Why Jews Can't Believe in Jesus

III. Trial and Error

The story most central to the Christian Bible is the trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. As noted above, the prophets anticipated only a general resurrection of the righteous, not one limited to the messiah, so I won't address that further here. But the N.T.'s account of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus greatly conflicts with what the Torah and Talmud tell us about the Jewish system of legal juris prudence at the time of the Second Temple.

A. Background: the Jewish legal system during the Second Temple

As a starter, you should have some background into some relevant fundamentals of the Jewish legal system in effect during the Second Temple.

1. First: No trials of any kind were held on any day but Mondays and Thursdays, which were market days and ensured the highest chance that witnesses could be found and available. (In addition, it was believed that those are the days when G-d's holy court was in session.) Furthermore, no trial could be held on a Jewish festival such as the first or last day of Passover. Source: Talmud tractate Moed Katan 16a.

2. Second: Jewish law requires (then and now) that a person accused of a capital crime be convicted only if (a) two valid witnesses come forward and testify that the accused was warned that doing X would result in the death penalty; and (b) two valid witnesses testified that after the warning, the accused violated the law anyway. A false witness was liable to the same punishment as would have been given to the accused -- hence a strong deterrent against perjury. Moreover, a defendant could not be convicted on his own testimony. These are fundamental principles you'll find in the Torah itself. E.g. Deut. 16:6

3. Third: When one stands accused of a capital crime, a towncryer was to go out through the community and announce that so-and-so was accused of such and such and is being tried at such and such time. In addition, the towncryer was to also announce that any witnesses favorable to the defendant should step forward to the Sanhedrin. This was not a short process and could not be done in a single day. Source: Talmud tractate Sanhedrin.

4. Fourth: Execution was only permitted by four methods under Torah law: stoning, burning, beheading and strangulation. These are the words used in the translation, but the Talmud explains that "burning" required that the convicted felon drink a liquid metal that would kill him immediately, and that beheading did not mean literally to remove the head, but merely severage of the windpipe and the artery to the brain, resulting in immediate death also. The Talmud taught that these methods were all designed to limit disfigurement of the body and result in rapid death with limited pain. Source Talmud tractate Sanhedrin, among other places. In tractate Yevamos 120b there is discussion of crucifixion as a strictly Roman practice. Furthermore, it was taught that if a person testified (on behalf of a widow seeking proof of her husband's death) that so and so was crucified, but he did not actually see the body after death, then there is no proof of death as people had been known to survive cruicifixion.

5. Fifth: The Torah strictly prohibits a body of an executed criminal from being hung out for view past nightfall. Deut. 21:22-24. Furthermore, it would be prohibited to transport a body through a public area to a private area (such as a cave) on the Sabbath. Talmud Tractate Shabbos.

6. And sixth: The death penalty was carried out rarely in Israel. According to Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, if an execution occurred more than once in seventy years, that court would be considered "murderous tribunal." Mishna Makkos 1:10. Besides the issue of a stigma on the court, executions were rare because of the high standards of evidence required for a conviction. To put this in context, Texas, this year alone, executed 40 prisoners.

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