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The Nazarene
Way of Essenic Studies What were Jesus' Last Words? Exploring the Contradictions between Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46 |
Hi, I came across your website, just for some reading and this page says mathews 27:46 can be translated into “so this is my destiny” rather than “why hast thou forsaken me” I was just wondering where this information came from and if you have any direct information on it. Every google search I have seen describes Jesus’ words as forsaken, although I don’t think google is the most reliable source for biblical research. I personally think he didn’t have a loss of faith in his last moments, however every one seems to be very adamant about his last words. Again, would like your input on the findings you have had.
Note to those not familiar with the core discoveries of our research: The Crucifixion was a dramatic presentation patterned after more ancient annual events that honored deities such as Osiris and Isis. Actors - the High-Priest and Priestess and other members of the royal families - played the roles; no one actually died. The "resurrections" - both Osiris' and Jesus' - were key components of of the myths. The myths were created to explain the infinite cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth.
Evidence we’ve collected in the past five years suggests that a “final editor,”
probably Polycarp in the second century (per Dr. David Trobisch),
inserted clues to enigmatic messages in scripture.
These puzzles can be solved using a systematic method traceable to
Philo of Alexandria and Pythagoras before him.1
Here’s how Philo's Method of exegesis works: the presence of an enigmatic section of text is signaled by a striking statement, a noteworthy omission, and/or a contradiction that forces us to stop and examine what was written. Mk 15:34 and Mt 27:46 are perfect examples. Curious readers want to know if Iesous actually uttered these words of despair and abandonment, and they want to know why Mark and Matthew disagree on certain key points.
We agree with most scholars that Mark was the first gospel written and that Matthew used it as a source. However, Matthew’s version of Jesus' last words differs from Mark’s:
Mark 15:34: Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani…
Matthew 27:46: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani…
The differences may seem minor, but they are contradictions. Philo’s method says to first look at the OT text (the “hypotext”) which was appears to be the inspiration for Mark and Matthew (the “hypertexts”).
Psalm 22:1: “Eli, Eli, lamah ‘ăzaḇtānî?”
Mark changed Eli (pronounced ee-lee) to Eloi (pronounced el-o-ee). When Matthew repeats Mark’s story, he changes Mark’s Eloi to Psalm’s original Eli. Therefore, Mark 15:35, the verse that follows 15:34, applies only to Matthew’s Eli and not to Mark’s Eloi:
15:35: “Some of the bystanders heard him and said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’”
This statement would be true if Iesous had called out to “Eli” as Matthew writes; however, “Eloi” does not sound the same as “Eli” and the bystanders should not have made this mistake. We can conclude, therefore, that Mk 15:35 is possibly an interpolation added after Matthew changed Mark’s Eloi to Eli (perhaps when Mark 16 was expanded from 8 to20 verses: http://www.bible-researcher.com/endmark.html).
The Hebrew words translated as “why have you forsaken me” in both Mark and Matthew differ from the hypotext:
Psalm 22:1: lamah azabtani vs.
Mark 15:34: lema sabachthani vs.
Matthew 27:46: lama sabachthani.
First, lamah, lema, lama is Strong’s No. 4100, defined as what? how? anything. NASB translates the word as: … how (93 times)… what (405 times), where (4 times), why (196 times). (Note these words are also translated “where” even though it isn’t listed in the definition section, and “where” will be the choice as we proceed with this exercise.)
Mark and Luke’s sabachthani is not the same word as Psalm’s azabtani:
azab is Strong’s No. 5800 and is translated commit self, fail, forsake, fortify, help, leave destitute, off, refuse.
Ani is Strong’s no. 6041 and is translated: afflicted (42), afflicted one (1), humble (3), lowly (1), needy (2), needy and poor (1), oppressed (1), poor (19), poor man (2), who is humble (1), wretched (1).Therefore, David’s song (Psalm 22) refers to the oppressed, poor, humble Israelites who felt that “Eli” had abandoned them.
But azabtani is not the word found in Mark’s and Matthew’s gospels. So, let’s examine the word Mark and Matthew used instead of azabtani: sabachthani.
Philo instructs the enigma-solver to: 1) look at the placement of the verse and its possible relationship to nearby verses; 2) look at all possible definitions, phonetically similar words, and synonyms; 3) look at the parts of the word.
In the Greek script, sabachthani is similar to Sabbath.
Mark 15:34: σαβ-αχθάνι (“sabachthani”); (chapter 15 ends thirteen verses later at verse 47 followed by: Mark 16:1 which opens with the word σαβ-βάτου (“Sabbath”). Note the similarities:
σαβ-αχθάνι
σαβ-άτου
Between Mark 15:34 and 16:1, an interesting sequence of events fills in the gap - especially when 15:35, the possible interpolation, is removed:
Mark 15:34: Iesous cries out “Eloi, Eloi, where is Sabachthani?”
Mark 15:36: “And tis* ran, filled a sponge with oxous,** put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink…”
*Greek, tis: Strong’s No. 5100: “… a certain one; used of persons ... concerning which the writer either cannot or will not speak more particularly.” (In other words “tis” refers to an enigmatic "someone" who is special.)
**Greek, oxous: Strong’s No. 3690: “óksos – low-grade, sour…” [bitter] “…wine, given as a cheap painkiller to people condemned to crucifixion.”
These words say enigmatically that the “certain one” who administered the bitter wine was called Sabachthani, “the one” Jesus had just asked for. Saba achth ani immediately responded to his plea and administered bitter wine, perhaps a painkiller or a sedative.
Looking at each part of the name Saba achth ani:
Saba is the Hebrew word translated as “Sheba,” the biblical Queen of the South who came to King Solomon bearing gifts of gold, spices, and precious stones (1 Kings 10:1-13). Solomon “gave to the queen of Sheba every desire that she expressed, as well as what he gave her out of Solomon’s royal bounty” (1 Kings 10:13). These words, supported by ancient legends, suggest that the Queen’s “desire” was to produce a child with King Solomon and that he granted her wish.
A second possible choice and interpretation for Sab is iSh+ aB. Ish is Hebrew for “man” and sometimes translated “mankind” (ishshah is “woman”). Our research indicates that the biblical “Ish and Ishshah tribe” were Ishraelites (Ishras of El) while the “Adam and Eve tribe” were called Yahudeans (YHWH’s Ud which means “YHWH’s firebrand”).
Ab is Hebrew for “father.”
achoth is the Hebrew word for “sister.”
Ani is the name of an ancient Nigerian goddess; her myth explains that Ani (also called Ale, Anna, Alla, and Ane) “… is present at the beginning of the cycle of life, making children grow in their mother’s womb, and she is there at the end of the cycle, to receive the souls of the dead into her own womb.” (http://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/goddess-ala/)
Ani's appearance at the Crucifixion would be expected by those who knew of and worshipped this Goddess. Furthermore, the Igbo people, Nigerians who claim Anna (Ani; Ale; Alla) as their goddess, also claim the Israelites as their ancestors:
“Samuel is looking towards Israel as the birthplace of his ancestors. It’s a notion he and so many other young Igbo first heard growing up in Nigeria, an oral history passed down through generations of the Igbo people”– Jeff Lieberman (http://igbocybershrine.com/tag/earth-goddess/).
We will next look at additional “hypotexts” for more clues to solve the enigmas:
1 Kings 10:1 “When Hamalka Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon… she came with camels bearing spices…”
Song of Solomon 5:1: “I come to my garden, my sister (Heb. achoth), my bride (Heb. challa); I gather my myrrh (Heb. mor from marar, defined as “bitter”) with my spice… I drink my wine with my milk.” (Note the similarities to the hypertext Mark 15:34 and 15:36.)
Acts 13:1: “Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger…” (the prophets and/or teachers apparently traveled from Jerusalem to Nigeria as Igbo legends attest).
Luke 24:10: “Now it was Mary Magdalene Io Anna…” “
Alla (Songs 5:1) and Anna (Acts 13:1) are other names for the goddess Ani (Mark 15:34).
Another little-known ancient Hebrew goddess was named Shabbat:
Bat is Hebrew for “daughter”;
ab is Hebrew for “father”;
ish (“man”) and ishshah (“woman”) were the people of Elohim who became Ish-raelites; YHWH’s people were Judeans. They were originally two different tribes with two competing deities. This changed during the Babylonian Exile when the Torah was edited and the deities were merged to become one (YHWH Elohim, “LORD God”).
Over time Shabbat became a combination of “Queen” (Shabbat Hamalka), “Bride” (challa and/or Ishshah), and “Goddess” (Eloha; Asherah; Ishtar, et. al.). Archaeological evidence recently uncovered suggests that YHWH and Elohim indeed had consorts. (The following is excerpted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah#cite_ref-dever_15-0):
“There are references to the worship of numerous gods throughout Kings, Solomon builds temples to many gods and Josiah is reported as cutting down the statues of Asherah in the temple Solomon built for Yahweh. Josiah's grandfather Manasseh had erected this statue. (2 Kings 21:7) Further evidence includes, for example, an 8th-century [BCE] combination of iconography and inscriptions discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud in the northern Sinai desert where a storage jar shows three anthropomorphic figures and an inscription that refers to "Yahweh ... and his Asherah". The inscriptions found invoke not only Yahweh but El and Baal, and two include the phrases "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" and "Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah." There is general agreement that Yahweh is being invoked in connection with Samaria (capital of the kingdom of Israel) and Teman (in Edom); this suggests that Yahweh had a temple in Samaria, and raises a question over the relationship between Yahweh and Kaus, the national god of Edom.” (Dever, William G. (2005), Did God Have A Wife?: Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 9780802828521.) See article, “Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuntillet_Ajrud.
Yahweh’s “Asherah” is almost certainly derived from the Hebrew word Ishshah, translated “bride” and/or “woman.” Furthermore, “Yahweh and his Asherah” suggests a marriage between YHWH and the Ishraelites’ Goddess Isherah/Asherah.
Mark 15:37: “Then Jesus gave a megalen cry and breathed his last.”
Mark 15:39: “Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw hoti houtos he breathed his last, he said, “Altheos, this man was Son of Theo.”
Let’s stop to examine and dissect the Greek words in italics.
Note the similarities in megalen (“loud”) and Magdalen:
Μεγ ά λην
Μαγ δα ληνὴ
“The Roman centurion saw hoti houtos …”
Greek hoti: Strong’s No. 3754 is defined as “that, since, because… ;
Greek houtos: Strong’s No. 3779 is defined as in this way, thus. Houtos is also associated with Strong’s No. 3598, hodon (Acts 24:14, “…according to The Way which they call a heresy…”).
Theo, used twice in 15:39, is Greek for “deity.” Al-theo or El-theo means “deity of El.”
Greek Alethos, is translated “truly.” Philo would note Ale-thos is very similar to Alatheia, a Greek goddess:
“Alatheia (Truth), who art the beginning of great virtue, keep my good-faith from stumbling against rough falsehood” (Pindar, Fragment 205 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric ca. 5th BCE). “Alatheia (Truth) is from the same city as the gods; she alone lives with the gods" (Bacchylides, Fragment 57 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric ca. 5th BCE).
Alatheia was the Greek goddess of Truth, and it is well-known among scholars that the Roman Emperors Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Tiberius Julius Caesar were called Theos. Therefore, it can be seen that the enigmas identified in Mark’s gospel were constructed in order to reveal that “The centurion saw that because of The Way, (“which they call a heresy”) “Jesus” breathed his last breath (in Mark’s version of the annual performance); and the centurion said to the deity of El (Altheos) “this man was Son of Theo.”
At the time this scene was played out in Jerusalem, “Theo” was Tiberius Julius Caesar; therefore, it was his son who played the role of “Jesus” in Mark’s version of the annual performance.
Mark 15:40: “There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary the Magdalen …”
Luke 24:10: “Now it was Mary Magdalen Io Anna…”
Luke associates two ancient goddesses with Mary Magdalen:
Io was the first goddess queen of Egypt;
In Anna was a Sumerian-Babylonian goddess; her father was the moon god Sin; Sin’s parents were EnLiL and NinLiL (the inspiration for Elohim, “gods”-plural) and their father was aNSaR, the genesis of NaSaRene. But that’s another essay.
A little known and rarely quoted prophesy was fulfilled with the arrival of The Magdalen Io Anna. And it precedes a well-known and frequently quoted prophesy associated with Iesous:
Micah 4:8: “And you, oh MGDL (“watchtower”) of the flock, stronghold of daughter Zion, to you it shall come, the former memshallah (em "mother"+ish "humankind"+allah "ruler”) shall come, the Kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
Micah 5:2-3: “But you, O Bethlehem … from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days.”
This exercise using Philo's Method of biblical exegesis concludes with our interpretation of Mk 15:34 and Mt 27:46:
“Jesus cried out, ‘My Goddess, my Goddess! Where is the Father’s daughter, my sister, Anna?’ Mary Magdalen IoAnna ran, filled a sponge with bitter wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.”
On the third day following this Crucifixion scene, YH-Zeus reappeared, demonstrating the healing power of the Goddess of Wisdom and Truth. Furthermore, this annual dramatic production offered assurance to all the people – Elohim’s Israelites, YHWH’s Judeans, Samaritans, Gentiles, Greeks and Romans – that the cycles of life are eternal and everlasting. And, to satisfy the Judeans and Christians who demanded a scapegoat, YH-Zeus died to appease YHWH and to buy forgiveness for their transgressions.
1 Jerome (c. 347 – 420) identified Philo of Alexandria as the author of Wisdom of Solomon (Praef. in lib. Sol.)This view was supported by Luther and other scholars but is disputed by scholars today, many of whom cite the “omission of allegory” as the reason. However, most agree internal evidence suggests Wisdom was written in Greek by a Hellenized Jew, probably in Alexandria during Philo's lifetime (c. 10 BCE - c. 50 ACE.
In addition to teaching "enigmatic modes of expression and allegory," Philo attempted to merge Judaism with Greek philosophy. Clement of Alexandria called him, “the Pythagorean.” Philo considered Greek philosophy a natural development of the teachings of Moses.
Whether from Philo or a descendant disciple, the New Testament was written and edited in order to enigmatically restore the "Goddess" to Judaism and its offspring Christianity. The evidence is overwhelming.
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