Horite Hebrew Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem

Alice C. Linsley

Sidereal astronomy is real science based on observation of the arrangement and movement of the fixed stars and planets. This science originated among Abraham's Nilotic ancestors who had recorded information about the fixed stars and clock-like motion of the planets for thousands of years.

By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had established a calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius. Apparently, Nilotes had been tracking this star for thousands of years and connecting it to seasonal changes affecting the Nile Valley. In 241 BC, the priest Manetho reported that Nilotes had been “star-gazing” as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.

Plato studied with an Egyptian priest for 13 years and knew about Earth's Great Year, also called the "Platonic Year." This is the time of between 25,000 and 28,000 years that it takes for Earth to complete the cycle of axial precession. This precession was known to Plato who defined the "perfect year" as the return of the celestial bodies (planets) and the diurnal rotation of the fixed stars to their original positions.

The ancients were motivated to understand the celestial pattern because they believed that the order in creation was fixed by the Creator and they were concerned about trespassing boundaries or violating the order in creation. They believed "As in the heavens, so on earth."

For the ancient Nilo-Saharans and Egyptians the stars in the constellation of Leo were especially important because the Nile rose when the Sun passed through the constellation of Leo. Therefore, they associated the arousal of the Lion with the arousal of the waters. The lion was the totem of the tribe of Judah. In Genesis 1, we read that the Spirit of God hovered over the watery deep at the beginning. In John's Gospel we are reminded that the Son was with the Father and the Spirit before the world was made and that all things were made through Him.

The Magi were sidereal astronomers who lived east of Israel, likely in Babylon or Persia. They were heirs of the same astronomical knowledge as the ancient Egyptians, and like Daniel they were of Judah (Jews). They recognized the sign of a triple coronation of two royal celestial bodies in the constellation of the Lion, the totem of Judah. They knew it was connected to the ancient Horite Hebrew expectation concerning the Woman of their people who would bring forth the Seed, the Son of God (Gen. 3:15). Further, they believed Messiah would be born of the royal house of David.

When the Magi appeared before Herod they were told that the King of the Jews was to be born in David's city, the Horite Hebrew settlement of Bethlehem. Abraham and David were of the Horite Hebrew ruler-priest lines. Joseph and Mary, both descendants of Abraham and David, went there to register for the census.

The Magi were aware of God's promise concerning the Righteous Ruler whose kingdom would endure through all the ages because reference to the Messianic promise of Psalm 145:13 is found repeatedly in Daniel. It punctuates the rise and fall of kingdoms and proclaims the coming of an eternal kingdom. As astronomers, the Magi recognized the singular event of Jupiter's triple spiral that brought it in close proximity to Regulus in the constellation Leo, the Lion. The Babylonians called Regulus Sharu, which means king. The word is related to the Persian word Shir, meaning lion.

In his translation of the eighth-century AD Syriac manuscript "The Revelation of the Magi," Brent Landau describes the Magi as those who “pray in silence,” and he proposes that they were a small group of monk-like mystics from a mythical land called Shir. However, there is no such place. Shir refers to the lion, the totem for the Horite Hebrew clans that resided in Judah. The Magi are the descendants of those who were deported. They held the received tradition concerning the coming of Messiah. This explains their recognition of the Messianic symbolism of the alignment of the King Planet and the King Star.

Using Starry Night, a software program that tracks celestial events at any time in history, Rick Larson discovered that sidereal astronomy suggests clues about biblical events. He discovered that the king planet Jupiter met the king star Regulus at the beginning of the Jewish New Year in 3 BC. The conjunction of the Jupiter and Regulus produced the appearance of an extraordinarily bright star. Larson believes this is when Gabriel announced to Mary that she was chosen to bear the Son of God.
(Rick Larson's Star of Bethlehem)

When Mary asked how this could be, the Angel explained that she would be "overshadowed." This divine overshadowing is what the Horite Hebrew expected. In ancient iconography the mother of Horus is shown overshadowed by the sun, the emblem of the Creator. In Christian iconography, the sun is usually replaced by the image of a dove hovering over Mary.

The Horite Hebrew commemorated the death and resurrection of Horus in a 5-day festival. Horus (HR) in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One." As Plutarch noted in Isis and Osiris, 69, the first three days were marked by solemnity and mourning for the death of Horus. His death was commemorated by the planting of seeds of grain. On the third day, the 19th of Athyr, there was a joyful celebration of Horus’ rising to life.

The Horite Hebrew expectation that the Righteous Son would not remain in the grave is expressed in Psalm 16:10: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." Jesus said, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day..." (Luke 24:46)

Where is it written? Scholars cannot find this in the canon. However, 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 Horite Hebrew expectation in every detail.

Skeptics claim that Christianity is based on the ancient myth of Horus. Christians have done a poor job of responding to this assertion. It takes more faith to believe that Christianity is the Horus myth reworked than to accept the substantial evidence that that Abraham and his ancestors were Horite Hebrew who believed in God Father and God Son. They were people of faith who believed the promise that a woman of their ruler-priest lines would bring forth the Son of God, the Messiah. They believed that he would be born in Bethlehem of Judah and that God would make known his wonderful appearing.


Related reading: The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative;  Ancient Wisdom, Science and Technology; Who Were the Wise Men?; Mary's Ruler-Priest Lineage; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Using Totems to Trace Ancestry

Pondering Divine Epiphanies

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A blessed Epiphany to the readers of JUST GENESIS.

By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had already established a calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius, known to the ancient Egyptians as the Sothic cycle, which is a span of 1,461 sidereal years (365.25 x 4) in which the heliacal rising once again “syncs up” with the solar calendar. In 3000 BC, the heliacal rising of Sirius and the flooding of the Nile occurred around June 25th, near the summer solstice. This also marked the Egyptian New Year.

Clearly, Nilotes had been tracking this star (and its binary twin) and connecting it to seasonal changes and agriculture for thousands of years. This is verified by the Priest Manetho who reported in his history (241 BC) that Nilotic Africans had been “star-gazing” as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato, who studied in Egypt, claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.

How the heavens influence patterns on Earth:

Wisdom Seeks to Understand
The Dung Beetle and Heavenly Lights
Jesus: From Lamb to Ram
Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel
Christ's Sign in Creation
Religion of the Archaic Rulers
The Sun and the Sacred
The Sun and Moon in Genesis
A Tent for the Sun
Iron Seeds from Heaven
Celestial Symbols that Speak of God
The Swelling of Sun and River Speak of God
Horite Expectation and the Star of Bethlehem
The Celestial Dance Observed by the Magi
A Blessed Epiphany
Ancient African Astronomers
Seven Planets, Seven Bowls

Is Hebrew an African Language?

Alice C. Linsley

I believe the evidence supports the view that many of the languages in the Afro-Asiatic family have words that can be traced back to biliteral roots found in Africa. Some of the figures or marks found in later scripts are found on Proto-Saharan pottery and on petroglyphs in Sudan and Somalia.

Before the Old Testament books - originally all separate clay tablets or scrolls - there were Paleo-Hebrew writings found in the region of Judah and Edom. Mostly these were commercial records, trade agreements, and political records. They were sealed with Paleo-Hebrew bullae/seals, many of which used the Holy Name or variants of the Holy Name like Yah or Yahu. This name was known in ancient Nubia.

The Hebrew Bible has many non-Hebrew words that are derived from proto-languages of peoples who migrated out of the Nile Valley and the Sahara. Hebrew relies on Proto-Canaanite and ancient Egyptian and Proto-Saharan words. The ancient Egyptian signs (hieroglyphs) provide valuable clues to understanding many of the non-Hebrew words that appear in the Old Testament that have a Nilo-Saharan origin. Egyptian hieroglyphs were widely used among the early Semites because Egypt had become very powerful and exercised great influence in Canaan as evidenced by the Egyptian shrines on the ancient Horus road.

Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions have been found in the region of ancient Nubia that date to 1900 BC. Descendants of Proto-Canaanite writing systems include Ugaritic, Phoenician, South Arabian and North Arabian scripts.

Another writing system that is important for understanding non-Hebrew words in the Old Testament is Sumerian. Some Sumerian words like: sahar (sand, dust, black, ashes); eden (steppe land, watered plain), and harran (route, roadway) appear in the oldest material in the Old Testament. Sahar שחר is the Hebrew word for black.

Sumerian marks resemble those of the Nilotic cattle-herding peoples. Here we will find some very ancient marks: V, T, X and the solar symbols O and Y. Many of these appear in the old Oasis North Arabian scripts like Thamudic, Dumaitic, and Taymanitic. The urheimat of the Canaanite Y is the Proto-Saharan cattle herding and boating populations. They are among Abraham's ancestors.

The Akkadian language of Nimrod's empire in the Tigris-Euphrates region, is also important when it comes to understanding material in the Old Testament. Nimrod was the sent-away son of Kush. He represents the Kushite dispersion out of the Nile Valley into Canaan and beyond. It is not surprising that there is an affinity between Akkadian and Proto-Hebrew.

Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew share a common proto-system. Some of the oldest Arabic scripts are called "Dedanite" because the highest concentration of these scripts has been found in the region of Dedan. The Ainu script shares signs with these proto-scripts because the point of origin of the Ainu was the Nile Valley.

All of the scripts I have mentioned are in the same Afro-Asiatic language family, except the Ainu, the origin of which is still disputed. The evidence suggests that it may be related to proto-languages of Turkey and Hungary. The Hungarians called themselves "Magyar" and claim to be descendants of Noah, a Nilo-Saharan ruler. It is also known that the archaic Nilotic rulers moved into Turkey because they built the shrine city Meroe on Mount Silpius overlooking the Orontes River. The fortress on the spur of Mount Silpius was named IO, which means “pillared place dedicated to the Creator.” The O was a solar image. The sun was the Creator's symbol or emblem. Heliopolis (Biblical On) was called “Iunu” which means "place of pillars" because it was constructed with many pillars.

The earliest paleo scripts were used to communicate things like directions for people migrating, forks in trails, bend in rivers, mountains, caves, crossings, direction to go, feeding grounds for herds, etc. Many of the figures used in the later writing systems are derived from these symbols that appear on the walls of caves. See Symbols of Archaic Rock Shelters.


Words related to Horite religion

In ancient Egypt, the three superior planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were associated with Horus. Mars was named "Horus of the Horizon" or "Horus the Red." Jupiter was called "Horus Who Illuminates the Two Lands." Saturn was named "Horus, Bull of the Sky." These three superior planets were always depicted with the falcon-head of Horus (Krupp 1979).

The association of the falcon or owl with Horus is the likely source of the Semitic malk or melek, meaning king. In ancient Egyptian the owl was called m-l-k (See Gabor Takacs, Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, p. 1).

In Hausa, a type of owl is called bambani. The word is related to ba-na, horni and hanu. Here we have a suggestion of the connection between Horus and Hanu or Ainu. (See Dictionary of Hausa, p. 19) Abraham's father bore an Ainu title- Terah, meaning priest.

In Hausa the word for king or ruler is sarki (See Charles Henry Robinson, Dictionary of Hausa, XXIV Preface). Auran saraki refers to the king's minister and is usually rendered chief. The word auran is related to Harun and Aaron, and to the Greek and Latin word for gold which is aurum. Aaron was asked by the Hebrews to fabricate a golden calf. The calf was the totem of Hathor-Meri, the mother of Horus. The oldest know site of Horus worship is Nekhen in Sudan. This appears to be the area where Abraham's ancestors listed in Genesis 4 and 5 originated.

Moses had a Kushite wife, probably his half-sister since Zipporah was his cousin bride.The Kushites were descended from Noah, a great Proto-Saharan chief. His grandson was name Kush and his great grandson Nimrod was a Kushite kingdom builder.

Kush was famous for gold, a fact to which Genesis alludes when speaking of the river Pishon that flowed through the land of Ha'vilah, where there is gold (Gen. 2:11). Another African river is the Gihon which wound through the land of Kush (Gen. 2:13). The high quality of Kushite gold is seen at Nekhen, the oldest known shrine city of Horus. An example is this gold plumed falcon representing Horus.

During his stay in Kano (1895), Henry Robinson persuaded a classical Arabic scholar to translate the Gospels of St. John and St. Luke from Arabic into Hausa, the scholar's first language. Here are some more interesting connections between Hausa, Hebrew and Ancient Egyptian.

The Hausa word for day  is rana. The root is ra, which is the Ancient Egyptian name for the Creator whose emblem was the Sun.

Al and El are synonyms for God. The plural form Allohi in Arabic is also found in Hausa and is equivalent to the Hebrew Elohim.

Atvali - ancestors in Hausa is related to the Hindi sm-atvali. Vali is related to the Arabic Wali, meaning guardian or protector.

Azvha - dawn in Hausa, related to Adah, wife of Lamech (Gen. 4)

Amaria refers to lawful wife, as opposed to a concubine. There may be a relationship to the Amari speakers of Papua New Guinea. The Amari dialect is spoken in 14 villages from the Umi River to the Markham- Ramu Divide, with about 5,300 speakers remaining.

Baban kai - great head in Hausa. Baba is father in Yoruba. The Dravidian word for great head or father is appa. Har-appa means Horus is head or father. The chief priest is sometime referred to as Babalawo. Baba is father and awo means he is a prophet who can see a vision of the future.


Related reading:  Recovering the African Background of Genesis; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Fascinating Conversation with Laouali Yahaya; Twin Pyramids and Sphinx in Zinder; Kushite Wives; Hebrew, Israelite or Jew?; Early Written Signs

Jesuit Astronomer on Science and Religion

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, a researcher and spokesman at the Vatican Observatory, recently shared his thoughts on science and religion on The Washington Post’s blog.

With news about the Higgs boson particle, the so-called “God Particle,” that’s helping scientists understand how the universe was built, Br. Consolmagno says he’s explained multiple times that “No, the God Particle has nothing to do with God…”

Although not a particle physicist, Br. Consolmagno is often interviewed because of his role as a Vatican astronomer. He says some are surprised to hear that the Vatican supports an astronomical observatory, but that science and religion complement each other:

But the real reason we do science is in fact related to the reason why so many people ask us about things like the God Particle. The disciplines of science and religion complement each other in practical ways. For example, both are involved in describing things that are beyond human language and so must speak in metaphors. Not only is the ‘God Particle’ not a piece of God, it is also not really a ‘particle’ in the sense that a speck of dust is a particle. In both cases we use familiar images to try to illustrate an entity of great importance but whose reality is beyond our power to describe literally.

Read more of Br. Consolmagno’s commentary on the Higgs boson discovery on Catholic News Service and Catholic News Agency.


Related reading: Higgs Boson Expected End in Particle Physics; The 'God Particle': Six big consequences