The Great Lady

The Great Lady of the Jerusalem temple was a defining presence in the religion of ancient Israel, yet she has been almost erased from the official biblical narrative. Only in recent years have her eclipse, and her shadowy enduring presence, been noticed and understood. In a diligent but daring and incisive approach to texts and material evidence, Margaret Barker begins a comprehensive restoration of the Lady’s story.As Barker has shown in her earlier books, a drive to expel the Lady, revered as Mother of the Davidic kings, culminated in King Josiah’s purge in 623 BCE. Moses and the Law became central for the post-exilic faithful; Enochic voices called them the apostate generation; and the Hebrew Scriptures were edited by their scribes. Memories remained, but have been identified as later additions. In this volume Barker shows the Lady and herSon hidden beneath the rewritten Scriptures. Her devotees, Isaiah and his disciples, fled to ’Arabia’.They preserved her ways and wisdom.These Melchizedek priests were Matthew’s Magi with symbols of their temple.The Lady’s most faithful son was Jesus of Nazareth, who restored the older faith.The Lady’s ancient titles appear in Christian hymns to Mary, the Mother of God. The New Testament is in fact the Older Testament.The Great Lady: Restoring her Story is the second volume in a trilogy. It reveals the Lady in the Book of Revelation giving birth to her Son in the temple, and how her teaching underlies the Beatitudes. The first volume The Mother of the Lord was published in 2012. A third volume, The Oracle Page, will show how some newly-discovered leadbooks encode the older world of the Lady and her Son.