Caiaphas

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Christ Before Caiaphas, by Matthias Stom.

Joseph ben Caiaphas (/ˈkaɪ.ə.fəs/; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD)[citation needed], known simply as Caiaphas[a] in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest during the years of Jesus' ministry, according to Josephus.[1] The Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John indicate he was an organizer of the plot to kill Jesus. He famously presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus.[2] The primary sources for Caiaphas' life are the New Testament, and the writings of Josephus. The latter records he was made high priest by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus after Simon ben Camithus had been deposed.[3]

Etymology

The

Babylonian Talmud (Yevamot 15B) gives the family name as Kuppai, while the Jerusalem Talmud (Yevamot 1:6) mentions Nekifi. The Mishnah, Parah 3:5, refers to the family name as hakKof (perhaps "the Monkey", a play on his name for opposing the Pharisees).[4]

The family name Caiaphas קַיָּפָה has a few possible origins:[citation needed]

  • from קוּפָּה 'basket', 'tub', verbalized as קִיֵּף , whence קַיָּף meaning 'basket maker', or a worker utilizing baskets such as to sell spices
  • κεφάλαιος: from κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”) + -ιος (-ios, adjective suffix) - meaning: main, chief, principal, primary
  • "as comely" in
    Aramaic
  • a "dell", or a "depression" in Akkadian.

Accounts

New Testament

"Christ before Caiaphas". The High Priest is depicted tearing his robe in grief at Jesus' perceived blasphemy (Giotto, Life of Christ, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua)

John: relations with Romans

Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas (John 18:13), had been high-priest from AD 6 to 15, and continued to exercise a significant influence over Jewish affairs.[5] Annas and Caiaphas may have sympathized with the Sadducees, a religious movement in Judaea that found most of its members among the wealthy Jewish elite. The comparatively long eighteen-year tenure of Caiaphas suggests he had a good working relationship with the Roman authorities.[6]

In the

raising of Lazarus.[7] In the parable related in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:28–30), the likely reaction of the "five brothers" to the possibility of the return of the beggar Lazarus has given rise to the suggestion by Claude-Joseph Drioux and others that the "rich man" is itself an attack on Caiaphas, his father-in-law, and his five brothers-in-law.[8]

Caiaphas considers, with "the Chief Priests and Pharisees", what to do about Jesus, whose influence was spreading. They worry that if they "let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."

In the Gospel of John (John 18), Jesus is brought before Annas, whose palace was closer.[9] Annas questioned him regarding his disciples and teaching, and then sent him on to Caiaphas. Caiaphas makes a political calculation, suggesting that it would be better for "one man" (Jesus) to die than for "the whole nation" to be destroyed. Similar ideas can be found in rabbinical discussion in Talmud and Midrash.[10] According to John 11:51-52 it states that "He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."

Afterward, Jesus is taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilate tells the priests to judge Jesus themselves, to which they respond they lack authority to do so. Pilate questions Jesus, after which he states, "I find no basis for a charge against him." Pilate then offers the gathered crowd the choice of one prisoner to release—said to be a Passover tradition—and they choose a criminal named Barabbas instead of Jesus.

Matthew: trial of Jesus

Main article: Sanhedrin trial of Jesus

In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 26:56–67), Caiaphas and others of the Sanhedrin are depicted interrogating Jesus. They are looking for evidence with which to convict Jesus, but are unable to find any. Jesus remains silent throughout the proceedings until Caiaphas demands that Jesus say whether he is the Christ (which means Messiah). Jesus replies "The words are your own: and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:62) Caiaphas and the other men charge him with blasphemy and sentence him to corporal punishment for his crime.

Political implications

Caiaphas was the

Zealot movement to eject the Romans from Israel. The Romans would not perform executions for violations of Halakha, therefore a charge of blasphemy would not have mattered to Pilate. Caiaphas' position, therefore, was to establish that Jesus was guilty not only of blasphemy, but also of proclaiming himself to be the Messiah, which was understood as the return of the Davidic kingship
.

Acts: Peter and John refuse to be silenced

Later, in Acts 4, Peter and John went before Annas and Caiaphas after having healed a crippled beggar. Caiaphas and Annas questioned the apostles' authority to perform such a miracle. When Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, answered that Jesus of Nazareth was the source of their power, Caiaphas and the other priests realized that the two men had no formal education yet spoke eloquently about the man they called their saviour. Caiaphas sent the apostles away, and agreed with the other priests that the word of the miracle had already been spread too much to attempt to refute, and instead the priests would need to warn the apostles not to spread the name of Jesus. However, when they gave Peter and John this command, the two refused, saying "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."[11]

Josephus

The 1st-century Jewish historian

Lucius Vitellius the Elder deposed Caiaphas (Antiquitates Judaicae 18.95–97).[13] Josephus' account is based on an older source, in which incumbents of the high priesthood were listed chronologically.[14]

According to Josephus, Caiaphas was appointed in AD 18 by the Roman

prefect Valerius Gratus[2] who preceded Pontius Pilate
.

According to John, Caiaphas was the son-in-law of the high priest Annas, who is widely identified with Ananus the son of Seth, mentioned by Josephus.[15] Annas was deposed after the death of Augustus, but had five sons who served as high priest after him. The terms of Annas, Caiaphas, and the five brothers are:

  • Ananus (or Annas) the son of Seth (6–15)
  • Eleazar the son of Ananus (16–17)
  • Caiaphas, properly called Joseph son of Caiaphas (18–36/37), who had married the daughter of Annas (John 18:13)
  • Jonathan the son of Ananus (spring 37)
  • Theophilus ben Ananus (37–41)
  • Matthias ben Ananus (43)
  • Ananus ben Ananus (63)

Rabbinic literature

According to Helen Bond, there may be some references to Caiaphas in the rabbinic literature.[16]

Archaeology

Ossuary with the name קפא carved into its side, found in Jerusalem in 1990. Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Main articles: Caiaphas ossuary and Miriam ossuary

In November 1990, workers found an ornate limestone

Aramaic inscription on the side was thought to read "Joseph son of Caiaphas" and on the basis of this the bones of an elderly man were considered to belong to the High Priest Caiaphas.[2][18] Since the original discovery, this identification has been challenged by some scholars on various grounds, including the spelling of the inscription, the lack of any mention of Caiaphas' status as High Priest, the plainness of the tomb (although the ossuary itself is as ornate as might be expected from someone of his rank and family), and other reasons.[18][19]

In June 2011, archaeologists from

Ma’aziah, instituted by king David.[21]

Literature and arts

Literature

In the thirteenth-century French text Estoire del Saint Graal, Caiaphas is responsible for imprisoning Joseph of Arimathea. The Roman emperor Vespasian promises not to slay or burn him for information about Joseph. To punish him, he instead sets him adrift at sea.

In

hypocrites
are punished in the afterlife. His punishment is to be eternally crucified across the hypocrites' path, who eternally step on him.

Caiaphas is mentioned throughout the works of

Pharisee
.

Caiaphas and his ossuary are the subjects of Bob Hostetler's novel, The Bone Box (2008).[22]

Caiaphas is mentioned in the 19th verse of The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde:

He does not stare upon the air
Through a little roof of glass;
He does not pray with lips of clay
For his agony to pass,
Nor feel upon his shuddering cheek
The kiss of Caiaphas

Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol

He is also depicted having an argument with Pontius Pilate regarding the passing of the death sentence against Jesus in The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Arts

Christ before Caiaphas, c.1490, is one of only a handful of works attributed to Antonio della Corna, who was active primarily in his native Lombardy in northern Italy.

Film portrayals

Actors who have portrayed Caiaphas include

Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Christian Kohlund in Jesus
(1999),
Son of Man, Adrian Schiller in the TV miniseries The Bible (2013) and the film Son of God (2014), both by same production team, Rufus Sewell in Killing Jesus (2015), Richard Coyle in A.D. The Bible Continues, an NBC miniseries by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and Makram Khoury in The Master and Margarita (2024). Richard Fancy portrayed Caiaphas in Season 4 of The Chosen
.

See also

Notes

  1. Koinē Greek: Καϊάφας, romanized: Kaïáphas [ka.iˈa.ɸas]

Citations

  1. ^ Josephus Antiquities 18.35
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0195046458
    .
  3. ^ Josephus Antiquities 18.2.2
  4. ISBN 978-1592443130
    .
  5. ^ Reilly, Wendell (1913). "Joseph Caiphas" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  6. ^ "Caiaphas - Livius". www.livius.org.
  7. ISBN 978-0800626174
    .
  8. ^ e.g. Johann Nepomuk Sepp; Claude-Joseph Drioux; Whittaker, H.A. Studies in the Gospels, Biblia Staffordshire 1984, 2nd Ed. 1989 p. 495
  9. ^ Gottheil, Richard; Krauss, Samuel. "Caiaphas". 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 January 2019. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  10. ^ "Bereishit Rabbah 94:9". www.sefaria.org.
  11. ^ Acts 4:19–20 NIV
  12. ^ Bond, Caiaphas, pp. 18–19.
  13. ^ Bond, Caiaphas, p. 86.
  14. ^ Josephus' source is mentioned in Antiquitates Judaicae 20.224–51 and Against Apion 1.36; see Bond, Caiaphas, p. 163, n. 2.
  15. ^ Josephus, Ant., Book 18 Section 26
  16. ^ For a discussion of Tosefta Yevamot 1.10 and other possible rabbinic references, see Bond, Caiaphas, p. 164, n. 3.
  17. ^ Specter, Michael (14 August 1992). "Tomb May Hold the Bones Of Priest Who Judged Jesus". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0802848802
    .
  19. ISBN 978-0-664-22332-8
    .
  20. ^ "Israeli authorities: 2,000-year-old burial box is the real deal". CNN. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  21. ^ 1 Chronicles 24:18
  22. ISBN 9781416566472
    .

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Joseph Caiphas". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caiaphas.
Jewish titles
Preceded by High Priest of Israel
18–36 		Succeeded by
Jonathan ben Ananus
Preceded by Av Beit Din
c. 20–36 		Succeeded by
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