Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. (Matthew 4)
Alice C. Linsley
Numbers can be used to track the ethnic origins of a document. For example, the Chinese avoid using the number four, which they regard as an omen representing death, yet four is a sacred number to the Plains Indians of North America. The number four, representing the directional poles, is an essential part of preparing the sacred space for the Oglala's Vision Quest.
The cultural origin of some biblical narratives can be tracked using number symbolism. Most of the biblical texts come from the Hebrew, a caste of ruler-priests who dispersed widely in the ancient world (4000-2000 BC).
The Hebrew number symbolism can be classified into early Nilotic and later Babylonian traditions. Consider the significance of the phrase 40 days and 40 nights.
The phrase "40 days and 40 nights" refers to the flood cycle of the Nile River. The Nile flooded for 40 days. Once it crested, the people who had left their homes had to wait 40 nights before returning home. The phrase reflects the Nile River culture of the early Hebrew. The oldest known site of Hebrew worship was at Nekhen on the Nile.
The number forty is less significant in the Babylonian tradition reflected in the Book of Daniel. Daniel is rich in number symbolism, but the number 40 is not one of the symbolic numbers in Daniel. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers of Babylon did not have a 40-day flood cycle followed by a 40-day period during which the waters receded.
The evidence of Genesis suggests an African context for the flood story. In the time of the African Humid Period, the Nile connected to lakes in the desert which connected to major rivers and Lake Chad. It is possible that Noah's flood took place in the region of Lake Chad. That is the only place on earth claimed by the local populations to be Noah's homeland. It is called Borno or Benue, meaning "Land of Noah". The local Kanari people refer to Lake Chad as Buhar Nuhu, meaning "Sea of Noah".
The red areas on this map show that the Y-DNA Haplogroup R1 populations living between the Nile and Lake Chad were connected. It appears that Noah's ancestors moved along this route along the interconnecting rivers and lakes of the African Humid Period (the African Aqualithic).
The Coptic monks speak of the 40 days and 40 nights always in connection to the periodic flooding of the Nile which dispersed nutrient-rich silt over the farmland. Read here about a Coptic monk's understanding of Genesis.
Noah was a Proto-Saharan ruler in the region of Lake Chad at a time when water systems connected the Nile and Lake Chad. The context of the phrase "the forty days and forty nights" of rain is Nilotic, not Mesopotamian. Likewise, Israel's forty years of wandering in the wilderness indicates that this narrative reflects a Nilotic context, rather than a Mesopotamian context.
Related reading: Number Symbolism in the Bible; Discrepancies are Evidence of Authenticity; Jesus Exposes the Devil's Tactics; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 6
The evidence of Genesis suggests an African context for the flood story. In the time of the African Humid Period, the Nile connected to lakes in the desert which connected to major rivers and Lake Chad. It is possible that Noah's flood took place in the region of Lake Chad. That is the only place on earth claimed by the local populations to be Noah's homeland. It is called Borno or Benue, meaning "Land of Noah". The local Kanari people refer to Lake Chad as Buhar Nuhu, meaning "Sea of Noah".
The red areas on this map show that the Y-DNA Haplogroup R1 populations living between the Nile and Lake Chad were connected. It appears that Noah's ancestors moved along this route along the interconnecting rivers and lakes of the African Humid Period (the African Aqualithic).
The Coptic monks speak of the 40 days and 40 nights always in connection to the periodic flooding of the Nile which dispersed nutrient-rich silt over the farmland. Read here about a Coptic monk's understanding of Genesis.
Noah was a Proto-Saharan ruler in the region of Lake Chad at a time when water systems connected the Nile and Lake Chad. The context of the phrase "the forty days and forty nights" of rain is Nilotic, not Mesopotamian. Likewise, Israel's forty years of wandering in the wilderness indicates that this narrative reflects a Nilotic context, rather than a Mesopotamian context.
Related reading: Number Symbolism in the Bible; Discrepancies are Evidence of Authenticity; Jesus Exposes the Devil's Tactics; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 6
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2 comments:
The 40 days & nights are not symbolic. It describes the monsoon in Yemen which gets a twice yearly six week monsoon. This is the area where the incense, gold and exotic goods trade originated. The trade was both by land and sea or the port of Aden. Yemen also experiences tsunamis which originate in the markan subduction zone. The last tsunami to hit the coast of Yemen originated in the Indian Ocean in 20004. The biblical monsoon flooded the mountains wadis and the tsunami flooded the coast causing catastrophic flooding and loss of life. According to the Quran, the surviving members Noah's tribe migrated east to Oman and intermarried with the Aad of Iram or 'the numerous ones of Aram'.
The monsoon in Yemen is not questioned. The cultural context of Abraham's ancestors, however, is Nilotic, and the Nile waters flooded for forty days. See this:
http://jandyongenesis.blogspot.com/2008/11/coptic-monk-reflects-on-genesis.html
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