Here is a brief summary of what I have uncovered about Abraham's people after 30+ years of research on the book of Genesis.
Abraham is the pivotal figure of the book of Genesis. What does Genesis reveal about this Patriarch?
- Some of his ancestors were Kushites linked to the rulers of Egypt.
- Some of his ancestors lived in the region of Lake Chad (in Bor'No - Land of Noah)
- One of his ancestors was Nimrod who has been identified as the Kushite ruler Sargon the Great.
- Terah, Abraham's father, controlled a vast territory along the Euphrates River between Haran and Ur.
- Some of his ancestors were ruler-priests who were devotees of Horus who was called "son of God."
- His mother and father were Horites and patrilineal cousins.
- Rulers among his people had two wives in separate households on a north-south axis.
- One wife was a half-sister (as was Sarah to Abraham) and the other wife was a patrilineal cousin or niece (as was Keturah to Abraham).
- The cousin/niece bride named her first-born son after her father because that son ascended to the thorne of his maternal grandfather. So Joktan, Keturah's firstborn son was heir to her father's throne.
- The firstborn son of the sister wife ascended to the throne of his biological father. So Isaac was Abraham's heir.
- The Horite ruler-priests strictly adhered to this unique pattern marriage and ascendency pattern.
- Other sons were sent away to establish territories of their own. This feature drove Kushite expansion.
- This Horite pattern of marriage and ascendency can be traced from Genesis 4 to the New Testament.
- Ruler-priests among Abraham's people controlled strategic water systems.
- The lines of Cain and Seth intermarried according to this unique pattern.
- The lines of Ham and Shem intermarried according to the same pattern.
- The lines of Abraham and Nahor intermarried according to the same pattern.
- The lines of Sheba and Joktan intermarried according to the same pattern.
Related reading: The Afro-Asiatic Dominion; Who Were the Horites?; Who Were the Kushites?
Alice, these are fascinating -- and obviously important -- findings for students of the Bible. Wish I had a better sense of where these findings were likely to be pointing, though. Wish I could appreciate, for starters, what you think might be the significance of the "Horite" in the ancestry of Abraham's people (as compared with, say, the "Shem-ite" ancestry; as opposed to, say, the "Edomite" ancestry) That the descendants of Abraham attached some high value to their ethnic heritage and took great pains (arranging kinship marriages, etc.)to preserve the maximum concentration of blood line of the clan (the Horite clan?) comes through clearly enough. I am wondering, though, is all this somehow starting to steer us students of Genesis (students of your blog) in the direction of trying to discern what is the special value of the Horite blood line? In other words, aren't you starting to get the creepy feeling that the children of Abraham might have adhered to a mystical belief that maximum concentration of the Horite blood line conferred on the possessor some special, almost magical, powers? Was it the Israelite equivalent of the famous "mitichlorian count" -- in case you're not a Star Wars fan, that's something that George Lucas fancifully invented for the sake of the story, by measuring which you could supposedly identify the true Jedi warriors (possessors of high mitichlorian count) out of the run of the mill folks who never possessed The Force? And is it likely, in your opinion, that this mystical belief was preserved as characteristic of Abraham's people up to the time of the Christ? (I.e. Jesus's mitichlorian count was practically off the charts?) And, is it somehow going to also be an essential part of your thesis, that the appearance of Chist to the world did NOT completely dispel the felt need to operate on the basis of this kind of ethnically-aware thinking? That is, potentially, the troubling part. But I am with you so far on this research: keep it up please! (Jonathan)
ReplyDeleteFirst to your question about the significance of the Horites... I think the importance is that this was a tribe of priests who practiced blood sacrifice for atonement.
ReplyDeleteThis research on the Horites doesn't address Abraham's "descendents", but rather his Horite mother, his Horite father, Terah, and his Horite grandfather, Na'Hor. If Abraham's mother was Horite, that means Abraham was Horite.
All of these people were descendents of Ham and Shem, as those 2 lines intermarried.
"Edomite" is a term from a latter period, but since Rebekah was Horite, both Jacob and Esau must be regarded as Horite also.
I don't believe that Abraham's people were so much concerned with preserving their ethnic heritage as they were with preserving the bloodline through the mothers. Remember that among these people one's bloodline (or race) depended on the mother's bloodline or race. It appears that their concern was motivated by an expectation that from them was to be born a great King. And they were right!
Why would this matter? It would matter if you believed that God had made a promise to "the woman" that her Son would crush the serpent's head and restore Paradise. That is why it is so significant that the kinship pattern of Abraham's people never changed. The Promised Son was to be born in Bethlehem, which was a settlement inside Horite territory. Because the kinship pattern didn't change (even in Egyptian captivity) all of the geneological material drives us from the Garden of Eden (in Africa), to Bethlehem, to the empty Tomb.
I appreciate your excellent questions! You keep me on my toes.
Oh, wow. The Protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15). Of course, that explains a lot! We can read the Genesis account as one long pattern of a people who, notwithstanding any number of miseries and calamities that befell them, were peculiarly anxious to preserve the blood line of a woman, -- some woman who must have been a special woman, to whom a special fate was ordained: Restoration of paradise for all the human race! Brilliant. I got chills up my spine just thinking about it! Thank you, Alice! Follow up question, or maybe its just a quibble, actually: If we are going to proceed on the premise that the Protoevangelium promise, once uttered, must have made this huge transgenerational impact on the seed of the woman, from that time on down to the birth of Christ, what sense are we to make of the fact that the words actually were not spoken to the woman, but to the serpent? (Gen. 3:15.) In other words, you called it a promise, but technically, wasn't it more like a curse? The speech to Eve comes later, v. 16 ff.
ReplyDeleteI see the protoevangelium as a promise to neither the serpent nor to Eve. It is the Word gone forth that shall not return void.
ReplyDeleteWe note also that "the woman" to whom God speaks in Genesis 3:16 is not Eve. The name Eve was given by Adam four verses later.
So, who is "the woman" whose offspring will crush the serpent's head? "The Woman" and can only be Mary, the Mother of God.
Mary's father was a priest who married a daughter of a priest, following the same pattern that we see with Abraham's people. This is the same unchanging pattern that I discovered in my analysis of the kinship of Abraham's ancestors AND his descendents.
The Horites worshipped Horus who was also called "Son of God". The Egyptians had many gods and goddesses, but the Horites were particular followers of the one who they regarded as the source of light.
I will refer to our conversation in a post on Tuesday, June 9, so check out the essay "Son of God".
Alice, was Terah 70 or 130 when Abraham was born?
ReplyDeleteGenesis 11:26 says that Terah was 70.
ReplyDeleteGenesis 11:32 tells us that Terah died at age 205. After Terah's death, Abram left Haran (where Terah died). According to Genesis 12:4, he was 75 when he headed to Cannan. The math... 205 minus 70 = 130. Was Terah 130 or 70 when Abraham was born?
I see no problem. The numbers 130 and 70 are symbolically equivalent. Both indicate the fullness of time according to God's Providence.
Here is a thoughtful piece addressing your question: http://www.christian-thinktank.com/abebirth.html
However, there is no discrepancy when you understand the number symbolism of Abraham's people.