To be or not to be Neolithic: A Study of Genesis 4.
By Glenn R Morton 2019
This is part of my series on how to read Genesis 1-11 in a historical/scientifically real manner. One of the criticisms of my view is the claim that Genesis 4 and 5 are
set in the Neolithic and Adam couldn't be as far back as I say (if you don't know my view, start with
Days of Proclamation post).
I don't think so
because all the activities listed were done long before the Neolithic, except
for metal work and I don't think metal working is what Genesis 4 is speaking
of.
I will lay out my case below. Let's
start with Cain as a 'tiller'.
Genesis 4:2 says: And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain
was a tiller of the ground.
I will admit that this translation looks bad for my position
but, a quick look at the Hebrew in my handy dandy Logos software says that word
translated as Tiller, is
abad.
Strong's
says,
290 occurrences; AV translates as “serve” 227 times, “do” 15
times, “till” nine times, “servant” five times, “work” five times,
“worshippers” five times, “service” four times, “dress” twice, “labour” twice,
“ear” twice, and translated miscellaneously 14 times. 1to work, serve"
1
Interestingly, Strong's section on
abad, doesn't actually
define the word, but merely lists how the translators translated the word.
According to the translators, the primary
meaning is 'serve'; secondary meaning is 'do' and only nine times is this
translated till.
Genesis 4:2 is one of
the times.
I would suggest that word
choice is caused by the widespread assumption that this chapter is talking
about the Neolithic times. As I intend to show, there is much doubt, at least
in my mind.
Let's consider the context of chapter 4. It follows the line
of Cain--the wicked line of Cain. It starts with a murder, goes into paranoia,
and ends with
a filicide.
So, you are asking, how am I going to get out of this
mess.
I think below shows the
answer.
I'm going to look at what all
the dictionaries say.
The Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT from here on out),
which, as near as I can tell was published in 1980, says:
"
1553 עָבַד
(ʿābad) work, serve.Derivatives1553a עֶבֶד (ʿebed)
slave, servant.1553b עֲבָד (ʿăbād)
work (Eccl 12:1).
1553c עֲבוֹדָה (ʿăbôdâ)
labor, service.
1553d עֲבֻדָּה
(ʿăbūddâ) service (household servants) (Gen 26:14: Job 1:3).
1553e עַבְדּוּת
(ʿabdût) servitude, bondage (Ezr 9:8, 9; Neh 9:17).
1553f מַעבָד (maʿbād)
work (Job 34:25).
ʿābad appears 290 times in the OT.
"The etymology of this word seems to share the ideas of
several Semitic roots, e.g. the old Aramaic root which means “to do or make,”
an Arabic root meaning “to worship, obey” (God) and its intensive stem meaning
“to enslave, reduce to servitude.”
"This service may be directed toward things, people, or
God."
2
One could easily say Cain worked the ground.
While that word is often translated as
'till', all the cognates in other languages have nothing to do with tilling, as
you can see above. A better translaton might be "Cain worked the
ground."
Of a related word, the Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament makes it clearer:
"
2896 עֲבַד
(ʿăbad) make, do, perform, create (Peal); be made, be done, be performed,
executed/carried out (Hithpeal).
Derivatives
2896a עֲבַד (ʿăbad), עֲבֵד
(ʿăbēd) slave, servant.
2896b עֲבִידָה (ʿăbîdâ)
service, work, ritual, worship.
2896c מַעֲבַד (maʿăbad)
action (of God in history).
The primary meaning of this root indicates service,
performance of a duty, or activity. The Hithpeal is used as the passive of the
Peal. The formal Hebrew cognate is ʿābad, but the functional equivalent is
ʿāśâ."
3
Note the words 'Perform,' 'make,' 'do,' 'work' and 'serve'.
Of these choices, work and serve seem to be the most natural ones to use. There
is no statement here of tillage, just 'work'.
Again, I am brought back to "Cain worked or served the
ground".
Ground itself is an interesting word, it is Adama. The TWOT
says,
"
Initially, God made ʾādām out of the ʾădāmâ to till
the ʾădāmâ (Gen 3:23, to bring forth life?)."
4.
I would point out the almost ludicrous concept that Adam and
Eve, when pushed out of the Garden
were
'tilling" the ground!
Think about
the real issues involved in them 'tilling' the ground. I think country folk
will more understand what I am going to say that people who have never had
contact with a farm.
When Adam and Eve
had to start fending for themselves there is no way they went straight to
farming.
Can't you just see it.
Adam asks Eve, "What is for dinner
tonight?"
Eve says, "Whatever
your garden produces."
Adam informs
Eve, "It won't produce anything for another 4 months!" Eve replies,
"Better go kill a couple of squirrels for dinner then." And so begins
Adam's hunting life. They need to eat NOW, not in four months.
Farming is for those who have a surplus of
food in storage so that they can eat it while growing this year's crop to put
into storage after harvest for next year.
That is how farming works.
Adam
and Eve would have died waiting on that crop.
From personal experience, trying to raise peaches and pears
on my ranch, while I was away working Monday through Friday in the oil
industry, you can't harvest a crop if you are not there watching it.
Every year, either the deer or squirrels
stripped my trees of their fruit before I could get much of it.
I had to put up a 10 ft wire around the
orchard to keep the deer out, but without a cat and dog out there to chase off
the squirrels, my harvests were pitiful. Even waiting for my wild grapes (and I
had a monstrous vine that allowed me to make lots of Jelly, put on grapes in
March but they didn't ripen until June.
For some reason the maturity slowed over the years I owned the ranch and
by the end, the grapes weren't maturing until August.
The dewberries along the fences provided lots
of blackberry like berries but, they also didn't mature until June.
If I were to live off things like that, I
would have to preserve them, and store them for the next year, eating what I
needed.
Preserving berries requires
canning, something Adam and Eve didn't have available to them. If all I had was
berries in June and grapes in August, I would starve.
So the idea that Adam and Eve, before they
had any children were 'tilling the land' is a real long stretch for me.
I grew other things as gentleman part time farmer. With each
of them I learned other lessons.
Grow
watermelons or cantelope and the coyotes will take a bite out of each one. If
you don't have a fence, the cows will stomp on your watermelons, and munch the
leaves of your crop.
My attempt to grow
corn taught me that each corn ear gets a canker in it if one doesn't spray, the
corn is hurt.
I also think it was mice
and rats who gnawed into my corn ears one year.
My neighbor who planted a lot more corn than I, depended on having so
much the deer and wild pigs couldn't eat it all. He also had a dog left out at
night.
My point in telling the story of my failed years as a
weekend farmer is that while Adam and Eve are off getting squirrels or picking
berries so they could eat tonight, not in four months, the wildlife was
feasting on anything he had planted.
Given that Adam was a solo farmer while the kids were young, He really
couldn't have planted too much crop manually.
Draft animals take time to train. The harnesses take lots of time to
make. One has to kill an animal, skin it, scrape off the fat and flesh which
takes hours, put lime on it or bury it in manure and urine for months, then dig
it up and cut it into harnesses.
My
guess is that Adam and Eve would have starved to death prior to successfully
making the harnesses for a as yet untrained undomesticated beast.
Oh yeah, training an animal can take days.
During the past 10 years I was out of the Genesis battle, so
I worked my family genealogy. I found a document written by my great great
grandfather about 1895 when he was an old man. He had been born in 1832.
He talks about the tanning of leather on the
US frontier,
"
James McBride Sr., the survivor of this war lived in
Virginia thereafter and worked at his trade, for according to good old custom
no young man of any family was allowed to grow up without a trade, and he had
two. He was both a gunsmith and a shoemaker, so thus he worked. As every man in
that day did he tanned his own leather for the shoes he made. There were no
tanneries as there are now, but every man had to tan his own leather or else he
had to pay a big price for it, and in those days the tanning of leather was a
slow process. First, they took the hide and soaked it in water with lime or
ashes until the hair started to slip. Then with tools made especially for that
purpose they scraped the hair and any
meat off the hide, then it was ready to put in the vat for tanning. Now, the
vat was made in this way. I will call it a box, which they made about eight feet
long, and four feet wide and three feet deep. This was made very tight so that
it would hold water, then they dug a pit just large enough to hold the box just
below the surface of the ground, with a good solid cover, then they put down a
layer of red oak bark then a hide then another layer of bark and so forth until
the pit was filled, then they poured the water in the box until it was filled
to the top, and then they put the last layer of bark and lead to hold the bark
and hides down in the pit. It took about six months to tan the leather in this
way, whereas with new methods now days they can tan a hide in a day or less.
When I was a boy my father used to tan all his own leather, so I know whereof I
speak."
5
Without leather, no harnesses; without harnesses, no draft
animal; without draft animal, very few plants can be planted.
If someone wants to believe that Adam, Eve,
and Cain were farmers go ahead, but one should explain how all the above
problems were overcome.
Further, we must
know that there are easier ways for Adam and Eve to make a living than
farming.
When asked why they didn't
farm, one Bushman gave a quite reasonable answer,
"
Scattered throughout the world, several dozen groups
of so-called primitive people, like the Kalashari Bushmen, continue to support
themselves that way. It turns out that
these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and work less hard
than their farming neighbors. For instance, the average time devoted each week to obtaining food is only 12 to 19 hours for
one group of Bushmen, 14 hours or less for the Hadza nomads of Tanzania. One Bushman, when asked why he hadn't
emulated neighboring tribes by adopting agriculture, replied, "Why should
we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world?"
6
One final thing about the problems of Adam and Eve
farming--farming was very unhealthy for its early participants.
“
The study of the sample of skeletal remains from South Asia
showed that there was a decline in body stature, body size and life expectancy
with the adoption of farming. A broadly
similar result was obtained by the analysis conducted on skeletons from prehistoric
populations in Georgia, USA-—i.e. the health of the hunters was markedly
better. In the case study of the Levant
region there was a slight increase in the level of health with the initial
adoption of farming, but this was followed by a marked decline once intensive
agriculture and husbandry were fully established. Of the 13 regional studies, 10 showed that
the average life expectancy declined with the adoption of farming. There are a number of factors that would have
led to this decline. The domestication
of animals that took place on a major scale with the advent of farming had, along with its benefits, the
unforeseen result of allowing the transmission of numerous infectious diseases
from these domesticates to their human masters Among the side effects of the
new lifestyle was the development of a new host of diseases and disorders,
including beri-beri, rickets, leprosy (thought to have been transmitted to man
from the Asian water-=buffalo) and diptheria.
Diptheria is one of at least 30 distinct diseases which can be
transmitted via milk. As the palaeopathologist Don Brothwell has said, the
practice of dairy farming undoubtedly assisted in the spreading of such
diseases.”
7
Adam and Eve and their children would have been
gatherers.
Thus, working the ground
meant something different for Cain than it did for people in King David's time.
What could working or serving the ground mean? One interesting interpretation
comes to mind. The predecessor to the plow has existed for a long time.
Encyclopedia Britannica says,
"
The antecedent of the plow is the prehistoric digging
stick. The earliest plows were doubtless digging sticks fashioned with handles
for pulling or pushing. "
8
The oldest wooden digging stick is long before the
Neolithic.
"
A digging stick, dated to ∼39,000 BP, is made of Flueggea
virosa."9 At Swartkrans, bones were apparently used as digging stick,
"Some of the fossil bones looked so worn at the tip
that they must have been used for several days.
Bob began to wonder if the hominids carried these digging sticks with
them. Then he noticed that the wear
scratches on some specimens were obscured by a glassy polish. A similar sort of polish occurs on modern bone
tools used by hunter gatherers to burnish hides. Bob speculates that the hominids may have
made hide bags to carry tools and tubers, and the glassy polish formed as the
bones rubbed against the leather. A few
tiny, awl-like pieces of bone---the sort of tools that could be used to puncture
leather--- were also uncovered at Swartkrans."
10
These date to between 1.8 million and 1.1 million years
ago.
11
The person using those bone digging sticks 1.1 myr ago or
more, was actually working the ground!
Because of the above, I can't see Cain being a farmer. Thus, I am forced
to believe that working the ground is the one correct translation in this
setting. I think the choice of the word 'till' is a choice made early in
translational history when people believed that the earth was only 6000 years
old. Now, clearly if you already assume that this is a Neolithic family then
yeah, they are farming, but as you will see below, it is anything but certain
that they were Neolithic.
The people below are also working the ground. Plant resource
management in hunter-gatherer tribes goes way back in time. To me there is
little doubt that ancient man planted plants to help them, just as the
Aborigines did with yam.
Hunter-gatherers did whatever it took to live, planting a few things to
have food next year was a good idea,
"
The closest parallel to planting practice in
Aboriginal gathering pertains to the Dioscorea yam in subtropical and tropical
Australia. Observations of replanting,
described in detail for Arnhem Land by Jones 1975) and Jones & Meehan , for
the eastern Cape York Peninsula by Harris, and deduced on historical evidence
for Western Australia, entail a rather casual replacement of the stem-attached
top of the tuber at harvest, and are identical both to the informal procedures
of the Tasaday oragers of the Philippines."
12
This allows the yam to grow back. Other techniques are also
"working the ground"
"
I believe Native Americans were excellent vegetation
managers and we can learn a lot from them about how to best manage forests of
the U.S.," said Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and physiology in
the College of Agricultural Sciences. "Native Americans knew that to
regenerate plant species that they wanted for food, and to feed game animals
they relied on, they needed to burn the forest understory regularly."
13
Plants were vital to survival and all hunter-gathering
societies were excellent botanists. Even Chimps seem to know what plants to
eat.
“
The noted recovery time of 20-24 hours after bitter-pith
chewing in two M group chimpanzees is comparable to that of local human inhabitants,
the Tongwe, who use cold concoctions of this plant as a treatment for
parasites, diarrhea and stomach upset. These observations encouraged Huffman
and colleagues to investigate the possible contribution of plant secondary
compounds in V. amygdalina against
parasite infection. Phytochemical analysis of V. amygdalina samples collected
at Mahale in 1989 and 1991 from plants known to be used by chimpanzees revealed
the presence of two major classes of bioactive compounds. From this work to
date, a total of four known sesquiterpene lactones (vernodalin, vernolide,
hydroxyvernolide, vernodalol), seven new stigmastane-type steroid glucosides
(vernonioside a1-a4, B1-B3) and two freely occurring aglycones of these
glucosides (vernoniol A1, B1) have been isolated…
“Supportive of the ethnomedicinal literature, the
sesquiterpene lactones present in V. amygdalina, also found in V. colorata and
a number of other Vernonia spp., are well known for their anthelmintic,
antiamoebic, antitumor, and antibiotic properties.”
14
We know Neanderthals were doing this 40-50,000 years ago:
"
Plant-based medicine may have been around for even
longer than previously thought. Scientists recently uncovered new evidence of
herbal remedies used by Neanderthals. It seems our prehistoric relatives had
gained knowledge of the anti-inflammatory, antiviral and pain-relieving
properties of plants in their environment, and began developing their own
medicinal practices. Most shockingly, it turns out Neanderthals were using
their own natural penicillin some 40,000 years before modern humans discovered
it. Researchers from the universities of Liverpool and Adelaide conducted an
analysis of DNA that had been persevered in dental plaque belonging to four
Neanderthal individuals. The study subjects were obtained from two European
archaeological sites; Spy in Belgium and El Sidrón in Spain. The remnants
reportedly date back 42,000 and 50,000 years ago, respectively."
15
"
Some of the oldest evidence for hominin use of plants
as medicine come from Spain and South Africa. The Neanderthals from El Sidr on,
Spain, used medicinal plants, as demonstrated by plant microfossils (Hardy et
al., 2012). In Sibudu, South Africa, bedding structures of Cryptocarya was
found in 77 ka old archaeological layers. The plant family contains
insecticidal and larvicidal chemicals. Leaves were brought as bedding to the
sited possibly because of their medicinal ingredients."
16
Between the above and
the fact that at a 400,000 year old site of Schoningen, where a wooden spear was
found, and where an analysis of the plants used by these ancient men was
published in 2015, we know that plant knowledge goes far back in prehistory. At
Schoningen, by my count 36 out of 67 species listed in the paper were medicinal
species.
All of them were edible.
While we can't and will never prove that
ancient man did what modern hunter-gatherers did, manage their resources by
planting next year's tubers, we can tell that they were very knowledgeable with
plants. And that raises an red flag for me on Cain.
The earliest Westerner to live with the Ona, was apprenticed
to an Ona Joon, a medicine man.
He was
going to learn all the medicinal plants.
Then he thought better of it and dropped out of Joon school. Here is
why.
"
There was another reason: self-preservation. Medicine-men ran great dangers. When persons in their prime died from no
visible cause, the 'family doctor' would often cast suspicion, in an ambiguous
way, on some rival necromancer.
Frequently the chief object of a raiding party, in the perpetual clan
warfare of the Ona, was to kill the medicine-man of an opposing group. No I would not become a joon, to be blamed,
maybe, for a fatal heart attack a hundred miles away."
17
So why raise this with a modern human?
Medicinal herbal knowledge has almost always
been viewed as magic in primitive tribes. And that has brought in the idea of
the sorcerer. The medicine man/shaman or what ever name applied to him, was
able to work miracle cures, sometimes merely by his knowledge of plants.
Out on my former ranch grew a tree with sharp
thorns on the trunk. As with much plant medicinal knowledge, the use of this
tree was passed on to me by a neighbor at my ranch, who called it the toothache
tree.
Slice a bit of bark off the tree,
put it on your gum where the tooth hurts and voila, your gum goes numb.
It really does. One friend I showed that to
went numb for 4 hours.
I was becoming
worried about lawsuits! Then he got over it.
Cain had already had his offering rejected by God when God
said: " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted(KJV).
This implies that Cain had not previously
done something well.
This is not
referring to the future murder, but to something Cain did in the past that
caused the rejection of the offering.
Since the context of this chapter is the evil line of Cain
combined with the fact that Cain brought plants he had to have gathered, I
think it is possible that Cain had become well acquainted with plants and their
usefulness, and thus was, what later tribes would call a medicine man and was
starting down a road God didn't like. This would lead to the possible
interpretation that Cain SERVED the land, as in worshipped the creation, and
thus, his heart was not pointed to God during his offering. That is, it was a
half hearted offering out of social pressure. This interpretation would also
fit with the general degradation we see in Cain's lineage, leading to the
corruption that caused God to bring the flood.
The scripture doesn't say Cain was a tiller of the ground,
even though it is translated that way. It says he worked the ground or served
the ground. Logic dictates that 2-5 people alone in the world, couldn't
actually engage in farming without starving to death. Thus, we are forced into
the view that Cain was doing something different than tilling the ground.
It basically said Cain worked or served the
ground and gathered plants for his offering to God.
I think it is possible that Cain brought his
Sorcery to God as an offering and it was rejected.
Abel's fondness for Sheep
The Scripture clearly says Abel was a keeper.
That word doesn't capture the meaning of ra
a. Both cognates with other languages and Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament say it means, "The actual meaning is “pastured” or “herded.”
18
There are two ways of doing that, like the boy David did,
or, like some hunter-gatherers do--just follow the herd where ever they
go.
A study in Nature dated the stone
tools to 1.36 myr, which would mean H. erectus had made it to China by that
time (Skulls of him are found in the Georgia Republic dated to 1.7 myr.
So this isn't a far-fetched idea.
19 A news account of this study said,
"
The researchers conclude that the tools were used by
hunters who were following game migration routes. Bones of gazelle and
horse-like creatures, among other extinct species, were found with the tools at
the ancient game processing site."
20
Did the early Chinese hominids think they own those
herds?
Yes, they followed them because
they gave food to their tribe.
Did the
herds think they were owned?
No.
If that was what Abel was doing, following
the herds, Ok, call him a shepherd, but he, unlike Cain was offering to God
something that God did, provide the animal that was killed.
It is a bit unclear of what Abel was a 'keeper' of . The
word translated as cattle is
tson and may mean sheep, goats or cattle. (it also
could mean possessions). One problematic issue is that herding leaves no
archaeological trace. All in all if Cain were following the herds, he was a
keeper of
tson.
“
Certainly no definitive checklist of archaeological
indicators has been generated; in fact, it has been pointed out that herding
per se leaves no archaeological races. What is clear is that the differences
between hunting and herding adaptations are fundamental ones and that any
archaeological evidence should include much more than just those areas relating
specifically to animals.”
21
All is not lost.
Remains of meals DO leave an archaeological trace.
We moderns seem to think that herding or
penning animals up is a Neolithic thing. It isn't.
Now, herders get the vast majority of their calories from
the flocks and herds they keep. That is why they keep them. But what are we to
do when Neanderthals did the same thing in the Caucasus mountains where they
obtained 85% of their calories from sheep!
22 They were not following the herds,
these people were stationary.
It would appear that Neanderthals may have penned up some
wild sheep in a suitable box canyon for easy hunting.
At another cave Neanderthals obtained 60% from sheep and
goats
23
"
Outside the Caucasus, high frequencies of
mountain goat in Middle Palaeolithic contexts have been observed in Uzbekistan
at Teshik-Tash (Capra sibirica: 1 80% NISP [Gromova 1949]) and Obi-Rakhmat
(Capra sibirica: 47.4-66.7% [Wrinn n.d.]), at the Spanish sites of Gabasa 1
(Capra pyrenaica: 33.7-52.2% NISP per layer [Blasco Sancho 1995]) and Axlor
(Capra ibex: 25.6% combined ungulate sample [Altuna 1989, 1992]), and at Hortus
in southern France (Capra ibex: 75.4% NISP combined sample [de Lumley
1972])."
24
Hortus is a Neanderthal site from 50,000 years ago and is
the site where evidence for a Shaman's cape was found.
They too seemed to be stationary while
getting shepherd percentages of their calories from ibex.
It seems that Neanderthals had some system
which had a similar effect calorically as herders, yet they are consistently
viewed as hunter-gatherers.
Furthermore,
the Neanderthals did this long before the Neolithic.
Thus, to say Abel being a sheep herder proves
it was in the Neolithic is contradicted by all the listed archaeological sites
above. Thus, this isn't proof that Genesis 4:2 requires a Neolithic age.
Cain built a City
Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave
birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son
Enoch.
To understand what Cain was building we really have to
understand the whole story of Cain Scripture says(Gen 4:2-7):
"
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the
course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to
the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his
flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,but on Cain and
his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face
was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is
your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if
you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have
you, but you must master it.”
I will stop here and point out that Cain's problem was a
heart problem. His heart, at the time of his sacrifice was not correct and God
was telling him that his offering would be accepted if he did what is right.
What was right was what Hebrews 11:4 says: By faith Abel offered God a better
sacrifice than Cain did. This implies Cain didn't have faith in God--was he
serving the earth rather than working it? Genesis 4:2-6 is an eerie parallel to
what Malachi said (1:6-9):
"It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
“You place defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. When you
bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice
crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your
governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD
Almighty.
“Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings
from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the LORD Almighty."
This suggests to me that Cain's offering was either leftover
food, or maybe plants dedicated to proving his knowledge and power as a
healer.
As I showed above, knowledge of
medicinal plants in hunter-gatherer societies was always viewed as
sorcery.
Whatever the problem, Cain was
off to a bad start. After the murder God and Cain have an exchange, with Cain
sharing his greatest fear, that someone would do to him what he had done to
Abel (Genesis 4:11-16),
"
The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s
blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven
from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from
your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for
you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can
bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your
presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will
kill me.”
"But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain,
he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so
that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD’s
presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden."
Cain was paranoid about being killed; this is the important
point here.
To help Cain's paranoia, God
put a mark of protection on Cain so that no one would kill him.
But Cain didn't trust God as we already know
and thus went off to build a place where he could see people coming. A
protected, guarded place. Why do I say this? The basic meaning of the word
translated as city is "A place guarded by waking or a watch'!
Back in Neolithic times turning a word for
watch in to a word for city made sense because it was a place where people
watched out for you. Thus as one guy said, Hebrew is an efficient language, the
word for Watch gained a new meaning, city.
But in Cain's time there were too few people to have a city unless one
assumes a Neolithic age first. But even Strong's indicates that what Cain built
isn't necessarily a city. Strong's says:
5892 עִיר, עִיר, עִיר הַהֶרֶס [ʿiyr, ʿar, ʿayar /eer/] n m.
From 5782 a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense
(even of a mere encampment or post); ...1089 occurrences; AV translates as
“city” 1074 times, “town” seven times, “every one” twice, and “variant” six
times. 1 excitement, anguish. 1A of terror. 2 city, town (a place of waking,
guarded). 2A city, town.1
A small encampment is encompassed by this word, so long as
the encampment is guarded.
The root of this word (Strong's 5782) means awake alert
roused, and it is theorized by the person I spoke with to have been used as a
word for protection and gradually morphed into being used of places that are
protected, like in English we can say go to the Watch. meaning a body of
sentinels or guards.
In this latter case
the word has turned from a verb to a noun, just as happened in Hebrew a long
time ago.
It is a
curiosity
that this word is identical to the last word in Strong's above
and identical to Strong's 5894, which is the
word used in Daniel 4 for watcher, the angel that came to talk with
Daniel.
While this may or may not mean
anything, but given that this is the lineage which caused the corruption that
brought on the flood, I wonder if there is a connection here with dark arts.
Was Cain engaging with a fallen 'watcher' at this place he built?
Could it be related to Astrology, which of
course needs to be done at night?
I
don't know. The language would make it possible. One can of course just say
Cain was paranoid and wanted a safe place to live away from everyone else.
The main point is, Cain built himself a place of safety for
himself, not a city as we would know it. A city as we know it can only be the
case IF you first assume the answer to the question above and say this is in
the Neolithic prior to examining the data I am showing here.
Otherwise there wouldn't have been enough
people.
A footnote in Josephus (Book 1,
Chapt 2) says that an old tradition holds that Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23
daughters.
If this is an old tradition, then even the Jews would not have viewed what Cain built as a city as that word
brings to
our minds.
The Big Kahoona Problem--Brass and Iron
Genesis 4:19-24:
And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was
Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father
of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother’s name
was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And
Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and
iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. And Lamech said unto his wives,
Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice;
Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech:
For I have slain a man to my wounding,
And a young man to my hurt.
If Cain shall be
avenged sevenfold,
Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Gensis 4:22 would seem to end my view, IF it is to be read as the translation above. But I don't think
this verse can be used against the view I have laid out.
I took a long hard look at the verse a while
back but never published on it. There is a long tradition in Christianity that this verse is talking about metals. I don't believe it is.
The first thing I did was to let the Scripture
interpret Scripture. There are only two places in the Bible where the three
words 'brass and iron' occur together, here and Jeremiah 6:28. And Jeremiah
6:28 gives us a definition of the term, "brass and iron"!
"They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they
are brass and iron; they are all corrupters"
Unless we are willing to say all these rebels and corruptors are actually made of brass and iron, the phrase clearly is a euphemism for corruption, and that is the context of
this story Tubalcain is part of. Let me explain why brass and iron became a
euphemism for corruption.
Brass is
mostly made of copper with about 10% tin.
When melted the copper and iron are like oil and water. It is hard to
keep them mixed and they have a miscibility gap where at the right temperature
and pressure they completely unmix.
But
if you keep them mixed at other temperatures, they are biphasic, which means
one becomes solid and one remains liquid and the resulting metal is useless
because it has drops of the other metal included inside it. So when it all
cools the sword or knife is useless because it is weak.
25
Now, I wanted to know if Moses would have known of this
problem.
Moses was born in 1570 BC or
so.
Egypt produced some terrestrially
smelted iron as early as 2600 BC in the form of a wand and rusted tool. This is
iron that has no nickel in it which is a sign of meteoritic iron.
26 Even as
late at 1800 BC iron was still a rare commodity but a grave from the XII
dynasty produced a iron spearhead, but that has been challenged,
27 Even if we
throw the spear head out. At the same time an Alalakh text speaks of 400 iron
spears and a text from 1700 BC say that an iron bracelet was sent to the king
of Mari as a gift by the king of Carchemesh.
28 Iron was even in the hands of
the smaller powers and knowledge of iron was spreading rapidly. It is hard to
believe that if small powers like Carchemesh had iron, a major power like Egypt
didn't.
Because Moses was raised in
Pharaoh's house, he would have been familiar with the latest technology which
was iron and would have known or at least had good opportunity to know of the
problems mixing brass and iron. If you get brass in the iron melt, it corrupts
the iron and if you get iron in the brass melt, it corrupts the brass.
So, if the above is true, that brass and iron is a euphemism
then what is the Tubalcain verse saying?
Lets start with Tubalcain's name, H8423. It means-offspring
of Cain or thou will be brought of Cain. Cain means spear. This name seems to
imply someone who followed in the path of Cain.
The RSV and ASV versions say that Tubalcain was the "forger of all instruments" The King James says "instructor of every artificer" and the New Century
version says "Tubal-Cain, who made tools out of bronze and
iron." The NIV says "Tubal-Cain who forged all kinds of
tools out of bronze and iron."
We have already seen that brass and iron is a euphemism.
Lest someone say bronze is different than above, Brass is copper and tin;
Bronze is just brass with a bit of aluminium, manganese, nickel or zinc
added.
The same miscibility gap problem
exists for the copper which is the vast majority of the Bronze atoms.
The word translated forged (H3913) is latash and means
according to Brown-Driver-Briggs ""to sharpen, hammer,
whet"" Strong's says "A primitive root; properly to hammer
out (an edge), that is, to sharpen:-instructer, sharp (-en), whet."
1
Nowhere does the word 'forged' appear in these two
dictionaries. Looking at the other uses, the word is translated 3 times as
sharp or sharpen and once as whet and once as instructor (in the KJV). Sharpen
seems to be a proper definition.
So far this looks like an iron foundry. But what is
Tubal-cain sharpening? Instruments? Not hardly. What he is sharpening is the
word H2794 choresh, which is a PERSON. Strong's says 'fabricator, mechanic or
artificer" Brown-Driver-Briggs says "metal
craftsman" But I am going to argue that that doesn't fit because ONE
DOESN"T SHARPEN OR FORGE PEOPLE. One sharpens or forges INSTRUMENTS. It is
interesting that the Bible doesn't use the words for instruments which can be
sharpened. These words were a
chariyts (a cutting instrument) or a
keliy
(utensil) or
magzerah (axe). If these words were used, it would unquestionably
be about working metal. But here we have Tubal-cain sharpening a person. This
is why the King James calls him an instructor because that is what teachers do.
Like iron sharpening iron, so one man sharpens another. So Tubal-cain is an
instructor as KJV says. So what is he instructing? This word
choresh is an
active participle of a word that has nothing to do with metal craftsmen.
Choresh H2794 comes from
charahs H2790 which has the following meanings, none
of which have anything to do with metal working except in the most glancing
fashion:
) to cut in, plough, engrave, devise
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to cut in, engrave
1a2) to plough
1a3) to devise
1b) (Niphal) to be ploughed
1c) (Hiphil)
to plot evil
2) to be silent, be dumb, be speechless, be deaf
2a) (Qal)
2a1) to be silent
2a2) to be deaf
2b) (Hiphil)
2b1) to be silent, keep quiet
2b2) to make silent
2b3) to be deaf, show deafness
2c) (Hithpael) to remain silent
Nowhere in BDB's list is metal or craftsmen allowed. I would
contend that their definition was determined by what they viewed as the context
of the verse. But there is a different possible context. Let's take the 1(c) meaning-to
plot evil. If we were to chose this meaning instead of the one normally chosen,
we would have:
Tubalcain is the instructor of every plotter of evil
corruption
Several things argue that this is the real meaning of this
verse. First, this is the last generation before the flood. The reason for the
flood was corruption. says that is why the world was about to be
destroyed:
If Tubal-cain was just an
innocent blacksmith, then why bring the flood? Genesis 6:11, 12
"
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the
earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it
was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."
In this reading presented here, Tubal-cain would be the great corruptor.
The second thing which supports this view is the irony of
contrast between Tubalcain's name and that of his sister. To use the meanings,
when it says Tubalcain's sister was Naamah, it is saying "
offspring
of Cain's sister was pleasantness". If Tubalcain was a corrupt murdering
person after the path of Cain, then to have a sister named
pleasantness is hugely funny. If he was just a metal artificer, what is the point of even naming he sister?
The third thing supporting this view is the strange claim by
Lamech in the verses immediately following. To refresh memories.
Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice;
Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech:
For I have slain a man to my wounding,
And a young man H3206 to my hurt
Lamech killed his own son and the translations don't make
that clear. H376 is
eesh, which just means man. But the word H3206 has the
meaning from Brown's Driver Briggs of "
child, son, boy, offspring,
youth" The adding that he
killed a son or a child to my hurt, means
that
Lamech killed his son to his sorrow. If it hadn't been Lamech's son then
it wouldn't have been to Lamech's sorrow.
Killing the biggest corruptor of morals around would make perfect sense
if Tubal-cain was the instructor of every plotter of evil corruption. Rebellious
children often bring grief and cause family problems that get way out of hand.
Tubal-cain's corruption had gotten so bad that his father killed him, maybe in self-defense.
This is why Lamech considered the sin so much
worse than what Cain did and invoked a
77 times worse vengence if someone kills him.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold
A final comment, Lamech's strange message is meaningless
unless one concludes that the proper translation of the Tubal-cain verse is
"Tubalcain is the instructor of every plotter of evil corruption." If
Tubal-cain were an innocent metal worker, what reason was there for Lamech, his father,
to complain about killing a child? And if it wasn't Lamech's child there would be no explanation of why it was to his sorrow that makes sense.
To conclude, this verse does not require that Adam be
Neolithic age.
Tents, the latest invention of the Neolithic???
Genesis 4:20-21
Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
People who put Adam in the Neolithic again make the Biblical
record false.
Tents go hundreds of
thousands of years back in time. There is conclusive evidence that fossil men
were making huts and using hides, just like primitive peoples of 2 centuries
ago did. Here is a description of modern humans using tents and whistles (a
musical instrument) from 25,000 years ago:
"
Also in Moravia are the important Gravettian sites of
Predmost, Pavlov and Brno. At Pavlov a
large number of hut plans have been identified, oval, round and five-sided in
shape, with some postholes and hearths.
The associated industry included decorated bone and ivory objects including
animals and human figures, and a number of phalange whistles; the occupation
has been radiocarbon dated to c. 25,000 B.P."
29
Neanderthal and archaic H. sapiens used posts and hung hides
to block off the wind in their caves.
"
There are a number of candidates for Pre-neandertal
walls constructed of posts and perishable materials. The best known of these was part of a Riss
habitation structure at Lazaret Cave.
Despite Villa's reservations, artefact and charcoal distributions
support the interpretation of a barrier
existing along the line of postholes at Lazaret, separating intensely used
areas from little used areas. Similar
rock features surrounding voids have been found at Lunel-Viel and Organac III
where they were interpreted as pole supports for walls."
30
At Terra Amata, 300,000 years ago, pre-Neanderthals were
making tents.
"
At Terra Amata, in present-day Nice, we have evidence
of seasonal habitations on coastal dunes.
There are ovoid arrangements of stones with regularly spaced post holes. Within the shelters these represent, the
floors were covered with pebbles or animal hides (imprints are preserved). Hearths occur in holes or on stone slabs
sheltered by low stone walls. Food
residues include elephant, deer, boar, ibex, rhinoceros, small mammals, and
marine shells and fish. The industry is
of Early Acheulean type, and includes a few bone artifacts."
31
And the oldest tent structures I know are firm tents comes
from the H. erectus site of Bilzingsleben from 425,000 years ago.
Mania's map shows 3 horse shoe shaped areas
where the open part of the circle is to the SE. These are their tents.
The cold of Germany at this time was severe
being just past the worst time of the coldest glacial age in the last 500 kyr.
The fact that the openings
were to the south east, is significant. In Germany the cold fronts come from
the NW. Making your tent open to the NW means cold air blows straight into your
tent. By turning them SE facing, not only does one block the wind, one shelters
the first that was said to near the openings of those tents. Pattern 5 are the
areas of the tents, and pattern 10 are the hearths.
By arranging things this way,
H. erectus was able to stay warm and cozy on a cold
glacial age night.
Thus, there is nothing particularly noteworthy about a
Neolithic man using tents 9,000 years ago when they were made by
H. erectus
over 400,000 years prior to the Neolithic.
This Neolithic interpretation of the Bible makes no sense..
Why the Bible would find that remarkable in
Neolithic times is unexplainable.
Music invented in the Neolithic???
Further, a Neolithic Jubal could hardly be called the father
of those using harps (stringed instruments) and flutes.
The word translated 'organ' actually means
flute.
Brown-Driver-Briggs says ,
"
according to [Targum-grm] a reed-pipe or
flute"
32
The oldest picture of a flute may be from an 18,000 year old
French site, long before a Neolithic Jubal lived. Coles and Higgs observe,
"
At Les Trois Freres (Ariege), a semi-human figure
seems to be playing either a musical bow (although musically this is not in the
correct position) or a flute. The association of the semi-humans at this site,
with grouped animals, seems to indicate some ceremonial activity, whether it be
sympathetic magic or not and music by this time had been in existence for some
thousands of years."
33
Reed flutes don't preserve well in the archaeological
record, but bone flutes do. Many Homo sapiens made bone flutes have been found,
A 27,000 year old flute was found at Isturitz, France. The original report, written in French,
describes it thusly,
"
Enfin, j'ai decouvert en 1921, une piece qui est sans
doute unique, un gros os d'Oiseau, malheureusement brise a une de ses
extremites, mais qui porte encore sur une seule rangee trois larges trous,
comme dans une sorte de flute (pl. VII). C'est, sans doute, le plus ancien
instrument de musique connu."
34
Translation:
"
At last, I uncovered in 1921 a piece which is without
doubt, unique, a big bird bone, unfortunately broken at the ends, but because
still carried three holes, like that of some sort of flute. It is without doubt
the most ancient musical instrument found." [trans. by David Morton]
Panpipe flutes were found at Dolni Vestonice,
Czechoslovakia. This site is approximately 27,000 years old. Coles and Higgs
relate,
"
Decorative objects include perforated shells and other
pendants, and tubular beads; bone tubes, one with a plug of resin, probably
were panpipes."
35
But this isn't all. Neanderthals invented a musical
instrument which we still play today It is a rasp or 'skiffle'.
It is a percussion instrument in which a
stick is rubbed across a groove. Here is a picture of a modern wooden rasp.
"
The use of the
object is believed to have been as a musical rasp or 'skiffle' in which a stick
was rubbed across the grooves to make a noise.
"Indeed the well-formed groove pattern endows the
object with some resemblance to a certain type of musical instrument, a rasp or
scraper. The rasp is a primitive idiophonic instrument with a corrugated
surface that is scraped rhythmically by a non-sonorous object to produce
sounds. Striking the parallel grooves of the Schulen bone with a rigid
instrument, such as a wooden rod or a bone plectrum, indeed produces a
stridulous sound. However, if the object was indeed used for producing sound in
this way, that sound would almost certainly differed from the one it can
produce today. The alteration of the shape of the obne and its fossilization
may have profoundly changed its acoustic characteristics.
"Rasps or scrapers are well-known instruments, both from
archaeological and ethnographic sources. Their distribution is almost
world-wide. In its simplest form the rasp consists of a notched stone, bone,
shell or gourd, which is scrapped with a stick or other rigid object, the sound
being increased in some instances by placing the instrument over a hole in the
ground. It may be considered, together with the flute, the lithophone and the
bullroarer, as one of the earliest musical instruments known to man."
36
A similar possible rasp is found at Riparo Mochi, Italy in
deposits which are 35,000 years old. The authors also suggest that it is a rasp
made by modern man. If such an instrument is accepted in the case of modern
man, it should also be accepted for Neanderthal.
37
Neanderthals, who as shown in part 1 of my When Did Adam
Live? series, were capable of religious ceremony,
also made flutes. The most famous is the
43,000 year old,
controversial, Divje
Babe flute. This flute was made of cave bear femur. The flute is broken at each
end and has two completely preserved holes in the center and two broken holes
at either end. The spacing of the holes is nonlinear and the bone is
hollow.
It was found with Mousterian
tools, the tools which are generally associated with Neanderthal man.
Radioactive dating of the layers above and
below the flute show that it is between 67,000 and 43,000 years old.
Bob Fink, a musicologist from Saskatoon, Canada was the
first person to realize the significance of the spacing of these holes. He
studied the structure of the flute and said
that the notes on the flute are Do, Re, Mi.
He summarized his findings by writing a report that sadly is no longer
available on the internet and even sadder is that he didn't get proper credit
for his discovery.
"Holes 2, 3
& 4 on the bone (as shown, from left to right) stand in a significant
relationship to each other: The distance between holes 2 and 3 is virtually
twice that between holes 3 and 4. The line up of the holes indicate that it is
a flute.
"This means we
are looking at a whole tone and a half tone somewhere within a scale. Such a
combination of whole tone and half tone is the heart and soul of what makes up
7 note diatonic scales. Without making even one more measurement beyond this,
we can already conclude: These three notes on the Neanderthal bone flute are
inescapably diatonic and will sound like a near perfect fit within ANY kind of
standard diatonic scale, modern or antique. We simply cannot conceive of it
being otherwise, unless we deny it is a flute at all."
38
The significance of Fink's work is that the Neanderthals may
have invented the musical scale used by all western European musical
systems.
When you listen to Beethoven or
Brahms, their music is possibly based upon the Neanderthal musical
scale!92
Is this scale a human
universal?
Even John Leonard at the
University of Houston's Engines of Ingenuity featured this flute on his show.
39
Fink's report is now only found on the waybackmachine. The
link is in reference
38.
As Bob worried about, because it was made by Neanderthals,
who, in the 1990s were not supposed to be smart enough to make flutes all sorts
of strange ideas were floated to explain away this flute.
Some said scavengers gnawing the bones
punctured the bone precisely at the diatonic scale.
Yeah, right. Another suggestion was that the
acid in a hyena's gut dissolved the holes just in the right spacing and on the
same side.
Yeah, right!
I don't know if anthropology ever accepted this
flute, a picture is shown below.
This is in footnote 94, p. 119 of Adam, Apes and Anrhopology
"
Fink calculates that the odds of the spacing is 1/680
to keep the tuning. But if the bone is
divided into 10 degree units any hole could be found in any of the 10 degree
segments, then each hole has a 1/36 chance of being in a given segment. with 4
holes the probability of the alignment becomes 1/364= 1.6 million. Multiplied by the spacing probability the
odds become 1 out of a billion."
This was why I was saying 'Yeah right!" above.
But this isn't the only flute Neanderthals made, which was
ignored in the anthropological world. The oldest flute I have been able to find
is a from Haua Fteah in Libya. It is had at least two perforations and thus was
much more complex than some flutes made by modern men. McBurney notes,
"
To these may be added a remarkable bone object most
plausibly explained as a fragment of a vertical 'flute' or multiple pitch
whistle, from spit 1955/64. In this position although directly associated only
with a few non-diagnostic chips, splinters and splinters of bone it is none the
less attributable to the Pre-Aurignacian owing to the clear indications
provided by the overlying spits 1955/61-58, to be discussed in the next
chapter. These last show every affinity with the material culture as described
and certainly indicate the continued existence of the tradition in the area.
"
In all important respects preserved the bone tube
reproduces the features of known paleolithic flutes from the European
Gravettian both in the East and West, although older by a factor of at least 2
than any other specimen known."40 This object was recovered from the
earliest, deepest occupation level at Haua Fteah, Libya. Since at the time
McBirney wrote, the oldest flutes were in the neighborhood of 30,000 years,
that means the Haua Fteah flute is at least 60,000 years old. But Glynn Isaac describes the dating of the layer
in which the flute was found. Neanderthals are always associated with
Mousterian assemblages and further the flute was in a layer that yielded two
Neanderthal mandibles (jawbones). He states,
"The stratigraphy at this cave site in Cyrenaica
appears to span an unusually large segment of Late Pleistocene time and
consequently deserves mention apart from its representation in the frequency
distribution patterns of C14 dates. About 5 metres of deposits were excavated
below 'Mousterian' levels which have been C14 dated as follows:
W 85 Layer XXVIII(Mousterian) 0.034.000+/-0.0028 x 106
GrN 2564 XXVIII(Mousterian) 0.0434 +/-0.0013 x 106
GrN 2022 XXVIII(rest fraction) 0.04 +/-0.0015 x 106
GrN 2023 XXVIII(bone fraction) 0.47 +/-0.032 x 106
"Extrapolation of the sedimentation rate down through
the underlying strata gives a reasonable geochronometric estimate of at least
70 to 80,000 years for the base of the excavation. The small artefact sample
from the lowest levels represents an idiosyncratic industry which includes
fairly numerous blades (McBurney. 1967:91), burins, Acheulian elements
(ibid.:Fig.IV,7:1,2,6), Mousterian elements (ibid.:Fig.IV, 1:7:Fig.IV,5:4:Fig.
Iv, 7:3), the oldest known fossil musical instrument (ibid.:90: A.IV), and perhaps
the oldest shell midden (ibid.: 99)."
41
While this is the oldest flute I have found, penny whistles
made of phalange bones go back 100 kyr. They are found at Prolom II in the
Crimea which dates between 90-100,000 years. Stpanchuk describes what is found:
"
It is impossible not to notice abundant Saiga tatarica
phalanges with holes. For example, there are 41 such phalanges with holes. For
example, there are 41 such phalanges (55.4% of the total) in the second layer
(excavations of 1981 and 1982). In most cases crudely pierced holes are
connected with the dorsal surface near the distal epiphysis of the first and
second phalange, but are also often located on the articular surface. In many
cases the phalanges have two or even three holes, mainly tending to the distal
or proximal ends. It is rare that a hole in situated in the medial section.
Average dimensions of holes are 3-4 mm; whereas larger ones, sometimes up to 10
mm in size, are much rarer. The origin and purpose of these holes is not quite
clear. The study of phalanges with holes has already been going on for more
than 150 years, and various explanations have been proposed: the obtaining of
marrow; use as whistles; and the result of biting through by a carnivore while
the animal was alive. Other hypotheses seem to be fantastic, for example, that
they were vessels for poison. It is possible that some of the phalanges with
holes were really used as whistles. R. Wetzel wrote that phalanges with roughly
pierced holes from Bocksteinschmeide H which he had recognized as 'hunters'
pipes' were shown by experiment to utter quite strong shrill sounds. One cannot
completely exclude the hypothesis about marrow procuring, although in many ways
it does not withstand criticism. New evidence about natural causes has recently
been adduced. In any case, the abundance of phalanges with holes at Prolom II
cannot be comprehensively explained by any one of the causes mentioned above.
Maybe in future investigations of these artefacts at Crimean sites (apart from
Prolom II they are known in any layers of Zaskalnaya V, VI IX, as well as at
Prolom I, and elsewhere) will make clear their enigmatic origins."
42
Neanderthal sites have perforated phalange whistles.43 all
the way down to
45,000 years ago. Modern
humans also made these phalange whistles.
Thus, for Jubal to be somehow remarkable as the father of
musical instruments is quite a bold claim for a Johnny-come-lately Neolithic
guy when musical instruments had been in existence for at least 90,000 years
before he was born.
It would almost be
like me claiming that I had invented the wheel! Such absurd claims should not
be tied to Scripture and that is what a Neolithic Jubal does.
Conclusion
Because of all the above, it is my opinion that translator
bias has caused us to believe that Genesis 4 refers to the Neolithic and speaks of metalurgy and the claims
of being the father of musical instruments makes no sense for anyone who lived
after 100,000 years.
Music almost
certainly goes further back in time than that. In 4000 years, none of our
wooden musical instruments will still be in existence, the perishable wood
having rotted away.
Most musical
instruments of today's primitive cultures are made from perishable plant
matter.
We can't expect anything
different from Neanderthals and earlier hominids.
To be or not to be Neolithic? The answer is NOT TO BE.
References
1.Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside
Bible Fellowship
2.Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 1553 עָבַד. R. L. Harris, G. L.
Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament (electronic ed., p. 639). Chicago: Moody Press.
3. Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K.
(Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p.
1053). Chicago: Moody Press.
4.Coppes, L. J. (1999). 25 אדם. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer
Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
(electronic ed., p. 11). Chicago: Moody Press
5.Thomas Jefferson McBride, History of Great Grandparents,
Grandparents and Parents of Thomas Jefferson McBride, Draper Collection at the
Wisconsin Historical Society in SC 21
6.Jared Diamond, "The Worst Mistake in the History of
the Human Race," Discover, 1987, in in D. Bruce Dickson, ed. Readings in
Archaeology, (New York: West Publishing, 1994), p.
22
7. Richard Rudgley, The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age,
(New York: The Free Press, 1999), p. 8
8 https://www.britannica.com/technology/plow
9 Francesco d'Errico, et al, "Early evidence of San
material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South
Africa," PNAS August 14, 2012 109 (33) 13214-13219,
https://www.pnas.org/content/109/33/13214
10 Donald C. Johanson, Lenora Johanson, and Blake Edgar,
Ancestors, (New York: Villard Books, 1994), p. 163-165
11 Pat Shipman, What can you do with a bone fragment?
PNAS February 13, 2001 98 (4) 1335-1337
https://www.pnas.org/content/98/4/1335.full
12. D. E. Yen, Agronomy of Asutralian
Hunter-Gatherers,", in David R. Harris, Gordon C. HIllman, Foraging and
Farming: The evolution of Plant Exploitation, Routledge, 2014, p. 59
13. Eastern forests shaped more by Native Americans' burning
than climate change"
May 21, 2019
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190521162443.htm
14. Michael A. Huffman, “Current Evidence for
Self-Medication in Primates: A Multidisciplinary Perspective,” Yearbook of
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15.
https://www.naturalcures.news/2018-12-20-neanderthals-used-plant-based-medicines.html
16. Gerlinde Bigga, Werner H. Schoch, Brigitte Urban,
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Pleistocene of Schoningen (Germany). Insights from botanical macro-remains and
pollen," Journal of Human Evolution, 89(2015), p. 92-104, p.101
17.E. Lucas Bridges, The Uttermost Part of the Earth, (New
York: Dutton, 1949), p. 264
18. White, W. (1999). 2185 רָעָה. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer
Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
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19.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kenneth_Hoffman3/publication/11773272_Earliest_presence_of_humans_in_northeast_Asia/links/09e4150560ab419a63000000/Earliest-presence-of-humans-in-northeast-Asia.pdf
20.
http://dailybeacon.webfactional.com/news/2001/sep/27/artifacts-show-humans-in-north-china-136-million-y/
21. Roger Cribb, “Comments,” Current Anthropology,
30(1989):5:621
22. Daniel S. Adler, Guy Bar-Oz, Anna Belfer-Cohen, and Ofer
Bar-Yosef, Ahead of the Game : Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Hunting Behaviors
in the Southern Caucasus ,"" Current Anthropology Volume 47, Number
1,February 2006, p. 91
23. L. V. Golovanova, et al, ""Mezmaiskaya Cave: A
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Anthropology, 40(1999):1:77-86, p. 85
24. Daniel S. Adler, Guy Bar-Oz, Anna Belfer-Cohen, and Ofer
Bar-Yosef, Ahead of the Game : Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Hunting Behaviors
in the Southern Caucasus ,” Current Anthropology Volume 47, Number 1, February
2006, p. 96
25 see answer by Alejandro Fais a materials engineer, I used
this as the starting point for my research.
https://www.quora.com/Can-bronze-be-combined-with-steel
26. J. C Waldbaum, The First Archaeological appearance of
Iron
New Haven: Yale University Press,
1980, p.p. 71
27 J. C Waldbaum, The First Archaeological appearance of
Iron
New Haven: Yale University Press,
1980, P. 75
28. J. C Waldbaum, The First Archaeological appearance of
Iron
New Haven: Yale University Press,
1980, p.. 75.
29. J.M. Coles and E. S. Higgs, The Archaeology of Early
Man, (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 298
30.
Brian Hayden
"The Cultural Capacities of Neandertals ", Journal of Human Evolution
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31. Bernard Campbell, Human Evolution, (Chicago: Aldine Publishing
Co., 1974), p. 385
32. Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977).
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33. J.M. Coles and E. S. Higgs, The Archaeology of Early
Man, (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 226-227
34. E. Passemard, 1944, "La Caverne d'Isturitz en Pays
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35. J.M. Coles and E. S. Higgs, The Archaeology of Early
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36. Dirk Huyge, "Mousterian Skiffle? Note on a Middle
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7(1990):2:125-133 p. 130-131
37. Steven L. Kuhn and Mary C. Stiner, "The Earliest
Aurignacian of Riparo Mochi (Liguria, Italy)," Current Anthropology,
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38.Bob Fink, The Neanderthal Flute,
https://web.archive.org/web/20050214090805/http://www.webster.sk.ca/greenwich/fl-compl.htm
39. https://uh.edu/admin/engines/stoneage/epi1232.htm
40. C.B.M. McBurney, Haua Fteah (Cyrenaica),(Cambridge:
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41. Glynn Isaac, in Barbara Isaac, editor, The Archaeology
of Human Origins, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 71
42. Vadim N. Stpanchuk, "Prolom II, A Middle
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43. Paul Mellars, The Neanderthal Legacy, (Princeton: University
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