The Proto-Saharan Rulers Cain and Seth

Alice C. Linsley


The social structure of the biblical Hebrew is explored in detail in a 7-part series. The first in the series is here.

In this post, we investigate the earliest Proto-Saharan rulers named in Genesis. These rulers had two wives, as did their descendants Terah, Abraham, Jacob, Amram, Moses, and Samuel's father, Elkanah.

© 2010 Alice C. Linsley
Segment I: The Half-Sister Bride and the ruler Enoch/Enosh/Enos

The ruler first bride was his half sister, as Sarah was to Abraham. The half-sister’s first-born son rules in place of his father. Thus Isaac was Abraham's proper heir and ruled over Abraham's territory in Edom. Likewise, Enoch ruled over the territory of his father Seth.

        Enoch  ∆  =  O  Half-sister bride

___|___

                        Kain   ∆         O  =   ∆   Seth   Gen. 5

                     |

                                                                 ∆  Enosh/Enoch the Younger

Segment II: The Cousin Bride’s Naming Prerogative and the ruler Seth/Seti

The ruler's second wife, taken later in life, was a patrilineal cousin bride. The cousin bride’s first-born son became a high official (vizier) in the kingdom of his maternal grandfather. So Seth was a ruler-priest in the territory of Seth the Elder, a Proto-Saharan Nilote. 

These ancestors are often called "Kushites," though the name Kush/Cush does not appear in the Genesis King Lists until Genesis 10:6-9, where we are told that one of Cush's sons was Nimrod, a Kushite kingdom builder in Mesopotamia.

    Seth/Seti, the Elder

 ∆

 |
                                       O  =   ∆  Enoch the Elder

                            |                                      

                          Seth the Younger  ∆   Gen. 5                                    

                                   

The pattern is evidence in this diagram. Lamech the Elder (Gen. 4) has a grandson named Lamech. Lamech the Younger is listed in Genesis 5 as the son of Methusaleh by his cousin bride, Naamah.

The Kushite movement out of Africa has been verified by genetic studies. Research verifying the Genesis record of Kushite migration from Africa into Eurasia can be found here: http://maxwellsci.com/print/crjbs/v2-294-299.pdf

Current Research Journal of Biological Sciences 2(5): 294-299, 2010

ISSN: 2041-0778© Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2010

The Kushite Spread of Haplogroup R1*-M173 from Africa to Eurasia

Clyde A. Winters, Ph.D

The marriage and ascendancy pattern of these early Proto-Saharan rulers drove their movement out of Africa. As the younger son of Kush, Nimrod was probably a "sent away son" who was expected to establish a kingdom of his own. Kingdom building brought honor to their fathers and extended their influence, including the spread of their religious beliefs and practices.

In Genesis 25:1-7 we read that Abraham gave gifts to all his sons and sent them away from Isaac who became the ruler over Abraham's territory in Edom. 

Likewise, Kush gave gifts to Nimrod and sent him away from his older brother Ramah who ruled a Kushite territory. (Ramah, between Bethel and Jerusalem, is also the name of Samuel's hometown.)

The sent-away sons named in the Bible faced struggle and hardship, but ultimately they prospered with God's help. Nimrod’s territory extended the length of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, and within this territory the principal cities of Erech and Akkad (Gen.10:10) became famous urban centers. The script used in Nimrod’s kingdom was “Akkadian” and it preserves many of the roots and phonemes found in the Nilo-Saharan languages.

In Nigerian lore, Nimrod is known as Sharru-Kin which means “the righteous king.” Nimrod's Akkadian name was Šarru-kīnu, which is usually translated “the true king.”

Related reading: Haplogroups of Interest to Biblical Anthropologists; Akkadian Lexicon; Sent-away Sons; Moses's Horite Hebrew Family; Who Were the Kushites?; Archaic Rulers, Ascendancy, and the Coming of Messiah; The Wet Sahara; Samuel's Horite Family