Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Bart October 23, 2017

Do you think Pilate made an exception for the other two crucified with Jesus? And for the the people crucified the next day? And the day after that? And that in fact Jews around jerusalem were always buried, and that *this* was Roman policy? Seems highly implausible to me.

Bart October 27, 2017

He didn’t back down because he appreciated Jewish piety but because he realized there was a revolution brewing and he didn’t want to be responsible for it. THat’s the point of Josephus’s story. If people would riot over Jesus, why wouldn’t they riot over anyone else crucified at the time? We tend to make Jesus a special case because he became so massively important after these events.

October 27, 2017
Yes, I think so. Pilate had no reason to expect a mass riot for Jesus’ death than for the death of any of the other insurrectionists he was crucifying at the time.

This would be a good time for us to bring this particular discussion to an end.

Judea at that time was still under treaty with Rome, for helping Augustus win the Civil War against Mark Antony. That treaty explicitly said the Roman government would respect the Jewish laws. The Jewish laws mandated proper burial before sundown of any who died—including, and indeed explicitly, executed criminals.

Just that morning two other people were crucified with Jesus. Did someone ask for and receive their bodies for burial? Or was it just Jesus? And what about the people crucified the day before, and the day after, and the day after that? Or was it just Jesus? If it was every Jew who was ever crucified by a Roman – even just by Pilate — why is it that there is not a single reference to this otherwise unheard of practice in any surviving author, Jewish, Christian, Roman? And if it was a *standard* practice for all Jews in all places at all times (so as not to aggravate the masses), why did Joseph of Arimathea even have to ask for the body? Why didn’t Pilate just give the bodies over, knowing that the crowds would be upset if he didn’t?