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Mysteries of Genesis
Chapter 4
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[Mysteries of Genesis]
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Chapter IV
The Reaction to Sense Living
Genesis 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11
THE RESULT of sense living is the resistance that is a part
of man's consciousness. The mind of man is constantly at
work, and this work results in the production of thought
forms. These thought forms assume individual definiteness;
they take on personality. They are aggregated into a
composite mind, which works out into the body. Whenever a
new idea is introduced into the mind, the personality is
disturbed. It resists; but the spiritual idea is always
more powerful than the personal, and with this resistance
comes more or less commotion in the consciousness.
Those who have entered into this process of spiritual
evolution, or what Jesus called the regeneration, are
prepared for the reception of these divine new ideas, and
instead of resisting they say with Jesus, "Not my will, but
thine, be done." This attitude opens the way for the easy
advent into their consciousness of God ideas and leads to
an inspiration or steady flow of ideas into it. In this way
the sense consciousness is being transformed or lifted up,
and the new man appears while the old man is sloughed off.
This is crucifixion. The assimilation of the new ideas
leads to resurrection and finally to ascension.
There have been many floods upon the earth, and nearly
every people has traditions of a time when to
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them "the whole earth" was engulfed in a great deluge.
Geologists are agreed that there have been many deluges in
the history of the earth. But these do not necessarily
refer to the Flood of Genesis, nor do they corroborate it
as history.
As history the story of the great rain in Genesis is very
uncertain, and from a historical standpoint we should gain
but little of value from its study. But as a symbolic
description of certain habits of thought both in the
individual and in the race and of the result of those
habits of thought in consciousness, we can profit much from
the story's study.
When we observe cloud formations over the earth we can be
sure that rain is indicated. The wind may blow the clouds
away from the immediate vicinity, but some other part of
the earth will get the rain. "Clouds" formed by ignorant or
erroneous thinking also indicate a coming storm. The effect
of untrue thoughts may become manifest in any part of the
body.
The trials and reverses in the life of an individual can be
traced to a definite cause in his thinking. In it there has
been some error of belief or some confusion of thought,
which in its natural course under the law has worked itself
into outer expression as in apparent loss, an accident, a
disappointment, or a disease. We deplore the condition, yet
see in it two possibilities of good. First the
manifestation has fulfilled the law and provided an avenue
of escape for the pent-up error within, and secondly, it
has taught a valuable lesson. There is small comfort in the
thought that an earthquake has relieved a strained and
abnormal condition in the earth's crust. Yet when we look a
little deeper we see that a strained and abnormal condition
in the
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race thought that had to become manifest has been relieved
and the race consciousness is the better for it.
Gen. 6:1-7. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply
on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto
them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that
they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they
chose. And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not strive with
man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days
be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were in the
earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of
God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare
children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of
old, the men of renown.
And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah
that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at
his heart. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast,
and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it
repenteth me that I have made them.
When we lower our ideals to a material basis, "the sons of
God" are taking unto themselves wives of "the daughters of
men." "Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually." When we join
spiritual faculties like faith, will, and imagination to
material surroundings and personalities and sensual
desires, we are falling short of the law of Being, which is
that these higher faculties shall draw from the formless
and be joined to that realm. The Nephilim represent
spiritual ideas (sons of God) uniting with psychical forces
to
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bring forth unregenerated physical forces. To unite
spiritual ideas with sensual images is in direct opposition
to divine law and in the Scripture is termed "wickedness."
When the wrong use of the spiritual faculties reaches a
certain limit, the law (Lord) of our being begins to
regulate the consciousness. Outraged nature reacts; a
destruction of the false, man-made condition sets in. This
it is which is symbolized in the Book of Genesis by the
"flood" of Noah.
Gen. 6:8-17. But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous
man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.
And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the
earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence. And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was
corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the
earth.
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before
me; for the earth is filled with violence through them;
and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee
an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this
is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three
hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the
height of it thirty cubits. A light shalt thou make to the
ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the
door of the ark shall thou set in the side thereof; with
lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And I,
behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to
destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from
under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die.
Lamech, the name of Noah's father, is a name
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signifying "a strong young man," and the name Noah means
"rest." In the days of our youth we idealize the material
world and devote our spiritual faculties to the things of
sense. This devotion becomes so complete that we no longer
use our spiritual faculties for their proper functions on
the spiritual plane. This results in abnormal conditions,
and the balance must be restored. A reaction sets in and
there is a flood of seemingly adverse experiences. But Noah
(rest) finds "favor in the eyes of Jehovah."
One who has indulged the strength of youth (Lamech) in
pursuing the things of sense until under the law of
spiritual equilibrium he begins to require rest (Noah) may
have bodily ills. The cross-currents of thought have
brought about a precipitation of negation in the body
consciousness, caused by wicked or error thoughts clashing
with the spiritually positive ideas. This is followed by
the "flood," which drowns out the material thoughts and
cleanses the "earth."
Science teaches that man's body contains all the elements
that are found in the earth. This gives rise to the thought
of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Religion however goes a
step farther and says that man is the epitome of Being,
that he is like his Maker in spirit, soul, and body, the
image and likeness of God. If man's body is of the same
character as the earth, it is in some of its aspects like
its prototype. The earth's surface is three fourths water
and the body is about eighty per cent water. This is a
major negative condition that needs but little augmenting
to cause an overflow or a "flood." Only our positive
spiritual thoughts hold back a deluge, and once there is an
overbalance
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the negative is let loose and there is great destruction.
There is no stopping this flood by any material means, and
one who is spiritually wise will not fear it but rather
rejoice in the body cleansing it brings about.
Just as the earth's waters evaporate and surround it with
clouds of mist, so the mists and clouds of life surround
man's body. As the physical forces move on these mists and
clouds of earth, so do the mental forces move on and cause
the invisible ethers to condense and flood the body with
its own negative thoughts. The poetic words "A flood of
thoughts came o'er me" is no metaphor but a physiological
fact. When mind and body reach a certain tenseness or
strained condition, the law forces a conjunction, and a
flood is certain to follow. This is exemplified by what is
called a "nervous breakdown." Someone has said that America
is fast becoming a nation of neurotics. We certainly need
this lesson of Noah (rest) to learn to let go of physical
tenseness and material things. This rest can be attained
only when we realize that our faculties are spiritual and
must seek spiritual expression.
Man is an epitome of all that exists in Being, even as
regards the Spirit of God, which is inspired in him. But
man is a free agent. He can open his mind to the divine
intelligence and know the creative law or he can work out
his unfoldment through blind experimentation. Our race is
in the experimental stage. In our ignorance we transgress
the law to the very limit, and then, a great reaction sets
in; a general condition that is negative to the point of
dissolution. Then that in us which always looks obediently
to God in an extremity
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is awakened and we seek the divine law. This obedient
disposition is represented by Noah, through whom the seed
of a new state of consciousness is saved.
Gen. 6:18-22. But I will establish my covenant with thee;
and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and
thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every
living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou
bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they
shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind,
and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing
of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come
unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of
all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall
be food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to
all that God commanded him, so did he.
The only refuge from this "flood" is the ark of Jehovah.
The ark represents a positive, saving state of
consciousness, which agrees with or forms a covenant with
the principle of Being, with subconscious inspiration, with
Christ. This ark is the product of "rest," "abiding"
(Noah), in the spiritual part of us, right in the midst of
the flood of error. Noah heeded not the jeers of the people
about him but rested on the promise of God.
Your ark must be built on a scientific understanding of the
truth as regards the presence, power, and wisdom of God.
This is suggested by the mathematical dimensions prescribed
for the ark. Your ark is built on affirmations of what you
are in Spirit. You take with you into the ark your wife,
your sons and their wives (spiritual principles inhering in
the soul),
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and "of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort"
(male and female or positive and negative activities of
life in the organism).
The idea of divine Truth must be fed with true affirmations
as you are being lifted up and above the flood of error
thoughts that surge about you. In due time the waters of
negation will subside and enable you to walk forth and to
people the "earth" of your body with new and better ideas.
In case the error thoughts destroy the body of flesh, the
ark represents the new body that the mind spiritually
projects and that forms the basis of the organism in the
new incarnation.
The story of Noah and the Flood portrays in wonderful
symbolism the manner in which one of the faculties of being
operates in unfolding the perfect man. The faculty of
renunciation is twofold in action: it eliminates the error,
and it expands the good. The name Noah connotes the sweet
rest and quiet comfort that come after the soul has worked
out some of its problems in consciousness and has perceived
that there is an original spark of divinity in man that is
most sacred and holy and that man's spiritual development
consists in the expansion of this original divine spark.
Jehovah, the image-and-likeness man created by Elohim God,
recognizes only the good and instructs His Adam man to open
his consciousness to good thoughts and to cleanse his
consciousness from all evil by the flood waters of denial.
Man is making his body temple an eternal dwelling place for
the soul. His goal is to bring into expression the kingdom
of the heavens and to establish it within himself. To do
this he needs to realize that the old is
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constantly passing away and the new constantly coming in
according to the outworking of the law. He should not
resist this change but rather assist in bringing it about.
We are born daily and we die daily in some phase of
consciousness. Some errors may stick in our mind for a
while, but when new light is born in consciousness, old
thoughts are carried away by Noah's Flood.
Gen. 7:1-24. And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all
thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou
shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his
female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male
and his female; of the birds also of the heavens, seven and
seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of
all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to
rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every
living thing that I have made will I destroy them off the
face of the ground. And Noah did according unto all that
Jehovah commanded him.
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters
was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his
wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because
of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts
that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that
creepeth upon the ground, there went in two and two unto
Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters
of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year
of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day
of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were
opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and
forty nights.
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In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and
Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three
wives of his sons with them, into the ark; they, and every
beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind,
and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after
its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of
every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two
and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. And
they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as
God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in. And the flood
was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased,
and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the
earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And
the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all
the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were
covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and
the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved
upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and
every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of the
spirit of life, of all that was on dry land, died. And
every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of
the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and
birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the
earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him
in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a
hundred and fifty days.
"The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."
The number 40 is made up of the number 4, representing
unlimited freedom of action, and the cipher, 0,
representing unlimited capacity of action. This number is
used where a definite time cannot be
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given. "Day" and "night" represent periods of understanding
and lack of understanding, succeeding each other during the
"forty" period. The number of Noah's age, 600, represents
an established degree of spiritual unfoldment. The number 7
represents the evolution and fulfillment of the spiritual
law of man on the natural plane.
(For further interpretation of this material see comments
on Gen. 6:8-22.)
Gen. 8:1-3. And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts,
and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God
made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters
assuaged; the fountains also of the deep and the windows of
heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was
restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth
continually: and after the end of a hundred and fifty days
the waters decreased.
This Scripture describes symbolically a change in
consciousness from the negative to the positive state. A
certain set of negative thoughts run their course and the
restorative thought forces are in evidence.
Gen. 8:4-6. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the
seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountain of Ararat.
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month:
in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the
tops of the mountains seen.
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah
opened the window of the ark which he had made:
Ararat symbolizes resting in a state of consciousness high
above the physical plane, where one gets a wide perspective
of material things. It is the place of rest
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(Noah) that one arrives at through understanding and that
follows turbulence, tribulation, and a flood of negative
conditions.
The number 7 represents fullness in the world of phenomena.
It always refers to the divine law of perfection for the
divine-natural man. As man lays hold of the indwelling
Christ, the Saviour, he is raised out of the Adam
consciousness. He then enters the seventh stage of his
unfoldment, where he finds rest and peace. It is the
seventh or perfect stage of man's natural development.
The ark reaches the seventh stage of unfoldment in a high
consciousness, which brings a certain measure of peace and
rest.
Gen. 8:7-14. And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth
to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the
earth. And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the
waters were abated from off the face of the ground; but the
dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she
returned unto him to the ark; for the waters were on the
face of the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and
took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark. And he
stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the
dove out of the ark; and the dove came in to him at
eventide; and, lo, in her mouth an olive-leaf plucked off:
so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the
earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth
the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more.
And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in
the first month, the first day of the month, the waters
were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the
covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of
the ground was dried. And in the second month, on the seven
and twentieth
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day of the month, was the earth dry.
When we begin to realize that we have attained a new and
high state of consciousness we are more or less in doubt as
to its stability. This uncertainty is symbolized by the
raven. The seven days' wait means that we test the
principles of the sevenfold law.
Then we send forth the dove, which represents peace of mind
and confidence in the divine law. The dove is nonresistant:
we rest in the Spirit. The dove brings back a green olive
leaf (which represents the beginning of a new growth). We
start on a new cycle of unfoldment.
Gen. 8:15-22. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth
from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy
sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living
thing that is with thee of all flesh, both birds, and
cattle, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be
fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth,
and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
every beast, every creeping things, and every bird,
whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families,
went forth out of the ark.
And Noah builded an alter unto Jehovah, and took of every
clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered
burnt-offerings on the altar. And Jehovah smelled the sweet
savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again
curse the ground any more for man's sake, for that the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither
will I again smite any more everything living, as I have
done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night
shall not cease.
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The altar in this case represents an abiding resolution of
the spiritual-minded one (Noah) who makes a covenant with
the Lord to continue to "sacrifice" his sensations or
transmute them on the spiritual plane. The spiritual-minded
person should have his daily meditations and prayers,
during which he lifts up all his states of consciousness,
both masculine and feminine, seeking to know the reality
back of appearances and to restore them to the Lord. This
is symbolized by the daily sacrifice of the animals that
came out of the ark. Thus the body is secured against the
results of another universal judgment of error thoughts.
Gen. 9:1-7. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be
upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the
heavens; with all wherewith the ground teemeth, and all the
fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered. Every
moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the
green herb have I given you all. But flesh with the life
thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And
surely your blood, the blood of your lives, will I require;
at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the
hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, will
I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by
man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made
He man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth
abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Noah (the consciousness), with his sons (states of mind),
after the Flood (his purification) is very closely related
to God.
The "flood" cleanses man of certain cloudy states of mind,
and he begins to see that he lives on three
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planes of consciousness, represented by Noah's three sons:
Ham, whose name means "hot," typifying body mind; Shem,
whose name means "renowned," typifying Spirit-mind, and
Japheth, whose name means "extended and wide," typifying
the intellect. He also sees that his body mind organizes a
fourth plane, that of the visible flesh, Canaan.
The matter of food is also to be solved. "Every moving
thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the green herb
have I given you all." The wording implies that green herbs
are to be the food of both man and animal. But the next
command is "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the
blood thereof, shall ye not eat." The importance of the
living element in blood is its soul (Hebrew nephesh), which
becomes part of man's soul when he eats the blood of
animals. This is forbidden, hence to this day orthodox
Hebrews drain the blood from the animal flesh before it is
offered for food. It is also significant that green herbs
are now recommended for food for both animals and man. When
we eat of the flesh of animals as popularly prepared we
appropriate the soul of the animal as well as the body, and
our soul is mentally impregnated with animal tendencies. As
Byron said, "the eating of meat makes me savage."
God covenants or agrees to bless the purified consciousness
and its realm of ideas (seed). Every idea (living creature)
that is illumined of Spirit--even an idea relating to the
body consciousness (earth)--is blessed when man knows the
creative law and operates in accord with it.
Once the consciousness has been cleansed and man has
awakened to his spiritual nature, he is saved
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through obedience to divine law and is no longer subject to
dissolution through negative means. This "covenant," which
is eternal, is with those who give up mind and body to the
keeping of divine law. The "bow" signifies the orderly
arrangement of ideas in Divine Mind and their perfect
manifestation. One who is poised in Truth rests in the
consciousness of God's presence even in the midst of error
(the cloud).
Gen. 9:8-19. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with
him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with
you, and with your seed after you; and with every living
creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every
beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark,
even every beast of the earth. And I will establish my
covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any
more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any
more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is
the token of the covenant which I make between me and you
and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual
generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be
for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it
shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will
remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every
living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more
become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be
in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember
the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said
unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have
established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
And the sons of Noah, that went forth from the ark, were
Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of
Canaan. These three were the sons
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of Noah: and of these was the whole earth over-spread.
God made a covenant with Noah that the earth should not
again be flooded, and the rainbow was given as a sign of
this covenant. The rainbow as a token of the covenant
between God and the earth involves the law of obedience. It
is also symbolic of the human race and of the law of unity.
The rainbow is formed of many drops of water, each of which
acts as a prism, receiving light from the sun and
transmitting it by refraction. Each drop represents a human
being and the whole race. Only as the drops refract the
sun's rays do they become visible and only as man
"refracts" God does he make his demonstration.
The seven colors of the solar spectrum are produced by
different rates of vibration of a universal energy that in
its myriad activities makes the visible universe.
When man is like Noah, obedient to the guidance of God, he
is never flooded by negative conditions. When the whole
race enters into this obedience, the perfect principles of
unity and God refraction and reflection will be forever
established. The rainbow is the sign of this state in which
we shall all form with our obedient mind a circle of
natural perfection. As the rainbow connects the heavens and
the earth, so the state of perfect obedience and unity in
Spirit brings the earth and the kingdom of the heavens
together as one.
Gen. 9:20-29. And Noah began to be a husbandman, and
planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was
drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the
father of Canaan,
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saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren
without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it
upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered
the nakedness of their father; and their faces were
backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And
Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son
had done unto him. And he said,
Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
And he said,
Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.
God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty
years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty
years: and he died.
Noah had planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine: took
into his physical nature the juice of the grape. This is
symbolical of the new spiritual life that is still
contaminated by the sense consciousness. Noah had given his
attention to the cultivation of the vineyard (earth
consciousness) rather than the cultivation of the spiritual
consciousness. More thoroughly to explain what the
drunkenness of Noah signifies we must resolve the allegory
into its spiritual elements.
Noah became "uncovered" or naked (lost his garment of
Truth) because he mixed sense (artificial) stimulants with
the new wine of life, Spirit. His cultivation of the life
force in this physical manner is like the work of some of
our physical scientists. Athletes cultivate the physical in
an effort to increase the flow of life force and imagine
that the physical side is
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the whole thing. Instead of illuminating Noah or giving him
life the wine put him to sleep. He was intoxicated with
error thought, and this opened his consciousness to
negation. The higher man saw at once that he was not
expressing spiritual Truth.
Although the sons of Noah were supposed to be on a higher
plane than he, yet they were also in sense consciousness in
a measure, and this is especially true of Ham. Now there is
a higher and lower physical consciousness, and the name of
Canaan, Ham's son, is introduced to symbolize the lower
physical thought, the organized body. Ham saw the ignorance
and the nakedness that sense thinking had produced in his
father but did nothing to remedy it, nor did he try to
extenuate the uncovering in any way. To Ham the thing was
more or less a joke, and he told his brothers about it,
evidently in a scandalous way. This reveals that man cannot
get spiritual life out of material thought.
Shem, representing the Spirit in man, and Japheth,
representing the intellectual nature, have pity on their
father (man) because of his exposure of his nakedness and
sensuality and try to cover it up without seeing it as a
reality. They put a garment over their shoulders and walk
backward and spread it over their father's nakedness. They
do not view the occurrence as a reality.
When Noah awoke from his wine--that is, returned to his
spiritual consciousness--his first words were "Cursed be
Canaan." Canaan means "lowland" and represents the body
consciousness. "A servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren," he said, thus placing the stamp of materiality
upon the body consciousness
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and showing that it cannot give spiritual life.
But Noah said to the God of Shem, "Let Canaan be his
servant"; that is, let the flesh come under the dominion of
the spiritual man. Of Japheth Noah said, "Let him dwell in
the tents of Shem"; that is, let the intellectual man dwell
under the protection of the spiritual man, not as a servant
but as a younger brother. Thus the physical mind (Ham) and
the body (Canaan) come under the dominion of both the
intellectual man and the spiritual man, the I AM itself.
The sons of Noah represent the positive, permanent thoughts
that rise above the negative, wicked conditions, even the
catastrophe of death (the Flood), and come down to earth
again. In other words, they are carried over and
reincarnated when the soul again takes on a body of flesh.
In order to get the most from physical man we must seek to
develop him along spiritual lines. When the spiritual man
(Noah) begins a new cycle, a new evolution in physical
consciousness (after the cleansing of the "flood") he must
give attention to the impact of the ideas put into the body
consciousness, select carefully his food and drink, and
refuse to give himself to the sense consciousness in any
way.
We find the 10th chapter of Genesis to be devoted to
genealogy. It gives an account of the descendents of Noah
and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Gen. 10:1-32. Now these are the generations of the sons of
Noah, namely, of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were
sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and
Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech,
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and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath,
and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish,
and Kittim, and Dodanim. Of these were the isles of the
nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue,
after their families, in their nations.
And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and
Canaan. And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and
Sabtah, and Raamah, Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba,
and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty
one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah:
wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before
Jehovah. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and
Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of
that land he went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh,
and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and
Calah (the same is the great city). And Mizraim begat
Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and
Pathrusim, and Casluhim (whence went forth the
Philistines), and Caphtorim.
And Canaan begat Sidon his first-born, and Heth, and the
Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the
Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite,
and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the
families of the Canaanite spread abroad. And the border of
the Canaanite was from Sidon, as thou goest toward Gerar,
unto Gaza; as thou goest toward Sodom and Gomorrah and
Admah and Zeboiim, unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham,
after their families, after their tongues, in their lands,
in their nations.
And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the
elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.
The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and
Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and
Gether, and Mash. And Arpachshad begat Shelah; and Shelah
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begat Eber. And unto Eber was born two sons: the name of
the one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided;
and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan begat
Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and
Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and
Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were
the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as
thou goest toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. These
are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their
tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their
generations, in their nations: and of these were the
nations divided in the earth after the flood.
The name Shem means "upright," "renowned," "splendor,"
"name." Metaphysically Shem represents the spiritual in man.
The name Ham means "oblique," "curved," "inferior," "hot,"
"blackened." Metaphysically Ham represents the physical in
man, given over to sensuality.
The name Japheth means "extended and wide," "increase,"
"expansion," "unfoldment," "extends without limitation."
Metaphysically Japheth represents the intellect or reason,
the mental realm. To "extend without limitation" this realm
would have to extend into the spiritual.
Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, represent the
spiritual, the physical, and the mental in man.
The names of the "sons of Japheth" follow:
The name Gomer means "organic accumulation," "finished or
perfected," "ended." Gomer represents human reason in its
greatest perfection and completion; but by reasoning alone
man cannot reach spiritual wisdom
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and Truth or come in conscious touch with God, Spirit.
The name Magog means "region of God," "from the upper,
i.e., north," "extreme extension." Symbolically Magog
represents the satanic or selfish thought force in human
consciousness warring against the true thought force that
springs from the ideas that Jesus taught and demonstrated.
The name Madai means "sufficiency," "indefinite capacity,"
"middle portion." Madai represents the phase of being in
man that lies between the outer or conscious thinking mind
and the superconscious mind or Spirit; the psychic realm.
The name Javan means "the East," "the dove," "warmth,"
"fertility," "mire," "deception." Javan symbolizes the
human or personal intellect in man and one of its governing
characteristics, the deceptive, error belief that
understanding is gained through the impressions of the
senses in contact with the outer world and through books,
teachers, and experience rather than through the Spirit of
God within the soul of man. In the broadest sense Javan
also represents the spiritual phase of intelligence or
illumined and inspired intellect, hence the idea of the
East, of fertility and productiveness.
The name Tubal signifies "diffusive motion," "welling,"
"triumphal song." Tubal represents the expanding
possibilities of the consciousness of man, with the joy and
the good that result from increased understanding.
The name Meshech means "perceptibility," "drawing out,"
"deducing." Meshech stands for perception through the
senses, judgment according to appearances,
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and the work of the mind in conceiving ideas and in drawing
conclusions.
The name Tiras means "determination of forms," "thought,"
"imagination," "desire." Metaphysically Tiras represents
the imagination or formative faculty of man made active in
the mind of the individual by the inner longing of the soul
(desire), whichever leads to unfoldment Godward. As the
seventh son of Japheth, Tiras represents a certain fullness
or completeness of that which Japheth symbolizes, the
mental phase of man's being. The power to think, to image
in the mind, is the formative power in man.
The names of "the sons of Gomer," with their meaning,
follow:
The name Ashkenaz means "fire that spreads," "latent fire,"
"hidden fire." Ashkenaz represents the life thought formed
in Spirit, the "fire that spreads" to assist in doing away
with the confused state of mind represented by Babylon.
When the life thought is taken up consciously by man it
extends quickly to the whole consciousness, overthrowing
sense confusion and its inharmonies. Fire stands for
cleansing and purification and is generally used in the
Bible as a symbol of the destruction of evil and error.
The name Riphath signifies "centrifugal force," "spoken
word," "pardon," "healing." Riphath symbolizes the power
actively expressing itself through the will and the word.
This power, though more mental than spiritual, is refining
and healing.
The name Togarmah means "centralizing energy,"
"gravitation," "hard," "strong." Togarmah represents
strength and a drawing, centralizing force or energy; a
force or energy of the intellect rather than of the inner
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spiritual understanding and therefore characterized by very
great hardness and selfishness.
The names of "the sons of Javan" are given here:
The name Elishah means "God firmly establishes,"
"uprightness of God," "God saves." Even the human reason
acknowledges that God is the saving power of His people.
The intellectual powers of man are human and they are
deceptive. Yet they are productive on their own plane; and
Elishah represents the power back of the intellect that
knows God to be the one true helping, sustaining, saving
power in man.
The name Tarshish means "precipitating force," "hard,"
"severity." Tarshish symbolizes the hard, unyielding,
argumentative tendency that is characteristic of the purely
intellectual and reasoning nature in man when unmixed with
divine love and the softening influence of spiritual wisdom.
The name Kittim signifies "the cut off," "the rejected,"
"outsiders." Kittim represents a phase of the outer,
sense-reasoning mind in man, as opposed to the inner, true
spiritual understanding. This phase of thought must be cut
off, rejected, by the individual who would progress
spiritually, since it is an "outsider," uncivilized and
reprobate as far as Truth is concerned.
The name Dodanim means "confederates," "the elect,"
"lovable," "pleasing." Dodanim represents unifying thoughts
of a very excellent character belonging to the intellect in
man.
These are the names of "the sons of Ham":
The name Cush means "burned," "blackened," "firelike." Cush
represents the darkened thought in which man has held his
body and its activities, the seemingly mortal, physical
part of himself. But this
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all changes as he perceives the Truth and holds in mind the
perfect-body idea.
The name Mizraim means "limitation," "bondage,"
"tribulation." Mizraim is symbolical of the sense belief
that the life as well as the organism of man is bound in
materiality and that man is subject to sorrows and to all
forms of error that hinder him from receiving good.
The name Put signifies "state of being stifled,"
"asphyxiation or suffocation." Put represents the darkened,
sorrowful, and very material dying state of mind and body
that results from a lack of spiritual inspiration, of the
inbreathing and understanding of Spirit.
The name Canaan means "material existence," "realized
nothingness," "lowland," "inferior." Canaan thus represents
the body consciousness; the fleshly organism and tendencies
of man; the physical rather than the spiritual. We also
think of Canaan as denoting the subconsciousness.
Here are the names of "the sons of Cush," with their
meaning:
The name Seba signifies "radical mixture," "vital fluid,"
"intoxicated." Seba represents intemperate desire
expressing itself in the body consciousness. The Seba
thought or state of thought is not poised, moderate, or
well balanced as regards anything; it goes to extremes,
especially in the indulgence of the appetites and desires
of the flesh.
The name Havilah means "struggle of elementary life,"
"virtue born of trial." Havilah symbolizes the effort, the
travail, the trials that are necessary to bring into
manifestation the inner spiritual possibilities that lie
back of and are wrapped up in the seemingly material
organism.
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The name Sabtah means "determining motion," "a trun,"
"orbit." Sabtah represents the general cyclical trend of
the activity of the sensual in man. Led away by outer
seeming, man has through the exercise of his personal will
set up a course of action in sense consciousness that falls
short of the divine ideal and is contentious and
destructive.
The name Raamah signifies "moved with agitation,"
"trembling," "quaking." Raamah represents the result or
fruit of the ignorant thought of the sense man regarding
his body. This result takes the shape of the nameless
fears, inner trembling, and un-Godlike emotions that the
sense man experiences.
The significance of the name Sabteca is the same as that of
Sabtah but greatly intensified.
The following are the names of "the sons of Raamah":
The name Sheba means "rest or repose," "stability,"
"restoration." Sheba represents a thought of wholeness or
fullness on some plane of existence. Whether this thought
belongs to the inner man or the outer man depends on who
the person in the Bible name Sheba is and on his descent,
history, or activities. If the activities are constructive
or if he owns descent from Shem he represents higher and
more spiritual thoughts than if the activities are not
constructive and he is descended from Ham.
The name Dedan means "mutual attraction," "selective
affinity," "physical love." Dedan refers to a phase of
physical or animal attraction and affection.
The names of the children of Cush, with their meaning, are
given here:
The name Nimrod means "self-ruling will," "rebellion."
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Nimrod denotes the rule of the personal will in the animal
forces of the organism; also a material belief in courage
and might.
The name Babel signifies "court of Baal," "confusion,"
"chaos," "vanity." When man thinks that he can comprehend
and contract the divine in outer or purely mental or
psychic ways the result is always confusion.
The name Erech means "long," "extended," "slack"; in a good
sense, "prolonged," "lasting." Erech represents a state of
consciousness in which, because of long and extended
material thinking the natural, inherent wholeness and
goodness of man is conceived by him entirely in terms of
the material, bringing about the disastrous results of
error in body and affairs.
The name Accad signifies "castle," "fortress," "highland."
Accad represents a fixed state of belief that protection,
great strength, exalted position, and superiority are to be
attained through the intellectual and the physical alone.
The name Calneh signifies "complete concentration,"
"centralized ambition." Calneh represents selfishness, a
centering in self; also confidence in material conditions
rather than trust in God.
The name Shinar signifies "two rivers," "divided stream,"
"divided mind." Shinar represents a belief in two powers,
an evil as well as a good one, and the error results.
Assyria represents the reasonings, philosophical as well as
physical, that do not recognize a spiritual head of the
universe but are based on sense observation.
The name Nineveh means "exterior growth," "coordination,"
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"education of youth." Nineveh represents the seat of the
natural animal forces in man's body consciousness. The
people of Nineveh were not willfully wicked; they were only
awaiting spiritual instruction that would turn their
attention away from the outer and material to God.
Rehoboth-Ir ("broad places," "enlargements," "forums")
symbolizes thoughts of a broadening, increasing nature,
principally on the intellectual or mental plane in the
individual.
The name Calah signifies "completed," "integrity," "an
ancient." Calah represents a state of consciousness built
about the belief that age (in terms of years) and
experience bring balanced judgment and fullness or
perfection.
The name Resen means "executive power," "control from
above," "restraint." Resen indicates recognition by the
natural man that there is a higher guiding, ruling,
judging, restraining power in his life than that of the
purely human and material.
The name Ludim signifies "travails," "conception,"
"nativity or physical birth." Ludim represents man's
material beliefs regarding the origin and continuation of
the race; also the expression of these beliefs.
The name Anamim means "statues," "rockmen," "fountains."
Anamim represents hard, material thoughts about life
("fountains"). Such thoughts aid in building a corruptible
body, a mere statue in so far as its being truly alive
through union with the divine source of all life is
concerned.
The name Lehabim means "inflamed uprisings," "passionate."
Lehabim represents the life of the seemingly material and
physical organism activated wholly
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by the tendencies and desires of the outer animal man.
Naphtuhim ("the opened," "the hollow," "the empty ones")
represent empty thoughts of lack, thoughts that the
physical man is wholly material.
The name Pathrusim signifies "region of the south," "broken
into fragments," "dust." The Pathrusim represent thoughts
belonging to a state of mind that, though there is good in
it, is still in darkness so far as the individual is
consciously or subconsciously concerned.
The name Casluhim signifies "tried for atonement,"
"forgiveness of sins," "hopes of life." The thought
represented by Casluhim is that man's outer consciousness
evolves, unfolds, Godward by means of trials, testings, and
experience.
The name Philistines signifies "transitory," "migrating,"
"wandering." The Philistines represent forces foreign to
Spirit. The five great cities of the Philistines ruled by
"lords" denote the five senses under the dominion of
thoughts foreign to Spirit (strangers, foreigners).
The name Caphtorim means "converts," "converters."
Caphtorim represents changing, growing, unfolding thoughts
that belong to the seemingly physical in man.
The name Sidon signifies "catching of fish," "providing,"
"hunter." Sidon symbolizes a great increase of ideas on the
animal plane of thought or being in the individual.
The name Heth means "sundered," "broken," "terrified." Heth
represents a very active thought of fear, the result of
thinking apart from Spirit.
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The name Jebusite signifies "trodden down," "conquered,"
"profaned." A Jebusite represents the spiritual or peace
center in consciousness (Jerusalem) in subjection to purely
sense and carnal thoughts, beliefs, and desires.
The name Amorites signifies "mountaineers," "highlanders."
The Amorites represent the race thought of the generation
of the flesh. Sex and procreation are very strongly rooted
in man's consciousness and have been elevated by man in
personal thought to the very heights.
The name Girgashite signifies "belonging to that which is
dense," "marshy ground." A Girgashite represents the
material state of thought that unawakened man holds
concerning himself and especially concerning his material
organism.
The name Hivite signifies "physical existence," "life born
of effort," "wickedness." A Hivite represents the thoughts
belonging to the carnal consciousness in man.
The name Arkite means "fugitive," "blind passions." An
Arkite represents thoughts pertaining to the carnal
consciousness in man.
The name Sinite means "clayey," "muddy," "hateful
passions." A Sinite represents thoughts missing the mark,
falling short of the divine law.
The name Arvadite means "avarice," "plunder," "pirate's
den." An Arvadite represents a retreat or refuge or
unstable, erring, destructive thoughts in a mixed,
confused, ever-changing consciousness of man.
The name Zemarite signifies "hunger for dominion or thirst
for power," "despot." A Zemarite represents rebellious,
tyrannical, despotic thoughts and desires belonging to the
"mind of the flesh" consciousness in unredeemed man, the
outer seeking dominion.
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The name Hamathite means "inclosed," "held together,"
"fortress." A Hamathite represents confidence in material
conditions rather than trust in God.
The name Gerar signifies "a sojourn," "a lodging place,"
"an encampment." Gerar symbolizes subjective substance and
life. In the beginning of man's journey Spiritward this
substance and life are in possession of the sense nature
(Philistines), and the ruling ego of the sense nature lives
in the region of this place.
The name Gaza means "strength," "power," "stronghold," Gaza
represents strength on a purely physical or sense plane.
The name Sodom signifies "consumed with fire," "hidden
wiles," "covered conspiracies." Sodom represents an obscure
or concealed thought or habit in man.
The name Gomorrah means "overbearing," "tyranny,"
"oppression." Gomorrah represents a state of mind in man
that is submerged in sense and is very tyrannical in its
nature.
The name Admah means "silent," "unrelenting," "a tomb," "a
fortress." Admah represents the seeming strength and
merciless sureness of the death thought and condition that
enters into man's experience as the result of his carnal,
material, adverse thoughts and activities.
The name Zeboiim signifies "wars," "plunderings," "rendings
with the teeth." Zeboiim refers to ravenous appetites,
sensual passions, the wild-beast nature holding sway deep
in the subconsciousness of many.
The name Lasha signifies "bursting forth," "fountains,"
"for looking upon." The cities that are mentioned in the
text with Lasha as being on the southern border of Canaan
are representative of the subconscious
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substance and life in man ruled over and actuated by
various phases of the subjective carnal, sense mind. Lasha
symbolizes the bursting forth of this inner substance and
life into greater activity in consciousness. Lasha also
refers to the penetration by higher ideals, truer
understanding, of a seemingly mortal and material state of
the subjective substance and life in unawakened man.
The names of the children of Shem, with their meaning, are
listed here:
The name Eber signifies "passed over," "overcome," "a
shoot." Eber represents the germination in man's
consciousness of the spiritual phase of his being.
The name Elam signifies "eternal or everlasting," "fully
developed." Elam symbolizes thoughts of the abidingness,
resourcefulness, and creative power of Truth, of that which
is of God, Spirit.
The name Asshur signifies "a step," "level ongoing,"
"observance of laws," "harmonious." Asshur typifies mental
recognition that the entire man, spirit, soul, and body, is
free, is of spiritual origin, and is not bound by any
limitation of matter.
The name Arpachshad signifies "providential regeneration,"
"realm of astrology." Arpachshad represents the belief in
man that his good depends wholly on something outside of
himself--his ruling star, fate, providence--instead of
depending on the power of his own thoughts to establish
within himself and his world what he wills.
The name Lud signifies "desire to bring forth,"
"conception," "creation." Lud represents man's earliest
conception of the truth that he is the offspring of God.
The name Aram means "highland," "high or exalted."
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Aram symbolizes the intellect, which has its foundation in
Spirit; but in unawakened man it is linked up entirely with
the outer or material realm so that it reasons from the
basis of the senses instead of acknowledging Divine Mind as
the source of all intelligence.
The names of "the sons of Aram," with their meaning, follow:
The name Uz means "growing might," "formative power,"
"plan." Uz denotes the process of thought by which man
arrives at a conclusion (be it true or erroneous) and
establishes it in consciousness.
The name Hul means "circle," "ecstasy," "travail," "fear."
Hul stands for that in the intellect of man which seeks to
conform to both the spiritual and outer-sense ideas of
wisdom and understanding.
The name Gether means "abundance," "pressed out," "vale of
trial." Gether represents man's belief that much physical
effort is needed to make a living and to acquire abundance;
thus he experiences hard labor and many inharmonies.
The name Mash signifies "pressing out by contractile
force," "harvest of fruits." In Mash we see the intellect
in the role of obtaining knowledge. The intellect is not
naturally receptive to spiritual understanding. It is
aggressive in its nature and it works very hard in the
outer seeking to obtain by force, by personal
determination, and by much persistent study and research
the knowledge that it desires. The very pressure of its
outer seeking does open to it something of the inner light
and intelligence of Spirit, though in its ignorance it
usually takes to itself the honor of having worked out the
ideas that come to it from Spirit.
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However fruit is realized in increased knowledge.
The name Shelah means "security," "peace," "demand,"
"prayer." Shelah represents a sense of peace, harmony, and
security that has come about by prayer, affirmation, and
desire centered in that which is good and true.
The names of the children of Eber, with their meaning, are
given here:
The name Peleg means "separation through grace,"
"cleaving," "dividing." Peleg represents man's first
realization of the difference and seeming separation
between his apparently material organism and his inner
spiritual ideals. Thus was the "earth divided," and the
individual began to recognize his higher nature.
The name Joktan signifies "that which is diminished,"
"lessened," "of little concern." Joktan represents the
lessening to the vanishing point of error in the
consciousness and life of the unfolding individual.
The following are the names, with their meaning, of the
children of Joktan:
The name Almodad signifies "measure of God," "the
agitator." Almodad represents a certain discernment of the
boundless possibilities that are open to man if he makes
practical application of Truth. This understanding however
proves to be a disturbing element ("agitator") in
consciousness because it is not definite enough to bring
about the real change of mind that is needed to establish
peace and order and to bring forth spiritual fruit.
The name Sheleph means "reaction," "refraction," "drawing
out." Sheleph represents a working out from
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within of the spiritual in man; or at least a striving of
Spirit within man for greater expression in and through the
individual.
The name Hazarmaveth means "village of death," "court of
death." Hazarmaveth symbolizes a central thought or group
of thoughts belonging to the sense mind of man and having
as its ruling idea a strong belief in death. Its conception
of justice ("court") is always active on the negative,
condemnatory, and destructive side.
The name Jerah signifies "he will breathe," "he will become
inspired," "moon." Jerah represents the light
(understanding) of the inspired intellect, or to the
capacity of the intellect of man for being illumined by
Spirit and for radiating the light of Spirit, divine
understanding.
The name Hadoram signifies "powerful," "pompous,"
"majestic." Hadoram represents the lifting up of the outer,
sense mind of man, and the attributing of power and might
to it as though it were man's highest source of light and
good.
The name Uzal signifies "continual going forth," "divine
spark." Uzal represents the continual unfoldment that takes
place in the progressively inclined individual because of
his natural tendency to conform to the divine ideal or
divine spark within him, which is ever urging him on to
higher light, new understanding, purer thoughts and ways.
The name Diklah means "palm tree," "palm grove," "ethereal
lightness." Diklah denotes the inherent belief of man's
inner, spiritual, or true self that complete victory over
all error and complete triumph in understanding and life
are his heritage.
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The name Obal signifies "extreme attenuation of matter,"
"stripped," "barren." Obal denotes the barrenness,
nakedness, and nothingness of all that is not founded in
Truth.
The name Abimael means "a father from God," "father of
abundance." Abimael stands for the thought of man as being
descended from God; also for the thought of abundance as
coming from God. At a certain stage of man's unfoldment
however the thought represented by Abimael is not
established in consciousness with enough positiveness to
produce spiritual results.
The name Ophir signifies "a final state," "purity,"
"ashes." Ophir symbolizes that which remains after the
deeper purification by fire has taken place. Through
purification by the Christ Spirit, by the baptism of fire,
all that is true is refined, purified, and elevated to its
rightful place in the kingdom, while the dross or error of
the carnal, adverse mind is reduced to dust and ashes.
The name Jobab signifies "fullness of joy," "trumpet call
of victory," "desert," "wail of tribulation." Here Jobab
represents a certain fulfillment of the seeming mortal and
an entrance into that which the positive, spiritual
meanings of the name denotes: a realization of dominion
over error and a rejoicing in Truth.
The name Mesha means "harvest of spiritual fruits,"
"heaped-up fullness of being," "refuge," "freedom." Mesha
symbolizes a place in consciousness wherein the inner life
forces of the organism are freed from the dominion of
carnal thought, thus raising them to higher and more
spiritual expression.
The name Sephar means "remembering," "engraving,"
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"book." The east always represents the within, and a
mountain denotes a high plane of thought. In the
consciousness of the individual, Sephar represents that
high place within the spiritual realm of his being where a
record is kept of all the thoughts, ideals, tendencies,
desires, and activities to which he has given attention,
even to those that belong to the seemingly changeable and
unestablished phase of his consciousness (the Arabian
tribes that were descended from Joktan).
Gen. 11:1-9. And the whole earth was of one language and of
one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east,
that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they
dwelt there. And they said one to another, Come, let us
make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick
for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said,
Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may
reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be
scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And
Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded. And Jehovah said, Behold, they are
one people, and they have all one language; and this is
what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden
from them, which they purpose to do. Come, let us go down,
and there confound their language, that they may not
understand one another's speech. So Jehovah scattered them
abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they
left off building the city. Therefore was the name of it
called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the
language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Here is related the building by the descendents of Noah of
a city and a tower that was to reach to heaven.
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"And the whole earth was of one language and of one
speech," which indicates that there was unity in the
interchange of intelligence and purpose but that it was
based on materiality: "And they had brick for stone, and
slime had they for mortar." They built the city and the
tower; but Jehovah confounded their language and they were
scattered abroad "upon the face of all the earth."
According to Ferrar Fenton's translation of the Bible in
modern English, the word Jehovah should be translated
"chief." The chief was the priest or ruling religious
power. So it was not Jehovah who confused the tongues of
the people but their religious leaders. This is true today.
Interpreted in individual consciousness, it is not Spirit
that leads man astray but man's interpretation of the
message of Spirit as molded by man's mentality. In other
words, it was the Adversary or personal ego of the people
that asserted its disintegrating nature and destroyed the
work of their hands.
The name Babel means "confusion." Babel represents the
mental chaos that is the result of thinking from a wholly
material standpoint.
Whether the story of the building of Babel and the
scattering of its people be history or allegory matters
little; it illustrates the ephemeral character of man's
work exemplified times beyond number in the buried cities
of the past. Not only cities but great nations have
occupied large areas of this earth, only to be swept away.
This universal scattering of the nations that bravely set
out to build cities and civilizations planned to reach to
heaven and endure forever, should make thinking
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persons pause and inquire the cause of such stupendous
failure. The fact is that the foundations of their cities
were material instead of spiritual; there was an excess of
"stone, and slime."
However every great nation has claimed God as its
originator and often its temporal heads as ruling by divine
right. As long as these nations had faith in this divine
source they prospered, but when the personal element began
to assert itself, decline set in, the nation collapsed, and
its people scattered.
This is not only the history of cities and nations but also
of numerous colonies of Utopian pattern for the betterment
of men. Their plans are perfect and appear to be based on
laws that will work toward universal happiness and
prosperity. But they fail because their leader is some
human being, and there is often some other human being in
the colony who is ambitious to rule. Politics and party
strife then enter and break down the unity that is so
necessary to the success of any enterprise.
History shows that often just preceding a great national
collapse dictators or "chiefs" assume the power personally
to make and enforce the laws for the people. This condition
repeats itself in world affairs and presages a breakdown of
man-made civilization. The towers of Babel totter and
philosophic onlookers foretell a lapse of the human family
into primitive savagery.
That the principles on which the governments of the world
are based are inadequate to meet the needs of a world
nation is patent to anyone who studies the economic and
moral status of various countries. God created all men of
one blood, according to the Scriptures, and that universal
bond of humanity is asserting
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itself in the tremendous increase in facilities for
intercourse among men of every country. The struggle for
separate national existence must be broken down, and a new
and larger understanding of race solidarity established.
We see that history is repeating itself on a larger scale
than ever before and is again ready to scatter the
inhabitants of Babel who have attempted to build to heaven
without God. After the breaking up of the present
materially founded governments, the spiritually wise will
get together and form a federation based on the principles
laid down by Jesus Christ, and we shall then enter into
that universal peace and security called the millennium.
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the
whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then
shall the end come." The prophecies of Jesus, as set forth
symbolically in Matthew 24, undoubtedly point to their
fulfillment at this time, and the "tribulations" there
recited are upon us. But we need not be fearful or troubled
if we are depending on God to take care of us. "The race is
not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," "but he
that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."
Gen. 11:10-32. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was
a hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after
the flood: and Shem lived after he begat Arpachshad five
hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begat
Shelah: and Arpachshad lived after he begat Shelah four
hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: and Shelah
lived after he begat Eber four hundred
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and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: and
Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty
years, and begat sons and daughters.
(For interpretation of the foregoing names see comment on
Gen. 10.)
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: and Peleg
lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and
begat sons and daughters.
And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: and
Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years,
and begat sons and daughters.
And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: and Serug
lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat
sons and daughters.
And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: and
Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen
years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and
Haran.
Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram,
Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died
before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur
of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the
name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's
wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah,
and the father of Iscah. And Sarai was barren; she had no
child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of
Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his
son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of
the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came
unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two
hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
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The name Reu means "leading to pasture," "shepherd,"
"friend." Reu represents the co-operative feeling, the
feeling of friendship, evolving in the individual
consciousness into a sense of loving, active,
responsibility for the welfare of others.
The name Serug means "interwoven," "tendril," "strength."
Serug represents the budding, sprouting, and development of
spiritual "seed" or Truth ideas deep down in the
subconsciousness by way of preparation for the saving work
in the body. In the Serug phase of man's unfoldment the
work is done mostly in secret, with now and then just a ray
of light breaking through to consciousness.
The name Nahor signifies "angry," "passionate," "piercing,"
"slaying." Nahor denotes the piercing and breaking up of
the sense consciousness hitherto unpenetrated by Truth so
that the way may be opened for a new line of thought
activity (Abram). This activity may be more of the
subconscious than of the conscious mind. Much turmoil often
accompanies this inner first breaking up of lesser ideals
because of the efforts of the outer, limited, emotional
self ("angry," "passionate").
The name Haran means "strong," "mountaineer," "exalted."
Haran symbolizes an exalted state of mind, wherein Truth is
lifted up in consciousness and the individual is
strengthened in his determination to go on toward fuller
spiritual enlightenment and upliftment.
(For Abram, Sarai, Terah, and Lot see interpretation of
Gen. 12. For Canaan see the interpretation of Gen. 10.)
The name Ur (of the Chaldees) signifies "light."
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"Orient," "brightness or brilliance," "fire or blaze." Ur
therefore symbolizes the activity of the understanding or
intelligence in man; the inner spiritual part of man's
being, whence true light shines forth into the entire
consciousness.
The name Milcah means "queen," "rule," "counsel." Milcah
symbolizes the soul in the act of expressing dominion,
wisdom, good judgment.
The name Iscah signifies "who looks upon," "scans abroad,"
"discerns." Iscah represents the soul in the act of being
attentive to the things of Spirit.
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