The Importance of Archeology

“ In a letter to Biblical Archeology Review (May - June 2016, professor Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem states, “If we would have to rely on archeology alone, we would not be able to say anything about Israel until the ninth century B.C.E., except the one mention in the Merneptah Stele in the late 13th century.”    

The Bible mentions cities and peoples otherwise unknown to history, Speaking about unidentified Iron and Bronze Age settlements, Professor Mazar believes that “It is only the Biblical tradition that provides clues to the identity and context of these archeological phenomena.”

One of the cultures mentioned by the Bible which archeology and history declared to be mythological was the Hittite Empire. That is, until the Hittite capital, Hattusas, was identified near Bogas Koy, Turkey in 1884. It was then realized that other ruins discovered in 1834 were also Hittite.  

Opinions about the historicity of the Bible vary wildly depending on numerous factors: educational level, religious background, preconceived biases, etc.  They range from the utterly ridiculous, "2/3 0f Bible is fictional," to the extreme literalist, to the skeptical, to those who give a somewhat grudging acknowledgment.

Ken Ham, writing on the website, Answers in Genesis, quotes from a letter he received from the Smithsonian Institution in response to a question about the historicity of The Flood recounted in Genesis. ’In the best analysis, the Bible is a religious book, not an historical document.’

The historicity of the Bible is the message of the massive apologetic work The Bible as History, written by Werner Keller. Dr. Keller recounts thousands of archeological and scientific items which point to the fact that the Bible is accurate in its historical assertions. Kings and cultures are mentioned in the Bible in the same order and historical context as established by secular sources. The cultural contexts spoken of are consistent with known facts.

The apparent historicity of the Bible is not proof of the truth of the religious claims of Christianity or of Judaism. It does, though, add to the overwhelming evidence pointing toward that truth.  

Place Names of Religious Origin

Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch, Wales:

This 58 letter place name translates into English as “Parish [church] of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [in] Hollow (pwll) of the White Hazel [township] (gwyn gyll) near (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the parish [church] of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo[f] goch).” This is the longest place name in Europe but is only the second longest one word place name on Earth. The longest is an 85 letter Maori place name in New Zealand.

Judenberg,Austria: “Juden” in German means “Jews.” This name means “Jewish Mountain.”

Hissop, Alabama, USA: Hysoppus is a flowering plant mentioned in the Bible at Exodus 12: 21-22. It is a member of the mint family used in the Passover rites.

Lis Escop, Cornwall, England: “Escop” is the Cornish word for “bishop,” so this is the “court of the bishop.”

Donaghee, Northern Ireland: The name of this town reflects its origin as the Irish word “donhnach,” which translates in English as “church.”

Film Comment: Kike Like Me

The title of this film is a play on the  name of John Griffin’s 1964 book, Black Like Me.  Griffin darkened his skin so he could convincingly live for a time as a black man and then wrote of his experiences.

“Kike” is an ethnic slur word used to insult Jews. There are several possible explanations for the origin of the word, but one of the most likely is offered by Leo Rosten in his 1968 book, The Joys of Yiddish. 

Rosten says that many of the Jews entering the United States at the immigration center at Ellis Island in New York were illiterate. A common practice at the time was for the recording clerk to write the persons name and then for the illiterate person to place “his mark,” an X, between the personal name and the surname. 

Many Jews thought the X looked like a cross and refused to use it. Instead they wrote an O, a circle, which in Yiddish is “kikel” or “keikl.”

Kike Like Me (2007) is narrated by Jamie Kastner who presents the film as an examination of what it means to be Jewish in the modern world. Kastner travels to Jerusalem, Berlin, Poland, Paris, and the Auschwitz death camp. He becomes increasingly shocked and sarcastic as he sees more. He is disgusted to find that Auschwitz has a tourist souvenir shop.

Christians often forget that all of the first Christians were Jewish and that it is impossible to understand Christianity without understanding its Jewish origins. What does it mean to be perceived as Jewish? Watch this film if you dare.

Flowers for the Living

Annellies Marie Frank (1929 - 1945), better known as Anne Frank, was only fifteen years old when she died in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp in Germany. She and her family were hiding with the help of brave Christians in concealed rooms behind a bookcase in a building where her father worked in Amterdam. After the Jewish family was eventually betrayed and arrested, Miep Gies, one of their protectors, was able to rescue and preserve Anne's diary. The book was published as Het Achterhuis (in English as Diary of a Young Girl.)

The diary contained Anne's thoughts on many subjects such as growing up, sexuality, her hopes to become a meaningful writer, and her present situation. One very thoughtful quotation is, "Dead people receive more flowers than living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude."

Anne understood that we should appreciate the people around us. Christians, especially, should understand this. As I have said before, since Jesus was willing to shed His Blood for our salvation and since His Blood is of infinite value and is freely offered to everyone, this means that each of us is of infinite value. We should be always ready to explain this Good News to anyone who will listen. (1 Peter 3:15)

Also, one of the things which non-believers noticed most strongly about the early Christians was how much they loved each other as Jesus told them to (John 13:34-35). For example, in this quotation from the Roman convert and Christian apologist Marcus Minucius Felix in his book, Octavius. The book is presented as a dialogue between a pagan and a Christian. The pagan is talking in this quotation.

"And now, as wickeder things advance more fruitfully, and abandoned manners creep on day by day, those abominable shrines of an impious assembly are maturing themselves throughout the whole world. Assuredly this confederacy ought to be rooted out and execrated. They know one another by secret marks and insignia, and they love one another almost before they know one another; everywhere also there is mingled among them a certain religion of lust, and they call one another promiscuously brothers and sisters, that even a not unusual debauchery may by the intervention of that sacred name become incestuous: it is thus that their vain and senseless superstition glories in crimes."

From Minucius Felix, Octavius, R. E. Wallis, trans. in The Ante-Nicene Fathers
(Buffalo, N. Y.: The Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), Vol. 4, pp. 177-178.

ESCHATOLOGY SERIES, POST #2: ESCHATOLOGIES FROM VARIOUS CULTURES

Eschatology is theology concerned with the final events of history. The word is derived from the Greek words  ἐσχάτος  eschatos ("last") and λόγος logos ("word"). Eschatology is therefore the study of “last things.” The focus of eschatology is usually on reality as a whole rather than on the individual. The word eschatology first appeared in the English language about 1550. 

In most known cultures, including the most primitive, there has been a belief in some sort of existence of the individual after death. Some held that the afterlife would be a dull and dreary thing., others that only the good would survive into an afterlife.  Some felt that the afterlife would be largely an extension of this one, perhaps on a more exalted plane as reward for bravery or great skill.  Many held that the retribution for an evil life was annihilation.

The Babylonians and Assyrians felt that retribution for evil came largely in this life as did the divine rewards of long life, strength, prosperity, and many children. The ghost of the individual existed in the underworld with the other dead. Demons ran around in the underworld inflicting punishment for sins committed during life.

In the ancient Egyptian religion, the good individual could hope for unending life with Osiris, the sun god. The existence was in some ways physical and this is the reason for mummification of the body. In the afterlife the actions of the deceased during life are weighed and judged. The dead face several trials and are subject to a second death if they fail.

Ancient Persian (Persia, modern Iran) religion (Mazdaism, Zoroastrianism, Parseeism, etc) was dualistic with a conflict between equally powerful good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Ahriman) deities. The two deities were co-creators of the universe. The evil deity will, in the end, be vanquished and a judgement of people based on their life's deeds will occur. Those with evil deeds will be purified by fire, Hell will be purged, and the earth will be renewed by a purifying fire.

The ancient Greeks believed that life on Earth was the highest good for man. After death, the soul survived in a dull attenuated existence with little emphasis on retributive justice for life's misdeeds. A few very evil individuals would receive eternal punishment in Tartarus and a few favorites of the gods
would exist in eternal bliss in the Elysian Fields.  

Recently, there was much popular discussion of "2012." This was based on Aztec mythology which predicted the end of our current cycle of time on 21 December 2012. The Aztec mythology describes several cycles ruled by deities who are destroyed at the end of each cycle along with all the humans living during that cycle. The sun is the deity of the current cycle.

The human sacrifices regularly performed by the ancient Aztecs had a specific purpose. The blood and the extracted human hearts were seen as the food or fuel which maintained the ability of the Sun god to function. The stability of the universe depended upon regular human sacrifices.

Norse (Scandinavian) eschatology is presented in the story of Ragnarok, the climactic battle of the  cyclical Old Norse mythology. Nearing the end of the cycle, people, and the Gods themselves, will become increasingly corrupt, not honorable, dissipated, apathetic, and nihilistic. The Frost Giants, led by the renegade god Loki, will come and the battle will begin, accompanied by natural disasters. Most of the Norse gods will be killed and the world will eventually be dead and silent, covered with water and in total silence. After a time, fertile land will emerge from the water and the few gods who survived the battle will gather. A new first couple of humans will repopulate the new clean earth and the gods will celebrate.

In some religious/philosophical systems, such as Baha’ism and Jainism, there is neither a beginning nor an end.  Baha’is believe that reality consists of a series of progressive revelations by prophets. The coming of each new prophet is the judgement of the previous religion., with the prophet Bahaullah having brought the ultimate revelation.

The most severe forms of Buddhism deny even this. Within each moment in time, both birth and death are present. As each moment is born, the previous moment dies. The only reality is the present moment. There is no reward or punishment and no God. Individual existence with its cravings and desires is the ultimate evil.  Salvation is the extinction of every type of desire, even the desire for existence.

Hinduism sees reality and time as a series of repeating cycles as Shiva destroys and regenerates the universe repeatedly. The individual is part of this cyclical nature and ultimately will come to realize that individuality is an illusion. The individual consciousness is in actuality part of the Ultimate Reality and its ultimate destiny is absorption back into the Whole. All reality will contract into a singularity which will then begin again to expand.

Islamic eschatology points toward a Day of Judgement in which each persons good deeds will be balanced against their evil deeds. The sayings of the Prophet Muhammad give many signs which will indicate the approach of the Day of Judgement.

Judaism is most concerned with life now, in the present time, and is more corporate than individual. The concept is that the important thing is observance of the Law in order to prepare ourselves and the world for the coming of God's kingdom on Earth. The religion is absolutely monotheistic and God is absolute in His control of the universe. Man is intended to live in friendship with God during this life. There is very little discussion of retributive justice in the afterlife. 

Jewish eschatology is based on the Nation of Israel as a whole, not on the individual. The promises of the Old Testament are to the nation, the people of the land Am ha'aretz (עם הארץ), not the individual. The hope is for the establishment of a theocratic Messianic kingdom, based in Jerusalem, which will rule the world with justice and peace. 

An introduction to Christian eschatology will be presented in the next post.

Does 12-13-14 Have Any Special Meaning?

I imagine that the numerologists are very busy today looking for arcane messages in today’s date, 13 December 2014. This date can be represented as 12-13-14.  This alignment of dates will not happen again for 100 years.  Surely it must have some cosmic significance! Personally, I think it is just a coincidental arrangement of numbers due to our current dating system.

When I noticed the 12-13-14 arrangement, I thought about the significance of numbers, especially in the Bible, which does use numbers as symbols. Think of the numbers 3, 7, 666, and 1000. Some people think that they see beyond the obvious symbolic use of numbers and that they can detect many numerological messages secretly embedded in the text by God. This is on the same order as belief in the controversial Torah Bible Codes.

The hidden messages which do undeniably exit in the Bible were of human origin. For instance, investigate ATBASH. An example occurs at Jeremiah 25:26. These messages were meant by the writers to obscure the true meaning from hostile governmental authorities who might read the texts. The idea is "to hide in plain sight." Also investigate the use of acrostics, an intentional literary form used by some of the Old Testament writers. Two examples of biblical acrostics occur at Proverbs 31:10-31 and Psalms 119.

I do not believe that the Bible is full of hidden supernatural messages. That is a pagan Gnostic idea. God inspired the writing of the various books of the Bible as a coherent whole and it is intended to be understood. It is a tool, a book of revelation about the nature of God, not a book of puzzles.

The Bible tells us that God is not a man and that His ways are not our ways. God is totally other, unknowable, and perfect.  He moves in the sub-atomic places and in the cosmic places. The Bible is part of God’s effort to make the utterly unknowable (Himself) understandable, at least partly, to our inadequate tiny little minds. Over and over we are told, “the Kingdom of God is like ….” I believe that God has used the entire Jewish religious and cultural system to explain what He is like. The entire Bible points toward Jesus, Who is the ultimate revelation of Who God is.

Junior, the French Bulldog Joins In

Junior, a French Bulldog, joins in as his owners sing along with the Josh Groban song, “You Raise Me Up.” The two men in the video are Emanuele Tiburzio and Walter Ledenmueller, who live in Köln, Germany.

Josh Groban, who has never publicly declared his current religious status , was raised as an Epicopalian.  His father converted from Judaism in order to marry Josh’s mother.  Groban has a large Christian following because of the inspirational nature of his songs and has sold over 20,000,000 albums in the last ten years.

275,000 page views

This blog just went over 275,000 page views.  Thank you for your interest in this ministry. I hope that the blog helps Christians to understand our spiritual unity within our almost infinite diversity. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28 NASB

I have previously been using the King James Version (KJV) Bible for quotations since the work is in the public domain. The problem with the KJV is that the archaic English, while beautiful and poetic, may not translate well for readers in languages other than English. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is considered to be the most literal modern translation into English from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic languages.

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation 
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Book Comment: Judaism for Everyone and Why the Jews Rejected Jesus

Two books this time: Judaism for Everyone (2002) and Why the Jews Rejected Jesus (2005). These two books are two sides of the same coin and discuss some of the same issues.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the author of eleven books with titles like Kosher Sex, The Rabbi and the Psychic, and The Jewish Guide to Adultery, wrote Judaism for Everyone as an apologetic work  (but, he emphatically points out, not as an evangelistic effort). The secondary title of the book is Renewing Your Life Through the Vibrant Lessons of the Jewish Faith.

David Klinghoffer says that he wrote Why the Jews Rejected Jesus as an explanation to his well-meaning Christian friends who cannot understand why he would reject the free gift of salvation offered by the Gospel.

For both authors the idea reduces down to one point: they do not believe that Jesus fulfilled the requirements for being declared the Messiah. Christians, of course, see the same things, but come to an entirely different interpretation *.

The Jews list these reasons for rejecting Jesus:

1.     Jesus never fought the Romans. * Chrisians say that Rome clearly saw Jesus as a threat.

2.     Jesus did not establish a physical political messianic kingdom.  * Christians say that Jesus established His kingdom in the hearts of His followers, an idea which Jews utterly reject.

3.     A new Temple was not built in Jerusalem.  * Christians say that Jesus Himself is the new Temple and its priest.

4.     The world did not recognize God as Lord.  * Christians say that at the Second Coming every head will bow and every knee will bend in acknowledgement of God.

5.      A New Covenant based on restored commitment to observance of the Law was not given to the Jews. * Christians say that the New Covenant based on Faith in the Saving Grace of Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law.

6.     There was no ingathering of the Jewish exiles.  * Some Christians see the fulfillment of this requirement in the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

The Jews saw the claims of Jesus and His Christian followers to be blasphemous.  Klinghoffer points out that to the Jews, blasphemy is abusing God’s name for a forbidden purpose. Boteach clarifies what the Jews see as that forbidden purpose: He declares that the idea that God can be Human is the ultimate heresy. *Christians, of course, insist that Jesus was fully divine and fully human.

I urge you to read both of these books. Christianity and Judaism have major differences between them.  A Christian, for example, cannot echo Rabbi Boteach in saying, “Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is far more important than waiting for the right motivation.”

Even with the differences, there is agreement on the vast majority of our two worldviews and an understanding of Jewish history, symbolism, and theology is absolutely essential for a proper understanding of Christianity. Jesus was an orthodox Jew.

Also, since God does not change, all of His promises to Israel still stand. He is not finished with the Jews.  The Bible tells us that in the end days “all Israel shall be saved.”

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A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

God's Ultimate Purpose for Our Creation

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), an American Transcendentalist philosopher and writer basically lived the life of a hermit on Walden Pond in the State of Masssachusetts (USA).  He rejected organized religion and political parties, was a committed abolitionist and pacifist, and spent his life dedicated to self-improvement.  He never married and never attended any church. The writer, Robert Louis Stevenson said of him, “He was not easy, not ample, not urbane, not even kind; his enjoyment was hardly smiling, or the smile was not broad enough to be convincing; he had no waste lands nor kitchen-midden in his nature, but was all improved and sharpened to a point.”  Thoreau was not a pleasant person, but he still had some important insights, one of which is, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” 

This statement is the essence of Jewish religious thought. As Huston Smith said in his classic work, The World’s Religions, “… Judaism is less an orthodoxy than an orthopraxis.” Orthodox Judaism sees obedience to God’s commands now as important, not for future reward, but for what it does to you. Observance of the Jewish rituals is seen as making all of normal life holy. (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16). Orthodox Judaism believes that observance of the rituals is preparing the world for the appearance of the Messiah and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Many modern Christians have lost sight of the fact that Christianity began as a movement within Judaism and that Christianity can only be understood in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures. The entirety of the Old Testament clearly points to one person, Jesus.

Just as the Jews see obedience to God’s commands as making all of life holy, our allegiance to Jesus is conforming us to the likeness of Christ. This is the process of sanctification. Jesus did not conform to the world. He expected the world to conform to Him. This is God’s ultimate purpose in our creation, that we become conformed to Christ for God’s glory. Romans 8:28-31

A Bent and Deformed Tree

In one of the numerous cities strung along the Alabama Gulf Coast, trees line the main highway.  This is a very intentional touch which reduces the "strip-mall" feel of the single story restaurants and stores which line the highway behind the trees.  The trees stand up straight, all the same type, all the same height.  This makes startling the one tree which grows straight out of an incline, parallel to the ground,  and then turns upward.  Someone failed to tend to this tree and it seems to have eventually turned upward of its own accord.  It now points in the desired direction, but it is gnarled and deformed.

Realize that our children are like these trees.  Raised and trained properly they will often stay within the faith.  Left to their own devices, they may stray.  Some will eventually return to the faith but only after receiving numerous scars and deformities.  They need loving gardeners.

 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Children learn values by watching their parents. There is a phrase, "Show, don't tell." Explain rules, do not just impose them. One thing which I taught my son and my grandchildren: "Don't be afraid, just be smart." Love unconditionally and predictably.  Do not "smother" your children's individuality. Your children do not need or want to be little clones of you.

This is ancient knowledge known by the Jews long before there were any Christians.  Christians often fail to remember our Jewish origins. In its strictest sense, “Torah” means the first five books of the Bible.  The word “Torah” תּוֹרָה

translates as “teaching,  or “instruction.” Read this web page written by the Chabad-Lubavitcher Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov of Montevideo, Uruguay.  Though I would interpret this in a Christian context, I agree with every word spoken here by the rabbi.

Messianic Prophecies From the Bible: A Jew Will be Born Who Will be the King of the Jews. He Will be Called God, the Father, and The Prince of Peace.

Jews and Christians disagree on whether or  not Isaiah 9:6 is a reference to The Messiah.  Christians see this verse as clearly pointing to Jesus.  Jews insist that we are taking the verse out of context.  They say the verse refers to the birth of Hezekiah (740? – 692? BC/BCE), King of Judah.  Hezekiah cleaned and reopened the Temple.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

Jews number the verse differently (as Isaiah 9:5) and say that the verse should be translated as “For a child has been born to us, a son given to us,  and the authority is upon his shoulder, and the wondrous advisor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, called his name, “the prince of peace.”

A literal word for word translation of the Hebrew words of the verse: “For to us a child is born to us a son is given to and shall be the government on his shoulder and called his name Wonderful Counselor the God mighty the everlasting the Prince of Peace.”  Written ancient Hebrew contains no punctuation marks and all the letters are run together with no spaces between words.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Bob Newhart: ((b. 1929, Illinois, USA; aka: George Robert Newhart) Stand-up comedian, television and film actor. Roman Catholic.

Virginia Quinn Newhart: Wife of Bob Newhart. Roman Catholic.

Chloe Grace Moretz: (b. 1997, Georgia, USA) Child film actress most known for her controversial roles in Kick-Ass (2010) and Carrie (2013).  She says that her family is “very Christian.”  I am not sure what she means by that and whether or not she, herself, is a Christian.. 

Reginald Howard White: (b. 1961, Tennessee, USA – d. 2004; aka: “the Minister of Defense”) College and professional football player and a member of the Hall of Fame at both levels. Ordained Baptist minister and evangelist.  His views on race and homosexuality became very controversial.  Late in his life, he learned Hebrew and studied under Nehemia Gordon, a Karaite Jew, who is based in Jerusalem.  White's profound interest in Torah led many to believe that he became a Jew, but he never renounced his Christian faith.

Daniel Meyer: (b. 1957) World’s only Christian sword swallower. Clown, juggler, stilt walker, fire eater, glass eater. 

Tell Someone About This Blog

This blog is receiving between 2,000 and 5,000 discrete visits per month.  Why not 5,000 to 10,000?  Tell your friends, relatives, and fellow church members about the blog.  Mention the blog in one of your tweets, on your personal blog, or on your Facebook page.

This is primarily a ministry to Christians but it also is read by persons who are not Christian.  There have been visits originating from occultic and pornographic sites.  Some readers have been followers of non-Christian religions such as Judaism and Islam.

This blog will never intentionally insult anyone but it also will never back away from telling the Truth.  The Good News is for everyone and if only one person comes to Christ because of this blog, the angels will rejoice. (Luke 15:1-10)

Book Comment: Who's Who in the Age of Jesus

The 2005 book, Who’s Who in the Age of Jesus, by professor Geza Vermes, is an extremely interesting book for those who love history, biography, and the Bible.  Dr. Vermes intended the book to emphasize the unassailable historicity and the intense Jewishness of Jesus. 

Many of the people Dr. Vermes discusses are persons you have never heard of before.  He talks, of course, about the Roman emperors, governors, procurators, and legates and the Jewish High priests, but also about important women such a Mariamne and Drusilla,  rabbis such as Yohanan ben Zakkai and Simeon ben Shetah, Jewish mystics such as Simon the Essene and Honi the Circle-Drawer, Jewish revolutionaries such as Simon bar Giora and Judas son of Sapphoreus, writers such as Josephus and Justus of Tiberias,  and important persons.

The book also contains genealogical charts and a chronological table.

Dr. Vermes was born in 1924 in Hungary into a Jewish family, some of whom (including his parents) died during the Holocaust.  The family became converts to Roman Catholicicsm and young Geza went on to become a Roman catholic priest.  Vermes is essentially a scholar and academic and became a specialist in Hebrew, Aramaic, Christian and Jewish history, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the life of Jesus. 

 Dr. Vermes questions some of the traditional Christian understandings of Jesus.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/mar/18/academicexperts.highereducationprofile

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A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

Recognizing the Scriptures

From yesterday’s post, Paul said: “Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”  Acts 13:35

Paul here did not give a page and verse citation for the quotation.  Those would not exist for centuries.  Instead, Paul assumed that his listeners would be familiar with the verse.  Jewish men of Paul’s day could be expected to know the passage, having spent every Sabbath listening to scripture reading in the synagogue.

The books (actually the scrolls) of Scripture did not have names but were known by the first few words of the first sentence.  The listeners had heard the readings so many times that they knew the book and the passage being disvcussed as soon as the words were spoken.

How many modern Christians (or Jews) can identify the book and passage from which a random scripture text is taken? 

Where is Samaria?

The region of Samaria is mentioned repeatedly in the New Testament, but exactly where is Samaria?  The answer is that ancient Samaria corresponds approximately to the northern half of the modern West Bank.  The Hebrew name is Somron or Shomron.

32.1431 N, 35.2606 E

http://www.longitude-latitude-maps.com/city/102_47,Eli,Judea+and+Samaria,Israel

The name of Samaria is derived from Shemer.  Shemer was either an individual, a family, or a tribe from whom King Omri purchased the area about 884 BC.   Omri, the King of Israel, built his capital city here in this wine and oil production area.

The Samaritans are still an identifiable Abrahamic people who claim to practice the original Abrahamic religion.  They insist that Judaism is a later innovation.

The Samaritans built their temple on Mount Gerizim in the Fifth Century BC/BCE.  The Maccabean leader John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple in 110 BC/BCE. 

References to Jesus in the Talmud

The Latin language work, Jesus in Talmude (1699), by Rudolph Martin Meelfuhrer in Altdorf, Germany, was the first book devoted entirely to the subject of references to Jesus in the Talmud.
Most modern Jewish scholars view the references as reactions to Christian proselytism of Jews.

During the Middle Ages, Jews and Christians argued over the references, which the Christians interpreted as insulting to Jesus.  Some of the Jewish scholars said the references were to someone else other than Jesus.  Some of the references were removed from later editions of the Talmud.  Since the early 20th Century most Talmuds include the references.

The most commonly identified references to Jesus in the Torah:
He was a sorceror. Bablyonian Sanhedrin 43a-b
Healing was performed in his name. Hullin 2:22f; Abodah Zarah 2:22/12; Jerusalem Shabbath 124:4/13; Qohelet Rabbah 1:8; Bablyonian Abodah Zarah 27b
He was a Torah teacher.  Bablyonian Abodah Zarah 17a; Hullin 1:8; Qohelet Rabbah1:8
He was a son who turned out badly.  Sanhedrin 193a/b; Berakoth 17b
He was a magician and an idolator.  Sanhedrin 107b; Sotah 47a
He was punished in hell.  Bablyonian Gittin 56b, 57a
He was executed.  Bablyonian Sanhedrin 43a-b
He was the son of Mary.  Shabbath 104b; Sanhedrin 67a

Definition: Sanhedrin

In yesterday’s post on the Rich Young Ruler I said the it was possible that he was a member of the Sanhedrin.  The word is often translated as “council,” and when presented as “Sanhedrin” is a direct transliteration of the Aramaic word and the Greek word synedrion.  The word seems to have begun in Greek and then passed into Aramiac and, in Greek, means “together” and “seat,” so, “to sit together.” The Greek speaking Jews called it the gerousia, “the Assembly of the Ancients.”

The Sanhedrin was a council of judges who ruled in matters of a strictly Jewish nature.  The Romans held all real political power.

Jewish tradition says that the Sanhedrin began with Moses and his council of seventy elder (Numbers 11:16) but the first undisputed mention of the gerousia is in The Antiquities of the Jews, (XII, iii, 3) by Josephus, in his discussion of the reign of Antiochus the Great (223-187 B.C.).

The Rich Young Ruler

The incident in which the Rich Young Ruler asked Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life is familiar to many Bible readers. (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30)  None of the gospel writers explains exactly who the young man was and none tell what became of him after he left the encounter with Jesus.

1.     He was a Jew because he declares that he knows the Commandments and has kept them all.

2.     He was a young man, probably in his twenties or thirties.  Neaniskos νεανίσκος (“young man”)

3.     The man is described as very wealthy.  The words sphodra σφόδρα  (“great,” “much”) and plousios πλούσιος (“rich,” “wealthy”) are used.

4.     He was either a Pharisee or a follower of the Pharisee party.  The Sadducees did not believe in life after death.

5.     He is said to have been an archon ἄρχων (“leader,” “official,” “administrator”).  This may imply that he was a member of the Sanhedrin.

6.     He was not a hypocrite; he observed all the commandments.  He really wanted to know how to gain eternal life.  He did not like the answer he received.

The young man had a works-based idea of salvation, “what must I do … ?”  and Jesus knew it.   Jesus gave the man a task which he could have performed.  The task pointed out the one stumbling block for the man: his refusal to give up his control of his own life, his refusal to submit to God.   He loved his position and his power more than he loved Jesus.  He worshipped a different god.  (Exodus 20:3)

Several comments with varying insights and viewpoints on the Rich Young Ruler.

http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/18_18-23.htm

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/reformed/matt19.htm

http://thegourd.blogspot.com/2009/07/story-of-rich-young-ruler.html

http://www.whatsbestnext.com/2011/09/why-did-jesus-tell-the-rich-young-ruler-to-sell-all-that-he-had/