Jesus in the Talmud

76 Chapter 7When they brought Naqqai (before the court), he [Naqqai] saidto them [the judges]: Naqqai shall be executed? It is written: Youshall not execute the innocent (naqi) and the righteous (Ex. 23:7).They [the judges] answered him: Yes, Naqqai shall be executed,since it is written: From a covert (be-mistarin) 6 he executes the innocent(naqi) (Ps. 10:8).When they brought Netzer (before the court), he [Netzer] said tothem [the judges]: Netzer shall be executed? It is written: An offshoot(netzer) shall grow forth out of his roots (Isa. 11:1). They [thejudges] answered him: Yes, Netzer shall be executed, since it is written:You shall be cast forth away from your grave like an abhorred offshoot(netzer) (Isa. 14:19).When they brought Buni (before the court), he [Buni] said tothem [the judges]: Buni shall be executed? It is written: My son(beni), my firstborn is Israel (Ex. 4:22). They [the judges] answeredhim: Yes, Buni shall be executed, since it is written: Behold I will executeyour firstborn son (binkha) (Ex. 4:23).When they brought Todah (before the court), he [Todah] said tothem [the judges]: Todah shall be executed? It is written: A psalm forThanksgiving (todah) (Ps. 100:1). They [the judges] answered him:Yes, Todah shall be executed, since it is written: He who sacrificesthe sacrifice of Thanksgiving (todah) honors me (Ps. 50:23).This is a highly sophisticated fight with biblical verses, indeed a fight to thedeath. Whether the whole unit is an early tannaitic Baraita or a Babylonianfabrication, or whether only the list of the names is the Baraita and thefollowing exegeses are a later Babylonian addition 7 —this does not reallymatter for our purpose. 8 We are clearly dealing here with a Babylonian traditionthat may or may not rely on some earlier Palestinian elements. Norshould we be concerned with the fact that the Bavli lists only five studentsof Jesus whereas the New Testament has twelve. One could refer to thegradual process of Jesus acquiring his disciples and argue that the Bavli reflectsan earlier stage, before the final number of twelve was reached, 9 orthat a rabbi like Yohanan b. Zakkai had five prominent students 10 —butthis would be a pseudo-historical explanation of a text 11 that has no intentionof providing historical information about the historical Jesus and his