The Relationship of John the Baptist and Jesus Messiah

Alice C. Linsley

Kinship analysis provide insight into the relationship of John the Forerunner and Jesus Messiah. It helps us to identify the relationship between of the priestly lines from which both are descended. Understanding how Jesus and John were related helps us to grasp more fully John's testimony concerning Jesus Messiah.

There have been many attempts to reconcile the genealogical information given in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. These lists are used by the writers for different narrative purposes. Nevertheless, once we understand the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrews we can recognize the historical validity of the biblical claim that John and Jesus were blood relatives and both of the Horite Hebrew priestly lines.

A fruitful approach to investigating the relationship of Jesus and John is to look for the repetition of patterns such as two wives, three sons, the cousin-bride's naming prerogative, etc. The first step to understanding the marriage and ascendancy pattern of John and Jesus is to diagram the Biblical data, such as I have done in the diagram of Moses's ancestry.

John and Jesus come from the priestly lines that descend from Amram. One line is traced through Aaron, Moses's full-brother, and the other is traced through Korah, Moses' half-brother. According to Numbers 26, Korah's claim to be priest was supported by the Hanochites (descendants of Jacob's first born son, Reuben). Korah the younger is named by his mother Ishar after her father, according tot he cousin-bride's naming prerogative. Ishar is derived from the Hebrew isha, meaning "woman." Women are sometimes listed as "sons" in Genesis and Exodus if the ruling line is traced through them, which is the case with Ishar (Ex 6:17), and Anah and Oholibamah (Gen. 36). The last two women are Horites of Edom, of the house of "Seir the Horite."

The priestly lines of Aaron and Korah were ruler-priest clans before they became divisions. One division, the line of Matthew (Mattai/Mattan) resided in Bethlehem. Joseph of Ari-mathea was in the priestly line, something that qualified him to be a member of the Sanhedrin.

Following the kinship pattern of his ruler-priest forefathers, Amram had two wives. One was a half-sister, as was Sarah to Abraham, and the other was a patrilineal cousin, as was Keturah to Abraham. Ishar was Amram's cousin bride, and Jochebed was his half-sister.

According to Holy Tradition, John was a cousin of Jesus through his mother Elizabeth who was sister to Ana (Anah). Ana was Christ's maternal grandmother (as the Anah shown in the diagram was Korah's maternal grandmother). In the relationship of John and Jesus, we find intermarriage between lines of priests according to the ancient pattern of their ruler-priests forefathers. John’s mother Elizabeth was of the “daughters of Aaron,” meaning that she was the daughter of a priest. According to Holy Tradition, Mary was also a daughter of the priest, Joachim. According to the custom of the Horite Hebrew ruler-priests, she married into a priestly line when she married Joseph, grandson of Mattenai (Matthew 1:16).

John's father was a priest of the division of Abijah (Luke 1:5, 8). Abijah's was the eight division of priests which apparently resided in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a Horite settlement according to I Chronicles 4:4 which names Hur (Horite) as the "father of Bethlehem" and Rahab's husband Salmon, the son of Hur is called the "father of Bethlehem" in 1 Chronicles 2:54. Nazareth was also a Horite Hebrew settlement.
The eighteenth division of ruler-priests, called ha·pi·TSETS (Happizzez), resided in Nazareth. In 1962 excavators discovered a small piece of a list of the twenty-four priestly divisions. This third to fourth-century marble fragment is inscribed with the names of the places where four of the divisions resided, including Nazareth, the residence of Happizzez. The name of the division is of Nilotic origin. Happizzez is related to the ancient Egyptian word for the life-sustaining Nile which was Happi.

John's mother, Elizabeth, married into the priestly line of Amram when she married Zechariah, a descendant of Abijah. Mary married into the line of Amram/Korah when she married Joseph, son of Asaph. I Chronicles 26:4-8 tells us that among "Korah's descendants there were Obed Edom's sons Shemaiah (the firstborn), Jehozabad (the second), Joah (the third), Sachar (the fourth), Nethanel (the fifth), Ammiel (the sixth), Issachar (the seventh), and Peullethai (the eighth). God had blessed Obed of Edom. His son Shemaiah had sons who ruled their families because they were soldiers. Shemaiah's sons were Othni, and Othni's skilled brothers Rephael, Obed, Elzabad, as well as Elihu and Semachiah. All of these people were Obed Edom's descendants. They, their sons, and their relatives were skilled and had the ability to perform the service. Obed Edom's family included 62 men."

"Obed-Edom" refers Korah's descendants who were rulers in Edom. These Horite Hebrew rulers are listed in Genesis 36. Seir the Horite ruled in the territory where Abraham lived between Hebron and Beersheba. Seir's granddaughter is Anah, the maternal grandmother of Korah the Elder, whose daughter Ishar married her patrilineal cousin Amram, the father of Moses, Aaron, Miriam and Korah.

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 this list we find these names of particular interest: Eber, Joachim, Joseph, Abijah, 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.

John the Forerunner's testimony concerning Jesus as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) springs from direct knowledge of the tradition of his Horite Hebrew forebearers among whom Messianic expectation originated.

Related reading: Edom and the Horites; Who Were the Horites?; The Genesis Record of Horite Rule; Matthew's Testimony Concerning the Empty Tomb; The Cousin Bride's Naming Prerogative; Samuel's Horite Hebrew Family

Contextual Incongruities in Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


Genesis is a complex and layered narrative. It contains data that pertains to the earliest populations and to the antecedents of the Messianic Faith among Abraham's Hebrew ancestors. Over these older layers are glosses and anachronisms that reflect at least two later sources: the Deuteronomist Historian, and Rabbinic literature. The Deuteronomist writes from the context of the Neo-Babylonian Period, c. 700-300 BC, about 1500 years after the time of Abraham. The Rabbinic insertions reflect an even later period. They date from the first century AD to c. 600 AD.

Understanding the material requires unraveling the interwoven elements and paying attention to the textual and contextual incongruities. A critical reading avoids imposing a presumed order or interpretation on the text. To flesh out the narrative we must notice the incongruities and discrepancies, and what Jacques Derrida calls the trace of the subordinated voices.

For example, at the end of the book, Jacob's clan settles in Egypt. The general thrust of the narrative is set up for the story of Moses and the Exodus. Yet the text makes it clear that Jacob's people maintained contact with relatives and friends in Edom. Judah had sexual relations with Tamar in the region of Timna (Gen. 38:12-30), an area controlled by the Edomites. Tamar sat at the entrance to a Horite shrine there.

The Horite Hebrew rulers of Edom are listed in Genesis 36. Analysis of their marriage and ascendancy pattern demonstrates that they are the descendants of the rulers listed in Genesis 4, 5, 10 and 11.

Abraham's territory was entirely in the region of Edom. It extended on a north-south axis between Hebron and Beersheba and on an east-west axis between Engedi and Gerar. This region was called Idumea by the Greeks which means "land of red people." We recall that Esau and David are described as having a red skin tone. It is likely that the name Adam is also a reference to a red skin tone. By considering the incongruity of settlement in Egypt and the presence of Jacob's son and kinsmen in Edom, we gain a fuller and more accurate picture of the events that shaped Israel's early history.

Many of the incongruities of Genesis are contextual; posing a contrast between the earlier cultural context of Abraham the Hebrew and the latter context of the Jewish Rabbis. An example is the phrase "sons of God" (Bene ha'elohim) in Genesis 6. This is interpreted by some as a reference to angelic beings. If that is the intent of the writer, this clearly is a rabbinic gloss on the text, and represents an idea that is not consistent with the worldview of Abraham's ancestors.

The Aramaic translation of Genesis 6:1-4 reflects and communicates the idea that the "sons" are men, and probably rulers, who for reasons of succession, had more than one wife (as did Lamech, Terah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elkanah, etc.) The idea of angels being envious and descending to have intercourse with human females is distinctively rabbinic. This is clearly set forth in Annette Yoshiko Reed's book Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature.

The Deuteronomist narrates Israel's history through Moses and disconnects him and his family from their Horite Hebrew context. The Deuteronomist stresses the rejection of images, exclusive devotion to the God called YHWH, and obedience to his prophet Moses (Deut. 18:18; cf. Mark 6:125; Matt. 16:13-20; John 1:21).

The Deuteronomist seeks centralized worship at the Jerusalem temple, and the reshaping of the Passover and Tabernacles into national observances. This perspective does not align with the historical, archaeological, linguistic, and anthropological data concerning Abraham. It ignores his R1b cattle-herding ancestors who lived 4500 years ago in central Africa. The result is a disconnection between the Deuteronomist's portrait of Abraham and the earlier portrait of Abraham as a Horite Habiru ruler in Edom whose ancestors are named in Genesis 4 and 5.

Some interpreters believe that the disparate narratives reflect a conflict between priestly families. However, Moses's family is descended from Abraham's family and their marriage and ascendancy customs are exactly the same. Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of Moses's family reveals the distinctive pattern of the Horite ruler-priest caste. This should not surprise us since Moses is the half-brother of the ruler-priest Korah, a descendant of the Horite Hebrew ruler, Seir of Edom. There is greater continuity in Genesis on the level of kinship patterns than is generally recognized.

Digging deeper

The Jewish people view Genesis 15 as the high water mark in the later narrative. Here we read that Abraham received divine protection and promises in a night vision. Abraham's complaint that he had no proper heir is not answered with the promise of Isaac, but instead Abraham is promised offspring as numerous as the stars. God seals this with a covenant on the mountain in which Abraham's sacrifice is consumed as a smoking pot of fire (or a torch?) passes between the severed animals Abraham has set out.

God now tells Abraham, through the agency of Moses, what will happen in the opening chapters of Exodus. Abraham's descendants will be foreigners in Egypt for 400 years, but God will judge Egypt and bring Abraham's offspring out of the land with great wealth. After four generations, Abraham's offspring will return to Canaan.

The Joktanite clans

In reality, many of Abraham's offspring never lived in Canaan. His firstborn son, Joktan, served as a high ranking official in the territory of his maternal grandfather in the region of Beersheba in Edom. The clans of Yisbak and Shuah, other sons of Keturah, are associated with the Euphrates valley. Zimran and Medan are clans in Arabia. Midian is associated with northwestern Arabia. Frank Moore Cross believes the origins of Israel's conception of God is to be found in the region of Midian. Cross argues that archaic biblical poetry locates Yahweh's movements in Edom/Seir/Teman/Midian and that these "are our most reliable evidence for locating Sinai/Horeb, the mountain of God."

As Abraham was a Hebrew ruler-priest, his proper heir was the firstborn son of his first wife and half-sister, Sarah. As Sarah was barren, the next in line was the firstborn son of a related concubine. In this case, that was Eliezar, son of Mesek. "Dam-Mesek" means the one born of Mesek or the blood of Mezek. This has been improperly rendered as Damascus.

Isaac assumed governance over Abraham's territory in Edom. At that time the territory extended on a north-south axis from Hebron to Beersheba. Digging deeper into the Bible we discover that the Edomite territory extended to Bethlehem of Judah.

Related reading: Bronze Age Origin of Semitic Languages; How the Deuteronomist Changes the Genesis Narrative; Discrepancies are Evidence of Authenticity; Edom and the Horites; The Genesis Record of Horite Rule; The Antiquity of the Edomite Rulers; Midianite Potters in Edom

Common Questions About Genesis

Alice C. Linsley

Each week I receive messages asking questions about people and events in Genesis and Exodus. Here are answers to some commonly asked questions.

Was Abraham the first Jew?
No. Abraham was not a Jew and he did not speak Hebrew. Even rabbis admit that this is part of the Jewish narrative which is more myth than fact. Dr. Shaye Cohen (Harvard) explained how this is so in a 2008 NOVA interview:

The biblical narrative gets going with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham in turn Isaac, in turn Jacob, in turn Joseph and the twelve tribes, this brings us directly to the people of Israel and the covenant at Sinai. So Abraham is thought of as the first Jew, the archetype. Historically speaking, of course, this doesn't make much sense. It's hard to talk about Jews living around the year 1800 B.C.E. or anytime near that. We don't have any of the institutions, beliefs, social structures in place that will later characterize Jews and Jewishness. So in a mythic kind of way we can say that Abraham recognizes God and that Abraham launches the process—biological and social and cultural—that will culminate in the people of Israel, who in turn will become Jews and the purveyors of Judaism. But to call Abraham Jewish simplifies things very dramatically.

The haplogroup of Abraham and his ancestors

This is a case where over-simplification approaches obfuscation.

Abraham was a Horite ruler in Edom. Were we able to test his DNA we would find that he is in haplogroup R1 (Y-DNA) which has a wide range of physical features. The dispersion of the R1b group is shown on the map (right). Note the bright red around Lake Chad, Noah's homeland, and the Upper Nile Valley. The R1b is also prevalent in the British Isles where Kushan peoples settled and where Horite mining experts took up residence.

The Genesis narrative suggests that Abraham had a distinctive red skin tone that is associated with other famous Edomites, like Esau. The Edomites may have been kin to the red Nubians. The Shasu of Nubia also lived in Edom.

Detail from drawing by Ippolito Rosellini (1828)
Nubian captives

What nationality was Abraham?
At the time that Abraham lived there were no nations in the modern sense. There were peoples, clans, and castes. Ethnic identities aligned with the territorial chief.

Abraham's ethnicity was Kushite and his father was a ruler-priest descendant of Nimrod, a son of Kush. Nimrod was a sent-away son who became a mighty ruler in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. This is why we first meet Abraham in Ur, though his ancestors were cattle-herding Nilo-Saharans.

Abraham was another sent-away son whose territory extended on a north-south axis between his two wives Sarah and Keturah. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah lived in Beersheba. Abraham also dug wells in Gerar to the west and had a treaty with the ruler of that region. Likely he also had water rights at Engedi to the east. This means that Abraham's territory was entirely in the region know as ancient Edom. The Greeks called this region Idumea, meaning "land of red people."

Edom is named in the Bible as one of the ancient seats of wisdom. The wisdom of the Horites extended to medicine, astronomy, writing, commerce, navigation, natural sciences, and architecture. The 400-acre Edomite complex at Petra reflects Horite beliefs. This was the home of the red Nabateans. Naba or Nabu was the guardian of scribes and prophets. The cult of Nabu was introduced into Mesopotamia and Babylon by the Kushites. Kushite kings sometimes bore the name Nabu, as with Nabu-shum-libur, an early Kushite king in Babylon and Nabu-aplu-iddina. This is the origin of the Hebrew word nabi, meaning prophet.


What language did Abraham speak?
Abraham and his advisers would have communicated using the languages of the peoples with whom they had contact. This included Egyptians, Nubians, Arameans, and peoples of Arabia. During Abraham's time many different alphabets and scripts were used.

The Egyptian hieroglyphs were priestly writings, and the symbolism of each glyph or pictograph pertains to the ancient Egyptian cosmology which changed over time. The oldest of these will be found in the Upper Nile and at the oldest Horite shrine in Nekhen. To understand the Sumerian pictographs we have to look at the earlier roots common to both the Nilotic and Sumerian peoples. Here we will find some very ancient lexemes: V, T, X and the solar symbols O and Y. Many of these appear in the old Dedanite scripts and in the Oasis North Arabian alphabets like Thamudic, Dumaitic, and Taymanitic. The urheimat of the Canaanite Y is the Nilo-Saharan cattle herding and boating populations. They are among Abraham's ancestors, and Messianic expectation appears to have originated among them.

Orly Goldwasser, professor of Egyptology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argues that the first alphabet, from which all other alphabets developed, was invented by Canaanite miners in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem in the Sinai peninsula. The pictorial hieroglyphs of the Nile Valley served as the inspiration for this alphabet.

Other ancient writing forms used by merchants for keeping accounts are found along ancient trade routes; the spice routes, the silk routes, the King's Highway from Egypt through Palestine, the ancient tin route from Spain to Ireland, etc. These involve fewer pictographs and more hatch marks that suggest counting or record keeping. Ogham bears resemblance to these earlier commercial scripts. Some of the elements of the commercial scripts are found in Hebrew and in Ainu, scripts that are clearly related (see image at right).

A comparison of the Ainu (Kata) and Hebrew scripts reveals a connection that is explained by the fact that the earliest scripts were those used by priests in the service of rulers in many regions, and these priest-scribes kept royal accounts. These ancient rulers are the "mighty men of old" mentioned in Genesis. Among them were the "red" rulers associated with Abraham and the Edomites.


Was Noah's flood worldwide?
No. It was an extensive regional flood during the African Humid Period. At one time major water systems connected the Nile and central Africa. The highest concentration of R1b in Africa is in the Lake Chad region, Noah's homeland.

Noah lived approximately 2490-2415 BC. This is the period of the Old Kingdom, a time of great cultural and technological achievement in Egypt. This places Noah and his sons in relatively recent history. They ruled over territories during the time of the 7th, 8th and 9th Dynasties in Egypt.

Humans were dispersed globally by 20,000 years ago and during Noah's time these populations were not destroyed. Consider the following population estimates by urban center between 2500 and 2200 BC:

• Memphis, Egypt - 32,000 inhabitants
• Lagash, Iraq - 60,000 inhabitants
• Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan - 40,000 inhabitants
• Mari, Syria -50,000 inhabitants
• Baodun settlements covering an area of about 373 miles show no evidence of destruction by flooding though all six Baodun settlements straddled the Min River in central Sichuan province. The Min is a tributary of the upper Yangtze River.

There is no evidence that any of these peoples were wiped out by a catastrophic global flood and that the earth was repopulated by Noah's descendants. However, there is evidence of a Kushite expansion out of Africa.


Were Adam and Eve real?
In Genesis Adam and Eve are meta-historical figures who represent the first parents of the ruler-priest lines from which Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus came. Adam was probably a red man. Later Biblical writers treat them as the first created humans. Were this the case, Adam and Eve would have lived about 4 million years ago.

It is doubtful that Adam and Eve lived 4 million years ago. That is not how they are presented in Genesis, although they are interpreted as the first of the human race in other places in the Bible. The Biblical writers recognized that the people among them with a red skin tone were of an extremely ancient ancestral line. These were the "mighty men of old." Some were rulers in Edom. These are listed in Genesis 36. Esau the Elder and Esau the Younger were among them. Esau is specifically described as being red in Genesis 26. David is related to the Horite rulers of Edom and he is described in the Bible as red/ruddy. Samuel, the son of a Horite priest from Ramah, anointed him ruler.


How many wives did Moses have?
As with all Horite rulers, Moses had two wives. His first wife was Kushite and a half-sister. She and Moses had the same father, but different mothers. His second wife was the daughter of a ruler-priest of Midian. Her name was Zipporah and she was Moses's patrilineal cousin.

Moses was a descendant of Seir the Horite (Gen. 36). As can be seen in the diagram above, Moses's father also had two wives. His first wife was his half-sister Jochebed and his second wife was his patrineal cousin Ishar. Ishar was the mother of Moses's half-brother Korah the Younger. She named her first born son after her father, according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative. Korah opposed Moses in the wilderness. "Korah" relates to the practice of shaving the head and body in preparation for the priest's term of service in the temple. (Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2007, p.37)


Related reading: What Color Was Abraham?; Noah's Flood: Where and When?; Moses's Wives and Brothers; Red and Black Smiths; Sent-Away Sons; When is the Evidence Sufficient?; How the Deuteronomist Changes the Genesis Narrative; Solving the Ainu Mystery; Were the Shasu Related to Moses?; Two Named Esau; Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis; Answers to More Questions

Were the Shasu related to Moses?

Alice C. Linsley


It is evident from study of the tetragrammaton YHWH in Biblical references that the giving of the Divine Name at the burning bush does not represent a new development. It represents reaffirmation of received tradition from the Horim or Horites. Hagar the Egyptian recognizes her angelic helper as the angel of YHWH (Gen. 16:7). In Genesis 12:7, Abraham builds the altar at Shechem and offers sacrifice there. This was dedicated to YHWH. He bargains with YHWH over the fate of Sodom (Gen.18:1).  Abraham utters the Divine Name twice, in Genesis 24:3 and 24:7. In the latter instance he recognizes "YHWH Elohim" as the one who called him out of Mesopotamia. In Genesis Abraham's servant invokes the help of YHWH no less than ten times in his quest for Isaac's cousin bride.

Two hieroglyphic references dating to the New Kingdom (1550 BC–c. 1069) refer to “the land of the Shasu of YHWH.” These are the oldest references to YHWH outside the Bible. The "Shasu of Yhw" is found on inscriptions from the Nubian temples of Soleb and Amara West, and corresponds precisely to the tetragrammaton.

Reproduction of the hieroglyphic inscription of YHWH dated to 1400 BC.
Discovered in the temple at Soleb (Nubia) built by the Pharaoh Amenhotep III.
Credit: Benny Bonte

The Horites originated in the Nile Valley. One of the oldest Horite temples was built at Nekhen in modern Sudan. At that time, around 4000 BC, the city set on the banks of the Nile. Originally the shrine was probably at water's edge, but later it was moved to high ground. The Horites are the oldest known caste of priests. They are later identified as ethnically Kushite.

Shasu may be a variant of Saka, another word for Horite royal priests among the Kushites. As they dispersed out of Africa, they spread the Proto-Gospel across the vast Afro-Asiatic Dominion. The Matsya Purana claims that the Saka ruled the ancient world for 7000 years.

The Shasu are definitively connected to the Horites of Seir in Edom (modern Jordan). The Horites occupied Edom at least as early as 2000 BC. Lists of place names in Nubian temples of Soleb and Amara West record six toponyms located in “the land of Shasu.” A monument of Ramesses II claims that he “has plundered the Shasu-land, captured the mountain of Seir” in Edom; a 19th Dynasty letter mentions “the Shasu-tribes of Edom” and Ramesses III declares that he has “destroyed the Seirites among the tribes of the Shasu.” Clearly, the Egyptians regarded the Shasu as a prominent part of the Edomite population which is described in Genesis 36.

Association with Moses the Horite

The Divine Name is given at Mount Horeb, a mountain sacred to the Midianites. The narrative starts with Moses shepherding the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and ends with the theophany of the burning bush (Ex. 3:14) in which God declares from the bush, "I am that I am" (Ehye aser ehye). The entire narrative is limited to the location of this mountain sacred to the Horites living in that region, one of them being Moses' father-in-law Jethro. His ruler-priest status is designated by the spelling of his name with the initial solar symbol: Yetro. Jethro is a descendant of Abraham by his cousin wife Keturah.

Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy structure of Moses' family reveals the distinctive pattern of the Horite ruler-priest caste. Moses is a direct descendant of Seir the Horite who ruled in Edom.

It is evident that the Horite marriage and ascendancy pattern characterizes the great men of the Bible, including Samuel, Methuselah, Abraham, and Moses. The oldest layers of the Hebrew Scriptures appear to be a record of Horite rule in the ancient world.

Related reading:  The Nubian Context of YHWH; Moses' Wives and Brothers; The Mighty Men of Old; The Horite Ancestry of Jesus Christ; Egypt in its African Context

History Channel's Bible Series: Episode 2

Alice C. Linsley


The second episode of the History Channel's Bible series is likely to have as many viewers as the first episode, which broke all 2013 records for cable programs with 13.1 million viewers.

The second segment covers the "tribes of Israel" returning to the "homeland" under the leadership of Joshua (Yeshua/Jesus). These Israelites were Horites and they were fighting other Horites to gain control of important cities in Canaan. The Horites (Horim in Hebrew) were a caste of ruler-priests who were in charge of the shrines in Canaan. These shrines were in the important cities that the warriors of Joshua attacked.



Samson

The Samson segment pointed out that some Horites took Nazarite vows to refrain from wine and beer and to leave their hair uncut. In some African languages "delila" means troublesome flirt. This story highlights the conflict with the Philistines, but belongs in the category of nationalistic literature, not history. Other stories in this category include the heroines Susanna and Esther. The Samson story sets up the story of David as a warrior who is victorious over the Philistine giant Goliath.



The Judges

Life under the "judges" (morehs) is passed over as the story moves to Saul and David. This was another missed opportunity, as here we might have learned about the authority of women in the ancient world. The judges included women such as Deborah. Judges 4:4-6 tells us, “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." Deborah is associated with a tamar at the sacred center between the important shrines of Ramah to the south and Bethel to the north. Ramah was the hometown of the prophet Samuel.

Abraham consulted the moreh at the oak tree in Shechem (Gen. 12:6) and likely consulted another between the shrines of Bethel to the west and Ai the the east (Gen. 12:8).

There continued to be judges after the establishment of the monarchy. Huldah is an example. She lived approximately 655 years after Deborah. We read in 2 Kings 22:14 that King Asaiah sent his priests to consult the “prophetess” Huldah. She was living in Jerusalem, in the new section. Her name indicates that she belonged to the Horite clan of Hul, a son of Aram (Gen. 10:23).

From the information available, it appears that the judges were good regional rulers. People traveled great distances to confer with them in matters pertaining to marriage, sickness, and fertility. The rulers especially relied on them in making decisions about war and alliances.The judges, unlike the ruler-priests, resided at water sources located midway between the shrine cities. This "between" position marked a sacred center, just as the tree of life was in the middle of the garden.



Missing the Horites in front of our faces

The History Channel's first episode (which I reviewed here) missed the Nilotic cultural context of Abraham and his Horite ancestors, and the second episode also fails to tell the story of the Horites. Both Abraham and Moses were Horites, as has been definitively demonstrated in analysis of the common marriage and ascendancy pattern of their ruler-priest fathers Terah and Amram.

The Horites originated in ancient Kush so Moses' marriage to a Kushite woman was consistent with the endogamous marriage pattern of the Horite rulers. The lines of Cain and Seth intermarried, as did the lines of Ham and Shem, and the lines of Abraham and Na-Hor (Horus is exalted). The marriage and ascendancy pattern of these lines remained unchanged from the earliest days of Horite rule to the time of Jesus (The Horite Ancestry of Jesus Christ).

Anthropological analysis demonstrates that Moses was indeed a direct descendant of Terah through the line of Nahor and his younger brother Abraham. The following diagram, based on biblical data, shows that Moses' father was a descendant of Seir the Horite who is named in Genesis 36.

Seir's Horite clan resided in the area of Edom. Petra was an Edomite shrine city and rivaled Jerusalem in grandeur, size and importance. It had underground water systems similar to those under Jerusalem.

The Edomites, to whom David was related, were said to have a reddish skin tone. (Edom, edo, odum, and ido are variations of Nilo-Saharan and Akkadian words for red.) 1 Samuel 17:42 describes David as ruddy or red-skinned. He is one of the descendants of the red Nubian Horites.

Red and black Nubians
reflect the great genetic diversity of Africa

Seir the Horite was the son of Dishan and the brother-in-law of Esau the Younger. Uz the Younger was Seir's grandson.

Two of Abraham's nephews were Huz and Buz (Gen. 22:20). Uz the Elder is mentioned in Genesis 10:23. His grandson, Uz the Younger, is shown in the diagram above. He is the son of Dishan (I Chron. 1:42). These are the sons and grandsons of Abraham's older brother Na-Hor. Nahor inherited Terah's kingdom in the region of the Tigris-Euphrates. 

According to I Chronicles 5:14 Buz had a son named Jahdo, and Jahdo's son was Yeshishai, the Aramaic form of Joshua (Yeshua/Jesus). This connects the name Jesus with the Horites. 

The entire Bible is about Jesus and his Horite ancestors

From Genesis to Revelation we have one story. It is about Jesus, the Seed of God first promised in Genesis 3:15, and his Horite people. The prominence of the Horites is attested by the detail provided in Genesis 36 and I Chronicles. Bethlehem, Jesus' birth place, was a Horite settlement.

Before the Exodus Horites were dispersed throughout Canaan. They served at shrines and temples throughout the ancient Afro-Asiatic dominion which extended from the Lake Chad Basin to the Indus River Valley.

The Horites are ignored in the History Channel's Bible series, and regarded as distantly related to Abraham in Bible commentaries, when in fact they are Abraham's people. Even today Jews call their ancestors "Horim".

Horite men married the daughters of Horite priests whose shrines were at rivers, oases, and wells. This is why there are many stories about men meeting their future wives at wells. Isaac and Jacob married Horite brides. Genesis 36 tells us that Esau the Younger married a Oholibamah, another Horite bride. (Oholibamah means most high tent or tabernacle, and she is a type of the Virgin Mary.) Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of a Horite priest of the Nile shrine city at Onn (Heliopolis), to which the great pyramids were aligned.

From study of the Heliopolitan cosmogony expressed in the Pyramid and Coffin texts, it is apparent that Heliopolis was both the city of the Sun and the sacred center of the primeval ocean which was called Nun. The many pillars that comprised the temple complex symbolized the connection between the waters below and the waters above (Gen. 1:7). Joshua, son (bin) of Nun, was of a ruler-priest family associated with this prestigious complex. This connection to Egypt is evident in the fact that Joshua is the only spy in Numbers 14:4-16 for whom the Arabic bin is used instead of the Hebrew ben.



Horites fighting Horites in Canaan

The Hebrews who came out of Egypt are called "Israelites" because they are descendants of Jacob who was called Israel. Jacob and his descendants were Horites. The word "Hebrew" comes from the word Ha-biru. The word also appears in ancient records as Ha-piru and O-piru. In all the texts it refers to shrine priests and temple attendants. The Hebrews who came out of Egypt were not the only Hebrews. Habiru were living dispersed among the Canaanites before the time of the Exodus. They were the priests, warriors and metalworkers who enjoyed relatively high status in the Canaanite shrine settlements.

The shrine cities in which Horites lived included Hazor, Ramah, Bethel, Jerusalem, Hebron and Beersheba. They were built on high ground and are therefore called "mound settlements" or tells. They had good water sources and were organized with separate neighborhoods for the ruling class and the commoners. Extended families lived in close proximity, usually with a common courtyard. The ruler's complex was on higher ground and included quarters for residential staff such as cooks, craftsmen, warriors and priests. The most holy shrine or small temple was often within the royal complex. The Habiru coming out of Egypt sought to displace their Habiru brethren from these cities

Joshua bin Nun led bands of Horites in forays against towns and cities in Canaan. Probably the first to be attacked was Hazor, the administrative center of an ancient territory. This is attested in Joshua 11:10: "Hazor in olden days was the capital of all these kingdoms."

Grain and other commodities were brought as tribute to Hazor and were stored there. Excavations have uncovered huge storage facilities there. These and tunnels to the subterranean water pits testify to the importance of the city.

Hazor is mentioned in 14th century BC diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru (Amorites) during the New Kingdom. These are called the Amarna Letters. Hazor is also mentioned in earlier Execration texts, and in 18th century BC documents found in Mari on the Euphrates River.

From the Upper Egyptian Amarna letters come evidence that the king of Hazor was under the rule of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Other rulers mentioned in the Letters include Lib'ayu of the shrine city of Shechem and Abdi-Heba who ruled in the shrine city of Jerusalem in the mid-1330s BC. Abdi-Heba hired some Apiru/Habiru (Hebrew) to serve as mercenaries. Among the Habiru were clans known for their skill in spying and combat. Others were known for their skill in metal work some of which was done at the shrine cities since these had sufficient water, and metal articles such as jewelry, mirrors, tools, weapons and sacred vessels were crafted for the rulers.

It is possible that Hazor was burned by the Egyptians with the help of Horite warriors such as Joshua and Caleb. Seti I claimed to have destroyed Hazor in a military campaign around 1300 BC. It is plausible that Horite warriors were among Seti's destroyers of Hazor and that event is remembered in the Hebrew Bible.

Archaeologists know that Hazor was destroyed by a large fire between 1400 and 1100 BC, but they do not agree on the cause of the fire. Israeli Archaeologist Amnon Tor-Ben believes that the Israelites conquered Hazor and burned it as described in Joshua 11:11- "None of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor only; that Joshua burned."  Joshua 8:28 contradicts this, reporting that Joshua also burned Ai, which was a Horite shrine in Abraham's time. Joshua 6:24 further reports that Joshua burned Jericho.

Jericho is where a second passover took place, the symbol of which is the scarlet cord. The scarlet cord is used in a priestly ritual to restore people to the community (Lev. 14:4-6; 49-52). Rahab and her household were passed over when the Horites attacked Jericho. She tied a scarlet cord outside her house so that she and all her family would be saved when the Israelites swept through that city. God redeemed their lives from destruction, and from Rahab and Salman came King David and a greater king - Jesus.

Concerning Rahab, St. Ambrose wrote that she "uplifted a sign of her faith and the banner of the Lord's Passion; so that the likeness of the mystic blood, which should redeem the world, might be in memory. So, outside, the name of Joshua [Jesus] was a sign of victory to those who fought; and inside, the likeness of the Lord's passion was a sign of salvation to those in danger." (On the Christian Faith, Book V, no. 127)



Caleb, another Horite warrior

Another great Horite leader who waged war against Canaanite cities was Caleb son of Jephunneh. Jephunneh was a descendant of Kain which is why he was called a ‘Kenizzite’ הַקְּנִזּי haKenizi (cf. Gen. 15:19). The Kenizzites were a Horite clan according to Gen. 36:11 - "And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.” Caleb's connection to the Kenites is made explict in 1 Chronicles 2:55 which says that Caleb's sons were Kenites. Kenaz was a son of Eliphaz by Timna, daughter of Seir the Horite (See green diagram above).

One of Caleb's grandsons was named Korah (I Chron. 2:43), which refers to the Horite priesthood. Moses' half-brother was Korah. The name means "shaved one" as Horite priests shaved their bodies before their terms of service.

From this information we may infer that Caleb also was associated with the Horites. His family settled in Bethlehem, a Horite settlement. Caleb's son Salma is designated the "founder" of Bethlehem in I Chronicles 2:51.

Better the rule of judges than the rule of Saul

Saul was from Giba (Gibeah), where they raped the Horite priest's concubine and practiced homosex. The Priest cut his concubine's body into pieces and sent pieces to the tribes saying, "Never has such a thing [homosex] been known among the Israelites." (Judges 19:30)

God told Samuel to go along with the elders' wish to have a king, but Saul was a disaster. The judges showed greater wisdom and righteousness than Saul. Saul practiced shamanic religion in that he prophesied in a frenzied state (1 Sam. 10). This is attributed to an evil spirit in 1 Sam. 18:10 - "The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house...".  Horite prophets (morehs/judges) were forbidden to prophesy in trace states. Saul also consulted mediums (1 Sam. 28:4-25), another practice forbidden to Horites.

Saul was the son of Kish/Kush (1 Sam. 14:51) and a descendant of Abraham through Jacob, Rachel and Benjamin. In Judges 1:21, we read that the men of Benjamin did not force the Jebusites out of Jerusalem. The Jebusites were their kinsmen, both being sons of Kish (Kushites). The Jebusites eventually accepted David as the new ruler in Jerusalem, and with the consecration of David of Bethlehem there was a renaissance of Horite wisdom. Much of this wisdom was consolidated and codified and is reflected in the Psalms, the Proverbs and the book of Job the Horite.

Horite Wisdom 

The wisdom of the Horites extended to medicine, astronomy, writing, commerce, navigation, natural sciences, and architecture. They were the inventors of the earliest known writing systems. They were the early scribes and wise men or prophets. 

The wisdom of the Horites was so extensive that it was unrivaled in the ancient world before the rise of Greece and much of the wisdom ascribed to the ancient Greeks was borrowed from the Horites. Iamblichus wrote that Thales of Miletus insisted that Pythagoras go to Memphis to study because the priests there were esteemed for their knowledge and wisdom. Plato studied for 13 years in Egypt under the priest Sechnuphis and his conception of the eternal Forms was based on Horite metaphysics.

The Greek word for boundaries in creation is oros or horos, a reference to the celestial archetype of Horus who was said to be the marker of boundaries. Horus was born of Ra by the Virgin Queen Hathor-Meri who became pregnant when overshadowed by the Sun, the emblem of the Creator. Hathor's totem was a cow and temple images show her holding her son in a manger. This is an early expression of Messianic expectation and it is based upon the Edenic promise that a Woman of the Horite lines would bring forth the "Seed" who would crush the serpent's head and restore Paradise (Gen. 3:15). Jesus identified Himself as that Seed in John 12:24 when he told his disciples, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

In the works of Plato and Aristotle horos or horismos refers to landmarks, boundaries and categorical limits. From Horus come the words hour, horoscope, horologion, horotely and horizon. The association of Horus with the horizon is evident in Har-ma-khet, meaning "Horus of the Horizon". Horus was said to control the winds and to establish the cardinal points. The stars, planets and constellations were fixed in place by Horus, and as Ben Sira reminds us, not one of the heavenly bodies "has ever got in the way of another, and they will never disobey his word." (Ecclesiaticus 16:24)

Horus shrines and temples were located at major water systems and Horus ruled the waters. This is why the Horus name appears in the word for river in Hebrew and Arabic (nahar/nahr) and in Aramaic (nehar). Abraham’s older brother controlled commerce on the Tigris River between Ur and Haran. His Horus name is Na-Hor (Gen. 22:20).

Related reading:  Episode 1: History Channel Scores a C; Episode 3: The Messiah Appears; Episode 4: The King is Revealed; The Ethnicity of Abraham and David; Seats of Wisdom; Samuel's Horite Family; The Spread of the Afro-Asiatic Worldview; The Genesis Record of Horite Rule; The Horite Ancestry of the Virgin Mary; The Jebusites Unveiled; The Men Who Spied on Canaan

Why Does Genesis Speak of Gods?

Alice C. Linsley


The plural form for God in Arabic and Hausa is Allohi, the equivalent of the Hebrew Elohiym. El and Al are very ancient names for God. The plural form appears in Genesis 1: In the beginning eloh-iym (the gods) created the heavens and the earth. It also appears in Genesis 6:2, which speaks of the "sons of the eloh-iym" who took wives from the daughters of men. The plural form reflects a mythical view of the world and relates to the ancient Horites from whom we receive this material. They are the origin of Israel's priesthood and why Jews call their ancestors "horim."

The Horite ruler-priests were regarded as deified "sons" of God. They are often called "gods" (elohiym) as in Exodus 22:28: "Thou shalt not revile the gods (elohiym), nor curse the ruler of thy people."

Rulers are appointed by God's authority to restrain evil, to establish justice and to reward those who do what is good. They act not only on God's behalf; they act as “gods” on earth. Horite rulers were to be pure and to embody the qualities of righteousness, mercy, goodness, justice, etc. Some were good rulers who tried to live as God desired.  These are remembered in the Bible. Job, Abraham, Moses and Joseph are examples. All were Horite rulers.

Horite priests were known for their sobriety and purity.  Heliopolis (Biblical Onn) was one of their most important shrine cities. 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.”

Joseph married Asenath, the chaste daughter of a priest of Heliopolis, a shrine city of Horus and his father Ra. The Heliopolitan cosmogony can be investigated by study of the Pyramid and Coffin Texts. From these texts, it is apparent that Heliopolis was both the city of the Sun and the sacred center of the primeval ocean, Nun. The many pillars that comprised the temple complex symbolized the connection between the waters below and the waters above (Gen. 1:7). Joshua, son (bin) of Nun, likely was of a ruler-priest family associated with this prestigious complex. This is supported by the fact that Joshua (Yeshua) is the only spy in Numbers 14:4-16 for whom the Arabic bin is used for son, instead of the Hebrew ben.



Horite Priests and Purity

In 2010, the tomb of a Horite priest was discovered south of the cemetery of the pyramid builders at Giza. It belongs to a priest named Rudj-Ka (or Rwd-Ka). Rwd-Ka was a purification priest serving the house of Khafre (BC 2520-2494), the pharaoh who built the second-largest pyramid at Giza which was aligned to the obelisk of Heliopolis. This was the tomb of an important priest and scribe of the Egyptian royal court as evidenced by his several titles. Rwd-Ka means "deified ruler of the sphere or realm."  Rwd means sphere, globe or realm and the royal ka is a Horus name indicating that Horus, the son of Ra, dwells in the priest. (In Hausa, kai means head or ruler.)

Horite priests served in the temple on a rotating schedule. It is from the Horite priesthood that the priesthood of Israel developed. Moses' brothers Korah and Aaron were Horite priests before the nation of Israel existed.

The Horites worshiped the Creator who emblem was the Sun when other peoples were worshiping idols of false gods. They anticipated the coming of the Seed of God (Gen. 3:15) and believed that He would be born of their royal-priest 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.

Horite priest

The Horite priest was purified before entering the temple. His purification involved fasting, abstinence from sexual relations and alcohol, ritual bathing, and an intense period of prayer. Korah, Moses' half-brother, was a priest according to Numbers 16:17,18. His name means "shaved one."  Horite priests shaved their heads and bodies as part of the purification ritual.

The ruler-priest's reward for righteousness was life after death. This is why great pains were taken in their burial. In pre-dynastic times and in the earliest dynasties the people were believed to follow their deified ruler from this world to the next. Their immortality depended on that of their ruler. This is why the ruler was to be righteous and undefiled by contact with blood or corpses.

The procession to the ruler's tomb was the earthly journey that would be continued beyond the grave at the deified ruler's resurrection. This stands behind Paul’s description of Jesus Christ leading captives from the grave to the throne of heaven in Ephesians 4:8: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." The same idea is reflected in Psalm 68:18: "When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious--that you, O Lord God, might dwell there."

As far as we know, none of the ruler-priests rose from the grave to ascend on high, except Jesus Christ. This was the ultimate test of authenticity.



The Son of God in Horite Belief

The Horites called Hor (Greek Horus) the "son of God" as he was conceived of a virgin queen who was overshadowed by the Sun, the emblem of the Creator Re. Hor's mother was called Hathor-Meri (later Isis) and her 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 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."

Likewise, Psalm 2:7,8 declares:  "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession."

The thrust of the message is clear: One lives who is far greater than the other gods, be they mythical or deified rulers on earth. He is the unique Son of the Father and all things will be made subject to him. The language is ancient, as is the conception, but clearly the Christian understanding of Jesus Christ is found here in kernel form.

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. In reality, no other religions prefigure Jesus Christ, the Son of God, other than the faith of Israel as it emerges out of the faith of Abraham's Horite ancestors.



The Horites of Exodus

The book of Exodus provides further evidence that the term elohyim relates to Horite belief. Moses and his family were Horites as is evidenced by the unique Horite marriage and ascendancy pattern of Moses' family.

The diagram shows that Moses' father Amram married a descendant of Seir the Horite (Gen. 36). She was his cousin or niece bride and Jochebed was Amram's half-sister wife.


The term elohiym is used in reference to Horite rulers who served as priests at water shrines along the Nile and at wells. These Horite rulers and judges are called "elohiym" because they reflected the divine majesty and power. Numerous passages in Exodus use elohiym in this sense:

Exodus 4:16 -“Moreover, he [Aaron] shall speak for you [Moses] to the people; and it shall come about that he shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be as God [elohiym] to him.”

Exodus 7:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I make you as God [elohiym] to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.”

Exodus 21: 6 - “Then his master shall bring him to God [elohiym], or the rulers who act in God’s name], then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

Exodus 22:8,9 -“If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before the judges [elohiym], to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor’s property. For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before the judges [elohiym]; he whom the judges [elohiym] condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.”



Elohiym as Idols

The use of elohiym in Genesis and Exodus stands apart from its use in other parts of the Old Testament.  For example, in Deuteronomy 4:35, elohiym refers to Israel's one and only God.  The elohiym in Deuteronomy, in some Psalms, and in Jeremiah refers to idols, not to rulers. Consider these examples:

Psalm 96:5 – “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.”

Jeremiah 10:11 – “"Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’”

Jeremiah is speaking of the false gods or idols condemned in Judges 11:24, 1 Kings 18:24 and in the first Commandment. Michael Heiser, who has written extensively on this subject here and here, notes, “Even the Shema and the first commandment do not consign the other gods to fantasy, since the demand is made that no other gods should be worshipped.”

Elohiym as Ruler-Priests

The term elohyim or gods refers to the ruler-priests, a caste which was widely dispersed even before Abraham's time. They were expected to reflect the divine image more than any other people. The “gods” referred to in Psalm 82:1-6 are the rulers of Israel, who have failed to reflect the divine image as God's earthly representatives. Consider these references:

Psalm 82:6 -  "I said, 'You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.”

Psalm 82:1-2 -  "God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the gods [rulers]. How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.”  

Here God judges the rulers in the midst of the rulers, the elohyim/gods who comprise the divine council. Verse 2 identifies the rulers as those to be judged. In Psalm 72 they are called shaphat, a name associated with the Horites in Numbers 14:5. One of the spies sent into Canaan was Shaphat ben Hori. Note also that the New American Standard Bible renders elohiym here as rulers.

Psalm 58:1,2 - "Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? No, in heart you work unrighteousness; on earth you weigh out the violence of your hands."

A similar condemnation is found in II Chronicles 19:6,7: "And he said to the judges, “Consider what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord who is with you when you render judgment. Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness, or partiality, or the taking of a bribe."

This condemnation is directed against the elders and rulers of the people. Consider this from Isaiah 3:13-15: "The Lord arises to contend, and stands to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing My people, and grinding the face of the poor?” (cf. Ezek. 34:1-6).

The rulers failed to vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute, rescue the weak and needy; and deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. Because they failed to do this, God declares His judgment in Psalm 82:5-7: "They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men, And fall like any one of the princes.”

Only one of the ruler-priests of the Horite lines would succeed in being fully righteous: Jesus Christ. In the future He will rule the earth (Ps. 72:12-15; 96:13; Isa. 11:1-5) and under His rule "the world is firmly established, it will not be moved." (Ps. 93:1) and "He will judge the peoples with equity." (Ps. 96:10)



Hierarchy of Elohiym

Among the Horites there was a hierarchy of ruler-priests. The king was the Creator's representative on earth and the ruler-priests were his lesser assisting authorities. Together these comprised the earthly council, a reflection of the henotheistic heavenly council. The archaic principle "as in heaven so on earth" is clear in the pattern.

The King as the highest power was expected to be the most pure.  That is why his person could not be touched by ordinary citizens. Under the king were his counselors who spent much of their time at court in the king's presence. Under the royal counselors were those who served in the temples or shrines as assistants to the higher ranks of priests. A similar order existed among the priests in Jerusalem.

Above all the kings and priests of the earth is God, the Creator of all.  It is remarkable that God should stoop to call his servants "sons" which is what we find in the Bible. Consider the relationship between God and David: “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.” (II Sam. 7:14-15)

Hierarchy is not a popular word in our time, but it is a characteristic of the ancient world and of the Biblical worldview. The king-subject hierarchy, the master-slave hierarchy, the father-son hierarchy and the husband-wife hierarchy are ideally expressed in love and mutual devotion. So wives are to submit to their husbands as “to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22), and slaves are to submit to their masters as “to Christ” (Ephesians 6:5).

Rulers, priests, husbands and masters all fail in righteousness. None is able to bring the kingdom of God on earth. That is why we await Christ's return and the fulfillment of the promise that He shall establish an eternal kingdom of peace. The citizens of His eternal kingdom must themselves be eternal beings. That is why Jesus offers eternal life to all who believe that He is the Son of God who has come into the world to save repentant sinners. John gave this witness: "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)

Related reading:  Abraham and Job: Horite Rulers; The Myth of Israel's Dual Origins; Moses' Horite Family; Purity Seal from Herod's Temple; The Enigma of Joseph; Righteous Job and His Kin; The Genesis Record of Horite Rule; Was Abraham an Idol Worshiper?; God and the Gods, by Ron Hendel

Abraham, Descendant of Both Shem and Ham

A reader has asked this question: "Alice, I read your post about Horites. Fascinating and very helpful. In my reading, I understand that Abraham is a descendant of Shem (Genesis 11). Can you explain how he is a descendant of Ham?  Thanks!

Francien
 

Francien asks a question which is often posed to me.  He has read Genesis 11 and concluded that Abraham is a descendant of Shem only.  This is a common error.  All the genealogical data in Genesis is related so we must look at all of it, not simply one section.

Abraham's ancestors and descendants were related by both blood and marriage. The Horiete Hebrew clans intermarried (endogamy) and the rulers of the clans married according to a structure which is made evident in analysis of the Genesis King Lists found in chapters 4, 5, 11 and 36 with additional information in Genesis 10 and 22:20-24. Analysis of all the data makes it clear that Abraham was a descendant of both Shem and Ham.

Before Ham and Shem, the lines of Cain and Seth intermarried also. These were ruler-priest lines, so the Genesis King lists speak of the marriage and ascendency structure of the Horites.

Further evidence that the lines of Ham and Shem intermarried is found with the names Lud and Ludim (Ludites). In Genesis 10, Lud is named as a son of Shem, and in Genesis 10:13 the Ludim are said to be of Ham.

The marriage structure of the Horite rulers involved two wives living in separate households. One wife was a half-sister (as was Sarah to Abraham) and the other wife was a patrilineal cousin or niece (as was Keturah to Abraham).

The brides were the daughters of ruler-priests. They contributed the mtDNA and their ruler husbands contributed the Y chromosome since males who share a common patrilineal ancestor also share a Y chromosome, diverging only with respect to accumulated mutations. The distinctive Kohan DNA or "priest marker" is identifiable because Horite priests married daughters of priests exclusively. 

In 1995, Canadian nephrologist Karl Skorecki designed an experiment to find out whether the descendants of the ancient Jewish ruler-priest - kohamim - could be verified by genetics. Skorecki reasoned that Jewish males who claim to be kohanim should have an identical set of marker mutations that trace back to biblical times. So the researchers gathered saliva from 200 Jewish males, a third of whom identified themselves as kohanim, at the Western Wall during the High Holidays. No matter whether they were Sephardic, Ashkenazic, or Oriental Jews, 98.5% of those who said they were kohanim shared a genetic marker for a common male ancestor.

Were the same sort of study done of Arabs who descend from Abraham's Horite Hebrew line by his firstborn son Joktan, it is likely that this same genetic signature would be found in at least 3% of the Joktanite population of Arabia.

In 1996, a more extensive study found a set of marker mutations common to approximately 60% of self-proclaimed kohanim. Using complex mathematical calculations the research team identified the Cohan Modal Haplotype (CMH), a series of six genetic markers common to the kohanim which originated more than 3,000 years ago.

It is evident from Genesis that the Horite Hebrew ruler-priests originated well before 3000 years ago. Aaron and his half-brother Korah were not the first Hebrew ruler-priests. Their father Amram was a ruler-priest and the descendant of a long line of ruler-priests who can be traced to at least 6000 years ago. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is at Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) on the Nile and dates to c. 4000 BC.

DNA studies confirm that the Horite Hebrew ancestors of the priests of ancient Israel did marry exclusively within the priestly divisions/lines, which is what analysis of the Genesis genealogical material shows. This is the ancestry of Jesus Christ who was born to Mary, the wife of Joseph, both in the ruler-priest lines.


Related reading:  The Daughters of Horite Priests; Moses' Wives and Brothers