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Chapter 4-The Good Samaritan  
     
1.
 As some may know, Jesus was not the only historically recorded Jewish “Messiah” during precisely the same period. At the time of his birth there was a powerful and influential rival and during his final ministry he faced a direct competitor.  
2.
 The first rival was his cousin John the Baptist, the son of the old and respected priest Zechariah of Qumran (the source of the Dead Sea Scrolls).  
3.
 Not only was John considered the Messiah and Saviour foretold on account of his “miracle” birth to parents both near the age of 70+, but the Essene priests had ordered all Essene communities to count the year of his birth as 0.
  
4.
 Today, we think of the year 1 CE by our calendars as being based on the birth date of Jesus. It is actually the continuation of this edict by Zechariah, now for 2,000 years. Jesus was born in the year 6 CE (6 years after the birth of John). We know this on account of the multiple of historic events referenced at the time of his birth that can be verified- the Roman Census was in 6 CE, Annas became High Priest in 6 CE and Herod Archelaus the son of Herod the Great was deposed by the Romans for unspeakable crimes in the same year.
  
5.
 In the years after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, those Jews who firmly believed John to be the true Messiah became known as the Ebionites- a group that would survive for hundreds of years.
  
6.
 The second rival to the claim of Messiah is even more intriguing. He was a Samaritan, born of House of Menasheh, the exiled and ancient High priest line of Samaritan Priests and a full Roman citizen. He is recorded under several names in history including Dositheus and Barabbas which simply means “son of the father” (bar meaning son and abbas meaning father).
  
7.
 As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Menasheh was conquered by the Great Assyrian King Solomon Šulmanu-ašarid V (727 -722 BCE) and many were killed, taken as slaves or exiled.
 
8.
 During this period, the ancestors of Barabbas/Dositheus developed a unique version of Judaism, which blended the occult of the Assyrians and Judaic beliefs to form the basis of the duality of Sadduceean mind.
 
9.
 In the Hellenistic period following Alexander the Great, the ancestors of Barabbas/Dositheus helped form the Sebastaea faction in favour of Greek customs. Around 245-240 the High Priest of Israel was Manasseh- a name clearly identifying the tribe in opposition to the Egyptian High Priests of Yeb (Elephantine Island)- the Onias Line.
 
10.
 When Manasseh was deposed as High Priest at Jerusalem, he return to the Samarian lands and built the Samaritan Temple at Mount Gerizim, replacing the previous Temple, presumably with some of fortune generated whilst High Priest of Israel.
 
11.
 The Samaritans gained the High Priesthood again for a brief period at Jerusalem around 172 BCE through Manasseh (known as Menelaus), High Priest of Mount Gerizim (Samaritans) and High Priest of Israel 172-162 BCE who is infamously supposed to have alerted the Assyrians to the wealth hidden in the bowels of the Temple.  
12.
 This event had enormous political and social implications both for Samaritan High priest dynasty and the Samaritans for when John Hyrcanus came power, he besieged Mount Gerizim in 128 BCE and utterly destroyed the Temple and township of Shechem of 15,000 people to the ground.  
13.
 To add insult to injury in 31 BCE, the Roman commander Octavian gave Samaria to the new king of Judaea, Herod the Great. When Octavian changed his name into Augustus, Herod changed Samaria's name into Sebaste (the Greek form of Augustus).  
14.
 The destruction of their Temple and their capital burnt into the soul of the Samaritans. Their hatred for the Babylonian Yehudim (mainstream Jews) never left them, even today 2,000 years later with but a handful of pure Samaritans left.  
15.
 After the destruction of their temple, the refugee High Priests of Samaria first retreated to Antioch and then further north into Turkey when Herod “the Great” came to power, finally seeking the relative safety of warlords in the anarchic region of Cilicia in Turkey until the Romans finally appointed their own Governor in the new province of Iudaea (Judea).  
16.
 It was at this darkest hour for the proud Samaritan noble families that it was prophecized a Messiah would come, so powerful that he would conquer Jerusalem and unite not only the Jewish people of the region, but the whole world.  
17.
 Around 10 to 15 CE this rival Messiah who was known as Barabbas/Dositheus was born the son of the High Priest in exile in Tarsus in Cilicia (Turkey).  
18.
 By 32/33 CE right at the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, his rival Barabbas/Dositheus had amassed a significant following as the message of the Samaritan became even more strident and anti-establishment.
  
19.
 By 35 CE, the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate was forced to act after the supporters of Barabbas/Dositheus had begun to attack wealthy Jerusalem families and supporters of the reigning Annas/Boethus priestly clan.
  
20.
 The famous show trial between Jesus and Barabbas by Pontius Pilate wasn't a choice between a Messiah and a criminal as has been re-edited in the Bible, it was a choice between two "Messiahs" (a) or (b), Jesus, the Essene/Hasmonaean/Sadducee Messiah or (b) the Samaritan Messiah. As we know, the crowd picked (b).  
21.
 The Biblical and historical accounts for Barabbas the "Good Samaritan" end at this point. But he did not disappear, nor was he secretly executed. Instead he was sent into exile, to Damascus where he could be under the watchful eye of the Syrian legate of Rome for the whole region.  
22.
 He did not stay in exile for long. Around 43/44, High Priest Ananias travelled to Damascus to see Nethanel (Dositheus) to request his assistance in eliminating the Nazarenes. The Nazarenes were the group first founded by Jesus and had continued to promote the Gnostic messages outlined in previous chapters.  
23.
 This time, instead of the Samaritan priest running his own race, Ananias and the House of Annas would control him, with a well formed new set of sacred texts and key messages- each designed to misdirect, confuse and destroy the confidence of the gnostic message. The religion was called Boethusianism - the forerunner of Eastern Christianity.
 
24.
 Nethanel (Dositheus) agreed and promptly changed his name in a highly provocative move. For he chose a new name for his new mission to create a counterfeit religion that was considered one of the most holy of holy names of the Jews- the name of the first Messiah King.  
25.
 No Jew would ever dare name their children, no matter who they were the name of the first Messiah king. But in 43/44 CE, the Good Samaritan came out of exile, now named Saul, his Romanized name being Paul.  
26.
 We know him today as St. Paul and St. Paul the Apostle.  
     

 
 
 

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