In my previous post I noted that a really good comment had been submitted on the External Evidence Session, basically questioning the value of external evidence. The comment noted that external evidence does not tell us whether or not the gospel stories were legendary extrapolations built around a historical kernel of events. I agreed, but submitted that at the very minimum external evidence can be used to weed out pretenders from contenders, similar to how first-year university courses are often designed to weed out students with insufficient motivation or aptitude.
First-year courses also serve as the foundational prerequisites upon which the more useful upper-year courses are built – the ones that give the knowledge and information that we really use. In a similar way we are now in a position to integrate the External Evidence Session with that of Session 5 – where we opened a case to see if there is a Divine Mind behind the biblical account.
Abraham sacrifices his Son
In that 5th Session we looked at two very important stories in the earliest section of the Old Testament – in the Pentateuch of the books ascribed to Moses. We first looked at the account of Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son on Mount Moriah, which (though many are not aware of it) we showed to be the place where the city of Jerusalem was eventually established. And we saw that there are allusions in this account of Abraham that have fascinating parallels with, and point to, Jesus’ crucifixion in Jerusalem. It is the fact that the allusion predates the event it alludes to by thousands of years that makes it so especially intriguing. It points to a drama/literary mind, but since no human mind can coordinate events far into the future it opens the possibility that there is indeed a Divine Mind coordinating these events.
Tacitus: External Evidence Corroborating where Jesus was crucified
Now the first (and most obvious) rebuttal to this is that the gospel writers simply made up the ‘detail’ of Jesus’crucifixion being in Jerusalem to make it ‘fit’ that Abrahamic allusion. But now we know from external evidence that Tacitus (a historian not at all sympathetic to the gospel) places that event in Judea. He says:
Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, … but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated…(Annals XV. 44)
Josephus: External Evidence Corroborating Jesus
Josephus, the Jewish historian from the same period agrees with Tacitus in saying that:
At this time there was a wise man … Jesus. … good, and … virtuous. Many people among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned Him to be crucified and to die. (Antiquities Book XVIII, III)
And Josephus tells us in his Antiquities in the two paragraphs just preceding this quote that:
But now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Cesarea to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there …Pilate was the first who brought these [pagan] images to Jerusalem and set them there …But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem (Antiquities Book XVIII, III)
In other words, though the Roman center had previously been in Cesarea, Pilate was in Jerusalem when Jesus was executed. So we have two external sources with unbiased or negative motives that corroborate the crucifixion of Jesus being under Pilate in Jerusalem. Thus we know that the Gospel writers did not fabricate this detail to make it ‘fit’ the allusion from Abraham.
Moses’ Passover Account
Similarly with the Mosaic Passover story we saw allusions pointing to the Passover as the time of year when Jesus was to be executed. For Jesus’ death to fall on that same festival by chance is slim indeed. Adding to that is that the Mosaic account tells us that this festival is a ‘sign for us’ and it comes with so many parallels to Jesus crucifixion. Did the Gospel writers fabricate this link to the Passover to make it ‘fit’ the allusion from Moses?
Jewish Talmud: External Evidence
We did not cover this particular item in the External Evidence session, but in the Jewish Talmud is preserved this statement about the execution of Jesus.
“Jesus was hanged on Passover Eve. Forty days previously the herald had cried, ‘He is being led out for stoning because he has practised sorcery and led Israel astray and enticed them into apostasy. 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” cited in FF Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins outside the New Testament. 1974 p.56
So we have, once again, hostile witnesses, that though disagreeing on the meaning of Jesus, place Jesus’ crucifixion (ie hanging) at Passover. They would be the last people to have any motive to do so because it strengthens the meaning of Jesus that they are vehemently at odds with.
So we cannot simply dismiss the fulfillment of these allusions that we looked at in Session 5 as simply fabrications on the part of the gospel writers. We have to take it seriously as history.
And that does partially address an issue that was raised when Justin asked:
The main issue at hand, I think, is the apparent impossibility of Jesus’ miracles and resurrection…can that really be addressed in this way?
In other words, how can one verify the miraculous? And we here are confronted with a strengthening case for a Divine Mind in these accounts since, using external evidence, we cannot dismiss their fulfillment simply by saying that the gospel writers made it up. These particular details are verifiable. And if there is a Divine Mind, i.e. God, then certainly miracles are possible. Now, I titled Session 5 as an ‘opening case’ because I think if there are only these two allusions it is certainly conceivable that coincidence could explain them. But it does open up a possibility that surely warrants further investigation. Are there more, even ones that are more explicit? Here is a good place to start to investigate.