The next day being the fifth day of the week, and the thirteenth day of the month Nisan in that year, many rumors went about the city as to the man Jesus. There were who said that he had been seized by the guards of Hanan; others said that he had left the village of Bethany and gone no man knew whither. But for that day Jesus came not into Jerusalem, and men’s minds were occupied more with one of the difficulties of our Law which form the occupation and delight of our Sages. I must explain this unto thee, for upon it turn the events of the next day, so fateful for the man about whom thou art inquiring. Thou canst easily understand what I shall say, for thou hast, I know, a copy of the Scriptures in Greek, for did I not procure it for thee?
It is said in the Law, thou wilt find, that the Passover lamb is to be killed in the twilight between the fourteenth and the [pg 170]fifteenth of Nisan, and it is also said in our Law that the whole of the lamb must be consumed that evening. Now, in the years when the fifteenth of Nisan, which is the first day of the Passover, falleth upon the Sabbath, the killing and roasting of the lamb would take place on the Sabbath eve, when no killing must take place and no fire must be lit. Hence arises a conflict of the Law of the Passover with the Law of the Sabbath. Now, the older view was, that the Passover was superior to the Sabbath, and its law was to be followed in preference. This the priests held and followed, and in this they seemed to have the authority of the great Hillel, who also declared the Passover superior to the Sabbath.
But many among the Pharisees and the more pious preferred to slay the Passover lamb on the eve between the thirteenth and the fourteenth day of Nisan, and to eat it on the fourteenth day; that is, in those years when the Passover fell on the Sabbath, as was the case in the year of which I am now writing. It would appear that Jesus and his followers held with the [pg 171]latter opinion, for, as I have heard, on the eve of the fourteenth of Nisan he came stealthily into the city of Jerusalem, and ate the Passover lamb concealed in an upper chamber of one of his friends in the city. It showeth how earnest this man was in following the larger precepts of the Law, though in smaller matters he seemed to neglect it. For by this time he must have known that he was no longer safe in Jerusalem; and, indeed, he proved this by his secret entry into it. Yet in order to fulfil the Law, which saith, “The Passover lamb is to be eaten in Jerusalem,” he risked his own and his followers’ lives. Yet was he careful of them; for, as thou shalt soon hear, as soon as he had gone through the meal prescribed by the Law, he escaped out of Jerusalem.
Now, that night I was standing at the door of my house, looking upon the city bathed in the light of the moon, which was near its full, when suddenly a man seized me by the arm and said, “Thou art wanted.” I looked, and behold it was Simon Kantheros, my brother-in-law. And I said to him, “Who wants me? and [pg 172]wherefore?” And Simon answered me and said, “Hanan the High Priest has summoned suddenly a meeting of the Sanhedrim at his house on the Mount of Olives.” Then said I, “But if it be at his house, it can only be the Priestly Sanhedrim of Twenty-Three that he summons.” “Nay, nay, man,” answered Simon, “the case is urgent. He saith, ‘any member of the Sanhedrim.’ Come, then, with me, and quickly.” So with that I seized my mantle and my staff, and went forth with him.
So we hurried across the market-place towards the Fish Gate, and as we passed near the Tower Antonia, we saw the flashing of red lights, and heard hoarse cries of command, and knew not what was toward. But when we arrived at the Fish Gate, we found them changing the sentries of the first watch, and knew that the second watch had begun. At first the sentry would not let us through the gate; but the officer was called, and Simon showed him his badge as member of the Sanhedrim. But even this would not have sufficed, but that Simon then pointed to [pg 173]his toga and the purple stripe, which showed that he was a Roman citizen of rank. Thereat the officer spake to the sentry, and we passed through the gate, and turned sharply to the right, and went down the road which leads to the valley of the Kidron. And as we were passing the Brook Kidron, we looked and saw dots of red light moving up the hill from the Garden of Gethsemane. And as we advanced up the hill of the Mount of Olives, we could see from time to time these red sparks preceding us; and when we came within sight of the High Priest’s house, we saw them enter in and disappear.
Soon we ourselves had come up to the gate, and when we knocked, a wicket was opened, and a face peered out, and our names were asked. When we had told them, the gate was closed, and we had to wait some time. But at last the door was opened, and the captain of the guard received us. He took us through the passage which led into the open court, with the water-basin in the centre, round which we skirted, and ascended the steps into the inner house. And again we stopped [pg 174]before the hall-door while our names were asked, and again we had to wait till the door was at last opened. Then at last we entered the hall, and found Joseph Caiaphas the High Priest and many of his kinsmen seated round a long table. Caiaphas rose, and motioned us to two seats at the end of this table, and we seated ourselves.
When my eyes had become accustomed to the light, I looked round, and said the greeting of peace unto those I knew of the assembly. I can still remember many of their names. There was Ishmael ben Phabi, who had at first replaced Hanan as High Priest. There were also the four sons of Hanan—Eleazar, Jonathan, Theophilus, and Matthias. Then there were Kamithos the priest, and his two sons, Simon and Joseph. And beside these, I remember two men of my own generation—Elioni ben Kantheros and Chananyah ben Nedebai. Most of these men had been, or were afterwards, High Priests, and were all at this time members of the Priestly Sanhedrim. On the left of Caiaphas was a low stool, and, even as I looked, [pg 175]Hanan ben Seth the High Priest came in swiftly from a side door, and took a seat thereon. He glanced sharply round at each of us, counting our numbers, and we were exactly three and twenty. And when he saw me, he rose and spake somewhat harshly, “Meshullam ben Zadok, what dost thou here? This is a meeting of the Priestly Sanhedrim. Thou art a son of Israel.” And I answered and said, “Simon Kantheros here, my kinsman, summoned me to the meeting, saying that any member of the Sanhedrim could attend.” The High Priest thought for a moment—he seemed as if he were counting us again—then he said, “Be it so; thou art at least a true son of Israel, and this is not a formal meeting of the priests.” He sat him down again, and we waited. At last an attendant entered by the same door, and, going up to the High Priest, spake to him. He nodded quickly, and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. And when he had passed through the door, Hanan the High Priest rose, and spake to us these words:—
“Kinsmen and colleagues, ye have all [pg 176]heard, if ye have not witnessed, how Jesus of Nazara entered the Holy City on the first day of this week, amid the acclamations of his followers and many of the lower people, who even went so far as to hail him as the Deliverer. Now, to-morrow, as ye know, is the Passover. Who knows, if the thoughts of deliverance from Egypt, which come at that time, may not cause this man, or, if not him, his followers, to attempt a rising against the Romans our masters? We know that any such attempt would be entirely futile, but the very attempt itself would be the ruin of the nation. Ye know the character of the man Pontius Pilate. ’Tis but a short time since he slew, of wanton cruelty, certain Galilæans, even while they were making sacrifices, and all for mere suspicion of disaffection. Ye cannot but remember the building of Solomon’s Aqueduct. Because money was taken from the Temple treasury for the building thereof, the people were inflamed, and would have risen against them. What did he but send his soldiers, disguised in civil garb and armed with clubs, among the people, when they came to make their pro[pg 177]test? And without warning, and in mere wanton cruelty, did he give the signal for massacre. If he did this at a mere threat of a rising, what will happen should an actual rising take place to-morrow? It is our duty to see that such a calamity fall not upon this nation because of the presence of this rude provincial in our midst. Better one man should die than the nation should suffer. No time was to be lost, and I therefore have had this Jesus arrested, and he now awaits our pleasure in the atrium.
“Before I summon him to our presence, I would briefly state to you what seems to me and some of our friends here the right course to be followed. We purpose to hand him over at dawn to Pontius Pilate, to deal with him as he will. For he, by his spies, and by the demonstration on the first day of the week, must be aware of the danger of a rising to-morrow night, caused by this man’s presence in our city. Indeed, it is for the very purpose of preventing a rising that he cometh up each year about the Passover to Jerusalem. Let it, then, be his care to prevent it how [pg 178]he will; we shall have done our part, and he cannot punish the nation, or us its leaders.
“But some of you will say, Why should we deliver this man up to the Romans, perhaps, or even probably, to his death? I say, that even apart from the danger which he offers to the State, he is worthy of death for his manifest blasphemies. He speaketh of himself as very God, and claims to be the Anointed One, and puts aside the Law as it pleaseth him. I say naught of his insolence in the Temple cloisters, for this matter concerns us that be priests, and in the matter of judgment we must not take account of aught that deals with our private concerns; yet it is manifest that he hath no reverence for the Lord’s house: witnesses shall prove to you that he hath said he would sweep it away and build another. I wonder not that horror is expressed in your faces at this blasphemy.
“Yet, as ye know, our Law hath in mercy provided that none shall be condemned unless on the testimony of witnesses. The Law shall be fulfilled. Even [pg 179]now, as I speak, one of his followers, Judas, a man of Kerioth, is drawing forth from him his blasphemies before two witnesses, concealed, as is the custom. And even if he fail, I know this man Jesus; in his arrogance he will not scruple to repeat his blasphemies, even before us.
“Time presses, and I have but this to add before the prisoner is summoned: it is a wise provision of our Law, that in capital charges no final condemnation shall occur until the second day of the trial. The day before the Passover began this eve. If we keep to the Law, no condemnation can take place till after the first day of the Passover, by which time all the mischance may have come to pass. If the power of life and death were solely in our hands, I would not depart in aught from the wise provision of our forefathers; but, in truth, if this man be put to death, it will not be our doing, for his fate rests with Pilate. I would remind the younger members of the Sanhedrim that the final decision is not with us, and if they vote for this man’s death, as I cannot doubt they will, considering the pressing danger [pg 180]to our nation, they need not fear to be called members of a bloodthirsty Sanhedrim, since his death, if death he suffers, will be at the hands of the Roman Procurator. In this strait I propose, therefore, to examine this man at once, and if, as I doubt not, he avows his guilt, to wait till the morning for his final condemnation, and in this way fulfil the Law. Summon the prisoner to our presence.” Then, turning to Caiaphas, he said, “This is a matter between us and the Romans, for whom thou, Joseph, art the High Priest. Take thou, then, the interrogatory.”
Then from the lower end of the hall entered Jesus the Nazarene, with his arms bound with withes behind his back, and he was led by the captain of the guard up to the centre of the table opposite Caiaphas the High Priest. Then Caiaphas rose, and, looking at a paper in his hand which Hanan had given him, said unto Jesus, “Jesus of Nazara, thou art accused before us of blasphemy, and of leading the people of Israel astray: what sayest thou thereto?” Jesus gazed haughtily at him, and answered, “I spake openly to all the world, I have taught in the synagogue and in the Temple, and in secret I have said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them. Behold, they know what I have said.” Then one of the men who had led Jesus in struck him with the palm of his hand, and said, “Answerest thou the High Priest so?” But Jesus [pg 184]turned, and said to him in a milder voice, “If I have said aught that is evil, bear witness thereof; but if well, why smitest thou me?” And Caiaphas the High Priest bade the man begone and bring in the witnesses. Then one man came forward and said he had heard Jesus call himself the Son of God. And another, that he had spoken of himself as if he were very God, and could do all that the Holy One, blessed be He, can perform. And yet another came forward and said he had heard Jesus speak of himself as Son of Man, and had thereby, as he thought, claimed to do what the Son of Man is said to do in the Prophets Daniel and Enoch. But no two of these witnesses agreed as to time and seasons, as is required by our Law. At last, however, two of them declared that on the preceding day in the Temple they had heard him say, “I will destroy this Temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another without hands.” Now, during all this time Jesus had said naught, but looked before him with that rapt expression that I had seen upon him on the [pg 185]second occasion when I had heard him preach in the synagogue of the Galilæans. So Caiaphas the High Priest spake to him, saying, “Answerest thou naught to what these men witness against thee?” And Jesus made as if he heard not.
Then Hanan the High Priest leaned over to Caiaphas his son-in-law and spake some words to him. Then Caiaphas, rising, spake thus to Jesus: “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Holy One, blessed be He?” Then Jesus raised his head, and gazing fixedly at the High Priest, said in a loud voice, “Thou hast said. And hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then Hanan the High Priest rose and rent his clothes, as is our wont in time of mourning or when blasphemy is heard, and he called out in his keen, shrill voice, “What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye?” And he waved his hand to the captain of the guard, who removed the prisoner.
When the door was closed behind him, [pg 186]Hanan said, “What need we of further words? let us proceed to the judgment.” And glancing over to Chananyah ben Nedebai, he said, “Chananyah, thou art the youngest; it is thine to pronounce judgment first. Is not this man guilty of death for his manifest blasphemy here before us?” And Chananyah said, “Yea.” And so said all till Hanan had called upon thirteen to give judgment. Then said Hanan, “This man is for certain condemned to death, or at least to be handed over to the Roman Procurator: for already a majority of two have declared his death, even if all the rest were for an acquittal, as I cannot think possible. The Court will rise and reassemble at the time of the saying of the morning prayer, in order to confirm this judgment. Ye will not have long to wait, for even now I heard the crowing of the cock, and the dawn cannot be far off.”
Then the Court broke up, and many of the younger members met together and discussed the case. And I was somewhat surprised to find that very few words of compassion were raised for Jesus. The [pg 187]stubborn conduct of the prisoner had set them against him in the first place, and his wild outburst had confirmed their ill thoughts of him. But most of all they were influenced by the thought that this was but a preliminary trial, and could only result in handing him over to the Roman Procurator, with whom the last word would be. None of them had seen aught of Jesus but during the last few days in the Temple, when he had interfered with their order and prerogatives. I cannot say I was convinced, either by Hanan’s harangue at first, or by these men’s arguments afterwards. But I was somewhat perplexed, feeling myself in some wise an intruder in their midst, not being of the priestly order. And as is my custom in such cases, I went out into the open air down the steps into the atrium.
There I found a great fire had been lit in the court, for the night was chilly. Near the fire Jesus was seated, with the High Priest’s guard around him. As I came near, behold, one of the guard threw part of his mantle across the face of Jesus so as to blindfold him, and then struck him, say[pg 188]ing, “Thou art a Prophet; prophesy who hath struck thee.” And all the soldiers laughed and jeered. Then sought I the captain of the guard and told him this, and he said, “They mean naught of ill—they be rude fellows; howbeit, I will stop them.” And he went up to them and reproved them. And I paced up and down the courtyard, with the silent stars above and the glowing fire beneath, till an apparitor of the High Priest summoned me, saying, “It beginneth to dawn at the back of the house; the Council will resume its sitting.”
When I entered the council-chamber, I found all seated as before, but in the midst was a smaller table, at which was seated a scribe, with a roll in front of him. Then Hanan the High Priest came in, and said, “Ye have all had the time of deliberation prescribed by our sages in capital cases, or at least as much time as the urgency of the matter permits. We must proceed to the formal ratification of this man’s sentence, for I cannot doubt that ye will see fit to confirm the righteous judgment which your zeal for the Lord caused you to pass just now upon this man. And again I would [pg 189]bid you remember you are voting, not so much for this man’s death, as whether he is to be delivered to the Romans. Scribe, read the roll.” And with that the scribe began to read our names, and we all answered to them. Then said Hanan, “We will now proceed to the voting,” and called upon Chananyah ben Nedebai to record his vote. And he voted as before, for death. Then each in his turn, and all voted as before. And when my name was called upon I arose and hesitated, and Hanan looked over to me and said, “Thou speakest here by our courtesy, Meshullam ben Zadok; if thou disagree with the unanimous opinion of thy colleagues, thou hadst best instruct us in thy reasons. What sayest thou? Is not he guilty of death who is guilty of blasphemy against the Most High?” “Yea,” said I. “And was not this man Jesus manifestly guilty of blasphemy before us?” “Yea,” said I. Then said Hanan swiftly to the scribe, “He voteth for death,” and waved me down to my seat. And thereafter all the remaining members of the Council voted for death, finishing with Hanan as the [pg 190]oldest, who merely gave a grim nod to the scribe.
By this time it was quite light, and all the Council and many of Hanan’s household joined together to say the morning prayers. After prayers most of the Council, with Hanan and Caiaphas at our head, followed the soldiers who guarded Jesus down from the Mount of Olives. As we came near the Brook Kidron, behold, a man with haggard face darted out from the shrubs by the wayside, and rushing up to Hanan the High Priest, dashed down at his feet a bag which chinked, and then disappeared into the wayside again. But Hanan only motioned with his finger to the bag at his feet, and the captain of his guard lifted it up and poured out its contents into his hand, and, behold, it was a number of new shekels from the Temple treasury. Then Hanan smiled grimly, and bade the captain put them aside. Thereupon we resumed our march, and soon came to the Aldgate. There we inquired where the Procurator was, and learnt that he had taken up his dwelling at the Palace of Herod, so that he might be in Jerusalem [pg 191]during the Passover, as was his wont, for fear of a rising at that time. Then we marched across and halted in front of the palace. And on our way the rumor spread throughout the city that Jesus the Nazarene was being carried before the Procurator, and soon our procession was joined by all who were free from household duties. I have explained to thee, have I not, how that for those of the older opinion this sixth day of the week was the day on which the Paschal lamb was to be sacrificed, and for all good Jews the morning would be devoted to the final search after the leaven. That morning, therefore, all the householders of Jerusalem and all the heads of families were occupied in the search after leaven, or in preparation for the Paschal sacrifice, and it was only the younger men, and those who cared not for acts of piety, who followed our procession on the way to Herod’s Palace.
Now, all those of the Council were of the older opinion as to the Paschal sacrifice, and were about to perform it on the evening of that day. Wherefore it behoved them not to enter the dwellings of [pg 192]the heathen during that day, since it is their custom to bury the bodies of men in their gardens or in their houses, which render them a defilement to us Jews. Therefore on the day of a sacrifice no Jew may enter a heathen’s house, above all the High Priest, upon whose sanctity the holiness of the nation depends. When, therefore, we came within twenty paces of the Procurator’s dwelling, Hanan caused our procession to halt, and a summons to be sounded upon the trumpet. Thereat a lictor appeared, who asked our business, and to him Hanan gave a message to the Procurator. And here for the first time since he had been arrested I could see the countenance of Jesus near me, and it surprised me much to observe that all traces of anxiety and weariness had disappeared from it. He seemed relieved and resigned, and paid no heed to what was passing around him, seeming only to commune with himself, or perhaps, I should say, with some inward friend and comforter.
Then Pontius Pilate came forward and spake to Joseph Caiaphas the High Priest, and asked him what he would with him. [pg 193]And Caiaphas answered and said, pointing to Jesus, “This man have we captured and brought unto thee, finding that he was perverting the people, and declaring that he was the Anointed One of Israel, and therefore the rightful King of the Jews. Him therefore have we brought to thee, seeing it is a matter which toucheth our master the Emperor.” Thereupon Pontius Pilate turned round, and said something in the barbarian tongue, and the guard of Roman soldiers came forward and took Jesus from the High Priest’s guard, and took him with them up the steps of the palace. Then Pilate courteously invited the High Priests to enter the judgment-hall with him; but they, in answer, pointed out that on that holy day they dared not enter to any house but their own and the house of God. Then Pilate turned his back with scanter courtesy, and reëntered the palace, and we and the common people remained outside waiting.
[pg 194]And after a while of waiting, Pontius Pilate reappeared, and coming down to Caiaphas said, “He hath confessed; he shall join the other criminals that are to be executed this day.” Then one among those who were waiting in the crowd came forward unto Pilate, and said unto him, “Master, it is a grace of our lord the Emperor that at our Passover there be released unto us one of the prisoners that are condemned to death.” And Pilate answered and said, “That is so: whom will ye that I release?” And many of those in the crowd called out, “Jesus.” And Pilate stepped back, and summoned to him a lictor. And shortly after soldiers came forward in the portico, bearing with them Jesus the Nazarene. Upon him was a purple robe of royalty, and upon his brow had been placed the faded rose-wreath of some reveller which had been put on in haste, and some of the [pg 198]thorns had torn the flesh, and blood was trickling down. When the people saw him, many cried out, “Not this Jesus, but Jesus Bar Abbas.” And one man among the crowd called out, “Better Jesus Bar Abba10 than Jesus Bar Amma;”11 and laughter and jeers followed. Then Pilate seemed puzzled, and called to him one of his lictors, who spake earnestly to him for a time, and then received an order from him. And going up the steps, he entered the palace. And shortly afterwards there came forward the man Jesus Bar Abbas of Jerusalem, of whom I have spoken to thee before. Now, he had been very popular among the folk, and had lost his liberty in a rising against the Romans, in which a Roman sentry had been slain. And there stood the two Jesuses—the one that had risen against the Romans, and the one that had told the people they should pay tribute to their Roman lords. It was manifest that the new-comer, who had done naught against the Romans, was more in favor with Pilate the Procurator, [pg 199]while the folk who had welcomed him on the first day of the week, on this the sixth day reviled and despised him because he had refused to lead a rising against the Romans as the other one had done. Then Pilate called out to them and said, “Whom will ye that I release unto you: Jesus who is called Bar Abbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” And almost all the multitude cried, “Jesus Bar Abbas! Jesus Bar Abbas!” Then Pilate gave command, and the soldiers took tack Jesus the Nazarene into the palace again, while others removed the fetters from Jesus Bar Abbas, and he came down the steps and disappeared among the crowd.
After a while, there came forward from the side gate a company of Roman soldiers, who took their stand in front of the steps of the palace, moving the crowd away therefrom. And shortly after, other soldiers brought down from above three men, each carrying two pieces of timber, one fixed across the top of the other, like unto the letter tau. One of these was Jesus the Nazarene, clad once more in his own garments, and without the rose-[pg 200]wreath; yet couldst thou see the mark of the thorns upon his brow. The others were, as I learnt, malefactors that had been condemned for robbery.
Just at this moment one touched me on the shoulder, and, turning, I found it was one of the servants of my household, who spake unto me and said, “Meshullam ben Zadok, thy father would speak with thee.” And as the house was not far off, I went with him and spake to my father, who would have me accompany him on the search for leaven on that morn. For at that time I was betrothed, and next year I should have a house of my own, and would have to conduct the search for leaven as a master of a household. So I went round the house with my father—peace be upon him!—and searched for the leaven.
By the time the search for the leaven had been concluded, the hour had come for the mid-day meal, at which all the members of my family assembled. But I hurried forth, as soon as the grace after meals had been said, to ascertain what had been the fate of the Nazarene. I [pg 201]could not go to the place of execution, for it is not seemly for a member of the Sanhedrim to attend an execution. I soon learnt that the Roman soldiers had conducted Jesus and the two others to the Hill Golgotha, somewhat apart from the place of stoning, where our Jewish executions were held.
As I have explained to thee, Aglaophonos, our Sages have mercifully interpreted the words of the Law relating to the four modes of capital punishment among us—stoning, burning, beheading, and strangulation. For stoning they have substituted throwing down from a height after the criminal has been made to feel naught by drinking a mixture of frankincense, myrrh, and vinegar, which the ladies of Jerusalem supply as one of their pious duties. The criminal condemned to be burnt is in reality strangled, and then a lighted wick placed for a moment in his open mouth. In every way the aim of the Sages is to shorten the sufferings of the condemned man. But the Romans, at least in their execution of all but Roman citizens, seem rather to aim at [pg 202]the opposite of this; for they have selected, as their method of execution for slaves and criminals that are not citizens, suspension on a cross, by which all the organs of the body are strained and tortured till some vital organ gives way. It was this cruel form of punishment that the Romans were dealing out to Jesus the Nazarene. It happeneth oft that men live for two or three days on the cross, till they die even of hunger. I learnt to my dismay that Jesus had refused, with words of menace, to take the draught of myrrh and wine which the ladies of Jerusalem, as I have said, prepare for all men condemned to capital punishment, so that they may not feel the pain and torture.
I could not go to the place of execution, as a member of the Sanhedrim. I hurried, therefore, to the northern slopes of the Temple mount, whence one can see Golgotha. At first I could discern naught, for sombre clouds covered all the heights of Scopus. But suddenly a flash came forth from them, followed by a dull roll of thunder, and I could see for a moment three crosses raised side by side on the [pg 203]top of Golgotha. Which of these held Jesus I knew not. I only knew that there was dying one who had seemed born to do honor to his nation, to help to deliver Israel from the men who were now torturing him to his death. Since the night before, events had so hurried past me that I had had no time to think of their import till now, when I sat me down in the purple shadow of Antonia, and gazed upon the hill of execution, where from time to time flashes showed me the three crosses on the hill.
This, then, was the end of the hopes connected with Jesus of Nazara, and of the empire which he had wielded over men’s minds! But five days agone welcomed as a king, to-day executed with the ignominy reserved for the basest slave. Each day of his sojourn in Jerusalem he had made another and yet another class of the nation his enemies. First he threatens the power of the priests; next he insults their opposites, the Pharisees; and then he puts to naught the hope of the common folk that he would help them rise against the Romans. Between Sabbath and Sab[pg 204]bath he had lost every friend; not even his immediate followers stood by his side in the hour of trial.
And yet no man had appeared in Israel for many generations endowed in so high a degree with all the qualities which mark us Israelites out from the nations around. He was tender to the poor; and which of the nations has given thought for its poor, their feelings as well as their welfare, like unto Israel? He bare the yoke of the Law willingly, yet as a son, not as a slave, of the Most High. God was to him, as to all of us, as an ever-present Father, to love, to chasten, and to reward; not as a harsh taskmaster or as a boon-companion, as with the commoner minds of thy people, Aglaophonos; nor as a vain figment of the reason, as with thy higher minds.
Even in what thou regardest as defects in our nation, this Jesus seemed also to share. Thou makest us the reproach that we give no thought to the beauties and grandeur of nature, and in nothing that I had seen and heard of him did the Nazarene differ from the rest of us in this. Thou complainest that we look upon life [pg 205]with all too much seriousness. “Ye cannot see the smile upon the face of things,” thou saidst once to me. In this surely Jesus was a Jew of the Jews. We never saw him smile, still less heard him laugh. Thou wouldst hold up to me as a model Socrates thy teacher, who taught the Hellenes truth with a smile. That man there, dying upon the cross, had tried to teach Israel the truth with tears and threats.
Herein he followed the exemplar of our prophets. Only in Israel have the men who have led us farthest reviled us most. As our God, who has been to us a Father, has chastened us while he loved us, so our prophets have rebuked us their brethren. Many generations of men have passed since the last of the prophets spake his words of loving reproof. Now has appeared this Jesus, who again takes up their work.
But in one thing, and that a great thing, he differs from our prophets. All these spake never but as messengers of the Most High. This man alone of the prophets speaketh in his own name: therefore he hath been a stumbling-block and an of[pg 206]fence unto us. He spake as one having authority, and it seemed to us as arrogance. And when we would speak with him in the gates, and know his own thought, he evaded our questionings and eluded our testings. He seemed aloof from us and our desires. All Israel was pining to be freed from the Roman yoke, and he would have us pay tribute to Rome for aye. Did he feel himself in some way as not of our nation? I know not; but in all ways we failed to know him.
And as I was communing thus, the sun shone forth from a rift in the clouds and illumined for a space the crown of Calvary, and I stretched forth my hands to the figures on the cross, and cried aloud in my perplexity, “Jesus, what art thou?” And then I bethought me, and my hands fell to my side, and I said, “What wert thou, Jesus?” Naught answered me but the distant rumbling from the gloomy clouds.
But the sun was setting over Israel, and I turned to my father’s house, there once more to celebrate the Feast of the Deliverance from Egypt.
Thus far had I written to thee, Aglaophonos, as to what I knew of that Jesus the Nazarene about whom thou hast made so earnest inquiry. I had minded to hand it to Alphæus ben Simon, my cousin, who goeth this week in the galley to Cyprus, and thence would have passed it on to thee by the hands of one of our brethren who visit Greece from year to year. But there has happened to me an event which has given me much to think of with regard to this very matter of Jesus. It chanced that the day before yesterday I went from the Jewish quarter in this city of Alexandria for my usual walk along the Lochias, which adjoins it. There it is my custom to catch the sea air and to watch the vessels put into the Inner Port. Now, it chanced that as I came upon the Lochias, the vessel of Joppa had just hoved-to in the Inner Port, and the passengers were being landed up the Broad Steps. Now [pg 208]these, by their talith and their faces, I knew to be Jews, and I went up to them, and greeted them with the greeting of peace. But among them one came to me with the look of recognition in his eyes, and said, “Knowest thou me not, Meshullam ben Zadok?” And, behold, it was Rufus ben Simon, whom I had known before I left the Holy City. So I welcomed him, and brought him home to this house of mine. And here he remaineth till the morrow, when he starteth forth to go to Cyrene.
Now, in my inquiries about old friends left behind, and new things that had happened since I went away, I failed not to ask about the followers of the Nazarene. To my wonder, I found that this Rufus had become one of them, even though he was but a child when Jesus died. Yet is he a good Jew in all else. He eateth only our meat, and keepeth our Sabbaths and festivals. But he avers that the Anointed One, whom we expect, has already appeared, and that he was Jesus the Nazarene. And upon my inquiry how he could know aught of Jesus but from the common [pg 209]talk, he put in my hand some Memorabilia of him, written down in Hebrew by one of his chief followers, Matathias.12 This have I read again and again, and pondered much thereon. Nor have I been able to sleep these two nights for the new thoughts about Jesus that have come to me from reading these memoirs of him.
For, behold, he appeareth in these records of him by his own followers in far other wise than he showed himself to us in public at Jerusalem. In all his public acts among us he was full of scornful rebukes; among his own followers he was tender and loving. Scarcely ever could we get him to speak out to us plainly his views about matters of public concern. He would always give us an answer full of evasion and enigma, but to his followers he would explain all his meaning over and over again, illustrated with parable. There at Jerusalem he almost always turned to the people his harsher side. I saw him on every occasion on which he appeared in [pg 210]public in Jerusalem, and, save only in his sermons, he was always rebuking one or another, just like the prophets of old. And the manner of his rebuking towards us was as with scorpions, whereas among his own he would mingle tenderness even with his reproaches. Nor, saving his sermons, which few heard but those who already followed him, had he aught novel to tell us about the things of life. He seemed to us as if he would destroy the temple of our faith, nor in his public actions did he give any promise of building it up anew. Yet to those with him he would continually be telling what to do and how to do it, till, behold, a new manner of life, fair and seemly, stood before them, fulfilled of Jewish righteousness, with a tender mercy which was the man’s very own.
I need not detail to thee, Aglaophonos, what these acts and words were which have given me an altogether new light as to the character and thoughts of the man Jesus. From certain words of thine in thy letter, which I understood not then when I first read it, I can see now that thou must have had some such account of the life and [pg 211]death of Jesus before thee as this which Rufus hath shown unto me. Now I can understand wherefore thou hast inquired about this Jesus with such eager insistence. And to thee as a Gentile the revelation of his character would come with more attractive force than to us that be Jews. For in almost every way this Jesus fulfilleth the idea of a Jew as we have it in these later days. Working with his hands, yet teaching with his voice; obedient to the Law, yet ever eager to take a new law upon himself; doing acts of love among men, yet rebuking in love their ill acts, and doing all things as in the presence of the Glory;—in all this Jesus was as the best of our Sages.
“Wherefore, then, did ye suffer him to be killed?” thou wilt ask me, and indeed I ask myself. If I were to answer thee in the way Jesus was wont to answer us, I would say, “Why did ye Hellenes condemn Socrates to the hemlock?” For he was as much the Ideal of the Hellenes as Jesus of the Jews. Every Hellene would be eloquent and reasonable, and that was Socrates. Every Jew would be wise and [pg 212]good and pious, and that was Jesus. Yet each of these men, if I read their lives aright, died the death of a criminal, because he cared not for that which his fellow-countrymen cared for most. Socrates died because he would force his countrymen to examine by their reason the ideas and ideals which they all accepted. Jesus died for the same reason, but also for another—for that he cared naught for our national hopes. We were all panting for national freedom; he would have naught of it. Whether it was that he felt in some sort to be not of our nation, I know not; but in all his teaching he dealt with us as men, not as Jews. It is this, I can see, that has attracted thee to his doctrine, whereas thou wert always scornful of our Jewish pretensions, as thou calledst them.
Yet herein again was he at one with the best thoughts of our Sages. Our God is the God of all, and his Law shall be one day the Law of all. If we yearn for the universal realm of the Messiah, it is as much for the sake of the world as for ourselves. But methinks I see in the thoughts of this Jesus an idea quite other than ours [pg 213]as to what the Anointed One shall be and shall do. We hope for him as a Deliverer and a Conqueror with force of arms by God’s aid. Now, Jesus seemed not to think of the Anointed One in any way like this. His mind seemed to be filled rather with the picture of the Servant of God as drawn by the Prophet Esaias. Thou knowest the passage, Aglaophonos; I remember thy laughter when first I read it thee, that men could look forward to contempt and hatred as a good. Truly the idea is far different from the saying of the barbarian, “Woe to the conquered!” And surely to us all, Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, the greatest of joys is this—to worst an equal foe in fair fight. But to Esaias the prophet, and to Jesus the Nazarene after him, the higher victory is with him that is worsted in the battle of life. That will come as good tidings to nine out of every ten of men.
Therefore, if Jesus thought of himself as the Anointed One, it was as being anointed with the woes of the vanquished, with the sweat and the blood of the lowly and despised. Now I know why he seemed so [pg 214]sad when he was greeted at Jerusalem as a victor. He had spent his life in trying to impress a new ideal upon his people, and they had welcomed him only as the fulfilment of the old ideal which he desired to replace. None of thy poets have given a drama with more of eironeia in it than this.
Yet why did he remain silent before us as to these ideas of his? If, indeed, these were his ideas; for even with the new light given by the Hebrew Memorabilia, I can see his thought but dimly. Why spake he not his own thought to the people in Jerusalem, and tell us no longer to hope for worldly dominion as the best means for spreading the Law of the Lord, but rather to be as servants of God, even as Esaias the Prophet hath spoken? Was it that he wished to carry out the description of the prophet even to every iota of his text? For, behold, the prophet sayeth, “He let himself be humbled, and opened not his mouth.” If so, then was the death of Jesus but a sublime suicide.
For surely by this silence he has committed a grievous sin against us his people. [pg 215]For if we committed aught of sin and crime that handed him over to the Romans as a pretender to empire, he indeed shared our sin and crime by his silence. Ye Hellenes were at least greater in fault than we in the matter of Socrates; for ye condemned him after he had spoken his whole mind and made known his whole thought to his people; whereas we condemned one who, I make bold to say, was even greater than thy Socrates, mainly because of what seemed to us his sullen and arrogant silence, broken only by a confession of guilt when he knew he was not guilty.
But yet, let me not be as harsh in judgment upon him after his death, as perhaps I was when I allowed the sentence to be declared against him without protest. He, least of all men, could have died with a lie upon his lips. In some sort and in some way he must have combined the thought of the triumphant Messiah and of the despised Servant of God. For in those Memorabilia of him which have come into my hands during the last days as being a message from him that is dead, I find [pg 216]these two things combined. He speaketh ever of the blessedness of the poor and the humble and the despised, even as the Ebionim speak. So that if a man would be blessed, he would choose a lowly career, even as did Jesus. Yet withal he speaketh oft of himself as the Son of Man, and every Jew that heard him would think he knew what he thereby claimed. For in the Prophets Daniel and Enoch it is clearly said that the Son of Man would come in victory over the world; and what other could this universal victor be than the Anointed One whom the prophets had foretold? If Jesus put another meaning upon the prophetic words, why spake he not his meaning fully unto the people? All we may have gone like sheep astray, but he that might have been our shepherd went apart alone with God.
O Jesus, why didst thou not show thyself to thy people in thy true character? Why didst thou seem to care not for aught that we at Jerusalem cared for? Why, arraigned before the appointed judges of thy people, didst thou keep silence before [pg 217]us, and, by thus keeping silent, share in pronouncing judgment upon thyself? We have slain thee as the Hellenes have slain Socrates their greatest, and our punishment will be as theirs. Then will Israel be even as thou wert, despised and rejected of men—a nation of sorrows among the nations. But Israel is greater than any of his sons, and the day will come when he will know thee as his greatest. And in that day he will say unto thee, “My sons have slain thee, O my son, and thou hast shared our guilt.”
[pg 218]