When Name and Body Meet Their End: Jude against 666
“Gittin 57a and the End of the Mamzer: The Burial of the Name and the Body”
Opening Reflection: The Final Act of Judgment
After the night of secret recovery and the public trial, the Talmud records one last grim scene. The mamzer—“Yeshu,” the false messiah who stole the Divine Name—faces two deaths: first his reputation (the Name stripped away), second his person. In Gittin 57a the rabbis refuse him even a proper burial; his body is cast into a cesspit, a fate reserved for the most odious criminals. This final judgment commemorates not only a man but the corruption he embodied.
1. Gittin 57a: “Into the Excrement He Goes”
Text: Gittin 57a describes how, after stoning and hanging (Sanhedrin 43a), the body of “Yeshu” is taken not to a family tomb but dumped in tzō’ah rotachat—boiling excrement.
Meaning: This harsh treatment reflects a rabbinic principle: those who blaspheme Torah and traffic in God’s Name for sorcery deserve the most extreme ritual impurity.
Contrast with Jesus Traditions: In the Christian Passion, a pious figure receives a dignified burial (Joseph of Arimathea). Here the Talmud inverts that: the impostor’s body is not honored but shamed.
“All who mock the words of the Sages are judged in boiling excrement.”
— Gittin 57a
2. The Name and the Flesh: Complete Excision
Name Already Gone: Recall Jude’s midnight mission: the Shem haMeforash had been removed. The mamzer no longer possessed the power to heal, animate, or teach.
“All who mock the words of the Sages are judged in boiling excrement.”
— Gittin 57a
2. The Name and the Flesh: Complete Excision
Name Already Gone: Recall Jude’s midnight mission: the Shem haMeforash had been removed. The mamzer no longer possessed the power to heal, animate, or teach.
Body Next: By refusing burial, the rabbis perform the ultimate “exorcism” of his false messiahship. Body and Name are both laid in the garbage of history.
Theology of Shame: In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, burial is a mark of dignity even for criminals. Denying burial is the last taboo—an act of cosmic banishment.
3. Luria’s Gilgulim and the Kabbalistic Echo
Isaac Luria (16th c.) locates Yeshus’ remains “under the carob tree” near Tsafed (Sha‘ar haGilgulim ch. 37). This mystical tradition suggests the soul of the impostor remains restless, awaiting final purification.
Symbolism of the Carob (Ḥaruv): The carob tree embodies humility and sustenance; yet here it shades the unworthy corpse—a reminder that even the lowliest creation can shelter divine truth.
4. Why Christian Believers Should Listen
A Second “Good Friday”: The Talmudic Passion narrative riffs on the Christian one but shifts the focus: it indicts false Christ-claims, not a faithful martyr.
Boundary Mark: The refusal of burial marks the dividing line between true and false. Just as the True Messiah was raised, the false one is cast out.
Our Task: Jude’s epistle warns us to discern spirits and guard the Name. If early Jewish leaders could see through the impostor’s signs, so must we today.
5. Looking Ahead: From Judgment to Renewal
Having witnessed the fall of the mamzer—Name gone, body disgraced—the story now turns to what rises in its place:
5. Looking Ahead: From Judgment to Renewal
Having witnessed the fall of the mamzer—Name gone, body disgraced—the story now turns to what rises in its place:
Paul’s Mission — a recalibrated Gentile inclusion (Romans 11).
Noahide Messianism — the new “Torah for the Nations.”
Torat Edom — the restored teaching of Israel for all peoples.
