Exactly. We know for sure that Pilate and Herod existed independently of the New Testament. There’s corroborative historical evidence.
We get a lot of repeats here so the next time the documentary pops up I’ll note its name, etc and investigate further though the link Dave provided seems to cover it all. It might show up on YouTube though..
We know for sure that Pilate and Herod existed independently of the New Testament. There’s corroborative historical evidence.
It’s a good thing there is. There was a whole family, of several generations of Herods. At least three of them (H. Archelaos, H. Antipas, and H. Agrippa) are referred to in the New Testament, all of them simply as “Herod”. Two were the sons, and one the grandson, of the Herod who enlarged and embellished the Second Temple.
It does look odd to the contemporary eye, but the other OED* says that 500 years ago (and perhaps 400 years ago still?), “to jest” meant “to speak in a trifling manner”, which (since Pilate was clearly dodging the issue) could perhaps in this case be stretched to mean “to equivocate” or “to prevaricate”, which would make more sense to a modern ear --- though “prevaricating Pilate” is too alliterative—it sounds like part of a tongue-twister, like “Peter Piper”