The Death of James the Just, Brother of Jesus Christ
This is the earliest known testimony to the
death of James the Just, brother of Jesus our Lord.
What a strange character James is! There is no
indication that he followed Jesus at all during Jesus' earthly lifetime. After
the resurrection, however, he is one of the leading figures in the church.
I suppose this makes sense. After all, it
would be hard for any of us to be convinced that our big brother is the creator
of the world. On the other hand, if he rose from the dead it might spark a
change in us!
However, James is odd in other respects.
Unlike the twelve, he never left Jerusalem. History says he was appointed as overseer
there by the apostles. Acts, though, leaves us with the impression that he
carried as much or more authority than the apostles who appointed him! (As the ruler of the 1st century Jerusalem
Church)
Not only did he not leave Jerusalem, but
surely he was the most Jewish of the apostles. (James is called an apostle
in Scripture—e.g., Gal. 1:19—but he was not one of the twelve.)
While he acknowledged that the Gentiles did not need to keep the Law, he was
always the one most on the side of the Law. Peter refused to eat with Gentiles
out of fear of James (Gal. 2:11-12), and James asked Paul to buy the
sacrifices for men about to take a Nazirite vow (and Paul complied – Acts 21:18-26!!!).
James remained the leader of the Jerusalem
church until his death around A.D. 62. This is the account of his martyrdom
according to Hegesippus (a 2nd century Christian about whom little is known),
which is quoted in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, vol. II, ch.
23 (A.D. 323).
I'm retelling the story in my own words, not
quoting him. Eusebius gives three versions of the death of James: one from
Clement of Alexandria, one from Hegesippus, and one from Josephus (yes,
Josephus' Antiquities was being quoted way back then!). This is
Hegesippus' version, which Eusebius judges the most accurate.
Historians, however, prefer Josephus' account
of the death of James, which I'll cover in a paragraph or two at the end of the
page.
Introduction: What Sort of Person James Was
James was called "the Just" because
of his great righteousness. Rumor has it that he was a Nazirite from his
mother's womb. He didn't drink any wine or liquor, and he didn't eat meat. He
never cut his hair, did not anoint himself with oil, and did not bathe.
Note: I don't believe this rumor. Somehow I
can't picture Joseph and Mary requiring this of Jesus' younger brother, nor can
I picture a long-haired guy who never bathed as the long term bishop of
Jerusalem, known to posterity as "James the Just."
He was the only one allowed to enter the
temple alone, and he prayed and asked forgiveness for the Jews so much that his
knees became hard like a camel's. As well as "the Just," he was known
as "Bulwark of the people."
Seven
Sects of Judaism
These sects are mentioned by Hegesippus, a
little-known Christian of the 2nd century. Others refer to "the seven
sects," but the list is not always the same. Here are Hegesippus' sects:
1.
Essenes
2.
Galileans
3.
Hemerobaptists
4.
Masbotheans
5.
Samaritans
6.
Sadducees
7.
Pharisees
James was so righteous, in fact, that he was
respected by all the seven sects of Judaism (see sidebar). They used to ask him
his opinion of Jesus, to which he would reply that Jesus was the Savior. Since
some of those sects didn't believe in a resurrection, few among them believed
in Jesus as their Christ.
Those who did, however, believed because of
James.
James the Just Arouses the Wrath of the Rulers
After a while, James' influence became so
strong that even some of the rulers believed, which horrified the scribes and
Pharisees. They became afraid that soon the people would be flocking to Jesus
as the Christ.
Somehow, perhaps because of his strict
observance of the Law, the Pharisees thought they could get James to discourage
the people from believing. They asked him to stand at the pinnacle of the
temple on Passover and speak.
Apparently, James agreed.
They brought him to the top of the temple, and
they shouted to him from below:
"Oh, righteous
one, in whom we are able to place great confidence; the people are led astray
after Jesus, the crucified one. So declare to us, what is this way,
Jesus?"
Obviously, this wasn't a very wise thing for
them to do. James was ready to take full advantage of such a wonderful
opportunity as this!
His words are memorable:
Why do you ask me
about Jesus, the Son of Man? He sits in heaven at the right hand of the great
Power, and he will soon come on the clouds of heaven!
The Pharisees were horrified, but the people
were not. The began shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!"
The Pharisees, realizing the awful mistake
they'd made, began crying out, "Oh! Oh! The righteous one is also in
error!"
The Death of James the Just
You can probably guess that this had little
effect on the crowd. So the next obvious thing to do was to push him down from
the temple, letting the people know exactly what happens to those who dare to
believe in Jesus.
They climbed the temple as the people shouted,
reached the top, and threw James from the pinnacle of the temple.
It didn't kill him.
He rose to his knees and began to pray for
them. "I beg of you, Lord God our Father, forgive them! They do not know
what they are doing."
This would not do! The Pharisees on
the ground began to stone him as he prayed, while those from the roof rushed
down to join the execution.
One of the priests, however, a son of the
Rechabites mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet (ch. 35), shouted, "Stop!
What are you doing! The righteous one is praying for you."
It was too late. A fuller (i.e., launderer)
took out one of the clubs that he used to beat clothes and smashed James on the
head, killing him with one blow.
Ramifications of the Death of James the Just
According to Hegesippus, Vespasian invaded
Israel and besieged Jerusalem immediately after the Pharisees murdered James.
The events were so closely related in time, he says, that "the more
sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that [the death of James] was the
cause of the siege of Jerusalem."
The problem with that idea is that the siege
of Jerusalem happened in A.D. 66, and Josephus says that the death of James
happened after Porcius Festus had died and before Albinus became procurator of
Judea. While I don't know the history of Roman governors well enough for that
to mean anything to me, historians tell us that means James the Lord's brother
died in A.D. 62.
I may not have the Roman governors of Judea
memorized, but I can do that math. That's a four year gap.
That is probably too long for Hegesippus'
"immediately" statement to be true, but the events may still be
related. Even Josephus testifies that the illegal murder of James offended the
Jews so much that they met Albinus on his way to Jerusalem to get help on the
matter. If the death of James stirred up Jerusalem that much, it could easily
have had something to do with the First Jewish-Roman War just four years later.
Josephus' Account of the Death of James the Just
According to Josephus, Ananus became the high
priest of Jerusalem after the procurator, Porcius Festus, died. While the new
procurator, Albinus, was on the way, Ananus saw the opportunity to get rid of
James.
Josephus does not say why Ananus wanted the
death of James other than that he "was of an exceeding bold and reckless
disposition."
Josephus makes it very simple. Ananus gathered
the Sanhedrin, accused James of violating the Law along with some others and
had them all stoned. As a consequence, Albinus removed Ananus from his position
of high priest upon his arrival.
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