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Re: orion dating; Essenes; a priori






> Actually, Menelaus was not a Tobiad from the tribe of Benjamin; the
> reference in 2 Maccabees to the tribe of Benjamin more probably reads the
> clan of Bilgah, which was one of the legitmate priestly clans. Jason and the
> Oniads were from one of the other priestly clans. 
> 
> Bruce Wildish
> Toronto
> 
> 
That conclusion is based on the Christian Latin reading of II Macc..
Perhaps an attempt to deal with an apparent theological contradiction in
the early Middle Ages by the Catholic Church. 
   There are other theories as well(such as the Miniamin), but these 
depend on the need to believe that a non-priest could not sieze the
position illegitamately and by force as Manalaus did. The Greek Jewish
text goes out of it's way to relate that a none priest became the High
Priest. 
   Could a Jewish author make such a mistake? And not in just one text,
but as an error that exists in all our Greek readings of Macc. and the
Syriac as well.Personaly I would trust the Syriac and the Greek over the
Latin any day of the week :) 
   I will stand by my conclusion. Plus there is other material to support
my conclusion, but it's off topic.My MA thesis this year was just on
this issue.

Harrison 
KULeuven