Setting The Record Straight...

…In More Ways Than One

Somewhere in my recent writings (I assumed in a recent post here, though I can’t find it right at this moment) I identified Ralph Ellis’s book ‘King Jesus’ as a source of information regarding Jewish general-cum-governor-cum-historian Josephus Flavius as having been the author behind the fictional character Saul-become-Paul of the set of writings that have come down to us from the beginning of the Current Era of majoritarian time-reckoning as the New Testament.  I subsequently realized that I was just guessing as to which of his books on the Jesus character that material was from; and, having only the last of that group at hand,1 and knowing that I had come across that material in the one book of Ellis’s that this city’s Main Library has in its stacks, I went down there today to double-check which book that was.  And I see that I was wrong in my selection: that it was in the ‘Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs’ book, of his excellent reference works.2  And the parallels between the historical Josephus and the fictional Paul are extremely important, for the workings-out of history on this planet.  Therefore, I feel it valuable to actually list them here, in my blogs, as a serious truth seeker.  Herewith (quoting verbatim, but in single column, from Ellis).

A The biblical Saul:

Was a Jew of Tarsus.

B. The historical ‘Saul’:

Was a Jew from the stock of the Maccabees.

A. He was raised in Jerusalem.

B. He was raised in Jerusalem.

A. He was educated as a Pharisee.

B. He was educated as a Pharisee.

A. He became a Rabbi.

B. He became a Rabbi.

A. He acted with the Romans against the revolutionaries in the country.  (The Nazarenes.)

B. He was against revolutionaries in the country and the Nazarenes and he counseled against any action against the Romans.  His task, as appointed general to the province of Galilee, was to ‘induce the hotheads to lay down their arms’.

A. He had a vision of a man (Jesus) telling him the error of his ways.  Subsequently he turned to the side of the rebels. 

B. He had a vision of a man telling him the error of his ways.  Subsequently, he turned to the side of the rebels.

A.  Directly after this vision, Ananias the high priest was sent to see Saul in Damascus.  Knowing of Saul’s previous intention to capture the disciples, Ananias was wary of him, but he was eventually persuaded that Saul was their ally.

B. Directly after this vision, Ananus the high priest sent an emissary to see him.  Knowing of ‘Saul’s’ duplicity, they were wary of him.  Ananus was not persuaded that ’Saul’ was now their ally, and ‘Saul’ was not persuaded to return to Jerusalem where he could be dealt with.  

A. Saul was accused of being an Egyptian false prophet.  (It is likely that Saul was being mistaken for Jesus here, Jesus being an Egyptian pharaoh in exile…)

B. ’Saul’ talked of an Egyptian false prophet, who tried to take Jerusalem by force.

A. Saul spoke both Greek and Hebrew.

B. ’Saul’ spoke both Greek and Hebrew.

A. Saul traveled widely in Europe and returned to Jerusalem.

B. ’Saul’ traveled widely in Europe and returned to Jerusalem.

A. He was stoned by his opponents and left for dead.

B. He was attacked by his opponents on many occasions.

A. The Jews wished once more to kill Saul, finding him in the temple at Caesarea and beating him severely.  But Saul was captured (saved) by the Romans. 

B. The Jews wish [sic] once more to kill Saul’.  But he evaded them.  Eventually ’Saul’ was captured (saved) by the Romans.

A. Saul was sent before Felix, the governor of Judaea and Ananias the high priest, accused of being a leader of the Nazarene, a rebel and causing riots in the temple at Caesarea.  Because of his connections, Saul was held only under a loose house arrest.

B. ’Saul’ gave a good account of the disturbances at the temple of Caesarea, which were, apparently, manufactured by certain people of the town who placed forbidden offerings on the temple steps.

A. Felix, in a more secular move, hoped to get a large bribe from Saul and so he was lenient with him.

B. Florus, the governor in this account, was accused of asking for bribes in order to release prisoners.

A. Saul talked with Agrippa and Bernice, the king’s sister, and secured favorable treatment.

B. This ‘Saul’ gave an account of the petitions that Bernice, King Agrippa’s sister, made to Florus, begging him to spare the Jews.

A. Finally, Saul sailed to Rome under the protection of the Romans.

B. This ’Saul’ sailed to Rome.

A. He was shipwrecked on Malta, but all the ship’s company survived.

B. ’Saul’ was shipwrecked, being saved by another ship and taken to Puteoli.

A. In Rome, Saul wrote many letters to the Christian communities around Europe.

B. in Rome ’Saul’ wrote no less than 80 letters to communities around Europe, recommending his works and vouching for their truthfulness.

“So who was this second ‘Saul’, the man whose life followed that of the biblical Saul so closely?” Ellis concludes his narrative here; continuing: “Was it someone very obscure who has never been studied in depth before?  Have I stumbled upon an ancient manuscript that has never before been translated?  Not so.  In fact, ’Saul’ was none other than Josephus, the Jewish historian…”3

Of whom we have heard considerably in these pages.  So I will stop this account here.

And trust that Truth will prevail on Earth.  In

The End.

—

footnotes:

1 ‘Jesus, King of Edessa’.  It was preceded, first, by ‘Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs;’ then ‘Cleopatra to Christ;’ and then ‘King Jesus’.     

2 That there is considerable confusion as to whether the Jesus of the NT was a true, historical character or just part of a complete work of fiction has been a puzzlement for years and years, to historians true to their calling.  Even such a consummate historian as Ralph Ellis feels that there was, indeed, a ‘kingly’ person named Jesus from that time period; but he takes him to a totally different ‘public ministry’ and outcome from the one in the NT - all the way over to the British isles; ’the last of the pharaohs’ held there in exile by Rome, and having subsequently become the personage that the world knows as King Arthur.  All, obviously, another story.  Or to say, another part of this total story. 

   God moving in mysterious ways, presumably.
   P.S. And to clarify: The paralleling of the historical Josephus with the fictional Saul-become-Paul that Ralph Ellis has compiled could as well be in his 'King Jesus' book.  I just don't have it available to confirm that in point of fact.

3 ‘Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs,’ pp. 211-13.