The Words of Jesus in the Light of Post-Biblical Jewish Writings and the Aramaic Language

Submitted by saltysteve on Sat, 05/30/2009 - 07:26

Here is an abridgment of Gustav Dalman's "The Words of Jesus in the Light of Post-Biblical Jewish Writings and the Aramaic Language".

Extract: There is no doubt that Jesus solemnly acknowledged as his own the position which prophecy ascribes to the Messiah of Israel. He affirmed his Jewish kingship before Pilate; and before the Sanhedrin he gave to his Messianic confession such a form as offered them a pretext for delivering him up to death according to Jewish law. If the assertion of a Messiahship could not, per se, have led in itself to a death sentence, the following procedure suggests another way such a case may be seen. A legend related in Sanhedrin 93b says, “Bar Koziba held sway for two and a half years. When he said to the Rabbis, ‘I am Messiah’, they answered him, ‘It is written of the Messiah that he discerns and judges; let us see whether he can do so.’ When they perceived that this was beyond his power, they then put him to death.” [Recall the incident when the soldiers struck a blindfolded Jesus, and asked him to prophesy, and tell them who had struck him.--ed.] A verdict such as we are dealing with would therefore not result from any stipulation of law, but from the duty of a law court to take precautions according to circumstances for the well-being of the people, even by inflicting an exceptional sentence of death. A mere claim to the Messianic title would never have been construed as “blasphemy”. [However, it is possible that Jesus pronounced the Divine Name when he said that he came “at the right hand of Power”--Matt. 26:64); that is, that “Power” here is only a euphemism for the tetragramaton, which Jesus actually employed. Immediately after this the High Priest declared that he had heard blasphemy--of which unauthorized speaking of the Divine Name was one example.-ed.]

Click here to download (Size: 32k)

Home » Library Messianica