Jim Tabor from UNCC gave a talk on "What Kind of Jew was Jesus" based on his archeological experience in the Holy Land and his theological studies. The talk was billed as "Judaism in the time of Jesus" but Professor Tabor indicated he had not known this was the title and he changed it up-front before he gave his talk. Professor has a book called "The Jesus Dynasty". He has a web site with the following link and this particular link leads to other sites having to do with Professor Tabor's work or subjects related to his work:
http://jamestabor.com/
Also this is a good one:
http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/indexb.html
The first link, www.jamestablr.com, leads to ther links which include sites about the Mt. Zion dig that he has participated in and the Jewish Roman World of Jesus and more.
In his lecture, he said "What new things do texts and archeology tell us?"
He participated in a dig at Mt. Zion and there the archeologists found a snail which had a hole drilled in it. Thje Torah says every Jew has to have a fringes on their clothing with a thread of blue in it. There are also references that this blue dye comes from the shell of a snail. The hole drilled in the shell says there was dye extracted from this particular shell.
Professor Table said Judiaism is not a singular word but a plural word, Judaisms. There were all kinds of sects or groups, all of whom called themselves Jews. Some of the major ones were Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots. These were some of the largest groups extant at the time of Jesus. The Essenes are mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yet no one identified themselves as being a pure Pharisee, Essene, Sadducee, etc. They took parts of their beliefs from different Sect beliefs, so that there were as many Judaisms as there were people almost.
Hillel was the best known rabbi of Jesus' day. But Jesus did not fit into any of these sects either.
We can use archeology to find out more facts on how people lived in Jesus day and before his day and after his day.
In pictures of the modern day, Jesus has many different looks as well. He showed us pictures of the "Protestant Jesus" which is a very familiar picture from my own childhood and is still in many churches (and homes) today. It shows Jesus facing the viewer's right and a stream of light coming down on his face or radiating from it depending on your perspective. There is the Jewish heritage Jesus which shows a picture of a man with curls and a shawl. And there is an anthopologic image which takes skeletal remains found and recreates the look people of that day would have had.
In Jesus' day, Sepphorus was the largest urban center. It was 3 miles to the Northwest of Nazareth. So Jesus lived in the suburbs of a major city of his time. Sepphorus was being built at the time of Jesus. And it was the center of a North/South route to and from Egypt and an East/West route to and from the sea. This major urban center is now a tell, a ruin where archeologists can dig and find out information about the time. Living in Sepphoris are rulers of Galilee. Herodius is the guy who had John the Baptist beheaded and he lived in Sepphorus.
Hippocretae means merely actor in Greek. It later came to be a derogatory word.
Jesus moves his family to the Sea of Galilee. There are harbors around this sea and you could walk about a mile into it without getting in over your head. Now there are whole docks which are exposed.
Capernaham is the largest population center on the lake. Simon, James, John, came from there. Peter's house was there and has had some excavation. Jesus sets his grouop up at Capernaham. They are all Galileans, coarser than the more urban Sepphorus people.
There is a 2000 year old boat at Migdal which is believed to be a fishing boat like the one Jesus and his disciples would have used. It could hold 15 to 20 people.
In the last days of Jesus, he sets out for Jerusalem. He crosses the Jordan (in John) and hides out in a wadi (ravine). In the last winter of his life he lived in an area beside Samaria (to the north) and Judah (to the south).
He gets to Jerusalem in th elast week of his life and he went to the Temple. There he turned over the money tables and was angry over the way people had turned this house of God into a money-making enterprise. The Romans, Sadducees mainly, had Jesus killed because they ran the temple, they were the priests, and they were beneficiaries of the system of selling sacrificial animals near, at, or in the Temple. These Sadducees lived in palatial homes and now, archeological digs are finding many of these homes. Archeological digs are also finding stone vessels which priests were required to use for eat and drink. And they are finding mosaic frescoes in these ruins.
Jerusalem today is smaller than in the time of Jesus. The temple is on the right in the picture Professor Tabor showed us. The Old City Wall dates from the 1500s during the Turkish period so was not there at time of Jesus. The Older wall is in a different place from the wall people see today as the "Old City Wall."
Now, UNCC is digging in the only place a dig is allowed in the city of Jerusalem. It is a very small area. Other digs are outside the city. Other digs are
Pool of Salom - near Hezekiah Stone. The Pool of Salom is a huge ritual pool for cleansing and healing prior to people entering the Temple.
The threat Jesus represented was economic and social. Masses of the population congregated at the pool - it would have been thousands of people. It was a sacred area wehre people get in to ritually cleanse themselves. Everyone has to be fully immersed. It would be similar to Lourdes to Catholic Christians where there are said to be miraculous properties to the water there. Such areas gather great crowds.
Every day, Jesus comes down from the Mount of Olives and enters at the pool and goes up into the Temple. He is a revolutionary who puts himself into the crowd. It is a volatile situation. The Temple has an Upper Room where Jews commemorate the tomb of David. Tabor believes, the Last Supper was in a private home on Mt. Zion. So think about Jesus at the Pool with masses during the day and in the quiet of a private supper at someone's home for his last night before being taken into custody.
Professor Tabor then showed a picture of some a gate in front of some "steps to nowhere". These steps are believed to have been part of the grand entrance to Herod's palace.
The Via de la Rosa which people follow as the path Jesus took to the crucifixion site dates back to the Crusader period so this was not necesarily the route Jesus took.
So archeology has shown us Jesus was living among aristocrats. The gate in front of the steps to Herod's palace is where Jesus went up and Herod came out and the Jews tried him there. So when you walk or sit on these steps, you touch ground Jesus touched on his last morning. At the time, Herod Antipas was staying in the house of his father. Herod Antipas is half Jewish and would have come to the Temple to cleanse and do worship. Jesus threatened his way of life.
Every family coming to the Temple needed a lamb to sacrifice. It was hard to travel with the lamb so people waited and bought one at the Temple. Then there were other economic benefits to this system such as people needing food and lodging when they got to Jerusalem. Jesus threatened all this. Jesus quoted Jeremiah, "It is written, my house shall be a house of worship for all people. You have made it into a den of robbers."
On a dig that Professor Tabor was on, someone found a bone with a crucifixion nail through it. In archeology, you do not excavate tombs unless they are open already. But some are open and this is where this bone with a nail through it was found. In Roman superstition, a crucifixion nail is believed to bring good luck.
An ossuary (bone box) has been found near Jerusalem believed to contain the remains of Caiphus.
Jesus was probably a stone masonas most houses were made of stone, not wood. Jesus was a carpenter is only in Mark 6. Jesus lived outside Sepphorus, appeared before Pilate but was sent to Herod Antipas. He was not likely a Zealot as they had violent expectations and Jesus did not. Mostly their violent expectations were in the form of "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord."
God will bring judgement in God's own time. Sort of "The Kingdom is already here....but not yet."
Is it easier to associate John with the Essenes. This is partially true. John said don't drink alcohol but also says to share, be content with your wages, etc. John baptized a completely diverse group. The Essenes would not have done that.
Go to http://www.digmountzion.com/ for more information about the dig there.
We also had a handout which Professor Tabor went through quickly.
In the handout, he reiterates the idea of several Judaisms which recognizes the diversity of what we call Jews and Judaism. Josephus tells us much about the major groups of Jews - Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots. Jesus is usually slotted with these last 3 groups of Jews. Contemporary understanding of Mishnah and the Dead Sea Scrolls has added to our understanding of these groups. Archeology is now seen as a sort of fifth Gospel in terms of understanding Jesus in light of geographical evidence.
There was also an Enochian Judaism. It was a kind of Judaism shown in the Book of Enoch which was written between the Old and New Testaments and is not part of our Scripture.
Dead Sea Scrolls were written by "an apocolyptic, wilderness, messianic, new covenant, baptizing, anti-Temple, community..." (quote from handout which cites the quote as being from the Dead Sea Scrolls and written 100 years before Christ.) Writings are attributed to the Essenes.
The handout gives several quotes from the Dead Sea Scrolls which are similar to words and phrases used in the Gospels of the New Testament. Such as "This is a time for preparation of the way into the wilderness."
Jesus was a revolutionary but he was also a humanist. (This is one of my random notes on the handout and I thought it worth putting into this blog somewhere.)
Another Dead Sea Scroll: "They shall separate from the habitation of unjust men and shall go into the wilderness to prepare there the way of Him." This reminds us of the way Jesus joins John the Baptist who talks of preparing the way.
There is a quote about a Prophet and Messiahs of Aaron and Israel which are to come. When are these Messiahs coming? is the question asked.
There is talk of a New Covenant in the land of Damascus. Groups believed they are part of the New Covenant and they believe they are in the end times. This concept of the New Covenant is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls 100 years before Christ.
There is talk of flesh being sprinked with purifying water and sanctified by cleansing water. It shall be "made clean by the humble submission of his soul to all the precepts of God". This appears to be talk of baptism in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Josephus writes of turning away from wickedness. This is repentence and John the Baptist sounds like an Essene in this way.
The Essenes also say build a sanctuary of people, "He has commanded that a Sanctuary of men be built for Himself, that there they may send up, like the smoke of incense, the works of the Torah." Then Josephus, "They shall atone for sins without flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice and prayer shall be an acceptable frangrance of righteousness."
Another quote from this period (Josephus or Philo?): "All those who freely devote themselves to His truth shall bring all their knowledge, powers, and possessions into the Community of God." This means sell what you have and give proceeds to the community and it parallels Jesus words.
There are many parallels between words like this and Jesus' words but Jesus was not an Essene. They would not have liked him as he talks to Samarian women, takes water from unclean people, i.e., he used un-Kosher utensils. Essenes also say if animal falls in a well on the Sabbath, you cannot get him out. Jesus said to save the animal even on the Sabbath. So Jesus was not an Essene but he came from part of that heritage.
GREAT TALK. Would have liked more than one hour's worth.
