Features of Horite Hebrew Religion

Relief at Angkhor Wat shows Horus as a falcon on the Mast of Ra's solar boat.

Alice C. Linsley

Ancient world societies were characterized by a structure that resembles a caste system with hierarchy of  rulers, priests, scribes and warriors ranked at the top. These societies were centered around the major water systems: great rivers, troughs, and large lakes, which were controlled by the rulers.

The rulers were served by priests who stood as intermediaries between God and the people. They were called sarki, a word of African origin. Among the ancient Egyptians the word meant priest. In Hausa sarki is the word for king (See Charles Henry Robinson, Dictionary of Hausa, XXIV Preface). Auran saraki refers to the king's minister and is usually rendered chief.

Horite Hebrew ruler-priests were also called Habiru which is the English word Hebrew. The term "Hebrew" is derived from the Akkadian word for priest, abru. The Hebrew were a caste of priests. Some were devotees of God the Father and God the Son. These are known as the Horite Hebrew, and Abraham was among them.

They served at the Sun temples, called O-piru. These were elevated sites near permanent water sources. They spread their religion from west central Africa to the Indus River Valley and southern Europe. This religious life shares distinctive features, which are found in the Bible, including:

• Hereditary priesthood and hereditary kingship: Originally the ruler and the priest were either the same person or the ruler had his own priest, who would have been a member of his family. The royal and priestly lines intermarried to preserve their bloodlines. These ruler-priests, whose lines intermarried, influenced the spread of their religious worldview from west central Africa to Nepal and Cambodia.

• Shrines and temples along rivers, or near springs, well or oases, and at higher elevations: The Horite Hebrew ruler-priests controlled the ancient water ways. This is why they build their shrines and temples near water. This also explains why Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses all met their wives at wells. These women were the daughters of ruler-priests. About 75% of the women named in the Old Testament are the daughters of priests.  The ancient Kushite rulers made coronation journeys between 3 shrines on the Nile: the temples of Pnubs, Napata (Gebel Barkal) and Gematon (Kawa).

• Binary distinctions: The observation of universal opposites in nature such as night-day, male-female, heaven-earth characterized the ancient Afro-Asiatic worldview. This is quite different from Asian dualism in which the opposites are of equal value or strength. Among the ancient Afro-Asiatics, one of the two was regarded as superior in some way to the other. The Sun is greater than the Moon which merely reflects the Sun's light. Males are bigger and stronger than females.  Heaven is more glorious than Earth, etc. This enabled prophets to discern God’s will by reading the signs in creation and directing the people toward the superior sign. The binary distinctions are observable as the pattern of nature and have been the basis for Law and Ethics for about 12,000 years.

The biblical worldview involves binary opposites and supplementary. Supplementary is about meaning. That is to say that meaning is derived from the relationship of the binary opposites. Supplementary is what makes a relationship meaningful. In fact, meaning is derived from the supplementary nature of two things. I experience hateful acts as evil because I have experience of loving acts and know them to be good. The reverse is also true. The male-female relationship has meaning because of the supplementary nature of male-female. Supplementary doesn’t mean equal, since one of the opposites is perceived as greater in some way. This is how the biblical worldview avoids the dualism.

• Fixed order of creation: God created the world and established a predictable fixed order to His creation (Genesis 1; Psalm 104:19-20, Jeremiah 33:19-36). This predictable order is referred to as ‘RTA’ in Hinduism. It is an order which we perceive foremost as having binary opposites: God-Man; Heaven-Earth; Male-Female; Sun-Moon; Night-Day, etc. Because the order is fixed, entities can only be what they were created (as Aristotle recognized in his teleological conversations). What we often call 'change' or evolution is fluctuation in outward form but not change in essence. So water is always water (H2O) though its form fluctuates between liquid, vapor, and ice. This is where the biblical worldview and convergence evolution knock heads. By fixed order the Bible means that God established the order of creation with flexible but fixed boundaries. This means that there is change within species but not change from one species to a totally different species, as implied by Darwinian evolution.

Referring to Proverbs 8:33, Ibn Erza holds that the phrase al-tifra-u means something like "don't change the order." The verse says: "Listen to my instruction and become wise. Don't change the order."

The Horite Hebrew were devotees of God the Father and God the Son. The son is known as Horus, meaning "the One on high" or Enki, meaning ruler over the earth. The Son was believed to set the boundaries of the horizons, the directions of the winds, and the currents of the seas. Horos refers to the boundaries of an area, or a landmark, or a term. From horos come the words hour, horizon, horoscope and Horologion (both the book and the wind tower). The association of Horus with the horizon is seen in the word Har-ma-khet, meaning Horus of the Horizon. The association of Horus with the wind is seen in the word Har-mat-tan, referring to the dry wind that seasonally blows across the Sahara.The word horotely describes the rate and boundaries of evolutionary change for a given group of plants or animals.

This Horite Hebrew understanding of the fixed order of creation is fundamental to their religion and to a Biblical worldview. Saint Paul spoke of how God has made his eternal nature and divine power known in the order of creation which none can change. The Qur’an does not contain any creation stories such as those found in Genesis. However, Islam recognizes that what God has established is visible in the order of creation. The Qur’an teaches:

 Verily in the heavens and the earth are signs for those who believe. And in the creation of yourselves, and the fact that animals are scattered (through the earth), are signs for those of assured faith. And in the alternation of night and day, and that fact that Allah sends down sustenance from the sky, and revives therewith the earth after its death, and in the change of the winds, are signs for those who are wise. (45:3-5).

Likewise Romans 1:20 tell us that since the beginning of the world, God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - are clearly perceived by means of that which God created, so that everyone is without excuse. Paul is not advocated a touchy-feely, smell-a-flower-and-commune-with-Jesus theology. He is expressing the ancient belief that prolonged studious observation of the fixed and binary order of creation will serve those who seek God to know what God has revealed.


Related reading: The Substance of Abraham's Faith;  Solar Symbols that Speak of God; Spread of the Afro-Asiatic Worldview; Who Were the Horites?; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; The Nilotic Origin of the Ainu; The Horite Ancestry of Jesus Christ