Freethought & Rationalism Archive

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 01:07 AM

Let's assume that:

1. Clement, Basilides the Pistis Sophia all agree that the ministry was for one year.
2. the Pistis Sophia and Basilides at least had it go 15 Tubi to 15 Tubi (when the moon was full)
3. Clement mentions other start dates for the gospel

Now let's acknowledge that only Luke puts forward the year. Mark, Matthew and probably every other text fail to mention a year. I don't know what else can be said with any certainty. But the year couldn't have been that important if no one else mentioned it.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 01:11 AM

Quote:

And none of them provide the sort of temporal setting of Luke with Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Philip and Lysanias.

Notice Clement's unusual citation of the beginning words of 'Luke':

Quote:

"And in the fifteenth year, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias."

If you were comparing THAT TEXT to the Basilidean text which may have read 'in the fifteenth of Tybi' you would have:

Quote:

And in the fifteenth of Tybi, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias

One could argue - with the Samaritan interpretation of the full moon - that the Word of the Lord coming to John on the 15th symbolized the union of the sun and the moon. So the meeting of Moses and Aaron. Makes perfect sense to me.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 01:23 AM

The veneration of the union or zimmut of Moses and Aaron has always been tied to the conjoining of the sun and moon both masculine nouns in Hebrew. In the current liturgy there are two so-called ‘conjunctions’ established sixty days before the festivals of Passover and Sukkoth. The entire function of the festival is connected with the first of the year – either to ensure the accuracy of the calendar and in specific – the start of the year – as well as the half-shekel redemption tax which has to be collected by this date.

Depending on your calculation the gospel may have begun sixty days before the Passion. I am too tired to calculate all the possibilities but it is either sixty or ninety. According to the Basilideans Jesus starts his ministry on a full moon and he is crucified on a full moon.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 08:59 AM

The fifteenth was the full moon in the Egyptian month?

The transcription smdt for "full moon" is not certain, but it will be used here for lack*of an alternative that is. According to the extant lists of the names of the days of*the lunar*month, ibd is Day 2 and smdt is Day*15. http://books.google.com/books?id=2LB...html_text&cd=8

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 10:19 AM

I know everyone thinks in terms of 'Nisan' and other Babylonian named months. But the Samaritans don't use these names. We know that Jewish and Samaritan sects used a 12 thirty day month calendar (= the Dositheans). Then when I was driving to Starbucks today it occurred to me - why would the Dositheans be wrong for doing so? If we think for a moment about the implications of accepting that Moses - an Egyptian - wrote the Pentateuch (a false claim but one every early sect accepted pretty much), how could any of those sects have believed that he used any other calendar other than the Egyptian one he grew up with? To this end the Dositheans were just maintaining the original practice of employing a 12 thirty month calendar.

Moreover the Samaritan method of calculating the calendar exactly 60 days before the full moon of Passover (= the festival of Zimmot commemorating the meeting of Moses and Aaron) seems to go back to Dosithean sources. This is not the only example of the ecumenical 'realignment' between orthodox and Dosithean factions. Whoever maintained the Zimmoth used a thirty month calendar.

What then is preventing us from assuming that the original Christian gospel went 15 Tybi to 15 Phamenoth? In other words that the structure of the narrative unconsciously or deliberately imitated the Dosithean tradition of calculating zimmoth? Well the Samaritan (= Dosithean) woman shows up in the narrative at Gerizim (now John 4). The Dosithean sects in Abu'l Fath's compendium include Christian sects and pseudo-Tertullian and the Clementine Literature list Dositheus as the first or close to the first Christian heretic.

The only problem I see is the fact that Clement never identifies 15 Phamenoth as a date for the Passion. He writes instead in the section just cited:

Quote:

And they say that it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, the fifteenth day of the month Tubi; and some that it was the eleventh of the same month, And treating of His passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the sixteenth year of Tiberius, on the twenty-fifth of Phamenoth; and others the twenty-fifth of Pharmuthi and others say that on the nineteenth of Pharmuthi the Saviour suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth of Pharmuthi.

The difficulty I have with these dates is that - unless I am mistaken - the fifteenth of the month is the proper date for the full moon. Now I understand that with a 28 moon cycle a thirty day month can't always fall on the 15th. But that's the whole point of the Samaritan zimmoth. On the zimmoth the priests would be able to calculate when the new year began so that the fifteenth of the month in which Passover fell would always be a full moon. Surely the only date Jesus could have been crucified was the fifteenth especially in a gospel that allegedly used the 12 thirty month Egyptian calendar.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 10:29 AM

Apparently Phamenoth is the seventh month, which makes it the equivalent of Nisan in the Jewish secular calendar (i.e. the one which begins in the seventh month). There could be no serious objection to celebrating Passover int he seventh month as the practice was so widespread.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 11:43 AM

In case the reader wants to work this out for themselves, here is the Samaritan liturgical calendar http://books.google.com/books?id=_iM...2015th&f=false. The festival of Zimmoth Afsa (the one which falls sixty days before Passover) is the 15th of the 11th month (= fifth month or Tybi in the sectarian calendar). According to Clement and many other traditions, Easter Sunday fell on the sixteenth of the first month (= seventh month or Phamenoth in the sectarian calendar). The Passion must therefore have taken place on the fourteenth. The Samaritans have a long established practice in the case of the 15th of the first falling on a Sabbath (as in this formulation) the Passover must be eaten in the evening of the 14th. As Pummer notes:

Quote:

If the 15th of Nisan is a Sabbath, the sacrifice takes place in the afternoon of the 14th http://books.google.com/books?id=VOL...%2C%22&f=false

Clement understands that Jesus was raised on the 16th which happens also to have been the first day of counting of the sheaf, thus a Sunday.

The entire gospel narrative then must have taken place between the sixty days from 15th of the 11th (or 5th) month and the 15th of the 1st (or 7th) month. This leaves the question of the tradition of the Pistis Sophia that Jesus ascended on the 15th of Tybi (11th or 5th month) a year later. How could Clement and everyone else believe that Jesus's ministry was 'a year' (= the year of favor Isa 61.2) if it only lasted sixty days in the gospel? Is it coincidence that there is a 300 day (= ten month) gap in our knowledge about Jesus?

However this is answered, the Pistis Sophia is not alone - or at least our division of sixty days and three hundred days between the pre and post resurrection ministry of Jesus seems to be implied by the Nag Hammadi text the Apocryphon of James. At the very beginning of that text we are told by James in an address apparently to Cerinthos or some other like-named disciple:

Quote:

I also sent you, ten months ago, another secret book which the Savior had revealed to me. Under the circumstances, however, regard that one as revealed to me, James; but this one ...

But by the end of Jesus's discourse in the same text it is clear that he is now leaving, ten months after his original revelation to James:

Quote:

Having said these words, he departed. But we bent (our) knee(s), I and Peter, and gave thanks, and sent our heart(s) upwards to heaven. We heard with our ears, and saw with our eyes, the noise of wars, and a trumpet blare, and a great turmoil. And when we had passed beyond that place, we sent our mind(s) farther upwards, and saw with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns, and angelic benedictions, and angelic rejoicing. And heavenly majesties were singing praise, and we, too, rejoiced. After this again, we wished to send our spirit upward to the Majesty, and after ascending, we were not permitted to see or hear anything, for the other disciples called us and asked us, "What did you hear from the Master. And what has he said to you? And where did he go?" But we answered them, "He has ascended, and has given us a pledge, and promised life to us all, and revealed to us children (?) who are to come after us, after bidding us love them, as we would be saved for their sakes."

Clearly the original revelation must have been made to James on the day of the resurrection (= the first of the sheaf) as we read in Jerome's account of the Gospel of the Hebrews (of illustrious men, 2):

Quote:

Also the Gospel according to the Hebrews, lately translated by me into Greek and Latin speech, which Origen often uses, tells, after the resurrection of the Saviour: 'Now the Lord, when he had given the linen cloth unto the servant of the priest, went unto James and appeared to him (for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour wherein he had drunk the Lord's cup until he should see him risen again from among them that sleep)', and again after a little, 'Bring ye, saith the Lord, a table and bread', and immediately it is added, 'He took bread and blessed and brake and gave it unto James the Just and said unto him: My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of Man is risen from among them that sleep'.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 12:26 PM

Why the 15 Tybi makes sense as the beginning of the gospel narrative. Jesus will eventually come to the synagogue and announce that the 'year of favor' is upon them (i.e. that it is coming). As this Samaritan website acknowledges with respect to the Zimmot http://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/...ncalendar.pdf:

Quote:

The Sabbath that occurs fifty days before the Passover, dedicated to the conjunction between the sun and the moon, and the meeting between Moses and Aaron after 60 years of departure. On this week the semi-annual calendar is handed to the community by the High Priest

To this end it is very telling that in John, Jesus is standing in front of Mount Gerizim having a discussion with a Dosithean Samaritan woman. The gospel's context is Dosithean. As my teacher Rory Boid notes the very term gospel derives from the Samaritan interest in the Jubilee year:

Quote:

The Samaritan Arabic commentary on the Torah, on Leviticus XXV:9. Slightly condensed translation. “The High Priest and the King acting together are to send heralds out on the Day of Atonement to go into all countries over the next six months blowing the shofar in every land and region [not just Canaan] with the announcement [bashâ’ir, plural of bashîrah] of the information of the approach of the Jubilee Year and the release of captives”. The Arabic bashîrah = the Hebrew bassorah. The person doing it is the mubashshir = Hebrew mevasser, or the bashîr. Notice carefully that the bashîrah is not the information, but the announcement of it. This is the connotation of the Greek euangelion. Notice that the meaning only becomes clear and sharp in the context of the SAMARITAN halachah.

Could the practice have been originally connected with the Zimmoth? Could Jesus's appearance from heaven have something to do with the announcement of the impending 'year of favor'? I am certain of it and this is why the narrative that follows is called 'the gospel.'

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 02:36 PM

It is also interesting to look at the structure of the Diatessaron at this section. We read presently:

Quote:

And in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor in Judaea, and one of the four rulers, Herod, in Galilee; and Philip his brother, one of the four rulers, in Ituraea and in the district of Trachonitis; and Lysanias, one of the four rulers, in Abilene; in the chief-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God went forth to John the son of Zacharias in the desert.

And he came into all the region which is about Jordan, proclaiming the baptism of repentance unto the forgiveness of sins. And he was preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye; the kingdom of heaven is come near. This is he that was spoken of in Isaiah the prophet, The voice which crieth in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, And make straight in the plain, paths for our God. All the valleys shall become filled, And all the mountains and hills shall become low; And the rough shall become plain, And the difficult place, easy; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

This man came to bear witness, that he might bear witness to the light, that every man might believe through his mediation. He was not the light, but that he might bear witness to the light, which was the light of truth, that giveth light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. And those who received him, to them gave he the power that they might be sons of God,--those which believe in his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and took up his abode among us; and we saw his glory as the glory of the only Son from the Father, which is full of grace and equity. John bare wit- Arabic, ness of him, and cried, and said, This is he that I said cometh after me and was before me, because he was before me. And of his fulness received we all grace for grace. For the law was given through the mediation of Moses, but truth and grace were through Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only Son, God, which is in the bosom of his Father, he hath told of him.

Yet it is generally agreed that the Marcionite gospel jumps over much of this. How much is anyone's guess but I have always thought it must have included this:

Quote:

And he taught in their synagogues, and was glorified by every man. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and entered, according to his custom, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet.And Jesus opened the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, And for this anointed he me, to preach good tidings to the poor; And he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, And to proclaim forgiveness to the evil-doers, and sight to the blind, And to bring the broken into forgiveness, And to proclaim an acceptable year of the Lord. And he rolled up the book and gave it to the servant, and went and sat down: and the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were observing him. And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled which ye have heard with your ears. And they all bare him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which were proceeding from his mouth. And from that time began Jesus to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God, and to say, Repent ye, and believe in the gospel. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven hath come near.

stephan huller · 02-24-2013, 06:06 PM

Having the gospel as the continuation of the Pentateuch in some sense if the narrative begins on the second Sabbath in the eleventh month. This because every book of the Pentateuch seems to end in the eleventh month:

http://books.google.com/books?id=VPs...aritan&f=false

Quote:

It is important to observe that the Book of Genesis ended (with the death of Jacob and Joseph) on the first Sabbath in Shebat ^the eleventh month), and that the Book of Leviticus also ended on this same Sabbath. As to the end of Deuteronomy there are two traditions, preserved in the Mechilta to Exod. xvi 35 ; R. Joshua asserts that Moses died on the 7th of Adar while R. Eliezer places the death of Moses on the 7th of Shebat (Biichler). In other words, the chapter of Deuteronomy which records the death of Moses was read either on the first Sabbath of Adar^ or on the first Sabbath of Shebat. I have no doubt but that the date given by R. Eliezer, i. e. 7th of Shebat, is the more correct, since it agrees with the death of Jacob and Joseph. If this be so we note that the first, third, and fifth books of the Pentateuch ended on the same day, that day being the first Sabbath of the eleventh month (Shebat). It is interesting to note that P., or the editor of Deuteronomy, agrees with this tradition, for he assigns the Book of Deuteronomy to the first of the eleventh months ^ And it came to pass in the fortieth year^ in tlie eleventh months on the first day of the months that Moses spake unto the children of Israel* (Deut. i 3). The Song of Moses and Death of Moses are evidently placed on the same day (cf. Deut. xxxi 22, xxxii 48 ff. (P.)): indeed the Book of Deuteronomy is but the episode of a day between Num. xxviiia-15 and Deut. xxxii 48 ff. The Appendix containing the Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses would supply Sabbath-readings for the remaining Sabbaths in Shebat and Adar

The Samaritan Book of Joshua dates Moses's laying on of hands to Joshua to the 1st of the eleventh month.

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02-24-2013, 01:07 AM	#21
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Let's assume that: 1. Clement, Basilides the Pistis Sophia all agree that the ministry was for one year. 2. the Pistis Sophia and Basilides at least had it go 15 Tubi to 15 Tubi (when the moon was full) 3. Clement mentions other start dates for the gospel Now let's acknowledge that only Luke puts forward the year. Mark, Matthew and probably every other text fail to mention a year. I don't know what else can be said with any certainty. But the year couldn't have been that important if no one else mentioned it.

02-24-2013, 01:23 AM	#23
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	The veneration of the union or zimmut of Moses and Aaron has always been tied to the conjoining of the sun and moon both masculine nouns in Hebrew. In the current liturgy there are two so-called ‘conjunctions’ established sixty days before the festivals of Passover and Sukkoth. The entire function of the festival is connected with the first of the year – either to ensure the accuracy of the calendar and in specific – the start of the year – as well as the half-shekel redemption tax which has to be collected by this date. Depending on your calculation the gospel may have begun sixty days before the Passion. I am too tired to calculate all the possibilities but it is either sixty or ninety. According to the Basilideans Jesus starts his ministry on a full moon and he is crucified on a full moon.

02-24-2013, 08:59 AM	#24
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	The fifteenth was the full moon in the Egyptian month? The transcription smdt for "full moon" is not certain, but it will be used here for lackof an alternative that is. According to the extant lists of the names of the days ofthe lunarmonth, ibd is Day 2 and smdt is Day15. http://books.google.com/books?id=2LB...html_text&cd=8

02-24-2013, 10:29 AM	#26
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Apparently Phamenoth is the seventh month, which makes it the equivalent of Nisan in the Jewish secular calendar (i.e. the one which begins in the seventh month). There could be no serious objection to celebrating Passover int he seventh month as the practice was so widespread.

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