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THE NEW TESTAMENT CODE: THE CUP OF THE LORD, THE DAMASCUS COVENANT, AND THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Robert H. Eisenman

It is related that the children of Zadok the Priest, one a boy and the other a girl,were taken captive to Rome, each falling to the lot of a different officer. One officer resorted to a prostitute and gave her the boy.The other went into the store of a shopkeeper and gave him the girl in exchange for some wine (this to fulfill Joel 4:3: ‘And they have given a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine’). After awhile, the prostitute brought the boy to the shopkeeper and said to him, ‘Since I have a boy, who is suitable for the girl you have, will you agree they should cohabit and whatever issues be divided between us?’ He accepted the offer. They immediately took them and placed them in a room.The girl began to weep and the boy asked her why she was crying? She answered,‘Should I not weep, when the daughter of a High Priest is given in marriage to one (like you), a slave?’

He inquired of her whose daughter she was and she replied,‘I am the daughter of Zadok the High Priest.’ He then asked her, where she used to live and she answered, ‘In the upper marketplace.’ He next inquired,‘What was the sign above the house?’ and she told him. He said,‘Have you a brother or a sister?’ She answered, ‘I had a brother and there was a mole on his shoulder and whenever he came home from school, I used to uncover it and kiss it.’ He asked,‘If you were to see it now, would you know it?’ She answered,‘I would.’ He bared his shoulder and they recognized each other. They then embraced and kissed till they expired. Then the Holy Spirit cried out,‘For these things I weep’!
(Lamentations Rabbah 1:16.46 and Gittin 58a).

You will deliver the Enemies of all the Countries into the hand of the Poor (the Ebionim) to cast down the Mighty Ones of the Peoples, to pay (them) the Reward on Evil Ones...and to justify the Judgements of Your Truth... You will fight against them from Heaven...for You commanded the Hosts of Your Elect in their thousands and their Myriads, together with the Heavenly Host of all Your Holy Ones,...to strike the Rebellious of Earth with Your aweinspiring Judgements...For the King of Glory is with us...and the Angelic Host is under His command...(They are) like clouds, moisture-laden clouds covering the Earth – a torrent of rain shedding Judgement on all that grows
(The War Scroll from Qumran,xi.17-xii.10 and xix.1-2).

‘Of what use are graven images, whose makers formed a casting and images of Lying...?’ The interpretation of this passage concerns all the idols of the Nations, which they create in order to serve... These will not save them on the Day of Judgement ...‘ But the Lord is in His Holy Temple. Be silent before Him all the World’! Its interpretation concerns all the Nations who but serve stone and wood. But on the Day of Judgement, God will destroy all the Servants of Idols and Evil Ones off the Earth.
(1QpHab,xii.10-xiii.4 on Habakkuk 2:18-19).

Contents

Part I Preliminaries

1 Names, Concepts, and Places: The Anti-Semitic Peter and Herodians at Antioch 3
2 The Attack by Paul on James, the Memorial Mausoleum at Qumran, and the James Ossuary 32

Part II The New Covenant in the Land of Damascus

3 Essene Bathers in the East and Abraham’s Homeland 67
4 Peter as a ‘Daily Bather’ and the ‘Secret Adam’ Tradition 90
5 James as ‘Rain-Maker’ and ‘Friend of God’ 123
6 Other Rain-Making ‘Zaddik’s in the ‘Primal Adam’ Tradition 142
7 Revolutionary Messianism and the Elijah Redivivus Tradition 173

Part III The New Testament Code: Nakdimon and Nicodemus

8 ‘Do Not Throw Holy Things to Dogs’ 197
9 Mary ‘Anoints,’ Martha ‘Serves,’ Judas Iscariot ‘Complains’ 224
10 ‘Every Plant which My Heavenly Father has not Planted Shall be Uprooted’ 256
11 The Dogs Who Licked Poor Lazarus’ Sores 298
12 Rabbi Eliezer’s Bad Breath and Lazarus’ Stinking Body 341
13 Barring the Dogs from the Wilderness Camps 370

Part IV The Pella Flight and the Wilderness Camps

14 The Wilderness Camps and Benjamin the Golah of the Desert 405
15 James’ Proclamation in the Temple and Joining the Heavenly Holy Ones 429
16 Temple Sacrifice at Qumran and in the New Testament 455
17 James in the Anabathmoi Jacobou and Paul as Herodian 474
18 The Pella Flight and ‘Agabus’’ Prophecy 510

Part V The Coming of the Messiah of Aaron and Israel

19 Confrontations between James and Paul 551
20 ‘Cursed Be Anyone Hung upon a Tree’ and ‘Boasting in the Flesh’ 574
21 ‘Re-erecting the Fallen Tent of David’ and ‘the Fountain of Living Waters’ 601
22 ‘The Star Who Came to Damascus’ and ‘the Song of the Well’ 638

Part VI James and Qumran

23 The Destruction of the Righteous Teacher by the Wicked Priest 697
24 He ‘Swallowed’ the Righteous Teacher with ‘his Guilty Trial’ 757
25 ‘The Cup of the Wrath of God will Swallow Him’ 808
26 ‘He Rejected the Law in the Midst of their Whole Assembly’ 848
27 The Cup of the New Covenant in His Blood 889
28 From Adiabene to Cyrene: The Cup of the Lord and the Sicaricon 939

Note on Translations and Endnotes 999
List of Abbreviations 1003
Chronological Charts 1006
Genealogies 1009
Maps 1012
Index 1017

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