Revolution In Judaea: Jesus and The Jewish Resistance

Dear Shlomoh and Pam: Thanks and best wishes.
August 6, 1981
SPEAKING of Books
Guest Reviewer: Shlomoh Sherman
Revolution In Judaea: Jesus and The Jewish Resistance
Hyman Maccoby
Taplinger Publishing Co., New York. $9.95

Amidst the many ventures proposing to document the "real story of the historical Jesus, comes this slender volume. Hyman Maccoby presents us with yet another portrait of the man from Nazareth. Mr. Maccoby's Nazarene is neither the militant Zealot figure of Brandon and Carmichael nor the pacific figure of traditional Christianity. He is an apocalyptic Pharisee who fancied himself as the prophetic mystical king of the Jews described by the prophet Zechariah in his "Day of the Lord" vision.

Maccoby tries to prove, through New Testament texts, that with the sympathy of the Pharisees and of a sizeable part of the population of Jerusalem, Jesus attempted
to bring about the overthrow of Rome, and to initiate the Kingdom of Heaven with himself as viceroy of that Kingdom through the power of concentrated prayer. Failing in this attempt, he was arrested by the Romans as a royal pretender and sentenced to death as a political prisoner.

In retelling the story of the trial of Jesus, Maccoby presents a theory concerning the identity and role of Barabbas in the drama, which the reader will find startling to say
at the least. It is this aspect of the Barabbas' role that forced the developing Church to redefine the character and mission of Jesus, turning him into the peaceful Christ of traditional Christianity.

Maccoby then traces out the development of the Gospels after the death of Jesus, and describes how the Church turned Jesus the Nazarene into the "Christ" of the gentiles.

This short but well-written account of Jesus, set within the context of the religiopolitical upheaval occurring in first Christian century Eretz Yisrael, makes interesting reading. It also contains a bibliography of the works of traditional New Testament scholars as well as impressive appendices and thirteen pages of notes.