Category: Archeology

Unholy Trinity

The legend of the first unholy trinity is an approximate history around the time of Babel. A nexus that would have dire consequences for all remaining time. People often ask if Christianity has borrowed its truths from other myths and cultures, but the bible tells us “…we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) It is my opinion that every false and opposing religion that detracts from the truth of the gospel has been orchestrated by such powers, and that casting doubt on a plan of redemption known about since the Garden of Eden is an efficient way for enemies of God to muddy waters. Let’s take a look back in time at this important period, where many lies began.

Noah landed on the mountains of Ararat after the flood around 2350 BC, and our greatest geological features were laid down all over the world. Mountain ranges and gorges were formed, as great spillways washed millions of tons of sediment into oceans. Animals were swirled and broken and buried all over the earth, creating fossil graveyards, placing whale bones in deserts, and burying sea creatures on every continent high above sea level. Pillow lava formed great swatches of land, fault lines settled and cooled, and sedimentary layers were deposited over vast areas of the world. One such rock layer called the Cretaceous chalk beds of southern England can be traced to Ireland, across France and Germany, down to Israel and Egypt, and remarkably all the way to the mid-west United States, all having the same distinctive strata both above and below, and the same fossils within, an impossibility without the world-wide, calamitous flood of Noah. Mud and rock travelled hundreds of miles, exposing layers on canyon walls that had no erosion between, indicating catastrophe and rapid burial. From a Niagara Falls that would not exist had it millions of years to run its course, to the limiting factors of the Sahara Desert and the Great Barrier Reef, I unabashedly believe the great deluge of Noah’s day formed the world we see now.

            Biblicists can trace all mankind back to that very ark. But the perfect world God had created was no more. You remember your Genesis, yes? Men lived to 900 years old. But the sky fell, the atmosphere changed, and the days of men were reduced. Going by a biblical timeline, people forget that it did not happen right away. This meant that the earliest patriarchs, such as Shem who lived to 600, Heber who lived to 464 years, Terah who lived to 205 years, would have been revered, even idolized by generations of people. Just for reference, Noah who died in 1998 BC could have known a two year old Abram (Abraham) if he had been in the same city. This would have been his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.

            Certainly, if those of the line of Christ lived so long, other lines did as well. As beautifully complete a history as the bible is, it is only a history of the Hebrew nation. But Ham, and Japheth had sons and daughters, and it is quite conceivable that men of old who desired adoration let themselves be perceived as gods. Consider, according to Genesis chapter 10, Ham begat Cush, who begat Nimrod. It says Nimrod was a mighty one in the earth, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel where history records severe idolatry. He then establishes Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, which makes up the Khabur Triangle.

The pieces of the legend begin with what we know from the word of God. In Babel, Nimrod, as this mighty hunter, wished to erect a tower. This building of a great tower was not for the worship of God, but rather in the face of God, and for man’s own exaltation and benefit. Nimrod, this self-proclaimed god-man, was the impetus behind its construction, for the sole purpose of challenging heaven with glorified self. The languages were confused, and the people were dispersed. But they all learned the same wrong way to worship, and all had the same champions to idolize.

            There is no way to get this next part exactly right, for no ancient history of any peoples is even minutely comparable to the continuous and specific history of the Hebrew witnesses. Archeology often misses this, and it is to their peril, rather than the bible’s. No scholar worth his salt would dismiss biblical records over that of the incomplete, disfigured records of any other culture. And this is not a small point; Hebrews are the only ancient culture to have told the truth when logging their own defeats. The common practice was for losses to be erased from history, so that civilizations, such as Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Assyrian, could retain their perceived glory. But we know who glory belongs to, don’t we?

                        The bible tells us that Nimrod established the next cities, and history says Ninus established cities as well, Nineveh being one of them. Legend says that along the way, Nimrod picked up a bride named Semiramis. Some construed she was found on the street, perhaps engaging in the ‘oldest known profession’. No one knows for sure. But as men followed Nimrod for his prowess and civic leadership, the same citizenry looked to her for guidance in spirituality. Nimrod gave her the reigns as queen, allowing her to control the hearts of men.

            The kingdoms that were established delved into debauchery. It was the beginning of opiates, and prostitution, and revelries of questionable intensions. There was of course drinking, and plenty of gossipy scandal, but worse than that were the sacrifices made under the guise of religious fervor. Virgins and I’m sorry to say, first born sacrifices were common occurrences. Amidst the cultish practices run amuck, Semiramis became pregnant. Now, who could say if it was Nimrod’s baby, or one of the frequent guests of the palace beds? There is insinuation, however, that the coup which ensued to avoid aspersion was also an epic power play, and quite possibly the most damaging thing the devil has ever concocted.

            One night during a banquet, an evening of wicked carousing, Semiramis stepped up the intensity in every way. It became a raucous and sexual affair, and the queen made sure that the wine flowed, and the hallucinogens were ardently consumed. At the peak of the celebration, she had convinced her husband to be the sacrifice for the evening. Folklore indicates that he willingly allowed for his limbs to be tied to horses in the courtyard, and in his stupor was convinced he would survive, or be reborn. He was not.

            Semiramis was not only the queen, but had become the high priestess of this ceremony, and when she gave the word, the party goers obeyed her wish, and goaded the horses into a frenzied gallop, ripping asunder the mighty king. Now, with a son in her belly, and her promising the king would return, she, like the Grinch, thought up a scheme, and thought it up quick. She promised that if his body was ripped apart and spread to the corners of Mesopotamia, or Shinar, then those cities who had a piece of Nimrod would flourish. She then, most promptly, asked for the pieces back, so she could reassemble her husband. She received almost every piece, if you believe the stories, save one. And based on Obelisk monuments built in his honor, I think you can guess which piece did not return to the palace. That’s right, it was his hand… Just kidding, it was his royal man-business.

            This, of course, disallowed her to perform the reanimation of her late husband, and she convinced the people that since he could not return, his spirit had instead entered the sun, and had become the sun god, Shamash, which later became Baal. Semiramis had her child, and named him Ninus. She also told tales about herself, to dispelled reports that she had been a mere prostitute, and had given birth to someone else’s baby. The myth that she had never been born a baby, but was instead divine, spread throughout the known world. The moon had given birth to her full grown after one of its 28 day cycles by floating a great egg down to the Euphrates River. One distortion suggests that she was birthed by the river, or by the sea, and came to shore on a large seashell, similar to the story the Greeks would adopt about their goddess Aphrodite. This of course meant that Ninus, or Tammuz, had now become the defacto son of a sun god and of a moon goddess. You would think that this would be enough distortion for one super villain, but it was not. The rumor was also spread that Ninus was in fact the reincarnation of Nimrod. This was the justification Semiramis used to marry him.

            The son of this trinity was known by many names, an amalgamation of real and fictional leaders throughout the ancient world. The name Ninus is not found in any cuneiform literature, the ancient writing of Mesopotamia, but Nineveh is ‘the city of Ninus’ in Greek, and Tammuz, his alternate name, is Akkadian, the language of Mesopotamian cultures such as Assyria and Babylon. He was known to be fond of rabbits, and also became a hunter like his father, which eventually led to his demise. The day came when he was killed by the wild boar he was hunting. The queen told the parishioners that a forty day period of sorrow each year prior to the anniversary of his death was to be recognized. During this time, no meat was to be eaten. Meditation on Tammuz was to be commenced, shown outwardly and publically by making a ‘T’ on ones chest. Semiramis, also known by her Akkadian name Ishtar (pronounced Easter), soon dedicated a day of celebration in spring to her growing and mysterious religion, revering the queen of heaven’s fertility and sexuality, and her birth from the full moon. It became the tradition, of course, to utilize eggs and rabbits, and to dine on a pig, the source of her son’s demise.

Semiramis was soon worshiped as the ‘queen of heaven’. In Babylon she built the first obelisk, 130 feet high, to honor the husband she destroyed with horses, which of course represents the non-returned phallus. It is interesting to note the obelisks that have been erected – if you will pardon the pun – in history, and by whom. The largest obelisk in the world, for example, is in front of the capitol building in Washington, D.C., the Washington Monument; certainly food for thought. The obelisk in front of St. Peter’s in Rome is one hundred thirty-two feet high and came from Heliopolis in Egypt, where Semiramis took the name Isis, and Ninus was known as Horus, or Osiris. The Egyptian mother and child were worshiped there, with the infant Osiris seated on his mother’s lap, an all too familiar image. The mother and the child. Countless Babylonian monuments show the goddess-mother Semiramis with a baby in her arms. After Babel, different names were applied. Just as Tammuz was an Akkadian name, so Semiramis had the Babylonian alias, Ishtar. Ancient Germans worshipped the virgin Hertha with child; Scandinavians called her Disa; in India, the mother and child were called Devaki and Krishna, and also Isi and Iswara; pagan Rome had Fortuna and Jupiter; in Greece, she was Ceres, or Irene, and he was Plutus; and in parts of Asia they were known as Cybele and Deoius. When Jesuit missionaries finally visited the Far East, they were incredulous to already find Madonna and child in Tibet, Japan, and also China, where Shing Moo was holding a child with glory around her head, painted as if it had been done by Italian artisans.

            The fallout from this tangle of lives reverberated through the ages, and in these three persons, you have the origin of false idols, polytheism, reincarnation, self worship, virgin and first born sacrifices, prostitution, paganism, and witchcraft. What took place there at Babel so long ago was arguably the most detrimental series of events to mankind’s salvation ever conducted. The unholy trinity of Nimrod, Ninus, and Semiramis saturated the globe with unhealthy rituals, and it peaked in influence when Babylon set the tone for the world. Babylon, Assyria, Ur, they all eventually fell, but the poison had already seeped into every culture. With the languages confused, man spread from that nexus of abomination, and walked aspects of all false religions to come across the earth. The worship of fabricated gods has been a tool of evil ever since these traditions were set in motion, and mankind has suffered in its wake. It was such anathema to the Lord’s will that He wrote

‘Ye shall have no other gods before Me’

with His very finger. A command often mistook, when it is not seen for the love and protection it provides.

THE IPUWER PAPYRUS

As a mater of interesting archeology, the Ipuwer papyrus, also known as the ‘Admonitions of Ipuwer’, is an Egyptian text written on papyrus from around 2000 to 1600 BC, which would put it right at the period of time coinciding with the Exodus. This makes the document a very controversial one, for several reasons.

As a matter of interesting archeology, the Ipuwer papyrus, also known as the ‘Admonitions of Ipuwer’, is an Egyptian text written on papyrus from around 2000 to 1600 BC, which would put it right at the period of time coinciding with the Exodus. This makes the document a very controversial one, for several reasons.

Firstly it is incomplete, very damaged, and is missing the beginning, and the ending. Secondly, it makes reference to circumstances happening in the surrounding culture that parallel very closely with events of the Exodus. Since the Bible’s critics maintain that the exodus was fictional, and Christians maintain that the old testament records accurate historical narratives, the assertion of bible critics would be to maintain that the two references have no correlation.

Let’s be clear about a couple things. Christians do not need to find corroborating archeology to believe, or bolster faith. Critics mistakenly insist that evidence must be found outside the Bible, which is an unfair bias, as the Bible itself is a library of many books of antiquity, not only remarkably preserved, but uniquely self-corroborating, despite authors being separated by time and distance. In fact, the Bible’s preservation is so well respected by historians, that if one were to dismiss it outright, they would be forced to dismiss all books of antiquity, all of them having far less evidence of reliability. Critics who demand evidence “other than the Bible,” mistakenly assume it is an invalid source of information.

Also, Egyptian history is notorious for deleting negative or embarrassing details. Unlike the embarrassing testimony of sin, confusion, and lost battles, recorded truthfully by the Hebrews, it was not uncommon for Egyptian or other cultures to erase kings they didn’t like, destroy records of wars they lost, or keep details of enemies from notoriety. The result being a highly edited, and favorable account of an empire’s history, coupled with an untenable timeline of kings and events.

That being said, it is always fun when archeology and other sciences do indeed support the authority of scripture, which happens often. As an example, in 2 Kings 18, it says:

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

Critics often maintained such a king never existed, the Bible was wrong, and secular lists of ancient kings should be held in higher esteem than made up, untrustworthy scripture… that is until 1849, when Henry Layard uncovered the city of Nineveh, and found Sennacherib’s name at the gates.

Arguing that because we haven’t found proof yet, means the scripture isn’t accurate is an argument from silence, and joyfully, often backfires when more evidences are found. But, let is digress back to the Papyrus in question.

Here we have a rare look into some of Egypt’s difficulties, sufferings, and defeats, at a time where most historical records preserve only a sterling façade of power and glory. I highly recommend the documentary Patterns of Evidence regarding the Exodus, if you haven’t seen it, but let’s explore some of what is illustrated by the poetry on this Ipuwer papyrus.

“The door [keepers] say: “Let us go and plunder.”… and the servant takes what he finds” (Exodus 12:36, The Jews plunder the Egyptians upon leaving)

“poor men have become owners of wealth, and he who could not make sandals for himself is now a possessor of riches” (took silver and gold)

“Indeed, the women are barren, and none conceive. Khnum fashions (men) no more because of the condition of the land.” (everything destroyed)

“pestilence is throughout the land, blood is everywhere” (plagues)

“the river is blood, yet men drink of it” (Exodus 7:24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile)

“Indeed, gates, columns and walls are burnt up, while the hall of the palace stands firm and endures… towns are destroyed and Upper Egypt has become an empty waste.”

“I have separated him and his household slaves”

“Indeed, runners are fighting over the spoil [of ] the robber, and all his property is carried off.” – (This is an interesting one, because it is possible citizens are fighting over what has been left in the abandoned homes of the “robbers,” those who plundered the great city. They would be fighting over spoils out of great need.)

Indeed, all animals, their hearts weep; cattle moan because of the state of the land.

“Indeed, the children of princes are dashed against walls, and the children of the neck are laid out on the high ground.” – (tenth plague, death of Egyptian firstborn – At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.)

“Behold, the fire has gone up on high, and its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land.” – Pillar of fire)

“Behold, things have been done which have not happened for a long time past; the king has been deposed by the rabble.” – (slaves victorious over a king)

“Behold, he who had no property is now a possessor of wealth, and the magnate praises him.”

“Behold, the poor of the land have become rich, and the [erstwhile owner] of property is one who has nothing.”

What an amazing document! So many parallels it is hard to ignore. This is by no means exhaustive, and many additional details can be determined by reading all of it, including consequences of the event. Details about barbarians looting afterwards, lead us to believe there was much devastation, and loss of power, opening the city up to looters. Remember, much of the army would have been destroyed in the Red sea.

Of course, we have the perfect authority of scripture, and Jesus stamp of approval for the Old Testament, which He quoted often, in His fulfilling of the law. There are a great many other evidences as well that support the always trustworthy Scriptures. Kahun as an example could have been a slave village, was poor, and nearby. It had buried infants under the floors, possibly from the Egyptian slaughter of Hebrew babies, as well as evidence that the people left suddenly and definitively.

The Amarna letters, ancient writing between Egyptian and Middle Eastern rulers, accuse tumult on a group labeled as Habiru, a probable term for Hebrews. Also at this same time we have evidence of cities like Jericho falling, an amazing discovery in its own right, since the walls somehow fell outward, unlike the collapse of normal walls in war.

The bible, in proper exegesis, interprets itself, and is God breathed and certainly trustworthy. But, wow, is it fun to see amazing historical evidences that paint a clear picture, and support the truth that was known all along.