a reply to:
ManyMasks
Yes, we get many "breadcrumbs" but unfortunately many of them are intended to lead us in the wrong direction. Having no context to go with your "wee
k" example, I cannot say you are wrong, but I can suggest another interpretation. The word "wee" means "small" while the letter "k" was originally
derived from the Semitic "kaph" which was also the symbol for an open "hand". The idea of a "small hand" is metaphorically significant (especially if
we are dealing with breadcrumbs) but without knowing the full context, I cannot be confident of this interpretation. ("Weakness" is also
metaphorically significant but it applies to someone whose "cover" has been compromised.)
The correct context is the key that most people are missing. You mention that you view "the sword in the stone" as a clue. You are absolutely
correct in this perception and while I can right now identify for you a specific stone and a specific sword that will resolve this mystery, you are
unlikely to accept it unless I can convince you to accept all this in a revised context.
I assume that you are aware that Joseph of Arimathea is credited with being the original holder of the Holy Grail and you may even be aware that some
have suggested that Joseph of Arimathea is a corruption of the historian Josephus' Jewish name "Joseph bar (or "ben") Matthias", but I imagine that
you have never seriously thought about why the man that apparently had nothing to do with Christ's worldly mission would given responsibility for this
"sacred" artifact.
(In case you were not previously exposed to the Josephus/Joseph of Arimathea connection see articles here:
gospelofthomas.org... and here:
d.lib.rochester.edu...)
My answer as to "why" Joseph of Arimathea (a.k.a. Josephus) is identified as the first holder of the Grail is that Josephus employed a form of
Kabbalah to hide Christian involvement in the "Jewish" Revolt of 66-73 CE and by correctly deciphering Josephus' allegory the true nature of the Holy
Grail can be discerned. As evidence of this contention, I will first point how the fact that there appear to be multiple accepted spellings of the
word "Kabbalah". The website chabad.org (in their Kabbalah Online section) lists 24 legitimate spellings but oddly chooses to name their website
"chabad". On the flip side of Kabbalah is "chabala" which means "destruction". (Also note that by altering spelling the Gematria value also changes
which means that Gematria is a "red herring" and has no practical value for deciphering allegory.)
In Josephus' works, Josephus mentions the place called "Cabul" several times, but for some reason, he alters the spelling each time.
In Book 8 of his Antiquities of the Jews (chapter 5, paragraph 3), Josephus introduces Cabul this way:
“And besides these, he (Solomon) granted him (Hiram) certain cities of Galilee, twenty in number, that
lay not far from Tyre; which, when Hiram went to, and viewed, and did not like the gift, he sent word to
Solomon that he did not want such cities as they were; and after that time these cities were called the
land of Cabul; which name, if it be interpreted according to the language of the Phoenicians, denotes
what does not please. Moreover, the king of Tyre sent sophisms and enigmatical sayings to Solomon,
and desired he would solve them, and free them from the ambiguity that was in them.”
This is clearly the same Cabul mentioned in 1 Kings 9:13 but the Biblical account contains no mention of the exchange of "sophisms" between Hiram and
Solomon. Then in Against Apion (Book 1, paragraph 17) Josephus felt a need to repeat this information but again alters the spelling of Cabul
and employs different wording:
“Solomon also not only made him (King Hiram of Tyre) many other presents, by way of requital, but
gave him a country in Galilee also, that was called Chabulon. But there was another passion, a
philosophic inclination of theirs, which cemented the friendship that was betwixt them; for they sent
mutual problems to one another, with a desire to have them unriddled by each other; wherein Solomon was superior to Hiram”
Note that what we today know as "Kabbalah" could be described in the same way ("sophisms", "enigmatical sayings", and "problems" to be "unriddled")
that Josephus described the exchanges between Solomon and Hiram and the fact that the account of these exchanges is twice placed immediately after the
mention of a location that has a name phonetically very similar to Kabbalah appears rather remarkable. If this was all, we could perhaps maintain
some doubt as to whether this was done intentionally to assign meaning to a metaphor, but Josephus mentions Cabul again in his Autobiography and this
third reference includes yet another remarkable "coincidence". Again the spelling of Cabul is altered when Josephus states that he:
"...marched to the village of Chabolo, situated in the confines of Ptolimias, and there kept my forces together, pretending to get
ready to fight with Placidus...”
The name "Placidus" supposedly belonged to a Roman military commander which appears rather ironic since one would normally not associate the idea of
placidity with war. However, if we take into account the fact that the name "Solomon" also means "peace" then this single sentence contains two ideas
corresponding to Josephus' other mentions of Cabul. If these references to Cabul are actually related to the concept of Kabbalah, then Josephus
appears to be admitting that he employed Kabbalah so that he could "pretend" that he was "fighting" with the Romans. And what "fight" would he really
be referring to? The most logical real opponent to Josephus was the "tranquil" Tranquillus who authored biographies of the Roman Emperors that
covered much of the same history that Josephus provided, but we cannot completely dismiss the "tacit" Tactitus whose name was also attached to 1st
Century histories.
It then also seems reasonable to connect the varied spellings of Cabul provided by Josephus as influencing the acceptance of various spellings of the
word "Kabbalah". This would also serve as a tacit admission that a key element of Kabbalah involves disguising words by altering spellings and this
again can be linked to ideas presented in Plato's Cratylus.
So are you prepared to accept the idea that Josephus employed Kabbalah? If you need more evidence before accepting this idea let me know and I will
provide it. If, on the other hand you are reasonably convinced, I can move on to the sword and the stone.