Who is Mary Magdalene in Christianity?

Answer 1

She was Mary, probably of Magdala, in Galilee. That is the basic answer and the one we can initially draw from the Biblical text. However, a deeper dig into the text reveals that Solomon gave twenty cities to Hiram (I Kings 9:11). The Syrians believe they inherited these cities when, at times through history, Lebanon-Tyre and Syria (Biblical "Aram") were a merged entity. This lies behind some of the current tension on the Israeli-Syrian border. In Jesus' day, many Phoenicians were still living and trading in these cities. Magdala had no tower according to most archaeologists although there is some debate about this. There is a good reason why there was no tower at Magdala. Defensive turreted towers (from "Tyre" or "Tyrre") or the "Migdols" of the Hebrew language, were not necessary at Magdala on the shore of Lake Galilee. The commercial enterprise there was fresh-water fish in the lake for food. At Magdala, Tyrians or Phoenicians were not storing and protecting precious metals, jewels or textiles, employing (East India Company style, Robert Clive) soldiers and archers to protect the valuable merchandise from robbers. Gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds and other such-like precious commodities that Tyre (and Tarshish, the daughter of Tyre) normally trafficked were not stored at Magdala. The famous cedars of Lebanon, their sap used for embalming in Egypt's death industry and their wood used for construction and claddings for buildings, were traded down the Jordan-Dead Sea and Red Sea en route to Egypt. Along the way, myrrh and frankincense were purchased in Moab-Ammon (Jordan) and from orchardists on the terraced hills near Jerusalem for sale in Egypt.

The historical relationship between Israel and Lebanon-Tyre-Byblos-Phoenicia was very complex and mostly fruitful and pleasant. During the era of Elijah and Elisha (circa 800 BC), the Israelites were ignoring their God "Jehovah". Thus God sent or commissioned Elijah and Elisha to two Phoenician cities: Zarepath-Sidon and Shunem-Israel (probably one Solomon gave to Hiram) when they had to flee Israelite kings (or Ahab and his wife Jezebel, anyway) who were trying to kill them. With Herod's father, i.e., "Herod the Great", having tried to kill Jesus and Herod ''Junior'' himself having executed John the Baptist, Jesus followed Elijah's and Elisha's examples eight centuries earlier and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon and met a Syro-Phoenician woman somewhere near Tyre. Elijah and Elisha had famously resurrected the dead sons of those two Phoenician women they had stayed with in 800 BC. Jesus cast out a demon from the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter which was tantamount to restoring life to this woman (and her mother). The daughter, probably, was Mary Magdalene because Mark noted that Mary had been devil-possessed. A logical conclusion from this, although people have to decide if they believe these are the correct historical facts, is that just as two Jewish prophets ("Elijah and Elisha") fleeing the Israelite kings then resurrected the sons of two Phoenician women, i.e, two ''Magdalenes'' from Sidon and Shunem; so too a Jewish prophet (and "Son of God"), i.e., Jesus or Yeshua (as in El-yeshua = Elisha) resurrected and was first seen in the resurrected state by a Phoenician woman's daughter ("Mary the Magdalene"). Thus as far as "Christianity" is concerned, the Resurrection of Jesus is virtually proven by Jesus' deliberate appearance to this Phoenician woman; not to His own Mother as one might expect of a good obedient religious Jewish son; nor to any of His trusted disciples. It is simply too ridiculous to suggest the whole thing is a Jewish fable ("cunning or otherwise"). The '''Gospel''' records of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus must therefore be historical fact. That seems to be the only realistic conclusion one can take from the fact that a whole lot of Jewish people (at least 500 in I Corinthians 15:6) then risked life and limb to spread this message. However, plenty of people risk life and limb for many other causes. The virtually unbelievable idea that a Phoenician woman (Mary Magdalene) would be selected to be the first person to actually, or physically, witness the resurrected Jesus makes the event almost certainly to be true. It also means that as a Man described as "The Last Adam" (i.e., Jesus) stood in a garden with a woman (Mary Magdalene) whom we might describe as "The Last Eve", to receive GOOD NEWS, we are reminded that Adam and Eve had to listen to the awful message brought to them about the consequences of eating of the Tree of Good and Evil Knowledge or the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (The tree of science and knowledge). Thus Christianity, through the Mary Magdalene enigma, gives a great and truly realistic hope, not absolute proof else where is faith, to those with faith living in a world obviously failing to improve and only getting far worse with all the science and knowledge we have now 6000 years after the Fall. The Bible's resurrection account especially with this enigmatic involvement of Mary the Magdalene gives great hope that Jesus is returning to take control and demonstrate the good government Isaiah 9:6-7 speaks of.

To avoid deception, one should conclude with the note that Satan will attempt to land an imposter-christ (or antichrist, 666) on the world. That person will deceive people into believing that he is the Messiah of Israel. Using the powers of his father the "old serpent", Satan himself, this 'antichrist' whose name adds to six hundred and sixty six when transliterated into the Hebrew language from his 'latin-Roman' original, will rig world events to make it look like he has brought peace. Of course much, but not all, of the non-peace in the world today has some satanic ''influence'' behind it and that negative influence will be silenced for that deceptive purpose. It will be a very clever deception.

Answer

Mary Magdalene was the woman from whom Jesus had driven out seven demons. After that, she became a disciple (Luke 8:2) but was not one of the Twelve Disciples, eleven of whom would later become Apostles. Mary Magdalene is not the Mary that was the sister to Martha and Lazarus living in Bethany. Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus at the empty tomb according to John 20:11-18.

Mary Magdalene is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as a devoted disciple of Jesus. There is extra Biblical evidence that she became a missionary to Tarshish (Spain, Britain), quite possibly with Joseph of Arimathea. If they had married, a possibility, their travels may have provided the basis of legends that "Joseph and Mary" travelled to England. But that, if at all true, would have been these two people not Jesus Mother and Father-in-law Joseph.