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88 The Significance of the Year A.D. 30

The Significance of the Year

A.D. 30

T he early Jewish rabbis mention in their Jeru- In time among the Jewish people, two
salem and Babylonian Talmuds that God main schools of commentators came into ex-
gave to the Jewish people four major mirac- istence and the result was two Talmuds. One
ulous signs that the Temple in Jerusalem was to Talmud originated in Palestine and the other
be destroyed. Those signs are some of the most was produced in Babylon. So, two Talmuds
important events within the history of Jerusalem were born: one was of Palestinian origin and
and they took place in the forty years that suc- called the Jerusalem Talmud while the other
ceeded the crucifixion of Jesus on the Mount of was the Babylonian Talmud. While the Mish-
Olives. Indeed, they began in the very year Jesus nah in both Talmuds remained basically the
was crucified. And, importantly, these four signs same, the comments in the two Gemaras of-
precisely back up what Christ said would happen ten differed in content from one another.
to that Temple. Though many other signs were Those opinions often represented the regional
mentioned, these four warnings are of major differences of interpretation between the two
consequence, not only for the Christian commu- rabbinical school systems. But, however,
nity but the Jewish people need to read what when the comments on any given section of
their own rabbis taught some three to four hun- the Mishnah remained the same in both
dred years after Christ. These signs recorded by Talmuds, this shows that the opinions ex-
those Jewish rabbis show the divine role of Jesus pressed by both divisions of Judaism were
in those forty years. This article will reveal what universally accepted by the Jewish people
those four signs were that began in the very year from about A.D. 200 to 400.
Christ was crucified. That year of A.D. 30 was
one of great significance to the Jewish people In this article, I wish to point out that
(and their own rabbis understood this fact). those four miraculous signs (that the Jewish
people witnessed in the forty years before the
About two hundred years after Christ, an destruction of the Temple) were recorded in
important literary effort took place for the Jew- both Talmuds. This shows that the knowledge
ish people. This is when the Rabbi Judah (called of them was well recognized by the Jewish
the Nasi -- which means “Leader”) compiled in a authorities in that period when the Talmuds
written form the oral laws that had governed the were compiled. It is now time that all of us
religious and social life of the Jewish people for who desire to know the history of Palestine in
the previous five hundred years. This codifica- the first century be made aware of those out-
tion is called the Mishnah. After Judah’s death standing warning signs. Not only is this
(and for the next two hundred years), Jewish knowledge important for Christians, but it is
scholars made written commentaries on those equally significant for all the Jewish people
codified laws (called the Gemara). A combina- today. What were those four signs?
tion of the Mishnah with the Gemara is called
the Talmud.

The Berean Voice November-December 2002