Charles Wilson wrote: ↑Sat Nov 10, 2018 6:36 amDon't look to the skies, look at what's on the ground. You'll find Galilee and the Mishmarot Priesthood
While looking at another Thread, verses in Acts were quoted and in examining them, I found the entire Section very interesting. Recall that I believe that "Judas" => "Cestius" and that I also believe that there was a Story that was rewritten, a Story concerning several players in the NT. The Story is about a Priest and a child named "Peter". Do I have to write it out again? I will if you want.
I saw that "John" was of the Mishmarot Priesthood and was a member of the Mishmarot Service Group "Bilgah" which is one the few Mishmarot Groups that actually had Stories written about them in Judaic Literature:
Mark 1: 6 - 7 (RSV):
[6] Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.
[7] And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
John 1: 15, 26 - 27 (RSV):
[15] (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'")
...
[26] John answered them, "I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know,
[27] even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."
Now consider Acts 13: 24 - 25 (RSV):
[24] Before his coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
[25] And
as John was finishing his course, he said, `What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
As I have stated before, John is a Priest - "...as John was finishing his course...". Bilgah committed an infraction among the Priesthood and was separated from the others in the Temple. It's knives and closet were on the South end of the Temple.
Immer comes after Bilgah in the Weekly Service. Immer ranks above Bilgah in terms of Honor. This was what was rewritten. Some simple Maff will show that Immer was on Duty during the Feast of Unleavened Bread in 4 BCE (and 12 years later as well).
To John2: I do not believe that the Sicarii belong in the NT story in that Time Line of the Original 4 BCE Story. "Judas/Cestius" was a commander of the 12th Legion which was as crippled as could be:
Acts 9: 32 - 34 (RSV):
[32] Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints that lived at Lydda.
[33] There he found a man named Aene'as, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed.
[34] And Peter said to him, "Aene'as, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed." And immediately he rose.
Aeneas is bedridden for 8 years and what happened 8 years prior to the Destruction of the Temple? The 12th Legion is decimated at the hands of Vologeses*, humiliated so much that the soldiers would not even leave their tents to defend themselves. They were crippled all right.
BTW, 2 Notes:
1. If you follow the movements of Cestius, you will find that the 12th did indeed pass through Lydda:
Josephus, War, 2, 19, 1:
"But when Cestius had marched from Antipatris to Lydda, he found the city empty of its men, for the whole multitude were gone up to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles...
("
Desolate be his abode".... etc.)
2. Second, Peter, probably of Immer, lived in Jabnit, the Settlement assigned to Immer. That's just down the road from Meiron, Home of Jehoiarib, on the highest mountain in Galilee. So, this would be another historical marker as Peter would have indeed "come down to the saints" in Lydda.
CW
[Edit Note: Corrected "Mithridates" to "Vologeses". Such is memory these days.]