Some Hebrew Were Troglodytes

 

A 19th century sketch of a cave dweller community in Tunisia. 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

For many thousands of years humans lived in caves or underground. The oldest known cave dwelling community was at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa. The earliest human habitation at that cave dates to around 2 million years ago. Researchers found simple stone tools, ash from cooking fires near the cave entrance, and rock engravings.

Archaeological evidence suggests that early humans may have inhabited the Denisova Cave in Siberia as early as 300,000 years ago.

A cave dwelling community called Homo naledi lived in South Africa around 250,000 years ago. They buried their dead in underground chambers, cook with fire, and used stone tools. The bones found in the Dinaledi Chamber show the full range of human physical features and represent the largest collection of homo bones found to date in Africa.

South Africa's Pinnacle Point and Diepkloof Rock Shelter show evidence of human occupation dating to 170,000 years ago.

The earliest inhabitants of the land of Canaan lived in the many caves which riddled the hills. They buried their dead in the caves. Fifteen individuals were buried in the Qafzeh Cave south of Nazareth. Two of the deceased were buried in red ocher powder, a symbolic blood covering. The remains date to approximately 100,000 years ago.

Over 100,000 years ago two groups of humans interacted in the area of Tinshemet Cave in what is today central Israel. It appears that they may have engaged in cultural exchanges.

Evidence of human habitation in the area of Bethlehem between 100,000-10,000 BC is well-attested along the north side of Wadi Khareitun where there are three caves: Iraq al-Ahmar, Umm Qal’a, and Umm Qatafa. These caves were homes in a wooded landscape overlooking a river. At Umm Qatafa archaeologists have found the earliest evidence of the domestic use of fire in Canaan.

The Greeks applied the term "troglodyte" to cave-dwelling peoples in northern Africa and along the Red Sea. Herodotus speaks of a cave-dwelling population in the Upper Nile who were hunted by the Garamantes. The term troglodyte comes from the Greek word troglos, meaning a cave or a hole in the earth, and the Greek verb duein, meaning "to enter".

Many biblical populations lived in caves and some, such as the Nabataeans, built entire cities inside rock shelters. Petra is an example.

Derinkuyu is the largest of 37 underground settlements in the Cappadocia region of Turkey

Some of the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC) were cave dwellers. This is why the Horites are sometimes described as "troglodytes". Some have linked the word "Horite" to the Hebrew root for "hole," חוּר (chur), which is transliterated as "khoor". However, Horite is a reference to a moiety of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste. The Horite Hebrew were devotees of Horus. Horite or Ḥōrim (חורים) is a Horus name.

Genesis 36 speaks of the Horite Hebrew who lived in Edom, a region known for caves and mountain settlements. This mountainous region stretched between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. In some texts, it is identified as the land of Seir, the Horite.

The term "troglodye" describes some populations who lived in caves on both sides of the Nile River. Specifically, the term pertains to Hebrew funerary priests who served the royal families of the Nile Valley. These priests lived in chambers attached to the engineered rock tombs of the deceased. They were employed by the families to pray for the souls of their dead loved ones.

The "sem" priests conducted funeral services and presided over mortuary rituals. These were the embalmers who recited prayers to God Father (Ra/Re) and God Son (HR/Horus) while wrapping the mummies. Many of the prayers of the sem priests are found in ancient writings such as the Pyramid Tests (2400-2000 BC) and the Coffin Texts (2000 BC). These texts speak of the hope of bodily resurrection.

Related reading: Caves of the Nile Valley; The Hebrew Were a Caste; Ancient Words for Priests; Turkey’s Elaborate Underground Cities; Competition Between the Horites and the Sethites; Horite and Sethite Mounds

The Curious Number 72

The lions face east and west on the opposite banks of the Nile River. 

The sun shines over the river as a sign of divine blessing.

St. Augustine of Hippo wrote, "Numbers are the universal language offered by the Deity to humans as confirmation of the truth."

Numbers were a fascination for people of the ancient world. Some significant numbers pertained to observed phenomenon such as the east-west solar arc, the four principal points of the compass; and the circulation of the stars. The Egyptians marked time by 36 ten-day increments (half of 72), and each increment was ruled by a different righteous ruler or rising star. This calculation is based on the number of "decan" stars which were seen to rise during summer nights in the Nile Valley. A "decan" star was a star that rose just before sunrise at the beginning of a 10-day "decade." The Egyptian year was marked by 36 decan stars or 36 ten-day periods. During summer nights, 12 decan stars rose; one for each hour.

The phrase "seventy and two" (72) is used 5 times in the King James Bible. It appears in the books of Nehemiah (3 times) and in Ezra (2 times). Nehemiah 7:8-9 reports that "seventy and two" people returned to Jerusalem after the exile. Ezra 2:4 states that the number of people belonging to the "children of Shephatiah" who returned from exile were three hundred seventy and two.

The Kabbalah speaks of seventy-two names of God, derived from three consecutive verses in Exodus 14:19-21, each containing 72 letters. When read in a back-and-forth manner, these verses produce 72 three-letter names. Each verse of Exodus 14:19-21 numbers seventy-two letters.

In some folklore it is said that there were originally 72 peoples inhabiting the earth, all descendants of Noah. The Igbo claim that these 72 peoples of the Earth are the 72 priest-kings of Edda in Igboland. Edda consists of 72 sub-villages, presumed to have descended from 72 priestly families of the distant past. 

The Qur'an speak of 72 Houris. The Houris are beings of distinction or deified ruler-priests, not large breasted virgins. 

Confucius had many students but only 72 were considered "worthies" or exemplary disciples.

According to Luke 10:1-23, in addition to the 12 apostles, Jesus appointed and sent out 72 disciples to go before him to every place he would visit. These 72 disciples were instructed to go two by two to prepare the way for Jesus' arrival.

Some believe that the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt was constructed according to the golden ratio (approximately 1.618) in its proportions, particularly when comparing the slant height to half the base length. The number 72 can be related to this ratio through various calculations and interpretations.

Angkor Wat in Cambodia has 72 major temples. It has been noted also that Angkor Wat is located 72 degrees of longitude east of the Pyramids of Giza.

The number 72 represents the number of years it takes for the constellations to move one degree due to precession. The precession of equinoxes traces out a pair of cones joined at their apices in a cycle of approximately 26,000 years, that is approximately 1 degree every 72 years. A full precession cycle, where the Earth's axis completes a circular "wobble," takes about 26,000 years, which is roughly 360 degrees divided by 1 degree per 72 years.

Psalm 72 speaks of the universal ruler, the Messiah, who is the son of the High God. In Ancient Egyptian, the son of God is called HR, meaning "Most High One."

Related reading: Climate Cycles Indicate a Dynamic Earth; Methuselah's Real Age; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Number Symbolism in Revelation; The Seventh Seal and Silence in Heaven

The Spirit of God and the Word of God

 

The Holy Spirit, like a dove, hovers over turbulent waters.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

How the early Hebrew (4400-2000 BC) understood the Spirit of God is not clear. Genesis chapter 1 described the life-generating Spirit as a divine wind or breath (Hebrew: Ruach) that moved over or hovered above the chaotic deep. The text suggests that the Spirit generated organic life by natural processes initiated by God. There was a separation of dry land from the sea. The wind disperses seeds and pollen. A plant that is pushed by the wind releases an auxin hormone that stimulates the growth of supporting cells. Wind blowing against seedlings helps the plants to create stronger stems. 

The early Hebrew were acute observers of patterns in nature. They viewed God’s breath-wind-spirit as life generating and life strengthening. 

Among the Nilotic Hebrew, the Spirit also was associated with the divine Word. The life-generating Word is a common theme in African creation stories. The Bambara bards of Uganda recite this praise of the power of the divine Word:

The Word is total:
it cuts, excoriates
forms, modulates
perturbs, maddens
cures or directly kills
amplifies or reduces
According to intention
It excites or calms souls.

Consider also this song of the BaMbuti Pygmies:

In the beginning was God
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is as a word which comes out from your mouth,
That word! It is no more,
It is past and still it lives!
So is God.

The Nilotic Luo have a saying: Wach en gi teko which means "a word has power."

In the Hebrew Bible, the Divine Word and Divine Spirit are intertwined, representing aspects of God's eternal presence and authority over all things. The Word of God is always effective, not like human utterings that are sometimes futile, empty, and often destructive. Basil the Great explains, "It must be well understood that when we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God, this divine language does not mean to us a sound which escapes from the organs of speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue; it is a simple sign of the will of God." (The Hexaemeron, Homily II)

Genesis 1:3 states that God spoke. This tells us that God expresses His will. His will is His Word. Further, that Word was given flesh and dwelt among us. As John attests, all things were brought into being through the Word of God, "and without Him nothing was made that was made" (Jn. 1:3).

Related reading: The Themes of Genesis 1-3; The Roots of the Gospel are in Africa; The Spirit of God in the Old Testament - The Whole Counsel Blog; The Oldest Known Religion

Facts About Evolution

This human footprint found in Kenya dates to 1.5 million years ago.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Bible-believing people often argue against "evolution" without specifying which aspect of evolution concerns them. Which of these basic points of evolution is a direct contradiction to what the Bible says about humans as a special creation? 

1. mutation
2. adaptation
3. natural selection
4. common ancestry of apes and humans

Touching on the first two points there is no doubt. Mutation and adaptation are the Creator's gifts to insure the survival of humans and other organisms.

Natural selection takes place, but it cannot be stated as a law since there exist some poorly adapted species which nevertheless thrive in their environments. If we are honest, we must admit that there are factors in survival that we don't understand, and which may pertain to supernatural oversight, something beyond the realm of science.

Common ancestry of apes and humans is what the late biologist Jonathan Wells famously called an “icon of evolution.” However, this theory lacks material evidence. It is a hypothesis and contrary to what Genesis asserts about humans as a special creation. Christians who take Scripture as our first authority cannot assume that human exceptionalism represents ignorance on the part of the ancient biblical writers.

Evolution refers to changes over time. The changes are within species. Further, rates of change vary greatly from group to group, and even among closely related lineages. The genetic codes of living organisms appear to have set boundaries beyond which the organism cannot change. The Bible refers to these as "types."

Some changes improve the organism's ability to survive. Some changes result in the organism being less well adapted to changing environments. This can lead to extinction.

Christians should try to understand what the data indicates about humans. To simply criticize anything that may be considered "evolution" exposes us to criticism by even fair-minded scientists. Consider this statement by Sabine Hossenfelder: "...scientists who claim, as Stephen Hawking did, that 'there is no possibility of a creator,' or as Victor Stenger has, that God is a 'falsified hypothesis,' demonstrate that they don’t understand the limits of their knowledge. When prominent scientists make such overconfident proclamations, they make me cringe." (An excerpt from Hossenfelder's Existential Physics, page 218.)

Further, ignorant statements about evolution reinforce the notion that the sciences and the Bible are in conflict. The sciences have a story to tell. The Messianic Faith expressed in Scripture also has a story to tell. Some are listening to the harmony and others are deaf.

Consider the data:

No material evidence has been found to prove that humans and apes have a common ancestry. Early or archaic human dentition is easily distinguished from that of apes. In humans, the back teeth are larger than the front teeth, and the canines are not pointed. Humans also lack the characteristic diastema or tooth gap found in apes.

When Jeremy DeSilva, a British anthropologist, 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.

The discovery of a complete fourth metatarsal of A. afarensis at Hadar that 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)

 

Humans have been on the earth for at least 3.4 million years. The range of physical features found among archaic humans is the same as the features found in modern human populations. Therefore, it is more accurate to speak simply of "archaic humans" (before about 300,000 years ago) and "modern humans" (more recent than 300,000 years ago).

"Homo" refers to humans. There were many groups of archaic humans and the oldest human fossils have been found in East Africa.

Neanderthals were fully human. The physical features associated with them have been found very widely, well beyond the Neander Valley of Germany where the first fossils were found.

Human innovation and technologies are evident in the record of human artifacts. This includes evidence of butchering as early as 3.4 million years ago.

The Rising Star Expedition retrieved and cataloged over 1000 early human fossils dating 236,000 to 335,000 years ago. These were buried ritually, expressing a religious nature among the Homo naledi community. The recovered fossils show the full range of anatomical features found in modern humans. The cave chambers had small hearths where well-preserved charcoal, ash, and discolored clay were found. The excavations also turned up many fragments of animal bone.

Related reading: Conscious of Our Uniqueness as Humans; Ethics Forum: The Reality of Human Exceptionalism; What Paleoanthropologists Want to Discover; Artifacts of Great Antiquity; Richard Leakey: Many Groups of Archaic Humans; How Homo naledi got into the Dinaledi Chamber; Darwin for Everyman | TLS

Even Baboons Praise the Creator

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The baboon appears on many monuments along the Nile and on the walls and columns of Nilotic temples. Baboons were not native to the Nile Valley. They were brought there and kept in enclosures with high walls which may explain the apparent lack of sunlight that contributed to skeletal abnormalities.

The skeletal remains of mummified baboons in Gabbanat el-Qurud indicate that they suffered from lack of sunlight and unsuitable food for most of their lives. The site is referred to as the "Valley of the Apes." animals were born and raised in captivity. The proportions of males and females, and the presence of infants, suggest that this was a local breeding population to meet demand. The baboon was sacred symbol for the ancient Egyptians.

Gabbanat el-Qurud in the Valley of the Apes. Credit: Henri Georg, 1909

In their natural habitats, baboon communities have adequate food and exposure to sun. They are known to chatter at the crack of dawn. For the Nilotic people, who regarded the sun as a symbol of the High God, this behavior held religious significance.

In the Nubian relief above, baboons announce the rising of the sun, the symbol of the High God and his son HR (Horus in Greek). 

Over the heads of the baboons is the Shen hieroglyph, the symbol for eternity. The baboons flank an "Imperishable Star," a symbol of immortality granted to the faithful. In the Pyramid Texts we find this reference to the imperishable stars: "Oh HR [Horus], this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars." (Utterance 667) Jesus said, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day..." (Lk 24:46) 

Between the baboons is a dung beetle. This creature navigates nocturnally by the light of the Milky Way. The Nilotes regarded the Milky Way as the path to the eternal Father Re. (Re in Ancient Egyptian means "Father.") That is why many were buried with scarabs over their hearts.

Above is the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Though originally with a ceiling, the hall was aligned to the Milky Way. Karnak was one of many prestigious Sun Temple complexes. Among them was Heliopolis, called "On" in Genesis 41:45. Heliopolis is mentioned in Isaiah 19:18 as one of five Egyptian cities that swore allegiance to the Lord of Hosts.

The image below is of a baboon responding to the rising sun. The image appears on a wall at one of temples at Karnak.

Most of the images of baboons show a species known as Papio hamadryas. These were large monkeys with a dog-like muzzle.

Some baboons were mummified as early as 3500 BC. Researchers discovered the mummified remains of baboons buried in the sand which preserved the bodies due to the dry conditions.

Related reading: The Dung Beetle and Heavenly Lights; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Hebrew Ruler-Priests at the Ancient Sun Cities; The Prestige of Biblical On

The Wealth of the Mesopotamian Rulers

 

Elite Mesopotamian burial ground dating to 2400 BC. 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Nimrod is designated a son of Kush in Genesis 10:8. As a sent-away son, he became established in Mesopotamia by marrying a Sumerian princess. It is likely that she and Nimrod were cousins. The couple enjoyed a life of opulence and prestige. They were among the first lords and ladies. They exercised great influence and power in the ancient world.

In the Ubaid period (c. 5500-4000 BC) there was vigorous commerce between the local walled villages. By the time Nimrod married a daughter of Asshur (c.3600-3200 BC), long-distance trade had become a source of wealth for the Mesopotamian lords and ladies. Ships coming from the Island of Bahrain (ancient Dilmun) brought wool, gold, copper, lapis lazuli, and carnelian to the Sumerian cities of Ur, Nippur, and Uruk. With the precious materials that came into Mesopotamia, royal craftsmen fabricated jewelry for the royal wives, daughters, and concubines.

As early as 7000 BC, Dilmun (Bahrain) served as a major trade depot with its own commercial seal. The weights used there were of the same denominations as the system of weights used in the Indus Valley. Ancient documents speak of Dilmun’s trade in gold, silver, ivory, sesame oil, wool, carnelian beads, lapis lazuli, and copper. One document details a cargo of eighteen tons of refined copper purchased in Dilmun.

Sumerian ships brought cargo to Dilmun and to port cities in the Indus valley. Ships sailed southeast on the Tigris or Euphrates to the Persian Gulf, making stops at the port city of Dilmun, passing the Oman Peninsula, and entering the Arabian Sea. From there the ships sailed northeast on the Indus River to Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Trade in lapis lazuli and carnelian beads ran between Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and Afghanistan as early as 4000 BC. Indus seals with Harappan inscriptions have been found in Mesopotamia. Indus pottery and seals have been found along the maritime routes between the Indian subcontinent and Mesopotamia.

Genesis 10:10 mentions the Sumerian city of Erech (Uruk) in connection with Nimrod. Another important Sumerian city was Eridu, a major trade center in the land of Shinar as early as 5000 BC. The Sumerian King List cites Eridu as the “city of the first kings,” stating, “After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu.” 

Nimrod was not the first city builder. In the Bible that is credited to Cain (Gen. 4). However, Nimrod's fame was such that he is remembered as one of the “mighty men of old” (Gen. 6:4). Some Bibles describe him as a “mighty hunter” or a maharba in Hausa or nahshirkan in the Targum. These terms appear to the be related to the Hausa sarkin maharba, meaning lead hunter or chief. Clearly, Nimrod was among the Nephilim, or powerful men who were considered "sons of God" in the ancient world because of their authority and grandeur. In Genesis 6, the phrase "sons of God" parallels the phrase "daughters of men." Such parallelism is typical of Semitic literature.

The cities in Mesopotamia were small settlements during the Ubaid Period (6500-4100 BC) when irrigation and other agricultural advancements were introduced. Between c.4000-3000 BC, Mesopotamia became a region of cultural advances in writing, animal husbandry, metal work, and boat building. Nimrod undertook his building projects during this period.

Archaeologists discovered a 4000-year-old boat at Uruk when the erosion of a riverbed at the edge of the city revealed the boat’s outline in 2018. The vessel measures 22 feet long and five feet wide. The boat was constructed of organic materials, probably bundles of marsh reeds, and covered in bitumen; a tar-like substance used for waterproofing. This technique was used in the construction of Noah’s ark (Gen. 6:14).

River trade generated great wealth for the rulers who controlled commerce on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Commerce led to the expansion of the major Sumerian cities during Nimrod's time, especially Uruk (Erech). Trade extended over land from Uruk to the resource-rich Zagros Mountains, Northern Syria, and Anatolia.

Related reading: Nimrod's Sumerian Wife; Cousin Brides Among the Hebrew; A Book about the Nephilim

Thoughts on the Days of Creation

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Throughout history many wise persons have thought about the creation of the universe, the origin of organic life, and the Creator's purpose. Interpretations of the days of creation in Genesis chapter 1 range from literal to allegorical. The science of Biblical Anthropology attempts to place the narrative in its earliest cultural context among the Nilotic Hebrew who dispersed widely before the time of Abraham (c. 2000 BC).

Young Earth Creationists interpret the sequence of days in Genesis 1 as 6 consecutive 24-hour days. They assume that Cain (Gen. 4) and Seth (Gen. 5) were among the few humans on earth no more than 10,000 years old. The YEC position requires one to ignore the vast material evidence of human existence on earth over millions of years. Those who do not ignore the evidence resort to the fallacy of inaccurate dating methods.

St. Augustine of Hippo believed that everything in the universe was created simultaneously by God. He is explicit that God did not create over the course of six consecutive 24-hour days. He writes, "The sacred writer was able to separate in the time of his narrative what God did not separate in time in His creative act." In his view, the six days of creation convey the logical order of and relationship of created things, rather than a passage of time. He wrote, "But in the beginning He created all things together and completed the whole in six days, when six times he brought the 'day' which he made before the things which He made, not in a succession of periods of time but in a plan made known according to causes."

St. Basil the Great, on the other hand, believed in six consecutive days of creation and presents the divine act in great detail in his Hexaemeron. It originated as a lecture series that he delivered over three days in 378 AD on the days of creation, moving line by line through Genesis 1:1–26. Basil did not insist on 24-hour days since the solar arc was not a factor until the fourth day (Gen. 1:14-19). 

Origen of Alexandria also noted that "days" did not exist before the sun and moon were formed, and he believed that the "days" described in Genesis 1 do not refer to a literal succession. Rather the sequence is a symbolic representation of God's creative process. Origen tended to interpret that Genesis 1 creation narrative allegorically.

St. John Chrysostom wrote, "The text says: "This is the book about the origins of heaven and earth when they were created, on the day God made heaven and earth, before any grass of the field appeared on the earth or any crop of the field sprouted. God, you see, had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no human being to till the soil; a spring used to flow out of the ground and water the whole face of the earth." [Gen 2:4] Notice again, I ask you, the insight of this remarkable author, or rather the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I mean, after narrating to us detail by detail all the items of creation and going through the works of the six days, the creation of human beings and the authority granted them over all visible things, now he sums them all up in the words, "This is the book about the origins of heaven and earth when they were created." It is worth enquiring at this point why it is he calls it the book of heaven and earth in view of the fact that the book contains many other things and teaches us about a greater number of matters about the virtue of good people, about God's loving kindness and the considerateness he demonstrated in regard both to the first formed human being and to the whole human race, and about a lot of other things it would be impossible to list right now. Don't be surprised, dearly beloved; after all, it is the custom with Holy Scripture not to describe every thing to us in detail in every case but rather to begin with a summary of related items and to leave further detail to be considered by rightminded listeners as they take in what is said.

So that you may learn this is the case, I will make it clear from the very verses just now read. What I refer to is this: notice Sacred Scripture taught us in detail in the preceding verses the creation of everything, but now, instead of mentioning them all, it says: "This is the book about the origins of heaven and earth when they were created, on the day God made heaven and earth," and so on. Do you see how it confines the whole account to heaven and earth, leaving us to get from them a sweeping view of all the other things? I mean, when it said heaven and earth, it included everything together in those words, both things on earth and things in heaven. So, just as in its account of created things it doesn't mention them all one by one but gives a summary of related items and makes no further attempt to describe them to us, so too it called the whole book the book about the origins of heaven and earth, even though it contains many other things, evidently leaving us to work out from the reference to these two that all visible things are of necessity contained in this book, both those in heaven and those on earth.

Professor John Walton believes that Genesis 1 draws on Babylonian cosmology in which the whole universe is God's cosmic 7-tiered temple.

Biblical Anthropology applies the tools of anthropology to the Genesis creation narratives and suggests that they come from the early Hebrew who lived in the Nile Valley (4200-1500 BC). The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is Nekhen on the Nile. 

The Nilotic Hebrew understanding of the human condition and our need of God’s saving mercy is evident in the Genesis 1-3 narratives which have their closest parallels in African creation/origin stories. 

The African themes such as "the beginning", the chaotic waters, the apical parents of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste, the defiling Serpent, are concisely woven together in the Genesis creation stories. These African themes include the separation of the waters above from the waters below, the creation of male and female humans from the soil (humus), the Tree of Life, estrangement from the Heavenly Father and his son, and the anticipated third day resurrection of the Eternal Son.

It must be evident that the creation stories are not where we encounter verifiable historical data. One may insist that creation happened over 6 consecutive 24-hour days, but Genesis does not provide empirical evidence for that argument. On the other hand, analysis of the kinship pattern of the early Hebrew rulers listed in Genesis 4 and 5 reveals that these are historical persons with an authentic marriage and ascendancy pattern. In other words, when speaking of history in Genesis we must begin with the historical persons of Adam, Eve and their descendants, some of whom are named in Genesis 4 (Cain's line) and 5 (Seth's line).

 

Related reading: The Roots of the Gospel are in Africa; Theories about the Tree of Life; Adam Was a Red Man; Is Scientific Dating Reliable?; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Competition Between the Horites and the Sethites; The Historical Eve; Lamech Segment Analysis; Five Features of the Hebrew Social Structure