Roger Isaacs2013-05-25T22:37:42-04:00Roger Isaacshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=roger-isaacsCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Roger IsaacsGood old fashioned elbow grease.Rosh Hashanah: A Day of Rest, Not the New Yeartag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9740432011-09-28T13:40:19-04:002011-11-28T05:12:01-05:00Roger Isaacshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-isaacs/Ezekiel 40:1, but there it is only in reference to a Jubilee year, not a New Year. The ordinance that is called Rosh Hashanah today is found in Leviticus 23:24. It is in the seventh month, called Tishri:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the Israelites, saying in the seventh month on the first of the month you will have a Sabbath...a holy gathering. You will do no work of service....'
The actual Jewish New Year, that is the first day of the first month, is ordained in Exodus 12:2 and refers to the month of Nisan:
"And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt...This month shall be the head of months Rosh Chadoshim) for you. It will be the first of the months of the year for you."
The day now called Rosh Hashanah has come to be a day leading to the holiday of Yom Kippur, which is traditionally observed as a time of self-examination and repentance. But that wasn't its original purpose as described in the Bible. Its original purpose was to be a day of rest. One of seven rest days prescribed in the Bible, the others included Passover (Pesach), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag Hamatzot), the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), the Festival of Booths (Sukkot), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Sabbath day.
It is interesting that almost no online references to Rosh Hashanah refer to the biblical ordinance, but are overwhelmingly concerned with its later significance.
Why rest days? The clue is found in the law concerning the Sabbath day as found in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:4. There the Lord commanded:
Remember the Sabbath day, to sanctify it. Six days you will work...But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. In it you will not do any work, you, your son and your daughter, your man servant, your maid servant, nor your cattle nor the sojourner within your gates. Because in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day....
Join the ongoing investigation of the Old Testament's puzzling questions at TalkingWithGod.net. ]]>The Radical Shift in Meaning of Biblical 'Glory'tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9059442011-07-21T14:12:48-04:002011-07-22T14:28:09-04:00Roger Isaacshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-isaacs/kawbode).
The word glory is used 148 times in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and from Deuteronomy to Malachi. In the Old Testament, glory has two entirely unrelated meanings and, thus, describes two completely different ideas.
Traditionally, glory is understood to mean "praise for the Lord." Some examples are:
Joshua 7:19: "...give glory to the Lord, God of Israel...."
I Chronicles 16:28-29: "give to the Lord glory and strength...give to the Lord the glory of His name."
Psalms 62:7: "In God is my salvation and my glory."
Jeremiah 13:16: "Give glory to the Lord your God."
Some examples of glory as an adjective include:
Nehemiah 9:5: "...blessed is your glorious name...."
Isaiah 4:2: "In that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious."
While glory can indeed indicate praise, a close study of its use in the Old Testament reveals an altogether different meaning, one that conveys the original understanding of its form and function.
A Substance
The second meaning of glory is stunningly different from praise for the Lord. As the following examples from Exodus and Leviticus seem to indicate, glory was a substance that was found in the cloud that settled on Mount Sinai and eventually on the tabernacle and the Ark of the Testimony during the Israelites' sojourn in the Wilderness.
Exodus 16:7, Moses to the Israelites in the Wilderness: "And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord."
Exoduds 16:10, Moses, when announcing the appearance of manna: "...behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud."
Exodus 24:15-17, on Mount Sinai: "And the appearance of the glory of the Lord [was] like consuming fire on top of the mountain before the eyes of the Israelites."
Exodus 33:18, Moses to the Lord on Mount Sinai: "Let me see your glory." But he was not allowed to: "...as my glory is passing ... I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and My palm will cover you during My passing."
Exodus 40:34-35, when the construction of the tabernacle was finished: "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to come into the tent of meeting because the cloud dwelt on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
Leviticus 9:4, 6, in connection with the need to first offer certain sacrifices to avoid the danger of the glory in the cloud: "For today the Lord will appear to you. ... This thing you will do [sacrifice], then the glory of the Lord will appear to you."
Leviticus 9:23, when Moses and Aaron first went into the newly constructed tent of meeting: "Then they came out and they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people."
Clearly the radical shift of glory's original meaning (a substance) to the way it was defined as praise for the Lord raises several important questions. Why did the meaning shift? What was the purpose of this substance? Why did it seem to be dangerous?
There are clear answers to these questions, and the pieces to this puzzle have been put together in "Talking with God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony." Available at Amazon. Join the ongoing investigation of the Old Testament's puzzling questions at TalkingWithGod.net.]]>Was 'the Anger of the Lord' a Natural Phenomenon?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8635632011-05-19T11:20:13-04:002011-05-25T18:50:27-04:00Roger Isaacshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-isaacs/Talking with God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony, I explore several key biblical terms associated with the ark that have either been mistranslated or not clearly understood over time. One phrase found in several verses of the Old Testament is "the anger of the Lord." There has never really been a satisfactory explanation as to how the Lord's "anger" worked as it is described in the Bible.
In the Old Testament there certainly are instances when anger (Hebrew verb, kawtsaf, noun, ketsef) means just that -- anger. But often, when the word is used in relation to the Lord, it is followed by a strange reaction relating to the verb "to glow," or more specifically, "glowed." When the anger of the Lord glowed, the result was that the person(s) at whom this phenomenon was aimed contracted a "plague."
Old Testament Examples
Numbers 1:53: When the tabernacle was constructed in the Wilderness the Bible says the Lord appointed the tribe of Levi, the Levites, to "camp around the tabernacle of testimony so there will be no anger [ketsef] on the Israelites." Later (Num. 8:19), the Lord told Moses to have the Levites serve there so that "there will not be a plague among the Israelites for coming near [the tabernacle]."
Something happened to automatically trigger plague when the people came too close to the tabernacle. When Moses ordered the Levites to "camp around" the ark, it was to protect the people from a natural reaction, the plague.
Num. 16:46, Hebrew Bible 17:11: At one time in the Wilderness a small group of men rebelled against Moses and Aaron. They were killed, and this caused all the Israelites to turn on the two leaders. The Bible says the Lord told Moses and Aaron to "get away from the midst of the congregation and I shall consume them in a moment."
Then, instead of pleading with the Lord on behalf of the people, "Moses said to Aaron, 'Take the censer, and put fire on it ... and lay incense on it and go, hurry to the congregation, and make atonement for them for the anger has gone forth from the Lord, and the plague has begun" (emphasis added). Aaron did as he was told "and stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed." In other words, a chemical procedure, caused by the burning of incense, had taken place. The chemicals in the burning incense eventually stopped the plague. (By the way, "atonement" is a mistranslation, and I will discuss this piece to the puzzle in another article.)
Num. 11:33: While in the Wilderness the people complained that they had no meat to eat. The Lord brought them quails, but when he saw them "lusting" after the meat, His anger "glowed among the people while the meat was still between their teeth ... and the Lord struck among the people a very great plague." It took two days for the people to gather the quails, so one might assume that the "glow" may have hastened their rotting, causing deadly illness.
Num. 12: 9-10: When Miriam and Aaron, Moses' sister and brother, "spoke against Moses, because he had married a Cushite woman, the anger of the Lord glowed against them and Miriam's skin turned white as snow." (To understand the chemical reason why Aaron's skin wasn't affected, read pp. 86-88 in my new book, Talking With God.)
Num. 14:11-12: In the Wilderness the Israelites complained bitterly when the spies, who had been sent out to survey the land the people were about to enter, brought back an "evil report." Although the story does not specifically say that the Lord's anger glowed, it does warn that He would strike the people with "pestilence." However, He recanted but said He would fill the whole earth with His glory. (Glory, too, is a word that has two totally separate meanings, one being part of the process that involved the plague. I intend to write about it in my next discussion.) As for those 20 years and older, their "dead bodies shall fall in the Wilderness." That plague played a part in this episode is made clear by the fact that it killed the spies who had brought the evil report (Num. 14:37).
The "anger" that glowed and led to plague indicates a cause-effect relationship. Why was this? Was the glowing anger something more than just the Lord losing His temper? If so, exactly what was it? And what really was the reaction translated as "plague?"
I believe there are clear answers to these questions, and I have put together the pieces to this puzzle in Talking with God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony.
Join our ongoing investigation of the Old Testament's puzzling questions at TalkingWithGod.net.]]>Japan's Radiation Contamination Protocols Align with Old Testament Lawstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8514502011-04-21T10:37:30-04:002011-05-25T18:45:28-04:00Roger Isaacshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-isaacs/
And now fears of a nuclear meltdown. This confluence of events in Japan has created a horrific event of biblical proportions.
Japan is the third largest nuclear power user in the world and, as of 2008, had 55 active nuclear reactors operating around the island nation, many along the coastlines. Nuclear provides one-third of Japan's electricity; that's 49,467 megawatts of power.
Like you, I've been reading various accounts of the catastrophe. A China Daily article, "Japanese With Radiation Isolated," reports that individuals suspected of having radiation contamination are being 1) screened, 2) cleansed and 3) isolated. As priests and keepers of the highly radioactive Ark of the Covenant, Moses and Aaron would agree with the approach of the Japanese.
As I explain in my book, Talking With God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony, many Old Testament laws were designed to protect the Israelites from radioactivity emanating from the cloud, through which the Lord spoke when it descended onto the Ark. People died or became ill if they came too close or touched the Ark. Thus, the protective uniforms of the priests, procedures, safety regulations and facilities were all designed to protect the priests, the people, animals, buildings and the environment from radioactive danger.
I am struck by how closely the Japanese protocol -- screen, cleanse, isolate -- aligns with Old Testament laws. Read with our modern understanding, portions of the Old Testament begin to look more and more like modules in an operations manual.
Comparing Japanese Protocol with Old Testament Laws
1. Screen. Israelites who got too close to the Ark died or contracted radiation poisoning. Survivors had to be "screened" by a priest. Leviticus 13 renders many verses that begin with "And a priest will see him..." Since radioactivity can spread from one person to another, one of the many responsibilities of the priest was to prevent the spread of contamination among the people. Thus, it was necessary to quickly determine who had been contaminated and how severe the case was.
The priest would look at the condition of the flesh to see if there were burns, patches and discoloration. He would also look to see if the hair had turned white or had fallen out.
2. Cleanse. If the condition of the skin and hair indicated radiation contamination, the priest diagnosed the sufferer as "unclean." A "cleansing" or healing regimen would be prescribed in seven-day stages; how many stages depended on the severity of the affliction and symptoms.
The Hebrew word tawhor is traditionally translated as "clean," but not clean as opposed to "unclean" in a sacred context. Tawhor is not a religious word; it is a technical term signifying that the cloud's radiation was minimized or removed by various procedures, including washing and sacrifice. Clean means that no radiation was present. Today, in the event of a dirty bomb explosion, the Centers for Disease Control recommends that those affected should "cleanse" themselves by showering or washing the body and hair with soap and water.
3. Isolate. "Unclean" people and houses, i.e., those who were either contaminated or susceptible to radiation contamination, were isolated to prevent the spread of contamination. Leviticus 13:46 says, "All the days that the radiation is in him he will be tawmay; alone he will dwell; outside the camp [will be] his habitation."
"Unclean," tawmay, doesn't suggest wrongdoing as mistranslations have led us to believe. Unclean means that someone or something has either been exposed to radiation or could attract it. Interestingly, the comparable Ugaritic word thr means "pure." The Egyptian twr means "clean" or "cleanse."
So much of what we know today about the effects of ionizing radiation seem to coincide with the biblical report of events occurring several thousands of years ago. ]]>Passover In Egypt: Did the Exodus Really Happen?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.8463372011-04-09T19:24:02-04:002011-06-09T05:12:01-04:00Roger Isaacshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-isaacs/
Passover is the Jewish festival that celebrates the flight of the Israelites out of Egypt. During this Passover season it is particularly pertinent to wonder, did the Exodus really happen?
Clues and speculations abound regarding alleged items of evidence discovered for the Exodus, and nearly all have their champions and detractors. It seems that every time a theory is proposed and the Exodus mystery appears to be solved, it is quickly shot down for one reason or another.
Nevertheless, ongoing archeological and etymological investigations into the Exodus have produced some tantalizing items and scholarship. Presented for your consideration are Exhibits 1-4. Read and wonder...
Exhibit 1: The Ipuwer Papyrus
How could plagues described in an Egyptian papyrus be so similar to those found in the Bible?
In the early 1800s, a papyrus was found in Egypt called The Admonitions of an Egyptian. It is now in the Leiden Museum in Holland. An Egyptian named Ipuwer wrote it at the end of the Middle Kingdom, around 1650 B.C.E.; scribes copied it in the 19th Dynasty, in the 1200s B.C.E. Below are some of the amazingly similar plagues described in both the Ipuwer papyrus and the Bible. (The biblical plagues befell the Egyptians at the time of Moses and the Exodus, which has been dated sometime between 1570 to 1290 B.C.E.)
The disparity of the dates between the Ipuwer and Exodus documents is enough to convince many scholars that no relation exists between the two. In addition, prevalent theory now claims the papyrus is simply ahistorical. Be that as it may, the similarities are striking, and why they are remains a mystery. Could it be that the scribes who copied the document at the time of the Exodus were experiencing similar calamities to the earlier ones and were using Ipuwer's words to warn the present-day Pharaoh?
Exhibit 2: The Israelites' Travel Itinerary and the Egyptian Maps
Did the cities the Israelites camped in on their way to Canaan really exist?
One of the most contentious problems regarding the Exodus investigation is the fact that there is no archeological evidence for various places mentioned in the biblical travel itinerary of the Israelites as they fled Egypt for the Promised Land, Canaan. In an article in the September/October 1994 issue of Biblical Archaeological Review, Charles R. Krahmalkov, then Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages at the University of Michigan, points out that various scholars have used this explanation to "reject the entire story" of Israel's origins, and therefore the Exodus.
However, Krahmalkov discusses a number of biblical sites that appear to be corroborated by Egyptian sources. Among them are Dibon (Numbers 13:45), a city where the Israelites' camped on their way to invade Canaan, and Hebron (Numbers 13:22), another city targeted for invasion.
Krahmalkov concedes the lack of archaeological evidence, but he points out that the Egyptians thoroughly mapped these sites, as well as a number of other regions mentioned in the Bible. The mapping was done in the Late Bronze age, in Dynasties XVIII and XIX (according to his dating, 1560-1200 B.C.E. He dates the Exodus in the range of 1400-1200 B.C.E.). Also included are the cities of Iyyn and Abel (biblical Abel Shittim) both in Numbers 13: 45-50; Yom haMelach (Numbers 34:3); and Athar (Hebrew Atharim) (Numbers 21:1). The maps survive in list form, and they are found on the temple walls of ancient Egyptian kings. Since they are documented in the most important extra-biblical source -- Egypt -- the evidence is strong that these cities indeed existed at the time of the Exodus.
Exhibit 3: Aper-el's Tomb
Was there a Hebrew advisor to Egyptian kings at the time of the Exodus?
In 1987, searchers rediscovered a tomb in the Saqqara region of Egypt belonging to a man they call Aper-el. They say his name is an Egyptian version of a Hebrew name. Aper-el was vizier to the famous Amenhotep III (1370-1293 B.C.E., 18th Dynasty) and later to his son, the monotheistic king Akhenaten. They dated the tomb around 1353-1335 B.C.E., but there is something of mystery here.
The tomb was originally discovered by the legendary archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie in the 1880s. He copied an inscription that spells the vizier's name Aperia. I don't know if the 1987 team found other inscriptions with the -el ending, but -el would be the equivalent of Elohim, one of the terms for God in the Bible. The ending -ia would indicate Ya, short for YHWH or Yaweh, the other biblical name for God, generally translated "Lord." (Think the familiar Halleluya, Hebrew for "praise the Lord.")
It is tantalizing to wonder if Aper-el/Aperia was indeed a Hebrew advisor to the young king Akhenaten. If so, did Aper-el/Aperia influence Akhenaten's thinking toward monotheism? In any case, it would place a Hebrew advisor to the kings within the range of years claimed for the Exodus just as Joseph was to an Egyptian king hundreds of years earlier. In the book of Genesis, Joseph rose from captive to be second only to the Pharaoh, and he was empowered to save Egypt from starvation during a seven-year drought. It isn't known how Aperel/Aperia got there!
Exhibit 4: The Shiphra Papyrus
Is the name of the Hebrew midwife in Exodus the same as that of a slave mentioned in an ancient Egyptian papyrus?
The Brooklyn Museum has a papyrus, possibly from Thebes, with a list of slaves from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, about 1740 B.C.E. It includes a slave named Shiphra and others with Semitic names. In the Bible, a Hebrew woman with the same name, Shiphra, was one of two midwives the Pharaoh commissioned to kill all the male Hebrew children at the time Moses was born (Exod. 1:15). She didn't. Since by that time all Hebrews had been put into servitude by the Pharaoh, the midwife Shiphra would also have been a slave. The fact that the name Shiphra is found in both the Bible and the papyrus indicates that the name and the woman's condition of slavery were familiar to both Israelites and Egyptians.
The Mystery Continues
Although the comparisons between the Ipuwer Papyrus and the Bible are tantalizing, Ipuwer alone does not provide absolute evidence for the Exodus and the Passover. For that matter it can't even account for the existence of the Israelites.
As long as there is little tangible archeological evidence and until the mystery is finally solved, we are left to rely on the venerable Passover service to connect us to our past at this holiday season. We must be content to repeat the most pertinent of the famous "Four Questions," which the youngest at the table asks on the first night:
"Why is this night different from all other nights?"
Facts about what really happened to the Israelites can be found in the new book 'Talking with God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony. Communication Through It. Protection From It.' by Roger D. Isaacs. Available at Amazon. Join our ongoing investigation of Old Testament mysteries at TalkingWithGod.net.]]>
