Zionism is Not Biblical: The Broken-Bottle Nation

William Finck
CHR20230127-BrokenBottle-Emahiser.mp3

Zionism is Not Biblical: The Broken-Bottle Nation

There are many references to Jerusalem, to the “daughter of Jerusalem” or to the “daughter of Zion” in the words of the prophets, but it should not be taken for granted that they always refer to the city or mountain in ancient Judaea, or especially to modern Jerusalem. Rather, it is evident in the Old Testament that “the daughter of” something such as a city or a nation is a reference to the people who are produced by that city or nation, or their circumstances, regardless of where they are at the time when they are described. One example of this is where Tyre, the merchant city, is called the “daughter of Tarshish” in Isaiah chapter 23, evidently because Tyre became a very wealthy city by engaging in trade with Tarshish, which is evident in the historical books of Scripture.

Another example of this is found in Isaiah chapter 62 where we read: “11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.” There the phrase “daughter of Zion” is a metaphor describing the “holy people”, the “redeemed of the Lord”, and also “a city not forsaken”, because they would be redeemed. These are all references to the people themselves, the people being a “holy city” regardless of where they are, and the people being the “daughter of Zion” regardless of where they are. So when they were called these things, Isaiah was told that Yahweh had proclaimed these words “unto the end of the world”, where the word for world is ארץ, or erets, which means land. More frequently, the same phrase is translated “the ends of the earth” because the children of Israel were also prophesied to be spread out to the ends of the earth in their captivity.

On Genesis, Part 2: The Society of Family

William Finck
Genesis 2:4-25
CHR20230120-Genesis02.mp3

On Genesis, Part 2: The Society of Family

In our first presentation of this commentary on Genesis we ended with Genesis chapter 2 verse 3, as we consider those first few verses of this chapter, along with chapter 1, to be the first account of the creation of Yahweh God. Now as we commence with chapter 2, and through to the end of chapter 4, we shall begin to discuss the second creation account in Scripture. While this second account naturally follows the first in the text, the things which it describes actually parallel the later portions of the first account, the events which had been related on the sixth day of the creation of God. So this is also an example of a Hebrew parallelism, where something is described twice consecutively in a phrase, a sentence, or even in a longer passage, so that multiple aspects of a subject can be portrayed and explained more precisely. There are other examples of such parallelisms using entire passages in Biblical literature, and another one of significance is found in Genesis chapters 10 and 11. Ezekiel chapter and 28, and chapters 38 and 39 contain examples of others. Here in Genesis, while the first creation account provides a Godly worldview which laid a general foundation for the organization of a society, here we will see a foundation laid for the organization of a Godly family, which is the primary communicative unit of every prosperous society.

However before we begin to review and comment upon the text of this account in Genesis, there are a few aspects of it for which we should provide a preliminary discussion. That is because there are many errant concepts of the creation of Adam which throughout history have accommodated the Jews, who falsely claim to be the protagonists of the Old Testament, or the Roman Empire, as the fourth century Roman Catholic Church was organized to suit its whims, and now today it accommodates the modern diversity agenda. However in light of Genesis itself, especially in chapters 6 through 15, the concept that all of the hominid races on the planet were descended from this single man Adam are patently false, absolutely ludicrous, and do not withstand even the most basic historical or Scriptural scrutiny.

On Genesis, Part 1: The Creation Account through Christian Eyes

William Finck
Genesis 1:1 - Genesis 2:3
CHR20230113-Genesis01.mp3

On Genesis, Part 1: The Creation Account through Christian Eyes

Here we are going to venture a commentary on the Book of Genesis, which, Yahweh God be willing, shall certainly require many months to complete. Some years ago we did a series of discussions here titled Pragmatic Genesis, and we may draw on some of that, or at least repeat ourselves somewhat because our opinions have not changed. So for that same reason, I will probably also repeat things which I have presented in other papers as well, and even some things of which Clifton Emahiser had also written. But most of our past work in Genesis was written only for the purpose of refuting certain heresies which are found in either Christian Identity circles or in the denominational churches. While perhaps I may mention some of those heresies as we progress through the chapters of Genesis here, I will try not to dwell on any of them at length, so as to be a distraction.

Some years ago I also wrote a paper titled On Biblical Exegesis. There I asserted that in order to understand the Old Testament, and Genesis especially, one can only do so through the lens of New Testament understanding, allegorically speaking. In other words, one can only understand Genesis through an understanding of the words of Christ both in the Gospel and in the Revelation. That is primarily because Genesis is not a complete history of what is popularly perceived as the “world”, nor does it offer a complete understanding of the state of the “world” when the Adamic man was created. This is first evident in the words of Matthew in chapter 13 of his Gospel where, after having recorded some of the parables of Christ, he wrote: “34 All these things Yahshua had spoken in parables to the crowds, and without a parable He spoke nothing to them, 35 that that which was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying: ‘I shall open My mouth in parables; I shall bellow things kept secret from the foundation of Society!’” The apostle was citing the 78th Psalm, but we shall see that this is also evident in subsequent chapters of Genesis itself.

Come Out From Among Them

William Finck
CHR20230106-ComeOutFromAmongThem.mp3

Come Out From Among Them

Two of my favorite passages from the ancient Greek Tragic Poets, both of whom wrote in the 5th century BC, express eternal truths: “The bastard is always regarded as an enemy to the true-born” (Euripides, Hippolytus, 962-963) and “Stain clear water with mud and you will never find sweet drink” (Aeschylus, Eumenides, 694-695). The citation from Euripides is indeed about relationships between people. Cain and Abel are the first historical manifestation of that in Scripture. But the second citation, from Aeschylus, is actually in relation to law. Citing the Loeb Classical Library edition of Aeschylus translated by Herbert Weir Smyth, in Eumenides the Apollo character is depicted as recalling “the first trial ever held for bloodshed” in Athens, and an appeal for its judges to judge justly. So in a poetical allegory we read “Reverence, indwelling in my burghers, and her kinsman Fear, shall withhold them from doing wrong by day and night alike, so be it they do not themselves pollute the laws with evil influences; stain clear water with mud and thou shalt never find sweet drink.”

It should not surprise us to find Christian principles imbued in certain ancient Greek literature, as we have often discussed the similarities in the ancient Greek and Hebrew cultures in other contexts. It certainly is a Christian principle, that Christians should never seek to pervert, undermine, corrupt or transgress the commandments of the law out of fear of God. So we read, for example, in Deuteronomy chapter 6: “2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.” A little further on in the chapter we read: “24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. 25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.” In both Deuteronomy chapters 4 and 12 there are commandments neither to add nor to remove anything from the books of the law.