Jerusalem’s Western Wall was built well after Herod

“Historians say these coins suggest that Herod was not responsible for the construction of the wall Jews view as the most holy site for prayer in Jerusalem”. Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Not Completed by King Herod - Biblical Archaeology Society Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Not Completed by King Herod Bible and archaeology news Biblical Archaeology Society Staff November 28, 2011 …. Coins discovered beneath the foundations of Jerusalem’s Western Wall prove that Herod the Great did not even come close to completing construction on the Temple Mount compound. The coins, stamped around 17 C.E. with the name of the Roman proconsul Valerius Gratus, were found inside an earlier ritual bath (mikveh) that had been filled in to support the construction of the Temple Mount’s western wall—some two decades after Herod’s death. The finds tend to confirm the account of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who records that the entire complex was only completed during the reign of Herod’s great-grandson, Agrippa II, probably around 50 C.E. “The find changes the way we see the construction,” said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Eli Shukron. “[The coins] show [the Temple Mount’s construction] lasted for longer than we originally thought.” Coin Discovery Sheds new Light on Sacred Jerusalems Western Wall | Actforlibraries.org Coin Discovery Sheds new Light on Sacred Jerusalems Western Wall …. A discovery of ancient coins under the Western Wall of Jerusalem shed new light on how the Temple Mount was built. King Herod has largely been credited for leading the construction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. His temple was built on the site of the original temple built by Solomon in Old Testament days. The coins discovered under the Western Wall are significant because they are dated twenty years after Herod’s death in 4 B.C. Historians say these coins suggest that Herod was not responsible for the construction of the wall Jews view as the most holy site for prayer in Jerusalem. …. Valerius Gratus, a Roman governor in the region, stamped the coins in 17 A.D., suggesting that construction of the temple was not completed until at least that year. Incidentally, Gratus preceded Pontius Pilate, the governor famous for his role in the execution of Jesus Christ. Archaeologists excavating an area under the wall discovered the coins in a drainage tunnel that temple builders filled in as part of the construction effort. According to their opinions, the Western Wall was not built until after Herod’s death ….

Haram was site of god Mars

“In biblical times the Haram was not a sacred place. Instead it was the place that Orthodox Jews considered defiled and the most despised place in the world. Within these walls were found no remnants of any of the earlier temples but rather an image of Mars, the Roman god of war”. George Wesley Buchanan In August, 2011, professor George Wesley Buchanan wrote this extraordinary piece, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Pages 16, 64: Misunderstandings About Jerusalem's Temple Mount Misunderstandings About Jerusalem’s Temple Mount While it has not been widely published, it assuredly has been known for more than 40 years that the 45-acre, well-fortified place that has been mistakenly called the “Temple Mount” was really the Roman fortress—the Antonia—that Herod built. The Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque are contained within these walls. The area is called the Haram Al-Sharif in Arabic. The discovery that this area had once been the great Roman fortress came as a shock to the scholarly community, which had believed for many years that this ancient fortress was the place where the temple had been. This news was preceded by another shock, when the English archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon discovered in 1962 that the entire City of David in the past had been only that little rock ridge on the western bank of the Kidron Valley. Less than 10 years later the historian Benjamin Mazar learned that the Haram had undoubtedly been the Roman fortress. In biblical times the Haram was not a sacred place. Instead it was the place that Orthodox Jews considered defiled and the most despised place in the world. Within these walls were found no remnants of any of the earlier temples but rather an image of Mars, the Roman god of war. The 1st century Jewish Roman historian Titus Flavius Josephus said the Romans always kept a whole legion of soldiers (5,000-6,000) there, and that there were stones in its walls that were 30 feet long, 15 feet thick, and 71/2 feet high. While excavating the area, Mazar found these very stones there in the Haram—not in the temple. He and the local Muslims also discovered there three inscriptions, honoring the Roman leaders in the war of A.D. 66-72—Vespasian, Titus, and Silva—and Hadrian in the war of A.D. 132-135 [sic], for their success in defeating the Jews in the wars. Mackey’s comment: But see my proposed identifications and time location of Hadrian: Time to consider Hadrian, that ‘mirror-image’ of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus (3) Time to consider Hadrian, that 'mirror-image' of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus George Wesley Buchanan continues: Appropriate inscriptions for a Roman fortress, but impossible for a temple that had been destroyed in A.D. 70—65 years before the inscriptions had been made. Mazar shared these insights freely with other participants in the excavation, such as … Ernest Martin. Mazar also knew at once that the temple instead was stationed 600 feet farther south and 200 feet lower in altitude, on Mount Ophel, where the Spring of Siloam poured tons of water under the threshold of the temple every minute (Ezek 47:1), after which the water was distributed wherever it was needed. This marvelous little City of David was unique in having running water 3,000 years ago. Aristeas, Tacitus and 1 Enoch tell of the inexhaustible spring water system that was indescribably well developed, gushing tons of water into the temple area for sacrifices. Hezekiah's tunnel directed water under Mount Ophel to the Pool of Siloam. Herod’s fortress, on the other hand, was unequipped for sacrifices, because it had only 37 cisterns to provide water in the Haram. After two violent wars with Rome, the City of David was so completely destroyed that it could not be recognized as a city. … people forgot what a marvelous little city this had once been. They simply guessed where strategic locations in the City of David must have been in the Upper City. Of course, this was a normal mistake. Now, 50 years after Kenyon's discovery, scholars like Leen Ritmeyer, Eilat Mazar and Hershel Shanks have recently written books as if no one knew that the Haram was the Roman Fortress and that Solomon's, Zechariah's … temples all were located near the Spring of Siloam. Tourists are still mistakenly told that the Haram is the Temple Mount, that David’s citadel is near the Jaffa Gate, and that Mount Zion and the place where the Last Supper was held are all in the Upper City. Israel’s antiquities authority has been digging a tunnel from under homes in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan to the Western Wall Plaza. According to a recent “60 Minutes” interview, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat wants to create King’s Garden, a Bible-themed tourist park “adjacent to the City of David,” which requires demolishing 22 Arab homes in Silwan. The purpose of archeology is to provide archeological insights, of course, but excavations between the City of David and the old Roman fortress (the Haram) also have an anti-Arab political agenda. It is not likely that a fourth [sic?] temple will ever be constructed, either in the City of David or in the Haram. Israel already has diverted the water formerly used for sacrifices away from the former temple area and is making the City of David into a park. Orthodox Jews would oppose having a temple in Herod’s hated fortress. Jews had no interest in the Haram until after the Crusades, when they misunderstood that it was the Temple Mount. If the temple were ever built, it would have to be placed somewhere in the Upper City or a suburb of Jerusalem—not in its former site or in the old Roman Fortress. Because innocent Evangelical Christians in America, under the guidance of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and John Hagee, have not been informed of these facts, they have thought there was some biblical or religious reason why it was necessary to destroy Islam’s third most sacred building in the world, together with the al-Aqsa mosque. It is my hope that, once Christians learn of this mistake, they will stop following Mars and Phineas (Num 25; Ps 106:30-31) and work as zealously for peace, following the teachings of Abraham, the 8th century prophets (Mica 6:8), Jesus, and Paul, as they once worked to promote war in the Middle East. This would make a tremendous difference to Jerusalem—and to the world. ________________________________________ George Wesley Buchanan has been a United Methodist minister since 1944 and a professor at a theological seminary since 1960, emeritus since he retired in 1991.

Saint Luke Evangelist - thaumaturgist healer

by Damien F. Mackey Ananias and Luke share these commonalities: healing; holiness; disciple; follower of the risen Jesus Christ; friend of Paul; (likely) from Syria. Michael M. Canaris writes this of the poorly known “Ananias of Damascus, a saintly, unsung hero” (2019): https://catholicstarherald.org/ananias-of-damascus-a-saintly-unsung-hero .... On the day the church celebrates the Conversion of Saint Paul (Jan. 25) — this year the 60th anniversary of the calling of Vatican II — in contemplating the daily readings in such a way, it struck me for the first time that Ananias is at least as much a profile in courage in that narrative as is Saul, “who is also called Paul” (Acts 13:9). But this latter poor servant of the church has received infinitely less praise than his more famous counterpart. Let’s begin with the narrative in Acts of the Apostles 9, where Saul is on his way to Damascus to continue wreaking havoc upon the Christian community he loathes, and is knocked to the ground by a blinding light (the biblical narrative doesn’t tell us whether he was on foot or on a horse, though we often see him flung from the latter in artworks, like those by Caravaggio and Veronese). Saul encounters Christ, is struck blind, and needs to be led to the city by hand. All this is quite familiar to the majority of us. But most of us pay little attention to the parallel scene. Separately, Jesus also appears to Ananias in a vision. He is already in Damascus and already a “disciple.” The Lord calls him and he responds immediately, “Yes, Lord.” Jesus directs him to go to the Street called Straight (in Latin, the Via Recta), which still exists amidst the bombs raining down on modern-day Syria, and to restore sight to Saul. Ananias’ response is understandably hesitant: “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” (“…um, of which I am one, Your Divine Majesty,” we could creatively add!). But Christ emphatically says “Go!” — making clear that it is through this unworthy instrument that he plans to offer the message of redemption to the nations outside of Israel. And so Ananias confidently approaches his sworn enemy, to whom incredible power has been given to decimate those with whom he disagrees, and the first words out of his mouth are ones not too often repeated today in our discourse with those who hate or vilify us: “Brother Saul.” He goes on to say “the Lord — Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is he who likely baptizes the greatest missionary in the history of the church, and causes the scales to fall from his eyes. It’s not necessarily Paul’s faith, but Ananias’ that brings about the transformation. And while Ananias is mostly lost to the sands of history after this encounter, his co-believers with all the litanies praising them and basilicas named for them initially do not help or welcome Paul, “for they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was really a disciple.” It’s only Ananias, and eventually Barnabas, who are moved with compassion at the Pharisaical former tentmaker, and offer an olive branch of trust, at great personal peril. Beyond this snippet, we know very little about Ananias. His name, which was not a terribly uncommon one in the ancient world, literally means “Favored by God”. …. [End of quotes] Who was Ananias? I would like to venture the suggestion here that Ananias of Damascus may be a potential candidate for the famous St. Luke himself. If so, then Ananias will no longer have to suffer being, as in the words (above) of Michael Canaris, “lost to the sands of history”. In various articles now I have attempted to fill out other New Testament [NT] characters using alter egos, in most cases allowing for a character to have two names - both a Hebrew and a Greek name - which, however, can also be a cause of duplication. For instance: • John the Baptist as Gamaliel’s Theudas: Gamaliel's ‘Theudas’ as John the Baptist https://www.academia.edu/36424851/Gamaliels_Theudas_as_John_the_Baptist • Nathanael of Cana as Stephen Protomartyr: St. Stephen a true Israelite https://www.academia.edu/30843387/St_Stephen_a_true_Israelite {Also Gamaliel, again, his “Judas the Galilean” as Judas Maccabeus - same name, “Judas”, in this case} • And then there is the un-named: Was Apostle Barnabas the Gospels’ “rich young man”? https://www.academia.edu/36824565/Was_Apostle_Barnabas_the_Gospels_rich_young_man Paul (Greco-Roman name) is otherwise called Saul (Hebrew name) in the Book of Acts (cf. 9:1 and 23:1). Connecting Ananias and Luke My main point of connection between Ananias and Luke would be the healing of Paul’s blindness, due to the intervention of Ananias, with the fact that the converted Paul will refer to his friend Luke as a “healer” (various “physician”). Thus Colossians 4:14: “Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas”. The Greek word used here to describe Luke is ἰατρὸς, which can mean - apart from “physician” or “doctor” – “healer” (the sense in which I am taking it). “[Greek] ἰατρός (iatros), [Latin] medicus: physician, healer, one who provides healing services; Mt.9:12, Mk.2:17, Mk.5:26, Lk.4:23, Lk.5:31, Lk.8:43, Col.4:14”: https://resoundingthefaith.com/2018/04/%E2%80%8Egreek-%E1%BC%B0%CE%B1%CF%84%CF%81%CF%8C%CF%82-iatros-latin-medicus/ As Ananias (if that is who Luke was), the Evangelist was also a healer, thaumaturgist, even a mystic-visionary (cf. Acts 9:12). Note, too, the close bond between Paul and Luke, as we would expect if Luke were Paul’s healer, Ananias. Paul calls Luke “beloved”, ἀγαπητὸς. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Luke is found to have remained steadfastly loyal to Paul (not always easy): “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry”. That closeness is reinforced in Philemon 1:24: “... Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers”. I have previously quoted Fr. Jean Carmignac (who has persuasively argued for an early dating of the NT books), in my article: Fr Jean Carmignac dates Gospels early https://www.academia.edu/30807628/Fr_Jean_Carmignac_dates_Gospels_early as stating that: “... It is sufficiently probable that our second Gospel [that is, Mark], was composed in a Semitic language by St. Peter the Apostle” (with Mark being his secretary perhaps). And Fr. Carmignac has this to say about what he considers to be Paul’s praise of Luke (p. 52): St. Paul speaks in [2 Corinthians] 8:18 of a person whom he describes thus: That brother whom all the Churches praise for his preaching of the gospel. …. If it is a question of the preaching of the Gospels, this would not be a distinctive designation, for it would apply to all the collaborators of St. Paul. In order that the Gospel be a motive for special recognition throughout all the Churches and characterize one brother from all the others, isn’t it because this brother, alone of all the others, is the author of a Gospel? Thus it would be a question of Luke, whose Gospel would then have been spread throughout all the Churches. Many commentators have understood this allusion of St. Paul, in this way, beginning with Origen (cited by Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, bk. 6, chap. 25, no. 6). [End of quote] Ananias is referred to as a “disciple” (Acts 9:10), a word that is frequently used by commentators to describe Luke as well. Finally, Luke is considered likely to have been a native of Syrian Antioch - though that is not definite. Ananias himself resided in Syrian Damascus. Ananias and Luke share these commonalities: healing; holiness; disciple; follower of the risen Jesus Christ; friend of Paul; (likely) from Syria. * * * A reader, commenting on my recent article: A more appropriate location for the Temple in Jerusalem (5) A more appropriate location for the Temple in Jerusalem | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu has written: Thank you, Mr. Mackey. I have long thought the traditional temple mount was the wrong location and was curious about the city of David's location. I look forward to reading your paper. then adding to this: I have a question about whether Luke, the writer of the Gospel is Lucius of Cyrene, and also whether Theophilus to whom he wrote was the same Theophilus that was High Priest? …. While the reader may, perhaps, be right on both counts, I personally would favour Ananias, first, for Luke. {I have wondered might the historian, Nicolaus of Damascus, be a garbled version of Luke} On Theophilus, my own preference would be for he as Luke’s disciple, Paul: Luke’s Theophilos (3) Luke's Theophilos | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Paul (Saul) may just possibly have been a descendant of King Saul, Israel’s first king: history - Is there any evidence that Paul was a descendant of Jonathan? - Christianity Stack Exchange Is there any evidence that Paul was a descendant of Jonathan? …. Paul being a descendant of Jonathan would have some appeal from a devotional perspective since Jesus' more direct saving of Paul could be viewed as fulfilling the covenant of friendship between David and Jonathan and their descendants (1 Samuel 20:42). From Philippians 3:5 we know that he was from the tribe of Benjamin (like Jonathan) and Paul's other name, Saul, might be more common among descendants of King Saul than among Benjaminites generally. On the other hand, with the purging of the house of Saul (2 Samuel 9:3 indicates that Mephibosheth might be the bottleneck as a sole survivor) there might have been few if any descendants of Jonathan in the first century A.D. Is there any other evidence supporting or falsifying this possibility or is this merely a wild speculation where even tradition is silent? Optional bonus question: Has this speculation been written about earlier in Church history? (Allegory and other somewhat fanciful conceits seem to have been more popular earlier in Church history, so I would not be surprised if someone had considered this possibility given its devotional attractiveness.) …. Saint Luke kept returning to Damascus incident “St. Luke considered this [Damascus] event so pivotal that he recounted it three times, at critical moments in his book [Acts]”. Carsten Peter Thiede A possible further indication that I may be on the right track in identifying the evangelist Luke with Ananias, the healer of St. Paul at Damascus, is the fact that Luke when writing the book of Acts recalls the incident on several occasions. We read about this in Carsten Peter Thiede’s highly significant book, The Jesus Papyrus: The Most Sensational Evidence on the Origins of the Gospels Since the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000, pp. 118-119): St. Luke considered this event so pivotal that he recounted it three times, at critical moments in his book. The first version is his own (Acts 9:1-9) a straightforward narrative account told at the chronologically appropriate moment. The second version is St Paul’s; in Acts 22:5-21, he addresses the Jews in Jerusalem …. St. Paul’s version of the Damascus experience is geared towards a Jewish audience, its idiom and the explanation he employs founded on ‘the Law of our ancestors’ (22:3). In Acts 26:12-23 St. Paul tells the story a second time. The setting is a court appearance before the authorities at Caesarea Maritima … King Herod Agrippa II [sic] and … procurator Festus …. St. Paul … addresses them in Greek. He also tailors his story to his audience, making no allusion on this occasion to ‘the Law of our ancestors’. …. Benedictus “… redacted in a Semitic language” ‘… to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham …’. Luke 1:72-73 “The Benedictus, reproduced in Luke 1:68-79, is composed of three strophes each having seven stichs”, wrote Fr Jean Carmignac (The Birth of the Synoptics, Franciscan Herald Press, 1984, p. 27). Strophe, in poetry, a group of verses that form a distinct unit within a poem. The term is sometimes used as a synonym for stanza …. https://www.britannica.com/art/strophe stich (Noun). A verse, of whatever measure or number of feet, especially a verse of the Scriptures. https://www.definitions.net/definition/stich Fr. Carmignac continues (pp. 27-28): The first begins with the biblical and Qumranic formula: Blessed (be) the Lord the God of Israel; the third begins, as frequently is the case at Qumran, with the personal pronoun: And you, child. The second strophe has in its first stich: to show mercy to our fathers, in which the expression to show mercy translates the verb hânan, which is the root of Yôhânân (= John); then follows the second stich: and he remembers his holy covenant, in which he remembers translates the verb zâkar, which is the root of Zâkâryâh (= Zachary); then the third stich: the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, uses, in two different forms, the root shâba‘ (to swear, or to take an oath), which is the root of Elîshâba’ at (= Elizabeth). Is it by chance that the second strophe of this poem begins by a triple allusion to the names of the three protagonists: John, Zachary, Elizabeth? But this allusion only exists in Hebrew: the Greek or English translation does not preserve it …. This piece falls under Fr. Carmignac’s section: “The Semitisms of Composition”. Let us examine … cases in which the composition itself is based on Semitic … that is, cases in which the text itself would not exist in its present form if it had not been composed in a Semitic language …. .… redacted in a Semitic language. …. Luke’s Theophilos “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught”. Luke 1:1-4 Who was Luke 1:3’s “Most Excellent Theophilos”? In Greek, kratiste Theophile (Κράτιστε Θεόφιλε). Now if Luke the Evangelist, whom Paul calls “beloved healer [physician]” (Colossians 4:14), ὁ ἰατρὸς ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, was Ananias of Damascus, who healed Paul of his blindness, then he might have returned Paul’s generous description of him with the phrase he uses in Luke 1:3, Excellent, or noble, Friend of God. In other words, Luke was addressing Paul himself, a new convert to Christianity, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. There must have been a strong bond between the pair, Luke (Ananias) being Paul’s catechist. Later, in Acts 1:1, Luke the Evangelist will superscript the book more simply: “In my former book [Gospel], Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach”. Various famous and important people have been suggested as candidates for Luke’s enigmatic Theophilos. One of these is the philosopher, Philo Judaeus. And I think that, in his name, there is a meeting with Luke’s Theo-Philos. Thus it may be time to connect, all as one, Paul, Theophilos, and the Philo who was apparently both known to, and contemporaneous with, Saint Peter. Further on Philo, though, see my article: Apollonius of Tyana, like Philo, a fiction (5) Apollonius of Tyana, like Philo, a fiction Dugan King, contributing to the Bible Hermeneutics site, has written the following intriguing piece, hopefully arguing for Philo Judaeus as the biblical “Theophilus” (no doubt needing modifications): https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/4058/is-lukes-theophilus-an-actual-person-or-an-allegorical-person I have been doing research in theological history and philosophy of the first century and stumbled across another strong theory as to whom Luke may have been addressing as Theophilus. I believe it could have been the full name of Philo Judaeus of Alexandria also known as Jedidiah HaCohen. Jedidiah was Philo's Hebrew name ... meaning friend or beloved of God ... and this hints at the possibility that Philo was a shortened version of Theophilus ... having the same meaning. Combine this with the fact that Philo was the greatest religious philosopher of the first century ... perhaps the Great Teacher mentioned in the writings of the Essenes ... for it was clearly the eclectic teaching and exegesis of Philo and his "Logos" that laid the spiritual foundation upon which Christianity, Gnosticism, Rabbinical Judaism, Islam, Theosophy and Hermeticism are outgrowths. Philo's teachings created the various streams of religious philosophy that have rained down upon civilization with such force as to replace pagan polytheism with Abraham's monotheism all across the world. Jesus taught the Logos ... the Word of God ... and declared it to be "The First Begotten Son of God" ... an idea originating with Philo [sic] and stated with such eloquent force that the Roman Emperors had to quit fighting it and embrace it in order to get their grip on it and change it from within ... so as to make it more conducive to Roman Imperial designs. I have also discovered hundreds of allegorical clues hidden in the works of Philo that suggest he had a very close relationship with Jesus or Yeshua of the Nazarenes ... who very likely grew up in Alexandria during his flight from Herod. Because Philo was a Roman magistrate ... he was not able to come forward with what he knew about the early life of the historical Jesus without drawing Imperial attention to himself ... but the Life of Jesus is mirrored and traced throughout Philo's writings ... especially in his theology and focus on the Essenes. It appears to me very likely that … Philo [was] descended from the last Hasmonean Princess of Judea ... King Herod's captive bride ... Queen Mary or Mariamne I. It appears that Philo and his brother Alexander the Alabarch were not only high ranking Princes of the Hasmonean/Herodian dynasty ... but Roman magistrates working as Alexandrian customs agents and ambassadors to the Judeo/Claudian Imperial Family of Rome ... and intermarried with the family of King Herod Agrippa ... also a descendent of Queen Mary/Mariamne I ... the captive bride murdered by Herod. We can see Philo's teachings in the Book of Hebrews ... in the writings of Luke, in the first paragraph of John's Gospel and in Macabbees IV. If Luke was addressing Philo Judaeus as Theophilus ... or perhaps Jedidiah ... then it means that Luke was writing prior to the time of Philo's death ... possibly around 50 A.D. The works of Philo Judaeus and Flavius Josephus are important supplements to the New Testament .... …. Combine this knowledge with the archeological discoveries of the past 300 years ... and artifacts such as the shroud of Turin ... it leaves no doubt that Jesus ... Yeshua the Nazarene ... was and is a historical figure who impacted the world in many ways ... a spiritual/intellectual/philosophical tour de force with the One God of Abraham at the summit. Exactly what Philo intended. ….

A Jewish Voice reflection upon Yeshua/Jesus and Yom Kippur

“The book of Hebrews explains that Jesus sits in Heaven at the right hand of the Father’s [throne] as a minister of the “true tabernacle,” erected by God, not man (Hebrews 8:2).” Jewish Voice Taken from: Yeshua, Our High Priest | Jewish Voice Yeshua, Our High Priest October 02, 2019 It is amazing how much depth we can see when we understand the Jewish foundation upon which the New Covenant is built. God is One; He is cohesive and intentional. He communicates it throughout the Scriptures as He ties Old and New Covenants together with His single purpose: the redemption of Israel and all of humanity. When God instituted the Jewish Feast of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), He knew that thousands of years later, His Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), would perform the duties of a High Priest to perfection and completion. Just like Yeshua did not abolish the Law, but fulfilled it – filled it full – for us, so too He did not abolish the Day of Atonement. He makes its meaning and imagery full. In Yom Kippur, God placed prophetic pictures of events He would bring to pass with Yeshua’s first and second comings. Yeshua's sacrificial death filled full the first of these parallels. The writer of Hebrews wanted the Jewish people to know that Yeshua is the Messiah and our High Priest forever. Yeshua is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek Jesus is not from the tribe of Levi, the family of Israel’s priests. He is not a priest according to the line of Aaron. There was another priest who was outside the expected lineage: Melchizedek. This King of Salem seems to have come from nowhere, yet Abraham gave him a tenth of all that he had, indicating he was the greater of the two. Psalm 110:4 proclaims that the Messiah would be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. The book of Hebrews compares Yeshua to Melchizedek who had “no beginning of days nor end of life, but, made like Ben-Elohim [the Son of God], he remains a kohen [priest] for all time” (Hebrews 7:3). Because Yeshua lives eternally, His priesthood never ends; He is a priest forever. (See Genesis 14:18–20, Hebrews chapter 7.) Yeshua was appointed High Priest The High Priests of Israel did not take upon themselves the mantel of this important position. They were appointed from their father; Aaron was appointed by the Lord Himself through Moses. Yeshua was appointed by God through the Messianic prophetic words of the Psalms and are quoted in Hebrews as the author begins to reveal Jesus’ role as our High Priest. (See Psalm 2:7, Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 5:5.) Yeshua is our mediator The priest was a mediator, one who goes before God representing the people. He made the sacrifices and prayed for Israel. First Timothy 2:5 proclaims that there is one mediator between God and man: Yeshua. The book of Hebrews explains that Jesus sits in Heaven at the right hand of the Father’s [throne] as a minister of the “true tabernacle,” erected by God, not man (Hebrews 8:2). He mediates for us and has become the guarantee of a “better covenant,” and He lives eternally to intercede for us. (See Hebrews 7:22, 25b, 8:1–6.) Yeshua entered the Holy of Holies One day each year – on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement – the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle or Temple. It was the most sacred place of the Temple; it was where God’s presence dwelled. The priest had to ceremonially bathe and offer sacrifices for his own sins before he was considered pure enough to enter behind the thick curtain into this holy, inner chamber. Yeshua was perfectly pure, undefiled and separate from sinners. He did not need to make sacrifices for Himself before offering His blood for our sins. As our High Priest, He entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies once to make atonement for all. (See Hebrews 7:26–28, 9:11–12.) Yeshua brought the blood of a sacrifice On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest brought the blood of bulls and goats into the Temple, sprinkling it on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies to cover Israel’s sin. Yeshua brought His own blood. Through His sacrifice, offering Himself without blemish, He obtained eternal redemption for us. He did this once and for all. (See Hebrews 7:27, 9:12–13, 26-28, 10:2, 10.) Yeshua is our sympathetic High Priest The High Priest could sympathize with Israel because he too sinned. Yeshua is a fitting High Priest because, though He was without sin, He was tempted in every way like we are. Therefore, He understands our weaknesses and offers His compassion. Those who have placed their trust in Him may approach His holiness and receive grace and mercy in times of need. (See Hebrews 4:15–16 and 7:26–28.) Yeshua’s sacrifice made complete atonement for our sin Yom Kippur sacrifices covered sin, but they did not remove it. Scripture tells us that the blood of bulls and goats can atone for sins, but Yeshua’s blood utterly “puts away sin.” As our High Priest, Yeshua does not need to bring His blood year after year the way the priests of old brought sacrifices. He offered His blood once, for all, and “He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).” We have been made holy through the offering of the Messiah’s blood. (See Hebrews 9:26–10:11.) Yeshua inaugurated the new covenant When He entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies with His own blood, Yeshua brought about the new covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31–33. He enabled God’s Law to be placed in our hearts and His Holy Spirit to dwell inside us. God dwells in those who have placed their faith in Yeshua, and we have been made in the likeness of the Temple of God. We can enter His presence boldly without fear of condemnation. (See Hebrews 8:7–12, Ephesians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 8:1, 15.) As you spend time with God on Yom Kippur, reflect on His holiness and the redemption Jesus bought for you with His blood. Which aspect of Yeshua’s High Priesthood touches your heart the most? Why? Thank Him for it, and worship Him for all He has done for you. On Yom Kippur, may you be filled with awe at God’s glory and holiness as well as the complete assurance that He invites you to come boldly into His presence because of His great love for you.

Old Kingdom of Egypt fearfully devastated with blood and fire

by Damien F. Mackey “There is blood everywhere …. Lo the river is blood”. o “Groaning is throughout the land, mingled with laments”. “All is ruin!” “The land is without light”. Ipuwer Papyrus Have you ever heard of the Ipuwer Papyrus? It is an ancient document. Many believe it to be a recollection of the Ten Plagues, perhaps even by an eyewitness. Turning water to blood was one of the miraculous powers with which the Lord had invested his servant, Moses, in order to prompt his people, and even the Egyptians, to believe. The other miraculous abilities were the rod of Moses turning into a serpent, and the hand becoming leprous, but then restored to health. The water to blood phenomenon would be the last chance before Egypt would feel the full force of the Ten Plagues (Exodus 4:8-9): Then the Lord said, ‘If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground’. Amazingly, even this late - and in the face of the Lord’s powerful words about delivering his people “with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6) - we find Moses still reluctant to co-operate, to face Pharaoh, owing to his perceived lack of eloquence: ‘I speak with faltering lips’ (Exodus 6:1-12): Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country’. God also said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord’.” Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country’. But Moses said to the Lord, ‘If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?’ A half century or more ago, now, this great man, Moses, had himself actually ruled Egypt as Pharaoh - as Djedefre (Djedefptah)/Niuserre Ini/Userkare. But, after a short time, he had abdicated. He was, too, a sage and a scholar, as Ptahhotep (as Kagemni), a writer of Instructions. But Moses was also Chief Vizier and Judge in Egypt. “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush” (Acts 7:35). In this official guise, as Weni (Mentuhotep), Moses would lead the armies of Egypt, against Ethiopia (Cush), and against the Bedouin. A military genius, he was also known as General Nysumontu (a Moses-like name, Nysu, like Sinuhe, and Niuserre Ini, which latter element also connects nicely with Weni/Uni). On this, see my article: Ini, Weni, Iny, Moses (DOC) Ini, Weni, Iny, Moses Yet, despite all of that, Moses was most reluctant to confront pharaoh Neferhotep. How to explain this? Perhaps because (Numbers 12:3): “… Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth”. He seemed to lack the self-assurance of his predecessor, Joseph, the Man of Dreams. Had pharaoh Neferhotep even heard of Moses? That this king had apparently no personal vendetta against Moses can be assumed from Exodus 4:19: ‘Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought thy life’. Egypt’s so-called ‘Middle’ Kingdom (which was effectively still the Old Kingdom, hence the title of this article) was now rapidly coming to its end. Egyptian Magicians emulate miracles How so? A possible explanation for this is given here at: How were Pharaoh’s magicians able to perform miracles? | GotQuestions.org How were Pharaoh’s magicians able to perform miracles? Answer The story of Pharaoh’s magicians can be found in Exodus 7–8, when Moses and Aaron confront the Pharaoh in Egypt, demanding that he free God’s people, the Israelites, from slavery. Moses and Aaron performed miracles to confirm their message, and on three occasions Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate the miracles. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and charged him to speak to Pharaoh on His behalf (Exodus 3). During that commissioning, God granted Moses the ability to perform miracles (Exodus 4:21). Knowing that Pharaoh would demand a sign, God instructed Moses and Aaron to throw down Aaron’s staff upon their first meeting with the ruler. Aaron did so, and his staff turned into a snake. Pharaoh immediately summoned his magicians, who were able to turn their own staffs into snakes. In what must have been an ominous sign for Pharaoh’s court, Aaron’s snake devoured the magicians’ snakes (see Exodus 7:8–13). Twice more, Pharaoh’s magicians were able to perform miracles to match the signs of Moses and Aaron. The first plague that Moses called down upon the Egyptians was a plague of blood. The magicians were also able to turn water to blood as Moses had done to the Nile River (Exodus 7:14–22). The second plague was a horde of frogs sent among the Egyptian people, and the magicians summoned their own frogs as well—adding to the problem rather than alleviating it (Exodus 8:1–7). After this, however, the magicians’ power stopped, as they were unable to replicate any further plagues, and they acknowledged they were witnessing “the finger of God” in Moses’ signs (verse 19). But how were the magicians of Egypt able to perform the miracles in the first place? There are two possible answers to this question. The first is that the magicians received their power from Satan. Although not as powerful as God, Satan, formerly one of God’s highest angels, has the power to deceive, emulate miracles, and even tell the future with a certain degree of accuracy (see Luke 4; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Acts 16:16–18). Satan may have given Pharaoh’s magicians the power to duplicate some of the signs God performed through Moses and Aaron. The second option, and the more probable, is that the magicians simply created illusions. Through sleight-of-hand and conjurer’s tricks, they deceived their audience into believing that they were performing the same miracles as Moses and Aaron. The first illusion, that of turning the staffs into snakes, may have been performed by snake charming, which was widely practiced in ancient Egypt (and even some today). There was a way in which snake charmers could cause a snake to stiffen like a staff and relax on command. Since the magicians were summoned after Aaron threw down his own staff, they would have had time to prepare the trick in advance. As for turning the Nile to blood, only dye is needed to make water run red. The frogs may be a more complicated illusion, but, just as modern illusionists can pull rabbits out of hats, Pharaoh’s magicians could have summoned frogs. Whether they were creating illusions or performing actual miracles, the Egyptian magicians were eventually stymied by God’s power. They were unable to summon gnats (Exodus 8:16–19), turn the sky dark (Exodus 10:21–23), call down hailstones (Exodus 9:22–26), or duplicate any of the other plagues. God’s power is great enough to defeat both man’s conniving and Satan’s power with ease. Did the Lord also use natural phenomena? So far, we have read of the Burning Bush episode and of Moses (and Aaron) being empowered to work certain miracles to generate belief among the Israelites – and, presumably, for any Egyptians of good will. The Burning Bush; the ability to turn one’s staff into a serpent; to cure a leprous hand; and to turn Nile water to blood; these are all purely miraculous manifestations. But what about the pillar of cloud, later, and the pillar of fire? (To be considered elsewhere). Many have argued that the Plagues of Egypt and the Exodus event were the result of natural catastrophism, volcanoes and/or earthquakes. There does appear to be a fair amount of tectonic activity going on during the Exodus and the sojourn in the desert. A favourite idea is that the unprecedented cataclysmic eruption of Thera (Santorini) in the Mediterranean Sea provides the explanation for the Plagues, for the pillars of cloud and fire, and for the parting of the Sea of Reeds. A tsunami engendered by that awesome hecatomb can then be proposed to explain the drowning of the Egyptian army. A possible association of Thera and the Exodus is mentioned, for instance, at Britannica.com eruption of Thera, devastating Bronze Age eruption of a long-dormant volcano on the Aegean island of Thera, about 70 miles (110 km) north of Crete. Earthquakes, perhaps contemporaneous with the eruption, shattered Knossos and damaged other settlements in northern Crete. The Thera eruption is thought to have occurred about 1500 bce, although, on the basis of evidence obtained during the 1980s from a Greenland ice-core and from tree-ring and radiocarbon dating, some scholars believe that it occurred earlier, possibly during the 1620s bce. Ash and pumice from the eruption have been found as far away as Egypt and Israel, and there has been speculation that the eruption was the source of the legend of Atlantis and of stories in the Old Testament book of Exodus. [End of quote] The truth is, though, that Thera could have had nothing to do with it! While one of the dates given in this piece above, “1500 bce”, is, as an approximation, roughly compatible with the era of Moses, this date, when properly revised downwards on the timeline, must be re-cast closer to c. 1000 BC, which is chronologically well out of range of the Exodus event. The Thera catastrophe may have occurred just a bit before the reign of King Solomon (I Kings 6:1): “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the Temple of the LORD”. That is about half a millennium after the Exodus. Moreover, while the Thera cataclysm must have occurred close to the Late Bronze Age, the Exodus Israelites, the Middle Bronze I nomads, on the other hand, would become conquerors of Early Bronze Age civilisations. Finally, there is very little evidence for Thera, as massive as it was, impacting as far away as Egypt (some pumice finds, for instance): How Did the Eruption of Thera Affect the Egyptians? - GreekReporter.com The eruption of Thera in Egyptian chronology The exact date of the eruption of Thera is something that scholars continue to debate. This is due to conflicting evidence from radiocarbon dating and ice core evidence. Nevertheless, its relative date within Egyptian chronology is absolutely secure. The reason we can say this is that archaeologists have found various items made of pumice (rock formed from volcanic material) in Egypt from one specific time period. This is the reign of Ahmose I. The pumice in question matches that found on Thera itself, showing that it came from the Minoan eruption. Therefore, we can be absolutely sure that the eruption of Thera occurred in the reign of Ahmose I of Egypt, regardless of when the actual date really was. However, the weight of evidence places it in the 16th century BCE. [End of quote] Why I have wondered about the possibility of natural phenomena also being included amongst the miraculous in the Book of Exodus is because, after having read an account of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in Washington State, in 198o, I was amazed how closely various of its effects seemed to parallel those of the Plagues of Egypt – though not necessarily in the same order. I read about this in Graham Phillips’ terrific book, Act of God (1998). This book also served to enlighten me mightily as to the nature of the enigmatic pharaoh, Akhnaton. According to the Old Testament account in the book of Exodus, when the pharaoh refused Moses’ demands to let the Israelite slaves leave Egypt, God inflicted the Egyptians with a series of what the Bible calls plagues, which included darkness over the land, the Nile turning to blood, fiery hail storms, cattle deaths and a plague of boils. In Act of God, Graham presents compelling evidence that these biblical plagues were real historical events - the result of a volcanic eruption so colossal that it also gave rise to the legend of Atlantis. {My own opinion about the highly popular subject of Atlantis would be that the legend about it was a composite mix of ancient catastrophes, including the Great Flood, the Thera eruption, and the Fall of Tyre}. The following is taken from The Graham Phillips Website: Act of God 1 …. There are various types of volcanic eruption: some spew forth rivers of molten lava, others produce searing mud slides, but by far the most devastating is when the pressure of the magma causes the volcano to literally blow its top. One of the largest eruptions in recent years was the Mount Saint Helens eruption in Washington State USA in 1980, when the explosion blasted away the mountainside with the power of a fifty megaton bomb. On the morning of 18 May 1980, a mass of searing volcanic material blasted outwards, killing almost every living thing or miles around. Thousands of acres of forest were flattened and molten debris covered everywhere like the surface of the moon. Within a few hours a cloud of ash thousands of feet high, containing billions of tons of volcanic material, had rolled east across three states - Washington, Idaho and Montana – where the massive volcanic cloud covered the sky and day was turned to night. Throughout the whole area ash fell like rain, clogging motor engines, halting trains and blocking roads. Thousands of square miles of lush farmland now looked like a grey desert and millions of dollars worth of crops were destroyed. Hundreds of people, as far away as Billings in Montana, over 500 miles from the volcano, were taken to hospital with sore eyes and skin rashes caused by exposure to the acidic fallout ash. For weeks afterwards fish in thousands of miles of rivers were found floating on the surface, killed by chemical pollutants in the water. Something very similar seems to have affected Egypt some three and a half thousand years ago when the Exodus story appears to be set. The Plagues of Egypt First of all there is the plague of darkness. This might have been the result of a massive cloud of fallout ash. After the Mount Saint Helens eruption the sun was obscured for hours over 500 miles from the volcano. According to Exodus 10: 21-23: And there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. In Exodus 9:23-26 we are told that Egypt is afflicted by … another plague – a terrible fiery hailstorm: And the Lord sent thunder and hail… So there was hail and fire mingled with the hail… And the hail smote all throughout the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast, and brake every tree in the field. This would be an accurate description of the dreadful ordeal suffered by people in the shadow of the Mount Saint Helens fallout cloud in 1980 - pellet-sized volcanic debris falling like hail; fiery pumice setting fires on the ground and destroying trees and houses; lightning flashing around, generated by the tremendous turbulence inside the volcanic cloud. For days volcanic debris fell like hailstones, flattening crops for miles around. The Exodus account of another of the plagues could easily be a report given by someone living in the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana, over which the volcanic fallout cloud was blown after the Mount Saint Helens eruption of 1980: And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast... (Exodus 9:9.) Fine dust causing boils and blains! Hundreds of people were taken to hospital with skin sores and rashes after the Mount Saint Helens eruption due to exposure to the acidic fallout ash, and livestock perished or had to be destroyed due to prolonged inhalation of the volcanic dust. According to Exodus 9:6: And all the cattle of Egypt died. After the Mount Saint Helens eruption fish also died and were found floating on the surface of hundreds of miles of waterways. The pungent odor of pumice permeated everything and water supplies had to be cut off until the impurities could be filtered from reservoirs. According to Exodus 7:21: And the fish that was in the river died: and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. As well as the grey pumice ash volcanoes blast skywards, many volcanoes have another, more corrosive toxin in their bedrock - iron oxide. (This is the same red material that covers the surface of Mars.) After the Mount Saint Helens eruption thousands of tons of iron oxide were discharged into the rivers killing fish for miles around. It would certainly explain the Exodus reference to the Nile turning to blood, as iron oxide would turn the river red: And all the waters that were in the river turned to blood. (Exodus 7:20). Over the years various scholars have individually attributed these plagues to different natural phenomena. The darkness could have been due to a violent sandstorm; the hail the result of freak weather conditions; the boils caused by an epidemic; and the bloodied river may have been the result of seismic activity to the south, near the Nile’s source. However, the likelihood of them all happening at the same time seems just too remote. A volcanic eruption, however, would account for them all. …. [End of quote] The most that I could say, at this stage, is that, whilst much of what happened involving Moses and Aaron was purely miraculous, the Lord could also have allowed a natural catastrophe to trigger a series of plagues. The material and the timing, however, was all His. The Exodus account needs to be supplemented by King Solomon’s vivid description of the Plagues in the Book of Wisdom. For instance: Wisdom of Solomon 16 – God’s Justice in the Plagues: Plagues as lessons for the nations. - Pope Kirillos …. Wisdom of Solomon chapter 16 presents a profound meditation on God’s Justice and Mercy as revealed through the plagues visited upon the Egyptians and the corresponding blessings bestowed upon the Israelites. The chapter explores how God used these plagues not merely as instruments of punishment, but as pedagogical tools designed to teach both the Egyptians and the Israelites about His power, justice, and ultimately, His mercy. The plagues targeted the Egyptians’ objects of worship, demonstrating their futility. Simultaneously, the Israelites experienced miraculous deliverances, fostering faith and dependence on God. This chapter highlights the duality of God’s actions: judgment tempered with mercy, designed for both correction and salvation. We will delve into each verse, drawing from Patristic insights and Coptic Orthodox tradition, to uncover the deep spiritual truths embedded within this powerful narrative. …. War on the gods of Egypt Just prior to the last devastating Plague, the death of Egypt’s firstborn, the Lord declares his intention to smite the gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12): ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord’. This would almost certainly include Pharaoh himself (and his firstborn son), who was considered by the Egyptians to be the Divine Son of Ra (the Sun God). There have also been some excellent articles written on the Lord’s use of the Plagues to undermine the various gods of Egypt. For example, Joe LoMusio’s: “Against the Gods of Egypt” - Identifying the Ten Plagues (7) "Against the Gods of Egypt" - Identifying the Ten Plagues and Timothy Sliedrecht’s: Against All Gods: Purpose of the Ten Plagues (7) Against All Gods: Purpose of the Ten Plagues Christopher Eames has also written well on this subject (2021): ‘Against All the Gods of Egypt’ God used the 10 plagues to send a powerful message to Egypt and the Israelites—and to us. The 10 plagues of Egypt constitute one of the strangest collections of miracles in the Bible. Water turned to blood, legions of frogs, dust turned to lice, boils—nowhere else in the Bible do we see such a peculiar display of divine judgment. Have you ever wondered why God sent such an eclectic mix of plagues? And why He sent 10? He could have easily crushed Egypt and freed the Israelites through just one plague. Why didn’t God just intensify plague number seven—the hail—and be done with it? There is a fascinating reason why God performed so many powerful and peculiar miracles. He didn’t send the 10 plagues to merely free the Israelites or to punish Egypt’s Pharaoh and his people. In Exodus 12:12, God says, “[A]gainst all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.” Egypt at the time was the world’s dominant power, and it possessed one of the most widespread, complex and ancient religions on Earth. God used the plagues to warn and punish an entire religious and political system—and to free an entire civilization from slavery to false religion! The One True God …. Through the 10 plagues, God was making Himself known to the Egyptians and to the Israelites. The Israelites actually experienced the first three plagues because they needed to learn who God was! Some experts believe that Egypt had a pantheon of as many as 2,000 pagan gods and goddesses. Through the plagues, God proved that He was the one and only all-powerful, divine Being of the universe. “And God said unto Moses: ‘I am that I am’” (Exodus 3:14). …. First Blood: Snake Gods It is notable that the first words Pharaoh uttered to Moses and Aaron concerned the identity of their God. “And Pharaoh said: ‘Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go’” (Exodus 5:2). To Pharaoh, Moses’s God was just another deity. But then Moses performed a miracle that showed God’s identity in relation to Pharaoh, his magicians and the Egyptian gods: “… Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their secret arts. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods” (Exodus 7:10-12). There is more to this event than meets the eye. To the ancient Egyptians, a snake swallowing other snakes was a known religious refrain. In Egyptian mythology, the powerful primordial snake god Nehebkau is considered the “original snake.” His image was depicted as a protective deity on ivory rods. Worship of him was especially popular at this time in Egypt’s history (middle second millennium b.c.e.). According to the Coffin Text Spells (ancient Egyptian mythological accounts inscribed around 2100 b.c.e.), Nehebkau swallowed seven cobras, giving him power against harm from any magic. The Hebrew snake swallowing the Egyptian snakes, in the name of the “God of Israel,” would have been a startling display of supremacy. …. 1. Water to Blood With the first plague, God struck Egypt’s most important resource: the Nile River. “[A]nd he [Aaron] lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood” (Exodus 7:20). The Nile provided Egypt with a constant source of fresh water. Its nutrient-rich floodplains were Egypt’s breadbasket. Turning the Nile to blood was another targeted attack on one of Egypt’s most important gods: Osiris, the god of fertility, vegetation and agriculture. The Egyptians considered the Nile River to be the “bloodstream” of Osiris. As the chief god of the Nile, Osiris gave life to the Egyptian empire. When God turned the Nile to literal blood, the river (and its god) became the source of widespread death and suffering. This miracle attacked other gods as well: Khnum, god of the source of the Nile; Hapi, the god who presided over annual flooding; Sopdet, goddess of fertility-brought-to-soil-by-Nile-floodwater. It also insulted other Egyptian deities, including Nu, Naunet, Tefnut, Nehet-Weret and the fish-goddess Hatmehit. …. Although Pharaoh’s magicians successfully replicated this plague, they couldn’t make it stop (verse 22). Deities such as Taweret—the pot-bellied, hippo-headed, crocodile-tailed “Mistress of Pure Water”—were not able to cleanse the Nile or all the other water that had likewise miraculously turned to blood (verse 19). God’s onslaught on the gods of the Nile River continued for one week. But Pharaoh still refused to obey God’s command. So Moses and Aaron returned to the royal court. 2. Frogs “Thus saith the Lord: Let My people go …. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. And the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bed-chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs” (Exodus 7:26-28). Besides being gross, this plague would have had a dramatic impact on the Egyptian mind. The best-known Egyptian frog deity is the goddess Heqet. Heqet, and frogs in general, symbolized childbirth and midwifery, as well as resurrection. These motifs are closely tied to the Israelite story in Egypt. To stop the immense population growth of the Israelites, Pharaoh had previously ordered that all newborn males be drowned by the midwives in the Nile (Exodus 1:15-22). Now, with the second plague, Pharaoh was inundated with these symbols of childbirth, midwifery and resurrection literally pouring back out of the Nile! Surely the symbolism was not lost on Pharaoh. …. [Etc., etc.]

Coming of the Son of Man

by Damien F. Mackey “Coming with clouds, and lightning is a portent of total destruction, such phraseology being used before, in the Old testament, when Judgment by Yhwh came on Jerusalem by Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and other "executioners", and now it's Rome”. U.S. researcher, Bob Guyrik, has provided some excellent comments here with reference to my most recent (26th September, 2025) article: Christian Zionists a boon to Israel, but sadly mistaken about Final Coming and Third Temple (5) Christian Zionists a boon to Israel, but sadly mistaken about Final Coming and Third Temple Dear Damien: You nailed it here! The Wailing Wall is part of The Temple to Jupiter, a part of Roman Fort Antonia still remaining. The Mount never had a temple, and the second temple was smashed to powder by the catapults and Scorpiones of which each Roman legion of Titus had 40-60 of these horrendous machines, some weighing 400 pounds dragged by horses dressed in Bronze armor so their faces looked like men with long hair—see internet pictures of these war horses. The siege lasted 5 months (yes, observe in Revelation 9:10 - "They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails"), at the end of which the entire city and temple were smashed, then burnt, the the foundations plowed under (Josephus) leaving nothing. 1.1 million were slaughtered and 93,000 captured with many of these latter sent to die in colosseums around the empire. All of the Levites were found hiding in the temple and were brought out to Titus. He proclaimed "execute them"! (As an aside, Levite priesthood is hereditary, so where will any new priests come from?) All of "these things" was predicted by Jesus in Matthew 23-25, and Luke 19 ff., and Jesus said it would happen within "this generation" (a generation being 40 years historically), and that ""some standing here will witness it" (so the "coming of the Son of Man already happened in August, 70 AD. Not 2 or 3 thousand years in the future! (what good would that be to Jesus' listeners to the Olivet Discourse in 30 AD?) 70 AD is when Jesus "came with clouds", as "predicted by the Prophet Daniel". Coming with clouds, and lightning is a portent of total destruction, such phraseology being used before, in the Old testament, when Judgment by Yhwh came on Jerusalem by Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and other "executioners", and now it's Rome. It was also called "The Day of the Lord" when Yhwh was the formal judge. Now with Jesus given charge of judgment, the destruction of Israel, Judah, Samaria,and Jerusalem, is named "The Coming of the Son of Man". My wife and 3 grown children identify as believers who will become spiritual living stones, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of the Third Temple when we pass this mortal coil. The delusion that the Second Temple built by Herod was on the Temple Mount (it was clearly in the City of David above the only spring with "living waters" on any of the mountains), such imaginings will preclude attempts to build a third temple at the real site. Besides, with no Ark of the Mosaic Covenant, no Priesthood, no Song of Moses, no Ten Commandments, no Sacrifices, no Propitiation, what a meaningless temple it would be! (The Ark doesn't even have golden rats anymore!) The Mosaic Age is over. We are now in the Messianic Age! Hallelujah! Yes, Damien, I know some muslims which have said the same things as Dr. Ataie, and now belong to Christ. I pray that he follows through and can see, by induction and deduction, his life and the world created by God for all of us, Jew, Gentile, and Muslim, makes sense. The first book of the Bible begins the wonderful story where the Scarlet Thread (Jesus) which saves Job begins, and it continues weaving its way through every book of the Old and New Testament until He is observed at the end of the Apocalypse of John. Beginning and End; Aleph and Tav; Alpha and Omega. ….

Christian Zionists a boon to Israel, but sadly mistaken about Final Coming and Third Temple

by Damien F. Mackey Dr Ali Ataie really ought to be a Christian. He has well noted in his video that the Passover ritual that was occurring at the Temple while Jesus, the Lamb of God, was being crucified, facing the Temple, was being enacted in his very flesh. The slaughter of the sacrificial lambs, for instance. The rending of the huge curtain of the Holy of Holies. Christian Zionism Some non-Christians, such as the Muslim scholar Dr Ali Ataie (Christian Zionism: a Major Oxymoron), are emphasising that the Christian Zionists are going against the New Testament by hoping to hasten the end times and the Final Coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, by re-building the (third) Temple in Jerusalem. For, as these non-Christians rightly say, Jesus had claimed of the old Temple that “not one stone here will be left on another” (Mark 13:2), and that He himself was the Temple. In this way, such non-Christians have read the New Testament far more accurately than have the Christian Zionists, who are succeeding only in emptying the Scriptures of their true meaning. Blood and water flows from the Temple Dr Ali Ataie really ought to be a Christian. He has well noted in his video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUxTg2qTJlw) that the Passover ritual that was occurring at the Temple while Jesus, the Lamb of God, was being crucified, facing the Temple, was being enacted in his very flesh. The slaughter of the sacrificial lambs, for instance. The rending of the huge curtain of the Holy of Holies. Even the Temple priests sprinkling the floor with blood was imaged when Judas Iscariot (was he a priest?) threw the blood money across the floor in front of the priests. (Dr. Ernest L. Martin, RIP, brilliantly picked up this one). But, most significantly, the blood and water that gushed out from the side of the Temple when the priests opened a side door, at the same time that blood and water was flowing from the pierced side of Jesus on the Cross (Christian Zionism). Dr Ali Ataie, a convinced Muslim, is referring to the biblical accounts here. While he, personally, does not believe that these events actually occurred, he rightly insists that this is what Christians are supposed to believe. Implications of Abrahamic Covenant A completely new age had been ushered in with the return of Jesus Christ, as He said, to bring fiery Justice upon the evil and adulterous generation that had crucified Him (cf. Malachi 3:5: “I will come to you in judgment ....”). The land of Israel was ravaged and burned, its capital city of Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple was totally eradicated, and those thousands of Jews who were not killed were taken away into captivity. That physically severed forever the ancient Abrahamic connection between the Jews and the Holy Land. The far more important spiritual connection with Abraham, based on Faith, a pre-requisite for the possession of the Holy Land, had already been shattered. So much so that Jesus, when the Jews boasted of having Abraham for their father, insisted that the Devil, not Abraham, was the father of the prophet-slaying Jews. ‘You belong to your father the Devil’ (John 8:44). On this same important subject, see also my recent article: Covenant between God and Abram wonderfully foreshadows the immolation of Jesus Christ (6) Covenant between God and Abram wonderfully foreshadows the immolation of Jesus Christ Saint Paul in Galatians makes it quite clear that the connection with Abraham is only through Jesus Christ, the “seed” of Abraham (3:29): “And if you be Christ’s, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise”. The straw that broke the camel’s back would be the rejection of, and murder of, the Prophet of Prophets himself, Jesus the Christ. It is sad and quite frustrating to see pious Jews now reverencing a massive Gentile wall situated well away from where the Jerusalem Temples had stood, and hopefully expecting the Messiah to arrive in Jerusalem in the not too distant future: Fort Antonia and Wailing Wall (7) Fort Antonia and Wailing Wall Nor is it of any true worth that Zionists - including the Christian version of these - a very powerful and wealthy lobby, have that same goal of re-building the stone Temple (in the wrong place, it must be said), to welcome the Messiah, or Jesus (depending on whether one is Jewish or Christian). “Tabernacled Among Us” "And the Word became flesh and Tabernacled among us". John 1:14 No wonder that Jesus Christ was wont to go all the way back to Moses to explain himself (Luke 24:27). His human existence, moving amongst his people, had been foreshadowed back in the time of Moses, in the Pentateuch, by the moveable Tent of Meeting, or Tabernacle. Jesus, too, was often on the move among the people. As John Dickson has written: https://www.johndickson.org/blog/2018/2/7/jesus-as-the-temple “Jesus handed out forgiveness whenever anyone humbly approached him. He acted like a mobile temple”. Saint John picks this up in his Gospel by likening the Word’s human existence, dwelling on earth, to being Tabernacled (ἐσκήνωσεν). That is the literal meaning of the text, and it is meant to recall the ancient Tent of Meeting which contained the glorious Ark of the Covenant with its mercy seat, the Menorah, and the shew bread.