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written by
William Dankenbring
FOR CENTURIES, skeptics and scoffers have called the Bible a
collection of ancient primitive myths, fables, stories, and
superstition. One religious leader calmly claimed, "We know now
that every idea in the Bible started from primitive and childlike
origins . . . ."
Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed, who translated the Bible into English,
declared that the book of Joshua "is the legendary story of the
conquest of Canaan" and the book of Ruth "belongs to Israel's
fiction, rather than to its history, and should be among its tales
and stories."
WHY have so-many men of high education, scholars, and scientists
REJECTED the Bible as historical truth and reliable science? Is
the Bible "unscientific"? It is time you knew the incredible
truth!
Science Versus Myth
We live in a modern, push-button, scientific world. Science is
adulated, placed on a lofty pedestal, and virtually worshipped as
the new "messiah" -- the new savior of the world.
However, science has also bequeathed to the world lethal modern
weapons of war -- the H-bomb, Neutron bomb, A-bomb, poisonous
gases, deadly chemicals -- a murderous host of technologically
amazing devices to destroy!
Science has been described as an angel of mercy, and also as a
devil of destruction.
But unknown to millions, the Bible has a great deal to say about
TRUE science. And it also has much to say about the wrong kind of
science, and 'science falsely so called"! Although the Bible is
not a textbook about science, it does give many foundational
principles of science -- alludes to basic principles of biology,
physics, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, geology, and
oceanography, as well as medical science and health sciences!
Those who have lightly discarded the Bible and relegated it to the
limbo of outer darkness, as myth and fable, have carelessly missed
out on the solid foundation of SCIENCE in the Bible! They have
jumped to conclusions without getting all the facts.
For some reason, the world of scholars and scientists has rejected
the Bible as the provable Word of the living God -- without
examining all the evidence!
Very few know it, but the Bible has far more to say about science
than many suppose. Scientific facts, not understood by the world
until the last few hundred years, with the advent of the
"scientific explosion," are plainly and directly mentioned IN THE
BIBLE!
Think what this means. While pagans worshipped sticks and stones,
the sun, moon, and stars; while entire nations were bowing under a
cloud of magic and superstition, ignorant of the truth -- at that
very same time, a Book unknown to millions, the Bible -- the Book
of books -- was being INSPIRED which contained many fascinating,
fantastic SCIENTIFIC SECRETS totally unknown to the rest of the
world!
Notice how amazingly scientific the Bible really is!
Flat Earth Theory
Many people have erroneously believed that the Bible teaches the
earth is flat. The Medieval Catholic Church held to the notion the
earth is flat and is the center of the universe.
When Galileo presented scientific evidence to the contrary, his
facts and theories were branded as "absurd in philosophy, and
formally heretical, because expressly contrary to Holy Scripture."
But nowhere does the Bible teach the flat earth theory, or that
the earth is a stationary object at the center of the universe.
Galileo's theories were declared heretical in the 17th century.
But, amazingly enough, six hundred years before Christ, the
prophet Isaiah was inspired by Almighty God to write and speak ef
the spherical shape of the planet earth!
Notice it! In Isaiah 40:22 we read of God, "It is He that sitteth
upon the CIRCLE of the earth." Moffatt translates this verse more
clearly: "He sits over the ROUND EARTH." The Critical and
Experimental Commentary states this expression is "applicable to
the globular form of the earth." The original Hebrew word is chuug
and means a "compass, circle, or sphere."
But how did Isaiah, an ancient Hebrew prophet, know that the earth
is round? Here is PROOF that the ancient Hebrews were far more
knowledgeable and scientific than they are given credit for being!
But how much did the ancient writers of the Bible really know
about the earth? Did they believe the notions of their Gentile
contemporaries who believed the earth was carried about on the
back of a great tortoise?
The Amazing Earth
Three amazing truths were known about the earth itself which the
rest of the world did not understand for another two or three
THOUSAND YEARS! Sound incredible? It should!
First, the fact that the earth revolves around the sun once every
year was not generally understood until the days of Copernicus and
came to be known as the Copernican Theory. This was in the 16th
century -- just a little more than 400 years ago. He taught that
the sun is the center of the solar system.
However, thousands of years before his time,-in the days of the
patriarch Moses, the Bible uses the precise expression to indicate
the revolution of the earth around the sun once a year was known
to ancient Biblical astronomers! In Exodus 34:22 we read, in the
King James Version, the innocent phrase, "And thou shalt observe
the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest. and the
feast of ingathering at the year's end." According to the original
Hebrew, however, this should be translated "at the REVOLUTION OF
THE YEAR." The original Hebrew word is tequuphah and means "to
move in a circle," "circuit," "to go round," "orbit of the sun,"
as well as "revolution of time."
The Goodspeed translation has "at the turn of the year." In the
days of the prophet Samuel, the expression "in revolution of days"
was used to denote the time from conception to birth of a child (I
Sam. 1:20, margin). Goodspeed translates this, "when the time came
around."
Notice also II Chronicles 24:23 where the "end of the year" is
called, in the original Hebrew, "in the REVOLUTION of the year"
(marginal rendering). Don't these verses clearly suggest the fact
that the ancient Hebrews KNEW the earth revolves around the sun,
and completes one revolution -- one turning -- each year?
But this is not all. Notice Job 38:12-14 where we read: "Hast thou
commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to
know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth .
. . IT [the earth] IS TURNED AS CLAY TO THE SEAL . . ."
What does this mean? God is talking to the ancient patriarch Job
about the morning -- the rising of the sun. How is it that the sun
appears to rise in the morning? This verse contains the scientific
truth -- the TRUE explanation! The earth tself turns, or "rotates"
- from west to east, causing the sun to rise in the morning, in
the eastern sky, and appear to move through the sky to the western
horizon, where it appears to "set."
The original Hebrew in this verse says, of the earth, "it turns
itself." What could be a more apt expression? The allusion to the
day and the seal refers to the rolling cylinder seal one to three
inches long, such as was used in ancient Babylon, which left its
plastic impression on the clay as it turned about or rolled
around. What more apt figure of speech could be used to represent
the motion of the earth itself, as it rotates, causing day and
night?
Thirdly, the laws of gravity were not explained and understood
until Sir Isaac Newton, a Christian scientist and theologian,
discovered them in the 18th century. The laws of motion were
discovered by this same genius.
However, strange as it may seem, thousands of years ago the Bible
alluded to the laws of centrifugal force, centripetal force,
gravity, and motion! How else do you explain the enigmatic
statement in the book of Job, speaking of the earth -- "He [God] .
. . hangeth the earth UPON NOTHING"? (Job 26:7.)
The pagans believed a tortoise carried the earth about; but God
revealed to His people the truth -- that the earth hangs suspended
in space by powerful laws of force and motion!
God asked Job, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth? . . . Whereupon are the foundations [sockets] thereof
fastened (made to sink]?" (Job 38:4, 6.) It is interesting that
science has discovered that the earth's axis is pointed in the
general direction of the North Pole Star, and the north and south
poles are the points where the earth's axis of rotation meets the
surface of the earth. The earth is inclined to its axis at 23 1/2
degrees. God is the One who planned it all out; set the earth to
spinning on its axis; and pointed the north pole toward the star
Polaris.
Science of Meteorology
The science of weather and understanding the earth's atmosphere is
of relatively recent origin. It, too, has developed greatly during
the last two hundred years. Chemistry and physics play a vital
role in this science. Before the nature of matter and air were
understood, weather science was in total chaos.
Here again, however, the Bible "scooped" science by more than two
thousand years!
The basic key to understanding the weather cycles and patterns on
the earth is the hydrological cycle. Today it is well known that
water evaporates from the surface of the oceans, rivers, lakes and
all bodies of water; that it rises into the atmosphere; and that
later it returns to the earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. The
evaporation-condensation-precipitation cycle was not understood by
mankind, however, before the nature of water, water vapor, and the
chemistry of matter was understood.
The Bible, however, reveals this basic CYCLE was understood,
THOUSANDS of years ago! Once again, the Bible is proved to be
SCIENTIFIC! Notice Jeremiah l0:13 -- "When he uttereth his voice,
there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the
vapours to ASCEND from the ends of the earth."
Tell me -- how could Jeremiah, a prophet of God, have possibly
known about the evaporation of water into water vapor,
condensation of water vapor as rain droplets, and the
precipitation cycle? Was he an inspired scientist as well as a
prophet?
Jeremiah was not the only Biblical meteorologist, however. Solomon
was also an expert in understanding the weather cycle. The
Scriptures reveal that king Solomon was an avid student of nature,
and the natural world, and wrote extensively on the subject. Some
of his writings as a "naturalist" are preserved in the Scriptures.
Wrote Solomon about one thousand years before Christ, "The wind
goes to the south, and circles about continually, and on its
circling the wind returns again. All the rivers run into the sea,
yet the sea is not full; unto the place from which the rivers
come, to there and from there they return again" (Eccl. 1:6-7,
Amplified Version).
Solomon understood the circuits of the wind -- and of water. How
did he know? Was he merely guessing? Or was he not truly one of
the most gifted, wisest men of all history? If we give Benjamin
Franklin credit for being a gifted genius, how much more should we
recognize the genius of Solomon who was the most famous
naturalist, writer, poet, composer, and scientist of his time?
(compare I Kings 4:29-34.)
Consider, for a moment, how incredibly amazing Solomon's knowledge
was. It was not until the 1800's that William Ferrell, an American
meteorologist, formulated "Ferrell's law" which explains the
prevailing directions of the winds over the earth, based on the
earth's rotation.
Said Matthew Fontaine Maury, an American hydrographer who lived in
the late 1800's, "The direction in which a wind blows is so
constantly changing that we often speak of the winds as fickle,
inconstant, and uncertain. There is, however, ORDER in the
movements of the atmosphere. The fickle winds are obedient to
LAWS."
The Sea Around Us
In Job 38:16, God asked, "Have you explored the springs of the
sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?" (Amplified
Version).
How could the writer of the book of Job have known that beneath
the oceans of the world there exist springs, or fountains of FRESH
WATER? An article in the Saturday Review (July 1, 1967) declared:
"Although they usually remain undetected, submarine springs of
fresh water are often more common along certain types of shoreline
than are rivers and other surface streams." Along some shorelines,
as much as 20 million gallons of fresh water a day flows into the
sea for every mile of shoreline.
In fact, one major submarine spring in the Persian Gulf flows with
enough volume to create a large area of fresh water in the midst
of the sea, because of favorable limestone geology in Iran and
Saudi Arabia. In Greece, an estimated 100 million cubic feet of
fresh water goes into the sea through submarine springs.
But about four thousand years before, God asked Job if he knew
about the springs in the sea!
INCREDIBLE!
Job was also told about the "recesses of the deep." Oceanographers
today have plotted much of the ocean bottoms of the world, and
have discovered deep underlying "trenches" which at some points go
down thousands of feet in sharp, sudden drop-offs. Yet even Job
knew of the existence of "recesses" in the oceans! The Mariana
Trench in the Pacific Ocean is 36,198 feet deep. It was discovered
in September, 1959 by the Soviet ship Vityaz. The same ship
discovered a depth of 35,702 feet for the Tonga Trench; there are
four other deep trenches in the North Pacific. The greatest depth
in the Atlantic Ocean is north of Puerto Rico -- the Puerto Rico
Trench, 27,498 feet deep.
The dark world of the bottom of the ocean is now being explored by
scientists in bathyscaphes, and special cameras, mounted with
strobe lamps, have been lowered miles into the depths. New
instruments have revealed that the ocean bottom is surprisingly
rugged. Depths of valleys and canyons running underwater when
averaged out are five times greater than heights reached on
continents. The undersea world is cut, and sliced, by huge canyons
bigger than the Grand Canyon. One such canyon is the Hudson Canyon
off New York. Sixty miles off shore, this mammoth canyon knifes
downward to 8000 feet, and then slopes on down to 6,500 feet.
The sea floor is called the abyssal plains. At their edge are
sometimes found tremendous chasms or trenches, averaging 20 miles
wide at the top and hundreds of miles long. The deepest such
trench discovered is the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench,
almost seven miles down.
Yet thousands of year ago, God asked the patriarch Job what he
knew about these "recesses" or "TRENCHES" of the "deep" -- that
is, of the Oceans? How could Job have known? In the original
Hebrew, the word for "explore" or "search out" is cheger and means
to "search out, examine; secret, inmost part." The word for "deep"
is tehown and means "confusion" -- or "the ABYSS, the great deep."
How could such graphic words have been written which so aptly
describe the ocean bottom -- so many thousands of years ago --
unless they had been inspired by God?
"Pathfinder of the Seas"
Matthew Fontaine Maury, when reading the Bible, was, struck by the
words of Psalm 8:8 -- "The fowl of the air, and the fish of the
sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." His
curiosity aroused, he set out to map the currents of the oceans of
the world and became the foremost hydrographer of his day
(1806-1873). He discovered the ocean routes which would make best
use of prevailing ocean currents and winds. His research enabled
ship owners to cut many days from the time required to make their
voyages and helped them save many thousands of dollars. He was
called the "Pathfinder of the Seas." The Bible was his source of
inspiration!
But how did king David, who wrote the eighth Psalm -- who lived
about one thousand years before Christ -- know about the "paths of
the seas" and the great currents in the oceans?
The Gulf Stream
In 1855 Matthew Fontaine Maury, pioneer oceanographer, wrote,
"There is a river in the ocean. In the severest droughts it never
fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows. Its banks
and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm.
The Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth is in the Arctic
Seas. It is the Gulf Stream" (The Physical Geography Of the Sea,
1855).
Truly, a river in the middle of the sea, the Gulf Stream flows for
the most part through the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico and
leaves through theStraits of Florida, from where it flows out into
the broad Atlantic across to northwestem Europe.
"Seaward of New England, where the Gulf Stream is most robust, it
can be l00 miles wide and 16,400 feet deep, and have a surface
velocity of six miles an hour. There it carries past a given point
about 150,000,000 tons of water every second; this makes it the
equal of 700 Amazons or 8,800 Mississippis'" ("A Capsule History
of the Gulf Stream," by Thomas Lineaweaver III, Holiday, Nov.
1967).
If the Gulf Stream were emptied upon the United States, it would
flood the entire nation to a depth of over four feet -- in just
one day! This mighty river is truly a PATHWAY in the sea! The
larvae of a snail (Cymatium Parthenopeum) found from Brazil to the
west coast of Africa ride the Gulf Stream, perhaps taking 300 days
to cover 2,640 miles from the Bahamas to the Azores. Although the
"odds" against a successful passage for the snails may be 2
million to 1, it is commonly done!
The Gulf Stream is just one of many mighty ocean currents, such as
the cold Humboldt Current, pushed by Antarctic winds up the west
coast of South America. Then there is the Japan Current, or
Kuroshio, in the Pacific. The carth's great wind systems push
before them the great sea currents, and have enormous impact on
world weather. The westerlies drive the Gulf Stream and Japan
Current; the polar easterlies drive before them the Humboldt
Current and Brazil Current, and others. The Labrador Current, in
the North Atlantic, flows down from the north polar region, pushed
along by polar easterlies.
All these mighty currents are virtual rivers or paths in the seas.
But -- how did David, one thousand years before Christ, know such
mighty paths in the seas existed? How indeed, unless navigation
was far more advanced in his day than skeptics like to admit?
David also wrote of the "fowl of the air . . . and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas." What do migratory birds
have to do with the great ocean currents? Is there a relationship?
Indeed, there most certainly is!
Winging their way over the seas, in giant paths through the skies,
are the Golden Plover and the Arctic Tern, navigating many
thousands of miles every year. Also navigating in paths through
the seas are species of eel, turtles, whales, and many species of
fish.
How did David understand these things about the fowls of the air,
and the "fish of the sea" and other migratory creatures? How was
he so familiar with the biological sciences of the earth?
Clearly, the Bible is far more scientific than most people would
suppose!
Knowledge About Air Pressure
You are probably familiar with the fact that air has weight. At
sea level air pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch. As you go
up in altitude, air pressure is less and less. A mountain climber
ascending Mount Everest finds the air so thin that he has to take
oxygen. along to breathe.
When did science discover that air has weight? Any textbook on
Physics reveals that the laws of pressure, temperature and volume
of gases were supposedly not discovered until the last few hundred
years. It was not known in ancient times, supposedly, that
invisible air actually has "weight."
Nor was sit understood that rain behaves according to definite
laws of physics and chemistry. But notice! Here is what God
inspired to be written in the Bible over three thousand years ago!
"God . . . looks to the ends of the earth; beneath the whole
heavens he sees. When he made a WEIGHT FOR THE WIND, and meted out
the waters by measure [rainfall in the United States averages 29
inches every year!]; when he made a LAW for the rain, and a WAY
for the thunderbolt" (Job 28:23-26).
The Amplified Bible makes this even more clear: "When He gave to
the wind weight or pressure . . ."
Here is another remarkable instance of SCIENCE in the Bible!
Thousands of years before modern science discovered these same
laws of nature and physics!
Ancient Job knew the relationship between barometric pressure of
the atmosphere and weather 3,000 years ago! Over 3,000 years
before Torricelli, an Italian physicist (1608-1647) proved the
same relationship with his barometer!
The Great Pyramid
In his book, A History of Egyptian Archaeology, Fred Gladstone
Bratton states, "Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the
Giza Pyramids alone have survived the ravages of time and the
destructive hand of man. They are still the most massive and
impressive buildings in the world today."
He goes on: "As with astronomical measurements where the scientist
has to resort to comparisons in order to demonstrate the immensity
of the universe, so it is with the Pyramid of Cheops. No other
building in history has called for so much study of construction,
dimensions, and purpose than this pile of thirty million cubit
feet of limestone. It has been estimated that the Great Pyramid .
. . is large enough to accommodate St. Paul's Cathedral,
Westminster Abbey, St. Peter's in Rome, and the Cathedrals of
Milan and Florence. It consists of 2,300,000 limestone blocks,
each one weighing 2 1/2 tons and measuring 3 feet in each
direction. Originally it was 481 feet high but now is 451 feet.
The average length of the four base lines is 755 feet" (p. 87.)
This author continues, "By using one of the celestial bodies, the
Cheops builders were able to orient the Pyramid to the four
cardinal points, the errors being only in the following fractions
of one degree: north side, 2' 28" south of west; south side, 1'
57" south of west; east side, 5' 30" west of north; west side, 2'
30" west of north. The four corners were almost perfect right
angles with the following measurements: 90 degrees 3' 2";
northwest 90 degrees 59' 58"; southeast, 89 degrees 56' 37"; and
southwest, 90 degrees 0' 33" " (p. 88).
Archaeologist Flinders Petrie calculated that 100,000 men were
used in transporting the blocks to the base of the Pyramid, and
some 4,000 in its actual construction. The precision is such that
Petrie said any errors in the angles and degrees "can be covered
with one's thumb."
Eight centuries ago, Abd al-Llatif observed that the stone blocks
were fitted together so well that a knife cannot be inserted into
the joints -- a truly remarkable evidence of precision engineering
and sheer architectural genius!
In his book The Pyramids, Almed Fakhry declares: "The Great
Pyramid of Giza represents the culminate effort of the pyramid
builders. Not only is it the largest monument of its kind ever
constructed, but for excellence of workmanship, accuracy of
planning, and beauty of proportion, it remains the chief of the
Seven Wonders of the World" (p.99).
It has been calculated that if all the stone in the Great Pyramid
were sawn into one foot square blocks and these were laid end to
end, they would stretch two thirds of the way around the earth at
the equator, or 16,000 miles. Put another way, these one foot
blocks could make a five-foot highway stretching from the east to
the west coast of the United States!
Said Fakhry of the Great Pyramid, "Even equipped with modern tools
and instruments, and profiting from nearly 5,000 years of
experience, architects and engineers today might well quail if
called upon to erect a duplicate" (p.120-121).
But the Great Pyramid is only one of the ancient wonders of the
world. The Temple of God, in Jerusalem, was another such wonder of
architectural skill and engineering! It was the greatest building
of its kind in the entire world.
The Temple of Solomon
David and Solomon, who were instrumental in the construction of
the Temple of God in ancient times, were very knowledgeable in the
fields of architecture and engineering. The Temple was to be
exceedingly "magnetically, of fame and of glory throughout all
countries" (I Chron. 22:5).
David himself prepared for the Temple 100,000 talents of gold and
one million talents of silver. On today's market gold is valued at
approximately $400 per ounce. A talent equaled 125 pounds, troy
weight. Therefore, 125 pounds, or one talent of gold, would be
worth $800,000. At this price, 100,000 talents would be worth $800
million times 100, or $80 billion dollars!
Therefore, David provided about $80 billion worth of gold for the
Temple of God. The silver he contributed was one million talents.
Silver is approximately $5 per ounce. At this rate, therefore, the
silver David gave for the Temple was worth $10,000 per talent,
times one million talents -- or $10 billion dollars!
Can you imagine such a building? This was truly the most
magnificent, glorious, beautiful building ever constructed by man!
(see I Chron.22:14). The Temple was built of great stones, cedar
beams and boards, overlaid within with gold (I Kings 6:14-22;
7:912). Today, such a building would probably cost, by the time
you figure in the labor, over $100 billion -- if not much more!
To construct the magnificent edifice, Solomon had 30,000 men of
Israel and 150,000 Canaanites working on the Temple, hewing timber
and magnificent stones, and bearing burdens (I Kings 5:1316; 11
Chron. 2:17-18; 8:7-9). Actual construction took seven years (I
Kings 6:38). If Solomon had paid all these men at today's wages,
say an average of $20,000 each per year, his labor costs alone
would easily have soared to the $3,600,000,000 ($3.6 billion) per
year, or $25.2 billion for the entire project!
The construction of the Temple was so precise that the ancient
chronicler recorded: "And the house, when it was in building, was
built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that
there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the
house, while it was in building" (I Kings 6:7). Every part was
carefully and precisely prepared at some distance from the
building site. But when each part, each timber and stone, was
laid, it fit perfectly! Can you imagine what a gigantic headache
such a building would give contractors today?
Obviously, men like David and Solomon were not mere "ignorant
shepherds," as some critics and skeptics today would like to
believe. David really existed. His name has been found inscribed
on archaeological ruins in Israel. Solomon too is a real character
of history. And their kingdom was an extraordinary Kingdom!
Far from being ignorant shepherds, David and Solomon were
immensely rich and wealthy KINGS of the greatest historical empire
the world has ever known. The net worth of either of them was far
more than the wealthiest businessmen alive today -- including J.
Paul Getty, Howard Hughes, and all the Mellons, Rockefellers,
Morgans, and Rothschilds, Fords, combined!
In the heyday of Solomon silver was "not any thing accounted of"
(11 Chron. 9:20). We read, "And the king made silver in Jerusalem
as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are
in the low plains in. abundance" (v. 27). Solomon had his own
personal fleets and dominated world trade. "And king Solomon
passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom" (v. 22).
There is archaeological evidence, in fact, that the fleets of
Solomon and Hiram of Tyre circumnavigated the globe, sailing from
Ezion-geber, a port at the terminus of the Red Sea, near modern
Aqaba or Eliat! Hebrew customs, discovered by the early English
settlers in the Americas, were found among some of the Indian
tribes, including the wearing of phylacteries! Minoan and
Phoenician coins have been found, and inscriptions of ancient
Phoenician and Minoan scripts, in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and
the Star of David was even found in an ancient ruin of the Pueblo
Indians in New Mexico!
Worldwide Colonies of David and Solomon
A stone in a cry creek bed in New Mexico, discovered by early
settlers in the region, is one of the most amazing archaeological
discoveries in the Western Hemisphere. It contains engraved on its
flank the entire Ten Commandments written in ancient Hebrew
script! Hebrew scholars, such as Cyrus Gordon of Brandeis
University near Boston, have vouched for its authenticity. I
visited the site of the huge boulder in 1973 and photographed the
Hebrew inscriptions. A local newspaper reporter guided me to the
mysterious site, located out in the middle of the New Mexico
desert. We watched for rattlesnakes, as we hiked in to the spot
where the boulder lies, unmoved and unmovable.
It is becoming increasingly clear that ancient King David was a
much more formidable man than historians are wont to believe --
and that his son Solomon was no "slouch" when it came to wisdom,
knowledge, and intellectual grasp! They knew about the "paths in
the seas." Their fleets had sailed across the Atlantic, and
Pacific Oceans, bringing riches from colonies they established
around the world.
In December, 1989, it was reported that an American explorer in
Peru's highland jungles had found evidence that indicated king
Solomon's legendary gold mines may have been in that region. The
explorer, Gene Savoy, declared that he had found three stone
tablets containing the first writing found from the ancient
civilizations of the Andes. The inscriptions, he reported, are
similar to Phoenician and Hebrew hieroglyphs!
Reports the San Francisco Chronicle: "The hieroglyphs on the
tablets are similar to those used in King Solomon's time and
include one identical`‰
Savoy is no newcomer to archaeological discoveries. He was the
discoverer of the last Inca city of Vilcabamba in 1964. Savoy
declared that the three tablets each weigh several tons and
measure about 5 by 10 feet. They were found in a cave near Gran
Vilaya, the immense ruins of the Chachapoyas Indian civilization
which he discovered in 1985.
This discovery is not surprising to me. In my book Beyond Star
Wars, I suggest strongly that ancient Peru was the site of the
mysterious "land of Ophir."
Hebrews in the Americas 1,000 B.C.?
Several years ago I visited with Dr. Joseph Mahan in Atlanta,
Georgia, an expert in ancient Indian ethnology of the southeastern
Indians of the United States. He showed me samples of pottery
uncovered from the waters around the Bahamas, and told me of
Indian legends, including that of the Yuchis, stating they had
migrated to the area of Florida and Georgia from the region of the
Bahamas. According to their legends, the island sank beneath the
sea and they fled for their lives.
These same Yuchis later migrated to the Oklahoma territory, where
they eventually settled down. Amazingly enough, they show strong
evidence that they had contact with the Old World in historic
times. They have a custom which is unique among the American
Indians. They are racially and linguistically different from their
neighbors. Every year on the fifteenth day of the sacred month of
harvest, in the fall, they make a pilgrimage. For eight days they
live in "booths" with roofs open to the sky, covered with branches
and leaves and foliage. During this festival, they dance around
the sacred fire, and called upon the name of God.
The ancient Israelites had the virtually identical custom, in many
respects. In the harvest season in the fall, on the 15th day of
the sacred month of harvest (the seventh month), they celebrate
the "festival of booths" for eight days. During this time they
live in temporary booths, covered with branches, leaves, fronds.
This festival goes back to the time of Moses and the Exodus from
ancient Egypt (Leviticus 23).
How is it that two totally separate peoples evolved the identical
custom? Dr. Cyrus Gordon, of Brandeis University in Boston, was
privileged to sit in on one of the fall harvest festivals of
American Indians, and listened to their chants, songs, and sacred
ceremonies. An expert in Hebrew, Minoan, and many Middle Eastern
languages, he was dumstruck. As he listened, he exclaimed to his
companion, "My God! They are speaking the Hebrew names for God!"
Dr. Joe Mahan, who related the above story to me, laughed. He is a
strong believer in cultural contacts between the Indians and the
East, long before Columbus. He showed me a small tablet containing
cuneiform writing of the Babylonians. "This," he said, "was found
not long ago by a woman digging in her flower bed, here in
Georgia. The inscription appears to be genuine. There is no reason
not to believe it is authentic."
Perplexing Mysteries
More and more, scholars are coming to admit that peoples from the
Middle East reached the New World long before Columbus or the
Vikings. One stone, found at Fort Benning, Georgia, has unusual
markings all over it. I saw the stone myself, and took photographs
of it. Professor Stanislav Segert, professor of Semitic languages
at the University of Prague, has identified the markings on the
stone as a script of the second millennium before Christ, from the
Minoan civilization on the island of Crete!
In Quest of the White God, Pierre Honore points out similarities
between the ancient Minoan writing and the script of the ancient
Mayas. Independently of him, other scholars have noted striking
similarities between Aztec glyphs from Mexico, and Cretan glyphs
on the Phaistos Disc from the island of Crete in the
Mediterranean.
In addition to these remarkable discoveries, Dr. Cyrus Gordon told
me that Jews were in America in ancient times. The inscription on
the stone, he asserts, is in the writing style of Canaan, the
promised land of the Hebrews. Concludes Gordon, whom I interviewed
at his old, New England style home in the suburbs of Boston:
"There is no doubt that these findings, and others, reflect Bronze
Age transatlantic communication between the Mediterranean and the
New World around the middle of the second millennium B.C."
In 1968 Manfred Metcalf was looking for slabs to build a barbeque
pit. Several strange-looking, flat rocks caught his eye; he picked
up a large flat piece of sandstone about nine inches long, brushed
it off, and noticed odd markings on it. Metcalf gave the stone to
Dr. Joseph B. Mahan, Jr., Director of Education and Research at
the nearby Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts at Columbus,
Georgia. Mahan sent a copy of the stone to Cyrus Gordon in May of
1969. His report:
"After studying the inscription, it was apparent to me that the
affinities of the script were with the Aegean syllabary, whose two
best known forms are Minoan Linear A, and Mycenaean Linear B. The
double-axe in the lower left corner is of course reminiscent of
Minoan civilization. The single vertical lines remind us of the
vertical lines standing each for the numeral '1' in the Aegean
syllabary; while the little circles stand for '100.' Concluded
Gordon: "We therefore have American inscriptional contacts with
the Aegean of the Bronze Age, near the south, west and north
shores of the Gulf of Mexico. This can hardly be accidental;
ancient Aegean writing near three different sectors of the Gulf
reflects Bronze Age transatlantic communication between the
Mediterranean and the New World around the middle of the second
millennium B.C." Gordon offers the exciting thought, "The Aegean
analogues to Mayan writing, to the Aztec glyphs, andto the Metcalf
Stone, inspire the hope that the deciphered scripts of the
Mediterranean may provide keys for unlocking the forgotten systems
of writing in the New World. A generation capable of landing men
on the moon, may also be able to place pre-Columbian Americas
within the framework of world history" (Manuscripts, summer of
1969).
Further proof that transatlantic travel and communication existed
in the Bronze Age, in the middle of the second millennium B.C.,
during the time of David and Solomon, and before, comes to us from
South America.
In 1872 a slave belonging of Joaquim Alves de Costa, found a
broken stone tablet in the tropical rain forests of Brazil's
Paraiba state. Baffled by the strange markings on the stone,
Costa's son who was a draftsman made a copy of it and sent it to
the Brazilian Emperor's Council of State. The stone came to the
attention of Ladislau Netto, director of the national museum. He
was convinced of the inscription's authenticity and made a crude
translation of it. Contemporary scholars scoffed. The very thought
of Phoenicians reaching Brazil thousands of years before Columbus
was viewed with disdain. Few scholars took the stone at all
seriously.
In 1966 Dr. Jules Piccus, professor of romance languages at the
University of Massachusetts, bought an old scrapbook at a rummage
sale containing a letter written by Netto in 1874, which contained
his translations of the markings on the stone and a tracing of the
original copy he had received from Costa's son. Intrigued, Dr.
Piccus brought the material to the attention of Cyrus H. Gordon.
Dr. Gordon, the head of the Department of Mediterranean Studies at
Brandeis and an expert in ancient Semitic languages, as well as
author of some 13 books, was amazed. He compared the Paraiba
inscription with the latest work on Phoenician writings. He
discovered that it contained nuances and quirks of Phoenician
style that could not have been known to a 19th century forger. The
writings had to be genuine!
Gordon translated the inscription as follows: "We are Sidonian
Canaanites from the city of the Mercantile King. We were cast up
on this distant shore, a land of mountains. We sacrificed a youth
to the celestial gods and goddesses in the nineteenth year of our
mighty King Hiram and embarked from Ezion-geber into the Red Sea.
We voyaged with ten ships and were at sea together for two years
around Africa. Then we were separated by the hand of Baal and were
no longer with our companions. So we have come here, twelve men
and three women, into New Shore. Am I, the Admiral, a man who
would flee? Nay! May the celestial gods and goddesses favor us
well!"
Cyrus Gordon believes the king mentioned in the script can be
identified as Hiram III who reigned 553-533 B.C. The inscription
seems to verify an unusual statement found in the Old Testament.
An ancient Biblical chronicler wrote: "And king Solomon made a
navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore
of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy
his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the
servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from
thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to
king Solomon" (I Kings 9:26-28).
In the days of Solomon there was an alliance between Hiram, the
king of Tyre and the Israelites under Solomon. They were not only
allies, but very friendly toward one another (II Chronicles
2:2-12). Israelites and Phoenicians even worked together to build
the Temple of God in Jerusalem (vs.13-18). This alliance included
shipping together, although the Phoenicians were known to
jealously guard the secrets of oceanic navigation from other
nations. We read in II Chronicles 8, beginning verse 8: "Then went
Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land
of Edom. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships,
and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the
servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and
fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon"
(v.17-18).
In the middle of the second millennium, B.C., and down to the time
of Solomon, circa 1000 B.C., oceanic travel by maritime powers in
the Middle East seems to have been fairly common.
Amazing Discoveries in Mexico
Other evidence comes from the investigations of Dr. Alexander von
Wuthenau, whom I interviewed at his home in Mexico City. His
living room was filled to overflowing with terra cotta pottery
figures and objects d' art. In his book The Art of Terra Cotta
Pottery in Pre-Columbian Central and South America, Dr. Von
Wuthenau published scores of photographs of these art objects. He
tells of his astonishment, when he first noted that in the
earliest, lower levels of each excavation he encountered -- not
typical Indian heads -- but heads of Mongolians, Chinese,
Japanese, Tartars, Negroes, and "all kinds of white people,
especially Semitic Types with and without beards" (p. 49).
At Acapulco, von Wuthenau found that early Semitic peoples lived
in considerable numbers. "The curious points about these
essentially primitive figures are that, first, there is an
emphasis on markedly Semitic-Hebrew features", he declared (p.
86). Female figures found in the region are also markedly
Caucasian, with delicate eyebrows, small mouths and opulent
coiffures.
Cyrus Gordon, who has studied the collection, points out: "In the
private collection of Alexander von Wuthenau is a Mayan head,
larger than life-size, portraying a pensive, bearded Semite. The
dolichosephalic ("long-headed") type fits the Near East well. He
resembles certain European Jews, but he is more like many Yemenite
Jews.'"
Near Tampico, the early Huastecan culture reveals portrait heads
with a predominant Semitic, white element, but also Negroid
features appear. At Veracruz, meanwhile, a figurine of a female
dancer possesses the features just like those of a Frenchwoman of
Brittany! She wears a headdress reminiscent of Phoenician fashion.
Also at Veracruz a figure with a false beard, styled like an
Egyptian beard, also had a snake-like protrusion on the forehead.
Again and again, figures with definite Semitic features have been
found. A sample of Maya ceramic painting shows a lady with a
flower who has an undeniable Negroid character. The figure has an
affinity with Egyptian painting, says Wuthenau. yet it was not
found along the Nile, but in Central America! On the Pacific coast
of Ecuador, also, evidence for the presence of early Hebrews has
been found. A figurine of a lovely girl was found who wore a
headdress with a remarkable Phoenician affinity. Other Ecuadorian
heads show definite Semitic features. Clearly, the Semites
penetrated a large part of the American continent in "prehistoric"
times!
Discoveries in South America
In the past century, several Brazilians have found inscriptions on
rocks along the Amazon river. Over a period of 50 years, four men,
including two who were scientists, uncovered inscriptions which
they independently concluded were Phoenician in origin.
The first man, Francisco Pinto, in 1872 found over 20 caves deep
in the Brazilian jungle and uncovered about 250 strange
inscriptions upon the rocks. He thought they were Phoenician,
scriptions upon the rocks. He thought they were Phoenician, and
Brazil's Director of History and Geography corroborated his
suspicions. A German philologist who studied the markings in 1911
felt they were genuine.
In the 1880s, Ernest Ronan, a French scientist, combed the jungles
and found several more inscribed stones. In the 1920s a scholar by
the name of Bernardo da Silva discovered many more inscriptions
along the Amazon. It makes good sense. It explains why the Mayans,
who considered Quetzalcoatl as the bringer of their arts and laws,
depicted him as being unusually blond!
When the Spaniards discovered the New World in the early sixteenth
century, perhaps fifty million inhabitants lived in the Western
Hemisphere, speaking over 900 languages. Such linguistic diversity
has long puzzled scholars, and logically attests to a diversity of
origins. Carleton S. Coon reported that the conquistadores
"commented on Montezuma's light skin, but did not remark that this
ruler rarely exposed himself to the bright sun." Coon adds:
"George Catlin, in his portraits of the Mandan Indians, depicted
some of them as blond. . . . Another case of allegedly aberrant
Indians is that of the Pomo, Hupa, and neighboring tribes in
north-central California whose beard growth seems to have been
Caucasoid when they were first seen" (Coon, The Living Races of
Man, p.154).
Another mystery to ethnologists is the existence of a white
skinned, red-bearded tribe recently discovered by builders of
Brazil's Trans-Amazon Highway. Called the Lower Assurinis because
they live south of the route of the highway, they have ear lobes
(which is uncharacteristic of other tribes), and their language
differs from traditional dialects in the region.
Sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the World mentioned that the
Indians he encountered used many Welsh words long before the Welsh
were known to have come to America. Linguistic studies prove that
the Welsh language is very closely akin to ancient Hebrew!
The Mystery of New Zealand's Maoris
There is evidence among the Maori and people of eastern Polynesia
that the sun was deified as Tane and that Ra, the sun god, was the
tutelary god of Borabora. The Maoris, also, made use of ancient
solar observatories. "At Kerikeri, in the Bay of Islands, New
Zealand, there is a miniature Stonehenge, the blocks standing
about 7 feet out of the ground; and near Atiamuri, north of Taupo,
there are other great monumental blocks-some fifty of these still
standing original map erect" (Maori Symbolism, p.137).
Interestingly, ancient Maori traditions relate that since
antiquity the Maoris have observed ceremonial and dietary laws
very similar to those of the ancient Hebrews. They even kept the
seventh day "Sabbath" as a day of rest! Also, every 7 times 7
years -- or 49 years -- they observed a Jubilee Year similar to
that of the ancient Hebrews." These similarities simply cannot be
explained away as "mere coincidence"! The Maoris, like the
Hebrews, even had a "sacred month" given over to Harvest
thanksgiving, corresponding to the Hebrew month of Tishri and the
Festival of Tabernacles.
How can these fascinating facts be explained? Such similarities
must be more than mere coincidence. Like the Yuchi Indians of
North America, the Maoris, at some very early stage of history,
must have come in contact with ancient Hebrew mariners, roaming
the seven seas, who taught them Hebrew customs and left behind
signs of Hebraic influence!
How was this contact achieved? Was the ancient world covered by a
global cultural continuity, indicating a globe-girdling
civilization?
Ancient Maps of the "Sea Kings"
In his book Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, Charles H. Hapgood
tells of the Piri Re'is map of 1513 A.D. Studies of this map show
that it correctly gives latitudes and longitudes along the coasts
of Africa and Europe, indicating that the original mapmaker must
have found the correct relative longitude across Africa and across
the Atlantic to Brazil. This amazing map gives an accurate profile
of the coast of South America to the Amazon, provides an amazing
outline of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico (supposedly not yet
discovered!), and-incredibly enough-shows a part of the coast of
the Antarctic Continent which was not discovered, supposedly,
until 1818!
This map does not stand alone. A world map drawn by Oronteus
Finaeus in 1531 gives a truly authentic map of Antarctica,
indicating the coasts were probably ice_free when the original map
was drawn (of which Oronteus Finaeus' map was a latter copy). The
Oronteus Finaeus map was strikingly similar to modern maps of the
Antarctic. How could this be?
Another fascinating map is the map of Hadji Ahmed of 1559. It is
evident that the cartographer had some extraordinary source maps
at his disposal. Says Hapgood: "The shapes of North and South
America have a surprisingly modern look, the western coasts are
especially interesting. They seem to be about two centuries ahead
of the cartography of the time. . . . The shape of what is now the
United States is about Perfect" (p.99).
Another map of the Middle Ages, the Reinel Chart of 1510-a
Portuguese map of the Indian Ocean-provides a striking example of
the knowledge of the ancients. Studying the identifiable
geographical localities and working out from them, Hapgood was
astounded to find that "this map apparently shows the coat of
Australia . . . The map also appeared to show some of the Caroline
Islands of the Pacific. Latitudes and longitudes on this map are
remarkably good, although Australia is shown too far north"
(ibid., p.134).
How can such remarkable accuracy be explained on the basis of
almost total ignorance of the earth during that time? Obviously,
at an earlier period of earth's history, sea-faring nations must
have traveled around the world and accurately mapped the major
continents, and fragments and copies of their ancient maps
survived into the Middle Ages and were copied again.
Concludes Hapgood: "The evidence presented by the ancient maps
appears to suggest the existence in remote times . . . of a true
civilization, of a comparatively advanced sort, which either was
localized in one area but had worldwide commerce, or was, in a
real sense, a worldwide culture" (p.193).
How advanced was this ancient culture? Says Hapgood, "In
astronomy, nautical science, mapmaking and possibly ship-building,
it was perhaps more advanced than any state of culture before the
18th Century of the Christian Era." He continues: "It was in the
18th Century that we first developed a practical means of finding
longitude. It was in the 18th Century that we first accurately
measured the circumference of the earth. Not until the 19th
Century did we begin to send out ships for purposes of whaling or
exploration into the Arctic or Antarctic Seas. The maps indicate
that some ancient people may have done all these things" (Maps of
the Ancient Sea Kings, p.193).
What ancient society could have been responsible? Is there really
any doubt? Read the Scriptures again -- blow the cobwebs out of
your brain! The identity of these ancient sea-farers are the
Phoencians and ancient ISRAELITES! The evidence is overwhelming.
The Semitic features discovered in Mexico and South America, the
Hebrew and Phoenicians inscriptions, the Hebrew religious customs
found in the Americas, similar customs in far off New Zealand
among the Maories of ancient times, all attest to the fact that
worldwide oceanic travel, trade and commerce was occurring during
the time of the Solomonic Empire! David and Solomon were familiar
with the "paths of the seas."
Hapgood says such mapmaking would indicate economic motivations
and vast economic resources. Further, organized government is
indicated, since the mapping of a continent such as Antarctica
implies much organization, many expeditions, and the compilation
of many local observations and maps into a general map under
central supervision. He adds that it is unlikely that navigation
and mapmaking were the only sciences developed by this ancient
people. Such a comprehensive enterprise could only have been
achieved during a relative time of world peace, and by a very
powerful and extremely wealthy kingdom! The kingdom of David and
Solomon best fits the picture, based on all the worldwide
evidence!
Notice further evidence!
"You Resemble a Sinner of Canaan!"
Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi in Peruvian
Antiquities (1857) point out that after the most thorough
examination and minute comparison, the religious rites of the
American Indians plainly present many points of agreement with
those of the Hebrew people (p.9). Continue these authors: "Like
the Jews, the Indians offer their first fruits, they keep their
new moons, and the feast of expiations at the end of September or
in the beginning of October; they divide the year into four
seasons, corresponding with the Jewish festivals. . . . In some
parts of North America circumcision is practiced . . . There is
also much analogy between the Hebrews and Indians in that which
concerns various rites and customs; such as the ceremonies of
purification, the use of the bath . . . fasting, and the manner of
prayer. The Indians likewise abstain from the blood of animals, as
also from fish without scales; they consider divers quadrupeds
unclean, also certain birds and reptiles, and they are accustomed
to offer as a holocaust the firstlings of the flock" (ibid.).
Surely, all these parallels are not mere coincidence! Can anyone
in their right mind consign these similarities to mere "accident"?
If you believe it is an accident, then there is a Bridge in New
York I would like to sell you -- real cheap! How much money you
got?
Say Rivero and von Tschudi: "But that which most tends to fortify
the opinion as to the Hebrew origin of the American tribes, is a
species of ark, seemingly like that of the Old Testament; this the
Indians take with them to war; it is never permitted to touch the
ground, but rests upon stones or pieces of wood, it being deemed
sacrilegious and unlawful to open it or look into it. The American
priests scrupulously guard their sanctuary, and the High Priest
carries on his breast a white shell adorned with precious stones,
which recalls the Urim of the Jewish High Priest: of whom we are
also reminded by a band of white plumes on his forehead" (p.9-10).
These two reputable scientists of the last century also point out,
"The use of Hebrew words was not uncommon in the religious
performances of the North American Indians, and Adair assures us
that they called an accused or guilty person haksit canaha, 'a
sinner of Canaan'; and to him who was inattentive to religious
worship, they said, Tschi haksit canaha, 'You resemble a sinner of
Canaan'" (ibid.).
Though such evidence does not prove by any means that the Indians
themselves were Jews or Israelites, it does show that long before
Columbus, Hebrews had reached the New World and had left their
imprint upon its inhabitants. There undoubtedly was some
intermarriage. Such incredible parallels are beyond the remotest
possibility of being due to mere chance!
Why should it seem strange that peoples of the ancient world-in
particular Phoenicians and Hebrews -- reached the New World and
traveled to South America, and even crossed the Pacific? Is it
really so incredible? The trouble is, most of us of the present
generation have been brainwashed to think that the ancients were
merely superstitious savages, terrified of sailing out to sea lest
they fall off the edge of the earth.
But the Phoenicians had already sailed out beyond the "Pillars of
Hercules" (Straits of Gibralter) by 1200 B.C. They developed the
keel, streamlined their ships, covered the decks, and improved the
sail. Their ships were probably from 80-100 feet long and used a
single square sail besides oars. Their ships could average 100
miles in a day's time (24 hours). They were busy traders.
Cornmerce was their principal aim. Tyre and Sidon, their home
ports, were cities of immense wealth. Did ancient Phoenicians
reach the New World'? The evidence is inescapable. However,
strange as it may sound, there is even Biblical evidence
supporting the conclusions of men like Cyrus Gordon, Alexander von
Wuthenau, and many other modern archaeologists!
God told Ezekiel, "And say to Tyre, 0 you who dwell at entrance to
the sea, who are merchants of the peoples of many islands and
coastlands. . . The inhabitants of Siaon and [the island] of Arvad
were your orsmen; your skilled wise men, O Tyre, were in you, they
were your pilots. The old men of Gebal [a city north of Sidon] and
its skilled and wise men in you were your calkers; all the ships
of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your
merchandise and trading" (Ezekiel 27:3, 8-9).
Ezekiel goes on, "Your rowers brought you out into the great and
deep waters; the east wind has broken and wrecked you in the heart
of the seas . . . When your wares came forth from the seas, you
met the desire, and the demand, and the necessity of many people;
you enriched the KINGS OF THE EARTH with your abundant wealth and
merchandise. Now you are shattered by the seas . . ." (vs.26,
33-34, Amplified Bible).
This sounds like the description of a globe-girdling nautical
nation -- one which brings its wealth from afar! -- one which
travels throughout the entire earth in its quest for material
goods and trade!
Three-Year-Long Voyages
We also read in the Bible: "For the king [Solomon] had at sea a
navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came
the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes,
and peacocks" (I Kings 10:22).
Is it not significant that Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the
globe, requiring three years -- from 1519-1522? Is it not
meaningful that Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to
circumnavigate the world, took three years to do so (1577-80)?
Also interesting is the fact that the Quichua word for the sun,
Inti, may very likely be derived from the Sanscrit root Indh,
meaning "to shine, burn, or flame" and which corresponds to the
East India word Indra, also meaning "the sun." It is also
significant that the pre-Incas worshipped the invisible, Creator
God, the Supreme Being, by the appellative Con, very similar to
the Hebrew Cohen, the word for "priest," from the root Kahan
meaning "to meditate in religious services, to officiate as a
priest."
When all is said and done, Rivero and von Tschudi declare: "It
cannot be denied, that the above tradition of the creation of the
world, by the invisible and omnipotent Con, the primitive happy
state of men, their corruption by sin, the destruction of the
earth, and its regeneration, bears a distinct analogy to the
Mosaic chronicle of the earliest epoch of the history of the human
race . . ." (Peruvian Antiquities, p.149).
The Gold of "Ophir"
In the book of Isaiah we read the enigmatic statement: "I will
make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the
golden wedge of Ophir" (Isa. 13:12). Where was the legendary "Ophir"?
What was this "golden wedge"?
The Hebrew word for "wedge" is leshonah and refers to a "tongue,"
an instrument of some kind. The wedge of gold was, then, a bar or
instrument of gold-literally, a "tongue of gold."
What could this "tongue" of gold have been? The gold of Ophir was
not a scarce commodity since Solomon received 44 tons of it in a
single year. Ophir was a place famous for its gold. Could it be
that Isaiah was referring to a particular instrument of gold --
something famous in Ophir?
The Inca Empire was famous for the quantity and quality of the
gold it produced. The Incas of modern Peru have a tradition that
their earliest king was Pirua Paccari Manco. In modern Quichua
Pirua means a granary or storehouse. The first dynasty of kings,
called the Pirua dynasty, included the first eighteen kings in the
king list. One of the commonest titles of the early kings was
Capac which means "Rich."
One of the first kings was Manco Capac who founded the city of
Cuzco ("Navel" in the special language of the Incas). Manco Capac
is generally regarded as the progenitor of the Incas. Legends of
the Incas tell us that he got rid of his three brothers and led
the people of Cuzco. We read, "He took with him a golden staff.
When the soil was so fertile that its whole length sank into the
rich mould, there was to. be the final resting place" (Markham,
The Incas of Peru, p.50, 53).
Another story calls this golden staff a "sceptre of gold about a
yard long and two fingers thick" (Markham, Royal Commentaries of
the Yncas, p.64). Could this have been the "golden wedge" or
"tongue" of Ophir?
John Crow relates another tradition of the ancient Incas. It is
the story of "the Golden Wedge, according to which the Sun,
wearied of the crude, barbaric ways of the uncivilized Indians,
sent two of his children, a son and a daughter, to lift them from
their primitive life. Placed on the earth near the banks of Lake
Titicaca, these two children of the Sun were given a golden wedge
which they were to carry with them wherever they wandered; and on
the spot where this wedge sank without effort into the ground and
disappered they were told to found their mother city. When the
divine pair reached the vicinity of Cuzco, their talisman slid
into the earth and vanished from sight" (The Epic of Latin
America, p.25).
Was this mysterious talisman -- this "golden wedge" -- the same
thing mentioned by the prophet Isaiah -- the "golden wedge of
Ophir"?
There is a close resemblance between the Pirua dynasty and the
Hebrew word Ophir. In Hebrew, Ophir ("ph" can be pronounced either
as an "f" or a "p") was the name of a place rich in gold (I Kings
9:28); sometimes the term Ophir was used for gold (Job 22:24).
Ancient Peru would certainly fit the Biblical description of Ophir.
It was famous for its gold. In the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was
a fantastic display of wealth. The four inside walls were covered
with paper-thin sheets of gold. A giant golden figure of the Sun
hung suspended over the main altar. A huge silver room was
dedicated to the Moon. Surrounding the Temple of the Sun and
several chapels was a huge stone wall, covered with a cornice or
crest of gold a yard wide. Inside the Temple were decorations of
gold and silver flowers, plants and animals. The Spaniards sacked
the Temple and seized all the gold and silver ornaments.
From 1492 to 1600 about two billion pesos' worth of gold and
silver flowed out of Spain's New World colonies-at least three
times the entire European supply of these precious metals up to
that time. The total production of gold and silver in the Spanish
colonies between 1492 and 1800 has been estimated at six billion
dollars.
Historian Fernando Montesinos visited Peru from 1629-1642, a
century after the conquest by the Spaniards. He traveled fifteen
years through the country collecting material for a history of
Peru. Montesinos wrote Ophir de Espana, Memorias Historiales y
Politicas del Peru. He believed Peru was the Ophir of Solomon. He
contended that Peru was first settled by Ophir, the grandson of
Noah (Gen. 10:29).
Montesinos has been ridiculed and derided by historians. But since
the early settlers of Peru were white-skinned and red bearded;
since there was abundant gold in the region; since the name of the
Pirua dynasty may correspond to the Hebrew Ophir; since the
voyages of Solomon's fleet took about three years to complete; and
since the "golden wedge" of Ophir could very well correspond to
the "golden wedge" of Manco Capac; and since there is so much
overwhelming evidence of cultural contacts betweens the ancient
Peruvians and the Israelites, with close affinities in cosmology;
and since there is definite evidence of the presence of ancient
Semitic peoples in Peru, Equador, and the Western Hemisphere -- it
seems very likely that Montesinos was right! Indeed, there is
strong reason to believe that Peru was the ancient Ophir of the
Bible!
When we examine all the evidence, the picture comes startlingly
clear. Ancient Semites -- early Hebrews -- sailed to the Western
Hemisphere 2,500 years before Columbus. The Phoenician
inscriptions, coins, and the terra cotta statuettes found in
Central and South America are not mere "interpretations" of
scholars. They are fact.
There was global navigation, commerce and communication in the
Bronze Age. The great cyclopean buildings, worldwide pyramids,
stone statues, and ancient astronomical observatories are legacies
of that ancient civilization. And that ancient world-traveling
empire was the kingdom of David and his son, Solomon!
Way for the Thunderbolt
In Job 28:26 we read, "When he (God) made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the lightning of the thunder."
Lightning kills more people yearly than any other natural disaster
-- about 400 fatalities per annum. It destroys $37 million worth
of property annually, plus the losses due to 8,000 annual forest
fires started by lightning.
How are lightning bolts formed? The story is fascinating. Inside
enormous thunderclouds are so-called "chimney currents" -- a
column of air rising upward with gale force. Within this
turbulence near the top small hailstones become positively
charged, while raindrops in the lower portion are charged
negatively. Below on the earth there is another positive charge
buildup, following the drifting cloud. Tremendous differences of
electric potential are created between the top and bottom of the
thundercloud, and the earth's surface.
At this point, a gaseous arc reaches down from the cloud for
perhaps fifty feet. hanging there, building up, growing.
Meanwhile, positive particles on the earth below streak upward as
high as fifty feet, called "St. Elmo's fire." When one of these
earth "streamers" meets one of the cloud's dangling gaseous arcs,
called "leaders," suddenly A PATH IS FORMED BETWEEN THE
THUNDERCLOUD AND THE EARTH! This is "the way of the lightning"
described in the Bible!
This is where the darting, flickering BOLT OF LIGHTNING hurtles
through the air, starting at the point of contact between negative
and positive charges of electricity, ripping up to the cloud along
the gaseous arc path already formed. The lightning actually
travels' upward, and the fact that it appears to travel downward
is an optical illusion.
But this is beside the point. The point of this fascinating story
is HOW DID JOB KNOW? How, could he have ever known that there is
"A WAY for the lightning of the thunder, if he was just a simple
"farmer" or "sheep-herder" who lived during an age of ignorance
and superstition?
Can there be any doubt?
Science did not discover the secret of this phenomenon until very
recent times. But God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,
discussed the "path" or "way" of the lightning with Job, over
3,500 years ago!
Secrets of Geology
What about the earth science of geology? Does the Bible have
anything to say about it? It certainly does! Again, the book of
job contains the answers. We read of the process of erosion in Job
14:19 -- "The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things
which grow out of the dust of the earth. . . ."
Notice, also, Job 28:10 -- "He cutteth out rivers among the
rocks." There is no canyon on the earth as majestic and awesome as
the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Geologists point out that this
enormous canyon was formed by cutting action of the Colorado
River, gouging out a pathway through the rock.
The natural world is full of lessons for us to learn. The Word of
God actually commands us, "But ask now the beasts, and they shall
teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or
speak to the EARTH, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the
sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all there that the
HAND OF THE LORD HATH WROUGHT THIS?" (Job 12:7-9.)
GOD is the Creator! This is the supreme lesson and teaching of ALL
true science, and the science of the Bible! Truly, as king David
wrote in the Psalms, "The FOOL hath said in his heart, There is no
God" (Psalm 14:1). Have YOU yet learned that mighty lesson?
TRUE Science
Stop and think, for a moment. The pagans worshipped the heavenly
bodies. Christians worship the Almighty One who put them out
there!
Pagans believed in astrology and worshipped the sun, moon and
stars. But in the pages of the Bible, God expressly CONDEMNS such
worship. He tells us the purpose of the creation of the heavenly
bodies: "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for SEASONS, and for days and YEARS" (Gen. 1:14).
Human methods of counting time, and human clocks, are all based on
the motions of the heavenly bodies. The earth rotates at a
relatively constant speed, giving us day and night; it revolves
around the sun at a relatively constant speed, taking one year per
revolution. The moon revolves around the earth, giving us the
lunar month. Every human timepiece -- whether it be a wristwatch
or a Grandfather's Clock, with Westminster chimes -- is kept
accurate by timing them with the most precise Clock ever invented
-- the solar system and the stars!
Time is kept accurate by basing time, calculations and
computations on the precise movements of the stars and the
positions of the fixed stars. The master clock in the United
States is at the Naval Observatory, Washington, D. C. By measuring
time by the stars, the Naval Observatory keeps track of time to
the tiniest fraction of a second.
By knowing the exact movements of the heavenly bodies, solar and
lunar eclipses can be PREDICTED thousands of years in advance!
God inspired David to write, "He made the moon for fixed times;
the sun knows its time of setting" (Psalm 104:19, Goodspeed). Or,
as the Amplified Bible has it, "the sun knows the EXACT TIME of
its setting."
Truly, as David wrote to beautifully in the Psalms: "The heavens
declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night sheweth
knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is
not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their
words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is
from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof" (Psalm 19:1-6).
The apostle Paul was so bold as to put it this way: "For the
invisible things of him from the CREATION are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are MADE, even his eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Rom.1:20). The
existence of God is plainly and forcibly REVEALED in His
handiwork, His "Creation"!
The Watch and the Watch Maker
Take a close look at your watch. It is a delicate, intricate,
manmade instrument for telling time. You know, as you look upon
your watch, that a watchmaker somewhere made your watch. It may
have been made in Switzerland, which is famous for its quality
watches. But you KNOW -- and you REALLY KNOW -- that your watch
has no brains, consciousness, or intelligence of its own. You know
that it didn't invent itself, or construct itself, and out of
nowhere suddenly "decide to EXIST"! You know it wasn't made by
"sheer accident." Elements of the ground, and sand and water and
iron and tin and sun and heat didn't just "CONSPIRE" to
accidentally manufacture a "watch," or to 'EVOLVE" your watch!
It just didn't just somehow decide to put itself together! NO WAY,
JOSE! Great painstaking and careful workmanship went into it, most
likely, and its delicate parts were made with great precision. The
more money you paid for your watch, the better it probably is. But
you know that if you don't wind it up regularly, or replace the
battery in it, it will eventually run down, and stop ticking. The
second, minute, and hour hands will stop moving -- or, if it is a
digital read-out watch, the numbers will simply fade from view.
If you own a watch, you also know that from time to time, it needs
repair. I just had my watch cleaned and repaired. Physical things
simply gradually "run down," lose energy, and stop functioning.
Consider, now, the Great Master Clock we call the "Universe,"
composed of millions upon millions and sheer billions of Galaxies,
each one with billions of stars in orbit! The Universe is the
greatest "Clock" of all. It, like your own watch, at one time had
to be "created" -- built. "In the beginning," the Word of God
tells us, "GOD created the heavens and the earth" (Gen.1:1). there
was never a more SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT than that!
The Great Master Clock had to be "manufactured." It had to be
"wound up," with potential "energy" placed within it. It had to be
set to "ticking." It has been running smoothly, operating for
millions if not billions of years! And it is STILL "TICKING"
today! It is still the most accurate timepiece in existence. Its
parts -- the stars, globular clusters, and galaxies -- still move
with age-old, timeless precision! Its "pulsars" -- rapidly
rotating, spinning super-dense stars -- still operate with
incredible precision and timeliness!
You keep your watch running by winding it up. Who keeps the Great
Clock of the universe operating? Who SUSTAINS it?
TRUE SCIENCE admits the existence of the original "Clock Maker,"
Almighty God. True science admits GOD made the heavens and the
earth. True science also reveals God as the SUSTAINER of the
universe!
True science sees the hand of God in the creation, functioning,
and activity in the Universe -- and in the writing and
preservation of the Holy Bible! But those who deny the Scriptures,
who deny the existence of God, and His power to divinely inspire
His Word, are truly "fools" in His sight! Those who believe in the
sick theory of "evolution" of life on earth, believe the "big lie"
of Satan the devil. Their so-called evolutionary science,
God-rejecting science, is NOT true science at all. It is "science
falsely so-called" (I Tim. 6:20).
What does God Almighty, who inspired the Holy Scriptures, have to
say about the so-called "higher critics" who despise His Word, who
deny His divine inspiration, who question its historicity,
accuracy, and literal truth? He says, "Behold, ye despisers, and
wonder, and perish: for I will work a work in your days, a work
which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto
you" (Acts 13:41; compare Habakkuk 1:5).
The truth is, the great "scholars" and men of "wisdom" of this
world are "blinded." It was all foretold, long ago. God declared,
"the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and
ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David said,
Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling
block, and a recompense unto them: Let their eyes be darkened,
that they may not see, and bow down their back alway"
(Rom.11:7-10).
Modern skepticism, and scholarly "criticism" and unbelief, were
all prophesied. Peter wrote under divine inspiration, "Knowing
this first, that in the last days SCOFFERS, walking after their
own lusts," will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation" -- in other words, the
unifornitarianism theory of modern geology, that "the present is
key to the past," there never were divine interventions in
history, but only slow processes, which we see today, account for
all the strata and extinctions in the earth's "evolutionary"
history (II Peter 3:2-3).
Peter goes on, "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by
the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then
was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and
the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men" (v.5-7).
In this article, you have read things which have been hidden from
the eyes of mankind for thousands of years. You have read
incredible, fascinating evidence, from the Bible itself, and
history, and archaeology -- from around the world -- that the
Bible is true, that its science predates modern scientific
discoveries by thousands of years.
What do you think of the Scriptures, now, after reading this
article?
As the apostle Paul wrote: "ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration
of God [that is, "God-breathed," in the literal original Greek],
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect
[or, become perfect, and completely mature], thoroughly furnished
unto all good works" (II Tim.3:16-17).
As the apostle Peter also wrote, "For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof fadeth away: But the word of the Lord
endureth forever" (I Peter 1:24--25).
Peter was quoting from the prophet Isaiah, who wrote: "The voice
said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and
all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD
bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever"
(Isaiah 40:6-8).
Isaiah challenges the critics, the scoffers of the God who
inspired the Scriptures, "Who hath measured the waters in the
hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and
comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the
mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed
the spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him? .
. . Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as the small dust of the balance . . . All nations before him are
as nothing; and they are counted to him as less than nothing, and
vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye
compare unto him? . . .
"Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you
from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of
the earth? [God is] he that sitteth on the circle [globe or
sphere] of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as
grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in" (Isa.40:12-22). Even in
this verse may well be a hidden indication that Isaiah knew of the
"expanding Universe," that the heavens are rapidly expanding, as
astronomers tell us, as is evidenced by the "red shift" in the
spectrum of light rays reaching us from the stars!
Truly, the Bible is a most remarkable Book!
As Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs, "It is the glory of God
to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a
matter. The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the
heart of kings, is unsearchable" (Proverbs 25:2-3).
The process of discovery has only just begun!
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