Jesus in the Talmud

Healing in the Name of Jesus 59the Pharaoh in Egypt?), and what better name, then, could be used formagical purposes than the name of their God? The fact that the Jewsthemselves avoided pronouncing the tetragrammaton, the holiest name ofGod, may have contributed to this predilection for the name of the JewishGod. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus refers to this prohibition inhis Antiquities, 48 and according to rabbinic tradition the tetragrammatonwas pronounced only once a year by the High Priest in the Holy of Holiesduring the service of the Day of Atonement. 49 Accordingly, Greek magicaltexts evoke the name that cannot be pronounced: “I call on you, eternaland unbegotten, who are one, who alone holds together the whole creationof all things, whom none understands, whom the gods worship,whose name not even the gods can utter,” 50 or: “I conjure you up with theholy name that cannot be uttered.” 51This is the background against which the healing in the name of Jesusben Pantera in our story must be seen. Jacob, the magical healer, regardedJesus’ name as a most powerful divine name and, as we have seen,not only Eleazar b. Dama followed him in this belief, but also Ishmael,the spokesman of those who prohibited the healing through a supposedheretic. Such a belief refers directly back to the New Testament or, to putit differently, the New Testament is an important source for the belief inthe magical power of the divine name—and most likely the direct sourcefor our story. 52 The Gospel of Mark relates the following exchange betweenthe apostle John and Jesus:(38) John said to him: “Teacher, we saw someone casting outdemons in your name (en tō onomati sou), and we tried to stop him,because he was not following us.” (39) But Jesus said: “Do not stophim; for no one who does a deed of power in my name (hos poiēseidynamin epi tō onomati mou) will be able soon afterward to speakevil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.” 53Casting out demons through the power of Jesus’ name does not just meanthrough Jesus’ authority (exousia), 54 but, literally, through using the power(dynamis) inherent in Jesus’ name. The name “Jesus” was therefore believedto contain magical power that allowed the magician, who was inpossession of this name, to cast out demons and thus to heal the possessed