Mary Magdalene was not a Jewess. She was a Phoenician living in Israel when she became the first person to witness the all-important physical resurrection of Jesus in AD 30".
I am a London-based independent researcher. My analysis of William Flinders Petrie's excavations at Memphis revealed crucial evidence of one of Tyre's ('Migdol's) great ancient commercial bases in Memphis, Egypt. In my book, Memphis, Merneptah and Ramesses and the Winged Disk of Judah, I explain precisely what Mr Petrie really dug up in Memphis between 1908-1914. The site seems to have been covered so that ancient Tyre's involvement there, as well as a considerable Jewish presence during the Phoenician-Carthaginian era at Memphis, circa 700-200 BC, has been effectively hidden but for the written summaries ('excavation reports') published by Petrie's employer.
Petrie was stunned by obvious but unexpected Phoenician construction at Memphis which seemed, like some evidence of Jewish presence there, to have been during the time of Ramesses the Great and his successor Merneptah Baenre Meriamun Hotephir-maat. However, Petrie and others failed to note Jewish references to Memphis in Exodus 14:2, Numbers 33:7, Jeremiah 44:1 and 46:14 which show 'Migdol' or 'Migdal' was the city the Israelites built for one pharaoh in 1485 BC and for another pharaoh in circa 600 BC, being the same place, on the same site but in two different eras, or the First and Last great eras of Egypt’s pharaohs.
- It is the false Egyptian chronology that confused Petrie.
In Hebrew, 'Migdol' or 'Migdal mean 'tower'. The English word 'tower' is derived from the name for the Phoenician city of Tyre which controlled twenty cities in northern Israel since the days of Solomon (950 BC). The inter-relationship between Tyre and Israel in ancient times was much more complex than hitherto recognised. For example, two Phoenician women received their sons back from the dead in the Old Testament. The prophets Elijah and Elisha sent by God to resurrect these Phoenicians' dead sons were the subject of a dispute between Jesus and his own synagogue in Galilee when they threw him out.
It seems obvious from the combined records, both Biblical and archaeological, that we are being told the following:
- A Phoenician woman's daughter, Mary Magdalene, witnessed the Son of God's resurrection just as two prophets named God the Jehovah ('Elijah') and God the Yeshua (Jesus or Saviour in Hebrew), i.e., Elisha, resurrected two Phoenician women's sons 750 and 800 years earlier.
The parallel is obvious but only by finding a major Phoenician presence in Memphis (or Migdol, Pithom, Ramesses, Pith-mem, Memphit) could the Magdalene be truly identified as Phoenician. Although the Phoenician city at Memphis has been obvious knowledge since 1908-14, World War One intervened and other subsequent chaos eventually caused this fact to be forgotten until nearly 100 years later.
This cannot be an absolute statement, but it is highly improbable that a Jewish or Israelite mind (between 800 BC to 100 AD) could have dreamt or conceived of a Phoenician woman, quite possibly or almost certainly an ex-prostitute, being the first person to be able to hug a resurrected Jewish Messiah when the chief apostles (Peter and John), Jesus' own Mother, of all people in a strictly Orthodox Jewish family, and many other Jews were apparently excluded from such a beautiful privilege.
The best conclusion from this is:
- The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, recorded in the Bible, could only be an historical fact, in other words a virtual proof. It could not be an absolute proof for that would negate faith or belief.
(2) Mary Magdalene Proves Resurrection of Jesus
By reworking ancient history in accordance with new chronological alignments we now realise that Memphis-Pithom in Egypt, or the 'Migdol' of Exodus 14:2 and Jeremiah 44:1, or William Flinders Petrie's 'Tah-pan-hes' or 'Si-en-Ptah', and Magdala, a fishing village on Lake Galilee, were Phoenician commercial bases. The significance of this has been given some boost by the Da Vinci Code which itself fishes around for some truth in the Biblical record. However, as noted by the Rev., Richard Bewes formerly of All Souls Anglican Church, Langham Place, London, the fresh-water fish in Lake Galilee are the same as those found in central African lakes.
As the Bible points out, Ophir or Auphirah (Africa) was a happy hunting ground for Phoenician merchants, especially for gold and precious stones. But livestock (animals and fish) were also popular commodities. Ancient Phoenician or allied traders placed fresh-water fish into these lakes (and Galilee) as part of their commercial and life-sustaining operations. When Jesus told Peter he would be a 'fisher of men', little has anyone today realised that Jesus was gently teasing Peter about his future role as opener of the keys of the kingdom of God to Gentiles. Jesus was also anticipating, through the fishing episodes on the lake recorded in the gospels, the Salvation and equal-sharing of blessings for Gentiles.
- Mary’s role at the Resurrection was another hint on the same plan.
Mary's "Rabboni", most likely in her Syrian-Phoenician mother-tongue, and Jesus' reference to 'my brethren' as being only His, not hers, yet God as being both His and her God and Father, strongly suggests that Mary was not Jewish. Like all Gentiles, she would henceforth know God in the same way as Jews and receive the same spiritual blessings in exactly the same way. Only by assuming Mary was in fact Gentile, in this case Phoenician not Egyptian, Greek or Roman, can one make sense of John’s precisely-recorded answers in the penultimate chapter of his gospel (verses 16-17).
Most church teaching tends to get quite confused about the basis of salvation of Jews and non-Jews before the Cross: a salvation that centred on belief in the God of Israel and the sacrifice of animals to observe and temporarily cover the penalty and awfulness of their sin. However, under the covenant with Moses, Israel would receive spiritual and physical blessings not open to non-Jews (unless they converted and men circumcised, as some did). This distinction has been removed since the Cross. Hence the importance of Mary Magdalene, representing Gentiles, coming on board with the women’s team assisting Jesus, under the circumstances of her miraculous release from demon-possession. That was almost certainly the incident involving the Syro-Phoenician mother also recorded in the gospels in the earth-quaking exchange over ‘Gentile dogs’.
We cannot prove this link. In fact to be able to do so would again negate faith and belief. The information given, and the apparently harsh manner of response Jesus gave to the Syro-Phoenician woman (putatively Mary Magdalene's mother), makes the link obvious. These events are written this way to draw our attention to them or even to shock us so that we look attentively.
Concluding this section, we note that the miracles where Elijah and Elisha resurrected Phoenician women’s sons in the Old Testament 750-800 years earlier were preludes to the resurrected Jesus appearing first to this Phoenician woman’s daughter (Mary Magdalene). All these events and the precise manner in which they were recorded are so supportive of the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus that any sensible person would have to agree with the record beyond any reasonable doubt. It is virtually impossible to hold that Jewish scribes invented these things over at least an 800-year period. If an unreasonable doubt does turn out to be reasonable in the course of time, then it matters little but in the unlikely event that is the case, rejection of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for the personal sin of each one of us who believes, leads to a horrible eternity that does not bear thinking about. And that is the most important warning delivered by Mary Magdalene’s role at the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
(3) Queen Sheba, Mary Magdalene and Resurrection
Queen Sheba, better- but incorrectly known as 'Queen of Sheba', and Mary Magdalene are both intimately connected with the Resurrection of Jesus in ways that have been misunderstood by theologians.
In my book (Memphis see above), it is shown that William Flinders Petrie's 1908-14 excavations at Memphis in Egypt effectively identified Memphis-Pithom-Migdol as the site of the cities of Pithom (in 1500 BC) and Ramesses (circa 650-550 BC) named in Exodus 1:11. They were "the 'dwelling' cities Israelites built for Pharaoh". This book supports Dr Velikovsky's claim that ancient Egyptian chronology is a terribly confused mess. There is an important reason for distorting ancient history by rigging a false ancient Egyptian chronology supposedly for the era 3000 to 500 BC. The false framework and chronology disguises the real connections between Solomon, Queen Sheba-Hatshepsut of Egypt and Hiram of Tyre (in one generation circa 950 BC). It also distorts the inter-connections between them and:
- Elijah and Elisha, prophets of Israel circa 800 and 770 BC who resurrected two Phoenician women's only-sons; and
- Jesus who resurrected before Mary Magdalene (Mary of Migdol, Mary of Tyre-Phoenicia) in 30 AD.
Using an Egyptian chronology originally outlined by Immanuel Velikovsky for the period 1500-500 BC but extended back by myself to circa 2200 BC, we have not only exposed the true historical background to modern Kurdish-Chaldeans between 1500 and 600 BC, and their precise historical origins in Southern Iraq (Shinar), but we have also shown how Tyre-Migdol and its colonies of Tarshish formed the basis of the modern western Atlantic nations from Mauritania to Holland (Netherlands).
Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty's United Kingdom of Ethiopia and Egypt, whose royal cartouche could be read as 'The Sign (h'at) of the Sheba of the South (Sut)', a 'sheba' being a scribe or administrator [(Hebrew and Egyptian, 's-p-r') or one who sits (Hebrew and Egyptian 'sheb', 'shev')], came to 'Punt' to look at Solomon's temple. David and Solomon planned and built it with the help of Hiram I and II of Tyre-Phoenicia (Pun-icia or Pun't-icea). However, Hatshepsut-Sheba (or Shepa) returned to Deir el-Bahari near Thebes to build a replica. Later, under pressure from the Egyptian pagan 'church' not to convert, although she did, Hatshepsut, in a fashion like Akhenaten a century later who apostatised, decided to dedicate a temple to the God of Israel (Jehovah) in Egypt. She set it into a cleft-filled cliff-face with secret tunnels and stairways thus encoding within the monument’s setting Solomon's words: "Oh my dove, you are in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs". This statement is found in Song of Solomon 2:14 – concerning his and a Black woman’s relationship to God).
In many ways Hatshepsut-Sheba prefigured Henry VIII and Elizabeth I of England, the latter possibly readable as 'The Sheba of God'. More importantly, Sheba-Hatshepsut’s real and Biblically-identified significance was to be a notable contrast to many Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus' Messiah-ship of Israel. Actually, Hatshepsut-Sheba would be a Black-female representative of Gentiles (Hebrew, 'Goyim') who would judge the Jewish leaders at the future general Resurrection of all people. Her role in the Resurrection becomes an interesting parallel with Mary Magdalene the Phoenician woman.
For this reason, and following a continuing theme that could not possibly or feasibly have been concocted, imagined or conceived by 20-30 generations of male Jewish scribes, we have the following:
- Two Jewish prophets named Elijah (God the Jehovah) and Elisha (God the Yeshua or Jesus) travel to Phoenician towns;
- Two Phoenician towns, one near Sidon and the other, Shunem in Israel, and probably originally one of twenty given to Hiram by Solomon (I Kings 9:11); and
- The two sons of two Phoenician women miraculously resurrected as the sign (H'at) of the future resurrection of Jesus to be witnessed first by the Gentile woman Mary Migdol, Mary of Tyre or Mary Magdalene, also a Phoenician.
The conclusion is that there is an historical and prophetic outline in the Bible that can only be discerned by re-organising the chronological record of the ancient Egyptian Dynasties. That in turn assists our modern understanding of the origins of many nations and their roles in historic and prophetic events in the Bible. Modern theologians' refusal to re-consider or ever question historical frameworks unless, quoting one, 'the universities change their minds', has obscured some otherwise useful research, such as better Hebrew perspectives to the Scriptures. However, this conservatism or even 'Ludditism' has failed to expose the inadequacies of lots more theological research over the centuries - the last century in particular and is one reason why 'basic', 'mere', 'proper' or First-Century Hebrew-Christianity is itself becoming obscure in the public's eyes.
Mr Stewart is available for consultation, or to give lectures, on a cost-basis (or not-for-profit-basis) at 00 64 0210 298 9320 or at ttdonaldstewart@hotmail.com .
Interested readers can also look at:
http://don-stewart-research.blogspot.com/
