Crucify Him: A Lawyer Looks at the Trial of Jesus

Top Highlights

“‘The Sanhedrin that executes more than one man in seven years is a slaughterhouse.’” (Page 114)

“No person charged with a crime involving life and death, or even corporal punishment, could be convicted, unless it was shown by competent testimony, that immediately before the commission of the crime the offender was warned that what he was about to do was a crime, and that a certain penalty was attached thereto.’” (Page 119)

“ According to Jewish law an actual execution must never be carried out before sunset of the following day.” (Page 120)

“The Sadducees were the aristocratic inheritors of the lucrative commercial temple trade. They sold doves and lambs for sacrifices—at profitable prices. They also exchanged the money of religious pilgrims and sold the half–shekel coins needed to pay the temple tax. They had a monopoly on this market and charged a four percent tax to exchange money. To Jesus they were thieves and profiteers.” (Page 42)

“But Pilate found nothing new, no great religious teachings, no political threat. With a few hundred gods in his vocabulary, Pilate must have thought this Jesus was nothing more than a good man, an idealist, a dreamer. As a broad–minded, sophisticated Roman, how could Pilate have found any fault with that?” (Page 41)