Christ before Caiaphus.
Oil on canvas, early 1630s.
Artist: Matthias Stom
(larger image)

¹² Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him ¹³ and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. (John 18:10-13

New Testament

Gospel of Matthew

Caiaphas, from Thayer’s Lexicon
(larger image)

⁶⁶ What do you think?"

"He is worthy of death," they answered.

⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him ⁶⁸ and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"

(Matthew 26:66-68)

Gospel of John

Christ and Caiaphas.
Artist: Giovanni Battista Caracciolo.
Date: 1611-20.
(larger image)

Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man!"),
Pontius Pilate presenting a
scourged Jesus of Nazareth to
the people of Jerusalem

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 Roman Empire. The Romans would not perform execution over violations of Jewish law (Halakha), and therefore the charge of blasphemy would not have mattered to Pontius 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.

Acts

On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ⁶with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷ And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" ⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹"if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, ¹⁰"let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹²"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." ¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. ¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, ¹⁶saying, "What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷"But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." ¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, ²⁰"for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." -Acts 4:5-20 ESV

[3]

Caiaphas in other sources

As Coponius, who we told you was sent along with Cyrenius, was
exercising his office of procurator, and governing Judea, the following
accidents happened. As the Jews were celebrating the feast of unleavened
bread, which we call the Passover, it was customary for the priests to
open the temple-gates just after midnight. When, therefore, those gates
were first opened, some of the Samaritans came privately into Jerusalem,
and threw about dead men's bodies, in the cloisters; on which account
the Jews afterward excluded them out of the temple, which they had not
used to do at such festivals; and on other accounts also they watched
the temple more carefully than they had formerly done. A little after
which accident Coponius returned to Rome, and Marcus Ambivius came to be
his successor in that government; under whom Salome, the sister of
king Herod, died, and left to Julia, [Caesar's wife,] Jamnia, all its
toparchy, and Phasaelis in the plain, and Arehelais, where is a great
plantation of palm trees, and their fruit is excellent in its kind.
After him came Annius Rufus, under whom died Caesar, the second emperor
of the Romans, the duration of whose reign was fifty-seven years,
besides six months and two days [of which time Antonius ruled together
with him fourteen years; but the duration of his life was seventy-seven
years]; upon whose death Tiberius Nero, his wife Julia's son, succeeded.
He was now the third emperor; and he sent Valerius Gratus to be
procurator of Judea, and to succeed Annius Rufus. This man deprived
Ananus of the high priesthood, and appointed Ismael, the son of Phabi,
to be high priest. He also deprived him in a little time, and ordained
Eleazar, the son of Ananus, who had been high priest before, to be high
priest; which office, when he had held for a year, Gratus deprived him
of it, and gave the high priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus;
and when he had possessed that dignity no longer than a year, Joseph
Caiaphas was made his successor. When Gratus had done those things,
he went back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea eleven years, when
Pontius Pilate came as his successor.[4]

In 1990, two miles south of present day Jerusalem ^[], 12 ossuaries in the family tomb of a "Caiaphas" were discovered. One ossuary was inscribed with the full name, in Aramaic of "Joseph, son of Caiaphas", and a second with simply the family name of "Caiaphas".[1] After examination the bones were reburied on the Mount of Olives.

Caiaphas is mentioned in the 16th verse of The Ballad Of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde

"He does not stare upon the air Through a roof of little glass; He does not pray with lips of clay For his agony to pass, Nor feel upon his shuddering cheek The kiss of Caiaphas"

By prophesying, when spoken of a high priest, Josephus, both here
and frequently elsewhere, means no more than consulting God by Urim,
which the reader is still to bear in mind upon all occasions. And if St.
John, who was contemporary with Josephus, and of the same country, made
use of this style, when he says that "Caiaphas being high priest that
year, prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that
nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad," chap. 11;51, 52, he may possibly
mean, that this was revealed to the high priest by an extraordinary
voice from between the cherubims, when he had his breastplate, or Urim
and Thummim, on before; or the most holy place of the temple, which was
no other than the oracle of Urim and Thummim. Of which above, in the
note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 8. sect. 9. [5]

Origins of the name

1. "as comely" in Aramaic
2. a "rock" or "rock that hollows itself out" (Keipha) in Aramaic
3. a "dell", or a "depression" in Chaldean

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.

Notes

1. «  The Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 2.2, Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whiston
2. «  The Babylonian Talmud (Yavamot 15b) gives the family name as Kuppai, while the Jerusalem Talmud (Yevamot 1:6) mentions Nekifi.
3. «  Acts 4:5-20 ESV
4. «  Flavius Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews. BOOK XVIII, Chapter 2.2. Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Two Years. From The Banishment Of Archelus To The Departure From Babylon.
5. «  The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 5 Footnotes, [10]

References

• Metzger, Bruce M. (ed); , Michael D. Coogan (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504645-5.
• NETBible: Caiaphas

External links

• Images of the Ossuary of Caiaphas Retrieved 10/30/2009
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Caiaphas Retrieved 10/30/2009
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Caiaphas Retrieved 10/30/2009