How Big Were The Stone Temle Blocks?

Have you ever wondered just big those stones in the Jerusalem temple were?  I know from visit to the stone quarry where my step grandfather was the foreman years ago that such blocks can get pretty big.

The big blocks of stone my step grandfather's crew cut out were used in the granite city hall here in Vancouver BC and know it was not a simple matter to  cut the huge blocks out using drills and dynamite and then loading them onto huge barges to be towed to the finishing plan in Vancouver was no easy task.

And the quarring of the huge stones used by Jewish builders must have been a mammoth task judging by a picture I have seen of them. They must have been pretty impressive for Mark 13:1 Jesus' disciples exclaimed: "Teacher, see what sort of stones, and what sort of buildings!"

The temple area itself was one of the wonders of the ancient world. King Solomon's original temple was awesome enough and King Herod in Jesus time made a huge expansion of the Temple platform  to 480  metres by 280 meters making it the largest man-made platform in the world up to that time/

One of these temple stones examined by archaeologists  was a whopping 400 tons. The majority of these buildings were smaller than that but were still extremely with a a few weighing in at more than 50 tons each.

Naturally depending on their location in the temple these stones could be smaller or larger but some of them were reportedly 11 meters long, 5 meters wide and 3 meters high.

You can imagine  the difficulty in moving such huge building stones from the quarry to the building site and them lifting them into place.

What Languages Did Jesus Speak?

Have you ever wondered that?  What languages did Jesus speak?

That's an interesting question isn't it for the Jews of Jesus day did speak speak a form of Hebrew and possibly an Aramaic dialect. However, when Jesus read the  the words of Luke 4: 16-21 concerning the coming of the Messiah it reportedly was in Hebrew and he apparently did not translate what he read into any form of Armaic.

 But would he have been clearly understood? There was a number of languages in common use during this time in Palestine. Professor G. Ernest Wright says that "Greek and Aramaic were evidently the common tongues" and that the Roman military and officials used mainly Latin. And orthodox Jews could have used a late form of Hebrew -- the the Hebrew Isiah was originally written in.

Greek was also frequently used by Roman governors according to Alan Millard in his book  Discoveries from The Time of Jesus. And according to  Millard Jesus could have answered Pilate during his tile in that language.

The Bible is silent on this at John  18: 28-40 but there is no mention of an interpreter and Pilate more than likely would have likely understood only Greek and Latin.


According to professor Wright he is uncertain whether Jesus could spreak Greek or Latin, but it is known that during Jesus' ministry he regularly spoke in either Aramaic or highly Aramaized Hebrew. 

For more information on this refer to Biblical Archaeology; 1962, page 243.

Who Was This Annas of the Gospels?

Exactly who was Annas of the Gospel accounts?

Annas, described  at Luke 3:32 as a "chief priest"  during Jesus trial was a powerful member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and a shrewd politician and manipulator of others.

He played at least two roles amongst the religious elite of him time, serving both as High Priest after Quirinius, the Roman governor of Syria, removed his predecessor Joazar in 6 or 7 C.E. until he was removed himself  from office by the Roman procurator  Valerius Gratus.*

After This Annas  still  wielded enormous power throughout Israel directly as a chief priest as well as through his family.

Five of his sons came to be High Priests following his ouster from that office and his immediate family was notoriously wealthy, gaining much of their wealth through  their monopoly on the sales of doves, sheep, oil, and wine used in temple ceremonies.

During their era corruption amongst the religious rulers was common  Even some of the servants of his sons were involved in such things as taking by force tithes from the priests and even beating those who refused to hand these tithes over to them.

*Until the Romans became the rulers of Israel High Priests   normally held their offices for life. 

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See  "First Food Inspectors Below. 

 

Early Food Inspectors

Food inspectors are one of the oldest professions -- particularly in Bible lands.

According to a first century CE Jewish writer, Philo, priests of that era took no chances with sacrificial animals saying that Jewish priests examined the animals carefully "from head to foot" to ensure that they were not diseased in any way and "without spot or defect of any kind."

According to Bible scholars like E. P. Sanders this was ensured by a chit or clay seal that was attached to animals and birds accepted for sacrificial use -- after they had been carefully inspected for such  blindness and other defects described in Leviticus 22. The T

A coin-sized clay found discovered in 2011 corroborates  Sanders idea. This seal or chit archaeologists discovered was made somewhere between the first century B.C.E. and 70 C.E.

The two Aramaic words inscribed on it read: "Pure for God" Researchers believe that only animals and birds with such tags would be accepted for sacrifices to God for such sacrifices were to have "No defects at all."

The 22nd  chapter of Leviticus  has a fairly extensive list of things that would disqualify such animals and birds for sacrificial use.  

When Did Jesus Step-Father, Joseph, Die?

We all know Jesus died on Nisan 14 according to the Jewish calendar, but have you ever wondered when his human-step-father, Joseph died?

 Joseph did not likely live long enough to see Jesus begin his earthly ministry, but he was alive when Jesus was a 12-year-old boy and was still alive   when Jesus was 15 years old when Jewish youths entered their trade apprenticeship -- in this case, carpentry for Jesus as Joseph was a qualified carpenter who taught Jesus the trade.

But it seems unlikely Joseph was still alive when his son  began his earthly ministry 15 years later when he was 30 years old. For one thing, all of Jesus  brothers are sisters were living at that time, but their father, Joseph, was not mentioned at all.

Then at Mark 6:33 Jesus is referred to as the "son of Mary" not the son of John and at John 2: 1-5 the Apostle John portrayed Mary as taking the iniitative on her to own to ensure that there was enough wine at a wedding feast. Joseph again is not mentioned at all.  This is not something she would likely  have done in the Jewish world of that time -- unless -- she was a widow.

And finally, when dying on the torture stake Jesus said to the apostle John: "See! your mother!" entrusting the care of his Mother to to this apostle whom he felt very closely.  He would not have done this if his father, Joseph, was still alive.

So it is thought that Jesus must have died when Jesus was still quite young -- definitely before he was 30 years old -- but he set a memorable example in taking care of his young human-step son who went on to become the most influential man who ever lived.

Where Did Idea of Going the Second Mile For Somebody Come From?

The concept of going the second mile for somebody -- or doing more than is expected of you is well known, but did  you ever stop to think where it came from?

If you answered: "Jesus" you're right. Remember in his Sermon on the Mount  he encourages his disciples to do this with the words recorded at Mathew: 5:4l,  "If someone under authority impresses you into service for a mile, go with him two miles."

It seems that Jesus was referring  to the compulsory service that the Roman authority of his day could demand from citizens. Apparently they could commander anything they need to accomplish their tasks from animals to men.

Such demands were highly oppressive ( such as the time that Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry Jesus' torture stake)  and of course highly unpopular amongst the Jewish people and naturally  they would not want to go any farther than absolutely necessary.

But Jesus urged his followers to be willing to carry out such work willingly and without resentment when the ruling authorities had legitimate demands -- and not only that -- but to be willing to go that "extra mile" or do more than what was expected of them.

This no doubt created a good name for early Christians and the same attitude can also help us to create a good name when  some friend -- or boss -- or government officials asks us to carry out some task.

 

Did Jesus Really Exist?

Yes. There has been conjecture about whether Jesus really existed or not. And, of course,the big argument of those trying say he was just the figment of somebody's imagination would be  that there is no mention of him outside of the Bible.

But there is. There are at least two secular historians who mention him. The first of these is Corneliuis Tactus, a Roman historian. In his account of the fire that destroyed Rome in AD 64 he said that Nero tried to blame members of a sect called "Christus" for the fire.

According to Tactus the  people gave this group this name because they were followers of Christus {or Christ}who died at the hand of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate.

Another well known historian, Flavius Josephus also writes of Jesus as a historical figure describing how High Priest Ananus {Ananias},"convened the judges of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man named James, the brother  of Jesus who was called the Christ, and several others."

This  record of Tactus can be found in Anals, XV, 44   and that of Josephus in  Jewish Antiquities, XX, 200 (ix1).

So  no, the  Gospel accounts of Jesus' life were not fictional. He did exist.