Loading...Here now is the second of my twelve favorite Christmas posts of years gone by, in our celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
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Once more the season is come upon us. At its heart stands a tale of two-thousand year vintage, the Christmas story. Or perhaps we should say the Christmas myth.
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I have a few questions on this:
What do you think Matthew’s intentions were in writing about the massacre of innocents? Was he connecting Jesus to Moses? Or showing that even though Herod killed his Hasmonean children, there was still hope for a Davidic king (Jesus) to rule?
Although the gospels portray Mary and Joseph as a humble family, is it possible that either had ties to a priestly or royal line and thus would have access to their ancestral lineage?
Do you think the author/original audience of Matthew envisioned a star literally stopping over a house somehow? Or perhaps an angel coming down? Or maybe that the Magi were following a planet moving through a constellation and that it passed through it at the moment they arrived at the house in Bethlehem?
1. Yes, to some extent it was the Moses connection 2. They oculd not have been from a priestly line; they wold have been descendants of David like probably eveyrone else in Israel was and everyone now in America is. Once you include matrilinear options in a genealogy that goes back hundreds of years it’s hard NOT to be related to someoen…. 3. He indicates the star stopped over the house. Go figure. It’s no more/less possible than a planet passing through a constellation: which house is it over, exactly?
Would you say that scholars have suspected that the birth stories were not part of the original gospels and were added later by different authors?
Luke 1-2 yes (I think that); some suspect matthew 1-2, but there’s not much evidence of it.
Happy holidays! I have a question I’ve been pondering. I understand Matthew you sources for his entire narrative . What about the birth narrative did he use actual sources? It seems like he crafted the story to incorporate passages from the Old Testament. For instance, in the second chapter, Matthew deliberately has the Magi visit King Herod to inform him, which sets up Herod’s subsequent irritation after being deceived, especially since the angel intervene on behalf of the Magi and Joseph’s family. This allows the author to reference Hosea 11:1 and Jeremiah 31:15 effectively. Now I’m not an expert I just listened to the experts:-) I’ve been carefully reading and thinking about it and it seems that Matthew was pretty clever in crafting the story to incorporate the passages from the OT and maybe he was aiming for tragedy in the drama of the story. I don’t know just my thoughts:-)
I wish we knew how much is the author’s own crafting ahd how much was crafted before him in various oral versions of the story. I don’t see anyway of knowing.
That “star” sounds a drone. Maybe they go back farther than we knew.
Maybe that NJ thing before Christmas was no accident!
I love this overview of the Christmas myth, Bart
I also enjoyed reading Marko Marina’s explanation of why we celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25.
And in these darkening days, I offer my most recent Blog post for your consideration.
As you’ll note, I have included a link to this post in mine.
https://historyhighjackers.com/f/what-happens-when-megalomania-raises-its-ugly-head-on-the-left.
Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah from a highly appreciative atheist of Jewish heritage, Walt
The wise men came from the east, they followed a star in the east, but they travelled west. Why?
I’m not sure what you’re asking? In the story it was to find the King of the Jews so they would worship him. Part of the “meaning” is that the wise men of the East were more likely to find the truth than the Jewish scholars of Israel. But why foreign astronomers were interested in worshiping the next king of some other land is puzzling. (Presumably no one came to worship Herod when he was born, e.g.!)
‘We all have myths, stories that buttress our view of the world’ but it’s the duty of the wise men to search for the Universal Story
They were from the east, then travelled east, which is wrong. They actually travelled west.
““good news” for believers. It maintains that we are not alone. God came into the world to save us from ourselves & from others, from the evil, pain, misery, & suffering that is otherwise the lot of mortals here on earth. At the same time, it is easy to see the problems with this myth. The Christ child who brought good news for his followers brought very bad news for others”
In the USA, Dr Ehrman this is NOT TRUE!
Look at the perversion that the Religious Right preaches & practices. An absolute deviation from what was preached at the pulpits from the 1970-80s!
Have a great new year!