Frank Moore Cross: Israel's God is the God of the Horites

Alice C. Linsley


Frank Moore Cross believes the origins of Israel's conception of God is to be found in the region of Midian in northwestern Arabia. Cross argues that archaic biblical poetry locates Yahweh's movements in Edom/Seir/Teman/Midian and that these "are our most reliable evidence for locating Sinai/Horeb, the mountain of God."

Midian was one of Abraham's nine sons, and Tema was a Horite Hebrew chief. Seir is explicitly designated a "Horite" in Genesis 36, and he was a contemporary of Esau the Elder who was a ruler of the Edo (meaning red) people. The point of origin of YHWH is the Upper Nile from whence came Abraham's Horim who were called Habiru (Hebrew). The Horim are the Horites of Seir and Edom (Gen. 36). The Horite and Sethite Hebrew were a moiety from before 2400 BC.

According to Cross, Israel's earliest religious traditions about Yahweh, reflected in both the story of Exodus and archaic Biblical poetry like the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), indicate Yahweh came from Midian, a mountainous desert land in what is today southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia. This theory of Yahweh's Arabian origins, known by earlier scholars as the "Midianite hypothesis," has been augmented by recent archaeological discoveries that suggest a sophisticated urban culture thrived in this region at the end of the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 B.C.E.), the period when most scholars place Moses and the Exodus tradition.

Given this evidence, Cross believes the biblical writers understood Mt. Horeb, the mountain of Yahweh, to be in Arabia, not Sinai. Cross notes that the belief that the 'mountain of God' was located in the Sinai Peninsula "has no older tradition supporting it than Byzantine times."

Order Cross' e-book here.

In a hymn to ʼĒl (published in Ugaritica V, text RS 24.278), God is called ’il brt and ’il dn which Cross takes as 'ʼĒl of the covenant' and 'ʼĒl the judge' respectively. The word dn in ancient Egyptian means religion and this may be a reference to Horite religion in which the ruler-priest symbolizes the covenant on earth and acts as God's judge on earth.

Related reading: The Chiefs of Edom; The Nubian Context of YHWH; Abraham and Job: Horite Rulers; Moses' Horite Family; Edom and the Horites; The Horite Hebrew Wisdom of Elihu

Medical Care in Ancient Egypt

The Edwin Smith papyrus is the world's oldest known surgical document (c. 1600 BC). It is written in the hieratic script of ancient Egypt and Kush and reveals a high level of sophistication in medical care. It gives detailed descriptions of anatomy, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of forty-eight types of medical problems. It describes closing wounds with sutures, preventing and curing infection with honey and moldy bread (both known to contain antibiotics), application of raw meat to stop bleeding, and treatment of head and spinal cord injuries.

"Every month, for three successive days, they purged the system by means of emetics or clysters. The study of medicine with them was divided between specialists; each physician attending to one kind of illness only. Every place possessed several doctors; some for diseases of the eyes, others for the head, or the teeth, or the stomach, or for internal diseases." (Diodorus Siculus, i. 91)

This is the level of medical care known among the priestly caste when the children of Jacob were in Egypt.  Hieratic script was used by the ruler-priests. Healing was the work of the priests who were especially concerned with purity of life.

The priesthood can be traced back to around 7000 BC. The relationship between animal sacrifice and healing is evidence in the relationship of the following words: Hebrew root thr = to be pure, Hausa/Hahm toro = clean, Tamil tiru = holy, early Dravidian tor = blood.

Related reading: Nubians Used Antibiotics; Ebers Papyrus; The World's Oldest Books; Neolithic Medical Care; Dental Health of Ancient Sudanese; Archaic Humans Used Plants Medicinally

Humans Originated in Africa

Alice C. Linsley


The oldest humans fossils, tools evidence of controlled fire and the oldest human footprints have been found in Africa. Africa is the direction Genesis points for human origins also, although Abraham's Proto-Saharan ancestors listed in Genesis 4, 5 and 10 do not date as early as the oldest human fossils found in Africa.

Lucy and her community were archaic humans who lived about 3.4 million years ago in East Africa. Australopithecus sediba. In my experience, given sufficient remains, all the finds in Africa can be classified as either human (homo) or ape (simian). Lucy and her community fall into the first category.

When British anthropologist Jeremy DeSilva compared the ankle joint, the tibia and the talus fossils of human ancestors ("hominins") between 4.12 million to 1.53 million years old, he discovered that all of the ankle joints resembled those of modern humans rather than those of apes. Chimpanzees flex their ankles 45 degrees from normal resting position. This makes it possible for apes to climb trees with great ease. While walking, humans flex their ankles a maximum of 20 degrees. The human ankle bones are quite distinct from those of apes. (Read about DeSilva’s research here.)

The discovery of a complete fourth metatarsal of A. afarensis at Hadar shows the deep, flat base and tarsal facets that "imply that its midfoot had no ape-like midtarsal break. These features show that the A. afarensis foot was functionally like that of modern humans." (Carol Ward, William H. Kimbel, Donald C. Johanson, Feb. 2011) Read the report here.

When exploring human origins it is important to recognize that most finds can be classified as either human (homo) or ape (simian). Filtering the data through a Darwinian lens leads to conclusions that are misleading. For example Neanderthals were not a different species. They were fully human and they mixed with modern humans who moved out of Africa about 200,000 years ago.

In other words, what Darwinians often label as precursors to humans are well within the range of anatomical modernity. The picture of human evolution that is commonly presented is not supported by the evidence. However, there is general agreement that humans originated in Africa.

Genesis traces Abraham's ancestors to the Nile region of Africa where his people understood themselves as the direct descendants of the first created people. Their ancestral parents are called Adam and Eve. The context for understanding Adam and Eve is African. Confusion as to how we are to interpret these biblical figures will persist until people accept what the Bible says about Abraham's ancestors coming from Africa. Only then can we put this material in its proper cultural context.

Adam is derived from the root DM which refers to blood (dam in Hebrew) and the color red. The Hebrew is related to the Yoruba edom and the Hausa odom which mean red or reddish-brown. The word "adam" is therefore a reference to the color of the soil where Abraham's Kushite ancestors lived. This is likely the red soil that washed down from the Ethiopian Highlands. These soils have a cambic B horizon. Chromic Cambisols have a strong brown or red color.

The association of the color red with Abraham's ancestors has been confirmed by DNA studies of Abraham's Ainu ancestors who had a reddish skin tone. The Ainu are at the center of Cavalli-Sforza's genetic distance chart and anthropological investigation indicates that they originated in the Nile and dispersed as far as Japan and Finland. Genesis 10 describes their migration out of the Nile Valley. The migration out of Africa is shown here.

Abraham's ancestors were kingdom builders. They were the founders of the Afro-Asiatic Dominion and the first priests of the Messianic Faith to which Abraham held. The rulers listed in the Genesis king lists are Jesus Christ's historical ancestors, the people to whom God gave the promise that the Woman's Seed would crush the head of the serpent and restore paradise (Gen. 3:15).


Related reading: A Kindling of Ancient Memory; Getting the Facts About Human Origins; African Religion Predates Hinduism; Abraham's African Ancestors; Terah's Nubian Ancestors; The Substance of Abraham's Faith

The Ancient Egyptians Were Seafaring

Archaeologists from Italy, the United States, and Egypt excavating a dried-up lagoon known as Mersa Gawasis have unearthed traces of an ancient harbor that once launched early voyages like Hatshepsut’s onto the open ocean. Some of the site’s most evocative evidence for the ancient Egyptians’ seafaring prowess is concealed behind a modern steel door set into a cliff just 700 feet or so from the Red Sea shore. Inside is a man-made cave about 70 feet deep. Lightbulbs powered by a gas generator thrumming just outside illuminate pockets of work: Here, an excavator carefully brushes sand and debris away from a 3,800-year-old reed mat; there, conservation experts photograph wood planks, chemically preserve them, and wrap them for storage.

4000 year Egyptian ship plank

Toward the back, a padlocked plywood door seals off an adjacent cave. As soon as the door is unlocked, a sweet, heavy, grassy smell like that of old hay wafts out, filling the area with the scent of thousands of years of decay. In the thin beam of a headlamp, one can make out stacked coils of rope the color of dark chocolate receding into the darkness of the long, narrow cave. Some of the bundles are as thick as a man’s chest, and the largest may hold up to 100 feet of rope.

 

4000 year Egyptian rope coils

The rope is woven from papyrus, a clue that it may have come from the Nile Valley, where the paperlike material was common. Archaeologists found it neatly, professionally coiled and stacked, presumably by ancient mariners just before they left the shelter of the cave for the last time.

Boston University archaeologist Kathryn Bard and an international team have uncovered six other caves at Mersa Gawasis. The evidence they have found, including the remains of the oldest seagoing ships ever discovered, offers hard proof of the Egyptians’ nautical roots and important clues to the location of Punt. “These new finds remove all doubt that you reach Punt by sea,” Baines says. “The Egyptians must have had considerable seagoing experience.”

Image of a 1400 BC Egyptian merchant ship.

The Egyptian ships were also unique in that they were held together with mortise-and-tenon joints, tab-and-slot fittings that needed no metal fasteners and could be taken apart and put back together again. For added strength, the individual timbers were carved with curves that nested into adjacent parts, a little like puzzle pieces. “From the very beginning, the Egyptians were building boats that could be disassembled, and that makes them different from anyone else,” Ward says. “They were using the shapes of the planks to lock each of the pieces into place.”

Read the full article here.


Related reading: Ancient Egyptian Sea Power and the Origin of Maritime Forces; 4500 Year Harbor at Wadi al-Jarf

Questions Asked by Primitive Man

Alice C. Linsley

Readers of Just Genesis will find this conversation about Archaic Man interesting. You will note the faulty assumptions made as to what anthropology has demonstrated to be factual.

"To the primitive men all experiences were supernatural. It appeared in different forms and manifestations in accordance with the different civilizations of the clime and climate of the respective country.
 
According to the scientific research and the knowledge of anthropology the conversion of animals to human beings took about 30 hundred thousands years through evolutionary process ; there are two important  periods in the primitive history of mankind.  The first period is called Stone Age, when man used tools made of stone to get his food and other necessities of life to sustain his existence. It was the period when man began to conceive and feel the environment, and the conversion from animal to man had been complete.  Initiation  of awareness of the surroundings began to grow.  With the introduction of the use of Iron, man became more sophisticated and he started to think about the manifestations of nature in different forms.  He could not understand the nature and function of the objects of nature, and therefore surrendered to them . Questions in his mind were :

[a] What is the character and general structure of the universe in which we live?

[b] Is there permanent element in the constitution of the universe? 

[c] How are we related to it?

[d] What place do we occupy in it. 

[e] What is the kind of conduct that befits the place we occupy?

These questions occurred in the mind of the primitive man. When he could not find any satisfactory answers, he created gods, and goddesses to satisfy his passion of curiosity.  It is very interesting that in Neolithic Period of his evolution he had  more interest with Mother Earth because it provided him the necessities of life."  [Extract from Tasavaray Khudha, translated by Muhammad Asghar Butt]


Some responses:

"Anthropology has not demonstrated that humans emerged from lower animals. In fact, no physical evidence has been recovered that supports this assertion."--Alice C. Linsley

"The foundations for many sciences - astronomy, medicine, animal husbandry, metallurgy, etc. - are found among some biblical populations. Why did they pursue knowledge in these areas? What were their aims? Maybe to satisfy curiosity? To seek truth? To feel closer to the Creator? To better understand their place in the cosmos?" - Alice C. Linsley

 

"Scientific outlook gives the objective outlook which totally discard bias and prejudice. On the other hand, religious activities are concerned with the idiosyncrasies, whims  and caprices of the mind.  Moreover, it is directly related to human emotions, passions, sentiments. A religious spirit does not inculcate the scientific bent of mind. It is based upon the personal whims of the believer. Thus, if we take these two spirits apparently, there are poles asunder. 

The essentials of religion are blind faith and supernaturalism for its support to live in a illiterate society."-- Muhammad Asghar Butt

"The fundamental questions that Primitive Man asked are asked by scientists, theologians, and ethicists today. Primitive Man's conclusions constituted the beginnings of science.  For example, the ancient Afro-Asiatics noted a fixed order in creation.  The Sun appears to rise in the East and set in the West. We are able to greet it only as we face East.  The Sun's light is greater than moonlight as the Moon merely reflects the Sun's light. Humans are either Male or Female, and the male is larger and stronger than the female. Primitive Man grasped the binary nature of this fixed order and recognized that one entity in the binary set is greater.  This guided the decision making process of archaic man. The binary pattern observed in Nature led ancient Nilotic peoples to hypothesize about binary stars such as Siruis A and B long before Sirius B was discovered using high-power telescopes.

The binary worldview of the Horim who originated in ancient Kush was diffused by their kingdom-building rulers across a vast expanse from the Nile to Nepal.  There is substantial linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological evidence to demonstrate that this is so. These rulers were the patrons of the earliest stone and metal working technologies."-- Alice C. Linsley

"How did God come about? Imagine yourself with no ceiling, no walls, and no shelter. No beds, no pillows, and no quilts. No clothes, no shoes, no caps—not even a shawl. No factories, no industries, and not even Gandhi’s spinning wheel. No electricity, no air conditioners, and no heaters. Fire has not been discovered yet. No farms, no agriculture, no grocery stores; no food except from the trees and plants and from the animals weaker than you, whom you can kill. No doctors, no surgeons, no quacks, no hospitals, no clinics, no pharmacies—and not even turmeric.

No transportation of any sort, not even a bike or a cart. The wheel, the mother of all transportation, has not yet been invented. No telephones, no faxes, and no computers. No technology of any type — period. You have no idea about the world or its vastness; forget about its flatness or roundness. And you have zero understanding of the natural phenomenas. You have wild and gentle animals, birds, and insects as your neighbors.

Furthermore, it is extremely cold and raining with thunderstorms and lightning. Or it’s hot and humid. Your whole being is enveloped in fear and fear of the unknown.

This then is the most fertile time of your life. You are in the ovulation period. Then comes     pregnancy — not of a child, but a concept. And so during the labor pains and the fear, you give birth. What to? The God Almighty, of course, the Supreme Being.

He is not the Father God. You are the mother of God. You gave birth to God. She, he, I, they, we all are mothers of God. We gave, and give, birth to God in time of our needs." --B. R. Gowani (brgowani-at-hotmail-dotcom)

Another way to look at this topic of primitive and archaic inquiry is to consider the relationship between religion and early science. The Sun was the emblem of the High God. Their ceremonies were patterned on astronomical observations that revealed cycles. The most fundamental cycle was sunrise-sunset, but their ceremonies were patterned also on the seasons, the equinoxes and solstices, eclipses, and the rising of Sirius. As in the heavens, so on earth... celestial archetypes become the pattern for earthly rituals/ceremonies (Mircea Eliade). Such ceremonial repetition grounds us in spiritual reality which is outside time. Profane time is suspended as the participants enter sacred time." -- Alice C. Linsley

 

"And like all other religious people from all other religions, you are making an attempt to mix science with the imaginations of men who existed hundreds and thousands of years ago and created religions." --Shazia Nawaz MD (shazianawazsays-at-gmail-dotcom)

"These questions did indeed occupy the mind of primitive Man. However the archaeological, linguistic and anthropological evidence doesn't support the conclusions that Man created gods and goddesses, or that Neolithic Man was more concerned with Mother Earth than with the Creator and his heavenly domain. Within the Afro-Asiatic Dominion there was a remarkable uniformity of religious doctrine concerning a Supreme Creator whose lesser assisting spirits (henotheism) were associated with natural elements such as rivers, trees, and mountains. Archaic man is often portrayed as an ignorant idol worshiper, but as an acute observer of the fixed patterns in nature, he knew the material world had a Fixer who alone was worthy of adoration.

Further, there is not a single ancient text that speaks of 'Mother Earth.' In ancient Egypt we find exactly the opposite.  The fluid canopy of sky was associated with the feminine principle of Nut. Likewise, firmness such as displayed by stone pillars, was associated with the masculine principle.

The goddess figurines of antiquity were fertility fetishes similar to the fertility paddles worn by young Ashante women today. These are not worshiped by the Ashante. And the earlier Asherahs and Madonnas all seem to be patterned on the mythic Hathor."-- Alice C. Linsley 

Related reading: Theories of Change and Constancy; Theories of Primal Substance and Cause; Ethical Concerns of Archaic Communities; Getting the Facts about Human Origins; Binary Sets in the Ancient World; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; The Sun and the Moon in Genesis

Scott Hahn on the Foundational Nature of Genesis

Scott Hahn's CD series on Genesis
Genesis 1-22: The Covenant as a Family Affair

 

Dr. Scott Hahn understands the foundational nature of Genesis.  He has said, “If you understand what is written in Genesis, you will have a firmer grasp of the Christian message than many contemporary theologians!”

A renowned Catholic theologian and biblical scholar, Dr. Hahn guides you through the first twenty-two chapters of Genesis, uncovering the covenantal pattern of Abraham's people.

The series is digitally re-mastered on seven CDs and available with a comprehensive 53 page Study Guide prepared by Dr. Carol Younger, EdD.

This is a fine resource for adult education classes. The series and Study Guide will take the class verse-by-verse, with explanations of key Hebrew words, and background on how passages are interpreted by both Catholics and Protestants.

Scott received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a triple-major in Theology, Philosophy and Economics from Grove City College, PA, his Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Biblical Theology from Marquette University. 

Recommended related reading is Dr. Hahn's Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God's Saving Promises.  His books can be ordered here: http://www.scotthahn.com/

Extant Biblical Peoples

Alice C. Linsley


The clans and tribes of the Bible represent governmental units based on family and marriage ties.  The clan is often desginated by the head tent (oholibamah), and the Egyptian hierogylph was the symbol of a tent peg. 

Tent peg represented by the ancient Hebrew and Arabic letter Waw.

The high tent was the residence of the chief or ruler of the clan.  The clan or tribe and the locale were often named for this person. That is why there are so many place names that correspond to rulers in the Bible. Clans and tribes of the ancient world moved farther than is generally recognized.  The Yoruba of Nigeria and Benin originated in ancient Kush. This makes the work of tracing biblical peoples more challenging, but often clans, marriage ties, and lineage can be identified by their totems.

The ruling tribe is designated by the sceptre which in Hebrew is שבט.  According to Genesis 49:10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."  Here Judah is designated as the ruling tribe and as Jerome correctly interprets, Shiloh refers to the Christ who is to be sent.  This prefigures the Son of God who will rule over peoples from every tribe, nation and tongue (Rev. 5:9), and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

The sceptre belongs to the high king who rules over the confederation of clans. The scepter is sometimes called "the rod" and is a version of the Pharaonic crook.  The crook and flail were symbols of the power of ancient Kush and Egypt, from whence came Abraham's ancestors.

The crook and flail were carried by the high king and represented his deification as a son of God.

Family based units are extremely resilient and usually adapt well to changing circumstances. This allows for the succession of rule through many centuries, even millenium.  Though it is assumed that the clans and tribes named in Genesis are extinct, it is more likely that many are extant and can be studied to gain better understanding of the cultural context of the peoples of Genesis.  Certainly this is the case with the Jebusites (Ijebu), a Yoruba people who migrated to Nigeria from the Nile region.


The Jebusites were a Nilo-Saharan people who migrated into Palestine and to the region of the Benue Trough when the Sahara began to dry. They migrated into Nigeria where they controlled the major water systems at the conjunction of the Niger and Benue Rivers and at the Atlantic coast near modern Lagos. They also moved into the land of Canaan where one of their leading men - Melchizedek - was the ruler-priest of Salem (Jerusalem) in Abraham's time (Gen. 14:18).

The modern day Jebusites are the Ijebu and they live near and have close association with the modern day Edomites who are called "Edo." Both tribes live in Nigeria and Benin. In Canaan the Jebusites had close connections with the Horites of Edom.

Study of the living Jebusites enables us to trace their Nilotic origins. The supreme ruler of the Ijebu is called "Awujali” and his coronation ceremony involves palm branches (just as Jesus was greeted as one to be enthroned in Jerusalem, formerly a Jebusite city).  The present Awajali has described how the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubians and Egyptians (Kushites). He pointed to the correspondences between coronation rituals, scarification, circumcision and linguistics. Over 100 Yoruba words are virtually identical to ancient Egyptian words. Here are some examples:


EGYPTIAN                   YORUBA
wu (rise)                         wu (rise)
Asa (Osiris)                    Ausa (father)
eere or ar (serpent)         Ere (python/serpent)
Horise (great god)          Orise (great god)
sen (worshippers)           sen ( to worship)
ged (to chant)                 igede (a chant)
ta (sell/offer)                  ta (sell/offer)
sueg (a fool)                   suegbe (a fool)
on (living person)           one ( living person)
kum (a club)                   vkumo (a club)
enru (fear/terrible)          eru (fear/terrible)
kun/qun (brave man)      ekun (title of a brave man)
win (to be)                      wino (to be)
odonit (festival)               odon (festival)
ma or mi (to breath)        mi (to breathe)
tebu (town)                     tebu (town)
khu (to kill)                     ku (die)
tan (complete)                 tan (complete)
em (smell)                       emi (smell)
kot (build)                       ko (build)
kot (boat)                        oko (boat)
omi (water)                     omi (water)
ra or osa (time)                ira or osa (time)
Horuw (head)                  Oruwo (head)                  Jesus (HR) is the Head of the Church.
min (deity)                       emin (spirit)
ash (invocation)               ashe (invocation)
do (river)                         odo (river)
ma (to know)                   ma (to know)
hir (praise)                       yiri (praise)
hoo (rejoice)                    yo (rejoice)
osa (tide)                         osa ( tide)

Read the full list here.

An ancient name for God as Father is Ausa and is sometimes spelled Asa. The Asante tribe bears this name.  Asa-nte means "the people of Asa." The Egyptian Asa refers to God as father. Possibly the name Hausa is derived from this name for the Creator.

Nilotic peoples living today still worship As, as is the case with the Kushitic Kalenjin of the Rift Valley. Traditional Kalenjin call the Creator Asis. Most Kalenjin are Christian. 

Akkadian records attest to the antiquity of this name for God.  Sar-gon the Great was born at the shrine city of Azu-piranu, which means Sun House of Azu. God was called Azu in Akkadian, Asa in Chadic, Asha in Kushitic, and the name appears in Hebrew also. A Jerusalem priest named Am-ashai is named in Nehemiah 11:13.

Muhammad Bello, Ruler of Sokoto Caliphate, narrated the organization of the Yoruba. He explained:

"West of Katsina and Gobir there are seven separate countries called 'Banza Bakwai'. These are Zamfara and Kebbi, Yauri, Nufi [Nupe], Yoruba, Borgu and Gurma. Each of these has a Sarki [king] who is equal to the others.


The country of Yoruba is extensive and has streams and forests and rocks and hills. There are many curious and beautiful things in it. The ships of the Christians come there.


The people of Yoruba are descended from the Kanaana [Canaanites] and the kindred of Nimrud.


Now the reason of their having settled in the west according to what we are told is that Yaarubu [son]of Kahtan [great man] drove them out of Irak to westwards and they travelled between Masar [Misr, i.e. Egypt] and Habash [Ethiopia] until they reached Yoruba. It happened that they left a portion of their people in every country they passed. It is said that the Sudanese who live up on the hills [the Nigerian Plateau] are all their kindred; so also the people of Yauri are their kindred.  The people of Yoruba resemble those of Nufi in appearance."  (From here.)


The Clans of Ar

The Arabs represent numerous extant clans and tribes that are named in Genesis. These include the Ar clans of the Red Sea, Trye, and Arvad which constitued a scribal caste. This is supported by the name Ar-vad. Vad means “to speak” in Sanskrit. The word Ar-ab means “people of Ar.” The Igbo of Nigeria call their scribes the Ar or Aro. The Arabic word for throne is aarsh and likely related to the scribal function attached to rulers.

One of the great Ar ruler was Noah's grandson Arpachshad. The peoples living in Arvad, Tyre and Sidon employed serpent imagery in their temples.  Moses lifted a serpent on a rod in the wilderness and those who looked upon it were saved from the vipers. (Numbers 21:8,9) Here the Serpent is a symbol of Christ our God. The Egyptians spoke of Asa-ar, the Serpent of God.  John 3:14-16 makes this connection: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Israelites associated by their names with the Ar patrimony include Aroch (1 Chr 7:39, Ezr 2:5, Neh 6:18, Neh 7:10) and Ariel (Ezr 8:16, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:7). Ariel means “Scribe/Messenger of God.”  The association of the name Ar with the scribal caste is further demonstrated by the discovery of Aramaic scrolls from Arsames, the satrap, to his Egyptian administrator Psamshek and to an Egyptian ruler named Nekht-hor. (A.T.Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948, pp.116-117) Some variations of the name Ar include Ar-Shem, Arsames, Artix, and Araxes, and all of these are figures named in historical texts.

More research must be done to trace biblical tribes to their living descendants, but as can be seen from this brief investigation, it is possible. Clan-based units are resilient and survive through the millenium.  It is highly likely that many other biblical clans are extant. They should be identified and studied in their natural contexts.  Such anthropological investigation promises to be a treasure trove of information for Bible enthusiasts.


Related reading:  The Marriage and Ascendency Pattern of Abraham's People; Abusing Biblical Lists; Kushite Diversity and Unity; The Jebusites Unveiled

Using Arabic Math to Uncover Authors of the Torah

Arabic numerals are the ten digits—0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9—that form the basis of the decimal number system used worldwide today. Although commonly called "Arabic" because they were transmitted to Europe through Arab mathematicians, they originated in ancient India and were later spread by Arab scholars. That is why the modern system is also known as the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. Their positional notation and the inclusion of zero were revolutionary, making complex calculations possible and paving the way for modern mathematics. It is likely that the zero was originally a solar symbol.  

From the Arabs came the works of Al-Khwarizmi who is known in English as Alghorismus, from whom the term "algorism" was derived.  His work laid the foundation for algebra and complex mathematical problems, such as square roots and complex fractions. Many of his books were translated into European languages. Now researchers hope to use his thought to uncover the authors and authorial threads of the Torah.  This may prove helpful in the case of Genesis if the kinship, marriage and ascendency pattern is factored in. However, from reading the article, it appears that the genealogical data is not part of the equation. This means that the results will be flawed.

Algorithm could untangle authors of Torah
October 11, 2011

In both Jewish and Christian traditions, Moses is considered the author of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Scholars have furnished evidence that multiple writers had a hand in composing the text of the Torah. Other books of the Hebrew Bible and of the New Testament are also thought to be composites. However, delineating these multiple sources has been a laborious task.

Now researchers have developed an algorithm that could help to unravel the different sources that contributed to individual books of the Bible. Prof. Nachum Dershowitz of Tel Aviv University’s Blavatnik School of Computer Science, who worked in collaboration with his son, Bible scholar Idan Dershowitz of Hebrew University, and Prof. Moshe Koppel and Ph.D. student Navot Akiva of Bar-Ilan University, says that their computer algorithm recognizes linguistic cues, such as word preference, to divide texts into probable author groupings.

By focusing exclusively on writing style instead of subject or genre, Prof. Dershowitz and his colleagues sidestepped several methodological hurdles that hamper conventional Bible scholarship. These issues include a potential lack of objectivity in content-based analysis and complications caused by the multiple genres and literary forms found in the Bible — including poetry, narrative, law, and parable. Their research was presented at the 49th Annual Conference of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Portland.

A keen eye for detail

According to Prof. Dershowitz, the software searches for and compares details that human scholars might have difficulty detecting, such as the frequency of the use of “function” words and synonyms. Such details have little bearing on the meaning of the text itself, but each author or source often has his own style. This could be as innocuous as an author’s preference for using the word “said” versus “spoke.”

To test the validity of their method, the researchers randomly mixed passages from the two Hebrew books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and asked the computer to separate them. By searching for and categorizing chapters by synonym preference, and then looking at usage of common words, the computer program was able to separate the passages with 99 percent accuracy. The software was also able to distinguish between “priestly” materials — those dealing with issues such as religious ritual — and “non-priestly” material in the Torah, a categorization that is widely used by Bible scholars.

While the algorithm is not yet advanced enough to give the researchers a precise number of probable authors involved in the writing of the individual books of the Bible, Prof. Dershowitz says that it can help to identify transition points within the text where a source changes, potentially shedding new light on age-old debates.

Categorizing the unknown

Part of a new field called “digital humanities,” computer software like Prof. Dershowitz’s is being developed to give more insight into historical sources than ever before. Programs already exist to help attribute previously anonymous texts to well-known authors by writing style, or uncover the gender of a text’s author. But the Bible presents a new challenge, says Prof. Dershowitz, as there are no independently attributed works to which to compare the Biblical books.

The Torah algorithm may also provide new information about other enigmatic source material, such as the many pamphlets and treatises of unknown composition that are scattered throughout history. And because the software can identify subtle linguistic cues, it is able to uncover differences within mere percentage points, a feat that has never before been possible. “If the computer can find features that Bible scholars haven’t noticed before, it adds new dimensions to their scholarship. That would be gratifying in and of itself,” says Prof. Dershowitz.
 
Source: Scienceblog

Are Genealogies the "Inspired" Word?

Alice C. Linsley


A visitor from Portland, Oregon has asked whether the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 are inspired.  It is an interesting question to consider.

This visitor hasn't included the line of descent in Genesis 4, probably because he has been taught, contrary to the biblical evidence, that Cain's descendants died in the flood.  Genesis 4 and 5 are to be kept together as these two lines intermarried exclusively, as did the lines of Ham and Shem later.

In what way might be speak of ancestry as being the "inspired" word of God?  We can say that the rulers of Genesis 4, 5 and 11 represent flesh and blood aspects of God's plan whereby the Incarnate Word came into the world to save repentant sinners.

Asking whether the genealogies are inspired is like asking whether one's ancestry is inspired.  People live and have offspring that carry on after them.  In the case of the Genesis genealogies, we have something different.  These are king lists, not family trees.  The ancestors of these kings received a divine promise in Eden concerning a "Woman" of their people (Gen. 3:15).  From their ruling lines came Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. Could God have used other rulers?  Probably.  Why these rulers and their descendants?  Well, that's like asking why Israel?  Why Abraham?  There isn't any sense in asking why these rulers in particular. 

Are they part of the inspired plan of God?  Certainly.  Genesis is their story and they tell us that God made a promise to them concerning the "Seed" of the Woman (not Eve, as she isn't named until verse 20).  They apparently believed that promise because they intermarried exclusively and their wives were their own kin, half-sisters, cousins and nieces.  Mary is the Woman and Jesus is the Seed. He even speaks of his death using this metaphor in John 12:24:  "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest."

The test of a true prophet is whether his words come true.  The test of the inspiration of the Bible is that the Edenic Promise was fulfilled, because from beginning to end the Bible is about God's great Gift to the world, His only Begotten Son.


Related reading:  The Marriage and Ascendency Pattern of Abraham's People; Kushite Wives; Chronology of the Genesis Rulers; Who Were the Kushites?

Christ as the Point of Reference

Alice C.  Linsley



A few readers have asked why I don't use B.C.E. instead of B.C.  The use of B.C.E. and C.E. is common in academia, but not a single reader of Just Genesis has expressed offense at my use of B.C and A.D., even those who are Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist.

Last week the BBC announced that it would use the politically correct B.C.E and C.E.  The only surprise here is that it took the BBC so long to make that decision. I suppose the British tend to preserve tradition more than the Americans.

I agree with Anglican bishop Michael Nazir-Ali who said, “These changes are unnecessary... Whether you use Common Era or Anno Domini, the date is still the same and the reference point is still the birth of Jesus Christ.”

Read about the BBC's decision here.



Political correctness is motivated by concern for diversity and by fear that someone might be offended and sue.  Linguistically, it is a nightmare because it layers our discourse with unnecessary verbage.  Almost always, PC talk makes Man the point of reference. 

EgyptSearch Forums Discovers Just Genesis

I often visit EgyptSearch Forums because good information is shared there about the ancient Egyptians and their language.  I especially appreciate what Dr. Clyde A. Winters has to say.  He is generous with his time and his information, and he has done the research necessary to qualify as an expert on the subject.

Dr. Winters was the subject of conversation this summer on Hood Canal (Washington) when I visited with my friend and fellow biblical anthropologist Susan Burns. She follows his research also.

Today, someone at EgyptSearch Forums discovered Just Genesis and I'm glad that they are finding the material interesting and helpful.

Read the conversation here.



 

The Problem with Dispensationalism

Alice C. Linsley

Dispensationalism is a "modern" (19th-20th century) template which when placed over the Bible causes great distortion. It verges on heresy in that God changes in the various dispensations. Unlike Process Theology, Dispensationalism at least focuses on the Bible. Like Process Theology it poses an unbiblical understanding of divine actuality.

In Process Theology God is affected by temporal processes and is "becoming" alongside humanity. This is not the orthodox view of God as immutable. The order of Creation makes it evident that there is a distinction between the Creator and the creation, and the very definition of God implies an eternally existent Being outside of the created order. Logically, God cannot change. Isaiah 57:15 says that God "inhabits eternity." He created time and is therefore outside of time. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8).

Note how the Dispensational God waffles in His attitude and actions toward humanity.

In the first dispensation God is with humanity. 

In the second, He withdraws from humanity. 

In the third, He orders capital punishment. 

In the fourth, He ignores the faithful among Abraham's Hebrew ancestors and establishes an exclusive covenant with Abraham and his descendants all of whom are wrongly presumed to be Jews. Abraham was Hebrew, not Jewish. He lived at least 1400 years before Judaism emerged as a world religion. Abraham's belief in God Father and God Son is denied by Judaism. Abraham's faith lives in Christianity, not Judaism.

In the fifth dispensation, God gives the Law to Israel, Jacob's clan. Yet various laws had already been given to Abraham's Hebrew ancestors and law codes like the Ten Commandments existed long before the time of Moses.

In the sixth dispensation, God reverses all the former "exclusions" by giving his Son for all the world.

In the final dispensation, the entire scheme is set on its head because God acknowledges the faithful in every dispensation, and they are part of the Kingdom.

A brief history

The Scofield Bible, which has greatly influenced conservative American Protestants, defines a dispensation in the subhead to Genesis 1:28: “A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.” Scofield is not speaking here of the testing of individuals such as Cain, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. He is speaking of the general failure of mankind to love and serve God. Each of his seven dispensations ends with God punishing evildoers. As one reader of Just Genesis remarked here: "their theology creates a kind of finger-wagging Creator who can't wait to consign his creation to periodic perdition."

Further, Dispensationalism gives the false impression that God has made no progress with humanity. It misses the obvious contrast between the beginning of Genesis and the end of Genesis. The book of Genesis ends with the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation in the story of Joseph and his brothers. It is the antithesis to the story of Cain killing his brother at the beginning of Genesis. Cain was jealous of God's blessings of Abel. It appeared to him that God favored his brother. Likewise, Joseph's brothers resented that their father favored Joseph. If we read Genesis as a story of conflict between brothers, we see spiritual progress from resentment and murder to forgiveness and reconciliation. Christians are to embody this higher ethic of forgiveness and reconciliation shown in Joseph. In this sense, Christianity represents progress. This is the message God would have us hear, but it is distorted by dispensationalists who stress the continued spiritual degeneration of humanity.

Here is an example of the distortion of Dispensationalists: "The primary responsibility of man in the Noahic Covenant was to "be fruitful and multiply and REPLENISH THE EARTH," but in this also he miserably failed. The earth's population did rapidly increase after the flood, but all the people stayed near an area later known as Babel. God wanted man to scatter and repopulate the whole earth, not remain in one area. The failure of man to do this brought upon him another judgment." (From here.) 

The Tower of Babel story explains the linguistic division that occurred among the Afro-Asiatics before Abraham's time. It does not concern all the peoples of the earth. It also speaks of the contagion of sin, a problem not limited to the early Afro-Asiatics.

The overarching theme of Scripture is the promise of a savior by whom the curse is reversed, and humans are set free from sin and death. This is redemption through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. There can be no remission without the shedding of His blood. The blood can be traced through the Bible as the unbroken scarlet cord that ties all things together. In other words, all is restored to wholeness (oneness) in Jesus Christ, and this is testimony of the Three Witnesses of I John 5.

Dispensationalism asks us to focus on various covenants and their signs: the rainbow, circumcision, the tower of Babel, etc. It teaches that God changes the way He rules at different stages of history. Focusing on the signs and mutability of God rather than on the eternal immutable One to whom the signs point is a terrible distraction.

Instead of dispensations, let us speak of an historical continuum: those who lived and died in expectation of the appearing of the Son of God (BC saints) and those who live and die having trusted Jesus as the Son of God (AD saints). Together these saints are unified in Christ. That is the meaning of the "communion of saints."

On this continuum, the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3:15 is attested by three persons: Simeon the Priest (blood), Anna the Prophetess (Spirit) and John the Baptist (water).  In the ancient way of thinking, heavenly realities are observed as a reflection on earth, so that what is attested in heaven is also attested on earth. Simeon, Anna and John the Forerunner are the earthly witnesses of whom John speaks: "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood - Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." (I John 5:5-8)

The three witnesses stand at the nexus of the two covenants and testify to Jesus, the promised Son of God who came into the world to save repentant sinners and to restore Paradise. The central problem with Dispensationalism is that it tears this seamless work of God into many pieces. Even the soldiers at the Cross had the sense to cast lots for Jesus' seamless robe rather than divide it between them.


Related reading: The Substance of Abraham's Faith; The Proto-Gospel; God Has Made Progress with Us!; Dispensationalism and the Three Witnesses; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about God

Evidence that Yaqtan was Abraham's Firstborn Son

Alice C. Linsley


Abraham had at least eight sons, probably nine, since the Septuagint states that Eliezar was Abraham's son by a concubine named Masek. His first-born son was probably born of his cousin wife Keturah, and his name was Joktan/Jachin or Yaqtan. The initial Y, a solar symbol, designates him as a divinely appointed ruler. Among the early Hebrew, divine appointment was indicated by "overshadowing" of the sun. Four of Abraham's sons had names beginning with the letter Y:  Yitzak (Isaac), Yishmael (Ishmael), Yaqtan, and Yishbak. 

Jews insist that Isaac was Abraham's first-born son, while Muslims insist that Ishmael was Abraham's first-born son. However, the evidence of the canonical Scriptures indicates that Yaqtan was the first in the birth order. He was likely born before Sarah conceived Isaac. His birth to Abraham's second wife, may have prompted Sarah's attempt to gain a son by Hagar as a surrogate.

Hagar and Masek are to Abraham's household what the concubines Zilpah and Bilhah are to Jacob's household. If the biblical pattern is to be trusted, we may reasonably suspect that Hagar and Masek were the servants of Sarah and Keturah, just as Zilpah and Bilhah were the servants of Leah and Rachel (Gen. 30). That Masek was Keturah's servant is supported by the fact that the name Masek is still found among the south Arabian Mahra who dwell in Yemen, Oman, and Southern Arabia.

The name Yaqtan/Joktan indicates a connection to the Jokanite clans of Southern Arabia. 

It appears that Abraham's son Yaqtan became an official in his maternal grandfather's territory, after whom he was named. Yaqtan the Elder was Keturah's father, a chief of high standing in the royal house of Sheba. Isaac ruled Abraham's territory between Hebron (Sarah's settlement) and Beersheba (Keturah's settlement), and Abraham's son Yaqtan resided in the territory of his maternal grandfather, probably in the territory of Sheba. Keturah resided at the Well of Sheba (Beersheba), and that is where Abraham's spent his last years.

The rulers of the Hebrew clans living in Sheba, Raamah, and Hazarmaveth/Hadhramaut (Talmud - "Chatzarmavet") formed alliances by the marriages of their sons and daughters. According to Rabbinic tradition, Joktan/Yaqtan was a "humble and upstanding citizen."

This is consistent with the practice of endogamy of the early Hebrew rulers. The lines of Cain and Seth intermarried, and the lines of Ham and Shem intermarried. The diagram shows the pattern of intermarriage. 

Related reading: Talmud on Yaqtan and the Hadhramaut; Abraham's Complaint; 7000 BC Horse Burial Linked to Sheba; Biblical Sheba and East African Settlements Linked; The Afro-Arabian Dedanites