*Leviticus 11 / *Lev. 11 -
(Re: Dietary laws / *Health)
It is sometimes claimed that we should not eat animals which were "unclean" under the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Leviticus 11) because they are detrimental to health. But where does it say that they were "unclean" because they are detrimental to health? Even pork is not detrimental to health when it is cooked properly. That is why there are so many healthy old people in China, a nation which thrives on properly-cooked pork. So the dietary restrictions of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law were not for health purposes, but must have been symbolic, just as, for example, Acts 10:11-15 was not for health purposes, but was symbolic (Acts 10:28), and just as the clothing restrictions and hair-cutting restrictions of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law were not for health purposes, but must have been symbolic.
For people can live long and healthy lives wearing clothing made of mixed fibers (such as cotton/nylon blends), even though this goes against the letter of Deuteronomy 22:11. And people can live long and healthy lives without having to sew tassels and a blue ribbon along the edges of all of their clothes, even though this goes against the letter of Numbers 15:38. And people can live long and healthy lives without having to wear only white clothing, and without having to cover their hair with oil, even though this goes against the letter of Ecclesiastes 9:8. And people can live long and healthy lives shaving the sides of their heads and beards, even though this goes against the letter of Leviticus 19:27.
(See Romans 14:14 below, and the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below)
(Also, see Deuteronomy 25:4 below)
~
(*Clean / *Unclean)
The idea of "clean" and "unclean" in the Old Testament was not derived from whether or not something was to be eaten. For people and inedible objects could also be "clean" or "unclean" (Leviticus 11:24-40). Instead, it was derived from whether or not something (whether human, animal, or object) was considered by God in Old Testament times to be holy/not guilty or unholy/guilty (Leviticus 11:43-47, Leviticus 5:2b-3, Leviticus 10:10).
Also, someone was made "unclean" simply by touching something "unclean" (Leviticus 11:26). He did not have to eat it.
~
(Re: Something cannot be unclean for thousands of years, and then all of a sudden be clean)
Note that it can be (Romans 14:14, Mark 7:18-19), just as Jesus Christ could miraculously make an "unclean" person clean (Mark 1:40-42).
And even under the Old Covenant, an "unclean" person did not have to be "unclean" forever (Leviticus 17:15b). So why would foods have to be "unclean" forever?
--
*Leviticus 11:13,19 / *Lev. 11:13 -
(Re: Bat as "bird")
Because the original Hebrew word (`owph: H5775) translated at "birds" in Leviticus 11:13 (NIV) could be used in ancient times to refer to both eagles and bats (Leviticus 11:13,19), it must have referred to any animal with two wings and two legs. We must not try to force our modern, scientific definition of the English word "bird" back onto the ancient Hebrew word.
~
The Hebrew word (perec: H6538) translated as "ossifrage", like the English word, can refer to a mountain vulture, or a sea eagle.
The Hebrew word (`ozniyah: H5822) translated as "ospray", like the modern English word "osprey", can refer to a sea hawk, or a sea eagle.
--
*Leviticus 11:14 / *Lev. 11:14 -
The Hebrew word ('ayah: H0344) translated as "kite", like the English word, can refer to a hawk.
--
*Leviticus 11:17 / *Lev. 11:17 -
The Hebrew word (shalak: H7994) translated as "cormorant", like the English word, can refer to a bird which is similar to a pelican.
--
*Leviticus 11:18 / *Lev. 11:18 -
The Hebrew word (racham: H7360) translated as "gier eagle" can refer to an Egyptian eagle or vulture.
--
*Leviticus 11:19 / *Lev. 11:19 -
The Hebrew word (duwkiyphath: H1744) translated as "lapwing" can refer to a bird called a hoopoe, which has a long, thin bill (like a sandpiper) which it pokes down into soil and crevices to find and eat insects.
--
*Leviticus 12:8 / *Lev. 12:8 -
The Hebrew word (towr: H8449) translated as "turtles" can mean "turtledoves" (Leviticus 12:6).
--
*Leviticus 14:10 / *Lev. 14:10 -
(Deals)
See Exodus 29:40 above.
~
A "log" (H3849) was about a pint, or half a liter.
--
*Leviticus 14:37 / *Lev. 14:37 -
The original Hebrew word (sheqa`ruwrah: H8258) translated as "hollow strakes" means "depressions", just as "lower than the wall" at the end of the verse means deeper than the rest of the surface of the wall.
The English word "strakes" means "streaks" or "stripes".
--
*Leviticus 15:24 / *Lev. 15:24 -
The translation "flowers" is used in the archaic sense of "flow" (as in a menstrual flow), not in the sense of a flower like a rose or an orchid. So "flowers" should not be read here as an elaborate euphemism for the menstrual blood of the context (Leviticus 15:19-24). The original Hebrew word (niddah: H5079) translated here as "flowers" is translated elsewhere as "menstruous" (Ezekiel 18:6b).
--
*Leviticus 19:26 / *Lev. 19:26 -
The original Hebrew word (`anan: H6049) translated as "observe times" refers to the practice of magic, sorcery, such as to foretell/prophesy the future. Compare a sorceress observing future times in a crystal ball.
--
*Leviticus 19:35 / *Lev. 19:35 -
The original Hebrew word (middah: H4060) translated as "meteyard" refers to a measurement of a distance, such as a height, or a measurement of a portion, such as of grain.
At the end of the verse, the Hebrew word (mesuwrah: H4884) translated as "measure" refers to a measurement of a portion of liquid. Also, note the wonderful similarity of these Hebrew and English words, which could point to the true etymology of the latter.
--
*Leviticus 19:36 / *Lev. 19:36 -
(Ephah)
See Exodus 16:36 above.
~
(Hin)
See section 2 of Exodus 29:40 above.
--
*Leviticus 20:9 / *Lev. 20:9 -
(Re: Revelation 13:16)
Leviticus 20:9 uses "on" only in a figurative sense, to represent guiltiness, whereas Revelation 13:16 uses "on" (Greek: "epi": G1909) only in the literal sense of one thing being located on something else.
--
*Leviticus 20:13 / *Lev. 20:13 -
(Re: Six people were stabbed at a Jerusalem gay-pride parade by an ultra-Orthodox Jew on a "mission from God")
The ultra-Orthodox Jews mistakenly believe that the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law is still in effect. And it requires the death penalty for homosexuals (Leviticus 20:13). Under the New Covenant/New Testament, homosexuality it still a sin (Romans 1:26-27), but Christians are never to commit violence against anyone, even if he or she is guilty of a sin (John 8:3-11).
(See Matthew 5:39 below)
--
*Leviticus 22:22 / *Lev. 22:22 -
The original Hebrew word (yabbel: H2990) translated as "wen" can mean a "running sore", such as a skin ulcer.
The Hebrew word (garab: H1618) translated as "scurvy" can mean "to scratch", such as because of itching due to scurf, an abnormal skin condition like that which results in dandruff in humans.
The Hebrew word (yallepheth: H3217) translated as "scabbed" can mean "stuck", or "scraped", possibly in the sense of having a wound or scab due to a puncture or scrape of the skin.
--
*Leviticus 22:27 / *Lev. 22:27 -
The original Hebrew word ('em: H0517) translated as "dam", like the English word, can mean "mother". So being "under the dam" refers here to a newborn bull, lamb, or goat which drinks from under its mother, from her teats.
--
*Leviticus 23:2 / *Lev. 23:2 -
The original Hebrew word (miqra': H4744) translated as "convocations", like the English word, can mean "assemblies" (Isaiah 1:13).
--
*Leviticus 23:13 / *Lev. 23:13 -
(Fourth part of a hin)
See section 2 of Exodus 29:40 above.
--
*Leviticus 23:14 / *Lev. 23:14 -
(Parched corn)
See section 2 of 1 Samuel 17:17 below.
--
*Leviticus 24:5 / *Lev. 24:5 -
(Deals)
See Exodus 29:40 above.
--
*Leviticus 25:10 / *Lev. 25:10 -
(*Jubilee)
The Jubilee of Leviticus 25:10 allows all people every fifty years to be set at liberty from being hired servants (Leviticus 25:40), such as wage slaves today; and to return free from all debts to their own plots of land, which they can then work in support of themselves and their families.
This is a wonderful idea, and should be put into practice today. For a future, world economic collapse (similar to, but much worse than, 2008's Great Recession) will be brought about by the continued, unsustainable debt loads of the world's (especially China's) corporate and central banks (in the form of bad loans), and by the unsustainable debt loads of the world's governments, corporations, and individuals. God knew that eternal, recycling debts (that is, borrowing or printing new money to pay off old debts) can only result, in the long term, in widespread economic ruin, due to eventual huge defaults or rampant inflation. It is eternal debt and the subsequent loss of land ownership by poor and middle class people which cannot help but eventually result in wage slavery and inescapable poverty for 99% of the world's population. God knew this, and it cannot last.
The Jubilee idea prevents what we are seeing today: The unbelievable concentration of wealth and land ownership by only a relatively few people compared with the population of the planet. For example, Oxfam recently found that eight of the richest people in the world own more wealth than the 3.6 billion poorest people in the world. And even in the U.S., it is said that the top one-tenth of one percent of the population owns more wealth than the bottom 90% of the population. That is, in the U.S., one person out of 1,000 owns more wealth than even the combined wealth of 900 people out of 1,000. How can this be good? And how can it be rectified without resorting to the failed policies of socialism, which eventually render countries completely destitute, like what has happened to poor Venezuela, which used to be prosperous due to its vast oil resources.
Perhaps a good start to rectify the current, extreme situation globally (and in the U.S.), would be to abolish all taxes such as payroll, sales, and income taxes, which hurt the poor and the middle class the most; and replace all taxes with a global wealth tax of only 10% yearly on people with more than 1 million dollars in wealth. This wealth tax will have to be global, or else the wealthy will simply move their wealth to tax havens with no wealth tax; just as even today, wealthy people can hide their wealth in offshore shell companies, and in bogus "trusts", such as in the Cook Islands. The money from the global wealth tax can then be distributed to the world's poor in the form of sufficient food, clothing, housing, water supplies, farm animals (compare Heifer International), crop seeds, farm tools, fruit trees, and land for everyone to be able to support himself and his family by his own work on his own land (Micah 4:4).
So remember the wealth tax. (And that it has to be global.)
(See also Acts 2:44 below, and paragraph 3 of Colossians 4:1 below)
~
(Re: I despair of central banks and monetary policy)
As well you should. For they are the devices of the ultra-rich to keep the economy under their thumb.
~
(Re: The Fed kept the 2008 crash from being worse than it was)
The Fed by its policies created the 2008 crash. And then the Fed bailed out only the rich (with fiat money), leaving the rest to suffer through the Great Recession.
The only reason that the Great Recession was not as bad as the Great Depression was because in the latter, no one was bailed out.
Both disasters were brought on by eternal, recycling debt, which (before it brings disaster) benefits only the rich.
God's recurrent Jubilee is the answer.
~
(Re: Lack of oversight by the Fed and a number of other agencies was part of what enabled the crash)
It was the Fed's policies which enabled the housing bubble which brought on the 2008 crash. And these same policies are now enabling the current, stock market bubble.
Some people are betting heavily that the stock market will severely crash. And many retirement and pension accounts are heavily invested in the stock market. Also, many individuals, just like before the Great Depression, are now heavily indebted in stock speculation schemes, which, when they fail, will leave them completely ruined financially. We will see people jumping out of windows from high rises, just as during the Great Depression.
Is the Fed just supposed to keep printing more money to cover every disaster it creates with its own policies? Can this really go on forever, like a house of cards built higher and higher? No, it cannot. All the Fed is doing is pushing off the day of reckoning, which will be much worse than it would have been without the Fed.
How can anyone think that the Fed helping the U.S. government to amass $21,000,000,000,000 (21 trillion dollars) in debt is a good thing? It is not. It is a complete, unmitigated disaster.
The Fed can only be the invention of rich Satanists who wanted to not only increase their wealth at the expense of the poor and middle class, but also to eventually and completely undermine with debt the very government of the U.S. itself, the only Christian nation which is currently powerful enough to keep the future Antichrist (who will be a Satanist) from taking over the whole world (as in Revelation 13:4-18).
~
(Re: In 2008 the Fed bailing out those institutions also indirectly bailed us out)
Many (not rich) people lost their houses when the housing bubble burst in 2008. Those houses were then bought by the rich as investments and rented back out to (not rich) people.
Just more proof that all that the Fed does is make the rich richer. This was part of its design from its beginning. For it was invented by the rich for the rich. And many of them are secretly Satanists.
(See also the "Cabal" section of Revelation 13:5 below)
~
(Re: How did the Fed enable the housing bubble?)
Apart from the Fed, the banks would not have had the easy, cheap money to lend in subprime mortgages.
--
*Leviticus 26:1 / *Lev. 26:1 -
The original Hebrew word (pecel: H6459) translated as "graven", like the English word, can mean "carved". So a "graven" image is "an object of worship carved usually from wood or stone" (Webster's). This commandment against making graven images was the second of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4-6), which also forbade the making and worshipping of "any likeness" of anything which exists (Exodus 20:4), which would include drawing, painting, or engraving any picture of anything to worship it.
This commandment was quite radical, going against so much of pagan worship practices at the time, and even still today.
Also, it should be remembered that the golden calf (made with a "graving" tool) in Exodus 32:4 was horrible to YHWH God, even though it was fashioned to worship Him (Exodus 32:4b-5). That is, when the Israelites danced naked (Exodus 32:19,25) before the golden calf, they were dancing as part of a "feast to YHWH" (Exodus 32:5b), even though He utterly despised these inventions.
For when the people said regarding the golden calf: "These be thy gods... which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:4b), the original Hebrew word (Elohim: H0430) translated as thy "gods" can instead be translated as thy "God", that is, the very same God who had just brought them out of Egypt. See Exodus 29:46, where "Elohim" is translated as "God" in reference to YHWH Himself. For "the LORD their God" in Exodus 29:46 in the original Hebrew is "YHWH" their "Elohim".
So the golden calf was a graven image not of a pagan god, but of YHWH. And the dancing-naked "feast to YHWH" before the golden calf (Exodus 32:5,19,25) was a worshipful celebration of Him having brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
And yet the whole thing was utterly abhorrent to YHWH.
What could we be doing today in our worship of Him that is similarly abhorrent, even though we think that it is in His honor?
--
*Leviticus 26:16 / *Lev. 26:16 -
The original Hebrew word (shachepheth: H7829) translated as "consumption" can mean "emaciation".
The Hebrew word (qaddachath: H6920) translated as "burning ague" can mean a "fever" (Deuteronomy 28:22).
The Hebrew words (kalah: H3615, and `ayin: H5869) translated as "consume the eyes" could include reference to a literal blindness brought on by starvation/famine (Jeremiah 14:6b). Compare the last part of what Leviticus 26:16 says.
--
*Leviticus 26:18 / *Lev. 26:18 -
The "seven times" in Leviticus 26:18 do not have to refer to a period of time that is seven-anything long. For there is no "times" in the original Hebrew of Leviticus 26:18. Instead, it could refer to seven instances of punishment, like 2 Kings 5:14 refers to "seven times" in the sense of seven instances of an action. Or, Leviticus 26:18 could refer to a single instance of punishment seven times greater in severity (not in temporal duration) than before, like Daniel 3:19 refers to a fire being stoked until it was "seven times" hotter than before.
--
*Leviticus 26:19 / *Lev. 26:19 -
This refers to the literal sky (the first heaven) above Israel, and to the literal land (the ground, the earth) of Israel, during severe drought conditions brought on Israel as a judgment from God. That is, the sky above Israel would become as barren of water as iron, and the ground of Israel would become so dry that it would be as hard as brass. This severe drought would cause the ground of Israel not to bear crops, and its fruit trees not to bear fruit (Leviticus 26:20).
--
*Numbers 1:2 / *Num. 1:2 -
The original Hebrew word (gulgoleth: H1538) translated as "polls", like the English word, literally means "heads", as in the top part of each person's body; just as we still refer to a numeration of people as a "head count".
~
(Re: Revelation 13:18)
Numbers 1:2 refers to the total number (the sum) of plural names, as in a total number of certain individuals who existed in the past, while Revelation 13:17-18 and Revelation 15:2 refer to the gematrial number (the sum of the gematrial values of the letters) of the personal name of the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast").
--
*Numbers 8:26 / *Num. 8:26 -
The original Hebrew word (mishmereth: H4931) translated as "charge", like the English word, can mean "duty", or "obligation", that is, doing what you have been assigned to do.
(See Mark 13:34 and 1 Chronicles 25:8 below)
--
*Numbers 10:1-7 / *Num. 10:1 -
(Re: Does not this and Leviticus 8:33-36 require, by type, a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church into the third heaven?)
Note that it doesn't. But why does the pre-tribulation-rapture view would look to Bible verses given to the twelve tribes of Israel in the time of Moses to try to support itself, when at other times the pre-tribulation-rapture view is at such pains to try to claim that the twelve tribes of Israel can have nothing at all to do with the Church? The truth is that...
(See the "Tribes" section of Romans 11:17 below)
Even though Numbers 10:1-7 and Leviticus 8:33-36 were given to the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Church is the twelve tribes of Israel, note that nothing requires that Numbers 10:1-7 and Leviticus 8:33-36 are prophecies, by type, of the Church's future, instead of simply being commandments of the Old Covenant Mosaic law. And...
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below)
Also, note that nothing in Numbers 10:1-7 or Leviticus 8:33-36 requires, even by type, that the rapture of the Church will occur before the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, or that the rapture will take the Church any higher than the clouds of the sky (the first heaven) to hold a meeting in the air with Jesus Christ at His future, Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
For, by type, the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in Numbers 10:3 and Leviticus 8:33 can represent Jesus Christ Himself (John 10:7,9), just as Leviticus 8:7-9, by type, refers to our current high priest, who is Jesus Himself (Hebrews 6:20). And it will only be at the rapture (gathering together) of the Church to Jesus, which will only be after the future Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6), that the trumpet of Numbers 10:3, by type, will sound to gather together the Church to Jesus (Matthew 24:31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), where He will be at His future, Second Coming, which will be in the clouds of the sky (the first heaven), on His way down to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Zechariah 14:4).
Also, Leviticus 8:33,35 can mean, by type, that the Church will not depart from the physical presence of the returned Jesus Christ on the earth for seven literal days, which could be how long the marriage supper of Revelation 19:9 will last.
(See Revelation 19:9 below, and section 2 of Leviticus 8:33 above)
(Regarding the Old Covenant Mosaic tabernacle itself, see Exodus 25:9 above)
--
*Numbers 11:3 / *Num. 11:3 -
"Taberah" (H8404) means "burning".
--
*Numbers 11:7 / *Num. 11:7 -
The original Hebrew words (gad: H1407; and zera`: H2233) translated as "coriander seed" can mean just that. So manna appears like little white balls (Exodus 16:14) the size of peas. It is what the angels eat in heaven (Psalms 78:25). But it is not a food of immortality (John 6:49).
(See Revelation 2:7 below)
~
The Hebrew word (bedolach: H0916) translated as "bdellium", like the English word (pronounced 'del-ee-um), could refer to a white, aromatic gum.
--
*Numbers 11:32 / *Num. 11:32 -
A "homer" (H2563) would fill 10 five-gallon jars.
--
*Numbers 11:34 / *Num. 11:34 -
"Kibroth-hattaavah" (H6914) is made up of two words (H6913, H8378) which together mean "Lusters' Graves".
--
*Numbers 12 / *Num. 12 -
(Re: *Interracial marriage / *Racism)
Regarding interracial marriage, there is nothing wrong with it, and people need to watch out about ever speaking against it. For God accepted Moses marrying an Ethiopian woman, whereas Miriam was turned leprous white for looking down on Moses for doing that (Numbers 12). It was as if God were saying: "Do not exalt white skin". For the natural color of one's skin matters no more to God than the natural color of one's eyes. For He has made all humans of one blood (Acts 17:26-28). And God saves people of every nationality (Revelation 5:9b).
~
(Re: Since it is wrong for Christians to be against *miscegenation, is it not also wrong for them to be against *same-sex marriage?)
No, for while the Bible is not against miscegenation (Numbers 12), it is against homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27). So when the U.S. government struck down anti-miscegenation state laws in the southern U.S., it was not going against Biblical Christianity. But if the government ever forces Christians to support same-sex marriages, it will be going against the Bible; and so the government will become anti-Christian, helping to prepare the way for the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast"), and his Satanic, one-world religion (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9).
(See Revelation 13:4 below)
One part of the future Antichrist's (Gnostic) religion will be to forbid marriages outright (1 Timothy 4:3). And legalizing same-sex marriage is just the first step toward this goal. For the next step will be to legalize polygamy, and "polyamory", that is, to allow whatever number of people, whether male or female, in any combination, to enter "group marriages" (for example, consisting of three women, or three men, or six women and four men, etc.). Then, the next step will be to declare the whole idea of marriage as "obsolete". Indeed, it will even be declared to be "evil" from the Gnostic (that is, the Antichrist) point of view (cf. 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), which sees the whole idea of a physical (as opposed to a purely spiritual) existence as an abomination, especially when it forms new people into physical bodies, that is, forms offspring through marriages.
(See the "Gnosticism" section of 1 John 4:3 below)
This is not to say that all people who support same-sex marriages are Satanic Gnostics. Instead, some people could simply (yet still mistakenly) think that God supports homosexuality, just as many U.S. Southerners of old simply (yet still mistakenly) thought that God supports racism.
(See also Romans 1:26 below)
~
(Re: Does Numbers 12:1 really refer to a black woman?)
It can, for in Numbers 12:1 the original Hebrew word "Kuwshiy" (H3569) translated as "Ethiopian" could be used to refer to black people, just as its related word "Kuwsh" (H3568) could be used to refer to a part of black Africa south of Egypt. For Jeremiah 13:23 employs Kuwshiy, translated as "Ethiopian", to refer to black people's distinctive skin. And Esther 1:1 employs Kuwsh, translated as "Ethiopia", to refer to the westernmost extent of the Persian empire, like how "India" in Esther 1:1 refers to its easternmost extent. The Persian empire included Egypt, so that Kuwsh in Esther 1:1 can refer to a part of black Africa just south of Egypt. Similarly, Daniel 11:43 can employ Kuwshiy, translated as "Ethiopians", to refer to black people living just south of Egypt, like how the "Libyans" in Daniel 11:43 live just to its west. Also, Ezekiel 29:10 can employ Kuwsh, translated as "Ethiopia", to refer to a part of black Africa on the southern border of Egypt. For in Ezekiel 29:10 the original Hebrew word (Migdowl: H4024) translated as "tower" referred to the city of Migdol which was in the north of Egypt, while "Syene" in Ezekiel 29:10 was a city in the south of Egypt, on the border with a part of black Africa. So Ezekiel 29:10 meant that God would make Egypt desolate from Migdol to Syene, from north to south.
It is sometimes claimed that Numbers 12:1 refers to Moses' wife Zipporah (Exodus 2:21), and that she was descended from the man named Cush (Kuwsh: H3568) in Genesis 10:6. But the Bible does not refer to Zipporah as being descended from Cush. Instead, she was most likely a Midianite. For she was a daughter of the priest of Midian (Exodus 2:16-21), which was the land of the Midianites. They were descended from the man named Midian who was a son of Abraham (Genesis 25:1-2), Abraham being descended from Shem (Genesis 11:10-26) who was one of the three sons of Noah (Genesis 10:1). So the Midianites were not descended from Cush, the son of Ham (Genesis 10:6) who was a different son of Noah (Genesis 10:1).
Also, it would make no sense for Numbers 12:1 to be referring to Zipporah, just based on its timing. For Numbers 12:1 refers to what occurred at one point during the Exodus, whereas Moses had married Zipporah in Midian some forty years earlier. For Moses was eighty years old at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 7:7), whereas he had been only forty years old when he fled Egypt to Midian (Acts 7:23-29) and married Zipporah. So regarding Numbers 12:1, there would be no reason for Miriam and Aaron at that point in the Exodus to suddenly speak against Moses for something that he had done forty years earlier. Instead, Numbers 12:1 means that Moses married a black woman at that point in the Exodus. Either Zipporah had died before that point, or Moses took a second wife, like how Jacob had had two wives (Genesis 32:22).
Also, regarding the man named Cush (Kuwsh: H3568) who was the son of Ham in Genesis 10:6, it is sometimes claimed that the name "Ham" means "black", so that the descendants of Ham were black people. But the original Hebrew word (Cham: H2526) transliterated as "Ham" does not mean "black", but "hot" (Strong's Hebrew Dictionary). So both Ham and his son Cush (Kuwsh: H3568), and Cush's descendants such as Nimrod (1 Chronicles 1:10) could have been white people. Nonetheless, the people called by the related name Kuwshiy (H3569) could have been black people. For the word when used to refer to a people is consistently translated in the Bible as "Ethiopians", and the Kuwshiy people are never said to be descended from the man named Cush. So they could have gotten their name from the color of their skin instead of their descent. For it is said that the word "cush" can mean "black" (See Easton's). The white man named "Cush" could have been named that for some other reason than his being a black person, just as, for example, the white man named "The Black Prince", the eldest son of Edward III of England, was called that for some other reason than his being a black person.
-
Next entry / Prior / Table of Contents
Nov 14, 2018
(Re: Dietary laws / *Health)
It is sometimes claimed that we should not eat animals which were "unclean" under the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Leviticus 11) because they are detrimental to health. But where does it say that they were "unclean" because they are detrimental to health? Even pork is not detrimental to health when it is cooked properly. That is why there are so many healthy old people in China, a nation which thrives on properly-cooked pork. So the dietary restrictions of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law were not for health purposes, but must have been symbolic, just as, for example, Acts 10:11-15 was not for health purposes, but was symbolic (Acts 10:28), and just as the clothing restrictions and hair-cutting restrictions of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law were not for health purposes, but must have been symbolic.
For people can live long and healthy lives wearing clothing made of mixed fibers (such as cotton/nylon blends), even though this goes against the letter of Deuteronomy 22:11. And people can live long and healthy lives without having to sew tassels and a blue ribbon along the edges of all of their clothes, even though this goes against the letter of Numbers 15:38. And people can live long and healthy lives without having to wear only white clothing, and without having to cover their hair with oil, even though this goes against the letter of Ecclesiastes 9:8. And people can live long and healthy lives shaving the sides of their heads and beards, even though this goes against the letter of Leviticus 19:27.
(See Romans 14:14 below, and the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below)
(Also, see Deuteronomy 25:4 below)
~
(*Clean / *Unclean)
The idea of "clean" and "unclean" in the Old Testament was not derived from whether or not something was to be eaten. For people and inedible objects could also be "clean" or "unclean" (Leviticus 11:24-40). Instead, it was derived from whether or not something (whether human, animal, or object) was considered by God in Old Testament times to be holy/not guilty or unholy/guilty (Leviticus 11:43-47, Leviticus 5:2b-3, Leviticus 10:10).
Also, someone was made "unclean" simply by touching something "unclean" (Leviticus 11:26). He did not have to eat it.
~
(Re: Something cannot be unclean for thousands of years, and then all of a sudden be clean)
Note that it can be (Romans 14:14, Mark 7:18-19), just as Jesus Christ could miraculously make an "unclean" person clean (Mark 1:40-42).
And even under the Old Covenant, an "unclean" person did not have to be "unclean" forever (Leviticus 17:15b). So why would foods have to be "unclean" forever?
--
*Leviticus 11:13,19 / *Lev. 11:13 -
(Re: Bat as "bird")
Because the original Hebrew word (`owph: H5775) translated at "birds" in Leviticus 11:13 (NIV) could be used in ancient times to refer to both eagles and bats (Leviticus 11:13,19), it must have referred to any animal with two wings and two legs. We must not try to force our modern, scientific definition of the English word "bird" back onto the ancient Hebrew word.
~
The Hebrew word (perec: H6538) translated as "ossifrage", like the English word, can refer to a mountain vulture, or a sea eagle.
The Hebrew word (`ozniyah: H5822) translated as "ospray", like the modern English word "osprey", can refer to a sea hawk, or a sea eagle.
--
*Leviticus 11:14 / *Lev. 11:14 -
The Hebrew word ('ayah: H0344) translated as "kite", like the English word, can refer to a hawk.
--
*Leviticus 11:17 / *Lev. 11:17 -
The Hebrew word (shalak: H7994) translated as "cormorant", like the English word, can refer to a bird which is similar to a pelican.
--
*Leviticus 11:18 / *Lev. 11:18 -
The Hebrew word (racham: H7360) translated as "gier eagle" can refer to an Egyptian eagle or vulture.
--
*Leviticus 11:19 / *Lev. 11:19 -
The Hebrew word (duwkiyphath: H1744) translated as "lapwing" can refer to a bird called a hoopoe, which has a long, thin bill (like a sandpiper) which it pokes down into soil and crevices to find and eat insects.
--
*Leviticus 12:8 / *Lev. 12:8 -
The Hebrew word (towr: H8449) translated as "turtles" can mean "turtledoves" (Leviticus 12:6).
--
*Leviticus 14:10 / *Lev. 14:10 -
(Deals)
See Exodus 29:40 above.
~
A "log" (H3849) was about a pint, or half a liter.
--
*Leviticus 14:37 / *Lev. 14:37 -
The original Hebrew word (sheqa`ruwrah: H8258) translated as "hollow strakes" means "depressions", just as "lower than the wall" at the end of the verse means deeper than the rest of the surface of the wall.
The English word "strakes" means "streaks" or "stripes".
--
*Leviticus 15:24 / *Lev. 15:24 -
The translation "flowers" is used in the archaic sense of "flow" (as in a menstrual flow), not in the sense of a flower like a rose or an orchid. So "flowers" should not be read here as an elaborate euphemism for the menstrual blood of the context (Leviticus 15:19-24). The original Hebrew word (niddah: H5079) translated here as "flowers" is translated elsewhere as "menstruous" (Ezekiel 18:6b).
--
*Leviticus 19:26 / *Lev. 19:26 -
The original Hebrew word (`anan: H6049) translated as "observe times" refers to the practice of magic, sorcery, such as to foretell/prophesy the future. Compare a sorceress observing future times in a crystal ball.
--
*Leviticus 19:35 / *Lev. 19:35 -
The original Hebrew word (middah: H4060) translated as "meteyard" refers to a measurement of a distance, such as a height, or a measurement of a portion, such as of grain.
At the end of the verse, the Hebrew word (mesuwrah: H4884) translated as "measure" refers to a measurement of a portion of liquid. Also, note the wonderful similarity of these Hebrew and English words, which could point to the true etymology of the latter.
--
*Leviticus 19:36 / *Lev. 19:36 -
(Ephah)
See Exodus 16:36 above.
~
(Hin)
See section 2 of Exodus 29:40 above.
--
*Leviticus 20:9 / *Lev. 20:9 -
(Re: Revelation 13:16)
Leviticus 20:9 uses "on" only in a figurative sense, to represent guiltiness, whereas Revelation 13:16 uses "on" (Greek: "epi": G1909) only in the literal sense of one thing being located on something else.
--
*Leviticus 20:13 / *Lev. 20:13 -
(Re: Six people were stabbed at a Jerusalem gay-pride parade by an ultra-Orthodox Jew on a "mission from God")
The ultra-Orthodox Jews mistakenly believe that the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law is still in effect. And it requires the death penalty for homosexuals (Leviticus 20:13). Under the New Covenant/New Testament, homosexuality it still a sin (Romans 1:26-27), but Christians are never to commit violence against anyone, even if he or she is guilty of a sin (John 8:3-11).
(See Matthew 5:39 below)
--
*Leviticus 22:22 / *Lev. 22:22 -
The original Hebrew word (yabbel: H2990) translated as "wen" can mean a "running sore", such as a skin ulcer.
The Hebrew word (garab: H1618) translated as "scurvy" can mean "to scratch", such as because of itching due to scurf, an abnormal skin condition like that which results in dandruff in humans.
The Hebrew word (yallepheth: H3217) translated as "scabbed" can mean "stuck", or "scraped", possibly in the sense of having a wound or scab due to a puncture or scrape of the skin.
--
*Leviticus 22:27 / *Lev. 22:27 -
The original Hebrew word ('em: H0517) translated as "dam", like the English word, can mean "mother". So being "under the dam" refers here to a newborn bull, lamb, or goat which drinks from under its mother, from her teats.
--
*Leviticus 23:2 / *Lev. 23:2 -
The original Hebrew word (miqra': H4744) translated as "convocations", like the English word, can mean "assemblies" (Isaiah 1:13).
--
*Leviticus 23:13 / *Lev. 23:13 -
(Fourth part of a hin)
See section 2 of Exodus 29:40 above.
--
*Leviticus 23:14 / *Lev. 23:14 -
(Parched corn)
See section 2 of 1 Samuel 17:17 below.
--
*Leviticus 24:5 / *Lev. 24:5 -
(Deals)
See Exodus 29:40 above.
--
*Leviticus 25:10 / *Lev. 25:10 -
(*Jubilee)
The Jubilee of Leviticus 25:10 allows all people every fifty years to be set at liberty from being hired servants (Leviticus 25:40), such as wage slaves today; and to return free from all debts to their own plots of land, which they can then work in support of themselves and their families.
This is a wonderful idea, and should be put into practice today. For a future, world economic collapse (similar to, but much worse than, 2008's Great Recession) will be brought about by the continued, unsustainable debt loads of the world's (especially China's) corporate and central banks (in the form of bad loans), and by the unsustainable debt loads of the world's governments, corporations, and individuals. God knew that eternal, recycling debts (that is, borrowing or printing new money to pay off old debts) can only result, in the long term, in widespread economic ruin, due to eventual huge defaults or rampant inflation. It is eternal debt and the subsequent loss of land ownership by poor and middle class people which cannot help but eventually result in wage slavery and inescapable poverty for 99% of the world's population. God knew this, and it cannot last.
The Jubilee idea prevents what we are seeing today: The unbelievable concentration of wealth and land ownership by only a relatively few people compared with the population of the planet. For example, Oxfam recently found that eight of the richest people in the world own more wealth than the 3.6 billion poorest people in the world. And even in the U.S., it is said that the top one-tenth of one percent of the population owns more wealth than the bottom 90% of the population. That is, in the U.S., one person out of 1,000 owns more wealth than even the combined wealth of 900 people out of 1,000. How can this be good? And how can it be rectified without resorting to the failed policies of socialism, which eventually render countries completely destitute, like what has happened to poor Venezuela, which used to be prosperous due to its vast oil resources.
Perhaps a good start to rectify the current, extreme situation globally (and in the U.S.), would be to abolish all taxes such as payroll, sales, and income taxes, which hurt the poor and the middle class the most; and replace all taxes with a global wealth tax of only 10% yearly on people with more than 1 million dollars in wealth. This wealth tax will have to be global, or else the wealthy will simply move their wealth to tax havens with no wealth tax; just as even today, wealthy people can hide their wealth in offshore shell companies, and in bogus "trusts", such as in the Cook Islands. The money from the global wealth tax can then be distributed to the world's poor in the form of sufficient food, clothing, housing, water supplies, farm animals (compare Heifer International), crop seeds, farm tools, fruit trees, and land for everyone to be able to support himself and his family by his own work on his own land (Micah 4:4).
So remember the wealth tax. (And that it has to be global.)
(See also Acts 2:44 below, and paragraph 3 of Colossians 4:1 below)
~
(Re: I despair of central banks and monetary policy)
As well you should. For they are the devices of the ultra-rich to keep the economy under their thumb.
~
(Re: The Fed kept the 2008 crash from being worse than it was)
The Fed by its policies created the 2008 crash. And then the Fed bailed out only the rich (with fiat money), leaving the rest to suffer through the Great Recession.
The only reason that the Great Recession was not as bad as the Great Depression was because in the latter, no one was bailed out.
Both disasters were brought on by eternal, recycling debt, which (before it brings disaster) benefits only the rich.
God's recurrent Jubilee is the answer.
~
(Re: Lack of oversight by the Fed and a number of other agencies was part of what enabled the crash)
It was the Fed's policies which enabled the housing bubble which brought on the 2008 crash. And these same policies are now enabling the current, stock market bubble.
Some people are betting heavily that the stock market will severely crash. And many retirement and pension accounts are heavily invested in the stock market. Also, many individuals, just like before the Great Depression, are now heavily indebted in stock speculation schemes, which, when they fail, will leave them completely ruined financially. We will see people jumping out of windows from high rises, just as during the Great Depression.
Is the Fed just supposed to keep printing more money to cover every disaster it creates with its own policies? Can this really go on forever, like a house of cards built higher and higher? No, it cannot. All the Fed is doing is pushing off the day of reckoning, which will be much worse than it would have been without the Fed.
How can anyone think that the Fed helping the U.S. government to amass $21,000,000,000,000 (21 trillion dollars) in debt is a good thing? It is not. It is a complete, unmitigated disaster.
The Fed can only be the invention of rich Satanists who wanted to not only increase their wealth at the expense of the poor and middle class, but also to eventually and completely undermine with debt the very government of the U.S. itself, the only Christian nation which is currently powerful enough to keep the future Antichrist (who will be a Satanist) from taking over the whole world (as in Revelation 13:4-18).
~
(Re: In 2008 the Fed bailing out those institutions also indirectly bailed us out)
Many (not rich) people lost their houses when the housing bubble burst in 2008. Those houses were then bought by the rich as investments and rented back out to (not rich) people.
Just more proof that all that the Fed does is make the rich richer. This was part of its design from its beginning. For it was invented by the rich for the rich. And many of them are secretly Satanists.
(See also the "Cabal" section of Revelation 13:5 below)
~
(Re: How did the Fed enable the housing bubble?)
Apart from the Fed, the banks would not have had the easy, cheap money to lend in subprime mortgages.
--
*Leviticus 26:1 / *Lev. 26:1 -
The original Hebrew word (pecel: H6459) translated as "graven", like the English word, can mean "carved". So a "graven" image is "an object of worship carved usually from wood or stone" (Webster's). This commandment against making graven images was the second of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4-6), which also forbade the making and worshipping of "any likeness" of anything which exists (Exodus 20:4), which would include drawing, painting, or engraving any picture of anything to worship it.
This commandment was quite radical, going against so much of pagan worship practices at the time, and even still today.
Also, it should be remembered that the golden calf (made with a "graving" tool) in Exodus 32:4 was horrible to YHWH God, even though it was fashioned to worship Him (Exodus 32:4b-5). That is, when the Israelites danced naked (Exodus 32:19,25) before the golden calf, they were dancing as part of a "feast to YHWH" (Exodus 32:5b), even though He utterly despised these inventions.
For when the people said regarding the golden calf: "These be thy gods... which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:4b), the original Hebrew word (Elohim: H0430) translated as thy "gods" can instead be translated as thy "God", that is, the very same God who had just brought them out of Egypt. See Exodus 29:46, where "Elohim" is translated as "God" in reference to YHWH Himself. For "the LORD their God" in Exodus 29:46 in the original Hebrew is "YHWH" their "Elohim".
So the golden calf was a graven image not of a pagan god, but of YHWH. And the dancing-naked "feast to YHWH" before the golden calf (Exodus 32:5,19,25) was a worshipful celebration of Him having brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
And yet the whole thing was utterly abhorrent to YHWH.
What could we be doing today in our worship of Him that is similarly abhorrent, even though we think that it is in His honor?
--
*Leviticus 26:16 / *Lev. 26:16 -
The original Hebrew word (shachepheth: H7829) translated as "consumption" can mean "emaciation".
The Hebrew word (qaddachath: H6920) translated as "burning ague" can mean a "fever" (Deuteronomy 28:22).
The Hebrew words (kalah: H3615, and `ayin: H5869) translated as "consume the eyes" could include reference to a literal blindness brought on by starvation/famine (Jeremiah 14:6b). Compare the last part of what Leviticus 26:16 says.
--
*Leviticus 26:18 / *Lev. 26:18 -
The "seven times" in Leviticus 26:18 do not have to refer to a period of time that is seven-anything long. For there is no "times" in the original Hebrew of Leviticus 26:18. Instead, it could refer to seven instances of punishment, like 2 Kings 5:14 refers to "seven times" in the sense of seven instances of an action. Or, Leviticus 26:18 could refer to a single instance of punishment seven times greater in severity (not in temporal duration) than before, like Daniel 3:19 refers to a fire being stoked until it was "seven times" hotter than before.
--
*Leviticus 26:19 / *Lev. 26:19 -
This refers to the literal sky (the first heaven) above Israel, and to the literal land (the ground, the earth) of Israel, during severe drought conditions brought on Israel as a judgment from God. That is, the sky above Israel would become as barren of water as iron, and the ground of Israel would become so dry that it would be as hard as brass. This severe drought would cause the ground of Israel not to bear crops, and its fruit trees not to bear fruit (Leviticus 26:20).
--
*Numbers 1:2 / *Num. 1:2 -
The original Hebrew word (gulgoleth: H1538) translated as "polls", like the English word, literally means "heads", as in the top part of each person's body; just as we still refer to a numeration of people as a "head count".
~
(Re: Revelation 13:18)
Numbers 1:2 refers to the total number (the sum) of plural names, as in a total number of certain individuals who existed in the past, while Revelation 13:17-18 and Revelation 15:2 refer to the gematrial number (the sum of the gematrial values of the letters) of the personal name of the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast").
--
*Numbers 8:26 / *Num. 8:26 -
The original Hebrew word (mishmereth: H4931) translated as "charge", like the English word, can mean "duty", or "obligation", that is, doing what you have been assigned to do.
(See Mark 13:34 and 1 Chronicles 25:8 below)
--
*Numbers 10:1-7 / *Num. 10:1 -
(Re: Does not this and Leviticus 8:33-36 require, by type, a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church into the third heaven?)
Note that it doesn't. But why does the pre-tribulation-rapture view would look to Bible verses given to the twelve tribes of Israel in the time of Moses to try to support itself, when at other times the pre-tribulation-rapture view is at such pains to try to claim that the twelve tribes of Israel can have nothing at all to do with the Church? The truth is that...
(See the "Tribes" section of Romans 11:17 below)
Even though Numbers 10:1-7 and Leviticus 8:33-36 were given to the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Church is the twelve tribes of Israel, note that nothing requires that Numbers 10:1-7 and Leviticus 8:33-36 are prophecies, by type, of the Church's future, instead of simply being commandments of the Old Covenant Mosaic law. And...
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below)
Also, note that nothing in Numbers 10:1-7 or Leviticus 8:33-36 requires, even by type, that the rapture of the Church will occur before the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, or that the rapture will take the Church any higher than the clouds of the sky (the first heaven) to hold a meeting in the air with Jesus Christ at His future, Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
For, by type, the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in Numbers 10:3 and Leviticus 8:33 can represent Jesus Christ Himself (John 10:7,9), just as Leviticus 8:7-9, by type, refers to our current high priest, who is Jesus Himself (Hebrews 6:20). And it will only be at the rapture (gathering together) of the Church to Jesus, which will only be after the future Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6), that the trumpet of Numbers 10:3, by type, will sound to gather together the Church to Jesus (Matthew 24:31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), where He will be at His future, Second Coming, which will be in the clouds of the sky (the first heaven), on His way down to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Zechariah 14:4).
Also, Leviticus 8:33,35 can mean, by type, that the Church will not depart from the physical presence of the returned Jesus Christ on the earth for seven literal days, which could be how long the marriage supper of Revelation 19:9 will last.
(See Revelation 19:9 below, and section 2 of Leviticus 8:33 above)
(Regarding the Old Covenant Mosaic tabernacle itself, see Exodus 25:9 above)
--
*Numbers 11:3 / *Num. 11:3 -
"Taberah" (H8404) means "burning".
--
*Numbers 11:7 / *Num. 11:7 -
The original Hebrew words (gad: H1407; and zera`: H2233) translated as "coriander seed" can mean just that. So manna appears like little white balls (Exodus 16:14) the size of peas. It is what the angels eat in heaven (Psalms 78:25). But it is not a food of immortality (John 6:49).
(See Revelation 2:7 below)
~
The Hebrew word (bedolach: H0916) translated as "bdellium", like the English word (pronounced 'del-ee-um), could refer to a white, aromatic gum.
--
*Numbers 11:32 / *Num. 11:32 -
A "homer" (H2563) would fill 10 five-gallon jars.
--
*Numbers 11:34 / *Num. 11:34 -
"Kibroth-hattaavah" (H6914) is made up of two words (H6913, H8378) which together mean "Lusters' Graves".
--
*Numbers 12 / *Num. 12 -
(Re: *Interracial marriage / *Racism)
Regarding interracial marriage, there is nothing wrong with it, and people need to watch out about ever speaking against it. For God accepted Moses marrying an Ethiopian woman, whereas Miriam was turned leprous white for looking down on Moses for doing that (Numbers 12). It was as if God were saying: "Do not exalt white skin". For the natural color of one's skin matters no more to God than the natural color of one's eyes. For He has made all humans of one blood (Acts 17:26-28). And God saves people of every nationality (Revelation 5:9b).
~
(Re: Since it is wrong for Christians to be against *miscegenation, is it not also wrong for them to be against *same-sex marriage?)
No, for while the Bible is not against miscegenation (Numbers 12), it is against homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27). So when the U.S. government struck down anti-miscegenation state laws in the southern U.S., it was not going against Biblical Christianity. But if the government ever forces Christians to support same-sex marriages, it will be going against the Bible; and so the government will become anti-Christian, helping to prepare the way for the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast"), and his Satanic, one-world religion (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9).
(See Revelation 13:4 below)
One part of the future Antichrist's (Gnostic) religion will be to forbid marriages outright (1 Timothy 4:3). And legalizing same-sex marriage is just the first step toward this goal. For the next step will be to legalize polygamy, and "polyamory", that is, to allow whatever number of people, whether male or female, in any combination, to enter "group marriages" (for example, consisting of three women, or three men, or six women and four men, etc.). Then, the next step will be to declare the whole idea of marriage as "obsolete". Indeed, it will even be declared to be "evil" from the Gnostic (that is, the Antichrist) point of view (cf. 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), which sees the whole idea of a physical (as opposed to a purely spiritual) existence as an abomination, especially when it forms new people into physical bodies, that is, forms offspring through marriages.
(See the "Gnosticism" section of 1 John 4:3 below)
This is not to say that all people who support same-sex marriages are Satanic Gnostics. Instead, some people could simply (yet still mistakenly) think that God supports homosexuality, just as many U.S. Southerners of old simply (yet still mistakenly) thought that God supports racism.
(See also Romans 1:26 below)
~
(Re: Does Numbers 12:1 really refer to a black woman?)
It can, for in Numbers 12:1 the original Hebrew word "Kuwshiy" (H3569) translated as "Ethiopian" could be used to refer to black people, just as its related word "Kuwsh" (H3568) could be used to refer to a part of black Africa south of Egypt. For Jeremiah 13:23 employs Kuwshiy, translated as "Ethiopian", to refer to black people's distinctive skin. And Esther 1:1 employs Kuwsh, translated as "Ethiopia", to refer to the westernmost extent of the Persian empire, like how "India" in Esther 1:1 refers to its easternmost extent. The Persian empire included Egypt, so that Kuwsh in Esther 1:1 can refer to a part of black Africa just south of Egypt. Similarly, Daniel 11:43 can employ Kuwshiy, translated as "Ethiopians", to refer to black people living just south of Egypt, like how the "Libyans" in Daniel 11:43 live just to its west. Also, Ezekiel 29:10 can employ Kuwsh, translated as "Ethiopia", to refer to a part of black Africa on the southern border of Egypt. For in Ezekiel 29:10 the original Hebrew word (Migdowl: H4024) translated as "tower" referred to the city of Migdol which was in the north of Egypt, while "Syene" in Ezekiel 29:10 was a city in the south of Egypt, on the border with a part of black Africa. So Ezekiel 29:10 meant that God would make Egypt desolate from Migdol to Syene, from north to south.
It is sometimes claimed that Numbers 12:1 refers to Moses' wife Zipporah (Exodus 2:21), and that she was descended from the man named Cush (Kuwsh: H3568) in Genesis 10:6. But the Bible does not refer to Zipporah as being descended from Cush. Instead, she was most likely a Midianite. For she was a daughter of the priest of Midian (Exodus 2:16-21), which was the land of the Midianites. They were descended from the man named Midian who was a son of Abraham (Genesis 25:1-2), Abraham being descended from Shem (Genesis 11:10-26) who was one of the three sons of Noah (Genesis 10:1). So the Midianites were not descended from Cush, the son of Ham (Genesis 10:6) who was a different son of Noah (Genesis 10:1).
Also, it would make no sense for Numbers 12:1 to be referring to Zipporah, just based on its timing. For Numbers 12:1 refers to what occurred at one point during the Exodus, whereas Moses had married Zipporah in Midian some forty years earlier. For Moses was eighty years old at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 7:7), whereas he had been only forty years old when he fled Egypt to Midian (Acts 7:23-29) and married Zipporah. So regarding Numbers 12:1, there would be no reason for Miriam and Aaron at that point in the Exodus to suddenly speak against Moses for something that he had done forty years earlier. Instead, Numbers 12:1 means that Moses married a black woman at that point in the Exodus. Either Zipporah had died before that point, or Moses took a second wife, like how Jacob had had two wives (Genesis 32:22).
Also, regarding the man named Cush (Kuwsh: H3568) who was the son of Ham in Genesis 10:6, it is sometimes claimed that the name "Ham" means "black", so that the descendants of Ham were black people. But the original Hebrew word (Cham: H2526) transliterated as "Ham" does not mean "black", but "hot" (Strong's Hebrew Dictionary). So both Ham and his son Cush (Kuwsh: H3568), and Cush's descendants such as Nimrod (1 Chronicles 1:10) could have been white people. Nonetheless, the people called by the related name Kuwshiy (H3569) could have been black people. For the word when used to refer to a people is consistently translated in the Bible as "Ethiopians", and the Kuwshiy people are never said to be descended from the man named Cush. So they could have gotten their name from the color of their skin instead of their descent. For it is said that the word "cush" can mean "black" (See Easton's). The white man named "Cush" could have been named that for some other reason than his being a black person, just as, for example, the white man named "The Black Prince", the eldest son of Edward III of England, was called that for some other reason than his being a black person.
-
Next entry / Prior / Table of Contents
Nov 14, 2018
