Yeshua the Galilean
Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? -Acts 2:7 The miracle of that special Shavuot (Pentecost) at the Temple was something very human: the appearance of the Spirit of God in individual theophanies on the disciples. Many onlookers seem to have missed the tongues of fire that Luke says rested on the disciples. What they noticed was the strange speech. Humble Israelites were speaking languages from far away lands. And it occurred to the onlookers as more than strange that these powerfully endued speakers were Galilean. It was the Judeans, not the Galileans, who emphasized scribal education. If anyone might be expected to have such learning of languages, and possibly if anyone were to be chosen as a prophet, most would expect this to happen to Judeans and not Galileans. What is ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Beginners , Galilee , General , Preachable Points , Temple and Torah
Galilean vs. Judean in Matthew 22
The following notes are based on a combination of observation about Matthew 22 and reading Richard Horsley's Archaeology, History, and Society in Galilee. The potential correlations are my own hypothesizing and do not come from Horsley's material. Richard Horsley makes the case that too little attention has been given in historical Jesus research to the latest information and guesses about religious and political differences between Galilee and Judea. Suddenly statements such as in the fourth gospel about the "Passover of the Jews" begin to make more sense (Passover at the Temple run by the Judeans and based on Judean interpretations of the Torah and the obligations of Israel). What follows is a summary of some main points from Horsley's book (restated in my own words and greatly simplified) and a comparison with ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Galilee , Geography , Herodians , Judea , Pharisees , Sadducees