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>4) In the Toledot stories, Yeshu disguises himself by wearing the same disguise as three hundred of his followers and so his betrayer signals which one is Yeshu is by bowing at him. In the gospel stories, the elders need Judas to signal undisguised and easily-recognizable Jesus among a few disciples using a kiss because it is dark. The story element in which a sign by a traitor is necessary to identify Jesus makes more sense in the context of the Toledot story of Yeshu disguising himself (Zindler 390n)
>5) The Gospel of Thomas says that there were 24 prophets, not 12 disciples, who spoke about Jesus (Saying 52). A suggestion made by Jesus Seminar scholar Robert Funk is that this refers to the 24 books of the Old Testament, but the books are not divided by one prophet per book. More likely it refers to the 12 apostles mentioned in the New Testament plus 12 earlier apostles from the first century BCE mentioned in the Toledot as “bad offspring of foul ravens”, who came and taught after Yeshu’s five disciples were killed
>6) In Mark 8:19-21, Jesus asks the disciples the exact numbers involved when he broke 5 loaves for 5,000 people, leaving behind 12 baskets, and then broke 7 loaves for 4,000 people, leaving behind 7 baskets. By asking his disciples to focus on the exact numbers, the gospel author presents his readers with a specific numerological puzzle. The number 12 presumably refers to the 12 apostles. The number 7 more than likely refers to the 7 Grecian Jewish “table waiters” of Acts 6:5 that church historians would later dub the Seven Deacons. This would leave another group of five who would have needed to appear before the 12 apostles, which can only be the 5 disciples of Yeshu from the Talmud
