Jesus Christ in the Hebrew Scriptures

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

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

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

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

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

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

The early Hebrew believed that the Son of God would rise on the third day. A reference to the third day resurrection is found in the Pyramid Texts: "Oh Horus, this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars." (Utterance 667) Jesus' third-day resurrection fulfilled that Hebrew expectation in every detail.

The Messianic reference in Psalm 110:1 - The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." - is expressed 1000 years earlier in the Coffin Texts (Passage 148). "I am Horus, the great Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name. My flight has reached the horizon. I have passed by the gods of Nut. I have gone further than the gods of old. Even the most ancient bird could not equal my very first flight. I have removed my place beyond the powers of Set, the foe of my father Osiris. No other god could do what I have done. I have brought the ways of eternity to the twilight of the morning. I am unique in my flight. My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet in my name of 'Red Cloak'." (Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark, p. 216)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

The Barren and Grieving Rejoice

Alice C. Linsley

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying,“After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (Genesis 18)

This narrative comes after the arrival of the Three Person God (Baal Shalisha) before the destruction of Sodom. Sara laughed when she heard that she would bring forth a son in her old age. Her laughter proceeds from the disbelief of a woman past childbearing years and is a natural response. The Lord's promise caused Abraham to laugh as well.

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear a child? (Gen. 17:17)

Sarah denied laughing because she was afraid. But the Lord presented her with the truth: "No, but you did laugh." Is it any wonder that the announcement of a promised son should make this old lady laugh? She had long before given up hope that she would bring forth Abraham's proper heir. Sarah's barren state would have been even more unbearable after Abraham took his second wife. Keturah bore Abraham six sons. Here we find echoes of the Rachel-Leah conflict, and the Hannah-Penninah conflict.

Abraham had other sons by Keturah, his cousin wife and by two concubines. However, none of these were his proper heir. The proper heir of a Horite ruler was the first-born son of his half-sister wife, in this case, Sara. This is why Abraham complained to the Lord about not having a proper heir. This is the nature of Abraham's complaint, and one that the Lord God understood. Abraham was a ruler, and as such he needed an heir. Isaac was Abraham's proper heir and he ruled over Abraham's territory in Edom. Abraham's territory extended between the settlements of his two wives.

When Isaac was born, Sara laughed again (Gen. 21:6). The basic sense of the verb that appears in the Hebrew is “to laugh.” The initial צְחֹק (in a rare participial form) refers to Sara's joyful laughter upon giving birth to a son. There is a suggestion that the word Sara is related to the African word saran, meaning joy. It may also be related to the word dara/daura, meaning laughter. The verb to laugh in the Chadic Hausa is dara. Dara and Sara may be regarded as cognates since the letters d and s are interchangeable in many African languages and in Dravidian.

Annunciations

The message of the promised son came to Sarah indirectly. She overheard this as part of a conversation between the divine visitors and her husband. Sara was not the direct recipient of the message. One the other hand, the Virgin Mary received the announcement of the Promised Son directly from the Angel Gabriel.

Announcements about promised sons appear throughout the Bible. Many of these related to David. The Akkadian form of David is Da-odu, which corresponds to the Yoruba Daw-odu. Da means ruler and Odu refers to Edom. David had Edomite blood. He was a descendant of the Horite rulers to whom God first made the promise of the divine Son who would crush the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). 

David was a descendant of the Horite rulers of Edom, one of whom was Abraham. Abraham's territory extended on a north-south axis between Hebron and Beersheba, and on an east-west axis between Engedi and Gerar. Note that both Hebron (where Sarah lived) and Beersheba (where Keturah lived) are in Idumea. Abraham's territory extended between the settlements of his two wives and was entirely in the region the Greeks called Idumea.

Hebron was called Kiriath-Arba. This suggests that this territory belonged to the Ar clans. Genesis 10 speaks of the Ar rulers of Tyre and Arvad. There appears to be a 3-clan confederation, consisting of Ar, Arvd and Arkt. The last two clans are called “Arvadites” and “Arkites” in Genesis 10:15-18. The late Dr. Catherine Acholonu connected the Ar of Canaan to the Aro of Nigeria. She wrote, "In Nigeria the caste under reference is the Ar/Aro caste of Igbo Eri priest-kings, who were highly militarized in their philosophy."


The Saharan Sara

The Sara of Chad constitute the largest people group in that country. They make up to 30% of Chad's population. About a sixth of them are Christians and live in southern Chad. The Sara people include the Ngambaye, Mbaye, and Goulaye.

Sara society is organized by patrilineal descent from a common male ancestor. There is a 3-clan confederation such as characterizes Abraham's people. The qir ka are the eastern Sara, the qin ka are those living in central Chad, and the qel ka are the western groups. The Sara may be the descendants of an earlier 3-tribe confederation of warriors and kingdom builders. According to legend, there were giants among them. Were these the elohiym (deified rulers) who comprised the divine council spoken of in Genesis?

In ancient Chad and other parts of the green Sahara lived the Ariwa. They called their queen "Saraunia", and the word Sara is related to the word Daura. The Daura people preceded the Ariwa who are their grandsons. The Ar clans were known for keeping commercial records, and for their skill in metal and stone work. Jesus' kinsman Joseph was of the Ar line of Matthew. That is why he was called Joseph Ar-Mathea. He was a member of the Sanhedrin and an expert in mining and tomb construction. It was from Joseph's personal tomb that Jesus Christ rose and was received with great rejoicing and wonder as the Living Lord.

Related reading: Terah's Two Wives; Abraham's Sons; David's Bloodline; Edo. Edom, Idumea; The Mighty Men of Old; When the Sahara Was Wet