Mara Bar Serapion
73 A.D. Syrian
“What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that their Kingdom was abolished. “
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(On the Significance of A.D.70)
“What did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? As judgment, plague and famine came upon them. What did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? Shortly after this, their land was covered with sand. What did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after his death that their kingdom was abolished.”
(On the Significance of A.D.70)
“God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were covered by the sea; the Jews, without a homeland have been dispersed among the nations. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; He lives on in the teaching which he had given.”
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS
F.F. Bruce on Mara
“But the writings of Thallus have disappeared; we know them only in fragments cited by later writers. Apart from him, no certain reference is made to Christianity in any extant non-Christian Gentile writing of the first century. There is, indeed, in the British Museum an interesting manuscript preserving the text of a letter written some time later than AD 73, but how much later we cannot be sure. This letter was sent by a Syrian named Mara BarSerapion to his son Serapion. Mara Bar-Serapion was in prison at the time, but he wrote to encourage his son in the pursuit of wisdom, and pointed out that those who persecuted wise men were overtaken by misfortune. He instances the deaths of Socrates, ‘Pythagoras and Christ:
‘What advantage did the Athenian, gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos, gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; He lived on in the teaching which He had given.’
This writer can scarcely have been a Christian, or he would have said that Christ lived on by being raised from the dead. He was more probably a Gentile philosopher, who led the way in what later became a commonplace-the placing of Christ on a comparable footing with the great sages of antiquity.” – F.F. Bruce
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