Why does everybody presuppose that Yeshua had a lamb sacrificed on Passover? Part IV: The Nasarean connection
Matthew 2:23 and the connection with yet another Jewish group who rejected animal sacrifice and eating meat
Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ (Mt 9:13, Hosea 6:6)
Let me sum up what we have found so far:
Nowhere in the gospel accounts of Passion week is the slightest hint that Yeshua chose, sacrificed or ate a Passover lamb when sharing the last supper with His disciples. Likewise, it would be erroneous to argue that sacrificing and eating a lamb was what every Jew did on Passover. We have already seen that one of the three main Jewish schools of thought of the time, the Essenes, did not sacrifice animals. Furthermore, there are various parallels and connections between Yeshua and the Essenes.
There is yet another group who likewise did not sacrifice animals, described by Epiphanius of Salamis (Note 1) who are called, interestingly, Nasaraeans (Greek text: Νασαραίων, “Nasaraion”, Nasaraioi) and who
“… acknowledged Moses and believed that he had received legislation—not this legislation though, they said, but some other. And so, though they were Jews who kept all the Jewish observances, they would not offer sacrifice or eat meat; in their eyes it was unlawful to eat meat or make sacrifices with it.”
The name of this Jewish group, again, brings to mind Mt 2:23,
“and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazorean (“Ναζωραῖος, Nazoraios”).’”
As already pointed out in my last post, this quote cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament; rather, Matthew obviously uses a play on the name “Nazareth” and leaves the matter ambiguous to allow for various connotations.
Although this is the overall view of scholarship, the Jewish group described by Epiphanius is not mentioned by scholars in the context of Mt 2:23 - at least I haven’t seen scholars mentioning them so far. Here is a vast variety of online commentaries on Matthew’s verse. Nor are there any Church fathers mentioning the Nasaraeans in connection with Matthew.
If you know of New Testament scholars who do, please enlighten me in the comment section!
1. Nasaraeans and Mandeans
This is all the more astonishing as one of the primary scholars of the Mandaeans, Ethel Lady Drower, describes a group called “Nasaraeans” in the context of the Mandaeans (Note 2):
“…those amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia- Nasoraeans (or, if the heavy ‘s’is written as ‘z’, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called ‘Mandaeans’, Mandaiia-‘gnostics’. When a man becomes a priest he leaves ‘Mandaeanism and enters tarmiduta, ‘priesthood‘. Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called ‘Nasirutha’, is reserved for a very few.
Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoraeans, and ‘Nasorean’ today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine” (emphasis added)
Compare this to what the - Christian - Gnostic gospel of Philip has to say about the title “Nazarene”.
First, the author of the secret gospel of Philip is discussing the various names given to Yeshua and their meaning (Jesus, Christ, Messiah); then he writes, “‘The Nazarene’ is he who reveals what is hidden.”
Sounds very much like the meaning attached to the title by the Mandeans, doesn’t it.
In this context I want to repeat that Gnosticism was the earliest form of Christianity in the Egyptian region according to modern scholarship.
Furthermore, according to Drower, the Hebrew word for Nasoraeans/Nazorenes is derived from נָצַר nazar, i.e. the same root word as in Nazareth; nazar means to watch, guard, keep. (Note 3) Therefore, the name of the group fits well into a play on the name Nazareth in Matthew 2:23.
Could they be the same group as the one described by Epiphanius as Nasaraeans, those who “would not offer sacrifice or eat meat”? Although we have no proof, I personally think there is a certain likelihood that this is the case. From one of the legends of the Mandeans that Drower collected it is obvious that at least the northern Mandeans were vegetarians. In the text, we find the following passage, in which one of the holy men of the Mandeans says: “My son, you must not kill animals! It is not a good thing. Do it not! God created us barley, corn, and vegetables. Why kill animals? It is a great sin.” (Note 4)
In any case, the parallels between the Jewish sect described by Epiphanius who “… would not offer sacrifice or eat meat” and these vegan Mandeans with their “enlightened group possessing secret knowledge” called Nazorenes do exist and both groups - in case they are not identical - could well have been encapsulated into Matthew’s play on words.
2. History of the Mandeans
I want to point out that there are scholars who argue that this vegetarian Jewish group described by Epiphanius did not really exist, as Ray Pritz in “Nazarene Jewish Christianity” (Note 5) points out: Epiphanius, so their verdict, was simply mistaken.
Pritz himself concludes, however, by saying "… that there is enough evidence in favour of accepting Epiphanius’ testimony …” (Note 6)
Drower found interesting evidence for the history of the Mandeans who still exist today. She discovered a text called the “Haran Gawaita” which
“… purported to be ‘historical’ and recounted in semi-legendary form how the Nasoraeans fled from persecution in Jerusalem and sought refuge in the Median hills … and in Haran Gawaita, … Their persecutors were punished by the destruction of Jerusalem, which would place the flight before A.D.70.” (Note 7)
Although, so Drower, the account in the Haran Gawaita cannot be accepted as a serious chronicle of events, it is nevertheless of value, as it is confirming an oral tradition of the Mandaeans, who claim that they originally migrated from Palestine.
Note also that the language of this gnostic sect, Mandean, is an Aramaic dialect; Aramaic was the native language of the Jews at the time of Yeshua. In the middle of the last century, when Drower did her research, the Mandaens’ native language still was this Aramaic dialect (Note 2), but by now they nearly all switched to Mesopotamian Arabic or Persian as their main language.
There is another highly important connection with Israel, giving evidence to their Jewish roots: John the Baptist is their most prominent and important prophet. As Drower explains (Note 3),
“That Nasoraeans were originally a Jewish group or partly Jewish group is suggested by their claim that John the Baptist was a member of their sect, and by the fact that the Jordan is an essential and central feature of their tradition.”
The Mandeans completely reject Yeshua; in the Haran Gawaita He is described as an evil influence (Note 8) and someone who perverted Nasoraean teaching.
We can deduce from the Haran Gawaita - if we regard it as historically reliable in some aspects -, that there were disciples of John the Baptist who rejected Yeshua at a certain point in history. Considering that in the New Testament John and his disciples continued as a separate group already during John’s lifetime, this is not at all an unrealistic scenario.
Quite the opposite: In John’s gospel there is an allusion that John the Baptist’s disciples are jealous because more people are going to Yeshua and His disciples to be baptised (Jn 3:26) than to John. In Matthew and Luke (Mt 11:2ff; Lk 7:18ff), John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to inquire and ask Yeshua if He really is the awaited one. Yeshua answers by pointing out all the miracles He is performing and concludes, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” (Mt 11:6) Obviously, already at that time there were discussions in John’s group about Yeshua. Things might well have gotten more hostile especially with the rise of Gentile Christianity. According to Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, there are hints of a conjoined Mandean and Judeo-Christian opposition to Pauline Gentile Christianity in Mandean scripture (Note 9).
4. Conclusion
There is a high probability that Matthew in his play on words on the town Nazareth alluded to a Jewish group who, as Epiphanius writes, “…would not offer sacrifice or eat meat” which is possibly identical with the “enlightened few” of the Mandeans who likewise embraced vegetarianism.
And there is much, much more evidence of Yeshua rejecting animal sacrifice and advocating a vegan diet…
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:3)
Notes:
(1) Epiphanius of Salamis, “Panarion”, Book 1:18:
(2) E. L. Drower, “The Secret Adam” A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis, Oxford University Press 1960, p. ix
(3) Drower, op. cit, p. xiv
(4) E. L. Drower, THE MANDAEANS OF IRAQ AND IRAN (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press 1937), p.317
(5) Ray A. Pritz, “Nazarene Jewish Christianity” From the End of the New Testament Period Until its Disappearance in the Fourth Century, Brill 1988, p 45 with further references
(6) Pritz, op. cit. p. 47
(7) Drower, “The secret Adam”, op. cit., p. xiii
(8) The Haran Gawaita, THE MANDAIC TEXT REPRODUCED
TOGETHER WITH TRANSLATION, NOTES AND COMMENTARY BY
E. S. DROWER, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1953, p. 3f
(9) Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). "Turning the Tables on Jesus: The Mandaean View" in: Horsley, Richard (ed.). Christian Origins. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, p. 107