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The Nazarene
Way of Essenic Studies
A "Sinner," a "Queen," or Both? |
Luke used Philo's Rules for Allegory to tell the true story of Mary Magdalene,
her family, and the role she played in the early days of Christianity.
MARY MAGDALENE: A “SINNER,” a “QUEEN,” OR BOTH?
By Gott
Allegory 202
Luke Chapter Two
This study of allegory will look at Luke Chapter Two. It may sometimes seem as if the trail is going off in too many directions and becoming too difficult to follow. Luke points to several Old Testament stories, the works of Josephus, and a biography written by a man known as Damis of Nineveh. Several important clues are found in Acts of the Apostles. There are a multitude of pieces that must be gathered, then assembled to reveal the story Luke set out to tell. Philo’s Rules for Allegory didn’t promise simplicity, only great rewards. It is well worth the effort to persist in this exercise. (Philo's "Rules" are listed at the end of this article.)
Luke 11:30-31
Jesus said:
“For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and judge them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the Wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!”
The “Queen of the South,” first associated with King Solomon, was the Queen of Sheba, introduced at 1 Kings 10:1. It is almost universally agreed that the Queen of Sheba was the unnamed woman professing her love for Solomon in Song of Solomon. Luke re-worked portions of Song of Solomon and inserted them into his Gospel:
Luke 7:36: “One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table.
Luke 7:37: “And a woman in the city, who was a Sinner…brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
Luke 7:38: She stood behind him at his feet…she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.”
Jesus would have been reclining, the custom when “eating at table” in ancient times. Anyone familiar with the Torah would have immediately recalled a similar scene in Song of Solomon, also known as Song of Songs and “The Wedding Song”:
Song of Solomon 1:3: “…your anointing oils are fragrant…”
Song of Solomon 1:12: “While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.”
Song of Solomon 2:4: “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love.”
In his telling of events that followed the crucifixion, Luke described another scene that can also be associated with the Song of Solomon:
Luke 23:55-56: “The women…saw the tomb…Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.”
Luke 24:1-2: “…they came to the tomb, taking spices…They found the stone rolled away…they did not find the body.”
Song of Solomon 6:1-2: “Where has your beloved gone…? My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the garden and to gather lilies.”
Solomon’s love song was sung to the Queen of Sheba. Luke identified the woman with the spices who could “…not find the body…” in the garden tomb:
Luke 24:10: “Now it was Mary Magdalene, Jo Anna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them…”
Luke applied several of Philo’s “Rules for Allegory” to be used to interpret the allegorical message:
Rule #1 "the doubling of a phrase;"
Rule #2 "...apparently superfluous expressions (or stories) in the text."
Rule #6 “the synonyms must be carefully studied…”
Rule #9: “(Allegory can be gathered from) the part(s) of a word (or name).”
Rule # 10 "Every word must be explained in all its meanings, in order that different interpretations may be found;"
Rule #19: "noteworthy omissions."
Re: Rule # 6: The “synonyms” in this case are the similarities between Solomon’s “Queen” and Luke’s “Woman with Spices.”
Re: Rules # 9 & # 10: For two thousand years it has been assumed that Luke identified a new, never before mentioned disciple at Luke 8:3 and 24:10: He called her Jo Anna. The “parts” of the name, Jo Anna reveal the following:
Anna means goddess in both the Sumerian and Syrian languages.
In Greek, Jo is written, Io. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna.) Io was a mythological Greek goddess loved by Jupiter. According to legend she settled in Egypt and became the first Queen of Egypt. Io was also known as a moon goddess and a water goddess and was associated with the other “great mother goddess-queens,” Isis, Inanna, Astarte, Artemis, Aphrodite, etc. With Zeus she had a son, Epaphos. (See: http://members.fortunecity.com/volcanopele/Iomyth.htm)
Epaphos had a daughter, Libya. Libya became the first Goddess-Queen of Libya. The Ionian Sea was named for Io, who was believed to have swum through the sea as she searched for her kidnapped son.
“Jo Anna” (Greek: Io Anna) was not the name of a disciple but a descriptive term. Allegorically, Luke wrote: “Now it was Mary Magdalene, Io (Goddess-Queen) Anna (Great Mother-Goddess)…” (Additional support will follow.)
Re: Rule # 19: “Noteworthy Omissions.” Luke’s “Sinner” with the ointment was synonymous with Solomon’s “Black and Beautiful Queen.” But Luke did not describe her as “Black,” nor did he refer to her as a “Queen.” But he did leave clues that those descriptive terms were "omitted" from his description of Mary Magdalene.
Luke identified the Anointing Woman as a Sinner (Luke 7:37). If Luke employed the same “allegorical method” he used in Chapter One, "Sinner" should lead to a character or story in the Old Testament - an important character associated with “Sin” or a “Sinner.” (See article titled, Allegory 101 @ www.thenazareneway.com):
Numbers 20:1: “The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Sin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.”
Numbers 12:1: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman…” (Cushites were also known as Ethiopians.)
Exodus 2:15-16: “...Moses…stayed in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters.”
Exodus 2:21-22: “…[the priest of Midian] gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She bore a son and he called his name Gershom…”
Exagoge 60-65 by Ezekiel the Tragedian (fragments reproduced in Eusebius) has Moses’ Cushite wife, Zipporah, describe the inhabitants of her ancestral lands in Africa: "…this land is called Libya {an ancient name for the African continent}. It is inhabited by tribes of various peoples, Ethiopians, dark men. One man is the ruler of the land: he is both king and general. He rules the state, judges the people, and is priest. This man is my father {Jethro} and theirs." (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Cush
Moses’ wife Zipporah came from Libya, a land of Ethiopians – dark skinned people. Zipporah was a black woman.
Song of Solomon provides a physical description of the Queen of Sheba:
Song of Solomon 1:5: “I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of
Solomon.”
Song of Solomon 1:6: “Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me.”
This Old Testament book leaves no doubt that Solomon’s love partner in this Song has dark skin, just as Moses’ wife Zipporah had dark skin.
Kadesh in the wilderness of Sin near Mt. Sin-ai (the Arabic feminine form of Sin) is where Moses, Miriam, Aaron and the Nazarites spent thirty-eight of the forty years “wandering.”
The Sumerian god in Mesopotamian mythology was called Sin, which means “God of Wisdom.” (He was also called Nanna-Sin; Nanna is Sumerian for Illuminator.”) Anyone who lived in "The Wilderness of Sin" near Mount Sinia would have been called “a Sinner.”
From: http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/origsin.htm#anchor3546103:
“[The god Sin] was known as the father, or source, of the Goddess. Sin…as father of both the Sun (Utu or Shamash) and of Inanna (Ishtar) the Queen of Heaven was the central astral deity.”
“The name Sin is the Semitic form of Sumerian Enzu meaning lord of knowledge. The Mesopotamians ascribed very great importance to him. It was he who governed the passing of the months through his waxing and waning. ... The unvarying lunar cycle gave Sin a special connection with order and wisdom and with immortality.”
The land of Cush was the ancient country of Nubia. The people were called Ethiopians. In Moses’ time Nubia was under Egyptian control. In the 8th century BCE, Nubian King Piye invaded and conquered Egypt. Nubia was ruled during the 6th century BCE by Piye's brother, Shabaka, who established the 25th Dynasty. Shabaka = Shaba and Sheba. Shabaka was the King of Sheba.
In the mid 7th century BCE the Cushite/Ethiopian capital was transferred from Memphis to Saba. Saba, according to Josephus, was renamed under Cambyses’ rule, dating this name change to c. 529-520 BCE. At that time Saba became Meroe.
The following quote introduces an article titled, “Makeda’s Education” published in The Horizon History of Africa, edited by Philip Curtin, New York, 1971:
“Ethiopian Christians tell this story about Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Their version holds that the Queen of Sheba was an Ethiopian sovereign named Makeda (Magda)…” (See: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Queen_of_Sheba
and http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/EthiopiaMakeda.html)
By the time Luke was crafting his allegorical History of Christianity, the “Queen of Sheba” would have been renamed. Before Saba became Meroe, she was called, Saba Magda (or Makeda); when Saba became Meroe, she would have been called, Meroe Magda.
(See: http://wysinger.homestead.com/sheba.html)
The “Southern Countries” were known collectively as “Ethiopia,” a Greek word that means “burnt faces.” Ethiopia during biblical times referred to all areas where dark-skinned people lived. Therefore, any biblical reference to a “Queen from the South” identified a dark-skinned Queen regardless of exactly where “from the South” she might have originated.
Interpreted allegorically, Luke’s “Sinner,” the Anointing Woman with the spices, was a Meroe Magda – a Queen of the South – just as Sheba was Saba Magda – a Queen of the South.
Luke’s allegorical “Sinner” has thus far led to:
1) the Wilderness of Sin, near Mt. Sin-ai;
2) Moses, Kadesh, Miriam;
3) Zipporah, Moses’ wife, daughter of Jethro, a dark-skinned King of Libya;
4) The origin of the Goddess, daughter of the moon god, Sin, whose name was Inanna (similar to Ioanna).
5) Meroe Magda (similar to Mary Magdalene).
Luke’s allegorical method suggests Meroe Magda (Mary Magdalene) was dark skinned, as was the Queen of Sheba. His clues suggest that she was the daughter of a dark-skinned King of Libya.
***
Allegorically, Luke left a number of clues about the woman the gospel writers called Mary Magdalene. These clues suggest that she had dark skin and was the daughter of the King of Libya. Luke left other clues that will soon lead to her identity:
Luke 1:27: “…to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph…and the virgin’s name was Mary.”
Luke 2:1: “…a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius (aka Cyrenus) was governor of Syria.”
Luke 2:7: “…[the Virgin Mary] gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger…”
In order to date the birth of Jesus, scholars have had to turn to the historian Josephus. Josephus, Antiquities Book 18 chapter 2 verse 1, dates “the time of the census”:
“When Cyrenius [or Quirinius] had disposed of [Herod] Archelaus’ money, and when the taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the thirty-seventh year of Caesar's victory over Antony at Actium…”
Caesar defeated Antony at Actium on September 2, 31 BCE (this dating is based on astronomy and adjusted to our present system of reckoning.) Therefore, Josephus dated the census under Quirinius, when Archelaus [Herod's son] was disposed of his money, as taking place in the year 6 ACE.
To find this date, however, requires knowledge of Josephus’ Antiquities and the approximate timeframe in which to search. It almost certainly requires reading the Book and chapters that lead up to Book 18:
Antiquities Book 17 chapter 13 verse 4: (available at: www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/index.htm)
“The like accident befell Glaphyra, [Alexander’s wife] who was the daughter of King Archelaus [of Cappadocia], who, as I said before, was married, while she was a virgin, to Alexander, the son of Herod [the Great], and brother of [Herod] Archelaus; but since it fell out so that Alexander was slain by his father, she was married to Juba [II], the king of Libya; and when he was dead, and she lived in widowhood in Cappadocia with her father.
"[Herod] Archelaus divorced his former wife…and married her, so great was his affection for this Glaphyra; who, during her marriage to him, saw the following dream: She thought she saw Alexander standing by her, at which she rejoiced, and embraced him with great affection; but that he complained to her, and said, ‘O Glaphyra! You proved that saying to be true, which assures us that women are not to be trusted. Did you not pledge your faith to me? And were you not married to me when you were a virgin? And did we not have children between us? Yet have you forgotten the affection I felt for you, out of a desire of a second husband. Nor were you satisfied with that injury you caused me, but you have now been so bold as to procure a third husband to lie by you, and in an indecent and imprudent manner you have entered into my house, and have now married Archelaus, your husband and my brother.
"'However, I will not forget your former kind affection for me, but will set you free from every such reproachful action, and cause you to be mine again, as you once were.’ When she had related this to her female companions, in a few days' time she departed this life."
Juba II, the Virgin Glaphyra’s second husband, was the black King of Libya from c. 28 BCE until his death c. 23 ACE. His wives and children may hold the answer to why Josephus was enlisted to help solve Luke’s Chapter 2 allegory:
Juba II: Marriages and Descendants
Marriage (1): Cleopatra (VIII) Selene (II) (daughter of Marc Antony and Cleopatra (VII) Queen of Egypt)
Son: Ptolemy of Mauretania
Daughter 1: Unknown, assumed to have been “Cleopatra IX”
Daughter 2: Drusilla of Mauretania
Marriage (2): Glaphyra, widow of Alexander III (son of King Herod the Great and Hasmonean princess, Mariamme.)
Step-son: Alexander IV
Step-son: Tigranes I
Step-child: Unknown
From: http://wikibin.org/articles/cleopatra-of-mauretania.html:
"Cleopatra of Mauretania
Cleopatra of Mauretania or Cleopatra IX…could have been a possible daughter of Greek Ptolemaic princess and later queen Cleopatra Selene II and African king Juba II.
The possible evidence of her existence is:* In Athens, there are 3 inscriptions dedicated to the children of Juba. These descriptions name Juba, however there is one inscribed ‘daughter of King Juba’, whose name is not given. Ptolemy of Mauretania (Juba and Cleopatra's son) dedicated an inscription for himself.
* An Athenian epitaph, is dedicated to the memory of a daughter of a king of Libya. The name of the attendant is lost. Libya or Libyan in ancient Greek, is a loose description of any part or anybody from North Africa. The ancient Greek traveller Pausanias states that Juba was known in Athens as ‘Juba the Libyan‘.
* Cleopatra Selene was patriotic of her Egyptian and Greek heritage. Cleopatra wanted to retain and continue the Ptolemaic Legacy. She named her son Ptolemy (known as Ptolemy of Mauretania, 1 BC - 40) and if she had a first born daughter, Cleopatra would have given the child a Ptolemaic name (i.e. Cleopatra IX). Her only known daughter with Juba was Drusilla of Mauretania (born 5 ACE), whom Cleopatra named in honor of the Roman Empress Livia Drusilla or her late son, the Roman general and politician Nero Claudius Drusus.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/christopherjbennett/ptolemies/selene_ii.htm" (Note: this site was recently moved or closed.)
Josephus opened Book 17 chapter 1 verse 2 with:
“Now Herod brought up his sons' children with great care; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three sons by Bernice, Salome's daughter, and two daughters;…”
However, Josephus is caught in a curious contradiction when he wrote (Antiquities, Book 17.13.1):
“Moreover, he [Herod Archelaus] transgressed the law of our fathers and married Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, who had been the wife of his brother Alexander, which Alexander had three children by her…”
After reporting two sons, twelve chapters later Josephus added a third child; Alexander and Glaphyra had three children: Alexander IV, Tigranes I, and a third child about whom nothing is known, including when he/she was born.
Important Note: Libyan King Juba II was the father of a mysterious, unnamed daughter and the step-father of a mysterious unnamed child of his second wife, Glaphyra and husband Alexander III. Glaphyra was the mother of the unnamed child of unknown gender, step-mother of Juba and Cleopatra Selene's unnamed daughter.
***
Luke left additional clues in Volume Two of his “History of Christianity” (Acts of the Apostles):
Acts 18:24-25: “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in The Way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.”
Acts 24:5: “We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”
Acts 24:14: “But this I admit to you, that according to The Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the Law or written in the Prophets.”
Luke 11:30-31: Jesus said: “For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and judge them…”
From: http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/apollonius/apollonius06.html#Damis
“The memoirs of Damis of Nineveh, [the biography of Apollonius of Tyana, were titled ] Scraps from the Manger... (LoA 1.2).”
Philostratus wrote: “[§19] And [Apollos] reached the ancient city of Nineveh, where he found an idol set up of barbarous aspect, and it is, they say, Io, the daughter of Inachus, and horns short and, as it were, budding project from her temples. While he was staying there and forming wiser conclusions about the image than could the priests and prophets, one Damis, a native of Nineveh, joined him as a pupil, the same, as I said at the beginning, who became the companion of his wanderings abroad and his fellow-traveller and associate in all wisdom, and who has preserved to us many particulars of the sage.”
From: http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/apollonius/apollonius_mead_07.htm
“APOLLONIUS was born…at Tyana, a city in the south of Cappadocia, somewhere in the early years of the Christian era. His parents were of ancient family and considerable fortune (i 4). At an early age he gave signs of a very powerful memory and studious disposition, and was remarkable for his beauty. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Tarsus, a famous centre of learning of the time, to complete his studies. But mere rhetoric and style and the life of the 'schools' were little suited to his serious disposition, and he speedily left for Ćgć, a town on the sea coast east of Tarsus. Here he found surroundings more suitable to his needs, and plunged with ardor into the study of philosophy. He became intimate with the priests of the temple of Ćsculapius, when cures were still wrought, and enjoyed the society and instruction of pupils and teachers of the Platonic, Stoic, Peripatetic, and Epicurean schools of philosophy; but though he studied all these systems of thought with attention, it was the lessons of the Pythagorean school upon which he seized with an extraordinary depth of comprehension…at the age of sixteen “he soared into the Pythagorean life, winged by some greater one…Nevertheless he retained his affection for the man who had told him of The Way, and rewarded him handsomely (i 7).
“At the age of twenty his father died (his mother having died some years before) leaving a considerable fortune, which Apollonius was to share with his elder brother…” (Note: Apollos’ would have been twenty c. 17-18 ACE.)
From: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32710/Archelaus
“King of Cappadocia…Archelaus Sisines died ad 17:
"[He was the] last king of Cappadocia (reigned 36 bc–c. ad 17)…granted the kingdom by Mark Antony, Archelaus retained his crown by making peace with Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) after Antony’s defeat at the Battle of Actium (31 BC)… Archelaus’s marriage to King Polemo’s widow, a granddaughter of Marc Antony, gave him indirect control of most of Pontus, an ancient district of northeastern Anatolia adjoining the Black Sea. On the accession of Tiberius (ad 14), whom he had earlier offended, Archelaus was summoned to Rome, accused in the Senate, and deprived of his throne. After his death in 17, Cappadocia was made a Roman province.”
The many scattered pieces to Luke’s most important allegory must be examined carefully in order to determine where each piece fits. The clues within the words and phrases have to be followed, interpreted, and then reassembled in the proper order.
Luke’s allegorical clues summarized:
Luke 1:27 tells of the Virgin Mary, using the word, virgin two times.
Luke 2:1: Key words with Jesus "birth": census, Quirinius, governor of Syria.
Luke 2:7 reports the Baby Jesus was placed in a manger.
Luke 7:36 and 38 tell of Jesus reclining at table, anointed = Song of Solomon and a dark-skinned Queen of Sheba.
Luke 7:37 described the Anointing Woman as a "Sinner."
Luke 11:30-31 named Nineveh, Queen of the South, and Wisdom of Solomon.
Luke 24:10 described Mary Magdalene as Io Anna.
Acts 18:24-25: a Jew named Apollos, from Alexandria, who "had been instructed in The Way..." came "to Ephesus."
Acts 24:5 reported a sect called Nazarenes.
Acts 24:14 gave the sect another name: The Way.
The first step toward solving the allegorical message is to interpret the clues:
Luke 2:1 leads to Josephus' Antiquities in order to date the "birth" of Jesus. That dating is preceded by stories that seem strangely insignificant (superfluous) to the History of the Jews. One of those strange stories is about the daughter of the King of Cappadocia, a princess named Glaphyra, whom Josephus called "a virgin" two times. ("Coincidentally, Luke called Mary "a virgin" two times.) Glaphyra was the daughter-in-law of King Herod the Great and wife Mariamme. She later married Juba II, a black King of Libya.
(See a bust of Juba II and more information at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba_II)
Another strange (superfluous) story Josephus told in Antiquities Book 17 was about a "Spurious Alexander," who claimed to be Herod and Mariamme's "dead" son. Caesar Augustus had him brought to Rome so he could determine whether was lying; Caesar knew the real Alexander quite well because he had been educated in Rome at Caesar's palace. According to Josephus, Augustus admitted there was a physical resemblance between the two but for one thing: the "Spurious Alexander" had rough hands, proving that he worked with his hands. He would have been a tekton - a silversmith, a stone mason, or a carpenter. The real Alexander, explained Caesar, was well educated and refined and would not have chosen to do physical labor. Therefore, Caesar declared Alexander to be "Spurious."
Luke 7:37 leads to the wilderness of Sin, the God called Sin, his daughter, the goddess InAnna, Mount Sin-ai, Moses, his dark-skinned wife, Zipporah, and her father who was another dark-skinned King of Libya. Luke 11:30 leads to Nineveh and a Black Queen of the South; Luke 24:10 associates Mary Magdalene with Io and Anna, both of which refer to goddesses. Io was the mythological water goddess and "first Queen of Egypt," the first "Queen of the South (the Ionian Sea was named for her). Io's granddaughter, Libya, was the mythological first Queen of Libya."
King Solomon's "Queen of the South" was called Sheba; in her home country, she was called Saba Magda. By the first century ACE, Saba had become Meroe; in her home country in the South, the Queen of Meroe was called Meroe Magda.
Acts 18:24-25 introduced a Jew from Alexandria named Apollos who had been "instructed in The Way...," and who "came to Ephesus."
In the story of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Cappadocia, several interesting "coincidences" can be quickly identified:
This Apollos was found in Nineveh standing before a statue of Io, “forming wiser conclusions about the image than could the priests and prophets…” It was in this scene that he met the man who would become his biographer, Damis of Nineveh. Damis titled Apollonius’ biography, “Scraps from the manger. Just as Luke's Apollos had been "instructed in The Way...," Apollos of Tyana showed immense gratitude to a man who "...told him of The Way..." Apollos of Tyana was the same age as "Jesus"; he had been "trained in the cures"; he traveled about the countryside teaching Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy; he traveled to Ephesus. Apollos of Tyana, Cappadocia, came from a wealthy family, but that family was never identified. Coincidentally, his father died the same year Glaphyra's father, the King of Cappadocia, also died.
Josephus "almost forgot" to mention a mysterious unnamed child born to Glaphyra and first husband Alexander III; Glaphyra's second husband was Juba II, Black King of Libya and wife, Cleopatra Selene (daughter of Marc Antony and Queen Cleopatra, last Queen of Egypt).
After their marriage to one another, Juba II and Glaphyra had six children between them. Juba's three were: Ptolemy of Mauretania, Drusilla of Mauretania, and a a mysterious unnamed daughter, suspected of being Cleopatra IX of Mauretania, their first-born. Glaphyra's three were: Alexander IV, Tigraines I, and a third child of unknown gender or age. These six children were siblings - brothers and sisters; step-brothers and step-sisters.
Song of Solomon 4:9-10: “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!”
The number of "coincidences" Luke's clues reveal amount to a strong circumstantial case for the following verdict:
Juba’s mysterious stepson was Apollonius of Tyana; he married Juba’s mysterious daughter, Cleopatra IX, daughter of the King of Libya and Queen Cleopatra Selene. With that marriage, Jesus could sing, as did Solomon, “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride…How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride!"
And Mary Magdalene, the Meroe Magda, could proclaim to the world,
“I am black and beautiful!”
Was Mary Magdalene a "Sinner," a "Queen," or both?
Mary Magdalene was a “Sinner.” She was the earthly representation of the prototypical goddess, daughter of Sin, god of the ancient people of Mesopotamia.
Mary Magdalene was also a Queen, daughter of the King of Libya and first wife, Queen Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Marc Antony and Queen Cleopatra.
Mary Magdalene was also the wife of the rightful heir to the title of King of the Jews: Apollonius of Tyana, grandson of Jewish princess, Mariamme and her husband, Herod the Great, King of Judea. Apollonius was also the grandson of Archelaus, King of Cappadocia.
The Bigger Question: WHY??
Circa 29 BCE, King Herod the Great ordered that his wife, Miramme, and his brother-in-law, Joseph, be executed. Herod’s sister, Salome, convinced him that Mari and Joseph were having a sexual affair. It was in their honor that Jesus was “born” to Mari and Joseph.
Circa 7 BCE, Salome convinced Herod that Mariamme’s sons, Alexander III and Aristobulus IV, were plotting to have him murdered. Herod ordered that they be killed as well.
But Alexander and Aristobulus spent most of their formative years in Rome under the tutelage of Caesar Augustus, his wife, Livia, and his sister, Octavia. Augustus trusted neither Herod nor Salome and did not believe the sons were plotting to kill Herod. Because of Josephus, historians concluded that Alexander and Aristobulus were executed c. 7 BCE. But read allegorically, Josephus revealed that they were saved from death, protected by the most powerful man in the Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus. The challenge for Augustus was to reinstate Alexander and Aristobulus to the positions of power they rightly deserved. As sons of Jewish Hasmonean Royalty via their mother, Mariamme, they should have become King and High Priest of the Jews.
After their education and indoctrination in Rome Alexander and Aristobulus had become Pythagorean-Jews, the “fourth philosophy” Josephus alluded to in Antiquities but failed to name. Alexander and Aristobulus were "authors" of a new religion, the merging of Moses’ Nazarites and the Greco-Roman Pythagorean philosophy. They were Naz-oreans. Josephus identified the "authors" of the "fourth philosophy" as Judas the Galilean and Zadok. (See: http://www.livius.org/men-mh/messiah/messianic_claimants04.html) (This "fourth sect" has been labeled "Zealotism," but it almost certainly was, in fact, Nazorean!)
Before he died, Caesar Augustus chose the people he most trusted to help carry out his grand plan for peaceful co-existence between the Jews and the other citizens of the Roman Empire. Josephus wrote that Alexander III and Aristobulus IV were raised by Augustus in Rome after their mother was murdered by Herod 29 BCE. He also wrote that Juba II was taken to Rome and educated by Augustus until c. 27 BCE when he returned Juba II to the throne of his father in Libya, accompanied by his wife, Cleopatra Selene. Marc Antony had awarded Libya to Selene in his “Donations of Alexandria” c. 34 BCE before he and Cleopatra committed suicide and their three children, including Selene, taken to Rome to be educated and indoctrinated. Augustus' plan saw that both were reinstated as King and Queen over the lands promised to them when they were children.
Caesar Augustus chose the son of Alexander and Glaphyra to carry the Light of Knowledge to the world as the Light of the World; he played the role of “Jesus” at the first annual “Passover Celebration of the Dying-and-Resurrected God" ritual. The Jewish Messiah, Jesus, became another name for Egypt's dying-and-resurrected god, Osiris.
Augustus chose the daughter of King Juba II and Cleopatra Selene to play the role of Jesus’ black and beautiful sister-bride, Mary Magdalene; she represented the Light of Wisdom, the Goddess. Just as Solomon and Moses married black queens who were associated with the goddess, Astarte (the goddess who came to earth in a ball of fire), "Jesus" married Meroe Magda, the dark-skinned goddess-queen of Libya.
The New Testament ends with the final proofs:
Revelation 22:16: "I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning Astarte" (That was the term in the original Greek; it has been translated, "bright morning star." It is also known as Venus.)
Revelation 22:17: "The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let him who hears say "Come." and let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price." Io was a mythological water goddess. Mary Magdalene was Meroe Magda, Io Anna, the Goddess of Water and Wisdom!
As Apollonius of Tyana, The Light of the World addressed the Greek-speaking citizens of the Roman Empire, teaching them the Pythagorean philosophy, called The Way, during the years c. 23-26 and c. 50 until his death. His goal and purpose in life was to save the masses from the ignorance of superstition and the oppression inflicted by the temple priests and the Salome branch of the Herodians.
As Jesus, The Light of the World addressed the Jews and the citizens of Judea as their Messiah. He taught them the same philosophy of God-Knowledge, Understanding, and good judgment combined with Goddess-Wisdom, Love and compassion.
Caesar Augustus’ Great Plan for peace in Judea would have worked if The House of Saul (descendants of Salome) hadn’t discovered the deception. Once they discovered that Alexander and Aristobulus had not died, the House of Saul set about to infiltrate the new movement and replace the doctrine with their own taken directly from Pharisee tradition. Their doctrine, of course, supported slavery, male dominance, and power to the Temple priests and government leaders. It took almost three hundred years for them to finally succeed in their complete takeover. The Nazarene Way became a heresy punishable by death!
Until the reign of Constantine, the Romans for the most part lived under the Nazarene philosophy introduced by “Jesus” and “Mary Magdalene,” known by the Greeks as Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy. All children, boys and girls, were provided with an education in numbers, language, classical literature, and the best science of the time. All families were given land on which to grow crops in order to feed their families and achieve a sense of security.
Known today as the Pax Romana (Latin for “Roman peace”) there was a long period of relative calm and minimal expansion by military force within the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries ACE. It is sometimes called Pax Augustea in recognition of Caesar Augustus, its creator. It lasted from approximately 27 BCE to 180 ACE.
It was also known as The Nazarene Way.
LINKS TO "THE BLACK MADONNA":
1) The Shrine of the Black Madonna. Catholic tradition holds that this painting was the work of none other than Gospel writer, LUKE: http://www.franciscancaring.org/blackmadonnashri.html
2) Exploring the Feminine Divine: Who is the Black Madonna? http://www.donnetempo.com/blogs/files/bonney-feminine-divine.php
"The Virgin Mary" was Glaphyra of Cappadocia; her skin was not black. Mary Magdalene, however, was the daughter of the black King of Libya. The Black Madonna and child, therefore, must depict "Mary Magdalene" and a Holy child fathered by "Jesus." The next in the series on "Luke's Allegory" will explore the secret of the Holy Family of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
PHILO'S RULES FOR ALLEGORY
Philo’s Rules of Allegory can be found at the following websites: www.jewishencyclopedia.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo
“Philo bases his hermeneutics on the assumption of a twofold meaning in the Bible, the literal and the allegorical . . . The two interpretations, however, are not of equal importance: the literal sense is adapted to human needs; but the allegorical sense is the real one, which only the initiated comprehend. Hence Philo addresses himself to the “initiated” among his audience, by whom he expects to be really comprehended (“De Cherubim,” § 14 [i. 47]; “De Somniis,” i. 33 [i. 649]).
"A special method is requisite for determining the real meaning of the words of Scripture ("Cannons of Allegory,” “De Victimas Offerentibus,” § 5 [ii. 255]); “Laws of Allegory,” “De Abrahamo,” § 15 [ii. 11]); the correct application of this method determines the correct allegory, and is therefore called “the wise architect” (“De Somniis,” ii. 2 [i. 660]).“As a result of some of these rules of interpretation the literal sense of certain passages of the Bible must be excluded altogether; e.g., passages in which according to a literal interpretation something unworthy is said of God; or in which statements are made that are unworthy of the Bible, senseless, contradictory, or inadmissible; or in which allegorical expressions are used for the avowed purpose of drawing the reader’s attention to the fact that the literal sense is to be disregarded. “There are . . . special rules that not only direct the reader to recognize the passages which demand an allegorical interpretation, but help the initiated to find the correct and intended meaning. These passages are such as contain:
(1) the doubling of a phrase;
(2) an apparently superfluous expression in the text (Gott note: Example, Anna’s age.);
(3) the repetition of statements previously made;
(4) a change of phraseology . . .;
(5) An entirely different meaning may also be found by a different combination of the words, disregarding the ordinarily accepted division of the sentence in question into phrases and clauses;
(6) the synonyms must be carefully studied . . .;
(7) A play upon words must be utilized for finding a deeper meaning . . .;
(8) A definite allegorical sense may be gathered from certain particles, adverbs, prepositions, etc., and in certain cases it can be gathered even from . . .
(9) the part of a word . . .;
(10) Every word must be explained in all its meanings, in order that different interpretations may be found;
(11) The skillful interpreter may make slight changes in a word, following the rabbinical rule, ‘Read not so, but so’ . . . Philo, therefore, changed accents, breathings. etc., in Greek words;
(12) Any peculiarity in a phrase justifies the assumption that some special meaning is intended . . . Details regarding the form of words are very important;
(13) the number of the word, if it shows any peculiarity in the singular or the plural: the tense of the verb, etc.;
(14) the gender of the noun;
(15) the presence or omission of the article;
(16) the artificial interpretation of a single expression;
(17) the position of the verses of a passage;
(18) peculiar verse-combinations;
(19) noteworthy omissions (Gott note: similarly, too much information or erroneous information.);
(20) striking statements;
(21) numeral symbolism.
“Philo found much material for this symbolism in the Old Testament and he developed it more thoroughly according to the methods of the Pythagoreans and Stoics.” (Emphases added.)
Virtually all of these devices described by Philo were employed by Luke to tell the hidden story. In addition, when he placed Angels, Holy Spirits, or just plain Spirits in a scene, something very important was about to be transmitted. Luke was working from a copy of Philo’s Laws of Allegory for transmitting information to the initiated.
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