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)

Sub-Saharan DNA of Modern Jews

Alice C. Linsley

The myth of Jewish racial purity took another hit with the publication of research on the DNA of modern Jews.  The ruler-priests and clans of Abraham and his Horite people intermarried exclusively.  This pattern continued unbroken until the time of Jesus Christ. Jesus' Horite ancestry can be traced using the genealogical data in the Bible. 

With the appearing of the Son of God promised in Genesis 3:15, the unique Horite marriage and ascendency pattern fulfilled its purpose and ceased.  The "Seed" of the "Woman" who would crush the serpent's head, make void the curse and restore Paradise had been born of the people to whom the promise was first made in the well-watered region of Eden. This is called "the Edenic Promise" and it marks the origin of messianic expectation long before a people that can be identified as Jews.

Dr. Harry Ostrer, director of the human genetics program at the New York University School of Medicine, led one of the studies that compared the genetic makeup of Jewish populations from around the world with African populations. Ostrer found that modern Jewish populations have African ancestry. David Reich, associate professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues decided to explore further and found that modern Jews can attribute about 3 to 5 percent of their ancestry to sub-Saharan Africans.

Reich's team estimates that the exchange of genes occurred approximately 72 generations ago (or about 2,000 years). This suggests a flaw in the data since Jews who descend from Abraham would have African roots that are many generations deeper, going back at least 4000 years.

Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at Yeshiva University, believes the intermixing may have occurred during the Hellenistic period (c. 320–30 B.C.E.), when Jewish communities were resident in many North African coastal cities, or during the First Temple period (c. 950–600 B.C.E.), when the Israelite kings, including Solomon, had trade relationships with Africa. (Read more about this here.)

The geneological data of Genesis suggest that Schiffman has his facts wrong.  Abraham's Horite caste had its origin in Africa. This is verified by the discovery of the oldest (4000 B.C.) Horite shrine at Nekhen in Sudan. At Nekhen votive instruments were ten times larger than the mace heads and bowls found elsewhere, suggesting that this was a very prestigious shrine. Horite priests placed invocations to Horus at the summit of the fortress as the sun rose. This is the likely origin of the sun blessings in Hinduism (the Agnihotra morning ritual) and in Judaism (the Birka Hachama, or “Sun Blessing” ritual performed every 28 years).

The Horites were a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Hor (Horus in Greek) who was called "son" of God. Jesus makes a reference to the Horus myth when speaking about his death and resurrection. He told his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem to die and when they protested he explained, "Unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it cannot give life." (John 12:24)

The death of Horus was observed in a five-day festival. The first three days were marked by solemnity, as Plutarch noted in Isis and Osiris, 69. This was followed by two days of feasting and rejoicing. Horus' death was commemorated by the sowing of wheat grains. On the third day, the 19th of Athyr, there was a celebration of Horus’ rising to life.

It is no coincidence that Jesus alludes to the ancient Horite myth when describing his passion and resurrection in John 12:24. He is a direct descendant of the Horite ruler-priests lines which exclusively intermarried and he was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the ruler-priest line of Matthew (Mattai or Mattan). This was the line of Joseph of Hari-mathea, a voting member of the Sanhedrin. He and Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin, buried Jesus’ body.

On his mother's side Jesus was also in the line of ruler-priests who can be traced back to the Nile region. She was Miriam Daughter of Joachim Son of Pntjr (Panther) Priests of Nathan of Beth Lehem. From the earliest predynastic times, ntjr designated the king among the Kushites. The name Panther or p-ntjr likely meant "God is King."

It is certain that Mary was of the ruler-priest caste because even those who hated her admit this. Sanhedrin 106a says: “She who was the descendant of princes and governors played the harlot with carpenters.” It is said that she was so despised that some Jews tried to prevent the Apostles from burying her body.

I Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur (Hor) as the "father of Bethlehem." The author of Chronicles knew that Bethlehem was originally a Horite settlement in the heart of Horite territory. The prophets foretold Bethlehem as the birth place of the Son of God.

Joseph's family lived in Nazareth which was the home of the eighteenth division of priests, that of Happizzez (1 Chronicles 24:15). The words happi and ntjr originate in the Nile Valley, as do the names of many of the ruler-priests listed in the genealogies in Luke and Matthew. Melchi, a name that appears twice in Mary's ancestry, means "my image" in Amharic.

Another name for Amaziah who ruled over Judah from 769 to 781 B.C. is Ma'aziah, an Egyptian name. His mother was Jodah who is listed in Luke 3:27. As a member of this priestly family Caiaphas was probably born in the hills south of Bethlehem. This is not Yosef Bar Caiaphas, the Roman appointed high priest who interrogated Jesus. He was likely the paternal grandfather of Miriam, whose ossuary was recently recovered, probably a brother of Yosef. Caiaphas is also spelled Ka-yafa. Ka is the Kushitic word for king and yafa means beautiful.

The evidence contradicts Lawrence Schiffman's suggestion that the African lineage was introduced during the Hellenistic period. The rulers in ancient Israel were Horites, devotes of Horus. They were ethnically Kushites, and as with the Horite priest in Egypt, they worshiped the Divine Triad: Re, whose son was Horus and Hathor-Meri, who brought forth the seed of Re.

Linguistic research has demonstrated that about 30% of the Proto-Semitic roots are cognates to Sub-Saharan (Proto-Bantu) roots. Many of these roots relate to the religious life and worldview of the ancient Kushites and Egyptians and reflect Horite beliefs In his study of the relationship of ancient Egyptian and Bantu languages, Ferg Somo has written:

Proto-Bantu played an active part at the time of the expansion of Proto-Afro-Asiatic speakers in the Rift Valley of East Africa. These Proto-Bantu speakers going through the savannah formed part of the migration to Egypt. The Bantu languages together with other indigenous languages fused together and became embedded to form the Proto-Egyptian language. It is for this reason that the Ancient Egyptian language contains a substantial amount of Proto-Bantu or Bantu roots.

The Bantu languages which Somo studied are spoken in Niger-Benue-Chad water districts and according to Genesis this is where Cain and his brother Seth held territories, having married the daughters of the great ruler Enoch (Nok).

The region near Lake Chad called "Bor-No" (Land of Noah) is the only place on earth that claims to be Noah's homeland. Noah would have lived there between about 2415-2490 B.C. when central Africa and the Sahara experienced a wet period.

Related reading:  Kushite Diversity and Unity; Conversation About Igbo Origins; Nilotic-Kushitic Archetypes; King Tut and the Dispersion of R1b; DNA Studies Confirm Mixed Ancestry of Modern Jews; The Nubian Context of YHWH; The Kushite Marriage Pattern Drove Kushite Expansion Out of Africa

Christ as Alpha and Omega

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8

"He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life." Rev. 21:6

"And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." Rev. 22:12

The alpha and the omega, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, do not correspond to the Phoenician exactly and do not resemble Egyptian hieroglyphics. However, the alpha and the omega are used to describe Jesus Christ because the Apostles recognized in Him the fulfillment of an ancient conception that is traced back to Egypt through the Canannite Phoenician language, from which Hebrew emerged.  The prophet Isaiah tells us that Hebrew is a “language of Canaan” (Isaiah 19:18), which has been confirmed the study of ancient inscriptions.


The Greeks recognized that hieroglyphs were symbolic and depicted the esoteric theology of the ancient Egyptian priests. In fact, the word hiero is derived from the word hiereus, meaning priest. The priests were wise in astronomy, geometry, animal behavior, medicine and metaphysics. That Helioplois was a center of astronomical knowledge is reflected in the high priest's title, “Chief of Observers” or “Greatest of Seers."

When Herodotus visited the priests at Heliopolis (449-440 B.C.) he praised them for their wisdom. When Strabo visited in 25 B.C., he wrote "At Heliopolis we saw large buildings in which the priests lived. For it was said that anciently this was the principal residence of the priests, who studied philosophy and astronomy." This suggests that the esoteric knowledge of the ancient Heliopolitan priests was by Herodotus' time lost or obscured by the prevalent Hellenistic worldview.

Plotinus, a 4th-century A.D. Egyptian-born philosopher, interpreted hieroglyphic writing from the viewpoint of his priestly training under Ammonius Saccas, a priest of Heliopolis.[1] It is not clear how well Ammonius understood the meaning of the hieroglyphic writings, but his association with Heliopolis and his name, which means Teacher, suggest that he was recognized as a learned man.

Heliopolis is the Greek name for the ancient Nile shrine which was dedicated to Horus. The Egyptian name was lunu, which means "place of pillars" because the temples were constructed with many wooden pillars. Arabs call the place Ain Shams, which means "the well of the Sun." The well was the Nile and when the Sun rested over the waters at noon, it was midway between the mountains on the east of the Nile and the mountains on the west.

According to Egyptologist Maspero, King Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, investigated the earlier sources of the Pyramid Texts. Maspero notes that “the likeness between what was copied in the various Pyramid Texts suggests that some of their information were directly derived from old written sources." Those sources are represented by the pictographs found at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen).

There is evidence that Horus was regarded as the beginning (alpha) and the end (omega). The beginning and the end of each day was symbolized by a double lion (Aker). In the New Kingdom, the lion was sometimes pictured as a falcon and called Hor-em-akhet ("Horus in the Horizon") because Horus' emblem is the Sun. At the earlier Horus shrine in Hierakonpolis Horus was also known as "Nekheny", meaning falcon.

Hor-em-akhet (Horus) was represented as a child, a falcon, or as the leonine sphinx. The great east-facing Sphinx of Giza was viewed as "Horus in the Horizon" and it lay between the twin peaks of the giant akhet (horizon/mountain) formed by the pyramid of Khufu and the horizon/mountain of the pyramid of Khafre). In the relief scene carved on the "Sphinx Stele" at Giza, Tuthmosis IV is shown making offerings to twin sphinxes which represent the aspects of Horus in the Horizons. Horus' name appears above the animals' heads. These sphinxes are placed back to back with the winged sun disk above and between them, depicting Horus at the sacred center.Horus who is the beginning (east) and the end (west) is also present at the center (the eternal).

The Jews who affirmed Jesus as the Son of God thought in the language and symbols of the Phoenician Canannites. John McClintock observes, "The Hebrews adopted Phoenician as their own language, or, in otherwords, that which is called [ancient] Hebrew language was in fact "the language of Canaan." It is not merely poetic but literal and in the philological truth. One of the proofs for this is taken from the Bible itself: Isaiah 19:18 says "In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. One of them will be called the City of Destruction -- City of the Sun (that is, Heliopolis). --John McClintock, Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature