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Did Jesus own his own personal scroll of the O.T.?


Ham
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Instead of putting this on the other thread, I thought it may deserve a little closer attention here..

All this talk of "mastering" the scrolls, reading the scrolls all the time.. one would assume that Jesus had his own personal copy of the law and the prophets..

Just to me, not very likely.

Jesus came from a working class family, his adopted father was a CARPENTER. Not a scribe, not a pharisee, not a religious big wig.

Neither was his mother.

Not likely an ordinary working family would own their personal copy of the scrolls in those days..

At best, he heard the scriptures read, and possibly read them himself (out loud) once a week at the synagogue.

And even at that, it would take a year(?) to read through the whole law.. if I remember the custom correctly.

Anybody know anything different?

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Sounds about right Ham. Of course, when he was younger, he would have worked closely with the Priests while studying the scrolls to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. Besides that, he would have had to study at the synogogue. There isn't anything actually written about those years, so anything would be conjecture.

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dont forget, he was also a very curious kid...being raised a more or less a travelling hillbilly

...a natural seeker...caring and understanding...and quite fearless (socially and otherwise)

and he spent some of his most formative years exposed to other cultures (such as Egypt)

and was most likely exposed to many other traditions in the relatively cosmopolitan and peaceful era of his time

(not to mention the many less-than-mainstream sects of his own people)

most of what he taught was not directly from the scrolls, anyway, but from somewhere else, and served to challenge the then-conventional and rigid interpretations of them

especially as to pertained to how, after 2000k years or so, the richness of the lineage of Abraham was pretty much lost to the priests and mainstream, anyway

can we at least assume these kinds of things?

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If memory serves, the parents and/or grandparents passed down the teachings to their children. We would need to assume Joseph and Mary were both pretty fluent, as were other family members, like Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother (Mary's cousin, I think?)

They were pretty adept at considering angels' appearances real, at least. And obeying what most men wouldn't have even spoken of.

I first thought of when Jesus was 12 and was sitting in the temple with the elders--when he left his parents. The scribes and pharisees wondered the same thing. How did he know such things?

I guess we need to remember that Jesus' memory must have been remarkable, considering his Father. His genes must have enabled him to do more than the average person, even at 12. Would genius be part of his heritage? I would think so. I would also add at this time that he must have been physically beautiful as well. I don't know if there's any truth to the old saying that we only used 10% of our brains, but if there is, I bet it didn't pertain to Jesus.

IE

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yeah, IE, and if was recorded that he wandered off to hang out with priests in the temple, might he have also wandered off to talk to others?

would such a Kid let cultural taboos stop him from asking anyone genuine and honest questions?

and again, at this time, Judean thought was already old old old, and quite a wildly diverse tapestry of thought.

And not all of it was so cleanly recorded in canonical form. Spoken word was common method of transfer.

Even visual art forms were efficient ways of preserving a wisdom tradition.

John the Baptist was not a regular temple kind of guy. Though he probably had a lot of non-canonical scrolls too (like the Dead Sea Scrolls)

Neither were the relatives and friends who naturally resonated with the Kid and become his students.

Nor were all those mysterious folks in white clothes who seemed to show up time and time again.

Not all Jewish spiritual thought and study happened in the temples (like TWI doctrines seemed to imply).

From before even Abraham, most of the richest spiritual meetings with God happened in caves, under a tree, on the road, or on mountain tops.

The spoken word and living/lived word was more of a sacred art than the written word. Being more alive and spiritually present.

The Kid seemed more interested in demonstrating the Word as a living quickening reality, than studying it in a book like frightened priests.

And he seemed determined to break the priests and the jewish mainstream of their mostly ignorant fixation with the books.

(because of the way they used the books to cause suffering and put dogmatic burdens on their flocks)

although, this is not to devalue what is actually recorded. i love the scriptures and for what they preserve.

But rather, i think that demonstration and living spiritual experience verifies and opens up to us what is written...

...NOT the other way around.

so no, Ham, i dont think Jesus owned his own copy of the OT scrolls

he was more or less homeless and possession-less

but he knew the scrolls, and was familiar with the wide variety of jewish interpretations of them,

as well as those jewish and non-jewish writings NOT allowed in the temples

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quote:
Originally posted by moony3424:

Sounds about right Ham. Of course, when he was younger, he would have worked closely with the Priests while studying the scrolls to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. Besides that, he would have had to study at the synogogue. There isn't anything actually written about those years, so anything would be conjecture.

Except that the Bar Mitzvah ceremony came during the Middle Ages.

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Ok, so I come back and say, he grew in wisdom, the Father was greater than he, and he called the Father the "only true God."

Can it be any more simple?

But rather than go off on that tangent (which is a tangent), why not just acknowledge that knowing the scriptures the way Jesus did can be explained whether or not he is actually God the Creator?

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So far, it looks like the answer is "no". Jesus did NOT have his own "bible"..

What I was kind of thinking was, he probably didn't sit around with his nose in the book from 9 to 5 trying to "master" the darn thing..

Either you have it, or you don't. Apparently, he "had" it..

quote:
The Kid seemed more interested in demonstrating the Word as a living quickening reality, than studying it in a book like frightened priests.

Good point, Sirguessalot..

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A little bit of a sidetrack here.

(In case someone doesn't know.)

I got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit earlier this year. They were written on animal skins and you could actually see where they were sewn together to make them longer or wider. The massorah was evident on some (I thought that awesome). There were biblical scrolls and historical. It is said that most of the Bible had been recaptured in the caves, but are now preserved in Jerusalem. Some of the exhibit showed mere minute pieces of a scroll that made a modern-day puzzle look like a stroll (scroll?) in the park. These scrolls must have been extremely precious in Jesus' day.

Are there some who think Jesus was born actually knowing all that was written? Were would the human part come in if that were true?

IE

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not to compare the Kid and Mozart across the board, Raf. Mozart may have been a rare egg, but was not the generic apex specimen of humanity in all ways, as Jesus has been described.

but some of the most telling similarities i can see though, in the most human sense, if you will, are things like:

that ability to entertain a crowd, and compose symphonies of truth. the gift to have changed the way the world thinks about something or other or two or three

imagine, to actually feel a need to throw your self to the masses in the name of love and expressions of its divine manifestation.

to care enough to impale yourself on history in the name of silly things like love, beauty, truth...

that passionate living of life like a man on fire...

both of them were Rock Stars plus, in a sense

which, considering the cultures they lived in, was a one-in-a-million kind of affair

and...i doubt Mozart carried around a copy of every song he heard

just as i doubt Jesus memorized every line of scripture he read

cuz its the spirit of the letter that counts, i recall

its the spirit of the letter that lasts

the spirit of the letter we are after

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i think the scriptures and old sayings that weren't even written were talked about, discussed and reflected upon in many circles around the campfires in many places

and more wisdom was born out of these communions of people as that which is within begins to see more and more of itself

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It is in the doing of the word we see results we learn about who God and what His will is.

be ye Doer's of the word.

It is written.

Mary and Jo where very Godly people, look at how Jesus was born!

they knew God and believed His will for them.

they knew when God spoke to them as did the whole family, Elizabeth was an outstanding believer in what God promised her and in spite of her rather doubting hubby.

I believe they spoke and LIVED who God was to them as a family as a culture as a lifestyle.

Who has made the most impact about God in your life?

Was it the preacher who says Romans is the answer to life or was it those that you have seen walk and talk with a power you want and need in life?

Jesus was raised in a very Godly household. they knew the word and they believed God spoke and talked to them. GEEZ mary knew she had not had sex with Jo even if no one eles believed what God told her , Jo believed in Mary and God to marry her .

they didnt doubt God's vioce in their life from the day Jesus was concieved and most probably way before that as she was a chosen mother of Jesus, that took generations to find.

Why would they need a bible or scrolls? Im sure they taught from the scrolls they had what they had to learn but really it was God with them that taught them the "truth". t he was not a bastard,YET the whole freaking town thought he was...what does a scroll or two do in a case like that?

they walked and talked with God almighty and taught their son to do the same.

it is a spiritual life with the father.

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I think that's really the whole point of it..

no mind numbing sessions doing retemories..

no block memorization of scriptures..

they just lived it.

Honestly, any of that kind of stuff would have gotten in the way.. in my opinion.

Yeah, I know reading the OT was part of it. But I think people, except for the scribes and such, had a little more balance in their lives back in those days..

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