The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot (11 page)

THE GLOSSARY
provides clarifications for certain details of
The Gospel According to Judas,
written against the background of a first-century world
.

 

HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGES
in
The Gospel According to Judas
are either direct citations from the biblical text, or paraphrases of it. Sources are always indicated, but the citation of the biblical source is preceded by ‘see'
.

 

ALL BIBLICAL TEXTS
are an original translation of the author(s), guided by the Revised Standard Version and the New Revised Standard Version
.

i. G
OSPELS:
The Gospels were written late in the first century (Mark:
circa
AD
70, Matthew:
circa
AD
85, Luke:
circa
AD
85, John:
circa
AD
100). We do not know the identity of the Evangelists, as the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were all added to manuscripts late in the second century. It is probable that none of the Evangelists was an Apostle. Christian tradition holds that Mark was a close associate of Peter in Rome, but not an Apostle. Matthew was a well-instructed Jew who became a Christian (see Matt 13:52). The fact that the name of the tax collector (Levi) in Mark 2:14 (see also Luke 5:27) becomes ‘Matthew' in Matt 9:9 may be a self-identification of the Apostle Matthew (see Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15), but this is not proof positive. ‘The Beloved Disciple' of the Fourth Gospel was identified as John late in the second century. The author of the Fourth Gospel was more likely an ex-disciple of John the Baptist who became a close follower of Jesus, but not one of the Twelve. The Christian Church regards the four Gospels as ‘Sacred Scripture'. They are narrative descriptions of what God did for humankind through the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus.

ii. F
ATHERS AND SONS:
As a result of the empire created by Alexander the Great (336–323
BC
), Greek was the language commonly spoken and used for written communication throughout the Mediterranean basin, and beyond. All the documents of the New Testament, the product of a Jewish world, are written in Greek. The ‘family' (the
bet-'ab:
‘the house of the father') is the most important unit in the nation, and for the survival of the individual. The numerous genealogical lists in both the Old and the New Testament (see, for example, Gen 36:9–14; 1 Chron
9:39–44; Matt 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38) show how crucial it was to ‘own' one's patrimony. As well as economic and social patrimony, sons had a responsibility to continue the traditions of their fathers. This responsibility is powerfully presented in the Jewish document
The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
, and also in
Ben Sirach
. In the former the ‘sons' are instructed by their father to pass on his tradition, and the latter is a text that shows this being carried out with respect by a grandson. This book, also known as Ecclesiasticus, originally written in Hebrew, was translated into Greek before the Christian era.

iii. G
OSPELS NOT ACCEPTED BY THE
C
HRISTIANS:
There were many ‘gospels', known as ‘apocryphal gospels', that were not accepted by the emerging Church. A collection of such gospel material, written in Coptic, but originally in Greek,
The Codex Tchacos
, was made public in 1999. Several fragments of a ‘Gospel of Judas' can be found in the codex, and these possibly date back to
AD
180. The text is fragmentary, not really a ‘gospel', and is representative of a second-century Gnostic understanding of Jesus. Judas is presented as someone who is encouraged by Jesus to do God's will by setting in motion the action that will liberate Jesus from the wicked human condition to become a heavenly figure. For a discussion by the Archbishop of Durham, see T. Wright,
Judas and the Gospel of Jesus
(London: SPCK, 2006).
The Gospel According to Judas
recorded here was not inspired by this text, but attempts to present the Christian story through the eyes of Judas.

iv. T
HE NAME
‘J
UDAS
I
SCARIOT
':
As well as the explanation of the surname Iscariot put forward in
The Gospel According To Judas
1:12–15, several other hypotheses have been advanced, e.g. that Judas was a ‘deliverer' on the basis of the Hebrew root verb,
skr
. The name ‘Judas' is a Greek form of the Hebrew ‘Judah'.

v. T
HE BIRTH OF
J
ESUS:
Judas' understanding of the birth of Jesus is not the ‘Roman Catholic' interpretation, as expressed in the Marian doctrines, especially that of Mary's perpetual virginity. It is, however, a widely accepted understanding of such texts as Matthew 1:25; Mark 3:31–35; 6:3; John 7:3–8. Judas, like any strictly brought-up Jew, could only accept Jesus as the first born of a lawful Jewish wedlock.

vi. S
EXUAL UNIONS BETWEEN ANGELS AND WOMEN:
Pre-Christian and Rabbinic traditions look back on the unions between angels and human women, as told in Genesis 6:1–4, as the source of evil and the presence of giants in the world. So serious was this evil that God regretted putting Adam and Eve on the earth. His heart grieved, and in the destruction that followed, only Noah and his family survived (see Gen 6:1–9:17). See the development of Gen 6:1–4 in the Qumran documents (e.g. 4QBook of Giants) and in 1 Enoch (see 1 Enoch 6 and 7).

vii. T
OUCHING A WOMAN:
Jesus' touching a woman who is not his wife would be regarded as a breach of piety. Later Rabbinic legislation prohibits a woman from serving at table, as the private matter of a woman's menstrual cycle could not be ascertained. For the biblical background of this custom, see Lev 15:19–24; 18:6; 22:10; 36:17, and the tractate
Niddah
in the Mishnah. As Rabbi Samuel (died
circa
AD
254) said: ‘One must under no circumstance be served by a woman, be she adult or child.'

viii. T
HE
D
AVIDIC THRONE:
King David was Israel's second and greatest king. He ruled from about 1010–970
BC
, and built an empire that stretched from Egypt into present-day Iran. Psalm 89:4 and 2 Sam 23:5 speak explicitly of an everlasting covenant between YHWH and David. There are many understandings of how this promise was to be fulfilled. One of them is that YHWH will raise up a ‘Son of David' who would be restored to a royal throne in Jerusalem. He would once again establish the glory of Israel by means of great military victories. Christians believe that Jesus does fulfil the promises of the Davidic covenant (see Matt 1:1; Rom 1:3), but Jesus never accepted the role of a potential military leader. The Gospels suggest that the first disciples may have followed him in the hope that he would.

ix. T
HE
S
CRIBES AND THE
P
HARISEES:
The Scribes were largely a servant group. They were men who studied the law and served as legal consultants to anyone who required their expert services. Thus, there were Scribes of the Sadducees and well as Scribes of the Pharisees. The Pharisees emerged in Israel during the two centuries before the Christian era. At that time Jewish leadership, including the High Priest, was controlled by foreign powers, initially the Hellenistic leaders, and then the Romans. The Pharisees (whose name probably reflects the concept of being ‘cut off' from corruption) attempted to live a strict Jewish life, obedient to the commands of the Torah. They opposed corrupt leadership and suffered a great deal because of their faith. They travelled wherever there were Jews, but their base was always the Synagogue, where the Torah was the centre of Jewish worship. Their focus on the Torah and Synagogue ensured mobility; thus they survived the Jewish War and eventually produced what is known as Rabbinic Judaism.

x. U
NDER A FIG TREE:
There is a Jewish tradition that a person reflecting on the Torah should do so under a fig tree. The Jewish texts are late, but probably refer to a widespread and early tradition of the learned men of the law sitting under a fig tree to study scripture.

xi. T
HE
S
ON OF
G
OD:
Judas does not believe that Jesus is the ‘Son of God', as is found in the Johannine tradition (
AD
100), and as it was eventually understood and defined by the Church at Nicea (
AD
325) and Chalcedon (
AD
451): Jesus as the
second person in the Trinity. Judas does believe in the messianic ‘son of God', as expected in Israel on the basis of such texts as Ps 2:7 and 2 Sam 7:14.

xii. S
IN AND
S
ICKNESS:
The Hebrew Bible often links the punishment of sin with sickness and death (2 Sam 12:13–23; 24:1–25). Only God has authority over sickness and sin.

xiii. C
ONFLICT STORIES:
The description of the conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish leadership, found in
The Gospel According to Judas
6:9–15, is based on Mark 2:1–12. Judas' account suggests a mounting crisis. The initial response to Jesus' miracles is surprise. By the time he has performed all of his miracles, the Jewish Elders have judged him to be a blasphemer, and only worthy of death.

xiv. T
HE
D
ECAPOLIS:
This term refers to a group of Hellenistic towns located in Transjordania, the region to the north-east of the river Jordan. The word in Greek means ‘ten cities', but it is difficult to trace the exact names of ten cities. The following nine have been identified: Abila, Canata, Dius, Gadara, Gerasa, Hippos, Pella, Phildelphia and Scythopolis. These cities were largely inhabited by Gentiles, who followed Greek customs and religion.

xv. T
HE
T
WELVE:
The list of the twelve disciples in
The Gospel According to Judas
8:30 reflects the lists in the Christian Gospels. Judas Iscariot is always named last. The placing of Judas' name at the end of the list and his delineation as the one who betrayed Jesus were all part of the early Christian determination to blacken Judas' character.

xvi. J
ESUS
'
SERMON:
The sermon of Jesus, beginning with the ‘beatitudes', is loosely based on Jesus' sermon on the plain as found in Luke (6:20–49), rather than the longer, better-known version of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5, 6 and 7).

xvii. O
UR
F
ATHER:
The version of the ‘Our Father' found in
The Gospel According to Judas
9:37 is based on the Lucan version of this prayer (Luke 11:2–4). It is very brief, and full of urgent promises that look to an imminent fulfilment. The version in the Gospel of Luke is likely to be closer to the words that Jesus actually taught the disciples than the elaborate and better-known form of the prayer, found in Matt 6:9–13, which is currently used in most Christian liturgies and prayer books.

xviii. T
HE
C
OMMUNITY AT
K
HIRBET
Q
UMRAN:
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (
circa
1947) led to the uncovering of a fortress-like building at Khirbet Qumran, close to the Dead Sea, which housed a community of pious Jews. The building stood from about 150
BC
until
AD
70, when it was destroyed by the Romans. It is widely accepted that a group of Jewish sectarians, known by other first-century witnesses as the Essenes, had gathered at Khirbet Qumran. They lived in community, and were hostile to a Jewish leadership that compromised the traditions of Israel in order to maintain good relations with foreign
powers. Since 1947, many scrolls, some containing biblical texts and others containing texts that had been composed at Qumran, have been unearthed. The texts mentioned (
Community Rule, Rule of the Congregation, The War Scroll
) were written by the Essenes at Khirbet Qumran.

xix. T
HE
M
ESSIAH AND THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN:
The link between the gift of the manna and the messianic era had already been made in Judaism during the first century. The citation from 2 Baruch in
The Gospel According to Judas
10:26 comes from a document that can be dated from the end of first century
AD
.