Caiaphas

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Yhosef Bar Kayafa (Hebrew יְהוֹסֵף בַּר קַיָּפָא, jəhoˑsef bar qayːɔfɔʔ), also known as Caiaphas (Greek Καϊάφας) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest to whom Jesus was taken after his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, and who played a part in Jesus' trial before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. Although Caiaphas acted individually, passages involving Caiaphas are among those cited over the years by those claiming a Biblical justification for anti-Semitism.

In Matthew chapter 26, Caiaphas, other chief priests, and the Sanhedrin are shown looking for "false evidence" with which to frame Jesus (26:59). Jesus never declares he is the Son of God but doesn't deny the charge and makes an allusion to the Son of Man. Caiaphas and the other men charge him with blasphemy and order him beaten. (26:66-67)

In John chapter 18, Jesus is brought before Annas and Caiaphas and questioned, with intermittent beatings. Afterward, the other priests (Caiaphas does not accompany them) take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and insist upon Jesus' execution. 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 Jews the choice of one prisoner to release — said to be a Passover tradition — and the Jews choose a rebel named Barabbas instead of Jesus. (18:38-40)

For Jewish leaders of the time, there were serious concerns about Roman rule and an insurgent Zealot movement to eject Romans from Israel. They would have feared any religious reformer or leader who either denied their own authority to rule or who suggested rebellion against the Romans. The Romans would not perform execution over violations of Jewish law, and therefore the charge of blasphemy would not have mattered to Pilate. Caiaphas's legal position, therefore, was to establish that Jesus was guilty not only of blasphemy, but also of proclaiming himself the messiah, which was understood as the return of the Davidic king. This would have been an act of sedition and prompted Roman execution. Pilate initially wished for Herod Antipas to deal with the matter, whereas the Sanhedrin would have wished for a Roman execution.

The ossuary of a "Caiaphas" was discovered two miles south of present day Jerusalem in 1990, and remains an important artifact in the corpus of Biblical archaeology.