The Ancient Tradition

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Music

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You’re listening to the Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production. Music provided by Joseph McDade. He is your host, Dr. Jack Logan.

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Welcome to the ancient tradition. I’m your host, Jack Logan. It’s a beautiful day outside. And it’s beautiful inside here too. It’s a great day to dive into amazing theology, the amazing theology that was taught by the ancients around the world. So welcome to all of you, longtime listeners and new listeners. It’s great to have all of you along for today’s episode. As you listen to these episodes,

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seriously consider what the ancients taught because you’re going to find that this is the most amazing theology that can be found anywhere among human beings. And that speaks to me of a divine source. In our last episode, we learned from the ancients that the primordial hill that rose out of the waters of chaos was no ordinary hill of sand or dirt. We learned that it was a very special and important hill. In that episode we

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briefly touched on some of the reasons why this hill was so important. But for the next couple of episodes, we’re going to take a deep dive into the ancient texts and learn as much as we possibly can about this hill. Because as you’re going to see over the coming months, this hill is the nucleus around which revolves the entirety of the ancient tradition. So it’s best that we can learn as much as we possibly can about this important hill to get a better feel for the

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of what we’re going to talk about in today’s episode. We need to begin by taking a slight step backwards and look into what the ancient texts tell us God said right before commanding the chaotic elements to order themselves into the Primordial Hill. I’ve mentioned what I’m about to read on the program before but I haven’t had the chance to really explain why what God says prior to the creation is important theologically. So that’s what I want to do today.

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All right, let’s begin in ancient Egypt and then work our way through Mesopotamia and some of the other ancient civilizations. So today we’re gonna start with the ancient Egyptian coffin texts. Basically, the ancient Egyptians took a lot of the funerary texts that had been written in the pyramid texts, and then they started writing them in black ink on the inside walls of the coffins that were used for the burial of wealthy Egyptians during the Middle Kingdom period.

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which dates to around 2055 to 1650 BC. So that’s the timeframe that we’re talking about. The text that I’m about to read comes from a section of Coffin Text, Spell 80. And this is the Raymond Faulkner translation. In this text, the Supreme God Atum is reflecting on what he was feeling before the creation began. He says this, quote,

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I was alone with new in lassitude. Okay, that’s a very short passage, but it’s a really important one. So here the creator Atum tells us that before the creation, he by himself looking over the vast expanse of the primordial waters, new, the ocean of disorganized elements, in that moment was feeling in lassitude. Now, in lassitude, what does that mean?

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If you don’t know what lassitude means, don’t worry. I had to actually look it up myself because the word’s not commonly used in conversation today. It’s actually mostly just used in literary context. The meaning of the word is really important here. The word lassitude actually means a state of physical or mental weariness. It’s exhaustion, fatigue. It means to feel lethargic. So when someone experiences lassitude, they feel drained.

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So this brings me back to Atum. His statement here is a bit perplexing. Why is he tired and fatigued? He hasn’t created a single thing yet. So think on this for a minute. See if you can figure out why Atum is so tired while I continue reading. Atum tells us, quote, “‘I was alone with new in lassitude, and I could find no place on which to stand or sit.'” So,

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Here we have Atum telling us that before the creation, he was exhausted, but he didn’t have any place that he could go and sit down and rest. So again, I find this a bit perplexing. He wants a place to sit, obviously to rest, because he’s tired, he’s worn out. But again, why is he worn out? For the answer to this question, we have to go back and think about the important events that took place.

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before Atum is found here peering over the primordial waters. So think back with me. What did Atum do prior to the creation that could have left him tired and worn out?

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If you don’t know or you haven’t figured it out, I highly recommend that you give episode number 19, the great primordial Theomaki a listen. Aha, I think some of you have figured it out now. Atum is tired and exhausted because he spent the last however long battling the hideous sea monster, the dragon. Remember Marduk? Remember in tablet five of the Enuma Elish, how we were

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that after Marduk slayed the dragon, that he was quote, enveloped in the dust of combat. If Marduk is covered in dust from the combat, it must have been a brutal battle. The ancient texts love to use all kinds of bloody violent imagery to symbolically capture the truly brutal nature of the spiritual battle that took place between the beloved sun and the sea dragon.

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All of the ancient texts paint a picture of a truly awful battle. So it’s no wonder that after the terrible battle, that Atum is exhausted in lassitude and that he needs a place to sit down and rest. As we learned in the coffin texts, after victoriously waging war against the dragon, Atum looks over the primordial waters and there’s nothing there but chaotic, unorganized elements.

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There’s no place for him to sit down and rest after the terrible battle. Let’s listen to what else Autum tells us in Coffin Text, Spell 80. It reads, quote, I was alone with new in lassitude and I could find no place on which to stand or sit. My throne had not yet been put together that I might sit on it. Okay. So.

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This is interesting. We learned in episode number 25, the King of Kings, that after defeating the dragon, the beloved son was crowned a heavenly king. But then here we learned that even though he’s been crowned a king, he does not yet have a heavenly throne on which to sit. Don’t miss the really important theological detail here between rest or resting after slaying the dragon and sitting.

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on a heavenly throne. So in this text, Atum tells us that his seat of rest is his heavenly throne. It just hasn’t been built or created yet. According to the theology of the ancient tradition that we’ve covered thus far on the podcast, the promise given to dragonslayers, be they the beloved son, the hero, the scullery maid or the pauper, is that they will be granted a heavenly throne, which we learn here is the seat.

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upon which they obtain rest after their victory over the dragon. In other words, it’s from this text that we learn that to rest is equivalent to sitting on a throne. This is a highly important theological point. I’ve mentioned this before but we find a similar text in chapter 24, the book of the Holy Secrets of Enoch. In this passage

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Yahweh or Christ, depending on whether this is a Jewish or early Christian text, tells Enoch, quote, Listen Enoch and pay attention to my words as I have not even told my secrets to my angels or of my endless realm. Before all things were visible I had come into existence. I moved around among the invisible things while I found nowhere to rest.

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because nothing had been created yet. This passage sounds exactly like what we just read in the coffin texts. So what does Yahweh and Christ do? In chapter 25, he tells Enoch, and note how similar this sounds to modern descriptions of the Big Bang. He tells him the following, quote, I commanded the very highest. The very highest here is believed to be the high God, his father.

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Let one of the invisible things descend and become visible. And a doil descended very large. I saw him and I saw in his belly. So here we’re talking about a belly, a womb. He had a great light. Note how there’s a great light in his belly, his womb. I said to him, give birth. There’s the cosmic egg womb idea.

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give birth a doil and let what comes out of you be visible. He dissolved and a great light came out. So right after this, right after the so-called Big Bang, listen to what Yahweh and Christ tell Yannick, quote, I set up a throne for myself and I took my seat upon it. So Yahweh or Christ builds a throne.

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so that he has a place where he can sit and rest. Do you remember Marinus van der Sluis? If you don’t, he’s the Danish scholar whose research I just love so much because he compiled the world’s most comprehensive inventory of traditional cosmologies. I’m incredibly grateful for his scholarship. If you’re interested in learning more about him or about his work, you can find him on our website, thea Just look under scholars and you’ll find him there. At any rate,

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Vandersleuth found a similar account of the creator having no place to rest, clear across the Pacific Ocean in Polynesia among the Samoans. The account I’m going to read here was documented sometime between 1840 and 1880 AD in a book titled Samoa, a hundred years ago and long before by George Turner. Note in this account that the Supreme God sends down a bird. So we have avian symbolism.

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and this bird flies across the primordial waters. So this should remind you of the ancient Egyptian primordial goose, Gengenwere, and the ancient Greek primordial bird, Nix, who flew over the primordial waters, and these birds laid eggs. The Samoan account reads, quote, “‘Tangaloa, the god of heaven, sent down his daughter “‘in the form of the bird Turri. “‘She flew about, but could find no

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resting place. Nothing but ocean. So note in this Samoan account that the bird can find no place to rest. Vander Sluis also found an account among the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia who tell when in the quote earliest times when quote a boundless

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that quote, raven flew about, unable to find a foothold. So the raven has no place to land. He has no place to land his foot. We find a similar account among the Fin Uyghur peoples of the West, the Finns, the Lapps, and the Magyars in the Finnish national epic, the Kala-Vala, that was compiled pretty late by Elias Lahnrot in 1835.

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In this account, we have a greenish blue bird called a teal who’s flying over the primordial waters searching, you guessed it, for a place to rest. The bird searches high and low for a spot of solidity in the shifting seas, a place where it can land and build a nest. So listen to the account. Quote, short the time that passed thereafter.

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scarce a moment had passed over, ere a beauteous teal came flying, lightly hovering over the water. So I’m gonna stop for a second. You long time listeners should note how it uses the verb to hover here. It should remind you of brooding. Seeking for a spot to rest in, searching for a home to dwell in, eastward flew she, westward flew she, flew to northwest.

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and his Southwest, but the place she sought, she found not, not a spot, however barren, where her nest she could establish, or a resting place could light on. So this beautiful bird, this beautiful till bird can’t find any solid land on which to rest or on which to build its nest. Note how we’re getting the same motifs of seeking rest, of seeking a place.

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rest. In this case, the bird is seeking to build a nest. And what’s a bird’s nest? A nest is a bird’s home, where the bird dwells. In terms of avian symbolism, we know that the bird here represents a divine being. So what we’re really talking about here is a divine being who’s seeking solid ground on which to build a nest, a home. And where do divine beings dwell?

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in sacred homes called temples. So what this myth is really conveying is that in the beginning, a divine being, God, before the creation commenced was seeking solid ground on which to build his home, a temple. That’s what we’re really reading here. This also broadens our understanding of where dragon slayers after the battle find rest. It’s not just on their throne, it’s in their home, in their nest.

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Let’s keep reading to see what happens next. In this next section, the bird considers building the nest right on the waters. But then the bird rethinks this because without solid ground, she calculates that the waves are gonna topple it over. The foundation is not firm. It’s at this point in the epic that something really interesting happens. So while I’m reading this, see if you can see how this account is similar to the account of Turtle Island, just using different symbols.

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Okay, this is what it says. Not a spot, however barren, where her nest she could establish or a resting place could lie down. Then she hovered slowly moving and she pondered and reflected. If my nest and wind I establish or should rest it on the billows, then the winds will overturn it.

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or the waves will drift it from me. Then the mother of the waters, water mother, made Ariel, from the waves her knee uplifted, raised her shoulder from the billows, that the teal, her nest, might establish and might find a peaceful dwelling. Then the teal, the bird so beauteous, hovered slow and gazed around her.

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and she saw the knee uplifted from the blue waves of the ocean, and she thought she saw a hillock, freshly green with springing verdure. This is great. Here in this Finnish tale, we have the primordial waters, but then out of the waters, the water mother lifts a knee. How is this similar to the account of Turtle Island?

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Well, just like the turtle rises out of the waters with a hill of dry land on its back, here we have the water mother lift her knee out of the waters. Clearly, this is symbolic of a hill rising out of the waters. And the epic even says that, speaking of the bird, it reads, and she saw the knee uplifted from the blue waves of the ocean. And she thought she saw a hillock, a hill, the primordial hill.

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And what kind of hill is this? The text reads, quote, freshly green with springing verter. So this isn’t any old hill of solid land. This is an incredibly green hill with vegetation springing forth. We’re starting to get a really strong peridoticycle vibe here, aren’t we? Well, we should be, because what we’re talking about here is the Garden of Eden.

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The first solid land to rise out of the primordial waters was a lush, beautiful, paradisiacal garden. And the bird sees this and what does the bird decide to do? Well, let’s keep reading. It says, and she thought she saw a hillock, freshly green with springing verter. There she flew and hovered slowly, gently on the knee alighting, and her nest

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She there established. So this beautiful bird sees the paradycyclical hill and what does it decide to do? It lands on the hill and decides to establish its nest right there. I mean, wouldn’t you? I would. The text tells us, there she flew and hovered slowly, gently on the knee alighting and her nest, she there established. So what is really going on here?

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What these myths are really telling us is that in the beginning, the beloved son of the high God, after slaying the dragon and for having done so, inherited the power and authority to reign as a heavenly king over an endless cosmic kingdom. In here, we find the beloved son gazing over the primordial waters, exhausted from the battle with the dragon.

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before he embarks on creating his kingdom, he first seeks a place to rest. So he commands dry land to appear out of the waters, which it does, and the land is beautiful, freshly green, springing vegetation, a paradyceical garden. It’s there that the beloved son builds his nest, a sacred, holy temple precinct. It’s there that he establishes

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royal throne, the seat from which he can watch and reign over his newly formed kingdom. That’s what all of these ancient texts are attesting. A lot of this, I’m sure, sounds very, very familiar to adherents of the Judeo-Christian tradition. But I want to stress here as we see that we’re finding the same story told among the ancient Egyptians, ancient Mesopotamians,

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and among the woodland Indians of North America, among the Greeks and the Samoans, the Finns and the Hindu. And as you’re gonna see as the podcast progresses, among the peoples of every single religious tradition. It’s astonishing. So let’s look at a couple more accounts. We find another account of this back in ancient Egypt. Remember the creator God Ptah? Well, in this text, Papyrus dated to the Ptolemaic dynasty. And this is pretty late.

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It was thought to be a reworking of a document from the 18th dynasty, which dates to between 1550 and 1350 BC, and it gives a similar account. Here we have the creator god Pata in the primordial waters seeking a place to stand. It reads, quote, Pata found himself in the primeval waters. He sought a place for his foot. The god sought a place for his foot.

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in the primeval waters. We don’t exactly see the resting theme directly stated in this count, but we definitely see the looking for a place to stand motif.

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This next text comes from ancient Mesopotamia. The text contains the story, the Eridu story of creation, and it comes from the Neo-Babylonian period around 600 BC. This particular text was found in the ruins of Sippar, which is near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. In this account, it begins by emphasizing that before the creation, Marduk was devoid of a place to rest. There was no holy house.

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In this text, you’re going to hear reference to the lack of bricks. In the ancient Near East, bricks and brick forming and brick laying are often expressions of temple building. It reads, quote, no Holy house, no house of the gods had been built in a pure place, no reed had come forth, no tree had been created, no brick had been laid, no brick mold had been created.

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No city had been built, no settlement had been founded. Nippur had not been built. Ikor had not been created. Uruk had not been built, had not been created. The depths had not been built. Eridu had not been created. No holy house, no house of the gods, no dwelling for them had been created. All the world was sea.

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You can see from this text that the most concerning thing about the pre-creation condition was that there was no holy house or sacred temple where the Creator could dwell or rest. John H. Walton, an Old Testament scholar and professor emeritus at Wheaton College, says this about the connection between divine rest and temples. He says, quote,

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Divine rest is portrayed as occurring in a number of different contexts in ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies. When the situation among the gods or in the larger cosmos is secure, deity may rest. The location where this rest is experienced is of course the temple, the home of the god.

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We see the same thing in tablet five of the Enuma Elish. So after Marduk has slain the sea monster Tiamat, he puts on a royal garment and a royal crown. He’s made a heavenly king. And then he addresses the gods and he tells them that he now plans to create land over the Primordial Waters and build a temple atop that land. The text reads, quote, “‘When they gave kingship to Marduk, “‘Marduk made his voice heard and spoke.

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addressed his words to the gods, his fathers. Over the Apsu, the primordial waters, the sea green dwelling, where I strengthen the ground beneath it for a shrine. He’s talking about commanding dry land to appear here. I shall make a house to be a luxurious dwelling for myself. And I shall establish my private quarters and confirm my kingship.

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After this, Marduk tells us that it will be in his temple that they will be able to find rest. The text reads, quote, I shall make a house to be a luxurious dwelling for myself. I shall establish my private quarters and confirm my kingship. Found there, our night’s resting place forever. Because Marduk won the battle against the dragon, all

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can find rest with him in his temple forever. Walton points out that rest, as it’s defined in ancient texts, is not total disengagement, but it’s really a mix of safety, disengagement from certain activities, and then engagement in others. Walton writes, quote, “‘We can see from these examples “‘that gods rest in temples. “‘Rest is multifaceted. “‘It provides opportunity for both engagement “‘from certain labor, like fighting the dragon,

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and for engagement in the activities connected with ritual and rule. Rest can be in the deity’s private chambers or on his dais or throne. In the Ancient Near East, rest is combined with cosmic rule. So I hope you caught that last part. Probably could because I emphasized it. But in the Ancient Near East, rest is combined with cosmic rule. So

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Heavenly kings aren’t just sitting around in the cosmos, idling away the eternities, doing nothing. No, that’s not what the ancients meant by, quote, rest. By rest, the ancients were referring to a sacred location where one would spend the eternities free from the dragon’s profane influence in troubling chaos. Such a place, because it would be devoid of the dragon’s presence, would obviously be a place of tremendous peace. But that’s not all.

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As Walton points out, and as the ancient texts affirm, the notion of rest in ancient Near East is intricately connected to heavenly kingship. See, the order that the beloved son established by ridding his father’s kingdom from the usurper, the dragon, must be maintained. So as Walton notes, quote, “‘The natural step is to build a temple

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order may be sustained. That’s an important concept. When we read in the ancient text that the Creator is looking for a place to dwell or to sit so that he can quote rest, and by that he means that he needs a sacred sanctuary, a royal temple where he can dwell, and a royal throne upon which he can sit, we can easily see the association between rest and the establishing and maintaining of order in his kingdom.

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He’s obviously anything but idle or disengaged. He has loads of stuff to keep him busy. For goodness sakes, he’s just inherited a kingdom for slaying the dragon, an eternal kingdom no less, a kingdom which he must now build and govern. But he can’t do that until he has a place to rest. This understanding of the word rest is a pretty important one.

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It can be easy to lose sight of it, especially when you read it in the biblical canon, which there are a lot of references in the biblical canon to rest and God’s rest. And we’re gonna see that in a minute or two, but don’t lose sight of the rest slash temple slash kingship connection, because if you do, you’re gonna miss a lot of what the ancient authors were trying to convey when they used the word.

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Before we turn to the biblical canon, let’s look at two more examples from the ancient world. Let’s look at one from India. In the Vedic Shatapatha Brahmana, which is an important commentary on the Vedas, dated to the seventh or sixth century BC, in 11.1.6.1-3, we read the following account. So listen to this.

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nothing but a sea of water. So we got the primordial waters there. The waters desired, how can we be reproduced? They toiled and performed fervid devotions. When they were becoming heated, a golden egg was produced. So there’s the Hiranyagarbha that we talked about a couple of episodes ago. The golden egg appears over the waters, which we now know represents the high God’s dwelling place, the Holy of Holies.

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The year indeed was not then in existence. Note how in this account, we learned that the year or time didn’t exist before the creation. And that’s just like that we talked about in episode number 30, the grand primordial singularity. And also note how timelessness or eternity is linked to the golden egg or the holy of holies, just like we would expect. This golden egg floated about for as long as the space of a year.

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Now remember this little tidbit, remember that the Indians tell us here that the golden egg floated on the primordial waters. It’s going to be really important in a minute. In a year’s time, a man, this Prajapati was produced there from. Prajapati is the creator. So we have the creator coming out of the Holy of Holies. But did you also catch in this text that he’s described as a man? That’s exactly what the text says. It says in a year’s time, a man.

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this Prajapati was produced there from. Then listen to this. There was indeed no resting place. Only this golden egg bearing him floated about.

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So here it is again, another account of the creator whom we’ve learned from the ancient record is the dragon slaying beloved son who can’t find a place to rest. It’s just that in this account, his name is Prajapati, not Atum or Pata or Yahweh or Marduk or a bird named Raven or Turri or Teal, but the account is the same. We learned that the beloved son’s biggest concern

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after having been crowned a heavenly king. And before having commenced the creation was that he did not have a place to rest. He did not have a place from which he could govern his newly found kingdom. He didn’t have a sacred precinct in which to dwell and he didn’t have a sacred throne from which to reign. As Yahweh or Christ told Enoch, quote, I found nowhere to rest.

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There is no better illustration of the beloved sun’s concern about a place to rest than in a famous Ugaritic or Canaanite text known as the Baal Cycle. We’ve talked about it before, Baal being B-A-A-L. If you think back, you’ll recall that Baal is the Ugaritic dragon-slaying beloved sun. He’s actually referred to in the text as, quote, the beloved of El. We learned in episode number 19, the great primordial Theomache, that the enemy, Yam,

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who is described as a sea serpent, desired to usurp the high king El’s throne. Yam wanted greater power and he coveted El’s position as king of the gods. In the text, Yam refuses to bow before El. So Baal rises up and defends his father’s kingdom. And then a terrible battle ensues. And Baal, with the aid of special weapons, gifted to him by the high god El,

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ultimately conquers the rebellious son, Yam, preserving his father, the high god, El’s kingdom. This is a description of the battle and it comes from Keneiform Tablet 3ABA, and it reads, quote, the club swoops in the hand of Baal like an eagle between his fingers. It strikes the pate of Prince Yam between the eyes of Judge Nehar. Now Judge Nehar is just another name for Yam, and it means

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Judge of the Waters. Yam collapses. He falls to the ground. His joints bend. His frame breaks. Baal would rend, would smash Yam, would annihilate Judge Nehar. At this point, Baal declares that order has been restored. A victory celebration and a royal feast is held. Baal is declared an heir.

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He’s coordinated a king and he’s given the land of his Nahalt, which is the land of his inheritance. He’s given a kingdom. So what is missing? Well, Baal has no place to rest. So in Cuneiform tablet two, AB, Baal petitions his father, the high god El, for a house. And the text says this, quote,

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He cries unto Bull El, his father, to El, the king, his begetter. He cries unto Asherah and her children, to Eleth and the band of her kindred. Look, no house has Baal like the gods. According to these texts, only the high god El has the power and authority to authorize Baal to build a temple. So Asherah, who’s Baal’s mother, she’s the high queen of heaven, joins in in petitioning El.

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to authorize Baal’s building of a temple. In Keneiform tablet two, AB.5, this is what Queen Asherah says. She says, let a house be built for Baal like the gods and a court like the children of Asherah’s, quotes Lady Asherah of the sea. Art great indeed, O L and wise. Thy beard’s gray hair instructs thee. I like that, it cracks me up because she’s like trying to get him to warm up.

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Line 80 continues, so build thou a silver and gold house, a house of most pure lapis lazuli. And then listen to this very intriguing line. Line 89 to 91 reads, quote, receive Baal, the glad tidings I bring thee, they will build thee a house like thy brethren’s and a court like unto thy kindred’s.

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I don’t want to get too far off topic here, but note how in this text it says, quote, they will build the house like thy brethren’s. What is this? This means that some of Baal’s brethren already have houses or royal temples. And it’s texts just like these that you’re going to see as the podcast progresses are proof texts for the theology of multiple heavenly kings and multiple cosmic kingdoms or universes.

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At this point, the high god El sends for Cathar Huacases. Now he is the divine craftsman. Cathar comes to the house of El, they hold a feast, and then Cathar is commanded to build a royal temple for Baal. The text reads, quote, then answered Pusant Baal, responded the rider of the clouds, quickly a house, O Cathar, quickly raise up a palace, quickly the house shalt thou build.

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Quickly shalt thou rise up the palace, in the midst of the fastness of Zephon, a thousand fields the house shall cover. We’re gonna return to the rest of this account in a future episode, but for this episode, it’s easy to see the concern over not having a sacred precinct in which to dwell. Neil Forsyth, I don’t know if you remember him, but he wrote The Old Enemy about the dragon myths.

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And he says this of the importance of Baal’s temple. He says, quote, the Ugaritic epics recount various power struggles among the gods and the resulting apportionment of authority. So he’s talking about the high god dividing up his kingdom amongst his children, creating vassal kings and queens. The most important of which seems to have been the enthronement of Baal. And the central requirement of authority

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Stronger even than a coronation ceremony in the official annunciation by the Supreme God seems to have been the building of a special palace. Forsythe continues, quote, “‘Of these various kingly mansions, Baal’s is a necessary ingredient to his ascension to the kingship.'” So what we’re seeing from these texts is that the full

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realization of heavenly kingship is not possible without a royal temple, a temple in which to dwell, a temple from which to rule and reign. And this is why Atum and Marduk and Tori and Prajapati were so concerned when they couldn’t find a place to rest on the primordial waters. Now let’s look at the Judeo-Christian tradition. Let’s see what the biblical canon has to say about rest. Let’s see if it corresponds with what we found elsewhere in the ancient world.

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For starters, do we find anything in the canon about not finding a place to rest? The short answer here is yes, we do. We find this, but the context’s a little bit different here. Or is it? In Genesis chapter eight verses six to 10, we read this very interesting little story about a prophet named Noah and the building of an ark. Some of you may not need this little hint, but keep in mind that Noah is in a boat floating.

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above a vast ocean of chaotic water. It’s there that he does this, and this is the text. The text reads, quote, and it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also, he sent forth a dove from him.

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to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. We need to stop here for a second. Here we have Noah opening a window in the ark. And keep that in your back pocket because windows play a really important role in the ancient tradition. And what does he do? He sends a raven and a dove out of the window to check to see if dry land has yet appeared out of the waters. Now, I have no idea if there was a literal flood

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covered the entire earth, or whether the real Noah literally opened the windows of an ark and let out a raven and a dove. But I do definitely know what we’re talking about here symbolically. Note how we have a vast ocean of water here. Did any of you think of the primordial waters? And what do we have floating on the waters? An ark.

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Did any of you think of the cosmic egg? Remember that in the ancient myths, especially the Indian myths, that it’s the cosmic egg that’s floating above the Primordial Waters. If you’re familiar with Moses’s tabernacle or King Solomon’s temple, then you know that an ark, the Ark of the Covenant stood, where did it stand? It stood in the Holy of Holies.

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And it was exactly upon the Ark of the Covenant that God sat when he visited his earthly temple. The lid or the cover of the Ark was known as the Mercy Seat. So you see where we’re going with all of this. The Ark of the Covenant was God’s throne. And where is God’s throne? In the Holy of Holies. Obviously there’s a clear connection here between the Ark, the Holy of Holies, and the Cosmic Egg,

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Now, this can get a little confusing unless we figure out that there has to be then more than one temple. So the Ark represents the Holy of Holies of the high god El, or the high god the father, however. And so now the son needs to create his own temple. So that explains why he’s still looking for dry land. The ancients, regardless of the symbolism that they’re using, they’re trying to convey the same idea. Do you see that? That all light

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life and creation come out of the Holy of Holies where God dwells. So what does Noah do next? He opens a window in the ark. Did any of you think of the cosmic egg cracking open? And what comes out of the window? Birds. Did any of you think of avian symbolism?

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or divine beings coming out of the cosmic egg because that’s what we see in the ancient myths. Remember in India, when the cosmic egg cracked open, the creator Prajapati came out. And what does Noah send the raven to search for? He sends the raven to go back and forth until the waters dry up. And I don’t know about you, but the to and fro here reminds me of episode number 13, the incomprehensible brooding wind.

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when the celestial bird brooded over the waters. The brooding, which I remind you, prepared the waters or chaotic elements for creation. Because at this point, no primordial hill or Mount Ararat has peeked its head through the waters. Let’s keep reading to find out what happens next. In verse eight, it reads, quote, “‘Also he sent forth a dove,

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from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. So he wants to see if the primordial hill has risen out of the waters. And what did the bird find? Well, it reads, quote, “‘But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.'” There it is, right in the cannon.

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The celestial bird or the divine being that came out of the ark, the holy of holies, found no place to rest. There was no place or throne on which the bird could rest. So what does the dove do next? Verse eight continues, quote, “‘But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, “‘and she returned unto him into the ark, “‘for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.

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He put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in unto him into the ark and he stayed yet another seven days. So you can see here Noah is a type of the high God. He’s playing the role of the high God in the Holy of Holies, welcoming the beloved son back in to the ark, to the Holy of Holies. But note that there’s seven days here. So the dove.

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who according to our research then represents the dragon slaying beloved son returns to the ark, the holy of holies. And how long does he stay in the holy of holies? Seven days. Now that’s interesting, because in Genesis, how long do we learn it takes to create the earth, for the earth to emerge out of the primordial waters? You’re right, seven days. You’ll probably never look at the story of Noah and the ark the same way again. And you probably shouldn’t, because now you have a much greater understanding of what it’s all about.

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And think about one other thing. What was actually in the ark? See, in Genesis chapter six, verse 19, it tells us that quote, every living thing was in the ark. So all of the seeds and plants and animals that were needed to give life to a new world were in the ark, just like a giant cosmic egg.

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I hope you’re beginning to see how all of the symbolism is coming together to tell the same story. For our purposes in this episode, however, the Noah story illustrates that the search for the place to rest is an important aspect of the ancient Hebrew tradition as well. In fact, there is one last interesting tidbit between the Noah story and rest that’s worth pointing out. See, the masculine form of the name Noah in Hebrew

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Noach and it actually means to rest or repose. So Noah’s actual name means to rest. I promise I am not making this stuff up. So here again we have a very, very strong connection between the ark, the holy of holies, and the notion of rest. So if Noah is the archetype of God the father and one finds rest in the father, then of course Noah’s name should mean rest.

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Okay, we find another interesting reference to rest in the biblical canon in Genesis chapter 2 verse 15, which reads, quote, And the Lord God took the man Adam and put him into the Garden of Eden. In Hebrew, the verb to put or to put Adam in the garden, which we established in episode number four was the earth’s first sacred sanctuary or temple is Yarnach. The NAS exhaustive coordinates says

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Yahnach is quote, the same as Nahak, which we just learned was Noah’s name. So to put Adam in the Garden of Eden could just as easily be translated, quote, God took Adam and put him in the garden temple to rest. Like we mentioned in episode number four, the rest of the verse is actually really interesting too because it reads, and the Lord God took the man and put Nawak.

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him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. We learned in that episode that to dress and to keep were references to priestly service in God’s temple. So from that, we learned that Adam too found rest serving as a priest in God’s temple. A scholar by the name of David Campbell makes a really insightful observation. And this is what he says, quote,

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requires more explanation, and to answer it we must go back to the garden. Our mistaken concept is that rest equates to inactivity, to leisure, to doing nothing because God has done everything. But even as that is a misunderstanding of grace, so also is it a misunderstanding of rest? Rest is what God did when he finished his work of creation. Did God retire once his creative work was finished?

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That was the very point he began to exercise authority over what he had just created. That gives us an initial clue of what God’s rest is. Genesis clearly says that God put Adam into the garden to work it and keep it. That brings us to this unexpected conclusion. Adam exercised the government of God over the garden.

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Yet this activity of ruling and reigning, of working and keeping, is described as rest. That’s pretty fascinating. So here again, we have the connection between the garden, God’s sacred temple, the Holy of Holies, and rest. And note how the Jewish notion of rest perfectly conforms to the notion of rest that we see everywhere else in the ancient world.

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We find a similar correspondence in Psalm 132 verses 8, 13 and 14. The New International Version translates it like this, quote, arise Lord and come to your resting place, you and the Ark of your might. Note how the Ark is referenced here and that the Ark is referred to as the Ark of your might.

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arc, the symbol of your power. Verses 13 and 14 read, quote, For the Lord hath chosen Zion, and Zion’s actually another name for his temple dwelling, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.

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So you can see all the same elements right here. We have Zion, which refers to Mount Zion. And you know by now that the word mountain is a synonym for a temple. We have rest, and we have the Lord’s habitation or place of dwelling. All the same elements. Well, what about in early Christianity? Do we find the same understanding of God’s rest in the early Christian tradition?

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Yes. And where do we find the greatest elaboration on rest? Well, it’s in one of my favorite ancient texts, the Epistle to the Hebrews. We’re running out of time in this episode and I have a lot of papers to grade for my full-time job. It’s that time of the semester. So I think I’ll save a lot of my thoughts on the concept of rest in the Epistle of the Hebrews for another edition of Hebrew Unscripted.

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If you’re interested in listening to the first edition of Hebrews Unscripted, you can find that on our sister podcast, The Ancient Tradition Audio-Rit. I’ll post the edition on rest on our sister podcast as well. Before I close out this episode though, I want to give you a quick little taste. In light of everything we’ve learned about rest in this episode, listen to what Christ says in Hebrews chapter three, verses 10 to 11. And keep in mind that these are Christ’s own words.

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This isn’t secondary or tertiary Christian sources. This comes straight from Christ’s lips. This is Christ’s doctrine. The verses read, quote, wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said, they do always err in their heart and they have not known my ways. Here, Christ is grieving.

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He’s grieving because the people err. Their hearts are amiss, and so they don’t truly understand the doctrine he’s trying to teach them. And this grieves him. Then listen to what he says next, quote, he says, so I swear in my wrath, swears actually refers to oaths, they shall not enter into my rest.

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Having gone through this episode, we have a much better idea of what Christ is talking about here when he says, they shall not enter into my rest. A lot of people think that rest is talking about heaven in general, but it’s not. As we’ve learned in this episode, rest refers to the royal temple where God dwells. And where does he dwell in his royal temple? He dwells in the holiest precinct in his temple, the Holy of Holies.

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It’s there that he reigns on his throne. So to not be able to quote enter into his rest means to not be able to enter into his throne room. Note how Christ uses the word enter here. To enter suggests that there is some type of door or threshold that one must pass through if they’re to enter into the fullness of Christ’s presence in the Holy of Holies.

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What Christ says here is some pretty tough doctrine. And this is not my doctrine, this is his doctrine. He’s the one that is telling us that those who don’t understand his true doctrine, because their hearts are amiss, cannot enter the sacred precinct where he dwells. It’s pretty straightforward. And when you think about it though, this is not surprising because remember, Christ is a king of Zedek.

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He perfectly upholds the cosmic law of rightness. There’s no darkness in him. So those with the darkness in themselves could never withstand his presence. It’s for their own safety that they’re not allowed in his presence. And it’s also for Christ’s home, so that it’s not profaned. A tough doctrine, but a quite logical doctrine nonetheless.

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To close out this episode, let me return to the scholar David Campbell, who I mentioned earlier, and he writes this, quote, “‘We now understand that the resting place of God “‘is the very place where God begins his rule.'” And Campbell’s referring to the Garden of Eden here. “‘In each case, creation, tabernacle, and temple, “‘God first subdued disorder, “‘then began to rule over what he had created,

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Once he had brought order from chaos and nothingness and thus finished his creative work, he began to rule over what he had created. Not only that, he shared his place of rulership and rest with Adam. Each of the accounts we’ve discussed on today’s program reinforces the notion that after the beloved son defeated the dragon and was crowned a king, that he looked over the vast primordial elements and he saw that there was no place to rest.

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Now would be the time to get to work. He’s got a lot of building to do. We learned a couple of very important points in this episode about the ancient concept of rest. Number one, true rest and all that it implies about heavenly kingship is available only to those who conquer the dragon. Number two, true rest is not available.

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unless God’s holy temple and throne are built. And number three, true rest is found in only one place, in the innermost sanctum of God’s supremely sacred precinct, the Holy of Holies. That’s the doctrine of the beloved son. Let our hearts not be amiss so that we may enter his rest.

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That’s it for me. I’ll leave you with the words of William Shakespeare. Knowledge is the wing we’re with, we fly to heaven. I’m Jack Logan.

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You’ve been listening to the Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production.