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.
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!
That passage in Luke has him reading from the Greek LXX. It also has him reading from two different passages that cannot be viewed at the same time on a scroll. Luke also has him doing this at a synagogue in Nazareth but Nazareth had no synagogue. It then says a mob tried to throw him off a cliff but there is no cliff in Nazareth. Luke is transplanting a story from Mark from Capernaum to Nazareth. It is a literary and theological convention. Less than 3% of the population could read and that was mostly rich people. Schools did not exist in Nazareth. Books and writing materials would have been etremely expensive. One book could cost as much as a car in today's money. Literacy didn't matter to most people. For the artisan class of day laborers that Jesus would have belonged to, like was a hand to mouth life of constant work. No way Jesus could have ever learned to read and if he could there were no books around anyway.
I began to wonder why I became enjoyably obsessed with learning about Christianity (only after leaving the church). After watching your videos I realized that this research touches so many topics: history, mythology, theology, etc. ❤ Thanks for this wonderful research and time in putting together this historical view.
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.
I thought this presentation was inspiring! To imagine my lord in a cosmopolitan setting among the land where he lived, the people he hung with and his comments and goings. Thanks for the map, the pics and descriptions. God bless you
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.
❤Thanks for this add, James Tabor. For me, Jesus was formed by the Temple and sciptures, he was a high-level thinking wise man and acquired the fact to be in Us as today. John was the Teacher, it was natural to them to meet. I would like to live in this valley, But when you are there , in security, you know it is not a solution, you need to return to Jerusalem, to teach to the end. But the end has been the beginning of what we try today in memoriam. We will never end. That's why Jesus is the living expression of God is.❤ he was conscient of that, and he was right. That's why we can discuss Jesus' time archeology without fear. 😊.
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.
A lot of people just accept their parents' religion without question. Your teachings are fantastic and provide so much extra details and scholarly insights to "build a foundation" like Jesus would.
"'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."
@@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.
Remember, Jesus & John (the Baptist) leaped for joy in their mother's wombs! They knew each other, and what their lives were to be in that moment! That's The Knowledge Of God!
One of Bart Ehrman's arguments why Jesus was not born in Bethlehem is that the journey from Nazareth would have been too long for a peasant couple like Mary and Joseph. But if Joseph was instead a relatively wealthy stone mason it is not so unbelievable that they went to Bethlehem. The contents of this video also makes the story of Jesus as a 12 year old in the temple a lot more plausible.
100 miles is not that long of a journey...even on foot. I spent 8 years in the Army and know full well what it's like to travel on foot. It's not that difficult for people who are in the prime of their life.
Were you far along in pregnancy while making the journey? This is a silly argument to say that because you walked a lot in the army that poor people living hand to mouth thousands of years ago could make these journeys too. Where did they get the water or food from for the walk? How did they pack it along? We still have a pregnant lady to deal with too and hot sun. Sure its probably not impossible but its also not trivial either. @@EBRoyJr
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?
It’s absurd to imagine that the majority of Hebrews who lived in Israel were just speaking Aramaic ( they collectively hated the Syrians & the mixed race of Samaria) it’s quite certain that at least in Jerusalem among the religious that Hebrew remained viable, there is an unbroken written narrative that survives despite multiple attempts to eradicate everything Hebrew for the past two millennia, which stands against the popular narrative of it’s being a dead language. Even the Sacred Name was familiar enough in the 2nd century to continue open controversy about its use outside the most sacred circles.
@herinsh I agree thanks for the reply it's clear Hebrew never really died my question was more so what was the role of Greek in the land of Israel at that time and what was the likelihood Jesus spoke or understood it?
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.
A small point that may have some bearing on the subject is the fact that many, if not all, of the soldiers would have been auxiliaries and not Roman citizen legionaries. They might well be from the local Samarian population, and it's been suggested that Herod The Great raised such troops as he could rely on them being loyal to him. Adrian Goldsworthy has discussed this point on his channel.
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.
8:41 The question people should be asking is if Mark was written first, why is Matthew the first gospel in the bible? Unless people know why and I don't sense they do. If people know why, then there's a popular misconception they wouldn't have.
India, Tibet, Persia and Egypt. He was called " Isa ." Tibet has ancient scrolls written in pali describing his travels. In Islam he is also called " Isa " in the Quran.
14:02 Hm. If Jesus carried on John's movement, I wonder rather if rather than the founder, he could better be seen in the same vein as a Brigham Young or a Judge Rutherford or a Marshall Applewhite: the second-in-command who takes the reins on the founder's death and allows the movement to survive? Except in his case, he became seen as the founder?
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 the previous April -April-May 30 CE Judea (Bethany, Ephraim, Bethany, Jerusalem, Arrest and crucifixion. Ch 12:12-21:25) (Spring)
...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)
Thanks, Dr. Tabor, for another example of what happens when one exercises your advice and reads the New Testament , "backwards!"... that is, to first, set aside, the historical and prophetic narratives of the four gospels/Acts witness, and only then, read Paul's witness, searching for clues as to what he says actually happened. The four gospels/Acts witness is so long-standing and powerful, providing the foundational narratives for the faith of a multitude of billions over the last 2000 years, that if it mis-represents the historical realities of both Paul and Jesus's persons, ministries and teachings, we are rendered oblivious to evidences in the texts that piont to opposing narratives. What Dr. Tabor accomplishes in this lecture, is a case in point. The accepted narrative is that Yahweh sent Jesus as the "anointed" decendant of David, the Messiah, or the Christ in Greek, as exclusive saviour, to the "Lost Sheep of Israel. If this is true, then what is Jesus doing in the cities of the Decapolis and over in Tyre and Sidon, as pointed to in his lecture? Why do the gentiles in these places flock to accept his teachings when the people he is closest to in Galilee and in Jerusalem and Judea reject his teachings and ministry? If Jesus was sent only to the Lost Sheep of Israel, as the gospels present, then what is going on in John when the Jewish leadership, noticing that Jesus's ministry is going viral... among their Roman overlords, become alarmed at the possibility that the Romans could decide to suppress the Temple and the Jewish people themselves? Is Jesus's message actually against the Temple, the Law of Moses, and the understanding of the House of Jacob as the authentic people of Yahweh, as a consequence of the shattering of the Sianai Covenant... is Jesus (and Paul) really presenting the good news or gospel of Yahweh's latest initiative, the gospel of the Sacred Way, or Way of Holiness found in Isaiah, directed at anyone who will listen... gentile and Jew, alike? Is the ready acceptance of this message by the Gentiles and refusal on the part of the Jewish leadership (commoners were being attracted away from Judaism according to John), behind what Dr. Tabor has laid out here? It seems to me that once one casts off the prophetic and historical narratives of the New Testament, the evidence is quickly accmulating for the "Latest Testament" as to what actually happened back then... it is showing the Mythesists to be absolutely correct in their conclusions that the persons, ministries, and teachings of Jesus and Paul portrayed by the four gospels/Acts narratives never existed; they are mythological literary constructs of the later first century, anonymous and Helenized, Hebrew-Chrisrian authors. The authentic hostorical persons, ministries, and teachings of Jesus and Paul have been effectively subverted by the efforts of these authors and their communities. Very early on, we get a glimpse of the powerful effect of this influence. We understand that Peter was the pri.e disciple of Jesus intrusted with Church leadership... He is enjoying he community life in a group, then known as followers of the Way (only later were followers called Christians) of mixed Gentile and Jewish origins. This had to be the original nature of the gospel of the Way, or Peter could not have been comfortable in that setting. When James representatives appeared, Peter withdrew... showing that he had fallen under the influence of James and his insistence on keeping the Law . Even if the Cornelius story actually happened, indicating a shift away from an original injunction by Jesus to keep the Law, once Peter had been shown the vision and commanded to eat, then issues over keeping the Law on anyones part should have been disolved and every believer free from its dictates. So what is actually going here? The original teaching of the Way dismissed the Law and so Peter was cmfortable in Antioch'community of the Way. But James had taught the necessity for keeping the Law, and had attracted followers in Jerusalem... Peter must have spent time there and came under the influence of James' teaching and practices. However, when away from Jerusalem, he behaved according to the original teachings of Jesus when among the authentic followers of Jesus's gospel of the Sacred Way. So what is evidenced n Antioch, is first the influence of James's new teaching among the original Hebrew disciples of Jesus and secondly, the growing and far reaching inluence of James and his new and alternate gospel that dictated keeing the Law of Moses and restoring the Temple worship practices as the true people of Yahweh. The telling clue to the over-all sucess of this perversion of the original gospel of the Way, as Paul refers to it, is that it was in Antioch where the followers of the Way gave way to being called "Christians," which, in reality, indicated the change in gospels by the community. Having practiced and preached the gospel of the Way from the very beginning, it is no wonder that we encounter tones of dsdain and disrespect for the pillars of the faith, the leading apostles in Jerusalem under James, in Paul's account of his meeting with them in the late 40s. James and the whole community were apostae... and worst of all, Peter, as Jesus's trusted right hand man, was an obvious traitor to the person, the ministry, and the teachings of Jesus. Further it proves the passage in John that stated that even late in his ministry, Jesus's own brothers still had no faith in him. When we hear that one of the ancient authors said, " If you want to know Jesus, go to James!"... we now know whose influence he had succumbed to. It is most common among those of deep and sincere faith to reject the findings of histori-critical biblical scholarship and malign those scholars involved, but as the deceptions of the anonymous New Testament Christian authors is made clearer and cleared by their efforts, one can realize that this ministry to the truth is not only essential, but absolutey critical to faith. All are free to believe in faith as they see fit, but with that frredom comes the responsibility to make sure that the content of our faith, the elements, and structures and practices, are as comprehensive in the truth of reality, as possible. It is thanks to the efforts of Dr. Tabor and other workers from various disciplines, just like him, who are expanding our understanding of history, so that our faith in Jesus and his genuine emisaries, can be renewed to match authentic reality. It is this renewed faith alone, that will be worthy of our trust and investiture of our belief. So thanks again, Dr. Tabor for your good help in our task of faith renewal.
Jesus was a literate craftsman (literate, because he knew scriptures) and therefore was not a poor, illiterate, itinerate peasant. If he was a Essene, he may also have been a physician. The word we translate as "Savior" may have been understood in the Early Middle Ages to refer to a physician, because Old English versions if the Gospels use the work "Haeland," which means *healer*. This possibility may shed some light on some of the miracles of the Gospels.
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.
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.
In Luke 4:16-21 Jesus is reading from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue. And apart from that text, he often says: "It is written". How can people think he was illiterate?
Where does luke fall in the dating of the texts and why would we expect nobody earlier to write about this? You can clearly see the mythology of god man growing in the later stories.
Mosaics 😮,seen something from dried up river platform in the Euphrates,the four angels could b information contained in the content to get supernatural gears grinding ❤
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.
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.
@@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.
@RamadaDiver He might have unrolled and rolled up the scroll and still recited the verses from memory. How were the rabbis to check him? By looking over his shoulder? Here is what makes the whole passage in Luke suspicious to me. Jesus himself reads the passage from Jeremiah and says that he is the Messiah foretold in the passage. I don't think he would have done so in reality. This looks like a Christology statement thrown into the text by the writer to make a theological point.
@zdzislawmeglicki2262 So in your scenario . The rabbis didn't correct his memory of the text Which means jesus had perfect memory of the text ?. Then he doesn't need the text with such a good memory
I can't believe anyone actually holds that opinion of Jesus - I'm just tuning in... itinerant yes, but all the rest is imagination. His knowledge of Jewish law alone tells you he is not illiterate. I'm going to listen as I hope to learn something! There are those who claim that Nazareth never even existed....
There are things Jesus said and things people say Jesus said. In Matthew when Jesus quotes from the scriptures he often gets the scriptural quotes wrong and is quoting from the Septuagint. These things were not likely said by Jesus, but things people said he said. In the gospel of Mark there is next to nothing Jesus said that is credible. Mark apparently has a source, but he goes off script on that source and just starts making stuff up.
Good question from a faith perspective... the reason why is that the anonymous authors of the four gospels/Acts and redactors/ interpolators of Paul's letters are presenting a particular narrative about Jesus that had developed over the four decades leading up to the writting of the gospel attributed to Mark.... the gospel of Christ continued to develope along Hellenistic lines of reasoning and hence the expansions observed in the three later gospels, as they were consecutivly written over the next 30 to 50 years. The historical person, ministry and teachings of Jesus and Paul, we are beginning to discover, are completely different than portrayed by the New Testament authors... if you would like a text that highlights this difference, check out. 2 Corinthians 5:16, where it states that if we once knew Jesus in the flesh r ( historical reality) we now no longer know him in this way but know him according to the spirit (the manipulated image according to the gospel of Christ). These are certainly not the words of Paul, but the interpolation of later anonymous New Testament authors in control of Paul's material and usurper his authority as an authentic apostle witnessing to Jesus and his authentic gospel of the Sacred Way (Isaiah 35:8). This understanding is a hard pill to swallow from a sincere faith perspective, however, if we are serious and devoted to putting our faith in the authentic person of Jesus, then the ministry of historical critical biblical scholarship is an irreplaceable aid to helping us discover just who he was and what he was actually all about. When one lifts the protection of belief to scrutinize the truth of the New Testament gospel of Christ witness to the person of Jesus, it is being discovered increasingly, that this witness is false and misleads us away from the authentic historical truth of his ministry, gospel and teachings in the Sacred or Holy Way of Yahweh to the diverse peoples not only of Galilee, but the decidedly gentile cities of the Decapolis, as Dr. Tabor is revealing to us. This evidence hidden from our understanding by the strenth of the Christian gospels completely goes against our understanding that Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. The truth pointed to by Dr. Tabor's analysis is that Jesus was actually sent to the gentiles and not to the Jews at all. Once we start setting the all-encompassing witness of the gospels/Acts witness aside, as persons of faith, we are set free to observe the existance of an opposite witness hidden inn the texts of the authentic person o Jesus in the flesh... this does not, I must highly emphasize, discount any personal experiences with the person of Jesus, neither any words nor his help, but it does clear away the false beliefs passed on to us by these first generations of anonymous Christian authors who left the physical realities of the authentic Jesus of Nazareth far behind. This is why the mythesists can claim that the Jesus and Paul of the four gospels/Acts witness are completely fictional characters... and be completely right. They are, we are discovering, literary faith recreationsfar removed from the authentic historical figures, ministries and teachings of Jesus and Paul... in the flesh. If our faith is to be based on the elements and structures of authentic reality, as it must, then it remains for us to proceed further to unravel just who Jesus and Paul really were and the content and teachings of the gospel of the Sacred Way.
Establish validity and it’s also unverifiable. Just how Paul in his letters makes the claim that he was Jewish and from the Tribe of Benjamin. He makes the claim “I was circumcised in the 8th day just how you were.” He says things like this because it can’t be verified, but nobody claims to be Jewish saying “I was circumcised just like you!” Paul is lying and also admits he’s a con-artist “To the Jew I was a Jew, to the Gentile I’m a Gentile. Changing his skin depending on who he is speaking to.
Most actually worked land that surrounded their villages, there are a few merchants or service industries but primarily agrigarian. Note Matthew the tax-collector/ levite is working the most lucrative trade route in Israel and is likely highly educated individual who has a scribal tradition and his gospel is originally written in Hebrew, and Not Aramaic or Greek, it’s survival in manuscript form is well established up until the 4th century when the flames of anti-semitism & replacement theology dominated the church.
I really agree and enjoyed everything presented. However I must point out...wood was used for many purposes then just as it still is now. Especially in laying foundation. I believe Jesus was a carpenter, but that doesn't mean his family's trade didn't include stone work in some way. We don't know all details!
Further to my previous comment, I would like to add that the glory of both Testaments, the Hebrew Bible or TANAKH, and the New Testament setting forth the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, is that they tell of the ineractions between ourselves and Yahweh and his servants and envoys. These historic and prophetic narratives have provided the foundations for the various faiths seen within the Judeo-Christian tradition. Several years ago,Dr. Tabor posted a lecture in which he explored the confusion incountered in the first five books or Pentateuch of the Old Testament. This confusion arises because of the conflicting testimonies presented for a number of events narrated there. These narratives take the form of doublets. For example, the original destination for Moses and the Israelies was Mount Sinai... yet there is another narrative stating it was Mt. Horeb, and it really can't be both, hence the confusion. Among other examples, there are two creation stories, two flood accounts, two covenants Yahweh made with Abram and two versions of who is the ultimate authority as mediator between Yahweh and his people, the prophet or the priest. Upon analysis, it is found invariably that the confusing second narratives are all from what is called the Priestly Source. These passages observed in the original ancient texts were added retroactively by anonymous authors from the Post-Exilic era after the Judean exiles were allowed to return from Babylon. Archeological evidence points to the anonymous writing taking place durring the time of Macabean independance... the second and early first centuries BCE. Another similar confusion is found in the prophetic doublet observed in the recorded words of the Writen Prophets. The first prophetic/historic narrative lays out the House of Jacob's breaking of the Sianai Covenant and the everlasting judgement and punishment for doing so. The second narrative, observable as words, prases, verses and larger passages added and mixed into the words of the first narrative, presents a favorable narrative of Yahweh's forgiveness, reconciliationand the regathering of all the tribes to Judah, there is complete restoration and domination over all enemies and the glorification of the Temple in Jerusalem where the Nations come streaming to hear, learn and worship Yahweh and practice the Law of Moses, and here is where the ultimate confusion arrises, all of the promisses in this second prophetic narrative are to be foe ever more. I hope you can see that these two paradigms are mutually exclusive and completely irreconcilable... and only the first has ever been fulfilled till the present time. This means that the anonymous authors from the Macabean period distorted the authentic witness of the historical and prophetic witness of the Old Testament, negatively affecting, if not destroying, the very lives of all who subscribed to the narratives of their false additions. That was the effect the anonymous authors of the Old Testament... but what about the New Testament... was it's witness any less vulnerable to the pens of anonymous authors from the latefirst century CE? Were they able to, and did they distort the witness to and subvert the authentic person, ministry, and teachings of both Jesus and his apostle Paul? Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Tabor and others like him in various disciplines, evidence for this unthinkable possability is gathering to prove that this is indeed the situation that our faiths of the Judeo-Christian tradition now find themselves in. Usurping the authentic authority of Moses in the first Testament to Yahweh's words and actions among us, the anonymous authors gave divine authority to the elements and structures of their additions. Usurping the authority of first Jesus and secondly Paul, the anonymous authors of the New Testament presented their perversions of the person, ministry, and teaching of both Jesus and Paul, to the detriment of the faith investment of a multitude of billions in the New Testament era. ... it is difficult to fathom the effects on the unfolding of mankind's history, perpetrated by these anonymous authors and their lying pens... from both Testaments.
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.
@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.
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.😂
I always understood Luke 4:17 to imply that Jesus could read. Thanks for showing how so much of Jesus’ life would have been in & around cities. Why did you include “poor” and “itinerant” in your video’s title? Since you assert that Jesus was literate and a stone mason (not a rural peasant), I was waiting to hear about how he was actually well off financially and did not travel around. Instead, you proved that his ministry was itinerant and didn’t address whether he was poor at all.
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.
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.
I don't understand why you believe so deeply in the connection between Jesus and Nazareth. The only connection between the Messiah and Nazareth is the similarity of the Hebrew word for "branch" and the name of the settlement Nazareth that the author of the gospel saw. We already know with a high degree of probability that the author of the gospel used the Greek translation of the Torah, and not the original Hebrew, hence the misunderstanding of some other prophecies.
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
Joseph raised his son (Jesus), and practiced carpentry. Who knows what income the trade provided. However, Jesus was God in the flesh, and had all the knowledge of God. As a young boy Jesus was already teaching scripture in the temple, and as he became older he traveled throughout Israel bringing nothing with him except his disciples spreading ("The Good News). Those who believed in him provided what he and his disciples needed (clothing, food, shelter). It appears the academics have ignored the knowledge of Christ, and the rest of what they question is the result of their own ignorance.
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.
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.
Me too! It’s ASMR for me.
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!
Thoroughly absorbing, as usual. Thank you, Dr. Tabor...
This is the question I've been asking for 2 weeks. On time doc
Like a prophet
@SatSingh-mm4gg 😂🤭
Great presentation, Dr. Tabor, as always
how could he be illiterate when it said he got up and read from the scrolls in the Synagogue?
At the age of 12, he debated the Doctors, Pharisees and Sadducees in the temple.
That passage in Luke has him reading from the Greek LXX. It also has him reading from two different passages that cannot be viewed at the same time on a scroll. Luke also has him doing this at a synagogue in Nazareth but Nazareth had no synagogue. It then says a mob tried to throw him off a cliff but there is no cliff in Nazareth. Luke is transplanting a story from Mark from Capernaum to Nazareth. It is a literary and theological convention. Less than 3% of the population could read and that was mostly rich people. Schools did not exist in Nazareth. Books and writing materials would have been etremely expensive. One book could cost as much as a car in today's money. Literacy didn't matter to most people. For the artisan class of day laborers that Jesus would have belonged to, like was a hand to mouth life of constant work. No way Jesus could have ever learned to read and if he could there were no books around anyway.
I began to wonder why I became enjoyably obsessed with learning about Christianity (only after leaving the church). After watching your videos I realized that this research touches so many topics: history, mythology, theology, etc. ❤ Thanks for this wonderful research and time in putting together this historical view.
Riveting; very enjoyable, informative presentation. Thank you.
Wonderful information. Thank you, Dr. James Tabor.
Bravo - much more diligent than most. A treasure.
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.
Nazareth is made famous because Helen discovered it, and Constantine built a holy land for Christian pilgrimage
Thank you so much for this presentation ❤
This is a particularly excellent presentation. Thank you.
Andrew of Southern California . 👍
Blessings to you! Thank you for a terrific lecture
thanks, really enjoyed the presentation
Fascinating as ever). Convinces me . . .
The view of the brook and valley where John and Jesus may have hidden out is worth watching this for alone. What big ideas. Thanks James.
I thought this presentation was inspiring! To imagine my lord in a cosmopolitan setting among the land where he lived, the people he hung with and his comments and goings. Thanks for the map, the pics and descriptions. God bless you
A fascinating and informative presentation, Dr Tabor. Thank you!
Great video Dr. Tabor. Merry Christmas!
Thank you, brother Tabor! 🙏
I really enjoy these lecture's . I certainly am not religious but I love them for historical reasons.
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.
Lol theres a book called “Lamb”…
@@kMegalonyx Thanks. Sounds cool.
As a young boy Jesus knew every word and it's meaning in the Torah. His young mind knew more than the teachers and high priests of God's Temple!
LOL
You believe everything you read
❤Thanks for this add, James Tabor. For me, Jesus was formed by the Temple and sciptures, he was a high-level thinking wise man and acquired the fact to be in Us as today. John was the Teacher, it was natural to them to meet. I would like to live in this valley, But when you are there , in security, you know it is not a solution, you need to return to Jerusalem, to teach to the end. But the end has been the beginning of what we try today in memoriam. We will never end. That's why Jesus is the living expression of God is.❤ he was conscient of that, and he was right.
That's why we can discuss Jesus' time archeology without fear. 😊.
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.
A lot of people just accept their parents' religion without question. Your teachings are fantastic and provide so much extra details and scholarly insights to "build a foundation" like Jesus would.
"'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 🤦♀
Remember, Jesus & John (the Baptist) leaped for joy in their mother's wombs! They knew each other, and what their lives were to be in that moment! That's The Knowledge Of God!
Very good information it is good to see it from this perspective.
❤ 'Educated, well versed and cultivated'; since I began listening to this professor many things are falling in place.
One of Bart Ehrman's arguments why Jesus was not born in Bethlehem is that the journey from Nazareth would have been too long for a peasant couple like Mary and Joseph. But if Joseph was instead a relatively wealthy stone mason it is not so unbelievable that they went to Bethlehem. The contents of this video also makes the story of Jesus as a 12 year old in the temple a lot more plausible.
100 miles is not that long of a journey...even on foot. I spent 8 years in the Army and know full well what it's like to travel on foot. It's not that difficult for people who are in the prime of their life.
Were you far along in pregnancy while making the journey? This is a silly argument to say that because you walked a lot in the army that poor people living hand to mouth thousands of years ago could make these journeys too. Where did they get the water or food from for the walk? How did they pack it along? We still have a pregnant lady to deal with too and hot sun. Sure its probably not impossible but its also not trivial either. @@EBRoyJr
There is at least one cartoon about Jesus where Sephoris mentioned. It called "The Miracle Maker"
Superb, ty
Only a few more days to Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. I hope everyone is enjoying the Saturnalia.
Jesus was literate,highly intelligent and tought a simple message with a mix of compassion and tough love.
Excellent! Thank you!
How absolutely refreshing
Fascinating! Thanks.
Good stuff
What do we know about Jesus's relationship with John the Baptist?
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?
It’s absurd to imagine that the majority of Hebrews who lived in Israel were just speaking Aramaic ( they collectively hated the Syrians & the mixed race of Samaria) it’s quite certain that at least in Jerusalem among the religious that Hebrew remained viable, there is an unbroken written narrative that survives despite multiple attempts to eradicate everything Hebrew for the past two millennia, which stands against the popular narrative of it’s being a dead language. Even the Sacred Name was familiar enough in the 2nd century to continue open controversy about its use outside the most sacred circles.
@herinsh I agree thanks for the reply it's clear Hebrew never really died my question was more so what was the role of Greek in the land of Israel at that time and what was the likelihood Jesus spoke or understood it?
Great presentation Dr. T
I’m not a scholar but I never thought Jesus was illiterate nor a “peasant”.
Where are his writings?
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.
A small point that may have some bearing on the subject is the fact that many, if not all, of the soldiers would have been auxiliaries and not Roman citizen legionaries.
They might well be from the local Samarian population, and it's been suggested that Herod The Great raised such troops as he could rely on them being loyal to him.
Adrian Goldsworthy has discussed this point on his channel.
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.
8:41 The question people should be asking is if Mark was written first, why is Matthew the first gospel in the bible? Unless people know why and I don't sense they do. If people know why, then there's a popular misconception they wouldn't have.
Well that makes sense they were stone builders. Those guys/gals are all sages. Plus…”on this rock I will build my church”, and all that.
Thank you. Perhaps Jesus also visited India.
India, Tibet, Persia and Egypt. He was called " Isa ." Tibet has ancient scrolls written in pali describing his travels.
In Islam he is also called " Isa " in the Quran.
14:02 Hm. If Jesus carried on John's movement, I wonder rather if rather than the founder, he could better be seen in the same vein as a Brigham Young or a Judge Rutherford or a Marshall Applewhite: the second-in-command who takes the reins on the founder's death and allows the movement to survive? Except in his case, he became seen as the founder?
Love your work
Can't take the text..
Hard to see
The parchment colour makes it so hard to read along with the font..
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 the previous April
-April-May 30 CE Judea (Bethany, Ephraim, Bethany, Jerusalem, Arrest and crucifixion. Ch 12:12-21:25) (Spring)
if this is true then then it makes rise of his movement even more remarkable.
How is King Harod still alive in Mark 6? He died in 4 BCE. His son Harod was not a King
Weren't 99.9 percent of people peasants then?
...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.
How do we elevate our fallen leaders? We begin to attribute superhuman feats and deeds.
Might as well ask if Jesus was an Uber driver. Many would believe it.
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)
I Love The Truth Of How Biblical Stories Are Told And Not Made Up Man's Version, Thank You Mr. Tabor, Wendy
Thanks, Dr. Tabor, for another example of what happens when one exercises your advice and reads the New Testament , "backwards!"... that is, to first, set aside, the historical and prophetic narratives of the four gospels/Acts witness, and only then, read Paul's witness, searching for clues as to what he says actually happened.
The four gospels/Acts witness is so long-standing and powerful, providing the foundational narratives for the faith of a multitude of billions over the last 2000 years, that if it mis-represents the historical realities of both Paul and Jesus's persons, ministries and teachings, we are rendered oblivious to evidences in the texts that piont to opposing narratives.
What Dr. Tabor accomplishes in this lecture, is a case in point. The accepted narrative is that Yahweh sent Jesus as the "anointed" decendant of David, the Messiah, or the Christ in Greek, as exclusive saviour, to the "Lost Sheep of Israel. If this is true, then what is Jesus doing in the cities of the Decapolis and over in Tyre and Sidon, as pointed to in his lecture? Why do the gentiles in these places flock to accept his teachings when the people he is closest to in Galilee and in Jerusalem and Judea reject his teachings and ministry? If Jesus was sent only to the Lost Sheep of Israel, as the gospels present, then what is going on in John when the Jewish leadership, noticing that Jesus's ministry is going viral... among their Roman overlords, become alarmed at the possibility that the Romans could decide to suppress the Temple and the Jewish people themselves? Is Jesus's message actually against the Temple, the Law of Moses, and the understanding of the House of Jacob as the authentic people of Yahweh, as a consequence of the shattering of the Sianai Covenant... is Jesus (and Paul) really presenting the good news or gospel of Yahweh's latest initiative, the gospel of the Sacred Way, or Way of Holiness found in Isaiah, directed at anyone who will listen... gentile and Jew, alike? Is the ready acceptance of this message by the Gentiles and refusal on the part of the Jewish leadership (commoners were being attracted away from Judaism according to John), behind what Dr. Tabor has laid out here?
It seems to me that once one casts off the prophetic and historical narratives of the New Testament, the evidence is quickly accmulating for the "Latest Testament" as to what actually happened back then... it is showing the Mythesists to be absolutely correct in their conclusions that the persons, ministries, and teachings of Jesus and Paul portrayed by the four gospels/Acts narratives never existed; they are mythological literary constructs of the later first century, anonymous and Helenized, Hebrew-Chrisrian authors.
The authentic hostorical persons, ministries, and teachings of Jesus and Paul have been effectively subverted by the efforts of these authors and their communities. Very early on, we get a glimpse of the powerful effect of this influence. We understand that Peter was the pri.e disciple of Jesus intrusted with Church leadership... He is enjoying he community life in a group, then known as followers of the Way (only later were followers called Christians) of mixed Gentile and Jewish origins. This had to be the original nature of the gospel of the Way, or Peter could not have been comfortable in that setting. When James representatives appeared, Peter withdrew... showing that he had fallen under the influence of James and his insistence on keeping the Law . Even if the Cornelius story actually happened, indicating a shift away from an original injunction by Jesus to keep the Law, once Peter had been shown the vision and commanded to eat, then issues over keeping the Law on anyones part should have been disolved and every believer free from its dictates. So what is actually going here? The original teaching of the Way dismissed the Law and so Peter was cmfortable in Antioch'community of the Way. But James had taught the necessity for keeping the Law, and had attracted followers in Jerusalem... Peter must have spent time there and came under the influence of James' teaching and practices. However, when away from Jerusalem, he behaved according to the original teachings of Jesus when among the authentic followers of Jesus's gospel of the Sacred Way. So what is evidenced n Antioch, is first the influence of James's new teaching among the original Hebrew disciples of Jesus and secondly, the growing and far reaching inluence of James and his new and alternate gospel that dictated keeing the Law of Moses and restoring the Temple worship practices as the true people of Yahweh. The telling clue to the over-all sucess of this perversion of the original gospel of the Way, as Paul refers to it, is that it was in Antioch where the followers of the Way gave way to being called "Christians," which, in reality, indicated the change in gospels by the community. Having practiced and preached the gospel of the Way from the very beginning, it is no wonder that we encounter tones of dsdain and disrespect for the pillars of the faith, the leading apostles in Jerusalem under James, in Paul's account of his meeting with them in the late 40s. James and the whole community were apostae... and worst of all, Peter, as Jesus's trusted right hand man, was an obvious traitor to the person, the ministry, and the teachings of Jesus. Further it proves the passage in John that stated that even late in his ministry, Jesus's own brothers still had no faith in him. When we hear that one of the ancient authors said, " If you want to know Jesus, go to James!"... we now know whose influence he had succumbed to.
It is most common among those of deep and sincere faith to reject the findings of histori-critical biblical scholarship and malign those scholars involved, but as the deceptions of the anonymous New Testament Christian authors is made clearer and cleared by their efforts, one can realize that this ministry to the truth is not only essential, but absolutey critical to faith. All are free to believe in faith as they see fit, but with that frredom comes the responsibility to make sure that the content of our faith, the elements, and structures and practices, are as comprehensive in the truth of reality, as possible.
It is thanks to the efforts of Dr. Tabor and other workers from various disciplines, just like him, who are expanding our understanding of history, so that our faith in Jesus and his genuine emisaries, can be renewed to match authentic reality. It is this renewed faith alone, that will be worthy of our trust and investiture of our belief. So thanks again, Dr. Tabor for your good help in our task of faith renewal.
Jesus was a literate craftsman (literate, because he knew scriptures) and therefore was not a poor, illiterate, itinerate peasant. If he was a Essene, he may also have been a physician. The word we translate as "Savior" may have been understood in the Early Middle Ages to refer to a physician, because Old English versions if the Gospels use the work "Haeland," which means *healer*. This possibility may shed some light on some of the miracles of the Gospels.
I couldn't agree more with this video
Easily convinced, huh?
@MiCajaDelIdiota
It's also cause I came to the same conclusions a while back based on jospehus mention of John being quite popular
@@RamadaDiver It would be wiser to wait for the experts/scholars to elucidate the matter, and then decide--unless you're an expert, I mean.
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.
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
In Luke 4:16-21 Jesus is reading from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue. And apart from that text, he often says: "It is written". How can people think he was illiterate?
Where does luke fall in the dating of the texts and why would we expect nobody earlier to write about this? You can clearly see the mythology of god man growing in the later stories.
Jesus was educated in philosophy, astronomy and religion in Egypt during his list years
a homeless dude, definitely not a jew
i hope they find a mosaic made by joseph or jesus giving them as the makers like the meggido mosaic
Wedding feast @ non-denominational bible studies you're invited and if you can receive it, invite others
Mosaics 😮,seen something from dried up river platform in the Euphrates,the four angels could b information contained in the content to get supernatural gears grinding ❤
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.
is it known if John the Baptist is teaching from anyone before himself?
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.
@@zdzislawmeglicki2262
It says he closed the scroll .
It's not from memory
@RamadaDiver He might have unrolled and rolled up the scroll and still recited the verses from memory. How were the rabbis to check him? By looking over his shoulder? Here is what makes the whole passage in Luke suspicious to me. Jesus himself reads the passage from Jeremiah and says that he is the Messiah foretold in the passage. I don't think he would have done so in reality. This looks like a Christology statement thrown into the text by the writer to make a theological point.
@zdzislawmeglicki2262
So in your scenario . The rabbis didn't correct his memory of the text
Which means jesus had perfect memory of the text ?.
Then he doesn't need the text with such a good memory
I can't believe anyone actually holds that opinion of Jesus - I'm just tuning in... itinerant yes, but all the rest is imagination. His knowledge of Jewish law alone tells you he is not illiterate. I'm going to listen as I hope to learn something! There are those who claim that Nazareth never even existed....
There are things Jesus said and things people say Jesus said. In Matthew when Jesus quotes from the scriptures he often gets the scriptural quotes wrong and is quoting from the Septuagint. These things were not likely said by Jesus, but things people said he said. In the gospel of Mark there is next to nothing Jesus said that is credible. Mark apparently has a source, but he goes off script on that source and just starts making stuff up.
We don't know if the gospels represent him accurately.
We don't know of the sayings go back to Jesus.
@@Darisiabgal7573agreed yes. We really don't know what he actually said.
Why would the gospel start with his genealogy, then?
Good question from a faith perspective... the reason why is that the anonymous authors of the four gospels/Acts and redactors/ interpolators of Paul's letters are presenting a particular narrative about Jesus that had developed over the four decades leading up to the writting of the gospel attributed to Mark.... the gospel of Christ continued to develope along Hellenistic lines of reasoning and hence the expansions observed in the three later gospels, as they were consecutivly written over the next 30 to 50 years.
The historical person, ministry and teachings of Jesus and Paul, we are beginning to discover, are completely different than portrayed by the New Testament authors... if you would like a text that highlights this difference, check out. 2 Corinthians 5:16, where it states that if we once knew Jesus in the flesh r ( historical reality) we now no longer know him in this way but know him according to the spirit (the manipulated image according to the gospel of Christ). These are certainly not the words of Paul, but the interpolation of later anonymous New Testament authors in control of Paul's material and usurper his authority as an authentic apostle witnessing to Jesus and his authentic gospel of the Sacred Way (Isaiah 35:8).
This understanding is a hard pill to swallow from a sincere faith perspective, however, if we are serious and devoted to putting our faith in the authentic person of Jesus, then the ministry of historical critical biblical scholarship is an irreplaceable aid to helping us discover just who he was and what he was actually all about. When one lifts the protection of belief to scrutinize the truth of the New Testament gospel of Christ witness to the person of Jesus, it is being discovered increasingly, that this witness is false and misleads us away from the authentic historical truth of his ministry, gospel and teachings in the Sacred or Holy Way of Yahweh to the diverse peoples not only of Galilee, but the decidedly gentile cities of the Decapolis, as Dr. Tabor is revealing to us. This evidence hidden from our understanding by the strenth of the Christian gospels completely goes against our understanding that Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. The truth pointed to by Dr. Tabor's analysis is that Jesus was actually sent to the gentiles and not to the Jews at all. Once we start setting the all-encompassing witness of the gospels/Acts witness aside, as persons of faith, we are set free to observe the existance of an opposite witness hidden inn the texts of the authentic person o Jesus in the flesh... this does not, I must highly emphasize, discount any personal experiences with the person of Jesus, neither any words nor his help, but it does clear away the false beliefs passed on to us by these first generations of anonymous Christian authors who left the physical realities of the authentic Jesus of Nazareth far behind.
This is why the mythesists can claim that the Jesus and Paul of the four gospels/Acts witness are completely fictional characters... and be completely right. They are, we are discovering, literary faith recreationsfar removed from the authentic historical figures, ministries and teachings of Jesus and Paul... in the flesh.
If our faith is to be based on the elements and structures of authentic reality, as it must, then it remains for us to proceed further to unravel just who Jesus and Paul really were and the content and teachings of the gospel of the Sacred Way.
Establish validity and it’s also unverifiable. Just how Paul in his letters makes the claim that he was Jewish and from the Tribe of Benjamin. He makes the claim “I was circumcised in the 8th day just how you were.” He says things like this because it can’t be verified, but nobody claims to be Jewish saying “I was circumcised just like you!” Paul is lying and also admits he’s a con-artist “To the Jew I was a Jew, to the Gentile I’m a Gentile. Changing his skin depending on who he is speaking to.
@@jf5177
You claiming he is lying can't be verified
Jesues was very well educated rabbi he traveled spoke several languages he had skills carpenter.
You need to get with mel gibson. Hes going make a movie on the resurrection of Christ. Seems like you could give him another perspective.
No, Jesus was the son of god and a stepson of Joseph, the carpenter who was not poor but a successful tradesman.
What did people do in village that had 200 people
Most actually worked land that surrounded their villages, there are a few merchants or service industries but primarily agrigarian. Note Matthew the tax-collector/ levite is working the most lucrative trade route in Israel and is likely highly educated individual who has a scribal tradition and his gospel is originally written in Hebrew, and Not Aramaic or Greek, it’s survival in manuscript form is well established up until the 4th century when the flames of anti-semitism & replacement theology dominated the church.
What say the scriptures
I really agree and enjoyed everything presented. However I must point out...wood was used for many purposes then just as it still is now. Especially in laying foundation.
I believe Jesus was a carpenter, but that doesn't mean his family's trade didn't include stone work in some way. We don't know all details!
Further to my previous comment, I would like to add that the glory of both Testaments, the Hebrew Bible or TANAKH, and the New Testament setting forth the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, is that they tell of the ineractions between ourselves and Yahweh and his servants and envoys. These historic and prophetic narratives have provided the foundations for the various faiths seen within the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Several years ago,Dr. Tabor posted a lecture in which he explored the confusion incountered in the first five books or Pentateuch of the Old Testament. This confusion arises because of the conflicting testimonies presented for a number of events narrated there. These narratives take the form of doublets. For example, the original destination for Moses and the Israelies was Mount Sinai... yet there is another narrative stating it was Mt. Horeb, and it really can't be both, hence the confusion. Among other examples, there are two creation stories, two flood accounts, two covenants Yahweh made with Abram and two versions of who is the ultimate authority as mediator between Yahweh and his people, the prophet or the priest. Upon analysis, it is found invariably that the confusing second narratives are all from what is called the Priestly Source. These passages observed in the original ancient texts were added retroactively by anonymous authors from the Post-Exilic era after the Judean exiles were allowed to return from Babylon. Archeological evidence points to the anonymous writing taking place durring the time of Macabean independance... the second and early first centuries BCE. Another similar confusion is found in the prophetic doublet observed in the recorded words of the Writen Prophets. The first prophetic/historic narrative lays out the House of Jacob's breaking of the Sianai Covenant and the everlasting judgement and punishment for doing so. The second narrative, observable as words, prases, verses and larger passages added and mixed into the words of the first narrative, presents a favorable narrative of Yahweh's forgiveness, reconciliationand the regathering of all the tribes to Judah, there is complete restoration and domination over all enemies and the glorification of the Temple in Jerusalem where the Nations come streaming to hear, learn and worship Yahweh and practice the Law of Moses, and here is where the ultimate confusion arrises, all of the promisses in this second prophetic narrative are to be foe ever more. I hope you can see that these two paradigms are mutually exclusive and completely irreconcilable... and only the first has ever been fulfilled till the present time.
This means that the anonymous authors from the Macabean period distorted the authentic witness of the historical and prophetic witness of the Old Testament, negatively affecting, if not destroying, the very lives of all who subscribed to the narratives of their false additions. That was the effect the anonymous authors of the Old Testament... but what about the New Testament... was it's witness any less vulnerable to the pens of anonymous authors from the latefirst century CE? Were they able to, and did they distort the witness to and subvert the authentic person, ministry, and teachings of both Jesus and his apostle Paul?
Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Tabor and others like him in various disciplines, evidence for this unthinkable possability is gathering to prove that this is indeed the situation that our faiths of the Judeo-Christian tradition now find themselves in.
Usurping the authentic authority of Moses in the first Testament to Yahweh's words and actions among us, the anonymous authors gave divine authority to the elements and structures of their additions. Usurping the authority of first Jesus and secondly Paul, the anonymous authors of the New Testament presented their perversions of the person, ministry, and teaching of both Jesus and Paul, to the detriment of the faith investment of a multitude of billions in the New Testament era.
... it is difficult to fathom the effects on the unfolding of mankind's history, perpetrated by these anonymous authors and their lying pens... from both Testaments.
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.
@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.
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.😂
I always understood Luke 4:17 to imply that Jesus could read.
Thanks for showing how so much of Jesus’ life would have been in & around cities.
Why did you include “poor” and “itinerant” in your video’s title? Since you assert that Jesus was literate and a stone mason (not a rural peasant), I was waiting to hear about how he was actually well off financially and did not travel around.
Instead, you proved that his ministry was itinerant and didn’t address whether he was poor at all.
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.
Jesus had to memorize the Koran
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.
I don't understand why you believe so deeply in the connection between Jesus and Nazareth. The only connection between the Messiah and Nazareth is the similarity of the Hebrew word for "branch" and the name of the settlement Nazareth that the author of the gospel saw. We already know with a high degree of probability that the author of the gospel used the Greek translation of the Torah, and not the original Hebrew, hence the misunderstanding of some other prophecies.
But why did he ask fishermen to be his disciples ?
Ancient literature comes alive!
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
Joseph raised his son (Jesus), and practiced carpentry. Who knows what income the trade provided. However, Jesus was God in the flesh, and had all the knowledge of God. As a young boy Jesus was already teaching scripture in the temple, and as he became older he traveled throughout Israel bringing nothing with him except his disciples spreading ("The Good News). Those who believed in him provided what he and his disciples needed (clothing, food, shelter). It appears the academics have ignored the knowledge of Christ, and the rest of what they question is the result of their own ignorance.
Was Jordan river bigger in jesus time
No, not at all. He was a skilled tradesman and an educated man. He also was God the Son, incarnate.
He was God in bodily form
@michelhaineault6654 He was BOTH God and Man.
You can make up any magical fantasy thinking idea you want.
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.
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Very good information
I love maps❤