6 km south east of
Bethlehem<http://www.atlastours.net/holyland/bethlehem.html>,
in the wild and setting of this part of Judea, rises the rough, conical hill
dominated by the Herodion (Herod's Fortress), a fortified palace standing
300 feet (92 m) above its surrounding, built by Herod the Great in memory of
his victory after defeating Antigonus in 39 BC. Which is; with its powerful
remains; considered one of the most grandiose architectural projects
realized by Herod.
OK, the palace may have been south of Bethlehem all along. Making the star
north of the Magi, no matter whether they were ending up at Bethlehem or
Nazareth.
There goes the Jupiter theory if they were starting at the location of the
king.
Just a thought.
On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:43 PM, David Clounch <david.clounch@gmail.com>wrote:
> If its the Star of Nazareth, well, unlike Bethlehem which is south of
> Jerusalem, Nazareth is North of Jerusalem.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Murray Hogg <muzhogg@netspace.net.au>wrote:
>
>> Sorry all for exceeding my post count yet again but you should find this
>> one good fun! :-[
>>
>> Dave Wallace wrote:
>>
>>> I doubt it even contains discussion of whether or not Jesus and his
>>> parents went to Nazareth and then Egypt or in the other order. Scripture is
>>> not an exhaustive history by any means and the authors had different
>>> audiences they were writing for. Frankly I don't think the order matters at
>>> all. Maybe Pete or Murray have a different opinion.
>>>
>>
>> Hi Dave,
>>
>> First, I have to say that questions of this sort are not really of that
>> much interest to me. Frankly, I know the NT scholarship pretty well and I
>> have to say that the discussion so far hasn't even scratched the surface of
>> the difficulties. There's lots more "problems" than the question of
>> chronology and I've already factored most of those into my understanding of
>> the nature and role of scripture.
>>
>> But that said, there is one commonly overlooked solution to this supposed
>> "problem";
>>
>> Very early in Christian history (c. 160-70 AD) a guy by the name of Tatian
>> put together a harmony of the Four Gospels known as "The Diatessaron of
>> Tatian."
>>
>> In his harmony, Tatian places the return to Nazareth BEFORE the visit of
>> the Magi. Which seems kinda strange until we realize that - contrary to the
>> assumption that most people read into the text - Matthew never actually
>> states that the Magi visit Bethlehem!
>>
>> What it DOES say is (1) Jesus was born in Bethlehem, (2) Herod's religious
>> advisers told him Bethlehem would be Christ's birth place; (3) Herod directs
>> the Magi to Bethlehem; and (4) the Magi follow the star to where Jesus was.
>>
>> But it DOESN'T say that Jesus was in Bethlehem OR that the Magi visited
>> there.
>>
>> So if we follow Tatian's ordering;
>>
>> Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem where Christ is born
>> The Holy Family visits Jerusalem for the rites of purification
>> They return to Nazareth
>> The Magi visit the Holy Family *in Nazareth*
>> The Holy Family flees to Egypt
>> Herod's henchmen massacre the children of Bethlehem
>>
>> It turns out that there isn't even a problem to be addressed - unless you
>> want to read into the Gospel narrative something that isn't actually there!
>>
>> Blessings,
>> Murray.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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Received on Tue Nov 24 23:50:11 2009
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