The Rebels ....from the imagination of a badger

More Appeals...and Healings

On the evening of Sabbath, James, John, Philip, Andrew, Big Simon, Cephas and myself all accompanied Yesh to the synagogue in Capernaum. At the right time he stood up and more or less commenced by saying that the Lord's people had wandered far from His wishes, and that to return to the old days of justice, security, safety and protection under Him we all had to review our situation, our own errors and sins.

The questions started to fly! Some were clearly hostile, some heckling, others dismissive, and a few showed genuine interest. But Yesh's answers flowed with such authority and ease that everybody was transfixed where they sat or stood. He knew what to say as if his whole life had prepared him for that moment. We had forgotten the Lord's laws, ways and wishes, he said, and our society was ill, because the Lord had become tired with us and looked away. We had to change our thoughts and actions to regain our Lord's trust, and then He would look upon us all again with favour. As the questions were called out, one after the other, so Yesh was answering each in a few words, but so perfectly that everybody was stunned into amazement.

And then it happened. A local vagrant who had come into the synagogue to sleep under a bench awoke. This man usually wandered about the town, one moment entreating people for food, next screaming and threatening, then raving about demons and monsters. People were frightened of him because he was clearly possessed by some demonic spirit. Well, he started to rant and rave at Yesh.

'You!', he screamed,'You would bring the devils down upon us! You've come to destroy our lives! I know people like you! You've come to get us punished by God!' and more of the same. Yeshua listened for a few moments and then unleashed his powerful and stunning voice....

'Be quiet!' roared Yeshua, and the man froze into shocked silence.
'Get out!', Yeshua roared, and the man gave out a shriek of agonised pain, collapsed to the ground, quivering, shaking and kicking his legs, and then eventually relapsed into stillness and silence breathing slowly and staring at the ceiling.

A senior went to the man and knelt beside him, and then said to those closest to him, 'Yes.... it was a demon, but I think it's gone,' and then they all turned to stare at Yeshua, and someone said, 'He's not just talk.... he's got powers!'

After that disturbance people looked very shocked, talking in low voices about Yeshua. He signalled us and we left. We all walked to Cephas's house.

'Why didn't you finish your speech?' I asked Yesh. 'Because the people's attention was all directed at that poor man, and they would forget the really important issues that we had come to tell them about. Trust me when I tell you, Mark, that they had forgotten about united action for better treatment before they had even left that place!'

At Cephas's home, Ruth could not rise to greet us because she was feeling ill. Cephas went in to see her, came back out and told us that she looked feverish. Yeshua went in... He was so clever, knew so much. I overheard what he said, which was that she was obviously concerned what would happen to her sons-in-law if they got involved in any kind of actions against the state, and that she was sick with worry. I heard Ruth crying and telling Yeshua all her fears. Yesh told her that nothing, absolutely nothing would ever happen to 'her boys' while he lived, and long after for that matter, and that she was to relax, take deep breaths, drink some water and allow him to massage her arms and hands. Within a few moments she was up, considerably cheered and fussing around to get us all some food and drink.

By then it was getting late, but the news had spread around Capernaum that Yeshua had caste out a demon in the synagogue, and this, together with his reputation as a healer brought a cowd of the curious, the excited and those desperate for a healing to gather outside and around Ruth's home.

'That's all they are here for', said Yeshua, 'They're not interested in doing away with Temple corruption and injustice, that's all far away.... they just want something here and now, at this moment. Very well, I'll do my best!'

Yeshua healed, advised and counselled as many as he could until, exhausted, he sat down and collapsed into sleep, and his followers sent everybody away.

I slept at the house, and nobody woke until well after sun-rise. Then we found that Yeshua had gone out. There was much consternation about where he might be, and Cephas and the others decided to set off to the hills inland to seek him, but I went to the shoreline to search for him..... I had an idea. When, hours later, they all returned, I was able to tell them that I had found him.

'He's under the small boat, not asleep, but in prayer and meditation.' I told them, 'And before you shout at me for not coming to get you all, Yesh told me that he needed time alone.'

We all went down to the shore, and Yeshua was still there, in prayer under the boat.

'We've looked everywhere for you!' Cephas complained.

'I was so tired. I needed to think out how we can get the main message across to the people so that they'll listen and focus upon it. All they've wanted this last day is free cures....... they haven't listened to anything we've tried to tell them! We need to go to other vilages to spread the truth about our wicked priestshood and Temple corruption, and to unite everyone to the Immerser's original cause, freedom for our people from all oppression, and returning to all our Lord's laws.'

And that is what we did. We took the lightweight fast boat which doubled as a shelter when beached and turned over as our base, then Philip and Big Simon, James and John, Cephas and Andrew set off into different villages nearby to tell everybody about the cause and to let them know that Yeshua was coming to explain. To attract a larger gathering they reminded people of Yeshua's amazing healing abilities. Of, course everybody knew that Yeshua was the well known healer, so he would be surrounded by sick, ill and possessed people as soon as he and I arrived, but he didn't mind and healed as many as he could, and then, once he had a decent crowd to listen, explained to them how we could all eventually win our freedom and increase our health, savings and security if only we could gather together as one in the struggle against this semi-slavery existence which we were subjected to. As Yeshua healed and spoke out about the way back to the Lord, the pairs of boatmen went ahead preparing the way.

Several days later, after almost continuous visits to outlying villages, we returned to Ruth's home for rest and recuperation. Her home was literally filled with food offerings brought in by the grateful, the interested, zealots and wellwishers, so we could eat our fill. But we couldn't rest for long. As soon as the local people knew we had arrived back they were crowding outside for help, healing and cure from demonic possessions and curses. We also attracted the priests, local dignitaries and officials who usually had their fair share of hangers-on, but who in recent days had found themselves ignored.

Yeshua did his best. He always took interest in the sick before anything else, because that was what he had been good at for most of his life. One group of men who could not get near the doors to Ruth's home, climbed up walls and journeyed across roof-tops that lead up onto her flat roof. They pulled the roof hatch open and lowered a paralysed young lad down into Ruth's own room. He was brought down to Yesh who turned to inspect him. This lad had lost the feeling around his lips and mouth, his toes and his finger tips, and explained to Yesh that he could not move them properly. Also he was feeling strange further up his legs and arms, as if hundreds of people were pricking him with thorns. Yesh only needed to ask one question.....

'Where did you get the mussels!?' he asked sternly. The boy didn't answer; did not dare to answer, because it's against Moses' law to eat any shellfish. Yeshua got angry. 'If you tell me I will try to heal you. If you don't then the Lord will take you! Now.... where did you get the mussels?'

The boy gave in. 'We raked for them in the shallows by Joseph's point. It wasn't just me. Samuel and Eban were there too. We did cook them!'

Yeshua immediately took a grip on his obvious anger, told the boy and his relatives that they had to fetch the other two lads and to trust him, and then told the boy to open his mouth wide. He then took a rope's end and thrust it down the boy's throat. He struggled and retched, and then vomited again and again all over Yesh and the floor. As he did this Yesh called instructions up to Ruth, who brought in various plants and herbs, and people appealed outside for anybody in the crowd to fetch Samuel, Eben and certain other ingredients that Yeshua needed. Within a very short time Yeshua was mixing a potion in a bowl, and I was mixing another for him on the floor.

Yesh continued to cause the boy to retch until he could be sick no more, and then made him drink water to bursting point before making him sick yet again. Then he told the boy to eat as much of the first mixture as he could.

When my bowl was mixed to a mushy disgusting mess I showed Yesh. I honestly did not believe that Yesh would make anybody eat such a smelly disgusting mess as that. Nor did he...! He told the boy's father to pull up the boy's tunic and turn him over, with his knees pulled up as close to his chin as possible, and then Yesh began to push as much of that mess up into the boy's bottom as he could. You should have seen the father's face, and if it had been anybody else but Yesh doing it I think that he might have killed him on the spot, but Yesh's reputation as a healer was strong in Capernaum, and so the man just held his son and watched in shocked horror.

Once upright, the boy continued to drink the first mix with water and vomit, and eventually he gushed from his bottom as well, until he lay there, almost exhausted into lifelessness.

The boy's father looked at Yesh and asked, 'Is he alright?'

'That decision is not mine but the Lords. Your boy broke the Lord's law, and the Lord may forgive or not. Let's see. Now, where are the other boys who were with him?'

'We feel fine!', called down the boys, just arrived on the rooftop. 'We didn't eat many, but Jonas ate loads!'

'Thank the Lord for that', said Yeshua, and then to the slowly recovering boy,' OK, young man.... your sins are forgiven, this one time!'

Some priests had managed to push their way in, close enough to hear, and by their shocked stares and gestures it was obvious to everybody that they did not approve. 'Why are you thinking that it's wrong for me to say that?' He asked them. 'Which is harder, to forgive a sin or to heal such an illness, eh?'

Then he turned back to the lad's relatives and asked them to help the boy up, which he managed to do. Then Yeshua said to him, 'Take that mattress with you. You owe Ruth a new one!' and the boy turned to fetch it, but his father grabbed it from the floor and they all left, thanking Yesh again and again. The onlookers had never seen anybody brought back from the shellfish death before!
 
Matthew...........


Next day, Yeshua walked down to the water's edge with us, and we strolled along the shoreline. At first we were discussing how to proceed with our recruitment of followers, but within a very short time a crowd had joined us by the lake, keeping pace with us. Yesh was answering questions that were called to him as we continued, until we reached the Fisheries Inspector's desk. We were friends with Matthew, who, although he was a customs officer and rich, was also a good friend to the fishermen. Most of us couldn't work out how a man with high family connections could be such a nice man and in that kind of job. But Mat, unlike most other Herodian officers, was kind, and although he did his duty and charged us what we owed, he often helped out fishermen who were in difficulties.

He knew about us and our cause; had often spoken about it with us, and he'd obviously heard that Yesh had picked up the challenge after the Immerser had been arrested. Yesh walked up to his table and banged playfully upon its top, making the piles of coins jump.

'Hey! don't do that! I've got to pile them again now!'

'Come on Mat! Up you get and follow us. We're going to get our proper laws and way of life back. Leave all that rubbish for Alphaeus..... the Lord knows he's wanted your seat long enough!'

'What? Now?'

'Yes! You can take us all home and give a feast to celebrate your retirement from a life of debauchery, bribery and corruption! It's Alphaeus's turn now! Alphaeus! Sit there, man, it's all yours, friend!'.

Alphaeus sat at the assistant's end of the table, eyes wide and mouth beginning to smile at the thought of all his dreams being achieved in a few unexpected, never-to-be-believed moments. As Matthew slowly rose and stepped away, he jumped into the head official's seat, and sat there in excited pleasure, but still not sure how long he was likely to remain in it.

Matthew stood, there, looking at his resourcful occupation, and then grunted, shrugged and turned away. 'Oh well.... I've got more than I'll ever need.'

He sent word out for some of his old colleagues to join him at his home, sent a boy ahead to warn his wife of the unexpected social event that she must prepare for, and then took Yesh and his followers to a wonderful midday feast. Cephas let his friends leave and then walked back to Alphaeus who now sat upon the Capernaum Publican's chair, staring at the expensive table in disbelief.

'Are you going to be as fair as Mat was?' he asked with that dangerous smile of his.

'Oh.... I don't know.... I might be', answered Alphaeus and then he gave an involuntary snigger of greedy joy.

'We all love you as well, Alphaeus, and I care about you,' that dangerous smile intensified,'So please, please don't become too greedy, because I'd hate to hear that you had been found washed up on the shore, or fallen over with a broken head. OK?' Alphaeus's smiling face froze, but before he could turn to answer Cephas was leaving to go to the feast.

I ran home and pulled a startled Imma all the way to Matthew's house for such an expensive treat.

Groups of people gathered outside the spacious home. At first I didn't notice, but Yesh and others did. We all just stayed inside and ate until we could eat no more. At first Imma wouldn't eat or drink, just sat there in silence, no doubt thinking about those many occasions when she had gone hungry because of publicans' zeal, but eventually her heart softened and after a while she was smiling while she sat beside me and eating free food. ........... I'll never forget Matthew's joining feast!

During the feast he spoke with his wife quietly, but I was close enough to hear. She was complaining about the cost of it all, which she had never anticipated, and losing her so many luxuries which she had looked forward to. She was upset at the prospect of a lower standard of living.

'Look, Maram, I need to go with this group, and when we have succeeded I will return, but in a position much higher than sub tax officer. These people are going to change the World! Until then you only have to feed yourself, and you will control all our wealth. Think about it, you will be very powerful.....'

Maram seemed satisfied because she perked up and began to circulate among the guests, smiling much more than before. Somehow I knew that she had married money and luxury before husband and maybe she was already working out her next moves for more?

Yesh loved feast gatherings. He knew everybody....had healed members of most of their families, so he ate and drank wine, laughing at friend's silly tales and telling some of his own.

Eventually a group of Pharisee lawyers who stood outside became angry, possibly because they weren't invited inside, and some of them shouted insults through the door. Yeshua looked up, rolled his eyes at the ceiling, pushed himself up from the table and walked outside. He didn't wait for them to speak, but answered their intended accusations before they were even voiced.

'I know what you're thinking! Yes I do! You wonder why we would eat with taxmen and officials, who you despise mainly because they make a lot more money than you do, so you call them sinners! If I am any healer at all I need to save people who sicken through sinfulness! By the way I expect you've got a lot of aches and pains.... can I help?!!''

Now Andrew and Philip had not come to the feast because this was a day of fast which they wanted to keep. Yeshua had broken fast because he did not want to refuse Matthew's hospitality. But these Pharisees then picked on that, the fact that they were fasting and that Yeshua and friends were not.

Yeshua looked calm but I could see how angry he felt because his hands were slightly shaking.

'This event is more important than the day, my friends. It's like a wedding, and we will not leave Matthew to celebrate alone. This is a new beginning, too special to be spoiled by rules which you cherry-pick as you wish!' The hungry and very jealous Pharisees wandered off, mumbling together.

They were like that.... outwardly making themselves look proper and decent, but under that layer of respectability most of them were devious, greedy, scheming and treacherous. Because Yeshua was so popular as a healer and advisor they were always looking to criticise, whether it was plucking ears of corn to chew or healing on the Sabbath.... anything!

And when more fishermen and others joined with Yesh in their mission for an end to Temple corruption and the re-instatement of the Poor Laws for all, that was when the pharisees and official priesthood realised that Yeshua was becoming powerful. The risk of them losing their comfortable lifestyles grew. I have no doubt that this was when they began to report to Herodian officials that Yeshua, like John the Immerser, was high risk, and even as early as that late spring they started to consider how they could kill him.
 
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The Brotherhood

In the following days the news spread that Yeshua was gathering a large following. Men and their women were arriving from around the lakeside and the inland villages, mostly attracted by the offer of freely given remission of sins by immersion in Gennesaret, which would save them from losing a whole year's savings at the Temple.

Many already knew about Yeshua's healing powers and either hoped to see some miracles or an end to their own aches and pains, but with the crowds came the risk of paid assassins. It was Big Simon who organised some protection for Yeshua. He said very little, but he obviously knew what he was doing. His reputation was that of a deadly dangerous man.

But interest was growing so fast, and news extending out so widely that people began to arrive from the North, from the ten cities, Judea, even as far as Idumea and Perea. The crowds were massing. Yesh's disciples were immersing and redeeming the crowds who had formed long queues, wading out to Andrew, Cephas, John, James and Philip, and Yesh would wade along the lines of queues to give special healing, and those closest would push forward to watch. We began to find it difficult to move; sick people literally threw themselves in front f us so that we could not go past.

Big Simon spoke with Cephas who came to John and said, 'Launch your second boat out and bring it along here. If we can get Yesh just offshore then more people can see him healing. We can carry folks out to him.'

John called to me and Philip and we pushed our way out of the growing crowd and ran back to Zebedee's slipways. All the boats were in because so many crews had joined the crowds, and we had a hard time getting the boat afloat on our own. Eventually we managed to launch and poling her along the shoreline we reached Yeshua and the others. Before the crowd new about it Yesh and James were both on board and we were out to the depth of a man's chest, moored fore and aft. Many did not queue up to be redeemed, but waded towards the boat calling out for help.

Yesh usually enjoyed healing, which he was so good at, but he was becoming upset because the vast majority of the crowd seemed to be just there for that, to have a pain or sickness taken away, or to oggle at the spectacle of others being cured. 'It's just a curing party. I can't get them to listen!,' It was quite impossible to proceed with our objective of recruiting people for the movement.

There were so many desperate people, all crying out to Yesh. 'You are our saviour! ' and 'You are the one person....'

After some time Yeshua quietened the crowd by standing high up on a boat thwart with raised arms in the air. He did not move until the enormous crowd had stilled, and then told John and James what to say. Boatmen have called out across the waters for generations and the twins were so loud that they were nicknamed 'Sons of thunder'... their tremendous voices boomed the messages out for all to hear. They spelled each other to rest throats and quench thirst, and in this way Yeshua started to tell the crowd about what was needed for change.

'Children of God!
Your priests have deserted our laws for the luxuries and evils of Pagan Gods!
Our Temple is filled with graven images and Baal's features, stamped upon our Temple coins!
They don't care about our ways anymore, they just pretend in hypocrisy!
The poor laws that once supported you are ignored!
If you cannot pay a debt they take your valuable tools away, or your donkey!
If you are sick they ignore the law which commands to give you time to pay back loans!
Fields are harvested completely, leaving nothing for the poor!
They have completely ignored all of our laws to protect our poor, and sick!
They have turned away from our Father, our God!'

I'll never forget that first great meeting, Yesh standing up in the boat and the 'sons of thunder' calling out his messages ... which I now think that nobody really wanted to hear... I think that they only wanted something for nothing. The people were not reacting to these messages, they only seemed interested in watching what was happening, or for free redemption, or for cures from sicknesses.

I now can see that the Immerser had intended no further message other than to come to him for freely given redemption, thus starving the Great Temple of fees, funds and offerings. And his disciples, although true to him were carrying out his work and receiving small donations which in a single day could make them comfortable. Yesh had wanted more, an uprising that would be great enough to bring a corrupt priesthood down to leave only those honest and true to the laws of Moses. Success would make him the promised Meshiah, the saviour of our World. But those crowds on that day were only interested in immediate rewards and cures.

In any event Big Simon was much relieved at having Yesh off the shoreline and in comparative safety, and after that day he insisted on using this method whenever possible. Within a few days, some more of the Immerser's disciples joined us. Philip had returned down to the Jordan and urged them to come up to Gennesaret. These were brought in to our close circle, and we needed another boat to carry them all. I was sent with some others to collect Cephas's boat which was equipped with those additional oars and we made the return journey in fast time. But by then most of the crowd had dispersed. Those of us in Yesh's close circle boarded the boats, rowed out into the lake and then sailed along the coast to the entrance of the North Jordan near to Bethsaida, and after Yesh took a chosen group ashore we stood out just offshore.

We chatted, argued, snoozed and generally passed time until our watchman called out that they were returning so we manned our oars and went in to collect them. As we rowed back out, with all aboard, I gathered from conversations that Yeshua had appointed his closest followers.

At that time I didn't actually know all their names. Cephas was more like an uncle to me. Andrew, James, John and Philip were colleagues and friends. Matthew I knew because everybody knew him in Capernaum and his nickname was 'The Levite' because all Galilean officials were. Eventually we all called him just 'Levi'.

Big Simon, now Yeshua's guard, had somehow survived the taxation revolt many years before and had recently worked with a netting crew further along the shoreline. Philip had brought another James, Little James we called him, up from the Jordan where he had been a disciple of the Immerser and previously a South-shore Gennesaret boatman. Jude had been a boatman and supplier of ropes, lines and net cord for years. Thomas had been a Magdala boatman before he joined us, and he could read and write! Nathaniel BarTolomai was a farmer's second son and thus displaced from the land by his elder brother he had come to work for Zebedee.

And there was Judah. Like Levi he was a Judean Levite of high family and like Levi had been a publican, a junior Tax Officer based at Bethsaida which is how Cephas and Andrew had known him. But Judah was more than just a hardened tax official, it was rumoured that in earlier years back in the southern provinces he had been a 'dagger for money' killer. They said that a job had gone wrong and so his family had got him out and away up North where the tax officer's position at Bethsaida awaited him. I mistrusted and hated the very sight of him, but he was so quick with counting that Jesus let him keep the group's money bag. We called him 'Judah the blade' (translator's note:- Judah Sicario, which spoken many times over millenia is now Judas Iscariot) instead of his formal name Judah BenSimeon. By the way that Judah moved, spoke and with ever shifting eyes I always felt certain that he was a ruthless man. Yeshua probably chose Judah because he new that hard men like Big Simon, Judah and Cephas would be needed in the coming months.

That evening we sailed back to Capernum and hauled the boats out. Cephas's home was only big enough for Yesh and closest followers, so the rest of us stayed at Zebedee's home. The next morning we set off and walked along the shoreline to Magdala. When we arrived Yeshua took us all to a house, and for the first time ever I met Mary of Magdala, a close friend of Yeshua's, she greeted him warmly. She lived with a widow, another Salome in my story, and they made us welcome, squeezed as we were into their tiny home. A few other people had followed us to Mary's home, so the word went out and soon a small crowd gathered outside to seek healing for themselves or loved ones. From this time forward, when priests, officials or Pharisees knew of our presence they would hurry to where we were to watch, clearly all under orders to listen for any reason to report him.

To make things worse in Magdala, somebody had got word to Jesus's family that he was there. There had been incidents at Nazareth that had embarrassed them all and they must have heard that he had started to make revolutionary speeches, because his mother and brothers gathered outside asking for him to come out to them. I could hear one of his brothers saying loudly, 'He must be mad, doing these things!' The officials overheard this talk and took up a similar line, saying things like 'He must be possessed; demons and evil spirits obey him, so he must be on their evil side!'

Yeshua heard some of these accusations and stormed outside.

'Why would I work against satanic forces if I was a satanic follower?!' he roared, and that stopped them. Yeshua turned back inside, and it was then that Salome reminded him that his mother and brothers were there, in view outside and waiting to confront him.

'Mother? Brothers?' he shouted angrily, 'Here are my mother and brothers!' he said loudly, pointing at us all gathered round. 'Whoever is prepared to work for a return to our Lord's laws and ways, he is my brother, sister and mother! You are my family!' There was no need to question that. We had already become more close than his family.

I never saw any of his family, ever again.
 
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Judah Sicario = Judas Iscariot
That's clever
 
RJM said:
Judah Sicario = Judas Iscariot
That's clever
Click to expand...
Thank you. :)
It's just that there isn't a Judas in the whole of the Old Testament, and only three that I know of from the time of Jesus.
I don't actually think that Judas was called 'sicario', more likely some similar name from Western or Eastern Aramaic. My totally misspent youth could have studied Aramaic languages, or mostly anything would have bettered me. :D
 
The Giant.....

It's only two hour's sail to reach the Eastern shore in a breeze but because we were going down to the Gadarenes Cephas and the thunder brothers wanted to hook up some sunken wet boxes containing the great demon fish that we sold to the pagans, and however carefully and accurately they are dropped it always seems to take ages to find them up again.

Eventually we caught up the connecting line and hauled up the great boxes, empting three great monsters onto our deckboards, but by then we had lost the breeze and we were almost becalmed half way across; and then as is typical on Gennesaret a storm hit with no warning, none of us saw the line-squall racing towards us and we immediately lost sight of Cephas's boat in the driven spume and spray. Within moments waves were running in to each other from more than one direction, and so it wasn't possible to put the boat's head safely into the waves because they were bursting into one another and rebounding. And then we were swamped by an enormous sea which broke right over the gunwale and half filled us. I saw two of the valued sea monsters washed straight over the side, everybody was bailing water out as fast as possible and we all believed that the next wave would finish us off. None of us were strong swimmers like Yesh, and we believed that we were finished, probably because we dared to carry demon fish.

It was John who noticed Yesh, still fast asleep in the stern, even though completely soaked. He shook Yesh awake, shouting straight into his ear to be heard. I was lashing the sail with more ties to stop it blowing out and capsizing us, but I still have that snatched image in my memory of Yesh sitting up and looking round. Next minute he was up, bailing with the others and roaring at the wind, the sea and the whole world. I swear that he was without fear on the sea because he had said before that he had learned to swim in Egypt where every child can swim from infancy, and where they race through the water at amazing speeds by dragging themselves along, hand over hand, arm over arm.

As suddenly as it had come the wind fell away to nothing in moments, a regular event in certain parts of the lake, especially on the East shore where the high hills run down straight into the water. But the landed disciples such as Judah, Nat and Big Simon were more worried, yet amazed at how soon the wind dropped away after Yeshua awoke and started his roaring and shouting.

Although the waves took time to subside, it was soon possible for both boats to row in towards the shore and land. Yeshua was keen to meet with any local Jews who did not just know him for his healing skills, because the crowds of the northern shoreline seemed to want him for little else.

That dawn, as the group climbed up the steep hillside leading from the water, a huge man dressed in rags came out of the entrance to a cave, saw them and dashed towards them, raving and waving his arms. Big Simon moved forward to stop him from approaching Yesh, but Yesh waved him back and walking towards the man with arms held high so as to show that he had no weapons, he let the man run into his open arms and embrace. Yesh was amazing like that. He just knew a lot about people, especially the demon possessed, which this man certainly was. The man fell though Yesh's embrace on to his knees, and looking up at him cried, 'What do you want with me? What do you want?!'.

Yesh took the man's huge shoulders in his hands and began to shake him as hard as he could, and at the same time he shouted at him .....

'Come out of it! Don't do this to me! What is your name? Tell me your name!'

The man shouted something like, 'They call me thousands of names! Thousands!', and then he broke free from Yesh, jumped up, barged Big Simon to the ground with one thrust and raced off across the hillside for quite a way before turning down towards the sea, racing headlong towards the shoreline far below. He was waving his arms over his head and screaming so loudly. I don't know how he kept on his feet, but he did.

Below him on that part of the hill was a huge drove of swine, grubbing through a low orchard. Unlike Jews the local pagans farmed swine for their meat. As this man raced down upon them they all panicked and fled, scattering in all directions. Some ran ahead of the man all the way to the Lake. A few even ran into it. The swineherd stood on the hillside, absolutely aghast, not believing that one moment he had been in complete peace with his pigs, the next watching them scatter in every direction. The possessed man ran on into the lake, and then struggledon, dragging himself as far out as he could, before we lost sight of him behind some rocks.

We went over to the Swineherd, who had collapsed onto the ground and sat with his head in his hands, moaning. We gathered from him that he would probably lose some of the drove and that his master would no doubt beat him and cast him out of his employ. He told us that the big man was quite infested with demons, and that in the past he had been tied and chained by the local people for fear that he might harm somebody. But he always just tore free from his bonds and ran back to the hillside caves above the lake. The people had given up about him.

The young man eventually recovered himself, stood up and told us that he must report to his master and seek extra help to bring the drove of swine together again.

'I saw you with him,' he said to Yesh , 'What did you do to make him do that?' And then, without waiting for an answer, he turned and ran off inland. We carried on our way to see if we could find any vilages, but the villagers found us first. A large group of people came up to us, and stood all around. They looked very aggressive and angry, and some held staves and other heavy tools.

Some accused us of robbery and seemed as if preparing themselves to attack us. And they knew that one of us had caused the raging giant to run down into the sea. Because of this they were obviously frightened of Yeshua, and I think that this, and some of our vicious looking followers saved us from their attack. After all, they had just heard that he could command the demon possessed. In the end they just begged us to leave the area and go.

Yeshua motioned us to leave with him, and we went back down to the boats and climbed aboard. That huge man had seen the boats, so he waded along the shoreline and clambered aboard our boat! We told him to get out, but he appealed to Yesh to let him stay on board and come with us. Yesh took the man in his arms for a second time and looked into his face and eyes. The man seemed completely calm, as if he had never been under the spell of a demon in his life.

'Go back to your village and tell the people that you are free of the demons and well again, and that your sins are forgiven by the Lord,' said Yesh, 'And tell them that it was me, Yeshua, who saved you from your sins. Go on now, you must go back. And since you are so strong you can have this great fish to take back to your people. It's our gift to you all.'

The man continued to watch Yeshua's face for a while, and then nodded his agreement, climbed over the side and after taking the great fish over his shoulders he waded ashore. We pushed off and rowed out into a calm lake.

And so we had gained no followers for the mission, and lost the profits from three great demon fish. A very poor venture in my opinion.
 
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wil said:
Waking up...was not the escariot something about a group he was with? Curved sword carriers? Go back to sleep wil
Click to expand...
I know sicario means hired killer: the word could be derived from a weapon they used?
 
RJM said:
I know sicario means hired killer: the word could be derived from a weapon they used?
Click to expand...
The sicario was a long bladed dagger, I have read. Nasty....
 
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wil said:
Yeah..i recall it being a group more than a name..like John the Baptist...judas the Iscariot..
Click to expand...
Yes....and some time after Jesus's mission as well, but I guess that the gospel writers were translating many Galilean terms in to Greek and Latin for the benefit of their main readership and it was only words that they dare not omit (through fear of God's anger?) but wanted to be breezed over that got left in Eastern Aramaic, Cephas and Barabbas being examples, imo.
 
Magdala

That evening a light westerly breeze came onshore, and so both boats were rowed out until we met with the regular Northerlies, raised sail and steered for the western shoreline and Magdala. It was clear to Yeshua that the pagan people of the Gadarenes would not join in any uprising against our corrupt priesthood and most of us were a bit downcast by this, but Thomas had never believed that we would succeed there.

'There aren't that many Jews over there anyway!' Thomas grunted to no one in particular.

'We already knew that,' reasoned Yesh,' But if we think like that then we'll never succeed. We have to try every possibility before we can say what will or won't work,'

'Huh! And we lost three great demon-fish!' mumbled John.

After that there was no further talk on our boat apart from occasional commands from Cephas to adjust the sail's sheet and halyards.

The breeze picked up and within three hours we had run in to the Magdala shore, hauled out the boats and rolled them over to sleep under until dawn. In the early morning we headed for Mary's home, but somehow people had heard we were coming and before we had walked far a small crowd was following us. The problem was that Yeshua was so well known as a successful healer. Before this mission he had often travelled from one village to another, and been more able to control his surroundings, but since he had gathered us followers the news of his travels seemed to race round the lake. Yeshua wanted to make speech and win recruits, but the masses wanted free healing and not much else.

People would call out for help..........
.....'My daughter is dying! Come and save her!'
.....'If I can touch your clothes even, then I will be healed!'
.... and more of the same. Yeshua was no longer a tradesman and travelling healer, he was beginning to be seen as some kind of super angel.

Yesh reassured and healed those who he could, and even we were clutched at for reassurance and healing. While with Yesh we had slight powers as well. I remember this young girl who stumbled towards us with her hands outstretched. She was making very strange noises and her head was continuously jerking to the right and left but her eyes were fixed upon us all the time, and eventually she took hold of me! I tried to release her hold and push her away but she had such an amazingly powerful grasp, but within seconds she started to calm down, her head stopped jerking and her face became very serene, and then she smiled this beautful smile at me and said ,'Thankyou!' and let go, clearly released from the sickness that had infested her. That kind of miracle happened to many of us if Yesh was there. But Yeshua could not seem to gain stillness and attention from these crowds.

By the time that we reached Mary's home the people had massed to a frightening crowd, those at the back pushing and shoving to get nearer to Yesh. One young woman lost her footing and fell under the people around her but they didn't seem to pay any attention to her. Yesh put his hands high in the air and called out for calm and quiet but he could not control the growing multitude.

'We can't succeed like this. this could turn into a riot! We need to get clear of here.' He said, 'Let's try Nazareth. They might listen now.' They sent me and other younger followers to go back and care for the boats, and then left for Nazareth which was only a three hour trek away. Once the crowds had drifted away Mary came down to us with food and drink, and we took turns to go to her home for rest.

I loved Mary, one of my earliest experiences of painful, ardent infatuation; I loved everything about her, and I can see why Yesh did.... She was clearly devoted to Yesh; you should have seen the way that she looked at him, she would touch him as they moved past each other, and if she handed anything to him her hand would linger by his. I felt sure, even back then that she would have risked her life for him without a thought.
 
The Return

They returned the following evening and I had never seen Yesh so dejected. We soon heard what had happened at Nazareth. Yesh had stood up to speak about our struggle for the poor laws and fair charges for redemption at the Great Temple and at that point the crowd realised that the famous healer they'd heard about was Yesh, who they'd known as a boy. They probably recalled his youth, mistakes, early pranks and childishness. How could this person be the well known healer? Yeshua was heckled in the synogogue and people would not listen to him. To his dismay he found that his touch and words could not heal as was usual everywhere else. At that point the people had started to become more aggressive. Yeshua had just walked through them all, looking straight ahead, and left the hill, but I expect that Cephas, Big Simon and Judah might have had something to do with the safe withdrawal, for they all carried short swords and had probably drawn them. On the way back he vowed never to return to that hilltop tented town of tradesfolk. As if our group could not become more downcast, soon after they returned, Andrew and Philip arrived at the house with three more of the Immerser's disciples.

Adam, Jairus and Jacob had walked and run all the way from the Jordan, stopping at villages to ask after Yeshua until they found him at Magdala. Their desperate news was that Jochanan the Immerser had been murdered by Antipas..... in the prison at Machearus, for nothing more than to help him keep face after making stupid promises to his wife's daughter, who had demanded his head on a tray which was her mother's malicious desire.

'Why did Antipas take Jochanan down to Perea?' I wondered aloud.

'Because he also rules Perea!', explained an exhausted Thomas. 'Herodius had manipulated her weak husband Philip into a divorce so that she could have brother-in-law Antipas for 'husband' and bed-mate. She wanted Jochanan dead for criticising her adulterous change of husbands, evil woman that she is!'

'Tell us......' Jairus looked hard at Yeshua, '.....Tell us straight.....are you the real Meshiah? Are you the one who will win back all of the Lord's laws? Was it worth our journey, coming here to join you?'

'I tell you!' spoke Yesh in loud voce, 'This is not over until every single line and word of the laws of Moses is fulfilled once again!'

'Ask around,' Yesh spoke more quietly, 'and you will hear of people healed, demons caste out, the lame walking, even the blind seeing. The crowds flock to us and we have the chance to give new life to their true natures...... being followers of the Lord. We can bring the people back to the ways of our Lord, and we need you to help.'

'We have asked around,' said Adam, 'and I have to say that some talk of you as just talk, debauchery and wine in the company of sinners!'

'Who says that, the Priests?' asked Yesh, 'You can bet that I do enjoy my food and wine with sinners! We all are sinners! But we aren't fat, corrupted, quisling cheats like them, the hypocrites!'

'And I do love to drink wine and eat with my friends, just as the ancients always did. Said Yesh, and Adam nodded towards the ground as a gesture of apology.

'What, then? When do we start?' he looked back up into Yesh's eyes.

'Right now!' answered Yesh,' I have twelve close followers, mostly brothers in blood, arms or crew-mates and it's time for each of them to pair up and go out into the villages to heal and spread the word for a new Galilee under the Lord's proper laws. '

'I'll take young Mark' said Cephas. I was delighted.
'I want John!' said James.

'No, you can't have John. He needs to choose another friend. Now, who do you choose?' answered Yeshua.

'Then I want Josh', answered James. The disciples became surrounded by more recent followers who had arrived over the last day, and now all appealing to be chosen, and very soon Yeshua's closest followers had paired off with their own comrades. Big Simon paired with Jairus, Philip paired with the Immerser's disciple Adam and Andrew took Jacob, which isn't surprising because they had both been disciples of the Immerser before.

'Come into the house, just you twelve. The rest of you, wait outside and when I have explained what I need to my disciples, they can spread the word among you all.'

We all called agreement and sat down in the shade to wait for our instructions. Eventually the meeting broke up, and Cephas came out to me.

'Ok, Mark..... you're with me! ' We both grinned at each other. Cephas was a good leader and I knew that I could trust his judgement. 'Each team is going out from here in different directions. You and I are going to visit every village that we come to on the way to Scythopolis, although we won't actually go into that city.'

'Why not?'

'Because we won't be meeting with the true followers of the Lord in places like that. They're all corrupt, greedy quislings. We will get much more attention from the poor and working people who would support the poor laws and fair livings for all. We've all watched how Yesh heals, and gives comfort, and we can do that to attract groups of people. Then we present the challenge to them to join the struggle for our laws back under the Lord. Are you in?'

....'I'm in, and I know I can heal some people already!' I said, and we embraced together in celebration.

We gave farewells to the others and promised to think of them, and soon after receiving our instructions from Yeshua we split up and headed off in different directions. At first each disciple had several followers, not just their chosen partners, but it's amazing how quickly a good cause can leave people when they are going out to possible danger. After our first entry into a village, no further than a short walk outside Magdala, all our followers had left us, some with 'good reasons' such as my son is ill, weak excuses like 'my wife likes me with her at nightime', to pathetic cop-outs like 'I feel hungry already; I think I'll go home'!

And so we journeyed on to the south, alone. Up until then Cephas had not had the time to let me know exactly what Yesh had instructed because hangers on had crowded him and needed his attention all the time, but now that they had gone he could give me our orders.

Yeshua had assured the twelve that because they had faith in their abilities when with him that these had worked, and with that same faith they would find new strengths and abilities once they had embarked upon this mission,

'Just be yourselves.' he had ordered,'and remember how I treated different sicknesses and how I handled difficult questions. Don't get involved in arguments or discussions with priests. It will not help your cause, you will convert less listeners to our cause if you are seen arguing with these people, and it could get you arrested, even executed..... so stay away from dangerous people! '

As I listened to Cephas I knew that everything Yeshua had said would be crucial for our success and survival.

This is what Yeshua had told his team. 'Don't carry a staff, or robbers will wonder why you need to be armed yet officials will think that you yourselves are robbers! Don't carry a bag, or they'll assume that you have something worth stealing! Obviously the same goes for money belts and even food that can be visible, or any bulges in your tunics. Stay alive! How many people can you convert if you're dead? Big Simon, Cephas and the rest of you ..... If you must carry them, keep daggers and swords within your clothing like Judah does! You can wear sandals, because although they increase your risk slightly, you won't finish your journeys without them, but don't push extra clothes into your belts..... that attracts robbers as well! Stay alive!"

Yeshua was a survivor, alright. All those years before, Yeshua had been walking through all the surrounding villages, and knew how to travel as safely as possible. One example....... he always buried his tool-bag and goods before he went into a town or village; then he could always return to get them when he left or when he knew that the community was safe. And although his main interest had always been healing he found that the more he became known and valued as a healer, so the more safe he felt, and the more welcomed at villages. Yes, Yeshua was a survivor.

Another of Yeshua's commands to the twelve was, 'Enter the first home that admits you, and then stay in it! Do not go out into the streets to promote the mission. Let the home owner bring friends and neighbours to you for healing, and then, when you have the chance, explain the purpose of our travels and the need for us all to save our laws and religion, and to win back what has been ours since Moses. If no villager would admit us we were to walk on out of that village, shaking the dust out of our sandals as we left....... showing all that we are taking nothing from that village.

'Leave their dirt with them! Yeshua had said, 'In this way your minds and your hearts will feel true and pure. Take nothing of theirs if they are not for the cause. Then, later, when we have won through, they won't be able to seek comfy positions with claims of past help for us.'

Yeshua did not want us to heal or recruit outside Galilee, and so we were given set routes to walk, covering nearly every village or hamlet.

Each couple would walk towards named townships on the borders of Galillee, visiting every community as they passed though. In this way, Galilee could be covered within a month, and then we were to all meet together again at the fishing village Tabgha, West of Capernaum, just in case any force might have been ordered to wait for us near our home base.

Yeshua had given out the routes to be taken out of Magdala by each disciple:

Cephas towards Scythopolis (but not to touch Tiberius).
His brother Andrew to Taamnach.
James to Jebloam.
His brother John to Hazor
Philip to Megiddo.
Levi to Jokneam.
Big Simon to Jotaparta (but not Sepphoris)
His Brother Nathaniel to Jiphla
Little James to Cabul
His brother Jude to Gabara
Judah to Merom
Thomas of Terichea towards Iron city (but not to enter)

And so we had parted and then turned to our different courses and set off to win the minds and souls of the people of Galilee, to encourage a common but peaceful cause, to bring the working people together as one, to unite ourselves for the return of the Lord's will, land and laws, mostly deserted by leadership corruption, carelessness and greed.

Our travels through the villages as we journeyed slowly towards Scythopolis were met with greatly differing receptions. Many of the vilage leaders had heard of Yeshua barYosef, and some even believed that Cephas was him, and in these places Cephas's healing powers were stronger and we were given every hospitality. At the other end of the scale, some villagers came towards us armed with hammers, axes and sharpened staves and we needed to get away fast.

Cephas was confident amongst his own, and his massive personality drove his answers home but he did not have Yeshua's ability with public speaking and although he had some successes he could not heal like Yeshua. Any healing ability that I had believed myself to have was gone! On those occasions when we left villages after being given hospitality but having utterly failed to heal anybody or win over any persons to the cause, it was embarrassing.... people who liked us wanted change but didn't want to lose what little the already had. When people were cautious about us, or very mistrusting, they sometimes even threw stones at us. Galileans sure can throw a stone!

A month later, hungry and wasted, we shuffled into the village of Tabgha and went to the shore to beg from the local fishermen. They all knew Cephas but had trouble in recognising the thin, wasted and hang-dog man and youth who stood before them. As soon as they knew it was him, they called along the shoreline for help and brought us fish, light wine and bread. We both ate too much, and before long were groaning in pain from bloated stomachs.

Over the next couple of days the others shuffled in to join us. There were so many fishers amongst our group that the Tabgha men cared for us without thought for the cost. On the water we were all fishermen and opponents, sometimes bitter enemies, but on shore we were all just Gennesaret boatmen.

Yeshua joined us on the second day after our arrival. He looked fresh, rested and full of life, as opposed to his twenty-four exhausted and rather depressed missionaries. One or two of our group seemed shaken by this, even angry. I heard Judah and Thomas complaining more than the others. Pairs and trios, huddled together, angry whispers, and Judas mumbling his misgivings most..... 'Us, half starved whilst he has lived in luxury.' ....... ' Us, driven out of villages whilst he has obviously been enjoying himself.' and more.

We didn't know where Yeshua went for that month, nor did anybody else. But when we met back together at Tabgha one month later, exchanging our experiences, James' partner Josh said that he had seen Yeshua walking down to the water and wading far out into the lake on the day that we had all parted. He was quite able to swim across to the Eastern Shoreline. But I never did find out.

In fact, months later, we started to hear stories from the North of a travelling sage who could caste out demons, heal and teach people how to live in passive resistance to the corruption that was all around, and other stories coming to us suggested that this same man had journeyed up to Sidon and Tyre, then around the eastern side of the lake, through the region of the ten cities and then back up to Magdala. I have no doubts at all that this was Yeshua, travelling alone and visiting the surrounding peoples and lands.

Since nobody returned with him I cannot tell what his exact mission was. But my guess is that he was looking to discover how many true followers of the Lord lived in these parts. We also heard stories of how he did not want to get involved with foreign people, but his compassion often moved him to help anybody.
 
Experiences, moans and complaints....... and I learned about Yeshua's parents...

Sitting on the ground by the water, the disciples told about their good and bad experiences, the highs and lows of their missions, with tales of attacks, attempted robberies and expulsions tempered with reports of amazing kindness, hospitality and so many promises of support. Thomas, Little James, Jude, Andrew and Philip made it quite clear that after that month they did not believe that anything could be gained by using Yeshua's methods of healing to draw crowds, then appealing to them to support a passive revolt. Yeshua simply wanted non-violent actions, like going to the Jordan for the remission of sins instead of to the corrupt Temple, avoiding the use of Roman money and those disgusting Temple shekels whenever possible by trading with each other in 'kind'. In this way there could be no taxation and no fat returns to either the priesthood or Rome.

While the other disciples shouted down the ideas and criticisms, Yeshua sat quietly and listened to everybody. He knew it was pointless to talk when everyone was arguing. I think Big Simon agreed with the critics, but his loyalty to Yeshua obviously held him back from commenting. I think Big Simon wanted to make, find, steal or seize weapons, distribute them among the followers, train them hard to improve their skills, and then go from village to village recruiting young men who would be excited about an armed adventure, which was exactly what Yeshua did not want.

The idea of armed resistance seemed right to most of our group however much Yeshua warned that a Roman force would crush any Galilean insurrection. Again and again Yeshua reminded us about the Sepphoris rebellion and how two legions and a cohort had easily retaken that city, enslaved every woman and child and crucified every man amongst the destroyed ruins.

Thomas was the most critical about our policies.

'They just gathered round to have their warts removed, or their painful hips healed!' he moaned, 'When they realised that I could not make any difference to them they just dispersed. One old lady pulled the food bowl from my hands and stomped off with it, talking of cheats and clever-mouths.' He murmured.

It was safe to say that many of Yeshua's disciples had lost faith in either him or themselves during that month on the road. And many of Yeshua's followers and hangers-on had started to disperse. And as already mentioned, all of the disciples had found that any healing powers which they had when near to Yeshua had mostly left them when on their own. Cephas had cast out some demons during that month, but he couldn't heal any blindness, lameness or other sickness. Some of us could not heal anybody at all. Jude's and Little James' teams had both been thrown out of towns under a hail of stones.

Our missions had been without any results.

But I'll never forget being on the road with Cephas during that long month until I die. Although I had known Cephas for many years and we were close, this journey gave us every opportunity to talk and we mostly spoke about Yesh and our other close friends.

This was what Cephas told me about Yeshua.

Just to the North of Nazareth lies a city which was first built up by Herod the Great. Local people still call it the Beautiful Bird because it sits high up on top of a tall hill not far to the North of Yeshua's old home, Nazareth. Cephas told me about the fall of this great city 30 years before, when Judah, son of the infamous brigand Hezekiah, had stormed the city, tyrannised the inhabitants into joining his force and then armed them all from the city's armouries. The Roman legate Varus in Syria had to send a large force to retake this city and was not pleased about the upheaval and so the forces commander had been instructed to be ruthless.

The city was captured and everybody within was enslaved. Nobody was spared, and no excuse for being in the city was accepted. The young women and children were sold to repay the costs of the expedition and all the male prisoners were forced to destroy the city stone by stone, many being brutalised until they died. And those that survived were crucified around the ruins. Those that had dared to venture close to the ruins saw that the crosses looked like a forest. It really wasn't wise to annoy the Syrian Legate.

It had been the fashion amongst the high class to imitate the cultures and religions of their Roman rulers and Yeshua's mother was Miriam born into a high class Levite family. She was given a favoured position as a priestess in one of the city's temples. She was very beautiful and the only reason that she had not been raped, murdered or enslaved was because one of the expeditionary centurions had managed to find her before any of others as they plundered the city. He was so taken with her looks that he placed her under his protection during the two months that he stayed at the city. When he was recalled to Damascus with the main force he had taken her to the nearby hilltop community of Nazareth and left her behind, considering that her life was a fair reward for their friendship.

Joseph BarJacob was a craftsman in wood and stone who worked around the city and he had known its haughty citizens well. When Sepphoris had been over-run by Judah's bandits he was lucky to be outside the city walls, and was able to get clear of the area. He believed that a Roman force was sure to arrive soon, and when it did it would send foraging parties into the surrounding villages, pillaging and looting and nobody would be able to stop the rapes, murders and beatings.

Joseph lived on Nazareth where he concealed all of his heavy tools in a hidden cleft in in the rocky hilltop and then got away just before Roman foragers arrived. Those that had stayed behind were never seen alive again. After the main Roman force left he came out of hiding, recovered his tools and made to leave the area which was still visited by smaller Roman forces, left behind to ensure that nobody tried to return to inhabit the once great city of Sepphoris.

Previously Joseph had occasionally seen Mary because he had been working in the city. He had never expected to speak to such as Mary, a Temple priestess, but after the Romans had left he had found her, a starving vagrant, searching for food scraps around Nazareth hilltop.

Mary's plight was extremely dangerous, because her own family had fled or died, her temple no longer existed, and any surviving Galilean locals were a real danger to young Levite women. Mary was totally displaced, dishonoured, weak and had become with child during that time. Even her own, the Levite priesthood of Israel, would have her stoned to death if she went to them for help, and her only surviving relatives were in Judea.

Joseph had always secretly adored her, and he took her into his care, shared what scraps of food that he had and soon after they both fled to the South. A common peasant worker in company with a high class Levite girl was an extremely dangerous situation. They could be accused of adultery or fornication, both crimes carrying the death penalty. Joseph decided that travelling through Samaria was just slightly less dangerous than taking the Jewish pilgrims' road which ran beside the Jordan river towards Jerusalem. Samaritans did hate Jews but just then they were a more friendly alternative to self-righteous Jewish leaders.

They never found a permanent safe haven and so they stayed at small hamlets for a few days each time, Joseph working for their lodgings, avoiding large communities. Eventually they reached and encircled Jerusalem and once past that great city Joseph paid an innkeeper to stay out of sight in a cattle barn where Yeshua was born. Joseph carried out work for the innkeeper who rewarded him with an old donkey and once Mary and Yeshua were strong enough they continued on their slow journey until they reached the great river of Egypt, and Yesh's first memories were of that river and those who inhabited its banks.

Cephas told me that the child Yeshua became one of the fastest swimmers among a people who could all swim fast. Egyptians needed to cross lagoons and tributaries if they travelled along the great river's banks, and the crocodiles of the Nile fed well on slow swimmers. The giant hippopotamus preferred vegetation for its fodder, but its temper caused it to be even more dangerous than the crocodile.

People who grew up by the Nile were fast swimmers!

His father's skills with wood and stone kept them fed and in funds and by the time Joseph had decided that it was safe to return to Galilee as a peasant couple, Jesus already had two brothers and a sister, and his mother was now the wife of a peasant handworker. Yeshua left Egypt with amazing gifts; as an infant he was running errands for a doctor to find herbs for use in medicines, and by the age of nine he had learned and memorised the uses of hundreds of plants.

Joseph could now take his family to Jerusalem to enquire and ensure that it was safe to go back into Galilee, and discovered that Galilee's governor Antipas was rebuilding Sepphoris and so there would be much work for artisans like himself. Despite Yeshua's knowledge of herbs and healing he would need to learn a trade, and so Yeshua became an artisan like his father, because only legitimate sons of the priesthood could become doctors.

And so Yeshua's home for the rest of his upbringing was at Nazareth, and he became a carpenter and stoneworker, and because his father favoured younger sons he left home at fifteen to work along the shoreline of the great lake at Capernaum. But Yeshua sent more funds home than all his brothers could make, because families often gave him gifts from their savings for healing their loved ones.

Like his father and mother, Yeshua had been a survivor.
 
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@badger
I wonder if you would be interested in this take on the story of the Gerasene swine by @Miken in the thread below:
https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/19492/page-3#post-338195
Miken said:
... I am of the opinion that Mark provides a reference to an event that took place in 67 AD during the Jewish revolt. I see in the ‘I am Legion’ narrative in Mark 5 a connection with the battle of Gamla.

Mark 5

1They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

Compare to this.

Country of the Gerasenes

The town itself is not named in Scripture, and is referred to only in the expression, "country of the Gerasenes" (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26,37; see Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, Appendix, 11). This describes the district in which Christ met and healed the demoniac from the tombs, where also took place the destruction of the swine. It was on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and must have been a locality where the steep edges of the Bashan plateau drop close upon the brink of the lake. This condition is fulfilled only by the district immediately South of Wady Semak, North of Qal `at el-Chucn. Here the slopes descend swiftly almost into the sea, and animals, once started on the downward run, could not avoid plunging into the depths. Many ancient tombs are to be seen in the face of the hills. Gerasa itself is probably represented by the ruins of Kurseh on the South side of Wady Semak, just where it opens on the seashore. The ruins of the town are not considerable; but there are remains of a strong wall which must have surrounded the place. Traces of ancient buildings in the vicinity show that there must have been a fairly numerous population in the district.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/gerasa-gerasenes.html

What does this have to do with Gamla?

Josephus also provides a detailed description of the Roman siege and conquest of Gamla in 67 CE by components of legions X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris and V Macedonica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamla#Siege_of_Gamla

Here is how Josephus describes the end of the siege.

…the Romans got up and surrounded them, and some they slew before they could defend themselves, and others as they were delivering up themselves; and the remembrance of those that were slain at their former entrance into the city increased their rage against them now: a great number also of those that were surrounded on every side, and despaired of escaping, threw their children and their wives, and themselves also down the precipices, into the valley beneath, which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast depth.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-4.html

From 67 onward, X Fretensis fought in the war against the Jews.
…
In 70, X Fretensis took part in the siege of Jerusalem
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When X Fretensis arrived from Syria, it occupied the Mount of Olives, in front of the Temple. The soldiers of this legion had a special incentive to fight: they had been defeated by the Zealots in 66, and wanted revenge.
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The emblem of the legion, a boar or pig, was visible on several places and must have been intended to humiliate the Jewish population.

https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-x-fretensis/

Elements of the legion X Fretensis, whose symbol was a pig, took part in the siege of Gamla where many Jews died falling down a steep cliff. How much of X Fretensis took part? There were three legions represented. In that era, a legion consisted of about 5300 men plus calvary plus offices plus some specialized auxiliaries. If the force attacking Gamla were the size of a legion, commanded by a Legio familiar with handling a unit of that size, the ‘pig’ soldiers involved may very well have numbered 2000.

Nobody has a herd of swine numbering 2000 that they let walk around on their own in a region where there are steep slopes. The number 2000 is not incidental. The demons call themselves Legion. They beg not to be sent out of the country but are dispatched in the form of pigs falling to their deaths down a cliff.

I see a revenge fantasy where Jesus will dispatch the hated X Fretensis legion and the Romans in general by expelling them from the country or killing them. When will this happen? When Jesus is revealed as “Son of the Most High God”. I have argued elsewhere that when the high priest asks Jesus if he is the “the son of the Blessed One” he means the revolutionary, Roman expelling type of Messiah. And Jesus answer Yes I am.

This would put the writing of this portion of Mark at sometime after 67 AD, when the full details of what happened at Gamla were known in Rome. Since X Fretensis took part in the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and were associated with the destruction of the Temple, it would not seem to be much of a stretch to infer a post 70 AD date for writing this passage to further single out the ‘pig soldiers’ as symbolizing the Romans forces as a whole.
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RJM said:
@badger
I wonder if you would be interested in this take on the story of the Gerasene swine by @Miken in the thread below:
https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/19492/page-3#post-338195
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Very interesting suggestion. I noticed that point about Roman troops stuffing emblems of pigs in to the Jews faces. This parallels the interference in the Temple
I don't know and will never know if this part of G-Mark has been manipulated from a later event as suggested, but I am very careful about marrying later events in to gospels , for example...such as proposed by Carrier....did I spell his name correctly?
 
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