Happy Easter!
First question: Was Jesus a Jew? Answer: I doubt it.
Second question: If Jesus or his mother or his grandparents (or ancestors going back no more than 150 years or so before Jesus’ birth) were Jews/Jewish were they forced at sword-point (death or convert) to covert to Judaism?
Answer: If Jesus or his family or ancestors were Jews then I’d say it’s very likely they were forced to convert to Judaism. For example, they may have been forcefully (under penalty of death) converted under Jewish rulers John Hyrcanus (Yoḥanan Cohen Gadol) or Alexander Jannaeus or other such Jews.
Who were they (Jesus and his ancestors) if they were gentiles forced to convert to Jews? I don’t know but possibly immigrant Assyrians or immigrants from any part of the Assyrian Empire or a mixture of the lost (or expelled) tribes of Israel (who weren’t Jews) and Assyrian immigrants. For example, members of the tribe of Naphtali or Dan or other tribes who managed to remain in Galilee by assimilating into the new population of immigrants.
Third question: Was Jesus born in Galilee? Answer: I’d say it’s extremely likely he was. He was very likely born in Bethlehem of Galilee (not to be confused with Bethlehem of Judea).
I’ll continue this post by way of the comments sections below (rather than doing a Part 2, 3 and so on).
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JERUSALEM, by William Blake, is arguably the Christian Identity Anthem of the English Speaking Peoples:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.
What was the meaning of “Jew” prior to the ministry of Jesus?
What did Jesus, when he spoke to them in Chapter 8 of the Gospel of John, mean by the word “Jew”?
The Children of the Devil
42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Before Abraham Was, I Am
48Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
@ Charles Edward Lincoln III: Thanks for adding to this topic. I need to add more here too about Bethlehem of Galilee. Making a to do note now.