The phrase about washing hands originally comes from Deuteronomy 21,6-7 which discusses what to do if an unknown murdered body is found in a field. Clearly suspicion would initially fall on the local people. In order to declare their innocence they performed a sacrificial ritual that involved hand washing. They would say "Our hands have not shed this blood and our eyes did not see it " It is where we get the phrase "I wash my hands of it" from.
In the gospels when Pontius Pilate washed his hands before the Crucifixion he was implying that he wasn't responsible. This may be a late addition to the text to deflect guilt from Rome.
I don't know whether scholars have definitive answers to these questions. The Canaanite languages are semitic, like Hebrew Arabic and Aramaic. You would need to discuss the question of origins with a scholar of these languages.
Your text said; "the medieval church held Jews responsible" (for ritual murder).
It was not only the medieval church. It includes the modern church.
I have been living in Germany for quite some time, and I remember a Catholic priest, from the pulpit, calling Jews "Christ Killers". I was not in the church, but I heard it on the news.
Actually it was the Romans who did the killing, and I think it was a church invented myth that the Roman said "I wash my hands of this innocent man's death. " If he really believed that he would not have condemed him to death.
From what I have read, that was the battle cry of the crusaders, when they rampaged through the Jewish areas killing Jews, on their way to the Holy land, and that phrase is still in use.
I have also read that many nobles could not afford to take an army to the Holy Land, and borrowed the money from the very Jews they were killing.
Your comment on the following would be interesting.
The oldest piece of Hebrew writing is said to be on a pot shard. However, a professor at Hebrew University said that Hewbrew and Canannite are so similar that it is difficult to say which language it is.
Does this mean that Hebrew derived from Canannite, or was Canannite derived from Hebrew, or do both languages have a common ancestor?
Is it possible that the Hebrew and Canannite people genetically have a common ancestor?
In any case, it is strange that, at least the Christian Old Testiment says that God ordered the Hebrews to go into the land of the Canannites, kill all of the people, kill their animals and cut down all of their trees.
Today that is a war crime that would end up in the international criminal court in the Haag.
Very interesting, as ever. I didn't know that this originated in England. As to its migration to Blois - Blois was intimately connected to the culture of Norman England; we forget how 'French' the English monarchs of this time were (to the extent that they did homage to the French king for some of their lands). Stephen of Blois was King of England during the Anarchy, and the count of Blois at the time of this blood libel pogrom was, I think, the ex-brother-in-law of England's queen (Eleanor of Aquitaine). None of which is to say that this isn't England's shame - more that it's likely not a coincidence that it emigrated first to Blois.
The phrase about washing hands originally comes from Deuteronomy 21,6-7 which discusses what to do if an unknown murdered body is found in a field. Clearly suspicion would initially fall on the local people. In order to declare their innocence they performed a sacrificial ritual that involved hand washing. They would say "Our hands have not shed this blood and our eyes did not see it " It is where we get the phrase "I wash my hands of it" from.
In the gospels when Pontius Pilate washed his hands before the Crucifixion he was implying that he wasn't responsible. This may be a late addition to the text to deflect guilt from Rome.
I don't know whether scholars have definitive answers to these questions. The Canaanite languages are semitic, like Hebrew Arabic and Aramaic. You would need to discuss the question of origins with a scholar of these languages.
Very interesting Rowan, thanks!
Your text said; "the medieval church held Jews responsible" (for ritual murder).
It was not only the medieval church. It includes the modern church.
I have been living in Germany for quite some time, and I remember a Catholic priest, from the pulpit, calling Jews "Christ Killers". I was not in the church, but I heard it on the news.
Actually it was the Romans who did the killing, and I think it was a church invented myth that the Roman said "I wash my hands of this innocent man's death. " If he really believed that he would not have condemed him to death.
From what I have read, that was the battle cry of the crusaders, when they rampaged through the Jewish areas killing Jews, on their way to the Holy land, and that phrase is still in use.
I have also read that many nobles could not afford to take an army to the Holy Land, and borrowed the money from the very Jews they were killing.
William McCreight
Your comment on the following would be interesting.
The oldest piece of Hebrew writing is said to be on a pot shard. However, a professor at Hebrew University said that Hewbrew and Canannite are so similar that it is difficult to say which language it is.
Does this mean that Hebrew derived from Canannite, or was Canannite derived from Hebrew, or do both languages have a common ancestor?
Is it possible that the Hebrew and Canannite people genetically have a common ancestor?
In any case, it is strange that, at least the Christian Old Testiment says that God ordered the Hebrews to go into the land of the Canannites, kill all of the people, kill their animals and cut down all of their trees.
Today that is a war crime that would end up in the international criminal court in the Haag.
Best regards,
William McCreight
Very interesting, as ever. I didn't know that this originated in England. As to its migration to Blois - Blois was intimately connected to the culture of Norman England; we forget how 'French' the English monarchs of this time were (to the extent that they did homage to the French king for some of their lands). Stephen of Blois was King of England during the Anarchy, and the count of Blois at the time of this blood libel pogrom was, I think, the ex-brother-in-law of England's queen (Eleanor of Aquitaine). None of which is to say that this isn't England's shame - more that it's likely not a coincidence that it emigrated first to Blois.