Notes for this theme

Jewish religion, castes, rites and festivals at the time of Christ

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GRM 180.6 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

And here are the fields full of stones. How many there are in Israel! They are the ones that belong to the “children of the laws” as My cousin Judas quite rightly said. In them there is not the one Stone of Witness, nor the Stone of the Law. There is the quarry poor petty human laws made by men. They are so many that with their weight they have broken also the Stone of the Law into chips. A disaster which does not allow the seed to take root. The root is no longer nourished because there is neither soil nor sap. The water stagnating on the stone pavement causes the seed to rot, the sun makes the stones hot and parches the little plants. Such are the spirits of those who put complicated human doctrines in place of the simple doctrine of God. They even receive My word with joy. At first it shakes and allures them. But later… They would need to be heroes and work hard to clean the field, their souls and minds of all rhetorical stones. The seed would then take root and bear long spikes. As it is… it bears nothing. The fear of human retaliation is enough. It is enough to say: “And after? What will the mighty ones do to me?” and the poor seed languishes without nourishment. It is enough for the whole quarry to stir with the vain sound of the hundreds of precepts, which have been put in place of the Precept, that man perishes with the seed received.. Israel is full of them. That explains why the coming to God is in inverse ratio to human power.

Detail

Jesus explains the parable of the sower, and by talking about fields full of stones, he ends up making a link with Israel.

Annotation

Regarding Jude's words, see the following note.

Keywords

GRM 180.9 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Yes, he will die. He knows as well as I do. Nothing and no one will save him this time. When? I do not know. I know that he will not come out of Herod’s hand alive.»
«Yes, Herod. Listen. John went to the mountain gorge, between Mount Ebal and Gerizim, where we also passed coming back from Galilee, because the traitor said to him: “The Messiah is dying after being attacked by His enemies. He wants to see you to entrust a secret to you”. And he went with the traitor and some other people. Herod’s armed men were in the shade of the valley and they captured him. The others ran away and gave the news to the disciples who had remained near Hennon. They had just come when I arrived with Your Mother. And the dreadful thing is that he was one from our towns… and that the Pharisees of Capernaum are the leaders of the plot to catch him. They went to John saying that You had been their guest and that You were leaving from there to go to Judaea… he would not have left his refuge but for You…»

Detail

John the Baptist has just been captured, and Jesus confirms his imminent death.

Keywords

GRM 181

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

According to maria-valtorta.org, the episode of the wheat and the chaff takes place on 9 Adar I 3788, according to the Jewish calendar.

It states: "The Hebrew calendar is soli-lunar. To make up for the fact that the calendar lags behind the course of the sun, it is necessary to add an extra month every three years or so. In this thirteen-month year, the month of Adar is split into two: Adar I (normal month) followed by Adar II (intercalary month). Proportionately, we find the same principle with our leap years."

Keywords

Jewish calendar

GRM 181.3 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while the man and his servants were asleep, his enemy came and sowed darnel seeds among the wheat and went away. At first no one noticed anything. Winter came with rain and frost, the end of the month of Tebeth came and the corn sprouted. The tiny little green leaves which had just come up, looked all alike in their innocent early days. The months of Shebat and Adar came and the plants grew and the spikes seeded. They then saw that it was not all wheat, and that there was also darnel, twisted with its thin strong bearbines round the corn stalks.

Annotation

At the end of the month of Tebet, the grain germinated, and the tender green of the tiny herbs that were just beginning to appear. At the end of the month of Tebet: beginning of January; Shebat corresponds to January/February, Adar to February/March. See the calendar for the months and the explanations given here for the year.

Keywords

Jewish calendar

GRM 184.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Did I behave differently with you, Matthew?»
«No, my Lord, You did not.»
«And tell Me the truth: what convinced you more, My patience or the bitter reproaches of the Pharisees?»
«Your patience, so much so that I am here. The Pharisees, by despising and anathematizing me, made me scornful, and out of contempt I did more harm than I had done so far. That is what happens. Sinners become more obstinate when they realise that they are treated as sinners. But when we are caressed instead of being insulted, we are dumbfounded and we weep… and when one weeps, the whole framework of sin collapses… One is left naked before Goodness and one implores it wholeheartedly to be reclothed by It.»
«You are right.»

Detail

Jesus has just explained that we must be patient with souls and let them work themselves out.

Keywords

GRM 186.2 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Jesus begins to ascend a steep path which climbs the almost upright cliff. The apostles follow Him along a very hard path up to the top of the cliff which levels over to a tableland strewn with oak-trees under which there are many pigs pasturing.
«Stinking animals!» exclaims Bartholomew. «They prevent us from passing…»
«No, they do not. There is room for everybody» replies Jesus calmly.
In any case the swineherds, when they see the Israelites, endeavour to gather the pigs under the oak-trees, leaving the path free. And the apostles pass by, making endless grimaces, among the filth left by the grouting animals, which fat as they are, seem anxious to become even fatter.
Jesus passes without any fuss, saying to the swineherds: «May God reward you for your kindness.»
The swineherds, poor people not much cleaner than their pigs but infinitely thinner, look at Him amazed and then whisper to one another. One of them says: «Is He perhaps not an Israelite?» And the others reply to him: «Don’t you see that His tunic is fringed?»
The group of the apostles gather together, now that they can proceed in one group along a fairly wide path.

Detail

The rabbis visibly wore bangs on their garments, to make themselves recognizable.

Keywords

Habits and customs at EMV

GRM 186.3 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Is that not Gamala?» asks the Zealot.
«Yes, it is Gamala. Do you know the town?» says Jesus.
«I was a fugitive there, one night, a long time ago. Then I was affected by leprosy and I did not come out of the sepulchres any more.»
«Did they pursue you so far?»
«I was coming from Syria, where I had gone seeking protection. But they discovered me and only my flight to this place saved me from being captured. Afterwards slowly and continuously threatened I went down as far as the desert of Tekoa and from there, suffering already from leprosy, to the Valley of the Dead. Leprosy saved me from my enemies…»
«These people are heathens, are they not?» asks the Iscariot.
«Almost everybody. Only a few Jews are here on business, and then there is a mixture of beliefs, or no beliefs at all. But they did not treat the fugitive badly.»
«These are places for bandits. What gorges!» exclaim many.
«Yes, but believe me, there are more bandits on the other side» says John who is still impressed by the capture of the
Baptist.
«On the other side there are also bandits among those who enjoy the reputation of being just» concludes his brother.

Keywords

GRM 186.4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«You were making grimaces because you had to pass near some animals.»
«They are unclean…»
«A sinner is much more so. These animals are made like that, and it is not their fault if they are like that. Man instead is responsible for being unclean because of his sins.»
«Why, then, are they classified as unclean[1] for us?» asks Philip.
«I have mentioned that once. In this commandment there is a supernatural reason and a natural one. The former reason is to teach the chosen people to live bearing in mind its election and the dignity of man, also in a common action like eating. A savage feeds on everything. It is enough for him to fill his stomach. A pagan, too, even if he is not a savage, eats everything, without considering that overeating foments vices and inclinations which degrade man. Indeed, pagans endeavour to reach this frenzy for pleasure, which is almost a religion for them. The more learned amongst you are aware of obscene celebrations in honour of their gods, which degenerate into lecherous orgies. A son of the people of God must be able to control himself, perfecting himself through obedience and prudence, bearing in mind his origin and his end: God and Heaven. The natural reason is not to stimulate the blood by means of food that causes a heat unbecoming of man, who is not forbidden also carnal love, but must always moderate it with the freshness of his soul tending to Heaven. Man must therefore make sure that the sentiment that joins him to his wife, in whom he must see a fellow creature like himself, not a female, is love, not sensuality. But the poor animals are neither guilty of being pigs nor of the effects that the flesh of pigs may cause in man’s blood on the long run. And the swineherds are much less guilty. If they are honest, what difference will there be, in the next life, between them and the scribe who is bent over his books but does not learn to be good? I solemnly tell you that we shall see swineherds among the just and scribes among the unjust.

Detail

Why were pigs declared unclean? Jesus answers this question, after the apostles had shown their disgust at these animals.

Annotation

Pigs are described as unclean in Leviticus 11:7 and Deuteronomy 14:8. More generally, the classification of clean and unclean animals, and the related prescriptions, are found in Genesis 7:2-3; Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14:3-21. See the altercation between Peter and an innkeeper in EMV 292.1.

Book of Leviticus 11, 7

Lv 11, 7 : Likethe swine, which has a divided horn and a cloven foot, but does not chew the cud: it will be unclean for you.

Deuteronomy 14, 8

Deut 14, 8: Like the swine, which has a divided horn but does not chew the cud: it shall be unclean for you. You shall not eat their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.

Book of Genesis 7, 2-3

Gn 7, 2-3 : Of all the clean animals, you shall take with you seven pairs, males and their females, and of all the animals that are not clean, you shall take two, a male and his female; seven pairs also of the birds of the air, males and their females, to keep alive their race on the face of all the earth.

Book of Leviticus 11

Lev 11: Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: "Speak to the children of Israel, and say:

These are the animals you shall eat of all the beasts that are on the earth: Every animal that has a divided horn and a cloven foot, and chews the cud, you shall eat. But you shall not eat those that only chew the cud, or that only have a divided horn. Such is the camel, which chews the cud, but whose horn is not divided: it will be unclean to you. Like the jerboa, which chews the cud, but whose horn is not divided: it will be impure for you. Like the hare, which chews the cud but does not have a divided horn: it will be unclean for you. Like the pig, which has a divided horn and a cloven foot, but does not chew the cud: it shall be unclean for you. 8You shall not eat their flesh, nor touch their carcasses: they shall be unclean for you.

These are the beasts you shall eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, whether in the sea or in the rivers, you shall eat. But everything that does not have fins and scales, in the seas and in the rivers, among all the animals that move in the waters and among all the living creatures that are in them, you will find an abomination. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, and their carcasses shall be an abomination to you. Everything in the waters that has no fins or scales is an abomination to you.

These are the birds you will abhor; they shall not be eaten, for they are an abomination: the eagle, the osprey and the vulture: the kite and all kinds of falcons; all kinds of ravens; the ostrich, the kite, the gull and all kinds of hawks; the owl, the cormorant and the owl; the swan, the pelican and the bearded vulture; the stork, all kinds of herons; the hoopoe and the bat.

Any winged insect that walks on four legs, you will abhor. But of all the winged insects that walk on four legs, you shall eat those that have legs above their legs, to leap on the earth. These are the ones you shall eat: every kind of locust, every kind of solam, every kind of hargol, every kind of hagab. Every other winged beast with four legs is an abomination to you.

These also shall make you unclean: whoever touches their dead body shall be unclean until the even, and whoever takes away any part of their dead body shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the even.

Any animal that has a divided horn, but is not forked-footed and does not chew the cud, will be unclean to you; whoever touches it will make himself unclean. And of the four-footed animals, everything that walks on the soles of its feet will be unclean to you: whoever touches their dead body will be unclean until evening; and whoever carries their dead body will wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. These animals will be unclean for you.

Among the little beasts that crawl on the earth, these are the ones that will be unclean for you: the weasel, the mouse and all kinds of lizards; the shrew, the chameleon, the salamander, the green lizard and the mole. These are the unclean reptiles for you: whoever touches them dead will be unclean until evening. Anything on which dead ones fall shall be unclean: wooden utensils, clothing, skins, sackcloth, anything you use; you shall put it in water, and it shall remain unclean until evening, after which it shall be clean. If any of it falls into the middle of any earthen vessel, everything in the middle of the vessel will be defiled, and you will break the vessel. Any foodstuff prepared with water will be defiled; any beverage used in any vessel will be defiled. Every object on which anything of their dead body falls will be defiled; the oven and the vessel with its lid will be destroyed; they will be defiled and you will hold them to be defiled. But the springs and cisterns, where the pools of water are formed, will remain pure; however, whoever touches the dead body will be unclean. If anything of their dead body falls on a seed that is to be sown, the seed will remain pure; but if water has been put on the seed, and anything of their dead body falls on it, you will hold it unclean.

If one of your food animals dies, whoever touches its corpse will be unclean until evening. Whoever eats of its dead body shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; whoever carries its dead body shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth is an abomination to you; it shall not be eaten. You shall not eat any animal that crawls on the ground, whether it be one that crawls on its belly, or one that walks on four feet or on many feet; for they are an abomination to you.

Do not make yourselves abominable by all these creeping things; do not make yourselves unclean by them; you will be defiled by them. For I am Yahweh, your God; you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; and you shall not be defiled by all creeping things that creep upon the earth. For I am Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall be holy, for I am holy. "This is the law for all four-footed animals, for birds, for every living thing that moves in the water, and for every creeping thing that crawls on the earth, so that you may distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the animal that can be eaten and the animal that cannot be eaten.

Deuteronomy 14, 3-21

You shall not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep and the goat; the stag, the gazelle and the fallow deer; the ibex, the antelope, the wild ox and the wild goat. You shall eat of every animal that has a divided horn and a cloven foot, and that chews the cud. But you shall not eat of those that only chew the cud, or that only have a divided horn and a cloven foot; such are the camel, the hare and the rabbit, which chew the cud but do not have a divided horn: they shall be unclean to you; such again is the pig, which has a divided horn but does not chew the cud: it shall be unclean to you. You shall not eat their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.

These are the animals you shall eat of all that are in the waters: you shall eat everything that has fins and scales; but everything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat: it shall be unclean for you. You shall eat every clean bird. These are the ones you shall not eat: the eagle, the osprey and the vulture; the falcon, the kite and all kinds of goshawk; all kinds of raven; the ostrich, the owl, the gull and all kinds of sparrowhawk; the owl, the ibis and the owl; the pelican, the cormorant and the loon; 18the stork and all kinds of heron; the hoopoe and the bat. 19You shall regard every winged insect as unclean: it shall not be eaten. You must eat every pure bird. You shall not eat any dead animal. You shall give it to the stranger within your gates to eat, or sell it to a foreigner; for you are a people holy to Yahweh, your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

Keywords

GRM 187.3 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Where are we going exactly?» asks Peter.
«To give Passover to those who suffer. I have been wanting to do it for a long time. But I could not. I would have done it going back to Galilee. Now that they compel us to go along roads that we have not chosen, I am going to bless Jonah’s poor friends.»
«We will be wasting a lot of time! Passover is near! There are always delays for various reasons.» Another chorus of complaints rises to the sky. I do not know how Jesus can be so patient…
Without reproaching anyone He says: «Please, do not hinder Me! Endeavour to understand My need to love and to be loved. I have but this solace on the earth: to love and do the will of God.»
«And are we going from here? Was it not better to go from Nazareth?»
«If I had suggested that, you would have rebelled. No one will suspect that I am here… and I am doing it for you… because you are afraid.»
«Afraid? Ah! No! We are ready to fight for You.»
«Pray the Lord not to put you to the test. I know that you are quarrelsome, resentful, anxious to offend those who offend Me and to humble your neighbour. I know all that. But I do not know you to be brave. As far as I am concerned, I would have also gone by Myself and along the main road and nothing would have happened because it is not yet the time. But I feel sorry for you. I have to obey My Mother, yes, but I do not want to upset Simon the Pharisee. I will not disgust them. But they will disgust Me.»
«And where do we go from here? I am not familiar with this area» says Thomas.
«We will reach Tabor, we will coast part of it and will go to Nain via Endor; from there to the plain of Esdraelon. Be not afraid!… Doras, the son of Doras, and Johanan are already in Jerusalem.»

Keywords

GRM 188.2 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«We will now ask where the place of the necromancer was» says Jesus. And He stops a woman who is coming back from the fountain with pitchers.
She looks at Him curiously, then replies impolitely: «I don’t know. I have much more important things to worry about than such nonsense!» and she goes away.
Jesus turns to an old man who is carving a bit of wood.
«The necromancer?… Saul?… Who bothers about them now? But, wait… There is one here who has studied and perhaps he knows… Come with me.»
And the old man climbs laboriously up a stony lane to a very poor and shabby looking house. «He lives here. I will go in and call him.»
Peter, pointing at some poultry scratching about in a dirty yard, says: «This fellow is not an Israelite.» But he says no more because the old man comes back followed by a man blind in one eye, who is as dirty and untidy as everything around his house.

Detail

Judas wants to hear about the pythia who spoke to King Saul in the Old Testament. They are led to a house.