Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition (37 page)

Whereupon Eleazar besought them not to disregard him, now he was going to suffer a most miserable death, and exhorted them to save themselves, by yielding to the Roman power and good fortune, since they now conquered all other people.

These men were greatly moved with what he said, there being also many within the city that interceded for him, because he was of an eminent and very numerous family;

so they now yielded to their passion of commiseration, contrary to their usual custom. Accordingly, they sent out immediately certain messengers, and treated with the Romans, in order to surrender the citadel to them, and desired that they might be permitted to go away, and take Eleazar along with them.

Then did the Romans and their general accept of these terms …

… Bassus thought he must perform the covenant he had made with those that had surrendered, he let them go, and restored Eleazar to them.
¹²⁶

The famous depiction of the siege of Masada is also part of this satirical theme. Its elements are:

LOCATION:  Masada

1. Herodian fort

2. Eleazar

3. Not surrendering leads to suicide

… This fortress was called Masada.

It was one Eleazar, a potent man, and the commander of these Sicarii that had seized upon it. He was a descendant from that Judas who had persuaded abundance of the Jews, as we have formerly related, not to submit to the taxation when Cyrenius was sent into Judea to make one …

Wars of the Jews,
7, 8, 252-253

Finally, Josephus records his last story about “Eleazar”; this time he is located in Rome. Although included in the
Antiquities of the Jews
, we can be certain that the event occurred in Rome because Josephus states that the event occurred in the presence of Vespasian’s sons—notice the plural. Since Domitian did not travel to Judea, this fact establishes that the event took place after Titus had returned to Rome. In the passage, Eleazar is using a magic root to remove demons from captives. Its elements within the satire are:

LOCATION:  Rome

1. Eleazar

2. Magic Root

3. Demons cannot pass through water

… for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this:

He put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils …

And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man …
¹²⁷

To begin the interpretation of the root and branch satire, I would note that all the passages above involve a character named “Eleazar.” In the passages that occur at Herodian, Macherus, Masada, and Rome, Josephus names the character overtly. In the case of the “young man” who was “carried away” at the Mount of Olives, I have already shown the puzzle that leads to this conclusion. The crucified man who survived at Thecoa and the “magical root” of Baaras are also part of the satirical system regarding Eleazar. This is an example of the same motif that I discussed previously regarding the various Marys and Simons. In other words, all the Eleazars are part of a single satirical element.

The passages work together to create a story describing the Roman capture of the messianic root of the Jews—Eleazar—and then their “pruning” of him and transforming him into Jesus, the demon-dispelling, pro-Roman Messiah.

The parallel that indicates that Eleazar is the “root” is quite overt. The reader must recall the method by which Josephus states someone may capture the magic root baaras—that is, the “Son”—without killing himself: “ … it is certain death to those that touch it, unless any one take and hang the root itself down from his hand, and so carry it away.”

This is the precise, and implausible, method used by Pedanius to procure Eleazar on the Mount of Olives:

… so low did Pedanius bend himself downward from his horse … and so great was the strength of his right hand … So this man seized upon that his prey, as upon a precious treasure, and carried him as his captive to Caesar.

Notice the parallel language “down,” “hand,” and “carried away.”

As his depiction of the “magic root” does, Josephus’ preposterous description of Pedanius’ capture of the “certain young man” on the Mount of Olives stretches credulity. This literary device alerts the reader that the tales are not literal history and that, therefore, he or she should look for another type of meaning. In this instance, the parallel methods by which they are captured identifies, metaphorically, that Eleazar is, like baaras, a dangerous “root.” This identification is also facilitated by the name of the root—baaras—which means “son.” Further, the satirical capture by Pedanius of the Jewish Messiah, who is the “root” to the messianic rebels, contributes to the overall satirical theme and the wit. Because Pedanius was the Romans’ most renowned root specialist, he would have been, of course, the one chosen to handle such a dangerous one.

The meaning of the tale of the “magic root” of baaras within the root and branch satire is also easy to understand. It documents the existence of a metaphorical “root” that had the power to remove demons—obviously the Jesus of the New Testament, the only individual in history with such power. The Romans would graft this demon-dispelling “root” onto Eleazar once they had “pruned” him, thereby transforming the “root” that had infected so many with a demonic spirit into one that had the power to remove demons.

Parallels also indicate that the individual who survived his crucifixion at Thecoa was the Messiah. This individual would have been a “Christ” because, like his “type” in the New Testament, he was the sole survivor among three crucified men. The two must be among the few individuals in history to have survived a crucifixion.

Further, a “Joseph of Arimathea” arranged for both survivors to be taken down from the cross. This is to say that the last names of the two Josephs—“Josephus Bar Matthias” and “Joseph of Arimathea”—are homophonically similar. “Arimathea” is an obvious play on Josephus’ last name, “Bar Matthias,” which is quite similar to the “Iscariot/Sicarii” pun noted above. The Gospel of Barnabas, a noncanonical Gospel from the middle ages, does not even bother with this word play and states that the name of the individual who took Jesus down from the cross was “Joseph of Barimathea.” “Joseph of Arimathea” is also identified as the “type” of Josephus bar Matthias by his job description—counsellor. (Luke 23:50)

The individual who survived his crucifixion at Thecoa is also linked to the Eleazar captured on the Mount of Olives by the physician Pedanius, in that Josephus states that it was a physician who restored him to life. Pedanius was the physician who accompanied Titus to Judea and therefore would have been the physician at Thecoa. Finally, the Eleazar who committed suicide at the fortress Herodian, had pitched camp at Thecoe previously, and had thus answered the question Josephus asked about whether Thecoe was a “fit place to camp.”

The name of the place where the crucifixion occurred—Thecoa—is also part of the satirical system. Thecoa, or Theo Coeus, is the name of the Roman god of the questioning intellect. The point being made here is that the irrational Jewish Messiah was taken to the place of a discerning or questioning intellect. There he was, as Titus ordered, “pruned” and, as Paul described, “grafted onto” with a new “root,” and was thus transformed into a Messiah deemed rational by the Romans.

Knowing that the “magic root” was named Eleazar, as was the man who survived his crucifixion at Thecoa, and knowing the time sequence in which these events took place, enables the reader to perceive the satire that all the passages work together to create.

The Eleazar captured by Pedanius on the Mount of Olives is taken to Thecoa, where he is “hung on a tree”—that is crucified—and, as Titus has ordered, “pruned.” The botanist and physician Pedanius then grafts the magic root of baaras or “son” onto him. This process transforms Eleazar from a “root” that causes the Jews to be possessed by a demonic spirit into the “root” that dispels demons. Eleazar has become Jesus.

Once this Eleazar has been satirically pruned and grafted onto at Thecoa, he is “given back” to the Jews at Macherus. In this way the Romans introduce a “tame,” or domesticated, plant into a field of wild ones to decrease the wildness of later generations. Of note is the fact that, at this point, the satire takes the story of Jesus beyond the story line of the Gospels and begins to describe the implementation of Christianity by the Romans. This satirical introduction of the domesticated “Jesus” takes place in the passage that immediately follows the description of the “magic root.” In that passage the Roman general Bassus seeks to make the Jews inside the Herodian fortress Macherus surrender by threatening to crucify Eleazar in front of them. Those Jews who “accept these terms” are permitted to survive and Bassus then restores “Eleazar”—obviously, the Eleazar “carried away” at the Mount of Olives and treated by the physician at Thecoa—to them and they go on their way. In other words, those Jews who accept the tamed Messiah and his pro-Roman doctrines are allowed to live.

At Masada, however, another Eleazar, a parallel to the Eleazar at Herodian, refuses to surrender and commits suicide. The point is that refusal to surrender and accept the new Judaism is tantamount to suicide. With this Eleazar’s death, Josephus is also terminating the “root” and “branch” of the Maccabean lineage so that it will not compete against the “domesticated” messianic lineage newly established by Rome.

Josephus concludes the “root and branch” satire with the description of yet another Eleazar, one who performs exorcisms at Rome. This Eleazar uses the “magic root” to pull demons out of captives, clearly indicating captured messianic Jews. This image represents a complete victory for the Roman “homeopathic” approach over the problem of the messianic “root” that caused Jews to be possessed by “demons.”

The “root” that caused the Jewish rebels to be infected has been domesticated by Pedanius and can therefore now be used to cure them of the disease it brought about. This image is both the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi—which foresees that the wicked will be left with no “branch” or “root”—and the conclusion of the satire that began in the New Testament concerning the “root.”

Further, the passage concludes the black comedy theme regarding the inability of demons to pass through water, which began in the demons of Gadara passage above and ends here with the demonic spirit knocking over the basin full of water as it leaves the prisoners. These prisoners were the 2,000 rebels who were captured at Gadara. Being demonically possessed, they could not pass through water and therefore did not drown. As the demon leaves them, it concludes the wry joke by knocking over the water basin.

The passage is also Josephus’ last depiction of the “domesticated” Christ that the Romans created and it provides us with their vision of his future. He is at Rome, working for the imperial family by calming the rebellious, just as he has been for the last 2,000 years.

CHAPTER 9
 
Until All Is Fulfilled

I have shown that elements of Jesus’ ministry, when viewed as a whole, can be seen as a prophetic outline of Titus’ military campaign through Judea. In fact, the New Testament and
Wars of the Jews
create a number of other “ prophecies and fulfillments” that can be seen as part of this satiric system. Many of Jesus’ eschatological, or doomsday, prophecies are presented in Matthew 21 through 25.

I will begin the analysis of the relationship between the New Testament doomsday prophecies and Titus’ campaign by first citing a passage from
Wars of the Jews.
The passage contains a number of parallels with the New Testament that are historically famous, as well as one of the two lampoons of the New Testament’s Jesus that are arranged like bookends around Josephus’ description of the destruction of the temple. The other of these two “bookend” lampoons is the passage describing the son of Mary whose flesh was eaten, which I have discussed previously. Because Jesus used the “temple” as a self-designation, and compared his destruction to the destruction of a temple, juxtaposing these two lampoons with the destruction of the temple is audacious.

The two lampoons of Jesus literally “touch” the chapter that describes the temple’s destruction. In the Whiston translation of
Wars of the Jews
, which I cite throughout this work, there are only eleven pages of text between the “Son of Mary whose flesh was eaten” passage and the passage that contains the character that I refer to below as the “woe-saying Jesus.” This woe-saying Jesus, who is a clear lampoon of the New Testament’s Jesus, was himself recorded by Josephus as one of the “signs” that preceded the destruction of the temple.

The signs recorded by Josephus as having preceded the destruction of Jerusalem caused many early church scholars to believe that the signs Jesus foresaw in Matthew 23 and 24 had come to pass. The parallels that exist between Jesus’ and Josephus’ lists of signs have been known since the beginning of Christianity. As Hippolytus wrote (circa 200 C.E.),