The enemies The Enemies of esus of Jesus - Enrichment Journal

InContext / MarcTurnage

The Enemies
of Jesus

Who were the opponents of
Jesus in Jerusalem and

what motivated them to
hand Him over to the Roman

Prefect Pontius Pilate?

Easter is a time when we can reflect on the tumultuous last days and hours of Jesus’life. Have you Photos.com
ever heard a sermon that proclaimed, “The crowds that cried, ‘Hosanna’ on Palm Sunday cried,
‘Crucify’ on Good Friday”? Usually the point of these sermons is to demonstrate the fickleness of disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 4:1–7), who, like their
the Jewish people and to support the mistaken idea that the Jewish people rejected Jesus. Even Master, enjoyed the favor of the Jewish masses.
though this common characterization does not agree with the testimony of the NewTestament, it
continues to be a prominent component of Christian preaching during Holy Week. Who, then, were the All of the Gospels indicate that the chief priests
opponents of Jesus in Jerusalem, and, more important, what motivated them to hand Him over to the and the officers of the temple had to arrest Jesus
Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate? under the cloak of darkness to conceal their
actions from the Jewish people (Luke 22:52).
The Gospels are clear that Jesus deliberately directed His actions against the chief priests, their scribes, Jesus pointed this out to them,“When I was with
and the Sadducean leaders during His last week in Jerusalem (Luke 19:45,46; 20:1–40). His popularity you day after day in the Temple, you did not lay
with the masses protected Him against the chief priests, led by Caiaphas, who sought to destroy Him hands on me” (Luke 22:531). Quite simply, they
(Luke 19:47,48; 20:19; 22:2). The Book of Acts likewise portrays this same group as the opponents of the
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112 enrichment / Spring 2012

could not because of His popularity with the peo- passage, their audience would fill in the unquoted Because of your (the chief priests’) corruption,
ple, which is why they needed to use the cover part. Jesus joined together Isaiah 56:7 and Jer- God is going to judge this place (the temple),
of night to hide their actions. The crowds never emiah 7:11 because of the shared appearance of and He will cut off your priesthood. From their
turned their backs on Jesus. According to Luke, the phrase “my house” (‫)ביתי‬.2 He assumed His response in the Gospels, they clearly under-
on seeing the Romans brutalize Jesus, the crowds audience (the chief priests) would fill in the fuller stood His message. Due to His popularity with
mourned what happened to Him (23:27,48). context of Jeremiah 7. the people, He was a threat they needed to
At the beginning of Jesus’ last week in Jeru- Jeremiah 7 contains Jeremiah’s prophecy remove.
salem, He arrived with the crowds of Jewish pil- against the First Temple in which he highlighted An interesting parallel to Jesus’ mes-
grims, riding a wave of popularity and redemptive the corruption of the people and their arrogance sage appears in an anonymous saying after
anticipation (Matthew 21:1–9; Mark 11:1–10; in believing that because they had the temple, the destruction of the Second Temple by the
Luke 19:28–40; John 12:12–19). According to God would not allow anyone to destroy Jerusa- Romans in A.D. 70: “On what account was Shiloh
the Synoptic Gospels, in the wake of His popu- lem and its temple. In other words, the existence destroyed? Because of the disgraceful disposition
larity, Jesus entered the Jerusalem temple and of the temple in Jerusalem provided them with of the holy things that were there. As to Jeru-
challenged the corruption of the chief priests the“God in a box”or the ultimate trump card. salem’s first building (i.e., the First Temple), on
who oversaw the sale of sacrifices and financial
activities of the temple (Luke 19:45). Jesus did

His popularity among the masses gave gravity to HisnotdirectHisactionsagainstthetempleitself;in

fact, He never rejected the temple, as evidenced

condemnation by the chief priests.by the actions of His followers after His death
and resurrection. They continued to frequent
the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 24:53; Acts 3:1; Jeremiah reminded the people about what what account was it destroyed? Because of the
21:26). His actions were specifically against the God did to His former place in Shiloh where the idolatry and licentiousness and bloodshed which
sellers (Luke 19:45). He quoted a passage from tabernacle and ark of the covenant resided after was in it. But [as to] the latter (i.e., the Second
Isaiah and one from Jeremiah,“My house shall be the Israelites came into the land: “Go now to my Temple) we know that they devoted themselves
‘a house of prayer,’but you have made it‘a den of place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name to Torah and were meticulous about tithes. On
robbers’”(Luke 19:46). dwell at first … therefore I will do to the house what account did they go into exile? Because
Quite often Jewish sages preached sermons that is called by My name, in which you trust … they loved money and hated one another” (t.
simply by the creative manner in which they com- just what I did to Shiloh” (Jeremiah 7:12–14). Menahot 13:22; cf. y. Yoma 1:1; and Leviticus Rab-
bined biblical quotations. Because they knew the Although the Bible never mentions it, earlier in bah 21:9). As in Jesus’message, the three sanctu-
Bible by heart (as did their audience), they used Israel’s history Shiloh was destroyed. Excavations aries — Shiloh and the First and Second Temples
common language between passages to con- at Shiloh have confirmed this. Perhaps Shiloh’s and their destructions — are connected. The
nect them together. Also, they could assume that, destruction took place in connection with the cause for the destruction of the Second Temple
even though they did not quote the entirety of the loss of the ark when the Israelites fought the is connected with the financial corruption of the
Philistines at Ebene- chief priests in Jerusalem.
zer (1 Samuel 4). The The chief priests of Jerusalem in the first cen-
©2012 George B. Abbott Israelites also thought tury A.D. controlled a monopoly. They set the

they had“God in a box” prices for the sacrifices, which most pilgrims
with the ark (1 Samuel had to pay since they could not easily bring their
4:4,5). Yet, because of sacrifices from a distance. In fact, we hear of epi-
their disobedience and sodes where the prices of the sacrifices were so
the corruption of the high that the people could not participate in the
priesthood of Eli and temple festivals. Pharisaic leaders rebuked the
his sons, they lost the chief priests for their greed (b. Baba Batra 3b-4a;
ark and more impor- m. Kerithoth 1:7). Archaeological excavations in
tant, God cut off Eli Jerusalem have uncovered high priestly homes
and his sons from the and attest to the opulent and lavish lifestyle in
priesthood. which these priests lived.
Jesus’ fragmentary Ancient first-century sources also describe
citation of Jeremiah their wealth and the corruption their greed fos-
7:11 would have tered within them: “Now the high priest Ananias
caused His audience to was advancing day by day in prestige and was
“You can always tell when someone tries to take it with him make that connection. being ever more lauded and honored by the
— he brings his lawyer along.” They clearly under- citizens. For he was a‘supplier’of money. Indeed,
stood His message: every day he was treating the high priest and

enrichment Spring 2012 113

The Enemies of Jesus (continuedfrompage113)

Procurator Albinus to gifts. In addition, he had Josephus relates a story of Jesus, the son of upon his words” (Luke 19:48). The greed of a
slaves, utterly depraved, who joined forces with Ananias, who 4 years before the war (c. A.D. 62) small group who needed the cloak of darkness
the most insolent men. They would go to the stood in the temple and cried out, “A voice from to cover up their clandestine activities from the
threshing floors and take the tithes meant for the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the sight of the people motivated what happened to
the priests by force and beat any who resisted. four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the Jesus (cf. Luke 22:52,53; Acts 5:27,28). They used
The high priests were practicing the same things sanctuary, a voice against the bridegroom and their power to ensure His death (cf. Luke 22:66;
as their slaves and no one could restrain them. the bride (cf. Jeremiah 7:34)” (War 6:300-309). 23:10,13,21; John 19:6). Their desire to retain
As a result of this, it happened that some of The chief priests and the elders of the people their power and wealth drove the chief priests
the priests who had formerly been fed from the arrested this Jesus and brought him before the to hand Jesus over to Pilate. Unfortunately, they
tithes died for lack of food”(Josephus, Antiquities Roman governor, who had this troublemaker are not alone in human history in perpetrating
20:205–207). flayed to the bone with scourges. Clearly, reli- heinous actions motivated by a lust for money
gious authorities did not perceive Jesus, the son and power.
Josephus’ picture of the chief priests and the of Ananias, as the same kind of threat that ear-
action of their slaves parallels the actions of lier religious authorities had concerning Jesus of MARC TURNAGE, director,
these figures against Jesus, who sought through Nazareth.
brutal violence to protect their wealth and power Center for Holy Lands Studies for
(cf. Mark 14:43). During His last week, Jesus Many among the Jews in Jesus’ day hoped The General Council of the
publically condemned the corruption of the chief that He was the promised Redeemer (cf. Luke Assemblies of God, Springfield,
priests (Luke 19:46; 20:9–19) and linked their 24:21). His popularity among the masses gave Missouri
corruption to the coming destruction of Jerusa- gravity to His condemnation by the chief priests.
lem and its temple. They had to kill Him lest Caiaphas and the other Notes
chief priests lose their position and wealth (John 1. All verses are author’s translation.
Jesus was not alone in His critique of the 11:49,50). 2. The Septuagint of Jeremiah 7:11 reads,“Has my house
chief priests. Other prophetic figures in the first
century condemned their corruption and pre- It is a tragedy of Christian history that some (ὁ οἶκός μου)…”reflecting the Hebrew ‫ ביתי‬as opposed
dicted the destruction of the temple because lay the blame for the death of Jesus at the feet to the reading of the Masoretic text: ‫הבית הזה‬.
of it. of the Jewish people, many of whom “hung