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 Shock of Muhammad Atta's Afterlife

Alice C. Linsley

Who are the houris mentioned in the Qur'an?

Many Muslims believe that there are buxom maidens to be enjoyed by martyrs in the afterlife. In a note to his fellow hijackers, September 11 ringleader Muhammad Atta reminded them of their impending "marriage in Paradise" to the 72 virgins mentioned in the Quran. Islamic extremists refer to suicide bombing as a "wedding to the black-eyed in eternal Paradise."

The German scholar Christoph Luxenberg says the "houris" with "swelling breasts" refers instead to "white raisins" and "juicy fruits" and are symbolic of the restoration of the lushness of Paradise. Luxenberg's research was featured in a Newsweek article titled "Challenging the Quran" on July 28, 2003.

However, Luxenberg mistakenly argues that Arabic was not a written language until 150 years after Muhammad's death. In reality, Arabic is older than Hebrew and both languages have common roots in the Proto-Afro-Arabian languages. Many of those ancient roots are found in Aramaic and ancient Akkadian.

The Danish linguist Holger Pedersen (1867-1953) explained in The Discovery of Language that “Hebrew, Aramaic and Accadian languages had all undergone significant linguistic degeneration. Only Old Arabic, due to its relative isolation in the Arabian peninsula, remained closer to the old stratum of the ‘Semitic’ form of the language.” Old Arabic is sometimes called "Dedanite" because that is where the largest concentration of old Arabic scripts has been found. Further, the oldest mosques were aligned to a site in Dedan.

Dedan the Elder was a grandson of Kush by his son Ramah (Gen. 10:7).  Dedan the Younger was the son of Joktan, Abraham's firstborn son (Gen. 25:3). The Dedanites were Afro-Arabian kin to the other Hebrew clans.

Dr. Maher Hathout argues that Luxenberg is wrong about the Houris being raisins and fruits. Hathout explains, "It is his [Luxenberg's] prerogative but this does not provide anything supernatural to look forward to the life of eternity. It seems that what he was referring to as raisins is 'kawaib.' Dr. Hathout argues that the Arabic meaning of "beings with swollen breasts" refers to "beings of distinction."

These beings of distinction are the early Hebrew who were influential as priests, rulers over territories, prophets, seers, commercial giants, and judges whose deeds are recorded in Scripture and described in Sirach 44:1-14.

Dr. Hathout is Correct

The Houris are Horite beings of distinction or deified ruler-priests and the number 72 further establishes the connection to the Horites. The ancient ruler-priests were aware of the precession of the equinoxes. The number 72 represents the number of years it takes for the constellations to move one degree due to precession. The Great Pyramid and Angkor Wat are nearly 72° apart, along the circle's circumference (diagram below).  It has been noted also that Angkor Wat is located 72° of longitude east of the Pyramids of Giza. The name Angkor correlates with the ancient Egyptian Anhk-Hor, meaning "Long live Horus."

Point A represents the Angkor Wat complex of 72 shrines and G represents the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
Point I represents Har-Appa in the Indus valley. Har-Appa means "Horus is Father." 
Point M is the pyramid at Machupicchu with 72 steps. Point E is Easter Island.
Credit: Jim Alison

Apparently the Horites believed that each year of the precession is represented by a deified ruler and the Heavenly Council is comprised of these 72 rulers. To enter heaven is to come before this Council.

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 is based on the number of "decan" stars which were seen to rise during summer nights in Ancient Egypt. A "decan" star was a star that rose just before sunrise at the beginning of a 10-day "decade" in Ancient Egypt. 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. This is the apparent basis for the appointment of the 12 Apostles as rulers. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt.19:28)

The coincidence of celestial events and deified rulers is evident in Job 38:4-7, where God asks Job the Horite Hebrew of the clan of Uz:

 "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone —
⁷ while the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

This appears to be a reference to January 2, 2900 BC when Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn visibly aligned within a few degrees of one another and appeared as morning "stars." This event is described from the point of reference of a surveyor at the Great Pyramid, and the Pyramid's structure serves as a memorial to this celestial event. As Bernard I. Pietsch had written, "Its shape, dimensions, and internal design communicate very specific information about where it is located on the earth and in the cosmos as well in one single moment."

In ancient Egypt, the superior planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were associated with Horus. Mars was named "Horus of the Horizon" or "Horus the Red." Jupiter was called "Horus Who Illuminates the Two Lands" and Saturn was named "Horus, Bull of the Sky." These three planets were always depicted with the falcon-head of Horus (Krupp 1979).

Messianic texts speaks of the Son of God, a title given to Horus, the archetype of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is called the Messiah eleven times in the Qur'an. It is not a coincidence that Psalm 72 is a Messianic text.

Psalm 72

1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.
2 He will judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.
3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4 He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
he will crush the oppressor.

5 He will endure as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
7 In his days the righteous will flourish;
prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.

8 He will rule from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 The desert tribes will bow before him
and his enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
will bring tribute to him;
the kings of Sheba and Seba
will present him gifts.
11 All kings will bow down to him
and all nations will serve him.

12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight.

15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given him.
May people ever pray for him
and bless him all day long.
16 Let grain abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway.
Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon;
let it thrive like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever;
may it continue as long as the sun.

All nations will be blessed through him,
and they will call him blessed.



The Common Horite Ancestry of Some Jews and Arabs

As many Arab Muslims and Jews have a common Horite ancestry, it seems more likely that the houris are their Horite ancestors who have entered into Paradise or the "lap of the Houris." This appears to be equivalent to the Bosom of Abraham, the Horite Hebrew. This is suggested by the fact that Abraham's bosom in the Greek text is kolpos, which means lap. So righteous Arabs and righteous Jews will be in the same lap in the afterlife where they will await judgment.

Jews call their ancestors "horim" and the Arab Kohanan recognize Aram, Shem and Noah as their ancestors. The Horim of Jews and Arabs are traced differently in the Torah and the Qur'an, but there are clear connections showing their common Horite ancestors.  Consider ʿĀd, who according to Arab tradition was the son of Uz. Uz the Elder is mentioned in Genesis 10:23. His grandson was Uz, the son of Dishan (I Chron. 1:42). Dishan was a son of Seir the Horite Hebrew and the brother-in-law of Esau the Younger. Uz the Younger was Seir's grandson.

Abraham's ruler-priest caste is traced back to the Nile Valley where the oldest known site of Hebrew worship was at Nekhen. The Horite Hebrew were devotees of Horus, Re, and Hathor. HR in the Proto-Egyptian which means "Most High One". In Greek he was called Horus. Horus was believed to be the co-equal, co-eternal son of the High God who was said to be virginally conceived by divine overshadowing/ Jesus was born of Mary, a woman of the Horite Hebrew ancestry. She conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). She brought forth the Seed who would crush the serpent's head and restore Paradise. 

The early Messianic expectation was expressed in the 6000-year-old Pyramid Texts: "HR has shattered the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot" (Utterance 388). This came to be expressed in Genesis 3:15 where we read that the Seed of the Woman would crush the serpent's head.

Belief in God Father and God Son existed among the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC). They believed that the Son would be virginally conceived by divine overshadowing (Luke 1:35). They recognized the son as being co-equal with the father, and they spoke of the son as his father's advocate (1 John 2:1). The Egyptian Book of the Dead speaks of the Son as the "advocate of his father".

Abraham the Horite Hebrew had 9 sons. The firstborn sons ruled among Abraham’s people. However, the first-born sons of wives were ranked above the firstborn sons of concubines. This means that Joktan (Qahtan in Arabic) ranked over Eliezar, and Yitzak ranked over Yishmael. Joktan ruled over the southern settlements of his maternal grandfather (Dedan, Ramaah and Beersheba) and Yitzak ruled the northern settlements of his father Abraham (Hebron, Bethel and Shechem). To this day the Joktanite tribes live in southern Arabia.

The Joktanite tribes of Southern Arabia are descendants of Abraham by Keturah

Genesis 10: 26 tells us that Joktan had 13 sons. Almodad appears to be the first-born, as his name is listed first. If Joktan followed the pattern of his fathers, his two wives would have maintained separate households on a north-south axis. The sons of his concubines would have been sent away to the east and to the west. This may be the meaning of Gen. 10:30 which describes the Joktanite territory as extending "from Mesha [Mecca?] all the way to Sephar in the eastern mountains [Mount Zafari on the Indian Ocean?]."

Some of the descendants of Joktan and Sheba hold an annual autumn feast at an oasis in the wilderness to celebrate the date harvest. This is the one time of the year that women and men may dance together. The date palm (tamar) is a symbol of prosperity and fertility. The ‘Id el-Tamar is a festival when the unmarried check out the pool of available matches. As is the custom from time immemorial, wife selection takes place at a well or an oasis. Abraham met Keturah at the well of Sheba (Beersheba). Moses met Zipporah at the well of her father, the priest of Midian. Midian was another of Abraham's sons, born to Abraham by his second wife Keturah. Jacob met Rebekah at a well in Paddan-Aram.

Some of Abraham's descendants are Jews and some are Arabs. Both Arabs and Jews have Horite Hebrew ancestors because the Hebrew clans intermarried (caste endogamy). Mt-DNA studies confirm that the Horite ancestors of the priests among Abraham's people did marry exclusively within the priestly lines. This is why the Kohan genetic marker is found among Arabs and Jews. Both Arabs and Jews are descendants of Ham and Shem whose lines intermarried, as did the lines of Cain and Seth before them. The distinctive Kohan DNA or "priest marker" is identifiable because Hebrew priests married daughters of Hebrew priests who maintained flocks and herds at wells and river shrines. They selected animals for sacrifice from these flocks and herds. Joachim, the Virgin Mary's father, was a shepherd priest.

Related reading:  Fruit, Not Females Promised in Islam Afterlife; Some Jews and Arabs have Common Horite Ancestry;  Geographic Geometry by Jim Alison; The Curious Number 72; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; The Afro-Arabian Dedanites