Did the Cohen Godol at the time of Jesus' Crusification actually advocate Cesear Augustus for his death?

Question

First I'm Jewish but listened to a Christmas Program on TV about Jesus' Crusification. It did a dramatization of the New Testament where the "high priest" was advocating for Jesus' demise where the Roman ruler, Cesear Augustus wanted to free him.

This can't be accurate for several reasons. The high priest (Cohen Godol) would be a man of the highest purity in order to be able to enter the holy of holies (the inner sanctum where the Ark of the Covenent was kept). Such a man would NEVER advocate for the death of a fellow Jew before a Roman Emperor, no matter how eccentric he was. What the New Testament says is that this man did Evil Speech (Lashon Hara) of the worst kind. He would lose his place in the world to come no matter how lofty his position. Such a sin would cause his instant death the next time he approched G-d's holy ark. In Judaism to perform such an evil act would allow for no redemption and he would simply die with his reward "oblivion".

Answer 1

It was Pilate who asked, do you want me to crucify your king?
And the High priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.

Answer 2

firstly: tiberius was caesar at the time of the crucifixion. augustus was long dead.

secondly: an army of occupation does not get pushed around by the local church. the roman army in jerusalem would no more do what the sadducees wanted than the us army in baghdad would submit to a shiite agenda.

it is possible that the sadducees might have been implicated in betraying jesus to the roman administration (it is just as possible that they were not). but once jesus was in pilate's hands it was rome calling the shots.

roman justice regularly crucified revolutionary leaders, and suspected revolutionary leaders. spartacus was crucified for reasons similar to jesus. there is no need to suppose any particular jewish involvement need have taken place, and every reason for suspecting that caiaphas is demonised in the gospels mainly because the authors of the gospels were anti-semitic.

Answer 3

As I understand from what I know of who the Sanhedrin were (and I actually found out) they were not quite how they are portrayed in Christianity.

The New Testament, I would say, gives a description of them that only highlights negative aspects of who they were. The gospels were written to people who had a cultural contextual understanding of who these men were, whereas modern Christians don't.
When I read up on the Sanhedrin, I was quite surprised. Not because the New Testament is wrongor inaccurate; I just perceived what was said about them in a different light.

To answer your question though... To my knowledge the Caesar had no knowledge or interest in the death of a local who was considered a prophet.

The Sanhedrin believed that Yeshua the Nazarene was teaching heresies; leading people away from the true law of Moses, leading them into an apostate Judaism.
They had a different sabbatarian standard; Yeshua said it was lawful to do good works on sabbath that alleviated the pain and discomfort of others, whereas the Sanhedrin perceived this to be a desecration of sabbath.
Yeshua the Nazarene had claimed that he was the bread of heaven, that following him was the only true means of salvation.
HE had taken a whip to people in the temple, because he said that they were making a mockery of the Holy house of Adonai.

In the eyes of the Sanhedrin, he was a blasphemer, and by their understanding of the Law of Moses, he needed to be put to death for his blasphemies and desecrations.
They probably felt that if his teachings continued, there would come a divergant branch of Judaism, and the future of the faith to which their lives were dedicated, the sanctity of the Torah, could be forever damaged by his movement.

They did not have the authority under Roman rule to put a man to death. They had no judicial autonomy. The only way they could bring about the sentence was to appeal to Pontius Pilate, who was the governor.

The accusation they brought against him before Pilate was that he was instigating a rebellion against the Caesar; he himself told Pilate that he was not setting himself up as an earthly king, but his kingdom and business were spiritual in nature. That if he had been setting himself up as an earthly king, his followers would have fought the Roman legions to set him free. For this reason Pilate said there was no cause for execution. He did not care about the charges of blasphemy and desecration; they were not his concern.

You must understand; in the minds of the Sanhedrin, they were not betraying a fellow Jew before a gentile judicial system; they were punishing blasphemy that struck to the very heart of Judaism as they understood it, and preserving the future of the faith that it was their birthright and sworn duty to protect.
The execution of a false prophet was something that they believed justified. They believed they were doing it for God, doing it for the faith that they loved with their very lives.

Now, you may or may not agree with their perception; but this is why, I believe, Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing". He knew what the motives of their hearts were; that they believed they were acting righteously.
Hope that answers your question.

Answer 4

Have you ever heard the saying, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" ?

A Cohen Godol could be corrupt just as there have been corrupt Popes in the Catholic Church. (I am a faithful Catholic, by the way.)

We believe that the high priest and a good number of the Pharisees at the time of Jesus were corrupt. In our Scriptures, Jesus even condemns them for their corruption.

To understand this further, one must understand also the political climate of the time. Israel had been conquered by the Romans. However, unlike many other peoples the Romans had conquered, these Jewish people gave the Romans some headaches! One example: ALL subject peoples had to spend some time in the military (the men, anyway). However, the Jews would rather lay down their weapons and be slaughtered because they would not fight on the Sabbath. Rome, in its wisdom (which is how it became such a great conquerer), decided "We can't tax them if they're dead! We will exempt them from military service." Another example: In other conquered territories, the Romans would come in and hang their flags, etc., with no objections. In Israel, however, this resulted in mass riots because of the Jews' concern about the making of idols since the image of Caesar was on the Roman flags and Caesar considered himself a god. Once again, the Romans were forced to remove such things, especially anywhere near the Temple.

The leaders (High Priest, Pharisees, Saducees) of the Jewish people of the time recognized the value of keeping the status quo, uneasy as it may have been. They were also beneficiaries. They were not like the starving masses, but lived a comfortable life. They did not have to work by the sweat of their brow as did the common laborer. They were haughty. They were proud. And they had no plans on upsetting their proverbial apple cart. Since the followers of Jesus were ready to proclaim Him Messiah and King, which He rightly is, the Jewish leaders sought to get rid of Him.

They denounced Him, illegally tried Him in the middle of the night (against their own laws), did not have even two witnesses who agreed (again, against their own laws), and to ensure that the Romans would carry out the deed of crucifixion, accused Him of subverting the people, instead of the supposed crime of blasphemy (which the Roman governor didn't give a hoot about).

When you hear or read or imagine that Christians think of Jews as "Christ-killers" - we do not. We do not look at our Jewish friends, co-workers or in-laws as Christ-killers. If you ask, "Who was responsible for Jesus' death?" however, the correct answer is "the Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus".

Anyone's denying it won't make it any less true.

The historical, physical, human Jesus was and is G-d Himself who lowered Himself to be born among us, fully human yet still fully G-d, to redeem fallen, sinful humanity. The first sin, and all sin, is an offense against G-d, and who can atone to a god but a god? Therefore, who could possibly atone to G-d but G-d Himself? The Jewish religion even proves this because every single year, a lamb would be offered in sacrifice as an atonement for sin. If this was truly an atonement for sin, it would not have to be done year after year.

The Scriptures promised not only a Messiah (read the prophets, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah), but an atonement (the verse that comes to mind is the last line of the 18th chapter of Ezekiel). That Messiah, that atonement, was born in the person of Jesus, the Word of the eternal G-d.

Again, you can choose not to believe in Jesus as your Messiah -- this won't change the fact that He is.

You can choose to believe that Jesus is not G-d -- this won't change the fact that He is, and you will see Him one day crowned in majesty and glory.

The fate of the Cohen Godol at the time of Jesus? Only G-d knows. However, it is recorded in our Scriptures that, as High Priest, he uttered the most profound of prophesies. He said, while discussing how they would arrest Jesus, that "It is better for one man to die for the good of the people than that the whole nation perish?"

And that is exactly what Jesus did. He died for all humanity so that we would not perish in hell.

Answer 5

the christian new testament is FULL of antisemetic lies about Judaism and the jewish people. This was done on purpose, to turn people from following and learning from the Jews, and to keep them following the church (along with their money and property).

Don't pay a bit of attention to anything the new testament teaches about the God of Israel, the Messiah (they have twisted the concept beyond recognition), the Jews, Judaism, or anything else.

Go here to these Jewish websites and learn about who the Jewish Messiah really is and what he is to do, according to the Torah as God gave on Mt. Sinai:


http://www.aish.com/spirituality/philoso...

http://www.messiahtruth.com/response.html

http://ohr.edu/ask/ask00j.htm

http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/fa...

http://www.beingjewish.com/toshuv/whynot...

http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=1...

http://www.jewsforjudaism.org

Answer 6

Good point. A whole lot of those people were demon possessed. totally. You don't lie a man to a death sentence if you have a shred of human decency.

Answer 7

the person that wanted to free Christ was pontius pilate. He was Ceasers procurator and law keeper.

Answer 8

don't believe everything you see on tv

Answer 9

yes it is true that is why it is considered a conspiracy