James the Just – Introduction

James 1:1 James, a servant of Elohim, and of the Master Yahusha Ha Moshiach, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting. Author: ‘Iakōbos’ – ‘Jacobus’- ‘Yaakov’ – ‘Iakōbos’ ‘Jacobus’‘Jacomus’ ‘James’. Location: Jerusalem Audience: to a Hebrew hellenized audience. Theme: addressing persecution. ‘adulteresses’ in 4:4 40 allusions from the Tanakh and 4 direct quotes. Object: the object of the book is not the unpacking of Christology or theology but to force meditation and reflection within. The focus is not creed by conduct, not belief, but behavior, not doctrine, but deed! – Practical living for the pragmatic priesthood! Language is very Septuagintal. Acts 8:1 And Shaul was approving of Tzephanyah’s death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the congregation of Yisrael at Yahrushalayim; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Yahudah and Shomron, except the shlichim. Acts 11:19 Now they who were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose over Tzephanyah traveled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, Date: at least mid-first century. Clement knows and uses James which again rules out the second century – it can’t date after 90 in this case. Yaakov was martyred in in 62CE The book doesn’t contain any of the later first century developed doctrines of the New Testament found in Peter and Paul’s epistles. So, now that brings us to somewhere between 45-50 Earlier at 34-35 based upon the ‘uncooked’ message that the Septuagintal Greek conveys. The downplaying of James in Christian tradition James is the head, the ‘Episcopate’ of the Jerusalem assembly Favoring Paul: The tendency of the Institutionalized Church is to favor the Pauline letters, and what’s regarded as their ‘heavy theology’ rather than the more ‘primitive’ sayings of James. Popularity: The book was very popular, however with the Eastern Fathers, particularly in Alexandria with the first commentary being written by Didymus the Blind (313-98) in Alexandria. We can tell this by the Greek structural rhythm and rhyme and James’s penchant for alliteration and wordplay. When we become aware of these rhetorical devices in the Greek it becomes nearly impossible to imagine this homily as a translation from Aramaic or Hebrew. The death of James: Josephus records James’ death between the reigns of two Roman procurators in Judea. In 61CE Festus took office but died (Acts) in 62CE Albinus was dispatched to Judea. In the ‘gap’ between the two procurators the High Priest Ananus, son of Annas (the same Annas who was involved in the trial with Yahusha) was unleashed without Roman controls! He accused Yaakov of violating the law (Yaacov taught the Book of the Covenant division upholding the Maki-Tzedik) he ordered him stoned. Josephus then goes on to attribute the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem to this historical day – the martyrdom of Yaakov. Heggisippus and Eusebius give more detail and state how at James’s arrest Ananus presented him with an option. The ‘Temple Wall Affair’ which led directly to the death of Yaakov! The life of James: Heggisippus wrote, ‘He drank neither wine nor fermented liquors, and abstained from animal food. A razor never came upon his head, he never anointed with oil, and never used a (public) bath…..He was in the habit of entering the temple alone, and was often found upon his bended knees, and interceding for the forgiveness of the people, so that his knees became as hard as camels, in consequence of his habitual supplication and kneeling before Elohim’. Later, he was venerated as the first ‘bishop’ of Jerusalem and was given the title ‘tzaddik’ ‘the righteous’ or ‘the just’ because his faithfulness to the law and constancy in prayer. Heggesippus portrays Yaacov as a zealot associated with the Ebionites, who regarded Paul with disfavor and extolled Yaakov as the true heir to Yahusha’s teaching. Yaakov’s election to the ‘Episcopate.’ This is the missing history of Yaakov, Yaakov the u