The Sunday Mail
THERE are a lot of women in the Greek Gospels who were very close followers of scriptural Jesus (Yahoshua the Nazarene).
According to scrip scholars, nowhere is Yahoshua recorded to have “disgraced, belittle, reproached or stereotyped a woman.”
“(On numerous times), (Yahoshua) either met a woman, talked about a woman, or mentioned a woman in a parable. All of these. . . times are instructive and positive.”
Out of a number of women, very few of them are openly and publicly known by their names or by a relationship with him.
Among his female followers, there were Mary, his mother; Mary of Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager; Susanna;Salome; and many others, who provided for them out of their means. – Mark 15:39; Luke 8:1-3.
Of these named female followers, there is one name that stands out in the Greek Scriptures for its frequency. This is “Mary” and it was the English transliteration for Greek ‘Maria/Mariam’ and Hebrew ‘Myriam/Miriamne.’ So for this reason, “Myriam” is substituted for “Mary” in this column.
Throughout Yahoshua’s life, he was surrounded by women called “Myriam” – his mother, her sister and Myriam from Magdala (“Myriam of MagdalEber,” Genesis 35:21).
In the Gnostic Gospel of Philip, the name ‘Myriam’ is specifically noted as a title. “There were three who always walked with the Lord: Myriam his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.”
This passage reveals much about these women and their relationships to Yahoshua.
These women “always walked with the Lord,” “had a favoured position,” and they “were each a Myriam.” Herod Antipas was married to Mariamme, a priestess of the triple feminine deity Mari-Anna-Ishtar, whose triple-towered temple was called “Magdala.”
The name means ‘mistress of the sea or the waters impregnated by the power of teaching.’ In Hebrew, Mary is the same as Miriam and is spelled as “Mem-Reish-Yod-Mem”. Mayim (“Mem-Yod-Mem”) is Hebrew for waters or sea; while Reish (“Reish-Yod-Shin”) is the mind. Mary is Mareh (“Mem-Reish-Aleph-Hey”) in Hebrew and it means image, appearance, vision, mirror and whence derives the English word, mirror – Revived Qabala of Carlo Suares.
Myriam in Hebrew means, “to be filled, full and fruitful”. Earlier in the Hebrew Scriptures, Miryam was the sister of Moshe (Moses).
The origin of Myriam is Meri-Mu, Meri the mother. Meri is ancient Egyptian and it means “beloved.” It was a feminine deity of the Nile and also another title for Aset/Isis. The dual form of Meri as feminine deity of the Nile, south and north, is Meri-Ras and Meri-Mehi. Meri-Mehi also means “to be filled, fulfilled.” — from the Pyramid of Pepi I, ll. 565ff. Ref: Pyramid Texts, www.pyramidtexts.com <http://www.pyramidtexts.com> and www.touregypt.net/bod126.htm#ixzz3eYU7T1g6 <http://www.touregypt.net/bod126.htm> (Pharaoh Pepi I of the 6th Dynasty and ruled for 35 years, from 2,321 until 2,287 BCE).
Merit-Aten/Meryt-Aten/Meryet-Aten (14thcentury BCE) was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 18thdynasty, who held the position of Great Royal Wife to Pharaoh Smenkhkare, who may have been a brother or son of Akhen-Aten. Her name means “She who is beloved of Aten” — J. Tyldesley, “Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt,” 2006, page 136-137.
Of all the “Myriams”in Greek Scriptures, there are two who are very outstanding. This is Myriam the mother and Myriam of Magdalene. We have spoken enough of the mother and now we examine the other “Myriam,” whose locative surname was “Magdalene.”
Who was she? Magdalene is an English word transliterated from a place called ‘Magdala’ in Latin and ‘Magdan’ in Greek (Matthew 15:39 and the fortified city in the area of Naphtali in Joshua 19:38). The place was “known by the Greek name Taricheae.” ‘Magdala’ is transliterated form for a Hebrew, ‘Magdal-El.’
‘Migdal’ means ‘tower’ or ‘elevated, great magnificent’ while ‘El’ is the Canaanite Divine. Therefore, ‘Migdal-El’ means ‘Tower of the Divine’ so that Myriam of Magdalene is accordingly called “Myriam, the Tower of the Divine” or “Myriam, of magnificent and towering intellect.” — Stephen Andrew Missick, “Mary of Magdala” (2006) www.aramaicbible.blogspot.com/2006/10/mary-of-magdala.html>
“Tower” in reference to a person means “one who has reached the greatest spiritual attainment” and “a leader by virtue of spiritual consciousness.” The “Myriam who was called Magdalene” was in a position of spiritual leadership and authority. “Myriam who was called Magdalene” also meant “Myriam of the Divine Temple.”
Magdalene also means “she of the Temple-power.” ‘Magdal-Eder’ means ‘tower of the flock’ implying watch tower or guardian of lesser beings. During the time of Yahoshua the Nazarene, there was a triple feminine deity called Mari-Anna-Ishtar and her triple-towered temple was called “Magdala.”
“Myriam of the Magdala” means of “Myriam of the place called Magdala or Migdal.” In reference to a place, Migdala or Migdal was a village of doves and doves were sacrificial symbols of Astarte (Iastara or Ishtar, a lunar deity of Babylon, and the same idea of femininity is found in the Egyptian “Isis”).Interestingly, the doves were bred for the Temple. This means, both explanations lead to the same reverence of the feminine principle of life.
Myriam of Magdalene appears at the beginning (Luke 8:1-3), as a person of independent financial means (Luke 8:2–3), throughout and at the end of Yahoshua’s public ministry in Judea and Samaria, she is among the group of women who were very close to him (Mark 15:40, Matthew 27:56, John 19:25, and Luke 23:49).
Although the Gospels do not give a lot of details about Myriam of Magdalene, they agree on the above points. Additionally, she was the witness of his resurrection when she visited the grave, while the rest of the disciples hide in fear of the authorities; and she was the first to be charged with the supreme ministry of proclaiming Yahoshua’s message.(Jean-Yves Leloup, “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.” Inner Traditions International, 2002).
Lets dig deeper about this woman and determine her marital relationship with the scriptural Jesus, if any.
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