God and the Bible

by

Steve Johnson

Why in the early books of the Bible are God and his angels depicted as solid, physical beings? Only after the Israelites enslavement in Babylon did God become a non-corporeal entity.

I have scoured through the Bible (the definitive version of God's word) and found many instances that, in my view, prove that God or Jehovah was once a living, breathing, humanoid life-form.

All of the extracts are taken from the 'New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures', the bible of Jehovah's witnesses and generally regarded as the most accurate and user-friendly version of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.

Genesis 2:8

Further Jehovah planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

God 'planted' the garden. He didn't make it appear magically. He didn't will it into being. God physically planted the garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:21

Hence Jehovah had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place.

Why did God have to give Adam a general anaesthetic? Why did he have to physically open up the man's chest? Surely an omnipotent Jehovah could have taken the rib without the need for surgery. Why did he require one of Adam's ribs to make Eve in the first place? Was Adam's DNA necessary to create a female clone of the newly engineered human race?

Genesis 3:8

Later they heard the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden about the breezy part of the day, and the man and his wife went into hiding from the face of Jehovah in between the trees of the garden.

Jehovah was walking in the garden. He was physically placing one foot in front of the other! You might say that it only states the 'voice of Jehovah' was walking in the garden, but Adam and Eve went on to hide from the face of Jehovah. How could they hide from God's view if he wasn't actually there?

Genesis 3:9

And Jehovah kept calling to the man and saying to him: "Where are you?"

God is all-seeing. Surely he would have known where the man and woman were concealing themselves.

When Cain Kills Abel in Genesis 4:8, the following verse reads:

Later on Jehovah said to Cain: "Where is Abel your brother?" and he said: "I do not know. Am I my brother's guardian?"

Why didn't God know that Cain had killed Abel? Why didn't he know where Abel was? It is possible that Jehovah was testing Cain, to see if he would admit to the murder himself. That does not seem to be true, because later the bible states that Abel's blood called out from the ground. Did Jehovah have some form of scanner that detected Abel's remains after Cain had buried him?

Why does man only start worshipping Jehovah as a god from Genesis 4:26 onwards?

...At that time a start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah.

Was Jehovah not viewed upon as a deity before this time? If not, why not?

Enoch fathered Methuselah at the age of sixty-five. Then the Bible goes on to say in Genesis 5:22-24:

And after his fathering Methuselah Enoch went on walking with the [true] God three hundred years. Meanwhile, he became father to sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch amounted to three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch kept walking with the [true] God. Then he was no more, for God took him.

Enoch 'walked' with the '[true] God'. The term [true] God comes from the Hebrew ha-'El, which literally means 'true God'. Surely at this early stage of history (if you take the biblical accounts of history as the truth), with only a relative (sic) handful of people on the planet, there were no other deities apart from Jehovah. Not any to force the scripture writers to refer to him as the 'true God'. Or were there?

Enoch 'walked' with Jehovah for three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah. Does this mean that he worshipped God only after the birth of his son? Why? Did he die after Methuselah was born and spiritually walk with God? Apparently not, because the Bible states that Enoch had other children and lived for a total of three hundred and sixty-five years. Actually, did Enoch die at all?

In Genesis chapter 5, the lives of nine men are briefly detailed. They are Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech. All of these men died, according to the scripture - except for Enoch. The others lived well into their nine-hundreds (except Lamech who was seven hundred and seventy-seven when he died), while Jehovah took Enoch at the spritely age of three hundred and sixty-five.

Of this nonet, only Enoch 'walked' with Jehovah.

I suggest that he physically travelled with God for three hundred years, returning now and again to father his other sons and daughters for his clan. Then, when he was deemed ready by Jehovah, he was taken into his full-time employ. Enoch never returned to his family, so , as far as they were concerned, his life had ended when he was three hundred and sixty-five when God 'took' him.

Genesis chapter 11 proclaims the building of the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. Verse 4 relates:

They now said: "Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over the surface of the earth."

Verses 5 and 6 describe Jehovah's awe! He proclaims that man can do anything he sets his mind to. So what does he do? Instead of fatherly pride, Jehovah displays despotic resentment. He feels that his godhood is threatened by his creations' technological prowess and takes steps against the Shinarites.

As the humans had foreseen in verse 4, Jehovah scatters them across the face of the earth and confuses their languages so that they cannot speak to one another.

If you read deeper into this story, take a little time and think. Read between the lines. It appeared that humanity had reached an incredibly sophisticated level of technology. They decided to build a tower that would enable them to reach the heavens. Today, we build towers that can reach the heavens - rockets.

If, as many people believe, God was an alien, then he and his kind may have seen humankind's rapid technical progression as a threat to their plans for our planet (whatever they were or are!). Was an air strike called in to destroy the Shinarites 'tower'? Was a pogrom begun to eradicate the suddenly dangerous barbarians? The subjugation of our race may have been so great that we survived only in small isolated pockets, unable to communicate with other survivors. Was humanity's greatest experiment of antiquity also our greatest blunder? It clearly says in the Bible that man knew the consequences of the Babel project. He was aware that Jehovah might retaliate. But the chance to touch the stars and be equal to God was too great a temptation for the ambitious people of Shinar - our ancestors. Were they at the same technological level that we are at now? What does this mean for us?

It does not say in the Bible how long it took for Jehovah to spread the population to the four corners of the world. If, as I believe is likely, mankind resisted Jehovah's onslaught, then it could have taken years before they were crushed completely by the massively more powerful Jehovan forces.

Would we be able to put up much of a fight if threatened by an alien colonial force? The footage from STS-48 suggests that we may well be very capable of defending ourselves.

In Genesis chapter 17, Jehovah appears to Abram. Presumably, he came down from the sky, because, when he had finished speaking to the now renamed Abraham, Jehovah went up from him (verse 22).

This entire chapter is concerned with Jehovah's order to Abraham that all males of his house should be circumcised, even the slaves bought with money were to be circumcised too. Why would God wish men to do this to themselves? According to the Bible it was simply a sign of the covenant between Jehovah and Abraham.

SURELY THERE WAS AN EASIER WAY OF ILLUSTRATING THAT YOU WERE OF THE HOUSE OF ABRAHAM!

Or did God need the excised skin to be used as genetic markers? Markers used to keep track of Abraham's people. Remember, it wasn't too long after the scattering of humanity. Jehovah may have thought that a new group of humans were ready to receive his counsel and benevolent (!) care.

Genesis chapter 18 contains another of Jehovah's physical appearances. He appeared to Abraham whilst the man was reclining under a tree.

The Lord had two angels acting as escorts. Verse 2 says that Abraham looked up and saw three men standing some distance away from him. Three men? These were the mighty Lord God and two of his divine messengers! However, Abraham recognised Jehovah and offered the trio food, water and foot-baths. Am I losing the plot here? We're talking about the supreme being!! I would have thought a bite to eat and soaking his feet was not at the top of his agenda. Nevertheless, Jehovah eats, drinks and has his feet bathed.

Later, Abraham walked with the three visitors to view the nearby city of Sodom. Yet another instance of God physically walking. Jehovah decided to send his angels to see what was going on in that infamous town. They set off, leaving Jehovah standing with Abraham.

Jehovah and the angels appeared to Abraham during the heat of the day, i.e. around noon. They ate and chatted for a while, then the angels set off for Sodom. They arrived at the city in the evening time. This suggests that they walked to the city as it was the height of the day when they began their journey and Sodom was clearly visible from Abraham's dwelling.

Why would angels have to walk for hours to a nearby city if they were not physical entities? Another clue that it had taken the angels a long time to reach Sodom is illustrated in Genesis 19:3. Lot met them at the city gate and took them to his house where gave them something to eat. Their long walk must have given them an appetite because they ate with Abraham remember. Verse 2 also suggests that angels sleep at night:

And he (Lot) proceeded to say: "Please, now, my lords, turn aside, please, into the house of YOUR servant and stay overnight and have YOUR feet washed. Then YOU must get up early and travel on YOUR way..."

It stands to reason that if they were to get up early, then they must have slept before getting up.

Angels must also be fragile. Genesis 19:4-11 relates how Lot attempts to protect his divine visitors from a lustful mob. He even offers his daughters to the drooling crowd and begs them not to hurt his angelic guests. They refuse the offer and begin to break down the door. The angels (described in verse 10 as men) strike the mob blind thus saving themselves.

Telling Lot that they (verse 13) were going to destroy the city, the angels urge Lot and his family to leave. The next morning, Lot dithers and the messengers of the Lord are forced to drag the man, his wife and his two daughters physically from the town.

Obviously, the angels waited for quite a while before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, because Lot and his family reached the safety of the city of Zoar and night had fallen when the fireworks began.

Unfortunately, Zoar was not quite far enough for Lot's wife. She was transformed into a pillar of salt when she looked at the distant conflagration.

Genesis 32:24-30 recounts an extraordinary wrestling match:

Finally Jacob was left by himself. Then a man began to grapple with him until the dawn ascended. When he got to see that he had not prevailed over him, then he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh joint; and the socket of Jacob's thigh joint got out of place during his grappling with him. After that he said: "Let me go, for the dawn has ascended." To this he said: "I am not going to let you go until you first bless me." So he said to him: "What is your name?" to which he said: "Jacob." Then he said: "Your name will no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have contended with God and with men so that you at last prevailed. In turn Jacob inquired and said: "Tell me, please, your name." However he said: "Why is it that you inquire for my name?" With that he blessed him there. Hence Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, because, to quote him, "I have seen God face to face and yet my soul was delivered."

An incredible tale! Was Jacob in a physical fight with God? My source material is taken from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, regarded by many as the most accurate and straight forward translation of the scriptures. The heading above this story says that 'Jacob is lamed by an angel'. Jacob is quoted as saying that he has seen God face to face - not his angel.

Why would Jehovah wish to fight with someone and then commit the unsportsmanlike act of divinely injuring Jacob's thigh socket when he was losing? God cheated and it's right there in the Bible!!!

In Exodus chapter 3 Moses is impressed by the fact that an angel of Jehovah appears in the form of a burning thornbush. However, he is unimpressed with the angel and more concerned with the fact the the bush is not burned to the ground. Moses begins to inspect the bush and this obviously worries Jehovah. He could not have a mere mortal human inspecting his work too closely, so he orders Moses to remove his sandals and stay away from the bush.

Exodus 4:24-26 reads:

Now it came about on the road at the lodging place that Jehovah got to meet him and kept looking for a way to put him to death. Finally Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and caused it to touch his feet and said: "It is because you are a bridegroom of blood to me." Consequently he let go of him. At that time she said : "A bridegroom of blood", because of the circumcision.

This passage baffles me!!! Jehovah has chosen Moses as his messenger to the Pharaoh and he has set off with his wife, Zipporah, and his sons back to Egypt.

If he is to do God's will, then why is Jehovah trying to kill him? Why would touching Moses' feet with the severed, bleeding foreskin of his son save him from God's unexplained wrath? Why would God be so angry that he would execute Moses simply because he neglected to have his son circumcised? I thought that Jehovah was a God of love and compassion!

Exodus chapter 12 tells of the Passover, when Jehovah travelled throughout Egypt killing the firstborn of each house. The Israelites were ordered to paint the doorframes of their dwellings with ram's blood so that the Lord would know not to enter there.

Surely Jehovah knew where his chosen people were living? He can look into the hearts of men and see if they worship him or not. There were hundreds of thousands of Israelites in Egypt. Why was it necessary to slaughter thousands of male sheep and goats so that Jehovah would know where not to go with his wrathful gaze?

Anyway, God's terrible belligerence did the trick. Pharaoh released the Israelites and they headed into the desert.

Exodus 13:21-22:

And Jehovah was going ahead of them in the daytime in a pillar of cloud to lead them by the way, and in the nighttime in a pillar of fire to give them light to go in the daytime and nighttime. The pillar of cloud would not move away from before the people in the daytime nor the pillar of fire in the nighttime.

This is regarded as probably the first description of a UFO in the Bible and I agree. UFOs today have been described as cloud-like or concealing themselves in cloud formations of their own design. Hundreds of nighttime sightings report dazzling multi-coloured lights which could have been interpreted as fire in the sky in biblical times.

Another of Jehovah's ungodlike acts occurs in Exodus chapter 14. When the Israelites were well on their way, Pharaoh and the Egyptians expected them to be lost in the wilderness. Verse 4:

So I shall indeed let Pharaoh's heart become obstinate, and he will certainly chase after them and I shall get glory for myself by means of Pharaoh and all his military forces... (my emphasis)

Why would the almighty Jehovah wish glory for himself? Yes, the sight of Jehovah wiping out thousands of Egyptian soldiers would impress the Israelites, but was it really necessary to provoke Pharaoh into pursuing them in the first place? (see also Exodus 14:18)

Exodus 14:24-25:

And it came about during the morning watch that Jehovah began to look out upon the camp of the Egyptians from within the pillar of fire and cloud, and he went throwing the camp of the Egyptians into confusion. And he kept taking wheels off their chariots so that they were driving them with difficulty; and the Egyptians began to say: "Let us flee from any contact with Israel, because Jehovah certainly fights for them against the Egyptians. (My emphasis)

Jehovah was looking out from within the pillar of cloud and fire? I had always been led to believe that God was everywhere. Why did he restrict himself to simply removing the chariot wheels of the Egyptians? Surely he could have really impressed the Israelites by making the entire Egyptian army wink out of existence.

I propose that at this time, Jehovah was not widely seen as a mighty god. He had to perform some extraordinary feats to win over the Israelites. The plagues against Egypt are a good example of this. The final, decisive act against Pharaoh's army, when the Red Sea closed over them, killing them beneath millions of tons of water, terrified the Israelites and they began to fear him. (Exodus 14:31)

Did Jehovah display any mercy to the Egyptians who managed to scramble to safety after the Red Sea closed over them? Exodus 14:27:

...All the while the Egyptians were fleeing from encountering it (the Red Sea), but Jehovah shook the Egyptians off into the midst of the sea.

With this terrifying display of power, Jehovah brutally allowed thousands of men to die horribly. Those who sought the safety of the shore were thrown back in a cruel fashion. Yes, they were probably wicked men, but Jehovah had no need to act so viciously. Those who would have dragged themselves, choking and spluttering, from the sea were no threat to the Israelites, who were safely on the far shore when the waters consumed their pursuers.

In an interesting footnote, the Aid to Bible Understanding (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) declares that when Jehovah parted the Red Sea, he did so by making the waters congeal, i.e. to turn into jelly. Many UFO abductees and experiencers have noticed that some alien entities use water aboard their crafts, but that the water they employ is strangely jelly-like. Having solid water would be a great advantage over the liquid form. A craft executing severe manoeuvring exercises would be less stable if it had large, partly-filled tanks of water sloshing around inside it. The volume of water moving around would make the craft more difficult to control. If the water could be congealed or solidified, then it would not move around and the flight capabilities of the craft would be unimpaired.

Did God the alien use his technology to jellify the Red Sea, then parting it somehow and allowing the Israelites to cross, only to reliquify it once the far shore had been reached.

Exodus 15:3:

Jehovah is a manly person of war. Jehovah is his name.

Exodus 16:16:

...Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

God liked a good fight by the look of it!

Exodus 19:16-19:

And on the third day when it became morning it came about that thunders and lightnings (sic) began occurring, and a heavy cloud upon the mountain and a very loud sound of a horn, so that all the people who were in the camp began to tremble. Moses now brought the people out of the camp to meet the [true] God, and they went taking their stand at the base of the mountain. And Mount Sinai smoked all over, due to the fact that Jehovah came down upon it in fire; and its smoke kept ascending like the smoke of a kiln (see also Genesis 19:28), and the whole mountain was trembling very much. When the sound of the horn became continually louder, Moses began to speak, and the [true] God began to answer him with a voice.

Why did Jehovah have to descend onto Mount Sinai pluming fire, lightning and dense, dark clouds? If it was some sort of flying machine or spacecraft descending to earth, then that would explain the phenomenon - exhaust fumes billowing around the vessel. As for the sound of the horn, that would indeed grow louder as the craft descended. Could the horn be representative of the whine of vast engines or could it depict a public address system being switched on and whistling with feedback? Whatever caused the fire, smoke and noise, Jehovah's descent onto Sinai was pretty impressive. See the arrival of the mothership at the end of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' for what must have been a similar event. How much did Spielberg borrow from the Scriptures?

In Exodus chapter 21, Jehovah sets down some pretty draconian laws:

>He condones slavery, i.e. the selling of people, but only for six years. After that the slave must be set free. Fair enough, not too bad.

>If you strike a man and he dies, you are to be put to death.

>If you plot to and then kill a man, you are to be put to death.

>If you strike your mother or father, you are to be put to death.

>Kidnapping is punishable by death.

>Speaking evilly to your parents is a capital offence.

>Killing a slave is punishable by death, unless the slave does not die for a day or two (!!!??)

>If you attack a pregnant woman and kill her, the same attack is to be performed upon you. If you do not die as a result of it, then that's good for you!!!

>If you own a bull that is in the habit of attacking people, and you have been warned about it, and the bull kills somebody, then both you and the bull are to be stoned to death.

>Sorceresses are to be killed. Period.

>Bestiality is punishable by death.

>Sacrificing to 'false gods' is punishable by death.

These are very serious crimes and there are more in the same chapter, but why would Jehovah want men to be put to death in his name? If the person who committed the crime shows genuine remorse (Jehovah would know), then why not show mercy?

No! The God of the Hebrew Scriptures was a hard, vengeful deity who DEMANDED complete and total loyalty from his flock.

Yet another sign that Jehovah was a physical being is described in Exodus 24:9-11:

And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the older men of Israel proceeded to go up, and they got to see the God of Israel. And under his feet there was what seemed like a work of sapphire flagstones and like the very heavens for purity. And he did not put out his hand against distinguished men of the sons of Israel, but they got a vision of the [true] God and ate and drank. (my emphasis)

Jehovah's vessel must have been huge if seventy-four men could enter it. They saw God standing on 'sapphire flagstones' which were 'like the very heavens for purity'.

Could these have been impeccably cleaned and sterilized blue-white floor tiles or deck plates? Jehovah would not want filthy human germs swarming through his ship, so a sterile meeting area was a most prudent precaution.

Jehovah had a wickedly short temper. In Exodus 32:10, he threatened to destroy the Israelites because they had made a golden calf in his honour. Moses had to talk him out of it! However, by verse 35, Jehovah was plaguing the Israelites again because of their calf idolatry. What form this plaguing took is unclear.

Exodus 33:11 states that Moses spoke to Jehovah face to face, yet in verse 20, God says:

...You are not able to see me and yet live.

Did Moses and all the other men in the Bible see Jehovah or not? They say they spoke with him face to face, yet they did not see his face, because they did not die. Was Jehovah wearing something that concealed his features? A helmet, perhaps, or maybe a full-face oxygen mask?

Exodus 34:14:

...because Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, he is a jealous God.

God is jealous? What does he have to fear from the other 'false gods' if they ever did exist? Or were there others like Jehovah at large on Earth at that time?

Remember, Jehovah's face was covered from sight. He stated that nobody saw him and lived. When Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the second set of 'stone tablets' (which were carved by Moses, but written upon by God) his face was described as having rays coming out of it. He was so incredible to look at, that people feared him and he was forced to wear a veil thus hiding his features. Many have speculated that Moses was subjected to a light dose of radiation during his communion with Jehovah, resulting in his glowing skin and white hair. Jehovah may have equipped him with a protective headcovering for future meetings and to protect his kinsmen from his affliction.

Leviticus 10:1-3 relates the peculiar tale of an unauthorised offering:

Later on Aaron's Nadab and Abihu took up and brought each one his fire holder and put fire in them and placed incense upon it, and they began offering before Jehovah illegitimate fire, which he had not prescribed for them. At this a fire came out from before Jehovah and consumed them, so that they died before Jehovah. Then Moses said to Aaron :"This is what Jehovah has spoken, saying, "Among those near to me let me be sanctified, and before the face of all the people let me be glorified." And Aaron kept silent.

Why would Jehovah kill two men making an innocent offering to their beloved God? Sure, they made a mistake - the fire was the wrong type. How can you have a wrong type of fire? Why did merciful Jehovah have to kill them for one unfortunate error? I believe that the answer lies in Leviticus 16:3-4 and 23-24. Jehovah God tells Moses that Aaron can only enter the presence of the Ark of the Covenant if he wears a specific type of clothing: 1> a holy linen robe. 2> linen drawers and a linen sash. 3> A linen turban upon his head. Before dressing in these clothes, he must wash his body. Back in chapter 10 verse 6 Moses tells Aaron that the garments must not be torn or death will ensue. After he leaves the presence of the Ark, he must remove the linen garments and bathe in holy water.

These instructions sound to me like the precautions taken when handling radio-active material. Could it be that whatever was inside the Ark of the Covenant was highly charged with lethal radiation? Certainly Nadab and Abihu would not have known of the danger they were placing themselves in. Perhaps they had donned their radiation suits improperly and the lethal energy killed them instantly.

Exodus chapter 26 tells us that the entire tent that contained the Ark (the tabernacle) was to be made of the same linen as the suits. The tent also had what was termed a tent of meeting. This was where Aaron was to take off his suit upon leaving the presence of the Ark (presumably, he donned the suit here as well). Before he left, he was ordered to wash, ensuring he carried no radiation outside.

The tent of meeting sounds to me like an airlock, a safety precaution common in nuclear power stations today.

How did Moses survive bringing the radio-active tablets down from Mount Sinai? Remember, his face was emitting rays and he was forced to wear a veil when in the presence of his people. Moses lived for another forty years, so Jehovah must have afforded him some protection against the otherwise instantly lethal radiation.

Numbers 11:21-22 tells of the Israelites crying out for meat. Moses tells Jehovah that he had promised meat yet had not delivered. Numbers 11:23:

At this Jehovah said to Moses: "The hand of Jehovah is cut short, is it? Now you will see whether what I say befalls you or not."

Jehovah sounded a bit miffed didn't he? He later causes quails to fall around the camp. In their hunger, many Israelites gather up the quails and eat them immediately.

Numbers 11:33:

The meat was yet between their teeth, before it could be chewed, when Jehovah's anger blazed against the people, and Jehovah began striking at the people with a very great slaughter.

No mercy, no remorse. The people were hungry for meat. They had been stuck in the wilderness for years, promised salvation by Moses and Jehovah. When Jehovah supplied the quails, he could have sent instructions that they were not to have been eaten immediately. He did not. Jehovah simply wipes them out without warning. The God of Love? The God of Forgiveness?

Numbers 12:4-5:

Then Jehovah suddenly said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam: "Go out, the three of YOU, to the tent of meeting." So the three of them went out. After that Jehovah came down in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam. At this both of them went out. (my emphasis)

Prior to this, Aaron and Miriam had asked why Jehovah spoke only to Moses. God obviously decided to show himself to them and explain himself. He explains that to the prophets he speaks in dreams and visions. Verse 7 continues:

"Not so my servant Moses! He is being entrusted with all my house. Mouth to mouth I speak to him, and not by riddles; and the appearance of Jehovah is what he beholds. Why, then did YOU not fear to speak against my servant, against Moses?"

Before they have time to respond, Jehovah strikes Miriam down with 'leprosy'! Moses and Aaron plead with God to cure her, but he simply tells them to quarantine her for seven days. Was Miriam struck down with radiation poisoning?

Jehovah had told them to go to the tent of meeting. Remember, this was where Aaron had to don his special clothes before entering the tent of the Ark. Moses had been conditioned against the radio-activity (advanced drugs, perhaps?) by Jehovah. This makes sense to me. Moses is virtually immune to the radiation emitted from Jehovah, Aaron would have donned his radiation suit inside the tent of meeting by force of habit, but Miriam, being a woman and not a member of the priesthood, would have been open to the deadly energy pouring from the unearthly visitor.

She was to be quarantined for seven days before being allowed back into the camp. The period of quarantine was obviously inadequate, because she died shortly afterwards.

A point of interest which I believe to be related to this story is told in Numbers chapter 4. This chapter relates how Moses is ordered by Jehovah to register all those who serve in the tent of meeting, including their families. Altogether, 8580 people are noted. A lot of people were connected with the tent of meeting! Why did they all have to be registered?

Perhaps the answer lies in Chapter 5. Immediately after ordering the register, Jehovah tells Moses that all leprous persons are to be quarantined outside the camp. This order also includes people with a running discharge or people who have been in contact with a dead body.

These precautions could have been enforced in case anybody contracted radiation poisoning. Sever cases would appear like leprosy, with loss of hair, bleeding gums and orifices and fluid discharges. Anybody directly handling the corpse of a radiation victim would themselves become contaminated.. Therefore, they were to join their unfortunate countrymen outside the camp.

In Numbers chapter 14, the Israelites begin to speak against Moses and Aaron. They suggest returning to Egypt. In verse 11, Jehovah threatens to strike them all with pestilence because they show him no respect. Moses is forced to beg for mercy with Jehovah once again. It seems that Moses spent half of his life rescuing his people from the wrath of God!

Moses makes a remarkable statement in verses 17-18:

And now, please, let your power be great, O Jehovah, just as you have spoken, saying, "Jehovah, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, pardoning error and transgression..."

Slow to anger? Abundant in loving-kindness? Pardoning error? I am only four books into the Bible and the merciful Jehovah has already slaughtered millions!

Despite Moses' pleas. Jehovah went on to destroy 15000 people! (Numbers 16:49)

Numbers 21:14 refers to the mysterious 'Book of the Wars of Jehovah'. What is this book? Does it refer to the battles fought by Jehovah himself or by men in Jehovah's name? Nobody is certain.

In Numbers 22:20, God tells Balaam to go with the princes of Balak, a neighbouring ruler. The very next verse relates how Jehovah became enraged because Balaam had gone. He sends an angel to block his path with orders to kill Balaam if he succeeds in getting by.

They say that God works in mysterious ways, but they don't get much more mysterious than that!

Jehovah kills another 24000 Israelites in Numbers 25:1-9 because they had committed immoral acts with the women of Moab and began praying to false gods.

Everybody who has read the Bible thinks that the Pharaoh who ordered the deaths of all newborn babies to be a cruel, evil man. The same applies to Herod who issued a similar order. What about Moses, the meek servant of Jehovah?

Numbers chapter 31 relates the grisly tale of twelve thousand Israelite warriors plundering the cities of Midian. They killed all the men and took the women and children captive. When Moses saw what they had done, he grew angry. This is what he said in Numbers 31:17:

"And now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has had intercourse with man by lying with a male."

An act of divinely approved genocide! Of the entire Midian people only virgin females were spared. Even infant males were slaughtered!

Another reference to Jehovah's military might is found in Deuteronomy 33:2:

And he proceeded to say:

"Jehovah - from Sinai he came.

And he flashed forth from Seir upon them.

He beamed forth from the mountainous region of Paran.

And with him were holy myriads.

At his right hand warriors belonging to them."

'Holy myriads' was one of many terms used to describe angels, or Jehovah's messengers. Look at the last line: "At his right hand warriors belonging to them." Warriors belonging to Jehovah's angels? Was there a military wing (no pun intended) to the Host?

Far from being a god of love, Jehovah seems, so far at any rate, to be a militaristic dictator with little regard for his minions. Even his own angels are sent on missions with little regard for their own safety. The pair at Sodom and Gomorrah were almost overpowered by a lustful mob.

Deuteronomy states in chapter 34 that Moses went into the mountains to meet Jehovah. God showed him all the land and then he died:

After that Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab at the order of Jehovah. And he proceeded to bury him in the valley in the land of Maab in front of Beth-peor, and nobody has come to know his grave down to this day.

If Moses was alone and Jehovah himself buried him, how are we to be sure that Moses died at all? Nobody knows to this day where his grave is, despite the Bible telling us exactly where it is! Perhaps he could have been taken into the service of Jehovah, as Enoch had been many years earlier.

The book of Joshua relates the Israelites' destruction of Jericho. Before reaching that city, the masses of Israel must cross the Jordan River. Jehovah orders Joshua to take the Ark of the Covenant into the river and the waters will part, allowing his people to cross. Joshua 3:3-4:

"...As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah YOUR God and the priests, the Levites, carrying it, then YOU yourselves will pull away from YOUR place, and YOU must follow it, - only let there pove to be a distance between YOU and it of about two thousand cubits by measure; do not get near it - in order that YOU may know the way by which YOU should go, for YOU have not passed over that way before."

The waters of the Jordan must have parted a long way. The people of Israel had to cross the river, passing the priests who held the Ark, but were ordered not to get closer to the Ark than two thousand cubits. This distance is equivalent to about 890 metres or 2917 feet. This could have been due to the radiation flowing from the holy chest. No doubt, the priests were wearing their protective, holy garments.

Joshua 5:13-15 explains how Joshua met a strange man bearing a sword. Joshua walks towards the stranger and asks if he is a friend or foe. The stranger replies that he is neither:

"...I - as prince of the army of Jehovah I have now come."

At this, Joshua prostrates himself before the mystery visitor and is told to remove his sandals because this place is now holy.

What is a 'prince of the army of Jehovah'? The 'Aid to Bible Understanding' claims that the visitor is an angel of the Lord. Why did he say that he was neither for Joshua or his enemies? I suggest that he was merely an observer, sent by Jehovah to watch the Israelites destroy Jericho. Declaring the place where he stood holy ground would have kept the anxious and adrenaline-filled humans away from the angel, thus ensuring his safety in the ensuing battle.

Everybody knows what happened next. The Israelite army marched around the city, carrying the Ark and blowing trumpets. After they had marched around Jericho for the seventh time, a shout went up from the warriors and the walls fell. (Note: Frank Herbert's semi-religious Dune also had the Muad'Dib killing word.) Jehovah then ordered the army into the city and told them to destroy every living thing, except for one family who had given shelter to two Israelite spies earlier. Curiously, the only things that were to be saved were objects of gold, silver, copper and iron. These things were to be placed into the 'treasure of Jehovah'. What did Jehovah want with plundered booty? Gold, silver, copper and iron. Spare parts for Jehovah's fleet?

Jehovah shows a certain amount of greed when Achan, an Israelite soldier keeps some of the loot for himself (one gold bar, some silver and a fine garment. Not a lot after an entire city has been ransacked.). Angrily, God orders Joshua to locate the thief and have him put to death upon recovering the stolen articles. Jehovah's wrath was only satiated when Achan and his family were stoned to death and burned!

By the way, Jericho translates as Moon City.

Next on Jehovah's hitlist was the city of Ai. On God's command, all the people of that doomed city, twelve thousand in all, were killed. The city was totally destroyed. Ai translates as 'heap of ruins', thus I propose that it was given this name after its destruction by the Israelites.

Does Joshua 10:11 tell the story of an extraordinary meteorite storm?

And it came about that while they (the warriors of Gibeon) were fleeing from before Israel and were on the descent of Beth-horon, Jehovah hurled great stones from the heavens upon them them as far as Azekah, so that they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.( my emphasis)

Immediately after, the sun and the moon stayed motionless in the sky for a whole day. Could this be an exaggerated account of meteorite shower during a total solar eclipse? Or Perhaps the aftermath of a massive volcanic eruption and the darkening skies that follow many such occurrences.

Afterwards, the great military campaign continued and a total of 31 kings were defeated and their cities and people destroyed; the whole land subjugated under Joshua.

Judges chapter 4 tells of the victory of the Israelites over the chief, Sisera. The Israelites were greatly outnumbered and less well equipped. Jehovah intervened to help them and all of Sisera's army was destroyed. Judges 5:20:

From heaven did the stars fight.

From their orbits they fought against Sisera.

Did Jehovah send an airborne force against the enemy of the Israelites?

Judges 5:23:

"Curse Meroz," said the angel of Jehovah.

"Curse its inhabitants incessantly,

For they did not come to the assistance of Jehovah,

To the assistance of Jehovah with the mighty ones."

Where was Meroz? Nobody knows. Why would the angel expect them to assist Jehovah? Were they a powerful race allied with the God of the Israelites? Were the 'mighty ones' with Jehovah, or does the last line mean that the allies from Meroz should have brought the 'mighty ones' to assist Jehovah? They must have been impressive if Jehovah classed them as mighty. Finally, why would Jehovah require assistance in the first place? Did the well-armed troops of Sisera fight back harder than God expected, so he needed back-up?

Not long after, Jehovah fell out with Israel and allowed it to be defeated and enslaved by the Midianites.

Judges 6:11-16:

Later Jehovah's angel came and sat under the big tree that was in Ophrah... while Gideon... was beating out wheat in the wine press so as to get it quickly out of the sight of Midian.

Then Jehovah's angel appeared to him and said to him: "Jehovah is with you, you valiant mighty one. At this Gideon said to him: "Excuse me, my lord, but if Jehovah is with us, then why has all this come upon us, and where are all his wonderful acts that our fathers related to us, saying, "Was it not out of Egypt that Jehovah brought us up?" And now Jehovah had deserted us, and he gives us into the palm of Midian. Upon that Jehovah faced him and said: "Go in this power of yours, and you will certainly save Israel out of Midians palm. Do I not send you?" In turn he said to him: "Excuse me, Jehovah. With what shall I save Israel? Look! My thousand is the least in Manasseh, and I am the smallest in my father's house" But Jehovah said to him: "Because I shall prove to be with you, and you will certainly strike down Midian as if one man."

First, Jehovah's angel appears to Gideon, calmly sitting under a tree no less. Then, halfway through the passage, the angel turns out to be Jehovah himself. This is another example of God physically showing himself to men. Only a corporeal entity could sit on the ground or turn to face someone. Jehovah was a real person, not some will'o'the'wisp.

In the first book of Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant is stolen by the Philistines. Almost immediately, they are struck with piles. We think of piles as being a painful anal disorder, but not exactly life-threatening, but the Hebrew translation says that they were tumours or plague-boils. Obviously the Philistines did not wear the proper protective clothing before the Ark and its deadly rays consumed them. Needless to say, the Philistines returned the Ark to the nearest Hebrews, the Bethshemites. Unfortunately, they had no protective clothes, either and fifty thousand of them died before the Ark could be sent to be stored safely at Kiriath-jearim.

1 Samuel chapter 15 tells how Jehovah orders King Saul's army to destroy the Amalekites, killing every man, woman,child and animal in their city. The Israelites felt pity for Agag, the ruler of the Amalekites and spared his life. They also saved the best livestock to act as sacrifices to Jehovah. Was Jehovah pleased by his subjects' acts of compassion?

No! He strips Saul of his kingship and has Samuel hack Agag to pieces!

2 Samuel 6:6-7 says that Uzzah grabbed hold of the Ark of the Covenant because he was afraid that it would be overturned by some cattle. Guess what? yep, Uzzah was killed as soon as he touched the Ark. Verse 8 says:

And David became angry over the fact that Jehovah had broken through in a rupture against Uzzah...

Had Uzzah's radiation suit become torn? Seeing the danger that the Ark represented, David had it removed to the house of Obededom the Gittite for three months. Only when David had acquired a suitable linen suit did he take the Ark back into his possession.

2 Samuel 7:2:

...then the king said to Nathan the prophet: "See, now, I am dwelling in a house of cedars while the ark of the [true] God is dwelling in the middle of tent cloths."

The Ark was so radio-active that it still had to be contained in the radiation proof fabrics even when brought into a city of cedar wood buildings.

In 2 Samuel chapter 12, David sins against Jehovah. Does God punish the king himself? No, Jehovah kills David's innocent son!

The 'Song of Praise of David' in 2 Samuel chapter 22:7-15 describes a dramatic arrival by Jehovah:

In my distress I kept calling upon Jehovah,

And to my God I kept calling.

Then out of his temple he heard my voice,

With my cry for help in his ears.

And back and forth the earth began to shake and to rock;

The foundations of the heavens themselves became agitated,

And they kept shaking back and forth because he had been angered.

Smoke went up at his nostrils, and fire itself from his mouth kept devouring;

Coals themselves blazed up from him.

And he proceeded to bend the heavens down and to descend;

And thick gloom was beneath his feet.

And he came riding upon a cherub and came flying;

And he was visible upon the wings of a spirit.

Then he put a darkness around him as booths,

Dark waters, thick clouds.

From the brightness in front of him burning coals of fire blazed up.

From heaven Jehovah began to thunder,

And the Most High himself began to give forth his voice.

And he kept sending out arrows, that he might scatter them;

Lightning, that he might throw them into confusion.

Wow! This passage demonstrates, to me, the arrival of God in a physical craft of some kind. I interpret it as an entry into the atmosphere: first, the blazing conflagration of re-entry itself ( 'fire itself from his mouth kept devouring; coals...blazed up from him.'); a description of the vast size of the mothership, its shadow darkening the land ('And thick gloom was beneath his feet'); some sort of smaller, atmospheric craft is ejected ('And he came riding upon a cherub and came flying,'); the mothership activates its cloud-like cloaking system (Then he put a darkness around him as booths, Dark waters, thick clouds.'); the smaller craft swoops down and scatters David's enemies with high technology weapons fire - missiles and tracer fire ('arrows') or some sort of directed energy weapon ('lightning')

Imagine 'Independence Day' during the times of the ancients and what a movie that would make!

Jehovah was a god of war. 2 Samuel 22:35:

He is teaching my hands for warfare.

2 Samuel 22:48:

The [true] God is the Giver of acts of vengeance to me

And the One bringing the peoples down under me,

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as being a device to communicate with God. Obviously, there would be no power supply on Earth, so it would have to have some sort of long term energy source built into its design.

A nuclear energy source would be the logical choice for an advanced technology, as we have already discovered.

In 1 Kings 20:29-30, Jehovah delivers the Syrian army into the hands of the sons of Israel. One hundred and twenty-seven thousand Syrians are slaughtered.

Then 2 Kings relates how Jehovah offered air support to the prophet Elijah. He was sent to Samaria to meet with the chiefs there. Upon a signal from the prophet, Jehovah (or his angels) caused 'fire' to descend from the heavens to consume the chiefs and their men.

2 Kings chapter 2 tells how Elijah parted the River Jordan much as Moses had parted the Red Sea. Then a fiery war chariot drawn by fiery horses took the prophet up into the heavens in a windstorm.

2 Kings 4:32-34 says that Elisha raised a boy from the dead by putting his mouth upon the boy's mouth. This was seen as being a miracle! Jehovah must have taught Elisha the technique of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

In 2 Kings 17:16-18, the Israelites turn against Jehovah and begin worshipping Baal:

... and they began to bow down to all the army of the heavens and to serve Baal...

Jehovah was so enraged by the Israelites' disloyalty that he wiped them all out except for the tribe of Judah.

Ancient documents discovered at Ras Shamra in modern Syria describe Baal as 'Lord of the Earth' and the 'Rider of the Clouds'.

Curiously, the Hebrew word for Baal can also mean 'owners of the nations' (note the plural - owners), 'owner of the two horns' (?), 'Jehovah' or 'false gods'. How can the same word mean both 'Jehovah' and 'false gods'? Was Jehovah the name of a race of beings? Could some of these beings be enemies to others of their kind? They would both be Jehovah, but the enemies of Israel would be 'false Jehovans'.

Later, Jehovah tells the various nations of the region not to fear the other gods, but to fear him. He does not say that the others gods do not exist. Somehow (it is not explained what happened exactly) these nations came to fear Jehovah, but continued to serve their own gods.

If these other gods really existed, why did Jehovah not eliminate them? He seemed to take great pleasure in wiping out thousands of humans at a single stroke. Were the other gods a more substantial foe? If he was the most powerful of the gods, then why were the others permitted to be worshipped?

In 2 Kings 19:35, an angel of Jehovah wipes out 185000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.

In 1 Chronicles 21:14-18, Jehovah sends an angel to destroy Jerusalem. As the angel goes about its destructive act, Jehovah begins to regret his actions and tells the angel to stop. Verse 16 describes how David saw the angel 'standing between the earth and the heavens with his drawn sword in his hand extended towards Jerusalem.'

I propose that what David saw was some kind of flying machine hovering outside the city, its impressive array of weapons trained on its terrified denizens. All that was required was a word from Jehovah and the town would be blasted from the face of the Earth. Only when David begged for mercy and humiliated himself, prostrating on the floor before the angel did Jehovah order the craft to power down its weapons systems.

In 2 Chronicles chapter 1, Solomon wishes to speak with God. Does he kneel down and pray, like the rest of us? No, he travels to Gibeon, 6 miles away from Jerusalem (not exactly round the corner in those days), where the Ark of the Covenant is kept in its special linen tent. Only there will Jehovah speak with the king.

When Solomon builds the great temple at Jerusalem and moves the Ark there, tens of thousands of cattle and hundreds of thousands of sheep are sacrificed to Jehovah. Why so many?

It states in the Bible that the offerings were consumed by a fire from heaven. After the fire had gone, all sign of the offerings had vanished. Teleportation?

Jehovah's preoccupation with livestock sacrifices troubles me (grain and precious metals were also offered, but in far lower quantities) . If Jehovah was an alien being, then could the sacrifices serve the same purpose as animal mutilations do today?

2 Chronicles 12:9 reports that the Egyptian pharaoh Shishak takes everything from the House of Jehovah i.e. the Temple where the Ark is stored. Everything is taken. Even the Ark? This has ramifications that we will discuss shortly.

It is here that the Ark of the Covenant fades from history. The most precious relic in history vanishes without a trace. Did Shishak take it? Nobody is certain. What is apparent, though, is that Jehovah fell silent after Jerusalem was plundered by the Egyptian king.

In 2 Chronicles chapter 21, Jehoram becomes king in Jerusalem. Immediately, he kills all of his brothers and even some of the princes of Israel to guarantee his throne. The Bible states that Jehovah did nothing, despite being saddened by Jehoram's actions. A few years earlier, Jehovah would have slaughtered an entire race that even mildly displeased him! I say that Jehovah was not around to do anything about Jehoram's wickedness.

After the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant, all of Jehovah's messages to mankind were voiced through prophets, self-proclaimed visionaries who received God's Word (they say) in dreams and portents.

Even though the Ark was gone, the Temple at Jerusalem must still have been awash with radiation. In 2 Chronicles 26:16-20, King Uzziah decides to burn some incense in the temple by himself. Immediately, eighty-one priests burst in and reprimand the king for doing what was only permitted by the priesthood. Uzziah becomes enraged and declares that he is king and can do whatever he desires. Instantly, he is struck down with leprosy.

You can bet that the priests were all wearing their protective garments, but Uzziah, not being privy to the knowledge of the temple, was struck down by the harmful energy still pervading the fabric of the building.

In 2 Chronicles 32:21, Jehovah sends an angel to strike down the Assyrian army. Unlike earlier divine attacks, this passage does not go into detail as to the nature of the assault. Thus, I believe that the angel was a fictional one and the Assyrians were defeated by conventional means in the name of Jehovah.

Curiously, after the disappearance of the Ark, the Bible refers to those who worship Jehovah as 'searching for Jehovah' or 'searching for the [true] God'. This is another clue that points to the fact that without the Ark, direct communication with Jehovah was impossible. Were the Hebrews actively seeking out the location of the now Lost Ark of the Covenant?

Jehovah's next major appearance in the Bible is in The Book Of Job. This book recounts the tale of a businessman called Job. He was a very successful businessman and very wealthy. He was also a devout worshipper of Jehovah.

One day (that is how the book is told - like a fairy story), Jehovah and Satan had a little bet. Satan declared that Job only worshipped Jehovah because God has given him all of his groovy belongings. God denied this and said that Job's love for him was pure.

"Prove it," said Satan.

So, over the course of the book, Job was made penniless, his family were killed, he was struck with numerous ghastly afflictions, but he continued to worship Jehovah, much to Satan's disdain.

Although I believe that this story is pure fiction, it demonstrates how the ancients viewed Jehovah, the mighty Creator of Everything. To prove a point to one of his angels (Satan), he subjects poor Job to all sorts of hardships, without a thought for the unfortunate mortal's well-being.

I believe that this story was attached to the Bible to emphasise that loyalty to Jehovah will bring its just rewards. Job was given a new family and more wealth at the end of the story.

The rest of the Bible is devoted mostly to prophecies uttered by various men claiming to be the mouthpieces of Jehovah.

Even the famous Ezekiel encounter (Ezekiel chapter 1) with Jehovah is, in my view, either an out-and-out fabrication or a hallucinatory vision brought about by the consumption of narcotic foodstuffs. Such substances are said to have been common in biblical times.

Perhaps the objects that Ezekiel saw were real, but if that is the case, then why did Jehovah wait for so many years before revealing himself to humanity once more. The Ark of the Covenant vanished from Jerusalem at around the time of the Shishak invasion (993-992 BC) and Ezekiel had his vision in about 617 BC, almost four hundred years later.

I believe that Jehovah never did return and that Ezekiel, like many of the other 'prophets' used his storytelling expertise for his own devices. In those days, storytellers and seers were in high demand. Earning a commission to foretell the future from a king or other wealthy client meant that there was money to be made from telling the right kinds of stories.

Admittedly, some of the prophets told their kings the opposite what they wanted to hear, but who expects good news all of the time?
 

An interesting article, suggesting that the Ark Of The Covenant and The Holy Grail may actually be one and the same object, can be found at The Holy Grail What Is It? website. The authors suggest that the manna received by the Israelites during their 40-year wanderings was actually created by the Ark/Grail and that it was indeed of extra terrestrial origin

© 1999 Steve Johnson

 

Back to Articles Index 

Updated 16th August, 2012