Dark Sky and Howling Wind

Bronze bull head

Alice C. Linsley

The Peshitta is a version of the entire Bible read by Syrian Christians.This is the Bible that St. Ephrem the Syrian knew.

In the Peshitta, Noah's Ark landed in the “mountains of Quardu” (Gen. 8:4). Quardu or Kardu is formed from two Akkadian words: kur - land of, and dû - hill. Note the similarity to the Arabic Đū Shará (ذو شرى‎) which means "Lord of the Mountain."

These people of Quardu are described as hill people or cave dwellers. They appear to be related to or associated with the Jats of Punjab, the Gutians (bull people) and the ancient Horites of Edom. Edom was called "Idumea" by the Greeks, meaning "land of red people."

The horns of the bull were a sacred symbol for the Horites. They formed a solar cradle that indicated divine appointment by overshadowing. In this image from Dendura, the sun rests in the horns of the sacred bull.

Images of Hathor, the mother of Horus, show her overshadowed. This amulet was found at Hazor. It shows the sun cradled in the bull's horns and rays of light radiating from the sun.

Divine appointment of the Horite Hebrew rulers was indicated by the solar cradle Y at the beginning of the ruler's name. Examples include: Yaqtan (Joktan); Yishmael (Ishmael); Yishbak; Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yosef (Joseph); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse), Yonah (Jonah), Josedech (Yosedech), and his son Yeshua (Joshua) who wore the double crown (Zechariah 6:11).

The rulers of Quardu are known to have had red hair, like the Horites of the hill country of Edom. Esau the Red, lived in the hill country of Seir the Horite (Gen. 36). Archaic populations lived along the ridges in rock shelters (kar or kur) and later in fortified shrine cities called "high places" in the Bible. These mountain peoples were in the R1b Haplogroup. The Horite high places are called "Horite Mounds" in the ancient Pyramid Texts

The dark red spot in Central Africa is Noah's homeland.
This is the region of Lake Chad.

The Peshitta appears to have preserved the connection between the R1b peoples who had dispersed into Turkey and Iran. This represents the eastern tradition of the older African account of Noah, a ruler in the region of Lake Chad.

There appears to be traces of the older account in Arabic. The identification of Noah's Ark with Ararat probably represents a misreading of the Arabic word herarat - حرار  - which means vehemence.  Har-arat, better translated, would mean Mountain of Vehemence. This fits the story of divine wrath expressed in extensive catastrophic flooding.

Armenia is likely a corruption of Har Meni, or Mount Meni which means Mountain of God or Mountain of Destiny. Har Meni appears to parallel the term Ararat, which is not a place name, but rather a description of an unknown mountain. The term "ararat" in Arabic means vehemence. Likely, a parallel was intended between har-meni and har-arat; that is between the Mountain of God and the Mountain of Vehemence.

The word "meni" appears in Isaiah 65:11, where it is paralleled with the word gad, meaning good fortune. This suggests a connection between meni and encounters with God on mountain tops because where the word gad appears in the context of sacrifice offered on mountains. We recall that Noah offered burnt sacrifice on the mountain in thanksgiving for his deliverance (Gen. 8:20) and that God established a covenant with Noah and his descendants.

The Gikuyu of East Africa tell this story of the experience of their first parents, Gikuyu and Mumbi:

There was wind and rain. And there was also thunder and terrible lightening. The earth and the forest around Mount Kerinyaga shook. The animals in the forest whom the Creator had recently put there were afraid. There was no sunlight. This went on for many days so that the whole land was in darkness. Because the animals could not move, they sat and moaned with the wind. The plants and trees remained dumb. 

It was, our elders tell us, all dead except for the thunder, a violence that seemed to strangle life. It was this dark night whose depth you could not measure, not you nor I can conceive of its solid blackness, which would not let the sun pierce through it. 

The wording is like that of an Akkadian flood. The 1646 to 1626 BC account begins with the creation of man and quickly moves to the flood. The saga gives this description: "The flood roared like a bull, Like a wild ass screaming, the winds howled.The darkness was total, there was no sun."

The Gikuyu story continues:

But in the darkness, at the foot of Mount Kerinyaga, a tree rose. At first it was a small tree and it grew up, finding a way even through the darkness. It wanted to reach the light and the sun. This tree had Life. It went up, sending forth the rich warmth of a blossoming tree - you know, a holy tree in the dark night of thunder and moaning. This was Mukuyu, God's tree. 

Now you know that at the beginning of things there was only one man (Gikuyu) and one woman (Mumbi). It was under this Mukuyu that He first put them. And immediately the sun rose and the dark night melted away. The sun shone with a warmth that gave life and activity to all things. The wind and the lightening and thunder stopped. The animals stopped moaning and moved, giving homage to the Creator and to Gikuyu and Mumbi. And the Creator, who is also called Murungu, took Gikuyu and Mumbi from his holy mountain to the country of the ridges near Siriana and there stood them on a big ridge.

Here we have language reminiscent of Abraham's encounter on a wild and windy mountain where salvation through the promised Son was revealed to him. William H. Willimon wrote: "The sky darkens, the wind howls and a young man walks up another Moriah, driven by a God who demands everything and who stops at nothing. He carries a cross on his back rather than sticks for a fire, but like Abraham, he is obedient to a wild and restless God who is determined to have his way with us, no matter what the cost."


Related reading: The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Africa in the Days of Noah; Peaks and Valleys; Sacred Mountains and Pillars; The Animals on Noah's Ark; The Historicity of Noah's Flood; What Abraham Discovered on Mt. Moriah

The Significance of Galilee in Matthew's Gospel

Alice C. Linsley


In John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene is the only women at the tomb and she arrives while it is dark. When she arrived the stone was already rolled away and the angels were not there. She met Jesus in the garden and Jesus told her to go and tell the Disciples.

There is a wonderful symmetry here with angels declaring the birth of Jesus to Bethlehem shepherds and angels announcing the resurrection of Jesus to a woman who missed the Passover because she had handled the Lord's dead body. Perhaps this is why Jesus, observant of purity, instructed Mary not to touch Him. After His ascension, such a concern would not exist.

In Luke’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene is accompanied by Joanna, Mary the mother of James, “and the others” (Luke 24:9). They came very early. By this account, the stone was rolled away when the women arrived and there were two angels. The angels reminded them that Jesus had spoken of His resurrection on the third day. In this account, the angels didn’t tell the women to report to the Disciples.

In Mark’s account, Mary Magdalene is accompanied by Mary the mother of James and Salome. They came very early in the morning and when they arrived the stone was rolled away. They entered the tomb and found it empty except for a young man clothed in a long white robe on the right side. The “young man” told the women to go and tell the Disciples and Peter that He was going before them to Galilee. Mark tells us that the women were so terrified that they said nothing to anyone (Mark 16:7-9).

Matthew’s account is the only one that speaks of an earthquake “for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it” (Matt 28:2). The guards were present and they trembled with fear and became like dead men. The angel spoke to the women and told them to go quickly and tell the Disciples. They were filled with joy and ran quickly to tell the Disciples. On their way Jesus met them, saying “Rejoice!” and they fell at his feet and worshiped Him. Jesus told them that He would see the Disciples in Galilee at a certain mountain about which He had spoken before His crucifixion. In the cosmology of Abraham's people the mountain is where men encounter God.  It is the spatial sacred center between heaven and earth.

While the women were reporting to the Disciples some of the guards were reporting to the chief priests. The guards' report of the events so troubled the chief priests that they immediately assembled the elders to consult. Their decision was to bribe the soldiers and to concoct a lie which they set about to circulate among the Jews.

Matthew was privy to this and his testimony is true. He went with the others into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them and Jesus came to them and said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”

In Mark’s Gospel, the Great Commission is given while the disciples were gathered at table (Mark 16:14). There is no mention of Galilee at all.

Luke’s Gospel has the story of Jesus meeting Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus. Jesus tells the Disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the “power from on high” comes upon them. He departs from them in Bethany.

John tells us that the Risen Lord appeared to the Disciples (minus Thomas) while they were gathered behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Later He appeared to Thomas. John ends his Gospel (chapter 20) with these words: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

John has a second ending which places Jesus and the Disciples in Galilee. This is a fishing story in which the tired fishermen catch a huge harvest. After that, Peter is asked three times if he loves Jesus. Jesus also tells him, “Feed my sheep.” Finally, there is a foretelling of Peter’s death and an explanation about a rumor that the “disciple whom Jesus loved” would not experience death. Chapter 21 is believed to have been added later and represents a tradition surrounding Peter. This chapter closes with these words to Peter, spoken by Jesus in Galilee: “If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”

According to Matthew, Jesus unquestionably wanted to meet with His disciples in Galilee following His resurrection. Galilee was Jesus' home. Archaeological evidence indicates that he was born in the royal city of Bethlehem of Galilee which was only about 5 miles from where he grew up in Nazareth. The entire region was under the royal house of Tyre that is traced back to Eden (Ezekiel 28:11-18).

Jesus speaks three places in his Gospel of where his disciples were to meet Him after His resurrection. During the Last Supper Jesus informed His disciples: “After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matt. 26:32). Three days later, Mary Magdalene and the other women were told by an angel to notify the Disciples: “He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him” (Matt. 28:7). Only three verses later, as the women were on their way to inform the disciples of Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus appeared to them and said: “Rejoice!… Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (28:9-10). Sometime after, “the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them,” and “worshipped Him” (Matt. 28:16).

Jordan River entering the Sea of Galilee
Photo by Todd Bolen

Why the emphasis on Galilee? It was far from the Jewish center of power at the Temple, which was the sacred center for Jews. It was a place where Gentiles lived and the Jewish establishment regarded Jews who lived there with distain. But it was where Jesus’ followers lived. The Risen Christ came to His followers there and His presence with them marked the new sacred center. He also comes to us who are His followers today. From the tomb He rises with these words: I’ll meet you where you live. Where you live in Me is sacred space.

Related reading:  Matthew's Testimony Concerning the Empty Tomb; The Sacred Center in Biblical Theology; Why Jesus Visited Tyre; Bethlehem in the Time of Abraham; The Ark Rested in Bethlehem; The Nazareth-Egypt Connection; Shepherd Priests

Where Did Noah's Ark Land?

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The Peshitta is a version of the entire Bible read by Syrian Christians. The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century A.D. and is a late recension. This is the Bible that St. Ephrem the Syrian knew. 

In the Peshitta, Genesis 8:4 says that Noah's Ark landed in the “mountains of Quardu.” Quardu is an Akkadian word that refers to warlike mountain people. (See The Origin of Kurds, p. 77) These warlike mountain people were in the R1b Haplogroup, the same haplogroup as Noah and his sons.

A reader of Just Genesis has suggested that Noah's Ark landed on Ararat because that area is mainly populated by Armenian and Assyrian Turks who are the "new kids on the block", but the land is called "Hyastan" after Haig or Haicus who the Armenians regard as the son of Togarmah (Gen. 10). Hyastan means "Land of Hiacus" and the Armenians call themselves Haiks.

I wouldn't be surprised that Japhid/Japheth has a connection to the Lake Van area. The descendants of Japheth are found in Europe, especially in Hungary, Turkey, Pakistan, Mongolia. There are also some in the Nile Valley. This explains the linguistic similarity between some Afro-Asiatic roots and some Turkish, Pashtun and Mongolian roots, including Jochi, Beri, Malik and Khan.

Khan was originally a title meaning king. Today it is a common surname in Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Mongolia. It is equivalent to the Afro-Asiatic Kain or Kayan/Qayin. Some of the Pashtun tribes adopted Malik as the ruler's title instead of Khan. Malik is equivalent to the Afro-Asiatic Melek, meaning king or ruler.

Genghis Khan married a woman of the Olkut’Hun, or Ogur Hun meaning the Hun clan/community. The word ogur means clan/community and appears to be equivalent to the Pashto orkut, meaning community. It appears that ogur, orkut, and olkut are cognates and likely related to the Kandahar dialect, which has Tir-hari as a principal dialect. Tir is a form of the name Tiras, mentioned in Genesis 10, and hari is a form of the word for Horite. Genghis Khan married into a community which had ancestral connections to Abraham's Horite Hebrew people.

In the Hungarian origin stories, Nimrod had two sons: Magor and Hunor. Magor is the equivalent of the Afro-Asiatic name Magog and the Hungarian word Magyar. Magyar is the name for the Hungarian people. Some Magyar still live in the Upper Nile area where they are called the Magyar-ab, the Magyar tribe.

The descendants of Japheth appear to have been geographically separated from Noah's other 2 sons whose lines intermarried. However, Genesis 9:27 suggests the clan of Japheth remained in close contact with the other Hebrew clans. "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." (Gen. 9:27) The early Hebrew clans intermarried (endogamy), and geographical distances apparently did not impede the exchange goods, or the movement cargo along the major river systems. The dispersion of the early Hebrew kingdom builders has been reasonably well demonstrated by comparative religion, linguistics, onomastics, archaeology, and anthropology.

These populations associated with Noah and his people in Gensis 10 are in Haplogroup R1b which has a high concentration in the region of lake Chad, Noah's homeland. However, the dispersion of the R1b peoples took place before the tie of Noah (C.4100-4000 B.C.) and was complete by 40,000 years ago.

The archaic rulers controlled major water systems and mountain ridges at a time when Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia were much wetter. The descendants of Japheth moved into the region of what is today Hungary and some Magyar-Ab reside in the Nile Valley.

The data of Genesis acknowledges an eastward movement out of Africa. Adam and Eve went east. Cain went east, and we find Cain's descendants, the Kenites, living in Canaan. However, the evidence suggests that the biblical Noah lived in the area of Lake Chad. This is the only place on earth that is claimed by the indigenous peoples to be his homeland. The local Kanuri people call Lake Chad Buhar Nuhu, meaning "Sea of Noah."  Two regional names mean the "land of Noah" - Borno and Benue. 

Related reading: An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 6; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 7, An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 8; Noah's Descendants; Finding Noah's Ark; Noah's Sons and Their Descendants; INDEX of Topics at JUST GENESIS