All
Jews should read the New Testament. As paradoxical as it sounds, it will make
us better Jews, just as the study of the New Testament — which we did in
preparation for our book — has made us better Jews. . . Study of the New
Testament does more than provide information on painful texts. It also reveals
the rich diversity of late Second Temple Judaism, a diversity that gave rise to
both rabbinic Judaism and the Christian Church. In studying the New Testament
and understanding how it came to take shape in its historical context, we also
recover Jewish history.
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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