This is the second chapter of six of the series. In Genesis chapter ten, just as Ham failed to instruct Canaan, Cush failed to instruct Nimrod, who ended up wanting other men to worship him as a god. Take note that Genesis 10:7-8 sets aside Nimrod from his other brothers, being a subtle way to identify him as an evil person.
Much of today’s cults come from the evil of Nimrod. This was the first attempt at a “new world order” and “one world religion”, centered around the worship of Nimrod in Babel. It is said that Shem, Nimrod’s great uncle, killed Nimrod, and scattered his remains across the land. There was just one land mass at this time. The priests of Nimrod proclaimed that Nimrod became the Sun, in order in continued his worship. When his wife became pregnant five months later, she proclaimed that she was made pregnant by the “rays of the Sun”, which was supposedly her husband. It is about this time (2509 BC) that God stopped the building of the tower, and scattered mankind (and the continents) across the Earth.
The widow of Nimrod, named Semiramis, named her (illegitimate) son Tammuz, when he was born, supposedly on December 25th, as were the other “sun gods”. When Tammuz was killed by a wild boar on his 40th birthday, the “forty days of weeping” was instituted, and the eating of ham was instituted on the 41st day. When Semiramis died, the priests of Nimrod proclaimed that “the queen of heaven” came back to earth, landed in the Euphrates River, and changed a bird into an egg laying rabbit to prove her divinity. The 41st day was then called “Easter”.
About 150 years later, in 2318 BC, Abram was born in Ur of the Chaldees. His younger brother named Haran, met a tragic death in perhaps 2302 BC, and the family moved from Ur to another location in southern Syria, which Terah, Abram’s father, called Haran, after his dead son. Abram married his half-sister (Sarai) in about 2288 BC, and God “called” him in 2243 BC. After some eight years of waiting for God to fulfill His promise to Abram, Sarai gave her Egyptian handmaid to Abram in 2233 BC, in order to bear a child…, big mistake. Ishmael was born in 2232 BC, when Abram was 86 years old. Like Eve, Sarai acted on her own, and her offspring would suffer for it. Still, like Adam, Abram should have said “no”, and continued to wait on Yehovah.
Isaac was born in 2218 BC, being the son of promise. However, God “tested” Abraham. His father died in 2183 BC, when Isaac was 35 years old. Next, Sarah died in 2181 BC, at 127 years old. A year later, when Isaac was 38, when there was no chance of Abraham having another child (by Sarah), God told him to sacrifice Isaac at Mt. Moriah. This had to tear Abraham up, and make him wonder if God was truly holy. The aborted sacrifice turned out to be several feet above the same co-ordinates that Yeshua would be sacrificed 2,207 years later, when part of the mountain was chiseled away.
Marriage was a problem for the early Hebrews, which led to serious problems. The Canaanites were heathens, cursed by Noah, practiced idolatry, and did not know Yehovah. Nahor, Abraham’s brother, still lived in southern Syria, and had knowledge of Yehovah. Abraham sent his trusted servant to seek out a wife from Nahor’s family, in order to be a bride for Isaac. The servant found Rebekah, and brought her back for Isaac. They married in 2178 BC when Isaac was forty years old.
Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons in 2158 BC, Esau being first and Jacob being the younger. Yet Esau did not wait for a wife, and did not heed his father’s request a married women of Canaan when he was forty years old. After “obtaining” the birthright from Esau, Jacob left to live with his kindred when he was 75 years old. He met Rachel, and agreed to work seven years for her. But he ended up marrying Leah in 2075 BC, when he was 83 years old, and also Rachel a week later, after agreeing to work more seven years for the right to marry Rachel.
Jacob’s first son named Reuben, was born in 2074 BC by Leah. Jacob’s second son (Simeon) was born in 2073 BC, his third son named Levi was born in early 2072 BC, and Judah was born in late 2072 BC, all by Leah. In all, Jacob had twelve sons by his two wives and their two handmaidens, with Rachel having the last two sons. I’m guessing that Jacob also had about five daughters after all was said and done.
However, there are skeletons in Jacob’s closet, which Moses appears to have tried to hide. It was (nearly) forbidden for any of the children of Israel (Jacob) to marry any of the Canaanites. Also, Jacob’s oldest son (Reuben) was almost thirteen years old when Jacob “had a falling out” with Laban (his father-in-law), and parted company in 2062 BC. So Jacob didn’t try to obtain a spouse for any his children from the family of Laban. So, the sons of Jacob that were “reaching that age” were in a quandary. In the next chapter, the untold soap opera begins.
Herman Cummings
ephraim7@aol.com