Hello dear Christopher. I'm being super gentle here but wanting to point how the mind of most people works. The idiom 'Jesus was a Jew' used to be w thing. Now a days whether Jew in diaspora or not is really not a cool brew. Now, your post is it course true - if Jesus was from Bethlehem or Hebron or Nazareth he would of course be - post British occupation or whenever the precise delineation by patriarchs labelling pieces of land as owned territories - a Palestinian. But to the commonly educated person who when you say Jesus is was Palestinian you miss the option that it is immediately assumed Muslim. Not that you should really care, but I personally feel you are potentially adding fuel to a really inflamed fire which adds more soldiying to positions, opinions and ideologies. Happy to hear a clarification about your thoughts. Tammy
Palestine is a foreign imperial name given to the land of Judea and other areas by conquerors - first the Romans (135 AD - meaning 135 years after Christ - so Jesus was certainly not giving good news to 'Palestinians') and then the British. It was derived through the Greeks from Philistines, Plishtim, פלישתים, a name from the Hebrew Bible for people who used to live in the small area of Aza, Ashdod, Ashkelon. The name comes from פלש, meaning "those who invaded". As you mentioned, no people ever claimed to be Palestinians before the 20th century (interesting fact: the Arabic language doesn't have the consonant "P" in it's alphabeit, the name "Palestine" is actually a colonial name).
However Israel existed long before the birth of Christ, as we all know Jesus was "son of David", and David was King of Israel and Judah. Interestingly, David was also born in Bethlehem, same place that Herod the Great, King of Judea, ruled. Bethlehem means "House of Bread" in Hebrew and is mentioned extensively in the Hebrew Bible.
So Jesus was a Jew, studying at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 (Luke 2:41-52), preaching the good news to the Jews, and to others as well. God bless him.
Hello dear Christopher. I'm being super gentle here but wanting to point how the mind of most people works. The idiom 'Jesus was a Jew' used to be w thing. Now a days whether Jew in diaspora or not is really not a cool brew. Now, your post is it course true - if Jesus was from Bethlehem or Hebron or Nazareth he would of course be - post British occupation or whenever the precise delineation by patriarchs labelling pieces of land as owned territories - a Palestinian. But to the commonly educated person who when you say Jesus is was Palestinian you miss the option that it is immediately assumed Muslim. Not that you should really care, but I personally feel you are potentially adding fuel to a really inflamed fire which adds more soldiying to positions, opinions and ideologies. Happy to hear a clarification about your thoughts. Tammy
Dear Tammy,
Thank you for your message. I followed the conventions in Substack Post on Jesus.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine - as agreed by most UN nations.
If Jesus was born in say Afula, a town near Ein dor with its Buddhist centre, I would have written Jesus was an Israeli.
Neither Palestine nor Israel existed 2000 years ago. Both are products of the 20th century.
The Buddha was born in India even though the name 'India' was not used for this vast country until the end of colonialism in the 20th century.
Happy new year.
Love
Christopher
Palestine is a foreign imperial name given to the land of Judea and other areas by conquerors - first the Romans (135 AD - meaning 135 years after Christ - so Jesus was certainly not giving good news to 'Palestinians') and then the British. It was derived through the Greeks from Philistines, Plishtim, פלישתים, a name from the Hebrew Bible for people who used to live in the small area of Aza, Ashdod, Ashkelon. The name comes from פלש, meaning "those who invaded". As you mentioned, no people ever claimed to be Palestinians before the 20th century (interesting fact: the Arabic language doesn't have the consonant "P" in it's alphabeit, the name "Palestine" is actually a colonial name).
However Israel existed long before the birth of Christ, as we all know Jesus was "son of David", and David was King of Israel and Judah. Interestingly, David was also born in Bethlehem, same place that Herod the Great, King of Judea, ruled. Bethlehem means "House of Bread" in Hebrew and is mentioned extensively in the Hebrew Bible.
So Jesus was a Jew, studying at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 (Luke 2:41-52), preaching the good news to the Jews, and to others as well. God bless him.