Why was Jesus Crucified?

The Pre-history

© 2006 Dr. Barbara Thiering

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As a result of vast amounts of new information that have come to light, and as a result also of new means of communication on a global scale, the evidence has become available that Jesus was part of a political history. He was involved in, but was not the founder of, a major political process that gave rise to the culture of the west. His political activities, and those of the two "thieves", were the reasons for the crucifixions, which were in accordance with Roman law. There was no resurrection, nor were there any miracles.

It has been the subject of my books and of this website to present the history that may be derived from all the new sources when the pesher technique is applied. In the course of continuing the study through the Word-for-Word pesher of the book of Acts, it was seen that long passages in two chapters of Acts, chapters 7 and 13, containing what appears to be the biblical history of Abraham, Moses and David, are in fact supplying vital information about the previous political history in the 1st century BC. This is found when the special meanings of all words are taken into account, applying a criterion of rigorous consistency. The history is that of the century before Jesus, which led up to and fully accounted for his crucifixion. The information accords with a range of external documents, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls.

It is also the case that parables given in the gospels are supplying, through their pesher, more information about the same period. Exact dates are supplied in all the sources through the pesher meaning, so that it is possible to weave them all together in chronological order. The result is a precise and factual account of every event that was a pre-condition of the crucifixion of Jesus.

The application of the technique to chapters of Acts and other parts of the gospels, including the parables, gives the real causes in the intense politics of the 1st century BC, when Judaism in the Diaspora was undergoing a process of hellenisation that changed its character. It was a clash of cultures out of which Christianity finally emerged. Its rise can only be understood when this information is known.

As the analysis continued, it became apparent that all the sources - whether in Luke, Acts or the parables - had been controlled by Luke so as to set up an intended process of weaving them together so as to give a continuing chronological succession. No source repeated events at exactly the same time as another. Even when the events took place in the same year or the same month, they were at different dates in the month or at different hours.

For example, the parable of the Prodigal Son is linked by time details with passages in Acts so as to place it at the time of Judas the Galilean's uprising against Rome. Read by itself, there is apparently nothing to say that it was a history happening at any particular date, or in any particular political context. It is simply a story, with a moral point of universal application, intended for the "babes". But it additionally has a pesher.

When every word of its Greek text is taken into account, and the chronology from the solar calendar known, it links up with (Acts 5:36) on Theudas. The pesher of that verse gives a date near the December solstice, with a formula found elsewhere, always with the same meaning. It prepares for the "famine" the following March, which the calendar expert knows is in March 1 AD, the north solar intercalation year. It is the same "famine" as in (Acts 7:11), which is giving the history of Joseph the father of Jesus. These sources and several more, including the Qumran War Scroll, are capable of being brought together to give a full and factual historical account.

When it is found that all the sources work that way, drawing on the same special meanings that are found in all the books, covering a century, then proof of the case for a pesher has been given. It is not just a possible interpretation , but a solid set of facts, giving a vital and much wanted account of how Christianity came into existence.

For Reference (Pesher rules)

Notes to assist readers:

The Word-for-Word of each verse of the relevant passages is given, showing that every word, when its special meaning is known and consistently applied, gives an item in the narrative. For each verse the Greek text is given, followed by a transliteration in green, then in blue a very literal translation, often at the expense of natural English. In the blue verses words in green when pressed will show the special meaning of the term from the Lexicon as a pop-p.Words followed by RLR or SRLR are affected by the Rule of the Last Referent, explained in Rules of Pesher in For Reference above. In the red print the pesher of the verse is given fully, with additional relevant facts.

Images of Greek verses used under license from University of York, many thanks to the late Tony Fisher.