Description
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What you get:
- 28 high definition maps
- About 100 discussion questions AND answers
- Tips for teaching the Gospel of John in a Bible study
Sample map in the John Leaders Guide & Atlas
Why Roman governor Pilate feared Jesus
"Pilate had already found this case unnerving, but when he heard this, he got more anxious than ever" (John 19:8).
One possible reason for his fear: “Pilate’s wife sent him a message while he was still presiding over the case. She told him, ‘Don’t do anything to this good man. I had a nightmare about him today’” (Matthew 27:19).
Also, he probably feared that if he didn't execute Jesus, the Jewish leaders in the community would take their complaints to Caesar. History scholars say Pilate may have been on shaky ground with Caesar already, especially if Jesus died in about AD 33.
Emperor Tiberius had appointed Pilate governor of Judea on the recommendation of an official named Sejanus. But Tiberius executed Sejanus for his involvement in a failed coup in AD 31. Tiberius also executed many of Sejanus’s associates.
Pilate had nothing to do with that coup, as far as historians can tell. The irony here is that Pilate was apparently innocent of the charge that the Jews were implying. And Jesus was innocent of the charge of insurrection. One innocent man executed another innocent man while the guilty Jewish leaders watched.
Did Jesus die on a cross or a pole?
The Greek word describing the cross is stauros. It originally meant a stake or a pole, but later came to include various objects used in crucifixion including a cross, the crossbeam of the cross, or anything else used to hang up people so they would die slowly, nailed or tied or both.
Some victims were impaled on stakes, a technique especially common among Assyrians several centuries earlier, in what is now northern Iraq.
Bible writers didn't describe what the Romans attached Jesus to, whether a cross, a stake, or a piece of timber.
In addition to John Leaders Guide & Atlas
You might consider the Mark Leaders Guide & Atlas, which tells many of the stories and miracles that the Gospel of John never mentions.
Best resource for comparing other Bible translations: Bible Gateway. This isn’t an ad. It’s a recommendation from the Casual English Bible.
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