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Mara Bar Serapion
 
  Mara Bar Serapion refers to a letter written by a man of the same name who was in prison and was writing to his son in order to encourage him to pursue wisdom. In one of the examples of wisdom the letter gives, it potentially references Jesus. It reads:
What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise king die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given
It is not certain when the letter was written. The reference to the Jews being in complete dispersion means after 70/73, and more likely after the Bar Kochba revolt in 135, to as late as possibly the third century. The statement about the abolished kingdom certainly refers to the 70-AD destruction, but it has to be wondered whether the Bar Kochba revolt is implied or not. Nevertheless, the question remains as to what historical confirmation, if any, this brings about Jesus Christ.

Does this talk about Jesus?

The "wise king" is not named, and it could be said that it does not refer to Jesus but maybe someone else, like one of the other "Messiahs" at the time. However, there is no one else who could be described as wise, a king, living on in his teachings, and executed by the Jews some short time prior to the end of their kingdom, other than Jesus. Quite simply, none of the people who claimed to be Messiahs at the time would have been known well enough to be referred to by such a broad reference. Even if that were not the case, Jesus is the only individual about whom these facts can fit.

It can't be said that the wise king is implied by the letter to have been a contemporary of Pythagoras and Socrates, the two being such, since not only did they barely live at the same time, but the reference to the abolition of the Jewish kingdom is undoubtedly the one that occurred in 70 AD, and that's said to have happened not too long after the execution of the wise king. The mention of Socrates and Pythagoras is most likely because of the well-known tradition of their deaths; hardly would a Jew (especially an unnamed one) who lived in Socrates' time be referenced, when Judea was not as prominent. What is clear is that this is simply a list of well-known unjustly killed by their countrymen sages across time and the punishment that follows for killing them. It is completely unlikely that one of the people claiming to be the Messiah in Judea are being described, since none of them had this kind of life, much less the Teacher of Righteousness, about whom a pagan would have never even heard of and who in all likelihood was not executed and was not seen as a king by anyone and would therefore not be designated as such by a Gentile.

Is Mara Bar Serapion historically accurate?

It can be said that the letter has inaccurate information about the death of Pythagoras, who didn't die on Samos, but lived the end of his life in Italy, and therefore we can't say we have anything historically reliable about Jesus. The fact is, whether Pythagoras died on Samos or not is irrelevant, because that's the tradition the author knew. This wouldn't preclude him from knowing more recent events more accurately.

But the fact is, the Mara Bar Serapion is most certainly dependent on Christian traditions about Jesus and is influenced by them. This is clearly seen by the references to Jesus as king, to his teachings, and the connection between him and the decimation of Israel, since the Jews viewed this punishment due to other factors, and the pagan author would have in no way known about Jesus, much less made this connection, if the Christian traditions were not there. Furthermore, the execution being by the Jews clearly reflects Christian thinking and traditions (1 Thessalonians 3:13-16, and the Gospels), whereas in Tacitus it is "under one of our procurators". The fact that no Christian would refer to Jesus simply as a "wise king" who "lived on in his teachings" is irrelevant since the author has clearly watered down what he had heard about Jesus to a view that is less Christian, similarly to Tacitus, who describes the origin of Christianity as a superstition. It is therefore most likely that the Mara Bar Serapion is using information that is ultimately from Christian sources, and is not anything independent.

Date and Relevance of Mara Bar Serapion

The well-known story implies a familiarity with the main Christian tradition, if not (indirectly) the Gospels themselves, which was not achieved by the majority of the Roman population, or at least Roman "elite", until about the third quarter of the second century (e.g. Celsus writing against the Gospels in 177). This suggests the letter was probably written around 150, but it could have been earlier, or later, though likely not as early as the first century.

What confirmation do we have in it about the historical Jesus? Since confirmation requires independence, something that uses the Christian tradition would not be confirmation. This does not mean that the Christian tradition is false by default. The reference to wise teachings is certainly from the Christian tradition, as is the title "king" and the execution being ultimately by the Jews. The only thing that can be said that the Mara Bar Serapion does is to support the, by then, widespread view that Jesus was a famous teacher who was more or less unjustly killed.

References


  1. Bruce, F.F., The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, p.117

  2. We can see this by the introduction Josephus gives to all the people who claimed to be Messiahs or to do miracles, presupposing his audience did not know about them, such as that of the Egyptian [Jewish Antiquities 20.169-171]; the fact that the Roman captain knew about this Egyptian in Acts 21:38 is due to it happening recently (within a few years) and in Jerusalem, where he was at.

  3. There are many who consider 1 Thessalonians 3:13-16 an interpolation. But this doesn't matter because, if it is an interpolation, then it was a Christian interpolator reflecting the Christian tradition that the Jews killed Jesus; if it was written by Paul, then Paul reflects the Christian tradition of his time.

  4. Even if it is supposed that Tacitus took his information ultimately from Christian sources and that he would have probably also placed the blame ultimately on the Jews, the very fact that he is technical shows that he is separating what he has heard about Christianity (if ultimately from Christians) into more technical information and that therefore the Mara Bar Serapion is stating what the author had heard about Christianity ultimately from Christians.