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4 Spiritual Laws in Chinese |
Genesis is the oldest book of the Bible. It was written by Moses when the people of Israel moved
from Egypt to Canaan. That was in the 15th century BC (Before Christ). Nowadays liberal
theologians suppose that the chapters 1-11 of Genesis have been added to the Bible during the
Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. However, there are sources out of the Bible,
which show an echo of these old events and so prove the old age and the reality of these events.
The Chinese language contains about 200 basic symbols, which are basic words.
Other words can be formed by combining these basic symbols to more complicated pictures.
Sometimes a symbol is added to a word in order to present the pronunciation of that word.
In this article we consider words without that pronunciation symbols.
We start with the Paradise. That is the garden, where the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were created.
The Biblical name of the Paradise is garden in Eden.
In the Bible is recorded: "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden.
And there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is
pleasant to the sight, and good for food.
The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the
tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it was divided and became
four heads.
A very remarkable source is formed by the Chinese signs.
The Chinese do not use alphabetic writing; their words are represented by symbols.
This symbol language has been used for more than 4000 years. It dates from the time just after the
Babylonian confusion of tongues. The events recorded in Genesis 1-11 were still well-known when
the Chinese signs were designed. In the mean time the culture of China has been
changed thoroughly, but the echo of Genesis still exists in the Chinese signs. Even after the
spelling-reform
of the 20th century that echo has not disappeared.
The fact that the oldest stories of the Bible can be found in Chines signs is an evidence that
Chinese as well as Jews (= the modern name for the people of Israel) have common ancestors,
who have lived these stories and have told them to their descendants.
This proves that these stories are historical events in stead of inventions of the Jews.
That garden is represented by the Chinese word tičn,
that is a garden with four irrigation channels, like in Eden:
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16,17). This can be found in the Chinese symbol for prohibition or to prohibit:
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| = | Trees + |
After that the Satan came with a secret. He spoke to the woman in the shape of a serpent, but with the voice of a person: "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it so that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Genesis 3:1)
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| = | Secret |
"And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die." (Genesis 3:2,3), This can be found in the Chinese word guo for fruit:
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| Fruit | = | + Garden |
"And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a
tree to be desired she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."
(Genesis 3:4-6). This can be found in the Chinese word lán for desire or greed
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| = | + Trees |
"And the eyes of both of them were opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves." (Genesis 3:7). When they noticed that they were naked, they made clothing of leaves of a fig-tree in the garden:
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| = | Clothing | + Garden |
After that Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden, so that they could no longer eat of the tree of life. So they lost the eternal life. However, there was hope, for the Redeemer would come to bruise the Satan, although the Redeemer would be wounded at his heel.
Then Adam and Eve got children, among which Cain, the eldest son, and his brother Abel.
"And in the end of days, it happened, Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground.
And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his sheep and of the fat of it. And the LORD had respect to Abel and to his
offering,
but He did not have respect to Cain and to his offering." (Genesis 4:3-5).
In the Chinese word e
for righteous(ness) is recorded that a clean animal like
a sheep had to be sacrificed to receive (temporary) remission of sins:
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| = | Sheep | + Lance |
But Cain got angry with God and killed his brother Abel. Then God said to Cain: "And now you are cursed, more than the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." (Genesis 4:11). This can be found in the Chinese word xiong for eldest brother:
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| = | Mouth + |
Xiong also has other meanings than eldest brother. In that case the pronunciation is the same, but the symbol is different. The other meanings are always negative, like cruel man, killer or drunkard. These meanings are a striking description of Cain.
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Note that a mark has been placed on his head: And Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold! You have driven me out from the face of the earth today, and I shall be hidden from Your face. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall be that anyone who finds me shall kill me. And the LORD said to him, Therefore whoever kills Cain shall be avenged seven times. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain so that anyone who found him should not kill him.(Genesis 4:13-15).
Men were able to commit every sin and it got from bad to worse at earth.
But Noah was a good exception, he was a righteous man.
Therefore God wanted to make a new start with him and his family.
The flood would come over the earth and Noah had to make a great boat, the Ark.
He had to go into the Ark with his wife, his three sons and his three daughters-in-law
with one ore seven pairs of all kind of animals:
"And Noah was five hundred years old. And Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth ...
And Noah went in. And his sons and his wife and his sons' wives went in with him into the ark,
because of the waters of the flood."
(Genesis 5:32; 7:7).
"in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared (in which a few, that is,
eight souls were saved through water)."
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| = | 8 | + Vessel |
After the flood mankind did not obey the command of God to fill the earth:
"And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.
And they said to one another, Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had
brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
nd they said, Come, let us build us a city and a
tower, and its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth ...
And the LORD said, Behold! The people is one and they all have one language.
And this they begin to do. And now nothing which they have imagined to do will be restrained from them.
Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language,
so that they cannot understand one another's speech ...
Therefore the name of it is called Babelbecause the LORD confused the language of all the earth there.
And from there the LORD scattered them abroad on the face of all the earth."
(
The bricks ware baked with straw, that is dried grass, see:
"You shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as before" (Exodus 5:7).
The tower of Babel can be found in the Chinese word tga for tower:
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| = | Grass | + Clay | + Mouth |
Another note on the word righteous(ness). It is composed from the elements sheep, hand and lance. But it is remarkable that the signs hand and lance form together the symbol for I (the meaning can be me, my, we, our and us too):
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| = | Hand |
Thus righteous(ness) can be considered as a composition of the symbols for sheep and I too::
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| = | Sheep |
This implies that justification was possible to put our sins on the sheep to be offered.
Meanwhile we know that this sheep was a picture of the real Lamb to be sacrificed, namely Christ:
"For also
Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us."
Conclusion
The Chinese people are about 700 years older than the book Genesis. Yet it is striking that Chinese symbols can be used as pictures for the first chapters of Genesis. That means that there exist a common source for that knowledge. The knowledge on the events recorded in Genesis 1-11 was available for the several people after the Babylonian confusion of tongues in the third millennium BC (before Christ). This is an evidence that the Bible is not a Jewish invention, but based on reality!!
The book Genesis describes how sin (= disobedience to God) entered the world. The sins have resulted in a separation between God and men. But fortunately God has given his Son Jesus Christ to redeem us. Read more about it in the gospel.
A scheme of the history of the Bible is roughly:
| 4000 BC |
Creation of Adam and Eve and their Fall. |
| 3870 BC |
Cain kills Abel. |
| 2400 BC |
The flood. |
| 2200 BC |
Building of the tower of Babel, confusions of tongues and dispersion of the people,
(like the Chinese people) all over the world. |
| 1800 BC | Birth of Jacob (Israel), the Ancestor of the people of Israel. Now they are called the Jews. |
| 1450 BC | The exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt. Moses starts writing the book Genesis. |
| Babylonian dispersion of the Jews. | |
| 33 AC |
Crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
| 100 AC | The last book of the Bible, Revelation, has been written. |
Zhongwen is an online dictionary.
More about Genesis in Chinese signs can be found in the books
"The Discovery of Genesis", C.H. Kang and E.R. Nelson, ISBN 0-570-03792-1
"Genesis and the Mystery Confucius Couldn't Solve", E.R. Nelson and R.E. Broadberry,
ISBN 0-570-04635-1.
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