Read James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II Online
Authors: Robert Eisenman
48. One should note that Josephus makes it clear that ‘
Queen Helen sent her representatives
(plural)
to Alexandria to buy grain
’ to relieve the Famine, a point he repeats in discussing Theudas’ reverse exodus to the Jordan;
Ant
. 20.51 and 97–102.
49. This disparity between Acts 12:1–24 and Galatians can be explained by considering that Paul and Barnabas were among those who went either to Alexandria or Cyprus on these grain and fig-buying missions.
50. Cf.
Ant
. 20.35–47.
51. See Segal,
Edessa
, pp. 15 and 66ff., who makes it clear ‘
Ezad
’ is ‘
Izates
’; in
War
4.567, Josephus seemingly even calls him ‘
Izas
’.
52. Cf.
Haeres.
19.2.1–4.2, 30.1.3–3.7, and 53.1.1ff. with Hippolytus, 9.8.
53.
E.H.
3.32.1–8.
54. For Simeon bar Yohai and the
Zohar
, see
JBJ
, p. 821 and
MZCQ
, pp. 54 and 71.
55.
Haeres
. 19.1.1–5.7, 30.1.1–3.7, and 53.1.3.
56. See
E.H.
1.13.1–20, 2.12.1–3, and
Ant
. 20.1–117.
57. Cf.
Ant
. 20.21 with John 1:14–18 and 3:16–18.
58.
Ant
. 20.22–23 and 34–5.
59. Acts 9:10ff.
60. See CD VI.19–VII.9.
61. See CD V.6–9, VI.30–VII.4, and XX.27–32.
62. The
Fihrist
9.1; cf. as well al-Biruni, 8.44ff.
63. See E.S. Drower,
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran
, Oxford, pp. 1–10 and 100–124 and
The Secret Adam
, Oxford, 1960, pp. 88–106; also see
The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa
, tr. E.S. Drower, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticano, Citta del Vaticano, 1953, pp. VIII–XI and 2–17. According to Mandaean tradition, the followers of John the Baptist fled eastward in 37 CE, the approximate year Josephus actually gives for his execution.
64. See
JBJ
, pp. 324–331.
65. See Hippolytus 9.8–9 and 10.25 and
Haeres
. 19.4.1, 30.3.1–6, and 5.1.8–9. For Simon
Magus
, see Ps.
Rec.
1.72 and 2.7–8 and Ps.
Hom.
2.22–4, Epiphanius 21.2.3–4, and
Haeres
. 10.8.
66. See, e.g., Matthew 12:46, Luke 24:36, John 20:14, 20:19, 20:26, 21:4, and Acts 1:10, 7:55–6 (Stephen’s James-like/Great Power/Primal Adam proclamation – cf. Matthew 26:64 and Mark 14:62 and even the ‘
two Angels
’ in Luke 24:4).
67. In the Koran, see 2.124–133, 3.33, 3.95–7, 21.51–75, 26.69–103, etc.
68. For Paul, see Galatians 3:6–18 and Romans 4:1–16; for Muhammad, see Koran 2.135–40 and 3.95 and 113–5, etc.
69. In CD, paralleling the Koran, one finds this in III.2–20, ending in evocation of ‘
the Primal Adam
’ ideology. But even more impressively,
MMT
II.30–3 ends with evocation of Genesis 15:6’s ‘
reckoned to you as Righteousness
’ applying it to its Kingly recipient and his ‘
People
’ – Koranic and ‘Jamesian’ works Righteousness with a vengeance.
70. This, as opposed to James, the Koran, and of course CD and
MMT
.
71. For the ‘
Friend
’ terminology, see CD III.2–4 and for ‘
Perfection
’/‘
Perfection of the Way
’, see 1QS VIII.1–10, 18–25 and CD II,15–6, VII.4–6, XX.2–7, etc.
72. See too the Scrolls’ condemnation of the ‘
Emptiness
’ of the Lying Spouter’s teaching in 1QpHab X.9–12.
73. See Koran 4.126.
74. The ‘
King
’/‘
Kings
’ would appear to be referred to in II.21–9 (where an earlier letter is alluded to) introducing this e
v
ocation of Abraham’s ‘
works
’ being ‘
reckoned as justifying him
’ and this ‘
King
’’s ‘
People
’ in II.30.
75. For detailed arguments regarding the identity of these two, see
JBJ
, pp. 862–939.
76. See the references to ‘
the Land of Noah
’, particularly in conjunction with the ark in 11:25–49 – which certainly did not come down in Arabia as such – introducing ‘Ad and Hud. The same is true of 26:105–49 where latter’s typically Northern-Syrian style cattle-grazing land is described; see also 29.14–38, etc.
77. See VII.14–XX.12.
78. See my article ‘
MMT
as a Jamesian Letter to “the Great King of the Peoples beyond the Euphrates,”’
Journal of Higher Criticism
, 11/1, Spring, 2005(first given to the Society of Biblical Literature in 1997), pp. 55–68.
79. See G. Williams,
Eastern Turkey
:
A Guide and History
, 1972, London, 1972, pp. 166–167 – this was supposed to have been in a cave under the Great Mosque. Even the spring at Callirhoe is attributed to Abraham.
Per contra
, see C.H. Gordon, ‘Abraham and the Merchants of Ura’,
JNES
17, 1958, pp. 28–31 and A.R. Millard, ‘Where was Abraham’s Ur?’,
BAR
, May/June, 2001.
80. See W. Dalrymple,
From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among Christians of the Middle East
, London, 1997, p. 74, the Official Turkish Government site ‘
Sanliurfa
’, and cf. Luke 1:24 and
Protevang
. 22.3
81. In
Ant
. 20.18 and 20.26 Josephus also calls him ‘
Monobazus
’, which like ‘
Abgarus
’ in neighboring Syriac tradition seems to be a name coursing through multiple generations of this family. In 20.24 Josephus calls this Kingdom ‘
Ca
r
ron
’/‘
Carrae
’, a designation that has never been made sensible.
82. Cf. Gen
R
46:10–11 and
Ant
. 20. 38–45 with Acts 8:26–40; and see
JBJ
, pp. 883–922.
83. Cf. Acts 8:38–9 with
Ant
. 20.46.
84. In Dio Cassius 68.4, Nerva reapplied the traditional body of legislation against castrations known as the
Lex Cornelia de Sicarius et Veneficis
, while Hadrian – obviously in the wake of the Bar Kochba War – outlawed circumcision completely with his ‘
Ius Sicaricon
’; cf.
The Augustan History
13.10ff.
85.
Ant
. 20.35–43 and 46–8.
86.
E.g.
, Matthew 19:12 ( concerning ‘
eunuchs
’); Mark 14:4 (concerning ‘
the Poor
’); Luke 19:39 (concerning ‘
Pharisees
’); John 6:64 (concerning ‘
belief
’); 9:16 (‘
the Pharisees
’ again); 9:40 (concerning Matthew’s ‘
Blind Pharisees
’); etc.
87. CD XVI.6–8.
88. The usage ‘
Satan
’ does not occur as such at Qumran – rather this ‘
Angel of Mastema
’. All references to ‘
Satan
’ one sees in some translations are almost always, therefore, to ‘
Belial
’ in the original.
89. CD XVI.4–6.
90. See 1QS V.2–3 and V.9.
91. Cf. Hebrews 11:17 with
Ant
. 20.20.
Chapter 2
1. Hippolytus 9.8–12.
2. Hippolytus 9.9; cf.
Haeres
. 19.5.1.
3.
Zohar
63a and 67b on ‘
Noah
’.
4. Cf. Koran 7.59–79, 11.29–68, 26.106–58, etc.
5. Hippolytus 9.8.
6. See
JBJ
, pp. 328–36 and E.S. Drower,
Mandaeans
,
op. cit.
, pp. 1–19, 100–24, and 258–62. Also E.S. Drower,
The Secret Adam
, Oxford, 1960, pp. ix–xvii and 88–106.
7
.
Koran 2.62, 5.69, 22.17, etc.
8. See, for instance the material on Abraham in 2.124–36, 3.65–7, 4.125, etc.
9. Muhammad makes it clear in 3.113 that all
‘Peoples of the Book are not the same
’, some ‘
standing
’ or being ‘
more staunch
’ than others; cf. James 2:17–24. To paraphrase James, this reads: ‘
O Empty or Foolish Man, do you not know that Abraham was saved by sacrificing Isaac
(this being a work)
and that is how we are justified
,
not by Faith alone but rather by Faith and works working together
’, the final point basically paralleling Muhammad's ‘
believe and do good works
’ repeated throughout the Koran.
10. Cf. 1QS VI.6–7 and
War
2.128–36.
11. Koran 3.113–4.
12. Cf.
E.H.
1.13.4–10 and see the two variant manuscripts of
Apost. Const
. 8.25 on ‘
Lebbaeus surnamed Thaddaeus
’, a.k.a. ‘
Judas the Zealot
’ and ‘
Judas of James
’; for these overlaps also see
JBJ,
pp. 930–38.
13. See
Haeres
. 29.1.1 and 29.4.1–5.1 where he claims this was the name applied by Philo either to those he denotes as ‘
Theraputae
’ or ‘
Essenes
’. For Epiphanius, anyhow, this was just an earlier name for ‘
Christians
’.
14. James 1:22, 1:23, and 1:25.
15. 1QpHab VII.10–11 on Habakkuk 2:3 and ‘
the Delay of th
e Parousia
’, VIII.1–3 on Habakkuk 2:4, and XII.4–5 on ‘
the
Ebionim
’ or ‘
the Poor
’.
16. See
Haeres.
20.3.4 and 29.1.1–7.1.
17. Cf.
E.H.
4.22.6 with
Haeres
. 19.5.7, but also Justin Martyr,
Dial
. 80.
18.
Haeres
. 19.2.10 and 20.3.2–4. Here too, he basically contends that all have been absorbed into ‘
the Ebionites
’.
19.
Haeres
. 29.1.1–4, 29.5.4–7.4, and 30.2.3–3.7; for a polemical view of Ebionite doctrine, see
E.H.
3.27.1–6.
20. For Hegesippus,
E.H.
2.23.5–6 and
Haeres
. 78.14.2, James
‘did not enter the
(public)
baths
’ and like the Essenes ‘
did not anoint himself with oil’,
but he did ‘
enter the Temple alone
’. For Epiphanius in
Haeres.
29.4.1–5, supported by Jerome, this was ‘
the Holy of Holies
’ where, as High Priest, he proceeded to make a typical ‘
Yom Kippur Atonement
’ on ‘
behalf of the while People
’. But certainly anyone doing such things and entering the Temple in such manner (especially ‘
Priests
’) was obliged to take a ritual bath; see
M. Middah
1:4, 5:3,
M. Par
. 3:7,
b. Tam
26b,
j
.
Yoma
40b,
b.Yoma
30a–31a,
Ant
. 12.1456,
War
4.205, etc. The solution to this conundrum would seem to be found in Josephus’ statement that ‘
the Essenes preferred dry skin
’ not that they did not bathe – meaning they did not anoint themselves with any oils and probably did not take Greco-Roman-style hot baths; but they certainly took cold ones as did James’ counterpart ‘
Banus
’ below. So probably and almost a
s
suredly did James. See also
JBJ
, pp. 344–5.