May Your New Year be Blessed

The Aaronic Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26, NIV)

The Lord bless you

and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn His face toward you

and give you peace.

Purity Seal from Herod's Temple

Israeli archaeologists recently reported the discovery of a 2,000-year-old clay seal near Jerusalem's Western Wall. The Western Wall is part of the compound revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, where Islam's al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock are situated.

The archaeologists decided that all of the soil removed from the site would be meticulously sifted. This is being done with the help of thousands of students and is underwritten by the Ir David Association.

During the sieving process a button-shaped seal of fired clay was discovered. The seal is stamped with an Aramaic inscription consisting of two lines. Archaeologists Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa said, “The meaning of the inscription is “Pure for G-d”.

The upper line דכא and below it ליה

Following the preposition “ל” in the word “ליה” is the shortened form for the name of G-D.

The Priesthood and Purity

The priesthood was in the ancient Afro-Asiatic world involved water and blood ritual for purification. This is reflected in the linguistic connections between the Hebrew root thr - to be pure, the Hausa/Hahm toro - clean, and to the Tamil tiru - holy. All are related to the proto-Dravidian word tor and to the ancient Egyptian tr, meaning blood.

The Horite Hebrew priest was purified before entering the temple. His purification involved fasting and an intense period of prayer. The purification ritual involved bathing and shaving the head. Korah, Moses' half-brother, was a priest. His name means "shaved head" and according to Numbers 16:17-18, he carried the censor to offer incense before God.

Horite Hebrew priests served in the temple, probably on a rotating schedule. It is from the Horite priesthood that the priesthood of Israel emerged. Moses' brothers, Korah and Aaron, were both Horite Hebrews before there was a Levitical priesthood, and before there was a nation known as Israel.

Related reading: The Origin of Animal Sacrifice; 2400 B.C. Tomb of Purification Priest; The Horite Conception of the Priesthood

77,000 Year Old Mattresses

The world's oldest known mattress has been unearthed in South Africa, archaeologists have announced.

The mattress—which consists of layers of reeds and rushes—was discovered at the bottom of a pile of bedding made from compacted grasses and leafy plants. The bedding had accumulated at the Sibudu Cave site in KwaZulu-Natal (map) over a period of 39,000 years, with the oldest mats dating to 77,000 years ago.

"What we have is evidence of plant bedding that is 50,000 years older than any previous site anywhere in the world," said study leader Lyn Wadley of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

The compacted layers of fossil plants—excavated from sediments 9.8 feet (3 meters) deep—show that the bedding was periodically burned, possibly to limit pests and garbage.

Read it all here.

 
Related reading: Mining Blood; 70,000 Python Stone; African Religion Predates Hinduism; Humans Originated in Africa

The Virgin Birth and the Manger too!

Alice C. Linsley


"Must one believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? This is not a hard question to answer. It is conceivable that someone might come to Christ and trust Christ as Savior without yet learning that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. A new believer is not yet aware of the full structure of Christian truth. The real question is this: Can a Christian, once aware of the Bible’s teaching, reject the Virgin Birth? The answer must be no." -- The Rev Dr. Albert Mohler (From here.)


I agree with Dr. Mohler, and I would go farther to say that all the details of the Nativity account are to be believed.  The Mother of God was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, her virginity was preserved, she gave birth in a manger, and the witnesses to the Incarnation were Bethlehem shepherds and Jewish Wise Men living in the East.
 
These are the exact details concerning the expectation of the Seed of the Woman (Gen. 3:15) that were anticipated by Abraham's Horite people and echoed in the Psalms, in Isaiah and in Micah. 
 
Ancient rulers attempted to claim that they were the King of Kings by fabricating stories of their birth that corresponded to these details. Kushite and Egyptian rulers did not name their biological fathers in their king lists. The Pharaoh was called "son of Re" and Egyptian texts never mention an earthly father. Kingship was a manifestation of the solar deity's overshadowing of noble women. Sargon the Great (2300 B.C.) proclaimed that he didn't know his father because his mother was overshadowed by the sun (the emblem of the Creator) while in the palace temple. Here is a fragment of Sargon's legend from Akkad:

Sargon, the mighty king, king of Akkadê am I,

My mother was lowly; my father I did not know;
The brother of my father dwelt in the mountain.
My city is Azu-piranu, which is situated on the bank of the Purattu [Euphrates],
My lowly mother conceived me, in secret she brought me forth.
(From here.)

Sargon was a Kushite ruler. In the ancient world, the east-facing temples were considered the mansion (hâît) or the house (pirû) of the deity. They were O-piru, meaning “Sun House” or “House of the Sun.” The priests who served at the temples were called Hapiru and they were devotees of Horus.

Sargon I (Nimrod) is said to have been born to a lowly virgin queen who was overshadowed by the High God. He was born in an O-piru. His home city was called Azu-piranu, meaning House of God . Azu was an ancient name for the Creator.  It is Azu in Akkadian, Asa in Chadic, Asha in Kushitic, and Ashai in Hebrew. Nehemiah 11:13 mentions a Jerusalem priest named Am-ashai.
 
In the oldest known Messianic tradition the Son of God is born as a calf to his mother Hathor whose is portrayed as a sacred cow, and the birth took place in a stable with the Babe sleeping in a crib.
 
The shepherd-priest motif first found with Abel continues with Abraham who kept flocks and dug wells to support them. Jethro, the Priest of Midian, also kept flocks and offered sacrifices to God. Jethro was Moses' father-in-law. The shepherd-priest motif continues with David who tended his father's flocks and offered sacrifices that were accepted at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. The motif culminates in Joachim, the Virgin Mary's father, also a shepherd-priest. Even those who disclaimed Jesus as Messiah recognised that his mother Mary was the daughter of a ruler priest. Sanhedrin 106a says: “She who was the descendant of princes and governors played the harlot with carpenters.” It is said that she was so despised that some Jews tried to prevent the Apostles from burying her body.

Mary is "Miriam Daughter of Joachim Son of Pntjr (Panther) Priest of Nathan of Bethlehem." From the earliest predynastic times among the Egyptian Horites, ntjr designated the king. The name Panther or p-ntjr meant "God is King."

Here is the celestial archetype whereby Abraham's descendants would recognize the identity of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary.

Re, Hathor and Horus represent the Egyptian Triad in which Horus and his father were said to be “one.” Jesus makes this claim concerning Himself, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The Creator Re is associated with the temple in Heliopolis (City of the Sun) on the east side of the Delta. Hathor, the virgin mother of Horus, had her principal temples in Dendera and Memphis to the south of Heliopolis and on the west side of the Nile. The principal temples of Horus were further south in Nekhen and Edfu, and on the west side of the Upper Nile.

When Jesus claims to be "one" with his Father it is as a shepherd-priest. He says, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me." (John 10:27)

Horite priests kept flocks and sacrificed animals from these flocks. This is why their shrines were located near sources of water.

Bethlehem was an ancient Horite settlement according to 1 Chronicles 4:4.  The shepherds living there were descendants of the Horites who anticipated the coming of the Son of God in the flesh. When they beheld the angels and came in wonder to the manger to behold the Christ child, they must have been in wonder, even as we are, that the ancient prophecy was fulfilled in every detail.

That being the case, Christians embrace the Nativity narrative as a whole. We are not free to pick only details that appeal to us and reject those that may offend us.


 
Related reading:  Genesis and the True Meaning of Christmas; Horite Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem

Genesis and the True Meaning of Christmas

Alice C. Linsley


In Genesis 22 we read of the "binding of Isaac" in which Abraham demonstrates his conviction that the resurrection of the body is a reality. Abraham's beliefs about resurrection would have corresponded to those of his Nilotic ancestors. He lived long before the rabbis began speculating about existence after death. By Jesus' time, a faction had arisen among the Jews that rejected faith in the resurrection of the dead.  These had broken faith with their Nilotic ancestors who believed in the resurrection, and carefully preserved the bodies of their dead.

The Genesis 22 story is not about child sacrifice because that practice developed about 1200 years after Abraham. We find it condemned in the Prophets of the 8th and 7th centuries before Christ.  Here are examples:

"They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind." (Jeremiah 7:31)

"I also gave them (the Israelites) over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by; I let them become defiled through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn —that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the LORD." (Ezekiel 20:25,26)

Micah asks this, "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (Micah 6:6-7).
 
Jeremiah was influenced by the Deuteronomists who sought to strengthen Israel's land claim. This influence can be seen in the parallel use of language found in both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah.

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire,… all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you." (Deut.18:10-12) Here child sacrifice is made a provocation for driving out the peoples living in the land.


Child Sacrifice as Appeasement

If Abraham didn't practice human sacrifice, from whom did this come?  Human sacrifices were performed among the Aryans and the Greeks whose idea it was that the gods must be appeased to gain their favor. This is contrary to the Horite conception of God.  In their view, God could never be appeased.  Man is guilty of every offense against the Creator so every human deserves to die.  Life was redeemed by the shedding of the blood of an animal.  Animal sacrifice originated in the Nile Valley among Abraham's ancestors.

If Abraham's Horite people didn't practice human sacrifice, what is the point of this story? The usual explanation is that God was “testing” Abraham. If so what is the nature of the test? Is this a test of Abraham’s devotion to God as the rabbis teach, or a test of Abraham's belief in the resurrection of the promised son? Why would the sacrifice of Abraham's promised son (Gen. 15:6) be made the test unless it speaks of the sacrifice of God’s promised Son?

Isaac was the promised son and Abraham believed God's promise that Isaac would be his heir. That is why Abraham confidently declared to his servants: "Wait here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." (Gen. 22:5)

Reflecting on Abraham's justifying trust in God's promise, the Apostle Paul reminds the Christians in Rome that "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Rom. 4:3)

Again we are told that Abraham believed God when he saw the ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham believed and called that place "The Lord Will Provide" (Gen. 22:14). Here we find a clue as to what Abraham believed.  He believed that God provides the Ram. Horus was sometimes shown with a ram's head, signifying his maturity, having grown in strength from lamb to ram. This image is found at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, 70 miles south of Luxor. 

Horus shown with falcon head (left) and with ram's head (right)

Abraham’s Horite people believed that a woman of their ruler-priest lines would bring forth the son of God. They called the promised Son Hor (Horus in Greek). The Horites were a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Hor. He was said to rise with the morning sun as a lamb and to set in the evening as a ram, mature and of full strength.

Isaac asked his father, "Here is the wood for the fire, but where is the lamb?" Abraham responded that God Himself would provide the lamb, but as the story goes, God provided a ram. The sacrifice of Isaac looked forward to a greater sacrifice, and is a prophetic foreshadowing of the eschatological event of Christ, an event that Abraham anticipated. This is why Jesus said to the rulers of Israel, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

What did the Ram’s appearing mean to Abraham the Horite? As the west is the direction of the future, he would have recognized this as a message about a future event. He would have understood that his son, though miraculously born and of the Horite lines, was not the one who’s appearing the Horites anticipated. He was not the one who would rise from the dead on the third day. 

The Horites believed in the resurrection, but this fact has been surpressed by rabbinic teaching which reflects the dominance of the Sadducees who rejected the faith of their Horim (Horite ancestors).

In God's economy, which always gets the order of things right, the shepherds of Bethlehem were the first to receive the news of the birth of the Son of God. The Horite ruler-priests were also shepherds and Bethlehem was a Horite town, according to I Chronicles 4:4.

The faith of Abraham and the faith of the Apostles are one and the same. They stand on opposite sides of the event when the veil was torn asunder from top to bottom. Aristides wrote to the Emperor Antonius Pius (A.D. 138-161) what seems to have been an apology for the Faith of Christ: "He Himself is called the Son of God; and they teach of Him that He as God came down from heaven and took and put on Flesh of a Hebrew virgin" (see "Theol. Quartalschrift", Tübingen, 1892, p. 535).

Here is the true meaning of Christmas.  The Christ was born that through Him we might receive the resurrection unto eternal life.


Related reading:  Did Abraham Intend to Sacrifice Isaac?; Horite Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem;
Egypt in the Christmas Narrative; Jesus Christ's Resurrection in Genesis

Bunk from BAR

Astonishing news!  The Magi's gifts were for medicinal purposes because baby Jesus had arthritis.

BAR must be hurting for real Christmas features since that journal consistently disclaims the Nativity of Jesus Messiah, the Son of God.

Researchers at Cardiff University in Wales studied uses of frankincense and found that this aromatic resin can relieve arthritis by inhibiting the inflammation that causes arthritis pain. This confirms the traditional use of frankincense to treat arthrtiis.  The trees that produce frankincense grow in Africa and Arabia and the trade in frankincense began there. The Afro-Arabian Dedanites were early to traders in frankincense according to Isaiah 21:13 and Ezekiel 27:20.  They traded in spice, ivory, incense, and textiles with lands as distant as India, Cambodia and China. They probably also traded in horses which were bred in Sheba. They traded in copper from the 4000 B.C. mines in the Air region of Niger.

Too bad BAR didn't dig a little deeper on this.  In ancient Egypt there the cippus were used for rites of healing.  It always shows the infant god Horus. Priests devoted to Horus (Horites) were known for their healing arts.

Water poured over the cippi of Horus was said to have curative power.  The vertical texts on either side of the central image of Horus suggest that this cippi was used to transform water into a curative libation.

BAR asks here, "Did the Magi “from the East” know of frankincense’s healing properties when they presented it to young Jesus?" 

Why not? Those Magi were lector priests who could read the ancient books kept in temples and palaces. They were descendants of the Horite ruler-priests who anticipated the coming of Horus in the flesh and who once ruled across the Afro-Asiatic Dominion.  In ancient Egypt, they were called hekau, which is related to the Egyptian word akhet, meaning horizon. They were sky watchers and experts in sidereal astronomy.  Strabo (XI, ix, 3) says that the Magian priests formed one of the two councils of the Parthian Empire. They knew that the Bethlehem star signaled the birth of the "King of the Jews" and they came to worship him. Now that's the story BAR ought be telling us!


Related reading:  Horite Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; What Language did Abraham Speak?; Thamudic Scripts

Worship the Promise Keeping God

The Rev. Dr. Rick Lobs


Generally speaking, we humans view historical events as isolated proceedings. In fact all in space and time is connected, and is graciously superintended by the Creator God. This management is called "Providence."

In 2 Samuel we read about David. Behind the passage are these facts about David: he was a shepherd, catapulted into prominence by his killing of Goliath, was a court musician for (crazy) King Saul, became an outlaw and guerrilla warrior, became king of Judah and later King of all Israel, captured Jerusalem from indigenous inhabitants, brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, built himself a very nice house of cedar in Jerusalem.

Having all that in his curriculum vitae he desired to build a house for the Lord - which is to say a Temple in which to house the Ark of the Covenant. Nathan the court prophet first approved the building of the house for the Lord - but later reversed his approval at God's prompting.

Nathan then says something quite cryptic to King David. "The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you ... Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever." 2 Samuel 7:11, 16.

David will not be the one to build a house for God. But God would build a house for David, that is a dynasty. As if that is not enough, the Lord God promised David that David's kingdom and throne will be eternally established. Wow!

In times of adversity Israel would prayerfully remind God of His promise. For example we read this in Psalm 132:11: "The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke: "One of your own descendants I will place on your throne."

The notion of the messiah being in the lineage of David was deeply, very deeply, ingrained in the consciousness of Israel.

Now let's jump about one thousand years. By any measure, that's a long time. We read in Luke 1, that a messenger, Gabriel, is sent from God to a girl in the backwater town of Nazareth - her name is Mary. Gabriel communicated a disturbing and yet, amazing word. Consider.

"...the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end."

The promise Mary had heard all her life about David and the messiah was going to be fulfilled through her. How amazing is that?

Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled."

We learn much from the juxtaposition of these inspired texts.

We learn that prayer is sometimes answered in a different time reference than we might wish. In this case one thousand years. Let that be an example and comfort to you if you have been praying for someone or a situation for a long long time.

We learn that events are not accidental but are guided by God's gracious providence.

The passages remind us of the importance of the "house", lineage or dynasty, God built for David. Was it not Jesus in the book of Revelation that said of Himself, "I am the root and offspring of David." (NIV) "I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne." (TLT) Revelation 22:16. All this through Mary, the blessed mother.

The important truth, the overarching truth to note is that we worship a promise keeping God.

Genesis Myth or History?

David Miller Ph.D.


What do we mean by “myth”? German theologian Rudolf Bultmann popularized the notion that the New Testament must be stripped of its mythical elements, specifically, its supernatural features (e.g., Jesus Christ and Mythology, 1958). “Myth,” therefore, in theological circles refers to a traditional, non-literal story in a particular culture that manifests that culture’s world view. The story serves as a vehicle to convey a truth, without necessarily being historically true. The Bible’s depictions of heaven, hell, demons, evil spirits, and Satan are viewed as symbols for deeper meanings rather than being literally existent. Many theologians, and now many Americans, insist that the Bible is a pre-scientific document that is riddled with the errors that accompanied early man’s quest for knowledge.

Along with the onset of modern scientific discovery and understanding has come a widespread tendency to compromise the biblical text of Genesis 1-11. Otherwise conservative thinking Christians have not been immune to this deadly cancer that ultimately undermines the entire Bible and one’s ability to arrive at the truth. In the 1980s, it was discovered that evolution was being taught by two Abilene Christian University professors. One of the biology professors provided his class with a handout that included a photocopy of the first page of Genesis. In the margin he scrawled the words, “Hymn, myth” (Thompson, 1986, p. 16). The university mobilized in an attempt to discredit the charge and sweep it under the proverbial carpet, but the evidence was decisive, as acknowledged even by objective outsiders (see Morris, 1987, 16[5]:4). The fact is that evolution has been taught on other Christian college campuses as well. The lack of outcry testifies to the fact that even Christians and their children have been adversely influenced by secular education.

It is amazing, even shocking, to see the extent to which the authority of the biblical text in general, and the book of Genesis in particular, has been undermined in the minds of the average American, especially in the last half century. In virtually every corner of our country, relaxed and compromised views of the Bible prevail—even among otherwise conservative Americans and those who profess to be Christian. Before leaving office, President Bush (“W”) was interviewed by Cynthia McFadden on ABC’s “Nightline.” When asked if he believed the Bible to be literally true, he responded: “You know. Probably not.… No, I’m not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is…has got… You know, the important lesson is ‘God sent a son’” (“Bush Says…,” 2008). When asked about creation and evolution, Bush said:

I think you can have both. I think evolution can—you’re getting me way out of my lane here. I’m just a simple president. But it’s, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an Almighty and I don’t think it’s incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution (“Bush Says…”).

Myriad instances could be cited in which Americans manifest the degrading effects of skepticism, atheism, evolution, and liberal theology.

What a far cry from most of America’s history. It is hard to believe that—up until the 1960s—American education was thoroughly saturated with the biblical account of Creation (e.g., New England Primer, 1805, pp. 31-32; Webster’s The Elementary Spelling Book, 1857, p. 29). The book of Genesis was taken as a straight-forward account of the formation of the Universe and the beginning of human history. People took God at His word. Though liberal theology swept through Europe in the late 19th century, which included attacks on the verbal, inerrant inspiration of the Scriptures, and though the Creation account began to be openly challenged at the 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee, still, the majority of Americans continued to accept the biblical account right on up to World War II. Since then, however, sinister forces have been chipping away at belief in the inspiration and integrity of the Bible. They have succeeded in eroding confidence in its trustworthiness and authority.
 
But there are no excuses. The evidence is available, and it is overwhelming. No one can stand before God at the end of time and justify themselves for their rejection of Genesis as a straightforward record of literal history. Failure to take Genesis at face value can easily result in acceptance of views and/or practices that will jeopardize one’s standing with God.
 

Source: Apologetics Press  Click to read the full essay. Leave a comment here at Just Genesis.


Related reading:  Getting the Facts about Human Origins; Genesis and Genetics; Jesus Fulfills the Horus Myth

False Correlations

Alice C. Linsley

There is a good deal of misinformation about the connections between persons and deities of Hinduism and persons of the Bible. These are based on false or spurious correlations. Here are four examples:

#1: The Sanskrit word "Brahma" is a variant spelling of the biblical name Abraham.

This is incorrect.

The term "Brahma" is derived from the Proto-Dravidian root brih, which means to swell or enlarge. It is a reference to the Creator God whose emblem, the Sun, swells as it rises in the morning. The veneration of the rising Sun in Hinduism is expressed in the daily prayer ritual called Agnihotra.

The Old Arabic word for the swelling of the sun is yakburu, meaning “he is getting big” and with the intensive active prefix: yukabbiru, it means "he is enlarging." This has little connection to the name Abraham. However, it is rleated to the Proto-Dravidian word for a Sun temple, which is O-piru. Dravidian temples typically face east. The morning ritual of the priests was to greet the rising sun and watch as it expanded or swelled on the horizon.

There likely is a connection to the ancient Egyptian root bn, meaning to swell, and to the reduplicated form bnbn, but there is not an evident connection to the names Abram or Abraham.

In Hinduism, Brahma and his wife Saraswati are considered the founders of the worlds. In Genesis, Abraham is said to be the father of many nations. This is historically accurate since Abraham had many children, among them nine sons. Such a claim in not made in Genesis for Sara, however, since she gave birth to only one child, Isaac.

There is evidence of a common conception about ancestors who found nations, but an etymological connection between Abraham and Brahma, and between Sarai and Saraswati has never been demonstrated.


#2. The Sanskkrit word "Saraswati" is a variant spelling of the biblical name Sara

This is incorrect.

The Sarawati is a major river of India. The name of the river is a compound of two words: saras which refers to a body of water, and wati which is a Sanskrit suffix to indicate female gender.

Many rivers have "Sar" or Sara" as part of their names. Examples include the Sarawat River and the Saribas River in Borneo. Sarawat is also the name of the mountain range that borders the Red Sea in Yemen.

Sara is also Nilotic word associated with laughter (Gen. 18:12).The verb to laugh in Hausa, a Chadic language, is dara. Dara and Sara may be regarded as cognates since the letters d and s are interchangeable in Dravidian and in some African languages.

The Sarra are one of the largest population groups in Chad. Sara society is organized by patrilineal descent from a common male ancestor. There is a 3-clan confederation, such as characterizes Abraham's people. The qir ka are the eastern Sara, the qin ka are those living in central Chad, and the qel ka are the western groups. The Sara make up to 30% of Chad's population. About one-sixth of them are Christians and live in southern Chad.

The biblical name Sarah is also a title, meaning queen. It is derived from the Akkadian word for king which is šarru and the Akkadian word for queen which is šarratum.


#3. The Sanskrit word "Gayatri" is a variant spelling of the biblical name Keturah

This is incorrect. However, there is a parallel involving the idea of second or subordinate wives.

In Hinduism, Brahma's second wife is Gayatri. Attempts have been made to connect Gayatri with Abraham's second wife, Keturah. This assertion has no linguistic support. Keturah refers to fragrant incense or perfume. It is also possible that it refers to the Ketu people of Ra (God). The Ketu clans are known today as Ijebu (Nigeria) and may be related to the biblical Jebusites.


#4. The Sanskrit word "Ghaggar" is a variant spelling of the biblical name Hagar

This is incorrect.

The Ghaggar is a tributary of the Sarawati. Again, there is no relationship to the biblical name Hagar. Ghaggar is comprised of the words ghag-gar. The word ghag (also spelled khag) refers to river reeds, and gar means hidden. This is a description of how the Sarasvati dries up seasonally. It flows only during the Monsoon season, and at least half of the year it is marshy and full of reeds.


Related reading: Was Keturah Abraham's Wife?; Sara's Laughter; The Afro-Asiatic Dominion; Who Were the Kushites?; The Cultural Unity of Dravidian and African Peoples by Dr. Clyde A. Winters

Enoch's Rapture

Alice C. Linsley


A reader recently made this comment:

What are your thoughts about Enoch's "removal". I've been perusing your site and I don't see it as having been covered before - not to say it hasn't (I just don't find it if it has).

Gen. 5:24 "and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."

I realize you deal with data, facts and research, extrapolating from there, but this would certainly seem to be an intriguing passage, yes?

The common interpretation is that Enoch was translated into heaven/paradise like Elijah. Certainly, in the genealogical listings of early Genesis, Enoch's life stands out.

Sure, they're pointing out his strong faith and relationship with God, but his "death" or "end of life" is put differently than the other ancestors. Is this because his faith and walk with God was that set apart, or do you accept the interpretation that he was indeed "translated" in some fashion and this was the early author's way of trying to grasp/understand it and relate it for posterity?


Thanks.


I appreciate this question and the reader's understanding of my interest in facts. This is a topic I have avoided because it necessarily involves speculation. That is not to say that I haven't given this some thought.  I have considered three possible explanations.

1. Enoch was a deified ruler whose death was never recorded.  I don't see much biblical support for this view.  The days of Enoch are said to be 365 years (Gen. 5:23).  Whether he died or was translated to heaven, the time of his leaving was noted.

2. Enoch was a sent-away son and his death was never reported to his people back home.  Most of the heroes of the Old Testament were sent-away sons: Cain, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David are examples. These biblical figures point to Jesus, God's sent-away Son, who came to conquer and establish and eternal kingdom.

3. Enoch was a hermit ruler who lived in the wilderness and disappeared. His ermitic life began after his son Methuselah was born.  Having secured an heir to his throne, Enoch withdrew to the wilderness.  This is suggested by Gen. 5:22: "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh."

Probably Enoch was "raptured" as was Elijah. This is said to happen to some hysechasts. It is called "stepping into the Light" and is something akin to the transfiguration of Jesus, or the glorified Jesus in the individual becoming all in all. This speaks of transcending this world.

I am not attached to one of these possible explanations. However, I believe that Enoch's righteousness and his disappearance should be taken literally.

The phrase "walked with God" is reminiscent of Genesis 3:8 where we are told that God walked in the garden to commune with the Man and the Woman.  To walk with God suggests the simpliest life, where the main thing - perfect communion with God - is kept the main thing.

St. Ephrem the Syrian expressed how Christ makes transcendence possible in a Hymn on the Nativity (VIII.4). He wrote:

Blessed be the Merciful One
who saw the sword beside Paradise,
barring the way to the Tree of Life;
He came and took to Himself a body
which was wounded so that,
by the opening of His side,
He might open up the way to Paradise.

At the end of his Ladder of Divine Ascent, St. John Climacus speaks of this as "ascending to Jerusalem, the vision of the perfect peace of souls" and encourages the monks to fix "your eye upon Heaven, you have set your foot upon its base and run, and gone up, and been exalted, and mounted the cherubim of the virtues; you have taken wing and ascended in jubilation, vanquishing the enemy. You have gone before us on the road and led the way, or rather, even now you lead us, and go on before us all, ascending with a light step to the very pinnacle of the holy Ladder, uniting yourself to love; and love is God, to Whom be glory unto the ages. Amen."


Related reading: Is Enoch a Royal Title?

The Ruler Seth

Alice C. Linsley

TIMELINE

Late Neolithic period (ca. 4000-3000 B.C.)
          - Nilotic pastoralists who were sedentary for part of the year
          - Dead buried with their faces toward the rising sun
          - Hierakonpolis, the most ancient Nilotic temple; dedicated to Horus. Here a 4000 B.C. tomb painting of two red ochre men. They carry crooked staffs and flails, suggesting that they are pre-dynastic ruler-priests.
          - Wine making equipment found in the tomb of the Scorpion I (c. 3150 B.C.)

Noah was drunk with wine on at least one occasion and the outcome wasn't good. Likewise, Lot's drunken stupor led to unfortunate events. Genesis is critical of excessive wine consumption.


The Saharan Wet Period (c. 4000-2000 B.C.)
          - Noah (ca. 2490-2415 B.C.)  Saharan Late Holocene (Karl W. Butzer 1966)
          - The Great Pyramid, aligned to the Dragon Star on the Vernal Equinox in 2141 B.C.
          - Lake Chad was much deeper and covered an much larger area
          - The Nile waters flooded more widely, with drainage channels extending west into the desert
          - Stronger monsoonal circulation throughout sub-tropical regions increased rain in Sudan

Analysis of deposited sediments in the Nile delta shows this period had a higher proportion of sediments coming from the Blue Nile, due to higher rainfall also in the Ethiopian Highlands.


Kingdom of Kush (ca. 2000-1500 B.C.)
          - Kushite rulers built pyramids for elite burials and ruled Egypt as its 25th Dynasty
          - Pan Grave burials of Nubia and Egypt of the Medjay/Beja people, about 1700 B.C
          - King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep (c. 2043-1992 BC) married Ashait, a Medjay princess


The Napatan Period (ca. 1575-525 B.C.)
          - King Kasta ("the Kushite")
          - King Piye named his firstborn son Hor (Horus)
          - King Sheba-qo 


Origin of the Name Seth

Seti was a royal name among the Nilotic peoples.  The name is associated with the territory of Ta-Seti, meaning the "Land of Set." Set and the biblical word Seth are cognates. Ta-Seti is also translated as "Land of the Bow" and attests to the skill of the Nubian archers, a skill for which the later Kushites were also famous.

I Chronicles 1:50 mentions an important Horite bride - Matred. Her name is related to Menmaatre, the throne name of Seti I. Seti is a name associated with Piye, which is identified with the "city of Pai" in I Chronicles 1:50. Queen Piye was a Nubian queen.

The great Nubian king Piye (780 B.C.) installed a black granite falcon head image of Horus in Napata, his capital.  Piye's brother and successor, Sheba-qo, moved the royal residence to Memphis. Sheba-qo (716-702 B.C.) and his successors Shebit-qo (702-690 B.C.) and Tahar-qo (690-664 B.C.) thought of themselves as God's earthly representatives and it was probably during their time that the rulers came to wear the double crown of Horus.

The biblical Seth lived before the emergence of the Kushite Kingdom, probably around 3000 B.C. He was an ancestor of Noah and Noah's son Kush. Director of museum of the University of Chicago Oriental Institute, Geoff Emberling reports that excavations at Kerma and the Fourth Cataract, "suggest that the early Kingdom of Kush was larger than previously believed, and that its raids into Egypt in about 1650 B.C. were a serious threat to the capital at Thebes. Compared with other civilizations of the region, such as Mesopotamia, early Kush controlled a vast area and was able to amass significant military power."

Thirty Palaeolithic sites were discovered in the region by a team of archaeologists led by Henryk Paner between 1996-2003. At seven Mesolithic site shards of wavy line and dotted wavy line pottery were found. Paner believes that these reflect an older decorative tradition. He reports, "The Neolithic witnessed a boom in settlement evidence. Of the total number of 711 sites recorded over 240 yielded ceramic, stone and flint artefacts dating from this period. Some Neolithic settlements tended to be located on higher terrain within natural hollows. Oval and circular stone structures up to 1.5m in diameter probably represent hearths. Larger concentrations of stones (also circular in plan but with larger diameters) may possibly mark the remains of dwellings which were made from organic materials.Querns and grinders were also found at these sites. Agate was among the raw materials used for making tools, with white quartz becoming increasingly popular on late Neolithic sites." (From here.)

At Hosh el-Guruf in Sudan, Emberling's team found a Kushite gold-processing center along the middle Nile. Gold was processed here between 2000 and 1500 B.C. This may be the biblical land of Havilah (Gen. 2:11), known for gold. The Gihon wound through the entire land of Kush (Gen. 2:13) and was connected to the Pishon which wound through the entire land of Havilah. The identification of this area with the Nile is further supported by the claim that aromatic resin (amber) is found there (Gen. 2:12).  The Gihon and Pishon appear to be sections of the Nile, probably between the 4th and 6th cataracts. As Northern Sudan is geologically active, the Nubian Swell has diverted the Nile's course to the west, making it difficult to definitively locate these waterways of Eden.


The Biblical Seth

Having established that the name Seth comes from the Nile region of ancient Nubia and Kush,we must now explore the biblical information that sheds light on this royal person.

Genesis tells us that Seth was Cain's younger brother. (Cain is also spelled Kenan, Qayan, Kano).  According to Genesis 5:6, Seth's firstborn son was Enosh. There has been some debate as to whether Enosh is equivalent to Enoch, the name of Cain's firstborn son (Gen. 4:17). I believe that both names are derived from the Nilotic or Proto-Saharan word anochie, meaning "one who is to follow" as heir to the throne. The word anochie is found among peoples who migrated westward from the Nile, such as the Ashante. Among the Igbo, anochie means “a replacer” or “to replace.” A Nigerian biblical anthropologist reports that "Anochie also means 'direct heir to a throne'."  The biblical word Enoch is clearly a royal name or title, as is the name Seth.

Genesis provides more detailed information about Cain's line (Gen. 4) than about Seth's line (Gen. 5). Likely this is because the Canaanites, Cain's descendants, were the dominant people in the land where Abraham became established as a ruler. It is possible that the majority of Seth's descendants remained in the area of Nubia, though the lines of Cain and Seth continued to intermarry, as is common among royalty. The women of these royal lines married their patrilineal cousins or uncles and named their firstborn sons after their fathers.  Naamah, the daughter of Lamech, is an example.

© 1995 Alice C. Linsley

Another royal title of Nubian origin is Terah, the name of Abraham's father. It means "devotee" and is found on the Tera-neter tile, shown below.

Tera-ntr was a ruler of the Anu people, pre-dynastic inhabitants of Egypt. Abraham’s father, Terah, is named after this line that comes out of the Nile Valley. They are the earliest known to worship Horus, the prefigurement of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Another name for Heliopolis is On (Gen. 41:50). Joseph married a daughter of the high priest of On. The residents called it iunu, meaning "place of pillars" due to the many pillars of the temple.

Related reading: The Daughters of Horite Priests; Abraham's Nubian Ancestors; The Ethnicity of Abraham and David; The Saharan Origins of Pharaonic Egypt

Why Eliezer was Abraham's Heir

William Dyce's oil painting of Eliezer (1860) is on permanent exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.



Alice C. Linsley


Abraham said, "O my Lord, what would you give me seeing that I am going to die accursed [Hebrew: ariri], and the one to inherit my household is Dam-Mesek." Genesis 15:2

The Hebrew is challenging as apparently there is an attempt at play on the sound ben meshek (meseq) with dam mesek, or more likely a parallel between the terms ben and dam. However, the two mean the same thing: the one born to Masek.

The reference to Masek as a "handmaid" is clear in the Orthodox Study Bible, based on the Septuagint. Genesis 15:2 reads: "And Abraham said, 'Lord, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus, the son of Masek, my domestic maid servant."

The "of Damascus" is probably redundant and a mistake, but the Orthodox Study Bible committee decided to leave the place name.

Eliezer was not Abraham's proper heir. That role was to the first-born son of the first wife, who was Sarah. Abraham had another first-born son by his second wife Keturah. However, in the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew, the first-born son of the second wife belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather.

Lacking a proper heir, the son of a concubine would be the rightful heir. As was the case with Jacob, Abraham had two concubines, Hagar and Masek. By these concubines, Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Eliezer. Eliezer was the older of the two sons.

Isaac was born after the conversation Abraham had with God about Eliezer being the heir to Abraham's throne in Genesis 15. God reassures Abraham that he will have a son by Sarah. In the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the rulers among Abraham's people, the firstborn son of the half-sister wife ascended to the throne of his biological father. Sarah was Abraham's half-sister and their only child was Isaac, Abraham's proper heir.

Before Isaac was born, Abraham had a first-born son by his cousin wife Keturah. However, the first-born son of the cousin wife was to serve in the territory of his maternal grandfather, after whom he was named. Consider Lamech the Younger (Genesis 5) who was to serve Lamech the Elder (Genesis 4).

Ishmael already had been born, and would have been Abraham's heir by adoption according to Horite/Hurrian law. According to this practice, the concubine gave birth on the lap of the half-sister wife, as was the case with Hagar's delivery of Ishmael, whereby Sarah built a family through Hagar (Gen. 16:2). This was Sarah's plan.

By this time Abraham was well-established as a "mighty prince" (Gen. 23:6) among the clan of Canaan. Abraham's defeat of the kings who had attacked his Horite Hebrew people (Gen. 14:6) and he was served by Melchizedek, the ruler-priest of Salem (Genesis 14).

Abraham had two wives, as was the pattern for all high ranking Horite Hebrew (Terah, Abraham, Jacob, Elkanah, etc.) Sarah was Terah's daughter by one wife and Abraham was Terah's son by the other wife. This pattern of two wives meant that there were always two firstborn sons; one by the half-sister wife and the other by the cousin wife. The first-born son of the cousin wife served as a prime minister or vizier in the territory of his maternal grandfather, after whom he was titled/named. Likewise, Esau the Younger served Esau the Elder (Genesis 36).

The firstborn of the half-sister wife ascended to the throne of his biological father, so Isaac was Abraham's heir. However, he was not Abraham's firstborn. Neither was Ishmael. Ishmael was conceived late in Abraham's life, after Abraham had married Keturah. Keturah's firstborn son was Joktan (Yaqtan), the head of the Joktanite Tribes of Arabia. As Keturah was Abraham's cousin wife, Joktan ascended to the throne of his maternal grandfather. As Sarah was barren, Abraham was still desperate for an heir. This is when he prayed about having an heir and received the promise (Gen. 15:4) that a son would come from his own "loins" (meaning blood descent from him and his half-sister).

Eliezer was born of Masek before Ishamael was born of Hagar and this made him Abraham's only natural heir until Isaac was born. Here we have a glimpse into the complexity of the Horite Hebrew marriage and ascendancy pattern.

The name Eliezer/Eleazer appears twice in the Horite Hebrew ancestry of Jesus Christ.

Related reading: Abraham's Complaint; Abraham's Sons; Who Were the Horites?; The Marriage and Ascendency Pattern of Abraham's People; Abraham's Cousin Wife; Abraham's Concubines; Answers to More Questions

An Apology

This is an apology for anything I have published at Just Genesis that is misleading, improperly presented, or of a juvenile nature. I beg that people not use the former immature articles to harshly judge the later work. I acknowledge and claim the earlier work, and hope that none will attempt to triumph over the truth of the later findings by bashing the earlier: "a practice very contrary to those rules of candour and fair-dealing, and a strong instance of those polemical artifices, which a bigotted zeal thinks itself authorized to employ." (From an Advertisement for Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding)


Alice C. Linsley


It has been close to 35 years since I first began to research the book of Genesis, beginning with analysis of the kinship pattern of Abraham's ancestors.  I realize that this is not a typical hobby, especially for women.  I no longer try to explain my obsession.  I've come to accept that there is a reason for it and I pray that my research might be helpful.

There is a good deal of misundertanding about what I write. An anthropological approach to the Bible often renders an unfamiliar picture and people are suspicious of the unfamiliar. Some accuse me of fabricating lies. Today I received two hateful missives in which I was threatened for perpetuating "the lie" that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I considered allowing the comments to appear, but this blog is intended to edify and such anti-Christ venom is not edifying.

If I have offended, I ask your forgiveness.  Better not to read what I write than to become disturbed in your spirit or shaken in your faith. Better to do as C.S. Lewis advises, "Remember this is only one more picture. Do not mistake it for the real thing itself; and if it does not help you, drop it." (last line of "The Perfect Penitent")

I've never earned a cent for this on-going research so it is amusing that some claim that I am writing for financial gain. I've sought venues where I might share what I've learned, but Asbury Seminary, Asbury University, The Lexington Theological Seminary, Georgetown College, Midway College and others have remained closed doors.

My work on Genesis may even cost me the job I have.

On Friday the principal of the school where I teach asked me to respond to allegations made by a parent that I don't measure up to the school's statement of faith. I'm not sure what this parent meant, but I suspect she was refering to this: "We acknowledge absolute truth, as revealed in God's Word, and its relevance to our lives. Our teachers and staff are committed to helping students discover the truth, to think critically in the classroom and in real life."  I am committed to the absolute truth revealed in God's Word.

That said, I am not committed to inaccurate interpretations of the Bible.  I am not committed to dogmatic ideologies that don't align with the whole of the Bible. I am against shoving apparent discrepancies under the carpet when they may exist for the very purpose of provoking us to investigate a mystery.  I am not committed to the preservation of interpretations that have been passed along in commentaries on Genesis, many of which were taken uncritically from rabbis who rejected Jesus as the Son of God.

The themes and patterns found throughout the Bible first appear in Genesis. The foundational nature of the book of Genesis makes it essential that this material be understood in its proper cultural context. Cultural Anthropology assists in this endeavor, particularly in the application of kinship analysis and the identification of anthropologically significant data in the text.

I am more of a literalist than people realize because I believe that Genesis is about real people who really lived. Genesis, indeed the whole Bible, is about a real promise that God made to Abraham's ancestors concerning the Son of God who would come into the world to save repentant sinners. He is called the "Seed" in Genesis 3:15 and Jesus identified Himself as that Seed when he told his disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to die. He said, "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)

I want to share this research in spite of criticisms from anthropologists who are offended that I use Biblical data. My working hypothesis has been that the data in Genesis 4-11 is reliable and truthful and that it can be used to investigate human origins. The remarkable outcomes of that working hypothesis are shown in this article Solving the Ainu Mystery.

If this research is of God, it will bear fruit one day. I am confident of that. If it isn't of God, there is nothing to fear. It will be forgotten.


Related reading:  Reactions to my Research; Alice C. Linsley's Research on Genesis: Genesis in Anthropological Perspective; INDEX of Topics at Just Genesis

Kushite Kings and the Kingdom of God

Alice C. Linsley

The origin of the words Kain/Kenan/Canaan/Kenite is originally Nilotic and the name is found among extant African tribes. Related are the words "kente" (cloth worn by Akan /Ashante rulers), kenten (cloth basket); Kenya (the country); and the Kenem, Kanembu and Kenton tribes of Nigeria, and the Kana-kuru and Kanuri who live in Adam-awa and Bor-no (Land of Noah). There are many other peoples in west central Africa with names related to Kenan. Many of these peoples originated in the Nile Valley and migrated westward. Some migrated eastward into Arabia and as far as India, Siam and Nepal.

In Nepal, approximately 30,000 Sarki live in a province called Seti.  Sarki and seti are both Kushite words. The original name of Kush was Ta-Seti. A Kushite tribe of Central Asia was called Kushana. The Kushan of China were called Ta-Yuehti. I explore the Kushite-Kushan connection here.

Among Kushitic peoples sarki means ruler. Among Chadic peoples gon mean ruler. Thus the Akkadian Sar-gon represents a double royal title. In Nigeria the Kano Kings are called sarki. Kano is another word related to Kain/Kenan/Kenite/Canaanite.

Another interesting connection is the Kandahar dialect of Pakistan/Afghanistan, which has Tir-hari as a principal dialect. Tir is a form of the name Tiras, mentioned in Genesis 10 and hari is a form of hor/horite/horim. The Sarki of Nepal belong to a larger ethnic group called Pa-hari.

The words Khan and Kandake (Candace in English Bibles) are also related and refer to rulers. The name Khan, meaning ruler/chief, is a common surname among many who speak languages of Central Asia, specifically Pashto, Urdu, Farsi, and Hindi. The Kushites who built kingdoms across the Afro-Asiatic Dominion left the world a legacy of great rulers, including Nimrod (Sargon the Great) and Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan’s name is more accurately spelled Činggis Qaγan and Qayan is the Arabic spelling of Kain.

Genghis Khan's first-born son was named Jochi which is the equivalent of Joktan, the name of Abraham's first-born son. Genghis Khan married a woman of the Olkut’Hun, meaning the Hun tribe. Ogur Hun means the Hun clan or the Hun community of Og. The word ogur means clan, community or tribe and appears to be equivalent to the Pashto, orkut, meaning community. So, the words ogur, orkut and olkut seem to be cognates and probably Indo-Pakistani. The word Og is found in Genesis also. Og was one of the three clans in the Og, Magog, Gog Horite confederation.

It is easy to see how the Altaic Mongolian-Korean connection came to be once we make the connection between the Nilotic Horites of the ancient world and Genghis Khan's people. A distinctive marriage and ascendency pattern drove Kushite expansion out of the Nile Valley.

My research into the genealogical material in Genesis involves analysis of the Horite kinship pattern whereby the rulers had two wives and at least two concubines. The first wife was a half-sister and the second wife was a patrilineal cousin or niece. The marriages of firstborn sons contributed to the diffusion of Horite religion. The firstborn son of the half-sister wife ascended to the throne of his biological father. The firstborn son of the patrilineal cousin or niece bride ascended to the throne of his maternal grandfather. All other sons were given gifts of camels, jewelry, flocks, herds and servants and sent away. Sent-away sons moved away from the territories of their fathers and established new territories.

The ancient Nilo-Saharan kings were believed to be appointed by the Creator whose emblem was the Sun. This is why many of the Biblical rulers names have the Canaanite Y, a solar cradle indicating that the ruler has been overshadowed, a sign of divine appointment. All pharaohs were believed to be "sons of the Sun" (Ra-mes) generated by Horus, the "Son of Ra" born to the virgin queen Hathor-Meri. She is shown on ancient monuments with the long horns of the Acholi cow upon her head.

The importance of this marriage pattern as a driving factor in Kushite expansion should not be overlooked. It is important also in understanding the divine Son, Jesus Christ. He who had the power and the right to live immortally in communion with the Father, set aside His power and right (kenosis) and became mortal that He might redeem a people for Himself and establish an eternal kingdom.

 
Related reading: Kushite Wives; The Afro-Asiatic Dominion; The Peoples of Canaan; Genghis Khan: Last Afro-Asiatic Kingdom Builder; Kushite Kingdom Building; The Migration of Abraham's Ancestors; Binary Distinctions and Kenosis; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y

Morkot's Book Might Have Been Stronger

Alice C. Linsley


Mizraim (Egypt) and Kush (Upper Nile/Sudan/Ethiopia) are classed together by the prophets because the Lower and Upper Nile regions were first unified by the Kushite King Meni/Menes around 3000 BC. The first rulers of a unified Nile Valley were Kushites. Robert G. Morkot has written about these early rulers in his book The Black Pharaohs. Their territory is referenced by different names: Nubia, Kush and Ta-Seti, which is the royal title Set or Seth and also refers to the bow which was used by the red Nubians hunters and warriors. They wore feathers around their ankles and closely resembled the warriors of Petra.

There are many connections between the Kushite rulers presented in Morkot's book and the different Nilotic and Proto-Saharan peoples who are mentioned in Genesis. Unfortunately, Morkot did not investigate these Nilotic connections thoroughly.

As an historian, he shows discipline in not venturing from his area of expertise. However, his book would have been stronger had he explored the anthropological and linguistic evidence. He missed many clues that would have made his work more compelling. For example, he might have explored the linguistic connections between Nilotic peoples today and the ancient Kushite rulers. Consider Nefertitti, someone to whom he directs a good deal of attention in a later chapter.

Her name Nefer-itti contains a typical suffix of the Kushite rulers.  As E.A. Speiser noted in his Anchor Bible commentary on Genesis, the suffix is found in the biblical name for Cain, which is Qan-itti. As is evident from the Akkadian, -itti pertains to the king, as in itti šarrim which means "with the king" or "against the king." Akkadian was the language of the empire during Nimrod's time (BC 2290-2215).  Genesis 10 tells us that Nimrod was a Kushite, so it is not surprising to find that Akkadian shares many words with Nilotic languages. Among the Kushite Oromo of Ethiopia and Somalia, itti is attached to names of high ranking individuals. Examples include Kaartuumitti, Finfinneetti and Dimashqitti.

Morkot's book focuses mainly on the 25th Dynasty.  He would have done well to explore earlier dynasties more deeply.  For example, consideration of the 18th Dynasty would have made a stronger case for the long duration of Kushitic dominance in the Nile Valley. Amenhotep III ruled Nubia, Libya, Gaza and Syria in the 18th Dynasty. His 42-foot tall statue was recently excavated in Thebes (modern Luxor) on the west bank of the Nile.

Amenhotep III ruled between about 1382 and 1350 B.C. (roughly 600 years after Abraham's firstborn son, Joktan). His name means "peace of Amen" and indicates a period when the divine name Amen was used in Nubia instead of the name Set/Seti/Seth, which was favored in the Delta. It was during the 18th dynasty that the title 'King's Son of Cush' was first used.

Finally, Morkot would have done well to reference biblical data when doing his research. He dedicates a good deal of his book to the late Kushite rulers Sheba-qo (or Shaba-qo), Tahar-qo and Shebit-qo, but he never makes the linguistic connection to the Meroitic honorary suffix - qo . Once we remove the suffix, we are left with the name Sheba. The Kushite ruler Sheba-qo ruled about 716-702 BC. Earlier Kushite rulers held the royal name Sheba before him. Genesis 10 lists Sheba as an ancestor of Abraham and his cousin-wife Keturah. He was a descendant of Ham and Shem, as the lines of Ham and Shem intermarried exclusively. Sheba-qo’s double crown is shown on the Sheba-qo Stone with parts of his Horus name. Here we have archaeological evidence linking the royal house of Sheba and Abraham’s Horite people.



Related reading:  Enoch: a Royal Title; Cain's Father; Who Were the Kushites?; Kushite Kings and the Kingdom of God

Sheol and the Second Death

Alice C. Linsley

It is significant that the Medieval view of Purgatory is not required to be believed. The concept of a holding place for the dead is very ancient, going back to the Nilotic Hebrew as early as 2000 BC. It is found in the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin texts. The Hebrew word Sheol comes from the ancient Egyptian word Sheut (šwt), meaning shadow. The Egyptians believed that something of the dead person continues as a shadow beyond death. Small figurines called "Shabti" were painted black and placed in the graves to portray the continued existence of the deceased in shadow. Each figurine was inscribed with a prayer. A famous example is Utterance 472 from the Coffin Texts which dates from c. 2143-2040 BC.

The Egyptians also believed in bodily resurrection. St. Augustine noted that the Egyptians took great care in the burial of their dead and never practiced cremation, as in the religions that seek to escape material existence. Their greatest fear was the "second death" which apparently occurs when the body and the spirit as a unit are not restored to life in the resurrection. On Holy Saturday did Jesus descend to Hell, Hades, or Sheol? If to Sheol, He would have greeted the penitent thief "this day."

What is the difference between the Nilotic and Hellenistic views of death and the state of the dead? The Greek understanding is Hades, often translated "hell" in the Bible. Hades is the land of the dead, the underworld beyond the river Styx. It takes its name from the deity "Hades" who was believed to rule there.

 
In the Septuagint, the Greek term "ᾅδης" (Hades) is used for the Hebrew "שׁאול" (Sheol), but the concepts represent different cultural contexts. This contributes to the difficulty of translation, as demonstrated in these renderings of Isaiah 38:18.

New International Version
For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

Here the word "grave" doesn't convey a state of existence beyond the grave.

Douay-Rheims Version
For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.

The word "hell" is laden with Hellenistic notions about the underworld and evokes mental images from Dante's Inferno. Dante's hell represents beliefs typical of the Middle Ages, but his works do not align closely with biblical teaching on existence after death.

New American Standard
For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

Here the word "sheol" is preserved and the meaning aligns more closely with what Jesus taught about the dead in the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Lazarus rested in "the bosom of Abraham" and between Lazarus and the Rich Man there was a great fixed gulf which none could overcome (Matthew 5:29, 30; 18:9; Mark 9:42). Therefore, Sheol has two regions: the bosom of Abraham where the righteous dead rest in peace, and the region of fire (gehenna) were there is no peace. 

The word "hell" appeared 77 times in Jerome's Vulgate Old Testament and 24 times in his New Testament. The commission that worked on the Authorized Bible (King James Version) recognized a cultural difference between the Semitic Sheol and the Hellenistic Hades. This is evident in the way that the King James Version uses the word "hell" in the Old Testament only 31 times, compared to Jerome's 77 times.

Another explanation links adēs, hades to the root aeidēs, meaning invisible. This explanation of the Venerable Theophylact (Commentary on Luke's Gospel, see footnote on p. 213) aligns more closely with the original concept found among the early Hebrew priests (long before Judaism).

Etymology of Sheol

The word Sheol, as it relates to the ancient Egyptian word Sheut (šwt), means place of shadows. This is the origin of the idea that the underworld is a place of shadows. More research needs to be done on the burial practices of the Horite Hebrew, an ancient ruler-priest caste.

In Pre-dynastic times, rulers were buried in the sand in circular pan graves which were marked with decorated skulls of bulls, gazelles and goats. These have been found in cemeteries of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia beginning in the Second Intermediate Period. (Source: Sudan, 2000–1000 B.C., Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The sand leached the moisture from the body in a natural process of mummification.

Because the desert was a place of burial, people feared to be there after dark when the shadows of the dead were believed to roam.

Egyptian, Hebrew, and Kushite rulers were never cremated, though this practice would prevail in some of the territories over which they ruled. Around 2600 BC, the priests of the Nile began to mummify the bodies of their deceased rulers and placed them in elaborate tombs.

Among the early Hebrew, the whole population was represented by the ruler, so great pains were taken to bury the ruler so that he would rise with the Sun, the emblem of the Creator. Being raised to life was reserved for royal persons who were expected to make intercessions for their people. The deified ancestors were venerated, not worshiped, an important distinction. The kings listed in the "begats" (Gen. 4 and 5) were venerated rulers. 

Abraham's beliefs about resurrection would have corresponded to those of his ancestors. He lived long before the rabbis began speculating about the existence of the dead. By Jesus' time, a faction had arisen among the Jews that rejected belief in the resurrection of the dead, but according to St. Augustine "the Egyptians alone believe in the resurrection, as they carefully preserved their dead bodies." ("Death, burial, and rebirth in the religions of antiquity", Jon Davies, Routledge, 1999, p. 27)

The Egyptians were not alone in this belief.  It was also the belief of the ancient Horite Hebrew from whom Abraham descended. The Sadducees were far from the belief of their Hebrew ancestors because they expected one of their rulers to rise from the dead.

This belief is central to Messianic expectation and was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead on the third day. He is the Sun that rises with healing in His wings.  Here we have a very ancient allusion to Horus as a falcon flying above the Sun, the emblem of his Father, as it makes its westward journey.

Horus (top right) flying above Ra's solar boat
Relief found at Angkor Wat (ancient Siam)

The Apostle Paul explains that those who die with Christ in baptism will rise in Him on the Last Day. These will not die the "second death" of which John speaks in Revelation 2:11 - "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death."


Related reading: The Bosom of Abraham; Did Abraham Believe Isaac to be Messiah?; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; When the Church Speaks of Death