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Anachronisms

Definition

Details from the wrong time period in the story.
Example: "The Dark Knight was incredible, no cap. Gyatt!" said George Washington as he took a massive hit from his vape while yeeting a cherry.

Rabbis before the destruction of the second temple

  • Yohanan Ben Zakkai was the first to receive the title of Rabbi some time after 70CE.
  • Pharisees transitioned to Rabbis and Sadducees essentially dissolved after the temple's destruction.
  • Mentions of Rabbi: John 1:38, 1:49, 3:2, 3:26, 6:25
  • Matthew 21 takes place in Jerusalem. Matthew 23 uses Pharisees and Rabbi in the same chapter, incorrectly assuming they co-existed before 70CE.
  • In contemporary literature many sages were quoted without the prefix of rabbi. Jose ben Joezer, Simon Ben Shetah, Shmmai, Hillel, Shammai, Nahum, etc.
  • The Hebrew word Rabbi is used in the Greek, when other words for Teacher existed.
  • Josephus writes extensively about Jewish history near the end of the 1ST century, but he never uses the term Rabbi because he left for Rome around 71CE and the term Rabbi didn't exist at that time.

Other anachronisms

  • According to "Did a Rolling Stone Close Jesus' Tomb?" by Amos Kloner at the Biblical Archaeology Society only 4 round tombs have been dated to the second temple period. They know who owned them. Joseph of Arimathaea wasn't one of them. Tombs with smaller round stones were popularized during the Byzantine era. Sadly the article is behind a paywall. There's a way to find it that won't put you wayback.
  • Burial in simple linens was not a standard Jewish custom until it was started by Gamaliel II in 118CE; he wanted to ease the burden of funeral expenses. A few exceptions have been discovered. One contained the remains of a wealthy individual who was buried in simple linen, this could be explained by the fact that he had two infectious ailments, he also didn't go through the second burial phase and his tomb was sealed shut (Not with a round stone). The examples we have do not consist of a single piece of linen like the Shroud of Turin.
  • Denarii in Mark 12. Donald Ariel in "A Survey of Coin Finds in Jerusalem" concludes that significant numbers of denarii are found in Jerusalem only after 69CE. The Tyrian shekel was the dominant currency in the area in the 30s.
  • Mark 13: The Abomination of Desolation/desolating sacrilege. Some translations add "of which Daniel the prophet has spoken." continues with "then those in Judea must flee to the mountains." Some believe this to be a reference to the destruction of the Temple. Though, it can also be a reference to the statue of Hadrian, the Temple to Jupiter, and the total expulsion of the Jewish people from Jerusalem.
  • The pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5. Healing pools were a Greco-Roman practice distinct from the mikva'ot purification ritutals of Judaism. The language of John uses present tense, suggesting they are present at the time of writing. The problem is that the Romans razed Jerusalem after the Jewish-Roman war only leaving three towers and the western wall, but the Bethesda pools were discovered in 1888CE mostly intact. Emperor Hadrian had transformed the pools into a grand Asclepion after 129CE for healing purposes and included the five porticos mentioned in John 5. John 5 is describing something that didn't exist at the time (allegedly ~90CE), weren't utilized for the purpose he states, and contained features that would have been destroyed in the Jewish-Roman war, but remain intact because they weren't present until much later.
  • Mark 10:12 women initiating divorce wasn't an option at that time period.
  • Temple veil ripped. However, Titus bragged as he confessed that he "took a sword and slashed the curtain" in 70CE. Roman witnesses saw and heard Titus bragging about it while he had the veil in a procession that was marched throughout the streets of Rome. An imperial arch was built (the Arch of Titus) with detailed reliefs. These reliefs illustrated General Titus sacking the Jerusalem temple.
  • Later writers identify Hermas from Romans 16:14 as the author of Shepherd of Hermas and brother of Pope Pius I who died in 154CE (Sources: Muratorian fragment, Liberian catalogue, and the poem of Pseudo-Tertullian against Marcion). So either there was a huge age gap or Romans was written in the second century.