It is difficult to know how much alteration
to the text has happened in order to "clarify", but IF Caiaphas believed that
Yeshua was Messiah Ben Joseph he also believed that Yeshua MUST DIE in order for the northern kingdom to return, and ALL of Israel
be united as one under the rulership of Messiah Ben David.
Yeshua refers to this "death plot" (quoting
from Psalm 35:19) a few chapters later in John 15:25
25 But this happened that the word might be
fulfilled which is written in the law, “They hated me without a cause.”
If, indeed, Yeshua (and others) believed
that he was Messiah ben Joseph, his
death would have had a tremendous impact on those around him. There would be
an anticapation of the end time. And although the next few years
seemed to be a time of relative peace, looking at the larger picture, this
was NOT a time of peace at all.
A Time of Anguishing Events
The first century is known for some very
devastating historic events. Christianity looks to the life and death of Yeshua,
and in
Judaism one of the most anguishing events was the destruction of the second
Temple.
In Tractate Yoma of the Talmud
it says:
Why was the first Holy Temple destroyed?
Because of three wicked things: idol worship, adultery, and murder. But in
the second Temple in which time the Jewish people were occupied
studying the Torah and doing good deeds and acts of charity why was it then
destroyed?
The answer is: It was because of hatred
without a cause to teach you, that hate without a cause is equal