For full discussion, see: http://genesisflood-amaic.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/re-our-post-prophet-elijah-as-greek.html
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As noted, the Genesis account contains the origins
of the institution of marriage. However, the kind of marriage that first
appeared, the one that led to the Original Sin, was one that Adam described as;
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife:" (Genesis 2:24 KJV). In essence it was the marriage
arrangement of a matriarchal society, one where a man left his own family and
went to live with his wife's. The children born to such a social structure
belonged to the family of their mother, using, no doubt the mother's family
name, and following the dictates of the matriarch. It was what we would call
today, full-blown feminism. This system did not work out, it led directly to
the Original Sin. God Himself described Adam's mistake as; "thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife" (Genesis 3:17 KJV). After all, this
original feminist concept of marriage was apparently Adam's idea in the first
place, a decision in which God seems to have taken no part. (see Genesis
2:23,24).
After the committing of the Sin, which is
characterized by Moses as eating from the forbidden tree, God Himself
prescribed the remedy to mankind's, originally perverse, marriage arrangement,
directly to the woman; "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee." (Genesis 3:16). This is a complete departure from the
previously attempted matrilineality. This, much overlooked, reading of the
Genesis account, garners a kind of confirmation from the Jewish Legends,
wherein a woman named Lilith is said to be Adam's first wife. "Like him
she had been created out of the dust of the ground. But she remained with him
only a short time, because she insisted upon enjoying full equality with her
husband. She derived her rights from their identical origin. ... She takes her
revenge by injuring babes--baby boys during the first night of their life,
while baby girls are exposed to her wicked designs until they are twenty days
old." (Louis Ginzberg, "Legends of the Jews" Vol. I, Chap. II, "Woman")
Legendary it may be, but Lilith, as the allegorical figurehead of modern
feminism, still injures babes to this very day, through the contrivance of the
women's liberation movement's favorite political imperative, abortion!
How does this understanding of the Scriptural
origin of patrilineal matrimony compare with what we know about what Greek
mythology has to say about it? The two, supposedly separate, cultures have
surprisingly corresponding accounts. The Greek myths tell us that it was
Cecrops, who, upon leading the people up out of the land Egypt (a matrilineal
society), was the first to recognize patriarchal paternity. While, to the
Hebrews, it was Moses who led the people out of Egypt and wrote Genesis 3:16
(Unto the woman he said, …thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee.) in order to redefine the roles of men and women for the Israelites
as opposed to the custom of their previous Egyptian overlords (Athena, of
Cecrops' Athens, had “accidentally” killed Pallas in the Greek myth, much the same
as Eve had superseded Lilith in the writings of Moses.).
At this point let us recall the Athenian myth that
covers this same episode. According to Marcus Varro (a Roman historian who died
about 28 BC. he wrote a now lost book called "De Gente Populi Romani"
from which Augustine, who had access to it back then, got this story), the
choice between worshiping Athena or Poseidon was put to the vote of the people
of Attica. They were asked to pick which would be more beneficial to mankind,
Athena’s olive tree or Poseidon’s fountain. In those days, women had an equal
vote with men. The men all voted for the god, and all the women voted for the
goddess, but since there was one more woman than there were men, Athena won the
referendum. Angered, Poseidon sent a great flood. So terrible was his judgment
that it was decided to deprive women of the vote and to forbid children to bear
their mother's names for the future. (Augustine, De civitate Dei xviii.9).
Notice how, in accordance with the Greek myth, before choosing the serpent
woman's tree, children born to the Athenian women (people who were led up out
of the land of Egypt by their great lawgiver and settled into twelve national
groups), were raised under their mother's name; and women, by virtue of their
majority vote, ruled over the men. When it turned out that the choice of the
women angered the male god, the situation was rectified in nearly the same way
that it was in the Scriptural narrative.
John Gill's commentary on Genesis 2:24 says;
"Athens ... had a king named Cecrops, whom, as all antiquity is full of
fables, they represented to have been of both sexes, because he was the first
to join male and female in marriage." (Justin, "Epitome of the
Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus" Volume 2. 2. c. 6.), whence he was
said to be "biformis" (twi-formed) and was called "difyis"
(according to the "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and
Mythology" under the article "CECROPS" by William Smith
"Some ancients referred the epithet "difyis" to marriage of
which tradition made him the founder") unless, as some (William Salden,
"Otia Theologica" Exercitat. 1. sect. 14. p. 13, 14.) have thought,
that he and Moses were one and the same who delivered out the first institution
of marriage. (Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, perhaps quoting John
Calvin, on Genesis 2:24). Notice how the quote from Justin, is seemingly
referring to the serpent half of Cecrops, as representing women; and how the
quote from William Salden shows that it was thought by some, that Moses and Cecrops,
were the same person!
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