In Christianity, the rams represent the believers, or Jesus himself
In an archaeological excavation conducted by the Antiquities Authority in the Port of Caesarea in the National Park, at the initiative of the Caesarea Development Company and the Rothschild Foundation, an impressive marble statue of a ram was uncovered this morning (Thursday), near an ancient church building from the Byzantine period.
In Christian art, the ram appears carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd (Jesus, depicted as a shepherd caring for his sheep), and sometimes stands to his right or left. In Christianity, the rams represent the believers, or Jesus himself, whose suffering and death were meant, according to the belief, to atone for original sin. (The source of the image is in John 29:1)
In Roman art, the ram appeared alongside the gods of Greek mythology, Hermes or Mercurius, or as a representation of the god Amon from Egyptian mythology.
According to Dr. Petar Gendelman and Muhammad Khater, the managers of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, "Caesarea never ceases to surprise, and today, this amazing statue was discovered. In ancient Christianity they did not describe Jesus as a man. Instead, use symbols, of which the ram is one. Coincidentally or not, the statue was unveiled exactly on Christmas Eve. It is possible that the statue we found was part of the decoration of a Byzantine church from the 6th-7th century in Caesarea, but it is also possible that it is earlier, from the Roman period, and was incorporated into the structure of the church in secondary use."
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The article is very interesting, thank you very much. But there is a mistake in the explanation - the beast that describes Jesus and/or his believers is - the. Lamb/lamb and not a ram. Hence the quote you brought, Yohanan 29:11 "The next day Yohanan saw Jesus coming towards him. Yohanan said: Behold the God who bears the sin of the world." And also from chapter XNUMX:XNUMX "I am the good shepherd." The good shepherd gives his life for the flock." (The sheep are the believers).
On the other hand, if he was not just a good shepherd but an excellent shepherd then he could carry an ox in his lap 🙂
For this he is a good shepherd. If he were just a shepherd he could only carry a goat.
: )
"In Christian art, the ram appears when he is carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd"
The average weight of a ram (adult male sheep) is over one hundred kilos. The Shepherd should be an Olympic weightlifter.
I meant the Democratic Party.
In Israel today there are 6.251 million Jews according to CBS data April 2015. Within the borders of the state there are 1.721 million Muslim Arabs. In Gaza about 1.9 million. In IOSH - about 1.9 million.
The Jews in the world - do not live in Israel and their connection to Israel is partial. For example, about 75% of American Jews vote for the demographic party, which I can only assume, for some of us, has little affinity with it.
Eran
May I ask where your numbers come from?
There are about 14 million Jews in the world - even in Israel there are much more than 5.5 million Jews.
The stalwart struggle that lasted 350 years between Christianity and Judaism and between Christianity and idols - is a fascinating story for Dr. Yechiam Sorek for the series. The first Christians were also Jews, and from the spread of the early churches in Israel and the Jewish communities abroad, it can be understood that Christianity acquired hearts among the Jews as well. Nicodemus is Nicodemus - Joseph the Hermathean - a member of the Pharisaic Sanhedrin - that's where the issue came to. And Shimon of Kirini is originally from the Jewish community of Kirini. And John is John. And Bartholomew is Bar-Ptolemy - they are all originally Jewish. The apostles - a total of 12 and probably only 5 spread in practice - managed to spread a religion with Jewish roots (and I don't want to get into an argument with the religious among us - the differences are clear, but the imagery is also clear and Judaism denies it in my opinion) in the pagan population of Europe. They must have done a good job. It seems to me that such a series is too explosive because there are many people who will be angry about it in Israel, among them the readers of the site.
It is good that in Israel more and more remains of early Christianity are being discovered. Not long ago, I read to myself online that the prayer for the soul of every living being is a basic prayer in the Jewish codex, and perhaps other parts of the prayer book were compiled by Rabbi Shimon Kifa, aka the apostle Peter. Kipha in Aramaic is a rock, and Peter in Greek is a rock. And some of us struggle to explain how it happened. And in addition, the foundational prayer of the Christians "May your name be sanctified, may your kingdom come" is inspired by the Jewish Kaddish: May my name be increased and sanctified. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and we Jews, at least the religious ones, believe that this is blasphemy. Regardless of the fact that this religion partially claims the abolition of Judaism, I think we need to build bridges with the Christian world. A nation of 5.5 million and another 5.5 million Palestinians have little choice but to build bridges to any part of the world that agrees. The Polish Pope recognized many rights in favor of the Jewish people.
As for the claim that they persecuted us - true, but I'm not sure that we were nice to non-Jews. It doesn't come in exchange for it. It would be nice if everyone gave everyone air and a place to live and religions would be less fanciful.