Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages

This topic discusses languages of the Bronze Age (approximately 3300–1200 BC) in the Ancient Near East (ANE), relative to the time of the Biblical patriarchs.

We don’t know what the language of Adam was (cf. Ge.2:19-20).  Many historians think Sumérian is the oldest written language.  Sumerian is called an isolated language, with no ancestor tongue.  But loan words have been identified in Sumerian writings.  So Sumerian as the first language is questioned.  Encyclopaedia Brittanica “The Sumerian language…first attested about 3100 BC in S. Mesopotamia.”

Wikipedia: Writing System “The Sumerian archaic cúneiform script closely followed by the Egyptian híeroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC.”

Dating from pre-3000 BC Súmer, pictograph was pictures that represent a word or idea.  Cuneiform script was wedge-shaped marks or symbols, on clay tablets.  Cuneiform was adapted from pictograph.

The sons of the patriarch Noah were Shem, Ham and Jápheth (Ge.9:18).  The family survived the Flood.  The Septúagint/LXX dates Noah’s Flood circa (c) 3200 BC.  After the Flood, his descendants migrated from old Armenia (Ge.8:4), to Shinár (Ge.10:10), and so on.  The Ge.10–11 account, with the tower of Babél zíggurat, coincides with the development of language families from a primitive root language.

Post-Flood, Ge.11:1-9 “The whole earth was of one language [lip, shore, Strongs h8193 Hebrew]. They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said, ‘Let us build a city & tower whose top is in heaven.’ Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language [lip/shore], and scattered them over the whole earth.”  Wikipedia: Tower of Babel “The Akkadian name of the city was Babilim, meaning ‘gate of God.”  Shinar (Sumer, or Sínjar?) was an area in Mesopotamia (Ac.2:9, 7:2; it included ancient Babylonia).  Shinar means ‘two rivers’.  Mesopotamia (Greek) means ‘land between the rivers’, the Tigris and Euphrates.  Mankind spread out over the land; other languages emerged.

Language families developed through Noah’s descendants (ref Ge.10:1, 5, 20, 31).  Carlos Quiles From Adamic or the Language of the Garden of Eden Until the Tower of Babel “The language spoken by Noah and his descendants, whether the original Adamic language or the derived Chaldáic [?], split into 70 or 72 languages, according to the different traditions.”  People dispersed upon the earth through extended family lines, clans, languages.  It is said that 14 major language families exist today (e.g. Indo-European, Áfro-Asiátic the oldest).  Dialects developed within the major language groups/tree models as humanity spread geographically; numerous dialects of descent are within each.

Ge.10:6 “The sons of Ham were Cush, Mízraim [Egypt], Phut and Canáan.”  The Egyptian people descended from Ham.  Ge.10:22 “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arpachshad, Lud and Arám.  These were grandsons of Noah.  Semític languages are named from Shem.  (The Aramaic language would be named from Aram.)  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Elam…the Elamites, ancestors of the Persians [Iranians]. Asshur lived at the city Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arpachshad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians. Lud…Lydians [W Turkey].”  (see the topics “Aramaic in the Bible” and “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)  Aram & Arpachshad were brothers.

Wikipedia: Arpachshad “Arpachshad was understood by many Jewish and Muslim scholars [pre-1920] to be an area in northern Mesopotamia. This led to the identification of Arpachshad with Urfa-Kasid, a land associated with the Khaldis.”  Wikipedia: Chalybes “The Chalybes and Chaldoi were…peoples living in N. Anatolia [Turkey]. Their territory was known as Chaldia.”  (Later they’d move south.)

Ge.10:24 LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan (not Canaan), Kainan begot Shélah, Shelah begot Éber.”  (The Hebrew people would be named after Eber, Josephus ibid.)  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Arphaxad.

Sumerian of Iraq is an extinct linguistic isolate.  At Ur in S Mesopotamia, the writings on the mud-brick walls of the Great Ziggurat (2000–2100 BC) are Sumerian cuneiform.  The ancient Elamite language of SW Iran, dating from c 2600 BC and now extinct, is also considered a language isolate.  Although Elamite was named from Shem’s son Elam (Ge.10:22), it isn’t considered a Semitic language.

There were multilinguals in Mesopotamia, speaking Sumerian, Akkádian…then other dialects.  Akkadian is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.  Ge.10:10 Akkád was in or near the land of Shinar (the exact location hasn’t been discovered).  Akkadian names are seen in Sumerian writings, dated c 2500 BC.  Wikipedia: Akkadian Empire “Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around 2000 BC.”  Near the commencement of the Middle Bronze Age.

Ge.11:10-27 Abrám descended from Arphaxad.  v.31 Abraham (born c 2100 BC) likely came from Ur/Urfa/SanliUrfa/Edessa, or Urkesh, in N Mesopotamia.  He migrated approx 25 miles S to Harrán (Akkadian ‘Harránu’, ‘crossroads’) in far S Turkey, 10 miles above the N Syrian border.  The region of Aram in Upper Mesopotamia.  Ancient Urkesh (Tel Mozan today) in NE Syria was 100+ miles E of Harran.  Abram later would migrate SSW through Damascus; cf. Ge.15:2 his “Eliézer of Damascus”.

Ge.11:16-27 the names of early Hebrews (descendants of Eber and ancestors of Abraham) are seen in the names of towns located in the vicinity of Harran, Turkey.  Péleg, the city of Paliga; Serúg, the city of Sarugi; Nahór, Nakhur in the valley; Abraham’s father Térah, Til-Turakhi (‘mound of Terah’).

Rudolph Klein Abraham’s Chaldean Origins and the Chaldee Language “He must have been literate & fluent in Sumerian, Akkadian, various other Semitic languages (e.g. Amorite), probably Egyptian as a trade language. His descendants would adopt the language of…Canaan [Phoenícian/old Hebrew].”

Mark D. Kaplan The Languages of the Bible “One of the earliest ancient cities was Akkad in Mesopotamia (Ge.10:10). Perhaps Abraham originally spoke an Akkadian dialect in Ur. Abraham went south to Canaan…the Canaanites were descendants of Ham [Ge.10:1, 6 Noah’s son]. In Canaan Abraham picked up the local language. His clan’s version of Canaanite became known as Hebrew [much later].”  (Hebrew is classed as a Canaanite NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.)

Eblaite, named after the city Ebla (Tel Márdikh today] in N Syria, is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language dating from the (latter) 2000s BC.  Ebla was approx 90 miles SW of Harran & 190 miles N of Damascus.  Wikipedia: Ebla [3000–1600 BC] “At its greatest extent, Ebla controlled an area half the size of modern Syria, from Ursaum in the north [S Turkey] to around Damascus in the south, and from Phoenícia and the coastal mountains in the west to Haddu in the east. It is probable the inhabitants of 3^rd kingdom Ebla [2000–1600 BC] were predominantly Amorites, as was most of Syria at that time.”

Wikipedia: Eblaite Language “Similarity to Hebrew, Ugarític, or Phoenician.”  Eblaite is an E Semitic sister language to Akkadian.  Jeff Benner The Archives of Ebla and the Bible “The tablets were written [2300 BC at Ebla] with a cuneiform script, like Úgarit [N Syrian coastal city]. The Eblaite language shares many similarities to the Hebrew language.”  Kevin Drendel The Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts “The tablets include Sumerian Eblahite vocabularies with thousands of translated words. Also an ancient language…related to [the later] Hebrew and Phoenician.”

Abram was also probably familiar with Hurrian, an extinct N Mesopotamia language dating from 2300 BC.  And Elamite (cuneiform).  Ge.14:1-17 Abram defeated Chedorlaómer, the powerful king of Elam.  Bible patriarchs knew Akkadian, some Eblaite & Hurrian.  And Amorite too, an extinct NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language (and an ancestor of Ugaritic?).  Ge.10:15-16 the Amorites descended from Ham’s son Canaan.  Abram dwelt in the plain of his ally Mamré the Amorite (Ge.14:13), near Hebron.

Ge.12:10-20 while in Egypt, Abram perhaps spoke Middle Egyptian (an Afro-Asiatic language) with Pharaoh.  Ge.20:1-18 Abraham and an ancient Abimélech, king of Gerár (capital city), dialogued SE of Gaza (Ge.21:32-34).  There they possibly spoke an early form of Proto-Sináitic?  So-called “Philistine” territory was the SW coast of Canaan.  Those Philistines descended from Mizraim/Egypt, son of Ham.  Ge.10:13-14 “Mizraim begot Pathrúsim and Caslúhim, from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtorím.”  Josephus op.cit. 1:6:2 “All the children of Mizraim, eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt; though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim.”  Ge.21:34 “Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.”  Gill Exposition “For many years.”

Later the Israelites would say of their ancestor in De.26:5, “My father was a wandering Araméan [Arammíy h761, Syrian]”.  Referring to Abraham or Jacob.  Ge.14:13 “Abram the Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) and grandson Jacob were from Eber’s line.  Abraham and Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent years in N Syria; both would have known Akkadian, Amorite, and Jacob the developing Proto-Aramaic.

Abraham told his servant, Ge.24:1-4 “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac.”  v.10 “He went to Arám-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram…Syria”.  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N Mesopotamia, Syria-Turkey, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy].”  Ge.22:20-23 Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew.  90 years later, Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  A form of primitive Aramaic was likely the dialect at the ‘plain of Aram’.  Jacob brought his wives Leah & Rachel from the old country to the Land of Canaan.

Laban was an Aramean.  Pre-Aramaic and pre-Hebrew are reflected in the same verse in Ge.31:43-48. “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  They made a “heap of witness” c 1865 BC at Mizpáh of Gilead, E of the Jordan River.  Laban called the memorial by a proto-Aramaic name, but Jacob called it by a precursor of Hebrew.  Barnes Notes “Here is the first specimen of Aramaic, as distinguished from Hebrew.”  Jacob would’ve learned both dialects in Canaan, Proto-Canaanite pre-Hebrew and his mother’s primitive Paleo-Syrian.

Codex 99 Proto-Sinaitic “Around 1900 BC the Proto-Sinaitic script began to appear in Egypt, the Sinai and the Levánt. Associated with hieroglyphic or hierátic signs. It was adopted by the Canaanites (hence Proto-Canaanite) and later by the Phoenicians.”  Omniglot: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite “Proto-Canaanite is a version of the Proto-Sinaitic script as used in Canaan, modern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and parts of western Syria. It is also used to refer to an early version of the Phoenician script as used before 1050 BC, or an ancestor of Phoenician.”  Phoenicia was a 150-mile coastal region, Lebanon today.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “The woman was a Syrian-Phoenician.”)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidon.  Ge.10:15 Sidón was the firstborn son of Canaan.

Ge.40:15 Jacob’s son Joseph was from the “land of the Hebrews”, peoples racially disliked by the Egyptians (Ge.43:32).  Descendants of Eber lived in N Syria and then Canaan.  After Pharaoh made Joseph a ruler in Egypt, Jacob/Israel and his sons’ families moved from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  Ge.42:23 an interpreter was necessary, since the Middle Egyptian language and the Proto-Canaanite (and the Akkadian of the Old Assyrian period) differed.

Joseph died in Egypt c 1757 BC.  The Amorite Hammurabi (1810-1750 BC) wrote his famous law Code between 1755–1750 BC in Akkadian cuneiform text at the ancient Babylon city-state.  He was the 6^th king of the First Babylonian Empire (1894-1595 BC), ruling Mesopotamia.  (Later, after Israel exited Egypt, two Amorite kings in NE Canaan c 1575 BC were Sihon and Og. ref De.31:4.)

While in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob/Israel became slaves and learned Middle Egyptian.  Ac.7:22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians; he was mighty in words and deeds.”  Ex.2:16-19 Reuél’s daughters (1600s BC) in the land of Midián thought Moses was Egyptian, from his speech & dress.  Moses spent years in Midian near Mt Sinai, where he was called by God (Ex.3:1-ff).

Ex.31:18 after the Israelite exodus from Egypt, the Decalogue at Mt Sinai was written by the finger of God.  In Canaano-Akkadian, Proto-Sinaitic/Canaanite script, Eblaite, hieroglyphic or hieratic scripts?  The Lord’s Old Covenant too.  F.F. Bruce Who Wrote Genesis? “A man [Moses] ‘learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ would have been conversant with the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic.”

John C Lennox Seven Days That Divide the World, p.126 “The scribal use of cuneiform script spread from Mesopotamia as far as Canaan, Hazor [in Upper Galilee], and even Hebron [between Jerusalem and Beershéba] by the 17^th century BC.”

In the Land of Canaan after 215 years in Egypt, the Israelites/‘mixed multitude’ (Ex.12:37-38) of 1550 BC likely took on Proto-Canaanite.

Andre H. Roosma The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David “The Paleo-Hebrew script developed from a script that was used in the W Semitic area during the 2^nd millennium BC. It is often referred to as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script.”  The Israelites would then use the developing Old/Paleo Hebrew (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.

The Amarna Letters (1360-1332 BC) are 382 tablets found in Upper Egypt, but written in Akkadian cuneiform script (not in Egyptian).  They’re correspondence between the kings of Canaanite cities and Pharaoh.  Wikipedia: Amarna Letters “The letters, though written in Akkadian, are heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of Proto-Canaanite.”  Not long before the time of Gideon in the book of Judges (6:11-ff).  see “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”.

There’s no indication that Paleo-Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Languages “Hebrew, Phoenician…derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet to record their writings.”

That brings us to the approaching end of the ANE Bronze Age, c 1200 BC.  Further archaeological findings may bring to light other ancient dialects and/or revisions to those discussed here in this topic.

The Paleo-Hebrew (Old Hebrew alphabet) script would become the language of south Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”.  Language historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in NW Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 letters.  (Aramaic too has 22.)  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “Like the Phoenician alphabet, it is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite script, which was used throughout Canaan in the Late Bronze Age. There is no difference in Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

For more on Aramaic & Hebrew in the ensuing centuries of the Iron Age, see “Aramaic in the Bible”.

Melchisedek Order Priesthood

King David of ancient Israel was given a messianic prophecy in Ps.110:1-4.  v.4 “The Lord has sworn, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.”  The Lord (Jesus) would be ruling King and priest in the order of Melchisedek!  This topic discusses Melchisedek and priesthood.

True religion and the Judeo-Christian ethic includes the entire Bible.  Both the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) speak of priesthood.

What is a priest?  A priest performs religious rites, and mediates between God and humans.

Ancient nations and heathen cultures had priesthoods (ref Ge.41:45, Ex.3:1).  Wayne Jackson Exploring the Concept of Priesthood “The ancient Assyrians had priests, as did the Babylonians.”  OT Israel’s priests were of the Levitical order, from the tribe of Jacob’s son Levi.

Moses was a priest and a mediator (Ps.99:6; Ex.24:6, 29:26; Nu.7:1; Ga.3:19).  Then Moses’ brother Aaron and Aaron’s male descendants from the tribe of Levi were Israel’s priests (Ex.28:1).  Prior to the Levitical (Lev) Aaronic order of priests, in ancient Israel families/clans performed priestly functions (Ex.24:5).  The Aaronic priesthood was established in the wilderness (Ex.40:13-15), after the Israelites left Egypt.  But this Levitical priesthood didn’t exist in the books of Genesis or Job.

Jesus and His NT believers are of the order of Melchisedek, which both predates and postdates the Levitical order.  The person of Melchisedek (Mel) goes back to Genesis.  What does the Bible tell us about Melchisedek, and how does the order of Melchisedek compare to the Levitical order?

The mysterious Melchisedek/Melchizedek is thought by many to be a theophany or Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ the Son of God Most High (Lk.1:32).  The name “Melchisedek” means ‘king of righteousness’ (He.7:2).  And in Je.23:5, the Messiah/Branch (Jesus) is the prophesied righteous king.  Ge.18:1-33 the Lord as a Christophany appeared to Abraham.  Melchisedek appeared to Abrám in Ge.14.  Previously, in Ge.12:1-2 the Lord had said that He would bless Abram…“I will bless you.”  And then in Ge.14:18-21 Melchisedek said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High”.  It is Mel who blessed Abram!  It appears that Mel was divine, as the pre-existent Word of God, the Lord Christ.  Jn.1:1, 14 identifies Jesus as “the Word” (the Lógos in Greek).

The Dead Sea Scrolls Melchizedek document 11Q13, dated circa 100 BC, indicates Melchisedek is divine.  Wikipedia: 11Q13 “11Q13 states that….Melchizedek is ‘Your Elohim [God]’ who will deliver the sons of righteousness from Belíal.”  In the 1st century AD, Philo said Melchisedek represented the Word/Logos and is a priest (Allegorical Interpretation 3:26:82, p.59).  Again, Jesus is the Word/Logos.

Melchisedek is the first priest mentioned in the OT.  In Ge.14:18, Mel served Abram (the father of the faithful, Ga.3:7) bread & wine.  Sharing bread & wine will become the sacred communion or eucharist for the NT church in the order of Melchisedek!  (also see the topic “Bread and Wine in the Church”.)

Ge.14:18 “Melchisedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now He was priest of God Most High.”  Mel was both king and priest of God.  In ancient kingdoms there was no separation of church and state.  Their politics involved pleasing their deity, so the deity would protect them.  But Israel’s priestly Aaronites among Levites weren’t kings.  Judah, not Levi, became a kingly tribe (Ge.49:10).

The Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham in Ge.17:5.  Was Abraham himself a priest, serving under Melchisedek?  Abraham knew the king of Sodom (Ge.14:21).  In Ge.18:23-24, it is plausible that Abraham was interceding to the Lord Christ as a priest on Sodom’s behalf.

The order of (King) Melchisedek includes the laws of the King.  e.g. in Ge.14 Abram tithed or paid 10% to the priest-king/church-state.  (see the topic “Tithe to Church and State”.)  Abraham obeyed God’s regulations.  The Lord said of Abraham in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”.  Abraham had the faith to obey all that, without a codified Law of Moses!  (see “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)

What are the laws taught by, or pertaining to, the order of Melchisedek?

Throughout Genesis, we read of gentiles (such as Abraham) obeying…or disobeying…God’s principles & instructions.  Also Job.22:22, God’s guidelines weren’t unknown to gentiles living prior to the Law of Moses.  (see “Genesis Principles Predate Moses” and “Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job”.)

1Enoch 99:2 “Woe to them who pervert the words of uprightness, and transgress the eternal law.”  1Eno.106:14 “Some of the angels of heaven…commit sin and transgress the law.” (ref 2Pe.2:4 & Jude 1:6.)  This indicates an eternal law existed even for the residents of heaven to obey, in order to dwell with God in harmony.  (Jude considered 1Eno.1:9 a prophecy, and quoted it in Jude 1:14.  1Enoch is included in a few Christian canons.)

Genesis reflects many similarities to the laws Christ later told Moses to codify & enact during the Levitical dispensation.  For example, in Genesis: 39:9 adultery is a great sin.  31:32 stealing is wrong.  2:2-3 God sanctified the 7^th day sabbath for mankind at Creation.  28:22 Abraham’s grandson Jacob also paid 10% to God.  7:2 only clean creatures are food.  Some try to claim the extra pairs of clean animals taken on Noah’s ark were for sacrifice.  But only domestic clean animals were sacrifices, not wild!  Yet Noah took seven pairs of wild clean animals too (there’d be plenty to eat)!  9:4 blood isn’t authorized as food (prohibited in the Ac.15:29 decree for the church.  see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)

The Lord later commanded that the above laws (and other laws too), seen in Genesis for gentiles, be part of the Levitical code and Old Covenant for Moses/Israel.  (see “Added in the Old Covenant”.)

Albertus Pieters Notes On Genesis “Whoever has learned the Genesis stories has learned all the chief things that can be known about God (apart from the incarnation of God in Christ)…of permanent institutions for the well-being of mankind, we have here the institution of the sabbath, marriage, government, and worship.”  Yes, there’s much for the church found between the lines of Genesis!

The above examples from Genesis reflect some of the similarities between the order of Melchisedek and the Levitical order.  But there are also noticeable differences between them!  Such as…

In the order of Melchisedek, there’s no scriptural evidence of any physical tabernacle/temple ceremonial rituals (ref He.9:1, 10).  There’s no animal sin/trespass offerings.  There’s no Passover (before God ‘passed-over’ Moses’ Israel in Ex.12:23); there’s no other pilgrim feasts.  (Genesis does show voluntary non-temple burnt offerings.)  Also, we read of lesser incest…so they can obey God’s commands to reproduce (Ge.1:28, 9:1)…when the only humans available to marry there are relatives.

In the order of Melchisedek, there’s no lunar calendar (for determining pilgrim feast dates, e.g.).  Examining Ge.7:11 with Ge.8:3-4 indicates 30-day months of a solar calendar.  Also Re.11:2-3 reflects 30-day months of a prophetic solar calendar.  This calendar projects to add a 30-day leap-month seven times in each 40-year cycle…in years #6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 40.  Its variance from 365.2422 days per year is said to be only 4 hours 2 min over a span of 11,560 years!  Also a form of solar calendar is used in 1Enoch.  But the lunar aspect of the Levitical dispensation had 29 or 30 day months (for feasts)…and it’s less accurate.  (As another comparison, the estimated variance of the Gregorian calendar over 11,560 years may be around 80 hours, or 3 ⅓ days.  It too is less accurate than the ‘prophetic calendar’.)

Various lunar calendar and new moon reckoning dogmas for Levitical festivals can cause unnecessary division within the order of Melchisedek!  In 1Co.14:33, Paul says God is not of confusion/disorder!  Attempting to use a Levitical calendar in the Melchisedek order has resulted in a measure of confusion.

There’s a significant prophecy in Zechariah.  Again, Je.23:5-6 referred to the Lord/Messiah as the Branch.  Zec.3:8-9 the then Levitical high priest, named Yehoshúa/Yeshúa (Iesous or Jesus in the Greek LXX), was a symbol.  Zec.6:11-13 is about that ancient Yeshua. “Behold, a man whose name is the Branch. He will be a priest on his throne [kingly], and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.”  That Yeshua had the same name as the future Branch; and back in 500 BC was a symbol of the Melchisedek priest/king!  A full 500 years prior to the Messiah’s human birth, God knew the Savior’s Name would be…Yeshua (in Hebrew & Aramaic)!

Let’s now read through Hebrews 5–7.  It’s about priesthood and Jesus in the order of Melchisedek.  The Levitical and Melchisedek priesthoods are further contrasted in these chapters.

He.5:1-11 there was much to say regarding the order of Melchisedek.  He.6:13-20 Jesus is high priest in the order of Mel.  6:18 the two immutable things God swore with an oath are found in 6:13-14 and 7:21.  That is, the Lord surely would bless Abraham and multiply his descendants, and Jesus is priest in the order of Mel forever.  (also ref 1Eno.69 regarding oaths.)

He.7:1-8 the priest-king Melchisedek had no genealogy, no beginning of days or end of life, and was made like the Son of God.  v.8 “He [Melchisedek] lives on.”  In Hebrews, Melchisedek isn’t portrayed as a mortal man!  Abraham was a mortal man.  Aaronite priests were mortal men with genealogy.

Wikipedia: Priesthood of Melchizedek “The basis of the Aaronic priesthood was ancestry; the basis of the priesthood of Melchizedek is everlasting life. That is, there’s no interruption due to a priest’s death (Heb.7:8,15-16, 23-25).”  The Levitical priesthood was hereditary.  ISBE “Melchizedek, a priest of highest rank, had neither predecessor nor successor in his great office.”

He.7:17 “You [Jesus] are a priest forever in the order of Melchisedek.”  Got Questions – Who Was Melchizedek? “This term ‘order’ would ordinarily indicate a succession of priests holding the office. None are ever mentioned, however, in the long interval from Melchizedek to Christ, an anomaly that can be solved by assuming that Melchizedek and Christ are really the same person.”

He.6:20 “Jesus…having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.”  Poole Commentary Ps.110:4 “Forever’, not to be interrupted or translated to another person.”  Jesus is high priest forever.  Yet He.7:3, speaking of Melchisedek, “…Being made like to the Son of God, does remain a priest continually [g1336].” (Youngs Literal Translation.)  According to the writer to the Hebrews, Melchisedek is priest on into perpetuity.  Vincent Word Studies He.7:3 “The tenure of his [Melchisedek’s] office is uninterrupted.”  Are we to believe there are two high priests serving continuously and uninterrupted?!  Taken literally…if Melchisedek isn’t Jesus, then there are presently two high priests simultaneously!

Hebrews 7 also compares Melchisedek to Abraham.  He.7:4 “Consider how great this [Being] was!”  (The term for ‘man’ isn’t in the Greek text of v.4.)  The Being Melchisedek is even called great!

Abraham was highly honored and eminent, the spiritual father of the faithful, according to Paul (Ga.3:7, 29).  The Lord had told Abram in Ge.12:2-3, “I will make you a great nation, and will magnify your name….In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  God would change Abram’s name to Abraham, magnify it, and his posterity would be renowned on earth!

Yet He.7:4 indicates Melchisedek is greater than Abraham!  He blessed Abram.  He.7:7 ESV “It is beyond dispute that the inferior [Abram] is blessed by the superior [Melchisedek].” (Other translations render the Greek term kreítton, Strongs g2909, as “better” or “greater”.)  Barnes Notes “Melchizedek was thus superior to Abraham.”  Cambridge Bible “The inferior is blessed by one who is the Superior.”

{Sidelight: Some think Melchisedek was a title (like Caesar or Czar), not a personal name.  A Jewish tradition says Melchisedek was Noah’s son Shem.  But according to Ge.5:32 & Ge.10:22, Shem did have a literal genealogy (unlike Melchisedek).  Shem had a beginning and an end, a mortal man.  Furthermore, in scripture Shem is of lesser status than Abraham (or Noah), not greater.  Shem’s name is seen less than 20 times in the Bible, whereas Abram/Abraham appears over 300 times!  Also, in the LXX and Samaritan Pentateuch chronologies, Shem was dead long before Mel met Abram in Ge.14.}

He.7:9-12 “The priesthood being changed, there takes place a change in the law also.”  A change has occurred in some written law/toráh; in the sacrificial & ceremonial aspects.  There’s no Levitical priesthood or temple; they’re now obsolete as far as the church is concerned.

It’s changed because…Jesus fulfilled all things written about Him (but not everything written in the OT).  Let’s first notice, in Mt.5:17-18 Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill [g4137]”.  Then after His resurrection, Jesus’ words in Lk.24:44 refer back to the earlier Mt.5:17-18, with added detail. “My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled [g4137].”  Jesus came to fulfill all things written about Him in the Law, etc.  Furthermore, Luke noted in Ac.13:29, “They carried out all that was written concerning Him”.  Jesus didn’t abolish or “fulfill” in our place the Lord’s moral principles (seen way back in Genesis for gentiles/non-Jews even)!

Just because Jesus obeyed God’s principles doesn’t imply that He did so in our stead, and we may act like the devil!  In 2Co.5:10, Paul said that each of us must appear before the judgment seat…Ro.14:12 to “give an account of himself to God”.

He.7:13-28 Jesus wasn’t a Levite; He was from the tribe of Judah.  v.14 “Our Lord descended from Judah.”  Jesus didn’t have to qualify genealogically in the sense of the Levitical priesthood.  The fact that He was from Judah (was Jewish) through Mary didn’t disqualify Him in the order of Melchisedek, though He wasn’t qualified for the Levitical order.  The Levitical priesthood was based on genealogy…it consisted of only one clan (Aaron’s) within the tribe of Levi.

Continuing into Hebrews 8…the Old Covenant is of the Levitical order, the New Covenant is the order of Melchisedek.  He.8:6-13 the Lev dispensation principles, those which aren’t also part of the order of Mel, were vanishing.  v.13 “Whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

He.9–10 the Levitical order’s weaker animal sacrifices were continually repeated.  All their priests were sinning humans and were temporary (they kept dying, He.7:23).  The Lev order couldn’t transform hearts nor give ancient Israelites the Holy Spirit power to obey God.  (So they’d gone into captivity.)  Whereas the order of Mel transforms hearts via the Spirit, with the sinless Jesus high priest forever!

Fire from God fell to burn Levitical order animal sacrifices on the altar (Le.6:12-13, 9:24).  Tongues of fire fell on the heads of human “living sacrifices” of the Melchisedek order (Ac.2:1-3, Ro.12:1)!

He.10:9-14 Jesus’ one-time sacrifice ends the prior Levitical dispensation, with its ceremonial temple rites.  It establishes the succeeding order of Mel.  v.9 “He takes away the first, to establish the second.”

In Jn.6:4 & 7:2, John calls God’s OT Passover and Feast of Booths the “feast of the Jews” (not “feast of God”)…because the old Levitical dispensation, with its pilgrim feasts at the temple, is ending.  They don’t exist in the order of Melchisedek.

Mt.26:26-28 Jesus restored the order of Melchisedek with the symbolic sacred bread & wine of the New Covenant as its communion (from Ge.14:19 Melchisedek).  Jewish Christian historian Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah 5:10:826-827 “With this celebration and new institution, the Jewish Passover forever ceased!”  The temple would soon be destroyed, and the pilgrim feasts at Jerusalem (their one authorized feast site then, never two simultaneously) would cease.

The OT Levites had no tribal land inheritance and were restricted in business (De.10:9; Nu.3:9, 18:20-21).  But leaders in the order of Melchisedek may work a common job, e.g. Ac.18:2-3.

The only Levitical injunctions and practices remaining…are those which are also present in the order of Melchisedek.  There are many.  Again, a detailed examination of Genesis shows that such injunctions (applicable for gentiles) existed prior to Moses and the Old Covenant.

He.13:10-14 “We have an altar which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.”  Disbelieving Levitical priests, at temple feasts of the Jews, had no right to partake of the bread & wine of the Lord in the order of Melchisedek.  Yet New Covenant believers partake.  And we needn’t be physically circumcised to take that communion!  Father Abraham (Abram) wasn’t circumcised when Melchisedek shared bread & wine with him as Abram in Ge.14!  (Whereas physical circumcision is commanded to keep a Passover, e.g. Ex.12:48-49.  see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)

Few of us today have knowledge of/proof of family ancestry in the tribe of Levi or its priesthood.  1Pe.2:9 “You [Christians, 4:16] are a royal priesthood.”  Yet even us non-Levites/non-Aaronites are adopted (Ro.8:14-16) into royalty…and are become the royal priesthood in the order of Melchisedek!  Re.5:9-10 of saints from all nations, “You have made them a kingdom, and priests to our God”.

To conclude, the OT verse most often quoted in the NT is Le.19:18b. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  But the OT (short) passage most often referred to in the NT is Ps.110:1-4 (which began this topic). “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet….You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.”  David Seilaff Who Was Melchizedek? “In fact, Psalm 110 is referred to in the New Testament more than any Old Testament section of Scripture.”  The order of Melchisedek is of such significance for Christ’s church!

Jesus is both our high Priest (He.6:20), and “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Re.19:16)…in the order of Melchisedek and the Kingdom of God!  Praise the Lord!

Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism (1)

Disunity within Christendom has had far-reaching negative effects.  Dr. Joel R. Beeke wrote in The Church’s Unity, “Disunity affects the whole church, including the work of evangelism”.

The success of evangelism, here in the USA and worldwide, has been hindered by a perceived disunity existent in Christendom.  Also, disunity inhibits fellowship among already believing Christians.

The factors which cause disunity in the church are many.  Doctrinal controversy is a significant factor.  The apostle Paul exhorted Titus in Ti.2:1, “Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine”.

From Does Our Focus On Sound Doctrine Detract From Biblical Evangelism? “Doctrinal purity is extremely important. Biblical love never minimizes the importance of God’s truth…from Genesis to Revelation. A healthy focus upon truth and sound doctrine is essential for God’s honoring evangelism.”

This topic deals with unity in doctrine, and table fellowship which contributes to unity.  There’s the old adage, ‘Those who eat together stay together’, and ‘The family that eats together stays together’.

Jesus said there is one “way” (Jn.14:6).  Jesus is the way.  Some of His earliest followers were known as “the Way” (ref Ac.9:2, 24:14).  Yet in the 50s AD, Paul asked the rhetorical question in 1Co.1:11-13, “Each one of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I of Apollos,’ and ‘I of Peter,’ and ‘I of Christ.’ Has Christ been divided?”  Disunity and division was happening even then in Corinth.

There are presently more than 2.2 billion people in the worldwide Christian family.  But they are divided into more than 40,000 denominations, sects, or groups!  Why is that?

Answers.com How Many Christian Denominations Are There? “Different people have different beliefs in Christianity. Unfortunately, those differences lead to divisions. God requires unity. Jesus’ last prayer was for His disciples to remain united (John 17). The Lord never intended for His church to be divided into competing groups teaching different doctrines. The Lord is not the Lord of confusion. Much of Christianity has been polluted by other false pagan religions, which has led to differing beliefs and unscriptural practices which has caused them to break apart.”  Unscriptural practices cause division!

But what if all Christian beliefs and practices were based on scripture…with no pagan or contradictory unscriptural dogma based on traditions that cause disunity, dividing brothers & sisters in the faith!?

Most Christian churches make the claim that their beliefs, teachings and practices are based on the Holy Bible.  The late Dr. Myles Munroe wrote in 2008, “The Bible is the Constitution of the Kingdom of God”.  Pastor Benny Hinn says, “The Holy Spirit authored the Bible”.  That’s the written scriptures.

The inspired word of God is the true standard for our faith!  We learn the word/Bible over the years by various means…reading, study, sermons, etc.  We learn of our salvation, available via Jesus’ sacrifice!

1Ti.4:13 Paul told Timothy to do public reading of Old Testament (OT) scriptures in the church.  Barnes Notes 1Ti.4:13 “The then written portions of the sacred volume, the Old Testament, are doubtless specially intended here.”  The written word of God is the basis, the foundation, of true knowledge…unlike the traditions of men.

In addressing various Bible topics on this site, some verses I’ve quoted or referenced are verses which, unfortunately, are ignored by much of mainstream Christianity.

Wikipedia: Mainstream “Mainstream Christianity’ is a term used to collectively refer to the common views of major denominations of Christianity (such as Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Protestantism) as opposed to the particular tenets of other Christian denominations. The context is dependent on the particular issues addressed, but usually contrasts an orthodox majority view against a heterodox minority view.”

Heterodox minority groups may be disregarded as lacking overall credibility.  But, the orthodox majority may emphasize its traditions; also the orthodox churches themselves disagree among themselves.

There are principles found in scripture, valid for all humankind (Christians too)…that mainstream omits.  Sadly, these points of scripture limit or divide fellowship between various Christian sects/groups.

Missiologist Dr. Ed Stetzer Tribalism Outside the Church. And In “Of the many negative impacts that spring from church disunity, perhaps most troubling is the damage it does to our gospel witness.”

Gavin Reid OBE Doctrine Matters “Doctrine in evangelism is not so much what converts, but what establishes the new believer. Evangelism and doctrine are inseparable.”

In this two-part topic, I’ll focus on four significant points of doctrine that impact Christian unity and (table) fellowship, but which much of mainstream ignores.  Yet these points are scriptural, and can help us improve our rapport with other peoples we hope to evangelize.  They’ll also benefit our own lives.

There is a cause for every effect in our life!  These doctrinal points teach us how to better live blessed and healthy lives!  They are practices found in scripture…for Christ’s people OT Israel, and even for gentiles prior to when Christ spoke His Decalogue to Israel on Mt. Sinai (Ex.20)!

#1) CLEAN/UNCLEAN creatures:  If I were to list only one important practice that mainstream ignores, I might well choose this one!  The neglect of this principle hinders unity and table fellowship among Christian brethren; and it limits the success of our evangelistic efforts in Middle East nations.

The pre-incarnate Christ was the Creator and executive God of the OT (Jn.1:1-3, 14).  He was the God of ancient Israel…according to Peter, John, Paul.  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.

Christ wasn’t like a harsh heathen god who may subject his people to bondage.  Christ freed Israel from Egyptian bondage.  Then He gave commands and principles to Moses/Israel for their benefit.  Christ wasn’t overly restrictive or selfish, and didn’t Lord it over them to flaunt His authority.  He loved them.

As Creator, Christ knows which creatures are compatible with the human digestive system, and which aren’t.  And which creatures will typically carry parasites or can even be carcinogenic.  Christ instructed ancient Israel in His guidelines of clean and unclean…out of love!  Moses told them in De.7:6-15, “You are a holy people; the Lord your God has chosen you. The Lord loved you.”  Christ the Lord gave Israel His dietary laws for their well-being…to bless, not burden, them!  see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.

But even centuries before Christ conveyed His dietary standards to ancient Israel, the gentile Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean animals.  Ge.7:1-2 “The Lord said to Noah, ‘Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, male and female; and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, male and female.”  Had they eaten of an unclean pair, that genus could have there ceased!

Noah wasn’t Jewish.  There was no Jews or Old Covenant (OC) in Noah’s day; his right understanding predated the OC!  Clean vs unclean creatures (ref Le.11 & De.14:1-21 for detail) were known by that gentile prior to Christ’s OC law for Israelites/Jews!  Perhaps such knowledge had been passed down from Christ’s instructions in Eden, or from Adam & Eve’s experience, or righteous Enoch had taught it, or by revelation from God to Noah.  (also see “Added in the Old Covenant”.)

The Lord spelled out in Le.11:2-ff, “These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth”.  Benson Commentary Le.11:2 “For the preservation of their health.”

Unclean creatures carry micro-organisms which cause disease.  Eating them harms all races of mankind.  Not just Jews.  (Whereas properly fed clean animals don’t normally carry those disease-causing organisms.)  Feeding or serving unclean flesh to our neighbor…isn’t loving our neighbor!

Humanity (Christians too) consumes numerous unclean scavengers, created by God to clean up earth’s refuse and thereby limit disease.  Wikipedia: Scavenger “Scavengers play a fundamental role in the environment through the removal of decaying organisms, serving as a natural sanitation service.”

Reducing the populations of these ‘creature janitors’ can increase global disease due to excess decaying matter extant.  Eating scavengers is self-indulgence, perhaps done under the guise of dietary freedom.  But removing scavengers from their created purpose of sanitation/clean-up…isn’t loving our neighbor.

The makeup of animals, such as unclean swine (a scavenger), didn’t change at the cross!  Scientists say the AIDS virus was transmitted to humans by slaughtering and eating monkeys.  Monkeys are unclean.  How tragic!  The scourge of AIDS has nearly wiped out entire peoples!  It’s a result of disobeying or ignoring Christ’s food laws!  False teaching or lack of teaching has led to this great calamity.

The internet is full of medical articles which explain the dangers of eating pathogenic unclean creatures.  Literate affluent societies can easily learn their dangerous effects, and stop eating the unclean.

This table fellowship issue of clean vs unclean divides church groups.  More than that…Christian evangelism to Jews and Muslims is impeded by Christians eating prohibited creatures.  It can offend those Abrahamic peoples!  Yet the scriptures about this are on their side.  It is a shame for Christ’s church that these other two religions are showing more love for their neighbor (Le.19:18b) in this regard!

Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760), leader of the Moravian church (Czechoslovakia/America) in 1738 wrote of himself. “I have during my lifetime not eaten the foods which were formerly forbidden them….that I have done without design, in simplicity of heart.” (Budingsche Sammlung, 1742, sec.8, p.224.)

#2) BLOOD abstention:  Abstaining from blood is a health issue, related to clean vs unclean.  Two of the four restrictions of Acts 15 for the New Testament (NT) church…are dietary.  God wants us to be in good health (3Jn.1:2), and He gave us guidelines in scripture which contribute to good health.

Ac.15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things dying of itself [strangled], and from sexual immorality.”  However, this directive wasn’t something new in the book of Acts.

Christ previously had decreed these same four restrictions in the OT!  Abstention from blood and from eating things dying of itself or strangled are dietary laws involving clean animals only…for Israelites and aliens.  Le.17:13-16 “When any man from Israel or aliens among them catches a beast or bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood.”  Unclean creatures may not be eaten (Le.11).  The carcass of an unbled or unslaughtered clean animal is defiled as food and was forbidden, for aliens too.  Neither will gentile Muslims eat it.  It is very risky health-wise.  Pulpit Commentary Le.11:2 “There is something loathsome in the idea of eating such flesh.”  (see the topic “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)

God forbad the consumption of blood.  He commanded the non-Jew Noah in Ge.9:4, “You shall not eat flesh with its life, its blood”.  This principle applies to everyone…gentiles, Israelites, aliens.

Christ said in Le.17:10-12, “If any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens among them, eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off”.  That’s serious!  v.11 “The life of the flesh is in the blood.”  Blood is the principle carrier of life…and of disease.

Sickness and even death can result from consuming blood…and also from contacting blood.

Ge.31:33-35 shows that incidental contact with blood was avoided.  If bleeding is detected on a player during today’s NBA games, e.g., the officials immediately stop play, and he must have it attended to.

Le.18 identifies acts of sexual immorality/porneia.  (Sexual immorality is prohibited also in Ac.15:29.)  Le.18:19 “Do not have sexual intercourse with a woman during her monthly period.”  also ref Le.20:18; Ezk.18:5-6, 22:10.  Having sexual relations with a menstruating woman can put her at risk for vaginal infection, cervical cancer, and possible tubal pregnancy.  Doing so isn’t loving our neighbor/wife!

Dr. (Ms) De Souza Dangers of Sex During Menstruation “Irritation and an introduction to infection are major risks. Any wound or bleeding is a gateway to infection. The cervix is slightly opened during menstruation to let out blood. This heightens the risk of infection, not being limited only to the vagina, but additionally to the uterus. ‘Engaging in sex during menses is associated with the development of STDs such as chlamýdia, gonorrhéa and HIV infection, which in turn are associated with cervical cancer’ (Ben-Noun, 2003:101).”  Ac.15:29 commands the church to abstain from blood.

Cycle Harmony: Potential Side Effects of Having Sex During Period “It can cause blood stasis and lead to amenorrhéa (no period or scanty period), dysmenorrhéa (painful period), menorrhágia (heavy and prolonged period), or irregular periods.”  Dr. Elaine Loh Sex During Menstruation “Studies have shown that immunity is decreased during menstruation. Momentary pleasure versus risky health – you be the judge.”  Christ had warned in the OT that menstrual sex must be avoided.

To this day, religious Jews avoid menstrual sex.  Judaism 101: Kosher Sex “According to the Torah, a man is forbidden from having sexual intercourse with a niddáh, that is, a menstruating woman. The law of niddah is the only law of ritual purity that continues to be observed today; all the other laws applied to when the Temple was in existence, but aren’t applicable today.”  That one is relevant today.

Woman’s anatomy and her monthly cycle didn’t change at the cross or when the Temple fell in 70 AD!  Menstrual intercourse is still risky.  Abstention from sex during her period is mostly for her sake.

Neither do (most) Muslims engage in menstrual intercourse.  Quranic Path “The only prohibition in the Quran during menstruation is sexual intercourse.”  Yahoo Answers: Why is Sex While the Wife is Menstruating Not Allowed in Islam? “To protect women from infection and disease.”

I’m not Jewish or Muslim.  But this issue regarding blood has had a negative effect on evangelizing Jews and Muslims, two Abrahamic peoples.  Yet scripture about this too is on their side.  Also, menstrual sex causes conflict in the American home between some Christian husbands and their wives.

Christian neglect to practice doctrinal points #1) and #2) limits the credibility of our evangelism in the eyes of Jews and Muslims.  Yet the war-torn Middle East so desperately needs the Spirit of the Prince of Peace!  Benson Commentary Le.11:2 “When men cannot eat together, they have little inclination to enter into any close intercourse with one another.”  If we could all eat together in like-minded table fellowship…the opportunity and believability of our gospel witness would be enhanced!

Jesus’ principles and His morality is “The same yesterday, today and forever” (He.13:8).  No man could compel Him to reiterate His many beneficial principles over & over again, or in the NT too.  Christ said, “It is written”.  He didn’t err in commanding these two good-sense principles.  Love was His motive.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism (2)”.

Skins Made For Adam Were Passed Down?

This topic tells, according to tradition, the history of those original animal skins God made for Adam.  There are two versions of the legend; they differ in regards to who those skins were passed down through.

Adam & Eve’s first sin and its ramifications are discussed in the topic “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.  Ge.3:1-7 after the first humans sinned they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.  v.7 “Their [Adam & Eve’s] eyes were opened and they knew they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings.”  Nakedness can be physical, being unclothed…and/or symbolic of sin and shame.  Their sin also brought guilt and shame to their psyche.

But the fig leaves they sewed, indicative of human devices/ways, are inadequate to cover sin.  So….

Ge.3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin [owr Strongs h5785, Hebrew] for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”  God Himself covered them with animal skins, perhaps leather garments of kidskin or calfskin.  (In so doing, the Lord showed that to cover the nakedness symbolic of sin and their fallen condition, humans must be “clothed” by means of the death of another.  see the topic “Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings”.)  Ge.3:22-24 the Lord cast them out of the garden of Eden.

Adam died at age 930 years (Ge.5:5).  But what happened to the skins the Lord made for him?

Presumably, those skins were passed down through succeeding generations…to eventually come into the possession of Isaac’s son Esau!

Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob were twins.  Ge.25:21-26 is the account of Esau and Jacob striving together while in the womb of Isaac’s wife Rebekah.  They were rivals even before birth.  Benson Commentary Ge.25:22 “The children struggled within her’ – in an unusual and painful manner; a presage of these two sons and their posterities.”  The firstborn son customarily inherited the birthright.  (cf. Ge.43:33 “The firstborn according to his birthright.”)  Esau and Jacob striving in the womb preluded the twins vying for the birthright (and the blessing).

Esau came out first.  Then Jacob came out, with his little hand holding onto the heel of brother Esau the firstborn.  Jacob’s name means ‘supplanter’ (Ge.27:36).  And Jacob would supplant or supersede Esau.

Ge.25:27-34 Isaac loved Esau more, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.  JFB Commentary Ge.25:31 “Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright’. That is, the rights and privileges of the firstborn, which were very important, the chief being that they were the family priests [cf. Ex.24:5] and had a double portion of the inheritance (De.21:17).”  Esau disrespected his birthright.

Ge.27:1-7 Isaac had become nearly blind.  Before dying, Isaac wants to eat and bless his firstborn son Esau in the presence of the Lord (v.7 NASB).  Ge.27:8-17 but while Esau was out hunting game for Isaac…v.15 “Rebekah took the desirable [chemdáw h2532] garments of Esau her elder son, which were in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.”  v.16 garments of skins (owr h5785).  She wants her favorite son Jacob (not Esau) to receive Isaac’s blessing.  Rebekah hopes that Jacob wearing the skin garments of Esau will cause blind Isaac (age 120?) to think he’s Esau…and bless him/Jacob.

The Hebrew term chemdaw h2532 is used in v.15 to describe those particular skins.  It means desirable, choice, goodly, precious, valuable, beloved!  The root term is chamád h2530, desire or covet.

Let’s compare the use of chemdaw h2532 in other Old Testament (OT) verses:  Da.10:19 “O Daniel, a man greatly beloved [h2532 chemdaw].”  2Ch.32:27 NASB “Hezekiah had immense riches…and all kinds of valuable [h2532 chemdaw] articles.”  2Ch.36:10 ESV “King Nebuchadnézzar brought him [King Jehoiachín] to Babylon, with the precious [h2532 chemdaw] vessels of the house of the Lord.”  The term chemdaw h2532 was even used here to describe the holy vessels of God’s temple!  Ezr.8:25-27 utensils for the house of the Lord, were as “precious [h2532 chemdaw] as gold”.

Book of Jubilees 26:11 (written pre-100 BC) reads, “Rebecca took the goodly raiment of Esau, her elder son, which was with her in the house, and she clothed Jacob, her younger son, (with them)….”

So Isaac thought Jacob was Esau (Ge.27:21-24).  Ellicott Commentary Ge.27:15 “Evidently the clothing was something special, and such as was peculiar to Esau. For ordinary raiment, however handsome, would not have been kept in the mother’s tent.”  Cambridge Bible Ge.27:15 “Goodly,’ lit. ‘choice, desirable.’ By this is meant the clothes worn by Esau on festivals and solemn occasions.”  Poole Commentary Ge.27:15 “Either the sacerdótal garments which the eldest son wore in the administration of that office which belonged to him; or rather some other suit better than ordinary.”  Not Esau’s usual attire.  As the firstborn son, Esau might have later assumed the role of family priest, after the death of his father Isaac.  Pulpit Commentary Ge.27:15 “The firstborn didn’t serve in the priesthood while his father lived.”

But how had Esau come into the possession of those desirable special garments or vestments?

According to traditional sources, those skin garments were passed down from Adam to his descendants!  Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Palestinian), sec.6 “Rebekah took the pleasant vestments of Esau her elder son which had formerly been Adam’s; but which that day Esau had not worn, but they remained with her in the house, and (with them) she dressed Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the kids she laid upon his hands and the smooth parts of his neck.”  Benson Commentary Ge.27:16 “Goats’ hair is very like the human.”  It resembled human hair.

Antiquities scholar Louis H. Feldman of Yeshiva University wrote, “Even the fact that Rebekah took the special garments of Esau (which he had inherited from Adam by virtue of his being the eldest son) and gave them to Jacob was justified by the rabbis”.  They excused the deception.

Louis Ginzberg Legends of the Jews, v.2, pp.96-97 “She [Rebekah] dressed him [Jacob] in them, for those garments were the garb of the priesthood, and the Holy One, blessed be He, had clothed Adam in them, for he was the glory of the world; and prior to the construction of the Tabernacle, sacrificial worship was performed by firstborns. Primordial Man bequeathed them to his firstborn, and so they passed from firstborn to firstborn until they reached Noah. Noah gave them to his son Shem [Shem the firstborn?], Shem passed them on to Abraham [the firstborn?]; Abraham to Isaac, and Isaac to Esau, who was his firstborn. Since Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob, Rebekah considered that henceforth it was proper for Jacob to wear these garments, because he now had the status of firstborn.”

The above version of the skins legend is…Esau inherited those skins, Adam’s original garments, by line of descent.  But there’s a second version, which follows:

Louis Ginzberg adds op. cit., “These were the garments that Esau coveted from Nimrod, and killed him and took them.”  Midrash Rabbah 65:15 “Rebekah then took the best [Heb. ha-hamudot] clothes of her older son Esau, which he had coveted [chamad] from Nimrod.”  In this second version, Esau got Adam’s garments of skin…from Nimrod.

Gill Exposition Ge.27:15 “They were, as some Jewish writers say (Targum Jonathán), the garments of Adam the first man, which Esau seeing on Nimrod, greatly desired them, and slew him for them; and hence called desirable garments.”  Esau’s wrong covetousness resulted in murder.

But how had the skins come into Nimrod’s possession?  Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, Higger ed., ch.24 (written ca 833 AD) “Rabbi Hakhinai says Nimrod was mighty in strength, as it is said, ‘Cush also begot Nimrod’. Rabbi Judah says the garment that the Holy One, blessed be He, made for Adam and his wife were taken by Noah and his sons into the ark. When they came out of the ark, Noah’s son Ham took it with him [cf. Ge.9:20-23] and passed it on to Nimrod; when he wore them, any beast or animal that saw the writing would prostrate themselves before him. Human beings believed it was due to his might and therefore they made him king over them. Hence the saying, ‘Like Nimrod a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord [cf. Ge.10:9].”  Earlier, Nimrod’s ancestor Ham had those skins.

Ge.9:22 “Ham, the father of Canáan, saw the nakedness of his father [Noah], and told his two brothers [Jápheth and Shem] outside.”  According to this second version of the legend, Ham stole the skins from the sleeping Noah (the priest).  Adam’s (priestly) garments then came into the possession of the line of Hamites…Ham → Cush → Nimrod.  Traditionally, that’s how Nimrod got his power and might.

Ge.10:8 “Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on earth.”  Nimrod’s kingdom was in ancient Mesopotámia.  (In Mic.5:6, Assyria is called the “land of Nimrod.”)

Jewish Encyclopedia: Nimrod “His great success in hunting was due to the fact that he wore the coat of skin which God had made for Adam and Eve (Ge.3:21). They were stolen by Ham.”

Supposedly the desirable skin garment (which became Nimrod’s and Esau’s) contained special powers!  Targum Neofití Ge.3:21 “The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of glory, for the skin of their flesh, and He clothed them.”  Those (glorious) leather garments were unlike any coats made since!

Our Bibles mention the Book of Jasher in Josh.10:13 and 2Sa.1:18 (LXX “Book of Right”).  The (supposed) Book of Jasher today contains this second version of the skins legend regarding Nimrod and Esau:

Jash.7:23-32 “Cush the son of Ham, the son of Noah, took a [another] wife in his old age, and she bare a son, and they called his name Nimrod. And the garments of skin which God had made for Adam and his wife [Eve] were given to Cush. For after the death of Adam, the garments were given to Enoch; he gave them to Methusélah his son. And at the death of Methuselah, Noah brought them to the ark. And in their going out, Ham stole those garments from Noah his father, and hid them from his brothers [Japheth and Shem]. And when Ham begot his firstborn Cush, he gave him the garments in secret. When Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments, and when he was 20 years old he put on those garments. Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments, God gave him might and strength….And he reigned upon earth.”  In the Book of Jasher, Nimrod is contemporary with Esau.

Jash.27:3-14 “Jealousy was formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau [both were hunters]. On a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness. Esau concealed himself from Nimrod. Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, drew his sword, ran to Nimrod and cut off his head….And Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father [Cush] had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land. And he [Esau] ran and concealed them in his house. He came into his father’s [Isaac’s] house exhausted and was ready to die through grief. He approached his brother Jacob and said, ‘Behold I shall die this day, and why then do I want this birthright?’ Jacob acted wisely in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, for it was so brought about by the Lord. And Jacob wrote the whole of this in a book, and sealed it.”  Jash.27:15-16, “All the days that Nimrod lived were 215 years and he died. Nimrod reigned upon the people 185 years.”

Traditionally, Nimrod was empowered by those skins of Adam’s!  Esau took the skins from Nimrod.

Isaac was deceived by Esau’s garments, worn by Jacob (Ge.27:18-end).  Isaac blessed Jacob.  Those weren’t just any skins smelling of leather…God’s Presence was there (Ge.27:7)!  They were unique.

Book of Jasher says Nimrod was the son of Cush’s old age.  But there may be chronological problems with this second version of the skins legend.  Again, in Jasher, Nimrod and Esau are contemporaries.

Noah had three sons, born prior to the Flood…Japheth, Shem, Ham.  Ge.10:6-9 LXX Nimrod was the 3^rd generation after Noah.  Noah → Ham → Cush → Nimrod.  But Esau was the 12^th/13^th generation after Noah (Ge.11:10-26, 21:3, 25:21-25)!  Noah → Shem → Arphaxad → Cainán (cf. Lk.3:36) → Shélah → Éber → Péleg → Reú → Serúg → Nahór → Térah → Abraham → Isaac → Esau.  Quite a disparity!

{Sidelight: According to the LXX chronology, the Flood occurred ca 3189 BC.  Noah lived on after the Flood for 350 years, until ca 2839 BC.  Shem lived for 600 years; 502 of his years were after the Flood.  Correspondingly, Shem lived ca 3287–2687 BC.  And Shem’s son Arphaxad lived for 565 years.  Arphaxad (born 2 years after the Flood) lived ca 3187–2622 BC.  ref Ge.11:10-13 LXX NETS.  Perhaps Ham’s son Cush lived a much longer life than Shem’s son Arphaxad’s 565 years?  (Seems doubtful.)  And Ham’s son Cush fathered Nimrod very late in life? ref Jash.7:23, 9:21.  Genesis doesn’t say.  Noah, Japheth, Shem, Ham, and Ham’s son Canaan (Cush’s younger brother) are all alive in Ge.9:18-28.

Later, Esau, born ca 1957 BC, at age 40 married two Hittite wives (Ge.26:34), ca 1917 BC.  Esau sold his birthright prior to marrying (Ge.25:27-34).  If Esau was age 16 when he killed Nimrod and took the skins, it occurred ca 1942 BC.  Jash.27:15 Nimrod lived for 215 years.  That would place his birth ca 2157 BC, 215 years before his death in 1942 BC.  For the LXX chronology to fit, Cush lived a very long life (living past 2157 BC), and Nimrod was born late in Cush’s life.  The Hebrew OT Masoretic Text chronology fits this more easily.)  Or, Moses’ account in Ge.10:1-20 skips some of Ham’s generations.  see “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”, “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.}

Gill Exposition Ge.10:8 “Probably this [Nimrod] was his [Cush’s] youngest son.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.10:8 “Cush begot’ – not necessarily as immediate progenitor.”  Ellicott Commentary Ge.10:8 “This does not mean that Nimrod was the son of Cush, but only that Cush was his ancestor.”  So there may have been more generations, not recorded in Genesis, between Cush and Nimrod.

Moses’ Genesis narrative summarizes thousands of years.  His compilation shows historical highlights.  Other ancient writings, e.g. Jasher, Jubilees, Targums… add details and convey traditional beliefs.

The New Testament (NT) too refers to earlier traditions, some not recorded in the OT.  Such as….

In 2Ti.3:8, Paul wrote of a Jannes and Jambres tradition.  Jánnes and Jambrés aren’t mentioned in the OT.  Perhaps Paul was referencing Jash.79:27; it notes Jannes and Jambres, and Pharaoh.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Jannes and Jambres “According to rabbinical tradition they were the two chiefs of the magicians at the court of Pharaoh who foretold the birth of Moses, ‘the destroyer of the land of Egypt,’ thereby causing the cruel edicts of Pharaoh (Soṭah 11a; Sanh. 106a).”

Jude 1:9 tells of Michael the archangel having disputed about the body of Moses.  That dispute isn’t recorded in the OT.  Life Application Bible Jude 1:9 “Here Jude may have been making use of an ancient book called the Assumption of Moses.”  The dispute was a traditional belief in the 1^st century.

In He.11:37, “They were sawn asunder” refers to the Martyrdom of Isaiah tradition.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Isaiah “Isaiah, fearing Manasséh, hid himself in a cedar-tree, but his presence was betrayed by the fringes of his garment, and Manasseh caused the tree to be sawn in half (Jerusalem Talmud Sanh. X).”  Also see the Ascension of Isaiah 5:1-ff, dating from the early 1^st century AD.

The above three ancient historical incidents, recorded in traditional sources, but not in our OT…are nonetheless incidents mentioned in our NT.  (Needless to say, the OT doesn’t show every single incident regarding God’s people that occurred between the creation of Adam and Jesus’ birth!)

However, several dozen miracles are recorded in the OT.  For example: Ex.4:1-5, 17 the Lord did miracles through Moses’ rod/staff.  Ex.34:28-35 Moses’ face shined after he’d been in God’s presence to receive the Decalogue.  2Ki.13:20-21 a dead man revived and stood up when his corpse came into contact with the bones of the prophet Elisha.  2Ki.2:7-8 the Jordan River parted when the prophet Elijah struck the waters with his mantle garment.  Also, in the NT, God performed healing miracles through cloths touched by the apostle Paul, Ac.19:11-12.

From the beginning, the Lord has done amazing things… sometimes even through garments and cloths!

The skins legend may not seem credible enough for us to believe?  However, the Biblical truth of all the wonders God has done…perhaps adds feasibility and credence to the legend that the skins God made for Adam were empowered, desired, and passed down to Adam’s descendants.

Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job

This topic will focus on the Ten Commandments, as found in the books of Genesis and Job.  Prior to the time God gave the Ten Commandments (so-called) to Moses/Israel at Sinai in Exodus 20.

The books of Genesis and Job reflect most of the moral directives or laws that were later codified for Israel and the Jewish people in the Mosaic Law.  My topic “Genesis Principles Predate Moses” notes three dozen of God’s principles seen or implied in Genesis.  James Bruckner Implied Law in the Abraham Narrative, p.67 “Genesis is embedded with law.”

God’s righteous standards for mankind and the Kingdom of God, and even glimpses of Christ’s gospel, are seen in the book of Genesis.  Albertus Pieters Notes On Genesis “Whoever has learned the Genesis stories has learned all the chief things that can be known about God (apart from the incarnation of God in Christ)…of permanent institutions for the well-being of mankind; we have here the institution of the Sabbath, marriage, government, and worship.”  A careful reading of the Genesis narrative bears this out.

Genesis was written/compiled by Moses, as inspired by God’s Holy Spirit.  It tells of ancient non-Jews.  Some of them applied God’s ways, while others violated the principles of God and His Kingdom.

The Lord said of the gentile/non-Jew Abraham in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed My voice, kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”.  Also Wisdom of Sirach 44:20 KJV 1611 edition “Abraham kept the law of the Most High.”  Abraham, living ca 2000 BC, was obedient to the Lord.  Abraham followed God’s principles/commandments, known in Genesis.  (also ref “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)

The book of Job shows that Job practiced the Golden Rule.  Jesus said in Mt.7:12, “However you want people to treat you, so treat them”.  Jb.1:1 “Job was blameless, upright, fearing God.”  Righteous Job (Ezk.14:14) cared for others (e.g. Jb.31:16-20)….ca 1700 BC.  Jb.1:8 the Lord called Job “My servant”.  Job was the greatest man in the East (Jb.1:3).  He wasn’t Jewish.  The patriarch Job lived for 200 years (cf. Jb.42:16).  Job’s trials probably were in the 1700s BC.  see “Job and the Land of Uz”.

Among the ancient gentile Godfearers who obeyed God…were Abraham (Ge.22:12) and Job (Jb.2:3).

In Genesis and Job, there’s no nation of Israel.  Later, the Lord had Moses codify the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, seen in Ex.20 & De.5.  The Old Covenant for Israel/Jews contained the Ten Commandments and other moral precepts/laws existent in Genesis, which ancient righteous gentiles such as Abraham & Job obeyed earlier.  (The Old Covenant also contained ceremonial rituals not seen in Genesis or Job.)

Expositor’s Greek Testament Ga.3:19 “The prohibitions of the Ten Commandments….these sins prevailed before the law [of Moses].”  A close reading of actions in Genesis and Job reveals both knowledge of and violations of the commandments which later became the Decalogue for Israel.

Evangelical Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser wrote in God’s Promise Plan and His Gracious Law: “So endemic is the moral law to the whole of the Mosaic law that evidences for its abiding nature can be found in the fact that even before it was given on Sinai it was held to be normative and binding on all who aspired to living by faith. In fact every one of the Ten Commandments is already implicitly found in the Genesis record even before their publication on Sinai. Moses didn’t invent the moral law; God did, and He had already been holding men and women responsible for heeding it millennia before he finally wrote it on tablets of stone.”  Living by faith included living by God’s Ten Commandments.

We’ll now go through the Ten Commandments from 1 to 10, according to Ex.20:1-17.  As we go, we’ll also show them as implied in the books of Genesis and Job….obeyed or disobeyed…prior to 1700 BC.

#1) Ex.20:1-3 “God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I AM the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods besides Me.”  In Ge.1–2 the Lord God is identified as the Creator.  He is the true Deity.  God told Abram in Ge.15:7, “I AM the Lord who brought you out of Ur”.  Abraham’s servant said in Ge.24:48, “I bowed and worshiped the Lord; and blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham”.  Jb.1:21 “Job said, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Jb.42:1-2 “Job answered the Lord, ‘I know that You can do all things.”  Abraham and Job knew the Lord God.  They didn’t worship pagan gods.  Ge.35:1-2 “God said to Jacob [Abraham’s grandson]…‘make an altar to God.’ So Jacob said to his household and to all with him, ‘Put away the strange gods which are among you.”  Jacob rid his house of other gods.

#2) Ex.20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourselves an idol or any likeness [graven image or petroglyph] of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath….you shall not worship them or serve them.”  The Lord forbad the worship of carved images or heavenly bodies.  Jacob’s father-in-law Labán was an idolator.  Ge.31:35 “He [Laban] searched, but didn’t find his idols [terraphím, Hebrew].  Again, Jacob and his household put away their own idols.  Ge.35:4 “Jacob buried them [idol gods] under the oak near Shechém.”  Job acknowledged in Jb.31:26-28, “If I regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon, so that I worshiped them with my mouth and hands, that would have been iniquity…I would have denied God above.”  Job knew that worshiping/idolizing heavenly bodies would’ve belied the true Creator God.

#3) Ex.20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”  Abraham enjoined his servant in Ge.24:3, “I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth”.  Abraham’s requirement that his servant take a solemn oath in the name of the Lord indicates they understood the name of God isn’t to be taken in vain.  Abraham himself swore in Ge.14:22, “I raise my hand to the Lord God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth”.  Misusing God’s name can mean taking His name lightly, blaspheming or cursing Him.  Job’s wife berated Job in Jb.2:9-10, “Curse [or renounce, Cambridge Bible] God and die….In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.”  In all his trials, Job didn’t take the Lord’s name in vain.  Job blessed God’s name (Jb.1:21).

#4) Ex.20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and rested on the 7^th day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  In the Bible, the 7^th day was the first thing God made holy!  After Creation, Christ ceased or rested in Ge.2:1-3. “By the 7^th day God finished His work which He had done, and He ceased on the 7^th day. Then God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and made.”  This was the beginnings of 7^th day sabbath rest.  JFB Commentary Ge.2:3 “The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.2:3 “A 7^th day Sabbath must have been prescribed to man in Eden.”  Dwight L. Moody Weighed and Wanting, p.47 “The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since.  Matthew Henry Commentary Ge.8:12 “Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he [Noah] expected special blessings.”  JFB Ge.8:12 “Seven days – a strong presumptive proof that Noah observed the Sabbath in the ark.”  Ellicott Commentary Ex.16:23 “Much can be said in favor of the primeval institution of the Sabbath, and its having been known to the family of Abraham.”  Matthew Henry Ge.2:1 “Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the Sabbath…was religiously observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age.”  The patriarchal age included Abraham & Job.  The 7-day week, known by the ancients, was a customary time period for feasting (Ge.29:27) and mourning (Ge.50:10, Jb.2:13).  Ex.16:27-29 God’s 7^th day sabbath law already existed before He gave the Decalogue in Ex.20.  In the (supposed) Book of Jasher 70:47, a Pharaoh had decreed 7^th day rest for Israelites decades prior to the Exodus.  (also see the series, “Sabbath 7^th Day”.)

#5) Ex.20:12 “Honor your father and your mother.”  We see examples in Genesis of sons honoring, and dishonoring, their parents.  Ge.25:8-10 “His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him [Abraham].”  They gave their father a proper burial.  Ge.28:7 “Jacob obeyed his father and mother [Isaac and Rebekah].”  But Ge.9:24-26, “When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.”  Dishonoring a parent or grandparent is wrong.  Ge.38:8-10 Onán disobeyed his father Judah, and the Lord took Onan’s life.  Job’s trials included the deaths of his sons & daughters (Jb.1:18-19).  Job was stripped of his honor and dignity; his relatives and associates avoided him (Jb.19:9-19).  However, respect or honor for elders in general is seen in Job.  Jb.32:4-7 “Elihú had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he.”  The younger man Elihu deferred to Job and Job’s three friends, allowing them to speak first.  JFB Commentary “In deference to the seniority of the friends who spoke.”

#6) Ex.20:13 “You shall not murder.”  Murder was committed in Ge.4:8. “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”  Consequently, God cursed Cain from the land (v.9-13).  God commanded Noah in Ge.9:5-6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man”.  Murder is a capital crime; it was condemned from the beginning.  Jb.24:14a “The murderer arises at dawn; he kills the poor and the needy.”  The poor may be cruelly killed, because they have no more that can be taken from them.  Job asserted himself against any charge of hypocrisy in Jb.31:39. “If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or caused the owners to lose their life.”  Pulpit Commentary “Either by actual violence or by depriving them of the means of support.”  Job was a wealthy man of renown.  But he didn’t kill others to take possession of their land (cf. 1Ki.21:18-19).

#7) Ex.20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.”  Adultery occurs when a man has sexual relations with a woman who is married or betrothed to another man.  The ancients knew adultery was sin.  Ge.20:6-9 conversing with Abraham, Abimélech referred to adultery as a great sin.  Also ref Ge.26:10-11, where sleeping with Isaac’s wife Rebekah would’ve brought guilt upon anyone who did so.  Ge.39:7-9 “The master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘How could I do this great evil and sin against God?”  Joseph viewed adultery as a great evil!  Jb.24:15 “The eye of the adulterer waits for the dusk, thinking, ‘No one is watching us.’ He disguises his face.”  Also Jb.31:9-11 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have lurked at my neighbor’s door….it would be an iniquity.”  Having sex with a neighbor’s wife is iniquity.  Adultery was sin for gentiles/non-Jews too…long before Christ’s Decalogue was codified for Israel at Sinai.

#8) Ex.20:15 “You shall not steal.”  Regarding Jacob’s wages, Jacob said to Laban in Ge.30:33, “If I have any goats that aren’t speckled or spotted, or any lambs that aren’t black, it will be counted stolen by me”.  Joseph’s brothers asserted to his house steward in Ge.44:8, “How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? If any of us has it, let him die.”  Many ancient nations had severe (or excessive) punishment for theft.  Jb.24:14b “At night he is as a thief.”  The Sabeáns and Chaldéans raided & stole Job’s livestock in Jb.1:14-17.  Theft was a crime from the beginning.  Robert Flockhart The Street Preacher, p.16 “Eve stole the forbidden fruit, and Adam partook of it [Ge.2:16-17, 3:6].”

#9) Ex.20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  The Lord God said man would surely die if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Ge.2:17).  But the serpent then spoke falsely to Eve about God’s declaration.  The serpent said in Ge.3:4, “You shall not surely die”.  In Ge.39:14-20, the wife of Joseph’s master falsely claimed that Joseph had tried to rape her.  Her false charge resulted in Joseph being sentenced to prison (perhaps for life).  False witness and lies can have grave consequences.  Job maintained his integrity, as seen in the following verses: Jb.6:28 “Please look at me, and see if I lie to your face.”  Jb.24:25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and make my speech worthless?”  Jb.27:4 “My lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue utter deceit.”  Jb.31:5-6 “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit, let God weigh me on just scales.”  Jb.36:4 “Be assured that my words are not false.”  False witness and lies were wrong…before Sinai.

#10) Ex.20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  To covet wrongly is to (illicitly) desire something we can’t come to rightfully have or obtain someday.  Ge.3:6 “The woman [Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, that it was desirable to make one wise.”  Eve coveted the fruit from the forbidden tree…and she ate from it.  Wrong coveting can lead to overt sins such as stealing, adultery, violence and murder.  Ge.6:5 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great, and that every intent of the thought of his heart was evil continually.”  Coveting begins in the heart.  Laban coveted wealth and cheated Jacob (Ge.31:7), who worked for him.  Job said in Jb.31:7 ISV, “If my heart covets whatever my eyes see….”  Carteret Carey Theology in the Book of Job, p.27 “Covetousness is regarded in the light of idolatry (31:24-25).”  The apostle Paul tied coveting to idolatry in Col.3:5. “Covetousness [or greed], which is idolatry.”  Wrong covetousness was in Eden.  also see the topic “Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire”.

In the above paragraphs, we’ve found the Lord’s Ten Commandments (implied) in the books of Genesis and Job, for ancient gentiles/non-Jews.  Yes, God had moral laws in Genesis, from the beginning.  1Jn.3:8 “The devil sins from the beginning.”  Sin isn’t imputed when there is no law, according to Paul (Ro.5:13).  Barnes Notes Ro.5:13 “There must have been a law of some kind.”  God’s laws, which show how to love God and love our neighbor, existed from Creation…for all of mankind.

Bruckner op. cit., p.208-209 “Law is presented, in this first canonical book of scripture [Genesis], as part of the created order….The basis for all cultures and times. Thinking of Biblical law in the context of creation as prior to the Sinaitic covenant…establishes Biblical law as operative beyond the confines of a historical past or a single culture, and establishes it in the bone and flesh of created humanity.”

To relegate the Ten Commandments solely to the Old Covenant of Ex.20 for Israel, is short-sighted.  The principles of the Ten Commandments long predate both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant!  They are common to all mankind.

Between the lines of Genesis and Job are seen God’s righteous standards, including the Ten Commandments.  Re.22:14 KJV “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.”  Gentiles and Jews who are obedient to God’s commandments, living forever with the Lord Jesus.  Praise God!

Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text

This topic shows approximate BC dates for the Old Testament (OT) Patriarchs.  It compares the Greek Septúagint/LXX timeline with the Hebrew Masorétic Text (MT) timeline.  Their timelines aren’t the same.  This topic, with the TABLE below, reflects the BCE period from Adam to Moses.

The MT is the Hebrew OT text in use today.  It was copied by Jewish scribes/Masorétes in Jerusalem and Tibérius between 500–1000 AD.  Masórah basically means ‘tradition’.  Wikipedia: Masoretes “The ben Ashér family was largely responsible for the production of the Masoretic Text, although there existed an alternative Masoretic Text of the ben Naphtalí Masoretes.”  The ben Asher version became authoritative, though some Jewish scholars (Saádia Gáon) preferred the ben Naphtali version.  Toráh scholar Rámbam (1135-1204 AD) approved the ben Asher codexes (bound handwritten manuscript volumes of scriptures).  The oldest complete MT manuscript (ms) is the Leningrad Codex of 1008 AD.

The OT in most of our English Bibles is the MT.  Such as: King James Version (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), Jewish Publication Society Tanákh (TNK), etc.

Wikipedia: Septuagint “It is the oldest and most important complete translation of the Hebrew Bible made by the Jews.”  The translation of the Hebrew OT into the Koiné old Greek version was done in stages by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt.  It was begun circa (c) 270 BC and completed by 132 BC.  S. Douglas Woodward Rebooting the Bible, Part 1, p.28 “The Alexandrian Septuagint, also known as the ‘Old Greek’.”  It has morphed into the LXXs of today.  The Codex Alexándrinus (Alex) of 400 AD is the oldest complete LXX ms we have.  The near complete Codex Vaticánus (Vat) dates from the 300s AD.  However, missing from Vat are the pertinent patriarchal genealogies shown in Ge.5 & Ge.11.

The LXX Alex and LXX Vat codexes both date 600 years (yrs) before the oldest MT codex of 1008 AD.

LXX manuscripts (mss) have differences too (so did MT families).  Today’s Septuagint editions use various old mss.  Following are four English editions of the LXX and Bibles that today contain the LXX:

1 A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Nets), edited by Pietersma & Wright, 2007.  Nets uses the German Gottingen Septuagint and Rahlf’s Septuagínta (1935), whose lead ms is Vat.

2 The Septuagint With Apocrypha: Greek and English (Bre), translated by Sir Lancelot Brenton, 1851.  Bre mainly used Vat, secondarily Alex, and other old mss.

3 The Apostolic Bible Pólyglot (Abp), by Charles Vanderpool, 1996, is a Greek interlinear LXX & New Testament with Strongs numbers.  Abp uses Vat, along with the Compluténsian Polyglot Bible (Madrid), the 1709 Greek OT edited by Lambert Bos (Dutch), the Áldine (Venice) text and Síxtine (Roman) text.

4 The Orthodox Study Bible (Ort), by the St. Athanásius Academy, 2008.  This Bible’s OT is the LXX.  Ort uses Rahlf’s Septuaginta (whose lead ms was Vat) and Bre.

Examining the timeline of the OT patriarchs helps us see God’s word in its historical context.  But LXX versus MT discrepancies are evident in verses which relate to the dating of those ancient patriarchs!  Exact dates for the births & deaths of the patriarchs are unknown.  The LXX dates in the following TABLE are approximated from the ancient Alexándrine codex.  All dates in the TABLE are BC.

TABLE:
	LXX	LXX Age	LXX		MT	MT Age	MT
Patriarch	Born	Begetting	Died	Lifespan	Born	Begetting	Died
Adam	5451	230	4521	930	4065	130	3135
Seth	5221	205	4309	912	3935	105	3023
Enosh	5016	190	4111	905	3830	90	2925
Cainan 1	4826	170	3916	910	3740	70	2830
Mahalalel	4656	165	3761	895	3670	65	2775
Jared	4491	162	3529	962	3605	162	2643
Enoch	4329	165	3964	365	3443	65	3078
Methuselah	4164	187	3195	969	3378	187	2409
Lamech 2	3977	188	3224	753/777	3191	182	2414
Noah	3789	500	2839	950	3009	500	2059
Japheth	3289		?	?	2509		?
Shem	3287	100	2687	600	2507	100	1907
Ham	3285		?	?	2505		?
Flood	3189		3189		2409		2409
Arphaxad	3187	135	2622	565/438	2407	35	1969
Cainan 2	3052	130	2592	460	absent	absent	absent
Shelah	2922	130	2462	460/433	2372	30	1939
Eber	2792	134	2288	504/464	2342	34	1878
Peleg	2658	130	2319	339/239	2308	30	2069
Reu	2528	132	2189	339/239	2278	32	2039
Serug	2396	130	2066	330/230	2246	30	2016
Nahor 1	2266	79	2058	208/148	2216	29	2068
Terah	2187	70	1982	205	2187	70	1982
Abraham	2117	100	1942	175	2117	100	1942
Sarah	2107		1980	127	2107		1980
Ishmael	2031		1894	137	2031		1894
Isaac	2017	60	1837	180	2017	60	1837
Esau	1957		?	?	1957		?
Jacob	1957		1810	147	1957		1810
Reuben	1878		1753	125	1878		1753
Simeon	1877		1757	120	1877		1757
Levi	1875		1738	137	1875		1738
Judah	1873		1754	119	1873		1754
Dan	1872		1747	125	1872		1747
Naphtali	1871		1739	132	1871		1739
Gad	1870		1745	125	1870		1745
Asher	1869		1744	125	1869		1744
Issachar	1870		1748	122	1870		1748
Zebulun	1869		1755	114	1869		1755
Dinah	1869		?	?	1869		?
Joseph	1867		1757	110	1867		1757
Benjamin	1857		1732	125	1857		1732
Kohath	1830		1697	133	1830		1697
Amram	1811		1675	136/137	1811		1674
Manasseh	1833		?	?	1833		?
Ephraim	1833		?	?	1833		?
Moses	1692		1572	120	1692		1572

As seen in the TABLE, the LXX Alex timeline shows that Adám was created c 5451 BC; whereas the MT shows Adam was created c 4065 BC.  That’s a difference of 1,386 yrs!  The difference is due to the patriarchs’ Begetting Ages and (post-Food) Lifespans…in the LXX versus the MT.

According to the LXX, Adam was age 230 when he begat Seth, c 5221 BC.  But according to the MT, Adam was age 130 when he begat Seth, c 3935 BC.  The difference in Adam’s begetting age is 100 yrs!

A 100-year discrepancy in Begetting age in the LXX versus the MT continues with each patriarch until Methusélah, the 8^th patriarch.  Both the LXX and MT show that he begat Lámech 2 at age 187.

However, the Lifespans of the pre-Flood patriarchs (all but Lamech 2) are the same in the LXX and MT.

Methuselah lived 969 yrs; he died before the Flood.  LXX mss differ in regards to the number of yrs Methuselah lived before and after he begat Lamech 2.  (Lamech 1 was a descendant of Cain, Ge.4:18-24.)  Alex, Abp, Ort say Methuselah begat Lamech 2 at age 187 and then lived 782 yrs afterwards (as does the MT).  Nets & Bre say Methuselah begat Lamech 2 at age 167 and lived 802 yrs afterwards.  A 20-yr difference.  But 167 yrs plus 802 yrs would have Methuselah living 14 yrs past a 3209 BC Flood!

Henry B. Smith Methuselah’s Begetting Age in Gen.5:25 and the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint “We can firmly claim that the 167 reading for Methuselah’s begetting age in some LXX MSS of Gen.5:25 is an early scribal error, and was not part of the original [Alex] LXX translation.”

St. Augústine (354–430 AD) City of God 15:13 “There are three Greek manuscripts, one Latin and one Syriac…in all of these [five mss] Methuselah is said to have died 6 years before the Deluge.”

My TABLE reflects 187 yrs & 782 yrs (total = 969); its date of 3195 BC for Methuselah’s death is 6 yrs before the Flood of c 3189 BC.  But if Lamech 2 had begat Noah 20 yrs earlier…the Flood is 3209 BC.

Also the Lifespan of the pre-Flood Lamech 2, son of Methuselah, differs in the LXX versus the MT.  The LXX says his lifespan is 753 yrs, whereas the MT says his lifespan is 777 yrs.

Concerning the Begetting ages of patriarchs born after the Flood, there is a 100-yr discrepancy in the LXX versus the MT for all patriarchs from Arphaxad/Arpachshad down through Serúg.  John van Tuyl A New Chronology for Old Testament Times, p.117 “The LXX numbers (Alex and Sistine) for fatherhood of the patriarchs after the Flood are always the same as the MT numbers, plus exactly 100 years…until Nahór is reached.”  Nahor 1, that is, Ge.11:22.  (Nahor 2 was one of Abraham’s brothers, Ge.11:26.)

The LXX says Nahor 1 was age 79 when he begat Térah; the MT says Nahor 1 was age 29 when he begat Terah…that’s only a 50-yr discrepancy, not a 100-yr.  (Among the LXXs referenced, Bre alone says the begetting age of Nahor 1 was 179 and his lifespan was 304 yrs, not 79 and 208 yrs.)

Another discrepancy is in Ge.11:12-13.  The LXX shows Arphaxad begat Cainán 2 his firstborn at age 135, and Cainan 2 then begat Sheláh.  Luke too says Cainan 2 was the son of Arphaxad (Lk.3:35-36).  But the Ge.11:12 MT says Arphaxad (not Cainan 2) fathered Shelah.  Cainan 2 is absent in the MT.

Ge.11:26, 31-32 Terah begat Abraham (his younger son) at age 70, and Terah’s lifespan was 205 yrs.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:5 “Terah begat Abrám in his 70^th year. Terah died when he had lived to be 205 years old.”  Ac.7:2-4 after Terah died, God removed Abraham into the land of Canáan.  Andrew Sibley Was Terah Dead When Abraham Left Harran?: “There is a chronological difficulty regarding the date of Abraham’s birth in relation to the age of Terah. If the period recorded in the Old Testament from Terah’s birth to Abram’s birth (70 years) is integrated with the time Abram left Harrán [at age 75, ref Ge.12:4], a period of only 145 years for the life of Terah would be established. But Terah died at age 205, leaving a gap of 60 years.”  How may this ‘60-yr gap’ (205 – 145 = 60) be resolved?

Abraham legally obtained land in Canaan “when his father was dead” (Ac.7:4).  Ge.23:1 Abraham’s wife Sarah died at age 127.  Ge.23:17-20 for her burial, Abraham purchased land in Canaan.  He’d lived nearly 30 yrs in the land of the Philistines, prior to Beershéba (Ge.21:34, 22:19).  ISBE: Abraham “The death of Sarah became the occasion for Abraham’s first acquisition of the first permanent holding of Palestine soil, the nucleus of his promised inheritance.”  He purchased the land from Hittites.  Diana Edelman TheTorah.com “The field and cave are Abraham’s first acquired land rights in Canaan.”  In the year Sarah died and Abraham acquired the field, he was age 137.  cf. Ge.17:17.  Terah had died two yrs before, at age 205, when Abraham was 135.  (Terah preceded his son by 70 yrs.)  Augustine op. cit. 31, 35 “His [Abraham’s] settlement in the land of Canaan, not his going from Harran, took place after his father’s death….He was settled in that land, entering then on actual possession of it; that is, after the death of his father, who died two years before.”  That rationale resolves the seeming ‘60-yr gap’.

{Sidelight: The individual saints who wrote the books of the Bible didn’t always order their writings chronologically.  (Had they always wrote chronologically, it sometimes would’ve interrupted the story flow.)  For example, Ge.25:7-8 notes that Abraham died at age 175.  v.26 says his son Isaac begat the twins Jacob & Esau at age 60.  But when Isaac was 60, Abraham was still alive at age 160!  Yet several verses previous it noted that Abraham died at age 175.  Similarly, Ge.11:32 notes that Terah died at age 205, yet he was still alive while the story of events in Abraham’s life unfolded in Ge.12–Ge.21.}

The timeline for the patriarchs Abraham down through Moses is addressed with detail in the topic “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  See that topic; I won’t address its particulars here in this topic.

Source material for this topic is taken primarily from the book of Genesis, especially chapters 5, 10-11 (also Ge.25, 29-30).  Besides Genesis, a source for the lifespans of Jacob’s sons is Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P).  It was written in Aramaic and finalized between 140 BC and 150 AD.  Ref in T12P: Reuben 1:1; Simeon 1:1; Judah 12:12, 26:2; Dan 1:1; Naphtali 1:1; Gad 1:1; Asher 1:1; Issachár 7:1; Zebulún 1:1; Benjamin 12:2.  Another Jewish extra-Biblical source is the Book of Jubilees (or ‘Little Genesis’), written in Hebrew c 150 BC.  Jub.28:23, 30:2 refers to Jacob’s daughter Dinah, and Zebulun as her twin brother.  The Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q543-5 tells of Moses’ father Amrám.

Again, exact dates for the OT patriarchs are uncertain/unknown.  Some historians think it’s conceivable that the pre-Flood patriarch years may represent (old earth) unknown extended periods of time.

Jeremy Sexton Primeval Chronology Restored “According to the MT, God created Adam c 4000 BC; according to the LXX c 5500 BC. Jewish scribes in Egypt translated the Torah into Greek (c 280 BC).”

Demétrius (Jewish chronologer c 220 BC) calculated the creation of Adam at 5500, 5484, or 5451 BC.

Jewish Library: Eupólemus – This Jewish historian said 158 BC is “5,149 yrs from Adam” (5307 BC).

Wikipedia: Dating Creation “Early Christians calculated Creation…Clément of Alexandria [200 AD] 5592 BC, Theóphilus [180 AD] 5529 BC, Sextus Julius Africánus [230 AD] 5501 BC, Hippólytus [230 AD] 5500 BC, Pánodorus [412 AD] 5493 BC, Sevérus [403 AD] 5469 BC, Býzantine calendar [600s AD] 5509 BC.”

Irish Archbishop James Ussher (in 1654 AD) dated Adam at 4004 BC.  Jewish rabbis say 3761 BC.

Another relevant book sourced for the TABLE timeline was Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.

My other topics on OT chronology: “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”, “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”, “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Skins Made For Adam Were Passed Down?”.

 

Sabbath 7th Day (1)

There’s been much controversy in the church about whether or not Christians should observe the 7^th day sábbath of scripture, or the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) & Protestant tradition of Sunday, or no specific day.  RCC Archbishop James Gibbons wrote in The Faith of Our Fathers, 1876, p.89, “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”  A surprising admission!?  Let’s see what the scriptures say about the 7^th day.

The 7^th day sabbath has its beginnings at Creation.  The Holy Spirit and Christ, the Spirit and the Word, are the Creators (being the divine agents of Father God).  ref Job.33:4, Ps.104:30, 33:6, Jn.1:3, Col.1:16.  They are God, the God-kind, the “Us” of Ge.1:26. “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”  God declared as “good” each of the first six days of Creation: Ge.1:4, 8 (LXX), 10, 12, 18, 21, 25.  Then Ge.1:31, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”  Creation ends.

When Creation was finished, Christ ceased (shabáth Strongs h7673, verb).  Ge.2:1-4 “By the 7^th day God finished His work which He had done, and He ceased on the 7^th day. Then God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified it, because in it He ceased from all His work which He had created and made.”  Although the first six days were all good, only the 7^th Day did Christ bless and sanctify or make holy!  This is the great prototype of the weekly 7^th day sabbath; a temporary cessation/rest dedicated to God.

The 7^th day sabbath is a sign which identifies God as the Creator of everything.  No other day of the week so reflects God as Creator.  By ceasing or resting on the 7^th day, the sabbathkeeper witnesses that his God is the Creator God.  We may choose to rest or worship God on other days too.  But as Lord of the 7^th day sabbath, at creation Christ ordained the 7^th day as holy or sanctified/set apart, and no other day of the week.  And throughout the Bible, Christ nowhere rescinded His 7^th day as holy time!

“Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  JFB Commentary Ge.2:3 “The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation.”  Benson Commentary Ge.2:3 “God blessed the seventh day’. He conferred on it peculiar honor, and annexed to it special privileges above those granted to any other day; ‘and sanctified it’. That is, separated it from common use, and dedicated it to his own sacred service, that it should be accounted holy, and spent in his worship, and in other religious and holy duties. It appears evidently by this, that the observation of the sabbath was not first enjoined when the law [Mosaic] was given, but it was an ordinance of God from the creation of the world.”  The 7^th day sabbath long antedated Moses/Israel and giving the Decalogue.

An eternal law of God existed in the heavens.  In 2Pe.2:4, Peter wrote of the “angels who sinned”.  (cf. Jb.4:18)  Where no law is, there is no transgression or sin (Ro.4:15).  So a law existed which angels violated.  1Eno.99:2 spoke of those who transgress the “eternal law”.  (Jude 1:14 refers to 1Enoch.)  1Eno.106:13-14 “Some angels sin and transgress the law.”  Law & order exists in the heavenly realm.

The Book of Jubilees is dated 150 BC.  Jub.2:30 “We [the angels of the presence and sanctification] kept Sabbath in the heavens before it was made known to any flesh to keep Sabbath on earth.”  That indicates the sabbath day was observed in the heavenlies prior to Eden?  Pulpit Commentary Ge.2:3 “We conclude that a 7^th day sabbath must have been prescribed to man in Eden. Here was the 7^th day sanctified, or instituted in the interests of holiness, proclaimed to be a holy day.”

After the Flood, in Ge.8:8-12 Noah sent out a dove from the ark at 7-day intervals.  Barnes Notes Ge.8:10 “This points to the sacredness associated with the number arising from the hallowed character of the 7th day.”  Matthew Henry Commentary Ge.8:12 “Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he expected special blessings from Heaven.”  JFB Commentary “Seven days – a strong presumptive proof that Noah observed the Sabbath during his residence in the ark.”  Pulpit Commentary “The frequent repetition of the number seven clearly points to the hebdómadal division of the week, and the institution of Sabbatic rest.”  Ge.8:9 initially the dove Noah sent out could find no place of rest, so she returned to the ark for rest.  Noah didn’t send out the dove arbitrarily; he inquired of the Holy Spirit.  (Noah wasn’t Jewish.  Ge.7:1-2 God also gave the gentile Noah knowledge of clean & unclean animals, long before Moses.)

The Hebrew term for “seven” (sheba/shibah h7651) occurs 370 times in the Old Testament (OT).  It is “as the sacred full one; seven times”.  Seven signifies completeness or divine perfection.  For example: the seven days of Creation; the 7^th day sabbath; Re.1:4 the sevenfold Spirit (or seven spirits) at God’s throne; Zec.4:1-2 the golden lampstand has seven lamps & seven pipes; Job.42:8 friends of the patriarch Job were to offer seven bulls & seven rams to the Lord; etc.  Seven is God’s number, so to speak.

God said in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, My laws”. (cf. De.11:1)  The patriarch Abraham, a gentile/non-Jew, obeyed God’s (eternal) law centuries before there was a codified Mosaic law!  (see the topic “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)  Henry Commentary Ge.2:1 “Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the Sabbath…was religiously observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age.”  Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Joseph H. Hertz, Authorized Daily Prayer Book, p.579 “Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The Patriarchs are often represented as having observed the Sabbath.”  Abraham was very obedient.  The Lord even visited him in Ge.18!  Ge.18:17 Christ didn’t hide what He was doing from Abraham.  It’s unlikely that Christ left Abraham in ignorance of His holy time that had come and gone every 7^th day since Creation!  Ellicott Commentary Ex.16:23: “Much can be said in favor of the primeval institution of the Sabbath, and of its having been known to the family of Abraham.”

God promised Abraham, Ge.22:16. “By Myself I have sworn,’ declares the Lord. ‘Indeed I will greatly bless you and multiply your seed.”  The term for “sworn/oath” is shabá h7650, occurring 180 times in the OT.  It means “to swear, to seven oneself or bind oneself by seven things.”  It’s the root of the term for seven h7651.  When God (or anyone) made a solemn oath, He ‘sevened Himself’.  (He.6:13 “When God made His promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.”)  Is.45:23 “I have sworn [h7650] by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth. That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear [h7650] allegiance.”  The Lord and all humanity ‘seven themselves or bind themselves by seven things’.  It’s total.  Another example is Ps.89:49. “Thy lovingkindness O Lord, which You did swear [h7650] to David in Thy faithfulness.”  We can see the concept of seven and to seven oneself by an oath goes beyond which day we should attend church.

Christ the Lord is the God/Rock of ancient Israel (cf. De.32:4, 18 & 1Co.10:4; Is.6:1-5 & Jn.12:41-44).  Unlike the earlier patriarchs, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt (e.g. Ex.6:5-7, De.5:15); not resting on the 7^th day.  According to the supposed Book of Jasher (ref Josh.10:13, 2Sm.1:18), the Pharaoh of Moses’ youth did decree sabbath rest for the Israelites.  Jash.70:47 “Thus says the king, ‘For six days you shall do all your work and labor, but on the 7^th day you shall rest…as the king and Moses the son of Bathia have commanded.”  But the Pharaoh/king of 60 years later said to Moses regarding the Israelites, Ex.5:5, 9 “You would have them cease [shabath h7673] from their labors….Let the labor be heavier”.  So any sabbath rest allowed the Israelites was rescinded, no longer observed there by that generation.

Christ freed them and showed them clearly which day was the 7^th, His sabbath.  In Ex.16 the Israelites are no longer slaves, and Christ provides them manna in the wilderness based on His 7^th day cessation.  Ex.16:22-30 “This is what the Lord meant, tomorrow is a holy sabbath [shabáwth h7676] to the Lord.”  The Hebrew noun shabáwth appears over 100 times in the OT; Ex.16:23 is the first time.  It’s from the root verb shabáth h7673 to cease, seen in Ge.2:2 at Creation.  “That’s what the Lord meant” back in Ge.2:2 (which Moses also wrote), though as slaves the Israelites were denied (sabbath) rest.  Ex.16:4, 28 the 7^th day sabbath had been a law of God!  God gave them daily manna Sunday–Thursday and a double portion on Friday, so they wouldn’t need to gather any manna on the 7^th day Saturday.  Ex.16:30 so the people ceased [h7673] gathering food on the 7^th day.  This went on week after week for 40 years.  A total of 12,000 miracle feedings proved to them conclusively which day was the 7^th!  And it wasn’t any one day out of seven!  Christ was specific.

Adam Clarke Commentary Ex.16:23 “There is nothing either in the text or context that seems to intimate that the Sabbath was now first given to the Israelites.”  Ellicott Commentary “During the Egyptian oppression the continued observance would have been impossible.”  Catholic Encyclopedia XIII “The Sabbath is first met within connexion [sic] with the fall of the manna; but it there appears to be an institution already well-known to the Israelites.”  Benson Commentary “Here is a plain intimation of the observing a 7^th day sabbath, not only before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai, but before the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and therefore from the beginning.”  Significantly, Ex.16 predates the giving of the Law.

Christ gave to Israel the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments so-called.  Ex.20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath [h7676] day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and rested [h5117 núwach] on the 7^th day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  The 7^th day is God’s holy time, unlike any other day ordained by men.  Poole Commentary Ge.2:3 “If we compare this place with Ex.20:8-11 we shall find that Moses there speaks of God’s blessing and sanctifying of the sabbath, not as an action then first done, but as that which God had done formerly at the creation of the world.”  The sabbath wasn’t created in 1500 BC at Mt. Sinai; ancient Israel was to “remember” it.  The 7^th day sabbath was codified in the law of Ex.20:8-11, but had existed previously, as commentaries indicate.  Poole Commentary Ex.20:8 “The word ‘remember’ here is very emphatical; it reminds us of a formal delivery of the substance of this command, Ge.2:3.”  The 7^th day sabbath is a creation ordinance.  The 7^th day was the first thing God made holy!  (I’m not 7^th Day Adventist.)

The 7^th day sabbath is Saturday, both traditionally and presently.  Over 100 languages use a form of the word sabbath for Saturday!  e.g: in Arabic Saturday is Shabet, in Bulgarian Sabota, Croatian Subota, Czech Sobota, Indonesian Sabtu, Italian Sabato, Polish Sobota, Portuguese Sabado, Romanian Sambata, Russian Subbota, Serbian Subota, Spanish Sabado (literally, “the sabbath”), Greek Savvato.  And the modern Greek word for Friday is Paraskevi, meaning literally “to prepare”.  The Bible preparation day preceded the sabbath rest (Ex.16:23).  cf. Mk.15:42 “It was the preparation day, that is, the day before the sabbath.”  In the Bible koiné Greek, the term for “preparation” was paraskeué g3904…which is their word for Friday in today’s Greek!  Circa 200 AD the Roman historian “Dio Cassio speaks of the Jews having dedicated to their God the day called the day of Saturn”, heathen reckoning.  So it is clear…when Jesus walked the earth the sabbath day was Saturday!  (see the topic “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”, for man’s steps in the transition from Saturday to the traditional Sunday.)

Jesus never sinned.  Therefore, He kept the 7^th day sabbath (cf. Lk.4:16).  Christ said in Ex.31:16-17, “Celebrate the sabbath as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, on the 7^th day He ceased [h7673] and was refreshed.”  Christ was refreshed.  For man, the 7^th day is a time of refreshing from the physical/mental demands and concerns of the workweek…perpetually week after week.  The 7^th day is sanctified time devoted to God.

Christ’s new covenant is with Israel.  Je.31:31 “Behold’, says the Lord, ‘I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah.”  Gentiles may share in it, according to Paul (Ro.11:13-19).

Josephus Against Apion 2:40 “There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, where our custom of resting on the 7^th day has not come!”  Philo On The Creation (89) “The 7^th…that day is a festival of all the earth; a day which alone it is the right to call the day of festival for all people, and the birthday of the world.”  The 7^th day rest time is universal from Ge.2:3!  Theóphilus bishop of Antioch, 175 AD To Autólycus 2:12 “The 7^th day, which all men acknowledge.”

Jesus said in Mk.2:27-28, “The sabbath [sábbaton g4521, Greek] was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”.  Man was made on the 6^th day, prior to the sabbath being instituted for man on the 7^th.  Christ Himself as God & Creator made the sabbath day (and He was refreshed), and thereby He is Lord of it.  v.28 “Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”  The Son of Man also has dominion over what pertains to man.  Jesus said the sabbath was made for man/ánthropos/humanity.  (Though Christ was refreshed, God doesn’t grow weary, Is.40:28.)  Jesus didn’t say the sabbath was made just for Israel or the Jews!  Jonathan Edwards Sermon XIII “It is unreasonable to suppose that He hallowed it only with respect to the Jews, a nation which rose up above 2,000 years after [creation].”  After Adam the human was created on the 6^th day, he rested (with Christ) on the 7^th.  It wouldn’t make sense to think that Christ made the 7^th day sabbath for man, but then delayed thousands of years before He gave/revealed it to man!  Family New Testament Notes Mk.2:27 “As the Sabbath was made for the whole human race, they have a right to its rest & privileges.”  The sabbath day is a universal blessing.

By the 1^st century, the Jews had devised a traditional code which had 39 categories (plus itemization) of prohibitions for the sabbath day; as if man was made for the sabbath!  These were a man-made burden.  But Jesus said the sabbath was made for man, not vice versa!  Matthew Henry Commentary Mk.2:28 “The sabbath is a sacred and Divine institution; a privilege and benefit, not a task and drudgery.”

Again, the sabbath is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  It’s not a ‘work’.  Le.23:3 it’s a holy assembly.  It’s not for legal striving or burdensome do’s & don’ts.  However, a level of faith is necessary to believe and know that Christ will provide our daily bread/manna/needs on the 7^th day, while we rest from work.

After Israel didn’t gather any manna on the 7th day for 40 years, the younger generation knew without a doubt which day of the week is God’s sabbath!  So in De.5 when the Decalogue was repeated, there’s no admonition to “remember” it (unlike Ex.20:8 earlier).  De.5:12-15 “Keep the sabbath day. Six days shall you labor. But the 7^th day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or daughter or your male or female servant or your ox or donkey or your sojourner; so that your male and female servant may rest as well as you.”  They’re to recollect they’d been slaves.

De.5:12-15 is quite revealing.  Mankind is expected to work, caring for his own and for the earth (Ge.2:15).  Also this passage shows that the sabbath is a moral command, not just ceremonial!  Male & female servants, our employees, temporary sojourners…they need rest too.  There’s an equality in sabbath rest.  Allowing others to rest relates to loving our neighbor as yourself.  Work animals need rest.  It’s not just oxen & donkeys belonging to Jews that need rest!  All peoples’ work animals need rest…all-inclusive.  And work animals don’t just ‘rest in Christ’ either.  The sabbath is an enduring moral principle, to allow those under our charge to have rest.  Christ the Creator knew His creatures require rest.  It’s a physical need.

The Decalogue of Ex.20 & De.5 contains ten points of obedience; the 7^th day sabbath is one.  Others are: the command to honor our father & mother, and prohibitions against idolatry, murder, theft, etc.  Christ’s 7th day cessation is seen at Creation, before other points.  It’s strange to hear people claim the sabbath day ended at Jesus’ cross, but the other points are still in effect.  No one says the cross freed us to dishonor our parents, or commit murder or theft, for example.  Yet the church says we’re ‘free’ to work on the 7^th day.  Why this inconsistency?  Who gave man the prerogative to change God’s holy time (as if that’s even possible)…was it Paul, Christian gentiles, the RCC, some other man?

Again, see the topic “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.  I’ll close with The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v.1, Sermon 25. “The moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages.”  The 7^th day sabbath is part of it.

We’ll explore the sabbath issue further in “Sabbath 7^th Day (2)”.

Unclean versus Clean Food (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were addressed in “Unclean versus Clean Food (1)”.  This Part 2 is the sequel to the material covered in Part 1.  The verses noted in Part 1 are essential to Part 2.

In Part 1, we looked at the scriptural concept of “unclean” in general.  We saw Christ’s basic guidelines in Le.11/De.14:2-20 about edible and inedible creatures (especially unclean swine).  We read in Ge.7:2 where the gentile Noah differentiated between clean and unclean creatures…prior to the Old Covenant!  Without recapping Part 1, here we’ll examine other passages, mostly from the New Testament (NT).

In NT times, Pharisees were overly concerned about self-righteous ritual washings.  The rabbis wrongly assumed hands could defile, even when no Tanakh ritual uncleanness applied.  Pharisees taught that hands must be washed before eating to avoid conveying some ‘uncleanness’ to the food they touched, supposedly resulting in unclean food.  (Also some thought evil spirits were washed away at the fingertips.)

Mt.15:1-2 “Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem asking, ‘Why do Your disciples violate the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat bread [ártos Strongs g740, Greek].”  The issue of cleanliness here specifically pertained to unwashed hands when eating bread, not to eating the flesh of unclean creatures!  The controversy had to do with oral law tradition, not with the Lord’s written Old Testament commands.  Jesus’ disciples and those Jewish Pharisees weren’t eating unclean flesh at meals!  Had Jesus done so, He would’ve sinned…and then we’d have no Savior!

The Pharisees self-righteously misapplied Ex.30:19-21. “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet when they burn an offering by fire to the Lord.”  Ritual washing of the priests was required before they sacrificed, and then ate the holy meal of various (peace) offerings.  But that handwashing applied to priests.  (Foot-washing of guests was customary in the culture, cf. Jn.13:5.)  But there was no command in scripture/Tanakh requiring a layman to wash his hands before a common meal.  The Mt.15 passage reflects the Pharisees wrongly valuing their oral law above the written word of God.  So Jesus replied to them in Mt.15:3. “Why do you invalidate the word of God by your tradition?”

Jesus continued in Mt.15:10-20, “Everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated”.  But parasites, viruses, bacteria (e.g. salmonella) transmitted from unclean meat aren’t simply eliminated (see Part 1)!  Rather, Jesus is addressing eating bread with unwashed hands, not eating unclean animals.  v.15 “Peter said to Him, ‘Explain the parable to us.”  Note that it’s Peter who asks.  Jesus’ bottom line conclusion in v.20, “To eat with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the man”.

Mk.7:1-23 is a parallel account.  The Mk.7:19b phrase in some Bibles, “Jesus declared all foods clean”, isn’t in the earliest manuscripts or the KJV.  It’s a later addition.  Nonetheless, if it’s ‘food’, in scripture it’s innately clean (though it could become defiled or contaminated).  Contrary to the Pharisees, Jesus told them that laymen’s common bread remained clean and wasn’t defiled ceremonially when touched by unwashed hands.  (ref David H. Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary, p.93.)  In Luke’s shorter account (Lk.11:37-41), the Pharisee who asked Jesus to dine with him is surprised that Jesus didn’t wash before eating.

Unclean meat wasn’t mentioned in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke.

Le.20:22-26 clean versus unclean creatures also had typified a distinction Christ made between His holy nation Israel (and aliens among them, v.2)…from heathen nations with their abominable practices.  Da.7:1–6 gentile empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece were symbolized by unclean wild animals.  But since all humans, Israelites and gentiles, are unclean to eat…it’s an analogy only, and will end.  This analogy doesn’t restrict Jews from associating with most gentiles.  (Ge.8:20 early post-Flood, when there was no Israel or clear separation of peoples, God required only clean creatures be sacrificed by the gentile Noah…also later by gentiles in Jb.42:8.  Those earlier gentiles weren’t unclean by analogy.)

Ac.10:9-17 Peter’s vision regarding gentiles occurred 5+ years after the Mt.15/Mk.7 unwashed hands incident.  When Peter saw in vision the mix of sheep, cows, snakes, spiders, bats, pigs, mice, cats, dogs, etc., most were unclean to him.  (Nigel Barber 2011 Psychology Today “In China, India, and other countries, dogs are commonly eaten.”)  Ac.10:13-15 “A voice came to him, ‘Arise, Peter, kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘No, Lord. I have never eaten anything defiled or unclean.’ The voice came to him again, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider defiled.”  Peter, knowing Christ’s commandments of Le.11, even said “No” to the heavenly voice!  Jesus hadn’t said unclean creatures were now fit to eat.  Rather, those envisioned unclean creatures symbolized the gentile world comprised of various peoples.

Jesus had told Peter and the disciples in Jn.14:26, “The Holy Spirit will remind you of all things I said to you”.  We recall that it was Peter specifically to whom Jesus gave the clarification in Mt.15:15-20; Jesus said eating with unwashed hands doesn’t defile a man.  In Mt.15/Mk.7 Jesus didn’t make any change to His food laws for the Holy Spirit to later remind Peter of in Ac.10!  Ac.10:14, 11:8 are NT verses later saying Peter still didn’t eat anything unclean (akáthartos g169).  Christ’s principles are consistent!  1Co.3:16-17 we’re not to destroy the ‘temple of God’ by eating toxic creatures He forbad.

By Ac.10:28, Peter understood the meaning of his vision. “God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man defiled or unclean.”  Contrary to Pharisee oral law, Christian gentiles weren’t to be shunned and racially treated as unclean compared to Jews.  Unclean donkeys & horses belonging to Jews were touched/ridden and cared for (but not eaten)!  Humanity is all of one blood, Ac.17:26 KJV.  No peoples are unclean due to race.  (Though all humans are omnivores…Noah & gentiles, Jews too…unclean to eat!)  Ac.15:7-9 & 1Jn.1:9 believing gentiles too are cleansed from unrighteousness.  The Le.20:22-26 distinction of men especially isn’t applicable to those cleansed by Christ’s blood and given the Spirit.

Christ had given Peter the keys to the Kingdom (Mt.16:17-19).  Peter wrote to scattered Christians (1Pe.4:16) 25 years after his Acts 10 vision (which debunked the Pharisee oral law that Jews mustn’t associate with gentiles, Ac.10:28).  In 1Pe.1:15-17, Peter quoted God saying “Be you holy, for I Am holy”.  Here Peter referenced the Le.11 passage about clean & unclean creatures (his quote is repeated in Le.20:25-26).  Le.11:43-47 “Be you holy, for I Am holy. This is the law regarding all creatures, to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean, between the edible and the inedible.”  That was God’s word on clean/unclean which related to sanctification or set apart or holy.  Even as an old man, Peter still tied holiness to Christ’s commands of Le.11!  Peter knew Jesus hadn’t flip-flopped on this.

2Ti.3:15-16 Paul said Timothy had known the sacred scriptures from childhood, i.e. the Old Testament (OT).  Paul said they’re inspired.  1Ti.4:1-5 Paul also said there’s “Men who advocate abstaining from foods which God created to be shared by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing to be rejected, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer”.  What is that truth?  Ps.119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning.”  Jesus said in Jn.17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; Thy word is truth”.

Where in God’s written word (known by Timothy) do we read the truth about sanctified meats?  Even unclean creatures were created for a good purpose (Ge.1:21, 25).  But they’re not sanctified as food fit for humans, according to the truth of God’s word!  ref Le.11 & De.14:2-20 (see Part 1).  Paul went on to tell Timothy in 1Ti.4:13 to even read the OT to the church!  In the Bible, no unclean creature is identified or sanctified as ‘food’.  (Though we needn’t be vegetarians.)

Jesus stated in His parable of the fishing dragnet that was cast into the sea, Mt.13:47-50. “They gather the good into vessels, but the bad they throw away.”  Van d Brink Commentary “The bad, unacceptable fishes are all unclean fishes (Le.11:9-12), i.e. all fishes without scales and fins, and all inedible water creatures.”  Pulpit Commentary “This would include the legally unclean.”  Jesus made the distinction.

We still see unclean in the book of Revelation, written decades after the cross.  Re.16:13 mentions “three unclean spirits like frogs”.  Frogs and all amphibians are unclean.  In Re.18:2, Babylon the Great is “a hold of every unclean and hateful bird”.  Many birds are unclean.  Unclean creatures are still unfit for human consumption & health.  God loves all people, beyond the 144,000 of Israel (Re.7:4-10).

Ezekiel wrote futuristically in his latter chapters.  In Ezk.44, God spoke of the Prince, and priests.  v.23 “They shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and to discern between the unclean and the clean.”  Barnes Notes “The directions in the new order represent the necessity for holiness in all Christians.”  Matthew Henry Commentary “This chapter contains ordinances relative to the true priests.”  Again, Peter quoted Le.11:44, which is dietary, “Be you holy, for I Am holy”.

God says in Is.66:4-5, “They did evil in My sight. Hear the word of the Lord.”  v.15-18 “The Lord will come in fire and render His anger. The Lord will execute judgment on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many. Those who eat swine’s flesh, abominable things, and mice, shall come to an end,’ declares the Lord.”  In Isaiah’s futuristic prophecy, God’s punishment for willfully eating swine & mice pertains to “all flesh”!  Barnes Notes “He will execute His vengeance on all the human race. The small field mouse was regarded as a great delicacy by the Romans.”  Here God gave a stern warning!

In Ro.14, 1Co.8, 1Co.10, Paul dealt with the related issue of food sacrificed to idols…a prohibition of the Acts 15 Jerusalem council.  (for that issue, see “Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14”.)

Ro.2:9-11 there is now no difference between Jews and Greeks/gentiles.  God is no respecter of persons.  And regarding dietary and the human digestive system…whatever harms the Jew, harms the gentile.  The whole church is to abide by the four prohibitions of Ac.15, some are dietary. (see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Eating unclean (parasitic) creatures harms all the races of mankind.

Scientists say the AIDS virus was transmitted to humans by slaughtering & eating monkeys.  Monkeys are unclean.  How tragic…this scourge has nearly wiped out entire peoples!  It’s a result of disobeying the guidelines of Christ’s food laws!  False teaching or lack of teaching has led to this great calamity!

There are some who are willing to teach the scriptural truth about this issue.  Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America, is one who teaches that unclean creatures aren’t to be eaten.  Dr. Don Colbert (author of What Would Jesus Eat?) is on Christian TV…he says pork is dangerous & prohibited, and he calls shellfish the ‘cockroaches of the sea’.  Pastor Benny Hinn has commented on Ge.7:2, where the gentile Noah differentiated between clean and unclean creatures.  Benny Hinn said clean creatures are ‘the ones we’re allowed to eat’.  Hinn is a gentile, as was Noah.  Ex.15:26 Christ said He won’t put sickness on those who obey His commandments and statutes.

In the 1300s AD, European Jews were even accused of instigating plague disease epidemics, because they themselves were less affected by those epidemics!  Yair Davídiy Bible Studies and Historical Researches “Contemporary evidence does indicate that proportionately less Jews than Gentiles died from the Black Death.”  Jewish History.org The Black Death “Christians claimed that the Jews died at only half the rate.”  Why weren’t Jews as affected?  Many of those Jews practiced Biblical food laws and sanitation…they didn’t eat or touch unclean rodents which had the yersínia péstis bacteria (and carried infected parasitic fleas/lice; the rat flea is xenopsýlla cheópis.)

George Lamsa was a Syriac Christian who translated the Aramaic Péshitta into English in the 1930s.  Reportedly he claimed that in the Near East neither Jews, nor Moslems, nor Christians, were eating creatures prohibited by Mosaic Law.

Again, eating unclean (parasitic/carcinogenic) creatures harms all races of mankind.  Feeding or serving unclean flesh to our neighbor…isn’t loving our neighbor!

A Christian brother I know visited the nation of Jordan in 1989.  He told me there was no unclean pepperoni pizza in those restaurants.

Christian evangelistic efforts to Jews & Muslims are hindered by Christians eating unclean creatures…it offends those peoples!  cf. 1Co.9:19-23 for Paul’s approach.  (see “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism”.)

Before concluding, here’s a few additional passages which relate to eating/health:  Le.3:17 Christ said, “You shall not eat any fat or any blood”.  v.3-4 organ meats, which cleanse the body of impurities, weren’t eaten.  Fat, intestines, kidneys, liver, blood isn’t to be eaten!  Blood carries disease.

Ge.1:29 “God said, ‘I have given you every plant yielding seed on the surface of the earth; it shall be food for you.”  Unlike green plants, funguses aren’t seed-bearing.  They don’t do photosynthesis.  Funguses live on rot!  The most common commercial mushroom is said to be carcinogenic!  Neither do algae (e.g. spirulína) bear seed.  Seaweed isn’t a green plant.  (Carragéenan is a seaweed form of algae.)

After the Flood, Christ said in Ge.9:3, “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you, as I gave the green plant”…a parallel.  An unslaughtered carcass which had strangled/died of itself wasn’t a moving thing.  It’s not to be eaten.  We read some creatures are unclean & unfit to eat, as some green plants are poisonous & unfit to eat…e.g. African violet, philodendron, azalea, carnivorous plants (Venus flytrap), etc.  From Ge.9:3, vegetarians abstaining from meat are accepted (Ro.14:2).  However, most vegetable food lacks vitamin B12.  1Ti.4:1-3 Paul said, a doctrine of demons is to religiously advocate the abstention from (clean) meat.

Ge.1:11-12 at the Creation, “God said, ‘Let the earth sprout plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind”.  Christ ordained reproduction “kind after kind”.  No GMOs! (ref De.22:9.)  All the dangers of GMOs are yet to be determined.  There are those who engage in the business of genetically modifying organisms for the sake of profit.  Ps.59:2 “Deliver me from those who do iniquity.”  We can pray for protection from the effects of gene-splicing.

To conclude…naturopath Dr. Jordan Rubin’s The Maker’s Diet was a New York Times bestseller for a year.  He strongly believes unclean creatures such as swine, shrimp, lobster, shouldn’t be eaten.

Personally, God has shown me for 45 years the health benefits resulting from Divine healing and not eating the unclean!  (see “Healing Our Bodies”.)  God’s health guidelines haven’t been bondage for us…whereas visits to the doctor & waiting rooms and medical costs may seem like bondage to many.

Jesus and Paul said of the OT authority, “It is written!”  God loves us and wants us to enjoy healthy lives.  In Le.11/De.14 Christ gave knowledge of health principles the average person won’t obtain apart from the Bible.  Yet the findings of medical science increasingly provide data which validates the health benefits of God’s teachings.  Jesus Christ was/is Lord!

Unclean versus Clean Food (1)

The ages of my three children together totaled 60 years before any of them visited a doctor for illness or antibiotics (excluding visits to the dentist).  Their mother hasn’t used my health insurance for 35 years – no doctor visits, no prescription drugs, no antibiotics.  When they infrequently were sick, they were prayed for and anointed with oil (Ja.5:14-16).  God heals by faith.  (see the topic, “Healing Our Bodies”.)

Two main factors contributed to their general good health: Divine healing, and refraining from eating any creature identified as unclean by Christ’s guidelines.

Ex.15:26 reveals, “If you will obey the Lord your God, and hearken to His commandments and keep His statutes; I AM the Lord your Healer.”

According to the apostle Paul and others, Christ was the Rock, the Old Testament (OT) God of Israel.  cf. De.32:3-4, 18 with 1Co.10:4. “That Rock was Christ.”  Also in the Greek Septúagint/LXX De.10:17, Moses told Israel their God is “Lord of lords”…and in Re.17:14 the Lamb Jesus is “Lord of lords”.  The same Greek terminology.  In the LXX Is.45:21 their God is the Savior…and in 1Jn.4:14-15 Jesus is the Savior.  The same Greek term.  (also see “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)

Christ the Word/Lógos (Jn.1:1-4, 14) created the creatures in Ge.1.  They were all declared “good” (v.20-25).  He created them for their purpose/place in the ecosystem and food chain of life.  But not all of these good creatures are fit for human consumption.  Only clean creatures are, according to scripture.

Clean animals are naturally herbivores.  Herbivores are grazing/plant-eating ruminants (cud-chewers).

Most unclean creatures are scavengers/garbage disposers, carnivores, or omnivores.  Carnivores are meat-eating, and often carry pathogens & dangerous toxins.  Omnivores eat both plants and animals.

Unclean creatures aren’t called ‘food’ in the Bible.  By definition, it must be clean…else it’s not real food in scripture.  (However, food can be rendered unclean when it becomes defiled or contaminated.)

Jesus’ basic injunctions regarding clean & unclean creatures are described twice in the Law He gave to Moses/Israel, in Le.11 and De.14:2-20.  Christ told man His instructions and the characteristics of clean & unclean creatures He’d created.  Jesus as Creator should know…and they’re His food/dietary laws!

What was Christ’s motive in giving ancient Israel the knowledge of His dietary laws?  Most New Testament (NT) readers don’t view Jesus as a harsh or overly restrictive God…not one who would encumber people unnecessarily just to flaunt His authority.  De.7:6-15 Moses told the Israelites, “You are a holy people; the Lord your God has chosen you. The Lord loved you”.  Christ the Lord gave Israel His dietary laws for their well-being, because He loved them!  To bless them, not burden them.

Actually, two of the four restrictions of Acts 15 for the NT church…are dietary.  Ac.15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things dying of itself (strangled), and from sexual immorality.”

Christ previously had decreed these four restrictions in the OT too.  Abstention from blood and from eating things dying of itself/strangled are dietary laws involving clean animals only (Le.17:12-15), for Israelites and aliens.  (see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)

Unclean is disallowed as food.  The oral law of the Pharisees was burdensome (Ac.15:5, 10).  Christ’s dietary laws are beneficial, not burdensome.

Man’s harvesting of unclean creatures as food removes them from God’s created purpose.  Opposition by man to God’s intent brings a penalty.  Consuming unclean creatures can cause sickness, even cancer.

Scavengers were designed for their role in maintaining the environment.  Reducing the numbers of God’s ‘creature janitors’ limits the amount of carcass clean-up on the planet, and thereby disease can increase.  Harvesting unclean shrimp has destroyed nearly 40% of vital mangrove forests worldwide; reducing the populations of bottom-feeders (to eat them) results in unwanted excess CO2 in our atmosphere; and so on.  The earth and humanity suffers – man reaps what he sows (Ga.6:7).

Also, the overall effect of hunting & killing wild unclean animals for trophies isn’t good.  They too are God’s creatures.  Their survival in nature depends on the intricate balance of ecosystems.  Natural predators maintain this normal balance by killing the sick and weak.  Needless hunting disrupts the balance.

Let’s see what scripture and Jesus reveals about unclean & clean meat.  We can have faith in His word!

To begin, even centuries before God conveyed His dietary guidelines to ancient Israel, the gentile Noah knew the difference between clean & unclean animals.  Noah wasn’t Jewish.  Clean and unclean was known prior to God’s law at Sinai for Israelites/Jews!  Perhaps such knowledge was passed down from Christ’s instructions in Eden, or from Adam & Eve’s experience, or righteous Enoch had taught it.

Ge.7:1-2 “The Lord said to Noah, ‘Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, male and female; and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, male and female.”  Then after the Flood, Noah sacrificed clean animals, Ge.8:20.  God didn’t accept sacrifices of unclean animals or wild animals – only domestic clean animals were suitable for sacrifice.  The pairs of wild clean animals (e.g. deer) were for food.  But if Noah’s family had eaten an unclean male or female, that kind might have become extinct (there was only one pair of each unclean kind).  Important note…righteous Noah was a gentile!

The Lord Christ told Israel the characteristics which identify edible creatures.  Le.11:1-8 “Whatever creature has split hooves and chews the cud you may eat.”  Clean land animals/ruminants have a complex digestive system which removes toxins.  Examples of clean are sheep, goat, cattle, bison, deer, giraffe.  Unclean are swine, rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, bear, dog, cats, mice, bats, monkeys, etc.  Pulpit Commentary Le.11:2 “There is something loathsome in the idea of eating such flesh.”

Le.11:9-12 “Whatever is in the water, all that has fins and scales you may eat.”  No shellfish or skin fish are permitted.  Shellfish can be contaminated with parasites and have viruses which high heat even may not kill.  Shellfish (e.g. raw oysters & clams) can contain pathogenic bacteria such as salmonella.

Le.11:13-19 lists unclean birds.  By process of elimination, it is ascertained that clean birds have a crop for storing food, double-lined gizzard, extra finger/toe; and they eat their food only on the ground, while not holding it.  Birds of prey and scavengers (e.g. vultures) are unclean.  Wading birds don’t have the necessary gizzard with a double lining, and are unclean to eat.  Unclean birds transmit viral diseases, and their enzymes make their flesh incompatible with the human digestive system.

Most insects and creeping things are unclean, Le.11:20-23.

All reptiles and amphibians are unclean (cf. Le.11:29-30, Re.16:13).

All carnivores and most all omnivores are unclean.  Humans are omnivores, unclean to eat. (ref Ezk.4:12-15 dried cow dung was an okay common fuel.)  Cannibalism, eating a human corpse or afterbirth (even when killing isn’t done), is sin.  Humans don’t have split hooves and don’t chew the cud (Le.11:3).

Swine are unclean scavengers.  Christ commanded in Le.11:7-8, “Swine divides the hoof, making a split hoof, but does not chew the cud. You shall not eat their flesh, they are unclean to you”.

The Bible doesn’t indicate that swine were ever created as food, or became food, for humans.  There’s no historical evidence that the anatomy or habits of pigs suddenly changed at the cross!  Swine are still scavengers.

Swine carry tapeworms and trichina worms.  Trichinosis can kill people.  Those who thoroughly cook & eat pork are still ingesting (dead) trichina worms!  Who would knowingly want to eat or serve even dead trichina worms?!  In third world countries, pigs choose to be in garbage.

Squamous cancer in the pig’s skin is common.  Pig fat is even used as a medium for cultivating lab cancer growth.  Since pork fat is found throughout all cuts, it’s difficult to trim off.  Sausage and bacon are high in saturated fat & cholesterol.  For more, see the article, “Why You Should Avoid Pork”, by Christian talk show host Dr. Axe.

{Sidelight: Mine isn’t a scientific essay…but readily accessible on the internet are dozens of more technical medical articles which detail the many health hazards of eating unclean creatures.}

As scavengers, pigs will eat decaying flesh, maggots, feces, slop.  Some cities utilize swine to eat their garbage/sewage (e.g. Philadelphia, Cairo), saving millions of $ in landfill costs.  This is a wiser use of pigs.  But serving someone pathogenic unclean creatures such as swine…isn’t loving our neighbor!

The Hebrew term for swine, chazíyr Strongs h2386, occurs 7 times in the OT.  Pr.11:22 “As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.”  The Greek term for swine, chóiros g5519, occurs 14 times in the NT.  Mt.7:6 “Neither cast your pearls before swine.”  In Lk.15:13-17, Jesus said the prodigal son’s status in a distant country was reduced to feeding swine and eating swine husks.  In the Bible, swine represent unclean and degradation, the low state to which a person can fall!

De.14:3, 8 “You shall not eat any abomination…the pig.”  Here Christ says eating swine’s flesh is an abomination!  For comparison, other abominations are: causing a child to pass through the fire, witchcraft, sorcery, casting spells (De.18:9-12)!

At Gádara in the Decápolis was a herd of swine which was being used wrongly to feed the occupying Roman army.  A man there was possessed by a legion of demons, which Jesus cast out.  Mk.5:8-16 “The unclean spirits entered into the swine, and 2,000 of them rushed down the hill and drowned in the sea.”  Of note…here Jesus wasted 2,000 unclean swine, yet saved fragments of clean food in Mk.6:41-44! (ref Jn.6:10-13)

In the NT and OT LXX, the Greek term for unclean is akáthartos, g169.  The term applies to both unclean creatures and spirits, as we saw in Mk.5 (another example is Mt.10:1).  In the NT, unclean (akathartos g169) occurs 30 times, usually referring to unclean spirits.

{{Sidelight: Uncleanness also applies to worshiping foreign gods (2Co.6:16-17), religious prostitution, seeking advice from the occult darkside, ungodly heathen mourning rites.  Also to contact with decomposition (Nu.19:11-ff), house mold (Le.14:37), and impure bodily conditions such as leprosy, bodily discharge, infection, blood, menstruation, copulation (Le.13–15).  Not all uncleanness is wrong or sin.  These other aspects of unclean which are unrelated to eating won’t be discussed here.}}

Perfectly good food (clean) could become defiled if eaten in a heathen temple as a sacrifice to idols. (see “Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14”.)

Also, the carcass of an unbled or unslaughtered clean animal was defiled as food and was forbidden.  For example, an animal that died a natural death or was killed by another animal (Le.17:15, Ac.15:29).

The admonitions in Le.7:19-20, Le.22:4-6, Hag.2:12-13 referred to holy meals like peace offerings, not common meals.  However, if someone who’d touched a human corpse was to handle/prepare food, that (clean) food could become defiled (Nu.19:16, 22).  Infectious disease, hepatitis, HIV, TB, ebola can be transmitted from a corpse.

Some Bible readers think there are NT scriptures which indicate a distinction no longer exists between unclean and clean creatures (fit to eat).  As if Christ suddenly changed the human digestive system or the composition of His unclean creatures, or His character & principles aren’t really the same yesterday, today and forever (contrary to He.13:8)!

There’s more to this extensive topic.  It’s continued and concluded in “Unclean versus Clean Food (2)”.  There we examine more NT passages such as Mt.15/Mk.7, Ac.10, 1Ti.4:1-5, and other verses.  We’ll see whether or not Christ has a double-standard…one standard for the gentile Noah and then the Israelite people He loved…and a different standard for other gentiles since the cross.

Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?

The Lord told Abraham’s son Isaac in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”.  Doing all that, Abraham was very obedient to God!  Also Wisdom of Sirach 44:20, “Abraham kept the laws of the Most High.”  To be so consecrated in obedience, for sure Abraham had much faith and belief in the God he obeyed!

The apostle Paul referred to the gentile Abraham as the “father” of Christians.  Ro.4:16 “Abraham, who is the father of us all.”  Christians speculate as to which of God’s numerous commandments and principles given in the Bible were obeyed by our spiritual forefather Abraham, as per Ge.26:5.

God Most High had laws in Abraham’s day.  We don’t know the full extent of the laws kept by early righteous gentiles such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, etc.  James Bruckner Implied Law in the Abraham Narrative, p. 18 “In the Genesis narrative….conditional and unconditional commands are usually represented rhetorically by implication as oughts and ought nots.”

Abraham would’ve also been subject to the human laws of the powers that be of his day.  For example, the discovered Babylonian law code of Hammurabi dates from near the time of Abraham’s grandson Jacob or great-grandson Joseph.

However, there’s no scriptural record of any antediluvian civil government or law courts with capital punishment prior to Ge.9:5-6.

Previously, it seems that personal vengeance had been the rule.  Cain murdered his brother Abel.  Then Cain said in Ge.4:14-15, “Whoever finds me shall kill me”.  He feared some individual or a kin of Abel would take vengeance upon him.

Yet Paul indicated that a moral sense of God and of sin has always existed in man’s consciousness.  Ro.1:19-21 “That which is known of God is evident within them. For since the creation of the world, even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God.”  Early humans knew of God.

Sin occurred in the Garden of Eden (Ge.3)…long before sin was described in the Lord’s theocratic laws for Moses & ancient Israel and identified elsewhere.

But Paul said sin and law-breaking doesn’t exist without Law.  Ro.4:15 “Where there is no law, there is no violation.”  And Ro.5:13 “For until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”  Ro.3:20 “Through law comes the knowledge of sin.”

Since the Bible mentions sin several times in Genesis (Ge.4:7, 13:13, 18:20, 20:9, 31:36, 39:9, 42:22, 50:17) prior to Moses…Divine Law must have existed and been revealed to humanity prior to Moses, for sin to have been present!  1Jn.3:4 “Sin is the transgression of the law.”

The Bible indicates some of the ancients were good men.  He.11:4-5 Abel was righteous, and Enoch pleased God.  Enoch means ‘dedicated’ or ‘teacher’.  According to the (supposed) Book of Jasher 3:4-8, Enoch taught the ways of God. “He went to the sons of men and taught them the ways of the Lord; in all places where the sons of men dwelt.”

1Eno.99:2 “Woe unto them who pervert the words of uprightness, and transgress the eternal law.”  1Eno.106:13-14 “Some of the angels of heaven commit sin and transgress the law.” (cf. 1Jn.3:4)  An eternal law existed before Moses, according to 1Enoch.

Also Noah was “blameless and walked with God” (Ge.6:9), and was a “preacher of righteousness” (2Pe.2:5).  What is righteousness?  Ps.119:172 “All Thy commandments are righteousness.”

Righteous Noah may well have taught the commandments of God that righteous Abraham obeyed in Ge.26:5!  Abraham knew priest/king Melchisedek (Ge.14:18-20), who is called “greater” than Abraham (He.7:3-ff)!  These individuals taught others about God and the principles of God’s (eternal) law.

The Lord spoke to Abraham several times, and even appeared to him!  e.g. Ge.12:1-7, 15:1-21, 18:1-33, 22:1-18, Ac.7:2.  God called Abraham His “friend” (Is.41:8, Ja.2:23).  God didn’t hide from Abraham what He was about to do to Sodom (Ge.18:17).  God also didn’t hide His commandments from him.

In his Genesis narrative, Moses didn’t describe all of God’s principles obeyed by early gentiles.  There was no need…the Lord gave Moses/Israel the Law with moral principles which he went on to describe in detail in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Most of the same (Hebrew) terms are present in Ge.26:5 to note Abraham’s obedience (quoted at the top), as appear in the later De.11:1 terms for directives which the Lord gave to ancient Israel.

De.11:1 “You shall love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments.”  (Judgments/legal decisions [mishpát Strongs h4941, Hebrew] refer to God’s justice system for the theocracy, which Abraham predated.)  We see that the categories of directives the Holy Spirit inspired to be recorded in Genesis in describing Abraham’s obedience, and those used to describe directives for ancient Israel, overlap!  This similarity and consistency is significant.

In the books of Genesis and Job we see glimpses of most of the moral directives later contained in the Mosaic Law for Israel and the Jewish people!  (also see “Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job”.)

Let’s see from scripture a sampling of God’s commandments which were known by ancient gentiles such as Abraham, prior to the codification of God’s Law for Israel in Moses’ time.

The book of Job shows that Job practiced the Golden Rule.  Jb.1:1 Job was an upright man who treated his neighbor well.  Later, Jesus said in Mt.7:12, “However you want people to treat you, so treat them”.  This principle is from Le.19:18 in the Law. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (prior to Mt.)

A close reading of activity in Genesis reveals both knowledge of and violations of commandments which later became part of the Decalogue the Lord spoke to ancient Israel at Mt. Sinai in Ex.20.

Murder occurred in Ge.4:8. “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”  Blasphemy or slander of God’s character & Name is in Ge.3:1-4. “God said, ‘You shall not eat from it lest you die.’ The serpent said, ‘You shall not surely die!”  Adultery is known in Ge.12:15-19, and is called a great evil in Ge.39:9. “How could I do this great evil and sin against God?”  Coveting by Laban is evident in Ge.31:7. “Your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times.”  Stealing is in 31:19. “Rachel stole the idols that were her father’s.”  Idolatry is a sin. 31:35-36 “Laban searched, but did not find his idols. Jacob said to him, ‘What is my sin?”  And Ge.35:2 “Put away the foreign gods among you.”

The above was sin for gentiles/non-Jews in Genesis before God spoke them as commandments in the Decalogue of the Law for Moses & Israel (Ex.20, and repeated in De.5).

And the great type for the 7^th day sabbath is in Ge.2:1-3, when Christ Himself ceased on the 7^th day from His first six days of Creation.  God made that weekly time holy before there was any nation of Israel or Jews!  Later, Israel probably was forced to labor on the sabbath as slaves in Egypt.  After being freed (Ex.12), some of them chose to gather manna on the sabbath day.  God said in Ex.16:28, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?”  The Sabbath had existed as a law of God before the Ex.20:8 codification!  (see the series, “Sabbath 7^th Day”.)

Besides the Decalogue/Ten Commandments, there are other principles of God seen in His “book of the law” (De.31:26) and elsewhere in scripture.  Following are several such principles we glimpse from the lives of gentiles earlier in Genesis.  (for further detail, see “Genesis Principles Predate Moses”.):

Ge.4:4 Abel didn’t eat the (saturated) fat portions.  It’s unhealthy.  God later prohibited eating fat in Le.3:17.

Ge.7:2 Noah knew which creatures were clean & unclean, later described in Le.11 & De.14:2-21.

Ge.9:3 “moving” things are food too, but nothing dying of itself/“strangled”.  See Le.17:15, Ac.15:29.

Ge.9:4 consuming blood is forbidden from Noah’s day.  This later is codified in Le.3:17.  ref Ac.15:29.

Ge.9:20-24 indecency and drunkenness have bad consequences.  Later this is in De.24:1, Ep.5:18.

Ge.14:20 the tithing principle to church & state (priest/king Melchisedek is both).  See Nu.18:25-28.

Ge.19:5-ff homosexuality and sex with another kind/beastiality…divine punishment!  See Le.20:13-16.

Ge.31:35 avoid close contact with those discharging blood or menstruating.  Le.15, 18:19; Ac.15:29.

Ge.34:1-ff marriage or compensation due after seducing or raping a virgin.  Ex.22:16-17, De.22:28-29.

Ge.35:22 marriage or sex with your father’s wife (Ge.30:4) is prohibited.  See later in Le.18:8, 1Co.5:1.

The above principles are a sampling.  Bruckner op.cit., p.67 “Genesis is embedded with law.”

But conspicuously absent in Genesis are later Levitical ritualistic/ceremonial aspects, such as the three pilgrim feasts with the detailed sacrificial system.  These were authorized for Israel to keep only at God’s central sanctuary (ref De.16:5-6, 10-11, 15-16).  In Genesis there’s no tabernacle/temple, and there’s no Passover recorded before the Lord “passed over” Israelite homes (Ex.12:13).  see “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews” and “Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained”.

Sacrifice was ordained by God, and it’s probable He told Adam how to do it.  After Adam & Eve sinned, God involved the first sacrifice, providing them with clothing (Ge.3:21).  It’s unlikely Cain & Abel invented sacrifice on their own (Ge.4:3-5).  The practice was passed down to others.  Yet no verse commanded anyone to do recurring animal sacrifice away from the place of God’s Name/temple.

All the above shouldn’t give the impression that Christians today could devise a comprehensive church dogma/doctrine for Christian conduct gleaned from righteous practices (and wrongs) done by gentiles prior to Sinai.  Although much of it is still applicable, there are other practices/customs besides animal sacrifice apparent in Genesis which Christians today shouldn’t do.  Such as….

Ge.20:11-18 shows that some of what is later called incest was allowed in Genesis, back when the earth must be populated.  (But not all forms of what is today called incest were allowed then!)  In Ge.24:4, Abraham told his servant to “Go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for Isaac [son of Abraham]”.  Isaac told his son Jacob in Ge.28:2, “Take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother”.  Endogamy, including marriage between kin, was the cultural norm.

God commanded the first humans in Ge.1:28. “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”  Humankind is to manage the earth and its vast resources.  According to Genesis, God began with only one man (and one woman).  Thereby, God determined that the earth be populated through a form of incest…since the only humans for Adam & Eve’s children to fill the earth with would come from their own brothers & sisters (and then nieces)!  Ge.5:3 the first man Adam had “other sons and daughters”.  Those siblings could’ve married each other…since no other humans (the same “kind”) were there, besides their parents!  According to the Book of Jubilees 4:9, “Cain took Awan his sister to be his wife”.

Abraham married his half-sister (or possibly niece) Sarah.  Way back then there wasn’t the risk of birth defects, it is said.  Hugh Ross Navigating Genesis, p.120 “Genetic defects as a result of intrafamily marriage develop slowly. They would present no risk until after the first several dozen generations.”  However, DNA damage began accumulating over generations of sinning humanity, and caused gene mutation.  So in the time of Moses, God prohibited marriage between close kin.  ref Le.18 & 20 for prohibited partners.  And today there’s the risk of birth defects when near kin marry.  (This has occurred in some historical royal families.)

Modern nations have varying definitions of incest.  The New Testament itself is silent about single close relatives marrying each other.  But in Le.18 & 20, the Lord had much to say to Moses forbidding that, and other incest!

Ge.29:23-28 Jacob became married to two biological sisters simultaneously.  Later this is prohibited in Le.18:18 of the Law…when there is more female population (although plural wives are still allowed).

Also Ge.38:8-10, where a man’s refusal to conceive a child with his deceased brother’s widow could possibly constitute life-threatening neglect of her in God’s eyes.  This provision later appears in the law, De.25:5-ff (and is seen in the book of Ruth 4:5-7).  In those days, a son was often a necessity to provide for his mother in her old age!

(But much later when Paul wrote to Corinth, 1Co.7:39, a Christian widow may marry any “brother” who is “in the Lord”.  She isn’t restricted to a biological relative of her husband.  Endogamous tribal inheritance rights in the Land of Canáan aren’t a concern where Paul wrote.)

Also, added to Abraham (not to his gentile ancestors) at age 99 was the covenant of physical circumcision, to be passed down through descendants of Isaac & Jacob primarily in the Land (Ge.17, Ac.7:8).  This practice was unnecessary for Christians worldwide (Ac.15).  see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.

Conclusion: It seems quite feasible that the commandments, statutes, and laws glimpsed in Genesis that we’ve referenced and compared to the Mosaic Law…are among those which father Abraham obeyed (Gen.26:5).  Even though he didn’t have the later codified Law of Moses (cf. Ro.4:13).

Jesus said to the Jews who opposed Him in Jn.8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham”.

Abraham was given such faith to believe and obey existing commandments/statutes/laws of the Lord who revealed Himself to him!  e.g. Ge.18:1 “The Lord appeared to him [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamré.”

It may well strengthen our faith to believe the eternal God has some form of eternal Law as an enduring righteous standard, which men and angels aren’t to violate in the heavenly realm or on earth.

Re.22:14 “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the city.”

Jesus is “Lord”.  The Lord Jesus isn’t an anarchist!  He’s never been lawless.  Praise our Lord!!