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BABYLON RISING: And The First Shall Be The Last
written by Rob Skiba II
Copyright © 2011

Building a Pure Nation

Use the player to the left to listen as you read along!

By the time Moses came onto the scene, the Devil already had dozens of nations under his control. Now, God wanted a nation too. One He could call His own - just one was all He needed.That nation was to be known in all the world as Israel. But how did Israel first become a nation?

Everyone knows that Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob wrestled with God and God changed his name to Israel. And Jacob-Israel had twelve sons. But at that point, all God had was a little over a dozen people. Hardly a nation. So, how do we go from a dozen to a small nation of two million+ people? Most would say that it happened as a result of the Exodus.

We've already established that there are a lot of misconceptions about the whole issue of the Jew's slavery in Egypt. Joseph was not sold into slavery by his brothers. It was the Midianites who sold him. We also learned that no son of Abraham was a slave in Egypt for 400 years either. Possibly 80-100 years max, but definitely not 400. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that there might be more to the Exodus story than what we were taught in Sunday School. And there certainly is. Like why did the Israelites need to go to Egypt in the first place?

Passing the halfway point within Paul's 430 year guard rails, we see that Joseph had already been established as a "Prince of Egypt" in the sense that he was made second in charge under Pharaoh. And we may remember that Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt because of the famine that swept through the land of Canaan. But there are greater reasons for them to have gone down to Egypt than just the famine. So, as Paul Harvey used to say, "And now, for the rest of the story..."

We've already established that at the Tower of Babel, the division of languages caused the people split up into essentially 70 people groups or nations. This is largely based on a strong Rabbinic tradition, but I believe Scripture agrees. Israel is reckoned among those 70 through the lineage of Eber, or the father of the Hebrews. According to the Midrash, each nation is assigned a guardian angel,[1] which would appear to have been the basis for the seventy members of the Sanhedrin. In other words, it was believed that the angels of the nations are regarded as some sort of "heavenly Sanhedrin" or what some might call the "Divine Counsel."[2]

The Holy One, blessed be He, turned to the seventy angels who surround His Throne of Glory and said: "Come, let us descend and confuse the seventy nations and the seventy languages." They then cast lots concerning the various nations. Each angel received a nation but Israel fell to the lot of God, as it is written, "The LORD's portion is His people."

- Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer (quoting Deuteronomy 32:9)

There is some dispute over how to arrive at 70 nations from the list of people given in Genesis chapter 10, often referred to as the "Table of Nations." One issue has to do with the Philistines. Counting them, gives us 71. The statement is made that the Philistines came through Caphtor. That's not to say that they were alive at that time. Thus omitting them gives you 70 in total - from the three sons of Noah. Another issue is the fact that if you add Noah and his three sons, you end up with 74. But this is reconciled by considering that Noah, Shem, Eber and Peleg would have remained "counted" as those who were known as the Hebrew nation that was carried forward through Peleg from Eber, a descendent of Shem, son of Noah. This is the line through which the Messiah would come and is thus considered one nation / language / people group. The following chart illustrates how the "Table of Nations" likely broke down according to the descendents of Noah and his family as described in Genesis 10 :

The first thing that becomes blatantly obvious is that Ham's children certainly understood and took seriously the command to "Be fruitful and multiply!" In Hebrew, when a word ends with "im" such as "Caphtorim," it is a plural form. Meaning, there were lots of them. The suffix of "ite" means descended from. So for instance, a "Hamathite" would likely refer to an entire people group descended from someone named Hamath. Therefore, you see an awful lot of children coming out of Ham's lineage, both in terms of the list above, but more so in terms of how the above named are listed.

Why is so much attention given to Ham and his offspring in Genesis 10? For starters, many of his descendants were giants! Remember what I wrote about his offspring in "The Genesis Six Experiment" blog?

How did those giants get there? Many scholars, teachers, researchers, colleagues and personal friends of mine talk about an apparent "second incursion" of Fallen Angel activity following the Flood - or other "Genesis Six Experiments" if you will. They describe such an event as being lessor in scope than the first, but still maintain that angels came down once again and mated with women. But apparently, at least according to Scripture, these angels only preferred the women of Ham (for some odd and completely unexplained reason). The premise for their entire theory hinges on this one verse:

There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 

- Genesis 6:4 (NKJV) - usually with a quick reference to Ecclesiastes 1:9 as a support text

They use Genesis 6:4 as the basis for explaining the (re)appearance of giants on the earth after the Flood. But notice the way the sentence is written. Most read that sentence in English to mean, "There were giants (Nephilim) on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came [AGAIN and AGAIN] in to the daughters of men...."

But I'd like to suggest that based on the various meanings and usage of the Hebrew word, "asher" (see above) that Genesis 6:4 could just as easily mean to be saying that "BECAUSE the sons of God came into the daughters of men and bore children to them, there were giants (Nephilim) in the land in those days and also afterward...."

So, are we dealing with a Repeat Offense issue or could it be talking about a First Cause issue? In other words, it doesn't have to mean that there was a "second incursion" that created Post-Flood Nephilim giants. It could be that the giants that existed after the Flood were a bi-product - or the result of - the initial "incursion." With only that ONE verse (that could be interpreted two different ways) to go on, both camps of researchers are making an assumption in order to explain the established fact that there were indeed giants on the earth both before and after the Flood. So, the question then becomes, which preconceived notion is correct, logical and verifiable (with Scripture) when considering all of the evidence available to us?

If you have ever been interested in this subject, you've probably already read and heard a lot of people talking about the Post-Flood Nephilim giants based on the usual interpretation of the above verse - that being the idea that angels came down and mated with women again after the Flood. I call that the "Multiple Incursions" theory. While that may be the mainstream, dominant view, I am going to present another viewpoint here for your consideration.

I have been told that what I am proposing is not a new theory, but I confess that I have never read nor heard anything about this theory before. It is a conclusion I came to on my own. If what I am saying is in fact an old theory, then I suggest we pull it out from behind the books on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the back of the library, dust it off and re-examine it, elaborate on it and at least weigh its merits against the more established, mainstream view once again. And even though I know I am in the minority in my acceptance of this particular view, and may take a lot of heat from my peers (in fact, I already have), that is exactly what I am going to do here; I'm going to dust it off and do an in-depth study of its merits throughout this Return of the Nephilim section of blogs.

I am not "right" and I'm not stating the following as absolute fact. This is just my opinion - a theory I have developed as a result of my research. And just like any theory, it must be tested, peer reviewed and validated before being declared something other than just a theory. I am not going to attempt to do anything more than present my findings to you. With that, it is my hope that you will test my "facts" and do your own research in order to discover the truth for yourself.

If you are open to other possibilities apart from the mainstream view, I ask that you stick with me to the end. Hear me out completely, then decide. I know many who believe in the "Multiple Incursions" theory are extremely passionate about that belief. If you are one such person, and if you've even bothered to read this far, please do not tune me out until you have at least heard my entire thesis and understand why I am tipping over this "sacred cow" of Nephilim belief. We should all remain open to other possibilities (myself included).

I have to reject the "second/multiple incursion" theory altogether for a number of reasons, which are explained in greater detail in The Return of the Nephilim: Before the Flood blog. But for the sake of review, my reasons can be summarized as follows:

• The judgment on the Watchers from the first (and I believe only) incursion was extremely severe and not likely to be risked by other Fallen Angels. According to Scripture, these angels are being held captive in Tartarus, bound in chains in everlasting darkness. Therefore, what angel with free will would risk losing what little freedom they have left before "the time" of Judgment that awaits them in the future? If you knew you had 5,000 years of freedom that would be followed by terrible judgment, wouldn't you want to make the most of those 5,000 years? Well, you wouldn't be able to if you were bound in chains in the terrible darkness of the prison of the abyss known as Tartarus! The Watchers who are there will not only be judged in the Final Judgment, but they have also forfeited the 5,000 years of freedom they could have had leading up to it. Seeing that, I do not believe any other angel is going to volunteer for another Genesis Six Experiment. It makes no logical sense at all!
• God is just. Therefore, I believe the same consequences would befall any other angels who might consider doing what the Watchers did in Genesis 6:1-4. In addition to the above point, Lucifer knows he is already outnumbered 2-to-1. Therefore, as a master tactician who has dedicated himself to opposing all that is good, I do not believe he would risk losing any more of his evil troops to the abyss. That would be a poor military strategy by any earthly standard. Any military commander who has decided to wage a war against a superior enemy while already being outnumbered 2-to-1 is going to be more interested in finding ways to increase his numbers not decrease them! And since Lucifer is smarter than humans who would not take the chance of losing valuable troops in such a situation, I do not believe he would take the risk either. A smart tactician would maximize the use of his available troops and look for other ways of gaining any advantage he could find with the resources available to him. Losing troops while already outnumbered is not an advantage.
• If we are to believe that Scripture always confirms and interprets itself (as I do), then it must be noted that there is not one confirming Scripture in support of Genesis 6:4 that specifically states that angels ever again mated with women. Not one. And as far as I can tell, we don't even find evidence of such activity in any other extra-Biblical Hebrew texts either - at least not in Jasher, Jubilees or 1 Enoch anyway; three books that have gone out of their way to give us tremendous detail about the activities of the Fallen Ones. Even Josephus fails to give support to the idea of "Multiple Incursions" in any of his works on the history of the Jews. The simple fact is, the ancient Hebrew people did not record anything about angels ever mating with women again after the Flood.
  
  Whereas, in The Return of the Nephilim section of Volume 1 in this Babylon Rising series, we saw that there are numerous confirming Scriptures in support of the idea that all Post-Flood giants were decendents of previous giants - most of which came from the lineage of Ham. The weight of confirming Scriptures (and other extra-Biblical and historical Hebrew texts) is heavily in favor of the "First Cause with Lasting Genetic Effects" theory and totally against the "Repeat Offenses through Multiple Incursions" theory.
• The ancient texts state that the Pre-Flood giants were massively huge! According to the Book of Enoch, the first generation Nephilim (known by the Greeks as the Titans) got as large as 450 feet![5] If that is the result of angels mating with humans, why do we not see such massive giants in any so-called Post-Flood second/multiple incursions? The largest we can find in Scripture in the Post-Flood world are potentially 100 -150 footers (maximum height), described in Amos 2:9 as the Amorities who were as tall as the cedars. The cedars of Lebanon grew to 100-150 feet tall. As impressive as that may be, that's nearly a quarter the size of the Pre-Flood giants spoken of in Enoch! And later generations were much smaller even than that! Og of Bashan was roughly 15-18 feet tall and Goliath was a runt at only 9-12 feet tall. From 450 footers to 9 footers? What happened? If angels were mating again with humans after the Flood, why such a dramatic decrease in height?
• The first generation of the Pre-Flood Nephilim only lived for 500 years.[6] But it would appear that there were second, third, and other generations that were on the earth in one form or another for total of roughly 1,200 years. In that time, Genesis tells us that they were able to thoroughly corrupt all flesh (Genesis 6:12). It got so bad that the only thing God could do was wipe everything out and start over! If we were to look at that from a strategic perspective, we'd have to say that was a pretty effective military campaign launched by the Fallen ones! If Lucifer's goal was to wipe out the seed, he did a pretty amazing job with just 200 angels in 1,200 years! Well, he's had nearly 5 times that amount of time to do it again with infinitely more angels, so why are we still here? If he could do what he did once, why couldn't he do it again with so much more time and many more angels? This world should have become thoroughly corrupted 5 times over since the days of Noah if second/multiple incursions were possible.
• The argument that God caused the Flood to happen because of what the Watchers did in The Genesis Six Experiment leads me to believe that He would not allow the same thing to happen again. To believe He would allow that kind of activity again is far more absurd than to question why He would allow microscopic, genetic codes to make it on the Ark, knowing full well that His people would later wipe that seed out. And in so doing, the nations of the world would fear both Him and His chosen people.
• Nearly every "alien abduction" account recorded in modern times involves the removal of seed, eggs and other genetic material followed by the implantation and removal of embryos via scientific experimentation. Even in ancient times, the Sumerians record the Anunnaki genetically modifying existing life in order to produce hybrid offspring. In both cases, we are talking about scientific labs and technology being employed - not sex. So, if all angels had to do was have sex, why bother with the whole "Alien Grey"[7] phenomenon and scientific manipulation of genetic material? Why not just have sex? It would be a whole lot easier! I believe the Devil has chosen this scientific route because he has to - in order to do what he originally attempted in The Genesis Six Experiment.[8]

I believe the striking lack of any mention of angels in all Post-Flood descriptions of giants combined with all of the above listed points, leaves us with a logical conclusion that totally stands against the second/multiple incursion theory. Thus, the conclusion we are left with is the fact that the giants must have returned some other way. And that way seemed to center largely on Ham's lineage.

Studying Ham's lineage will be important both for understanding what I am going to be writing about in the remaining blogs in this series as well as for understanding much of the Old Testament. Indeed, even Moses seems to be drawing our attention to Ham and his offspring:

And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. - Genesis 9:18 (KJV)

Why does Moses single out Ham and Canaan? As I've already stated, I believe Canaan was the first to be born following the Flood (he may have even been born during the year they were on the ark). And sometime, shortly after the Flood, we are told about a strange incident:

And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

- Genesis 9:18-27 (KJV) [emphasis mine]

I believe two things happened to cause Noah to curse his grandson - instead of the apparent perpetrator in this story:

Maybe Ham stole the garments and used them to wrap up baby Canaan? Who knows? But something got Noah upset enough to pronounce a curse on his grandson instead of his son, who according to the Genesis account should have been the one that you would think would have been punished for whatever sin took place against Noah.

At any rate, regardless of whatever was going on in Noah's tent, suffice it to say that I believe Canaan had issues! And it is my strong belief that those issues were genetically passed on to him, most likely from his mother. We have the double witness testimony of Moses and Amos as well as circumstantial evidence to point to her as the means by which the giants returned after the Flood. And it is my belief that the first visual evidence of this was seen in Noah's grandson, Canaan - the one who would father of a whole bunch of giant "ites" that the Jews would later have to wipe out.

This leads us back to the question posed by my detractors (already mentioned above): "Why would God go through all the trouble of wiping out the entire planet only to allow Nephilim seed to get through on the Ark?" Simple. So, He could get the glory through His people! I look at it as sort of a parallel to the "One Third Principle," meaning God allowed one third of the angels to follow Lucifer (and apparently did nothing about it). Therefore, why not assume that He might also have allowed one third of the children of Noah to carry their seed? God does what He does for His own reasons. But those reasons always lead to Him getting the glory in the end - no matter what the odds. Three to one? No problem. Seventy to one? Don't make God laugh! No matter what, He and His faithful people will always win against all odds!

Note: To wipe out the first incursion, it took a GLOBAL FLOOD! God beat Lucifer and got the glory for it. But after the Flood, 80 year old men and a little shepherd boy with a sling and a stone were all it took to wipe out the remaining Nephilim seed. In both cases, God was glorified.

Regardless, whether you believe in the "second incursion" theory or the one I am proposing here, both of us are left with the undeniable fact that when the Jews left Egypt and finally made it into the Promised Land, they had to deal with the Nephilim. On that point, we all agree. So, let's get back to where we started this blog - to the time just prior to the Exodus.

Remember Moses? You know, the guy who wrote about all of this stuff in the first place? We have to remember that he spent a lot of time alone with God up on Mt. Sinai. God personally told him how it all happened. And thus, we have the amazing Torah to show us the truth! But in order for Moses to have that meeting with God, he would first have to free the Hebrews who were enslaved in Egypt. Which brings us back to the question, why did they have to go down there in the first place?

Yes, there was the famine in the land that our Sunday School teachers taught us about. But I submit there was a much greater reason than that! Let's look at the Table of Nations Map again:

Remember, Ham was told that Canaan would be a servant to both his older brothers, Japheth and Shem. In essence Ham's children would serve Japheth's and Shem's. This might be expected anyway considering Japheth and Shem were Ham's older brothers. But remember, Moses records it as a curse.

After the Flood, Noah's children began to populate the world. Most scholars believe that Japheth became the father of the European nations. Shem became the father of the Semitic Middle Eastern nations and Ham was the father of the African nations. While this is generally true, it is not something we can be overly dogmatic about as clearly the offspring of all three sons mixed within each other's territories. [12]

Some have tried to use the Genesis 9:18-27 passage to justify slavery of Africans. Let me state in no uncertain terms that I do NOT believe that is what is being said there. This has absolutely nothing to do with red, yellow, black or white men. It has everything to do with NEPHILIM seed! Noah cursed the offspring of the Nephilim to remain under the subjugation of man. He said that the offspring of Ham (Canaan) would serve all the others. Well, looking at the colors in the map above, we can see how Ham's children felt about that idea.

Everyone seemed to go go to their own separate "corners" of the world. But then good ol' Nimrod showed up. Nimrod was the son of Cush, who was another of Ham's sons. Cush settled the land of Ethiopia. But what does his son, "the rebellious one" do? He heads east - and apparently got everyone else to follow him as he did - to go set up shop right in the middle of Shem's territory! Not only that, but once they all moved in, he set himself up as the king of the world! Thus contradicting Noah's decree that Ham's children should serve those of Japheth and Shem.

Note also, that at this point ALL races of Japhethites, Shemites and Hamites were together in one place. This clearly shows that we can not make a blanket statement saying that ALL of Japheth's descendents are white Europeans, ALL of Shem's are Asian or Middle Easterners and ALL of Ham's are black Africans. That argument simply does not work. Remember too that some of Ham's descendents (Caphtor) went to Crete and later expanded into Europe. And looking at the map above, it appears that one of Shem's descendants (Ophir) apparently settled in the African continent and another (Lud) settled way up in Japheth's territory. Several of Ham's descendants settled the Middle East. We also know that later, Jews settled in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa as well. In short, people went everywhere and you can't just lump them all into 3 happy categories as so many try to do. The world is a melting pot and we are all brothers descended from three brothers who came from one couple, Noah and his wife, who themselves ultimately descended from ONE man, Adam, who was created in the image of God!! Therefore, I submit to you that all forms of racism are ungodly, ludicrous and just plain unjustified!

Anyway, this little party of Noah's Family Tree went on in the plains of Shinar for quite a while, until Abram (one of Shem's descendents) gets called out of Nimrod's kingdom to go to Canaan. Canaan? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, of all the places on the planet that God could have chosen, why did He tell Abram to go to Canaan?

Note in the bump-out of the above picture, that the land of Canaan was quickly filling up with Canaan's Nephilim seed. All those "ites" were there. And that's where God told Abram to go. I will get into why the land of Canaan was so important in "The Elohim Triangle" blog (coming soon), but for now I want to focus on the people of the land. Because they are the real reason for the Jews leaving that land to go to Egypt.

When my wife and I were first introduced to Torah Club, we entered at the point in the Torah readings that dealt with the life of Joseph. The things we learned and discovered in that first class were absolutely amazing! And it only got more and more amazing as we have continued to go through the books of Moses. It is especially amazing when you come at the text from the frame of mind that we've had regarding our studies of the Nephilim and the false gods of this world.

Right after Joseph is sold into slavery, Moses interrupts that story to tell us another little story about Judah. Then, he goes right back to telling us more about Joseph. But it's that Genesis 38 interruption that gives us a key of understanding what God is doing. In that chapter, we learn that Judah married a Canaanite woman and has three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. There's just one MAJOR problem here. Judah is the one through whom the Messiah is to come. Remember? Yeshua is the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah." Well, we've just established that the Canaanites are all of corrupted, Nephilim seed. Can the Messiah have Nephilim blood? No way! As soon as I read that he had married a Canaanite woman, I freaked out and my wife and I started to dig. We spent an entire day researching! And this is what we found:

Judah sought out a wife for his oldest son. Her name was Tamar. In Torah class there was some debate whether or not she was also a Canaanite woman. The text made it plain that Judah had married a Canaanite. But when it came to Tamar, it was silent as to her ancestry. Our study guide said:

According to long standing Jewish tradition (at least as old as the Targums), Tamar was not a daughter of the Canaanites. She was a Shemite. The Torah remains silent regarding Tamar's nationality, but it is noteworthy that while both the Torah and the Chronicler felt compelled to point out that Bat-Shua (Judah's wife) was a Canaanite, neither refer to Tamar as a Canaanite.

Torah Club Volume One (we were reading Volume Five) supposes that Tamar was a Canaanite. After all, her father's house was in Timnah, and Timnah was certainly a Canaanite city. Yet it seems inconceivable that the Torah would so casually accept Tamar the Canaanite when we went through such hand-wringing over the notion of Isaac marrying a Canaanite, such disdain for Esau's choices, such trepidation regarding Jacob's potential wives and so on.

- Torah Club, Volume 5: Rejoicing of the Torah - Vayeshev, page 173

Indeed, the chosen people were not to mingle seed with the Canaanites!

And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

- Genesis 24:2-4 (KJV) [emphasis mine]

See also:

And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

- Genesis 28:1 (KJV) [emphasis mine]

From Abraham to Jacob, no one chose a wife from the Canaanites. But then, Jacob has twelve sons. Hard to keep track of everyone I guess. One slips through the cracks and marries a Canaanite. And wouldn't you know it, of all the twelve sons, the one to do such a terrible thing was Judah!! The man whose descendents were the ones through whom God planned to bring His Son! Do you think the Devil was trying to mess that plan up? You bet he was.

It's always about the seed!!!

In fact, it is my belief that this was the whole purpose of circumcision. A covenant is always sealed in blood. Circumcision is a blood covenant, made in the "dispenser of seed" as a permanent reminder to stay pure.

Abram Is Named Abraham

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”

At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!

“I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”

The Mark of the Covenant

Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”  

- Genesis 10:1-14 (NLT) [emphasis mine]

Even though Judah most certainly was circumcised, he violated the meaning of that covenant when He married a Canaanite. But no worries. God will redeem even this failure.

In Torah class, we discussed this idea of whether Tamar was a Canaanite or not. In the end, the room was fairly divided, with some thinking she was and others saying she wasn't. But no one had definitive proof for their position. That drove me crazy. So home we went. The next morning, my wife suggested we look up what her name meant because we remembered from our trip to Israel in 2005, that there was a place called Tamar. Strong's Concordance yielded:

Tamar (Strong's 8558) means, “palm tree”- also has connotation of “erect” or “upright”

OK. So she was upright. Or she was... a palm tree. Hmmm. Keep looking. What about Jasher? Yes, let's check the "upright" book. And there (once again) the Genesis gaps got filled in.

And in those days Judah went to the house of Shem and took Tamar the daughter of Elam, the son of Shem, for a wife for his first born Er.

- Jasher 45:23

Mystery solved! Judah chose Tamar from the lineage of Shem (who had lived in Jerusalem as Melchizidek) to be the wife of his oldest son, Er. But Er does not produce any children by her and because he was wicked in the sight of the LORD, the LORD slew him. So, what does Judah do with Tamar? He follows tradition (that would later become law):

 “If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.

- Deuteronomy 25:5,6 (NLT)

Judah gets his second son, Onan to marry Tamar in order to produce an heir for his brother. But Onan doesn't want to produce an heir for his brother, so even though he has sex with her, he always pulls out and spills his semen on the ground. So the REAL "sin of Onan" was not masturbation, contraception, birth control or otherwise - as many a Sunday School teacher would like to say. No. It was the fact that he broke the law and dishonored his family.

“But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying me.’ The elders of the town will then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.’ Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’!

- Deuteronomy 25:7-10

Onan took Tamar as his wife according to levirate tradition, but he refused to impregnate her. Instead he used her for pleasure. And God killed him for this.

Judah has now lost two sons. His youngest son, Shelah is still too young for marriage at this point, so Judah sends Tamar back to her father's house to wait for Shelah to grow older. Poor Tamar has been used twice. She will never get another husband. Her only hope is in Shelah. So, she waits for him to get older.

But because of what happened to his two oldest sons, Judah starts to have second thoughts. Maybe Tamar is cursed? He doesn't want to take a chance on losing his only remaining son. So he decides not to call for Tamar when Shelah is of age. Realizing this, Tamar feels robbed and wants what is rightfully hers.

When she hears that Judah is coming to a nearby town, she dresses up as a prostitute and seduces Judah. He gets excited and offers a goat in payment for her "services." Knowing Judah is apparently not a man of his word, she wants an assurance that he will make good on the payment. She asks for his signet, chord and staff. Judah agrees and has sex with her. She then goes back home.

Judah then sends a friend (Hirah) with the promised goat looking for the prostitute (probably because he didn't want to get caught). The people of Shem say, “We have no prostitutes!” So, when he returns, he tells Judah that he couldn't find the woman and Judah says, “Oh well, let her keep it then!” Again, he gives up on the matter probably because any further pursuance of it would have likely brought public shame upon him.

Three months later, word gets back to Judah that his daughter-in-law is pregnant as a result of prostitution! Not putting two and two together, Judah gets ticked off and becomes an extreme hypocrite. He shouts, “Bring her out and burn her!” But as they are going to take her out and kill her, she pulls out the signet, chord and staff and says, “The man who owns these is the one who made me pregnant!.” Judah is thus caught and admits that she is more right than he is and acknowledges that he wronged her. Judah never slept with her again. But this is the amazing part... my wife calls it "Operation Leverage." God leveraged this whole affair in order for the promise to be fulfilled. The Messiah would come through the UNCORRUPTED seed of Judah!

Tamar has twins. One starts to come out, and he midwife ties a scarlet chord around his wrist. But then, he goes back inside and Perez comes out first! Perez becomes an ancestor to Jesus! And his name in Hebrew means:

Perez - “breaking forth” from root word “perets” (Strong's 6556) meaning:

a bursting forth, breach (10), breaches (3), breakthrough (2), gap (1), mishap (1), outburst* (2).

This is the reason why God removed his people, the sons of Israel, from Canaan and brought them to Egypt. Judah had gone astray and mingled pure seed with corrupt seed. That trend would have likely continued and the infant Hebrew nation would have become just like all the others. God wanted a pure nation, separated from the influences of the cultures around them and one not tainted with Nephilim genetics. And Joseph knew this.

"God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive so that you will become a great nation."

- Genesis 45:7 (NLT-1996 edition)

This fact is reiterated when God reassures Jacob that it is His will that they should go down to Egypt:

So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

- Genesis 46:1-3 (NIV) [emphasis mine]

Now, once in Egypt, the danger of them mixing with Mizraim seed was also present for a time. But the fact that the house of Jacob was all together in Goshen, limited exposure to the native population. And when they were made into a colony of slaves, they were even more limited. So, in reality their slavery forced them to interbreed within their own (pure) gene pool! Essentially, they became a forced reproductive science experiment in God's lab! And in that lab they reproduced like rabbits, spawning a nation that consisted of nearly 2 million genetically pure Israelites!

Indeed, as Joseph noted, what men meant for evil, God meant for good! And once God had His nation fully formed, it was time to release them back into the land that He had promised... to kick out the Canaanites, and begin the cleansing process of the earth once again.

It was also a time for war. And this epic battle God vs the gods will reach its climax in Egypt.

To be continued... in God vs god, Part 5: Exodus and the Promised Land >> (coming soon)

Footnotes:

1. Consider Daniel 10:13-20 [back]
2. Torah Club Volume V, page 32, First Fruits of Zion [back]
3. Numbers 13:33 [back]
4. Chapter 4 of The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse, by Patrick Heron [back]
5. Enoch 7:2 says,  "And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three
   thousand ells:" Dr. A. Nyland translates it as 300 cubits in his book, Complete Books of Enoch  page 20 [back]
6. See Enoch 10:10 [back]
7. Enoch 15:6-12 tells us that the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim became known as "evil spirits" (or more commonly as "demons"). According to researchers like LA Marzulli, Tom Horn, Steve Quayle, Chuck Misler, Gary Stearman and many others, "Alien Greys" are nothing more than biological constructs - "corporeal suits" if you will - that the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim (AKA demons) can inhabit. Since the time of Christ, they have been subject to His authority and that of His Believers. We can cast them out of bodies. So, in response to that, they've created their own bodies out of genetic material and use them to have a physical body through which they can interact with the physical, three dimensional world. [back]
8. The events of Genesis 6 were a direct response to the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. Ever since then, Lucifer has tried to corrupt the seed of the woman. He failed to do so and the Messiah was born and did what He came to do. So, that plan came to nothing. Angels can not be forgiven. They know what the coming Judgement holds for them. Therefore, it may now be that the evil spirits are trying to find redemption through becoming human? I don't know, but there is clearly a breeding program taking place, the goal of which (according to researchers like Dr. David Jacobs) is to create a hybrid that looks fully human. [back]
9. Jasher 5:15 [back]
10. Jasher 5:35 [back]
11. Jasher 5:19 & Jasher 5:24. Note, Genesis 6:9 tells us that ONLY Noah was perfect - or with out genetic defect [see: tamim] - and verse 10 implies the same of his blood family. That means his wife had to have also been perfect. The fact that God singles out ONLY this one family, shows that Noah's choices for his three sons were clearly quite limited. Considering all the rest of the world had been corrupted, it's amazing he did as well as he did in choosing wives for his sons. All things considered, two out of three isn't bad! [back]
12. Josephus records the regions of Japheth's lineage in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 1. Jubilees 9:24-30 also establishes what land was occupied by Japeth, making note that his land "is cold, and the land of Ham is hot, and the land of Shem is neither hot nor cold, but it is of blended cold and heat." Josephus records the regions of Shem in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 4. And Jubilees does the same in Jubilies 8:12-17. Josephus spends a fair amount of effort dealing with Ham's lineage in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 2. And in the book, Ancient Post Flood History, by Ken Johnson, Th.D., on page 56, the author notes:
    
    "Ham's land is described as the continent of Africa. But it is noted that the descendants of Ham invaded and occupied the territory of Shem from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River."
    
    Further, Dr. Johnson makes note of Ham's seed occupying the five islands of Balearic, Sicily, Sardinia, Crete and Cypress - which were also occupied by Japheth's lineage (page 53, Ibid). Thus, I believe it is wholly in error to assume that all of Ham's children were black and that only those who lived in Africa were descendants of Ham. History and the Bible disagree with that notion. [back]
    

The information presented in this blog is part of the e-book series: BABYLON RISING And The First Shall Be The Last written by Rob Skiba II Copyright © 2010-2011

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