Historicity of Jesus - 2

[dhu]

Ramana, The following is my impression of OT (in concept flow)



The movement in the OT is circular in space (not in time, because there is a clear resolution or denoument with time in the OT narrative); the denoument is however not contained in the Pentateuch but in Herodotus. Withholding of the denoument is a key to norming.

This circular movement weaves the Israelite into all formative "stages" of ME history up to the twin abominations of desolations in Maccabees and NT, respectively. The NT desolation corresponds with the Roman power. The other is in Maccabees and thus must be deemed as a similar instance of Greek psyops. A Greek provenance for the OT is demanded by sequence association of NT with the Roman. British revision of Indian history was undertaken with native sources quite extensively before the American latched on at a quite later stage. Similar to the Jews, the Nehruvians claim to represent the native interest and the heathens have been eliminated from the discourse; the (American-sponsored) Communists will spar with the Nehruvian remnants, yet are united in their “perspective” of the heathen native.



Special pleading on part of Josephus, etc, for antiquity of the Jews/Moses is very similar to that undertaken for Christians. It is therefore likely that Israelites are simply the normed projection of (a “revolutionary” faction of) ME society back into time; the massacres attributed to the Jews are thus setting the stage for backwards projection of the blood libel, manifest destiny, victimized-conqueror motifs associated with the colonial discourse: this is very similar to the projected Aryan massacres and Aryan parallel history in India. (the Aryans have “pseudo-relations” with the natives exemplified as “caste system”). (A pseudo-relation has one distinguishing characteristic of assuming false familiarity with the victim). Unified (interpretative) historical narratives were heralded by Herodotus. Wesselius is a key source here for congruence of Pentateuch with Herodotus.



The sequence in the OT is roughly as follows:



1. Abraham and Sarai (which must be Brahma and Saraswati; no doubt about this given the repeated use of transformed Deity names e.g., Mordecai, Ishtar>Esther) are posited at the beginning of the arc in Babylon. Megasthenes' Indika could not be included in the OT/Penta b/c India defied a stage of extended Greek rule and could not otherwise be believably included, leaving Berossus' Babylonkia, Manetho's Aegyptika, the Assyrian and Persian portions of Herodotus [e.g. Sennacharib], and Cstesias’ Persica, as the constituent parts of the Pentateuch. However, it is likely that the original plan was to have Abraham and Sarai from India itself. Gmirkin is a key source for primacy of the Greek white papers and crafting of the Masoretic after these or at least modeled upon these.



2. Babylon: Abraham, to Levant

3. Levant: Babel, Noah; Flood; post-Flood, Shem, Ham, Japheth (the tricontinental setting is framed using Table of Nations); Arpachshad (a period remnant); Ishmael/Isaac, Sodom/Gomorrah, Jacob/Esau, Joseph (s/o Jacob), Aaron/Moses,

4. Egypt: Moses/Aaron to Egypt >> Israelites, Exodus (MOSES: captivity #1: Pharaoh, also in Herodotus)

5. Levant: Israelites enter Canaan, Joshua (conquest of Canaan); Judges (Gideon [300], Samson, Eli, Samuel); Saul (first King); David, Solomon

6. Levant: 1st Temple (Israel/Judah): United Monarchy splits into Israel (N) / Judah (S)

7. Levant: Rehoboam, Jeroboam I, Zimri, Tibni, Omri, Ahab, Jehoshaphat (1st theophorics), Jeroboam II, Uzziah, Zechariah, Hezekiah

8. Assyria: Israel falls to Assyria (ISAIAH: captivity #2: Sennacharib, also in Herodotus)

9. Levant (Judah): Manasseh Amon, Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (2nd theophorics); Zedekiah

10. Babylon: Judah falls to Babylon. Temple Destroyed (DANIEL: captivity #3: Nebuchadnezzar: also in Herodotus)

11. Persia eclipses Babylon

12. Levant: 2nd Temple under Cyrus

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13. Unstated: Xerxes, the great King, is missing from the narrative, tangentially implied in Esther where the king gives license to Jews to pillage (!)

14. Unstated (missing climax): Persia (Xerxes) is eclipsed by the Greeks (300) (climax instead placed in Herodotus; the Pentateuch meta-level account misses a key transition straddling the Persian to Greek!; Xerxes’ failure in Herodotus contrasted to predecessor Cyrus)

15. Post biblical begins with Maccabees, ends with another transition to NT; two desolation narratives, one for each western power. (each desolation instance also fulfills the prophecy framed in Daniel; the latter Roman one is physically finalizing with the (2nd) Destruction of the Temple).



From this sequence, a Persian provenance for the OT cannot be maintained; the Persians do have a relationship with the “Jews” but it is similar to the relationship of the Canaanites to the Jews or the Indians to the “Aryans”; Daniel secures Persian obeisance for the Monotheist Deity just as Moses does in the case of the Egyptians and Isaiah for the Assyrians. While the Egyptian and Assyrians are destroyed, Persia is eclipsed by Greece in Herodotus. The textual structure of Herodotus and Pentateuch match (Wesselius) and indeed are coterminous for native prophesizer and alien conqueror.