Alice C. Linsley
But what was the substance of Abraham's faith? That important question can be answered by investigation of Abraham's cultural context using Genesis and extra-biblical sources of information such as linguistics, kinship analysis, archaeology, anthropology and DNA studies. When we bring together the evidence of these disciplines we draw the following conclusions:
1. Abraham's people originated in Eden
Abraham's people originated in the Upper Nile region which includes western Sudan, southern Ethiopia and northern Somalia. This is the region of ancient Eden (eden is derived from the Kushite word egan, meaning garden). It was here that the first Bible promise was made to Abraham's ancestors. The Edenic Promise of Genesis 3:15 foretells how the Woman would bring forth a son who would crush the serpent's head and restore paradise.
The region of Eden is where we find the oldest agricultural practices, metal-working, circumcision of priests, and the oldest temples and shrines.
The Genesis genealogies indicate that Abraham's ancestors migrated from ancient Kush to Mesopotamia. Nimrod, the son of Kush (Gen. 10:8), built a vast kingdom in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley. This Kushite migration has been confirmed by DNA studies. Nimrod's brother was Ramaah who settled to the southeast of Dedan in northern Arabia.
2. Abraham's people were Horites
Abraham's people were Horites. Horite isn't an ethnicity, but refers a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Horus, called the "son of God". The temple at Hierakonpolis in Sudan had the oldest known Horus shrine. The Horite priesthood of Abraham's ancestors was dedicated to a Divine Triad which included the Creator God and his Uniquely Begotten Son by a Chosen Woman.
Abraham's people believed in a supreme creator God with lesser assisting semi-divine powers in a hierarchical ranking, like a pyramid. This is called henotheism. Each clan was headed by a hereditary ritual leader and had guardians from among the lesser powers (along the idea of guardian angels). In ancient Egypt these powers were represented by animals totems. Only one power was represented as a man - Horus -God's uniquely begotten son, who was served by a caste of royal priests called Horites. The biblical priesthood originates here among the devotees of Horus. The Horite priesthood was restricted to males and was concerned with ritual purity, especially the avoidance of blood guilt.
3. Abraham's people trace their lineage from two founders
Genesis presents two founding ancestors for Abraham's people. One is Adam, the archetypal first Man and the other is the historical patriarch Enoch. Adam and Eve are etymological, not proper names. "Adam" is traceable to "dam" in the Chadic and Kushitic languages, which means red and refers to the earth which the ancient Kushites believed was the source of blood. So we are told that the first man was made from the red earth. The first historical persons in Genesis are Kain, Seth and their wives, the daughters of a chief named Enoch. The name Enoch is probably the name Nok which pertains to a region west of Lake Chad as well as to an historical individual.
Genesis poses Adam as the first man and Enoch as the first ancestor of the historical persons listed in Genesis 4, 5 and 11. The biblical writers understood this because the names Adam and Enoch are parallel in Psalm 8, verse 4:
What is man (Enoch) that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man (ben adam) that you care for him?
Here we see that the historical first ancestor Enoch is paralled with the archetypal first man Adam. This means that the author of the Psalm understood the difference between the two figures, and we should as well, if we want to understand Genesis.
4. The Horite ruler-priests are Jesus Christ's ancestors
The kinship pattern of Abraham's people indicates that the ruler-priests married two wives. In his youth, the ruler-designate married his half-sister, as did Abraham with Sarah. Before ascending to the throne, he married his second wife, a patrilineal cousin or niece. The cousin wife named her first-born son after her father, a pattern which begins in Genesis 4 and can be traced to Mary and Joseph. The pattern of ruler-priests having two wives disappeared among Jews with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.
The origins of the faith of Christ, the Son of God, came to Abraham, not as special revelation, but as a tradition received from his forefathers. The distinctive traits of this tradition align remarkable well with the key features of catholic faith and practice:
Because of God's promise in Eden, Abraham and his ancestors lived in expectation of the Son of God and taught their children to do so. Their priestly lines intermarried exclusively in expectation that the Seed of the Woman would come of their priestly lines. The Edenic Promise was a central belief of the Horite family-tribal tradition. They believed that the son would be born of the chosen Woman (not called Eve in Gen. 3:15). They believed that he would be killed by his own brother and that he would live again.
The Virgin Birth is one of many signs that the One born to Mary is the Son of God. This is not about the birth of the Sun at the winter solstice. This is not a reworking of the Egyptian tale of Horus. The Horus archetype provides the pattern whereby Abraham's descendants would recognize Messiah. It points us to the Virgin who gave birth to the Son of God under humble circumstances. In the Horus myth, Hat-Hor gives birth in a cave. In Orthodoxy, icons of the Nativity show the Theotokos with the newly born Christ in a cave.
Christianity is an organic religion that emerges out of a belief that God made a promise in Eden and that He has been busy fulfilling that promise in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The core of Christianity can be traced to the beliefs of Abraham and his ancestors. It predates all the great world religions. Christianity isn't original, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in great antiquity, and herein rests its authority.
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| Ancient Eden |
Abraham is the central figure of the book of Genesis. He is presented as a man of faith who acted on his faith and was justified by faith. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (James 2:21-24)
But what was the substance of Abraham's faith? That important question can be answered by investigation of Abraham's cultural context using Genesis and extra-biblical sources of information such as linguistics, kinship analysis, archaeology, anthropology and DNA studies. When we bring together the evidence of these disciplines we draw the following conclusions:
1. Abraham's people originated in Eden
Abraham's people originated in the Upper Nile region which includes western Sudan, southern Ethiopia and northern Somalia. This is the region of ancient Eden (eden is derived from the Kushite word egan, meaning garden). It was here that the first Bible promise was made to Abraham's ancestors. The Edenic Promise of Genesis 3:15 foretells how the Woman would bring forth a son who would crush the serpent's head and restore paradise.
The region of Eden is where we find the oldest agricultural practices, metal-working, circumcision of priests, and the oldest temples and shrines.
The Genesis genealogies indicate that Abraham's ancestors migrated from ancient Kush to Mesopotamia. Nimrod, the son of Kush (Gen. 10:8), built a vast kingdom in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley. This Kushite migration has been confirmed by DNA studies. Nimrod's brother was Ramaah who settled to the southeast of Dedan in northern Arabia.
2. Abraham's people were Horites
Abraham's people were Horites. Horite isn't an ethnicity, but refers a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Horus, called the "son of God". The temple at Hierakonpolis in Sudan had the oldest known Horus shrine. The Horite priesthood of Abraham's ancestors was dedicated to a Divine Triad which included the Creator God and his Uniquely Begotten Son by a Chosen Woman.
Abraham's people believed in a supreme creator God with lesser assisting semi-divine powers in a hierarchical ranking, like a pyramid. This is called henotheism. Each clan was headed by a hereditary ritual leader and had guardians from among the lesser powers (along the idea of guardian angels). In ancient Egypt these powers were represented by animals totems. Only one power was represented as a man - Horus -God's uniquely begotten son, who was served by a caste of royal priests called Horites. The biblical priesthood originates here among the devotees of Horus. The Horite priesthood was restricted to males and was concerned with ritual purity, especially the avoidance of blood guilt.
3. Abraham's people trace their lineage from two founders
Genesis presents two founding ancestors for Abraham's people. One is Adam, the archetypal first Man and the other is the historical patriarch Enoch. Adam and Eve are etymological, not proper names. "Adam" is traceable to "dam" in the Chadic and Kushitic languages, which means red and refers to the earth which the ancient Kushites believed was the source of blood. So we are told that the first man was made from the red earth. The first historical persons in Genesis are Kain, Seth and their wives, the daughters of a chief named Enoch. The name Enoch is probably the name Nok which pertains to a region west of Lake Chad as well as to an historical individual.
Genesis poses Adam as the first man and Enoch as the first ancestor of the historical persons listed in Genesis 4, 5 and 11. The biblical writers understood this because the names Adam and Enoch are parallel in Psalm 8, verse 4:
What is man (Enoch) that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man (ben adam) that you care for him?
Here we see that the historical first ancestor Enoch is paralled with the archetypal first man Adam. This means that the author of the Psalm understood the difference between the two figures, and we should as well, if we want to understand Genesis.
4. The Horite ruler-priests are Jesus Christ's ancestors
The kinship pattern of Abraham's people indicates that the ruler-priests married two wives. In his youth, the ruler-designate married his half-sister, as did Abraham with Sarah. Before ascending to the throne, he married his second wife, a patrilineal cousin or niece. The cousin wife named her first-born son after her father, a pattern which begins in Genesis 4 and can be traced to Mary and Joseph. The pattern of ruler-priests having two wives disappeared among Jews with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.
The origins of the faith of Christ, the Son of God, came to Abraham, not as special revelation, but as a tradition received from his forefathers. The distinctive traits of this tradition align remarkable well with the key features of catholic faith and practice:
- All-male ruler-priests who were mediators between God and the defiled
- A binary (versus dualistic) worldview
- Blood sacrifice at altars whereby sin was propitiated
- Expectation of the appearing of the Son of God in the flesh
- God's will on earth as in heaven - interpreted by morehs (prophets)
- Belief in an eternal and undivided Kingdom delivered by the Father to the Son.
Because of God's promise in Eden, Abraham and his ancestors lived in expectation of the Son of God and taught their children to do so. Their priestly lines intermarried exclusively in expectation that the Seed of the Woman would come of their priestly lines. The Edenic Promise was a central belief of the Horite family-tribal tradition. They believed that the son would be born of the chosen Woman (not called Eve in Gen. 3:15). They believed that he would be killed by his own brother and that he would live again.
The Virgin Birth is one of many signs that the One born to Mary is the Son of God. This is not about the birth of the Sun at the winter solstice. This is not a reworking of the Egyptian tale of Horus. The Horus archetype provides the pattern whereby Abraham's descendants would recognize Messiah. It points us to the Virgin who gave birth to the Son of God under humble circumstances. In the Horus myth, Hat-Hor gives birth in a cave. In Orthodoxy, icons of the Nativity show the Theotokos with the newly born Christ in a cave.
Christianity is an organic religion that emerges out of a belief that God made a promise in Eden and that He has been busy fulfilling that promise in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The core of Christianity can be traced to the beliefs of Abraham and his ancestors. It predates all the great world religions. Christianity isn't original, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in great antiquity, and herein rests its authority.
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11 comments:
My comment on Shudra linguistics appears to have disappeared.
My point was that Shudras, Dalits and Dravidians etc are an heterogenous group. The only commonality behind them (that excludes Sa-varnas) is political.
You need some extra-linguistic evidence that Shudras spoke non-Indo-European languages.
Same goes for Dalits.
There have been invasions and migrations into India later than Aryans and it is all too likely that some of presentdat Dalits or Sudra-type castes descent from those migrations e.g. Saka, Hun etc
There is a Horite reference in Genesis 36:20
These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
Are these Horites related to Horite temple class?
The linguistic evidence is available online. The Sudroid are the older group in southern India. Their place of origin is Sudan and their lexicon has proto-roots related to Chadic and Kushitic languages. This is generally acknowledged. The Aryan invasion from the north introduced the later layer of Indo-European words.
Read the essay on "Two Named Esau" to see the Horite connection. Anah was not a son, but a daughter who headed a clan. Anah's daughter is Oholibamah, a very famous woman in Genesis, as she is an archetype of the Theotokos.
Is this the online reference you are basing on:
www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/Sudroid.htm
It is simply not scholarly. It cites, for example;
'The African Origin of Glorious Dalits', Dalit Voice 4:2 (16-30 Sept. 1985 )
They are political writings. And what about
. "Later under Muslim rule Arabic: sudd- black and hence Sudra not Shudra) became the generic term for Indian blacks."
As an Indian, let me inform you that in Hindi, there is NO generic
term for blacks, Indians or otherwise, except for the word "kaala" that means black in Hindi.
The word "Habshi" is used for Africans.
What is more, this reference compares Indian words with African words in general, be it South Africa, West Africa or Est Africa.
No particular connection is posited with Sudanese. Considering that Africa itself is extremely diverse, genetically and lingustically, a supposition that some Sudroid of India are related to Afrioid is not scientific. (What is an Afrioid?).
I am sorry indeed to see that you interesting hypothesis on Genesis being linked to such disreputable references.
Gyan, I wasn't referencing this site or any in particular. I had in mind the work of the linguists McAlpin who links Dravidian and Elamite, and Václav Blažek who classified Dravidian as an Afro-Asiatic language.
The words that speak of the ancient worldview of he Afro-Asiatics are the key words to compare. Such as these:
The Sanskrit “svah” = sky or heaven, corresponds to the Semitic “svam” or “Sam-yim” = sky or heaven. The Semitic resembles the Proto-Dravidian word "van" = heaven. The Spanish "desvan" (attic) comes from the Arabic-speaking Moors and is easily traced to the older linguistic layer of the Afro-Asiatic Dominion.
The Sanskrit “Sakti” = harvest moon celebration, is the linguistic equivalent of the Falasha word “Sarki” = harvest moon festival.
The Hebrew "yasuah" = salvation, corresponds to the Sanskrit words “asvah”, “asuah” or “yasuah” = salvation.
The Hebrew root "thr" = to be pure, corresponds to the Hausa/Hahm "toro" = clean, and to the Tamil "tiru" = holy. All are related to the proto-Dravidian "tor" = blood.
You might look at the work of Indian geneticists, some of whom have confirmed that some of India's populations are genetically closer to the populations of ancient Eden. This is clearly the case with the Andaman, but not limited to them.
The Indian archaeologist, B. B. Lal, contends that the Dravidians came from southern Egypt and Sudan (Nubia). This would explain their dark complexion. Lal writes: "At Timos the Indian team dug up several megalithic sites of ancient Nubians which bear an uncanny resemblance to the cemeteries of early Dravidians which are found all over Western India from Kathiawar to Cape Comorin. The intriguing similarity extends from the subterranean structure found near them. Even the earthenware ring-stands used by the Dravidians and Nubians to hold pots were identical." The Nubian megaliths of which Lal speaks date from around 1000 B.C.
I have no problem with Dravid-Semitic linkage. It is a respectable scholarly hypothesis as Dravidian is name of a language group.
But the extrapolation to some "Sudroid"
(what exactly-a language group, an ethnic group?) is not scholarly. It is a political ploy but certain Activists in India and aboard.
What is sought is to built up a coalition that excludes Sa-varna. Such a coalition or grouping has no historical justification.
As I have repeatedly said, there is no valid grouping that includes Dravids, Dalits and Shudra (i.e. North India lower and middle castes) and excludes Sa-varna (North Indian upper castes).
Your linguistic evidences of McAlpin who links Dravidian and Elamite, and Václav Blažek who classified Dravidian as an Afro-Asiatic language, are not even remotely connected with your championing of the "Sudroid" hypothesis.
I am indeed sorry that you should take Sudroid thing so seriously.
Gyan,
Thanks for your input on this. Certainly there is activism in India and political tensions between groups. The caste system never really died there, though technically no illegal.
I'm glad that you agree about the Dravid-Semitic connection. The Sudra (Shudra) also have connections to the Nile Valley, but what all those connections are is still to be determined.
per Gyan: "These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,"
I wonder if it is possible to read that as: "These clan chiefs/priests/judges lived at Mount Seir (Edom/Petra): Lotan, Shoban, Zibeon, Anah,"
That makes sense to me.
One cannot be called a Christ-ian unless one follows and adheres to the teaching of Christ. So by calling Abraham a Hor-ite, you are saying that he followed and adhered to the teachings of the Horites. That would mean that before The Father of Jesus revealed Himself to Abraham, he worshiped and made sacrifice to another God, is that what you are saying?
Walter,
Your definition of a Christian is not a Biblical one. Following Jesus' teachings does not make one a Christian. Jesus didn't teach much that was new. He mostly recited the wisdom of his Horim (Horite forefathers).
A Christian is anyone who believes and lives by faith that Jesus is the Seed/Son of God who came into the world to save repentant sinners. Abraham expected the Seed to be born of his people. It was part of Horite expectation concerning a deified ruler who would rise to immortality. Jesus spoke of Himself as the promised Seed when He foretold his death in Jerusalem. He told his disciples "Unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it cannot give life." (John 12:24) St. Paul says this: "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ… And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:16, 29)
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