Britain's Connection to the Messianic Faith of the Early Hebrew

An angelic being holds the Shen sign representing eternal life over the deceased king.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley


In my first presentation I spoke about the presence of Anglo-Celtic priests in Britain at least as early as 46 A.D., well before Augustine’s 596 arrival to establish a Roman mission in Britain. The planting of the priesthood in England appears to have been the work of members of the Sanhedrin who were followers of Jesus Christ. Joseph Arimathea is a prime example. With this in mind, we should not be surprised that the ordination rules for Anglicans align closely with the Sanhedrin’s ordination rules.

Ossuary of Miriam, granddaughter of the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas.

 

Last week we explored the early Hebrew beliefs concerning the Son of God and their solar symbolism. The 6-prong solar symbol (shown above) that appeared on grave markers and ossuaries indicated hope for life after death. That symbol appeared on the bone boxes of Jewish rulers, including Joseph Caiaphas, the High Priest who condemned Jesus. 

Dispersion of Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b. 

Note the dark spot in the area of Lake Chad, Noah's homeland.

We also considered the DNA evidence for the wide dispersal of the early Hebrew across the Ancient Near East, parts of Europe, and especially Britain, where an estimated 70% of native British men share the same 20,000-year genetic heritage as the early Hebrew, Haplogroup R1b. (See map above.)

Coincidentally, these regions are where we find the distinctive 6-prong solar symbol.

In this presentation I hope to tie these threads together so that we may appreciate the deep roots of our Faith. Indeed, the Messianic Faith that we call “Christianity” is older than all other world religions by thousands of years.

Today we will consider what Genesis tells us about the dispersal of the early Hebrew and look at some of the earliest known Hebrew prayers that speak of their expectation that a Righteous Ruler would overcome death and lead them to immortality. Finally, we will look at the account of Abraham on Mount Moriah to better understand the nature of justification.

Let’s begin with a timeline. The oldest known site of Hebrew worship at Nekhen on the Nile dates to c. 4000 B.C. The oldest known Hebrew texts date to around the same time (4200-4000 B.C.). Abraham lived around 2000 B.C., which means that he had many Hebrew ancestors from whom he received a sacred tradition concerning a ruler-priest of his Hebrew caste who would overcome death and lead his people to immortality. Many of those Hebrew ancestors lived in the Nile Valley and were part of a very advanced ancient civilization.

The names above Asshur and Arpachsad are found in Genesis 10 and the names from Arpachsad and Asshur the Younger to Abraham are found in Genesis 11.

 

Genesis chapter 10 explains that Nimrod was a son of Cush. Cush represents the Nile Valley. Nimrod left the Nile Valley and began to build cities in the land of Shinar in Southern Mesopotamia. He married a daughter of Asshur, a Hebrew ruler in Mesopotamia. She was probably Nimrod’s cousin as suggested by the fact that she named her firstborn son after her father Asshur, a prerogative of the Hebrew cousin brides. The cousin bride’s naming prerogative is a distinctive feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the early Hebrew. We find it earlier in the “begats” of Genesis 4 and 5.

The names Adah, Zillah, and Lamech the Elder appear in Genesis 4. The names Methuselah and Lamech the Younger, his firstborn son by his cousin bride Naamah, appear in Genesis 5.

Horus Names Among the Early Hebrew

Note the royal name Ar-Pacshad (Arpaxad). The "Ar" is likely a shortened Horus name as is suggested by the Nabataean King Harithath IV who bears the Horus name. In 2 Corinthians 11:32 King Harithath is called King Aretas. Horus is the later Greek word for the earlier Proto-Egyptian HR which means “Most High One”. In the ancient world, HR was regarded as the patron of kings.

Note that Abraham was a descendant of both Ham and Shem because their lines intermarried. This is an example of caste endogamy. The Hebrew were a caste of ruler-priests. They were organized into 2 ritual groups (moieties): the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew. Some Horite Hebrew chiefs are listed in Genesis 36.

A great deal is known about both groups from texts and prayers that they wrote on the walls of royal tombs in the Nile Valley. Those have been translated and collected in a volume titled “Ancient Pyramid Texts”. Some of the prayers date as early as 6200 years ago. Most date to around 4000 years ago, the time of Abraham.

It is clear in The Ancient Pyramid Texts that the Horites and the Sethites maintained separate settlements. Utterance 308 addresses them as separate: "Hail to you, Horus in the Horite Mounds! Hail to you, Horus in the Sethite Mounds!"

Though separate groups or moieties, the Horite and Sethite Hebrew shared common religious practices and beliefs. They worshiped the same God whose symbol was the Sun, and they served the same king. However, the Horite temples and shrines were more prestigious. Utterance 470 strikes a contrast between the Horite and Sethite mounds and designates the Horite mounds as "the High Mounds."

Figurine of Seth found at Nekhen.

 

The totems of the Sethites and Horites have been found at Nekhen on the Nile, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship (c.4000 B.C.). This figurine of Seth as a red-brown man with the head of a hippo was there. The hippo was the totem of the Sethite Hebrew, and the golden falcon was the totem of the Horite Hebrew.

A gold figure of Horus as a falcon was found at Nekhen. 

Among the early Hebrew green malachite was associated with HR and represented new life and the hope of resurrection. The Egyptian Book of the Dead speaks of how the deceased will become a falcon "whose wings are of green stone" (chapter 77). The Ancient Pyramid Texts speak of Horus as the "Lord of the green stone" (Utterance 301) and the land of the blessed dead is described as the "field of malachite." The prayers of the Nilotic Hebrew are the earliest known resurrection texts.

Note that these prayers are written in hope that the buried king might rise to new life. In his resurrection body he is to restore his settlements and cities, and open the door to the Westerners, Easterners, Northerners and Southerners (Utterance 587). He is to rule over the peoples, restore the former state of blessedness, and unite heaven and earth. The Messianic expectation found in Genesis 3:15 was expressed in Utterance 388 of The Pyramid Texts: "Horus has shattered the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot". In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, HR is called the "advocate of his father" (cf. 1 John 2: 1, "If anyone sin, we have an advocate with the Father...).

When seen from this perspective, the faith of the early Hebrew appears to be the foundation of the Messianic hope that is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, a direct descendant of the Hebrew ruler-priests.

The New Testament speaks about Jesus as the firstborn from the grave and by his resurrection He delivers to the Father a "peculiar people." He leads us to the Father where we receive heavenly recognition because we belong to Him. Here we find the language of a royal procession such as this: "When He ascended on high, He led captives in his train, and gave gifts to men.” Paul continues in Ephesians 4:8-10 - "What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the depths of the earth? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe."

A Horite Hebrew song found at the royal complex at Ugarit speaks of HR’s descent 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". (See Note 2 on page 2012.)

The early Hebrew expected the Righteous Ruler to rise on the third day. Utterance 667 says: "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."

Heavenly recognition for the early Hebrew was never an individual prospect. Heavenly recognition came to the people through the righteousness of the ruler-priest. Some early Hebrew rulers took this seriously and the worst were so earthy minded that they shed much blood enlarging their territories. All failed to be the Ruler-Priest who rose from the dead. None had the power to deliver captives from the grave and to lead them to the Father in heaven (Ps. 68:18; Ps. 7:7; Eph. 4:8). That would be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of God, and this was revealed to Abraham on Mount Moriah.

Among the early Hebrew, the Son of God was pictured as rising with the sun as a lamb and setting in the west as a ram. As they ascended Mount Moriah, Isaac asked his father "where is the lamb" for the sacrifice? Abraham replied that God would provide the lamb, but God provided a ram instead.

Among the early Hebrew, the Son of God was shown riding with the Father on the celestial Sun boat. The boat of the morning hours was called Mandjet and the boat of the evening hours was called Mesektet. While the Son was on the Mandjet, he was depicted as a lamb. While on the Mesektet, he was a ram. Abraham would have understood the message of the ram provided by God on Mount Moriah, and he believed the promise, and believing, he was justified. We if don’t get hung up on chronological time, which does not pertain to God, we will see that the ground for justification is the same for all people throughout all human existence. Glory to God!

The Son of God was called the “Lamb” in his weaker (kenotic) state, and he was called the “Ram” in his glorified state. The solar arc spoke of the Son’s death and resurrection. This is what Jesus meant when he told the Jews, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)


Related reading: The Ram of God has been Provided; The Hebrew Were a Caste; The Oldest Known Religion; What Abraham Discovered on Mt. Moriah; Solar Symbolism of the Ancient Near East; Funerary Rites and the Hope of Resurrection; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; The Religious Symbolism of Green Malachite

The Israelite-Hebrew Mountain Covenants

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Do you grasp the distinction between the terms Hebrew and Israelite? And between Israelite and Jew? If not, please read this: Hebrew, Israelite or Jew?

Do you recognize that Judaism is not the faith of Abraham the Hebrew? If not read this: Judaism is Not the Faith of Abraham.

Before Abraham's time (c.2000 BC), the Hebrew ruler-priest caste had dispersed in many directions. They moved into the land of Canaan long before the time of Moses. That is why the Israelites met kinsmen in many places. The Israelites who left Egypt are described as a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38). Some were descendants of the Hebrew who had been living in the Nile Valley for at least 2000 years before the time of Moses.  Some were the descendants of the Hebrew chief Jacob or Israel. 

Detailed study of the ancestry of Terah, Abraham, Nahor, Isaac and Jacob reveals that these families and the Hebrew living in Canaan, Edom and Midian share common ancestors. Canaan is named for Cain whose descendants, the Kenites, lived in Canaan. Edom or Idumea was the land of red people such as Esau, Isaac's proper heir. Some of the Horite Hebrew chiefs of that region are listed in Genesis 36. The land of Midian is named for one of Abraham's sons by his cousin wife, Keturah (Gen. 25).

After leaving Egypt, Jacob's descendants (the "Israelites") journeyed east-northeast by stages, making contact with Hebrew kinsmen at each stage. The first people to help them were their cousins among the Midianites in the region of Horeb, the Midianite sacred mountain (Deut. 29:1). 

The Israelites also received help from the Hebrew chiefs of Edom. These Hebrew were kin to Seir the Horite Hebrew named in Genesis 36. The Edomite sacred mountain was Paran (Deut. 33:2). 

Crossing through Edomite territory (where Aaron was buried), the Hebrew people moved into Moab. They visited with Lot’s descendants and worshipped on Mount Nebo (Deut. 32:49), where Moses died.

 At each of these sacred sites, the reunion of kin was celebrated by a covenant that included animal sacrifice and a night of feasting. These covenants likely resembled the covenant made between Jacob and Laban at Mizpah (Gen. 31:44-54). The Hebrew ruler-priests had established themselves at sheltered high places throughout the Ancient Near East well before the time of Moses and the Exodus. 

Related reading: The Exodus Narrative from a Different Angle; Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Hebrew were a Caste; Hazor's Destruction: Another Theory; The Edomites and the Color Red; Adam Was a Red Man; The High Places; They Believed in a Messiah 6000 Years Ago

Elephants in the Time of Abraham

Alice C. Linsley

The oldest known elephant fossil was found in Kenya and dates to c. 4 million years. The cranium was recovered from a site on the northeast side of Lake Turkana and is about 85% intact. Known by its museum number, KNM-ER 63642, the 2-ton cranium belonged to a massive adult male of the species Loxodonta adaurora, an extinct relative of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana).

Fossil evidence indicates that the Asian elephant once roamed Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and southern China. Elephant tooth and bone fragments found in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon indicate that elephants lived in that region in the latter part of the Bronze Age. These appear to have been wild herds.

Elephant fossils found in Mesopotamia dating to the second millennium BC are thought to be the descendants of a smaller Pleistocene variety found throughout the Mediterranean about 2 million years ago. According to R.W. Rogers, “In very early times the elephant wandered at will over the Middle Euphrates country, but it disappeared before the 13th century.” (A History of Babylonia and Assyria, Vol. 1, p. 284) 

However, textual evidence suggests that elephants were being used as service animals after the 13th century B.C. Their remarkable trunks provided a powerful gripping organ for lifting and carrying timber and other heavy materials. Sargon used Asian elephants to build his cities in Mesopotamia, and Abraham would have seen them in the region of Haran. Haran is where his father Terah died and after Terah's death, Abraham's older brother Nahor ruled over the territory in Paddan Aram.

The current distribution of elephants is greatly reduced compared to the time of Abraham. Today there remain only two species of elephants: the small-eared Indian elephant (Elephas maximus) and the long eared, long-legged African elephant. The Indian elephant has a bowed upper skull. There is a difference also in the number of toes.

An older elephant species was smaller and hairier. It had very curved, slender tusks and a more rounded head, suggesting a closer relationship to the African elephant. Such a creature appears on the tomb wall of Rekhmire (TT100). Rekhmire was Governor of Thebes during the reigns of Tuthmose III and Amenhotep II. At this time Egypt's empire extended into Syria. A wall painting in Rekhmire's tomb shows Syrians bringing tribute of carts, weapons, horses, a bear, and an elephant.

Elephant painting in the tomb of Rekhmire.

A priest of On (Heliopolis) named Rekhmire (1471-1448) may have kept elephants in his menagerie. 

The Rekhmire tomb elephant likely depicts an extinct dwarf elephant with a shaggy coat. It is believed that some were still alive 4000-3500 years ago (Masseti 2001, 2008, Theodorou et al. 2007). This dwarf species is called Elephas tiliensis. A life-sized model of E. tiliensis is on display at the Paleontology Museum of Athens. 

The elephant image in the Rekhmire tomb makes it clear that the Egyptians were familiar with the Syrian elephants known to Abraham in Haran.

Elephants are social creatures and some herds have been observed to bury their calves ritually. According to researchers Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy, "Asian elephants loudly mourn and bury their dead calves, according to a study by Indian scientists that details animal behaviour reminiscent of human funeral rites."

Elephants in Noah's time

Noah lived approximately 4000-3800 BC in the region of Lake Chad when the Sahara experienced a wet period. Elephants in the Lake Chad Basin once occupied all habitats except the driest Sahelian grasslands. This was a time when central Africa, Arabia, Canaan, and Mesopotamia were ruled by local chiefs. 

Not long after Noah's time the elephant was taken as a royal symbol. At Qustul a local ruler was referred to as "Elephant". He ruled during the early Naqada III epoch (3200 to 3000 BC).

The oldest known zoological collection was found during excavations at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen on the Nile) in 2009. The royal menagerie dates to ca. 3500 BC and included elephants. Proto-Saharan and Nilotic rulers kept ménageries. The animals were kept in pairs so that they would reproduce.

In Noah's time Lake Chad sustained boating and fishing industries. The average fishermen used dugouts, but a ruler such as Noah owned boats constructed of reeds lashed together in bundles and sealed with pitch. Noah probably had a fleet of boats, and elephants probably were used to carry the reed bundles.

At Nekhen the bones of a juvenile savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) were found in Tomb 14. These date to around 3100 B.C. Likely, this elephant was a prized pet of the buried ruler.

Related reading: Abraham's Camels; Noah's Homeland in Historical Perspective; Genomes of straight-tusked elephants by John Hawks

Where Judaism and Christianity Part Ways

 

Is Christianity an extension of Judaism? Historically, Christians and Jews share many values, read the Old Testament texts, and have similar liturgical practices such as Scripture readings, recitation of the Psalms, creeds, sermons, feasts and fasts, etc. However, Christians and Jews do not agree on the substance of Abraham's faith whereby he was justified (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23).

Judaism emerged long after the time of Abraham. We trace its development through post-exilic texts and through history, especially the Persian Period. The biblical narrative begins with Cyrus II of Persia who reigned from 559-530 BC.

The Book of Ezra continues where 2 Chronicles ends with Cyrus's proclamation permitting residents of his empire who were deported from Judah to return their ancestral home. The proclamation was not limited to people of Judah. Cyrus encouraged many peoples to establish their own temples in their indigenous lands. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458 BC, so he was among the earlier immigrants. At that time Judah (Yehud) was a province of the Persian Empire and the appointed governor was Sheshbazzar.

Cyrus assumed control of Syria-Palestine when Babylon fell. He replaced some key officials with his own men, and Sheshbazzar was one of his appointees who enforced the policies of Cyrus. That meant aiding in the rebuilding of the Temple. During the reign of Cambyses (530-522 BC) Zerubbabel was appointed governor of Judah and the rebuilding of the Temple continued until it was finally completed during the reign of Darius I (522-486 BC). The Second Temple was dedicated in 516 BC.

During the reign of Xerxes I (486-465 BC) there was a concentrated effort to finish rebuilding the wall and Nehemiah was sent to assist with this project in 445 BC. Nehemiah became the governor of Judah and served under both Artaxerxes I and Darius II (423-405).

The Persian political influence on the returnees (who we can now refer to as “Jews”) was strong. However, they worked to establish an identity that rested on the authority of Moses as the Lawgiver. Ezra and Nehemiah insist that their innovations are applications of Mosaic Torah. They helped the Second Temple community develop as sense of being the fulfillment of the Land promised to Abraham and his descendants. This is the foundation of the religion of Judaism.

Judaism is the elaboration of rabbinic thought over 2500 years, and though it claims Abraham as its founder, Abraham was not a Jew. He was Horite Hebrew and the Horite Hebrew believed in God Father and God Son. Clearly, Judaism is not the religion of Abraham.

Prominent Jews readily admit that Abraham's Hebrew faith and Judaism are not the same. Rabbi Stephen F. Wise, former Chief Rabbi of the United States, wrote: "The return from Babylon and the introduction of the Babylonian Talmud mark the end of Hebrewism and the beginning of Judaism. This break came around 500 BC, at least 1500 years after Abraham.

For Jews, the greatest authority is the Talmud, as SUNY professor, Robert Goldberg explains: “The traditional Jew studies Talmud because it communicates ultimate truth—truth about God, truth about the world, and most important, truth about how God wants the holy community of Israel to live.”

The Rabbis are trained in argumentation and the Talmud is a record of their disputations. One drawback is the tendency of the rabbis to debate minutiae and esoteric matters. Over time the Talmud came to be of greater authority than the Hebrew Scriptures. The Talmud encourages this. Consider this exhortation: “My son, be more careful in the observance of the words of the Scribes than in the words of the Torah." (Talmud Erubin 21b), and this: "My son, give heed to the words of the scribes rather than to the words of the law." This also, "He who transgresses the words of the Scribes sins more gravely than the transgressors of the words of the Law." (Sanhedrin X, 3 f.88b)

Related readings: The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity; Trinitarian Correspondences Between the Nile and Mesopotamia; Christianity is the One True Messianic Faith

The Sign of Mt. Moriah

Sir Leonard Woolley dubbed this statuette the ram caught in a thicket, alluding to the story of Abraham sacrificing a ram on Mount Moriah.

Alice C. Linsley

Notice that this ram has wings. It represents a deity. The only ram-headed deity of the ancient world was Horus whose name HR in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One." He was called the son of God the Father.

The appearance and sacrifice of the Ram on Mount Moriah foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus Messiah. Abraham is said to be justified because he obeyed God in going to Mt. Moriah and he believed the sign God gave him. 

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." (James 2:21-24) 

"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that He would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith." (Rom. 4:13)

Ram-headed Horus faces West

As Abraham and Isaac ascended Mount Moriah, Isaac asked his father, "Where is the lamb for the sacrifice? Abraham replied that God would provide the lamb. Instead, God provided a ram. 

To understand what this meant to Abraham, we must be investigate the Horite Hebrew beliefs concerning the expected Righteous Ruler who would die and overcome death on the third day.

For Abraham the Horite Hebrew, the lamb was associated with the east and the rising of the sun. The sun was the emblem of God Father (Ra/Ani) and God Son (Horus/Enki). As the day advanced, the lamb matured into a ram. The ram was associated with the west, the setting sun, and the future. The period of the morning hours was called Mandjet, and the period of the evening hours was called Mesektet. While Horus was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form. So Abraham is given a sign concerning a future event involving the son of God as a sacrifice.

Related reading: Jesus: From Lamb to Ram; What Abraham Discovered on Mt. Moriah; Ram Symbolism in the Ancient World; The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; The Horite High Places

Midianite Potters of Edom

A tent-shrine or tabernacle was discovered at Timnaʿthat resembled the biblical description of the tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness. Stone-lined post-holes were found with acacia wood fragments and numerous copper rings. There were copious fragments of copper wire knots likely used to suspend the tent curtains.

At all sites where Midianite sherds were found (B. Rothenberg and Glass 1983; Parr 1988; Knauf 1988: 21-23), their dating was of the New Kingdom period of Timna, an industrial-scale metallurgical site in and around the Wadi Arabah in ancient Edom. The region was rich in copper and the metal work done there appears to have involved religious ritual. Juan Manuel Tebes points out that the Midianite ceramic wares also appear "consistently in cultic contexts, administrative buildings, and burial offerings."

In the early 2000's, Dr. Thomas E. Levy led an archaeological survey that yielded earlier dates than had been assigned to the Edomite kingdom. The team found scarabs, painted pottery shards, metal arrowheads, hammers, grinding stones, and slag heaps. Dr. Levy stated, "Only a complex society such as a paramount chiefdom or primitive kingdom would have the organizational know-how to produce copper metal on such an industrial scale." 

An "impressive amount of Midianite ware" was found around the tent-shrine at Timna. The Midianites were related to Abraham through his son Midian, born of Abraham's cousin wife Keturah (Gen. 25). They should be considered a Horite Hebrew clan of Edom. Moses married his cousin Zipporah, a daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro. Moses' father married a Horite woman of Edom (see diagram above).

At Timna there was a shrine to Hathor, the mother of Horus. (Horus is derived from the Ancient Egyptian HR, meaning "Most High One.") Hathor was the patron of the Horite metal workers at Timna and at other metal workers sites in the region. A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University. In his book Timna, Rothenberg concluded that the peoples living in the area were "partners not only in the work but in the worship of Hathor." (Timna, p. 183)

Concerning House 314 at Tel Masos near Beersheba Juan Tebes writes: “Within several of its habitations, rests of metallurgical activities were visible on the ground, possibly connected to a ritual function, as has been suggested by the appearance of ‘human’ figurines very similar to those found at the Hathor temple of Timna."

Tel Masos sits at the gateway to Hebron where Sarah resided. Keturah likely resided at or near Tel Masos or Beersheba. These sites were within Abraham's territory in Edom as shown on the map above. Note the placement of the wives on a north-south axis, a characteristic of the Horite marriage pattern involving two wives.

Horite Hebrew priests were active in metal work, as is evidence in the stories of Aaron and Moses fabricating ritual objects. They were rather widely dispersed in the ancient world. Horite Hebrew priests were found in Aram, Edom, Judah, and Moab. The Midianite potters were among them.


Related reading: The Chiefs of Edom, The Substance of Abraham's Faith, The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; A Land Whose Stones are Iron and From Whose Hill You May Mine Copper.; The Antiquity of the Edomite Rulers

Judaism is Not the Faith of Abraham

Alice C. Linsley


The Apostle Paul wrote a great deal about the Messianic Faith and how it is expressed in the promises made to Abraham the Hebrew. Paul stresses that those who follow Jesus Messiah have been made partakers of those ancient promises (Galatians 3:7-9). He exposes as a false teaching the Judaizers' insistence that the Messianic Faith requires adherence to the laws of Judaism.

Many misconceptions surround the person of Abraham. He is not the founder of Judaism. He was not a Jew. He is identified as "Hebrew" in the Bible and the Hebrew were a caste of priests and rulers with deep roots in antiquity. The English word Hebrew and its variants 'Apiru, Abru, Hapiru, Habiru, appear in texts that date to before Abraham's time. Abraham's faith was received from his Hebrew ancestors. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship at Nekhen dates to 4000 BC, about 2000 years before Abraham.

Many people think that Christianity emerged out of Judaism, but the core belief of the Messianic Faith is that the son of God would take on flesh, be sacrificed, and rise again. This belief was already evident among Abraham’s Horite Hebrew people before 3000 BC. They believed in God Father (Ra or Ani) and God Son (Horus or Enki). Jews reject the very idea that God has a son. Yet the Scriptures say that it is impossible to be saved unless one believes that Jesus is the son of God (Genesis 3:15; Proverbs 30:4, Hosea 11:1; Luke 1:35; John 3:14-17; John 6:40; John 6:69-70; John 20:31; 1 John 5:13). This is why the Apostle Paul speaks of believers being grafted into Abraham, not Judaism. Judaism is not the faith of Abraham the Hebrew.

In Galatians 3, he identifies Abraham’s Seed as Jesus Messiah. In verse 29, Paul explains, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, and heirs according to the promise” made to Abraham.

The Bible provides a great deal of significant anthropological data about Abraham the Hebrew. It also provides information that enables us to identify Abraham's territory between Hebron and Beersheba. In Abraham's time, this region was ruled by the Horite Hebrew and was called Edom. The Greeks called it Idumea, meaning “land of red people.” You will recall that Esau of Edom is described as red, and David, who had Edomite blood, also is described as ruddy or red.

Some of the Horite Hebrew rulers of Edom are listed in Genesis 36 (shown on the diagram above). The great antiquity of the Horite Hebrew of Edom is verified in Genesis 36:31, “These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites.”

The Messianic tradition upon which the Church stands is revealed in the Bible. It is the tradition of the Horite Hebrew who believed in God Father and God Son. The Horite Hebrew are called “Horim” by Jews, which means parents or ancestors. Jesus lived in a Jewish context which did not recognize him as the fulfillment of the expectations of the Horim. This is because by Jesus’ time, Judaism was only tangentially related to the faith of Abraham.

Certainly, early Christian worship was patterned on the synagogue, with scripture readings, prayers, homilies, and days of feasting and fasting. The east-facing altar is patterned on the Horite Hebrew temple, as are church furnishings such as the tabernacle and the lamp. However, Christianity alone affirms that Messiah is the Son of God. Judaism and Islam reject the very idea that God has a son.

Judaism is the elaboration of rabbinic thought over 3000 years, and though it claims Abraham as its founder, Abraham was not a Jew. Prominent Jews readily admit this.

Rabbi Stephen F. Wise, former Chief Rabbi of the United States, wrote: "The return from Babylon and the introduction of the Babylonian Talmud mark the end of Hebrewism and the beginning of Judaism." This break came at least 1300 years after the time of Abraham the Hebrew.

For Jews, the greatest authority is the Talmud. Consider SUNY professor, Robert Goldberg’s explanation: “The traditional Jew studies Talmud because it communicates ultimate truth—truth about God, truth about the world, and most important, truth about how God wants the holy community of Israel to live.”

The Rabbis are trained in argumentation and the Talmud is a record of their disputations. One drawback is the tendency of the rabbis to debate minutiae and esoteric matters. Over time the Messianic Faith of Abraham - the main thing - became peripheral. The Talmud came to be of greater authority than the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Talmud encourages this. Consider this Talmudic exhortation: “My son, be more careful in the observance of the words of the Scribes than in the words of the Torah." (Talmud Erubin 21b), and this: "My son, give heed to the words of the scribes rather than to the words of the law." This also, "He who transgresses the words of the Scribes sins more gravely than the transgressors of the words of the Law." (Sanhedrin X, 3 f.88b)

In a 2007 NOVA interview Rabbi Shaye Cohen (Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard) admitted that Abraham was not a Jew, and he explains that, nevertheless, the narrative of Judaism presents him as the first Jew as a place to start. In other words, the narrative of Judaism ignores the biblical data about Abraham’s ancestors in Genesis 3, 4, 5, 10 and 11. It is in those early chapters that we find the anthropologically significant data about the origin of the Messianic Faith among Abraham’s ancestors.

Related reading: The Hebrew Were a Caste; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Where Judaism and Christianity Part Ways; The Social Structure of the Biblical Hebrew; Hebrew, Israelite, or Jew?; The Earliest Known Site of Horite Hebrew Worship; Another Look at Genesis 3:13-15

The Script of Abraham's Territory

Alice C. Linsley


Readers have asked about the language Abraham spoke. Before we can answer that, we must identify Abraham as Hebrew (Habiru) and a Horite ruler. Some Horite rulers are listed in Genesis 36. They ruled over ancient Edom, called "Idumea" by the Greeks.

Abraham's territory was in this region. His territory extended between the settlements of this two wives, Sarah and Keturah. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah in the region of Beersheba to the south. The settlements mark the northern and southern boundaries of Abraham's territory.

The Horites were a caste of royal priests in the service of the ancient kingdom builders (the "mighty men of old"). Horite Hebrew (Habiru) were in Africa, Arabia, India, southern Europe, and other parts of the Levant. Some Horite clans were skilled in medicine and some were known for astronomy. Others made a name for themselves as stone masons or metal workers. Some served as purification priests and some offered sacrifices. Some served as scribes who kept royal accounts of tribute owed and payed. Horite priests served at temples along the water ways. They boarded ships to measure cargo and collect taxes. These royal scribes were well versed in the different scripts of the ruler's realm.

One such script was Akkadian, though this was a relatively archaic script by 2000 BC. Here is a timeline that we need to consider. Note that Akkadian was probably not spoken by Abraham though he or his wise men may have read ancient Akkadian texts. Some languages continue to be read long after they are no longer spoken. Biblical Hebrew and Latin are examples.

B.C. 3800-3000 - Nekhen flourished on the Nile, the oldest known site of Horite worship
B.C. 2490-2415 - Noah, lived in the region of Lake Chad when the Sahara experienced a wet period.
B.C. 2438-2363 - Ham, son of Noah
B.C. 2417-2342 - Kush, son of Ham; father of Nimrod and Ramah
B.C. 2290-2215 - Nimrod, ruler in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley
B.C. 2238-2163 - Arpacshad, son by Asshur's daughter
B.C. 2217-2042 - Salah, likely Arpacshad's son by his sister-wife.
B.C. 2196-2121 - Eber, likely Salah's son by his sister-wife.
B.C. 2175-2100 - Peleg, Eber's son. Peleg's brother was Joktan
B.C. 2154-2079 - Reu
B.C. 2133-2058 - Serug, Reu's son.
B.C. 2112-2037 - Nahor, Serug's son
B.C. 2091-2016 - Terah, Nahor's son
B.C. 2039-1964 - Abraham, Terah's son
B.C. 1987-1912 - Joktan, Abraham's firstborn son by his cousin bride, Keturah.

In Abraham's time (c. 2050) and territory between Hebron and Beersheba, the script used resembled Egyptian hieroglyphics. Many Hebrew letters - dating to about 500 years later - closely resemble the Middle Egyptian signs.

This aligns with Sir Alan H. Gardiner's findings. He concluded in 1916 that the Sinaitic signs were derived from Egyptian Hieroglyphic signs based upon their acrophonic value. Gardiner’s research established a relationship between the Sinaitic signs and the North Semitic alphabet. So it appears that the Egyptian signs were the basis of a variety of related scripts used from the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates valley.

Related reading: What Language Did Abraham Speak?; Thamudic Scripts; Proto-Elamite Script; Horite Priests and the Habiru; Gardiner's Signs (Middle Egyptian)

Roads Connected Abraham's Territory

The data of Genesis suggests that Abraham's territory extended on a north-south axis between his two wives Sarah and Keturah. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah resided in Beersheba. Abraham had wells in Gerar to the west and likely watered his livestock to the east at Ein-Gedi. There were ancient routes between these places.

Tel 'Eton is a prominent site that covers about 15 acres and is located some 11 km east-southeast of Tel Lachish (2 km to the south of Moshav Shekef). The ancient city is situated near an important junction between the north-south road that meandered along the trough valley connecting the Beersheba valley and the Ayalon valley, and the east-west road that connected the coastal plain and the Shephelah with Hebron.

See the report on the Tel 'Eton excavations here.

Hebron, Tel 'Eton, and Beersheba were in ancient Idumean or Edom.

At Tel 'Eton rock tombs from the Israelite Period have been found. Lions flank the steps descending from the entrance at Tomb One. Two scarabs were found in this tomb.

The sides of the passage of Tomb Two are raised by courses of large stones. In this tomb a cross was scratched on the wall near one of the niches.

Related reading: The Ethnicity of Abraham and David; Edo, Edom, Idumea; Edom and the Horites; Tombs From the Israelite Period at Tel 'Eton by Dr. David Ussishkim

Jesus' Horite Lineage

Alice C. Linsley


After 35 years of “anthropological sleuthing of pre-Abrahamic origins” I have come to conclusions which are not well understood and rightly questioned. Readers should pursue the truth of this research because it will strengthen you spiritually and intellectually, and equip you for the work of Christian apologetics and evangelism.

That said, I have yet to be proven wrong in my assertions that Abraham's ancestors were rulers who came out of Africa and that they were devotees of a faith that finds fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The concern most often expressed has to do with Abraham’s Horite caste and the Horite antecedents of Messianic expectation and Christianity. In a recent online conversation with a Messianic Jew I was asked:

Alice:

Why are you so persuaded by the theory that a priest class of devotees to Horus are the predecessors of Israel’s religion? You do know this belief of yours about history is not shared by many other people and has nothing to do with Judaism or Christianity, right? You seem like a great thinker and an articulate person.

Read it all here.

Related reading: Who Were the Horites?; The Genesis King Lists

Does Genesis 10 Describe the Ainu Dispersion?

Alice C. Linsley


Here is an interesting paper on the origins of the Ijo of Nigeria and other peoples who may have a connection to Noah's ancestors. It mentions the seafaring Oru (also called the Anu, Hanu or Ainu) who were the an important people of the Nile Valley civilization and the complexes at Lake Chad and Nok. Lake Chad was Noah's homeland and Nok is probably the Biblical Nod to which Cain wandered. The words Nod נוד and Nok נוך are virtually identical in the Hebrew script.

Genesis 10 tells us that Noah and his people spread out from Bor-No (Land of Noah) to populate the earth. Though all the peoples of the earth did not come from Noah's three sons, many modern peoples can be traced back to Noah's ancestors, the Nilotic Ainu, through molecular genealogy.

The Ainu were aboriginal peoples of the Upper Nile. They were the first rulers of the Lower Nile. One of their sanctuaries was called Annu, the original name for Heliopolis (Biblical Onn), to which the great pyramids were aligned.

The Ainu were seafarers and had a written language which they introduced to the lands where they traveled and settled. They spread from the Nile to Japan. This explains why the Japanese alphabet is almost identical to the Hebrew alphabet.  Both are based on the Ainu writing system.

The Ainu of Japan and the Ainu who crossed into North America through Finland, Greenland and Labrador are in the same haplogroup. In the northern climates the bear appears to have been the symbol or totem of the Creator, and a young bear that has been raised about the Ainu is sacrificed. The owner of the cub invites all the people of his village to come and take part in the sacrifice and the feast that follows. The Ainu elders arrive wearing crowns made of the sacred willow shavings. These have an bear's head ornament on front.

Among the Nilotic Ainu the symbol or emblem of the Creator was the sun and this was displayed resting over the Nile between two lions (ruti), or cradled between the long horns that crowned Hathor, the mother of Horus. A principal Ainu shrine city along the Nile was Heliopolis (Biblical On). Joseph married the daughter of a priest of On (Gen. 41:45). The oldest known shrine dedicated to Hathor and Horus is Nekhen. Images from Nekhen, a 3,500 year old Horite shrine city, show ruler-priests carrying flails and crooks and wearing iron beads around their necks. The flail and crook became the symbols of authority for the Pharaohs.


Ainu Physical Features

Accounts of the Ainu of Hokkaido (Yezo), a northern island of Japan, dating for the late 19th century describes Ainu women in these words: "Some of them, especially the younger ones, are quite good-looking. Their features are a little round, perhaps, and the cheek-bone somewhat high; but their complexion is of a pleasant, rosy kind." They have dark eyes and they are tattooed. The elders insisted on this, saying, "Our ancestors were thus tattooed, so therefore must we be." (From here.)

Ainu women. One on right with beard

The red skin tone is not always pronounced, but other features among the Ainu men are distinctive. These include full beards, wide foreheads, bushy brows, headgear with a frontal piece, and decorative motifs on the embroidered robes. Compare these photos.

Ainu of Eastern Canada

Ainu elder of Hokkaido, Japan

My Ainu friend Sea’Key tells me that the Ainu of eastern Canada have a red skin tone and are bearded. Some have green eyes. The red skin hue may appear as rosy cheeks or a reddish tone over tanned skin like that of Egyptians who work in the sun (I Sam. 16:12; 17:42). King David was described as having this red skin tone. The Hebrew word for red or ruddy is edom. Edom is equivalent to the Hausa odum, meaning red-brown and to the word Adam, the first man formed from the red clay which washed down to the Upper Nile Valley from the Ethiopian highlands. These soils have a cambic B horizon. Chromic cambisols have a strong red brown color.

Abraham means “burnt father” and refers to his reddish skin color. In Arabic, the word ham means burnt. The Nilotic peoples were referred to burnt because they had a reddish skin tone. This included some Nubians, as is evidenced from the drawings of Jean-Francois Champollion who lead the French-Tuscan Expedition of 1828. One drawing depicts a scene from the Great Temple at As in which some Nubian captives of Ramesses II are black and others are red.

Red and black Nubians
Detail from a Champollion drawing 

The Matagi hunters of the Tōhoku region of northern Japan have much in common with the bear cult of the Ainu. Hunting bears for meat and fur is a winter activity. In the spring a young bear cub is captured and raised in the Ainu village. It is a symbol of the young god who is sacrificed before the snow falls. The sacrifice is followed by a great feast. Two of Abraham's ancestors are remembered for their hunting prowess: Nimrod, the son of Kush, and Esau who was said to be hairy and red.

The place names of the Ainu of Japan also reveal connections to the Nile. Horo-betsu, Kotan, Assuru, and Kanari are found among the Nilo-Saharans. The Japanese word yama or the Chinese mn came to be suffixed to Ainu names. Yama means mountain. Thus we have Usu-yamn, Sawara-yama, Iivaki-san, Fuji-san, and many other similar names. However, the Ainu word for mountain is nuburi.

The Ainu Dispersion

The Ainu of Eastern Canada are in mtDNA haplogroup X. The dispersion of haplogroup X is shown below. The greatest concentrations are indicated by the darker shade. MtDNA traces lineage by the mitochondria, received from the mothers.

DNA analysis have been made on skeletons from Viking tombs. The mtDNA haplogroups found were the same as those found in Europe, but with a higher percentage of the now rare haplogroups I and X. Haplogroup X emerged about 30,000 years ago from haplogroup N (mitochondrial DNA). Haplogroup N spans many continents and is derived from the ancestral L3 haplotype that represents the 'Out of Africa' migration. 

  Note the small dot in Southern Siberia. This is the only known archaic HgX population in that entire region, indicating that the Ainu of Eastern Canada did not come to North America across the Bering Strait.

If Abraham's Ainu ancestors spread far and wide as Genesis 10 reports, we would expect them to be an early stock from which many other modern peoples come. This has been confirmed by Luigi Cavalli-Sforza's genetic distance chart which places the Ainu at the center.

Genetic studies confirms that the Nilotic peoples called "Kushites" in the Bible dispersed widely and among them were some of Abraham's Ainu and Nubian ancestors who took with them their religious beliefs and practices, including their expectation of a righteous divine son who would be born of their ruler-priest bloodlines. This is the origin of Messianic expectation and it precedes the emergence of the Jewish people by about 4000 years.

Related reading:  Scientific Verification of the Genesis 10 Dispersion; A Kindling of Ancient Memory; The Nile-Japan Ainu Connection; First People at Genetic Center; Abraham's Ainu Ancestors; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; The Nubian Context of YHWH

"Gathered to his People"

Alice C. Linsley



A reader has asked about the phrase "gathered to his people" or "gathered to his fathers." He notes that many authors on the WWW use the phrase "gathered to his fathers" or "gathered to his people" as evidence for heavenly recognition.  This is the case for those who are in the Faith of Abraham, the Horite.  As Jesus said, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day."  We may take this to mean that Abraham anticipated the coming of the Son of God.  His fathers and his people believed that God would fulfill in a literal way the promise made to their ancestors in Eden that a Woman of their ruler-priest lines would bring forth the Seed (Gen. 3:15).  The Apostle Paul believed that Gentiles must be grafted into the Faith of Abraham to receive heavenly recognition or to be saved.

It is important to see to whom the phrase "gathered to his fathers" pertains.  It does not apply to everyone who dies. It should not be generalized. The word “fathers” is horim in Hebrew and refers to the Jews’ Horite ancestors.  Incidentally, there are some Arabs that have Horite ancestry also; those descended from Abraham by his cousin wife Keturah.

“For David, after having been useful to his own generation in accordance with God's purpose, did fall asleep, was gathered to his forefathers, and did undergo decay.” – Acts 13:36.

Genesis 25:8 expresses the same idea this way: “Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.”

Wesley spiritualized this in his commentary on Genesis, saying about Abraham that “His body was gathered to the congregation of the dead, and his soul to the congregation of the blessed. Death gathers us to our people. Those that are our people while we live, whether the people of God, or the children of this world, to them death will gather us.”

Job, probably a contemporary of Abraham, was a Horite ruler. In Job 27:19 we find this:
"The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he opens his eyes, and he is not." (King James)

"He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers; He openeth his eyes, and he is not." (American Standard Version)

It appears that the phrase “gathered to his people” or “gathered to his fathers” applies to rulers of the Horite priestly caste to which Abraham, Job, Moses, Aaron and David belonged, and from whom Jesus Christ came as a direct descendant. As Hebrews attests, He is our great High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.

This phrase should not be generalized, as Wesley does, because doing so makes it easy to overlook the historicity of the unbroken line from Abraham to Christ our Lord.  This is why I believe the phrase relates specifically to the Horites or Horim who were a priestly caste.  This is evidenced again in Numbers 20:26: “Remove Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”


Related reading:  Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Who were the Horites?; The Bosom of Abraham; Sheol and the Second Death; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology

Abraham's Ainu Ancestors

Alice C. Linsley


Abraham was the son of Terah (Tera). Terah is a title that indicates a priest among the Ainu of Hokkaido and Okinawa and among Abraham's proto-Saharan Nilotic ancestors. The title was found among the rulers of the Annu rulers who inhabited the Upper Nile and migrated widely between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. Ainu sometimes appears in ancient texts as Anu, Annu or Hannu.  The Ainu were originally a Nilotic people.

Terah was apparently an Ainu priest and a descendant of Nimrod. The title Tera-neter means priest of God. The top notch at the front of the head gear shown in this image is like that found on the head wear of Ainu elders in Hokkiado and identical to that worn by the Ainu elder of Estern Canada. (See those images here.)

The Ainu) were aboriginal peoples of the Upper Nile. They were the first rulers of the Lower Nile. One of their sanctuaries was called Annu, the original name for Heliopolis, Biblical On. The prestige of this ancient shrine is evident from the fact that the pyramids of Giza, Saqqara, and Abusir were aligned to the obelisk at On.

The Ainu were seafarers and had a written language which they introduced to the lands where they traveled and settled. Ainu scribe-priests had a syllabic writing system, like Hebrew. The first peoples of Japan were Ainu. The earlier name for Japan was "Wa."


Africa-Wa Connections

There are many connections between Japanese and African words. For example, the name Isahi appears to be a variant of Esau or Issa. Kishi appears to be a variant of Kish and Kush. The word Obito is the title for a regional chief in Japan, as in Obito-no-Oji (Emperor Shomu). This is related to the Edo/Edomite word for chief or ruler, which is Oba. The first ruler of Petra was the King Obodas. The original name of Tokyo was Edo.

According to the Nihon Shoki, a scribe called Wani Kishi brought Kata to Japan. The Kojiki indicates that Wani Kishi arrived sometime after 372, but before 375 AD. Kata was a priestly syllabic system, similar to Hebrew. Wa-kishi is an African term found among the Ba-Kaonde of Northern Rhodesia. It refers to the ancestors to which they offer prayers at a family altar called a chipanda. This resembles the Shinto family shrine.

Red Nubians

The Ainu reportedly had a red skin tone and their men wore beards. The Bible notes that the Edomites of Genesis 36 and David had a red skin tone.  Esau was born hairy and red. The Nubian ancestry of these people has largely been overlooked because of a common misconception that all Nubians are black. However, paintings on the tombs and monuments of ancient Egypt show both black and red Nubians.

Red and black Nubian captives

(Detail form Ippolito Rosellini's drawing from the 1828 Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt)

Related reading: Solving the Ainu Mystery;  False Assumption #5 of Young-Earth Creationists; The Migration of Abraham's People; The Afro-Asiatic Dominion, Terah's Nubian Ancestors; The Nile-Japan Ainu Connection