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DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.?

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.?

ENQUIRY INTO THE TALMUD JESUS

STORIES, THE TOLDOTH JESCHU, AND SOME
CURIOUS STATEMENTS OF EPIPHANIUS
BEING A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF
AN

BY G.

CHRISTIAN ORIGINS.

R.

S.

MEAD,

M.R.A.S.

B.A.,

Where are divers opinions, they may be all false; there can be
but one true
and that one truth ofttimes must be fetched by
piece-meal out of divers branches of contrary opinions.
For, it
falls out not seldom, that truth is, through ignorance or rash
"

vehemence, scattered into sundry parts and like to a little silver

melted among ruins of a burnt house, must be tried out from heaps
of much superfluous ashes.
There is much pains in the search
of it, much skill in rinding it the value of it, once found, requites
;

the cost of

both."

BISHOP HALL.

LONDON AND BENARES

THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
1903

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS
I.

FOREWORD

PAGE

Christ and Criticism

.......
......

Brahman and Jew

The Christian and the Torah
The Jew and the Gospel
The New Humanism

Theology the Divider

An Appeal to Humanists
The New Jewish Encyclopaedia

The Talmud
History and Dogma
The Womb of Christianity
The Interest of our Enquiry
The Main Object of Search
The Problem
The Need of its Definition
The Resultant Dilemma
.

"

Occult

Research

"

Its Possible Validity

3
4
6

.....

8
9

11
.

.....

11

12
13

14
15

......
......
....

Some Verified Results

The Sane Attitude of the Layman
The Scope of our Enquiry
II.

15
16
18

20
22
23
25

.......
.........

THE CANONICAL DATE OF JESUS

Ultra-Scepticism
Criticism

The

Position of the

Layman

....

Encyclopaedias ignore our Problem

Recent Research on the Date of the Nativity

The

Pilate

Date

In the Acts
In the Pastoral Epistles
Van Manen on Pauline Literature

28
29

30

32
33
35
36

....

The Pilate Tradition in the Gospels

The "Oldest" Written Gospel
The Date of the "Common Document"
The Strength of the Tradition
.

...

37
38
41
43
45
46

VI

III.

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
EARLIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE

RECEIVED

DATE
The Absence

of

Evidence in the First Century

........
.....
?......
.........
......

Pliny the Younger

Suetonius.

The

"Christian!"

Tacitus

Is it a Christian

Formula

an Interpolation
Josephus
Is it

The Spurious Passage

The Jacobus Passage
The Silence of Josephus
The Book of James
The Gospel of Peter
The "Acts of Pilate"
"

"

"

IV.

55

56
58
60
61
61

65

....
.....

Real Conditioning of Jewry

68

Psychological Moment
Study of the Law

70

Need

of it

72
73

.....

....
....
.....
....
"

Objections to the Traditional View

The Tradition of the Esotericists
Mysticism and Orthodoxy
The Writing of the Oral Tradition
The Main Interest of the Talmud for Christians
.

Justinian

74
75
76
77
78

"

"

THE TALMUD

69
71

Fathers of Orthodoxy
Great Heresy

Evolution of Tradition
Glimpse behind the Scenes
The Evidence of the
Book of Jubilees
The Oral Law and its Heredity

79
81
81

84

IN HISTORY
Novella

.......

The Crusades
The Inquisition
The Paris Trial
.

89
90
90

In England
Sensible Pope

Spanish Apostates

Even the Prayers

86

87
88

Persecution in Spain

One

53

64

V.

50
50
52

62

"

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD

The
The
The
The
The
The
The

48

.......

of the

Jews

fall

under the Ban

91
91

92

Vll

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
"

"

History of Apostates

Pfefferkorn

94

Reuchlin

94

The Germ of the Index

The Talmud-Fires Relighted
The Censor

95

His Absurdities
Imnianuel Deutsch

98

Cryptography
Anti-Semitism

Odium Theologicum
VI.

IN THE TALMUD

96
97

99

.......

102
103

OUTER COUKT

The Need of Preliminaries

The Manhood of the Soul
Of the Talmud in General
Its Forms and Languages
The Talmuds of Palestine and Babylonia

104
105
106

.106
.107
108

Statistics

109

No

Complete Translation
The General Ignorance on the Subject
Translations in Progress
An Unsatisfactory State of Affairs
.

114

Internal Difficulties

VII.

110

.111
.113

THE EARLIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE TALMUD

JESUS STORIES
116
The Earliest Persecution of the Christians by the Jews
.117
The Testimony of Paul
118
Of the Acts
119
The Terminus a quo
120
The Probable Origin of the Mamzer Stories
.

Justin Martyr
Bar Kochba s Persecution

121
.

.122

....
......

General Charges
The Proclamation and the Curse
Estimate of the Evidence
Celsus

The Virgin Birth Dogma

BenPandera
John the Baptist
Frequent Remodelling of the Gospel Story
Value of the Evidence
Tertullian

124
124
126

127
128
129
130
131
132

132

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

Till

PAGE
VIII.

THE TALMUD

YEARS B.C. STORY OF JESUS

100

The Translation of the Censured Passages

The Name Jeschu
The Ben Perachiah Story

"

"

135
136

.........140

King Jannai
Queen Salome and the

"

Golden Age

Joshua ben Perachiah

Jesus a Learned Man

"

IX.

.141
.141

"

Is it the Original Form

The Problem Restated

.....

The Murder of the Innocents

The "Little Ones"
Was Herod Guilty ?
The Inn and the Horns
The Excommunication of Jesus
The "Brickbat"
The Jehuda ben Tabbai Story
"

"

137
138

....
....

"

145
146
146
147
148

of the Jesus Story

149
150

THE TALMUD MARY STORIES

The Mary Stories Unhistorical
The "Book of Genealogies"
Ben Stada and Ben Pandera
The Lud Stories
A Famous Discussion on Bastardy
.

.152

.....

Criticism thereon

How

The Vision

of Rab Bibi

A Commentary

thereon

......

The Story of Miriam in Hell

The Hinge of Hell s Gate
Miriam and the Soldier

161

162

163
164

"

"

154
155

it

153

.156
.157
.158
.160
.160

became a Mary Story

The Story of Paphos ben Jehudah
How it became a Mary Story

X.

142
143

.165

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS STORIES

The Bringing of Magic out of Egypt
The Writing on the Skin
The Evolution of Legend
The Hiding of the Parchment
The Circumcision of the Heart
The Rabbis puzzled by their own Creations
A Mediaeval Commentator
.

168

.....
.....

Rabbi Tarn
Miriam Megaddela

167
168

169

170
171

172
173

.174

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
The Magdalene and the Sophia
The Mystic Element
Concerning the Enticer to Idolatry

IX

....

The Stoning of Jesus

The Hanging of Jesus
Traditions

"Lud"

The Forty Days

Hanged

No Knowledge
Jesus

"

Proclamation

XL THE TALMUD BALAAM

185
185
.

the Nicolaitans

Suggested Explanation
On the Going out" from a
"

.186

187
"

....
....

Company

"

189
191

192
"

193

......
.....
......
......201
.....
.......

...

Exegesis
Gehazi-Paul

187
189
190

"

"

Doeg, Ahitophel, Gehazi

Those who have no Part in the World to come

194

195
196
197

"Elisha"

The Disciples of Balaam inherit Gehenna

The Age of Balaam-Jeschu
A Chronicle of Balaam
Phineas-Listaa

200
200

.........
....
........

Onkelos-Aquila

Boiling Filth
The Lecture Room of

Haman-Jeschu

Ben Pandera

198

199

Balaam the Lame Man

The Necromancy of Onkelos
Exegesis

.182

183
184

"

Minim

181

181
.

Siphre

.179

180

Torah v. Gospel
Balaam- Jeschu a Prophet
A Hypothesis
Balaam-Nicolaos
Burning One s Food Publicly
for

"

........
.

Apology

was

JESUS STOKIES

The Balaam Midrash

Comments thereon
Resh Lakish and Rashi
Abbahu
Chia bar Abba

An

178

of Crucifixion

near those in Power

Bileam-Jeschu

Jesus

before

PAGE
174
175
176
176
177
178

202

203

204
205
207
208

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
XII.

THE DISCIPLES AND FOLLOWEKS OF JESUS

TALMUD
The Minim Passages
The Five Disciples of Jesus
The Crucifixion
The Number Five
The Proof from Scripture
The Puzzle of the Names
Todah
Bunni
"

Netzer
Are the

Names Genuine

IN THE

210
210
211
212
"

Jacob

The Heresy

of R. Eliezer

...

AHalachaof Jeschu

Variant of the Story

Eliezer s Connection with Christianity
In Search of Dates

Ben Dama and the Serpent

of

James and the Viper

An Early Christian Mode of Healing

Brother of the Lord
James the
James the Ascetic

Lord"

"

"

Philosopher

Date Indications
A Saying from the Gospel
.

are to be Destroyed

Minim
Minim
Weinstein on
Boycott of Minim
"

"

"

"

.231
.231
232

.232

.....

The Personified Gospel

Some More Minim Passages
The Curse on the Minim
Minoth
The Answer of the Rabbis to the Minim
The Books of the Minim
Friedlander on

225
226

230
230

Olbias

They

224
224

226
227
228
229

Probable Solution

The Talmud Jacob

The Story of the Bribed

220

220
221
222

"Shrines"

Some Difficulties
The "Brother of the

217
218
219

.....223

James the Disciple not James the Just

The Testimony of Paul

"

"

The

.....

Variant

The Story

213
213
213
215
215
215
216
216

234

234
235

...
....

.236
.

.....
......
.

236

237
237
238
239

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

XI
PAGE
239
240

Impurity of Minim
Minim compared with Tax-gatherers
The Rolls of the Law written by Minim to be Destroyed
The Shema and the Minim
The Minim and the Eastward Direction
The Importance of the Talmud for the Study of
.

240
241

241

.......

Christian Origins

XIII.

242

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU

243

Causes of Hatred

The Inquisition knows

....

the Toldoth

little of

Suggested Keasons for this Silence

The Paucity of Material
Recent Publication of New Material

244

245
245
246

Krauss "Leben"
His Estimate of the Toldoth

247
248

Good Christian Sources

s View
Only One Source of Information

248

"

"

249
250

Bischoii

.......

General Literature

Extent of

New

Material

in English

2f>l

252
253
254
255
255
256

Bischoff s Classification

Printed Texts

Krauss

New

.....

Texts

Language
Titles

The Name
XIV.

A JEWISH

"Jeschu"

...

LIFE OF JESUS

.258

The Seduction

How
The

the Bastardy of Jeschu was

Robbing of the Shem

made Public

259
261

.262
....
....
....
.... .268

Jeschu claims to be Messiah and works Miracles

with the Shem
Jeschu and Queen Helene
.

Jesclm

Miracles in Galilee

The Magic Contest with Judas

Jeschu is Condemned to Death
Jeschu is rescued by his Disciples
The Betrayal of Jeschu
Proofs from Scripture
Jeschu is Hanged on a Cabbage-Stalk
The Body is Stolen from the Grave

266

The Proclamation

of the

Queen

267

270

...
.

263
264
265

271

,272

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

Xll

The Body is Recovered

The Disciples of Jeschu make Strife in Israel
How Elijahu removed them from Israel
The Commandments of Jeschu

The Heresy of Nestorius

Shimeon Kepha
The Scriptures of Shimeon
XV.

....
.

.....

276
277
279

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS

Toldoth as distinguished from Talmud Stories

Tertullian

.......
.......
.......
........

Does he refer to a Jesus Story

Jesus is Stoned
The Clementines
Pagan Writers

Porphyry
Hierocles

Julian the Emperor

The Chi est" John
"

The Acts

of Pionius

Arnobius

Ephrem Syrus
Jerome
Epiphanius
John Chrysostom
Gregontius

John

of

Damascus

Agobard
Hrabanus Maurus

Ussum ha-Mizri
Suidas
Peter Alphonsi

Raymund

Martini

.......

The Cabbage-Stalk
Luther
Schemtob ibn Schaprut
History of Jeschu ha-Notzri
History of Jeschu ben Pandera
Value of Schemtob s Evidence
Aramaic Toldoth Forms

XVI.

PAGE
273
273
274
275

THE

100

281
281
282
283

283
284
284
285
285
286
286

287
287
288
288
289
289
289
290
292
293
293
294
295
296
296
297
297
298
299
300

YEARS B.C. DATE IN THE TOLDOTH

....

302

Impossibility of Tracing accurately the Evolution of

the Toldoth

302

Value of Toldoth

for

our Enquiry

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

Xlll

Genesis of the Toldoth

The Oldest Oral Sources

The Oldest Toldoth Elements

A New

Date Indication in the Toldoth

The Jungle of Dates

Queen Helene

.306

....

Krauss Unsatisfactory Theory

The Helene Element very old

309

Helen of Adiabene
"Monobaz"

a Gloss

309
310
311
312

Helene- Salome

Helene-Selene

The Simon Magus Legend

Pros and Cons of the Argument
The Date according to the Jewish History-writers
The Date according to the Earliest Toldoth-writers
The Ben Perachiah Date is probably the Earliest
The Exoneration of Miriam
Did Jesus claim to be the Messiah ?
The Shem
.

.312
.313
.

317
319

YHWH

XVII.

Evolution of Mystery
Shem Story a Later Development

Fight in the Air

Hanging on the Cabbage-Stalk

The Origin

323

"I.

OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS

of the

Its use in the

Name

"

Christian

"

.324

"

Acts"

Peter"

Pagan Designation
Date of Origin

TheNotzrim
The Meaning

.....
......

of Nazareth
Bethlehem-Nazareth
Nazareth = Galilee

The
The
The

Galileans
"

319
320
320
321
322

.322

"Canal"

ON THE TRACKS

In

315
315
316

.317

Mystic Masonry

The
The
The
The
The

307
308

309

Oleina
Is

PAGE
303
304
305
305

Nazoraeans or Christians

Jessseans

Value of Epiphanius

The Therapeuts
The Name "Essene"

"

....

324
325
325
326
326
328
328
329
330
330
331
332
333
334

XIV

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
The Mind of Epiphanius
The Isseei of Nilus
The Therapeut = Christian Controversy
The Therapeut Dilemma
The Name-Juggling of Epiphanius
The Osseni
The Nazora?i
The Flight to Pella
Towards the Facts of the Case
"

"

....

........
......
.......

Nazorsean Scriptures

The Hebrew Gospel

Ancient Readings
The Nazinei
The Nazirs
The Neo-Nazirs

339

340
341
342
343
343
344
345
347

"Sun-worshippers"

347
348
349

Their Mystic Doctrine

Ebionites

349
350

The
The
The
The
The

351

"Poor"

Riddle of the

Name

....
.....
....

Twofold Ebionism Hypothesis

Early Date of Gnosticism
Paul and the Gnosis

The Abortion
The Puzzle of the Pauline Communities
"

"

New

357
358

358
359

The Samaritans

,.

.360

Samaritan Sects

The Importance of Dositheus

Some Curious Legends

.....

"BOOK

OF

363

ELXAI"

"

....

Date Indications

The Church Fathers and the

361

.....363

The Shepherd of Hennas

Hermas a Composite Document
"

360
361
362

Dositheus and the 100 Years B.C. Date

The Conflation of Traditions

CONCERNING THE

355
356
356

Definition of Ebionism

Dositheans

353
354

"

Necessity for a

351

352

Ebionite Christology

The Doctrine of Election

The Shepherd of Hernias" on Election
The Heresy of all Heresies

XVIII.

337
338

346

.......
... ...

The Rechabites
The Sampsaeans

PAGE
335
336
336

"

Book of Elxai

"

365
366
367
368

XV

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
The Date of the Book
The Three Years of Trajan
The Book older than the Prophecy
"

"

Who

PAGE
369
369

....

370

was Elxai?

Elxai- Sophia

lexai-Christos

Jexai-Jesus

Sobiai-Sophia

371

372

........
......

Marthus arid Marthana

Our Lady Martha
The Sophia and her Twin Daughters
The Impure and the Virgin Wombs
Mary and Martha
The Merinthians
The Christology of the Book of Elxai
.

376
378

....
.

Manifestations of the Christ

The Twice-born

Further Date Indication

Fire

.....

and Water

Ichthus

The Autun Inscription

From "The Descent into Hades"
Fish and the Eucharist
The Antiquity of the Elxai Tradition
The Mogtasilah
The Schinmn of Elxai
.

XIX.

THE

100

YEARS

B.C.

DATE

379
379
380
381
381
382
383
384
384

......

Elcesei-Cephar-naum

375

377

"

Many

374
374
375
375

"

"

"

"

373

385

385
386
386

IN EPIPHANIUS

....
.....

The Over-confidence of Epiphanius

388
388
Epiphanius and the Jannai Date
The Character of Epiphanius
389
The Value of Epiphanius as a Hseresiologist
390
The Riddle of Epiphanius
.391
...
The Most Remarkable Passage in Patristic Literature
393
.

Patent Errors therein

The

Silence of the Commentators

Epiphanius on the Canonical Date

Mystically necessitated

Numbers

"

Harmonizing"

....
....
....
....
it is

Written

"

....
....

Industry of Epiphanius

His Magnificent Inconsistency

The Bete Noire of Epiphanius

Epiphanius repeats his Riddle

In Order that it might be Fulfilled as
Drummond on Criticism

The

394
394
395
396
396
397
398
399
400
401

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

XVI

Histories
Epiphanius and the
The Succession from the Tradition of the Jews
"

"

The Children of Joseph

James
The Names of the Sisters of Jesus
Salome and Maria
Salome and Miriam
Epiphanius a Converted Jew
The Living Oral Tradition of Jewry
The Birthday of the Christ
The Crucifixion and Resurrection Mystery Rite
Plagiarism by Anticipation

....
.......

.....
.

Farewell to Epiphanius
Was Jesus in Egypt prior to 30 B.C.

X X.

....

"

"

PAGE
402
403
404
404

405
405
406
406
407
408

409
410
411
412

AFTERWORD

A
A

.....414
.....415
413
414

Retrospect
Legitimate Subject of Criticism
A Question for Jewish Scholarship
Its Importance for Jewish Apologetics
The Bona Fides of the Talmud
.

416

Line of Defence

417

The Method of Haggada

The Jannai Puzzle
Its

417
418

......419
419

Apparent Senselessness

The Seeming Silence of the Rabbis

The Strength of the Christian Tradition
.

Common Document"
Suggested Genesis of the
The Pilate Date from a New Point of View

.421

"

....
.....
.

"Pontius Pilate
Name-change
Review of this Suggestion
"a

The Making of "History"

The Secret Sermon on the Mountain
The Son of God and Virgin Birth
The Suppliant," the World and the Fullness
The "Mind"
The "Mind" and the "Man"
the Logos
The Memory of the "Race
The Mind and the Senses

425

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

....

"

"

"[of

Virtue and Vice

422
422
423
424

426
428
429
430
431
431

432
433

433
The Root of Humanity
434
The Christ
The Ground of Reconciliation between Jew and Christian 435

A Humble

Petition

ADDITIONAL NOTES

435
.

437

DID JESUS LIVE 100

FOREWORD.

WHEN some five and a half centuries

era the

Buddha

convention, and throw open the

down

Way

irrespective of race or birth,

all,

before the Christian Christ and

arose in ancient Aryavarta to substitute

actuality for tradition, to break

to

B.C.?

we

the barriers of

of

Righteousness

are told that

He

His race and times,

self-reliance and a freedom

set aside the ancestral scriptures of

and preached a Gospel

of

from bibliolatry that will ever keep His memory green

the independent thinkers of the world.

among

When
down

Amme

to the
alists

the Christ arose in Judaea, once

more

to

the barriers of exclusiveness, and preach the

break

Way

and legal

ha-aretz, the rejected of the ceremonipurists,

we

are told that

He

extended the

His great authority over the ancient writings

His fellow-countrymen, and cited the Torah as the

aegis of

of

very

Law

We

of

God

Himself.

are assured

nation of Deity

by Traditionalists that the Incar

the very Giver of that Law, ex

Itself,

plicitly attested the

genuineness of the Five Books

He,
with His inerrant wisdom, asserted that Moses wrote
them, just as

it

was believed by the people

of

His day.
1

DID JESUS LIVE 100

2
Whereas,

if

B.C. ?

there be anything certain in the whole field

cannot be the whole

of Biblical research, it is that this

truth of the matter.

It has

been said in excuse that the Christ did not

come on earth
This

cism."

to teach

may

His

well be

so,

disciples the

and yet

"

higher

criti

a fact of pro

it is

found significance that, as we shall see in the course of

the present enquiry, even in His day this very Torah,
and much more the Prophets and Sacred Writings,
Brahman and

were called into serious question by many.

If, however, the Christ actually used the words as

Him

cribed to

stand

why

in this matter,

it

is

under

difficult to

a plan so different in this respect

was adopted

West from the apparently far more drastic attempt

was made so many years before in the East. It

in the

that

may, however, have been found that the effect of a so

abrupt departure from tradition had not proved so
successful as

had been anticipated,

for the

Brahman,

instead of giving of his best, and allowing himself to

become the channel of a great spiritual outpouring for

the benefit of the world, quickly resumed his ancient

position of exclusiveness

So in the case

of the

and

Jew,

spiritual isolation.

who

was, as

it

were, a like

channel ready to hand for the West, whereby the new

spiritual forces could most efficaciously be liberated, it

may have been thought

of

that

"chosen"

gently treated

But even

and

that

if

the traditional prejudices

"peculiar"

perhaps greater

people

results

so the separative forces in

were more

would

human

nature were

too strong, and the Jew, like the Brahman,

into a

more

rigid exclusiveness than ever.

Wisdom behind Her

Servants doubtless

follow.

knew

fell

back

But the
that this

FOREWORD.
would

and reserved both Brahman and Jew for some

be,

future opportunity of greater promise, while She tem

porarily utilized them, in spite of
spite of

brethren; for

and

all of us,

Brahmans and Buddhists, Hebrews

Christians, are of like passions,

the bonds of our self-limitations

all

children of one Mother, our

and

themselves, and in

the mistakes of their Buddhist and Christian

and struggling

and ignorance

common human

we

in

are

nature,

one Father, the divine source of our being.

It may have been that in the first place the great
Teacher of the West made His appeal to the Brahmans
of

"

Jewry, and only when He found that no impression

could be made upon their rigid adherence to rules and
customs, did he go to the people. There are many Say
of

ings strongly opposed to Legalism, as

understood by

subsequent Kabbinical orthodoxy, and, as we shall see,

there were many mystic circles in the early days, even
on what was considered the ground of Judaism," which
"

not only rejected the authority of the Prophets and

Sacred Writings, but even called into question the Torah

proper in much of its contents. Moreover, we find that

Jesus was, among other things, called by the adherents
of orthodox Eabbinism a "Samaritan," a name which

connoted

"

"

heresy

we

in general for the strict Jew, but

seems

student of history
sometimes to stand merely for one who held less exclu
which, as

shall see,

to the

sive views.

However
or

hoped

and whatever was attempted The

the beginning, the outcome was that

all this

for at

until about the

end

may

be,

of the first

century the Christians

regarded

the documents

of

their only

Holy

and when they began

Scripture,

the Palestinian canon as

to

add

Christian

DID JESUS LIVE 100

own

B.C. ?

clung to the
Books of Jewry, and regarded them with the same
enthusiastic reverence as the Eabbis themselves.
The
to this their

sacred writings, they

still

"

"

of it

good

was that a strong link

thus forged

the

evil,

of East

with West was

that the authority of this library

and myths, histories and ordi

nances, the literature of a peculiar people, and the record
of their special evolution, was taken indiscriminately
of heterogeneous legends

more

as being of equal weight with the

new movement.

speak, universalizing views of the

to

Moreover, every

God

moment

liberal and, so

of the evolution of the idea of

Jewry was taken as a full revelation, and the

crude and revengeful Yahweh of a semi-barbarous stage
equated with the evolved Yahweh of the mystic and
in

humanitarian.

For good or

ill

Christianity has to this day been

bound up with

this record of ancient Judaism.

Ancestors

Jew have become

of the

glorified Patriarchs of

men walked

humanity, who beyond

with God.

The

regarded as the making

is

of the Christians.

the Christians as God, so

all

other

Biblical history of the

Jew

straight in the desert of

human immorality and paganism

Lord

The

for the Christian the

Jesus,

much

of a

who

highway
is

for the

worshipped by

so that the cult of the

Father has from the second century been relegated to

an entirely subordinate position Jeschu ha-Notzri

was a Jew.
The Jew and
the Gospel.

On

the other

s ^ rail g e

hand we have to-day before us in the Jews

profoundly interesting phenomenon

an(j

a nation without a country, scattered throughout

the world, planted in the midst of every Christian
which
nation, and yet strenuously rejecting the faith
of

FOREWORD.

Christendom holds to be the saving grace of humanity.

as the Brahmanists were the means of sending forth

Even

Buddhism

into

the

arid then,

by building up
round themselves a stronger wall of separation than
ever, cut themselves off from the new endeavour, so
world,

were the Jews the means

of

launching Christianity into

the world, and then, by hedging themselves round with

an impermeable legal fence, shut themselves entirely

from the new movement.

blood-tie

and

idea

the

In both cases the ancient

a

of

religion

for

nation

triumphed over time and every other modifying force.

What, then, can be of profounder interest than to
learn

what the Jews have

Christianity

anything

And

yet

and

how few Christians to-day know

how few have the remotest

of this subject

conception of the
founder of their faith

said concerning Jesus

traditions of
!

For

so

Jewry concerning the

many

centuries have

they regarded Jesus as God, and everything concerning

Him, as set apart in the history of the world, as unique

and miraculous, that to find Him treated of as a simple

man, and that too as one who misled the children of His
people, appears to the believer as the rankest blasphemy.
Least of all can such a mind realize even faintly that

the claims of the Church on behalf of Jesus have ever

been thought, and are

still

thought, by the followers of

the Torah to be equally the extreme of blasphemy, most

solemnly condemned by the first and foremost of the

commandments which the pious Jew must perforce
believe came straight from God Himself.
Astonishing, therefore, as it appears, though Jew

and Christian use the same Scripture in common, with

regard to their fundamental beliefs they stand over

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

against each other in widest opposition

who

sincerely loves his fellows,

with

man

as

man, irrespective

who

and the man

feels his kinship

of creed, caste, or race,

stands aghast at the contradictions revealed by the

warring elements in our common human nature, and
is

dismayed at the

infinite opposition of the powers he

displayed in his brethren and feels potential in

sees

himself.

The New

But, thank God, to-day we are in the early years of

the twentieth century, when a deeper sense of human

kinship

God

of

Him
Him

dawning on the world, when the general idea

is
is

so evolved that

in the

tawdry

rags of

we dare no longer
human passions, or

clothe
create

in the image of our ignorance, as has been mostly

the case for so many sorrowful centuries.
are at

We

last

beginning

developed

as

ascribe to

to

to learn that

God

and

just

wise

Deity

is

at least as highly

mortal;

we

refuse

and jealousy, an
which we should be

fanaticism

inhumanity and mercilessness, of

There are many to-day
heartily ashamed in ourselves.
who would think themselves traitors to their humanity,

much more to the divinity latent within them, were

they to make distinctions between Jew or Christian,
Brahman or Buddhist, or between all or any of these
and the Confucian, or Mohammedan, or Zoroastrian.

They are

all

our brethren, children of a

common

parent,

Let the dead past bury its dead, and let us

follow the true humanity hidden in the hearts of

these say.

all.

But how
to

to do this so long as records exist

How

do this while we each glory in the heredity of our

bodies,

and imagine that

it is

the spiritual ancestry of

FOREWORD.
our souls

What

story of his

with

all its

is it

fathers,"

some fashion the

to

hate,"

Christ has

Why

any

rate

and identify himself

on the ground
"

"

parents

as one of the

"

it,

"

we

"

Are

little

of,

ascribed to the

it ?

should a

Jew

of to-day,

should a* Christian

why

twentieth century, identify

himself with the hates of years gone by

and Talmudic Eabbis; what have we

of

inhumanity

mediaeval

retorts of the hate of persecuted

What have

Church Fathers

to do with the bitter controversies of

fierce

of religion,

are to think

dark sayings

of the early years of the

we

cling to the

natural imperfections and limitations

not these rather, at

in

makes a man

that

fight for

"

to

do with the

inquisitors,

Jewry

Why

or

the

can we

not at last forgive and forget in the light of the new

humanism which education and mutual intercourse is

shedding on the world?

Wise indeed are the words
brother

he

whom

"

about this

is

He

that loveth not his Theology the

he hath seen, how can he love God whom

hath not seen

trouble

"

And

in

yet

theology all the

not seen.

God whom we have

Theology, which ought to be a help and a comfort, be

comes the greatest scourge of humanity, for in theology
we do not say this or that is true because the present
facts of nature

and human consciousness

truth, but this is true because

declared

it

was

so

a thing

many

testify to its

years ago

we can never know on

God
the

plane of our present humanity, and a declaration which,

as history proves, has led to the bitterest strife and
discord in the past, and which

is still

to-day a serious

obstacle to all progress in religion.

When,

then,

we take pen

in

hand

to review part of

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

the history of this great strife between Christian and

Jew

gone by, we do so because we have greater

humanity than in the inhumanity

in days

faith in present-day

of the past.
Let us agree to seek an explanation, to
confer together, to sink our pride in our own opinion,

and discover why we are enemies, one

things theological, while

we

of another, in

are friends perchance in

things scientific and philosophic.

An Appeal
Humanists.

But

to
.,

~.

book

this
,.

is

man whose

not intended for the

,.

Christianity
greater than his humanity, nor for
him whose "Judaism" is stronger than his love of
"

is

human

kind;

it

is

not meant for the theologian who

more than truth, or for the

loves his preconceptions

who thinks he is the only chosen of God. It is a

book for men and women who have experience of life
and human nature, who have the courage to face things
as they are
who know that on the one hand the
Churches of to-day, no matter how they strive carefully
fanatic

to

disguise

the fact, are confronted

by the gravest

possible difficulties as to doctrine, while

clergy,

owing

many

to a total lack of wise guidance

in authority, are

of

the

by those

becoming a law unto themselves,

or,

because of the terrorism of ecclesiastical laymen, are

forced to be hypocrites in the pulpit and, on the other
;

hand, that Judaism cannot continue in

mould without doing the utmost violence

its

traditional

to its intelli

gence.

Traditional theology, traditional history, traditional

views in general are being questioned on all hands, and

an ever-growing conviction that the conscious

ness and conscience of a Church, whether that Church
there

is

be the Congregation of Christendom or the Dispersion of

FOREWORD.

from century to century; that religion

not an exception to the law which is seen to be

Israel, evolve
is

in every

operative
activity

and

who have

of nature

department
it

that, therefore,

is

and human

incumbent upon

the best interests of religion at heart

all
"

to

right and duty of [any] Church to

restate her belief from time to time, as required by the

maintain

the

progressive revelation of the

Churchmen

objects of the

Holy
Union

Spirit,"

as one of the

declares.

To-day, in thinking and progressive Christendom, we

of the mind and heart of

have before us the spectacle

the earnest seeker after truth torn and lacerated by

much

the contradictions and manifest absurdities of

most painful

state

of affairs

that

is

in

to

in

from

this

be found in

the

The only

the tradition of the Faith.

relief

the

the

early days
courageous recognition,
marvellous mysteries of the inner life and the inner
nature of man were objectivized and historic! zed by

those

who

import, or

either did not understand their true spiritual

who

deliberately used this

instruction of the

method

many who were unable

their proper terms the spiritual verities of

To

perfectioning.

this

we

for the

to grasp in

man

in his

end

of our

will return at the

present enquiry and endeavour to show how even Jew

and Christian can learn to understand and respect

each other even on the ground of religion.

And, indeed, the time is very opportune, for some of The New
the preliminary conditions for a better understanding
clo^ledia

are being prepared

world for the

record
people.

of

the

The

To-day there is being given to the

a faithful
time what purports to be
"

first

multifarious
Israelite

has

activity"

been

of

the

mystery

Jewish
to

the

"

10

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

Christian, a mystery to humanity, from generation to

generation

known him,
of

thing

he has lived in our midst, and we have not

we have been content

nay,

to believe

him, while he for the most part has

inarticulate as to himself, his hopes,

and

his fears.

any
been

The

Jewish Encyclopaedia l is to remedy this evil, for it sets

before itself the endeavour to give, in systematized,
"

comprehensive, and yet succinct form, a full and

accurate account of the history and literature, the
social and intellectual life of the Jewish people, of their
ethical

and

religious views, their

traditions in all ages

Such a work

and in

all

customs,

rites,

and

lands."

an undertaking of the most profound

interest and importance, and we look forward to its
is

publication with the liveliest anticipation, asking our

selves the questions What will the Jew in this compre
:

hensive Encyclopaedia have to tell us of Christianity ?

How will he treat the traditions of his fathers concerning

Jesus

To-day we can no longer burn or torture him

His account of himself, more

or confiscate his goods. 2

over, is to be given

by the best intelligence in him.

What, then, will he say concerning Jesus and the long
centuries of bitter strife between the Christians and

own
From

his

it is

people

the three volumes which have so far appeared

not possible to answer this question

is the question of all questions in

demands a wise answer,

1

Three

of its twelve

Jewish

will be seen

volumes only have so

respect.

but that

it

affairs that

from our present

far appeared.

York Funk & Wagnalls 1901, in progress.)

2
Though the East of Europe is not yet quite
:

(New

powerless in this

FOREWORD.
To ignore

enquiry.

is of

generalities,

As

11

New

the

it, or merely to confine it to vague

no advantage to the world.
Testament was added to the Old The Talmud.

Covenant Bible by the Church Fathers, and formed the

basis of their exegesis, so was the Talmud added to the
Torah by the Eabbis, and formed the special study
The Talmud covers the whole period
later Jewry.
the early Christian centuries.
to

of

say

Encyclopaedia well say

"

The Talmud

attention of the

has the Talmud

For as the editors

Christianity

What

of
of

of

the

a world of its own, awaiting the

is

modern

reader.

In

its

encyclopaedic
the variety of thought and
opinions, of doctrine and science, accumulated by the
Jewish people in the course of more than seven centuries,
it

compass

and formulated
Full of

all

comprises

the

most part by their teachers.

spiritual truths and of fantastic

for the

loftiest

imagery, of close and learned legal disquisitions and of

extravagant exegesis, of earnest doctrine and of minute
accurate knowledge and of popular con
invites the world of to-day to a closer ac

of

casuistry,

ceptions, it

quaintance with

To-day

it is

its

voluminous

becoming

that the study

of

contents."

a canon of historical research History and

ancient history can hardly

ever

reward us by the attainment of incontrovertible fact

it can at best only tell us what the opinions of certain

writers were about the facts of which

years of

Many
study
vinced some of us that
certain historically of

of

we

are in search.

Christian origins have con

it is

impossible to be absolutely

any objective

fact relating to the

We

can only
Jesus as handed on by tradition.
say that this or that seems more likely to have occurred

life of

12

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

and here again our preference,

if we trace it
deep
be
found
to
enough,
depend entirely on subjec
tive considerations.
Canonical Christianity gradually

will

evolved the mind-bewildering dogma that Jesus was in

deed and truth very God of very God, unique and

miraculous in every possible respect; and the Church

for some seventeen or eighteen centuries has
boldly

thrown

down

this

the

to

challenge

and

intellect

experience of humanity. Strong in the strength of her

faith in miracle she has triumphed in her
theology, and
on
it
the
West
even
until
the
imposed
present day but
;

at last she has herself developed an intellect

no longer fully believe in

in her children,

who

this.

new

which can

work

spirit is at

are busily trying to convince their

mother that she has been mistaken

in

many

things,

and

has often misundertood the wisdom of the Master.

The

Womb
111

of

It is because of this stupendous claim on behalf of

Jesus, a claim which has perhaps astonished none

more

than Himself, that the Church has brought upon herself

a scrutiny into the history of her origins that it is
totally unable to bear.

Every single assertion about

her great Teacher is scrutinized with a minuteness that

is not demanded in the case of
any other historical

who

problem, and the lay student

the

follows

re

specialists meets with so many contra

dictions in the analysis of the traditional data, and is
brought face to face with so many warring opinions,
that he is in despair of arriving at any patent historic

searches

certainty
record.

of

on

any

single

Nevertheless he

is

in the Evangelical
confronted by the unavoid

point

able fact that a great religion

came

to birth

and,

if

he be not an out and out five-sense rationalist, his

FOREWORD.
only
birth

relief

lies

in the belief that the secret of

must have been hidden

the real history of the

in a psychic

movement must

this

womb, and

therefore be

sought in some great drama that was enacted in the

unseen world.

But the

interest

in

lessened because of the historical

contrary
never be

by no means The
uncertainty on the

the problem

is

The subject can

a thousand-fold increased.

it is

made

solely a matter of dry historical research

most profoundly in
structive psychological phenomena, and that too not
only in the study of the minds of the ancient writers, but
it

will always be involved in the

also in the appreciation of the preconceptions of their

modern

Hence

that any book dealing with

the question of Christian origins is before all others a
human document from which, no matter what view a
critics.

man may

take, there

is

it is

always something to be learned

our complex human nature.

with regard to our present enquiry, what can
be of greater interest than to observe how that from
of

And

the same facts, whatever those facts

may have

been,

on the one hand, under the expansive influence of love,

wonder, credulity, and intense religious enthusiasm,
there was evolved the story of

incarnate in

man

God Himself uniquely

while on the other, from feelings of

and disbelief, and, later, of hate,

annoyance,
bred of an equal enthusiasm for religion, there was built
of surprise,

up the story

of a deceiver

of

Israel

evolved, generation by generation, and

Here we
side

by

see
side,

absolutely contradictory representations purporting to

be the accounts of the doings and sayings of one and

the same person.

Interest

DID JESUS LIVE 100

14

B.C. ?

The philosophic mind can thus derive much food

reflexion

of the Christian

by a comparison

and

traditions concerning Jesus,

him

to

for

and Jewish

his studies will lead

understand how that a thing which

may

be

perfectly true psychically or spiritually, and of great

help to the religious

when taken

can,

life,

out of

its

proper sphere, and aggressively asserted as a purely

physical and historical fact, be turned into a subject of
Thus it may be that
grossest material controversy.

we

shall be able to estimate, at their just values,

some

things which cannot but appear extremely shocking to

conventional religious minds, and be able to under

how what was

regarded by the one side as a

be
could
saving truth,
regarded by the other as a
mischievous error; how what was declared by the
stand

Christians to be the highest honour, could be regarded by

Jew as a proof of dishonour how what was believed

the
in

by the former as the

revelation,

could

historic facts of a

be treated

unique divine
disparagingly, or with

mockery and even humour, by those who held to the

tradition of what they believed to have been equally a
The Main

unique revelation of the Divine.

But it is not the doctrinal quarrels which chiefly

Search.

interest us in studying these traditions of Jewry.

in our opinion,

is

of far greater

Jewish traditions, in spite

in the

main assign a date

from that

of

interest

is

What,
that the

some gross contradictions,

which widely differs

to Jesus

The main object

problem, to show that

of Christian tradition.

enquiry is to state this

moderate probability for many centuries this was

this

Jewish tradition as
or defend

it.

of

in
the

to the date of Jesus, not to attack

Moreover, we have taken up this subject

FOREWORD.

not only on general grounds of interest, but also for a

special reason.

For

many

though not as yet even heard

this problem,

the general public,

of

by

nevertheless, of great interest to

is,

students of Theosophy, and, therefore,

it

seems to

for of that there are no im

press, not for solution
mediate hopes but for a more satisfactory definition

than has been as yet accorded to it.

The problem, then, we are about to attempt more The
clearly to define is not a metaphysical riddle, not a

some moral puzzle (though

spiritual enigma, not

these factors
of

problem

distance of

none the

be

may

physical

what

less

on

is

made
fact,

to

inhere in

well

within

called the

this

account

historic
of

it),

the

period.

Problem,

all of

but a

middle
It

is

immense importance

and interest generally, and especially to thoughtful

students of "origins," for it raises no less a question
than that

Founder

of

an error in the date

and

the

of

life

of

the

not by the
narrow
of
some
seven or eight
comparatively
margin
years (as many have already argued on the sole basis of
of Christianity;

that,

too,

generally accepted traditional data), but by no less a

difference than the (in such a connection) enormous
time-gulf of a full century.

be popularly

summed up

Briefly, the

in the startling

ludicrous question: Did Jesus live 100

Now, had

all

problem may
and apparently

B.C.

such questioning been confined to a The Need

small circle of first-hand investigators of the hidden

side of things, or,

things

historic

if

we may say

underlying

so, of

the

the

blurred

noumena

of

records

of

phenomena handed down to us by tradition, there would

be no immediate necessity for the present
enquiry;

its

of

Detinition>

16

DID JESUS LIVE 100

but

B.C. ?

late years very positive statements on this

matter, based on such methods of research, have been
of

printed and circulated

questions

among

those interested in such

and what, in the opinion

makes the matter even more

of

pressing,

is

the

that

writer,

these

statements are being readily accepted by ever-growing

numbers. Now, it goes without saying, that the
majority of those who have accepted such statements

have done so either for subjective reasons satisfactory

to themselves, or from some inner feeling or impression

which they have not been at pains to analyse. The

state of affairs, then, seems clearly to demand, that as
they have heard a little of the matter, they should now
hear more, and that the question should be taken out
of the primitive

of

crudeness of a choice between two sets

mutually contradictory assertions, and advanced a

stage into the subtler regions of critical research.

The Resultant

far as the vast majority of the general public who

chance to stumble on the amazing question which

As

may

heads our enquiry,

is

only to be expected
offhand not only with an angry

concerned,

that they will answer it

No, but with the further

it is

reflection

that

the

very

formulating of such a query betokens the vagaries of a

seriously disordered mind indeed, at the outset of our
;

investigations we were also ourselves decidedly of the

opinion that no mind trained in historic research, even
the most cautious, would hesitate for a moment to sum

up the

probabilities of the accessible evidence as point

But when all is said and

ing to a distinct negative.
done, we find ourselves in a position of doubt between,
on the one hand, the seeming impossibility of impugning
the genuineness of the Pilate date, and on the other, an

FOREWORD.

uncomfortable feeling that the nature of the inconsis

tencies

the

of

Hebrew

rather

tradition

than diminishes the possibility that there

thing after all in what appears to be

strengthens
may be some

most in

its

namely, that Jesus lived in the days

sistent factor
of Jannai.

It is not, then, with any hopes of definitely solving

the problem that these pages are written, but rather
with the object of pointing out the difficulties which

have to be surmounted by an unprejudiced historian,

before on the one hand he can rule such a question en

on the other can permit himself to

give even a qualified recognition to such a revolutionary
proposition in the domain of Christian origins and
tirely out of court, or

by an object lesson what

be the sane attitude of mind with

further, of trying to indicate

me

appears to

to

regard to similar problems,

had some experience

occult research, but

which those

of the

of us

possibilities

who have

of so-called

who have

not the ability to study

such matters at first-hand, should endeavour to hold.

In what
honestly
prejudice,

consider

is

to

it

set forth in this essay, then, I hope most

endeavour to treat the matter without

save for this general prepossession, that I

saner for the only normally endowed indi

vidual to hold the

mind

in suspense over all categorical

statements which savour in any

way

of the

nature of

"revelation,"
by whomsoever made, than to believe
either on the one hand without investigation, or on the

other in despair of arriving at any

facts in the unsubstantial material

in as history,

mind anew

some

"historic"

bed-rock of

commonly

and thus in either case

into

real

believed

to crystallise one s

form,

on

lines

of

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

18

evidence concerning the nature of which

we

are as yet

almost entirely ignorant.

"Occult"

And, first of all, let me further set forth very briefly

some of the considerations which render it impossible
for

me

to

assume either a decidedly negative, or even a

purely agnostic, attitude with regard to possibilities of

research other than those open to normal ability and
industry; for if a man would honestly endeavour, in
any fashion really satisfactory to himself, to interpret
the observed phenomena of life, he is compelled by
a necessity greater than himself to take into considera
tion all the facts of at least his personal

experience,

no matter how sceptical he may be as to the validity of

the experiences of others, or how critical he may be
concerning his own. On the other hand, I most freely
admit that those who have not had experiences similar
to

own, are quite

my

attitude with

that

it

mind

assuming an agnostic
declarations, but I doubt

justified in

regard to

my

can be considered the nature

of a truly scientific

deny a priori the possibility

to

of

my

experience,

or merely contemptuously to dismiss the matter without

any attempt

at investigation.

good fortune for so I regard it to

who have their subtler senses,
know
to a greater or less degree, more fully developed than is
normally the case, and also to be intimate with a few
It has

been

my

number

whose power

of people

of response to extra-normal ranges of

im

whatever may be
pression, vibration, or stimulation (or
the more correct term) may be said to be, as far as my
experience goes, highly developed.
personal friends,

and with

whom

whom
I

These latter are

have known for

many

my

years,

have been most closely associated.

FOREWORD.

19

From

long knowledge of their characters, often under

very trying circumstances, I have no reason to believe
they are trying to deceive me, and every reason to
believe in their good faith.

certainly would have

They

were possible, any

by practising,
concerted imposition upon me, and everything to lose.
For, on the one hand, my devotion to the studies I
nothing to gain

pursue, and the

work upon which

entirely independent

of individuals

ments, and, on the other,

humanity in general

to

it

if

is

my

am

engaged,

is

and their pronounce

feeling of responsibility

such, that I should not have

the slightest hesitation in openly proclaiming a fraud,

were I to discover any attempt at it, especially in

matters which I hold to be more than ordinarily sacred
for all who profess to be lovers of truth and labourers

common welfare. Nor again is there any

of their trying to influence some pro
here
question

for

our

spective

"follower,"

particular sect, for

in similar studies,

either

we

are

and one

desirability of breaking

of themselves, or of

more
of

our

down

some

or less contemporaries

common

the

ideals is the

boundary walls

of

sectarianism.

Now,

this handful of friends of

mine who are endowed

unanimous in declaring that

the
historical
Jeschu,"
Jesus, lived a century before
the traditional date.
They, one and all, claim that, if
in this special fashion are

"

they turn their attention to the matter, they can see

the events of those far-off days passing before their

mind s

eye, or, rather, that for the time being they

to be in the

midst

of

observe events in actual

seem

them, even as we ordinarily

life.
They state that not only
do their individual researches as to this date work out

20

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

and the same result, but that also when several

them have worked together, checking one another,

to one
of

the result has been

Familiar as I

Its Possible

tive

still

am

hallucination,"

the same.

with the hypotheses

"honest

"

of all kinds, I

jectivism

self-deception,"

of

"

collec

and

have been unable to

"sub

satisfy

myself that any one of these, or any combination of

them, will
instance,

satisfactorily

the

explain

For

matter.

even granting that certain of the Jewish

may have been previously known to

Jesus stories

some

of my colleagues, and that it might be reasonably

supposed that this curious tradition had so fascinated

their imagination as to

in

what might be
there

faculty

become the determining

factor

called their subjective dramatising

two considerations which, in my

my own knowledge and experience,

are

opinion, based on

considerably weaken the strength of this sceptical and

otherwise apparently reasonable supposition.
First, the general consideration that

my friends

widely from each other in temperament;

mostly

of different nationalities,

and

differ

they are

vary consider

all

of Christian origins,

ably in their objective knowledge

and in their special views of external Christianity.
Moreover though they all sincerely endeavour to be
impartial

on so important a matter, seeing that it

life of a Master for whom they have in a
sense the deepest reverence while some of

touches the

very real
them do not happen to be special followers of this
on the contrary, are specially
particular Teacher, others,
attracted

by

this

Way, and

might,

naturally expected to counteract

received

tradition

any tendency

in

therefore,

the interest

be
of

to apparent extrava-

FOREWORD.

21

gance, which was not justified by repeated subjective

experiences of such a nature as

their

to outweigh
and
natural
objective training
preconceptions.

Second, the very special consideration, that I have

had the opportunity on many occasions of testing the

accuracy of some of my colleagues with regard to
statements either of a similar nature or of a more

And

personal character.

lest

my

evidence

on

this

point should be too hastily put out of court by some

impatient reader,
such verification.

me

let

briefly refer to the nature of

But before doing so, it would be as well to have it

understood that the method of investigation to which
I

am

referring does not bring into consideration

any

question of trance, either self-induced, or

or

As

hypnotically effected.

far as I

mesmerically
can judge, my

outward seeming in quite their

They go through no outward ceremonies,
or internal ones for that matter, nor even any outward
are to

colleagues

normal

all

state.

preparation but that of assuming a comfortable posi

tion moreover, they not only describe, as each normally
;

has the power of description, what is passing before

their inner vision in precisely the same fashion as one

would describe some objective scene, but they

frequently

as

as

surprised

their

auditors

that

are

the

scenes or events they are attempting to explain are not

at

all

as they expected to see them,

them

as

tliose

who cannot

and frequently as

critically,

knowledge

"
"

see

of the subject

for

and remark on
sceptically, as

themselves, but

whose

from objective study may be

greater than theirs.

Now, although

it

is

true

that in the majority of

22

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

Some Verified cases I have not been able to check their statements,

and doubt whether

owing
in a

number

mass

it

will ever be possible to

to the lack of objective material,

of

do so

nevertheless,

few when compared with the

statements made, but numerous enough in
of instances,

have been able to do

themselves, I
course,

be

similar

cases,

argued,

as

so.

has been done

that all of this

is

in

It can, of

somewhat

merely the bringing

into

subjective objectivity the imaginative dramatisa

tion

of

facts

read, or even

which have been normally heard or

momentarily glanced at, and which have

sunk beneath the threshold

of consciousness, either of

that of the seers themselves or of one or other of their

some permutation or combination of

such an explanation seems somewhat

auditors, or even
these.

But

feeble to one who, like myself, has taken

dictated

down

labori

from

MSS., described, for

passages
MSS.,
instance, as written in archaic Greek uncials
ously

the contents of which, as far as I

known

to exist

am

aware, are not

passages laboriously dictated letter

by
by a friend whose knowledge of the language
extended hardly beyond the alphabet. Occasionally

letter,

gaps had to be left for certain forms of letters, with

which not only my colleague, but also myself, were
previously entirely unacquainted these gaps had to be
;

up afterwards, when the matter was transcribed

and broken up into words and sentences, which turned
filled

out to be in good construable Greek, the original or

copy of which, I am as sure as I can be of anything,
seen
neither my colleague nor myself had ever
physically.
tion given

Moreover, I have had dates and informa

by these methods which

could only verify

23

FOREWORD.

afterwards by long and patient research, and which, I

am convinced, no one but a widely read scholar of
classical antiquity could

This briefly

is

have come

across.

the nature of some of the facts of

my

personal experience in this connection, and while others

who have not had such experience may

permissibly put
unable to do so; and not only am I
unable to do so personally, but I further consider it
it

am

aside,

more honest

my

to

admit them

readers to

to

my

privacy in this respect, in order that they may be in a

better position to estimate the strength or weakness of

my

preconceptions or prejudices in the treatment of

the exceedingly interesting problem which

we

are about

to consider.

It will thus be seen at the outset that I

,. ,.,

a priori

to refuse

methods

ence rises up before

"

impatient

,,

any validity

of research

pshaw."

me and
it

because in some instances I

my

colleagues

my

repeated experi

by an
no
means
follows
that,
by
have been enabled to verify
statements, I

am

justified in accepting the remainder on trust.

have no question, but

good faith

modus

their

"

of

ignorance.

,^

refuses to be laid

the truth of

unable The Sane

,

am

of the

therefore

Of

nature

their

of the

almost complete
seeing
That it is of a more subtle nature than
"

in

ordinary sight, or memory, or even imagination, I am

very well assured but that there should be entrusted
:

to

an apparently favoured few, and

tively suddenly, a

means

of

compara
knowledge which

that, too,

of inerrant

seemingly reduces the results

the unwearied

toil of

the most laborious scholars and historians to the most

beggarly proportions, I

am

Attitude of

to these so-called occult the Layman,

the ghost of

But

am

not prepared at present to

24

DID JESUS LIVE 100

would

accept.

It

suppose

that in

rather

exact

seern

B.C. ?

more

proportion

degree of accuracy that

may

to

scientific

the

to

startling

at times be attained

these subtle methods of research, the errors that

by

may

arise can be equally appalling.

And, indeed,

this

perusal of the little

borne out not only by the

studied, but enormous, literature
is

of antiquity and of the present

the
declarations of those of
also
but
repeated
by
day,

on such subjects, both

my

colleagues themselves

who have endeavoured

to

fit

themselves for a truly scientific use of such faculties.

They
far

all

declare that their great aim

as possible the personal factor

is

to eliminate as

for

if,

so to say,

the glass of their mind- stuff, through which they have

to

is

see,

not most accurately polished and adjusted,

things seen are all blurred, or distorted into the

most fantastic shapes. This glass is in itself of a

the

"

"

plastic and protean; it

with
every hope and fear,
changes with every desire,
with every prejudice and prepossession, with every

most subtle

nature,

most

love and hate.

Such

factors,

then,

are

not unthought of by

my

colleagues; rather are they most carefully considered.

But this being so, it is plain that it is very difficult to
a

discover

sure

criterion

of

accuracy in such subtle

research, even for the practised seer, or seeress, who is

willing to submit himself to the strictest discipline;

who have not developed these

who desire eventually to
some certain criterion of truth, and who

while for those of us

distinct

arrive

inner senses,
at

further believe that this

we must be content

but

is

a thing beyond all sensation,

to develop our critical faculties

on

FOREWORD.

25

we can with

the material accessible to us, and do all

we abandon

before

the subject to

it

"

revelation."

mind opposed to the

best interests of religion
for, if we are in any way
hold
the workman is only
in
we
that
our
belief,
right
expected to work with his own tools. To use in an

Nor

latter attitude of

this

is

expanded sense a phrase

no confusion of castes

of the

"

"

there should be

"

Gita,"

or to

employ the language

of

one of the Gospel parables, a man should lay out the

talent
entrusted to him to the best advantage, and
if he do this, no more for the moment, we may believe,
"

"

is

expected of him.

to labour for the

trade

is

We

have

each in our own way,

but a workman whose

all,

common good

that of objective historical research

is

rarely

with the tools of seership as well, while the

seer presumably is not expected to devote his life to
trusted

historical criticism.

are entrusted with

natures, but so far

come

Doubtless there

may

two or more talents

we have not

be some

as yet in our

who

different

of

own times

across the desirable blend of a competent seer and

a historical

We

critic.

must, then, each of us in his

gether for righteousness

we employ our

we may

masters of two or even more

adapt the wording

of a

to

in the present

and prove our

become

in the future

"cities,"

and thus

(to

famous agraphon) having proved

ourselves trustworthy in the

of

if

single talents rightly,

selves profitable servants,

opportunity

own way, work

hoping that

showing

"

lesser,"

ourselves

be accorded the
faithful

in

the

"

greater

(mysteries)."

Having, then, prefaced our enquiry by these brief The

r
remarks on the nature of the methods of research em-

Scope of
n(* uiry>

26

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

ployed by those whose statements have lately brought

this

question into prominence

in

certain

circles,

we

enumerate the various deposits of objective

material which have to be surveyed and analysed,

proceed to

before a

mind accustomed

to historical study and the

can feel in a position to estimate

of evidence

weighing
even approximately the comparative values

of

the

various traditions.

We

have, then, in the first place to consider the

Christian tradition that Jesus was born in the reign of

Herod, and was put to death under Pontius Pilate, and

further, to glance at the material from Pagan sources
claimed to substantiate this tradition; in the second
to acquaint ourselves

with the Talmud Jeschu stories

which purport to preserve traditions of the life and

date of Jeschu totally at variance on almost every point
with the Christian account further to investigate the
;

Toldoth Jeschu or mediaeval Jewish Jesus legends

and

some very curious passages in the

the Church Father Epiphanius of Salamis.

lastly to consider

writings of

That there are many better equipped and more com

petent than myself to discuss these difficult subjects,
is more
keenly aware than I am. But seeing
that there are no books on the subject readily accessible
to the general reader, I may be excused for coming

no one

forward, not with the pretension of discovering any facts

previously unknown to specialists, but with the very

attempting some new combinations

of some of the best-known of such facts, while generally

modest ambition

of

some

of

indicating

those

and

who cannot

the outlines of

the

question for

find the information for themselves,

of pointing to a

few

of the difficulties

which con-

FOREWORD.

27

front a student of the labours of these specialists, in

the hope that some greater

mind may

no distant date

at

be induced to throw further light on the matter.

Finally, seeing that in the treatment of the Jewish

Jeschu stories

things exceedingly distasteful to

lovers of Jesus will have to be referred to, and that

many

generally, in the whole enquiry,

in

the

most

violent

me

considered, let

avoided

them

many

points involved

will

controversy

have

to

be

say that I would most gladly have

were possible. But a greater

it

if

necessity than personal likes or

dislikes

setting forth of the whole matter as

are told that the truth alone shall

it

is

make

compels the
found.

We

us free

and

compels us sometimes to deal with most

distasteful matters.
Few things can be more unpleasthe love of

it

ing than to be even the indirect

to

the

sincere

necessities

Jesus live
of

the

lovers

the

of

100

Jewish

impossible to

B.C.

of

enquiry into
?

means

great

of giving pain
Teacher, but the

the question

Did

primarily involves a discussion

Jeschu

omit them.

stories,

and

it

is

therefore

THE CANONICAL DATE OF JESUS.

II.

Ultra-

THOSE who

are

familiar

with

the

innumerable controversies which

history

of

the

have

raged round
the question of Christian origins, are aware that some
of the disputants, appalled by the mass of mythic

and mystic elements in the Gospel narratives, and

dismayed at the contradictions in the apparently most
simple data furnished by the evangelists, have not
only not hesitated to reject the whole account as devoid
of the slightest historical value,

deny that Jesus

far as to

Most

of

these

writers

of

but have even gone so

Nazareth ever existed. 1

had

presumably

devoted

much

labour and thought to the subject before they

reached a so startling conclusion but I am inclined
;

think that their minds were

to

even had they found

of

such a type that,

less contradiction in the

purely
data of the Gospel documents, they would
probably have still held the same opinion. Not only
was their historic sense so distressed by the vast
objective

element

subjective
1

jamais Veen

which

it

confronted

"

(Geneva pt.
this I have not been able to procure a copy.
;

was

Ganeval (L.),
Jesus devant 1 Histoire n a
a M. 1 Abbe Loyson
d
un
Penseur
Libre
Reponse
There is also a pt. iii., but of
i., 1874, pt. ii., 1875).

for instance,

See,

with

"

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

that

it

29

JESUS.

could find relief only in the most strenuous

reduce the historic validity of the residue to

efforts to

but

zero,

it

found

itself

strongly

determination by the fact that

scrap of unassailable external

presumed

it

confirmed in this
could discover no

evidence

in

either

even

or

in

the

contemporary literature,
the next two generations, whereby not

literature of

merely the soberest incidents recounted by the Gospel

writers, but even the very existence of Jesus, could
be substantiated.

Though

this

extreme view, that Jesus

never existed, has

than

it

those

perhaps

to-day

had some twenty years

who hold

of

Nazareth
adherents

fewer

numbers

ago, the

of

that the ideal picture of Jesus painted

by the Gospel writers bears but a remote resemblance

original, not

only as to the doings,

but also to a lesser extent as to the sayings, have

to its historical

increased so enormously that they can no longer be

classed

merely

as

school,

but

must

rather

be

considered as expressing a vast volume of educated

opinion strongly influencing the thought of the times.
True, there is still a wide divergence of opinion on

innumerable other points which are continually issuing

into greater

and greater prominence

There

as the evolution

however, no longer
for
the
unfortunate
student
to make up
any necessity
his mind between what appeared to be the devil of
of

criticism

proceeds.

is,

undisguised antagonism on the one side and the deep

sea of inerrant orthodox traditionalism on the other.

The problem
and

far greater

is far

more complex,

numbers are interested

in the old days a

far

in

more
it.

subtle,

Whereas

mere handful, comparatively, had the

Criticism,

30

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

hardihood to venture between the seeming devil and

the deep, to-day not only every theological student,

but every intelligent enquirer, is forced to seek his

information in the most recent books of reference
books in which he finds that not only are

available

innumerable questions raised on all sides concerning

matters which were previously regarded as settled for
all

time, but

and

also

that opposing views

are

frankly

freely discussed.

The

and the deep have almost faded away,

devil

and none but minds strongly prejudiced by anachron

istic
methods of training can discern the ancient
crudity of their lineaments with any great distinctness.

Concessions have been

studied moderation of

made on

all sides

and a

language

there

is

courtesy in

treating the views of opponents which remove con

troversy from the cockpit of theological invective into

the serener air of impersonal debate.

The Position
6
*
man!

But how fares it with the thoughtful layman who is

not sufficiently skilled in scholarly fence to appreciate
the niceties of the sword-play of those who are pre
sumably on either
applause

amid

all

He

side seeking indirectly to

win

his

confused

is

naturally exceedingly
the detail, and for the most part presumably
?

applauds the view which best suits his preconceptions.

But this much he gleans on all sides a general
impression that the ancient tyranny of an inerrant
he is assured that
traditionalism is on its death-bed
;

bonds have been already struck from his

limbs, and he lives in hope that before long he will be

many

of its

entirely free to try to realise

God

in spirit

what the worshipping

and in truth may mean.

of

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

If

"

he take up such recent works as the

the

of

the

Bible,"

Jewish

"Encyclopaedia

Encyclopaedia,"

31

JESUS.
"

Dictionary
and the

Biblica,"

he finds that, although in Old

Testament subjects tradition has to all intents and pur

poses been practically almost abandoned by all scholars,
in the treatment of
rities in

New Covenant documents

the two former works

his

display a

still

autho

marked

The tendency of the contributors to the first

difference.
above-mentioned work is still on fundamental points,
might very well be expected, conservative and largely
apologetic of tradition (though by no means so aggres

as

sively so as has been the case in the past), while that of

the essayists of the second

is

to say, departs

cases breaks with

is

emphatically advanced, that

widely from
it so

tradition,

has not the slighest theological timidity

their hardihood.

The

non-specialist

is

and in most

entirely that even a reader

thus for the

to hear both sides distinctly

on

is

who

surprised at

time enabled

first

all points,

and so

to

gain an intimate acquaintance with the arguments for

and against traditionalism. And though he may not

be able positively to decide on any special view as to

details, or even as to the main fundamental points, he

cannot

fail to

For whatever
this

much he

writers, that

losing his

be vastly instructed and greatly relieved.

may be the exact truth of the matter,
learns from the general tone of all the

he

is

no longer thought

immortal soul

if

to

he find

be in danger of

it

impossible

to

believe in the inerrancy of tradition.

It results, then, that the
ordinary reader is left with
out any certain guide in these matters the old
style
of Bible repository which told you
what
to
exactly
;

32

DID JESUS LIVE 100

and whose end

believe,

was

B.C. ?

is

edification,

foreign to the spirit of our latest books of

But though the reader

is

left

entirely
reference.

without a guide

ex

(if

pre-conceived view
can ever be a truly spiritual guide), he is inevitably
thrown back on himself and made to think, and that
ternal authority selected to suit a

is

the

beginning of a

new

era in general

Christian

instruction.

the

general state of affairs brought

about by the pronouncements of the occupants of the

Such, then,

teaching chairs in Protestant Christendom

principal

and

it is

is

very evident that

their manifold pro

among

nouncements a man

can find learned authority for

almost any view he may choose to hold. He may, for
instance, so select his authorities that he can arrive at
the general conclusion that there is not a single docu
in the New Testament collection which is genuine

ment

in the old sense of the

and refuse

to be tied

word

down

to

he

may even

go further
source
"

"

any particular

genuine, seeing that there is such a diversity

But
opinion as to what are the precise sources.

of

as

if,

while taking this critical attitude with regard to the

canonical contents of Christian tradition, he would

adopt a positive view on a point entirely negatived by

that tradition, to retain his consistency he

Encyclopaedias ignore

our Problem,

is

bound

to

try to discover some strong ground for so doing.

Now, if we search the two great works to which we
,

,,

.,

,,

,,

have referred for any authority in support of the

hypothesis of the 100 years B.C. date of Jesus, we shall
find none.

the subject.
of

Indeed,

we cannot

find

even a reference to

Moreover, in the very

earlier date

which make

few encyclopaedias

reference to

the

Talmud

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

Jeschu

stories,

we

shall find that

33

JESUS.

no Christian scholar

has even dreamed of entertaining the possibility of such

In the older books of reference this
hypothesis.

universal abiding by tradition was to be expected, but

in the
set

most recent works, where tradition is so often

and the most out-of-the-way material

at naught

seems

sifted for the smallest scrap of usable evidence, it

somewhat

strange, not only that there is

no one courageous enough to suggest the possibility of
there being some small grain of probability at the

at first sight

bottom

of

some

of

the Jewish legends, but that there

is

no notice whatever taken

them by any writer. It
would -appear that they are regarded either as being of
a so utterly apocryphal nature as to deserve no mention,
of

or as falling outside the scope of the undertaking.

But before we abandon our two

search elsewhere, let us see

recent authorities

come

dictionaries

and

what conclusions our most

to concerning the traditional

chronological data supplied by the evangelists.

As

is

well known, or ought to be known,

Dionysius Exiguus, who

that we owe the custom

of dating events

posed year of the birth of Jesus.

self

on an

Victorius

is

to

from the sup

Dionysius based him

period which he borrowed from

Aquitaine, who flourished about a cen

artificial

of

tury before himself, and

inventor.

it

It

is

who

is

said to

hardly necessary to

have been

add that there

its
is

repute nowadays who accepts the A.D. of

as
coincident with the first year of the life
Dionysius

no scholar

of

of Jesus.

Turner, of Oxford, in his article on the

of the

New

Testament,"

Recent Re-

flourished in the sixth century, j)*^

in Hastings

"

"

Chronology

Dictionary of the
3

^h

e
g

34

DID JESUS LIVE 100

sums up

Bible,"

follows
"

somewhat

his conclusions

positively as

The Nativity

"The

age

more or

of

in B.C. 7-6.

our Lord at the Baptism, thirty years

less.

26 (26-27).
The duration of the ministry between two or three

Baptism in

"The
"

B.C. ?

A.D.

years.
"

The Crucifixion

"

results
"

Birth of Jesus

"

"

29."

Encyclopaedia Biblica," von Soden of Berlin,

Chronology," reaches the somewhat less positive

In the

under

in A.D.

"

circa

of public

Beginning
Death of Jesus

Von Soden
The

30

B.C.

work

circa

28-29

A.D.

A.D."

assigns one year only to the ministry.

variations, however, are so inconsiderable

that

these scholars may be said to be fairly agreed on the

method of treating the traditional data. They both
abandon the statement in the third Gospel that Jesus

was born

at

the time of the general census under

Cyrenius (Publ. Sulpicius

Quirinius),

which

is

well

attested by Josephus as having taken place 6-7 A.D.

Von
that

Soden, like so
"

other scholars,

is

of opinion

the account in Lk. rests on a series of

mistakes."

many

Bonn, in his article on the

Usener

of

Bib."),

in discussing

these

"

"

Nativity

"chronological

("

Enc.

difficulties

which learned subtlety has struggled with for centuries,"

also definitely abandons the Quirinius date.
Turner,
however, while stating that St. Luke is in error in the
name of Quirinius," thinks that there is "no inherent
"

improbability in the hypothesis of a census in Judaea

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

somewhere within the years

B.C.

JESUS.

35

He

seems in

8-5."

Kamsay, who
Bethlehem ?

this census question faintly to endorse

in

"

his

study,

Was

Christ

born

"

at

1898) put forward a thorough-going apology

for this statement of the third evangelist, which has

(London

been welcomed with great delight by traditionalists.

Turner mentions the hypothesis that the missing name in
a mutilated inscription which records that someone was
twice governor of Syria, was that of Quirinius, and that
there was another census during his first term of office.

Unfortunately even so this would not help us, for, as

he points out, the period B.C. 10 to Herod s death,
B.C.

4 (which

Herod date

is

our limit for the reconciliation of the

date of the third),

of

exhausted by the

is

other governors.

But

"Kecords

Thomas

of the

J.

Nativity"

all this is practically

with the
question

in

main

tenures

thesis

has

exhaustive

his

(London; 1900).

a side issue

the

of

strength
of

known

Moreover, Eamsay

been well answered by

reply,

with the Quirinius

of the first evangelist

as

tradition,

compared
the

for

the nativity concerns the problem of the

historicity of the single traditions only of the first

Either or both

third Gospel writers.

may

and

be in error,

and even the John the Baptist element may be a

later development, and yet the fundamental chrono
logical

element

of

the

main

tradition

would be en

tirely unaffected.

All four evangelists make the drama of the trial and The
death of Jesus take place under the procuratorship of
Pontius Pilate (26-36 A.D.). This is the main chrono
logical factor in the

whole

no matter how far we

puzzling details and

succeed in any attempt at

of the

may

Pilate

36

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

reducing it to its simplest terms,

the whole problem.

it

remains the crux

of

But before considering the statements

it

writers,

ences to Pilate in the

are Acts

iii.

13,

and

The references

In the Acts.

into the

of the Gospel
with the other refer

will be as well to deal

mouth

New

iv.

27,

Covenant documents.

and

Timothy

in Acts are found in

of

vi.

These

13.

speech put
Peter and in a prayer (in the same

style as the speeches)

which

is

said to have been uttered

common impulse by the friends of the apostles.

Now, in the judgment of many scholars, one of the

with a

most certain
Acts,

is

criticism with

results of

regard

to

the

that the speeches are the most artificial element

in the book.

As Schmiedel

"Enc.

Apostles,"

Bib."):

"It

"

says

(art.

Acts of the

without doubt that the

is

author constructed them in each case according to his

own

conception of the

Even Headlam,

situation."

"

writer of the conservative article in Hastings

the

Diction
"

admits that the speeches are

clearly in a sense
the author s own compositions," though he adds there
"

ary,"

"

"

is
[?

no reason for thinking a priori that the speeches

substance of the speeches] cannot be historical."

then exceedingly probable that the references to

Pilate derive immediately from the writer of the Acts
It is

himself.

ground
scholars

And
of

as the writer of

similarity of

with the

the Acts

is,

language, identified

writer

of

on the
by most

the third Gospel,

the

authority for his references to Pilate in all likelihood

There are few who would

sources."
go back to his
be bold enough to argue for the preservation of an
earlier tradition in the Acts than in the sources of
"

the writer of the third Gospel.

THE CANONICAL DATE OP

The references

37

JESUS.

in the Acts, therefore, will not be

held by the ordinary critical, much less by the sceptical,

mind to be an independent confirmation of the Gospel
tradition with regard to Pilate.

As

Timothy, its value as an

witness
is at once discounted
unimpeachable early
by
the general character of the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2
to the reference in 1

Timothy and

Titus).

the

of

article

"

Dictionary,"

Letters

want
Paul

"The

in

Testament,"

distinguished from

writer

Hastings

others

all

by

their

agreement with any period in St.

the Bk. of Acts, and also

historical

life

New

conservative

frankly states that these so-called Pastoral

"are

of
s

Aberdeen, the

of

McClymont

as recorded in

by their strongly-marked individuality alike in style

and substance
circumstances which have given rise
"

"

doubt

to serious

he thinks

them

affect

by supposing

year of the
this supposition may over

difficulty, it

last

does not in the slightest

main argument

the

This, however,

obviated"

"largely

But though

life.

come the Acts

way

be

may

have been written in the

to

apostle

of their genuineness."

difference of

of

style

and substance.

Deissmann

of

Heidelberg, in

the

"Encyclopaedia

"

Biblica

"

(art.

no doubts as

Epistolary Literature

"),

while he has

to the genuineness of ten of the Pauline

Letters, with regard to the Pastoral Epistles can only

allow at best that they

from genuine letters

Very

Manen
to

of

"

may perhaps

different is the view, in the

of

whom

contain fragments

Paul."

same work,

Ley den, the distinguished Dutch

the

summary

of the

"

of

van

specialist,

Later Criticism

"

in the

In the
Epistles,

DID JESUS LIVE 100

38

Paul

"

article

"

B.C.

Van Manen em

has been entrusted.

phatically repudiates the genuineness not only of the

Pastoral but of the whole of the rest of the Letters

ascribed

traditionally

the

Though the

Paul.

to

rest

of

do not immediately concern us in this

may be of interest very briefly to set down

Letters
it

study,

the general result of this later criticism for it is not

the opinion of an isolated scholar, but the outcome of
;

the studies of a school.

do this the more readily

my own previously expressed

of the Marcionite collection
ten
Letters
view that the
because

with

it conflicts

were largely authentic.

Van Manen
Literature.

"

With

Van Manen

writes

respect to the canonical Pauline Epistles, the

later criticism here

under consideration has learned to

recognise that they are none of

them by Paul

neither

fourteen, nor thirteen, nor nine or ten, nor seven or

eight,

nor yet even the four so long

garded as

universally

re

unassailable."

unable any longer in all simplicity

to hold by the canonical Acts and epistles, or even to
the epistles solely, or yet to a selection of them. The
This criticism

conclusion

it

"

is

has to reckon with

possess

no

bear his

name

epistles of

historical data

Paul

is

this

(a)

That we

that the writings which

are pseudepigrapha containing seemingly

from the

life

and labours

of the apostle,

which nevertheless must not be accepted as correct

without closer examination, and are probably, at least

most

for the

part,

borrowed from

also underlie our canonical

book

Acts

of

of Acts.

Paul

which

(I) Still less

does the Acts of the Apostles give us, however incom

narrative of Paul s
pletely, an absolutely historical
career

what

it

gives

is

a variety of

narratives con-

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

39

JESUS.

cerning him, differing in their dates and also in respect

the influences under which they were written.

of

Historical criticism must, as far as lies in

learn to estimate the value of

to

power,

what has come down

through both channels, Acts and

us

its

to

epistles,

compare them, to arrange them and bring them into

consistent and orderly connection."
That it will ever be able, on van Manen s lines, to
contradictory data into

these

bring

orderly

connection,"

we have but

and

"consistent

little

hope

for once

the comparative genuineness of the main Pauline Letters

is

given up, there

no possible criterion

is

How

left.

ever, the courageous attempt uncompromisingly to face

the difficulties is the earnest of the dawn of a new age

in Christian thought,

and we ourselves ask

for

nothing

better than that the facts should be faced.

from

It results then

this

view (again to quote van

the Paulinism of the lost Acts of Paul

Manen)

that

and

our best authority for that way of thinking,

of Paul, is not the
theology,

of

"

our canonical epistles

the

the historical

of

system

Paul, although

ulti

it

mately came to be, and in most quarters still

It is the later development
with it.

identified

a school, or,
of

if

the expression

progressive believers

Paul

and

placed

of

preferred, of a circle,

is

who named themselves

themselves

is,

as

it

after

were under

his

aegis."

Where

this circle

must be looked

for

geographically

cannot be said with any certainty. This much, how

it was an environment where
ever, is evident, that
:

no obstruction was in the

from

the

Jews

or,

first

perhaps

instance encountered

still

worse,

from

the

DID JESUS LIVE 100

40

B.C. ?

them; where men

speculation and of mysticism,

too closely resembling

disciples

as friends of gnosis, of

probably under the influence of Greek and, more

especially, Alexandrian philosophy, had learned to
cease

and

regard themselves as bound by tradition,

themselves free to extend their flight in

to
felt

To

every direction.

avail

ourselves

a somewhat

of

was among the heretics.

The
expression
be
to
on
first
came
the
list
epistles
placed
among
later

the

it

The

Gnostics.

oldest

witnesses

to

their

exist

ence,
Meyer and other critics with a somewhat
wonderful unanimity have been declaring for more
as

than

half

learn from

calls

is

Basilides,

the

of

him the

in

first

are

Tertullian, traces

authoritative group
still

are

century,

Marcion

Heracleon.

epistles

apostle of

of

to

Valentinus,

whom,

we

as

be found of an

Paul.

heretics

Tertullian

and (address

"

ing Marcion) your apostle.

This latter view is confirmatory of our own con
tention with regard to the important part played by
the Gnostics in the development of general Christian
doctrine,

and we are pleased

somewhat

avail ourselves of a

among
But

We

the

to notice the phrase

later expression

it

"

to

was

heretics."

to return to our reference to Pilate in 1 Timothy.

no reason why we should assign an

and every reason why we
do so. Marcion (about 140 A.D.)

see that there is

early date

to this

should hesitate to

Letter,

says nothing about it it was not in his Pauline canon

is of course negative evidence, but of positive we
;

That

have none.
probably did

It

may

very well have existed, indeed most

exist, in

Marcion

day, for his collection

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

41

JESUS.

had to satisfy a doctrinal and not a historic

test.

Van

does not attempt to suggest dates for any of the

individual Epistles, though he seems to date his circle

Manen

"

"

about 120

he,

moreover, assigns 130-150 to the Acts, a

date which agrees with our

own

conclusions.

For

if,

as we conclude, the third Gospel was written about

125-130, and if the same hand, as many hold, also

wrote the Acts, 130-150 may very well represent the
termini of the date of that document

be remembered that

to

It
autograph.
Justin Martyr

however,
150) knows nothing of the Acts even

is,
(c.

ferring to

Simon Magus,

not have omitted had he

all

a reference

known

of

when

re

which he could

it,

and one which

subsequent heresiologists triumphantly set in the

"

forefront of their

"

refutations

is

known

A.D.

177

famous heretic

no clear quotation from the Acts

and that there

till

of that

In any case the reference in 1 Timothy cannot very

well be held to be a less assailable witness to the an
tiquity of the Pilate tradition,

we

will not say

than the

writer of the third Gospel, but than the author of his

main

"

source."

The strongest current

of the tradition is traced in the The Pilate

by all four
whether we place the date
the fourth Gospel later than those of

fact that the Pilate date is given confidently

evangelists.
of the

It matters little

autograph

of

the synoptic writers, and assume that the writer of the

former had the letter of the latter before him, or prefer

had independent access to the same

In either case his authority, as far as

to think that he

main
Pilate
rest

sources.
is

concerned, will not presumably be

on firmer ground than that

of the

held to

author of the

the Gospels,

42

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

common document," or common

ever we may call it, of the synoptic
"

"

The widely-held view

or

material,"

tradition.

of the priority of

what

Mark, or

of

labours under so

"

many disadvantages
others I prefer the simpler hypothesis
of a written source (distinct from our present Mark or
original

that with

Mark,"

many

autograph) underlying the matter

its

common

to all

three synoptics, the simplest form of which, however,

preserved in canonical Mark.

still

tain as anything

Pilate

was

can be in

distinctly

ment which

all

named

all

It is

is

almost as cer

this uncertainty that

in the form of this docu

three evangelists used, and which the

fourth Gospel writer also

knew

either directly or

by

intermediary of the writings of his contemporaries, for

I do not hold that they were
necessarily his prede

But what

is most
striking is the abrupt and
unsupported way in which the name of Pilate was

cessors.

apparently introduced in the common document." It

is true that the writer, or maybe an early editor, of the
"

first

Gospel seems to have

lessen this abruptness

the

name

felt

compelled slightly to
"

by adding

the governor

and that the writer

Pilate,

of

the

"

after

fourth

government house." But the Mark

and Luke documents make it appear that the common

speaks

first of

the

"

source they used was either setting forth some state

ment that was well known to all, or that it had already
made fuller reference to Pilate, perhaps in its opening

See

my

recent work,

"

The Gospels and

Lower and

the most recent Results of the

the Gospel
Study in
the Higher Criticism
:

which I conclude for about 120-130 A.D.

(London, 1902),
as the most probable date for the form in which we now have
them.
in

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

43

JESUS.

And this later hypothesis I find would be

Old
the opinion of van Manen, who, in his article on
sentences.

"

Christian
"

The

an

Literature,"

writes

on close comparison, point us back to The

written gospel which unfortunately does Gospel,

"Oldest"

gospels,

oldest

not exist for us except in so far as

traces of

it

began somewhat
the

of

reign

recover

Tiberius

naum ....

Jesus

Pontius

Caesar,

....
.

it

Perhaps
In the fifteenth year

as follows:

of Judaea,

governor

we can

preserved in later recensions.

there

Pilate

came down

to

of

being

Caper

."

Marcion s gospel
this
did
not
contain
introduction, but began
apparently
It is to be remarked, however, that

"

abruptly

He came down

to Capernaum."

no Marcion had direct access to the

ment

"

used by our synoptists

am somewhat

but I

ment
and

it

is

"

"Whether

impossible to say

from a

"

Gnostic

"

environment,

we had any information concerning

ditions

of

the

link

the penultimate

Matthias,"

Basilido-Valentinian circles and the origins,

It is

"

tra

between

we

probably be put on the track of the parentage

common

inclined to think that that docu

originally derived

if

or

common docu

should
of

our

synoptic source.

from considerations

of this

nature that I have

not insisted upon the otherwise apparently equally

strong confirmation of the date of Jesus in the fact
that

all

He was
existence
("

four

emphatically

evangelists

a contemporary of
is

historically

xviii. v. 2)
Antiqq.,"

not mentioned in
that the omission

it

John the

assert

that

Baptist, whose

vouched

for by Josephus
be
said
that John was
might
oldest
written Gospel, and
"

this

"

by the

earlier

writers of a factor

44

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

which has been made so much

writers argues that

it

of by all the later Gospel

was not known in his day. My

main

interest has been to select the strongest link in

the chain of tradition, namely the Pilate date.
have thus traced our Pilate tradition to the

We

common document used by the synoptic evangelists.

Beyond that we cannot go with any certainty the rest
"

"

is

pure speculation, in the absence of objective data of

We

any kind.

cannot date the

common document

through any recensions before

the canonical evangelists

it

of

autograph

we do not know whether

the

it

passed
reached the hands of

we do not know whether

it

originally written in Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic

do not know whether the synoptists worked on the

was

we

of

copy

own

an

on a translation, or made their

other con

original, or

translations

we do not know what

temporary documents were in existence, though it is

quite certain, according to the statement of the writer
of the third Gospel, that there

Now
"

it

common

is

to

were

"
"

many

others.

be noticed that the writer of

as

document,"

the

seen in the simplest form

preserved by Mark, puts all the blame of Jesus con

demnation on the chief priests and says very little
about Pilate. This is remarkable, for we know the
bitter hatred of the
still

more

the

memory

Jews

to the point,
of

Pilate

for the Eomans, and, what is

we know from Josephus that

especially

was most

bitterly

days of

political

detested by the Jews.

On

the

suspicion

other

owing

hand,
to

the

in

those

many

revolutionary cabals

among the Jews, it was exceedingly dangerous for a

Jewish writer, or for those generally identified with the

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

Jews, as the Christians

still

45

JESUS.

were, to speak against the

Imperial rulers or their officers,

and

it

was the custom

very numerous politico-religious

writings of the time, of which we have examples in the
still extant specimens of pseudepigraphic and apoca
of the writers of the

lyptic literature,

to disguise the real objects of their

by throwing their matter into prophetical

where
the present or immediate past was written
form,
of as yet to come, and where the names of the actual
detestation

were

persons

altered

or

and

hidden under symbol

metaphor.

The
"

direct

mention

of

name

the

of

Pilate in the The Date

common

order of

haps

it

-"

may even have been

partially encouraged

by

the imperial favour so recently bestowed on Josephus

"

History of the Jewish War." But whatever validity

may be in such a speculation, the practical excul

there

pation

of

Pilate

seems

Christianity was seeking

in the eyes of the
fix

Eoman

to

point to

to dissociate itself

world.

Can we

a probable date for this state of affairs

time

when

from Jewry
in

any way

It is

very
be suggested. We
glean from an analysis of history that up to at least
the end of the first century the Christians were indis
difficult to

do

so,

but termini

may

criminately classed with the Jews by the authorities.

The Jews were the objects of frequent repression and
persecution at the hands of the Roman magistracy but
not on religious grounds. They were regarded as
;

political

of

document," then, seems to point to another mon DOCUliterature

and it may be hazarded that per- ment

revolutionaries.

The

Jewish Christians and Jews

is

antagonism
said

between

by some learned

Talmudists to have developed acutely only in

Trajan

s,

46

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

1

but the entire separation probably

did not take place till Hadrian s (A.D. 117-138).
In this
how
base
themselves
Talmudic
data.
But
on
they
reign (A.D. 98-117),

many years elapsed before the antagonism reached this

acute stage ?
cannot say but we may with very
fix
the very latest limit for our
confidence
great

We

common document
century.

For our

in

the

first

earliest

years

the second

of

however,

limit,

we have

nothing to help us, except the consideration that the

destruction of Jerusalem

blow

to the

hopes

in

70 was a crushing

A.D.

who looked

of those

for a material

fulfilment of Messianic prophecy, and the very thing to

spiritual view

Messianism, as

of

inner communities, and

to the inevitable

with the
The strength
Tradl

and therefore

our

more

was the case in the

who were more

bow

content to

to reconcile themselves

rulers.

if we were
common document

But even

who took

those

strengthen the position of

to

assume the higher limit

as about 75 A.D., at this

of

com

paratively early date, whatever may have been the

rights of the dispute as to who was the more to blame
for

it,

the death of Jesus under Pilate was a bald fact

that could presumably have been most readily verified

if it were untrue, it is most difficult to believe that it
;

could have got a footing for a

The

most credulous.

among

bitter

moment even among

opponents
at once retorted:

Jews would have

the

there was no such trial under Pilate at

See Joel (M.),

"

the

of the Christians

all

Why,

Blicke in die Religionsgeschiclite zu Anfang

des zweiten christlichen Jahrhunderts

(Breslau 1880), i. 14-41,
Geschichte der Juden"
see also Graetz (H. IL),
and ii. 87 ff.
"

"

(Leipzig

1865, 2nd. ed.),

iv.

90

ff.

THE CANONICAL DATE OF

47

JESUS.

On the other hand, the name of Pilate may have

been inserted in some intermediate redaction of the
"

common document

evangelists
of records,

"

before

it

reached the hands

of

the

with the lapse of time, and the destruction

and the development

of Christianity outside

among the Dispersion, the difficulty of veri

would thus be greatly increased. It might be

Palestine
fication

even that the document originally simply stated that

Jesus was brought before the
Governor," and the
"

name

of Pilate

was subsequently added

greater precision, in the

"
"

in a desire for

fashion of the time.

haggadic
of the matter, the Pilate

Whatever may be the truth

date

has every appearance of being as strong an

element as any other in the whole tradition.

historical

on

the appearance of a most candid

statement, and the introduction of the name, had there
It bears

its face

been no warrant for

it, argues such a lack of what we

consider
historical
to-day
morality, that it is without
parallel except in the pseudepigraphic and apocalyptic

literature of the period.

Ill

EAELIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO

THE EECEIVED DATE.

The Absence

IN our last chapter we dealt with the date of Jesus

the

to

accepted

canonical

sources,

in the First

according

Century.

endeavoured to track out the main strength

tradition preserved
sult of

this

seemed

to

by the synoptic writers.

investigation

was that the

of

The

and
the
re

probabilities

be strongly in favour of our possessing a

historical fact in the statement that Jesus was a con

temporary

of Pilate.

We

now turn

to a consideration

of the earliest external evidence.

It has

ment

always been an unfailing source

of astonish

to the historical investigator of Christian begin

not one single word from the pen

of any Pagan writer of the first century of our era,
which can in any fashion be referred to the marvellous
nings, that there

is

story recounted by the Gospel writers.

The very

exist

ence of Jesus seems unknown.

can hardly be that there were once notices, but

that they were subsequently suppressed by Christian
It

copyists because

of

their

hostile

or even

nature, for inimical notices of a later date

preserved.

The reason

scandalous

have been

for this silence is doubtless to

be discovered in the fact that Christianity was con-

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

49

founded with Judaism, no distinction being made

between them in the minds of non-Jewish writers.
Converts to Christianity were held to be proselytes to
Judaism, and it was a matter of no importance to a
Roman what particular sect of Jewry a convert might

Such a question as what particular phase of

Messianism the Judsei might be agitated about never
circumcision or uncircumcision had
occurred to him

join.

He had

no interest for him.

a vague idea that the

Judsei were a turbulent folk politically dangerous

to

the state, that they had a strange superstition and were

haters of the

human
we can

race,

and there he

left

it.

As, then,
nothing about the Christians
in Pagan writers of the first century, we turn to our
earliest notices of the second century as found in the
find

writings of Pliny the Younger, Suetonius and Tacitus.

All three were men who held imperial offices, were

and presumably had access to the

All three were distinguished
archives of the empire.
writers and historians, and probably all three were
well

known

at court,

personal friends.

We

know

for a fact

from his

letters

that Pliny and Tacitus were intimate friends, and also

that Pliny and Suetonius were friendly correspondents.

Pliny was born 61

was

A.D., his

greatest literary activity

whether or no he

in the reign of Trajan, but as to

survived his imperial master (d. 117) we have no infor

mation.
Tacitus was of the same age as Pliny and
survived Trajan, but the exact date of his death
known. Suetonius was some ten years younger,

is

un

beiiiLi

he was private secretary to

Hadrian (emp. 117-138 A.D.), but the year of his death

born about 70-71

also is

unknown.

A.D.

50

DID JESUS LIVE 100

turn to the famous letter of Pliny

If we, then, first

Pliny the

to Trajan

we

and

to Trajan s reply

much

find

shall

B.C. ?

("

interest

to

Pliny as

96, 97),

concerning

Christians of distant Pontus and Bithynia

for trial before

x.

Letters,"

us

the

who came up

Propraetor, but nothing in

either Pliny s report or in the

presumed rescript of the

Emperor that will give us the smallest clue to the date
of Jesus.
But even had we found in this correspond
ence direct or indirect confirmation of the traditional

we should still have had to consider the arguments

of those who have contended either that both pieces are
forgeries or that interpolations have been made in the
1
If, however, we have a genuine letter
original text.
date,

Pliny before us, and I am inclined to think it largely

genuine, it is with very great probability to be assigned
2
but as the question of the date
to the year 112 A.D.
of

and

this correspondence does

not
genuineness
in
us
it
we
can
find
concern
immediately
(for
nothing
to help our present investigation), we pass to the state

ments
Suetonius.

of

of Suetonius.

There are two short sentences in Suetonius

of the
i.e.,

Twelve Caesars
to

96

Christians.

Suetonius

"

"

Lives

(from Julius Caesar to Domitian

both of which appear to refer to the

In his Life of Claudius (emp. 41-54 A.D.)

A.D.),

tells

us (ch. xxv.), that the Emperor banished

the Jews, or certain Jews, from

Eome

On

because of the

the literature see Platner s (S. B.)

Bibliography of the
Younger Pliny (Western Reserve University, Ohio 1895); also
1

"

"

Wilde

(C. G.

"

I.),

S.J.,

Trajani Epp. mutuis

De

0. Plinii Caecilii Secundi

Disputatio"

(Leyden

maintaining their genuineness, gives a

summary

opinions.
2

See

Mommsen

"

(T.),

Hermes

"

(1869),

iii.

et

Imp.

1889), who, while

53.

of

contrary

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

which

disturbances

persistent

arose

51

them

among

"

Chresto."

impulsore

For long fierce controversy has raged round these two

at the
words, which we may translate by the phrase
"

of

instigation

Chrestus

"
"

(lit.,

Chrestus being

the

impulsor
It is contended on strong philological grounds that
this must refer to a living person. 1
It has thus been
").

supposed by some to refer simply to a Jew called

Chrestus who was then living at Eome but this seems
;

to

me

know

to be a very unsatisfactory explanation.

"

that

Chrestus

"

is still

where we should expect

that Tertullian
third

("

"
"

Christus

Apol.," iii.),

accuses

we know

further

at the beginning of the

Komans

the

For we

sometimes found in MSS.

of

so

mispro
nouncing the name of Christ, and from Lactantius
a century later, that it was still a
Institt.," iv. 7),
century,

("

common

custom.

It is not necessary

confusion of Christus

here to enquire whether this

and Chrestus was

really only an

ignorant mistake on the part of non-Christians, or

whether there may not be some further explanation of
the

phenomenon

2
;

an outsider

anyhow not be likely to

may
1

know

like

Suetonius would

the difference, and so

we

very well in this passage take Chrestus for Christus.

See Smilda (H.),

"C.

Suetonii Tranquilli Vita Divi

Claudii"

Geschichte
(Groningen 1896), p. 124, n. also Schiller (H.),
der romischen Kaiserzeit" (Gotha 1883), i. 447, n. 6.
2 The most ancient dated Christian
inscription (Oct. 1, 318 A.D.)
runs "The Lord and Saviour Jesus the Good" Clirestos, not
"

This was the legend over the door

the Marcionites were Anti-Jewish
and
Church,
Christos.

of

a Marcionite

Gnostics,

and did

not confound their Chrestos with the Jewish Christos (Messiah).

DID JESUS LIVE 100

52
But even

so

we

B.C.

are confronted with the

difficulty

that according to the received tradition the Christian

Christ was never at Eome, and did not survive to the

reign of Claudius.

Moreover,

be argued that Suetonius does not

it

if

"

employ

intended

we have

it

to

Hebrew

to carry a metaphorical

Christos

Messiah, the

there were
reference

The

sort

When,

"Chris-

impulsore Chresto

literally,

necessarily

simply the Greek for the

is

"anointed,"

and

claiming to be this

many
may then

but

meaning, even so

remember that Christus does not

refer to Jesus.

some

"

the phrase

at this

period

"

anointed."

The

be simply to a Messianic riot of

the Jews. 1

among
we come

then,

across the term

"

Christiani

"

Pagan writers referring to disturbances of the first

century, we are not to assume offhand that those thus
in

designated must necessarily have been followers of

Jesus of Nazareth they may on the contrary have been
;

simply Jewish Messianists, and most probably

And

Zealot type.

when

this

may

of

the

be argued to be the case

Suetonius, in the second of his famous sentences,

Nero (emp. 54-68), tells us (c. xvi.) that

were severely punished or put
Christiani

in his Life of

"

certain
to the

"

torture

who

these he characterises as

believed in a

"

a class of

new and noxious

superstition."
people
This might apply to Messianists, for the Eomans had
been compelled to deal with many disturbances of this

nature in Palestine in the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius

and Nero, and doubtless tumults of a similar character

had arisen among the Jews

of the Dispersion as well.

See Schiller (H.), Geschichte des romischen Kaiserreichs unter

der Regierung des Nero" (Berlin
1872), p. 434.
1

"

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

But we cannot be sure that
Suetonius, even

if

subject.

the meaning

is

of

the question were not rendered far

more complicated by what

Least of

this

53

all

is

found in Tacitus on the

can we dispose

of

the difficulty

by assuming that the two sentences in Suetonius are

interpolations by a Christian hand, for it is almost
impossible to believe that any

could have

Christian

used such phraseology.

famous passage

therefore, finally turn to the

We,

Tacitus

("

Ann.,"

xv. 44),

were so

that the Christians

Christus

who

where we

from

called

was put

in the reign of Tiberius

under Pontius

in Tacitus.

find it clearly stated

certain
to death

This statement occurs in a brief

Pilate.

but graphic account

of

the horrible cruelties which

these Christiani are said to have suffered under Nero.

64

Eome

in connection with the Great Fire at

was

It

A.D.

believed at

in

was commonly
the time that the conflagration had been

Tacitus will have

it

that

it

started by the express orders of the

To divert the public

Emperor

mind and remove

himself.

this imputation,

Nero had singled out the Christiani to play the part of

detesta
scapegoat, seeing that they were held in general
tion for their evil practices.

They were accused, put

to

the torture, condemned and done to death with refine

ments

of cruelty.

From

the time

of

strongly questioned

Gibbon, however,

it

has been

whether at that date Christians

were numerous enough at Eome to have been so singled

that tho
out, and it has been accordingly maintained
had been vented simply on the
of the

fury

Jews

populace

in general, seeing that the fire

their quarter

in short, that Tacitus

had broken out

is

in

in error and has

54

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

transferred the popular detestation of the Christians in

his

own day

In

to the times of Nero.

connection

this

we have

to

recall

the

short

sentence in Suetonius which apparently refers to the

same event when we read Tacitus, but which seems to

have nothing to do with it when we read Suetonius.

can further speculate as to whether Suetonius

We
may

have derived his information from Tacitus, or Tacitus

may have embellished the statement of Suetonius. 1 But
if
Suetonius had had the passage of Tacitus
before him, and had believed in his great contemporary s
view of the matter, he would have made more use of

surely

Suetonius

is

seems

more probable that

reproducing the dry bones of some brief

his graphic details

official record,

It

far

while Tacitus, in working out a character

sketch of Nero from insufficient data, and with a strong

prejudice against him. has collected together unrelated

and painted them in with the gaudiest colours

by some tragic stories he

events,

of a vivid imagination excited

had heard concerning the Christians

own

of his

But

of a later

time and

day.

it is

not so

much

the persecution of Christiani

Enc. Bib.") gives the

Christian, Name
(art.
date of the passage in Tacitus as 116-117, and of those in Suetonius
1

Schmiedel

"

"

of,"

as 120 A.D., but this

is
unproved.
See Bruno Bauer, "Christus und die Caesaren: Der Ursprung
des Christenthums aus dem romischen Griechenthum
(Berlin
2

"

1879

2nd

ed.).

That in general Tacitus

is

a historical romancist

who has too long fascinated schoolmasters and their pupils by the
beauty of his style, and not a sober historian, is an accepted judg
ment among competent historical scholars. See especially Tarver
Tarver gives a
(J. C.), "Tiberius the Tyrant" (London; 1902)
totally different estimate of Tiberius from the caricature of Tacitus,
;

to

whom

less

the good fame of an anti-senatorial emperor was of far

importance than the neat turning of a phrase.

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

under Nero that concerns

whom

that the Christian!

us, as the explicit

55

statement

Tacitus has in mind, were the

who was put to death under

Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. If this state
ment is from the pen of Tacitus, and if it was based

followers of that Christus

on information derived from

nothing more

be

to

Eoman

The

said.

records, there is

positive answer to our

question has been found, and the accepted date

stands firm.

The famous sentence runs

rn

ejus

Pentium Pilatum

we have
Even so,

Auctor nominis

impentante per

supplicio affectus

procuratorem

erat"

assume its genuineness, that is that

before us a sentence written by Tacitus himself.
it is
is

very

difficult to

persuade oneself that the

derived from some

the contrary

it

has

should not have the

name

Eoman

record.

of Pilate introduced with

no

than simply that of Procurator.

In the reign of Tiberius under

further qualification

Procurator of what

official

the appearance of being part

Surely in an official record we

all

of a Christian formula.

"

would mean something definite

he would know that the whole story of
Christus had to do with Judsea, but to a Eoman the
Pilate the

Governor"

to a Christian, for

phrase would convey nothing of a very precise nature.

Later on in the Tacitean narrative it is true we are told
the Christian sect arose in Judaea, but on the other

hand we must remember that

"

Pilate the

Governor

"

it

is

just this sudden

which meets us

gation of the synoptic tradition, as

in our investi

we showed

in our

might then (if the sentence is genuine)

be of interest to determine the date of writing of this

last chapter.

It

Is it a Chris-

tian

first of all

statement

On

"

Jesus

Ziberw

Clvristus

Let us

as follows

m-T~

j.

of

Formula

56

DID JESUS LIVE 100

part of the

"

Annals,"

exactitude.

but this

is

B.C. ?

impossible to do with

It seems,

any
however, probable that it
was written subsequently to 117 A.D., a date when the
Pilate
formula was indubitably firmly established
Christian circles.

among

seems to know

It is also to be noticed that Tacitus

nothing of the

name

of

Jesus; and

is
exceedingly
that
in
official
record
the
improbable
any
proper name
of the person would be omitted, and a name used which

with Palestinian

familiar

officials

known

to be a general title

it

must have

affairs

which was at that time

Moreover, Jesus was not,

being claimed by many.
to
the
canonical
tradition, accused of being a
according
claimant to Messiahship, a matter which did not con

Eoman

cern the

magistrates,

offence of claiming to be
far

but with the political

It is then

of the Jews.

King
more probable that Tacitus derived

his information

from hearsay, and imagined that Christus was the

actual and only name of the founder of the Christian
sect.
Is it

But

an Inter-

tion that
us.

these considerations depend

all

upon the assump

we have

Now

it

a genuine sentence of Tacitus before

has been often pointed out that
Tiberio
"

"

imperitante
It

cannot

entirely opposed to all Tacitean usage.

be paralleled elsewhere in his vocabulary,
is

and moreover

The early

contrary to regular use.

is

Emperors were still regarded solely as heads of the

Eepublic, and as such were called Principes we should,
therefore, expect Principe Tiberio," or some such com
;

"

bination.

are seldom
to

Philological arguments, however, as a rule,

very convincing; but it is not very easy

one offhand. The sentence,

dispose of the present

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

57

moreover, has a strong appearance of being inserted in

the rest of the narrative.
Many, therefore, consider it

an interpolation, and some even are of opinion that the

whole of the chapter is a fabrication. As Hochart
This chapter contains almost as
says
able difficulties as it does words." 1
"

But

this

laborious

scholar

of Tacitean criticism,

left

wing
work in bringing out the

many

inexplic

represents the extreme

and valuable as

difficulties

his

is

which have

to be

surmounted before we can be positive that the whole

chapter under discussion (much more then the sen
tence which specially interests us)
tends,

an interpolation, his

is not,

authority

is

as he con

somewhat

weakened by his subsequent lengthy researches, 3

which he courageously revived the whole question

in
of

the authenticity of the famous MS., purporting to

contain the last six books of the "Annals" and the

which was

first

Poggio Bracciolini

and

"

first five

of the

"

Histories

of Tacitus,

brought to light about 1429 by

the sole MS. from which
Niccoli

made.

been

Hochart

maintains

learned humanist Poggio himself

all copies

that

in

we have

have since
the

very

a Pseudo"

Tacitus,
"

Annals

and that
"

we

in these books of the

"

Histories

and

are therefore face to face with an elabo

rate pseudepigraph.

Annales de la Faculte des Lettres de Bordeaux," 1884, No. 2.

Hochart (P.), Etudes au Sujet de la Persecution des Chretiens
For arguments in favour of its
sous Neron" (Paris; 1885).
neronische Christenverfolgenuineness see Arnold (C. F.), "Die
1

"

"

(Leipzig; 1888).
Tacite
I Authenticite des Aunales et des Histoiree de
au Sujet
Considerations
Nouvelles
and
320
1890), p.
(Paris
des Annales et des Histoires de Tacite" (Paris ; 1894), p. 293.

gung"

"

"

De

"

58

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

On

the whole, however,

am

inclined to think that

the strain of supporting this conclusion is too

great for
even the most robust scepticism (though it may be that

In any
stranger things have happened in literature).
case it does not affect the main point of our
argument

admitting the genuineness of the

even of the sentence which specially

namely,

that,

chapter and
concerns our enquiry, we cannot be sure that we have
in it a confirmation of the canonical tradition of the
Pilate date from an independent source.

We

Josephus.

in the

have, then, passed in review our earliest notices

works

of

Pagan writers of the second century,

and may next turn our attention to that Jewish writer
century who above all others might be
expected to supply us with the certainty of which we
the

of

first

are in search.

Joseph ben Mattatiah, the priest, or, to use the name

he adopted in honour of the Flavian House, Flavius
Josephus, was born 37-38 A.D. and survived till at least
100

His father Matthias was a member

A.D.

of

one of

the high priestly families, was learned in the Law and

held in high repute in Jerusalem.
Matthias was thus
a contemporary of

been an

Pilate,

eye-witness

of

and should therefore have

those

wonderful

events in

Jerusalem which the Gospel narratives so graphically

depict in connection with the death of Jesus he might
;

even have been expected to have taken part in them

at the very least he could not have failed to have heard

of

them

if

they actually occurred in the

way

in

which

they are described.

Josephus,

was from

if

we can

accept his

own account of himself,

Law and had

his earliest years^trained in the

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

an insatiable love

of religious learning.

When

59

he was

but fourteen years old, he tells us, the high priests and
doctors used to come to ask him questions on difficult
points of the Torah and its traditions. This may of
course refer simply to his wonderful memory, in the

which

the most part such learning

but over and beyond this, we are told, he

exercise

of

consisted

for

was most eagerly anxious to know and practise the

inner side of religion, and busily enquired into the
For three years he
the desert, apparently to some Essene-like
community, and submitted himself to its vigorous
tenets of all the sects of Jewry.

retired to

In 64

discipline.

find

him

at

Rome

some friends

of

the age of twenty-six, we

interested in obtaining the freedom
A. D., at

of

his, priests

who even

in

prison

Gentile fare and managed to support them

selves on the ascetic diet of figs and nuts.

refused

all

War

Josephus was given the

important command of Galilee, and displays an intimate

During the Jewish

knowledge

of the

Gospel tradition,

country in which, according to the

was the

chief scene of the ministry of

As a self-surrendered prisoner in the hands of

Eomans he played a very important part in the

Jesus.

the

hastening of the end of the war, and was subsequently

held in high estimation by the rulers of the Empire

and devoted himself

and an account

to writing a history of his people

of the war.

Many

additional reasons

could be adduced, but enough has already been said to

show why Josephus, who might be called the historian
"

of the

Messianic

age,"

is

just the very writer

who might

us something decisive about the

Nor can the detestation
Christians and their origins.

be expected to

tell

60

DID JESUS LIVE 100

of the

Jews

for the

the

of

memory

B.C. ?

which

"

traitor,"

makes them

still

those days

with exaggerated suspicion, in any way

regard every line of his writings

lessen the authority of Josephus in

the complaint of Christians against

this

him

about

respect

is

for

not that he

misrepresents them or their beginnings, but that he

absolutely ignores their existence.
The Spurious
Passage.

It is true that

we have

that famous passage in his

"
"

Antiquities

iii.

(xviii.

3)

which amply and doctrinally

confirms the Gospel tradition

but

how

a so transparent

forgery could have escaped detection in even the most

uncritical age

For many years

a marvel.

is

it

has been

abandoned by all schools of criticism, even the most

conservative, and we have only to turn to any modern
translation or text to find

definitely characterised as

it

an interpolation or enclosed in brackets. 1

only that we are confronted with upwards

It

is

of a

not

dozen

most potent arguments against its authenticity, but that

we have also the explicit statement of Origen in the third
century that Josephus (with whose works he was ac
quainted, and whom he is quoting to prove the historic
existence of John the Baptist) had no belief whatever
Jesus being

in

passage

states

the

Christ,

whereas

categorically that

Nevertheless, there are

still

while admitting that

it

See, for instance, F.

1890), iv. pp. 151, 152.

The

spurious

a few daring scholars who,

heavily interpolated, en-

is

Kaulen

Josephus jiidische AltertMmer

and B. Niese s critical text,

the

he was the Christ.

German

"

(Koln

translation,

"Flavius

1892, 3rd ed.), p. 620, n.

(Euvres completes de Flavius Josephe

(Paris
1900), has so far given us only five books of the Antiquities."
2
Origen, Contra Celsum," i. 47.

by T. Reinach,

"

"

"

"

Flavii Josephi Opera" (Berlin;

most recent French translation, edited
"

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

61

1
deavour to save some fragments of the
passage, and
even one stalwart apologist who maintains its
complete

genuineness.

But

there be anything certain in the whole field of The Jacobus

Passage
criticism, it is that this passage was never written by
if

And

Josephus.
"

Antiqq.,"

Jesus called

of

this

being

so,

the

reference

xx. ix. 1) to a certain Jacobus,

Christ,"

"

(in

the brother

constitutes the only reference

voluminous writings of Josephus which

Origen could discover but unfortunately the statement
of Origen casts grave doubts upon the words
brother of
to Jesus in the

"

Jesus called Christ, for he twice

describes

the

declares that Josephus

Jerusalem and the destruction

of

fall

as a divine retribution for the

murder of
Temple
this James
a most highly improbable opinion to father
upon Josephus, and no trace of which is to be found
of the

either in the passage in

sidering

now

which the phrase we are con

stands, or in the rest of Josephus

works.

It is therefore exceedingly probable that this epithet

was taken from Origen and incorporated

into the text

These being the only

Josephus by
references that can be adduced in the voluminous
later

of

scribes.

writings of the Jewish historian,

knows nothing
of various

Though

of

"

the

it

Christ,"

follows that Josephus

though he knows much

"

Christs."

the argument from silence

must

be received with the greatest caution,

1

1895, 2nd cd.)

;
xxxv. 1-18.
2

Bole

(Brixen
3

"

See Miiller (G. A.),

briick

(F.), "Flavius

Cliristus bei

and Reinach

Josephus
(T.),

"

Contra

in all cases The Silence

cannot

Flavins"

"Rev.

Celsum," i.

47,

ii.

13.

fail

(\\\\\*-

Etud. Jin

Josephus iiber Christus und die

1896).

Origen,

it

Christen"

62

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

deeply to impress us in the case of Joseph ben Mattatiah for it is almost humanly impossible that, if the
details of the Christian tradition and the affairs of the
;

world had been historically in the time of

Josephus just what they are stated to have been in our
Christian

canonical documents, the historian of that special age

and country could have kept silence concerning them.
If these things

were just as they are said

to

have been,

no convincing reason that we can assign for

the silence of a man who, like Josephus, was in a most
there

is

admirable position to know about them.

Josephus had been trained in an Essene-like com

munity and seems even

"

Essene

He

"

interests.

to
is

have gone to Borne

just the

man

in

to tell us of

those early Christian communities which were formed

on models closely resembling those of the Pious and

He goes to Home just when
the Poor and the Naked.
have been there, and no doubt was
there, and just about the time when, if we are to believe
Tacitus, the Christiani were singled out for public perse
Paul

is

also said to

cution and cruel martyrdom by Imperial tyranny

yet he knows nothing of all

ministry and death of Jesus

this.

With regard

and

to the

might be said that all

this had happened before Josephus was born, though
surely it might be expected that his father would have
told

him

still

it

is

tragedy at

such stirring, nay overwhelming, events

strange that with regard to the gruesome

of

Kome he

as of a

apparently knows not even so

it

much

of Christians.

community
Was, then, the story

have

it

now ?

Were

in those days other

than we

the origins of Christianity, as

we

have elsewhere suggested, hidden among the pledged

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

members

63

mystic communities and ascetic orders,

of the

and only imperfectly known among their outer circles,

which were also largely held to secrecy ? Was it all
of older date

Who

shall say

than we are accustomed to regard it ?

with utter confidence ? The silence of

Josephus permits us to speculate, but gives us no

answer to our questionings. It may be even that some
items of

what the Jewish writer

us of other

tells

leaders of sects and claimants to Messiahship

been conflated and transformed

may have

on by our Gospel
writers or their immediate predecessors, and so used to
out the story of a

fill

historic data.
of research

We

But

life for

later

which they had but little

and obscure subject

this is a delicate

which requires new treatment. 1

thus see that, as far as our present enquiry

is

we can

obtain no positive help from any

concerned,
Pagan or Jewish writer of the first century, or for that

matter

of the first quarter of the second.

It

remains to

enquire whether from the fragments

gospels or the remains of Old-Christian traditions and
of extra-canonical

from the apocrypha generally we can get any help.

If the general learned opinion on this literature, or

any rate on all of

mention of the Herod
at

namely, that

it is later

nothing to help

it

or

which in any way makes

Pilate

dates,

holds

good,

than our Gospels, then we have

us.

But the recent

brilliant study of Corirady

on the The
"

Book of James," commonly called the Protevangelium

"

"

The Jesus of History and

See the attempt of Solomon (G.),
the Jesus of Tradition Identified" (London 1880).
2
Conrady (L.), Die Quelle der kanonischen Kindheitsgeschichte
"

"

Jesus

"

(Gottingen

1900).

"Book

64

DID JESUS LIVE 100

(the

name given

to it

by

Postel,

who

B.C. ?

first

brought

light in the sixteenth century), the original of

to

it

which

is

already admitted by some to reach back as far as the

middle of the second century, opens up a question

answered in the affirmative,

would mean a
revolution
of
our
on
views
the canon and of
complete
the

"

if

which,

origins

of

Christianity."

Conrady believes that

he has demonstrated that in some of their details of

the history of the infancy our first and third evangelists
borrow from a common source, and that this source is

no other than our extant

have

Book

He would

"

Protevangelium."

James is of Egyptian origin.

Jewish Christian, but most
probably an Egyptian and an Alexandrian. It is to be
that this

it

"

The author was not

"

of

hoped that Conrady may follow up his excursion into

this field of investigation

nature

by other researches

of a similar

and since he has raised the presumption that

we have

"

in the

"

Protevangelium

one

of the

"

"

many

Gospel writings referred to in the introduction

third Gospel,

we may glance through the

of the

literature,

other than that of the distinct Pilate apocrypha, for a

reference to Pilate.
The

"

Gospel

we

This
Peter,"

shall find only in the so-called

a considerable fragment of

"

Gospel

which relating

passion and death of Jesus was discovered in a

Akhmim

in

1885 and

first

been written during the

1

See

Review
2

Nicliol s
"

published in 1892.

last ten years

of

to the

tomb

Much

at

has

on this interesting

review of Conrady s (book in

"The

Critical

(London), January, 1902.

See Preuschen

kanonischen

Antilegomena Die Reste der ausserEvangelien und urchristlichen Ueberlieferungen

(Giessen; 1901).

"

(E.),

"

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

65

fragment, but the general opinion of scholars is that the

writer shows a knowledge of all our four Gospels.
If,

however, the original of this fragment could be shown

to be older than our Gospels (a most difficult under
it
would also rank among the "many."
taking),

Although agreeing substanially with our Gospel accounts,

very considerably in its more abundant details

it differs

from the simple narrative of the

and is strongly Docetic, that is to

"

common

document,"

say, represents Jesus

Its Gnostic character,

as suffering only in appearance.
1
however, in this respect (for as I have shown elsewhere
the origin of Docetism does not depend on purely

doctrinal

considerations)

does

not,

necessarily point to a late date,

in

my

its

opinion,

elaboration of

though
argue a later development of tradition
as compared with the simplicity of the narrative of the
On the other hand it may be
"common document."
detail

seems

that the

to

"common

process of

document"

had already begun the

"

selection."

Finally in this connection

we may have

pay more at- The

Nicodemus or Acts
to

"

tention to the so-called

"

"

Gospel

of

thirteen chapters of which describe

Pilate,"
the trial of Jesus before Pilate, the condemnation, cruci

the

of

fixion

first

and resurrection, substantially in agreement with

our canonical Gospels, but containing many other details

not found elsewhere. Though the present form of these

Acts

is

not earlier than the fourth century, the question

of there being

what the Germans

call a G-rundsclirift

them
comparatively very early date underlying
exceedan
in
Harris
has recently been raised by Eendel
a

of

"Fragments

of

Faith

Forgotten"

(London;

1900),

427.

p.

"

Acts of

66

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

1
ingly interesting monograph, in which he pleads for a

new

investigation of the subject, on the ground that he

has detected traces

Greek text

our

of

Homeric Gospel under the

Acta," that is to say a Gospel story

of verses of the great Homeric
out
patched together
literature.
Among many other points of interest, he
thinks he has shown that in the passage where Joseph

of

"

begs the body of Jesus from Pilate, "that Pilate has

been turned into Achilles, that Joseph is the good old

Priam, begging the body of Hector, and that the whole

story is based upon the dramatic passages of the twenty-

book

fourth
pothesis

it

the

of

must be

Iliad";

said that

and in favour

we

of his

hy

know from

certainly
the Sibylline literature that Jewish writers long prior to

the

first

century

our era used Homeric verses for

of

similar purposes.

Professor Harris thus contends that such a

Homeric

may have existed prior to Justin Martyr (c.

and
so this famous apologist, when in his Dialogue
150),
with Trypho (cc. 102, 103) he twice refers to certain

Gospel

"

"

"

Acts of

Pilate,"

may

be saved from the

now

generally

endorsed imputation that his wish solely was father

Justin may have had this much
to his statement.

ground

for his assertion that there

G-rundschrift of our

was

in existence the

though of course these

were by no means the official Eoman reports
which he seems to have believed them to be.

"

Acta

The subject

much

"Acta,"

"

is

a fascinating one, but will not help us

in our present enquiry

for
granting the exist
ence of the underlying document, and also its Homeric
1

Kendel Harris

"

(J.),

Pilate "(London; 1898).

The Homeric Centones and

the Acts of

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE.

67

nature, thus

accounting for its strange conflation of

miracles and events (separately recorded in our canonical
Gospels),

by the necessity

of the

vague and general

nature of the verse-tags which had to be employed by

the Centonist it argues a later date than our Gospels. 1
It will thus be seen that our review of the earliest

external evidence for the date of Jesus, even

when we

take into consideration the most unusual lines of research,

leaves us with nothing so distinct as does the result of

the analysis of the tradition of our canonical Gospels.

The argument for the authenticity of the Pilate tradition
centres round the obscure question of the date of the
"common

document."

back the greater

is

The

earlier

we can push

this

the probability of the genuineness of

the tradition.

We

will

stories,

next turn our attention to the Talmud Jeschu

but before doing so

it

will be advisable to give

the general reader some idea of the Talmud itself, and

append some further necessary preliminaries.

to

however, that the new edition of the Acts of

for
Pilate,"
being prepared by Dr. Ernst von Dobschiitz
the great Berlin collection of early Church documents, will throw
some new light on the subject.
1

It is to be hoped,

which

is

"

IV.

perhaps not too much to say that the Talmud has

been the chief means whereby the Jews have preserved
themselves as a nation ever since the time of the final

The Real Con- IT

Jewry.

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD

is

destruction of their Temple, and the extinction of the

last

shred of their political independence, until the

present day.

The Talmud

the chief

is

embodiment

of

that mysterious power which has kept alive the peculiar

spirit

that

it

It is

the

Jewry, and never permitted Israel to forget

of

was a people apart.

the Talmud which beyond

norm

of life for the

Jew

all else

has established

for it is the repository of

that multitude of rules of conduct and laws of custom

(Halachoth),

which the Kabbis, with a

ingenuity (which though intensely serious

bewildering
is

frequently

a strangely perverse casuistic), deduced from the Law

that Torah, which the Jews, in every fibre of their

had been given by God Himself, who

had chosen their fathers from out the nations and
being, believed

for ever

bound them

to

Himself by a special pact and

covenant.

But over and beyond this the Talmud is a vast store

house of the strangest mixture of wise saws and witty
sayings, of legend

and

folk-lore

and phantasy, parable

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

and story, homily and

allegory,

69

1
magic and superstition,

compared to nothing so much as to some seething

bazaar of the Orient, where all sorts and conditions of

to be

wisdom and

swarm

folly

together and are blended in

inextricable confusion.

The most convenient point of departure for a brief

excursion into the domain of systematised Talmudic
beginnings
marks the

is

the period from 70 to 200

A.D.,

which

attempts at arrangement (for

would give the reader a too precise idea of
confused nature) of those rules of custom which
first definite

codification
its

Talmud

in

deprived the Jews

of

constitute the oldest deposit of the existing

both

forms.

its

The

fall of

Jerusalem in 70

A.D.

The Psycho-

even that comparative political independence which they Moment,

had previously possessed. It was a terrible blow to the
hopes of the nation, especially to
for a material fulfilment of the

sacred rolls which

bore

those

all

who looked

promises in the
the names of their ancient

many

they kept the Law, and were true to

their covenant with Yahweh, all enemies should be

prophets

that

if

placed in subjection under their feet. And now not

only was the Holy City destroyed and the Elect of the
earth

prostrate

before the hated power of idolatrous

Rome, but the Holy Temple itself, the chief means, as

they then believed, whereby they were to carry out
their covenant,
It

was a heap

was indeed a

of ruins

terribly tragic

moment even

in the

history of a people inured to tragedy in the past and

1

The Haggadic as contrasted with the Halachic element.

The material itself of the oldest deposit of the Talmud being,

course, of

still earlier

date.

of

70

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

destined to a future replete with tragic terrors.

It is
true that even so the spirit of the Zealots 1 was not
yet

broken

they were yet stubbornly to essay the fortune

of arms in Trajan s time in the
opening years of the
;

first century, and

again in the desperate attempt of
Bar Kochba in the closing years of Hadrian s reign
(132-135 A.D.). But with the final shattering of their

hopes of a material Messianic victory by the crushing

defeat of their champion, even the most irreconcilable
The Study

of

were forced to abandon the unequal struggle.

One thing alone remained to save out of the general
ruin in Palestine
the treasure of the Law.
This

were convinced, had come upon them

because they had not rightly kept their covenant with
Yahweh. To the keeping of this bond they would now
desolation, they

devote

remaining strength. The

Study of
should be the means of their future deliverance.
"

all their

the Law
From this

"

determination,

into which

they threw

all

the perseverance of their stubborn nature, there resulted

a marvellous enthusiasm for collecting and preserving
the traditions of their predecessors concerning the Law,

and

of still further developing

conduct and laws

of

custom

to

an infinity

meet

all

of rules of

the

diverse

changes and chances of Jewish life.

By the end of the second century what were at that
time held to be the more authoritative early traditions
emerged in a final definitely fixed form the Mishna.
1
They were, so to speak, the national fanatics who appealed to
the arbitrament of arms, to Yahweh as God of Battles, and by no
means a philosophical sect," as Josephus would have it, except in
"

so far as religion
"Die

and

politics

were one for them.

Religion des Judentums

(Berlin, 1903), pp. 187, 188.

See Bousset ( W.),

im neutestamentlichen

Zeitalter

"

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

71

This was the nucleus of our present Talmud, the

skeleton,
so to say, round which the
industry of the next three
centuries built

by

development
Gemara.

And

up the study
completing

of the

Law

into

Mishna

the

its

with

full

the

seems almost as though it required The Need

ltf
that something of this kind should have been done if
the Jews were to be preserved to play the
important
indeed

it

part they have played,

Western

in

and doubtless have

For had

history.

it

not

still

been

to play,
for

the

e^ger zeal for this

Study displayed by the Palestinian

Rabbis of the

two centuries

first

of

our era,

it is

very

probable that the Jews would have been entirely ab

sorbed in the nations.
It was a period when in Baby

Jews who had contentedly

remained behind at the time of the Eeturn (and they
h those days constituted the majority of the nation),

lonia the descendants of the

had almost entirely forgotten the Law and its traditions

from what we can make out of the dim historical
;

indications,

they seem

have been almost utterly

to

which they subsequently became

In Egypt, again, where very large numbers

ignorant of that for

so

famous.

of

the

md

Hebrews were permanently

settled,

Greek culture

Alexandrian mysticism had gradually weakened

yhe old exclusiveness

philosophy arid cosmopolitanism

had greatly sapped the strength of pure legalism and
narrow materialism, and the crude objectivity of ancient
;

legend and myth had long been allegorised into subtler

forms more suited to immediate intellectual and
spiritual

needs.

work elsewhere

The same

factors

were doubtless at

in the Diaspora or Dispersion of Israel,

while even in Palestine

itself

the

influence

of

the

of

72

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

numerous communities and

to

more

universal view

strengthened

by the

associations
of

things

crushing disaster

who looked

had

been

so

which had be

fallen the nation, that the forces of rigid conservatism

were being weakened in every direction, and the idess

an Israel of God to be formed out of the Righteous
of the world, irrespective of race, seemed to threaten
of

the very existence of

The Fathers
xy

Indeed I

Jewry

am by no means

as a nation apart.

certain that there

was any

widespread orthodoxy in Jewry prior to the days of

Mishnaic Rabbinism these Rabbis seem to me to ha\e
;

played for Judaism the same part that the Church

Fathers played for
Mcene
Christianity
they
"

"

established a canon and an orthodoxy.

Prior to th;s
there was an exceeding great liberty of belief many even
;

rejected the Temple-cultus, at

rate as far as the

any
was no general canon
of scripture, saving the Pentateuch, and even this, as
we shall see later on, was called into question by many;

sacrifices

were concerned

there

not only so, but even the Temple at Jerusalem was nol
then regarded as the only place where the national cultue
could be practised, for in Egypt in the vicinity of the
traditional land of Goshen, the Jews had a temple

wherein they worshipped Yahweh for more than two

hundred years (circa B.C. 160-A.D. 7 1). 1
As the Talmudic Rabbis created an orthodoxy by
developing the Pharisaic traditions, so did their con
temporaries, the Massoretic Textualists, stereotype the
text of the Torah.
At first the Greek translation of
the Jews in Egypt had been regarded as equally inspired
1

"

Ginsburg

Edition of the

(C. D.),

Hebrew

Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical

Bible

"

(London

1897), pp. 404, 405.

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

73

with the original on which it was based; but in

Mishnaic days, after the rise of Christianity which

adopted this translation as its scripture, the day on

which the Septuagint translation was made was
regarded by the Eabbis as a day of mourning. The
widely from the
Samaritan and from the original on which the version
of the so-called Seventy was made from the third

Massorah tradition

century

of the text differs

onwards, as

B.C.

may

be seen from Ginsburg

monumental work. From all sides, then, we have proof

that what we call Judaism to-day was not necessarily
what Judaism was in the
even in the

century before our era, or

our era.

first

of

first

century
seems most highly probable that the The
strongest factor which helped to intensify Talmudic,

Indeed

that

is

it

to say

"

orthodoxising,"

activity

was the rapid

its emergence from

an embryonic stage in which it was hidden in the womb
of communities of a somewhat similar nature to those

spread of general Christianity, on

of

to

the Therapeuts.

More than ever was

put a fence round the Torah, that the

it

Law

necessary
should be

preserved by Jews, as Jews, for Jews, when, by means

of the ceaseless propaganda of Christianity of all
shades, the Gentiles seemed to be robbing the Hebrews
of their birthright

their

Holy Writ.

of their

Law and

The main claims

their Prophets

of

and

the Christians on

behalf of their Founder, so argued the

Eabbis,

were

based on mistranslation and misinterpretation of the

sacred scriptures of their race.
More than ever was it
necessary to preserve these writings in their original
tongue and purity, and to strengthen the tradition of
the authoritative interpretation

of

their

fathers.

So

Great

74

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

thought the Rabbis, and unweariedly they laboured to

make
The Evolution

strong their special tradition and develop

we owe

It is to this period that

it.

the formulation of

of Tradition.

many

vague, floating opinions and dim reminiscences

into distinct

and

out of

contradictory traditions of a view

many

should constitute

rigid formularies,

"

the

tradition."

and the selection

that

Nay, sometimes the

bitterness of controversy brought to birth

"

"

traditions

which had had no previous existence. Just as the

industry and high literary ability of the Sopherim, from
the time of Ezra (about 440-400

B.C. 1 )

to the

days of
the apocalyptic scribe or scribes of Daniel (about 164
B.C.), and even later, gradually evolved out of originally
very scanty materials a grandiose tradition of preexilic greatness, priestly legalism, sonorous
prophecy,

and splendid hymnody, 2 so did the Eabbis

Talmudic period, 70-200 A.D., the Tanaim,
all

legalise the

immediate predecessors,
these gradually developed scriptures were not

tradition evolved by

that

of the first

their

only written throughout by those

archaic

worthies

whose names they bear, and immediately inspired by

the Holy Spirit, but that Yahweh himself had given to

Moses the

five

His own hand.

books of the Torah proper written by

It is on this fundamental presupposition

that the whole

Talmud

is

based.

of

the Halachic

development of the
These norms of conduct and laws of

custom are founded on the Torah, expanded to include

all three divisions of the
Books or Holy Books,"
"

"

The

"

traditional date of Ezra s

promulgation
444, but as late as 397 has been argued for.
2
For the latest remarks on the development
Die Theologen."
Bousset, op. cit., pp. 139.
1

"

"

"

of

of the

Law

is

Scribism see

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

75

1
Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa (or Holy Writings), as
upon infallible revelation from Deity Himself, extend

ing to every word and letter.

In

brief,

the Eabbis would have

it

that the canon of

the Old Covenant revelation ceased with Ezra, whereas

modern

scientific research

has shown that in the highest

probability
only began with that famous scribe. For
the Eabbis of Palestine and Babylonia, 2 then, there
it

was no prophet after Malachi; prophecy and direct

inspiration had ceased with Ezra from that time they
;

would admit no addition

to the

Law, they acknowledged

no subsequent prophet and of no

the authority of

It

subsequent scripture.

was

for

them a question only

and logical

of the correct tradition of interpretation,

development of what had been once for all infallibly

laid down.
They were to vindicate the authority of
the schoolmen and legalists against the claims of
subsequent prophecy and apocalyptic of all kinds, and
to do so they could find authority for their authority
solely in the

An

"

Oral

Law."

exceedingly interesting glimpse behind the scenes A Glimpse

e
t
was stereotyped by the

of scripture industry, before it

enactments of Talmudic Eabbinism, is afforded by a

study of The Book of Jubilees," which was included in
"

This interesting expansion of

the Alexandrian canon.

Genesis was written about

therefore

before

us a

Torah, Nebiini, Ketubim.

The Jews

See Charles (R. H.),

Genesis"

Genesis

We

have
slight

Alexandria had a far more extended canon.

(London; 1902).

is

B.C.

document which by a

of

135-105

"The

The

Book

of

Jubilees or the Little

traditional Christian title Little

a misnomer, as Jubilees is far more voluminous than

it should rather be called the
Detailed Genesis."

canonical Genesis

"

76

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

divergence of the wheel of fate might have been included

in the Bible, for when we see such a book as Chronicles

Haggadic tendency writing of the second century

B.C., which wrote up Kings and Samuel in the interests

(a

views) included in the canon, and

observe that Jubilees treats the matter of Genesis and

of later priestly

Exodus

in precisely the

of a still later

that of the Chronicles

Samuel,

we

same

fashion, in the interests

and more developed

see the

priestly

view than

redactor in revising Kings and

of scripture in the

making

shop and the continuation

of

the industry

work
the

by

same writing guild, attended by very

and only just failing to obtain a place in

fellowship of the
great success,

the Palestinian canon.

of Jubilees,

thoroughly ashamed of
of the crudities of the Ezra redaction of Genesis

The Jubilees

The Evidence

many

writer was

and Exodus, and rewrote the whole matter to suit the

Jewish enthusiasm
views of his own day and circle
;

was on top

of

the

wave

in

the

palmy

of

days

Maccabaean conquest, and the ambition of the priestly

The whole spirit of the writer
fanatics was boundless.
is

further characterised by a detestation of

all

non-Jews

which fully justifies the strictures of the classical writers

of the first century, and throws a flood of light on the
nature

of

subsequent Zealotism, and the mania

exclusiveness

that

tickled

the

vanity

diabolised the gods of all other nations.

interesting also is the

document

of

Israel

of

and

Exceedingly

for students of later

Talmudic developments, for it presents us with earlier

(and that, too, written) forms of Haggada and Halacha
Mishnaic times were compelled to
acquaintance with the literature of this

which the Eabbis

modify.

An

of

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

period also shows us

how

erroneous

persuasion of later days that the

is
"

77

the general Jewish

Oral Tradition

"

had

been handed down unchanged.

Of great importance
the Bible texts which often

also are the readings of

approximate more closely to those preserved in the Septuagint translation of the Pentateuch (c. 250-200 B.C.)
than those
fifth

of the far later

Massorah

of the fourth or

century.

The Eabbis would have

it

finally that this Oral

Law

had always existed side by side with the Written Law

In the first
ever since the days of Moses onwards.
or
Pirke
Aboth,"
chapter of the Mishna tractate
Aboth," containing the
Sayings of the Fathers," we
are given what purports to be an unbroken succession
"

"

"

of

Jerusalem,
of

this

Moses
of

who

to

the

destruction

of

are said to have been the depositories

Oral Law.

Joshua

Moses

from

individuals,

The succession runs

the Elders

the Prophets

the Great Assembly (from

famous

as follows

Ezra

the

Men

time to about

they were
called, the last of which were Hillel (about 70 B.C. to

200

B.C.)

the

"

Five

10 A.D.) and Shammai; and

son Simon.

Pairs,"

finally,

as

Gamaliel and his

the account given in the Mishna of the

and it is not surprising that
scientific research not only questions, but actually

Such

is

heredity of its tradition,

if

reverses, the

judgment

of the

Mishnaic

Eabbis with

regard to the development of the Written Law, for it

practically begins where they would have it cease, that

modern
of the

scholars should hesitate to accept their account

Oral

Law without

question.

Even the most inattentive reader must be struck

The Oral
1

Heredity.

78

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

with the vague and fragmentary nature

descent.

was known

little

Evidently

of the line of

of the past

even

tjie history
great literary activity from the
fourth to the second century B.C., which had practically

the

of

given them their Written Torah in the form in which

was utterly

lay before them,

it

of the

the

Great

Talmud

produce

Prophets,

made

much

of in

of the

Oral

are

nothing

of a historical

and labours

life

scantiest information,

we hear not

their literary activity

while

of

a word.

the very existence of the

Accordingly,
fe J
Crreat

The Eabbis

nature concern

nay, of the succeeding period they can only

the names of teachers to whom tradition

we can glean but the

theTraditional View.

"

ascribed certain sayings, but of whose

Objections to

so

nameless.

are

Men

The

immediate depositories

as the

Law from the

evidently knew
ing them

who

Assembly,"

forgotten.

"

Men

of the

has been questioned by modern

Assembly
and it has been conjectured with great prob

research,

ability, that the historical

germ

of the traditional idea

to be traced to the general

assembly of the people

who were called together to accept that Law which had
been rewritten by Ezra after the Eeturn (Neh. viii.-x.).
is

"

In course

instead of an assembly of people

of time,

receiving the law, a college of individuals transmitting

the law was conceived

of,

and

this notion

latest

whom

of

extended."

Whatever

else

(Eng.

is

Kabbis

Schiirer (E.),

Christ"

memory

fill

Palestinian
1

the

to

prophets and those

subsequent times still

up the gap between the

scribes to

seems

"

trans.,

obscure

it

is

the Tanaite

of

clear

period,

that
or

the
first

History of the Jewish People in the Time of

London

1893), Div.

ii.,

vol.

i.

p. 355.

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

were busily engaged in establishing a

for Judaism, and making it strong
"orthodoxy"

Talmudic
rigid

79

age,

against manifold

"

heresies."

The

fine literary activity of the nation

history of the past

which had produced

not only the great momurnents of scripture we still pos

sess in the Old Testament documents, but much else, was
utterly forgotten.

And

if

documents, some

we now know were written

of

which

as late as the Maccabsean

period, could be ascribed with every confidence to a

David or a Daniel, we are justified in assuming that

the authority given for the Oral Tradition was, for the
most part, of a similarly unhistoric nature. No doubt

the heredity of the methods employed by the

Tanaim

could be traced with very great probability as far back as

Five Pairs," somewhere approach
the earliest of the
"

ing the beginning of the second century

that the

B.C.

but the

industry could only

discover the names of two teachers for each generation,
striking fact

greatest

seems to indicate either that no others were known,

or that many names and tendencies had had to be
eliminated in seeking the paternity of

that

special

tendency which the Tanaim erected into the test of

orthodox Jewry. As to the Oral Law being con
temporaneous with Moses, we must place this fond

same category with the still more start

of
later
claim
Kabalism, that its Tradition was first
ling
belief in the

delivered by

God Himself

to

Adam

in Paradise.

Again, the fact that the appeal for authority was to

1

See Weinstein (N.

"

1901),

Die

"

J.),

Zur Genesis der Agada" (Gottingen

and
Kampf des Patriarchats
;

"

Minim,"

pp. 91-156,

gegen das Eindringen polytheistischer Ideen in die GelehrtenKreise des palastinisclien

Judenthums,"

pp. 157-252.

80

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

The Tradition an oral and not to a written source,

80
tericilts."

strange

when we remember

books

of

in

some

existence,

is

at first sight

that there were thousands

of

them claiming the

Thus the

authority even of an Enoch or an Adam.

writer of

"

IV.

which

Esdras,"

in

every probability
A.D.), tells us

was composed under Domitian (85-96

18

(xiv.

Holy
books

Spirit
.

Ezra prays to God

he may again

ff.) "that

that

to grant

write

him
out

his

the

which had been burnt (with the temple,

one understands). God bids him take to himself five

companions, and in forty days and nights he dictates to
them ninety-four books, of which seventy are esoteric
writings, and the remaining twenty-four are the canon
of the

Old

Testament."

It is

moreover to be noticed

that the numbers differ greatly in various forms of the

text

thus

we have

also 204, 904,

the

number

eighty-four instead of ninety-four, but

and 974.

But whatever may have been

in the original text, this

that there existed at the end

very different

much we

of the first

century

learn,
A.D.

view from that so strongly insisted on by

Talmud

namely, that there was a

very extensive written tradition not only contempora
neous with the Torah, but of equal inspiration with it,
the builders of the

nay, of so precious a nature that

it

was kept apart and

guarded from public circulation.

The adherents of this view, who, we know from the
indications of the many mystic communications of the
time and also of preceding centuries, were very numer
ous, seem, it is true, to have been as ignorant of the
actual history of the development of the twenty-four
1

K. Budde s

Biblica."

art.,

"The

Canon,"

17, in the "Encyclopaedia

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

(or

and

twenty-two) books

of the

81

Torah as were the Tanaim,

this is strange, seeing that it is in the greatest

we must

ability to their predecessors that

assign the

more

spiritual elements into the Torah

It was these esotericists and their communities

writing-in of the
itself.

who were
and

prob

in intimate contact with that ever-widening

tendency which we can

spiritualising

trace

in

Essenism, Therapeutism, Philonism, Hermeticism, and

Gnosticism and it is their writings which as strongly
influenced the development of Christianity as did the
;

twenty-four books of the Torah.

Doubtless all of these schools and associations had Mysticism
,,

Oral

as

interest

well as

.,

,.,

written

but their main

traditions,

and Ortho^oxy.

was vision and apocalyptic.

themselves to the culture of

of contemplation,

and

their

They devoted
prophecy and the practice
whole energy was centred

on the unfolding of those mysteries of the inner life

which gave them a certainty of heavenly things.
Whereas the chief concern of the Tanaim was the
separation of

the national

life

from contact with

all

foreign
religious influences by the ever more and
more stringent insistence upon that peculiar legalism
which the others had found, or were finding, more and
"

"

more irksome, or had

spiritual

more

liberal

the needs of

those

entirely cast off for a

interpretation, suited to

who were gathered round

the

cradle

of

the infant

Proteus that was destined to develop eventually into a

new world -faith.
It

midst

seems somewhat a sign of weakness that in the The Writing

of so much that was written conservatism had to Tradition!

rely entirely on an oral tradition for its authority.

that, however, as

it

may, the lack

of

Be

written authority
6

82

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

Mishnaic legalism as the orthodoxy

of Israel seems gradually to have evolved a virtue out
for establishing the

and we

of necessity,

Talmud

the tradition

that

in the

must on no account be

down but

Indeed
solely committed to memory.
times would have it that not only was the Mishna

written
later

never written down even when

it

had reached

form about 200

A.D.,

contents of the

Talmud Completion,

committed

never

Saboraim

its final

but that the whole voluminous

to

(500-650

Amoraim

the

down

find it repeatedly laid

writing until the

time of the

the schoolmen

who followed

A.D.),

who wove

or those

or Gemara, were

the

Gemara on

to the

Mishna.

But

in

spite of

what we know
of

memorising faculty

orientals,

of

the prodigious

and in

of the

Talmud

we might

scholars, while

the

of

spite

fascinating stories told of the marvellous feats of

memory

be tempted to

accept the oral tradition of the far less voluminous and

comparatively less complex Mishna text, the enormous

mass and utterly confused and chaotic nature of the
contents of the
that

Gemara make

was handed on

it

it

very

solely

difficult to believe

by verbal

repetition.

seems far more probable that the Mishna was

Indeed,
fully committed to writing at the time of its final
it

redaction about 200-207 A.D.

completion

how an

at

for

when we hear

this date, it is difficult to

authoritative

form

of

of its

understand
of

codification

such

heterogenous material could have been arrived at by

See Strack (H. L.),
1900, 3rd ed.), p. 55.
1

Even Western

"

Einleitung in den

Thalmud

"

(Leipzig

scholars have declared that the oral tradition of

a Vaidic text, for instance,

is

to be preferred to a written copy.

THE GENESIS OP THE TALMUD.

memory alone and if this be true

much
more must it hold good for the
Mishna,

the exercise of the

of the

With regard
it

more voluminous matter

far

83

may,

of the

Gemara.

to the Halachic contents of the

Mishna,
have been that the tradition of the

of course,

precedents on which the lawyers based their decisions

had been kept private as the hereditary possession of a
special profession

but surely some brief written notes

had

existed, perhaps also private collections of notes

been made, even prior not only to the time of an Akiba
in the beginning of the second century, but even of a

Gamaliel in the days of Paul. 1

Are we to believe that a Joshua ben Perachia and a

Judah ben Tabbai and a Simon ben Shetach,

a Shemaiah and an Abtalion, a Hillel and a Shammai,
a Gamaliel and an Akiba, left nothing in writing ? 2
Nithai, a

They surely must have done

good with regard to the tradition

tative Halachoth,

much more

is

And

so.

of the

it

if

this holds

most authori

likely to have been

the case with that huge mass of Haggadic legend and

homily, and flotsam

which the Talmud is
of

and jetsam
filled.

of like nature,

with

Indeed, a scientific review

Talmud passages germane to the question,

most confused state of mind on the subject,

the

all

reveals a

even among* the many makers of that stupendous

patchwork themselves. While on the one hand we
find it
1

most stringently forbidden

At the* final

redaction of Rabbi Jutlah

down Halach-

Mishna there existed

number

of previous Mishnas (e.g., of R. Akiba, of R.

of R. Meir).
It is said even that there are traces in the

already a

Nathan,

to write

Talmud

of Mishnas attributed to Hillel and other early Tanaim.

See Block (J. S.), "Einblicke in die Geschichte der Ent.
stehung der talnmdischen Literatur (Wieu ; 1 884), pp. 2 ff.
2

"

84

DID JESUS LIVE 100

we come

oth,

across

written Halachoth
oth

B.C. ?

references

isolated

and though the writing

to
of

older

Haggad-

apparently included in the general

we
meet
with very precise references to
prohibition,
and
books
even
collections of such books. 1
Haggada
In fact, while the North-French Kabbis of the
well

as

is

Middle Ages held that the Talmud was never committed

to writing till after its final completion at the end of
the

fifth

century

the Spanish Kabbis maintained

A.D.,

Mishna was written down by Kabbi Jehuda

(136-217 A.D.), the Palestinian Gemara by Eabbi
that the

Jochanan (199-279), 2 and the Babylonian Gemara by

Eab Aschi (375-427) and Eab Abina (head of the Sura
School 473-499). This difference of opinion was prob
ably owing to the fact that the French Eabbis had to

depend almost entirely on their memories, owing

The Main
^

Talmud

for

Christians.

MSS. by the

their

the

burning

the

Spanish Eabbis

of

of

to

Inquisition, while

an earlier date were

still

in

enjoyment of their literary liberty.

But whatever may have been the precise mode of
^ ne genesis, development and transmission of the text

un til
lies

it

growth in the form which now

and however difficult it may be to sift

reached

before us,

its full

out reliable historical data from the dim and confused

indications of its contradictory assertions, the tractates

Talmud remain

of the

like the

mounds

of

some great

buried city of the past to challenge the industry and

ingenuity of the courageous explorer to ever fresh
1

See Block
"

ung,"

2,

And

"

Einblicke,"

pp.

viii,

ix

this

in

cited in the Palestinian

even a century

and Strack s

"

Einleit-

pp. 49-55.
face of the fact that many of the authorities

Das Verbot des Schreibens,

later.

Gemara

"

lived after

R. Jochanan, some

THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD.

exertions, in the hope of laying bare traces

the outlines of

some

85

from which

of the ancient buildings

may

be

reconstructed.

And

to

none can the Talmud be

of greater interest

than to the student of Christian origins.

We

will

not go so far as to say with Eeuchlin that the Talmud

written by Christ s
(or even the Mishna) is a book
"

nearest

relations,"

but

it is

ungainsayable, as has so

often been pointed out before, that every purely ethical

precept in the Gospels can be paralleled in the Talmud

by sayings ascribed to the ancient Rabbis of Israel.

In the Talmud we have a strong stream of tradition

which generation by generation, we might almost say

year by year, runs parallel with the primitive streamlet

which
into

so rapidly widens out into the river, and finally

the flood of Christianity.
Here, if anywhere,

should

we expect

to find reliable information as to

how

what subsequently became the great religion of the

West arose, who was its founder, what the matter and
method of the teaching, and who were the earliest
followers of the teacher.

But before we
the

history

of

discuss the passages

which are said

we must

give some rough idea of

the written Talmud, and show how

to refer to Jesus,

these passages were gradually singled out to form the

ground

of bitterest

controversy and persecution.

V._THE TALMUD IN HISTORY

"

Jutsinian

FROM

Justinian, who, as early as 553 A.D., honoured

a
special interdictory Novella, down to Clement
by

it

VIII. and later a space of over a thousand years

both the secular and the spiritual powers, kings and
emperors, popes and anti-popes, vied with each other
,

and

in hurling anathemas

bulls

and

edicts of

and conflagration against

sale confiscation

whole

this luckless

book."

So

writes

Immanuel

Deutsch, and

graphic and romantic panegyric, which

truly,

for

in

the

his
first

time gave the English-reading public a reasonable

account of the Talmud and its history. 1
2
Although it has been lately disputed whether it is

Talmud expressly

the

edict

"

to

Concerning the

which Justinian referred in his

of

February 13, 553, it

seems highly probable that Deutsch is correct. By
this outrageous Novella the wretched Hebrews were
Deutsch

Quarterly
2

far

An

1899), p.

"What

is

the

Talmud?"

in

"The

(London), Oct. 1867, pp. 417-464.

Review"

Popper (W.),

York

art.

(I.).,

Jews,"

Censorship of Hebrew Books" (New

This is the best monograph which has so

"The

3.

appeared on the subject of Talmud persecutions and censorship.

excellent bibliography of the literature is given on pp. iv.

and

v.

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

87

permitted to use only a Greek or Latin translation of

They were strictly for

Hebrew, and, above all things,
they were prohibited from using what is called the
second edition
(secunda editio), which was evidently

the Torah in their synagogues.

bidden to read the

Law

in

"

"

also

written

edition

"

in

Hebrew

or

Aramic.

This

"second

can hardly mean anything else than the Mishna

completions, for the Greek equivalent of mishna

was Sevrepcixris, generally taken by those imperfectly

and

its

acquainted with Hebrew to signify some second rank

or form of the Law, instead of "learning" in the
"

"

secondary sense of

"

repetition."

Such impolitic tyranny in those darkest days of

narrowest ecclesiasticism, which had succeeded in
closing every school of philosophy

Christian world, could not but

the

more dear

persecuted

to

the

Jews.

and learning in the

make

the

The more

for their faith s sake, the

Talmud

all

they were

more desperately

they clung to the immediate cause of their martyrdom

that tradition in which no Christian had part or lot.
The Talmud thus gradually became more precious to

Jew

even the Torah itself, which, by

had
become
the common property of the
translation,
Gentiles, few of whom at this time in the West could
the

than

read a word of the ancient

Thus ignorance bred

Hebrew

fear

original.

and fostered hate, and The

by the eleventh century, we find the passions

a fierce fanaticism let loose against the luckless

already,
of

Hebrews, when the

Crusaders, in

their

wild

rush

behind them a path of

desolation for the Dispersion of Israel in every land

towards Constantinople,

left

they traversed, marked out by blood and

fire,

by the

Crusades,

88

DID JESUS LIVE 100

bodies of murdered
of

Hebrew

ones and smouldering piles

said that, after this avalanche

little

It is

rolls.

B.C. ?

of ruthless destruction, in

many towns

scarce a single

prayer-book remained for the use of a whole synagogue.

There is another side to the romance of the Crusades, of

which our

school-books

frequently

they

into

degenerated

where hecatombs

of

no word

breathe

Hebrews paid

not

in

Jew-hunts,

pure

anew the

ever

one slain Christ, whose ever-living

well believe, felt keener torture at the

ancient debt of
heart,

we may

savagery

His

of

self-styled followers than did

even the

bodies of the victims of their hate.

The

Inquisi-

But it was not till the thirteenth century, which

witnessed the founding of the Mendicant Orders, and
the establishment of that instrument of terror known
as the

Holy

Inquisition, that

we meet with what may

be called the organised official destruction of Hebrew

books, and the saddest part of the sad story is that in
it was a Jew who brought matters
and procured the deliverance of the books of

almost every instance

to a crisis,

his race to the flames.

The
place

first

in

fanatical

official

1233,

burning

at

Hebrew

of

Montpellier,

where

Antimaimonist, persuaded

and Franciscans

of the Inquisition,

the

books took
a

Jew,

Dominicans

who knew nothing

purely internal struggle between conservatism

and liberalism in Jewry, to commit to the flames all
of this

the works of the great Maimonides.

In the same year, at Paris, no less than 12,000

volumes

of the

Talmud were burned.

information to those

who could

of the great literature

Converts gave
not read a single line

which they so madly longed

to

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

extirpate,

89

and eagerly pointed out the hiding places

where the precious

were stored away.

rolls of their

former co-religionists

In 1236, Donin, of Eochelle, in France, a convert The

baptised under the name of Nicolas, laid thirty-five
formal charges against the Talmud before Pope Gregory
IX. 1 the chief of which was that in many passages it
;

used blasphemous language in speaking of Jesus and

Mary. A few years later (May or June, 1239), Gregory
issued

spiritual,

stringent
in

decree to

France,

all rulers,

England,

Castile,

temporal and

Aragon

and

Portugal, commanding them to seize every copy of the

Talmud upon which they could lay hands. Whereupon
in France a formal trial was held before a commission
consisting of

whom knew

two Bishops and a Dominican, not one of

word of Hebrew, and the Talmud

a single

was incontinently condemned

to the flames.

The Jews,

however, appealed against this cruel decree with such

energy that the carrying out of the sentence was post
poned, and a new trial ordered, at which Mcolas himself

was the accuser, while four French Eabbis undertook

the defence, led by E. Jehiel of Paris.
"After

seeking to invalidate most of the charges,

Eabbis turned to the most important point, and

acknowledged that the Talmud contained slighting
the

references to a certain Jesus.

But, by taking into
account the dates mentioned in the Talmud, and other
1
He is said to have done so in revenge for having been ex
communicated by the French Rabbis because of the doubts he had
See
expressed concerning the validity of the Talmudic tradition.
art.
Jewish
Apostasy and Apostates from Judaism in the
Encyclopaedia," on which I have drawn for some of the following
"

"

details.

"

Paris

90

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

evidence furnished by the early Church Fathers them

show that another Jesus, who,

selves they attempted to

had lived at some time

was the subject

earlier than Jesus of

of these

notices."

Nazareth

It is hardly necessary to add, however, that the

un

fortunate Rabbis failed to convince the commission.

The Talmud was again formally condemned. No less

than twenty waggon-loads of MSS. were collected in
Paris, and on June 17, 1244, a huge auto-da-fi, of some
17,000 or 18,000 volumes lit up a conflagration, the
insatiable

which spread rapidly

flames of

to

every

Jewish home throughout the Holy Roman Empire and

devoured that treasure of tradition which the Rabbis
held dearer than their
Persecution
in Spain.

lives.

With the condemnation of the Talmud all the rest of

Hebrew literature was practically involved. Thus in
1263 we find another convert, baptised under the name
Paul Christian (Pablo Christiani or Fra Paolo, of
Montpellier), inducing the Pope, Clement IV., to issue
of

an order that
should

be

were found

all

Hebrew MSS.

collected
to contain

for

of

every kind in Aragon

examination,

and

any passages obnoxious

if

they

to Chris

they should be destroyed or strictly expurgated

while in 1266, also at Barcelona, we meet with a com

tians,

In England.

mission assembled for the same purpose.

In England, however, the Talmud was apparently not
burnt, for a simpler means of suppressing it was found
wholesale expulsion of the

the

in
1

Popper, op.

cit.,

p.

10.

Bui

this

Jews,

method

apology can be as

little

sustained as can the evasion of Wiilfer, Lippmann and Isaac

Abarbanel, that the Jesus of the Talmud and the Jesus of the

Toldoth were different persons.

(Berlin

1902), pp. 8, 9, 273, n. 4.

See Krauss,

"Das

Leben Jesu

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

in other countries as well.

91

resorted

to

we

Honorius IV., in 1286, writing to the Arch

find

Nevertheless,

dam
bishop of Canterbury, warning him against that
nable book," and strictly admonishing him that he
"

should allow no one to read

it (meaning doubtless that

no Jew should be permitted to read it, for the Christians,

in consequence of their ignorance of

for in the

"

Hebrew, could not)

a
evils flow from

Pope s opinion all

which
phrase
suggests that the influence of the Talmud
and
traditions was not confined to Jewry.
teachings
it,"

In the midst

Pope

alone,

of all this hurly-burly of

Clement

Before

sense.

V.,

showed some

anathema one One

signs of

common-

Sensible

pe

the Talmud on sight,

know something about it, and in

condemning

Clement desired

to

1307 proposed that chairs should be founded for the

study of Hebrew, Chaldee and Arabic in the Universities
of

Paris,

liberal

Salamanca, Bologna and Oxford.

But

this

came to nothing, and though we are

somewhat of a lull succeeded to the most acute

proposal

told that

stage of

Talmud persecution from 1232

to 1322, it

was

owing probably to the great secrecy to which the Jews

were compelled to resort in multiplying and trans
mitting the remnants of their literature from generation
to generation, rather than to any greater toleration on
the part of the authorities.

In Spain, indeed, things were

Solomon Levi
and

of

Burgos,

still

at fever heat,

who was formerly

where

a Eabbi

Jewish orthodoxy familiar with the great

Talmudists of the age, but who became a Christian
pillar of

under the name

rose

to

devoted

of

Paul de Santa Maria, and quickly

the position of

mV

great

talent

Archbishop of Carthagena,
and learning to overthrow

Spanish
r

92

DID JESUS LIVE 100

His

B.C. ?

Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives

of Lorca, who also became a Christian under the
name of Geronimo de Santa Fe, accused the Talmud of
Judaism.

disciple,

teaching blasphemy and of every hostility against the

Christians, after he had unsuccessfully conducted a
1

debate concerning the Messianity of Jesus for no less

than twenty-two months with some of the learned

He

Rabbis of Aragon (1413-1414).

Jews

"The

fall

known

is

to the

Blasphemer."

Even the prayer-books

Even the
the Jews

as

of

the

Hebrews could not

Already in 1336 Abner of Burgos (Alfonso

a
Talmudic scholar, philosopher and
Burgensis),

escape.

physician,
"

to

who

become

said

is

sacristan

have

to

of

turned

wealthy

Christian,

church

of

wrote bitter attacks against his former

Valladolid,"
co-religionists, declaring that one of their daily prayers,
"

Birkat

ha-Minim,"

whereupon Alfonso

was directed against the Christians

an edict forbidding them

XL issued

to recite this prayer.

We

find subsequently that

even the simplest Hebrew

prayers could not escape the subtle refinements of accu

sation brought against them by inquisitorial informers.

Thus we learn that

in

Germany
who on conversion took the name
declared that the

certain Pessach,

a
of

Peter in

Jewish prayer-books

tained attacks on Christianity.

1399,

secretly con

The following

is

curious instance of this rage of accusation.

In one of the most famous and apparently the most

which extols
Alenu
innocent prayers of the nation
"),

("

the omnipotence of

God on

earth, there

is

a passage which

1
Dalman gives the original text of sixteen subsequently expur
gated prayers from the Liturgy of the Synagogue.

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

runs

"

93

He

hath not made our portion like theirs nor

For they
like that of all their multitudes.

our lot

worship and bow down before idols and vanities"

The words and vanities stand in unpointed Hebrew
E
by one of the well-known methods of kabal"

"

istic

computation the sum

316,

precisely

J Sh

or Jeschu, the

of

number-letters

these

sum

of

the

Talmudic form

of

Jesus

the same

as

Pessach would thus have

the

it

that

letters
!

even the most

Jewry contained attacks

innocent-looking prayers

of

on Christianity, and

in truth marvellous that in

the face

it

is

such bitter and relentless persecution a

Jewish writing remained.
Indeed, had it

of

scrap of

not been for the inexhaustible sources of replenish

ment in the East, and the wonderful memory of the
Eabbis, the triumph of the Destroyer would have been
complete and the Talmud wiped from off the face of

the earth by the Inquisition.

With the age of the Kenaissance, however, and the

enormous impetus given to liberal studies by the invention of printing, 1 some respite was given to the
Talmud, but by no means as yet was
liberty assured for though the unfortunate Jews had
no longer to fear the wholesale destruction of their

long-suffering

books in

all

countries,

they were

the galling tyranny of the

still

subjected

to

official censor.

Indeed, even in this age of comparative enlightenment

the bitterest foes of the Talmud still lived in hopes of
reviving the old campaign of extermination with all
terrors,

and

it is

its

sad to record that the history of nearly

The first Hebrew book printed was probably a commentary of

Kashi on the Torah (February 17th, 1475).
1

History

ofA P

states

94

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

the troubles of the second stage of persecution

all

still

almost entirely

Not

to

is

a history of apostates."
the bitter enmity of Victor von
"

of

speak
2
Karhen, a German Jew who became a Dominican in
the early part of the sixteenth century, the most

name

notorious

Pfefferkorn

name

Moravia, a

of

all

Pfeffer

Dominicans, and in 1507 published

also joined the

attack in a fierce tract,

his first

despised above

in the present day. 3

Jews even

others by the

korn

that of Joseph (baptised as Johann)

is

"Der

Judenspiegel,"

an onslaught which was intended to culminate in

one fatal blow to Judaism, namely the confiscation
of

And

Talmudic writings.

all

first

succeeded beyond

mediate result

his

of

Maximilian

Emperor

all

indeed Pfefferkorn at

agitation

was

revive

the

to

to

im

the

for

expectation,

induce

the

time-honoured

decree of confiscation, which was eagerly carried out

under Pfefferkorn

who knew only

supervision,

too

well where he could lay hands on the precious books

of his

former co-religionists.
"

says,
Reuchlin.

the

famous

distinguished

and

Hebraist

appointed to

sit

mind refused

to

Popper,

his

Hellenist

of

on the commission.

the

ensued."

most

the
time,

was

His enlightened
a most

He

accordingly set himself to

painstaking fashion to make himself

op. cit., p. 22.

So Deutsch

The

"

Humanist,

condemn the Talmud without

searching enquiry.
in

Deutsch

this time, as

a conflagration of a very different kind

Eeuchlin,

work

But

but Karben in
Jewish Encyclopaedia

"

Jewish

Encyclopaedia."

"

(art. sup. cit.)

says that he

was

"

butcher by trade, a man of little learning and of immoral conduct,

convicted of burglary and condemned to imprisonment, but released
upon payment of a fine."

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

master of

its

95

The Talmud had

voluminous contents.

an impartial mind among its judges;

had found a courageous defender, for in October

at last found
it

nay,

1510, Eeuchlin issued his famous answer to Pfeffer-

korn s onslaught, and boldly declared himself in favour

of the book.

Hereupon ensued
hosts of

official

a fierce battle, in

which the massed

theology and obscurantism were mar

shalled against the courageous

champion of enlightened
and elementary justice. Europe was flooded
with pamphlets, and faculty vied with faculty in angry
toleration

condemnation

of

Without exception, every

Eeuchlin.

university was against him.

Indeed

the faculty of

Mainz, among other egregious notions, put forward the

ludicrous proposition, that as the Hebrew Bible did not
agree with the Vulgate (Jerome

Latin translation), the

Hebrew must manifestly have been

in

falsified

many

places by the malevolence of the Jews, and, in particular,

the wording of the

"

"

original references

Old Testament had been deliberately

to Jesus in the

altered.

Had

Eeuchlin stood absolutely alone he would have

been overwhelmed by the first onrush of his countless
but to their lasting credit there rallied to his
banner a chosen band of enlightened and courageous
friends, the Humanists, who, though they were dubbed
foes

"

Talmutphili,"

of the

Holy

declared themselves to be the

Ghost,"

and the

"

Hosts

of Pallas

fighting for the credit of Christianity

"

Knights
Athene,"

and not

for the

Talmud as Talmud.
At first the Pope, Leo X., favoured Eeuchlin, but the The Germ
outcry was so fierce that he finally weakened, and in
1516 sought a way out

of the

hurly-burly by promulgate

of

DID JESUS LIVE 100

96

B.C. ?

ing a Bull that in future no book should issue from the

press without previous submission to the official censor.

The germ of the

Index Expurgatorius
had been conceived. 1
Librorum Prohibitorum
"

"

"

Index

"

But before

this

instrument of emasculation and pro

hibition could be brought into play, the first complete

edition of the

Talmud had escaped the

censor,

and had

already been printed at Venice in 1520, at the very

time when the knell of much in the old order of things

was being sounded in Germany, and Luther was burning

the Pope

bull at Wittenberg.

This much, at

least,

Eeuchlin and those

had escaped the

who

fire.

was won by the courage of

round him the Talmud

rallied

Not only

so,

but

many began

to

study the treasures of Jewish literature for themselves,

and in Italy there ensued the greatest industry in print
ing

Hebrew books

indeed,

some writers have called

this

Golden Age of the Talmud. It was a time when

the greatest minds among the Humanists were drink
the

"

"

ing deeply of

The Talmud
Relighted.

"

Jewish

philosophy,"

the age of revived

Kabalism and mystic culture.

But it was not to be expected that the

fierce spirit

persecution would quietly yield to the gentler in

fluences at work, and be content with censorship alone
f

nay, these humanising tendencies exasperated it to such

a pitch, that in 1550 Cardinal Caraffa, the Inquisitor-

General, and

in this connection,

one need hardly add

a Dominican, almost succeeded in lighting

up the

He procured
again throughout the land.
a Bull from the Pope repealing all previous permission

Talmud

From

fires

that day onwards the Talmud has always been on the

is still on the Index of Leo XIII.

Index, and

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

97

Talmud, and bursting forth with fury at

his minions, seized every copy he could find

to study the

the head of

Eome and committed

in

it to

the flames.

In Italy also Sixtus of Sienna, a converted Jew,

supported by Pope Paul IV., incited the mob to burn
every copy of the Talmud upon which they could lay
In Cremona, Vittorio Eliano, also a convert,
hands.
testified

against

the Talmud,

and 10,000

to

12,000

Hebrew books were burned in 1559. His brother

Solomon Eomano also procured the burning of many
thousands of Hebrew rolls.
In the same year every
Hebrew book in the city of Prague was confiscated.
But, fortunately, this was the expiring flicker of the The
the Destroyer in that form, and in the future we

life of

hear of no more burnings. The Talmud was hereafter

to the tender mercies of an ignorant censor
and
therewith of a deliberate self-censorship,
ship,

committed

whereby every sentence which might by any means be

thought to refer to Christianity was omitted by the

Jews themselves, so that their books might escape the

sad disfigurement of slap-dash obliteration. There was
much expurgation by ignorant heads and careless hands,
till

gradually

lists of

passages were

converts, to guide the

1578, the

"licensed"

unlearned

drawn up, mostly by

officials,

and

Basle edition of the

finally, in

Talmud was

conformity with the censorship and the

decisions of the egregious Council of Trent
on which

issued

in

nearly every subsequent edition of the book has been

based.
Not only so, but we find the Kabbis themselves

forming their
1

and

own

censorship committees

to

prevent

In 1631 the Jews held a synod at Petrikau, in Poland,

decided to leave out all such passages for fear of the
7

Censor,

DID JESUS LIVE 100

98

B.C.

any book being printed by their co-religionists which

might bring down the wrath of the authorities upon

The seventeenth and

their long-suffering communities.

eighteenth centuries thus witnessed the circulation of

an emasculated and defaced Hebrew literature, from

which not only was the root

of offence to Christian sus

ceptibilities cut out, but much that was entirely innocent

1
The nature of this ridiculous
of any offence whatever.

and hysterical susceptibility to find offence in the

simplest words and phrases may be seen from Deutsch s

humorous word-picture.
His

"

In

the

Basle

edition

1578

of

which

remained the standard edition almost ever since

amazing

creature,

the

anxiety to protect the

for

the

Censor,

Faith

stepped

from

Talmud was supposed

all

in.

In

has
that
his

and every danger

to hide bitter things

against Christianity under the most innocent words and

very wonderful things. When

found some ancient Koman in the book

this official did

phrases

he, for example,

swearing by the Capitol or by Jupiter of Rome/ his

mind instantly misgave him. Surely this Eoman must
be a Christian, the Capitol the Vatican, Jupiter the

And

Pope.

forthwith he struck out

Eome and

sub

any other place he could think of. A favourite

seems
to have been Persia, sometimes it was Aram
spot
and Babel. So that this worthy Roman may be found

stituted

unto this day swearing by the Capitol of Persia or by

the Jupiter of Aram and Babel.
But wherever the
*

word Gentile occurred, the Censor was

Nevertheless, we find that the Amsterdam

Talmud (1644-1648) was not bowdlerised.

Christians.

the
1

seized with the

See Popper, op.

cit.,

chh. viii.-xii.

edition of

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

most frantic

terrors.

be aught but Christian

99

could not possibly

Gentile

whether he lived in India or in

Athens, in Eome or in Canaan whether he was a good

Gentile and there are many such in the Talmud
;

or a wicked one.

him

christened

Instantly he christened him, and

moved him, an Egyptian/ an

as fancy

Arab, a
Amalekite/ an
Negro
sometimes a whole people.
We are speaking strictly

Aramaean,

an

All this

to the letter.
"Deutsch

is

himself was a

when he wrote

tiariity

extant in our best

his

editions."

Jew converted

famous

to Chris- Immanuel

article in 1867, yet

how marvellously

does he differ from his predecessors

of the Middle Ages, who led the onslaught on the

Talmud, and expressly singled out the subsequently

expurgated passages for the main strength of their
attack
Deutsch passes them by with scarcely a
!

notice,

and seems never

main cause

the

of all

have realised that they were

the trouble, and we have the new
to

and pleasant spectacle of a converted Jew penning the

most brilliant defence of the Talmud which has ever
been written outside the

circles of

orthodox

Jewry."

So I wrote when this chapter appeared as an article

in "The Theosophical Eeview" (Oct. 1902); I had then

no doubt on the subject, because of the frequent use of

the words our Lord throughout this famous defence.
"

"

What, then, was my surprise to find that an old friend

of Deutsch s denied absolutely that he was a convert,
and asserted that the editor of the Quarterly," much to
"

Deutsch
into

"

annoyance, had deliberately changed

our Lord throughout the article. The
s

"

Jesus

"

"

"

Jewish

(Nov. 21, 1902) also pointed out that I

was mistaken in describing Deutsch as a convert to
Chronicle"

100

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

Whereupon I wrote to the Chief Rabbi,

Adler, who courteously replied as follows
was very intimate with the late Immanuel Deutsch,

Christianity.

Dr.
"

and

Hermann
can

state

that in

unhesitatingly that he was deeply

the first edition of the
Quarterly
*

annoyed
Eeview Jesus was spoken

our Lord.

of as

This was

changed in the subsequent seven or eight editions of that

number

of the

It so appears, however, in

Quarterly.

Literary Remains

the republication of the article in the

of the late

The

Immanuel Deutsch (Murray

self -constituted censor, therefore,

his activity
to

interest

even in 1867
notice

is

it

1874)."

a matter of profound

how morality

behind morality in ordinary

had not ceased

in

affairs,

theology hangs
even in our own

day.
Cryptogiap y

But

to the student of history

and the watcher

fates of nations, the proceedings of the ignorant

censor are of profound interest.

of the

Talmud

would almost seem

It

by a curious turning of the karmic wheel,

the very methods used deliberately by the Jews them
selves in the far-off days of Talmud genesis had come
as though,

back to vex the Jewish soul against its will. How

often in those days of bitter religio-political strife had
they not substituted Babylon or

Edom

Rome, and
under glyph and
for

hidden their real thought and feeling

And now what they had done willingly, and
imagery
so vexed the soul of history, was being done to them
!

unwillingly by the hands

knows what

of

the

dull censor.

a thorough study of the

Who

Talmud from

this

point of view may not yet reveal of hidden history ?

For, as Deutsch says, and in its wider sense it remains
true until the present day

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

101

We

have sought far and near for some special book

subject, which we might make the theme of our
a book that should not merely be a
observations
"

on the

garbled translation of a certain twelfth century

Intro

duction/ interspersed with vituperations and supple

mented with blunders, but which from the platform of

modern culture should pronounce impartially upon

production which,

through age

for

if

no other reason, claims respect

a book that would lead us through the

which the Talmud

and thought, and fancy,

that would rejoice even,

of fact,

stupendous labyrinths
of

consists,

and

in hieroglyphical fairy-lore, in abstruse propositions

syllogisms, that could forgive wild bursts of passion,

and not judge harshly and hastily of things, the real

which

meaning

of

fool s cap

and

We

have

may have had

to be

hidden under the

bells."

italicised the

words which point

to a

most

especially in con

important element in the Talmud,

nection with our present enquiry, an element of con
cealment, the secrets of which even a text in which

all

the expurgated passages have been replaced, and the

whole

critically restored to its original purity,

nowise reveal to the pure objectivist.

will

doubtless for

Talmud

in

many

many

day

to

would in

This element

come make the

passages as puzzling a study as those

strange books of alchemy to which Eeuchlin so aptly

compared

it.

But

in

of its great difficulty, it

spite

cannot but be that with a deeper study of this element,

and perhaps some day with the help of those methods
of a scientific subjectivism to

which we referred in our

Introduction, some clear light

may

at

no distant date

be thrown, even on some of those passages which the

BID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

102

hate and fear of centuries have singled out as referring

to Jesus in the
Anti-

Whether

Talmud.

or not the present praiseworthy attempt, as

set forth in the pages of the

"

Jewish

Encyclopaedia,"

at

supply the thinking public with a reliable account

of the Talmud in its multifarious aspects, will cover the
last to

whole ground and boldly face the most difficult of

problems without fear or prejudice, remains to be

Unknown

as

this

ancient controversy

not

is

all its

seen.

the

to

unknown on

the
English-speaking world,
Continent even in our own day. Indeed, in Eussia and
Austria it still enters into the deplorable Anti-semitic
it

Thus we

question.

Lecturer in

Academy

Hebrew

is

and

find a Professor of Theology

of the Imperial

Eoman

Catholic

at St. Petersburg, in a recent work, 2 raising

the whole question again, not in the interests of science

and

history, but in the interests of theology

and Anti-

he brings forward a number

of the Jesus passages in the Talmud, and in his con
cluding words introduces us to a thoroughly mediaeval

In

semitic propaganda.

He tells

state of affairs.

it

us that

all

who had heard

of the

publication of his book told him with one voice that

he would be put away by the Jews. Some tried to dis

suade him by reminding him of the fate of Professor

Chiarini, who died suddenly when he determined on

undertaking a translation of the Talmud others spoke

of the monk Didacus of Vilna, a Jewish convert, who
;

was
1

and

killed,

Deckert s title-page
!

Pranaitis

of

others

persecuted in

"

(I.

copy of this

is

it

stands on

(op. sub. tit.).

B.),

Christianas in

Kabbinicae Doctrine de Christianis

No

who were

a contradiction in terms, but so

This seems

in the British

Talmude Judseorum,

Secreta"

Museum.

(St.

Petersburg

sive

1892).

THE TALMUD IN HISTORY.

103

various ways because they disclosed the secrets of the

Jewish religion not only himself but his relatives would

;

be exposed to danger.

But, continues this theological

Bombastes, after evoking the phantasms of his

own

im"

agination, no consideration for his own personal safety

will deter him from his task, and from rushing into the

fray between Semites and Anti-semites, who both think

they are fighting for the truth whereas he at last really
;

knows what

is

willing to bear

He

the truth of the whole matter.

all,

even to

is

offer his life for the cause.

pure childishness, but it shows the Odium

If
ingrained medievalism of the theological nature.
Pranaitis thesis had remained in its original Latin,
This

is,

of course,

might have soon sunk into oblivion, but

it

it

was

immediately translated into German by Dr. Joseph

Deckert of Vienna, 1 who more than doubled its length

by adding notes and comments, crammed with cita

from the most recent Anti-semitic literature

tions

and the reports

especially

singled

of

ritual

murder

trials.

Deckert

out for animadversion a book by

a Jewish controversialist Dr. Lippe, 3 and

we move

in

a hurly-burly so utterly foreign to the temper of the

twentieth century in its dealings with every other subject,

that

we

logicum
1

"

are almost inclined to think that

Odium Theo-

enemy which humanity

will ever slay.

is

the last

Das Christenthum im Talmud der Juden oder

der rabbinisclien Lehre iiber die Christen

2
3

See

art., "Blood Accusation,"

in

die Geheimnisse

"

(Vienna

"Jewish

1894).

Encyclopaedia."

Das Evangelium Matthaei vor dem Forum der

und des Talmud (Jassy 1889). This also is not in -the
"

Lippe (K.),

Bibel

"

Museum

a curious work, with, among other things, no

less than six pages of misprints in it, and many more not noticed
by the author.
British

it is

VI.
The Need

of
Preliminaries.

IN THE

PERHAPS some

iny readers will think that I have

of

already devoted too

history,

and that

plainly what

TALMUD S OUTER COURT.

much

it is

space to the

high time for

Talmud and its

me to tell them

Jewish tradition has to say

this chaos of

about Jesus, and so have done with the matter.

when I remember my own erroneous impressions
years ago on

context

their

many

across statements (shorn of

first

coming
and environment)

affirmed that the

But

which

Talmud declared

confidently

categorically that

Jesus had lived a century earlier than the date assigned

to

him by the

crucified in Jerusalem he
it

is

and that instead

evangelists,

was stoned

absolutely necessary

at Lud, I feel that

first of all to

learned reader some rough notion

of his being

give the

of the genesis

un
and

history of our sources of information, and that instead

having to plead excuse for the space I have devoted

to preliminaries, I have rather to apologise for the

of

brevity and roughness of

and

to

before

the foregoing two chapters

append some additional introductory indications

the

general reader can be furnished with the

for approaching the con

most elementary equipment

sideration of the passages themselves with

any profit.
Indeed the whole subject bristles with such dis
heartening difficulties on all sides that I have been

IN

THE TALMUD S OUTER COURT.

105

frequently tempted to abandon the task, and have only

been sustained by the thought that my sole reason for

taking pen in hand was simply to point out some of

the more salient difficulties, and to exclude from the
outset any expectations of a more ambitious perform
And not only are the difficulties connected with
ance.

questions of history and of fact disheartening, but the

whole subject is, as we have seen, involved in an atmos

such a painful nature that one would gladly

escape from it and leave the dead to bury their dead.
But the past is ever present with the eternal soul, the
of

phere

dead come ever back to

life,

and there

is

no rest

till

we

can forgive one another, not when we have temporarily

forgotten but while we still remember.

We

write not to fan into fresh flame the smouldering The Manhood

but with far fairer hopes. The

times have changed, and older souls have come to birth
than those who raged so wildly in the Early and the
fires

of ancient hate,

Middle Ages, and there are wiser minds to-day than

those unyielding formalists on either side who shut the
freer life of greater things out of

the

synagogues of

Jewry and from out the Catholic churches of the

Christian Name. For man is man though he be Jew
or Christian, mind is mind though it give praise to

Yahweh or worship to the Christ, and none but bigots

can deny there is growth for every soul in its own
way
by virtue of its special guide and code of ancient lore.
But sure

day will dawn when every soul

manhood and begin to learn the way of

as destiny a

will reach to

greater things, and once a soul sets foot

passions

fall off

from

history unmoved.

it,

and

it

upon

this

way

can gaze into the face of

106

DID JESUS LIVE 100

And many

B.C. ?

are already fast nearing the birthday of

their

manhood,

love

of

doubt but that the

for there is little

impartial investigation, which

is

ever more

strongly characterising every department of learning in

own

day,

thought

and

our

is

paving the way towards a new era of

comprehension, in which the values

assigned by the past to

things will be entirely

many

.changed; particulars will

no more be throned above

universals, nor will the temporal thoughts of

men rank

higher than the ever-present Thought of God. But

from this fair hope of order to return to the puzzling
records of a disordered past.
Of the
General.

The Talmud, then, is a vast store-house of Jewish

Midrashim collected at various dates between 100-500
A.D.

It consists of a generally older deposit called the

Mishna and

of additional strata

or completion

And

known

to use technical

terms

as the

Gemara

for the sake of

almost impossible to trans

brevity.
late them correctly, 1 for such words as Talmud, Mishna
indeed

and Midrash in the

it

first

is

instance signify simply

"

"

study

general sense, then some special study or some

special method of study, and then again the works
in a

which have grown out of such general study or special

Midrashim are thus in general explanations

methods.

or amplifications of Biblical topics,

Its

Forms

Languages,

and the Talmud

is

heterogeneous collection of Midrashim of every kind.

The result of this Study of the Law has been handed

down

two forms and three languages. Both forms

contain the same Mishna in Hebrew (the Biblical
in

language of the Eabbis), while the two Gemarfis are

composed in the unstable Aramaic vernacular of the
1

See Strack s

"

"

Einleitung,"

2,

Worterklarungen."

IN THE

TALMUD S OUTER COURT.

107

and in two widely differing dialects, the Western

or Palestinian and the Eastern or Babylonian, the
former of which especially was an odd mixture of Greek,
times,

Aramaic, Latin, Syriac, and Hebrew it was, so to speak,

the commercial language of the then East, even as
;

"

"

Greek was

then West.

of the

Talmud have

for long

These two forms of the

been commonly known as the

Jerusalem and Babylonian (Talmud Yeruschalmi and

Talmud Babli); but the former designation is very
erroneous, for Jerusalem was never a centre of Talmudic

and the epithet Palestinian is to be preferred

as more correct even than the oldest known titles of
activity,

this collection,

namely Talmud

Talmud

West.

of the

of the

Land

of Israel or

collection is at least four times the The Talmuds

The Babylonian

and though the latter may have

contained more matter than it does in its

size of the Palestinian,

originally

present form, the difference is mainly owing to the fact

that the Eabbis of the West were content to give the
opinions of their predecessors without the detailed
discussions on which they were supposed to have based
their decisions

whereas the Babylonian Talmud

fre

quently has entire folios filled with what the modern

mind (unless by chance some new and unexpected light

thrown on the matter) can only consider childish

questions and answers, which show nothing else than

is

how

the texts of the Torah could be twisted out of

recognition

to

support

later

which the original writers

never dreamed
1

of.

"

(Paris

special

points

the verses

all

view

had clearly

See Schwab (M.),

Jerusalem

of

of

"

Traite

des Berakhoth

1871), Introd., p. Ixxvi.

This

du Talmud de
is

the opinion of

and
a y

oma

108

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

It is also to

be remembered that for the later Jews the

collection

Babylonian

while the Palestinian

days the latter

The Jews

is

gradually became The Talmud,

fell into disuse.
In our own

never taught, but always the former.

had more peace and

of Babylonia, moreover,

leisure for this strengthening of

the defences of the

Torah than their Palestinian contemporaries, who were

the ever-growing power

harried by

Eome.

Even

in

Christianized

immunity from persecu

Talmud in 500

this

Babylon

of

tion only continued to the close of the

indeed, its

by a
our

"close"

fierce

outbreak

own day

when under
that

was forced upon

the

of

Hebrew found
doctors

of

of

from without

Thereafter until

intolerance.

the protection

the learned

it

no

Islam
Israel

peace
then

played

except
it

so

was
dis

tinguished a part in the intellectual development of

Europe, and displayed the remarkable versatility of

genius which their enforced cosmopolitanism developed

to a degree that is difficult to parallel in any other

But

nation.

kept Jewry

to

return

to

the Talmud,

as a people apart, in spite

of

which has
its

being
throughout the nations, and which has in
directly brought the Orient to the Occident, and settled
it in our midst.

scattered

statistics.

Some

may

idea of the voluminous nature of the

be formed

when

it is

Talmud

stated that the text of the

Babylonian collection alone, in the editio princeps of

1520, the model which has been mostly followed as far
as form is concerned, occupies no less than twelve huge
a distinguished French Rabbi, who has given the world the only
complete translation of the Palestinian Talmud which exists, and

not of a Philistine.

IN
folio

THE TALMUD S OUTER COURT.

volumes, consisting of 2947

folio leaves

109
and 5894

pages.

In both Talmuds the Mishna 2

broken up into

is

six

Orders or Sections (Sedarim), known as The Six par

excellence, just as the Torah proper was called "The
These orders are again
"The Five Fifths."
Five" or
"

"

sub-divided into sixty-three tractates or treatises, and

these again into 523 chapters or paragraphs.

The Mishna text stands surrounded by the Gemara

text in unpointed

Hebrew

characters, a mystery often

those initiated into a knowledge of Hebrew. For

indeed it is not only the voluminous nature of the
to

an unpointed text,
be surmounted by the
first-hand student of the Talmud, but in addition he has
material,

and the wilderness

which are the only

of

difficulties to

to be an

adept in solving the countless puzzles of

Eabbinic abbreviations, mnemonic technicalities, and
ungrammatical forms, and to be further not only master

but equipped with a philo

logical intuition that few even of the most learned in
this age of learning can be expected to possess.
of three different languages,

It is not then surprising to find that as yet

no complete translation
1

Hershon

(P.

I.),

"A

of the

Talmudic

Talmud.

Miscellany"

Introd. (by W. R. Brown), p. xvi.

2
It is a mistake to call the Mishna

We

we have No Complete
have no

(London

1880),

text
and the Gemara
though in printed form
the Mishna stands out in bolder type, surrounded by the Gemfira,
the latter is not a commentary but a completion or appendix of
"commentary,"

"

"

as is so often done, for

additional matter.
3
Even of the canonical Talmud alone, for there is a large num
ber of extra-canonical tractates as well to be taken into account.
See Strack s Einleitung," ch. iv.,
Die ausserkanonischen Trac
"

tate,"

pp. 44-46.

"

110

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Talmudic Vulgate, no Authorised Version, much

Even

Eevised Version.

series of world-bibles,

"

in that

less a

magnificent pioneer

The Sacred Books

of the

East,"

though we have versions of most complex Brfihmanical

law-books, we fail to find a single tractate of the
Talmud translated. And this is to be regretted, not
only because the Talmud as a whole is as yet a closed

book

to

the non-specialist, but because a translation

into the vernacular

ideas of the ignorant

the

Talmud

would

for ever

among

the Jews,

a storehouse of

is

revolutionise the

who imagine

wisdom from

that

its first to

its last syllable.

The

non-specialist, therefore, has to be content with

translations of portions only of this library of Jewish

most part with versions of single

tractates, and even so he has to depend almost solely
on work done by Jews or converted Jews, for in the
tradition, for the

whole

list of

Talmud

we

tractate translations

are told,

the names of only five Christians born are to be found. 1

What we want

The General
the Subject

Talmud,
students

for, to

is

scientific

summarise

know anything

Bischoff,

translation

how few

of

the

theological

of this great literature,

how

few Christian scholars have really worked through a

How few Jews even, at any
single complete tractate
2
rate of German birth, have any longer any profound
!

knowledge of the Talmud

The only real Talmudists 3
!

See Bischoff

"

(E.),

And

Kritische Geschichte der

und Zungen

are

to

be

Thalmud Uber-

(Frankfort a. M. ; 1899), p. 85.

in England real Talmudic scholars will not exhaust the

setzungen aller Zeiten

2

nowadays

"

fingers for their counting.

3
Of the old school, of course, not scientific students of ancient

scripture

and

literature.

IN THE

TALMUD

OUTER COURT.

Ill

found in Kussia, Galicia, Hungary, and Bohemia, and

even so the work of the younger generation presents us
with a picture

of

complete degeneracy and decline.

It

is true that in recent years there has been some small

in the interest of Jewish
activity in Talmud study, partly

missions on the side

of

Christian

theologians, partly

in the interest either of Anti-semitism

on the one hand

or of Jewish apologetics on the other, but in no case in

the interest of pure scientific enquiry for the furtherance

knowledge of the history of culture, religion and

language. Moreover, owing to the difficulty of original
1
study the non-specialist has to depend entirely on
of our

translations,

and as we have no immediate expectation

Babylonian Talmud, and

of a complete translation of the

the French translation of the Palestinian

much

Talmud

leaves

to be desired, he has to be content with piecing

together a patch-work of translation of single tractates,

some of which even the best furnished libraries fail to
2

supply.

And if such difficulties confront the non-specialist

who is keenly desirous of learning all he can about the
Talmud, and

is

willing to take an infinity of pains in

the matter, the general reader has to be content with

such a very distant glimpse of the country as to remain

Moreover,
ignorant of all but its most salient features.

even with regard to the material available the student

finds himself severely handicapped, for he can form no
just opinion as to its value,

and must rely entirely on

the opinion of experts to guide him in his choice of the

best sources of information. Thus before I came across
1

Who,

as a rule, has the

a/. Bischoff, op. cit.,

pp.

more open mind.

9, 10.

Translations

112

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

BischofF s very useful history of existing

Talmud

trans

had already acquainted myself with the only

complete version of the Palestinian Talmud and the
work in progress on the Babylonian Talmud, but could

lations, I

of course

form no opinion as

to the accuracy

and

reli

ability of these translations.

Of the Palestinian Talmud, then, we possess a com

l
it is rendered
plete French version by Moi se Schwab
;

into readable

us

tells

French and

that

it

is

is

generally clear,

but Bischoff

a free translation, and

in

many

passages open to objection.

With regard to the translations of the Babylonian

Talmud which
a

are in progress, lovers of accuracy are in

worse plight.

still

Eodkinson

English version

puts
the mediaeval censorship to the blush, proceeding as it
does on lines of the most arbitrary bowdlerisation in
the interest of apologetic

"

purification."

In his Intro

duction, most of which is taken directly from Deutsch s

famous article, Eodkinson sets forth his scheme as
follows

Throughout the ages there have been added to the

text marginal notes, explanatory words, whole phrases
"

and sentences invented in malice or ignorance by

enemies

or

by

its friends.

We

its

have, therefore,

punctuated the Hebrew text with modern

punctuation marks, and have re-edited it by omitting

carefully

such irrelevant matter as interrupted

all

and
1

"

orderly arrangement

Le Talmud de Jerusalem

Op.

cit.,

of

the

clear

the various arguments.

"

(Paris

1871-1889).

p. 57.

New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud English Translation

and Original Text, edited, formulated and punctuated," by Michael
L. Eodkinson (Cincinnati
1896, in progress).
3

"

TALMUD S OUTER COURT.

IN THE
.

We

113

continue our labours in the full and certain

who comes to purify receives divine help

In Goldschmidt s German translation 2 I thought

hope that he

had at

last

"M

come

and

across a serious

reliable guide,

but

Bischoff for ever removes this confidence by telling us

that seldom has scientific criticism been so unanimous

condemnation

not only the untrustworthy

nature of Goldschmidt s text, but also of the super
abundant errors and the obscure and false German of
in its

of

his translation. 3

Even more reprehensible

attempt

Jean de Parly, 4 who instead

little more than a summary

What

first

pious

of a translation gives us
of the

arguments

As he says in his Introduction

various tractates.
"

than Kodkinson

at edification is the literary jest of a certain

of the

(p.

xvi)

have suppressed in the translation is, in the

place, all those sterile controversies and discussions
I

given in the original under the form of question and

answer, and in the second the biblical verses cited in
"

he gives us the ghastly corpse

a mutilated and disembowelled Talmud.

the text
of

Indeed, as

in

brief

we read of the many abortive attempts An

Talmud in its full contents known to the

make the
world, we are almost tempted
to

undertaking
1

Op.
"

cit.j

Der

uebersetzst

pp.

lies

Op.
"

cit.,

Some have

xii, xiii.

babylonische

Talmud

moeglichst

und mit kurzen Erklaerungen

Goldschmidt (Berlin
3

any such

to believe that

under a persistent curse.

versehen,"

wortgetreu

von Lazarus

1896, in progress).

p. 62.

Le Talmud de Babylone, Texte complet

principaux Commentaires
1900).
Parly (Orleans

et

accompagne des
par Jean de

synthetiquement traduit

"

Unsatis-

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

114
begun the

task,

and either abandoned

it

or died before its

accomplishment; others have emasculated the original

out

of all recognition

We
of the

all

are thus without

Talmud

have

failed.

really reliable translation

any

as a whole, and the task

we have under

taken in this present essay would have been utterly

impossible of accomplishment but for the fortunate
circumstance, that the text of the very passages we
specially desire to study has been recently critically
edited and fairly translated
is

but

of this later on.

It

only necessary to add here that Bischoff s learned

monograph

gives a critical bibliography of all existing

translations,

and that Strack

"

as Bischoff calls it (p. 10), to

"

classical

"

Einleitung,"

which we have already

referred on several occasions, in its third edition (1900),

gives

full

bibliography up

literature of the subject.

true, gives us only

the articulation of
theless, a
Internal
Difficulties.

to

Strack

date of the general

s

Introduction,

it

is

an anatomical study of the Talmud,

its bare bones alone, but it is, never

monument

of patient

industry and research.

So much, then, for a very brief indication of the

literature of the subject and the nature of the initial
difficulties

which confront a student

but these

initial

internal

difficulties

difficulties

investigator.

which

are

as

perplex

of the

Talmud
to

the

nothing
historical
the

For the most part the only indications

time in the Talmud are that certain things are stated

to have been done or said by such and such a Eabbi,
of

unfrequently we find that the Rabbi in

question could not possibly have said or done the
things attributed to him.

and

not

Nor

will the traditional dates of the completion of

THE TALMUD S OUTER COURT.

IN

Mishna and the various redactions

the

Gemaras help us

to

any

of

115
two

the

general certainty, so that

we

can say confidently that as such and such a thing is

not found in the Mishna it must therefore be later

than 200

A.D.,

and such a thing

or again that as such

found only in the Babylonian Gemara, it evidently

must be a late invention, for the first Talmud schools

is

1
There
Babylon were founded only about 200 A.D.
must have been wide overlappings, and part of the

in

Haggadic material of the Palestinian Gemara must

have been in existence long prior to the comple
Mishna, which concerned itself more
especially with Halacha, while the Babylonian schools

tion

of

the

derived their tradition in the

first

place immediately

from the Palestinian.

In any case since the Talmud

contempt
to

itself

shows such great

seems

for history, or rather let us say since it

be utterly deficient in the historical sense,

incumbent upon us

first of all to

sources the earliest date

we can

establish

it is

from outside

for the existence of hos

Jewish stories concerning Jesus otherwise it might

be argued that the Talmud stories were almost entirely
invented by later Babylonian Eabbis, and had no currency
tile

in Palestine

where the

"

"

historical facts

were known.

1
The Jews in Babylonia, no doubt, shared in the changes and
movements that Ezra and his successors, who came from Babylonia,
introduced into Palestine. But for the four centuries covering the
period from Ezra to Hillel there are no details and the history of
the succeeding two centuries, from Hillel to Judah I., furnishes only
a few scanty items on the state of learning among the Babylonian
See Bacher s art., Academies in Babylonia," in
Jews."
Jewish
Can it possibly be that up to the third century
Encyclopaedia."
A.D. the "traditions" of the Babylonian Jews did not support
"

"

the contentions of the Palestinian Rabbis

"

VII.

The

Earliest

THE EARLIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE

TO THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES.

CHRISTIAN tradition will have

that already as early

it

thTcM-istians as about 30 A.D. the followers of Jesus were most

by the Jews,
On the
bitterly persecuted by the Jewish authorities.

other hand,

we know

undistinguished

that Christians and Jews were

by the

Roman

authorities

until the

century, and that, too, not

among the Dispersion a
consideration which in the opinion of some critics tends

years of the

closing

first

only in Palestine but

somewhat
line of

to

also

weaken the strength

demarcation which

is

of

the traditional

regarded as having been

drawn between Jewish and Gentile Christians

Diaspora by Pauline propaganda.

in the

Moreover, we are

Talmud scholars that according to

Jews and Jewish Christians were

further assured by

Jewish tradition

not distinctly separated out

(98-117

(117-138

A.D.), or

even

still

till

later

the reign of Trajan

in

Hadrian

time

A.D.).

It is impossible to reconcile these contradictory data

for

though we may almost

tive evidence of classical writers

the
or

official

wrongs

Roman was

entirely eliminate the nega

by the persuasion that

ignorant or careless of the rights

of the matter,

and contemptuously lumped

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

Jew and

117

STORIES.

Christian together as of the same family as

far as their superstitio

was concerned, the Christian and

Jewish traditions appear to be in straitest contradic

tion, even though we suppose that the Palestinian
Eabbis who

first

evolved the Talmud paid attention

only to the state of affairs in the land of Israel proper

and were not concerned with the Dispersion. It may

indeed be that in the beginning the Eabbis paid no
attention to Gentile Christians of any grade in Pales
tine,

but regarded them as Heathen, and the vast

majority of them as Amme ha-aretz, entirely outside

the pale of Jewry and its privileges; it may be that
they were only concerned with born Jews who were

abandoning the externals of the Law and introducing

into Jewry what the Eabbis considered to be poly
theistic views
theistic
if

the

which set at naught the

commandments
testimony

of

the Torah.

Paul as to himself

of

there was the bitterest persecution

the

Talmud

Now

indirectly admits

mono

rigid

But even

many

genuine,
years before

it.

in spite of the brilliant critical ability of

Manen and

his school, I

am

so,

is

still

van The

inclined to regard the

majority of the Pauline letters as largely genuine, and

therefore as being our earliest historical witnesses
to

Christianity.

From

these

we

learn

that

already

upwards of a generation before the fall of Jerusalem,

which immensely intensified the propaganda of more
and

spiritual views

throughout the nation, there

was bitter persecution on the part of the Jewish autho

liberal

rities against heresy,

and that among the victims

persecution were the followers of Jesus.

have to deduce

this

We

of this

do not

from enigmatical sentences or

Testi-

118

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

confused traditions, but on the contrary we have before

us what purports to be not only the
testimony of an
eye-witness, but the confession of one

leading part in the persecution.

Galatians (i. 13) Paul declares

who had taken

that

the

his con

before

was engaged in persecuting and wasting

Church of God." If this declaration of the great

version he
"

In his Letter to the

propagandist

"

"

is

a statement of fact,

and not a rhetorical

embellishment, or a generous exaggeration in contrition

for previous harshness
tradi
(begotten of zeal for the
"

tion of the fathers

towards those with

")

now

the co-believer,

it is

the opinion of those Talmudic scholars

Jews

whom

he was

in straitest contradiction with

who

assert that

and Jewish Christians

continued together in
the
comparative harmony
reign of Trajan.
The graphic details of this persecution as given in the
till

Of the

Acts.

Acts,

and

its

far-reaching character, as suggested by the

Paul by the authorities with letters against

the heretics even among the Dispersion at Damascus,
may presumably be set down as a later Haggadic ex
furnishing of

pansion, or the ascription of circumstances of

date to Pauline times. 1

nature of the

"

havoc

"

later

But whatever was the exact

in the time of Paul, at the time

Acts (130-150 A.D.) it was still

a lively remembrance that there had been much perse
cution at the hands of the Jews, that is to say most
of the redaction of the

probably from the Mishnaic Eabbis and their adherents

a fact confirmed by the Talmud, which in a number
of passages allows us to conclude that
1

at

during the

Otherwise we have to account for the existence of a

Damascus at a date when, according to canonical

Church at Jerusalem had hardly been formed.

first

"

first

Church

"

tradition, the

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

STORIES.

thirty-five years of the second century the great

founder of

Akiba

Law, and the virtual

the Talmud method, was the most strenuous

who was

himself,

119

so zealous for the

and implacable opponent of Christianity. And if there

was persecution, there must have previously been con
most embittered nature,

troversy, and controversy of the

and if bitter dispute then presumably scandal and slander.

We are certain then that the strife was at fever heat The

Terminus.
a quo.

in the first quarter of the second century, just prior to

the compilation of our four canonical Gospels; the

common document (as we saw in a previous chapter)
"

"

shows further that

it

was in manifestation some half

century prior to the redaction of these documents, say

somewhere about 75 A.D., while if we can accept the
testimony of the Letter to the Galatians as that
genuine declaration by Paul himself, we must
back
the beginnings of the struggle another half
push
of a

century or
1

so.

it would be interesting to determine the

conversion, but this is impossible to do with
The various authorities give it as anywhere between

In this connection

exact date of Paul

any precision.
28-36 A.D., the 28 limit making

it

almost coterminous with the

according to the canonical

This early date, however, allows no time for anything
but a sudden and unorganised outbreak of official fury directed
against the followers of Jesus immediately after his execution
(according to canonical tradition), and such a sudden outbreak
earliest possible date of the crucifixion

date.

seems

out

"wasting"

was the
Acts

"

(viii.

memory

of

keeping with the extended

of the "Church of

Church
3) the

"

of tradition as

same

Did the

God"

as the

"

"persecuting"

referred to

by Paul.

and
But

imagined by the scribe of the

of God
in Paul s living

Church

"

latter then possess the identical story related

a century later in the canonical Gospels? And if so, why does

Paul seem to be almost entirely ignorant of this story in spite of
lengthy acquaintance with that "Church" while wasting it, and
in spite of subsequent conversion ?

120

DID JESUS LIVE 100

then, that few reject this testimony, as far

Seeing,
as

most

B.C. ?

concerned there

of us are

is

to prevent the genesis of the original

nothing a priori
forms of some of

Talmud

stories going back even to some 30

while
for others we can at best only push
years A.D.,
their origin back stage by stage with the evolution of

these

Christian

and

that

dogma

to say with the externalizing

is

historicizing of the mystic teachings of the inner

As

tradition.

Christian popular propaganda gradually

departed from the sober paths

simple

owing
and romantic experiences

of the exalted

and the bringing

cizing them,

of the

"

mysteries"

confront

its

remorseless logic of material

Mamzer
Stones.

For instance, the Christ

of a

"

"

extravagance with

the

fact.

(said the mystics)

Son

was born

logic,

logic,

God, nay God Himself, in course

of

Mary was

which in

met

that virgin

this case

whereupon
was simple and

this extravagance

retort that, seeing that his paternity

ledged,

histori

time asserted that

Eabbinical

common

by

mystics

the unwitting believer in Jesus as the

Messiah in the exclusive Jewish sense, and

in his being the

of

of the

to earth

virgin

historical

and

so did the Eabbinical opponents of this

new movement
The Probable

of prosaic history

to the externalizing

ethical instruction,

Jesus was therefore

by the natural
was unacknow

illegitimate,

bastard

(mamzer).

Eound

this point there naturally raged the fiercest

controversy, or

contemptuous
1

The

rather

retorts,

spiritual birth,
the simple mystic fact

it

was

met with

the

most

which must have broken out the

by which a man becomes twice-born"

that so puzzled the Rabbi Nicodemus,

according to the writer of the fourth Gospel.

"

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

instant the virginity of

Mary

121

STORIES.

as a physical fact

was

publicly mooted by the simple believers of the general

Christian body.
This particular dogma, however, must
have been a comparatively late development in the

evolution

of

document"

common
popular Christianity, for the
of it, the writers of the

knows nothing

second and fourth Gospels tacitly reject it, while some

of the earliest readings of our Gospels distinctly assert
that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus. 1

mamzer element

rji

Talmud

the

For the

stories, therefore,

we

opinion, no need to go back further than

have, in

my

the

quarter of the second century or so as the

first

earliest terminus

For most

quo.

of the other

have no means

main elements, however, we

of fixing a date limit

by the

we can

is

canonical documents

criticism

that as
say
early as 30 A.D. even, circumstances were such as to lead
of

all

us to expect the circulation of stories of a hostile nature.

From the persecution in the time of Paul till the
redaction of the Acts a

full

century

elapses,

from

which we have preserved no witnesses that will help

concerning anything but the mamzer element.
even when, following immediately on the period
of the Acts redaction, we come to the testimony of
us

And

Justin Martyr, 2 in the middle of the second century,

1

For the latest study of this subject see F. C. Conybeare s

Three Early Doctrinal Modifications of the Text of the
in
The Hibbert Journal (London 1902), I. i. 96-113
Gospels,"
and also J. R. Wilkinson s criticism in the succeeding issue (Jan"

article,

"

"

1903).
2

The

dates of Justin

genuine writings are variously con

is that
they may be placed

jectured, but the general opinion

145-150 A.D.

Justin

122

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

we

have

be

to

with

content

generalities,

though

fortunately (in this connection) such generalities as

put

had long
existed such as presupposes the existence and wide

it

entirely out of doubt that a state of affairs

circulation

similar

of

those found in

to

stories

the

Talmud.

From the
how we may

general testimony of Justin, no matter

discount it by his demonstrable blundering
in some points of detail, we are certain that the
separation between

Jews and Christians had

been made absolute, and

statements of
believe

this

that the

we can

if

enthusiastic

stages

for years

trust the repeated

apologist,

we must

the separation had been

of

throughout marked by a bitterness and persecution

of

a quite mediaeval character.

BarKochba s

In his

"

Justin seeks to rebut the

"

first

Apology

whom

objection that the one

the Christians call

"the

was simply a man born of human parents,

that
his
and
wonder-workings were done by magical
Messiah"

means

the

main contention

of

Talmud Rabbis

the

he does by appeal to prophecy

this

(c.

xxx.).

De

veloping his arguments Justin naively admits that

the Christians base themselves on the Septuagint Greek
translation

of

the

theless he accuses the

own

books, and

Hebrew
Jews

sacred

of

writings;

never

not understanding their

surprised that his co-believers are

considered as foes and enemies by the Jews because
is

of their interpretation of

Hebrew prophecy

In connection with the origin

of

a point,

which Justin commits

a ludicrous blunder, when he makes Herod a contemporary

of
Ptolemy, the founder of the Alexandrian Library an

anacharonism

of

250 years

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

we may remark,

in

which modern

123

STORIES.

scientific

criticism

sympathises with the Eabbis. Nay, so

were the Jews against them, that whenever
they had had the power they had not only punished
the Christians but also put them to death
a charge

practically
bitter

he repeats in several passages l declaring that in his

own day the Jews were only deterred from doing so by
;

Eoman

the

authorities. 2

revolt against the

Eomans

For instance, in the recent

Bar Kochba (132-135

led by

Justin declares that this popular Messiah specially

singled out the Christians for torture if they refused
A.D.),

to

that

deny

was

Jesus

the

and

Messiah

utte"r

blasphemies against him (c. xxxi.). It is to be noted,

3
state that Bar
however, that Eusebius and others

Kochba punished the

Christians (that is to say, Jewish

Christians resident in Palestine) for political reasons,

because they refused to join their fellow countrymen

against the Komans, and not on theological grounds.
nevertheless, in spite of this conflict of testimony,
are still to believe Justin, it is of interest to

If,

we
remember

that E. Akiba, the founder of the Talmudic

method, and the Eabbi who

Talmud

is

represented

in

the

as the greatest opponent of Christianity, threw

on the side

Bar Kochba,
acknowledged him as the true Messiah and paid the
penalty of his enthusiastic championship with his life.
his

all

great influence

From Justin s
still

of

we derive
Dialogue with Tryphon
further information, the interest of which would
"

"

See

Ibid., xvi.

Eusebius, Chron.," and Orosius, "Hist.,"

Justini Opera" (Jena
1847), i. 79.

"

to Otto s

Dial.

c.

Tryph.,"

xvi., ex., cxxxiii.

"

"

vii.

13;

c/.

note

]24

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

be greatly increased for our present research if the

Tryphon with the
Tarphon

identification of Justin s

the Talmud, the contemporary of Akiba, could be

of

maintained. 1

In addition to the general declaration that the Jews

General

hate the Christians

up

in

"

(c.

The Letter

xxxv.)

a state of affairs
"

to

Diognetus

(c.

attribute to Justin, in the words

still

"

summed

which some

v.),

the Jews

make

war against the Christians as against a foreign nation

we have some important details given us which,
according to the fancy and taste of the reader, can
"

down

either be set

odium

as embellishments begotten of

theologicum, or be taken as throwing historic light on

the state of affairs and temper of the times which

Talmud Jesus

originated the

Thus
God,"

stories.

in ch. cxvii., speaking of Jesus as the

and addressing

the

Jew Tryphon,

"

Son

of

Justin adds,

name the high priests and teachers of your

caused to be profaned and blasphemed
have
people
"whose

throughout the

earth."

was true

If this accusation

in

can only refer to the spreading far and

wide of inimical stories about Jesus; at that time

Justin

time,

stories of this

Koman

the

it

kind were spread everywhere throughout

empire, and the source of them was attri

buted by the Christians to the Jewish priestly aris

tocracy and especially to the Kabbinical doctors, in
words the Mishnaic Talmudists

other

and

Moreover Justin twice

TheProclama11

cally

of

those days

earlier.

asserts

that after

(cc. xvii.

the

"

and

cviii.)

resurrection

"

categori-

the

Jews

sent out a specially elected body of men, some sort of

1

But

see

Strack s

"

Einleitung in den

Talmud

"

(3rd

ed.), p. 80.

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS STORIES. 125

official

commission apparently,

to proclaim that a godless

"

throughout the

and lawless

sect

world,"

had arisen

from one Jesus, a Galilean impostor, whose followers

asserted that he had risen from the dead, whereas the
fact of the matter

by

was that he had been put

and that subsequently

crucifixion

stolen from the grave

The genesis

by

his

his disciples

(c. cviii.).

extensive commission

of this

death

to

body had been

with

may

great probability be ascribed to the imaginative rhetoric

of Justin playing on the germ provided by the floating
tradition,

Paul was furnished with

that

repression against the

as stated

Damascus,
commission

heretics

when he

letters

of

set forth for

by the compiler of the Acts.

to disprove the dogma of the physical

resurrection would not have been necessary until that
dogma had gained a firm root in popular belief, and
this

we hold was

late

development

vulgar

(the

though somewhat

historicising of a

earlier

mystic fact)
than the dogma of the immaculate conception but
even so it would appear to be a somewhat absurd pro
ceeding to send out a commission to deal with this
;

point only.

There

may

be,

truth in Justin
cxxxiii.) that it

curse

those

however, some greater substratum of

repeated assertions (cc. xvi., xcvi. and

was the custom of the Jews publicly to

who

believed in

"

the

"

Christ

in

their

and to this he adds that not only were

synagogues
the Jews forbidden by their Rabbis to have any deal
;

ings of any kind

with Christians

(c.

cxii.),

but that

they were distinctly taught by the Pharisee Rabbis and

make fun

the leaders of their synagogues to revile and

of Jesus after prayer

(c.

cxxxvii.).

126

DID JESUS LIVE 100 E.G.?

In fact Justin will have

it

that all the preconceived

which the general public cherished against

the Christians was originated by the Jews (c. xvii.),

evil opinion

whom

he accuses of deliberately stating that Jesus

had taught all those impious, unspeakable
and detestable crimes with which the Christians were
himself

charged (c. cviii.) an accusation which in no case can

be substantiated by the Talmud passages, and which
we may presumably set down to Justin s rhetoric.

But whether

Estimate of
the Evidence,

^{.^j^

an(j

or not Justin can be believed in all his

no

ma tter how we may

statements, there

show that

to

still

in his

soften

down

his

remains strong enough evidence

day the bitterest

hostility existed

between Jews and Christians, or at any rate between

official Judaism and that type of Christianity for which
Since Justin attributes

Justin stood.
stories
1

about Christians,

In connection with which

C.

that Origen

("

Gels.,"

vi.

and
it is

all

the scandalous

all

the

scoffing at the

mournful

of

27) says that

interest to note

when

"

Christianism

"

began to be taught, the Jews spread about reports that the

Christians, presumably in their secret rites, sacrificed a child and
ate its flesh, and that their meetings were scenes of indiscriminate

first

immorality that even in his own day (c. 250 A.D.) such charges
were still believed against them, and they were shunned by some
on this account. The curious vitality of this slander is remarkable,
for not only did the general Christians of those days charge the
heretics of the Christian name, to whose assemblies they could
not gain access, with precisely the same crime of ceremonial
;

"

"

murder, but even up to our own days in Anti-semitic Eastern

Europe it is still the favourite vulgar charge against the Jews a

Even as I correct these
strange turning of the wheel of fate
the horrible account of the
Times
in
The
read
I
2)
(May
proofs,
!

murder

of

some sixty or seventy Jews and Jewesses, and the

serious injury of some five hundred more, with

detailed description,"
rape too horrible for
"

"

several cases of

by the

Christian/ populace of Kishineff, in Bessarabia,

fanatical

who were

roused

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

most cherished

of

beliefs

STORIES.

and

Justin

the

127

popular

Christianity of his day, to the Kabbis, it is evident that

what the Jews said was the very antipodes

Justin believed, and that,

as

of

what

be seen from the

may

retort of the stealing of the body, the greatest miracles

and dogmas
of the

side

of popular Christianity were met on the

Kabbis by the simplest retorts of vulgar

reason.

The evidence

taken as a whole,

of Justin, therefore,

leaves us with a very strong impression, nay, for all but

irreconcilables, produces

an absolute conviction, that in

his time, taking our dates at a

to,

in widest circulation;
it

minimum,

stories similar

and even more hostile than, the Talmud

stories

were

while Justin himself will have

that they were in circulation from the very begin

of things Christian.

ning

So

far,

however, we have

we have failed to
nature which we can identify
anything
with some distinct detail of the Talmud stories.
To do this we must mount some quarter of a century,

come across nothing but

generalities

of a definite

find

and turn

to the
of

fragments of Celsus preserved to us in

Origen, who wrote his refutation of

attack

on the Christians somewhere towards

the polemic

Celsus

the middle of the third century.

Origen in his preface
us
tells
that
Celsus
himself
was long since dead,
(4)

and

later

on he adds more precisely (i. 8) that Celsus

Hadrian s time (emp. 117-138 A.D.), and

lived about
later.

ever,

Church Fathers, how

have blundered in this respect, and

The most learned

seems to

of the

by the report of a supposed ritual murder by the Jews of

Dubossari, and this in spite of the publication of absolute testimony

to fury

to the falsity of the charge.

"

"

Celsus.

128

DID JESUS LIVE 100

though there

is

still

the exact

to

as

dispute

modern

B.C. ?

date,

on data supplied by the

criticism, basing
True Word," is
passages cited by Origen from Celsus s
till as late as
of
that
Celsus
survived
opinion
generally
itself

"

In any case Origen wrote a full seventy-five

years after Celsus had withdrawn from the controversy,
and though we may place the writing of the statements

175

A.D.

of Celsus as late as

the possibility,

if

175

A.D.,

we have

also to allow for

not the probability, that the

memory of

have reached

of Christianity

this sturdy

opponent
may
back some quarter or even half century earlier.
Celsus in his treatise rhetorically throws many
his

arguments into the form of a dispute between a

and Jesus

(Pref. 6,

the extraordinary

and

i.

Jew

This

28).

things Jesus seems

of

Jew

declares that
to

have done

were effected by magical means (i. 6), and Origen later

on (iii. 1) says that this was the general accusation
brought against the miracle-workings by all Jews who
were not Christians. This is one of the main elements

Talmud stories.
From a quotation from

of the

The Virgin
Birth Dogma.

^^

Celsus

26)

(i.

the Jewg agserted that

we

further

a yery few yearg

had elapsed since the dogma of Jesus being the Son of

God had been promulgated by the Christians, presum
"

"

ably referring to the

dogma

of the

Developing his argument, the

(i.

28) that the

dogma

of the

"

virgin

Jew

"virgin

invention, the facts of the case being

come from

a village in Judsea,

birth."

goes on

"

birth"

to

say

was an

that Jesus had

and was the son

of a poor

Jewess who gained her living by the work of her own

hands that his mother had been turned out of doors
;

by her husband,

who was

a carpenter

by

trade,

on being

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

STORIES.

129

convicted of adultery that being thus driven away by

her husband, and wandering about in disgrace, she gave
;

birth to Jesus, a bastard

poverty (had to

work

that Jesus on account of his

for his living and) was hired out to go

that while there he acquired certain (magical)

Egypt
which
powers
Egyptians pride themselves on possessing

to

that he returned

home

highly elated at possessing these

powers, and on the strength of them gave himself out
to be a

2
god."

In this passage from Celsus we have precisely the

of the Talmud Jesus stories, and therefore

main outline

an exact external proof that in his day at any rate

(whenever that was, whether 150-175 or even 125-175)
stories precisely similar to the Talmud stories were
the

Jewish

stock-in-trade

dogmatic

And

if

objections

to

Christian

tradition.

more

is still

precise proof

demanded, we have Ben

Origen s voluminous

only to turn over a few pages of

refutation to the passage (i. 32), where the Church
Father again refers to the quotation from the Jew of
Celsus given above, and adds the important detail from
Celsus that the paramour of the mother of Jesus was a
soldier called Panthera, a name which he also repeats
later on (i. 69), in a sentence, by the by, which has in

both places been erased from the oldest Vatican MS.,

1
Can this possibly be based on some vulgar version of a wellknown Gnostic myth of those days ? Jesus went down as a servant or

slave into

Egypt

that

as a servant into the

is

to say, the Christ or divine soul descends

It is a common element
of the body.

Egypt

in the early mystic traditions that the Christ took on the form of a
servant in his descent through the spheres, and in many traditions
Egypt is the symbol of the body, which is separated by the Red
"

Sea
2

"

and the Desert from the Promised Land."

last two paragraphs are again quoted by
Origen

The

"

"

"

(i.

38).

Pandera.

130

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

and bodily omitted from three codices

and from

some

in

Now this is

others. 1

of the

Talmud

precisely the

name given

them Jesus is called

Pandira), or Ben Pandera

stories

Jeschu ben Pandera (or

in this country

in

simply.

But before we leave Origen

John the

one or two scraps

in our present investigation.

mystery

may

be useful to note

which he has

and which are

in the controversy,

cised

it

of information

let fall

importance for us

of

Eeferring to the historiDove at the Baptism,

of the descent of the

Celsus puts the argument into the mouth of his Jew

is no testimony for this except the
(i. 48), that there
word of one of those who met with the same punish

ment

as Jesus.

To

this

great blunder on Celsus

into the

mouth

John with
of

Jesus."

Origen replies that it is a

part to put such an argument

of a Jew, for

"

Jews do not connect

the

Jesus, nor the punishment of John with that

Now in the first place it is to be observed

that Celsus says nothing about any

and in the

"

John,"

second that Origen gives us clearly to understand that

the Jews denied that John the Baptist, who was a well-

known

historical character,

Jesus.

This

who

is

had anything

an important piece

to

do with

of evidence for those

believe that the Baptist element, which does not

appear in the common document," was a later develop

ment. Can it be that Celsus had in mind some early
"

form

of the Baptism story, in which some other than

John the Baptist played a part ?

Elsewhere Celsus, in speaking

Jesus, does not ascribe
1

it to

of

the

Judas, but to

betrayal of
"

many

See notes on both passages by Lommatzsch in his

contra

Celsum"

(Berlin

1845).

dis-

"

Origenis

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

11), a curious

ciples" (ii.

statement

ing what he has heard or read, and

Celsus

if

is

STORIES.
is

131

repeat

not merely guilty

of gross error or of wilful exaggeration.

But indeed Celsus categorically accuses the Christians

,..

_.^.

,.

Frequent
Remodelling

27) of changing their gospel story in many ways in O f the Gospel

order the better to answer the objections of their storv

(11.

opponents his accusation is that some of them, as it

were in a drunken state producing self-induced visions, 1
"

remodel their gospel from its first written form in a

threefold, fourfold and manifold fashion, and reform it
so that

they

may

be able

the

refute

to

objections

brought against
This may be taken to mean either that the Christians
it."

were engaged in doing so in Celsus

redacting was habitual.
"

the

threefold

and

If,

s day, or

that such

however, we are to regard

"

"

fourfold

of Celsus as referring
three
and
four
canonical
to our
mani
gospels, and his
"

"

"

fold

as referring to the

duction,

it

is

on in Celsus
fifty

difficult to

of our

many

"

Lukan

"

intro

imagine that this was going

time unless his

memory went back some

therefore, more simple to

statement as meaning that the external

or

years

regard the
1

"
"

so.

It

is,

coming to appear to themselves" el s T b tyeorcd cu avrols.

This very puzzling sentence is translated by F. Crombie
The
Works of Origen," Edinburgh, 1872, in The Ante-Nicene Christian
as
Library
lay violent hands upon themselves," which does not
seem to be very appropriate in this connection. But tyeo-rdvai i s
the usual word used of dreams and visions, and I have therefore
"

Lit.,

("

"

"

")

ventured on the above translation.

Celsus probably

meant

suggest that these Christian writers were the victims of their

those who understand the importance of
hallucinations
;

vision-factor in the evolution of Christian

dogma and

to

own
the

"

"

history

thank Origen for preserving this expression of his opponent,

though they may put a construction on the words that neither
Celsus nor Origen would have agreed with.
will

132

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

story had

gospel

been continually altered

and

re

formulated to meet objections in brief, that the latest

forms of it were the product of a literary evolution

which

in

prominent

see that the testimony of Celsus,

an entirely

mystic

experiences

played

part.

We thus

Value of the

outside witness, not only strongly endorses the general

but also adds convincing details

which conclusively prove that the Jewish Jesus stories
of his day were precisely of the same nature as those
testimony

of Justin,

Talmud, and though we cannot conjecture

with any certainty what may have been the precise

we

find in the

date of any particular story, we are justified in rejecting

the contention of those who declare that the Talmud
stories are all of a

or so.

and

very late date, say the fourth century

in claiming that there is nothing to prevent

them going back to the middle of the second

century, even on the most conservative estimate, while
most

them may go back far earlier.

Advancing another generation we come to the testi
mony of Tertullian, which is exceedingly important
not only with regard to the Talmud Jesus stories, but
some

Tertullian.

of

of

also in respect of a far

more obscure

preserved in the mediaeval

of

Jesus,"

enquiry.
his

"

as

we

"

Toldoth

line of tradition

Jeschu,"

or

shall see in the second part

Writing somewhere about 197-198

De

"

xxx.), in

"

Story
our

of

A.D.,

in

highly rhetorical

(c.
Spetaculis
peroration in which he depicts the glorious spectacle
of the second coming, as he imagines it
(when he

Heathen opponents of the Christians,

philosophers and poets, actors and wrestlers in the
Games, tossing on the billows of hell-fire) the hotshall see all the

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO JESUS

STORIES.

133

Carthage bursts out that, perhaps,

he will not have time to gaze upon

of

tempered Bishop

however, after all

the tortures of the Heathen, but that all his attention
will be turned on the Jews who raged against the Lord.
Then will he say unto them
This is your carpenter s
"

son,

your harlot

son;

your Sabbath-breaker, your

Samaritan, your demon-possessed

This

is

He whom

ye bought from Judas this He who was struck with

reed and fists, dishonoured with spittle, and given a
;

draught

of gall

and vinegar

disciples have stolen

This

He whom

is

secretly, that

His

be said

may

it

He

has risen, or the gardener abstracted that his

lettuces might not be damaged by the crowds of
"

visitors

All these elements appear in order in the

Toldoth,"
and the carpenter s son and the harlot s son appear in
the Talmud stories.
have thus exhausted our
"

We

external evidence

the date of

till

Mishna, 200-207

of the

advantage

A.D.,

the final redaction

beyond which

it is of

no

to go. 2

Enough has already been said for our purpose, which

was the very simple one of disposing of the flimsy and
superficial argument that the Talmud Jesus stories
1

See also Jerome,

ed. Bened.),

Oehler
i.

"Ad

Heliodorum"

and compare Theodoret,

s "Tertulliani

quoe

"

(Tom.
H.

supersunt

S.,"

IV., P. II., p. 12,

11, as cited in

iii.

Onmia"

(Leipzig;

1853),

62, n.
2

See, however,

Richard von der

Aim

(i.e.,

Friederich Wilhelm

Ghillany), Die Urtheile heidnischer und jiidischer Schrifsteller

der vier ersten Jahrhunderte iiber Jesus und die ersten Christen
"

Eine Zuschrift an die gebildeten Deutschen zur weiteren Orientirung in der Frage iiber die Gottheit Jesu (Leipzig 1864J, a
continuation of his
Theologische Briefe an die Gebildeten der
deutschen Nation" (3 vok, Leipzig; 1863).
"

"

134

DID JESUS LIVE 100

must have been

B.C. ?

entirely the invention of late Babylonian

Kabbis, and that Mishnaic times were utterly ignorant

them, as being too close to the supposed actual facts,

which unthinking apologists further presume must
have been known to all the Jews of Palestine. We

of

now

pass to a consideration of the stories themselves.

THE TALMUD

100 YEARS
OF JESUS.

VIII.

In 1891 Dr. Gustaf H. Dalman,

B.C.

STORY

of Leipzig, printed a The Transla-

censured passages in the Talmud,

Zohar
and
Midrashim,
Liturgy of the Synagogue which
are said to refer to Jesus, and to this H. Laible appended

critical text of all the

an introductory essay, 1 in which most

were translated.

of the passages

In 1893 A. M. Streane published an English version

which Dalman translated the remain

of this essay, for

ing passages, and to which Dalman, Laible, and Streane

contributed additional notes, the English edition thus
2
From lack of any other
superseding the German.

work
found,

in

which a version

the

non-specialist

be

of all the passages

may

must perforce

content

be

with this Dalman-Laible-Streane translation, though a

comparison with other translations of single passages

makes one

hesitate to accept its entire accuracy, and

Streane himself admits in his preface (p. vi) that
1

Die
"Jesus Christus im Thalrnud
init einem Anhange
thalmudischen Texte mitgeteilt," von G. Dalman (Berlin 1891), in
A
"Schriften des Institutum Judaicum
in Berlin," nr. 10.
.

second edition appeared in 1900.

2
"Jesus

Christ in the

Talmud," etc.

(Cambridge

1893).

Censured
rassa g es
-

136

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

occasionally

some Talmud expressions with regard

"

The Name

our Blessed Lord

"

to

have been modified.

am, therefore, glad to be assured by a learned

Talmudist that Streane s version, in spite of these draw
I

backs and

its

reliable for all general purposes.

sufficiently

ever, retain throughout the

"

or perhaps

Jeschu,"

on the whole

is

very ungraceful diction,

Hebrew

more correctly

or

how

I,

Aramaic form
which

"

Yeschu,"

Streane has replaced by the familiar Jesus, because I

1
that Jeschu is a "genuine Jewish

hold with Krauss

and not a nickname invented

name,"

Jews

the

(as

in despite

by

charged against them by Christian writers)

form Jeshua (Joshua, Jehoshua 2 ),

which Christians maintain was the proper Hebrew
to escape writing the

name

of Jesus, thus

he was the

"

showing forth by the very name that

Saviour

"

of

least

all

that

the

name

Jeschu was originally begotten of a cruel letter play

based on the the initials of the words of imprecation
"

/mmach Scheme
be

memory

blotted

Fezikro

name and

"

out!"),

("

as

May

his

persistently

charged

against the Jews by their mediaeval Christian opponents,

and

finally

(under stress of hate and ignorance) accepted

and adopted by Jews themselves in some

forms

of

the Toldoth Jeschu. 3

Jeschu,

of the later

hold,

was

simply the original Hebrew or Aramaic form of the

name, as may be seen from the Greek transliteration
vg (lesus),
1

Krauss

"

(S.),

or the Arabic

Isa.

Das Leben Jesu nach judischen

Quellen"

(Berlin

1902), pp. 250-253.

2

"

Lit.,

The Lord

will

save."

See, for instance, the Vienna Toldoth MS.

Compare with this
Pessach s invention as given above in the chapter, The Talmud in
3

"

History."

THE TALMUD 100

Let

then,

us,

STORY OF JESUS. 137

B.C.

first of

turn to what, from the

all

chronological point of view,

is

the most extraordinary

passage found not once but twice in the

passage,
1
Babylonian Gemara.
The Kabbis have taught The left should always The Ben
be repelled, and the right, on the other hand, drawn story.
a

"

nearer.

But one should not do

it

2
.

as K.

Joshua

ben Perachiah, who thrust forth Jeschu with both hands.

What was the matter with regard to E. Joshua ben

When King

Perachiah?

Jannai directed the destruc

tion of the Eabbis, E. Joshua ben Perachiah and Jeschu

went to Alexandria. When security returned, Eabbi

Simeon ben Shetach sent him a letter to this effect:

From me, Jerusalem

in Egypt,

my

the holy city, to thee, Alexandria

spouse tarries in thee, and I

My

sister.

Thereupon Joshua arose and came;

and a certain inn was in the way, in which they treated
dwell desolate.

Then spake Joshua

How fair
respect.
inn (akhsanga)
Jeschu saith to him
But,
she (akhsanga=a& hostess) has little narrow

him with great

this

is

Eabbi,

Joshua replied

eyes.

Thou

godless fellow, dost thou

occupy thyself with such things ? directed that 400

horns should be brought, and put him under strict
excommunication. Jeschu ofttimes came and said to
him,

Take me back.

One

about him.

that he would take

1

just

day,

the Shema,

reciting]

[?

Joshua did not trouble himself

"

Sanhedrin,"

him

as

Joshua was

Jeschu came

back.

to him,

reading

hoping

Joshua made a sign

107b, and, in almost identical words,

to

"

Sota,"

47a.
2

The words omitted by Streane

Gehazi
3

"

are,

as Elislia

nor."

The words

"

Hear,

Israel,"

etc.,

Dent.

vi.

ff.

who

repelled

138

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

him with

Then Jeschu thought that he had

altogether repulsed him, and went away, and set up a
brickbat and worshipped it. Joshua said to him
Be
his hand.

converted
thee

Jeschu saith

From him

Thus have

been taught by

that sinneth and inaketh the people to

taken away the possibility of repentance.

And
the Teacher [i.e., he who is everywhere mentioned by
title in the Talmud] has said
Jeschu had prac
sin, is

tised
(this

sorcery and had corrupted and misled Israel.

"

This famous passage, if taken by itself, would of

course fully confirm the hypothesis of the 100 years
B.C. date of Jesus.
The arguments for and against the
authenticity of

its

statements embrace, therefore, practi*

Let us
cally the whole substance of our investigation.
of
all
first
consider the face value of these statements.
Jannai or Jannseus (John), who also bore the Greek
of the famous Maccaboean

King Jaimai.

name Alexander, was one

line of kings, the son of

over the Jews 104-78

Though

it is

John Hyrcanus

I.,

and reigned

B.C.

now impossible from the

imperfect record

to ascertain the exact state of

Jewish domestic

or the precise causes of

fierce

the

affairs,

internal religious

2
struggle, during the reign of this wild warrior king, the

salient fact dwelt

on by Josephus in both his accounts

major part of his reign was

engaged in a bitter feud with the Pharissean party,
whom he had deprived of all their privileges. This
that Jannai

is

the

for

Fharisaean party was practically the national religious

1

This formal charge

See Schiirer (E.),

Time

of Jesus Christ

vol.

pp. 295-307.

i.

"

is
"

also found in

"

Sanhedrin,"

43a.

History of the Jewish People in the

(Eng. Trans.; Edinburgh, 1897), Div.

i.,

THE TALMUD 100

party

who resented

Hasmonsean

the

STORY OF JESUS. 139

B.C.

oriental

and above

rulers,

all

despotism of their
detested the usurpa

by Jannai. The Pious

and Pure could not brook the sight of a wild warrior
tion of the high priestly office

"

like Jannseus discharging the duties of the high priest

in the holy
strife

as Schurer puts

place,"

intensified

marked the

first

by

religious

it.

Bitter internal

fanaticism

Jannai

eighteen years of

Pharisees finally led a rebellion

accordingly

The

s reign.

against

the

hated

monarch, in which no less than 50,000 Jews are said to

have fallen, and finally the leaders of the nationalist
1
party fled to the stronghold of Bethome or Besemelis.

Jannai besieged Bethome and captured it. The prisoners

were taken to Jerusalem, and there no less than 800 of

them are

said to have been crucified to make sport

before Jannai and his wives and concubines, the wives

and children

of

wretched Pharisees having been

the

previously butchered before their eyes.

act

is

of the

This atrocious

said to have struck such terror into the hearts

unfortunate

than 8000 of them

"

Eabbis
fled,

"

of the time, that

and during Jannai

no

less

s life- time

2
This happened about 87 B.C.
kept far from Judaea.
The greatest hero of those times, according to Rab

who

withstood the tyrant to the

face and boldly berated him with the unaided weapons
of Rabbinic wisdom, was Simeon ben Shetach, who is

binical tradition,

still

said moreover to have been the brother of Jannai s wife

Salome.

Many stories of his wise sayings before Jannai

are handed on in the Talmud, though it must be conFor Josephus in his two accounts
Bell. Jud.," i. 4. 6, and
Antiqq.," xiii. 14. 2) gives these two widely different names.
1

("

"

Josephus,

ibid.

140

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

they sound to modern ears somewhat
There are some, however, who think that

that

fessed
puerile.

Simeon too had

Queen Salome
and the
<

Golden

to

flee,

and that

of

his withstanding

Jannai took place before the revolt.

When Salome, however, succeeded her impious spouse,
her policy with regard to the Pharisees was the direct
antithesis of Jannai s cruel measures.

the beginning of her reign [78-69

B.C.]

"

Salome from

took her stand

unhesitatingly on the side of the Pharisees, lent an ear

to their demands and wishes, and in particular gave
sanction again to all the Pharisaic ordinances
abolished since the time of John Hyrcanus.
During
legal

these years the Pharisees were the real rulers of the

l
land."

As Josephus

says

Salome

"

had indeed the name

regent, but the Pharisees had the authority

they
as

who

for it

of

was

restored such as were banished, and set such

were prisoners at liberty, and

from masters

differed in nothing

to say all at once, they

(of the

country)."

Pharissean tradition, therefore, naturally depicts the

reign of Salome as a golden age, and we are told with
true oriental hyperbole, that

"

under Simeon ben Shetach

and Queen Salome rain fell on the eve of the Sabbath,

so that the corns of wheat were as large as kidneys, the
barley corns as large as olives, and the lentils like

golden denarii

the scribes gathered such corns, and

preserved specimens of them in order to show future

generations

what

sin

entails"

somewhat prepos

terous proceeding, one would suppose, unless the scribes

1

2
3

ScMrer,
"Bell.

op. cit., ibid., p. 309.

Jud.,

"

Taanith,"

i.

23a.

5. 2,

and

"

Antiqq.," xiii.

16. 2.

THE TALMUD 100

of that

STORY OF JESUS. 141

B.C.

time were gifted with prophetical clairvoyance

subsequent evil days on which the Eabbis

to descry the

time and again.

have been thus long in dwelling on the importance Joshua ben
l
of Salome from a Kabbinical point of view for reasons

fell

which will appear more fully later on for the present

to be remarked that, if there is any historical basis
;

it is

at all for the passage

Perachiah presumably

under consideration, Joshua ben

Alexandria in 87 B.C., and

fled to

was probably recalled by Simeon ben Shetach in 78 B.C.

He must then have been a very old man, for he is said
have begun to teach as early as 154 B.C., 1 an asser
In
tion, however, which I have been unable to verify.
to

any case Joshua ben Perachiah and Nithai of Arbela

were the second of the famous "Five Pairs" of the

Guruparampara chain
cal term) of Talmudic
"

"

(to use a

tradition,

Brahmanical techni
while Simeon ben

Shetach and Judah ben Tabbai form the third

to this

"

tradition of

<c

Pair."

the

then, j esus a
fathers,"
According
Man
Jeschu was regarded as having been originally the pupil Learned
2
of the time,
Eabbis
of one of the two most learned
"

"

Baring-Gould (S.), "The Lost and Hostile Gospels: An

Essay on the Toledoth Jeschn, and the Petrine and Pauline Gospels
of the First Three Centuries of which Fragments remain" (London
This very uncritical writer does not give his autho
1874), p. 56.
rity, but probably it was Eichard von der Aim, to whose studies
we have already referred, and from whom Baring-Gould lifts
all his information with regard to the Talmud Jesus stories and
Toldoth Jeschu, though without any acknowledgment.
2
I have put the title
Kabbi in quotation marks when used
1

"

"

"

"

have seen it stated by Jewish

term Kabbi was not so used till after 70 A.D.
Unfortunately I have lost my references to this point, but see
Bousset (W.), Die Keligion des Judentums in neutestamentlichen
Zeitalter
Der eigentliche Titel Rabbi
(Berlin
1903), p. 147

of teachers of this period, because I

authorities that the

"

"

"

"

"

142

DID JESUS LIVE 100

nay, of the most learned, the

B.C. ?
"

"

spouse

of

Jerusalem

not only so, but Jeschu was apparently Joshua s favourite

See the result of disregarding this counsel of
pupil.

wisdom, said the Eabbis

famous case

of

of later days; there is

the great Joshua ben Perachiah

was too stern with

disastrous results

But,

it

and with what

be

may

his disciple Jeschu,

the

who

said,

why

waste time in speculating

on such a transparent anachronism. To this we reply

Even granting the anachronism a priori, without further
:

enquiry seeing that the literature of the times teems

with many demonstrably ghastly anachronisms the
passage shows us clearly where Jewish tradition placed

he was a learned man, as indeed is invari

ably admitted in many other stories whether or not
he got his wisdom from the greatest Jewish teacher of
Jesus.

For

it

the times or not,

The Murder
Innocents.

is

another question.

It is further to be

remarked that there

is

a striking

similarity between the state of internal Jewish affairs

in Jannai s time and the numerous hangings and burn

In
ings of Pharisees in the days of Herod (37-4 B.C.).
both reigns the national religious party was led in

by those learned in the Law. The Pharisees stood

religion and religious purism against the aristocratic

revolt
for

the hereditary Sadducaean priesthood, who

were interested in the Law solely as a convenient

party

of

instrument

of

custom whereby they could extort tithes

of the people.
They were entirely

and taxes out

scheint erst
sein."

in

It there

nachneutestamentlicher Zeit aufgekommen zu

be any solid ground for this contention, it would,

of course, be of great critical

importance in considering the date of

those passages in the canonical gospels in

which the term appears.

THE TALMUD 100

B.C.

STORY OP JESUS. 143

which had been and

indifferent to all those tendencies

were

still

spiritualising the national religious literature,

and presumably they were above

all

opposed to what

they considered the innovating fanaticism of the mystic

circles as the Chas-

and disciplinary views held by such

sidim and Essenes.

Both reigns are characterised by the triumph of the

Sadducaean party, and by the ruthless murder of large

numbers

of the Pharisaean leaders,

in

indubitably

Essene

circles,

closest

nay,

it is

whom

were

Chassidim

and

some

contact with

of

most probable that members

of these circles, or of associations of a similar nature,

were the directly inspiring sources of these religious

It must then have been a bitter memory with
revolts.
the followers of these strict schools of discipline, the
later
schools of the prophets," which were seeking to
"

establish the rule of the Eighteous and the consequent

direct reign of

Yahweh on

earth, that

numbers

of their

holy ones and seers had been ruthlessly done to death

1
by a Jannai or a Herod.

one of their grades, were

seers, in
1

similar mystic circles these prophets

in

Now,

Whether

in the former case their death

known

as

had been the

and The

"

little

cruel

and

lingering torture of crucifixion is a point of importance only for

those Talmudic scholars who argue that crucifixion was an utterly

unknown mode

of execution among the Jews.

There was, they
beheading, strangling, hanging, stoning and subsequent expos
ing of the body of the stoned on a post as a warning ; moreover,
to shorten the cruelty of the lingering death by stoning, the victim
say,

was

rendered unconscious by a soporific drink

but never
In this connection, however, we must remember that
it is said that Jannai remained a Jew in all
things, and imposed
Jewish customs on all conquered cities on pain of utter destruction,
first

crucifixion.

so that

mode

it

may

be doubted whether he

of execution of his domestic foes.

"

hellenised

"

solely in the

"

Little

144

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

"

ones

or

"

children."

most interesting tradition

"

Mandai tes, the

In the Xlth Tractate

"

Codex Nasarseus

the

of

Christians of St. John.

Eight-hand Genza there

of

in the little-known

this designation is still preserved

so-called
of their

most beautiful story of

Jesus conies to Johanna to be

the mystic

is

Baptism.
Jesus comes as a simple approacher seek
But
ing initiation into the mystic school of Johanna.
Johanna is not to be deceived, and immediately recog
"

"

baptised.

nises

Him

as the Master,

Manda d

Hajje Himself, the

Life,"
by whose power Johanna has been
l
teaching and initiating all the long forty and two years

c<

Gnosis of

of his ministry.

It is too long to quote the beautiful story of

Johanna, in giving the lower initiation

(?

psychic) baptism

how

external

of

to Jesus, receives the true spiritual

Baptism from Manda d Hajje Himself, when He gave

him the grip of the Eushta, and laid His hand upon
"

him

in Jordan

of flesh

and He made him lay off his garment

and He clothed him in a raiment of

and blood

glory."

It is

enough

for our

purpose to set

sentences put into the

mouth

peace, Little One.

Now

that

we may

down

Johanna

of

a few of the
c<

Come

in

I go with thee, Little One,

enter the stream.

Come, come,

Little

One of three years and one day, youngest among his

brethren but oldest with his Father, who is so small yet
2
his sayings are so exalted."
Seniority in the Essene
1

apparently now passes on into the seventh seven years."

The Liberation of Johanna," by Miss A. L. B. HardSee

He

"

"

The Theosophical Be view," vol. xxxi., no. 181, pp. 20-25

(September, 1902) ; also Brandt (W.), Mandiiische Schriften aus
der grossen Sammlung heiliger Biicher gennant Genza oder Sidra
castle, in

"

"

THE TALMUD 100

STORY OF JESUS. 145

B.C.

and Therapeut communities, it must be remembered,

was not reckoned by age, but by the number of years

member
we were to

the brother had been a

What, now,

if

unrelated

totally

of the order.

scraps

apparently Was Herod

fuse these

information

of

together

Might we not ask ourselves how many elements are

be sifted out
nocents

"

the

how many

mystic history
birth in

of

its

traditional

"murder

myth
Can

present form?

and

was

"

"

to

of the in

conflations of historical fact

before the

brought to
there be in it even

some reminiscence

of the 800 victims of Bethome ?

The
Talmud Eabbis know nothing of Herod s wholesale
murder of the children as recounted in the introduction

Gospel Josephus knows nothing

ben
Matthai had no reason for white
yet Joseph
washing the character of Herod, had such a dastardly

of our first canonical

of it

outrage been an actual

other crimes

fact, for

without

he records his numerous

and

hesitation;

Talmud

the

Kabbis hated the memory of Herod so well that they

could not have failed to record such a horror, had he

been really guilty of

But

The narrative
rently

it.

Talmud
introduced by citing what

to return to the
is

words

some famous saying

of our

passage.
is

appa
Eabbinic wisdom. It

of

must be remarked, however, that if Streane s trans

lation is correct, 1 the wisdom of the saying does not
Rabba

(Gottingen 1893), p. 195; Tempestim (F.), Le Code Nazareen vulgairemeiit appele Livre d Adam
traduit pour la premiere fois en Frangais," in Migne s Dictionnaire
des Apocryphes," vol. i. (Paris 1856) and Norberg (M.), Codex
iibersetzt uiid erlautert

"

"

"

"

Nasaraeus,

Liber

Adami

appellatus

latineque
Hafnise, n.d., probably first decade of last century).
1
Moses Levene translates more intelligibly from "Sot
.

10

redditus

a,"

47a

146

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

immediately appear on the surface, and we must take

it in a symbolic sense as referring to such ideas as good

and

sheep and

orthodoxy

and

heresy;
being the commonest of all symbolic
terms, not only in Jewish and Christian but also in
evil,
"

"

right

The

"Inn"

"Horn*."

and

goats,

"

"

left

Egyptian, Pythagorean and Orphic mysticism.

As to the inn and hostess story, it is very evident
take it literally, we have the
tti&t, it we are to

mountain out

veritable birth of a

Why

of a mole-hill.

the whole orchestra of the Temple at Jerusalem, appa

rently,

should

be

requisitioned

to

give

world-wide

of the excommunication of Jeschu, simply

because he admired the eyes of a landlady (if that
indeed be the meaning of the original) l is passing non-

notice

oriental comprehension.
the intolerable burden

To

relieve ourselves, then, of

the absurdities which the

of

of the story

imposes upon us, I venture

to suggest that we are here face to face with an instance
of Deutsch s
cap and bells element in the Talmud, and
literal

meaning

"

"

therefore

make

bold to offer

to the underlying

ExcommuniJesus!

Evidently

the

my

mite of speculation as

meaning.

main point

is

was

Jeschu

that

formally excommunicated for heretical tendencies from

the school or circle over which Joshua presided. The

400

horns,

trumpets

or

trombones

may

be

taken

simply to mean that the excommunication was exceed

The reason for excommuniingly formal and serious.
"The

hand

right

hand

repels."

See

of a
"

man

should always allure when the

Jesus and Christianity in the

"

Talmud,"

left

The

Review," xxix. 316 (December, 1901).

oval
whereas Streane s
Levene gives the lady s eyes as
would seem to be the very opposite of a com
"little narrow
eyes"

Theosophical
1

"

"

plimentary remark.

THE TALMUD 100

cation

was plainly

Egypt.

Now

doctrinal.

The kernel

Jewish tradition
"

Jesus learned

magic

in

of this persistent accusation

may

that

asserted

invariably

STORY OF JESUS. 147

B.C.

"

perhaps be reduced to the simple historical element

that Jesus went to Egypt and returned with far wider

and more enlightened views than those of his former codisciples, and in this connection it is to be remembered
that

many

scholars

resemblance

have

between

from

argued,

earliest Christian churches

the

strong

the
general
canonical tradition and
features

the

of

of

those of the Essene communities, that Jesus was an

Essene, or let us say more generally a member of an
I therefore venture on the specula
Essene-like body.
tion that the

"

inn

"

of

our story

may

cryptically refer

one of such communities, which Joshua considered

very excellent, but which Jesus considered to have a
to

narrow outlook from the standpoint

liberal view of things spiritual.
It is also

of a

too

to

recall

more

of interest

mind that excommunication from the

to

Essene community required the votes of no less than

100 brethren; can the 400 "horns" by any possibility
refer to the voices or votes of

some

specially

convened

assembly for a very important and formal decision

against one whose superior knowledge refused to be

bound down by the

traditional limitations of the order

Perhaps also there are some who

the question

the

"inn"

Has the

of

"
"

birth

the familiar

meaning looked at by the

cryptic expressions

As we

may

of the

Gospel

ask themselves
"

little

story

one

"

in

any new

light of these mystic

and

are, then, in highest probability dealing

with The

story

which

conceals

an

under-meaning,

it

"

t)ft&

may

Brick-

148

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

be conjectured that some precise

further

detail

of

history underlies the extraordinary expression he set

up a brickbat," which has hitherto been invariably con
"

strued as a contemptuous or humorous

"

he became an

but, on

This

idolater."

we have

may

of saying,

way

be the meaning,

remember that

in
contrary,
the general formal charge at the end taken from the
same authority from which the Gemfira derives the

the

story, there is

nor,

if

no mention

of idolatry in this gross sense,

do we anywhere else in the

Talmudic or Mediaeval, meet with

I mistake not,

Jewish Jesus

stories,

Has

this grossly material charge.

sion, then,
"

"

peter

to

this strange expres

any hidden connection with the

symbolism, or with the

its initiations

the

hewn-stone

"

rock

"

and

and

"

corner-stone,"

therefore originally with Egyptian mystic

"

"

"masonry"

and

of a

Grand Master

this

famous

But we have not yet done with

story, for

occurs yet again in the Talmud, though in a different

In the Palestinian Gemarfi we thus read
form.

it

The Jehuda
a

Story

The inhabitants

Jerusalem intended to appoint

Jehuda ben Tabbai as Nasi l in Jerusalem. He fled
"

and went away

Jerusalem

of

to Alexandria,

wrote:

Alexandria the small.

and the inhabitants

From Jerusalem

How

long lives

the

my

of
to

great
betrothed

with you, whilst I am sitting grieved on account of

him ?
When he withdrew to go in a ship, he said
Has Debora, the landlady who has taken us in, been
:

wanting in something ? One

2
Eabbi, her eye was bright
!

of

his

He

answered

disciples
:

Lo,

said

you

Prince or President of the Sanhedrin.

Dalman-Streane add (op. cit., 33), a euphemism for blind"

but this gloss would seem to change the whole sense of the story.
"

THE TALMUD 100

STORY OF JESUS. 149

B.C.

have done two things; firstly, you have rendered me

What
suspected, and then you have looked upon her.
did

say

beautiful in appearance

I did not say

anything (like this) but (beautiful) in deeds.

was angry with him and went his way." l

As

the Palestinian

Gemara

is

And

he

generally considered to

Is it

the

be older than the Babylonian, it is naturally argued oft

that we have here the original form of the story which story

we have been

discussing;

name

the

of

Jeschu was

plainly inserted at a later date, and in this fact

we

have the simplest possible explanation of this wild

anachronism. And it must be confessed that this argu
ment is one of great strength, and for most people
entirely disposes of this question.

But even

so, it

may

of the story

still

be conjectured that the

was a deliberate proceeding on

remodelling
the part of the Eabbis to suit their tradition of certain

the life of Jesus.

Hence, in rejecting the
not
date,
absolutely necessary to reject the whole
of the Babylonian version as
entirely devoid of every
in

details

it is

element of genuineness.
Again, as to the lateness of the Babylonian version,
it is to be observed that the Gemara
quotes from an
earlier source or tradition of the story, 2 and therefore

we have
was in

to

all

push the date back to

remarked that the setting

version is far more exact in
1

"

Pal.

Chagiga,"

the whole Babylonian

its historical details

(op. cit., p. 43),

who

concluding paragraph as follows

which reports

which

it is

77d.

See Laible-Streane

of the

of

this source,

It is further to be

probability Palestinian.

this story, says

elsewhere."

gloss the
"

opening words

The same

authority

150

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

a far more deliberate tradition than the vague and

pointless Palestinian account.

But even with regard

The Problem

date

am

itself, I

so absolutely disposed of as
as

we

Joshua ben Perachiah

to the

not altogether satisfied that

it

seems at

can be

glance, for

first

shall see in considering another,

it

and in some

respects independent, line of Rabbinic tradition pre

served in the earliest elements of the Toldoth Jeschu,

the Joshua ben Perachiah date

is the

date,

and how on

an apparently so ludicrous anachronism could

earth

have held

its

own

for so

centuries

many

logical puzzle of the greatest interest

that the

Jews had no

and in

this

is

a psycho

argues plainly

difficulty at all in accepting

connection

Eabbis had no

it

we must remember

it,

that the

whatever in the Christian gospeltradition as history, as we can plainly see from the Jew
of Celsus, and that they therefore never dreamed of
their

testing

belief

basic

by the Christian gospel

tradition

story.

The

original version in the Palestinian

Gemara,

like

its

Babylonian (or originally Palestinian) variant, is

evidently a story of the contact of Jewish orthodoxy
with Alexandrian liberalism and mysticism, personified

Deborah the most famous

in

the

main

point

willing to praise the

circles,

cast off

of ancient prophetesses,

the orthodox

being that

hospitality

of

the

Jew was

Alexandrian

but refused to praise their doctrines; nay, he

a disciple who ventured to praise them, in fear

of the taint of heresy thus indirectly attaching to

self.

The upholder

of this rigid

Jehuda ben Tabbai, the

"

"

pair

him

orthodoxy is given as
Simeon ben Shetach.

of

In adapting this story to the details of their Jeschu

THE TALMUD 100

STORY OF JESUS. 151

B.C.

tradition there seems to be no reason

should have altered the

tradition

imperatively

been

more natural

far

name

required
to

why

the Rabbis

unless the details of that

it,

for it

would have

have allowed Simeon ben

Shetach to write to his contemporary Jehuda, than to

have made him write to Joshua ben Perachiah, the
"

leading light of the preceding pair."

But it must be confessed that reason has seldom any

thing to do with tradition, and therefore

petent to reveal its mysteries.

We

will

now

seldom com

proceed to consider an even more starts

is found in one of the Mary

ling anachronism which

stories.

is

THE TALMUD MARY

IX.
The Mary

IT

historical.

Talmud Mary

in vain to seek for

is

the accusation

any

STORIES.
element in the

historical

they revolve entirely round

her unfaithfulness to her husband,

stories, for

of

and, therefore, in

my

opinion,

owe

their origin to,

and

cannot possibly be of earlier date than, the promulga

tion of the popular Christian

virginity of the

dogma was

We

decide.

mother

first

of Jesus.

mooted

of

dogma

the physical

When this miraculous

exceedingly difficult to

is

believe, however, that even at the time of

the compilation of the canonical Gospels Joseph was

still

held to be the natural father of Jesus, as

seen above, and from this

of

reign

we deduce

Hadrian (117-138

A.D.)

we have

that even in the

the

dogma

of

the

miraculous birth was not yet catholicised."

But how far back can we push the first circulation
"

this

startling

belief?

For instantly

it

of

was publicly

mooted even by a restricted number of the faithful, it

was bound not only to have attracted the widest notice

among

the Jews, but also to have called forth the most

contemptuous retorts from those who not only hated the

Pagan idea of heroes born of the congress of divine and
mortal parents as a Heathen superstition and an idola
belief, but who were especially jealous of the

trous

THE TALMUD MARY

153

STORIES.

legitimacy of their line of descent as preserved in the

In this connection
public records of their families.
there

Talmud which deserves our

a passage in the

is

careful attention.

It is interesting in other respects,

chiefly because it is

found in the Mishna

(iv.

3),

but

and

therefore puts entirely out of court the contention of

those

who

assert

that

what

is

generally regarded as

the oldest and most authoritative deposit of the Talmud

contains no reference whatever to Jesus and not only
;

found in the Mishna, but it purports to base

on a still older source, and that too a written one.

is it

itself

This

remarkable passage runs as follows

Simeon ben Azzai has said I found in Jerusalem The Book
:

"

a book of genealogies

and

so

is

therein was written

a bastard son of a married

woman."

That so

This Simeon ben Azzai flourished somewhat earlier

than Akiba, and may therefore be placed at the end of

first and the beginning of the second century.
He
was one of the famous four who, according to Talmudic

the

"

tradition,

entered Paradise

"

that

is

to say,

he was

one of the most famous mystics of Israel. He was a

Chassid, most probably an Essene, and remained a
celibate

and

rigid ascetic

might, therefore,
give us
is

till

expect him

some information

We

the day of his death.

to be specially fitted to

as to Jesus,

recorded to have said

is

and yet what he

the very opposite of our

expectation.

Ben

Azzai,

found a book

we

are to believe, declared that he had

of genealogies at

Jerusalem

presumably
then before the destruction of the city in 70 A.D. This
book of genealogies can be taken to mean nothing else
1

"

Jebamotli,"

49a.

of

154
r

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

than an

record

official

nevertheless

we

are told that

it

contained the proof of Jeschu s bastardy, for

so and
so
is one of the well-known substitutes for Jesus and
"

"

Jesus alone in the Talmud, as has been proved and

admitted on either side.
If

we

are right in ascribing the genesis of the

Mamzer

element of the Jesus stories to doctrinal controversy,

we can only conclude that the categorical statement

we

considering was originally either a deliberate

invention, or the confident assertion in the heat of
are

controversy of some imperfect memory that was only

too eagerly believed to refer to Jesus.
The Jewish
apologist on the contrary can argue that this ancient
tradition fully justified his forefathers of later genera
tions for

their belief in

historic fact authenticated

an out-and-out
claim that the

answer to
historicising

the bastardy of Jeschu as a

by the records while if he be
;

may even

rationalist he
"

this
of

virgin birth
record,

"

go so far as to
doctrine was invented in

and that there has been no

a mystic

as

fact,

seeing that there are no mystic

we have supposed,

but only the

baseless imaginings of unbalanced enthusiasm.
This we cannot believe, and therefore conclude that
"

facts,"

legends came to birth some

where towards the close of the first century.

the earliest Jewish

Ben Stada
Pandera

Mary

It is exceedingly difficult to classify these

legends

or to treat

logical fashion, but

seem

by

to

them

it is

names

for

any satisfactory chrono

remarkable that in them there

be two deposits

different

in

Mamzer

of

Jeschu

tradition

characterised

Ben Stada and Ben

Pandera, names which have given rise to the wildest

philological speculation, but of which the current mean-

THE TALMUD MARY STORIES.

ing was evidently simply

may have been their

son of the

"

line of descent. 1

exclusively in the Talmud, where

designation of Jeschu,

155

harlot,"

whatever

Ben Stada occurs

it is

the most frequent

though Ben Pandera

is

also

found

found in the Toldoth Jeschu, and as we

have seen in the Church Fathers, while Ben Stada is

Ben Pandera

is

never met with in these sources.

The Ben Stada stories are mostly characterised by The Lud

anachronisms which are as startling as those of the
Ben Perachiah date, but which are its exact antipodes.
They are further generally characterised by
references to

distinct

or

Lud,

either

by the bringing in of

the names of the most famous Eabbis of this famous

school of

Talmud

study.

would suggest, therefore,

that these legends might be conveniently called the

Lud

stories.
1

See Krauss

(Berlin

1902), p.

Das Leben Jesu nach jiidischen Quellen

276, where full indications of the literature are
"

"

(S.),

probable speculation is that of Bleek in Nitzsch s

eine Reihe talmudischer und patristischer Ta uschungen, welche sich an den missverstandenen Spottnamen Ben
Pandera gekniipft," in
Theologische Studien und Kritiken

appended.
article,

"Ueber

"

".

Bleek supposes that Pandera is

1840), pp. 115-120.
caricature-name to mimic the Greek Trdp0evos (Parthenos),

(Hamburg;
a

"Virgin."

Greek

But there

is

also

perhaps a

connection

with

the

(Panther), an animal that was regarded as the symbol

of lasciviousness.
Whether or not there may have been further
iravQ-np

some connection between this panther-idea and the Egyptian PashtBut Pasht or Bast, the
or
cult, it is impossible to say.
"panther"
goddess, is suppossed to have had rites resembling
those of Aphrodite Pandemos, and the girls of her temple were
"cat"

therefore presumably prostitutes.

given as equivalent to the old

means a

"pack

saddle."

The

The

derivation of

"

bastard

"

is

French
"son

fils de bast, where last

of Bast" in Egypt would

have been a like term of unequivocal meaning. Still we can

hardly venture to connect these too bast s, and so must leave the
matter as a curious freak of coincidence.

<J

156

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

The Mishna School at Lud (Lydda) is said to have

been founded by K. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, the teacher
of E. Akiba, 1 and it was doubtless the great reputation

Akiba

of

as

the most implacable foe of Christianity

name

which, in course of time, connected the

with stories

of

Mary

Akiba which

originally were perfectly

innocent of any reference to the mother of Jesus.
Thus, in later times, we find tradition bringing Akiba
of

personal conversation, we
her
one of Akiba s contem
giving
poraries as a husband, and finally we meet with a
curious legend in which Miriam is made the contem

and

Miriam together

find

it

still

in

later

porary of a Eabbi of the fourth century

But to consider these fantastic developments

Talmudic tradition in greater detail. The following
the famous academical discussion on the refinements
bastardy,

which in course

Pandera legend with some

we

as

still find

them

of time supplied the

of its

most striking

of
is

of

Ben

details,

in various forms of the Toldoth

Jeschu.

A Famous

shameless person is, according to E. Eliezer, a

bastard
according to E. Joshua, a son of a woman
<c

her separation

in

and son

of a

woman

according to E. Akiba, a
in her separation.

bastard

Once there

sat

when two boys passed by one had

head covered, the other bare. Of him who had
A bastard
his head uncovered, E. Eliezer said,

elders at the gate

his

But when we

Helena

of

are told that tlie famous Jewish proselyte, Queen

Adiabene, passed fourteen years in Palestine (46-60

communion with the doctors of the Hillel school at

Jerusalem and Lud, there was presumably a school at Lud even
prior to the time of Ben Hyrcanus.
A.D.) in close

THE TALMUD MARY STORIES.

E. Joshua said,
E.

Akiba

said,

separation

A son of a woman in
A bastard and son of

her separation
a woman in her
!

How

said to E. Akiba,

They

157

has thine

heart impelled thee to the audacity of contradicting the

He said to them, I am
of thy colleagues ?
about to prove it.
Thereupon he went to the boy s
her
found
mother, and
sitting in the market and selling
words

He said to her,
daughter, if thou tellest me
the thing which I ask thee, I will bring thee to eternal

My

pulse.

She said

life.

E.
it

to him,

Swear

Akiba took the oath with

Then

in his heart.

thy son

this

to

it

me

said he to her,

chamber

Thereupon
he cancelled

Of what sort

She said to him,

myself to the bridal

his lips, while

When

was in

my

betook

separation,

husband stayed away from me. But

1
parariymph came to me, and by him I have this

and

my

So the boy was discovered

woman

the son of a
they,

Great

his teachers.

the Lord

is

God

to be

is

my
son.

both a bastard and

in her separation.

Thereupon said

E. Akiba, in that he has put to shame

In the same hour they said, Blessed be

of Israel,

who has

revealed His secret to

Akiba ben Joseph. 2

Eliezer, Joshua and Akiba were contemporaries, but
Akiba was by far their junior; for Eliezer ben
"

E.

Hyrcanus was Akiba s teacher, while Joshua ben

Chanania was a disciple of Jochanan ben Zakkai, who
died about 70 A.D. Akiba was put to death in 135 A.D.
;

The

setting of the story, therefore, places us

about the end

We may

somewhere

of the first century.

pass over the strange ascription of an act Criticism

thereon.
1

That

the bridegroom
18b.
"Kallah,"
is,

s best

man.

158

DID JESUS LIVE 100

of heartless perjury to

Akiba

as the

B.C. ?

means whereby he

extorted the confession from the boy s mother, and the

far more curious addition at the end of the passage
which blesses the God of Israel for revealing "His
"

secret

after the use of such questionable means, with

remark

the

that

it

would be interesting to know

to abandon the

whether Talmud apologetics prefer

the

reputation of

Akiba in

this

Talmud

instance,

or

for

of

here

its

great authority
there is no third

choice.

What
the

is

name

most striking in the story is that neither

boy nor that of his mother is given.

of the

supposes that the story originally contained the

names of Jeschu and Miriam, but that the compiler of
Laible

the

Gemara

struck them out, both because the mother

described as a pulse-seller, while elsewhere in the

is

Talmud she
and

called

is

Miriam the women

also because of the startling

He

ing Miriam and Akiba contemporaries.

the story itself

is of

early origin,

s hair-dresser,

anachronism

of

mak

holds that

and was originally a

Jesus story.

To

this

we cannot

agree, for

if it

had been

originally

Jesus story its inventors could not

so foolish as to introduce Eabbis of
have
been
possibly
the beginning of the second century among the dramatis

intended

as

This would have been really too inane even

the wildest controversialists at any date even

personce.

for

remotely approaching the time when Jews and Jewish

Christians were still in contact.

How

it

The main intention

enhance the reputation
1

of

the story

of K.

Laible-Streane, op.

is

evidently

to

Akiba, to display the

cit,,

p. 35.

THE TALMUD MARY STORIES.

depth

of his

159

penetration and his fine appreciation of the

subtlest shades of bastardy, a subject of great importance

was then presumably a tradition

first had no connection what

in Eabbinical law.

It

Lud

and at

of the

school,

ever with the Jeschu stories.

the

Mamzer

retort to the virgin-birth

larised in legend

famous story

of

vague Mamzer

may

In course

and

of time,

when

dogma was popu

folk-tale, the details of this other

bastardy were added to the originally

legends of Jeschu, and to this source we

conjecture, with high probability,

is

to be traced

the origin of the coarse details of Miriam s unfaithful

ness to her husband as found in the various forms of the

Toldoth Jeschu. The link was simply the word

"

bastard"

the rich gain to the legend material finally entirely out

weighed the inconvenience of the wild anachronism.

The story

is

introduced by the commission of a shock

ing act of disrespect on the part of one of the boys, for

according to Eabbinical law and custom, a teacher was
to be treated as worthier of greater

others,

even than one

parents.

honour than

To go uncovered

all

in the

presence of a teacher was thus thought to be an act of

utter shamelessness in the West, of course, the very
;

opposite would be the case.

Disrespect to the Eabbis
as shown in this and other ways is one of the main

burdens of accusation brought against Jesus in the

Toldoth Jeschu.

We

are,

or

then, justified in supposing that

any folk

of infidelity or

legend
bastardy stood a good
chance of being gradually worked into the Mamzer
patchwork. And indeed we find that this was actually
tale

The following story

method of conflation.

the case.
this

is

a good instance of

160
The Story

of

Paphos ben
Jehudah.

DID JESUS LIVE 100

There

"

B.C.

a tradition, Eabbi Meir used to say

is

Just

as there are various kinds of taste as regards eating, so

there are also various dispositions as regards women.

is a man into whose
cup a fly falls and he casts

There

but

it out,

the same he does not drink

all

used to
there

is

throws

another who,

it,

a fly falls into his tumbler,

and

this is the

of

way

men

When

she is speaking with her brothers

he does not hinder her, But there is also

relatives,

the man, who,

when

out and eats

fly)

(the cup).

of

when

out and drinks

it

generally.

and

it

Paphos ben Jehudah, who

lock the door upon his wife and go out.
And

Such was the manner

it

a fly falls into a dish, sucks

(the dish).

This

is

the

it

(the

manner

of a

bad man, who sees his wife going out bareheaded and
spinning in the street and wearing clothes slit up on
both sides and bathing together with

How

it

became a

Mary

Story.

men."

Meir was a pupil of Akiba and Paphos

ben Jehudah was Akiba s contemporary.
E.

(or

It

Pappos)
not
is

necessary to enter into a consideration of the details of

Eabbinic metaphor with regard to the "various dis

All

positions."

we

learn from

this

with regard to Paphos ben Jehudah

his wife

we

passage directly
that he locked

is

however, led to conclude, indirectly,

that she ultimately proved unfaithful to her tyrannical
What, then, more simple than for a story
spouse.

up

teller to

are,

connect this with the details of unfaithfulness

found in his Jeschu

like

Miriam

repertoire.

The erring wife was just

before long she actually became Miriam,

Paphos ben Jehudah was confidently given as

So they had it in later times, had it,
Miriam s husband
we may suppose, at Lud, that most uncritical of legend

and

finally

1K
Gittin,"90a.

THE TALMUD MARY STORIES.

factories,

and

we

finally

tator as Eashi (ob.

1105

even so great a commen

A.D.) endorsing with all confidence
find

this hopeless anachronism,

when he

Paphos ben

"

says

Miriam, the women s hair

Whenever he went out of the house into the

Jehudah was the husband

dresser.
street,

161

of

he locked the door upon her, that no one might

be able to speak to her. And that is a course which

became him not for on this account there arose enmity
;

between them, and she in wantonness broke her faith

with her husband."

But even eight or nine centuries before Rashi s time

the Babylonian Kabbis had found the Ben Stada Lud
developments a highly inconvenient overgrowth of the

Ben Perachiah

earlier
it is

strange to find

to say

date, as

we

shall see later on,

and

Rashi so ignorant of what they had

on the subject.

Startling, however, as is the anachronism which we The

have been discussing, it is but a mild surprise compared
with the colossal absurdity of the following legend, if

we

interpret

"

When Eab

But there
wept.

He

(away),

is

in the traditional fashion,

Joseph came to this verse (Prov. xhi. 23),

is destroyed without judgment/ he

that

said

when

Is there really

it

is

attendant, Go, bring

children

teacher.

The former

me Miriam

He went and
s

is

going

Certainly (for) so
Bibi bar Abbai; the angel

it

dresser.

someone who

not his time?

happened with Rab

death was found with him.

has
of

it

the

brought him

The angel

of

said to his

women s
Miriam

hair

the

death said to him,

Miriam the women s hair-dresser.

The mes
I
Then
will
to
said
her
him,
senger
bring
[the other]
The angel of death said to him, Since thou
back.

said

11

Vision of

162

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

reckoned (among the

hast brought her, let her be

l
dead)."

Commentary

Eab Joseph bar Chia was born

259

A.D.

he was

head

of

at Stili, in Babylonia

the

famous Babylonian

The only E. Bibi

and that

Eabbinical School at Pumbeditha.

we know
this Bibi

of flourished in the fourth century,

was believed

death-bed vision

is

have been the seer

to

of the

quite evident from the following

note of the Tosaphoth on the passage

The angel of death was found with him,
:

"

related

story as

in the time of the second temple, for she

that so and so

Shabbath
It is

[i.e.,

Jeschu], as

is

was mother

of

related in (treatise)

[104b]."

by no means clear what the writer

Tosaphoth meant precisely by

temple."

who

what had happened to him long ago, for this

to Miriam the women s hair-dresser took place

He

"

of

the

the time of the second

probably, however, meant the time before

splendid edifice of Herod replaced the

second temple proper, the meagre building that had
become gradually overlooked by the gorgeous Greek
the

new and

palaces of the nobles of

It

Herod s

days.

must be remarked, however, that

this explanation

does great violence to the wording of the story as it is

found in the Geinara. Can it be then that some other
Bibi was originally referred

to,

and that the story was

subsequently transferred by posterity to his far later

but more famous namesake

That the simple words "bastard" and "adulteress"

were strong enough indications of suitability for the
match-makers

of legend to unite in
1

"

Chagiga,"

4b.

marriage stories

of

THE TALMUD MARY STORIES.

163

otherwise the strongest incompatibility of age and date,

we have already seen that the very common name of
Miriam should further expand this family circle of
;

cross-breeds

And
to

therefore quite to be expected.

is

by most

this will doubtless be held

account for the transference to

Miriam the mother

of

Jeschu

sufficiently

address

the

of

the following two

of

legends but closer inspection warns us not too lightly

to accept this explanation.
In one of the tractates
;

of

the Palestinian

Talmud we are given the

who was privileged

to see a

the punishments in hell.

Among

certain devout person

vision of

some

of

story of

other sights.

saw

Miriam, the daughter of Eli Betzalim,\ The story

Miriam in
T
suspended, as K. Lazar ben Jose says, by the paps of Hell,
her breasts. R. Jose ben Chanina says The hinge of
"He

also

11

<.

hell s gate
[?

was fastened in her

the angels of punishment],

ear.

Why

is

He

said to

this

done to her

them
?

The answer was, Because she

fact.

Others

said,

fasted and published the

Because she fasted one day, and

counted two days (of feasting) as a set-off. He asked

them, How long shall she be so ? They answered him,
Until Simeon ben Shetach comes

then we shall take

out of her ear and put it into his ear." 1

As K. Jose ben Chanina was a contemporary of R.
Akiba, R. Lazar ben Jose was presumably a Rabbi of

it

an

earlier date,

but

can discover nothing about him.

The main point of interest for us is the sentence, until

Simeon ben Shetach comes." This can only mean that
"

Simeon ben Shetach was not

at the time of the vision

yet dead,

and therefore
1

"

Pal.

this

Miriam was

Chagiga,"

77d.

at

latest

of

164

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

contemporary with him and therefore can very well be

placed in the days of his older contemporary Joshua

As

ben Perachiah.

Eli Betzalim, 1 I can discover

to

nothing about him.

It

is

true that a certain Eli

is

given as the father of Joseph .in the genealogy incorpo

rated into the third Gospel, a genealogy which would be
quite useless if at the time of its compilation Jesus had
not been regarded as the natural son of Joseph, but in
the very different genealogy prefixed to the first Gospel,
and also purporting to give the descent of Joseph, a
certain Jacob takes the place of Eli and the

name

But even had the two genealogies

not found.

is

we should not have been helped

at

all,

Eli

agreed,

for they are

given as the genealogies of Joseph and not of Mary.

It would also be of interest to know in what Simeon

ben Shetach had offended, for he

is

otherwise

known

as the Kabbinic president of the golden age of Pharisaean

Queen Salome, as we have seen

In any case the story is an ancient one, for
already in the days of Eabbi Lazar and Rabbi Jose
there were variants of it.
prestige in the days of

above.

The

The phrase

"Hinge

Gate."

"hinge

argues an Egyptian

hell s

of

gate"

is

and

curious,

perhaps Chaldsean) setting

(or

may be compared with the "pivot of the gate

the Khamuas folk-tales, where they

of

it

of Amenti"

relate

the

was commanded
Hades."
punishment
that he should be requited in Amenti, and he is that
of

Krauss

"

Dives in

Leben

"

It

224) translates

"

Eli Betzalim

"

by
Miriam as
M. Zwiebelblatt, but does not venture on any explanation. The
onion, however, was a symbol of lasciviousness, and may, therefore,

"

("

Zwiebelblatt

"

Jesu,"

p.

(Onion-leaf) and

(p. 225) refers to this

perhaps be taken as a synonym of harlot.

THE TALMUD MARY

man whom thou
pivot

(?) of

lamentation."

it,

and whose mouth was open in great

Finally, in these

the

thrice-repeated

Talmud Mary-legends we come to

Miriam daughter of Bilga story,

which runs as follows

"

whose right eye the

Amenti was fixed, shutting and

didst see, in

the gate of

opening upon

165

STORIES.

Bilga always receives his part on the south side on Miriam and

account

of

Miriam, daughter

apostate and went to

of

who turned

Bilga,

marry a soldier belonging to the

and went and beat upon the roof

government

of Javan, 2

of the altar.

She said

to

him

Wolf, wolf, thou hast

destroyed the property of the Israelites and didst not

help them in the hour of their distress

"

This Miriam of Bilga can hardly be supposed to

the actual daughter of Bilga of I. Chron. xxiv. 14,

mean

the head of one of the priestly courses of the house of

Aaron.

It

daughter of

one

of the priests of

the Bilga course or

descent, for in the days of

line of

must mean simply that Miriam was the

Griffith (F. LI.),

(Oxford; 1900),

"Stories

p. 49.

of the

See also

High

"The

Bilga himself

we

Priests of Memphis"

Gospels and the

Gospel"

175-180, where I have pointed out the

importance of this episode in the new-found demotic papyrus as a
probable source of the Dives and Lazarus story. Was Lazar the

(London

name

1902),

pp.

of the seer in

folk-tales

some Jewish variant

of these

popular Egyptian

And has some alchemy of name- transmutation brought

name Lazarus of the Dives story of the third Gospel

The speculation is a wild one, but not wilder than the

to birth the

writer

transformations of legends with which folk-lorists are on

well acquanted.
2
3

That
"

is,

Pal.

Sukka,"

all

hands

Greece (Ionia).

Sukka,"

55d, also in substantially identical words,

56b, and in

"

Tosephta

Sukka," iv. 28.

"

Bab.

166

DID JESUS LIVE 100

know

B.C. ?

no attack on Jerusalem by the Greeks,

of

as the

story evidently suggests.

In this case, however,

Talmud
story

who

or

the

does not seem to be the

it

Jews themselves who

with Miriam, mother

of

leaves us to suppose that

passages

Dalman has

this

1
Jeschu, but Dalman,

it is

one of the censured

What

Talmud.

the

of

connect

however,

ground,

with

for bringing this story into relation

the Mary-legends I cannot discover

he seems to depend

on Laible, 2 who refers to Origen quoting Celsus as

his

Jew

declare

that

"

Mary gave birth to

Jesus by a certain soldier, Panthera."
If, because of this, we are to take the above as a
making

Mary
of the

story, it should be noticed that the

"

house

of

Greece,"

be placed prior to the

of
Jerusalem
occupation
by Pompey in 63
it,

in

any

case,

we

soldier

and therefore the date

incident must

in

"
"

first
B.C.

find a confirmation of

is

of the

Eoman
so that

Ben

the

Perachiah date.
This brings us to the end of our Mary stories our
next chapter will deal with the remaining Talmud Ben
Stada Jesus stories.
;

Dalman-Streane,
Ibid,, p. 19.

op. cit., p. 20n.

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS STOKIES.

X.

As we have

seen already from the evidence of the early The Bringing

Church Fathers, one of the most persistent charges of

the Jews against Jesus was that he had learned magic
In the Toldoth Jeschu, while we

in Egypt.
of

Jeschu

learning magic in Egypt, the

the story of his acquirement of miraculous power

robbing

of the

robbing

(the

is

the

or Ineffable

Tetragrammaton

at Jerusalem by a strange
The Talmud, however, knows nothing of this

Name) from
device.

Shem

hear

still

main feature in

of

the Temple

the

Shem from

the Temple

but in record

ing the tradition of the bringing of magic out of Egypt

it adds details of the means whereby this magic is
fabled to have been conveyed out of the country,

the variants of the story

we can

and

in

trace the evolution of

whereby Jeschu is said in the

strange
Toldoth to have outwitted the magic guardians of the
device

the

Shem.

Thus
"

in the Palestinian Gemfiril

He who

writing

is

we read

scratches on the skin in

guilty, but he

the

fashion

who makes marks on

of

the skin

exempt from punishment.

them: But has not Ben Stada

in the fashion of writing, is

Kabbi Eliezer said

brought (magic)

to

spells out of

Egypt

just in this

way

out of Egypt

DID JESUS LIVE 100

168

They answered him

On

is

also

account of one fool

ruin a multitude of reasonable

The same story

B.C.

we do not

l
men."

handed on in the Babylonian

Gemara, but with a very striking variant

There is a tradition Rabbi Eliezer said
:

The Writing

"

to the wise

men, Has not Ben Stada brought magic spells from

an incision in his body ? They answered

a fool, and we do not take proofs from

in

Egypt

He was

him,

2
fools."

The Tosephta adds yet another variant

tion

He who upon

"

of the tradi

body

the Sabbath cuts letters

view

according to the

is,

the view

according to
Eliezer said

to

the

the

of

wise:

of

K.

wise not

Ben Stada

upon

his

Eliezer guilty,
guilty.

K.

surely learned

Should
sorcery by such writing. They replied to him
of
a
fool destroy all reason
we in any wise on account
:

able
The EvoluLegend.

men ?

"

The mention
indicate that

of R. Eliezer

we have

the story, however,

oldest of

this

and the name Ben Stada

here to do with a

must be regarded

tradition,

for

it

cites

Lud
as

R.

tradition

one

of

the

Eliezer ben

Hyrcanus, the teacher of Akiba, and the founder of the

Lud

school.

The Palestinian Gemara evidently pre

more detailed account. In it the

serves the oldest and

academical discussion has to do with a very nice point

of Sabbath breaking.
Writing of any kind on the

Sabbath
1

2
3

"

Pal.

Bab.

was

strictly

Shabbath,"
Shabbath,"

forbidden.

13d.

104b.

"Tosephta, Shabbath," xi. (xii.)

mandel,

p. 126).

The question then

towards the end

(ed.

Zucker-

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS

arises

But what

parchment

be on one

it

if

Further

is

STORIES.

169

skin and not on

there not a difference between

1
scratching in the form of writing, and making marks
(that is in some way other than scratching) in the form
of writing (that is presumably resembling writing in

some way)

K. Eliezer meets the decision of his colleagues with

the objection that

Ben Stada brought

his spells out of

Egypt by marks on the skin and not by scratching."

These marks on the skin were presumably not letters
"

"

proper, that
discussion

is

is

the fashion of
or

"

the writing of words in Hebrew, for the

marks in
not as to writing, but as to
"

writing."

or drawings of

sigils,

The Tosephta,
elaborate

it

"

it

then refer to diagrams

some kind, or to hieroglyphics ?

makes havoc of this

will he noticed,

argument

ascribes to the

Does

wise

of
"

the

Palestinian

Gemara, and

a judgment the very reverse of

what they had given according to the Gemara

over the
has become
scratching
cutting
"

"

upon the
While
account

"

more

letters

body."

as
is

for
still

Babylonian Gemara the whole The Hiding

further altered
no longer is it a men t.
the

question with Eliezer of refuting the opinion of his

marks on
colleagues with regard to the main point,
"

the skin in the fashion of

writing,"

no longer

is

it

question even of
cutting letters upon the body," but
we have a totally new and startling gloss, namely the
"

bringing out of Egypt by Ben Stada of spells (presum

ably written on parchment) in an incision in his body.
1

Laible

"

as tattooing ;
(op. cit., p. 46) speaks of this "scratching
but there seems no reason why we should give technical precision
to

such vague indications.

170

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

This writing on parchment and hiding the parchment

an incision in the body is precisely the account

in

adopted by the Toldoth Jeschu, and when we come to

discuss this second highly complex line of tradition

All that need be said

shall refer again to the subject.

here

is

we

that the Palestinian Gemaril seems plainly to

have preserved the earlier account, namely the inscrib

ing of some figures, or more probably hieroglyphs, on
the skin.

The idea

in

the

mind

of the Palestinian

Eabbis was presumably that the Egyptians were known

to be very jealous of their magic lore and did all they
could to prevent books of magic being taken out of the
country Jeschu, then, according to the oldest Rabbinic
;

tradition,

some

was

said to have circumvented their vigilance

The Circum-

subterfuge as that which has been

by
handed on in the story in the Palestinian Gemara. 1
The rank growth from the original nucleus of the

Heart.

legend

is

such

plainly

What

Tosephta.

the nucleus

know, but

it

shown
the

real

in

the

inwardness or nucleole of

may have been we shall perhaps never

may possibly have been derived from some

such mystical expression as the

heart,"

Talmud and

the

or the hiding of

wisdom

"

circumcision of the

in the heart.

Mean

while the story under discussion provides a text in the

1

It is curious to note that a similar device has

been recently

The Four Feathers,"

use of by a novelist (A. E. W. Mason,
London, 1902). The scene is laid in the Soudan, and on p. 90 we

made
read

"

Abou Fatma drove the donkey down amongst the

... In the left shoulder a tiny incision had been made
"

trees.

and the skin neatly stitched up again with fine thread. He

cut the stitches, and pressing open the two edges of the wound,
forced out a tiny package little bigger than a postage stamp. The
package was a goat s bladder, and enclosed within the bladder

was a note written in Arabic and folded very

small."

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS

171

STORIES.

Babylonian Gemara for a commentary in the Gemara

itself which runs as follows
:

"Ben

Eab Chisda

Stada was Ben Pandera.

said: The Rabbis

The husband was Stada, the lover Pandera. (Another

said): The husband was Paphos ben Jehuda; Stada
was his mother; (or) his mother was Miriam the

women s hairdresser as they would say at Pumbeditha,

S tath da (i.e., she was unfaithful) to her husband." l
It is exceedingly difficult to make out from the
stopping of this translation who said what, but the
sentence
his mother was Miriam the women s
;

"(or)

seems to be a gloss or interpolation, and

as they would say seem to follow naturally

hairdresser,"

the words
"

after

"

"

Stada was his

mother."

Be

this as it

may

be,

our interesting passage makes it quite clear that by

this time legend had reached so rank a growth that

even the Kabbis themselves in

many

places

had

lost all

At

trace of its origin, of its earliest authentic form.

any

rate they were all at

sixes

and sevens on the

All they were quite certain of

was that Ben Stada and Ben Pandera were intended

subject in Babylonia.

one and the same person, but as to who Stada or

Pandera may have been they had no definite infor

for

mation.

Rab Chisda was one

the

school

at

of the

Sura (one

of

most famous Eabbis

the greatest centres

of

of

Talmudic activity in Babylonia) and died 309 A.D. he

evidently was greatly puzzled to account for the appa
;

rently contradictory

Rabbinical
1

"

"

Bab

Bab.

aliases

The

tradition.

Shabbath,"

Sanhedrin,"

104b

67a.

bestowed on Jeschu by
Rabbis

of

Pumbeditha

repeated in almost identical words in

their own
Creations

172

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

(another of the great centres of Talmudic learning in

Eastern Jewry), on the contrary, seem to have pre
served a correct tradition of the origin of the nick

name Ben Stada, though they appear to have taken

Ben Pandera as a proper form. Whether or not the
Pumbeditha derivation

is

correct in the

letter,

is

question for specialists to decide it is in my opinion,

however, certainly correct in spirit, for, as I have
already argued, Ben Pandera came into existence as an
;

offset to the

ology, and

"virgin

am

son"

of

Christian popular the

further persuaded that

also a similar genesis,

Ben Stada had

whatever may have been the pre

cise philological details of their birth.

That the

later

Babylonian Rabbis were puzzled and

is quite evident from the

at loggerheads on the subject

record of their

Gemara

a certain tradition of the

additional

the

by

but that there was elsewhere

Ben Perachiah date

information

is

contained

shown
in

the

mediaeval Tosaphoth to this passage.

"

Mediaeval
r

Ben

Stada.

Rabbenu Tarn

says that this

is

not

Jeschu ha-Notzri (Jesus the Nazarene), for as to Ben

Stada we say here that he was in the days of Pappos
ben Jehudah, who lived in the days of Rabbi Akiba, as
proved in the last chapter of Berachoth [61b], but
Jeschu lived in the days of Jehoshua ben Perachiah, as

is

And not
proved in the last chapter of Sota [47a]
like Rabbi Jehoshua ben Perachiah who pushed away
c

is

Jeschu ha-Notzri with both hands, and Rabbi Jehoshua

His mother was
was long before Rabbi Akiba.
Miriam, the
in

the

angel of

women s

hairdresser,

and what

Rab

is

related

the
Chagiga [4b]
death was found with him, etc., he said to his

first

chapter of

Bibi

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS

messenger
dresser

Kab

Go and

Bibi

fetch

me Miriam

means that there

that

women s

Miriam, a

173

STORIES,

the

women

hair

lived in the days of

hairdresser.

was

It

another (Miriam), or the angel of death was also relat

Kab

ing to

before."

Bibi a story which happened a long time

Our Eabbi Tarn

"

(France),

who

"

presumably E. Jacob

is

of

Troyes Rabbi Tam.

flourished in the twelfth century, 2 but I

cannot discover to what school he belonged, and there

fore to
ever,

whom

"

we say here

categorically

Jeschu

of history,

Lud

denies

and

"

refers.

that

Ben

Eab Tam, how

Stada

was

that, too, in face of the

the

wide

which had so strongly imposed

itself upon the Babylonian Eabbis.
We have ourselves
seen how Ben Stada came into existence only some
spread

tradition

"

"

where about the end

when he was
Eabbenu Tam, therefore, is quite
Ben Stada lived in the days
right when he says that
of Paphos ben Jehuda, who lived in the days of Akiba.
The truth of the matter, according to Eab Tam, was
born

of the first century,

of controversy.

"

"

that the historical Jeschu lived in the days of Jehoshua

ben Perachiah as to the Eab Bibi story, he adds, it too
;

a gross anachronism, the Miriam

is

either

some

referred to

was

totally different person, or the story has

been handed on incorrectly.

Eabbi Tam and his school, therefore, held solely to
the Jehoshua ben Perachiah date and they
apparently
;

Ben Stada

rejected all the

1

"

Tosaphoth
See Krauss

Shabbath,"
"Das

stories,

but whether or no

104b.

Leben

Jesu"
(Berlin
1902), pp. 227,
the appearance of being a by-name, and we
cannot be certain of the identification.

274.

But

Tam

(S.),

has

all

DID JESUS LIVE 100

174

B.C.

they also rejected the Jehoshua ben Perachiah story

to the date, we have no means of

and simply held

given above

If the translation

ascertaining.

is

correct,

they also held to some ancient categorical statement

that Jeschu s mother was a certain Miriam whose
occupation was that of hair-dressing

we

meshes
Miriam

Ben Stada

of the

net.

Miriam, "the women s

simply another name-play

Pandera genus.
the

in

is

"

"

hair-dresser,"

megaddela nesaiia

the twin of

is

and

Miriam

"

Miriam the

But

As

for

Jew

was equivalent
Magdala had an unen

Magdala

the looseness of

Eabbinical

as

far

for a

"

of

harlot, for

for

Mary Magdalene

purposes in such word-play.

notoriety

women.

women s

"

the combination

the

be

to

Ben Stada and Ben

of the

original Miriam,

all practical

to saying

seems

hair-dresser,"

Miriam,

Miriam Megaddela

viable

but in doing so

became entangled in the

believe they unconsciously

the lives of

tradition,

its

then,

is

seems exceedingly probable that we have

concerned,
here the origin of the otherwise strange combination
it

Miriam the women

fore

ascribe

the

hair-dresser,

and we should there

and place

time

of its birth

to the

same period as the Ben Stada invention and the same

which produced the Lud legends.
But the origin of the glyph of the Magdalene, out of

circle

The Magthelsophia

wnom

tne Christ cast seven devils in the historicised

Christian tradition,

is,

in

my

opinion, to be traced to a

mystic Gnostic source and not to controversial word

In Gnostic tradition we find the Sophia in her
play.
various aspects possessed of
1

"Threni Rabba," c.

pp. 274, 275, 286, 303

f.

106

many names.
(ed.

Wilna)

see also Laible, op.

Among them

see Krauss, op.

cit.,

16 and 17.

cit.,

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS

be mentioned

may

the Holy Spirit

the Mother or All-Mother

Shining Mother

of the Living, or

again She

Mother

Above

the Power

175

STORIES.

of the Left-hand, as

opposed
Eight-hand the Man-woman
Prouneikos or Lustful-one, the Harlot the Matrix
to Christos,

Him

of the

Eden

Virgin Barbelo Daughter of

Consort of the Masculine
Merciful Mother

Light

One

Achamoth

the

Kevelant

the

Perfect
Mysteries
Mercy Kevelant of the Mysteries of the whole Magni
tude Hidden Mother She who knows the Mysteries
;

of

Perfect

Elect

of the

Twins

the

Ennoea

Holy Dove which has given birth

to

and the Lost or Wandering Sheep,

Helena (who the Church Fathers said was a harlot whom

Simon Magus had picked up at Tyre) and many other
names.
All these terms refer to Sophia or the
the term in

its

most general sense

individual aspects, according as

perfect

purity

or

in

the

she

"

Soul

"

using

in her cosmic or
is

above in her

midst, as intermediary, or

below as fallen into matter. 1

By help

of the

thoughtful reader

above apparently unrelated data the The

may now be able to sift out some of

the elements from the chaos of

myth and legend with

which we are dealing. Personally we should prefer to

continue with the mystical side of early Christianity

and take ourselves out

of the hurly-burly of vulgar con

of the task upon which we are
but
the
necessities
troversy,

engaged compel us to return to the Talmud Lud stories,

and the account they give of the condemnation and death
of Jesus.
Both Talmuds contain a short statement
1

See

my

"Fragments of

pp. 334, 335.

a Faith

Forgotten"

(London

1900)

Mystic

176

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

referring to this, which in both cases

is appended to the
from
the
Mishna
following passage
In the case of all the transgressors indicated in the
:

"

Concerning
the Enticer
to Idolatry,

m
lorah
,

as deserving or death, no witnesses are placed in

concealment except in case of the sin of leading astray

If the enticer has made his enticing speech
to idolatry.
to two, these are witnesses against him,
to the court of justice, and he

is

and lead him

But

stoned.

if

he

have used the expression not before two but before one,
I have friends, who have a liking
he shall say to him
:

But

cunning, and wishes to say

nothing before the others, witnesses are placed in con
cealment behind the wall, and he says himself to the

for that.

seducer

*
:

saying to

he

if

Now

tell

is

me

once again what thou wast

If he now repeats it,

me, for we are alone.

How

the other says to him:

we

forsake our

and go and worship wood and

then the enticer is converted, well and

Father,

heavenly
stone

should

If

it is for
This is our duty
good but if he replies
our good/ then those who are standing behind the
:

wall
is

bring him

stoned."

before the

court of justice, and he

The Mishna apparently approves

ticer to
"

compass

says the enticed,

alone,

It is also to

the wall.

ment twice
idolatry

The Stoning
of Jesus.

his legal

is

of lying to the

condemnation,

when

"

en

For we are

there are others behind

be noticed that the legal punish

referred to for the offence of seducing to

stoning.

To the above quoted passage from the Mishna the

Palestinian Gemara adds
:

t<

The enticer
1

"

is

the idiotj e tc.

Pal. Sanhedrin," 25c

"

Lo,

is

he a wise

Bab. Sanhedrin,

"

67a.

man

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS

No
he

as an enticer he

is

is

man

not a wise

How

not a wise man.

STORIES. 177
as he is enticed

do they treat

him

so as

come upon him by surprise ? Thus for the enticer

two witnesses are placed in concealment in the inner
most part of the house but he is made himself to
to

remain in the exterior part

lamp

of the

house,

wherein a

lighted over him, in order that the witnesses

is

see

him and

his voice.
Thus, for
with
Ben
Sot
da
variant
of
managed
[a
Stada or Satda] at Lud. Against him two disciples
of learned men were placed in
concealment and

may

distinguish

instance, they

was brought before

he

stoned."

the

justice,

and

different,

and

of

_j

The Babylonian Gemara

runs as follows

And

"

court

is

somewhat

who

for all capital criminals

are mentioned The Hanging

in the Torah they do not lay an ambush, but (they do)

for this criminal.
"

How

lamp

do they act towards him ? They light the

in the innermost part of the house, and

him

for

they place witnesses for him in the exterior part of the

house, that they may see him and hear his voice, though

And that man says to him Tell me

what you have told me when we were alone. And when
he repeats (those words) to him, that man says to him

he cannot see them.

How

can we abandon our

idolatry

Such

is

If

he returns

God

it

is

in

well

Heaven and
;

but

practise

when he

our duty, and so we like to have

it,

says

then the

who

are listening without, bring him to the

And thus they have done to
tribunal and stone him.

witnesses

15d.

"Pal.

Sanhedrin,"

vii.

25d

also

"Pal.

Jabamoth,"

xvi.

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

178

Ben Stada
^Jbefore
"

Lud

and they hanged him on the day

at Lud,

Passover."

Both these accounts are part and parcel of the Lud

The accusation in both cases is the sin of

"

tradition.

leading

into idolatry

away

the death in both cases

is

by stoning, clearly stated in the Palestinian Genmra,

and clearly inferred from the Babylonian, which, how
Jeschu was hanged on the day before

ever, adds that

Passover

the

that

is

to say, apparently,

that after

body was hanged or exposed for a warning

any rate this would be the only meaning attached to

stoning, his
at

the statement by a Jew who had never heard the

Christian tradition (and the Talmud Jews evidently

refused to listen to a

was

to expose the

word

body

of

of

it),

for the

Jewish custom

an offender who had suffered

the penalty of death by stoning, on a post as a warning

4

to

all.

The name
for

we

any

however, warns us against seeking

"

Lud,"

historical basis in the details of the story,

should, therefore, dismiss

legends were

it

not that there exists

it

and

with the rest of the Lud

still

another

Talmud tradition referring to the subject, and in this

This tradition runs as
the name Lud does not appear.
follows
The Forty

f~

"

But there

is

mation before Passover festival

fc

^ e nera ^ went

a tradition

On

Jeschu was hung

^ ort

^ before him

the Sabbath of the

[sic, ?

hanged].

But

for the space of forty

Jeschu goeth forth to be executed

because he has practised sorcery and seduced Israel and

days, while he cried

"

Sanhedrin,"

same words

the passage

is

continued in almost the

Ben Stada was Ben

on which we have already commented at length.

as

Pandera," etc.,

67a

"

Bab.

Shabbath,"

104b.

"

THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS

STORIES.

179

Let any one who can bring

1
estranged them from God.

forward any justifying plea for him come and give infor
But no justifying plea was found
mation concerning it.
for him, and so he was hung on the Sabbath of the
Passover

Ulla has said, But dost thou think

festival.

that he belongs to those for whom a justifying plea is

sought ? He was a very seducer, and the All-merciful

has said [Deut.

nor conceal him.

what

xiii.

Thou

8]:

However,

different, for his place

Here there
there

shall not spare him,

in Jeschu s case it

was near those

in

was some
2
power."

is

no mention

of

supposes that Sanhedrin/ 43a, was originally

a continuation of Sanhedrin," 67a, and that therefore
Laible

"

"

the omission of
that

it

"

Lud

"

is

quite understandable, seeing

had occurred immediately

exceedingly

before.

difficult to believe in

It

is,

however

such a slicing up

of

an originally consecutive account, and therefore I

am

inclined to think that in the passage just quoted

we

not the orignal form of the later Lud legend, at

have,
any rate an entirely independent account. The story
seems to be in the nature of an apology for the execu
if

tion of Jeschu.
crucifixion (of

and

nothing),

remember that

The hanging is admitted, but not the

which both Talmud and Toldoth know
it

is

interesting in this connection to

"hanging"

is

also preserved in Chris

tian tradition as an equivalent of crucifixion.

or not this

"
"

hanging

in the

This formal charge

of the

is repeated twice
in
107b, and
Sota," 47a.

Sanhedrin,"

43a.

"

"

Op.

minds

Sanhedrin,"

"

Gemarfi,
2
Bab.
3

Lud, but on the contrary No Knowno mention of stoning but only of hanging, crucifixion.
is

cit.,

p. 85.

Whether

Eabbis was

the

Babylonian

180

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

at this time thought of as the

death, and they intended further

ment

of the canonical

to

admit

penalty of stoning,

of

this infringe

is difficult

to

The formal charge, however, brought against

decide.

Jeschu

immediate method

is

given as that of

practised

"having

sorcery

and seduced Israel and estranged them from God."

These words can only refer to leading away to idolatry,"
"

Jesus

"near

power!"

and the penalty for this was, as we have seen, stoning.

But Ulla, a Palestinian Kabbi of the beginning of the
fourth century, objects

Why

Jeschu was plainly guilty

nothing to apologise for.

of the

On

Gemarfi remarks that Ulla

all this

is

precaution

charge

when

We

have

this the compiler of the

mistaken in taking this

an apology or a plea that every

possible precaution was taken that Jeschu should have
the fullest possible chance given him of proving his
tradition

old

for

The

innocence.

real reason for all those precautions

was that Jeschu was a person

near those
importance, and
"

that

is

we

as

in

power

shall see later on.

We

stories.

Laible

and

at the time,

by blood with the

a trait preserved in the Toldoth Jeschu,

So much, then, for the Lud

shall next treat of

name transformation
1

"

to say presumably, connected

Jewish rulers

Jesus

of great distinction

some

stories

with

stranger even than Ben Stada.

87) interprets this as refer ring to the Roman

drag in Pilate by the hair but in this,
Laible seems incapable of taking a purely un
"

(op. cit., p.

authorities,"

and

so tries to

as in so

much

biassed

standpoint, for he naively

else,

presupposes throughout the

absolute historicity of every detail found in the canonical Gospel

stories.

XI.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STOEIES.

THAT the
Jeschu

number

in a

Balaam

of

identification

of the

Talmud

(Bileam)

stories

we

with

BileamJeschu.

are con

sidering cannot possibly be held in doubt, will be amply

seen from the passages which we are now about to

The precise way in which the identifica

bring forward.
was arrived at, is, however, somewhat difficult to

tion

discover.

It

of this curious

may

be that

we have

name-transmutation

the starting-point

still

preserved in a

Midrash on the famous Balaam story in Numbers on

the other hand the origin of this strange name-change
;

may

be found in the domain

word-play.

Let us

first

of

name-caricature and

consider

the

extraordinary

Midrash connected with the Numbers Balaam

"

He

that blesseth his friend

[Prov. xxvii. 14].

How strong was the voice

Rabbi Jochanan said

(It

was heard)

Rabbi Jehoshua ben Levi said

the voice of Balaam.

God gave strength

one end

of the

story.

The Balaam

with a loud voice

of

Balaam

sixty

miles.

Seventy nations heard

Rabbi Eleazar ha-Gappar says

and he went up from
:

to his voice,

world to the other because he was look

ing about and seeing the nations adoring the sun and
And he
the moon and the stars and wood and stone.
1

For the

literature, see Krauss,

"

Leben

Jesu,"

pp. 267, 268.

182

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

looked about and saw that a man, son of a woman, will

arise,
all

who

make

seeks to

the world

God and

himself

to

seduce

without exception.

strength to his voice, that

all

Therefore, he gave
nations of the world

Take heed that you

(it), and thus he spake
not
after
that
as
it
is written [Num.
man,
go
astray
xxiii. 19], God is not a man, that he should lie,
and
might hear

if

he says that he

God, he

is

and say that he

into error

is

is

a liar

and he

going away and

will fall

come

will

(again) at certain spaces of time, (then) he hath said

and

will not

do

Look what

it.

written [Num. xxiv.

is

And

he took up his parable and

23],
shall live when he makes himself God
"

said, Alas,

who

Balaam

in

tended to say: Alas, who shall live from that nation

which gives ear to that man who makes himself God ? 1
"

Comments

R. Jochanan

ornament
Tiberias,

of

Nappacha) was a distinguished

schools at Sepphoris and

(bar

the

Talmud

and died in 279

A.D.

Jehoshua ben Levi was one

and flourished in the

school,

century

the

at

of the
first

age of eighty.

Rabbis of the Lud

half

of

the

third

while R. Eleazar ha-Gappar (the Pitch-seller)

was a contemporary

of the

famous

"

Rabbi,"

R. Jehuda

ha-Nasi (Jehuda the Prince), or Jehuda the Holy, who

was the final redactor of the Mishna; he flourished

somewhere about 200-220 A.D. This story then is

presumably to be placed somewhere about the begin
ning of the third century.
The story is in the form of a na ive prophecy after
the event (of which we have thousands of examples in
allied

Hebrew

literature),

1
Jalkut Shimoni
Jelammedenu.
"

"

on

Num.

and makes Balaam quote

xxiii. 7,

under the name

of

his

Midrash

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES.

183

But
xxxiii. 19) as holy scripture.
is made to drop the
Eleazar
afterwards
E.
immediately
prophetical form of the argument against Christian
dogmatics and frankly to tell us what Balaam intended

own words (Num.

"

to

say."

The quotation, from Num. xxiv. 23

live when he makes himself God

who

"

Alas,

shall

"

is

remarkable, for

our Authorised Version gives an absolutely different

rendering: "Alas, who shall live when God doeth

And

"

this

that the Eabbinical exegesis of this passage

differed entirely

from the received interpretation

of the

English Authorised Version may be seen from the

following glosses as found in the Babylonian Gemara.

Woe

"

to

Eesh Lakish

him who
said:

lives because

Woe

he takes

[sic]

who vivifies
name of God." 1

to him,

God.

himself

who saves his life) by the

Eesh Lakish (E, Simeon ben Lakish) was a Palestinian
Eabbi who flourished about 250-275 A.D. he is clearly

(or

interpreting this passage in

by the

stories, for it is precisely

Shem, that Jeschu

connection with the Jesus

"name

vivifies himself,

and

of

God,"

the

vivifies others,

in the Toldoth Jeschu.

Eashi
says
"

(ob.

1105

A.D.),

commenting on

this

passage

Balaam who

vivifies

himself by the

name

Another reading has

making himself God.

of
it,

God,

who

God, that is, Woe to

those men that vivify and amuse themselves in this
world and tear the yoke of the Law from their necks
vivifies

himself as to the

and make themselves

name

of

fat."

Here Eashi not only makes what was given as said

lu Bab.

Sanhedrin,"

106a.

Resh Lakish

184

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

by Balaam about another an act committed by Balaam

but further adds that the act committed by
Balaam was in reality no other than his making himself

himself,

The only doubt apparently which Eashi had in

mind was whether the prophecy referred to Balaam

God.
his

(i.e.,

Jeschu) only, or whether

it

might

be con

also

sidered as embracing the Christians as well, for presum

tear the
ably they alone can be meant by those who
"

yoke of the Law from their necks."

Abbahu.
Moreover in the Palestinian Gemara in expansion of
the same famous verse in Numbers which contains the

most

important pronouncement of the traditional

Balaam ben Beor, 1 and which constituted the main

argument
claims,
"

E.

of

the

we read
Abbahu has

Kabbis against Christian dogmatic

God/ he

lies

said

If a

am Son

of

man

says to thee,

Man, he shall rue

it

ascend to heaven, this holds good

and will not effect it.

of

him,

He

am
*
;

has said

it

E.

who
is

Abbahu

was the pupil of E. Jochanan,

The argument put in his mouth

of Csesarea

died in 279 A.D.

clearly

meant

as a complete refutation of Christian

dogmatic claims by the quotation of one of the most

solemn pronouncements of the Torah.

And

if

such inconvenient quotations from the Torali

were met by the more enlightened

name, as we know they were by the

argument that the inspiration

1

Num.

xxxii. 19,

A.V.

"

God

is

of

of

the

Christian

Gnostics, by the

the Torah was of very

not a man, that he should

lie

neither the son of man, that he should repent hath he said, and
shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it
;

good?"

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES.

variable quantity and quality, that

it

185

came sometimes

from a good, sometimes from a mixed, and sometimes

from an evil source, the Rabbis replied with still
further quotations from

read
"

the same Torah.

we

Thus

R. Chia bar

Abba

saith to thee, There be

of the Sea, I

am He

If the son of the

two Gods, answer him,

of Sinai/

Red Sea God appeared

upon Sinai

said:

[That

is

whore pria

bar

am He

to say, at the

to Israel as a youthful warrior,

an old man, as beseems a lawgiver but

If the son of
R. Chia bar Abba said

as

both are one.]

the whore say to thee, There be two Gods, answer him,

Gods but the Lord

It is here [Deut. v. 4] written not

"

hath spoken with thee face to face.

R. Chia, or more fully Chia Rabbah, was son of Abba
he was a pupil of
Sela, and flourished about 216 A.D.

"

Rabbi" (

= Jehuda

redaction of the

ben Simeon

Mishna

is

III.), to

whom

the final

attributed.

now

evident that the main claims of dogmatic Torah

Christianity, that Jesus was God, that he was Son of
It is

1
Man, and that he had ascended to Heaven physically
in a miraculous manner, and would return again, were

met on the

side of the Rabbis with quotations

from the

This title, as used in Christian tradition, seems to me to be

entirely shorn of all its characteristic meaning if taken, as modern
scholarship takes it, to be simply a Greek literal translation of the
Aramaic idiom which was in common use as a synonym of man
1

"

"

pure and simple, thus signifying that Jesus was the man par
I am, therefore, inclined to think that the Greek term
excellence.
was of
Gnostic
We know that in Gnostic tradition
origin.
The Man," or Man," was a title of the Logos
Son of Man
was therefore a very appropriate designation for one who was
kin to Him," that is, one in whom the
was
Light-spark
"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

bursting into a

"

Flame."

"

v.

186

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Torah, which they considered to be the infallible word

of

God, and that the main passage on which they re

was the prophetic declaration

lied

as

they

under

believed,

the

of

direct

Balaam, made,
inspiration

of

Yahweh.

But

if

we

are asked to believe that here

we have

to account for the astounding

basis

sufficient

identi

fication of the subject of

subsequent haggadic prophecy

with the prophet himself, we can hardly be persuaded
that

is

Such a topsy-turvy transfor

the case.

this is

mation

a tour deforce beyond even the capability of

the legerdemain of Talmudic legend-making.

The only thing that could have given the smallest

justification for such an identification would have been
some striking similarity between the doings of Balaam
and

of

Jeschu

whereas the very opposite is found to

we have already seen, and as we are

be the case, as

expressly told in the Babylonian Gemara.

"

Prophet.

x iii-

And

Balaam, son
Soothsayer

22].

Jochanan said

Rab Papa

At

said

herself for

prophet.

[Josh.

Eabbi

a prophet, at last a soothsayer.

is

what people say

She was

of

princes (and then) she prostituted

l

mere

According

was

he

first

This

prominent men and

%

of Beor, the soothsayer

?

carpenters."

the

to

tradition

of

ancient

Israel,

Balaam ben Beor was a soothsayer who was on one

famous occasion compelled to prophesy truth by the
power of Yahweh. Balaam-Jeschu, on the contrary,
was a prophet
tradition of

any rate the apparently oldest

In the third
the Talmud period had it.
so at

century R. Jochanan
1

Bab.

still

admitted that Jeschu was

Sanhedrin,"

106a.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

"

"

a prophet, but contended that afterwards he

at first

away and was no longer inspired by the

fell

God.

This

Balaam

187

STORIES.

we

see

spirit of

the exact reverse of the ancient

is

Could anything, then, be more puzzling

s case.

than the name-identification Jesus-Balaam in spite of

this?

And here the saying attributed to Kab Papa, the founder A Hy po

of the
lonia,

Talmud school at Neresch, near Sura in Baby

who died 375 A.D., must delay us for a moment.

This saying

is

universally regarded as referring to Mary,

which case

would confirm the tradition quoted

above in a previous chapter, that Jesus was near those
in power."
But does this saying really refer to Mary ?
in

it

"

Eab Papa

is

apparently quoted as further explaining

Jochanan as to the prophetical

the statement of E.
status of

"

When,

Balaam."

then, he says,

"

She was

first

high estate and then she prostituted herself for

she," by
carpenters," can
any possibility, refer to the
of
Jesus and not to Mary, who is nowhere
teaching
of

"

mentioned, and

awkwardly

tertained, E.

teaching

of

who

in

any case would come in most

hypothesis can in any way be en

saying would then mean that the

If this

Papa s

Jesus formed

first

of

all

part of a true

prophetical movement, but afterwards it got tangled

up with the carpenter story of popular propaganda
and all those other dogmas which the Eabbis so

strenuously opposed.

Be

this as it

may,

if

there were not some hidden link Balaam-

in the chain of transformation

Balaam-Jeschu
that

it

which eventuates in the

identification, it is

almost inconceivable

could ever have held together for a moment.

Let us now see whether this hidden link

is,

after

all,

so

188

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

We

have already seen that the

the Kabbis against Jesus was that he

to discover.

difficult

main charge

of

had corrupted and ruined Israel. In Hebrew the name

Balaam means precisely destroyer or corrupter of the

Have we not

people.

prehensible name-change

And

otherwise incom

of this

this be so, it is interesting to call to

if

clever conjecture that Nicolaos

(VIKOLV

mind the

and Xdo?) in Greek

the exact equivalent of Balaam in Hebrew.

is

and

here, then, the missing link,

most natural explanation

And

with Nicolaos before us we are at once reminded

certain Nicolaitans

who came under

the severe displea

sure of the Jewish Christian circle to

whom

the over-

writer of the canonical Apocalypse belonged (Rev.

6

and

commentators, but

that under this

2

Can

ii.

These Nicola itans have been a great puzzle

15).

to the

of

name

many

scholars are of opinion

the Pauline Churches are aimed

then, be possible that the Nicola itans were

for the Jewish Christians the Balaamites, the innovators
at.

it,

who were throwing off the yoke of the Law and intro
ducing new ideas contrary to the orthodoxy of Jewry ?
If this

be

the identification Jeschu-Balaam

so,

may

be

conjectured to have been one of the immediate outcomes

1

See article

"

Balaam

"

in

"The

Jewish

"

Encyclopaedia."

The

Am

Rabbis, playing on the name Balaam, call him Belo

(with
out people
that is, without a share with the people in the world
;

to come), or
2

Billa

Am

Manen s

(one that ruined a

people)."

The Encyclopaedia
in which, however, the Leyden professor, while stig
matising Balaam = Nicolaos as a mere guess, does not in any way
refer to the Talmud problem we are discussing.
That the
See van

Biblica

"

article,

Nicola itans," in

"

"

Nicola itans = the Balaamites, however, is strongly supported by

Kohler in his article in The Jewish Encyclopaedia," to which we
"

have just referred.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES.

189

propaganda, and we have again found the

another Kabbinical nickname of Jeschu in

of Pauline

origin of yet

doctrinal controversy.
"

may have gone back even

leading astray
further than the days of Pauline propaganda and we
But the

"

believe that the original charge against Jesus

to be

is

found in the following passage preserved in the Baby

lonian Gemara.
There shall no evil befall thee

"

[Ps. xci. 10].

(That
and
bad
shall
dreams
not
evil
that
phantasies
means)
shall
come
Neither
vex thee.
any plague
nigh thy
tent

Notzri."

What

who burns

his food publicly, like

is

is

Dalman 2

opinion that

"public

"

to

learned."

burn

means

says that this

renounce openly what one has

of

publicly/

Jeschu ha-

the meaning of this strange phrase,

food publicly

to

Burning

"

"

"

(that means) that thou shalt not have a son or

disciple

one

con

of food is a

burning

Laible

temptuous expression for the public offering of sacrifice

That the Christians in their assemblies offered
to idols.
sacrifice to idols

time as

of old

was

that of

it is

Naturally, therefore,

have commenced

In

as firmly the opinion of the

it

many

Jews

at the present day[!].

was concluded that Jesus must

it."

this connection

we

are further reminded that the An Apology

brought against the Nicolaitans by the final

charge

redactor of the Apocalypse is

eating things sacrificed
to idols and committing fornication
upon which van
"

"

Manen comments
all

that
1

"

is

Bab.

"

not because they made a mock of

holy and trampled honour underfoot, but

Sanhedrin,"

Ibid. y p. 52.

103a.

Op.

cit. t

p. 34.

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

190

because they, like Paul/ had set aside the Jewish laws
regarding foods and marriage, freely using food that
*

and contracting
marriages within the prohibited degrees, which in the
eyes of the author of the Apocalypse were unchaste
had been

set before

heathen

deities,

unions, just as in the eyes of the writer of I. Cor. v. 1

the marriage of the Christian who had freed himself

from scruples with his deceased father s wife (not his

own mother) was so, or as in the eyes of so many
Englishmen the marriage with a deceased wife s
is

at the present

sister

day."

however, no consensus of opinion with regard

to the meaning of the phrase
burning one s food

There

is,

"

The Eabbis, we must remember, applied

publicly."

"

in the loosest fashion to every

a
strict Jewish custom or belief;
not
was
that
thing
that the early Christians,
be
believed
to
and it is hardly

the term

"

idolatry

have been accused

least of all Jesus himself, could

"

idolatry,"

their

most

in the literal

to think that there

"

burning

Suggested
Expknation.

meaning

bitter opponents.

of

one

may

food

of the

of

word, even by

am, therefore, inclined

be some other meaning of this

publicly."

The main point of the accusation is evidently conft was t h e doing of

tained in the WQrd
pub li c l v
/>

which apparently might

publicly,"
something
not only have been tolerated privately, but which was
or other

"

to do in private.
Now
presumably the natural thing
tradition
is
that
Jesus
of
Christian
burden
main
the

went and taught the people publicly

the poor, the

outcast, the oppressed, the sinners, to all of

whom,

of the
cording to Rabbinical law, the mysteries

were not

to be

expounded unless they had

ac

Torah

first of all

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES.

purified themselves.

Amme

were

was not

ha-aretz

These ignorant and unclean livers

(men of the earth), and the Torah

And

for them.

was admitted

191

Am ha-aretz

was that no

it

if

much more

to the schoolhouse,

strictly

were guarded the approaches to those more select

communities where the mysteries of the Creation and
"

"

theosophy of Judaism, were

To some such community of this kind we

the

of

the

"Chariot,"

studied.

Jeschu originally belonged; and from it he

he
burnt his food publicly,"

believe

was expelled because

that

is

"

the

to say, taught

and

people

so

violated

wisdom
the

to

the unpurified

ancient

rule

the

of

order.

In connection with

remarkable passage,
Gemara, which demands

this there is a

preserved in the Babylonian

our closest attention.

"

When

our wise

It runs as follows

men

left the

others say, the house

or, as

of

house

of

Eab Chisda On the

Kab Shemuel bar Nach-

g
fronTa
"

mani, they said of him:

laden
say,

[Ps. cxliv. 14].

Thus our learned men are

Kab and Shemuel,

or, as others

Eabbi Jochanan and Eabbi Eleazar (were

and are

of a

One said our learned in the Law,

laden with commandments [i.e., good works],

different opinion).

and the other

said

the commandments,

our learned in the

and

Law and

in

with sufferings.
that our company shall not
are laden

There is no breaking in,

be like the company of Saul, from whom Doeg, the
Edomite, has gone out, and no going forth, that our
shall not be like the

company of David, from

has
Ahitophel
gone out, and no outcry/ that
our company shall not be like the company of Elisha,

company

whom
from

whom

Gehazi has gone out,

in our streets/ that

Com P an

y-"

192
we

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

have a son or a disciple who burns his

food publicly like Jeschu ha-Notzri." 1
Kab Chisda was one of the Kabbis of the Talmud
shall not

Sura in Babylonia, and died 309 A.D. R.

Shemuel bar Nachman (or Nachmani) was a teacher in
school of

the Palestinian school at Tiberias, but twice went to

He was

Babylonia.

who was

II.

Rabbi."

temporary
or

who was

a pupil

Shemuel was, then, presumably

"

Rab

a pupil of K. Jonathan ben Eleazar,

a pupil of R. Chanina,

of

a con

of R. Chisda.

Abba was

the founder of the school at Sura

on the Euphrates, and died 247 A.D. Mar Shemuel

was head of the Babylonian school at Nehardea, and
died 254 A.D.
;

was a Palestinian Rabbi who flourished

R. Jochanan

130-160

A.D.; R. Eleazar flourished

The words
follows in

of the text

90-130

A.D.

taken from the Psalms run as

the Authorised Version:

"That

our oxen

may be strong to labour that there be no breaking

that there be no complaining in our
in or going out
;

streets."

Doeg,

Doeg, says Cheyne,

"had

been detained (so one

Yahwe
i.e., by some obscure
had
and
cunningly watched David
religious prescription,
Soon
with
the priest Ahimelech.
in his intercourse
tradition tells us)

after,

before

he denounced the latter to the suspicious Saul,

his runners to put

and when the king commanded

Ahimelech and the other priests
refused,

against

it

was

this foreigner

to

who

them."

"Bab.

Berachoth,"

See article

17a
"

"

Doeg,"

f.

Enc.

and they
up his hand

death,

lifted

Bib."

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

is

Doeg
the

by the strange

called

title

"

193

STORIES.

the mightiest of

shepherds."

Ahitophel, the Gilonite, was a councillor of David,

and was much esteemed

for his unerring

insight;

he,

however, revolted against David and cast in his lot

with Absalom s rebellion. He met his death by hang
ing (2 Sam.

xvii. 23).

= Valley
(

of vision) was cast out by Elisha

and smitten with leprosy for fraudulently obtaining
money from Naaman at the time of the latter s

Gehazi

miraculous cure by the prophet.

With these data before us

Talmud

let

us return to

our

very evident that the whole

has
to
do with heresy, with going
of
the
story
point
or with some scandal or breaking of the
forth,"
It

passage.

is

"

established rule or order of things, or with paving the

way

We

for so doing.

stories

Balaam

is

have seen that in the Talmud

a substitute for Jeschu

can

it,

then,

be possible that in Doeg, Ahitophel and Gehazi also

we have to do with name-substitutions ?

The answer

to this question will perhaps be

made

by quoting the following passages from the

clearer

Akiba

He

no part in the world

to come who reads foreign books, and who whispers
I will lay upon thee no sick
over a wound and says
says:

also has

ness,

which I have

laid

upon Egypt,

for I

am

the Lord,

"

thy physician.
This interesting passage

is

followed by one of even

greater interest.

Three kings and four private persons have no

Three kings, namely,
portion in the world to come.
13
"

n the World
come

to

Mishna.
"R.

Those who

194

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Jeroboam, Ahab and Manasseh.

Manasseh has a portion

xxxiii.

13],

K.

Jehudah says

therein, for it is said [II. Chron.

he prayed unto him; and he was

him, and heard his supplication, and

"and

entreated of

brought him again to Jerusalem into his

kingdom."

was objected to him, He brought him again into

kingdom, but he did not bring him again into the
It

his
life

Four private persons, namely,

l
C^ Balaam, Doeg, Ahitophel, and Gehazi."
These passages are old, for they are found in the
Siphre
the future world.

of

Minim.

Mishna.

100-135
books

"

To take the saying ascribed to K. Akiba (fl.

The Gemara 2 says that by foreign
"

A.D.) first.

are

for long

taken to refer exclusively to Jewish Christians

but this has been hotly dis

or Christians generally
of

puted

The term Minim was

meant Siphre Minim.

late years

It

by many.

seems certain that

though Jewish Christians

may be sometimes included

Minim does not mean them exclusively.
Minim always mean heretics in a bad sense,

in this term,

Nor does
it

"

"

sometimes means

tion, that is to say,

"

heretics

"

in its original significa

simply the

members

of

some par

That, however, most of the Rabbis con

sidered these Siphre Minim, in a bad sense, to include
ticular school.

the Gospel,

MS.,

follows
"

lit.

is

evident from a gloss in the

where the word Evangelium

is

Munich

caricatured as

Rabbi Meir
margin, of

calls
evil],

it,

Awen

gilldjon [blank paper,

Rabbi Jochanan

gilldjon [blank paper of

calls

it,

Aivon

sin]."

R. Meir was one of the great redactors of the Mishna

1

"

Sanhedrin," xi.

Sanhedrin,"

90a

lOOb.

"

Mishna,"

x. 1,2.
3

Shabbath,"

116a.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

and flourished about 130-160
his contemporary.

that

is,

Gillajon

a paper which

therefore blank. 1

It

must be

E.

195

Jochanan was

literally a

"

margin,"

unwritten upon, and

left

is

A.D.

means

STORIES.

is

confessed, however, that

such apparently meaningless jesting is quite below the

level of Eabbinical caricaturing with which we are
acquainted, and I

am

inclined to think that

not got to the bottom of the matter.

no better conjecture myself.

The formula of healing is

Dalman has

I can,

however,

offer

Whether

or not

we

are to take

a substitute for the

"

"

body

an

interesting

one.

"

"

Egypt literally, or
as it was among certain

as
of

Gnostic schools, must be left to the fancy and

taste of the reader; the phrase,
I am the Lord, thy
reminds
us
however,
physician,"
strongly of the
the

"

and the

"

Healers,"

"

Servants

"

of the

Great Healer,

and suggests memories of some of the derivations con

jectured for the names Therapeut and Essene.

We

pass over the three

kings in our second

but
we
cannot
passage,
pass by the four private

may

Mishna

persons, Balaam, Doeg, Ahitophel and Gehazi, for the

combination is so extraordinary that even the most

reader must be struck by it.

What has
Balaam ben Beor to do dans cette galere? Whose
company did he leave ? Balaam ben Beor may be

careless

"

"

have joined forces with the Israelites he

Balaam came in, he did
certainly did not leave them.
said rather to

not

"go

out."

The point

of

the

story

is

that

there

who have no

are certain

part in the world to come.

Akiba has just told us of what kind the orthodox

persons
II.

Dalman,

o^.

cit.,

p. 30.

Exegesis.

196

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

considered these to be; they were heretics who

looked to other Scriptures as well as the Torah, as we

Jew

know

the Gnostics did most freely, and

the general

Christians as far as the Gospel Scripture was concerned

they were further healers and wonder-makers, which

indeed many of the Essenes, Therapeuts and Gnostics

and which general Christian tradi

tion asserts Jesus and the Apostles were.
set themselves to be,

But why should Balaam

head the

the

of

list

condemned, when it is precisely the prophetical pro

nouncement of Ben Beor that the Eabbis were using

was worth against Christian dogmatic claims ?

Balaam here clearly stands for Jeschu and if this be
for all it

then

so,

it is

reasonable to suppose that Doeg, Ahitophel

names

some other teachers

and Gehazi stand

for the

who had

under severe Rabbinical displeasure.

fallen

of

Who

they were precisely we have now no means of

discovering, and the supposition that they refer to
Peter,

the

James and John l

following

Gemara
Paul.

considerably discounted by
strange passage from the Babylonian
is

went

"Elisha

to

Damascus

for

what did he go?

R. Jochanan has said, that he went for the conversion

But he was not converted.

of Gehazi.

him

Be converted

He

answered him

am

converted by thee
and maketh the people to

that I

repentance

is

taken

the

mouth

See Streane,

of

Is

it

thus

sin

the

possibility

of

2
away."

once strike the attentive

For him that sinneth

Rabbi Jochanan flourished 130-160

into

Elisha said to

A.D.

It will at

reader that the words put

Gehazi are identical with those

op. cit., p. 57.

"

Bab.

Sanhedrin,"

107b.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

answer

of the

of

197

STORIES.

ben

Jeschu to Joshua

famous twice-told story

excommunication. 1
as found in the

Perachiah

Jeschu

of

The answer is an extraordinary one, and may be

taken to mean that the evil (from the point of view of
The thing had spread

the Kabbis) was irremediable.

too far

even

strict fold of

hold the

if

the leaders were

now

to return to the

Jewry, the people would

new views which abrogated

still

continue to

their servitude to

the galling yoke of the Law.

The mention

of the

name Damascus, moreover,

in

connection with Gehazi, at once brings Paul to mind,

and disturbs the balance of the Peter and James

and John supposition as the under-names

Ahitophel and Gehazi.

of

Doeg,

by any means, then, Gehazi may be held to be a

for Paul, we have to ask ourselves what has
blind
If

"

Elisha

"

to

do in this connection

Does

"

Elisha

"

re

present some chief of the Sanhedrin ? It may be so,

but we should also recollect that the Essene com

munities and similar mystic associations were always

They were in con
looking for the return of Elisha.
nection

with the line of descent from the

"

Schools

and expected their great prophet to

Prophets,"
return again in power to announce the advent of the
of the

Messiah.

It is hardly necessary in this connection to

recall to the reader s recollection the John-Elias of the

Gospel story or to refer the student to the elaborate

Gnostic tradition of the incarnation of the soul of
Elisha in the body of John under the direct supervision
of the Master, as

found in the

"Sanhedrin,"

"
"

107b, and

Pistis
"Sota,"

Sophia
47c.

later

"Elisha.

DID JESUS LIVE 100

198

accommodations

the necessities of a historicising

The recollection, however, of these and

evolution.

"

to

makes us hazard the conjecture

similar ideas and facts

that

B.C.

Elisha

"

for the official

Mishna passage may be

in our

head

"

blind

Essene community, or

of the chief
"

"

who looked

to Elisha as
company
this
its spiritual head.
It was from
company that
Gehazi had gone
Whether or not the other

at

any

rate of that

"

"

"

"

out."

"

companies" of

Saul and David

somewhat

tions of a

the consideration

that the
far as

for

who

those

are fully persuaded

our Talmud passage, as

of

meaning

the four

must leave

similar nature, I

of

literal

refer to associa

may

concerned, was

are

private persons

the one furthest from the intention of

its

Rabbinical

authors.

The

However

Disciples

this

may

inherit*

Gehenna.

tnat tne disciples

as

Gehenna,

Balaam en Uoc would

of

we read

Rabbis were convinced

be, the

111

inherit

devoted to the

in the tractate
"

"

Sayings of the Fathers

"The
disciples of our father
:

world and inherit the world

[Prov.

viii.

21]

That

to inherit substance,

The

disciples of

may

and that

enjoy this

come, as it is written

cause those that love

I

may

fill

inherit Gehenna,

God, shalt bring them down

:

bloodthirsty and deceitful

l
not live out half their days
there should by any chance be
"

slightest hesitation

in

me

their treasuries.

of destruction, as it is written

into the pit of destruction

Balaam

Abraham

Balaam the impious

and go down into the pit

But thou,
[Ps. Iv. 24]

men shall
And if

to

these

in

the

rnind

of

the

still

reader

the
that

passages equates with Jeschu, the

1

"

Aboth,"

v. 19.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES.

from

following remarkable passage

Gemfira should for ever set his

A Min said

mind

the

199

Babylonian

at rest.

Chanina Hast thou by any chance The Age

He answered j eschu.
ascertained what age Balaam was ?
"

to K.

There

nothing written concerning

is

Bloodthirsty and deceitful

is said,

out half

their

days,

years

thirty-four

hast spoken well

Balaam

old.

which

in

men

But

since

it

shall not live

he was either thirty-three or

The Min answered: Thou

for I
it

it.

have myself seen a chronicle of

said

is

old

Thirty-three years

was Balaam the lame man, when the robber Phineas

him."

am

slew

not quite certain what R. Chanina

R. Chanina ben

tended.

the

of

Chama was

first

who nourished
while R.

century;

a pupil of

here in

Dosa was a contemporary

R. Jochanan ben Zakkai,

third

is

"Rabbi

s,"

in

the

of

last

Chanina ben

and therefore must

be placed at the beginning of the third century; he

Sepphoris in Palestine. That this specimen

of Rabbinical exegesis, however, may be ascribed to the

lived

at

Chanina in preference to the later, is suggested

by the very similar passage in the same Gemara, which
earlier

reads
"

Jochanan said

R.

half their days.

Doeg and Ahitophel

Such, too,

Bloodthirsty and deceitful

their days.

"

not

the tenor of a Boraitha

men

and

of

Doeg were not more than

Ahitophel not more than thirty-

Bab.

Sanhedrin,"

A saying

106b.

or tradition not included in the canonical Mishna.

"

Sanhedrin,"

shall not live out half

All the years of

thirty-four,
three."

is

lived

106b (end).

of

200

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

As

K. Jochanan flourished about 130-160 A.D.

seems easier
"33

or

34"

it

assume that the splitting up of the

between Ahitophel and Doeg was the

to

later development, rather

than that the supposed ages

Doeg and Ahitophel should have been conflated

into the age of Balaam, I am inclined to think that the
Chanina of our penultimate passage is intended for
of

the earlier Chanina.

be

If this

so,

and the story can

be taken as genuine, that is as an old tradition, then

early confirmation from outside sources of

we have an

the thirty-three years of Jesus at the time of his death.

But to consider the wording of the passage in greater
detail.

Laible translates

Chronicle of
is

Min

as

Jewish Christian

"

difficult to believe that a

"

Jewish Christian

but
of

it

any

school can have referred to Jesus as Balaam, and there

have kept the original without translation. The

academical answer bases itself on the threescore and
fore I

ten years given as the normal life of man in the Torah.

It is interesting to note that E. Chanina knows of no

Jewish tradition which gives the age of Jeschu he can

only conjecture an answer by means of a kind of
;

Eabbinical sortilegium
the
"

Min

that

is

just

Wonderful

texts.

of

what

have read in one

replies
of the

Chronicles of

Balaam"
Gospel story apparently.
can hardly suppose, however, that we have a direct
we have plainly a
Chronicle
quotation from this

We

"

"

Kabbinical gloss put into the

Phineas-

Now

mouth

of the

Min.

Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,

was the

priestly leader of the

army

of

Israel

which

destroyed the Midianites, and slew their kings, and

with them Balaam son of Beor (Num. xxxi. 2 ff.). But

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES.

201

"

why

should Phineas. be called a

Greek

from the

Xj/o-r?/?),

as

"

robber

listaa

(Aram,

Laible

translates

Kashi explains this word as meaning

it?

(sar

"general"

tzaba), and we should remember that though listaa is a

it was
robber
loan-word from the Greek Xycrrr)? (a
"

"),

with the Jews rather the

zealots for the

par

excellence.

we

that Lista a

is

doubt

of patriotic leaders, of

Law, as Phineas was represented to be

The meaning is thus simple and clear

enough, and

No

title

1
see no reason for Laible s conjecture,

a caricature-name for

P lista a

would be convenient somehow

it

Pilate.

to

bring

Talmud Jesus Stories, but as a matter

of fact his name and every incident of the Gospel story
connected with him are conspicuous in the Talmud by
their absence.
If listaa was a caricature-name, we
Pilate into the

should not find the combination

"

Phineas

Listaa,"

but

Otherwise we should expect to come

a
across some such doubles as Ben Stada Balaam
Listaa by

itself.

nowhere found in the Talmud.

remains to be explained the curious com- Balaam
Balaam the lame man" but I have so far

species of combination

There

still

bination

"

met with no

am

satisfactory conjecture

quite unable to hazard one of

on

this point,

my

own. 2

and

Laible

conjectures that the epithet had its origin in the break

ing

down

of

Jesus under the weight of the cross or the

but did the Eabbis know anything

piercing of his feet

what Laible presupposes throughout, without any

of
1

Op.

The

cit.,

p. 60.

article in

"

The Jewish Encyclopaedia

Rabbinical literature

"

says

Balaam

in

pictured as blind of one eye and lame in

one foot ( San., 105a) ; and his disciples (followers) are distin
guished by three morally corrupt qualities, viz., an evil eye, a
"

is

haughty bearing, and an avaricious

spirit."

the

202

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

enquiry of any

sort, to

able history of Jesus

have been the actual ungainsay-

Finally, with a sublime tour de force of inconsistency,

the

Talmud

gives us a story where

are introduced together in the

entirely

different

Onkelos.

evil plight,

but as

persons and giving absolutely con

This story runs as follows

tradictory advice.
The Necromancy of

same

Balaam and Jeschu

Onkelos bar Kalonikos, nephew of Titus, desired to

to Judaism.
He conjured up the spirit of

secede

Titus and asked

He

answered

him

The

Who

is

esteemed in that world

Onkelos asked further

Israelites.

Ought one to join himself to them ? He answered

Their precepts are too many thou canst not keep them
go rather hence and make war upon them in this
:

world

[Lam.

i.

so shall
5]

thou become a head

for

it

is

said

Their adversaries are become the head,

Everyone that vexeth the Israelites becomes a head.

Onkelos asked the spirit Wherewith art thou judged ?
He answered: With that which I have appointed for

i.e.,

myself: each day my ashes are collected and I am

judged ; then I am burnt and the ashes scattered over
the seven seas.
"

of

Thereupon Onkelos went and conjured up the

He

Balaam.

world

The

spirit

answered

The

is

spirit

esteemed in that

Israelites.

Onkelos

Wherewith art thou judged ?

With
answered:
boiling pollution.
spirit
Thereupon Onkelos went and conjured up the
Onkelos asked

Who

Ought one to join himself to them ? The

Seek not their peace and their good always.

asked further
spirit said

asked him

The

"

of Jeschu.

world

He

The

asked him

spirit

answered

Who
:

The

is

spirit

esteemed in that

Israelites.

Onkelos

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

asked further

The

said

spirit

Ought one

Onkelos asked
spirit said
"

touches

the

Wherewith

With

to join himself

boiling

of

what a

the wise

is

He who

first

place

stance

The

filth.

See

between the apostates

is

and the heathen prophets

In the

He

ill.

scorneth the

judged with boiling

distinction there

was he selected

filth.

"

Israel

apple

them

His eye.

of

thou judged

art

For the teacher has said

words

to

Seek their good and not their

who toucheth them,

203

STORIES.

of

^J

we ask who was Onkelos and why

as the protagonist in this necromantic

Scholars of eminence, though entirely without refer

ence to this passage, have identified the name Onkelos

with the Talmudic Akilas, the Greek Akylas ( A/cJXa?),

and the Latin Aquila. The most famous Aquila in

Jewish history was the translator of the Old Covenant
documents into Greek, in a slavishly literal version
which was held in the greatest esteem by the Jews as
correcting the innumerable errors of the Septuagint ver
sion on which the Christians entirely depended.

not certain of the exact date

of this Aquila,

We are

but he

is

generally placed in the first half of the second century.

Now
was

Jerome and other Fathers,

Irenseus, Eusebius,

and the Jerusalem Talmud

to

itself,

the

say that this Aquila

Jewish

faith.

Moreover,
Epiphanius states that "Aquila was a relative (the
exact nature of the relationship denoted by the other
wise unknown form TrevOepiSt]? is doubtful) of the
proselyte
3

"

Bab.

Gittin,"

a
"Megill.,"71c.

"

De Pond,

56b
3;

ff.
"

et Mens.,

Kiddush.,"
"

c.

14, 15.

59c. 1.

Onkelos

204

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

Emperor Hadrian, and was appointed by him to super

intend the rebuilding of Jerusalem under the new name
of Aelia Capitolina that, impressed by the miracles of
;

healing and other wonders performed by the disciples of

the Apostles who had returned from Pella to the nascent

he embraced Christianity, and at his own request

was baptised that, in consequence of his continued

city,

devotion to practices of astrology, which he refused to

abandon even when reproved by the disciples, he was
expelled from the Church

and that, embittered by this

he
was
induced
treatment,
through his zeal against
;

become a Jew,

Christianity to

to

study the Hebrew

language, and to render the Scriptures afresh into Greek

with the view of setting aside those testimonies to

Christ which were drawn from the current version on

[sic,

of]

the

Septuagint."

With Dickson, the writer of the article from which

we have been quoting, we may set aside the account of
Epiphanius as a theological romance to discount the
value of Aquila

translation

interesting fact that Aquila

kind of Hadrian, and this

is

he,

however, preserves the

was a

"

"

relative

of

some

strongly confirmatory of

our conjecture that the Onkelos, nephew of Titus, and

the Aquila of history are one and the same person.

With regard

Exegesis.

Talmud

to the

Aquila plays the part

passage, however, in which

not very easy

Onkelos-Aquila is about

of protagonist, it is

to glean the precise meaning.

become a proselyte to Judaism whereupon he seeks

counsel from three of the greatest foes of Jewry accord
to

ing to Eabbinical traditions.

1

See article

Christian

"

Aquila

Biography"

in

(London

These

all

Smith and Wace s

;

1877).

are
"

made

to

Dictionary of

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

if

not in this

rate in the world to come.

Titus, the

of the Israelites,

admit the pre-eminence

world, at

any

Roman

plain

in

to

his

Jeschu

Jews

soldier, says that the

and customs are

man

Balaam

religious rules

and advises his kins

far too elaborate,

make war against them

is less

views and advises a moderate

is

made

Jews

to regard the

extreme

policy; while

as the chosen race,

Yahweh s

the specially beloved, the apple of

urges Aquila

205

STORIES.

eye,

and

to seek ever their good.

And

yet the punishment assigned to these three by

Rabbinical opinion is in exact inverse proportion to
their hostility to Israel. Whatever may be the technical

tion,"

"

between

distinction

"

they are evidently far

who

boiling pollu

filth

we

filth

of

torment

burnt simply

is
"

"

"

"

boiling

"

more severe forms

than the punishment of Titus,

without the added vileness of
Moreover, that by

and

boiling filth

or

"

pollution."

are to understand

something of the most loathsome nature possible, far ex

ceeding even the foulness of boiling pollution," may be
"

seen from the statement that this

lowest abode in

hell, into

"

boiling filth

is

the

which there sinks every foul

ness of the souls which sojourn in the upper portions.

chamber, and every superfluity, in

no spark of holiness, falls thereinto. For

It is also as a secret

which there

is

this reason it is called

boiling

mysterious words of

xxviii.

vomit and
is

said in

And

filthiness,

Is.

xxx. 52

Is.

that there
:

Thou

the reason that this

filth,

8
is

according to the

There

so

"

shalt call

it filth.
"

"

is

much

no place clean, as

boiling filth

it

was chosen

Entdecktes
Laible, op. cit., p. 95, quoting from Eisenmenger,
Judenthum" (see for latest edition F.X. Schiefel a, Dresden, 1893),
ii. 335
ff., who refers to
hammelech," 135c, chap. xix.
"

"

Emek

Boiling Filth.

206

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

by the Rabbis

as the

punishment

of

Jeschu

in the following deduction ascribed to

is to

be seen

Rab Acha bar

Ulla (who flourished presumably in the second half of

the fourth century)
From this [from Eccles. xii. 12] it follows, that he
:

*~~

"

who

words

jeers at the

punished by boiling
is

of the doctors of the

What

the text in Ecclesiastes

made,

am

not certain.

which runs:

verse 11,

Law,

is

l
filth."

"The

is

which reference

to

would seem

It

words

to refer to

of the

wise are as

goads, and as nails fastened

by the masters of assemblies,

which are given from one shepherd," rather than to
And further, by these, my son,
verse 12, which reads
"

be admonished

and much study

And
"

of

making many books there

is

a weariness of the

in connection with this the Tosaphoth

At

(derision)

by boiling

Dalman

all

filth as
4

no end,

add

12] then really written jyS

events it is true that he is punished

there [Eccles.

Is

is

flesh."

we

xii.

are saying in Ha-Nezakin. 2

"

a note
The Tosaphoth mean,
be
allowed
to
not
derive this punish
may
although
ment from the words in Eccles. xii. 12, as Rab Acha bar

adds in

"

it

Ulla does,

Erubin,

how Rab Acha

21b,

it is

derived

nevertheless

the

boiling

But

true."
"

"

filth

even

illegitimately from this text is nowhere explained as

far as I can discover, and I fear my readers are no less

wearied than myself in following such arid bypaths of

perverse casuistry.
1

"

Bab.

Ernbin,"

of the passage
2
3

That

is

from

chap.

Tosaphoth

to

21b, referring evidently to the last paragraph

Gittin," 57, quoted above.

"

v. of

"

Gittin,"
"

"

Erubin,

56b.

21b.

Op. dt.

p. 39.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

The only thing we learn

definitely

n
STORIES.

from

207

all of this is

Jeschu refused to be bound by the exegesis

that

of

Kabbis and their decisions, and in this he seems

the

mind

have been a wise man, if

their decisions were anything like the one before us;
whereas for the Kabbis this "scorning" of the words
to the non-Kabbinical

was the

of their doctors

this

arrived at

was the torment

it,

by what means they

of

"

boiling

have now come to the end

,

filth."

our Balaam Jeschu The Lecture

Room of Ben
.,
,.
a consideration of Pandera.
on
to
pass

but before we

stories,

and therefore

torment Hell could brew, and

the Kabbis, no matter

for

We

sin of all sins,

of the greatest

deserving

to

of

what the Talmud has

to say concerning the disciples

and followers

we

of Jesus,

Targum Sheni

to

Esther

will
vii.

append a passage in the

1
which is exceedingly
9,

curious in several ways and deserves our attention.

The Targum,

after

that

Haman

appealed
with tears to Mordecai for mercy, but in vain, proceeds
to tell us that

Haman

and lamentation

relating

thereupon began a great weeping

for himself in the

garden of the palace.

He answered and spake
And thereupon is added
thus Hear me, ye trees and all ye plants, which I have
planted since the days of the creation. The son of
"

Hammedatha
Ben

is

about to ascend to the lecture-room

of

Pandera."

Tree after tree excuses

post of

Haman

itself

from being the hanging-

finally the cedar proposes that

Haman

be hanged on the gallows he had set up for Mordecai.

1

The A. V.

reads

"

said before the king,

And Harbonah,

Behold

also,

one of the chamberlains,

the gallows fifty cubits high,

which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for
the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said,

Hang him

thereon."

208

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Here

again, as in the case of

Balaam ben Beor, we

have as protagonist a character who was ever regarded

as one of the most inveterate enemies of the Jews

Haman
Haman

ben
is

With haggadic

Hammedatha.
as

represented

license

being in the midst of the

and yet it is
Yahweh himself (though indeed there seems to be some
strange confusion between the persons of Yahweh and
"

"

garden

Haman

in the midst of the

in the narrative)

"

"

trees

who addresses the

trees

"

which

have planted since the days of the creation," and who

about to ascend to the
announces that Haman is
I

"

lecture-room of Ben

Pandera."

The word translated by lecture-room is aksandria,

which Levy in his Worterbuch connects with Alex
"

"

"

"

1
andria, but which Laible says must be explained by
eeSpa, the regular term for the lecture room or lecture

and certainly Laible here seems

to give the more appropriate meaning, for what can
Alexandria have to do in this connection ?

place of a philosopher

"

Hamanschu

The lecture-room

a jesting

synonym

was not made

not

all

Ben Pandera

"

is

then evidently

which in

this particular

wood, otherwise the trees could

of

have excused themselves.

according to

all

of

of the gallows,

case

and not

Here then

again,

Jewish tradition, Ben Pandera was hanged

crucified, for the

word gallows expressly excludes

notion of crucifixion.

It is indeed a

remarkable fact

that the point which is above all others so minutely

laboured in Christian tradition, the pivot of Christian
-

dogmatics,
It

is

is

consistently ignored by Jewish tradition.

also a

point of great interest for us in this

same or very similar elements

strange story that the

1

Op.

tit.,

p. 91.

THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS

appear in some of the forms

which we

of

209

STORIES.

the Toldoth Jeschu, in

body of Jeschu cannot be hanged

on any tree because he had laid a spell upon them by
means of the Shem the plants, however, had not been
find that the

brought under this

spell, and so the body was finally

on
a
hung
cabbage-stalk."
That there is some hidden connection between this
"

apparently outrageously silly legend and the Haman

haggada is evident, but what that connection originally

was

seems now impossible to discover. There may

element at bottom of it all,
mystic

it

even be some

"

"

"

trees
seem to suggest and in
garden and
this connection we must remember that there is much
as the

"

"

"

garden in the Toldoth, and that, as we have

seen
from Tertullian
De Spect," c. xxx.), there
already
was some well-known early Jewish legend connected
talk of a

"

"

("

"

with a
his

"

gardener

who

that

might not be damaged by the crowds of

as the Bishop of Carthage adds ironically while

lettuces

visitors,"

yet perchance unintentionally preserving the

and

"

abstracted the body

"

lettuce

"

"

"

link of early legend-evolution.

the surface and in the letter all this is utter

cabbage-stalk

As on

nonsense,

we can only suppose

that originally there

must

have been some under-meaning to such a strange farrago

of childish fancies;

subject

when

Toldoth.
disciples

we

will

therefore

return

to the

dealing with the general features of the

stories relating to the

Meanwhile the Talmud

and

followers

of

Jesus

must engage

attention.

14

our

THE DISCIPLES AND FOLLOWERS OF JESUS

IN THE TALMUD.
The Minim

It

is

impossible

to

Minim

be certain

whether

all

the

of

Talmud passages refer expressly

subsequent
to Christians or not, for the word Min is in itself no
certain guarantee, and it must ever depend on the
"

"

context as to whether
sense or not.
article

on

"

it

can be taken in this precise

Since, however,

Mr Moses

Levene, in his
l

Jesus and Christianity in the

Talmud,"

we

quotes these passages as referring to the Christians,

cannot go altogether wrong in provisionally following

his lead, for

we may

plead that according to

common

Jewish tradition they are taken in this sense, and

this is all that concerns

these

Minim

But besides

us at present.

passages there are others concerning which

there can be no possible doubt as to against

whom

they

we

will

are intended to be directed, and with these

begin,
using the Dalman-Laible-Streane version.
The first passage is a wearisome academical exercise
still

The Five
C

Jesus?

n name- and word-play, and runs as follows

is a
tradition: Jeschu had five
"There
:

(talmidim)

Mathai was brought before the judgment

"

See

"

disciples

Mathai, Nakkai, Netzer, Bunni, Todah.

The Theosophical

Review,"

vol. xxix. pp.

seat.

316-320.

He

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 211

said

to

Yet

it

the judges:

written

is

Mathai

and appear before God ?

him
Nay, but Mathai
Mathai (when)

They answered

to be executed

and

shall (he) die

come

shall I

when)

[Ps. xlii. 3].

is

put to death?

to be

"

"

Mathai

Is
"

for it is said

name

his

"

perish

[Ps. xli. 6].

"

to

Nakkai was brought. He said to them

be put to death ? Yet it is written

*
:

They
death

[Ex. xxiii.]

7.

Nay, but Nakki is to be put to

In covert places doth he
written

him

"

for

it

is

put to death the Naki"

Netzer was brought.

[Pa. x. 8].

He

"

to be put

Nakkai

"

innocent) and righteous slay thou not

replied to

Is

Naki (the

"

death

to

Yet

them

said to
it

*
:

written

is

"

Is

Netzer

Netzer

"

up out of his roots

[Is. xi. 1].
him:
is
to
answered
Netzer
be
put to death;
They
for it is said
Thou art cast forth from thy sepulchre,
(branch) shall spring

"

an abominable Netzer

like

my first born
but Bunni
"

[Is. xiv.

Bunni was brought. He

death ? Yet it is written

"

to

"

"

said

19].

Bunni

to be put
Beni (rny son),
[Ex. iv. 22].
They answered him Nay,
to be put to death
for it is written
"

Is

Israel

is

is

Behold, I will slay Binkha (thy son), thy

[Ex.
"

Todah was brought.

put to death ? Yet

Todah

"

it

He

said to

it is

them

written

"

Is

Todah

psalm for

"

(thanksgiving)

answered him

me

born

iv. 23].

to be

for

first

is

written
1.

c.

"

Whoso

1,

heading].

offereth

They

be put to death

is to

Todah honoureth

"

[Ps.

[Ps.

Nay, but Todah

23]."

Laible introduces his discussion of these

1

"

Bab.

Sanhedrin,"

43a.

"

proofs from

212
The

Cruel-

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

"

with the following extraordinary sentence

found related of these disciples indeed,

scripture
"

What

is

namely, their crucifixion, as well as the circumstance

that this narrative is immediately connected with the
account of the Crucifixion

of

etc.

Jesus,"

But in the first

absolutely not a single word said about

in the whole passage, nor is crucifixion

place there

is

crucifixion

implied even for the liveliest imagination nor in the

second does the preceding passage in Sanhedrin, 43a,
;

"

"

which

refers to the death of Jeschu, say anything of

but twice distinctly states that Jeschu was

put to death by hanging." Such positive statements
concerning matters of the greatest uncertainty are not
crucifixion,

"

proper in an investigation

Jeschu ,was

be that

crucified,

of

this

nature

though I

am

may

it

inclined to

think he was not, and that the passion of the cruci

from some such mystery- tradition as

fixion originated

that preserved

in

the

beautiful

ritual

of

new

the

found fragment of the Acts of John, 2 and certain

mystery-rites to which we shall refer at length later on,
but the passages in the Talmud which Laible adduces
do not prove his confident statement.
The Number

As

to

the

number

seems probable that

examples
hand,

of

this

of disciples,
if

been

philologico-legalistic

we should have had

seven or more

the

me

moreover, to

there had

it

other

any

on

wrangling

number increased

to

no necessity for
to
account
for
the
number
five
on some more
trying
complex hypothesis, or to be surprised that the Talmud
six or

Op.

cit.,

See

my

pp. 431

if.)-

I,

therefore, see

71.
"

Fragments

of a Faith Forgotten"

(London

1900,

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 213

has preserved no tradition of the symbolically necessi
tated

"

twelve."

It is, however, to be noticed that the compiler of the

Toldoth Jescliu printed by Huldreich (pp. 35 and 36)

names as Simeon, Matthai, Elikum, Mardochai,

and Toda, and says that their names were afterwards
changed to Peter, Matthew, Luke, Mark, and Paul.

gives the

we can only say The

or
of
Jesus
any disciple
any other great
teacher had no better apologia to put forward pro vita
As

that

to the contents of the wrangle,

of

if

he had but

sua,

existence

"Proof

Cr

ture!"

little justification for

we know, however,

his continued

that the arguments

of

Christianity against Jewish legalism were at the very

powerful as the arguments of the Eabbis

What then can we think
against Christian dogmatics.
of the academical state of mind that could preserve

least

as

such barren word-play as a precious tradition to be

And yet we
handed down to an admiring posterity
!

must not

forget that this

was not peculiar

to the

Jews

Babylonians, Egyptians, Zoroastrians, Greeks, Briihmans,

Buddhists and Arabs, all delighted in such pseudophilological exercises,

and

as for text-proof for every

thing under the sun, general Christianity slavishly

followed the Kabbis for many a long century.
What, however, interests us most deeply in this The

quaint Talmud passage

is

the

list of

Puzzle of

names, for with

the exception of Matthai (Matthaeus, Matthew),

it

is

exceedingly difficult to equate them with the names of

the twelve as preserved in Christian tradition.
The attempt to equate Todah with Thaddaeus hardly Todah.
"

commends
name back

"

itself,

as

for

the Jacobite

Syrians give this

Thaddl and the Nestorians as Thaddai

214

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Moreover we have

and not Todah.

to ask

Who

was

Thaddaeus, or the composite-named Thaddseus-Lebbaeus-

Judas

was he

further,

as in the apocryphal

of the

Acta

Nor can we regard

Twelve or

of the

Seventy

Laible

the suggestion of

Todah may be the Theudas

Acts

of

fortunate, for this Theudas, as

v.

Josephus

36,

that

as

tells us,

very
3

was

some popular prophet who pretended to magical power,

and led many of the Jews in revolt about 45 or 46 A.D.

so that the author or redactor of the Acts

an anachronism,
latest prior to 37
hard put to

Be

passage.

spoken

here guilty of

Gamaliel must have spoken

for

at

and apologists are consequently

A.D.,

to

it

is

defend the

this as it

may,

this

"

"

inspiration

of

this

Theudas can hardly be

of as a disciple of Jesus.

We, however, do know

of

Theudas who was a

and the link between Paul and Valentinus

"

disciple,"

he was a Gnostic. 4

If,

then,

Todah

is

same

the

as

Theudas (which is generally taken to be a shortened

Theudas
form of Theodorus), the only
disciple
known to Christian tradition with which he could
"

"

possibly be identified

many

other

the Theudas of Paul

is

"

disciples,"

like so

however, he had never seen Jesus

in the flesh. 5
1

Op.

p. 76.

rit.,

"For
is made to say to the Sanliedrin
before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be some
body, to whom a number of men, about five hundred, joined

Where Gamaliel

who was slain and all, as many as obeyed him,

were scattered, and brought to naught."

themselves
3

"

Antiqq.,"

Clement

See

my

xx. 5, 1.

of Alexandria,
"

essay,

pp. 107, 108.

"

Stromat.," vii. 7.

The Gospels and

the

Gospel"

(London

1902),

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 215

As

name Bunni,

to the

has been conjectured by Bunni.

is the same as

it

and others that Bonai or Bunni

Thilo

Taanith," 20a),
Nicodemus, from a Talmud passage
where the name of a certain Nakdimon ben Gorion is said
("

The

have been properly Bunni.

to

difficulty in accept

ing this equation, however, is considerably increased by

the further supposition of Laible that Nakkai also

stands

for

Mcodemus.

In

connection no one

this

seems so have thought of Bannus, the Essene teacher

of Josephus, and I therefore suggest his name for what

But surely there were many Bunnis and

many disciples of Jesus whose names have not been pre

it is

worth.

served

Finally,

if,

Netzer

as Laible says,

unquestionably
can only reply that

stands for Notzri = Nazarene,

we
not much

such a designation is
for one of the disciples of Jesus.

On

"
"

Netzer.

of a distinctive title

we may ask

Can

be possible Are the

that in four of the five names Jewish tradition has Genuine?
the other hand,

it

preserved genuine names of "disciples"

And to this we
Christian tradition ?
If

the names were not

genuine, surely
academical discussion would be without
therefore deprived of all sting

unknown

may
the

to

reply

whole

point,

and

There remains, how

a further

question, suggested by the NetzerCan these names pos

Notzri-Nazarene speculation
sibly be meant for leaders of schools, and that there
ever,

was

no

question of putting the leaders to death

physically, but every question of giving an aca
demical coup de grdce to their doctrines and activity ?
114

Codex

Apocryphus

"

Evangelium

Nicodemi," p.

Novi
550

Testament!"

n.

(Leipzig;

1832),

216

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

We

Jacob.

what the Talmud has

will next turn to

to tell

us of a disciple of Jesus called Jacob. First of all

we have a curious story of the great Rabbi Eliezer

ben Hyrcanus (the founder

who

teacher of Akiba),

of the school at

flourished about

Lud and

70-100

A.D.,

who, we know, was put under the ban by Jewish

orthodoxy for reasons that are now by no means

and who, nevertheless,

clear,

was regarded
a story which brings

after his death

as a great light of Israel.

It is
out very strongly the fastidiousness of the Eabbinical
mind with regard to any source of doctrine, even a

Halacha, as far as Halachoth go, which

might
any way be suspected of heresy. The story
is found in two almost identical forms, and we
might
fairly sensible

in

choose either for quotation, but perhaps the citation

of both of them will bring out the points more clearly,

and be an instructive object lesson in tradition-modi

The first is found in the Babylonian Gemara
fication.
and runs as follows
The Heresy of

"

handed

The Rabbis have

When

R.

man

mature years

was about

Eliezer

down
to

the

following

on

be

imprisoned
account of heresy, 1 he was brought to the court of
The judge said to him: Does a
justice to be tried.
of

like thee

busy himself with such

The Judge is just towards

The judge thought that Eliezer was speaking of

nullities

me.

him

thought upon his Father in heaven.

Then spake the judge Since I believe thee, 2 thou art
;

but

Eliezer replied

he

acquitted.
1

Minuth.

"

Laible, op.

forbidden Christian
2

cit.,

p. 62, says

a leaning towards the

religion."

Dalnian translates

"

Since

am

held by thee to be

just."

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 217

when

"Now

came home

Eliezer

his disciples pre-

sen ted themselves

him, but he admitted
Permit
no consolation. Then E. Akiba said to him
to

console

me to tell thee something of what thou hast taught me.

He answered Say on. Then said R Akiba Perchance
:

thou hast once given ear to a heresy, which pleased

thee on account of which thou wast now about to be
thou
imprisoned for heresy. Eliezer replied Akiba,
remindest me. I was once walking in the upper street
;

of Sepphoris

there I

met with one

of the disciples of

2
Jeschu ha-Notzri, by name Jacob of Kephar Sechania, A Halacha
Jeschu.
...
who said to me It is found in your Law [Deut. xxm.
:

Thou

19]:

shalt not bring the hire of a

whore

into

... thy God.

May a retiring place
of
such gifts ? I knew
out
for the high-priest be made
not what to answer him to this. Then he said to me
the house

of

Of the hire
Thus Jeschu ha-Notzri taught me
3
harlot has she gathered them, and unto the hire
:

harlot shall they return

i.

[Mic.

come; to the place of offal shall

From

7].

of

an

of

an

offal it

has

This explanation

it go.

pleased me, and on this account have I been impeached

heresy, because I transgressed the Scripture

for

Eemove thy way

i.e.,

far

heresy."

The second form

of the story is

mentary on Ecclesiastes
labour

man

with

fied

follows
1

i.

cannot utter

seeing,

though

[Prov. v. 8], from her,

from her

from

fail

to

"

it

found in

All things are

the eye

nor

the

ear

see

the

connection.

filled

is

com

full of

not satis

with
It

hearing,"

runs

A city in lower
A.V.

Galilee.

2
4

"

it."

Siknin.
"

Aboda

Zara,"

16b

f.

as

of

218
A

"

Variant of

the Story.

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

It is related of

heresy.

K. Eliezer that he was seized for

certain governor took

him and brought him

judgment to judge him. He said to

Kabbi, shall a great man like you be occupied
with such vain things ? He answered The Judge is
to the place of

up
him

towards

faithful

And

me.

as

he

(the

governor)

imagined that he was speaking (so) on account of him,

though he had only spoken in reference to Heaven
(God), he said to him Because I am faithful in your
Can it be that these
eyes, I also venture to say
:

academies are erring (and occupy themselves) with these

vain things ? Dimus, 1 you are set free.
"

When

Rabbi Eliezer had been dismissed from the

tribunal, he was pained because he had been seized for

His disciples came to see him in order to
heresy.

comfort him, but he did not accept (their consolation).

Then

Akiba came

E.

perhaps one

of

to see him,

and said to him

Kabbi,

the heretics has said before you some

word which pleased you. He answered Lo, by Heaven,

you remind me. Once when I was going up in the
street of Zippori, a man, named Jacob of Kephar
Sechania, came to me and told me something from
Jeschu ben Pandera, and I liked it. And this it was
:

It is written in

hire of a

Yahwe
bidden.

your Law

Thou

shalt not bring the

whore or the wages of a dog into the house of

how is it with them ? I said They are for
:

He

said to

me

Forbidden

for sacrifice,

but

allowed for purposes of destruction. I said to him

But
what may then be done with them ? He answered
:

You may build with them baths and privies. I said to

him You have said well, for at this time the Halacha
:

That

"

is,

dismissus

es."

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 219

When

was hidden from me.

it is

filth

said

I praised his

me Thus Ben Pandera hath

words, he said to

From

he saw that

said

they went [? came], to filth they may go, as

For of the hire of an harlot she gathered

them, and unto the hire

an harlot shall they return

of

This pleased

be applied to public privies.

they may
me, and, therefore, I have been seized for heresy, and
also because I transgressed what is written in the

Law

Eemove

thy

way from her

that

is,

the

heresy."

In the

place the story

first

is

apologia for R. Eliezer devised

the nature of Eliezer

not know,

all

and lived in

we know
exile

liberalism
is

clearly intended as an

by a

may

later age.

What

have been we do

that he was finally

condemned

but the fact that the Haggada we

are considering connects the very slight lapse on the

part of E. Eliezer, which it admits, with the teachings
of Jeschu, or, at

any

rate,

with Halachoth preserved in

the tradition of his school,

is

a strong confirmation of

the supposition that Eliezer was deeply interested in

the Christianity of his day, and perhaps this accounts

to some extent for the fierce opposition of his pupil the
purist Akiba.

The

story shows, moreover, that Jeschu

was regarded

(and this was admitted by the Rabbis) as being learned

Law, so that a Halacha attributed to him pleased

even such a connoisseur as Eliezer. Though the matter

in the

discussed

may seem

to us

more than

doubt a point

of the greatest

purists of the

Talmud

trivial, it

was no

importance for the legal

The question seems

period.

to

have had to do with a retiring place to the chamber in

1

Koheleth Kabba to Eccles.

i.

8 (Pesaro

1519).

Eliezer s Con-

Christianity,

220

DID JESUS LIVE 100

which the high priest had

B.C.

week before

to pass the last

the day of atonement. 1

In Search of

According to the story, E. Eliezer is evidently refer

ring to something which had taken place long ago, so
long ago that he had personally forgotten all about it.

The retentive mind

not allowed
it

it to

of his pupil

Akiba, however, had

escape his memory, and so he recalls

to his teacher s fading recollection.

Eliezer

is

thus

man, and we may place him then,

somewhere about 100 A.D. Thus we

represented as an old

presumably,

suppose he had met Jacob some fifty years ago,

somewhere about the middle of the first century, and

may

so the words,

the

first

form

"

Thus Jeschu ha-Notzri taught

of the story

me,"

of

might be held to confirm the

Christian traditional date

of

canonical data at 50

Jacob could very well have

A.D.,

been a personal disciple

On

Jesus,

for

according to

of Jesus.

the other hand, the words used do not absolutely

necessitate such a construction, for such expressions as

has taught
Shammai, or Plato,
me would be the usual form in quoting the sayings of
those teachers while the variant, thus Ben Pandera 2

"

thus

"

Hillel,

or

"

"

"

hath

said,"

in the second form of the story, strongly con

firms this view, showing that

D,<ma

Serpent,

We

has said

"

was taken

has taught me," and nothing more.

have another story of this same Jacob, however,

as identical

Ben

"

with

"

which, instead of placing him at this early date, makes

him

a contemporary of

Akiba

(fl.

100-135).

story also there are two variants, the

first of

Of

this

which

is

given twice in the Palestinian Gemara and runs as follows:

1

"

Mishna,

A name,

Yoma," i. 1.

See Laible,

op.

cit.,

p. 64.

however, which Jacob could scarcely have used.

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD

221

happened that K. Eleazar ben Dama was bitten

Then came Jacob of Kephar Sama, 1 to
heal him in the name of Jeschu Pandera. 2
But B.
"

It

by a serpent.

Ishmael suffered him not.

Eleazar said to

him

T will

bring thee a proof, that he has a right to heal me.

But

he had no more time to utter the proof for he died.

R. Ishmael said to him
Blessed art thou, Ben Dama,
;

that thou wentest in peace from this world, and didst

not break

through the fence of the wise, for it is

breaketh through a fence, a
serpent shall bite him, not a serpent has bitten him,
but (it means that) a serpent should not [sic] bite him

written

And whoso

in the time to

The variant
"

It

come."

Gemara runs thus

A
Ben Dama, son of R. Ishmael s
by a serpent. Then came Jacob

in the Babylonian

happened that

was bitten

sister,

Kephar Sechania to heal him. But

him not. Ben Dama said:

of

suffered

my

brother, allow

me

to be healed

R.
R.

Ishmael
Ishmael,

by him, and I

will

bring thee a verse from the Torah, showing that it is

But he had not time to complete what he was
allowed.
for his spirit departed from him and he died.
Then R. Ishmael exclaimed over him: Happy art
thou, Ben Dama, that thy body is pure, and that
thy spirit has passed away in purity, and that thou

saying

hast not transgressed

the

words

of

thy companions

(chcibirim)"

Rabbi Ishmael, when found alone, stands always

1

I cannot discover the locality of this

village.
In "Pal. Aboda Zara," 40d, at the bottom,

narrative
3

"

"

Pal.

is

found, the

Shabbath,"

Bab. Aboda

name

is

where the same

given as Jeschu ben Pandera.

14b (lower

Zara,"

27b.

for

part).

Variant.

222

DID JESUS LIVE 100

K. Ishmael ben

Elisha,

to this

B.C. ?

contemporary of Akiba.
then, Jacob of Kephar

the

According
Sechania cannot possibly have been a personal disciple
of Jesus, even according to the canonical tradition of the

We

date.

tradition,

have to notice

that according to the

also,

rigid legalists of the

was thought

to

Talmud, the poison of a serpent

be less noxious than the contact with the

magnetism or even thought-sphere of a follower of Jesus.

The Story
the Viper.

of

Perhaps the following story, taken from the Gospel

Pseudo-Matthew," or of the
Infancy of Jesus and
"

of

"

"

Mary

(ch. xli.),

originated in the same medley

may have

legend from which the Talmud derived the main in

of

cident of

its

Ben Dama

story.

on a certain day Joseph called his firstborn

"And

son James to him and sent him into the kitchen-garden

And Jesus followed
to gather herbs to make pottage.

James into the garden, and Joseph and Mary

And while James gathered herbs there
not.

his brother

knew

it

suddenly came a viper out of a hole and wounded

the hand of James, and he began to cry out through
excessive

pain.

And when

with a bitter cry, Oh!

wounded my hand.

And

at that bitter cry ran to

already fainting, he said

a very bad viper has

Oh!

Jesus,

who

stood opposite,

James and took hold

of his

hand, and did no more than merely breathe upon the

hand of James, and soothed it. And immediately James
was healed, and the serpent died. And Joseph and

not what had happened; but at the cry

of James they ran into the garden and found the

Mary knew

serpent already dead and James quite

1

"

Cowper

1897), p. 82.

(B. H.),

The Apocryphal

healed."

Gospels"

(6th ed.,

London

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 223

the Christians of these early days An Early

That, moreover,

and

were accustomed

later

to heal psychically

by means

some holy name

of prayer or the invocation of

is

well

attested from outside and hostile sources by the follow

Talmud
Thus in the

ing

story,

which

Palestinian

is also

found in two variants.

Gemara we read

His grandson (the grandson of Jehoshua ben Levi)

had swallowed something. A man came and whispered
"

to

him

(a spell) in the

name

of

Jeschu ben Pandera,

and he got well. When he went out, he (Jehoshua

ben Levi) asked him
What did you say over him ?
He answered According to the word of somebody.
He said What had been his fate, had he died and not
:

And it happened to him as it

which proceedeth from the ruler"

heard this word?

were an error
1
[Eccles. x. 5].

A commentary
which

evil

on Ecclesiastes

proceedeth from the ruler

as follows
<

x.

("there

is

an

have seen under the sun as an evil which

preserves the same story

")

The son

of

in his throat.

Kabbi Jehoshua ben Levi had something

He went and fetched one of the men of

Ben Pandera,

to

bring out what he had swallowed.

He

What didst thou

(Jehoshua ben Levi) said to him
him
?
over
He
A
answered
certain
verse after a
say
certain man.
He said It had been better for him,
:

had he buried him and not

And

so

it

happened

to him,

said over
as it

him that

verse.

were an error which

2
proceedeth from the ruler.
The error that proceedeth from the ruler
"

"

"Pal.

"

Aboda

Zara,"

Koheleth Rabba

"

40d.
to Eccles. x. 5.

"

most prob-

Mode<*>f

Healm s-

224

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

ruler, or one of the

ably refers to some
planetary
names of the angels which were guarded so jealously
by the Essenes, and of which we find so many ex
"

"

"

"

amples in Gnostic and

and in Jewish

allied literature,

apocalyptic.

We have

James the
"Brother

the

seen above that

it is

of

Lord."

impossible to

fix

the

date of Jacob
Kephar Sechania from the contradic
tory indication of the Talmud stories but if we survey
of

the whole period from 50 to 135

A.D.,

which years may

be taken approximately as the Talmud termini for this

Jacob, and look for a Jacob of pre-eminence

whom

with

Christians

among the
name of

identify him, the

to

James, the brother of the Lord," presents

having the best claim to our attention.

"

Eusebius

book

that in his day the

most accu
of this James was to be found in the fifth

tells

rate account
of the

itself as

"

us

"

Commentaries

of

Hegesippus, who, he says,

"

"

nourished

nearest

to

the

of

the

Apostles
modern scholarship, however, assigns the date of writing
of Hegesippus s
Memoirs" to about 180 A.D.
Eusebius

days

"

then proceeds to quote from Hegesippus the story of

the martyrdom of this James, the setting and tone of

which

is

The most interesting part of

the description of James himself,

very Jewish.

the story, however,

where we read

is

James the
Ascetic.

holy from his mother s womb drank no

wine or strong drink, nor ate animal food no razor came
"

He was

upon

his

head

he neither oiled himself nor used the

2
bath; he alone was permitted to enter the holy places,
for he never wore wool, but [always] linen. And he used

to go alone into the Temple,

1

"

Hist.

Eccles.," ii.

23.

and was found on his

2

T & &yia.

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 225

the people, so that his knees

knees, interceding for

grew hard like a camel

because of his kneeling in

forgiveness for the people.

s,

to

God, begging
Indeed, on account of his exceeding great righteous

prayer

ness he was called

means

Greek

in

"

ness.

and Olbias, which

and righteous

the righteous

defence of the people

we have

Here

the

picture

of

ascetic,

rigid

a The

Chassid, an Essene, a Therapeut, a Nazir, for from his

womb

mother s

difficult

ever,

he was vowed to holiness.

understand what

to

sentence which I have translated,

mitted to enter the holy

the

"Holy

of

places"

or the

Holies,"

impossible to

course,

believe

is

"he

It

meant by the
alone was per

generally rendered

"Sanctuary."

that

how

is,

It

is,

of

James could have

been permitted to enter the Holy of Holies of the

Temple at Jerusalem, which no one but the high
priest,

and he only on a certain day in the year, could

Nor can we suppose

enter.
all

James

that

alone

of

men was

"

shrines,"

accorded the privilege of entering the

whatever they may mean 2 it can only mean
;

men

that such

rule as James, could do so

that

it

means that James

this privilege, that

who kept

who kept the same rigid

for we can hardly suppose

alone as those

is,

alone of the Christians

was the only one

had

of the Christians

this rule.

For

text, see Kouth s

(2nd. ed., Oxford;
Reliquiae Sacra?
208, 209.
2
know that the Essenes, or at any rate some of the Essenes,
would not visit the Temple at Jerusalem, because they regarded it
1

1846),

"

"

i.

We

they had, however, their

own

which they kept most strictly pure.

Can
of our text be explained in some such fashion ?

the

as polluted
"shrines,"
"

shrines

"

by blood

sacrifices

15

226

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

With regard

James tho

one

to this

James the

^e titles of the Essenes

Just, the Righteous

and

of all

who vowed

James the

Just.

themselves to the service of God), Eusebius gives us

some further information of a most interesting nature

when he quotes 1 from the sixth book of Clement of

Alexandria s lost work "The Institutions," where
Clement writes

"

Peter and James and John, after the

ascension of our Saviour, though they had been pre

ferred

by the Lord, did not contend

for the honour, but

and in
chose James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem
the same book Clement adds
The Lord imparted the
"

"

gnosis to

James the

resurrection,

John and

Just, to

these

delivered

it

to

Apostles, and they to the Seventy."

It seems probable from the first

Peter, after his

the rest

of

the

of these passages

James the Disciple and James the Just were quite

It is also to be remarked that in the
second paragraph James the Just is apparently pre
that

different persons.

ferred to Peter and John, while the Peter,

John

of the first

The Gnosis

for

paragraph

are

James and

another election.

of

Clement was the inner teaching

of the

Master, given, as we see, after the

resurrection," that
is to say, when the Master returned to them after the
"

death
then,

was

of

His

was one
able

to

physical

James

body.

the

Just

who, because of his strict training,

receive this Gnosis psychically and

spiritually.

TheTesti-

mony

of Paul.

In the remarkable passage in which Paul recounts

Epiphanies of the Master, after he had departed
from the body, in precisely the same terms as those he
the

uses in describing his

1

"

own
Hist.

vision, this

Eccles.," ii.

1.

James

is

specially

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 227

mentioned as one who had enjoyed

The familiar passage runs

this

high privilege.

He

appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve after

wards he appeared to above five hundred brothers at
"

most

once,

whom

of

are fallen asleep

remain unto

then he appeared

the other Apostles,

all

and

but some

this present,
to

of

last

James, then to
as

all,

the

to

1
Abortion, he appeared to me also."
It is here to be noticed that Paul speaks of James
and the other Apostles of the time as being known, if
not personally, at any rate by reputation, to his corre

He

spondents.

brothers were

remark

the

if

also says that

still

alive

"

"

Cephas

but

most of the

why

and the

"

Twelve

alive it is difficult to understand.

still

five

hundred

he should make this

"

Can

were also
be that

it

"

Twelve
and that
were of a past
who
while
the
was
known to Paul,
Cephas
generation
and whom he withstood to the face, was the Cephas of
"

that

"

"

Cephas
;

a later

"

Twelve

However

this

"

may

be, the

James known

James the Eighteous, had had, according

experience

of

to

Paul, Some

to Paul, direct

the spiritual presence of the Master,

while, according to Clement, he

had been one

of

the

means of communicating the inner teaching of

the Master to the Twelve of his day, this James not

chief

being one of the original Twelve according to canonical

tradition, and that this Twelve further communicated
the Gnosis to the Seventy or outer circle of the inner

Twelve.
1

I.

James thus seems

Corinth, xv. 5-8.

to

have been one of the

For an explanation

of the otherwise

The Abortion," see my article, Some Notes on

inexplicable term
the Gnostics," in "The Nineteenth Century and After," Nov. 1902.
"

"

Diffi

228

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

Three order; the Twelve or the Seventy

two) being lower grades.

But

this

James the Righteous

by the title

"

Brother

of the

is

farther distinguished
If this epithet is

Lord."

we

to be taken in its literal sense,

Seventy-

(?

are involved in a

host of difficulties, as

may be seen by turning to any

recent Bible dictionary. 1 Moreover, with the passage of
Hegesippus before

us, if

we

are not prepared to abandon

some have done, we should have to ask

James was a vowed ascetic from his mother s womb,

entirely as

it

If

are

we

to think that it could

his traditional

have been otherwise with

brother Jesus

And

this difficulty is

only removed one stage by supposing that James was a

cousin of Jesus, a hypothesis, moreover, contradicted

by

all

the canonical data, and only a desperate resort

to preserve the

Mary.

dogma

Further,

of

the

this ascetic

if

the blood brother of Jesus,

why

perpetual Virginity of

and

account

Jesus, as the canonical Gospel

the

after

The

"Brother

the

"resurrection,"

spiritual

James was

did he not believe on

tells

us,

to

when, according

till

Paul,

he experienced his vision of the Christ ?

There is, however, a scrap of information dropped

Lord."

to the

commun j tv

at Corinth, 2

which may throw a gleam of light on this obscure

question, and relieve us of some of our difficulties.
In his

first letter

or whatever they

to the Corinth thiasos of Christians,

were called in those days, the un

Apostle who

practically by his unrestrained

threw
open the Christ mystery to the
propaganda
official

"

See articles

"

James

Dictionary of the
2

I.

Corinth,

"

and Brethren
and Cheyne s

Bible"

ix. 5.

"

of the

Lord

"

in Hastings

"Encyclopaedia

Biblica."

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 229

Western world,
"

Have we

and

for its helping

asks a strange question

its

"

power

says Paul,

not,"

mystification,

lead about a sister wife

(or authority) to

yvvatKa) as well as

(a8e\</>t}v

the rest of the Apostles and the Brothers of the Lord

"

and Cephas

What

about of a

this leading

mean

later

generations

"sister

may

wife"

do not pretend to say, and must refer the

curious reader to the Acta of Paul and Thecla for how

"

"

Apostles

Lord

of the

may have

explained

but

it;

we have here

as one recognised official class

"

as another,

and

and

we know

for all

"

Brothers
"

"

Cephas

held an office which constituted a third class.

It is difficult to believe that all these took about

them
of

"

"

many

sister wife

of the early

may, and be the

Peter, the

here to

was a

"

Cephas

applying to those

by Irenaeus, has

MS.

who were

of the

Simon

"

Surely this
kin to Him
"

Gnostic Marcus, quoted

those whose

it,

it

can hardly be taken

the blood-brothers of Jesus.

"

greatnesses,"

whose

His face perpetually.

angels, contemplate

us,

but be this as

a title or the Gospel

"

with

the rigid asceticism

;

"

"

(the Logos), as the

the Lord

communities

Brothers of the Lord

mean

title

If this

when we know

can in any way be

"

as applied to

so,

the title

"

Brother of A
Q

James has a new meaning

and many obscurities created by the

for

historicizing

Gospel narratives of Post-Pauline days may be cleared

away, and the saying that he who doeth the will of
"

God

is

my

brother

"

be found to have

not been for

gotten in the early days.

As for

the interpolated qualifying phrase

1

"

Adv.

Har.,"

I.

xiv.

1.

"

the brother

Probable
1

4-*

230
of

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Jesus called the Christ

"

B.C.

James

referring to a certain

mentioned by Josephus, 1 we have already dealt with it

in the chapter on
The Earliest External Evidence to
"

the received Date of

Olbias.

Jesus."

There remains only to refer to the title Olbias, which

defence of the people." The
Hegesippus says means
authorities I have consulted say nothing about this
"

name, and

am

unable to make anything out of it

have

philologically, and, indeed, Hegesippus seems to

been in the same

case, for it certainly

and

"

"

defence of the people

says.

cannot mean loth

"

and James

(Alphseus)

canonical

tradition

of

of

Alphseus,

preserves

little

but

whom
the

of the three

Jacob.

the

name,

together with James, son of Zebedee, complete the

The Talmud

he

as

righteousness,"

Olbias, however, reminds us strongly of Alphaios

list

Jameses which are such a puzzle even

to

the most laborious scholarship.

now have to ask Can this Jacob the Eighteous,
Jacob the Episcopus of the Jerusalem community, who

We

supposed to have been put to death in 67 A.D., be in

any way identified with Jacob of Kephar Sechania of

is

the

Talmud

would favour
render

it

answer

It is impossible to give a decided

to this question, for while

one tradition

this identification,

of the

another tradition would

But Talmudic tradition

impossible.

Talmud
is

notori

and presumably selected the

name Jacob simply because it was the name of one held
in high honour by the Christians.
The account of

ously indifferent to dates,

Josephus and the strong Hebrew colouring

of Hegesippus, moreover,

make

it

of the story

appear exceedingly

probable that Jacob the Kighteous was well

1

"

Antiqq.,"

xx.

ix. 1.

known

to

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 231

the Jews.
fashion

It is therefore probable that in this

there

is

vague

some connection between our two

Jacobs.

We now pass on to a strange story in which a Christian

The Story
e

turned into ridicule in appropriate

is

"philosopher"

Imma

"

Shalom, the wife

and

of E. Eliezer

sister of

Eabban Gamaliel, had

a philosopher as a neighbour,

had the reputation of

render him ridiculous.

taking no

Imma

I should like to

who

They wished

bribe.

to

him
him and

accordingly brought

a golden candle-stick, presented herself before

said

phik,s-

P ]ier

Kabbinical fashion.

have a share in the property

of

my family. The philosopher answered her Then

We have
But Gamaliel said to him
have thy share
:

the law

where there

is

a son, the daughter shall in

The philosopher

herit naught.

said

Since the day

when ye were driven out of your country, the Law of

Moses is repealed arid there is given the Gospel, in which
said

it is

On

"

Then the philosopher said to them

the Gospel, am not come to do away with the Law of
ass.

Moses, but to add to the

is

shall inherit together.

the next day Gamaliel brought the philosopher

Libyan
I,

Son and daughter

written in the

Law

Law

Where

Nevertheless

may

said

and has overturned the candle-stick.

Imma
is

is

It

a son,

said to

The

"

ass

is

come

Shalom, or Airna Salome, was sister of the Date

Patriarch E. Gamaliel

who

come.

thy light shine like the candle

But Rabban Gamaliel

stick.

there

Then Imma

the daughter shall not inherit.

him

am

of M!oses

Moses

of

II.,

and wife

of Eliezer the Great,

curiously enough supposed elsewhere to have

1

"

Bab.

Shabbath,"

116 a and

b.

-"

of

232

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

had a leaning
the

Hebrew

In the

The word

to Christianity.

for

is

Gospel

transliteration of Evangelion.

first

place

to our philosopher

be observed that according

the day
("since

it is to

the year 70 A.D.

when ye were driven out of your country

the date of
the fall of Jerusalem, marked a period of the strongest
possible differentiation between the Jew and Christian.
"),

was

crushing blow to the national hopes, far

more than the propaganda of Paul, which aided the
It

this

spread of Christian and non-particularist ideas.

The main

Saying

Gospel,

point, however,

which interests us

mouth

question of the quotations put into the

The intention

philosopher.

have been

the

of the

Eabbis appears to

show the inconsistency

to

You

position.

of the

is

of the Christian

contend, said the Kabbis to those

whom

on their sacred property,

that the Gospel has not come to put an end to the Law,
but only to complete it but whatever you may say, it is

they regarded as trespassers

practically making the

of

none

effect in

Law

we have

as

ever

known

It is true that Christian tradition has preserved

trace of

any

saying to the effect that son

should inherit together

but,

if

we

are to

author conceived the

first

the early Christian had

Personi-

fied Gospel,

communities to have been, as

things in common and gave

all

common

it,

for it

was an entire upsetting

social organisation of

The

what the

fund, this would practically

to setting aside the Law as the Rabbis under

their all to the

stood

no

and daughter
take the Acts

narrative as giving back a correct picture of

amount

it

your communities.

But what

(^gp^ am

is

of the

whole

Jewry.

most curious

not come to

<j

is

the wording

"

away with the

I,

Law

the
of

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 233

This saying is preserved in our present canoni
by the writer of the first Gospel from his
Think not that I came to
second main source as
Moses."

cal text

"

Law and the Prophets; I came not to

1
This saying, as the teller of
to
but
complete."
destroy,
our Talmud story will have it, the philosopher found at
destroy the

the end of his Gospel, meaning by

book.

If there

were nothing more

this

evidently

to be said,

we might

dismiss the story as devoid of all historical basis, and

consider it solely as a Haggada devised to preserve a
controversial point.

But the curious

personification of

Gospel in the second quotation reminds us of an

equally strange personification found in the tradition
the

of the

Gnostic Basilides at the beginning of the second

For Basilides the Gospel was a living entity,

Person
by whom the whole soteriology of his

century.
a

"

"

system was engineered. Can it therefore be possible

that in one of the many traditions of the early days
there was a

document where the

"

Gospel,"

was substituted for the

fied Glad-tidings,

stood so originally

the personi

teacher, or even

where the message was

than the messenger ? Moreover we
circles

among

thought more of
have similar personifications in Gnostic tradition
instance,

in

the

MS.

of

Marcus

than Basilides),

generation later

for

(who flourished a
to which we have

already referred, the Tetras, Quaternatio or Quaternitas,

the

"

"

Colarbasic

Silence,

is

the inspiring intelligence

of the Gnosis.
1

Matt.

v. 17.
"

Irenreus,

Adv.

H^r.,"

I.

xiv. 1.

This

"

Colarbasic

"

Silence, of

which Marcus said he was the receptacle, was a great puzzle to

the worthy Church Fathers in their heresy-hunting, so much so
that they eventually made of it a heresy derived from an arch"

"

234

BID JESUS LIVE 100

Of course the personification

B.C.

Gospel in our
for as a
accounted
sufficiently
natural creation of the vivid oriental imagination, but
of the

Talmud sentence may be

we should hardly expect

from the side

it

the Kabbis

of

in this connection, and, as a matter of fact, it

is

found in

Christian tradition.

Another point

of great interest is that the Christian

"

in this story

styled a

is

"

philosopher,

fore regarded as a learned

We

Some more
Passages,

man.

have now exhausted

collected

and was there

by Dalman, and

all

will

Talmud passages

the

next turn to a few

ones found in the far shorter collection,

additional

or rather selection, of Levene, 1

the following passages to

who

takes

mean Jewish

Minim

in all

Christians.

have arranged these passages as far as I can accord

to
their chronological indications, and the first of
ing
them runs as follows
I

The Curse on
the Minim.

"

Eabban Gamaliel, whilst presiding

io.iical Sanhednn,
who

present

Minim

is

at the academi-

T.I
Is there

the sages
able to compose a blessing
said to

Then Samuel the

composed it
To the apostates

[?

any one
curse] for

came forward and

Little

"

let

there be no hope

then shall

the wickedness perish in a moment, and all Thine

enemies speedily shall be cut off, and the kingdom of
all

pride

Thou

shalt uproot speedily,

heretic of their

own

of fact, Gholarba in

and break and cast

imagination called Colarbasus.

Hebrew means simply

"

As
"

All-four,

a matter

that

is,

the

divine Tetrad or Tetractys.

must, however, he stated that Levene does not translate

he frequently shortens and paraphrases, as may be seen
literally
1

It

by comparison

of his translation of the passages

with Dalman or Laible.

he gives in

common

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 235

down, and humble

Lord, breaker of the enemy, and humbler of

Thou,
the

Blessed art

speedily in our day.

it

proud."

Eabbi Samuel the Little belonged to the first genera

tion of Tanaim and flourished about 90-130 A.D.

K. Gamaliel II. flourished about 90-110 A.D.

At the death of Joshua Ben Chanania the Kabbis cried

Who will now defend our cause against the Minim 2
R Joshua Ben Chanania was one of the most famous

"

out:

?"

Rabbis

of Israel

and flourished about 70-130

It is

A.D.

remarkable that in the Talmud tradition he

is

often

found in controversy with R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus,

and this confirms the sense of our passage that he was
regarded as one of the greatest champions of Jewish
orthodoxy,

for,

as

we have

seen, Eliezer

was suspected

of

sympathy with Christian views.

The Tanaic Rabbis have taught
When Rabbis
Eliezer Ben Pardo and Chanena ben Teradion were
"

on the charge

seized

Rabbi Eliezer said

be thou,

Chanena,

charge, but
offences.

thou,

to

woe

to

of

for

me

Christians

being

Eliezer,

Happy

thou hast been seized on one

that

have been seized for

But Rabbi Chanena answered

for

[minoth],

Chanena ben Teradion

Happy

thou hast been seized on

five

be
five

3
but woe to me that I have
charges and hast escaped
been charged with one offence, and have not escaped.
;

Thou hast been engaged

in the study of the

Law and in
Law

charity, whilst I engaged only in the study of the

therefore punishment has overtaken

1

"

Berachoth,"
3
4

Leveue adds
"

Aboda

29a.
"

Zara"

from Christian
1Gb.

"

Bab.

4
me."

Chagiga,"

influence."

5a.

Minoth.

236

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?
*

Eleazar ben Perata and

Chanania (not
ben Teradion flourished about 100-135 the
;

one

the

of

"

Bar Kochba

ten martyrs

rebellion.

who

"

Chanina)
latter

was

lost their lives in the

The story

is

somewhat

curious,

even from a Jewish point of view, for Ben Teradion was

above all others specially noted for his charity. 1

"

Min asked Eabbi Chanena

certain

Now

that

burnt, you cannot cleanse yourselves

your temple
from your ceremonial defilement you are, therefore,
is

unclean, for

it

is

abides in her skirts/

Come and
Jews]

see

Who

defilement

Her filthiness
9]
But Eabbi Chanena answered:

written [Lam.

i.

what is written concerning them [the

remaineth among them in the midst of

[Lam.

xvi. 16]. 2

This E. Chanena

is

probably intended for Chanania

ben Teradion, a Palestinian Rabbi who, as we have seen,

flourished about 100-135 A.D.
The Books

of

The books

Minim

are not to be kept from

on the Sabbath, but must be consumed on the
spot with the names of God contained therein.
Eabbi Joses said On a week day let the names of

the

of the

fire

"

God be cut out and hidden away, and

Eabbi Tarphon declared: May I be deprived

if I do not burn them with the names

burnt.
of

my

of

God
"

children
!

If a

man

serpent, let

be pursued to death by a robber, or by a

fly for refuge into a heathen temple

him

See Hamburger,

mud und

"

Midrash," ii.

Real-Encyclopadie des

"

Judenthums,"

"

57a.

"

Tal

132, sub voce.

That is to say, even when

Levene adds
defiled the Shekinah dwells among them."
3
the Gospels of the Christians."
Levene adds
"

Yoma,"

is

the remainder

Israel

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 237

rather than into the house of a

Min

for idolaters sin

unwittingly, but the Minim do so deliberately.

If in order to make peace
Kabbi Ishmael said
between husband and wife, the Law allows the name of
"

how much more shall the

books of these men be destroyed who stir up enmity
and angry feeling between Israel and their Father who
God

is

to be

blotted out,

To them the words

in heaven.

applied

Am

Do

I not hate

I not grieved

them,

with those

who

"

David may be

Lord, that hate thee

up against thee

rise

them with perfect hatred,

I hate

enemies.

of

reckon them

my

Here we

see that not even the strict observance of They

the Sabbath was to stand in the

way of the instant

Minim
nay, the terrible
Siphre
destroying the names of God which were
the

destruction of
profanity of

thought to give the material on which they were in

sanctity, was set on

scribed a special and inviolable

one

side,

and

the cutting
"work,"

this

of

not only on the Sabbath, when

them out might be held

but, according to E. Tarphon, even

to

entail

on week

days.

Jose (ben

Chalaphtha) belonged to the third

Tanaim, and flourished about 130-160

K.

generation of
he was a great enemy of mysticism. E. Tarphon
A.D.
belonged to the preceding generation, 90-130 A.D. he
;

was a

opponent of Christianity, as indeed our

E. Ishmael ben Elisha was a contem
shows.
passage
porary of E. Tarphon and E. Akiba.
fierce

It is to be noticed,
1

Levene comments

Shabbath,"

however, that Friedlander, in his

"

116a.

to be placed in the bitter

waters,"

are to

238
Friedlander

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Vorbeinerkung,"

passage,

the

which he gives as

"

of

this

the Giljonim and books of

the basis of his interesting essay on pre-

Minim,"

He

Gnosticism. 1

Jewish

Christian

makes the opening words

"

m1

B.C.

denies

that the

Gilionim are the Gospels of the Christians, and that

the Minim of the oldest Talmud tradition are Christians.

He

tells

ism

is still to

us that in Galicia, where old-fashioned Talmud-

be found in

its

the traditional interpretation of

Apikores."

that

"philosopher

own

Min

is

that

"

Min

is

an

an Epicurean, a sceptic, an atheist, a

His
despises God and his Law."

that by

is

theory

is,

who

most conservative form,

Min

is

meant, at any rate in

the earlier deposits of the Talmud, "an antiiiomistic

Gnostic," that is, presumably a Gnostic who set aside

Jewish view, and contended that the

the Jews was at best a secondary God.

the traditional

Yahweh

of

Friedlander
of his

is

well worth reading, but a consideration

arguments would necessitate more space than the

treatment of our present subject will permit. The

question of a pre-Christian Jewish Gnosticism, however,

one

is

the greatest importance

of the points of

in

2
consideration of Christian origins.

Weinstein on

Weinstein has also quite recently returned to the

3
subject and further developed his contention in his essay
1

Friedlander (M.),

"

Der

vorchristliche jiidische Gnosticismus

"

(Gottingen 1898).
2
Die jiidische Gnosis und die platonisch-pythaSee also
goraischen Anschauungen der palastinischen Lehrer," in M. Joel s
Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte zu Anfang des zweiten christ;

"

"

1880), i. 114-170.
Genesis der Agada: Beitrag zur
Eutwickelungs-Geschichte des talmudischen

liclien Jahrhunderts" (Breslau

3

Weinstein (N.

EntstehungsSchriftthums
"

Agada,"

und

I.),

"

Die

;
1901), Theil II.
pp. 91-156.

(Gottingen
Minim,"

"Zur

"

Die alexandrinische

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 239

on the Essenes, 1 that by Minim in the Talmud we are
nowhere to understand Jewish Christians, but that the
chief characteristic of

Minism from pre-Christian times

always polytheism in brief, all non-monotheism

without distinction was Minism, and that, too, not

is

most part under

in the sense of idolatry but for the

such high forms

Much
Talmud

of belief as the Logos-theory.

work, however, remains to be done by such

Weinstein and

specialists as Joel, Friedlander,

their co-labourers before

we

are quite sure of the exact

value of this very general term, and

require a complete

list of

first

of all

we

Talmud passages where the

term occurs meantime we return to the passages which

Levene considers to refer specially to the Christians.
;

A man must not carry or take from the Minim, he Boycott of

Mmim
must not intermarry with them, and must not accept
"

their cures for

Then

disease."

follows the story of

Ben Dama s being

bitten

which we have already dealt.

by
The post-Mishnaic Eabbis have taught An animal,
if slaughtered, even according to the Jewish rites,
by
a snake, with

"

a Min,

is like

Min s) bread

an animal offered

to

idols.

His (the

like the bread of a Cuthite

(Samaritan)
like that offered to idols.
The books of

is

and his wine

the Law, the Prophets and the Hagiographa which have

been written by him, are like the books of magicians." 3

Here we have

prescriptions

legal

Min who
as

to

the utmost displeasure of

his

copies
1

"

"

of

the Jewish

all

and yet falls under

the Eabbis.
His food and

food,

the Scriptures, even of the Torah, are

Beitriige zur Geschichte der

Aboda

observes

Zara,"

27b.

Essiier"

(Wien

1892).

chullin,"

13a.

Impurity of
i

240

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

polluted and contaminate as do food offered to

and books

of

sorcerers.

Min

This

idols

then must have

been regarded as doctrinally and therefore spiritually

impure but there were evidently also Minim who did
;

not observe the Jewish prescriptions, otherwise the

sentence even according to the Jewish rites 1 would be
"

"

This passage accordingly seems as though

would somewhat upset Weinstein s theory. The postMishnaic Eabbis may be dated from the third century
meaningless.

it

onwards.
Minim compared with
Tax-gatherers,

Mark Ukvah

said

The voice

of

two daughters who

cry from Gehenna are they who exclaim,

in

this

Minim. 2

namely Roman

world,

None

Give, give

tax-collectors

and

that go unto her return again, neither

take they hold of the path of life.

speedy death
awaits those who return to Judaism from Christianity
[?

minoth], for they expire from

Mar Ukbah was

in

all

remorse."

probability

Chief of

the

Exile, or Prince of the Captivity, in Babylonia about

210-240
The Rolls

of

the Law
written by
Minim to be

Destroyed.

"Rav

Law

A.D.

Nachman

said:

We

that has been written

hold that a roll of the

by a Min

shall be

com

if by
it be con
found in the possession of a Min, and it
cannot be ascertained whether he has transcribed it,

a Gentile, let

mitted to the flames;

if

cealed;

let it

be concealed;

Gentile,

that
1

it

some say

may

if

found in the possession

be used for

"

"

the latter, Give converts.

Give taxes
3 Levene
gives no reference to this saying.
4

"

Gittin,"

45b.

reading."

If it stands so literally in the original.

Levene translates Christians and adds,
;

of

be concealed, others,

let it likewise

"

"

The former

shouts,

THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD. 241

Rabbi Nachman was rector
in Babylonia,

Rabbi Abahu said

A.D.

Nehardea

Min was then

whether or not proselytes

presumably a born Jew;

were included is uncertain.
"

of the school at

and lived 245-320

The Shema l was commanded The Shema

to be repeated in a loud voice

on account

of the troubles

Minim,

caused by the Minim, but at Nehardea in Babylon,

where there are no Minim, they repeat the Shema to-day

low

in a

voice."

Abbahu belonged

R.

to the third generation of the

Amoraim, and flourished 279-320 A.D. He

was a great opponent of all Minim, and especially of

Palestinian

we have already seen above.

"Rav
Saiseth, who was totally blind, ordered his
servant to place him in any other but the eastward
Christians, as

when he wished

direction

did

Minim

because the

to pray,

3
so."

Shesheth belonged to the third generation of

Babylonian Amoraim, and nourished about 300-330
R.

It is

A.D.

difficult to believe that all

to the east in prayer

but we know that the Essenes

and the Therapeuts did

Was

so.

of the early Christians also

We

are

quite

means exhausted,
cited
to,

by the

or at

given

this a general

custom

have now come to the end

we

but

Minim turned

in

of Levene s quotations,
that the subject is by no

certain

as a glance at the

authorities

the lives

of

Talmud passages

we have

already referred
the most renowned Rabbis as

Hamburger s

"

Real

Encyclopiidie,"

show.
1

The prayer beginning,

"

Pesachim,"

56a.

"

Hear,

Israel."

"

Baba

Bathra,"

16

25a.

will

The Minim
ward Direct
tlon>

242
The ImportTalmud

for

7
Christian
Origins.

It

DID JESUS LIVE 100

is

B.C. ?

a matter of capital importance for students of

Christian origins that without delay the Talmud should

be minutely scrutinized from the first to the last page,
so as to unearth every scrap of information bearing
directly

or indirectly

Christianity, but this

competent Talmud
well read in

all

is

on the many phases of early

a task that none but the most

specialists,

who

are also exceedingly

the latest research into the puzzling

chaos of the early schools and

"

"

Christianity was inextricably

heresies

with which

the first
mingled
centuries, can hope to achieve with any measure of
in

success.

We

next pass on to a consideration of such of the

contents of the Toldoth Jeschu as bear in any way

upon our enquiry

but

first of all

we must inform our

selves concerning the history of these strange Toldoth.

XIII.

WE

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

have already seen in our short sketch

Talmud

"

in History

how

fierce

of

"

The

was the persecution

of

Western Jewry by Christian intolerance in the Inquisi

tional period of the Middle Ages we have seen how hate
;

begat hate, and we are not surprised to find that the

Jews of the later Middle Age had long learned most
bitterly to execrate the

in
so

memory

of their ancient Eabbi,

whose name they had been so cruelly persecuted for

many centuries. The name of Jesus had become

a terror to them, the symbol of all that was cruel, even

as

from the

much

earliest

that was

tortures

and

days

it

blasphemous

stripes,

had connoted

for

them

cruel because of their

blasphemous because his followers

the Law most sternly

worshipped man as God, and

forbade the Jew to do so.

But the

fierce

outbreak

which

raged

with

such

Jewry from the thirteenth to the

sixteenth century was no new conflagration.
The
ancient fire of the early days of conflict had never been
disastrous results to

extinguished it had smouldered on, ready to

burst into flame as soon as Western Christendom in the

really

person of one or two scholars aided, as the Christian

would say, by the zeal of Jewish converts, or, as the

Causes of

244

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

would put it, roused to fury by the sectarian

hatred of Jewish renegades and apostates had either
Israelite

learned enough Hebrew to read the Talmud traditions

about Jesus, or had had its ears filled with accounts so
distorted that

the

to

first

imagined that the Talmud was from

it

the last page a repository of blasphemy

against its Lord.

The

Inquisi

tion

knows

Little of the

Toldoth.

In this connection

it

is

somewhat curious

to note

that the rage of the Christian inquisitors was directed

almost entirely against the Talmud

voluminous contents

which

of

it

difficulty to disinter the brief

to Jesus, while

of

certain

worked up some

of

"

Life of

the

of

some

and scattered references

we hear comparatively

Jewish

from the

itself,

was a matter

little

Jesus,"

scattered

into a connected whole, but also

or nothing

which not only

Talmud passages

added other matter

(not found in the Talmud), some of the elements of

which were referred to by Tertullian as early as the
closing years of the second century.

very beginning of the Talmud

persecution, about the middle of the thirteenth century,
It is true that at the

we

find

has

Eaymund

Martini, the learned Dominican

distinction

the

considered

of

the

being
Christian Hebraist of the Middle Ages, but

thought by some

to

have been

converted

who
first

who

is

Jew. 1

which had in all

Life,"
quoting a form of this
probability been already expressly condemned at the
"

trial

2
preceding the Paris burning of 1248.

Martini sat on the

Talmud

Inquisitorial

Again, in

Commission assembled

at Barcelona in 1266.
2

Lea (H.

(New York

"

C.),
;

A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages

1888),

i.

558.

"

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

1415, the Antipope Benedict XIII.

specially

out for condemnation a certain treatise

no copy

of

which

is

now known

to

245

"

singled

Mar mar

Jesu,"

be extant, but which

thought by some to have been a form of the Toldoth

1
Jeschu, while in the first half of the sixteenth century,
is

when

the

Talmud was recovering

right to existence,

its

Eeuchlin distinctly excluded this

favourable judgment on the Talmud.
It

"

"

from

Life

his

however, strange that we do not hear more of

is,

Suggested

the Toldoth Jeschu during this period, for it worked up th^sllence.

into one consecutive narrative not only the main

TalmucJ Jeschu data, but also

Talmud

in the

much

else not

found either

or in Christian tradition either canonical

or apocryphal, and might, therefore, have been expected

to have been singled out especially and
consistently by

the emissaries of the Inquisition as the main ground of

their accusation and attack.
Can it have been that this

was considered by the ignorant inquisitors

forming part and parcel of the Talmud itself or was

"Life"

as
it

among the Jews that the agents of the

Office
failed to come across it except on the rarest
Holy
kept so secret
occasions; or

Inquisition

was

itself

to the bitter persecution of the

it

that

we owe not

the genesis of the

some of its existing forms ?

Tertullian briefly referring The Paucity
ofMatenal
preserved in great elaboration

Toldoth, but the elaboration of

The

fact that

we found

elements

to certain

still

in nearly all extant forms of the Toldoth convinced us

that,

as

far

traditional

as

these

memory

elements were concerned, the

of the mediaeval compilers or re

dactors of the Toldoth reached back to at least the end

1

Griitz (H. H.), "Geschichte der

ed.), viii.

133-135.

Juden"

(Leipzig; 1865, 2nd

246

DID JESUS LIVE 100

of the

But the

second century.

B.C.

difficulties

connected

with the subject were (and are) very great for not
only were all non-Jewish scholars who had considered
;

the matter agreed

accessible to

that

Toldoth

the

them were worthless mediaeval

quite beneath the notice

number

the forms of

fabrications

of the historical student,

was very

of these recensions

but the
In

small.

fact,

for all practical purposes the short thirteenth

Latin translation of

Eaymund

century
the
seventeenth
Martini,

and eighteenth century Latin versions of Wagenseil

and Huldreich, and finally the Judaeo-German Life
"

"

published by Bischoff
material available.

In

Recent Publi-

his

"

"

Vorwort,
"

"

A* Serial

"

judisch-deutsch

work

"

Das

jiidische

in

1895,

"

manner.

We

stated

was the forerunner

Leben Jesu,

all

the

that

this

comprised

Bischoff had

Life

with the various recensions

tific

"

of the

were therefore

of a large

which was

to deal

Toldoth in a scien
in

waiting

high
expectation of the help of this most useful undertaking,
when a few months ago (at the time of this writing)
there appeared an excellent work on the subject by

Samuel Krauss, enriched with many notes from the

of Bischoff himself, and also with others by Strack. 2

Dr.

hand
It

is,

therefore, to be supposed that this is the

referred to by Bischoff in his

we had
was
1

"

Foreword,"

previously imagined, that the

to be entirely

Bischoff (E.),

"

book

and not, as

work promised

by himself.

Ein jiidisch-deutsches Leben Jesu Geschichte

Jahre 3760 seit Erschaffung
:

Jesu von Nazareth, geboren im

der Welt" (Leipzig
no date).
;

Krauss

(Berlin

"

(S.).

1902).

Das

Leben Jesu

nach jiidischen

Quell en

"

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

Most opportunely,

247

our enquiry has this Krauss

study appe ared, for in it not only have we a wealth of
new material which was hitherto entirely inaccessible
then, for

to

any but the most determined

have the

ment

first

specialists,

attempt at a scientific

of this difficult subject

a beginning has at last

been made towards an evaluation

and traditional materials

Jewish

of this

and

literature,

the

but also we

and unpartisan treat

of

the legendary

most curious cycle of

shown

the

of

openmindedness

is

the

fact

unquestionably
by
Strack frequently dissent
from each other in their comments and recomments.

undertaking

that Krauss, Bischoff and

Our present task

is,

therefore, considerably lightened

for instead of attempting unaided to review this over

grown and complicated

tradition as preserved in Bis-

choffs Judseo-German Toldoth and the Latin versions

of

Wagenseil, Huldreich and

Eaymundus

trace the external evidence from

Talmud, we have

Martini, and to

where we

left

it,

in

work over ground

already surveyed by Krauss, while at the same time we
have to thank him for considerably widening the area
treating of the

of research

by the addition

of

could never have traversed at

to

new
all

territory

which we

without his

aid, for

no one but a past-master in a knowledge of Hebrew

and Jewish Hebrew mediaeval literature could dream of
attempting such

task

If, however,
single-handed.
compelled sometimes to differ from
Krauss conclusions or to put a different value on some

we

find ourselves

of the chief

elements in the materials,

it is

not sur

prising, seeing that the scientific investigation of this

very obscure subject

still

of hitherto bitterest prejudice is

entirely in its infancy.

248
His Estimate
Toldoth.

DID JESUS LIVE TOO

Krauss, in his
impartiality,

"

Einleitung,"

assures us of his entire

and declares that he has treated the Toldoth

purely as an ancient literary

foundation

B.C, ?

which, he

of

monument, the

believes,

earliest

preserves a

text

1
As the result
reaching back some 1500 years (K. iii.).
of his labours, in which he claims to have proved the

general Toldoth tradition point for point, he declares

that though the representation of the
Life of Jesus
"

"

contained therein

of

is

an odious nature, and in so

far

referable to Jewish hostility, nevertheless the bare facts

themselves are for the most part in contact with good,

and

that, too, Christian, sources;

and that instead

of

energies in abusing the Toldoth as

a
spending
Jewish lampoon, a pitiful fabrication, or execrable
foolishness, it would be more profitable for Christian
all its

theology to trace the book to

endeavoured
"Good

Sources."

sources,"

Toldoth,

he has

"good

Christian

must be understood that he means that

it

they were

as

its sources,

do himself (K. 2).

When, however, Krauss speaks of
to

"

the Jewish compilers of the

could not be expected to distinguish

"

good

who

for

between canonical, deutero-canonical and apocryphal

Christian literature and tradition.
The Toldoth makers

and redactors simply

reflected the general notions in

the Christian folk-consciousness of their times, and took

these

varied

and

authentic facts,
Christian

changing notions indifferently for

any rate, as valid beliefs of the

Thus we find biblical, apocryphal

or, at

faithful.

and Talmud-Midrash traditions and legends

as to Jesus

1
The frequent references to Krauss work are thus signified
when the note referred to is by Bischoff it will be further marked

"

B.

n."

249

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

mingled together in motley confusion, each and every

one of them being put at precisely the same value (K.

And

165).

investigation

this indeed is
of

an important point in any

of

subject

nature; for

this

the

common persuasion in general Protestant circles that

the canonical Gospel view was the only view, even
in the early days,

is

entirely mistaken

the people fed

mainly on apocrypha.
Krauss especially insists that the agreement of the
Toldoth in certain of its forms and features with Gospel
data

of

is

for it argues that

prime importance,

although

in the Toldoth literature these are naturally put forward

as they appeared to Jewish, and, therefore, he admits,

biassed observers, they are nevertheless not deliberately

distorted or

disfigured

(K. 154).

sions, it is true, bear all the

marks

The Toldoth recen

of

an apologetic and

polemical literature, but this does not calumniate;

alleges, but does not execrate (K. 155).

it

on the contrary, declares that the various

the Toldoth must be classed as a satirical

Bischoff,

forms

of

and parodial literature of a polemical nature it is true

that the Jewish compilers borrow certain traits from
;

the Christian prototype, but only to recast

them

in

own fashion. The various Toldoth recensions

known to us all bear the marks of a Middle Age bitter
their

polemical literature

against

the

intolerance

of

the

Catholic Church and in answer to the fierce denunciation

and cruel persecution by the Christians against the

Jews it is a case of eye for eye and tooth for tooth.
;

These writings were pamphlets against the simple faith

in unintelligent authority and the foolishness of a rank

growth

of Christian

legend and folklore

briefly, against

Bisehoff s

250

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

the pretensions and extravagances of the Church of the

Middle Ages. Nevertheless it would be foolish to throw

away the

child with the bath water, for the Toldoth

writers were, in their

opponents (K. 154

With

way, as decent folk as their

B. n.).

opinion Strack also is in agreement;

nevertheless Krauss holds firmly to his own point of
this

view and refuses to modify it. The most useful stand

point may perhaps be found somewhere between these

two contradictory views, but as far as our present

study is concerned, our main interest is concerned only
with the oldest elements discernible under the many
changing forms
Only one

Toldoth activity.
our readers will say
Why,
even so much as that there was a

of this

But perhaps some

Information

we

m English.

j ew i sh

know

did not

Life of Jesus

of

where can we obtain any in

formation on the subject in English ? Truth to say,

the Toldoth literature has been boycotted even by the
learned in English-speaking lands.

Perhaps this may

and
it
have been natural enough,
may have been best
hitherto to keep silence on a topic which in the past
could not possibly have been discussed with moderation.
But at the beginning of the twentieth century it is
no longer possible to exclude from the field of research
into Christian origins

any

subject,

even of apparently

which may hold out the

throwing even a sidelight on the count

the most intractable kind,

faintest

hope

of

less obscurities of received tradition.

As

far as

we

are aware there

is

only one book in

English which deals with the subject, and that too

in a very superficial manner, but as it has never
reached a second edition, either it has been very little

251

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

read or the author has not thought
it.

reprint

advisable

it

to

But even the learned have been hitherto very imand

perfectly acquainted with the Toldoth literature,

General

have had to depend entirely on polemical sources of

information rather than on a scientific statement and
appreciation of the facts.

Martini
short

thirteenth

Toldoth

Setting

aside

century

Latin

which

Luther

form,

Kaymundus
of

rendering

knew from

fifteenth century reproduction of Porchettus,

the

and trans

German early in the sixteenth century,

and which we shall consider later on, non-Jewish
lated

into

had until quite lately to depend entirely on

2
the translations of the an ti- Jewish writers Wagenseil
scholars

An
The Lost and Hostile Gospels
Baring-Gould (S.),
Essay on the Toledoth Jeschu, and the Petrine and Pauline
Gospels of the First Three Centuries of which Fragments Eemain
1

"

"

ch.

(London; 1874),
This book contains a

v.

"The

Counter- Gospels," pp.

67-115.

and partial translation of Wagenseil s

Huldreich s eighteenth-century Latin
much of the matter in the chapters on
the Talmud and Toldoth is taken from Clemens "Jesus von
Nazareth"
(Stuttgart; 1850) and von der Aim s "Urtheile"
but
1864), whose name the author misspells, p. 48
(Leipzig
digest

seventeenth-century and
versions of the Toldoth
;

without any acknowledgment.

Wagenseil s Latin has also been rendered into English in a
penny pamphlet form, The Hebrew Account of our Lord (sole
"

English edition, omitting nothing after the first page), Latinized

by J. C. Wagenseil, 1681 Englished by E. L. G., 1885." (London

James Burns.)

It

is

difficult to refrain

from reprobating strongly

a production of this kind.

2

est

et

Tela ignea Satana^.

Joh. Christophorus Wagenseilius,
Arcani et horribiles Judccoruni adversus Christum
"

Christianam

Keligionem Libri

ave/cSoroi"

(Altdorf

Hoc

Deum
1681),

Libellus
which the last is
Toldos Jeschu." W. s text was reproduced with a German transla
tion in J. A. Eisenmenger s (not Eilenmenger a) Entdecktes Juden-

vols.,

containing six treatises, of

"

"

252

DID JESUS LIVE 100

at Niirnberg Nov. 26, 1633,

Huldreich. 1
(b.

With

Extent of New

the

Oct. 9, 1705)

d.

and

Jewish-German

Bischoff s

of

publication

B.C.

Material.
"Leben

in

Jesu"

to

1895,

which we have already

and Krauss larger work

referred,

we have

amount

large

accessible to us

of

in

new

not, however, that even so

any means all the material extant,

still numerous MSS. hidden
away

MSS. once known

"

homely

Jews

(for a

the

of

Krauss

(p.

22)

and

23 (two
known we have

of the

being only fragments) now

wait for the translation of a good half of them.

new

MSS.

types, the portion

fall into

material which Krauss

doubtless sufficient for

all practical

has

translated

is

purposes.

Bischoff (K. 27-37) has divided these

Bischoff s

must be
number of

have since disappeared), or

modern Jewish medievalists, the

Nevertheless, as the
of

we have by

for there

of these
still to

however,

to exist

the hands of

in
"

1902,

material rendered

MSS.

into five

Classification.

chief types;

it

however, to be observed that these

is,

groupings do not in the remotest fashion aim at any

attempt at tracing out a historical genealogical tree, for,
latest edition, Dresden, 1893, by
(1st ed. [Frankfort], 1700
Das bei 40 Jahr
X. Schiefel) the original title of which ran
von der Judenschafft mit Arrest bestrickt gewesene, nunmehro
aller durch Autoritat eines Hohen Keichs-Vicariats relaxirte
entdecktes Judenthum
oder griindlicher und
J. A. E. s
thum"

"

J.

wahrhaffter Bericht, welchergestalt die verstockte Juden die

erschrecklicher Weise liistern
Hochheilige Dreieinigkeit
.

und verunehren

u.

s.

w., 2

Thle

and

also

by

Bullet, op. sub.

cit.

Joh. Jac. Huldricus,

Sepher Toldotli Jeschua ha-Notzri
a Judaeis
[in Hebrew letters], Historia Jeschuae Nazareni,
blaspheme corrupta, ex Manuscripto hactenus inedito nunc demum
"

edita, ac Versione et Notis (quibus

et
Authoris asserta

deteguntur,
vincuntur),

illu&trata"

(Leyden

Judaeorum nequitiae proprius

ineptiae

1705).

ac

impietatis

con-

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

as

Bischotf says,

of

the material, such

the very

in face of

chaotic nature

attempt must ever be

an

most subjective character (K.

the

253

that with the discovery of

It

27).

may

MSS. something

other

of

be
of

more objective nature may be attempted, but at

present the field is wide open for the most diverse
a

speculations.

Bischoff s classification,

MSS.

of the

is

as follows

or, rather,

first

Type Wagenseil; put

1.

known

who presented

it

second because

it is

in its

because

(so called

to the

main subjects

from

its last

Royal Library at

more nearly

was printed next

Parma)

placed

former type

(6 MSS.).

Type Huldreich (the original is

2 MSS. copied from H/s printed text)
4.

the best

is

private owner,

allied to the

3.

it

it

(9 MSS.).

Type De Kossi

2.

tentative grouping,

after

lost,

but there are

put third because

W. s.

Type Modern Slavonic

put next because

it

shows

a knowledge of all the foregoing (4 MSS.).

5.

Type

Cairo

(6

in

fragments

Oxford-collection from the Geniza

the Old Synagogue at Cairo)

last

last

put

the

Schechter-

or lumber-room of

because

it is

the

known.

Of printed Toldoth texts we have practically only Printed Texts,

those of Wagenseil and Huldreich there was, however,
;

still earlier,

somewhere about 1640 (K. 17

B.

n.),

a text

published by Engelsberger, but no copy of it is now

known to exist; there is also mixed Toldoth stuff in
the ironical composition of Gustav (Gerschom) Bader,
which bears as part of its title History of the Nazarene
"

Law-giver."

254
Krauss

New

DID JESUS LIVE 100

None

however, have the slightest pre

of these texts,

tension of being critical

manuscript
the

It

texts.

B.C. ?

they are all, so to speak, oneremained for Krauss to give us

;

attempt at a

critical text of (1) the Strassburg

University Library MS., and (2) the Vienna Israeli tish
while he has had
Theological Academy s MS. No. 54
first

simply to reproduce (3) Adler

of (4) the

Jemen MS. with portions

1
Leyden MS. dealing with the
"

"

resurrection

the

"

(5) of three Slavonic

seduction

"

(6) a

"inventio crucis"

fragment from Bokhara in posses

"

Touch-stone

of

"

seduction

"

from the Vienna MS. No. 54

the Cairo Geniza fragments

"

and

burial

MSS. dealing with

sion of E. Adler, dealing also with the

the

"

"

(7,

(8)

and (9) an extract from the

Schemtob ibn Schaprut, from the MS.
;

Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau (p. 180).

Of these texts Krauss gives German translations of
only 1, 2, 3 and 9.

in the

It is to be regretted that

when the

subject was being

treated in a scientific manner, Krauss did not think of

bringing together
it

all

the material between two covers

would have been vastly more convenient

Huldreich

and Bischoff s

had been printed

for

appended
ments"

texts,

as well,

every text;

and a German translation

even

if

of the Slavonic type are too

tion into

Wagenseil s
and Martini s version,
if

the

"embellish

bad

for transla

German, they might have been rendered into

Latin.

These MSS. are

all late,

indications of date, two

1

Leyden

in B.

MS.

far as

we have any

be assigned to the sixteenth

p. 128, but I can find no mention of

in either K. s description of MSS. (pp. 19-22) or

So the heading,
"

"

may

and as

(pp. 27-37).

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

century, two to

255

two

the seventeenth,

to

the seven

teenth-eighteenth, four to the eighteenth, and five to

the nineteenth century.

The question of the language of the various forms of Language,
the Toldoth

often very obscure, but Krauss

is

is

of

opinion that in German-speaking lands at any rate,

and therefore also in Slavonic-speaking lands, the

Toldoth recensions were

being intended as a

"

written in the vernacular,

first

Volkslectiire

"

they were only

Hebrew, and as this Hebrew is

often very impure, they were probably translated by

later translated into

or

by Christian

opponents for polemical

however,
purposes.
sharply contradicted
n
9-12
13
Bischoff
and
B.
(K.
.s.), who declares that
by
instead of the vernacular Toldoth being intended for

apostates

This view

is,

popular consumption, they rather constituted the read

ing of the intelligent Jewish
to understand,

read the Toldoth in Hebrew.

by which we are
who were unable to

laity,

presumably, those

Bischoff denies that the

Toldoth Hebrew

is

worse than much

and

it

is difficult

of the time,

to see

of

the literature

a priori why an

apostate should not have been able to write as

Hebrew

good

as a non-convert.

It seems, however, highly probable that the language

of the oldest forms of the Toldoth was
originally
the
Aramaic, as the oldest MS. fragments extant

(from

Cairo Geniza) show.

As

to the title

Jewish Life
best

known

quently.
"

ably.

of

by which the various forms

Jesus

one,

is

designated,

of

we have chosen

and the one that occurs most

the

the
fre

The known titles, however, vary very consider

means literally The Genera-

Toldoth Jeschu

"

Titles.

256

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Jeschu, hence Birth or

tions of

or Life of Jesus.
or

Jeschu,"

Book

Jeschu

ha-Notzri"

We

(K.

Bull

May

of

Maanar

the

title

stands

1415,

Jeschu,"

"

Maase

It

(K. 31, 33).

that the Latin transliteration,

11

"

"

or

30),
is

History of

"

for

Talui

,"

"

Jesu,"

Maase

We

or

"

Maase

Maase

also supposed

Mar mar

Story of Jeschu.

Tola,"

or

30),

also find the title

History of Jeschu (K.

or

ha-Notzri"

Toldoth

"Sepher

the Generations of Jeschu; also

of

Jeschu the Nazarene.

Jeschu,"

History, Tradition,

It is also called

Jeschu

"Toldoth

B.C. ?

in the

Jeschu,"

also

or

meet with

The History

of the

Hanged (K. 9, 13); also The History of Jeschu and

Queen Helena and of the Apostles (K. 15), or

of

simply History of Jeschu and the Apostles (K. 172).

One MS. begins
This is the Book of the Condemna
"

tion of Jeschu ben

the

title

"

The History

Huldreich

88).

Pandera"

Toldoth Jeschua

(K. 10);

printed text,
ha-Notzri,"

Jeschu and Cristos

another bears

Son 1 (K. 33, 64,

after the main title,

him and

of

his

continues with the names

Jesus (in Hebrew translitera

[sic]

tion).

The Name

As

to the

Hebrew equivalent

for the

name

Jesus,

we

find that the Toldoth recensions amply confirm the

form given in the Talmud with which we have already
dealt in fact, the longer form Jeschua is found in only
;

three

MSS.,

while the

still

longer form

Jehoshua

appears only once, in Wagenseil.

1

"

Meaning, presumably,

Son,"

History of Joseph Pandera and his

is given as the
legitimate

for in this recension J. Pandera

husband of Miriam.
2
But even in these MSS. this form does not appear through
out, or more frequently than Jeschu or Jesus (in Hebrew trans
literation

from the

German).

THE TOLDOTH JESCHU.

257

But before we go any further we must present our

readers with some one of the numerous recensions of
the Toldoth, so that they may form some idea of the
general nature of

the material.

As the Wagenseil

and Huldreich versions are

fairly well known, at anyand the curious, we will take the

recension preserved in the Strassburg MS., which is

rate

to

scholars

of special interest

not only because

it is

probably the

Hebrew
in

original underlying the type of text preserved

Bischoffs Yiddish Toldoth, but also because it

preserves

many Aramaic

traces,

and so connects

itself

with the earliest forms of the Toldoth literature, and

finally because part of it is identical with Martini s
thirteenth century text.

17

A JEWISH LIFE OF

XIV.
The

1.

THE beginning

was Miriam

His mother

of the birth of Jeschu.

She had a betrothed

[a daughter] of Israel.

of the royal race of the

was

JESUS.

House

He was

Jochanan.

David, whose

of

learned

law

the

in

name
and

Near the door of her house,

feared heaven greatly.
a
dwelt
handsome
just opposite,
[fellow]; Joseph ben
Pandera cast his eye upon her.
It was at night, on the eve

drunken he crossed over

But she thought

her.

of the Sabbath,

to her door

when

and entered in to

in her heart that

was her

it

Jochanan; she hid her face and was

ashamed. ... He embraced her but she said to

betrothed

him

Touch me

not, for I

am

in

my

separation.

He

took no heed thereat, nor regarded her words, but per

She conceived by him.
sisted.
.

At midnight came her betrothed Rabbi Jochanan.

She said to him What meaneth this ? Never hath it
:

been thy custom, since thou wast betrothed

in a night to come to me.

He

answered her and said:

It is

to

me, twice

but once

come

to thee this night.

She said

to

thee I was in

him

my

Thou

earnest to me,

separation, yet heeded

and
st

I said to

thou not, but

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

did st thy

and wentest

will

259

When

forth.

he heard

this, forthwith he perceived that Joseph ben Pandera

had cast an eye upon her and done the deed. He left

in the morning he arose and went

Simeon ben Shetach.

her

He

him

said to

with

this night

Know

my

Thou hast already

my

went

come once

separation,

heard such words from her, I

left

He

answered

said

witness

When

her and [went forth].

:

Who

came

her house and

He

and thou gavest no

Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach said to him

mind

and

to me,

ear to me, [didst] thy will and wentest forth.

into thy

me

in to her after

before I touched her she said

this night

was in

said to thee I

then what hath befallen

betrothed.

men

the manner of

Rabbi

to

Ben Pandera,

is

he dwelleth near

a libertine.

him

to

for

understand that thou hast no

I
thing, therefore keep silence
he have come once, then can he not fail
to come a second time; act wisely; at that time set

for

this

counsel thee,

if

witnesses against him.

Some time
Miriam
Jochanan

was
:

the

after

with

She

is

child.

rumour went abroad that

Then said her betrothed

not with child by

me

shall I abide

my shame every day from the people ?

and went to Babylon. After some [time

here and hear

He

arose

she bore] a son, and they called his name Joshua after
his mother s brother
but when his corrupt birth was
;

made

public they called

him Jeschu.

His mother gave him to a teacher, so that he might How the

become wise in the Halacha, and learned in the Torah jeTctifwaf
2.

and the Talmud.

Now

it

was

the

custom

of

the made

Public

260

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

teachers of the law that no disciple and no boy should

pass on his

and

way by them without his head being covered

from reverence

his eyes cast to the ground,

of the

pupils towards their teachers.

One day

that rogue passed by, and all the wise were

seated together at the door of the synagogue

that

is,

they called the school-house synagogue that rogue

then passed by the Kabbis, head on high and with
uncovered pate, saluting no one, nay, rather, in shameless
;

fashion showing irreverence to his teacher.

After he had passed by them, one of them began

and said
He is a bastard (mamzer). The second
:

began and

said

He

in her separation

(mamzer len ha-niddah).

Another day the Rabbis stopped

then began
them.

woman

a bastard and son of a

is

one

that

Thereupon one

of

to

in tractate Nezikin

speak

He who

said to

him

giveth forth a

is

the teacher and

is

wiser,

who the

Moses or Jethro

of the prophets

and head

disciple

worldly wisdom, as
rulers
1

of

it is

Who
twain

not Moses, father

?

And

the Torah,

Israel like unto Moses.

written

yet taught he Moses

Set thou over them

thousands, and rulers of hundreds.

The fourth Talmud

"

order,

criminal law.
2

alien,

Decisions or rules of law.

him: And from hence

of

no prophet in

Withal Jethro was an

it

of the wise

moreover, beareth witness

forth there ariseth

Was

Hast

of the

to the wise ones

Who

Halacha

in the presence of his teacher, is guilty of death

That one answered and said

Halachoth 2 before

them began and

thou then not learned

Damages,"

But

if

dealing with civil and

A JEWISH LIFE OF

261

JEStTS.

ye say that Jethro is greater than Moses, then would

there be an end to the greatness of Moses.
When the wise heard this, they said As he is so
:

let us enquire after him.

They sent to
mother, [saying] thus: Tell us, pray, who is the

very shameless,
his

father of this boy

She answered and said:

that he

bastard

is

but they say of him,

of a woman in her

.,

and son

separation.

Then began Eabbi Simeon ben Shetach:

is it

thirty years since

came

to

me

To-day
Kabbi Jochanan her betrothed
he said to

at that time

me That and

that

hath befallen me.

He

related

all

that

told above,

is

how Eabbi

Simeon answered Kabbi Jochanan, and how when she

was with child, he [R J.] for great shame went to
Babylon and did not return; but this Miriam gave
birth to this Jeschu, and no death penalty awaits her,
for she hath not

ben Pandera

When

done this

own

of her

laid in wait for her

will, for

Joseph

the whole day.

she heard from Eabbi Simeon that no death

Thus

penalty awaited her, she also began and said:

was the story

and she confessed.

But when

it

went

abroad concerning Jeschu, that he was called a bastard

and son of a woman in her separation, he went away

and

fled to

3.

Now

Jerusalem. 1
the rule of

woman who was

all

Israel

called Helene.

sanctuary a foundation-stone
pretation:
1

B.

Galilee.

God founded

it

was

in the

And

there was in the

and

and

this

is

this is the

hand

its

of a The Robbing

inter

stone

on

recension states that this enquiry took place at Tiberias in

262

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

which Jacob poured oil and on it were written the

1
Shem, and whosoever learned it, could do

letters of the

But

whatsoever he would.

might learn them and therewith

world, they took measures that no one

Israel

of

disciples

destroy the

should do

as the wise feared that the

so.

Brazen dogs were bound to two iron pillars at the

entrance of the place of burnt offerings, 2 and whosoever
entered in and learned these letters

went forth

again, the dogs bayed at

as soon as he

him

if

he then

looked at them, the letters vanished from his memory.

This Jeschu came, learned them, wrote them on

parchment, cut into his hip and laid the parchment

with the letters therein so that the cutting of his
flesh did

not hurt him

then he restored the skin to

its

When

he went forth the brazen dogs bayed at

place.
letters
vanished from his memory. He
him, and the

went home, cut open

his llesh with his knife, took out

the writing, learned the letters, went and gathered to

gether three hundred and ten of the young men of
Israel.

Jeschu claims
to

be"Messiah

and works

4.

T
I

am

He

said to
,

a bastard
desire

lordship

in

them
,

Behold then these who say

and son

power

of a

woman

for themselves

Israel.

But

see

ye,

of
,

me

in her separation

and seek
all

to exercise

the

prophets

1
Des erklarten Gottesnamens" But Shem ha-mephoresch
K.
would perhaps be better rendered by the "ineffable name," that is, the
name which ought not to be pronounced, the name of which only
the consonants Y. H. V. H. are given, which are not pronouncible,
but only indicate the pronunciation as known to the initiated. I
use Shem throughout for the longer form Shem ha-mephoresch.
Or rather, the door by which the burnt offerings were brought
"

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

263

prophesied concerning the Messiah of God, and I am the

Messiah. Isaiah prophesied concerning me Behold the
:

virgin shall conceive, bear a son,

Emanuel.

Moreover,

concerning

me and

said to

me

mother

my

prophesied

spake

Thou

He

gotten thee.

my

begat

David prophesied
The Eternal [Y. H. V. H.]

me

day have I be
without male congress with
son

this

me a bastard He further
yet they
Why do the heathen rage, etc., the kings
call

His anointed.

in the country rise up, etc., against

am

shall be called

forefather

my

art

and he

the Messiah, and they, so to rise up against me, are

children of whores, for so

it is

written in the Scripture

For they are the children of whores. 1

The young men answered him

If

thou art the

Messiah, show unto us a sign. He answered them

What sign do ye require that I should do for you ?

Forthwith they brought unto him a lame man, who

had never yet stood upon his feet. He pronounced
In
over him the letters, and he stood upon his feet.
the same hour they all
said This is the Messiah.

made

obeisance to

him and

He

gave them another

sign.

a leper; he pronounced over

was healed.

There joined themselves to him apostates

from the children

When

They brought to him

him the letters, and he

of his people.

the wise saw that so very

many

believed on Jeschu and

him, they seized him and brought him before Queen

Helene, in whose hand the land of Israel was. They
said

to

man

her: This

uses sorcery and seduces the

world.

Jeschu answered to her as follows

1

A.V.

"

children of

Already of old

whoredoms."

264

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

prophesied concerning me: And there

of the stem of Isai (Jesse),
he.
Of him saith the Scripture Blessed is

the prophets

come forth a rod out

shall

and
the

I am
man who walketh

She said
saith

them

to

not in the counsel of the ungodly.

Is this truly in your law, what he

They answered

It

is

in our law

been said concerning him, for

thee.

him

but

hath not

it

said therein

And

put the evil away from the midst

But the Messiah for whom we hope, with

that prophet
of

it is

[etc.],

are [other] signs, and

it

is

said of

him

smite the earth with the rod of his mouth.

He

shall

With

this

bastard these signs are not present.

Jesus said Lady, I am he, and I raise the dead.
:

In the same hour the queen was affrightened and

said

That

is

Apostates

Jeschu

a great sign.

still

joined themselves to him, were with

him, and there arose a great schism in Israel.

The wise assembled
5. Jeschu went to Upper Galilee.

^ge ^ ner went

before the queen and said to her:

he
practiseth sorcery and leadeth men astray
Lady,
therewith.

Therefore sent she forth horsemen concerning him,

and they came upon him as he was seducing the
people of Upper Galilee and saying to them: I am
the Son of God, who hath been promised in your law.
The horsemen rose up to take him away, but the people

Upper Galilee suffered it not and began to fight.

Jeschu said unto them: Fight not, have trust in the
power of my Father in heaven.

of

The people
uttered

of

Galilee

the letters of

made

the

birds out of clay

he

Shem, and the birds flew

265

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

At

away.
him.

He

same

the

them

said to

hour

fell

down

before

Bring unto me a millstone. They

he spake the letters, set it

rolled it to the sea-shore

upon the surface

they

as one sits in a boat,

the

of

sat

sea,

went and

floated

himself

thereon,

on the water.

They who had been sent, saw it and wondered and

Jeschu said to the horsemen Go to your lady, tell her
what ye have seen
Thereupon the wind raised him
;

from the water and carried him onto the dry land.
The horsemen came and told the queen all these
the queen was affrighted, was greatly amazed,
sent and gathered together the elders of Israel and
things

spake unto them Ye say he is a sorcerer, nevertheless

every day he doeth great wonders.
:

l
They answered her Surely his tricks should not
Send messengers, that they may bring
trouble thee
:

him

hither,

and

his

shame

shall be

At the same hour

she

Then the wise men

of Israel

made

plain.

messengers, and his

wicked company also joined itself onto him, and they
came with him before the queen.

Juda

sent

him

took a

man by name

into the

Holy of Holies,
Shem, which were
engraved on the foundation-stone, wrote them on a
Ischariota, brought

where he learned the

letters of the

small [piece of] parchment, cut open his hip, spake the
Shem, so that it did not hurt, as Jeschu had done
before.

As soon

as Jeschu with his

company had returned

and she sent for the wise men, Jeschu

and
began
spake: For dogs encompassed me. And
to the queen,

i"Sachen."

The Magic
j u das.

266

DID JESUS LIVE 100

me

concerning
them.

As soon

he [David] said

as the wise

men

B.C.

Tremble not before

entered and Juda Ischariota

with them, they brought forward their pleas against

Of me it hath
him, until he said to the queen
been said I will ascend to heaven. Further it is
:

If He take me, Sela

He raised his hands
unto the wings of an eagle and flew, and the people
were amazed because of him How is he able to fly

written

like

twixt heaven and earth

Then spake the wise men

Do

thou also utter the letters and

Forthwith he did
marvelled

How

so, flew in

can they

Juda Ischariota

of Israel to

the

ascend after him.

air,

and the people

fly like eagles

Ischariota acted cleverly, flew in the

air,

but neither

could overpower the other, so as to make him fall by

means of the Shem, because the Shem was equally with

both of them.

When Jada

recourse to a low trick

was made unclean and

perceived this he had

he befouled Jeschu, so that he

fell to

the earth, and with

him

also Juda.
It is because of this that they wail

Jeschu

is
1

con-

on their night, 2 and

because of the thing which Juda did to him.

At the same hour they seized him and said

Helene: Let him be put to death!

3
.

Let him

to
tell

Text uncertain.
Weihnachten = Weinennachten, comments K.
Christmas.
But if this word-play were intended, then the original of such a
in German, and the Hebrew
gloss in this recension was composed
would be a translation from the German and not from Aramaic.
1

But

as the

Hebrew

text existed already in the thirteenth century,

not seem probable.

3
Evidently a lacuna occurs here in the
If he be the Son of God."
adds
this does

"

text.

The

text of Martini

267

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

who smote

us

So they covered his head with a

him.

garment and smote him with

a pomegranate

As

staff.

he did not know, it was clear that the Shem had aban
doned him, and he was now fast taken in their hands.
He began and spake to his companions before the
1

queen

Of

me

was

it

said

against the evil doers

And

proud waters.
rocks

make they

When
tates,

of

Who

But

will rise

them he

of

them he

said

up

for

said

me
The

Stronger than

their countenance.

the queen heard this she reproved the apos

and said

to the wise

men

of Israel

He

is

in your

hand.
6.

They departed from the queen and brought him

to Jeschu

the synagogue of Tiberias and bound him to the pillars

of the ark.
Then there gathered together the band of

simpletons and dupes,

desired to deliver

but they could not do

ing between them.

When
Give

who

him out
so,

believed on his words and

of the

hand

of the elders

and there arose great

he saw that he had no power to escape, he said

me some

copper vessel.

fight

They gave him vinegar in a

He began and spake with a loud voice
water.

me David prophesied and said When I was thirsty

they gave me vinegar to drink.
On his head they set a crown of thorns. The apos
Of

tates

lamented

sore,

and there was fighting between

them, brother with brother, father with son

wise

men brought

but the

the apostates low.

In another recension it is said that seventy elders with

seventy staves of different woods smite him, and he is asked to say
by whom and with what kind of staff he has been smitten, but he
can tell neither the name of the smiter nor the wood of the staff.
1

is

Disciples,

BIB JESUS LIVE 100

268

He

B.C. ?

began and spake Of me he prophesied and said

back I gave to the smiters, etc. Further of these

My

the Scripture saith Draw hither, sons of the sorceress.

And of me hath been said But we held him, etc. And
of me he said The Messiah shall be cut off and he is not.
:

When

the apostates heard this, they began to stone

them with

stones,

and there was great hatred among

them.
The Betrayal
of Jeschu.

Then were the elders afraid, and the apostates bore

him off from them, and his three hundred and ten
disciples

brought him to the city of Antioch, where he

year Passover
[sic]

came

Now

the rest-day of Passover.

till

sojourned

fell

in that

on the Sabbath, and he and his sons

on the rest-day of Passover,

to Jerusalem,

on the Friday, he riding on an ass and saying to

his disciples
Of me it was said
Eejoice greatly,
that

is

of Zion, etc.

Daughter
In the same hour they all cried aloud, bowed them
selves before him, and he with his three hundred and
ten disciples went into the sanctuary.

Then came one

of

Gardener], and said

the rogue ? They said

is,

answered

He

is

the school-house.
us.

He

ten

disciples,

That

in the sanctuary,
said to

They

answered them

ments, that

ye come

who was called Gaisa [that

Do you want
to the wise men
Where is he to be found ? He

them,

We,

him

that
:

is

to say, in

Show him unto

his three

hundred and

have already sworn by the command

but if
will not say of him who he is

we

in the morning, give

me

the greeting, 1 and I

is the customary form of greeting (probably the kiss of

used
among the followers of Jeschu, as we learn from B. s
peace)

recension.

269

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

will go

and make an obeisance before him, and before

whom

did

make

obeisance, he

And

the rogue.

is

they

so.

The

Jeschu gathered together, went and

were come from

disciples of

gave their fellows the greeting, for they

all

of

places to pray on the

Mount

of Olives

on the Feast

Unleavened Bread.

Then the wise men went

into the sanctuary, where

who had come from

those were

also the rogue

with them,

among them.

left

the

rest

of

Antioch, and there was

Thereupon Gaisa entered

the company, made an

Whereupon the
him
and
seized him.
it,
What is thy name ? He answered Proofs from
7. They said to him
Scn )ture
Mathai. They said to him
Whence hast thou a proof
from the Scripture ?
When
He answered them
obeisance

men saw

wise

Jeschu.

the rogue

before

arose against

(mathai) shall I come and see the face of

him

said to

perish

When (mathai)

God

and

shall he die

They

his

name

Further they said to him

What is thy name ? He
answered
said
to him
Whence hast
Naki.
They
:

thou a proof from the Scripture ? He answered

with
hands
and
a
clean
heart.
said
to
pure (nald)
They
:

He remaineth not unpunished.

Further they said to him What is thy name ? He
answered
Boni.
They said Whence hast thou a

him

proof from the Scripture ? He answered

son (beni) is Israel. They said
Of thee
:

Behold, I will slay

Further

they

it

first-born

was

said

thy first-born son.

said:

answered: Netzer.
proof

My

What

They

from the Scripture

said:
?

He

is

thy

Whence

He

name?
hast

thou a

answered them

DID JESUS LIVE 100

270
branch
said to
like

(netzer) shall spring

him

Thou

an abominable branch

more, as he gave himself

Jesclm

is
"

CabbageStalk.

up out

art cast forth

B.C. ?

of his roots.
They
from thy sepulchre,

And

(netzer).

many

thus

still

names. 1

Forthwith they seized him, and his disciples could

n t deliver him. When he saw himself brought to
death he began and spake: Verily hath David
prophesied of me and said: For Thy sake are we
smitten every day. And of you said Isaiah
Your
:

hands are
before

full of blood.

God

And

They slew

of

you

said the prophet

Thy prophets

with

the

sword.

The apostates began to lament and could not deliver

him. At the same hour was he put to death. And it
was on Friday on the rest-day of Passover and
When they would hang him on a tree
Sabbath.
it

of

the

(Holz),

was with him the Shem. 2

brake, for there

But when the simpletons saw that the trees brake

under him, 3 they supposed that this was because of his
great godliness, until they brought

For while he was yet

alive he

him

knew

a cabbage-stalk.

the custom of the

they would hang him, he

Israelites,

that

death, the

manner

of his

knew

being put to death,

they would hang him on a

tree.

At

that

his

and that
time he

brought it to pass by means of the Shem, that no tree

should bear him but over the cabbage-stalk he did
;

not utter the pronounced name, for

1

it is

not tree but

Compare with the above the Talmud passage quoted

The Disciples and Followers of Jesus
on
"

chapter

in the
in

the

Talmud."

2
3

This is in contradiction with c. 7.

Another recension tells us that they tried every tree (there

being seventy kinds).

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

and so

green-stuff,

there

years

special

[in

271
in

are]

Jerusalem cabbages with more than a hundred pounds

[of seed] unto this day.

When they had let him hang until the time

noon prayer, 2 they took him down from the
so it is written His body shall not remain
:

of after
tree, for
all

night

upon the tree, etc. They buried him ... on Sunday,

and the apostates of his people wept over his grave.
8.

Some

young men of Israel passed by them. The Body is

them in the Aramaic tongue Why do the Grave,

of the
to

They spake

the foolish ones sit by the grave

Let us look

foolish ones said in their heart, that

men] would

him in the

see

saying

He whom

The

they [the young

grave, but they found

Thereupon the foolish ones sent

to

they put to death

him

not.

Queen Helene,
was a Messiah,

and very many wonders did he show while living, but

now after his death they buried him, but he is not in
the grave, for he
it

is

written

already ascended to heaven, and

is

For

He

taketh me, Sela

Thus did he

prophesy concerning himself.

said
What have ye
answered
her
We have put
They
him to death, for that was the judgment concerning

She sent to the wise

done with him

men and

him.

She said

them

ye have already put him to

death, what have ye done then ? They answered her
We have buried him. Forthwith they sought him in
to

If

the grave and found

1

Text

defective.

him

not.

K. supplies the lacuna with the words in

brackets, but this is by no means a satisfactory conjecture, as

shall see from the reading preserved by Kaymund Martini.
2 About
three o clock.

we

272

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Thereupon she said to them

where is he therefore

buried him

B.C.

In

this

grave

ye

Then were the wise men affrightened and wist not

to answer her, for a certain one had taken him
from the grave, borne him to his garden, and stopped
what

the water which flowed into his garden; then digged

he in the sand and buried him, and let the water flow

again over his grave.

The

Procla11

Queen

The queen said If ye show me not Jeschu, I will

vou no peace and no escape. They answered her
Give us an appointed time and terms.
:

ive

When

she had granted them an appointed time,

all

remained lamenting in fasting and prayer, and

the apostates found occasion to say Ye have slain
Israel

God

anointed!

And all Israel was in great

men and all the land of Israel

anguish, and the wise

hurried from place to

place because of the great fear.

forth an elder from them, whose

Then went

was Kabbi Tanchuma

garden in the

When
:

fields.

this

and this

Wherefore lamentest thou

and

He answered

because of that rogue

already
the queen granted, and
;

name

he went forth lamenting in a

the owner of the garden saw him, he said to

him

found

lo,

is it

we

who

is

For

not to be

the appointed time which

are all in lamentation and

fasting.

As soon as he heard his words, that all Israel is as

them who mourn, and that the rogues say He is gone
:

up into heaven, the owner of the garden said

shall joy

in Israel, for I

To-day
have stolen

of the apostates, so that

they should

and gladness reign

him away because

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

not

him

take

and

have

the

273

opportunity

for

all

time. 1

Forthwith they went to Jerusalem, told them the The Body

good tidings, and all the Israelites followed the owner of

is

the garden, bound cords to his [Jeschu s] feet, and dragged

him round in the streets of Jerusalem, till they brought
him to the queen and said
There is he who is
:

ascended to heaven

They departed from her

in joy,

and she mocked the

apostates and praised the wise men.

9. His disciples fled and scattered themselves in the The

Disciples

kingdom three of them [went] to Mount Ararat, three ma ke strife

Israel
of them to Armenia, three to Koine, the others to other
;

places,

and misled the peoples, but everywhere where

God sent his judgment upon them,

and they were slain.
But many among the apostates of our people went
there was strife between them and
astray after him
they took refuge,

prayers and

much

money.
Everywhere where the apostates caught sight

of the

the

Israelites,

confusion

of

loss of

Israelites they said to the

Israelites

God s anointed
Ye are children

Israelites

false

But the

of death,

Ye have

slain

answered them

because ye have believed on a

prophet
Nevertheless they went not forth from the community
of Israel, and there was strife and contention among
!

them, so that Israel had no peace.

1

B.

recension reads

"

And

thereafter

make

trouble for the

Israelites."

This word in the text

B. s recension reads

is
"

which went into the hands

uncertain.

And

they

made Israel lose much money,

of non- Jews."

18

in

DIB JESUS LIVE 100

274

When

men

the wise

of Israel

saw

B.C. ?

this they said

[It

now] thirty years since that rogue was put to death,

[and] till now we have no peace with these misguided
is

ones,
of

and

our

hath befallen us because

this

written

sins, for it is

wrath with their not-God l

of the

number

They have moved me

to

me

to

they have provoked

that is the Christians,

anger with their vanities, etc.
2
who are not [? naught]
with a base people will I pro
voke them
that is, the Ishmaelites. 3
;

The wise
Sabbath

How

long shall the apostates profane

and feasts, and slay one another? Let

said

us rather seek for a

wise

man who may

take these

It is now
erring ones out of the community of Israel.
thirty years that we have admonished them, but they

have not returned to God, because they have taken it

into their heads that Jeschu is the Messiah, and so may

How

Elijahu

they go to destruction and peace be with us.

10. The wise men agreed on a man whose

from

Israel.

Elijahu,

name was

and he was very learned in the Scripture, and

him
We have agreed, that we will

they said to

pray for thee, that thou shalt be counted as a good

Israelite in the other world.
Go, and do good for

and remove the apostates from

Israel,

go to destruction

us, that

they

may

4
Elijahu went to the Sanhedrin at Tiberias, to Antioch,
and made proclamation throughout the whole land of

Israel

not
2

A.V

Whoso
"

believeth on Jeschu, let

They have moved me

K. adds in a note
Who worship a
That is, the Mohammedans.
"

This seems to be a gloss.

join himself

with that which

God."

->

to jealousy

him

not-God."

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

me

to

Then

them

said he to

who

(apostle) of Jeschu,

show you a marvel,

sent

am

me

to

275

the messenger

you, and I

will

as Jeschu did.

They brought unto him a leper, and he laid his hand

upon him, so that he was healed. They brought unto
him a lame man, he uttered the Shem, laid his hand
on him, and he was healed and stood upon his feet.
they fell down before him and said:
Truly thou art the messenger of Jeschu, for thou hast
shown us marvels as he did.

Forthwith

He

said to

and saith

At

Jeschu sendeth you his greeting

with my Father in heaven at His right
:

am
He shall

hand, until

David

them

take vengeance on the Jews,

on

said: Sit thou

my

same hour they

the

all

as

right hand, etc.

lamented and added foolish

ness to their foolishness.

them

Elijahu said to

me

ever will be with

himself from the

Jeschu saith to you

in the other world, let

of Israel

community

and

Whoso

him remove
join himself

my Father in heaven hath already

and
from
henceforth requireth not their
them
rejected
not to them; for

service, for so said

and

feasts

my

But Jeschu
let

He

through Isaiah

saith to you

light

to

it

He

And

His world.

Eesurrection, for

for

God hateth it, but

it God gave

for

he

keep yet
is

risen

Passover which the

for

on the Feast

it

from

Feast of Weeks, Ascension, for on

;

will follow me,

keepeth the Sunday, for on

Israelites solemnize,

heaven

Your new-moons

Whosoever

him profane the Sabbath,

instead of

soul hateth, etc.

New

Year, Finding

Great Fast Day [Day

of

his grave
it

he

is

of the

for

the

ascended to

of the Cross

for the

Atonement], the Feast of the

The

Corn-

276

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

Chanuka

Feast

Circumcision:
Calendse

for

[New

[the

of

Lights],

Year].

The foreskin is naught, circumcision is naught

whosoever will circumcise himself, let him be circum
cised; whosoever will not circumcise himself, let him

Moreover, whatsoever God created

be not circumcised.
in the world,

from the smallest gnat

elephant, pour forth its blood

to the mightiest

upon the ground and eat

As the green grass have I given

If
of
one
them
all.
compel you to go a mile, go
you
with him twain if a Jew smite you on the left side
turn to him the right also if a Jew revile you, endure
it,

for so it is written

it

and return

it

not again, as Jeschu endured

it;

in

meekness he showed himself, therewith he showed you

also meekness as he practised it, that ye might endure

At the last judgment

all that any should do to you.
Jeschu will punish them, but do ye have hope according
Seek ye the Lord,
to your meekness, for so it is written
:

ye meek
from Israel

all

of the earth, etc.

Until he separated them

But Elijahu who gave them these

laws, the not-good

ones, did it for the welfare of Israel,

and the Christians

call

him

Paul.

After he had introduced these laws

and commandments, the erring ones separated them

selves from Israel, and the strife ceased.
The Heresy

of

long time after the Persian power arose then a

Christian departed from them, made a mock of them,
11.

just as the heretics

had laughed

at the wise

men

[of

Israel].

He
when

said to

Paul was in error in his scripture

you Circumcise yourselves not for

them

he said to

Jeschu was circumcised.

Further hath Jeschu said:

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

I

am

277

not come to destroy even one jot from the law of

fulfil all his words.
And that is your

Moses, but to

shame, which Paul laid upon you, when

cumcise yourselves not.

But Nestorius
for

them

said to

said

lie

Cir

Circumcise yourselves,

Jeschu was circumcised.

Further said Nestorius

Ye

heretics

Ye say Jeschu

God, though he was born of a woman.

Only the
Holy Spirit rested on him as on the prophets.

is

Nestorius

who began to argue with the

women he said to them I

persuaded their

Christians,
will enact

that no Christian take two wives.

But

Nestorius became detestable in their eyes,

there arose a strife between them, in so much that no
as

Christian would pray to the abomination of Nestorius,

or the followers of Nestorius to the abomination of the
Christians.

Then Nestorius went

the

name

of

Babylon to another place,

which was Chazaza, and all fled before him,
to

because Nestorius was a violent man.

The women

said to

him

What

requirest thou of us

He answered them I require only that ye receive from

me the bread-and-wine offering.
Now it was the custom of the woman of Chazaza,
:

that they carried large keys in their hands.

He

gave one of them the offering

she cast

it

to the

Whereupon the women cast the keys in their

hands upon him smote him, so that he died, and there
was for long strife between them.

ground.

12.

Now

Shimeon

the chief of the Sanhedrin, his

and

was

name was

he called Kepha ?
Kepha
why
Because he stood on the stone on which Kzekiel had

Sbimeon

DID JESUS LIVE 100

278

B.C. ?

1
prophesied at the river Kebar, and on that stone it was
that Shimeon heard a voice from heaven. 2 When the

Christians heard that Shimeon

who heard

Kepha was one

of those

heaven, and that stores

a voice from

of

wisdom were in him, they envied the Israelites, that so

God brought it into
great a man was found in Israel,
mind
to
to
Jerusalem
on the Feast of
...
Shimeon s
go
.

Tabernacles.

And

there were gathered together

all

the

3
bishops and the great ancient of the Christians. They
came to Shimeon Kepha to the Mount of Olives on the

Feast of Willow-twigs. 4 When they saw

his wisdom, that [there was] not one in Israel like unto
him, ... to turn him to the religion of the Christians,

day

of the great

and they constrained him, saying

If

thou dost not

profess our religion, we will put thee to death, and not

leave even one remaining in Israel to go into the

sanctuary.

When

the

Israelites

perceived

him: Humour them, act according

shall neither sin nor guilt be

on

this,

they besought

to thy

wisdom; so

thee.

Thereupon when he perceived the hard fate for Israel,

he betook himself to the Christians, and said to them

On

this

condition do

religion, that

become a convert

to

your
ye put no Jew to death, that ye smite

This is transliterated in the A.V. as Chebar, presumably

This Babylonian stream, near
following the Septuagint Chobar.
which Ezekiel had his prophetic visions, is now identified with
one of the canals (Bab. ndrdti) of Babylonia, Hilprecht having
twice found mention of a certain ndru called Kabaru.
"

Chebar,"

in

Ency. Bib.")
lit.,
daughter of a
"

Bath-Jcol,

(See art.,

"

voice,"

that

is,

"

small

voice,"

an inner voice.
3

Presumably the pope.

The

sixth, or rather seventh,

day

of the Feast

of,. Tabernacles.

A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS.

him not and

suffer

him

to

go in and

279
out in

the

sanctuary.

The ancient and the Christians accepted

and

He made

these his conditions.

all

his

words

a condition with

them, that they would build him a lofty tower; he

would go into it, would eat no flesh, nor aught save

bread arid water, letting down a box by a cord, for

them to supply him with only bread and water, and he

would remain

in the tower until his death.

All this he did with respect to God, that he might

not be stained and sullied by them, and that he might
not mix with them but to the Christians he spake in
their sense as though he would mourn for Jeschu, and
;

eat no flesh or aught else, but bread and water only.

him

a tower, and he dwelt therein; he

sullied himself not

with eating, and prayed not to the

built

They
Cross.

Afterwards he composed in the

Jotzroth and Zulthoth
Kalir. 2
Israel,

tower

Keroboth, The

in his name, like Eliezer ben

He sent and gathered together the elders of

and handed over to their care all that he had

found in his mind, and charged them that they should

teach it to the leaders in prayer 3 and use it for prayers,
so that they

might make mention

of

him

for good.

to Babylon to Eabbi
They, moreover, sent it
5
Nathan, the Prince of the Exile, and they showed it
1

900
3
4

Various kinds of synagogue poetry.

famous synagogue

poet,

whose

probable

date

is

about

A.D.

Vorbetern = precentors.

That

is,

the book of prayers.

be meant for K. Nathan ha-Babli, who came from

Babylonia in the days of R. Shimeon ben Gamaliel II., and
6

Can

this

Scrip-

280

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

to the heads of the schools, to the Sanhedrin,

said

It is good,

prayer

and they taught

and they used

it

of all Israel,

soever would mention

to the leaders in

prayers.

Who

Shimeon

in his

it for

name

the

of

and they

chanting did so. May his memory endure to the life

of the other world.
him
But God in his mercy
.

as a good defender.

Amen

Sela

in Palestine?
The recension of the Sayings of the
Fathers attributed to Kabbi Nathan, included in the Pirke Aboth
tractate of the Talmud, is probably to be attributed to him.
He
settled

belonged to the fourth generation of Tanaim, that

nourished about 160-220 A.D.

is

to eay,

he

TKACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

XV.

IN the chapter on The Earliest External Evidence as

to the Talmud Jesus Stories," we ceased our enquiries
"

with Tertullian at the end

now

will

We

second century.
resume our researches with the special object of

seeing whether any

of

of the

the scattered notices of

Toldoth as
from
stories

Jew

versus Christian polemics which we have been able to

collect, may be referred to the Toldoth as distinguished
from the Talmud stories. Doubtless when the attention
of scholars is

more generally turned

some further out-of-the-way scraps

of

the subject,

to

information

may

be added, but the following is as complete as we have

been able to make it in the present state of affairs.
We will first of all repeat the passage we have already

quoted from Tertullian, for

its last

sentence shows that

every probability the "gardener" and "cabbage"

elements were in existence in his day, and these in

in

dubitably form part of the Toldoth

from the Talmud tradition.

Writing about 197-198

A.D.,

as

distinguished

the Bishop of Garth-

De Spect.,"
age thus rhetorically addresses the Jews
This
is
s
son,
xxx.)
your carpenter
your harlot s
son your Sabbath-breaker, your Samaritan, your demon("

"

possessed

This

is

He whom

ye bought from Judas

Tertullian.

282

DID JESUS LIVE 100

He who was

struck with reed and

B.C. ?

dishonoured

fists,

spittle, and given a draught of gall and vinegar

This He whom His disciples have stolen away secretly,

with

that

it

He

be said

may

has risen, or the gardener

abstracted that his lettuces might not be

the crowds of

When

visitors."

mentioned

damaged by

this passage to a learned

Jewish

friend, he remarked that probably the Toldoth legend-

makers had woven

Church Father.

their story out of this sentence of the

is, however, most highly improbable

that the detailed Toldoth story could be based upon

It

the scornful concluding sentence of Tertullian, for surely

the Jews were not students nor even readers of the
Fathers.
Does he

It

refer

age

seems far more probable that the Bishop of Carthreferring to some well-known Jewish story

is

his

familiar to all

by the gardener

readers.

but

why ?

The body was removed

Of course, says Tertullian,
was being trampled

to save his cabbages, for his garden

out

of

all

Now

one

see

existence

by the

crowds who came to

of

the earliest Toldoth recensions

known

to

us from outside sources (Hrabanus Maurus) speaks of

2
the body being originally buried in a garden, and

The most

recent translator

Cruttwell (C. T.),

"

Literary
History of Early Christianity (London 1893), ii. 582 renders
the last sentence freely as: "Or if you prefer it, whom the
gardener put away lest his herbs should be crushed by the
"

No explanation, however, is given, as, indeed, is

feet."
invariably the case with all translators and commentators.
2
It is to be noticed that the only evangelist who speaks of the
of a gardener, is the
sepulchre being in a garden, and consequently

press of

41
mystic writer of the fourth Gospel (John xix.

xx. 15).

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

that, too, a

garden

over to a certain

We,
that

full of cabbages,

Jew

283

and being handed

to guard.

therefore, conclude with very great confidence

this

deposit of

story, whatever

it

the Toldoth

goes back

to

the

was, which so roused the wrath

of

Tertullian.

Moreover, in his polemic against the Jews, the Bishop

of

Carthage declares

Adv.

("

Judaeos," c. ix.,

Jesus is
Stoned.

last para.)

that not even do they deny that Jesus performed wonders

ye used to say that it was

not on account of the works that ye stoned him, but
because he did them on the Sabbath."

of healing, "inasmuch as

some tradition

Is Tertullian here referring to

Jews

of

John

v.

of the

which he had heard, or only looking back to

And if the latter, had
17, 18, and x. 31, 33 ?

the writer of the fourth Gospel in mind some tradition

of stoning, which he thus worked into his mystic narra
tive

The Talmud Lud

stories

know

of a tradition of

stoning, and they were presumably in existence in

Tertullian s time.
But did the writer of the fourth

know

Gospel also
to

push

or so

know

this

of

such a tradition

element back to the end

and are we thus

of the first

century
Like the Talmud, the Toldoth recensions also

of a stoning, or a stoning

and hanging, or

of a

hanging alone, but never of a crucifixion.

In the Clementine Eecognitions (i. 42), of which the The Clemen

form lying before us is generally ascribed to the third

century, but which contain far older material, we read

them, watching the place with care, when

could
not
they
prevent His rising again, said that He

"

For some

of

was a magician, others pretended that His body was

stolen

away."

284
If

Pagan
Writers

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

the works of any Pagan writers could have helped

us in this matter,

it

others the books

was

to be expected

that

of

all

Porphyry, Hierocles and Julian

against the Christians would have furnished us with
of

some valuable information, but unfortunately only a few

fragments of these polemical treatises have been pre
served, and these in spite of the closest scrutiny, can
,

show us only that

these philosophers regarded the

Jesus
as being due to his magical
wonder-doings
powers, or rather to the fact of his being a Magus,
all

of

like

many

others in

antiquity.

Such miracles did

not prove the contention of the Christians that

Jesus was God, for similar wonders, equally well
authenticated, and in a more recent case better
authenticated according to Hierocles, had been

by
Porphyry.

done

others.

Porphyry (233-? 305 A.D.) wrote fifteen books "Against

the Christians," and no less than thirty champions of
the Faith,

we

are told, attempted to refute

theless only a few fragments of

him

never

what must have been

a very drastic criticism have been preserved to us

;*

for

not only the original, but also every one of the thirty

have disappeared, and this is strange, for it

be supposed that at least some of these thirty
must have been thought by the Fathers to have dis
refutations,
to

is

posed of the Syrian

Hebrew, and

it

contentions.

Porphyry knew

might therefore be expected that he was

acquainted with any tradition of the Jews hostile to

Christian claims.
It is true that a modern writer
asserts
1

that the disciple of Plotinus gives

See Georgiades (A.),

Hop<}>vpiov

(Leipzig

trtp}

1891).

the

name

rwv Kara Xpianav&v airofnraa^drwv TOV

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

Pandera as

"

Panzerius,"

285

have not been able

but, so far, I

1
to verify this unreferenced statement.

Hieroeles, successively governor of Palmyra, Bithynia

Hierocles.

and Alexandria, and also a philosopher, in 305 A.D.,

wrote a criticism on the claims of the Christians in two
"

books, called

more

A Truthful Address to the

briefly

He

Truth-lover."

"The

Christians,"

or

seems to have

based himself for the most part on the previous works

of Celsus and Porphyry, but introduced a new subject

controversy by opposing the wonderful works of

Apollonius of Tyana to the claims of the Christians

of

to exclusive right in miracles as proof of the divinity of

their

To

Master.

this

Eusebius

pertinent criticism

immediately replied in a treatise

still

extant.

Julian the Emperor (360-363 A.D.), somewhere about

362-363, wrote seven books "Against the Christians"
;

number

Church writers

of

most famous

replied, the

being Cyril of Alexandria, who wrote (somewhere between

429 and 441

A.D.)

an enormous work

of eighteen books,

apparently, however, dealing with only three books

of Julian s indictment.
Unfortunately only fragments of
3
Cyril s treatise have been preserved to us.

Massey

(G.),

"The

Natural

The most convenient

Genesis"

(London

1883),

ii.

489.

Eusebii Pamphili
Gaisford,
contra Hieroclem (London ; 1852), see
Apollonius of Tyana,
the Philosopher Reformer of the First Century A.D." (London
-

text is

"

by

my

"

"

1901), pp. 32

ff.

Neumann (0. J.),

Imp. Librorum contra Christianos

This is the third fasciculus of a
Scriptorum Grt^corum qui Christianam improposed series,
pugnaverunt Rcligionem," but the first and second parts, presum
ably containing the fragments of Celsus, Porphyry and Hierocles,
have not yet seen the light. For the information of book -lovers I
may mention that I have in my possession a rare work of Thomas
:}

See

"

Juliani

"

quae supersunt

(Leipzig
"

1880).

Julian the

286

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

no part

It is

The"Chrest"

of

our present task to enquire into the

but there is one passage which

of Julian,

arguments

contains a strange phrase bearing on the question of the

confusion of Chrestos and Christos to which

already
writes
"

an

referred in

At any

What

does Julian

John

christ

The Acts of

"

But

who

God, but only the good John

ventured to assert this."

mean by
John

distinguishing
?

Did the

Does he

"

John from

refer to

John

original even read

"

the

"

to return to our

said

is

is

the chrest

an illuminate

as

Pionius.

Iwarn;?)

xp>?0"ro9

the rest as

Matthew nor Mark

rate neither Paul nor

dared to say that Jesus

(6

we have

Julian thus

earlier chapter.

"

"

traces

the Acts of Pionius,

have been martyred in 250 A.D., and

whose Acta was certainly read by

to

the original of

Eusebius at the beginning of the fourth century, state

that the

Jews

and that

it

after the

crucifixion."

all

"

Taylor,

say that Christ practised necromancy,

was by

But that he
what

"

its

power that he was brought

rose again, in the physical sense,

the Jews have ever denied, and

The Arguments

of the

to life

is

just

we can only

Emperor Julian

against the

1809), which a slip from a catalogue gummed

inside the cover states to have been
privately printed by Mr

(London

Christians,"

"

who

destroyed, for fear of prosecution, the entire

impression with the exception of 5 or 6 copies. For one of these
it adds,
he in vain offered 100." What truth there may
copies,"

Meredith,

"

be in this statement I do not know, for

I also possess a

copy of a

Porphyry and the Emperor

Julian against the Christians" (London; 1830), also plainly the
work of Thomas Taylor, but without his name on the title-page,
and this was not withdrawn from circulation.

book called

"Arguments

of Celsus,

See Bollandist Collection, under Feb.

1 (c.

iii.).

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

287

suppose that the redactor of the Acts has here mis

understood the general charge of the Jews and Pagans
that Jesus learned magic in Egypt.

Thus the converted philosopher Arnobius, who wrote

his treatise
somewhere about
Against the Nations
303-313 A.D., tells us (i. 43), that the commonest

Arnobius.

"

"

argument against the claims of the Christians con

He was a Magus he did all these
cerning Jesus was
things (sc. miracida) by secret arts; from the shrines
"

he

the Egyptians

of

the names

stole

of

l
might and hidden disciplines."
This, as we have already seen, was one

elements of the Talmud stories

of the

magic was brought out

of

of

main

the Toldoth, however,

they retain the strange fashion in

though

angels

which the

Egypt, have converted the

shrines of Egypt into the sanctuary of the

Temple

at

Jerusalem.

We

next come

308-373

(c.

to a curious passage in

A.D.),

which

us that

tells

Ephrem Syrus

"

the anti-christ

serpent shall be born of a Danite mother

who

father,

like

glide
mate."

The

and a Latin

and with unlawful love shall

stealthily

a slippery snake

to

the

embraces

of his

3
"

Latin

refer to the

"

says Krauss

father,"

Koman

Hildebrand (G.

"

F.),

"

soldier

(p. 216),

seems

Panthera spoken

Arnobii Adv. Nationes

of

to

by

"

(Halle

1844),

p. 67.
2
Gf. Gen.
adder in the

"

xlix. 17.

"

Dan

shall be a serpent

by the way, an

path."

Ephrem Syrus in Genesim," ,vol. i. p. 192 D. of

(Rome 1737). See also Bousset

edition of Benedict

the Vatican

(W.), "Der
Antichrist in der Uberlieferting des Judenthums, des neuen Testa
ments und der alten Kirche (Gottingen 1895), pp. 79 and 92.
;

"

Ephrem
Syrus>

288

BIB JESUS LIVE 100

and the

Celsus,

B.C.

seems

rest of the sentence

to represent

the stealthy proceedings of Pandera in the Toldoth. 1

In his Letter to Heliodorus, which was written in

A.D., Jerome seems to have had in memory the

Jerome.

374

passage of Tertullian
for

already quoted,

workman and

("

De

of a harlot

which we have

Spect.")

he writes

He

"

He

that son of a

is

who

it is

fled into

Egypt; He the clothed with a scarlet robe; He the

crowned with thorns; He a Magus demon-possessed,

and a Samaritan

"

Further, in his Letter

writes

"

at Koine

alogies of

Titus

to

Jerome

9),

(iii.

heard formerly concerning the Hebrews

.

that they bring into question the gene

Christ."

Krauss

thinks that this refers

(p. 4.)

which the

to a distinct altercation, or a set synod, in

"

question of the Genealogies, that

is,

the

"

Generationes

(Toldoth) of Jesus, were brought into question

the question of a synod I cannot follow him. 3

About the same date (375

Epiphanius

A.D.)

stating in the genealogy of Jesus

we

find

("Hser.,"

but in

Epiphanius

Ixxvii. 7), that

Joseph was the son of a certain Jacob whose surname

was Panther, an extraordinary declaration which we will
treat at greater length later on when we come to speak
a

of

more striking statement

still

Bishop of

of the

Constantia.

But, as I have already stated in

Mary Stories," I cannot discover the
1

tlie
"

chapter on

Roman

Panthera, but neither in

there anything to denote his nationality.

there
2

is

"

soldier

"

Migne,

"

Patrol.

Hieronymi Opera

Cursus Complet.

Omnia"

(Paris

Lat.,"

Moreover,

i.

cannot verify his quotation.

i.

"

in Celsus

32 or in

torn xxi.,

1845), torn.

xiv. 11.
3

The Talmud

"

soldier

col.

"

S.

354

i.

69

is

Eusebii
Epistola

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

That

289

commentator John Chrysostom,

prolific

in the John

fragments which have survived of his Homilies on

the Psalms, written somewhere towards the close of the
fourth century, remarks (Ps.
if
you ask them (the Jews),
Christ

viii.

no. 3.

"

c.

v.)

And

Why

did ye crucify the

they reply, Because he was a deceiver and a

sorcerer."

But the Jews would never have admitted the ques

tion in this form, for the very simple reason that they

consistently denied that Jesus

was the

Whether

Christ.

they would have admitted even that they had

"

fied

is

him,

reference

"

1
Theodoret, H.

the

S., iii.

11

"

as a confirma

the passage of Tertullian

to

quoted above, but

From

cruci

to be doubted.

Oehler gives
tory

"

cannot verify

"

Disputatio

we have

this.

cum Herbano

Judseo,"

attri-

Gregontius.

buted to Gregontius, Bishop of Taphar in Arabia, who

flourished in the second half of the fifth century, we
also learn that the

Jews declared that Jesus had been

2
put to death because he was a magician.

John
century,

De

("

Damascus, in the

of

in

Fid.

giving

Orthod.,"

first half

of the

eighth John
the genealogy of Mary, tells us
iv. 14) that Joachim was the father

Mary, Bar Panther the father of Joachim, and

Levi the father of Bar Panther, and, therefore, presum
As also in the case of Epiably Panther himself.
of

phanius,

John does not breathe a word

of

Panther

(Pandera) being the invention of an enemy, but simply

records the name as a genuine piece of accepted
history.
1

385-453
"

A.D.

Bibliotheque des P6res de Margarin de la

quoted by Bullet,

Bigue,"

op. sub. dt. t p. 95.

19

t.

i.,

as

of

290

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

It is also very plain that the famous Damascene does

not copy from Epiphanius, but draws from some other
totally different tradition.

So

far it

Syrus,

must be confessed that

we have

not, since the

met with any

indications

end

if

which

clearly to distinguish Toldoth stuff

dition,

we except Ephrem

of the second century,

but with the ninth century

would

enable

us

from Talmud tra

we come

to

undeni

able proofs of the existence of highly-developed forms of

Toldoth as contrasted with Talmud data.

Agobard.

De Judaicis Superstitionibus," Agobard,

writing somewhere about 820-830
Lyons,
Bishop
the
makes
A.D.,
following highly interesting statement
For in the teachings of their elders they (the Jews)
In

"

his

of

"

read: That Jesus was a youth held in esteem

them,

who had

for his teacher

he had very many

the

name Cephas,

hardness

and

among

John the Baptist

that

one of whom he gave

Petra (Rock), because of the

disciples, to

that

is

dulness

understanding; that
when the people were waiting for him on the feast-day,
some of the youths of his company ran to meet him,
of

his

crying unto him out of honour and respect, Hosanna,

that at last having been accused on
son of David
;

many

lying charges, he

was

decree of Tiberius, because

whom

cast into prison

by the

he had made his (T.

he had promised the birth

s)

a
daughter (to
male child without [contact with] a man) conceive of a
stone; that for this cause also he was hanged on
a

stake

as

an abominable sorcerer

smitten on the head with a rock and in

of

whereon being
this

way

slain,

by a canal, and handed over to a

certain Jew to guard
by night, however, he was
he

was

buried

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

291

away by a sudden overflowing of the canal,

and though he was sought for twelve moons by the
order of Pilate, he could never be found that then

carried

made

Pilate

them

It

is

the following

legal

manifest, said he, that

proclamation

he has

unto

risen, as he

who for envy was put to death by you,

and neither in the grave nor in any other place is he

promised, he

this

found; for

worship him

cause,

and he who

therefore,

decree

will not do so, let

that

ye

him know

that his lot will be in hell (in inferno).

"

Now

these things their elders have so garbled,

all

and they themselves read them over and over again

with such foolish stubbornness, that by such fictions
the whole truth of the virtue and passion of Christ is

made

Him
law

though worship should not be shown

as truly God, but is paid Him only because of the
as

void,

of

Pilate."

The above

is

manifestly a very rough report of some Written

it is impossible to say whether

the Bishop of Lyons, who knew no Hebrew or Aramaic,
has reported quite correctly what he had heard of the

Toldoth recension

who

Jews,

in

numbers, and

of

his

day had flocked to Lyons in great

he was a strenuous and bitter

whom

opponent, writing no less than four treatises against

them. As we shall see later on, however, he could not

have been very far out as to some of the main features

of his report.
The most important point is that
twice
tells
us that the Jews
such
Agobard
"read"

stories

Toldoth Jeschu had, therefore, been committed

to writing at least prior to the early years of the ninth

1

from the very poor Latin

from Patr. Lat.," civ. p. 87.

translate

Krauss

"

(p. 5)

of the text
printed

by

292

DID JESUS LIVE 100

So much

century.

is

certain

this they existed in written

means
Hiabanus

B.C. ?

how much earlier than

form we have so far no

of deciding.

Almost about the same

date,

moreover, we

find

Hrabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, acquainted with

a totally different form of Toldoth.
Judaeos,"

written about 847

A.D.

In his book, Contra

(K. 7), he tells us:
"

They (the Jews) blaspheme because we believe on

him whom the Law of God saith was hanged on a tree
"

and [they declare] that on

and cursed by God,
the protest and by direction of his teacher Joshua
.

ben Perachiah), he was taken down from the

and cast into a grave in a garden full of cabbages,

J.

(i.e.,

tree,

made impure
own tongue Ussum Hamizri,

that their land should not be

so

him

in

their

means

in

Latin,

call

they

which

Egyptian Destroyer).
he had been taken down
.

taken out

of the

^Egyptius (the
they say that after
from the tree, he was again
Dissipator

And

grave by their forebears, and was

dragged by a rope through the whole city, and thus

cast
.,
confessing that he was a godless one, and
.

the son of a godless [fellow], that

other

whom

is of

some Gentile or

by whom

call

Pandera,
they say
they
the mother of the Lord was seduced, and thence he

whom we
As

believe on,

to the original

l
born."

from which

this passage is taken,

p. 97) tells us that it was first

the
learned Father Pierre Franqois
by
2
It was attributed
Chifflet, of the Company of Jesus.

Bullet (op.

sub.

cit.,

printed at Dijon

Krauss

word
2

(p. 13) gives

to his

There

is

"

Tela Ignea

no copy

the text as taken from Wagenseil

Satanse,"

of this

work

p. 52.

in the British

Museum.

Fore

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

by him

293

Kaban Maur, Archbishop of Mainz, who was

subsequently identified by a number of scholars with
to

Amolon, who succeeded Agobard in the see

we must suppose

840,

that

of

Lyons.

Agobard died

If this identification is correct, as

Hrabanus wrote

in

his treatise

But the type of Toldoth quoted differs so

from
that of Agobard, that it is taken by
entirely
Krauss (p. 13) to represent a German form as dis
at Lyons.

tinguished from Agobard s recension, which he calls

In any case the name of the Archbishop
romanische."

"

argues that he probably had some acquaintance with

Hebrew, and therefore that perhaps he is drawing from
a written source
is

at best

it is,

however, very evident that he

summarizing very roughly.

The otherwise unknown Ussum

ha-Mizri

is

a puzzle

(?

neither Krauss

or Ussus
(p.

= Jeschu)

Ussum

13) nor Bischoff

can make anything out of it as it stands. I

would, however, suggest that whatever the original of

(ibid., n.)

Ussum may have been, if it meant

may have to do with some play on

Dissipator,"

the meaning of
and
that
the
name means
(the Destroyer),

Balaam
"

simply

the Egyptian destroyer of the

however, of interest to notice that

text (pp. 20, 24, 26) the
"the

we

"

because

Egyptian,"

name
"he

of

the

is,

Huldreich

in

Pandera

did

It

people."

is

given as

work

of

the

Egyptians."

As

to the

eleventh
"Jesus"),

Mary

story which Suidas, in the tenth or

reproduces

century,

and

to

to our enquiry, I

which Krauss

his

Lexicon

Toldoth nature.

(ibid.,

n.)

(s.v.

(p. 4) refers as apposite

have carefully gone through

agree with Bischoff

of a

in

that

it

it,

and

contains nothing

Suidas.

ha-

294

DID JESUS LIVE 100

We

Peter

next come to the

B.C.

"

Dialogues of Petrus Alphonlived in the early years of the

"

sus (or Alphonsi), who

twelfth century.
Peter before his conversion had been
called

Moses

Christians,

in the Dialogues

between the Jews and

therefore, the dramatis persona: appear as

Moses and Peter.

Moses declares that the Jews contend that Jesus

was a magician and the son of a harlot, and that he
led the whole nation into error."

"

He

"

was a

he repeats, and by magic art

Israel into error and over and above
"

magician,"

led the sons of

he proclaimed himself the Son of God."

To Peter s objection, How could Jesus have learned

this

to

magic enough

lepers, lame, deaf,

have turned water into wine, healed

dumb, and blind, and beyond all this

have brought the dead to

to

men

learned

"Our

declare

life

that

Moses

he

learned

replies

in

it

Egypt."

With regard to this

"The

first

apostate

Peter,

that

Kohler and Gottheil

is

known

write:

have written

to

against the Jewish creed was Moses Sephardi, known

by the name of Petrus Alfonsi (physician to Alfonso VI.),
1
The portion of the Dialogues bearing on our enquiry will be
found in the Abbe M. Bullet s
Histoire de 1 Etablissement du
Christianisme tiree des seuls Auteurs juifs et payens
(Paris
Bullet gives his reference as Bibliotheque des
1764), pp. 99 ff.
P6res de Lyon," vol. xxi.
There is also a German translation of
"

"

"

"

"

Bullet s work,

Gesch. der Griindung des Christenthums, by P. J.

Bullet, in the French edition, gives a
1830).
paraphrase of Wagenseil s Toldoth text (pp. 75-84), a brief resume
of Huldreich s (pp. 85 86), the Latin text (pp. 89-92) and a trans
"

Weckers (Mainz

lation of

the

Eaymund

and translation
In their article

text
2

"

Martini (des Martins) (pp. 86-89), and the

of
"

Agobard

(pp. 96, 97).

Apostasy and Apostates from Judaism

Jewish Encyclopaedia

"

(New York

1902).

"

in

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

295

baptised in 1106, and author of the well-known collec

He wrote a
tion of fables,
Disciplina Clericalis.

work

against

entitled,

Dialogi

Mohammedan

and

Jewish

doctrines,

Impise Judaeorum et
This book,
Confutantur.

in

Quibus

Saracenorum

Opiniones
however, seems to have had little influence."
The importance of our quotations is that
~

.,

Peter Raymund
.

,-,

Alphonsi was a Jew of Spam it is true that we gain

very little from Peter, but a fellow-countryman of his,
;

any rate, one who was familiar with Spanish Jewry,

Raymund Martini, has more to tell us. Raymund was

or, at

born at Sobriat in 1236, and died in 1286.

He

sat

on

the Inquisitorial Commission at Barcelona, and was very

Raymund was a
energetic against the Jews in Spain.

Dominican, and is regarded as the first Christian of his

time to study Oriental languages. His great work against
the Jews was called
of Faith/

In

Poignard
Pugio Fidei," or the
under the heading Fabula de Christi
"

"

"

it,

Miraculis Judaica, id est

we

Maligna,"

quotation, of which, however, there is

translation, for with a

few variants

of

find a lengthy

no need to give a
no particular im

portance it is verbally identical with chapters 3-5 of

the Strassbourg MS. Toldoth, a translation of which

we have

already given.

It is thus

proved beyond a doubt that this portion

the contents of the Strass.

least to the
1

This was

edition

by

J.

MS. goes back,

More-

middle of the thirteenth century.

first

edited

by

J. P.

de Voisin (Paris

editions are in the British

Mansacci (Paris
1651)

Museum

of

verbally, at

1642)

second

copies of neither of these

the last edition is by J. B.
;

Carpzov (Leipzig ; 1687).

2
Carpzov s edition, pars ii. cap. viii.
sponding to foil. 290, 291 of orig. edition.

vi.,

pp. 362-364, corre

Martini.

296

DID JESUS LIVE 100

over,

appears probable that the written Toldoth from

E. Martini translated may have contained

it

which

chapters

and 2

mouth

of

the Strass. MS., otherwise there

of

would be no point
the

B.C. ?

for the reader in the

Jesus,

"Behold,

phrase put into

the wise say I am a

"

bastard

That the

original otherwise contained

translator gives us

Oxford MSS.
version,

is

more than the

highly improbable, for one of the

agrees

substantially

with

Eaymund s

and therefore probably derives from the same

original.

The Cabbage-

After

hands

the phrase of the queen,

"

Raymundus

at once

the cabbage-stalk incident (of

ing

jumps
c.

7 of

Ho

"

is

in

your

hanging on
MS.), concern

to the
S.

which, his authority tells him, that this

is

by no

means wonderful, for every year there grows in the

House of the Sanctuary one cabbage so large that a
"

hundred pounds of seed come from

different from Krauss emendation of

This

it."

the

is

defective

passage in the Strass. MS. In Martini the miraculous

cabbage-stalk has its genesis in the mysteries of the
Sanctuary, and is not merely the outcome of the fertile
soil

of

Martini here brings the

Jerusalem.

an abrupt end.
This Toldoth extract

to
Luther.

of

Martini

was

"fabula"

copied

by

Porchettus (Salvagus, or de Salvaticis), a Carthusian

monk of Genoa, who flourished in the beginning of the
fourteenth century, and a good Oriental scholar, in his
work against the Jews, entitled Victoria," which was
"

printed in 1520
1

"

1
;

from this Luther made a translation

Victoria Porcheti adversus impios

Justiniani (Paris

1520).

Hebrseos,"

ed.

by R.

P.

A.

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

German

into

under

the

"

heading,

Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht

Finally we come to the very
"

The

Touchstone

Christi."

297

Vom

Schem

interesting passage in Schemtob ibn

S ha P rufc

Schemtob ibn Sehaprut, who

"

of

flourished at the end of the fourteenth century.

This

work has never been printed as a whole, but Krauss

2
points the Hebrew text of our passage (pp. 146, 147),
and appends a German translation

(pp. 148, 149).

This

passage runs as follows

Behold, ye find with them (the Jews) many writ
ings which give account of them (the wonders and
:

"

signs of Jesus)

for instance the

composed as a History
that

it

of

document which was

Jeschu ha-Notzri, and [states]

took place in the time of Queen Helene

further,

document which was composed as a History

Jeschu ben Pander a in Aramaic, which purports that
was in the time of Tiberius Caesar.
in the

"

In the

open

the

first

flesh

document
of

the copy of the

placed

it is

it

written that Jeschu cut History

hip, without

his

of

it

hurting him,

Shem ha-Meporesch

therein,

drew the skin together over it, so that it healed after

wards he took the copy out again from under the skin
;

and did signs and wonders. He spake to the young

men of Israel Would ye have a sign from me ? Bring
me a lame man I will heal him. Forthwith they
:

brought unto him the lame man, who had never yet
stood upon his feet he uttered the letters over him,
;

passed
1

his

(Jena

From

hand over him, and he was made whole.

1583

ed.), vol.

iii. ff.

109, 110.
MS. in the

Jewish Theological
another copy in the
Orient. Dept. of the British Museum, Add. 26964.

Seminary

pp. 180, 181

at Breslau

of

the

there

is also,

I find,

of

298

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Further he said

am Son

of

God

I raise the

dead.

Immediately Queen Helene sent trusty messengers to

him she sent and they saw that he raised the dead.
;

They came, told it unto her, and she was affrightened.

She said to the wise men That is a great sign. And
she gave the Jews who strove with him a reproof, and
:

they departed from her ashamed and disgraced.

"Further [it is written] that the
people of Galilee

made

birds of clay; he uttered the

Shem

over them,

and they flew into the air. At the same hour they
fell down on their faces and cast themselves down
before him.

he said to them: Bring me a great mill

They brought it unto him, and he launched it

"Further

stone.

on the sea

sat himself thereon,

and made

it

float

on

the water like an eggshell.

He sat thereon, a wind
bore him along on the surface of the water, and all the
people were greatly amazed.
Further he said before the queen
"

ascend hence

He

spread forth his hands

my
and raised himself in the air twixt heaven and earth.

Father in heaven

to

queen was affrightened, and the whole people

wondered greatly.
Further [it is written] that at the end he was to be

The
"

he therefore laid a spell upon all the trees of

they might not bear his hanged
When, then, he was hanged on the tree, it

crucified

the world, so that

body.

broke under him, and in like fashion

under him and received him

History of

"

And

came

in the second

document

Pilate, the governor,

all

trees broke

not.
it

is

written

There

Eabbi Joshua ben Perachiah,

Marinus, the great ancient of the Jews, R. Juda Ganiba,

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

299

R.

Jochanan ben Mut ana, and Jeschu ben Pandera

to

Tiberias

them
I

am Son

of

Tiberius

before

What

is

God

He

Csesar.

your business

He

wound and

said to

(T.)

( J.) said to

I heal,

and

them

any man
woman who
if

whisper over him, and he lives and a

has not borne a child, I make her conceive without a
die, I

He

husband.
you.

make

it

that she conceive.

On

who has not

have a daughter

They

He

her brought before us.

steward

them

(T.) said to

he brought her.

yet seen a

said to

man

him: Have

gave commandment to his

They

[?]

and she became pregnant.

"And when the condemnation
claimed, and the time came

that will I test

whispered over her

of

Jeschu was pro

and he saw

to crucify him,

the cross about the fourth hour of the day, he spake

of magic, flew away and sat himself upon Mount

words

Carmel.

R.

Perachiah

He

Juda the gardener said to R. Joshua ben

go after him and bring him back.

I will

answered

Go, utter and pronounce the

his Lord, that is the

Schem ha-Mephoresch.

and flew

When

after him.

name

of

He went

he would seize him, Jeschu

spake words of magic, went into the cave of Elias, and

shut the door. Juda the gardener came and said to the
cave: Open, for I

am God s

Thereupon Jeschu made

seized

him by the hem

R. Joshua and the

messenger. It openedhimself into a bird R. Juda

;

of his

companions."

It is very evident that the

quoted by Schemtob

Raymuridus Martini.
wording
that

is

garment and came before

is

Hebrew form

of

Toldoth Value

identical with that quoted

It is a shortened form,

by

but the

frequently identical. The only variant is

to the mill-stone miracle that a

Schemtob adds

l^e

of

300

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

wind arose and bore him over the water

"

crucified

where Martini has

"

"

he also has

It is also re

hanged."

markable that Schemtob practically begins and ends in

his narrative where Martini does.
Did he, then, copy
from Martini

This

is

hardly to be believed.

If not,

the Hebrew original which lay before

those two scholars must have been a shortened form of

then the copies

Toldoth.

of

What

connection this form of Toldoth

may

have had with that known to Hrabanus Maurus we

cannot

tell, for the incidents do not in any way overlap,

and there are no names to help us out.
With regard to the Aramaic form of Toldoth quoted

by Schemtob,

it is

sion used by the

probable that

Jews

at Lyons,

it

be the recen

may

some

contents of

of the

which had come to Agobard by hearsay.

we cannot be

But

of this

Agobard reports a form of

Toldoth which speaks of stoning and hanging on a
certain, for

Schemtob speaks of crucifixion as, how

we have found him altering "hanging" into
crucifixion
where we can check him by Martini, so
here we must suppose that crucifixion is a gloss, and
stake, while

ever,

"

"

"

"

the original spoke only of

Aramaic

This Aramaic form

"

hanging."

compared with the

few tattered fragments of an Aramaic Toldoth, re
covered from the Geniza (or lumber room
for worn1
out or imperfect MSS.) of the Old Synagogue at Cairo,

may

also be

"

"

which have the distinction

1

of being the oldest

Maimonides describes the Geniza

Law which

as follows

"

Toldoth

Codex

of the

rendered ritually illegal is to be put

into an earthen vessel and buried by the side of sages, and this
is

decayed or

constitutes its Geniza

"

("

burg s

"

Hebrew

is

Hilchoth Sepher

Torah,"

x. 3).

See Gins-

Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the

Bible,"

p. 156, n.

TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS.

MS. known
out

little

301

From them, however, we can make

to us.

that will help us, except that they introduce

Joshua ben Perachiah, and also the miracle of making

a certain virgin pregnant without contact with a man.

As
is

this

takes place before a certain

not named,

it

must be supposed that

"emperor"

it

who

refers to the

It is further to be noticed that the

Tiberius legend.

have been dragged round in the

Tiberias; upon which we might speculate
that this form of Toldoth arose in the famous Kabbinic

body

of Jesus is said to

streets

of

circles of Tiberias

and that the name

of the school

sug
emperor, just as the Lud stories
brought Akiba into personal relationship with Mary.
And here we may bring our enquiry into the nature

gested the

name

of the earlier

of the

Toldoth forms to a conclusion

that some day in

it

may

be

the near future

the industry of
be able to throw some further light on

scholarship may
the subject, but at present
cisely

how

it is

impossible to say pre

these different forms developed.

XVL THE

YEAES

100

B.C.

DATE IN THE

TOLDOTH.
Value of the
d

THE question which now

our Equiry.

growth

of legend in

enquiry

arises is

Can

this

tangled

any way help us in our present

The answer to this question is
If the
:

Talmud Jesus stories

are amazing in their contradictions

on such a fundamental point as the time when Jesus

lived, the Toldoth legends are even more astonishingly
self-contradictory

yet, strange to say, the nature

the increased contradictions of the latter

is

of

such as

make us hesitate before we instantly reject the

Ben Perachiah element as utterly unworthy of even

to

momentary
Impossibility

accurately the

E VO

^D

4.?
the !?
roldoth.
v

consideration.

glance at the

meagre external evidence as

to

the

existence of early Toldoth stuff as distinguished from

Talmud Jesus matter shows us how impossible it is to

any distinct moments in the evolution of this

for from the time
rank growth of Jewish folk-lore
trace

of Tertullian till the

when we

for the first

of the ninth century,

beginning
time meet with traces of two

absolutely contradictory Toldoth recensions, one placing

Jesus in the days of Joshua ben Perachiah, and the

other associating

him with Tiberius and

have hardly anything to guide

us, for

Pilate,

we

not even the fact

THE 100
that the

B.C.

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

Ben Pandera legend had spread

so

303

far

and

wide that we find two Church Fathers compelled to

insert the name in the genealogies of Jesus and Mary
can help us in this connection.
It is evident, therefore, that

the main

moments

stands in the

it

any attempt

to trace

in the evolution of the Toldoth as

and recensions

varieties

many

of its

a
if, indeed, these all spring from
almost
written
is
a
matter
form,
entirely
single original
of internal evidence, if not of pure subjectivity.
More
first

written form,

over,

we have not

with a Toldoth Jeschu only

to deal

but we have also before us a kind

or

Acts

or

Apostle-history

of

first

any attempt

therefore,

Maase Apostolim,

Apostles,

heresy-history (Nestorius), which

formed part of the

of

may

or

and

may

also

written form of Toldoth

to

make

not have
;

arid,

the date of this

first

written Toldoth depend on data drawn from what have

all
is

the appearance of being supplements or appendices

open to grave objections.

But, whatever the first written form

Jeschu
older

have been,

may
oral

oral sources

sources.
?

certainty, for

form
is

of the

it

of

Toldoth

must have depended upon

What was

the nature of those

Here again we cannot answer with any

we do not know what the first written

Toldoth contained.

All

we

definitely

know

that at the end of the second century Tertullian

is

acquainted with an element which we find in the Tol

doth and nowhere else. When, then, Krauss (p. 3) says
that the
whole content of the Toldoth was known
"

"

to Tertullian, by this he can only mean that the

points
mentioned by the Bishop of Carthage are found in
the Toldoth generally, and also, it may be remarked,

Genesis of the

304

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

more

in

or less the

same

order.

But even

so, it

must

be confessed that the indications are for the most

and we can draw no

part exceedingly vague,

satis

factory conclusions from them.

It

must be remembered that we are trying

to

get

at the earliest Jewish sources of Toldoth stuff, for it

quite evident that the later, perhaps even,

the

earlier,

written

forms

of

Toldoth

it

may

drew

is

be,

from

Christian sources as well.

The Oldest

Were they
then, were these Jewish sources ?
the
It
is
Jesus
stories
?
true
that some
Talmud
simply
of the Toldoth recensions, in some details, seem to draw
What,

from them, but they generally treat these

elements with such great freedom, that we cannot
believe they depended upon them as the only source
directly

on the contrary, there is much in the Toldoth of a

similar nature and yet entirely absent from the Talmud.

Krauss theory
recensions

know

l
242) is that, seeing the Toldoth
Jesus only as Ben Pandera, and never

(p.

Ben

Stada, they, therefore, look back to that sagacircle known to Celsus, that is to a body of living oral
as

which was gradually introduced into

the Talmud and part worked up into the written
tradition, part of

Toldoth.

This of course applies only to the oldest

whatever that may have been,

deposit of the Toldoth,

and

it is

very probable that such

may have been

the

case.
"

Krauss argument (pp. 238-242), that the principal source

of the Toldoth is the lost Hebrew History of Josippon (not Flavius
as the main source
Josephus), whom, he says, the Jews regarded
of the events of the period of the Second Temple, appears to me
in any case we can no longer get
to be somewhat problematical
"

at Josippon, for his History

is

unfortunately

lost.

THE 100

B.C.

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

The question that next

arises

is

What

305

elements The

Oldest

Toldoth can be attributed to this oldest deposit l^mtnts.

This is an exceedingly difficult
of Jewish oral tradition ?
of the

question to answer.

As

Mamzer element

concerned,

interest in
for

the Ben Pandera or

we have no further

far as

as far as our present enquiry is concerned,

it

we hold

is

that this element arose out of

the con

when

troversy concerning the virgin-birth dogma, and

ever precisely this may have been first debated,
clearly a

late

comparatively

was

it

even

development

in

Christian tradition.

Are

any elements in

there, however,

oral tradition older than the

so,

is

Mamzer-legend

Ben Perachiah date one

the

latter is the

of

And

them

if

This

our enquiry, and we will,

to the exclusion of any other

whole crux

therefore, deal with it

chaos of

this

of

elements which might be held to be of very early date.

We have already examined the Talmud Ben Pera

Can the Toldoth recensions throw any

chiah story.

further light on the question

At
chaos

first

to

would appear that they only add A New Datesight

confusion.
Many give the Joshua ben the Toldoth"
it

Perachiah (or Simeon ben Shetach) date, some give

the Christian canonical date, and some confound the
two.

But the main

connection

is

for it occurs in

certain

of

almost

Queen

sovereignty of

all

interest of

the Toldoth in

this

the most frequent date-indication,

that

all recensions, is

Helene,

in

whose

Jewry, and before

Jesus takes place.

This

the mention of

hand

whom

is

the

the trial

name never appears

in the

Talmud Jesus stories, nor, for a matter of that, do the

names of Herod, or Pilate, or John the Baptist (or any
20

306

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.?

other that confirm the Christian canonical date)

the

only date-indications in the Talmud are, as we have

seen before, on the one hand the mention of Joshua ben

Perachiah and Jannai in connection with Jesus, and on

the other the Akiba

Even
Herod

Mary

story.

the few forms of the Toldoth which follow the

or Pilate date cannot escape

from Joshua ben

Perachiah, for instance, the Aramaic form referred to by

Agobard and Schemtob, while even the

1
recension, which in some things seems

Talmud Lud

late

Huldreich

to

adopt the

tradition (though there is no

mention

of

Ben

Stada), and works in more Christian elements than

any of the other forms, states that Jesus went to the
It is true that
school of Joshua ben Perachiah.

Bischoff s Judaeo-German version introduces

name

21) the

and associates him with Queen Helene,

of Pilate,

brings in the twelve Apostles (who are other

wise unknown to Jewish tradition), in addition to the

as also

it

and

three hundred

unknown
while B.
pupil of
The Jungle

to

S.,

twenty; but these glosses are

which B. otherwise seems to follow,

itself categorically declares

that Jesus

was a

Joshua ben Perachiah.

But we are not yet out of the jungle, for although

in most MSS. Helene is mentioned without any further
qualification than a statement

saying that she was queen

MSS. of the de Rossi type she

which

of the
is

is

equivalent to

Jews, in one or
said to be

"

two

wife of

"

say, she is identified with

Helena the mother, not the wife, of Constantine the

Constantino

Great.
1

that

to

Nevertheless in this same Toldoth form

In which Jesus

Great

is

is

(e.g.

in

condemned and executed under Herod the

THE 100
V.)

we

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

B.C.

307

find that these things took place in the time of

Tiberius and

husband

Herod

is still

while the teacher of Miriam

II.,

given as Simeon ben Shetach, and

are further told that the land had been left in the

we

hand

Babylon, that
is seventy years before the destruction of the Temple
(so also the Leipzig MS.).
of

"

Helene,

after Nebucadnezzar,

of

King

"

Here
it all

is

a magnificent tangle to unravel.

mean

The Toldoth give us a new

What

can

date-indica

but while giving it with one hand, they immedi

As far as the
ately snatch it away with the other.

tion,

Christian elements are concerned,

stand how

easy to under
that in course of time the confused tradition
it is

Jews could not stand against the persistent and

ever growing more consistent and uniform Christian

of the

tradition, and how that gradually some of the later

Toldoth scribes were so influenced by it, that they

accepted

it

and wove

it

into their legendary patchwork,

though in so doing they involved themselves in the

greatest contradiction with their predecessors, and could
never succeed entirely in erasing
Perachiah data.

all

trace of the

Ben

have most greatly puzzled Queen

those innovating scribes was the mention of Queen
Helene; in fact, so hopelessly confused were some of

What, however, seems

them

that, as

we have

affirming that Helene

to

seen, they

had no hesitation in

was the wife

of

Constantino;

even a so transparent fiction as this insensate ana

chronism, with a Nebuchadnezzar thrown in, could not
spoil
all,

their

may

literary digestion, unless

perhaps be the means

complicated part

of the tangle

and

this,

of unravelling the
it

was a

jest

after

most

and known

Helene.

308

DID JESUS LIVE 100

one by every Jewish schoolboy.

to be

probable that there

some

B.C. ?

of those wild

may

It is

more than

humour behind

be a grim

anachronisms, and that

it is

a waste

expend our marks of exclamation on the

energy
of
the
stupidity
legend-weavers.
For if we have to take seriously such manifest
of

to

contradictions in one and the

an

be

same sentence,
to

compliment

egregious

it

characterize

would
such

statements as simply betraying a total lack of any sense

if
of history
they were seriously meant they can be
;

classed only with the productions of a lunatic asylum,

and the general irresponsibility of mediaeval legendmaking would have to blush for its incompetency
before the magnificent and gorgeous spectacle of such
transcendental irrationality.
s

Theory.

Un-

It is true that

Helena was the subject of a prolific

Middle Ages, principally because

legend-activity in the
of the

"

finding of the cross

"

saga.

But why Krauss

should solemnly take this as his point of departure, and

endeavour to show that the Helene element of the

Toldoth was begotten of the Helena legends, is some

what of a matter of surprise; for it is very evident
that

if

in one of

the

"

Toldoth recensions there

the

cross,"

this

it

is

Constantino

reference to

"

"

type of
the finding of

was added either by some

or by some humorist to cap

incident

utterly ignorant scribe,

the joke, for

wife of

could not have been that any intelligent

could have been so foolish as to have seriously im

ported the figure of Saint Helena, whose faith in

Jew

Jesus not only never wavered but was of the most

transcendent type, out of the Christian legends, and
have converted her, of all people in the world, into the

THE 100

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

B.C.

309

queen before whom the trial of Jesus took place, and

who finally hands him over to the Jews to do with him
as they would.

The Helene element

not a subsidiary matter of no The Helene

1
special importance in the Toldoth, it is not even of only old
secondary consideration; far from it, it is one of the
is

"

main elements

whole

of the

ancient element in the Toldoth,

of

this

whom

queen, before

If

story.
it is

is

any

precisely the figure

the most dramatic and

whole story take

critical incidents of the

there

place.

It

is

impossible not to believe that there was the mention

of some queen in the oldest deposit of the Toldothsaga,

her in

and
it

difficult

believe

to

was anything

else

that

the

name given

than Helene.

The writer

of the Toldoth recension printed by

seems to have had no doubt who
however,
Wagenseil,
this Helene was, for after telling us that Jesus was

oieina.

born in the 671st year of the fourth millennium (ab

orbe condito)
that is 93 B.C., 1 in the reign of King
Jannai who was also called Alexander, he goes on to

Queen Helene was the wife of the beforementioned Jannai, who held the sovereignty after the

say that this

"

She is called by another name

a
had
son
and
Oieina,
King Munbasus, otherwise called

death of her husband.

Hyrcanus."

say the writer seems to have no doubt who this Helen

Helene was, because the last sentence presents us with
"

"

new

difficulty.

It

is

of Jannai,
1

but

Hyrcanus II. was the

Monobaz II. was the son, not

true that

eldest son of Jannai, but

of Helene,

See Krauss, pp. 182, 273,

of Bischoff s Judaeo-Gerraan

Queen

n. 3,

who

Toldoth

is

of

Adiabene, a small

also suggests that the

a mistake for 3760.

3670

of

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

310

province of Mesopotamia, on the Tigris, who became a

Jewish proselyte somewhere about 30 A.D., and spent
some fourteen years (c. 46-60 A.D.) in Palestine, at

Jerusalem and Lydda (Lud), under a Nazarite vow,

1
It is also
consorting with the Eabbis of Hillel s school.
true that Helen of Adiabene and her sons had endeared

themselves to the Jews by devotion to the Torah and

rich gifts to the Temple
but that it could ever have
;

been seriously imagined that the sovereignty of the land

of Palestine could have been in this Helen s hand, as is
usually stated in the Toldoth when the Toldoth Helene
is
Is

"

baz

Monoa Gloss

mentioned,

is

unthinkable.

How, then, can we possibly explain such contradictory

j
data coming in one and the same sentence? Is it
,

another jest of the same nature as the one to which

we

have already referred ? In this case it does not seem

If not, can Monobaz be a gloss inserted
by
some later scribe, for this absurdity can hardly be set
to be so.

down to the account of the Toldoth redactor himself,

who in every other respect is so precise concerning the
not then be that this scribe, being like
the redactor puzzled as to the name Helene, for he

date

May

knows that

it

this

was not the

of Jannai, desired to

historical

name

add his own mite

of the wife

of information

He

is an ignorant man, yet he knows of Helen of Adia

bene and her son Monobaz he accordingly flings this
;

to

in

show

his

reading,

without stopping to think

whether the dates coincide or

not.

Perhaps, however,

See art.
Helene, Konigin,"
(2nd imp.
Hamburger
Real-Encyclopiidie des Judentums
Adiabene in the new Jewish
Neustrelitz ; 1896), and also art.
1

in

"

Josephus,

Antiqq.,"

"

"

Encyclopaedia"

"

xx. 2. 1-3.

"

(New York

1901).

"

"

THE 100

B.C.

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

311

not to be blamed, for the great commen

tator Kaschi himself, in the twelfth century, took

after all he

Monobaz

is

for a

another Monobaz

But

there by any chance

Oleina-Helene was neither the mother

this

if

Was

Hasmonaean. 1

who

Constantine nor the Adiabene Helen,

of

else could

she have been for the Jews but the wife of Jannai

The only queen

of the

land was Jannai

the chapter on

"The

Jesus,"

was

who died
most

in

wife Salome, who, as

at the age of

we have

Talmud 100 Years

B.C.

the

all

seen in

Story of

Jews from 78-69 B.C., 2 and

seventy-two. This Salome is said

sister of

Simeon ben Shetach, who

Toldoth recensions

of the

whose hand was

sole ruler of the

have been the

to

Jews

is

in

given as the teacher of

the wronged husband of Miriam.

Unfortunately, the historical Greek

name

this

of

queen is Alexandra (presumably after her husband s

Greek name Alexander), and not Helena or Helene.
It is, however, to be noticed that both in Greek and
Latin the

name Salome

3
given as Salina.

is

Now we

have already seen that name-play was a frequent device

not only so, but it had for
of the Talmud story-tellers
;

centuries been a favourite occupation of the scribes of

the Old Covenant documents, and for a matter of that

a

peculiarity

of

Semitic genius

the

generally.

The

we have

seen,

oldest deposit of the Toldoth belongs, as

to the
1

same sea

of oral tradition as that

from which

See Krauss, p. 274, n. 5.

lla.
According to Schurer Krauss, however, gives Jannai s reign
Jewish Encyclopedia (art.
as 103-76 B.C. (p. 182), and the new
"Baba Bathra,"

"

"

Alexandra") says that Salome died in 67 B.C.

3
See for references Schiirer s
History of the Jewish

"

"

(Edinburgh

1897), Div.

i.

vol.

i.

n.
p. 308,

People"

Helene-

312

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Talmud

the

Can we,

derived.

then, have in Helene

a name-transformation of this nature

Helene-

Salina helps us somewhat, for it

Helena (Oleina, Hilani, etc.), and

is

help us

But

interchangeable.

logically

there

not so far from

is

and h are philo-

in

connection

this

a well-known instance of name-play which will

still

known

It is well

further.

to all students

Christian origins that a certain Helen (Gk. Helene,

of

Lat. Helena)

was fabled

whom

have been a harlot

to

Simon Magus took about with him Simon himself said

that his Helen was the Sophia, but that is another
;

Now

story.

Simon legends

in the

this

Helene

is

also

Greek Selene, the

while in the
Moon,"
Simonian myth Simon (Shimeon, Shemesh) himself

called

in

"

corresponds with the

Hser.,"

i.)

"

Sun."

and elsewhere we

Thus

in Augustine

find Selene

("

De

and not Helene,

while in the Clementine Eecognitions (ii. 14), preserved

to us only in the Latin translation of Eufinus, we find
the

name

of the

passage of the

syzygy of Simon, who in the parallel

Greek Clementine Homilies

called Helena, given as

that Helene

is

Luna.

From

a play on Selene

or controversial purposes, for

instance before us

we can

this

either

(ii.

23)

is

we deduce

for

mystical

with the Ben Pandera

readily see

how

that in those

of feverish theological polemics, a

mystic teaching
days
could easily be turned into a personal scandalous legend
for controversial purposes.

The Simon
Magus
Legend.

If,

then, Selene could be transformed into

Helene for

Salome s full Jewish name was Shalom Zion for Hebrew and
Aramaic transformations of this queen s name, see Derenbourg ( J.),
Essai sur 1 Histoire et la Geographic de la Palestine, d apres les
1

"

Thalmuds." etc.

(Paris

1867), p. 102, n.

THE 100

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

B.C.

313

some such purposes, why could not Salina (Salome) be so

transformed for purposes of a somewhat similar nature ?

Whether

or not this suggestion of ours

may

in

any way

be helped by the fact that the air-battle between Jesus

and Judas in the Toldoth has also its exact parallel in

Simon Magus

in

a secondary question.

As

to

Helene-Salome

had

the contest between Simon Peter and

the Simonian legends,

the

is

coincidence

quaint
brother Simon

that

(b. Shetach), I hardly dare mention it,

not that legends are the most insatiate of
prostitutes, and will unite with anything that takes

were

it

their fancy.
It

in

is

vain

ask

to

precisely such a

why

name-

change should have been made or why if Salome was

converted into Helene the names of Joshua ben
;

Simeon

Perachiah and

ben Shetach were not also

changed. Consistency and precise reasons are not to

be expected in the arbitrary development of folk-tale.

The

least

that

us in

involves

can be said
less

is

difficulties

that our

hypothesis

than

Helen

the

of

Constantino and the Helen of Monobaz conjectures

while if our supposition should be thought to hold

good,

it

would point
of

to the fact that the

Toldoth tradition

preponderance
Ben Perachiah date.

But

it

may be

said,

granted

is

overwhelming
on the side of the

that this hypothesis

would explain the otherwise inexplicable statement

that the rule of the land was in the hand of Helene, it

why this Helene is represented as being

so wavering, now believing in Jeschu, now on the side of
the wise men of Jewry, and, above all, why she speaks
does not explain

to the doctors of the

Law, as one not only unlearned in

Pros and Cons

314

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

their scriptures, but as apparently being a non- Jewess.

"

Is

this

Law

written in your

"

she asks, whereas

Salome was regarded as the champion

and a most devout Jewess.

But the dispute

is

teachers and one

of the Pharisees

between the learned, between the

dares to expound Halachoth

who

without their permission the first part of this objection

can, therefore, have no great weight, for the queen, even
;

learned in the Law, could not have appeared to be so

in the presence of the wise men of Jewry.
The second
if

is far more difficult to meet, and

can only be met on the supposition that the Salome
date is correct and that she did favour Jesus for if

part of this objection

she did

so, as a historic fact,

it

would be natural

for

the later llabbis to seek to excuse their favourite queen,

whose reign they placed the "golden age" of

Pharisaism, and to represent her part in the proceed
ings as that of one unacquainted with the Law and in

in

order to do this with safety

to

it

would be natural for them

change her name from Salome to Helene.

supposition possibly contain

some hint

Can

this

at the reason

which we previously said it was vain to ask ?

But this, the convinced believer in the Christian

for

canonical tradition will say, is a magnificent begging of

the whole question, a speculating on the impossible.

Even

so, it is as

generations

of

well to argue both sides, for that

many

Jews have believed unquestioningly

this

Joshua ben Perachiah date

the

Talmud and Toldoth;

it

is

is

in

evident from both

therefore legitimate

try and explain the developments of tradition on

their own premisses, among which the Jannai date is

to

most

conspicuous.

Indeed,

if

we

step

outside

the

THE 100
fantastic

B.C.

circle of

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

the legends

315

themselves, and seek

information on this point from serious students of

history, we are confronted with the categorical state

ment

of

Spanish history-writer Abraham

about 1100 A.D. writes as follows

the

ben

Daud, who
"The
Jewish history- writers say that Joshua ben The
Perachiah was the teacher of Jeschu ha-Notzri, according
:

which the

to

latter lived in the

days

of

King Jannai

Date

the history-writers of the other nations, however, say

that he was born in the days of Herod and was hanged
in

the

days

of

his

son Archelaus.

difference, a difference of

more than 110

Ibn Daud evidently calculates

This

a great

is
1

years."

this difference

from

the beginning of the reign of Jannai, but the exact

number of years is of no consequence. Abraham

makes a general declaration of the difference between
the statements of Jewish and Christian writers

that

is

to say, he gives us the general impression he has on the

matter.
It is true that already in the ninth century

we meet with

a Toldoth form which introduces John

the Baptist, Tiberius and Pilate, but evidently, in the

opinion of Abraham ben Daud, the Jewish tradition

was the 100 years B.C. date.
On the whole, therefore, we are inclined to the The Date
opinion that the amazing contradictions of the various

Toldoth recensions as to

more

easily explained

their

date-indications,

are Toldoth-

on the supposition that the Ben

Perachiah tradition was the only date-factor of the

older Toldoth writers, and hence the contradictions were
a later development, as Jewish tradition
1

53.

weakened before

Neubauer, "Medieval Jewish Chronicles" (Oxford

See Krauss, pp. 183, 273, n. 3.

1887), p.

writers.

316

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

the persistent strength of the Christian canonical

In any case, we think that we have found
tradition.
a simpler solution

of

the

Helene

puzzle

than

the

theory of Krauss, who would trace its source to the

Christian legends of St Helena.
It is true that in the bitterest days of persecution
some of the Jews argued that there were two persons
of the

name

Jesus mentioned in the Talmud

of

Krauss points out

is

two
The Ben
Date

is

prob6

Sliest

273, n. 4), this

(p.

the argument that

is

as

but as

unproved

as

Ben Stada and Ben Pandera were

different people.

If t then,

Ben

we

are correct in our impression that the

Perachiah date was an

intergal

part

of

the

seems more probable

that in this the Toldoth did not copy from the Talmud,
oldest deposit of the Toldoth,

it

but that this element came into both the Talmud and

Toldoth from a floating mass of oral tradition from

which both drew. In this connection also it is of
interest to note that the Karaites,

opposed to

all

who were

absolutely

Rabbinic authority, and utterly rejected

the Talmudic tradition, nevertheless retained the

Pandera
Stada.

tradition,

Not only

though they knew nothing

so,

but Toldoth circulated

of

Ben
Ben

among

them, for in Codex de Kossi 96 we have a distinctly

Karaite Toldoth. 1

There are many other points

of interest

connected

with the Toldoth legends, but they do not immediately

concern us in our present enquiry as, however, we
;

have presented the reader with a translation of one of

the Toldoth recensions, we might subjoin a few very
brief remarks on one or two of its most salient features.
1

See Krauss, pp. 15, 31, 200

ff.

THE 100
It

is

to be

B.C.

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

remarked that Miriam the mother

317
is

in The Exonera-

nearly every form of Toldoth exonerated from any Miriam,

The bastardy
conscious breaking of her marriage vows.
of Jeschu was the result of a trick played upon her.

Can we

assign

any motive

for this

Can

that the original framers of this legend

was no handing on

it

possibly be

knew

that

it

but the popularization of

Indeed, not only is Mary

of history,

a doctrinal controversy

excused from any conscious breaking of the Law, but

from several forms of the Toldoth we glean that she

was regarded

as a

woman

of distinction.

Not only

is

she said to have been the sister of a certain Joshua,

who

presumably to be identified with Joshua ben

Perachiah, but she is also said to have been related to
is

Queen Helene, that is, if our argument holds good, to

Queen Salome, whose brother was Simeon ben Shetach.
Here we have the close relationship of Jesus to the
most distinguished Rabbis of the time.
It is further to be remarked that Jesus

is throughout Did Jesus

always represented as a learned man, and so generally tiTeT

This might seem at first sight to be

accounted for by the fact that much space is given in
the Toldoth to the proof from scripture."
But in my
are his disciples.

"

opinion these Messianic disputations seem to be due to

later developments, and to be part and parcel of
doctrinal polemics between

Jews and Judseo- Christians

have never been able to believe that historically

Jesus himself could have made any claim to be the
for I

the power of the great teacher, round

whose transcendent person all these marvellous tradi

Messiah.

If

and disputes have grown up, is rightly held to have

been the power of a Master of Wisdom, not to speak of

tions

318

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

more transcendent claims put forward on his behalf,

it can hardly be believed that he would have
claimed to be what he could have foreseen would never

still

then

whom

be admitted by those to

the Messianic tradition

True, he may very well have taught a

chiefly belonged.
more universal view of Messianism, but that he should

have claimed to have been the Messiah of prophecy, in

any sense in which the Jews could have understood the
without that prophecy turning out to be a bitter
mockery, can hardly be believed of a wise and merciful

idea,

Jesus

Teacher.

Nazareth has in no sense been a

of

Messiah to the Jews

and

it is

hardly in keeping with

God preached by him,

the idea of the Good

to talk of the

Jews having been punished for their rejection of Jesus.

Not to speak of Deity, those who are truly wise, even
as the average

man

can imagine wisdom, must have

foreseen the rejection before the sending of the messenger.

then, Jesus

Surely,

Messiah

"

would not have

to those to

whom

which men would make

said,

"I

am

the

he knew he, or rather that

of his efforts,

would never be a

help, but a scourge not that he would have had it so,

but because of the forces which already existed in
;

human

nature and which were destined to focus them

selves in

Jew and

Gentile for some high purpose of the

Divine economy.
If we can hold such a view without giving dire
offence to the better feeling in both Jew and Chris
tian,

then the

Messianic controversy can

have had

nothing to do with the original teaching of Jesus

self.

It

was not because

of this facility of

that Jesus was held to be a learned

legend.

Kather was

it

him

quotation

man by Jewish

that such legend

was

itself

THE 100

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

B.C.

based on ancient tradition

learned in their

Not only
his

ting

that he was

among them

lore.

but the Jews had no

so,

319

of

power

wonder-doing.

difficulty in

admit- The Shem.

Their earliest tra

have been that the knowledge

dition, however, seems
whereby these deeds were done was learned in Egypt.
to

would then naturally have it that if this

gnosis was learned in Egypt, it must have been the
words
acquiring of certain words of power," and if
belief

Popular

"

"

"

In the developed Toldoth, however,

we find that the Egypt element has retired well into the
then

"names."

words

"

power appear as the

Shem ha-Mephoresh or Holy Name, and the Shrines of
background, while the

Egypt
The

"

of

as the Sanctuary at Jerusalem.

brick-bat

"

"

which Jesus

is

jestingly accused of Mystic

worshipping in the Talmud, appears in the Toldoth

"

as the

"

foundation-stone

prototype

in the

Holy

the Egyptian

mystery-tradition, that

the

of Holies,

both being probably some

of

symbol

"corner

of

stone"

mystic writing on which was to be

key,"
As we have already suggested,
inscribed in the heart."
the

"

or

"

the

"

heart

"

was

"

to be

"

circumcised

hence the cut

the flesh and the rest of the folk-legend.

ting of

This

mystic stone was in the Holy of Holies, beyond the

which were guarded by appropriate wardens, a

pillars,

symbolism familiar enough

and its predecessors.

Much might
subject, but it

length
their

to the student of

Masonry

be written on this most fascinating

would extend our essay to a too great

enough here to say that, in protection of

interests, the Mishnaic Kabbis considered the

it is

own

utterer of the

Shem

as a blasphemer,

and the punish-

320

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

ment

of

such blasphemy was decided upon as death. 1

The Shem element, therefore, could thus subsequently

be made to work in most conveniently with the Toldoth
patchwork, for it supplied an additional reason for the
putting to death of Jesus.

YHWH.

In spiritual mysticism the knowing of names meant

while in material
simply the possession of powers
;

magic

it

was believed that the possession

spoken name gave

It is

the

man

somewhat interesting

of the actual

the power of the

to see

how

"

name."

the Jews gradually

worked these ideas into

their system of monotheistic

and
how
the
exclusiveness,
mystery of the Shem haMephoresh, or "distinctive name," YHWH, was de

among them. As to how this name was origin

pronounced we have now no authentic information.

veloped
ally

But

"

was

Temple the Name

... At the beginning of the
however, the use of the Name was

in the early period of the Second

still

in

common

Hellenistic era,

use.

the Temple,

reserved for

obliged to use the appellative

The KvoluMystery,

elsewhere they

were

name Adonai (Lord)."

a name once in common

Thus the pronunciation of

use gradually became more and more mysterious, and

we

at the beginning of the Christian era

writing

may
ears

("Life

of

11):

find

Philo

four letters 2

"The

be mentioned or heard only by holy

men whose

and tongues are purified by wisdom, and by no

other in any place

While Josephus,
gives the current
"

Moses,"

iii.

whatsoever."

at

the end
of the

myth
Moses besought God

of

the

first

century,

name-giving as follows

to impart to

vii.
"Mislma, Sanhedrin,"

The Tetragrammatou

him the know-

5 (55b).

YHWH.

THE 100
ledge of His

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

B.C.

name and

might be able

its

invoke

to

pronunciation, so

Him by name

321

that he

at the sacred

whereupon God communicated His name, hitherto

unknown to any man and it would be a sin for me to

acts,

mention

it."

In course of time the pronunciation of the Name

even by the Temple priests fell into disuse, and the

manner

of its pronunciation at length

became a secret

"

entrusted only to the Kasherim (worthy ones), or the

Zena im (Essenes = the humble or chaste ones ), but

withheld from the frivolous, the Hellenists (Peruzim)
and even the former were taught it only once every
;

seven years, and then only after due purification and

Woe unto you, ye Pharisees, who
sanctification.
.

pronounce the Holy

purification

Name

each morning without due

whereupon the

said the Hemerobaptists

Woe upon you who

Pharisees sarcastically replied
Name
with
the
an
Holy
pronounce
organ of the body,
while your body itself is unholy
However, it appears
from Ta anit 19a and Ab. Zarah 18a, that the Essene
:

saints

made use

of the

Name

in their invocations and

miraculous cures, which was afterwards declared to be

a grievous sin

(*

Sanh./
"

Wisdom,

xiv. 21).

x.

i.

compare, also

Book

of

Now as in all probability Jesus was an Essene, and The Shem

the Essene saints seem in his days to have used the
Shem without

let or

hindrance,

we can only conclude

that the Toldoth accusation of an illegitimate use of the

Shem by Jesus must proceed at earliest from the days

when the Rabbis were more and more jealously guarding
(or

even creating) their rights and privileges, that

1

See Kohler

B art.

"

Adonai

"

in

"

Jewish

is to

Encyclopaedia."

21

DID JESUS LIVE 100

322
say,

It follows, therefore, that

from Mishnaic times.

Shem without

used the

the Essene saints

if

B.C.

or

let

hindrance, Jesus could not historically have been accused

on this count, and therefore the general charge of

magic learned in Egypt must be held to have been
"

"

And

the older form of accusation.

that can be said

all

is

that

it

with regard to

this,

originated in the fact that

Jesus had been to Egypt, the only probable historical

element in the whole matter.
The Fight

The magical

in

Jeschu

is

fight

in

the air between Judas and

paralleled not only in the Simonian legends,

where the dramatis personce are Simon Magus and

Simon Peter, but also in the Jerusalem Targum, or
Aramaic translation of the Torah and its accompanying
Midrashim, where we are told that when Phinehas
decided to slay Balaam, the latter on seeing his pursuer
"resorted

the

is

and flew up in the

to witchcraft

Phinehas made use

of the

Holy Name,
and slew him with the sword. 1

head,"

air,

seized

but

him by

We

have already seen that in the Talmud Balaam

one

of the

too in

synonyms of Jesus is it, then, that here

the Targum Balaam stands for Jesus, and that
;

both Targum and Toldoth depend on a common source

of oral tradition, or was the Targum haggada the origin
of this particular

The Hanging
Cabbaestalk.

Another point
Jesus

is

Toldoth element

of great interest in the

never said to have been

Toldoth

crucified.

is

that

He

is

stoned or hanged, or first stoned and then hanged,

or hanged in the stoning place.
What, further, is the

meaning
1

"

of

Targum

Kohler s

"

art.

the
Yer.,"

hanging on a miraculous
to

Balaam

Num.
"

in

"

xxxi. 8

Jewish

see also

"cabbage-

Sanh.,"

Encyclopaedia."

106b.

See

THE 100

B.C.

DATE IN THE TOLDOTH.

323

perhaps almost impossible to conjecture

any explanation, but I cannot get rid of the impres
sion that there may have originally been some mystical
stalk

"

It

is

perhaps connected with the

the tree that grows from the mustard

tradition behind

"

it,

tree

"

of

life,"

connected also with the

Eridu, the

"

Hidden Abode

dark stalk
of the

"

God

Chaldaean creation-tablet found

the

library of

but this

of course,

With regard
it is

of

Wisdom,
the

in

of

Temple

Kuta, dating from the fourth millennium

is,

seed,"

which grew in

B.C.

1
;

pure conjecture.

to the casting of the

to be noticed that in

body into a

some forms

of

"

canal,"

the Toldoth

Can

this canal is given as a public place for refuse.

then possibly be that Jesus was stoned, and his body

hanged on a stake as a warning, according to the legal

it

regulations of the Torah, and that then the body

cast out into the

common

dust-heap of the city

was

Who

can conjecture with any historic probability in such a

chaos of legendary fantasy ?

We

will now turn our attention to Epiphanius, and

he
what
has to say concerning the earliest Christians,
and to the riddle he sets us to solve by a hitherto

absolutely unintelligible statement concerning the date

of Jesus.
1

See the

"

Temples

of the

Orient"

(London

1902), p. 85.

The

"Canal,

XVII.

ON THE TEACKS OF THE EARLIEST

CHRISTIANS.

The Origin
of the Name
Christian.

IT

Christian!
was
very certain that the name
,
,,
.,,
a title given by the early followers of Jesus to
,

themselves.

Indeed,

Christian

of

"

"

is

we

writers of

find it still

the

first

unused by a

half

of

series

the second

century at a time when it was employed, though per

haps not invariably in its subsequently restricted sense,

by Pliny the Younger in 112 A.D., by Tacitus 116117 A.D., and by Suetonius in 120 A.D. These Christian
writers were content to designate the early communities
of their co-believers
"elect,"

"saints,"

faithful,"

Even

"

that

"they

brethren,"
believed,"

they that are in Christ,"

and of the way." l
"

disciples,"

that are in the

Use in the

"called,"

"

"

Its

by such expressions as

"

they

"

Lord,"

in the

New

Covenant writings which subse

quently became canonical, we meet with the designa

tion only three times, and always in a connection which
it was a name given from without, and
not as yet adopted from within. The redactor of the
Acts (xi. 29) believed c. 130-150 A.D.- that "the

suggests that

"

disciples
1

were

See Schmiedel

paedia

Biblica."

first called

s article

"

Christiani

"

Christian,

Name

"

at Antioch, at
of,"

in the

"

Encyclo

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

325

the time of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in that

city, that

is,

as he supposed, at the time of the founding

of the first Gentile

church there.

In the same document

the curious remark attributed to

translated in the A.V. as

is

me

which

"

also

meet with

Herod Agrippa, which

Almost thou persuadest

but the imperfect original of

untranslateable
where it is to be remarked

be a

to

we

(xxvi. 28)

Christian,"

is

that although Agrippa was not a pure Jew,

it is

hardly
supposed he would have used such a term.
While in the earlier pseudepigraph I. Peter (iv. 16)

to be

we

read:

"But

if

man

[any

him not be ashamed, but

let

In

I.

Peter,

suffer] as a Christianus,
let

him give glory

to

God

not clear what precise meaning

in this name
to
should be given
the words
but
of
in
the
A.V.
this
behalf
not
the
is
gloss
certainly
in

this

name,"

it is

"

"

"

"

The followers

satisfactory.

hitherto been

"

ashamed

"

of

Jesus had apparently

"

of being called

"

Christiani

the meaning can hardly be that the condemned

for

should give thanks because he suffers as a Christian in

the later honourable sense of the term, but rather sug
gests

some such idea

Messianists,"

Roman

We

accused of being
and therefore revolutionaries against the

"

as:

authority, but in reality

are

it

is

we who

are the

true observers of the moral law; our revolution

morals and not in

politics,

thanks to God as His

His

Anointed,"

In any case
Messiah"
1

who

it is

"

and therefore

Anointed

"

or the

"

let

is

in

us give

followers of

are unjustly accused.

evident that the

was not given

title

"

those of the A Pagan

to the followers of Jesus by

See Westcott and Hort s Introduction (Cambridge and London

1881), p. 100.

DID JESUS LIVE 100

326

B.C.

the Jews, for this would have been to admit what they
so

concerning the founder of the

therefore, highly probable that the

strenuously denied

new faith. It is,

name Christiani was
Messianists of

first

all kinds,

by the followers

of

used by the Pagans to signify

and was only finally adopted

Jesus in their public dealings with

the Pagans, presumably

where we

Date of
ngin

first

in apologetic literature,

from about the

find it of frequent occurrence

second quarter of the second century.

As for the time when the Pagan term

"
"

Christiani

presumed that it came into use with

the ever more and more desperate attempts of the Jews

arose, it is to be

to

shake

quently

off

to

the

the

dated

generally

Eoman

yoke, that

downfall

of

70

but

A.D.,

the date of origin of

its

year

An

which

some

is of

is

Jewish

opinion that

A.D.,

that

is

presumably the

of Titus.

answer to

found from a

this

most obscure question can only be

critical

examination

"
"

which

use cannot with any assurance

be placed earlier than 79

first

Jerusalem,

Schmiedel

authorities give as 68 A.D.

to say, subse

is

Christian

persecutions

but even

of
so,

the history of

we

are

still left

without any certainty. After a searching examination

of the confused data, and a brilliant criticism of the
position of Momrnsen, Sybel, Neumann
and Ramsay, Schmiedel can arrive at no positive con
On the question as to the
clusion, and finally writes

conservative

"

date at which Christianity

com

ourselves

pletely at a loss.

certain, that

had come about before the time

The Notzrim.

began to be recognized

first

we must confess
Only this much is

as a distinct religion,

But

if

the Jews did not

it

of Pliny s governorship."

know

the followers of Jesus

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

as Christian!, by

what name did they know them

the Jews the Christians,

general term

The writer
a

Jew

of the

Minim

when not

or heretics,

of the Acts is

aware

accuse Paul of being

Nazarenes
"

327

"

To

classed under the

were and are Notzrim.

of this

when he makes

a ringleader of the sect

"

that

(A.V.)

and that

is,

of the

of the

"haeresis

was the general designation of

the Christians by the Jews is testified to by Tertullian 1
at the end of the second century, and by Jerome at the
end of the fourth. 2 While Justin (c. 145-150 A.D.)
Nazorsei

this

us that the Jews in their synagogues publicly

tells

cursed the

"

Epiphanius

375

A.D.) says
curse was directed against the
Nazoraei."
Jerome, on the contrary, will have it that the curse was

that

Christians,"

this

(c.

"

3
pronounced against the Minsei
whereas, as we have
frequently remarked before, Minim is not to be taken
;

Minim is a general term for

not
in
a bad but even in a good sense, and
heretics,
only
Notzrim would therefore come under the term but not
as identical with Notzrim.

be identical with

it.

It is therefore of interest to try to discover,

possible, the

out

why

among

it

the

of this

meaning
was that Jesus

if

term Notzrim, and

is

it

be

to find

generally distinguished

Jews from others

of

the same

name

as

Jeschu ha-Notzri.
1

2
3

"

Adv.

Marc.,"

48.

Hier., in Jes. ch. v. 18

Epist. ad

f.

xlix. 7

lii. 5.

There is to-day among the Jews

throughout all the synagogues of the East a heresy which is
called [the heresy] of the Minoei, and is even until this day
"

Hieron.,

cursed

"

August."

by the Pharisees these Minaeans are commonly called

But
Nazoraans, and they believe in Christ, the Son of God.
while they will be both Jews and Christians, they are neither Jews
nor Christians."
;

328
The^Meaning

DID JESUS LIVE

The accepted Christian

said,

B.C.

tradition, it

need hardly be

that Jesus Nazorseus means simply Jesus of

is

Nazareth, his place of origin.

known

10()

to

scholars

all

that

It

very

is,

however, well

great

difficulties

presented by the contradictory statements of the

accounts, and that so far no generally
accepted ground of reconciliation between the rival
are

canonical

claims of the traditional Nazareth and the prophetically

necessitated Bethlehem has been found.

There

is,

however, one hypothesis whereby much of

may be relieved, and which is therefore

the pressure

deserving of our closest attention. In the first place

it is to be noticed that even in the canonical account
preserved the very interesting trace that
Nazareth was regarded by some as the native country
there

still

is

"

"

not town, of Jesus and in the second it has

been
argued, not only that Nazareth (or, perhaps,
lately
more correctly Nazara) was not a town or village, but
(Trar/o/?),

a district or country, but, further, most probably this

district
Bethlehem-

was

Galilee.

It is therefore suggested that perhaps in the earliest

the evangelical tradition the term BethlehemNazareth that is, Bethlehem of (or in) Galilee was

form

of

found, and that this being misunderstood, especially by

Gentile converts, in course of time some said that

born at Bethlehem, others at Nazareth.

thus find in the more developed forms of the

Jesus was

We

woven

round Bethlehem,
others round Nazareth, and scriptural authority was
tradition

some

incidents

sought to authenticate either view.

1

See Cheyne s

"

article,

Nazareth,"

elaborates the theory first mooted

in the

"

Enc. Bib.,

"

which

by the great Jewish authority Grtitz.

329

BRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

May

be that the whole idea of

not, however,

it

Bethlehem owed

to the

its origin

"proof

from scrip

l
Bethlehem was necessitated by prophecy
must have been the place of birth, for in those days,
history did not fit with prophecy it had to go to the
"

ture
it
if

"

"

Although, then, the prophecy-fulfilling writer of

the first gospel could not have dreamed of giving up the
wall.

prophetical Bethlehem, nevertheless he inconsistently

supports the presumably simple historical Nazareth

He
by further prophecy when saying (ii. 23)
came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall
"

tradition

be called a Nazareiie

(Nazorseus)."

This passage, as

is

well known, has given rise to endless discussion, for no

such prophecy is to be found in the Old Testament.

Some
that

commentators,

earlier
it

it is true,

refers to the prophetical

"

should arise out of Jesse (Isaiah

shoot
xi.

1)

were

of

opinion

"

(netzer)
;

which

and that

this

was the explanation put forward by Jewish Christians

of the early centuries may be seen from the Talmud
It must, how
passage concerning the five disciples.
a
so
far-fetched
derivation of
that
ever, be confessed

the

name appears

little

short of fantastic to the modern

2
mind, and quite beneath the dignity of Scripture.
The whole of this apparently hopeless tangle, how-

"Micah,"

be

v.

"

But

tliou,

Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou

among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee there shall

forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel."

little

come

2
Krauss (pp. 253-255) suggests the derivation of Nazareth from
a word meaning "splinter" or "chip," and in this, apparently,
would find a reason for the use of the term Jeachu ha-Notzri

among the
Cheyne

being a play on the word carpenter.

Joseph ( 9) in Enc. Bib."
"

Jews,

s art.

"

it

"

"

See also

Nazareth:
Galilee.

330

DID JESUS LIVE 100

ever, begins to unravel itself

if

B.C.

we can be persuaded

the simple historical fact was that Jesus was a

that

Galilean

whether so-called because he was actually

born in Galilee, or because the chief scene

of his public

ministry was among that very mixed population, and

1
many of his earliest followers were Galileans,
here matters

Galileans,

We

little.

that

sources

the

and

know

Christians

further from

were

originally

said that Julian the

it is

363

A.D.) desired to have

his

own

them

several
called

Emperor (360and in

so called again,

writings he invariably refers to

them under

this designation.

The

Galileans.

Does, then, the general term Notzrim used by the Jews

mean simply Galileans, and did Jeschu

for the Christians

The
"

Nazoraeans

or Chris-

ha-Notzri originally signify simply Jesus of Galilee ?

In any case we see that, according to the writer of
T-.
i
the Acts, the Christians of Paul s time were called

/**

Nazoraei (Notzrim) by the Jews, and

emphatic

followers of Jesus were so designated.

"

paedic

Panarium,"

all heresies,

that

in

is,

we have

also the

Epiphanius that the earliest

declaration of

In his encyclo

which he most vigorously attacks

every form of religious belief, or

even philosophy, but what he held to be the true

teaching of Christianity, the Bishop of Constantia (the
ancient Salamis) in Cyprus heads the concluding para1

See Acts

i.

11 and

Ixxx.), moreover,

ii.

Justin Martyr

7.

("Dial.

c.

Tryph.,"

knows

of a pre-Christian sect called Galileans,

scholars identify with the followers of the

which, however, most

Zealot Judas the Galilean,

who

led a revolt in 6 or 7 A.D.

the
Epictetus, who died about 117 A.D., calls
iv. 7); Mani, in the third
Christians Galileans
Dissertatt.,"
"Bib.
century, calls the general Christians Galileans (Fabricius,
2

For

instance,

("

Greec.,"

were

v.

first

285)

called

Suidas

"

(s.v.

Christiani

Nazarenes or Galileans.

")

says that the Christians

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

Concerning the Nazorseans

"

graph

of his first

volume,

"

or Christians
It

("

xx. 4).

Haar.,"

somewhat

is

331

make out

to

difficult

the precise

for Epiphanius first of all

paragraph
again identifies the Nazoraeans and Christians, and then
that which was for a short time
goes on to speak of

sense

of

this

"

called Christianism

by the Jews, and by the Apostles

when Peter

themselves,

(quoting from Acts

read, instead of

ii.

Jesus Nazoneus,

says

22),

"

"

he continues

"

etc."

where we should expect

called

first

for

Nazoraeanism,"

Christianism,"

but was

to

Christianism at

This was the true religion, but under an

improper name, for there is properly a heresy of the
he promises to tell us in its
Nazoraei," about which
Antioch."

"

right place in the sequel.

When, however, he comes

Nazoraeans
not really

("

Hser.,"

know

xxix.

with these heretical

to deal

1),

he confesses that he does

exactly where

whether

to place them,

before, or contemporary with, or later than

some early

first century which he has just

been attacking
he says they were all of about the
same date and held the same views. They do not call

schools of the end of the

;

themselves after the

name

Christus

simply Nazoraei, and, he adds,

that time in like fashion called
time,

however,

Jessseans

the

(lessaei).

"

Nazoraei."

Whence

this

"

or

For a short

name was

of David, or

name Jesus, which, Epiphanius

Hebrew the same as the Greek
healer

but

Jesus,

Christians also called themselves

whether from Jesse, the father

"

or

Christians were at

all

"

saviour,"

he

certain they were so called

is

("

derived,

from the

signifies

in

Therapeutes,"

or

says,
"

not sure, but he

Haer.,"

xxix. 4).

is

very

332

DID JEStTS LIVE 100

Whether or not

in this, as in

B.C.

much

else of his vast

heresiological undertaking, the Bishop of Constantia

is

giving us the speculations of his own

pure phantasy,"
based on vague hearsay, as Lipsius supposes, 1 or that
more credit is to be given to his confusing indications,
"

as Hilgenfeld

seems to admit, 2 has not yet been definitely

decided by modern scholarship.

We

are, therefore, at

liberty to enquire for ourselves, not with

any hope

of

deciding the question, for any attempt to do so would

require a huge volume even for preliminaries, but with
the sole purpose of directing the reader

some points

tion of the over-zealous

Value

of

Epiphanius.

attention to

of special interest in the confused Kefuta-

Epiphanius

is

Church Father.

a curious writer,

who

deserves more

attention than has so far been bestowed upon him, and

it is somewhat a reproach to
scholarship that as yet
he has never been translated into any modern tongue.

He

attacks indiscriminately, and often misrepresents,

every school of thought and belief of which he has read

or heard yet here and there, in spite of himself, he lets
;

drop a valuable scrap of information which none of his

predecessors in heresy -hunting have handed on to us.

We should remember that this

of the

hydra-headed serpents

"

"

antidote

of

error,"

to the

A.D., that

poison

as he is never

tired of calling the objects of his onslaught,

posed from 374 to 376 or 377

"

is

was com

to say, just

half a century after the initial triumph of Nicene Chris

and as

tianity,

far as

Lipsius (R. A.),

Epiphanius was concerned, he was

"Zur

Quellenkritik des

Epiphanies"

(Wien

1865), pp. 122-151.

~

"

Hilgenfeld (A.),
(Leipzig

Die Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums

1884), index,

s.

vocc. Jesssei, Osseni, Nazoraei, etc.

"

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

333

determined that no mercy should be shown to any

dissenter, even though his dissent may have been ab

most of Epiphanius
had lived and thought at a date when
Nicene Christianity was either inchoate, or even non

solutely unconscious, seeing that

dissenters"

existent.

we

find

The rush of Epiphanius is so furious that

him not unfrequently over-reaching himself;

he sometimes even blindly blunders into his own

and disarrays their ranks. The "mistakes" of

friends

Epiphanius are accordingly

psychological

sometimes

of

interest

and

directly,

of

deep

indirectly

are

value.

historical

great

always

nearly

much to interest us in what is gene- The Theraconsidered

to
be his Issaean blunder. Epiphanius peL
rally
identifies his Issaeans with the Essenes, and of this
Thus there

is

there can be no doubt, for he tells the

("Haer.,"

xxix. 5), that

if

"

studious reader

"

he would know more about them,

and especially in
the book which that famous Alexandrian had en
he will find

titled

"

it

in the

memoirs

Concerning the

of Philo,

"

Issaei

after

which Epiphanius

proceeds to give the main outlines of this treatise in

such a way as to leave no doubt that he is quoting

On the Contemplative
from Philo s famous tractate,
Life."
In this treatise it is true that Philo calls the
"

very interesting community which had its monasteria

on the southern shore of Lake Mareotis, south of
Alexandria, as well as

all their allied

communities in

Egypt and elsewhere, Therapeuts but in his opening

words he distinctly informs us that he had already,
;

presumably in another tractate now

1

treated

of

tells us of them in hiw tract,

Quod Oinuis Probus
one of his earlier works, most probably written before

For what he

Liber,"

lost,

"

334
the

DID JESUS LIVE 100

"

who

Esssei

munities in

B.C.

followed the practical

and

Palestine

Arabia,

the

life,"

who

com

Philo

in

opinion did not soar to such a lofty height of philo

sophic and mystic endeavour as the members of the

community near
specially
"

with

Alexandria

acquainted, and which

those of the Esssei

who

which

was

he

he characterized

devote themselves to the

as

life of

contemplation."

The Name

It

therefore, held that Epiphanius has simply read

is,

Esssei as Isssei,

Now

culty.

and that

it is

well

this explains the

known

that the

whole

diffi

name Essene

is

one of the greatest puzzles of scholarship upwards of

twenty derivations have been given by ancient and
;

modern

The

writers,

greatest

and the riddle

is

difficulty

still

remains unsolved.

we cannot find any

term, in use in Hebrew or

that

general term, or even special

Aramaic for those whom such Hellenized Jews as Philo

and Josephus

Philo calls them

call Essenes.

"

Esssei."

Pliny the Elder (|79 A.D.) speaks of them as

senes," while Josephus (75-100
A.D.) gives the
as

"

Esseni."

name

Philo, in

"

Q. 0. P.

L.,"

"Hes-

name

thinks that the

simply a (? Jewish) corruption of the

Greek Osioi, the saints, while in D. V.
he makes it
Essaioi

is

"

C."

equivalent to Therapeuts, that

(of

God).

20

A.D.,

is,

Healers, or Servants

can be regarded only as a summary from some

lost

treatise.
1

See

my"

Fragments

of a Faith

66-86, where a translation

by Conybeare in 1895.

is

Forgotten"

given from the

(London

critical text

1900), pp.

published

2 For the most

objective article on the general subject, see
Conybeare s article in Hastings "Dictionary of the Bible (Edin
burgh 1898).
3;

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

335

Mind
Epiphanius, as we have already seen, follows Philo The
he
has
but
and adopts the latter derivation,
why

changed

thought that
the

The Bishop

Essaei into Issyei is the puzzle.

Salamis knew some Hebrew

Hebrew

Issaei

of

it,

then, because he

was the preferable

transliteration of

original,

Or

was

was

indeed, there was a

if,

Hebrew

claimed

these
having
Essseans as the first Christians, as he emphatically does
Hser.," xxix. 5), he found himself in great difficulty to

original

it

that,

("

account for the name, as

had nothing

to

seeing that he

it

evidently, on the face of

it,

do with Jesus, or Christus, or Nazareth,

knew

its

plainly gives elsewhere

("

variant was Esseni, which he

Hser.,"

that a light had seemed to have

viii.

9)

come

to

Or can it be
him to illumi

nate the dim and puzzling records of the past, and that
had suddenly occurred to the worthy Bishop: Of
course
Esssei is a mistake of Philo s for Jesssei, the

it

Or was it finally that Epiphanius

an ancient tradition which declared that the

followers of Jesus

knew

of

from the Essenes, that

Jesus himself had been an Essene, and that the Church
Christians

originally derived

Father wished to safeguard the doctrinal tradition

now stereotyped by the ecumenical decisions at Nicaaa,

an argument against this

heretical tradition, should it ever have the hardihood
to raise its head again.
This supposition may seem to

by working into his

treatise

"

"

some

to cast a slur

on the bona

fides of

our stalwart

defender of orthodoxy
but Epiphanius is in all things
a theologian and not a historian, and the canons of
;

evidence for these two very different classes of mind

are generally poles asunder.
Moreover, we shall have
to show that in several other instances Epiphanius has

of

336

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

for similar reasons dextrously woven into his expositions

material of a very different pattern from that of the

name

Catholic tradition, and even with regard to the

The

Issaei

of

be that

may

Isssei it

we

interest, as

Apart from
that the
for

this,

name

Abbot

it

hides an ancient trace of deep

shall see later

however,

was not

Isssei

Nilus, the

on in another connection.

it is

by no means improbable

original with Epiphanius,

renowned

ascetic of Sinai,

who had

previously enjoyed a high reputation at Constantinople,

and retired

one

to

of the

famous monasteries

of the

and Serbal in 390, and died

the Issaei and says that they were the

mysterious region of Sinai

in 430, speaks of

Jewish philosophers and ascetics who were originally

followers of the Kechabite Jonadab. 1
Did,

then,

Nilus get this form of the

Epiphanius, or did Epiphanius obtain

source as Nilus

such

monastic

Serbal,

"Thera-

is

and others with which Epiphanius had come

into

contact

same

difficulties

must

It

tkn ~Contro- stantia

versy.

also

Egypt, such a
may even have
place by the

first

which Epiphanius had to face.

be remembered that the Bishop

was not the

first to

previously,

we

of

Con-

claim the Essene-Therapeuts

Already, some

o j phjjo as foe earliest Christians.

years

name from

from the same

not improbable that among

communities as those on Sinai and
It

during his travels in

name-theory had been canvassed,
been a tradition necessitated in the

The

it

find Eusebius

in

his

"

fifty

Church

History boldly declaring that these Therapeuts south of

Alexandria were the first Christian Church in Egypt,
"

"

Tractatus de Monastica

Abbatis Opera quae

pletus, Patrol,

"

Exercitatione," c. iii.

supersunt,"

groec.,"

in

Migne s

torn Ixxix. (Paris

S. P.

N. Nili

Patrologiae Cursus Com1860), vol. i. col. 722.

"

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

337

We
asserts later was founded by Mark.
have no space to trace the history of the fierce battle
between Catholic and Protestant which has raged round
this famous tract of Philo s because of this claim made
which Photius

Church History, and the Philologus, or

studious reader, as Epiphanius calls him, must be re
ferred to Conybeare s magnificent and exhaustive work
by the Father

of

on the subject l

what

can only repeat

Fragments
already written in my
the
whole
matter.
reviewing

have

(pp. 64, 65), after

It is convincingly established against the

speculation of Griitz, Nicolas

Philo"

"

"

"

Pseudo-

and Lucius, that

Be Vita Conternplativa is a genuine Philonean

As to its date, we are confronted with some diffi
tract.
"

the

"

culties

that

but the expert opinion

Conybeare assures us
the works of Philo confirms my

"

every reperusal of
feeling that the D. V. C.
(op.

cit. y

p.

276).

year 30

B.C.,

ascribed

to

Now

is

of

one

of his earliest

first

quarter

of

Conybeare puts it conservatively

or 23
(op. cit., p. 290).

"

was born about the

as Philo

the date of the treatise

the

works

may

the

be roughly

first

century;
the year 22

"about

"

The question, then, naturally arises At such a date can The

:

the Therapeuts of Philo be identified with the earliest Dilemma.

If the accepted dates
?

Christian Church at Alexandria

of the origins are correct, the

cally,

No.

incorrect,

If,

on the contrary, the accepted dates are

s Therapeuts were
Christians," then

and Philo

"

we shall be compelled
1

answer must be emphati

to

change the values of many things.

Conybeare (F. C.), Philo about the Contemplative Life, or the

Fourth Book of the Treatise concerning the Virtues," critically
edited, with a Defence of its Genuineness (Oxford
1895).
"

22

338

DIB JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

But apart from the question of date, the contents

D. V.
are of immense importance and interest

of the

"

C."

affording us a glimpse into those mysterious com

munities in which Christians for so many centuries

as

recognized not only their forerunners, but themselves.

The Therapeuts, however, were clearly not Christians
in

any sense

which the term has been used by dog

in

Philo knows absolutely nothing of

any sense in which the word is used

matic Christianity
Christianity in
to-day.

Who,

then, were those Christian non-Christian

Therapeuts ? The answer to this question

demands, in our opinion, an entire reformulation of the

Essene

accepted history of the origins.

The dilemma is one that cannot be avoided.
chief of all problems

Christian origins.

It is

which confront the student

of

The Therapeuts have been recognized

throughout the centuries as identical with the earliest

Christian Church of Egypt.
They were known to Philo

and they must

have existed long before. If the canonical dates are
correct, they could not have been Christians, in the

at the very latest as early as 25 A.D.,

sense of being followers of Jesus

so like the

Christians,

and yet they were

that the Church

Fathers re

garded them as the model of a Christian Church. We

either
are, therefore, confronted with this dilemma
;

Christianity

existed

dates are wrong.

to

The NameEpfphamus.

before

From

this

Christ,

or

the canonical

dilemma there seems to me

be no escape.

Having, then, claimed the Essseans of Philo as early

Christians, and having, as most assume, though perhaps
erroneously,

changed their name to t Jessseans appa

rently to clinch the matter, Epiphanius finds himself

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

339

involved in a very great difficulty. What Philo tells us

of the contemplative Essaeans or Therapeuts is so similar
to

what the Christians conceived

com

their earliest

munities to have been, that the identification of the one

with the other amounted for them to a certainty. On

the other hand, Epiphanius knows from Philo and other
sources that there were

from not

differed

many things
only the Mcene

day, but from any type

which the

and had

Christianity of his

own

their

traditions, as

in exis

still

we

shall see

on,
Epiphanius knows something
various heresies which still represented some

and

later

Essaei

of Christianity in canonical

Moreover, the Essaeans were

tradition.

tence,

in

of

the

"

"

The

teachings.

difficulty, therefore,

of their

which faced him

was that these Essaeans were not Christians in any

Nicene sense.

Knowing, then, that Josephus, as we have seen, gives

(perhaps erroneously) Esseni as a variant of Essaei,
Epiphanius hit upon the idea that the Esseni were
from the

different

into

Essaei,

the orthodox

and as he had converted

so

Issaei,

Essaei

he changed Esseni into

and kept this form for all characteristics of the

Essenes which he held to be pre-Christian or heretical.
Osseni,

Even

so Epiphanius cannot straighten out the matter,

for in his Introduction

"

Esseni

"

were the

("Hser.,"

viii.

9) he tells us that the

the Samaritans, this

heresy
the
in
which
he
uses the Josephean
being
only passage

form
of

of the

these

name;

Esseni.

of

first

however, says nothing further

moreover, be confessed

he,

It

must,

that our Cyprian Bishop

change, for he has used

is

it

great on this device of name-

in other matters.

It therefore becomes of great interest to learn

what

The

340

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Epiphanius has to
Contra Ossenos

us

tell

his

of

"

"

("

xix.

Hser.,"

B.C.

In

Osseni.

his

1-5), he informs us

that this heresy was interwoven with the heresies of the

of whom more anon
Nazarsei (not Nazorsei)
of the
:

and

Daily Baptists

of the Pharisees,

thus classifying

The

Osseni, he tells

them among pre-Christian

us, were, like these

to the tradition

sects.

other schools,

which had come

Jews

but, according

not

to him, they did

came from the regions to

south-east and south of the Dead Sea, mostly

originate in Judaea itself, but

the east,

Moab and Nabathsea;

from

Arabian

origin.

Are we, then,

name Essene

origin of the

were

they

largely

of

possibly to seek for the

in old Arabic

These Osseni, moreover, Epiphanius

tells us,

among

other things used especially a certain scripture called

the Book or Apocalypse of Elxai, which he elsewhere

have been held in high

esteem by the Ebionseans and Nazorseans, and especially
by the Sampsseans, who, he says, are neither Christians,
nor Jews, nor Greeks, but as they are midway between

("Hser.,"

all of these,

his

et

liii.

al.)

asserts to

they are nothing.

Osseni

Christians.

It,

or

therefore, becomes

learn

what were the leading

but

to

this

Here Epiphanius makes

Christians

heretical

interesting

even

of

still

non-

importance to

ideas of this Elxai scripture,

subject

we must devote

separate chapter.
The Nazor#i.

We

will next pass to

of the Nazoreei

("

Hser.,"

what Epiphanius has

xxix. 1-9).

to tell us

After declaring that

Called Masbotheans by Hegesippus (Mazbutlia = Baptism). See

Die Religion des Judentums," p. 437 n.
Bousset,
2 The
Pharisees, however, were not a school or a sect, but rather
1

"

the national religious party

among

the Jews.

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

in

the

days

early

the

Christians

were

all

341
called

Nazorseans, although for a short time they also bore

name Jessyeans, Epiphanius enters into a very curious

the

and deeply interesting digression on the Davidic descent

of Jesus, which we shall treat in detail later on, and he
then proceeds to tell us that Paul himself was accused
of being a Nazorsean and acknowledged the title, con
moreover, that in the eyes of the Jews he was

fessing,

which Epiphanius is, of course,

only repeating the words of the writer of the Acts

a heretic (Min)

(xxiv.

5,

in all of

12-14).

According to Epiphanius, the Nazoreeans were

practically Jewish Christians, that is to say, Christians

who

still

observed the Jewish

what

Law

were as

he

is,

however, not

whether they
took the miraculous view of his birth and worshipped him

certain

their views

as God, or regarded

him

to Jesus,

as a simple

man who became

It was against these Nazoraeans, that is to

the
Christians
who remained on the ground of
say,

prophet.

that the Jews in their synagogues

used to pronounce the curse to which reference has

Judaism, he

tells us,

already been made, and which his contemporary Jerome

assures us was directed against the Minsei (Minim).

These Nazoroeans, even in Epiphanius time, were The

numerous, and were scattered throughout Coele-Syria,
Decapolis, Fella, the region beyond Jordan, and extended
even as far east as Mesopotamia. And in this connec
tion, he declares that the sect of the Nazorseans took its
rise in

and about Pella

salem, for he will have

on a prophecy
siege

this

is,

in Peraaa after the fall of Jeru

it

of Jesus,

that the disciples, in reliance

had fled thither to avoid the

of course, the

Eusebian account as well,

Flight to

DID JESUS LIVE 100

342

B.C. ?

but neither of these Fathers seem to have considered

says little for the courage or patriotism of the
disciples that they fled nor does Epiphanius explain
that

it

"
"

the

if

why,

subsequently

70

to

the Nazorseans began only

Paul was called a Nazoraean

of

heresy

A.D.,

a generation earlier.
Towards the
Facts of the
Case.

But indeed our heresiologist is ever involving himself

.
.
x_
in serious contradictions concerning these Nazoraei, for
while on the one hand he makes them out to

differ

from the Catholic Christians only in their continued ad

herence to the Jewish Law, he elsewhere says that they
in

many

things hold the same views as the Cerinthians,

Ebionites, Sampsaaans and Elkesaeans, all of

whom

he

most bitterly attacks because they did not acknow

ledge Jesus as God, but said that he was either simply a

man

with the Holy Spirit of God,

or that the Christ was the Great Power, or Great King
good man, or a

filled

taught the natural birth of Jesus and

the doctrine of the mystic Christ, and not the later

in

brief they

historicized

dogma

finally

made

absolute by the Council

of Nicsea.

The

historical

fact

underlying

tion

seems to be simply that

name

for

many

Nazorsei

schools possessing

contradic

this

all
"

"

many

was a general
views differing

from that view which subsequently became orthodox.

Most of them still remained more or less on the ground
of

Judaism, but what

is

of

the greatest importance is

those earliest

that they were the direct followers of

Nazorsei of which, according to the tradition of the Acts.

Paul was accused

of being a leader.

That the tradition

many and various)

(or rather traditions, for

of the Nazoraei differed

they were

very widely

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

from any form
tion,

may

of

scripture

marches

of Christianity

be seen even in our

their

known to canonical tradi

own day from the complex

existent

still

343

descendants in the

Southern Babylonia, the so-called Mandaites,

from whose Codex Nasarseus we have already quoted a
of

few pregnant sentences but the Genzci, is a vast store

house of mixed traditions of all kinds, to which, unfor
;

tunately,

we have no

space

to

our present

in

refer

undertaking.

Epiphanius, as we have seen, is greatly put to it to Nazoraan

Scn P tures
extricate himself from the many difficulties which have
puzzled

many

far wiser heads than his own.

He

feels

compelled, on evidence which was doubtless far fuller

in his day than it is in ours, to hold to the Nazorseans
as the first Christians,

both the Old and

New

and

will

have

Testament

it

that they used

though how

(xxix. 7),

the earliest Christians could have used the

ment, when

New

Testa

was not yet in existence, he does not

explain; they differed from the Catholic Christians
it

only in so far that they observed the Jewish Law, the

Sabbath and circumcision, the rite of the Covenant;
but if so, it is strange that Epiphanius could be so
so

much

of it is occupied

New

Testament, when
with the Letters of Paul, who

careless as to say they used the

so strenuously withstood circumcision

(or Law) which killeth."
These Nazorai, Epiphanius

learned in Hebrew, and

all

tells us,

and the

"

letter

were exceedingly The Hebrew

their writings apparently

were in Hebrew (or Aramaic). But when he leaves

the vague ground of the
New Testament and comes
"

name one Gospel which he

Hebrew original of the Gospel

to documents, he can only

claims to have been the

"

Gos P el

344

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

according to Matthew, a book which was known to his

contemporary Jerome, and a copy of which was in the

Library founded by Pamphilus at Caesarea.

It is impossible here to enter into the history of the

Gospel of the
whether the Hebrew

puzzling controversy concerning this

or

Nazoraeans,"

to

determine

"

Aramaic) Gospel according to Matthew, which is

and Jerome, and which the

(or

referred to by Epiphanius

Greek and Latin, but kept back

latter translated into

because

were not profitable to

"

disclose,

Gospel according to the

translation

known

is

to

was

Hebrews,"

have

the

Nazoraean

was

different

Matthew

l
;

The

which a Greek

of

in

Hilgenfeld

the

early

holds that

Gospel (according to the Hebrews)

from the Hebrew Gospel according to
while Lipsius, on the contrary, maintains

that the two titles refer to one and the

Ancient

from the

different

existed

the second century.

of

years

Matthew

striking divergences from canonical

its

of

criticism

same document. 2

the question introduces us to a

complicated problem of recensions, translations and

retranslations, but in any case we are face to face

with such readings as

positive

command,

infer a gospel-form

begat

"Joseph

Jesus,"

and the

Call me not Good/ both of which

which rejected the physical virgin"

"

birth and the equation of Jesus with God.

It is not,

however, to be supposed that the literature of the

Nazoraei, even on the ground of the New Covenant, was
1

Evangeliorum secundum Hebrseos et cet. quae

Librorum Deperditorum Fragmenta (Leipzig 1884,
"

Hilgenfeld (A.),

"

supersunt

2nd

pp. 15 ff., 33 ff.

2
See his article,
(The Gospel of the
Gospels, Apocryphal
Hebrews) in Smith and Wace s
Dictionary of Christian Biog
ed.),

"

"

"

raphy"

(London

1880).

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

confined to this Gospel and the

"

Book

contrary there must have been

"

on the

many books used by

and

them,

of Elxai

345

of

gospels
apocalypses
ancient and more recent.

all

kinds,

both

Moreover, in following up the Nazonei, Epiphanius The

gets involved in yet another chronological difficulty,

which he attempts to solve in the same fashion as that

which he dealt with the Essene problem, namely, by

in

The Nazoraai about whom he

a distinction in names.

has been telling us, are not, he says, to be confused

Sanctified or
Nazirsei, a term meaning the

with the
"

"

"

Consecrated

one,

"

("

and many

xxix. 5)

Hser.,"

after him,

of

whom Samson was

and among them John the

Baptist.

There was, he
Christ
("

("

Haer.,"

Haer.,"

He

treats

Baptists, who,

sect

of

the Nasaraei before

these he has already described

1-3). calling them, however, Nazaraei.

xviii.

of

says, a

xxix. 6)

with

connection

these in

like the Essenes

and

allied

the

Daily

communities,

baptized or washed themselves in water every day they

were Jews, and lived in the same districts as the Essenes.
;

They observed the law

the appointed

feasts,

of circumcision, the

Sabbath and

and especially reverenced the

ancient patriarchs and sages of Israel, including Moses

they however, rejected the canonical Pentateuch, and

said that the real

public circulation.

Law was
They

different

from the one

in

apparently also rejected all the

prophets after Moses.

Moreover, they refused to have

anything to do with the blood sacrifices of the Temple
and abstained from eating flesh. They contended that
the books which laid

down

the rules of these sacrifices

were inventions

later

times,

of

and that their true

DID JESUS LIVE 100

346

Adam

ancestors from

bloody rites

all

to

B.C. ?

Moses did not perform such

the accounts of such sacrifice in the

popular scripture were later inventions of scribes who

were ignorant of the true doctrine. These Nazars, then,

were an extreme school

of those dissentient mystics

whose sayings had from about 150 B.C. crept into the
books which subsequently became canonical, such
"

spirit

"

as

sayings

"

The

God are
Thou
offering

sacrifices

and

Sacrifices

of

broken

not

didst

desire."

This spiritual protest against the grossness of bloodand

offerings was also a characteristic of the Essenes
;

there can be

little

doubt but that there must have been

a very close connection between the ideals of these pre-

Christian schools of mystic and humanitarian Judaism

and the
The

earliest Christians.

The bringing

Nazirs.

its

(and
is
"

of

the names Nazonei and Nazaraei

variants) into such close connection, however,

The Old Testament Nazirs were those

puzzling.

consecrated

"

to

Yahweh by

a vow, and their origin

goes back to very early times in Jewish tradition.

it is to be remarked that in Numbers vi. the word

Now

nezer

vow of
we do how

applied to the taking of the Nazirite

is

separation

or consecration.

Knowing

as

fond the Hebrews, and, for a matter of that,

ancients, were
as yet

name

undreamed
("

Jesus in

of
1

")

"

the Talmud, 2 and in one of the Toldoth

Bib."

Bab.

the

was

and finding as we do that the

is given to one of the disciples

See Cheyne s (Robertson Smith s) article

"Enc.

of,

branch

netzer

all

of word-play, for philology proper

Sanhedrin,"

43a.

"

Nazarite

"

in

the

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

347

recensions to Jeschu himself, and that commentators are

agreed that this

"

Nazarene

followers of

if

Hebrew

for

our previous argument

knowing further that some of the earliest

Jesus were Galileans, and that the Jews

Galileans in general as ignorant people,

not be possible that some other of the earliest
all

despised
it

a play on notzri, the

Galilean,

(or

holds good)

can

is

"

were Nazirs, in the later sense of the

Talmud and Toldoth acknowledge that
the disciples were learned men ? It is, we

disciples of Jesus

term, for the

some

of

admit, impossible at this late date to throw any certain

light on this chaos of conflation of names, but it is not

have asked the question.

course be doubted whether there was an The Neo

illegitimate to
It

may

order

of

of

Nazarites contemporary with Jesus

never

theless Epiphanius distinctly tells us that the mystics

and

ascetics

whom

of

he

is

speaking, went back to

pre-Christian times, and rejected the sacrificial and

priestly views of the Ezra-Nehemiah redaction of the

Torah.

They

are

thus apparently to

be

associated

who sought to revive the ancient schools of

the prophets," and who did revive them in a very
remarkable fashion, as we know from the apocalyptic
Such men would naturally
literature of the period.
with those

"

have looked back to the Nazirs of old as an

"from

allusions

Amos

in

(ii.

11

we

if.)

ideal, for

are led to

suppose that at one time they (the Nazirs) had an

importance perhaps even an organization parallel to
that of the

prophets."

These Nazarites

of

Amos have

the ancient Eechabites, a

1

See Cheyne

also a parallel

name which
s article,

sup.

in later

cit.

with The
times

348

DID JESUS LIVE 100

became synonymous with

B.C. ?

and the early writer

us
ii.
Hegesippus
expressly (cup. Euseb., H.
23),
that "one of the priests of the Sons of Rechab, the
ascetic,

"

tells

E.,"

who

son of Rechabim,
prophet,"

Just, the

are mentioned by Jeremiah the

protested against the murder of James

"

brother of the

the

Lord."

We

have already also seen that Nilus asserts that

the Issaei derived their descent from Jonadab the
Rechabite, and though

we have not space here to go

we could wish, we can

into the matter as thoroughly as

at

least

together,

see that all these scattered indications

hang
numerous precommunities, who were closely inter

and point

Christian ascetic

woven with the

The

to the existence of

origins of Christianity.

Moreover, the great mythic hero of the Nazirs was

Sampson (LXX.) or Samson, a name derived from SMS
2

This at
Shemesh, Chald. Samas), or the Sun.
once brings us back to Epiphanius and his Sampsaeans.

(Heb.

We have

already seen that the Bishop of Constantia, in

Haer./ xxix. 5), knew that
speaking of the Nazirsei
Samson was the great hero of these Nazirs, and yet he
("

fails

hero
("

to

entirely
s

And

name.

Haer.," liii.

understand the significance of

the

this is strange, for after telling us

1-2) that the Sampsseans are to be found in

the same regions as the Essenes and Nazoraeans, and

that they were also called Elkesaei, of whom we shall
treat later on, he goes on to say that Sampssei means
Heliaci, that is to say Solares (Children or
1

See Bennett s article

of the
2

"

Rechab,

Rechabites"

Worshippers

in Hastings

"

Diet,

Bible."

See Budde

Bible."

article

"

Samson

"

in

"

Hastings

Diet, of the

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

of

The

the Sun).

repeats, all use the

Book

of

Elxai,"

we should

Sampsseans, or as

and Nazoraei, he
and especially the

Osseni, Ebionsei
"

349

prefer to take

it,

one

of

the books they all used was this apocalypse.

They were sun-worshippers not, however, in the gross Sunsense in which Epiphanius would have us understand
;

the term, but presumably in the same sense as the

Therapeuts were sun-worshippers, who, as Philo tells us,
"

dawn and

twice a day, at

even, are accustomed to

as the sun rises praying for the sun

the
real
shine,
sunshine, that their minds may be filled
offer

up prayers

with heavenly
soul,

light,

and

as it sets praying that their

completely lightened of the lust of the senses and

sensations,

may withdraw

to its

own

council-chamber, there to track out

congregation and

truth."

Their teacher was not, as Epiphanius would have

a

man

called Elxaios, but

"

kin to

it,

we

as

and those who were illumined were

shall see later on,

said to be

some Great Power,

Him and
"

born

of

the

"

blessed

seed."

This reminds us forcibly of the Mind or Shepherd of

Men in the Trismegistic treatises, and of much else.

This

"

Mind

of all-mastership,"

children or disciples in
birth

in other words,

Epiphanius

tells

whom

And

"

Christs."

us that the Sampsseans and the rest

"

lives for

"

of the

the Logos had come to

who had become

would gladly lay down their

of Elxai

was the Father

moreover, those of this

any of this race

race were believed to

have the power of miraculous healing.

Epiphanius further informs us that the Sampsseans
would not receive the prophets and apostles (presumably
of

Petrine and Pauline Christianity), and

1

"

Phil,

D. V.

C.,

P. 893,

M. 475.

that

they

Their Mystic
]

350

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

used the term Christus with a signification at variance

with that of the later Mcene belief. Epiphanius can

not understand the symbolism of these Children of the

Sun, and makes a great hash of it but it seems to have
;

been simple enough. The positive and negative aspects

of the Divine Logos were
symbolized by the Sun (or
Fire) and Water, the Light and Life.

The Christ and

his sister, or spouse,

the Holy Spirit or the Sophia

were
the
dual
Son of God, the true Man.
(Wisdom),

Those who had reached the consciousness

ment with
The true

spiritual

"

Body

of

Adam,"

in Paradise,

when

of their

Man, were Christs

this sexless

atone

or Anointed.

they termed the

the garment which was left behind
the soul descended, and which it will
of the Christ

body

put on again when it returns triumphant as the Victor

of all of which in this and
every other connection

Epiphanius appears not to have had the least notion,

for he can only ridicule or denounce it.
The
Ebionites.

We next pass on to
we

,.,

the Ebionseans or Ebionites,

.
,

whom
-,11

Epiphanius inextricably interwoven with the

Nazoraeans and allied sects.
The Bishop of Constantia
find in

apostrophizes with great vigour a certain Ebion, whom

he imagines, as did his predecessors in heresiology, to

have been the founder

of this

proceeds to confute this

widespread heresy.

He

"
"

serpent

at great length

by

the very simple process of quoting from the canonical

books of the New Testament, which of course the good

Father held to constitute an infallible historical record,

against which there was no appeal.
Epiphanius, like
his patristic predecessors, has, of course, not the slightest
heretics,"
appreciation of the position of these early
and begs the whole question with that superb confidence
"

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

which has ever characterized the defenders
cism.

The

the followers of

of

position

351

of Catholi

these

early

was precisely that they depended upon

a tradition which they claimed to be earlier than that of
schools, however,

was an appeal to history, and

history has so far never answered the appeal, history s
voice has been drowned by the passionate rhetoric of
the canonical view;

it

theologians.

"

The name Ebionsei (Heb. Ebionirn) meant simply The

Poor," and did not derive from an imaginary eponymous

now

Ebion, as has been

for

years admitted by

many

Ebion

scholars of every school.

is

myth begotten of
So much is certain

the rhetoric of patristic polemics.

but who the

were so

"

Poor

"

one

called, is

"Poor."

originally were, and

of the

why they
innumerable conundrums

with which the sphinx of the Christian origins confronts

the critical (Edipus.

Already we find Paul in his Letter

(ii.

10) referring

to

the

to the Galatians The Riddle of

in such a

"poor"

way

that

Hilgenfeld takes the term as a general designation of

the early Christian communities and not simply the
"

poor of the church of the

"

pillars

also find the writer of the third

his

"sources"

at Jerusalem. 1

We

Gospel using among

a form of the Sayings which are held

"

be of a distinctly
Ebionite
character, that is
to say, containing such unqualified declarations as
"

to

Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God

(Luke vi. 20), a dark saying, not only for us, but also

"

"

for the writer of the first Gospel, or his

which gives
(Matt.

v. 3),

"

Logia

source,"
"

it

as

"

Blessed are the

where rw

Trvev/jLari

has

poor

all

"

Hilgenfeld,

Ketzergeschichte," p.

in

spirit

the appearance
422.

the

Name

DIB JESUS LIVE 100

352

we

of being a gloss, unless

"

(in

loc.),

those

accept Jerome

who on account

of the

which case

"

B.C.

interpretation
Spirit are

Holy

voluntarily poor
might be regarded
of
form
the
as the original
Saying, and hence as ad
dressed to the members of an already formed com
;

munity;

in

it

the usual interpretation of the Catholic

for

Fathers, that the phrase

is

a periphrasis for

"

humble,"

would be a brusque departure from the simple wording

of the rest of the Sayings of the same category.

But even

so, if

the more elaborate form

to explain

it is difficult

why

is

the original,

the writer of the third

Gospel should have dropped the qualifying rw

7n/eu /xcm,

by no means easy of translation, unless it be the

rendering of some Hebrew or Aramaic idiom.

a phrase
literal

on the contrary, the simple

"

is the original
poor
form, the idea of a community of Poor cannot be enter
tained, and we must rather attribute it to some dark
If,

"

saying of the Master preserved by those

imagined that

who

falsely

He was

preaching some social revolution of

a Master of Wisdom could certainly

poor against rich, for

not have preached that the mere fact of poverty was
a virtue, and the mere fact of riches a condemnation.

In our present lack of reliable data

less to speculate as to the origin of the

this

much we know,

it is,

then, use

name Ebioriite
who were so

that later on those

were not necessarily poor, though some

naked they sought the
were voluntarily Poor

called

of

them

"

as the

Gymnosophist

of

Upper Egypt

is

Naked,"

reported to

The Twofold

have told Apollonius in the first century.

The point, however, which has proved

of greatest

Ebionism
Hypothesis.

See

First

my

"

the
Apollonius of Tyana, the Philosopher-Keformer of

Century"

(London

1902), p. 100.

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

353

difficulty in all research into this puzzling question of

the Ebionaeans,

that while Irenaeus, about 180

is

knows only of one kind

who
who

assert that Jesus

of Ebionites

("

Kef.," i.

was born a man as

all

A.D.,

22), those

men, and

C. Cels.,"
Paul on the contrary Origen
towards the middle of the third century, speaks

reject

61.),

two kinds

v.

("

of Ebionites,

who

both those

was a man, and those who believe

of

say that Jesus

in the virgin-birth,

Eusebius at the beginning of the fourth

iii.
century ("H.
27).
Accordingly innumerable
have
been
put forward, and attempts made
hypotheses
as also does

E.,"

and subdivide the Ebionites, ever since the

"Tubingen school" maintained that in them we had
to divide

the remnants of original Apostolic Christianity

is, however, no agreement among the authorities.
of

Perhaps

them by

chronological canon, and to speak of

and
as
"

is

Gnostic

there

the distinctions drawn between the

all

Ebionites, the attempt to separate

"

Ebionism,"

is

a supposed

Ebionism proper
the most misleading, for,
"

"

invariably the case, the comparative lateness of

is assumed as a firmly-established fact
"

Gnosticism

Church History. But the fond pre

the later Church Fathers that the Church

for all questions of

sumption of
remained a pure virgin
"

until the reign of

"

uncontaminated by heresy
Trajan, is no longer to be maintained

"

"

in face of the testimony of Paul, our earliest witness

to the existence of the Faith.

As

have already stated elsewhere, 2 Gnosticism,

is

The Early
Date of

Gnosticism,

See Fuller s article

"

Ebionism

"

in S.

and W. s

"

Diet, of Christ

Biog."

See

"Some

Notes on the Gnostics

"

in

"The

Nineteenth

Century"

(Nov. 1902), pp. 822-835.

23

354

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

not to be confined to the second and part of the third

century it was flourishing in the first century as well

indeed, Christianity seems to have been in contact with

communities of a Gnostic character from its very

Setting aside the hotly-debated point

whether Jesus himself was a member of one of the

beginnings.

Essene communities, there

is

little

very

Paul, whose authentic Letters are the

records of Christendom, was in some

with

"

Gnostic

"

It

doubt that

earliest historic

sort of contact

generally believed that

the Apostle to the Gentiles was in irreconcilable con
ideas.

is

with every sort of Gnosticism, because of his

Gnosis falsely so called
but if so, it is an
phrase,
flict

"

"

extraordinary fact that some of his Letters are filled

with technical terms of the Gnosis, terms which

Gnostic tradition,

and repeated explanation in

but which remain as every-day

words deprived

all

receive ample, elaborate,

of

technical context

in

Catholic

hands.
Paul and the

To take one instance out

before.

xv. 8 in the
all

What
"

puzzling

of
is

one, however,

also, as of

the

its

"

And

one born out

last of

of

due

the graphic but

meaning
due time," which so many
of

of

familiar sound

without further

question

And

last

to

t-KTpwfJLa,

as to

me

born out

accept because of

peared

many

famous and familiar words

he was seen

time."

"

of

knowledge, has not been noticed

The Authorized Version renders I. Corinthians

which, to the writer

me

of

all,

wa-Trepel
"

also."

he appeared to

And
me

TM
last

also."

the abortion, he appeared to

eVr/ow/xa-n,

he ap

of

to

all,

"And

me

as

last of

also."

the
all

Notice

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

the

"

article,

abortion,"

Now
term

of

"

as

to

the

abortion,"

not

"

as

355
to

an

the abortion

one

"

is

of the great

a technical and oft-repeated

systems

of the Gnosis, a

which enters into the main fabric

of

the

term

Sophia-

mythus.
In the mystic cosmogony of these Gnostic circles, The
the abortion
was the crude matter cast out of the
"

"

Pleroma or world

of perfection.

This crude and chaotic

matter was in the cosmogonical process shaped into a

"aeon
by the World-Christ; that is to say,
was made into a world-system by the ordering or
The abortion was the
cosmic power of the Logos.

perfect

"

"

unshaped and unordered chaotic matter which had

to be separated out, ordered and perfected, in the
macrocosmic task

of the "enformation according to

while
this
substance,"
again was to be completed on the
side
soteriological
by the microcosmic process of the
"

or spiritual con
enformation according to gnosis
As the world-soul was perfected by the
sciousness.

"

World-Christ, so was the individual soul to be perfected

and redeemed by the individual Christ.

Paul thus becomes comprehensible; he here speaks
the language of the Gnosis, and in this instance at least
it

is

falsely so

who

me

draw the deduction that the Gnosis

in

connection could not, in his opinion, have been

this
"

possible to

called."

Paul

is

speaking to communities

He appeared to
well-known imperfect plasm

are familiar with such language

just as it

were

to that

"

The reading has never been questioned ; but even if it were

questioned, the canon that the more difficult reading is to be pre
ferred to the easier" would decide for the retention of the article.
1

"

356

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

which we

call

the abortion,

familiar to all of

The Puzzle

"

he says

"

I use a figure

you."

we

accept the main Pauline Letters as

.
,
the
Communities, genuine,
problem we have to face is this, that we
are in them presented with a picture of communities
which had plainly existed before Paul s propaganda,
of

then,

If,

the Pauline

not only in Palestine but also among the Diaspora, and

that at least some of these communities were familiar

Paul uses language which

the communities which devoted

with Gnostic nomenclature.

us

convinces

that

themselves to the cultivation of

"

the gifts of

the

"

were not originally founded by himself, but that

spirit
they had been long established, for he does not speak
of

these

things as new, but as very familiar, not as

taught by himself, but rather as to be modified by his

own more common-sense teaching. These communities

were not only familiar with Gnostic nomenclature, but

also with some sort of undisciplined "prophesying";

whence did they have such things

impatiently to set these facts

on one

It is not sufficient
side, for it is just

such facts which are the fundamental data in any

attempt to solve the mystery

of Christian origins.

is, therefore, somewhat beside the point to assume

must have necessarily been
Gnostic Ebionism
that

It

"

"

later

than

"Ebionism

Ebionism proper
inform ourselves.
this

"

proper,"
"

The main charge against the

Ebionite

especially as

it is

just

about which we should like to

Ebionites, as Hippolytus

Chriatology.
"

heretics,"

denied the later doctrine of the miraculous

physical virgin-birth of Jesus.

They

lived according to

the Jewish customs, claiming that they were justified

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

the

to

"according

They further

Law."

357

declared, so

says Hippolytus, that Jesus had been so justified by

it was for this cause that they
his practice of the Law
;

him

called

none

for

"

the anointed (Christ) of

the other

of

(?

"

could by doing the same become Christs

that he (Jesus) was a man like all men."

We know
still

for,

they

and

claimed

members

that

said,

went

also that other of the early schools

further

1
;

prophets) had fulfilled the

that they themselves

further declared

They

Law."

God and Jesus

their

of

communities had already reached this high stage of

justification and illumination, as high as Paul or even
Jesus himself, and that this could even be transcended
a vain and empty boast, you will say, but then we

have no record

of their lives,

but only the bitter de

nunciations of the Church Fathers.

the earliest form of mystic
Apparently
J
Christology was that of "election." Thus

Justin Martyr

(c.

"

Trypho

(xlix.),

145-150

A.D.),

in his

"

Ebionite The Doctrine

of Election.

we

find

Dialogue with

putting the following argument into the

Those who affirm

mouth of his Jewish opponent
him to have been a man, and to have been anointed by
election, and then to have become a Christ (Anointed),
"

appear to

me

to

speak more plausibly than

you,"

that

Justin, who maintains the physical virgin birth

dogma, and who in the previous chapter had said to
Even if I cannot demonstrate so much
Trypho
as this [namely, that Jesus was God incarnate in the
is

"

Virgin
1

not

womb], you

admit that Jesus

is

the

they called him Jesus," Hippolytus unfortunately does

us but we may perhaps get on the track of the reason in

Why
tell

will at least
"

the next chapter.

358

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Messiah (Anointed) of God, in case he can be shown

to have been born as a man of men, and be proved to
have been raised by election to the dignity of messiah-

For there are

ship.

who admit

race)

him
The
of

Hermas

to

have been a

In the

man

:i

Shepherd

on Election.

j us ^ nj

t jian

of

which in the part

v. 5) is distinctly

Sim."

older
is

set

God made His Holy

created all creation, to

which pre-existed and

enter and dwell in the flesh
Spirit,

human body) which He

(i.e.,

(lit.

men."

Hernias,"
"

our persuasion

the Messiah, but declare

this doctrine of election or adoption

forth as follows
"

is

of

of

from which we quote

"

some

that he

approved.

This

flesh,

which the Holy Spirit took up its dwell

served the Spirit well in holiness and purity,

therefore, in
ing,

having never in any way polluted the Spirit. There

fore, because it had lived well and purely, and had
laboured with

the

Spirit

and worked therewith in

every matter, conversing bravely and manfully, God

chose it to be participator along with the Holy Spirit.
For the flesh walked as pleased God, because it was

not polluted upon earth, having the Holy Spirit. God,

therefore, took into counsel the Son and the angels in
their glory, to the

end that

this flesh,

having blame

lessly served the Spirit, might furnish, as it were, a

place of tabernacling (for the Spirit), and might not

seem

to

have

lost the

flesh shall receive the

reward

without stain or spot, and in

make
The Heresy

of

its

This
1

For

all

it

the Holy Spirit shall

home."

election

Conybeare

of its service.

reward which shall be found

was

said

to

translation, op. sub.

be
cit.,

consummated
pp. Ixxxix., xc.

at

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

was the true Baptism

"

baptism,"

it

nay,

As we shall see in the next

Spirit.
Spirit or Wisdom was the spouse of

When

359

of the

Holy

chapter, the

Holy

the Son or Great

mystic teaching became

historicized and connected with an actual physical

King.

this universal

baptism by John the Baptist it is impossible to say,

but it is very certain that the
of
election,"
heresy
and the claim of the early mystics that all men who
"

"

"

become

lived the life of true holiness could

the

unforgiveable sin

of

was

Christs,

the subsequently

orthodox

Fathers, and that this teaching has been relentlessly

crushed out by the Catholic Church wherever found
1

throughout the centuries.

But indeed the question of Ebionism

is

,.

of a so vast Necessity
,

of the

Church Fathers and analyse the

Literature.
"

Ebionism,"

"

Clementine

"

There seems to have been every shade of

if on the one hand the Church Fathers

and

accepted the whole of

the Old Testament, on the other we are informed that
tell

us

that

the Ebionteans

they submitted
cism,

some

but even

of

documents

its

them

much

to a

most drastic

criti

rejecting not only all the Prophets,

Like so

of the Pentateuch.

many

of

the Gnostics they had a subjective canon whereby they

sorted out the inspiration of the Old Testament as
pure,

mixed and

This

much

to assign a
1

is

See Conybeare (F. C.)

Election

"

and

of

certain, that

meaning

precise

Paulician Church
"

evil.

only

"

we

are no longer able

the

terribly

abused

The Key

Armenia"

"

"

Elect,"

to

e.g.,

of Truth, a Manual of the

(Oxford; 1898); index, s.w.

Elect regarded as

Christs,"

etc.

for

aNewDetini-

and complicated nature that it would require a whole tion of

volume in itself to exhaust the contradictory indications Eblomsm

360

DID JESUS LIVE 100

term
"

"

Ebionism

B.C.

"

as

it is

vague

Gnosticism," for in the latter at

nay vaguer than,

any rate there must

as,

"

Ebionism proper
be a mystic element, whereas with
it is mostly confounded with materialistic and limited
"

views, though, as
The

we have

seen, erroneously.
already seen that these mystic and more

We have

Samaritans.

flourished

liberal ideas

in

especially

where

districts

we

the people were of non-Jewish extraction

not surprised to find that Samaria
;

are,

therefore,

also,

whose inhabitants were almost purely of non-Jewish

For
descent, was a hot-bed of heresies of all kinds.
"

"

the Jew, then,

excellence,

"Samaritan"

stood for a heretic par

and we are therefore not astonished

to find

that one of the epithets applied by the Kabbis to Jesus

was that
Samaritan

of

Samaritan.

In this connection

it

interest

of

is

to

note that

Sects.

Epiphanius

("

ix.) tells

us that the four principal

Samaritans were

sects of the

Gortheni,

Haer.,"

(iii)

(i)

the Esseni,

the

(ii)

the Sebuseans, and (iv) the Dositheans.

It is very strange to find the Essenes heading the

list,

for

no other writer

calls

members

the

interesting brotherhood Samaritans.

the Bishop of Constantia does

that schools closely allied to

so,

them

It

may

of

this

be that

because he found

rejected all other of

the Jewish scriptures except the Pentateuch.

It

may,

however, be that as a matter of history the Essenes

themselves also rejected much which subsequently
became the orthodoxy of Mishnaic Rabbinism, and they

may very
As to

well have had

the

many
Gortheni, who
"

Hegesippus

(op. Euseb.,

H.

adherents in Samaria.
are also mentioned

E.,"

iv.

22),

who

by

flourished

in the latter half of the second century, Epiphanius calls

OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

"TRACKS

them

also Gortheoni
1

Haer./

("

i.

but

12),

("

("

12) and also Gorotheni

Ancorat.,"

tells

doret, however, says

361

us nothing about them. Theoi.

1) that they derived

Hser. Fab./

from Simon Magus, that is to say, they

held the same views as did the mystics associated
their doctrines

on with

"

semi-mythical founder of Christian

heresy, according to the Church Fathers.
As to the Sebuaeans, Epiphanius alone mentions
later

"

this

tells us nothing about them except that they

held certain Feasts on days which differed widely from
the dates of the Jews.

them, but

With the mention

.

come

of the Dositheans, however,

to a subject of greater

interest.

And

here

we
we

The
Dositheans.

Epiphanius and follow the data collected in

excellent article of Salmon. 1
The
Ebionite

will leave

the

"

"

Recognitions tell us that Simon Magus

was a disciple of Dositheus (that is, perhaps, of the school
of Dositheus), and that Dositheus (Heb. Dosthai) was the

Clementine

"

"

prophet like unto Moses whom Yahweh was to raise up.

The Clementine "Homilies," on the contrary, in true
legendary

style

declare

that

both

Dositheus

and

Simon were

As Jesus,
co-disciples of John the Baptist.
the Sun, had twelve disciples, so John, the Moon, had
number

thirty disciples, the

more accurately 29|,

for

of

one

of

days in a lunation, or

them was a woman.

studied magic in Egypt, and there is a

of
a contest between him and Dositheus,
strange legend

Simon,

it is said,

which Simon proves himself the

in

The Recognitions

victor.

also state that Dositheus

was the The

founder of the sect of the Sadducees, which means probably nothing more historically than that Dositheus, as
1

"

Dositheus,"

in

Smith and Wace s

"

Diet, of Christ.

Biography."

Import-

Dositheus.

362
was

DID JESUS LIVE 100

to be expected

B.C.

of a

Samaritan, rejected all the

subsequently canonical books, and held to the Penta
teuch alone.
In any case this statement assures us
that

Dositheus was considered in subsequent times a

very great importance. And as this statement

man

of

was

also

made by Hippolytus

in his lost

Compendium,

the view must have

case Hippolytus

I.

been very widespread. In any

gave the foremost place among his

pre-Christian sects to Dositheus.

Origen (in Johann. iv.) speaks of books ascribed to

Dositheus as being still current among the followers of
that then ancient tradition, and

among them that

Some Curious

their master

of

had not

popular belief

really died.

Epiphanius describes the Dositheans as observers

the

Law

and many

of

they, however, abstained from animal food,

of

them

from

sexual intercourse.

Epi
Dositheus
phanius
finally
retired to a cave and there practised such severe
further adds a

story that

asceticism as to bring his

a voluntary end.

life to

exceedingly interesting variant of

in a Samaritan Chronicle, where

Samaritan

high-priest

against the

new

Law which was

sect,

took

this story
it

such

because of

its

from want
between

this

of

severe

food.

There

in a cave,
is

measures

use of a Book of the

said to have been falsified

and the conclusion

appears

said that the

is

(Dositheus), that Dousis was compelled to

mountain and hide himself

An

"fly"

to a

where he died

striking

of the

by Dousis

similarity

Shemtob form

Toldoth which we have quoted in the chapter on

Traces of Early Toldoth Forms," where Jesus flies away
to a cave on Mount Carmel.

of
"

Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria,

who

died 608 A.D.

TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS.

and who appears

to

363

have studied Dosithean books, says

that Dosthes (Dositheus) exhibited particular hostility

Judah. That is to say, presumably,

Dositheans particularly detested a certain
Can this have anything to do with the Judas

to the Patriarch

that the

Judah.

of the Toldoth,

and did the Dositheans give the other

side?
Finally, it is very curious to find that Aboulfatah,
an Arab historian, who nourished in the fourteenth
century, and who was personally acquainted with the

Dositheus and
BtC

Date,

adherents of this long-lived Dosithean tradition, places

Dositheus 100 years B.C. Dositheus, he tells us, was

have claimed to have been the Prophet, foretold

by Moses, and also the Star, prophetically announced
in Numbers. 1
Dositheus, says Aboulfatah, that is to
said to

say, according to the tradition of the

day, lived in the days of

105

B.C.

Dositheans of his

John Hyrcanus. who died

This Dosithean tradition, therefore, appears

to

me

to be deserving of greater attention than has yet been

bestowed upon it; it is not satisfactory to dismiss it

impatiently with the epithet "fabulosa" as does Juynboll,

and those who copy from him.

tradition

is

Fathers assert with one voice that

Christianity sprang

Magus

The Simon Magus

the Church

interwoven with the Dosithean

all

the heresies of

from Simon Magus

the

Simon

legends are interwoven with the Toldoth legends

of Jesus.

Num.

Baur

startled traditionalists with the theory

There shall come a star out of Jacob."

xxiv. 17
Chronicon Samaritanum, arabiee
See Juynboll (T. G. J.),
1848), pp.
conscriptum cui Titulus est Liber Josuoe" (Leyden
1

"

"

112, 114.

The ConTraditions,

364

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

that the

name Simon Magus was simply

a disguise for

Paul, but the Jewish tradition amazes us

with

the

that

Simon

suggestion
fantastic fashion is a legend-glyph,

any rate

for those

who

if

still

Magus

in

further

some

not for Jesus, at

followed the earliest tradition of

the historical Jesus.

We
tions

"

will

next turn our attention to some considera

Concerning the Book

of

Elxai."

XVI1L

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

As we have
the

already seen that, according to Epiphanius, The

Essenes,

Nazorenes,

"

Book

of

of

thought very highly

called the

Ebionites,

certain

Elxai,"

it will

and

Sampsseans

ancient document

be of interest to

enquire further into the matter.

l
Hilgenfeld has argued that already the apocalyptic

Church document the

scribe of that Early

"

Shepherd

of

Hernias," or as he prefers the redactor of the Apocalyptic

Hernias (as distinguished from the Pastoral Hernias)
was acquainted with this Book of Elxai." Whether or
"

not this early writer was acquainted with the actual

book the later Church Fathers had in mind is a
still subjudice; but he certainly was acquainted
with some portion of the enormous cycle of apocalyptic
literature and the general circle of ideas with which

matter

all

the early mystic schools were more or less in touch.

of the
Shepherd is practically

The apocalyptic part

one

innumerable permutations and combinations

Sophia-mythus. It is one of the many settings

of the

of the

forth of the mystic lore

Sophia, or
1

"

"

Wisdom,
"

Hilgenfeld (A.),

Introd., pp. xxix., xxx.

and love

of the

Hermae

Son

of

Pastor"

of the Christ

and the

God and His spouse

(Leipzig

1881,

2nd

ed.),

of

Hennas

"

366

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

or sister, the

King and Queen, of

In this most instructive

Spirit, of the

Holy

the Lord and the Church.

series of visions are depicted the mystic scenes of the

allegorical

play of
is

drama

man s

of

Most

all time.

ancient

much

monument

simply

of

early

to be regretted that the

has not been included in the Canon

"

"

Shepherd

was too general, too

it

perhaps

it is

the mystery-

beautifully and most

the story told in this

Christendom, and

inner nature

universal

for

but
the

historicizers.

It is also of very great interest to notice the

many

intimate points of contact between the contents of the

Apocalyptic Hermas and the teaching of the early
"

Shepherd
looked to
that

is

DoSent.

Men

Hermes

to

"

tractates of the mystic school

the

say,

who

the Thrice-greatest as their inspirer,

But that

literature.

Hermas

of

earliest
is

deposit

of

Trismegistic

another story which has not

yet been told.

Like all the other extant extra-canonical documents

Early Church, the Shepherd of Hermas" has been

submitted to the most searching analysis by modern
"

of the

and though its unity is still strenuously

defended by some scholars, we are inclined to agree
with Hilgenfeld, who detects in the present form of

criticism,

the

Hermas document

so

to

say;

(i)

Pastoral (Vis.

appendix
and ii.
i.

the
v.

three elements, or three deposits

Apocalyptic (Vis. i.-iv.); (ii) the

Sim. vii.); (iii) the Secondary, or

of the latest redactor (Sim. viii.

x.).

Hernias

cite nothing from any of the books of the

1
canonical New Testament.
It is Hermas i., moreover, which is acquainted with
1

Hilgenfeld, op.

cit.,

pp. xxx., xxxi.

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

367

the most distinctive features of the cycle of ideas of

which we
of Elxai

few fragments of the Book

which can be recovered from the polemical

find traces in the

"

"

This Apocalyptic Hernias

writings of the Fathers.

is

distinctly Anti-Pauline, and therefore cannot be expected

from the Letters

to quote
is

that neither

any

it

of Paul,

but what

is

remarkable

nor the Pastoral Hernias quote from

of our four canonical gospels.

If,

then,

we

are inclined to accept the statement of Date

the writer of the Muratorian Fragment (c. 170 A.D.),

that Hernias was written at Eome during the bishopric
of Pius (140

c.

155

A.D.), this

must be taken

to refer

who is held to be responsible for

and who seems to be acquainted with

to the last redactor

Hermas

iii.,

Canon, and the Apocalyptic

Hermas may be pushed back to at least the beginning
of the second century.
We have also to remember

books

several

of

the

not only that the Greek original even of our form of

Hermas is lost, but that the Old Latin version has also

we

disappeared, and that

translation of the Latin, 1

possess

only a Greek

and therefore the original

Hermas may have contained more abundant

some things

of

which

it

re-

would be

traces of

of great service to

independent students of the origins to have a more

exact knowledge, but which have disappeared in trans
lation

and

re translation.

In any case the original form of the Book of Elxai

thus seen to be of an early date, and the general

"

"

is

ideas in
1

See

are presumably

De Gebhardt

"Patrum

Prolegg.

it

(O.)

Apostolicorum

xi. n. 2.

still

and Harnack
Opera,"

earlier.
"

(A.),

fascic.

iii.

Hermse

just

ap-

Pastor,"

(Leipzig;

in

1877),

Indications

368

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

preciation of the nature of its contents, therefore,

very

Christianity
his

importance

great

to

the

and as Hilgenfeld,

admirable edition

the

of

historian
in

of

is of

Early

the appendix

"

Shepherd,"

has

to

con

veniently brought together every passage from the

Fathers relating to this curious document of Christian

antiquity, we will bring the evidence into court and
discuss
The Church
the

"

Book

it.

In the
of

first

information

place

is

we must remember

that our scanty

derived entirely from those

who have

not a single good word to say for the book or for the

what

facts

we can from

We

have painfully to extract

the hurly-burly of indiscriminate

followers of its teaching.

denunciation, from a few sentences here or there torn

out of the context for polemical purposes, only such

things being quoted as appeared to the heresiologists
ridiculous, extravagant or detestable.

Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus, writing at Rome about

A.D., is bitterly incensed at the book, a copy of which,

222

he says, had been brought to the City by a certain

2
but whether
Apameia in Syria

Alcibiades, a native of

or not Hippolytus always quotes

from the book

or from the teachings of Alcibiades,

who made

itself

use of

the authority of what he considered to be a very

ancient document in support of a more lenient view of
the forgiveness of sins, a question which was then
strongly agitating the Church of Rome, and on which
Hippolytus himself held a far stricter view, is by no

means
1

clear.

Elxai Fragmenta Collecta, Digesta, Dijudicata."

Book of Elxai was presumably in Hebre\v, and
original
was 8ubsequently translated into Greek.
2

"

The

"

"

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

369

apparently on Hippolytus, all The Date

scholars confidently assert that according to the book
itself, it was written in the third year of Trajan, that

Basing themselves

of

101

is

A.D.

does not say

whereas, as a matter of fact, Hippolytus

It is true that Hippolytus states
so.

ix.

("Philos.,"

gospel of a

13) that

new

Alcibiades

declared that the

remission of sins was preached in the

third year of Trajan

but did Alcibiades

make such an

assertion himself, or did Hippolytus deduce this from a

passage which he elsewhere professes to quote from the

book

itself

What

the full text of this passage

originally

we can by no means be

may have been

certain, since in the

only surviving copy of Hippolytus

"

Eefutation"

some

words are utterly corrupt. It must be remembered

that we have only the single copy of the text of the
"

Philosophumena," or

"

Eefutatio

Omnium

Hteresium

"

Hippolytus, which was discovered in one of the

monasteries on Mount Athos, and brought to Paris by

of

Minoides Mynas in 1842.

This passage from the Book of Elxai

"

"

to a
"

famous prophecy

When

of the time,

a reference The

and runs as follows

three years of Trajan Caesar are fulfilled, from

the time

when he subdued ...

three years have been

fulfilled),

angels of unrighteousness of the

1

is

the Parthian s (when

the war

North

between the

is

stirred up, 3

So

also even Hilgenfeld, op. cit., p. 233.

Probably a gloss.
3
ayyiCerat, a very rare word, not found at all in Liddell and
Scott, while in Sophocles Lexicon (New York
1887) the only
references are to our passage and to Syniin. Prov. xv. 18.
2

gives the

meaning as
Schneidewin translate

"to

irritate,

excite,"

Sophocles
while Duncker and

"

cxardescit"

24

Three

370

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

owing to which all kingdoms of unrighteousness are

1
thrown into confusion
Philos.," ix. 16).
"

("

Whatever may be the exact meaning

seems not illegitimate

it

"

of

Trajan

all

to

conclude that the

date originated in this

prophecy,"

third year

which, for

to the general Elxai

circle of ideas, or literature (for this

part of

"

"

we know, may have belonged

confined

of the passage,

was certainly not

one document), and originally formed no

the Book, though it may have subsequently
to

been appended to the original apocalyptic document,

apparently came at the end of the copy known to

for it

Hippolytus, and not at the beginning, as some have

carelessly supposed.

The Book

In this connection

it is of

interest to recall to

mind

Older than
the Prophecy,

that Trajan began the Parthian campaign in 114

A.D.,

and that three years afterwards the fierce and bloody

revolt of the Jews of Cyrene and Egypt, in which no
less

was

than a million Hebrews are said to have perished,

In 117 Trajan died, and in 118
suppressed.

Hadrian
of the

modern

set out for Msesia (the

most northern provinces

Bulgaria), one

the Empire, to fight

If this is the fact alluded to,
of

against the Sarmatians.

then we have a date of a similar nature to so

many

in

the prophetical and apocalyptic literature of the times

and of earlier years, and we may place the terminus a quo
of this particular
A.D.

element

of the Elxai literature at

But are the mystic visions and christology

use the latest text and critical notes of

Duncker

118

of our

(L.)

and

Refutationis Omnium
S.
Schneidewin (F. G.),
Hippol.
Hseresium quse supersunt" (Gottingen 1859), and regard the
emendation given by Hilgenfeld, in his
Ketzergeschichte des
Urchristenthums (Leipzig 1884), p. 435 n. 757, as too arbitrary.
"

"

"

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAL

book to be so dated

371

For our part we consider them

be

far earlier.

On

the other hand, supposing that the date of the

to

third year of Trajan (101 A.D.)

gives

then,

it,

come true

is

that this

seeing

taken as Hippolytus
did not
"prophecy"

(unless the fact that the

Dacian Wai-

first

broke out in the third year of Trajan, Dacia being the

most northern province on the other side of the Danube,
be held vaguely to explain the
feld acutely remarks, the

prior to this date, for

"

prophecy

who

categorically that the

in 101 A.D.

It

may

Book

of Elxai

it

which

can be asserted

"

itself

was written

very well be that the fierce suppres

sion of the frantic effort to

made by the Jews

as Hilgen-

fabricates a prophecy

he knows already to be false ? l

But even so I do not think that
"

")

Book must have been written

regain their independence

Gyrene and Egypt, where apoca

may have been a psycho

of

lyptic ideas were specially rife,

moment when

the mystic teaching of repentance

could be preached with the greatest effect, even as had
logical

been the case some

fell

it

may

fifty

years before

when Jerusalem

very well have been that the Essenecircles used this

opportunity or

Nazarene-Sampscean

making known the saving mysteries

for the benefit of their disheartened

of their traditions

countrymen

but

these mysteries were not newly invented.

Who, then, was Elxai ? What does the name mean ? who
The name is evidently Semitic; Hebrew, Aramaic, or EIxai
Old Arabic,
Elchasai,
Elkessai.

it

matters not.

Hippolytus gives

it

as

Origen as Helkesai, Epiphanius as Elxai or

Epiphanius further informs us ( Htfer.," xix.
"

Op.

cit.,

p.

xxx.

<

DID JESUS LIVE 100

372
2) that the

scholars
sufficient

name meant
1

accept

"

Hidden

this

Power."

Some

others

this,

reason for

the

B.C. ?

reject
is

rejection

no

though
In
given.

it,

my

opinion, this scrap of information

the significance of
appreciate,

dropped by Epiphanius
which he was totally unable to

and which he only reproduces

the occasion of a sneer, as in so

many

to serve as

other cases

puts

us on the right track out of this labyrinth of misunder

Elxai was the name of no man, even as
standing.

Ebionism

Ebion, the founder of

as

imagined by the
and

was no man, and

were
imagined heretics, and even
Epiphanes

just as Colarbasus

hseresiologists,

Elxai-Sophia.

extent Simon Magus.

As to the mythic Colarbasus, in

means

literally the

"

All-four/ that

to

some

Hebrew Chol-arba
is,

the sacred Tetrad

which

in the system of Marcus, for instance,

who in
is
figured as the Feminine Power, the Greatness,

or Tetractys,

the form of

woman, the Divine Sophia, was the

revealer of the mysteries as set forth in the apocalyptic

scripture in which Mark expounded the general ideas
of his tradition

for,

as he says, the world could not

bear the power or effulgence of the Masculine Greatness

3
or Potency, the Christ.

Epiphanes in like manner can

be equated with the "Newly Appearing One," the

waxing moon," the Moon being also a glyph of the

"

Sophia.

Simon and Helen again are the Sun and

Moon, the Christ and the Sophia

1

See Salmon s article

tionary of Christian

"

Elkesai

Biography"

"

but of

in

this, later on.

Smith and Wace s

(London

"

Dic

1880).

See Hilgenfeld, op. cit., p. 230.

See The Number-System of Marcus" in my
Faith Forgotten (London ; 1900), pp. 358-382.
3

"

"

Op.

cit. t p.

234.

"

Fragments

of a

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

373

no rash confidence, that

Elxai, the Hidden Power, was in reality one of the
therefore, conclude with

I,

many names

the mystic sister

the Masculine One, the Christ.

borne out by the main apocalyptic fragment
the Book which has survived among the few quotations
calls it) of

mysticism

And
of

Sophia or Wisdom, the Holy Ghost,

or spouse (the Shakti as Brfihmanical

of the

this is

made by Hippolytus and Epiphanius, and which

and Sophia as

the form

of a vision of the Christ

immense

beings, reaching from earth

of

is

of

two

to highest heaven,

which the mystic dimensions are given, just as

the diagram of the Heavenly

of

apocalypse

Man,

in

as portrayed in the

Marcus.

But we have not yet done with the matter,

Epiphanius

in

tells

us that Elxai, who, as

for

we have seen, he

takes for a man, and a dangerous and blasphemous heretic

had a brother called lexaios

to boot,

and in another place

("Hser.,"

liii.

1),

("Haer.,"

xix. 1),

he further informs

us that the Sampsseans said they possessed another book,

which they regarded with very great reverence, namely,

Book

the brother of Elxai. Eemembering,

then, that the Marcosians declared that the world was
the

"

of

lexai,"

not able to bear

Greatness," it is
"

of lexai

lation

it

the effulgence

of

the

"

Masculine

legitimate to speculate that this

"

Book

was purposely kept back from general circu

was a true apocryphon. It was presumably a

book containing the higher mysteries or more recondite

mystic teachings of this tradition; it may even have
been the book which contained what was thought to be
name and teaching of the one called Jesus

the real

among men, which name,

as

Marcus

declares,

was held

be a substitute for a far more ancient and sacred

to

title.

lexai-

374

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

In brief lexai was the Christ, the

King, the spouse

Jexai-Jesus.

Hidden Power,

of Elxai, the

or

Holy Ghost, or Sophia

He was

perhaps the concealed Divine Triad of the Holy

Four of Marcus, the "Triple Man" of other systems.

In

this connection it is interesting to notice that lexai

explained by some scholars as meaning in Hebrew

the Hidden Lord."
Can it then be possible that there

is

"

is

some connection between the name lexai

(or Jessai)

whom Epiphanius
And if so, what con

and the lessaians or Jessseans to

refers, as

Hilgenfeld supposes ?
syncretism is there between the general term
lexai or Jexai (Hidden Lord) and the Jesus of
history ?
flation or

For

says Marcus,

"Jesus,"

name down here and not

only the sound

the power of the

is

of the

name

"

he declares, is really a substitute for a very

ancient name, and its power is known to the elect" alone
"

Jesus,

"

Was this mystery name, then, lexai ?

we have not yet done with names in

of the Christians.

But even

Sobiai- Sophia.

so

this connection.

Philos.," ix. 13) will have

Hippolytus
Elxai" was said to have been revealed
("

it

that the

to Elxai,

"Book

of

whom

he regards as a man, and that this

handed it on to a certain

Elchasai, as he spells the name,

Now

Sobiai.

probability the

form

of

we have already seen that in every

teaching of the Book was set forth in the

as

an apocalyptic vision, as revealed by Elxai or the

Wisdom, and that the man Elxai is a fiction

Sophia or
of

the imagination

standing, so

apocalyptic
class of

also

it

begotten by patristic
may be that Sobiai

personification

mind which

misunder
is

also

an

by the same
and materialized so

historicized

historicized

much

else that

fact I

would suggest that Sobiai

was purely mystic and

is

spiritual.

In

nothing else than a

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

375

transformation of Sophia, for as Epiphanius himself

the Book purported to be
says, though with a sneer,
written prophetically,

Wisdom

of

or, as it

were, by the inspiration

(Sophia).

again more names

brought forward by Marthus and

Epiphanius in this connection, and he has somewhat
to tell us of two sisters called Marthus and Marthana

Yet

(or

Marthma), who,

lie avers,

are

were regarded with great

reverence by the adherents of the tradition of this early

Gnosis; they were, he says, worshipped as goddesses.

Our great inquisitor of heresy, however, will have it
that they were actual

women

living in his

own

times.

Moreover, and in this he lets more escape him than he

would have done had he understood, they were of ^ the
11

race of Elxai

Now
that

it is of

Martha
"

"

"

in

("

Haer.,

xix. 1,

and

li.

I).

service in this connection to

Aramaic means simply

Martha

is

Mistress

Mar
also we

the feminine of

remember

Our Lady

"
"

or

Lord

Lady
are face to
Can it then be possible that here
face with some more scraps of the scattered cUlris
;

of the once

("

most elaborate Christos-Sophia-mythus

").

this is not altogether a so wild speculation as The Sophia

and her Twin
the general reader may suppose, for do we not find in Daughters,

Nay,
J

the Syriac Hymns of the Gnostic Bardaisan (155-233

A.D.), that the Holy Spirit, the Mother, the Sophia,
this connection we may pertinently ask the question
C. Celsum," v. 62)
are the Gnostics whose tenets Origen
tells us were known to Celsus, that is to say, at least as early as
1

In

Who

("

and who were known as "those of Martha" 1

scholar has even suggested that Mar being in Syriac
a general title of distinction, Epiphanius has mistaken the names
of two bishops of unorthodox views for the names of women, and
175
2

A.D.,

One bold

so developed his romance.

DID JESUS LIVE 100

376

B.C.

has two daughters, whose birth the orthodox Ephraem,

the most bitter opponent of the Bardesanian Gnosis,
writing more than a century later, declines to explain,
and who were, in the poetical nomenclature of Bardaisan,
called respectively

the

Water."

elder of

them

"

Shame

and

Dry

"

Image

of

The Mother Sophia thus addresses the

:

"

who conies after

To me be a daughter,

Let her

A sister to
Ephraem makes

The

"

of the

and the

their conception,

Wombs?

th.ee

thee."

a great to-do about the mystery of

which he says he

is

ashamed

to relate.

appears, however, to have been nothing more than

thq conception of the Mother first without her Syzygy
or Divine Consort,

and subsequently with Him the

Abortion
and of the Perfect
;

bringing forth of the

"

./Eon

"

"

the fruit of the

"

impure womb
law of pairing

"

"

above when the

mother disobeyed the

of the Pleroma,
and desired to imitate the Father over all arid create
"

without a Syzygy, and the child

in the spiritual

which

is

economy

set forth

with

of the

much

of

"

the

"

virgin

world process

womb,"
;

all of

elaboration in several

forms of the Sophia-mythus which have come down to us

In the
in the quotations of the haeresiological Fathers.

microcosm or man, these daughters are presumably two

human soul, the Sophia below, or sor

one
tending downward she is regarded as the
rowing
lustful one
(Prunicus), the harlot tending upward
she becomes the spouse of the Christos.

aspects of the
;

"

"

See Hilgenfeld (A.),

geschichten"

"Bardesanes

der letzte

Gnostiker"

(Leipzig

and Lipsius (R. A.), Die apokryphen Apostel(Braunschweig 1883), i. pp. 310, 311.

1864), pp. 40, 41

"

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

Again in the Greek Acts

of

377

Thomas, which

still

contain

many early Gnostic traces in spite of Catholic

we read
Come
Thou Holy Dove who art mother of

redaction,
"

twin young ones

Have we
Are the

come Hidden Mother

here, then, our

"

Marthus and Marthana

"

sisters
of Epiphanius, then, simply misunder
stood forms of the Sophia in one of her many trans
formations ? Will the dire straits into which relentless
<c

criticism

historical

may have been

beautiful

defenders

permit us

of

believe

to

an

that

mystery-teaching behind the

of the sisters Mary and

historicized story

Martha and

of Lazarus, their brother,

from the dead

who was

"

"

raised

"

after being three days

in the grave ?
not Lazarus raised as a "mummy," swathed in

Was

grave clothes ?
tradition

of

"

What

Egypt

thought by many
courtesan, out of

Was
"

has this to do with the mysteryIs not the Mary of Lazarus

have been the Magdalene, the

whom He had cast seven devils ?
to

not the Sophia below called the

shame of the dry ?
harlot," the

Helen

of

Simon

"

also called the harlot

lustful

one,"

Was not the

Was not even

"

"

the son

Jesus, according to the

Can

the

forcing

conservatism,

unyielding
there

the

is

of a harlot ?
Jews,
be
in
that
this vulgar material contro
possibly

it

versy of things physical between Christian and Jew,

1

It is

Oehler,

i.

somewhat strange

to find Tertullian

436) referring to the

himself, mentioned in

The

"

John

("

"

xiii.

De

Corona," viii.

with which Jesus girt

as the
proper garment of

linen cloth

"

"

4, 5,

proper garment of Osiris," of course, consisted of

the linen- wrappings of the mummy.
Tertullian thus appears to
have picked up a phrase he did not quite understand, and used it
Osiris."

inappropriately.

Mary and

378
there
side,

DID JESUS LIVE 100

may
still

to this

"

Why,

again,

dark saying

had Mary the better

laborious and

was the more

Has orthodox
"

on either

mystic truth almost miracu

of

Martha

though

virtuous

be, in spite of the controversialists

some grain

lously preserved
part,

B.C.

exegesis a satisfactory answer

Is not its exact parallel to be

found in the mystery-parable of the prodigal and his

elder brother

Such are a few

of the questions

which rush

in

upon

mind of a student of the ancient Christian Gnosis,

and make it not illegitimate to speculate as to whether
under the names Marthus and Marthana may not be
the

concealed a key to unlock the under-meaning of the

beautiful Gospel story of

The
Merinthians.

Finally

we have

ag a var i ant o f

Mary and Martha.

seen that Epiphanius gives Marthina

Marthana.

Now

it is

remarkable that

Epiphanius also tells us of some heretics whom he calls

Of the origin or meaning
Merinthiani
Hser.," xxix. 8).
("

of this

name he admits he knows

nothing, and can only

suggest that they are derived from a certain Merinthus,

who he suggests is identical with the famous early

however, he confesses that this is a

on
Can it, then, be by any means
his
part.
pure guess
is a transformation
Merinthiani
that
the
name
possible
Gnostic Cerinthus

of

Marthiani

Merinthians.

No

one but Epiphanius knows of these

If not, and
?

Did he invent the name

there really was a circle or line of tradition bearing

some such name, can it be that our famous heresy-

hunter heard wrongly, and remembered vaguely that it

was some name like Cerinthus, only beginning with M.

Hinc

illce

The

lacrimce

question, however, which

is

of greatest import-

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

ance for

what

discover

to

is

us,

the Christ held

concerning

were

379
views

the

who used

by those

Apocalypse of Elxai as one of their scriptures.

As we have seen, the main apocalyptic element

T^i
hook was

side

a vision of

the Christus
xxx.

Hser.,"

("

separation

the

of this

T-1-1
standing side by

The

Christ-

igy

the

two great beings

Book of
Elxau
xix. 1) and Sophia above

("Hser.,"

3, 17),

Man

the male-female Heavenly

in

the male potency was also called the Son of

God, the female the Holy Spirit (Hipp.,

In the human economy, however,
apparently, according to

Epiphanius

("

"

ix. 13).

Philos.,"

"
"

was

Christus

Hser.," liii.

1),

not

considered as absolutely identical with deity this was in

its microcosmic sense apparently the spiritual Self in man.
;

This Self had been

Body
in

of

Adam,"

the

Paradise,

first

clothed with the paradisiacal

but had put

it off

super-celestial

and

behind

left it

garment

in

left

the

"

the glorious day of the revestiture of the

Conqueror, according to the so-called Pistis-Sophia
"

last limit

till

"

document, or the

robe of glory

He had

of Bardaisan, 1

put

"

of the beautiful

it off

hymn

when He descended

through the spheres, clothing Himself in each in the

garb of a servant," but at the last He shall resume it
"

again in triumph.

Of

this Christus the Sophia, or

sister or

spouse

xix. 3).

He was called

But Epiphanius can

human

the Great

soul,

King

views

concerning

Haer.,"

find nothing in the teach

"

Jesus

own

Christ,"

later

and

is

naturally very puzzled at the unhistorical nature of their

1

See the

"

Hymn of the Robe of Glory in my Fragments," pp.

my translation of Pistis-Sophia (London 1886),

406-414, and also

pp. 9 ff.

"

Mani-

;<

ing of these early mystics to confirm his

orthodox

was the Many

"

the Christ.

380

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

universal transcendentalism.
14),

however,

Hippolytus

("

Philos.,"

ix.

us that their teaching concerning the

tells

Christ of the general Christians that is, concerning

Jesus was that he was born as are all other men they
;

denied that the Christ of their mysteries had been now

for the first time born of a virgin
the mystery Christ
;

had again and again been

had been and was being
and
was
and
born,
being born,
manifested, changing His births and passing from body
had been born

before, nay,

to body.

Theodoret, writing in the fifth century, gives us some

further confused information when treating of the
Elcesaeans. 1

said that

As

this

to

He was

of the

mystery

not one

that

is

was not simply Jesus the Nazarene,

There was, they
Christians believed.
above, and a Christ below

Christ, they

to say, apparently

He

the general
held, a Christ

as

the former had of old indwelt

many, and had subsequently descended, that

sumably, found full expression.

in

is,

pre

Theodoret imagines that this means descended into

but even so he can
Jesus, or had come down to earth
;

not understand the doctrine and gets hopelessly confused

over what they say concerning Jesus. For sometimes,
he says, they state that He is a spirit, sometimes that

He had

a virgin for mother, while in other writings they

this was not so, but that he was born as other
that
say
men ; further they teach that Jesus (or rather the Christ
in Jesus) reincarnates again and again and goes into

other bodies, and at each birth appears differently.

All of this, though apparently a hopeless confusion to
The Twicethe ordinary mind,
1

"

De

Elcesaeis,"

quite clear to the mystic, and

is

in his

"

Hereticarum Fabularum

it is

Compendium."

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

381

strange that with all their marvellous industry scholars

have not been able to disinter the main conceptions of

from the polemical writings

this all-illuminating idea

the Church Fathers;

the more so as

all

it is

of

clearly

stated in other early writings which have fortunately

escaped out of the general destruction, as we shall show

But with regard to our present special

elsewhere.

we cannot

subject of research,

what seems

to be as

leave

without giving

it

good a proof as can be expected in

early Christian literature, that the Elxai teaching

back

to a

very early date

for

which we are enabled

quotations

show

Patristic polemical literature

It is well

known

went

even the few scattered

extract

to

this

from

very clearly.

that the Essenes and allied com- A Further

munities, even while they remained on the ground of

indication.

Judaism, were strongly opposed to the blood sacrifices

and burnt offerings of the Temple. When, then, we find
a quotation from the

"

Book

refers to these sacrifices,

of Elxai

"

which

distinctly

we cannot be accused

of rash

ness in concluding that this document, or at any rate

part of
still

it,

existed in days

kept up, that

is to

when

the Temple sacrifices were

Temple was destroyed and the

only be performed in

it,

70

say, prior to

A.D.,

sacrifices,

when the

which could

ceased.

Referring to this very condemnation of the Temple

blood sacrifices at Jerusalem, Epiphanius
Haer.," xix.
("

3) quotes from the

"

My

for this

"

Book

of Elxai

"

as follows

sons, go not to the image of the

image

is

error.

Thou

seest

fire,

for

ye err

[the

fire], lie

very near, yet is it from afar. Go not to

but go rather to the voice of the water

its

says,

image;

"

This

is

evidently

Fire and
Water
-

it

an instruction not

to

visit

the

382

DID JESUS LIVE 100

at Jerusalem.

Temple

from a

tion apparently

number

is

written

sign

The reason
still

Now we know

to

"ye"

quotation
that

is

given in a quota
writing, for the

more ancient

changed from
of

B.C. ?

"he

"thou,"

says"

and the

introduced.

is

these

mystics worshipped the

spiritual Sun, as the masculine potency of the Logos,
the real "Fire" of the
Simonian Gnosis. The ex
"

"

"

pression

voice of the water

"

appears at

first

sight to

be exceedingly strange; when, however, we recollect

that those Gnostics regarded
Water as the source
"

"

of all

"

not of course the physical element, the

of the Water, but the Water of Life," the Life

things,"
"

"

"

image

(Sophia) being the spouse of the Light (Christos),

she who was the Mother of all, the
voice of the
"

water

"

may

very well be taken as a mystic expression

of the Holy Spirit, in brief the
voice
"

for the
of

"

voice

"

as

conscience,"

may

be seen from

later penitential psalms, in

many

are set aside and the doctrine of

the

sacrifice of the heart inculcated.

What

"

"

voice

be than the Bath-kol, 1 the

"

truly

that

is

the

spiritual

else can this

"

to these

This water, then, was the Sea of Life, and

be said concerning

sacrifices

heavenly voice

which the prophets gave ear, according

mystics and later Talmudism ?
Ichthus.

verses of the

which the physical

to

same

much might

by the shore of this Sea

Mountain on which after the resurrection
it.

It is

"

"

Jesus, the Living One, assembles His Taxis, or Order of

Twelve, and shows them the mysteries of the inner

spaces, taking them within with Himself as described in

one of the treatises of the Codex Brucianus.

however, for the
1

moment
Lit.

suffice to

Daughter

of the

It will,

remind our readers

Voice."

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

was one

"

that the

"

fish

(ichthus)

Not only

of the Christ.

so,

of the earliest

"

We

fishes

little

(pisciculi),

born in

are

(Ichthus),

long to follow

up

symbols

but the early Christian

and even at the
fishes,"

little
neophytes were called
end of the second century Tertullian
"

383

found writing
according to our Fish
It

water."

is

would take us too

this interesting trace,

will not be so difficult to grasp

if

but the idea

we quote

part of the

famous Autun sepulchral inscription, discovered in

1839, the date of which early monument is hotly
disputed, the battle ranging over dates from the second
to the sixth century.

"

Marriott translates this precious

the past as follows

relic of

Offspring of the Heavenly Ichthus (Fish), see that The Autun

a heart of holy reverence be thine,

now that from

divine

waters thou hast received, while yet among mortals,

a fount of life that is to immortality.
Quicken thy
soul,

beloved

wealth

with

one,

giving

the

Wisdom

[Sophia],

honey-sweet food of the Saviour of

with

hands."

hunger

holding

and

the

receive

Eat

the saints.

Ichthus

of

in

thy

There

some

longing

waters

ever-flowing

is

a curious analogy between these ideas and

of those of

which we have a few traces in the in

scriptions found on golden tablets in graves at Thurii in

what was once Magna Grsecia, and elsewhere. It is

supposed that there was a sort of Orphic or Pythagorean
Book

of the

Descent into
tions
1

quote.

See

art.

Christian

The Passing into Hades or The

Hades," from which some of these inscrip
"

"

"

Dead,

These tablets were evidently placed in

"

Ichthus,"

Antiquities"

in

Smith and Cheetham s

(London

1875).

"

Dictionary of

384

DIB JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

the graves of ancient Orphic or Pythagorean initiates,

and on one
From

"

The

Descent into

.,

them we read

of

In the mansions

"

.,

of

Hades, upon the left, a spring

it a white
cypress standing

,,

thou

Hades."

and near

find,

this spring thou shouldst not approach.

But there

the right] wilt thou come on another, from

lake a fresh flowing water.

them

shalt thou say:

child

am

quick,

my

I,

must know

race

me

it

Memory

are watchers

To

Of Earth and starry Heaven

is

of yourselves.

give

Before

[to

But

of the heavens.

With

this

ye

thirst I parch, I perish

drink of the water fresh flowing

to

from Memory s lake

Then will they give thee to
drink of the spring of the gods, and then shalt thou
x
reign with the rest of the heroes."
!

Moreover

symbolism
Christian
story of

connection between

the

water"

"living

this
of

wonderful

these

early

mystic schools and the beautiful gospel

the woman of Samaria and the Christ, and

with the
the

the
of

many

gospel

fish

figures

narratives,

introduced elsewhere in

must

strike

even

the

least

observant.
It is also to be noticed that the

Fish and the

important part in one

rite (the five loaves

and

it is also of

simple form

of

"Inscr.

Gr.

fish

played some

of the variants of the eucharistic

and two

fishes) of early Christianity,

great interest to remember the very

the covenant meal of the earliest

Essene- Christians of
1

"

"

Sicilian

whom we
et

Italke,"

are treating

was bread

See also Foucart

638.

(P.),

Origine et la Nature des Mysteres d Eleusis."

Extr. des Mem. de 1 Acad. des Ins. et Belles-Lettres
(Paris
e
1895), torn, xxxv., 2 partie, pp. 68 ff and also my articles Notes
in the
on the Eleusinian Mysteries
Theosophical Review

"

Recherclies sur

"

"

"

"

(London

1898), vol. xxii., pp. 145

"

"

if.,

232

ff.,

312

ff.,

317

ff.

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

and

and water, the

and Sea, for they eschewed wine.
The Book of Elxai," then, in one
salt,

or bread

fruit

of

385
Sun

the

of its deposits at The An-

"

any rate, for it was doubtless edited and re-edited as

were so many other of these early documents, apparently

went back

to as early as at least

that deposit

we

70

while even in

A.D.,

"

Christians,"

they looked to the mystic Christ as the ideal of

aspiration, is of a very primitive stamp,

much

contact with

More

an earlier scripture quoted.

find

over, all that is told us of these early

that

we

learn

Elxai
Traditlon

for

all their

and in

closest

concerning

the

Essenes and Therapeuts. I am, therefore, persuaded

that we are here in touch with a body of ideas that for
all

we know may have been

Pre-Pauline, and that

we

are

not far from discovering one of the most mysterious

factors in the genesis of the great religion of the

Western world.
however,

Before,

this

closing

"

as

on

chapter

we have

the

never

Elxai,"
seen,
who,
and yet always is, there is to be mentioned
a scrap of information which may throw some further
light on this earliest and most widespread
heresy

mysterious

existed,

"

"

of

Christendom.

We

have already seen that some remnants of these The

early teachings are preserved even to-day by the Mandaites, or so-called Christians of St.
fore, of interest to learn that

named, were

still

Maharnmed ben
(written

in

Elcasseans,"

It

is,

there

distinctly so

in existence in the tenth century.

haq en-Nedim, in his "Fihrist"

987-988 A.D.) tells us concerning the

Mogtasilah, or

numerous

John.

"

in the

Is

Baptists,

marsh

that

districts

they were then very

between the Arabian
25

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

386

and the Tigris and Euphrates. Their head,

he says, was called el Hasai h (Elchasai), and he was the
This el Hasai h
original founder of their confession.
desert

had a
The Schimun

Schimun. 1

disciple called

2
thinks that Schimun may be Sobiai,
Hilgenfeld
but in my opinion Schimun (Shimeon or Simon), if

he were ever a mortal,

Simon Magus, and

this

more

is

have been

likely to

would confirm the early date

of

Or if this is thought to be too

the Elxai teaching.
of Elxai, the Holy Spirit,
the
Schimun
then
precise,

may have

originally

Sun

the spiritual

Spouse
the
"

naiim.

and

Moon,

the

legend

has

epitaphs."

a n anie meaning

"

that the prophet

"

rich in comfort

called the Elkoshite

the Greek

translation

Moreover

Elkesaios.

of

irresponsibility

we must remember

Finally

is

Sampsseans and Simonians, the

Water, Helena (Selene) or Luna,

of the

of the Spirit or

deranged the

Elcesei-

had some connection with Shemesh,

("Nah.,"

of

the

i.

or the
1),

and

comforter,"

name given

so-called

Jerome

Nahum,

"

Seventy

Epiphanius

in
as
(or

us that this prophet was born at a

pseudo-Epiph.)
It is, further, to be
in
Galilee called Elkesei. 4
village
tell

remembered that Cephar-naum means the village or

town of Nahum, and here it was that Jesus began his
Moreover
ministry, and where he specially laboured.

we
1

read in the narrative of the

See Chwolsohn,

"

ii.

See Budde s

Hieron.,
"De
Vitis
p. 231.

"

art.

in

"

(St. Peters

ff.

"Elkoshite"

Comm.

evangelist (Matt.

Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus

pp. 543.
burg 1856),
2
Op. rit., p. 232.
;

first

Naum,"

Prophetarum,"

c.

18.

in the

"

proefat.,

Encyclopaedia
Opp., vi. 535

See Hilgenfeld,

op.

Biblica."

Epiph.,

sup.

cit.,

CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ELXAI.

ix.

1):

"And

(the Lake
which the

he entered into a

of Galilee),

parallel passage

Capernaum.
Talmudic and

What

ship,

and came into

in

Mark

387

and passed over

his
(ii.

own

city"

1) gives

as

curious coincidences for a lover of

allied riddles

THE

XIX.

100

YEARS

B.C.

DATE

IN

EPIPHANIUS.
The OverEpTphanius.

WE

have already seen that Epiphanius,

t
P^J the Hercules in defence

nerv zea ^

special form

of

filled

of his

with

own

Church orthodoxy,

is possessed of a
magnificent confidence in his own ability to smite off
every head of the many-necked hydra-serpent of heresy,

and so

to cauterise the

stumps that no head shall ever

again grow therefrom to give articulate utterance to

error.

His

self-confidence, however, is so overweening,

that he at times becomes quite reckless

so much so
that he has bequeathed to posterity a mass of interest
;

which would

ing evidence

otherwise

have

entirely
disappeared, and which enables the independent thinker
to raise a

ance

number

for

the

of questions of the greatest

unprejudiced

historian

of

import

Christian

beginnings.
Epiphanius
Jannai Date,

Even with regard to our general subject of enquiry,

we have already seen that the Bishop of Salamis has
had the hardihood to work the name Panther (Pandera)
into the canonical genealogy of Jesus.
ever, give us

way

Does

he,

any further information which can

in

how
any

explain his extraordinary behaviour in this matter

Strange to say

he does, and that,

too, information of an

THE 100

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

389

even more startling nature; but before we bring for

in which Epiphanius
Jannai
Jewish
the
date tradition, which
weaves
boldly
contradicts the whole of traditional Christian history,

ward the astonishing passages

into his elaborate exposition of the date of Jesus accord

we must supplement what we

ing to canonical views,

have already said about the general character of our

author as a heresiologist, by quoting from the sober and
moderate opinion of the greatest student of the writings
of this stalwart

champion

Nicene Christianity

of

scholarship has so far produced.

able article
as follows
"

An

Lipsius, in his

whom
admir

on this interesting Church Father, writes

but

honest,

credulous

zealot for church orthodoxy,

and

narrow-minded The

and notwithstanding the

veneration in which he was held by episcopal colleagues,

and still more in monastic circles, he was often found

promoting divisions, where a more moderate course

would have enabled him to maintain the peace of the
churches.

His violence

of

temper too often led him,

an ill-

especially in the Origenistic controversies, into

considered and uncanonical line of conduct;

narrow-minded

spirit

and the

with which he was wont to deal

with controverted questions contributed in no small

degree to impose more and more oppressive fetters on
the scientific

[sic]

theology of his times.

His frequent journeys and exhaustive reading

enabled him to collect a large but ill-arranged store of
"

historical information,

and

this

he used with mud)

ingenuity in defending the church

1

"

Epiphanius of

Biography."

Salamis,"

in

orthodoxy of his

Smith and Wace s

"

Diet, of Christ.

Character

390

DID JESUS LIVE 100

time, and opposing every kind of

man

B.C.

But

heresy.

he

attached to dry literal formulas

as

exercised

really very small influence on dogmatic theology, and

his

more distinguished by

theological polemics were

pious zeal than by impartial judgment and penetrating

He

fond of selecting single particulars,

to exhibit the abominable nature of the

intelligence.

which

in

errors he
his

whole

is

is

combating.

life

When

was occupied

one bears in mind that

in the Origenistic contro

versy, his refutation of the doctrine of the Alexandrian

theologian is quite astonishingly superficial, a few

meagre utterances detached from their context, and in

part thoroughly misunderstood, is all that he has to

give us by way of characterising the object of his
detestation, and yet at the same time he boasted of

having read no

much

than 6000

less

larger number,

had written.
relations to be

of

"

The accounts he

Gnostic sects

works, a

man

any abomination, nor did he think

quietly to examine the charges made.
of

His credulity allows the most absurd

imposed upon it a heretic was capable

of

The Value

Origen

as Kufinus remarks, than the

gives of the

exhibit

at all necessary

it
.

Jewish Christian and

marvellous

mixture

of

valuable traditions with misunderstandings and fancies

His pious zeal to excel all heresiologues
of his own.

who had gone

before him, by completing

the

list

of

him into the strangest misunderstandings,

the most adventurous combinations, and arbitrary asser
He often frames out of very meagre hints long
tions.

heretics, led

and special narratives.

combined with
which

The strangest phenomena are

of criticism, and things

total absence

evidently

belonged

together

are

arbitrarily

THE 100
On

separated.

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

other

the

authorities, with slavish

in the

it

hand, he often copies his

dependence on them, and so

commentators to collect

of critical

puts
power
a rich abundance of genuine

seemed a worthless

Such

is

391

traditions

what

from

mass."

the impartial and judicious estimate of the

own day which Lipsius,

most
careful
study of the writings
many
For his
of this puzzling Church Father, gives us.
contemporaries the Bishop of Constantia was a most

value of Epiphanius for our

years of

after

excellent and

pious defender

the Faith,

of

and

for

future generations of the Church he was a saint who

went about working wonders, the recital of which out-

miracles even the marvels of the gospel-narratives.

It

no part of our task to read the shade of Epiphanius

sermon on literary morality such a thing was not

is

invented in his day in theological circles. We must

take him as we find him, a profoundly interesting
can out
psychological study, and so make what we
of

(from a

his

critical

standpoint) marvellously in
thus leave the

We

structive heresiological patch-work.

cult of Saint Epiphanius to those

by

it,

and proceed
"

logos
it

to

quote

the

as Epiphanius himself

"

had he found

champion

of

it

in

who may

be benefited

most

astonishing

would have

an earlier Father

Nicene orthodoxy and saint

called
of

of

this

Roman

Catholicism.
of Salamis The Kiddle of
treating of the Nazoraei, the Bishop
Epiphanius.
enters into a long digression to prove that the state

In

ment

in

Psalm

cxxxii. 11

truth unto David

of

thy body

"The

Lord hath sworn in

he will not turn from

will I set

upon thy throne

it,

of the fruit

is

a Messianic

"

$92

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

fulfilled in

prophecy

the person of Jesus.

This, he says,

denied by some, but he will clearly show that it

duly came to pass. He then proceeds with his argu

is

ment

as follows
("

Now

"

Hser.,

xxix. 3)

the throne and kingly seat of David

Holy Church

priestly office in

for the

is

the

Lord combined

the kingly and high-priestly dignities into one and the

same

and bestowed them upon His Holy Church,

transferring to her the throne of David, which ceases
office,

not as long as the world endues.

The throne of
David continued by succession up to that time namely,
Christ

till

princes of

Himself

without any failure from the

Judah, until it came unto Him for whom

the things that are stored up/ who is Himself

the expectation of the nations. l For with the advent
of the Christ, the succession of the princes from Judah,
who reigned until the Christ Himself, ceased. The

were

and stopped at the time

when He was born in Bethlehem of Judyea, in the days
of Alexander, who was of high-priestly and royal race
and after this Alexander this lot failed, from the times
order

[of

succession]

failed

of himself

and Salina, who

is

also called Alexandra, for

the times of Herod the King and Augustus Emperor

of the Eomans and this Alexander, one of the anointed
;

(or

Christs) and ruling princes placed the crown on

own
1

head.

his

After this a foreign king, Herod, and

These

quotations of Epiphanius refer to the Septuagint

Genesis xlix. 10, which, however, the Authorized
renders
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

translation of

Version

"

nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come

and
unto him shall the gathering of the people
Here
Shiloh
stands for
the things stored
and
gathering
;

be."

"

"

"

"

up,"

for

"

expectation."

"

THE 100
those

who were no

assumed the

crown."

This passage

whole range

of

for it is the

longer

the family of David,

Patristic
"

literature;

it

Eiddle of Epiphanius

most enigmatic

remarkable for

of

39 3

perhaps the most remarkable in the The Most

is

well be called the

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

many

might

very

Passage In

excellence,

Literature

"

par

of all his puzzles.

reasons, but

most

of all

It is

because

no Father has given more minute indications

of

the

date of Jesus, according to canonical data helped out

by

his

own most

positive assertions, than Epiphanius.

we have

Nevertheless here

the Bishop of Salamis

with
detailed
reiteration, so that
categorically asserting,
there is no possibility of escape, that Jesus was born

Alexander and Salina, that is

so, but he would have

in the days of

and Salome not only

needs must have been
;

of

Jannai

it

that

it

so, in order that prophecy,

and
most solemn nature, should be fulfilled
that there should be no break in the succession of
prophecy

of the

princes from the tribe of Judah, as

There

no possible

is

of

way

it

had been written.

ourselves

extricating

from the crushing weight of the incongruity of this

statement of Epiphanius by trying to emend the
reading of the text; for not only does the whole
subject
1

of

I use the

who took

his

argument demand such a statement,

most recent text

as the

hitherto unused

MS.

of

is

dated

original text than

(Leipzig 1859-1862),
the valuable and
;

his edition

Mark s Library

in St.

Marcianus 125), which

much more

W. Dindorf

of

groundwork

any

1057 A.D.

at Venice

The MS.

(Codex

contains a

of those previously used for

our

MS. previously employed bearing date

As Lipsius says
With its help not only are we

printed editions, the oldest

1304 A.D.

"

enabled to correct innumerable corruptions and arbitrary altera

tions of text made by later writers, but also to fill
up numerous

and very considerable

lacunae."

394

DID JESUS LIVE 100

but he supports

by a number

it

B.C.

of

subsidiary asser

tions.

Patent Errors

It

is

Salamis
line

hardly necessary to point out that the Bishop of

is in error as to the
continuity of the kingly

from Judah, and as

to the cessation of the kingly

and high-priestly office with Janmeus. The priestly line

had no connection with Judah, and the line of kings
had long ceased, before the Hasinonaean Aristobulus,

who was
the

of priestly

crown

105

in

descent and not of Judah, assumed

B.C.

he did not

succeed

to

it.

Jannseus also assumed the high-priestly office. On the

death of Jannseus, Alexandra became regent, and sub
sequently her sons

Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus II.

combined kingly and high-

enjoyed in succession the

priestly dignities.

When, moreover. Epiphanius says

placed the crown on his own head, we

that Alexander
are at a loss to

understand him; some MSS., however, read

head, and this would mean,
simply and not his own
that
Alexander
placed the crown on the
presumably,
"his"

"

"

head

of

Jesus

that

to say, at his death the succession

is

passed to Jesus.
The

Silence

mentators.

So much for

Epiphanius argument but

what of his extraordinary assertion that Jesus lived in
So far, apparently, no commentator
the days of Jannai ?
this part of

has been able to

make anything out

Jesuit Dionysius Petavius (Petau)

of

1622)

make nothing
calls

some

it.

He

of

this

The learned

in the

second edition

whose notes have been

Epiphanius (Paris
added to every subsequent edition
;

it.

of

"ghastly

of this Father,
anachronism,"

tries to arrive at a solution

of the sentences,

can

as he

by transposing
but when he has done this, he

THE 100

B.C.

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

395

honestly confesses that he has no confidence in his

confusion of
attempt, for he finds precisely the same
"

repeated by Epiphanius in another passage.

have been able to discover no commen

history"

Indeed, so far I
tator

who has grappled with

They

all

doned

leave

without remark where Petavius aban

it

in despair.

it

Even

"

and exegesis

to the criticism

this Eiddle of Epiphanius.

the valuable contributions

of the Panarion," as Lipsius

1
them, added to (Ehler s edition by Albert Jahn,
breathe no word on the matter while, as far as I am

calls

aware, Lipsius himself has not referred to the subject.

Petavius honestly admits that his attempted emenda- Epiphanius
on the

tion of the text

sentences

is

by a transposition

of several

of

the Canonical

perfectly illegitimate, for he has to reckon

with precisely the same statement repeated further on

in the voluminous writings of the worthy Bishop.

In

the

of

treating

Epiphanius

Gospel,

Alogi,

who

enters

into

rejected

the fourth

long

discussion

concerning the date of Jesus ("Hser.," li. 22 ff.).

Without the slightest attempt at style or clarity, he
piles together a mass of assertions to show that Jesus
"

was born in the forty-second year of Augustus, King of

the Romans not only so, but he knows the month and
"

the day and the hour.

the

"

"

first

of

Epiphanius apparently counts

Augustus, that is of Octavi[an]us, from

year
the date of the murder of Julius Caesar, 44
therefore
B.C.

2,

makes the date

of the birth of

when Octavian was

B.C.,

Jesus

and

fall in

consul for the thirteenth

time with Sil[v]anus. This leaves Herod, who died in

B.C. 4, out in the cold, and with him the murder of the
1

In his

1861).

"Corpus

Haeresiologicum," vols

ii.,

iii.

(Berlin

1859-

396

DID JESUS LIVE 100

much

innocents and
first

B.C.

which the compiler of the

importance but this does not

else

Gospel thought of
to bother the Bishop

seem

he appears to
the conclusions which can be
of Salamis, for

have no suspicion of
drawn from his confident assertions.

This, however,

is

a very minor point.

In giving the age of Jesus at the beginning

Mystically

Numbers!

of the

ministry as thirty years, Epiphanius follows evangelical

precedent, but he adds a remark that is not without
"

significance

("

li.

Haer.,"

23).

It is because of

x
this,"

he continues, that the former heresies which grouped

themselves round Valentinus and others fell to pieces
"

these set forth their thirty aeons in mythologic fashion,

thinking that they conformed to the years of Jesus."

There are those who would be inclined

very opposite

remark that Epiphanius,

number

"

three

to

but this need not detain

"

us,

argue the
except to

after adding the further precise

for the years of the ministry, uses a

two-edged sword when he proceeds to say

For it is in the thirty -third year of His advent
:

"

the

flesh

conies

the

that

passion

Him who

pass, of

to

from above, but who took on

behalf, in

Epiphanius

hW

Riddle

In the midst
Bi sn P
writes
"

That

surfer

on our

2
us."

of

Salamis

these categorical
a

in

most

assertions

confused

the

paragraph

is,

the time that Augustus became Emperor, for

the exact

"

Cf.

to

blot out the writing

From

the Alone-begotten
the impassible Logos

flesh

He might

order that

Death against

of

of
is

in

Coloss.,"

ii.

number
14

ordinances that was against

of thirty years.
"

us."

Blotting out the handwriting of

THE 100
four years, more

B.C.

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

397

from [the beginning

of] his

or less,

reign, there had been friendship between the

and

and

Jews,

contributions

of

Komans

had

troops

been

and a governor appointed, and some portion

tribute paid to the Komans, until Judaea was made

sent,

of

[entirely]

rulers

subject

and became tributary to them, its

from Judah, and Herod being

having ceased

[as ruler] from the Gentiles, being a proselyte,

however, and Christ being born in Bethlehem of Judaea,
and coming for the preaching [of the Gospel], the

appointed

anointed rulers from Judah and Aaron having ceased,

after continuing until the anointed ruler Alexander

and Salina who was

Alexandra

which days the

A ruler shall not
prophecy of Jacob was fulfilled
cease from Judah and a leader from his thighs, until he
come for whom it is laid up, and he is the expectation
also

in

of the nations

We may

that

the Lord

is,

who was

born."

conveniently omit any discussion

of the

"

in Order

the various changes in the political

t^FulfiTled^s
between
Eoman and Jew; the point that it is Written."
relationship

precise

interests

dates

us

of

that Epiphanius repeats categorically

is

his puzzling statement about Jannseus

the

date of Jesus, and again

closest relation

prophecy and
possible

way

and Salome and

brings

this

into

the

with what he regards as a most solemn

Genesis."
There is no
promise in
"

of

escape

from

the

conclusion

that

Epiphanius is arguing most deliberately that the kingly

and high-priestly offices were transferred immediately

from Jannai

to

Jesus,

so

that

there should

be no

break in the succession.

1

Epiphanius quotes this with a different

previous citation.

reading from his

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

398

This argument is historically absurd, as we have

already seen we have now to consider whether there
;

was any other reason in the strangely

irrational

mind of

for this historicizing of a

dogmatic specula
Epiphanius
tion, which he himself immediately contradicts by going
into the most minute arguments to prove that Jesus was
born at a date which was 77 years later than the death of
Alexander. We will preface our enquiry by a quotation

by Dr. James Drummond to the

Manchester College, Oxford, in which

from a recent address

students

of

Epiphanius
Drummond

"

brought into court.

is

Justin Martyr

tells

when

us that

in Bethlehem, Joseph, not having

village, lodged in a certain cave
(

Dial., Ixxviii.).

his gospel

was

Christ was born

where to lodge in the

to

the village

It is therefore plausibly

argued that

different

from

close

But when we

ours.

find the

statement in Origen that agreeably to the history of

his (Christ s) birth in the gospel, the cave in Bethlehem

where he was born

is

pointed out

learn that Epiphanius,

the accounts in
that

C. Gels.,

in endeavouring to

i.

51),

Matthew and Luke, expressly

Luke says that the

boy, as soon as he

and

harmonise
affirms

was born,

was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lay in a manger

and in a cave, because there was no room in the inn
(

Hser./

li.

we must view

the argument quite

which
would
that
prove an absurdity,
Origen and Epiphanius, cannot have any

9),

differently, for
if

applied to

weight in its application to Justin. The fact seems to

be that all alike rely upon a tradition that Christ was
born in a cave, and assume that this
1

"

Remarks on the Art

Theological

Questions"

of

Criticism

(Manchester

in

1902).

its

is sufficiently

Application to

THE 100
indicated

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

by Luke

399

allusion to a manger, just as in

modern times the same

allusion leads to the supposition

that the birth took place in a stable, the stable being
text as the
really as foreign to the evangelical
1
cave."

Whether Epiphanius in this was endeavouring to

harmonise Matthew and Luke is somewhat beside the
point, for Matthew has nothing about swaddling clothes,
"

The

"

Har-

"

or inn, while

manger

Luke

forth her first-born son,

and

clothes,

room

laid

him

them

for

7) says

and wrapped him

She brought
in swaddling

in a manger, because there

the

in

"

(ii.

inn."

What

is

clear

was no
is

that

Luke with a
Epiphanius was seeking to harmonise
very ancient tradition which he (Epiphanius) could not
"

"

afford to disregard,

and

in order to effect his

"

"

harmony
roundly declaring that Luke

he has no hesitation in

2
manger was in a cave.
and from other instances we

states that the

From

this

see that the

Salamis sought to dispose of ancient extraBishop

canonical traditions by boldly incorporating them with
canonical data, and in so doing he had not the slightest
of

hesitation roundly to assert

that

data derived from

Now on
See, however,
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
(xiv.)
the third day after the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most
blessed Mary went out of the cave, and, entering a stable,
put her
1

"

"

"

child in a manger, and the ox and ass adored him."

2
The cave tradition is also preserved in the apocryphal
"

"

"

Gospel

(c. xviii.), and in the

Gospel of Pseudo- Matthew (c.
xiii.), and in the Arabic
Gospel of the Infancy (c. iii). It is still an
open question whether or not the originals of these Gospels may
have been of an early date, in fact, whether they may not have been

of Jarnes

"

"

"

"

"

"

included
canonical

among

the

Gospel.

"many"

of

They were

transformed, but some

"

the introduction to
doubtless

the

edited, re-edited
of their elements seem to be ancient.

third

and

imfuSr

of

400

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

ancient traditions, but not found in canonical scripture,

were actually part and parcel of the orthodox evan

This was his

gelical record.

way

venient early traditions to which,

in his day, a
His Magnifi
cent Incon
sistency.

Can

wide circulation was

of disposing of incon

we must
still

suppose, even

given.

then be that Epiphanius did not invent this

astonishing statement as to the birth of Jesus in the

days

but that he is simply carrying out his

inconvenient
data into an orthodox tex
weaving

of Jannseus,

plan of
ture

it

have

But think

little

doubt myself that

this is the case.

of the magnificent inconsistency of the

thing

mind that could

try to imagine the state of

weave together those gorgeous incongruities

who developed

heavy retribution for those

seriously

Truly a

the

"

in order

"

might be fulfilled theory of history. Epiphanius

dazzled with his own exegesis of prophecy the

that
is

it

Church was the legitimate

heiress of the royal

and high-

priestly dignities of Jewry, bequeathed to her

Himself

would work

He

brilliant idea

had come

to

by Jesus
him, and he

out for the greater glory of the Church.

accordingly sets out to argue the unbroken line of
it

succession of the princes from Judah, in the face of

history, for the

Hasmonsean

not from Judah at

all,

all

Maccabsean dynasty was

since Mattathias himself was the
or

son of John, a priest of the order of Joarib, and long

before then the kingly line had ceased.
Why, then,
the Bishop of Salamis can so easily set the plainest
facts of history aside in support of his theory, should

if

he hesitate to have brought down the combined

to the days of Herod, for

offices

Herod made the Hasmonsean

Aristobulus III. high priest about 36 B.C., and this

might have given Epiphanius a chance to argue that

THE 100

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

401

Aristobulus was really the legitimate king and priest

combined, Herod being an upstart ?

Why should Epiphanius have hit on Alexander, of all
people in the world, as the person to whom Jesus suc
ceeded in these

combined

Alexander as a historical
in his
B.C.,

own

from

Eoman

True

it

is

combine these

person, but so did his son

whom

wrested the
a

offices

fact did

Hyrcanus

that

offices

II. in

67

subsequently his brother Aristobulus II.

until in 63

titles,

constituted Syria

Pompey

province, leaving Judaea, Galilee and Persea to

the restored high priest

Hyrcanus

in subordination to

the governor of the province, while he took Aristobulus

and

his children

with him to Rome.

on revolt in favour
hopes

Revolt followed

Maccabsean dynasty, but the

Jewish patriotism were finally put an end to

of

of the

Herod

by the elevation of the Idumsean

dignity in 37

B.C.,

and Herod made

it his

to the kingly

business to wipe

out the remaining male descendants of the Hasmonsean

princes, and finally succeeded in his task of extermina
tion about 25

B.C.,

when he put to death

Turn the matter over

the sons of Baba.

as one will, there

seems no

escape from the conclusion that there was some other

deciding factor in the

simple

fascination

that was.

mind

of

Epiphanius besides the

his

dogmatic theory, strong as

It would seem that the Bishop of Salamis
of

was overjoyed to find that he could kill two birds with

one stone, enhance the glory of the Church, and slay
an ancient foe who had greatly inconvenienced him in the
past.

This ancient foe was the tradition that Jesus had

lived in the days of Jannai

it

was

this inconvenient

which Epiphanius thought to dispose of by

into his dogmatic theory and elaborating it
working
26

tradition

it

402

DID JESUS LIVE 100

in

terms.

The

B.C. ?

horrible

incongruity of his
statements does not seem to have in the least disturbed
historic

the self-complacency of the Church Father least of all

does he seem to have had any suspicion that he was
;

handing on to posterity the very thing which he desired

to slay once for

It

all.

Whence, then, did Epiphanius derive this

might be argued that he got it from the

or from

some other

tradition

"

Essenes,"

the allied communities with

of

which he had come into contact.

But

this

of

we

cannot be sure, for we have no precise data upon which

we can go. This much, however, we may say with
confidence,

it

derived originally from Jewish sources,

of the tradition based on the

and formed no part

Hellenized Christianity of Paul and the Evangelists.

Indeed, we have already seen that this is not the only
instance

in

which

has

Epiphanius

treated

Jewish

tradition with a similar subtlety of finesse.

Our great heresiologue

Epiphanius
"Histories."

arguing against those

is

who

venture to assert, as indeed they must if they follow

the clear statements of the Evangelists, that Mary had

He says

other children besides Jesus.

that such an assertion

is

("

Ixxviii. 7)

Hser.,"

due to the ignorance

of those

who are not acquainted with the Holy Scriptures and

who have not studied the Histories." The truth of the
"

matter

is

that the Virgin was given to Joseph, because

fell out, referring presumably to the story

the lot so

preserved in the apocryphal

where.
1

"

"

She was not given

Gospel of James," ix.

Gospel of the Nativity of

"

"

Carpenter," iv.

Gospel
to

of

James

"

and

else

Joseph to wife in the

Gospel of Pseudo- Matthew," viii.

viii.
History of Joseph the

"

Mary,"

THE 100

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

403

ordinary sense, for he was a widower and of extreme

old age.
It was on account of the law," whatever that
"

he was called her husband.

that

may mean,
11

according to the succession

Jews,"

it is

Joseph

for

from the tradition

For

of the

proved that the Virgin was not given to

ordinary purpose of marriage, but in

the

order that she might be kept for the testimony of the

future, that

was not

"

the dispensation of His advent in the flesh

bastard

[a]

[birth]."

goes on to say, could a

man

of

For how, Epiphanius

such great age (as he

assumes Joseph to have been) have a virgin to wife,

For this
after he had been so many years a widower ?

Joseph was the brother of Clophas, and son of Jacob

Both of these were sons of this

surnamed Panther.
Panther.

Now
,

it

to

is

Lpiphamus

,.

be observed in the
,i

distinctly

from the tradition of the

first
,

Jews,"

place

that

that The
"Succession

to a certain

refers

"

succession

is

to

say,

apparently a tradition handed on from generation to

generation to his own time, and afterwards he asserts
that this tradition proves that Mary was legally
married to Joseph, in order that there might be no
charge of bastardy with regard to the miraculously-

born Jesus.
this
state,

Whereas we know on the contrary that

was what the Jewish Pandera

but the very opposite.

tradition did not

The Bishop

of Salamis

is

arguing against the accusation of bastardy, and meets

the charge with his usual boldness by invoking as wit
nesses on his side the very sources which make most
directly against his assertion.

escape from

Nor can there be any

immediately afterwards he dextrously inserts Panther (Pandera) into the genealogy of

this, for

f rom

the

404

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Jesus on the father

s side

and here

B.C. ?

it is

interesting to

have been very old, 1

say some eighty years, and that Joseph was son of
Panther, Panther is to be placed about 100 B.C.
observe that, as Joseph

The Children

is

said to

Epiphanius, then, beyond all question knows of the

Jewish traditions concerning Jesus; he knows of the
name Ben Pandera and also of the Mamzer legends.

But

this is not all, for, in arguing for the

virginity of

Mary, he goes on to

tell us,

perpetual

that Joseph

by his first wife, four sons and

two daughters, and the former were the
brethren
mentioned in the Gospels. The eldest son was called
had

children

six

"

"

Jacob, otherwise Oblias

means

Nazir),

commonly

He was

Lord."

(sic),

the

first

who was

called

a Nazorsean (he

the

"

brother of the

Christian bishop.

This son

Joseph begat when he was forty years of age, and after

him were born Jose, Simeon and Judas, and two
2
daughters Maria and Salome.
James.

If Joseph had been a widower so many years before

he married the Virgin as to make Epiphanius exclaim

over their number,

we must suppose

hood dated from about his

fiftieth

that his
year,

widow

and

that

perhaps he was eighty when he entered on his second

purely legal nuptials. This would make Jacob some
forty years old at the time of the birth of Jesus accord

ing to the

common

reckoning

(B.C. 4),

and one hundred

where Joseph is called

Carpenter,"
and a pious old man (iv., et passim), and where
he is said to have been 111 years old when he died (v.).
2 The
History of Joseph the Carpenter" gives these names as
Judas, Justus, James and Simon, and the daughters as Assia and
Lydia (ii.) and Assia is further mentioned as apparently the elder
1

"

Cf.

"

History of Joseph the

widower

"

"

(ii.),

"

of the daughters (xx.).

"

THE 100

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

405

and seven years old when he was martyred by Jewish

1
zealots in about 63 A.D., a somewhat advanced age,
even

for

rigid

But

ascetic.

it

is

unnecessary

seriously to follow Epiphanius in his wild assertions in

the interests of an ever-developing dogmatism.

The point that

statement

the

is

his bold The Names

most deeply in
of the names

interests us

question

supposed step-brothers and step-sisters

Joseph, Simeon and Judas are all

or

of Jesus.

these

of the Sisters
O f Jesus,

Jacob,

common enough

Jewish names, and so are Miriam and Salome. But

Epiphanius seems to be up to his tricks again and to
have worked the names of Mary and Salome into the
family of Joseph, just as he has worked Pandera into
the genealogy of Jesus. For while we can find some
data in the canonical records which
conjecture some reason
Jacob, Joseph (Jose),
lt

brethren of the

Simeon and Judas,

Lord,"

his introduction of the

may

enable us to

Epiphanius bringing forward

for

there

names

is

as

names

of

nothing to warrant

Maria and Salome.

of

Salome and
Mk.," xv. 40) as a woman
only mentioned
Mk.," xvi. 1)
present at the crucifixion, and afterwards
is known
else
as a visitor to the sepulchre.
Nothing

Salome

is

("

("

"

though there are many conjectures, of which

the principal is that she was a sister of Mary, the
mother of Jesus. In support of this view may be cited
of

her,

a reading of the Peshitta version of Jos. xix. 25 (vf. also

the Jerus. Syr. lectionary), and a presumptive unlikeli

hood, on account of the similarity of names, that Mary

the wife of Clopas was a sister of the mother of Jesus." 2
1

See Cone s

See Moss

art.

"

art.

James

"

in

"Salome"

"

Enc.
in

Bib."

Hastings

"Dictionary

of

the

406

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Gospel of James (xix.), however, Salome is

the name of the midwife who delivered Mary
while in

In the

"

"

the "Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

"

there are two midwives,

Zelomi and Salome (evidently a double).

The Gospel
of Pseudo- Matthew
also
contains
the
(xlii.)
following
"

"

"

interesting

passage

Now when

feast with his sons, James,

Simeon, and

his

Joseph came to a

and

Joseph,

Judah, and

two daughters, Jesus and Mary,

his

mother, met them, together with her sister Mary the

daughter of Cleophas, whom the Lord God gave to

Cleophas her father and

Anna

her mother because they

had offered to the Lord Mary the mother of Jesus."

One might almost fancy that

a twin of Epiphanius

had

had a hand in the redaction.

Qn

Salome and

the other

hand we have seen that

in the Jewish

legends, based on earlier tradition, Miriam the mother

is said to have been related to Helene (Salome), and

we know
of

that Simeon (ben Shetach) was the brother

Can it then be that here again

Salome (Alexandra).

If so, it
is influenced by Jewish tradition ?
would be a strong confirmation of our hypothesis with
regard to the Helene puzzle, for here in Epiphanius we

Epiphanius

find that the

Epiphanius a
jew.

name Salome appears

undisguised.

not only certain that Epiphanius was

acquainted with such main factors of Jewish tradition
with regard to Jesus as the by-name Ben Pandera and
It

thus

is

the 100 years

B.C. date,

but

it

also appears probable

Nor is
that he was acquainted with the other details.
this surprising, for not only did Epiphanius know some
1
Hebrew, but he

Though not

as

learning was much

also

much

spoke Aramaic or Syriac.

as he

had the

celebrated,"

His
he was said to have

credit of knowing.
"

says Lipsius

More"

THE 100
over, he

was a Jew by

Law

faithful to the

was born

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

birth,

till

and

407

remained

his parents

the day of their death. 1

in Palestine at Eleutheropolis,

verted in early youth to Christianity.

He

and was con

The exact date

unknown, but may be conjecturally

After spending some years
placed about 315 A.D.
of
monks
the
Egypt, Epiphanius, who was still
among

of his

birth

is

only a youth of twenty, returned home, and founded a

monastery near Besanduke, over which he presided
until elected to the

367

He

A. D.

see

Constantia in Cyprus in

of

thus spent no less than fifteen years of his

boyhood and thirty-two years (335-367) of his manhood

in Palestine, with which indeed he was closely con
nected

till

the end of his long

life

in 403.

in

favour

of

his

being The Living

acquainted with the Jewish traditions concerning Jesus,
and we may be confident that the sources of these very
therefore,

Everything,

is

curious scraps of information, dropped in the course of

his indiscriminate

and indiscreet polemic, are the same

from which the Talmud compilers and Toldoth

the living oral tradition of Jewry.
writers drew

as those

But before

finally leaving this

very interesting but

Church orthodoxy, we must bring

impolitic champion
forward another passage from Epiphanius, which, though
of

having no immediate bearing on our subject,

greatest possible

importance

is

of the

for the critical study of

Christian origins.

Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and

which Rufinus satirised him with the
remark that he thought it his duty as an evangelist to speak evil

spoken four languages,

also

little

of Origen,
1

Latin,

among

for

all nations in all

"

Photius,

Bibliothcca,"

tongues."

cod. cxxiv.

Art. sup.

cit.

DID JESUS LIVE 100

408

B.C. ?

We

have already stated that all the editions of the

Panarion prior to that of Dindorf were based on MSS.
"

"

which had been greatly bowdlerized and

"emended."

The very early Codex Marcianus 125, however, has

enabled us to correct much of this
emendation and
The following
to supply many very important lacunae.
"

"

is

one of the censured passages

Hser.," li. 22).
The Saviour was born in the forty-second year of
("

The Birthday
of the Christ.

Augustus, King of the Eomans, in the consulship

of

the same Octavi[an]us Augustus (for the thirteenth

time) and of

calendar
as

it

according
the Eomans. For

Sil[v]anus,

among

follows:

When

these

to
it

the
is

consular

recorded in

were consuls

(I

mean

Octavi[an]us for the thirteenth time and Sil[v]anus),

Christ was born on the sixth day of January after thir
teen days of the winter solstice and of the increase of
the light and day. This day [of the solstice] the Greeks,
I mean the Idolaters, celebrate on the twenty-fifth day

December, a feast called Saturnalia among the

Komans, Kronia among the Egyptians, and Kikellia
1
among the Alexandrians. For on the twenty- fifth day of

of

December the

division takes place

which

and the day begins to lengthen its

increase, and there are thirteen days

is

the solstice,

light, receiving

of it

up

an

to the sixth

January, until the day of the birth of Christ (a

thirtieth of an hour being added to each day), as the
wise Ephraim among the Syrians bore witness by this

day

of

inspired passage (logos} in his commentaries, where he

The advent of our Lord Jesus Christ was thus
says
:

Epiphanius presumably means that it was called Kronia by

by the Romans, and Kikellia by the
Egyptians, or, at any rate, by the Alexandrians.
1

the Greeks, Saturnalia

THE 100
appointed
his

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

B.C.

[first] his

birth according to the flesh, then

perfect incarnation

among men, which

a distance

Epiphany, at

increase of the light

thirteen days from the

needs must have been that

Lord Jesus Christ Himself

this should be a figure of our

and

of

His twelve

of the thirteen
"

who made up

disciples,

days

called

is

of

for it

409

number

the

of the increase of the light.

How many other things in

the past and present sup- The Cruci

fixion

and

port and bear witness to this proposition, I mean the Resurrection

M y ster y Rite
birth of Christ
Indeed, the leaders of the idol-cults,
!

with wiles to deceive the idol-worshippers who

believe in them, in many places keep highest festival on
filled

this

same night

are in error

Epiphany, so that they whose hopes

not seek the truth. For instance, at

of

may

Alexandria, in the Koreion

that

is

as

it is

called

an immense

to say, the Precinct of the Virgin

temple
they have kept all-night
chanting to their idol,

vigil

after

with songs and music,

vigil is over, at cock

when the

crow, they descend with lights into an underground

crypt, and carry up a wooden image lying naked on a
litter,

with the seal of a cross made in gold on

head, and on either

hand two other similar

on both knees two others,

made

all five seals

its fore

seals,

and

being similarly

And

they carry round the image itself,

circumambulating seven times the innermost temple,
to the

in gold.

accompaniment

and hymns, and

down again under

of pipes, tabors

with merry-making they carry it

And if they are asked the meaning of this

ground.

That is the temple of Kore. This can hardly be the temple of

Persephone, as Dindorf (iii. 729) suggests, but is rather the temple
of Isis, who in one of the treatises of the Trismegistic literature jf?
1

cabled the

World -Maiden,

410

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

To-day at this hour

mystery, they answer and say
the Maiden (Kore), that is, the Virgin, gave birth to the
:

aeon.

In the city of Petra also the metropolis of Arabia

which is called Edom in the Scriptures the same is
"

the Virgin in the

done, and they sing the praises of

Arab tongue, calling her in Arabic Chaamou, that is,

Maiden (Kore), and the Virgin, and him who is born
from her Dusares, that

Alone-begotten (monogenes) of
This also takes place in the city of Elousa

the Lord.
1

[?

is,

on the same night just as at Petra and at

Eleusis]

Alexandria."
"Plagiarism

K
tion."

Here again Epiphanius,

prove a dogmatic point

to

and display

his learning, lets a

escape him.

We

have read

many

most important

fact

speculative opinions
"

on the symbolic rite of crucifixion and the resurrec

tion from the dead," but have never seen this striking
"

"

passage of Epiphanius quoted in this connection. Here

we have a definite statement that one of the most wide

spread mystic festivals of the ancients was connected

with a rite of "resurrection," and that in Egypt the

one

who was

from the

"

raised from

the

underworld or Hades,

dead,"

and returned

was sealed with

five

mystic crosses on forehead, hands and knees (? feet).

This symbolic rite represented a macrocosmic mystery,
Epiphanius tells us but was there not also an analogous
;

microcosmic mystery ? And if so, must it not have

been familiar to all those mystic schools and com
munities, Essene,

which are
1

The only Elousa

Aquitaine,

Therapeut,

Hermetic and Gnostic,

so inextricably interwoven with nascent ChrisI

can

discover

was a small place

in

THE 100

Do we

tianity

to the mystic

from one

of

DATE IN EPIPHANIUS.

"

their esoteric

regenerate in

we not

all

further

the

among

do we not also possess long quotations

writings

which

the

finds

analogies with this central mystery

closest

411

not meet with innumerable references

again-rising from the dead

"

Gnostic circles

B.C.

man
Do

of

the mystery-rites of antiquity?

the ritual of a very early

possess

mystery-drama, or form of initiation, in

the things done
closely resembled that of

Christian

which

"

"

the passion

the crucifixion

We

need hardly direct the attention of the observant Farewell to

reader to the aplomb with which Epiphanius categori- E P i P banius
cally asserts that the exact record of the birth of Jesus

was

to be

found in the

official

Eoman

Fasti

this

may

be well paralleled by the like assertion of Justin that

the trial of Jesus was to be found in the official Acts
of

The wish was father

Pilate.

there

an end

is

of

it.

to the thought, and

But may there not be some

further reason for Epiphanius

making so much of this

Epiphany ? Can it be that the similarity between it
and his own Gentile name, Epiphanius, may have
nattered the vanity of our pious but credulous heresio-

logue

Who

knows

Distracting, therefore, as the Bishop of Salamis

is for

the student of history, he

occasionally lets fall a scrap
of information which is of
greater value than anything
we can procure from other and more sober sources.

And
"

so

in concluding

blunders

forgive
1

See

"

him

my

"

198-206, and

of his,

our review of some of those

we thank him

for his over-zeal,

and

his total lack of historical honesty.

Fragments of a Faith
"

The Acts

of

John,"

"

Forgotten,"

pp.

426-444.

The

Naaseni,"

pp.

412
Was

As we have frequently

Jesus in

P
t(?30 B

c.T

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Gospels, or

referred to the Apocryphal

as Epiphanius prefers to call

be
them,
might
opportune to append in this place a
curious passage from the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy.
"

Histories,"

it

The form

in

which we now have

course very late, but

this

is

Gospel

of

frequently works up ancient

it

matter.

In the middle portion of

this

fesses to give a detailed story of

Holy Family during

their three years sojourn in Egypt,

ch. xxv. reads as follows

"Thence

apocryphon, which pro

what happened to the

they went down

seen Pharaoh, they staid

Memphis, and having

and
three years in Egypt
to

the Lord Jesus wrought very

many

miracles in Egypt,

which are not found written either in the Gospel

of the

Infancy or in the Perfect Gospel."

Now the last of the Pharaohs was Cleopatra, whose
There is just the
tragic death occurred in B.C. 30.
faintest

possibility

that

this

taken from some ancient source

detail
;

may have been

but on the face of

it,

seems to be the story-telling of some imaginative

monk, following out his normal association of ideas

it

(Egypt-Pharaoh), the na ive adornment of a tale.

If, however, as some think, this Gospel came from
Coptic circles, then the possibilities of our first hypo
thesis would be slightly increased, for dwellers in Egypt

might be supposed
transforming

it

to

hand on

out of

all

local tradition,

recognition.

even while

But who can

recognize with any certainty the flotsam and jetsam

from the shipwreck of history that may have come into
the hands of late legend-makers

XX

AFTERWOKD.

WE

have now reached the end of our enquiry, and look A

back upon our labours with mingled feelings of thank
fulness that they are temporarily ended,

and

of regret

that the nature of the subject throughout has been such

that,

even with the best will in the world, we cannot

have avoided giving offence to many who will never

trouble themselves to reflect that an excavator in
religious

antiquity cannot justly

be held

sponsible for the nature of the objects

to

But apart from

the debris of the buried past.

somewhat a thankless task

to find oneself

add to the already enormous mass

which confront the student of Christian

to

be

re

he unearths from

of

this, it is

compelled
difficulties

origins, rather

than to help in diminishing them. For we can hardly

hope that any but the few will be optimistic enough
to have confidence that the very increasing of the
difficulties is

the surest

way

some more potent means

of

of

hastening the day

when

removing them will be

devised.

As we

said at the outset,

most Christians, whether

they be unlearned or learned, will not hesitate for one

to answer the amazing question: Did Jesus
We shall, therelive 100 B.C. ? with an indignant No.

instant

Retrospect,

414

BID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

have accomplished as much as we can reasonably

hope for, if an impartial consideration of the evidence
fore,

should persuade the reader that some cause has been

the asking of such a question should not as

shown why

condemned on

a matter of course be impatiently

sight

as the fantastic conceit of a disordered mind.

A Legitimate
Criticism.

For, in the
the question
contrary,

we hope to have shown that

our own devising, but that, on the

first place,

is

not of

it arises

as a legitimate subject of criticism

out of an impartial enquiry into what appears to be one

most persistent elements of Jewish tradition con

of the

cerning Jesus. We do not come forward with some

wild theory of our own maliciously to vex the souls of
those who naturally hold loyally to the thing they have
we
grown used to in Christian canonical tradition
;

simply point to the existence, and what we consider we

have shown to be the persistence, of an entirely contra
dictory tradition held tenaciously for
the

of

fellow-countrymen

temerity to

presume

many centuries by

We

Jesus.

to decide offhand

ancient oppositions, but simply

show

have not the

between those

that they exist,

and venture to think that they require further investi

gation.

The argument with regard

Question

100 B c date
-

Scholarship.

of

Jesus

is,

to the persistency of the

of course, primarily addressed

Jewish scholars, and is put forward in the hope of

drawing attention to Krauss treatment of the subject,

to

which cannot be held

to be flattering to the pride of

Krauss has practically aban

without a struggle he categorically re

Israel in its traditions.

doned the

field

jects the Jannai date, and tacitly accepts throughout

his essay the entire validity of the Christian tradition of

AFTERWORD.
the Pilate date, and in this he

is

415

supported, as far as I

can discover, by the vast majority

who

scholars

As opposed

to

Krauss,

who throughout

argument keeps the inconvenient

much

date as

modern Jewish

of

treat of Christian beginnings.

his whole

factor of the Jannai

we have en
Talmud passages

as possible out of the way,

deavoured to show that an analysis of

and the Toldoth forms produces the impression that the
date element goes back to the floating mass of
tradition from which both Talmud and Toldoth drew,

100

B.C.

and reveals

which

this date as a persistent obsession

even the most glaring contradictions of both Talmud

and Toldoth could never oust from its secure asylum in
the national consciousness of Jewry.

Moreover, our enquiry into a number of problems

connected with Christian origins seems to point to a
field of investigation

rather than
tion

of

which appears

weaken the

Israel s reminiscences,

that should

likely to strengthen

possibility of a

make Jewish

new

considera

from a point

of

view

scholars hesitate before they

entirely abandon without a struggle what appears to

be one of the fundamentals of their Jesus tradition,

although they
of the

may

in courtesy very well regret

thought-images in

which part

some

of this tradition

has been clothed.

Nor can Jewish scholarship very wisely ignore the

problem now that Krauss has brought it again pro-

Its Import1

Jewish

A
et ics.
minently into the arena of apologetics, in the train of polg
his motley assembly of sources for his
Life of Jesus
"

"

It is true that Krauss

according to Jewish tradition.
has placed the Jannai date well in the background as

one of the most disreputable figures in the procession

416
but

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

can hardly be expected that the majority of

Jewish scholars will agree with Krauss without a
it

further thoroughgoing enquiry, and be content to keep

permanently in the background a factor of tradition

which seems beyond all others to be the natural
For there can be no doubt that if,
leader of the band.

from a thoroughgoing investigation of the subject, it

could be shown that the Jannai date threw light on
obscure problems, the whole subject of Jewish
apologetics would be enormously facilitated, and Jewish

many

would assume an importance

tradition

for the study of

Christian origins that would concentrate the attention

of the greatest thinkers of the

the

Talmud and

If,

twentieth century upon

its allied literature.

on the contrary, Jewish scholars find themselves

compelled to abandon their tradition in this respect,

what hope can they have that the treasure which
"

"

the Israelites have guarded with their lives for so

centuries, will in other respects

be

many

regarded by the

thinking world as worthy of very serious attention ?

They may rather expect to be for ever confronted with
the retort
The Bona
Talmud.

J n the

Ex uno

disce

omnes

Talmud we have a

collection of Jewish tradi-

tions compiled after the rise of Christianity, compiled

during the very centuries when the

fighting its

new

way
strenuously
the General Faith of the Western world
the record of the national
the people amongst
to birth

whom

Faith was most

to the position of

life,

becoming
we have

herein

of the hopes

and

especially Christianity

came

what greater test of the reliability and bona

Talmud could there be, therefore, than the

fides of the

tradition

fears of

which

it

contains concerning Jesus

If,

AFTERWORD.

417

then, Jewish scholarship should find itself

com

pelled to abandon so prominent a feature of this

tradition as the Jannai date, and to accept the Christian

canonical tradition in this respect,

how

to see

it is difficult

Talmud can be considered anything but a

it most

the

blind guide on the subject which of all others in

profoundly interests the Western world.

If, on the contrary, as some of my Jewish friends A
the Life

contend,
detail

by the

Line of

of Jesus, as set forth in elaborate

later

Evangelists,

came

as a complete

the contemporary Eabbis, who possessed

surprise
but
the
most meagre traditions of their ancient
nothing
to

vague reminiscences, such

colleague

a long time ago, perhaps

happened

that

as

it

all

when Jannai was

was some heresy or other started by a

Jeschu who had learned wonder-doings and other things

king, that there

and who was put to death for misleading the

then the Jews would seem to possess a largely

in Egypt,

people

extended ground
of

rejection

of

apology and justification for the

consider, even when

what they already

they accept the Christian canonical date, to be for the

most part a pseudo-historical setting

of

what was

largely a dogmatic development.

It is

true that

canonical

that most of the

for as the

even when accepting the Christian The Method

Jewish apologist can still argue

date, the

Talmud Jesus

stories

may

be accounted

"

"

historicizing

or

"
"

legendarizing

of

later

doctrinal controversies, which

similar

"

"

historicizing

of

may be set over against a

doctrinal formulas and dogmas

in the Christian tradition; such, he

the

common method

and no one regarded

of the religious
it

might argue, was

mind

of the time,

as a falsification of history

27

it

418

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

was understood

method by all haggadacompilers, religious controversialists and writers for

edification they wrote with strong religious emotion, and
as a legitimate

emotion gave them consent saving and living ideas,

not the dead facts of an uncertain past, were their main
this

It is true that this method has long passed

interest.
out of fashion, and that to-day it is the exact antipodes
of the scientific precision of fact we demand in all such

matters in the twentieth century

but it seems only
to
remember
in
that
just
endeavouring to appreciate
the value of the evidence on either side, we have no
;

right to

condemn one

side

more than the other

for its

unhistorical forms, seeing that for the most part both

used essentially similar methods for supporting their

contentions, the actual facts of history being frequently
set on

one side or transformed the instant any doctrinal

point became endangered by them.

TheJannai

All this can be fairly argued with regard to many

points which have arisen in our enquiry but we must
;

confess that the Jannai date

in this way.

which
If

is

There

somewhat

we

are

told

is

is

very

difficult to

explain

a something peculiar about

it

fascinating.

that Jesus lived in

Nebuchadnezzar, we

are not so astonished

the days
;

of

for experi

ence in contemporary apocalyptic and pseudepigraphic

literature teaches us that Nebuchadnezzar is clearly
a substitute for

some other name.

If

even we are told

that Akiba, one of the most famous of anti-Christian

controversialists, at the beginning of the second century

on Mary to witness to the illegitimacy of

we
can
understand that this is a pure device of
Jesus,
haggadic polemical rhetoric, but when we are told that
A.D.

calls

AFTERWORD.
Jeschu was the disciple

of

lived in the days of Jannai,

419

Joshua ben Perachiah and

and

find this date

element

cropping up again and again in many guises in Jewish

tradition, we fail to find a satisfactory explanation
in either of the above canons of exegesis.
It all

seems so senseless, so useless

,

what purpose could

truth,

of

energies on

is

if it
-,-

was untrue,
.,
,,
was the

making
But

Its

Apparent

Senselessness.

If it

polemics, and bend

their

all

in the

it

their

all

their tradition consistent, even as

the Christians devoted

uniform

possibly serve

did not the Eabbis invariably put

why

forefront

., ,

.,

it

all theirs to

this is just

making
what we do not

their story
find

there

not a single word on the Christian side to show that

the Eabbis ever argued that the Christian tradition was

one hundred years out no early writer, no Church
;

Father

(if

we except Epiphanius, who only

directly), breathes a word of such a

of the

fundamental historicity

Whatever we learn

does so in

indictment

of the Christian tradition.

the controversy from the Chris

to
show that the Eabbis spent all
seems

tian side, it all

their energies

terrific

of

on combatting dogmas

such as the virgin-

It
birth, the divinity of Jesus, the Messiah claim, etc.
is true that Celsus categorically accuses the Christians
of

continually

altering

dogmatic considerations

the

Gospel history to

but

is

it

credible

suit

the

that

Eabbis could have had so potent a weapon in their

hands as an ancient and authentic tradition that Jesus
lived 100

and yet have refrained from using

B.C.,

every occasion

it

on

It might, of

course, be

argued that this was not The Seeming

the controversy then

necessary in the first century
was simply with the Pauline view, in which there was a
;

Silence of the
Rabbis.

DID JESUS LIVE 100

420

minimum

B.C. ?

and a maximum

of history

Jewish legalism, and

the whole attention

it

was the

of opposition to

which engaged

latter

of the Kabbis.

might be said
to say, a combat

It

that the contest in that century was, so

as far as popular
not of haggadoth but of halaclwtJi
were
there
simply collec
Christianity was concerned,
tions of sayings and such mystical forms of doctrine as
\

those with which Paul was familiar and in which history

played hardly any part. But even so, when later on

the Jesus liaggadoth began to take ever more and more

and the present Gospel narratives came

why, if the Eabbis had in their hands a

definite shape
to

birth,

tradition

reliable

years

B.C.,

of

the

existence

did they not employ

of controversy

it

of

as their

Jesus

100

main weapon

All the evidence seems to point to the fact that they

did not generally do so, and, therefore, we are inclined
to conclude that

they could not have had any general

and yet, on the other
tradition

confidence in their

hand,

it

persisted

among them, and

did form an in

convenient weapon of attack, as Epiphanius indirectly

witnesses.

It

is,

of course, a

common

experience to find

main point
a great popular controversy obscured, and every

what appears
in

to the

modern mind

to be the

of
possible subordinate consideration taking precedence
this is common to the imbecility of human nature.
it
;

But

it is

mind

just possible that in this special instance the

of antiquity, in considering that the energies at

of more importance than the forms in which

were
clothed, was nearer the truth than ourselves
they
when we make history and external facts the more im

work were

portant things, and subordinate

the

consideration of

AFTERWORD.
the

forces

behind

the

421

phenomena

to

secondary

position.

However

this

may

the consciousness

haunts The

be, it is a fact that ever

the historian and gives

of

it

no peace,

that the most careful research cannot discover a scrap

of external evidence in

the

first

century that witnesses

to the existence of Jesus, much less to the stupendously

marvellous physical doings which the Gospel writers
relate of him.

On

the contrary,

it is

almost impossible to believe

even

that these detailed and circumstantial narratives

when shorn

of

"

every

miraculous

"

element to suit the

preconceptions of extreme rationalists could have been

evolved entirely from the inner consciousness of
Christian scribism

and,

if

there be any element in the

whole narrative which bears on

genuineness,

my

it is

opinion, takes

its

face the

precisely the Pilate

date.

stamp

of

This, in

precedence far and away over all

if it be not true, I cannot

other date indications, and

imagine any really satisfactory explanation for what

otherwise must apparently have been inevitably shown

clumsy invention, for, as I have said before, the

Rabbis could have instantly replied: There was no

to be a

such

trial

The

under Pontius Pilate

Pilate story seems to have been in existence in

written form not long after 70 A.D. This, of course, can

not be proved, for what can we prove concerning the
Gospel narratives in the first century ? But the whole

phenomena of Gospel compilation seem to point to its

existence somewhere about 75 A.D.
If, then, this de
duction holds good, we are compelled to think that,
with barely forty years between the last year of Pilate s

Strength

Christian
^

422

DID JESUS LIVE 100

procuratorship and
largely on the side

On

Suggested

the "Common

wno

this

the

date,

holds to 100
the

of

genesis

probabilities

are

of its genuineness.

the other hand, 1 have heard

Document/

B.C. ?

B.C.

as the

Gospel

it

suggested by one
date, that the

correct

which

story,

criticism

is

endeavouring to recover in the form of the common

to be traced to the sketch of an ideal life
"

document," is

which was intended

for purposes of propaganda,

and

which could be further explained to those who were

ready for more definite instructions in the true nature
To a certain extent it was
of the Christ mystery.
based on some of the traditions of the actual historic
doings of Jesus, but the historical details were often
transformed by the light of the mystery-teaching, and
much was added in changed form concerning the drama

mystery allegories and parables and

actual mystery-doings were woven into it, with what

of

the

Christ

appears

now

to be a

consummate

art

which has

for ages the intellect of the world, but

baffled

which at the

time was regarded by the writer as a modest effort at

simplifying the spiritual truths of the inner life, by
putting them forward in the form of what we should

now

call a

was

one

"

historical

of

the

romance,"

natural

but which in his day

methods

of

haggada and

apocalyptic.

The

Pilate

When

Date from a

New

Point

of View.

it

was further questioned: But why did the

who put

together this marvellous story place it

at a date which you say was not the real date of Jesus ?

writer

the explanation suggested was somewhat as follows.

The evangelical writer put the story at a date between

himself and what we consider the actual historical
date,

most probably because he desired

to avoid contro-

AFTERWORD.
versy and criticism

423

he did not desire that the public,

and especially those inimical

to

own

his

tradition,

should be put on the track of the actual date, so that

the memory of one who was regarded in the tradition
beloved Teacher, par

the

school as

his

of

excellence,

should escape being bandied about in the arena of

vulgar curiosity and violent theological controversy.

Although his affection induced him to weave many

sayings and perhaps some doings of the Master into his
work, he especially did not wish to have it mistaken for
the actual historical account of the life of the real Jeschu.
This was the main reason

but the Pilate date was

also determined by the fact that there seems to have

been some Jewish semi-prophet who created a little

disturbance in a very small way, and who was in conse

quence brought before Pilate on a charge of sedition.

The writer may have thus also taken some few facts
from this incident and woven it into the main story
;

but he never had the slightest idea that anyone would

take the story in any sense except that in which he
intended

it.

made

further suggestion has also been

name Pontius

came most

Pilate

this connection in those

that the

readily to

days of name-play, for

hand
it

bore a

My

W.

Leadbeater, in treating of the most ancient form

the creed-formula and

of

Pontius

Pilate,"

"Instead
1

of

writes

"

Significance

the words

"

Suffered under

IIONTIOYIIIAATOY,

Leadbeater (C. W.),

(London

"

The

n.d.

Christian

1898),2p. 45,

Pontius

in Name-

close resemblance to a mystical term which played an

important part in the mystery teaching.
colleague
C.

"

Pilate

Creed,

the
its

earliest
Origin and

"

424

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

Greek

manuscripts which the clairvoyant investi

have
gators
yet been able to find all read IIONTOYHIAHTOY. Now the interchange of A and
is by

no means unfrequent in various Greek

the only real alteration here

which changes
is

Koman

TroVro?,

proper

TriXrjTos, states

densified
"

ing

sea,"

name."

VTTO

mentioned

is

still

in the higher

and only

cross of physical

described as
of this

Suggestion

then the taking

under Pontius

suffering
astral sea

This

matter."

matter,

physical

was

TTOVTOS

compressed or

"

thickened

evr)

to

sea,"

"

suffer

however,

but to an earlier

the first step

the assumption of the vesture of matter

the incarnation

Review

"

"

the descent of the Soul, for

in

though

regard

meant a

the sea of

i.e.,

on

later

with

and,

that the term

does not refer to

stage

Logos under the

of the

I,

which

sea, into TTOVTIOS,

meaning

The writer further says that

substituted for

dialects, so that

the insertion of the

is

of

"

human

principles only;

Pilate,

or descent into the

after that the crucifixion

matter, in

dead and buried

form,

then the

which

He

is

on the

graphically

"

(p. 47).

we are told, are possible to him that

and we may add also to him that disbut the question here is not so much one of
as of probability
that is to say, can a mind

All things,
believeth,

believeth

possibility

which endeavours

to

put on one side all preconception and

means whereby the suggested

have been arrived at, and tries to

prejudice for or against the

explanation is stated to
judge of the matter solely on the ground of a hypo
thesis to explain the puzzling facts of objective research,
entertain this suggestion as one that

improbable

is

not inherently

AFTERWORD.
It is true that TnA^ro? in

Greek

425
is

used by Aristotle

in the opposite sense to elastic, with the general

ing

which

that

of

"

may
"

returning to

means
is

its

shape

mean

be pressed close without

while pilatus in Latin also

close-pressed, thick, dense (dcnsus, pi essus)."

It

further the fact that the early mystical communities

have much to say of

"

"

"

water,"

sea,"

ocean,"

in the

sense or as the symbol of

subtle matter.
It might,
be
held
that
these
considerations
therefore,
give some
But, even so,
colouring of probability to the suggestion.
it

can only remain as a speculation, and cannot emerge

into

the

until

domain

objective

of

generally legitimized hypothesis,

research into the nomenclature and

thought-atmosphere

of

the early mystic schools con

main secret of Christian dogmatics

almost entirely hidden in the mysteries of the inner

vinces us that the

is

At

experience.

present this latter view

is

repugnant to

most minds engaged on the study of Christian origins,

but that it is a very legitimate view I am myself
becoming more and more convinced with every added
year of study bestowed on the beginnings and earliest

environment of Christianity.

And in this connection I would venture to say that The Making

the actual objective physical history of Jesus himself is
one thing

the continued inner presence of the Master

whose love and wisdom and power were in the new

dispensation
Jesus,

is

first

made

externally

another matter.

manifest

The former

is

through

mainly

question of pure objective history, though psychologically

it becomes complicated with mysterious influences with

which our present very limited knowledge

science

is

of psychic
not competent to deal, while the latter is a

426

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

question of subjective activity, of vision and spiritual

of an energising from within, a divine

experiences,

leaven working in the hearts and minds of disciples of

every class of society and range of ability, the actual
inner history of which no purely objective research can
ever reveal.

From

emerged in course of time a

and dogma that gradually shaped itself
into ever more and more rigid uniformity a sameness
view

this there

all of

of history

which we cannot discover in the days when the leaven

was most actively working. In earlier times this later
view

special

one

best

let us call it

of

number

was

at

in the earliest days

it

Nicene Christianity
nay,

would have been probably unrecognizable as the view

of any circle or group of immediate disciples of the
Master.
The "Secret
Sermon on the
Mountain."

And
set

the

in

this

the

forth
"

Son

of

connection

will be

it

of

interest

to

mystic tradition of the true nature of

and of the Virgin Birth as pre

God

"

"

"

served to us in those very instructive documents gene

Hermetic, but which may be more dis
rally known as
tinctly characterized as the Trismegistic literature.

It is

impossible here to set forth the reasons which have con

vinced

me

structive

"

that the oldest deposit of this exceedingly in

Alexandrian scripture must be referred to
"

at least the first century A.D.

treatise as large as,

and

if

to do so

would require

not larger than, the present essay,

have hopes only to perfect my researches in the

subject in the next twelve months or so, and then to
I

present the reader with a

ing treatises
of the

new

translation of the exist

and fragments and with an extensive review

whole matter.

Meantime let us turn our attention

AFTERWORD.

427

most striking passage in the tractate entitled The

Secret Sermon on the Mountain," which further purports,
"

to a

according to its superscription, to be an instruction of

Hermes the Thrice-greatest to his Son Tat on the

"

Mountain.

Sermon on Rebirth and Con

Secret

cerning the Promise of

Silence."

The phrase on the mountain in the title is to be

remarked and compared with the phrase the passing
mountain seems
This
1.
o er the mountain
of
"

"

"

"

"

"

be symbolical of the grades of initiation in these

inner schools the external rites may also have been
to

performed frequently on a mountain or hill on which

in our modern sense (or, to speak
the
monastery
or
monasteries
more correctly, the collection of
"

"

"

"

chambers

for

meditation)

may have been

situated.

passing over (perd/Bcio-is) the mountain was ap

parently a grade of instruction, or one of the lower
"

The

"

the sermon

to

grades prior

substance

the

mountain,"

"

passage up the

mountain

which

of

Perhaps the phrase

present treatise.
the

or instruction

mountain,"

"

on the

given in our
may be rendered
is

and the term

"

on the

refer to the top of the mountain.

"

may

this connection I

In

need hardly refer the student to the

in the
mountain
of the term
"

frequent occurrence
Gnostic Bruce and

two

Books

"

Askew

Codices (containing the

and the

"

Pistis Sophia
In these later presentations of fundamentally the same
"

of

leou,"

etc.,

").

teachings adapted to more popular beliefs, the mountain

Mount of Galilee," and on it all the great
is called the
"

initiations

also in

and

many

rites are

performed.

The term occurs

other places, and frequently in the extra-

canonical and apocryphal sayings.

428
The

"Son

"

Virgin
Birth
-"

DID JESUS LIVE 100

Our sermon

of

is

B.C. ?

in the form of a dialogue

pupil and master, and the

between

two paragraphs rim

first

as

follows:
"

On

TAT. In thy discourse

Generation, father, thou

spak st in riddles most unclear, conversing on divinity

and when thou saidst no man could e er be saved before
;

meaning thou

rebirth, thy

became thy

mount/

didst hide.

Further,

upon the

suppliant,

when

passing o er the

after thou hadst conversed with me,

and when

longed to learn the lesson on rebirth (for this beyond all

other things was just the thing I knew not), thou saidst
that thou wouldst give

it

me

when thou

become a stranger to the world.

ready and made the thought in
world-illusion.

that

fall

short

And now do
in me with what

Wherefore

me

thou

the tradition of rebirth, setting

in the secret way.
I

know

womb man

[such
is

is

born],
"

TAT.

What

father

forth in speech or

is

to birth, or of

Mind

conceived by

womb from

in

what
what

Silence

out which

Man

seed."

the sower, father

For

am

alto

Will

God, my child."
is he that is begotten,
For I have no share of that essence in one

And

It is the
of

begot will be another

HERMES. All

of

what kind

which doth transcend the

"

it

loss."

HERMES.

"TAT.

comes

and the True Good the

gether at a
"

Wisdom

the matter and the

me

fill

Thrice-greatest one, from out

not,

matter and what

"HERMES.

I got

a stranger to the

up the things
thou saidst would give

me

"

shalt have

senses.

God, God

of all, out of all

The one that

son

"

powers

composed."

is

429

AFTERWORD.
"

Thou

TAT.

"

HERMES. This

when He

me

tellest

speak as father unto

willeth

my

race,

it,

a riddle, father, and dost not

son."

its

never taught

child, is

memory

restored by

is

but

l
God."

Much more might be quoted in which the master

endeavours to make the mystery clearer to the under
standing of his pupil, but for the present purpose it is
4 the following pregnant

only necessary to add from

sentences
:

"

TAT. Tell

me

Who

this too.

the author of re

is

birth?"
"

HERMES. The Son

God, the One Man, by God

of

will."

In the second paragraph of Tat s opening words the The "Supterm "suppliant is to be specially remarked and taken
World,"
"

"

in close connection

with the treatise of Philo

Contemplative Life," which, as Conybeare

probably formed the fourth book of Pliilo
rather

or

"

apology,

of this

title

"

Philo

pliant

work was
tells

God and taken

The phrase,
the

to

other

"

Legatione."

"

The

when thou
also

is

may

the

most

great work,

The

alternative
"

"

By

Him."

one who has

sup
fled to

shalt have

to

On

tells us,

Suppliants."

means

us he

refuge with

world"

things

De

"

become a stranger

be remarked, and

among

be compared with the new-found

Jesus saith, except ye fast to the world, ye

nowise find the kingdom of God." 4 The idea
"

Saying

shall in
1

For

text, see

"

Parthey

(G.),

Hermetis Trismegisti Poemander

(Berlin; 1854), pp. 114, 115.

2
Philo about the Contemplative

"

"

3
4

"

De

See

edited

Sac. Ab. et
"

i.

C.,"

AOFIA IH2OT

by Grenfell (B.

P.)

Life"

(Oxford

1895).

186, 33.

Sayings of Our

and Hunt (A.

S.)

Lord,"

discovered

(London

and

1897), p. 10.

430
is

of

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

a common-place in the extant treatises and fragments

Gnostic literature, and is, of course, found frequently

documents

in the canonical

Again in the phrase,

things

that

short

fall

uvaTrXrjpwTov),

we have

of general Christianity.

and now do thou

"

in

me"

up the

fill

^crre/o^ara

(ret

the familiar technical terms of

the christianized Gnosis (Pleroma and Hysterema, the

Plenitude or Fullness and the Insufficiency or Empti

ness), but not yet apparently systematized as in the
Basilidean and Valentinian schools.
The

The

"Mind."

leaves

treatise

on one side

all

questions

of

cosmogenesis and at once proceeds to deal with spiritual

It will
anthropogenesis or the spiritual birth of man.

be remembered by students

of these theosophical

Man, the inner spiritual Son

follows in
The Shepherd treatise

that the birth of

is
"

given as

But the All-Father, Mind, being

Man

is

Son

of

The

God.

further

to

Hermes

Life

co-equal with

the Son of the Great

of

God,

"

"

brought forth a

sermons

Mind

of

12)

and Light,

Man

Himself."

the universe,

He

is

the

christianizing Gnostic schools loved

elaborate

these

ineffable

processes,

but

content to put forward a far more simple

statement, and gives the whole answer to the neophyte s
"

"

is

question in a

brief

sentence or two.

It is true the

pupil cannot as yet understand the words, nevertheless

the whole process of rebirth or regeneration is given in

the two opening answers of Hermes in

2, and this
is the same in man s small universe
of
rebirth
process
as the

birth of

cosmically the

the spiritual

third

member

Man
of the

the Regenerator,
trinity

God

the

Creator, God the Preserver, and God the Regenerator,

See especially Hippolytus,

"

Pliilosophumena," iv.

29

ff.

AFTERWORD.
who

are all

from different points

at

of

The Preserver apparently evolves the substance

view.

the

of

One God looked

431

Creator

the

universe,

according to the necessary laws,

seemingly fashions

it

and the Kegenerator

is

breaking through the spheres, freeing the

of as

thought
once more and restoring it to its primal source.
The whole secret of rebirth is Wisdom, which

spirit

conceived by
of this

Mind

in contemplative Silence

contemplation

Will of God so to speak turns on

will of man to know God.

But the neophyte

Good

the True

is

itself

understanding
understand it in what we

may

The
and becomes the

He

call,

the object

or God.

represented as

is

of this great truth.

is

still

still

without The

"Mind"

desires to

in spite of the con

terms, his natural mind, the mind of the

he has not in him, he declares, any portion of
that Mind which transcends this physical consciousness,
sensible world in its proper
or, perhaps, better, the
fusion of

senses

"

"

philosophical meaning.

thing different from God.

To him
If

God

Man must

be some

brings forth a Son,

then there must be two Gods, and the unity is destroyed.

To which doubt the master mysteriously replies
All
"

in

all,

out of

different

all powers composed."

So far from being
from God, Man is all in all, out of all powers,

endowed with

we

think

we

all

are,

powers not, of course, the little man

but the Great Man we really are in

our Selves, nay rather in our Self, which is One.

This truth, says Hermes, is not taught by
ordinary The
means, not argued out and demonstrated by the senses,
or

by physical processes. It is a memory that God

awakes in the soul. It must be self-perceived.
This
"

race

(yeW),

my

child, is

never

taught."

What

is

the

of
of the Logos,

432

DID JESUS LIVE 100

am

term

of the strange

meaning

Let

previously missed?

which, as far as

"

race,"

and commentators have

translators

all

aware,

B.C. ?

me

to

refer

again

Philo

treatise.
"

But

as for the race of

devotees,"

he says,

"

who

are

taught ever more and more to see, let them strive for
the intuition of That-which-is let them transcend the
;

men

sun which

[and gaze upon the Light

nor
ever
leave
rank 2 which leads to
this
beyond],
Now they who betake themselves
perfect blessedness.
to

perceive

divine] service, [do

[the

so]

not because of any

custom, or some one s advice or appeal, but carried

by heavenly

And

love."

Now

"

again

found in

many

away

men

this race (ye^o?) of

of

parts

the

inhabited

is

world,

to be

both

Grecian and non-Grecian world, sharing in the perfect

Good."

This

then, seems to be the race of the Logos,

"

race,"

even as was the

The Mind and

"

race of

higher mind active

The manner of

memory, is given

Hermes
in

Elxai,"

or those

who have

the

in them.
this

in the

rebirth,

of

this

restoring

opening paragraph

of

3,

of

where

describes one of the results of contemplation,

which the consciousness

the spiritual
it is seen.

"

"

vehicle

is,

so to speak, transferred to

but even here

This state of consciousness

trance

istic state of

the master has

it is

is

not taught,

not a mediuin-

still

full contact

with the physical world, but the centre or focus of his

consciousness

is,

so to speak, transferred to the higher

spiritual part of his nature.

1

Or the
P. 891

"

therapeutic
;

M.

473, 10.

Order, space or plane.

P.

race."

892

M. 474,

35.

AFTERWORD.
Yet

is

the pupil

433

confused, for he

still

still

sees the

is

not the

lower man, the master goes on to explain,

bring about this inner change of consciousness,

who can

physical body of his master before him.

It

it is

the

higher Man who does so. Even the belief of the pupil
that he actually sees the physical body of his master
as a

continuous thing

is

sense-illusion, for

every
Accordingly, with

particle of it is in perpetual change.

Hermes lays down the great doctrine of the really

True, the One Keality, as opposed to the perpetual
6,

How can This be per

of manifested things.
?
he
asks.
with
mortal
ceived
eyes
Hereupon Tat loses courage, and begins to think that
the thing is too high for him, and that he has no higher
change

mind.

But Hermes warmly

doubt,

and proceeds

"

senses

"

to

sets aside

explain

of his pupil are

logical

problem

me

be

"

to

substances

selves

or

it is

then

"

or

"

the

spiritual

The psycho

what

in

fashion.

seems to

The

soul

have no direction in them

forces

the will of

why

matter.

stated

scientific

perfectly

"

such an impious

clouded and blinded by the

brutish or irrational things of

is

Virtue and

man

that can turn

them upwards

downwards, so that they become manifest as virtues

These virtues or vices are simply the tenden

or vices.

cies of the distinct

parts

or

forces, of the soul,

reason, irrational

Indeed,

substantial

it is

if

out of

the real

if

or

component

ruled by the

its control.

mind,"

humanity

individual and

not

sympathizing with

rational

"

eternal idea of true

yet

things,

the

"

man,"

in us

separate,

that

it is, as it

is

the The Root

were,

sharing with

all,

showing forth in every

manifestation some special aspect, one yet many, the
28
all,

yet

of

434

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C. ?

true source of fellowship and communion, the mystery

of all
"

mysteries,

man and humanity

which prevents us

rightly/

if

we

if

we

one, the that

are about to do a thing not

will but follow its loving guidance,

finally the only way by which

recognize our eternal sonship.

The

in

and

we can know God and

But we have already gone

Christ.

far beyond what was

immediate purpose, namely, the show
the mystic and truly philosophic view of

necessary for our

ing forth of

the nature of the birth of

"

the Christ

"

in the hearts of

men, which was held by pious and thinking minds in

at least the first century of our era.
In it we have
in

my

opinion a setting forth of the mystery which can

man s intelligence, but which on the contrary

was, I most firmly believe, the central truth insisted
on by the great Master of Christendom Himself.

shock no

Those who, in spite of the evidence which is coming to

light on all hands from a thoroughgoing analysis of
tradition, still hold desperately to the gross materialism

the popular dogma of the physical virgin birth, must

do so at peril of destroying the whole comfort derivable
from the Life of Jesus.
For if, as it is claimed by

of

was born miraculously without

what example can He possibly be for men born in

theology, Jesus Christ

sin,

sin

for

There can be no
miracle

alone

"

can

imitation

"

imitate

on these premisses
The true
;

miracle.

he who wins his way through human

nature, sinful human nature, towards the Divine and
unless I am grievously mistaken and read quite

Conqueror

is

wrongly the records

it is

of the

world

greatest Teachers,
of a Christ

in this precisely that the triumph

consists.

AFTERWORD.
In the Foreword

435
would The Ground

of this essay I said that I

endeavour to show how even Jew and Christian could

tion Between
learn to understand and respect each other even on the i? w and

Christian.

ground of religion
and the Christian

meant

of course the

of to-day.

Jew

of to-day

believe that

in

the

central fact above referred to, the basic truth not only
of Christianity

great

but also

religion,

of

Judaism and

men may meet

all

of

every other
true

together in

fellowship and concord.

Doubtless I have put forward the matter in a very

crude and imperfect fashion; I have probably used
erroneous expressions and terms, have unwillingly
hurt those
tress,

to
I

my

whom

have not the faintest wish to

dis

have misrepresented the position of others owing

ignorance of what they really think and feel but
;

have endeavoured

to be just

and accurate, and have

been guided by a profound sympathy for humanity,

with all, whatever creed they may
for
the central fact of our general experience
profess
a fellow-feeling
;

is

that

we

are all in the

battling for light.

And

same ignorance, struggling and

I fear this ignorance will

be removed from our midst unless

never

we co-operate together,

and speak with utter frankness man to man, without

fear

of

endangering our several vested interests, be

they material, or psychic, or mental, or spiritual.

In conclusion, therefore, if it be not thought imperti- A Humble

nent for so obscure an individual to do

so,

would

courteously ask the learned of the Jews for a thorough

going explanation of their traditions of Jesus with
reference to the date question and to preChristian mystic and heretical schools of every kind;
and the learned of the Christians for a reconsideration
special

436

DID JESUS LIVE 100

of the history of their origins

B.C. ?

by the light

of

such

facts,

for instance, as the patristically

acknowledged striking
between the practices of the Therapeut Essene
communities and the earliest Christian assemblies, the
similarity

puzzling

phenomena

of the

Paul found, using the

long-established

"

practice,

"

Churches

gifts of

of

God

the Spirit

"

"

as

and the members

which

some
which

of

he addresses in language which shows them as familiar

with the most technical terms of the Gnosis, and the
widespread pre-Christian rites of resurrection, and if
not of crucifixion at any rate of stigmatization, as
admitted by Epiphanius, and thereafter for a reinvestigation of the canonical date in connection therewith,

and with the now well-known

making

literature,
of

facts of the

manner

of

apocalyptic and pseudepigraphic

prior to and contemporary with the writing

of haggadic,

our present canonical Gospels.

For

my own

part, I feel at present

somewhat with

out an absolutely authoritative negative to the very

and
Did Jesus live 100 B.C. ?
strange question
"

"

doubtless shall continue

to feel so until all sides of

the question have been again rigorously scrutinized by

the ever finer critical equipment which the twentieth

century must inevitably develop, and in the light of

the great toleration which the ever-growing humanism
our day is extending to the most intractable questions

of

of theology.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.
P. 47. With regard to the chronology of the Christian era and
the influence of the Coesar cult on Christian dogmatics, a field of

immense interest and importance has recently been opened up by

the researches of Alexander Del Mar, in his painstaking study,
The Worship of Augustus Ctesar, derived from a Study of Coins,
"

Monuments, Calendars,

and Astronomical and Astrological

New Chronology and Survey of
(New York 1900). In his Preface (pp.
.ZEras

Cycles, the whole establishing a

History and
viii, ix),

Del

Religion"

Mar

will be

"It

writes

shown upon ample evidences that

after the sub

mission of the Oriental provinces and consolidation of the empire,

Augustus Csesar set himself up for that Son of God whose advent,
according to Indian chronology, synchronized with the reappear

ance of the Oriental Messiah

the date being A.U. 691 (B.C. 63),

that this claim and assump

the alleged year of Augustus birth
tion appears in the literature of his age, was engraved upon his
monuments and stamped upon his coins that it was universally
;

admitted and accepted throughout the Eoman Empire as valid

and legitimate, both according to Indian and Roman chronology,
that his actual worship as such
astrology, prophesy and tradition
;

Son

God

was enjoined and enforced by the

laws of the empire, accepted by the priesthood and practised by
the people and that both de jure and de facto it constituted the
fundamental article of the Roman imperial and ecclesiastical con
of

Divus Filius

stitution."

In an exceedingly interesting article, The Time of the World,"

The Indian Review of January 1903, Del Mar writes
"

in

"

"

"

I.

we

If

Higgins

accept the epoch of the zodions fixed by Godfrey

Alexander the Great altered such epoch to the ex

tent of twenty-eight or thirty years, in order to bring the beginning

438

DID JESUS LIVE 100 B.C.?

of Pisces to the year of his Apotheosis.

Higgins epoch of Pisces
B.C. 360.
The Apotheosis of Alexander took place in the

is

Libyan Temple of Jupiter Ammon, December 25th, B.C. 322. In

that temple he found Aries regnant
he left it with Pisces
triumphant. He was afterwards known as Ichthys, the Fish, the
Great Isskander, etc., titles that are connected with the zodion
;

Pisces.
"

II. Julius Cpesar altered

the Olympiads from five to four years

and

their starting-point from a year equivalent to B.C. 884 to

one equal to B.C. 776, an initial difference of 108 years.
"III.
Augustus Csesar altered the epochs of the Ludi Sseculares

each,

to the extent of seventy-eight years.

This changed the year of the
Foundation of Borne from the equivalent of B.C. 816 to B.C. 738,

and had a variable influence on other important dates.

"IV.
Some time before the seventeenth century the Latin
Sacred College restored fifteen years to the Koman calendar. All
the years were inserted into that portion of the calendar which
preceded the Christian era it had the effect to remove the year of
;

Rome backward to
changed the Anno Augusti.

the foundation of
It also
"

To

recapitulate,

B.C. 753,

where

Alexander altered the zodions

it

now stands.

Julius Csesar,

Augustus, the Ludi Srcculares and year of Rome

Pope Gregory VI. or XIII. (?) the Augustan era and Gregory
XIII., the New Year Day and some other festivals, perhaps also
the Year of the Nativity.
the Olympiads

"The

net result of these various alterations shows a present

between Oriental and Western chronologies of sixty-

difference

three years ; that is,

astronomical event.
.

when both
.

are

computed from any

certain

Had the calendar, as arranged by Augustus, remained un

altered to the present day, his Apotheosis would have answered to
our A.D. 0, or the year before A.D. 1 ; but owing to the fifteen
"

years shifting already alluded

date of B.C. 15. ...
"The

to,

his Apotheosis

now

bears the

introduction of the Christian era as a measure of time

resulted in throwing all ancient dates into confusion.

This was
due to several circumstances. I. It was not an era, like the year
of the world, or like Scaliger s astronomical era, which ante-dated
all historical epochs, and ran on continuously from its own year to

an endless succession of years. On the contrary, the Christian era

and as no allowance is made
is used both backward and forward
in it for a year between A.D. 1 and B.C. 1, it makes a difference of
;

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

439

one year as between itself and every era more ancient than itself.
II. As it took its starting-point from the Roman era, more especi
ally the ^Era Augusti, it embraced all the chronological alterations
which that era embraced. III. In correcting vitiated dates, the

same number

of years

have to be added to

As

IV.

fusion.

This

dates.

before stated,

was

it

is

A.D.

dates

which

a source of endless con

itself

altered to the extent of

Its use, therefore, involves three classes of errors,

fifteen years.
viz.,

must be deducted from

B.C.

the ancient alterations as between the Olympiads and the year

the single year between A.D. 1 and B.C. 1 ; and the
;

Rome

of

fifteen-year alteration of the Middle

What exact bearing all this may

Ages."

have on our question I have

not as yet been able to discover, but that Del Mar s researches must
be taken into account in any thoroughgoing investigation of
Christian chronology I am fully persuaded.

A curious subject of speculation

P. 154.

Mam/er

in connection with the

opened up by the criticism of the artificial

genealogy prefixed to the first Gospel (Matt. i. 1-17), "with the
singular stress laid upon Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, the converted
sinners and heathens, as mothers of the elect one (compare Gen. R.
Hor. lOb Nazir 23b Meg 14b) "as Kohler puts it in his
ii.
article,
Christianity in its Relation to Judaism," in the Jewish
stories is

"

"

Von

Encyclopaedia."

Soden, in his article,

"

Genealogies of

Jesus,"

Encyclopaedia Biblica
(in the just published fourth
volume), referring to the only three women mentioned in the
Rabbinic scholars also interested themselves in
genealogies, says
in

the

"

"

"

these

women.

Theol.,

341.

On Tamar and Ruth compare Weber,

Rahab they transformed
and traced

Altsynag.

into an inn-keeper (Jos.,

her eight prophets (Lightfoot,

u. Talm., 40).
She was an
object of interest also to the early Christians, as Heb. xi. 31 and
*
James ii. 25 show. Perhaps they interpreted harlot allegoriAntt.,

v.

i.

Hor. Heb.,

27),

180

Menschen,

to

N. T.

cally as

heathen.

"

Compare

this

our Talmud

with

"

Deborah the

landlady"

The curious student of

human nature may also refer to the use made of these genealogical
details by Guy de Maupassant in his short .story,
Nos Anglais,"

and the

"inn"

of

stories.

"

in the collection entitled Toine (Paris ; 1903).

P. 301.
Jewish friend has just communicated to

A
me an oral
form of Toldoth which differs in some particulars from any other
form with which I am acquainted. My correspondent says that
it comes from ancient Poland, and was included
among the Jewish
wives tales," but he cannot trace its origin further. The
"old

440
name
name

DID JESUS LIVE 100

B.C.

Jochanan and of the seducer Joseph, the

Jeschu, as in other forms ; then follows the
accusation of bastardy, and the robbing of the Shem, and the
of the betrothed is

of the

boy

is

doing of wonders thereby.

and fearing

"

But the

spirit of the

Eabbis was dis

should be enticed by the magical

powers of Jeschu, R. Meir volunteered to profane his own powers
and so bring about the fall of Jeschu." He accordingly does so in

tressed,

the

way

lest Israel

familiar to us in the other Toldoth forms.

"

When

the

women-reapers saw that the magician had fallen, they pelted him
with cabbages until he died. But the Romans had already be
lieved that Jeschu was a superhuman being, and when they heard
of his death, they wished to exterminate all the Jews.
R. Meir,
in order to appease the anger of the Romans, and save his people
from destruction, again made use of his extraordinary divine

Lo I fly
powers, and again mounted into the air, exclaiming
higher than Jeschu flew, as a sign that he hath sent me to institute
And this he did with great wisdom, so that the
your festivals.
:

Jewish

festivals

first and be spent more

Sunday the next day after the
R. Meir was the pupil of Akiba, and does not

should always come

happily.

Thus he

Sabbath,"

etc.

instituted

appear in any other form of Toldoth.

PKINTED BY NEILL AND

CO., LTD.,

EDINBURGH.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN

Some

short Sketches among the Gnostics, mainly of the First

Centuries a Contribution to the Study of Christian
Origins based on the most Recently Discovered Materials.

Two

Outlines of the Background of the Gnosis

Introduction.

I.

Literature and

Sources of Gnosticism.

The GnosiS according: to

its FOBS.
Polemical Writings of the Church Fathers

II.

Gnostic Fragments recovered from the

;

the Gnosis in the Uncanonical Acts.

The Gnosis according: to

III.

Translation

Greek Original
its Friends.
the Askew, Bruce, and Akhmim Codices.

Classified Bibliographies are

appended.

Works

in Coptic

630, xxviii. pp. large octavo. Cloth. 10/6 net.

SOME PRESS NOTICES.

"

Mr Mead

has done his work in a scholarly and painstaking

fashion."

The Guardian.

The ordinary student

of Christian evidences, if he confines his reading to the Fathers, learns

nothing of these opinions [the so-called Gnostic heresies ] except by way of refutation and angry
"

condemnation. In Mr Mead s pages, however, they are treated with impartiality and candour.
.... These remarks will suffice to show the unique character of this volume, and to indicate
that students may find here matter of great service to the rational interpretation of Christian
thought."
Bradford Observer.

The book, Mr Mead explains, is not intended primarily for the student, but for the general
reader, and it certainly should not be neglected by anyone who is interested in the history of
early Christian thought." The Scotsman.
"

"The work is one of great labour and learning, and deserves study as a sympathetic estimate
of a rather severely-judged class of heretics." Glasgow Herald.

Written in a clear and elegant style

The bibliographies in the volume are of world
wide range, and will be most valuable to students of theosophy." Asiatic Quarterly.
"

Mr Mead

"

writes with precision and clearness on subjects usually associated with bewildering
and mystifications. Even the long-suffering general reader could go through this
volume with pleasure. That is a great deal to say of a book on such a subject." Light.
1

technicalities

large

work

will certainly be read not only with the greatest interest in the select
but by that much larger circle of those longing to learn all about Truth.
as an extraordinarily clear exposition of the Gnosis of the Saints
May
and the Sages of philosophic Christianity." The Roman Herald.
"This

striking

circle of the cultured,

....
"

be

Mr Mead

Hymn

summed up

does us another piece of service by including a complete copy of the Gnostic

.... and a handy epitome of the Pistit Sophia is another item for
will be grateful." The Literary Guide.

of the Robe of Glory

which the student

The author has naturally the interest of a theosophist in Gnosticism, and approaches the sub
ject accordingly from a point of view different from our own. But while his pointof view emerges
in the course of the volume, this does not affect the value of his work for those who do not
share his special standpoint
Mr Mead has at any rate rendered us an excellent service, and
we shall look forward with pleasure to his future studies." The Primitive Methodist Quarterly.
"

The writing of the present work has been a congenial task to Mr Mead, and he has brought
to bear, lovingly and zealously, upon the portraiture of the figure of Christ and of early Christianity
all the knowledge which a deep study of Oriental religions from their emotional side could fur
nish.
The book is published by the Theosophical Publishing Society, and bears, of course, the
marks of its associations but it may be stated at the outset that there is very little of what is
commonly regarded as the Theosophic method apparent in the work, which is the product of a
In his endeavour to realise the object
scholarly though, withal, very devotional spirit
which he has set himself, Mr Mead has traversed a wide field
In fine, we have in his
volume a bird s-eye view of the whole field of early Gnosticism written for the general reader
in a style and method requiring no knowledge of the ancient tongues."
The Mimixt.
"

We are glad to see that the Theosophists .... are settling down to the study of religion.
.... Though we do not appreciate their fundamental philosophy, so far as we understand it,
we think they may do good work if they produce books like this of Mr Mead comprehensive,
"

and scholarly though evidently biassed

Headers not familiar with the learned
will find here an account of its varying phases and of the influences
to produce it. The chapters entitled Some Rough Outlines of the Background of
the Gnosis are well written, and they tend to focus the philosophic and religious movement of
the ancient world
There is a very excellent bibliography." The Spectator.
interesting,

German works on Gnosticism

which helped

"

Mr Mead, whose

short sketches

among

translation of the Pistis Sophia was a welcome boon, gives us here some
the Gnostics, mainly of the first two centuries.
Most readers, unless they

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, LONDON AND

BENARES.

WORKS BY THE SAM E AUTHOR.

them too long, and Mr Mead s enthusiasm for the Forgotten Faith of
The cow in the meadow, knee-deep in clover, often
Gnosticism will remind them of the proverb
looks over the hedge and longs for the common. .... Justice was not done to the Gnostics by
their opponents, and we cannot wonder. Moderns like Harnack, however, have tried to make
amends, and Mr Mead has done his best. We commend this book to all who are tired of
Christianity, and who want something deeper than the Lord s Prayer, more sublime than Paul s
hymn to Love, and more practical than the Sermon on the Mount." The Christian World.
are Theosophists, will thiiik

L opera, cui 1 autoi e da modestamenti il nome di Brevi studi, e invero il frutto di dotte
e pazientissime ricerche, di vasta e profunda erudizione
d interesse grande per il soggetto
fc
che tratta ed e accessibile anche a chi non sia uno studioso di religione comparata od un
teologo, per la maniera abile e piacevole con cui il sogetto 6 trattato. L autore stesso spiega
perche voile cosi 1 opera sua con queste parole
poiche io stimo tal sogetto di profundo
II libro, che vide la luce proprio
interesse umano e nou di mera importanza accademica.
"

alba del nuovo secolo, risponde ad un bisogno del memento o, meglio, risponde ad un
bisogno che sempre si e fatto e si fara sentire, ma che mai forse come uell epocha presente
ebbe fra noi tanta intensita." La Nuova Parola.
all

German

Translation.

FRAGMENTE EINES VERSCHOLLENEN GLAUBENS.

Ulrich.

This

is

Berlin C. A. Schwetschke und Sohn.

the Firtt Attempt that has been made to bring

Ins Deutsche ubersetzt von A. von

together All the Existing Sources of

Information on the Earliest Christian Philosophers.

Tyana

of

Apollonius

THE PHILOSOPHER-REFORMER OF THE FIRST CENTURY

A.D.

Record of his Life, with some account of the War of Opinion

A
concerning him, and an Introduction on the Religious Associations and Brotherhoods of the
of
Indian
Influence
Times and the possible
Thought on Greece.
critical

Study of the only existing

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
The Religious Associations and Communities of the First Century, iii.
iv. The Apollonius of Early Opinion,
v. Texts, Translations and Literature,
vii. Early Life.
viii. The Travels of Apollonius.
ix. The
vi. The Biographer of Apollonius.
of
x.
The Gymnosophists of Upper Egypt.
and
the
Retreats
Shrines of the Temples
Religion,
xii. Apollonius the Prophet and Wonder
xi. Apollonius and the Rulers of the Empire,
worker, xiii. His Mode of Life. xiv. Himself and his Circle, xv. From his Sayings and
Sermons, xvi. From his Letters, xvii. The Writings of Apollonius. xviii. Bibliographical Notes.
Introductory,
India and Greece,
i.

li.

1GO pp. large 8vo.

Cloth.

SOME PRESS
Mr Mead s work is careful, scholarly,
spiritual ideals of life which are far greater
f ul to English readers."
Bradford Observer.
"

"With

much

that

Mr Mead

and
than

3.

Gd. net.

OPINIONS.
critical, yet deeply
all the creeds

says about Apollonius

we

sympathetic with those

Will be found very use-

are entirely disposed to

agree."

Spectator.

Mr Mead s

based upon a careful study of the literature of the

sympathetic monograph
Writes with moderation, and has rendered good service by examining Apollonius
subject
from a fresh point of view." Manchester Guardian.
It is a
We give a specially cordial welcome to Mr G. R. S. Mead s Apollonius of Tyana.
book which all well-instructed spiritualists will be able to appreciate and understand." Light.
A charming and enlightening little work, full of knowledge, bright with sympathy, and
masterly in style." The Coining Day.
It is not only interesting, it is fair, and to a great degree scholarly, although it is slight and
popular in conception. The spiritand tone are admirable. .Mr Mead neither flouts what he thinks
He uses his authorities with care and
mistaken nor states uncritically what he believes
judgment, and gives exact references. Some good suggestions are made in the book."--,tt0fl0tlff*
of
and
this
misunderstanding, Mr Mead has heroically
jungle
"Through
fable, controversy,
set himself to cut his way to the man as he was.
Practically he regards him as a theosophist of
orders and commissioned to regenerate
who
had
been
initiated
into
loftier
first
the
the
century,
the cults at many of the larger sanctuaries. The author has studied the original authorities
and
o
work
his
It
of
als the
of
course, impossible to say whether his
carefully,
predecessors.
is,
attempt to get back to the real Apollonius has been successful. In most respects his account is
At any rate, impartial students will
plausible, and quite possibly may represent the facts
"

is

"

"

"

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,

LONDON AND BENARES.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

be grateful for his sympathetic vindication of Apollonius from the too frequent charge that he
was nothing better than a charlatan. He thinks that Apollonius must surely have visited some
of the Christian societies, and have met with Paul, if not earlier, at least at Rome in 66. It
seems to us very problematical that he should have taken any interest in the Christians, though
the probability would be much enhanced if Mr Mead s view of primitive Christianity could be
The Primitive Methodist Quarterly Review.
substantiated."
"Students of the religious history of the earlier centuries of the Christian era are already in
debted to Mr Mead for his elucidations of more than one obscure document of that remote age.
His account of Apollonius of Tyana will be all the more welcome because, treating its subject
without theological or denominational prepossessions, it reveals the ancient philosopher in a new
Mr Mead gives a readable and well-studied
light, which may very Avell be also a true one
account of him, reviewing what little remains known of his life, and inquiring, without contro
versy, what must have been the character of one who had so real an influence on the religious life
The book is ricli in suggestions of the actualities of the religious life of the
of his time
ancient world when Christianity was still in its infancy. It is well worthy of the attention of all
who are interested in the subject." The Scotsman.
This little book is an attempt to tell us all that is definitely known of one of the most extra
It is done in the main with absolute impartiality, and with
ordinary figures in history
considerable learning. It is not a satisfactory book, but it is useful and interesting, and, in
default of anything better, it may be recommended." Saturday Review.
"The task Mr Mead has set himself is to recover from Philostratus highly romantic narrative
the few facts which can be really known, and to present to the public a plain and simple story
which shall accord with the plain and simple life of the humble Tyanean and he has achieved
no little success. His book is thoroughly readable, the manner of writing most attractive, and
Mr Mead s last work is a thoroughly scholarly one, and
his enthusiasm evidently sincere
lie has contributed a very valuable page to philosophical history."
Chatham and Rochester
"

Observer.

Mr Mead s works are always worth reading. They are characterised by clearness, sanity,
and moderation they are scholarly, and are always conceived in a profoundly religious spirit.
The bibliographies are excellent. With Mr Mead s workmanship we have only one fault to find.
In order to give elevation to the utterances of his hero, he not only affects poetical expressions
which is permissible and poetical inversions of speech which are not permissible but he
Mr Mead is master of an excellent prose
indulges in a whole page of irregular blank verse
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
style, and Pegasus is a sorry back when Pegasus goes lame."
"This well-written volume affords a critical study of the only existing record of the life of
His principles, his mode of teaching, his travels in the east and in
Apollonius of Tyana
the south and west, his mode of life, his sayings, letters, and writings and bibliographical notes,
are all set forth in a clear and interesting style." Asiatic Quarterly Review.
Verfasser will auf Grund der philostratischen Biographic ein Bild vom Leben und Wirkeu
des Apollonius geben. Es fehlt ihm dazu nich an besonnenen Urteil, eben so wenig an der
Verf. halt sich auch, obwohl
notigen Belesenheit in der einschlagigen Litteratur
olfenbar selbst Theologe, freivon der theologischen Voreingenommenheit, die bei der Beurteilung
des Appollonius so fruh und so lange Unheil gestiftet hat."
Wochenschrift fur klassisc.he
"

"

Philologie.

THE GOSPELS AND THE GOSPEL

A STUDY IN THE MOST RECENT RESULTS OF THE
LOWER AND THE HIGHER CRITICISM
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
Preamble

Glimpse at the History of the Evolution of Biblical Criticism The

and the
Lower Criticism" The Nature of the Tradition of the
Traces in the Existing Documents An Exam
Gospel Autographs Autobiographical
ination of the Earliest Outer Evidence The Present Position of the Synoptical
Problem The Credibility of the Synoptists The Johannine Problem Summary of
the Evidence from all Sources The Life Side of Christianity
The Gospel of the
Living Christ.
200 pp.
Large octavo. Cloth, 4s. 6d. net.
"Word

of

"

God"

SOME PRESS NOTICES.

and interesting account of the history of the development of Biblical
criticism .... a thoughtful and learned, yet readable book, which well deserves the attention
of readers interested in its subject." The Scotsman.
Mr Mead begins with a sketch of the recent progress of Biblical criticism. The tone is not
altogether what one would wish the Conservatives were, after all, lighting for what they held
to be very precious but it is substantially true." Spectator.
Mr Mead describes his book as a study in the most recent results of the higher aud the
"A

clear, intelligent,

"

"

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, LONDON AND

BENAHES.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

lower criticism.
The description is incomplete rather than inadequate, for the study is made
from a neo-Gnostic point of view, and under neo-Gnostic prepossessions ..... Mr Mead has
shown, in previous volumes, how the fascinating glamour of their writings has attracted him,
and, though they are mainly represented by imperfect but suggestive fragments, he has done his
best to reconstruct them and to revive, where possible, their lingering vitality. His work, on
these lines, has met with due appreciation ..... He regards Gnosticism as a suppressed religion
which may yet result in an all-embracing creed, which will combine and focus the scattered rays
now dispersed abroad among divergent faiths." Sheffield Daily Telegraph.
In his modest preamble the author describes himself as neither scientist nor theologian, but
as a friendly spectator, who, as a devoted lover of both science and religion, has no partisan
interest to serve, and, as a believer in the blessings of that true tolerance which permits perfect
liberty in all matters of opinion and belief, has no desire to dictate to others what their decision
should be ou any one of the many controversial points touched upon.
Further on he strongly
advises the disturbed reader, who fears to plunge deeper into the free waters of criticism,
to leave the matter alone, and content himself with the creeds and cults of the churches.
We,
therefore, cannot complain if in the sequel he puts forth conclusions widely different from those
generally held, even in this advanced age, by the average thoughtful student. He claims to
treat the subject without fear or favour, and, while disclaiming the ultra-rationalism of the
extreme school of criticism, he nevertheless feels himself compelled largely to accept the
proofs brought forward of the unhistorical nature of much in the Gospel narratives, and also the
main positions in all subjects of Gospel criticism which do not involve a mystical or practical
religious element." As a theosophist, lie seems to have a peculiar affection, on mystical grounds,
for the fourth Gospel, which, however, he sees fit to class with Hermes Trismei<istus. It would
be far too elaborate a task to attempt to deal with the details of his argument here. Its results
claim to be based on Nestle s deservedly popular work.
Anyone who wishes to see Nestle
theosophically interpreted may well read Mr Mead s lucid and interesting pages for himself.
.... There are many other points we should criticise if we had space. But there are many
points, on the other hand, which call for hearty commendation ; not least, Mr Mead s crusade
"

against

book-worship."

The Guardian.

work

consists of various chapters which have appeared from time to time in a Review
devoted to the study of religion from an entirely independent point of view, and perused by a
class of readers belonging to many Churches of Christendom, to schools or sects of Brahmanism,
Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Zoroastrianism, and others who follow no religion. The author
considers that the controversies which have been waged under the term of the Higher Criticism
have almost exclusively been that of progressive knowledge of physical facts (natural, historical,
and literary) and the conservatism of theological traditional views, and never, at any time,
between Science and Religion in their true meaning." Asiatic Quarterly Review.
"This

"

t/j.fjptOr)s

&pri fjif\fTT]f

fpdwn r ^s

irtpl

rSsv

apx^f rov

xp0"riaj/io>ioi}

K.

G. R.

S.

TJJS xpHTTiaviKiis 0tAofJo0ias e|o^co$ SifiaKTiKriv

Mead

.... OK.

Mead

Kopvfpaicav ffKairavewv TTJS fptvurjriKris ravrrjs epyaffias Kal irav o,

Kpivo) i8iaov(rris irpoffox^s #|toj/
E/j.irvt6/j.evos virb ffis vyiovs Taurrjs
6 K. Mead o yt eTeA.eo ej/ effx&TMS Oav/JLaffiov epyov." Erevna.
tTi e cfs rH)?

.....

PISTIS SOPHIA:

Gnostic Gospel.

(With Extracts from the Books of the Saviour appended.) Originally

translated from Greek into Coptic, and now for the first time
Englished from Schwartze s Latin Version of the only known
Coptic MS., and checked by Amelineau s French version.
With an Introduction and Bibliography. 394, xliv. pp. large
octavo.

Cloth.

Vs.

6d. net.

SOME PRESS

OPINIONS.

The Pistis Sophia has long been recognised as one of the most
important Gnostic documents we possess, and Mr Mead deserves the
gratitude of students of Church History and of the History of Christian
Thought, for his admirable translation and edition of this curious
Glasgow Herald.
Gospel."
"

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, LONDON AND

BENARES.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

i{
Mr Mead has done a service to other than Theosophists by his
This curious work has not till lately
translation of the Pistis Sophia.
He has prefixed a
received the attention which it deserves
short Introduction, which includes an excellent bibliography. Thus, the
English reader is now in a position to judge for himself of the scientific
value of the only Gnostic treatise of any considerable length which

has come
"

down

From

trating the
Record.

to

us."

Guardian.

s point of view the work is of value as illus

philosophico-mystical tendencies of the second century."

a scholar

Mr Mead deserves thanks for putting in an English dress this

curious document from the early ages of Christian philosophy."
Manchester Guardian.
"

THE THEOSOPHY OF THE GREEKS.

ORPHEUS.
With three Charts and Bibliography.

Price

Octavo.

cloth,

4s. 6d. net.

PLOTINUS.
With Bibliography.

Price

Octavo.

cloth, Is. net.

THE THEOSOPHY OF THE VEDAS.

THE UPANISHADS:
Half Octavo.

Paper, 6d.

2 Volumes.

cloth, Is. 6d. each net.

VOLUME

I.

Contains a Translation

of the Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mnndaka,

and Mandukya Upanishads, with a General Preamble, Arguments,
and Notes by G. R. S. Mead and J. C. Chattopadhyaya (Roy

Choudhuri).

VOLUME
Contains a Translation

of

II.

the Taittirlya,

Aitareya,

and

Shvetashvatara

Upanishads, with Arguments and Notes.

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,

LONDON AND BENARES.

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