Trial of Jesus Is Impossible: NT Breaks Jewish Law

by Dan Allen.........................................................

The Finding of Moses, probably c. 1650
Sébastien Bourdon

The baby Moses is drawn out of the water in a basket made of bulrushes while Pharaoh’s daughter dressed in gold color looks at him. Five righteous women in this famous story in the Jewish Bible, one of which is the Pharaoh’s daughter must be imitated forever. They all refuse to obey the King of Egypt’s order to kill male Hebrew babies, a great risk to them. In the same manner Christians must reevaluate the false allegations against the Jews and vigilantly follow Jesus’ message of love in the New Testament. They must stop the unjust murders & pogroms leveled against all Jews, and in particular, against modern Israel, the Jew of the nations.

The story in the Jewish Bible runs as follows:

The Hebrew “midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the children alive.” Exodus I: 17 “Every son that is born ye shall cast in the river, & every daughter ye shall save alive,” Pharaoh ordered (Exodus I: 22) Moses’ mother defied Pharaoh’s orders. She “hid” Moses…then, “took an ark of bulrushes…and put…the child by the river’s brink.” (Exodus II: 2-4) Pharaoh’s daughter then saw Moses, a baby who cried and “had compassion.” “This is one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said in (Exodus II: 6) “Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? ” Moses’ sister Miriam inquired (Exodus II: 7). And Moses became Pharaoh’s daughter’s son. “She called his name Moses (Heb. Mosheh): ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’ ”

Mosheh abandons his status as Prince of Egypt to save his people who are Pharaoh’s slaves. “Let my people go,” Moses demands of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. This cry is Israel’s and everyone else’s desire to free everyone of the chains of house of bondage and oppression.

RSNT.Org, in the same fashion calls on all our Christian brothers to uphold Jesus’ message of love and wipe out all libelous charges in the New Testament against Jews. The bottom line is to end the unjust false charge of Christ-killing and demonization of Israel.

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The Jewish trial of Jesus, in the four Gospels, is logically impossible, purely imaginary, out of place, clearly wrong, and unjust.

The predominant reason for this is the occurrence of such a trial breaks Jewish custom, ethics, and law:

Jesus could not possibly be tried at the high priest’s palace or at any home as these Gospels indicate. 1

"If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment..." the injunction in the Torah goes," then thou shalt arise, and get thee into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose." 2

This place, according to the Rabbis in the Talmud, was in the Bet Din (the House of Judgment) or Supreme Court in the Temple courtyard, 3 certainly, not a private home.

Was it possible for Jesus to be tried at night, as Mark 14:53-54 and Matthew 26:57-58 portray the story of the trial? Criminal court trails are only heard in the day 4
Contrary to the Gospel reports, 5 no one, including, Jesus can possibly be tried, during any Jewish Holiday.

This clearly includes the Sabbath and the Passover. 6

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Jews, particularly, the religious Jews, cited in the gospels, were then occupied with the Passover service: the anniversary of Jewish freedom from Egyptian bondage. Any significant affair not related to The Passover, had to be left to another day.

The gospels in their propagandistic zeal to gain converts and power over their father religion Judaism, hastily neglected these most elementary rules of Jewish custom in order to follow their party line. The Passover’s heightened symbolism of gaining freedom from the yoke of Roman occupation was ignored.

"At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death." 7 "One witness shall not rise up against a man for any ‘iniquity or for any sin... at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter is established." 8

Contrary to the above Jewish ethical norms, Jesus was sentenced without witnesses. He was condemned for non-responsiveness in Matthew and Luke, 9 and admitting in Mark to be the Son of God and the Messiah. 10 Jesus lack of response to questions and testimony in these different versions of the trial, however, do not, in any shape or form, conform to the Jewish Bible’s witness requirement.

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A blasphemer is not liable to the death penalty, according to Rabbinic tradition, unless he utters the unsayable name of God, "Yahweh". 11 Jesus, in other words, could use any other name for "Yahweh" and not face a death penalty.

The law "whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin "And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death," 12 is consequently, inapplicable to Jesus or to any charges leveled against him.

Cursing or blaspheming God without declaring the unutterable name "Yahweh" by use of any of God’s descriptive epithets is according to established Rabbinical tradition in the Talmud, punishable by flogging only. 13

The death sentence for blasphemy, as defined above, does not apply to "Son of God." "Son of God" is apparently used, quite freely, in Jesus’ own tradition, the Jewish Bible.

The people of Israel, for instance, is called God’s "son" 14 in different places in the Bible. God is the "Father" 15 of the Israelites. Every single person, it follows, are one of God’s "sons" and "daughters" or children.

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God’s relationship to the Israelite monarchy is, moreover, a father-son relationship. This is apparent in different portions of the Bible. God is also, "the Father of the King, his "first born." 17 Jesus, a Jew by birth, probably defined "son of God" in a similar metaphorical, rather than a biological sense.

Consequently, when Jesus preaches "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you," he used this meaning when he says," you will be Sons of the Most High." 18

Another example occurs in the Sermon on the Mount: "Happy the peacemakers, they shall be called Sons of God." 19 Jesus calls God, "Abba," 20 father with this kind of meaning.

The father-son relationship between God and his people are a permanent part of the Jewish Bible. Jesus’ message of love, moreover, incorporates this same relation straight out of the daily “Amida” Jewish prayer.

Paul and the early Church fathers, later on, however, gradually replaced this idea with Jesus’ equality with God and divine sonship in the New Testament. 21

But what about Jesus identifying himself with the "Messiah" or "sitting at God’s right hand?" Does this constitute blasphemy?

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Other than in the Gospels, no one in the entire history of the Jews was ever accused of blasphemy for declaring to be the Messiah or sitting at the "right hand of God."

The Messiah and God are after all defined as two distinct beings in the Jewish bible. Since the Messiah and God is not one being, the subject of blasphemy never comes up in the Jewish tradition.

A number of false Messiahs appeared in Jewish history. None were ever charged with blasphemy.

Jesus himself, as pointed out above, did not qualify for the "blasphemy" charge, because he did not identify Himself with the unswayable name of God "Yahweh."

The blasphemy charge, furthermore, does not apply to the figurative use of "cloud’s of heaven" and a seat at "God’s right hand."

The Old Testament is testimony enough to the nonblasphemous use of these kinds of figures of speech. So it is, Moses "entered into the midst of the clouds," 22 and Daniel’s "son of man" came into the clouds of heaven. 23

The trial of Jesus, as conducted by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John has no basis in the Jewish laws of the Torah and The Talmud.

The Gospel writer’s zeal to spread Christianity, apparently, left them with no time to understand the basics of Judaism, a religion foreign to them.

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Clearly, one does not need to be a scholar to realize, Jewish trials do not occur in the secret of night, at a private residence, without any witnesses, or during the Passover Holiday.

Jesus, most importantly, true to the Jewish tradition, did not, in the course of this alleged trial, utter the unsayable name "Yahweh." As a result, he could not be convicted on any blasphemy charge.

Just Rebel, Inc. | © 2004 | by Dan Allen

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