The Hebrew were a Caste

 

This smith in Niger performs a mock attack with bellows on the house of a man who attempted to do metal work, thus threatening the metal worker's job security. National Geographic, Aug. 1979 (p. 289)

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Castes are a strict social stratification that made it impossible to change one’s status in the ancient world. Castes were viewed as having been established by God in the beginning. This belief is expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, a first century A.D. Hindu text. Krishna declares that he has become incarnate, and that “The four castes were created by me.” In the Laws of Manu (ca. 250 B.C.) the castes are elaborated as the primeval divine creation. 

In the Rig Veda, dating to about 3000 years ago, four castes are mentioned. The most prestigious are the Brahmans (priestly and intellectual class); then the Kshatriyas (ruler and warrior class); then the Vaisyas (farmers and artisans) and the lowest caste are the Sudras (the “untouchables”). Many sub-castes exist under these, making it difficult to identify one’s equal or one superior.

Today castes are regarded as negative forms of social segregation and discrimination. However, in the ancient world the caste system protected each group's identity and provided job security. Only potters were allowed to make and sell pots. Only tanners were allowed to skin and sell hides. Only priests were allowed to perform sacred temple duties. The later temple guilds reflect the earlier caste organization.

Why the Hebrew are not named in the Table of Nations (Gen. 10)

It has been noted that the Hebrew are not listed among the peoples named in the Genesis 10 ethnography. The most obvious explanation is that the Hebrew were not an ethnic group, but rather a caste. The Table of Nations does not recognize any castes because it comes from a late source and a time when Jews were widely dispersed among the nations.

Some argue that the Hebrew are the descendants of Eber, but that is not the origin of the term Hebrew. The term comes from the ancient Akkadian word for priest - abru, and the Akkadian term for the caste was abrutu. These priests were dispersed in the service of the early kingdom builders such as Nimrod the Kushite.

The earliest Hebrew ruler-priests named in the Bible are listed in Genesis 4 and 5. These are the descendants of Cain and Seth, whose descendants intermarried (endogamy). This diagram shows that Lamech the Elder's daughter married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah and named their first-born son Lamech after her father according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative. 

The Hebrew ruler-priests married two wives. The cousin bride was usually the second wife, and she often named her first-born son after her father. In the diagram we find Lamech the Elder (Gen. 4), father of Naamah, and Lamech the Younger (Gen.5), son of Naamah. The cousin bride’s naming prerogative makes it possible to trace descent through the maternal line in the Bible.

The Traits of a Caste

Anthropological study of the biblical Hebrew indicates that the early Hebrew were a caste. Their social structure is characterized by these traits of castes: endogamy, membership by birth, hierarchical status, inherited occupation, appearance such as shaved bodies, distinctive clothing, circumcision, and restraints on eating with persons outside the caste.

The term “commensality” refers to the positive social interactions that are associated with people eating together. Communal meals encourage conversation, increase familiarity, and can lead to closer social, familial, and marital relations.

Commensality is discouraged in castes for various reasons. The ancient Egyptian rulers observed restrictions on eating with those regarded as ritually impure (Gen. 43). The practice of not eating with Gentiles continues today among strict Orthodox Jews. The prohibition is meant to discourage social mingling that can lead to marriage outside the caste.

Exceptions were made in diplomatic relations. Hebrew rulers feasted with non-Hebrew rulers to formalize treaties and covenants. The feasts usually took place at sacred high places and were accompanied by animal sacrifice. Scholars have learned much about ancient treaties through the study of the Mari Tablets (Mesopotamia), the Pact of Esarhaddon (Assyrian), the Amarna Texts (Egyptian), and the Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty.

Some of these pacts are not between equals. Many represent covenants between high kings and vassals. That is the case with the covenant made by God in Genesis 15. It is the Lord God himself who passes between the animal halves while Abraham beholds this miraculous vision. The LORD reminds Abraham of all his faithfulness to him: "I am the Lord who brought you here from Ur.” (Gen. 15:7) “I am your Shield; your reward shall be very great." (Gen. 15:1)

 

The Antiquity of the Hebrew caste

The Hebrew are probably the oldest known caste. They served at shrines, temples, and mortuary sites at least 1000 years before the caste system of India emerged. The Nilotic Hebrew had a moiety system. The Horite and Sethite Hebrew maintained separate shrines and temples. They were one caste organized into two ritual groups.

During the pre-dynastic period and the Old Kingdom (ca. 2575-2130 BC) the Hebrew priests were organized in groups called "phyles." Each phyle served a two-week duration before returning home. The later organization of priests in Israel appears to have developed from the phyle system.

There were twenty-four divisions or “courses” of priests in Israel. These are listed in 1 Chronicles 24:7-18. Each course served in rotation twice a year for a duration of one week. The priests lived in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Israel. When it came time for the division to go up to Jerusalem, the priests left their homes and returned after their term of service. When not functioning as a priest, these individuals went about their normal routines, tending to their various occupations: stone masons, miners, tomb builders, carpenters, potters, tent makers, shepherds, goatherds, farmers, merchants, and smiths.

Two priestly divisions are of special interest: the eight division of Abijah, and the eighteenth division of Happizzez (1 Chron. 24:15). According to Luke 1:39, Abijah lived near Jerusalem in the "hill country” in a city of Judah. Zacharias, the father of John the Forerunner, belonged to the division of Abijah (Luke 1:5-7). Rabbinic literature claims that at age thirty, “John the Immerser” was commissioned as a priest to serve in the same division as his father.

The division of Happizzez was based in Nazareth. This was the division to which Joseph belonged. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was named for his ancestor Joseph, the son of Mattathias (Luke 3:24-25). Mary, the mother of Jesus, was Joseph’s cousin bride. She was of a priestly division also. Her father Joachim was a priest of Nazareth. He married Anna, the daughter of Matthan, a priest of Bethlehem. Matthan had three daughters: Mary, Zoia, and Anna. Mary and Zoia resided in Bethlehem. Zoia was the mother of Elizabeth, and the grandmother of John the Forerunner. Anna miraculously conceived in her old age and gave birth to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Matthan is related to the names Mattatha, Matthat, Mattathias, Mattaniah, Mattai, and Matthew. The name, with its variant spellings, appears five times in Luke’s list of Jesus’ ancestors (Luke 3:23-38). The name derives from the word for “gift.” Mattaniah means “gift of God” and is a name found among priests in I Chronicles 25:3-4. The name also may refer to the giving of wisdom which is “Maat” in ancient Egyptian. A priest named Maath is listed in Luke 3:26.

All these ancestors of Jesus were high-ranking individuals in their communities and heirs to the customs of their ruler-priest forebearers. The earliest of those ancestors are named in the king lists of Genesis 4 and 5. Their historicity has been demonstrated through kinship analysis.

Related reading: Abraham the Hebrew; Hebrew, Israelite, or Jew?; Hebrew Rulers With Two Wives; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Hebrew at Ancient Sun Cities

Evidence of Castes in the Book of Ruth

Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel. (Ruth 4:7)

Alice C. Linsley

In Ruth we find Boaz acting as the levir. In levirate marriage a woman is taken as a wife by her deceased husband's brother in order to produce an heir for her dead husband. Levirate marriage is practiced by societies with a strong clan and caste structures in which exogamous marriage is forbidden.

The Tahash caste is evident in the book of Ruth. They were the tanners who made the leather goods, including leather sandals. A leather sandal was used to finalized the agreement between Boaz and the kinsman redeemer. "Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel." (Ruth 4:7) One of Abraham's nephews was Tahash (Gen. 22:24).

The leather shoe was made of the hide of an animal. It represents a life taken or lost and is appropriate for a solemn oath. The exchange of the leather sandal is not specifically about levirate marriage, but rather about exchanging property after a death. Aben Ezra says that the giving of the leather shoe was "to confirm all things" whether by sale or barter.

The exchange of a leather shoe represents a solemn oath like that signaled by the exchange of a linen cloth, called "sudar." According to the Medieval rabbi Rashi, a linen cloth was used to make purchases and the cloth was called "sudar." Rashi is speaking of a different custom, but it too has ancient precedent given that "sudar" pertains to "Sudra" which refers to the Dravidians. Linen originated in the Nile Valley and was carried from there to India. Among Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors wounds were treated with raw meat and bandaged with linen. Also dead domesticated animals were wrapped in white linen and buried near the towns.

The Dravidian leather workers are called "Madigas" and they are recognized as one of the oldest castes. The Madiga have nucleotide diversity levels as high as those of HapMap African populations. Among Abraham's people these were the "Ta-hash." One of Abraham's nephews was Tahash (Gen. 22:24).

This evidence for the African origin of castes such as the Horites and the Madigas has interesting implications for the Davidic monarchy. David was a direct descendant of Boaz who redeemed Ruth and her deceased husband's property in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was a Horite settlement. 1 Chronicles 2:55 which says that Caleb's sons were Kenites. They were of Kenaz, a son of Eliphaz by Timna, daughter of Seir the Horite. Caleb's son Salma is designated the "founder" of Bethlehem in I Chronicles 2:51.

Abraham's people were a caste of ruler-priests who originated in the Nile Valley. The Horite Hebrew were devotees of Horus, the son of God, who was called "lord of the sky." In ancient Egyptian HR means "the one on high." The Horus name has been found on Egyptian hieroglyphs at the beginning of dynastic civilization (c. 3000 BC). The totem of Horus was the falcon and some fire altars were built in the shape of the falcon. Images of Horus show him with the body of a man and the head of a falcon. The falcon was a symbol of divine kingship among the ancient Nilotes.

The Horite ruler-priests were regarded as deified "sons" of God. They are often called "gods" (elohiym) as in Exodus 22:28: "Thou shalt not revile the gods (elohiym), nor curse the ruler of thy people."

The Hebrew word "Horim" is used among Jews today to designate parents and ancestors. In Englich Bibles the word is "Horite" and variants forms include the names Hur, Horonaim, Horoni, Horowitz, and Hori. Hori was the son of Lotan son of Seir whose descendants were the "lords of the Horites in the land of Seir" according to Genesis 36:20-29 and 1 Chronicles 1:38-42.


Related reading: The Origin of Castes; The Ethnicity of David and Abraham; Why Does Genesis Speak of Gods?; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbolism; Why Hebrew Rulers Denied Marriage to Royal Women

The Peoples of Canaan

Alice C. Linsley

The term "Canaanite" can refer to many different peoples, some of whom were ethnically Nilotic. Most of the high places of the Judean hills, for example, were under Egyptian control from about 2000 to 1178 BC. Through biblical archaeology and biblical anthropology, we have come to know a great deal about the peoples who lived in the land of Canaan. Their shrines were built at high elevations near water systems and they were later fortified. They were masters of stone work and left behind standing stones of monumental proportions.

Photo: Dennis Cole

These standing stone at Tell Gezer date to the period of the standing stones erected on Salisbury Plain in England around 2500 BC.

The high places and fortified mounds are called "ophel" (Hebrew עֹ֫פֶל). The root of the word ophel is OP and pertains to a complex of interrelated ideas: seeing (optic); armed guards (opiltes); walled towns (oppida), and sun shrines (O'piru) served by a caste of priests known in the ancient world as Ha'piru, Ha'biru (Hebrew) and 'Apiru.

The oldest elevated settlements were near water sources. The oldest ophel in Jerusalem is near the Gihon Spring. Similar sites include Deir Tasi in Egypt; Jarmo in Iraq, and Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Of particular interest is the Paleolithic population that lived near the ravine or wadi known as Wadi-en-Natuf near Jerusalem. The Natufian population employed micro-flints, weapons, stone tools, and primitive agriculture. Artistic expressions included rock drawings and wall paintings, and they were sea travelers between 12,000 and 10,000 B.C. There are about 40 Paleolithic sites in the hills surrounding Jerusalem, many of them near Bethlehem. Surrounding Jerusalem, there are at least 28 Neolithic sites that fit the same description: elevated shelters near a water source.

Evidence of human habitation in the area of Bethlehem between 100,000-10,000 BC is well-attested along the north side of Wadi Khareitun where there are three caves: Iraq al-Ahmar, Umm Qal’a, and Umm Qatafa. These caves were homes in a wooded landscape overlooking a river. At Umm Qatafa archaeologists have found the earliest evidence of the domestic use of fire in Palestine.

The Canaanites in retrospect

Bible passages that speak about “the Canaanites” reflect authors who lived well after the time of the Patriarchs. The Canaanites are viewed by these later write, especially the Deuteronomist Historian, as decadent, idolatrous and deserving of being displaced from the land, even exterminated.

In Genesis 10 the peoples who descend from Noah through his grandsons Sidon and Het (Heth) are said to be the original inhabitants. This is supported by evidence from many disciples, including linguistics, archaeology, anthropology and genetics.

In II Chronicles 8:7 and I Kings 9:20 the term “Canaanite” is used to distinguish the Israelites from the other clans living in the land. However, it is clear from Genesis 10 that the Israelites were related to these Canaanite clans. The so-called Canaanites were blood-related Afro-Arabian peoples whose ancestry can be traced back to the Nile Valley and ancient Kush.

It is clear from analysis of the Genesis genealogical data that the ruling lines descending from Noah intermarried. This was the custom among the ancient Kushite rulers.  This means that it is impossible to say that the descendants of Ham and the descendants of Shem are different and unrelated peoples. Genesis 10 acknowledges this fact by listing the people as descendants of the same Patriarch, Noah and by designating the lines of descent as “clans.”  We are not talking about different ethnic groups.

Further, the Genesis 10 record tells a story of dispersal across the ancient Afro-Asiatic world. This too is fully supported by findings in linguistics, archaeology, anthropology and genetics. The Kushite migration has been well established. Nimrod (Sargon the Great) ruled over a great empire in Mesopotamia yet Genesis 10:8 states that he was one of Kush’s sons.

The list of “Canaanite” peoples in Genesis 10 attempts to reconstruct the confederation of peoples living in Palestine before the Israelites arrived after wandering in the wilderness. The difference between the lists is telling. Genesis 10 is much longer and more descriptive. Genesis 10: 15-19, traces the Canaanite peoples to an otherwise unknown descendant of Noah named "Canaan."

Canaan fathered the Sidon his first-born, then Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later Canaanite clans spread out.  The Canaanite frontier stretched from Sidon all the way to Gerar near Gaza and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim near Lehsa.

In II Chronicles and I Kings 9:20 only the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites are identified as still living in the land, and they are identified as non-Israelite. So what happened to all the other clans? Many intermarried with the Israelites, though the priestly lines of Israel intermarried exclusively with other priestly lines (not all of which were Israelite).

Genesis tells us that these are clans, not ethnic groups. That’s important because all the clans listed in Genesis 10 are blood related. They are classified linguistically as Afro-Asiatics and their ethnicity is Kushite. They spread across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion, taking their language and religious practices with them.

Confusion has arisen because in Genesis 10 the Hebrew word goy has been translated “nation” and goyim as “nations.” The Greek Septuagint renders goy as “ethnos” and goyim as “ethne” in the plural. Both translations are misleading. Genesis 10 says that all these peoples are descendants of the same Patriarch, Noah, and are therefore related. They do not represent different nations in the modern sense. Nor do they represent different ethnic groups. They are related clans which recognized their blood ties and which performed work which was expected of their caste. Some of the occupations involved metal work and scribal expertise.

Once we set aside the misconception that Genesis 10 is a “Table of Nations” we are able to explore the relationship of the clans and to reconstruct the confederations based on what is known about the Proto-Saharan languages spoken by Abraham's ancestors.

Reconstruction of the Kushite Confederations

Confederations of peoples listed in Genesis 10 are based on kinship and occupation, which indicates a caste structure. Castes are characterized by endogamy. Priestly lines intermarried exclusively. Metalworkers intermarried exclusively. Scribes intermarried exclusively. Merchants of purple dye (murex) intermarried exclusively. This was the caste structure of the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion.

It is possible to reconstruct the Genesis 10 confederations using what is known about the Proto-Saharan languages spoken by Abraham's ancestors. These languages were characterized by two-consonant roots (a “biconsonantal” system).  So we begin by eliminating the vowels and searching for the most basic consonantal unit in each of the names. To illustrate the method we will use the names Hittite and Hivite. The most basic root for these names is HT and is the same as the name Het (Heth). Genesis 10 tells us that these two clans are of Heth and a confederation. The name HT appears in the Hebrew and Arabic world for copper - nahas-het. Nahash means serpent. As an adjective it means shining bright, like burnished copper. So the evidence suggests that the clans of HT were Bronze Age coppersmiths. The serpent image was sacred for them, just as it was for Moses and the people of Israel in the wilderness. It was as they looked upon the bronze coiled serpent (a solar image) that the people were saved.

Genesis 23:3-20 tells us that the descendants of Heth were living in the land of Canaan where Abraham lived.  He bought a burial site from them. They considered Abraham “a prince of God” among them (Gen. 23:6)

The Hittites spread into Anatolia and introduced iron work there. They didn’t call themselves “Hittites” (an anachronism) but Nes or Nus (Nuzi), and their language was called Nesli. They were Afro-Asiatic metal workers and the root of their original name is NS. As the letter N remains unchanged in the older Proto-Saharan languages we can be fairly certain that this was the name of the Anatolian Hittites. They are the likely source of over 5000 Horite texts found in Nuzi in Mesopotamia. These are written using the Akkadian script.

The Clans of Het and the Clans of Ar were related 

The Arkites and the Arvadites were another two-clan confederation. The word “Arvadites” refers to residents of the Mediterranean island-city of Arvad (Arpah or Arphad in other ancient sources). Arvad is an extremely ancient city. Before the Phoenicians, it was populated seasonally by peoples passing from north Africa to Asia. Some of these were Netufians.

The Arvadites had close ties the Egyptians, and paid tribute to the Kushite Pharaohs for protection from the Assyrians. The Kushite Pharaoh Tahar-qo called the land of Canaan and Syria “Khor” which is a compound of K for Kush and Hor for Horus. (Kash, Kwash, Akwanski and Kush are cognates referring to the First People, who were considered deified ancestors.)  In 2010, the 4400 year old tomb of a Kushite priest was found at Giza. The tomb belongs to a priest named Rudj-Ka (or Rwd-Ka) and dates to the 5th Dynasty, between 2465 and 2323 B.C.

In a message sent to the King of Tyre Tahar-qo wrote, “Oh Amun, what I did in the land of Nubia, let [ … … ], let me do it with your tribute (inw) of Khor (Syria-Palestine) which has been turned aside from you.” (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/gdc/ssea/vol31/kahn%20article.pdf, p. 115)

The older root of the names Arkite and Arvadite is AR and its origin is likely Proto-Saharan. Among the Igbo of Nigeria, the scribe clans were called Ar or Aro. The word Ar-ab means “father is scribe.” The earliest known writing originated in Canaan among the coastline peoples of the Red Sea and Phoenicia. The Arabic word for throne is aarsh/ash and likely related to the scribal function attached to rulers.

The Egyptian Asa-ar means the Serpent of Asa (Deity). The peoples living in Arvad, Tyre and Sidon employed serpent imagery in their temples.

There are Israelites who were associated by their names with the Ar patrimony. They are Aroch (1 Chr 7:39, Ezr 2:5, Neh 6:18, Neh 7:10) and Ariel (Ezr 8:16, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:1, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:2, Isa 29:7). Ariel means “Scribe/Messenger of God.” So it appears that the Ar clans were scribes or messengers. This is further suggested by the name Ar-vad. Vad means “to speak” in Sanskrit. The association of the name Ar with the scribal caste is further demonstrated by the discovery of Aramaic scrolls from Arsames, the satrap, to his Egyptian administrator Psamshek and to an Egyptian ruler named Nekht-hor. (A.T.Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948, pp.116-117) Some variations of the name Ar include Ar-Shem, Arsames, Artix, and Araxes, and all of these are figures named in historical texts.

Related reading: The Religion of Archaic Rulers; Some Marks of Prehistoric Religion; The Gezer Calendar Reflects Nilotic Farming Practices; Who Were the Canaanites?; The Genesis King Lists; The Origins of Written Communications; The World's Oldest Books