Jesus in Egypt

Magi Visit, Escape from Herod, Living in Egypt

When Was the Birth of Jesus? and When Did The Magi Come?

When Was Jesus Born? When Did the Magi Come? When Did Herod Die?

And what do all these questions have to do with one another? Quite a bit, it seems, according to the second chapter of Matthew. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, as seen at Matthew 2:1. Herod the Great died in Jericho in 4 BC, according to the contemporary Jewish historian Yosef son of Matityahu, whose pen name was Flavius Josephus. This means that Jesus must have been born DURING OR BEFORE 4 BC.

The Bible is not incorrect on the issue of dates. Rather, it is our calendars that are incorrect. The system of dividing the years into AD and BC was invented in the year 525 by Dionysius Exiguus, a prominent monk in Rome. Using his calculations, he missed the supposed date of Jesus' birth by at least 5 years. AD (Anno Domino) stands for the "Years of Our Lord," which were to begin in AD 1 at Christ's birth. BC means the  years "Before Christ," which ended in 1 BC. By this system there is no zero year, either BC or AD. Across the non-Christian world, they use CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before the Common Era) as the politically correct replacement for the Christian AD and BC.

So the Magi, like Jesus, also had to arrive in Judea before Herod the Great died in 4 BC. But there is more. The Magi had seen a star appear, announcing the new King of the Jews. Herod took them aside in secret to find out the EXACT TIME (Matthew 2:7) that the star appeared, and instructed them to come back to him when they found this new king who would challenge Herod's rule.

But the Magi were warned in a dream from God not to return to Herod. When Herod saw that he had been tricked, in a rage he ordered the killing of the male children in and around Bethlehem. But Joseph had also been warned, and had already escaped for Egypt with Mary and Jesus. And here's a clue: Herod killed all the male children two years old and younger, according to the EXACT TIME (Matthew 2:16) that he had extracted from the Magi.

Does this mean that Jesus was two years old when the Magi appeared? Herod wasn't taking any chances, and killed them all. But if Jesus was two, that means he may have been born 6 BC or sooner, rather than 5 BC. This would make Jesus at least 32 (about 30 years old, Luke 33:2) when he began his ministry in AD 27, and at least 35 years old at the crucifixion in AD 30.

The Traditional Flight to Egypt

The image above has bought into the two-year-old Jesus theory, for there he is, on Mary's back being carried to Egypt. I would think that he could do much of the walking himself, but you probably know what two-year-olds are like.  But what about Joseph's other children: four boys and two or three girls? It would have been quite dangerous to leave his other children behind, with a paranoid maniac on the throne in Jerusalem. Even if Joseph could squirrel them away in Nazareth, that would not be safe enough. And with the haste to get out of town, there would be little time for making other plans. No, Joseph needed to bring his whole clan along to keep them out of the clutches of King Herod.

Jesus and His Family in Egypt

I used this image to depict Joseph's move from Nazareth to Bethlehem, showing Joseph's youngest son Jude on the donkey with the pregnant Mary. But if this is Joseph's family on its way to Egypt, then there's a boy missing. The best explanation for that is that James, the oldest boy, is the one taking the picture. At least that's my experience with family photos. I was often missing from the family photo because, as the oldest boy, I was operating the Brownie camera. And James went on to write one of the most practical books in the New Testament.

On a more serious note, Joseph did not need to worry about his reception in Egypt. The Egyptian city Alexandria was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, which included a population of Jews that outnumbered even the inhabitants of Jerusalem. There would be no problem finding someone willing to take in a refugee from Herod the Great, famous for his ferocity. They would probably settle in for a two-year stay, at least, until the political situation in Judea and Galilee settled down a bit.

For the boy Jesus, this would  present his first solid contact with Greek-speaking Jews. Jews in Egypt did not speak Aramaic, and their scrolls of scripture were written in Greek rather than Hebrew. Such encounters would go double for the older children. Turned out on the street to play, they would immediately be immersed in a 100 percent Greek language milieu.

I found evidence for such an encounter in the book of Jude in the Bible, when I was preparing my master's thesis, Jude and the Scoffers (2006). Although Jude's birth language was clearly Aramaic, his writing shows an extensive Greek vocabulary unsurpassed by any of the other writers of the New Testament. In the short span of 25 verses, he makes use of no less than 22 words or word usages not to be found elsewhere in the Greek Bible. Yet his use of Greek is unsophisticated, learned on the street rather than in the academy. There isn't a bit of complex sentence structure in the Book of Jude, not even so much as an "if...then" clause.

The friendships that Jude and his brothers acquired in Egypt no doubt extended into adulthood, with an occasional reunion with old friends, for Alexandria was one of the greatest sources of Jewish visitors to the Holy Land for great feasts such as the Passover. The occasion for the Book of Jude is a contact from the Holy Land to a Jewish church in Egypt that was struggling to take in some of its first non-Jewish Christians, who had very different ideas on how to relate to a supreme deity.

Next week we will take on the exploits of the 12-year-old boy Jesus.

Mary and the Manger

Jesus Appears on the Planet

But for this post, we'll see what that was like for Joseph and Mary.

Early Spring, 5 BC

Ah, Mary.
What do we know about Mary?
Mary was a young girl--a virgin--who had been betrothed to a man named Joseph.

She had been found to be "with child" even though she had never "known a man." Today's popular Christianity looks upon Joseph as a young single man getting married for the first time ever. But Christians of the first and second centuries knew of Joseph as a middle-aged or elderly man who was entering his second marriage, and already had four sons and two or three daughters. That's what we know from some of the earliest non-biblical writings of Christians.

From the tribal culture, some of which still existed among these descendants of a wandering Aramean people, we know that a second wife was customary for men who had become wealthy. A second home was constructed for the second  wife, who would start a second family for the wealthy man. But we see no indication of this among the available evidence.

Popular Christianity today looks upon Joseph as a poverty-stricken peasant. But Joseph was a carpenter by trade, who also owned a thirty-acre tract outside of Nazareth, which was dry-farmed by the family to bring in extra income. In this case we should probably assign Joseph and his family as part of the lower-middle class, just above the poverty level of non-landed peasants. If Joseph's first wife had died, perhaps in childbirth, Joseph would need a new wife to help him raise his many children.

Which brings us to the picture above. Here is Joseph with four sons and two daughters, on their way to Bethlehem to look for a place to stay for the eight of them while they register for the Roman tax rolls and pay their taxes. No wonder the inn-keeper had no room for them!

Angels and Announcements

Along with Mary, this ordinary family experienced some astounding events. The Archangel Gabriel had appeared to Mary to tell her that she would bear a son born of God. Joseph had a dream telling him to accept Mary and her child rather than to quietly divorce her. Shepherd boys showed up at Jesus' birth telling of a whole nighttime chorus of angels announcing that the Messiah -- the Lord -- had been born in Bethlehem. 

Shepherds of that time would watch their sheep by night in the early spring when lambs were being born. And Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod the Great, who died early in the year 4 BC. From these facts I propose that Jesus was born in the early Spring of 5 BC. (6 BC is also a possibility) His actual birthday is unknown, and December 25 is an unlikely date for his birth. But we as the church picked the 25th to celebrate his coming, in part to destroy an ancient pagan festival on that day.

On the eighth day after his birth, Jesus was circumcised in accordance with the Old Testament commandment. The painting below shows some unlikely growth for a baby less than eight days old. But it does show Joseph as an elderly man, which would be more correct. The other man in the painting may be the person appointed to perform ritual circumcision.

Forty days after his birth, Jesus was presented in the temple, as the first male to open the womb of Mary. Catholic and Orthodox belief is that Mary had no more children, and in fact no sexual relations with her husband Joseph. But the Bible is silent on this. Many Protestants believe that the brothers and sisters of Jesus were sons and daughters of Mary. But early church tradition places these as the offspring of Joseph's first wife. For further study, I recommend the book Jude and the Relatives of Jesus by Professor Richard Bauckham.

The Gospels Are Not History Books

The Gospels Aren't History Books!

Wait! ... What?  If the Gospels aren't history books, what good are they?
And what are they, anyway?

This seems a strange way to begin a blog series on the Life of Jesus. We were expecting a manger scene with the infant Jesus! But since this blog series will be primarily sourced from information found in the Gospels, it will be good to know exactly what the Gospels are. For that answer, we will sneak a peek into the back of the book. From John 20:30-31, we find this information:

Jesus did many miraculous signs which are not recorded in the Gospels. But those things that are recorded in them have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God, and that through believing, you may have eternal life in the name of Jesus.

There it is. The Gospels are teaching instruments, to introduce you to Jesus the Anointed One (e.g., the Christ) and to show that he is the Son of God. They may contain much history about Jesus and his disciples, but their purpose is not to teach history, but to lead you into eternal life.

The Gospels do not necessarily tell their stories in direct chronological format. In fact, they tend to gather the teachings of Jesus into topics or subjects. In other words, the Gospels are not optimized to teach a linear account of what historically happened. Instead, they are optimized in a fashion that will lead you to believe. The four Gospels are also optimized to be understood by four discrete audiences living in the first century AD. But that is beyond our scope here.

A primary tool for this retelling of the story of Jesus will be a Harmony of the Gospels, an instrument which attempts to arrange the Gospel texts in chronological order. In very old Bibles, a harmony of the Gospels was often found in the back material after Revelation, alongside other helps such as topic indexes, money and weight and other measurements, a concordance showing  where to find certain words, and maps of ancient Bible lands.

My retelling is based on such a harmony, which I have expanded into a harmony of the entire Bible, both Old Testament and New, to enable readers to study the Bible in chronological order. I hope some day to publish this as a Chronological Study Guide to the Bible.

Other helpful sources are synoptic studies of the Gospels, which endeavor to compare texts from three or four Gospels which cover the same material. In these, the readings of the several Gospels are presented side by side so that the whole picture of the teaching or event can be appreciated. The sources available to me include Gospel Parallels by Burton Throckmorton, Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum (Synopsis of four Gospels in the original Greek) edited by Kurt Aland, and The Horizontal Line Synopsis of the Gospels, by Reuben Swanson.

Boring? Perhaps, but in these sources lie an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the Gospels. And next week, I promise that we'll start with that manger in the stable that you were expecting here.

New Series: The Life of Jesus!

The Life of Jesus: a new web log series.

Many thanks to all of you who have been following my web log.

Oh wait. Strike that. Starting over:

Many thanks to both of you who have been following my web log.

I apologize for the lapse in output the last couple months.

So, here comes the Reboot:

The life of Jesus: a chronological history of Jesus, with especial focus his quality of being fully human.

This will be set up in episodes, covering all the material available in the four Gospels and the opening of Acts, with a month-by-month estimated chronology based on a traditional Harmony of the Gospels. When his disciples appear in a particular episode, I will include material on them as well.

You may see material that looks similar to posts I made a year or two ago, and that is by design. I will be using material I have presented in the past, but here will be a systematic chronology of the events that we know of in Jesus' life with a focus on the humanity of  the Master.

First Episode Soon!  I hope  you will enjoy this.

Is Thanksgiving in the Bible?

SPECIAL for Thursday!

Is Thanksgiving in the Bible?

You Bet It Is!

Here are just some of the places you can find it.

Nehemiah 12:27

Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving, and with songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

Nehemiah 12:46

For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise, and hymns of thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 50:14

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High.

Psalm 69:30

I will praise the name of God with song and magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 95:2

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving.

Psalm 100:4

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to  Him, and bless his name.

Psalm 147:7

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises to our God on the lyre.

Jonah 2:9

I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:15

All things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Revelation 7:12

Amen, Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Street Evangelist Pens Trilogy

Press Release – 9/1/17

Street Evangelist Pens Trilogy on the Life and Faith of John

For author Rolin Bruno, writing a story about the teenage apostle John is a calling.  

Christian writers often seem to pay less attention to John, and preachers quote less from his literature than other parts of the Bible. Little do they know there is something about John, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, to whom Jesus said “Here is your mother”—the disciple who was expected to remain alive until Jesus’ second coming, and the apostle who outlived all the others. In Bible scholar Rolin Bruno’s series of books, John finally gets the attention he deserves.

Bruno combines faith and fiction, piety and creativity in JOHN! (from WestBow Press). This historical fiction series gives readers “a fresh and insightful look into the lives of Jesus and His young followers”, although the story is about John. Why John?

“Like any teen, John and his friends would get in trouble at times,” the author said in an interview with a publishing firm. “After a particularly unwise stunt, he and his best friend Andrew ended up at the Jordan, listening to John the Baptist. You know the rest.

“They met with this Jesus character that the Baptist kept going on about, and got invited to a wedding. John wasn’t even 14 yet. But his life was changed, and he’d never be the same again.”

To date, Bruno has already written three books for the JOHN! series, and each new book is just as exciting as the one before. Episode One – AD 27 (pub. 2015) takes place in the year when the would-be disciple meets Jesus for the first time and sees his first miracle at a wedding in Cana. Episode 2 - AD 28 (pub. 2015) ensues in the year that Jesus chooses twelve men to be his apostles, forgives a woman of her sin of adultery, and preaches in parables. Then Episode Three – AD 29 (pub. 2017) follows Jesus and his apostles travelling widely while danger and threats of death follow closely in their tracks.

The events in each book feature John not only as one of the closest companions of Jesus but also as a primary witness to His world-shaking life on earth. Indeed, John’s relations with Jesus, especially at the cross, inspired him to write a Gospel, several letters, and the Book of Revelation – a task that occupied him as the disciple who might remain until the return of Jesus.

Writing a series of books based on the life of an apostle proves to be Bruno’s calling. He not only fills in the gaps with a tale of fascinating adventure (or given John’s youth, a spiritual coming-of-age story) but also gives his readers a moment to reflect on their own spiritual journey.

All three episodes of Bruno’s JOHN! are available at Amazon, WestBow Press, and on the author’s website at http://www.rolinbruno.com/ . 

Announced Sept 1, 2017, respected book reviewer Kirkus Reviews writes, “"This tale delivers a fresh and well-researched fictionalization of the assembling of the Apostles from John’s point of view."

JOHN!

Written by Rolin Bruno

Published by WestBow Press

Published dates: Episode One - AD 27 (June 24, 2015), Episode 2 - AD 28 (Oct. 14, 2015), Episode Three – AD 29 (February 8, 2017) Paperback price: $13.95 each book. Also available in hardcover and ebook.

About the Author

Rolin Bruno is a Bible scholar and street evangelist with a vivid imagination that fills the gaps in the Bible stories. He is a pastor, evangelist, missionary, and ordained deacon who has served Skid Row Los Angeles, Hurricane Katrina rebuilding, addiction recovery, and new church plants. His master's thesis is on the letter of Jude: Jude and the Scoffers (2006). An avid camper, he lives in the Southern California Mountains and has hiked the Grand Canyon, Mount Whitney, and 570 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Quote: JOHN! should appeal to today’s youth who are on fire for Jesus.

Woes, Comfort, and a Thunderbolt

The Johannine Thunderbolt

Matthew 11:20-30

It was the custom of Old Testament prophets to proclaim the terms of the covenant between God and Israel in two parts. First came the statements of what God would do if Israel stayed true to God's word: If they obeyed Him, they were promised peace and prosperity and a long life in the land of milk and honey. On the other hand, the prophets warned what would happen if Israel abandoned the rules of the covenant: The land of milk and honey would spit them out and they would be led into captivity by a strange people.

We don't find a lot of this pattern reproduced in the Gospels. Blessings and warnings about the New Covenant are not often found side by side. But Matthew, ever mindful of Old Testament patterns and prophecies, has provided us a stellar example in his Gospel, in chapter 11, verses 20 through 30.

The Curses

Matthew places warnings first, in stark terms: WOE to you, Chorazin! WOE to you, Bethsaida! It will be better even in foreign cities on judgment day than it will be for you! And Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will descend to Hades, for you ignored miracles that would have caused even Sodom to repent!

The Blessings

Matthew almost immediately follows these curses with perhaps the most serene and promising words of Jesus in the entire New Testament:

"Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

The Thunderbolt

Theologians have called this word and the words that led up to it the "Johannine Thunderbolt," for its similarity to passages in John's Gospel, especially verse 27:

"All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him."

On these verses and others, the fathers of the church built the doctrine of the Trinity.

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Was Jesus in the Golan Heights?

Golan was an important city in Old Testament times, some 17 miles east of the Sea of Kinnereth (Galilee). Around 80 BC it was destroyed by one of the priest-kings of the Maccabee era, and it never regained its former status. However, the high ground between Golan and Galilee inherited its name as the Golan Heights, or simply "The Golan." Today the Heights are mapped to extend to Mount Hermon far to the north, but for the purpose of this article I'll be considering only that land east of the Sea of Galilee.

Did Jesus Ever Visit the Golan Heights?

Approaching Sussita (Hippos) in the Golan Heights

The answer to the question is YES, more than one visit. Jesus' first encounter with the people of the Golan Heights was across the Sea of Galilee by boat, when in the Autumn of AD 28 he was met by two demon-oppressed men on the eastern shore, one of whom who was afflicted by a whole legion of demons.

Jesus' encounter was probably below the city of Sussita (Aramaic for Horse), also called Hippos (Latin for Horse), near the southerly end of the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples remained near the shoreline for less than a week, likely doing some fishing for food. The steep slopes remind us of the swine who rushed into the sea, although there are no steep cliffs at water's edge.

Here's a view of Sussita from above. Jesus did not climb up into the city on the heights itself, but its residents came down to Jesus to ask him and his disciples (politely) to leave the area. Sussita was a Roman colony, one of the ten cities of the Decapolis, and this business of casting out demons made them uncomfortable indeed. Jesus complied with their request, but this was not to be Jesus' last visit to The Golan.

Fast forward to April 17, AD 29. This was the day of Passover, but in Jerusalem there was an arrest warrant out for Jesus, who was looking for some respite for himself and his disciples. Instead of travelling to Jerusalem, he elected to travel by boat again to the eastern shore of the lake, not so far south as Sussita this time. He and his disciples climbed up into one of the lush, grassy valleys of The Golan to rest for a while.

But the residents of Galilee had seen them depart, and they followed them along the shore and up into the Heights. Jesus ended up celebrating Passover by feeding some 5,000 men plus their families, starting with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Location of Gamla, northeast of the Sea of Galilee

Still looking for that much-needed vacation, Jesus went farther this time, walking to the Great Sea (the Mediterranean) and its port cities of Tyre and Sidon. Even that far away, one of the local women found Jesus and pestered him until he cured her daughter. Rested, Jesus and his disciples returned by an easterly route, passing through the area of Gamla, in the territory of Herod Philip.

One of the springs in the Golan Heights

Turning south from there, Jesus bypassed Bethsaida and continued down the eastern shore until he was again in the territory of the Decapolis, although none of the  Ten Towns themselves were situated quite this far north in The Golan.

Nevertheless, Jesus picked up a crowd again from Bethsaida on the north shore and even from as far away as Capernaum on the northwest shore. Jesus was in a mostly "desolate" place, where there was no village that was large enough to support a market where they could buy food.

But, of course, this was Jesus. His disciples came up with seven loaves of bread and a few fish, and again Jesus fed a multitude of 4,000 men plus women and children. The people were satisfied and the disciples collected seven baskets of leftovers.

Altogether therefore, Jesus visited The Golan at least three times. It is may be that he and his disciples were there a fourth time, even as far as ancient Golan itself on the eastern edge of the heights, 17 miles from the sea of Galilee.

Although there were not significant towns or cities besides Sussita on The Golan, there were always small villages scattered on its rich farm and pasturelands. Jewish outposts were always here or there, and some of them were large enough to boast of a synagogue, such as the one above. (This one is from the 7th century AD, built on the ruins of another synagogue of the 6th or 5th century.)

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Throw Jesus Down the Cliff Again?

Jesus Returns Again to Nazareth.

But They Don't Try to Throw Him Off the Cliff.

So, What's Different This Time?

What's the deal?

In the summer of AD 27, Jesus had gone to visit Capernaum after a wedding in Cana. Deciding to change his residence to the house of Peter's mother-in-law in Capernaum, he stopped at his childhood home in Nazareth during an evangelistic tour of Galilee. While there, he preached in the synagogue where the people attending took offense at him. They had heard of the healings Jesus had been doing, and it seems that they wanted Jesus to stay in the Nazareth area to become their local country doctor. But Jesus was moving on, and some roughnecks in the synagogue tried to throw Jesus down the cliff. Jesus just walked away from them (Luke 4:16-30).

So, he actually went there again?

Yes. Much later, in the late autumn of AD 28, Jesus returned to Nazareth on another evangelical tour. His preaching was scoffed at again, and doubts reigned about his healing powers, but no one tried to toss Jesus down the cliff this time. There was no sign of the angry ruffians from his first visit. What changed? (Mark 6:1-6a.)

Was someone there to protect Jesus?

It looks like that may be the case, and there are some clues in the Bible verses that support that idea. In Luke's story of the first visit, Jesus arrives in Nazareth apparently alone, and "in the power of the Spirit" fresh from his baptism and 40 days in the desert (Luke 4:14).

For the second visit, Mark is explicit in saying that his disciples were "with him" (Mark 6:1). And the listeners who were astonished by his preaching said, "Aren't his sisters here with us?" (Mark 6:3b). I would suggest that the ruffians in the synagogue would be less likely to cause a ruckus, for I cannot see a circumstance where Jesus' disciples would simply let their teacher be thrown down the cliff. And with his sisters there as witnesses, perhaps they may have been shamed into refraining from inciting violence.

The Real "Cliff" at Nazareth

 

And where were Jesus' four brothers?

It seems that four able-bodied construction workers ("carpenters") would be a strong deterrent against violence. Even if none of Jesus' brothers (all older than he) yet believed in him, if they allowed their younger brother to be bullied, they would lose honor in the town and be seen as pantywaists.

I propose that Jesus' brothers (from Joseph's first marriage) were absent from Nazareth during Jesus' first visit, perhaps gainfully employed in the active construction work under way in the nearby Roman city of Sepphoris. And then at his second visit, it is probable from Mark's text that Jesus' brothers were in town, or at least nearby.

In the company of Jesus' disciples, his brothers, and yes, even his sisters, there was plenty of motivation for the town ruffians to refrain from messing with Jesus.

Why Did Jesus Heal Few in Nazareth?

Mark 6:5 relates, "He could do no miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them" (Mark 6:5 NASB). This verse has troubled theologians for centuries. Jesus didn't have the power to heal them?

The answer lies in Jesus' healing practices. In most every case, Jesus healed those who came to him asking for healing. (One exception was at Bethesda, where he asked, "Do you want to be healed?") But in Nazareth there was little belief or confidence, and even less respect for his ministry.

Jesus could not heal many there because few came forward to be healed. Simple.

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Was Nicodemus a Galilean?

Who was this man Nicodemus?

The Failed Arrest

Tempers were getting hot. The temple police had been sent out to arrest Jesus, but they came back empty-handed, saying, "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks!" The chief priests were furious, responding, "You haven't also been led astray, have you? None of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in him, have they?"

But Nicodemus said to them, "Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he's doing, does it?" They answered him, "What, you aren't also from Galilee, are you? Search the scriptures, and you will see that no prophet arises out of Galilee!" 

Traditional 'Old' Nicodemus

Words that sting:

Was that true? Why would they charge Nicodemus with being a Galilean? And who was this guy, anyway?

It turns out that Nicodemus, besides his three appearances in the Gospel of  John, was well known to Josephus, the noted first-century writer of Jewish history. In addition, Nicodemus is also mentioned prominently in the Talmud, the body of ancient Jewish civil and ceremonial law which includes both the Mishna and the Gemara.

Nicodemus was known as one of the three wealthiest men in Jerusalem. Some say that he was the most wealthy of them all. As part of his wealth, he owned extensive plots of agricultural land, worked by Jewish peasants under the direction of local taskmasters. And where were these lands?

You guessed it. Nicodemus' land holdings were predominantly in Galilee,  lower Galilee to be specific. Nicodemus was apparently good to his workers, for he was widely popular among the poor for his reputation of generosity. Although he was a Judean resident in Jerusalem, you can be safe in assuming that he would be seen frequently in Galilee, checking on his landholdings.

So did their (false) charge against Nicodemus sting? Possibly. Galileans were looked down upon by the Judeans, who lived in the 'right places' instead of in some remote province. But Nicodemus held a secure position in the Sanhedrin, the high council of the Jews, and could let such criticism roll off his back.

The rich farmland of Galilee

How Old Was Nicodemus?

This is critical, for the historical Nicodemus was prominent mostly in the 50's and 60's of the first century. It is estimated that at the time he met Jesus he would had have to been between 10 and 40  years of age. Christian tradition looks upon Nicodemus as an old man when he met Jesus. But this is not necessarily true, for it is based on something Nicodemus said to Jesus: "How can a man be born [again] when he is old?" It is not necessary that Nicodemus was old when he said this. He could well have been between 30 and 40 years of age.

In the Hebrew spelling, he was known as Nakdimon ben Gurion, "Nicodemus son of Gurion." His real name was Boni, and he earned his nickname from a miracle he was reputed to have performed. In his later years, he was actively opposed to the Zealots who were trying to win independence from Rome, and with his wealth he helped fund the opponents of the Zealots.

Historical 'Young' Nicodemus

Prophets from Galilee:

Although it was true that the Messiah was prophesied to come from Bethlehem rather than Galilee, Nicodemus' opponents overlooked two prophets that did come from the land that we now call Galilee: Both Jonah and his father, the prophet Amittai (Truth), came from Gath-Hepher, about two miles from today's Nazareth, in the heart of Lower Galilee (2 Kings 14:25).

Perhaps if Nicodemus had looked this up, he could have embarrassed his accusers for their oversight of these two prophets.

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What Was Jesus' Earthly Inheritance?

What Did Jesus Own?

Other than at his birth and at his temple visit as a 12-year-old, Jesus' life before his baptism was relatively unremarkable. When he returned to Nazareth in the summer of AD 27 and spoke in the synagogue, the villagers said, "Isn't this just Joseph's son?" And when he returned again in the fall of AD 28, they doubled down on their doubt: "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Doesn't his family live right here? Where did this [ordinary] man get all this knowledge and power?" (Luke 4:22, Matthew 13:55).

So if Jesus led an ordinary life up to age 33 or so, what could he have acquired as possessions from his employment as a construction worker (carpenter)? His adoptive father Joseph has died, so what was Jesus' inheritance?

Out of a family of 7 or 8 children, James, the oldest step-brother, was due a double portion of the inheritance according to the customs of the land. In this case that meant that James would have inherited the family house, quite a grand place considering that it was owned and maintained by a professional carpenter. But James moved to Jerusalem after Jesus' death, and never married, meaning that the house would have fallen to younger brothers Joseph Junior and Simon.  Jude, the youngest, inherited the 29-acre plot of farmland that the family owned. We know this from history, which tells us that Jude's grandsons were still working the land sixty year later. For Jesus' two or three stepsisters, their share of the family wealth would have consisted of the dowry they took with them when they got married.

So what was left  for Jesus? I have some suggestions.

From the tale of Jesus' visit to Jerusalem at age 12, we know that he held an avid interest in the Hebrew scriptures, and was able to ask challenging questions about them. If we look at his preaching career, we know that Jesus was especially familiar with the book of the prophet Isaiah. This was a massive tome, which required a whole flock of goats slaughtered to have enough parchment to produce a single copy of the work.

Could Joseph have owned a copy of Isaiah? This would have been a costly and most precious possession. If so, Joseph would have certainly willed it and any other scrolls to his adoptive son Jesus, who had received powerful prophecies when he was an infant. Joseph would have had an active role in teaching Jesus about all the Hebrew scriptures. As Jesus grew taller and wiser, he apparently surpassed his father in the understanding of scripture, especially the book of Isaiah.

Most of those who learned to read Scripture would have been taught in the synagogue. No self-respecting synagogue would have been without copies of the five books of Moses. But for the small village of Nazareth, with maybe 200 residents, they may have had little more. Still, it was not impossible that they would have possessed the books of Isaiah and other prophets, for much of the property of these synagogues could have come from rich benefactors.

Here is an idea of how massive these scrolls can be. In this modern synagogue, this is probably a complete scroll of the five books of Moses, although it could also be the scroll of Isaiah.

In the summer of AD 27, when Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah, he went directly to the passage he had in mind, in a book with which he was well familiar. (It is also possible that the passage to be read was preassigned according to a yearly calendar of readings.)

This image gives a good idea of how large the synagogue may have been in the village of Nazareth.

When Philip met the Ethiopian on the road back to his queen Candace, It was the scroll of Isaiah from which he was reading. This was a precious possession, and it may have been the sole purpose of his journey to purchase and bring back such a scroll. Perhaps it was intended for the use of the queen, or for a synagogue in Ethiopia. It may also have been purchased for the use of the Ethiopian servant himself, who wanted to learn from its ancient teachings.

And so here is what one of those ancient copies of Isaiah really looked like. This is the Great Isaiah Scroll (known technically as 1QIsa), copied sometime between 150 and 100 BC. It is the best preserved and most complete of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the mid-20th century. It is 1,100 years older than the best copy that was used to produce our Bibles today, and has only minor differences from the newer one, the Leningrad Codex, which is bound in book format.

The Scroll is written on 7 sheets of parchment sewn together, and is 24 feet long and 11 inches tall. Seven facsimile copies have been made, computer-printed onto actual parchment. I had the privilege of studying one of those copies, and looked for the appearance of the passage that Jesus read: Isaiah 61:1-2a.

This is Cave One of the several caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and retrieved primarily between 1946 and 1956. This overlooks the Dead Sea, and the Essene village of Qumran is near here.

This is the Shrine of the Book in Israel, which was built to display the Great Isaiah Scroll. However, some deterioration in the scroll was noted due to its exposure to light. One of the seven facsimile copies is on display there now.

The Great Isaiah Scroll

And this is the complete Great Isaiah Scroll, one of the most beloved treasures of the Jewish faith.

If Jesus owned such a treasure, he gave it to John son of Zebedee when, from the cross, he assigned to John the responsibility of Jesus to care for his mother.

But Jesus owns a greater treasure. Jesus' earthly possession is the "called-out-assembly" of his holy people--the church. He purchased it with his blood. It is his possession forever, and can never be taken away from him.

Post #72

Could Thaddeus be the Youngest Apostle?

A Closer Look at an Obscure Apostle

Judas Thaddeus by Jan Oldrich Mayer

1. Who is this 'Judas Thaddeus', Anyway?

In the Apostle lists of the gospels of Matthew and Mark, immediately after James the son of Alpheus, comes Thaddeus, and then Simon the Zealot. The name Thaddeus is not mentioned again in the entire Bible. In the apostle list of the Gospel of Luke, Simon Zealot's name comes after James Alpheus, and then comes a new name: "Judas [son of] James" (not [brother of], which is a mis-translation). This  is an extra Judas, differentiated from Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Luke doubles down on the name and parentage in Acts 1:13. This extra Judas show up once in John's Gospel, identified as "Judas, not Iscariot" (John 14:22). Only John gives him a speaking part: "Are you going to disclose yourself to us, and not to the world?"

It didn't take long for the ancient church fathers to identify this extra Judas as being the same as Thaddeus. In church tradition they began calling him "Jude" to differentiate him from "Judas Iscariot." But then later church fathers confused Jude the Apostle with Jude the step-brother of Jesus, and further confounded him as the author of the short letter of Jude. Recent scholarship has pretty much nailed down who was the author of the letter of Jude. By a great margin, it could be none other than Judas (Jude), the youngest step-brother of Jesus. It is a very early letter (perhaps the earliest), with a strict structure that carefully imitates the pesher letters found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Judas Thaddeus by Anthony van Dyck

Could Judas Thaddeus be the Youngest Apostle?

The youngest apostle, at least in the realm of art, has always been assumed to be John son of Zebedee, who is always portrayed as the only apostle lacking facial hair. That is, John was thought to be too young to have grown a beard. He was identified as the "disciple whom Jesus loved,"  presumably because due to his youth, he needed extra guidance from the Master. And by my analysis, he was the "least" disciple, that is, the one whose job was to attend to the personal needs of the Master and would stay beside him when the remaining apostles had jobs to do, such as fetching food from a Samaritan town while Jesus rested by the well.

But there is another possibility, and this depends on identifying "James" the father of Judas Thaddeus. In the lists of Luke and Acts, Judas [Thaddeus] is separated from James Alpheus only by one name. In the lists of Matthew and Mark, [Judas] Thaddeus comes directly after James Alpheus. Scholars complain that James (actually, Jacob) is such a common name that there is no hope of identifying Thaddeus' father. But the close mentions of Judas T. with James A. likely betrays the possibility that everyone who wrote the synoptic gospels plus the intended early audience for these gospels already knew the identity of the father of Judas Thomas.

This makes James Alpheus and Judas Thaddeus James the only father & son team among the apostles. (Thaddeus seems to be a nickname.) Neither of these men were part of the first group of disciples, composed of professional fishermen and their friends. When they joined Jesus, Thaddeus could have just recently passed his bar Mitzvah and be a year or two younger than John of Zebedee. And he would not be in need of special extra attention from Jesus, because he worked directly at his own father's side.

Mark's gospel identifies the six working pairs among the apostles: 1) Peter and James Z, the older members of the fishing consortium, 2) John Z and Andrew, the younger members of the fishing consortium, 3) Philip and Nathanael bar Tholmai, friends of the consortium, 4) James son of Alpheus and Thaddeus grandson of Alpheus, 5) Matthew and Thomas, the carpenter/architect and the tax collector, and finally 6) Simon the Zealot and Judas son of the Man from Kerioth.

Judas Thaddeus with Healing Image of Christ

The Acts of Judas Thaddeus

In church tradition, the evangelistic work of Thaddeus was prodigious. He made disciples of Jesus in Judea, Idumea, Samaria, Syria, Persia, Libya, Beirut, and most famously, Edessa in Syria. Thaddeus brought to King Abgar of Edessa an image of Jesus, which the king looked upon and became cured of his disease. Later speculation identifies this image with the Shroud of Turin. In any case, the king became a follower of Jesus and spread the way as the newly official religion of Syria. (Other sources propose that Thaddeus of Edessa may have been a different person than Thaddeus the Apostle.)

Prayer Medallion for the Lost Cause Apostle

The Apostle of Lost Causes

One story holds that, because Thaddeus shared a name with the traitor Iscariot, people were reluctant to come to him for help. This made Thaddeus even more encouraged to accept any call for help he received. So when people in need exhausted every other avenue, they turned to Thaddeus, the Apostle for Lost Causes.

And (below), it seems that Thaddeus has not been totally forgotten, for someone has written a screen play about his life and ministry.

A Screenplay for Thaddeus

Post #71