2. Pontius Pilate (continued)

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Gamala

When Pilate asks him where he comes from, Yeshua does not answer Nazareth, his hometown, nor Betlehem, his birth place. No, he says Gamala, and "indicates with his head that there, somewhere far off to his right, in the north, is the town of Gamala".

Gamala is a town northeast of Tiberias at the Sea of Galilee, which is traditionally not linked to the life of Jesus. None of the four canonical evangelist mention it, so why would Bulgakov do it?

Well.. Some historians argue that the absence of textual references to Nazareth in the Old Testament and the Talmud, as well as the works of Flavius Josephus, suggest that a town called Nazareth did not exist in Jesus' days. They think that Jesus lived in Gamala.

In 1927, the French writer Henry Barbusse (1873-1935) had supported this idea in his book Jésus (Jesus). He had written it because he had felt, as he said it himself, "a strong charm for the human and touching image of the jewish prophet, son of a worker carpenter, who encircled himself with people of modest condition and focussed himself on the humble". Barbusse did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, he believed in his love for mankind. He sympathized with a long time enduring tradition within the working movement: the idea of the revolutionary Jesus, killed by the mighties of the epoch of which he questionned their power. When he published an article called Jesus marxist in the journal L’Humanité to explain himself, many people were scandalized. Later on Barbusse would write a theatre play called Jésus contre Dieu (Jesus against God) which would never be staged.

Gamala was the homebase of Judas of Galilee who had led a violent resistance against Rome in the year 6 and whoes followers, the Zealots, formed a radical anti-Roman group refusing to pay Roman taxes. Jesus recruited his first apostles in the neighbourhood of Gamala. It can not be excluded that among his first followers there were quite some Zealots, even among the apostles. Jacob and John (sons of Zebedee) had sons of the thunder as nicknames, which could refer to the Zealots. It is even possible that Peter was a Zealot. His nickname Bar-jonah (Matthew 16,17) would refer to the Zealots. It means son of Jonah but also outlaw. In Luke 6:15 Simon the Zealot is mentioned among Jesus' closest followers, and maybe Peter's brother Andrew was a Zealot.

Close to Gamala, in Bethsaida, the feeding of the 4.000 men and their families took place. It was shortly before Jesus entered Jerusalem. The crowd was enthusiastic, as was written in John 6:15: "So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." After the miracle Jesus sent his apostles away. Matthew 14:22: "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd." Some scholars assume that Jesus sent his apostles away to avoid them to be considered as Zealots by the authorities.

Matthew Levi

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Bethphage

The name Bethfage is Hebrew for house of figs, it is the name of a village near Jerusalem which Jesus passed through on his final journey to Jerusalem.

The gardens on the Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives is a hill to the east of Jerusalem. At the foot of this hill is Gethsemane, Hebrew for the olive press, just across the stream of Kedron. According to the Gospels it was here that Christ was arrested.

Dysmas, Gestas and Bar-Rabban

Dysmas and Gestas were the thieves crucified together with Jesus. Their names are not given in the canonical Gospels, but found in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, of which a part is known as The Acts of Pilate. Bar-Rabban is the Barabbas from the Gospel who was released by Pilate on the occasion of the feast of Pesach.

The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus is downloadable in our archives

Yehuda of Kiriath

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Lit the lamps

Lights were lit so that the concealed witnesses for the accusation could see the face of the criminal. Yeshua was slightly surprised that "the procurator was so well informed ", as if he did not realise that he was betrayed.

Bald Mountain Foto Schedelberg

Bald Mountain is the place which in the Gospels is called Golgotha - an Aramaic word meaning Place of the skulls - and where Jesus was crucified. Topographically Bulgakov’s hill is higher than Golgotha and farther from the city. There is also a Bald Mountain near Bulgakov's native city Kiev in Ukraine.

Joseph Kaifa

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Kaifa politely apologised

Pilate invited Kaifa on to the balcony, to take shelter from the merciless heat, but “Kaifa politely apologized”. Going under the roof of a gentile would have made the high priest unclean and therefore unable to celebrate the coming feast.

Pilate himself began moving with them

This is possibly a hint to the legend according to which Pilate died by drowning himself.

Equestrian of the Golden Spear

The Knights of the Golden Spear was an equestrian order of Roman nobility. The order was next in importance to the Senate. Emperor Augustus (63 BC-14) reformed the order, after which it supplied occupants for many administrative posts. The name Pilate (Pilatus) may derive from pilum, Latin for spear.

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