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Many historically within Christianity have blamed the Jews for killing Yeshua (Jesus). Blaming the Jews for the death of Messiah (Christ) has been a cause of anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jews as a people throughout millennia. This article will declare that it wasn’t only the Jews who killed Yeshua (Jesus), but it was all of humanity that played a role in His death,
a death that was necessary for the salvation of all mankind.

THE CONSPIRACY AND THE BETRAYAL

MATTHEW 26:14-16, LUKE 22:3-6:
Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

LUKE 22:48:
Yeshua (Jesus) said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

The chief priests, who conspired to arrest Yeshua (Jesus), and Judas who betrayed Him, were all Jewish. Shortly after Yeshua’s betrayal and arrest, He would be brought before the chief priests, elders, Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, and the Jewish multitudes. But the Jews who wanted to kill Yeshua (Jesus) had a problem…

THE JEWS’ PROBLEM IN EXECUTING YESHUA (JESUS)

JOHN 18:29-31:
Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”
Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”
Therefore the Jews said to him, “IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR US TO PUT ANYONE TO DEATH.”

The Jews, living under Roman occupation, were not permitted to execute anyone. If the Jewish authorities wished to bring a capital offense charge upon someone, seeking to execute that person, they would have to present evidence to the Roman authorities and the Romans would then carry out the death sentence via crucifixion.

JOHN 18:38-40:
Pilate went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!”
Now Barabbas was a robber.

JOHN 19:1-4:
So then Pilate took Yeshua (Jesus) and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.
Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”

Roman Governor Pontius Pilate found no fault in Yeshua (Jesus) at all, yet he was so weak-willed that he catered to the whims of his conquered Jewish subjects and had Yeshua (Jesus) tortured at the hands of Roman soldiers.

JOHN 19:5-7:
Then Yeshua (Jesus) came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”
Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.”
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”

Pilate, thinking he could satisfy the Jewish mob by scourging Yeshua (Jesus), only made the mob more bloodthirsty to see to it that He died.

JOHN 19:10-11:
Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Yeshua (Jesus) answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore THE ONE WHO DELIVERED ME TO YOU HAS THE GREATER SIN.”

MATTHEW 27:24:
When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

The last words Yeshua (Jesus) spoke to Pilate were that the one who delivered Him to be crucified had the greater sin, than Pilate. Pilate symbolically washed his hands to signify to the Jewish multitude that he was innocent of the blood of Yeshua (Jesus), but washing his hands with water could not absolve Pilate’s sin role in the torture and death of Yeshua (Jesus). Yeshua (Jesus) declared that Pilate’s hands were guilty of sin.

MATTHEW 27:27-31,35:
Then THE SOLDIERS OF THE GOVERNOR took Yeshua (Jesus) into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And THEY stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
When THEY had twisted a crown of thorns, THEY put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And THEY bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Then THEY spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when THEY had mocked Him, THEY took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.
Then THEY crucified Him…

It was the Jews who conspired to have Yeshua (Jesus) killed, and saw to it that He was, but it was the Romans soldiers who actually killed Yeshua (Jesus).

MARK 8:31-33:
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

God sent His Son into the world to be killed, so anyone assigning blame to any particular group of people, specifically the Jews, is misguided. It wasn’t all the Jews who wanted to see Yeshua (Jesus) die and certainly Jewish people centuries later had nothing to do with killing Him.

God chose the perfect time to send His Son, Yeshua (Jesus) into the world to die on behalf of all humanity. The Jews played a part in His death, as did the Romans, who represented the Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles, all humanity, were symbolically responsible for killing Yeshua (Jesus), who died as an atonement sacrifice for all mankind.

MATTHEW 10:5-6:
These twelve Yeshua (Jesus) sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

MATTHEW 15:24:
Yeshua (Jesus) answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

MATTHEW 28:18-19:
And Yeshua (Jesus) came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS…”

Yeshua came for the Jews of Israel, but died to atone for the sins of ALL the nations.

GOD THE FATHER GAVE US HIS SON, TO DIE FOR US

JOHN 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

JOHN 18:11:
So Yeshua (Jesus) said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”

ISAIAH 53:10,12:
It pleased YHWH (the Lord) to bruise Him; He [the Father] has put Him [the Son] to grief. … And He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

COLOSSIANS 1:19-20:
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

NO ONE TOOK YESHUA’S LIFE; HE LAID IT DOWN HIMSELF

JOHN 10:17-18:
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”

THE JEWS KILLED YESHUA (JESUS) AND THE GENTILES DID TOO

1 THESSALONIANS 2:14-15:
For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus). For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men…

The Jews did kill Yeshua (Jesus), but so did the Romans representing the Gentiles. All humanity participated in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ). If an anti-Semitic, ethnic-minded, self-righteous believer proclaims that the Jews alone killed Yeshua (Jesus), by taking verses out-of-context from the entirety of Scripture, and absolves the Gentiles from their role in His death, then the blood of Yeshua (Jesus) cannot cover that person’s sins. Blood cannot cover the sins of one who is not a participant of the sacrifice.