Two Christs?

[Nonson]

THE JEWISH LEGEND OF PANDERA AND YESHU


Throughout the middle ages, the legend of Pandera and Yeshu, considered by most scholars a Jewish invention, continued to persist. The tale, however, is extremely ancient, for it was known, long before the Christians had the power to persecute, to the Greek Neo-Platonist Celsus, who flourished 175-180. Origen, 185-254, quotes the Greek as having said, concerning the mother of Jesus, that "when she was pregnant she was turned out of doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been guilty of adultery, and that she bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera" (Contra Celsum, VII, ix).

Knowledge now available concerning the Teacher of Righteousness has thrown an entirely new light on this Pandera-legend, which is related in detail by Morris Goldstein and which, in brief, runs as follows (Jesus in Jewish Tradition, pp. 148-154):

There lived in the days of King Jannaeus, 103-76 B.C.E., in Bethlehem, a certain disreputable young man whose name was Joseph Pandera. He seduced the chaste and lovely Miriam by pretending to be her betrothed husband, Johanan; and the result was a son, Yeshoshua, or Yeshu. When it became known that Yeshu was illegitimate, he fled to Galilee, where he practiced magic by learning the letters of the Ineffable Name and where he declared that he was born miraculously of a virgin, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, 7: 14. Yeshu, thereupon, declared himself the Messiah, and produced various texts from the prophets, which he said applied to him. The Jewish sages then brought Yeshu before Queen Helene (probably the wife of Aristobulus II) and accused him of sorcery. A corpse was brought in, and when Yeshu restored it to life, the queen became his devotee. The sages now selected a man called Judah Iskarito and taught him also the letters of the Ineffable Name, by which he too could practice magic. In a trial before the queen, both Yeshu and Iskarito lost their memory of the Name and fell down powerless.

Yeshu was now seized and beaten, was given vinegar to drink, and a crown of thorns was placed upon his head at Tiberias. There was a struggle among the people, and Yeshu escaped with some of his fellow-conspirators to Antioch or Egypt, where they remained until the Passover, at which time Yeshu went to Jerusalem to relearn the letters of the Ineffable Name in the Temple. Riding into Jerusalem on an ass, he fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah. Identified by Iskarito as the false prophet, Yeshu was seized, and put to death on the eve of the Passover Sabbath. If Yeshu was born near the beginning of Alexander Jannaeus' reign, he would have been in his thirties at the time of his execution.

The bold followers of Yeshu now came to Queen Helene with the report that he was not in his tomb, but had ascended to heaven as he had prophesied. Since his body could not be found, she demanded of the sages that they produce it within three days. It so happened, however, that the gardener, foreseeing conspiracies by the followers of Yeshu, had taken the body from the tomb and buried it in the garden; and when he learned of the queen's ultimatum, he told the sages where it lay. They seized it, tied it to the tail of a horse, and dragged it before Helene, who thereupon renounced the false prophet, commended the sages for their wisdom, and derided those who had been deluded by the sorcerer.

The story concludes with a resume of how the followers of Yeshu sought to overthrow Judaism by re-dating their feast days and their holy celebrations and by repudiating their rituals and their dietary laws; and how they caused a great commotion among the Jews for thirty years by declaring that their prophet was now sitting at the right hand of God and would return as the almighty Messiah to condemn all unbelievers to the eternal fires of hell.

IS THE JEWISH ACCOUNT ABOUT JESUS OR THE TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS?
This ancient legend prompts theories which, to say the least, are quite fascinating. We know that the Essenes made a fundamental issue over their divergent calendar, which placed their feasts and celebrations on days other than those observed by the orthodox; and we have seen that it was a dispute over this which precipitated the trial and execution of the Teacher. This squares with the Pandera story but could have no reference to Jesus.

There are other reasons for believing this an authentic tradition concerning the Teacher rather than of Jesus: for we are told that the "bold" followers of Yeshu came to Queen Helene declaring that he had ascended to heaven; this was an act quite understandable on the part of well established Essenes whose leader had already been accepted by the reigning queen, but quite impossible for the cowering disciples of Jesus, who had not the slightest expectation of any resurrection and who had gone into concealment to hide their terrible humiliation.

Even more decisive is the fact that the Romans are totally absent from the traditions concerning both Yeshu and the Teacher. And certainly there was no Queen Helene in the days of Pontius Pilate. Furthermore, the thirty year commotion caused by the followers of Yeshu is entirely consonant with The Testament interpolations. Faced with evidence, one must conclude, therefore, that the Pandera-story was the popular-orthodox Jewish version of the life and death of the Essene prophet and had nothing to do with Jesus. If their careers seem parallel in tradition, this fact stems from their historical similarity. The Christian Judas Iscariot was perhaps a purely ideological re-creation of an historical namesake. We consider it likely that Jesus designed his course of action so that he would die in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, not only because great crowds would be present, but also because the Teacher had died there during that festival; and that he rode into Jerusalem on an ass partly for the same reason. Even the gardener appears in the fourth canonical Gospel in an enigmatic role. And who can fail to notice the similarity of the empty tombs! Finally, it is entirely possible that a virgin-birth was attributed to Jesus in the second century, partly because this too was an element of the Yeshu-story.
(www.benoah.freewebsites.com)


Nonson

[andrewblow]

Ah yes - it was from YOU nonson !!

It hasn't improved with age - it's still a LEGEND and if you think this raises you above the 'unworthy gentleman' status - you're wrong.

Anyone can play with garrish stories, but when they can be seen to be LEGEND ALONE - WHY...that is where I get off the bus - I'll pewk on my own.

And I WILL stand by St Paul - at least he met the Lord personally and it's his word I'll trust.

[Nonson]

Andrew,

Your near intelligible reply is so dignified that one as "unworthy" as myself probably ought not respond for fear of being made a laughingstoock of the forum. However, my being mindful of such possible consequences to the extent of not answering would merely be the cause of you committing ever greater folly. So I will follow your lead and set aside my ethic and morals and use whatever I deem best suited to portray the fullness of your ignorance in these matters.

Let us begin the process by noting how studiously you avoid directing your attention and verbal mish-mash toward the perfectly reasonable points make by the author of the article. But such worthy practice is nothing new to you is it, old chap? You've honed it to a fine art, along with the art of lying.


Nonson

[andrewblow]

I have already answered your false accusations about 'lying' elsewhere. I shall not repeat myself.

I stand on my name and my honour before God and man.

For you to do the same - with your signature - would just about set the tables in the right order.

Andrew.

[Nonson]

Andrew,

As is par with you all rational points are avoided in your haste to cover the ugly backside of your lies.


Nonson