“Quite obvious, I think,” Paul said pensively.
“Again we read from Matthew 2:22-23,” he continued, quoting from the New Testament, “‘… Having been warned in a dream, he (Joseph, Jesus’ father) withdrew into the region of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: He will be called a Nazarene.’ It is, indeed, a very explicit statement. ”
“Striking! But why did Matthew say that Jesus would be called a Nazarene as a fulfillment to the prophecy spoken by the prophets? Which prophets?” Nabil asked excitedly with an inquiring look.
“Of course, it is not at all a fulfillment of Jewish prophecy, but rather, a fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by the Phoenician and Galilean-Asayan prophets,” Dr. Najem answered, a strange light sparkling in his eyes, “The only reference for ‘Immanuel’ in the Old Testament is found in the book of Isaiah. However, the real name of the Prophet Isaiah is Ashaya, a purely Aramaic name. It is the same as Asaya, which means a member of the Ashayas, who lived and prospered in Mt. Carmel and Galilee. They are also known as: the Essenes.”
“Ashayas!” Nabil rushed to exclaim.
“Yes. The Ashayas were healers, and their religious ideas profoundly influenced their social way of life. The book of Ashaya is a Galilean book, the same stands for the Source Q; two books that talked about Galilean Prophecy and Prophets. Isaiah was not a Jewish Prophet; nor was his book a Jewish book—claimed to have been written around the year 500 BC. Obviously, it has been manipulated to appear Jewish…” he explained, before he added, “In fact, this book—rooted in Galilee with the Ashayas, some time between the 4th and 3rd century BC—was considered sacred to the Phoenicians, Galileans, and the Ashayas, who strongly opposed the Judeans settling in the Land at the time. It is cited in Isaiah 7:14, ‘Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ An almost identical verse appears in Matthew 1:23, as we have seen earlier.” He paused for a sip of hot tea.
“This is surely not Jewish,” Professor Michel took over the teachings. “As we have seen earlier, ‘Immanuel’ means the God El is with us, hence, Jesus Christ was looked upon as a man holding and incarnating the spirit of ‘Al’ or ‘El’, the Phoenician Most High God. This is how Jesus Christ became the Divine Son of God, and Son of Man, who spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew. However, we have to identify the Hebrew language as a mixture of both, an Aramaic dialect and an Akkadian-Babylonian idiom. Yet, the Aramaic by itself is a direct descendant vernacular from the Canaano-Phoenician language,” he clarified, as he looked for a comfortable position on his chair.
“I would like to refer back to the book of Ashaya,” he then stated. “It also mentions a reference to John the Baptist. In Isaiah-Ashaya 40:3, we read, ‘The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ The similarity is striking to that in Matthew 3:3, it reads, ‘For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” here he stopped, pulling from his cigar, and exhaling. He then added, “In the New Testament, Jesus is clearly portrayed as being born from God and the Virgin Lady Mary, and so was Adonis (Baal) portrayed in the Phoenician historical and theological literature, being born from the Virgin Lady Anat and the God ‘Al’. The Galileans, who were, in their majority, greatly influenced by the Phoenicians—either by direct contact or by being themselves Phoenicians—were longing for a savior. To them, Adonis was a savior sent by the God, ‘El’. To them, Jesus is Immanu-El,” he concluded.
Al… El with us, God is with us… Paul thought, and then wondered why all the names of Angels end with the suffix ‘El’. Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, just to name the three most important.
A moment of silence followed, in which everybody sitting at the Round Table, especially Paul and Nabil, marveled at the idea that connected Adonis—the Phoenician savior, with Jesus—the Christian savior. Just as the God ‘El’ had been clearly portrayed as the Father of Adonis, or Baal in the Phoenician Religion, so did the New Testament portray God to be the Father of Jesus or Immanu-El—the representation of the God ‘El’ on Earth.
Paul’s eyes sparkled in delight, and his desire to know more was perceived by Dr. Najem, who stood up and addressed Paul and Nabil, “Hope you meditate properly about the information that has been given to you so far. Take some rest now, and we’ll meet after dinner.”
They smiled to him, as he left the room.
.31.
Spies on Jesus!
Sunday, November 7, 10:05 PM
The meeting in the living room had been scheduled after dinner, like before. Each one at their place, the Keepers sat like the famous Knights of the Round Table in search of the Holy Grail. Yet, the search had long ended for the Keepers; they had already found the Holy Grail, as revealed by Dr. Najem earlier, and were destined to keep it forever protected.
“Anyway,” Dr. Bechara began without preamble, calling all attention to him. The glow in his eyes appeared to be paving the way for a revelation. “Scientists have not found a single shred of conclusive evidence that Bethlehem of Judea was the birthplace of Jesus. Archaeological excavations done in the area showed that there wasn’t even evidence of habitation, at all, in that Bethlehem at the time of Jesus. Alternatively, there appeared lots of evidence of a well-established community in the Galilean Bethlehem.”
When he looked around, he found an eager audience in Paul and Nabil, so he continued, “Ernest Renan, the well-known French Historian, and a peregrinator to the Holy Land, wrote in his book, la vie de Jesus—published at the end of the 19th century—that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was most probably from the small Lebanese village of Kana, and that Jesus was Galilean, and not from the House of David.” He paused for a thought and added, “Jacques Duquesne, the French Journalist and writer was even more specific in his book, Jesus, published in 1994. He wrote that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Galilee, and not in the Judean Bethlehem.” It took him a moment to resume, “The concept that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were from Galilee is not at all new, nor confined to theories written by modern Historians.”
“Are you saying that this theory or, rather, this fact has been presented well before modern Scholars had?” Nabil inquired with a puckered brow.
“Indeed! Around the 8th century AD, Saint John of Damascus—known to have been very devout to the Virgin Mary—wrote that Mary was born at Sephoris in Galilee, a few kilometers from Nazareth and very close to Bethlehem of Galilee,” Dr. Bechara answered, motioning for Dr. Najem to continue.
“Thank you, brother,” said Dr. Najem with a nod. “In John 7:40-53, we read the following: ‘Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, of a truth this is the prophet. Others said, ‘This is the Christ’. But some said…’” He halted to attract the attention of the four Keepers to the meaningful text that followed, “‘… shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?’” He raised his eyebrows with an intent look in their direction, and then picked up again where he had left off, “‘So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have arrested him; but no one laid hands on him. Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, ‘Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?’ They answered him, ‘Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.’”
Dr. Najem finished quoting from John, and continued with a commentary on the text, “Indeed, in the eyes of the Jews, no prophet and no good will ever come out of Galilee, Galilee of the Gentiles, hence, Christ must come from the seed of David. And from what we have just seen, even in The New Testament of John, Christ truly came from Galilee, the land of the Genti
les, and not from Bethlehem of Judea, the village of David.”
Paul reflected upon the fact he had just heard, and said, “Am I to understand that the New Testament holds within its pages a great contradiction, then? I mean, it almost sounds as if there were two Christs: one Galilean and the other Jewish! This constitutes a conflict in itself, since a Galilean is not Jewish, and a Jew is not Galilean.”
“Exactly! The more you study the New Testament, the more you notice these discrepancies—regarding the identity of Christ. In an even clearer statement, we read in Matthew 21:10-16, ‘When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? The multitudes said, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee,’” he quoted in confirmation.
“Aha… well, his identity here is clear enough,” Paul conceded in agreement.
“Good! Not only were Jesus and his mother and father were from Galilee, but some of his disciples as well,” Dr. Najem added.
“His disciples, too?” Nabil sounded surprised. Although a Keeper himself, he ignored this fact.
“Yes. At least eight of them were from Galilee. In John 1:39-44, we see Jesus walking by the River Jordan, in Galilee not in Judea, gathering his disciples around him. In Galilee, Jesus found Philip, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter,” he informed.
“Bethsaida!” Paul exclaimed aloud. “It means ‘House of Saida’, and I’ve read that it is related to the city of Saida, or Saydoun, our Phoenician port. Isn’t that right?”
“Quite right, the name Saida, or its original name—Saydoun, comes from the word ‘fishing’. Please note that almost all the disciples of Jesus were known to be fishermen,” he smiled, as he said it.
“Interesting!” said Nabil, “So, these three are disciples from Galilee,” he stated, and then asked with patent curiosity, “Who were the other five?”
“In Matthew 4:17-24,” Dr. Najem referred in reply, “We see Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, gathering another four disciples. Other than Simon and his brother Andrew who were both fishermen, he found James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, two other fishermen who followed him.”
“This is absolutely superb. We now have seven disciples,” Paul considered, sharing his own deduction in a clear voice. Notwithstanding the fact that he was a dedicated Historian, he had certainly missed those interesting details. “Philip, Andrew, and Peter from the Phoenician-Galilean city of Bethsaida, and Simon, Andrew, James and John, all fishermen from Galilee. Who was the eighth?” he asked, and leaned forward on the table, looking intently at Dr. Najem for an answer.
Dr. Bechara advanced the reply instead, “Simon the Canaanite, wrongly portrayed as Simon the Zealot, for the sole purpose of giving his name a Hebrew meaning.”
“Simon the Canaanite!” once again, the Historian in Paul was elated, and he slouched back, struck by the unexpected revelation.
“Yes. It is noted in Matthew 10:1-4, and Mark 3:18,” Dr. Bechara clarified, “St. Jerome—who lived from 347-420 AD, very well known for his translation of the Bible, the Old and the New Testament, into Latin: the Vulgate—could not have mistaken the word Canaanite for anything else.” He grinned before he added, “Well, it only signifies one thing and it is that Simon was from Cana or from any other region of Canaan-Phoenicia.”
Eight Galilean disciples… Paul had never thought about that. He was fascinated by the way in which things became clearer to him, every step of the way. For instance, he had always wondered about the fact that no synagogues had ever existed in Galilee of the Gentiles, Galilee of the Goyims—the non-Jews, at the time of Jesus. In fact, if he were to read the New Testament again, he would most likely come across new and amazing, albeit overlooked facts. With his eyes on the three learned Keepers, he waited for more.
“Again, in Luke 6:1-2,” Professor Michel then advanced, “We read ‘Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain, and ate, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said to them: Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?’”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Dr. Najem pointed out, “Indeed! If the disciples of Jesus had been Jews, they would have respected the Law of the Sabbath and abstained from work, which brings us to the logical conclusion that they were not!”
“Absolutely right,” said Nabil in an exhilarated tone of voice. “By the way, were there any Jewish disciples, other than Judas the traitor, then?” he questioned, and Paul turned all his attention to the coming answer.
“Yes, it seems there was probably one,” the Professor replied. “In John 1:45-51, we read that Philip found Nathanael, and told him about Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, but Nathanael said to him, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!’ Jesus answered him, ‘Because I told you, I saw you underneath the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these! Most certainly, I tell you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man,’” he ended in a firm tone.
“We undoubtedly understand from this paragraph that when Jesus saw Nathanael under the tree, he immediately knew he was not Galilean, but rather a Jew; an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no deceit!” Dr. Bechara emphasized that fact, written in the New Testament.
“Behold, an Israelite, a striver against El, indeed, in whom there is no deceit! Right?” Paul suggested in confirmation, though his voice remained subdued by the presence of the Masters around him.
“There is no doubt about it!” Dr. Najem ascertained with a grin of approval at Paul’s insight, “and when Nathaniel, better known as Bartholomew, asked Jesus if he was the King of Israel, Jesus did not answer him. He did not say that he was the King of Israel, for indeed he was not from the House of David, as we have seen earlier!” More light had been shed on that transcendent issue.
“Since Jesus knew that Judas and Bartholomew were not Galileans then how come he took them as disciples?” Nabil questioned.
“Well, he didn’t choose them himself,” Dr. Bechara interfered, his thick eyebrows raised in arcs at Nabil’s ignorance, implying he should have known better than that. “They came to him, and he knew very well who they were. Both were agents for the Rabbis’ Secret Service!” he responded as reminder.
“The Rabbis’ Secret Service?” Paul frowned in doubt, perhaps in disbelief. “The Rabbis had secret agents?” he asked, remembering something.
“They surely did! In Luke 20:19-20, we come to the following, ‘The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them. They watched him, and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor,’” he confirmed his earlier statement, dwelling on a thought. He then added, “Surely, the plan was to deliver him to the Roman Governor, for they had no political authority themselves in Galilee. They were not living there,” he concluded.
Silent was the room.
The walls have ears.
“Spies on Jesus!” Nabil burst out in shock. “They sent out spies to Galilee in order to trap him, because he spoke against them! Could that be yet another proof that Jesus was not a Jew?”
“Certainly,” intervened Professor Michel in a calm voice, “In fact, Jacques Duquesne, the French journalist and writer we mentioned earlier, plainly suggested in his book, Jesus, that Judas was the only Judean within the group. He was an agent of the Temple.”
A time to think�
�� really think!
“I believe this is sufficient information for tonight’s meeting and it’s really getting late,” said Dr. Najem, taking Paul and Nabil by surprise at a moment of great interest. He could see the thirst in their eyes, “We all need some rest now.” But then he looked at them again, and with a smile said, “Our next meeting is on Wednesday, so don’t rush things, just be patient.”
And so it happened that the night ended with so many questions in Paul’s mind.
.32.
The Vatican City, a week earlier
Sunday, October 31, 05:12 PM
Instantly after presiding over the mass at the Papal Basilica of St. Peter, the Pope entered his office in deep reflection. It seemed something had been taking a hold of his mind and spirit. Seated behind his wooden desk, a beautiful painting, representing God and the creation of life, hovered above, on the ceiling. An exquisite painting, most probably unknown to the outside world, must have been commissioned by the Vatican, to be exhibited here in the Papal Office. Artistically speaking, it was a much more spiritual work of art than the famous one known as ‘the creation of Adam’, rendered by the Italian Renaissance artist, Michelangelo. A fresco that covers the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, built within the Vatican by Pope Sixtus IV at the end of the 15th Century AD, after whom the Chapel was named.
Two beautiful statues of granite—representing Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary—stood behind him from both sides like Guardian Angels. The Pope, dressed in a white simar, rested his right hand atop the New Testament, lying on his desk, and with his left hand, held the gold pectoral cross, suspended from a chain around his neck. From behind his desk, he could hear rushing footsteps coming from outside his office. He knew that the two ecclesiastical Princes of the Church, of whom he had requested their counsel, were approaching the door to his office.
The Phoenician Code Page 27
