The Herodian Saul as Paul the Apostle: both propagandists on behalf of the LAST "king of the Jews"

[Giuseppe]

Prof Batsch writes about the idealized "last king of the Jews" as a powerful ideological image connected with Agrippas, despite of his short rule.

Curiously, we have:

• The Herodian Saul, working on behalf of Agrippas;

• Paul the Apostle, preacher of a "crucified Christ", where "Christ", docet Mark/Matthew, is an interchangeable term for "king of Jews".

Hence both the figures are connected with the preaching of an idealized, ideologized "king of Jews". Even more: both the figures preach what is for them the last "king of Jews". In both the cases, the apocalypticist feature of this "last" king is found. I think here about the Prophecy of Shiloh.

What if the Herodian Saul was therefore the historical Paul?

Now, Saul was historically enemy of the failed pre-70 messianists: by logical extension, he could only be enemy of the post-70 literary amalgam of all them: Jesus Christ.

How could he be confused with the propagandist of the latter?

Without assuming the hypothesis of a conscious conversion by Saul, the hypothesis I am advancing here is that a confusion happened between the two figures, since the eschatological figure of the 'last king' was publicized by both: Saul and Paul. Both, as one and the same figure, had to be remembered by the same post-70 Christians since both figured in their memory as apocalypticist icons connected with the preaching of the idealized "king of the Jews". The Christianization of the anti-messianist Herodian Saul in the form of "Paul the Apostle" was supported as an useful expedient to sanitize once for all the movement in the eyes of Rome. The persecutor who becomes a Christian allegorized the secret hope of the post-70 messianists: that the same Romans could a day become Christians.

[Giuseppe]

Afterall: the Herodian Saul would have not ceased to be what he was (an apostle of the LAST "king of Jews"). Afterall: he had only to change the identity of a such last king: not more Herod Agrippas, but Jesus Christ.

This explains why both Herod and Herodians are demonized in Mark. Abandon the false last king and choose the true last king.

[Giuseppe]

Authors who identified the Herodian Saul with Paul the Apostle (with the epistles being total forgeries):

• Arthur Heulhard

• Daniel Massé

• Robert Ambelain

[Giuseppe]

What if Paul/Saul was also Apollos of Acts? The latter is said to know only the baptism of John (Acts 18), only later he proclaims that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 18:28). Some mythicists (Arthur Heulhard, Jean Magne) have seen an implicit opposition between the "baptism of John" (known by Apollos) and the messianic/davidic status of Jesus: someway, the author of Acts is going to say (consciously or not) that Apollos would have been reluctant, in a first moment, to concede that Jesus "is the Christ"; only later he would have changed idea, becoming a 'full' Christian. Isn't this a different version of the same basic episode of the conversion of Saul/Paul to Christian messianism? With a difference: while in the conversion story of "Damascus", Saul is apparently converted (during the war) to a not-sanitized (=anti-Roman) messianism, at contrary in the conversion story of "Apollos" I would see a conversion of Paul/Apollos/Saul to a already-sanitized-messianism, i.e. the form of post-70 sanitized messianism considered by Batsch born in Alexandria, not coincidentially where Apollos is found. In other terms, the sanitization (in a pro-Roman sense) of the rebel sect of Jesus ben Sapphias was going to be made, in an almost parallel way, not only by the Herodian Saul/Paul, but also by the survived post-70 followers of pre-70 messianists. This parallelism in the process of sanitization would explain why Paul/Apollos did two conversions: the first "conversion" was an (diplomatic and interested) attempt to infiltrate the rebel party of Jesus ben Sapphias, during the war. The second "conversion" was really a sincere approval by Paul/Saul/Apollos of the pacifist turn started by the post-70 messianist followers (as well described by Batsch), when the latter limited themselves to collect, in Alexandria, mere "dicta et acta" of various pre-70 failed messianists (=necessary requisite for the first draft of a "Life of Jesus").


Also Apollos of Acts shares a curious trait with Saul and Paul.

• The Herodian Saul was a propagandist of the LAST "King of the Jews".

• The Apostle Paul was a propagandist of the LAST "King of the Jews".

• The Apostle Apollos was a propagandist of the LAST "of the Prophets": John.