Uncovering the Markan Allegory
July 10, 2012 at 6:34 am
(This post was last modified: July 10, 2012 at 6:34 am by FallentoReason.)
I thought that I should probably start backing up my claim that the Gospels are allegory. Strictly speaking actually, Mark is the true allegory and became the 'foundation' for which the Jesus myth took off, with the other Gospels clearly missing the point of Mark. We know it took off from here because the evidence is there in the NT in the form of Matthew, Luke and John. Anyways, that's a whole different discussion though. Let's have a look at Mark.
The beginning of Mark gives us an insight on who John the Baptist was meant to represent and even a little about why Mark was written.
Mark 1:2,3
[2] As it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, [3] the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight'.
This is setting up the reader to expect a character to fit this role. The next verse introduces us to this character: "[4]John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness...". Further down we get given a key description of what John is wearing: "[6]Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey."
The author of Mark brilliantly gives us the information needed to understand that John the Baptist is Elijah. Let's have a look at what he was referencing:
Mark 1:2 is a reference to Malachi 3:1 which reads: "[1] Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me...". This is our first clue. Note that the end of Malachi (4:5) ends with this: "[5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes." The next verse being referenced (Mark 1:3) comes from Isaiah 40:3 which reads: "[3] A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God.'" The third reference (Mark 1:6) points to 2 Kings 1:8 which leaves us without a doubt that John the Baptists represents Elijah: "[8] They replied, 'He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.' The king said, 'That was Elijah the Tishbite.'"
From the very beginning it should be noted that Mark was cleverly referencing the OT through the story he was telling. This is explicitly saying that by no means was he writing history. Well, what is the point of Mark then? To answer this question we need to understand why he was referencing those books.
The first book he references, Malachi, talks about the coming judgement of God on Israel. Then the second book being referenced is Isaiah where in chapter 39 it talks about the Babylonians coming to plunder Jerusalem and then Isaiah 40 talks of this as having been a punishment for the sins of the people which has now been paid. From this we see that the first two scriptural references made in Mark refer to passages that talk about destruction and judgment brought upon the Jews. Both passages also describe this punishment as having been fulfilled and say that a time of healing will follow as the favor of the Lord returns to the Jews.
The beginning of Mark seems to be related to events that happened around the time of it being written, like the destruction of Jerusalem which was 'fulfilled' in 70 A.D. It seems like the author of Mark reacted to this by writing Mark.
---JOHN THE BAPTIST AS ELIJAH---
The beginning of Mark gives us an insight on who John the Baptist was meant to represent and even a little about why Mark was written.
Mark 1:2,3
[2] As it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, [3] the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight'.
This is setting up the reader to expect a character to fit this role. The next verse introduces us to this character: "[4]John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness...". Further down we get given a key description of what John is wearing: "[6]Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey."
The author of Mark brilliantly gives us the information needed to understand that John the Baptist is Elijah. Let's have a look at what he was referencing:
Mark 1:2 is a reference to Malachi 3:1 which reads: "[1] Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me...". This is our first clue. Note that the end of Malachi (4:5) ends with this: "[5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes." The next verse being referenced (Mark 1:3) comes from Isaiah 40:3 which reads: "[3] A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God.'" The third reference (Mark 1:6) points to 2 Kings 1:8 which leaves us without a doubt that John the Baptists represents Elijah: "[8] They replied, 'He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.' The king said, 'That was Elijah the Tishbite.'"
From the very beginning it should be noted that Mark was cleverly referencing the OT through the story he was telling. This is explicitly saying that by no means was he writing history. Well, what is the point of Mark then? To answer this question we need to understand why he was referencing those books.
The first book he references, Malachi, talks about the coming judgement of God on Israel. Then the second book being referenced is Isaiah where in chapter 39 it talks about the Babylonians coming to plunder Jerusalem and then Isaiah 40 talks of this as having been a punishment for the sins of the people which has now been paid. From this we see that the first two scriptural references made in Mark refer to passages that talk about destruction and judgment brought upon the Jews. Both passages also describe this punishment as having been fulfilled and say that a time of healing will follow as the favor of the Lord returns to the Jews.
The beginning of Mark seems to be related to events that happened around the time of it being written, like the destruction of Jerusalem which was 'fulfilled' in 70 A.D. It seems like the author of Mark reacted to this by writing Mark.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
