The Bridge between Christian Beginnings and Jewish Rebirth
Gophna and Josephus
Josephus1 tells a story involving a group of priests
who defect to Titus and are given Roman protection and temporarily housed in the small town
of Gophna. Titus promised the priests to respect their religion and that when the war was
over he would settle them permanently with their property. This was most likely the group of
priests, possibly including Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples, who were finally settled
at Jamnia by the Flavians.
Some also there were who, watching a proper opportunity when they might quietly get away,
fled to the Romans, of whom were the high priests Joseph and Jesus, and of the sons of
high priests three, whose father was Ishmael, who was beheaded in Cyrene, and four sons of
Matthias, as also one son of the other Matthias, who ran away after his father's death,
and whose father was slain by Simon the son of Gioras, with three of his sons, as I have
already related; many also of the other nobility went over to the Romans, together with
the high priests.
Now Caesar [Titus] not only received these men very kindly in other respects, but, knowing
they would not willingly live after the customs of other nations, he sent them to Gophna,
and desired them to remain there for the present, and told them, that when he was gotten
clear of this war, he would restore each of them to their possessions again; so they
cheerfully retired to that small city which was allotted them, without fear of any
danger." [Jewish War, 6 2 2]
The Flavians did not give away their favours cheaply. What they needed was a
non-nationalistic, peaceful and controllable Judaism. These rabbis were the men to do this
for the Flavians, in exchange for their lives. The academy went through the Scriptures and
edited them to suit their masters. Excepting the modern Zionist movement, this is the
Judaism of today,
Jamnia and Beyond
Here are many Jewish legends about the evolution of their post-temple religion. These are
found in the Talmud and Haggadah. With minor variations the story goes like this:
During the siege of Jerusalem in the summer of 70 CE a Jewish priest, the deputy head of
the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee named Johanan (Jochanan) ben Zakkai defected to the Romans. It is
written that he communicated to the Roman camp, via arrowmail, that he was a "Friend of
Vespasian" and wished to come over. The Romans gave him a promise of safe conduct, if
he could get out of the strife-torn city.
Rabbi Johanan devised a scheme, with the assistance of a relative who was in charge of a
gate, to be carried out of Jerusalem in a coffin. This deception was needed because none but
the dead were allowed out of the city. His disciples, with permission, carried their master
out to the cemetery and placed the coffin in a burial cave. Later, at night, Rabbi ben
Zakkai got out of the coffin and made his way to the Roman camp, where he was welcomed.
The Rabbi then has an interview with Vespasian (sic), the commander of the siege. During
the interview Rabbi ben Zakkai gives Vespasian a prophecy, very similar to the story told by
Josephus, that he would soon become emperor (sic). He was taken into the camp to await the
outcome of the war. Then Vespasian becomes emperor, fulfilling ben Zakkai's prophecy. After
the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple the Rabbi was rewarded.
Vespasian allotted Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples, who had also defected or
somehow survived the destruction, a place of refuge in the coastal town of Jamnia. This
little town was on the main road along the Mediterranean sea, the Via Maris. There, under
Roman protection and, perhaps guidance, the rabbis founded an academy for the study of the
Jewish Scriptures, which gained the nomenclature The Vineyard. This name either came from
the fact that the academy was actually set up in an old vineyard, or because the students
sat in rows like planted grape-vines. Either way, the members of this academy were the roots
of modern Judaism.
Rabbi ben Zakkai had some able followers to assist in the teaching. Legend has it that
amongst others, they included Akiba ben Joseph (50-135), Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Ishmael the
'Priest' (60-140), Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Meir (110-175). There were also learned women like
Bruria, Rabbi Meir's wife, who was the foremost authority on Halakhah or the
explanation of the Laws. Even the servant-girl of Judah Ha-Nasi could explain the meaning of
obscure Hebrew words. They were later joined by Gamaliel II (Nasi) of the House of David,
who took over from Rabbi ben Zakkai as head of the academy. He was recognised as Patriarch
by the emperor.
Thus the 'House of David – Branch of Jesse' 'ruled' the Jews through to the third
century from Galilee. This was supported by the authorities with grants of Imperial land. It
was this group of scholars who founded modern Judaism and settled the canon of what became
the Hebrew 'Old Testament'.
The Talmud purports to record some of the debate which went on as they decided which
books to include and exclude from the canon. Much of the discussion is profound, some
trivial. For instance there was much opposition to including the three books, Ecclesiastes,
Esther and Song of Songs. The one which caused the most discussion was Song of Songs. Many
wanted to exclude it because of its obvious erotic nature, but the allegorists won the day
and it made it into the canon by a spiritual reading. However, with typical Jewish
compromise they had arrived at a decision after a few years and the Hebrew Bible - minus the
revolutionary Maccabees - was set in Flavian concrete, as it were.
The Jewish canon, with this one exception, was set between 70 and 100 CE; which is also
when the Christian Gospels were written. The canons of both religions were completed at the
same time and remain basically the same to this day. The Hebrew canon is our prime example
of how this came about. Its canon was set by the academy of tame Jewish scholars at Jamnia -
under the Flavian favour, protection and guidance. This is the official canon which could
not be altered without official approval. It was Authorised.
The Flavian academy at Jamnia continued for sixty years to be the centre of Jewish
learning. They set all the important calendar dates for the lunar feasts which varied from
solar year to solar year. They also responded to questions about Jewish Law sent to them
from communities around the world. Their authority was respected not only throughout the
Roman world but also as far away as Babylon.
When the second Jewish war broke out, the rabbis first went underground and later were
relocated to a small town in western Galilee near Mt. Carmel, opposite Nazareth, which was
named Usha. One rabbi, Akiba, had joined the Bar Kochba revolt and was tortured before
execution for his breach of faith. The others remained faithful to the Romans and lived
under Roman protection and guidance. The academy remained in Galilee until the end of the
fourth century, though its location was moved over the years to Bet Shearim, Tiberius,
Caesarea and Lydda. The academy was given Imperial land grants by the Flavians. This was
probably granted from the deceased Herod Agrippa II’s Galilean estates.
One of the first things the Flavians did upon gaining power was to regulate or found
academies of learning. In other words – by the appointments to the chairs and payments of
the salaries to the professors in Rome, Athens, Alexandria and other centres of learning,
the Flavians controlled education and, to a large extent, people's minds.
That they also founded and endowed the definitive Jewish academy is not unexpected. The
scholars of the Jamnian academy were in constant contact with the Romans, who undoubtedly
advised them how far they could go in their teaching – as the Flavians did with all other
academies.
The most important head of the academy in its Galilee period was a friend of the ruling
Emperors, Judah Ha-Nasi, or Judah the Prince ('ruled' 135-217). He was also called 'Rabbi'
or 'Teacher', because of his great learning. The son of Gamaliel II, he was of the Royal
house of David, through his great-grandfather Hillel the Babylonian (60 BCE-10 CE).
He ruled like a real prince of David, with bodyguards and sumptuous court, which only
admitted learned men and women. Judah HaNasi used to say that: "it is the unlearned who
bring trouble into the world". He was reputed to have been close friends with the
Antonine Emperors, as was his father. He ruled from the end of the second to the beginning
of the third centuries and figures in many Jewish legends.
As Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and Gamaliel II presided over the setting of the canon of the
Hebrew Scriptures, so Rabbi Meir organised the Mishna and Judah Ha-Nasi completed the
basis of the Talmud. Thus by the end of the second century modern Judaism was
formulated under the friendly Roman rule and influence (excepting part of Hadrian's reign).
Aqulia, a Greek scholar from Sinope in the Pontus, was commissioned to translate, with
exact literalness, the Hebrew canon into Greek. Alas, this 'Quila' Greek version of the
early Hebrew canon has completely disappeared, except for some fragments embedded in the
later Fathers.
After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Jamnian rabbis had to reconstitute
not only the Jewish Scriptures but also its worship. They had to abandon the Temple,
Sanhedrin, State, Warfare and History. To replace the Temple they had Torah, for the
Sanhedrin the Academy, for the State the Commonwealth of Jews, in place of warfare they now
had 'internal spiritual struggle' and instead of History they turned to interpretation or
exegesis.
The rabbis retained many of the important Passover became a celebration of survivors.
Tabernacles was of necessity without the Temple (as it had been all along). Chanukkah
was a problem: celebrated the cleansing of the Temple after the victorious Jewish revolt
against the Greeks and it became a 'festival of lights'. There was much confusion in later
Judaism about exactly what they were celebrating. Anyhow, the Christians soon took over the
'festival of lights' concept for Christmas and its original significance was by and large
forgotten.
This was all accomplished under the guidance of the Flavians and their immediate
successors between 70 and 132 CE. One result of this Flavian censorship was that the book
recording the successful Maccabean revolt against the Selecuid Greeks, was excluded from the
Hebrew canon as being possibly inflammatory as it might encourage further sedition.
This is also shown in the English translations of the Bible where the Books of the
Maccabees are relegated to the Apocrypha. The Flavians had tight control over all literature
as a matter of policy and they certainly would have been very careful with this religious
canon. They virtually remade Judaism in their own image. The rabbinic Judaism we have today
was created at Jamnia by the Flavians.
There are many problems with the Johanan ben Zakkai story, not the least being that
Vespasian was not actually present at the siege of Jerusalem,. His son Titus (of the same
name) was the commander. Secondly, when Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai escaped from the siege, in
the summer of 70 CE, to promise the Emperorship to Vespasian, Vespasian was already Emperor!
These and other inconsistencies can never be sorted out because of lack of reliable
evidence.
Jamnian Jews and Kabbala
Not only Orthodox Judaism claims Jamnian/Flavian beginnings. Even the mystics amongst the
Jews trace their tradition back to these very same Flavian rabbis. Gershom Scholem, the late
Jewish historian of the Kabbala, traces its foundation to the academy at Jamnia:
Palestine was the cradle of the movement, that much is certain. We also know the name of
the most important representatives of mystical and theosophical thought among the teachers
of the Mishnah. They belonged to a group of the pupils of Johanan ben Zakkai, around the
turn of the first century A.D. There is good reason to believe that important elements of
this spiritual tradition were kept alive in small esoteric circles; the writers at the end
of the Talmudic epoch, attempted a synthesis of their new religious faith and thereby laid
the foundations of an entirely new literature.
As we have seen, these writers no longer appear under their own names, but under those of
Johanan ben Zakkai, Eliezer ben Hyrakanus, Akiba ben Joseph [Jose], and Ishamel the
?High Priest.’ These authentic personages are at the same time introduced as the chief
characters of their writings, the 'heroes' of mystical action, the keepers and trustees of
secret wisdom..." [Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p.41]
The seminal book for modern Kabbalists is the Medieval work known as the Sepher ha
Zohar, which first surfaces in the Twelfth Century but purports to come from the First
Century. In this work the principal rabbis, who propound the secrets of the Kabbala,
are those from the First Century academy. Perhaps this is wishful thinking on their part
but, interestingly, it is again a Flavian beginning to a Jewish sectarian movement.
The Bridge
The Desposyni Eusebius, in his History, wrote of two descendants of the House of
David, (through Jude, Jesus's brother), in Galilee. These men are called the 'Desposyni'.
They were summoned before Flavius Domitian and examined as to their political correctness.
They were found harmless, released and sent back to Galilee to become "leaders of the
Churches everywhere". Christians claim these two men as their own. But, they were also
claimed by the Jews as well. 'Desposyni' is only defined in the Lexicons as "Emperor's
Men", or "members of the Imperial Household"! Paul gives away the plot:
"All the Saints send their greetings, especially those of the Imperial household."
(Philippians. 4:22)
The whole Domitian story is suspect but may have a grain of tradition embedded in it.
Perhaps this is the bridge between the Flavian Jewish academy in Galilee and these two men
claimed to be Christians. That Domitian would act in the manner Eusebius presents him as
doing is very unlikely, unless there is something else going on. It was precisely this
period of transition for the Jews, after the turn of the Century, that the first
identifiable Christians come to our attention. Lucian, our first truly independent pagan
witness, in his Death of Peregrinus, mentions a group of early Christians in this
area at about the same time.
Galilean Christians
The Carmelites of the Twelfth Century claimed that they were the earliest Christian
hermits and traced their beginnings to this period in Galilee under Titus and Vespasian.
Their early Latin documents claim their descent from Elijah, through John the Baptist, to
Jesus, after whose ascension they build a chapel to Mary on Mount Carmel, opposite Nazareth,
under Flavian protection.
Five of these early Latin documents specifically name Titus and Vespasian, in that order.
There is also something about a "seventh year" of the Flavians after the
destruction of the Temple. Some of the documents claim that the Carmelites had a foundation
near the Golden Gate, which faces East from the Temple towards the Mount of Olives and the
Garden of Gethsemane, which was the position of the Flavian commander's camp during the
siege. As that may be, they all claim their foundation in conjunction with "Titi et
Vespasiani".
Avenging of the Saviour
Another early apocryphal work, The Avenging of the Saviour, written in bad Seventh
Century Latin, claims the Flavians destroyed Jerusalem to avenge their new Lord. The story
is interesting in that Titus is anachronistically claimed to be a prince under Tiberius,
when he summons Vespasian and five thousand men, to go to Judea for vengeance.
Both Titus and Vespasian are converted to Christianity by a character named Nathan. When
they surround Jerusalem, the Jewish armies commit suicide rather than be killed by the
Romans. This is reminiscent of the Masada story in Josephus. Anyhow, the Flavians destroy
the city, locate the Veil of Veronica and send it to Tiberius who is cured of "nine
kinds of leprosy" and also converts to Christianity!
This is pure romance of course. However, the connection with the early Carmelite stories
is unmistakable. Notably both name the Flavians as "Titus and Vespasian". It is
unusual to mention the son before the father. They both have something about a seven year
period of the Flavian siege.
Conclusion
Both religions are intimately connected to the House of David and Galilee. Perhaps
Christianity was just another one of these First Century Flavian Jewish projects? A covert
operation supporting an underground Jewish sect which diluted and Hellenised the Jewish
Diaspora: a countervailing sect which later got out of control and two centuries later
became a religion in its own right, under Flavius Constantine!
However it occurred, the propagation of both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism happened
in the same place and at the same time - under the Flavians: "... but it was only after
the rise of the Flavians that we Romans believed in such stories." [Tacitus, Histories,
I. 10.]
1. Flavius Josephus has been a centre of our interest for
many years as the only source we have for the history of the crucial common development of
both Rabbinic Judaism and the fostering of early Christianity. Herein is a study of the
Roman (Flavian) support for both.
Cliff Carrington is an autodidact and owner/librarian of Carrington’s Classical &
Christian Library. This small private library contains some 3,000 primary sources of the
Western literary tradition and is freely available to students and academics who wish
freedom of study without any denominational or religious bias.
