TELAVIV UNIVERSITY THELESTER AND SALLYENTINFACULTYOFHUMANITIES THECHAIMROSENBERGSCHOOL OFJEWISHSTUDIES JEWISH CHRISTIANS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN JUDAEA FROM THE GREAT REVOLT TO THE BAR-KOKHBA WAR THESIS SUBMITTEDFOR THEDEGREE OFDOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY BY: YONATANBOURGEL UNDER THESUPERVISION OFPROFESSORAHARONOPPENHEIMER SUBMITTEDTO THESENATE OFTEL AVIVUNIVERSITY MAY2009 ב תודות::: בראש ובראשונה אני מבקש להודות מכל ליבי לפרופ ' אהרן אופנהיימר שהנ חה אותי בעבודתי ברוחב לב ובנכונות אין קץ לעזור ולסייע לי בכל צורך ובקשה . הוא היה לי לא רק מנחה מקצועי ומסור אלא גם ידיד של אמת . ברצוני להודות למספר חוקרים אשר הועילו לייעץ לי ולחלוק עמי את ידיעותיהם ובמיוחד לפרופ ' בנימין איזק אשר קרא חלק ממחקרי והעיר הער ות חשובות עליו ולד" ר יובל שחר שהקדיש לי רבות מזמנו ושיתף אותי במידע על ממצאיו ומחקריו . כן אני חב תודה לרבים וטובים אחרים ובהם לד" ר סוזן ויינגרטן על העריכה הלשונית , הערותיה המחכימות ועצותיה המקצועיות , לגב ' נילי אופנהיימר על הפניות ביבליוגרפיות רבות וחשובות ולאשבל רצון , עמיתתי ללימודי דוקטורט וידידתי היקרה , שלא חסכה מזמנה כדי לתקן את שגיאותיי בעברית . תודתי נתונה גם לביה" ס למדעי היהדות ובפרט לשרה ורד על כל העזרה והסיוע שהיא העניקה לי . Contents Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………………iv Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………..……...1 I- The Jewish Christians’ move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice (68 CE) …………………………………………………………………………………. ... ...21 A- The sources ……………………………………………………………………………………...23 B- The choice of Pella ………..…………………………………………………………………..36 C- The date of the migration to Pella ………….……………………………………………..39 D- The material difficulties ……………….…………………………………………………….…47 E- Reconstruction ……..………….……………………………………………………………….…50 F- Scope and significance ………………………………………………………………………..54 G- Appendix of references to the ‘Flight to Pella’ …...……...…………………………..……56 II- The Jewish Christians’ relationship to Jerusalem and the Temple following the Jewish War: .…………... ………………………………………………………...……...…..…60 A- Was there a Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem after 70 CE? . ............... 60 1ThelikelihoodofaJewishciviliansettlementinJerusalemafter70CE ……………..61 2ThereturnoftheJewishChristianChurchtoJerusalemaftertheJewishWar ……...64 a-ThesourceswhichrefertoaChristianpresenceinJerusalemafter70CE…………. ...64 bThecircumstancesof thereturnoftheJewishChristianstoJerusalem.…………………69 B- The Jewish Christians’ attachment to the Temple …………………………………...73 1JewishpilgrimagestotheTempleMountafter 70CE. ……………………………………..…73 2Theissue ofthestele ofJames ………………………………………………………………..75 a-Hegesippus ………………...………………………………………………………………………………………………….…75 bThe sitzimleben ofthetradition ……………………………………………………………….. 79 -Thegistofthenarrative ………………………………………………………………………………..... 79 -Thedatingofthetradition ……………………………………………………………….…... 80 -Thecommunitywithinwhichthetraditionoriginated …..…………………………...82 c-The Nazoraeans andtheTemple ……………………………………………………………...96 dThelocationofthesteleofJames …………………………………………………………..104 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………….…112 III The Jewish Christians and the Jewish Tax: ………………………………115 A- The Jewish tax under the reigns of Vespasian and Titus …………………………116 B- The administration of the Fiscus Iudaicus under Domitian …………………...…124 C- The reform of Nerva ………………………………………………………………………...131 א א IV Jews, Jewish Christians and Samaritans: perceptions of the other and of the self ……………………………………………………………………………….....142 A- Jews and Jewish Christians: a rapprochement with the Samaritans in the post-destruction period? ……………………………………………………………………………………143 1SamaritanismatthestartoftheCommonEra:a briefoverview ……………………………….. 143 2 The embitteredstate of relations betweenJews andSamaritans inthe first century CE ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…148 a-Evidence fordeepand mutualhostility ……………………………………………………148 bSomenuancesandexceptions ………………………………………………………………157 3 The improvement in JewishSamaritan relations after the destruction of the JerusalemTemple ……………………………………………………………………………….…166 a-HeterogeneousevidenceforaJewishSamaritanrapprochement: ………………..…166 -Theearly Tannaim andtheSamaritans ……………………………………………166 -The ParaleipomenaJeremiou ………………………………………………………172 -Contacts betweenthefirstChristiansandtheSamaritans ……………………..176 bThe basisforthishistoricalevolution ………………...……………………………………190 B- Samaritan otherness in the internal Jewish debate ….………………………………..194 1 The status of the Samaritans: a most pressing issue in secondcentury Jewish circles ………………………………………………………………………………………………..194 2 JewishChristiancontroversies over the Samaritans as part of the general Jewish debate ………………………………………………………………………………………………...202 Preliminaryremarks ………………………………………………………………………………202 a-Matthew ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…206 bLuke ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…211 -Luke9:51-56 …………………………………………………………………………...212 -Luke10:2537 …………………………………………………………………………214 -Luke17:1119 …………………………………………………………………………218 -TheBookofActs …………………………………………………………………………223 c-John4:4-42 ……………………………………………………………………………………...227 dHegesippusandthe PseudoClementine Recognitions …………………………………230 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………….…240 V- The Jewish Christians in the storm of the Bar-Kokhba revolt ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..243 A- The sources: ………………………………………………………………………………………………….…245 1Justin ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………245 2Eusebius ……………………………………………………………………………………………………...…247 3TheApocalypseofPeter ……………………………………………………………………...249 4Furtheraccounts ………………………………………………………………………………..255 B- The persecution of the Christians: a brutal and unexpected outburst………259 1 Preliminary consideration: who were the Christians affected by Bar-Kokhba’s rule? .…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………259 2TheChristians andBar-Kokhbaasmessiah ……………………………………………..266 3TheChristians andtheobjectivesoftherevolt …………………………………………..274 ב ב 4Therebelauthoritiesfacinginternalopposition …………………………………………281 C-…or the culmination of a long process? ………………………………………………287 1Bar-Kokhbaandthe rabbis : …………………………………………………………………288 2The policyoftherabbistowards theJewishChristians beforethe revolt…………294 a-Limitationsonsocial contact: ……………………………………………………………...295 bThe booksofthe Minim ………………………………………………………………………298 c-Themotivesforthis policy: …………………………………………………………………302 3The influence of the rabbis on the harassment of the Christians, with special emphasison Birkat haMinim : …………………………………………………………………307 a-The Eighteen Benedictions ……………………………………………………………………307 b Birkat haMinim …………………………………………………………………………………310 - BirkathaMinim andtheChristians …………………………………………………310 -BarKokhba’sactions inthelightof Birkat haMinim ……………………….…316 .The"Kingdomof Arrogance" ……………………………………………...316 .The Meshumadim ……………………………………………………………..318 .The Minim andthe Notsrim …………………………………………………………..325 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………….…329 Summary and Conclusions …...………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….332 Bibliography ………….. .…………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………346 Abstract in English …………….………………………………………………………………………………...…372 Abstract in Hebrew ……………………………………………………………………........386 ג ג Abbreviations: ACW AncientChristianwriters AGJU: Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristientum AJ Josephus,JewishAntiquities AJSR: AssociationforJewishStudiesReview AJT: AmericanJournalofTheology AnnalesHSS: Annales.Histoire,Sciencessociales ANRW: AufstiegundNiedergangderrömischenWelt BA: BiblicalArchaeologist BAR BiblicalArchaeologyReview BASOR: BulletinoftheAmericanSchoolsofOrientalResearch BCE BeforetheCommonEra BJ Josephus,JewishWar BJRL: BulletinoftheJohnRylandsLibrary BT BabylonianTalmud BW BiblicalWorld BZNW BeiheftezurZeitschriftfürdieneutestamentliche Wissenschaft CBQ: CatholicBiblicalQuarterly CCSL: CorpusChristianorumSeriesLatinae CE CommonEra CGTC CambridgeGreekTestamentCommentary CPJ CorpusPapyrorumJudaicarum CSEL CorpusScriptorumEcclesiasticorumLatinorum DJD: Discoveries intheJudaeanDesert EJ: EncyclopaediaJudaica ETL EphemeridesTheologicaeLovanienses EU: EncyclopaediaUniversalis FB: ForschungzurBibel FRLANT: Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments GCS DieGriechischenChristlichenSchriftstellerder erstenJahrhunderte HE Eusebius, HistoriaEcclesiastica HSS: HarvardSemiticseries HTR: HarvardTheologicalReview HUCA: HebrewUnionCollege Annual ICC InternationalCriticalCommentary IEJ: IsraelExplorationJournal JA: JournalAsiatique JBL: JournalofBiblicalLiterature JBR : JournalofBibleandReligion JDS: JewishDesertStudies JE: JewishEncyclopaedia JEA: JournalofEgyptianArchaeology JECS: JournalofEarlyChristianStudies JEH: JournalofEcclesiastical History JGRChJ: JournalofGrecoRomanChristianityandJudaism JJS: JournalofJewishStudies ד ד JQR: JewishQuarterlyReview JRS: JournalofRomanStudies JSIJ: JewishStudies,anInternetJournal JSJ: JournalfortheStudyofJudaism JSNT : JournalfortheStudyofthe NewTestament JSOT JournalforthestudyoftheOldTestament JSS: JournalofSemiticStudies JT Jerusalem(Palestinian) Talmud JTS: JournalofTheologicalStudies KJV KingJames Version M: Mishnah MB: MitteilungenundBeiträge NASV: NewAmericanStandardVersion NICNT: NewInternationalCommentaryonthe NewTestament NRSV: NewRevisedStandardVersion NT: NovumTestamentum NTOA Novumtestamentumetorbisantiquus NTS: NewTestamentStudies PEQ: PalestinianExplorationQuarterly PG : Migne,Patrologia,SeriesGraeca PL : Migne,Patrologia,SeriesLatina PNTC: Pillar NewTestamentCommentary PThMS: PittsburghTheological MonographsSeries RB: RevueBiblique Rec .: PseudoClementineRecognitions REJ: RevuedesÉtudesJuives RevSR: Revuedessciencesreligieuses