LIFE OF JESUS, PART THREE

As the wife of a dynastic husband, Mary would have been governed by the regulations applicable to Messianic (anointed) lines such as those of King David and Zadok the Priest. In fact, Mary was serving a statutory probationary period as a married woman of the dynastic hierarchy -- a period of espousal during which sexual relations were forbidden -- and Joseph would have just cause for personal embarrassment when Mary was discovered to have conceived. The situation was resolved only when the high-ranking Abiathar priest (the designated Gabriel) granted approval for the confinement.

From the time of King David, the dynasty of Abiathar (2 Samuel 20:25) was established in the hierarchy of senior priests. The line of Zadok was the primary priestly heritage, and the line of Abiathar was second in seniority. In addition to the traditional priestly styles, the Essenes also preserved the names of the Old Testament archangels within their governing structure. Hence the Zadok priest was also the archangel Michael, and the Abiathar priest (whatever his personal name) was also the angel Gabriel. Being subordinate to the archangel Michael (the "Lord" -- like unto God), the Abiathar/Gabriel was the designated Angel of the Lord (the ambassador of the Michael/Zadok). This angelic system is detailed in the Book of 1 Enoch (4:9), and the War Scroll (9:15-17) of the Dead Sea Scrolls also indicates the angels' order of ranking during the Gospel era.

In the Luke account, it was through the mediation of the angel Gabriel that Mary's pregnancy was granted approval, being of holy consequence. This is known as the "Annunciation," but it was not so much a matter of announcing, as one of sanctioning.

Prior to Jesus' birth, the High Zadok (archangel Michael) was Zacharias. His wife was Mary's cousin Elizabeth, and his deputy, the Abiathar (angel Gabriel), was Simeon the Essene. It was he who gave the formal consent for Mary's confinement, even though she and Joseph had disobeyed the rules of dynastic wedlock.

It is evident, then, that these dynastic rules were no ordinary matter, and were quite unlike the Jewish marital norm. Parameters of operation were explicitly defined -- dictating a celibate lifestyle except for the procreation of children, and then only at set intervals. Three months after a betrothal ceremony, a "First Marriage" with anointing was formalized to begin the espousal in the month of September. Physical relations were allowed after that, but only in the first half of December. This was to ensure that any resultant Messianic birth occurred in the Atonement month of September. If the bride did not conceive, intimate relations were suspended until the next December, and so on. (Please click here for more information on the calendar used for this calculation.)

Once the probationary wife had conceived, a "Second Marriage" with anointing, was performed to legalize the wedlock. However, the bride was still regarded as an "almah" (young woman) until completion of the Second Marriage, which was never celebrated until she was three months pregnant. The purpose of this delay was to allow for the possibility of a miscarriage. Second Marriages thus took place in the month of March. The reason that full wedlock was not achieved until pregnancy had been firmly established was to accommodate the dynastic husband's legal change of wife if the first should prove to be barren.

In the case of Joseph and Mary, it is apparent that the rules of dynastic wedlock were infringed, since Mary gave birth to Jesus at the wrong time of year (Sunday 1 March, 7BC). Sexual union must therefore have taken place six months before the designated December, in June 8 BC, at about the time of their initial betrothal, some three months before their First Marriage in the September. And so it was that Mary not only conceived as an almah, but also gave birth as an almah before her Second Marriage.

Once Mary's unauthorized pregnancy had been confirmed, Joseph would have been granted the choice of not going through with the Second Marriage ceremony. To save embarrassment, he could have placed Mary in monastic custody ("put her away privily," as in Matthew 1:19), where the eventual child would be raised by the priests.

But if the child was a boy, he would be Joseph's firstborn descendant in the Davidic succession. It would have made little sense to bring him up as an unidentified orphan, leaving a possible younger brother (who was later James, the next Joseph of Arimathea) to become his substitute in the kingly line. Joseph and Mary's unborn child was plainly a signficant prospect and demanded special treatment as an exception to the general rule. The angel Gabriel (who was in charge of all the young unmarried women) would therefore have advised that, since a sacred legacy was at stake, Joseph should go ahead with the Second Marriage ceremony..."for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 1:20).