An Amazing Life: Jesus and the Nozerim

Appendix II - Mary
Mary remans one of the most engmatc and revered personages n human hstory.
We know so tte about her and yet so much. Of a the personages n the stores
of the gospes, none s so human and tragc as hers. Gven the egacy of her rst-
born son and her other sons - we must recognze her as one of the most sgncant
mothers of any tme. Puttng together her story requres penty of "readng between
the nes". However, there s sumcent hstorca record to support a much dherent
vew of her fe than s commony beeved. But rst, we shoud provde a bt of
context.
It s mpossbe for us to apprecate the nature of her tmes. Asde from the we
known turmo, there were strong potca and regous feengs that ed to many
"roya" kngs ether among the Kngy group or the Hgh Presty groups. Three
dherent groups actvey sought out any persons who mght have any sort of
egtmate cam to the Davdan throne or the Hgh Presthood; the Romans who saw
them as potenta troube makers, the Herodans who saw them as drect threats to
ther throne, and the pseudo-Zadokan cousns (the famy of Ananus) who were
presdng as hgh prests and knew they coud not compete wth the true ne of
Aaronte successon.
|ust to exempfy the reaty of ths danger, we need ony take a cursory ook at the
regn of Herod (the Frst or "the Great") to reaze that he ked hs wves, ther
chdren, hs chdren, step-chdren, and |ust about anyone who appeared to
threaten hs contro of power. Caesar Augustus tod the |oke that "t was preferabe
to be Herod's pg (hus)
1
than hs son (huios)." At tmes he ordered entre groups of
peope ked because they posed some perceved threat to hs power
2
.
Let us then assume that the Chrstan cams for the geneaogy of |esus are
generay vad wth two key ad|ustments: rst, snce we have two dherent
geneaoges (Mathew and Luke), one must be for Mary and the other for |oseph; and
second, f |oseph was |esus step-father, hs geneaogy s meanngess n provdng
any cam for |esus Davdc ancestry. Foregong the "vrgn brth" myth and then
anayzng the geneaoges of both of |esus parents, we are then confronted wth
another cam that s generay gnored: f |esus actuay dd have any egtmate
cam to the Davdc throne and Marys neage s presty (as woud combne to
create a "Messah"), then any ohsprng of |oseph and Mary woud be targets for
many.
1
Of course, |ews are prohbted from eatng pork, so pgs were safe wth Herod.
2
Athough the story of the massacre of the nnocents seems to have no hstorca bass, t
certany t Herods character.
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If ths was the reaty for the famy of |esus, then we shoud wonder how the Davdc
and presty famy of |esus reated to the messanc partes of the tme and to the
other |ewsh powers n |udea. Why werent they qucky hunted down (and ked) by
the Romans and Herodans as roya rvas snce the gospe accounts make t cear
that nether |esus nor hs famy ved ves of secuson. Part of the answer comes
from a coser ook at Mary and her famy tes.
We shoud begn wth an acknowedgement that we know tte about Mary or her
famy. Tryng to assembe her geneaogy requres substanta specuaton, but t s
not wthout foundaton. The startng presumpton s that the geneaogy ohered n
the Gospe of Luke (Luke 3:23) s actuay Marys and not |osephs
3
. We add n some
tradtona nformaton about her presty father and her servce n the Tempe and
some peces fa nto pace. Fnay, we te together some names that were qute
common and credt Mary wth reatons to some mportant peope of the tme
peope mentoned n the Gospe accounts. From ths, a new and dherent pcture
emerges for |esus mother.
The hstorca record contradcts the Bbca down-payng of |esus famy: f |ohn
the Baptst was |esus cousn (Luke 1:36), then ther famy had cear tes to the
egtmate Hgh Presthood. If |ames (the brother of |esus) was the popuar "|ames
the |ust" and served as a promnent Tempe prest (|erome ctng Hegesppus' ost
Commentares), then t was most key because Marys famy had hstorca power
wthn the presthood. If the famy had frends (or reatves) ke Chouza (the
mnster of nance
4
for Kng Herod Antpas - Luke 8:3) and |oseph of Armathea
(Matt. 27:57, Luke 23:50, and Mark 15:43), then they had tes to some of the most
powerfu fames n |udea. Once we accept that the reaty of |esus true famy
hertage and poston, we can better understand hs fe and message. The famy of
|esus was far from poor, obscure, or unmportant.
Marys natura father s named "He" n Lukes geneaogy, but other strong
tradtons name her father "|oachm" (even beng santed as such by the Cathoc
Church). Some have tred to reconce ths by suggestng that He and |oachm are
actuay the same name (as f |oachm = Eachm = E = He), but that s too much
a stretch. Besdes, f |esus s to gan hs Davdc neage through Marys famy, there
s no reason to beeve he coud do so through |oachm (a prest). On the other hand,
a person who was of Davdc neage and who coud have ohered the kngy neage
was Aexander III Heos, aso known as "He".
3
For a compete anayss of ths presumpton, see
http://home.nreach.com/bstaney/genea.htm.
4
See "The nterpretaton of scrpture n eary |udasm and Chrstanty" by Crag A. Evans
(2004), p.269. The word "procurators" from the Vugate woud ndcate he was steward of
ream (and not |ust of the househod).
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For most peope, ths man s totay unknown. Even among hstorans, he does not
have promnence. But n more recent years, he has gathered greater and greater
attenton. As more and more peope reaze that the |esus egend of the New
Testament reects substanta bas, ntentona msdrecton, and cear obfuscaton,
a new and more compete vew has emerged. As mentoned before, the |esus story
of the gospes s sef-contradctory regardng |esus ancestry and poston: f he was
a egtmate contender to the throne of Davd then he certany wasnt a "nobody
from Hcksve" as generay portrayed. If he was born under any crcumstance akn
to that descrbed n the gospes, hs Davdc cams woud have had to come through
hs mothers famy. We w return to ths topc ater.
Our expanded vew of the famy of Mary takes examnes four separate nes and
tes them together.
1. The Egyptan connecton
2. The Hasmonean/Davdc connecton
3. The Herodan connecton
4. The Presty (Aaronte/Levte) connecton
At rst gance t may seem a stretch to have so many promnent fames nked n
one person. But there were four ma|or dherences n marrage durng the tme that
greaty changed the way peope were reated.
1. Intentona nter-famy marrage
2. Strategc ntra-famy marrage
3. Levrte marrage among the |ews
4. Poygamy
A of these were drecty nvoved n Marys ancestry. An nter-famy marrage mght
resut n combnatons that we mght consder unethca or even ega. Parents
marred ther own chdren, sbngs marred, rst cousns marred, and amost any
other combnaton of nter-famy marrage was practced. Smary, marrages
between fames were arranged based upon specc ob|ectves. Aances between
countres were cemented by marrage, roya boodnes were controed and
manpuated, and brdes were bought and sod to gan or sodfy poston and tte.
The |ewsh custom of everte marrage evoved over tme (orgnatng n Gen. 38:8
and eaborated n Deut. 25: 56) and was one of the topcs that dstngushed the
ma|or sects durng the rst century. As a genera rue, the |ews ddnt marry wthn
the cose famy (note Lev. 18:16-21) except n the specc crcumstance of the
everte custom, but then t was regarded as obgatory. Speccay, the dea of such
a marrage (aso found n other cutures) was to ensure that men had a ega her. It
became an ssue when there was no "ssue". That s, when a marred man ded
wthout an her, hs survvng brothers (or other cosest mae reatve) assumed the
duty to provde one. That nvoved a number of assocated ssues.
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Some beeved that the obgaton occurred ony when the reatves ved n the
same "estate" or dweng (or vage). The survvng reatve coud avod the
obgaton by the ceremony of " a ah" (where the wdow foows the odd
procedure of Deut. 25: 5-10 to reease the obgaton aowng her to marry
someone ese). Aso nvoved s the nsttuton of "Go'e" (retaaton) where murder
or mansaughter s suspected. Under |ewsh aw, a chd from a evrate unon woud
nhert the tte and the estate of the deceased brother.
Fnay, before we ook at Marys famy trees, t s mportant to note the namng
conventons (and dmcutes) from the perod. For those unfamar wth |ewsh
namng tradtons
5
, t may be worth your tme to ook at the artce regardng such
(nk here). It has been common for hstorans to move freey between Hebrew
names and greczed names usuay based upon the context. Important peope
usuay adopted a Greek name as we as ther gven name and that name was used
as ther "omca" name. Thus, outsde of |ewsh works, the Greek names are amost
aways used for roya fames durng ths perod. In ths way, E ben Matthat and
Aexander III Heos are the same person.
In the foowng famy trees, I have not ncuded nes havng tte or no
sgncance to Mary and to smpy the charts, some nes are not dupcated n each
tree. There are numerous stuatons where the nes connect by marrage that are
not shown and where a wfe ends up beng marred (and havng chdren) wth a
cose reatve.
We w use the foowng famy tree for Marys mother (Anna):

Hananeel (Ananelus)
the gyptian (!"-!#)$
%oethus (gyptian)
$ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&$
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
$ $ $
'ehoshua III (imon I)
Joazar
(!#-*!) (*!-+)
&&&&&&&$&&&&&&& $
$
| | | ((imon) ,antheras
leazar
|ane Ezabeth (H)anna
| |
| $ lioneus
5
Especay the use of patronymcs and papponymcs. A patronymc s a name derved from
ones father such as Davd bar (son of) |oseph or Mram bat (daughter of) Aaron. A
papponymc s a persona name based on the name of one's grandfather. Papponyms were
common wth both the Greeks and the |ews. Aso note that there were ncknames and
varatons of names not unke today.
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|ohn Mary
|
'ehoshua I)

Ananelus (ethus ((ie) -ha.et (/a.i)
&&&&&&&&&&& $&&&&&&&& $

$ $ $ $
$
Eam Ishmael Joseph (,a.i) II $
$ &&&&&&&&$&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
$ $ $ $
&&$&&&&&& 'oseph
Ananus
(Those shown n purpe served as Hgh Prest n |erusaem).
As s obvous n ths chart Marys ancestors were among the most promnent of
Hgh Presty fames wth deep roots n the Egyptan Hgh Presthood of Onas. Her
grandfather, Yehoshua III was one of four Hgh Prest sons of Phabet who was one of
seven Hgh Prest sons of Boethus. Ths was a Hgh Prest famy dynasty unmatched
n |ewsh hstory.
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Ths s the famy tree for Marys bood father (He/Heos):
'ohanan (John) I Hyr0anus
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&$&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
$ $
Aristo.ulus I (Judah) Alexander I Jannaeus
(1
st
2ia (alome Alexandra I) __ Mech _____________|__ (3ith
Alexandra I
"
)__
| | |
|
| Lev Hyr0anus II4
Aristo.ulus II
| | |
|
|_(2
nd
Marrage)_____ Matthat ben Lev
7
) |
_______ |_____
| Aexandra II |
|
| | Aexander
II Antigonas II
5
______________| _____(2
nd
Marrage)______|_ ___ (1
st
Marrage)
| |
|
Arstobuus III Aexander III Heos
9
Maramme I (2nd wfe
of Herod the Great)
| ________ |
_______
| |
|
Mary Aexander IV
Arstobuus IV

Athough there are severa key personages n ths geneaogy, there are two who
deserve speca dscusson: Saome Aexandra (I) and Matthat ben Lev.
Saome Aexandra I (Hebrew: , "Sheomtzon" or possby
"ShomTzon")(13967 BCE), was the ony |ewsh regnant queen
10
. Her persona
geneaogy s not gven by |osephus and s generay unknown athough she was
6
Or, more accuratey: Sheamzyyon Aexandra. She marred Aexander upon the death of
Arstubuus I.
7
Hs 2
nd
wfe was Rache of Armathea, sster of |oseph.
8
Antgonus II Mattathas has the unfortunate dstncton of beng hstorcay recorded as an
anonted Kng of the |ews ("messah") who was scourged and cruced by the Romans.
9
Marred Hanna daughter of Yehoshua III, as above and beow. The "Cave of Treasures"
names Annes father "Paqud son of Eeazar" whe the Gospe of Pseudo-Matthew names
hm "Issachar" (of the trbe of |udah).
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marred to a host of the most mportant men of the era, ncudng: Arstobuus I and
Aexander |annaeus. The reason for ths was pan: she was consdered the
egtmate Oueen of the Davdc ne and her ohsprng woud gan that ttuar neage
(by whatever father). Her marrages to the Hasmonean kngs was ntended to gve
them greater egtmacy and ganed her great power. The crcumstances that ed to
her beng the second wfe of Matthat ben Lev are unknown, but the best guess s
that t was a resut of hm beng one of the rchest men n |udea. (More beow).
Matthat bar Lev s both a bbca and non-bbca character of hstory.
10
Her husband's mother had been prevented from rung as hs dyng father had wshed. The
much earer usurper, Athaah, had never actuay regned.
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Then there s the famy tree for Marys ega father (|oachm):

%oethus (from a.o2e) Jannai (2ia un6no3n
3i2es)
11
$ &&&&&&&&&&&&&$
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
$&&&&&&&&&&(imon $
$
-ha.et (/a.i) Mel0hi (7lam8 9 Mute)
1*

:heophilus $&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&& $&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&
| | | | | | | |
|
'ehoshua III |oachm Mariamme (imar Le2i Ja0o.
Jonathan :olmai Alphaeus
$ | $ $
$ $
&&&&&&$&&&&&&&&&
$$
--------Matthat
1!
Joses
;e0harias
1<
:olmay
$ $ $ &&&(=a0hel)&&& $&&&&&&&&&&
$
Jane liza.eth (H)anna $ $ $
$
$ $ Joseph (Arimathea) Jorim 7Heli8 .en Matthat
1+

$
$ $&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&$ $
$ $
$
$ Mary $
$&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(only Marriage > only 0hild)&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& John
(%aptist)
(Agan, those who were Hgh Prest are shown n purpe)
11
Probaby Aexander |annaeus, the |ewsh kng and Hgh Prest from 103-76 BCE. Whe he
provded the bood neage, the true connecton was through hs wfe, Aexandra of |erusaem
(Saome Aexandra) who became the popuar regnant Oueen when the hated |annaeus ded.
Rabbnca egends state that she was the daughter of Setah Bar Yosse (Yosse Bar
Yochanan) and that the Pharsee sage Smeon b. Shetah was her brother. She ded n 67 BCE.
12
Mech was ncknamed "the mute" and hs dsabty prevented hm from becomng the
Hgh Prest.
13
Mattathas ben Lev (aka Mattan) was a promnent prest n the Davdc ne who marred
three notabe women: Esther (Ezabeth) Aexandra II of |erusaem, Rache of Armathea
(daughter Anna), and Saome of Idumea (a Herodan prncess who was aso caed "The
Proseyte"). Mattathas and Aexandra II had a son named He ben Mattat who woud be
known as Aexander III Heos; the father of Mary. But Marys famy aso had roots aong
other promnent nes.
14
Ths te s specuatve, but ts the crcumstances and record.
15
Aka Aexander III Heos
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I reaze that ths can be confusng (athough I have tred to smpfy t). Three thngs
compound the confuson: tradtona |ewsh namng customs, the Heenzaton of
names durng ths perod, and the wdespread practces of poygamy and mutpe
marrages wthn these fames
16
. The thng that shoud stand out n these famy
trees s the pan fact that Mary was descended from and reated to the most
mportant fames n |udea durng ths tme. Her mmedate fames ncuded Hgh
Prests, the Hasmonean royaty, the Davdc neage, and the weathest of |ews.
To expan Marys famy trees, I w start wth what tte s known of her persona
hstory. It seems cear that her natura father was of the trbe of |udah, the "seed of
|esse", and the neage of Davd (Luke 1:32). She was the "cousn" (actuay nece)
of Ezabeth (wfe of Zacharas), who was of the neage of Aaron (Luke 1:36). In the
Gospe of |ames
17
her parents are named |oachm ("Imran" n Arabc -per the
Our'an) and Anne. Tradton states that He (n ths case, "E") was a rst cousn of
Mary's father |oachm (who s descrbed as a rch and pous man from Sepphors (n
Gaee)). Foowng the hnt that He was |oachms cousn, the tree woud make
sense f He had ded when Anne was young (as beow) and she was then wed to hs
cosest reatve n a evrate marrage
18
. Thus, He woud be the proper name n the
geneaogy whe |oachm may have actuay rased Mary. The common ancestor of
|anna woud make the neage dherence mnor.
Let us start then wth the parts of Marys neage that are better estabshed. The
geneaogy gven n Luke starts ke ths.
He ben Mattat (Aexander III Heos)
from Matthat (Matthatas bar Lev )
from Lev
from Mek
from |anna
from |oseph
16
Accordng to Robert Kan, around 100 BCE |ohn Hyrcanus (I) had nstgated a pocy
ntendng to nterweave the varous |ewsh bood-nes so that more roya maes woud be
born nto each ne. Snce Hyrcanus was both "Kng" and "Hgh-Prest", he set |ewsh
regous and potca pocy for much of the era!
17
Aso so named n the "Gospe of the Natvty of the Bessed Mary" and the "Book of the
Natvty of the Bessed Vrgn Mary and of the Chdhood of the Savor."
18
Whch prescrbes that when a man des chdess hs wdow "sha not marry to another:
but hs brother sha take her, and rase up seed for hs brother" (Deut., xxv, 5). The chd,
therefore, of the second marrage s egay the chd of the rst (Deut., xxv, 6). If He ded
chdess hs wdow woud become the wfe of hs brother ||oachm| and the ohsprng of the
marrage woud be the son of He egay. See "The Cathoc Encycopeda", Vo. 7 (1913), p.
204.
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from Mattathas (the Maccabbean).
(see aso Heros Chagagah 77.4). We can be certan that Lukes geneaogy s
ncompete and use the we estabshed geneaogy of the Hasmoneans to make
mnor changes:
Heos (Aexander III aka He ben Mattat)
from Mattat
from Lev
(no Mech known)
from |onathan (Yehonatan bar |anna or Aexander |annaeus)
from |anna (shoud be |ohanan Hyrcanus or Yohanan Girhan)
from Smeon (Smon Thass the Maccabbean)
from Mattathas (the Maccabbean).
Athough the geneaoges are not a perfect match, there are sx ponts that mpe
ther acceptance as beng the same:
1. The dherences between the two nes are sma: Luke has paced "|oseph"
between Mattathas and |anna and nstead the Hasmonean neage was
through Smon. Aso, there s no Mech (a woman???) known n the
Hasmonean neage. Whe there s no easy expanaton for the dscrepancy,
anyone who studes ancent boodnes shoud recognze the remarkabe
overap whe understandng the dherences are mnor (especay gven
Lukes other we estabshed mstakes).
2. These reatonshps expan how the foowers of |esus coud egtmatey
thnk he was quaed to be the Messah.
3. These reatonshps expan why Herod mght have been wng to
saughter nfants n an ehort to extermnate |esus - a egtmate compettor to
the throne.
4. These reatonshps expan severa Bbca taes and nteractons: how
|esus got away wth hs dsruptons at the Tempe (mmedate death to any
norma |ew), the reatonshp to |oanna (wfe of Chuza n the house of Herod),
some aspects of the tra egend (even the need for a "tra"), and the actons
of |oseph of Armathea (camng the body of |esus as a reatve).
5. The reatonshps expan some of the dmcutes wth names n the gospes
such as why Marys father s caed both He and |oachm.
6. The reatonshps t other aspects of the gospe accounts and expan
Marys tes to both Gaee and Egypt.
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There are a few detas n the famy trees that are worthy of speca note:
1. The marrage of Smar (Marys great-aunt) to Matthat rst ted the famy of the
egtmate Hgh Prest wth the famy of Davdc successon whch was repeated
wth Annes marrage to He. It seems key that the marrage of Aexandra II to
Matthat was a evrate marrage (foowng Aexander IIs executon).
2. Consderng the foowng sequence of assassnatons by Herod, t s cear where
the Davdc neage was thought to be.
Arstobuus II (posoned n 49 BCE),
Aexander II (posoned wth hs father, above, n 49 BCE),
Hyrcanus II (Exed n 49 BCE, then hung by Herod n 30 BCE),
Antgonas II (beheaded by Mark Anthony n 37 BCE),
Arstobuus III (drowned by Herod n 36 BCE),
Aexander III Heos (murdered n 23 BCE) (or 17???)
Aexandros (stranged by Herod n 7 BCE),
Arstobuus IV (stranged by Herod n 7 BCE).
3. Mary and |ohn (the Baptst) are unquey postoned to te the Hgh Presty
neage to the roya neage.
Under the crcumstances, those nterested n protectng the neage of Davd (and
any Messanc asprant) woud have been wse to hde egbe mae chdren. Mary
woud have been safe as a chd because she hed such great promse as a wfe for
any asprng kng. That her father was executed when she was young (or even
possby before she was born) was probaby part of Herods pannng. We know that
Herod keep very cose tabs on competng roya boodnes and t woud have been
dmcut to mss the remarkabe convergence that occurred wth Hannah.
So, before we contnue wth Marys eary fe, t s mportant to expore a few key
reatons that Mary had. Marys grandmother was Esther (Ezabeth of |erusaem), a
descendant of the Hasmonean famy that rued |udea before the Roman take-over.
Esther was a daughter of Hyrcanus (the Hasmonean) and so she was gven a Greek
name - Aexandra (II). That means that she woud have been one of severa
Maccabean queens snce she marred the Hasmonean who woud be the successor,
Aexander II
19
. Aexandra II and Aexander II had two chdren: Prnce Arstobuus III
(who woud become Hgh Prest for a few months before beng murdered by Herod
n 36 BCE) and Prncess Maramme I (who woud marry Kng Herod as hs 2
nd
wfe)
20
.
19
Kng of |udea from 67-63 BCE. Murdered n 49 BCE.
20
Aexandra ater marred Antgonus (the ast Maccabean kng). Ther daughter, Antgone,
marred the Herodan Prnce Antpater (III), who Herod executed |ust before dyng.
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Marys paterna grandfather Mattat
21
was marred to two other famous wves
(besdes Marys grandmother):
Rache of Armathea, mother of the bbca |oseph of Armathea, and
Saome of |erusaem
22
(aka "The Proseyte"), mother of Prnce G|or (father of
Smon V Bar G|ora
23
)
Marys aunt |oAnna marred |oachm, the son of Aamyos, the "Patrarch" (apponted
cv governor) of |udea from 50-47 BCE (an Onadte), and her aunt Ezabeth
marred Zecharah, a Prest of the Ab|ah Order (a Levte)
24
. |oAnna was aso the
sster-n-aw of Saome who marred the brother of |oseph of Armathea Zebedee
(the parents of the Apostes |ames and |ohn).
Marys great-great-great grandfather was one of the prests of the House of Zadok:
Hananee (Ananeus) from Aexandra. He was the son the famous Boethus (aso
from Aexandra) and the father of Boethus, whose famy woud serve many roes n
|udasm over more than a ustrum (ve decades). Hananee served as Hgh Prest
twce durng the regn of Herod the Great. Marys grandfather was aso a Hgh Prest
not surprsngy named Yehoshua (|esus or |oshua ben Phab). We know tte
about hm except that he hed the post of Hgh Prest from 30 to 25 BCE (repaced
by Smon ben Boethus) and that he coud ony prevent hs Zadokan neage form
beng ost by propery marryng at east one of hs three daughters |oanna (|ane),
Esther (Ezabeth), and Hannah (Anna or "Bethuah") as a dynastc heress.
Boethus bar Hananee, who presded as the "Nas" or the Presdent of the Great
Sanhedrn, had a son named Smon whose daughter (another |oAnna/|ane) was
marred to Chuza bar |oseph
25
, the chef steward of Herod (as hs father had been).
Boethus daughter, Maramne II was Herods thrd wfe
26
.
Wth the "marrage" of so many fames of promnence and sgncance producng
Mary, t s no wonder that she woud end up as the mother of such a famous son. It
woud aso have been ncredbe for her to escape the attenton of Herod, who
21
Mattathas and Aexandra II aso had a daughter named Aexandra III who marred Ptoemy
Bar Mennus, the Exarch who was deposed n 13 BCE and ed to Partha.
22
In eary tradton, Mary s sad to have been reated to Heene (Saome), and we know that
Smeon (ben Shetach) , vce-presdent of the Sanhedrn under Tabba, was the brother of
Saome (Aexandra).
23
Smon V Bar G|ora became the ast kng of the |ews n |udah durng the Roman sege of
|erusaem n 66 CE.
24
Luke 1:5 "There was n the days of Herod, the kng of |udea, a certan prest named
Zacharas, of the dvson of Ab|ah. Hs wfe was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name
was Ezabeth."
25
Note Luke 8:3.
26
She had one chd by Herod, Herod Boethus (aka Herod Php II). Herod Boethus marred
hs nece, Herodas, and they had a daughter named Saome. (See Mark 6:17-29).
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wanted to marry for hmsef or to one of hs sons every woman of roya bood he
coud. Unfortunatey for Mary, her fe woud change severa tmes due to
executons.
Wth the brth of Mary, Hannah woud have been forced to soate hersef from
socety unt a evdence of any post-partum beedng had passed. Then, after an
addtona 66 days, Hannah woud have foowed the customary rtes as were gven
to Moses and presented hersef (aong wth Mary) to a prest aong wth an oherng
of a yearng amb as a thanksgvng burnt oherng and a pgeon or turte dove as a
sn oherng (as an atonement and to rtuay ceanse her mother) (Levtcus 12:5-8).
Wth the executon of her father "He" (around 23 BCE
27
) Marys fe was atered
dramatcay. It s hard to magne Herod ettng Hannah and her baby eave
|erusaem (uness she was pregnant and not yet showng). If so, Hannah woud
certany have been wse to get far away from |erusaem. Snce He had no vng
brothers (for a drect "evrate marrage"), Hanna was then marred to her unce,
|oachm
28
, a we known prest from Sepphors. From ths, we appear to have two
egends: one pacng Mary n Gaee/Sepphors and the other n |erusaem. There s
probaby truth to both. Our best guess s that Mary was rased n Sepphors whe
very young. When Mary was od enough to serve n the Tempe, |oachm became a
Tempe prest, and so the famy moved to |erusaem. They coud have done so
wthout reveang Marys dentty and she woud have been safe n the Tempe.
Herod began re-constructon of the "Second Tempe" n 20 BCE and there can be
tte doubt that the stuaton n |erusaem durng ths tme was unusua. Ony prests
were aowed to work wthn certan areas of the Tempe so there had to be a great
demand for prests to come to |erusaem durng ths tme. Durng ths phase of
constructon (whch asted unt 10 BCE), Herod must have been pre-occuped and
there was far ess "ntrgue" or focus on the pogrom. We can easy accept that ths
part of Marys eary fe was centered upon the massve budng pro|ect n
|erusaem
29
and that takes us unt the pont where she enters puberty and woud no
onger be abe to serve n the Tempe.
Mary was born no ater than 22 BCE. She was very unkey to have been egbe to
serve n the Tempe much past ts competon
30
n 10 BCE. And, as ndcated by the
st of executons above, the stuaton n |erusaem changed dramatcay n 7 BCE.
27
Perhaps ted to the great famne n 24-23 BCE whch changed Herods potca fortunes.
28
|oachm was marred to |oAnna, Marys aunt.
29
Marys eary fe had paraes wth that of the Prophet Samue who, as a chd, resded n
the sanctuary at Shoh wth E the Hgh Prest. Beng n and around the Tempe for severa
years, t s key that Mary observed Tempe rtuas hdden to most women and knew the fe
of haakhc observance (beng surrounded by the prests speakng Hebrew). Addtonay, she
woud have been exposed to nternatona deegatons speakng Greek.
30
The Tempe tsef was dedcated then, but the patform and other parts of "Herods
Tempe" woudnt be competed for decades to come.
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What seems cear s that severa of the Davdc camants reached the same
concuson t was tme to escape Herods pogrom. If he was wng to k hs own
sons, he obvousy woudnt hestate to k any other potenta rvas. It was ths
|uncture that seemed to brng Mary and |oseph together snce both ended up n
Gaee at about the same tme.
|osephs story s detaed n Appendx III, but what s most reevant here s that he
aso needed to be concerned about Herod snce hs ancestry made hm an unkey
canddate for the Davdc throne. Wth ever y executon or mprsonment of a hgher
rankng her, the rsk to |oseph ncreased
31
. Snce hs famy tes ncuded two unces
who were promnent n the Gaean zeaot movement, movng there was smpe and
safe for hm. Not surprsng s the fact that |oseph and Mary were reated even
before ther marrage athough not cosey
32
.
|oachm was marred to |oAnna
33
, Marys aunt. He was aso the brother of Escha and
Mary Saome (a ohsprng of Aamyos, the Governor of |udea from 50-47 BCE - an
Onadte). |oseph had two younger brothers (twns) named Ptoas and Copas. Escha
was marred to Ptoas and Mary Saome was marred to Copas.
We dont know why Mary ended up back n Sepphors. |oachm may have smpy
returned home upon competon of the Tempe or perhaps they recognzed the
ncreasng rsks of stayng n |erusaem
34
. For whatever reason they were there,
sometme near 8 BCE they were both n, or near, Sepphors. The reason for the
betrotha becomes apparent when we understand ther neages: combnng ther
boodnes woud produce prodgous ohsprng.
|oseph carred Davdc roya bood and Mary carred Hasmonean roya bood. In ther
ohsprng there woud be neage from Kng Davd, Zerubabbe, the prophet
Nehamah, the Hgh Prest Onas (ast of the "egtmate" Hgh Prests), Oueen
Aexandra, Oueen Ceopatra, ether |uus Caesar or Mark Antony, the Persan kngs,
and the Exarchs. They carred both the presty boodnes (Levte and Aaronte) as
we as the ne of Zadok. They represented and merged two dherent Davdc
neages (the Abudte and Rhesate). Ther frends and reatves woud ncude a
host of Hgh Prests, one of the rchest men n |udea (|oseph of Armathea),
31
In 4 BCE, Prnce Smon V of Perea, the ast her of the haakhc approved neage from the
tme of Ezra, ded wthout any hers and the Meshuamte ne ended.
32
In the Harey Manuscrpts (38-59, f. 193b), the neages of |oseph and Mary converge at
Matthan/Matthat so that ths person s the father of both He and |acob, makng |oseph and
Mary rst cousns. Some propose that they coud have ony been cousns through a common
mother of |acob and He, thus not passng on the curse of |echonah. Ths theory woud
mean that |oseph of Armathea was ther unce and that hs daughter (Anna Consobrna) was
Marys cose cousn.
33
One of the three daughters of the Hgh Prest Yehoshua III.
34
The Gospe of |ames states that Sephors was the home of |oachm and Anna and that
ater on they ved n |erusaem, n a house caed by "Probatca" (a name probaby derved
from nearness to the poo of Bethsada).
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members of Herods Court, members of the Sanhedrn, and many others. From the
cose famy woud come the best known "prophet" of the tme |ohn the Baptst,
the most popuar "opposton" prest of the tme (and the rst Bshop of |erusaem),
|ames, severa of the most famous "zeaots", and (obvousy) the most famous
person n human hstory, |esus.
Athough we dont know the detas regardng the betrotha of |oseph and Mary, we
know penty about the aws and customs of the tme. Under those aws and
customs, a woman
35
was betrothed at her own or her fathers house
36
and then up
to a year eapsed before she was taken nto the house of her husband. (Note Deut.
22:7; |udges 14:7-8 and see "Adam Carkes Commentary on the Bbe," abrdged by
Raph Eare (1997) (p.766)). Even when a marrage had not been consummated, t
was consdered fuy ega and bndng; and therefore a breach of the betrotha
"contract" was consdered "adutery" and punshed n the same way. (Deut. 22:13-
29).
Athough we ack detas, we know a few thngs:
Mary was |osephs wfe, but not hs rst (or ony) wfe.
|oseph probaby had chdren by earer marrage.
|esus was Marys rst chd, but not her ony chd.
The crcumstances of |esus brth were unusua and he was consdered a
"mamzer"
37
.
We w return to brth of |esus after we take the same detour that Luke sends us on:
Marys vst to her aunt Ezabeth.
Accordng to Luke, the edery (and supposedy barren) Ezabeth was sx months
pregnant (wth |ohn the Baptst) when an ange tod Mary to go and vst her n
|udea (at Zecharahs va near An-Karm, n the hs four mes west of |erusaem).
Seeng Mary, Ezabeth s sad to have cred out wth a oud voce: Bessed you are
among women and bessed s the frut of your womb. Why have I been favored wth
a vst from the mother of my Lord?
38
(Luke 1:42-43). Ths vst (a rgorous three day
trp for a pregnant Mary) was key made n con|uncton wth some festva n
35
|ewsh madens were consdered marrageabe at the age of tweve and a haf.
36
The custom was for the betrotha to be arranged by the parents of the husband, but
supposedy |oseph was we aged t s unkey that hs parents were ave..
37
A chd of doubtfu or egtmate brth under |ewsh aw (" from Deut. 23:2-3). Wrongly
tranlate! a "#atar! a $t $n%ol%e &om'le( $nter'retat$on an! a''l$&at$on un!er )ala&)$& la*. +ee
,''en!$( -.
38
Mary's answer s the cantce of prase caed the "Magncat" whch s ceary one of the
most nsprng passages n scrpture. (Luke 1-46-55). If authentc to Mary, t woud reect her
magncent quates.
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|erusaem and asted through |ohns brth n the year 8 or 7 BCE. (See Appendx X
for dscusson regardng the datng of events).
Penty of theoogca dscourse has arsen from ths sde story, aong wth some
hstorca extrapoatons. In the Kng |ames transaton of Luke, Ezabeth s termed
Marys "cousn" n one of the few cases where the generc use of the orgna Greek
term shoud be assumed ("ouyycvi" s better transated as an uncertan "reatve").
As eaborated upon above, t s hghy key that Ezabeth was Marys aunt and the
hnt about the age dherence supports that concuson. A bood reatonshp between
|esus and |ohn aso heps us make sense of other bbca references. That Zecharah
owns both a va and a house near |erusaem s another ndcaton that these
fames were not poor.
It seems cear that Ezabeths greetng was a ater theoogca nserton consstent
wth eary Chrstan ehorts to eevate |esus above |ohn even havng |ohns mother
decare Marys fetus her "Lord" before he was born. From here Luke tes us that
Mary returned to her "home" (Sepphors/Nazareth?). But then she and |oseph soon
make another trp south and end up n Bethehem for the brth of ther chd. (Agan,
ths event s dscussed n deta n Appendx X where I concude that the Bethehem
narratve s purey theoogca and not hstorca).
Whe some may choose to beeve n the mrace of "vrgn brth" or even the
perpetua vrgnty of Mary, both detract from a cear understandng of |esus fe.
Indeed, one can argue that the creaton of such msunderstandng and dstracton
from the truth was the very ntent of the New Testament edtors. We have no reason
to thnk that the gospes woud ncude a story whch woud create doubt about the
ega/parenta status of |esus uness such was so we known and estabshed that t
coudnt be gnored.
The brth of |esus woud occur under ess than dea crcumstances and dsrupt the
whoe scene of Davdc neages.
Marys story s re-tod n the canonca gospes and n the Protevangeon 10:1-10:
And n her sxth month of pregnancy, |oseph returned from hs budng
houses abroad and entered nto the house, ony to nd that Mary had
grown bg. Wth smte on hs face, he sad: "Wth what face can I ook
up to the Lord my God? What sha I say concernng ths young woman,
for I receved her as a vrgn out of the Tempe of the Lord my God and
have not preserved her thus? Who has thus deceved me? Who has
commtted ths ev n my house and seduced and deed her?". But
Mary, wth a ood of tears, reped "I am nnocent!"."
39
39
See "The Lost Books of The Bbe and The Forgotten books of Eden" an anthoogy by A & B
Book Dst Inc, March 1994, ISBN 1-881316-63-7.
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We have tended to gnore the arger crcumstance and ssues presented n ths
scenaro. Those around Mary woud have known that she was pregnant after beng
betrothed to |oseph. Upon |osephs return, the peope n ther vage woud have
demanded that the aw be enforced and that aw woud have requred |oseph to
ether acknowedge hs wrong-dong or mpcate Mary. Snce the accounts ohered
make no menton of ths, the ony reastc expanaton s that the cause of Marys
pregnancy was known to a.
Gven the crcumstance presented to |oseph, the custom and expectaton of the
tme was that he shoud nvoke the aw and have Mary stoned to death (Deut.
22:24) uness she had been raped where no one coud save her. (Deut. 22: 27).
Gven the gospe account that |oseph presumed a choce n sparng her, there had
to be some crcumstance permttng excepton to the aw. Of course, the bbca tae
hods that Mary was mpregnated by the Hoy Sprt and that |oseph changed hs
mnd n a dream. But that mpes that |oseph had reason not to nvoke or enforce
the aw prompty.
So, uness we accept the "mmacuate concepton" doctrne, the best expanaton
for the gospe accounts ts wth other egends. Cesus
40
, wrtng about 180 CE,
stated that |esus was actuay an egtmate son of a Roman soder named Panther
(Panthera). There s aso menton n the Tamud
41
of a Yeshua ben Pandera, whch
some thnk supports the egend. Epphanus, n refutaton of Cesus, wrote that
|oseph and Ceopas were both sons of |acob who was aso known as Panther, but
that seems a stretch. Ths s one of many questons that mght never be answered,
and yet Chrstans tend not to consder the aternatve that the gospe stores speak
an underyng truth that s obfuscated by mythca/magca overays. Other ssues
surroundng |esus brth are dscussed n reated Appendces.
|oseph foows the nstructon from hs dream and the boy s named Yeshua/|esus.
|oseph ended the betrotha by takng Mary to ve n hs home and competng the
marrage contract. Matthews statement that "||oseph| had no unon wth her unt
|after| she gave brth" (Matt. 1:25)
42
and Lukes use of the term "rstborn" (Luke
40
"Aethes Logos" s not extant and s ony known from t beng quoted by Orgen n "Contra
Cesum" wrtten around 230 CE. For extensve dscusson, see "|esus n the Tamud" by Peter
Schfer (2007).
41
Actuay, there are numerous references n the Tamud to a Yeshua who some thnk s the
same as the Chrstan |esus. The Toedot Yeshu s most frequenty dscussed, but t probaby
refers to an earer person wth seemngy concdenta names Mram as hs mother and
|ochanan, a carpenter was hs father. There was aso a egend of an earer |esus who came
out of Egypt wth magca heang powers. Later authors added content ceary ntended to
refute or dsparage the Chrstan Messanc cams. None seem to oher usefu hstorca
content.
42
After brthng, a woman s consdered uncean ("nddah") and must reman sexuay
separated from her husband for a perod of 7 days after the brth of a mae chd and 14
days after the brth of a femae chd. (Lev. 12:2).
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2:7) ndcates what happened after they began marred fe. There s smpy no
reason to beeve that anythng ess than a norma reatonshp of marrage
43

foowed (uness one adopts an unsupported noton that Marys sem-dvnty
compeed her to perpetua vrgnty
44
). "Matthew betrays no such ncnaton" ("The
Wyche Bbe Commentary," p. 932) and nether shoud we.
Unke the presentaton descrbed above for Hannah and Mary, |esus woud have
addtona ceremones: mae |ewsh babes were crcumcsed. Crcumcson s a
"mtzvah" (commandment from God) centra to |ewsh cuture. It s an outward
physca sgn of the eterna covenant between God and the |ewsh peope. It s
thought that the |ewsh peope w be perpetuated through the crcumcsed man.
When a |ewsh boy s crcumcsed, he s accepted nto the "Covenant of Abraham"
and assumes the rghts and dutes of the Torah. A mae |ew who s not crcumcsed
s somethng ess than a |ew and suhers the penaty of karet (sprtua excson) -
regardess of how good a |ew he s n a other ways, an uncrcumcsed man may not
enter the Word to Come.
Brt mah (rtua crcumcson) or "the brs" s performed n a speca ceremony
durng the daytme of the eghth day
45
of the boy's fe. Crcumcson must be done
by a quaed "mohe" or the crcumcson s nvad. Because the mother s nddah
(or partay mpure) for at east 40 days after the brth of a boy she s unabe to
attend the ceremony. Among the key parts of the ceremony - the boy s gven hs
name (whch s sometmes speed out n the marrage contract).
For the |ews, part of Gods perfecton s the ack of foreskn and those born wthout
a foreskn were regarded as made n the mage of God a sgn of the most santy of
peope from Adam to Zerubbabe (see Mdrash Ab. R. N., ed. Schechter, p. 153; and
Tamud, Sotah 12a). Those born wth a foreskn (even a mnma one) are
crcumcsed by ether remova of the skn or a symboc "pnprck". Speca heath
ssues may ahect how the procedure s accompshed.
The ceremony tsef has severa components and customs. Tradtonay, the boys
father honors someone (e.g. the grandfather) as the "sandek" whose ap serves as
an atar where the boy s hed. A char s set asde because, accordng to tradton,
E|ah the prophet comes to every brs. It s customary for those attendng to stand.
The father rectes the tradtona decaraton of God's unty, the "Shma": Hear, O
43
Hstorca records make t cear that for |ews of ths perod, the command of the Lord to
"be frutfu and mutpy" was vewed as an obgaton to procreate. Throughout scrpture t s
repeated that parents were bessed f they had chdren and cursed f they dd not. The
scrptura purpose of marrage was procreaton.
44
Besdes, the dea of Mary beng a "vrgn" s based upon a mstransaton of Isaah 7:14
where the Hebrew word ./ 0 1 2"amah"), meanng "young woman" was changed to "vrgn".
(The word for vrgn woud have been 3 43 5 "bethuah", Cf. Isaah 62:5).
45
The crcumcson mtzvah s so mportant that the brs w happen even f the eght day
fas on the Sabbath.
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Israe, the Lord s our God, the Lord s One." The baby s then passed to the
"sandek" who hods the baby on hs ap whe the mohe unwraps the nfant and
prepares hm for the brs. The father stands next to the mohe and before the cut,
he rectes the foowng bessng: "Bessed are You, Lord our God, Kng of the
unverse, who has sancted us wth Hs commandments and commanded us
concernng the crcumcson." The mohe then performs the cut and the father
rectes ths bessng: "Bessed are You, Lord our God, Kng of the unverse, who has
sancted us wth Hs commandments and commanded us to enter hm nto the
Covenant of Abraham our father.
The assemby wshes the father and baby we: "|ust as he has entered nto the
Covenant of Abraham, so may he enter nto Torah, nto marrage and nto good
deeds." At ths pont the mohe takes a cup of wne and besses t: "Bessed are You,
Lord our God, Kng of the unverse, who has created the frut of the vne." (Wne s
partaken at a |ewsh ceremones and festve meas to reca the goodness of God."
Wth the wne, the foowng bessng s made: "Bessed are You, Lord our God, Kng
of the unverse, who sancted the beoved one from the womb, set Hs statue n hs
esh, and seaed hs descendants wth the sgn of the hoy Covenant. Therefore, as
a reward of ths crcumcson, the vng God, our Porton, our Rock, has ordaned
that the beoved of our esh be saved from the abyss, for the sake of the Covenant
whch He has set n our esh. Bessed are You, Lord, who makes the Covenant."
At that pont the chd s hed out and hs name s gven wth ths bessng: "Our
God, and the God of our fathers, preserve ths chd for hs father and mother, and
hs name n Israe sha be caed ------- the son of --------. May the father re|oce n hs
chd and the mother be |oyous wth the frut of her womb as t s wrtten: May your
father and mother re|oce, and she who bore you be gad. And t s sad: I passed by
you and saw you weterng n your bood and I sad to you: You sha ve through
your bood, and I sad to you: You sha ve through your bood. And t s sad, He has
remembered hs Covenant forever, the word whch He has commanded to a
thousand generatons; the Covenant whch He made wth Abraham, and Hs oath to
Isaac, He estabshed t for |acob as a statute for Israe as an everastng Covenant.
And t s sad: Abraham crcumcsed hs son Isaac when he was eght days od, as
God had commanded hm. Gve thanks to God for He s good, for Hs kndness s
eterna. Gve thanks to God for He s good, for Hs kndness s eterna. Ths sma
nfant |name| -- grow and become great. As you have come nto the Covenant of
Abraham, so may you come nto Torah, nto marrage and nto good deeds." A drop
of wne s gven to the new son of Israe and those gathered wsh the father "maze
tov". Afterwards, a festve mea s common.
At the tme of |esus, tradton hed that the rst and best of a thngs beong to God,
ncudng rstborn chdren. In more ancent tmes, the rstborn sons woud serve as
prests and Tempe functonares. Later, God decded that the trbe of Lev woud
serve n the sacred roe of prests and others woud ony perform rotatng servce to
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the Tempe (Num. 8:14-18). Nevertheess, rstborn st retan a certan degree of
sanctty and must be "redeemed". The rtua of redempton s referred to as pdyon
ha-ben, teray, Redempton of the Son.
A rstborn son must be redeemed after he reaches 31 days of age (the day of brth
beng the rst day). The rtua nvoves payng a sma sum (ve sver shekes) and
therefore cannot be performed on Shabbat. Pursuant to the procedure commanded
n Numbers 18:15-16, a kohen
46
performs a bref rtua to the rstborn mae chd
born by natura chdbrth
47
. Thus, f a femae s the rstborn, no chd n the famy s
sub|ect to the rtua. If the rst concepton ends n a mscarrage after more than 40
days the rtua does not appy to any subsequent chd. Logcay, t does not appy
to members of the trbe of Lev, or chdren born to a daughter of a member of the
trbe of Lev.
"Is ths not the son of |oseph?" (Luke 4:22). Ths queston w reman unanswered,
but the fact that t was asked (and ncuded n the Gospe of Luke) rases others. If
there had been an "mmacuate concepton", one woud expect t to be a ma|or
ssue and we known. The "ocas" woud not have asked ths queston f the |esus
father was we known to be "the Hoy Sprt". Smary, f |esus had been born
under other suspcous crcumstances, woud he be known as "the son of |ospeh"?
Other sources and ctes oher tte n addressng the matter. The Protoevangeum
says "|oseph.was regstered wth Mary" and "she brought forth her rst born son."
(8:13). Matthew tes us: "|esus eft that pace, and came to hs home town, where
he taught the peope n ther synagogue.Is he not the carpenters
48
son? Is not hs
mother caed Mary, hs brothers |ames, |oseph, Smon and |udas? And are not a hs
ssters here wth us?" (Matt. 13:55). And Mark gves us: "Is ths not the |schoar|, the
son of Mary, and brother of |ames, |oses, |udas, and Smon?" (Mk. 6:3).
At the tme, to ca someone the son of ther mother was an nsut as t mped that
ther father was unknown. Its doubtfu that t was Marks ntent to oher such an
nsut probaby thnkng that use of "son of |oseph" woud contradct the
"mmacuate concepton" dea. There s consderabe dsagreement about the ega
crcumstance and nhertance of |esus, especay snce the Messanc cam must be
founded upon descendancy from Davd and tradtonay such descendancy woud
come from ones bood father.
Snce there are at east three ma|or versons of the story, a compete anayss
requres dherent startng ponts:
o The rst tradton (or theoogca asserton) s that Mary was
mpregnated by a dvne act and that |oseph accepted ths and
nevertheess "adopted" |esus as hs son.
46
Rabbs are not necessary kohens and kohens are not necessary rabbs.
47
For exampe, f the rst chd s born by Caesarean secton the rtua does not appy.
48
See note 18, above.
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o The second tradtona says that Mary was raped by a Roman soder
(named Panthera) after beng betrothed to |oseph (whe he was away)
and |oseph st adopted |esus as hs son.
o Fnay, there s the possbty that |oseph was actuay |esus boogca
father.
We dont have to spend much tme wth the ast opton snce under that
crcumstance, |esus was the boogca son of |oseph and norma |ewsh patrnea
nhertance aws woud appy. The rst opton s smpy too far from norma to oher
precedence so we are eft to appy tradtona aw regardng non-boogca sons.
That eaves us wth ony one ssue to dscern, athough t s ess than smpe.
There s no forma procedure of adopton n |ewsh aw and adopton as t exsts n
cv aw s consdered rreevant
49
. |udasm does, however, have certan aws reated
to the crcumstance where a chd s rased by someone other than the brth
parents. In many ways, |ewsh adoptve parents are treated the same as a brth
parent woud be. In the Tamud, one who rases someone ese's chd s regarded as
f he had actuay brought hm nto the word physcay and those who cannot have
chdren of ther own satsfy the obgaton to be frutfu and mutpy by adoptng. An
adopted chd may be formay named as the chd of the adoptve parents and owes
the adoptve parents the same duty of respect as he woud a brth parent.
Most matters reated to the chd's tte or status are determned by the status of the
brth parents, not by that of the adoptve parents. For exampe, an adopted chd
does not gan status as a Kohen or a Lev through ther adopted parents. Indeed,
they are not automatcay a |ew uness born to a |ewsh mother. Rghts and dutes
of the rstborn are determned by the brth parents. |udasm as a regon s passed
down through the matrnea ne (tradtonay, one s |ewsh f ones mother s
|ewsh); however ones trba dentty s patrnea. |ewsh aw presumes that a man
s the natura father of every chd to whom hs wfe gves brth, uness ether hs
paternty s dsproved or he denes paternty by a smpe decaraton. Once a father
has acted as a father to the chd (such as by gvng hm a name), he s egay the
chds father. Smary, a father who teaches a boy hs trade has decared hmsef
hs father.
Under |ewsh aw, trba amaton and famy geneaogy can ony be traced through
the person's father (patrnea). See Exodus 28:4, 29:9-30, 30:30, and 40:15
|Presthood Lneage|; Numbers 36 |Trba Lneage|; Geness 49:10, I Kngs 11:4, and
I Chronces 17:11-19 |Kngshp Lneage|.). In Numbers 1:8 we're tod that the |ewsh
peope decare ther pedgrees accordng to ther fathers' houses. The |ewsh aw of
roya successon provdes that the Throne sha pass from father to son n order of
49
Cv adopton s essentay a transfer of tte or "ownershp" from one parent to another
and the concept of ownng another person s foregn to |ews.
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prmogenture, though a Kng can name any mae he peases as hs successor, as
ong as he s |ewsh and of the House of Davd.
The Torahs stng of the aws of nhertance are both smpe and straghtforward
50
.
When a coupe marres, the womans trba aance transfers to her husbands trbe.
For ths reason, t was not n the best nterest of the trbes for women to nhert and.
See Numbers, Ch. 27 and the crcumstance of the daughters of Zeophehad
51
.
Before any nhertance coud be dstrbuted to the hers, the wfe of the deceased
was apportoned an aowance for her own upkeep or gven a ump sum dstrbuton
as pedged n her marrage contract. A porton was aso set asde for vng expenses
and dowry for any unwed daughters. There s no provson n the Torah that
speccay dentes the aw reatng to transfer of tte through nhertance,
however tradton ceary estabshed that the odest son of the Hgh Prest was the
ega successor of hs father n that roe. (That tradton had tte ehect after Onas
III).
Beyond the brth narratves n the synoptc and varous nfancy gospes, we know
very tte about Mary or her fe. One probem s the commonaty of the name
"Mary" durng the perod and wthn the synoptc gospes. (One estmate purposes
that one n four of a the women n |udea were named Mary durng the perod).
Generay, Marys presence n the gospes s assocated wth the sbngs of |esus:
Matthew 13:55 - "When he had nshed these parabes |esus eft that pace, and
came to hs home town, where he taught the peope n ther synagogue.Is he not
the carpenters son? Is not hs mother caed Miriam, hs brothers |ames, |oseph,
Smon and |udas? And are not a hs ssters here wth us?"
Mark 6:1-6 - "He eft that pace (Capernaum) and went to hs home town (Nazareth)
accompaned by hs dscpes. When the Sabbath came he began to teach n the
synagogue..Is not ths the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of |ames and
|oseph and |udas and Smon? And are not hs ssters here wth us?"
Luke 8:18-21 "On the Gaean hsde, "Hs mother and hs brothers arrved but
coud not get to hm for the crowd. He was tod, Your mother and brothers are
standng outsde, and they want to see you.... He reped, My mother and my
brothers - they are those who hear the word of God and act upon t."
50
(Numbers 27:8-11): "If a man des wth no sons, then hs nhertance goes to hs
daughter(s). If he has no daughter(s), then the nhertance goes to hs brothers. If he has no
brothers, then the nhertance goes to hs fathers brothers. If hs father had no brothers,
then the nhertance goes to the cosest kn of the famy, and he w possess t." The
rstborn s known as the bekhor, "rstborn |mae|", hs nhertance rght s termed mishpat
ha-bekhorah, "the rue of the brthrght" (Deut. 21:17), and the process s caed yakkir "he
sha acknowedge."
51
For a fu readng of |ewsh Inhertance aw, see
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/aw/wsch/|ournas/bccr/23_2/01_FMS.htm.
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Gospe of the Hebrews - "Behod the mother of |esus and hs brothers sad to hm
"|ohn the Baptst s baptzng for the remsson of sns. Let us go and be baptzed by
hm." But he sad to them, "In what matter have I snned, that I shoud go and be
baptzed by hm? Uness, perhaps I have commtted a sn of gnorance."
Marys ast recorded presence wthn the synoptc gospes s at the foot of the Cross
watchng |esus de.
|ohn 19:25 "Now there stood by the cross of |esus, Hs mother, and Hs mothers
sster, Mary the wfe of Ceopas, and Mary Magdaene. When |esus therefore saw
Hs mother, and the dscpe whom He oved (the dscpe, |ohn the Beoved)
standng by, He sad to Hs mother, Woman, behod you son! Then He sad to the
dscpe, Behod your mother! and from that hour that dscpe took her to hs own
home."
After the tae reatng the ascenson of |esus (when he dsappeared n a coud over
the Mount of Oves), we have the ast record of Mary n Acts...
"Then they returned to |erusaem from the mount caed Ovet, whch s near
|erusaem, a Sabbath day's |ourney. And when they had entered, they went up nto
the upper room where they were stayng..They a contnued wth one accord n
prayer and suppcaton, wth the women and Mary the mother of |esus, and wth
Hs brothers." Acts 1:12-14
Beng one of the most venerated women n hstory
52
, there are aso many egends
and artfacts assocated wth Mary, "the Vrgn Mother". None have any sgncance
here, athough she has mportance n the seque, "After |esus".
Whatever the whoe truth may be, Mary s at east a sgncant gure n the
character deveopment of |esus and hs character remans one of the most
nuenta of a humans. If ony the most basc gospe and hstorca facts are true,
she was a woman of remarkabe contrbuton and mportance. And, f even ony a
sma part of the egends are true, then she was "most bessed among a women"
athough her fe presented some great suherng.
52
Mary s the ony woman drecty named n the Our'an and s mentoned more there than n
the New Testament.
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