PASSAGES RELATING TO JESUS
53
extremely vague ideas of
the chronology of past
times, we may perhaps find the origin of the story in
its Babylonian form in a desire to explain the con-
nexion of Jesus (Ben Stada, see above, No. 1), with
Egypt. The connecting link may, perhaps, be found
in the fact of a flight into Egypt to escape the anger
of a king. This was known in regard to R. Jehoshua
ben Perahjah, and the Gospel (Matt. ii. 13 fol.) records
a similar event in regard to Jesus. The short Pales-
tinian story in j. Hag. vi.
2 shows that there was
a tradition that the Rabbi had excommunicated a
rebellious disciple, whose name is not given. As
the story now stands in the Babylonian version,
there are several details in it which appear to have
reference to Jesus, and which probably were due to
some confused remembrance of tradition about him.
In addition to the flight into Egypt, there is the fact
that Jesus was known to have set himself against
the authority of the Rabbis, and to have been the
founder of a false religion. And the rebuke,
1
1 Dost
thou thus employ thyself,"
i.e.
with thinking whether
a woman is beautiful, may be based on a gross distor-
tion of the fact that the Gospel tradition gives a
prominent place to women as followers of Jesus.
Moreover the final answer of the banished disciple in
the story, that I one who sins and causes the multi-
tude to sin is allowed no chance to repent,' points
Timni from Timnah, Jehudi from Jehudah. The adjective
NaC pa?os
(Acts
xxviii. 22) would seem to imply an alternative form Natzara, the second a
being replaced by o in the Galilean dialect, as in No
tzri for Natzri.
The
form Natzara indeed is adopted by Beim as the more correct ; but I do not see
how to avoid recognising both Notzerah (Nazerah) and Natzara as equally
legitimate, that is as representing variations in the pronunciation, not original
difference in the formation of the name.
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