The Sign of Lazarus (Continued: 3)
Kindly also read the previous two posts entitled 'The Sign of Lazarus'.
Some men from the scholars and Prushim [Pharisees] answered him [Yeshua] and said, "Rabbi, we desire to see a sign by your hand." But Yeshua answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but a sign will not be given it except that of Jonah the Prophet. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, so too the son of man will be in the heart of the ground for three days and nights. The people of Nineveh will stand in judgement of this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the call of Jonah. But look! One greater than Jonah is here." (Matt 12: 38-41)
Dear reader, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the 'sign of Jonah', first given by Yeshua in the death and resurrection of Lazarus, was the sign that proved to the scholars and Pharisees, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Yeshua was indeed Messiah. For in the Jewish tradition it is only Messiah who brings resurrection from the dead. Lazarus, like Jonah, was raised to life after three days and three nights in a dank 'belly' of darkness. Furthermore, it is important to note that the rabbis teach that Jonah actually died in the belly of the fish and was resurrected when he was spat out onto the seashore... Thus 'the sign of Jonah' was manifested in 'the sign of Lazarus' before this messianic archetype was manifested, for the third time, in Yeshua's own death and resurrection.
It is only in the eye witness account of the Gospel of John that mention is made of the resurrection of Lazarus... And it is not a mere mention; a full 57 verse chapter is dedicated to his resurrection, the urgent meeting of priests and Pharisees, and the issuing of their edict which made Yeshua and His talmidim (disciples) withdraw to the (Levite?) town of Ephraim in the wilderness of Judea.
Based on the conviction that after the resurrection of Lazarus the religious authorities recognised Yeshua as Messiah ben Joseph, I will now attempt to support this principle by reassessing the 'utterances' of the priests and Pharisees during the arrest and trial of Yeshua ~ as recorded in the Gospel of John.
First, the words of the Pharisees in John 12:19: "We will not succeed [in capturing Him] -- the entire world has gone after him". They became aware that their mission would be difficult, because Yeshua had a very large following and these people were perceiving him to be the royal Davidic Messiah, who would bring freedom from Roman rule. Openly arresting him during the day could thus have caused a riot, so they arrested him at night, in a quiet place, outside the city: in Gethsemane. This was accomplished by a Roman regiment and servants of the leading priests.
The author of this Gospel, as has been suggested by James Tabor, the Christian historian, could very well have been James, Ya'akov, the brother of Yeshua. It is interesting to note the statement that this man was known by Ananias the high priest and was therefore permitted to accompany Yeshua into the high priest's courtyard... This implies a priestly connection, in keeping with the concept of Messiah ben Joseph being a priestly figure.
Ananias questioned Yeshua about his disciples and about his teaching (18:19) and following Yeshua's response, it was not the high priest, but his servant, who lashed out and struck Yeshua on the cheek.
Yeshua was then sent to Joseph ben Caiaphas. In John's Gospel there is no record of what took place during that meeting.
Early in the morning Yeshua was led to the Hall of Justice where Pilate interrogated him. When asked why they were condemning Yeshua, the priests replied that if he had not done something wrong, they would not have brought him to Pilate. Pilate then told the priests to take Yeshua and judge him according to their Torah. They responded that they did not have the authority to impose the death penalty. They brought no charges/accusations against Yeshua.
When Pilate asked if he should set "the king of the Yehudim/Judeans" free that Passover, the priests objected. Set Bar-Abba, 'the Son of the Father', free. Is this a Semitic allusion to Yeshua being the 'suffering son of the Father', Messiah ben Joseph, as opposed to the royal victorious Messiah ben David, whose time had not yet come?
Roman mockery soon became full blown. After flogging Yeshua, they dressed him in a 'royal' purple cloak and pressed a crown of thorns into his scalp. "Shalom to you, King of the Yehudim/Judeans", they proclaimed, while striking him in the face.
Pilate then brought Yeshua outside, to appear before the religious leaders, looking absolutely pitiful in 'fancy dress', and the ridicule continued... "Behold the man!" Pilate dramatically exclaimed ~ probably in a highly sarcastic tone, in keeping with his reputation and character.
The leading priests and their servants then urged, "Crucify him", in keeping with Yeshua's own predictions concerning his death ("I will be lifted up and will draw all men to myself"), the Jewish tradition concerning Messiah ben Joseph stretched out and tortured on an iron bar, and allusions to the crucifixion as the method of execution of Messiah found in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
Pilate responded, "You crucify him, I have not found guilt in him". To this the priests responded: He is liable for death, because he made himself to be the Son of God." They all knew that according to Jewish tradition, Messiah ben Joseph was destined to die... there was no other way...
A charge was then established on the basis of Yeshua's so-called 'kingship': it was treason against Caesar, the Emperor of Rome. It seems that Yeshua was commonly (erroneously, if Yeshua is accepted as being conceived by the Ruach, the Holy Spirit) regarded as being a descendant of the royal line of David; as indicated by the genealogies of his step-father, Joseph, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. However, assuming that Yeshua was conceived by the Holy Spirit, it is Miryam's lineage that is all important... A subtle allusion is made early in the Gospel of Luke to this matriarch's priestly lineage: Yeshua's mother's is said to have been a relative of Elisheva (Elizabeth), who was a "daughter of Aaron"...
In the light of Yeshua's substantial following, any claims to 'kingship' would have posed a threat to Rome. Again the priests protested: "Rather write, "He said, 'I am king of the Yehudim/Judeans' ", for they understood that Yeshua was the 'suffering servant', the priestly Messiah ben Joseph from the North; not the royal Messiah ben David who would, in the future, come as a divine warrior-king.
Yeshua was then made to carry his cross to Golgotha. Pilate's mocking sign nailed to the post above his bleeding head read, 'Yeshua the Notzri: King of the Yehudim/Judeans'. Not only was it an insult to be calling one nailed to a cross 'King of the Judeans', but Yeshua was from the Galilee and was therefore perceived to be a Northerner. No Northerner could be a king in Judea...
Who was Yeshua then, if not a king, a son of David? The Hebrew name Yeshua (translated into English as Jeshua), meaning 'Salvation', which occurs 29 times in Tanach (OT), is a priestly Levite name. It was Zerubbabel, governor of Judea, and Yeshua ben Yehozadak (Josadak), the Levite chosen as the first high priest of the rebuilt Temple, who led the first wave of Judean returnees from Babylonia. And it was these two men who began the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple. Thus when in the Gospel of John mention is made of the seamless tunic woven as one piece lying at the foot of Yeshua's cross, none would be remiss in assuming that it was a priestly garment, in the tradition of Aaron's one piece undergarment...
The Levitical priests would certainly have been cognisant of the significance of the name 'Yeshua' and I believe that they were, indeed, aware of the fact that they were offering Yeshua ben Yosef as the priestly sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb, for the redemption of the Children of Israel. This would explain why thousands/'myriads' of Torah-observant Jews came to be followers of Yeshua during the ensuing decades (Acts 21).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvPRPUTX6YA
Biblical references
The Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels; A Hebrew/English Translation; Vine of David; USA/Israel; 2011 ISBN: 978-1-892124-57-9
Some men from the scholars and Prushim [Pharisees] answered him [Yeshua] and said, "Rabbi, we desire to see a sign by your hand." But Yeshua answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but a sign will not be given it except that of Jonah the Prophet. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, so too the son of man will be in the heart of the ground for three days and nights. The people of Nineveh will stand in judgement of this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the call of Jonah. But look! One greater than Jonah is here." (Matt 12: 38-41)
Dear reader, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the 'sign of Jonah', first given by Yeshua in the death and resurrection of Lazarus, was the sign that proved to the scholars and Pharisees, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Yeshua was indeed Messiah. For in the Jewish tradition it is only Messiah who brings resurrection from the dead. Lazarus, like Jonah, was raised to life after three days and three nights in a dank 'belly' of darkness. Furthermore, it is important to note that the rabbis teach that Jonah actually died in the belly of the fish and was resurrected when he was spat out onto the seashore... Thus 'the sign of Jonah' was manifested in 'the sign of Lazarus' before this messianic archetype was manifested, for the third time, in Yeshua's own death and resurrection.
It is only in the eye witness account of the Gospel of John that mention is made of the resurrection of Lazarus... And it is not a mere mention; a full 57 verse chapter is dedicated to his resurrection, the urgent meeting of priests and Pharisees, and the issuing of their edict which made Yeshua and His talmidim (disciples) withdraw to the (Levite?) town of Ephraim in the wilderness of Judea.
Based on the conviction that after the resurrection of Lazarus the religious authorities recognised Yeshua as Messiah ben Joseph, I will now attempt to support this principle by reassessing the 'utterances' of the priests and Pharisees during the arrest and trial of Yeshua ~ as recorded in the Gospel of John.
First, the words of the Pharisees in John 12:19: "We will not succeed [in capturing Him] -- the entire world has gone after him". They became aware that their mission would be difficult, because Yeshua had a very large following and these people were perceiving him to be the royal Davidic Messiah, who would bring freedom from Roman rule. Openly arresting him during the day could thus have caused a riot, so they arrested him at night, in a quiet place, outside the city: in Gethsemane. This was accomplished by a Roman regiment and servants of the leading priests.
The author of this Gospel, as has been suggested by James Tabor, the Christian historian, could very well have been James, Ya'akov, the brother of Yeshua. It is interesting to note the statement that this man was known by Ananias the high priest and was therefore permitted to accompany Yeshua into the high priest's courtyard... This implies a priestly connection, in keeping with the concept of Messiah ben Joseph being a priestly figure.
Ananias questioned Yeshua about his disciples and about his teaching (18:19) and following Yeshua's response, it was not the high priest, but his servant, who lashed out and struck Yeshua on the cheek.
Yeshua was then sent to Joseph ben Caiaphas. In John's Gospel there is no record of what took place during that meeting.
Early in the morning Yeshua was led to the Hall of Justice where Pilate interrogated him. When asked why they were condemning Yeshua, the priests replied that if he had not done something wrong, they would not have brought him to Pilate. Pilate then told the priests to take Yeshua and judge him according to their Torah. They responded that they did not have the authority to impose the death penalty. They brought no charges/accusations against Yeshua.
When Pilate asked if he should set "the king of the Yehudim/Judeans" free that Passover, the priests objected. Set Bar-Abba, 'the Son of the Father', free. Is this a Semitic allusion to Yeshua being the 'suffering son of the Father', Messiah ben Joseph, as opposed to the royal victorious Messiah ben David, whose time had not yet come?
Roman mockery soon became full blown. After flogging Yeshua, they dressed him in a 'royal' purple cloak and pressed a crown of thorns into his scalp. "Shalom to you, King of the Yehudim/Judeans", they proclaimed, while striking him in the face.
Pilate then brought Yeshua outside, to appear before the religious leaders, looking absolutely pitiful in 'fancy dress', and the ridicule continued... "Behold the man!" Pilate dramatically exclaimed ~ probably in a highly sarcastic tone, in keeping with his reputation and character.
The leading priests and their servants then urged, "Crucify him", in keeping with Yeshua's own predictions concerning his death ("I will be lifted up and will draw all men to myself"), the Jewish tradition concerning Messiah ben Joseph stretched out and tortured on an iron bar, and allusions to the crucifixion as the method of execution of Messiah found in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
Pilate responded, "You crucify him, I have not found guilt in him". To this the priests responded: He is liable for death, because he made himself to be the Son of God." They all knew that according to Jewish tradition, Messiah ben Joseph was destined to die... there was no other way...
A charge was then established on the basis of Yeshua's so-called 'kingship': it was treason against Caesar, the Emperor of Rome. It seems that Yeshua was commonly (erroneously, if Yeshua is accepted as being conceived by the Ruach, the Holy Spirit) regarded as being a descendant of the royal line of David; as indicated by the genealogies of his step-father, Joseph, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. However, assuming that Yeshua was conceived by the Holy Spirit, it is Miryam's lineage that is all important... A subtle allusion is made early in the Gospel of Luke to this matriarch's priestly lineage: Yeshua's mother's is said to have been a relative of Elisheva (Elizabeth), who was a "daughter of Aaron"...
In the light of Yeshua's substantial following, any claims to 'kingship' would have posed a threat to Rome. Again the priests protested: "Rather write, "He said, 'I am king of the Yehudim/Judeans' ", for they understood that Yeshua was the 'suffering servant', the priestly Messiah ben Joseph from the North; not the royal Messiah ben David who would, in the future, come as a divine warrior-king.
Yeshua was then made to carry his cross to Golgotha. Pilate's mocking sign nailed to the post above his bleeding head read, 'Yeshua the Notzri: King of the Yehudim/Judeans'. Not only was it an insult to be calling one nailed to a cross 'King of the Judeans', but Yeshua was from the Galilee and was therefore perceived to be a Northerner. No Northerner could be a king in Judea...
Who was Yeshua then, if not a king, a son of David? The Hebrew name Yeshua (translated into English as Jeshua), meaning 'Salvation', which occurs 29 times in Tanach (OT), is a priestly Levite name. It was Zerubbabel, governor of Judea, and Yeshua ben Yehozadak (Josadak), the Levite chosen as the first high priest of the rebuilt Temple, who led the first wave of Judean returnees from Babylonia. And it was these two men who began the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple. Thus when in the Gospel of John mention is made of the seamless tunic woven as one piece lying at the foot of Yeshua's cross, none would be remiss in assuming that it was a priestly garment, in the tradition of Aaron's one piece undergarment...
The Levitical priests would certainly have been cognisant of the significance of the name 'Yeshua' and I believe that they were, indeed, aware of the fact that they were offering Yeshua ben Yosef as the priestly sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb, for the redemption of the Children of Israel. This would explain why thousands/'myriads' of Torah-observant Jews came to be followers of Yeshua during the ensuing decades (Acts 21).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvPRPUTX6YA
Biblical references
The Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels; A Hebrew/English Translation; Vine of David; USA/Israel; 2011 ISBN: 978-1-892124-57-9
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