A shadow of grief darkened his eyes at once, and with a frown and a dry voice he avowed, “The Architect and the Archaeologist were members of our Fraternity. Their death was a terrible loss for us, but history has proven that our power of resistance has never lacked strength. They cannot intimidate or threaten us!” Somehow, his face darkened, as his shady eyebrows linked fiercely together and his mouth drew in, forming a thin line that almost disappeared through his beard. Determination had its say on that matter. He refilled his glass of wine, and went to stand by the window, his back to them.
Professor Michel tapped his fingers on the table, to draw everyone’s attention. He intended to pick up where Dr. Bechara had stopped, “The Sarcophagus once exhibited a remarkable and clear drawing just below the Phoenician inscription. Time erased some of its details, but we can still clearly depict the scene of seven Phoenician priests, performing religious rites in the presence of King Ahiram. Perched on his Royal Sphinx Throne, the King held in his hand a reversed lotus—being the sign of his death. Just ahead of him, a religious table or altar held a cup of wine and a loaf of bread. In fact, the sacred ritual of bread and wine was first practiced by Melki-Sedek, the High Priest of EL. Jesus Christ later performed this same ritual at the Last Supper with the famous Cup—known today as the Holy Grail.”
“Of course, you still remember how the Phoenician Alphabet took shape, one letter after the other, on a tablet of marble, emerging out of the Cedar box inside the Mystery Chamber,” the Professor uttered, looking straight into Paul’s eyes.
Paul nodded.
“Very well, the Sacred Alphabet originated in Gebel, the holy land of ‘El’; as the name asserts. King Ahiram was a great devotee of the God ‘El’. The connection is obvious. Can’t you see? At any rate, you will soon fathom it all,” he ended his explanation, leaving his new brother in suspense.
Paul hooked his eyes on the Professor, and waited for more. Removing his eyeglasses, he rubbed his eyes, and then put them on again, before resting the back of his silvery head on the thickly padded high chair.
Sure enough, Paul had seen the Sarcophagus of King Ahiram in the Beirut National Museum. The altar appeared very clearly in the drawing, but he could not discern if it was the cup of wine and the loaf of bread, which he saw placed on it. He had to take the Keepers’ word for it. He gasped inwardly at the realization.
Outside, the tree branches swung back and forth in slow motion. The opened window brought in a draft of cool air. Time stood still. The wooden box on the Round Table grabbed Paul’s attention once again, and he tried to guess what took cover inside. Was it the Grail? The one in the Mystery Chamber could reveal the secret meaning of the Sacred Alphabet. How about this one? he speculated over the strange symbol on the lid: the palm that had the caduceus of Hermes-Kadmus, a five-pointed star, a lotus, and a cross, all carved within it. What could that mean?
A few seconds later it came to him. Five symbols—for the five brothers—around the box! Each brother represented one of the five symbols. Each side reflected a brother. What was his symbol in that case? These symbols might also exist on the box of the Mystery Chamber, as was the case here! He felt a strong urge to leave immediately for the Mystery Chamber, to verify his theory, but that would be disrespectful to the brothers and, more importantly, impossible at the moment. Without further speculations, he returned his attention to the wooden box in search of clues, any signs it might afford. Nothing!
“The ultimate secret of all times is the Holy Grail,” the voice of Dr. Najem rose, interrupting his thoughts. “It is the true Royal Blood of Jesus. We will show it to you. The Vatican knows it, but is waiting for the right moment to reveal it to the whole world, saying that people, especially Christians, are not yet ready to understand it.”
Paul’s heart beat furiously…
“As a matter of fact, to consider Jesus Christ of Jewish origin was the biggest manipulation ever made in history, and regrettably still is, in the making!” he proclaimed with exasperation, and then glanced at Dr. Bechara, reverting to his seat at the table.
There was an incredible silence before he continued, “It is frankly a bit ironic to realize that both Jews and Christians believe that Jesus was a Jew, in spite of the many historical and geographical facts that suggest otherwise, and the many vital references noted in the New Testament. I think it is time to change that.”
This statement fell on the Historian like a bombshell. He held his breath for so long that his chest ached. Looking for relief he took his wine, and drank slowly and lengthily. Encircling the Round Table, the Keepers stared at each other in anticipation; yet, they kept a respectful silence, as they focused on knowing the coming Truth…
Dr. Najem opened the box at last. A remarkable energy filled the air with the aroma that emerged. Silence prevailed. He inserted his hand in the box with reverential deliberation, and took out a golden book. A secret book! Paul fathomed zealously. Dr. Najem gazed at it for a long moment, smelled the old papers, smiled with satisfaction then handed it over to Nabil with deference.
Paul’s eyes carefully followed the book switching hands. Then he stared at Nabil, examining the book—its cover, title, and symbol—and noted the new light in his eyes. A mysterious smile appeared on his face thereafter. Paul turned his head to Dr. Najem, and stopped thinking. Immediately, Nabil stretched his hands to Paul, and handed over the secret book. Paul felt an incredible power warming his hands, the moment he held the book. A great light emanated from the symbol engraved on its cover.
The True Identity and the Hidden Secrets of the Holy Grail—the Royal Blood of Jesus Christ, by the Keepers of the Word, Paul read in silence.
Moments passed…
“The Truth shall set you free, said Jesus,” resumed Dr. Najem in a strong voice of proclamation. “It definitely will. The New Testament’s codes will finally be decoded. Now, would you please, brothers, open the book, and seek page 500. The True Identity and the Hidden Secrets of the Holy Grail—the Royal Blood of Jesus Christ is a book, written over the ages by the Keepers of the Word. Would you please treat it carefully?”
Without hesitation and with great curiosity, Paul opened the book, and browsed through the old yellowed pages. A sacred and ancient scent rose to his face. It was old, very old. He came to the mentioned page. The title: The Holy Grail caught his eyes in a moment of wonder. A subtitle, written in fine delicate calligraphy, glittered in golden letters. It read: ‘Given only from mouth to ear.’ Below… there were empty lines… empty pages!
He gawked at Dr. Najem, questioning, and then back and forth at the selected page. “There is nothing here except for the title and subtitle! There are only empty lines after that! I don’t understand!” Paul exclaimed in frustration. “Why have you asked us to open the book on that particular page?”
“Well, there will be no more empty lines from now on. In fact, it has all been written already. You just have to open your heart to see.”
“Oh, uh,” the Historian muttered, taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“The Keepers of the Word will fill the empty pages from now on. Our mouths will whisper in your ear what you need to know,” he asserted with a confident smile to both Paul and Nabil, sitting close to each other, marveling at the secret book.
At once, Paul sensed something strange in the depths of his eyes. Their stares met on that note, and Paul knew that he was about to reveal something of high importance.
“Now, would you please open the book to the last pages,” he instructed them, his tone firm yet inviting.
Accordingly, Paul turned the empty pages, on and on, until he reached the end of the book. He caught sight of a beautiful map—hued by age into yellowish and brownish tones—and stopped on that page. It was a map of the Holy Land. He scanned all over it, and lingered on a circled spot.
Slowly, he brought the book closer to his eyes so he could read the word written above the dot, which had been encircled. It was the name of a place, a very important place, indeed�
� Bet(h)-Lahem, or Bethlehem. On this map—and on the other two maps that followed on the last couple of pages—there were two Bethlehems: one in Judea and the other in Galilee!
Paul and Nabil looked at each other in disbelief. Professor Michel cleared his throat, bringing their attention into focus, “Think about that in the coming few days, and meditate on the Truth the book reveals. This meeting is adjourned until we convene again on the day of the Sun—Sunday, Peace be with you,” he said with a grin, and stood up to leave.
Dr. Najem and Dr. Bechara followed suit, leaving Paul and Nabil in a state of perplexity. The antique clock hanging on the wall marked 11:53 PM. It was late, and the night had already consumed all the light of the day and all the energy from the humans on Earth.
Time to sleep… for Sunday marks a new beginning.
.30.
The Galilee of the Nations
Sunday, November 7, 05:05 PM
Paul bid his time, waiting excitedly for Friday and Saturday to pass. He thought of contacting Padre Joseph, to tell him that he was safe, but reasoned that his phone might be bugged. He then considered sending him an email using the Kadmus Sequence, and discarded that idea a minute later, for he couldn’t tell him where he was or who he was with. The ‘Keepers of the Word’ was a secret Fraternity, which no one should know about, not even the Padre. He couldn’t betray their trust by divulging their existence to anyone. He wondered about his friends who had shared great revelations with him at the Archaeological Site of Gebel. Jim, Youmna, Maya, and Zago! They should be ok! he thought.
Despite the secrecy that the Keepers had upheld through the ages, and their revolutionary revelation—concerning Jesus and his non-Jewish identity— Paul had heard about this from the Padre. Hence, what the Keepers had just revealed, by showing them the two Bethlehems, confirmed what he had already known. In fact, Padre Joseph had written a book in Arabic, at the end of the year 1999, in which he had proven that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Galilee—a grotto, located at the northeastern foot of Mt. Carmel. Anyone acquainted with the Padre had expressed keenness and admiration for his courageous new theory, Paul included! Upon reading this invaluable book, Paul discarded any doubts he ever might have harbored about that historical hypothesis. Truth be told, what he might have presumed at first to be a theory, proposed by Padre Joseph, was instead a reality, not only to the Padre, but also to the Keepers of the Word—the ancient Society he had recently joined.
Is there any relation between the Padre and the Keepers of the Word? Paul speculated, confused as he had ever been.
Time came for them to convene in the Living Room at 05:00 PM on the day of the Sun. Paul had so many questions to ask the Keepers, but kept silent, as they sat around the Round Table. The True Identity and the Hidden Secrets of the Holy Grail—the Royal Blood of Jesus Christ! he pondered in the secrecy of his mind.
“Is it true, then!?” Nabil began, looking straight at Dr. Najem. “There are two Bethlehems?” he asked.
The grin that brightened Dr. Najem’s blue eyes, as he bobbed, made Paul smile.
“The book written by Padre Joseph: The Messiah was born in Lebanon, not in Judea, is filled with just such explicative maps,” Paul deemed fair to state. “He strongly believes that Jesus was not a Jew but a Phoenician. Have you read his book?” he asked, in an attempt to perceive any likely connection between the Padre and the Keepers.
“Yes, we all did,” confirmed Dr. Najem with a nod of approval, “Padre Joseph is a very learned man. Actually, he is a very close friend of our Fraternity.” He smiled wittily in Paul’s direction, probably at the look on his face just then.
“What! This is something really… amazing, and uh… just shocking! I never thought he…” Paul sputtered nervously.
“Yes, it’s true,” Dr. Najem interrupted him, “the real Bethlehem was in Galilee, not in Judea. Jesus was a Galilean,” he confirmed then added, “Historically speaking, Galilee was a place swarming with people from many different nations: Canaano-Phoenicians, Aramaens, Romans, Greeks, a few Buddhist missionaries, and others. They all lived together in peace, stability, and harmony. There were no Jews living in this area at the time of Jesus, however, if there were any, and this is a very, very dim supposition, they would have formed an extremely closed group. In fact, Jews, back then, called Galilee: the Galilee of the Nations or Galilee of the Gentiles, as stated in Matthew 4:15. That surname came from the certainty that Galilee was inhabited only by Gentiles, and therefore, non-Jews!” he explained, and continued, “In reality, it was only after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by Titus, in 70 AD, that Jews took Galilee as a place to live. And only because they were expelled from Jerusalem into neighboring regions and among them, Galilee, where they gradually started to wipe away any Phoenician traces they came in contact with.”
“Very few people have noticed that fact,” Professor Michel commented. “But more and more Scholars are acknowledging it as time passes. One of the greatest characteristics of Truth is that it cannot remain concealed for long. It reveals itself at the right time. And now is the right time!” he lifted his glass for a self-congratulatory toast of this denouncement, and his enthusiasm made Paul smile.
“Allow me to take over,” Dr. Bechara began with a seriousness that dispelled all the glee the Professor had brought in. “Today, there is a growing number of Academics, and I mean, Theologians, Scholars, Historians, and Archaeologists who suggest that the birthplace of Jesus was not Bethlehem of Judea, but rather Bethlehem of Galilee. It seems they have finally identified it, after gathering an immense body of evidence. However, a lot of people might not yet be ready to accept this old-new idea.”
“Like who?” Nabil snapped with a frown, leaning his elbows on the table, looming forward.
“Christians in their Catholic majority, and their Orthodox and Protestant minorities along with them, and, of course, the Jews, who would certainly not accept it. In fact, Judeo-Christian culture would ferociously stand against this idea,” he replied.
“I don’t quite understand why Christians would go against it,” Nabil interfered again, “I mean, it’s easy for me to comprehend why Jews may refuse such a fact. After all, to keep claiming that Jesus was a Jew would certainly give them a great ideological, political, and economical advantage over the entire Christian world. They would always be supported due to that so-called Bloodline.”
“True,” Paul conceded at once. “I think that any idea that reveals Jesus Christ was not a Jew would definitely jeopardize their ambitions in the world. It is a political issue, not spiritual, it seems. However, what if History proved that Jesus was not a Jew? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful concept for Christians? What if that was the Truth? Would they still oppose it, or even oppose the man who said: I am the Truth?”
“In the world today,” said Dr. Bechara, “Academics, as I defined them a moment ago, state that the story of Matthew about the Nativity of Jesus in Judah is far away from the historical fact. In truth, Jesus was called: Jesus of Nazareth, in other words—a Nazarene. Being one, he must have been born there, in the city where he spent most of his life. It was Nazareth of Galilee!”
Paul examined the maps at the end of the book… Bethlehem was indeed in Galilee, a village a few miles west of Nazareth. Geography doesn’t lie! he mulled over the idea, as he showed them to Nabil.
Dr. Najem, who seemed to be enjoying this congregation on the day of the Sun, interfered with a new declaration, “The contemporary American Scholar and Protestant priest, Bruce Chilton, stated that the Bethlehem of Galilee most certainly held a close connection with Christianity since the birth of Jesus; that both Joseph and Mary were from Bethlehem and Nazareth; and that it is possible that Mary was born in Sephoris of Galilee,” he paused, gathering his thoughts. He then added, “Chilton also suggested that Matthew did not entirely fabricate the story of the Nativity, but simply chose to switch the two Bethlehems. In addition to him, the German Theologian, Harmut Stegemann, also proposed, back in the sixties… that Jesu
s was born in Galilee but not in Bethlehem, rather, in Capernaum by the lake of Genezareth.”
Paul weighed the information for a moment. Whatever the case may be; Padre Joseph had earnestly confirmed that Mary was from the Phoenician-Galilean village of Kana. Quite logically, Joseph must have been from Galilee as well. He looked pensively at Dr. Najem and then at the three other men in the room. “Okay, I know that Matthew wrote his testimony several decades after the death of Jesus. But why confuse the two Bethlehems?” he asked.
“Well, it seems that Matthew, known to have addressed his Gospel to the Jews, had intended to create a story, favorable to them, perhaps in a desperate attempt to convert them into the new Christian faith,” Dr. Najem replied.
“Ah… so, it is for that reason that he swapped the two Bethlehems?” Nabil asked for confirmation.
“Yes,” he replied, “the Bethlehem of Judea, near Jerusalem, was always mentioned in the Jewish Bible as the hometown of King David, the father of King Solomon. Reading that information in their Bible, and perceiving their belief—that the Messiah would come from the House of David—Matthew changed the locations only to convince them that Jesus had been born a Jew—in the Judean Bethlehem—and thus, create a link between Jesus and King David.”
It sounds like the tale of the alleged Merovingian bloodline… or maybe some Christians had found it convenient to abide by the wishes of Matthew, Paul deducted thoughtfully.
“Although trying to link Jesus to the Judean Bethlehem, Matthew wrote something quite strange in his evangelical story. In Matthew 1:23, we read the following, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us,’” he quoted from the New Testament he held in his hand, and grinned widely. “On his baptism, Jesus was called Immanuel; it means literally: El with us. ‘Al’ or ‘El’ is the Phoenician Most High God. According to Matthew’s—conscious or unconscious, deliberate or non-deliberate—decree, Jesus became the divine holder of the spirit of Al through baptism.”
The Phoenician Code Page 26
