AW! Epistles
From George Brooks
Abstract
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Your web page made a brief and vague reference to Jesus serving in the capacity of a priest. That would be pretty amazing to see!
Can you be more specific in where I could find such a reference (in Josephus, or in any particular book which discusses the "lost" gospel(s))? Thanks !
You are right. It is vague! I have it from Furneaux’s book, The Other Side of the Story, p 140 where it says:
A fragment of Josephus, surviving in Suidas (tenth century) says that Jesus officiated in the Sanctuary with the priests, and he may have done so in order to conform with the tradition that the Messiah would unite the priestly dignity with the kingly office. This is confirmed by a fragment of an unknown gospel describing the saviour and his disciples, "And he took them and led them into the Holy Place itself, and went about in the Sactuary.
Furneaux is putting into popular form the findings of Dr Robert Eisler, so does not give the actual reference but it might be found in Eisler’s original work, which I do not possess. Hope this helps.
Hey, I REALLY appreciate your email response on this "Jesus as Priest" issue. I’ll see what I can do to follow up. In return, let me give you a tantalizing thought that your writings helped trigger.
Remember the issue of how Jesus treated his "mother" at the Nuptials at Cana? His treatment of his "mother" seemed a trifle cold, yes? And if you use a scripture search engine you see an unusual amount of emphasis on people in his "community" having "brothers, sisters and mothers." I’ve always thought it was odd about how much attention he spent on the word "mother." At one point, he even spells out that while his REAL mother is outside, his NEW mother is here with his new brothers… hmmm…
And what does he do while on the cross… he says to a woman (his mother?) that the disciple whom he loves… she will be HIS mother now! I figure this just HAS to have something to do with a ritualistic emphasis on each man (or person…) having a mother assigned to oneself. Or perhaps the assignment is only for the highest ranking members of the community. I’m not sure whether you "buy" any of this… but I thought I’d rough out the idea for your consideration, and you can do with it what you like!
Again, Thanks for your response!
Last night I was thinking a little bit more about this "mother" issue within Jesus’s Nazarene community. And I was recalling scripture in Mark, shown below (with pieces repeated in Matthew and Luke):
[Mk 10:29] Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, [Mk 10:30] who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
[Matt 19:29] And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
[Luke 18:29.20] And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, [Luke 18:30] who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.
And I was puzzling over the clear mention of leaving family, including mothers (in all the 3 Gospels) and including a wife (in Luke). Receiving a hundred-fold is an obvious reference to "holding things in common" in the Essene style of the Nazarene Community. By having all in common, it would be easy to receive a HUNDREDFOLD of everything.
It suddenly struck me… if you were of the Essene culture, and discouraged "marriage" per se, or if you were trying to avoid the problem of divorcing a "wife," you would have TWO kinds of problems: One, if you were a man who would cook your food and tend to your needs if you were NOT part of the monastic community house in Qumran? And if you were a woman, how would you be protected against other men, and how would you express the normal "maternal" aspect of your nature?
So… what if those Nazarenes who also chose to maintain their celibacy were "joined" to "Mothers" instead of to "Wives?" The logic seems consistent: a loving relationship between two people WITHOUT sex—mother and sonŋ father and daughter.
So, when Jesus was on the cross, through his power as Nazarene priest, he replaced Mary’s now cruicified "son" with a NEW son—the beloved disciple! And at the nuptial of Canae, Jesus was terse with his "mother" because the ceremony to make her his mother was not yet begun and she was telling him what to do!
This certainly explains another part of scripture where Jesus rather testily says that his real (presumably) mother has been replaced by his NEW mother and brothers: [Mat 12:46] While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. [Mat 12:48.13] But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" [Mat 12:49] And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! [Mat 12:50] For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Now, about your references.
- I have searched Amazon (both the US and the UK systems).
- I was not able to find a book called: The Other Side of the Story by Furneaux.
- I was not able to find a book by Dr. Robert Eisler.
If you are absolutely SURE of the name and author of your source book, do you have the book’s date of publication or ISBN?
I remember reading some mention like what you describe in a James the Brother of Jesus by Eisenmann. But my recollection was that Eisenmann said that it was JAMES (not Jesus) who entered the temple to serve as a priest. But maybe I mis-read or mis-remember?
I look forward to just a little more clarification when you get the chance.
P.S. According to a brief mention I found on the web, if I can find an ancient text called "Progonoi" by Suidas, I will find a brief mention of the Essenes—and thus perhaps, also a mention of Jesus as you describe.
You wrote with some further enquiries and you have also sent me some interesting e-mails about the "mother" of Jesus.
First, Rupert Furneaux’s book was published by Cassell in 1953.
Robert Eisler wrote The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist published by Methuen in 1931.
Both must be out of print unless some reprint house has chosen to publish them photographically, a popular way of making money cheaply these days.
Concerning the "mother" of Jesus. My view is that many of the monastic Essenes must have been waifs and orphans abandoned by their parents or without any known parents (as per classic authors). You are therefore correct to imagine that the references to "mother" are probably false or mean something else. The first Christian gentile congregations were women, and deliberately spurious references to women have been added to the gospels, quite blatantly in my view, to pander to these female congregations. Luke is the worst culprit. They are spurious because they add nothing except a female interest to the story.
The likely explanation of some of the references to mother, if genuine, is that she was as you suggest a ritual mother for some sort of rebirth ceremony that officially designated an adult man as an Essene or perhaps as the Nasi. Thus the "birth" narratives stem from a partial knowldege of Essenes or their leaders being "born" into the order.
Graves and Podro (The Nazarene Gospel Restored) go into this in some detail basing the ceremonies on anthropological studies of primitive coronations. Thus Mary the Braider or Mary Magdalene was the same woman as Mary the "mother" because she served the role of a ritual mother for the rebirth of Jesus as a "king" at the age of 30.
All of this might be true but another odd fact is that the Essenes were obviously strongly influenced by Persian religion and considered themselves part of god’s armies—God’s Elect Ones. The Persian word for a warrior was Marianne! Strange? You bet! Were all the references to themselves as warriors changed into references to Miriam?
Fantastic email! Very, VERY interesting. By the way… if the Nazarene adult men were in the habit of joining to women in "Mother & Son" dyads, well that would certainly explain the MYSTERIOUS and almost INEXPLICABLE focus on the VIRGIN MARY!
If Joseph had a "Mother" Mary, who took in an adopted Jesus (though I have no issue with the idea that Mary was Jesus’ biological mother), and/or Jesus had a ceremony joining with his OWN "Mother Mary," well then it makes PERFECT sense that she was a virgin, and always was. Maybe not very believable from the point of view of modern customs… but at least, technically, there is no reason to think Jesus’s "MOTHER MARY" couldn’t have been a virgin for her WHOLE life… because she was not really a MOTHER in a biological sense, only in a sociological one.
Loved the bit about the Persian warrior word! Just marvelous.
Thanks for your correspondence. It has made a difference in my views that continue to evolve.
Osey HaTorah v esath ha yahad. I wanted to advance your description of the Dupont-Sommer theory about the source of the term Essene. Prof. Goranson at Duke U. has a very different theory, and he seems determined to brush off any opposing theories. He’s a little bit pedantic, even criticizing the typo of leaving an "s" at the end of Dupont-Sommer’s name in your original text.
I didn’t cite your webpage because there is just TOO much for him to fixate on in your webpages. His little pet theory is that the word "’asah" is the foundation for the term Essene, and he will use ANY kind of evidence to disprove others or prove himself correct. I merely clipped your paragraph about Dupont-Sommer’s theory and sent that in a prior email. He refers to the clipping, but does not actually reproduce it in this email.
I thought I would give you a chance to respond. Any thoughts or reactions to his email?
Dear Prof Goranson, I thought I would plow through some of the archives of the ORION website to check on an issue of whether or not to construe a common DSS text: "esath ha yahad" as the "mysterious" source of the term ESSENE. It is my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) that this phrase [***Council/Assembly of the Community***] occurs frequently in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I looked very hard in the archives for a comprehensive treatment of this phrase, and I did not find one adequate. If there was one and I missed it, please forgive me for taking up valuable time. But perhaps this posting will serve as a good summation.
From the first word of the phrase, the first two syllables ***’esah*** become a very good candidate for the source of Philo’s term "essai" (plural form of Essene), which he thought came from the Greek approximation "Hosio" of the Hebrew word "Hesed." Naturally, this twisted line of logic, transmitted over the ages, can still be difficult to follow. But the one thing that seems clear is that the DSS text ***’esah**** [Assembly] is almost the perfect match for the term ***essa-i*** [Essenes, plural]—from a phonetic point of view. And from the point of view of word meanings, it is interesting that the term "assembly"—which in Greek refers to "the called out ones" (as in "ecclesia," or in English "church") is a phrase that makes good sense in terms of the DSS point of view, the Essene point of view, as well as the DSS and Essene organizational emphasis. Essentially, the term Essa-i would mean "The Assemblers," which is certainly a very good "handle" for a group most noted by Josephus and other ancient writers as people who were constantly meeting for legislation, bathing, and eating! And finally, there is the ancient theological meaning of the word "holy" (i.e., "separated one"), which fits in quite well with Philo’s theory that it had something to do with "hosio" or "hesed" which has various translations as "saintly" or "holy,"as in God all things holy are "separated" from things secular. And even WITHIN the community, there were provisions for ranking more senior members as MORE "separated" or "called out" than other, more JUNIOR [less holy or less separated] members of the community.
In the emails of yours, Prof. Goranson, I note that you point out that "holy" or "saintliness" can easily refer to "doers of The Law". But wouldn’t you agree this is more from the "connotation" than the "denotation" of the word "holy"? If I understand your alternative explanation for the source of term Essene (and please forgive me if I do your explanation injustice) is that it comes from Essa-i, which comes from ***’asah*** [***do***] which comes from "Osey HaTorah." If I am anywhere close to re-stating your position, I don’t see it as "conclusively" compelling. While the DSS community were certainly "Doers," I don’t think the Pharisees would be as quick to accept the "unique relevance" of the term "Doers" [of holiness] over the term "Assemblers".
A) Obviously, the punning mania of the DSS community is sufficient that they would have LOVED how much the term "essa-i" sounded like Osey and ’asah. That is the nature of the DSS texts and mindset. And maybe because of this punning mania, there is no such thing as a single explanation for where a term or name comes from.
B) But if you are TRYING to find the most likely SINGLE candidate for the source of the term ***essa-i***, it is not clear to me why ’asah is MORE compelling that ’esah (!). If I were looking for a "fall back" position from ’esah, I would fall back onto ***hosio*** or ***hese-ed*** each of which is more like the phonetics of ***essa-i*** compared to ’asah.
C) Additionally, the ’esah’ explanation has the advantage of being found frequently in the DSS scrolls, compared to other proposed source words. I look forward to your ideas about this. If you have already responded to these ideas before, I apologize for bringing it all up again, but at least you have the advantage of merely forwarding a copy of your original text without having to come up with any new thinking. In the meantime, I hope new members of the list have benefited from the restatement of these two streams of thought.
Goranson Reply: The text you quoted includes several errors. The scholar was Andre Dupont-Sommer not Dupont-Sommers. The texts he suggested had the source of "Essenes" are Hebrew not Aramaic. Philo did not to my knowledge use the spelling Essaie.
Comparing the spelling Hesed to Essene misses the fact that the relevant form to compare is Hasidim (pious ones) not Hesed (lovingkindness). Hasidim came into Greek in 1 and 2 Maccabees as Asidaioi, not Essaioi/Essenoi. Even when comparing "Essenes" and Hesed, one should not ignore that "d" is a root letter in one term and not the other.
[George writes: I think he is fixating TOOOO much on the word Hesed. I don’t believe he understood how this word was referred to in a tangential manner. Your thoughts?] (Though I do not agree with F. M. Cross on the etymology, he has a paragraph with a critique of Dupont-Sommer’s proposal in Ancient Library of Qumran & Modern Biblical Studies.) It is important to use the original languages when comparing Hebrew and Greek for etymologies. Dupont-Sommer, in my opinion, was on the right track to look for a Qumran Hebrew (rather than Aramaic) usage which is the source for Essaioi/Essenoi. I have given several reasons why I consider that Hebrew source is the root ’asah.
You wrote enclosing a copy of e-mail correspondence between yourself and a Pofessor Stephen Goranson of Duke University.
I am grateful for you sending me his criticisms. Such feedback is invaluable when you are not having your worked reviewed or even proof read. I shall correct the minor errors immediately. I am afraid some are inevitable when personally typed work is not proof read but they don’t give a favourable impression. That said, it is typical of certain types of people to highlight the trivial in an attempt to discredit the more important.
You say his pet theory is that the word ’asah is the foundation for the term Essene, but:
- You are absolutely right that the sect loved punning and, for me, that is the point. A pun on them as "doers of the law" seems entirely in line, but not exclusively so.
- I cannot see how Goranson can claim this as his own theory unless he formulated it ahead of Eisenman in 1983 who emphasised the Qumran Sectarians own view of themselves as "Doers of the Law" and their keenness on what has been done correctly—works or deeds—ma’asim, from the same word.
"Comparing the spelling Hesed to Essene misses the fact that the relevant form to compare is Hasidim (pious ones) not Hesed (lovingkindness). "
I don’t get his point. The words have the same root. Hesed is equally translated "piety" and for Paul it was surely the word which he calls "grace."
"Hasidim came into Greek in 1 and 2 Maccabees as Asidaioi, not Essaioi/Essenoi. Even when comparing "Essenes" and Hesed, one should not ignore that "d" is a root letter in one term and not the other."
I was not aware that I was saying that Essenoi/Essaioi meant Hasidim. The point is that it is a pun on the word because, among other things, the sectaries were "the Pious," but puns are not exact. It’s rather like saying the scholarship at Duck University is a bit wet. The pun "Duck" has to be a variant on "Duke" in sound or spelling otherwise there is no meaning to the pun—it isn’t one.
In any case, if we are to believe Christian scholars, the final "t" disappeared from "Nazaret" when the word for someone born there was Graecised as "Nazarene," so why shouldn’t the "d" disappear from Hasidim when some translaters rendered it into Greek. Elision of a consonant is not uncommon especially with letters like "t" and "d" that can be lisped into virtual non-existence.
Finally, if there are two Greek words meaning Essene and Nazarene, why is our professor so sure there is only one for the Hasids?
Anyway, he’s entitled to his exclusivity theory, and has a perfect right to be wrong.
I really liked your point about Nazarit becoming Nazarene. Not bad.
I may have "overstated "my understanding of whether Goranson thinks the [’asah became essene] concept is his or not. I had forgotten that Eisenman had written along those lines. Perhaps Goranson is a BIG Eisenman fan?
Below is a clipping of what I sent back to Goranson. I’m not sure I’m going to hear from him again, but if I do, I’ll let you know.
P.S. I saw the exact same typo (putting an "s" on Dupont-Sommer) on a scholarly article with extensive footnotes. Looks like a pretty easy thing to have happen with a name like Dupont-Sommer.
Goranson reply: Hosios means sanctioned by divine law, hallowed, holy, and when applied to persons, pious, devout, religious and the like. "Separated out ones" has nothing to do with the word, as far as I know. Philo uses the spelling Essaioi (as opposed to the other Greek form Essenoi). But in Greek, the endings change according to grammatical case, so you have EssaiOn in Ian’s web site example you used. "Essenes" from the Hebrew root ’asah has good parallels, such as the self-description of Samaritans as "keepers" of torah, from the Hebrew root shamar. Dupont-Sommer’s suggestion (which he made only cautiously) does not have such parallels. Also, you could read Cross’s paragraph I already mentioned for further criticism. Also the word ’etsah can mean "counsel" as well as "council." To explore this question in detail, IMO, requires study of Greek and Hebrew. Stephen Goranson
Dear Prof Goranson, I appreciated your timely response to my email. And I found your answers interesting. But (IMO) I think it is flawed to imply that because someone does not have first hand knowledge of Greek or Hebrew prohibits his or her ability to study this question in detail with you.
ONE: Below you will see a detailed analysis of the Greek words for Hosios and Ekklesia and all the words in between that connect the two concepts (omitted here). I provide you the URL for the tool I used, but the research was wholly ( or should I say, "holy"?) mine. I hope it shows sufficient facility with linguistic connections. You will also see that it can be done with really no reliance on the idea of "doing" or "practicing" or "performing." The point of the exercise is NOT to suggest that the words (Hossios and Ekklesia) have related structures, but to show that they have related meanings.
TWO: I think I would STILL like to hear why ’esah is "rejected" by you as a source word for Essene (other than restating your obvious interest you have in the root ’asah). It will be a week or more before I can get to Cross’s analysis (with which you don’t even agree). George Brooks
Later message: I have been looking at Hebrew dictionaries and keep running into ’esed instead of ’esath. Is this just a difference in dictionary style? Or is it the difference between Aramaic and Hebrew? Or have I totally become lost in this confusing discussion? Look forward to getting your input.
Sorry I’m late. Social whorl the last couple of weekends.
It probably helps to prove our point about punning. The sounds must have been very close and would have delighted Jews in general and the Essenes particularly. I just discovered that the Rabbis loved the pun of Purim and Kippurim, referring to the most frivolous and most grave of the Jewish festivals.
Below is what I have recently sent to be posted to the PoS website. They are interested in the Holy Blood Holy Grail material, but frequently delve into the origins of Jesus and the like. I thought I should "market" your URL to the audience, which is quite substantial. But you are probably familiar with this site by now, yes?
PoS Posting: At this URL we have probably the most convincing treatment that Jesus came out the Therapeautae "wing" of the Essenes. Since there is so much of interest in these few paragraphs, I include them in toto:
http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/0220Galilaeans.html
[Very clever analysis at this site - though some key citations are not listed]
The Latin word "sicarii" meaning "knifemen," the curved dagger they used being called a "sica," seems more identifiable with "Iscariot." Judas would therefore have been a member of the assassins branch of the Zealots. S G F Brandon, in his study of Jesus as a revolutionary, notes that a few early manuscripts reveal that Judas Iscariot was Judas Zelotes! [Need to find out WHICH manuscripts]
In Acts 21:38 even Paul is mistaken, by the Roman captain of arms, as the leader of a gang of knifemen:
Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?
[Since the body of Jesus did vanish, he might have thought to have a great "arrest"!] The word translated murderer is "sikarios," a Greek word derived from the Latin "sicarii."
…Incidentally, that Egyptian known by the Tribune as an earlier bandit was most likely to have been Jesus. Matthew’s story about the escape into Egypt will have been to explain this nickname, and, judging from the mass feedings, he led a total of about 4000 people. Essenes were, of course, linked with Egypt [the Therapeautae are notably the only Jewish sect that gave so many worship privileges to women], and the Tribune will have known Paul’s trouble had something to do with Jesus.
There was the other Simon called Peter (or, in Aramaic, Cephas), a nickname that today would be rendered as Rocky, another tough sounding name, but one which also resonates with the Essenes’ conception of themselves as masons. When Jesus reveals to Simon Peter his messiahship in Matthew 16:17, he calls him Simon Bar-jona as if Bar-jona were Simon’s surname. In John 21:15 this is given as bar Jonah, as if it were a patronymic, son of Jonah. It is beyond a coincidence that Judas the Galilaean and his followers were, as we saw above, called barjonim—guerrillas. [I don’t know the Hebrew well enough to confirm this]
[Further, Peter, or PETRA, could also have been a reference to the Wilderness settlement carved out of "Rock" and called Petra—where Nabataeans had settled. I can provide references that say, amazingly enough, that the Nabataeans had sworn to avoid wine, agriculture and living in houses (just like my buddies the Rechabites, who I say were the back bone of the early Essenes).]
[Snip continues…] If "barjona" denotes a guerrilla or bandit, what was meant in the gospels? Later in the story Peter slices off a man’s ear and in the Acts of the Apostles he murders a man and a woman for holding back money. He is ruthless. [He is also the one who reports the unusual circumstances of the death of Judas! Hung and with his guts spilling out… excuse me, could you pass the Sicari?]
[Text continues… ] The two Sons of Thunder, John and James, already sound menacing enough but the expression, "Boanerges," a meaningless word [conjecture for now—not the point right now], is probably "bene reges" meaning sons of tumult or "bene regaz" meaning sons of wrath. Or another reading is "bene rehem", sons of the wild ox… signifies untameable wildness. Patently these were not boy scouts. One suspects that the word "Boanerges" only survives because in his original gospel Mark used it without translation like the word Cananaean used of Simon the Zealot.
A few years later an editor felt able to explain it and so it comes down to us today—serving no purpose except as a clue to the nature of the Nazarene band. Significantly, in some old manuscripts it seems ***all*** the apostles were called Sons of Thunder! What of them being called sons of Zebedee, as if Zebedee is their father? In 1 Maccabees, the Zabadaeans are Arabians!
[This would fit very well with the Rechabite (i.e. of Arabic extraction) interpretation as well!
P.S. I have been discussing the Rechabite "connection" to the Essenes on the P.o.S. website quite a bit. You might check out my postings on that (there is a handy search feature… but it might require you to join before it becomes "visible").
The Greek Encyclopedia, The Suda, comes right out and SAYS that the Essenes were founded on a Rechabite community (or collection of communities) based on "adopting" children. Sure sounds right, doesn’t it?!
As a courtesy, I thought I would email you the entire text of the Suda article on the Essenes. I think this whole "thread" merits an individual page on your FABULOUS website!:
Essenes: Jews, ascetics, who stand quite above [stand quite aloof from] the Pharisees and Scribes with reference to their mode of life, the progeny [as in stepchildren] of Jonadab, son of Rechab the Just One [the Righteous].
They are fond of one another and more pious/devout with respect to the other: these turn away from pleasure as if from an evil, but take upon themselves as a virtue moderation, self-control, and the capacity not to succumb to misfortunes.
And marriage is despised among them, but taking to themselves other people’s young children, and teaching them, they consider them, as it were, kin, and stamp them with their own customs. And they reject all baseness and practice every other virtue. These cultivate moral speech, and reflection/contemplation generally abides [among them].
And from this they are called Essaioi, ["Sitters"/"Sojourners"?] with the name showing this, that is, that they are contemplators.
Thus the Essaioi very much excel and are very much superior to the Pharisees throughout the country/state.
The Suda Project is always looking for Greek competent people to help translate ALL the Suda into English. Spread the word!
Regarding the Priory of Sion, I read The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail years ago and saw a TV programme about it. It makes wonderful reading but is too tentative too many times to hang together convincingly. A man called Kaman used to write a lot to me about it until I offended him by saying I could not keep up with him. He thought some church in Scotland, featured in The Hiram Key would reveal all in the millennium. It is at a place called Rosslyn. I am still eagerly awaiting the announcement of the astonishing discovery.
Nevertheless, the apparent connexions between the Freemasons and the Essenes and the links between the Freemasons and the Templars seem to exist, but whether they have anything to do with a "Sang Real" is anybody’s guess. They do seem to suggest a widespread influence of Essenism in Western Europe that lasted a long time in several traditions. My own inclination is to believe that the mainstream of Diaspora Judaism was Essene, not Pharisaic, because the Essenes, though strict about not being impurified by contact with gentiles had set up rules that allowed them to do it without compunction under the guidance of their overseers.
You do not say you have a website yourself, so I imagine you haven’t. If you have a piece on your Rechabite ideas, I would be glad to put it on my pages with your own byline and e-mail address. I expect you are aware of the theory of Dr Robert Eisler that Jesus and John the Baptist were Rechabites, a religious order of the Kenites, who still exist in northern Arabia as the Saluba or Sleb, the Crossed Ones. They are sort of Arab Gipsies, wandering around offering certain craft skills. They wear the mark of a cross on their foreheads. I have all this not from Eisler, whose book I would like to have, but from his publicity agent, Rupert Furneaux (The Other Side of the Story).
You gave a very good summary of the problems with "the Holy Blood Holy Grail." But the good thing about the website, is that it LOVES your kind of material! I have been able to advance (and have archived) some very interesting ideas (including references to yours).
I MUST find a copy of the Eisler book. I didn’t know "boo" about the Rechabites until I read Eisenman’s book: JAMES THE BROTHER OF JESUS. And it blew me away. Whether you use MY writing or someone else’s, I assure you, the Rechabite trail is HOT! It explains LOTS.
In fact, I believe the Jewish Bible has plenty of "hints" that King David was of a Rechabite Clan (you know, the Rechabite Scribes were "of Judah," and yet still identified as a separate ethnic group—which sounds a lot like how David is depicted).
I will see what I can put together for you.
The book is The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist which appeared in English in 1931 (Methuen, but no ISBNs in those days), so my guess is that it is out of print, but it would be a prime candidate for a paperback reprint edition. The same applies to Furneaux’s book which appeared in 1953 published by Cassell and Co.
Eisler was looking at the Slavonic version of Josephus (apparently in the Loeb Classical Library, Josephus, vol 3). If it proved to be forged, Eisler might have been forgotten for that reason. It does not seem to be mentioned often nowadays, but Furneaux’s book has a lot of interesting stuff besides, and I guess Eisler’s did too.
Eisler was a polymath, and doubtless did not endear himself to most biblical scholars who are jealous to keep their obfuscating to themselves. According to his obituary, which Furneaux has in his book, he wrote The Theory of Values on economic theory in 1902 when he was 20, and also wrote The Money Maze, Stable Money, Comparative Studies in Ancient Cosmology, The Enigma of the Fourth Gospel and The Royal Art of Astrology. Perhaps he wrote a lot more.
I would have thought you should be able to get The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist or Furneaux’s book on a special order from a good library.
I would guess that Furneaux is dead by now, so his family would have to be traced. Presumably Cassell would keep records of who holds copyrights for their books.
