Volume 8, Issue 10, page 10

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By GEORGE W. LAGUS

(12) THE MARTYRDOM OF JESUS (A slightly unorthodox version of the
story based on the Bible and
other ancient scriptures)

JESUS OF NAZARETH was known to his people as Yeshua Bar Yoseph,
the traveling preacher

who tried to emulate theholy men who live4 in secluded places of
Israel. These men had very little in common with
the official priests in the Temple of Jerusalem. A prophet was
not ordained by any earthly powers and he was
despised by those who ruled the people. Jeremiah accused his own
people:"Your own sword devoured your own
prophets" Ner. 2:30).

This ancient struggle for power isdescribed in the Book of Kings.
About 600 years B.C., under the reign of King
Josiah, the priesthood of Jerusalem succeeded in outlawing all
religious competition when an unknown "Book of the
Law" was found in the Temple of Jerusalem , almost a millenium
after the death of Moses to whom it was ascribed.
"Them that had familiar spirits, and the wizards did Josiah put
away that he might confirm the words of the law
which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in
the house of Jehova" ( 2 Kings 23:24).

The priesthood also demanded that graves of known heretics be
desecrated: "He took the bones out of the
sepulchres and burned them upon the altar" (2 Kings 23:16). The
newlypublished law demanded that rebellious cities
be burned with all their inhabitants: men, women, children, and
cattle (Deut. 13:15). Priests were authorized to burn
alive their erring daughters (Lev. 21 : 9). Centuries later, the
Pharisees insisted that such girls be executed by
pouring molten lead down their throats (See Jewish Encyclopedia:
Burning). This they legalized in the Talmud
(Tractate Sanhedrin).

It is needless to say that Jesus detested the Pharisees and their
fraudulent traditions of Moses. One such tradition
specified that certain religious offenders were to be executed by
pushing them over the edge of a high scaffold. once
they succeeded in dragging Jesus to a cliff "That they might
throw him headlong" (Luke 4:29). but Jesus managed to
get away.

He was not acceptable as a Messiah because the people expected a
military leader like Moses, who would say:-I
will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour
flesh with the blood of the slain and captives
(Deut. 32:42). Jesus was a gentle preacher who said: "Suffer the
little children to come unto me" (Luke IS: 16).
Such a man would never say: "Kill every male among the little
ones" (Num. 31:17).

Jesus did not try to abolish the Law, instead he tried to fill
his listeners with a sense of moral obligation to their
fellowmen

Altho he remained unmarried, as was th~ custom among the
heretical Essenes, he did not despise women. They
often stilled his hunger and thirst and hewas grateful for their
loving care. In spite of the taboos of his time, he
befriended a Samaritan woman who gave him a drink of water. His
disciples marveled that he was speaking to her
(John 4:271, because women

10 The AB

were not considered equal to men, and besides, the Samaritans
were heretics who did not obey the hierarchy of
Jerusalem. The church later revived this contempt for women as
was written in Revelation 14:4: "These are they
that were not defiled by women - they are without blemish. " Even
in our day, such passages still incite the
holy monks of Athos to kill every female animal they can find,
because the female sex allegedly perils human
salvation.

The miracles of Jesus were many, but he attributed them to faith,
because when he was met by skepticism in his
own home town, his powers waned and "he could there do no mighty
work" (Mark 6:5). During his last pilgrimage,
he drove out the temple merchants and called the place a "den of
robbers". The place was indeed a house of
abominations; in old times it was a place of human sacrifice as
described in Leviticus 27: 29. The highest ritual
consisted of sprinkling the adytum with blood, pushing a goat
from a high rock or driving a goat into the desert
where he would die of thirst. Cattle were slaughtered as
substitute for human sacrifice; the priest ate the flesh
leaving the aroma of blood to his God. Only a rare silver shekel
was accepted by the priests and they resold the same
coins a million times in the outer temple court. This arrangement
was sanctioned by the supreme legislative body ,
and the hierarchy had the power to put any man to death who would
challenge the decisions of the priests and elders
assembled in Jerusalem (Deut.17:12~. The Law even specified that
miracle workers were not exempt from the death
penalty. Miracles were not to be accepted as proof of divine
mission (Deut. 13: 2). However, the Roman
Governor did not allow any unauthorized executions and the high
priest knew that he would
have to charge Jesus with rebellion against,Caesar.

On the eve of Passover, Jesus ate the traditional bread-and-wine
supper of the spring
festival. Later that night he retired with his friends to the
garden of Gath-Shmane (oil
press) outside the city wall, where the high priest also had his
house. Jesus was easily
spotted by the priestly servants because the moon was full during
the spring festival. When
Peter tried to defend him, Jesus said: "Put your sword back in
its place, for all that take
the sword shall perish by the smord." With these words he
surrendered to the priests.

The next day Jesus was condemned by Pilate, who sacrificed him in
order to strengthen his
position as Governor. Roman soldiers crucified Jesus outside the
north wall of Jerusalem,
close to a road. Jewish women came to the scene , carrying
narcotic myrrh dissolved in wine,
but he refused to make an admission of weakness; he did not drink
from the sponge that was
lifted to his mouth. When he cried out in a loud voice,"Eli, eli.
lama shabakhtani?", his
mockers thought he called the prophet Eli-yahu (Elijah~; others
thought he admitted his God
had forsaken him.

When Jesus died, he was removed that same afternoon in accordance
with Deut. 21:23: "Thou
shalt bury him the same day. for be that is hanged is accursed by
God."

The divinity of Jesus later became a matter of controversy during
which millions were
martyred to death and entire nations were plunged into the dark
ages. All the horrors and
curses of the Law were later revived by the new Christian
priesthood that decreed:"Be subject
to every ordinance of man" Q Peter 2:13),

(Conclusion of series)

E R R E E MARCH, 1962