PASSAGES RELATING TO JESUS
87
is crucified.' Therefore it is said,
A curse of
God is he that is hung.
Commentary.-R.
Meir lived in the second cen-
tury,
and we shall see that he had some knowledge
of the Gospels (see below, p. 163). It is hardly to be
doubted that the above passage contains a reference
to Jesus. `One ruled over the whole world,' that is
God. ' They resembled each other' suggests
He
that bath seen me hath seen the Father.
The men-
tion of the cross (»$Y) obviously accords with the
Gospel story. The scornful gibe of the passers-by
suggests Matt. xxvii. 37 and 39, and esp. 42, 43. The
curious remark that the second
'
took to robbery'
(listaia) I cannot explain, but it should be noted in
connexion with what was said above (see p. 73),
about Pinhas Listaah (Pontius Pilatus). R. Meir's
interpretation of the text in Deut. is somewhat
obscure ; so far as I understand it he seems to mean
that the raillery of the bystanders was a cursing of
God, because they said ' the King is hung,' which
would be the case if Jesus were supposed to be
God.
To this passage may be appended another where
there is also a reference to crucifixion. It is
con-
tained in the Midrash on Esther ix. 2, and is as
follows :-
Zeresh, the wife of Haman, is advising him
how to kill Mordecai, so that he shall not be de-
livered by miracle as so many had been, and she
says,
nnn a`r e'K1 +inv in 7n
,nD vtt t
&i tta,SY
$v rm, a15Y, " Crucify
him on a cross, for we do not find one out of his
nation who has been delivered from it." The refer-
ence seems to be to the fact that Jesus was not
saved from the cross even though it was
claimed
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