There is a Swedish author [and medical doctor] named Lena Einhorn who has spent the last 15 years doing research about the NT and the OT. Her 2016 book is called A Shift in Time, claiming that historical documents reveal the surprising truths about Jesus. In an article in a Swedish newspaper she writes:
“In the gospels Jesus was crucified between two criminals. Also Flavius Josephus (J) describes the two criminals on the cross beside Jesus but twenty years later when Felix was a Roman governor. The rebels were not active at Jesus time. J writes ‘And as for the number of criminals he (Felix) crucified, there were so many that it is impossible to calculate.’ J does not mention any crucifixions during Pilate’s time, nor any conflict between Jews and Samaritans but twenty years later. J does not mention any Jewish messianic figures during Pilate’s time but ten years later the preacher Theudas shows up. Another ten years later during Felix’s time ‘the Egyptian’ shows up and like Jesus he stayed in the desert, was by the authorities as a threat, predicted that the walls would fall, was preaching from the Mount of Olives.
“In the gospel of John when Judas came to the garden there was a detachment of soldiers to arrest Jesus. In the original Greek ‘commander’ is chiliarchosand ‘detachment’ is speira. A speirais a Roman battalion including 500-1000 soldiers. Chiliarchos mean ‘leader of one thousand.’ Jesus, like ‘the Egyptian,’ must have been defeated in a battle on the Mount of Olives. Theudas preached as John the Baptist by the Jordan river, was taken prisoner and beheaded.”
Have you heard of this before? — M.L.
Yes—all of these claims, apart from the point about Josephus and the three crucifixions. Outside the siegeworks against Jerusalem three crucified men were known to Josephus. They had not been long on their crosses. Josephus asked the commander if they could be released. As I recall, two died, and one recovered. This is recorded in Josephus’ Jewish War.
A chilíarchos is a military tribune, typically in charge of 500 men, the speîra. This corresponds to the Roman cohors(cohort, or battalion), which is hundreds of men—not 1000. But does a chiliarch go nowhere without the full complement of his troops?
To illustrate, just because Cornelius was a centurion (Acts 10) doesn’t mean he was accompanied by 100 soldiers. I attended a class a few years ago on this very topic: was Cornelius with all his men, or were the separated? I learned that there are precedents for officers, temporarily at least, being separated from their men.
The (mis)use of such a source (Josephus, late 60s) to serve as a contradiction of Jesus’ crucifixion (33 AD) is not only unscholarly, but evidence that this writer cares little for the truth, which in her hands seems to be plastic—something to be shaped as one wishes.
The claims about the Egyptian and Theudas and the Samaritans have all been addressed ably by various scholars. Einhorn seems to be guilty of selective data-mining, not just in her 2016 book, but also in the earlier 2007 book rejecting the canonical depiction of Jesus’ resurrection. An honest reading of the gospels shows the Lord to be a man of peace, drastically different to military and political leaders of his time (or ours).
