The Talmud on Logos Bible Software

Jacob Neusner

I recently read in an article by Michael Brown,

According to b. Yoma 39b, God did not accept the sacrifices that were offered on the Day of Atonement for the last forty years before the destruction of the [Second] Temple (this was known to the people by means of a series of special signs, all of which turned up negative for those forty years; see b. Yoma 39a). The Temple was destroyed in 70 c.e., so from 30 to 70 c.e., a period of forty years, the annual atonement sacrifices were not accepted. What great event happened in the year 30? Jesus was rejected and nailed to a cross! Is it possible that God no longer accepted the atonement sacrifices because the Messiah had offered himself as the perfect, final sacrifice? [1]

He cites a couple of references to the Babylonian Talmud as a source for point.  In the past, I couldn't quickly and conveniently look up his source to read it firsthand.  But with Logos recently releasing Neusner's translation of both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, this problem is no more.  A quick look up and I was able to read:

He said to them, "Every Day of Atonement, appears to me an old man dressed in white and cloaked in white, who enters with me and goes forth with me [to and from the Holy of Holies], while this year an old man appeared to me dressed in black and cloaked in black, who went in with me but did not come out with me."

E. After the Festival of Tabernacles, he fell ill for seven days, and then he died. His brothers the priests refused to pronounce the divine name when bestowing the priestly benediction.

II.5

A.

Our rabbis have taught on Tannaite authority:

B. Forty years before the destruction of the sanctuary, the lot did not come up in the right hand, and the thread of crimson never turned white, and the westernmost light never shone, and the doors of the courtyard would open by themselves,

C. until Rabban Yohanan b. Zakkai rebuked them. He said, "Temple, Temple, why will you yourself give the alarm [that you are going to be destroyed? You don’t have to, because] I know that in the end you are destined to be destroyed. For Zechariah b. EIdo has already prophesied concerning you: ‘Open your doors, Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars’ (Zech. 11:1)." [2]

Yay.

[1] Brown, M. L. (2000). Answering Jewish objections to Jesus, Volume 1: General and historical objections. (74). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
[2]  Neusner, J. (2011). Vol. 5a: The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (141–142). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.