Was Jesus a Poor, Illiterate, Itinerant, Peasant?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ธ.ค. 2024
- One hears from most academics that the historical figure of Jesus was most likely an impoverished, illiterate, itinerate, peasant with no wider cultural or geopolitical perspective beyond the region of the lower Galilee. He grew up in a tiny hamlet of perhaps 100 people, and certainly had no acquaintance with the high culture of Hellenistic-Roman society. This video presentation considers the geography of our earliest accounts of Jesus' preaching campaign, and what might be said of the John the Baptist movement from which he arose, which came to the focused attention of Herod Antipas in the capital city of his kingdom at DioCaesarea.
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Retired Prof. of Religious Studies/Christian Origins
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I love this Man. When I hear his voice it instantly relax's me. His unassuming, informed, casual knowledge, brings me fascinated to all sorts of questions. I wish I had even a moment in his presence, I would treasure it within forever.
I’m not a scholar but I never thought Jesus was illiterate nor a “peasant”.
Bravo - much more diligent than most. A treasure.
Thoroughly absorbing, as usual. Thank you, Dr. Tabor...
So fascinating, James. I like how your new videos tie into previous ones, and I think, oh yeah! I know this from before. Like others, I have wondered whether Jesus was actually a poor, simple peasant. Seems like there are many legends where we like to see a poor man elevated to someone high and mighty.
I speculate about the “lost years” of Jesus. If his family was indeed somewhat wealthy, maybe he was able to travel about on his own, to “find himself” to use the 60s counter-cultural term. Maybe the parable of the prodigal son had personal significance to Jesus. So in his youthful peregrinations, he learned about the wider culture of Israel and the surrounding areas. Maybe he met John the Baptist on his journeys, and they became hippie-like leaders of what we would call a cult.
Maybe… Maybe…
I have often wondered whether Jesus was poor. I thought he was wealthy because kings gave his parents gold, frankincense and myrrh at his birth and he had "fine raiment." But then on the poor hypothesis side, we have the fact that his parents offered doves as a sacrifice at his birth: those were the sacrifices offered by poor families who couldn't afford a larger animal.
Great presentation, Dr. Tabor, as always
This is the question I've been asking for 2 weeks. On time doc
Like a prophet
@SatSingh-mm4gg 😂🤭
A truly fascinating lecture. I always learn a new little nugget that I didn't know before in all of your videos. I'm so grateful for your research. Thanks!
Thanks James, I always enjoy your talks. I really appreciate this kind of historical context to bring a greater understanding to bring the picture of the historical Jesus into a finer focus.
Wonderful information. Thank you, Dr. James Tabor.
Thank you so much for this presentation ❤
Great presentation Dr. T
Riveting; very enjoyable, informative presentation. Thank you.
thanks, really enjoyed the presentation
This question has long rankled me, having focused on late antiquity and the early middle ages in university. Evidently the people calling Jesus a "Peasant" have a different understanding of that word than is taught in the broader study of History, and than is found in the Oxford Dictionary. A "Peasant" is normally considered an agriculturist who is to some degree bound to the land. Use of the word otherwise is considered by dictionary editors to be pejorative. Clearly throughout the gospels Jesus is not characterized as an agriculturist, and to thus characterize him contradicts our primary sources.
He can have still chosen agricultural workers as his primary audience. Hence he chooses a majority of his parable and preaching images from tasks associated with the agricultural year. We should remember that John Wesley came from a wealthy family and went to university but he mainly preached to crowds of the ‘lower classes’ and adjusted his imagery while retaining his knowledge.
Thank you, brother Tabor! 🙏
I Love The Truth Of How Biblical Stories Are Told And Not Made Up Man's Version, Thank You Mr. Tabor, Wendy
Blessings to you! Thank you for a terrific lecture
How absolutely refreshing
If Jesus was an illegitimate child wouldn't he be shunned, banned and excluded from almost everything, including working in Sepphorus? He would've been a social outcast.
Maybe that was why he was so attractive to "unclean" people and outcasts. He gave them hope for salvation whereas they were doomed in Jewish society. He was one himself until he was 'saved/cleansed' by John's baptism and then started doing it himself.
As presented in the Gospels, Paul's preaching to the Gentiles (sinners) is projected back onto Jesus. This was to have Jesus bless Paul's teaching and Paul's mission to the Gentiles and sinners after the fact (post-eventum). But Christ was a minister to the circumcision (Romans 15:8). Some scholars do not like the idea that Jesus [Barabbas] probably grew up thinking Judas of Galilee was a hero and a freedom fighter. Judas was the founder of what later became the Sicarios (Sicariot) movement.
Thank you Dr. Tabor. I agree that Jesus was literate. Recently I developed a theory that Jesus focused his preaching on the agricultural workers as they gathered in large numbers for the start of the two halves of the agricultural year. I compared the chronology of Hendrickson (1976) with the agricultural year in Judea and Galilee.The commencements by Jesus of new geographaical areas as phases of preaching appear to correspond to two halves of the agricultural year:
1) April at and after Passover in the middle of 1st month of the religious year, 7th month of the civil year.) (which is immediately followed by the beginning of reaping processes near 22nd Nisan),
2) October at and after Tabernacles (from 15TH to 22nd of Tishri, the 7th month of the religous year and 1st month of the civil year). Tabernacles comes after the havest is fully completed. It is called the festival of ingathering and is immediately followed by the beginning of the plowing./sowing process at the end of October/ beginning of November).
The teaching of Jesus frequently draws on imagery from the agricultural tasks of his major aufiences.
As seen through Hendricksen’s timeline (1976) (combining John with the Synoptics):
-5 BCE birth of Jesus
GALILEE
-December (27CE?) Immersion of Jesus, early disciples, to March, (28 CE?) first months in Galilee: Cana, Capernaum John Ch1-2 , for 4 months
JUDEA
-April to October (28 CE?) Judean preaching Ch 2:13-Ch 3. 9 months (Spring, Summer, Autumn)
SAMARIA and GALILEE
-November, 28 CE - March 29 CE journey through Samaria to Galilee, Cana and Capernahum Ch 4 Ch 4:1-6:71 5 months (Autumn, Winter)
JUDEA-DECAPOLIS
-April with visit to Judea in Ch 5 1 month, but opposition leads to change of plan: from May to October (29 CE?) the emphasis turns from public preaching to private instruction in relative seclusion Ch 7:1. 5 months (Spring, Summer, Autumn)
JUDEA-PEREA-JUDEA
-Oct to Dec, 29 CE Judean preaching, Ch 7:2-10:39 2 months (Autumn, Winter) -Dec, (29 CE) to March, (30 CE) Perea preaching, Ch 10:40-12:11 4 months (Winter )
Here Jesus continues the preaching in Judea that he cut short in April
-April-May 30 CE Judea (Bethany, Ephraim, Bethany, Jerusalem, Arrest and crucifixion. Ch 12:12-21:25) (Spring)
What do we know about Jesus's relationship with John the Baptist?
What is the reference to Jesus being kin to House of David so important? If there was a King David he was adulterous and duplicious with others. Dr. Tabor your lectures and books are valuable to all.
This is a particularly excellent presentation. Thank you.
Andrew of Southern California . 👍
A great video James thank you. Question: do you think Jesus spoke other languages in particular Greek especially travelling so widely or just the native Aramaic and maybe bits of scriptural Hebrew from his boyhood studies in Synagogue?
Good stuff
So what I’m getting from this is every description of some event in the Gospels could potentially be something Jesus personally experienced.
For instance, the parable of the Good Samaritan is actually the experience of Jesus in the one needing help.
how could he be illiterate when it said he got up and read from the scrolls in the Synagogue?
Superb, ty
if this is true then then it makes rise of his movement even more remarkable.
"'John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.' - The gospel writer's attribution of this quote to Herod serves a clear literary and theological purpose in Mark's narrative strategy. Rather than being a historical record of Herod's actual words, this passage appears designed to speak to communities that revered John the Baptist. By acknowledging John's importance through the voice of his own executioner, while simultaneously directing attention toward Jesus, the text creates a persuasive bridge: it validates John's significance while arguing that his followers should now look to Jesus. This fits into Mark's broader pattern of depicting John as an essential but preparatory figure whose role was to point toward Jesus."
Why do you think that the quote was not Herod's actual words?
@@michaelsmith9453 indeed. it's far more likely Herod meant it pejoratively, as an annoyance he thought he'd got rid of only to be 'reincarnated' in Jesus, like an irritating fly.
@@michaelsmith9453 Oh, of course, I forgot, the writer of Mark was there when he said it 🤦♀
It seems rediculous to think that Jesus was illiterate. Not sure about poor, or itinerant. He was a Rabbi so must have read and studied the bible. There are passages that have him reading scrolls.
As a stone mason, I actually wonder if he was trained to work on the new Herod's temple. He would need to be a priest to do that. It maybe that Joseph worked on the temple and when he talked about his father's house, he was being literal.
If you learned everything you know about the time and place jesus lived in from sunday school you probably are going to be way off
Since Luke probably knew of Paul's teaching, all the stories of Gentiles being healed, etc. and believing in Tyrre, Sidon, etc, it could be Paul's message flowing through and influencing Luke's account regarding Gentiles.
Might as well ask if Jesus was an Uber driver. Many would believe it.
i hope they find a mosaic made by joseph or jesus giving them as the makers like the meggido mosaic
Thank you. Perhaps Jesus also visited India.
That's the current view of the Jesus College group, however they ignore all the rabinic tradition, the nazarenes and tanain and pharisees. they ignore the essenes..its too narrow minded
We can't tell. The first 30 years of Jesus life is an enigma. He might have been educated. There are suggestions in the New Testament of Jesus referring to Tanakh during his ministry. He might've been involved with the Essenes. Some believe him to have been a fully qualified Rabbi.
Luke 4:17-21 clearly indicates Jesus could read.
@@therealanyaku The story, appearing in Luke only, may not be true, or… Jesus might have recited the passage from memory, pretending to read. Well… I think it likely he was educated, but Luke 4:17 may not be enough to actually prove it. Rather, his ability to quote from the scripture on many occasions, including some really exotic verses, tells us that he knew the scripture.
...a suggestion to Improve the instructional value of the maps at the start of videos like this -- with minimal 'confusion potentioal' for yourself, please consider adding Enlarged views of the cities you need to take time pointing-out &
'apologizing for' the poor resolution of 'Red Dot' cities.
If using PowerPoint, all you need do is 'copy' the slide of the 'wide-view/Red-Dot map' - then take a 'framed-shot' including the 'Red Dot(s) of interest & convert/add as it's own slide.
The historical Jesus was King Izas Manu (Emmanuel) of Edessa. His family started the Jewish revolt against the Romans in AD 66 and surrendered the city to the Romans in AD 70 when Jerusalem fell. He was then apparently crucified but was taken down early due to his royal status and survived. He was a Nazarene Jewish convert as was his Mother. Read ‘Jesus King Of Edessa’ by Ralph Ellis for more details.
Hmmm, Ralph...the trustworthy fellow human, like every other fellow human...except for Jesus (interpreted by matt/mark/luke/john/paul in the spirit/mind of Jesus/God)
Why would the gospel start with his genealogy, then?
The naked archeologist, said, that {Jesus/yeshua} had a wife and this conversation is very taboo in regards to religious beliefs, that such is actually a true thing, it convays dilemma to the catholic church Christianity story line, but the destroying of religious scripture texts was in fact, a always happening thing, for instince the {Dead Sea Scrolls}, were in hiding from thoses who were hunting for them, and were never Reclaimed by those whom put them there for safe keeping.....
May have been able to read a little: Luke has a story about him reading from Isaiah. No stories about him being able to write. The son of a carpenter, raised in a hamlet in the countryside, would never have attended school. The temple worship of the time was based on priestly practices, not Torah study. I wonder what his familiarity with scriptures can be determined from gospel stories? Obviously what can be attributed to the original “character” as opposed to the manipulations of later writers like Matthew and his predeliction for finding “fulfilled prophecies” everywhere.
So certainly innumerate, able to read some but unlikely to write. Wholly ignorant of higher culture. Some knowledge of Isaiah and perhaps others. Impoverished certainly. Highly superstitious and credulous. These describe his followers, most of whom were even less literate or completely illiterate.
WISE MEN brought him GOLD and... he wore a seamless coat... he fed 5,000 men plus women and children without dipping their money box although Judas dipped the money box oft because it was replaced "oft."
I guess he was poor, he had Peter pay the tribute tax via a fish.😂
is it known if John the Baptist is teaching from anyone before himself?
What greater peasant has ever been recorded or followed? Lets follow His words and watch the man's soul be saved. Forgive, confess, love, seek, pray, fast, give.
To sum up, we find ourselves between an illiterate peasant Jesus and a sophisticated urban scholar Jesus--the full spectrum of possibility. And this inability to narrow it down lingers, unavoidably, because EVERYTHING we hear or discover about Jesus is presented through the literate sophistication of urbane Greek authors who never knew Jesus or his home turf. No matter how much we "excavate" the Galilee, we are always left to "speculate" about the disparate gospel texts and their common subject, Jesus. Examinations of the gospels do not help us to see Jesus more clearly. They help us to see more clearly how each of the gospel writers wished to imagine Jesus.
Your presuppositions are wrong. The writers of the gospels were not literate Greeks, other than Luke.
@@dissatisfiedphilosophy Do you read Koine Greek? Of course, the the gospel authors were Greeks, including the author of Matthew. I also know Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac. All four gospels were conceived in Greek by writers who quoted from the Septuagint, carrying on any changes or errors found only in the Greek, rather than quoting from the Hebrew. Thus, it's not a presupposition I have, but a reasoned conclusion.
@I_Am_Monad Yes I read Koine, though I am only an amateur at the moment until I begin graduate school. The Septuagint is routinely quoted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, certainly. The presupposition is that Greek was unknown among Palestinian Jews which is wholly incorrect; several recent texts discuss the evidence for Greek knowledge among, at the very least, most learned rabbis, but even as we see from archeological findings of building documents of synagogues, these employed Koine in attributing their namesake. And Koine being known by figures like figures like John the Son of Zebedee isn’t that wild considering how elementary the Greek is in his gospel and his first epistle, for just one example; others have made the case for Matthew, the tax collector, being learned in Greek as the author displays a strong grasp of different words for money-related nouns and specialized terms in that semantic domain, which would have been known by someone who is a tax collector and someone who knows a solid amount of Greek.
Weren't 99.9 percent of people peasants then?
The answer is no. Jesus was from an influential family, with connections to the Jerusalem Temple, with important friends, & hence importance enemies among the elite. He annoyed the Jewish leaders so much that they felt they needed to remove him from the scene. His Messianic claim to 'Kingship' was based on a supposed decent from King David. If he was just another peasant trouble maker he would have simply been disposed of, without recourse to trial by Sanhedrin, or referral to Pilate & Herod. He attracted far too much attention for an illiterate peasant, people feared, & some hoped, that he would lead a revolt against the Herods, the Priesthood, & the Romans, & usher in the era of the Messianic age. Nor was he, or Joseph his father, a simple 'carpenter', but rather a 'builder', teckton. likely involved in the development of Sepphoris. Even men from leading Jewish families had to have a 'trade' or skill, by which they could earn a living if needed, as the apostle Paul was a 'tent-maker', but never seems to use this as a means of support. Presumably Paul had family ? resources. Jesus likely also was able to travel around without worrying about sustenance.
He moved in high circles, entered 'gentry' houses, & was followed by the Ladies of Jerusalem. Only someone of such high status could even have been considered as a possible Messiah, or a person worthy of the Resurrection. The 'simple peasant' Jesus is a myth of later history. Jesus didn't hate or despise the Romans. He praised the Centurion that asked for his help, & he agreed that the taxes should go to Caesar as they were due. His message was for the whole world, not just to reform Judaism. He warned against, & foresaw the destruction of the people, & the Temple, in the great revolt of 66ad. At that time the Christians had to separate themselves from the main body of the Jews, & to intellectually distance themselves from Judeism.
Rabbinic Judaism must take notice! Yes, He did annoy the Pharisees and Noahide Jewish leaders, by exposing them as being of the 'seed of Esau'.
They hated him so much that they felt they HAD TO remove him from the scene.
However, THEIR DENIAL of Him has sealed their fate, the house of Essau will become stubble and there shall not be ANY REMAINING of it, for the LORD spoke that a fire shall kindle and devour them.
For your argument, you rely on the texts as if everything in them was historical fact and not stories construed to build up some speculation or other on who Jesus actually was. We have ample examples of poor illeterate persons who gathered influence and followers.
😮
Very good information
James your methodology is poor. You simply cannot take passages from any gospel (especially outside of Mark) and determine they are historical because “it makes sense” to you. You are misleading non scholars. The gospels are written by early Christians in order to fulfill messianic prophecies. Eg Gospel writers could have made up that Jesus came from Galilee because Isaiah 9 says so. That he was from Nazereth also seems to be made up based on prophecy (unclear which)- because Mathew says “he will be called a Nazarene”.
Please don’t link passages from here and there just because it makes sense to you - you need to have better methodology
Dunno. But I am.
Yes to all three…..and “crazy”?
No, Jesus was the son of god and a stepson of Joseph, the carpenter who was not poor but a successful tradesman.
NOT JESUS Justus of Corinthos! 🥸
This mention of the event at Sepphoris is another intriguing example of his possible DUPLICITY in rendering his "historical accounts", because the uprising under this JUDAS of GALILEE in the year 👑 HEROD Antipater died parallels his account of the uprising of JUDAS of Gamala (also called "the GALILEAN") in the year of the Roman census at the end of 👑 HEROD Archelaus' reign when Judea and Samaria were incorporated into the Empire as part of the province of Syria. 🤨🧐🤔🥸
HOW could John have been RESURRECTED WITHOUT a
🧔??! 🤔
Matthew LEVI WASN'T a Roman tax collector but a Judish 🏛️ tax collector at the synagogue.
The soldiers who came to Jesus asking how to behave were probably Herodian mercenaries. There were NO Roman soldiers stationed in Galilee at the time since it was a semi-independent tetrarchy. Roman soldiers, of course LIKE ALL regular "professional" military through history, were PAID wages BUT, their commanders REALIZING there was NO profit as incentive for being a soldier in the national army, ALLOWED them to PLUNDER during a military campaign against an ENEMY. Herod Antipas' "army" however, like his father Antipater's had been, was COMPOSED of MERCENARIES of various foreign ethnicities who were NOT PAID and were EXPECTED to live by PLUNDER while still having their basic needs supported by the 👑.
Thus, the "wages" Jesus would have been referring to was an anachronism as far as ancient military mercenaries went and could ONLY have applied to their 👑 paid expenses for food, clothing, armor, and weaponry. Everything else, except of course their shelter at the forts, was extra.
NO. He was a myth
lol no legit scholar agrees with you
😂 mythicists…
Quite a few do actually...
The case for a mythical Jesus is frankly overwhelming. Paul's Jesus was obviously a mythical being.
Ones morality dictates ones theology.
It is Flavius Josephus' mythology. Not a single person wrote about him until an entire generation after he was dead. His name was picked from an old list when Josephus made him up.