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| The Birth of John the Baptist as told in the Book of Luke in comparison to Mandaean Literature |
| RESEARCH DONE BY AJAE |
| COPYRIGHT 2000 |
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| Introduction Names of Zechariah and Elizabeth His parent were older and had no children His birth was the result of a heavenly interception The Vision and Angel Gabriel His name will be John the Baptist’s birth is threatened John the Baptist is taken away |
| His name will be |
| Enosh |
| Once again It does seem a little hard to understand how the word “Ioannes” is from the Hebrew word “Yawchanan”. They do not sound that much alike. Magee's writes: |
| "Curiously Ioannes resembles the Greek for the pagan god Ea, the God of the House of Water—sweet refreshing water, not briny sea water—which is Oannes. More curiously, Oannes pronounced in Aramaic would come out close to Enosh! " |
| Of course Magee is insisting that the original word was Oannes and when pronounced in Aramaic would sound like Enosh. And since Oannes and Ioannes are similar sounding the original had to be Oannes. Instead could the name Ioannes come from the word Enosh? The word Enosh in Hebrew means man (#0583) and is equivalent to the word 'enowsh (#0582) which means man, mortal man, person, mankind. The word ‘enowsh comes from the primitive root ‘anash (#0605) which means to be weak, sick, frail. Enosh was the son of Seth, and grandson of Adam. |
| “When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh.” Genesis 4:26 “The descendants of Adam were Seth, Enosh” 1Ch 1:1 “Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God.” Luke 3:38 |
| According to the Bible he lived nine hundred and five years. It is in his time that |
| “It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the Lord.” The New Living Translation Genesis 4:26 “Men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” The King James Version (Authorized) Genesis 4:26 |
| This simple statement has two entirely different theories that have been raised over the centuries. Christian reference material is positive in the viewpoint that the time of Enosh is a time of revival or religious determination. Where as the Jewish perspective is exactly the opposite. The first theory is that during the generation of Enosh men began to call themselves by the name of the Lord. That is to distinguish themselves thereby from idolaters |
| “The worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves. The margin reads it, Then began men to be called by the name of the Lord, or to call themselves by it. Now that Cain and those that had deserted religion had built a city, and begun to declare for impiety and irreligion, and called themselves the sons of men, those that adhered to God began to declare for him and his worship, and called themselves the sons of God.” Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible |
| It also has been questioned that this passage could mean a revival in the religion. |
| “…men in some public and earnest way began to call upon the Lord, indicating a time of spiritual revival...” Easton's Bible Dictionary “The worshippers of God began to stir up themselves to do more in religion than they had done; perhaps not more than had been done at first, but more than had been done of late, since the defection of Cain. Now men began to worship God, not only in their closets and families, but in public and solemn assemblies.” Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible |
| In Christian theology Enosh and his generation were good men who worshipped the Lord and call onto him. But there is another theory, one from Jewish theology. In this theory Enosh and his generation were idol worshippers using the name of God to invoke sprits. |
| “In Jewish rabbinical tradition there is a tendency to judge harshly about Enoch and Enosh, quite contrary to the Bible for which Enosh was the first to call on God´s name Gen 4,26,…” Hugo Odeberg, Die mandäische Religionsanschauung (UUÅ 1930, Teologi.2, 27 pages, espec. pp.24ff.). "In this name, therefore, the feeling and knowledge of human weakness and frailty were expressed, (the opposite of the pride and arrogance displayed by the Canaanitish family); and this feeling led to God, to that invocation of the name of YH-H which commenced under Enosh. Literally to call in (or by) the name of YH-H, is used for a solemn calling of the name of GOd. When applied to men it denotes invocation. " Keil-Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Volume 1, The Pentateuch, page 119 “About a hundred years ago, there was a Jewish rabbi; his name was Abraham Hirsch. He was a well-loved and respected rabbi. … He also explains that Enosh, who is mentioned in Genesis, shows us how even good religious intentions can be twisted around into something that is bad. You see, according to a Jewish legend, Enosh built a man from clay -- to show the people that only God could create life. When he blew into the clay mankind’s nostrils, Satan was hiding around the corner. Satan made the thing come to life and all people began to call upon the Name of the Lord -- that is, they called Enosh the Lord God. break that down into minutes and divide it into 365 days you could read the entire “ The Bible What is it ALL About? http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Delphi/8649/hirsch.html “Apparently, the people of the Generation of the Dispersion were experts at oaths and the use of Holy Names which they knew from the generation of Enosh, as it says, "They began to call out in the Name of Hashem ..." (Bereishis 4:26). They knew how to use the Names of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and could perform Kabbalah Ma'asios (Kabbalistic acts), and did so for the sake of hedonistic pleasure and idol worship. It was a very rebellious generation, for, when they built the Tower, they placed a sword on top of it (Bereishis Rabbah 38:6), as if to say, "You, G-d, rule the heavens-we'll rule the earth!" Rabbi Winston's Weekly Parsha Page “Parshas Noach: Generation to Generation” http://www.neveh.org/winston/parsha59/noach.html “The Generation of the Dispersion were experts in using the Holy Names, ever since the time of Enosh, of when it says, “they began to call in the Name of G-d” (Bereishis 4:26). They knew how use the Names of The Holy One, Blessed is He, and Kabbalah Maysios (Practical Kabbalah), to draw down the “power” for the sake of idol worship. They knew that idol worship itself is empty without some kind of drawing of light from the side of holiness. They did this just to fulfill their hedonistic desires.” Rabbi Pinchas Winston “Even Deeper Perceptions: Kabbalistic Concepts Affecting Everyday Life” © 5760/2000 http://www.thirtysix.org/percep2.htm “Man comes to know his world through language. He also corrupts the world through his use of language. Let's look at the two incidents after the exile from Garden, in which a breech occurs. The first instance is found in the generation of Enosh, before the flood, "then men began (huhal) to call upon the LORD by name." (4; 26). They began to invoke the proper name of God, the tetragrammaton YKVK. In current practice it is not to be pronounced. Then it was invoked indiscriminately, promiscuously, a desecration of a sacred relation. Rashi comments, "Az Huhal, comes from the word hulin, profane [rather than beginning, hatthalla], they named men and icons with the name of The Holy One Blessed Be He, making of them idols, calling them deities." The corruption begins when the One is attributed to the many; when the Other is applied to the world of things. In our schematic diagram of the tripartite relation, man assumes the province of God, through language, by calling things in the world by his Proper Name. It is the flaw of the most common idol worship, whether it be a statue of Buddah or a Pharoah. By breeching the unique relation between God (as Other) and world, one is denying the province of the transcendent, only admitting his "immanent" (YKVK) form.” The Degeneration of Language and The Tower of Babel http://www.matan.org.il/eng/learning/babel.html “He who keeps the Shabbat according to its laws, though he may worship idols like the generation of Enosh, all his sins are forgiven” Shabbat 118b |
| Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe be Maimon, (1135-1204) described in his book in great detail on how humanity lapsed into actual worship of the planets and stars in the generations after Adam. According to Maimonides the stars became objects of worship during Enosh’s generation thus diverting mankind from worshipping the true God according to Jewish theology. So what did Enosh do that was so terrible that his actions or words profaned the Jewish name of God. Maimonides tells us that if was Enosh himself who initiated the first act of pagan worship. |
| “It was in the days of Enosh, the grandson of Adam. The wise men of the time understood that the One God had created these stars and planets to control the workings of the world. They saw that He had placed them on high and given them such glory, for they are His officers and attending ministers…… With the passage of time, there arose false prophets who claimed that God had commanded them to worship a particular planet or all of the different constellations, to bring them specific offerings and libations, to build them temples and to make statues of the "form" of the star or planet in order that the common people, women and children would be able to worship it... Cults of various kinds began to spread throughout the entire world. As time went on the entire world became totally unaware of God… Their wise men imagined there was no other God besides the stars and constellations on whose account these statues had been made. With the exception of a few individuals, such as Enoch, Noah, Shem and Ever, no one knew or recognized the Creator of all the worlds… This was the way the world was until the birth of the pillar of the world: our father Abraham. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry, 1:1-2 |
| In Maimonides’ work on Enosh he makes the same general statements about the stars being worshipped as he did about the Sabaeans being Star Worshippers. In my article Sabians, Sabaeans, or Sabeans, in the section entitled The Sabaeans of the Moses Maimonides writings, located at http://www.oocities.org/mandaeans/Sabians7.html already determined that Maimonides was unaware or did not seem concerned with the intricate web of the word Sabian (ean) (aean). For this reason he used the Sabaean to depict the typical “pagan” culture that would have existed before Abraham brought the message of the one god. Why does he use the Sabaeans as this general term denoting all “pagan” worshippers? There could be several reasons for this. One would be the fact that the term “Sabians” as indicated in the Qu’ran had already degraded into being a generalized term for all religions, other than Islam, Jewish, and Christianity, that fit into generalized descriptions of a qualified religion under Islamic law. Maimonides wrote what he knew or heard about the Harranians, the source of the real star worshippers, and that he was unaware that their religion, as he conceived it, was a fairly late creation. He wrote his book assuming that the Harranian religion was the same for the previous thousands of years. While the Harranian religion did remain pretty much unchanged from 2000 BC up till the invasion of Greek ideas and the coming of the Christian era, the Harranian theology at the time of Maimonides was vastly different from the Harranian theology just a few hundred years earlier. By the 11th century the Harranians had been bombarded by Christian and Mandaean influences that distorted the original Harranian theology. Maimonides used many stories, both factual and fictional, in his research. He mixed up all the pertinent evidence to come to his conclusions especially in regards to the Sabaeans and Enosh. It is interesting to note that Enosh is equated with star worshipping the same as the Sabaeans were. Could Maimonides have heard the stories of Anush Uthra, one of the heavenly messengers who protect and aid in the salvation of man? Once again the stories of the real Sabaeans (the Mandaeans –Sabians) and of Anush Uthra were mixed up and changed in order to fit into a Maimonides’ formula. We already discovered that the Angel Gabriel has many attributes that can be compared to the Mandaean light being Anush Uthra. Anush Uthra is of course but one of the three main messengers from God. The other two are Sitil and Hibil Ziwa. We have an account in the Ginza where Jesus is aquated with Hibil Ziwa: |
| Another portion of the Ginza mentions the name of Anosh Uthra in the role of a healer. In Christian circle this appears to be an indication of Jesus but not in Mandaic circles. Remember Jesus is already to have claimed the title of Hibil Ziwa, who could be descried as the main uthra. |
| "On the contrary, Enosh-Uthra comes and proceeds to Jerusalem, clothed as with a garment in water-clouds. .. He emerges and comes during the years of Pilate, king of the world. Enosh Uthra comes into the world with the power of the sublime King of Light. He heals the sick and opens (the eyes of) the blind, makes the lepers clean, raises the crippled and the lame so that they can move, he makes the deaf and dumb to speak and gives life to the dead. He gains believers among the Jews and shows them that there is death and life, darkness and light, error and truth. He leads the Jews forth in the name of the sublime King of Light. 360 prophets go forth from the place Jerusalem." GR, p29-30 (Rudolph, Mandaean Sources p 299. See also JB p 243) |
| In Mandaean circle it is John the Baptist who heals the sick and cures the lame. |
| “Then Yahia-Yuhana took the jordan and the medicine Water (of Life)... and he cleansed lepers, opened (the eyes of) the blind and lifted the broken (maimed) to walk on their feet ... by the strength of the lofty King of Light - praised be his Name! - and gave speech and hearing to all who sought (him). And he was called in the world " envoy of the High King of Light " - praised be his Name! – “ Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa translated by E.S. Drower: Citta Del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostoloca Vaticana: 1953) page 3 |
| Could people outside the religion given the name Hibil Ziwa to Jesus and Anosh Uthra to John the Baptist as some sort of nick names? If so then someone whom wrote the Greek version of Luke could have interpreted the name to be Ioannes from Enosh and not the name Yahyia Yohanna. Maimonides is the not the first to have negative stories about Enosh. Louis Ginzberg in his The Legends of the Jews Volume 1 http://www.blackmask.com/books29c/1lotjdex.htm?http://www.blackmask.com/books29c/1lotjcon.htm write about Enosh and his ability to create: |
| "Enosh was asked who his father was, and he named Seth. The questioners, the people of his time, continued: "Who was the father of Seth?" Enosh: "Adam."..."And who was the father of Adam?"--"He had neither father nor mother, God formed him from the dust of the earth."..."But man has not the appearance of dust!"..."After death man returns to dust, as God said, 'And man shall turn again unto dust;' but on the day of his creation, man was made in the image of God."..."How was the woman created?"- "Male and female He created them."..."But how?..."God took water and earth, and moulded them together in the form of man."--"But how?" pursued the questioners." "Enosh took six clods of earth, mixed them, and moulded them, and formed an image of dust and clay. "But," said the people, "this image does not walk, nor does it possess any breath of life." He then essayed to show them how God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam, but when he began to blow his breath into the image he had formed, Satan entered it, and the figure walked, and the people of his time who had been inquiring these matters of Enosh went astray after it, saying, "What is the difference between bowing down before this image and paying homage to a man?" |
| The idea that someone else than God could create a living being is also in the Mandaic literature. As in the Jewish folk story the creation on Enosh created evil with the introduction of Satan, the Mandaean story has Ptahil creating a lifeless man but the soul had to come from God through his messengers. |
| "When Ptahil ..created Adam and laid him down but there was no soul in him….. Ptahil … ascended to the Place of Light. He entered the presence of the “father of the uthras,” and his father said to him: “What have you accomplished?” "He (Ptahil) answered him: “Everything that I formerly made has been successful, but my counterpart and yours has not been successful” .... The “father of the uthras” (ie God) ..went forth, … summoned Hibil, Sitil, and Anos, the uthras, who are outstanding and without defect. He summoned them and gave them their orders, and issued warnings to them concerning the souls. He (“father of the uthras”) said to them: “You, be a guardian over them (souls)... Let not the wicked Ptahil know how the soul falls into the body” The uthra (Pthail) hasten and goes down and his helpers (Hibil, Sitil, and Anos) go down with him. His helpers, who go down with him, are men who have been set in charge of souls. When they reached the Tibil (Earth) and the bodily trunk when Ptahil wanted to cast it into the trunk, I, Manda d’Haiye, took it (the soul) …” Werner Foerster, ed., R. McL. Wilson, trans. Gnosis, A Selection of Gnostic Texts, vol 2 (Ox-ford: (Word University Press, 1974) |
| We know that in the Ginza that Gabriel is the secret name given to Ptahil Uthra by Bhaq Ziwa, another name of Abatur the Third Life. And Gabriel appears to have many of the attributes of Anush Uthra. Could the Gabriel and Anosh Uthra be interchangeable depending upon the story teller? In the Talmud we already read that |
| "God then ordered the angel Gabriel to go and bring soil from the Four Corners of the world, with which to make man" |
| Thus Gabriel was one of the angels involved in the creation of man. Could the story in the Talmud be a variation of the Mandaic story with Gabriel interchanged for Ptahil but still including Anosh uthra as one of the protectors of the souls? Ginzberg continues his story with the punishment of Enosh for creating a creature whom Satan inhabited: |
| "The generations of Enosh were thus the first idol worshippers, and the punishment for their folly was not delayed long. God caused the sea to transgress its bounds, and a portion of the earth was flooded. This was the time also when the mountains became rocks, and the dead bodies of men began to decay. And still another consequence of the sin of idolatry was that the countenances of the men of the following generations were no longer in the likeness and image of God, as the countenances of Adam, Seth, and Enosh had been. They resembled centaurs and apes, and the demons lost their fear of men." |
| This idea that man resembled an ape can also be found in Mandaean Folklore: |
| “Ruha and Pthahil tried to make Adam and, when they had finished, he was like a man, but moved about on all fours, had a face like an ape, and made noises like a sheep. They were puzzled and went to the House of Life and told them of their failure, and the House of Life said, We will send Hiwel Ziwa. Hiwel Ziwa came, and the Soul was in his hands” The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran By E.S. Drower Clarendon Press, Oxford,1937 (Reprint Leiden:E.J. Brill 1962) page 257-258 |
| Here in the Mandaean oral legend Hibil Ziwa brings the soul so that Adam will become human. In the Creation Story mention in the Ginza it was Manda-d-Hiia who had the soul and Hibil Ziwa, Sitil, and Anosh Uthra whom came as protectors of the soul. These heavenly beings appear to be able to be interchanged in regards to their duties. This may be due to the Mandaeans were so wide spread and with no central authority to edit the books with one and only one version available, there are small inconsistencies. But this does not invalidate the books only shows that that are indeed ancient and the closeness that all the uthras share in their duties to God and man. Maimonides in his book goes on to describe how Abraham would proclaim the message of God through out the lands. Abraham would then instruct the people on the true path |
| "..would travel and cry out and gather the people from city to city and kingdom to kingdom, until he arrived in the land of Canaan," |
| The idea of Abraham as he father of the true religion is also seen in this passage: In Mandaic literature we read that Sam (Shem) is the son of Noah and the continuation of the Mandaean people. Sam is the only legitimate son of Noah while all the rest are the descendants of Ruha and Noah: We also know that according to Mandaean literature that Judaism spilt from Mandaeaism. This idea might have been preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls Now what is interesting is the cedar has been represented as Jewish priesthood and Temple in biblical references and in the Torah. The date palm is of course from the oldest sections of the theology Mandaean and is representative of the Mandaean theology. So what do we have so far? We have the Jewish writers condemning Enosh and Shem for being pagans. We also know that the Mandaeans revere Enosh as a light being and Sam (Shem) as the ancestor of the Mandaeans. It seems whatever the Mandaeans hold dear is disregarded by the Jewish writers and vice versa. For the sake of argument let us assume for this paper that the Mandaean theology was in existence before or at the same time as the beginning of the Jewish theology. Could John the Baptist been called Enosh because his ability to heal compared to Anosh Uthra. Could this term Enosh be the one translated into Greek as Ioannes. If not there are some interesting comparisons that cannot be explained otherwise. |
| “It would appear that not only did Enosh indulge in pagan rites but also Shem taught the people the false path. In the Kesef Mishnah (Rabbi Yosef Caro) further explains that "Abraham would call out and announce (to all the peoples) belief in the unity of God (while) Shem and Ever taught the path of God (only) to their students." “First priest, Abraham, understood how to love” by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/980515/torah.shtml |
| “Ruha came forth and saw Noh and assumed the appearance of his wife. She greeted him saying 'I am Anhuraita, your wife !' and he took her and she became pregnant and brought forth three sons, Ham, Yam, and Yafet. These were the fathers of the human race, Ham becoming father of the blacks, the 'abid or slaves; Yam of the white nations, Abraham and the Jews; and Yafet of the gypsies (Kauliyah). But Sam and his wife Anhar are the progenitors of the Mandai. “The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran By E.S. Drower Clarendon Press, Oxford,1937 (Reprint Leiden:E.J. Brill 1962) page 260 |
| "I Abram had a dream on the night of my entry into Egypt. In my dream I saw a cedar tree and a date palm growing from a single root. Then people came intending to cut down and uproot the cedar thereby to leave the date palm by itself. The date palm however objected and said 'Do not cut the cedar down for the two of us grow from a single root." So the cedar was spared because of the date palm and was not cut down." Tales of the Patriarchs 1QapGen Col 20 |