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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Was Jesus Jewish, "Palestinian" or - "Lebanese?"

Right on the heels of the Palestinian Authority's annual bizarre labeling of Jesus as being "Palestinian," Lebanese media are reporting that he was in fact - "Lebanese."

There is fairly sizable evidence that Jesus was not born in the Bethlehem of Judea, but in a smaller Bethlehem in the Galilee, which is much closer to Nazareth.

The Lebanese article in al-Tayyar is saying that Bethlehem of Galilee is actually in Lebanon. It is based on this book.

Of course, they are using a very expansive definition of "Lebanon," which didn't exist as a nation until very recent times. It is true that parts of the Galilee were temporarily under Phoenician rule and later was part of the Kingdom of Tyre, but during Jesus' life it was part of the Jewish kingdom under Roman rule.

The article even links to this map showing that Bethlehem of Galilee was not part of Phoenicia at that time:


Of course, being the Arab media, the article also goes on to say that much of the Jewish scripture is nonsense, that there is no evidence of King David's existence, and that the biblical Song of Songs was in fact an adaptation of Lebanese songs.