Between Biblical Literalism and Biblical Illiteracy

Alice C. Linsley



Through the thirty years that I have taught and written about Genesis, I have experienced ad hominen attacks from biblical literalists and biblical illiterates. It has been difficult to have reasoned conversations with both groups.


Those who do not read the Bible assume it is a compilation of myths, superstitions and religious laws, with little grounding in history. Strangely, they tend to dismiss the Bible more quickly than they would the Quran, the Hindu Shastras and the Buddhist Tipitaka. In fairness, they know as little about these writings as they do about the Bible. These are the secularists of our time who want nothing to do with religion in general and certainly less with Christianity. Their rather selective rejection of Christian religion suggests that it poses the greatest threat to their materialist worldview.


Biblical literalists can be equally defensive. They feel threatened when their assumptions about Genesis are questioned.  In my view, their Young-Earth position presents the greatest obstacles to understanding the book. Their false assumptions are, without doubt, the most pervasive cause of confusion. The righteous tone with which they assert their version of Genesis fools many into believing that Young-Earth Creationism is biblical. In fact, their doctrines are quite contrary to what Genesis reveals.


Perusal of their books and websites causes the educated and scientifically-minded to scratch their heads in wonder. The Earth is only 6000 years old? Humans and dinosaurs co-existed? God created the Grand Canyon with the appearance of great age?  These far-fetched conclusions contribute to prejudice against a scientific approach to Genesis, making my work as a Biblical Anthropologist more difficult. Many in the scientific and academic communities assume that all Christians think like Young-Earth literalists.


Young-Earth Creationism is declining in popularity among Evangelicals, especially those influenced by the BioLogos crowd.  However, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists alike tend to think that evolution is the only alternative to literalism, and that is not true. An anthropological approach to Genesis acknowledges Earth's great age and the milleniums of human existence without accepting the evolution theory of human origins, for which there is no substantial evidence. Biblical Anthropology, as scientific study of the text, requires setting aside both ideological templates in order to determine the meaning in cultural context. This is a labor to which I am fully committed.


In the next essay, I will demonstrate how the following assumptions of Young-Earth Creationism actually contradict Genesis.


Assumption 1: Genesis is history and should be read as a chronological account. (Response is here.)

Assumption 2: The Genesis “begats” list the first people living on Earth. (Response is here.)

Assumption 3: Bishop Ussher's timeline is reliable and can be used to calculate the age of the Earth. (Response is here.)

Assumption 4: All the peoples of the Earth came from Noah’s three sons.

Assumption 5: The world’s linguistic diversity is the result of God’s judgment at the Tower of Babel.

Related reading:  Biblical Anthropology is Science; The Bible and Anthropological Investigation; Reactions to My Genesis Research

Rabbi Michael L. Samuel's Book on Gen. 1-3

Here is a review of Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel's book Birth and Rebirth Through Genesis: A Timeless Theological Conversation Vol. 1: Genesis 1-3.  Read other reviews here. 


The reviews do not mention anything about the historical-cultural context of Genesis 1, 2 and 3 so I suspect that Rabbi Samuel does not delve into the Kushite context of Abraham's ancestors.  Nor does he appear to address the origins of messianic expectation beginning in Genesis 3:15.


A theological conversation that is not grounded in historical-cultural realities is too speculative for my taste. This is my argument with Harvard Professor Shaye Cohen.  I prefer the thought of Rabbi Kadura and Rabbi Simon Altaf.

Just Genesis: 60 Month Anniversary

Alice C. Linsley


The average lifespan of the top U.S. blogs is 33.8 months, according to this 2006 report. Just Genesis has surpassed the average.

This blog began on March 22, 2007 and has run for 60 months and had more than 30 million page views.

I'm glad there has been so much interest and thank you for reading Just Genesis.

Special thanks go to faithful readers in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington, and to regular readers in Australia, Canada, Dubai, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, and United Kingdom.

God bless each of you!


Related reading:  Bishop David Chislett's Review of Just Genesis; Why a Blog About Genesis?; An Apology;  Alice C. Linsley's Genesis Research; Reactions to My Genesis Research; Thoughts on Blogging

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about the Flood

Alice C. Linsley



Part 4: The Flood
This continues the series on Questions that High Schoolers Ask about Genesis.


Q:  Was the flood global or regional?

A:  This was the question most often asked by the high school students about Noah's flood.  To answer this question we must consider who Noah was, where he lived, and the climate conditions that he experienced.  Not all of this information can be found in the Bible.  However, Genesis provides many clues that can direct the search for the historical Noah.

Noah lived approximately 2490-2415 BC, when the Sahara experienced a wet period (Karl W. Butzer 1966). This is the period of the Old Kingdom, a time of great cultural and technological achievement in Egypt.

Noah, a descendant of the men named in the Genesis 4 and 5 King Lists, was a great ruler.  The  rulers named in Genesis controlled the major water systems of Lake Chad, the Nile, and the Tigris and Euphrates.  The interconnected waterways were their roads. In other words, Noah would have been familiar with boats and likely had a fleet. 

These ancient rulers imposed taxes on cargo that moved through their territories. They used the rivers to expand their kingdoms and to spread their Afro-Asiatic worldview.  Nimrod is an example.  His father was Kush, a ruler who controlled a vast region of the Upper Nile.  Nimrod left the Nile region and built his kingdom along the Tigris in Mesopotamia. (Gen. 10:8-12)

Noah likely lived in the region of Bor-Nu (Land of Noah) near Lake Chad. This is the only place on Earth that claims to be Noah's homeland. Satellite photographs reveal that Lake Mega-Chad was once a huge body of water, five times the surface area of Lake Superior and with a depth ranging from 200 to 600 feet. This part of Africa was much wetter than it is today due to climate cycles and the African rifts that created great watersheds or troughs.

Rifting combined with prolonged rains caused this entire region to flood.
 Lake Chad is located at the boundary of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.

In Noah's time, there was a prolonged wet period due to monsoons circulating from the Indian Ocean. During this wet period, the major water systems from the Benue Trough to the Tigris-Euphrates overflowed, creating a vast watery world. This was the world that Noah knew, so from his perspective the whole world was flooded.

During the Late Holocene, Lake Chad had a surface area of approximately 159000 square miles. As the climate changed and the waters receded, what was once a single lake became three separate lakes: Lake Chad, Lake Bodele and Lake Fitri.

In 1987, a fully preserved boat was discovered in the region where Noah's flood took place. The Dufuna dugout was buried at a depth of 16 feet under clays and sands whose alternating sequence showed evidence of deposition in standing and flowing water. The dugout is 8000 years old. By comparison, Egypt's oldest boat is about 5000 years old.

Peter Breunig (University of Frankfurt, Germany) lead the excavation of the Dufuna boat. He said, “The bow and stern are both carefully worked to points, giving the boat a notably more elegant form.” Breunig believes that, “It is highly probable that the Dufuna boat does not represent the beginning of a tradition, but had already undergone a long development, and that the origins of water transport in Africa lie even further back in time.”

The Dufuna dugout dates from the time of the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America. This resulted in a significant rise in global sea levels. This event contributed to the success of European farming, but was not the main cause of Noah's flood. The flood recorded in Genesis was due more to seismic events and climate changes closer to Noah’s home in Africa.

The story of Noah's ark landing on a mountain in Armenia represents a misunderstanding of the Afro-Arabian words Har Meni, meaning Mount Meni located in East Africa. David M. Westley, PhD, Director of the African Studies Library at Boston University, reports that "From the center of the Chad Basin to Mount Meni is about 230 miles."


Not all peoples have flood stories. Those that do live near major water systems which had catastropic flooding in the past. There is no geological evidence for a worldwide flood. Nor is there sufficient water in Earth's biosphere for the mountains to be covered by flood waters.  It has been argued that God created more water to flood the entire earth, but this is contrary to the biblical assertion that God completed all His creation on the 6th day and thereafter rested from the work of creating.



Q:  Did Noah literally put two of every species on the Ark?

A:  According to Genesis 6:19, Noah brought only a male and female of the species onto the ark. However, Genesis 7:2 says that he saved seven pairs of only "clean" animals.  Clearly, there are two flood accounts, just as there are two creation stories. These represent different traditions among Abraham's Afro-Asiatic people.

The emphasis on having a male and female indicates God's concern that the various species survive the extensive flooding. The animals were indigenous to the region where Noah lived and some were imported. Noah probably had a ménagerie, something that was common among rulers during that period.  Ménagerie animals were kept in pairs so that they would reproduce. Perhaps these were the animals that God instructed Noah to save.

Syrian bears were brought to Egypt during the 5th Dynasty. These bears were generally docile and kept on leashes.  Athenaios of Naucratis reports that a white bear was housed by Ptolemy II in his private zoo at Alexandria.  The oldest known zoo was in Nekhen (Hierakonpolis), a shrine city dedicated to Horus (the Deity of Abraham's Horite people). The Nekhen ménagerie existed in the middle of the second millennium BC. It is believed that the local ruler kept powerful wild animals as symbols of his power.



Q:  How did Noah built the Ark? Did he have help?

A:  Noah was a great ruler. He would have had boat builders, household servants and gardeners.  He is remembered for having a vineyard (Gen. 9:20). As a king, Noah had access to the best and the most plentiful supply of boat building materials and shipwrights.

Noah's reign must have been one of great prosperity for his people.  An oracle concerning Noah states, “This one shall bring us relief from our work and the toil of our hands.” (Genesis 5:29)

The greatness of the Lake Chad region declined when the Monsoon Belt moved more to the south and the desert began to encroach. Apparently, many people migrated toward the Nile and the center of political power shifted from west central Africa to eastern Sudan, Egypt, Arabia and Mesopotamia. This corresponds to the Kushite migration of Abraham's ancestors confirmed by DNA studies.



Q:  Did Noah know about tar or pitch to seal the planks of his boat?

Egyptians making ropes and fishing lines

A:  Noah used technologies and materials that were available.  The ancient Egyptians used tar in mummification so it was known to Noah and was available. Tar and pitch were used in the ancient world to waterproof ship hulls and to caulk the seams of sailing vessels. Pitch is more solid while tar is more liquid. The words tar and pitch are often used interchangeably.

Ships and boats require wood rudders, sails and ropes.  The ancient Egyptians were the first to document how to make ropes. The Egyptians were consummate ship builders.  In Noah's day ships were built of both wood and reeds. 

4000 year old Egyptian ship plank

Q:  What was the weight capacity of Noah's Ark?

A: The answer to that question depends on the materials used to construct the boat.  According to Genesis 6:14, Noah's Ark was constructed of גפר (gofer/gopher) wood. Since this word does not appear elsewhere in the Bible, there is a good deal of speculation about the material used to build the Ark. Noah would have built with materials available to him and those materials included wood and reeds.

Noah's boats were likely constructed mainly of reeds. Reeds were an abundant building material in Bor-nu during Noah's time. The word translated "ark" in Genesis 6:14 is found only one other place in the Bible. Moses' mother put him in a reed basket which is called an "ark" in Exodus 2:3. This is why some Bibles read: "Make yourself an Ark of gofer wood, with reeds make the Ark..." (Schocken Bible, Vol. I, p. 35)

If the ark was constructed of a wood frame with hollow reeds in large bundles it would have had great buoyancy. Thor Heyerdahl learned from the Marsh Arabs that if the reeds are cut in August they retain their buoyancy rather than absorbing water.

Reed boats of this type were about 60 feet long and were capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo when fully loaded.



Q:  Maybe all the species on earth today evolved from the "pairs" of animals saved on Noah's Ark. Wouldn't this support evolution by natural selection?

A:  The animals on Noah's ark would be animals that we recognize today as species indigeneous to Africa and Arabia.  They are not the progenitors of all the animal species today.  The Bible does not provide evidence to support evolution of one species becoming an entirely different species gradually over time.



Related reading:  Analysis of the Flood Story; The Extent of Noah's Flood; Abraham's Ancestors Came Out of Africa; Part 1: Answers About God; Part 2: Answers About Adam and Eve; Part 3: Answers About the Serpent

Resurrection as Mirrored Reality

Alice C. Linsley

The Ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead “the living ones.”[1]  In pre-dynastic times and in the earliest dynasties the people were believed to follow their deified ruler from this world to the next. Their immortality depended on that of their ruler. This is why the ruler was to be righteous and undefiled by contact with blood or corpses. This world and the rulers of this world were viewed as mirror reflections of the eternal word, or what Plato would call the Forms.  In fact, Plato likely borrowed this concept from the ancient Egyptians.

In this view, the material world mirrors the eternal world into which the ruler leads his people in procession.  The body of the dead ruler was carried in procession to the tomb, his retinue following behind.  The procession to the tomb was the earthly journey that would be continued beyond the grave at the deified ruler's resurrection. This stands behind Paul’s description of Jesus Christ leading captives from the grave to the throne of heaven.

This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." Ephesians 4:8

When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious--that you, O LORD God, might dwell there. Psalm 68:18


This conception relates to the Egyptian belief in Duat, the death and rebirth associated with the underworld and the heavens.  Each day, Ra journeyed in his solar boat above the earth toward the west, and at night he passed under the earth to be reborn at dawn.

In Early Dynastic burials, mirrors were placed in the hands or by the feet of the deceased. Most were placed near the face, head or shoulders. Mirrors were painted on the walls of burial chambers or on coffins.  Many appear with a red dot, a sun symbol associated with Re or Osiris. The rulers of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death. When Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him inherit eternal life and in that life intercede for their people. Beginning around 1550 BC, the idea arose that less noble persons would also inherit eternal life if they were properly initiated. [2] This pertained to those with substantial resources, and the practice was encouraged by the priests who encouraged sacrifices in order to line their pockets.

Handle image of Bes the Dwarf

In Egyptian poetry there are frequent references to mirrors, and iron mirrors were called "kharsini" (Arabic), a reference to the Khar or Horite ruler-priests who fashioned such artefacts. A mirror constructed of a highly polished selenite flake set in a wooden frame dates to the Badarian era (c. 4400 to 4000 BC). It is from the same period as the Badarian ritual flint knives used by Horite rulers for circumcision.

A popular mirror form was the ‘divine standard’ design accompanied by Horus falcons.  The round disk represented the Sun, the emblem of Horus' father.  This design, with single or double Horus-falcons, was used throughout the Pharaonic era and resembles the Ankh, the Ashanti and Akan fertility doll, and the Agadez cross, all symbols of life. 

Egyptian mirrors consisted of three main parts: the mirror disk with an integral tang, formed from copper, bronze alloys or silver; the umbel formed from wood, ivory, bone, horn or metal, and the handle, usually made of the same material as the umbel. Three parts are typical of images of the sacred triads of ancient Egyptian theology.

One triad is the divine family Osiris, Hathor and Horus. The umbel was sometimes crafted into a stylized head of Hathor, the virgin queen and mother of Horus. She is depicted in Egyptian iconography as a cow who gives birth in a manger.

The Akan of Ghana were originally a Nilotic people and greatly influenced by ancient Egyptian/Kushite ideas.  The structure of a fertility doll is like the Egyptian mirrors and also resembles the Ankh. It has a huge round head and narrow body, and it is shaped like a cross. The lower section is like the hieroglyphic sign for stability known as the Djed. 

The Djed is Osiris' backbone and the Djed Pillar (shown left) is the oldest known symbol of the Resurrected God. Djed amulets were thought to bring regeneration.

Another sacred triad is represented by the Agadez cross, comprised of the Sun over the mountain peak. The diamond shapes to the left and right represent the east-west movement of the Sun and the diamond at the bottom represents Duat. The mountain peak is reversed at the bottom of the cross and points to the underworld as a mirror reflection of the peak that points to the Sun and the heavens above. This symbolism is pre-Christian and pertains to ancient Egyptian/Kushite cosmology.

Silver Agadez cross

The Sun as the symbol of the Creator speaks of death and resurrection.  It also speaks of the immutable nature of God and the certainty of His promise to those who put their faith in the Son of God. Christ is spoken of as the "Sun of rightouesness" who rises with healing in His wings. This may refer to Horus as a falcon flying over the Sun, as he is depicted in many ancient Egyptian/Kushite icons. 

"And what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in heavenly places, Far above all principality, power, and might, and dominion, and every name which is named, not only in this age, but also that which is to come." (Ephesians 1:19 – 21)

1.      Conceptions of God In Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many", Erik Hornung (translated by John Baines), p. 233, Cornell University Press, 1996, ISBN 10-8014-8384-0

2.      “Man, Myth and Magic", Osiris, vol. 5, p. 2087-2088, S.G.F. Brandon, BPC Publishing, 1971.

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Serpent in Genesis

Alice C. Linsley



Part 3: The Serpent
(Part 1: Answers to Questions about God; Part 2: Answers to Questions about Adam and Eve)


Q: Why was the devil in the form of a serpent?

A: Genesis does not say that the devil took the form of a serpent. It asserts that a serpent spoke and the woman heard. There are allegorical as well as historical explanations for this. Many Christians believe that the story of the serpent in Genesis has both levels of meaning; that is, it speaks to us symbolically and it speaks about something that actually happened in the past.

In the allegorical approach, the serpent embodies the devilish work that opposes God’s purposes. In other words, the serpent represents a rebellion inside the order of creation. Later, people came to imagine this creature as the Devil or Satan (the Accuser). However, in the time of Abraham and Moses the serpent was a symbol of divine healing wisdom. Moses lifted up a staff with a serpent in the wilderness and told the people to look upon it and be saved. Numbers 21:8 tells us that God insturcted Moses to do this:  The Lord said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."

In ancient times the serpent or snake was associated with trees of poles.  In Genesis, the serpent is associated with the tree in the midst of the garden.  In Numbers, the serpent is wrapped around a pole.  Referring to His death, Jesus alluded to the story in Numbers, saying, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)  Jesus is Divine Healing Wisdom on the Cross which is called both a "tree" and a "pole" in Scripture.

In the natural-historical approach, the serpent actually existed and spoke to the woman. One explanation for how this may have happened involves the eating of plants that grow in the part of the world where Eden was located. Before the Fall, humans ate only plants. It is conceivable that the woman ate a combination of plants that caused her to see and hear a talking serpent (hallucination).

Such plants which are high in tryptamine alkaloids exist in the tropics of South America and Africa. In Africa, the Iboga plant produces such effects and is said by the shamans to take one back to the "beginning of time." The isolated active component ibogaine has been used in the treatment of heroin and opium addiction.

Iboga plant

In South America, shamans use a plant called Ayahuasca or Soga de Vida. Ayahuasca is an hallucinogen containing tetrahydroharmine (DMT), which when ingested is neutralized by the oxidizing action of peripheral monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), an enzyme in the lining of the stomach. Shamans circumvent the MAO inhibitor by inhaling or smoking the plant or by mixing the DMT with an MAO inhibitor that prevents the breakdown of DMT in the digestive tract.

Ayahuasca vine resembles a coiled serpent

According to the South American shamans, the cosmic serpent taught their ancestors which plants to mix to overcome the body’s natural protection. Combining ingredients allows the DMT in the Ayahuasca to have an hallucinogenic effect when orally ingested. The vine also contains harmaline which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but it does not affect the shamans who develop a tolerance to its emetic and purgative effects.

In his study of ayahuasca among the Amazon natives, Jeremy Narby found that shamans of the Amazon see and communicate with serpents under the influence of ayahuasca.  Narby maintains that nature is speaking to humans through hallucinogenic plants. The illogic of his view never occurs to him. If this is nature speaking, then why must the shaman neutralize the natural enzyme MAO-A in order to gain knowledge? This is cheating nature. People of God do not steal knowledge by drug-induced trances and hallucinations. Instead, they grow in wisdom through constant prayer, communion with God in Christ, the fellowship of the Church, and the study of Scripture. They become, not the mouthpieces of serpents, but of Christ our God.

Q: The serpent in Genesis is never directly referred to as Satan. Why is this?

A: The serpent motif is found in Africa, Arabia, Pakistan, India, Central Asia and the Americas. It is a significant symbol among traditional Africans and Native Americans, and in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. It is often found with symbols of the Sun and the Tree of Life. The great antiquity of these symbols is attested by their wide diffusion, yet their meaning has remained fairly stable in each religion. Only in Judaism and Christianity is the serpent associated with Satan and evil.  In the Bible, the serpent is both good and evil; a kind of trickster whose words and advice always must be tested.

The serpent was venerated among archaic peoples around the world. It was regarded as having powers to communicate, to deceive, to hide, to reveal and to heal and protect. The oldest serpent veneration is evidenced by the 70,000 year old python stone carved in a mountainside in Botswana.

Surveying literature and ancient monuments, it becomes evident that the serpent is not believed to have the power to create something new.  The serpent or serpent deity's "innovations" are imitations of what God has created, sometimes helpful imitations (See Doctrine of Signatures; herbalism), but often distorted imitations. Likely this is why the Apostle John warns us "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." (1 John 4:1)


Related reading:  Serpent Most Subtle; Serpent Symbolism; The Cosmic Serpent Exposed

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About Adam and Eve

Alice C. Linsley


Part 2: Adam and Eve
This continues the series on Answers to High Schooler's Questions About Genesis



Q: How did Adam come to earth? Was he made on earth or in heaven and poofed to earth?

A: Genesis tells us that God formed the man from the dust of the earth. The word human reflects this belief. Human is related to the word humus, meaning soil or dirt. Likewise, in many places in the Bible the word Adam is a synonym of human being.



Q:  Were Adam and Eve real?  I  mean did they really exist?

A:  Adam and Eve represent the First Couple created by God.  If this is historically true, they would have lived before 3.6 million years ago.  That is when A. Afarensis lived in tropical Africa. There is no reason to assume that A. afarensis were not human. The morphology of the hyoid that suggests this population had air sacks in the throat like apes is not indicative of them being apes. The same hyoid bone shape has been found in other human populations as an adaption to jungle or tropical environments such as existed in Israel around 60,000 B.C. Similar hyoid structure was found with the archaic population that lived in the Kebara Caves in Israel. All other traits of A. afarensis indicate that this population was fully human, including evidence of controlled fire.

Since Genesis tells us that Abraham's ancestors came out of Africa and that is where the oldest human fossils have been found, we may accept that God created the first humans in Africa. Further the names Adam and Eve are Afro-Arabian in origin.



Q:  Eve is called the "mother of all living" in Genesis 3:20. Why is Adam never called the "father of all living"?

A:  It is also possible that the ancients from whom we received the information in Genesis knew more than we recognize about the durability of the Mt-chromosome, and the loss of the original Y-chromosome. The most recent male ancestor of all males today lived in Africa around 59,000 years ago. The so-called "Mitochondrial Eve" is dated to about 143,000 years ago. She is considered the mother of modern humans. She is not the mother of archaic humans. That Eve would have lived much earlier.



Q: What fruit did Adam and Eve eat?

A: This information is not found in Genesis. In many works of art the fruit is shown as an apple. An older tradition maintains that the fruit was a fig from the Sycamore Fig tree (Ficus sycomorus) which was abundant along rivers in the region where Eden was located. This tradition is also represented in paintings by the fig leaves covering Adam and Eve's private parts.

The Syacmore fig is a large edible fruit which ranges from green to yellow or red when ripe. In its natural habitat, the tree can bear fruit year round, peaking from July to December. Jesus “cursed” the Sycamore Fig tree when it failed to produce fruit, suggesting that the tree's failure to bear fruit was an effect of the corruption of creation (the Fall).

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. (Mark 11: 12-14)

Range of the Syacmore Fig tree

The Sycamore Fig grew in abundance along the Nile, the region from which Abraham's ancestors came. It was cultivated by the Egyptians and the Kushites. Zohary and Hopf, authors of Domestication of Plants in the Old World (Oxford University Press), assert that Egypt was "the principal area of sycamore fig development." They note that "the fruit and the timber, and sometimes even the twigs, are richly represented in the tombs of the Egyptian Early, Middle and Late Kingdoms. In numerous cases the parched sycons bear characteristic gashing marks indicating that this art, which induces ripening, was practiced in Egypt in ancient times."

In ancient Egyptian iconography the Sycamore stands on the threshold of life and death, veiling the threshold by its abundant low-hanging foliage. The caskets of some Egyptian mummies were made from the wood of the Sycamore Fig tree. Pharaohs called the Sycamore Fig trees Nehet.




Q: Why did Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit?

A: Eve ate the forbidden fruit first and then gave some to Adam. She was tempted by the serpent who appealed to her God-inspired appreciation of beauty. Genesis 3:6 says that the woman saw that the fruit was “pleasing to the eye.” Here we see how the Good in us can be used to make us sin. This is why Genesis 3:1 describes the serpent as “more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made."

Q: Why didn't Adam stop Eve from sinning?

A: Genesis 3:6 says that "her husband" was with her when she took and ate the fruit, but does not offer an explanation as to why he failed to stop her. The book of Genesis typically does not speculate about why men failed to do right. For example, we are not given an explanation about Noah’s drunkenness that led him to curse his son/grandson, or about Lot’s drunkenness that led to incest with his daughters. Both stories indicate that drunkeness is a condition that leads to bad things. Perhaps the moral of this story is that moral weakness in husbands and fathers leads to bad things.



Q: Why did God have to punish all of us if only Adam and Eve sinned?

A: God does not punish us. We suffer the consequences of sin and death because these are characteristics of the fallen world in which we live. God's gifts of forgiveness, strength, wisdom, patience and joy enable us to live in the fallen world as people who grow in the image and likeness of God, according to our original blessing.



Q: Why did God place the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

A: Genesis does not answer this question. However, Genesis 3:3 tells us that this tree was in the middle of the garden, which means it was at the sacred center. Among many tribes, the sacred center is where knowledge is revealed. For example, the Lakota vision quest (Hunblecheya) requires that the participant remain at the center of the circle drawn by the shaman until he receives a vision from the Great Spirit about his role and destiny.



Q: Who did Adam and Eve's children marry?

A: God commanded Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it." (Gen. 1:28) Abraham's ancestors obviously took this command seriously because their rulers had two wives and usually two concubines. Marriage partners were carefully selected, especially for rulers and their heirs.  We do not know what rules governed the selection of marriage partners among the earliest humans 3.4-3.6 million years ago, but analysis of the Genesis King Lists reveals a sophisticated marriage and ascendency structure for Abraham's ancestors.




Q: What was going on between Adam and Eve and Noah? How can that be enough time to populate the earth?

A: If Adam and Eve are the first created humans, they lived at least 3.6 million years ago since that is the age of  the oldest human fossils. Noah lived much later, between 2490-2415 B.C. when the Sahara experienced a wet period (Karl W. Butzer 1996).

Before Noah's time there were already human populations dispersed around the world. There were numerous river populations in China between 7000-2000 B.C. In southern Africa, there were forest populations who mined red ochre from the Lebombo Mountains more than 30,000 years ago.  This blood-like substance was used to bury nobles in the hope of life beyond the grave. The practice was widespread, perhaps global, before the time of Noah.

Noah's immediate descendants included Shem, Ham and Japheth, whose lines intermarried. This means that these ruling lines were genetically related.

Ham lived between 2438-2363 B.C. and became the father of Kush. Kush lived between 2417-2342 B.C. and became the father of Raamah and Nimrod. Kush ruled in the Upper Nile and his son Nimrod established a kingdom in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley (Gen. 10:8-12).

Obviously, there is a gap of time between Adam and Eve and Noah, plenty of time for populations to migrate. The Kushite marriage and ascendancy structure drove the migration of peoples out of Africa.


Q: Were there other people on earth besides Adam and Eve that God created too?

A: Genesis does not address this question. The material in Genesis comes to us from a people who spread far and wide. This is refered to as the Kushite migration out of Africa, although there were various migrations both in and out of Africa before the time of Kush (Gen. 10). Findings in molecular genealogy indicate that most of the peoples of the world are their descendants, but perhaps not all people. More research needs to be done.


Q: Why did God create the man first

A: So that the stronger of the species could protect the weaker of the species. Unfortunately, Adam failed to protect his wife from the serpent's wiles.

Q: How long were Adam and Eve in the garden before they sinned?

A: This is not answered in Genesis, but the suggestion is that they lived there a good while as caretakers of the ground, the plants and the animals. Eden time probably seemed different than our time since they enjoyed perfect communion with a timeless.


Q: When they were in the garden before the fall, did Adam and Eve have sex

A: Very likely. They were told to bring forth offspring. Sex is not an effect of the Fall. Shame and sexual perversion are.


Q: Why did Adam name the animals. Why didn't God name them?

A: Naming is a way of making sense of our world. Perhaps God thought that this was important for Adam's cognitive development. God alone could create the animals, but by allowing the man to name the animals, God grants him a way to share in the creative process.

St. Anthony the Great offers this explanation:  "God, by His Logos, created the different kinds of animals to meet the variety of our needs: some for our food, others for our service. And He created man to apprehend them and their actions and to appraise them gratefully. Man should therefore strive not to die, like the non-rational animals, without having attained some apprehension of God and His works."



Related reading: DNA Confirms the Kushite Migration Out of Africa; Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis;  Answers to High Schoolers Questions About God

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about God

Part 1: God
(This is the first in a series on Answers to High Schoolers' Question About Genesis.)


Q: Where did God come from?

A: God is eternally existent. God always existed and will always exist. By the very definition of the term "God" we must infer qualities which are not human.  Therefore we speak of God as eternal, immortal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable and totally pure and good.



Q: Who created God?

A: God is Uncreated Creator. Some ancient philosophers regarded God as the “Unmoved Mover.” The pre-Socratic philosopher Anaximander described God as the origin of the Primary Substance.  That is to say that the Creator is not bound or constrained by matter and, to use Anaximader's own words, "All things must in equity again decline into that whence they have their origin; for they must give satisfaction and atonement for injustice, each in the order of time.''



Q: If God created the heavens and the earth, then where was He before? People say that God is everywhere, but where was everywhere if there was no heavens and no earth?

A: God is transcendent, existing outside of time and space. God is not constrained by time and space as creatures are. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a great miracle of love because the Son of God left his glorious existence outside of time, space and the decay of this fallen world to become human, only without sin. This was the divine plan whereby the “Seed of the Woman” (Gen. 3:15) would bring salvation to repentant sinners.

Q: How did God imagine earth when He created it, before the fall?

A: From Genesis we gather that at every stage of the creative process, God declared His work “good” and before the Fall, Eden is described as Paradise. In Genesis 13:10 the land Lot sees is like the paradeisos of Yahweh, a reference to Eden (the garden of the Lord). Revelation uses the same phrase as Genesis 13:10.

Q: Why was God more active and visible in ancient times than He is today?

A: God is unchanging (immutable). He is as active today as at any time in the past. Those who have ears to hear will hear. Those who have eyes to see will see.

Q: Why was God more strict during the time of Abraham and Isaac than He is now? Back then He would curse them for not trusting Him. Now He doesn't.

A: God takes lack of trust and sin as seriously today as in the time of the Patriarchs. God does not change (immutable).



Q: I've always known God as a loving, fatherly figure, but when I read Genesis He seems harsh. Is God a loving God or is He harsh? Or has God changed from a harsh God to a loving God?

A: Most of the promises of the Bible are contained in kernel form in Genesis. This is because God is a loving and promise-keeping God.



Q: If God knows all things, why did He allow the fall, which created evil?

A: God is all-knowing (omniscient). God’s knowledge is such that humans are granted freedom to decide how we live and what we do. Humans often make bad decisions and do evil things. This is the result of evil, not the origin of evil.

Q: Why would God create a universe to glorify Him?

A: The universe was made for us to enjoy God’s glory and to share in it. The corruption of sin makes this very difficult, but God’s forgiveness and the Holy Spirit make it possible.

Related reading:  Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about Adam and Eve; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Serpent; Answers to His Schoolers' Questions about Earth; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Flood; Answers to High Schoolers' Question "Why Abraham?"

Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


I've been conducting research with students in grades 9-12 at a local Christian school.  The objective is to discover the most commonly asked questions about Genesis within this group.  Keep in mind that these students are exposed to Bible readings, sermons, and Christian instruction in their homes and churches. At this school, the majority of the students are from Protestant denominations. About 5% are raised in Roman Catholic homes, and less than 1% are raised in Orthodox homes.

Students were asked to submit questions about the book of Genesis. The questions most often asked touch on God, Adam and Eve, the Serpent, the Flood, the creation and age of Earth, why God chose Abraham, race and how the Earth was populated, and the authorship of Genesis.  I chuckled over this comment from a 10th grader: "I am saving my questions for God."

The younger students tended to ask more metaphysical questions, such as "Where did God come from?" or "How did God come into existance?"  The queries of the older students tended to be more analytical, even scientific, such as "How could there be water on the earth if there was no rain?"

We must be doing something right at our Christian school since not one student asked "Does God exist?"  Were I doing this survey in a public school, doubtless I would have received that question from multiple students.

The following are some of the questions students asked.


God


Where did God come from?

Who created God?

If God created the heavens and the earth, then where was He before? People say that God is everywhere, but where was everywhere if there was no heavens and no earth?

How did God imagine earth when He created it, before the fall?

Why was God more active and visible in ancient times than He is today?

Why is God more strict during the time of Abraham and Isaac than He is now?  Back then He would curse them for not trusting Him. Now He doesn't.

I've always known God as a loving, fatherly figure, but when I read Genesis He seems harsh. Is God a loving God or is He harsh?  Or has God changed from a harsh God to a loving God?

If God knows all things, why did He allow the fall, which created evil?

Why would God create a universe to glorify Him?

(Answers to these questions are here.)



Adam and Eve


Were Adam and Eve real? I mean did they really exist?

Eve is called the "mother of all living" in Genesis 3:20. Why is Adam never called the "father of all living"?

What fruit did Adam and Eve eat?

Why did Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit?

Why did God have to punish all of us if only Adam and Eve sinned?

Why did God place the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

Why didn't Adam stop Eve from sinning?

Who did Adam and Eve's children marry?

How did Adam come to earth? Was he made on earth or in heaven and poofed to earth?

What was going on between Adam and Eve and Noah?  How can that be enough time to populate the earth?

Were there other people on earth besides Adam and Eve that God created too?

Why did God create the man first?

How long were Adam and Eve in the garden before they sinned?

When they were in the garden before the fall, did Adam and Eve have sex?

Why did Adam name the animals.  Why didn't God name them?

Did dinosaurs live in Eden with Adam and Eve?

(Answers to these questions are here.)



The Serpent


Why was the devil in the form of a serpent?

The serpent in Genesis is never directly referred to as Satan. Why is this?

(Answers to these questions are here.)




The Flood


Did Noah literally put two of every species on the Ark?

How did Noah built the Ark?  Did he has help?

Did Noah know about tar or pitch to seal the planks of his boat?

What was the weight capacity of Noah's Ark?

Was the flood global or regional?

Maybe all the species on earth today evolved from the "pairs" of animals saved on Noah's Ark. Wouldn't this support evolution by natural selection?

(Answers to these questions are here.)



The Creation of Earth


How old is the earth?

How many times has God created earth?

What existed before God created everything?

How did everything just appear when God spoke?

Could God have created the world through Evolution?

Were the seven days of creation 24-hour days?

When Genesis says "hovered over the waters" does that mean that water existed before God formed the earth? Or was this water over an unformed earth?

Where was the Garden of Eden?

Why did God take seven days to create the world?

How could water come up from the ground if it hadn't rained yet?

Where do dinosaurs fit in the creation account?

(Answers to these questions are here.)


Abraham

What made Abraham so special that God chose him?

If God gave the land of Israel to Abraham, doesn't that mean that He wants the Jews to have it?

What is the nature of the covenant that God made with Abraham?

How do we know that Abraham was a ruler?

How do we know that Jesus came from Abraham's family?


(Answers to these questions are here.)



Race and Population


How did the different races come about?

If Adam and Eve's children married each other, isn't that the sin of incest?

How did the whole earth's popultaion come from just two people?

Did other families exist on Earth at the same tinme that Adam and Eve lived?

How many generations are from Adam and Eve to Abraham?

Why were the men in Genesis so old?

Why did God create Mankind?




Authorship

Who wrote Genesis?

How do we know that Moses wrote Genesis?

How can we verify that the information in Genesis is factual?

Did the author add things that God didn't tell him to write?



Related reading: Answers to High Schooler's Questions About God; Extraordinary Questions; Just Genesis: Answers to Your Questions

Who was Melchizedek?

Alice C. Linsley



Melchizedek, the ruler-priest of Jerusalem (Salem), is one of the most fascinating figures of Genesis.  His Hebrew name is malkîtsedek, which means righteous king. He is mentioned in Genesis 14, Psalm 110:4 and in the book of Hebrews, where he is given much attention by the Apostle Paul. Melchizedek is also considered in the works of modern philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard.

It is clear from Genesis 14 that Melchizedek and Abraham were well acquainted.  Both belonged to the Horite order of ruler-priests which practiced endogamy. In other words, they were kin.  It is likely that Melchizedek was the brother-in-law of Joktan, Abraham's father-in-law.

Abundant legends and erroneous ideas surround Melchizedek. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, he influences the demise of the Angel Belial and the wicked spirits in league with him. In the Second Book of Enoch, he is taken by an angel to Eden. According to Rashi, a French medieval rabbi, Melchizedek was Shem. This is highly improbable since Melchizedek lived at least 300 years after Shem.

In Genesis, Melchizedek serves as a priest to his kinsman Abraham. He comes to Abraham after a great battle in which Abraham incurred blood guilt.  Melchizedek's ministry in this situation would have been to perform the appropriate purification ritual. Every warrior society has a purification ritual to help returning warriors deal with their blood guilt. In Genesis 14, Melchizedek performs the purification ritual that absolves Abraham of blood guilt. In thanks, Abraham offers him the tithe.

In the book of Hebrews, Melchizedek is viewed as a type of Jesus. This notion informs the Coptic view that Melchizedek was born of a virgin (Second Book of Enoch). Jesus is the "Priest after the order of Melchizedek."  Therefore His priesthood is from of old, existing before that of Aaron. This pre-existant order of priests expected the Divine Seed (Gen. 3:15) to come into the world and believed that He would be born of one of their own virgins.

As a type of Jesus Christ, Melichizedek is the Righteous King, the King of Peace (Salem), and is said to have no earthly father. In reality, Melchizedek did have an earthly father, probably Sheba the Elder, whose ancient royal line rivaled the House of David (II Sam. 20).  If Genesis was compiled during David's reign, as I believe, omission of Melchizedek's ancestry was motivated by political expediency.

Related reading:  The Order of Melchizedek; Mary's Ruler-Priest Lineage; The Daughters of Horite Priests; The Messianic Priesthood of Jesus

Who was Eber?

Alice C. Linsley


A great deal of speculation surrounds the biblical figure of Eber (Heber in the Septuagint). Eber was the father of two firstborn sons by his two wives.  Joktan was the son of his cousin wife and the heir to the throne of Eber's father-in-law in Southern Arabia. Joktan was the founder of the Joktanite clans of Arabia and Abraham's firstborn son was named Joktan after this famous ancestor.

Peleg, in whose time the "earth" was divided, was the heir to Eber's throne in Northern Arabia and probably ruled part of Mesopotamia. He was the son of Eber's half-sister wife. This aligns with the marriage and ascendancy structure of Abraham's Kushite ancestors.

Eber's sons became the founding patriarchs of two linguistically distinct Afro-Asiatic groups: the Afro-Arabians and the Afro-Asians. Apparently, the Kushites became divided linguistically after the time of Eber's death around 2303 BC.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Eber died at the age of 464 (Gen. 11:14-17). In the Septuagint, Heber is said to have lived to an age of 404 years. The Hebrew Calendar places Eber's death at 1817 BC, which is unlikely since Abraham lived about 2100 BC.

Genesis 10:21 lists Shem as Eber's ancestor, but Eber is also a descendant of Kush as the royal descendants of Ham and Shem intermarried. That Eber was a great ruler is attested in the pre-canonical Girgam (Diwan) where his name appears as Abir and he is designated Amir, the Arabic word for commander or ruler.


Does the word Hebrew come from Eber?

In 93 AD, Josephus wrote that the Hebrews were called after Eber (Ant I, 6:4).  However, this view of Eber as the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews is problematic since the Genesis genealogical material makes it clear that Eber is a descendant of both Ham and Shem and the father of both Afro-Arabians and Afro-Asians.

It is more likely that the designation Hebrew refers to the Habiru or äapiru, a caste of ruler-priests who dominated the Afro-Asiatic Dominion.  The Habiru served at the Sun Temples (O-piru) which they constructed from the Nile to Cambodia. Abraham's people were Habiru.  The word Hebrew (hbr) comes from the word Habiru (hbr), not from Eber.

Hapiru (Akkadian) and Habiru (Kushitic) are related to the Arabic yakburu, meaning “he is getting big” and with the intensive active prefix: yukabbiru means "he is enlarging."  This is a reference to the morning ritual of the Horite priests who greeted the rising sun and watched as it expanded across the horizon.

The Egyptians called the temple attendants ˁpr.w, the w being the plural suffix. The Horite east-facing temple was termed O-piru, meaning Sun House.

As the Kushite ruling lines intermarried exclusively, Eber was a descendant of both Ham and Shem.

The Genesis genealogical material indicates that Eber married the daughter of Joktan the Elder. She was his cousin bride and named their firstborn son Joktan, after her father, according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative. Joktan is Yaqtan in Arabic.

Related reading:  The Habiru Were Devotees of Horus; Frank Moore Cross: Israel's God is the God of the Horites; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Peleg: Time of Division

First People at Genetic Center

Alice C. Linsley

It is exciting when the truth of Scripture is confirmed by genetics and linguistics, as has happened with reference to the first people called the Ainu.

Luigi Cavalli-Sforza's Genetic Distance Chart

What do the following words have in common?

Kena, Canaan, Qatna, Kano, khinna/henna, Karnak (Egypt), Karnataka (India), Katakana, and Kana
They all share the KN root.

Kena and Canaan are related to the word Kain.

Qatna (Arabic قطنا, modern Tell el-Mishrife) is an archaeological site in the Wadi il-Aswad, a tributary of the Orontes, 18 km northeast of Homs, Syria.

Kano is a city in Northern Nigeria named after Kain.  It is north of Nok, which name appears as Hanock in the Bible.

Kinna and henna speak of the color red.

Karnak was the site of Ainu devotion to Horus, the "son of God." The Ainu had a red skin tone. Abraham's father was Terah the Ainu.  The Ainu originated in the Nile Valley.

In Japan, Katakana is used to write Ainu. 

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts.

The Ainu are at the center of Cavalli-Sforza's genetic distance chart. This supports the biblical assertion that they are "First People."


Related reading:  The Nile-Japan Ainu Connection; A Kindling of Ancient Memory, Syllabary Writing Systems; Abraham's Ainu Ancestors

Were Abraham's Ancestors Refugees or Rulers?

Alice C. Linsley

That is an interesting question raised by some theorists who are familiar with the pre-canonical Girgam, a chronicle of the rulers of Kano-Borno.  Kano-Nok-Borno is the region where some of Abraham's ancestors lived.  Bor-no means "Land of Noah."  Kano refers to Kain (Cain) and Nok appears in the Bible as the name Ha'nock.

Girgam, also called Dīwān, was discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth. The chronicle lists Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Kenan, Enosh, Terah and many others. Some of the names appear to have been "corrected' by Arabic scholars. However, the orthography is closer to the presumed Hebrew original than that of the Arab authors.

The prologue and first section of Girgam name biblical patriarchs, ancient Mesopotamian kings, and the last Assyrian kings.  This has led to speculation that Kano-Borno was the home of refugees from the collapsing Assyrian Empire. According to this theory, the royal titles in the Girgam and the origin-chronicles indicate mass immigration of various peoples who formerly lived under Assyrian rule until that Empire collapsed in 612 BC. There is less evidence to support this view, however, than there is to support the biblical record of Kushite expansion.

Map shows Kano and Borno and related kingdoms extending to the Nile in 1750.

Another theory is that Kain and Noah were early rulers of this region and their rule is reflected in the place names. According to Genesis 10, their Kushite people spread far and wide. Nimrod, the son of Kush (Gen. 10:8), controlled the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley where tablets have been found that speak of the greatness of his rule. He is known in history as Sargon the Great.  Kushite rulers controlled a vast expanse from Nigeria to India, what I have termed "the Afro-Asiatic Dominion." This view is supported by the fact that girgam is a derivation of the Sumero-Akkadian term girginakku, meaning box for written tablets. Akkad was the center of Nimrod's ruler (Gen. 10:10) and Akkadian was the language of his empire.

Abraham's father Terah was no more a refugee than Nimrod. Both were Kushite kingdom builders. Terah 

controlled the length of the Euphrates, but his Ainu ancestors lived in the Upper Nile region.  This does not 

support the view that the names listed in Girgam represent displaced people from Assyria.

According to Epiphanies, the age of the Kushites extended from Noah to Terah. The authors of ancient Indian literature claimed that the Kushites ruled the world for 7000 years. 

Prof. Bator Vamos Toth has identified hundreds of place names that link the Sudan and Central Asia. For example, the places names Orissa and Kar-nak are found in Egypt and in Central Asia. The temples at Karnak in Egypt and at Karnak in Orissa, India, are Sun temples associated with the cult of Horus, who the Horite ruler-priests regarded as the "son of God", miraculously begotten according to an ancient promise. This Kushite migration has been confirmed also by DNA studies.

Clyde A. Winters has shown that the "Elamites, Dravidians, Sumerians and Manding are all of Proto-Saharan origin. In the history of mankind they were called the Kushites. Testimony of the great heritage of the Kushites, resulted from their boldness in trade and seafaring expeditions.

There appears to be a relationship between the words gir or gar and ghar or khar. Bulghar was spoken by the Asiatic Ghars (Khars) from which the territory of Bulgaria takes its name. The Bulghar language was spoken in the Onogur tribal confederation. Ono pertains to On or ancient Heliopolis, the Horite shrine city to which the great pyramids of Giza, Saqqara and Abusir are aligned.

The word ghar means house, as in royal palace or royal city and is a cognate to word khar. In ancient Egyptian, khar refers to a measure of fuel used to offer sacrifice in the temple.  The temple (wat) was in the precinct of the royal palace. Among the Guruntum-Gar, a West Chadic people, khar appears as har in last names.  An example is Andrew Haruna.  Haruna is the Chadic name for Aaron, suggesting a very ancient connection between the priesthood of Israel and their Kushite ruler-priest ancestors.

The Kushites also spread along the Shari and the Benue rivers, establishing kingdoms as far as Lagos in Nigeria and into the southern Kordafan. This explains the linguistic connections between Yoruba and Akkadian.

Related reading: Biblical patriarchs from a pre-canonical source mentioned in the Diwan of Kanem-Bornu; Horite and Kushite Rulers Linked; Noah's Descendants