91. Arimathaea, and Joseph of Arimathaea

Arimathaea is that land region also called Ramathaim in the Old Testament. It is the land of the birthplace of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1) the dedicated son unto God of Hannah who became God's prophet. Samuel's family was a Levite family of the line of Kohath the second of the three sons of Levi. The 'Kohathites' were the Levites of the highest rank. One such grouping of Kohathites were assigned to live in the land of Ephraim (1 Chronicles 6:66). Samuel's family was of such descent from Kohath as variously given in (1 Chronicles 6:33-38, 1 Samuel 1:1, & 1 Chronicles 6:22-28). Thus Samuel's family were to minister to the tribe of Ephraim in those things required by the Levitical Priesthood. Samuel was just such a Levite priest of the temple while it still resided in the land of Ephraim. And Samuel's father was said to be an Ephrathite as qouted above. This meant that Samuel's Levite family pertained unto the tribe of Ephraim living in one of the cities of the land of Ephraim, and being assigned thereto to administer unto that tribe as Levite priests. It was common to so stipulate a Levite priest by which tribe and tribal lands they were called upon to administer to, as exemplified by the following reference.

Arimathaea, Ramathaim, the birth place of Samuel and the land of his Levite family was also called by the shorter form of the name of Ramah. It was the hill country of Ephraim northwest of Jerusalem also generally referred to as Mount Ephraim as alluded to in the qoute from 1 Samuel 1:1 prior given. The significance of this that Jeremiah the prophet and Matthew the apostle of the Lord further associate Ramah to Rachel and her children in the coasts round about Benjamin in the hill country of Ephraim.

That the 'coast thereof' referenced Ramah, that is Mount Ephraim, the land of Ephraim of Arimathaea, Ramathaim, the birth place of Samuel, and the land assigned to the Levite families of Kohath who ministered unto Ephraim can be secondarily established by the reference to such assignment of the Kohath Levites found in 1 Chronicles 6:66 where it also states that land as being 'the cities of their coasts out of the tribe of Ephraim.'

Now we have already discussed that Rachel is the true mother of Israel and that it was Rachel who did mourn for the children killed by King Herod of the House of David. In that discussion it was also pointed out that the 'coasts thereof' in Matthew's account of the slaughter of the children needs be associated with being that of Ramah, as that was from whence Rachel was mourning and weeping for them. The tie in that the coasts of the cities of Ephraim where the Ephraimite administering Levites of Kohath were placed in Ramah now truely can be seen to be also that which 'all the coasts thereof in Matthew's account must be refering to.

This further gives credence to the fact that John the Baptist was of the same age range as was Jesus. Joseph was warned to take Jesus into Egypt to escape the murder of the babies by Herod. John the Baptist was taken by his mother into the wilderness to be raised to also escape that murder commanded by Herod. Zacharias, John's father was he who was killed between porch of the temple and the altar of sacrifice of the temple and counted by Jesus as amoung the murders of the prophets performed by the Jews (Matthew 23:35, Luke 11:51, ToPJS p. 261 & 222). It seems that Zacharias continued to perform his duties at the Temple and would not reveal the hiding place of his son John when pressured to do so by Herod's armies so that John might be killed also. This was just how thorough Herod's order was carried out.

Now tradition has that Joseph of Arimathaea was relatie of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He was also a rich and wealthy man, a counsellor of the Sadhedrin. He it was who begged the body of Jesus to be buried in his own tomb, which give added meaning of significance if he was so providing a 'family related burial site' for his great nephew kinsman, Jesus Christ. He and Nicodemus, also a follower of Jesus though a Pharisee of the Sanhedrin, properly prepared the body of Jesus for burial (John 19:38-42).

Now the alignment of Samuel and Levites being of Arimathaea or Ramah, of Ephraimites being of Arimathaea or Ramah, of the House of David in that Rachel mourned her children of Ramah or Arimathaea, of Joseph of Arimathaea of the Sanhedrin, a proposed relative of Mary the mother of Jesus, being of Ramah or Arimathaea, and the fact that Zarcharias the priest of the temple and his wife Elisabeth were Levites and cousins of Mary the mother of Jesus; does present a number of interesting possiblilities. If Joseph of Arimathaea were so related to Mary, mother of Jesus, the question comes, was he of the House of David as was Mary or was he a Levite of Mount Ephraim and associated with Elisabeth's side of the family? Not all Levites are priests. Not all members of the Sanhedrin are Priests, Pharisees or Sadducees. Some are numbered amoung the 'Elders of Israel'. Were Joseph of Arimathaea is not prescribed by any other afiliation than that of the Sanhedrin, it is difficult to tell whether he would be of the House of David or a Levite.

In either case he would be a Jew by association with the Jewish nation but he, as per this discussion of Messiah ben Joseph, would not be of the tribe of Judah, but either of the tribe of Joseph or the tribe of Levi. Perhaps his name's sake suggests his rightful place as being of the House of David, an Ephrathite of the tribe of Ephraim by the same association as is Jesus. But the point that he is both rich and associated with being of Ramah, seem to leave open his possible association with the Levites of Ephraim.

Now Ramah is Hebrew for hill or hill country. When Mary went to see Elisabeth, she 'went into the hill country' (Luke 1:39). And though it is stated as a city of Juda, all about Jerusalem in the days of Christ was of Juda unto the borders with Samaria and Arimathaea though specifically 'lying in the hill country of Ephraim northwest of Jerusalem, its cities would typically be considered as being of Juda, as the Jews where the only recognized tribe, outside the priest of Levi, that had prevailed in the land of Jerusalem. Therefore, Zacharias, whose home Mary did travel to in the 'hill country', could vary well be in that same 'hill country' as was Joseph of Arimathaea, the hills of Ramah. Certainly the correlation of Rachel weeping in 'Ramah', the 'hill country' for her children contributes to the possibility. Even when it states that the fame of the child John first proceeds out, that it was 'noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Jedaea' (Luke 1:65), only seems to add to the context that these were 'hill country' people or 'Ramah' people. Bethlehem itself has been shown to be on the southern fringe of this hill lands of Ramah and deeply associated with Rachel, the House of David and the professions of the hill people of being shepherds. Who was it that came to see the Christ the night of his birth in Bethlehem but shepherds from the surrounding hills who had been tending their sheep by night?

That the concept of Joseph of Arimathaea being relative to Jesus through his mother Mary, does open further the possiblitlies and in nowise detracts from the concept of Christ being of the House of David associated strongly with the regions of Mount Ephraim and the House of Joseph. There is nothing of Joseph of Arimathaea's relationship to Christ which detracts from the consideration of Jesus being Messiah ben Joseph as well as Messiah ben David. In fact there is much which suggests and does associated itself with all likelihood that it is the case.

Joseph of Arimathaea being from Ramah of Mount Ephraim associates him well with Ephraim and consideration of Messiah ben Joseph being his relative Jesus Christ. In death, it was Joseph of Arimathaea, of Mount Ephraim, who claims the body of the Christ. His being the relative through the mother of Mary only solidifies this even more, in that it associates Christ's one genetic parent of mortality with the hill country of Ramah and Ephraim, Arimathaea. Though Joseph the carpenter is also closely relative to Mary, it is Mary who is also cousin to Elisabeth the Levite wife of Zacharias, the priest of the temple. All stated about Zacharias' dwelling place in the 'hill country' does nothing to remove the associate of the House of David from the hills or Ramah, but only speaks of that families close association with it. Even Zacharias being of the order or course of Abia (Luke 1:5), does only place him even more tightly associated with the Kohath Levites of the hill country of Arimathaea, Ephraim and possibly Bethlehem.

In close cross-examination, Arimathaea, and Jospeh of Arimathaea bring nothing upon the table which mars the concept of the dual descent of the Messiah, being of the blood of Judah, but legally and rightfully of the House of Joseph, through those Ephrathites and associated Ephrathite or Ephraimite priests of the land of Ramah and Bethlehem the burial place of Rachel the mother of Joseph by whom that rightful descent does come. In fact all so associated does seem but to coroborate it to be so as it fits the picture with additional pieces of the puzzle most perfectly.