Posted on 04/07/2010 7:19:43 AM PDT by Palter
carpenter would be better translated as a construction worker (i.e. doing everything from brick laying to wood work and tiling).
Except in the US, where working with one’s hands is honored, that would mean working poor....there was no way for him to change his status from plebian to patrician.
as for the nonsense that he got away with stopping the fraud and kickbacks in the Temple: I suspect that this was one of the real reasons he was crucified....
Which might imply that one who worked in stone might also work in wood.
Also, a stonemason, even at that time, was a craft which required a lenghty appreticeship.
Exactly, Jedidiah! He purposely did not come as the son of a wealthy earthly king or merchant.
“as well as using human psychology”
Must have missed that particular hermeneutic.
Given that much of the gospel narrative is human dialogue, eg Pharisees, Sadducees, even Herod + Pilate; there are other academic disciplines that can be brought to bear as being potentially illuminative. As Dylan said - don’t criticise what you can’t understand. Drivers of human behaviour havn’t changed much over the years - power, greed etc.
I think the point the article is making is that Joesphus records King Herod the Great recruiting 10,000 skilled craftsmen to build the Temple, and to train 1000 Jewish priests to do the work of tektons - usually translated as carpenters, but on a large scale.
I found an mp3 at www.templehouse-publishing.com that explains in more depth. Joseph would have been alive then (18BC) + as a devout tekton seems well placed to have been involved, thus explaining who might have cared for Jesus aged 12 when he was lost in Jerusalem - priests on duty had living accommodation in the Temple. That would place Jesus there. This has repercussions for Christ’s poition in their society.
Psycho-analyzing the Bible or history 2000 years ago may be good for speculation but it’s too subjective to build doctrine on.
Thank you for your source...I will look at that.
Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called
Mary? - Matthew 13:55
this is the exact translation from Greek.
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary... Mark 6:3
this is the exact translation from Greek.
We see a difference.
Now tradition says that the Apostle Saint Mark heard much of what he wrote in his gospel from Saint Peter.
Saint Matthew wrote what he knew, first hand.
I do not see a problem here, maybe one of emphasis...after all sons regularly took their occupations from their fathers.
Hi
The exact definition of tekton, though intersting for sure, does not seem to be the root issue of this thesis; rather that Josephus says that Herod had 1000 Jewish priests trained as tektons so that they could go into the holy place + re-build it. So that would place Jesus at the heart of the Temple, which was the place of learning. It explains why Jesus went there when lost age 12, + who looked after him (the priests Joseph had trained), and how he was so comfortable around the Doctors of the Law. Seems that 30 is the age Rabbis are given the all-clear to go public.
This is a brand new discovery as far as I can tell...
Regards, Tim
Discovery? I don’t know. Many have tried to explain and research and pick apart aspects of the Lord...and this is the latest foray into a scientific “rational” explanation.
There are those who seek to explain the minutiae of the Lord’s life as a man. I prefer to enrich my knowledge - as limited as it is - through her mysteries.
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