Freethought & Rationalism Archive

stephan huller · 06-22-2013, 10:13 AM

And you see the understanding that Jesus began his ministry in a sabbatical year finally solves Irenaeus's perplexing statement in Book Two of Against Heresies that Jesus was 'almost fifty' when crucified. You see if we start with the forty nine year parallel between 20 and 69 CE then it is clear - as I noted - the year of Jesus's crucifixion and the destruction of the temple occurred in Jubilee years. The anchor however is the 49 years between Jesus coming down from heaven (= 6000 AM according to Marcion, Barnabas and Malalas) and the destruction. This was THE proof of Jesus's divinity for early Christians.

The difficulty for Irenaeus was that he and his ilk wanted to make the 6000 years from Jesus's birth (to stress Jesus's humanity). The solution? Transform the 49 years from the coming down from heaven to 69 CE now to birth - crucifixion. In other words, he couldn't simply abandon the significance of numerology. Jesus was still associated with a '49th year' only now it was birth to crucifixion.

stephan huller · 06-22-2013, 11:39 PM

One of the obvious difficulties with the year 6000 concept is that it does not fall on a 49th year as far as I can see. All Samaritan documents agree that there are 2794 years exactly from Creation to Entry. Year 1 of Entry is Year 2795 of Creation, since Creation was in the first Year of Creation, starting on 1/1/1. In fact 1 + 49 x 57 = 2794.

I can't find a way of making 6000 fall on a 49th year. If we start from entry and add another 57 49th years (i.e. 2794 + 2793 = 5587). That's 114 49th years. If we add 8 more 49 years (a total now of 122) we arrive at the last 49th year before the year 6000 (= 5979 AM). In three more sabbatical years (= 21 years) the year 6000 arrives which by its very nature would mean that the traditional date of Jesus' birth (1 CE) would have been a Jubilee and the earlier year the last forty ninth year before 6000 AM.

Of course the earliest Christian heretics - as Adamantius notes - did not venerate a 'birth day' for Jesus. He floated down from heaven, likely on 21 CE. So what was the original significance to the world reaching the 6000 year milestone? The dawn of a new age I imagine.

The Book of Jubilees has the giving of the law on Sinai occurred nine years into the fiftieth jubilee period. Adding forty years for the period of the wilderness wanderings, the book of Jubilees implies that the entry into Canaan occurred in a jubilee year, a date explicitly claimed by the calculation of 4Q379.

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 12:29 AM

Believe it or not I think I found an important clue in Malalas. Here is the section on Jesus:

Quote:

(227) In the 42nd year and the fourth month of the reign of Augustus our Lord God Jesus Christ was born, eight days before the Kalends of January, on 25th December, at the seventh hour of the day, in a city of Judaea named Bethlehem, which is near Jerusalem, in the year 42 according to the calendar of Antioch the Great, while Quirinius the ex-consul was governor of Syria, Octavian and Silvanus were consuls, and emperor Herod was toparch, or emperor, of Judaea.

Thus from Adam to Phalek, the son of Heber, the total is 2533 years, and from Phalek until the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus Caesar (228) 2967 years, so that the total from Adam the first-created until the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus Caesar is 5500 years.

Then our Lord God passed 33 years on earth among men, as is recorded in the scriptures, so that from Adam until the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and his crucifixion there were 5533 years. For Phalek, according to the prophetic words is said to be at the mid-point in time before the future coming of Christ. For just as he created man on the sixth day, as Moses stated, he recorded this too in his writings, "One day for the Lord is as a thousand years." It was on the sixth day, as scripture said, that God created man and man fell into sin, so it is plain that it was on the sixth millennium day that our Lord Jesus Christ appeared on earth, and saved man through the Cross and resurrection.

This has been written by Clement, Theophilos and Timotheos, the learned chroniclers, who agree among themselves. The chronicler Eusebios Pamphilou, most dear to God, who became bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, also says that the Lord Jesus Christ, the saviour of all, appeared in the sixth millennium, corresponding to the number of the six days of Adam's creation. But he said that it was before the completion of the year 6000 that our Lord God Jesus Christ appeared on earth to redeem the human race. He was born and made man, he said, in the year 5500. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and rose again and ascended into heaven in the year 5533. All agree that the Lord appeared in the year 6000. So, in spite of variations up and down, they said that he appeared in the sixth year, in accordance with the words of prophecy; and even if those who have made statements about the number of years do not agree, he appeared at the end of time, as the sacred scripture shows.

Malalas mentions Herod the Great, but then mentions another Herod as being active during the ministry of Jesus:

Quote:

(237) King Herod II, the son of Philip, grieving for John, came from the city of Sebaste to the city of Paneas in Judaea. A very wealthy woman, named Veronica, who lived in the city of Paneas, approached him, wishing to erect a statue to Jesus ...

I don't want to cite the whole story only rejoining the story at the point Malalas says that he got the information from a document he found in a Jew who had become a Christian named Bassus's house:

Quote:

Included in it were lives of all the emperors who had formerly reigned over the land of Judaea. 13. The emperor Herod, the son of Philip, became plethoric and was critically ill for eight months. He was murdered in his bed-chamber (240) at the end of those eight months, with his wife's complicity, as the most learned Clement has written.

It is worth noting that Josephus claims Philip never had any children. But this may be to obscure the fact that Philip's son was the 'Herod' (= Archelaus?) who sat in judgment over Jesus.

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 10:01 AM

Another important note. When I wrote that all the Samaritan manuscripts had 2794 years for the entry into Canaan I forgot to mention that the oldest text the Asatir actually reads 2796 which is very significant because it creates two different sabbatical year cycles. As the Samaritan calculate their calendar's from the Era of Entry (owing to it embodying the core Samaritan theological concept of the Ruuta = period of divine favor commencing with the appearance of Moses).

The Samaritan's calculate their chronologies from the Era of Entry not the Era of Creation. So if you add back in the 215 year shortening of the sojourn in Egypt (caused by a variant reading in the Samaritan text) the difference between Era of Creation and the Era of Entry has an effect. For the year 6000 =

2796 + 215 = 3011 + (49 x 61 =) 2989 = 6000 AM

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 10:25 AM

Of course even the chronology of the Asatir doesn't make 21 CE or any date near 21 CE 6000 AM. The point is that sabbatical years could have been calculated according to Entry rather than Creation.

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 10:32 AM

It also worth noting that 'Clement' of Alexandria is understood to have written a chronography of some sort:

Incipit namque historian chronica quod etiam pari modo explanauerunt Clemens uel Theophilus et Timotheus dilectissimi Dei episcopi chronographi, et dilectus autem Dei chronographus Eusebiusg Pamphiliensis.

'Theophilus' is probably Theophilus of Antioch. 'Timothy' is otherwise unknown.

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 10:48 AM

According to a letter of the Syriac writer Severus Sebokt (d. 666/7) to the Cypriot priest Basilius, Bardaisan held that the present world would last for 6000 years; this information was later quoted by George the Arab.

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 10:50 AM

Aphrahat does not indicate whether the adjustment of time in scripture has any implications for escha- tology. He adopts from "our great sages" a 6,000-year periodiza- tion of world history followed by a 'sabbath'- and makes no effort his own time within that scheme. The idea of 6000 + a 'sabbath' (7 x 7) would follow it seems 21 CE as 6000 plus 49 years. http://books.google.com/books?id=QAW...ear%22&f=false

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 12:51 PM

Here is the passage in question from Aphraates Demonstrations

Quote:

13.*And when Simon Peter (Kipho) heard this word he said to our Lord: "How many times, if my brother sin against me, shall I forgive him? Seven times?" Our Lord said to him: "Not only seven, but until seventy times seven (and) seven." Even if he shall sin against thee four hundred and ninety times, forgive him in one day" (this sentence has the particle indicating a quotation). And He is likened to His good Father who multiplied His forgiveness upon Jerusalem when He caused the children of Israel to go into captivity to Babylon, He scattered them seventy years, and when His mercies were revealed He brought them together to their land by means of Ezra the scribe, and He increased forgiveness unto them by the division of His day (which is) seventy weeks of years (cf. Ps. 90:4), four hundred and ninety years. And when they shed innocent blood He did not again exempt them on account of Jerusalem, but He delivered it over into the hands of its enemies, and they rooted it up, and they did not leave in it stone upon stone, and they did not leave its foundations for the*|26*Lord. And He did not say to the children of Edom that vengeance should be recompensed them because they did not cry out against Jerusalem, "reveal it, reveal it, even to its foundations." But God by the division of His day forgave four hundred and ninety years, and He bore their iniquities; and then He rooted it up, and also He delivered Jerusalem into the hands of strangers. So our Life-giver commanded them that in one day a man should forgive his brother four hundred and ninety times.14.*But be not offended, beloved, by the word which is written unto thee, that by the division of His day God spared Jerusalem; for thus it is written by David in the ninetieth Psalms: "A thousand years in the eyes of the Lord are as a day which was completed and has passed away." And also our learned teachers say thus, that in the similitude of six days God made the world, and for the consummation of the world six thousand years were appointed, and there was to be a Sabbath of God in the similitude of the Sabbath which was after the six days, as our Saviour revealed and showed us concerning the Sabbath, for He spake thus: "Pray that your flight may not be in the Winter or on the Sabbath." And also the Apostle said: "There remaineth still a Sabbath of God. Let us give diligence also that we may enter into its rest."15.*Again when our Lord taught a prayer to His disciples, He said to them: "Thus shall ye pray, Forgive us our debts, and also we shall forgive our debtors." And again He said: "When thou desirest to offer an oblation, and thou rememberest that thou hast anger against thy brother, go away and be reconciled with thy brother, and then come (and) offer thy oblation." Lest when a man prayeth: "Forgive us our debts, and also we will forgive our debtors," he should be ensnared out of his own mouth, and it should be said to him by Him who receiveth prayers, thou thyself has not forgiven thy debtor, how shall it be forgiven to thee? And thy prayer shall remain upon the earth. And again our Lord shows us an example of that man who began to take a reckoning from his servants, and when his servant came into his presence who owed him ten thousand talents, and when his lord urged him that he give him what he owed him, and when he was unable to pay his debt to his lord, his lord commanded to release him and forgave him all that he owed. When that servant in his wickedness did not remember the forgiveness of his lord, how much he had*|27multiplied forgiveness towards him, and when he went forth he found one of his fellow-servants who owed him a hundred pence, and he held him, and choked him, and said to him, give me what thou owest me; and he did not receive the prayer which his fellow-servant asked from him, but going away he bound him in prison. And because he to whom much had been forgiven did not forgive his fellow-servant a little, he was given up to the officers who beat him until he gave what he owed. And He said to them: "Thus will My Father who is in heaven do to you if ye do not forgive each one his brother."

Clearly then the Marcionite conception was like that of Aphraates - ie 20 CE was 6000 CE the year Jesus "appeared" on earth (from heaven) and then "a sabbath" = 7 x 7 = 49 years followed to the destruction 69 - 70 CE (sept - sept)

stephan huller · 06-23-2013, 01:02 PM

It is especially interesting to see the manner in which Aphraates interprets Hebrews chapter 4 as referring to the forty-nine year period between Jesus's appearance and the destruction of the temple. This would strongly suggest that Hebrews was composed between before 69 CE. It would be interesting to see how other Fathers interpreted this section of text. It might be useful to trace the concept of 'Sabbath' in the early Church Fathers. Aphraates - like Malalas - only says he is perpetuating the teachings of wise masters before him.

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06-22-2013, 10:13 AM	#101
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	And you see the understanding that Jesus began his ministry in a sabbatical year finally solves Irenaeus's perplexing statement in Book Two of Against Heresies that Jesus was 'almost fifty' when crucified. You see if we start with the forty nine year parallel between 20 and 69 CE then it is clear - as I noted - the year of Jesus's crucifixion and the destruction of the temple occurred in Jubilee years. The anchor however is the 49 years between Jesus coming down from heaven (= 6000 AM according to Marcion, Barnabas and Malalas) and the destruction. This was THE proof of Jesus's divinity for early Christians. The difficulty for Irenaeus was that he and his ilk wanted to make the 6000 years from Jesus's birth (to stress Jesus's humanity). The solution? Transform the 49 years from the coming down from heaven to 69 CE now to birth - crucifixion. In other words, he couldn't simply abandon the significance of numerology. Jesus was still associated with a '49th year' only now it was birth to crucifixion.

06-22-2013, 11:39 PM	#102
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	One of the obvious difficulties with the year 6000 concept is that it does not fall on a 49th year as far as I can see. All Samaritan documents agree that there are 2794 years exactly from Creation to Entry. Year 1 of Entry is Year 2795 of Creation, since Creation was in the first Year of Creation, starting on 1/1/1. In fact 1 + 49 x 57 = 2794. I can't find a way of making 6000 fall on a 49th year. If we start from entry and add another 57 49th years (i.e. 2794 + 2793 = 5587). That's 114 49th years. If we add 8 more 49 years (a total now of 122) we arrive at the last 49th year before the year 6000 (= 5979 AM). In three more sabbatical years (= 21 years) the year 6000 arrives which by its very nature would mean that the traditional date of Jesus' birth (1 CE) would have been a Jubilee and the earlier year the last forty ninth year before 6000 AM. Of course the earliest Christian heretics - as Adamantius notes - did not venerate a 'birth day' for Jesus. He floated down from heaven, likely on 21 CE. So what was the original significance to the world reaching the 6000 year milestone? The dawn of a new age I imagine. The Book of Jubilees has the giving of the law on Sinai occurred nine years into the fiftieth jubilee period. Adding forty years for the period of the wilderness wanderings, the book of Jubilees implies that the entry into Canaan occurred in a jubilee year, a date explicitly claimed by the calculation of 4Q379.

06-23-2013, 10:01 AM	#104
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Another important note. When I wrote that all the Samaritan manuscripts had 2794 years for the entry into Canaan I forgot to mention that the oldest text the Asatir actually reads 2796 which is very significant because it creates two different sabbatical year cycles. As the Samaritan calculate their calendar's from the Era of Entry (owing to it embodying the core Samaritan theological concept of the Ruuta = period of divine favor commencing with the appearance of Moses). The Samaritan's calculate their chronologies from the Era of Entry not the Era of Creation. So if you add back in the 215 year shortening of the sojourn in Egypt (caused by a variant reading in the Samaritan text) the difference between Era of Creation and the Era of Entry has an effect. For the year 6000 = 2796 + 215 = 3011 + (49 x 61 =) 2989 = 6000 AM

06-23-2013, 10:25 AM	#105
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Of course even the chronology of the Asatir doesn't make 21 CE or any date near 21 CE 6000 AM. The point is that sabbatical years could have been calculated according to Entry rather than Creation.

06-23-2013, 10:32 AM	#106
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	It also worth noting that 'Clement' of Alexandria is understood to have written a chronography of some sort: Incipit namque historian chronica quod etiam pari modo explanauerunt Clemens uel Theophilus et Timotheus dilectissimi Dei episcopi chronographi, et dilectus autem Dei chronographus Eusebiusg Pamphiliensis. 'Theophilus' is probably Theophilus of Antioch. 'Timothy' is otherwise unknown.

06-23-2013, 10:48 AM	#107
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	According to a letter of the Syriac writer Severus Sebokt (d. 666/7) to the Cypriot priest Basilius, Bardaisan held that the present world would last for 6000 years; this information was later quoted by George the Arab.

06-23-2013, 10:50 AM	#108
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Aphrahat does not indicate whether the adjustment of time in scripture has any implications for escha- tology. He adopts from "our great sages" a 6,000-year periodiza- tion of world history followed by a 'sabbath'- and makes no effort his own time within that scheme. The idea of 6000 + a 'sabbath' (7 x 7) would follow it seems 21 CE as 6000 plus 49 years. http://books.google.com/books?id=QAW...ear%22&f=false

06-23-2013, 01:02 PM	#110
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	It is especially interesting to see the manner in which Aphraates interprets Hebrews chapter 4 as referring to the forty-nine year period between Jesus's appearance and the destruction of the temple. This would strongly suggest that Hebrews was composed between before 69 CE. It would be interesting to see how other Fathers interpreted this section of text. It might be useful to trace the concept of 'Sabbath' in the early Church Fathers. Aphraates - like Malalas - only says he is perpetuating the teachings of wise masters before him.

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