Cleopatra is almost modern

I am not sure who first noticed this so I cannot give attribution. The situation points to an important and seemingly contradictory fact. Though the events related in the Bible  seem to have taken place in great antiquity they can also be seen as having been quite recent,

Think about this set of facts. From the creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza to the life of Cleopatra VII there is a time span of roughly 2520 years. From the lifetime of Cleopatra until the invention of the i-phone is a span of about 2063 years.

Neither Khufu (aka: Cheops, ruled 2589 - 2566 BC), who built the Great Pyramid, or Cleopatra VII Philopator (ruled 51 - 30 BC) is mentioned in the Bible but they are not irrelevant to Bible history.  The Egyptians are prominent in the history of Israel and Cleopatra and her lovers were important in the military battles and intrigues which  led to their enemy, Gaius  Octavius (aka: Octavian),  becoming the first Emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus.

Emperor Augustus seems to have unknowingly set into motion the events which led  to Jesus being born (Luke 2: 1-5}  in Bethlehem (Beit Lahm, West Bank)  rather than his hometown of Nazareth
(Natzrat, Israel).  Many Christians believe that this  was in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy given in Micah 5:2.

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Cleopatra's great-great-great-great-great grandmother, also named Cleopatra,  is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 10:57-58,  part of the Apocrypha, which is not given biblical status by Protestants.

Bible Printer's Errors: The Pilate's Tile Bible

These Bible Printers Errors are all in the English language.  They are from printed editions of the King James Version of the Bible created during the time when the printed text had to be hand set using individual letter keys. There are probably just as many variant printed texts in other languages created during the same time period.  Proofreading is very important.  Sometimes one word, or even one letter, changes the entire meaning of a passage.  The following is an example to prove the point.

WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE SAID:  

“And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

WHAT IT SAID:

“And Pilate wrote a tile, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS."

This is from the 1612 “Pilate’s tile” Bible. The text is from John 19:19.

Messianic Prophecies from the Old Testament: Today This Scripture Has Been Fulfilled in Your Hearing

Luke 4:16-28New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to let the oppressed go free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

Footnotes:

Luke 4:27 The terms leper and leprosy can refer to several diseases

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

That the quoted text (from Isaiah 61:1-3) is a Messianic prophecy is evident because Jesus Himself used it in this way.

The scholars who insist that Jesus never identified Himself as the Messiah obviously never read this passage. Why else was the synagogue so quickly filled with rage? They understood exactly what He meant and they believed that He was speaking blasphemy.

Verse 28 says they “were fiiled” ἐπλήσθησαν  with rage. This is from the verb πλήθω I am filled (to the top; to full capacity. )  Strong categorizes the word ἐπλήσθησαν (e-plees-the-san) as V-AIP-3P (verb-aorist indicative passive- third person plural).

In English and many other languages, tense has primarily to do with time. In Koine Greek, tense has primarily to with the type of action. The aorist tense expresses action without any further definition. It carries the idea of sudden action. The people were suddenly filled with rage

Magic

After you read this post go back and watch this and this. You did not see what you thought you saw. Both are illusions. The first video is essentially an advertisement for a magic company's Floating Card Trick which they sell, with instructions, to stage magicians. The second is a video of illusionist Criss Angel.  I have no idea how he does this but it is an illusion and is not real supernatural magic.

The Egyptian priests in Exodus 7:8 - 8:7 were able to duplicate the miracles performed by Moses using what the Bible calls their "secret arts." Whether or not they actually performed supernatural acts or were merely skilled illusionists, we do not know. The effect, though, was to cause haughty unbelief in Pharaoh's heart. Because he did not believe, God hardened Pharaoh's unbelief.

Jesus does not appear to have been particularly impressed with His own supernatural powers. He expected belief because of who he was, not because he did "magic." He remarked that if the people did not believe Moses, why would they believe him? And he seems to have had what on the surface appears to have been a rather harsh attitude toward unbelief. Harsh unless he was who he clearly said he was.

“And he could do no miracle there except that he laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Mark 6:5 NASB®

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Matthew 7:6 NASB®

"Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.” Matthew 10:14 NASB®

"And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Luke 9:5 NASB®

There is no biblical record that Jesus ever returned to Nazareth after that day.

These two sites discuss whether or not the unbelief in Nazareth actually limited Jesus' ability to perform miracles.

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/872-was-christs-power-limited-by-mans-faith

http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/qjesusmiracles.html

Bethsaida: The Loaves and Fishes

בית צידה

Bethsaida (Hebrew: "house of fishing") is now the small tourism village of Tabgha, Israel.  It is located on the Sea of Galilee 2 km from Capernaum, where Jesus lived after he left Nazareth as an adult (Matthew 4:13, Mark 2:1).  The village is probably the place where Jesus fed several thousand people using only the bread and fish from one person's lunch basket.

Links:
http://www.bibleplaces.com/tabgha.htm
http://www.seetheholyland.net/tabgha/

What Did jesus Look Like?

The Bible says nothing about the physical appearance of the man, Jesus of Nazareth.  I believe that this fact points out an important point.  The Jews were looking for a Messiah who would be an impressive military leader who would throw off Roman rule.  He might even, if successful, have become a king.

Kings, for all the history known up to that time, were massively egotistical self promoters, repeatedly building monuments and cities named for themselves. The king was always touted as a god of a man, handsome, brave, rich, powerful; his queen was the most beautiful woman in the land.  The greatest kings were known for their wealth, power, and military conquests.  How well, or how poorly, they dealt with their subjects was secondary.  This attitude toward kings has been repeated down through the centuries since the time of Christ.

Jesus was a nobody, a carpenter from an ignored small country town.  He probably looked like everyone else, like one of the modern West Bank Palestinians we regularly see on the nightly news.  While He could read and write and was obviously very intelligent (He amazed the Pharisees with His knowledge at age twelve, Luke 2:41-52), He is not mentioned as having specialized theological training or as being recognized as a Pharisee.  That He didn't stand out by his appearance is shown by the fact that the traitor, Judas Iscariot, had to point HIm out to the Roman soldiers who came to arrest Him. (Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-51, Luke 22:47-53, John 18: 1-11)

The Iconoclastic Controversy arose in the Christian community over whether or not representations of Jesus and the other persons mentioned in the Bible should be allowed within the Christian Church. The issue still causes controversy.  Of the artwork depicting Jesus, possibly the most recognizable in history (known to have been reproduced over 500,000 times) is The Head of Christ  by Warner Sallman.

Other representations of Jesus abound and reflect many different understandings of the same man.  Most appear to be honest attempts to emphasize some particular aspect of the Lord.

In Undefeated by Stephen S. Sawyer, Jesus is seen as a handsome, muscular boxer   The painting is based on Psalm 136:12.

Christ Walking on the Sea , a print by Nathaniel Currier (of Currier & Ives), emphasizes Jesus's gentleness, calmness, and kindness.  Some viewers, me included, feel that this print makes Jesus so gentle that He seems to be effeminate.  The event depicted is recorded in John 6:16-21, Mark 6:45-52, and in Matthew 14:22-33.

Sister Wendy Beckett , host of the Public broadcasting System program, "Sister Wendy's Story of Painting," in 1999 chose Jesus of the People  as the winner of the National Catholic Reporter's competition for a new image of Jesus, a peasant Jesus. 

All three of these representations of Jesus are meant in reverence. Some object to them, especially to Jesus of the People, but why?  Jesus is the Lord of every individual on Earth and His Church includes people from every race, nationality and country on the Earth.  None of these pictures above are blasphemous, unlike those detailed below, which are.  The difference is in the intent: to glorify Christ or to show contempt for Him.

Piss Christ 
Christ the Yogi 
The Truth 

Interesting discussions of what Jesus may have looked like are here  and here .  The truth is, no one knows.

Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: He Will Be from Nazareth

"And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Matthew 2:23

This Messianic prophecy has no direct counterpart in the Old Testament (TANAKH) and has led some to say it reflects an error in Matthew and others to say that it is a reflection from a lost Jewish scripture. Probably, neither one of these views is correct.

The ancient Jews were zealous, even fierce, protectors of their holy books, and especially the Torah. Hand copies of the books were checked letter by letter for exactness. If any book failed to have the correct word total and letter total, it was discarded. If any one letter was not in the correct sequence, the entire book was discarded. There were no erasers and any corrections or smudges of the letters rendered the books unusable. Because the unusable books were still revered scripture, they were not destroyed, but were placed into sealed chambers (genizah: Hebrew for "hiding place") along with torn or soiled copies and books worn out by constant use. Needless to say, archeologists and biblical scholars jump with joy when one of these chambers is newly discovered.

Back to Matthew 2:23. Instead of a specific “proof text” Old Testament quotation, this verse probably connects the fact that the Nazarenes were held in contempt as unsophisticated country hicks (John 1:46; John 7:52) with the prophecies that the Messiah would be held in contempt (Psalm 22:6-8, 69:9-11, 19-21; Isaiah 53:2-4, 7-9).

This allusion would have been immediately obvious to Matthew’s Jewish readers, even the illiterate ones who had heard the scriptures read thousands of times. It is us modern readers, who don’t really know our Bibles, who have to dig it out. Dinesh D'Souza had it right when he said, "...we live in a religiously illiterate society..."