Thanks for all the info.any thoughts on the Karaites?
What do you think Jesus was referring to when he spoke of the Jews,who were not Jews,who were from the "Synagogue of Satan"?. He mentions this in Revelations,chapters 2 and 3,in John's letters to the churches.(I don't know how they were referred to in the original).
Incidentally,I asked you about this before but only recently noticed that I was reading the Douay-Rheims;however,I was looking in the NAB r and it was not worded the same way.I also noted that the D-R letters to the churches all end using the word "overcome" in the last sentences,whereas the NAB uses victor or conquer. Not nearly as powerful as repeating the same word to each church,in my estimation.
With all of the confusion in the world,nations,religions,tribes,races and sexes I can't help but think that much that is happening now mirrors what was happening at the time of Christ and His warnings about who could be trusted and who were God's is important for us now.I am far less wary of the Satan,who states he is not with us than of the one who claims he is with us and who lies.
As our friend Steven would say, his name would have been Yeshua, or something very close to this. "Christ" is a title, not a surname, of course, being the Greek equivalent to moshiach, meaning "annointed". His real name would then have been something like Yeshua ben Yosef.
As far as being of the tribe of Judah, that seems most likely, since they predominated in the southern kingdom. But by this time, with the exception of the Levites there were no real tribal affiliations remaining. Since some members of the 10 northern tribes had come south prior to the destruction of the northern kingdom, it is likely that most Jews at the time were of a mixed tribal background, with Judah predominant.
The assignation of Nazareth as the hometown of Jesus is problematic. Many scholars think that the proper expression is "Jesus the Nazarene" or "Jesus the Nazirite" referring to his political/religious affiliation rather than to his hometown.
Thanks for all the info.any thoughts on the Karaites?
They claim, of course, that they are the original Jews, but objective history suggests that they emerged in the 600-700s as a reaction against rabbinic Judaism. If you are interested in learning more about what they believe, check out http://www.karaite-korner.org/index.shtml.
Gotta run. I'll get to the rest of your post later tonight.
Dunno. With all the symbolism in Revelation, it could mean a lot of different things. To me, it sounds like the kind of things the Qumran community said about one they called "the Liar". If there is any connection here, "Jews who were not Jews" could refer to Jews who rejected the Torah.
Steven, look at some of the language in these passages (Revelation 2 and 3): "poverty", "rich", "throw...into prison" (similar to "cast down"), "Balaam", "Balak", "food sacrificed to idols", "immorality", "I know your works", "those...who say they are Jews and are not, but lie", "he who conquers I will make him a pillar".
This is not hellenistic Christianity!