Etymology of the Vav

Alice C. Linsley


Last summer I had a fascinating conversation with a very smart lady - Susan Burns - who lives on Hood Canal in Washington. She started me thinking about the VaV or tent peg/hook. Here are some thoughts that came out of that conversation. The ruler's tent was the head tent (oholibamah) and was represented by the ancient Hebrew and Arabic letter Vaw.

Tent peg /sun cradle/marks the ruler's residence

These rulers lived by and exercised terriotorial control over water system, wells, etc. People who needed water went from Y to Y, which is to say, "from water settlement to water settlement." The waw/vav speaks of an ancient world in which settlements near water were ruled by elders and a chief. Travelers moved from settlement to settlement and the ancient water laws were generally generous to those who wa-ndered. Wells were neutral ground for waring parties or enemies, but were fought over, as in the story of Moses driving away the intruder shepherds at the well of the Midianite ruler-priest Reu-el. (Exodus 2:16-19).  It was common for the river, lake, oasis or well to have a shrine over which their was a priest.  So it is not surprising to read that Moses' future father-in-law was a "priest of Midian."  As such, he was a direct descendant of Abraham by Abraham's cousin bride, Keturah.

the tent peg

The vav (waw) is designated by the letter Y in Hebrew. The symbol is much older than Hebrew.  It originated with the ancient Egyptians, Nubians and Nilo-Saharans who moved into Canaan. The Nile Valley is the urheitmat of the Canaanite Y, a lexeme of considerable complexity.  The Phoencians also employed the Y. Among these peoples the Vav was a symbol of a scepter carried by deified rulers and the Y was a solar cradle that represented the divine appointment of the ruler by the overshadowing of the Sun, the Creator's emblem. Many Horite rulers (Horim) have names that begin with the Cananite Y:  Yaqtan (Abraham's first born son), Yishmael, Yitzak, Yacob, Yosef, and Yeshua.

The Greeks introduced the waw/vav to the Latin alphabet:  Ύψιλον (Úpsilon).  In Spanish, the letter Y is called the i griega,  in Romanian i grec, in Polish igrek - all meaning "Greek i". It is derived from the Phoenician waw which the Phoenicians borrowed from the Egyptians.

The waw/vav orignally symbolized the crook/hook of the ruler or the tent peg of the ruler's tent.  As a lexeme this represented a cluster of related ideas including:

• the ruler himself
• the ruler's authority
• the ruler's territory
• the ruler's clan or tribe
• the ruler's resources such as his flocks and water sources

Consider the importance of wells in the lives of biblical figures.  Ishmael's life was saved when an angel revealed a well or spring to his mother. Abraham's servant found Isaac a wife at a well.  Moses met Zipporah at a well. Jesus met the Samaritan woman (Photini) at Jacob's Well.

Many words in various languages still reflect this ancient world.  Consider these examples: wa-ter, wa-gon, va-gabond, va-grant, va-gar meaning "to wander" (Spanish), wa-kdar meaning "ruler" (Pashto), and ya-raki meaning "power" (Persian).

Related reading:  The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; Mother and Son Pierced; Egyptian Shrines on the Horus Way; Water Systems Connected the Nile and Central Africa; The Jordan River; Wells and Brides; The Migration of Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; A Woman at a Well; Susan Burns on Hadhramaut of Arabia

Gog and Magog in Myth and Literature

GOG AND MAGOG: The Clans of Chaos in World Literature,
edited by A. A. Seyed-Gohrab et al.

Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 2007.
Reviewed by Norman Hugh Redington, 2011 October 11.

---

 
According to the second book of Plato's Republic, an earthquake in Lydia once brought to light the buried wreckage of an enormous, hollow, and strangely horse-shaped metal object. A local shepherd found that the horse had doors, and, opening one, discovered behind it the preserved body of a giant charioteer. He took a ring from the corpse's finger; when twisted correctly, it proved able to make its wearer invisible. The humble shepherd Gyges was at once corrupted: he seduced the queen, overthrew the king, and established himself as tyrant of his country. Plato wondered if anyone, however virtuous, would act differently.
 
This story influenced not only Wagner, Tolkien, and the economy of Roswell, New Mexico, but also early commentators on Scripture, some of whom pointed out that Lydia and its neighbours are the Biblical Gomer. This and the similarity of names suggested a remarkable possibility: perhaps King Gyges was connected, if not identical, to the arrogant Prince Gog, who "thought an evil thought ... to take a spoil and to take a prey."
 
Although the book under review purports to deal with Gog and Magog "in world literature", none of its contributors mentions Gyges the Lydian. Neither can there be found in it any reference to the famous tale spread across Europe by Geoffrey of Monmouth, according to which Gogmagog and his rude band of giants terrorised Britain until defeated by the knightly Trojans. (The production staff at the publishing house, however, seem to know that story, having placed on the cover a stock photo of the Gog and Magog statues in London's Guildhall.) Even more surprisingly, the original Biblical accounts are given only one paragraph. The most comprehensive treatment of the Gog-and-Magog theme is still A. R. Anderson's 1932 monograph Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations, to which this book is at best a supplement. It is strongest, ironically enough, when dealing with recent popular sources hardly describable as "world literature": extremist Internet postings and radical Muslim pamphlets. To those unaware of it, the fairly conspicuous presence of Gog and Magog in this "literature" may be the book's biggest surprise.
 
Gog and Magog appear briefly but spectacularly in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures among the main end-times adversaries of the Elect. Sinister, shrouded in mystery, and memorably named, they have been for centuries the focus of both wild speculation and sober exegesis, but, as the papers in this collection shew, no universal consensus ever emerged about them, even in traditional societies. Are they peoples or persons? If the latter, are they two persons or one? Where do they live? Is their great invasion a future event, or has it already taken place?

Read it all here.


Note that the word og means ruler or exalted one. Mag-Og means son or seed of Og. There apparently was a royal confederation of Og and Magog known among the biblical peoples. For an anthropological view, go here.

Jebusites: Extant Biblical Tribe

Alice C. Linsley


The Jebusites have living descendants whose culture, religious beliefs and kinship pattern can be studied today among the Ijebu, a Yoruba people living in Nigeria. This is true of many of the tribes and clans mentioned in the book of Genesis who ancestors spread out of Africa to other continents. For example, there are connections between the Edo of Nigeria and Benin and the Edomites of Petra. The title of their rulers is evidence. The ruler of the Edo is called "Oba" and the first ruler of Petra was the deified Nabataean King Obodas.

This means that peoples who have been regarded as extinct or lost have living descendants who can be traced and studied. These "first peoples" cling to the traditions of their ancestors which means that their present practices and beliefs can shed light on biblical practices and beliefs. Such is the case with the Ijebu who appear to be the living descendants of the Biblical Jebusites.

It is probable that the Jebusites were a Nilotic people originally. Some migrated westward along the connected water systems of central western Africa and settled at the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers in Nigeria. Here their rulers controlled the major water ways at the conjunction of the rivers and the Atlantic near modern Lagos. This was documented as recently as 1892 in the New York Times. The New York Times reported on the Jebu control of the water ways of the Port of Lagos. The king of the Jebu levied taxes on all products carried through his territory. This is consistent with the biblical information concerning Abraham’s ruler-priest ancestors who controlled water systems in Nigeria (where Jebu still reside), Canaan and Mesopotamia.

The Jebu also moved eastward into the land of Canaan where Melchizedek, the ruler-prist of Salem (Jerusalem) lived in Abraham's time (Gen. 14:18). Jerusalem was a Jebusite city when David took control of the oldest and highest areas. This is why Abraham payed tribute to Melchizedek and received a blessing from the great ruler-priest (Gen. 14:18-20).

Among the Jebusites there are two main governmental divisions: the Nago-Jebu and the Ketu-Jebu. Of the Ketu-Jebu there is a good deal of information in Genesis. This division resided in Palestine and Arabia. Abraham payed tribute to the Ketu-Jebu priest Melchizedek, who was the ruler of the Jebusite city of Salem (Jerusalem). Abraham's second wife, Ketu-rah was of the Ketu-Jebu, as evidenced by her name. She resided at Beer-Sheba, which took its name from the ruler Sheba who controlled the well there. (Beer means well.) Keturah's firstborn son was Joktan (Yaqtan), and early ruler in Arabia where the the Joktanite clans still reside.

1000 year old Eredo rampart

The western boundary of the Jebu is marked by a 1000 year old rampart that is 70 feet high and 100 miles long. The British archaeologist Patrick Darling is credited with drawing world attention to the discovery of the Eredo system of walls. He reports, "We are not linking what we found to a city, but to a vast kingdom boundary rampart."

The Eredo ramparts are located to the south-west of the Jebu town of Ijebu-Ode in Ogun state in southwest Nigeria. This is the largest single pre-colonial monument in Africa. Local people link the Eredo boundary walls to Bilikisu Sungbo, another name for Sheba, according to Dr Patrick Darling. This discovery confirms the biblical genealogical data that links the clans of Sheba and Jebu (Afro-Arabian peoples).

Itsekiri, an eastern Yoruba dialect, is said to be close to the original Jebusite language.  These Yoruba also recognize Hor (Horus) as a great deity and their connection to Nubia and ancient Egypt has been well established linguistically.

Study of the living Jebusites enables us to trace the origin of certain enthronement practices, such as the use of palm fronds. The two Jebu in Nigeria have two divisions: Jebu Remu and Jebu Ode. The supreme ruler of both is called "awujali” and he is installed with palm branches.

Jude Adebo Adeleye Ogunade writes in his memoir about growing up Ijebu. He was warned not to touch the leaves of the Igi-Ose tree, because as his Mama Eleni explained: “That tree is the tree whose leaves are used to install Chiefs and Kings of Ijebu and as your grandfather was a custodian of the rites of chieftaincy and kingship you must not play with its leaves.” (It is interesting, given the significance of Jesus' blood, that this plant is a blood purifier according to The University of Oxford, 1937 Institute Paper, no. 7 on Medicinal Plants; reference HA1k).

Fresh palm tree fronds are used ceremonially at the installation of chiefs and kings and are used to decorate places of worship. When the people of Jerusalem used palm fronds to greet Jesus as he entered the city, they greeted him as one to be enthroned. To this day, the Ijebu use fresh palm fronds when greeting and installing a ruler or  high priest.



Related reading:  The Edomites: Another Extant Biblical Tribe; Melchizedek, Son of Sheba; Ethiopian DNA Study Ignores Significant Data

Atheists' Invalid Science vs. Religion Argument

Alice C. Linsley

Biblical Anthropology is a relatively new science and one which I have been pioneering for thirty years. It is distinctive in its approach to the biblical text and non-traditional in its findings. As with all scientific approaches it requires rigorous investigation and verification of hypothesis.

Biblical Anthropology puts the lie to the absurd opposition of science and religion. It exposes the bias of popular spokesmen like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Hawking who has said, “There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.”[1] Hawking is correct in asserting this distinction until it comes to Biblical Anthropology, an empirical study of a textual authority.

All religions have textual authorities or, in the case of pre-literate societies, oral tradition. Science is used to verify laws, patterns and substances of the material world. However, it is invalid to argue that science is based on objective observation of the material world and religion is not. Anthropological research into the biblical material reveals that Abraham’s ancestors were acute observers of nature and kept records of their observations. In this sense the oldest religion and the newest science are not so different in their method. Both make assertions based on observation. They simply observe things differently. The scientist works with the material world and the Biblical Anthropologist works with the biblical text, an artifact of the material world.

Analysis of the marriage pattern of Abraham's Hebrew ancestors as described in Genesis reveals that the ruler-priest lines intermarried and spread out across the Ancient World (see map above). According to Lycotte's Y chromosome studies [2] migrated east and north from Africa. The migration explains the spread of R1*-M173, which is found mainly, but not exclusively in Africa. Haplogroup R1*-M173 is the pristine form of haplogroup R. We would expect such a genetic outcome based on the biblical data concerning the Hebrew ruler-priests' marriage and ascendency, a pattern that drove their expansion. 

As a biblical anthropologist, I seek data on the pages of the biblical text that either confirm or disprove my hypothesis. When it comes to analysis of the marriage and ascendency pattern of Abraham's Hebrew caste the results are replicable and would be the same regardless of who, where and when the analysis was done. When something is both replicable and produces identical results, it is authoritative. That is true in biblical anthropology as much as in any experimental science.

The ancient Kushites laid the foundation for many branches of science. They made discoveries in animal husbandry, plant cultivation, the discovery of antibiotics, metal work, astronomy, geometry and algebra. Their binary worldview paved the way for binary math and computers. They were both scientists and deeply religious, observing patterns in the heavens and on earth. St Paul says that this is how God designed things. He wrote that God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived by means of what God created. In other words, the order of creation reveals the invisible qualities of the Godhead (Romans 1:20). Hawking is a very bright man, but he doesn't hold a candle to the Apostle Paul when it comes to understanding the antecedents of the natural world and its metaphysical extension.

Another spokesman who pits science against religion is Jerry Coyne, who has written:

"I’ve always maintained that this piece of the Old Testament [Adam and Eve], which is easily falsified by modern genetics (modern humans descended from a group of no fewer than 10,000 individuals), shows more than anything else the incompatibility between science and faith. For if you reject the Adam and Eve tale as literal truth, you reject two central tenets of Christianity: the Fall of Man and human specialness." 

Coyne is out of his element when speaking about the Bible. Modern genetics has not demonstrated what he claims. If anything, it validates the biblical picture of the oldest known caste originating in Africa. Further, serious scholarship requires distinguishing between the archetypal first parents and the historical Adam and Eve who are identified in Genesis as founders of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste. The Bible states that they were the parents of Cain, a city builder (Gen. 4) Clearly, Cain's parents were not the first humans on earth.

Further, from the beginning humans were humans. There is no drawer in a museum or university archive with bones of something between human and ape. Don't be fooled by the (often inconsistent) nomenclature of evolutionary theory. The oldest fossils found in Africa are easily classified as either ape (simian) or homo (human) and the morphology is quite distinct. Further for specimens under 200,000 years old DNA testing clarifies to which category the fossils belong. 

Additionally, we must consider the great antiquity of human innovation, creativity, and technological development. The reader is encouraged to read this short list of human artifacts of great antiquity.

     1. Hawking made this statement during a 2010 interview to Dianne Sawyer of ABC News. In the same interview he made the statement that human life is "insignificant in the universe.”

     2. Lycotte's Human Y chromosome haplogroup R-V88: a paternal genetic record of early mid Holocene trans-Saharan connections and the spread of Chadic languages due to the early Kushite migration. Kush was a descendant of Noah, a proto-Saharan ruler.



Related Reading: The Atheist's Fallacious Argument; Getting the Facts About Human Origins; Peter Hitchens Makes Peace as a Christian with his Atheist Brother; The Hebrew were a Caste