Hagar's Conversion

Painting of Hagar in the wilderness by Giovanni Lanfranco. It hangs in the Musée du Louvre.


Alice C. Linsley

Hagar was the Egyptian handmaiden to Sarah, Abraham’s sister wife. She was also one of Abraham’s concubines. Though she is presented as a downtrodden slave, it is likely that Hagar was highly cultured and moved comfortably in the circle of nobles.

As the Horite Hebrew clans practiced endogamy, it is likely that Hagar was the daughter of a Horite Hebrew priest, and as such, she would have been a skilled attendant to Sarah, and even as a concubine, she would have been a woman of high social status.

Sarah’s resentment toward Hagar appears to have had a long history. Some of the resentment may have been cultural. Sarah was from the region of Aram in Mesopotamia while Hagar is identified as an Egyptian. Sarah's resentment toward Hagar became blind jealousy after Isaac was weaned, when Ishmael was about 15 years old.

Genesis portrays Hagar as having a complex personality. In later life she is a strong and independent woman, contracting marriage for her son and apparently producing other offspring known as the Hagarites. They are mentioned in Psalm 83:6. The core of this psalm is believed to pre-date David. The Hagarites are distinct from the Ishmaelites in the Psalm 83 listing of allies, so it is apparent that Hagar (like Anah and Oholibamah) was regarded as a clan chief.

This picture of Hagar as a mature clan chief differs from the picture presented in Genesis 16:5 where we are told that Hagar acted tactlessly toward her childless mistress. Sarah blamed Abraham for this and Abraham said to Sarah: “Your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit” (Genesis 16:6). Sarah then abused Hagar who fled to a spring where Abraham had lived for a time (Genesis 20:1). The Angel of the Lord found her at the spring and prophesied concerning her son that his name should be Ishmael meaning God Hearkens, for God heard the cry of Hagar's affliction.

This story portrays Hagar as a tactless, abused runaway, but note how she has a personal encounter with the Lord at the water shrine! She knows that she has encountered the all-Seeing God because she declares that she has gone on seeing, even as she is seen (Genesis 16:14). The Angel of the Lord speaks in the first-person, and in verse 13 Hagar identifies the visitor as God. To me, this sounds like a conversion story.

Given the times in which Hagar lived, she would have run to a place where she felt she could provide for her son. She traveled to a shrine half way between Kadesh and Bered (Genesis 16:14). In Genesis, when a water system is identified as being along a road between two towns, it is a shrine to which a priest is attached. It is likely that Hagar had family there. Since this was Horite Hebrew territory, an Egyptian priest (Harwa) at a water shrine would have been a Horite priest.

Horite territory extended north-south at least between Mount Hor (above Kadesh-barnea) and Mt. Harun or Hor south of Oboth. According to Genesis 14: 6, Horite territory extended as far south as the wilderness of Paran (see map).


A temple dedicated to Hathor, the mother of Horus was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University. This is the site of some of the world's oldest copper mines.

Horite priests were devotees of Horus, who was called “Son of God.” From ancient Egyptian texts we gather that Horus is equal to the Father in nature and glory. The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts and Pyramid Texts provide a great deal of information about Horus, the divine son of Ra. This is expressed in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. In the priest's prayer to the King, he says, "Horus is a soul and he recognizes his Father in you..." (Utterance 423).

In these texts Horus is described as the one who unites the peoples (the Upper and Lower Nile). This is symbolized by the double crown. The rulers of the two regions wore different crowns, but Horus was called "Horus of the Two Crowns" because he wore both. This is what stands behind the account of Yeshua/Joshua, the priest, receiving the "crowns" in Zechariah 6:11: "Take the silver and gold, and make crowns, and set it upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest..."

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)

Consider how Horus describes himself in the Coffin Texts (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’.

This text is about 1000 years older than the words of Psalm 110:1, a clear messianic reference: The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

Horus was expected to trample down the serpent. This expectation is expressed int he Pyramid Texts:
"Horus has shattered (tbb, crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot (tbw)" Utterance 388 (681).

This reference dates to about 800 years before Psalm 91: ""They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down."

Horus gives himself as mystic food of immortality. In The Pyramid Texts, dating from the beginning of the 4th Dynasty, we read: "O Hunger, do not come for me; go to the Abyss, depart to the flood! I am satisfied, I am not hungry because of this kmhw-bread of Horus which I have eaten." (Utterance 338) The Egyptian word km means to bring to an end, to complete, or fulfill, and hw refers to the heavenly temple or mansion of the firmament above.

It appears that the "kmhw-bread of Horus" is what the Church Fathers call "the bread of immortality." Concerning himself, Jesus said that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:53-54).

These are key elements of the Messianic Faith by which Messiah is identified.

Jesus Messiah is sometimes called “the Angel of the Lord.” Perhaps he met Hagar’s when she fled to the Horite shrine. Might Hagar's conversion be due to a personal encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ? 

This is how some Church Fathers see Hagar's visitation. He who is of one essence with the Father, “for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9) came into the world to save sinners like Hagar... like me.


Related reading: The Ra, Horus, Hathor Narrative; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Hagar's Journeys

Cultural Context and the Bible

In response to comments at this article, a reader of Just Genesis has asked:

"Why do people insist on reading the Hebrew Scriptures as a prophetic piece, regarding the life of Jesus? Why not take the Scriptures at face value, and review them for the potential meaning they may hold in isolation? By giving everything a 'Jesus prophetic' spin, layers of meaning contained in the actual text may be missed or misinterpreted entirely. Of course, everyone is entitled to their beliefs, but I ask those who continue to read the Scriptures as purely code for the coming of Jesus, to consider the face of the text, without preconceived notions of what it might be 'code' for. These may be value in this, and humanistic insights that we may be missing entirely. My two cents."


Here is my reply:

"You make a good point. Reading Jesus Christ back into the ancient texts is not what we should do. It often results in skewed or reductionist interpretations.

On the other hand, the oldest material in the Bible does echo with expectation of the Righteous Ruler whose coming was anticipated. A rich narrative surrounds this Righteous Ruler. Christians believe that Jesus fits the pattern or template. There is reason to hold this view since Jesus' ancestry confirms that he is of the Horite ruler-priest lines among whom Messianic expectation first arose.

Biblical anthropology seeks to understand antecedents and explores the beliefs of Abraham's cattle-herding Nilotic ancestors. Until we understand their belief system and religious practices better, we will continue to misread the texts and force incorrect or inadequate interpretations on the Bible."


Related reading: Jesus: From Lamb to Ram; Genesis in Anthropological Perspective; Deified Rulers and Resurrection; Jesus' Horite Lineage

Christ Across the Pages of the Bible

Alice C. Linsley

Genesis tends to be read either literally, as a scientific text, or as myth with little relevance for modern people. Both approaches lead to misunderstanding because they fail to note the patterns that are expressed throughout the book. These patterns speak of the mystery of divine love and the intervention of the Creator in human history. They also speak of the earliest Messianic expectation.

The patterns are discerned when we look deeply into the text with minds and hearts open to the leading of God's Spirit. We note that the pattern of the Kushite kings speaks about the Kingdom of God. Their sent-away sons delivered kingdoms to their fathers, and this was a driving factor in the scientifically verified Kushite expansion out of Africa. It is important in understanding the divine Son, Jesus Christ. He who lived immortally in communion with the Father set aside His power and right (kenosis) and became mortal that He might redeem a people and establish an eternal kingdom.

We see the pattern in the cosmology of Abraham's Horite people. God brings light into the world daily with the rising of the sun in the east. This is the pattern whereby we understand the "Seed" of Genesis 3:15 as the lamb who matures to full strength, as a ram caught in the thicket, as the perfect and ultimate holocaust.

I've noticed that more readers of Just Genesis are picking up on this approach which helps us to see Christ across all the pages of the Bible. Ramona Gordy recently commented on this post. She wrote:

I believe that Adam and Eve were at once "real" people, and their lives were set for a pattern of a people, past, present and future. The pattern of a people who chose to obey God and all that entails. They are also set forth as a sign and a beginning of the blood line of the Savior.

I am fascinated by your research on the customs of the Horite's. Adam lived to be at least 900 years old and had many children. No record of how old Eve lived, do you suppose that Adam had other wives, in that Horite type of tradition?

Here is my response:

Ramona,

Pattern is so important in proper understanding of the Genesis material. Adam and Eve are the pattern for every man and woman. We, like they, are made in the "image and likeness" of our Creator. In that respect, humans are unique among all the creatures.

They are also the First Parents of the line of Jesus Christ and we trace that line by paying attention to the marriage pattern of the kings listed in Gen. 4, 5, 10, 1, 25 and 36. Analysis of their marriage and ascendancy pattern reveals an authentic lineage of royal priests who served kingdom builders across the ancient world. The pattern remains unchanged from Cain in Genesis 4 to the lists of Hebrew ruler--priests listed in Matthew and Luke, the ancestry of Jesus. It is the Horite Hebrew pattern of Abraham's ancestors, Joktan the Elder, Seir the Horite (Gen. 36) Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Moses, and Samuel.
I believe that the years attributed to the pre-flood rulers come from a later period and reflect a Kabalistic interest in the hidden meanings of numbers. It is interesting that Noah's father, Lamech the Younger, is assigned 777 years in the Masoretic text and Noah is called "righteous" among those living on Earth.

It would be speculating beyond the biblical evidence to say that Adam had two wives, but there is a Talmudic tradition that suggests he did. The first wife was called Lilith and she was evil. However, like the Talmud, the myth of Lilith is also much later than the Genesis king lists, and the context is Babylonian, not Nilo-Saharan.


Related reading:  Jesus: From Lamb to Ram; The Myth of Lilith; The Genesis King Lists; Afro-Arabian Number Symbolism; Jacob's Ninth Son; Moses' Wives and Brothers; Joseph and Mary's Relationship; Mary's Ruler-Priestly Lineage

Did Jesus Have a Wife?

Alice C. Linsley

Karen L. King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, notes that Jesus refers to a wife in this Gnostic Coptic fragment.  The specific phrase in question reads, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife..." and many assume that this must be a literal wife.



Photo: Karen L King

The document says very little about a wife. Here is the entire text of the fragment: (The ellipses indicate unreadable material.)

1 ] “not [to] me. My mother gave to me li[fe…”
2 ] The disciples said to Jesus, “.[
3 ] deny. Mary is worthy of it
4 ]……” Jesus said to them, “My wife . .[ [
5 ]… she will be able to be my disciple . . [
6 ] Let wicked people swell up … [
7] As for me, I dwell with her in order to . [
8] an image [
1 ] my moth[er
2 ] three [
3 ] …[
4 ] forth which … [

In this article in the New York Times, King makes the point "that this fragment should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married. The text was probably written centuries after Jesus lived, and all other early, historically reliable Christian literature is silent on the question."

The Vatican has declared the fragment a fake.

The fragment represents Coptic Gnosticism or late Egyptian mysticism. Mysticism of the Nile Valley often involves allegories about taking a wife. The ruler's second wife was taken at the time of the ruler's ascension to the throne, so the metaphor of a wedding is linked to the beginning of the kingdom. Jesus might naturally use such language in referring to his ascension and the dawning of His eternal Kingdom.

Jesus Christ never married but He has two brides, following the marriage and ascendancy pattern of his Horite ruler-priest ancestors. A second bride was taken shortly before he ascended.

The second bride is the Church, represented by Photini. As was the common practice among Abraham's people, grooms met and courted their brides at wells.

The pattern of two wives characterizes the Horite marriage and ascendency structure. This is evident with Abraham's father, Abraham, Jacob, Esau and Moses' father.

The first wife is his sister bride, represented by all who lived in faithful expectation of His coming into the world in the flesh. They repose in the "Bosom of Abraham." Among these are the priest Simeon and the Prophetess Anna.

Related reading:  Who Were the Horites?; Moses' Horite Family; Jesus' Horite Ancestry; Yes, Georgia, there is a Kingdom!; Dr. Albert Mohler, The Gospel of Jesus' Wife? When Sensationalism Masquerades as Scholarship; The Wife of Jesus Hoax; The Pattern of Two Wives

Genesis as Ecological Ethics

Alice C. Linsley


A friend recently asked my opinion of a course on Genesis being offered at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary by Professor Jerome Creach.  It is a lecture series on "Genesis and the Moral Imagination" and the recommended text is Terence Fretheim's God and World in the OT: A Relational Theology of Creation, Abindgon, 2005.

Before I offer my opinion, I should preface it with a note to those who don't know me very well. 

I am an old curmudgeon and care less what people say, especially when they make unsubstantiable claims such as "women make better priests" or "Abraham was the first Jew."  I either leave them to their nonsense or I ask them to substantiate their claims. I'm not interested in arguing with them. 

Leon Kass wrote a rather comprehensive book from the Jewish perspective on Genesis and ethics. If that is the angle one wishes to take, I recommend his book, The Beginnings of Wisdom. Kass sees the overarching theme of Genesis as God's effort to create a human society that will practice justice and mercy.  It is no surprise that Christ is not found anywhere in the book and Messianic expectation is of little concern.

Professor Creach, on the other hand, is a Christian (Prebyterian).  Surely in his class students will find Christ at the heart of Genesis.  One would hope!  However, his take is not distinctly Christian, as far as I can tell.  Here is the course description:

"This study of the book of Genesis will explore some of the Bible's most popular stories..."

I take this to mean that the class will not look at the latest anthropolgical research confirming the historicity of Genesis. The focus will be on narrative and meaning.  If one wishes to take this approach, Robert Alter's Genesis and his The Art of Biblical Narrative are unsurpassed.

The course will focus on "moral and ethical concerns" such as "care for the natural world and the maintenance of justice." In other words, Creach will play it safe with the politically correct reading of Genesis which entirely misses the point of the book as a narrative about the origins of Messianic expectation among Abraham's ancestors.

Personally, I wouldn't be the least interested in this course. It would annoy me, but as I said, I'm an old curmudgeon.


Related reading:  Jesus Christ's Resurrection in Genesis; Jesus Christ, The Son of God; Jesus Christ in Genesis; The Kingdom of God in Genesis; Tracing Christ's Kushite Ancestors; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; Genesis and the True Meaning of Christmas

Are Genealogies the "Inspired" Word?

Alice C. Linsley


A visitor from Portland, Oregon has asked whether the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 are inspired.  It is an interesting question to consider.

This visitor hasn't included the line of descent in Genesis 4, probably because he has been taught, contrary to the biblical evidence, that Cain's descendants died in the flood.  Genesis 4 and 5 are to be kept together as these two lines intermarried exclusively, as did the lines of Ham and Shem later.

In what way might be speak of ancestry as being the "inspired" word of God?  We can say that the rulers of Genesis 4, 5 and 11 represent flesh and blood aspects of God's plan whereby the Incarnate Word came into the world to save repentant sinners.

Asking whether the genealogies are inspired is like asking whether one's ancestry is inspired.  People live and have offspring that carry on after them.  In the case of the Genesis genealogies, we have something different.  These are king lists, not family trees.  The ancestors of these kings received a divine promise in Eden concerning a "Woman" of their people (Gen. 3:15).  From their ruling lines came Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. Could God have used other rulers?  Probably.  Why these rulers and their descendants?  Well, that's like asking why Israel?  Why Abraham?  There isn't any sense in asking why these rulers in particular. 

Are they part of the inspired plan of God?  Certainly.  Genesis is their story and they tell us that God made a promise to them concerning the "Seed" of the Woman (not Eve, as she isn't named until verse 20).  They apparently believed that promise because they intermarried exclusively and their wives were their own kin, half-sisters, cousins and nieces.  Mary is the Woman and Jesus is the Seed. He even speaks of his death using this metaphor in John 12:24:  "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest."

The test of a true prophet is whether his words come true.  The test of the inspiration of the Bible is that the Edenic Promise was fulfilled, because from beginning to end the Bible is about God's great Gift to the world, His only Begotten Son.


Related reading:  The Marriage and Ascendency Pattern of Abraham's People; Kushite Wives; Chronology of the Genesis Rulers; Who Were the Kushites?

Trees in Genesis

Alice C. Linsley

Trees are significant in biblical symbolism. A study of trees in Genesis helps us to understand the ancient world of Abraham and his ancestors. Trees provided shade, were sources of water in arid places, and brought forth edible fruits. They marked boundaries, such as the Oak of Zaanannim, which marked the northern border of the territory of the Naphtali clans (Joshua 19:33).

Once Lebanon was forested with cedars and the Judean palm forests stretched over a range of 7 miles across the Jordan valley from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the shores of the Dead Sea in the south. The trees grew to a height of 80 feet and had branches all year round.

The trees known to have grown in the region of Abraham’s people include acacia, cedar, date nut palms, sycamore fig trees and baobab. These figure prominently in biblical symbolism, although not all are mentioned in Genesis. Acacia and cedar were used in the construction of the Ark and the Tabernacle. The baobab tree is likely the origin of the idea of waters flowing from a tree as in Revelation 22:1-2.

Six trees are especially important in the symbolism of Genesis: the Tree of Life; the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; fruit-bearing trees; the prophet's oak at Mamre, the "trees" used to built Noah's ark, and the date palm (tamar) which grew around water shrines.


The Tree of Life

The “tree of life” in the Garden of Eden (as in Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14) is a symbol of communion with God at the metaphysical sacred center. The Church Fathers regarded this tree as representing the cross upon which the Son of God died. In fact, the cross is four times spoken of as a ‘tree’ (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; 1 Peter 2:24). Deuteronomy 21:23 says that “anyone who is hung on a pole [or tree] is under God’s curse.” Quoting this verse, the Apostle Paul explains that Christ bore that curse, “becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

The Tree of Life archetype is as old as the serpent archetype and the two are often shown together, as in the image (below) of Re's cat killing Apophis, the giant water serpent. The point of origin of both archetypes appears to be the Nile, the region from which Abraham's ancestors came.  Re's cat is perhaps the prototype of the Lion of Judah. Note in the image how the serpent's head is under the cat's paw.

The Church Fathers view the Tree of Life is a symbol of Jesus Christ and the serpent is the symbol of His adversary. We meet both in Genesis and in Revelation, at the beginning and at the end of the biblical story.

Both the Tree of Life and the serpent are associated with the first man and the first women. At the Horite shrine of Heliopolis, the first couple Isis and Osiris were said to have emerged from the tree of life.

The Gikuyu, a Nilotic people, place their first parents on a ridge north of Muranga, a town south of Nyeri in Kenya. One can visit the site. A sky-blue gate marks the entrance to Mukurwe Wa Nyagathanga—the Tree of Gathanga. Inside the gate are two mud huts, one for Gikuyu and one for Mumbi. The site looks toward the cloud-shrouded Mount Kenya (formerly called "Mount Kirinyaga"). To the Gikuyu, Mount Kenya is God's seat on earth and fig tress grow in abundance on the slopes of the mountain.

The Gikuyu call the creator Ngai and when Ngai created Gikuyu he told him: “Build your homestead where the fig trees grow." This is why many believe that the Tree of Life was a fig tree. The fig tree plays a significant role in revealing Jesus as the Son of God in the Gospels (Mark 11, Matthew 21 and Luke 13).

In the Gikuyu creation story we are told that at the beginning 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. 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.


Tree of Knowledge

Cyrus Herzl Gordon suggested that the phrase “good and evil”( טוֹב וָרָע ) is a figure of speech whereby a pair of opposites refer to something greater than the constituents, as in the phrase, "they searched high and low", meaning that they searched everywhere. This figure of speech is called a “merism.” Merisms are a common feature of biblical language. For example, in Genesis 1 the phrase “the heavens and the earth” speaks of God’s creation of the whole universe. Such language isn’t merely a literary device. It also represents the binary worldview of the ancient Afro-Asiatics. Similarly, "male and female" constitute the whole of humanity. In the biblical worldview there is no gender continuum!

The tree of the Knowledge of good and evil can therefore represent all things, and all things pertain to God alone; thus the prohibition or boundary. This is a boundary that we continue to violate, attempting to make ourselves as God.

The Tree of Life is mentioned in Genesis 3:22 as distinct from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Both trees are mentioned in The Book of Enoch, a text sacred to Coptic Christians. In chapter 31 we read:

The tree of knowledge also was there, of which if any one eats, he becomes endowed with great wisdom. It was like a species of the tamarind tree, bearing fruit which resembled grapes extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance! Then holy Raphael, an angel who was with me, answered and said, This is the tree of knowledge, of which your ancient father and your aged mother ate, who were before you; and who, obtaining knowledge, their eyes being opened, and knowing themselves to be naked, were expelled from the garden.


Every Fruit-bearing Tree

In is on the third day that God said, “Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit.”

The third day signals the exercise of divine power, or in mystical terms, the arousal of God. Trees are the pillars that rise from the earth by God's command.  So Jesus who was lifted up on the cross also rose from  the ground; a sign of God's great power.

The Baobab is one of the trees that Abraham's ancestors likely had in mind when speaking of fruit-bearing trees. The bark is used for cloth and rope and the leaves for condiments and medicines. The baobab’s fruit is called "monkey bread."

1000 year old baobab

This legend surrounding the baobab describes what happens if you are never content with what you are:

The baobab was among the first trees to appear on the land. Next came the slender, graceful palm tree. When the baobab saw the palm tree, it cried out that it wanted to be taller. Then the beautiful flame tree appeared with its red flower and the baobab was envious for flower blossoms. When the baobab saw the magnificent fig tree, it prayed for fruit as well. The gods became angry with the tree and pulled it up by its roots, then replanted it upside down to keep it quiet.

In the wet months the baobab stores water in its thick, corky, fire-resistant trunk for the long dry period ahead. The water is tapped when drinking water becomes scarce and by this tree life is sustained in the arid months. Likely, this is the origin of the idea of a tree from which a river flows for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:1-2), an image of the restoration of Paradise.


The Oak in Mamre

In Genesis 12:6 we read that upon his arrival in Canaan Abraham sought guidance from the Moreh (prophet) when he pitched his tent at the Oak of Moreh. The word "Torah" is usually rendered guidance or instruction, but Torah also is associated with a prophet sitting under a tree.

Males prophets sat under firm upright tress such as oaks whereas females prophets sat under soft flowing trees such as date nut palms, called "tamars." Judges 4:4-6 says, “Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment."

Genesis 12 that tells us that the Oak of the Moreh was at the sacred center between Bethel and Ai (an east-west axis). Deborah's Palm was between Ramah and Bethel (a north-south axis). The Tree of Life was in the middle of the garden. If the sacred center is the place where the east-west axis and the north-south axis intersect, we have the image of the Cross.

Many Bibles render the oak of Genesis 12 as the terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus), also called turpentine tree. It is a small deciduous tree or shrub related to the pistachio and likely the earliest known source of turpentine. It is also possible that the word in the original telling was the "tree of the daughter of Terah."  Terah was the father of both Abraham and Sarah. This is a reasonable explanation and it suggests that when Abraham and Sarah left Haran they went first to a place where they had kin on their father's side. Arabic is older than Hebrew and the Arabic word bint (بنت) means "daughter of" and tera or Terah is a royal title that means priest. Also related to the name Terah is the word teraphim, which were ancestors figurines of Terah's ancient Horite family.


The Tree of Weeping

Rebecca's nurse, Deborah, was buried at Bethel under a tree known as the “Oak of Weeping" (Gen. 35:8). The type of tree is not specified. It is named allon-bachuth, which means “tree of weeping.” Although allon is often translated oak the word can refer to a large tree of any species. Here it probably refers to an oak, a terebinth or a sycamore fig. The sycamore fig was associated with Hat-Hor, the virgin mother of Horus and there is some evidence that graves were placed beneath sycamore fig trees.

There is a natural association between the fig tree and the name Deborah which means bee or wasp.  The wasp lays its eggs inside the ripening figs.


Gopher Wood  (גפר gofer)

Noah's ark was made of this material according to Genesis 6:14. Since this word does not appear elsewhere in the Bible, it is uncertain what material is indicated. However, archaeology and anthropology provide adequate information about boat building in Noah's time in east Africa to safely say that the material used was reeds or sedge such as the boat shown in the masthead of Just Genesis.  This is supported by the fact that the word translated "ark" in Genesis 6:14 is found only one other place in the Bible: in the story of Moses' mother putting him in a reed basket (Exodus 2:3). The Schocken Bible reads: "Make yourself an Ark of gofer wood, with reeds make the Ark...", Vol. I, p. 35.

Reed Boat

Sedge is a grass-like plant which grows in wet areas, such as the Nile region. At the time of Noah much of the Sudan was wet. In ancient Kush sedge reeds were used to construct boats, baskets and sandals. Bas-reliefs of the Fourth Dynasty show men cutting reeds to build a boat; similar boats are still made in the southern Sudan. As Noah's sons and their descendants spread across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion, they spread their ship building technologies so that reed boats exactly as those made along the Nile are also found in Pakistan and India.


The Tamar (Date Nut Palm)

The date nut palm is probably the most ancient cultivated tree in Africa. The Hebrew and Arabic word for the date palm is "tamar” and the tree was traditionally associated with females, probably because the nut has the appearance when opened of the vagina (below). In ancient Kush, as in Sudan today, fluidity and softness are associated with the female principle, so the soft movement of palm branches contrasts with the firm, pillar-like quality of the oak.

A. Zaid and P.F. de Wet report “that the date palm was cultivated as early as 4000 B.C. since it was used for the construction of the temple of the moon god near Ur in Southern Iraq - Mesopotamia (Popenoe, 1913; 1973).

More proof of the great antiquity of the date palm is in Egypt's Nile Valley where it was used as the symbol for a year in Egyptian hieroglyphics and its frond as a symbol for a month (Dowson, 1982). However, the culture of date palm did not become important in Egypt until somewhat later than that of Iraq (Danthine, 1937), about 3000 - 2000 B.C.

The above is confirmed by history, and corroborated by the archaeological research into ancient historical remains of the Sumerians, Akadians and Babylonians. Houses of these very ancient people were roofed with palm tree trunks and fronds. The uses of date for medicinal purposes, in addition to its food value, were also documented.”

The association of palm trees (tamars) with rulers and prophets is a common among many Africans and Arabians and is found in the Bible. Fresh palm tree fronds are used ceremonially at the installation of rulers and are used to decorate places of worship. The tamar as a sacred symbol is the complement of the oak tree. Male prophets sat under oaks while female prophets sat under date palms.

Jebu (Jebusite) rulers are installed with palm branches. Jude Adebo Adeleye Ogunade writes in his memoir about growing up Ijebu. He was warned not to touch the leaves of the Igi-Ose tree because, as his Mama Eleni explained, "That tree is the tree whose leaves are used to install Chiefs and Kings of Ijebu and as your grandfather was a custodian of the rites of chieftaincy and kingship you must not play with its leaves." This explains the greeting of Jesus with palm fronds as he entered Jerusalem.

Related reading:  Theories About the Tree of Life; The Fig Tree in Biblical Symbolism; The Tree of Life; The Chiastic Center of Ecclesiasticus; Wells and Brides; Circumcision and Binary Distinctions

Why Genesis Matters

Alice C. Linsley


Genesis is the battle ground over the questions surrounding creation. It has been co-opted by both Young Earth Fundamentalists and Radical Darwinians, yet Genesis is not really about the origins of biological life. It is about the origins of Messianic expectation among Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors. It sets forth the pattern concerning the Divine King whereby Abraham's people would one day recognize Jesus as Messiah.

The Young Earth view hinges on assumptions about the Genesis "genealogies" used by Bishop Ussher to calculate the age of the universe. He did not understand that these are not genealogies. They are king lists, and their purpose is to tell us about Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors. They were the mighty men of old who spread out of Africa and established kingdoms across a vast expanse of the ancient world. They were not the first people on earth.

The Young Earth view is expressed in Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth on page 454:  We affirm that the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 are chronological, enabling us to arrive at an approximate date of creation of the whole universe.

What happened to the Genesis 4 king list? Genesis 4 and 5 must be read as one unit as the lines of Cain and Seth intermarried. This is further supported by the fact that the Bible consistently portrays Cain as a ruler. By the time that Jude wrote his epistle (c. 68 AD) Cain was solidly established as the archetype of an earthly ruler. Jude warns those who might abandon Christ because of their suffering and false teachers that God punishes those who rebel against Him. He uses three men as examples: Cain the ruler, Balaam the prophet, and Korah the priest.

The rulers of Genesis 4 and 5 are confirmed as historical persons since analysis of their kinship pattern reveals an authentic marriage and ascendancy pattern. These rulers had two wives living in separate settlements on a north-south axis. The first wife was a half-sister, as was Sarah to Abraham. The second wife, taken before the ruler ascended to the throne, was a patrilineal cousin, as was Keturah to Abraham.

Genesis matters because here we find the oldest king lists and evidence for the oldest priest caste.

Genesis matters because it presents the data which enables Biblical anthropologists to reconstruct an accurate picture of Abraham's ancestors; their marriage and ascendancy pattern; their ethics and metaphysics, and their extensive kingdom building by which they spread the Proto-Gospel across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion.

Darwinians insist that all biological life has a common origin, but Genesis speaks instead of the de novo creation of essences ("kinds") that may change form or condition, but not morph into a different essence over vast periods of time. God uses mutation and adaption, for sure, but Christ is the ground of all life, and the unity of biological life is due to the fact that all things were created by and through Him. Genetic boundaries (horotely), and all other boundaries and directions, are fixed in Him.

Here we find the oldest layers of Biblical material. The context of this material is not Near Eastern. It is Nilo-Saharan and can be traced back to a time when the Sahara was wet. If we misrepresent this material, we misrepresent the entire message of the Bible.

Here we find clues as to the point of origin of the Divine Name YHWH. In following the Biblical clues we discover that the Shasu who are named on ancient Nubian monuments as devotees of YHWH are kin to Moses.

Genesis provides significant data for tracing the Kushite migration out of Africa. Here we find verification of the black populations in East Africa and Southern India mentioned by Homer (8th century BC). Homer alluded to the extensive empire and unity of the Saka and Sudra when he wrote, “a race divided, whom the sloping rays; the rising and the setting sun surveys.” 

We also find clues for tracing the migrations of Abraham's Ainu ancestors to places as distant as Japan and Eastern Canada. The Biblical information has made it possible for Biblical anthropologists to make these connections.

Genesis matters because it is fundamental for developing a Biblical worldview and the ability to discern truth from falsehood. That worldview is essentially binary and never dualistic. It maintains a clear distinction between God and Man, between Heaven and Earth, between Good and Evil and between male and female.

Genesis matters because Jesus Christ is the theme of the book. Ultimately, Genesis is about the Divine Son and his ancestors to whom the promise was first given that a "Woman" of their ruler-priest lines would bring forth the "Seed" of God (Gen. 3:15).


Related reading: The Battle Over Genesis; Biblical Anthropology and the Question of Common Ancestry; YEC Dogma is NOT Biblical; Ethics and Archaic Communities; Between Biblical Literalism and Biblical Illiteracy; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Who Were the Kushites?; A Scientific Timeline of Genesis

True Food for the Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast begins today for the Orthodox.  It is a challenge for me to observe the fasts diligently, not having been raised Orthodox.  I fail in so many ways to practice my faith and I pray that my failings might not cause others to stumble.  If I have offended any of you, dear readers, please forgive me.

Perhaps these words will satisfy our spiritual hunger and strengthen us for the Fast.

Troparion of the Forefeast Tone 4


Make ready, Bethlehem, Eden has been opened to all.
Prepare Ephratha, for the Tree of Life has blossomed in the cave from the Virgin.
Her womb was a spiritual paradise whence came the Divine Plant.
If we eat it we shall live and not die like Adam.
Christ is born to raise up the image that of old had fallen.

 
H/T to Orthocath

Jesus: From Lamb to Ram

Alice C. Linsley


God works single-mindedly throughout the ages to restore lost humanity to Himself.  This is the theme from Genesis to Revelation, and it is predicated on the first promise concerning the Seed of the Woman who would crush the head of the serpent and restore Paradise.  In calling Himself "Son of Man", Jesus identified Himself as the fulfillment of the Edenic Promise (Gen. 3:15). To receive Him as the Son of God, we must affirm His complete humanity. To believe that He is God with the power to save us, we must receive Him as both the Son of Man and the Son of God.

When Scripture poses binary opposites such as God-Man, it is initiating a pattern of thought that travels between 2 points, just as the Sun appears to move from east and west. In this movement there is a point in which the Sun's glory is greatest - the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, which in the northern hemisphere is June 21- 22.  Likewise, on a sunny day the sun is felt most intensely upon one's shoulders at hign noon, the point between east and west. 

The notion here is that of a shuttle moving back and forth. The weave requires redoubling to make the fabric or the web strong. The  English web is likely derived from the word keb or kab. Kab pertains to weaving with a shuttle. Weavers are called the ka, those who kab. Ka also refers to the the body which is "knit" in the womb.  Ka-ba refers to the relationship between the body and the soul. Kab also implies a doubling or redoubling to strengthen.

This movement between points corresponds to the ancients' observations of the stars and constellations.  They were adept at sidereal astronomy. Horus of the two horizons (east-west) and Horus of the two crowns (north-south) are examples of how meaning is derived by holding 2 points in view. We see this in the Passover sacrifice at twilight, what is called in  Hebrew ben ha-'arbayim, meaning "between the two settings."  Rabbinic sources take this to mean "from noon on."  According to Radak, the first "setting" occurs when the sun passes its zenith at noon and the shadows begin to lengthen, and the second "setting" is the actual sunset (p. 55, vol. 2, The Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary, "Exodus").

On the eastern horizon Horus is the lamb, young and pure as the new day. On the western horizon, after his sacrifice at the sacred center (the Cross), he is the ram who comes to full strength.  The ram's horn (shofar) symbolized the covenant between God and the Israelites. When it was blown the veil or tehome was lifted, allowing God's Presence to be seen.  In Genesis One, tehom signifies the chaotic waters which are subdued and put into order by the Word or Wisdom (tehut) of God.  The ram's horn which lifts the veil and the Word of God which subdues chaos refer to Jesus the Christ.


From Lamb to Ram on Mount Moriah

As they ascended Mount Moriah, Isaac asked Abraham "where is the lamb" for the sacrifice.  Abraham replied that God would provide the lamb, but God didn't provide a lamb, but rather a ram. The ram caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah symbolized to Abraham that his offering had been accepted, because the lamb had become the ram. In his intention to offer his son, Abraham appears to have believed Isaac to be the Seed of the Woman (Gen. 3:15), but Isaac was spared because God would supply his own Lamb who passed from weakness (kenosis) to fullness of power (resurrection).

The sign of the Old Covenant is the blood of lambs and rams, but the lamb is weak compared to the adult ram. The blood of lambs speaks of the kenotic work of Christ, the Lamb of God. Horus was called the Lamb in his weaker (kenotic) existence and he was called the Ram in his glorified strength.  Both are associated with the death and resurrection symbolism of the vernal equinox.  This sheds light on the story of Abraham's offering of his son.  James 2:21 says, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?"  Is this really about the necessity of faith and works? Or is James saying that faith is perfected or redoubled through sacrifice, death and resurrection? This understanding of redoubled strength better fits the context of Abraham's binding of Isaac.

When John pointed to Jesus and called Him the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", he identified Him as the fulfillment of the first promise. John writes: "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (I John 5:5)  To paraphrase: "who goes from fleshly weakness to divine strength?"  Only those who "put on Christ", the Lamb who has become the Ram. This is about resurrection of the Sacrificed One expected by the Horites; the Righteous Ruler who would overcome death and lead his people to immortality (final justification).

This is the faith of Abraham and his Horite ruler-priest ancestors.  "Har-Ur" (likely the origin of the place names Haran and Ur) refers to Horus in maturity, or the Elder Horus. In his infancy, he was depicted in ancient Egypt as either a calf or a lamb and in his maturity as a bull or a ram. Horus is the only mythological figure in ancient Egypt who was understood to be a man. And only as a man does he wear the two crowns.


Related reading:  Ram Symbolism in the Ancient World; The Lamb is Bound; Did Abraham Believe Isaac to be Messiah?; Sons and The Son; The Bosom of Abraham; The Victory of Tehut Over Tehom

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 Christ of Two Crowns

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

Alice C. Linsley

This is the Double Crown worn by the rulers of a united Nile Valley. The red crown represents Lower Nile (Egypt) and the white crown represents Upper Nile (ancient Nubia). After the unification of the Upper and Lower Nile regions the two parts of the crown were joined to represent a unified Egypt. It is believed that Narmer (Menes) was the first recorded to wear the Double Crown. He was the founder of the First Dynasty around 3100 B.C.

The Red (desher) crown symbolized life and victory. During celebrations, ancient Egyptians painted their bodies with red ochre and would wear amulets made of cornelian, a deep red stone.

The white (hedj/shesep) crown suggests omnipotence and purity. The name of the holy city of Memphis meant "White Walls." White sandals were worn at holy ceremonies. The material most commonly used for ritual objects such as small ceremonial bowls and even the embalming table for the Apis Bulls in Memphis was white alabaster. White was also the heraldic color of Upper Egypt. The "Nefer" crown of Upper Egypt was white.

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

The Double Crown was associated with Horus, the "son" of the Creator, because he united the peoples of the Upper and Lower Nile Valley.  I've written here about how Horus was a pattern for Christ who unites two peoples into one Kingdom. The two peoples are those who lived in expectation of the appearing of the Seed promised in Genesis 3:15 and those who believe the testimony of the Apostles who saw His appearing. Just as the Patriarchs came to rule after taking their second wifes, so Christ will ascend the throne of the Father after He takes the Church as his bride.

Exacators at Hierakonpolis report found "a series of New Kingdom inscriptions incised into the rock high up on the rise. These record the names of several priests with prayers and dedications to Horus of Nekhen depicted as a crouching falcon with the White or Double Crown on his head. The location of the inscriptions suggests that this spot had been chosen not only for the commanding view it provided, but because it marked the southeasternmost border of Hierakonpolis and would be the first place illuminated by the rays of the rising sun each morning."

Susan Burns, an avid follower of Biblical Anthropology, has written: "The double axe symbol has been found at the Egyptian City of the Hawk signifying two lands. In this ancient city it is the Desheret symbol of sedge and bee. Desheret has been shown to have a root connection to Deborah, the Hebrew word for bee. Bee symbols are at the very heart of the afro-semitic language. Mn was the Egyptian god of the hive. The miraculous appearance of honey was attributed to him. Mn (with added Hebrew Heh) could be the Mannah (honeycomb) of Moses' Exodus sustaining the Israelites in the wilderness. I think it is interesting that the earliest Aramaic churches were hexagram shaped - a replica of a honeycomb cell."

Abraham's people were Horites, a caste of priests ('Apiru/Habiru/Hebrew) who were devotes of Re-Horus and Hathor. Horus was regarded as the "Son: of Re who was conceived when Hathor was overshadowed by the Sun. The Sun was the emblem of the Creator. Hathor's animal totem was the long-horn cow and she is often shown wearing the horned crown, a solar cradle, which represents her divine appointment. This is why Hathor is shown in some Nile temples with her newborn in a stable or manger.

Hathor conceived Horus by divine overshadowing of the Sun, the emblem of Re.

The angel answered, "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." Luke 1:35

There are two ways to consider the parallel between Jesus and Horus: either Christianity absorbed ancient Egyptian mythology to explain Jesus or Jesus was recognized as Messiah by those who expected Him to fit the belief pattern of Abraham and his people. The second makes sense and fits the evidence of continuity from Abraham's faith to the Christian faith.  It would be difficult to explain why Christians would adopt an ancient Egyptian myth centuries after the fact.

Looking at the Re-Horus-Hathor narrative through the lens of anthropology one finds a tradition concerning the "Son" of God already developed among Abraham's cattle-herding Nilotic ancestors. This indicates that this Tradition is received, not invented, and that it has specific features that the followers of Jesus Christ would immediately recognize. These features include expectation of the appearing of the Son of God by a miraculous birth under humble circumstances, His death and third-day resurrection, and His oneness with the Father.


Related reading: The Double Crown of Horus; Horus, King of the Universe; Who Were the Horites?; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; The Re-Horus-Hathor Narrative

Jesus in Genesis: God with Us!

Alice C. Linsley


The Incarnation of the Son of God is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, specifically Isaiah 7:14. He is called "Immanuel" - God with us. God is with us in Jesus Christ, the fulfullment of the the first promise and prophesy of the Bible: Genesis 3:15. This promise was made to the "Woman" concerning her Seed who would crush the serpent's head and restore Paradise. Note that the promise doesn't concern Eve as Eve is not named until 5 verses later. Jesus Christ fulfills the Edenic Promise. This promise was made to Abraham's Kushite ancestors in Eden.

Jesus is both foretold and symbolized throughout the book of Genesis.  He is evident in the study of trees, mountains, water, and in the unique kinship pattern of Abraham's Horite people by which the ruler-priest Son receives a kingdom from His Father.

Jesus' celestial pattern is evident in many figures of the Old Testament: Enoch, Abraham, Moses, David and in the women who prefigure the Virgin Mary, especially Oholibamah and Ruth. So why do many Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah?  The celestial pattern involves the coming down of God to earth and to human existence. 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.

Jews reject this belief because they elevate the the Law above the Prophets and the Talmud above the Pentateuch.

Judaism concludes that the Major and Minor Prophets are subordinate to the Law of Moses on the basis of Malachi 3:22, which reads: “Remember the Torah of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him at Horeb for all of Israel – its decrees and statutes.” Maimonides quoted this verse in the Mishneh Torah as a proof that prophets are not to be interpreted as bringing new teaching, but should be understood as warning people not to trespass Torah.

Many Jews insist on this, though critical biblical scholarship has demonstrated that the Torah and the Prophets "are separate corpora originating in the same time period" (Jewish Study Bible, p. 1144). Study of the biblical texts does not support the view of Torah as synonymous with the law codex associated with Moses. Instead it recognizes torah as the instruction of the prophet, which is the earlier meaning of Torah. "Torah" means that which is thrown by the hand of the moreh (oracle or prophet). Abraham received guidance when he pitched his tent at the Oak of Moreh. The word "torah" is usually rendered guidance or instruction, but it has an ancient association with a prophet sitting under a tree. Abraham consulted a moreh/prophet at the Oak in Mamre and  Deborah sat at a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. (A study of trees in Genesis points us to Jesus Christ.)

If we are to understand Torah in this broader and more ancient context, we must conclude that God has not ceased to provide instruction and that the litmus test of true torah is whether it points to the fulfillment of the first prophecy in Genesis 3:15 concerning the Woman's Seed. Therefore, it is to be noted that Malachi 3:23 states:  "Behold! I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome Day of the Lord's coming." Jesus' Apostles recognized that this was fulfilled in the person of John the Forerunner.

Personally, I'm glad that God sent us more than the Tablets of Law; that He sent His only begotten Son in fulfillment of the Prophets, the Law and the Bible's first promise.  One day I hope to bow before the Lord Christ Jesus and kiss His feet!  To kiss Him in the flesh is preferable to kissing tablets of stone. His adoration restores Paradise.


Related reading:  The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; Challenge to Shaye Cohen's Portrayal of Abraham; Sons and 'The Son'; Who was Oholibamah?; The Testimony of Blessed John, Forerunner; The Talmud vs the Doctrine of the Lord; Gender Reversal and Sacred Mystery

God's African Ancestors

Monument of Nehesi in Nubia/Kush.
Kush was also called Ta-Nuhusi. 

Alice C. Linsley


Religious belief is conditioned by the faith tradition which we receive from our parents, grandparents and, if we are to believe Jung’s theory of the collective consciousness, from our ancient ancestors. The Bible articulates this notion in this phrase: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And the expectation of the coming Christ was preserved through a long line of priests who were kin to Abraham, the "father of faith."

In as much as Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and He was born of a long line of ruler-priests whose point of origin was Africa, we may speak of Him as having African ancestors.

The ancestry of Jesus Christ our God is not a matter of private revelation. His coming was foretold from the beginning of time. Those to whom God declared that He should be born of their bloodline, lived in expectation of His coming for many millennia. His appearance on earth was announced by the unique conjunction of the king planet (Jupiter) and the king star (Regulus). Indeed all of the created order speaks of the God-Man Jesus Christ, so we should not be surprised when we find signs pointing to Christ in God’s handiwork. St. Paul recognized that all creation makes God’s nature known to us so that all are without excuse when they deny or ignore Him.

An anthropological study of the ancestors of Christ our God reveals that great attention has been paid to the matter of His coming. Most people have not attempted to deny or ignore Him. Almost universally, people have yearned for the benefits of His Incarnation and his shed blood.

It is fitting that attention should be paid to Christ's ancestors and to the evidence that His ancestors included Africans. It is interesting how consistently Africa is ignored when investigating the etiology of biblical practices such as circumcision and the linguistic connections between biblical words and the African languages.

Consider the names Nim and Lot, both Egyptian names, yet neither has been identified as such by biblical scholars. Rulers in Egypt with the name Lot include Iuwelot, Nimlot and Takelot. Egypt is the origin of the biblical names Nim-rod and Lot. Nimlot C was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes during the latter part of the reign of his father Osorkon II. He died before the end of his father's reign since his son Takelot F (king Takelot II) succeeded him as High Priest of Amun towards the end of Osorkon II's reign. This secession is established from the reliefs of Temple J at Karnak which depicts Takelot F as the priest-dedicant at a ceremony and mentions the ruling pharaoh as Osorkon II. Temple J has been dated to the final years of Osorkon II's reign in Tanis (which ended in 837 BC).

The Egyptian word nakh means "the powerful." Ha-Noch, the name of Reuben's first-born son is more a title than a proper name. It should be rendered something like "the Chief." Likewise, the Egyptian anoch can be rendered both Ha-Noch and Enoch. Nakh can also be rendered simply as Nok.

The biblical names Seth and Noah are equivalent to the Egyptian names Set and Nu and there are Egyptian stories in which the principal characters have these names.

Jesus Christ's ancestors were Afro-Asiatics. They spoke Afro-Asiatic languages which include Akkadian, Amharic, ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian, Babylonian, Berber, Chadic, Ethiopic, Hahm, Hausa, Hebrew, Kushitic, Meroitic, Omotic, Phoenician, and Ugaritic. Twelve of these language groups are spoken by populations in Africa. Christ our God spoke Aramaic, a language that shares many roots with the African languages Tigrina, Tigre, Amharic and the older Ge’ez.

Places associated with clans and rulers in Genesis are found only in Africa - Nok (Enoch), Kano (Cain), Ham, Bor' nu (Land of Noah), Terah, and the Jebu tribe (biblical Jebusites). Elephantine, at the border between Egypt and Sudan, was known to the ancient Egyptians as Yebu, the linguistic equivalent of Jebu. Some of these names appear also in Canaan: Terah, Jebu, Sheba, and Hor are among them. Jerusalem was a Jebusite city in the time of Abraham and Abraham paid tribute to that city’s ruler-priest, Melchizedek. Abraham’s Horite people apparently had kin-based alliances with the Jebusites. Both Horites and Jebusites were closely allied with the ancient Egyptians. Abdi-hepa ruled Jerusalem three centuries before its conquest by David. His name is Egyptian. (Hepa, Hap, or Hapi was a predynastic name for the Nile.) The first mention of Jerusalem, not surprisingly, is found in ancient Egyptian texts.

We also have the evidence of the four rivers mentioned as being at the heart of the Afro-Asiatic Dominion: the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Pishon and the Gihon. The last two are in Africa. Clearly there are two distinct traditions concerning the location of the garden, one African and the other Asiatic. The view that Eden was at the western border of Iran is based on the location of the Tigris and Euphrates. Yet we are explicitly told in Genesis 2:10-14 that the Gihon flowed through all the land of Ethiopia and the Pishon "skirts the whole land of Havilah". Havilah was a son of Kush (Gen. 10:7) and the "Kushites" lived in the upper Nile region and Sudan. So two rivers are in Mesopotamia and represent the Asiatic tradition while the other two rivers are in Africa and represent the African tradition. Both traditions are preserved in Genesis, but obviously the garden can't have been in both places. So where was it? If we accept that God drove the man out of the garden toward the east and the garden was west of Noah's homeland near Lake Chad, we must consider Nigeria as the likely location of the garden. So, we may speculate that some of Christ's ancestors came out of Nigeria.

Institutions and practices that characterize Abraham’s people are also distinctively African. These include the practice of circumcision (both male and female). To understand the cultural context of male and female circumcision we must recognize that Africans assign firm structure to males and softness and fluidity to females. It is important that women be less like men and men less like women (one reason that homosex is abhorred in traditional African societies.) In Africa, a family's honor is vested in the conduct of its women. Femininity is stressed and Pharaonic circumcision is seen as an enhancement of the woman’s femininity, potential fertility and purity. Likewise male circumcision was seen as an enhancement of maleness, potency and purity. The complement to the circumcised male is a circumcised female. The practice of female circumcision is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, but that may be because the female aspect is often hidden.

The African view is different from the binary exhibit of Hinduism in which both the lingam (male organ) and the yoni (female organ) are displayed. In the African tradition, phallic pillars (show right) are never displayed with the female organ. The female organ is always covered or hidden, pointing to the biblical distinction between revealed and hidden.

The institution of priest is distinctively African also. Sheba-qo’s son Hori-makhet, was high priest in Thebes. Hori is related to the Egyptian word harwa (priest) and is the linguistic equivalent of Horus and Horite. (Horus represented the power of kingship.) The term Horite can't be taken anachronistically when speaking of Abraham's ancestors, who were devotees of Horus, who they regarded as the “Son of God.” In African caste systems priests are always in the higher caste. Among the Mande of western Africa the highest caste are called the Horon, although few in this caste are priests. Most are warriors, farmers, animal breeders and fishermen.

As is evident today in traditional African religion, there are orders of priests, each assigned specific duties at the shrines. The Khar (Egyptian word for Horite) order of priests was responsible for providing fuel for the burnt offerings/sacrifices. Joseph's family lived in Nazareth which was the home of the eighteenth division of priests, that of Happizzez (1 Chronicles 24:15). The idea that only the Levites were priests simply isn't supported by the evidence of Scripture.

Rulers married the daughters of priests who served them. Joseph, Jacob's first-born son by Rachel, married Asenath, daughter of a priest of the Egyptian shrine at Heliopolis. Likewise, Moses married the daughter of a priest of Midian and his second wife was likely the daughter of a Kushite priest. Kush was known by many names, including Ta-Kash, Ta-Seti, Ta-Nuhusi and Ta-Kensat. In 747 B.C., a ruler named Kash united Lower Nubia as far as the Egyptian border at Aswan.

There were twenty-four priestly divisions after the construction of the Second Temple. Nineteen of these divisions are listed in Nehemiah 12:10-22. In the Nehemiah list we find these names of particular interest: Joachim, Joseph, and Mattenai. These are the names of priests who married the daughters of priests and from these lines came John the Baptist, Joseph, Mary and Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God.

Joachim is the name of Mary’s father, which is one reason that scholars believe that Mary was the virgin daughter of a priest. Hippolytus writing in the early third century, records that Mary’s mother was a daughter of a priest named Matthan. This means that Mary was of a priestly line. According to the custom of her noble African ancestors, Mary married into a priestly line when she became Joseph’s wife. According to Matthew 1:16, Joseph was the grandson of the priest Mattenai (sometimes spelled Mattai, Mattan or Matthew).


In the Masoretic Text the name of Samuel's city is hara-matatyim zophim. (See The Anchor Bible Commentary on I Samuel by P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., p. 51.)  Zuph was a Horite priest of the line of Matthew/Mattai/Mattan. Hara-matatyim is the same priestly line as that of Joseph of Hara-mathea, one of Jesus' relatives and the member of the Sanhedrin who requested the Lord's body in order to bury Him.


Related reading: Recovering the African Background of Genesis; Abraham's Ainu Ancestors; Terah's Nubian Ancestors; Samuel's Horite Family; Abraham's Saharan Ancestry; Is Nehesi the Same Name as Nahor?; Tomb of Nubian Priest Found