Biblical Anthropology the science...not speculative theology

Alice C. Linsley

What follows is a portion of a conversation I had recently with a friend on Facebook.

Bill: Didn't know if you had seen this book yet, but I know you love Christian Anthropology, so..fyi.

Alice: I haven't read the book, but I believe the author is using the term "anthropology" in a theological sense. My work is a science that draws on anthropologically significant data in the Bible to construct a more accurate picture of Abraham's ancestors and the antecedents of Messianic hope/expectation.

Bill: Okay. What types of data are antecedents to Messianic hope/expectation?

Alice: Burial practices, archaic solar imagery, cattle and horns, divine appointment of archaic rulers, the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew (Habiru), the relationship of the diverse biblical populations, etc. These have been explored through years of extensive research which I have published at various sites. This article on The Sun and the Sacred is an example. To pursue further, read the articles under "related reading" at the bottom of the post.

Bill: Ugh,...it's getting deep in here. I better put on my water wings! Thanks Alice Linsley, I'll read this!

Alice: You will find this scientific approach to be much less speculative than the approach of "theological" anthropology.

Related reading: Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Something Older; On Blood and the Impulse to Immortality;  The Sun and Celestial Horses, The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of the Horite Habiru; The Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; Iron Seeds From Heaven; Talking on Facebook About Biblical Anthropology; Using the Bible to Test Hypothesis; What Does a Biblical Anthropologist Do?; Why Biblical Anthropology?; When is the Evidence Sufficient?; The Genesis King Lists; Haplogroups of Interest to Biblical Anthropologists

The Sun and Celestial Horses



This gold Scythian belt title was found at Mingachevir. It dates to the 7th century BC.

Alice C. Linsley

In the ancient world, horses were associated with the power of the Supreme Deity whose emblem was the Sun. The Supreme Deity or Most High God was known by many names. The High God Re and his son Horus rode in a solar barque. Helius had a son named Phaeton, which means the "shining one." Phaeton declared, "My father is the Sun God Helius who drives the horses of the day and the golden chariot. He lights up the sky." One day Phaeton asked his father, "let me drive the horses of the Sun..."

Consider Revelation 19:11-13. "..there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God."

Horses were buried with rulers as early as 9000 years ago. The Saudi Arabian Department of Museums and Antiquities reported the discovery of a 9,000-year-old horse burial at al-Maqar, along with a 3-foot-tall bust of a horse.

Ali al-Ghabban reports that a Neolithic site at al-Maqar in Asir province has revealed the earliest evidence of horse domestication. “This discovery shows that horses were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula for the first time more than 9,000 years ago,” said al-Ghabban. “Previous studies estimated the domestication of horses in Central Asia dating back 5,000 years.” 

Celestial horses and the solar chariot carried Elijah to heaven. Consider 2 Kings 2:11 - "As they [Elijah and Elisha] were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."

Consider also Isaiah 66:16 - "For behold, the Lord will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire."

The kings of Judah had constructed horses at the entrance to the temple in dedication to the sun, the symbol of the High God. (2 Kg. 23:11)

Psalm 92:2 describes the Lord as “a sun and a shield.” The Victory Tablet of Amenhotep III describes Horus as “The Good God, Golden [Horus], Shining in the chariot, like the rising of the sun; great in strength, strong in might…” (Tablet of Victory of Amenhotep III, J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, p. 854).


Krkava stone or Triglav stone

The divinely appointed ruler is often shown with the sun as a halo. An example is the Krkava or Triglav Stone (shown right). This depicts the Righteous Ruler who overcomes suffering and death and wins victory over his enemies. This is the basic plot of the Messianic narrative. The divine hero is a rider with the sun as a halo surrounding him. This was a sign of divine appointment.

The victor is called the "Good God" because he gives gifts to his people. Paul makes reference to this received tradition when, alluding to Psalm 68:28, he writes, This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives and gave gifts to his people." (Ephesians 4:8)

Other names for the divine hero include Hor, Horus, Hromi Daba, Crom Dubh, Grom Div. All of these names are associated with the sun and the sky. As early as 2000 BC there is an association with the spoked wheel, another solar image. Votive wheels were offered at shrines, buried in royal tombs, or worn as amulets. Bronze Age wheel pendants or sun crosses usually had four spokes. These are a variation of the 6-prong solar symbol found on archaic rock shelters dating to the oldest period of Vinča culture (6th-5th millennia BC).



The spoked solar image was found among the Hittites who buried great warriors in their chariots. It was found among the ancient peoples of Gaul, as shown on this southern Chalcolithic anthropomorphic stele with an eight prong solar symbol. This was discovered during an archaeological excavation on the Rocher des Doms, Avignon.



As the wheel rumbles across rough terrain, so the sky rumbles with thunder. That is why the divine hero is some tines associated with thunder, as in the case of Perun, and the Hittite/Luwian Teshub who is depicted holding a triple thunderbolt. The connection between celestial horses and a mighty voice in heaven is expressed in Psalm 68:33 - "To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice."

Teshub's animal totem was the bull and throughout Anatolia he is shown wearing cow horns as a sign of divine appointment. His horses, named Seri and Hurri, drew his chariot. He is a divine hero of the Anu/Ainu, whose point of origin is the Nile Valley.


The 3,000-year-old Uffington White Horse

The Horites (Hurri/Hurrians) of Anatolia were known for breeding and training of horses. The name of a region with a large concentration of Hurri was called "horse land" or Ishuwa. 

A text discovered at Hattusa deals with the training of horses. The man called Kikkuli was responsible for the horse training. Kikuli is a common name among Nilotic peoples. It refers to one who subdues or tames a horse. Kikuli is derived from the Akkadian kikuli and kikildu which is to intimidate or to train a horse/camel, etc.

As Joseph Campbell discovered, horse narratives involving a celestial rider are wide spread, and often involve a hero who dies and rises, leading his people to victory. Some interpret this as reflecting solar and seasonal changes that mark public occasions such as harvest festivals, solstice celebrations, etc. Campbell considered this a "monomyth" because of the wide distribution of the common elements and themes. 

Campbell believed that all mythic narratives are variations of a single great story. He based this on his many years of critical analysis of myths from around he world. Campbell observed that a common pattern exists beneath the narrative elements of most great myths, regardless of their origin or time period.

A principle of anthropology holds that the more widely dispersed a narrative, the older it is. By this principle it is possible to identify the Messianic narrative as extremely ancient. The point of origin appears to be among the Nilotic peoples and their dispersed descendants for whom the Sun was the Creator's emblem.

The Nilotes were known for their breeding and training of quality horses, as is evident in Deuteronomy 17:16 - "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'"

In 2003, the frozen remains of a horse more than half a million years old were discovered in the permafrost of Canada’s west-central Yukon Territory.

An estimated 70 drawings were found in the Atxurra cave in northern Basque Spain. The engravings and paintings feature horses and date to about 14,000 years ago.

Horses are a prominent motif on this gold pectoral from a royal kurgan in Tolstaya Mogila, Ordzhonikidze, Ukraine. This Scythian artifact dates to the second half of the 4th century BC.

The Trundholm sun chariot (shown above) was discovered in Denmark. It is a representation of the sun chariot, a bronze statue of a horse and a large bronze disk, which are placed on a device with spoked wheels. It dates to between 1800 to 1600 BC.

In Modhera, India there is a temple with the images of the Sun deity and seven horses. Among the Vedic rulers the horse became a symbol of fertility and the ruler's principal wife was to copulate with the selected horse. The Ashvamedha yajna was a year-long process offered by kings seeking to gain strength, male heirs, or to expand their territories. The horse chosen for the sacrifice was to have the Krittika (the Pleiades) on his forehead. The horse was selected at the beginning of the year and allowed to wander freely while guarded by royal soldiers. Everywhere the horse wandered was claimed to be under the king’s jurisdiction. If the horse entered the territory of another ruler, that ruler had to submit or engage in combat. During the year the horse was not allowed to mate and at the end of the year it was returned to the city where it was sacrificed. After the horse was sacrificed, the carcass was cut into sections and the priests burned the sections on outdoor altars. The entire ceremony lasted three days.


Reaction to horse idolatry

The Ashvamedha yajna was contrary to the Biblical injunction against bestiality and idolatry. This may explain why Josiah removed the horses dedicated to the Sun.

"And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire." (II Kings 23:11)

 

Related reading: The Sun and the Sacred; 7000 BC Horse Burial Linked to Sheba; 700,000-Year-Old Horse Found in Yukon; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Solar Horseman; The Horse in Egyptian Hieroglyphs; "Some Trust in Horses": Horses as Symbols of Power in Rhetoric and Reality. In Warfare, Ritual, and Symbol in Biblical and Modern Contexts, (eds.) Brad E. Kelle, Frank Ritchel Ames, and Jacob L. Wright

A Bridegroom of Blood or a Groom Protected by Blood?

Badarian (3200 BC) flint knife with ivory handle

Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses' feet, and she said, "You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me." So He let him alone. At that time she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood" [hatam damim]-- because of the circumcision... Exodus 4:24-26


Alice C. Linsley

Exodus 4:24-26 is a puzzling passage and one that shows evidence of emendation. It is not clear why the Lord sought for Moses to die when He had given instructions for Moses to address Pharaoh upon his future return to Egypt.

At first glance this story seems to be about Moses and Zipporah, but a later source - probably the Deuteronomist Historian - shifts the focus to the firstborn son and draws a parallel with God's wrath shown to the firstborn of Egypt when the angel of death passed over. This emphasizes YHWH's protection and preference for Israel.

Exodus 4: 2-23 suggests a reason for the intrusion of this idea.

The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, "Israel is My son, My firstborn. "So I said to you, 'Let My son go that he may serve Me'; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

Israel is said to God's "firstborn" and circumcision was to be the sign of the covenant with Israel. God's wrath would be expected to fall on Moses if he neglected to circumcise his son. Why did Moses not perform the circumcision?

Zipporah was Moses's second wife; his cousin bride. Presumably, the son who Zipporah circumcised was their first born. If this is the case, Zipporah performed the rite that would have been performed by her father, Jethro the priest of Midian. This is because the first born son of the cousin bride belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather. This is a feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of Abraham's people.

Zipporah's father was a Horite Hebrew priest who ruled in the region of Midian. The land of Midian was named for one of Abraham's sons, born to Abraham's cousin wife, Keturah (Gen. 25). To explore the account given in Exodus 4:24 we need to understand the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew chiefs.

To prevent her husband's death, Zipporah performed the circumcision to cover him by the blood [dam]. The son's blood was placed on the father as a spiritual protection, just as the blood of the lamb on the doorposts in Egypt protected the people.

Since circumcision originated among the Nilotes we do well to look at the ancient Egyptian verb TM to determine the meaning of ha-tam damim.

In his book The Ancient Egyptian Language: An Historical Study, James P. Allen explains: "The verb tm forms a negative counterpart of all verb forms that can be negated except the imperative. It is a verb in its own right, meaning something like “stop doing, fail to do, not do,” and as such can be negated itself..." (p. 129). The examples he gives include: "He will not fail to do good." and "He does not fail to return." Zipporah's complaint pertains to something Moses failed to do. Moses failed to have his first born son by his cousin wife circumcised according to the tradition of the Horite Hebrew fathers (Horim). The boy should have been circumcised on the eighth day by Jethro, to whose household the child belonged according to the marriage and ascendancy pattern of Abraham's Horite Hebrew people.

The root dmm appears in over 62 places in the Bible and 4 times in the book of Job, the Horite of Uz. It refers to guilt or responsibility. With this in mind, ha-tm damm appears to mean simply that Moses failed to do his duty in some regard.

The word hatan has multiple related meanings. It means husband. Moses was both Zipporah's husband and her covering. We recall how in seeking Boaz's protection, Ruth asked him to cover her with the hem of his robe. This is a very ancient custom which is observed in many cultures. In the Akkadian, hatan means protection. However, in Arabic hatan (or khatin) refers to circumcision (Hebrew Study Bible, pp. 113-114).

It is possible that Zipporah claimed concerning her husband: "You are protected by blood" (Sarna, N., The JPS Torah Commentary on Exodus, Jewish Publication Society, 1991, p. 26).

It is significant that the blood that protects is the blood of the Son. Let those who have ears to hear, hear the message of our Messianic Faith.


Related reading: Why Zipporah Used a Flint Knife; Hatam Damim: The Bridegroom of Blood; Circumcision Among Abraham's People; The Origin of Circumcision; Moses's Wives and Brothers; Seated With Christ; The Pattern of Two Wives

Seated with Christ

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
Psalm 29:10

Alice C. Linsley

Many years of anthropological investigation using Biblical data has convinced me that Messianic expectation is one of the earliest religious beliefs. It is expressed in the burial practices of Abraham's archaic ancestors who believed in bodily resurrection and anticipated the coming of a Righteous Ruler who would overcome death and lead His people to immortality.

Through Biblical Anthropology some principles have been established to identify and authenticate material of great antiquity. On such principle states: "The more broadly dispersed throughout the canonical books a verse, quotation, or allusion is, the older it is." That means that Psalm 110:1 is one of the oldest Messianic references in the Bible. It appears in various forms in the Old Testament [Ps. 145:13; Isaiah 9; Daniel 4:34 and 7:27]  and at least 20 references are made to this in the New Testament.

Psalm 110: 1 reads, The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."

It is generally assumed that David wrote these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. However, that is not the case.  David received these words from his Horite Hebrew/Habiru ancestors. This belief was stated in these exact words at least 1000 years before David in the Coffin Texts. Consider how Horus, the 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'."

Here we find the words of Psalm 110:1, a Messianic reference, and the context for Paul's words: "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6)

Therefore, let us live and pray as ones seated with Christ! Let us take hold of the promise of Christ: "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne." (Revelation 3:21)


Horus and the Proto-Gospel

Horus, the Seed or "Son" of the Creator, was the embodiment of divine kingship and the protector of the reigning pharaoh. Ra and Horus shared the same emblem, the Sun, and were regarded as one, as Jesus confirmed when he said, "I and my Father are one." (John 10:30; John 17)

In Utterance 699 of the Pyramid Texts, Horus ascends aloft like a heron and is exalted at his Father's side. The prayer reads: "Be young, be young beside your Father."

Horus was conceived when Hathor was overshadowed by the Sun. Likewise, the angel told the Virgin Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

Hathor is shown wearing the sun within the horns of the cow. The Y image came to designate divinely appointed rulers among Abraham's people: Yitzak, Yacob, Yaqtan, Yishmael, Yeshua, Yishbak, etc. One of the signs of divine kingship was that the new born child was swaddled in a red cloak.

The Nilotic Rulers and Messianic Expectation

Saint Augustine wrote, "that the Egyptians alone believe in the resurrection, as they carefully preserved their dead bodies." (Jon Davies, "Death, burial, and rebirth in the religions of antiquity", Routledge, 1999, p. 27) However, the peoples of the Upper and Lower Nile shared this belief which they received from their Proto-Saharan ancestors. Royal tombs were built at the Horite Hebrew/Habiru shrine city of Nekhen before the first Egyptian Dynasty. The oldest section of Nekhen dates to 3800 BC. At Nekhen, Proto-Saharan nobles were buried with red ocher as early as 3500 BC.

One intriguing discovery at Nekhen was the recovery of an almost complete beard in association with the redheaded man in Burial 79. Consider how the descendants of these ruler-priests are often described in Genesis as red an hairy. Esau and David are examples, and the people who live in Abraham's territory of Edom was known to have a distinctive red tone. Edom or "Idumea" means land of red people.

Embalming of royal mummies was already a science by 2800 BC. Reference to a Righteous Ruler-Priest who would overcome death and lead his people to immortality is found in the Pyramid Texts (2400 BC) and in the Coffin Texts (2100 BC). These texts express the desire of the Kushites and Egyptians for immortality. The offices of ruler and priest were connected. They believed they would receive eternal life through the agency of their ruler-priest and they yearned for his appearing.

They ancient Kushites and Egyptians made a great ceremony of the burial of their dead kings. The construction of the royal tomb took many years. Upon completion of the tomb, there was as consecration ceremony. When the ruler died, the embalmer priests carefully prepared the body. There was a procession to the tomb, lead by the priests and royal family, the people in their train.  After prayers and animal sacrifice, the tomb was sealed. The grieving people returned to their homes. It was believed that the Righteous Ruler would rise on the third day just as the sun broke on the eastern horizon. At his rising the Righteous Ruler would gather his people to himself and lead them to immortality.

This is pictured in Psalm 68:18:  "You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there."

This is what the Apostle Paul refers to when he wrote, "This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.'" (Ephesians 4:8)


Related reading: Who Were the Horites?; Who Were the Kushites?; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; Mining Blood; The Edomites and the Color Red; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel