Things concerning Jews in Portland and everywhere that happen here and in Israel coming from an American-Israeli.
Monday, July 10, 2023
Who Was Jesus As Seen by His Researchers-the Gospel Writers and the Goings-On In Judah
Nadene Goldfoot
A street in Bethlehem
Jesus, Greek for the Hebrew name of Joshua, was, as his biographers stated, a Jew, son of Joseph and Mary of Bethlehem. He's not mentioned in any Jewish resources, only by his biographers who were the Gospel writers of the New Testament.
Bethlehem was a little off-beat village back in the turn of the centuries, the time when BC became AD or as we Jews say when it turned from BCE to CE. This is when the numbers of years went from 10 to 1 and then switched to numbers from 1 to 10. It's because historians presumed that Jesus was born at this time, and that he died, as our Jewish historian wrote, in 29 CE. Christian historians say differently. AD 36 is used as the date of the crucifixion. Thus, scholars generally agree that Jesus was crucified between AD 30 and AD 36. Bethlehem is still a little off-beat town today, having been taken over by the Arabs of Bethlehem, mostly Christians, at least originally. I contend that Bethlehem of the day of Jesus, had become a Hellenized town of Jews. Here's how:
The Temple Mount during the Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods (332-37 BCE) Helenized implies that they were turning away from Jewish practices and beliefs and turning towards the Greek influences of philosophy and religion and politics.
In the late 330s BCE, Alexander the Great of the Greeks had invaded the Middle East (including the area which is now Israel), during his campaigns against the Achaemenid Empire. They came, conquered and started putting their idols in the Temple and forcing people to worship them, but Judah, the Maccabee, fought against them. Thus we have our Chanukah story, a part of history. Judah's sons became a dynasty of rulers after they forced the Greeks out. So from the 330's to 329, 328, etc, to 1, Jews were being affected by Greek influence even though they were no longer rulers.
That’s why these first three are known as the “synoptic” Gospels—because they offer a “shared view” of Jesus’ life (Greek, sun = “together” + opsis “seeing”). They are so similar that scholars have long tried to figure out why. This is known as “the synoptic problem.”Isn't it possible that the first writing acted as a resource for the 2nd and so on? These hand-written copies would have been passed around to known people who were involved or at least interested.
Let me put that in order:
1. Mark (66-70 CE) Greek--3 generations from the event; Mark the Evangelist, also known as John Mark or Saint Mark, is the person who is traditionally ascribed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Modern Bible scholars have concluded that the Gospel of Mark was written by an anonymous author rather than by Mark. However, people began to associate Mark’s boldness to that of a Lion after he delivered the Gospel message of Saint John the Baptist, which he received from Jesus and conveyed the same to Mark in the voice of the Lion in the wilderness.Mark was the primary witness of many miracles that took place at the time of Jesus Christ. He also mentioned a few in his Gospel. He was also the founder of the first Christian school in Egypt. He continued serving humanity until his death after he was tortured and imprisoned around 68 AD. Just thought you would like to know that the names Mark and Marcus have both Hebrew and Greek origins. Marcus is written this way in Greek:ΜάρκοςMarcus is written this way in Hebrew:מרקוס. Hebrew is read from right to left. Greek is read from left to right; the opposite of Hebrew.
2. Matthew (85-90 CE) Greek, written a good 15 years after Mark; Matthew the Evangelist, St. Matthew the Apostle, or Levi, (flourished 1st century ce, Palestine; Western feast day September 21, Eastern feast day November 16), one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and the traditional author of the first Synoptic Gospel (the Gospel According to Matthew).Early Christian TheologianOrigen(c. 184 – c. 253) indicates that the first Gospel was written by Matthew,and that his Gospel was composed in Hebrew near Jerusalem for Hebrew Christians and translated into Greek. The Hebrew original was kept at theLibrary of Caesarea. Sometime in the late fourth or early fifth century the Nazarene Community transcribed a copy forJeromewhich he used in his work.Matthew's Gospel was called theGospel according to the Hebrewsor sometimes theGospel of the Apostlesand it was once believed that it was the original to theGreek Matthewfound in the Bible.However, this has been challenged by modern biblical scholars such asBart D. EhrmanandJames R. Edwards.See also thetwo-source hypothesis.Most modern scholars hold that the Gospel of Matthew was written anonymously, and not by Matthew.The author is not named within the text, and scholars have proposed that the superscription "according to Matthew" was added sometime in the second century. Tells story of Massacre of Innocents-boys 2 yrs and younger killed by Herod I. In view of the lack of independent confirmation that the event ever occurred, many scholars consider it folklore inspired by Herod's reputation.
3. Luke (85-90 CE) Greek, written after Mark and Matthew, born in Turkey, died in Thebes, Greece. the most literary of the New Testament writers. Information about his life is scanty. Tradition based on references in the Pauline Letters has regarded him as a physician and a Gentile. He probably accompanied Paul on several missionary journeys. He is a patron saint of physicians and artists.
4. John (90-110 CE) Greek-the most anti-Semitic , the politics of the Romans are influencing his writing, Romans have been to Judah by now. John’s is the only one of the four not considered among the Synoptic Gospels (i.e., those presenting a common view). Although the Gospel is ostensibly written by St. John the Apostle, “the beloved disciple” of Jesus, there has been considerable discussion of the actual identity of the author.
Let's look at the Christian Arabs who have taken over Bethlehem. A man's DNA is traced back in time over 1,000 years and is called the Y (for male) haplogroup of DNA.
" Hasabneh:To prove this hypothesis, I had to test the largest clan in Bethlehem, the Hasbun clan, to which belong as well the Hitti,Shreim, and Masriyeh families. Originally from the Hasban Valley, located on the border of the territories Moab and Ammon (modern-day Jordan), they are said to have migrated to Bethlehem in the seventeenth century via Petra, ancient Idumaea–Nabataea (southern Jordan). In the Bible, Hasban is referred to as Heshbon, a Canaanite name meaning “little thinker.” This Heshbon also came from the lineage of Hur, whose descendants settled in Palestine along with the Amorite wave that invaded Jordan around 1350 BC, shortly before the arrival of the Israelites from Egypt into Moab and Ammon around 1200 BC. I tested the Hasbun family and found that they carry the same Y-DNA genes as the Khumsan and Farahiyeh families, which proves that they are of similar Hurrian origin, stemming from the Jebusites of the Jerusalem area who in the thirteenth century BC were led by the Amorite King Sihon.
It's interesting to know that the Arabs living in Bethlehem are evidently a line of native Arabs, because Abdullah of Jordan had brought in people with him from Arabia, today's Saudi Arabia.
It is said that Jesus never said he was "G-d." His biographers wrote that his 12 disciples said this. This is the big thing between Judaism and Christianity. First, we have no evidence that he existed to any extent. The Gospel writers wrote after the fact, as I am doing now, and were not known to be Jews. They were writing out of the country in foreign places. They were writing in Greek. A pseudonym is a fictitious name taken by a writer in place of their real name. The term "pseudonym" is a Greek word that literally means "false name." It's thought that a couple of them were writing under pseudonyms. A pseudonym is a fictitious name taken by a writer in place of their real name. The term "pseudonym" is a Greek word that literally means "false name." Our own language of English is full of Greek terms.
Egypt was ripe for a Roman take-over. Remember the history of Caesar and Cleopatra. In late 48 BCE, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria, Egypt. He was pursuing his opponent, the statesman Gnaeus Pompey, with whom he was engaged in a brutal civil war. Upon Caesar's arrival, the young Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII presented Caesar with Pompey's severed head.
In 315, Constantine issued a law intended to stop those in the “dangerous sect” of Judaism (the Jews) from persecuting relatives or friends who converted to Christianity. It was also intended to discourage Christians from converting to the “abominable sect,” meaning the Jewish religion. Many Romans had converted to Judaism.
(Laws of Constantine the Great, October 18, 315: Concerning Jews, Heaven-Worshippers, and Samaritans)-Anti-Semitism's start.
From Constantine's rule of law against the Jews in 315 to publishing the New Testament only took 78 years.
The earliest known complete list of the 27 books is found in a letter written by Athanasius, a 4th-century bishop of Alexandria, dated to 367 AD. The 27-book New Testament was first formally canonized during the councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) in North Africa.
The Jews were as much impressed from the time of Alexander the Great and Greek thinking as they were with the Romans, maybe more so. It all helped to bring much Hellenization to their culture.
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