Tag: mesopotamia

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World History

Atlatls, Personal Seals, and Temple Prototype

fire burning, seals

Cultural Overview

New Products in North America

A Culture in Mesopotamia!

Greek Megaron: Prototype of Classic Temples!

Atlatls, Personal Seals, and Temple Prototype

We’ve jumped time to 6100 B.C. (TGD).

Cultural Overview

Nothing new is happening in China, Greece, or Pakistan. In Egypt, the Faiyum culture is gone with nothing to replace it. Merngarh in Pakistan is expanding from its farming community, but there are no significant changes.

However, because of the rising seas at the close of the last ice period, Britain is now an island! Although trade will continue through navigation, the British will become a closed community, beginning their own traditions.

New Products in North America

In North America, all sites demonstrate a proliferation of tools, trade goods, and burial items. Columbia River sites in Oregon concentrated tool making on salmon fishing. In Utah the emphasis was on wool, leather, fur, and basketry.

The Great Basin sites, where people lived in caves or rock shelters, added the atlatl (a curved stick for hunting), smoking pipes, medicine bags and the deer-hoof rattles possibly used in the ceremonies, seashell ornaments, and bird-bone whistles.

A Culture in Mesopotamia!

But the best news is that Mesopotamia has awakened at last!

The Halaf culture, lasting one thousand years, was now first seen at Sakce Gözu, which is in Turkey near Syria. The most important site was located in what today is in the suburbs of Mosul, Iraq.

Halaf culture existed primarily in the valley of the Khabur River, although its beautiful pottery was found throughout Mesopotamia.

Bowls and plates are frequent finds. Nude female figures made of terracotta show traces of pigment as if clothes were painted on them. The earliest stamp seals known in the Near East began in the Halaf culture.

Greek Megaron: Prototype of Classic Temples!

It’s 5700 B.C. (TGD) in Sesclo of the Thessaly area of Greece. A new form of architecture has been developed. It’s called a “megaron house,” although later traditional megarons were not houses to live and sleep in, but were great halls for meetings, celebrations, and/or religious worship.

We don’t know the purpose of this oldest megaron. Maybe it was just the house of the most important or richest man.

It sits on the apex of the hill. (Where have we seen a structure on the highest place before?) Today, only the foundation remains, but we can learn much more from archaeological finds.

The megaron is surrounded by circular stone walls that separate it from the simple houses. It is rectangular and sits on an east-west axis. The foundation is stone. Finds indicate that the walls were brick and the roof was timber.

To enter, you walked through the porch, then the entrance to the main chamber. This chamber is almost square. It has a clay floor and a square clay hearth. On the northwest corner two oblong stone structures act as an area to prepare, serve, or assemble whatever is required. Three conical holes in the middle of the floor would have held the timbers that supported the roof.

Beyond the square room is the back room, possibly for storage. Later, a trapezoid area on the east would become a back porch.

Well! This is quite fancy for Greece! And the megaron is the prototype for the splendid temples of classic Greece.

Photo credit: Marinela Malcheva on Unsplash

Categories
World History

Elsewhere in the World….

globe

Between the Time of the Flood and Göbekli Tepe

During the Göbekli Tepe Era

After Göbekli Tepe

The First Merlins?

Elsewhere in the World….

Between the Time of the Flood and Göbekli Tepe

In the world prior to Göbekli Tepe, people spread out in small family communities for hunting, fishing, and gathering.

Europe

Remember those Reindeer People who migrated to France and Spain? They eventually migrated to Britain. The earliest tools were found on the Suffolk Coast. They shared Britain with mammoths, rhinos, and giant beavers.

It seems that humans disappeared during the last ice period. Britain was then recolonized.

Although southern Europe had a much better climate and sites of obsidian, there was no significant culture there.

The Americas

We have already talked about the Pre-Clovis Culture of the Eastern United States which was begun by the cultures that swept from northwestern Asia westward through Europe.

That same group of Reindeer People later swept eastward through Russia to enter Alaska by walking over the Bering Strait when it was frozen during the last ice period. They migrated throughout the western and southern United States.

As part of this migration, the Folsom Culture reigned in the Great Plains of the United States, as indicated by a unique leaf-shaped point. These people hunted an extinct form of bison as well as smaller animals. Later, these bison were killed more safely and efficiently by running entire herds over a cliff.

Later, the Clovis culture developed as defined by their invention of the Clovis point. Chipped from brittle stone such as jasper, chert, and obsidian, it was lance shaped and slicing sharp. It was four inches long, one-third of an inch thick, and fluted for attachment to a shaft. The chipping alternated on both faces. It has been found throughout the western United States and as far south as Venezuela.

The Clovis people were hunter-gatherers. They primarily hunted small mammals, but Clovis points have been found among mammoth ribs. It is thought that the Clovis people dared attack these dangerous animals because they were already dying and were easily found near water holes.

The Clovis point was the first invention made in America!

Asia and Africa

There were no significant cultures during this time period.

Summary

You can see that other than the invention of a tool here or a new weapon point there, no culture developed in the world between the time of the flood and Göbekli Tepe.

During the Göbekli Tepe Era

The Egyptian Faiyum Culture became the first culture to develop after the time of the flood. It inhabited the area of the Faiyum Oasis near Lake Qaroun, which is all that remains of an ancient inland sea. It is southwest of Giza. Communities grew from single tribes to several small tribes traveling together.

In the south central Mexican Valley of Tehuacán, people began to experiment with a grain called teosinte. This work eventually resulted in maize, or corn!

In Mesopotamia, wild cereals were now cultivated throughout this time period, but that did not mean a less mobile culture.

There were no significant advancements in Britain, China, India, or Greece.

After Göbekli Tepe

At the end of the Swiderian reign in Göbekli Tepe, kilns were once again built in Mesopotamia to fire pottery. Prehaps Swiderian magi were responsible for this.

The Faiyum people now depended on agriculture as well as hunting and gathering. Most of the settlements were permanent, not mobile. The people built reed huts with underground cellars for grain storage. Cattle, sheep, and goats were domesticated. Basket and pottery making developed.

Different tribes lived together permanently. During this time, tribal chieftains were endowed with the power to rule.

The First Merlins?

I often wonder if the Swiderians continued to absorb and teach knowledge. Were they the first magi, contributing to many cultures as itinerant wizards? Were they the first Merlins?

Is that why distant and disparate cultures often developed similar structures, cultural marks, and legends?

Photo credit: Arpit Rastogi on Unsplash

Categories
World History

Ancient Mesopotamia: Religion and Government

Ancient Mesopotamia: Religion and Government - Crown

Temple Worship Begins

Deity Pantheon Invented

Kingship Initiated

Does the King List Prove the Genesis Seth Line?

Kingship Changes Hands

Did you see the note that brick temples were built in pre-flood Mesopotamia? The God of Adam never ordered temples, nor were they encouraged, because the Judeo-Christian God is everywhere at once. He does not need a house.

Temple Worship Begins

Yet brick temples popped up, complete with altars for sacrifice.

Strangely, I have not read of idols in these temples. Were they, then, first erected to the God of Genesis? But why?

It’s only speculation on my part, but perhaps it made Cain’s family more comfortable. Not daring to ditch God completely, they located the omnipresent, omnipotent God in a structure in which they could approach God and worship him, but he didn’t follow them around all week. They could do what they desired.

Deity Pantheon Invented

The next step would be to divide the immeasurable God into gods and goddesses of specific items. But these were not the same as God. These were humans with superhuman powers. They could be capricious in justice. They could be pranksters. Humans still needed to respect and worship them. But they could be bought. You could make a deal with them.

Yes, that’s a much more comfortable idea of deity.

It can be seen today in the behavior of many worshippers of the Judeo-Christian God who worship at church or temple then do as they please the rest of the week. Worshippers also attempt to make deals with God, forgetting that all they have originated from God.

This gives credence to my Mesopotamian scenario—but it’s not proof.

Kingship Initiated

And then came government. A scribe, who compiled a list of Mesopotamian kings from the most ancient sources available, says that “kingship descended from the heavens.” This means that one or more gods invented kingship and brought the idea to humans.

My guess is that it arrived via a convenient prophecy. I’ve seen similar things happen within my lifetime.

One example is that the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) originally held the position that members of the Negro race could not become elect (believers). During the Civil Rights era, other colleges refused to play Brigham Young University because of this. Then, a new prophecy declared that blacks were now acceptable believers, and college sports returned to normal.

How convenient!

Let’s look at the list of kings before the Great Deluge.

The list of kings dated by the scribe as 2125 B.C.

A compilation of ancient sources.

Alulim28,000Eridu

Alalgar36,000Eridu

Enmenluanna43,000Bad-Tibira (probably Badgurguru*)

Enmengalana28,000Bad-Tibira

Dumuzi the Shepherd36,000Bad-Tibira

Ensipadzidana28,000Larag

Enmendurana21,000Zimbir (Sippar/Akkad)

Ubara-Tutu18,600Shurrupuk

Ziusudra (Noah)36,000Shurrupuk

*means City of the Workers in Bronze

Does the King List Prove the Genesis Seth Line?

The first thing I notice is their extraordinarily long reigns! They are recorded as reining much longer than the patriarchs of Genesis lived—and we thought that was strange!

There is an answer, however. Numbers in Genesis were recorded in Egypt’s Base 10 system. Mesopotamian mathematics were calculated in Base 60.

In fact, there are still people today who count in Base 60. We still use the system in minutes and seconds, whether in time or geometry or navigation.

In Base 60, there is a unit of 60 times 60, or 3600. If that is the unit used in the above list, the years come down to being very close to what Genesis records for patriarch lifespans!

In fact, some Christians believe that this list actually relates to Seth and his descendants as recorded in Genesis. However, I see some problems.

The correlation must begin with Seth rather than Adam. Why would that be done?

Enoch’s counterpart, Ensipadzidana, was also said to ascend to heaven without dying. However, this resulted in Enoch’s lifetime being the shortest of the list. This is not true with his match.

Methuselah lived the longest life on record (in Base 10). Emmendurana did not.

Kingship Changes Hands

This is the order after “kingship descended from the heavens.” It remained in a city until it “fell” or was “defeated.” “Then the kingship was taken to” the next city on the list.

There are a variety of reasons why a city could fail. Some possibilities are war, bad location planning, natural disaster, crop failure, an inept king, a king so unpopular that the people moved out, or perhaps it seemed to the people that the god of that city failed them so they moved to the domain of another god.

There is nothing said about the scope of kingship. Mesopotamia is thought of as an area of city-states, each city ruled by one king.

But this sounds as if one person had the rank of king. It does not rule out leaders of each city, probably a priest.

Overall, it seems that there was a time before kingship. After the first king claimed his crown, civilization quickly degenerated into a state similar to the War of the Roses!

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Categories
World History

The Dawn of Mesopotamia

Dawn of Mesopotamia

The First Cities of Mesopotamia

Surprising Relics!

The Invention of Writing

The Dawn of Mesopotamia

Ancient cities exist that show a distinctive flood level. Debate rages between whether this was a local flood or a world-wide flood.

If one believes that the legend of Noah’s ark is true, these cities existed before a worldwide flood occurred and were rebuilt later. It was probably Cain’s family that originally populated the region.

The First Cities of Mesopotamia

The cities discovered to pre-date the flood are: Eridu (Abu Shahrein, Iraq), where tradition says Adam and Eve lived after ejection from the Garden of Eden, Obeid, Erech, Susa, Tepe Gawra, Fara (Shurppah/Shurrupuk), which tradition says was the home of Noah, Ur, Kish, Sippar (Akkad), Larsa, and Jemdet Nasar.

The legends of Adam and Eve and of Noah’s Ark in Genesis have surprisingly similar counterparts in Mesopotamian cultures. Other cultures also support these legends as facts.

Surprising Relics!

A variety of surprising relics have been discovered in the pre-flood layer:

  1. Pottery painted in geometric patterns and figures of birds. Some pottery is vitrified; that is, some of the clay has turned to glass at high heat, making it waterproof. Wow!
  2. Tools of copper and stone, including flint and quartz. These include hoes, sickles, and fish hooks.
    1. In fact, primitive inscriptions brag that Babylonia (Mesopotamia, near the mouth of the rivers) was never inhabited by a people who were unacquainted with the use of metal!
  3. Models of boats hint at life on the water, perhaps fishing and/or trade.
  4. A chariot that proves the domestication of the horse, including breeding of small, stocky wild horses into a breed with enough bone and muscle to pull a chariot.
  5. A rich community is indicated by vanity items: turquoise vases, copper mirrors, and cosmetics to darken eyebrows and eyelids.
  6. Structures include an underground kiln and ruins of brick temples that were painted red or covered with plaster.
  7. Seals to assert ownership and/or authority have been found, but also inscriptions on clay tablets.
    1. In fact, an ancient Babylonian king recorded that he “loved to read the writings of the age before the Flood.”
    1. Assurbanipal, founder of the great library of Ninevah, referred to “inscriptions of the time before the Flood.”
    1. How did they come to survive the Great Deluge, as the Babylonians called it? Berosus was a priest who wrote a three-volume book of Babylonian history in Greek and dedicated it to Antiochus I around 300 B.C. In it, he relates the tradition that Ziusudra (the Babylonian name for Noah) buried the sacred writings at Sippur before the Flood and afterward dug them up. (Why do that at Sippur?)

The Invention of Writing

Jewish and Arab tradition says that the Enoch who was descended from Seth invented writing. There is no proof.

He did, however, write three Books of Enoch. They are considered non-biblical texts by many Christians but contain spiritual events and prophecies. Therefore, it is safe to say that he adhered to the God of his ancestors.

But being an author does not mean one has invented writing. I should know!

What is the argument that it was Cain’s son Enoch who invented writing? According to Genesis, all of the inventors were from Cain’s family. And, being much older than the Sethite Enoch, the latter benefitted from a writing system that by his time had advanced in practicality.

Unless significant, specific proof is unearthed, we will never know who invented writing.

Well, this artsy, luxurious lifestyle is far from the Caveman Culture envisioned in most history texts, isn’t it?

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Categories
World History

Problem Child: Murderer

Problem Child Murderer

Murder Motive

Crime Scene

Courtroom Drama

The Wanderer

Problem Child: Murderer

Cain was every parent’s worst nightmare.

When he was sixty-eight years old and should have known better, he murdered his younger brother, according to Genesis.

Murder Motive

Why? Because his brother followed the rule for sacrificing to God: give the first of your harvest. Abel went further: he sacrificed the fatty potions from the best of his flock. His sacrifice was accepted.

Cain offered some of his produce, which implies that he kept the best for himself. This man was selfish, greedy, and he had a bad attitude! There’s no way I would do business with him.

Of course, Cain’s sacrifice was rejected. He was furious, and he pouted.

God wanted to re-establish a relationship with Cain and fix his attitude. He said, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it.” (NIV)

Crime Scene

Here’s problem solving for you: Cain said to Abel, “Let’s go to the field.” (That’s where Cain feels most comfortable.) There Cain killed his brother. That’ll show the little twerp to upstage him!

Courtroom Drama

God is back. “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” What a lying, snotty response!

“What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out from the ground.” God tells Cain that as a result of his sin, the ground will no longer respond to his farming and he will become a restless wanderer.

Stubborn Cain tries emotional sabotage. “Today you are driving me from the land. (Not true: he just isn’t able to farm it.) I will be hidden from your presence. (Not true: the Judeo-Christian God is omnipresent. We’ll see that Cain doesn’t care about this anyway.) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth. (True.) And whoever finds me will kill me. (God never said this. Even so, doesn’t he deserve it?)

God puts a mark or seal on Cain to prevent his murder. This is the beginning of what will later become writing. It is probably the source of the early practice of a personal seal with which to “sign” documents.

The Wanderer

So Cain and his wife “went out of the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” East of Eden covers a large area. However, if Eden is, as I proposed, the eastern section of the Turkish plateau, then Cain traveled beyond the mountains.

The Bible does not tell us where “Nod” was, but the important thing may be that it means “away from the presence of God.” As pointed out earlier, this is impossible with the Judeo-Christian God. Therefore, this must refer to where Cain connected with God: his parents, the angel with the flaming sword blocking the way to the Garden of Eden, and his own judgement.

In other words Cain not only “went out from the Lord’s presence” but he also lived there. He never repented, never returned.

Genesis says Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch. We have no idea where that city was. There are educated guesses, but no proof.

My guess is that traveling east instead of south indicates that he followed the Tigris River instead of the Euphrates River into what is today called Mesopotamia. There, he built the city. In my opinion, it no longer exists, but I could be proven wrong!

Since he was “a wanderer,” he probably did not remain there, but continued to travel along the Tigris.

Suggested reading: Genesis 4:1-17

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Categories
World History

Cataclysm Journalism

writing in spiral bound journal

Why?

Who?

When?

Where?

Cataclysm Journalism

Just like we looked at the origin of humans, we will explore the journalistic questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Usually we would end with “why” because it wraps up everything we learn. This time we will begin with that question.

Why? Because Moses begins there so that what he tells us will make sense.

Why?

Unlike the comfortable comet theory which posits a huge asteroid crossing earth’s path and being sucked in by gravity, the event commonly called Noah’s Ark is always initiated by one or more gods who deign to punish humans.

The corrupt acts vary from a woman who drank from a stream during her menses to disrespect of the gods to complete wickedness. A few cultures say it wasn’t evil that triggered the event, but overpopulation.

How did humans disrespect the gods? Here are some examples: the gods were miffed by the King of Alba setting himself up as a god equal to Jupiter, general rudeness and lack of hospitality when a god came in the guise of a poor person, or outright disregard of required sacrifices and worship.

Here are some specific wicked behaviors listed by different cultures:

They didn’t know how to act as humans. (Lakota: indigenous American)

Imperious and depraved (Chaldean: ancient Mesopotamian)

Idleness, wantonness, rapacity (Hebrew legend, not from Genesis)

Wicked, lazy, and didn’t wash (Munda: India)

Wasted fish, polluted the pond until all of the fish were poisoned (Sui: China)

Genesis 6: 5 says that “every inclination of the thoughts of (man’s) heart was only evil all the time.”

Well! That covers it!

And since we know that according to Moses, God had already ejected Adam and Eve from the garden and prevented humans from returning, had allowed the DNA decay and defect processes to begin, and had cut human life time to 120years, we see that God is progressively angrier.

God wasn’t going to take it anymore! He was going to destroy everything on earth!

But then, he remembered Noah….

Who?

It is amazing how many cultures use “Noah” or a derivative for the protagonist of the story!

These cultures use Noah: Genesis (Hebrew Bible), Islam, Russian, the Hershel Island Eskimos (Canadian Yukon). The Zapotecs of ancient Mexico called him Noéh. 

Here are related names: Nama (Altaic: central Asia), Noj (Sagaive: eastern Siberia), Nol (Lifou: New Caledonia), Nu’u (Hawaii), Nanaboujou (Ottawa: indigenous American), and Nu-mohk-muck-a-nek (Ottawa).

Other cultures refer to the same protagonist by a descriptive name.

Several cultures refer to him as a son of a god, although he may have a different name. Ancient Greeks called him Deucalion, the son of Prometheus.

According to the ancient Chaldeans, he was the tenth king of Babylon. Well, Noah was the tenth generation from Adam. It seems the Babylonians considered the Genesis genealogy to be their king list!

The ancient Sumerians called him a priest-king, which is who ruled their culture. Is Noah where the idea came from?

Another popular title was “Long of Life.” This is the meaning of Ziusudra of Sumer, Utnapishtim of Assyria, and Xisudthrus of Chaldea: all of which were ancient civilizations. Tuvinian (Soyot, north of Mongolia) and Lifou call him the Old Man. According to Genesis, Noah lived 950 years. No later person’s age was worthy of comment.

Noah was known to the Vogul (western Siberia) as the Great Man, to the Maori (New Zealand) as Hero, and to the Cree (indigenous American) as the Old Magician (Wise One).

But to me, the description that is the most tantalizing is from Sumer: The Mariner. I’m interested for two reasons: because Sumer is the oldest scientifically proven civilization, and because “The Mariner” is that specific.

The synonyms closest to “mariner” are seaman, seafarer, navigator, and sailor.

Sailor is a more general word. A sailor can work on lakes or rivers as well as the sea.

A seaman, seafarer, or mariner specifically sails the sea, and by extension the ocean. Yet, there are differences.

A seaman is one who works as a sailor, especially below the rank of an officer. That’s not Noah. He was the highest ranking person on the ark.

Seafarer can be anyone who serves aboard a marine (sea-going) vessel, or a sea traveler, often an adventurer. Yes, that could be Noah.

Mariner is the oldest of the three synonyms, dating from Latin in which “mare” means “the sea.” Mariner then means “man of the sea” or “man from the sea.” It gives the feeling that the sea is not just a job to this man. Somehow, it has become his identity.

Isn’t that true of Noah? Whenever anyone says, “Noah” the usual response is to think of the ark on the sea.

A navigator, however, is a mariner who directs the route of the ship. That was not in Noah’s job description.

When?

Ussher dates the Genesis event 2349-2348 B.C.

Most cultural legends are vague: “in the time of the stone giants,” “after the dream time,” “in the time of the first men.”

The Greeks are more specific: “Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age.” Now, that’s odd. If this legend first arose before the ancient Greece civilization we think of, the Greek tribes existed during the Bronze Age! Why didn’t the speaker just refer to that? After all, a civilization ties everything to itself.

Could it be that this is corroboration of the first bronze age: the world that Tubal-Cain invented? That is exactly when the flood occurred according to Genesis! Wow!

Where?

We don’t know where Noah lived. Surely, there was still plenty of room in Turkey for everyone to live. But maybe some went exploring.

We do know that the whole earth would be affected by the event.

What and How?

Ah, that’s the story isn’t it? And it deserves its own post.

See you next time!

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Categories
World History

Snake in the Grass

snake (close up of head)

O Adam, Where Art Thou?

Busted!

The Beginning of Dragons?

Kings, and Giants, and Gods. Oh, my!

Snake in the Grass

Enter the Villain.

It’s a serpent. That does not mean a snake. A snake is a serpent, but not all serpents are snakes.

A serpent has the lithe mobility of a snake. An eel can be called a serpent: a water serpent. It is usually described as serpentine.

We will see later that this serpent has legs. It is a wild animal, not livestock.

The serpent was the wiliest wild animal God had created.

It wound its way through the garden’s grove of amazingly beautiful trees that were bearing various delicious fruits. It looped between them until he saw his targets: Adam and Eve.

The serpent moved alongside.

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

The question drips with feigned innocence.

O Adam, Where Art Thou?

Adam says nothing, and that is his first mistake.

In fact, Moses, writing in his signature extreme minimalistic style, doesn’t even mention Adam until Adam takes action much later in the story!

Eve speaks and the more she talks, the deeper she gets into trouble. But the first thing strange to us is that speaking to the serpent seems normal to her!

Eve says, “We may eat the fruit of the trees except for the tree in the middle of the garden. He says if we touch that tree we will die.”

Oh, Eve! It’s plain that the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has been dominating your thoughts. There is another tree in the middle of the garden: the Tree of Life. But Eve doesn’t mention that. She also adds a prohibition of not touching the forbidden tree. It’s not smart to add to God’s words.

Still, Adam says nothing.

The serpent zeros in on Eve, the weaker prey. “You shall not certainly die. (emphasis mine)” The serpent follows Eve’s lead and inserts doubt by adding to God’s instructions.

Adam remains silent.

“God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will be like God (by) knowing good and evil.” The serpent appeals directly to pride in the guise of wisdom.

Now we are at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Have we been strolling there while Eve and the serpent were talking? Or has Eve already been there admiring the tree?

Eve ticks off the virtue of the tree’s fruit. Good for food. Check. Pleasing to look at. Check. Desirable for gaining wisdom. Check.

She reaches for the fruit and—Adam says nothing. He does nothing.

Feeling very brave, she picks the fruit. She notes triumphantly that she hasn’t “died” from touching it (whatever dying means). Therefore, there is no harm in eating it. (Terrible logic!)

She eats it. Adam sees all of this and does nothing.

Eve is still living. She gives some fruit to Adam, and he eats it. (This is the first time Moses mentions Adam: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Moses doesn’t even deign to name Adam!)

Then BAM! Their brains are barraged with all kinds of new thoughts. They have the knowledge of evil. They know how to cheat, how to steal, how to murder, how to wreck their relationship of perfect partnership. They feel shame and guilt and hate.

Their brains were not created to endure this knowledge. The pain! The stress! They want to die. No, not that! Dying sounds like something really awful.

If you logically accept what Genesis says, you have just learned the source of all mental illness. And you see that mental illness can never be cured, only contained and alleviated.

Is mental illness sin? No, Moses doesn’t say that. Mental illness is the result of Adam and Eve’s sin.

Busted!

God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. No humans came running to meet Him. “Where are you?” (As if He didn’t know!)

Adam: I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

God: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the forbidden tree?

Adam: The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit, and I ate it.

Here is the original blame shifter! It’s God’s fault because he made the woman. It’s her fault for giving the fruit to Adam. Okay, he admits, he did eat it. But he doesn’t admit which tree grew the fruit.

God to Eve: What is this you’ve done?

Eve learns fast. “It’s the serpent’s fault! He deceived me! (This translates to “It’s not my fault. I didn’t know any better!)

God doesn’t give the serpent a chance to answer the charges. God is now the judge handing out justice.

God to Serpent: You are cursed above all animals, wild and livestock. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust for the rest of your life. Your offspring and the woman’s will be at war forever. (This refers to Jesus.) You will damage Him, but He will crush you!

God to Woman: Your childbirth pains will be extremely severe. Your desire will be for your husband (there is no agreement on what this means) and he will rule over you.

The equal partnership is destroyed.

Since that time, any relationship will have times of honest disagreement, and someone will have to make the decision. This is not a demotion to housemaid. But it is a demotion from co-president to vice president.

Interestingly, each person will be confronted with his or her weakness.

To Adam, who was never deceived by the serpent: Step up! Take responsibility!

For the woman: If a tie vote is broken in the direction you don’t like, step back and get with the program!

It is important to recognize that this hierarchy is specifically within marriage. It does not relate to professional relationships, for instance. And it in no way negates the brains or skills of women.

Women, if you don’t choose to be Vice-President, do the man a favor and don’t marry him. Marry someone else you do trust, or stay single.

God judges Adam: The command to subdue the earth stands, but it will no longer be a joyous walk in the garden. Thorns and thistles will thwart you (whatever they are). Gardening now becomes hard work. You will sweat to grow your food. In the end, “you will return to the dust from which you came.”

And then God threw them out of the garden and placed an angel with a sword to prevent them from returning and eating from the Tree of Life.

Now, that sounds petty. But, actually it was love. If they ate from the Tree of Life now, they would live forever in the miserable, stressful, guilt- and shame-ridden lives we all find ourselves in. That’s hell, not heaven.

But never fear. God has a plan.

The Beginning of Dragons?

Although this whole incidence of loss of innocence is ignored in cultural legends, the “serpent” is part of worldwide consciousness. Sometimes it is legless and wingless. Sometimes it has multiple heads and/or horns. It may have legs but no wings. It may have a beard. Some do have wings. Some breathe fire. And in Mesoamerica, it has feathers but not wings.

These are all forms of what we refer to as a dragon. In all cultures, serpents/dragons are supernaturally powerful and clever.

But there is a difference of opinion about character. In China, dragons are benevolent and wise. In European civilizations, they are destructive and evil.

Interestingly, ancient Mesopotamia, the earliest literate culture, describes both benevolent and destructive dragons! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon

May I share my personal hypothesis? Mesopotamia is closest to the truth as told by Genesis because the serpent presented itself as benevolent and wise, but it was really destructive and crafty. Its intent was evil.

Some cultures emphasize the dragon/serpent as it was created, but some describe it after its punishment.

Kings, and Giants, and Gods. Oh, my!

And now, we continue to the time when these beings existed. Guess what? They were all humans!

Read it for yourself: Genesis chapter 3

Photo credit: Photo by David Clode on Unsplash