Christmas: The Original Story, Part 2

In my last post, I commented on how Margaret Barker, in her new book, Christmas: The Original Story, successfully portrays the temple and its traditions as the background for understanding the Christmas story.  Jews/Early Christians who held on to the ancient traditions of the Temple of Solomon saw in the birth of Christ the fulfillment of their expectations for a coming Messiah–expectations that were formed by ancient beliefs and rituals which foreshadowed the coming forth of the Son of God from heaven.

In this post, I would like to go into a few more of the specific details of the Christmas story that Barker so skillfully illuminates for us.  Of course I won’t be able to cover everything that she provides, nor all that I feel is especially noteworthy, but hopefully I can present some especially enlightening details.

Dating

There were many groups at the time (of the birth of Christ) who were watching the calendar for a significant event. The angel Gabriel had told Daniel:

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy (Dan. 9:24).

This was understood as a messianic prophecy, and it was interpreted to mean that the Messiah would come to free his people in 70 weeks of years (490 years) from the beginning of the “age of wrath” or the destruction of the first temple. Remember that there were many groups that felt that the Second Temple was corrupt and felt that they would remain oppressed under this corrupt system until the Messiah came to destroy the apostate temple and restore the true one.  However, the dating given in the prophecy appears to have no relation to the coming of Jesus Christ if we date the destruction of the temple to 586 BC.  Barker argues that this date is not correct. She says that the date should be calculated according to a calendar based on jubilees (periods of 49 years), which she states would put the destruction of Solomon’s temple at 422 BC, the building of the Second Temple at 352 BC and its destruction by the Romans at 68-69 AD.¹ Barker comes to the following conclusion regarding this prophecy of Gabriel to Daniel:

The prophecy was describing the restoration at the end of the age of wrath, the great day of atonement which required the great high priest. Reckoning 490 years from 422 BCE gives the date 68 CE, when the Jews began the war against Rome.²

The Mother of the LORD

Margaret Barker is very interested in the idea of the Mother of the LORD, the Queen of Heaven. Discussions of this figure come up repeatedly in this book.  Barker notes that the early Christians seemed to believe that while Mary was a precious vessel, chosen to be the earthly mother of Jesus, she also had a heavenly counterpart.  Jesus had not only a Father in heaven, but also a Mother.  There was considerable speculation as to who the Heavenly Mother of Jesus was.  Because the word “Spirit” is a feminine known in Hebrew, many concluded that the Holy Spirit was Jesus’ mother.  Personally, I believe that such a conclusion was based (at least partially) on the attribution of Old Testament “Wisdom” imagery to the person of the Holy Ghost.  I see the Wisdom passages as a remnant of a more ancient belief in a Mother Goddess in Israel, referred to cursorily as Asherah in the OT.  Barker explores this imagery of “the Lady,” who is variously called the Virgin, the Daughter of Zion, and other names. This Lady was the mother of Yahweh.  In the book of Revelation, she is the Queen of Heaven, crowned with stars and clothed with the sun, and is the mother of the Messiah. She gives birth to him in the Holy of Holies (heaven).³

The Stable

In Luke’s account, Joseph is not able to find room in the inn, so Jesus is born in a nearby stable (which was really not much more than a specially outfitted cave).⁴ The Greek word for inn, kataluma (also used for the room where the Last Supper took place), is rare and is possibly an approximation of the Hebrew ta’alumah, the “hidden or secret (place).”⁵ Barker sees this as an allusion to the Holy of Holies, the place where the Messiah would be expected to be born.  ”No place in the inn,” where place is the Greek topos (Hebrew maqom), could refer to the fact that the Messiah was not actually born in the temple’s holy of holies, as topos was known as a codename for the Logos.  As Barker put it:

The Firstborn and the Glory, the Logos, was not “born” in the holy of holies and did not appear in his garments of Glory in Jerusalem. He was swaddled in a manger elsewhere.  The expected in the unexpected.

Orthodox icon of the Nativity depicting Jesus born in cave

Swaddling Clothes

Barker notes that “she wrapped him in swaddling clothes” is literally “she wrapped him around.” The important aspect of the inclusion of this detail in Luke’s story, for Barker, is that the newly born baby was clothed.  The “clothing” of the “newly born” high priest was an important part of the temple ritual where he became the son of God.  When Enoch was taken up to the heavenly temple, his earthly clothing was removed and he was clothed with garments of Glory.  Jesus, having descended from heaven and being born of a mortal mother, is given earthly garments, reversing the process.  This symbol of the Incarnation is derived from temple imagery.

The Manger

The detail that Jesus was laid in a manger is not an unimportant one. The early Christians saw this as the fulfillment of a prophecy of Isaiah: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider (Isa. 1:3).” The ox and the ass are the two animals that are traditionally depicted as looking into the manger at the baby Jesus. Barker states that Isaiah’s prophecy was a political statement. The word ox, sor, is very similar to the word for prince, sar, and the word for ass, hamor, is like a word for priest, komer. Barker interprets this as Isaiah saying that while the humble animals recognize their master, the rulers of Jerusalem did not understand.⁶

Although the ox and ass are not specifically mentioned in Matthew or Luke, they are part of the tradition from the beginning and are frequently portrayed in Christian art depicting the Nativity. The do appear in the later Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. It is interesting that it was usually only these two animals depicted as being near the manger.  This tradition seems to draw on the prophecy in Habakkuk, “Be known in the midst of the two creatures, be recognized in the drawing near of years…” (Hab. 3:2, LXX).  In the ancient temple, it was the LORD who dwelled between the two “creatures” or cherubim. It was the place where the king/high priest was “newly born” and recognized as the son of God.

The Star

Anciently, rulers and heavenly beings were often equated with or symbolized by stars.  Many watched the heavens for a sign in the stars, both as a sign of the end of the reign of Herod (a fallen star) and the coming of the Messiah (a new star).  ((Amos 5:7 and 6:12; Num. 24:17-18. See discussion, pp. 108-15.)) One star prophecy that most Jews were pondering was the one in Num. 24:17-18.  In Barker’s own translation, it reads:

I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near:

A star shall go out from Jacob

and a sceptre shall rise from Israel

…

Edom shall be dispossessed

and Seir also, his enemies,

while Israel acts in strength.

Later Jewish tradition was quite clear that the star referred to the Messiah⁷ The expected star was the Messianic star.  We know that Herod was an Edomite, not a Jew. Other star prophecies have been found at Qumran⁸ and elsewhere.  While popular opinion would indicate that Jews of the time weren’t much into star-gazing, some sources indicate that they knew astronomy well and were watching the heavens for signs.⁹

I have always wondered (as have most of us, I’m sure), what the nature of the star of Bethlehem really was. Barker gives a good explanation of what it could have been.  She notes that in 7 BCE (again, this is the year she thinks Jesus was born), there were “extraordinary movements in the stars.” She explains:

Jupiter and Saturn were in a triple conjunction in the sign of Pisces, the sign for the Hebrews. A triple conjunction means that the two appeared so close together that they appeared as one, and this happended three times in 7 BCE. ‘A triple conjunction is…an extremely rare event involving a particularly intricate set of movements of two planets. Instead of one planet making a single pass close to another, in the sky, the two bodies pass, separate, pass a second time, separate again, and then pass a third time before separating for good.’  The threee conjunctions are usually spread over some seven months. In 7 BCE the conjunctions occurred on 29 May, on 3 October during the autumn festivals when there was a full moon and the conjunction appeared slightly east of south when seen from Jerusalem, that is, over Bethlehem, and on 4 December. In later Hebrew, Jupiter was known as sedek, righteousness, and Gentiles identified Saturn as the God of the Jews.¹⁰

So the star of Bethlehem was possibly the conjunction of two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, which would appear as one big star for a brief period.  After seeing this sign in the heavens, no wonder Herod “was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.”  Everyone saw the sign and many believed that it represented the coming of the Messiah and the downfall of the wicked King Herod.

The Wise Men

What Margaret Barker has come up with in her research on the wise men turns my previous notions of them on their head.  The way the wise men are generally depicted are as three kings who come from afar in the East–from places such as Persia and India.  Sometimes they are even named: Caspar, Melchior, and Belthazar.  Before they were kings of foreign peoples, they were known as Persian philosophers, or magi.  Barker says that most of these tales are “the product of…fertile imaginations.”¹¹

Barker notes that “from the East” can also mean “from ancient times.” The coming of the magi could have been a sign that the ancient ways were being restored.  The gold, frankincense, and myrrh they brought were symbolic of the temple (all have important uses in the temple). According to early Christian tradition¹² Adam took these same items from the Garden of Eden, which was the first temple, when he was expelled from there. When Adam was buried in the Cave of Treasures (also dedicated as a temple), his body was sealed up with the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  When the wise men brought these same items to Jesus, it was so, in effect, he could restore the original temple.  Some traditions even considered the wise men to be three angels who had brought Adam these gifts from Eden and who were restoring them to Jesus. As Barker puts it: “Jesus was the new Adam, the new creation, opening the way back to Eden and restoring the true temple.”¹³

Barker believes that the wise men came from Arabia, and not from Persia or further east. The people who would have seen in the new star a sign of the Jewish Messiah would logically be Jews themselves, not Gentiles. Barker gives evidence for the presence of groups of Jews in Arabia (not necessarily today’s Saudi Arabia, but the more proximate Arabia of the time).  It was believed that many priests of the first temple had fled and settled in “Arabia” after Josiah’s purges in the late 7th century BCE.  This, together with other good evidence, suggested to Barker that the wise men were Jewish priests, possibly even Essenes, who knew the ancient temple traditions, and who were in Arabia awaiting the sign of the coming Messiah.¹⁴ She notes that in some early Christian depictions, the wise men are depicted as three high priests.

The magi saw the star at their home in Arabia (presumably the May 29 occurence), travelled to Jerusalem, and then saw it again in there (October). From Jerusalem, the star would have appeared to be over Bethlehem, guiding them to the baby Jesus. Legend has it that they saw the star again on their way home (December).  If Jesus was born in April (as per popular LDS belief), the sign of the star would have come over a month later.

The three magi as depicted in a 7th-century mosaic, from the basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna.

These are just some of the many treasures that Dr. Barker shares with us in this wonderful book.  If I had more time, I would share more.  There is much more about the temple, unfamiliar prophecies, Mary, and other traditions, including Christmas stories from gospels not found in the New Testament, and also the Qur’an.  At 174 pgs., the book is a joy to read (and re-read) and easy to get through.  Because the book is not specifically about temple traditions, Barker necessarily has to summarize much of her research on temple theology, which serves to break down some big concepts into digestible tidbits that are easy to understand and make this volume very valuable for those desiring to comprehend her theories.  Finally, it is all the more fun because Christmas is such a beloved topic for all of us, and Barker really shows her mastery of the temple tradition by applying it to, or finding it in, the Christmas story.

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1. See her reasoning on p. 24 [↩]
2. p. 25)

   There was, however, another similar prophecy recorded in what is known as the Melchizedek Text (11Q 13) found at Qumran. Instead of declaring the wait to be 490 years, it is ten jubilees. Although the document doesn’t define exactly when the first jubilee began, another relevant text, the Damascus Document, seems to indicate that it started at the beginning of the “age of wrath.” From this, Barker reasons that the beginning of the tenth jubilee began about 20 CE. The Qumran text says that the great high priest “Melchizedek” was expected to reappear during the first seven years of the tenth jubilee, which would be between 20 and 27 CE.  Barker sees Jesus as having been born about 7 BCE, so he would have been commencing his ministry at just the right time, according to the prophecy. ((pp. 25-26 [↩]

3. Rev. 11-12; see Barker, pp. 39-44, 67. Barker also notes that in the Qumran version of Isa. 7:11, it reads: “Ask a sign from the mother of the LORD your God.” [↩]
4. In the Infancy Gospel of James, and other similar texts, Jesus is born in a cave which was portrayed as having the essential characteristics of the holy of holies. So, in these accounts Jesus is born in the holy of holies as expected. See Barker, p. 145-47. [↩]
5. p. 78 [↩]
6. p. 76 [↩]
7. See Targum P-Jonathan Num. 24:17. [↩]
8. Damascus Document CD VII and War Scroll 1QM XI [↩]
9. See Barker’s discussion on p. 113 [↩]
10. pp. 114-15 [↩]
11. p. 116 [↩]
12. see The Testament of Adam and The Book of the Cave of Treasures [↩]
13. p. 119 [↩]
14. pp. 115-122 [↩]