Doug Mason

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Posts by Doug Mason

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  23

  Why "Most high"?

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if there were only one god, why do we encounter the expression, "most high god"?.

  is this not indicative of polytheism, and of levels (or degrees) of god-ness?.

  doug .

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• 

  Doug Mason

  If there were only one God, why do we encounter the expression, "Most High God"?

  Is this not indicative of polytheism, and of levels (or degrees) of god-ness?

  Doug
  
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  1

  "poly-Yahwist" religion of early Israel and Judah

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following is from “beyond the texts: an archaeological portrait of ancient israel and judah”, pages 497-499, by william dever,.

  religion played an important role in all early societies, and cultic practices (if not beliefs) are often reflected in material culture remains.

  in israel and judah of the ninth–eighth century [bce] we have a number of both public and private cultic installations.

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  Doug Mason

  The following is from “Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah”, pages 497-499, by William Dever,

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  Religion played an important role in all early societies, and cultic practices (if not beliefs) are often reflected in material culture remains. In Israel and Judah of the ninth–eighth century [BCE] we have a number of both public and private cultic installations. …. From Iron [Age] IIB at Dan on the northern border there is a “high place” that features a raised platform 60 by 60 feet, with steps leading up to it and remains of a large four-horned altar in the forecourt. An adjoining tripartite structure (perhaps later) had a small stone altar and three iron shovels in one room. Also in the sacred precinct was a large olive-pressing installation, a house with domestic pottery and an oxhead figurine, a bronze scepter head, a painted offering stand, both male and female figurines of Phoenician style, and a faience die. A much smaller bāmâ with five standing stones (maṣṣēbôt) was found in the outer plaza of the city gate.

  The only other full-fledged Iron [Age] II sanctuary we have is the tripartite temple at Arad in the northwest corner of the fortress. The temple was constructed in Stratum X of the ninth–eighth century [BCE] and was then altered in Stratum VIII in what may have been attempts at religious reforms that included abandoning the altar in the outer court and burying the two or three maṣṣēbôt of the inner sanctum. In the outer courtyard there was an altar of undressed stones, at the foot of which was found a bronze lion weight and two shallow bowls with the letters qoph and kaph, probably an abbreviation for qôdeš kôhănîm, “holy for the priests.” Two stylized horned altars flanked the entrance to the inner sanctum. … The Stratum X temple went out of use in the late eighth century. … Among the Arad ostraca was one (no. 15) that refers to the “temple [bêt] of Yahweh,” which probably refers to this temple [at Arad] rather than the one in Jerusalem. Other ostraca mention the names of known priestly families. The temple is out of use by Stratum VII, perhaps as a result of cult reforms.

  In addition to these monumental remains, we have a number of household shrines of the ninth–eighth century. … They feature various combinations of small stone altars, cult stands, kernoi and other libation vessels, rattles, censers, both zoomorphic and female figurines, miniature furniture and vessels, pots for cooking and feasting, seals, and amulets.

  All these vessels are appropriate for the family and household cults that we have taken to be characteristic of the varieties of “Yahwism” that characterized Israelite and Judahite religion in the Iron II period (and earlier). The precise theological concepts cannot always be inferred from the archaeological remains, even when extensive.

  In practice, however, the focus is clearly seen, and it requires no sophisticated theory to comprehend it. It all has to do with survival—the ultimate concern of virtually all religions. This entails seeking the favor of the gods by prayers, invocations, and appropriate rituals, placating them by sacrifice, returning their gifts and rendering thanks, invoking their continued blessings by the use of sympathetic magic and feasting, and, of course, aligning oneself with them so as to participate in the “good life,” life in accord with nature as the creation of the gods and the arena of their activity.

  It is now clear from the archaeological evidence that it was not the orthodox Yahwism of the late literary tradition, sometimes regarded imprecisely as “official” or “state” religion, that prevailed in the Iron II era. It was rather what Albertz has called “poly-Yahwism,” the “internal religious pluralism” that is so obvious in the typical family and household cults.

  Now it is becoming clear that a cult of [the goddess] Asherah flourished, in both domestic and wider contexts, even to the extent of regarding her as Yahweh’s consort in some circles. Thus the veneration of Asherah can be understood not as “idolatry” but as one aspect of multifaceted Yahwistic practices.

  An increasing number of both biblicists and archaeologists identify the Judean pillar-base figurines that begin in the late eighth century (after the 732–721 destructions in the north) as representations of the old Canaanite mother goddess Asherah. That is, these terra-cotta female figurines, of which we have hundreds of examples, are not simply votives or human figurines. They are evidence of a widespread, popular cult of Asherah, no doubt persistent until the end of the monarchy.
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  14

  Keys to understanding the Book of Revelation

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  · the whole book of revelation is one letter.. · that letter was to be taken by a courier and read out aloud in churches along a road that ran from ephesus to laodicea.

  the author was very familiar with each of the churches.. · those christians were experiencing intense persecution.. · the letter was designed to encourage these first-century christians to “overcome”.

  it told them that the end was imminent (“soon”) and they had to remain faithful, to the point of being prepared to losing their lives.. · john had gone to patmos in order to compose (“receive”) the message.

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  Doug Mason

  The opening (Rev. 1:4) and closing (22:21) of the biblical Book of Revelation show that it is a letter. It is written to a series of communities along a road running from Ephesus to Laodicea by a man who is very familiar with them and who is deeply concerned for them. So he writes a circular letter that is to be read out aloud (1:3) in each community. His overriding concern is for them to survive, to be saved despite the inordinate pressures they are experiencing.

  To achieve this, John employs the vehicle of apocalyptic and revelatory treatises. It was a style of writing they were familiar with. Several such treatises have survived, including: The Apocalypse of Peter, The Apocalypse of Paul, The Shepherd of Hermas; The Secret Book of John, and so on. The book of 1 Enoch figures prominently throughout the New Testament writings. In writing his messages to his beloved communities, John drew on imagery from within Judaism and beyond.

  Mark 13, Matthew 24, 25 and Luke 21 are known as the “little apocalypses”. They supposedly predict the future destruction of Jerusalem’s temple and the fate of Jesus’ followers. These too, were not intended as prophecies, but were intended to provide assurance to those who remained faithful. Each of these chapters was written after Jerusalem’s destruction. In this way they repeated the actions of the second-century BCE Jews who wrote the Book of Daniel to provide comfort to their community at the time it was being persecuted by Antiochus Epiphanes. They wrote Daniel as if predicting the regions’ dominant nations whereas in fact they wrote it after the fact.

  Being concerned for his communities’ salvation, John encourages them to persevere, to overcome, and to keep the commandments. He tells them they will survive, even if they are killed. They will be victorious, and most importantly he repeats that it will be over “very soon”, for Jesus is “coming quickly”, even within 1,260 days.

  “Salvation” for John and for those communities meant: obedience, perseverance, and overcoming. John’s concept of “salvation” is different from the ideas created by Paul’s imaginative mind. Paul’s form of following Jesus was not the only one. Each Jewish sect claimed to follow Jesus and his directives, yet they did not fully agree with one another. Nothing has changed.

  These writers had no more predictive insights than anyone else. Throughout the centuries, the abject failure of fulfilments has generated any number of explanations and interpretations. All have failed miserably, yet people continue to create contemporary solutions.

  The lesson that history teaches is that people do not learn the lesson that history teaches, and they keep on repeating the same mistake over and over again.

  John, the writer of the biblical Book of Revelation, employed the apocalyptic style of writing in order to create and sustain strength and commitment within the communities he deeply cared about and was committed to. He was not predicting the course of Western civilization’s history.

  Doug
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  7

  More significant than Paul's hair

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  far more important than worrying about whether paul's head was hairy or if he was an egg-shell blond, is to be concerned about what went on inside that skull between his ears.. paul was never a christian.

  he was a jew before he became aware of jesus the anointed (christ) and he remained a jew after his confrontation.

  throughout his life paul was a jew living in a gentile world.

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  Doug Mason

  I mentioned the unreliability of Acts because that is the source that most people use to create a picture of Paul, Peter and of the early movement.

  At some stage it will be interesting to lay out some of the reasons Acts is rejected. For me, the major reason lies with the contradictions between Acts and Galatians.

  I deliberately did not use the term "Christianity" because my understanding is that it did not come into regular use until late second and into the third centuries. Because Marcion made such use of Paul, his protagonists (early Church Fathers) were loathe to make much use of Paul. Only when the Pauline sect gained ascendancy through action of the Roman Emperors, particularly Theodosius and to a lesser extent Constantine, did the writings of Paul (genuine and assumed) become so domineering, as they now are in their Scriptures.

  Doug
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  7

  More significant than Paul's hair

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  far more important than worrying about whether paul's head was hairy or if he was an egg-shell blond, is to be concerned about what went on inside that skull between his ears.. paul was never a christian.

  he was a jew before he became aware of jesus the anointed (christ) and he remained a jew after his confrontation.

  throughout his life paul was a jew living in a gentile world.

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  Doug Mason

  “The fact that Paul says he was subject to forty lashes (less one) five times from synagogical authorities (2 Cor 11:24) means that the synagogical authorities as well as Paul himself understood that he remained subject to Jewish authority.” (Eisenbaum, Pamela. “Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle” (p. 8). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)

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  The big thing that Paul has going for him is that we know what he thought -- provided we stick to the writings that are genuinely his, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. We can say what the writer of Revelation thought. However, given that the Gospels were written decades after Jesus lived and that the authors were not eyewitnesses, one has to exercise caution over their records.

  Other writings, such as Colossians and Ephesians (chronologically in that order) and the Pastorals are products of the late first century, about 40 years after Paul's death. Likewise the epistles attributed to Peter are from the second century, while scholars treat the book of Acts as religious fiction.

  I am of the view that Paul was heterosexual and there is a slight chink in my thinking that says Jesus was possibly a married man.

  Doug
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  7

  More significant than Paul's hair

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  far more important than worrying about whether paul's head was hairy or if he was an egg-shell blond, is to be concerned about what went on inside that skull between his ears.. paul was never a christian.

  he was a jew before he became aware of jesus the anointed (christ) and he remained a jew after his confrontation.

  throughout his life paul was a jew living in a gentile world.

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  Doug Mason

  Apologies to two scholars, who I mixed up in my mind.

  The Jewish author who lives and teaches in a Christian environment is Pamela Eisenbaum, and her excellent book is: "Paul was not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle".

  Read her book as well as "Paul: The Pagan's Apostle" by Paula Fredriksen.

  Both are available as ebooks.

  Doug
• 
  7

  More significant than Paul's hair

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  far more important than worrying about whether paul's head was hairy or if he was an egg-shell blond, is to be concerned about what went on inside that skull between his ears.. paul was never a christian.

  he was a jew before he became aware of jesus the anointed (christ) and he remained a jew after his confrontation.

  throughout his life paul was a jew living in a gentile world.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Doug Mason

  Far more important than worrying about whether Paul's head was hairy or if he was an egg-shell blond, is to be concerned about what went on inside that skull between his ears.

  Paul was never a Christian. He was a Jew before he became aware of Jesus the Anointed (Christ) and he remained a Jew after his confrontation. Throughout his life Paul was a Jew living in a Gentile world. His burning intention was to bring Gentiles into the promise that God had covenanted with the Israelites. Paul wanted the Gentiles to be grafted onto the Jewish olive tree.

  While I have not yet read the following newly-released book, written by a Jew living and teaching in Christian environments, I certainly intend doing so very soon:

  "Paul: The Pagan's Apostle", Paula Fredriksen.

  Doug
  
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  1

  William Dever on the date of Jerusalem's destruction

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following excerpts are from “beyond the texts: an archaeological portrait of ancient israel and judah”, by william dever, sbl press, 2017.

  the largest corpora of seventh-century ostraca are those from lachish and arad.

  the original twenty-three lachish ostraca were letters found in one room of the gatehouse in the stratum ii destruction of the city, now clearly dated to the babylonian campaigns of 586.

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  Doug Mason

  The following excerpts are from “Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah”, by William Dever, SBL Press, 2017

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  The largest corpora of seventh-century ostraca are those from Lachish and Arad. The original twenty-three Lachish ostraca were letters found in one room of the gatehouse in the Stratum II destruction of the city, now clearly dated to the Babylonian campaigns of 586. (“Beyond the Texts”, page 588)

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  Two late seventh- or early sixth-century hoards of bullae—clay seal impressions with Hebrew names—have recently been found. The 320 bullae published by Avigad are unprovenanced but probably come from illicit digging (or robbing) in Jerusalem. Yigal Shiloh's hoard of fifty-one, however, is well stratified and dates to Stratum 10 of the early sixth century (586), when the city was finally destroyed. They were found just above the floor of Building 967 (the Bullae House) in the burnt debris. (pages 589-590)

  The most intriguing house shrine known thus far is in the Bullae House excavated by Shiloh in Area G in Jerusalem, its destruction well dated to 586. The bullae have been widely discussed. (page 599)

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  The End: The Babylonian Destructions of 586. (page 603)

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  The biblical texts, which here we are considering separately, focus exclusively on the fall of Jerusalem, which took place in 586, with devastating results. Jerusalem had been besieged for some eighteen months. Finally the city walls were breached; the king (Zedekiah) and his troops fled; the temple and palace were burned; the city was thoroughly looted; and large numbers of the population were deported to Babylon, leaving the "people of the land" behind as a remnant.

  The Babylonian Chronicle falls silent at this point, noting only the earlier invasion in 598/597. The Deuteronomistic History, on the other hand, recounts only the final destruction of Jerusalem, nothing else. It is only archaeology that can fill in the gaps, but few modern histories of Israel cite the substantive data that we now have.

  Stratum 10 of the recent excavations in Jerusalem dramatically illuminates the 586 destruction of the city. Avigad's defensive tower was found below a deep layer of ashes. Shiloh's houses in Areas E and G—the Ashlar House, the House of Ahiel, the Burnt Room, and the House of the Bullae—were fired; in the collapse were found large quantities of pottery, stone and metal vessels, and the bullae discussed above. The destruction of Mazar's residential quarters is said to have been total. Dozens of iron arrowheads, as well as triangular Scythian arrowheads, attest to the ferocity of the battle. The date was 18 July 586 (the 9th of Ab). (page 604)

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  The several Judahite forts listed in figure 6.5 above, most of which were founded after the 732-721 destructions in the north, were nearly all destroyed in 586, and many were deserted thereafter. The forts in the area of Jerusalem and extending eastward into the Judean desert were undoubtedly overrun by the Babylonian onslaught. The Negev forts, of less strategic importance, were also destroyed and deserted thereafter. They may have been taken by the Babylonians in the course of dominating the southern trade routes or by Edomites taking advantage of Judah's weakness.

  In addition to the destructions of Judahite sites in 586, several sites in Philistia were destroyed by the Babylonians, most slightly earlier, in 604 or 603: (page 603)

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  Scholars have generally agreed that the Babylonian destructions in 586 devastated most of the urban sites in Judah. The fate of the rural areas, however, has only recently been illuminated. (page 606)

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  Coming now to Judah's final demise, there are several correlations between biblical accounts of the reigns of Judah's last kings and the archaeological and extrabiblical textual records. Jehozhaz (609) is said to have been imprisoned at Riblah in Syria by Pharaoh Neco (II) in the course of his campaigns against the Assyrians. Jehoiakim (609-598) is said to have rebelled and then become the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, and the withdrawal of Egypt, defeated by the Babylonians, is noted. The story of Jehoiachin and the first exile of Jerusalemites in 597 accords well with Babylonian records. Jehoiachin is said in cuneiform records to have been released from prison in Babylon and allowed to attend at the king's table, an incident also recorded in an epilogue in 2 Kgs 25:27-30, added in the exilic period.

  The reign of Zedekiah (597-586) is described in some detail, and much of the detail has to do with the fall of Jerusalem in 586. (page 615)
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  14

  Keys to understanding the Book of Revelation

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  · the whole book of revelation is one letter.. · that letter was to be taken by a courier and read out aloud in churches along a road that ran from ephesus to laodicea.

  the author was very familiar with each of the churches.. · those christians were experiencing intense persecution.. · the letter was designed to encourage these first-century christians to “overcome”.

  it told them that the end was imminent (“soon”) and they had to remain faithful, to the point of being prepared to losing their lives.. · john had gone to patmos in order to compose (“receive”) the message.

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  2. 
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• 

  Doug Mason

  · The whole book of Revelation is one letter.

  · That letter was to be taken by a courier and read out aloud in churches along a road that ran from Ephesus to Laodicea. The author was very familiar with each of the churches.

  · Those Christians were experiencing intense persecution.

  · The letter was designed to encourage these first-century Christians to “overcome”. It told them that the end was imminent (“soon”) and they had to remain faithful, to the point of being prepared to losing their lives.

  · John had gone to Patmos in order to compose (“receive”) the message. He put his words into the mouth of Jesus, and others.

  · Very cleverly, John employed the lurid imagery of apocalyptic writing in order to support the Christians while at the same time using the symbolism to hide the messages from their persecutors. This technique had been used by the 2nd century BCE writer of the Book of Daniel when Antiochus Epiphanes was persecuting Jews. John relied heavily on the Book of Daniel.

  · None of John’s expectations came to pass. He got it all wrong

  John did not write the Apocalypse in order to provide a detailed time-table of events that would unfold thousands of years in the future. Instead, John wrote to affect and move his hearers at the end of the first century, to motivate them to reject idolatrous compromise with the surrounding cultural and political institutions and to overcome through repentance, worship, witness, perseverance, and obedience.

  Doug
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  9

  The Pastorals

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  all will be very familiar with:.

  "all scripture is inspired by god and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 timothy 3:16, nrsv).

  "we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great god and savior, jesus christ.

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  Doug Mason

  venus,

  Thanks so much for telling me about the book. Converting the freely available PDF to Word format makes it very accessible for useful searching.

  I expect you are aware that Venus is the Morning Star, aka Lucifer, and that Jesus says he is the Morning Star:

  "It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." (Rev 22:16, NRSV).

  So you are in good company.

  Doug