These quotes reflect the schism when the rabbis refused to become Christians and the Christians left the synagogue.
Are you arguing, as many do, that the Gospels were reworked to reflect political expedience of the time? Spin-doctored? I suppose it could be read like that.
"34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechari'ah the son of Barachi'ah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation. 37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Could be read as a prophesy about the destruction of the Second Temple, or a rewrite after the event.
I guess the problem with second-guessing is, how far do you want to go? If we second-guess everything, nothing will be left.
I have to draw myself up short. LB, I know, is an atheist, and we are wandering rather far afield of his thread's raison de etre. I could happily argue about this for far longer than he'd care to see it on his thread. |
