Chapter 1
Behold the Lamb of God
1. This gospel is written so that all may know the truth about Judas Iscariot and the role he played in the life and tragic death of Jesus of Nazareth.
2. Many others have told the story of Jesus, recounting all that he said and did during his short time on earth.
3. Some were witnesses to what actually took place and they passed on, in the Jewish tradition of word of mouth, what they had seen and heard.
4. Others have written further accounts of the life of Jesus Christ, the son of God. These have come to be known as Gospels.
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5. One of those who were eyewitnesses to these events was my father, Judas Iscariot.
6. I, Benjamin, son of Judas Iscariot, his first born, listened to my father’s account of what took place at that time, and have recorded accurately all that he saw and heard, initially in Aramaic – the language Jesus spoke – and then Greek, which my father taught me from a young age.
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7. My father brought me up in the strict traditions of the Torah, and like him I have come to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet and a true son of Israel, but not the long-awaited Messiah.
8. Several other Gospels have recently been written, giving their version of what took place during Jesus’ lifetime. But only a few of them, not accepted by the new sect known as Christians, come close to giving a fair account of my father’s actions during this period in our history.
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9. The others do not begin to understand, or fairly record, Judas’ passionate belief in and commitment to Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, they have blackened my father’s name to the point where he is now thought of as the most infamous of all Jesus’ followers.
10. He has been branded a traitor, a thief and a man willing to accept bribes, and one Gospel even falsely reports that he took his own life.
Matt 27:3–10
11. None of these judgments, mostly reported since the tragic death of Jesus, was made during his lifetime.
12. Some, determined to prove their case, have suggested that the name Iscariot originates from the Roman word Sicarii, which translated means ‘dagger-bearing Zealot’.
13. Others have stated that it comes from the Hebrew saqar, denoting ‘the false one’.
14. The truth is that the name Iscariot derives from the Hebrew ish-kerioth, meaning ‘one from Kerioth’, the town in which Judas was born.
15. My father’s origins spring from the tribe of Judah. He was raised in Kerioth, a town mentioned in the early history of Israel, loyal to the ancient traditions of the Jews.
see
Jos 15:25
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16. The Christians continue to spread the word throughout Galilee that Judas was a man of violence, a hanger-on and someone who could not be trusted. Despite contrary evidence, these libels are still abroad and often repeated by the followers of Jesus, even to the present day.
17. Judas Iscariot was in fact a disciple of John the Baptist, and willingly obeyed his command: There goes a man of God, follow him.
18. From that day, my father became a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, and was so trusted by the Master that he was later chosen to be one of his twelve disciples.
19. As a child, I listened to my father’s account of Jesus’ ministry, and later recorded his words when I visited him at Khirbet Qumran, shortly before he was put to death by the Romans.
20. My father has now returned to the God he loved and served so faithfully.