The Cardinal Directions in the Bible

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

When reading the Bible, pay attention to the cardinal directions because they speak of territorial claims, gender, and sacred spaces.

East and West

The sun-moon binary set and the east-west solar arc are used in the Bible to speak of the authority and sovereignty of Hebrew rulers.

The two wives in the Song of Solomon represent the two horizons or dawn and dusk. One of Solomon’s wives is described as having sun-darkened skin ("dark as the tents of Kedar") and the other is described as having skin as pale as the moon (6:10). For the rulers of the Ancient Near East, the two wives represent a claim to a vast territory that extends from horizon to horizon.

Likewise, the claim of a territory that stretched between the separate settlements of his two wives is found in the story of Lamech the Elder (Gen. 4). Lamech’s wives were named Adah and Tzillah. The Hebrew scholar Theodor Gaster noted that the names Adah and T-Zillah correlate to the Akkadian words for dawn and dusk (The Schocken Bible, Vol. 1, p. 28). This suggests that Lamech claimed to rule over a vast territory. 

Territorial Boundaries

Amos 8:4-12 speaks of the cardinal directions to define the Kingdom of Israel which is under judgement. Amos declares: "The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it."

People seeking the LORD cannot find HIM because their sin cuts them off from the LORD's presence. By combining "sea to sea" and "north to east," the phrase specifies a geographical triangle that traces the borders of the Northern Kingdom.

Abraham's territory extends on a north-south axis between the settlements of his two wives Sarah and Keturah. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah reside in Beersheba. Both locations are shown on this map of Ancient Edom or Idumea. Edom and Idumea refer to a land of red people.

Sacred Spaces

In 1 Kings 7:23-26 and 2 Chronicles 4:1-4 we read that the altar in Solomon’s temple was to rest on 12 oxen: 3 facing north, 3 facing west, 3 facing south, and 3 facing east. Note that north heads the list, having the position of priority. Then comes west, then south, and finally east. Notice also the repetition of the number three.

3↑ 3←3↓ 3→ 

The number 3 appears to be associated with peace on earth or the fulfillment of His "kingdom come." This is evident in the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:12-14. The city has twelve gates. 3 face east, 3 face north, 3 face south, and 3 face west. We may illustrate this as follows:

3→ 3↑ 3↓ 3← 

Notice that the third position, if reading from left to right, faces south. If reading from right to left, south is indicated by the second position.

Compare this to the “bronze sea” in Solomon’s temple that rested on twelve oxen (1 Kgs. 7:23-26).

3→ 3↑ 3↓ 3← 

Notice that the cardinal points of the bronze sea and the New Jerusalem coincide. The bronze sea was a huge basin used by the priests for ritual purification and ablution. For the biblical Hebrew purity was absolutely essential for communion with God. Originally, purity laws were not the basis of Hebrew morality. They were secondary to communion with God Father and God Son.

For the biblical Hebrew the number three was associated with the third day rising of HR, the Son of God. He serves his people in his life and in his death, and he goes before them, clearing the path to the Father. As the Son of God, HR rises with the Immortal Stars… on the third day. “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" (The Ancient Pyramid Texts, Utterance 667).

In Genesis, Hebrew clan chiefs are usually listed in groups of 3 sons. Their confederations are composed of 3 clans for mutual defense. Typically, the third son is "hidden", obscure, or dies. Cain, Seth, and Abel were brothers, but Abel was killed. Terah's sons were Haran, Nahor, and Abraham. Haran died in Ur. Abraham's 3 most prominent sons were Joktan (Yaqtan), Ishmael (Yishmael), and Isaac (Yitzak). Of the 3, Joktan (Gen. 25) is the most obscure.

While in Mamre, Abraham looked up and saw 3 “men” coming to him and ordered 3 measures of flour to make cakes and brought to his visitors 3 gifts: curds, milk, and a fatted calf. Abraham interceded for Sodom 3 times (Gen. 18). In the context of this proliferation of 3s the Lord announces that Sarah will bring forth a promised son.

Sacred Centers

After Abraham arrived in Canaan, he consulted the Moreh at Mamre who sat under a great oak. The Oak of the Moreh was between Ai and Bethel, on an east-west axis. Deborah sat under a date nut palm (tamar). The Palm of Deborah was between Bethel and Ramah, on a north-south axis. These prophets, like John the Baptist, stayed away from the population centers. People had to make an effort to consult with them. Further, their trees appear marked the sacred centers between two shrine cities. 

Sacred centers can be both spatial and temporal. The sacred center is measured by the Sun's movement to high noon, and by the height of the mountain between Heaven and Earth. The spatial and temporal sacred centers are where encounters take place between God and Man. They are centers of both judgment and redemption.

The Sun rises in the east and appears to journey across the sky to the west. The only time when there are no shadows is high noon, so in terms of the solar day, this is the temporal sacred center. James refers to this, saying: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17).

The spatial sacred center is between Heaven and Earth, which would be on the mountain top. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and other biblical figures encountered God on the tops of mountains. Jesus, who "came down from Heaven", was revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Related reading: Territorial Ambitions of the Early Hebrew; The Sacred Center in Biblical Theology; The Cardinal Directions Tell a Story

Sheep Cotes as Sacred Spaces

Jesus said, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10:9-15

Alice C. Linsley

Stone sheep cote in Zanuta, West Bank
Photo: Emil Salman

In the ancient world, dry stack sheep cotes served as housing for the shepherd. This is reflected in the King James Version of Judges 5:16: "Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart." 2 Samuel 7:8 also describes the sheep cote as a dwelling place (naveh). Naveh also refers to a temple or a local shrine.

Sheep cotes similar to the one shown above are found in many parts of Europe and are called by different names: tholos, girna, caciara, and keyl. The last word, found in Wales, is provocatively similar to the Altaic kyr ayil, meaning a "sheep village," or "the get-away to which the ram (krios) leads the sheep."

The dry stack sheep cotes pictured below are common in Ireland, Wales, Serbia, and Croatia, all lands inhabited by Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b populations.

This dry stack tholos in Abruzzo, Italy serves as a home and a sheep cote.
Note that where the man is standing is where the shepherd often sleeps. 
He becomes the door that guards the way to the sheep.

Shepherds used sheep cotes as shelters for many centuries. In archaic times, these structures served as seasonal housing for the shepherd and his family as they moved their livestock between higher summer elevations and lower winter pastures (transhumant pastoralism). More recently, sheep herders maintain permanent homes in valleys and only a few men move with their flocks to the seasonal sheep cotes.

A girna in Mellieha, Malta

The Hebrew ruler-priests maintained sheep in Judah and Edom. They lived in the hill country and their flocks grazed in the valleys. David would have been familiar with this way of life. In 2 Samuel 7:8, we read about David's divine appointment: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel." 

David's life was one of contrasts. He knew the physical hardships of the shepherd and the luxurious life of the royal palace. However, the Bible does not present this contrast. Instead, we are told that David was taken from the sheep cote to the temple, and this is very instructive. Sheep cotes, like threshing floors, served as sacred places. 

This sheep cote in Anatolia served as a place of worship.

The traditional sheep cote had the shape of a bnbn. The term is a reduplication of the root bn, meaning to "swell forth" because the sacred pillar was regarded as a symbol of the Creator's power to give life. Benben have been found from Nigeria to India. Below is a photo of a benben in Lejja, Nigeria. It has the characteristic narrow opening of sheep cotes.

The shearing of sheep was surrounded by religious ceremony. Sheep shearing and shrines are associated in Genesis 38.

After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. It was told to Tamar, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

Sheep shearing sometimes involved animal sacrifice and feasting on a large scale, as is evident in 2 Samuel 13:23-25.

Now it came about after two full years that Absalom had shearers in Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king's sons. Absalom came to the king and said, "Behold now, your servant has shearers; please let the king and his servants go with your servant." But the king said to Absalom, "No, my son, we should not all go, for we will be burdensome to you." Although he urged him, he would not go, but blessed him.

Related reading: Shepherd Priests; Stone Work of the Ancient World; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbols

Threshing Floors and Solar Symbols

Alice C. Linsley

This ancient sun circle was used as a threshing floor.

In the ancient world, daily activities like cooking, sowing, harvesting, and threshing grain had religious significance. The threshing floor was at a high elevation where the wind could carry away the chaff. 

Threshing floors were associated with the sun and with solar cycles. They were used to determine times and seasons. A center post served to cast a shadow, on the same principle as a sundial. Some threshing floors, such as the one shown above, resemble solar images.

The threshing floor ("guran") was a sacred place at a high elevation. High places such as these were places of worship in the ancient world. The Jebusite ruler Araunah sold David a threshing floor upon which David constructed an altar.

In the Bible, divine encounters (theophanies) often occur at high places such as mountain tops or in the hill country. The Horite Hebrew of Edom were known to prefer the "hill country" (Gen. 14:6; Gen. 36). They grew their grain in the valleys below, but their threshing floors and granaries were at higher elevations.

There is some evidence that threshing floors were the sites of the hieros gamos or sacred marriage, during harvest times. Judah's intercourse with a shrine qadesh took place at Timna, which had a temple dedicated to Hathor. Timna was directly north of Abdullum in Jebusite territory. Judah went to Timna to visit with his friend from Abdullum and to help with the harvest. 

Among the Canaanite populations the hieros gamos may have represented a hope or expectation concerning the Divine Son. However, among the Hebrew devotees of God Father, God Son, and Hathor, the conception of the Divine Son did not involve sexual intercourse. Instead, a virgin of their ruler-priest caste was expected to conceive by solar overshadowing (Luke 1).

Hathor is shown on ancient monuments wearing the solar cradle: long cow horns in which the Sun rests as a sign of divine appointment. She was the patroness of the Horite Hebrew metal workers of Edom.

Hebrews 4:2 states that the message concerning the risen Lord was preached to the Apostles' ancestors. From this we may assume that Abraham and Moses shared the faith of their ancestors to whom God first revealed the "Proto-Gospel" concerning the Seed of God who would be born of the Horite ruler-priest lines. He was expected to pass through death to life and lead his people from the grave to eternal life. He is often called "the Bread of Life."

There is a connection between the sowing and harvesting of grain and the making of bread in solar circles. The most common solar symbol was the 6-prong symbol which is found to this day on Irish Maslin bread (shown here). 

Some Maslin loaves are decorated with an oak leaf on top. Maslin bread is the oldest known bread eaten by the Celts. It was the bread of common folks, containing a blend of wheat and rye flours. The rosette is a solar symbol, and it is found wherever the early Hebrew dispersed. 

On this traditional Serbia cake (shown right) the solar rosette is surrounded by oak leaves. Hesus (fulfilling the primitive Horus archetype) was crucified on an oak tree. The hope of his third-day resurrection was enacted by the sowing of grain in the fields. In antiquity, this annual ritual was overseen by Horite Hebrew priests who led the people in procession to the fields, much as Anglican priests officiate at Rogation Day ceremonies in late May.

Anglican priest blessing the fields in Hever, Kent

Among the Horite Hebrew, the seed that was sown spoke of the long-expected Righteous Ruler who would trample the serpent under his feet (Gen. 3:15). Jesus referred to himself as the "Seed" when he foretold his death in Jerusalem. He explained to his disciples, "Unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it cannot give life." (John 12:24)

The Apostle Paul makes a reference to the Seed also. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ… And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:16, 29)

The rosette on the Maslin bread and the Serbian cake is identical to the solar symbol found on the tombs and ossuaries of Hebrew. The symbol is associated with the hope of life after death or bodily resurrection.

Tomb at Banais, Israel

Ossuary of Miriam, daughter of the priest Yeshua

Related reading: Is It Possible to Speak of the Proto-Gospel?; Solar Imagery and the Proto-Gospel; Goran Pavlovic on Oaks; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Threshing Floors in Ancient Israel: Their Ritual and Symbolic Significance, by Jaime L. Waters, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015)