Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bare a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.... for unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given... and his name shall be called Wonderfull, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father the prince of peace. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:29)

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief... and we esteemed him not.... But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities... and with his stripes we are healed... The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all... he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter... he opened not his mouth... For the transgression of my people was he stricken. (Isaiah 53:1-9)

My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me, why art thou so far from helping me... they shake their head saying, he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him... They pierced my hands and my feet... they part my garments among them, and cast lots at my vesture. (Psalms 22:1-8)

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust... And the earth shall cast out the dead. (Isaiah 26:19)

...he is Just, and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9,10)

So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me cast it to the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter. (Zechariah 11:12,13)

"Josephus, or more accurately Joseph ben Matthias, was born in the year Gaius acceded to the throne of the Roman Empire A.D. 37, and died sometime after A.D. 100. He was born of a priestly family and through his Hasmonean mother he could boast of royal blood... In brief we can divide his life into two parts... the first half could be described as the life of Joseph ben Matthias Jewish priest, general and prisoner; the second half... as the life of Flavius Josephus the Roman citizen and author....

The young Joseph was precocious, and when he was fourteen rabbis came to him for advice...

Josephus' first literary work was the Wars of the Jews, published in A.D. 78.... His Antiquities of the Jews was published about fifteen years later (A.D. 93 or 94) His Life was written... shortly after the year A.D. 100, principally as an apology for his own life." (William Wiston, Josephus' Complete Works, 1978 ed., forward by W.S. Lasor, pp. vii-ix).

Josiah... was of a most excellent disposition, and naturally virtuous... when he was twelve years old, he gave demonstrations of his religious and righteous behavior; for he brought the people to a sober way of living... he prudently corrected ... what they did wrong, like a very elderly man...

Thus he acted in following the wisdom and sagacity of his own nature... He also offered his accustomed

sacrifices and burnt offerings upon the alter. He ... called for Eliakim, the high priest, and for the scribe... and sent them Huldah the prophetess... and bade them go to her and say that he desired that she would appease God...

The Prophet Jadon foretold what would come to pass -- vis, that a certain man of the house of David, Josiah (Jesus) by name, should do what is here mentioned... and... he called the people to Jerusalem, and there celebrated the feast of the passover. (Antq. X,IV,I.5)

And Joseph went up... unto the city of David. .. because he was of the house and linage of David...

Mary being great with child.., brought forth her first born son... (and) his name was called Jests and... they brought him to Jerusalem... to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law.... And she comming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord... and when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord they returned to Galilee.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem... and after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors (of the law) both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that: heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers... And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:4-52).

But when he (the president of Syria) was dead his brother Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, (God Manifest) took the kingdom.... about this time, upon the death of Onias the high priest (of the temple at Jerusalem) they gave the high priesthood to Jesus his brother... but this Jesus... was deprived of the priesthood (after three years time) by the king, who was angry with him, and gave it to his younger brother who was Onias... this Jesus changed his name to Jason; but Onias was called Menelaus.

Now as the former high priest Jesus raised a sedition against Menelaus, who was ordained after him, the multitude were divided between them both. And the sons of Tobias took the part of Menelaus but the greater part of the people assisted Jason. (Antq. XII,IV,11. XII,V,1)

O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.... Know therefore and, understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild: Jerusalem (by Cyrus ca. 593 B.C.E.), unto Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks (of years; See Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6) ...And after three score and two weeks (434 yrs.) shall Messiah be cut off... and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the

sanctuary.... and he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and the spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate... (Daniel 9:22-27)

After 390 years of captivity God restored his people; twenty years later he raised up a teacher of righteousness, and that 40 years after the death of the teacher of righteousness the men of war' will be consumed in a great battle (D.S. Russel, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, p. 201).

...there should arise a certain king that should overcome our nation and their laws and should take away our political government and should spoil the temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years time. And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision... (Antq. X,XI,7)

Think not that I have come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law, and a man's foes shall be of his own household. (Matt. 10:34-36)

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto thee; How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not. Behold your house is left unto you desolate. (The Abomination of Desolation):and verily I say say unto you, ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say

'blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.' (That is, until they would hail Him as the Messiah) (Luke 13:34, 35).

And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying, 'go and tell my servant David... I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom... forever.' (2nd Samuel 7:4,5,12)

being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that out of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." (Acts 2:30)

"This day has given the earth an entirely new aspect. The world would have gone to destruction had there not streamed forth from him, who is now born a common blessing.

Rightly does he judge who recognizes in this birth-day the beginning of life and all the powers of life; Now is that time ended when men pitied themselves for being born.

From no other day does the individual or the community receive such benefit as from this natal day, full of blessings to all.

The providence which rules over all has filled this man with such gifts for the salvation of the world as designate him as saviour for us and the generations; of wars he will make an end and establish all things worthily.

By his appearing are the hopes of our forefathers fulfilled; not only has he surpassed the good deeds of earlier time, but it is impossible that one greater than he can ever appear.

The birth day of God has brought into the world glad tidings that are bound up in him. From this day a new era begins.

So runs the most perfect of a number of inscriptions lately found in Asia Minor and set up to commemorate the introduction of the Julian calendar by the Emperor Agustus. It bears the date corresponding to our B.C. 9." (G.R.S. Mead, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, 1960, p.4)

And it came to pass in those days, there went up a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed... And (Mary) brought forth her first-born son... And the angel of the Lord said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great

joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour, which is Christ the Lord... and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:1-14)

To the Greeks there was no unbridgable gap between a man and a God; a great man could become a God, or a God could become a man; the Gods mated with human beings, and were like men in almost everything eccept they did not die. (Will Durant, Mansions of Philosophy, p. 530)

Herod offered (Markus Antonius) money to make him tetrarch, and chiefly because of his hatred to Antigonus... but Antigonus... said, that they would not do justly if they gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no more than a private man, and an Idumean, i.e. a half Jew, whereas they ought to bestow it on one of the royal family, as their custom was; for, that in case they at present bear an ill-will to him, and had resolved to deprive him of the kingdom... yet there were many others of his family that might by their law take it... and being of the sacerdotal family it would be an unworthy thing to put them by. (Antq. XIV, XIV,4, XIV, XV, 2 )

Strabo (the historian) attests to what I have said, when he thus speaks; 'Antony ordered Antigonus the Jew, to be brought to Antioch, and there to be

beheaded... as supposing he could in no other way bend the minds of the Jews so as to receive Herod, whom he had made king in his stead; for by no torments could they be forced to call him king, so great a fondness they had for their former king; so he thought that this dishonorable death would diminish the value they had for Antigonus' memory, and at the same time would diminish the hatred they bear to Herod.' Thus for Strabo. (Antq. XV,I,2)

This eclipse of the moon, which is the only eclipse mentioned by Josephus, is of the greatest consequence for the, determination of the time for the death of Herod... and for the birth and the entire chronology of Jesus Christ. It happened March 13th in the year of the Julian period 4710 and the forth year before the Christian era. (Wiston, footnote p.365)

The son, was one of the greatest comeliness and was called Aristobulus: and the daughter, Mariamne (Greek for Mary) was married to Herod and eminant

for her beauty also... these children seemed not derived from men, but from some God or other XV,II,5,6)

Alexandra privatly conspired against Herod's (supposed) royal authority and endeavored to bring it about that he might be deprived of the government. She therefore sent to Cleopatra, and made a long complaint of the circumstances she was in, and entreated her to do her utmost for her assistance. Cleopatra hereupon advised her to take her son with her, and come away immediately to her, in Egypt. This advice pleased her; and she had this contrivance for getting away; she had two coffins made, as if they were to carry away two bodies and put herself into one, and her son into the other and gave orders to such of their servants as knew of her intentions, to carry them away in the nighttime. (Antq. XV,III,2)

When 'Herod the king heard these things he was troubled... and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.... and the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise, and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt... for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he arose he took the young child and his mother by night into Egypt; and was there till the death of Herod. (Matt. 2:3, 4, 13-15).

Then Herod was exceedingly wroth and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and all the coasts thereof, from two years old and younger...but when Herod was dead... Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod. (Matt. 2:16, 19,22)

...he'spake thus to them: I will die in a little time, so great are my pains... but what troubles me is this, that I shall die without being lamented and without such mourning as men usually expect at a kings death. (so Herod) took care when he was departing out of this life, that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and indeed made desolate of their dearest kindred, when he gave order that one out of every family should be slain... Now Herod altered his testament and granted his kingdom to Archelaus. (Antq. XVII,VI,5,6)

...fully proposed to himself to put this man out of the way.... And now upon the feast of the tabernacles.... (Herod) drew (The seventeen year old) into a lonely place while such of Herods acquaintance as he had appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under water, in the dark of the evening... till he was entirely suffocated, and thus was Aristobulus murdered....

When this sad accident was told the women, their Joy was soon changed into lamentation, at the sight of the dead body that lay before them, and their sorrow immoderate... Herod endeavored that none abroad should believe that the child's death was caused by any cause of his... although his death was supposed to tend to his own security... and as for his funeral, he took care that it should be very magnificent, by making great preparation for a sepulcher to lay his body in, and providing a great quantity of spices... till the very women, who were in such deep sorrow, were astonished at it and received in this some consolation. (Antq. XV,III, 2-4)

Epiphanes, (God manifest) was the son of Carpocrates and Alexandra, A lady of Cephallenia He died at the early age of seventeen and was worshipped as a God with the most elaborate and lascivious rites by the Cephallenians, in a great temple of same, on the day of the new moon. (G.R.S. Mead, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, p.234)

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the Scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said no, not on the feast day, lest there should be an uproar of the people... (so they crucified him and the centurion said:) Truly this man was the Son of God.... there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was... Mary Magdalene, and Salome. And Joseph laid him in a sepulchre... and Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. (Mark 14:1,2, 15:39-46, 16:1)

For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bare a son, and no razor shall come upon his head: for the child shall be a Nazerite unto God from the womb... to the day of his death.

...he was informed that one, whose name was Banus lived in the desert, and used no other clothing than grew on trees, and had no other food than what grew of its own accord, and bathed himself in cold water frequently, both day and night, in order to preserve his chastity, I imitated him in those things, and continued with him three years. (Life sec. 2)

John did baptise in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.... And John was clothed in camels hair, and with a girdle of skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazereth of Galilee and was baptised of John in Jordon. (Mark 1:4-9)

Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist; for he slew him who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue... and come to baptism not in order to the putting away some sins only, but for the purification of the body... Now when many 'otters came to crowd about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words. Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause.... Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, to Macherus... and was there put to death. (Antq., XVIII,V,2)

And king Herod heard of him (Jesus) for his name was spread abroad, and he said, that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him... for Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodius' sake, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. For John had said to Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brothers wife.

Therefore Herodius had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not; For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy... and heard him gladly.... and when the daughter of the said Herodius came in and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said to the damsel, ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee .... and she came in straightway with haste unto the king and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist... and immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head be brought and he went and beheaded him in prison... (Mark, 6:14-28)

Therefore Her But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus... who, for four years before, the war began (ca. 62 C.E.)... came to the feast (and) began on a sudden to cry aloud... A voice against Jerusalem and the holy house... A voice against this whole people! This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night... whereupon our rulers supposing, as the case proved to be that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator -- where he was whipped till his bones lay bare; yet did he not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem."

And when Albius, (for he was then our procurator) ask him, who he was? and whence he came? and why he had uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albius took him to be a mad man, and dismissed him... (but still he)

every day uttered "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!"..."Woe, woe to the city again and to the people, and to the holy house!" And just as he had added to the last, "Woe, woe to myself also!" there came a stone... and smote him and killed him immediately and he gave up the ghost. (Wars VI,V,3)

But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men... Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! for ye devour widows houses... Woe unto you... for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte... Woe unto you, ye blind guides... woe unto you... Hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law...Woe unto you... for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess, Woe unto you... for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens bones... ye serpents ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell.... O Jerusalem, Jerusalem thou who killest the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto thee... (Matt. 23:13-37)

"was now become a refuge, and a shop of tyrany" (Matthew and Mark called the temple "a den of thieves") "And now the people could no longer bear the insolence... but did altogether run zealously in order to overthrow that tyrany...and to purge the temple of those bloody polluters of it."... (Josephus tells of the "cleansing" of the temple at Antq. IX,XIII,1, XIV,IV,4, and wars, I,I,4.)

"Jesus (of Galilee) And Ananus... bitterly reproached the people for their sloth; and excited the people against the Zealots... Will you bear to see your Sanctuary trampled upon?" The Zealots, seeing their position was in jeopardy, sent for the Edumeans. Jesus of Galilee, the eldest of the high priests... "stood upon the tower" (on the wall of the temple) and made a lengthy speech to the Idumeans, claiming that the Zealots had lied to them and that: "These men accuse us falsely"... "Thus spoke Jesus; yet did not the multitude of the Idumeans give any attention to what he had said, but were in a rage... But Jesus went away sorrowful, seeing that the Idumeans were against all moderate counsels... The Idumeans attacked the city and sought for the high priests... and slew them... The Jews used to take so much care of the burial of men, that they took down those that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the going down of the sun... and this at last was the end of Ananus and Jesus" (Wars, IV, III, 7-IV,V,2)

I find it more satisfactory to regard the Jesus of the earliest documents as someone whose life nothing was known... but who was later regarded as having lived about AD 30, and as having preached in Galilee before his death in Jerusalem, perhaps because he was identified with an obscure preacher of the same name. (G.A. Wells, The Historical Evidence For Jesus, p. 216)

I saw many captives crucified; and remember three of them as my former acquaintances. I was very sorry at this in my mind, and went with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told him of them; so he immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the greatest care taken of them in order to their recovery; yet two of them died under the physicians hands, while the third recovered. (Life, sec. 75)

Niger... was drawn through the middle of the city and, as he went, he frequently cried out and showed the scars of his wounds; and when he was drawn out of the gates (of Jerusalem)... he besought them to grant him a burial... now when they were slaying him, he made...(an) imprecation (curse) upon them.... so when this Niger was killed, their fears of being overturned were diminished... (Wars, IV,VI,1)

...the Romans went away rejoicing, as taking it for granted that Niger was destroyed... On the third day afterward he spake out of the ground to those who with great lamentation were searching for him, in order to give him a decent funeral; And when he was come out, (of the ground) he filled all the. Jews with unexpected joy, as though he was preserved by God's providence to be their commander for the time to come. (Wars, III,II,3)

...the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day...(Mark 9:31)

And as they thus spake, (the resurrected) Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and sayeth unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. (Luke 24:36,37)

...the lord hath risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon... And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy. (Luke, 24:34-52)

...the Lord of spirits and the prince of all power, caused a great apparation, so that all... were astonished at the power of God and fainted, and were sore afraid.... Two young men appeared before him, notable in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely in apparel, who stood by him on either side, and scourged him continually... and Heliodorus fell suddenly to the ground and was compassed with great darkness: but they that were with him took him up, and put him into a litter... (and) they acknowledged the power of God: for he by the hand of God was cast down and lay speechless without all hope of life, but they praised the Lord, that had miraculously honored his own place: for the temple, which a little afore was full of fear and trouble, when the Almighty Lord appeared, was filled with joy and gladness.

Then straightways certain of Heliodorus' friends prayed Onias (the high priest),that he would call upon the most high to grant him his life, who lay ready to give up the ghost. So the high priest, offered up a sacrifice for the health of the man.

Now as the high priest was making the atonement, the same men in the same clothing appeared and stood beside Heliodorus. saying, give Onias the high priest great thanks...(and) declare unto all men the mighty power of God, and when they had spoken these words they appeared no more... then

testified Heliodorus to all men the works of the great God, which he had seen with his eyes. (2nd Maccabees, 3:24-39)

... he :came near Damascus; and suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said...what wilt thou have me do? And the Lord said unto him, arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

And the men which journeyed with him were speechless. hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth: and they led him by the hand, and brought him to Damascus.... And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias.... and Ananias putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared to thee in the way... hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight.... And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he was the Son of God. (Acts, 9:3-20)

For his account of the whole voyage, Luke drew on an existing piece of writing that had nothing to do with Paul and inserted such episodes into it. (G.A. Wells, The Historical Evidence for Jesus, p. 149).

When Herod was about to take a journey abroad, he committed his wife (Mariamne) to Joseph his sister Salome's husband, as to one who would be faithful to him, and bear him good will on account of their kindred: he also gave him a secret injunction that if Anthony slew him, he should slay her.

But Joseph... discovered this grand secret to (Mariamne).... When Herod heard that this grand secret was discovered, he was like a distracted man, and said, that Joseph would never have disclosed that injunction unless he had debauched her... His sister Salome took the opportunity also to blast her reputation, and confirmed his suspicion about Joseph, saying that Mariamne was false.to Herod's bed... Wereupon, out of his ungovernable jealousy and rage, he commanded both of them to be slain immediately... (Wars, I, XXII, 3-5)

It may have been, that while Joseph and Mariamne were confined at the fortress, for this extended period of time, that Mariamne was "false to Herod's bed." Or, it may have been that the stay at the fortress was to "put Mariamne away privily" to conceal her pregnancy. It is more than likely that the Jews at Jerusalem knew of the public scandal involving their queen and the king's brother-in-law. The scandal was apparently passed on by Jewish authorities for, as we shall see, the record of the illegitimate child was entered into the temple genealogies.

...the Talmud Mary stories.., revolve entirely around the accusation of her unfaithfulness to her husband...Simon ben Azzai has said: 'I found in Jerusalem a book of genealogies; therein was written; that so and so was a bastard son of a married women'... this book of genealogies can be taken to mean nothing else than the official record: nevertheless we are told that it contained the proof of Jeschu's bastardy, for "so and so" is one of the well-known substitutes for Jesus and Jesus alone in the Talmud as has been proved and admitted on either side... The virgin birth doctrine was invented in answer to this record.... we therefor conclude that the earliest Mary legends came to birth somewhere towards the close of the first century.'(G.S.R. Mead, Did Jesus Live 100 BC., pp.162-166)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child... Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example was minded to put her away privily. (Matt. 1:18,19)

Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, -- a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [The] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, condemmed him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians so named from him, are not extinct at this day. (William Whiston, Josephus Complete Works, p. 379)

There may be a genuine core in these strange lines; but the high praise given to Christ by a Jew uniformly anxious to please either the Romans or the Jews -- both at that time in conflict with Christianity -- renders the passage suspect, and Christian scholars reject it as almost certainly an interpolation. (Will Durant, Caesar and Christ. p. 554)

... makes not the least mention of the appearance of Christ or what things happened to him, or of the wonderful works that he did. (Whiston p. 18)

There are other references to. Jesus in Jewish literature, beyond those found in the works of Josephus, he is mentioned, expressly or allusively, in a number of places in the earlier Rabbinical literature.... It is from the Tannaitic period that we should expect the most reliable traditions about Jesus, if indeed any traditions about him are to be found at all. The most important is a baraitha preserved in the Talmudic tractate Sanhedrim (43a):

Jesus was hanged on passover eve. Forty days previously the Herald had cried, 'He is being led out for stoning, because he had practised sorcery and led Israel astray and inticed them into apostacy. Whosoever has anything to say in his defence let him come and declare it.' As nothing was brought forward in his defence he was hanged on passover eve. (F.F. Bruce, Jesus and Christain Origins outside the New Testament, pp. 54-57)

To this Baraitha are appended some remarks by Ulla, a later Rabbi who flourished about the end of the third century. Ulla said:

Would you believe that any defence would have been so zealously sought for him. He was at deceiver, and the All Merciful says: You shall not spare him, neither shall you conceal him." (ibid).

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavend bread: and the chief priests and the Scribes sought how they might take him by craft and put him to death (Mark 14:1).

The historical origins of Christianity are hidden in unpenetratable obscurity. Of the actual history of the next hundred years also, we have for the most part, to rely on conjecture.... The view of the Christian origins which eventually became the orthodox tradition based itself mainly upon gospel documents composed, in all probability, sometime in the reign of Hadrian, (AD. 117-138). (Mead, pp. 120,122)

...now these imposters and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness, and pretended that they would exhibit manifest wonders and signs, that should be performed by the providence of God. Moreover, there came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude... to go along with him to the Mount of Olives, as it was called, which lay over against the city.. .He said further that he would show them, how, at his command the walls of Jerusalem would fall down. (Antq. XX,VIII,6)

And as he went out of the temple one of his disciples sayeth to him; Master see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said to him: see thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately: tell us when shall

these things be... and Jesus answering them began to say. Take heed lest any man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many... for false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and show signs and wonders, to seduce if it were possible, even the elect. (Mark, 13:1-6,22)

Art thou not that Egyptian which before these days madest an uproar, and ledest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers. (Acts,21:38)

Hillel the Elder (ca. 30 B.C.E.-10 C.E.), stands as the classic figure of a Pharisee scholar... as little is known with certainty about his life as about the life of his near contemporary, Jesus, whose saintly silhouette suggests similar qualities of sensitivity and wisdom... according to the accepted tradition, he was born abysmally poor, of non-priestly lineage in Babylon. He became the leading scholar of his century in Jerusalem....

In the tradition of many exciting teachers Hillel founded a school named for him, Bet-Hillel and uniquely a dynasty which gained for itself a teacher as well as a scribe, a mystic, a man of retreats and silence, and a sensitive man who knew well the anguish of the poor... Analysis of Hillel's few surviving decisions reveal a special concern for the common folk, women, and the outcast. To be sure, the search for the historical Hillel is almost as difficult as the much more famous search for his near contemporary, Jesus...

Hillel set character above ceremonial punctilio... "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace." He lived by a code of infinate patience, and was deeply concerned for anothers feelings: "Do not appear standing among those who sit or seated among those who stand." He set human relations over possessions and learning above all attainments: "The more flesh, the more worms: the more possessions, the more worry," and "The more Torah, the more life; the more study and contemplation the more, wisdom; the more counsel, the more discernment; the more charity, the more peace."

Hillel's theology is submissive. "Blessed be the Lord, day by day, He bears our burden." "My humilation is my exaltation. My exaltation is my humiliation... The uneducated man knows not the fear of sin." "He who has knowledge of the Torah has life in the world to come." Torah was the way of "gaining life in this world and life in the world to come." In learning Torah one... becomes truly free... By properly obeying Torah... he becomes united with Him.... He who observes Torah merited salvation. (D.J. Silver, A History of Judaism vol. 1 pp. 234-237)

Jesus was a member of Hillel's school, and may have sat under him, for Hillel had many pupils. He repeated this famous saying of Hillel's and it is possible he used other dicta, for Hillel was a famous aphorist (short saying stating a general truth)

Jesus' teaching career saw him translate Hillel's aphorism into a system of moral theology and, in doing so, strip the law of all but its moral and ethical elements...(Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, pp. 127,128)

In the twenty seven books of the New Testament there is not one Jesus but many. And from the beginning Christians were divided about his fundamental nature. (G.A. Wells, The Historical Evidence For Jesus, p. 197).

The eight Pauline letters I have accepted as genuine are so completely silent concerning the events that were later recorded in the gospels as to suggest that these events were not known to Paul, who, however, could not have been ignorant of them if they had realy occurred....

The letters also fail to mention any miracles Jesus was supposed to have worked, a particularly striking omission, since, according to the gospels, he worked so many... He (Paul) never suggests that Jesus effected (the) casting out of demons or unclean spirits... or worked miracles of any kind. (Wells, pp.22,23)

The synoptic tradition goes back to Mark alone. His gospel is... a sufficent basis for the whole tradition. But his gospel is not a purely historical source. It is also, and in a much larger degree, poetic invention. Of the real history of Jesus but little is preserved in the gospels. (Albert Schwietzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, p. 258)

The fire ignited itself -- Christianity arose by spontaneous combustion when the inflammable material, religious and social which had collected together in the Roman Empire, came in contact with the Jewish Messianic expectations. Jesus of Nazereth never existed; even supposing he had been one of the numerous Jewish Messiahs who were put to death by crucifiction, he certainly did not found Christianity. (ibid. p. 315).

Christianity did not destroy paganism it adopted it... The Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the mass. Other pagan cultures contributed to the syncretist result. From Egypt came the idea of a divine trinity, the last judgment, and a personal immortality of reward and punishment; from Egypt the adoration of the mother and child... From Syria the resurrection drama of Adonis; from thence, perhaps, the cult of Dionysus, the dying and saving God -- From Persia came millennarianism, the ages of the world, the final conflagration, the duelism of Satan and God..... Christianity was the last great creation of the pagan world. (Durant, p.595).