The Talmud connects the cosmic cross (where Jesus was crucified) with who was in the Temple in 70 CE

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Giuseppe
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The Talmud connects the cosmic cross (where Jesus was crucified) with who was in the Temple in 70 CE

Post by Giuseppe »

By the term "cosmic cross" I mean the Justin's reference to a cosmic crucifixion in 1 Apology 60:1, 4. Or the Irenaeus's reference to the same cosmic crucifixion in Epideixis 1:34 (see also Ephesians 3:18-19) :

And because He is Himself the Word of God Almighty, who in His invisible form pervades us universally in the whole world, and encompasses both its length and
breadth and height and depth for by God's Word everything is disposed and administered the Son of God was also crucified in these, imprinted in the form of a cross on the universe; 171 for He had necessarily, in becoming visible, to bring to light the universality of His cross, in order to show openly through His visible form that activity of His: 172 that it is He who makes bright the height, that is, what is in heaven, and holds the deep, which is in the bowels of the earth, and stretches forth and extends the length from East to West, navigating also the Northern parts and the breadth of the South, and calling in all the dispersed from all sides to the knowledge of the Father.

The Christ of Paul was crucified on a cosmic cross, not on earth.

Curiously, the Talmud euhemerized the same cosmic cross by identifying the his intersection inside the Temple in a precise historical moment: 70 CE.


The Roman authorities then sent Nero Caesar against the Jews. When he came to Jerusalem, he wished to test his fate. He shot an arrow to the east and the arrow came and fell in Jerusalem. He then shot another arrow to the west and it also fell in Jerusalem. He shot an arrow in all four directions of the heavens, and each time the arrow fell in Jerusalem.

א"ל לינוקא פסוק לי פסוקיך אמר ליה (יחזקאל כה, יד) ונתתי את נקמתי באדום ביד עמי ישראל וגו' אמר קודשא בריך הוא בעי לחרובי ביתיה ובעי לכפורי ידיה בההוא גברא ערק ואזל ואיגייר ונפק מיניה ר"מ

Nero then conducted another test: He said to a child: Tell me the verse that you learned today. He said to him as follows: “And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel” (Ezekiel 25:14). Nero said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, wishes to destroy His Temple, and He wishes to wipe his hands with that man, i.e., with me. The Romans are associated with Edom, the descendants of Esau. If I continue on this mission, I will eventually be punished for having served as God’s agent to bring about the destruction. So he fled and became a convert, and ultimately Rabbi Meir descended from him.

https://www.sefaria.org/Gittin.56b?lang=bi

Who was in the Temple in 70 CE?

Jesus ben Sapphias.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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