PRINCESS MARIAM

MARIAM the mother of Jesus — Was she a peasant or a princess?

Most people go for the ‘peasant’ option. In fact, people have been saying as much for almost 1,900 years. The pagan Celsus first said so in the 2nd century AD. Old Martin Luther said she was a peasant too. The scholars agree. So do many preachers.

But are they right?

Or are they badly mistaken?

There is actually good evidence that Mariam was not a peasant but a princess. The Talmud tells us that Mariam was the child of shiltons and of segans. Now shilton means a ‘ruler’. (Like Arabic sultan.) This can only mean she was of recognized royal descent. In fact, it means she was an acknowledged descendant of the House of David, for the Jews never took any other rulers seriously. And segan means the adjutant high priest. That means Mariam came from the highest levels of the Zadokite nobility. So the Talmud witnesses that Mariam came from the very highest strata of Israelite society. She really was Princess Mariam.

Now the Talmud’s witness is valuable because it generally does not have a high opinion of Mariam. It would have been easier for that particular rabbi, Rav Pappa, to say that Mariam really was a dirty peasant girl. He has other unpleasant names for her in the same passage. But he doesn’t bring the accusation of peasant because, of course, he and all his colleagues knew the truth. They couldn’t deny what everyone else already knew.

Of course, there is more evidence in other old Jewish texts. But I can’t deal with it all here. But she really was Princess Mariam. So let’s give her the honour she deserves.

I discuss all the evidence for Princess Mariam, including where she was born and went to school, in Chapter 8 of Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word.