Early Judaism Archives - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Did Christians Invent the Idea of “Atonement” / “Vicarious Suffering”?
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Did Christians Invent the Idea of “Atonement” / “Vicarious Suffering”?

Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture

Did Christians Invent the Idea of “Atonement” / “Vicarious Suffering”?

My textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is now out in its 8th edition, co-authored with my colleague Hugo Mendez. One of my favorite features of the book since I first wrote it in the mid 90s is the use of side-bar “boxes” that deal with issues that are – to me – particularly interesting but not directly related to what I’m talking about in the chapter. As a rule I use these boxes to deal with highly relevant but more “human-interest” kinds of things. For a long time I’ve thought about the Christian idea that Jesus’s death was a “vicarious atonement” for sins. It’s an unusual view, when you think about it. Why does God need someone else to die for you to forgive what you’ve done? Can’t he just forgive you? In one of the boxes in the book I point out that Christians were not the first to come up with the idea. Here’s what I say there in a box in my chapter 16. ****************************** [...]

BDEhrman2025-01-03T22:52:55-05:00January 7th, 2025|Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture|

Jewish Disagreements About the Afterlife: Pharisees and Sadducees

In previous posts I have discussed the different Jewish sects that we know about from the first century, at the dawn of Christianity (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Fourth Philosophy). In the post I indicated that (a) there were different understandings of the afterlife among them, but (b) there was a belief in a future resurrection of the dead attested in at least two of the groups: the Pharisees and Essenes. We don’t know what the eschatological views of the Fourth Philosophy were; possibly different Jews who wanted the violent overthrow of the Roman overlords had various expectations. We really don’t know. One reason we don’t know is that we don’t have any writings from any of them. On other hand, that’s true of the Sadducees and the Pharisees as well. That may seem weird, but it’s the case. We have no clear and certain writing from any Sadducee in all of antiquity that explains what it is they thought and believed. Even more strange, from all of antiquity up until the time of the Jewish war, [...]

BDEhrman2024-11-27T10:17:19-05:00December 1st, 2024|Early Judaism, Public Forum|

Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus: The Essenes and the Fourth Philosophy

In my previous post I talked about two of the known Jewish sects from the days of Jesus in Palestine. The idea that there are specifically four sects comes to us from the late-first-century Jewish historian Josephus, whose many volumes of writings (e.g., on the Jewish War and on Jewish Antiquities – the latter a history of the Jewish people from biblical times up to his own day) are our principal source of information about Judaism at the time. In addition to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Josephus mentions the “Essenes” and a “Fourth Philosophy.” Here is a summary of what these groups stood for, again taken from my introductory textbook on the New Testament. ************************** The Essenes are the one Jewish sect not mentioned in the New Testament. Ironically, they are also the group about which we are best informed. This is because the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were evidently produced by a group of Essenes who lived in a community east of Jerusalem in the wilderness area near the western shore of the [...]

BDEhrman2024-11-22T18:12:45-05:00November 30th, 2024|Early Judaism|

Jewish Sects in the time of Jesus: Pharisees and Sadducees

I am in a short thread discussing Judaism just before and at the time of Jesus. In that connections, I often get asked about the different Jewish sects in the period. So I'll devote two posts to the question, lifting the discussion from my textbook The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. ****************************** THE FORMATION OF JEWISH SECTS It was during the rule of the Hasmoneans, and evidently in large measure in reaction to it, that various Jewish sects emerged. As we have seen, the Jewish historian Josephus mentions four of these groups; the New Testament refers to three. In one way or another, all of them play a significant role in our understanding of the life of the historical Jesus. I should emphasize at the outset that most Jews in Palestine did not belong to any of these groups. We know this much from Josephus, who indicates that the largest sect, the Pharisees, claimed 6,000 members and that the Essenes claimed 4,000. The Sadducees probably had far fewer. These numbers [...]

BDEhrman2024-11-27T10:13:02-05:00November 28th, 2024|Early Judaism, Public Forum|

Judaism 200 Years Before Jesus: The Maccabean Revolt

I often get asked about what Judaism was like in the time before and up to Jesus. It's a vital question, since whatever else you might want to say about Jesus, he was definitely Jewish and the Judaism he was born into, raised in, and accepted was the Judaism of his time (not medieval and not modern!). Here' I'll say something about a major period in the history of the history of Judea over the four hundred years from approximately 540 BCE, when the Persians were in control, up to 63 BCE, when the Romans came in and took over. I’ve taken the sketch from my textbook, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction. ****************************** The Later History of Judea In the Persian period (starting in the late 6th century BCE), the land of Judah came be a province called Judea. This will be its name in the time of the New Testament. So too, as we have seen, inhabitants of this land, and descendants of former inhabitants who maintained their ancestral religious and cultural traditions, [...]

BDEhrman2024-11-27T10:06:24-05:00November 27th, 2024|Early Judaism|

What Would an Apocalyptic Jew (Jesus!) Mean By Calling Himself Messiah?

In this thread I am trying to argue that Jesus understood himself to be the messiah. So far I have made one of my two main arguments, with the understanding that *both* arguments have to be considered in order to have a compelling case. So the first prong doesn’t prove much on its own. But in combination with the second argument, it makes a strong case. The first argument is that Jesus’ followers would not have understood him as the messiah after his death (as they did) unless they believed him to be the messiah before his death – even if they came to believe he had been raised from the dead, that would not have made them think he was the messiah. I’ve explained why in my previous post. The second second involves showing that it was not only the disciples who understood Jesus to be the messiah before his death, but that Jesus himself did. This is even harder to show, but I think there is really compelling evidence. There are [...]

BDEhrman2024-11-05T22:02:15-05:00November 7th, 2024|Early Judaism, Historical Jesus|

Introducing the Old Testament Apocrypha
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Introducing the Old Testament Apocrypha

Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Introducing the Old Testament Apocrypha

Lots of people on the blog seem to be really interested in early Christian apocrypha -- other Gospels, Acts, epistles, apocalypses that did not make it into the New Testament. It's a major area of fascination for me as well. But many folk talk about them as "the Apocrypha" and probably that's not quite right -- that is a designation usually reserved for the "Old Testament Apocrypha," which are not Christian books but Jewish. Many years ago I explained what these books are on the blog, and since I still get asked about them by members, I thought it would be helpful to over that ground again. I begin with a basic overview taken from my textbook on the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction, 2nd. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018). ****************************** In addition to the canonical books in the Hebrew Bible, there was other literature written by other Jewish authors that cannot be found there, but that is of great importance for anyone interested in it. [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-05T09:48:18-04:00October 8th, 2024|Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

Did Jews Always Bury Their Dead on the Day of their Death? Was Jesus Buried Then?
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Did Jews Always Bury Their Dead on the Day of their Death? Was Jesus Buried Then?

Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture

Did Jews Always Bury Their Dead on the Day of their Death? Was Jesus Buried Then?

I have not covered all of the points that Craig Evans makes in his essay “Getting the Burial Traditions and Evidences Right,” which is his response to the position I stake out in How Jesus Became God. My view is that Jesus probably was not given a decent burial on the day of his death by the otherwise unknown figure, Joseph of Arimathea. In this thread I have tried to focus on Craig’s main points. In my judgment, despite all the various issues he raises there are really only two of that are directly relevant and that need to be taken with utmost seriousness: Josephus appears to say that Jews were allowed to bury their dead (Craig makes two arguments about this) and we have the skeletal remains of one crucified victim from Judea at about the time of Jesus. First I’ll be dealing with the evidence from Josephus. My view is that of the two arguments Craig makes, based on Josephus, the first also carries almost no weight and the second cannot mean what [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-29T07:17:45-04:00August 29th, 2023|Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture|

The Evidence of Josephus for the Burial of Jesus

I have devoted a large number of posts to going carefully through the main arguments that Craig Evans makes in his critique of the position I take in How Jesus Became God with respect to the burial tradition, in his essay, “Getting the Burial Traditions and Evidences Right” (in How God Became Jesus; check it out!). To this point I have been trying to argue that the accumulation of arguments in and of itself does not constitute a “cumulative argument.” Each of the accumulated arguments has to carry *some* weight if the overall argument is to carry *much* (or a lot of) weight. And in my judgment, none of the arguments that I have adduced and responded to so far carries much, if any, weight. Some of you will probably disagree with me, and that’s fine. But I do hope that I’ve shown that I’m not the uninformed skeptic that Craig portrays in his essay. At times, reading it, I felt like I was being lectured to. On the other hand, maybe Craig feels the [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-30T14:25:12-04:00August 27th, 2023|Early Judaism|

Why Do Some (Many?) Scholars Not Treat the Bible Like Other Ancient Sources?

As I was thinking today about the need to be consistently critical with all of our sources – not just the ones we want to be critical of (this was the topic of yesterday’s post, with an ultimate view of what I want to say about Josephus as a possible witness to the practice of Jews burying their executed dead on the days of their deaths) -- another anecdote occurred to me that I thought might help illustrate my point. Here it is. In the next post I will get to Josephus, I promise. As some of you know, I have had a number of debates with evangelical Christians on the question of whether we know what the original writings of the New Testament actually said. The typical line from these evangelical Christians is that since we have so *many* surviving manuscripts of the NT, that we can be almost completely certain that we know what the authors wrote in the vast majority of cases (virtually all). My view is that we simply cannot know [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-17T22:10:14-04:00August 26th, 2023|Bart's Critics, Early Judaism, New Testament Manuscripts|

How To Be a Consistently Critical Historian, In the Good Sense

I know that by now I’m supposed to be citing Craig Evans’s best arguments that Jesus was probably given a decent burial on the day of his crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea, rather than being left hanging on the cross for a few days in accordance with standard Roman practice. But I’ve realized that before I get to the first of these arguments, I have to say something about how historians need to use their ancient sources. The short answer to that question is that they need to use them … gingerly. And consistently gingerly. This perspective will not come as a surprise to anyone who has read this blog for a long while and seen how I think we need, consistently, to use the books of the New Testament itself as sources for what actually happened in the past – whether we are considering the Gospels for knowing about what Jesus really said and did, or considering the book of Acts for knowing about the life and teachings of Paul, or considering the letters [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-17T22:05:17-04:00August 24th, 2023|Early Judaism, Historical Jesus|

Pontius Pilate, Intransigent Governor, Crucifier of Jesus

To make the best sense of this post it is important to keep in mind what I said in the previous one. In his response to my views of in How Jesus Became God – that Jesus most likely was not given a decent burial on the day of his crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea – Craig Evans has maintained, among other things, that Pilate was not the kind of governor who would ignore Jewish sensitivities. For Craig, Pilate started his rule by making a big mistake of bringing into Jerusalem the Roman standards that bore on them the image of the emperor. But once he realized that the Jewish populace was offended, he backed down and from then on he showed that he had learned his lesson. For that reason, Craig finds it “hard to believe” that at a later time Pilate would do something so opposed to Jewish custom as allow a body unburied on the day of a person’s death. This view strikes me as extremely problematic, for several reasons. To start [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-09T10:30:04-04:00August 16th, 2023|Bart's Critics, Early Judaism, Historical Jesus|

Did Pilate Allow Jesus to be Buried Because He Had “Learned his Lesson”?

I think there is almost no historical figure that Craig and I disagree on more than the Roman governor of Judea at the time of Jesus’ death, Pontius Pilate. I see him as a cruel, vicious, hard-headed, insensitive, and brutal ruler; Craig portrays him as an efficient but wise and rather sensitive aristocrat who could learn from his lessons and who would go out of his way not to offend Jewish sensibilities. A lot hangs on which view (if either) is right, since it was Pilate – we agree on this! – who ordered Jesus’ crucifixion. Moreover, if Jesus was given a decent burial (Craig’s view) or was left to hang on the cross for some time in accordance with standard Roman practice (my view), it was, in either case, Pilate’s decision. Craig’s view is that Pilate’s sensitive decision not to allow crucified victims to hang on their crosses after their deaths is what allowed him to keep “the nation at peace” (the phrase comes from the Jewish historian Josephus, whom I will be dealing [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-11T14:59:18-04:00August 15th, 2023|Bart's Critics, Early Judaism, Historical Jesus|

Was Pilate Sensitive to Jews and their Customs (such that he would allow decent burials for crucified victims)?

When I was in high school I was active on the debate team, and really loved it. The team as a whole was really good, but I was nowhere near being the best member. My colleague and another fellow on the team ended up debating together in college and won the national championship as sophomores. These guys were terrific. One of the decisions we constantly had to make when arguing the negative side of a resolution was how to go about attacking the claims of the affirmative side. There were two general approaches: one was what we called the “shotgun” approach. This involved leveling lots and lots of arguments (like buckshot) and hoping that the other side could not respond to them all, thereby making the judge of the debate think that some of the arguments stuck, even if not all of them were that good. The problem with the shotgun approach was that if a bunch of the arguments weren’t very good, the affirmative side could knock them down fairly easily, and by the [...]

BDEhrman2023-08-09T10:38:16-04:00August 13th, 2023|Bart's Critics, Early Judaism, Historical Jesus|

Alleged “Proof” That Crucified Jews Were Allowed Decent Burials

Now that I have restated my views about the burial of Jesus by citing passages from How Jesus Became God (HarperOne, 2014) and emphasized one particular general point – that it is of utmost importance to remember why Romans crucified people, and in particular why they crucified those who were guilty of insurrection, the threat of insurrection, or high treason (a point that I cannot stress enough: Jesus was executed for calling himself the King of the Jews – a political charge of treason against the state) – I can now begin to summarize the counter-arguments that Craig Evans has made in his relatively long response, “Getting the Burial Traditions and Evidences Right.” Despite this title, and despite the respect I have for Craig as a scholar, I have to say that in my judgment he gets virtually all the evidence precisely wrong. He focuses his counter-argument on two of my main points: the Roman practices of crucifixion and the character of Pontius Pilate in particular. I will respond to all of his major claims – [...]

BDEhrman2023-07-26T08:58:37-04:00July 30th, 2023|Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Historical Jesus|

Exciting Lecture: Archaeological Finds (Artwork!) in an Ancient Galilean Synagogue

Now *this* will be a great event. My UNC colleague Jodi Magness is one of the premier archaeologists of ancient Israel in the world. She started her career on a dig at Masada (the Roman army camps!) and for the past twelve years has run a dig in a village in Galilee called Huqoq. Her findings have been extraordinary, far beyond what anyone could hope for. Her team uncovered a (fifth-century) synagogue and discovered amazing mosaics unlike anything known before -- pictorial art, depicting humans (possibly Alexander the Great) and biblical scenes (Samson!). Pictorial art in a *synagogue*?!? What?? If you read National Geographic, you'll know about these discoveries: her dig is featured in the magazine nearly every year. This coming Wednesday, March 1, 6:00 pm Jodi will be giving an online lecture with slides about their most recent finds. I'll be hosting the event. It will not be recorded. There is no charge, though it is a fund-raiser for my department to help provide research funds for our graduate students (donations are voluntary). Below [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-25T10:58:15-05:00February 24th, 2023|Early Judaism, Public Forum|

Is There Anything “Religious” about “Ethics”?

It is true that ancient ethics did enjoin beneficent acts on family, friends, and acquaintances of one’s own status when they were in need. But normally such benefices were expected to produce gratitude and respect (elevating one’s status and social capital) and to bring a return; just as important, they were expected to be reciprocated if misfortune should strike the giver. That is, they were not acts of pure altruism, or arguably altruistic at all. Moreover, when social ethics entered into the picture – as they often did – they centered on matters of justice and piety (meaning something like “doing one’s duty” to family, city, and empire) so as to promote the welfare of the collective. But the collective did not mean “all” the collective. For the elites who wrote and read this ethical discourse, it meant the ruling elite and/or the social class to which they themselves belonged. That would, of course, make life better for themselves as well. But there was virtually no concern to help those in lower social classes -- [...]

BDEhrman2022-09-16T16:04:00-04:00September 11th, 2022|Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Historical Jesus|

How Yahweh of the Israelites Became God of All: Guest Post by Dan Kohanski

As you may know, members who join the blog at the Platinum level are allowed to write posts for Platinum members, and the members periodically vote on one of the submissions to go on the blog at large -- and on all my social media. It's a great way to get your views widely disseminated. Are you interested? Check out the perks of the Platinum level (click on Join and see the various tiers and what each entails). Our most recent winner in this endeavor was Platinum member Dan Kohanski, who has written on an intriguing and, well, rather world-shattering/history-changing topic! Please feel free to make comments! **************************** The early Israelites were polytheists — worshipers of many gods — just as all the nations of the Ancient Near East were, though their pantheon may have been smaller than some. We know of El, Yahweh, Astarte (Asherah), and Baal for certain. Possibly the oldest god in the Israelite pantheon was El — the very name "Israel" can be translated as "he who strives with (the god) [...]

BDEhrman2022-07-03T16:23:24-04:00October 26th, 2021|Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

Jewish Indifference to Jesus and the Problems It Caused: Platinum Guest Post by Dan Kohanski

Here now is another stimulating and learned post by Platinum member Dan Kohanski, on an unusually important topic. Any comments? He's happy to answer them. I'm running low on Platinum posts! Do you have something you'd like to offer? Let me know. ****************************** Why did only a fraction of one percent of all Jews in the empire or even in Judaea ever believe in the message of the Jesus Movement?[1] The answer starts with that message itself. The first members of the Movement were all Jews themselves, saw themselves as Jews, and argued that Jewish traditions and beliefs inevitably led to their version of Judaism. However, the way they used those traditions and beliefs to solve the dilemma of their founder’s crucifixion was too radical for most Jews to accept. I want to focus on three essential aspects of that solution that were particularly troublesome for Jews: belief in the individual resurrection of Jesus, belief in Jesus as the messiah after he had died, and belief in Jesus as necessary for salvation. Belief [...]

BDEhrman2021-09-21T10:05:09-04:00September 21st, 2021|Early Judaism, Jews and Christians in Antiquity|

Jesus’s Apocalyptic View of Destruction

In my book on Revelation I am planning to contrast the violence and wrath of God there with what we find in the teachings of Jesus. It would be easy but too simplistic to paint an obvious contrast: unlike John (the author of Revelation) Jesus believed in love and so was opposed to violence. It is certainly true that he was, at least on one level (as we'll see). Jesus did not only think his followers should not be violent against one another, but also not against their enemies, not even the Romans. But the same can probably be said about the book of Revelation. It also does not urge the followers of Jesus to engage in violence. The massive destructions that take place on earth in the book are sent from heaven. And Jesus too thought a massive destruction was to be sent from heaven. So, well, what’s the difference? That will be the complicated issue. To understand the views of destruction of both Jesus and the prophet John, I need to situate them [...]

BDEhrman2021-09-03T13:39:52-04:00September 9th, 2021|Early Judaism, Historical Jesus, Revelation of John|

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