Which Language Did Jesus Speak – Aramaic, Hebrew, or Greek?
by James J. DeFrancisco, Ph.D.
This article is in response to the article of a similar title, Which Language Did Jesus Speak – Aramaic or Hebrew? by Brian Knowles published by ACD. While we essentially agree with the thesis of Mr. Knowles in that Jesus spoke primarily a Semitic language we do not agree with the conclusion that it was Hebrew rather than Aramaic. In this article we will provide background information that leads us to our conclusion.
The claim in the second paragraph of Mr. Knowles article in which he states that recently an expanding circle of scholars has rejected the notion of Aramaic as being the dialect spoken by Jesus and the disciples is essentially true. However, this claim is also somewhat of an exaggeration in the context of his article. He evidently forms this position based primarily on the work of several scholars: M. H. Segal, Shmuel Safrai, David Biven, and Roy Blizzard. To support his thesis he utilizes the work of two other scholars (Flusser and Lindsey) but ignores the position and importance of the Aramaic language in their writings. In addition, by not looking closely at the work of Biven and Blizzard, he overlooks at least one major misunderstanding in their quotation of the renowned Aramaic scholar, Matthew Black. The fundamental error is to overlook the fact that all of these scholars did their work in comparison with the Greek New Testament. The importance of the Aramaic language is not given justice and Aramaic versions, i.e. Old Syriac and Peshitta are not even mentioned.
Although there may be an expanding circle of scholars who have or who are rejecting the notion of Aramaic as being not only the dialect spoken by Jesus and His disciples this group is still a small percentage of scholars. In fact, the majority of scholars accept the notion that the primary language of Jesus and His disciples was Aramaic. Biven and Blizzard, while presenting useful information in their book, perhaps stretch the facts a bit to de-emphasize Aramaic in their effort to focus on Hebrew. They also seem to misunderstand and perhaps quote Matthew Black out of context in their attempt to support their thesis.
Knowles, Biven, and Blizzard have somewhat misused the work of Flusser and Lindsey in their de-emphasis of Aramaic because neither Flusser nor Lindsey do this in their own writings. In fact, Flusser and Lindsey often speak of Hebrew and Aramaic interchangeably as they emphasize the Semitic languages over Greek. Also, the Jerusalem Perspective Online website (www.JerusalemPerspective.com) contains articles that emphasis the importance of Aramaic, e.g. “Matthew’s Aramaic Glue” by Randall Buth indicates that “a knowledge of the Gospels’ Semitic background can provide a deeper understanding of Jesus’ words and influence the translation process.” Buth then goes on to state that “Matthew shows a specifically Aramaic influence” and that Matthew’s gospel “uses an Aramaic conjunction as the glue to hold stories together.”
In The Jesus Sources (Hkesher, 1990), Lindsey states that “. . . Mark is a Gospel of equivalents. He had what you might call a ‘targumist’ mentality.” Targums were traditionally written in Aramaic. In A Hebrew Translation of the Gospel of Mark, Lindsey uses “Hebrew or Aramaic” in several sentences that group these two languages together (perhaps interchangeably) since they are closely related cognate languages. Unfortunately, he may be mistaken in his interpretation of the Aramaic words, “My God, my God . . .” in Mark 15:34 as being a direct quotation of the targum of Psalm 22. Several Aramaic commentators have taken another position on these words of Jesus as early as the 9th century (Ishodad of Merv). Since these words were spoken in Aramaic, the evidence of Aramaic experts should be taken into consideration. Also, it is interesting that Jesus would use Aramaic just moments before his death if it was not his primary language. If He was reciting Holy Scripture, why didn’t he recite the Shema in Hebrew instead?
Regarding the expression, “son of man,” Lindsey is clear that “the original is Aramaic . . . and so far as we know Jesus and the people of his day knew the text only in Aramaic.” (The Jesus Sources, p. 72). The text being referred to here is Daniel 7:13 which is written in Aramaic – in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Other citations of Aramaic in The Jesus Sources include:
We have chosen to use Kepha, for it is perfectly clear that Jesus uses this
Aramaic form in naming Simon.” (p. 74)
Lindsey refers to “the Hebrew word ‘Amen’” (p. 74). This word is identical
in Aramaic. . . as are many other words.
In Jesus, Flusser uses Palestinian Hebrew and Aramaic interchangeably for the term “fox” (p. 52, n. 28). He uses Hebrew and Aramaic together in reference to the writings from the time of Jesus (p. 128). Although he doesn’t specifically mention it regarding his section on the “Chamber of Hewn Stone and Caiaphus,” he is actually demonstrating the use of an Aramaic word, “Caiaphus” is a Latinized form of “Kepha.” This obviously shows that the common names of people and places utilized Aramaic. This is demonstrated also with “Gabbatha” (p. 254) and “Golgotha” (p. 255) as well as “mamona” (Aramaic) in comparison with “mammon” (Hebrew) showing the close similarity of these two languages (p. 94, n. 5).
Bivin and Blizzard, unfortunately, make comparisons exclusively using Greek texts (Codex Sinaiticus, Bezae, and Alexandrinus) with a focus on Hebrew as more original than Greek. Aramaic is de-emphasized, omitted, and referred to with little understanding in their book Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, which doesn’t totally live up to its name.
In Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, on pages 12-14, for example, in quoting Matthew Black they suggest that Black supports their position. The statement however is actually used by Black in an argument in which he opposes the Hebrew gospel position and it is further qualified by his beginning the sentence with the word “If . . .“ Black also qualifies it with a footnote in reference to page 16 of his book where he states, “Jesus must have conversed in the Galilean dialect of Aramaic, and His teaching was probably almost entirely in Aramaic.” He actually judges the emphasis of using Hebrew as a gospel language as an “extreme position” and goes on to explain that it “has found little if any support among competent authorities” and is “absurd.” To the contrary, Black in fact, states that “these Scriptures were provided with a targum for the benefit of the Aramaic speaking masses who could no longer understand Hebrew. The use of the term ‘Hebrew’ to refer to Aramaic is readily explicable, since it described the peculiar dialect of Aramaic which had grown up in Palestine since the days of Nehemiah and which was distinctively Jewish . . .” The reader is referred to page 48 of An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts by Black.
Professor Safrai has provided a detailed overview of languages used in Israel. Much valuable information is available on the www.JerusalemPerspective.com website. A major portion of one of his articles on this subject is presented at some length below:
“Prof. Safrai presents an overview of the three languages used in the land of Israel during the days of Jesus, and concludes that Hebrew was the primary language spoken by the Jewish residents at that time.
The land of Israel was under the influence of Greek culture from the time of its conquest by Alexander the Great at the end of the fourth century B.C.E. Although scholars have divergent views regarding the influence
of Hellenism on religious works, literature and everyday life in first-century Israel, it is generally accepted that the Greek language was used by many of the inhabitants.
“The Role of Aramaic
Aramaic was quite widespread in Jerusalem and in other parts of the land, as can be seen from the large number of Aramaic inscriptions which have been discovered dating from the Second Temple period. The
use of Aramaic is also evident from the literature created in that language. The Genesis Apocryphon, the Targum of Job and portions of several other Aramaic works were found in the ancient library of the Essenes
at Qumran, and Jewish sources of the period mention additional non-extant works.
“Aramaic also had a strong influence on Mishnaic Hebrew, and Aramaic words are found in the New Testament and in the writings of Josephus. Unlike in countries such as Egypt where Aramaic almost disappeared when the country came under the influence of Hellenism, Aramaic remained a vibrant language in the land of Israel and Syria even during the centuries of Græco-Roman rule until the Arab conquest at the beginning of the seventh century C.E.
“Aramaic was the language of communication between Jews and those non-Jews not connected with the government or living in Greek cities. An ordinary non-Jew mentioned in rabbinic literature is referred to
as an Aramean and generally has an Aramaic rather than a Greek name (Tosefta, Pesahim 1:27). It is possible that some Roman officials who served long periods of time in the land of Israel learned Aramaic, and Jews may have been able to converse with these officials in Aramaic.
“However, the role of Aramaic in everyday life should not be exaggerated. Many scholars who admit the widespread use of Hebrew in the last few generations of the Second Temple period claim that Temple
services were conducted in Aramaic. While there were a number of Aramaic words and phrases associated with the administration of the Temple and Temple area, the vast majority of references relating to Temple life reflect the use of Hebrew there. The Mishnah preserves many descriptions of various aspects of everyday life in the Temple, including statements of Temple officials which almost always are in Hebrew. Moreover, to date all of the inscriptions found in the Temple area are written in Hebrew, except for two Greek inscriptions, originally part of a balustrade surrounding the inner Temple, which warned Gentiles not to go beyond that point.
“Tannaic and amoraic sources state that it was customary in the synagogue to translate the readings from the Torah and the Prophets into Aramaic. Rendering the Scriptures into Aramaic offered an opportunity to introduce into the readings elements of the Oral Torah in popular form. This was done for the benefit of religiously uneducated people who may not have completely understood Biblical Hebrew. One rabbinic source explicitly states: "…and he translates [into Aramaic] so that the rest of the people, and the women and children, will understand it" (Tractate Soferim 18:4).However, the custom of translating the readings of the Torah and Prophets into Aramaic is not mentioned in any source before approximately 140 C.E. Sources from the second Temple period and the era immediately following the destruction of the Temple do not reflect this custom. The phenomenon of sages understanding Biblical Hebrew while the rest of the population required a translation is the reality of a later period and was not the situation during the first century C.E.
“Mishnaic Hebrew
Either Hebrew or Aramaic was used in the synagogue or at other communal gatherings, but there are a number of questions concerning the relationship of these two languages in the land of Israel. The Torah and Prophets were undoubtedly read in Hebrew, as were prayers, but what was the language of Torah instruction in the synagogue? In what language did people speak in the marketplace and within the family circle? In which tongue did the sages address their students? Was there a difference between Judea and Galilee?
“Most scholars since the beginning of the nineteenth century have concluded that Aramaic was the spoken language of the land of Israel during the Second Temple period. Even when scribes of that period or later attest that they wrote or transmitted traditions in Hebrew, scholars have persisted in claiming that this "Hebrew" was actually some type of Aramaic dialect then prevalent among the Jews of the land. It has even been claimed that the Hebrew in which the Mishnah was written was an artificial language of the bet midrash, house of study, which was a translation from Aramaic, or at the very least heavily influenced by Aramaic.
“However, some seventy years ago a number of Jewish scholars in Palestine (later the State of Israel) began to see that the Hebrew of the Mishnah had been a living and vibrant language, spoken in the house of study, synagogue, on the street and at home. Mishnaic Hebrew does not deal only with matters of religion, but mentions, for instance, the names of dozens of implements used at the time, and records thousands of events and sayings about mundane, secular aspects of life. . .
“The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the documents from the period of the Bar-Kochba revolt (132–135 C.E.) conclusively settled the question of whether Mishnaic Hebrew had been an artificial or a living language. Hymns, prayers and biblical works written in Hebrew were discovered, as well as documents composed in the Mishnaic Hebrew dialect. Among them were letters containing Hebrew slang and abbreviated Hebrew forms characteristic of everyday speech . . .
“Rabbinic Literature
When the Jewish writers of the Second Temple period referred to Hebrew, they meant Hebrew and not Aramaic. They did not confuse the two languages, but distinguished quite clearly between Hebrew and Aramaic, referring to the latter either as "Aramaic," "targum" or "Syriac" (sursit). The sages also clearly differentiated between the Hebrew and Aramaic sections of the Bible. . .
“One cannot fulfill the obligation of reading from the Torah scroll unless the text is written in square script in Hebrew and in a book [some manuscripts read "on parchment"] and in ink. (Tosefta, Megillah 2:6)
In other words, the Torah scroll must be written in square Hebrew script and not in the old archaic Hebrew script, nor in Aramaic. . . (NOTE: Aramaic also includes the usage of “Hebrew” square script which is
called in Hebrew, “Ktav Asshurim,” i.e “Assyrian Letters” –JJD)
“II Kings 18 tells of the Assyrian general Rabshakeh’s advance on Jerusalem and his attempt to persuade the
beleaguered inhabitants of the city to surrender. The leaders of Jerusalem requested that he speak Aramaic and "not the language of Judea" so that the rest of the city’s inhabitants would not understand (v. 26). Josephus
relates the story in the following manner:
“As Rabshakeh spoke these words in Hebrew, with which language he was familiar, Eliakim was afraid that the people might overhear them and be thrown into consternation, and he asked him to speak in suristi, [Syriac, i.e., Aramaic]. (Antiquities 10:8)
“Galilee and Judea
There is an oft-repeated claim in scholarly literature that a high percentage of the Galilean population was religiously uneducated, and that the people consequently knew and used less Hebrew. Literary sources, however, provide no indication that this claim is correct.
“There are a number of "anti-Galilee" statements in rabbinic literature, but one can find similar barbs directed against residents of other regions of the land. What the sources do indicate is that Galilee belonged
to the accepted cultural milieu of Judaism at that time, including the world of Torah study, and that culturally and spiritually Galilee may have been closer to Jerusalem than Judea.
“There is a statement in rabbinic literature that the Judeans retained the teachings of their Torah scholars because they were careful in the use of their language, while the Galileans, who were not so careful with
their speech, did not retain their learning (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 53a–b; Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 4d, et al.). While this saying is sometimes considered to be evidence for the dominance of Aramaic over Hebrew
in the Galilee because some of the examples discussed are in Aramaic, it actually only refers to the Judeans’ feeling that Galileans mispronounced the guttural letters het and ‘ayin and dropped the weak letters ‘alef and hey. This in no way reflects on the cultural status of Galilee, nor does it show that the use of Hebrew was less common there than in Judea or Jerusalem.
“The New Testament
When Paul spoke to the Roman commander, he used Greek (Acts 21:37). When he addressed the people,
however, he spoke to them "in the Hebrew language" (Acts 21:40).
“Hebrew-speakers commonly referred to Jews as yisrael, Israel, in contrast to Ioudaioi, Jews used by Greek speakers and yehuda’in, Jews used by Aramaic-speakers. In literary works written in Hebrew, Jews refer to themselves as yisrael, Israel or bene yisrael, sons of Israel, while non-Jews refer to Jews using the Aramaicized
yehuda’in, Jews.
“When the author of the Book of Acts refers to Jews he normally uses the term Ioudaioi, Jews. However, when he relates the words of Jesus or of Peter and his companions, he has them refer to Jews as yisrael, Israel
(Acts 1:6; 2:22; 2:36; 3:12; 4:10; 9:15). The author of the Book of Acts also relates that Rabban Gamaliel addressed the Sanhedrin as "Men of Israel" (5:35).
“Jesus probably spoke Hebrew within the circle of his disciples, and since the thousands of parables which have survived in rabbinic literature are all in Hebrew, no doubt he likewise told his parables in Hebrew.
The view that Aramaic was the language of conversation in first-century Israel seems to be supported by the Aramaic words found in the New Testament. Many scholars have seen Jesus’ words to Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter, "Talitha kumi" (Mk. 5:41), as proof that he spoke Aramaic. Yet, even if Jesus spoke to her in Hebrew, he could have said "Talitha kumi." One must not forget that many Aramaic words in various forms found their way into Hebrew in the Second Temple period. The command to "get up" kumi is the same word in Hebrew and Aramaic. . .
“Conclusion
Hebrew was certainly the language of instruction in schools, as well as the language of prayer and Torah reading. The language of instruction in the house of study also most certainly was Hebrew, and this was likely the case regarding instruction in the synagogue. It would seem that Hebrew was spoken in the marketplaces of Jerusalem (Jerusalem Talmud, Pesahim 37d), but there is not enough information to determine whether this also was the case in other cities. It is not impossible that there were religiously uneducated people who did not understand Hebrew and were conversant only in Aramaic. There is some evidence for this linguistic phenomenon beginning in the second century C.E., but it is unlikely that such was the case in the first century. Although the Jewish inhabitants of the land of Israel in the time of Jesus knew Aramaic and used it in their contacts with the ordinary, non-Jewish residents, Hebrew was their first or native language. It is especially clear that in enlightened circles such as those of Jesus and his disciples, Hebrew was the dominant spoken language.
-“Spoken Languages in the Time of Jesus,” Safrai, Shmuel
However, many (most) scholars understand Aramaic to be the common spoken language of the people in Galilee during the time of Jesus and his disciples. This dialect of Aramaic used in Galilee is similar to the dialect used in the Peshitta New Testament. The Peshitta has remained intact for the past 1600-1800 years. Thus, Aramaic should not be discounted, let alone eliminated, as the true common language of Jesus and the Apostles and, possibly, the original language of the New Testament. At the very least, it is the language of those Christians (Mishakyae) in the Holy Land and the Near East who preserved Christianity in its purest Semitic form since the ancient times.
Fitzmyer, an expert in NT Aramaic, indicates that “From at least the eighth century B.C. Aramaic had become a lingua franca in the ancient Near East; and contrary to the impression that one gets from the ordinary Hebrew Bible, in which (according to Kittel’s edition) the Aramaic protion occupy a maximum of 22 pages and a few stray verses in Genesis (31:47) and Jeremiah (10:11) out of a total of 1434 pages, Aramaic was not the less important of the two languages. As for the use of Aramaic in Palestine, it is now attested from the middle of the ninth century B.C. onward.” A Wandering Aramean – Joseph A. Fitzmyer, p. 6). Fitzmyer states that “Hebrew . . . was apparently the more indigenous of the two in Palestine” but clarifies his statement with the qualification that it a form called “Postbiblical Hebrew” and that although evidence of such Hebrew is found in Qumram texts, “it is not abundant and comes from restricted areas.”
Fitzmyer concludes that “the most commonly used language of Palestine in the first century A.D. was Aramaic, but that many Palestinian Jews, not only those in Hellenistic towns, but farmers and craftsmen of less obviously Hellenistic areas used Greek, at least as a second language,” and that “pockets of Palestinian Jews also used Hebrew, even though its use was not widespread.” (p. 7). Fitzmyer criticizes Birkeland’s thesis that Hebrew was the language of the common people and sustains a solid position with the consensus of scholars supporting the position of “Aramaic as the language most commonly used by Jesus and his immediate disciples in Palestine.” (pp.7-8)
Fitzmyer admits that Papias’ statement regarding the Gospel of Matthew being written in the “Hebrew” dialect most likely means “in the Aramaic language” but that this is highly debatable. (p.11). Regarding the Syriac, Fitzmyer’s position is that although “Syriac tradition is obviously secondary and derivative from the Greek. . . that, in the choice of Syriac forms of names, especially geographical names, that tradition may be closer to some of the native Palestinian names that have become Grecized in the NT text tradition.” (p. 12)
Fitzmyer explains that “Though the two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic, had co-existed for several centuries in the Near East before this, Aramaic became the more important of the two, serving as the lingua franca during the latter part of the Neo-Assyrian empire and during the Persian period. Hebrew is usually regarded today as the more important of the two languages, because it is the tongue of the bulk of the OT. And yet, historically it was restricted to a small area on the south-eastern coast of the Mediterranean, whereas Official or Imperial Aramaic was used across a major portion of the Near Eastern world, from Egypt to Asia Minor to Pakistan. Indeed, it gradualy supplanted Hebrew in most of Palestine itself as the common tongue.” (p. 29) “His footnote in reference to this statement indicates that Neh. 8:8 may be hinting at this situation.” (p. 47) . . . “If asked what was the language commonly spoken in Palestine in the time of Jesus of Nazareth, most people with some acquaintance of that era and area would almost spontaneously answer Aramaic. To my way of thinking, this is still the correct answer for the most commonly used language, but the defense of this thesis must reckon with the growing mass of evidence that both Greek and Hebrew were used as well.” (p.38)
Other scholars debate whether Aramaic or Greek were used in the original NT writings but most agree that it was Greek. David Biven agrees as well:
“From time to time, one hears reports of the discovery of a portion of the New Testament written in Hebrew or Aramaic. To date, such reports have proven false. Readers of JERUSALEM PERSPECTIVE should realize that there is not a single extant Hebrew-language manuscript from the early Christian era of any of the New Testament books.
Facts
1. All of the canonical gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—were written in Greek.
2. As the author of the gospel of Luke states in his prologue, many written accounts of Jesus’
life already were in circulation.
3. The early church fathers testify that Matthew wrote “the words of Jesus” in “Hebrew.”
4. There are many Semitisms in the gospels.
Those are the bare facts of the matter. Any further statement regarding the original language
of the life story of Jesus is conjectural. A conjecture may enhance understanding, and it may
even be correct. But until it is proven, it cannot be treated as fact.
Jerusalem School Perspective
The Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research has arrived at two conclusions that serve as working hypotheses for their research:
• An account of Jesus’ life was written in Hebrew, probably by one of Jesus’ original disciples.
• One or more of the sources used by the writers of the synoptic gospels is derived from a Greek translation of that Hebrew account.
The scholars of the Jerusalem School do not claim that the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke were originally written in Hebrew. They contend only that the authors of the synoptic gospels used sources that were derived from an earlier Hebrew gospel. In fact, not every part of the synoptic gospels shows Semitic influence. Many parts, such as the prologue to Luke’s gospel, show little or no Semitic influence.
Semitic Influence
On the other hand, there are non-gospel portions of the New Testament that show Semitic influence. For example, the first half of the book of Acts, up to 15:35, is noticeably more Semitic than the second half (cf. Max Wilcox, The Semitisms of Acts).
… While there are various degrees and types of Semitic influence throughout the New Testament, the members of the Jerusalem School recognize that all the books of the canonical New Testament, including the synoptic gospels, were written in Greek. However, study has consistently shown the importance of recognizing the profoundly Jewish background of the gospels. Jerusalem School members firmly believe that a Hebraic perspective is the key to a better understanding of the Greek Testament. We invite you to join us in studying the gospels more closely, and examining the evidence we have found to support our hypotheses”.
-“A Gospel In Hebrew?,” Bivin, David
The position that I have taken is as follows: The gospel message was originally given orally. This oral tradition has both Aramaic (the primary transmission of the original message since Aramaic was the lingua franca of the time) and Hebrew (the more formal language used in religious services and study of the Torah) dimensions. Greek was then used in the primary translations of these two Semitic languages for use by the Gentiles. The oldest manuscripts of the complete New Testament were preserved in Aramaic (Syriac) going back to the 4th century (as possibly as early as the 2nd century) C.E. This text is known as the Peshitta and is still in use today by Near Eastern churches. I have a copy of it in its ancient form. It is also important to understand that both Aramaic and Hebrew are cognate languages. Many words are identical. The Hebrew language actually uses Aramaic lettering known as Ktav Assurim (Assyrian letters). Papias and others that referred to early Christian writings, e.g. Matthew’s Gospel, as being written in Hebrew were referring to the letters more than the language since it would have been difficult – if not impossible – for them to distinguish between Hebrew and Aramaic. My position is well documented by factual and historical evidence. It can be substantiated by universities, synagogues, and the Assyrian Church of the East. So, while I can agree with the emphasis of Knowles, Biven, and Blizzard of Semitic languages over the Greek language relative to New Testament studies, I cannot agree with their conclusion that the language of the day was primarily Hebrew. The majority of reputable scholars would not agree with their position either.
Actually, according to the Aramaic Scriptures Research Society in Israel, the two international languages used in spreading the gospel were Greek (in the Mediterranean regions of the Roman Empire) and Aramaic in the Holy Land and the East: “In the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia, and other countries of the Parthian Empire, these writings were circulated in Aramaic, lingua franca of the East. . . The main vernacular in the Holy Land, however, was Aramaic. The weekly synagogue lections of the Holy Scriptures, called sidra or parashah, with the hapthtarah, were accompanied with an oral Aramaic translation, according to fairly fixed traditions.” This quote is from The Bible Society – Jerusalem – which published THE NEW COVENANT – Commonly Called The New Testament – Peshitta Aramaic Text With a Hebrew Translation in 1986. The Editor’s Note states that, “In the Greek text of the New Testament one finds Aramaic locutions in disguise, in addition to several words and phrases in Greek transcription, such as ‘talitha qumi’, ‘lema shevatani’, ‘mamona’ and others, indicating that Yeshua spoke in Aramaic, and no doubt used Hebrew in conversations with scribes and other religious leaders, in addition to the synagogue use of Hebrew.” (p. ii). They proceed to explain that, “Rabbinical literature in Aramaic is printed in the Hebrew alphabet. Christian manuscripts in Eastern Aramaic are written in the ancient script called estrangela (round, thick-set).” (p. iii)
Hebrew and Aramaic are very closely related. Many words are identical in spelling. “Aramaic is about as close to Hebrew as Spanish is to Italian.” (p.1096) Raymond E. Brown, D. W. Johnson, Kevin G. O’Connell, “Texts and Versions” Sect. 101 “Aramaic and Syriac Versions;” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary “Translation of the Scriptures into Syriac had its roots in the developing pre-Christian Aram targums of OT books brought by 1st/2d-cent. AD Jewish and christian preachers from Palestine into the district of Adiabene (surrounding Irbil in modern Iraq) and to the neighborhood of Edessa (Urfa in modern Turkey).” However, this source also maintains that the language of the Syriac Bible is somewhat distinct “from the Western Aramaic of Palestine that was used by Christ and the apostles. The Syr Bible . . . NT is wholly a transl. from the Greek. Claims that the Syr Gospels are the form in which Jesus spoke his teaching – claims often made by people who have every reason to know better – are without foundation.” (Sect. 116; p. 1098) The Peshitta “was established firmly enough in the early 5th cent. To remain the Bible of all Syr-language Christians despite the Nestorian and Monophysite movements and the disruption of unity that accompanied them.” (Sect. 125, p. 1099) “For the NT in particular, textual transmission of the Peshitta has been remarkably faithful and precise, and good early mss. exist for both Testaments…” (Sect. 127, p. 1099)
Thackson explains that “Syriac is the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now Urfa in Eastern Turkey, an important center of early Christianity in Mesopotamia. Edessene Syriac was rapidly accepted as the literary language of all non-Greek eastern Christianity and was the primary vehicle for the Christianization of large parts of central and south-central Asia. . . Today it is the classical tongue of the Nestorians and Chaldeans of Iran and Iraq and the liturgical language of the Jacobites of Eastern Anatolia and the Maronites of Greater Syria.” Introduction to Syriac – W. M. Thackson (p. vii)
Aramaic must not be neglected in New Testament studies for at least three reasons:
1. Because Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Near East during the time of Jesus and His disciples.
2. Because it is the language of the Peshitta – an ancient and very “faithful and precise” version of the New Testament texts.
3. Because this language has been preserved and is still used today by
Christians in and from the Near East.
For these reasons the Aramaic language provides valuable insight into interpretations and nuances in New Testament studies which can be validated by contemporary scholars who have had this language passed down virtually intact for generations over at least the past 1600 years.
I do not want to de-emphasize the importance of the Hebrew language. It is a beautiful and powerful language that is unique in several respects. Some knowledge of Hebrew is vital to understanding the Holy Scripture. However, let us also maintain the importance of the Aramaic language and its importance in New Testament studies in particular. It provides insights on early Christianity and it clears up many difficult to understand passages because of the nuances that are evident only from an understanding of Aramaic – the lingua franca of the times and places of early Christianity.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
May Aramaic Herald Newsletter
Aramaic Trivia: “Aramaic in Popular Culture”
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is coming out in theatres at the end of this month. Interestingly, Aramaic is used in the Indiana Jones movies. In the first Indiana Jones film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” at the end of the movie Rene Belloq, a Nazi agent opens the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is of course mentioned in the Holy Bible. Moses had it built to contain the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. However, on the top of the Ark rested a decorative throne called the “Mercy Seat.” What the Ark looked like was a type of palanquin or sedan (which in a sense it was). The most accurate reconstruction of the Ark of the Covenant can be seen at an (agnostic) website called http://www.bibleorigins.net/. Now, I don’t agree with everything on this website, but his reconstruction of the Ark of the Covenant is very accurate, for the most part. Steven Speilburg and George Lucas used paintings of the Ark of the Covenant by James Tissot for their designs. James Tissot was a French artist who spent much of his career in England. He died at about 1905, I believe. After a “Born-again” experience he decided to devote himself to painting the Bible. He decided to travel to the Holy Land and study Judaism to gain a better understanding of the New Testament. He began with the life of Christ. He completed the “Life of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” project but unfortunately, he died when he had only completed about half of the Old Testament. His students used his sketches and drawings to complete the Old Testament project. In the “Raiders” movie, Belloq dresses up in the sacred garments that the Jewish High Priest was to wear and chants this prayer in Aramaic:
Not in Man do I trust
And not on any Child of God do I rely,
In him whose God is true-
And whose Torah is true-
In him I will trust and to his Holy
Precious praise.
After reciting this, in the movie, Belloq looks into the Ark of the Covenant and is smitten dead by God.
The “Harry Potter” films also contain Aramaic. The word Abracadabra is of uncertain origin. Now it is often used by stage magicians. However, it used to be considered a very powerful incantation. It is first mentioned by Romans in the second century AD. No one knows its source with certainty. It may have been just gibberish or a made up word. However, some have theorized that it is Aramaic, either Avra Kedabra (or Avada K’Davarah”) meaning “Creating is speaking” or “”I will create as I speak” or avada kedavra “what I speak is destroyed.” This is how it is used in Harry Potter-as the “Killing Curse.” As a curse, it could also be translated “perish like the word” or “transgress as I speak.” In the Harry Potter novels it is used as the curse. Most of the spells in these “Harry Potter” novels are in Latin, with the exception of avada kedavra, which is Aramaic. I have serious reservations about the Harry Potter novels because they may cause young people to be interested in the occult. What really disturbs me is J.K. Rawlings revelation that one of the central characters, Dumbledore, is meant to be a homosexual and is intended to normalize homosexual behavior to children. On the other hand there are medieval Christian symbols that are used in Harry Potter, including those taken from the Grail legends and the story of the “Fisher King.” In the final book, Harry Potter becomes a type of “Christ-figure” himself, sacrificing himself and (seeming to) die and rise again.
Barnabas the Facilitator
Questions about Barnabas:
Who was Barnabas?
With whom was he most closely associated?
Who was his near relative?
Of what place is he associated with?
Barnabas was a facilitator or an enabler. Church tradition, and certain scholars, believe him to have been on of the 70 disciples mentioned in Luke chapter 10. (In “Rabbi Jesus” Bruce Chilton, an Aramaic scholar, argues that Joseph Barnabas was the host of the “Last Supper.”) In the Bible he is described as a “good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24). He is introduced in Acts 4:36 as a Levite, which is a Jewish priest. In Acts 6:7 it is recorded that “many priests came to the faith.”
In Acts 4:36 the Aramaic name “Barnabas” is translated as “Son of Encouragement.” It is described as an Aramaic nick-name given to him by the apostles. The word “Nabi” in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic means “prophet.” In 1 Corinthians 14:3 Paul (Saul Paulus of Tarsus) says, “he who prophecies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
(Barnabas was a wealthy benefactor of the church. After Barnabas gave a generous offering, later Annanias and Saphira attempted to copy his example but to lie and to claim that they gave more that they actually had. God smote Ananias and Saphira dead for this sin.)
After Saul/Paul’s history of persecuting Christians, the Twelve Apostles didn’t trust him. However, Barnabas sought him out and introduced him to the apostles (Acts 9:26-30). However, Paul was exiled back to his home city of Tarsus for several years. Barnabas was instrumental in the first conversions of gentiles to Christianity (Acts 11:20 and 22). After success among the Gentiles, Barnabas sought out Paul and brought him to Antioch in Syria to help out with the new Gentile (non-Jewish) church (Acts 11:25). Later, Barnabas and Saul were sent to collect money for starving people in Israel. (Notice, often Barnabas’s name is listed first. In Acts 13:2 it is recorded that Barnabas and Saul were sent by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in foreign lands. They started in Cyrpus, because Barnabas was a Cypriot. (Today, Moslems have invaded taken over and now rule half of the Island of Cyprus. Of course, the world tolerates this act of Islamic aggression.) After great successes Barnabas and Saul had a falling out over John Mark and “certain men from James” (Acts 15:36-41 and Galatians 2:11-13). In Colossians 4:10, it is mentioned that Mark was the nephew of Barnabas. What had happened was that Mark had abandoned Barnabas and Paul in the middle of the first missionary tour. This proved to Paul that Mark was unfit for the work of a missionary and evangelist. However, near the end of Paul’s life, Paul instructs Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
So, how was Barnabas an important “enabler”? Well, first his generous financial contributions helped sustain the church and help get it off of the ground. Secondly, he personally initiated evangelism to the non-Jews. Without his help, no one would have even heard of Paul the Apostle. He introduced Paul to the Apostles and later searched out and found Paul and put him to work in evangelizing non-Jews. Despite their later falling out, Barnabas made Paul’s ministry possible. Barnabas was wise not to give up on John Mark. Due to Barnabas’s influence, Mark continued to work in Christian ministry and wrote the first Gospel of Mark. (This is the first Gospel written in Greek. Matthew wrote in Aramaic and his writings may have focused more on the teachings rather than the life of Jesus. Many of the deeds of Jesus were later incorporated into the Gospel of Matthew from the Gospel of Mark.) Barnabas returned to Cyprus, where he is still highly regarded and is the “Patron Saint” of Cyprus. Of course, the Moslems have been allowed to vandalize and destroy places in Cyprus associated with Barnabas. Barnabas’s greatest success was in the inspiration and support he gave to other people-his work as “the son of encouragement.” Barnabas didn’t seek glory or greatness for himself-he worked to inspire it in others. He wasn’t interested in self-promotion, but in promoting the work of Christ. There is an important ancient writing called “The Epistle of Barnabas,” while it is very ancient, it most likely wasn’t written by the Joseph Barnabas of the New Testament.
Answers:
An early apostle.
Paul
Mark the Evangelist
The Isle of Cyprus. Barnabas was a Cypriot.
Once again, I want to mention the work of the Barnabas Fund in helping persecuted Christians. See: http://www.barnabasfund.org/
The Titulus
This quotation is taken from “the Illustrated Family Encyclopedia of the Living Bible” (1967 edition) and explains the illustration on the cover of this month’s newsletter:
In the time of Jesus the language mostly spoken by the Jews in Palestine-and to some extent used also in the written texts-was a Judean variant of Aramaic known as Judaeo-Aramaic; this is the language referred to in the Gospels as “Hebrew” (John 5:2, Acts 21:40 ect.). The rabbis continued to use Hebrew proper as a written language, and it was also spoken to some extent by the educated classes even in later periods. Aramaic would naturally have been used in the inscription set up over the cross specifying the crime for which the condemned man had suffered, because it was the one language understood by all of the population on whom the punishment was intended to make an impression. The second language would be Greek which became the language of cultured people throughout the Eastern Mediterranean in Hellenistic times, and remained so under the Romans. It was the language understood by most of the Jews in the Diaspora, who thronged Jerusalem at Passover; the Temple inscriptions warning Gentiles against entering the Inner Temple [these inscriptions have survived] were written mainly in Greek; and so were the Gospel themselves. The third language mentioned here is Latin, the language of the Roman army and administration. It may be presumed, however, that the actual order of the languages written on the inscription over the cross would have been different from that set out here: Latin, as the language of Rome, would have taken first place, followed by Greek and Aramaic. When Pilate is said to have “written” the inscription this does not necessarily mean that he wrote it with his own hand; probably it was dictated to a scribe. The scripts shown in the reconstruction [on the cover] are the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the current Greek and Latin script found in public notices painted on the walls of Pompeii and elsewhere.
Summer Projects
Hopefully, this summer I will be able to complete three projects: the publishing of “Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth,” the completion and publishing of my Jabez Prayer project and completing my “Chronicles: Facts from the Bible” comic project. My main focus, I believe will be the Jabez Prayer project-which is mainly about the Kenite hypothesis. Well, what is the Kenite hypothesis? The Kenite hypothesis states that knowledge of the name of God, YHWH, was transmitted to the Israelites by an Arab tribe called the Kenites. Recent archeological evidence confirms this and it is also clearly stated as being true in the Bible. The earliest appearance of the name of God, YHWH, is in an ancient Egyptian temple. The YHWH inscription is describing an Arabic tribe worshiping Yahweh outside of the territory of the Egyptians. These primitive “Yahwoh” worshipers were neither Israelites, Hebrews nor Jews-they were Arabic Kenites. These discoveries also help us to understand the accurate pronunciation of the name YHWH-probably Yahoo, Yahu or Yahwoh, and not “Yahweh.”
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is coming out in theatres at the end of this month. Interestingly, Aramaic is used in the Indiana Jones movies. In the first Indiana Jones film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” at the end of the movie Rene Belloq, a Nazi agent opens the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is of course mentioned in the Holy Bible. Moses had it built to contain the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. However, on the top of the Ark rested a decorative throne called the “Mercy Seat.” What the Ark looked like was a type of palanquin or sedan (which in a sense it was). The most accurate reconstruction of the Ark of the Covenant can be seen at an (agnostic) website called http://www.bibleorigins.net/. Now, I don’t agree with everything on this website, but his reconstruction of the Ark of the Covenant is very accurate, for the most part. Steven Speilburg and George Lucas used paintings of the Ark of the Covenant by James Tissot for their designs. James Tissot was a French artist who spent much of his career in England. He died at about 1905, I believe. After a “Born-again” experience he decided to devote himself to painting the Bible. He decided to travel to the Holy Land and study Judaism to gain a better understanding of the New Testament. He began with the life of Christ. He completed the “Life of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” project but unfortunately, he died when he had only completed about half of the Old Testament. His students used his sketches and drawings to complete the Old Testament project. In the “Raiders” movie, Belloq dresses up in the sacred garments that the Jewish High Priest was to wear and chants this prayer in Aramaic:
Not in Man do I trust
And not on any Child of God do I rely,
In him whose God is true-
And whose Torah is true-
In him I will trust and to his Holy
Precious praise.
After reciting this, in the movie, Belloq looks into the Ark of the Covenant and is smitten dead by God.
The “Harry Potter” films also contain Aramaic. The word Abracadabra is of uncertain origin. Now it is often used by stage magicians. However, it used to be considered a very powerful incantation. It is first mentioned by Romans in the second century AD. No one knows its source with certainty. It may have been just gibberish or a made up word. However, some have theorized that it is Aramaic, either Avra Kedabra (or Avada K’Davarah”) meaning “Creating is speaking” or “”I will create as I speak” or avada kedavra “what I speak is destroyed.” This is how it is used in Harry Potter-as the “Killing Curse.” As a curse, it could also be translated “perish like the word” or “transgress as I speak.” In the Harry Potter novels it is used as the curse. Most of the spells in these “Harry Potter” novels are in Latin, with the exception of avada kedavra, which is Aramaic. I have serious reservations about the Harry Potter novels because they may cause young people to be interested in the occult. What really disturbs me is J.K. Rawlings revelation that one of the central characters, Dumbledore, is meant to be a homosexual and is intended to normalize homosexual behavior to children. On the other hand there are medieval Christian symbols that are used in Harry Potter, including those taken from the Grail legends and the story of the “Fisher King.” In the final book, Harry Potter becomes a type of “Christ-figure” himself, sacrificing himself and (seeming to) die and rise again.
Barnabas the Facilitator
Questions about Barnabas:
Who was Barnabas?
With whom was he most closely associated?
Who was his near relative?
Of what place is he associated with?
Barnabas was a facilitator or an enabler. Church tradition, and certain scholars, believe him to have been on of the 70 disciples mentioned in Luke chapter 10. (In “Rabbi Jesus” Bruce Chilton, an Aramaic scholar, argues that Joseph Barnabas was the host of the “Last Supper.”) In the Bible he is described as a “good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24). He is introduced in Acts 4:36 as a Levite, which is a Jewish priest. In Acts 6:7 it is recorded that “many priests came to the faith.”
In Acts 4:36 the Aramaic name “Barnabas” is translated as “Son of Encouragement.” It is described as an Aramaic nick-name given to him by the apostles. The word “Nabi” in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic means “prophet.” In 1 Corinthians 14:3 Paul (Saul Paulus of Tarsus) says, “he who prophecies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
(Barnabas was a wealthy benefactor of the church. After Barnabas gave a generous offering, later Annanias and Saphira attempted to copy his example but to lie and to claim that they gave more that they actually had. God smote Ananias and Saphira dead for this sin.)
After Saul/Paul’s history of persecuting Christians, the Twelve Apostles didn’t trust him. However, Barnabas sought him out and introduced him to the apostles (Acts 9:26-30). However, Paul was exiled back to his home city of Tarsus for several years. Barnabas was instrumental in the first conversions of gentiles to Christianity (Acts 11:20 and 22). After success among the Gentiles, Barnabas sought out Paul and brought him to Antioch in Syria to help out with the new Gentile (non-Jewish) church (Acts 11:25). Later, Barnabas and Saul were sent to collect money for starving people in Israel. (Notice, often Barnabas’s name is listed first. In Acts 13:2 it is recorded that Barnabas and Saul were sent by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in foreign lands. They started in Cyrpus, because Barnabas was a Cypriot. (Today, Moslems have invaded taken over and now rule half of the Island of Cyprus. Of course, the world tolerates this act of Islamic aggression.) After great successes Barnabas and Saul had a falling out over John Mark and “certain men from James” (Acts 15:36-41 and Galatians 2:11-13). In Colossians 4:10, it is mentioned that Mark was the nephew of Barnabas. What had happened was that Mark had abandoned Barnabas and Paul in the middle of the first missionary tour. This proved to Paul that Mark was unfit for the work of a missionary and evangelist. However, near the end of Paul’s life, Paul instructs Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
So, how was Barnabas an important “enabler”? Well, first his generous financial contributions helped sustain the church and help get it off of the ground. Secondly, he personally initiated evangelism to the non-Jews. Without his help, no one would have even heard of Paul the Apostle. He introduced Paul to the Apostles and later searched out and found Paul and put him to work in evangelizing non-Jews. Despite their later falling out, Barnabas made Paul’s ministry possible. Barnabas was wise not to give up on John Mark. Due to Barnabas’s influence, Mark continued to work in Christian ministry and wrote the first Gospel of Mark. (This is the first Gospel written in Greek. Matthew wrote in Aramaic and his writings may have focused more on the teachings rather than the life of Jesus. Many of the deeds of Jesus were later incorporated into the Gospel of Matthew from the Gospel of Mark.) Barnabas returned to Cyprus, where he is still highly regarded and is the “Patron Saint” of Cyprus. Of course, the Moslems have been allowed to vandalize and destroy places in Cyprus associated with Barnabas. Barnabas’s greatest success was in the inspiration and support he gave to other people-his work as “the son of encouragement.” Barnabas didn’t seek glory or greatness for himself-he worked to inspire it in others. He wasn’t interested in self-promotion, but in promoting the work of Christ. There is an important ancient writing called “The Epistle of Barnabas,” while it is very ancient, it most likely wasn’t written by the Joseph Barnabas of the New Testament.
Answers:
An early apostle.
Paul
Mark the Evangelist
The Isle of Cyprus. Barnabas was a Cypriot.
Once again, I want to mention the work of the Barnabas Fund in helping persecuted Christians. See: http://www.barnabasfund.org/
The Titulus
This quotation is taken from “the Illustrated Family Encyclopedia of the Living Bible” (1967 edition) and explains the illustration on the cover of this month’s newsletter:
In the time of Jesus the language mostly spoken by the Jews in Palestine-and to some extent used also in the written texts-was a Judean variant of Aramaic known as Judaeo-Aramaic; this is the language referred to in the Gospels as “Hebrew” (John 5:2, Acts 21:40 ect.). The rabbis continued to use Hebrew proper as a written language, and it was also spoken to some extent by the educated classes even in later periods. Aramaic would naturally have been used in the inscription set up over the cross specifying the crime for which the condemned man had suffered, because it was the one language understood by all of the population on whom the punishment was intended to make an impression. The second language would be Greek which became the language of cultured people throughout the Eastern Mediterranean in Hellenistic times, and remained so under the Romans. It was the language understood by most of the Jews in the Diaspora, who thronged Jerusalem at Passover; the Temple inscriptions warning Gentiles against entering the Inner Temple [these inscriptions have survived] were written mainly in Greek; and so were the Gospel themselves. The third language mentioned here is Latin, the language of the Roman army and administration. It may be presumed, however, that the actual order of the languages written on the inscription over the cross would have been different from that set out here: Latin, as the language of Rome, would have taken first place, followed by Greek and Aramaic. When Pilate is said to have “written” the inscription this does not necessarily mean that he wrote it with his own hand; probably it was dictated to a scribe. The scripts shown in the reconstruction [on the cover] are the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the current Greek and Latin script found in public notices painted on the walls of Pompeii and elsewhere.
Summer Projects
Hopefully, this summer I will be able to complete three projects: the publishing of “Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth,” the completion and publishing of my Jabez Prayer project and completing my “Chronicles: Facts from the Bible” comic project. My main focus, I believe will be the Jabez Prayer project-which is mainly about the Kenite hypothesis. Well, what is the Kenite hypothesis? The Kenite hypothesis states that knowledge of the name of God, YHWH, was transmitted to the Israelites by an Arab tribe called the Kenites. Recent archeological evidence confirms this and it is also clearly stated as being true in the Bible. The earliest appearance of the name of God, YHWH, is in an ancient Egyptian temple. The YHWH inscription is describing an Arabic tribe worshiping Yahweh outside of the territory of the Egyptians. These primitive “Yahwoh” worshipers were neither Israelites, Hebrews nor Jews-they were Arabic Kenites. These discoveries also help us to understand the accurate pronunciation of the name YHWH-probably Yahoo, Yahu or Yahwoh, and not “Yahweh.”
April Newsletter
The Bread of Life (Part One)
The question is what did Jesus mean when he said, “This is my body”? The messianic rabbi argued that Jesus wasn’t referring to his body-he was referring to the law of Moses-which we need to “ingest” by constant reading, study and application.
This man also argued that there is no “New Testament” because the Law of Moses is eternal and does not change. Therefore, for someone to please God it is necessary for him or her to carefully observe all 613 instructions from the Law of Moses.
All Christians understand “Holy Communion” to represent the physical body and blood of Jesus. Of course, there is disagreement among Christians about how it represents the body and the blood. Roman Catholics believe it becomes literal body and blood in the mass. Other churches believe that there is a “real presence” somehow (spiritually) in the “elements” meaning the bread and wine. In my church it is regarded as a symbol of the body and blood. Either way, the bread and wine of communion represents the body and the blood of Jesus-it is just understood in how it does this differently. So this man is really bringing a radical new teaching.
Now, lets look at what the Bible says. Should we speak of an “Old” and “New” Testament? Yes, if we accept the Bible, because that is how it is explained in the Scriptures. This is seen in the Bible at 2 Corinthians 3:6 and 14 and in the Epistle to the Hebrews at Hebrews 7:22, 9:15 and 18. In these passages it speaks of the Old Testament as passing away. Now, we are obligated to accept the Old Testament as Scripture, to reject the Old Testament is a heresy called “Marcionism.” And the Old Testament is good. But the New Testament is better and God’s complete revelation. (I don’t mean to attack the Old Testament, but I was reading the Battle of Jericho in the Book of Joshua. After the battle the Israelites slaughtered everyone, even babies and the elderly. I thought about that and I know I am incapable of doing such a thing. In all fairness, I know other ancients did more horrible things, such as slowly torturing their conquered enemies and carrying out rapes. So, we see an elevation of moral standards, to a small degree, but when we have arrived at Christ-why would we want to go back to a way that is inferior and incomplete? The New Testament cherishes life to such a degree-that the church has always held that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life and is a mortal sin. The Christian church has indeed always been opposed to abortion. People have different opinions now-but the Apostles of Jesus taught it was wrong. There are many good things in the Old Testament-but the reality is that they had not yet arrived at the high standard we are now at in Jesus Christ. They lived in anticipation for the future complete revelation. Joshua did spare Rahab the Prostitute and all her family because she submitting to God. So, it is possible that many people were spared. But is describes the elderly and children as being slaughtered.) This gentleman didn’t like to say “New Testament” he liked to say “Apostolic Writings” but the Bible describes it as the New Testament. (A side note: some of these Messianic Jews like to describe Paul as “Rabbi” Saul/Paul. My problem with this is we have several writings of Paul and he describes himself as an Apostle-never as a “Rabbi.” Of course, in Assyrian, Rabi merely means teacher or professor. But in Matthew 23:7-8, Jesus discourages the use of such honorific titles. Paul described himself as an apostle and as a slave of Christ: meaning messenger and servant. If you are really a teacher or professor-which is all this term means in Assyrian, there is no harm in using it-but if you are pridefully demanding to be called by a certain title of great honor-this is what Jesus condemned.) About the New Covenant-not only is this how the New Testament describes itself, this is how Jesus Himself describes his work in Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, and 1 Cor. 11:25. Now in the Old Testament, the Prophet Jeremiah prophesied that God was going to make a New Covenant-that would not be like the Old Covenant. This is predicted in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and implied in other passages. So, I think that is clearly established in the Bible that we have an Old and New Testament.
Now lets look at the statement: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
First, lets look at where this appears in the New Testament. Before Jesus began his ministry, he was in the desert where he was tempted by Satan. This incident is briefly alluded to in Mark (Mark 1:12) but is fully described in Luke and Matthew. Now, one interesting thing about this story is that it came directly from Jesus himself. No one was with him in the desert. So obviously, when Jesus was with this disciples he sat down and described to them what had happened to him.
Now, we need to talk about the Gospels and what they are:
The word Gospel-is based on the Greek word “Evangilion” which means “News” or “Good News.” This has two meanings now: first, the “Gospel” is the message that Jesus preached and secondly a “Gospel” is a biography of Jesus. We have four Gospels:
Matthew, Mark. Luke and John. There is also a Gospel of Thomas. Many Bible scholars value the Gospel of Thomas. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings of Jesus. Some of the sayings in this Gospel are not accurate. I do agree that it is a historically significant Gospel-but it isn’t as valuable as the Four Gospels. I will discuss Thomas a latter time (if you are interested). The earliest Gospel is clearly Mark. We know this for two reasons 1. it contains many Aramaic words and phrases and 2. “Matthew” and Luke actually quote from Mark extensively. The Gospel of Matthew as we have it, isn’t the Gospel as it was written by Matthew. According to Church tradition, Mark wrote down Peter’s recollections and Matthew wrote a life of Christ in Aramaic which someone else later put into Greek, which is the Matthew we now have. Luke was probably written by the man named Luke who is described in the Bible. He was a student of St. Paul. He wrote in Greek (and for Greeks) and didn’t use Aramaic in his Gospel the way the other Gospels do. Now-Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “Synoptic” Gospels because they are all similar. Most of the similarity is in that Matthew and Luke repeat almost everything in Mark. Now there is a lot of information in Matthew that is unique to Matthew and in Luke that is unique to Luke. Matthew the Apostle probably wrote a writing scholars refer to as “Q” a “lost” Gospel that can be reconstructed because it is extensively quoted by Luke and Matthew. Its like this. Imagine if we didn’t have Mark. Well, scholars could hypothetically reconstruct the Gospel of Mark since it is quoted by Matthew and Luke. But we still have Mark. There is another writing they both quote from we no longer possess. It was probably the original writings of Matthew. All of this is maybe too academic but it is interesting.
Now lets look at the Temptation: We find it in Matthew 4:1-11 and in Luke 4:1-13. They tell it a little differently, for instance the order of the temptations is given in different orders. The interesting thing is that when Jesus answers Satan he quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy all three times. Satan quotes Scripture at Jesus too. The devil quotes from the Book of Psalms.
Now-what is the significance of the temptations?
First, lets look at them.
First, Jesus is hungry. Satan tells him to turn the rocks to bread in order to satisfy his hunger. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 “Man shall not live by bread alone…” Then Satan quotes Psalm 91 and tells Jesus to jump off of the precipice of the Temple so all the people can see a miracle of angels catching him. Jesus answers from Deuteronomy 6:16, which says don’t tempt God. (In Luke this temptation is last-perhaps Luke places it last in order to emphasize the Deity of Christ.) Then Satan offers Jesus a trade-if Jesus bows down to Satan-the Devil will give him all the kingdoms of earth in exchange. Then Jesus answers the Devil with Deuteronomy 6:13. “Worship and serve God alone.”
I read something I thought was interesting. This Bible scholar said that the three greatest needs the Israelites (actually Jews) had at that time were for food, because people barely had enough food to survive, they desired supernatural intervention-as they had seen under Moses, and as an oppressed people many wanted to overthrow the Roman empire. So Satan, was attacking Jesus-through the greatest perceived needs of the Jewish people at that time. This does make some sense to me. Jesus rejects living up to the expectations of the people and decides to fulfill his obligations as messiah to his heavenly father alone. These other ideas are revealed to be actually satanic in origin.
First off, what is “Deuteronomy”? Well, the word Deuteronomy is Greek for “Second Law.” What happens is Moses is about to die-so he repeats his law to the Israelites. Certain laws, such as the Ten Commandments are given a second time. Now, Deuteronomy is the last book of the books of Moses-which are also called the Pentateuch (Greek for Five Books) and the Torah (Hebrew for “Law” or “Instruction). Moses may have written parts of these books-but in reality they were completed hundreds of years after the time of Moses. Genesis is the story of beginnings, were we find the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Abraham. Exodus tells of the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. Leviticus has some moral laws but also detailed instructions of how to carry out animal sacrifices and such things. Numbers describes the Israelites journeys through the desert and contains a census which is where the title comes from. Then we have a repeating of laws in Deuteronomy, which does contain ethical and moral laws but also laws about religious obligation and sacrifices.
Deuteronomy 8:3 states,
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Literally, “Lord” is Yahweh or Jehovah-a special name of God.)
Okay, so what is “manna”? It is a Hebrew word for “What?” or “What is it?” Now this “ma-“ word is also found in Arabic where for “who” sometimes you say “meen?” I think in Assyrian you say “Moody?” so you see the “ma-“ or “mo-“ prefix. All Semitic languages are very similar: Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic and Modern Assyrian Aramaic-are all closely related. The story of manna is found in Exodus 16. The story goes like this: The Israelites are out in the desert with Moses. They have no food and they angrily come to Moses and demand food. Moses prays and in the morning a type of wafers are found scattered on the desert floor. It is described as tasting something like honey (Exodus 16:31) in other places it is described as either not tasting very good or that the people had grown tired of eating it. God fed them manna until they entered the promised land under Joshua-once they crossed into the Holy Land-God stopped the manna. (According to the Harper Collins Study Bible, the word Manna probably comes from old Aramaic-see page 109).
Now, sometimes scientists offer scientific explanations of the Biblical miracles. Some scientists say perhaps it was a kind of moss that grows in the desert-others has explained it as a type of residue or excretion left by certain desert insects.
Perhaps, but the Bible describes it as a miracle.
So what does this have to do with Jesus Christ? A lot and I will explain that later.
Pope Baptizes ex-Moslem
Pope Benedict baptized Magdi Allam, an Egyptian born critic of Islamic extremism. Mr. Allam was baptized by the pope of Easter (March 22, 2008). Mr. Magdi is the author of the book “Long Live Israel” and has stated that Islam is “physiologically violent.”
Tens of Thousands of innocent Muslem civilians killed by Al-Qaida
In Iraq, most of the casualties are Iraqis. Many Christians have died and indeed the Christians have been targeted for annihilation. However, the greatest number of people killed in “suicide”-homicide attacks are Iraqi civilians the greatest number of whom are Islamic. Finally, some Muslems are beginning to be outraged as is reported in an articles by Josh Meyer “Al-Qaida members questioning tactics, U.S. says: Deaths of fellow Muslims provide criticism, but group still seen as threat” in the Thursday, April 24, 2008 Houston Chronicle.
The question is what did Jesus mean when he said, “This is my body”? The messianic rabbi argued that Jesus wasn’t referring to his body-he was referring to the law of Moses-which we need to “ingest” by constant reading, study and application.
This man also argued that there is no “New Testament” because the Law of Moses is eternal and does not change. Therefore, for someone to please God it is necessary for him or her to carefully observe all 613 instructions from the Law of Moses.
All Christians understand “Holy Communion” to represent the physical body and blood of Jesus. Of course, there is disagreement among Christians about how it represents the body and the blood. Roman Catholics believe it becomes literal body and blood in the mass. Other churches believe that there is a “real presence” somehow (spiritually) in the “elements” meaning the bread and wine. In my church it is regarded as a symbol of the body and blood. Either way, the bread and wine of communion represents the body and the blood of Jesus-it is just understood in how it does this differently. So this man is really bringing a radical new teaching.
Now, lets look at what the Bible says. Should we speak of an “Old” and “New” Testament? Yes, if we accept the Bible, because that is how it is explained in the Scriptures. This is seen in the Bible at 2 Corinthians 3:6 and 14 and in the Epistle to the Hebrews at Hebrews 7:22, 9:15 and 18. In these passages it speaks of the Old Testament as passing away. Now, we are obligated to accept the Old Testament as Scripture, to reject the Old Testament is a heresy called “Marcionism.” And the Old Testament is good. But the New Testament is better and God’s complete revelation. (I don’t mean to attack the Old Testament, but I was reading the Battle of Jericho in the Book of Joshua. After the battle the Israelites slaughtered everyone, even babies and the elderly. I thought about that and I know I am incapable of doing such a thing. In all fairness, I know other ancients did more horrible things, such as slowly torturing their conquered enemies and carrying out rapes. So, we see an elevation of moral standards, to a small degree, but when we have arrived at Christ-why would we want to go back to a way that is inferior and incomplete? The New Testament cherishes life to such a degree-that the church has always held that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life and is a mortal sin. The Christian church has indeed always been opposed to abortion. People have different opinions now-but the Apostles of Jesus taught it was wrong. There are many good things in the Old Testament-but the reality is that they had not yet arrived at the high standard we are now at in Jesus Christ. They lived in anticipation for the future complete revelation. Joshua did spare Rahab the Prostitute and all her family because she submitting to God. So, it is possible that many people were spared. But is describes the elderly and children as being slaughtered.) This gentleman didn’t like to say “New Testament” he liked to say “Apostolic Writings” but the Bible describes it as the New Testament. (A side note: some of these Messianic Jews like to describe Paul as “Rabbi” Saul/Paul. My problem with this is we have several writings of Paul and he describes himself as an Apostle-never as a “Rabbi.” Of course, in Assyrian, Rabi merely means teacher or professor. But in Matthew 23:7-8, Jesus discourages the use of such honorific titles. Paul described himself as an apostle and as a slave of Christ: meaning messenger and servant. If you are really a teacher or professor-which is all this term means in Assyrian, there is no harm in using it-but if you are pridefully demanding to be called by a certain title of great honor-this is what Jesus condemned.) About the New Covenant-not only is this how the New Testament describes itself, this is how Jesus Himself describes his work in Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, and 1 Cor. 11:25. Now in the Old Testament, the Prophet Jeremiah prophesied that God was going to make a New Covenant-that would not be like the Old Covenant. This is predicted in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and implied in other passages. So, I think that is clearly established in the Bible that we have an Old and New Testament.
Now lets look at the statement: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
First, lets look at where this appears in the New Testament. Before Jesus began his ministry, he was in the desert where he was tempted by Satan. This incident is briefly alluded to in Mark (Mark 1:12) but is fully described in Luke and Matthew. Now, one interesting thing about this story is that it came directly from Jesus himself. No one was with him in the desert. So obviously, when Jesus was with this disciples he sat down and described to them what had happened to him.
Now, we need to talk about the Gospels and what they are:
The word Gospel-is based on the Greek word “Evangilion” which means “News” or “Good News.” This has two meanings now: first, the “Gospel” is the message that Jesus preached and secondly a “Gospel” is a biography of Jesus. We have four Gospels:
Matthew, Mark. Luke and John. There is also a Gospel of Thomas. Many Bible scholars value the Gospel of Thomas. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings of Jesus. Some of the sayings in this Gospel are not accurate. I do agree that it is a historically significant Gospel-but it isn’t as valuable as the Four Gospels. I will discuss Thomas a latter time (if you are interested). The earliest Gospel is clearly Mark. We know this for two reasons 1. it contains many Aramaic words and phrases and 2. “Matthew” and Luke actually quote from Mark extensively. The Gospel of Matthew as we have it, isn’t the Gospel as it was written by Matthew. According to Church tradition, Mark wrote down Peter’s recollections and Matthew wrote a life of Christ in Aramaic which someone else later put into Greek, which is the Matthew we now have. Luke was probably written by the man named Luke who is described in the Bible. He was a student of St. Paul. He wrote in Greek (and for Greeks) and didn’t use Aramaic in his Gospel the way the other Gospels do. Now-Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “Synoptic” Gospels because they are all similar. Most of the similarity is in that Matthew and Luke repeat almost everything in Mark. Now there is a lot of information in Matthew that is unique to Matthew and in Luke that is unique to Luke. Matthew the Apostle probably wrote a writing scholars refer to as “Q” a “lost” Gospel that can be reconstructed because it is extensively quoted by Luke and Matthew. Its like this. Imagine if we didn’t have Mark. Well, scholars could hypothetically reconstruct the Gospel of Mark since it is quoted by Matthew and Luke. But we still have Mark. There is another writing they both quote from we no longer possess. It was probably the original writings of Matthew. All of this is maybe too academic but it is interesting.
Now lets look at the Temptation: We find it in Matthew 4:1-11 and in Luke 4:1-13. They tell it a little differently, for instance the order of the temptations is given in different orders. The interesting thing is that when Jesus answers Satan he quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy all three times. Satan quotes Scripture at Jesus too. The devil quotes from the Book of Psalms.
Now-what is the significance of the temptations?
First, lets look at them.
First, Jesus is hungry. Satan tells him to turn the rocks to bread in order to satisfy his hunger. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 “Man shall not live by bread alone…” Then Satan quotes Psalm 91 and tells Jesus to jump off of the precipice of the Temple so all the people can see a miracle of angels catching him. Jesus answers from Deuteronomy 6:16, which says don’t tempt God. (In Luke this temptation is last-perhaps Luke places it last in order to emphasize the Deity of Christ.) Then Satan offers Jesus a trade-if Jesus bows down to Satan-the Devil will give him all the kingdoms of earth in exchange. Then Jesus answers the Devil with Deuteronomy 6:13. “Worship and serve God alone.”
I read something I thought was interesting. This Bible scholar said that the three greatest needs the Israelites (actually Jews) had at that time were for food, because people barely had enough food to survive, they desired supernatural intervention-as they had seen under Moses, and as an oppressed people many wanted to overthrow the Roman empire. So Satan, was attacking Jesus-through the greatest perceived needs of the Jewish people at that time. This does make some sense to me. Jesus rejects living up to the expectations of the people and decides to fulfill his obligations as messiah to his heavenly father alone. These other ideas are revealed to be actually satanic in origin.
First off, what is “Deuteronomy”? Well, the word Deuteronomy is Greek for “Second Law.” What happens is Moses is about to die-so he repeats his law to the Israelites. Certain laws, such as the Ten Commandments are given a second time. Now, Deuteronomy is the last book of the books of Moses-which are also called the Pentateuch (Greek for Five Books) and the Torah (Hebrew for “Law” or “Instruction). Moses may have written parts of these books-but in reality they were completed hundreds of years after the time of Moses. Genesis is the story of beginnings, were we find the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Abraham. Exodus tells of the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. Leviticus has some moral laws but also detailed instructions of how to carry out animal sacrifices and such things. Numbers describes the Israelites journeys through the desert and contains a census which is where the title comes from. Then we have a repeating of laws in Deuteronomy, which does contain ethical and moral laws but also laws about religious obligation and sacrifices.
Deuteronomy 8:3 states,
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Literally, “Lord” is Yahweh or Jehovah-a special name of God.)
Okay, so what is “manna”? It is a Hebrew word for “What?” or “What is it?” Now this “ma-“ word is also found in Arabic where for “who” sometimes you say “meen?” I think in Assyrian you say “Moody?” so you see the “ma-“ or “mo-“ prefix. All Semitic languages are very similar: Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic and Modern Assyrian Aramaic-are all closely related. The story of manna is found in Exodus 16. The story goes like this: The Israelites are out in the desert with Moses. They have no food and they angrily come to Moses and demand food. Moses prays and in the morning a type of wafers are found scattered on the desert floor. It is described as tasting something like honey (Exodus 16:31) in other places it is described as either not tasting very good or that the people had grown tired of eating it. God fed them manna until they entered the promised land under Joshua-once they crossed into the Holy Land-God stopped the manna. (According to the Harper Collins Study Bible, the word Manna probably comes from old Aramaic-see page 109).
Now, sometimes scientists offer scientific explanations of the Biblical miracles. Some scientists say perhaps it was a kind of moss that grows in the desert-others has explained it as a type of residue or excretion left by certain desert insects.
Perhaps, but the Bible describes it as a miracle.
So what does this have to do with Jesus Christ? A lot and I will explain that later.
Pope Baptizes ex-Moslem
Pope Benedict baptized Magdi Allam, an Egyptian born critic of Islamic extremism. Mr. Allam was baptized by the pope of Easter (March 22, 2008). Mr. Magdi is the author of the book “Long Live Israel” and has stated that Islam is “physiologically violent.”
Tens of Thousands of innocent Muslem civilians killed by Al-Qaida
In Iraq, most of the casualties are Iraqis. Many Christians have died and indeed the Christians have been targeted for annihilation. However, the greatest number of people killed in “suicide”-homicide attacks are Iraqi civilians the greatest number of whom are Islamic. Finally, some Muslems are beginning to be outraged as is reported in an articles by Josh Meyer “Al-Qaida members questioning tactics, U.S. says: Deaths of fellow Muslims provide criticism, but group still seen as threat” in the Thursday, April 24, 2008 Houston Chronicle.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Aramaic Youtube Videos
Opening a new door in Aramaic ministry
www.youtube.com/aramaic12
Aramaic Ministry on “You-Tube”
With advancements in technology, it is now possible to do things today that were impossible even five years ago. On “you-tube” it is possible for anyone to put together a television program and broadcast it globally-for free! I have hundreds of photographs and hours of video that I have taken in the Middle East when I was visiting the local Christians. A couple of years ago I put together some programs on a local station. Now I am taking the interviews that I have done and my photographs and video footage and am broadcasting them on “you-tube” on the internet. Finally, a friend of mine, Heather Nelson, is helping me to edit the footage, to download it and to upload it onto “youtube.” So far, I have videos of me preaching about Aramaic, “slide-shows,” interviews and Modern Aramaic and English interviews and programs. This has virtually unlimited potential. Please take a look at www.youtube.com/aramaic12.
Elephantine Aramaic Discovery
One of the most important Aramaic manuscript discoveries is the Elephantine Papyri. Now all of these ancient Aramaic documents are available in English translation. The Aramaic documents are written by a colony of Jewish mercenaries in southern Egypt. They date from the fifth century Before Christ. These Jewish settlers actually built a temple to Yahweh in Egypt. The documents allude to persons mentioned in the Old Testament. They give us important insight into the beliefs and practices of the Jewish people in ancient times and also in how Aramaic was spoken at that period. Certain of the letters are correspondence to the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem. Others are instructions on how to observe the Passover. There is a variety of documents, including legal and business archives. The book is entitled “The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-cultural Continuity and Change” by Bezalel Perten and J.J. Farber.
Magdala to be excavated!!!
According to the Sept/October 2007 edition of Biblical Archeological Review there is a major archeological excavation planned for the city of Magdala, the home of Christ’s disciple Mary Magdalene. The article states, “Given the Magdalene’s prominence in the Gospels, it is surprising that so little attention has focused on the town from which she came and by which she is known. Magdala is the Aramaic name of the site. The Arabic name of the site is Majdal, which obviously echoes the earlier Aramaic name. But the same place is referred to as Taricheaea by the Jewish historian Josephus and other ancient sources. The Hebrew form of the name is Migdol, which means “tower.” Taricheaea means “(salted) fish” in Greek, presumably the source fo the town’s wealth. Combining the two names-Magdala, meaning tower, and Taricheaea, meaning fish-suggests a (perhaps salted) fish tower.”
CONTACT Stephen Missick
PO Box 882 Shepherd TX 77371 stephenamissick@hotmail.com www.youtube.com/aramaic12
Did Jesus Speak Greek rather than Aramaic?
Most of the time, those who deny that Jesus spoke Aramaic are those who insist that Jesus spoke only Hebrew. However, there are those who believe that Jesus spoke only Greek. This is a minority position. Some of the people who argue for this point to the recent excavations of Sepphoris, Sepphoris was a Greek city that was very close to Nazareth. Certain scholars have taken extreme positions and have created a new Jesus who is a Greek philosopher of the Cynic tradition. (Richard Batey has written a book about the excavation of Sepphoris and is significance for Jesus studies entitled “Jesus and the Forgotten City.” The radical liberal John Dominic Crossan is identified with the position that Jesus was philosopher of the school of Cynicism. His opinions are so extreme that they border on the absurd.
Biblical Archeological Review has dealt with this controversy in a couple of interesting articles. One, from the July-August 2000 edition is entitled “How Jewish Was Sepphoris in Jesus’ Time” by Mark Chancey and Eric M. Meyers. Another from the “July-August 2007 edition is entitled “How Jewish was Jesus’ Galilee” by Mark A. Chancey. In the 2000 article a subsection dealing with the issue is entitled “Did Jesus Speak Greek?”
The article says, “Did Jesus speak Greek, in addition to Aramaic, the vernacular of Palestinian Jews at the turn of the era? If so, then the task of recovering Jesus’ teachings would be easier, because scholars would no longer have to wonder what nuances were lost when Jesus’ words were translated from the original Aramaic into the Greek of the New Testament Gospels. Indeed, if Jesus spoke Greek, then some of the teachings recorded in the Gospels might preserve his exact words. Many scholars, citing Greek inscriptions found in Lower Galilee as evidence that the language was widely spoken there, contend that Jesus probably did speak Greek. They point out that Jesus’ home village, Nazareth, was barely 4 miles, or an hour’s walk, from cosmopolitan Sepporis; therefore, they argue, Jesus could hardly have avoided knowing at least a little Greek. In fact, the evidence for the use of Greek in Galilee before and during the time of Jesus is extremely limited…For the most part, however, our evidence for the use of Greek in Galilee postdates the first century AD…” We must also remember the Christian Palestinian Aramaic New Testament fragments that shows that Aramaic continued to be the language spoken in the Holy Land, even centuries after the time of Jesus. So, the witness of the New Testament that clearly states that Aramaic was the language of Jesus Christ still stands. I am concerned how that certain people attack “Greco-Roman Christianity” and the (so-called) “Greek Jesus” without a proper understanding of Hellenism. The strength of Western Civilization comes from its fusion of Greco-Roman rationalism with Semitic (or Biblical) spirituality. I feel that everything that Western Civilization has achieved, in science, medicine, music and the arts is derived from the union of Greco-Roman thinking with Christian monotheism. The Greek and Roman world had its strengths and its weaknesses. I focus on the Aramaic background of Jesus and the apostles but I will not demonize the Greek and Roman cultures.
The Barnabas Fund Helps Aramaic Christians
I am greatly impressed with the work of The Barnabas Fund with helping suffering Assyrian Christians.
www.barnabasfund.org.
Voice of the Martyrs on Iraq
I am greatly disappointed with “Voice of the Martyrs.” If you want to help suffering Christians, do NOT give to the Voice of the Martyrs but instead donate money to the Barnabas Fund. My problem with the VOM is this: they claim to be a “Voice” for Martyrs-and yet the refuse to report on the persecution of the Christians of Iraq. Even the liberal anti-Christ news media has reported on the persecution of Iraq’s Assyrian Christians in their 2 December 2007 edition of the “60 minutes” news program. However, in their January “Special Edition” of the “Voice of the Martyrs” there is a report on several (about 50) countries and Iraq has gotten a short blurb:
“Iraq has experiences a troubled history since Bible times. US military operations have both helped and hindered Iraqi Christians. Fighting between Muslim factions has directed attention away from Christians for the time being. There are around 70 evangelical congregations in Iraq, but conversions are doing little more than replacing emigrating Christians Muslim 96.85%, Christians 1.55%. Iraq is a complex mix of severe persecution and a place of increased freedom for believers and evangelism. Since 2003 there has been a mass exodus of Christians from Iraq. Many of those who stay behind have been kidnapped. Amidst the chaos of a country being rebuild with ongoing conflict, many churches have succumbed to threats and a spirit of fear by closing the doors in 2007. The few churches that remain recognized the potential for division and have begun meeting to encourage each other. One church reports of an outreach to Muslims that began when one person came asking about Christianity. Muslim converts now tell others about the ministry.”
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY REVIEW MAGAZINE’S ARTICLE ON ARAMAIC
In the January-February article of BAR there is a short article on Aramaic. See Page 12:
“The language that Jesus spoke has been preserved for thousands of years in the mountains of Syria. The streets and shops of a tiny village called Maloula (population: 5,000) are some of the last places on earth where you can still hear Aramaic being spoken. Aramaic, a 3,000 year-old language closely related to Hebrew, was once the main commercial and diplomatic language of the ancient near east. Hebrew had been the dominant language in the ancient Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah, but by the time the exiles returned to Judah from the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century B.C., the Jewish people were speaking Aramaic.
As Aramaic became the popular language, few could understand Hebrew anymore. Although Hebrew was the original language of the Scriptures, it was gradually relegated to religious settings. Hellenistic influence also brought Greek into use throughout the region in the fourth and third centuries BC.
It is likely that Jesus understood both Hebrew and Greek because of his knowledge of scripture and his childhood in a heavily Hellenized area of Galilee, However, he would have primarily spoken a dialect called Palestinians Aramaic in his everyday conversation and teaching.
Aramaic gradually fell out of use as Greek and ultimately Arabic spread throughout the region. Yet the remote location of Maloula protected its people and its language from invasion by foreign influences over the centuries.
The people of Maloula and the Syrian government are working hard to preserve their unique linguistic heritage. A special school has been set up to help students of all ages learn or refresh Aramaic skills and, now, to write his traditionally oral language. Many of the religious people here take very seriously what they believe is their responsibility to, quite literally, keep the words of Jesus alive.” Written by Dorothy D. Resig.
I have visited Maloula many times. I think the article is a little inaccurate because the government of Syria has actually spent a lot of money in an effort to Islamicize and Arabize Maloula. The building of the Aramaic school was delayed for years while the government spent a lot of money building mosques and housing for Arab Moslems so that they could dominate this ancient Aramaic Christian village. I love Syria but there are serious problems with its regime.
There was a huge attack against Christians in Syria in the late 1800s. The Moslems massacred many. This is discussed in “The Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840” by Ronald Florence. There are actually two Aramaic speaking Islamic villages outside of Maloula. During the attacks in the late 1800s the neighboring villages were forced to convert to Islam. Maloula was probably spared because, at the time it was a very isolated village. Now, because of modern transportation it is a short drive from Damascus. It is about a 45 minute bus ride. Everyone in Maloula speaks Arabic now, in addition to their Aramaic-however, Aramaic seems alive and well. For the time being at any rate. We need to pray that Syria would cease to be a puppet state of Iran and that Iran and Syria’s ability to spread murder and mayhem would soon be severely limited.
I sent a letter to BAR thanking them for writing about Aramaic. What does concern me is that from time to time articles about Maloula appear which insinuate that Maloula is the only place where Aramaic is spoken. Of course the Assyrians speak Aramaic as well. I also sent Dorothy Resig a copy of my booklet “What Language Did Jesus Speak?” In my letter I also mentioned the efforts of Aramaic Bible Translation (www.aramaicbible.org) to translate the Bible into all the modern forms of Aramaic.
In Maloula they speak “Western Aramaic.” The Assyrians speak “Eastern Aramaic.” These are two different dialects of the Aramaic language.
Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth
Hopefully, my new book “Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth” will be available very soon. The DVD edition of the book as well is available from William Brooks, Big Blue Windmill Productions, PO Box 10174, College Station, TX 77842)
www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/aramaic12
Aramaic Ministry on “You-Tube”
With advancements in technology, it is now possible to do things today that were impossible even five years ago. On “you-tube” it is possible for anyone to put together a television program and broadcast it globally-for free! I have hundreds of photographs and hours of video that I have taken in the Middle East when I was visiting the local Christians. A couple of years ago I put together some programs on a local station. Now I am taking the interviews that I have done and my photographs and video footage and am broadcasting them on “you-tube” on the internet. Finally, a friend of mine, Heather Nelson, is helping me to edit the footage, to download it and to upload it onto “youtube.” So far, I have videos of me preaching about Aramaic, “slide-shows,” interviews and Modern Aramaic and English interviews and programs. This has virtually unlimited potential. Please take a look at www.youtube.com/aramaic12.
Elephantine Aramaic Discovery
One of the most important Aramaic manuscript discoveries is the Elephantine Papyri. Now all of these ancient Aramaic documents are available in English translation. The Aramaic documents are written by a colony of Jewish mercenaries in southern Egypt. They date from the fifth century Before Christ. These Jewish settlers actually built a temple to Yahweh in Egypt. The documents allude to persons mentioned in the Old Testament. They give us important insight into the beliefs and practices of the Jewish people in ancient times and also in how Aramaic was spoken at that period. Certain of the letters are correspondence to the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem. Others are instructions on how to observe the Passover. There is a variety of documents, including legal and business archives. The book is entitled “The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-cultural Continuity and Change” by Bezalel Perten and J.J. Farber.
Magdala to be excavated!!!
According to the Sept/October 2007 edition of Biblical Archeological Review there is a major archeological excavation planned for the city of Magdala, the home of Christ’s disciple Mary Magdalene. The article states, “Given the Magdalene’s prominence in the Gospels, it is surprising that so little attention has focused on the town from which she came and by which she is known. Magdala is the Aramaic name of the site. The Arabic name of the site is Majdal, which obviously echoes the earlier Aramaic name. But the same place is referred to as Taricheaea by the Jewish historian Josephus and other ancient sources. The Hebrew form of the name is Migdol, which means “tower.” Taricheaea means “(salted) fish” in Greek, presumably the source fo the town’s wealth. Combining the two names-Magdala, meaning tower, and Taricheaea, meaning fish-suggests a (perhaps salted) fish tower.”
CONTACT Stephen Missick
PO Box 882 Shepherd TX 77371 stephenamissick@hotmail.com www.youtube.com/aramaic12
Did Jesus Speak Greek rather than Aramaic?
Most of the time, those who deny that Jesus spoke Aramaic are those who insist that Jesus spoke only Hebrew. However, there are those who believe that Jesus spoke only Greek. This is a minority position. Some of the people who argue for this point to the recent excavations of Sepphoris, Sepphoris was a Greek city that was very close to Nazareth. Certain scholars have taken extreme positions and have created a new Jesus who is a Greek philosopher of the Cynic tradition. (Richard Batey has written a book about the excavation of Sepphoris and is significance for Jesus studies entitled “Jesus and the Forgotten City.” The radical liberal John Dominic Crossan is identified with the position that Jesus was philosopher of the school of Cynicism. His opinions are so extreme that they border on the absurd.
Biblical Archeological Review has dealt with this controversy in a couple of interesting articles. One, from the July-August 2000 edition is entitled “How Jewish Was Sepphoris in Jesus’ Time” by Mark Chancey and Eric M. Meyers. Another from the “July-August 2007 edition is entitled “How Jewish was Jesus’ Galilee” by Mark A. Chancey. In the 2000 article a subsection dealing with the issue is entitled “Did Jesus Speak Greek?”
The article says, “Did Jesus speak Greek, in addition to Aramaic, the vernacular of Palestinian Jews at the turn of the era? If so, then the task of recovering Jesus’ teachings would be easier, because scholars would no longer have to wonder what nuances were lost when Jesus’ words were translated from the original Aramaic into the Greek of the New Testament Gospels. Indeed, if Jesus spoke Greek, then some of the teachings recorded in the Gospels might preserve his exact words. Many scholars, citing Greek inscriptions found in Lower Galilee as evidence that the language was widely spoken there, contend that Jesus probably did speak Greek. They point out that Jesus’ home village, Nazareth, was barely 4 miles, or an hour’s walk, from cosmopolitan Sepporis; therefore, they argue, Jesus could hardly have avoided knowing at least a little Greek. In fact, the evidence for the use of Greek in Galilee before and during the time of Jesus is extremely limited…For the most part, however, our evidence for the use of Greek in Galilee postdates the first century AD…” We must also remember the Christian Palestinian Aramaic New Testament fragments that shows that Aramaic continued to be the language spoken in the Holy Land, even centuries after the time of Jesus. So, the witness of the New Testament that clearly states that Aramaic was the language of Jesus Christ still stands. I am concerned how that certain people attack “Greco-Roman Christianity” and the (so-called) “Greek Jesus” without a proper understanding of Hellenism. The strength of Western Civilization comes from its fusion of Greco-Roman rationalism with Semitic (or Biblical) spirituality. I feel that everything that Western Civilization has achieved, in science, medicine, music and the arts is derived from the union of Greco-Roman thinking with Christian monotheism. The Greek and Roman world had its strengths and its weaknesses. I focus on the Aramaic background of Jesus and the apostles but I will not demonize the Greek and Roman cultures.
The Barnabas Fund Helps Aramaic Christians
I am greatly impressed with the work of The Barnabas Fund with helping suffering Assyrian Christians.
www.barnabasfund.org.
Voice of the Martyrs on Iraq
I am greatly disappointed with “Voice of the Martyrs.” If you want to help suffering Christians, do NOT give to the Voice of the Martyrs but instead donate money to the Barnabas Fund. My problem with the VOM is this: they claim to be a “Voice” for Martyrs-and yet the refuse to report on the persecution of the Christians of Iraq. Even the liberal anti-Christ news media has reported on the persecution of Iraq’s Assyrian Christians in their 2 December 2007 edition of the “60 minutes” news program. However, in their January “Special Edition” of the “Voice of the Martyrs” there is a report on several (about 50) countries and Iraq has gotten a short blurb:
“Iraq has experiences a troubled history since Bible times. US military operations have both helped and hindered Iraqi Christians. Fighting between Muslim factions has directed attention away from Christians for the time being. There are around 70 evangelical congregations in Iraq, but conversions are doing little more than replacing emigrating Christians Muslim 96.85%, Christians 1.55%. Iraq is a complex mix of severe persecution and a place of increased freedom for believers and evangelism. Since 2003 there has been a mass exodus of Christians from Iraq. Many of those who stay behind have been kidnapped. Amidst the chaos of a country being rebuild with ongoing conflict, many churches have succumbed to threats and a spirit of fear by closing the doors in 2007. The few churches that remain recognized the potential for division and have begun meeting to encourage each other. One church reports of an outreach to Muslims that began when one person came asking about Christianity. Muslim converts now tell others about the ministry.”
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY REVIEW MAGAZINE’S ARTICLE ON ARAMAIC
In the January-February article of BAR there is a short article on Aramaic. See Page 12:
“The language that Jesus spoke has been preserved for thousands of years in the mountains of Syria. The streets and shops of a tiny village called Maloula (population: 5,000) are some of the last places on earth where you can still hear Aramaic being spoken. Aramaic, a 3,000 year-old language closely related to Hebrew, was once the main commercial and diplomatic language of the ancient near east. Hebrew had been the dominant language in the ancient Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah, but by the time the exiles returned to Judah from the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century B.C., the Jewish people were speaking Aramaic.
As Aramaic became the popular language, few could understand Hebrew anymore. Although Hebrew was the original language of the Scriptures, it was gradually relegated to religious settings. Hellenistic influence also brought Greek into use throughout the region in the fourth and third centuries BC.
It is likely that Jesus understood both Hebrew and Greek because of his knowledge of scripture and his childhood in a heavily Hellenized area of Galilee, However, he would have primarily spoken a dialect called Palestinians Aramaic in his everyday conversation and teaching.
Aramaic gradually fell out of use as Greek and ultimately Arabic spread throughout the region. Yet the remote location of Maloula protected its people and its language from invasion by foreign influences over the centuries.
The people of Maloula and the Syrian government are working hard to preserve their unique linguistic heritage. A special school has been set up to help students of all ages learn or refresh Aramaic skills and, now, to write his traditionally oral language. Many of the religious people here take very seriously what they believe is their responsibility to, quite literally, keep the words of Jesus alive.” Written by Dorothy D. Resig.
I have visited Maloula many times. I think the article is a little inaccurate because the government of Syria has actually spent a lot of money in an effort to Islamicize and Arabize Maloula. The building of the Aramaic school was delayed for years while the government spent a lot of money building mosques and housing for Arab Moslems so that they could dominate this ancient Aramaic Christian village. I love Syria but there are serious problems with its regime.
There was a huge attack against Christians in Syria in the late 1800s. The Moslems massacred many. This is discussed in “The Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840” by Ronald Florence. There are actually two Aramaic speaking Islamic villages outside of Maloula. During the attacks in the late 1800s the neighboring villages were forced to convert to Islam. Maloula was probably spared because, at the time it was a very isolated village. Now, because of modern transportation it is a short drive from Damascus. It is about a 45 minute bus ride. Everyone in Maloula speaks Arabic now, in addition to their Aramaic-however, Aramaic seems alive and well. For the time being at any rate. We need to pray that Syria would cease to be a puppet state of Iran and that Iran and Syria’s ability to spread murder and mayhem would soon be severely limited.
I sent a letter to BAR thanking them for writing about Aramaic. What does concern me is that from time to time articles about Maloula appear which insinuate that Maloula is the only place where Aramaic is spoken. Of course the Assyrians speak Aramaic as well. I also sent Dorothy Resig a copy of my booklet “What Language Did Jesus Speak?” In my letter I also mentioned the efforts of Aramaic Bible Translation (www.aramaicbible.org) to translate the Bible into all the modern forms of Aramaic.
In Maloula they speak “Western Aramaic.” The Assyrians speak “Eastern Aramaic.” These are two different dialects of the Aramaic language.
Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth
Hopefully, my new book “Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth” will be available very soon. The DVD edition of the book as well is available from William Brooks, Big Blue Windmill Productions, PO Box 10174, College Station, TX 77842)
www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com
Reach Out Interview
www.ReachOUT.tv
By Gary ScaranoTo see more interviews, please go to www.ReachOUT.tv and click on Show Times on the left for broadcast times in your area. You may also watch onlineChristians Shot, Beheaded, Crucified, and Churches Boomed in Iraq
Stephen Messick on Patroll in Iraq
Pictures of Church Bombings In May 2004, ReachOUT.tv completed an interview with John Bucher, former head of the Communication Department at Nyack College. He was back from Iraq with video we broadcasted on our TV show (www.ReachOUT.org/johnbucher). The report told a positive story about “Jesus is the Light of the World Church” in Baghdad. Unfortunately, things have gotten the very bad. It is the worst time for Christians in Iraq for 100 years! There have been church bombings, shootings, beheadings, and crucifixions of Christians in Iraq. Despite three years of intense persecution there is a lack of awareness among America Christians and hardly any coverage from the media until recently. 60-Minutes, a CBS TV show, did a report on December 2, 2007, showing how all Baghdad churches and entire Christian neighborhoods have been abandoned. That many Christians are now refugees; and how the church has gone underground. Go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/29/60minutes/main3553612.shtml to see the video. Gary recently caught up with Rev. Sergeant Stephen Messick. He served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 & 2004. He was stationed in Baghdad and a Chaplin’s assistant, is an ordained minister and is attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has visited with refugees in the surrounding countries and is the author of two books The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic; and Treasures of the Language of Jesus.
Gary: What was your experience in Iraq.
Stephen Missick: I was deployed to Baghdad at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While there, I was interfaced with Iraqi Christians, and although there was some violence against Christians, it was not widespread. It seemed Christians and Muslims were getting along.
GS: What happen?
SM: At the end of 2004, violence against Christians erupted. I went back and visited with some Christian refugees in Syria.
GS: What triggered this?
SM: I believed foreign Islamic radicals backed by al-Qaeda went in to implement Islamic law. Insurgent’s targeted Christians. Sending threatening letters, bombing churches, and murdering them. There have been decapitations and crucifixions. In the city of Mosul, they randomly took Christians young men and decapitated them. In 2007, right after services in The Holy Ghost Church, the Pastor and two deacons were shot and killed by Muslim extremists. There is the story about a 14-year-old Assyrian Christian named Ayad. At work, insurgents asked for his ID, which has your religion on it. The insurgents asked, “Are you a Christian sinner." He replied, "…I am Christian, but I am not a sinner.” The insurgents beheaded him right there.
GS: You have been in contact with Christians in Iraq since the 60-minute report.
SM: Yes, people are afraid to go to church service. It’s dangerous and they could be shot. There is constant a treat of violence. Some have received threatening messages from extremist Muslims saying if they don’t convert, they will be killed.
GS: Under Saddam Hussein, Christians seem to live without the treat of violence…
SM: He was a terrible dictator, but he did not persecute Christians. With Saddam removed, there is no one left to stop the violence. Even though Christians have been there for hundreds of years, there are those who want the country to be only Islamic and want Christians removed.
GS: The 60-Minute report mentioned Christians do not want the Military’s protection, since they were concerned about being viewed as collaborating with the enemy.
SM: I’ve asked my friends in Iraq and they tell me this is not true, All Iraqi’s want the violence to end and to be protected. Churches are closed down and there are hundreds of thousands of refuges in Jordan, Syria and northern Iraq. They’ve lost their homes and all they have is the cloths on their back. This is a difficult time for Christians in Iraq.
GS: What can we do here in America?
SM: We need to get the word out; to pray; and write to our elective representatives to express our concern about this religious genocide and to help the refugees. There are also organizations like the www.BarnabusFund.org. They provide basic services to refugees. Before the war there was about 1 million Christians in Iraq. About half have had to flee. I believe in the power of prayer, so please pray for the Christians in Iraq surrounding countries.
Some facts and pictures were provided with permission by Assyrian International News Agency www.aina.org
For more information, go to www.ReachOUT.tv or www.ROCC.tv, email info@ReachOUT.org.
Broadcast via cable into 3.7 million homes in the NY Metro area. ReachOUT…He is not Far…
“Jesus is the Light of the World” Church
By Gary ScaranoTo see more interviews, please go to www.ReachOUT.tv and click on Show Times on the left for broadcast times in your area. You may also watch onlineChristians Shot, Beheaded, Crucified, and Churches Boomed in Iraq
Stephen Messick on Patroll in Iraq
Pictures of Church Bombings In May 2004, ReachOUT.tv completed an interview with John Bucher, former head of the Communication Department at Nyack College. He was back from Iraq with video we broadcasted on our TV show (www.ReachOUT.org/johnbucher). The report told a positive story about “Jesus is the Light of the World Church” in Baghdad. Unfortunately, things have gotten the very bad. It is the worst time for Christians in Iraq for 100 years! There have been church bombings, shootings, beheadings, and crucifixions of Christians in Iraq. Despite three years of intense persecution there is a lack of awareness among America Christians and hardly any coverage from the media until recently. 60-Minutes, a CBS TV show, did a report on December 2, 2007, showing how all Baghdad churches and entire Christian neighborhoods have been abandoned. That many Christians are now refugees; and how the church has gone underground. Go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/29/60minutes/main3553612.shtml to see the video. Gary recently caught up with Rev. Sergeant Stephen Messick. He served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 & 2004. He was stationed in Baghdad and a Chaplin’s assistant, is an ordained minister and is attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has visited with refugees in the surrounding countries and is the author of two books The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic; and Treasures of the Language of Jesus.
Gary: What was your experience in Iraq.
Stephen Missick: I was deployed to Baghdad at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While there, I was interfaced with Iraqi Christians, and although there was some violence against Christians, it was not widespread. It seemed Christians and Muslims were getting along.
GS: What happen?
SM: At the end of 2004, violence against Christians erupted. I went back and visited with some Christian refugees in Syria.
GS: What triggered this?
SM: I believed foreign Islamic radicals backed by al-Qaeda went in to implement Islamic law. Insurgent’s targeted Christians. Sending threatening letters, bombing churches, and murdering them. There have been decapitations and crucifixions. In the city of Mosul, they randomly took Christians young men and decapitated them. In 2007, right after services in The Holy Ghost Church, the Pastor and two deacons were shot and killed by Muslim extremists. There is the story about a 14-year-old Assyrian Christian named Ayad. At work, insurgents asked for his ID, which has your religion on it. The insurgents asked, “Are you a Christian sinner." He replied, "…I am Christian, but I am not a sinner.” The insurgents beheaded him right there.
GS: You have been in contact with Christians in Iraq since the 60-minute report.
SM: Yes, people are afraid to go to church service. It’s dangerous and they could be shot. There is constant a treat of violence. Some have received threatening messages from extremist Muslims saying if they don’t convert, they will be killed.
GS: Under Saddam Hussein, Christians seem to live without the treat of violence…
SM: He was a terrible dictator, but he did not persecute Christians. With Saddam removed, there is no one left to stop the violence. Even though Christians have been there for hundreds of years, there are those who want the country to be only Islamic and want Christians removed.
GS: The 60-Minute report mentioned Christians do not want the Military’s protection, since they were concerned about being viewed as collaborating with the enemy.
SM: I’ve asked my friends in Iraq and they tell me this is not true, All Iraqi’s want the violence to end and to be protected. Churches are closed down and there are hundreds of thousands of refuges in Jordan, Syria and northern Iraq. They’ve lost their homes and all they have is the cloths on their back. This is a difficult time for Christians in Iraq.
GS: What can we do here in America?
SM: We need to get the word out; to pray; and write to our elective representatives to express our concern about this religious genocide and to help the refugees. There are also organizations like the www.BarnabusFund.org. They provide basic services to refugees. Before the war there was about 1 million Christians in Iraq. About half have had to flee. I believe in the power of prayer, so please pray for the Christians in Iraq surrounding countries.
Some facts and pictures were provided with permission by Assyrian International News Agency www.aina.org
For more information, go to www.ReachOUT.tv or www.ROCC.tv, email info@ReachOUT.org.
Broadcast via cable into 3.7 million homes in the NY Metro area. ReachOUT…He is not Far…
“Jesus is the Light of the World” Church
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy New Year
On December 2nd the 60 minutes news program did a report on the Aramaic Christians of Iraq and even mentioned the Aramaic language. The episode is called "The Purge" check it out at the 60 minutes website!It is a pity that the news is getting out so late-but at least it is getting out-also remember my program on The Crossover that is on "youtube." (You can find it under “Crossover Productions.”)
Biblical Archeological Review has a short article on Aramaic in the Jan-Feb edition. It is on page 12 and 13.
Smithsonian Magazine has an article on Ethiopian Christians in the December 2007 edition.
I have done an interview with http://www.reachout.org/ about the persecution of the Assyrians. Check it out.
According to ancient Church tradition, Christianity was brought to Mesopotamia by Thaddeus of the seventy disciples of Jesus (Luke 10:1) and by St. Thomas, one of Christ’s original twelve disciples. The Christians of this region spoke Syriac, an Aramaic dialect very similar to the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus Christ. Many important theologians, such as Ephraim the Syrian and St. Isaac of Nineveh were Mesopotamian Christians who wrote in Syriac Aramaic. The Assyrian Church of the East, formerly known as the Nestorian Church, was very active in missions and planted churches in Mongolia, China, India, and Socotra. These mission churches flourished for centuries but, with the exception of India, have disappeared largely as the result of Islamic persecution. In the region of northern Iraq, southern Turkey and western Iran a remnant of Assyrian Christians survived, although their numbers were decimated by the genocide of Armenian and Assyrian Christians carried out by Turkish soldiers during World War I. The Assyrians still speak a modern form of Aramaic.
In a census carried out in 1987 there were found to be one million Christians in Iraq. Due to the instability in the region and the lure of a better life in the west the number has declined to perhaps as low as 600,000.
With the arrival of American forces the situation for Christians in Iraq has deteriorated. Sadly, it was more secure under Saddam Hussein that it currently is with the presence of U.S. soldiers. Christians were allowed to worship in peace. There was some ethnic persecution of Christians. Saddam Hussein didn’t want to acknowledge the ethnicity of the Assyrians or recognize the Aramaic language. He wanted Christians to become Christian Arabs and become more Arabized. After the ouster of Saddam Islamic radicals have begun attacking Iraq’s Christians. In the beginning of the war, young Christian women who worked on American bases and Christian merchants that sold alcohol were attacked and murdered. During the summer of 2004 the attacked intensified with synchronized bombings of churches across Iraq. Christians have been attacked all across Iraq, in the northern region around Mosul (ancient Nineveh), in Baghdad and in Basra in the south. Christian boys have been beheaded. There are even reports of crucifixions of Christians. Clergy have been targeted. Pastors and deacons have been murdered immediately after services. Baghdad is the most dangerous region. For this reason, many Christians have fled. Many have fled north to Kurdistan, which is the ancestral homeland for many Assyrians. Over a hundred thousand have fled the country and are stranded as refugees in Syria and Jordan. Another serious problem is ransom kidnappings. It seems every week there is a Christian taken hostage by Moslem terrorist who threaten to murder the victim unless the family pays them an exorbitant amount of money. Christians have been forced to keep a low profile. Many are afraid to attend church services. Several churches have been abandoned. In certain regions in Baghdad have become completely depleted of Christians. The Christians have fled for their lives and are now in northern Iraq or are stranded in exile in neighboring countries.
Despite four years of intense persecution there has been an acute lack of awareness of the situation among America’s Evangelical Christian community and scarcely any reporting of it through the news media until recently.
What should be done? Believing in the power of prayer as I do, I feel the key is this; to be informed and to pray. I also believe Christians need to voice their concerns about the situation to the government. Many Assyrian Christians desire an Assyrian safe haven where they can live in peace in security in their homeland. We don’t want special rights or privileges for Christians, what we want is full equal rights as citizens of Iraq. The Iraqi government should also encourage the use of the Aramaic language and also allow an Iraqi Christian television station, radio station and print media. American Christians should give to help to re-settle Iraqi Christians in their homeland or help them re-settle in the United States, Australia or Europe. Perhaps with the decrease of violence in Iraq the country will once again be safe for Christians to worship their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, freely, openly and without fear. This should be our prayer. Groups such as the Barnabas Fund and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association are providing humanitarian assistance to the suffering Aramaic Christians of Iraq.
(There are a variety of Christian denominations in Iraq. Most Iraqi Christians belong to the Chaldean Church, an Aramaic Church that has come under the authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Another important church is the Syrian Orthodox Church. There is a small and fledgling Protestant community. Most Assyrian Protestants come from a Presbyterian background but there are non-denominational Assyrian Bible churches. The Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Cardinal Emmanuel Dilly, has spoken out against the Evangelicals. So much for Christian unity! Another Aramaic group, the Disciples of Saint John the Baptist, called the Mandaeans, have also been suffering terribly under the persecution.)
Stephen Andrew Missick served in Iraq as a soldier during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and 2004. He was stationed in Baghdad. He is an ordained minister of the Gospel and is attending seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written articles on the history of the Assyrian Church of the East for the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. He has visited with Assyrian refugees in the surrounding countries. He is the author of The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic Roots of Christianity and Treasures of the Language of Jesus: The Aramaic Source of Christ’s Teachings.
The Situation for Christians in Iraq
HALF of Iraq’s Christians have fled since the outbreak of intense violence against them that broke out in late 2004 and has continued until now. There are over 300,000 refugees stranded in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Syria. There were over one million Christians in Iraq. The number has declined to about 600,000.
THE situation in Baghdad: Many churches have been abandoned. Over 12 major churches are now vacant. Certain Christian neighborhoods in Baghdad are now completely devoid of Christians. Remaining Christians are afraid to attend church services due to fear of violence against them. many have fled-leaving Iraq completely or fleeing to northern Iraq, a region called “Kurdistan<” where they face poverty and destitution. ISLAMIC radicals have made threats. Threatening messages have been sent to Christians. Copies of these threatening messages can be seen in the Barnabas Fund magazine. The messages warn them to convert to Islam, flee or be killed. VIOLENT attacks on Christians have continued. Violence against Christians is the worst it has been in 100 years. Assyrian young men have been kidnapped and decapitated. (Including 14 year old Ayad Tariq.) Certain Christians have also been crucified. Over 30 churches have been attacked or bombed since 2003. Several pastors have been killed. This year the pastor and deacons of the Holy Ghost Church were killed by Islamic terrorists after services. WHO are Iraq’s Christians? The Assyrian Christians of Iraq still speak Aramaic-the language that was spoken by Jesus Christ. The Christian community of Iraq is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. According to tradition it was founded by St. Thomas and Saint Thaddeus. Roman Catholic Iraqis are called Chaldeans. WHERE can I get more information? Stephen Andrew Missick has written “The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic Roots of Christianity” and “Treasures of the Language of Jesus: The Aramaic Source of Christ’s Teachings” which introduce the importance of Aramaic and who the Aramaic Christians are. The Assyrian International News Agency has published a report on the persecution of Assyrians entitled “Incipient Genocide” The Ethnic Cleansing of the Assyrians of Iraq” (http://www.aina.org/). Information can also be found on Zinda Magazine On-line and http://www.nineveh.com/.
WHAT can be done? (Or “What can I do to help?)
Be informed
Pray
Give “The Barnabas Fund” http://www.barnabasfund.org/ PO Box 6336 McLean VA 1210 and “Aramaic Bible Translators” who are working to preserve the Aramaic language and provide Iraqi Christians with Bibles in their own language
Biblical Archeological Review has a short article on Aramaic in the Jan-Feb edition. It is on page 12 and 13.
Smithsonian Magazine has an article on Ethiopian Christians in the December 2007 edition.
I have done an interview with http://www.reachout.org/ about the persecution of the Assyrians. Check it out.
According to ancient Church tradition, Christianity was brought to Mesopotamia by Thaddeus of the seventy disciples of Jesus (Luke 10:1) and by St. Thomas, one of Christ’s original twelve disciples. The Christians of this region spoke Syriac, an Aramaic dialect very similar to the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus Christ. Many important theologians, such as Ephraim the Syrian and St. Isaac of Nineveh were Mesopotamian Christians who wrote in Syriac Aramaic. The Assyrian Church of the East, formerly known as the Nestorian Church, was very active in missions and planted churches in Mongolia, China, India, and Socotra. These mission churches flourished for centuries but, with the exception of India, have disappeared largely as the result of Islamic persecution. In the region of northern Iraq, southern Turkey and western Iran a remnant of Assyrian Christians survived, although their numbers were decimated by the genocide of Armenian and Assyrian Christians carried out by Turkish soldiers during World War I. The Assyrians still speak a modern form of Aramaic.
In a census carried out in 1987 there were found to be one million Christians in Iraq. Due to the instability in the region and the lure of a better life in the west the number has declined to perhaps as low as 600,000.
With the arrival of American forces the situation for Christians in Iraq has deteriorated. Sadly, it was more secure under Saddam Hussein that it currently is with the presence of U.S. soldiers. Christians were allowed to worship in peace. There was some ethnic persecution of Christians. Saddam Hussein didn’t want to acknowledge the ethnicity of the Assyrians or recognize the Aramaic language. He wanted Christians to become Christian Arabs and become more Arabized. After the ouster of Saddam Islamic radicals have begun attacking Iraq’s Christians. In the beginning of the war, young Christian women who worked on American bases and Christian merchants that sold alcohol were attacked and murdered. During the summer of 2004 the attacked intensified with synchronized bombings of churches across Iraq. Christians have been attacked all across Iraq, in the northern region around Mosul (ancient Nineveh), in Baghdad and in Basra in the south. Christian boys have been beheaded. There are even reports of crucifixions of Christians. Clergy have been targeted. Pastors and deacons have been murdered immediately after services. Baghdad is the most dangerous region. For this reason, many Christians have fled. Many have fled north to Kurdistan, which is the ancestral homeland for many Assyrians. Over a hundred thousand have fled the country and are stranded as refugees in Syria and Jordan. Another serious problem is ransom kidnappings. It seems every week there is a Christian taken hostage by Moslem terrorist who threaten to murder the victim unless the family pays them an exorbitant amount of money. Christians have been forced to keep a low profile. Many are afraid to attend church services. Several churches have been abandoned. In certain regions in Baghdad have become completely depleted of Christians. The Christians have fled for their lives and are now in northern Iraq or are stranded in exile in neighboring countries.
Despite four years of intense persecution there has been an acute lack of awareness of the situation among America’s Evangelical Christian community and scarcely any reporting of it through the news media until recently.
What should be done? Believing in the power of prayer as I do, I feel the key is this; to be informed and to pray. I also believe Christians need to voice their concerns about the situation to the government. Many Assyrian Christians desire an Assyrian safe haven where they can live in peace in security in their homeland. We don’t want special rights or privileges for Christians, what we want is full equal rights as citizens of Iraq. The Iraqi government should also encourage the use of the Aramaic language and also allow an Iraqi Christian television station, radio station and print media. American Christians should give to help to re-settle Iraqi Christians in their homeland or help them re-settle in the United States, Australia or Europe. Perhaps with the decrease of violence in Iraq the country will once again be safe for Christians to worship their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, freely, openly and without fear. This should be our prayer. Groups such as the Barnabas Fund and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association are providing humanitarian assistance to the suffering Aramaic Christians of Iraq.
(There are a variety of Christian denominations in Iraq. Most Iraqi Christians belong to the Chaldean Church, an Aramaic Church that has come under the authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Another important church is the Syrian Orthodox Church. There is a small and fledgling Protestant community. Most Assyrian Protestants come from a Presbyterian background but there are non-denominational Assyrian Bible churches. The Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Cardinal Emmanuel Dilly, has spoken out against the Evangelicals. So much for Christian unity! Another Aramaic group, the Disciples of Saint John the Baptist, called the Mandaeans, have also been suffering terribly under the persecution.)
Stephen Andrew Missick served in Iraq as a soldier during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and 2004. He was stationed in Baghdad. He is an ordained minister of the Gospel and is attending seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written articles on the history of the Assyrian Church of the East for the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. He has visited with Assyrian refugees in the surrounding countries. He is the author of The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic Roots of Christianity and Treasures of the Language of Jesus: The Aramaic Source of Christ’s Teachings.
The Situation for Christians in Iraq
HALF of Iraq’s Christians have fled since the outbreak of intense violence against them that broke out in late 2004 and has continued until now. There are over 300,000 refugees stranded in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Syria. There were over one million Christians in Iraq. The number has declined to about 600,000.
THE situation in Baghdad: Many churches have been abandoned. Over 12 major churches are now vacant. Certain Christian neighborhoods in Baghdad are now completely devoid of Christians. Remaining Christians are afraid to attend church services due to fear of violence against them. many have fled-leaving Iraq completely or fleeing to northern Iraq, a region called “Kurdistan<” where they face poverty and destitution. ISLAMIC radicals have made threats. Threatening messages have been sent to Christians. Copies of these threatening messages can be seen in the Barnabas Fund magazine. The messages warn them to convert to Islam, flee or be killed. VIOLENT attacks on Christians have continued. Violence against Christians is the worst it has been in 100 years. Assyrian young men have been kidnapped and decapitated. (Including 14 year old Ayad Tariq.) Certain Christians have also been crucified. Over 30 churches have been attacked or bombed since 2003. Several pastors have been killed. This year the pastor and deacons of the Holy Ghost Church were killed by Islamic terrorists after services. WHO are Iraq’s Christians? The Assyrian Christians of Iraq still speak Aramaic-the language that was spoken by Jesus Christ. The Christian community of Iraq is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. According to tradition it was founded by St. Thomas and Saint Thaddeus. Roman Catholic Iraqis are called Chaldeans. WHERE can I get more information? Stephen Andrew Missick has written “The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic Roots of Christianity” and “Treasures of the Language of Jesus: The Aramaic Source of Christ’s Teachings” which introduce the importance of Aramaic and who the Aramaic Christians are. The Assyrian International News Agency has published a report on the persecution of Assyrians entitled “Incipient Genocide” The Ethnic Cleansing of the Assyrians of Iraq” (http://www.aina.org/). Information can also be found on Zinda Magazine On-line and http://www.nineveh.com/.
WHAT can be done? (Or “What can I do to help?)
Be informed
Pray
Give “The Barnabas Fund” http://www.barnabasfund.org/ PO Box 6336 McLean VA 1210 and “Aramaic Bible Translators” who are working to preserve the Aramaic language and provide Iraqi Christians with Bibles in their own language
Friday, December 7, 2007
Chanukah
Of course Hanukkah is old Aramaic for “Dedication.” Aramaic plays an important part in the story of Hanukah. Judas changed his name to Maqqaba for the Aramaic word for “hammer” or “sledgehammer.” This Aramaic word gives us the name “Maccabee.” (Robert Graves in “King Jesus” argues that all the Maccabee brothers were “similarly nicknamed by their father after tools in his joiners chest-for example, Eleazar was called ‘Avaran,” the awl and Judah was named “Maqqaba” for “the Hammer.”) A Jewish account of the story of the Maccabbees is entitled “Megillat Aniochus” and is written in Aramaic. The story of Chanukah is found in the First and Second Book of Maccabees in Roman Catholic versions of the Holy Bible, or in translations of the Bible that include the Apocrypha. The story of the Maccabees (or the Hasmoneans) is also recorded in the books written by Flavius Josephus.
The Aramaic word Chanukah is found in the Aramaic sections of the Holy Bible (Ezra 6:16-17, Daniel 3:2-3). The Hebrew equivalent word is also found in the Old Testament (Numbers 7:84, 2 Chronicles 7:9, Nehemiah 12:27). It is defined in Strong’s Concordance as “consecration” and “dedication.” The Hebrew form can also mean initiation. The Greek word used to refer to Chanukah in the Gospel of John is “Egkainia” which is defined as renewal and dedication.
To understand the story of the Maccabees, you need to understand its historical background. This means understanding the Temple and understanding hellinization.
The Temple
An important part of Hannakah is the Temple. What is the Temple? When Moses was on Mount Sinai God showed him a vision of a place of worship. When he came down he instructed them to build a mobile temple, that was called the Tabernacle. A rectangular partition of curtains was erected. Inside was a tent. The tent had two divisions, a holy place and a most holy place. The inner sanctum is known as the Holy of Holies. There were important temple furnishings, including a seven branched lamp known as the Menorah and a chest that contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments. This chest was called “The Ark of the Covenant.” (Of course the Ark of the Covenant movie was featured in the popular movie “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”) God told the Israelites that there would be a place revealed to them when they settled in the land that would be set apart as a place of worship.
There were several “temples” built. Apparently, a “temple” was built in Shiloh. Samuel ministered to Yahweh in the Temple at Shiloah (1 Samuel 3:21). This temple was destroyed by the Philistines. Jeremiah prophesied that the temple of Yahweh would be destroyed the same way as the temple of Shiloah was destroyed (Jeremiah 7:12-14. 26:6-9). David had erected the “Tabernacle of David” on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. King Solomon, with the aide of the Phoenicians, built the temple on “Mount Moriah” in Jerusalem. (Mount Moriah, Zion and the Temple Mount are all names for the same place in Jerusalem.) The Babylonians destroyed the Temple on August 9, 587 BC.
The “Second” Temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel seventy-two years after its destruction. It was completed on March 12, 515 BC. In 19 BC, King Herod had the structure built by Zerubbabel totally demolished in order for a new much more lavish temple to be built. The Temple was completed on 64 AD, soon before the beginning of the Jewish War. When the Jewish War ended in 70 AD the Temple was destroyed. (The Jewish people call both Zerubbabel’s and Herod’s Temples the “Second Temple” although they were two entirely different structures.) The Temple Mount was left a ruin for many years. Finally, the Moslems built a mosque called the Dome of the Rock or the Mosque of Omar. It still stands there today. This mosque was used as a Christian chapel when the Christians ruled over Jerusalem during the Crusades. The mosque was designed and built by Christians for the Moslems initially. There hasn’t been a temple in Jerusalem for almost “two thousand years.”
There were other “Temples of Yahweh” that we know of. When the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylonian they refused to allow the Samaritans to help them build the temple. The Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizum, which they still believe to be the place chosen by God. The Romans destroyed this Temple.
Onias IV was the son of the murdered Jewish High Priest Onias III. He felt he was the legitimate high priest but his rightful place had been usurped by the new High Priest Alcimus. Onias fled to Egypt where he built a Jewish temple at Leontopolis which was built on the same pattern as the Temple of Jerusalem and offered the same rituals. This temple was in use for 230 years until it was destroyed by the Romans.
A Jewish community at Elephentine (Yeb) in southern Egypt also built a temple of Yahweh in Egypt. It stood from around 586 until 404 BC. A partially preserved temple of Yahweh built by King Solomon has been discovered in Arad, Israel. There have been 8 temples of Yahweh that we know of.
(Concerning how the Ark of the Covenant appeared. I believe a very interesting representation can be seen on the bibleorigins.net website, which is a secular humanist website.)
The Holy City
According to normative Judaism the only legitimate Temple is that of Jerusalem Even today in Judaism there is a strong belief that Jerusalem is a holy place-a link between earth and heaven. This is why many Jews pray at the “wailing wall” in Jerusalem. The Temple in Jerusalem is very important in Biblical Judaism. This is the place where the name of the Lord is to be made great before all of the world. It was the only place were animal sacrifices for the atonement of sins could be offered. For Jesus and the Apostles Jerusalem was a place of prayer.
The Rise of Greek Civilization
Alexander the Great was a Macedonian. Macedonians were probably Celtic (they had their own non-Greek language) but became “hellenophile.” They copied Greek ways and promoted Greek culture. They were a warrior people. Alexander’s father was Phillip of Macedon. He united all the Greeks under his rule. Alexander as a child studied under the great philosopher Aristotle. When Phillip was assassinated Alexander became king. Some people suspect Alexander of being behind the assassination. If he wasn’t it is very possible his mother was. Alexander then went on the fight the Persian empire and to destroy it and its ruler, Darius. Alexander then went on to attempt to conquer the known world. He made it as far as India and had to turn back due to lack of morale among his soldiers and his being injured in a battle. After returning to Babylon he died in the year 323 at the age of 32. There are several good books on Alexander the Great. Oliver Stone made a movie on Alexander. There are three versions of the film. Two of them over-emphasize the fact that Alexander was bi-sexual. The film leaves out certain important episodes in Alexander’s life such as his battle against the Phoenicians and his time in Egypt, which was pivotal in his life. It also spends too much time on his relationship with his gay lovers and Roxana and fails to show the fact that he had other wives. It does have good sequences in it such as the Battle of Gaugamela and a battle in India.) After Alexander died his kingdom was divided among four of his generals. Alexander spread the Greek language and culture across the world. Some of the early church fathers felt that this was divine providence, that God was preparing the world for the coming of the Gospel through Alexander spreading Greek, a unified language, and the Romans who brought peace and built roads, which the apostles would use to travel the world and share the message of Jesus. There are stories that Alexander was received into Jerusalem in peace and that he went and prayed to God at the temple. This is probably true. Alexander was respectful of different traditions and different gods. When the empire was divided Israel was under the rule of the Ptolemys’ in Egypt. There was peace. However, later Israel came under the control of the Seleucid Greeks of Syria. Many of the Jewish people preferred Ptolemaic rule and there was dissent. (I think that we should remember that the Greeks made many positive contributions, in science, in medicine, in art, and literature and in the philosophy and ethics of Aristotle. The Selucid paganism was not normative of all Greek culture. However, there were also negative aspects of Greek culture, especially from a conservative Jewish perspective. In the gymnasiums young people exercised and competed in the nude. This was viewed as offensive and improper by observant Jews. Certain Greek men used little boys as catamites, children to be kept as slaves for the purpose of being sexually abused. Practices like this rightly offended religious Jews. Many young people abandoning the traditional Jewish way of life and beginning to ape Greek ways was also a source of conflict.)
The Chanukah Story
Finally, their arose a Syrian Greek leader named Antiochus Epiphanes. He decided that he would eliminate the Bible and all those who believed in it and lived their lives by it. He had all copies of the Bible confiscated and destroyed. The implemented an aggressive program of Hellenization. All Jews were to become Greek. They were to cease speaking Aramaic and Hebrew and to begin to speak Greek but also to adopt Greek modes of dressing, thinking and even worshiping. Copies of the Bible were confiscated and destroyed. Anyone who practiced Judaism was pronounced an enemy of the state. Antiochus then had to altar in the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem profaned. He had a statue of Zeus erected in the Inner Sanctum and had a pig sacrificed upon the altar. Soldiers came to the city of Modein in Judea and attempted to press the elderly Mattathias, a priest, to offer sacrifice to an idol. He refused. Then a Jewish man stepped up to volunteer. Suddenly, Mattathias was filled with righteous indignation. He quickly overcame the soldier and took his sword. With it he killed both the priest and the apostate Jew. Then he cried out, “All who are zealous for the Bible, follow me!” and he escaped into the hills with his sons.
NOTE: Just War Theory
Mattathias exercised his legitimate authority as the village elder of Modein. He took a stand-as a hero-his heroic act serves as an inspiration to others. Through his courageous act he changed the tide and altered the course of history.
Eventually, a small group of guerrillas organized there. Not long after Mattathias died of old age. Judah began to lead his small unequipped and untrained army. They defied the most powerful military force in the world and miraculously overcame it. In victory they took the Temple and cleansed, purified and re-dedicated it. They decreed that hereafter in thanksgiving, all Jews should remember this great victory and the dedication of the Temple. This new holiday was called Hannakuh, Aramaic for “Dedication.” In John 10:22, we find that Jesus celebrated this holiday. Unlike the holidays established by Moses, this holiday is not obligatory for the Jews to observe and yet Jesus chose to celebrate it and even travel to Jerusalem from Galilee in order to join in this celebration. On this day, Jesus revealed that he is part of the Trinity. Judah Maccabee went on to fight in other battles. Eventually, he died in battle. It seems to me that after Judah died, the Maccabees quickly declined. They continued to fight more, unnecessary battles. After the temple was liberated and religious freedom was established, in my view, it was time to lay down the sword. The Hasmonians also became corrupt and immoral and eventually were replaced by the rule of the Edomite King Herod
Where Does the Bible mention all of this?
The events celebrated at Hannukah and described in the Books of the Maccabees happened in what some Christians call “the 400 silent years.” The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi was written very close to the year 400 AD. Jesus was born near 1 AD and John began prophesying sometime before 27 AD. This could also be called the “Inter-testamental” period, that is the period between the Old and New Testaments. Jesus spoke of this “Abomination of Desolation” in Matthew 24:15. In Daniel 11:31 this events were prophesied... Before Judah began his revolution there was terrible persecution and many martyrs were slowly tortured to death by the Greek pagans. This seems to be alluded to in the Book of Hebrews 11:33-39 were we find allusions to 2 Maccabees 6:18-31 and 2 Maccabees chapter 7. In John 10:22 the story of Christ’s celebration of Hannukah is recounted.
That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for Hannukah, One day he was walking in that part of the Temple known as Solomon’s porch. And the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” Jesus answered, “I have told you and you refused to believe. The things that I do in my Father’s name show who I am…I and my Father are one.” Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones in order to kill Jesus. But he said, “I have shown you many good things that my Father sent me to do. Which one are you going to kill me for?” They answered.” We are not stoning you because of any good thing you did. We are stoning you because you did a terrible thing. You are just a man, and here you are claiming to be God.” Jesus replied, “In your Scriptures doesn’t God say, “You are gods”? You can’t argue with the Scriptures, and God spoke to those people and called them gods. So why do you accuse me of a terrible sins for saying that I am the Son of God?”
Jesus was quoting from Psalm 82
“God stands in the assembly of the gods, in the midst of the gods He judges. “ How long will you judge unjustly and respect the persons of the wicked?” Selah. Judge the poor and the fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the poor and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither do they understand; they go about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are moved. I said, “You are gods, and all of your sons of God. Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall possess all the nations.
The gods referred here seem to be unjust human rulers, kings, princes and judges.
Without a Hannukah there wouldn’t have been a Christmas
If the Hasmonians had not resisted and the efforts of the Greeks were successful, the Jewish people would have been exterminated. If that was the case there wouldn’t have been a people for the Messiah to come through. These events are important in how they prepared the world for the coming of Jesus and also influenced and created the historical background for the world of the New Testament.
The Festival of Lights and The Feast of Tabernacles
People often think of Chanukah as the Festival of Lights. This is not how it is presented in the Bible or how it was observed by Jesus Christ. There is story about a days supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days and for this miracle the celebration. Jewish people celebrate Hannakah with the Menorah. They have a special nine branched menorah for Hannakuh.
Hannakuh seems to have eight days because it is a second feast of Tabernacles. One of the reasons may have been because, due to the war, the Jewish people hadn’t been able to celebrate Sukkot.
The real “Festival of Lights” is the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus speaks of Himself being the “light of the world” when he was celebrating Sukkot-not when he was celebrating Chanukah (see John 8:12).
Modern Relevancy
The Cleansing of the Temple
The Bible speaks of our “bodies” being the temple of God. Peter speaks of his body being a “tabernacle.” Jesus re-enacted his own “cleansing of the Temple” shortly before his crucifixion. According to the Gospel of John, the body of Jesus is the new Temple (John 2:19-22). John also identifies Jesus as Beth-el, meaning “House of God” in John 1:50. (Angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, who is Jesus, is an allusion to “Jacob’s Dream/Latter” that occurred at Beth-el, meaning “House of God” (Genesis 28:10-17).
Are our bodies or lives polluted or corrupted by things displeasing to God. What about our minds-do we have the mind of Christ? The Bible says, “Do not be conformed to the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Jesus says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings forth goodness from with in the evil man evil from within. Perhaps we need to do a spiritual house cleaning and a searching moral inventory.
It seems to me that we are again in a conflict with paganism-the way the Maccabees are and we need to stand up and work to defend God and his holy word in a wayward and sinful generation. We also see great intolerance and warring coming from Islamic extremist.
We see this in hostility to speaking the name of Jesus Christ. People are afraid to say “Merry Christmas” lest they cause offense! That is why you have “Seasons Greetings” and “Happy Holidays.” We have come to such a hostility towards religion in society that saying “Merry Christmas” has become a religious statement! Radical groups like the ACLU and “People for the American Way” even attack memorials to the dead if they have a cross or a Star of David. Most scholars no longer used “BC” and “AD.” History is being re-written either to omit contributions of Christianity or to characterize Christianity in as negative a light as possible. What can we do about this?
Historical Timeline of the Events Related to the Maccabees
223-166 BC Seleucid Rule
175-164 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes
168-167 Judaism prohibited
166-161 Judas Maccabeus
December 164 BC Temple re-taken and rededicated. The first Chanukah.
161-143 Jonathon
143-135 BC Simon (in 142 BC Simon was granted the status of ruler of an independent Judea)
RESOURCES on Chanukah: There were rumors of Mel Gibson’s planning on making a movie on the Maccabee’s but nothing ever came of it. Howard Fast My Glorious Brothers is a historical fiction novel that retells the story of the Maccabees. 1-4 Maccabees, The Works of Flavius Josephus. F.F. Bruce Israel and the Nations: The History of Israel from the Exodus to the Fall of the Second Temple, Mark Healy Warriors of the Old Testament, Joshua, King David, Nebuchadnezzer, Judas Maccabeus. Gregory Hildebradnt Treasures of Chanukah. .
CONTACT STEPHEN
PO BOX 882 Shepherd TX 77371 http://www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com/
Email: nestorius1@hotmail.com
New Resources on Aramaic: See the December 2, 2007 program on 60 minutes on the Aramaic Christians of Iraq entitled “The Purge.” Also please see “The Barnabas Fund” on how to help Iraqi Christians. I am preparing “Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth” which lists historical information confirming that Jesus spoke Aramaic and also explains why this is Important. Remember my books "The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic" "Mary of Magdala" and "Treasures of the Language of Jesus"
The Aramaic word Chanukah is found in the Aramaic sections of the Holy Bible (Ezra 6:16-17, Daniel 3:2-3). The Hebrew equivalent word is also found in the Old Testament (Numbers 7:84, 2 Chronicles 7:9, Nehemiah 12:27). It is defined in Strong’s Concordance as “consecration” and “dedication.” The Hebrew form can also mean initiation. The Greek word used to refer to Chanukah in the Gospel of John is “Egkainia” which is defined as renewal and dedication.
To understand the story of the Maccabees, you need to understand its historical background. This means understanding the Temple and understanding hellinization.
The Temple
An important part of Hannakah is the Temple. What is the Temple? When Moses was on Mount Sinai God showed him a vision of a place of worship. When he came down he instructed them to build a mobile temple, that was called the Tabernacle. A rectangular partition of curtains was erected. Inside was a tent. The tent had two divisions, a holy place and a most holy place. The inner sanctum is known as the Holy of Holies. There were important temple furnishings, including a seven branched lamp known as the Menorah and a chest that contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments. This chest was called “The Ark of the Covenant.” (Of course the Ark of the Covenant movie was featured in the popular movie “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”) God told the Israelites that there would be a place revealed to them when they settled in the land that would be set apart as a place of worship.
There were several “temples” built. Apparently, a “temple” was built in Shiloh. Samuel ministered to Yahweh in the Temple at Shiloah (1 Samuel 3:21). This temple was destroyed by the Philistines. Jeremiah prophesied that the temple of Yahweh would be destroyed the same way as the temple of Shiloah was destroyed (Jeremiah 7:12-14. 26:6-9). David had erected the “Tabernacle of David” on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. King Solomon, with the aide of the Phoenicians, built the temple on “Mount Moriah” in Jerusalem. (Mount Moriah, Zion and the Temple Mount are all names for the same place in Jerusalem.) The Babylonians destroyed the Temple on August 9, 587 BC.
The “Second” Temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel seventy-two years after its destruction. It was completed on March 12, 515 BC. In 19 BC, King Herod had the structure built by Zerubbabel totally demolished in order for a new much more lavish temple to be built. The Temple was completed on 64 AD, soon before the beginning of the Jewish War. When the Jewish War ended in 70 AD the Temple was destroyed. (The Jewish people call both Zerubbabel’s and Herod’s Temples the “Second Temple” although they were two entirely different structures.) The Temple Mount was left a ruin for many years. Finally, the Moslems built a mosque called the Dome of the Rock or the Mosque of Omar. It still stands there today. This mosque was used as a Christian chapel when the Christians ruled over Jerusalem during the Crusades. The mosque was designed and built by Christians for the Moslems initially. There hasn’t been a temple in Jerusalem for almost “two thousand years.”
There were other “Temples of Yahweh” that we know of. When the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylonian they refused to allow the Samaritans to help them build the temple. The Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizum, which they still believe to be the place chosen by God. The Romans destroyed this Temple.
Onias IV was the son of the murdered Jewish High Priest Onias III. He felt he was the legitimate high priest but his rightful place had been usurped by the new High Priest Alcimus. Onias fled to Egypt where he built a Jewish temple at Leontopolis which was built on the same pattern as the Temple of Jerusalem and offered the same rituals. This temple was in use for 230 years until it was destroyed by the Romans.
A Jewish community at Elephentine (Yeb) in southern Egypt also built a temple of Yahweh in Egypt. It stood from around 586 until 404 BC. A partially preserved temple of Yahweh built by King Solomon has been discovered in Arad, Israel. There have been 8 temples of Yahweh that we know of.
(Concerning how the Ark of the Covenant appeared. I believe a very interesting representation can be seen on the bibleorigins.net website, which is a secular humanist website.)
The Holy City
According to normative Judaism the only legitimate Temple is that of Jerusalem Even today in Judaism there is a strong belief that Jerusalem is a holy place-a link between earth and heaven. This is why many Jews pray at the “wailing wall” in Jerusalem. The Temple in Jerusalem is very important in Biblical Judaism. This is the place where the name of the Lord is to be made great before all of the world. It was the only place were animal sacrifices for the atonement of sins could be offered. For Jesus and the Apostles Jerusalem was a place of prayer.
The Rise of Greek Civilization
Alexander the Great was a Macedonian. Macedonians were probably Celtic (they had their own non-Greek language) but became “hellenophile.” They copied Greek ways and promoted Greek culture. They were a warrior people. Alexander’s father was Phillip of Macedon. He united all the Greeks under his rule. Alexander as a child studied under the great philosopher Aristotle. When Phillip was assassinated Alexander became king. Some people suspect Alexander of being behind the assassination. If he wasn’t it is very possible his mother was. Alexander then went on the fight the Persian empire and to destroy it and its ruler, Darius. Alexander then went on to attempt to conquer the known world. He made it as far as India and had to turn back due to lack of morale among his soldiers and his being injured in a battle. After returning to Babylon he died in the year 323 at the age of 32. There are several good books on Alexander the Great. Oliver Stone made a movie on Alexander. There are three versions of the film. Two of them over-emphasize the fact that Alexander was bi-sexual. The film leaves out certain important episodes in Alexander’s life such as his battle against the Phoenicians and his time in Egypt, which was pivotal in his life. It also spends too much time on his relationship with his gay lovers and Roxana and fails to show the fact that he had other wives. It does have good sequences in it such as the Battle of Gaugamela and a battle in India.) After Alexander died his kingdom was divided among four of his generals. Alexander spread the Greek language and culture across the world. Some of the early church fathers felt that this was divine providence, that God was preparing the world for the coming of the Gospel through Alexander spreading Greek, a unified language, and the Romans who brought peace and built roads, which the apostles would use to travel the world and share the message of Jesus. There are stories that Alexander was received into Jerusalem in peace and that he went and prayed to God at the temple. This is probably true. Alexander was respectful of different traditions and different gods. When the empire was divided Israel was under the rule of the Ptolemys’ in Egypt. There was peace. However, later Israel came under the control of the Seleucid Greeks of Syria. Many of the Jewish people preferred Ptolemaic rule and there was dissent. (I think that we should remember that the Greeks made many positive contributions, in science, in medicine, in art, and literature and in the philosophy and ethics of Aristotle. The Selucid paganism was not normative of all Greek culture. However, there were also negative aspects of Greek culture, especially from a conservative Jewish perspective. In the gymnasiums young people exercised and competed in the nude. This was viewed as offensive and improper by observant Jews. Certain Greek men used little boys as catamites, children to be kept as slaves for the purpose of being sexually abused. Practices like this rightly offended religious Jews. Many young people abandoning the traditional Jewish way of life and beginning to ape Greek ways was also a source of conflict.)
The Chanukah Story
Finally, their arose a Syrian Greek leader named Antiochus Epiphanes. He decided that he would eliminate the Bible and all those who believed in it and lived their lives by it. He had all copies of the Bible confiscated and destroyed. The implemented an aggressive program of Hellenization. All Jews were to become Greek. They were to cease speaking Aramaic and Hebrew and to begin to speak Greek but also to adopt Greek modes of dressing, thinking and even worshiping. Copies of the Bible were confiscated and destroyed. Anyone who practiced Judaism was pronounced an enemy of the state. Antiochus then had to altar in the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem profaned. He had a statue of Zeus erected in the Inner Sanctum and had a pig sacrificed upon the altar. Soldiers came to the city of Modein in Judea and attempted to press the elderly Mattathias, a priest, to offer sacrifice to an idol. He refused. Then a Jewish man stepped up to volunteer. Suddenly, Mattathias was filled with righteous indignation. He quickly overcame the soldier and took his sword. With it he killed both the priest and the apostate Jew. Then he cried out, “All who are zealous for the Bible, follow me!” and he escaped into the hills with his sons.
NOTE: Just War Theory
Mattathias exercised his legitimate authority as the village elder of Modein. He took a stand-as a hero-his heroic act serves as an inspiration to others. Through his courageous act he changed the tide and altered the course of history.
Eventually, a small group of guerrillas organized there. Not long after Mattathias died of old age. Judah began to lead his small unequipped and untrained army. They defied the most powerful military force in the world and miraculously overcame it. In victory they took the Temple and cleansed, purified and re-dedicated it. They decreed that hereafter in thanksgiving, all Jews should remember this great victory and the dedication of the Temple. This new holiday was called Hannakuh, Aramaic for “Dedication.” In John 10:22, we find that Jesus celebrated this holiday. Unlike the holidays established by Moses, this holiday is not obligatory for the Jews to observe and yet Jesus chose to celebrate it and even travel to Jerusalem from Galilee in order to join in this celebration. On this day, Jesus revealed that he is part of the Trinity. Judah Maccabee went on to fight in other battles. Eventually, he died in battle. It seems to me that after Judah died, the Maccabees quickly declined. They continued to fight more, unnecessary battles. After the temple was liberated and religious freedom was established, in my view, it was time to lay down the sword. The Hasmonians also became corrupt and immoral and eventually were replaced by the rule of the Edomite King Herod
Where Does the Bible mention all of this?
The events celebrated at Hannukah and described in the Books of the Maccabees happened in what some Christians call “the 400 silent years.” The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi was written very close to the year 400 AD. Jesus was born near 1 AD and John began prophesying sometime before 27 AD. This could also be called the “Inter-testamental” period, that is the period between the Old and New Testaments. Jesus spoke of this “Abomination of Desolation” in Matthew 24:15. In Daniel 11:31 this events were prophesied... Before Judah began his revolution there was terrible persecution and many martyrs were slowly tortured to death by the Greek pagans. This seems to be alluded to in the Book of Hebrews 11:33-39 were we find allusions to 2 Maccabees 6:18-31 and 2 Maccabees chapter 7. In John 10:22 the story of Christ’s celebration of Hannukah is recounted.
That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for Hannukah, One day he was walking in that part of the Temple known as Solomon’s porch. And the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” Jesus answered, “I have told you and you refused to believe. The things that I do in my Father’s name show who I am…I and my Father are one.” Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones in order to kill Jesus. But he said, “I have shown you many good things that my Father sent me to do. Which one are you going to kill me for?” They answered.” We are not stoning you because of any good thing you did. We are stoning you because you did a terrible thing. You are just a man, and here you are claiming to be God.” Jesus replied, “In your Scriptures doesn’t God say, “You are gods”? You can’t argue with the Scriptures, and God spoke to those people and called them gods. So why do you accuse me of a terrible sins for saying that I am the Son of God?”
Jesus was quoting from Psalm 82
“God stands in the assembly of the gods, in the midst of the gods He judges. “ How long will you judge unjustly and respect the persons of the wicked?” Selah. Judge the poor and the fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the poor and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither do they understand; they go about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are moved. I said, “You are gods, and all of your sons of God. Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall possess all the nations.
The gods referred here seem to be unjust human rulers, kings, princes and judges.
Without a Hannukah there wouldn’t have been a Christmas
If the Hasmonians had not resisted and the efforts of the Greeks were successful, the Jewish people would have been exterminated. If that was the case there wouldn’t have been a people for the Messiah to come through. These events are important in how they prepared the world for the coming of Jesus and also influenced and created the historical background for the world of the New Testament.
The Festival of Lights and The Feast of Tabernacles
People often think of Chanukah as the Festival of Lights. This is not how it is presented in the Bible or how it was observed by Jesus Christ. There is story about a days supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days and for this miracle the celebration. Jewish people celebrate Hannakah with the Menorah. They have a special nine branched menorah for Hannakuh.
Hannakuh seems to have eight days because it is a second feast of Tabernacles. One of the reasons may have been because, due to the war, the Jewish people hadn’t been able to celebrate Sukkot.
The real “Festival of Lights” is the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus speaks of Himself being the “light of the world” when he was celebrating Sukkot-not when he was celebrating Chanukah (see John 8:12).
Modern Relevancy
The Cleansing of the Temple
The Bible speaks of our “bodies” being the temple of God. Peter speaks of his body being a “tabernacle.” Jesus re-enacted his own “cleansing of the Temple” shortly before his crucifixion. According to the Gospel of John, the body of Jesus is the new Temple (John 2:19-22). John also identifies Jesus as Beth-el, meaning “House of God” in John 1:50. (Angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, who is Jesus, is an allusion to “Jacob’s Dream/Latter” that occurred at Beth-el, meaning “House of God” (Genesis 28:10-17).
Are our bodies or lives polluted or corrupted by things displeasing to God. What about our minds-do we have the mind of Christ? The Bible says, “Do not be conformed to the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Jesus says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings forth goodness from with in the evil man evil from within. Perhaps we need to do a spiritual house cleaning and a searching moral inventory.
It seems to me that we are again in a conflict with paganism-the way the Maccabees are and we need to stand up and work to defend God and his holy word in a wayward and sinful generation. We also see great intolerance and warring coming from Islamic extremist.
We see this in hostility to speaking the name of Jesus Christ. People are afraid to say “Merry Christmas” lest they cause offense! That is why you have “Seasons Greetings” and “Happy Holidays.” We have come to such a hostility towards religion in society that saying “Merry Christmas” has become a religious statement! Radical groups like the ACLU and “People for the American Way” even attack memorials to the dead if they have a cross or a Star of David. Most scholars no longer used “BC” and “AD.” History is being re-written either to omit contributions of Christianity or to characterize Christianity in as negative a light as possible. What can we do about this?
Historical Timeline of the Events Related to the Maccabees
223-166 BC Seleucid Rule
175-164 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes
168-167 Judaism prohibited
166-161 Judas Maccabeus
December 164 BC Temple re-taken and rededicated. The first Chanukah.
161-143 Jonathon
143-135 BC Simon (in 142 BC Simon was granted the status of ruler of an independent Judea)
RESOURCES on Chanukah: There were rumors of Mel Gibson’s planning on making a movie on the Maccabee’s but nothing ever came of it. Howard Fast My Glorious Brothers is a historical fiction novel that retells the story of the Maccabees. 1-4 Maccabees, The Works of Flavius Josephus. F.F. Bruce Israel and the Nations: The History of Israel from the Exodus to the Fall of the Second Temple, Mark Healy Warriors of the Old Testament, Joshua, King David, Nebuchadnezzer, Judas Maccabeus. Gregory Hildebradnt Treasures of Chanukah. .
CONTACT STEPHEN
PO BOX 882 Shepherd TX 77371 http://www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com/
Email: nestorius1@hotmail.com
New Resources on Aramaic: See the December 2, 2007 program on 60 minutes on the Aramaic Christians of Iraq entitled “The Purge.” Also please see “The Barnabas Fund” on how to help Iraqi Christians. I am preparing “Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth” which lists historical information confirming that Jesus spoke Aramaic and also explains why this is Important. Remember my books "The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic" "Mary of Magdala" and "Treasures of the Language of Jesus"
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