William G. Most: Brothers and Sisters of JesusMt 13.55 & Mk 6.3 name the following as Jesus' brothers: James, Joseph (Joses, the mss vary on thespelling), Simon and Judas. But Mt 27.56 says at the cross were Mary, mother of James and Joseph. Mk15,40 says Mary, mother of James the younger and Joses was there. So, although the proof is not conclusive,it seems that, unless we suppose these were others with the same names, that the first 2, James and Joseph(Joses) had a mother other than Jesus' mother. Therefore the term brother was used for those who were notsons of Mary, Jesus' mother. So the same easily could be the case with the other 2, Simon and Judas. Furtherif Mary had other natural sons and daughters too at the time of the cross, it would be strange for Jesus to askJohn to take care of her. Especially, James the "brother of the Lord" was alive in 49 (Gal 1:19). He shouldhave taken care of her.Lot, who was the nephew of Abraham (Gn 11.27-31) is called his brother in 13.8 and 14.14-16. The Hebrewand Aramaic ah was used for various types of relations1. Hebrew had no word for cousin. They could sayben-dod which means son of a paternal uncle, but for other kinds of cousins they would need a complexphrase, such as "the son of the brother of his mother" or, "the son of the sister of his mother"2.Objection 1: We should not consider the Hebrew-Greek did have a word for cousin and other kinds ofrelatives also, and the Gospels do not use the other specific words for the relatives of Jesus. They use onlyGreek adelphos, which means a real brother.Reply: The LXX3 uses Greek adelphos, brother, for Lot, who was really a nephew. Furthermore, the writersof the gospels and eistles often had Hebrew words in mind when they wrote Greek words. This is speciallytrue with Paul. Also, there is strong evidence that Lk at some points was translating Hebrew documents, 2kinds of Hebrew - with meticulous care. The LXX for Mal 1:2f has: "I have loved Jacob and hated Esau."Paul in Rm 9:13 quot...