2011年2月20日星期日

The Death of Nimrod And The Beginning of the King of the South (2)

Now, if there be such evidence still, that even Pagans knew that it was by dying that the promised Messiah was to destroy death and him that has the power of death, that is the Devil, how much more vivid must have been the impression of mankind in general in regard to this vital truth in the early days of Semiramis, when they were so much nearer the fountain-head of all Divine tradition. When, therefore, the name Zoroaster, “the seed of the woman,” was given to him who had perished in the midst of a prosperous career of false worship and apostasy, there can be no doubt of the meaning which that name was intended to convey. And the fact of the violent death of the hero, who, in the esteem of his partisans, had done so much to bless mankind, to make life happy, and to deliver them from the fear of the wrath to come, instead of being fatal to the bestowal of such a title upon him, favored rather than otherwise the daring design.

All that was needed to countenance the scheme on the part of those who wished an excuse for continued apostasy from the true God, was just to give out that, though the great patron of the apostasy had fallen a prey to the malice of men, he had freely offered himself for the good of mankind. Now, this was what was actually done. The Chaldean version of the story of the great Zoroaster is that he prayed to the supreme God of heaven to take away his life; that his prayer was heard, and that he expired, assuring his followers that, if they cherished due regard for his memory, the empire would never depart from the Babylonians.

What Berosus, the Babylonian historian, says of the cutting off of the head of the great god Belus, is plainly to the same effect. Belus, says Berosus, commanded one of the gods to cut off his head, that from the blood thus shed by his own command and with his own consent, when mingled with the earth, new creatures might be formed, the first creation being represented as a sort of a failure. Thus the death of Belus, who was Nimrod, like that attributed to Zoroaster, was represented as entirely voluntary, and as submitted to for the benefit of the world.
It seems to have been now only when the dead hero was to be deified, that the secret Mysteries were set up. The previous form of apostasy during the life of Nimrod appears to have been open and public. Now, it was evidently felt that publicity was out of the question. The death of the great ringleader of the apostasy was not the death of a warrior slain in battle, but an act of judicial rigor, solemnly inflicted. This is well established by the accounts of the deaths of both Tammuz and Osiris. The following is the account of Tammuz, given by the celebrated Maimonides, deeply read in all the learning of the Chaldeans: “When the false prophet named Thammuz preached to a certain king that he should worship the seven stars and the twelve signs of the Zodiac, that king ordered him to be put to a terrible death. On the night of his death all the images assembled from the ends of the earth into the temple of Babylon, to the great golden image of the Sun, which was suspended between heaven and earth. That image prostrated itself in the midst of the temple, and so did all the images around it, while it related to them all that had happened to Thammuz. The images wept and lamented all the night long, and then in the morning they flew away, each to his own temple again, to the ends of the earth. And hence arose the custom every year, on the first day of the month Thammuz, to mourn and to weep for Thammuz.”

There is here, of course, all the extravagance of idolatry, as found in the Chaldean sacred books that Maimonides had consulted; but there is no reason to doubt the fact stated either as to the manner or the cause of the death of Tammuz. In this Chaldean legend, it is stated that it was by the command of a “certain king” that this ringleader in apostasy was put to death. Who could this king be, who was so determinedly opposed to the worship of the host of heaven? From what is related of the Egyptian Hercules, we get very valuable light on this subject. It is admitted by Wilkinson that the most ancient Hercules, and truly primitive one, was he who was known in Egypt as having, “by the power of the gods” (i.e., by the SPIRIT) fought against and overcome the Giants.

The name of the true God (Elohim) is plural. Therefore, “the power of the gods,” and “of God,’ is expressed by the same term.

Now, no doubt, the title and character of Hercules were afterwards given by the Pagans to him whom they worshipped as the grand deliverer or Messiah, just as the adversaries of the Pagan divinities came to be stigmatized as the “Giants” who rebelled against Heaven. But let the reader only reflect upon who the real Giants were who rebelled against Heaven. They were Nimrod and his party; for the “Giants” were just the “Mighty ones,” of whom Nimrod was the leader. Who, then, was most likely to head the opposition to the apostacy from the primitive worship? If Shem was at that time alive, as beyond question he was, who so likely as he? In exact accordance with this deduction, we find that one of the names of the primitive Hercules in Egypt was “Sem.”

If “Sem,” then, was the primitive Hercules,who overcame the Giants, and that not by mere physical force, but by “the power of God,” or the influence of the Holy Spirit, that entirely agrees with his character; and more than that, it remarkably agrees with the Egyptian account of the death of Osiris. The Egyptians say, that the grand enemy of their god overcame him, not by open violence, but that, having entered into a conspiracy with seventy-two of the leading men of Egypt, he got him into his power, put him to death, and then cut his dead body into pieces, and sent the different parts to so many different cities throughout the country. The real meaning of this statement will appear, if we glance at the judicial institutions of Egypt. Seventy-two was just the number of the judges, both civil and sacred, who, according to Egyptian law, were required to determine what was to be the punishment of one guilty of so high an offence as that of Osiris, supposing this to have become a matter of judicial inquiry. In determining such a case, there were necessarily two tribunals concerned. First, there were the ordinary judges, who had power of life and death, and who amounted to thirty, then there was, over and above, a tribunal consisting of forty-two judges, who, if Osiris was condemned to die, had to determine whether his body should be buried or no, for, before burial, every one after death had to pass the ordeal of this tribunal.

DIODORUS. The words of Diodorus, as printed in the ordinary editions, make the number of the judges simply “more than forty,” without specifying how many more. In the Codex Coislianus, the number is stated to be “two more than forty.” The earthly judges, who tried the question of burial, are admitted both by WILKINSON and BUNSEN, to have corresponded in number to the judges of the infernal regions. Now, these judges, over and above their president, are proved from the monuments to have been just forty-two. The earthly judges at funerals, therefore, must equally have been forty-two. In reference to this number as applying equally to the judges of this world and the world of spirits, Bunsen, speaking of the judgment on a deceased person in the world unseen, uses these words in the passage above referred to: “Forty-two gods (the number composing the earthly tribunal of the dead) occupy the judgment-seat.”

Diodorus himself, whether he actually wrote “two more than forty,” or simply “more than forty,” gives reason to believe that forty-two was the number he had present to his mind; for he says, that “the whole of the fable of the shades below,” as brought by Orpheus from Egypt, was “copied from the ceremonies of the Egyptian funerals,” which he had witnessed at the judgment before the burial of the dead. If, therefore, there were just forty-two judges in “the shades below,” that even, on the showing of Diodorus, whatever reading of his words be preferred, proves that the number of the judges in the earthly judgment must have been the same.

As burial was refused him, both tribunals would necessarily be concerned; and thus there would be exactly seventy-two persons, under Typho the president, to condemn Osiris to die and to be cut in pieces. What, then, does the statement account to, in regard to the conspiracy, but just to this, that the great opponent of the idolatrous system which Osiris introduced, had so convinced these judges of the enormity of the offence which he had committed, that they gave up the offender to an awful death, and to ignominy after it, as a terror to any who might afterwards tread in his steps. The cutting of the dead body in pieces, and sending the dismembered parts among the different cities, is paralleled, and its object explained, by what we read in the Bible of the cutting of the dead body of the Levite’s concubine in pieces (Judges 19:29), and sending one of the parts to each of the twelve tribes of Israel; and the similar step taken by Saul, when he hewed the two yoke of oxen asunder, and sent them throughout all the coasts of his kingdom (I Sam 11:7).

It is admitted by commentators that both the Levite and Saul acted on a patriarchal custom, according to which summary vengeance would be dealt to those who failed to come to the gathering that in this solemn way was summoned. This was declared in so many words by Saul, when the parts of the slaughtered oxen were sent among the tribes: “Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” In like manner, when the dismembered parts of Osiris were sent among the cities by the seventy-two “conspirators”—in other words, by the supreme judges of Egypt, it was equivalent to a solemn declaration in their name, that “whosoever should do as Osiris had done, so should it be done to him; so should he also be cut in pieces.”

When irreligion and apostasy again arose into the ascendant, this act, into which the constituted authorities who had to do with the ringleader of the apostates were led, for the putting down of the combined system of irreligion and despotism set up by Osiris or Nimrod, was naturally the object of intense abhorrence to all his sympathizers; and for his share in it the chief actor was stigmatized as Typho, or “The Evil One.”

Wilkinson admits that different individuals at different times bore this hated name in Egypt. One of the most noted names by which Typho, or the Evil One, was called, was Seth (EPIPHANIUS, Adv. Hoeres). Now Seth and Shem are synonymous, both alike signifying “The appointed one.” As Shem was a younger son of Noah, being “the brother of Japhet the elder” (Genesis 10:21), and as the pre-eminence was divinely destined to him, the name Shem, “the appointed one,” had doubtless been given him by Divine direction, either at his birth or afterwards, to mark him out as Seth had been previously marked out as the “child of promise.” Shem, however, seems to have been known in Egypt as Typho, not only under the name of Seth, but under his own name; for Wilkinson tells us that Typho was characterized by a name that signified “to destroy and render desert.” (Egyptians) Now the name of Shem also in one of its meanings signifies “to desolate” or lay waste. So Shem, the appointed one, was by his enemies made Shem, the Desolator or Destroyer—i.e., the Devil.

The influence that this abhorred Typho wielded over the minds of the so-called “conspirators,” considering the physical force with which Nimrod was upheld, must have been wonderful, and goes to show, that though his deed in regard to Osiris is veiled, and himself branded by a hateful name, he was indeed none other than that primitive Hercules who overcame the Giants by “the power of God,” by the persuasive might of his Holy Spirit.

In connection with this character of Shem, the myth that makes Adonis, who is identified with Osiris, perish by the tusks of a wild boar, is easily unraveled. The tusk of a wild boar was a symbol. In Scripture, a tusk is called “a horn”; among many of the Classic Greeks it was regarded in the very same light.

In India, a demon with a “boar’s face” is said to have gained such power through his devotion, that he oppressed the “devotees” or worshippers of the gods, who had to hide themselves. (MOOR’S Pantheon) Even in Japan there seems to be a similar myth.

Pausanian admits that some in his day regarded tusks as teeth; but he argues strongly, and, I think, conclusively, for their being considered as “horns.”

When once it is known that a tusk is regarded as a “horn” according to the symbolism of idolatry, the meaning of the boar’s tusks, by which Adonis perished, is not far to seek. The bull’s horns that Nimrod wore were the symbol of physical power. The boar’s tusks were the symbol of spiritual power. As a “horn” means power, so a tusk, that is, a horn in the mouth, means “power in the mouth”; in other words, the power of persuasion; the very power with which “Sem,” the primitive Hercules, was so signally endowed. Even from the ancient traditions of the Gael, we get an item of evidence that at once illustrates this idea of power in the mouth, and connects it with that great son of Noah, on whom the blessing of the Highest, as recorded in Scripture, did specially rest. The Celtic Hercules was called Hercules Ogmius, which, in Chaldee, is “Hercules the Lamenter.”

The Celtic scholars derive the name Ogmius from the Celtic word Ogum, which is said to denote “the secret of writing”; but Ogum is much more likely to be derived from the name of the god, than the name of the god to be derived from it.

No name could be more appropriate, none more descriptive of the history of Shem, than this. Except our first parent, Adam, there was, perhaps, never a mere man that saw so much grief as he. Not only did he see a vast apostasy, which, with his righteous feelings, and witness as he had been of the awful catastrophe of the flood, must have deeply grieved him; but he lived to bury SEVEN GENERATIONS of his descendants. He lived 502 years after the flood, and as the lives of men were rapidly shortened after that event, no less than SEVEN generations of his lineal descendants died before him (Genesis 11:10-32). How appropriate a name Ogmius, “The Lamenter or Mourner,” for one who had such a history! Now, how is this “Mourning” Hercules represented as putting down enormities and redressing wrongs? Not by his club, like the Hercules of the Greeks, but by the force of persuasion. Multitudes were represented as following him, drawn by fine chains of gold and amber inserted into their ears, and which chains proceeded from his mouth.

Sir W. BETHAM’S Gael and Cymbri. In connection with this Ogmius, one of the names of “Sem,” the great Egyptian Hercules who overcame the Giants, is worthy of notice. That name is Chon. In the Etymologicum Magnum, apud BRYANT, we thus read: “They say that in the Egyptian dialect Hercules is called Chon.” Compare this with WILKINSON, where Chon is called “Sem.” Now Khon signifies “to lament” in Chaldee, and as Shem was Khon—i.e., “Priest” of the Most High God, his character and peculiar circumstances as Khon “the lamenter” would form an additional reason why he should be distinguished by that name by which the Egyptian Hercules was known. And it is not to be overlooked, that on the part of those who seek to turn sinners from the error of their ways, there is an eloquence in tears that is very impressive. The tears of Whitefield formed one great part of his power; and, in like manner, the tears of Khon, “the lamenting” Hercules, would aid him mightily in overcoming the Giants.

There is a great difference between the two symbols—the tusks of a boar and the golden chains issuing from the mouth, that draw willing crowds by the ears; but both very beautifully illustrate the same idea—the might of that persuasive power that enabled Shem for a time to withstand the tide of evil that came rapidly rushing in upon the world. Now when Shem had so powerfully wrought upon the minds of men as to induce them to make a terrible example of the great Apostate, and when that Apostate’s dismembered limbs were sent to the chief cities, where no doubt his system had been established, it will be readily perceived that, in these circumstances, if idolatry was to continue—if, above all, it was to take a step in advance, it was indispensable that it should operate in secret. The terror of an execution, inflicted on one so mighty as Nimrod, made it needful that, for some time to come at least, the extreme of caution should be used. In these circumstances, then, began, there can hardly be a doubt, that system of “Mystery,” which, having Babylon for its centre, has spread over the world. In these Mysteries, under the seal of secrecy and the sanction of an oath, and by means of all the fertile resources of magic, men were gradually led back to all the idolatry that had been publicly suppressed, while new features were added to that idolatry that made it still more blasphemous than before. That magic and idolatry were twin sisters, and came into the world together, we have abundant evidence.

From the following Greek Mythology we learn that the war between Nimrod and Shem lasted ten years. We also learn that Nimrod castrated his father. I would suspect this might be the reason for Cush and his followers leaving the Land of Two Rivers, or the Mesopotamia.

Take note that I have already shown you Nimrod was married to Rhea. So, by this we know that Cronus (aka, Kronus) was also Nimrod and that his father, Cush, could be none other than Uranus.

From the following link I have the following information. http://www.milica.com.au/greek_myths/creation/gaea.htm

“Gaea united with her son Uranus and gave birth to the first divine race—the Titans. There were twelve of them; six male: Oceanus, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, Lapetus, and Cronus. There were also six female: Theia, Rhea, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, (1) Tethys and Themis (see the genealogical table entitled, Uransu-Gaea). Uranus and Gaea then gave birth to the Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes and Arges, who resembled the other gods, but had only one eye in the middle of their foreheads. Finally, they gave birth to three monsters—Hecatoncheires, Cottus, Briareus and Gyges.

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