okinrus: After all, with the really early Christians was Mary and I'd think Mary remembered the day she gave birth. I'm sure they celebrated the day.
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M*W: Come on now, okinrus! December 25th is not the day Mary gave birth to Jesus nor is it written anywhere in christian literature or otherwise that Mary remembered this day to be the day she gave birth. This day was "assigned" because of the pagan ritual days associated with it. The actual day pagans celebrated was December 21st -- the shortest and darkest day of the year.
From the chapter Dynastic Wedlock in Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Laurence Gardner points out that:
"The [Essene] Community observed some highly regulated disciplines in the relation to dynastic betrothal and matrimony -- so we should refer to the question of Mary's said virginity to this very specific context."
"Both Matthew 1:18 and Luke 2:5 state that Mary was 'espoused' to Joseph, and she is thereafter referred to as his 'wife'. As determined in this regard, the word 'espoused' does not mean betrothed or engaged -- it refers to 'contractual wedlock'. But in what circumstance would a married woman also be 'virginal'? To answer this question we must refer to the original Hebrew word 'almah', the word that has generally, but incorrectly, been translated as 'virgin' (virgo), and incorrectly thought to mean ''virgo intacta.'"
"As we have seen, the real meaning of 'almah' was 'young woman' (and it had no sexual connotation). It was quite feasible, therefore, for Mary to be both an 'almah' and Joseph's wife. Let us look again at how Matthew describes what followed. When Joseph learned of Mary's pregnancy, he had to decide whether or not to hide her away. It is of course perfectly normal for a wife to become pregnant, but this was not the case for Mary."
"As the wife of a 'dynastic' husband, Mary would have been governed by the regulations applicable to Messianic (anointed) lines such as those of King David and Zadok the Priest. In fact, Mary was serving a statutory probationary period as a married woman of the dynastic hierarchy -- a period of espousal during which sexual relations were forbidden -- and Joseph would have had just cause for personal embarrassment when Mary was discovered to have coneived. The situation was resolved only when the high-ranking Abiathar priest (the designated Gabriel)(12) granted approval for the confinement."
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(12) See Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Jonathan Cape, London, 1982, ch 12, p.285.
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"From the time of King David, the dynasty of Abiathar (2 Samuel 20:25) was established in the hierachy of senior priests. The line of Zadok was the primary priestly heritage, and the line of Abiathar was second in seniority. In addition to the traditional priestly styles, the Essenes also preserved the names of the Old Testament archangels within their governing structure.(13) Hence, the Zadok priest was also the archangel Michael, and the Abiathar priest (whatever his personal name) was also the angel Gabriel.(14) Being subordinate to the archangel Michael (the 'Lord -- like unto God'), the Abiathar/Gabriel was the designated 'Angel of the Lord' (the ambassador of the Michael-Zadok). This angelic system in the Book of 1 Enoch (4:9), and the 'War Scroll' (9:15-17) also indicates the angels' order of ranking during the Gospel era."
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(13) See Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, ch 9, p.141.
(14) Twelve other works dating from and related to the last part of the Old Testament era constitute what is called the Apocrypha ('Hidden things'). Included in the Greek Septuagint, they were nonetheless not contained in the Hebrew canon. They originated in the Hellenist Judaism of Alexandria but are not accepted by orthodox Jews. The books are, however, included in St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate (c.AD385) as an extension to the Old Testament, and are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, although they are omitted by almost all Protestant Bibles, having been sidelined by the prime reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) and largely therefore ignored by translators. The twelve books are: Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (of Jeremiah), Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremy, the Song fo the Three Holy Children, the History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses, and Maccabees.
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"In the Luke account, it was through the mediation of the angel Gabriel that Mary's pregnancy was granted approval, being of holy consequence. This is known as 'the Annunciation', but it was not so much of a matter of announcing, as one of sanctioning."
"Prior to Jesus's birth, the High Zadok (archangel Michael) was Zacharias.(15) His wife was Mary's cousin Elizabeth, (16) and his deputy, the Abiathar (angel Gabriel) was Simeon the Essene. (17) It was he who gave the formal consent for Mary's confinement, even though she and Joseph had disobeyed the rules of dynastic wedlock."
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(15) J.T. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea (translated by J. Strugnell), SCM Press, London, 1959, ch 1, pp. 11-19.
(16) In the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 similarly states: 'If your Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost . . . But we have this treasure in earthen vessels'.
(17) See James Robinson and the Coptic Gnostic Project, The Nag Hammadi Library, E.J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 1977.
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"It is evident, then, that these dynastic rules were no ordinary matter, and were quite unlike the Jewish marital norm.(18) Parameters of operation were explicitly defined -- dictating a celibate lifestyle except for the procretion of children, and then only at set intervals. Three months after a betrothal ceremony, a 'First Marriage', with anointing, was formalized to begin the 'espousal' in the month of September. Physical relations were allowed after that, but only in the first half of December. This was to ensure that any resultant Messianic birth occurred in the 'Atonement' month of September. If the bride did not conceive, intimate relations were suspended until the next December, and so on. (19)"
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(18) 'Bedouin' is used in English as a singular adjective whereas it is technically a plural noun in Arabic: 'bedu' is 'desert' and the 'bedu'een' are the 'people of the desert'.
(19) Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (translated by W. Whitson) Thomas Nelson, London, 1862, ch 5, p.2.
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"Once the probationary wife had conceived, a 'Second Marriage', with anointing, was performed to legalize the wedlock. However, the bride was still regarded as an 'almah' (young woman) until completion of the 'Second Marriage, which was never celebrated until she was three months pregnant.(20) The purpose of this delay was to allow for the possibility of a miscarriage. Second Marriages thus took place in the month of March. The reason that full wedlock was not achieved until pregnancy had been firmly established to accommodate the dynastic husband's legal change of wife if the first should prove barren."
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(20) J.T. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea, ch 3, pp.51-53.
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"In the case of Joseph and Mary, it was apparent that the rules of dynastic wedlock were infringed, since Mary gave birth to Jesus at the wrong time of year (Sunday, 1 March, 7 BC).(21) Sexual union must therefore have taken place six months before the designated December, in June 8 BC (22) -- at about the time of their initial betrothal -- some three months before their First Marriage in September. And so it was that 'Mary not only conceived as an almah, but also gave birth as an almah' before her Second Marriage."
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(21) John Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1964, ch 5, p.95.
(22) Ibid, ch 5, p. 93.
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"Once Mary's unauthorized pregnancy had been confirmed, Joseph would have been granted the choice of not going through with the Second Marriage ceremony. To save embarrassment he could have placed Mary in monastic custody ('put her away privily', as in Matthew 1:19), where the eventual child would be raised by the priests."
But if the child was a boy, he would be Josephs's 'firstborn' descendant in the Davidic succession. It would have made little sense to bring him up as an unidentified orphan, leaving a possible younger brother to become his substitute in the kingly line. Joseph and Mary's unborn child was plainly a significant prospect and demanded special treatment as an exception to the general rule. The angel Gabriel would therefore have advised that, since a sacred legacy was at stake, Joseph should go ahead with the Second Marriage ceremony . . . 'for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 1:20)."