The Sky Bull as a Messianic Image

Alice C. Linsley

In ancient Egypt, Saturn was called "Horus, Bull of the Sky." Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were depicted with the falcon-head of Horus (Krupp 1979).

The Akkadian word for a powerful (Alpha) bull is gud. This may be the source of the word God. This would explain why in Iceland, þjór' (thor) means bull and also is the name of the High God of the Nordic pantheon before he was displaced by or renamed Odin.

The Akkadian word for bull is turu. The Danish word for bull is tyr. In Swedish bull is tjur. In Latin, bull is taurus. These share the TR root which suggests a connection to blood, purity, radiance, the Sun, copper, gold, and holiness.

The Proto-Dravidian word tor refers to blood. In Hausa, toro means clean, and in Tamil tiru means holy. There appears to be a relationship between tor and the Hebrew thr which means "to be pure." The people were made pure when the High Priest sacrificed the bull and made atonement with the blood of the sin offering (Ex. 30:1-10).

Clearly, the TR root is very old as it reflects the polysemic feature of the oldest known Indo-European lexicons and many of the words in those lexicons share roots with Ancient Akkadian, the oldest know Semitic language. 

The terms for ritual purity in Sumerian, Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew, Hittite, and Ugaritic are related to the idea of radiance. (See The Semantics of Purity in the Ancient Near East, p. 5.) The ancient Nilotes associated purity with the radiance of the sun, the emblem of the High God Re. (Re means "Father" in ancient Egyptian.)

Ra's bull in the sky is symbolized by the Sun. In the Ancient Pyramid Texts (2400-2000 BC) the King addresses the celestial bull saying, "Hail to you, Bull of Re who has four horns, a horn of yours in the west, a horn of yours in the east, a horn of yours in the south, and a horn of yours in the north! Bend down this western horn of yours for me that I may pass."

The association of Horus and the rising sun is evident in the Horus name of some Nilotic rulers. The Horus name of Thutmose III was "Horus Mighty Bull, Arising in Thebes."

The rising sun represents resurrection, and the deceased king seeks passage to the place of immortality in the sky (duat), among the imperishable stars. He is recognized as a "pure Westerner" who has come from Nekhen, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship.

According to the Pyramid Texts, Utterance 205, the Great Bull smites the enemies of Re. This is expressed in the Pyramid Texts, Utterance 388: "Horus has shattered (tbb, crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot." Those words are echoed in Genesis 3:1, the first messianic prophesy of the Bible.

The appointed bull calf of the Horite Hebrew would have looked like this.

The Great Bull is Horus the appointed bull calf who has reached mature strength. He is to pass to the heavens on the third day. "Oh Horus, this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars." (Pyramid Texts, Utterance 667)

According to the Coffin Texts, Horus is "the great Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name" and he says: "my wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father" and "I will put him beneath my feet." (Utterance 148)

This text is at least 800 years older than the Messianic reference of Psalm 110:1: The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

The Bull is to be sacrificed so that the king may eat the foreleg and haunch in the sky (Utterance 413). By forbidding the consumption of the thigh tendon attached to the hip (Gen. 32:32) Judaism distances itself from the Horite Hebrew Faith.

By eating the sacrifice, the deceased king becomes one with the sacred bull. The king is urged to rise, to "gather his bones together, shake off your dust" and enter into immortality. 


Related reading: Sky Bull Eaten to Gain Immortality; The Afro-Asiatic Conception of Purity; The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity; Early Resurrection Texts

Where Did Animal Sacrifice Originate?

Alice C. Linsley


What is the point of origin of animal sacrifice? In "The Origin of Israelite Sacrifice" in the November/December 2011 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, William W. Hallo, former Yale professor, attempts to answer that question.
 

Horite priest sacrificing ram

Hallo insists that the practice comes from the much older Mesopotamian civilization. Likewise Peter Leithart considers that Ur might be the point of origin. At First Things he wrote, "What are the chances that someone sometime in nearly every ancient culture decided that killing animals was a good way to worship their gods? What are the chances that this would be a near-universal practice without any tradition, any traditio/handing-over, of sacrificial rites? Aren’t the facts much better explained if we assume that there was mutual interaction, cross-fertilization, borrowing and mimicry, perhaps an Ur-sacrifice and an Ur-sacrificer?" 

Both men have fallen in the common trap of beginning the story with the calling of Abraham in Genesis 12. Yet Genesis 4-11 makes it clear that Abraham's ancestors were Nilo-Saharans and it is there that we must look for the antecedents of animal sacrifice.

This civilization to which Hallo and Leithart refer was essentially Kushite and the Kushites were Nilo-Saharans. Genesis 10 tell us that Nimrod, the son of Kush, moved into the Tigris-Euphrates Valley and established a kingdom there. He brought with him the practice of the sacrifice of rams, bulls, and sheep. Abraham is a descendant of Nimrod.

The sacrifice of animals was done by priests and the oldest known caste of priests is that of the Horites who can be traced back to Nekhen in the Sudan (4000-3000 BC).
 
Horite priests had shaved heads such as shown (above) in this third-millennium B.C. Mesopotamian mosaic.  Moses' half-brother Korah was a Horite priest.  His name means 'shaved one." Compare this image to the one below of an Egyptian priest or harwa. Har-wa means "Horus rules the waters" (or rules universally). Harwa or Arwa always refers to the priestly role. In Hausa, for example, the word arwa refers to the prediction of the future done mainly by priests in ancient times.

 
The Horites spread their religious practices and beliefs from ancient Kush to Mesopotamia and beyond. The oldest fire altars were falcon shaped (shown below).  The falcon was the totem of Hor/Horus, who was called "Son of God."  This is why the Shulba Sutras state that "he who desires heaven is to construct a fire-altar in the form of a falcon."

Figurine of Harappan girl shows Kushite features

At the Harappan water shrines of Kalibangan and Lothal, numerous fire altars have been discovered.  The Dravidian word Har-appa means "Hor is father." Here is further evidence of the spread of Horite religion from ancient Kush to Pakistan and India.

The Nilotic or Kushitic religious practices diffused through the agency of Horite ruler-priests who controlled water systems at a time when the Sahara, Mesopotamia, southern Pakistan and southern India were wetter. These ruler-priests are called Horites because they were devotees of Horus, the divine son by whose pattern Abraham's descendants would recognize Jesus' true identity.

The Horite  Hebrew are called Hapiru or Habiru in ancient texts. These words appear to be related to the Arabic yakburu, meaning “he is getting big” and to the intensive active prefix: yukabbiru, meaning "he is enlarging." Likely, this is a reference to the morning ritual of Horite priests who greeted the rising sun with prayers and watched as it expanded across the horizon. This is the origin of the morning ritual whereby the sun is blessed daily in every devout Hindu home and the Jewish Sun Blessing ritual (Birkat Hachama) that is performed every 28 years.

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 Hebrew priests placed invocations to Horus, the son of God, at the summit of the fortress as the sun rose.

The twin shrine cities of Nekhen and Nekheb are mentioned in the Ancient Pyramid Texts which also speak of Horite mounds (Utterance 308), the son of God who tramples the serpent (Utterance 378), and of the resurrection of the dead King (Utterance 373).

In the ancient world, a temple was considered the mansion (hâît) or the house (pirû) of the deity. The shrines and temples were aligned to the rising of the Sun and among the Dravidians were called O-piru, the O symbolizing the Sun. Heliopolis (City of the Sun) was on the east side of the Delta. Joseph was married to a daughter of the priest of Heliopolis (Biblical On). Hathor, the virgin mother of Horus, had her principal temples in Dendera and Memphis to the south of Heliopolis and on the west side of the Nile. The principal temples of Horus were further south in Nekhen and Edfu, on the west side of the Upper Nile. The pyramids at Giza, Saqqara and Abusir were aligned Heliopolis.

Recently twin pyramids have been found in Zinder, Niger.  They reflect the Nilo-Saharan roots of the Abrahamic faith.


The Purpose of Animal Sacrifice

The sacrifice of animals among Abraham's Horite Hebrew ancestors does not appear to have been to appease God, nor to offer food to God. It appears to be about the blood itself which was the symbol of life, regeneration and healing. Blood is the substance associated with this priesthood. In this context, blood is a purifying agent when offered by a pure priest. The Hebrew root thr = to be pure, corresponds to the Hausa/Hahm toro = clean, and to the Tamil tiru = holy. All are related to the Dravidian tor = blood.

The Hebrew priest was to be pure (w'b) before entering the temple. Their purification involved shaving their bodies and heads. Korah, Moses' half-brother, was a priest. His name means "shaved head" and according to Numbers 16:17-18, he carried the incense censor. This suggests that kor and tor are probably cognates. Here we find a very early connection between blood, purity and holiness.

Dr. Margaret Barker makes a connection between purity and healing in her article Atonement: The Rite of Healing. She writes, "Atonement translates the Hebrew kpr, but the meaning of kpr in a ritual context is not known."

However, in a paper on The Temple Roots of the Liturgy, Barker explains that kapporeth is "the place of atonement in the temple, where the Lord was enthroned."

If the antecedents of Judaism are found among Abraham's Horite Hebrew ancestors we do well to look at the Ancient Egyptian and Nilo-Saharan languages for a clue to the meaning of kpr. The pr likely refers to piru, which is temple or shrine. The k likely refers to ka, which means spirit, soul or deified ruler. Atonement would then pertain to the divine ruler-priest standing in the most holy place. Surely, this is a Messianic image. Isaiah 6:1 - "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple."

Hebrews 10:12 which speaks of how the priest stands at the altar until he has completed his task. "But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God."


Related reading: Africa is Archaeologically Rich; Biblical Sheba and Nubians Linked; Margaret Barker, Atonement: The Rite of Healing; The Kushite Marriage Pattern Drove Kushite Expansion; Nimrod Was a Kushite Ruler; The African Origin of the Dravidians; Dr. Margaret Barker, Our Great High Priest: The Church is the New Temple; Christianity is the One True Messianic Faith

Purity Seal from Herod's Temple

Israeli archaeologists recently reported the discovery of a 2,000-year-old clay seal near Jerusalem's Western Wall. The Western Wall is part of the compound revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, where Islam's al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock are situated.

The archaeologists decided that all of the soil removed from the site would be meticulously sifted. This is being done with the help of thousands of students and is underwritten by the Ir David Association.

During the sieving process a button-shaped seal of fired clay was discovered. The seal is stamped with an Aramaic inscription consisting of two lines. Archaeologists Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa said, “The meaning of the inscription is “Pure for G-d”.

The upper line דכא and below it ליה

Following the preposition “ל” in the word “ליה” is the shortened form for the name of G-D.

The Priesthood and Purity

The priesthood was in the ancient Afro-Asiatic world involved water and blood ritual for purification. This is reflected in the linguistic connections between the Hebrew root thr - to be pure, the Hausa/Hahm toro - clean, and to the Tamil tiru - holy. All are related to the proto-Dravidian word tor and to the ancient Egyptian tr, meaning blood.

The Horite Hebrew priest was purified before entering the temple. His purification involved fasting and an intense period of prayer. The purification ritual involved bathing and shaving the head. Korah, Moses' half-brother, was a priest. His name means "shaved head" and according to Numbers 16:17-18, he carried the censor to offer incense before God.

Horite Hebrew priests served in the temple, probably on a rotating schedule. It is from the Horite priesthood that the priesthood of Israel emerged. Moses' brothers, Korah and Aaron, were both Horite Hebrews before there was a Levitical priesthood, and before there was a nation known as Israel.

Related reading: The Origin of Animal Sacrifice; 2400 B.C. Tomb of Purification Priest; The Horite Conception of the Priesthood

The Double Crown of Horus

Alice C. Linsley

"Then take silver and gold, and make crowns [ataroth], and set them on the head of Joshua [Yeshua] the son of Josedech [Yosedech], the high priest..." Zechariah 6:11

The Upper Nile civilization is extremely ancient and existed before Egypt became a political entity. The Nile Valley is very long and was inhabited by many populations who lived in city-states under local rulers. These smaller political entities were called "Nomes" because these were ruled by law codes such as the Law of Tehut and the Code of Ani. 

The nomes of the Upper Nile were associated with the symbol of the sedge (marsh reed). The nomes of the Lower Nile were associated with the bee. The two symbols came together after the establishment of the First Dynasty. During Den's reign, the nisu-bity ("the sedge and the bee") royal title was used for the first time. It was also from his reign that the double crown begins to appear on the kings of Egypt. The red crown represents the Lower Nile (Egypt) and the white crown represents the Upper Nile (ancient Nubia, called "Pathros" in Ezekiel 29). After the unification of the Upper and Lower Nile regions the two crowns were joined to represent a unified Egypt. It is believed that Narmer (Menes the Lawgiver?) united the two regions around 3100 B.C.

Horus was said to unite the two realms and the two horizons. Is it a coincidence that the high priest Joshua (Yeshua, which is Jesus in English) wore a double crown? Messiah was expected to unite the peoples. A similar idea is expressed with the crown of Charlemagne. It was a simple circlet of four curved rectangular jeweled plates representing (1) East Francia or Germany, (2) Lombardy or Italy, (3) Rome, and (4) Burgundy.

The king list on the Palermo stone begins with the names of the rulers of the Lower Nile and shows them wearing the Red Crown. The Cairo fragment shows these rulers wearing the double crown, which the Greeks called the "Pschent." The invention of the Pschent is attributed to Menes, but a rock inscription shows his Horus wearing it. This indicates that the double crown was a symbol of Horus who was often called "Horus of the Two Crowns." He was also called "son of God" because his mother Hathor conceived when she was divinely overshadowed (c. Luke 1:35). This is the origin of Messianic expectation. It was not invented by the Jews.

The totem of the Upper Nile was the Griffin Vulture (called neshser in Hebrew and rendered "eagle", as in Job 39). The totem of the Lower Nile was the Cobra and the crown was originally made of reeds which represent the masculine principle of erectness.  The sema sign (shown right) represents the Osiris phallus divided into rhizomes for planting. The cultivation of reeds transformed the ancient Egyptian landscape from one wetlands to grasslands.

Gold and the color yellow were associated with the Sun, and white was associated with the Moon.  It is likely that silver and silver-gold alloys (electrum) which is found in nature, represented the Moon. The Sun and Moon were paired as binary opposites and they represented the Masculine and Feminine. Before appearing in public, royal Egyptian women were painted white. The sister wife is described as having been "made white" while her beloved has skin as dark "as the tents of Kedar" because he was made to work in in the Sun by his older brothers (like David). Gen 25:13 tells us that Kedar was a son of Ishmael and his Egyptian wife. The tents of Kedar were black.

In most ancient depictions of Saharan men, they are painted with red ochre. Red can also represents the Sun. Red symbolized the fiery radiance of the sun and amulets representing the Eye of Re were made of red stones. (From here.)

The Sun and the Moon are spoken of in Genesis 1 as two powers: the Sun is the greater power which rules the day and the Moon is the lesser power which rules the night. When the two appeared in the sky just before dawn or dusk it meant to the ancients that God was watching. The "two lights" (or two powers) were interpreted as the eyes of Re or of his son, Horus. Horus' left eye, the Moon, was weaker because it had been damaged in mortal combat with his brother Set. So Jesus Christ, who is one with the Father, was mortally wounded by his brethren, but rose before dawn on Sun-day, and rules over all.

"Har-Ur" refers to Horus in maturity, or the Elder Horus. In his infancy he was depicted in ancient Egypt as either a calf or a lamb and in his maturity as a bull or a ram. Horus is the only mythological figure in ancient Egypt who was depicted as a man and only as a man does he wear the two crowns.

Red (desher) was the color of life and of victory. During celebrations, ancient Egyptians would paint their bodies with red ochre and would wear amulets made of cornelian, a deep red stone. The normal skin tone of Egyptian men was depicted as red, without any negative connotation. Egyptian artisans created paint by using naturally oxidized iron and hematite.

The color white (hedj and shesep) suggested omnipotence and purity. Due to its lack of color white was also the color of simple and sacred things. The name of the holy city of Memphis meant "White Walls." White sandals were worn at holy ceremonies. The material most commonly used for ritual objects such as small ceremonial bowls and even the embalming table for the Apis Bulls in Memphis was white alabaster. White was also the heraldic color of Upper Egypt. The "Nefer", the crown of Upper Egypt was white, though originally is was probably made of green reeds.

The pure white color used in Egyptian art was created from chalk and gypsum.  The white crown appears like a linen turban and suggests purity. The red crown suggests the blood that purifies. The double crown association with Horus speaks of both purity and blood sacrifice. Among the ancient Afro-Asiatics these were linked as is evident from linguistic studies.

The Hebrew root "thr" = to be pure, corresponds to the Hausa/Hahm "toro" = clean, and to the Tamil "tiru" = holy. All are related to the proto-Dravidian (Sudroid) "tor" = blood.

The ancient Horite Hebrew priest ritually purified himself before entering the temple. These priests shaved their heads. Korah, Moses' half-brother, was such a priest. His name means "shaved head," and according to Numbers 16:17-18 he carried the censor to offer incense to the deity.

The Horite Hebrew priests were known in the ancient world as being especially holy and pure in their daily lives. Before their time of service in the temples they shaved their bodies, fasted, prayed for long periods, abstained from sexual relations with their wives, and did not consume wine. Plutarch wrote that the “priests of the Sun at Heliopolis never carry wine into their temples, for they regard it as indecent for those who are devoted to the service of any god to indulge in the drinking of wine whilst they are under the immediate inspection of their Lord and King. The priests of the other deities are not so scrupulous in this respect, for they use it, though sparingly.”

Study of Jesus' Horite Hebrew ancestry and the Horite marriage and ascendancy pattern verifies certain historical facts about Jesus of Nazareth. First, he was born of the priest lines that can be traced back to Abraham's Nilotic cattle-herding ancestors. Second, his family belonged to the priest division of Bethlehem  and these priests were known to be shepherds. Third, he was of royal blood going back to Eden. Jesus' royal blood is traced through the Horite kings of Tyre. God told Ezekiel to "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." (Ezekiel 28:11-18) It was the kings of Tyre who helped David build his palace and Solomon build the temple. Tyre is on of the ancient seats of wisdom mentioned in the Bible. Edom was another ancient seat of wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7) and the Horite Hebrew rulers of Edom are listed in Genesis 36.

When we describe Jesus as the "Good Shepherd" and "our Great High Priest" and "the King of Kings" we are not speaking figuratively. He was and is all of these and more.


Related reading:  Jesus Christ of the Two Crowns; Who Were the Kushites?; Linguistic Evidence for the Afro-Asiatic Dominion; Jesus From Lamb to Ram; Who Is Jesus?

Genesis and the Eucharist

Alice C. Linsley


The Eucharist as life-giving sacrifice is prefigured in Genesis in the way that God slays the animal to clothe the naked Adam and Eve. Here God serves as Tahash, an order or caste of priests. The sacrifice of Christ is also prefigured in the offering up of Isaac. As the Church Fathers noted, Christ's sacrifice is prefigured throughout the Old Testament.

Genesis 3 presents God as offering the first sacrifice as a covering for shame when HE clothes Adam and Eve with skins of a sacrificed animal. Genesis 22 points the Cross. Here the father receives back the son "on the 3rd day" and a ram is caught by its extended horns in the thicket - another image of Christ on the Cross. As Patrick H. Reardon reminds us, "Since Melito of Sardis in the mid-second century, Isaac's carrying of the wood has always signified to Christians the willingness of God's own Son to take up the wood of the Cross and carry it to the place of sacrifice." (Creation and the Patriarchal Histories, p. 87.)

We also find Jesus' Passion in Joseph's story, who was betrayed by his brothers, cast into the pit and sold. He was unjustly accused, suffered and showed mercy to his oppressors. He was abased yet elevated to glory. He was believed dead yet found alive.

The pattern of Christ's passion is written across time and eternity so that "all are without excuse". From “before the foundation of the world,” the redeeming work of Christ has been known (1 Peter 1:18-20).

Ontologically the Eucharist is the single moment of sacrifice by which we repentent sinners are saved - and by which the world was made - a difficult concept to get our Western minds around since we tend to think of the Christ in chronological terms rather than metaphysically, as is more common in the East.

Yet when we look at Scripture and Holy Tradition we find the symbols of life - the Water and the Blood - consistently pointing to the Cross. And the Creed reminds us that all things were made through Him, both visible and invisible. The Cross is that moment when "it is finished"; that is, His sacrifice and the creation and redemption of the world are conterminous. In the Eucharist, we repentent sinners are admitted to this moment by God's grace. And grace is granted to the priest to stand in that moment with Christ, not simply in Persona Christi, but as one who himself is sacrificed (the oblation). Is this not catholic teaching?


Related reading: The Origins of Christianity; Who is Jesus?; Two Passovers and Two Drunken Fathers

The Messianic Priesthood of Jesus

Alice C. Linsley

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:13-20)

The promises God made to Abraham, to which all in God's Kingdom are heirs, are eternal and unchanging. They are fixed to God’s eternal and unchanging nature and God cannot lie. The writer of Hebrews presents a picture of Jesus' priesthood that helps us to understand how Jesus fulfills those promises. Hebrews explains that the promises are tied to a Messianic priesthood that existed in the time of Abraham and before. What can we say about this priesthood?

First, we can say that the priesthood is verifiably one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, traced back to at least 7000 BC. The priest emerges out of primeval perceptions of blood as a substance of life and purity or rightness. The Hebrew root "thr" = to be pure, corresponds to the Hausa/Hahm "toro" = clean, and to the Tamil "tiru" = holy. All are related to the proto-Dravidian "tor" = blood. These are cognate languages in the Afro-Asiatic language group and it is from these peoples that we received the institution of the priesthood.

Humans yearned for the death-defeating benefits of the Pleromic Blood as early as 80,000 years ago. Sophisticated mining operations in the Lebombo Mountains of southern Africa reveal that thousands of workers were extracting red ochre which was ground into powder and used in the burial of nobles in places as distant as Europe. Anthropologists agree that this red powder symbolized blood and its use in burial represented hope for the renewal of life.

Second, we know that the priesthood functioned to mitigate blood guilt. Anthropologists have noted that there is considerable anxiety about shed blood among primitive peoples. (This has been discussed in many of the great monographs: Benedict's Patterns of Culture, Lévi-Strauss' The Raw and the Cooked, and Turnbull's The Forest People). Among the Afro-Asiatics, the priesthood served to relieve blood guilt and anxiety and to perform rites of purity. Shamans serve a similar function among other linguistic groups, although the worldview of priests and shamans is different.

Observation of primitive peoples helps us to understand the context in which the blood of animals is used to purify, to discern the identity of offenders, and to protect homes, lifestock and children. The Mofu holy man (Cameroon) mixes python fat with the blood of a sacrificed goat when offering prayers for rain. The spirits of hunted animals are reverenced before their blood is shed and their flesh eaten to nourish humans. Warriors abstain from sexual intercourse before battle and purify themselves after battle. Women are purified after childbirth. This is the origin of "the churching of women", a custom that has virtually died out in the Western Churches. Among native peoples, brotherhood pacts are formed by the intentional mixing of bloods, uniting two of a kind, but binary distinctions such as male and female, or human and God are maintained.

Even today in the priests' manuals of the Eastern Churches there is concern about the mixing of bloods. If an Orthodox priest should cut himself while he is in the Holy Place, he must immediately leave. His blood cannot share the same space as the Pleromic Blood that is there by virtue of Christ's Priestly Presence. Eastern Orthodoxy speaks of Communion as a "bloodless feast" to distinguish the Eastern view from Transubstantiation, but the Pleromic Blood is the true Form of the bread and the wine. So it is that every Orthodox professes before receiving, "I believe that this is truly thine own immaculate Body, and that this is truly thine own precious Blood."

Abraham’s meeting with Melchizedek, "priest of the Most High God", was after battle (Gen. 14). This suggests that it had to do with relief of blood guilt. Abraham’s refusal to increase his fortune by war and his acceptance of the bread, wine and blessing offered to him by Melchizedek, show that he desired to be pure. It is noted that this meeting did not involve the sacrifice of animals, but only the offering of bread and wine. Melchizedek’s priesthood typifies the Messianic priesthood of Christ, who gives His own body and blood, prefigured by the bread and wine.

Third, we also know that no woman entered into the Holy Place where blood was offered through atoning death. The Afro-Asiatics, from whom we received the unique institution of the Priesthood, believed that the blood shed by men in war, hunting, execution, and animal sacrifice could not be in the same space as the blood shed by women in their monthly flow and in birthing. Sacred law prohibited the blood shed in killing (male) and the blood shed in giving life (female) to share the same space. God doesn't want confusion about the distinctions of life and death. The same distinction of life-taking and life-giving is behind the prohibition against boiling the young goat in its mother’s milk (Deut. 14:21).

So the author of Hebrews tells us, Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:11-14)


Related reading:  Who Was Melchizedek?

Two Passovers and Two Drunken Fathers

Alice C. Linsley


Blood and wine are associated in Christianity as sacramental signs that point to salvation through Jesus Christ. We also find these associated in 2 sets of Old Testament stories, suggesting that the sacramental association pre-dates Christianity. For some Protestant readers the meaning of sacrament may be unclear, so before we turn to the stories, we must define “sacrament.”

A sacrament is an action that God performs for humans that we can’t do for ourselves. In the sacrament of Baptism, God unites us to Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection and makes us heirs of the Kingdom. The sign of the sacrament is water. In the sacrament of Holy Communion, God nourishes us with spiritual food and communes with us as if we were present in Paradise. The sign of Holy Communion is wine and water mixed with bread.

Remembering that a sacrament is something only God can do for humanity, we turn to the Old Testament story sets of 2 Passovers and 2 Drunken Fathers.

The first story set involves the Passover in Egypt and the Passover in Jericho. In Egypt, the door posts were marked with blood from the sacrificed Lamb and seeing the blood, the angel of death passed over, and the people of Israel were led out to a new life. This is the Passover of the tribes who were in Egypt.

Another Passover takes place in Jericho. The scarlet cord was hung from the window of Rahab’s house and when the Israelites swept through that city, Rahab and her whole household were spared and led out to a new life, God redeeming their lives from destruction. Rahab became an ancestress of King David and Messiah. This is the Passover of David's ancestors who never were in Egypt.

A study of the scarlet cord in Scripture reveals that it symbolizes blood, so the sacramental sign in both stories is blood and Christians understand this to be the Blood of Jesus.

In the second set of stories, we find 2 fathers who became drunk with wine. The first is Noah and the second is Lot. In Noah’s case, his 3 sons decide what to do while their father sleeps in a drunken stupor. In Lot’s case, his 2 daughters decide what to do while their father sleeps. In both stories, the results are not good. One of Noah’s sons comes under a curse, and Abraham’s descendents find their lives troubled by Lot’s Ammonite and Moabite descendents. Wine in these stories is not sacramental. These stories are about what mankind does and stand in contrast to the first set of stories. Yet we find a note of redemption even in these stories.

The descendents of Ham will help the Israelites make their escape from Egypt. Jethro, the Priest of Midian (a descendent of Ham through Keturah’s line) will act as an advisor to Moses, his son-in-law. A daughter of Moab will trust God to care for her and her mother-in-law in Bethlehem. There she will marry Boaz and become the great grandmother of King David and ancestress of Messiah. (Notice the symmetry of a father-in-law and a mother-in-law.) Even when we sinners take matters into our own hands, God shows us mercy that we might move to newness of life.

The symmetry of these story sets is remarkable. In the Egyptian Passover, Moses is the central figure, but in the Jericho Passover, it is the woman Rahab. Clearly God uses both males and females to bring about salvation and deliverance. 

In the story of Noah’s drunkenness, 3 sons take action, but in the story of Lot’s drunkenness, 2 daughters take action to procreate and from them comes (as with 2 wives), two separate, but related peoples: the Moabites and the Ammonites.  

The reference to Noah's drunken behavior seems out of character with the earlier description of Noah as the only man righteous enough to be saved from the flood. It is possible that this narrative derives from a linguistic connection. In ancient Egyptian, Noah is Nnu which is related to the ancient Egyptian word nuh (nwh) which means to be drunk or to intoxicate.

Let us return to the sacramental signs of blood and wine. The association of blood and wine is made in the prophecies concerning Judah, who will be elevated above his brothers and from whom “the scepter shall not depart… nor a lawgiver until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the expectations of the nations…who will “wash his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes” (Gen. 49:10-11).

We notice concerning Judah that 4 promises are given.
Judah shall be elevated above the other tribes.
Judah shall rule and give the law until Christ appears.
Christ shall be the hope and expectation of the nations.
He shall wash his clothes in blood.

This parallels the Passover Seder which involves 4 promises given to Israel, symbolized by the 4 cups of wine. These speak of God’s 4 promises to Israel in Exodus 6:6-7: “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians (1st cup), and I will deliver you from their slavery (2nd cup), and I will redeem you with a outstretched arm, and with great judgments (3rd cup); And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God (4th cup).”

The promises concerning Judah and the promises concerning Israel can be fulfilled only by God. In that sense the wine used in the Seder is sacramental. It points to the mighty acts of God to deliver and redeem His people and to consummate a love relationship. Jesus told his disciples that he would not drink the fourth cup again until the last promise is fulfilled: “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. I say to you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Matt. 26:28-29)

Related reading: More about Noah; Noah's Homeland in Historical Perspective; On Blood and the Impulse to Immortality; Wine Use in Antiquity

The Priesthood and Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


The priesthood is intrinsically linked to blood. The priest is the functionary who addresses the blood guilt that resulted from killing and the dread that accompanied the shedding of blood. In the ancient world blood was regarded as having mysterious power and there had to be an accounting for all shed blood.

There are two types of blood anxiety: blood shed by killing and bloodshed related to birthing. To archaic peoples both types were regarded as powerful and potentially dangerous, requiring priestly ministry to deal with bloodguilt through animal sacrifice and/or to deal with blood contamination through purification rites.

From earliest times man observed that when an animal or human bled heavily, death resulted. Blood was recognized as the liquid of life. Among the Hebrews and other people of the ancient Near East there was a prohibition against eating flesh that still had blood in it.

Blood represents both life and pollution. Because of this, it is the custom among many peoples that women about to give birth are isolated from the rest of the community, often remaining in a birthing hut until they are restored to the community. The period of isolation depends on the gender of the child, the condition of the mother and the preparations for the mother and child to be re-introduced to the community. This practice is observed in many cultures.

After her time of isolation, Blessed Mary presented herself for ritual purification according to Jewish law. The "churching of women" after childbirth is a vestige of this practice. While the churching of women is not observed much in the West because western women regard it as humiliating, it is still practiced among eastern Christians, who view the practice as following the example of Blessed Mary, the most honored woman in history.

This information on blood anxiety helps us to understand the primeval origins of the priesthood as it is developed in Genesis. Let us consider the pertinent passages.

Genesis 1:29

God also said, “Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with see-bearing fruit; this will be your food.”

In Paradise there is no blood sacrifice because there is no bloodguilt. Adam does not need a priest because Adam enjoys perfect communion with God.


Genesis 4:3-6

“Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering to God, while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. God looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But He did not look with favor on Cain and his offering…”

After losing Paradise, blood sacrifice with prayer became the acceptable way to commune with God. Here Abel is the archetypical priest whose offering is acceptable to God. Cain brings only a grain offering, which involves neither blood nor priestly action. This is not acceptable to God and Cain becomes angry. Cain represents all who seek communion with God on their own terms, instead of God’s terms.


Genesis 9:1-5

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Breed, multiply and fill the earth. Be the terror and the dread of all the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, of everything that moves on land and all the fish of the sea; they are placed in your hands. Every living thing that moves will be yours to eat, no less than the foliage of the plants. I give you everything, with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood in it. And I shall demand account of your life-blood too. I shall demand it of every animal and of man.”

Here we see man as hunter who must account to God for the shedding of blood, not only the blood of animals, but also the blood of his fellow human being. Man is not excused from offering fruits and grain, as he had done from the beginning. It is just that where animals are killed in the hunt, there must be a priestly offering of sacrifice with prayer to address blood guilt according to the law.

This helps us to better understand the Cain and Abel story. Cain’s grain offering represents the old offering, which did not require a priest, because no blood was shed. Cain’s guilt for killing his brother, Abel, requires a new offering. The new offering requires a priest since there must be an accounting for the shed blood.

In Christian belief, an aspect of Jesus Christ’s uniqueness is his service as both sacrificed victim and priest. In the one person both roles are fulfilled.

Finally, we turn to the mysterious character, Melchizedek, the priest of Salem (Gen. 14:17-24) Melchizedek came to Abraham after Abraham and his allies routed their common enemy in battle. Melchizedek did not offer a blood sacrifice for Abraham to cover blood guilt. This suggests that blood sacrifice was not required by Abraham in this situation. Was Abraham without bloodguilt in this war?

Melchizedek brought bread and wine, a different kind of offering, and gave this blessing: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High for putting your enemies into your clutches." The defeat of the enemy did not involve bloodguilt for Abraham since God delivered the enemy to Abraham. In recognition of this, Abraham gave to the priest a tenth of everything as a thank offering, but he refused to accept any booty for himself, as doing so would make him guilty of bloodguilt. The King of Sodom was greedy for all he could get, but Abraham refused to accept what was gained by bloodshed. In this account Abraham appears as one who is scrupulous about avoiding bloodguilt and conscious of God's intervention on his behalf.


Related reading:  Blood and Binary Distinctions; Mining Blood; The Blood of Jesus; Life is in the Blood