Looking at the Death of Yehoshua (Jesus) from the Perspective of First Century Orthodox Pharisaic Judaism and the Essenes
A Model of the Palace Residence of the High Priest Family of Ananus the Elder
By Robert Mock M.D.
April (Passover) 2007
April (Passover) 2017
Part Two
Topics
A Model of the Palace Residence of the High Priest Family of Ananus the Elder
The Plague of the Sadducean Families allied with the Disciple of Shammai the Great
Talmud, Pesahim 57
The Modern Red Heifer that may fulfill the Torah commands in the Cleansing of the Ashes of the Red Heifer
The Palace of the High Priest
The Outer Courtyard
The Residence of the High Priestly Family
The Prison Cells and Isolation Chamber
The Arraignment of Yehoshua the Prince of David
The Inner Prison Courtyard Caves
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The Amazing and Hidden Ancestry of the Prince of David Yehoshua whom the World today still calls Jesus.
The Prince of David, Yehoshua, known as “Jesus” in today’s modern world was born a Prince of David and heir to the Throne of Kings David and Solomon. Being a descendant of the Jewish Exilarch, Zerubabbel the Prince of Israel who took the Jewish people back to the land of Judea, Yehoshua was heir to the throne of Babylon, Zerubabbel’s first “foreign wife” Amytis, the daughter of Babylonian Emperor Amel-Marduk, the grand-daughter of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Their descendant was Jacob ben Matthan, the reigning Patriarch of Jerusalem, whose marriage was approved by the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem for by 4 CE, all the lineages of the approved Jewish descendants by Zerubabbel’s third Jewish wife Esthra through their first son, Shazrezzar were now extinct and the Jewish cleric, Ezra the Scribe’s edicts; To become a Jew your mother must be a Jew” had now become null and void.
Yehoshua’s Great Grandfather was the Prince and Patriarch of Jerusalem, Jacob ben Matthan, who was the Nasi or president of the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem from 32 to 23 BCE. He was sent to Egypt by King Herod to aid Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt and Mark Anthony in the war against Octavian of Rome. Jacob returned to Jerusalem with a new wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem, the posthumous daughter of Julius Caesar in Rome and Cleopatra of Egypt after the death of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.
Jacob the Nasi Patriarch of Jerusalem first brother was Prince Hizkiah (Ezekias) who was called “The Zealot” who died in 4 BC at the hands of Rome for his uprising against the Roman dominion over ancient Judea. Jacob’s second brother was Judas “of Gamala” was called the “Galilean” who died in 6 CE also in rebellion against Rome.
Out of the marriage of Prince Jacob ben Matthan and Cleopatra II of Jerusalem, the daughter of Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, they had a son about 29 BCE whose name was Joseph. His literal name was Joseph O’Pheroah (29 BCE-26 CE) or literally called “Joseph the Pharaoh”. That made Yehoshua also the heir not only to the Throne of Kings David and Solomon but also to Ancient Egypt and Rome for Cleopatra II was the posthumous daughter of the relations between Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and Julius the Caesar of Rome that made the young Yehoshua the potential heir of the throne of Ancient Rome, for “Joseph the Pharaoh” (Yosef O’Pheroah) the genetic father of the Prince of David Yehoshua.
Yehoshua’s maternal uncle was the “Richest Man in Jerusalem”, Joseph of Arimathea, a Metal Merchant called a Roman Decurio who had the mining contract with the Roman Caesar to extract the strategic military metals for Rome, lead and tin off the Cornwall Coast of Ancient Britannia. Joseph of Arimathea was the son of Matthat ben Levi, who was executed by King Herod the Great for Joseph of Arimathea sat on the “Hereditary Seat of Kings David and Solomon” in the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and was a member of the Roman judicial council in Jerusalem.
Joseph of Arimathea was the half-brother to the biblical Heli of the Luke’s lineage who real name was the Prince Alexander II Helios, was the son of the last Maccabean Queen Alexandra II, so through Miriam his mother, Yehoshua was the heir to the Maccabean Throne when Prince Alexander II Helios was drowned in the Herodian pool in Jericho, no doubt by the long arm of King Herod the Great who was threatened by the any of the royal claimants to the Throne of Ancient Judea.
Yehoshua’s mother, Miriam is two thousand years later the most admired woman in the 1st century Temple of Herod culture. Miriam’s mother, Anna (Hannah) was the wife of Prince Alexander II Helios, the heir to the Maccabean throne. She was one of three daughters to the High Priest of Jerusalem Yehoshua III also called the “High Priest Jesus III or Joshua III”. The High Priest Yehoshua III was also killed by King Herod’s long arm of justice for he was strongly promoting the defense Ancient Judea against Rome.
The High Priest of Jerusalem, Yehoshua III (Jesus III) being the father of Anna, and the grandmother Miriam, also a Princess of King David and Solomon, Miriam, the High Priest’s granddaughter, also gave Miriam’s son, Yehoshua (Jesus) heir to become not only the High Priest of Jerusalem but also to become the defacto King of Israel.
Now we can see in this historical document why Yehoshua was such a threat to the ruling high priestly family of the House of Ananus and the reigning High Priest Caiphas who was the son-in-law to Ananus the Elder.
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It was on the Palace of Ananus the Elder that the proceedings began for a “trial for life” against the Nazarene. It was initiated by the ex-officio high priest of Israel.
The initial interrogator was the most potent enemy of Yehoshua, the Patriarch of the feared and often accursed high priest family, Ananus the Elder. This family came under the specific condemnation over thirty years later by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. He investigated the last years of the Jewish people before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 CE. Concerning Ananus the Elder, Josephus wrote:
The Hole in the Ceiling where Yehoshua was Lowered into the Isolation Pit in the Basement of the Palace of Caiphas and Ananus the Elder – Photo by Robert Mock
Flavius Josephus – “Now, as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all his endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and this by destroying many of the Sicarii; but as for the high priest Ananus, he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated the friendship of Albinus and of the High Priest Yehoshua III by making them presents; he also had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the boldest sort of the people, and went to the threshing floors, and took away the tithes that belonged to the priests by violence, and did not refrain from beating such as would not give these tithes to them. So the other high priests acted in the like manner, as did those his servants, without any one being able to prohibit them; so that (some of the) priests, that of old were wont to be supported with those tithes, died for want of food.” (Josephus, Antiquities, XX,ix,2)
During the initial interrogation, the High Priest Joseph Caiphas was not present near the vicinity of the family Palace residence. This may have served to give him plausible denial and not make him culpable with the Romans later.
According to Torah Law, Caiphas was mandated by the Divine presence to meditate in his temple residence, bringing his thoughts in harmony with the Almighty One of Israel.
In the hours before the Pesach lamb was to have been sacrificed, the high priest was making desperate moves to save his power and authority from this one minor rabbi, a true Prince of the Dynastic House of Kings David and Solomon that sought to return the Temple of Herod, Inc. back into a “House of Prayer”.
Matthew 21:13 – “And He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.”
The Floor of the Ancient Palace where Yehoshua was Lowered from the “Hole in the Ceiling into the Isolation Pit awaiting His Sanhedrin Trial – Photo by Robert Mock
As archaeologists would later reveal, the residence of the High Priest was a palatial palace with many numerous mikvah baths, pools, and fountains. It was also a fortified residence with its own security guard including a prison with holding cells for prisoners and iron racks to bind prisoners like the Nazarene for beating and punishment.
Included in this interrogation center was an isolation cell as secure and severe as the feared Mamertine Prison (Tullianum) in Rome where enemies of Rome such as Jugurtha and Vercingetorix were strangled or as political prisoners were executed by being thrown off the Tarpeian Rock.
This prison was described by the Roman author Sallust around 40 BCE as “about twelve feet deep, closed all round by strong walls and a stone vault. Its aspect is repugnant and fearsome from its neglect, darkness, and stench.”
One may get the impression that the Jewish people were a powerful people in the Roman society. Composing 10% of the population in all the Roman Empire, the wealth of the empire of Rome came from the super-rich Jews such as the Roman mining Decurio from Britain, the Prince of David called Joseph of Arimathea and one of the leading Elders of the Sanhedrin; and the wealthy grain magnate called Nicodemus.
They both had residences in Jerusalem and Judea. This gave the impression that the Jewish influence in Roman economic life was as prominent in Roman society as it is today in Greco-Roman influenced societies of America and Europe.
The Site of the Palace of the High Priests Ananus and his son-in-law Caiphas, now the Church of St. Peter at Gallicantu – Photo by Robert Mock
The Jewish religion was a religion of great antiquity and respected by the Roman government of Augustus Caesar. Though the Jews were subject to the Roman government, the land of Judea was also Rome’s breadbasket. The land was fertile with rich farmlands and large forests in the days of Yehoshua.
The Roman government usually treated its subjects with benign neglect after they had been truly pacified and willing to work as subjects of Rome. Yet, the Jews were different. Though used to living under the foreign governments of Babylon and Persia, the Jews under Rome were a sociological mix; bred with fire and brimstone. It was known that the Roman hatred of the Jew grew out of the virulent hatred of the Jewish zealots to Rome. It was Hillel the Great who recognized this effect.
Yet, the moderating attitude of the disciples of the Great Hillel was no longer felt within the temple culture in Jerusalem. The disciples of Shammai, the brooding isolationists that hated all gentiles were in control of the Pharisee educational system and great cultural fences were being set up around temple Judaism of the Prince of David, Yehoshua’s day.
It was not the minute parsing of Torah regulations that cast such a devastating effect on Jewish society, but the pall of corruption within the temple priesthood cult. The corruption was so great that the Sons of Ananus and the Sons of Boethus were virtually hated in Jewish peasant society. Their servants and slaves were like mad dogs in abusing the people.
It was not just the savagery of the servants of the high priest that brought this distain but the desecration of the Sanctuary and the graft and thievery in the Bazaars of Ananus alongside the temple that flamed the fury of the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea.
It was popular curse of the peasants and working class that left this Talmudic testimony of the popular sentiment of distain for the high priests families that controlled the sacrificial system of the Temple of Herod.
The Plague of the Sadducean Families allied with the Shammai the Great
Talmud, Pesahim 57
“What a plague is the family of Simon Boethus; cursed be their lances!
What a plague is the family of Ananos; cursed be their hissing of vipers!
What a plague is the family of Cantharus; cursed be their pens!
What a plague is the family of Ismael ben Phabi; cursed be their fists!
They are high priests themselves, their sons are treasurers, their sons-in-law are commanders, and their servants strike people with staves.”
To fulfill the commands of the Torah, soon only the very elite could afford the exorbant prices for the ashes of the red heifer that were required for ritual purity and proper Torah observance. The rude poverty of the masses with filth and hunger and unwashed fringes on their garments were only a symptom of how low the respect for the Torah had become as the Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and Prince of David, Yehoshua walked among the throngs of the poor and the disenfranchised of Jewish society.
The Ashes of the Red Heifer that fulfilled the Torah commands in the Purification Rites of the Jews
Within the ancient commands from their God were the rites for the purification of the entire population, not just the wealthy and the beautiful. As written in the Torah, anyone who touched a dead body was ritually unclean. They were required to cleanse themselves with the sprinkle of the water which contained even the micro-fragments of the ashes of the red heifer.
The Interior of the Church of St. Peter at Gallicantu on the site of the Palace of the High Priestly Family of Ananus the High Priest – Photo by Robert Mock
Taken from the ritual sacrifice of that rare mutation of the red cow, only those that did not have more than two white hairs on their entire red hairy body at the age of two were proclaimed as pure and acceptable to the G-d of Israel.
The ashes of red heifer were so priceless that they were a treasure more valuable than the most costly pearl of great price. The ashes of the red heifer were treasured as a temple heirloom throughout the generations.
How purification came from such a ritual was a scientific mystery that even the great wisdom of Solomon could not understand. All Jews, regardless of wealth, were equal in the eyes of G-d and so they equally had access to this national treasure.
The Security Observation Deck looking down into the Isolation Pit where Yehoshua may have been Imprisoned – Photo by Robert Mock
According to the traditions of the Jews, the House of Ananus had virtual possession of the office of the high priest of Israel, the ashes of the red heifer were available to rich and poor alike.
Soon these “ashes” like the office of the high priest went for the price of the highest bidder. Only the very elite, the wealthy, and the powerful were allowed to touch the dead and be cleansed of their impurity.
The masses of people would be segregated and denied from access to their G-d. The poor mothers of Israel would have to remain unclean, not able to purify their bodies of the blood of their offspring by the purification sacrifice. Even the price of the doves, for the purification offering for the first born, were raised to such astronomical prices that many daughters of the Holy One would be left out, unclean.
Their cry against the Sadducean priests, carried down through the centuries in the verses in the Talmud, were only a vague echo of the intense passion and hatred of the people to the Temple leadership of King Herod’s Temple.
This impending trial of the Rabbinic Prince Yehoshua revealed two facts by the extra judicial acts of the House of Ananus against Yehoshua. It revealed the fear of the temple leadership to Yehoshua for they “feared the people” who were followers of him.
The High Priest was desperate to push this trial with the greatest speed because of Caiphas’ insecurity by the great popularity of the Nazarene with the Jewish pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem for the festivals from Galilee.
It also suggested that Caiphas, the high priest, had some secret intelligence concerning the Roman procurator with prior intrigues and covert attacks against the Caesar of Rome that would prevent any retaliation by the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate.
To accomplish what did happen on that day of Passover were the acts of desperation, collusion, and conspiracy. It took all the forces of the families of the controlling elite to bring about the event that they hoped would topple the magnetic spell of Prince Yehoshua in the land. It would be a conspiracy that would include many in the great aristocratic families of the Sadducean oligarchs of Judaism.
The Palace of the High Priest
If we were disciples of Rabbi Yehoshua in first century Judea, the city of Jerusalem would have looked much different. There on the southeastern slopes of Mount Zion are the archeological remains of one of the finest palatial residences in Jerusalem. Nestled in the heart of the wealthy and elite sector of Jerusalem, was the home of the wealthiest family in Jerusalem. Outside this residence was an austere nondescript exterior that was constructed by blocks of Jerusalem stone.
It was not one house but a series of homes, offices, courtyards, gardens, and an elaborate number of ritual mikvah baths. Alongside was a sentry watchtower with a turreted tower. The palace actually was a fortified residence with its own special guard detachment with barracks with underground prisoner cells and interrogation chambers.
“Peter Denies Christ” – Painting by Rembrandt van Rijn (1660) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The palatial residence of the Sadducean high priestly family called the House of Ananus was the most powerful and feared family in Judea. The residence was connected to the temple complex by an overhead causeway, whose archeological remains can be seen today. This is where the powerful elite and the wealthy returned to their homes from the temple. It was also where the members of the Sanhedrin, officials of the high priest court, and the high priest family could traverse in safety to the temple and its courtyards without becoming in contact with the masses of people below.
Inside the palace was not just a residence but a hidden government within the temple aristocratic government. Inside the outer gate was an external courtyard paved in white marble and encircled about with official buildings in service to the High Priest; tax collectors, administration offices, and courtiers in service to the court of the House of Ananus.
The Outer Courtyard
Soon to arrive in this courtyard would be the two disciples of Rabbi Yehoshua; Simon bar Jonas, later called the Apostle Simon Peter, and Yohannes, later called the Apostle John. It was John whom the textual evidence suggests that he may have been a Levite who apparently had inside connections with the family of the high priest. Yet the evidence later may even suggest a more profound identity of the “other disciple” that Simon Peter followed.
John 18:15-16 – “And Simon Peter followed Yehoshua, and so did another disciple (John). Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went with Yehoshua into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside.
Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, ‘You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you? He said, ‘I am not.’ Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.”
The Floor of the Ancient Palace where Jesus was Lowered from the “Hole in the Ceiling into the Isolation Pit awaiting His Sanhedrin Trial – Photo by Robert Mock
So began the trilogy of denials that soon crucified the old Simon from Galilee and resurrected the new spiritual Peter within. Here is where the Apostle Peter began a new life as an international emissary for his Master Yehoshua.
When we dissect the testimony of the author of the Gospel of John, we begin to understand that Ananus was seeking or procuring witnesses during the initial accusation phase of the interrogations.
The disciple, Simon Peter was brought into the residence of the high priest by “another disciple” that was known to the high priest. Simon Peter was soon released as an “unreliable” witness with the mixed testimonies that he rendered so had to wait the outcome of the interrogations in the outer porch or the “place of the blowing (beth chatser) along with the temple guards and servants of the high priest.
Yet, the “other disciple”, Yohanan Eleazar, known to us as Lazarus, was a member of the Sanhedrin, yet it appears that he was not to be a part of the criminal court, and was privileged to watch the entire trial proceedings as an inside observer. He later gave his testimony with these words:
John 21:24 – “This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.”
Inside the outer court was the inner courtyard of the palace. Here in true oriental fashion was the private residence of Ananus the Elder plus the residence of each of his five sons plus his daughters and their families. It was one of these daughters whose husband, Joseph Caiphas, was the current reigning high priest of Israel. Nearby was a smaller court where the rooms for the specially selected private bodyguards for the entire House of Ananus were housed.
The Residence of the High Priest Family
Whereas the outside of the palace was nondescript, the inside of the private residence was a paradise. In the inner court were the gardens of the High Priest where the air was a mixture of intoxicating scents and aromas of flowering trees and gardens surrounding swimming pools and mikvahs.
Nearby was a park laid out with the tall cypress, outlined with flowering oleanders of pinks, red, and yellows and the flowering ethrog (citron) trees that surrounded the pools of waters.
Highlighted was a rose garden, the favorite flower of the Jerusalem aristocracy with brilliant cascading mounds with a million shades of color.
During the hot summer days when the hot parching winds blew in from the Dead Sea and the wilderness wadis to the east of Jerusalem, water became a luxury item. The populous of Jerusalem lined the troughs for the meager trickle of water coming down from the Gihon Spring to the pool of Siloah.
The water skins carried by the water carriers to the more affluent were easily stolen by the parched residents desperate for nourishment during the days when the hot sandy air filled the sky.
In contrast, within the court of the high priest, fountains of bronzed lions spouting with dancing waters, were artistically placed within and surrounding the pools. Special lead pipes, whose lead and tin were mined by Jewish Saracens in the Cornwall region of Britain, took the water from the temple to the gardens of Ananus.
They laid along the side of the pipes bringing the blood of the sacrifices of the lambs and oxen from the temple for fertilizer for the soil. The gardens, though ritually contaminated with the blood of the animals, bloomed with a rare richness and radiance rarely seen in any horticultural paradise. Surrounding the pools were nests for flocks of white turtledoves.
Inside the home were marbled stairways leading to hallways of Corinthian columns with cedar beams supported by the capitals of these majestic columns. Surrounding the halls were tapestries and mosaics of fine wood, all engraved, embroidered, or interwoven with Jewish religious symbols.
Beyond the hall of columns was the great reception hall, the de-facto throne of Jerusalem, for within this one residence resided three high priests, Ananus the Elder, his son Eleazar, and son-in-law, Caiphas, with their families. Within the same residence, the future high priests were being groomed; Jonathan, Theophilus, and the most articulate, brash and brilliant, Ananus the Younger.
The dining hall of the family overlooked one of the most beautiful vistas in the whole city. The temple of Herod to the northeast, in all its glory, rose like an eleven-story building from the Kidron Valley. Across the ravine of the Kidron Valley rose the majestic Mount of Olives with a northern and the southern eminence, the later called the Mount of Offense.
It was actually on the Mount of Offense that gave the best view of ancient Jerusalem, for it being directly east of the old city of David to the south of the Gihon Springs. It was this same mount that commanded an opposing central view from the dining terrace of this priestly family.
The Prison Cells and Isolation Chamber
The Prisoner Cells below the Palace of Caiphas and Ananus the Elder – Photo by Robert Mock
Over and around the archaeological remains of rock cut dwellings, cellars, cisterns, prison houses, isolation chambers and stables is a remarkable basilica of contemporary and ancient lines, called the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu.
It was constructed by the French monastic order called the Assumptionists in 1933 to commemorate the site where the Apostle Peter denied Jesus three times.
Mural of the Nazarene being Lowered in the Isolation Pit – Photo by Robert Mock
Christian and Jewish Messianic followers of Yehoshua both attest that it is believed that here that the Davidian Royal claimant Yehoshua was kept in isolation after his arrest. It was also here that the interrogation by Ananus the Elder, the chief priests, scribes and Shammaite Pharisees, who sought His death, was conducted in the darkness of the hours after midnight.
About six hours later, Prince Yehoshua was raised from the isolation pit and sent over to the Sanhedrin for trial the next morning. As the hours after midnight wore on, Rabbi Yehoshua was at the mercy of the hired servants and security detail hidden beneath the residence above of the high priest.
Luke 22:63-65 – “Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, ‘Prophecy! Who is the one who struck You? And many other things they blasphemously spoke against him.”
Unable to extract any implicating testimony from Yehoshua nor able to find two recognizable witnesses with collaborating and converging testimony against him, the prosecution case appeared to falter. The gospel testimonies suggest that Caiphas was not a part of the early midnight interrogation in the palatial residence. He was required to remain on the temple court in a purified state during the Passover celebration.
What is known is that Yehoshua was arrested without charge, taken for interrogation in a private residence, imprisoned, assaulted, and abused with torture in order to extract damaging evidence against Him. John the Beloved was the only disciple who had security access to the residence of Ananus the Elder. The Apostles John’s testimony, we find interesting:
John 18:19-24 – “The High Priest (Ananus the Elder) then asked Yehoshua about His disciples and His doctrine. Yehoshua answered him;
Yehoshua HaNotzri - "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jew always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them, indeed they know what I said.
And when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, ‘Do You answer the high priest like that?’ Jesus answered him ‘If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike Me?”
Today this monumental residential palace of Ananus the Elder has been located and archeologically excavated. It was first mentioned in the historical texts by the Jewish Pilgrim from Bordeaux, who in 333 CE visited the city of Jerusalem and later wrote his memoirs. Here he recounted traveling from the Pool of Siloa over to Mount Zion where in route one would come across the house of Caiphas the High Priest.
Anonymous Pilgrim from Bordeaux – “Also as you come out of Jerusalem to go up Mount Sion, on the left hand, below in the valley, beside the wall, is a pool which is called Siloe and has four porticoes; and there is another large pool outside it. This spring runs for six days and nights, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, it does not run at all, either by day or by night.
On this side one goes up Sion, and sees where the house of Caiaphas the priest was, and there still stands a column against which Christ was beaten with rods. Within, however, inside the wall of Sion, is seen the place where was David's palace. Of seven synagogues which once were there, one alone remains; the rest are ploughed over and sown upon, as said Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 1:2.4-8; Micah 3:9-12).”
The Inner Prison Courtyard Caves with Isolation Pit beneath the Palace of Caiphas and Ananus the Elder – Photo by Robert Mock
Later, John documented that after Prince Yehoshua was kept in the darkness of the night in the palace of the high priests, he was again transported to another location.
John 18:24 – “Then Ananus sent Him bound to Caiphas the high priest.”
We now know that the high priest was still at the temple, in preparation for the upcoming Pesach festival, or else he would have been ritually contaminated. In an impure state, he would have been unable to preside as the high priest at the slaying of the Pesach Lamb.
Israeli Tour Guide Depicting how the Prisoner’s Hands were Strapped to Iron Rings in the Holes above while they were Beaten and Tortured – Photo by Robert Mock
Luke and Matthew bring more details to the story, with the following historical details of the transportation not just to Caiphas, the high priest, but to the “Council”, or the Great Sanhedrin in the Chamber of Hewn Stones, for trial.
Luke 22:66 – “As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led him into their council …”
Matthew 27:1 – “When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Yehoshua to put him to death.”
It was here that the Great Sanhedrin sat in judgment in trial of this Galilean Rabbi called Yehoshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene). It was a remarkable event of travesty in judicial history that occurred that morning.
The prior evening was cold, not unlike the spring of 2007 where snow covered the city of Jerusalem up to the early part of April. The secret interrogation proceedings in the residence were not discussed in Luke’s history, except for the identity crisis of the “brave” Galilean bodyguard of Yehoshua, Simon Peter, who so valiantly fought in an armed struggle for Yehoshua, and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
Peter was now fearfully sitting around the outer courtyard fireplace when his identity was recognized three times by servants and accomplices of the high priest. With fear stricken eyes, he denied knowing his Master, three times. As the rooster crowed at the break of dawn, a new spiritual Peter arose from his moral execution to a new identity with his Lord.
It was John, the “disciple that was known to the high priest” (John 18:15) and could only give a first-hand testimony of this evening, who wrote:
John 18:12-13 – “Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiphas who was high priest that year.
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Seeing is believing! For over 2000 years, the world has been affixed with the drama of those few years of time that a single solitary Prince of the esteemed dynastic lineage of Kings David and Solomon shook up the then known world at that time.
His life literally became a “Drama of the Ages” that evoked such a passion in the lives of not only the entire peasantry class of Jewish people, but his fame swept across the entire Middle East changing and transforming all the inhabitants of that era.
It has been stated in hundreds of different cultures that the world as we know today would be totally different if it were not for this one life, for out of his one life, one who was a Neshama Yehudi (Jewish soul) affected so many variant cultures that out of his spiritual loins rose Three Major Religions of the world; Judaism, Christianity and over six hundred years later Islam.
The era of man is standing now on the brink of the seashore waiting to be passed through the inter dimensional veil of the “World to Come.” The day is coming soon when we will break through that inter dimensional barrier and stand on the beach of a “New World” and a “New Age” as the rising Light of the age called the “Era of the Messiah” raises to its glorious manifestation.
The day is coming soon when Hashem the One G-d of Israel will stretch forth His great hand of judgment and cleanse the earth from the great pollution of man upon Planet Earth. He will take away the “blood oaths” from between the mouths of the Palestinian Arabs, He will restore the Land of Israel back to “Am Yisra’el”, that means both the House of Joseph (All Ten Tribes of the House of Israel), and the House of Judah.
He will then redeem and restore His own “sheep” back into a living relationship with Himself. If you are chosen, as a Lost Tribal Member of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, your destiny is to return to your Homelands first in Shomron (Samaria), Israel.
If you want to learn more, click the link and Contact
the Voice of the Turtledove.
Here is a joint Orthodox Jewish and Christian 10-Triber Vision to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United).
This Supernal Event of all Times will entail Establishing the Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness as part of the Land of Israel, and preparing the “Land” for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and then the Redemption of All Israel.
For inquiries about Kol Ha Tor Vision for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Visit – “Shomron Lives!”, a Spiritual Retreat and Guest House in Samaria.
DISCLAIMER - Kol Ha Tor is an independent commentator and may or may not agree with the contents, the views, interpretations and opinions as expressed by the independent theological and/or political views of Destination Yisrael.
Destination Yisrael scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest.
Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Metatron, the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel.
In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah, the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament, and the writings of Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo ben Zalman (famed Vilna Gaon) called the “genius” in the 18th century, and his vision of the final redemption in his collection of writings highlighted in his supernal understanding of the Torah, the Prophets and Writings as outlined in the Kol Ha Tor.
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