MISCONCEPTIONS


Longevity: the Bible and modern Science

When I used to teach Hebrew school and my Grade 1 class  came to Genesis ch 5 where it mentions that Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27) and lists many others who had very, very long lives (see the list at end) , I would ask my students if they believed these numbers.

My students, who were not Orthodox and came from very modern and educated homes, universally believed the text’s numbers.

They suggested the following explanations:

1. Maybe their counting of a year was different than ours; maybe a year was one of our ‘seasons’

2. They did not suffer from air pollution as we do today

3. Their food would be free of pesticides  

4. They had healthier diets than we do and did not suffer from being overweight, diabetes, etc.

 

I was amazed at their knowledge of current medical concerns and, in this light, wish to share new findings from the realm of genetics as published in Maclean’s , May 27, 2013, “How Long Will You Live?” (pp.  65-68).

The article starts by noting that the number of Canadians age 100 and over is rising.  In 2001 there were 3,795 and 5,825 as of 2011, and the projection is over 17,000 by 2031!

Most of these people are still alert and active, as is the similar generation on the island of Okinawa that has been studied for years.

Doing gardening, cooking or Tai Chi at age 105 is nothing unusual for these East Asians -- despite the hardships and trauma of the Japanese invasion and subsequent  World War II bloodbath that was the Battle of Okinawa.

Other communities have also fostered longevity in small pockets in Italy and elsewhere and genetic causes have long been suspected as the key.

Now, science has found that exact key: telomeres – tiny bits of DNA – that coat the tips of chromosomes.

As people age, these telomeres shorten, but people who live longer also maintain their telomeres length better.  (Though overly long telomeres are also harmful.)

As the article highlights, “those with shorter than average telomeres had a 25 per cent greater risk of dying”. ( p. 68)

In 2010, Dr. Ronald DePinho  published a study in Nature which showed that telomeres can be made longer in mice and this ‘rejuvenated’ the mice: restoring brain mass, improving cognition, reversing skeleton degeneration and muscle atrophy,  and even reviving  fertility . (Maclean’s, p. 68)

Drug companies are now in high gear to apply these findings to humans.

 

Naturally extending telomeres life

Other, natural ways to encourage telomerase length and longevity, according to recent studies (Maclean’s, p. 68), include:

1. the diet long recommended by Canada’s food guide:

a)      eat whole grains:  whole grain breads, wild rice, quinoa, oatmeal

b)      eat fruits and vegetables

c)      eat  foods rich in omega-3:  fish such as sardines, salmon, halibut;  egg yolks (Yes, they are good for you);  flax seed, walnuts, soybean, tofu and lean BEEF.   (Info on eggs from Wikipedia “Omega-3” and rest from http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=84)

2. regular, moderate exercise – such as walking  or swimming for a half-hour  4 or 5 times a week

3. yoga or other meditation for stress management

4. join groups and build a sense of community

 

Moses’ 120 years seemed impossible to reach in 1960 when Canadian life expectancy figures were 68 for males and 74 for females. (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/health26-eng.htms )

But life expectancy figures are rising steadily, so 120 may soon be here.      A Methuselah may yet be in reach in a few generations to come – thanks to healthy eating, moderate exercise, etc. and medical science.

So after all, my young students by and large got it right.

_________________

Bible’s top 10 for longevity:

 Methuselah - 969 Genesis 5:27; Jared - 962 Genesis 5:20;  Noah - 950 Genesis 9:29;  Adam - 930 Genesis 5:5: Seth - 912 Genesis 5:8; Kenan - 910 Genesis 5:14; Enosh - 905 Genesis 5:11;  Mahalalel - 895 Genesis 5:17; Lamech - 777 Genesis 5:31; Shem – 600 Genesis 5:8 (See http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Ten_oldest_people_in_the_Bibleong lifetimes,)

History, Archaeology and Biblical Criticism

 

The Argument from Silence: History 101

One of the first principals I was taught when taking History 101 was NEVER to argue from silence.  This fallacy has been the bane of Biblical studies for over 150 years and continues to this day.

The fallacy is simply this: if one cannot find ‘corroborating proof’ to substantiate what a text says – either in other texts or through archaeological digs - then the text must be wrong and its author lying.

This mindset goes well beyond the legitimate historical caveat and principal of bias: that a given source might slant, embellish or vilify someone or some event out of personal prejudice or to gain favour with the intended audience*.

But such is the mindset of modern ‘historians’, archaeologists and Biblical Critics that in the absence of supporting evidence, anything stated in the Bible is  ‘suspect’ a priori.

 

So what should one do with silence?   The answer is be patient, wait and don’t pre-judge.

Two famous illustrations are the Trojan War and the Great Sphinx of Giza.

Homer’s Iliad and its central tale were long viewed as ‘fictitious’, as a story created for amusement with little if any basis in fact.  Troy was unknown outside of Homer and archaeological efforts to find the lost city failed – until Heinrich Schliemann – using clues from the text -- did uncover such a site on the coast of Turkey.

Another example is the Great Sphinx at Giza. According to the ancient Greek Herodotus, a spectacular and huge sphinx sat in front of the giant pyramids of Giza.  But anyone who visited the site, just outside of Cairo, in the last 500 or so years before 1798, found no such massive stone creature, and no signs of it ever having been there.  The desert landscape is flat to the horizon and only the pyramids are visible; so Herodotus must have been ‘misinformed’.

But thanks to Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, someone noticed a bit of stone sticking out from the sand.  Ultimately, after five years of excavation – literally removing tonnes of sand – the Great Sphinx was reborn.  It had not been fictitious or demolished, just buried by hundreds of years of sand blowing against its long, flat sides.

To quote Wikipedia:

It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 73.5 metres (241 ft) long, 19.3 metres   (63 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high.^[1] It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the Pharaoh Khafra (c. 2558–2532 BC).

 

Great Sphinx

 

 

 

 

 

So patience, and giving credence to one’s surviving sources, is key.

This is especially true as what has survived from the past both in the form of texts and archaeological remains is ‘fragmentary’ and often a matter of ‘luck’.

Similarly, except for another chance find during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, we might still not know how to read and understand hieroglyphics.  The language lapsed into disuse and became ‘lost’ well over a thousand years ago.  But thanks to the discovery of a stone fragment – now called the Rosetta Stone –  which is translated into 3 languages, including well known Greek, linguists were eventually able to work backwards and unlock the ancient Egyptian language of the pyramids, tombs and Book of the Dead.  The Rosetta Stone also introduced archaeologists and the world to a second, and until then unknown, later Egyptian script now called Demotic.

Put briefly, to argue from silence is a no-no, but a common temptation among archaeologists, historians and Biblical Critics -- who rely on the ‘luck of the dig’.

 ______________________

* For instance, today’s newspapers and other media have biases along capitalist-socialist-communist lines and on a variety of issues from global warming to women’s rights.  Ownership hire staff who share their  ‘world views’ and slant stories and information to fit ownership’s ‘agenda’.  That is why one should try to read and view broadly, to get as many perspectives on a given issue as possible.

But even bias or slant is not the same as lying and concocting fictitious events.

History, Archaeology and Biblical Criticism

The Argument from Silence and human folly: a non-biblical example

As stated in my First Principles list, arguing from silence, that is, distrusting a source because what it says is not corroborated by other available evidence, is foolish and an act of hubris. Yes, hubris, the Greek word for excessive pride that comes before a great fall.

While this has been regularly used to discredit the Hebrew Bible, the lack of respect for the written texts has been an ongoing problem since the start of archaeology.

Put simply, without corroborating archaeological ‘proof’, written texts have been ‘rejected’ as if the authors had nothing better to do with their time and money – don’t forget that only educated people know how to write and it costs a fair bit in previous generations to buy paper, papyrus, parchment or even clay tablets, styluses, inks, etc.

A case in point is the recent discovery of a teenage girl’s skeleton buried in the ruins of the early Jamestown Virginia settlement in the USA. (Globe and Mail, May 2, 2013, A18, “New evidence of cannibalism in colonial U.S. revealed”)

The body, according to forensic analysis, showed clear signs of cannibalism and is the first such corpse found on the site.

It is being linked to the famous “starving time” winter of 1609-1610, for which written evidence of cannibalism by then leader George Percy and by Captain John Smith has long been rejected or deemed suspect by historians and archaeologists.

Their writings spoke of people digging up the dead for eating, and one case where a man killed and then ate his pregnant wife.  The colony, of course, tried and executed the man “as he well deserved’ -- as Captain Smith put it in his written account.

Now, 400 years later, the reputations of George Percy and Captain John Smith have been vindicated and their writings corroborated.

How sad that such leaders -- who had better things to do with their time and money than to randomly concoct and write down fantastic events -- had to wait 400 years to have their reputations and credibility exonerated.

So much for the heavy-handed dependency on archaeology as the ‘ultimate’ and almost ‘only’ form of proof!

So much for relying on the Argument from Silence!

MISCONCEPTIONS

The Golden Calf – the return     

Exodus ch32:1- 35 describes the sin of the Golden Calf.  It was in violation of the 2^nd commandment just given 40 days before at Sinai and rabbinic commentaries suggest the ‘stain’ of this sin and paganism linger in the Jewish soul to this day.

What is usually overlooked and little taught is that the Golden Calf did not disappear with its destruction by Moses.  It reappeared some 500 years later in Jewish history at the division of the Jewish kingdom.

When the 10 tribes of the north separated soon after King Solomon’s death, and created their own kingdom under Jeroboam ben Nebat, he built two temples: one in the south, just above Jerusalem, at Beth-el, and another at the far north at Dan. That way his people would not need go to Jerusalem for Jewish festivals commanded in the Torah.

Each of these temples had at its centre a Golden Calf statue.

 

1 Kings ch 12:

	26 And Jeroboam said in his heart: 'Now will the kingdom return to the house of David.   27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn back unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.'
	28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them: 'Ye have gone up long enough to Jerusalem; behold thy god(s), O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
	29 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.
	30 And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
	31 And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.
	32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-el, to sacrifice unto the calves that he had made; and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made.
	33 And he went up unto the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up unto the altar, to offer.                                           (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a12.htm#26)

 As well, according to the Kings text, Jeroboam ben Nebat, when announcing the two temples and the worship of the Golden Calf, used the exact words from Exodus 32 -- when the Jews at Sinai declared it as their divine ‘image’.

The only change is the word “behold” at the start instead of “This is” at Sinai. 

 

1 Kings ch 12

כח וַיִּוָּעַץ הַמֶּלֶךְ--וַיַּעַשׂ, שְׁנֵי עֶגְלֵי זָהָב; וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, רַב-לָכֶם מֵעֲלוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם--הִנֵּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.			28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them: 'Ye have gone up long enough  to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'      http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a12.htm
	Exodus 32
	ד וַיִּקַּח מִיָּדָם, וַיָּצַר  אֹתוֹ בַּחֶרֶט, וַיַּעֲשֵׂהוּ, עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה; וַיֹּאמְרוּ--אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.	4 And he [Aaron] received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: 'This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'    http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0232.htm

NOTE: The above English translation of 1 Kings 12:28 uses the term ‘gods’ instead of ‘god’ due to the context and previous part of the sentence --  which mentions two calves.   The same logic is used to translate Exodus 32:4 where it is made singular in the English.

The Hebrew word  אֱלֹהֶיךָ  for ‘god(s)’ is identical in both I Kings and Exodus!

Thereafter/Later Times
 

The book of Kings attests the continuation of at least the temple in Beth-el throughout the life of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to its destruction in 722 BCE  -- and even beyond.

King Jehu is described as worshipping there 100 years after Jeroboam ben Nebat (2Kings ch 10:29) and its continued use to 722 and thereafter is attested by 2Kings 17:24-28.  There, it records that the King of Assyria sent back a priest from exile to Beth-el to educate the new arrivals in the religion of the land.

 

The Beth-el temple and its Golden Calf survived until destroyed by the Judean king, Josiah (640- 608 BCE) according to 2Kings 23:15.

2 Kings ch 10
כט רַק חֲטָאֵי יָרָבְעָם בֶּן-נְבָט, אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--לֹא-סָר יֵהוּא, מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם: עֶגְלֵי, הַזָּהָב, אֲשֶׁר בֵּית-אֵל, וַאֲשֶׁר בְּדָן.   29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan.           http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b10.htm
2 Kings ch 17
כד וַיָּבֵא מֶלֶךְ-אַשּׁוּר מִבָּבֶל וּמִכּוּתָה וּמֵעַוָּא וּמֵחֲמָת, וּסְפַרְוַיִם, וַיֹּשֶׁב בְּעָרֵי שֹׁמְרוֹן, תַּחַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וַיִּרְשׁוּ, אֶת-שֹׁמְרוֹן, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ, בְּעָרֶיהָ.		24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
כה וַיְהִי, בִּתְחִלַּת שִׁבְתָּם שָׁם, לֹא יָרְאוּ, אֶת-יְהוָה; וַיְשַׁלַּח יְהוָה בָּהֶם אֶת-הָאֲרָיוֹת, וַיִּהְיוּ הֹרְגִים בָּהֶם.		25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
כו וַיֹּאמְרוּ, לְמֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר לֵאמֹר, הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר הִגְלִיתָ וַתּוֹשֶׁב בְּעָרֵי שֹׁמְרוֹן, לֹא יָדְעוּ, אֶת-מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ; וַיְשַׁלַּח-בָּם אֶת-הָאֲרָיוֹת, וְהִנָּם מְמִיתִים אוֹתָם, כַּאֲשֶׁר אֵינָם יֹדְעִים, אֶת-מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ.		26 Wherefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying: 'The nations which thou hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land; therefore He hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.'
כז וַיְצַו מֶלֶךְ-אַשּׁוּר לֵאמֹר, הֹלִיכוּ שָׁמָּה אֶחָד מֵהַכֹּהֲנִים אֲשֶׁר הִגְלִיתֶם מִשָּׁם, וְיֵלְכוּ, וְיֵשְׁבוּ שָׁם; וְיֹרֵם, אֶת-מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ.		27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying: 'Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.'
כח וַיָּבֹא אֶחָד מֵהַכֹּהֲנִים, אֲשֶׁר הִגְלוּ מִשֹּׁמְרוֹן, וַיֵּשֶׁב, בְּבֵית-אֵל; וַיְהִי מוֹרֶה אֹתָם, אֵיךְ יִירְאוּ אֶת-יְהוָה.		28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

                                                       http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b17.htm

2 Kings ch 23
טו וְגַם אֶת-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֲשֶׁר בְּבֵית-אֵל, הַבָּמָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יָרָבְעָם בֶּן-נְבָט אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--גַּם אֶת-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ הַהוּא וְאֶת-הַבָּמָה, נָתָץ; וַיִּשְׂרֹף אֶת-הַבָּמָה הֵדַק לְעָפָר, וְשָׂרַף אֲשֵׁרָה.	15 Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he [Josiah] broke down; and he burned the high place and stamped it small to powder, and burned the Asherah.

                                                         http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b23.htm

MISCONCEPTIONS

Idol Worship

When I was a teenager, I had as one of my teachers a highly regarded Orthodox rabbi .

One day, when studying the Haggadah of Passover and coming to the passage  Ovday kochavim ...., i.e., “Our ancestors worshipped the stars”,  our teacher suddenly stopped, looked at us and said: Do you really believe the people who invented mathematics, science, architecture and cities actually believed that a statue made by some carver or stone mason was an actual god?   No, they used these statues to focus their thoughts.

At the time, I found this quite startling. After all, we were all taught in kindergarten the story of Abraham, Terach and the idols. 

Terach made his living as an idol sculptor, and one night young Abraham snuck into the studio and broke the statues to pieces.  Next day, Terach saw the broken pieces and Abraham more or less said: “See dad, they are not really gods, just stone .... and I am not divinely punished.  (Though his father may have consequenced Abraham for destroying weeks of commissioned work.)

 Also, Psalm 115, read near the end of the Haggadah and which is part of the full Hallel (recited on the 3 major festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Succot)  states:

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. ² Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?  ³ But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.  

⁵ They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:                                          

⁶ They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:                                             

⁷ They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 

            ⁸ They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusts in them.        (King James Version)

 

 But once I became more familiar with ancient history, my teacher’s comments made good sense.

The Greeks, for example, worshipped Zeus and his home on Mount Olympus was marked by his great temple and statue.

As Wikipedia notes:

[The] statue of Zeus ... was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Chryselephantine statue was approximately 13 m (43 ft) high and was made by the sculptor Phidias in his workshop on the site at Olympia. He took about twelve years to complete it. On his head was a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he held a figure of Nike, the goddess of victory, also made from ivory and gold, and in his left hand, a scepter made with many kinds of metal, with an eagle perched on the top. His sandals were made of gold and so was his robe. His garments were carved with animals and with lilies. The throne was decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory. The statue was the most famous artistic work in Greece.

But temples and statues of Zeus were commonplace as all Greeks were to worship him. Athens had a great temple to Zeus, and another for the popular and powerful sun god, Apollo. And around the Mediterranean, Apollo was worshiped in some 15 known temples. (See Wikipedia, “Catalog of Temples of Apollo”.)

 

The tradition of using stone, wood, gold and bronze statues to focus prayer and worship has also been preserved in Christianity.   While the second commandment prohibits making any images of God, Christianity, unlike Judaism and Islam, has commemorated the seminal moment in its version of monotheism  in the image of the crucified Jesus.  Every church has a central crucifix and most display some artist’s carving or other reproduction of Jesus on the cross.

Christians have this image in their homes, around their necks and in their cars.  Catholics also pray to statues of their saints, which abound in their churches and religious areas.   And St. Christopher medals and dashboard stick-on statues are common to protect travellers and sailors.

 

So, the insight of my old teacher/rabbi is important. 

“Idol worship” is too simplistic an understanding of ancient religions.  Only the most simple and ignorant of pagans would have believed the statutes were ‘alive’.   

As with Christians, it was and is a way to focus one’s thoughts and worship.

 

So why does the 2^nd commandment forbid this? 

 

As Rambam stresses in his 13 Articles of Faith, despite Biblical language and imagery of a finger of God, hand of God or words from God  (requiring a mouth, tongue and vocal cords in humans):

3. I believe with perfect faith that G-d does not have a body. Physical    concepts do not apply to Him. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles Him at all.  (from ou.org)

 

God is ethereal and He is distorted and diminished by conceptualization in human or animal shape, and representation in stone, wood, bronze, gold or any other man-made object.

 

As the title of this blog notes,

 ^{1 Kings 19}

¹¹ The Lord said [to Elijah], “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still small voice ( or a gentle whisper).

¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.