Jesus Christ in the Hebrew Scriptures

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Someone observed that the name "Jesus" is mentioned only in the New Testament. In this person's mind that raises doubt about His historicity and the authenticity of the Gospel. 

There are allusions to the Lamb's Blood that saves the Israelites from death, or to the scarlet cord by which Rahab's household is spared from the slaughter in Jericho. The Apostle Paul described the Rock in the wilderness as Christ. Melchizedek is posed as a type of Christ, both High Priest and High King. The New Testament writers certainly found Jesus in the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old Testament.

Beyond these allusions and typologies, a critical reading of the Old Testament presents an accurate picture of the Gospel as a tradition received from the early Hebrew, Abraham's ancestors.

About one-quarter of Genesis is the story of God’s dealings with Abraham and his ancestors (chapters 1-12). Some of Jesus' ancestors are named in the King Lists of Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36. Jesus' eventual victory over sin and death is described in Genesis 3:5. Because this is so, we recognize that the promise concerning the incarnate Seed/Son of God (Gen. 3:15) does not originate with the Jews. It is the much older belief of the Horite and Sethite Hebrew who believed that the Son of God would be miraculously conceived, and that in his repose he would proclaim glad tidings to those in Hades. A Horite Hebrew song found at the royal complex at Ugarit speaks of HR descending to the place of the dead "to announce good tidings." The text reads: Hr ešeni timerri duri - "below in the dark netherworld" and has the Hittite phrase Šanizzin ḫalukan ḫalzi - "to announce good tidings".

The Seed of God was expected to crush the serpent's head. This early Hebrew expectation was expressed in the Pyramid Texts, dating to 2200 B.C. "Horus has shattered (tbb, crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot (tbw)" (Utterance 388).

The early Hebrew believed that the Son of God would rise on the third day. A reference to the third day resurrection is found in the Pyramid Texts: "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." (Utterance 667) Jesus' third-day resurrection fulfilled that Hebrew expectation in every detail.

The Messianic reference in Psalm 110:1 - The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." - is expressed 1000 years earlier in the Coffin Texts (Passage 148). "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'." (Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark, p. 216)

Jesus subdues the Father's enemies so that God's children might live and prosper. This is expressed in the Messianic Psalm 2:12: "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

Source: Bill Manley, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, 2012, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London, p. 155.)

According to the early Nilotic Hebrew, the first act of the Creator at the beginning was šw (Shu), meaning light. This light was associated with the High God's son Y-shu (Yeshua), as proclaimed in John's Prologue.

The name Jesus is related to the Hebrew word Yeshua, meaning Savior. However, the name is older than the Hebrew language. It is found as early as 2600 BC among the Hebrew priests of the Nile Valley as Yesu or Yeshu. 

The name Yesu is attached to the roles of priest and king in ancient hieroglyphics. Reading from left to right: The feather represents judgment. The horn represents power. The staff represents royal authority, and the chick represents new life. All of these symbols speak of Jesus Christ.

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Horus is called the "advocate of his father" (cf. 1 John 2:1).

The expectation of the coming of the incarnate Son of God was preserved by Abraham's ancestors to whom the promise was first made in Eden, a well-watered region that extended from the sources of the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates (Gen. 2). Christianity alone preserves that oldest known religious belief.

The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is at Nekhen on the Nile (4500 B.C.). The Hebrew ruler-priests served at many of the ancient Nilotic Sun Cities. They gave the world the earliest known resurrection texts.


Related reading: The Oldest Known Religion; Belief in the High God; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Early Resurrection Texts, Horite and Sethite Mounds, The Hebrew Were a Caste; Is It Possible to Speak of the Proto-Gospel?

Jesus Fulfills the Edenic Promise

Alice C. Linsley

Messianic expectation predates Abraham and appears to have originated among the priest caste that served in the temples and shrines of archaic Eden which stretched from ancient Nubia to Syria. Some of these priests were called Horim or Horites, and they were known in the ancient world for their purity of life.

The Horite priests were an extremely ancient caste going back to biblical Eden. It was to their ancestors that the Creator made the promise that a woman of their ruler-priests lines would conceive the Seed of the Creator (Gen. 3:15) by divine overshadowing. This is called the "Edenic Promise." The Angel Gabriel told the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive by the overshadowing of the Spirit. She is the Woman of Genesis 3:15. Her son is the Divine Seed.

Samuel's father was Elkanah, a Horite priest with two wives, so was Amram, Moses' father. Moses also had two wives, as did Abraham, Jacob, etc. It is the pattern of Horite rulers whose ancestors are listed in Genesis 4, 5 and 10. Some of these rulers dispersed far from their ancestral homes and established kingdoms in Syria, Southern Europe, Northern India and even the Tarim Valley of China. Horite priests were found among the "Saka." According to Hindu sacred texts, the Saka ruled the ancient world for 7000 years. They were ethnically Kushites. Genesis calls these rulers of the archaic world "the mighty men of old."(cf Nehemiah 3:16)

These mighty rulers controlled the water commerce and the high elevations which is where they built their fortified palaces. The boundaries of their territories were often marked by the the residential settlements of their two wives, and usually on a north-south axis. Nimrod's territory extended along the Tigris River between Calah and Ashur. Likewise, Cain's territory extended between Kano and Nok, Terah's between Ur and Haran, and Abraham's between Hebron (where Sarah resided) and Beersheba (where Keturah resided).

Wherever these rulers established territories they spread their Horite religion, including the hope of a Righteous Ruler who would overcome death and lead his people to immortality. A few even claimed to be that ruler in order to strengthen their power. Sargon is an example. Sar and gon are African words, and both refer to a ruler. The replication of the meaning king indicates that Sargon would have meant "King of Kings" or "Most High King." He claimed that his mother miraculously conceived him while she was praying in the temple at Azu-piranu, the House of God. Sargon was born in an O-pirû, House of the Sun. The Sun was the emblem of the Creator and gold (oros) was associated with the sun.

In the ancient world, a temple was considered the mansion (hâît) or the house (pirû/biru) of the deity. Those men who served in the temple were called Ha'biru, which in English is Hebrew. They served the Creator and the Creator's divinely appointed ruler. They preserved the ancient religious laws concerning ritual purity and sacrifices. Because they regarded the sun as the Creator's banner or standard, much of their religion is based on the solar arc. Horus rose in the east as a lamb and set in the West as a ram. Now we see the significance of the ram caught in the thicket. The Creator's qualities were often expressed in terms of the sun's properties: warmth, light, and constancy.

Among the desert Nilotes the dung beetle (scarab) also spoke to them of the Creator. This beetle rolls balls of dung along the ground and deposits them in its burrows. The female lays her eggs in the dung ball and when the larvae hatch, they feed off the dung until they emerge from the earth. The orb of the lowly beetle replicated on earth the solar orb of the Creator. Both were seen to sink below the earth and were believed to give life to those buried in the earth.

When it came to resurrection of the body, the heart would be weighed in the afterlife. The body of the pure heart would rise from the dead, as the sun rises in the morning. This is the significance of the dung beetle scarab, placed over the mummy's heart. The emphasis on having a pure heart is found throughout the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms.

Create in me a pure heart, O God. (Ps. 51:10)

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Ps. 51:6)

I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Ps. 119:11)

The ancient rulers of the Nile Valley observed that the beetle buried the dung ball and that the beetle's young fed off the dung underground. This was symbolic of the food placed in the graves of rulers in hope that they would come forth from the grave and lead their people to immortality. The scarab beetle was given the name Khoprer, which is derived from kheper, meaning to become.

The expectation that a Righteous Ruler would come who would overcome death and save his people, has a very early expression in the Re-Horus-Hathor narrative. HR (Horus) was regarded to be co-equal and co-eternal with his father Ra. He was spoken of as the fixer of cosmic boundaries. Horus was invoked to send favorable winds. The four winds often appeared as birds at the four quarters of the heavens announcing the accession of Horus' deified ruler on earth. On the walls of Amenemhat III's burial chamber at Hawara Horus is depicted at the cardinal points and associated with the resurrection of the ruler. The four forms of Horus: the man, the jackal, the falcon, and the baboon top the canopic jars holding the ruler's organs.

Jesus showed Himself to be the eternal Son of the Father when he calmed the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee. This understanding of the Cosmic Ruler is reflected in many words of ancient origin. Horos refers to the boundaries of an area, or a landmark, or a term. From horos come the English words hour, horizon, horologion, horotely, and horoscope. The association of Horus with the horizon is seen in the word Har-ma-khet, meaning "Horus of the Horizon." Today the word horoscope connotes astrology, but the word originally referred to an "observer of the hours."

In the time of Abraham's ancestors, the priests of Horus (called "Horites" in the Bible) were dedicated to observation of the planets and constellations. They observed that the planets and the constellations have an orderly clock-like movement. They conceived of this order as fixed and established by the generative force which makes existence possible (logos, nous, ruach, etc.) The Horite priests were the earliest known astronomers and it is likely that horo pertains to the celestial archetypes surrounding Horus, the son of Ra, born to Hathor. Hathor's animal totem was a cow. She is shown at the Dendura Temple holding her newborn in a manger. He was often shown as a calf with the solar orb between his horns as a sign of divine appointment.

The Horites were devotees of Ra (R) and his co-equal son HR (Hor, Horus) an Hathor (HTR) who they believed was conceived miraculously by the overshadowing of the Sun. This is about celestial archetypes, not about a historical person. The idea that God might appear in human flesh did not yet exist, only the celestial archetype which was acknowledged in funeral practices and in popular feasts and fasts.

One such festival involved a 5-day ceremony in which Horus was said to have died by his brother's hand. The people fasted as a sign of grief for his death. On the third day the priests led processions to the fields where grain was sowed in the fields. Jesus described his death as a seed of grain falling into he ground and dying (John 12:20-26). St. Augustine noted that the Egyptians took great care in the burial of their dead and never practiced cremation, as in the religions that seek to escape physical existence. Abraham's ancestors believed in the resurrection of the body and their ceremonies and celestial archetypes express their yearning for a deified king who would rise from the grave and deliver his people from death.

At some point the Horim came to believe that the ancient hope would take the form of a Divine Man. This happened well before Simeon's time. 

There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. (Luke 2:25-26)

The "consolation" extends back to Eden. The Horites believed that the promised Seed of the Woman would be born of their ruler-priest lines and they expected Him to visit them. In Mark 7:24, this expectation was fulfilled when the Son of God visited Tyre. Mark explains that there Jesus “could not pass unrecognized.” Though Jesus was rejected in Jerusalem,he was recognized in Tyre. Tyre is associated with the Edenic Promise. 

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. (Ezekiel 28:11-18)

The New Testament speaks about Jesus as both ruler and priest. He is the firstborn from the grave and by his mighty resurrection He delivers to the Father a "peculiar people." He leads us in the ascent to the Father where we receive heavenly recognition because we belong to Him.

Heavenly recognition for the Horites was never an individual prospect. Heavenly recognition came to the people through the righteousness of their ruler-priest. Horite rulers took this seriously, some more than others. The best were heavenly minded and the worst were so earthy minded that they shed much blood enlarging their territories. All failed to be the One long-expected as evidenced by their failure to rise from the grave. The true Righteous Ruler-Priest did rise from the dead. Therefore, Jesus, the Son of God, has the power to deliver captives from the grave and to lead them to the throne of heaven (Ps. 68:18; Ps. 7:7; Eph. 4:8).

Related reading:  Genesis in Anthropological Perspective; Theories of Change and Constancy; The Re-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Ignoring Anthropologically Significant Data; The Dung Beetle and Heavenly Lights; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Miners Venerated Hathor

Students Wonder "Why Abraham?"

Alice C. Linsley


Part 6:  Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about Abraham
This continues the series "Answers to Hign Schoolers' Questions About Genesis."

Part 1: About God
Part 2: About Adam and Eve
Part 3: About the Serpent
Part 4: About the Flood
Part 5: About the Earth


Q:  What made Abraham so special that God chose him?

A:  Abraham is a pivotal figure in the Bible. He is mentioned in 230 Bible verses and is the central figure of the book of Genesis. In Romans 4:1, the Apostle Paul calls Abraham "the chief of our forefathers." Paul explains that non-Jews who believe that Jesus is the Son of God have been grafted by God into the faith of Abraham. Here Paul uses the image of a tree, alluding to Jesus' parable of the kingdom of God as a great tree (Matt. 13:31).  He goes on to say that Jews who have rejected Jesus as the Son of God have been pruned from the tree.

Why is Abraham cited as one who had faith in the coming of the Son of God?  Because his Horite people believed that God would overshadow a virgin from among their ruler-priest lines and that she would become pregnant and give birth to the "Seed" of God who was first promised in Genesis 3:15.

In John 8, God promises to provide through Abraham’s Seed (see Acts 7:2ff.). Paul elaborates that the “Seed” of Abraham, through whom blessings are bestowed on all who believe, is Jesus, not Israel.  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)

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. (Galatians 3:16, 29)

In the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:22-31), Jesus illustrates that not all who call Abraham "Father" will receive heavenly recognition.  To those who claimed special privilege by descent, He said, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do."

Christians assume that we alone are the recipients of God's revelation of His Son, yet Hebrews 4:2 states that the Gospel was preached to the Apostles' ancestors. From this we gather that that Abraham and Moses shared the faith of their ancestors to whom God first revealed the plan of salvation. We might call this the "Proto-Gospel" concerning the Seed of God who would be born of the ruler-priest lines. He was expected to pass through death to life and lead his people from the grave to eternal life. Until the day of resurrection at Christ's return, the faithful dead rest "in the bosom of Abraham."

When Abraham died at age 175 he was “gathered to his people” (Gen. 25:8). This phrase is used interchangeably with the phrase "gathered to his fathers."  The word for "fathers" is Horim and refers to ruler-priests among Abraham’s people. None of the rulers who were buried with great pomp and circumstance ever rose from the dead, but the Ruler-Priest Jesus did, thus proving Him to the the Seed of God.  (The ancient Egyptians regarded 175 as the ideal lifespan. Here we have further evidence of Abraham's Nilotic cultural context.)

Genesis is the story of God’s dealings with Abraham and his ruler-priest ancestors (chapter 1-12). The other chapters deal with Abraham's descendants before the establishment of a unified Israel under King David. Clearly, the promise concerning the Seed of God by the Woman (Gen. 3:15) does not originate with the Jews. It is much older. The expectation of Messiah's coming into the world was preserved by Abraham's ancestors to whom the promise was first made in Eden, a well-watered region that extended from East Africa to the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. This appears to be the point of origin of the Proto-Gospel and the faith of Abraham. It is also the origin of the Christian faith. In this sense, the core of Christian belief may be considered the oldest known religion.



Abraham, Moses and David: A Common Pattern

While Abraham is certainly the pivotal figure of Genesis, he is not the only chosen leader in the Bible. Moses and David are other example. Moses led Israel out of Egypt and David ruled in Jerusalem. We cannot grasp the counsel of God or know why God appoints some to leadership, but by exploring what these men have in common, we discern a pattern.

None of these men were in line to rule. Only firstborn sons of wives ascended to the throne.
Abraham, Moses and David were all the youngest sons. This means that God chose the son who was not the heir.  Each of these men was sent away from home as an adult and forced to build a kingdom as God led him and with God's help. Each man was elevated by God to a position of leadership and strengthened through hardships.  The same can be said for Jacob, the young man who preferred to stay home (Gen. 25:27). After attempting to steal his brother's birthright, we was sent away and endured many trials before he returned to Palestine.



Q:  If God gave the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants, doesn't that mean that He wants the Jews to have it?

This question springs from several false assumptions. First, Abraham was not a Jew.  He was a Horite who spoke a language closer to Arabic than to Hebrew. He lived approximately B.C. 2039-1964, about 1420 years before the Jewish people emerged as a distinct group.

Second, many of Abraham's descendants are not Jews. Abraham had nine sons and only those who descend from his grandson Jacob can be considered Jews. Further, Jewish identity did not exist before the Babylonian captivity (B.C. 587–538). It was formed through that trial where the people suffered far worse treatment than they did in Egypt before the Exodus.

It is impossible to speak of a single direct line from Abraham to the Jews because Abraham had nine sons and their descendants intermarried. The genealogical data in Genesis suggests that Abraham's firstborn son was Joktan, the forefather of the Joktanite tribes of Arabia. Abraham could as easily be described the first Arab, since most Arabs are descended from him through Joktan.

Abraham's descendants by Ishmael are Egyptians, since Ishmael's mother and wife were Egyptians and ethnicity was traced through the women, not the men. Ishmael was not Abraham's firstborn son.

The land was given to Abraham's descendants. Zionists attempt to validate an exclusive Jewish claim to the land by insisting that Jews have always been in Israel. However, Abaham's ancestors and Abraham himself were not Jews. They are best described as Afro-Arabians.

Zionism is a political ideology without Biblical support. It is the brainchild of the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl, who was not religious and was from a secular Pest family.  The Haredi Jews who live in Israel do not recognize the State of Israel because they believe only the Messiah can proclaim the Return. The Haredi are mostly indigenous orthodox Jews whose ancestors never left the land. They did not inherit the Zionist attitudes of Jews from the Babylonian diaspora.




Q:  What is the nature of the covenant that God made with Abraham?

A:  There are at least two covenants involving the person of Abraham. The covenant concerning Isaac is unconditional since Abraham was not able of his own power to produce an heir. The covenant concerning salvation for the world is conditional since it depends upon the faith of the individual, as it did for Abraham (Gen. 15:6). St. Paul says, "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that He would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith." (Rom. 4:13)


The Conditional Covenant with Abraham and His Heirs by Faith

A conditional or bilateral covenant is an agreement that binds both parties to fulfill certain conditions. If either party fails to meet their responsibilities, the covenant is broken and neither party is required to fulfill the expectations of the covenant.

As Abraham was a Horite, he believed that God would fulfill the first promise of the Bible found in Genesis 3:15. This promise involves faith on the part of those who would enter into the promise.  Without faith, none can receive the gift of eternal life that comes through the work of Jesus the "Seed" of God, a descendant of Abraham. 

This part of the covenant is elaborated in the promise of many descendants. God kept this promise is evident in that Abraham had nine sons and an unknown number of daughters. Here is a list of the sons born to Abraham by his two wives: Sarah and Keturah, and by his two concubines: Hagar and Masek.

Sarah, daughter of Terah the Aramean (Gen. 20:12)
Isaac (Yitzak)

Hagar the Egyptian (Sarah’s handmaid)
Ishmael (Yismael), who was Egyptian since race/ethnicity was traced through the mother, as is true even today among Jews.

Keturah, daughter of Joktan the Afro-Arabian (Gen. 25)
Yishbak (His name means "sent away" and he was a sent-away son.)
Joktan – probably Keturah’s firstborn son
Midian
Zimran
Medan
Shuah

Masek, the Aramean/Syrian
Eliezar of Damascus

The promise of many offspring is amplified in Genesis 17:6 where God promises that nations and kings would descend from Abraham, and that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). This promise is expanded in the Davidic Covenant of 2 Samuel 7:12.  David's throne was not to pass away.  It would be filled by an eternal King, Jesus the Messiah, of whose kingdom there will be no end.



The Unconditional Covenant with Abraham Concerning an Heir


An unconditional or unilateral covenant is an agreement between two parties, but only one of the parties is bound by the terms. Nothing is required of the other party. The unconditional covenant involves the promise of an heir to Abraham's throne by his sister wife Sarah. The enactment of this covenant is described in Genesis 15 where God appeared to Abraham as a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passing between the sacrificed animals halves.

When both parties passed between the animal pieces the fulfillment of the covenant was dependent upon both parties keeping their commitments. However, in this event God alone moved between the halves of the animals because Abraham was asleep. This is an unconditional covenant concerning the miraculous birth of an heir could be fulfilled by God alone. Issac was born and became Abraham's heir, instead of Eliezar.

Jews speak of the sacrifice of Isaac as the "binding of Isaac" (Akeidat Yitzchak) because their rabbis do not agree on what this story means. Most do not believe that Abraham intended to sacrifice his son. The story of the binding of Isaac suggests that Abraham likely believed that Isaac was the promised "Seed" of Genesis 3:15 since many of the circumstances surrounding Isaac align with the ancient Horus myth.

Consider the following correspondences:

Isaac was born miraculously (Gen. 21:5) as was Horus, who was said to have been born of a virgin queen Hathor who was overshadowed by the Sun, the emblem of God. Issac was not born of a virgin, but as with Jesus, he was born miraculously by the will of God, not man.

God named Isaac as the son by whom Abraham's Seed would be called (Gen. 21:12). His brother Ishmael was banished. Horus was exalted after being abused by his brother who was banished. Jesus will be exalted and those who reject Him will be banished to the fire.

Isaac was sacrificed by the father (by faith) and restored to life (Gen. 22:2-9), since to Abraham he was already given up (holocaust). Horus was restored to life on the third day in an Egyptian five-day ceremony. Ancient Egyptian funerary amulets were made in the shape of the Eye of Horus.

Isaac received the kingdom from his father (Gen. 25:25) just as Horus received a kingdom from Osiris. Jesus receives the kingdom from the Father. In the Horite myth, Horus and Osiris are frequently interchangeable - "I and my Father are one," as Jesus explained in John 10:30.

The miraculous birth of Isaac fulfilled the unconditional covenant God made with Abraham and pointed to the future miraculous birth of the "Seed" of God who would be born of the Virgin Mary.



Q:  How do we know that Abraham was a ruler?

A: Abraham was the son of a great ruler named Terah.  Terah was the son of a great ruler named Nahor.  All the men listed in the Genesis "begats" were rulers.  Further, Abraham's marriage and ascendancy structure is that of the ruler-priests. He maintained two wives in separate households on a north-south axis.  His first wife was his half-sister and the wife of his youth.  His second wife was a patrilineal niece or cousin and was taken before he established a kingdom. Abraham's firstborn son by Keturah ascended to the throne of his maternal grandfather, as was the Horite custom. Isaac, the promised son of Sarah, ascended to the throne of his father Abraham, as was the custom.

Before his death Abraham did two things that tell us that he had become a great ruler. First, he found a second wife for his son Isaac, which was required before Isaac could ascend to his father's throne.  We know that Rebecca was a second wife because she was Isaac's patrilineal cousin or niece. Second, he gave gifts to his other sons and sent them away from Issac to establish their own territories.



Q:  How do we know that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham?

A:  The Horites were a caste.  The ancient world had a strict caste structure. A universal characteristic of castes is endogamy. Endogamy means that caste members marry within their caste, never outside their caste.  The daughters of Horite ruler-priests married the sons of Horite ruler-priests. Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of the priest of Onn (Heliopolis). Moses married Zipporah, the daughter of the priest of Midian.  This practice continued to Jesus' time.

Joseph, from whom Jesus inherited his social status and occupation, belonged to the ruler-priest line of Mattai (Matthew). Joseph's family lived in Nazareth which was the home of the eighteenth division of priests, that of Happizzez (1 Chronicles 24:15). The words happi and ntjr originate in the Nile Valley, as do the names of many of the ruler-priests listed in the genealogies in Luke and Matthew.

I Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur (Hor) as the "father of Bethlehem." The author of Chronicles knew that Bethlehem was originally a Horite settlement in the heart of Horite territory. The prophets foretold Bethlehem as the birth place of the Son of God.

Jesus' mother was Miriam daughter of Joachim Son of Pntjr (Panther) Priests of Nathan of Beth Lehem. From predynastic times, ntjr designated the king among the Kushites. The name Panther or p-ntjr meant "God is King."

It is certain that Mary was of the ruler-priest caste because even those who hated her admit this. Sanhedrin 106a says: “She who was the descendant of princes and governors played the harlot with carpenters.” It is said that she was so despised that some Jews tried to prevent the Apostles from burying her body. Melchi, a name that appears twice in Mary's ancestry, means "my image" in Amharic and refers to kings.



Related reading:  The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of Abraham's People; The Proto-Gospel: Jesus, the Son of God Fulfills the Horus Myth; The Ethnicity of Abraham and David; Abraham's Complaint

Worship the Promise Keeping God

The Rev. Dr. Rick Lobs


Generally speaking, we humans view historical events as isolated proceedings. In fact all in space and time is connected, and is graciously superintended by the Creator God. This management is called "Providence."

In 2 Samuel we read about David. Behind the passage are these facts about David: he was a shepherd, catapulted into prominence by his killing of Goliath, was a court musician for (crazy) King Saul, became an outlaw and guerrilla warrior, became king of Judah and later King of all Israel, captured Jerusalem from indigenous inhabitants, brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, built himself a very nice house of cedar in Jerusalem.

Having all that in his curriculum vitae he desired to build a house for the Lord - which is to say a Temple in which to house the Ark of the Covenant. Nathan the court prophet first approved the building of the house for the Lord - but later reversed his approval at God's prompting.

Nathan then says something quite cryptic to King David. "The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you ... Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever." 2 Samuel 7:11, 16.

David will not be the one to build a house for God. But God would build a house for David, that is a dynasty. As if that is not enough, the Lord God promised David that David's kingdom and throne will be eternally established. Wow!

In times of adversity Israel would prayerfully remind God of His promise. For example we read this in Psalm 132:11: "The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke: "One of your own descendants I will place on your throne."

The notion of the messiah being in the lineage of David was deeply, very deeply, ingrained in the consciousness of Israel.

Now let's jump about one thousand years. By any measure, that's a long time. We read in Luke 1, that a messenger, Gabriel, is sent from God to a girl in the backwater town of Nazareth - her name is Mary. Gabriel communicated a disturbing and yet, amazing word. Consider.

"...the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end."

The promise Mary had heard all her life about David and the messiah was going to be fulfilled through her. How amazing is that?

Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled."

We learn much from the juxtaposition of these inspired texts.

We learn that prayer is sometimes answered in a different time reference than we might wish. In this case one thousand years. Let that be an example and comfort to you if you have been praying for someone or a situation for a long long time.

We learn that events are not accidental but are guided by God's gracious providence.

The passages remind us of the importance of the "house", lineage or dynasty, God built for David. Was it not Jesus in the book of Revelation that said of Himself, "I am the root and offspring of David." (NIV) "I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne." (TLT) Revelation 22:16. All this through Mary, the blessed mother.

The important truth, the overarching truth to note is that we worship a promise keeping God.

What Paradise Must Have Been

Alice C. Linsley


Christ came to restore Paradise according to ancient Church teaching. It is said that by His Cross and Resurrection the “curse is made void,” “Adam is renewed” and “Eve is set free.”

So what was Paradise like? How can we best describe it?

Some believe that Paradise is a metaphysical concept intending original or primal innocence. That may be true, but Genesis maintains that Paradise was also a physical reality experienced by Abraham’s earliest ancestors.

The Paradise of Eden is described as a well-watered garden. If you are a gardener (as I am), you know how welcome water is, especially in hot weather. The text says that springs came up from the earth and there were rivers.

There were many trees and shrubs. Some believe that the earliest of Abraham’s ancestors were forest dwellers. This pushes those ancestors to a time before memory, and yet the Paradise they enjoyed is remembered. Jung might suggest that the Paradise of Genesis reflects the collective memory of Abraham’s people who originated in ancient Kush.

Today much of ancient Kush is desert. It is hard to believe that the region was ever a well-watered area but many discoveries, such as the 8000 year old Dufuna boat in the Sahara, provide considerable evidence that it was.

Today those who dwell in the region labor hard to sustain their families. They sweat under a crushing sun. The water is mostly gone. There is little rest. The infant mortality rate is high and many women die in childbirth or are ostracized because of fistulas. Death is commonplace and familial; its immediacy disturbing to those of us who try to hide it in clinics, hospitals, hospices and nursing homes.

Yes, the curse is real and most immediately felt in the very place that the Bible claims the Fall took place. So we have no reason to doubt that Paradise was likewise real.

What do you think Paradise must have been like? That’s something to ponder because Christ came to restore Paradise and you might want to consider what that will be like.

I'd love to read your thoughts! Leave a comment.

Who Were the Horite Hebrew?

Image of a Sethite Hebrew priest of the Nile (Flinders Petrie, 1939)

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew are the oldest know priest caste. The two groups represent a moiety system of two ritual groups who served at the Sun temples of the ancient world before Abraham's time. 

The first person to be explicitly designated as “Hebrew” in the Bible is Abraham and a detailed study of Abraham reveals a great deal about the biblical Hebrew and their Messianic Faith. Sadly, the artificial division of Genesis 1-11 and Genesis 12-50 creates a distorted picture of the Hebrew and the antiquity of the Messianic Faith among Abraham’s ancestors.

The unity of the book of Genesis is evident in analysis of the kinship pattern of the rulers listed in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36. The pattern is identical. All these persons were Hebrew. Abraham is one of their descendants. His Hebrew ancestors lived in the Nile Valley, Canaan, and Mesopotamia. They were a ruler-priest caste that dispersed widely in the service of kingdom builders like Nimrod.

Beginning in chapter 11, Abraham becomes the focal point of Genesis. We are told that he was Hebrew, and he was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold (Gen. 13:2). His high social status is evident in the personal audiences he had with Pharaoh and King Abimelech. Melchizedek, the priest-king of Jerusalem, ministered to Abraham after battle. This involved ritual cleansing from blood. The Hittites (descendants of Heth) recognized Abraham as a "great prince" among them. Abraham’s personal guard consisted of at least 318 warriors trained in his household.

Genesis 13 states that Abraham left Egypt and moved into the Negev (the "south"), a region known for mining and metal work. Abraham had clan and kin there among the Kenites. Likely, it was at this time that he married Keturah of the clan of Sheba. She established their southern settlement at Beer-sheba (the Well of Sheba). From there Abraham moved north to the region of Bethel and Ai/Hai. Eventually, Sarah established her settlement at Hebron. The wives' settlements marked the southern and northern boundaries of Abraham's territory. Bethel and Ai are shown on this map. Hebron and Beersheba are also shown, farther south.

As with the earlier Hebrew ruler-priests Abraham had two wives. The wives' settlements marked the northern and southern boundaries of Abraham's territory in Edom/Idumea. Abraham's father Terah (meaning priest) also had two wives. One wife was the mother of Sarah, and the other wife was the mother of Abraham. Sarah was Abraham's half-sister and the wife of his youth. Keturah was Abraham's patrilineal cousin and the wife of his later years. By his two wives, Abraham had 7 sons and an unknown number of daughters.

Hebrew sons who were not the firstborn sons of the half-sister (principal) wife or the firstborn sons of the cousin (second) wife were sent away. Genesis 25:6 explains that before he died, Abraham "made grants" to his other sons and then sent them away from his proper heir Isaac. This feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the early Hebrew drove their expansion out of Africa. However, by Abraham's time the size of the territories of the sent-away sons was relatively small. Abraham was a sent-away son who established his territory on a north-south axis between Hebron and Beersheba (a distance of 27 miles/43 kilometers) and on an east-west axis between Ein Gedi and Gerar (a distance of roughly 94 miles/152 kilometers). His authority in this territory was absolute.

The Hebrew ruler-priest caste

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew were a caste of royal priests who dispersed widely from the Nile Valley where they maintained shrines and temples ("Horite and Sethite Mounds"). The terms "Horite" and "Sethite" do not designate races or ethnicities. They designate a moiety system. Though separate ritual groups or moieties, they shared common religious practices and beliefs, worshiped the same God, and served the same king.

Study of the social structure of the biblical Hebrew indicates that they were a caste. They exhibit all the traits associated with castes: endogamy, membership by birth, hierarchical status, inherited occupation, distinctive physical appearance such as shaved bodies, circumcision, type of dress, and restraints on eating with persons outside the caste. The ancient Egyptian rulers observed restrictions on eating with those regarded as ritually impure (Gen. 43). The practice of not eating with Gentiles continues today among strict Orthodox Jews. The prohibition is meant to discourage social mingling that can lead to marriage outside the caste.

The term “commensality” refers to the positive social interactions that are associated with people eating together. Communal meals encourage conversation, increase familiarity, and can lead to closer social, familial, and marital relations.

Exceptions were made in diplomatic relations. Hebrew rulers feasted with non-Hebrew rulers to formalize treaties and covenants. The feasts usually took place at sacred high places and were accompanied by animal sacrifice. Scholars have learned much about ancient treaties through study of the Mari Tablets (Mesopotamia), the Pact of Esarhaddon (Assyrian), the Amarna Texts (Egyptian), and the Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty. 

The early Hebrew were in the service of the archaic kingdom building "mighty men of old" who controlled the trade routes from the wet Sahara to the Indus River, and from Anatolia to ancient Brittany. These shrine and temple attendants kept records, recorded measurements, and collected taxes on cargo that moved along the trade routes and major water systems. They also married within their clans (endogamy).

As temple attendants, the Hebrew were responsible for the fabrication of sacred vessels, stone altars, temples, royal tombs, and artifacts pertaining to the ruler's authority (crooks, flails, crowns, etc.). They often used copper and meteoric iron. Later they fabricated sacred objects of bronze, an alloy of tin copper and tin. In their world there was no separation of sacred and secular. The king was the Creator's representative of earth, and the royal priest was the link between the king and the people, and between the Creator and the people.

The ancient priests who served at the sun temples were called 'Apiru, Hapiru or Habiru (Hebrew). These words derive from the ancient Akkadian word for priest: abru. 

The term piru/biru refers to a house or temple. A temple dedicated to the High God whose emblem was the Sun was called Opiru. The Hebrew interceded for the ruler and the people and offered blood and grain sacrifices. Job offered sacrifice daily for the sins of his own family. At the end of the book, God tells Job to pray for his kinsmen Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad. This is reminiscent of Abraham praying for Abimelech and his whole household (Gen. 20:17,18).

Purity of life was an essential trait of the Hebrew priest. The Horite Hebrew of Heliopolis (biblical On) were known for their meticulous devotion to the Creator and his son, and for their sobriety and purity of life. 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.”

Horite names  

The word "Horite" takes many forms: Har, Harwa, Khar, Khori, Hur, Hurrian, Horonaim, Horoni, Horowitz, Horim, and Hori. Hori was the son of Lotan son of Seir whose descendants were the "lords of the Horites in the land of Seir" according to Genesis 36:20-29 and 1 Chronicles 1:38-42. Lot, Lotan, and Nimlot are Nilotic titles. Nimlot C was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes during the latter part of the reign of his father Osorkon II.

The Horite Hebrew kings of Edom are listed in Genesis 36. Here is a diagram of the lines descending from Seir the Horite. Note that there are two men named Esau. Esau, like one of his descendant David, is described has being red. 

Abraham's territory extended between Hebron (Sarah's settlement) and Beersheba (Keturah's settlement). This places his entire territory in the land of Edom, called "Idumea" in Greek. Idumea means "land of red people". 

The Horites were devotees of HR (Hor, Hur or Horus) whose mother Hathor was said to conceive by the overshadowing of the sun, the Creator's emblem. Horus is the archetype by which Abraham's descendants would recognize Jesus as the promised Seed of the Woman (Gen. 3:15). The "Woman" is Mary, the virgin who conceived by divine overshadowing (Luke 1:35).

Jesus' authentication was His rising from the dead on the third day, in accordance with Horite expectation. As St. Augustine noted, the Egyptians took great care in the burial of their dead and never practiced cremation, as in the religions that seek to escape physical existence. Abraham's ancestors believed in the resurrection of the body and awaited a deified king who would rise from the grave and deliver his people from death.

Hathor's animal totem was a cow. She is shown at the Dendura Temple holding her newborn son in a manger or stable. The stable was constructed by the Horite priest Har-si-Atef. Atef was the crown worn by deified rulers. The Arabic word atef or atif means "kind." The ruler who wore the "atef" crown was to embody kindness and he was to unite the peoples.

Horite Hebrew belief in a deified son who would embody kindness and unite the peoples found fulfillment in Jesus Christ, a descendant of the Horite ruler-priests, the divine son of the Virgin Mary, daughter of the priest Joachim of the line of Nathan. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham's Horite ancestors in Eden (Gen. 3:15). This is why Frank Moore Cross cannot avoid the conclusion that the God of Israel is the God of the Horites.

Consider how Horus, the mythical archetype of Christ, describes himself in the Coffin texts (passage 148): 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'. (Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark, p. 216)

Here we find the words of Psalm 110:1, a messianic reference: The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."

Horus, son of Ra, was venerated at the Predynastic shrine city of Nekhen.

Horus, whose totem was the falcon, was known by many titles. He was called the "Son of God," "Horus of the Two Crowns," "Horus of the Two Horizons," and he was associated with the three superior planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Mars was named "Horus of the Horizon" or "Horus the Red." Jupiter was called "Horus Who Illuminates the Two Lands." Saturn was named "Horus, Bull of the Sky." The three superior planets were always depicted with the falcon-head of Horus (Krupp 1979).

Horus as a falcon on the mast of Ra's solar boat.
Relief found at Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Hebrew religious ideas spread across the ancient world from the Nile region long before Egypt became a political entity. Abraham's ancestors came from the Nile region. He is descended from Nimrod, a son of Kush (Gen. 10:8). We first meet Abraham in the Mesopotamia that is where Nimrod built a vast kingdom.

Typical of castes, the Horite and Sethite Hebrew intermarried (endogamy). The genealogies of the Bible reveal that intermarriage of the ruler-priests lines continued to the time of Jesus. Jesus is the culmination of His ancestors' expectation of the fulfillment of the Edenic Promise. (Gen. 3:15)

It is from the Horite priesthood that the priesthood of Israel developed. Moses' two brothers, Korah and Aaron, were Horite priests before Judaism emerged as a distinct world religion, even before Israel can be identified as a nation. Horite priests served in the temple in Jerusalem on a rotating schedule. I Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur (Hor) as the "father of Bethlehem". The author of Chronicles knew that Bethlehem was originally a Horite settlement in the heart of Horite territory.

The word Horite is related to the Egyptian word for priest harwa. Another word for priest is korah. One of Moses's brothers was Korah. Korah means "shaved head" The Horite priest was to be purified before entering the temple. The purification ritual involved shaving their heads and bodies. According to Numbers 16:17,18, Korah carried the censor to offer incense before God.

Analysis of the kinship pattern of Moses's family reveals that it is identical to the pattern of the other Horite Hebrew ruling clans.

Josephus calls the descendants of Abraham by Keturah "Horites" and quoting another ancient historian, speaks of them as "conquerors of Egypt and founders of the Assyrian Empire." Doubtless this is a reference to Nimrod, the Kushite kingdom builder, who established a vast empire in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Josephus failed to note that the Horite Hebrew already existed before Abraham married Keturah. They are Abraham's ancestors among whom the Messianic hope found early expression.

Horite men married only Horite women and according to a pattern which was tied to ancient tradition. It is not a coincidence that Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of "the priest of On" (Gen. 41:45). The exclusive intermarriage between Horite lines requires that we take these words quite literally: "For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." (Ex. 19:6)

Special care was taken in the selection of the wives of the firstborn sons, and each ruler-priest had four firstborn sons. The firstborn son of the half-sister wife ascended to the throne of his biological father. The firstborn son of the patrilineal cousin or niece ascended to the throne of this maternal grandfather (as did Nimrod, who ascended to the throne of Nimrod the Elder). Nimrod the Younger was named by his mother after her father. This was done only by the cousin/niece brides, so while Nimrod's father is not known, we know that his mother was the daughter of the Kushite ruler Nimrod the Elder who conquer Nippur in 2340.

The firstborn sons by the ruler's two concubines, and sons by wives who didn't ascend to established thrones, were given gifts and sent away to conquer territories of their own. Sent-away sons include Cain, Abraham, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. The biblical data indicates that the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the early Hebrew drove their expansion out of Africa.

The Horite Hebrew Priesthood

We have no evidence that Horite priests performed the Canaanite practices condemned by the Biblical prophets, who were their descendants. Horite priests were concerned about purity, especially when preparing for their time of service in the temple.

Horite priests were asked to pray for people because they were recognized as especially holy people. Abraham was asked to pray for Abimelech's household and Job was asked by God to pray for his friends. So, the Horite priest's work involved intercessory prayer. That prayer sometimes involved sacrifice. Righteous Job offered sacrifice on behalf of his whole family.

Horite priests are also shepherds. They kept sheep for the sacrifice and maintained shrines at water systems where they could sustain their flocks. This is why the Horite leaders met their wives at wells.

The trial of Job, in which Satan acts as the accuser, parallels Zechariah 3:2-6 where Satan accuses the High Priest Yeshua. In Yeshua's trial, God acquits Yeshua and commands that he be clothed in clean garments and crowned with 2 crowns (ataroth).

The correspondence between the Horus Myth and the story of Jesus can be explained in two ways. Either Christians borrowed the Horus myth or Christianity emerges in an organic way from the belief system of Abraham and his Horite people. If we decide that Christians borrowed the Horus myth, we must explain why they should have selected this particular myth. There are other great world myths that could have served as the pattern for the story of Jesus. I know of no other religions that prefigure Jesus Christ, the Son of God, other than the faith of Israel as it emerges out of the faith of Abraham's Horite people.

Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He will receive an eternal kingdom from the Father. He is the Son of God, the fulfillment of the Edenic Promise of Genesis 3:15. He is able to conquer death and deliver sinners from the curse of death. This is the core of Christian belief. Surrounding this are attendant beliefs which logically follow. One is that to receive eternal life, we must acknowledge our need for mercy, forgiveness and salvation. Another is that God does this for us out of His boundless love. John wrote, "This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him." (1 John 4:9)

When Abraham arrived in Canaan he did not abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He continued the marriage pattern of his Horite Hebrew people, believing the promise made to them in Eden that the Seed of the Woman would be born of their bloodlines. That is why Abraham married his half-sister (Sarah) and his patrilineal cousin (Keturah), following the pattern of his ruler-priest ancestors. The Horites anticipated the coming of the Son of God to earth and believed that He would be born of their priestly bloodlines. That is why the lines of priests intermarrried exclusively, and why unchaste daughters of priests were burned alive (Lev. 21:9). Sexual impurity was not tolerated.

Joseph, Jacob's first-born son by Rachel, married Asenath, the chaste daughter of a priest of Heliopolis (city of the Sun). Heliopolis, which was called Iunu by the Greeks, was a shrine city of Horus. Iunu means place of pillars because the temple of Heliopolis was constructed with many pillars. Heliopolis was one of the most prestigious Horite centers in the ancient world. The pyramids of Giza, Saqqara and Abusir were apparently aligned to the obelisk at Heliopolis.

The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship in at Nekhen on the Nile (3800 BC). The votive offerings at Nekhen 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. In the morning the priests faced the eastern horizon to greet the rising sun, the emblem of Ra and his son Horus. Prayers were offered at dawn and dusk. The Chief Inspector of the Horite Hebrew priests of Nekhen was Horemkhawef. His tomb has been identified.

Nekhen's sister city was Elkab (Nekheb), on the opposite side of the river. The tomb of Horemkhawef in Nekhen and the tomb of Sobeknakht in Elkab were painted by the same artist. Further, Hormose, the chief priest of Nekhen, was able to request material goods from the temple at Elkab for use at the temple at Nekhen.

One of the more intriguing discoveries at Nekhen was the recovery of an almost complete beard in association with the redheaded man in Burial no. 79. The facial hair of the man in Burial no. 79 had been trimmed with a sharp blade. The presence of long wavy natural red hair and a full beard suggests that this individual may be of the same ethnicity as the red haired rulers known as Ur-David (shown below) buried in a pyramid in the Tarim Valley of China.

Note the solar mark on the face of this Tarim Valley ruler.

Related reading: Abraham the Hebrew; The Hebrew Hierarchy of Sons; Horite Mounds, Ha'biru, Ha'piru, 'Apiru, Hebrew; The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Moses' Horite Family; Samuel's Horite Family; Sent-Away Sons; Ancient Words for Priests

Christian Faith Emerges From Faith of Abraham

Alice C. Linsley

There isn't much that is original in true Christianity. It isn't a religion for people who seek innovation or who prefer a belief system that is open to modification and personal preferences. People who seek innovation in religion will either try to change Christianity or will stay away. Unlike synthetic religions which cobble together beliefs and ideas, Christianity is an organic religion that emerges out of a belief that God made a promise in Eden and that He has been busy fulfilling it in the God-Man Jesus Christ.

Most people think of Christianity as an off-shoot of Judaism. However, the core of Christianity can be traced back to Abraham and his Nilo-Saharan ancestors, long before there were Jews and Judaism. In this sense, Christianity isn't original. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in antiquity and herein rests its authority.

Read it all here.

For more on this topic, go here.

Gender Role Reversals and Sacred Mystery

Long before Structuralism, people recognized a binary feature in the order of creation. Jacques Derrida explored this extensively and noted that in narratives when a gender reversal takes place, the other becomes the dominant voice. Normally, the dominant voice is that of the Male Principle, but when the reversal takes place, the Female Principle is in action. There are many examples of this in the Old Testament.

Claude Levi-Strauss did not invent something with Structuralism. He studied primitive people groups and found that their worldview involved binary sets. His book "The Raw and the Cooked" presents this feature of archaic thought. Both Levi-Strauss and Derrida were exploring "something older" than civilization.



Alice C. Linsley

Genesis 3:15 is one of the most mysterious and fascinating verses in Genesis, if not in the entire Bible. It is here that we find the first suggestion that a savior will be born of “the woman”. We note, as did the Church Fathers, that this is not Eve, as Eve is not named until verse 20 (five verses later).

יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב
He will crush you a head and you will crush us a heel

The verb root שׁוּף means "to crush." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as the third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect indicates action yet to be completed (he will crush). The suffix ך identifies the object of the verb as second person, masculine, singular (you). So, this word would be translated as "he will crush you” and the message is directed to the serpent.

The prefix ת identifies the subject of the verb as second person, masculine, singular (you) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (you will crush). The suffix נוּ identifies the object of the verb as third person, singular (him). So, this word would be translated as "you will crush him".

In the Vulgate, St. Jerome rendered Genesis 3:15: Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius: ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo eius.

I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. She will crush your head, and you will lie in wait for her heel.”

Jerome gives “ipsa” which is a feminine pronoun. Later this was changed to “he will crush” in accordance with the other Church Fathers. The appearance of the feminine pronoun in Genesis 3:15 has led some Roman Catholics to find an elevated role for Mary, as seen in images of Mary standing on the globe with the serpent under her feet. Other Catholics recognize that this is not about Mary but is instead the first biblical reference to Christ’s passion whereby He defeats the Devil and tramples down death by His death. This second interpretation fits the trajectory of the entire Bible which is about the fulfillment of the Edenic Promise.

It is apparent that the Hebrew is intentionally ambiguous. This is another example of how the binary distinctions function in the Bible. Gender reversals occur where there is a mystery calling us to delve more deeply into the matter. This is what Cornelius a Lapide recognized in the 17th century in his Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram.  Here he resolved the problem of the verb in the masculine (yashuph, conteret, or crush) citing the interplay of gender in Hebrew: the masculine being used in place of the feminine and vice-versa when there is some mystery, anomaly or singularity. Lapide wrote, “frequent exchange of gender in Hebrew: the masculine being used in place of the feminine and vice-versa, especially when there is present some cause or mystery.” 

What we have here is an indication that the Creator condescends to grant to the lesser a greater role. So it is that a young maiden, from the least of the tribes of Israel, should become the "unwedded Bride" of God and the ever-virgin Mother of Christ our God.

The split tamar coconut (above) resembles the vagina. The date nut palm is called a "tamar" and many high-status women of the Old Testament had this name. Among Abraham's people, a cure for sterility was to place a date from the tamar in the vagina of the barren women. 

Gender reversals are also seen in the demarcation of sacred centers. Sacred centers are indicated by their placement between two holy places. The moreh who Abraham consulted at Mamre and the prophetess Deborah are positioned on opposite polar axes. Genesis 12: 6-8, tells us that Abraham pitched his tent at the oak of the moreh or prophet. This oak was at the sacred center between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. The oak was associated with masculine anatomy and masculine virtues. Deborah judged from her tamar which was at the sacred center between Bethel to the north and Ramah to the south. The nut of the date palm (shown above) was associated with feminine anatomy and feminine virtues.

So we see that the masculine is associated with the east-west axis and the feminine with the north-south axis. A reversal of these would invite us to investigate the anomaly. Likewise, the reversal of gender roles in Genesis 3:15, invites us to investigate the singular promise that was made in Eden.

Related reading: Levi-Strauss and Derrida on Binary Oppositions; The Importance of Binary Distinctions; Something Older; Circumcision and Binary Distinctions; Trees in Genesis

Jesus and the Horus Narrative

“The most pressing question on the problem of faith is whether a man as a civilized being can believe in the divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for therein rests the whole of our faith.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky


Alice C. Linsley


Recently a reader named Jonathan asked about the significance of the Horite Hebrew. I had identified Abraham's people as a caste of ruler-priests organized into 2 ritual groups (moieties): the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew. The point of origin of this caste appears to be the Nile Valley where the Horites and Sethites maintained temples and shrines as early as 6200 years ago. It is clear in the Ancient Pyramid Texts (2400-2000 B.C.) that the Horites and the Sethites maintained separate settlements. Utterance 308 addresses them as separate entities: "Hail to you, Horus in the Horite Mounds! Hail to you, Horus in the Sethite Mounds!"

The Horites and Sethites often were in competition with one another. However, the Pyramid Texts make it clear that of the 2 Hebrew groups, the Horites were the higher ranking. PT Utterance 470 contrasts the Horite mounds with the Sethite mounds, designating the Horite Mounds "the High Mounds."

The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is Nekhen on the Nile. Nekhen predates the building of the Great Pyramids at Giza and the step pyramid of King Djoser (Third Dynasty). The oldest known tomb at Nekhen has murals on its plaster walls and dates to c. 3500–3200 B.C. 

Green malachite was placed in some graves at Nekhen. A leather pouch containing chunks of malachite was found in Tomb 39 in Nekhen, a city dedicated to Horus. Green malachite was associated with the falcon, the animal totem of Horus. The Book of the Dead speaks of how the deceased will become a falcon "whose wings are of green stone" (chapter 77). The protective Eye of Horus amulet was made of green stone. The Ancient Pyramid Texts speak of Horus as the "Lord of the green stone" (Utterance 301).

The Horites were devotees of Horus, the "Son of Ra/Re". In Ancient Egyptian he is simply identified as HR, meaning the "Most High One". In Ancient Egyptian Re means "father". (See BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Ancient Egyptian Lexicon.) Horus was said to be the parthenogenetic child of the virgin mother, Hathor, whose animal totem was the cow. Ancient images of Hathor show her overshadowed by the sun resting in the horns of the celestial bull. 

Prophesy concerning the Son of God

The Horite Hebrew believed in a divine son who would be conceived by divine overshadowing, just as the Angel Gabriel explained to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:34). The Son would embody kindness and unite the peoples. The Protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15) is the Word gone forth that shall not return void. Note that the "woman" to whom God speaks in Genesis 3:15 is not Eve. Eve is not named by Adam until 5 verses late (Gen. 3:20). So, who is "the woman" whose offspring will crush the serpent's head? "The Woman" can only be Mary, the Mother of God (Theotokos). Jesus is the Seed of the Woman of Genesis 3:15, the long-expected Immortal Mortal who tramples down death by death and receives an eternal kingdom.

Why He was Named Jesus

According to the early Nilotic Hebrew (4200-2000 B.C.), the first act of the Creator at the beginning was šw (Shu), meaning light. This is not the light of day. It is the eternal, uncreated light associated with the High God's son Y-shu (Yeshua), as proclaimed in John's Prologue.

Jesus or Yeshua is the name that was given to the son the Virgin Mary conceived by divine overshadowing. Luke 1:35 makes this clear. The angel explained to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

As Joseph's cousin bride, it was Mary's prerogative to name her firstborn son after her father, Joachim. However, according to Matthew's Gospel, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to name the child Jesus. The angel instructed Joseph, "You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins".

Prophesy about Crushing the Serpent's Head

The early Hebrew believed that HR would crush the serpent's head. The early Messianic expectation was expressed in the 4200-year-old Pyramid Texts: "Horus has shattered (crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot" (PT Utterance 388).

 

Prophesy about the Son's Resurrection

The early Hebrew prayers were written on the royal tombs along the Nile, and many are collected in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. These prayers reveal that the early Hebrew believed in bodily resurrection and expected a Righteous Ruler to rise from the grave and lead his people to immortality.

Prophesy about the Son's Ultimate Victory of God's Enemies

In Psalm 110:1 a Messianic prophesy says, The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." This is drawn from the belief of the early Hebrew, as is evident from a text dating to the time of Abraham the Hebrew (2000 B.C.) Consider how Horus, the archetype of Christ, describes himself in the Coffin Texts (passage 148):

"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'."

There is a great body of evidence to indicate that the Bible scholar Frank Moore Cross was correct to conclude that the God of Israel is the God of the Horites.

Related reading: The Shrine City of Nekhen; Why the Name Jesus?; Early Resurrection Texts, Horite and Sethite Mounds, Hebrew Names and Titles; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Christ Descended to the Dead