Just Genesis: Abraham's Ancestors Came Out of Africa
To construct an accurate picture of the ancient world of Genesis we must examine the assumption that Abraham’s people originated in the Tigris-Euphrates area. The Genesis genealogies presents a different picture: that Abraham’s ancestors migrated east and north from Africa, and the evidence of anthropology, genetics, archaeology and linguistics supports this view.
These ancestors are the first known kingdom builders and their dominion extended from Africa to India. As evidence, consider the correspondence between the Hindu heroes Adimo, Heva, Sherma, Hama and Jiapheta and their Genesis counterparts Adam, Eve, Shem Ham, and Japheth. It is argued that this correspondence is due to a westward migration of Asiatics. However, this does not align with the evidence for the northeast migrations of peoples from Africa. Add the fact that Abraham’s kingdom-building ancestors were constantly searching for new territories, and a cogent picture of the people referenced in Genesis begins to emerge.
If the migration of Abraham’s ancestors was east and north and the stories reach as far as the Indus River Valley (even Nepal), these stories must be viewed as a seedbed of a widespread Afro-Asiatic worldview. In fact, they must be the stories told from Africa to India. This may explain the duplication of creation accounts, with the Adam and Eve story being older than Genesis 1. Its closest parallels are found in Africa, not Mespotamia. Consider, for example, the account of the first parents Gikuyu and Mumbi and the presence of a tree of life.
Long before the emergence of a people called Israel, ruler-priests controlled vast areas of the ancient world. They built kingdoms and at the center of their kingdoms they built temples and shrines where they worshiped the Maker of all things in heaven and on earth. They practiced animal sacrifice and offered prayers with incense. They regarded water as the element of purification. They observed sacred laws and spread across the earth. The biblical injunction to multiply and spread across the earth was apparently taken seriously by the ancient Afro-Asiatic ruler-priests. …
I don't always know what to make of Linsley's work on this topic, but I do find it fascinating.
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