Abraham's Proper Heir

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The Hebrew inheritance laws are complex because high-ranking rulers such as Abraham had two first-born sons. Abraham's first-borns sons were Joktan (born of Keturah, Gen. 25) and Ishmael, but neither of these sons were Abraham's proper heir. 

Among the early Hebrew the proper heir was the first-born son of the first wife, usually a half-sister, as was Sarah to Abraham (Gen. 20:12). This explains the deep sorrow of Abraham and Sarah that she was unable to bear children. It also sheds light on the story of Hagar and Ishmael’s banishment. Having provided a proper heir for Abraham after years of barrenness, Sarah became angry when she thought that Abraham’s love for both Ishmael and Isaac might lead him to divide his territory between them, as Eber did for his sons Peleg and Joktan.

Genesis 10:25 reports: “To Eber were born two sons: the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth [eretz] was divided, and his brother was called Joktan.”

The word eretz has multiple meanings: earth, land, soil, and territory. Since this passage deals with royal sons, the most appropriate word choice in this context is “territory”. It the appears that Eber divided his territory into two, assigning separate regions to each royal son. Peleg ruled over one territory and Joktan over the other. Abraham was a descendant of Peleg, and his half-brother Haran likely was a descendant of Joktan.

The clan of Jacob (Israel) went into Egypt, but they were not the only Hebrew clan. Clearly, some Hebrew were never in Egypt. The story of the Exodus does not apply to them. It is also likely that some Hebrew people remained in Egypt as they had deep roots in the Nile Valley.

In the Hebrew social structure, provision was made for the sons of high-ranking rulers to receive an inheritance, and grants were made to the sons of concubines. The value of the grants likely depended on the dowery of high-status concubines and on the generosity of the patriarch. Grants included land, servants, herds, camels, linen, leather goods, and articles of gold, copper, silver, and bronze.

However, only one son could assume control over the territory of his father and that was the first-born son of the principal wife. In Abraham's case, that was Isaac. He received the bulk of Abraham's wealth and assumed control over Abraham's territory which extended between Hebron and Beersheba. Abraham’s other sons received gifts and were sent away from Isaac (Gen. 25:6). The gifts helped the sent-away sons to become established in their own territories. This practice preserved Abraham’s territory intact and led to the wide dispersion of the Hebrew ruler-priests even before Abraham's time.

The Hebrew practice of endogamy played a role in amassing and preserving wealth. Their distinctive marriage and ascendancy pattern allowed for a smooth transition of power among the ruler-priests. It also made it possible to keep territories intact and to preserve wealth. Wealth among the early Hebrew involved herds, servants, gold, copper, and water resources. Some Hebrew controlled commerce on the rivers and major water systems. This provided income from cargo taxes. A major trade route between Egypt and Mesopotamia ran through part of Abraham’s territory and this likely provided him with a source of income. He also held the water rights to wells he dug in Gerar (Gen. 26:15).

It is evident from the biblical data that Abraham's clan observed an ancient code or tradition that pertained to rights of inheritance. His authority was attached to the ruler-priest caste into which he was born and was reinforced by his observation of this code. The early Hebrew believed that the tradition received from their ancestors was not to be changed. They preserved their religion heritage, ethnic identity, and wealth by marrying exclusively within their caste (endogamy).

Related reading: Abraham the Hebrew; Royal Sons and Their Maternal Uncles; Sent-Away Sons; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; The Hebrew Hierarchy of Sons; Cousin Brides

An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 4

 

Artist's depiction of the Tabernacle at Nekhen c. 3000 B.C.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley


In Genesis chapter 4 we read about the first persons whose historicity can be verified through scientific methods. Analysis of the intermarriage of the ruler-priests listed in Genesis 4 (Cain’s line) and Genesis 5 (Seth’s line) reveals an authentic pattern of royal endogamy beginning well before Egypt emerged as a political entity.

The lists in Genesis chapters 4 and 5 are typical of royal lists from the ancient world such as the Sumerian King Lists, the Turin Royal Canon, the Abydos King List, and the Saqqara King list. The lists attribute absurdly long reigns and lifespans to the rulers. There is no single pattern for the numbers assigned. Some theorize that the years are calculated according to the 11-year solar cycle. Others recognize that the 365 years assigned to Enoch, the son of Jared/Yered (Gen. 5:23), are a reference to the solar year.

In his book Genesis Chronology and Egyptian King-Lists (2019) Gary Greenberg argues that the birth and death dates found in Genesis 5 represent a disguised but accurate chronology of Egypt's dynastic history. However, Cain and Seth lived before the emergence of Egypt as a political entity (c.3150 B.C.).

The numbers assigned to the ruler-priests of Genesis 5 vary depending on the Bible translation. In the Masoretic texts the number seven has pride of place and presents a pattern associated with Cain and his descendants. In Genesis 4:24, Lamech the Elder says, “If Cain is avenged sevenfold (7), truly Lamech seventy-seven fold (77).” In Genesis 5:31, Lamech the Younger, the first-born son of Methuselah and Naamah, is said to have lived seven hundred and seventy-seven years (777).

Naamah was Methuselah’s cousin bride, and she supplies a clue to understanding the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the early Hebrew rulers. This diagram shows the pattern. The names on the left side are found in Genesis 4 (Cain’s line) and the names on the right are found in Genesis 5 (Seth’s line). These royal lines intermarried.

 

 Circles represent females.

Genesis 4:25 clarifies the relationship between Seth and Cain. They were brothers and their descendants intermarried. Their daughters married their patrilineal cousins and named their first-born sons after their fathers (the cousin bride’s naming prerogative). The practice of patrilineal cousin marriage is attested in Numbers 36:11 where we are told that Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Noah—married their patrilineal cousins.

Cain’s un-named daughter married her cousin Enosh/Enos and named their first-born son Kenan/Kain after her father. Irad’s un-named daughter married her cousin Mahalalel and named their first-born son Jared/Yered/Irad after her father. Lamech’s daughter Naamah married her cousin Methuselah and named their first-born son Lamech after her father. This is an authentic kinship pattern which reveals endogamy among the royal houses of Cain and Seth. It also proves their historicity.



Regional rulers, clan chiefs, ruler-priests, and high kings of the Nile Valley

Analysis of the kinship pattern of Genesis 4 and 5 sheds light on the historical persons listed in Genesis 10, 11, 25 and 36. All are early Hebrew rulers, priests, and clan chiefs. Some took the Horus name as Horus was the patron and protector of rulers. Abraham’s brother is an example. His name is Na Hor, a variant of Ni Hor, a name found among the early rulers of the Nile. Na Hor was also the name of Abraham’s paternal grandfather (Gen. 11:24-25). Na’Hor and Ni’Hor mean “of Horus” or “of the Most-High One”. Ni Hor is believed to have reigned between 3200-3175 B.C. The name appears in Branislav Andelkovic’s 1995 list of predynastic rulers.

Andelkovic placed the early rulers of the Nile Valley in the following sequence: two unidentified rulers, Pe Hor, Scorpion I, Double Falcon, Ni Hor, Hat Hor, Iry Hor, Horus Ka, Hor Crocodile, Hor Scorpion II, and Hor Narmer. Note the Horus names. These appear to be Horite ruler-priests of the period closer to the time of Cain (5000-4500 B.C.).

Manetho was a priest in the temple at Heliopolis (biblical On) in the third century B.C. He had access to original sources such as temple archives of rulers and high priests. Manetho divided the history of the Nilotic rulers into the thirty dynasties that are used today. However, he organized his dynasties through the capitals from which the kings ruled. He did not consider the earlier organization of riverine twin cities such as Nekhen and Nekheb, each with its ruler and high priest on opposites sides of the Nile. The tomb of Horemkhawef in Nekhen and the tomb of Sobeknakht in Nekheb were painted by the same artist. Hormose, the chief priest of Nekhen, requested material goods from the temple at Nekheb for use at the temple at Nekhen. Twin cities pose a difficulty for those who want simple linear chronologies such as that attempted by Manetho. Manetho appears to have no information about the Nilotic and Proto-Saharan rulers between 4500 and 3800 B.C. when Cain would have lived.

Some of the early Nilotic settlements and cemeteries include Abydos, Badari, Nekhen, Naqada, Mahasma, Taramsa, and Thinis. Abydos, Nekhen, Naqada, and Thinis are located on the western side of the Nile. Badari, Taramsa, and Mahasma are located on the eastern side of the Nile. Archaeologists discovered a ritual burial of a child at Mahasma Hill that dates to the Middle Paleolithic (c.55,000 years ago). The grave was discovered in 1994 near the site of the temple of Hathor at Dendera. Later graves in the Mahasma cemetery date from the predynastic period to the brick-lined tombs of the early First Dynasty.

The Middle Neolithic world that Cain would have known included settlements along the Nile where residents fished, hunted waterfowl, and cultivated millet and vines. Sealed jars of wine were found in royal tombs at Abydos. Wine making equipment was found in the tomb of Scorpion I (c. 3150 B.C.).

After leaving his home, Cain established a settlement and named it after his proper heir Enoch (Gen. 4:17). It was typical of royal sons to settle a distance away from each other. This is evident in the case of Peleg and his brother Joktan (Gen. 10:25). Apparently, Eber divided his territory (eretz) between these two sons.

Since his brother Seth/Seti is associated with the Nile Valley, and the brothers settled a distance from one another, it is likely that Cain’s settlement was closer to the land of Canaan. That is where we find his descendants the Kenites (Gen. 15:18–21; Ex. 3:1; Num. 24:20; Judg. 1:16; Judg. 4:11). Apparently, this is what is meant by “east of Eden” (Gen. 4:15).

Moses married Zipporah, the daughter of the Kenite ruler-priest Jethro. She was his cousin bride. When Saul came to attack the city of Amalek, he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go and move away from the Amalekites. Otherwise, I will sweep you away with them.” So, the Kenites moved away from the outskirts of the city of Amalek. (1 Sam. 15:5-6)


Cain as Ruler

As noted in Genesis 4:1, when Eve gave birth to Cain she declared “kaniti” (qanyty/qanitti). This relates to the Akkadian itti, as in itti šarrim, which means "with/of the king." In his Anchor Bible commentary on Genesis, E.A. Speiser notes “Akkadian personal names often employ the corresponding element itti, e.g., Itti-Bel-balatu “With Bel there is life.” (Speiser, p. 30) The Abydos and Turin king lists include a ruler named Iti, which means “the Sovereign.”

As the first-born son of the historical Adam, Cain would have the rights of primogeniture over his brothers Abel and Seth. Though the rabbinic tradition casts him as evil (Jude 1:11; 1 John 3:12; Heb. 11:4), God shows him mercy when he pleads for his life (Gen. 4:10-15). His action draws the same punishment as that of his father Adam. Both were “under a curse and driven from the ground” and both would find that the land would no longer yield its crops for them. In fact, the time in which Adam and Cain lived (5000-4500 B.C.) marked a return of desert conditions throughout the Sahara and coincides with the movement of people from central Africa to the Nile Valley.


Related reading: The Shrine City of Nekhen; The Cousin Bride's Naming Prerogative; Cain as Ruler; Horite Mounds; Twin Cities of the Ancient World; An Anthropologists Looks at Genesis 1; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 2; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 3; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 5

Were Peleg and Joktan Twins?

Southern Arabia is the home of the Joktanites who Josephus called "Horites".

Alice C. Linsley

To Eber were born two sons: the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth [eretz] was divided, and his brother was called Joktan. (Genesis 10:25)

This diagram shows the division. The Hebrew word eretz and should be rendered "territory" instead of earth. It appears that Eber broke his territory into two, assigning separate territories to each royal son. The word eretz has multiple meanings: earth, land, soil, and territory. Since this passage deals with royal sons, the most appropriate word choice for the context is territory. Eber split his kingdom into two. Peleg ruled over one territory and Joktan over the other.

The Hebrew word pelegh means "watercourse" and likely relates to the fact that Eber controlled commerce on the major water ways of his empire. This was a common practice among archaic Afro-Asiatic kings. However, the Aramaic word pelagh and the Arabic word phalaj mean "division." This means that the information about Peleg and Joktan in Genesis 10:25 is verified by both groups: the Arameans and the Afro-Arabians.

Josephus noted a connection between Abraham's cousin wife Keturah and the Joktanites. Keturah resided at the Well of Sheba (Beer-Sheba) as she was of the royal house of Sheba. So it is apparent that the lines of Peleg and Joktan intermarried, as did the royal lines of Cain and Seth, Ham and Shem, and Abraham and Terah.

Why did the Genesis writer make note of this division? Does it speak of something usual, a development that is not the normal pattern?

The division is noted because it is an anomaly. It was the norm for the Horite Hebrew rulers to pass the rule to the first born sons of their first wives. This is why Isaac was Abraham's proper heir. He was the first born of Abraham's first wife, Sarah. Likewise, Esau was Isaac's proper heir and Esau ruled over Isaac's territory between Hebron and Beersheba (north-south axis) and Ein Gedi and Gerar (east-west axis).

That Eber divided the territory suggests various possibilities. 1) His holdings were too vast to be ruled from one location. 2) Peleg and Joktan may have been twins, born to the principal wife, Eber's queen. Peleg comes to represent the populations known as Arameans, and Joktan represents the Afro-Arabians. Though separate, the two populations share a genetic history and common religious beliefs and practices.

This division of peoples of the same ancestry and social patterns is expressed in Genesis 25:22-23, where we are told that Rebekah conceived twins.

"the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD, and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

In the case of Rebekah's twin boys we are told which is the older: Esau. Esau was Isaac's proper heir and Jacob attempted to steal the royal birthright. However, Jacob became the sent-away son and Esau remained in Edom. Esau never served Jacob, except to greet Jacob upon his return to Edom in a spirit of forgiveness.

The Bible provides very little information about Peleg who is claimed to be Eber's first born. The Bible and extra-biblical sources offer much more information about Joktan. These Horite Hebrew rulers came to rule over separate territories, represented by the Arameans and the Arabians. The Aramean territory was called "Eber-Nahar" and was comprised of Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus. The Joktanite clans resided in Southern Arabia. Another way to look at this division is to speak of "Afro-Asians" and "Afro-Arabians" since all have ancestral and linguistic roots in Africa.

Joktan is a royal name. The name  has several variants, including Yaqtan, Jochin, and Jokshan. In Genesis 25 we read that Keturah bore Abraham Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The earliest Arabic texts are called "Dedanite." King Solomon named one of the twin entrance pillars of the temple Jochin after his maternal great great grandfather. The other pillar was named Boaz, after Solomon's paternal great great grandfather.

It is likely, given how late in life Sarah gave birth to Isaac, that Joktan was Abraham's first born son. He was probably born before Ishmael. However, he was not Abraham's proper heir. Joktan would have belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather who he served. Joktan, the son of Abraham and Keturah, was named for Keturah's father, Joktan the Elder. This is another example of the Horite Hebrew pattern whereby the cousin bride named her first born after her father.

Today the population of Southern Arabia is Muslim, with the exception of Yemenite Jews. Genetic studies indicate that the inhabitants are mainly in Y-DNA groups J1 and T1. These have a wide dispersion: Anatolia, Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, the Fertile Crescent, the Caucasus, and even among a small number of Mongolians. Where J1 and T1 are found in high frequency, mtDNA haplogroups HV, N1, and U3 are also present. ZS226 is a subclade of J1. ZS227 includes the Kohanim (priest) haplotype found among both Jews and Arabs.

Related reading: Peleg: Time of Division; Abraham's Complaint; Isaac's Wealth; Abraham's Sons

The God of Shem is the God of Ham

Alice C. Linsley

Shem is an honorific title, not a name. Jews call God HaShem (השם) which means "the Name"as in Leviticus 24:11. Some interpret this to mean the God of Shem, implying that the God of Shem is a different God than the God of his brother Ham. Presumably, this assumption is based on this verse: "He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem." (Gen. 9:26)

The lines of Ham and Shem intermarried. Further evidence is found with the names Lud and Ludim (Ludites). In Genesis 10, Lud is named as a son of Shem and in Genesis 10:13, the Ludim are said to be of Ham.

Bible passages that speak about “the Canaanites” reflect authors who lived well after the time of the Patriarchs. In Genesis 10 the peoples who descend from Noah through his grandsons Sidon and Het (Heth) are said to be the original inhabitants. The Canaanites were blood-related Afro-Arabian peoples whose ancestry can be traced back to the Nile Valley and to ancient Kush. Israelites married Canaanites. Rahab’s marriage to Salmon, of the tribe of Judah, is but one example.  Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of Abraham's Horite caste makes it clear that the descendants of Ham intermarried with the descendants of Shem, and Jesus Christ is a descendant of both lines.

As far as the evidence goes, Shem and Ham had the same God and their ruler-priest lines intermarried, as shown in the diagram.  The daughter of Sheba the Elder married Joktan (Yaqtan) and named their first born son Sheba after her father, according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative.

The association of Shem, the Father of Eber, with the Hebrews does not mean that Ha-Shem is the God of the Hebrew people alone. This view rests on an flawed etymological assumption.  Shem is considered “the father" of all the Hebrew people, assuming that the word Hebrew comes from Eber. However, it is more likely that it comes from the word Habiru (Hapiru). The Horite ruler-priests were Habiru.  HBR is the root of the words Habiru and Hebrew.

Eber was the father of two firstborn sons by his two wives. His sons were Joktan (Yaqtan) and Peleg. 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. 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 B.C.

Other honorific titles

Shem is one of many honorific titles found in the Genesis King Lists.  Others include Cain, Enoch, and Lamech.

The words king and Khan are related to the word Kain (Cain). The related word for queen is Kandake (rendered "Candace" in English Bibles). The Bible tells us many details about Cain, all of them pointing to his rank as a ruler. When he was born his mother declared kan-itti. E.A. Speiser noted that Qany(ty) or Qan itti shows close affinity to the Akkadian itti, as in itti šarrim, which means "with the king". Akkadian was the language of the empire during Nimrod's time (BC 2290-2215). Genesis 10 tells us that Nimrod was a Kushite, so it is not surprising to find that Akkadian shares many words with Nilotic languages. Among the Oromo of Ethiopia and Somalia, itti is attached to names. Examples include Kaartuumitti, Finfinneetti and Dimashqitti. That itti is associated with Nilotic rulers is evident in the name Nefertitti.

Enoch is also a royal title. It is related to the word Anochi which means "heir to the throne" or "one who ascends."

Lamech is a variant of the Egyptian la-melech, which has been found on hundreds of seals. La-melech means "of the King." The la-melech seal typically had the image of a scarab or a sun disc, the emblem of the Creator. The sun disc was used as a royal seal by the Kings of Judah who were direct descendants of Cain and Seth whose lines intermarried.

Related reading: Made in the Image of the King; Who was Eber?; Some Jews and Some Arabs Have Common Horite Ancestry; YEC Dogma is NOT Biblical

Why Rachel Didn't Trust Laban

Alice C. Linsley

Rachel had the misfortune of having a father who few people trusted. Even Leah, Laban's other daughter, didn't trust him.  When Jacob proposed a plan to escape from servitude to Laban, his two wives were quick to support him, saying: "Are we still likely to inherit anything form our father's estate?  Does he not think of us as outsiders now? For not only has he sold us, but he has completely swallowed up the money he got for us." (Gen. 31:14,15, NJB)

Rachel and Leah had seen how Laban treated Jacob. As Jacob explained, "You yourselves know that I have worked for your father with all my might, and that your father has tricked me, changing my wages ten times over..." (31:6, NJB)

As Rachel and Leah were Jacob's cousin brides, one of them should have named their first born son after Laban.  The fact that neither did this suggests the possibility that neither son was in line to inherit Laban's territory. It is also possible that they declined their prerogative of naming their first-born sons after their father because by doing so they designated the sons as Laban's possession.[1]

Jacob and his wives were aware that Laban didn't plan to honor any agreements that might strengthen Jacob's position as a ruler.  Laban had other sons and they were jealous of Jacob's successes. These sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonging to our father; it is at our father's expense that he has acquired all this wealth." (31:1, NJB)  Rachel and Leah's brothers were watching for the right moment to deal with Jacob, for Jacob had to make plans with his wives out in the fields where he kept his flocks (31:4).  That way they wouldn't be overheard.

The plan involved leaving Paddan-Aram while Laban was away shearing sheep. Laban formed a war party with his brothers and went after Jacob.  When he located him, Laban pitched his tents on Mount Gilead from which he has a view of Jacob's tents on the hills below.  Laban was extremely angry because he felt that Jacob had stolen his daughters and the ancestor figurines which he had inherited from Terah, called Teraphim.  His thoughts were murderous, but the Lord cautioned Laban in a dream not to cause trouble with Jacob (31:24). For all his faults, Laban apparently feared God enough to seek a non-violent resolution.

According to Hurrian records, ancestor figurines [2] were passed to the son who would be heir to the father's territory. Laban intended that the Teraphim would go to one of his first-born sons. [3]  Jacob would never rule over Laban's territory, but there was still the threat of Leah's first-born who was named for the great Afro-Asiatic ruler Reu, son of Peleg in whose time the tribes became geographically separated.  At some point after Peleg, the Arameans became jealous of their control in the north while their brother Horites controlled the southern territories. The time of division began about 5 generations before Abraham, and involved a geographical separation, not a change in the marriage pattern of these ruling houses.

By taking the ancestor figurines, Rachel hoped to gain legal leverage for her first-born son in the southern territories. Rachel's first-born son was Joseph. Might this have given Joseph's brothers greater motivation to get rid of him?

This explains why Jacob named Rachel's second son Ben-Jamin, which means "son of the south." It was in the south, in Judah, that the promise of Genesis 3:15 would be fulfilled [4]. See diagram below.

This also explains why, according to Judges 1:21, the men of Benjamin did not force out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem.  The Jebusites and the Dedanites were southern kin to Benjamin.

NOTES

1. The famed Cultural Anthropologist Claude Levi-Stauss observed in 1949 that mother and son do not belong to the same clan in a patrilineal system of descent. The bride belongs to the house of her husband, but the first-born son of the couin or niece bride belongs to the house of the bride's father.  Example from the Genesis 4 and 5 King Lists: While Lamech's daughter belonged to the house of her husband, Methuselah, her first-born son belonged to her father's house. That was indicated by naming the son Lamech after his maternal grandfather.

2. The ancient Sao culture of Chad and Cameroon produced elaborate human figure sculptures, representing deified ancestors. Carbon-14 dates for the Sao figurines range from the 5th century BC to the 18th century AD. The Sao are the ancestors of the Sara who make up to 30% of Chad's population. About a sixth of them are Christians.  The Sara (meaning to laugh) have a 3-tribe confederation like that of Abraham's African ancestors.

3.  Afro-Asiatic chiefs had two wives and therefore almost always had two first-born sons.

4. Gen. 3:15 is the first divine promise made in the Bible. It involves the promise made to "the Woman' that she would bring forth a Son who would crush the head of the Serpent.

Was Abraham an Idol Worshiper?

Father Abraham, justified by faith, saw the promise of the Son to come and believed! Jesus said to the unbelievers, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)

Alice C. Linsley

Abraham the Hebrew is posed throughout Scripture as a man of great faith. He believed the sign God gave on Mount Moriah and trusting in the promise of the future Messiah, he was justified. For the early Hebrew, the ram provided by the Father was a symbol of the son of God (HR). In the solar symbolism of the Hebrew the lamb rose at dawn and matured as the day lengthened. The ram in its full strength set with the sun in the west, the direction of the future. This is what Abraham discovered on Mount Moriah and he believed.

This belief emerged from the solar imagery of the Proto-Gospel. Horus, the son of the High God was depicted as being one with the Father. He rode with the Father on the solar boat. The boat of the morning hours was called Mandjet (Ancient Egyptian: mꜥnḏt) and the boat of the evening hours was called Mesektet. While Horus was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form.

The short answer to the question: "Was Abraham an idol worshiper?" is no! Matthew Henry perpetuates the notion that Abraham worshiped idols in his commentary on Genesis. He writes, "God made choice of Abram, and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters..."

Who was Abraham?

Abraham is a pivotal figure in the Bible. He is mentioned in 230 verses, and he is the central figure of the book of Genesis. Those who adhere to the faith of Abraham in the promised Son of God are, according to Paul, heirs of the promise. "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ… And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:16, 29)

Abraham was known by the Hittites as a "prince of God among us" (Gen. 23:6). He is the ancestor of many peoples living in many parts of the ancient Near East. He is a descendant of the early Hebrew kingdom builders, such as NImrod (Gen. 10) who dispersed across the ancient world. 

His ancestors were known by various names: Abrutu, 'Abiru, 'Apiru, Habiru; Hapiru, Horim, Horite, etc. All these terms refer to a royal priest caste that believed in a supreme creator God (Re, Anu) who has a son (HR, Horus). HR in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One."

Abraham was not a pagan who converted to monotheism. He was a member of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste which believed in God Father and God Son. The text is clear that Abraham worshiped according to the beliefs of his Horite Hebrew ancestors. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship was Nekhen on the Nile (4000 BC). The idea that Abraha was a idol worshiper comes from a late source in the Book of Joshua. In olden times, your forefathers – Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. (Jos. 24:2)

The word Terah means priest and Na-Hor is a Horus name found among the rulers and priests of the Horite Hebrew. Nahor ruled over his father's territory in Paddan Aram when Terah died. In ancient Akkadian, Na is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. Na-Hor indicates that this man was a devotee of HR, which in ancient Egyptian refers to the Most-High God.

HR also refers to the Son of God who the Greeks called Horus. His Horus name suggests that Nahor was a Horite Hebrew. A prayer addressed to Horus says, "For you are he who oversees the gods, there is no god who oversees you!" (Ancient Pyramid Texts, Utterance 573)

Many of the early Hebrew had Horus names such as Hur, Moses’ brother-in-law, the husband of Miriam. Hur’s grandson was one of the builders of the Tabernacle. 1 Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur as a "father of Bethlehem", an early Horite Hebrew settlement. Rahab of Jericho married Salmon, another "father" of Bethlehem.

It is incorrect to apply the term “pagan” to Abraham since the term comes from ancient Rome, a much later period of history. The Online Etymological Dictionary explains that "pagan," from classical Latin means "villager, rustic, civilian," from pagus "rural district." The term "pagan" refers to a peasant and expresses a class hierarchy in which common country folk were regarded by the urban elite as being of low birth, having rude manners, and lacking sophistication. This term cannot be applied to the ruler Abraham who maintained an army of at least 300 trained warriors, controlled a substantial holding between Hebron and Beersheba, negotiated water treaties with rulers, had a personal audience with Pharoah, and maintained two wives and two concubines in separate households.

Other than the Joshua 24 statement, which has another explanation, there is not a shred of evidence that Abraham or his ancestors were idolaters. Abraham's calling does not constitute a turning away from the tradition of his Hebrew forefathers (his Horim). He was a sent-away son to whom God delivered a territory of his own. 

Abraham's Hebrew people did not worship idols. They were priests of the Proto-Gospel and recognized in ancient texts as unique and especially pure in their worship and religious practices.

This peculiar verse: “In olden times, your forefathers – Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods” must be understood in the context of the Deuteronomist account, which begins in Deuteronomy and ends in 2 Kings. These books share a common concern with idolatry and recognize that on that side of the Euphrates, people worshiped the moon as equal to the sun. This is historically accurate. The moon god was honored in Ur and Haran, but never among the early Hebrew who regarded the moon as the lesser light. The Hebrew recognition of the sun's superiority is expressed in Genesis 1:16: "God made the two great lights: the greater to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night."

Nothing is said in Genesis about Abraham worshiping other gods. The Joshua reference implies that Terah fell into worshiping contrary to tradition of his Hebrew ancestors. What we have here is speculation on the part of the Deuteronomist Historian. What the Deuteronomist Historian has done is like photo-shopping an image; an attempt to remove perceived flaws. However, this was done without understanding the Nilotic cultural context of Abraham's ancestors (4000-3000 BC), a very different context from that of the Neo-Babylonian context of the Deuteronomist (900-200 BC).

In the tradition of the Horite and Sethite Hebrew the sun and the moon were viewed as a binary set, and the Sun was regarded as the greater of the two lights. In binary thought (versus dualism), one entity in the set is understood to be superior through observation to the other entity in the set. In dualism, the sun and the moon are equals so both are worthy of veneration. In the binary view, the sun is the greater celestial light and to venerate the lesser light is idol worship. This may be what stands behind the Joshua 24 criticism of Terah's residing in Mesopotamia where the Moon was venerated. Note, however, this is not a criticism of Abraham.

There is no other verse in the Bible to support the view that Terah, a Hebrew ruler-priest, worshiped a Moon god or goddess contrary to the practice of his Hebrew ancestors who regarded the Sun as the emblem of the Creator. Abraham's ancestors believed that divine appointment came by being "overshadowed." They anticipated that this is how the son of God would be conceived, as the Angel Gabriel explained to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:35). 

Abraham is called Hebrew. The term is derived from the ancient Akkadian word for priest - abru. Akkadian is the oldest known Semitic language, and it was the language used by Abraham. (Hebrew did not yet exist. Judaism emerged around 1500 years after Abraham.)

Genesis tells us about Abraham's Hebrew priest caste and the promise that the Creator made to their ancestors in Eden that a woman of their people would bring forth the Seed of God (Gen. 3:15).

Related reading: The Hebrew Were a Caste; Horite and Sethite Mounds, The Calling of Abraham; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity; Judaism is NOT the Faith of Abraham; Appointment by Divine Overshadowing; INDEX of Topics at Just Genesis

Peleg: Time of Division

Alice C. Linsley


To Eber were born two sons: the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth was divided, and his brother was called Joktan. (Genesis 10:25)

This diagram shows the division. The word earth is "eretz" and should be rendered "territory" instead. It appears that Eber broke his territory into two, assigning separate territories to each royal son.

This verse has perplexed readers for centuries. It is said that the separation of the clans occurs after the Tower of Babel when God confused the languages. However, all of the languages spoken by the peoples listed in Genesis 4-12 are in the Afro-Asiatic family and emerged from a common Proto-Afroasiatic source. When did this happen? The best guess is in the ninth century B.C.

Militarev, who linked proto-Afroasiatic to the Natufian culture, believes the Proto-Afroasiatic language family to be about 10,000 years old. He wrote that the "Proto-Afrasian language, on the verge of a split into daughter languages" (Cushitic, Omotic, Egyptian, Semitic and Chadic-Berber) "should be roughly dated to the ninth millennium B.C."

Another view holds that this division pertains to tectonic activity. The German scholar Alfred Wagener insisted that the division referred to tectonic drift beginning in Peleg's time, but analysis of Genesis 4 and 5 indicates that Peleg lived in the Bronze Age. The tectonic drift interpretation is impossible as humans were not on the surface of the earth until after the separation of the continents. Wagener's interpretation ignores a vast body of data and important details in Genesis about Noah and his descendants.

Wagener was correct, however, in thinking that the word "Peleg" has to do with separation by waterways. Genesis reveals that after the time of Peleg there was a separation of the ruler-priests lines who controlled separate water systems of the ancient Afro-Asiatic world. The line of Ramaah, Nimrod's brother, was estbalished in northern Arabia. These are the Afro-Arabians whose language was old Arabic. The line of Nimrod settled and established cities in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley. These are the ancestors of those who spoke Aramaic. So, there was a geographical and linguistic separation of priestly lines. However, the priestly lines continued to intermarry exclusively. They did not change the marriage pattern of their Horite ancestors.

The evidence for ruler-priests exercising control over water systems is found as early as Noah whose homeland was in Bor-No (Land of Noah), in the region of Lake Chad. He lived during the late Holocene Wet Period 8-7,000 years ago. Though Genesis doesn't explicitly state that Noah lived in Africa, it is evident from analysis of the Genesis genealogies that he and Abraham's ancestors were Nilotic peoples. DNA studies have demonstrated that Noah's descendents moved out of Africa into the Arabah. This was the first time of division. The time of Peleg would be the second, when the Kushite migration continued into Mesopotamia.

It is not entirely clear at what point the clans became geographically separated, but it is clear that their kinship pattern did not change.

Further, written records already existed in the time of Nimrod, Noah's great great grandson. Those records indicate that "the earth" refers is the Afro-Asiatic Dominion which extended west into central Africa and east into Mesopotamia. This is why Genesis contains eastern and western accounts of the creation and of the flood. In In the eastern/Nilotic account, Noah takes only one pair of animals on board and releases a dove.  In the western/Asiatic account, he takes seven pairs of clean animals and releases a raven. Africa is not a habitat for ravens, but there are many varieties of doves.


The Clue of Two Sons

Genesis tells us that Eber had "two sons" and this is the clue we need for understanding how the clans of Joktan and Peleg became separated. The text is speaking of separate territories. Two sons always involves the question of who will rule over the father's land holding. According to the Horite Hebrew marriage and ascendancy pattern, the first born son of the first wife was heir to the father's kingdom. Other sons are sent away to establish territories of their own. This pattern drove the Kushite expansion out of the Nile Valley.

The division of Peleg's time had to do with a separation or parting of ways between two sons and two lines of descendants. The question is which son was sent away? To answer that we must look more closely at the genealogical information.

Note that the name "Peleg" doesn’t appear in the lines from which Abraham descends. As far as we know Peleg had no offspring. The lack of information about Peleg's offspring suggests that a separation of clans had taken place at this time. Or it could mean:

a. a loss of information (not likely)

b. a change in kinship pattern (not supported by the evidence), or

c. a veiling of Abraham's Horite blood.


Analysis of the data reveals that critical information is missing about the chiefs who were contemporaries of Reu, Serug and Nahor. (See chart at right.)

The information that is missing pertains to Abraham's mother's people. It appears that they controlled a region between Mt. Hor (northeast of Kadesh-barnea) and Mt. Harun?Mt Aaron (near Petra). Genesis 10:30 tells us that these were the clans whose dwelling place extended from Mesha "all the way to Sephar, the eastern mountain range." They are called Horites (Egyptian Khar) in Genesis 14:6, 36:20 and in Deuteronomy 2:12. Numbers 33:27-28 mentions Terah as a place near Mount Harun (Mount of Aaron in Jordan).

Besides being the name of Abraham's father, Terah is also the name of an Arabian tribe (Terabin) that dwells chiefly between Gaza and Beersheba. This information links Terah to the clans of Joktan and Sheba. It explains why Abraham made Keturah his second wife. She was from the clan of Sheba. It suggests that Terah's mother, that is, Abraham's paternal grandmother, was a daughter of a Horite chief named Terah. She named her first-born son by Terah after her father, according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative.

With this information, we are able to list the rulers whose names do not appear in Genesis 10 and 11. The reconstructed chart (below) shows the intermarriage between the lines of Eber and Sheba and reveals Abraham's connections to the Horites of Canaan through his father and his mother. As bloodline was figured through the mother, Abraham would have been regarded as Horite.



Conclusion

After Joktan the Elder married a daughter of Sheba, the Arameans and the Afro-Arabians became established in geographically distant regions. However, their kinship pattern remained unchanged. The lines of Eber and Sheba continued to intermarry, which means that wives were chosen from kin of distant territories (as did Jacob when he married his patrilineal cousin). Their pattern of intermarriage parallels the pattern of intermarriage between the lines of Cain and Seth, the lines of Ham and Shem and the lines of Abraham and Nahor. Apparently, the territorial division began about five generations before Abraham, but can only be understood as geographical separation, not social separation.

Though the clans of Peleg, Joktan and Sheba became geographically separated, they continued to intermarry according to a long-standing kinship pattern. It is interesting to speculate why preservation of the bloodline was so important to these rulers. Could it be that they knew themselves to be direct heirs of God's promise that the Son of God would be born to their bloodlines?  Indeed that is exactly what happened when Jesus was born to Mary, the daughter of a priest and the patrilineal cousin of Joseph of the priestly line of Mattai.


Related reading:  Noah's Homeland; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; Noah's Sons and Their Descendants; Nimrod: Afro-Asiatic Kingdom Builder; God's Word Never Fails