough: ‘Titus was furious that people trapped in their city should demand conditions of him as if they were the conquerors. He ordered that an edict be issued. No longer was anyone to flee the city, nor should they seek any terms for peace. If they attempted to do so, he would not spare them.’ (Josephus, Jewish War, VI. 352)
xxxviii. WATER INTO WINE: It is universally accepted, even by the most critical of scholars, that Jesus performed many miracles in the eyes of his contemporaries, for example, casting out evil spirits and curing the sick. Such events as the walking on the water and the changing of water into wine are generally referred to as ‘nature miracles’. As the early Christians began to accept and understand that the risen Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, they also began to allow traditions to be written into their stories of Jesus that demonstrated that not only YHWH, the God of Israel, was Lord of the sea and master of nature, but so also was Jesus. There is strong Old Testament background to YHWH as master of the elements (Pss 29; 65:7–8; 89:9; 104:3–4; 107:24–32). The coming of the messianic era is also marked by a feast with an abundance of wine and good food (see Hos 2:19–20; Isa 25:6–8; Jer 2:2). However, if it had been true, Jesus would have changed about 120 gallons of water into wine!
xxxix. THE TWELVE: There is widespread agreement that Jesus chose an inner circle of twelve men from among his many disciples and followers. They are known as ‘the Twelve’ in Matthew, Mark and John. In Luke they become ‘the Twelve Apostles’. Jesus’ choice of the Twelve indicated his sense of creating a new people of God built upon the former people of God, founded upon the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The number ‘twelve’ is theologically significant. The Twelve form the cornerstone for the establishment of God’s people. For this reason, once Judas is removed from the group of the Twelve, a further witness to Jesus, from the beginnings to his resurrection, was chosen by lot. The ‘Twelve’ had to be maintained (Acts 1:21–26).
xl. SUICIDE: There is no explicit commandment against suicide in the Hebrew Bible, but God’s primacy over life and Israel’s prohibitions on the shedding of human blood imply that it is forbidden. The rabbis eventually came to forbid suicide explicitly. See, for example, the rabbinic teaching in Genesis Rabbah 34:21b. It may come as a surprise to some readers of The Gospel according to Judas that he did not hang himself. It is popularly accepted by Christians that this was the case. However, there is only one reference to Judas’ suicide in the New Testament: Matthew 27:3–10. According to Luke (Acts 1:18), he swelled and burst open in the middle and his bowels gushed out. Nothing is said about the death of Judas in the Gospels of Mark, Luke or John. Thus, only Matthew paints Judas as a Jew whose unforgivable sin of betrayal results in the further sin of suicide. When one becomes aware of the influence of Old Testament texts on Matt 27:9–10 (see Zech 11:12–13; Jer 32:6–15; 18:2–3), it is most likely that Matthew’s report of Judas’ death is an attempt to further blacken his name, in the light of the Old Testament predictions, when it never actually happened.
xli. THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER: Central to the popular understanding of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is the payment of thirty pieces of silver by the High Priests. No serious New Testament scholar accepts that this ever happened. In the Gospel of Mark, after Judas offers to betray Jesus, it is reported that: ‘And when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money’ (Mark 14:11). The Gospel of Luke does not mention the exchange of any money, nor does the Gospel of John. It should also be noted that the text of the Gospel of Mark does not suggest that any money was ever handed over. The author of the Gospel of Matthew had the Gospel of Mark before him, and he follows most of it, with embellishments. Matthew could not accept that the Messiah would be so easily sold out
by this unseemly deal between the priests and one of his disciples. He therefore turns to prophecies from Zechariah and Jeremiah and develops this theme in two major passages: Matthew 26:15 (‘And they paid him thirty pieces of silver’) and Matthew 27:3–10 (the return of the thirty pieces of silver, Judas’ suicide and the purchase of the potter’s field with the money). None of this is found anywhere else in the Gospels, but they are the details that have been at the heart of the Christian Church’s preaching, and the popular understanding of Judas. Matthew wishes to show that Jesus was not duped. However tragic, the betrayal was the fulfilment of prophecy. The details of the thirty pieces of silver come from Zacheriah 11:12 (‘So they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver’ [see Matt 26:15]), Zacheriah 11:13 (‘So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury, in the house of the Lord’ [see Matt 27:5]), and a collection of texts from Jeremiah 18:2 (‘the potter’s field’ [see Matt 27:7]) and Jeremiah 32:7–9 (the purchase of a field for pieces of silver [see Matt 27:7–9]).
xlii. MASADA: An almost impregnable palace-fortress was built by Herod the Great (circa 73–4bc) on the top of a mountain beside the Salt Sea. Even today, it is accessible only by foot from the side of the Salt Sea by what is called ‘the snake path’. The Romans, under Titus, eventually overran it in AD74.
xliii. CRUCIFIXION BY TITUS: Crucifixion was regarded by the Romans as the most supreme form of punishment (summum supplicium). Josephus reports that Titus used this form of execution regularly during the Jewish War, and especially following the siege of Jerusalem. See, for example, Josephus, Jewish War, V.449–451, where Josephus reports the crucifixion of so many Jews each day that ‘there was no longer room for the crosses and not enough crosses for the bodies’.
FRANCIS J. MOLONEY
JEFFREY ARCHER
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