why Capernaum had to be ''in Galilee''

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Giuseppe
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why Capernaum had to be ''in Galilee''

Post by Giuseppe »

Tertullian gives an interesting information about the marcionite interpretation of the incipit:
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius (for such is Marcion's proposition) he "came down to the Galilean city of Capernaum," of course meaning from the heaven of the Creator, to which he had previously descended from his own.
(4:7)

According to Tertullian, the marcionite Jesus descended to Capernaum from the heaven of the Creator. But he sees a contradiction in this unexpected link between the Christ of Marcion and the Galilee, since he wonders later:
Then, what had he to do with Galilee, if he did not belong to the Creator by whom that region was destined (for His Christ) when about to enter on His ministry?
Now, if we compare the mention of ''Capernaum'' in Luke and Mark:
Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee
(Luke 4:31)

 
Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum
(Mark 1:21)


...we observe that the editor (''Luke'') specified that Capernaum is a ''town in Galilee'', whereas ''Mark'' says only ''Capernaum'' but he doesn't use the verb ''went down'' but only ''went''. So both ''Luke'' and ''Mark'' are going to ''normalize'' Capernaum, as if it was a mere place on this earth.

But if Marcion allegorized the lower realm behind ''Capernaum'', as the Gnostic Heracleon did:
Fragment 40, on John 4:46-53 (In John 4:46, “So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose child was ill.) The official was the Craftsman, for he himself ruled like a king over those under him. Because his domain is small and transitory, he was called an “official,” like a petty princeling who is set over a small kingdom by the universal king. The “child” “in Capernaun” is one who is in the lower part of the Middle (i.e. of animate substance), which lies near the sea, that is, which is linked with matter.
...then in the his incipit Marcion was meaning not the descending from the heaven of the Creator to a place of the Galilee, but the same descending from the heaven of the Good God to the archontic domain of the Creator (air + earth).
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Giuseppe
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Re: why Capernaum had to be ''in Galilee''

Post by Giuseppe »

The question is: if ''Capernaum'' was in the heaven of the Creator, then was the next Gospel episode placed there, too?

Possibly the answer may be yes, since what follows is still a passage:

28 And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue,
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, [the celestial Capernaum?]
and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built,
that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way.
The idea may be that Jesus provoked disturb in a kind of celestial Jerusalem/Capernaum, to descend from there to the same earth of the Creator (this world).
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Giuseppe
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Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: why Capernaum had to be ''in Galilee''

Post by Giuseppe »

The story continues. The marcionite Jesus has abandoned the celestial sub-lunar Capernaum and now he is on the Terra firma. Could the '''Setting of the Sun'' be an allegory of the real descending of the marcionite Jesus on this earth, once he had abandoned the heaven of the Creator?

At any rate, a surprise awaits the reader: Jesus is doing what John the Baptist was doing (according to our canonical gospels)!


40 Now when the sun was setting,
all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him;
and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying,
Thou art the Son of God.
And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place:

And here is the real incipit of the Jesus's preaching:
...and the people sought him,
and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
43 And he said unto them,
I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also:
for therefore am I sent.
44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Steven Avery
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Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:27 am

Re: why Capernaum had to be ''in Galilee''

Post by Steven Avery »

Giuseppe wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 9:37 amNow, if we compare the mention of ''Capernaum'' in Luke and Mark:
Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee
(Luke 4:31)

 
Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum
(Mark 1:21)


...we observe that the editor (''Luke'') specified that Capernaum is a ''town in Galilee'', whereas ''Mark'' says only ''Capernaum'' but he doesn't use the verb ''went down'' but only ''went''.
Luke is working with the exact chronology where this trip to Capernaum happened right after the Nazareth "push of the cliff" attempt.

The cliff was either Arbel or Nitai (one is the real Nazareth) from both of which you can look down to Capernaum.

Luke 4:31 (AV)
And came down to Capernaum,
a city of Galilee,
and taught them on the sabbath days.


Thus it was a visual sight and physical descent, down to Capernaum.

Cana, near the real Nazareth, was one of the local hills (perhaps by Hamam) in that area, as we learn also from Josephus, so it does not have to be so high, but it is still down to Capernaum.

John 2:11-12
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee,
and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
After this he went down to Capernaum,
he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples:
and they continued there not many days.

Steven
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