Rebecca Ran to Her Mother's House

The man [Abraham's servant] bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.” Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. Genesis 24:27-28

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

A very ancient practice is alluded to in Ruth 1:8-9. Here Naomi urges her daughters-in-law to return to their “mother’s house.” This is Naomi’s way of encouraging Orpah and Ruth to remarry. Hoping that they will marry again, Naomi sends them back to their mothers.

The “mother's house” is where women gathered to plan weddings for betrothed girls. The women attended to the practical arrangements for weddings and the items needed to set up a new household. On the other hand, the “father's house” was where the fathers deliberated the terms of the marriage involving dowry, inheritance, and property. The elders of the village were present to witness the deliberations. 

Sometimes fathers denied marriage to eligible daughters. A woman who was forbidden to marry (or re-marry) was to return to her father's house. When Judah refused to marry another of his sons to Tamar, as was required by the Levirate marriage law, he told her to return to the father’s house (Gen. 38:11).

Scholars have noted that Rebecca ran to her mother's house to announce the marriage proposal from Isaac (Gen. 24:28). Running to her mother's house expressed Rebecca's willingness to accept the marriage proposal delivered by Abraham's servant.

This practice entails more than preparing for a wedding and a new household. It is about building a lineage. Naomi tells both of her widowed daughters-in-law to return to their "mother's house" so that they can remarry and have families. The perpetuation of the lineage also guaranteed the survival of the clan.

Apparently, a dissatisfied concubine could return to her father’s house. Judges 19 tells the story of the abusive Levite's concubine. She left him in anger and returned to her father's house in Bethlehem where she remained for four months before he came to win her back. Then it took five days of deliberations between the woman’s father and the Levite before he was able to leave with his concubine. Unfortunately, she was sexually assaulted by the men of Gibeah (Saul’s hometown), and she died as a result of her injuries. This same Levite made her tragic death the cause of great violence among the Israelites. He inflamed the clans who attacked the Benjaminites, and in the ensuing war the clan of Benjamin was routed. According to Judges 21, the men of Israel swore an oath at Mizpah, saying, "None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife."

It is likely that Dinah returned to the father’s house after she was raped near the city of Shechem. In an act of vengeance, her brothers Levi and Simeon killed the men of Shechem (Gen. 34).

Related reading: Wells and Brides; A Woman at a Well; The Daughters of Horite Hebrew Priests; Mother's House and Father's House; Translating the Bible: The Case of the Abusive Husband by Dr. Claude Mariottini

A Woman at a Well

Alice C. Linsley

Archaeologists have found many images of women at wells in Palestine and Syria. Below is a detail of the baptistery painting form Deir ez-Zor in Syria. Some believe that this may be an image of the Virgin Mary. However, it more likely is an image of Photini, the Samaritan woman who Jesus spoke to at Jacob's well.

Photini is esteemed among Christians. In the Eastern Church, she is regarded as "equal to the Apostles." She was the first evangelist, and tradition holds that she and her children were martyred in Carthage. 

Credit: Tony De Camillo/Yale University Art Gallery

In the Bible brides are often met at wells. In this sense, Photini represents the Bride of Christ, the Church. Her meeting with the Lord Jesus points to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb when Christ returns as the Bridegroom.

Many biblical figures met their wives at wells. Abraham met his cousin bride Keturah at the Well of Sheba (Beer-Sheba). Moses met his cousin wife Zipporah at a well in Midian. Abraham's servant found a cousin bride for Isaac at a well in Paddan-Aram. Caesarius of Arles spoke of this in one of his sermons. 

“Therefore blessed Jacob, as you have heard, went into Mesopotamia to take a wife. When he had come to a certain well, he saw Rachel coming with her father's sheep - after he recognized her as his cousin, he kissed her as soon as the flock was supplied with water. If you notice carefully, brothers, you can recognize that it was not without reason that the holy patriarchs found their wives at wells or fountains. If this had happened only once, someone might say it was accidental and not for some definite reason. Blessed Rebekah who was to be united to blessed Isaac was found at the well; Rachel whom blessed Jacob was to marry was recognized at the well; Zipporah who was joined to Moses was found at the well.” (Sermon 88:1)

The list of ruler-priests daughters who were first approached at wells includes:  Keturah, Rebekah, Rachel and Zipporah, Asenath, and Tamar. All these women grew up around shrines where their fathers served as priests. Asenath’s father was a priest of the Egyptian shrine at Heliopolis on the Nile. Zipporah’s father was a priest of a shrine in the Negev. Tamar’s father is identified in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan as the priest Shem of Melchizedek. This explains why Tamar was to be stoned to death. According to Leviticus 21:9, a priest's daughter guilty of prostitution or adultery was to be executed by this means.

These daughters of priests were women of high rank but they did not live pampered lives. Zipporah was drawing water for her father’s livestock when she met Moses. Rebekah was likewise engaged when Abraham’s servant arrived to contract a marriage between her and Isaac.

Note that most of these priestly daughters had two principal sons:

Rebekah - Esau (oldest) and Jacob (youngest)
Rachel - Joseph (oldest) and Benjamin (youngest)
Zipporah - Gershom (oldest) and Eliezer (youngest)
Asenath - Manasseh (oldest) and Ephraim (youngest)
Tamar - Zerah (oldest) and Perez (youngest)

The firstborn son was the proper heir, but the younger son received a position of priority or a familial blessing. It was common for the descendants of these sons to intermarry (caste endogamy). Their descendants claimed both sons and their wives as their common ancestors (cognatic descent).

Both sons and their wives are ancestors of the long-awaited Messiah. We find this preference for the youngest son in the stories of Abraham, Terah's youngest son, and David, Jesse's youngest son. 

Let’s take a closer look at each of these women.

Keturah, Abraham’s Cousin Wife
Keturah resided at the Well of Sheba (Beersheba) where Abraham went to take her as his cousin wife. She was the daughter of the priest Joktan. According to the cousin bride’s naming prerogative, she named their first-born son Joktan after her father. She bore Abraham six sons. Her son Midian is the ancestor of Zipporah who married Moses.


Rebekah, Isaac’s Cousin Wife

Rebekah's father was Bethuel. Bethuel was Abraham’s nephew, the son of his brother Nahor who ruled over Terah’s territory in Mesopotamia. That territory appears to have extended between Ur (in Iraq) and Haran (in Southern Turkey). The name Bethuel means "House of God" and likely refers to his shrine.


Rachel, Jacob’s Cousin Wife

Rachel was Jacob's cousin wife. She was of the clan of Laban. It is likely that she and Leah were half-sisters. Jacob met her while she was drawing water at the well. She bore him two sons, both of whom are significant ancestors of Jesus Messiah. The oldest son, Joseph, married Asenath, the daughter of a priest of Heliopolis, the most prestigious shrine city on the Nile at that time.


Asenath, Joseph’s Egyptian wife

Asenath bore Joseph two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. Ephraim, the younger son, was tagged as an ancestor of the Jesus, God’s Son. Asenath's name means “holy to Anath.” Anath was goddess who was sometimes called Mari-Anath, the consort of the high God. Some water shrines were dedicated to her, and women came to these shrines to ask the High God for children or to ask for healing (compare to John 5).


Zipporah, Moses’ Midianite Wife

Zipporah was Moses’ wife and a daughter of Jethro, Priest of Midian. Her name is derived from the word ציפור (tsipor, meaning “bird”). Moses met her at a well where she and the other women were being harassed by Egyptians. She bore Moses two sons: Gershom and Eliezer. The younger son was Eliezer, whose name means "God is my help”, is tagged as the ancestor of Jesus, the Son of God. Jacob gives the blessing reserved for the firstborn to Ephraim (Gen 48). Ephraim's descendants inhabited the principal Canaanite settlements, including Baal-shalisha which means the Three-God or the God associated with the number three.

In 1 Chronicles 23:17, we read about Eliezer’s descendants: "Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.” Note that the name of Eliezer's only son is a variant of the name Rehab. Rehab, who dwelt in Jericho, was another ancestor of Jesus Christ.

In 1 Chronicles 23:17, we read about Eliezer’s descendants: "Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.” Note that the name of Eliezer's only son is a variant of the name Rehab. Rehab, who dwelt in Jericho, was another ancestor of Jesus Christ.

Rahab helped Joshua and Caleb to capture the city of Jericho. She lowered the spies from a window and tied a scarlet cord from the window to protect her household when the Israelites attacked. The scarlet cord, like the blood of the lamb on the doorposts in Egypt, is a sign of the Blood of Jesus.


Tamar, Mother of Twins

Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law who bore him twin sons after he had intercourse with her at a shrine. Possibly this was the shrine of her "father's house" to which she was sent by Judah when he refused to provide her another of his sons as levir. 

Tamar's name means date nut palm. The tamar was a symbol of fertility. Judah praised Tamar as "more righteous” than himself (Gen. 38:26) because she found fulfilled the levirate law when he failed to do so. The younger of Tamar's two sons was Perez, is tagged as an ancestor of Jesus Christ. The book of Ruth tells us that King David is a descendant of Abraham through Perez.


The Pattern in the New Testament

In the New Testament, we find the pattern with Photini, the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s well. According to Tradition her name is Photini and she symbolizes the Church, the "Bride of Christ". The well represents refreshment and a place of ritual cleansing, like baptism. Caesarius of Arles explains that Isaac, Jacob and Moses are types of Jesus Christ, "for this reason they found their wives at wells, because Christ was to find His church at the waters of baptism."

Mary's father was Joachim and tradition tells us that he was both a priest and a shepherd. This meant that he would have needed a well or river to water his flocks. Mary's husband was Joseph of Bethlehem, the city of David. According to 2 Samuel 24, David built an altar at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. Here the shepherd David is shown as a priest, the dual roles that characterize the ruler-priests whose patrilineal lines intermarried, bringing us to the house of Joachim, Mary's father, who was both priest and shepherd.

Widows attached themselves to shrines and temples once their husbands have died. This is what happened in the case of the Prophetess Anna (Luke 2:36-38). She had been living in the temple precincts for many years when Mary brought Jesus to the temple. She beheld the Christ child and proclaimed to all the appearing of Messiah.


The Pattern Observed Today

Priest daughters, widows and indentured virgins lived at temples and shrines throughout the Afro-Asiatic Dominion. The custom is observed even today in Africa and in India, the western and eastern ends of the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion. To understand Canaanite shrines, we do well to investigate its counterparts in West Africa and India.

Osofo Ahadzi explains that women consult deities at the water shrines in order to have children. These children are often pledged to the shrine or to the deity (as Hannah pledged Samuel to God in return for blessing her with a child). Ahadzi says that people who fail to redeem such pledges eventually lose those children.

The same practice is evident at Hindu temples. Dr. Shabhash C. Sharma writes, "Regarding the treatment of people (including the young girls and widows) in shelters, temples and orphanages, Hinduism is quite emphatic in its opposition to any abuse and exploitation at the hands of those in positions of power and authority: 'He, who betrays one who has sought refuge, will meet destruction. The very earth will not let the seed that he sows, sprout.' The Mahabarata (1, p. 181).

Dr. Sharma further explains: "Sometimes even if the parents of a young girl or boy are alive, they might not be in a good socio-economic condition to take care of their kid and thus could decide to send her/him to live in a temple thinking that the temple would do a better job in raising their child. Thus the temple might be considered by some people an ideal place to raise their child where free room, board and education (in spirituality, arts, music, dancing etc.) are available, perhaps in return for a small or light physical (manual) service (work) to the temple."

Dr Sharma explains: "The same type of consideration, as indicated above for young girls, is generally applicable to adult women, especially the widows, when they decide to live in temples and religious places like Vrindavan. Note that even though the widows living in such places (temples etc.) might number in several thousand they still represent an extremely small minority relative to millions of Indian widows..."

The Hidden Son

The social structure points to HR (Horus), called the "Son of God" among the early Hebrew (4200 B.C.). HR means "The Hidden One" or "The Most High One". 

While it seems that most of the biblical stories of conflict between brothers involve two brothers, there is always a third brother. For example: Cain, Abel, and Seth. Usually, one of the three sons is less well known, or dies. Abraham's older brother Haran is said to have died in Ur. Often the third brother is hidden in the text. This is the case with the three brothers and clan chiefs Magog, Og, and Gog. Og is the third brother is hidden in the text. Another example is the three-clan confederation of Uz, Huz and Buz (Gen. 22; Gen. 36:28). We note the pattern of three sons here:

Gen. 4 - Cain, Abel, Seth
Gen. 4 - Jubal, Jabal, Tubal
Gen. 7 - Ham, Shem, Japheth
Gen. 11 - Haran, Nahor, Abraham

Gen. 46 - Jimnah, Jishvah, Jishvi

Moses was one of three sons. His brothers Aaron and Korah were both priests. Korah was a direct descendant of Seir the Horite Hebrew ruler of Edom (Gen. 36)

It appears that the three sons formed a three-clan confederation. The same trait is found among the extant Jebusites. While there are two Jebu provinces, there are three brothers: Yoruba, Egba and Ketu. We find this same two kingdoms-three brother pattern in Genesis.

The practice of levirate marriage is very ancient. The term is derived from the Latin word levir, meaning "husband's brother". When a man died without a male heir, his widow was married to the next oldest son whose duty it was to produce a son for his dead brother.

Bethlehem was a Horite Hebrew town and the Horites and Jebusites shared common ancestors. I Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur (Hor) as the "father of Bethlehem". Matthew 2 explains that the title "Nazarene" is derived from the prophecy "He will be called a Nazorean", but this has no Old Testament source. The source is likely from the much older Akkadian language. Na-Zor means "one belonging to the Zorites". In 1 Chronicles 2:54, Salma of Judah is called the father of the צרעי (Zorites). Salma is also called the "father of Bethlehem" in 1 Chronicles 2:51. The prophecy probably speaks of one born in Bethlehem, which was home to the Zorites.

1 Chronicles 4:2 notes that there were multiple Zorites clans: "Reaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites." The Zorites or Zorathites are connected to Salma, Hur (a Horus name), and Bethlehem, but not isolated to Bethlehem.

Related reading: Wells and Brides; Where Abraham Spent His Old Age; The Daughters of Priests; The Two Brides of Christ; Three-Clan Confederations to Twelve Tribes

Did Jesus Have a Wife?

Alice C. Linsley

Karen L. King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, notes that Jesus refers to a wife in this Gnostic Coptic fragment.  The specific phrase in question reads, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife..." and many assume that this must be a literal wife.



Photo: Karen L King

The document says very little about a wife. Here is the entire text of the fragment: (The ellipses indicate unreadable material.)

1 ] “not [to] me. My mother gave to me li[fe…”
2 ] The disciples said to Jesus, “.[
3 ] deny. Mary is worthy of it
4 ]……” Jesus said to them, “My wife . .[ [
5 ]… she will be able to be my disciple . . [
6 ] Let wicked people swell up … [
7] As for me, I dwell with her in order to . [
8] an image [
1 ] my moth[er
2 ] three [
3 ] …[
4 ] forth which … [

In this article in the New York Times, King makes the point "that this fragment should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married. The text was probably written centuries after Jesus lived, and all other early, historically reliable Christian literature is silent on the question."

The Vatican has declared the fragment a fake.

The fragment represents Coptic Gnosticism or late Egyptian mysticism. Mysticism of the Nile Valley often involves allegories about taking a wife. The ruler's second wife was taken at the time of the ruler's ascension to the throne, so the metaphor of a wedding is linked to the beginning of the kingdom. Jesus might naturally use such language in referring to his ascension and the dawning of His eternal Kingdom.

Jesus Christ never married but He has two brides, following the marriage and ascendancy pattern of his Horite ruler-priest ancestors. A second bride was taken shortly before he ascended.

The second bride is the Church, represented by Photini. As was the common practice among Abraham's people, grooms met and courted their brides at wells.

The pattern of two wives characterizes the Horite marriage and ascendency structure. This is evident with Abraham's father, Abraham, Jacob, Esau and Moses' father.

The first wife is his sister bride, represented by all who lived in faithful expectation of His coming into the world in the flesh. They repose in the "Bosom of Abraham." Among these are the priest Simeon and the Prophetess Anna.

Related reading:  Who Were the Horites?; Moses' Horite Family; Jesus' Horite Ancestry; Yes, Georgia, there is a Kingdom!; Dr. Albert Mohler, The Gospel of Jesus' Wife? When Sensationalism Masquerades as Scholarship; The Wife of Jesus Hoax; The Pattern of Two Wives

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

Wells and Brides

Alice C. Linsley


"Therefore blessed Jacob, as you have heard, went into Mesopotamia to take a wife. When he had come to a certain well, he saw Rachel coming with her father's sheep - after he recognized her as his cousin, he kissed her as soon as the flock was supplied with water. If you notice carefully, brothers, you can recognize that it was not without reason that the holy patriarchs found their wives at wells or fountains. If this had happened only once, someone might say it was accidental and not for some definite reason. Blessed Rebekah who was to be united to blessed Isaac was found at the well; Rachel whom blessed Jacob was to marry was recognized at the well; Zipporah who was joined to Moses was found at the well." - Caesarius of Arles (Sermon 88:1)

To this list, we must add Keturah who resided at the Well of Sheba where Abraham went to take her as his second wife. And there is the Samaritan Woman at the well to whom Jesus spoke. Her name, according to Tradition, is Photini and she symbolizes the Church, the "Bride of Christ."

In addition to the pattern of meeting brides at wells, we recognize that Rebekah and Zipporah were drawing water for their father's sheep. This is highly suggestive, since Zipporah was the daughter of the "Priest of Midian", Jethro. Mary's father was Joachim and tradition tells us that he was both a priest and a shepherd. Was Rebekah the daughter of a priest? Very likely.

Rebekah's father was Bethuel, which means "House of God" and probably refers to a shrine. Bethuel was a son of Nahor and Milka, a "brother" of the tribal unit designated by Huz, Uz, Buz, and a nephew of Abraham (Genesis 22:20-22).

The well also represents refreshment, neutral ground for strangers to meet, and a place of ritual cleansing. Caesarius of Arles explains that since Isaac, Jacob and Moses are all types of Jesus Christ, "for this reason they found their wives at wells, because Christ was to find His church at the waters of baptism."

The ancient shrines were built at wells, rivers, oases and springs which sustained the flocks of the priests who tended those shrines. It was here that Horite ruler-priests often met their future wives.

Related reading:  Water and Blood; A Woman at a Well; Shepherd Priests