Killing Jesus: A History (30 page)

³
To this day, the Israeli unit of currency is known as the shekel. It was thought to be more metallically pure than the common currency in the Roman Empire, the denarius. One denarius was worth between ten and sixteen
assarions
(“asses”), the smallest coin in regular circulation at that time. A denarius was usually silver and stamped with the image of the reigning emperor. The rate of exchange for denarii into shekels was typically four to one.

⁴
Before being written down, the Gospels were oral histories. This might explain some discrepancies among them. The story of Jesus and the money changers is placed at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry in John (2:14–22), while Matthew (21:12–17), Mark (11:15), and Luke (19:45) all place it at the end. This has led some to speculate that Jesus performed this cleansing twice, as specific details of the various Gospel accounts differ.

⁵
Not much is known about Nicodemus, other than that he was a very wealthy Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. The historian Josephus mentions a Nicodemus ben Gurion, who counseled against the Jewish rebellion against Rome in the first century
A.D.
This is very possibly the same man, for Nicodemus was not a common name. The Talmud mentions a man named Nakdimon ben Gurion, who is thought to be the same man (“Nicodemus” being a Greek version of the name). Nakdimon originally came from Galilee, which might explain his affinity for Jesus. He is said to have lost his fortune late in life and was eventually martyred.

⁶
John 7:5: “For even his own brothers did not believe in him.”

⁷
For Elijah see 1 Kings 17–18 and for Elisha see 2 Kings 5.

⁸
The confrontation in Nazareth comes from Luke 4:30.

CHAPTER NINE

¹
According to Jewish law, as set forth in Leviticus 11:9–12, fish with scales and fins are considered clean and are acceptable for eating. Eels and catfish, on the other hand, are considered unclean.

²
This method of crafting wood into slots and grooves to hold two pieces together was also commonly used to secure the two parts of the crucifix.

³
The words
apostle
and
disciple
are both used to describe the twelve members of Jesus’s inner circle. A disciple is a follower, while an apostle (taken from the Greek
apostello
, “to send forth”) is someone who puts his faith into action by going out into the world to share those teachings. As it has often been noted, all apostles are disciples, but not all disciples are apostles. The twelve followers of Jesus do not go out into the world on their own until the winter of 28, almost a year after Jesus calls them to be disciples. This transformation from disciple to apostle will be most evident after the death of Jesus, when they will travel far beyond the boundaries of Judea to spread Jesus’s message.

⁴
There is a key distinction between “Roman roads” and the dirt highways found elsewhere in Judea. The Romans paved their roads in stones, with a crest in the middle to facilitate drainage. They began by digging a trench three feet deep and as much as twenty feet wide. Upon a bed of large stones, laid together tightly, a layer of gravel and concrete was poured. Gravel was laid on top of that and then leveled before paver stones were added for the actual road surface. Roman roads had gutters and curbs, and each mile was clearly marked, indicating the distance from Rome.

⁵
Though Mary Magdalene is not mentioned by name in this story (Luke 7:36–50), it has long been the tradition of Christian teaching that it was she. Luke most likely veiled her true identity because she was still alive at the time he wrote his Gospel. He did the same with Matthew, the tax collector and Gospel author whom he refers to as Levi (Luke 5:27).

⁶
Women often played pivotal roles in Jewish society, so it would not have been unusual for her to follow Jesus and the disciples. The pages of Jewish history are full of heroic matriarchs such as Rachel, Sarah, Leah, and Rebecca. Miriam worked with her brothers, Moses and Aaron, to lead the exodus from Egypt. And of course the prostitute Rahab helped bring about the Israelite victory over Jericho. Women in Jesus’s time were considered equal to men, though separate in their worldly responsibilities. They were allowed to choose their marriage partner, enter into contracts, buy and sell property, and speak at weddings. It was forbidden for men to beat or mistreat women, and in the case of rape, it was understood that such an act occurred against a woman’s will and that the man was presumed guilty. In fact, women were treated better in the time of Jesus than they are in a great many places in the modern world.

⁷
Matthew 11:6.

⁸
A reed was Herod Antipas’s personal emblem of his rule.

⁹
In some versions this is written as “silver platter,” which has since become a cliché in the modern world.

CHAPTER TEN

¹
The Sabbath was a day of complete rest, beginning at sundown on Friday and continuing until three stars were visible in the sky on Saturday evening. Strenuous work was forbidden, as were many other activities, in an effort to replicate God’s day of rest after creating the universe.

²
Somewhere in the twelfth century, these supernatural happenings will come to be known as miracles.

³
Zedekiah was the last king of Israel. The dates are unclear, but his reign was most likely 597–86
B.C
. Zedekiah was installed on the throne at the age of twenty-one, by Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of Babylon. When Zedekiah stopped paying tribute some years later, Nebuchadnezzar brought his army to Jerusalem and laid siege to the city. It eventually fell, and the people were taken off to Babylon for a lifetime of slavery. The Temple was destroyed at this time and not rebuilt until Cyrus gave the approval to the Jewish people to return home and rebuild the Temple. Work began around 536
B.C
. and finished in 516
B.C
. This Second Temple was completely renovated under Herod the Great. Zedekiah, who had ignored the counsel of the prophet Jeremiah to be more diligent in worshipping God, was captured as he tried to flee his fallen capital. At Nebuchadnezzar’s orders, the king’s young children were put to the sword before his eyes. This would be the last sight Zedekiah would ever see, for he was immediately blinded (the preferred technique was to press thumbs into a man’s eye sockets), chained, and marched off to Babylon as a slave.

⁴
The source of some of Jesus’s income can be found in Luke 8:2–3, where it is specified that there were many who gave of their own money to financially support Jesus and his ministry.

⁵
John 12:6.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

¹
The three major Jewish pilgrimage festivals were Passover, Tabernacles, and Weeks—in Hebrew, Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot. Jews were required to attend all three, but many preferred to attend only Passover, which was sometimes held in conjunction with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Since the destruction of the Temple in
A.D.
70, it is no longer required that Jews make the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. They instead attend the festivals that take place at their local synagogues. It should be noted that the most holy holiday on the Jewish calendar is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

²
Sukkot, as the festival is known in Hebrew, commemorates the years of nomadic dwelling while Moses searched for the Promised Land.

³
The description is from the philosopher Philo, a Jew living in Egypt.

⁴
“Dazzling” does not begin to describe the Temple robes. Caiaphas’s was a long blue tunic decorated with bells and long tassels. He cinched it tight at the waist with a sash, then slipped on a boldly colored waistcoat embroidered in gold, with the twelve tribes of Israel listed upon its shoulders and a breastplate coated in precious stones that reflected the sun. His head was covered in a turban upon which rested a three-tiered gold crown bearing the name of God.

⁵
The equestrians were a significant step below the aristocratic senatorial class in Roman culture. For a man to move upward, he needed to show brilliance in politics and on the battlefield and also to accrue tremendous wealth. Being a prefect was an ideal way to become wealthy, mostly through taking a cut of all mining licenses, monopolies, and taxes. Pilate does not appear to have had any previous diplomatic experience before his posting to Judea, so it is likely that he had the assistance of a high-ranking friend to get the job. Some believe that he was close to Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the ill-fated administrator who oversaw much of the Roman Empire while Tiberius was off in Capri.

⁶
John 7:4.

⁷
God instructed Moses to construct an altar of uncut stone, thus making it sacred. “And if you make for me an altar of stones, do not build it of hewn stones; for by wielding your tool upon them you have profaned them” (Exodus 20:25). An entire room made in a similar fashion would have been a most sacred place.

⁸
Not to be confused with the distant inland city of Caesarea Philippi.

⁹
In order, these prophecies are: Psalms 27:12 and 35:11; Micah 5:1; Isaiah 50:6; Psalms 22:18; Psalms 22:16, Zechariah 12:10, and Deuteronomy 21:23; Numbers 9:12, Psalms 34:20, and Exodus 12:46; and Zechariah 12:10.

CHAPTER TWELVE

¹
Leviticus 22:4–7.

²
The days of the week take their names from the Roman fixation on the heavens. In order, they are named for the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

¹
When Jesus ben Ananias continued for seven more years to proclaim loudly and publicly that the Temple would be destroyed, a Roman soldier permanently silenced him by catapulting a rock at his head. Four months later, the Romans destroyed the Temple as punishment for a Jewish revolt.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

¹
Not to be confused with Jesus’s mother or with Mary Magdalene. Mary and Martha were both extremely common names at the time—as was Jesus.

²
They take care when cleaning the tunic because it is a most unique and expensive garment. Every man, woman, and child wears one as the undergarment closest to their skin. The Pharisees and other people of means wear tunics that extend down to their ankles, while the poor can afford only a knee-length version. Whether made of linen or wool, most tunics are constructed by stitching together rectangles of cloth, leaving seams that chafe and bind in three different places. But Jesus’s tunic was woven on an upright loom, which allowed the weaver to construct a fine cylinder of fabric. The tunic is therefore completely seamless. A medieval legend will say it was given to Jesus by his mother, Mary. Others say it was a gift from one of the many benefactors who supported his ministry. Either way, it is unique to Judea, thus making it desirable to any robbers or highwaymen who might waylay Jesus and the disciples.

³
The legend of Jesus’s raising of Lazarus from the dead became so widespread that it was a main component in the Temple priests’ plotting against Jesus.

⁴
Taken from Deuteronomy 6:5, which immediately follows Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema and cornerstone of Judaism.

⁵
It was a widespread belief at the time that vipers were hatched inside their mother, then ate their way through her skin to get out, killing her in the process. Calling the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” was akin to calling them parent murderers, which is a loathsome distinction in any culture, but particularly so in a faith such as Judaism, which reverences family.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

¹
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke make it clear that Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal a day early. This has prompted some to speculate as to whether Jesus served the traditional Passover menu of roast lamb. Pope Benedict XVI sought to solve this two-thousand-year-old argument by suggesting that Jesus celebrated Passover early by using the solar calendar date found in the Dead Sea Scrolls instead of the lunar calendar, and thus did not celebrate with lamb. Other scholars resolve the issue by arguing that the Synoptics base their calendar days on the Galilean Method (used by Jesus, his disciples, and Pharisees), from sunrise to sunrise; while John bases his calendar days on the Judean Method (used by the Sadducees), from sunset to sunset. This resolves the discrepancy, as the different calendars will place Passover meals at different times.