Nicodemus meets Jesus

By Dr. Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg

July 21, 2016

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One of the best-known passages in the Gospels is the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus, in John 3:1-21. Several texts found in the Talmud mention one “Nakdimon ben Gurion”. There is a good chance that we are talking about one and the same person. The following points emerge as we peruse the Jewish extra-biblical literature:

• Nakdimon ben Gurion was responsible for not only uttering a prayer that caused rain to fall, but also uttering a subsequent prayer that caused the sun to shine. "For the sake of each of three men alone the sun shone, and they are Moses, Joshua, and Nakdimon ben Gurion." (Tractate Ta’anith, III.19b; Gittin, 56a; Avodah Zarah, 25a.)
• Nakdimon ben Gurion was a man of great wealth, listed among three rich Jerusalemites who gave of their resources to supply Jerusalem for three years during the siege of Vespasian’s troops during the Jewish War. (Tractate Gittin, 56a.)
• A Nakdimon ben Gurion is also mentioned in Ketuboth 65-67, as a man of great wealth who, in arranging his daughter’s marriage, attained one million gold denarii but was later impoverished through either the fall of Jerusalem or his own pride in giving alms.
• In Jewish War, 2.451, Josephus confirms Nakdimon ben Gurion’s great wealth.

With the exception of Josephus, the texts mentioning Nakdimon ben Gurion are all much later than John’s Gospel, although they may indeed preserve earlier traditions. All of this evidence taken together indicates that, if John’s Nicodemus is the Nakdimon ben Gurion (which he most likely is) spoken of in Josephus and the Talmudic literature, then much of Nicodemus’ behavior in the Gospel can be better understood now that we know a bit more about him.

Nicodemus addresses Jesus using the respectful term “Rabbi,” (Ῥαββί), which acknowledges that, despite the acrimony towards him, Jesus was still someone important, even for a powerful member of the Jerusalem ruling elite. The term “we know” most likely refers to a group of leaders inside the Sanhedrin who thought Jesus was indeed a very positive figure. Although there may have been other reasons for doing so, it is likely that the reason Nicodemus came to Jesus at night was to avoid being seen and questioned about him by others within the Ioudaioi system (the Jerusalemite leadership establishment).

Ancient Judaism celebrated several rituals which marked the stages of the Jewish life cycle, beginning with birth and circumcision (Gen 17:10-14; Josephus, Ant. 1.10.5), continuing on to ordination and various levels of Jewish leadership, and culminating in the death of that individual at a ripe age. Nicodemus was in his final stage of such a life cycle (high-level Jewish leadership status) when Jesus surprised him with his statement that “you must be born again.” Later in the story, Jesus respectfully challenges Nicodemus’ affiliation with the Ioudaioi by saying: “Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (Jn. 3:10) We do not need to imagine Nicodemus an old man, he could have been fairly young at the time when he spoke with Jesus.

In John 3:8 we read that Jesus explained to Nicodemus that God’s Spirit is an unbridled personal cosmic force that submits to the leadership of God alone. This personal cosmic force brings about the new birth that allows someone to be counted among those belonging to the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ rhetorical question to Nicodemus was also a challenge to the authority of the Ioudaioi (Jerusalemite leadership) of which Nicodemus, at least for the time being, was still a part. Throughout the Gospel we see that the Ioudaioi (regularly and inaccurately translated as “the Jews”) show themselves to be clueless and insensitive to the things of the Spirit. It is no wonder that Nicodemus, one of the best and most spiritually aware of them, does not know what the One sent by God has in mind. Jesus continued his conversation with Nicodemus around the familiar theme of the Son of Man. This was a well-known Jewish concept at the time of Jesus. For example, the Book of Enoch speaks about a divine eschatological figure: the Son of Man.

We read:

And in that place I saw the fountain of righteousness which was inexhaustible: and around it were many fountains of wisdom; and all the thirsty drank of them, and were filled with wisdom, fountains of wisdom… And at that hour that Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, and his name before the Head of Days. Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits. He shall be a staff to the righteous whereon to stay themselves and not fall, and he shall be the light of the Gentiles…  All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before him, and will praise and bless and celebrate with song the Lord of Spirits. And for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before Him, before the creation of the world and for evermore.” (1 Enoch 48) “… and from henceforth there shall be nothing corruptible; for that Son of Man has appeared, and has seated himself on the throne of his glory, and all evil shall pass away before his face, and the word of that Son of Man shall go forth and be strong before the Lord of Spirits. (1 Enoch 69)

This Enochite Jewish tradition is of course working very closely with texts like Daniel 7:13-14:

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

The most-likely reason why the early Jewish ordering of the books (Septuagint) that had Daniel in the Prophets section was later rearranged (Daniel was downgraded to be included into Writings section of the Hebrew Bible) was because it rightfully gained its central place in theology of the followers of the Jewish Christ. Without fully realizing it Nicodemus was in conversation with the Son of Man spoken of by Daniel and that fact alone made it no ordinary conversation.