Posted on 06/27/2025 12:41:41 PM PDT by Red Badger
18. An Indian chief and a cavalry captain climb to the top of a tall hill and look out upon the entire Indian tribe. The captain says worriedly, “I don’t like the sound of those drums.” The chief says, “I know. It’s not our regular drummer.”
I don’t get it
What do a drummer and a blind javelin thrower have in common?
Neither one has to be very good to get peoples’ attention.
Can I book a dive trip?
Auto-didact.
That’s a big issue in the prehistoric migration of species, including hominids, out of Africa. It’s also an issue in Biblical archaeology. The whole region, including what is now the Middle East, was wetter as recently as 5-7,000 years ago, into “modern” times when the Egyptians and Mesopotamians were inventing civilization and written records begin to appear.
I caught a YouTube video some time back that discussed the “missing” rivers of the Garden of Eden. Biblical scholars have always assumed the Tigris and Euphrates, with the Garden of Eden arguably (probably) located in the formerly marshy areas of the lower Euphrates (largely drained by Saddam Hussein to help control the Marsh Arabs). But where are the others?
There is also a substantial stream, which was much larger as recently as 5-7,000 years ago, which flows from the Zagros Mountains into the lower Euphrates.
There is also a now completely dried up ancient riverbed that ran from the coastal mountains of Israel and Jordan east across what is now the desert regions of Jordan and Iraq; I don’t recall whether it ran far enough south to loop into northern Saudi Arabia as well. The man who put together the video drove the route, and once you see it, it’s unmistakable. Today, it’s a dry wadi, though I imagine it is susceptible to flash flooding in the ways that desert wadis are. As recently as 5-7,000 years ago, it was a major river.
The river count in Genesis may be historically correct without any need for the innumerable theories reaching as far out as the Indus and Nile. Those rivers are geographical nonsense, but when theory comes up short a few facts, scholars are known to get pretty inventive — sometimes to the point that they set themselves up for well-placed mockery from the debunkers. If we reconstruct the ancient climate, that problem may disappear.
What do you consider “the river count” in Genesis?
The Afar region contains an array of both salt and fresh water lakes.
GODZILLA!
Thanks Red Badger.
I’ll step lightly because I don’t read Hebrew, but Genesis says a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and from there divided into four streams.
One garden. Five rivers. Then it gets tricky. Since I can’t read the original text, I have to punt, but I gather that at least some scholars argue that directionality is not definitive in ancient Hebrew, so what we translate as flowing in vs. flowing out, or upstream vs. downstream, is open. I dunno.
But start with the five rivers. We have the Tigris and Euphrates, uniting to form the lower Euphrates. That’s three. Now find two more.
7,000 years ago, maybe that was obvious on the ground.
He taught them, would be my guess.
That would be 42, of course.
I thought 42 was the number of the beast before he grew up.
If there’s Afar there, it must have been set by the hotspot.
‘Ancient Dry Riverbed from the Coastal Mountains of Israel East.’
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I’ve heard it said Jerusalem was likely the area of the Garden of Eden which would explain God’s affinity for it —perhaps.
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Also Jesus’ Return will be to touch down at the Mount of Olives which Will Split and a River will Flow from it.
This part is in Scripture.
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Ok. Find five rivers, ancient or modern, around Jerusalem.
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