Cutting Through the Textual Layers

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

A reader has asked: If there are several "layers" of "Adam", would there also be several layers of Eve, Eden, Tree, and Serpent?

The term "layers" is helpful if we imagine the growth rings of a tree. The oldest rings are near the center of the tree. The layers are visible when we cut through the tree. That is what the discipline of Biblical Anthropology does using the canonical Scriptures. It seeks to identify the oldest layers and to use that data to gain a clearer picture of the social structure of the early Hebrew.

Biblical anthropology asks about antecedents. It explores what comes before what is described in the text. What events preceded the events recounted? It seeks to understand the cultural context of the earliest persons named in Genesis: Adam, Eve, Cain and Seth, etc. It is concerned with ancestors and received traditions. From what earlier context did certain practices develop? What traces of ancient memory can be uncovered?

The biblical text always speaks of something older, some prior action that solicits a response from later generations. The later generations are enjoined to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is a thick cultural web surrounding the God of the early biblical Hebrew. 

That context is not apparent to the casual reader because it is hidden behind layers of Jewish midrash, denominational interpretations, and theological typologies. The tree in the midst of the garden is taken as a type of the Cross or as the Tree of Life. The serpent is taken as the usurper of God's authority, the Devil, or God's adversary, Satan. 

The tree of life and the serpent are ancient mythological motifs and are found in many of the world's religions. They are clues as to the riverine contexts of the early Hebrew, devotees of God Father and God's son. The early Hebrew believed that a woman of their ruler-priest caste would bring forth the Son/Seed of God who would crush the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). The enemy of God bruises the foot of the Woman’s Son, but the Son crushes his head. That expectation that was expressed around 4000 years ago: "Horus has shattered (crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot" (The Pyramid Texts, Utterance 388). Horus is the Greek for the ancient Egyptian HR, meaning "Most High One".

Biblical anthropology insists that the texts be read empirically. The reader identifies data that makes the earlier contexts clearer. The mythological Adam and Eve are posed as the first parents (apical ancestors). This is consistent with many African origin stories. Among the Gikuyu, the first man and women were called Gikuyu and Mumbi. However, these are not the first humans on earth, but the founders of the Gikuyu people. Likewise, Adam and Eve are the founders of the clans that come to be identified as Horite and Sethite Hebrew. These are Abraham's ancestors. 

Abraham is the father of many peoples, an icon of faith, and a sent away son to whom God delivered a territory in ancient Edom. The sending away of non-ascendant sons is a feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the biblical Hebrew. That feature drove their dispersion out of Africa. 

The Bible designates Abraham a Hebrew, but he was not the first Hebrew. The Hebrew ruler-priest caste existed before Abraham's time (c.2100 B.C.). The term "Hebrew" comes from the ancient Akkadian word for priest, Abru. Akkadian is the oldest known Semitic language and the language of Nimrod's territory. Genesis 10 designates Nimrod as a Kushite kingdom builder. Here we have evidence for the movement of the early Hebrew out of Africa into Mesopotamia. 

The early Hebrew named in the Genesis 4, 5, 10 and 11 lists were rulers over territories in Eden. The term Eden derives from the Akkadian term edinu, which refers to a fertile plain or a flood plain. In Genesis 2:11-14, Eden is described as a vast well-watered region that extended from the sources of the Nile River in Ethiopia and Uganda to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Some of the world's oldest cultures are found in this Fertile Crescent. However, the biblical description of Eden comes long after the time of Adam and Eve. It is a kindling of ancient memory.

In Genesis, Adam's wife is called Hava (חוה) which is descriptive of her role as the birther (Gen. 3:20). Adam describes Eve as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, suggesting that she and he have the same father, as did Sarah and Abraham.

As Adam's half-sister, Eve would have produced Adam's heir, which is Cain, the firstborn son. This may explain the royal affix -itti- in Genesis 4:1, where Eve claims to have acquired a man or a ruler with God's help.

E. A. Speiser (Anchor Bible Commentary on Genesis, p. 30) believes that the word qaniti (Gen. 4:1) is in assonance with "Cain" (Qayin). However, the word that appears in Genesis 4:1 is Akkadian, not Hebrew. Iti or itti is an Akkadian affix that appears with rulers’ names, and in reference to deities. For example, itti šarrim means "with the king." Another example: itti-Bel-balatu means "with Bel there is life."

Itti appears in royal names such as Nefertitti. Even today among the Oromo of the Horn of Africa the affix designates persons of high social standing: Kaartuumitti, Finfinneetti, and Dimashqitti.

Eve apparently recognized her firstborn son as a ruler. Yet Cain was banished or sent away from his parents' homeland. Genesis 4:15 states that he moved "east of Eden". If his homeland was in the Nile Valley, that means Cain moved into Arabia. His descendants are found in the land of Kenan/Kenites, which is the land of Canaan, or כנען, pronounced kena'an.

His brother Seth ruled over a territory in the Nile Valley which was called the Land of Seti. Cain and Seth built cities, had musical instruments, worked stone and metal, and worshiped the High God. Their descendants intermarried (as shown in the diagram) and dispersed widely as early kingdom builders.

Lamech the Elder with his two wives (Gen. 4) and Lamech the Younger, his grandson (Gen. 5).

The biblical data identifies the historical Adam and Eve as founding parents of the early Hebrew lines descending from Cain and Seth. Because the descendants of Cain and Seth intermarried (caste endogamy), all their Hebrew descendants could claim them and their unnamed wives as their common ancestors (cognatic descent). 

The ascendant rulers took half-sisters as their first wives and later in life took patrilineal cousins as their second wives. Sarah was Abraham's half-sister wife (Gen.  Sarah enjoyed the life of a wealthy, highborn woman. Her name is derived from the Akkadian word for queen: šarratum. In Genesis 20:12, Abraha explains that he and Sarah had the same father but different mothers. Their father Terah had two wives, as did many Hebrew rulers.

Keturah was Abraham's cousin bride. She bore him six sons and an unknown number of daughters. The two wives lived in separate settlements and those settlements were instrumental in maintaining territorial boundaries. However, the birth of two firstborn sons raises the question: “Which is the ruler’s proper heir?” Among the early Hebrew the proper heir was the firstborn son of the first wife, usually a half-sister. That is why Isaac was Abraham's proper heir, and like his father, Isaac was a man of great wealth. He ruled over his father's territory in Edom (Idumea), the land of red people.

Analysis of the early Hebrew kinship pattern provides verification that these were historical persons. Their kinship pattern is authentic. If it were not so, it could not be diagrammed, and that kinship pattern would not be consistent through the biblical texts. Some have offered the proofless argument that the structure of the king lists of Genesis 4 and 5 reflects a literary device. Biblical anthropology has demonstrated that the kinship of Genesis 4 and 5 "begets" is the same pattern found with Ham and Shem, Abraham and Nahor, and many other Hebrew rulers named in the Bible.

Kinship patterns are highly resistant to change, especially among castes. The early Hebrew were a ruler-priest caste with a distinctive marriage and ascendancy pattern. That pattern can be discerned by cutting through the layers, using an empirical method.

Related reading: Genesis in Anthropological Perspective; Three Portraits of Adam; Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Father of Adam and Eve; The First Lords of the Earth: An Anthropological Study; Contextual Incongruities in Genesis

About My Book "The First Lords of the Earth"

Dear Readers,

It has been a long time coming (40 years), but my book The First Lords of the Earth: An Anthropological Study is now available to purchase on Amazon. Purchase options include Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. All are priced to accommodate the book lover on a tight budget.

This paradigm-shifting book identifies the social structure and religious beliefs of the early Hebrew ruler-priest caste (6000-4000 years ago), their dispersion out of Africa, their territorial expansion, trade routes, and influence on the populations of the Fertile Crescent and Ancient Near East.

I was able to make a rather complex subject easy to understand. I hope you will buy the book and discover answers to some perennial questions, such as:

• Who were the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew?
• Where is the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship?
• Why did so many Hebrew men have two wives?
• What was the difference in status between wives and concubines?
• What types of authority did the biblical Hebrew recognize?
• What were some symbols of authority among the early Hebrew?
• How did their acute observation of the patterns in nature inform their reasoning?
• If Judaism is NOT the Faith of the early Hebrew, what did they believe?

It is ancient history, anthropology, and Biblical studies wrapped into one fascinating read. I hope you will find it helpful and informative.

Best wishes to you all,

Alice C. Linsley

Related reading: The First Lords and Messianic Expectation; The First Lords and Their Authority; The First Lords is a Paradigm-Shifting Book; Response to a Review of First Lords of the Earth

New to Just Genesis?

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

If you are new to Just Genesis you may find this INDEX of Topics helpful.

The articles that appear here reflect an empirical approach to the study of biblical populations. The investigation of the cultural context of these populations is called Biblical Anthropology. This science is not to be confused with theological anthropology which is more speculative. 

Archaeology in the Bible lands is called "Biblical Archaeology" and the science of anthropology pertaining to Biblical populations is "Biblical Anthropology". This approach requires thinking empirically about the 66 canonical books from which we draw anthropologically significant data to better understand the social structure and religious beliefs and practices of biblical populations.

In this science assertions must be backed up with data from the biblical texts. Assumptions must be demonstrated to have a basis in the Scriptures. We avoid theological speculation and denominational interpretations.

The 66 canonical books of the Bible are the primary resource used by Biblical anthropologists, but we also look at other books of importance such as the Books of Enoch, Judith, and the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sirach). These contain valuable anthropological information.

Anthropologists are interested in material culture. We want to know what people made, what materials they used, and what tools they used. We are curious about the things they used in daily life. How did they bury their dead? What did they believe about the creation of the world? What culture traits made their population distinctive? How did they organize for war? Where did the rulers derive their authority?

A central task of Biblical Anthropology is to uncover antecedents. Culture traits, ceremonies, rituals, and religious beliefs do not spring suddenly into existence. They develop organically over time from traditions received from the ancestors. Biblical anthropology provides tested methods and tools to push back the veil of time, to uncover anthropologically significant data that clarifies precedents, etiology, and context. The discoveries made in Biblical Anthropology prove helpful to students, pastors, and academics.

A central task of Biblical Anthropology is to uncover antecedents; something coming before what is described in the text. What events preceded the events recounted? From what earlier context did certain practices develop? What traces of ancient memory can be uncovered? Biblical Anthropology seeks to understand the cultural context of the Bible at the oldest foundations. It is concerned with ancestors and received traditions. Abraham's ancestors lived in the Nile Valley. Abraham was not the first Hebrew. The Hebrew ruler-priest caste from which he received his faith existed at least 2000 years before Abraham's time. That caste believed in God Father and God Son. The faith of Abraham was not Judaism. In Biblical Anthropology a distinction is made between the early Hebrew (4200-2000 B.C.), Jacob's clan of the Exodus called "Israelites" (1500 B.C.), and the Jews whose identity emerged after the Babylonian captivity (597-538 B.C.).

The biblical text always speaks of something older, some prior action that solicits a response from later generations. What Jacques Derrida called the "trace" is always there, and unless one moves toward that presence, the nature of it remains unknown. Even where later sources attempt to efface an earlier account, as happens in Genesis, the trace has a voice. Judaism does not erase the faith of Abraham into which Messiah's followers are grafted. The prior remains evident. There is a subjugated voice or a minority opinion, and those who care about the bigger picture read minority opinions.

David Noel Freedman said: “The Hebrew Bible is the one artifact from antiquity that not only maintained its integrity but continues to have a vital, powerful effect thousands of years later.” Both anthropologists and archaeologists turn to the Bible for clues and data. Very often this has led to wonderful discoveries! Let's use this forum to advance the science of Biblical Anthropology.

Related reading: Using the Bible to Test Hypotheses; What Does a Biblical Anthropologist Do?; Christianity is the One True Messianic Faith; Judaism is Not the Faith of Abraham; Hebrew, Israelite, Jew; Is It Possible to Speak of the Proto-Gospel?; What Abraham Discovered on Mount Moriah

About Alice C. Linsley

 

Alice C. Linsley (M.Div.; D. Litt. honoris causa) is a Christian apologist with special training in Biblical Anthropology, an empirical approach to the canonical tests. She was an adjunct professor of Ethics, Philosophy, and World Religions at Midway University (Kentucky) for fourteen years.

Her address to the International Catholic Congress of Anglicans is available here:
ICCA 2015: Alice Linsley - YouTube

Her writings have appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, journals, and virtual sources in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

She contributes to Virtueonline. Some of the publications there include:

"Freeing God from Gender and Tradition"
"Christianity Lacks Originality"
"Why Women Were Never Priests"
"Ten Objections to Women Priests"

"The Crisis of Authority in Anglicanism"

"Divorce Episcopal Style"

She is a member of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) and one of the founding members of Christian Women in Science (CWiS).

Alice manages the international Facebook forum The Bible and Anthropology, a working group that includes anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists, Bible scholars, students, and clergy from many denominations. Members represent various religious traditions including Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. 

Testimonials about her research can be found here:

Alice C. Linsley's Genesis Research

Interviews with Alice C. Linsley have appeared in the following periodicals and radio broadcasts:

Wim Houtman, Nederlands Dagblad
Zaji Travel Magazine
Orthodox Radio of Canada
“From Canterbury to Constantinople” Frank Lockwood
“Stepping into the Stream” Road to Emmaus Interview
“Illumined Heart Podcast” Ancient Faith Radio


She manages and writes for the following blogs:

Biblical Anthropology
Distinctive Discipleship
Ethics Forum
Just Genesis
Philosophers' Corner
STEM Education (CWiS)


Alice has lived in Spain, Greece, Iran, the Philippines, and the United States, and she has traveled in Europe, Southeast Asia, India, and Australia.

Alice is available to speak at conferences.


Related reading: Index of Topics at Just Genesis; Index of Topics at Biblical Anthropology; INDEX of Topics at Ethics Forum; INDEX of Topics at Philosophers' Corner; INDEX of Topics at STEM Education (CWiS)

YEC's Silence on Anthropology

The Grand Canyon at dawn.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Young-earth creationists believe that the days of Genesis 1 were six consecutive 24-hour days, which occurred 6,000–12,000 years ago. They believe that about 4,300 years ago the surface of the earth was radically rearranged by a worldwide flood. Some sea creatures, and all land animals and birds not in Noah’s Ark perished and were subsequently buried in the flood sediments. Therefore, young-earth creationists believe that the catastrophic global flood was responsible for most of the rock layers and fossils. They believe that some rock layers and some fossils were deposited before the Flood and other layers and fossils were produced in localized sedimentation events or processes.

Geologists agree that the age of the rock layers that make up the walls of the Grand Canyon range between 270 million years and 1.8 billion years. YEC argues that the Grand Canyon was created with the appearance of age. This begs the question: "Why would God create a deception?"

Notice that YEC focuses on geology. The YEC literature avoids anthropological data, such as the fact that humans were burying their dead in red ocher for at least 100,000 years as a symbolic blood covering in the hope of life after death. (See "On Blood and the Impulse to Immortality" for further explanation.) It fails to address the substantial evidence of artifacts which reveal that humans had already populated most of the globe by 14,000 years ago, around 10,000 years before Noah lived.

The YEC explanation for the extinction of creatures is a worldwide flood. They believe that more than 50% of all the types of land vertebrate animals that God created have been lost to extinction. This is pure speculation intended to address a weakness in the YEC teachings. But notice again, that YEC avoids discussion of the very ancient human fossils around the world that show no evidence of violent deaths such as drowning or being battered by raging waves and winds. 

Consider the Gobero cemetery finds. Paleoanthropologist Paul Sereno unearthed 10,000-year skeletons at Gobero in Niger. These were buried on the edge of a paleolake on the northwestern rim of the Chad Basin. The Gobero site is the earliest known cemetery in the Sahara and the skeletons found there indicated that some were at least 6 feet tall. Sereno reports that most of the humans buried there appear to have died of natural causes.

What was happening before Noah?

The evidence of archaic human industry, religion, ritual burial, and domesticity in Africa, Arabia, and China creates a more accurate picture of the earlier populations.

On the Arabian Peninsula, the Qafzeh population was using tools 125,000 years ago at Jebel Faya and burying their dead in red ochre.

Humans were making reed mattresses 77,000 years ago in South Africa. That is where the oldest mattress— made from compacted grasses and leafy plants— was found at the Sibudu Cave site in KwaZulu-Natal. In this same region a stone carving of a python has been found that dates to 70,000 years.

There is the evidence of mining 80,000 to 90,000 years ago. These major mining operations in southern Africa included quarries and tunnels. It is estimated that a million kilos of red ocher ore were excavated from several mines. At one mine half a million stone-digging tools were found. The red ocher was ground to power and was used globally to bury rulers. Anthropologists agree that the red ocher symbolized blood.

The Pengtoushan culture thrived along the Yangtze River between BC. 7500–6100, and the Yangshao culture flourished along the central Yellow River between BC. 5000 and 3000. Yangshao nobles wore silk garments.

The YEC literature largely avoids examination of the artifact evidence of human existence on earth. It also ignores the genomic evidence of human ancestry as early as 250,000 years before the present (YBP). 

The dispersion of Abraham's early ancestors out of Africa is never discussed. (Nimrod the Kushite was one of them). In fact, Africa rarely enters YEC literature because Noah is cast as a Middle Easterner whose ship landed on a mountain in Turkey. And YEC folks mistakenly assume that Africa is the home of black people, and they are under divine judgement. The modern assumption that African = black is false. (See this discussion.)

This last fact reveals the unbiblical and racist nature of YEC dogma. At the back of YEC books such as Terry Mortenson's Coming to Grips with Genesis, one finds the Twelve Affirmations and Denials. Affirmation XII claims that the diversity of languages and skin color came about as a result of divine judgment at the Tower of Babel.

XII. We affirm that all people living and dead are descended from Adam and Eve...and that the various people groups (with their various languages, cultures, and distinctive physical characteristics, including skin color) arose as a result of God's supernatural judgment at the Tower of Babel..."

There is no denying that the oldest human fossils have been found in Africa. Not surprisingly, the oldest material in Genesis connects to early Hebrew populations living in Africa. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship was at Nekhen on the Nile. This was a settlement in Noah's time (c. 4000 BC). The oldest preserved beard (c.3400 BC) was found there in burial no. 79, and it is the beard of a redhead. 

The themes of Genesis 1-3 find their closest parallels in African creation and origin stories. So much so, that it can be argued that the Gospel has roots in Africa.

Noah was a Neolithic Proto-Saharan ruler.

It hardly matters if the days of creation were 24-hour days or thousands of years each. The earth's creation predates the time of Noah by millions of years. Noah lived during the African Aqualithic, when the Sahara was wet. Noah was a Proto-Saharan ruler who lived about 6000 years ago in the region of Lake Chad. This is the only location on earth that is claimed to be Noah's homeland by the native populations. The place names of that region tell us so: Borno and Benue mean "Land of Noah" in different dialects. The Kanuri speak of Lake Chad as Buhar Nuhu, meaning "Sea of Noah."

Young Earth Creationism either ignores the human artifacts that are many thousands, even millions of years old, or it attempts to discredit the dating by saying that carbon dating is inaccurate. Of course, scientists use many dating methods. When you are talking about artifacts that are 500,000-800,000 years, even if the dating is off by 50%, the ages are still well beyond the YEC estimate of the Earth's age at 10,000 years. Many thousands of human artifacts have been found that date to over 200,000 years. See this list of some of the more significant finds.

Biblical anthropology is a relatively new science, but it helps us to see the parallels between the Genesis origin stories and similar African narratives. The parallels include speaking of the High God as Father who has a Son; estrangement from the Creator because of the disobedience of the first parents, and the belief that diversity of human appearance is due to the soil from which the first parents were formed. Thus, Adam is described as a red man being formed from the red earth of the Nile Valley. The autochthonous origin of humans is found in many African narratives. It is expressed in the Shilluk creation story. The Shilluk of Sudan call the Creator Jouk. Jouk made white people out of white sand and the Shilluk out of black soil. When the Creator came to Egypt, he made the people there out of the red silt of the Nile. 

The great challenge is to help people read Genesis more empirically so they avoid dismissal of the truth of the myths and avoid a literal reading where it is not intended. (See Between Biblical Literalism and Biblical Illiteracy.)

Related reading: The Roots of the Gospel are in Africa; Artifacts of Great Antiquity; YEC and Biodiversity Loss; YEC Dogma is NOT Biblical; Was Earth Repopulated after Noah's Flood?; Time to Jettison Young Earth Creationism

A Word of Thanks

More people are coming to Just Genesis to do research. There is a much improved INDEX that can help researchers find pertinent material. Take a look! 

The topics are arranged alphabetically and all the essays are hot linked for quick access.

Additionally, I've included "related reading" at the end of the essays to enable readers to investigate a topic more deeper.

I receive communications from people telling me that they find the approach of Biblical Anthropology helpful in gaining a clearer understanding of the Bible and biblical populations. Often they have questions that I attempt to answer, and sometimes they provide extremely important data that advances this research. This is enormously rewarding!

Thank you for following this research and for contributing to this emerging branch of cultural anthropology. Thank you for reading JUST GENESIS.

Alice C. Linsley


Related reading: Join the conversation at The Bible and Anthropology FB Group.

Why an Empirical Approach to the Bible?

Grape harvest, tomb image at Thebes

Note the range of appearance among ancient Nilotes.

Alice C. Linsley

The books of the Bible include sacred texts older than the Bible itself. The Bible is a valuable source of information pertaining to history, ethnography, legends, origin stories, and myths; all of which interest cultural anthropologists. An empirical approach to biblical texts helps us to better understand ancient biblical populations. 

Biblical anthropology works hand-in-hand with biblical archaeology. Biblical archaeologists dig up artifacts and survey ancient monuments to gain a better understanding of the material culture of populations living mainly in the "Holy Land." Biblical Anthropologists dig data out of the Bible to better understand the cultures and social patterns of diverse biblical populations from Africa to Europe.

Some anthropologists regard the words Bible and Anthropology as an oxymoron (from Greek ὀξύμωρον, "sharply dull"). Why would a volume of poetry, prayers, oracles, curses, king lists, etc. stand as a contradiction to the discipline of anthropology? Cultural anthropologists investigate such things when it comes to shamans, native healers, and griots. Why not investigate the biblical texts for data related to the many biblical populations and their beliefs?

A central task of biblical anthropology is to uncover antecedents; something coming before what is described in the text. Biblical anthropology seeks to understand the cultural context of the Bible at the oldest levels. It is concerned with ancestors and received traditions. What events preceded the events recounted? From what earlier context did certain practices develop? What traces of ancient memory can be uncovered?

The biblical text always speaks of something older, some prior action that solicits a response from later generations. The later generations are told to see the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is a thick cultural web surrounding that God.

Here is what some people have to say on this topic. 

Michael F: Science and beliefs do not mix.

Alice L: Science begins in belief. One must believe something to begin to think scientifically.

Gioiello: Bible and theology are not the enemy of the biological evolution; they are superfluous.

Alice L: That's the sort of remark one reads at sites "where graduate students, researchers, doctors and the 'skeptical community' go not to interpret data or review experiments but to chip off one-liners, promote their books and jeer at smokers, fat people and churchgoers? And can anyone who still enjoys this class-inflected bloodsport tell me why it has to happen under the banner of science? " -- Virginia Heffernan, The NYT Magazine

Susan B: There is a chasm between science and religion that needs to be bridged before our understanding of the human condition can be fully formed.

Alice L: I agree. Biblical anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, DNA studies, and migration and climate studies help to close the gap. Biblical anthropology, like biblical archaeology, uses the Bible as a resource in advancing knowledge of the ancient Near Eastern and African peoples. Both seek data and material evidence, only of a different kind. 

Elsbeth T: An anthropologist is always seeking data. Perhaps this is the key to finding a common ground between the theologian and the anthropologist. Both are looking for evidence (data) to confirm truths (conclusions). I think that using a scientific methodology can be beneficial to all sides of the conversation.

Susan B: If the study of biblical humanity is to be undertaken then science and religion are going to have to "mix it up". I see nothing wrong with stating our personal beliefs. They are conclusions reached through research and evidence no different than an atheist declaring the fact that there is no god. Science does not have the ability to definitively prove this theory one way or the other and does not take a position. That doesn't stop popular scientists and other vocal critics from suggesting we would be better off without a "belief" system. But before religion is relegated to the trash heap of human progress, don't you think it would be a good idea to see what selective benefit it afforded us?

Hope R: Throughout history skeptics in the field of anthropology have denied the existence of many cities and events described in the Bible, only to have them discovered, uncovered, and confirmed by people in their own field. To quote Bill Boyd, "Faith goes beyond the evidence, but not against it."

Alice L: But there is a bias against faith-talk in the scientific and academic communities, often even open hostility. I've experienced it. My research has been called a "mixture of faith and reason" which was meant as a slight, but which some might take as a compliment. Still, you have to wonder about the dismissal of belief or faith. Every scientist operates on belief and faith of some kind, if nothing else than the faith that the laws of physics will be the same tonight as they were this morning.

Beside an anti-Bible bias, there is ignorance of the Bible and the usefulness of biblical data in making connections. There is the problem of assumptions about what the Bible says on the part of people who have never read the Bible. For the most part, people are biblically illiterate. The same can be said for those who attend church. Gary Burge, professor of New Testament at Wheaton College (Illinois), is astonished by the ignorance of the Bible among the students who come to Wheaton from "Bible-believing" churches. He says, “If it is true that biblical illiteracy is commonplace in secular culture at large, there is ample evidence that points to similar trends in our churches."

Susan B: How very disappointing that Biblical Anthropology is not a recognized scientific field of study! I have been knocking at that door for many years but have been either ignored or belittled. Biblical anthropology is my passion but, unfortunately, not my career path. Until a few days ago, I didn't know we were allowed to connect those two words together.

Marty P: Biblical anthropologists start out by ignoring existing data or by assuming they are the first scholars in history to pay attention to such things as locations and genealogies! I agree with the atheists to the extent that the Mesopotamian myths are remarkably similar to the stories in Genesis 1-11. The parallels cannot be denied. I don't think Genesis is derived from those myths, but contains parallel accounts of the same historical events.

Alice L: That is an example of how a false assumption can cause confusion. Close analysis of the Gilgamesh Epic and the Genesis Flood narrative reveals that they are not similar in any detail except that both have a hero who overcomes the chaos. The Genesis creation and flood stories find their closest parallel in African narratives. The themes, wording, and details are startling! The motifs of the generative breath of God, a tree of life, the serpent, the first parents, God walking on earth - all these originate in Africa. Now we have to ask: are we leaving science when we compare and contrast legends, narratives and myths? Or is comparative mythology simply another tool in the anthropologist's tool box? Can any science make progress without drawing on other disciplines?

Marty P: Interdisciplinary studies have long been conducted into the engrossing and popular topic of Middle East history. Christians, Jews, Arabs, Persians (Iranians) and secular scholars are all intensely interested in this part of the world. Scholars are so interested in all aspects of research that some of the early Middle East history experts found themselves trying to master all related scholarly disciplines. Consider, for example, Professor William Albright, described as follows:

"The fields of scholarly research that Albright controlled were vast and included archaeology, Semitic linguistics (including all branches of the great family of languages, especially the numerous dialects of Northwest Semitic, but not neglecting Akkadian and Arabic), epigraphy, orthography, ancient history, chronology, historical topography, mythology—in short, all facets of ancient Near Eastern civilization from the Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500 BCE ) through the Greco-Roman period."

Froilan S: Or Noel Freedman, a Jewish Bible scholar and well known in biblical archaeology. He says there’s a difference between the Jewish understanding of Genesis and the Christian understanding of Genesis. In the Jewish perspective Genesis is all about how the Israelites lost the land, lost the temple, and how they were in exile. Genesis is all about the story of Israel and God’s covenant with the Israelites. Genesis can only be interpreted by way of allegory, not by way of history. What’s your opinion?

Alice L: Later in his life, David Noel Freedman saw that his allegorical scheme didn’t work perfectly. He and William Albright contributed greatly to the world’s understanding of biblical texts. They were masters in their fields but also willing to admit that not all the evidence aligned with their theories. Freedman once said: “The Hebrew Bible is the one artifact from antiquity that not only maintained its integrity but continues to have a vital, powerful effect thousands of years later.”

In the end, the Bible is as reliable and useful a resource for anthropologists as it is for Bible scholars and biblical archaeologists. But we have to keep an open mind.

Susan B: Here’s a case in point: Cyperus Esculentus is a C4 sedge and Ardi was found to have traces in molars. Chufa (Cyperus E) is a rhizome with underground storage units with protein levels equal to chimp food and much less fiber content than that consumed by chimps. Also, Ardi was found with many pig bones and pigs are tuber feeders. Whether Ardi consumed the pigs or not is irrelevant to the point that pigs were able to find food.

It just seems to me that chufa is a primary candidate for Paleolithic food source shared by apes, proto-humans and humans alike. Why discount it simply because it appears in the Bible? Instead of looking in remote China for the source of C4 sedge why don't they look in front of their noses? Pardon the sarcasm. C4 sedge grows in swampy areas much like rice. It is one of the oldest domesticated plant species if not the absolute oldest.

Alice L: And it grew all over the swampy grasslands of the wet Sahara and Nile Valley. That’s another example of how European and American researchers tend to ignore Africa when making connections. Even "Bible-believers" ignore pertinent data, such as the fact that one of Abraham's ancestors was Nimrod, the son of Kush (Gen. 10). Kush ruled in the Nile Valley and Nimrod ruled in Mesopotamia. The data suggests a movement of a kingdom builders out of Africa that aligns with genetics, linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological evidence.

I’m reminded of how many have ignored Thomas Strasser's discoveries on Crete. He and his team have discovered hundreds of stone hand axes dating between 100,000 and 130,000 years and they are identical to hand axes fashioned in Africa about 800,000 years ago. He believes that ancient Africans used rafts or other seagoing vessels to cross from northern Africa to Europe and the Near East via larger islands in the Mediterranean. 

Similar hand axes have been found on the Iranian plateaus. Ancient African artifacts have been found in China also.

Michael Petraglia's team found stone tools at Jwalapuram in Andhra Pradesh, in southern India. Petragalia's team notes that the Indian tools found in southern India are like those from the African Middle Stone Age about 100,000 years ago. He states, “Whoever was living in India was doing things identical to modern humans living in Africa.”

This is what the data in Genesis indicates: that Abraham's ancestors came out of Africa and were men of renown (Gen. 6:4) and kingdom builders. Nimrod was one of his ancestors and a son of Kush (Gen. 10). He was a sent-away son who established a territory in Mesopotamia.

Although in the Bible we first meet Abraham in Ur, his ancestors came out of Africa. His Hebrew ancestors were a caste of ruler-priests who dispersed widely in the service of kingdom builders like Nimrod, the Kushite (Gen. 10). Biblical anthropology helps us to reconstruct the earlier cultural context of these ancestors, and clarifies the roots of the Messianic Faith in God Father and God Son.


Related reading: The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Biblical Anthropology is Science; What Does a Biblical Anthropologist Do?; Dismantling Outdated Interpretations; Something Older; Biblical Anthropology and Antecedents; Three Portraits of Adam

Image of God Means Imaging God

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26)

What follows is the abstract for IMAGING GOD: A theological Answer to the Anthropological Question? by Alistair McFadyen (University of Leeds). The full text may be read here.

Traditionally the central trope in Christian theological anthropology, ‘the image of God’ tends to function more as a noun than a verb. Whilst that has grounded significant interplay between specific Christian formulations and the concepts of non-theological disciplines and cultural constructs, it facilitates the withdrawal of the image and of theological anthropology more broadly from the context of active relation with God. Rather than a static rendering of the image a more interactionist, dynamic and relational view of ‘imag ing God’ is commended as a key anthropological term. Engaging with Psalm 8 suggests that, biblically, asking the anthropological question (what is humanity?) is tied to the answer to the theological question: who is God? This locates theological anthropology securely within the interactive context of being related to by God and suggests that theological anthropology might be a matter of performance, rather than definition: actively imaging God.

McFadyen's article makes sense of the theological context of this Biblical figure of speech - "the image of God" and he rightly asserts that the theological and the anthropological meanings are inextricably entwined. He uses the term "anthropological" in a theological sense, i.e., as related the biblical view of human nature, and this helps his argument. On the other hand, he fails to explore the trope as an anthropologist would and that weakens his case. 

The weakness comes from failure to see that the structure of Psalm 8:4 is parallel to the structure of Genesis 4-5. Adam and Enoch are paralleled, as are their descendants whose lines intermarried. In this diagram of Cain's line (Genesis 4) and Seth's line (Genesis 5) are shown parallel. They represent two ruling houses that intermarried. Naamah, the daughter of Lamech the Elder, married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah. She named her first-born son Lamech, after her father. This is one of many examples of the cousin bride's naming prerogative found in the Bible.

Analysis of the diagram enables us to see that Enoch and Adam are rulers whose descendants practiced endogamy, that is, their royal lines intermarried. Endogamy is a universal trait of castes. Their descendants represent the oldest known ruler-priest lines, and it is from them that the Son of God came in the person of Jesus Messiah.

On a fundamental level "imaging" God is what the deified ruler is to do. To miss this is to lose sight of the connection between dominion and the divine image. There is a Messianic dimension as the One who has ultimate dominion is the Son of God. Jesus Messiah is the icon of God the Father and this icon is not a static picture, but a living image.

McFadyen writes:

"Because God’s relating – and therefore God – are already oriented towards the human; indeed, oriented and seeking the human in its fullest realization. Psalm 8 has a shorthand code whereby it rolls up the whole history and future directedness of God’s relating in its orientation towards human well-being, flourishing and consummation: God’s mindfulness (v.4). And it is in the context of wondering acknowledgment of the status that affords human beings that it articulates the anthropological question in a specifically and definite theological register."

Adam was made in the image of God and this expresses a God-Man relationship, but beyond that we must consider the claim of Abraham's ancestors that they are the royal descendants of Adam. In other words, they claim a historical link to the divine image through their Horite Hebrew ancestors and this constitutes their work as ruler-priests who are to image God.

Psalm 8:4 is reveals an important theological and anthropological understanding of the God-Man relationship. Adam parallels Enoch/Nok, the father-in-law of Cain and Seth . In this sense, Genesis poses two founding fathers: Adam and Enoch/Nok/Anochie. They are founders of the ruler-priest lines described in the Genesis 4, 5, 11, 25 and 36. These are not genealogies. They are King Lists.

Note that Enoch and Adam are paralleled in Psalm 8:4:

What is man (Enoch/ha-noch) that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man (ben adam) that you care for him?

Psalm 8:4 connects the Adam and Enoch and highlights their historicity and meta-historical significance. The historical ruler Enoch parallels the "son of man", Jesus' favorite description of Himself. There is a sacred mystery here concerning Christ that places Him at the nexus of the meta-historical and the historical. Both Adam and Enoch point to the fully human Son of God, the very "image of God" shown to us perfectly and fully in the person of Jesus Messiah. 

The Psalmist parallels two deified rulers: Adam and Enoch. He regards both as "fathers" of the Hebrew people whose roots are in Eden. Perhaps this is why Jesus' ruler-priest identity was recognized in Tyre in Mark’s Gospel, not on a mountain, as in Matthew's account of the Transfiguration. For Mark, the Messiah’s appearing means the beginning of the restoration of Paradise. Mark likely had in mind this passage from Ezekiel 28: 

"Son of Man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre and say to him: Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and flawless beauty. You were in Eden, in the Garden of God; every precious stone was your adornment... and gold beautifully wrought for you, mined for you, prepared the day you were created."

Likewise Amos 1:5 speaks of “him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden."

Genesis connects "image of God" with dominion over all the earth. Consider this from Genesis 1:26:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

In the beginning, Adam did not have to work for his dominion. God bestowed to him a territory to rule over. The suggestion that Man is to enjoy status as a deified or righteous ruler who "images" the Ruler of the universe is quite evident. This is a bestowed ontology.

The Fall did not remove the image and likeness of God, nor did it remove the responsibility to "image" God. Adam's descendants spread abroad and they ruled over territories from Africa to India and beyond. As they dispersed, they took their expectation that a Son who would be born of their ruler-priest lines. He is called the "Seed" of God in Genesis 3:15. Of this Seed, Paul writes in Galatians 3:

"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."

Jesus referred to Himself as the promised "Seed" when He foretold his death in Jerusalem. He told his disciples "Unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it cannot give life." (John 12:24)

The phrase "image and likeness" suggests a royal seal which holds the image or likeness of the king. There is a sense of divine appointment. Adam, Enoch, Cain, Seth and all appointed rulers after him are to "image" on earth the righteous rule of God. Yet all failed, save Jesus Christ beneath whose feet God will subject all things. 

McFayden writes, "Engaging with Psalm 8 suggests that, biblically, asking the anthropological question (what is humanity?) is tied to the answer to the theological question: who is God?

Psalm 8:4 does indeed speak of who God is. However, it does so using parallelism of historical persons and it places the Son of God as the culminating figure of the biblical narrative and the Messianic Faith.

 Related reading: The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Cain as Ruler; Enoch: Angelic Being or Deified Ruler?; Horite Hebrew Deified Sons; The Horite Ancestry of Jesus Christ: The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Adam Was a Red Man; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection

An Invitation to Bible Teachers

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 2 Timothy 2:15

Alice C. Linsley

Do you teach Bible classes at your church or Christian school? Are you looking for helpful background information for your students? Are you willing to study to show yourself approved to teach the holy Scriptures? Or are you simply repeating what has been said in commentaries and other reference materials? Why not investigate for yourself?

Much of that information in Bible reference materials has been shown to be inaccurate or misleading. This is why Bible teachers must dig deep into the Bible itself. The Bible interprets itself accurately. You also need help in establishing the cultural context of the forty+ biblical populations (not including castes and clans). For that, I encourage you to draw on the findings of Biblical Anthropology. Helping your classes to identify the beliefs and practices of the distinct populations can bring the Scriptures alive.

Pastors and lay persons alike participate in the international Facebook forum The Bible and Anthropology. Here we learn together and are building a valuable body of information. You are welcome to join the group, although the number of members is capped at 1000.

Learn to read the Bible through the lens of cultural anthropology and you will never read it the same way again. Here we learn from one another and together are building a body of knowledge that many will find helpful. Our motto: "Upon this first...rule of reason, that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to believe, there follows one corollary which itself deserves to be inscribed upon every wall of the city of philosophy: Do not block the way of inquiry."--Charles Sanders Peirce, 1896

Reading Scripture through the lens of cultural anthropology is rigorous because no assumption can stand untested, and no assertion can be made without data. If we seek to understand the Bible rather than use the Bible to support an agenda, we will find the approach of Biblical Anthropology helpful.

Additionally, these INDICES have links to a wide range of topics and may be helpful in finding information that is not readily available elsewhere.

Biblical Anthropology INDEX

Just Genesis INDEX

Abraham's Horite Hebrew Ancestors

This diagram shows how the Hebrew lines of Ham and Shem intermarried. Note also that Nimrod's wife named her first born son Asshur, after her father, indicating that she was his cousin bride. This is called the "cousin bride's naming prerogative."


Alice C. Linsley


Abraham is a pivotal figure in the Bible. He is the father of many peoples, the icon of faith, and a sent away son to whom God delivered a kingdom.The Bible designates Abraham a Hebrew, but clearly he was not the first.

"Hebrew" is the English form of an ancient word Habiru, or Hapiru, or 'Apiru. The words Habiru and 'Apiru are found in Akkadian cuneiform texts before Abraham's time. The corresponding word in the Egyptian is pr - house or temple; pr-nfr - good house or house of rejuvenation; pr pn - this house, and prw - houses (cf. Dravidian Opiru - Sun House, shrine, or temple; Ugaritic upr - house; an pero - house, royal granary in the Apatani language of Pradesh, India).

After Abraham's time, the Harris Papyrus speaks of the 'Apriu of Re at Heliopolis (biblical On). Jacob's son Joseph married into this Horite Hebrew line.

The number seven was a sacred number for the Habiru and there may be a connection to the Nilotic Luo word for seven, which is abiriyo. 

The Horite Hebrew of Nekhen offered salutations to the rising Sun at their Sun piru/house. The Arabic yakburu means “he is getting big” and with the intensive active prefix: yukabbiru which means "he is enlarging." The Arabic expresses a linguistic relationship between the house/temple and the rising Sun.

The anthropological evidence suggests that the Hebrew were caste of priests who served the archaic kingdom builders, like the Kushite ruler Nimrod (Gen. 10). They served in the royal temples and shrines, held strictly to moral codes similar to the Decalogue, maintained ritual purity, practiced circumcision, and animal sacrifice on stone altars.

The Hebrew priest lines intermarried (endogamy). This preserved their blood lines and guarded their secrets. They were skilled in astronomy, medicine, stone work, metal work, and funerary practices such as mummification.

Before Abraham's time, the Hebrew priests had dispersed in the service of kingdom builders. The data of Genesis 4-12 presents the dispersion of the early kingdom builders out of Africa. Nimrod, an ancestor of Abraham, is an example. Genesis 10 tells us that he was a Kushite kingdom builder. The religion observed in the territories of the Kushite rulers would have been the religion of their ancestors, their Horim. Most, if not all, the dispersed Kushite rulers had Horite Hebrew in their service. The Horite Hebrew were a very prestigious ruler-priest caste. Thus, it appears that the ancient Horim/Horites were the first missionaries of the Messianic Faith. This happens thousands of years after the Earth was already populated, just as Messiah's appearing comes thousands of years after the earliest Messianic expectation. Apparently, the Eternal One does not rush matters.

The High God is sometimes shown with horns and a solar halo in images found from the Nile to the Kushan territories and as far as Northwestern France and Ireland.

Among the biblical Horite Hebrew the archetype of Messiah was Horus or Enki, the son of God who was said to rise from the dead on the third day.

Among the Celts he was recast as Crom Dubh, and among the Serbs as Hromi Daba or Hrom Div. He was regarded as the "Giving God."

Etruscan image, 520 BC

At Nile shrines Horus appears as man with a falcon's head. His mother,Hathor, wears the long horns of the bull in the shape of a Y that cradles the Sun. This Y shape is a solar cradle indicating divine appointment. The Canaanite Y designates a Horite Hebrew ruler. Note that many names have the initial Y. Some examples include Yaqtan (Joktan), Yacob (Jacob), Yistzak (Isaac),Yosef (Joseph) Yetro (Jethro), Yishai (Jesse), and Yeshua (Joshua/Jesus). The Y was a solar cradle that indicated a Horite Hebrew ruler-priest in Canaan.

Sargon I is said to have been of a virgin queen who was overshadowed by the High God. He was born in an O-piru. His home city was called Azu-piranu, meaning "House of the God Anu" In Akkadian, the High God was called Anu  and his so was called Enki.

Here is a sign post pointing to the origins of Messianic expectation, concerning the divine appointment of a virgin who is to bring forth the "seed" of God (Gen. 3:15). We recall the angel Gabriel's reply to Mary's question, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" The angel explained, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore the Holy One which shall be born of thee shall be called the "Son of God." (Luke 1:34, 35)

The image of Hathor shows her overshadowed by the Sun. The Sun rests in the horns of a cow, a solar cradle (Y). An ancient Egyptian ritual involved placing a male baby before the image of Hathor and the priests placed gifts before the "divine son."

Hathor overshadowed

The cultural context of the Horite Hebrew in Canaan is Kushite. "Kushite" is a general term for people who lived in the region of Kush along the Nile between about 2000 BC and 500 BC. Before the time of the Kushites.

The Kushite king Menes was the first to unite the Upper and Lower Nile and the Kushite influence is seen on the earliest dynasties of Egypt.

Abraham's Horim

Abraham's ruler-priest ancestors are listed in Genesis 4, 5, 11 and 36. Apparently, they had a distinctive reddish (ruddy) skin tone. They are called Horites in Genesis 36 because they were devotees of Horus, who was regarded as the "son" of the Creator.

The oldest known center of Horite Hebrew worship is Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) on the Nile. Votive offerings at the Nekhen temple were ten times larger than the normal mace heads and bowls found elsewhere, suggesting that this was a very prestigious shrine. Horite priests placed invocations to Horus at the summit of the fortress as the sun rose. This is the origin of the morning ritual of devout Hindus (Agnihotra) and the Jewish Sun Blessing ritual (Birkat Hachama) that is performed every 28 years.

The Kushite peoples are descendants of Kush and Kush's sons Ramah and Nimrod. Kush is listed in Genesis 10 as one of Noah's grandsons. Kush was the father of Nimrod.

About 5200 years ago, Nimrod established a kingdom in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. His name is of Nilotic origin, and he was a Kushite kingdom builder.The language of his kingdom was Akkadian and it shares roots with the languages of the biblical populations of the Nile, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.

Nimrod married a patrilineal cousin, the daughter of Asshur, and she named their first born son after her father. This is consistent with the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew rulers.

Here is an image of an ancient image of a priest from the Upper Nile. Priests were called "tera" and Abraham's father held this title (Gen. 11:24-28). 

Abraham's Annu ancestors knew the holy Name YHWH. Moses knew that Name because his father Amram was Horite Habiru and Moses' half-sister wife was Kushite.

Genesis 6 speaks of "the mighty men of old," the earliest kingdom builders who constructed cities, temples, and fortified high places. They controlled commerce on the major water systems of the ancient world. They migrated out of the Upper Nile Valley in different directions, and they were served by a prestigious caste of Horite Hebrew priests.

Migrations out of the Upper Nile traced genetically 

DNA evidence confirms the Kushite migration out of the Nile Valley. There were many migrations out of Africa. The first took place about 120,000 years ago and the second about 70,000 years ago. About 18,000 years ago the distinction between R1 and R1b was evident.

About 70% of men in Britain, Scotland and Ireland are in Haplogroup R1b.  The most recent expansion out of Africa is the Kushite expansion about 5500 years ago. This appears to have spread the Horite Hebrew religion and carried the Messianic expectation to distant lands.

Related reading: Why Cows Were Sacred in the Ancient World; The Nubian Context of YHWY; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; Kushite Kings and the Kingdom of God; The Migration of Abraham's Ancestors; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; Who Was Abraham?

Biblical Anthropology and Antecedents

The Het/Heth Temples (Gen. 10:15, Gen. 23:2-11); Set/Seti/Seth of the Sethite Mounds of the Nile.

Tera-neter refers to a priest of God. Abraham's father was called Tera/Terah.

Alice C. Linsley

I receive e-mail and Facebook communications from people every week telling me that they have found the approach of Biblical Anthropology helpful in gaining a better understanding of the Bible. Often they have questions that I attempt to answer, and sometimes they provide me with extremely important data that advances this research.

In these conversations I've noticed that Evangelical Protestants tend to ignore the Old Testament and they struggle to find Jesus Christ in Genesis, but young Jews mostly get it! They recognize that there are Messianic references throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh).

Both groups recognize that the ancestry of Jesus, as it is set out in Luke and Matthew, involves mothers who were not Jewish. This is troubling, since Jewishness is traced through the mother. It is troubling also because it raises questions about Jewish claims of racial purity.

Cherry picking verses to support one's agenda is dishonest and easily discredited when we take a more empirical approach to the study of the Bible.

Feminist interpretations that would have us believe the biblical Hebrew to be patriarchal and oppressive are exposed as shallow when we examine the social structure of the biblical Hebrew through the lens of cultural anthropology.

Biblical anthropology can be upsetting. The focus on antecedents of the biblical Hebrew and the Messianic Faith exposes us to data that doesn't always support the dominant narratives of Jews and Christians.

It is troubling that the Messiah is foreshadowed in Nilotic texts that predate the Bible by about 1000 years. An example is passage 48 in the Coffin Texts. Here we find the words of Psalm 110, a Messianic reference:

"I am Horus, the great Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name. My flight has reached the horizon. I have passed by the gods of Nut. I have gone further than the gods of old. Even the most ancient bird could not equal my very first flight. I have removed my place beyond the powers of Set, the foe of my father Osiris. No other god could do what I have done. I have brought the ways of eternity to the twilight of the morning. I am unique in my flight. My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet in my name of 'Red Cloak'."

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts provide a great deal of information about the relationship of God the Father, called Ra or Ani and God the Son, called Horus or Enki. The ancients already held a view of the Father and Son as one and co-equal. Horus is the one said to rise from the dead on the third day. Horus was the divine patron of the high kings and the righteous rulers who hoped for bodily resurrection.

Horus who was pierced in the side, died, and rose. The expectation that the Righteous Son would not remain in the grave is expressed in Psalm 16:10: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. The final enemy is death. Psalm 110: The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."

Both Evangelicals and Jews are struggling with antecedents and would benefit from the findings of Biblical Anthropology. Both groups rely on many outdated and often conflicting interpretations from rabbis, pastors, the Talmud, and Bible commentaries. It would be wiser for them to set these aside and simply read the Bible from cover to cover.

There is a reason this book has survived, and has been translated into more languages than any other book. David Noel Freedman once said: “The Hebrew Bible is the one artifact from antiquity that not only maintained its integrity but continues to have a vital, powerful effect thousands of years later.”

It takes some training to learn to notice anthropologically significant details in the Biblical narratives. Biblical anthropologists work with data and details, setting aside interpretations in order to gain a clear picture of archaic culture traits, religious beliefs, and the kinship patterns of the biblical Hebrew.

The focus of my research is primarily the Proto-Saharan and Nilotic ancestors among whom the hope of immortality was already a long-standing tradition. The Horite Hebrew were unique in their faith and that uniqueness appears to be the result of divine revelation, divine guidance, and their preservation of the Messianic Tradition of their ancestors.

The anthropological tool of kinship analysis, when applied to the Genesis kings lists, reveals that the same marriage and ascendancy pattern applies to Cain, Lamech, Seth, Ham, Shem, Terah, Abraham, Esau, Jacob, Amram, Moses, Elkanah and Joseph of Nazareth. This pattern could not have been written back into the texts at a late date. It is authentic as it stands up to rigorous analysis by anthropologists using the tools of kinship analysis. The marriage and ascendancy pattern of the ruler-priest caste weaves throughout the Bible, like the scarlet cord, from beginning to end.

The Bible is a miraculous book, clearly superintended through the centuries by the LORD. This is especially evident in the analysis of the kinship pattern of the ruler-priest lines from Genesis 4 to Joseph, of the priestly line of Mattai, and the Virgin Mary, daughter of the priest Joachim. The kinship pattern of these Horite Hebrew ancestors is unique and can be traced throughout the Bible through the cousin bride's naming prerogative.

When it comes to making discoveries, the Bible is a useful resource for anthropologists and archaeologists. When it comes to reconstructing a picture of the antecedents of the Messianic Faith we are talking about a matter of importance to Christians and Jews. We must not force data into a preconceived interpretation. We must avoid a literalist reading of everything, and we must not assume that some propositions are not to be taken literally. 

Some read the Bible in a scholarly way and some read for personal devotions. There is another way to read the Bible: through the lens of cultural anthropology, and this is what we are trying to do at the Facebook forum The Bible and Anthropology. Reading Scripture this way is rigorous because no assumption can stand untested, and no assertion can be made without data.

Biblical anthropology focuses on the diverse biblical populations, their culture traits, beliefs and practices, their ways of communication, their technologies, and their material world in general. This is a scientific approach. Failure to investigate with rigor represents poor stewardship of God's Word, a primary authority for Jews and Christians alike.


Related reading: The Substance of Abraham's Faith; What Abraham Discovered on Mount Moriah; The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Judaism is NOT the Faith of Abraham; Support Research in Biblical Anthropology; Anthropological Evidence for the Exodus; Something Older; A Little About Sources; A Little About Sources