Prepositions and the crosses

The book of John is the first gospel written, but the last in published order. In 11:43 a name that is used 11 times is once called aloud by his friend. "Lazarus!" is book word 8880. The last gospel written is by Matthew, the tax collector, and is the first published in the Greek Testament. He makes a list of "defilements" that are from the heart and places them at a strategic part of his book. In 15:19 three of the seven are committed on bodies. "Murders" is book word 8880.

Why this is not a coincidence is because the numeric value of the six letters of "Jesus" in Greek is 888. How is it that the names of this pair of friends share the same figure in triplicate and this is then made a triad by an apparent accusation against a man who says not a word?

Barbara Thiering has a few words to say about the muted Lazarus in her book, Jesus the Man (ISBN 0-552-13950-5). What she uncovers about this enigmatic figure emerges by studying the various Simons presented by the synoptic authors. Only one of those uses the name of the Rabbi's best friend as it is recorded in John. Luke's parable of the rich man and Lazarus in an 'afterlife' gives the best confirmation that he was a (social) leper and his real name is Simon Magus.

Linking the Lazarus in John 11:1-44 and the Simon in Acts 8:9-24 to confirm them as Simon Magus may be done in a few ways.

Using the rule of prepositions to indicate the positions of west, middle or east, "upon | ἐπὶ" with the dative pronoun "him | αὐτῷ" will thus be read as "at the east." This rule is confirmed by three writers. Matthew in consecutive verses gives examples of the other two (pre)positions. First is the position of middle, described at 14:25 in the accusative "upon the sea | ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν" and then 14:26 in the genitive "upon the sea | ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης" which is now read "at the west." The redactor of John 21 evokes the same event by describing an area of the Sea of Tiberias that John used in 6:19.

The first example above is used by John at 11:38 to describe the layout of the "tomb" of the revenant Lazarus. The dative pronoun positions the cave entrance (which has a stone on it) "at the east." That "upon him | ἐπ' αὐτῷ" has the pronoun as book word 8800. John 11:37 has the demonstrative pronoun ("οὗτος") twice, first referring to the blind man in chapter 9 and is book word 8770 and then to the revenant Lazarus as book word 8780. According to the rules of the pesher method used by Barbara Thiering, the reflexive pronoun "ἑαυτῷ" means that it is to be read that Jesus is indignant in Lazarus ("Himself") and not indignant in himself ("αυτῷ"). That reading tends to become self-evident when "Himself" is book word 8788 and "Lazarus!" is book word 8880.

The link between the Simons of the synoptics and the Samaritan magician whose name is Simon in Acts is aided by a verse number and the transposition of letters in a word used once in the Greek Testament. That word is in Acts 21:38 ("σικαρίων") and is translated "murderers" (KJV) or more accurately, "assassins" (NRSV). Masculine nominative singular ("σικάριος") is like the title that Simon and Judas share ("Ἰσκαριώτης") and may be the best descriptor of two zealots. Matthew and Mark use "Canaanite" (means zealous in Chaldean), to differentiate Simon Magus from Simon Peter. Considering "Himself" (John 11:38) and "assassins" (Acts 21:38), plus the fact that "Lazarus" and "Iscariot" are both used 11 times, naturally and easily leads one to transposing the first two letters of an exclusive word to lock in the association of a notorious pair of characters.

This naming link is central to the discussion of the ordering of the three men on the crosses. It is however, important to point out a great difference in the usage of another preposition. Matthew uses "towards | πρὸς" 41 times and always in the accusative case. In the original book of John, it is used 99 times but four do not follow form. Matthew uses it to describe a north-south positioning of a pair facing each other. Just as with the other preposition, the dative indicates "towards the east."

In the first verse of John, "towards the God | πρὸς τὸν θεόν" is the typical style. But the Rabbi uses seven phrases that evoke the divine name ("I AM! | ἐγώ εἰμι") and at John 10:9 he says: "I AM! the door | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα." Just as the discord between Jesus and Peter is explicit in Matthew 16:23, John 18:16 relates the position Peter takes during the interrogation of Jesus. This is where the style deviates to the dative and we read that Peter "had stood towards the door | εἱστήκει πρὸς τῇ θύρᾳ." Why? Consider that Mary Magdalene "had stood towards the tomb | εἱστήκει πρὸς τῷ μνημείῳ" in John 20:11 and that "tomb" is book word 14640. Both persons are facing east; Peter is literally looking towards a door but figuratively not facing "the Door," and Mary is at the site of the "burial" of her brother. What the Magdalene sees is the positioning of two "angels" sitting down in the cave: "one towards the head | ἕνα πρὸς τῇ κεφαλῇ" and "one towards the feet | ἕνα πρὸς τοῖς ποσίν" (John 20:12). She turns "behind" and observes the Rabbi standing. Why are there three men in the cave and why do two of them need to be sitting?

One more detail before we turn to the discussion of the crosses. The Hebrew adverbs for east and west are "before" and "behind." When the Magdalene was facing eastward, she turned westward ("behind | ὀπίσω") and in Matthew 16:23, Peter rebukes the Rabbi who then turned and says: "Get thee behind me, Satan! | Υπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ!" Because of his adversarial attitude, he was commanded to take an expansionary attitude to his Lord's ministry, westward into the whole of the Roman empire. It simply does not literally mean to take a posterior position. That order would simply be "Follow me."

Returning to the preposition that Matthew used consecutively with the accusative and the genitive to describe the changing position of a man's "walk," we now look to actions of Pilate in John. Only two authors record that he sat down in judgment (John 19:13, Matthew 27:19). Both use the genitive but the latter is more specific: "upon the judgment seat | ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος" (book word 17240). Only one book uses a word twice and John 19:19 says Pilate wrote a "title | τίτλον" and put it "upon the cross | ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ." John 19:31 repeats "upon the cross | ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ" in the scene setting up a plot to abort an execution by premature removal of the bodies (not corpses as in Mark 6:29 about John the Baptist's body). Incidentally, "ἐπὶ" is book word 14244.

What was written by Pilate and where he put it are recognized by the letters I.N.R.I. (Latin Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum). The writings of the Greek Testament give a degree of exactitude that's extinguished by the English language. Having read the rules of (pre)positions, it is obvious that the exclusive "τίτλον" and its number (13988) indicate that the Nazorean was nailed to the westward cross, not the middle.