JEW STORY
The Way of the Rabbi
Much of the mythology of Christianity is based on an older and even more transparent fabrication – Judaism.
Just Who Were the Jews? The Jewish Race Myth and 'Sacred History'
In the 7th century BC a gaggle of émigré priests hiding in the mountains of Judea concocted ‘Judaism’ and a mythical history of racial origins. The Israelites did not come from Egypt – a palpable myth – but emerged from the local population. Check out how a marginal band of Semites re-invented themselves.
‘Constantine Jesus’. One of the earliest depictions of the Christian god.
Egypt and the Patriarchs – Palpable Nonsense'
Much of Judaism is a dialogue with Egypt – that towering civilization which overshadowed the whole of the Levant. But the ancient Egyptians knew nothing of ‘the Jews.’
King David – The Boy Wonder'
What Kingdom? Strange that no one but the Jews noticed when a shepherd giant-killer, a court musician-poet turned warlord, conquered a Middle Eastern empire. Could it all be a lie?
Wise, randy … mythical.
King Solomon? – The Emperor with No Clothes
What Empire? Jerusalem in 10th century BC had been barely a village of huts and cave dwellings.Kings David and Solomon are purely mythical characters – warrior/priest heroes, invented in the 6th century BC. Not one brick of evidence exists for the fabled king with ‘1000 wives and concubines.’
God's love – for the Jews! Ignorance, misogyny and intolerance
With emotional attachment, and its associated fears and anxieties, displaced from fellow humans to Yahweh, whose wiles only the priests could interpret, the sexual drive itself was shackled to a bizarre assortment of imperatives, taboos and prohibitions.
Primal innocence?
Temple of Eshmun, Lebanon. In Jerusalem, nothing.
Temples on the Mount? From "Threshing Floor" to "Noble Sanctuary"
The inspiration for the biblical fable of a Solomonic temple, with its elaborate paraphernalia of sacrifice and ritual, was drawn – not from God – but from the courts of Assyria and Babylon. In reality, not a single stone of the Temple – nor the entire Solomonic theme park for that matter – has ever been unearthed.
On the Margins of a Real Empire – Israelites and Assyrians
Unlike Biblical Israel, Assur really existed – and its reality influenced the Jewish fable. There was no ancient ‘Jewish Empire’ but the Jewish priests drew their inspiration from the empire of the Assyrians.
Bad King! – The essential plot of the Old Testament is priestly supervision of unrighteous kings.
Babylon – Nurturing the Jewish Priesthood
Jewish religion was a reaction to the loss of the northern kingdom and an instructive period spent in Babylon. “Judaism”,as elaborated by priests and scribes, was imposed by the force and authority of the Persian empire.
Yahweh – Brutal Tribal God of War
Pernicious sky-god rewarded the Jews with theocratic tyranny and a sacred text of racial superiority.
This enigmatic structure – about the size of an Achaemenid Fire Temple – is perhaps a guide to the modest “second temple” edifice built under Persian direction in Jerusalem.
Temples on the Mount? Persians and Greeks bearing gifts
When a real temple was built in Jerusalem in the 6th century BC, replacing whatever modest sanctum of sticks and stones had been raised by Josiah, it was built under Persian patronage. No evidence of that structure has ever been found but this so-called “Second Temple” doubtless shared design features with other Persian-sponsored sanctuaries of the same period.
Josephus reports the rebuilding of the temple during the rule of the Antiochus III – and its transformation by his successor Antiochus IV Epiphanes. On Mount Moriah (Temple Mount) a sacred grove to Zeus Olympios replaced the altars of Yahweh.
Greek & Roman World Culture – The Jews Say No
The vibrant, expansive culture of the Greeks presented a major challenge to the exclusiveness and arrogance of Judaism. Rome’s practical exploitation exacerbated social tensions.
Militant Tendencies – Resisting Roman Rule
Sounds familiar – religious fanatics resisting a super-power? The Herodians and the Jewish elite became Romanised but religious fanatics led an armed resistance which ended in catastrophes under Titus, Trajan, and Hadrian.
Celebrating Spring, Roman-style.
Temple of Edfu, Egypt. Was Herod’s temple really twice the size and built in just over a year?
Temples on the Mount: -Herod's Temple - Fact or Fantasy?
Archaeological evidence of the temple is in short supply but “models” proliferate, consistently grandiose but otherwise as varied as their designers’ imaginations. The partisan texts suggest a formidable structure but unlike the great sanctuaries of paganism, no non-Jewish source was moved to comment on this “wonder of the world.”
Could it all be grossly exaggerated?
Wars & Rumours of Wars – Trajan Conquers the East
Jews Conquered – again.
Caesarea - A City of Built by Hadrian
Herod’s trademark city of Caesarea actually owes more to Hadrian than it does to the Jewish king.
The Piety & Vengeance of Hadrian
Rome’s brilliant emperor Hadrian imposes his own solution to Jewish intransigence. Jews Dispersed.
With scant regard for chronology, Aaron re-consecrates a Hadrianic temple in Jerusalem in this scene from 3rd century Dura.
Temples on the Mount: Jupiter – Biggest and Best?
Great claims are made for Herod as a builder but could it be that Aelius Hadrianus was rather more involved in the sanctuary of Temple Mount than is generally supposed?
Portable God for World's First Multinational Business
When resistance is futile collaboration makes sense.
In the aftermath of military defeat, a collaborationist revision of Judaism, often attributed to a 13th apostle “Paul”, allegedly of impeccable Pharisaic credentials, competed fiercely with a reconstituted rabbinic Judaism which fused piety with mercantile success. Judaism found a unique and profitable future and gosh, a rival offshoot, Christianity, appeared.
God-on-a-stick
Monotheists?
“At two sites, Kuntilet Ajrud in the southwestern part of the Negev hill region, and Khirbet el-Kom in the Judea piedmont, Hebrew inscriptions have been found that mention ‘YHWH and his Asherah’, ‘YHWH Shomron and his Asherah’, ‘YHWH Teman and his Asherah’.
These inscriptions, from the 8th century BCE, raise the possibility that monotheism, as a state religion, is actually an innovation of the period of the Kingdom of Judea, following the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel.”
– Ze’ev Herzog (Professor Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University)
Mrs God
God Said It Was OK
“God gave the Jewish people the Land of Israel.
Without that, the only claim the modern State of Israel can make is it is stronger and was able to take the land from the Arabs.”
– Rabbi Ken Spiro, (“Crash course in Jewish history”)
Herod the Great was a real king – as this bronze coin baring his name in Greek (HPΩΔOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ) testifies. But he did not massacre any babies. He was an astute and successful ruler.
Rabbi Solly
Did the Apostle Paul make the Romans Kosher?
