Many may find this thread quite offensive. Yes, many may also find it anti-Semitic too. But that’s not my intention at all!
If our real goal is to investigate the foundation of Christianity, then we have to be open minded. We should not approach Christianity with any kind of bias or prejudice. We should not be afraid of digging in too problematic investigations, which may lead to problematic conclusions, just because it may offend us.
We must be willing to investigate why John put these words in too the mouth of Jesus: You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Was Anti-Christ a human being – a historic person? Most people would say, No! But if Christ denotes someone who was anointed as a king or a priest, then Anti-Christ should also denote a King(or a Priest), but one who was anointed on a false premise – as an Anti-King.
My goal in this thread is to show how this tension between Christ and Anti-Christ may have arisen from a telological study of 1. Kings by a group of people some 2,000 years ago. There we find the conflict between King Solomon and the rejected King Adonijah. Now, let us be open minded and investigate this in depth.
JUDAS, A CHOOSEN DISIPLE:
John 6:70: Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.“
Solomon did not get a bribe for betraying the Lord(Adonai), but Solomon got the benefit of collecting 666 talents of gold each year in his reign. And so, Solomon became very rich. In fact, the richest person on earth.
THE KISS OF JUDAS:
Luke 22:48 “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
The betrayal of Judas by a kiss may very well come from a type of Midrash based on The Songs of Solomon.
I have below highlighted some key verses from the Song of Solomon. They are, of course, taken out of context. But that’s exactly what scribes always have done in order to interpret their holy scriptures.
The Songs of Solomon:
Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men,
some of the mighty men of Israel, all of them wearing swords
and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh,
against terror by night.
Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
I would lead you and bring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate
your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name(christ?) is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
Catch the foxes(Herod?) for us,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?(Mother Mary?)
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
Return, return, O Shulammite,(Abishag, the Shunammite?)
return, return, that we may look upon you.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he let out the vineyard to keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
Death of Judas:
As we know, there are several different accounts of the death of Judas.
The Acts 1:18-19 says that Judas used the money to buy a field but fell headfirst, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
Papias: “Judas walked about in this world a sad example of impiety; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass easily, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.
A man with a swollen body, that burst asunder, may be one prosaic way to describe a human being living in overwhelming luxury, and in sad impiety.
Matt 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.
Why on earth would The queen of Sheba rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it?
What had The queen of Sheba seen?
She had seen something greater than Solomon!
She had seen the “suffering servant” – Adonijah.
At last, look at what Tertullian has to say about Solomon.
Against Marcion, Book III Chapter 20:
“Accordingly the prophet Nathan, in the first of Kings, makes a promise to David for his seed, which shall proceed, says he, out of your bowels. Now, if you explain this simply of Solomon, you will send me into a fit of laughter. For David will evidently have brought forth Solomon! But is not Christ here designated the seed of David, as of that womb which was derived from David, that is, Mary’s? Now, because Christ rather than any otherwas to build the temple of God, that is to say, a holy manhood, wherein God’s Spirit might dwell as in a better temple, Christ rather than David’s son Solomon was to be looked for as the Son of God. Then, again, the throne for ever with the kingdom for ever is more suited to Christ than to Solomon, a mere temporal king. From Christ, too, God’s mercy did not depart, whereas on Solomon even God’s anger alighted, after his luxury and idolatry. For Satan stirred up an Edomite as an enemy against him. Since, therefore, nothing of these things is compatible with Solomon, but only with Christ, the method of our interpretations will certainly be true; and the very issue of the facts shows that they were clearly predicted of Christ. And so in Him we shall have the sure mercies of David.
Then in Chapter 18, he describes the “Horns”!? on Jesus cross!
“Christ was indicated in him(Joseph the Patriarch, the son of Jacob)— a bullock in respect of both His characteristics: to some as severe as a Judge, to others gentle as a Saviour, whose horns were the extremities of His cross. For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn. By this virtue, then, of His cross, and in this manner horned, He is both now pushing all nations through faith, bearing them away from earth toheaven; and will then push them through judgment, casting them down from heaven to earth”.
Now, this is interesting. Tertullian makes it clear that Marcion supports a false christ – in fact Salomon. And Tertullian describes the Horns of the cross of the real Christ. This reminds us of the controversy between Adonijah and Solomon.
1 Kings 1:50 “But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar”.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert