descendent

October 30, 2018

How can David be the Lord (Mk 12:37-12:37)

“‘David himself

Calls him Lord.

So how can he be

His son?’

The large crowd

Was listening to him

With delight.”

 

αὐτὸς Δαυεὶδ λέγει αὐτὸν Κύριον, καὶ πόθεν αὐτοῦ ἐστιν υἱός; Καὶ ὁ πολὺς ὄχλος ἤκουεν αὐτοῦ ἡδέως.

 

There is something similar in Matthew, chapter 22:35-37, and Luke, chapter 20:45.  What did David mean when he called the future Messiah Christ, a son of David?  The traditional belief was that the Messiah Christ would be the son or descendent of David.   Jesus then posed this big question.  Mark indicated that Jesus asked how can David call the Messiah Lord (αὐτὸς Δαυεὶδ λέγει αὐτὸν Κύριον) and yet be the son of David (καὶ πόθεν αὐτοῦ ἐστιν υἱός)?  This was a trick question.  Why would David call his future son or descendant his own Lord or master, or consider him greater?  The implication was that Jesus, the Son of Man, and descendant of David, was greater than David.  Peter, in fact, repeated this citation of Psalm 110 in his preaching in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2:34-35, also.  Only Mark had the comment that the large crowd was listening to Jesus with delight or gladly (Καὶ ὁ πολὺς ὄχλος ἤκουεν αὐτοῦ ἡδέως).

May 20, 2015

A copy of the letter sent to Onias, the high priest (1 Macc 12:19-12:23)

“This is a copy of the letter that they had sent to Onias.

‘King Arius of the Spartans,

To high priest Onias,

Greetings!

It has been found in writing

Concerning the Spartans and the Jews

That they are brothers.

They are of the family of Abraham.

Now that we have learned this,

Please write us concerning your welfare.

We on our part write to you

That your livestock and your property belong to us.

Ours belong to you.

We therefore command that our envoys report to you accordingly.”

The basis of this alliance was a letter written by King Arius of Sparta in the early 3rd century BCE, about 150 years earlier. Onias was the high priest from 323-290 BCE. This seems to indicate that the Spartans are descendent from Abraham. Perhaps this goes back to the time of Moses in Numbers, chapter 25. Moses said that God wanted them to kill anyone who had sex with the women of Peor who were Baal worshippers. Phinehas saw an Israelite man from the tribe of Simeon with a Median woman, so he killed both of them. Well, then supposedly the ½ tribe of Simeon left for Greece. Part of this is based on Flavius Josephus (37-100 CE), in his Antiquities of the Jews, an early Jewish history written around 93 CE. I bet not many Greeks know that they were brothers of the Jews, especially the Spartans. They had to look out for each other’s welfare. They would share their property and livestock.