James the Just's name Oblias (Ωβλιας)

[Secret Alias]

A close parallel with the James story is the traditional story of the death of St Mark in Alexandria. He too dies as a bull in the Bucolia.

[DCHindley]

A close parallel with the James story is the traditional story of the death of St Mark in Alexandria. He too dies as a bull in the Bucolia.

Your Ox theory, IMHO, if full of Bull.

DCH

[Secret Alias]

The parallel section (as Adv Iud) in Adv Marc 3.18.5

He will also, according to another passage in the same scripture, be a bullock, when He is spiritually interpreted to be Jacob against Simeon and Levi, which means against the scribes and the Pharisees; for it was from them that these last derived their origin. Like Simeon and Levi, they consummated their wickedness by their heresy, with which they persecuted Christ. "Into their counsel let not my soul enter; to their assembly let not my heart be united: for in their anger they slew men," that is, the prophets; "and in their self-will they hacked the sinews of a bullock," that is, of Christ. For against Him did they wreak their fury after they had slain His prophets, even by affixing Him with nails to the cross. Otherwise, it is an idle thing when, after slaying men, he inveighs against them for the torture of a bullock!

[Secret Alias]

Clement in the Instructor:

He reproves, that they may repent. For the Lord wills the repentance of the sinner rather than his death. And let us as babes, hearing of the sins of others, keep from similar transgressions, through dread of the threatening, that we may not have to undergo like sufferings. What, then, was the sin which they committed? For in their wrath they slew men, and in their impetuosity they hamstrung bulls. Cursed be their anger. Genesis 49:6 Who, then, would train us more lovingly than He? Formerly the older people had an old covenant, and the law disciplined the people with fear, and the Word was an angel; but to the fresh and new people has also been given a new covenant, and the Word has appeared, and fear is turned to love, and that mystic angel is born— Jesus.

[Secret Alias]

If you look at the argument in Clement it really doesn't seem as if Clement followed Tertullian's identification of Jesus as the bull/wall. Maybe Clement was drawing from or was influenced by Hegesippus's distinction between Jesus's death AND THEN another death, the death of James, which caused the destruction of the Jews (possibly after a 'man' and then 'ox' distinction inherent in Genesis 49:6?

After making explicit that Jesus was the 'man' who wrestled with Jacob and is the angel of Israel Clement says:

It is He also who teaches Moses to act as instructor. For the Lord says, If any one sin before Me, him will I blot out of My book; but now, go and lead this people into the place which I told you. Exodus 32:33-34 Here He is the teacher of the art of instruction. For it was really the Lord that was the instructor of the ancient people by Moses

This follows from what was said previously. But then Clement immediately identifies him as the angel who brings in a new covenant for Christianity:

but He is the instructor of the new people by Himself, face to face. For behold, He says to Moses, My angel shall go before you, representing the evangelical and commanding power of the Word, but guarding the Lord's prerogative. In the day on which I will visit them, Exodus 32:33-34 He says, I will bring their sins on them; that is, on the day on which I will sit as judge I will render the recompense of their sins. For the same who is Instructor is judge, and judges those who disobey Him; and the loving Word will not pass over their transgression in silence. He reproves, that they may repent. For the Lord wills the repentance of the sinner rather than his death.

The subjects who Jesus ('the man') addresses are 'Israel' and he says, according to Clement in what immediately follows:

And let us as babes, hearing of the sins of others, keep from similar transgressions, through dread of the threatening, that we may not have to undergo like sufferings. What, then, was the sin which they committed? For in their wrath they slew men, and in their impetuosity they hamstrung bulls. Cursed be their anger. (Ὅτι ἐν τῷ θυμῷ αὐτῶν ἀπέκτειναν ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ αὐτῶν ἐνευροκόπησαν ταῦρον· ἐπι κατάρατος ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῶν.) Genesis 49:6 Who, then, would train us more lovingly than He? Formerly the older people had an old covenant, and the law disciplined the people with fear, and the Word was an angel; but to the fresh and new people has also been given a new covenant, and the Word has appeared, and fear is turned to love, and that mystic angel is born— Jesus. For this same Instructor said then, You shall fear the Lord God; Deuteronomy 6:2 but to us He has addressed the exhortation, You shall love the Lord your God. Matthew 22:37 Wherefore also this is enjoined on us: Cease from your own works, from your old sins; Learn to do well; Depart from evil, and do good; You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.

Clearly Jesus is not said to avenge HIS OWN DEATH at the hands of the Jews (as is usual in Christian theology of the time) but rather the death of another or others. Who better than James the Just - if, again, Clement was influenced by Hegesippus.

[Secret Alias]

And the translation of the passage in Clement (and especially the citation of the LXX) is sloppy. The LXX renders the singular Hebrew 'man' as 'men' (ἀνθρώπους) but 'ox' stays in the singular. The English translation of the passage should read:

And let us as babes, hearing of the sins of others (τὰς ἄλλων ἁμαρτίας), keep from similar transgressions (τῶν ἴσων πλημμελημάτων), through dread of the threatening , that we may not have to undergo like sufferings (τὰ ὅμοια παθεῖν). What, then, was the sin which they committed? For in their wrath they slew men, and in their impetuosity they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger. Who, then, would train us more lovingly than He? Formerly the older people had an old covenant, and the law disciplined the people with fear, and the Word was an angel; but to the fresh and new people has also been given a new covenant, and the Word has appeared, and fear is turned to love

The idea seems to be that there were many deaths (of men) at the hands of the priests of the Jews but one in particular which was the 'ox.' The angel Jesus apparently warned Israel in the prophetic 49th chapter of Genesis. This all seems to be very much the same context as we have laid out for James. Clement I would argue was influenced by Hegesippus.

Indeed Eusebius says immediately before citing Hegesippus that:

The manner of James’ death has been already indicated by the above-quoted words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club

In chapter 1 of Eusebius we read:

But Clement in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes243 writes thus: “For they say that Peter and James and John after the ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem.” But the same writer, in the seventh book of the same work, relates also the following things concerning him: “The Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one.245 But there were two Jameses:246 one called the Just, who was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and was beaten to death with a club by a fuller,247 and another who was beheaded.”248 Paul also makes mention of the same James the Just, where he writes, “Other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.”

I think the detail of the fuller's club proves that Clement knew Hegesippus and with his reference to Genesis 49:6 has James's death in mind as the one death that caused the Jews to be punished (apparently for not heeding the warning of Genesis 49:6).

[DCHindley]

Even though I am not comfortable with solutions that involve adding letters not attested, I'm still going to go a different direction on how "Oblias" could possibly mean "Bulwark" .

As I mentioned, one of the set of Hebrew letters that could transliterate "Oblias" is אובלא . It occurred to me that this could be a compound word: If a Yod was mis-read as a Vav, then איב (Hebrew OB, bottle) + לא (Aramaic LA, not) would get us close. This explains how we get the Greek transliteration ω (ō), which is normal for או (Alef-Vav), rather than the expected transliteration of אי (Alef-Yod), that is, αι (ai), αυ (au), ευ (eu), or η (ē).

In other words, "As long as the man so-named lives, the city will 'not be bottled up' (laid under siege)". Not a bulwark, like a wall or moat, but a magic charm. Think of the Judean shaman Onias the circle drawer. He's drawn a protective magic circle around the city.

Of course, as those who are fond of nit-picking will say, I am no Hebrew or Aramaic expert, so I cannot even guess whether this is possible grammatically or morphologically. However, what I am sure of, is that there will be some öne here who will offer opinions.

DCH

[DCHindley]

... Eusebius says immediately before citing Hegesippus that:

The manner of James’ death has been already indicated by the above-quoted words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club

In chapter 1 of Eusebius we read:

But Clement in the ... seventh book of the [Hypotyposes], relates also the following things concerning him: “The Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one.

But there were two Jameses: one called the Just, who was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and was beaten to death with a club by a fuller, and another who was beheaded.” Paul also makes mention of the same James the Just, where he writes, “Other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.” (reformatted for my nefarious purposes)

I think the detail of the fuller's club proves that Clement knew Hegesippus and with his reference to Genesis 49:6 has James's death in mind as the one death that caused the Jews to be punished (apparently for not heeding the warning of Genesis 49:6).

Here's my problem with that, Stephan. The last two English sentences seem more like an interjection of Eusebius than a continuation of a quotation from Clement. The quote from the Hypotyposes ends at "... Barnabas was one". Then the fuller's club detail is really something Eusebius had drawn from Hegesippus' Commentaries, and not from Clement. Unfortunately we do not have the Hypotyposes preserved to check for certain ...

DCH

[Secret Alias]

I kinda agree (although I am not sure all of it was from Eusebius either). I think I would be willing to say that it's difficult to know whether the whole quote is from Eusebius or Clement or where to draw the line. With that said why exactly would Eusebius lie about agreement with Hegesippus against Josephus?

[Secret Alias]

The original Greek word βούβαλος or βούβαλις might have been incorporated into Hegesippus's original text to cause the confusion over Ωβλιας. The fact that nothing else works does argue on behalf of a corruption along the transmission of the Greek text (either of Hegesippus or Eusebius).