Who was Jesus
Who was Jesus, if there was such a person? I believe he was a rebel Preacher who drew unwanted attention of King Herod and the Romans.
Simon bar Kokhba came much closer to being a messiah than Jesus can ever hope to be.
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Simon bar Kokhba born about a century later came far closer to fulfilling the messianic ideal than Jesus did. His name was Shimeon ben Kosiba, known as Bar Kokhba (son of a star), and he was a charismatic, brilliant, but brutal warlord. Rabbi Akiba, one of the greatest scholars in Jewish history, believed that Bar Kokhba was the mashiach. Bar Kokhba fought a war against the Roman Empire, catching the Tenth Legion by surprise and retaking Jerusalem. He resumed sacrifices at the site of the Temple and made plans to rebuild the Temple. He established a provisional government and began to issue coins in its name. This is what the Jewish people were looking for in a mashiach; Jesus clearly does not fit into this mold. Ultimately, however, the Roman Empire crushed his revolt and killed Bar Kokhba. After his death, all acknowledged that he was not the mashiach.
Jesus was born during the time of King Herod, client king of the Roman Empire. He was not a King born of the the Davidic Line, which is the bloodline from which the Hebrew Messiah has a patrilineal descent.
Herod the Great also known as Herod I; He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean. Herod's father was by descent an Edomite whose ancestors had converted to Judaism. King Herod was a Roman client king; client King means he was appointed by Rome, not by G-d as the king of Israel) of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He has been described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis", "the evil genius of the Judean nation”, "prepared to commit any crime in order to gratify his unbounded ambition". Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus. (Herod’s tyrannical authority has been demonstrated by many of his security measures aimed at suppressing the contempt his people, especially Jews, had towards him. For instance, it has been suggested that Herod used secret police to monitor and report the feelings of the general populace towards him. He sought to prohibit protests, and had opponents taken away by force.
When it came to building the Temple Herod truly outdid himself, and even the Talmud acknowledges that the end-result was spectacular. "He who has not seen Herod's building, has never in his life seen a truly grand building." (Talmud-Bava Basra 4a)
Herod saw fit however, to place at the main entrance a huge Roman eagle, which the pious Jews saw as a sacrilege. A group of Torah students promptly smashed this emblem of idolatry and oppression, but Herod had them hunted down, dragged in chains to his residence in Jericho, where they were burned alive.
Having built the Temple, Herod took pains to make sure it would be run without future problems of the Jewish people that objected to the corruption of the Temple. He appointed his own High Priest, having by then put to death forty-six leading members of the Sanhedrin, half of the rabbinical court. The other half were intimidated by king Herod and towed the line. So what does all this have to do with Jesus being a Rebel? Jesus saw this corruption and preached against resulting in the anger of Rome and King Herod!
In his last years Herod suffered from arteriosclerosis. He had to repress a revolt, became involved in a quarrel with his Nabataean neighbours, and finally lost the favour of Augustus. He was in great pain and in mental and physical disorder. He altered his will three times and finally disinherited and killed his firstborn, Antipater. The slaying, shortly before his death, of the infants of Bethlehem was wholly consistent with the disarray into which he had fallen. After an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, Herod died. His final testament provided that, subject to Augustus’s sanction, his realm would be divided among his sons: Archelaus should be king of Judaea and Samaria, with Philip and Antipas sharing the remainder as tetrarchs.
It must be kept in mind how Constantine the great corrupted early Christianity introducing pagan holidays, the deity of Christ, and the trinity.
The Mashiach
the term "Mashiach" literally means "the anointed one," and refers to the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil when they took the throne. The Mashiach is the one who will be anointed as king in the end of days.
The word "Mashiach" does not mean "savior." the notion of an innocent, divine or semi-divine being who will sacrifice himself to save us from the consequences of our own sins.
There is mention in the Dead Sea Scrolls of a Teacher of Righteousness; I just can’t help but think that this teacher could be Jesus, but the timing of these writings of the Teacher of Righteousness were written over a hundred years before the lost years of Jesus. If we look in the New Testament and the many things written about the teachings of Jesus, we can see many correlations between what is written about what Jesus taught, and the many things written within the Scrolls.
Is it possible that Jesus studied the writings of the Teacher of Righteousness with the Essenes during the the lost years.
Dead sea Cave where the scrolls were found. I took this picture in 1971 during my first trip to Israel
Now as Jesus being a rebel preacher, he used a lot of the scriptures in his sermons, such as 'Blessed are the meek', Jesus says, for example, in perhaps the most famous line of the Sermon on the Mount, 'for they shall inherit the earth'
(Matt. 5:5).
This assertion derives from Psalm 37:11:
'But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.'
Here are more examples of Jesus quoting from scripture.
'Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven', preaches Jesus (Matt. 5:3); this line comes from the 'War Scroll' from the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 1 and states: 'Among the poor in spirit there is a power... '8
Indeed, the whole of the Gospel of Matthew, and especially Chapters 10 and 18, contains metaphors and terminology at times almost interchangeable with those of the 'Community Rule'. In Matthew 5:48, for instance, Jesus stresses the concept of perfection:
'You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'
The 'Community Rule' speaks of those 'who walk in the way of perfection as commanded by God'. 9 There will be, the text affirms,
'no pity on all who depart from the way ... no comfort... until their way becomes perfect'.10
In Matthew 21:42, Jesus invokes Isaiah 28:16 and echoes Psalm 118:22:
'Have you never read in the scriptures: It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.'
The 'Community Rule' invokes the same reference, stating that 'the Council of the Community... shall be that tried wall, that precious corner-stone'.11
Qumran scrolls and the Gospels echo each other, such echoes are even more apparent between the scrolls and the Pauline texts - the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's letters. The concept of 'sainthood', for example, and, indeed, the very word 'saint', are common enough in later Christianity, but striking in the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
According to the opening line of the 'Community Rule', however,
'The Master shall teach the saints to live according to the Book of the Community Rule...'12
Paul, in his letter to the Romans (15:25-7), uses the same terminology of the 'early Church': 'I must take a present of money to the saints in Jerusalem.'
Indeed, Paul is particularly lavish in his use of Qumran terms and images. One of the Qumran texts, for example, speaks of 'all those who observe the Law in the House of Judah, whom God will deliver... because of their suffering and because of their faith in the Teacher of Righteousness'.13 Paul, of course, ascribes a similar redemptive power to faith in Jesus.
Deliverance, he says in his epistle to the Romans (3:21-3), 'comes through faith to everyone... who believes in Jesus Christ'. To the Galatians (2:16-17), he declares that 'what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ'. It is clear that Paul is familiar with the metaphors, the figures of speech, the turns of phrase, the rhetoric used by the Qumran community in their interpretation of Old Testament texts. As we shall see, however, he presses this familiarity to the service of a very different purpose.
In the above quote from his letter to the Galatians, Paul ascribes no inordinate significance to the Law. In the Qumran texts, however, the Law is of paramount importance.
The 'Community Rule' begins:
'The Master shall teach the saints to live according to the Book of the Community Rule, that they may seek God... and do what is good and right before Him, as He commanded by the hand of Moses and all His servants the Prophets...'14
Later, the 'Community Rule' states that anyone who 'transgresses one word of the Law of Moses, on any point whatever, shall be expelled'15 and that the Law will endure 'for as long as the domain of Satan endures'.16 In his rigorous adherence to the Law, Jesus, strikingly enough, is much closer to the Qumran texts than he is to Paul.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:17-19), Jesus makes his position unequivocally clear - a position that Paul was subsequently to betray:
Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly... not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the
kingdom of heaven...
(Zechariah 9:9)
The prophet Zechariah declares: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your king is coming to you, he is just and has been saved, humble, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of a she-ass” (Zechariah 9:9).
The Synoptic Gospels say that this prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus sent two of his disciples to fetch the animal that was to carry him into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2-7, Mark 11:2-7, Luke 19:30-35). The Gospel of John claims that Jesus found the animal on his own. He writes, “And Jesus, finding a young ass, sat on it; as it is written: ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King comes sitting on a she-ass’s colt’” (John 12:14-15). Only one version can be correct, although both can be wrong.
Matthew has an interesting variation in his narrative, which brings up the question: Did Jesus enter Jerusalem riding on one animal, as in the three other Gospels or on two animals, as in the Gospel of Matthew? Matthew writes: [Jesus said] to them: “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a she-ass tied and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to me. And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them’; and immediately he will send them.” Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled saying: “Say to the daughter of Zion, behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted upon a she-ass, and upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” And the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them, and brought the she-ass and the colt, and put upon them their garments, and he sat upon them. (Matthew 21:2-7)
Matthew ignores that synonymous parallelism is a common feature of biblical poetry. As a result, he gives a misreading of the prophecy, which is as if the prophet was referring to someone riding two animals. But, the fact is that the parallel structure of biblical poetry is a poetic device that calls for repetition of an idea or fact. However, this does not mean there is an actual duplication that is to be taken literally. Zechariah’s prophecy mentions only the riding of one male animal. The prophet’s statement, “riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of a she-ass,” expresses the same event in different words. Matthew creates an imaginary fulfillment of a prophecy that never existed in the first place.
He thinks that two different animals are involved and so has the disciples bring two, a she-ass and its colt. Therefore, he writes, “Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted upon a she-ass, and upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. And the disciples … put upon them their garments, and he sat upon them.” Matthew’s Jesus came to Jerusalem riding astride both animals, one being male and the 5 female respectively. A rather uncomfortable fulfillment but all the more a miracle as they would be of different sizes. Each animal, we are told, was covered by the garments of Jesus’ disciples, which shows that “he sat upon them” refers to the animals not the garments. The mention of the garments is incidental to the narrative. Those who accept such alleged fulfilments of prophecy must do it on faith alone, as they lack a basis in in historical fact.
Mark 11:12-25 King James Version (KJV)
12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
Is this the way a man of G-d should act? Cursing a Fig tree that is not doing any harm by just being there? And not bearing fruit that is out of season, a pious man would do this?
Now let us continue with this chapter.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
John 2:15, it states that Jesus made for himself a scourge or whip, with which to beat the people in the Temple:
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables... [John 2:15]
Those who 'bought and sold in the Temple' were there because of G-d's command. In Deuteronomy 14:24-26, G-d told the Jews to sell the animal they wanted to sacrifice for money, take the money to Jerusalem, and then after changing the money to the local currency, to buy the same type of animal and sacrifice it. Therefore the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals were supposed to be there, as commanded by G-d:
Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 14
24 And if the way be too long for you, that you are unable to carry it, for the place which the Lord, your God, will choose to establish His Name therein, is too far from you, for the Lord, your God, will bless you
25 Then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and you shall go to the place the Lord, your God, will choose.
26 And you shall turn that money into whatever your soul desires; cattle, sheep, new wine or old wine, or whatever your soul desires, and you shall eat there before the Lord, your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Now let’s get back to Mark Chapter 11
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
Feared him? For he committed a sin against G-d’s commandment that we just saw in Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 14 verses 24 through 26? I would think a lot of people would be angry, he should be in fear.
19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
The tree died for just doing what G-d ordained for it to be a tree that bears fruit at an appointed season. Everybody knew that figs were out of season.
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
for the time of figs was not yet.
Jesus robbed the man who planted the tree of his labor of planting and caring for the tree and of it’s fruit for the next season and following seasons. Jesus was a pious man, a man of G-d?
If Jesus' adherence to the Law concurs with that of the Qumran community, so, too, does his timing of the Last Supper. For centuries, biblical commentators have been confused by apparently conflicting accounts in the Gospels. In Matthew (26:17-19), the Last Supper is depicted as a Passover meal, and Jesus is crucified the next day.
In the Fourth Gospel (13:1 and 18:28), however, it is said to occur before the Passover. Some scholars have sought to reconcile the contradiction by acknowledging the Last Supper as indeed a Passover feast, but a Passover feast conducted in accordance with a different calendar. The Qumran community used precisely such a calendar - a solar calendar, in contrast to the lunar calendar used by the priesthood of the Temple.17 In each calendar, the Passover fell on a different date; and Jesus, it is clear, was using the same calendar as that of the Qumran community.
Certainly the Qumran community observed a feast which sounds very similar in its ritual characteristics to the Last Supper as it is described in the Gospels.
Now as for the arrest and trial of Jesus, there could be no question of anything corresponding to a trial taking place on this occasion before the Sanhedrin. Whatever inquest was made must have occurred during the Thursday night and outside Jerusalem (for on entering the city a prisoner would have had to be given up to the Roman garrison), and cannot have been held before a quorum of the seventy-one members of the Sanhedrin. It is more probable that the twenty-three members of the priestly section of the latter, who had most reason to be offended with Jesus' action in cleansing the Temple, met informally after he had been seized, and elicited sufficient to justify them in their own opinion in delivering him over to the Romans as likely to cause trouble by his claims or pretensions to the Messiahship, which, of course, would be regarded by them as rebellion against Rome. Nothing corresponding to a Jewish trial took place, though it was by the action of the priests that Jesus was sent before Pontius Pilate. The Gospels speak in the plural of the high priests who condemned him — a seeming contradiction to Jewish law which might throw doubt upon their historic character. Two, however, are mentioned, Joseph Caiaphas and Annas (Hanan), his father-in-law. Hanan had been deposed from the high-priesthood by Valerius Gratus, but he clearly retained authority and some prerogatives of the high priest, as most of those who succeeded him were relatives of his; and he may well have intervened in a matter touching so nearly the power of the priests. According to the Talmud, Hanan's bazaars were on the Mount of Olives, and probably therefore also his house; this would thus have become the appropriate place for the trial by the Sanhedrin, which indeed just about this time had moved its place of session thither.
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