Jesus in the Talmud

104 Chapter 9clearly a reference to Matthew 27:63f., where the High Priests and thePharisees make the same argument to Pilate:(63) Sir, we remember what that deceiver (planos) said while he wasstill alive: After three days I will rise again. (64) Therefore commandthe tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciplesmay go and steal him away, and tell the people: He has been raisedfrom the dead, and the last deception would be worse than the first.Pilate follows the advice of the High Priests and the Pharisees and sendssoldiers to guard the tomb. When the guards report to the High Priestswhat they have seen (the empty tomb and an angel guarding it), the HighPriests bribe and instruct them:(13) You must say: His disciples came by night and stole him awaywhile we were asleep. (14) If this comes to the governor’s ears, we willsatisfy him and keep you out of trouble. (15) So they took the moneyand did as they were directed. And this story is still told among theJews to this day. 29The last remark by the evangelist (“this story is told among the Jews to thisday”) makes two things clear. First, that the Jews, already according toMatthew, were regarded as the originators of this defamatory version ofthe events after the crucifixion, and second, that this counternarrative tothe New Testament had a long career because it was aggressively spreadby the Jews. No wonder that Justin dreads the question, obviously put intothe mouth of a Jew: “What excludes [the supposition] that this personwhom you call Christ was a man, of human origin, and did these miraclesyou speak of by magic arts (magikē technē), and so appeared to be the Sonof God (hyion theou)?” 30It is certainly not by coincidence that here Justin, in exactly the sameway as Celsus, connects magical deception with the hubris of being theSon of God. Magical deception leads to idolatry, and this is what is atstake here. 31 Magic as such, although strictly forbidden in the Bible 32 butnevertheless practiced, 33 was handled quite tolerantly by the rabbis, as amatter of fact even practiced by some of them (not least by R. Eliezer