High praise! It'll be good reading someday.
So, I take it you read Josephus, then!
I read that history a few years back. It does put a new light on things. It appears to make the common Jew of that time on the level of our present home-skooled populace - believing what they've been taught by liars and thieves and usurpers/carpetbaggers.
"My people die for lack of knowledge."
Didn't the high priests come from the tribe of Levi, not Judah? In context of the passage, Jacob is specifically referring to the tribe of Judah. I'm not a Biblical scholar, but wasn't the line of Judah pretty much defunct after Babylon conquered them?
Barbarian... I'm going to assume you mistyped.
Or did you mean to assert that home schooled kids are more gullible than other kids?
mp, you are half correct.
Priests were from the tribe of Levi (specifically from the family of Aaron).
Kings were from Judah.
However, the line actually lasted until the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70 (further obliterated by the Romans in AD 135 or so in the Bar Kochba rebellion).
But Judah endured after Babylon. That is why Zerubabbal is listed as "governor" in Haggai. Zerubabbal was from Judah's tribe, etc.
I do think the Northern tribes were mostly lost after being carried off by Assyria. But Judah and Levi had representation afterwards.
The term "Jew" comes from "Judah", most of the Jews alive today are from a Judaic linage. To my knowledge there are no other verifiable tribal lineages, including the tribe of Levi, in existence today.
After the resurrection of Christ a great number of priests converted to "The Way". In the next 100 years or so the priest class had disappeared. By the end of WWII anyone who had documented evidence of linage was destroyed. It seems that most of the existing family linage information available today comes from governmental records, birth certificates, town records etc. Unfortunately those types of records don't typically record tribal identity.
If anyone has evidence to the contrary I'd love to have a look at it. Over the years Jewish friends, as well as their rabbi's have universally confirmed this understanding.
Didn't they make a big deal about finding the Levi gene a few years ago?
Acts 4:36 mentions a Levite from Cyprus.
Luke 2:36 mentions (matter of factly, I add, not as the sole survivor of a holocaust) Anna of the tribe of Asher.
Paul was a Benjaminite.
I think the idea of the "lost tribes" has been drastically overplayed. If we take Revelation at face value, John was expecting a lot of them to turn up.
Res, what do you think of the Cohens and Levy Jews? A Cohen can only come from the priestly line, and biblically lineage was determined paternally.
It wasn't until I read Josephus last year that I understood why the story about the good Samaritan Jesus told made the Pharisees so angry they could spit. And that the original Essenes were the forerunners of the monks and priests of the Catholic church. All the Pharisees, Saducees were corrupt and afraid of losing their power over the populace. Kind of like a group we know today.
Facinating reading. Looking forward to obtaining Eusebius for another good read.
dang, I had to read it three times to see what you were talking about re mistype. Brain-lock from workin too hard. Yes, it was bassackwards, obviously - 'home' sb 'public'. I've been reading too much of the other side at the Soccer Club for Men.
"Cohens and Levy Jews"
My understanding is that they don't have 100% reliable documentation to back up the claims. Prior to WWII there were some very old and mostly original copied genealogies reliably dating to the second century, which included tribal association. Personally I think we probably could take word of mouth to be pretty reliable as far as the family knowing which tribe they belonged to at that point in time. Those families seem to have been killed off in the 1940's.
As far as the NT and end time prophecy goes that is why I've been interested in the topic. I do believe God can sort the whole thing out if he wanted to. The Jews haven't worshiped him according to the law in 2000 years and I don't think they are going to start anytime soon.
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