Book excerpt: In the Select Second Edition of The Matthias Scroll, author Abram Epstein crosses linguistic hurdles illuminating the drama of Jesuss life and death, revealing hitherto unknown episodes that shaped his last eighteen months, leading to his capture, crucifixion, and interment. Exposed by fresh translations, gospel passages become recovered pearls of verifiable history, enabling us to meet the one so many have been seeking to know and appreciate as a human being. Lauded as fascinating and provocative by such prominent historians as Professors Michael Berenbaum and Shaul Magid, Epsteins linguistic excavations have now accomplished what is increasingly recognized as a major breakthrough in New Testament studies, recovering an altogether different, long-lost scroll from beneath the gospels doctrinal text. Much of the scriptural account, Epstein points out, has dramatized the supernatural Jesus, adding an aura of divine authority to his every word and deed, covering up history beneath layers of theological enhancement. Many have wondered what happened to the one betrayed by Judas, who later retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane, praying not to die, and was crucified for saying he was king of the Jews though no witnesses ever claimed he said such a thing about himself. With the excavated testimony of his friend and companion Matthias (Acts 1:21), we now have . . . Jesuss life as he would have remembered it.