The Talmud and Jesus and what does it really say?

So what does the Talmud really say on Jesus and what does what it says actually mean? Some say the Talmud hates Jesus Christ and others say that Jesus or Yeshua were common names at that time and Jesus of Nazereth of New Testament fame is not even in the Talmud at all.I today shall investigate all of this!

I am not going to explain today what the Talmud is because I have other articles on that matter ,also you can google Talmud too.let’s get started today with the most controversial ” Tractate Sanhedrin 43a 20″ .

וְכָרוֹז יוֹצֵא לְפָנָיו. לְפָנָיו – אִין, מֵעִיקָּרָא – לָא. וְהָתַנְיָא: בְּעֶרֶב הַפֶּסַח תְּלָאוּהוּ לְיֵשׁוּ הַנּוֹצְרִי, וְהַכָּרוֹז יוֹצֵא לְפָנָיו אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם: ״יֵשׁוּ הַנּוֹצְרִי יוֹצֵא לִיסָּקֵל עַל שֶׁכִּישֵּׁף וְהֵסִית וְהִדִּיחַ אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל. כׇּל מִי שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ לוֹ זְכוּת יָבוֹא וִילַמֵּד עָלָיו״. וְלֹא מָצְאוּ לוֹ זְכוּת, וּתְלָאוּהוּ בְּעֶרֶב הַפֶּסַח.

The mishna teaches that a crier goes out before the condemned man. This indicates that it is only before him, i.e., while he is being led to his execution, that yes, the crier goes out, but from the outset, before the accused is convicted, he does not go out. The Gemara raises a difficulty: But isn’t it taught in a baraita: On Passover Eve they hung the corpse of Jesus the Nazarene after they killed him by way of stoning. And a crier went out before him for forty days, publicly proclaiming: Jesus the Nazarene is going out to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited people to idol worship, and led the Jewish people astray. Anyone who knows of a reason to acquit him should come forward and teach it on his behalf. And the court did not find a reason to acquit him, and so they stoned him and hung his corpse on Passover eve.

First question is ,is this Jesus of the New Covenant scripture ,Jesus Christ?

יֵשׁוּ הַנּוֹצְרִ, Here it says Yeishu ha’Notzri and Yeishu was an Aramaic style and in some contexts a pejorative for the name Yeshua which is also related to the name Yehoshua (Joshua).That Hebrew name Yeshua which is also a verb meaning “will be rescued” is where the Greek name Jesus come from.Ha’Notzri means “The one from Natzrat” which is Hebrew for Nazareth .I can in my judgement this is taking about Jesus of Nazareth aka Jesus Christ! Even the English translation says Jesus the Nazarene which also denotes of Nazereth or Natzrat.Plus who else as the above Talmud tractate says ,who else was killed on Passover eve ,so this is clearly Jesus Christ.

Yes it is very true Jesus or Yeshua was a very common name at the time of the second temple ,however no other other famous Jesus was from the very small town of Nazareth.There is simply no historical record of any mentioned Jesus from that small town at all except Jesus Christ.So this is about Jesus our Lord ,no doubt but what does all this mean? Also on the issue is Yeishu derogatory for Yeshua or Yehoshua ,yes sometimes but that is not our concern it is about identity not whether the writers here in the Talmud like Jesus but are they talking about him and they are ,so how Yeishu is meant is not the point.

So why does all this matter ,well witness ,here is Matthew 12.22-28

Jesus and Beelzebul

²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Here is Luke 11.14-16

Jesus and Beelzebul

¹⁴ Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” ¹⁶ Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.

let me ask you that even if the Talmud is looking upon these events of New Testament scripture negatively ,does not the Talmud confirm these events as historically true.Why else did the Talmud write about then.

So the Talmud is saying: Jesus of Nazereth lived and performed miracles as an issue of fact.Many people say that evidence of the miracles of Jesus is not found outside the New Testament.Here it is outside the New Testament and people who do not like Jesus conceding he performed miracles and like our Holy scripture says he was killed on the evening before Passover!

So what if writers of this Gemara (Talmudic commentary) does not like Jesus ,notice also that the Talmud calls Jesus an evil sorcerer ,this detail confirms that Jesus did perform miracles and the Pharisees saw him and said ” you do those miracles by the power of Beezebul or Beezebub in other translations.

So in other words this tractate of the Talmud fully validates as true that the event accounts of both Matthew and Luke. The account of the Talmud nearly lines up perfectly with the accounts of matthew and Luke and the fact that it is phrased in the negative gives more validation,showing the writers were not trying to promote Christianity but that they were talking about a factual event.

We know of course by Jesus’s words that the Biblical account is correct because would demons cast out other demons or would a demon heal the sick.The Rabbinical authorities had to pars out the facts of the life of Jesus in some way which was not deniable ,so they believed that Jesus did miracle by sorcery as a explanation.We know Jesus did those miracles because Jesus is God and I think the writers of the Gemara knew that too but could not accept it.

Here is another example ok,a woman brags that she is so beautiful and another person says ,”oh you are vain and self obsessed”

Despite the negative response what does this conclusively establish ? That the woman is beautiful (women don’t hate me ,just a metaphor)

So we have extra Biblical historical proof of the truth of the New Testament and the fact that it is phrased in the negative proves it has no agenda other than fact.

The Talmud is a codification of earlier oral traditions that first were passed down orally person to person and that is how the Talmud got going.

So Jesus cast out demons and healed the sick by the power of God because Jesus is God. And he was seen by the Rabbinical authorities often called Perushim or Pharisees meaning pious or separated ones.And they were threatened by Jesus and said “you do those things by Beezlebub”. And they even validated his execution on Passover Eve as history.So even if the spin on the facts is negative the facts stand!

And you may who who is Beezlebub ,it comes from Baal-zevuv which meant lord of the flies which means lord of dung because flies congregate around dung.It’s sort of a slangy way of saying lord of the underworld ,lord of all that is disgusting.In those times Satan was seen more as a accuser of sinners performing a job of prosecution of the wicked but in those days was not seen as master of demons.That is likely why Baal-zevuv was used instead.

Is the Talmud factually reliable ,in short yes ,the Talmud is not a spiritual text that one believes on blind faith.The Talmud is something called a Gemara which means finishing or to complete.The Gemara is a comentary on a book called the Mishah (to study) which was a codification of ancient Jewish oral proverbs and traditions which was put in writing about 200 CE.

The Talmud or Gemara is simply a series of Rabbi’s arguing how the Mishnah should be viewed and interpreted.Sort of like a Reddit thread where people argue back and forth on a matter or issue.The Talmud is a document of discussion of facts and there is no reason to believe persons discussed in the Talmud are fictional.This does not mean every opinion in the Talmud is true ,if that were so then the Rabbi’s would not being debating each other.However the subjects discussed in the Talmud are real and not contrived otherwise why then bother to debate them then! So the Talmud gives good witness of the truth of New Testament events even if we disregard the opinion that Jesus did miracles by sorcery.

I know this article is controversial but I think it proves wrong the false belief that only Josephus and Tacitus mentioned Jesus outside the New Testament.

Thank you all and God Bless!