the unknown god · 2019. 10. 17. · the unknown god high noon in kagiso 5 by the time the service...

THE UNKNOWN GOD His Image and Likeness

Jacob M. Masuku

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Table of Contents 1. HIGH NOON IN KAGISO ................................................................................................................... 4

The Unknown God ............................................................................................................................. 12

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 21

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Acknowledgements

To my Mother - Thank you for giving me life. I miss you. Kuyobamnandi. When I get there you and

Gogo better be there to show me around. Or I’m not coming.

To my Sister Dudu – You left and then NOTHING. What is the matter with you?

To Gogo - You knew something didn’t you? Months before you died you began to look at me funny.

There are so many things you said. You sang to me “Kuyobamnandi Sesiphele Sisonke Ezulwini” when

you missed my mother. I am the one singing now.

Malume Simon – Like your sister uGogo you also knew something. DID YOU NOT? Kuyobamnandi.

Mkhulu nawe Malume Piet – Ngiyathokoza Khulungwane ngokungikhusela.

To my grandchildren - Langelihle and Khwezi – The book as promised. Allow me to teach you all I

know. I will always take your side. You have the best from me. From u ba-ba

To my own father Joseph Masuku - Thank you. Many do not understand. Your absence in my life taught

me more than your presence could have. I can’t wait to know you better.

To my children, Siyabonga, Simphiwe, Monde and Mikayla, Nhlanhla, and Khwezi - Thank you for

your patience and keeping it together in the fifteen years of my absence. I was sometimes present only

physically. It has been hard. I know. Now I must make it up to you. Dad

To Nokukhanya - A Light has shone on me from Heaven. You have always come through for me. When

I dropped my laptop a week before the book was to be published you offered your own. I did not even

have to ask. But you heard and filled a need. This is not the first time. You!!!

To my editors – Duduzile, Thank You Kiddo! Nthabiseng – Mshana what a surprise! I am so proud of

you Child. And Simphiwe – the Gift you are. You have my smile.

To the reader – I hope you overlook the grammatical errors of an inexperienced writer and editors and

take the message for its worth. I promise the next book will even be better.

When I set out to discover my place in life I did not at all imagine I would be writing a book, let alone

a series of books. The idea of a book came much later, as a way of preserving and documenting what I

have learned. All along since I started with this project fifteen year ago, there has been help all along

the way. Otherwise this book would not have been possible. I have not earned a steady income in fifteen

years. I have lost friendships because of this. Even more. I am grateful for those who supported me, but

especially those who never looked down on me because of this. The danger of naming people comes

with the risk of omission. To everyone; I sincerely value the help you have given. Everything I am

comes from the collective contributions of all manner of people I have come across. I am deeply

indebted to all of you for the experiences; good or bad.

To the Publisher, Amazon. I have now been able to put out my message to the world. Thank you for

making it possible. Ngiyabonga.

Jacob. M. Masuku

Johannesburg

18 December 2018

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Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonished at

me. Yet they forgive my wanderings, I rest not from my great

task! To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes

of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought: into Eternity

Ever expanding in the Bosom of God. the Human

Imagination. O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness

& love: Annihilate the Selfhood in me, be thou all my life!

Guide thou my hand which trembles exceedingly upon the

rock of ages, While I write of the building of Golgonooza, &

of the terrors of Entuthon: Of Hand & Hyle & Coban, of

Kwantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd & Hutton: Of the

terrible sons & daughters of Albion. And their Generations.

(Blake, 1946)

The Unknown God High Noon in Kagiso

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1. HIGH NOON IN KAGISO

By the end of the day today I would have slandered the God of modern religion before

horrified mourners at my friend’s funeral. Not only did my faith become undone on that day,

but the whole universe contrived to bring me answers to questions I had asked. It is true then

that the surest way to know God is to become an atheist with earnest but hard questions. This,

the universe accepts as a genuine petition for true information on our Creator. Then we can

commune with God through the heart, with all the question in our hearts.1 The reflections in

this book must show these assertions to be true or false. Religion has been a great diversion for

centuries now, telling man how to think about God and focusing our attention on life just

beyond the grave. Most of us have been content with the answers we have been given and filled

with our own opinions and knowledge, we have shut the door to further learning. There is an

old Zen proverb, “your cup is full; I can’t put anything in. Before I can teach you, you’ll have

to empty your cup.”

The car I was driving to the funeral of a new friend I had met recently, did not have air

conditioning. Although it was just before six in the morning, I could tell we were headed for

temperatures hot enough to burn skin surfaces. I vaguely noticed this because my mind was

preoccupied by the speech I had rewritten over and over for many days now. I hardly knew the

man we were burying today. All I could credibly talk about was how we have all been robbed

by the rapid increase of guns in the hands of senseless thugs. Again, my thoughts drifted back

to the rising heat in the car, I knew a difficult day had just begun. I had no idea how difficult. I

usually sleep in on Saturdays, but I had been up early that morning, so I would not be late for

the funeral in Kagiso, West of Johannesburg. Kagiso is about fifteen kilometres from where I

had recently bought a house in Roodepoort. This city, Roodepoort, is host to the Witwatersrand

National Botanical Gardens.

Apartheid had just been scrapped in 1994 when I had found this beautiful townhouse in

Roodepoort after I escaped being carjacked at my mother’s house at Zola, in Soweto. After that

incident, my mother encouraged me to leave Soweto and so I bought this townhouse twenty

minutes away in Georginia, Roodepoort. I figured here I would not be too far away from my

mother. Kagiso, like Soweto, is an African sprawling township and like Soweto is a suburb of

Johannesburg, Kagiso is a suburb of Krugersdorp. This is a mining city not far from Soweto in

what was known at the time as the West Rand.

The name “Kagiso” means “peace,” or rather “absence of conflict” in the West Sotho

language Setswana. As I drove towards Kagiso, I had no idea that I would be bringing the place

anything but peace. My visit there would change my outlook forever. Later I would trace the

unravelling of my faith in the God of modern religion to the events of that day. I drove into the

parking lot at the church with thirty minutes to spare and noticed that there was quite a crowd

in attendance. I learned a few minutes later that the service had been moved back and this meant

that mourners had to spend an hour and a half in the hot morning Sun with very little to do but

exchange horrific stories about the crime situation in the country. South Africa is known as the

murder capital of the world, a title our government has taken as a matter of course, not allowing

it to interrupt the frenzy at the public treasury.


5

By the time the service began, I was beginning to have doubts again about the speech I had

spent so much time crafting. Maybe I should not have been listening to people who knew this

man and had much better tributes. I began to feel that they, instead of me, should have been on

the program. But there was no turning back now. I had volunteered to speak at the funeral partly

because I was so angry that he had been killed so soon after we met. But I also wanted to honor

this man I had met, however briefly, because of my grandmother, Irene Nana Mbonani, who

died later in 2003.

Growing up

with an absent father I was brought up by Gogo, that’s what we call my grandmother. “Gogo”

is grandmother in isiZulu, our home language. She truly was the female head, no, the only chief

head of our family. She also fulfilled the role of both of my parents who were divorced and

living separately in Johannesburg. All my formative years were spent under her watchful but

loving care. There were a few other grandchildren under her wing too.

Throughout my life, Gogo is the figure I would always look upon for guidance. As I grow

older, I am beginning to mellow and have more tolerance for others. That is all due to Gogo.

She was quite tough but also very kind. I watch people who are her age when she died, and I

cannot help but notice that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who take

life in their stride becoming more mature and gentler as they become wiser about the world.

Then there are those, regrettably, there seems to be too many of them, who become bitter as

they walk towards the end of their lives. This is just one of the things that made Gogo special.

I guess that is why I was worried enough to attend the funeral of the man I was going to bury

today. Although I was born in Soweto, I spent most of my childhood years in Leandra, a small

town about a hundred and fifty kilometres from Soweto. This town Leandra was previously

known as Leslie. Many Setswana people and related Sotho languages called it Lezlie.

Leandra is really a marriage between two small towns, Eendracht and Leslie. Legend has it

that some residents of the two towns were unhappy about the merger and only conceded when

a compromise was reached: the old Leslie would keep its bottle stores but have no churches,

and the old Eendracht would keep its churches and prohibit any form of liquor trade. Naturally,

as this was before the democratic dispensation in 1994, these conversations were only between

the white residents of the two towns.

Infographic 1 Gogo and her Great

Granddaughters - Lindi and My

Brother's Daughter Dudu

Infographic 1 Irene N. Mbonani the

Domestic Employee


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African people, although they outnumbered white people by far, were already

disenfranchised and dehumanized and not expected to have any say in the matter. African, I

use the expression for all except white people. (Race bating is mindless but race is germane to

my story.) Nevertheless, after taking over the reins of government in 1994, the Africans had a

say and it did not take them long to lift the ban on liquor trade. But the “old Lezlie” has still

not erected a single formal church structure like the ones that still stand stoically in “old

Eendracht,” I have checked. In those early years, I was living in an unduly cheerful and illusory

world of comfort, lacking instruction on the harsh reality of apartheid.

Gogo hid us from much of the suffering that was ever-present all around us, given the harsh

apartheid conditions that prevailed in the mid-seventies in semi-rural Leslie. Not far from

Leslie, for example, and about eight kilometres from Evander, another small town where I

began writing this book, (a town so small if you blinked you would miss it), there is a little

town called Trichardt, where African people faced arrestment when found barefoot in town.

Both young and old would spend time working in nearby potato farms serving such similar

“criminal” sentences. In this way, white farmers got free labour supplied by the apartheid

government. If I amount to anything at all, it would be due to these formative periods of my

life. It was in Gogo’s honour that I attended my now not to be, late friend’s funeral. Although

I was living in Johannesburg’s Roodepoort, I frequently dropped in to see Gogo for a day’s

visit or even spend a weekend before returning to the sprawling metropolitan area of

Johannesburg. It was during one such visit, it must have been between 1990-94, at that time I

worked for the trade union, the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union

“SACCAWU,” that Gogo pulled me aside. She said, “Bhuti,2 is there something on your mind?”

I replied no, and although I did not ask, she offered an explanation anyway. Gogo said she had

been concerned about me for some time and had not wanted to say anything, hoping there would

be a change.

She said she was worried that lately she hardly saw me smile whereas not too long ago,

according to her, my smile would light up any place. She told me that I used to have a sparkling

personality and appeared carefree, but now I was different from the child she had brought up

and was used to. I felt as if I had been kicked in the gut as it would mean that I would have lost

a sense of “innocence.” No, I answered again, everything is fine. This was the truth, at the time.

But I made a mental note to think about this further. I have always thought I had the ability to

bounce back from distress without much difficulty. If what Gogo has said was true, then I had

allowed external circumstances to change who I was. I cannot recall how much time had passed

after this discussion with Gogo before I met this man whose funeral I was now attending. He

was of my age group and appeared to fit the image that Gogo had of me: an affable young man.

I find it remarkable that I managed to make this connection without remembering that this is

exactly what Gogo had been concerned about. I realized this was the case because the thought

struck me straight out of the blue, while I watched him give a speech at a meeting. He worked

for Edworks, a shoe retail company that went bust after a workers’ strike over what we called

“slave wages.” I made a conscious decision there and there - this is an isiZulu expression - to

watch him and perhaps I would get to know what his secret was, if any.


7

Maybe I can get back to innocence. I soon learned that although we both had children, in

his case he appeared to have weathered that storm quite well. My two eldest children, Simphiwe

and Siya were now teenagers and coming into their own. They were now asking pointed

questions about basic facts on sex and reproduction, why the world is the way it is, questions

that you could not wish-wash with the birds and the bee’s hocus-pocus. Siya is credited with

all the artwork in this book. So, I planned to get to know him better and learn how he had kept

that distinctive smile that had characterized my youth.

He too had children to worry about but had kept the smile that I had clearly been unable to

hold onto. I had known him only for three weeks when death struck. On the Monday of the

fourth week of our meeting, I learned with extreme distress that this new friend had been

brutally murdered over that weekend. I went to visit the family and met his young wife and the

three young children. I was shattered. No one could make sense of what had happened barely

twenty-four hours before.

I was informed by his wife that her husband had gone to a shebeen3 to buy some drinks

before watching a Sunday afternoon soccer match on television. According to witnesses, he

was met by patrons who were just arriving as he was leaving. It was later discovered that among

these patrons, two men were policemen. I was told that one of them had turned to another, his

partner, and said, “I dare you to shoot this man!” One of the patrons, a woman, in utter disbelief

replied, “No!” Too late, the other man had whipped out his firearm and there, a friend I had

hardly known was killed in cold blood. His wife told me she had heard my name being

mentioned by her husband on several occasions in the three weeks that we had known each

other.

Seemingly, notwithstanding my grandmother’s remarks, not all had been lost, I had made

some impression on him! I told myself at the time that this was perhaps because I was a union

leader and it was not that hard to make a good impression on the membership. After paying my

respects, and as I stood up to go, I asked his wife if I could say something at his funeral. I don’t

know why I volunteered but I think I was so numbed by what I had just heard that I wanted to

reach out to this inconsolable family. Usually, people who visit a family in mourning to pay

their respects, would, when preparing to leave sing a hymn. I could not sing to save my life. If

I could sing, this whole matter would have played out differently. But I chose to speak. Look

at where we are. Nevertheless, I regretted this decision as soon as I left the house. What can I

say about a person I hardly knew? Still, I made peace with my decision to speak at the funeral.

Perhaps I could talk to those who knew him, and I would find something there. I decided

this was a good way of paying tribute to his spirit. Moreover, I thought it was important for his

children to know that, in my eyes, their dad was a great individual. In my own estimation as a

union leader, I was jack of all trades, and master of speech, so I would find the words to tell

them how much I wanted to be like him. I would conjure up words to tell them how I looked

up to him to reclaim what I had lost. I would give them hope somehow. I had no doubt that I

could pull this off. As a union leader, I had often been required to provide inspiration under

very trying circumstances. I would paint a vision for them, I would sell them a dream and

inspire them to be like their dad one day.


8

Then I would castigate a society intent on putting firearms into the hands of people who

feel hemmed in by violent crime. I had worked on this speech for days, and so I felt I had it all

worked out. But now, as I waited with other mourners, so many doubts assailed my mind. For

the umpteenth time, I regretted my decision to speak today. The situation progressed from bad

to worse as soon as the formal service began. Many months after the events of that day, I would

blame the relentless heat for the way things turned out in the end. Speakers had been asked to

sit closer to the podium. I found a seat too. But I sat in the worst place possible because the

blazing sunlight shone directly above my head. Leaning forward, I tried blocking the rays of

the Sun with my arm as I listened to speakers as they delivered their praises for my friend. But

gradually, I felt indignation towards an absent and detached God.

How could He allow this to occur? Is He God or a man that His actions appear to be

determined by impulse rather than by necessity or reason? I still had no idea that these thoughts,

the frying heat, and the illogical sermons were becoming clear indications of religious sedition.

I sat there simmering like a child who thinks they are being bullied by an unreasonable parent.

Now and then I glanced up to look into the crowd, not really seeing as I did not want to be

there. What I was hearing, the sizzling Sun beating hard, and the drone of speakers, my mind

was in turmoil.

At some length, I noticed someone in the crowd pointing at me and I sat up only to see all

eyes on me. I realized that my name must have been called and I hastily stood up and on my

way to the podium, I took out my written speech. Standing on the podium with all eyes on me,

I tried to focus on my speech but could just not find my voice and the speech suddenly looked

like a badly written homework.

Although there were parts of it that were really inspired, the speech now seemed too long

and irrelevant to the changed situation. I was acutely aware that my friend’s wife, sitting just

ahead of me with her children, was looking at me, her grief-stricken face marked by an eager

expression of anticipation. My heart sank as it suddenly struck me that I could never meet her

expectations of me. Whatever they were. I strengthened my fading resolve. Fight or flight! I

decided I had to get through with this so I stayed. I guess I was hoping that at some deep level,

I would be expressing what she would have no words to say here today. I would not be so

presumptuous as to say that I knew her pain, but her husband, my friend’s killing was not only

brutal, it was senseless. As I listened to the senselessness of the speeches, it sounded very much

like they were busy killing him all over again.

For almost a fortnight, a candle had been shining a path in front of me, a gentle spirit that

had managed to hold on to his innocence when I couldn’t. When that gun exploded, that light

was put out and I was back in the dark forest trying to find my way again. My opportunity for

renewal was declined. Steeling myself, I carefully folded my speech and put it back into my

inner jacket pocket. With some uncertainty now, I faced the bereaved family and deliberately

looked into the widow’s eyes. I mumbled some inaudible and totally inadequate apology for

what I was about to do. All I thought was, I must get this out of my system. That out of the way,

I braced myself and surveyed the crowd of mourners. I saw them and they saw me. The

connection made, I engaged.


9

“What are we doing?” I started softly. “Are the only good people dead people?” I was

gaining confidence with each breath I took. “Every week we bury saints! I have never heard a

bad word being said about a deceased person.” My heart was pounding in my chest now. “Do

we all become good the instant we die? How do we tell the good guys from the bad? How do I

talk today about this gentle human being without feeling fake and phony?” Throughout this

violent denunciation I avoided looking directly at the family. I was in Kagiso. I was afraid I

would notice pleas for peace. I was in no mood for banalities. Besides, I had already crossed

too many lines, just by being here. The way I was going, I was headed straight to hell and they

should know I was coming. I normally do not attend the formal parts of a funeral ceremony.

Years earlier, I had learned that it did me no good to listen to some of the speeches made at

funerals. That being the case, I felt, the trite and obvious remarks expected at funerals would

not honor this man today.

One of us will have a decent send-off today, I figured. A part of me felt that this God, if He

exists at all, has had it with me too. Today I was dead flesh and if I was headed straight to hell,

this is how I would get a glimpse of Heaven along the way. I was hoping He would call me in

for some lambasting before sending me to hell. All the same, some truths must be said today. I

have been listening to speaker after speaker tell this man’s children meaningless platitudes

about a jealous God. Do not question God’s ways. Your father was taken away BECAUSE he

was a saint. Was all this his fault then? “Well, I have two problems with that,” I spat the words

at the crowd, “the first is that we are telling people they should be “bad” if they wanted to live

or God will take them away from us for being ‘good.’” Why is religion sometimes so mindless?

This idea, I told them, is wholly offensive not only because it glorifies criminality and

encourages wrong doing, but it is devoid of any reason. Following this logic, criminals will

aspire to live longer by being bad. The second problem with this theory, and here we display

unbelievable callousness, how should these young children process this? Where is the bright

side to these statements? Your words not only lack sagacity, they have zero comfort and do

nothing to edify their wounded spirits. What instruction should they draw from your words

about being “good?” What do they do with the picture of a wrathful and inhumane God you

have placed in their juvenile minds? How should they relate to this God Whose instrumentality

are spiritual degenerates who have no qualms about taking a life in such an arbitrary manner?

What should these children think during those moments when the need for their father is so

overwhelming that they would give anything to get him back? Why should they not feel

personally assailed by an exceedingly violent God Whose workings appear to be random injury,

a God Who shows only disregard for the sanctity of human life? If this is what God does, why

should they be different? Perhaps, I said to them, gasping with sheer exhaustion, perhaps your

God is a cruel sadistic despot Who indulges in brutish festivities of indiscriminate pain.

“Or,” I paused, “Maybe you just have no idea Who or What God really is.” I was thinking,

let me declare Him to you.4 Instead, I said, “What. Kind. Of. God. Is. This?” By this time, I was

drenched in sweat. Incandescent with rage, I was something to see, charging as I did, from high

indignation. I was a thunder with a massive headache, I only left out words I did not know, as

Gogo would say.


10

When I had finished, huffing and puffing, I somehow found my way to my seat while the

gathering sat in silence. Disgust or shock? It didn’t matter, but I felt some bitter-sweet

satisfaction that I had the chance to say what I had said. This was a long time in the making. I

shall explain by the close of this chapter how my grandfather’s and my sister’s death made me

turn my back on the church for failing to provide answers during these times. At last I sat down.

I lifted my head to look at the crowd in front of me. At the epicentre, where a series of tremors

were rumbling. This time I was not seeing them, just a sea of faces. No one moved for some

time. I had a sure feeling that the congregation was divided into two groups. There were those,

I felt, who saw in me the devil in person. This group was the first to react. They stood up and

sang with gusto, and more or less made their feelings clear.

The second group, the rest, sat with their arms folded and did not partake in the singing.

These I perceived, were in my corner, my people. In that commotion, I stood up to leave, feeling

awkwardly unwelcome. There was this one brave old lady who stood up as I went past her, and

she gave me what I perceived as a friendly hug at the time. I mean, she did rise to hug me, an

act that could have signaled support in the eyes of the congregation. She said nothing but instead

pat me lightly on the shoulder as I turned to go. Now, I have thought a lot over the years about

that old woman’s gesture. Nevertheless, I cannot shake the feeling that she was silently praying

that the devil would leave me as she held me in that “comfort” hug. I drove away without

waiting for the service to conclude.

As I went back home, I was struck by many conflicting thoughts about what had just

happened. I quietly scolded myself, are you becoming a hooligan? There was no way I was

going to tell Gogo about this. First, I would not know where to begin, but I knew how it would

end. Where Gogo was concerned, people started fights and she ended them. There was that part

of me, lucifer’s angel (this is not a typing error, it is time for this spirit to sit down.) that felt

this had been in the making for years, and this angel was glad that box was ticked. But there

was also a part of me that sincerely hoped that my friend’s family understood what I was trying

to convey to the assembly, and that I did not in any way mean to dishonour the sending-off of

their loved one. I regret that I did not have the heart or nerve to go back to find out what they

thought, but mostly to apologize. To compensate for this, I made a resolution to never speak at

funerals or even attend funerals or memorial services if I can help it. I cannot put another family

through this again.

I only go to funerals at the very last moment, just before the cortège moves to the burial

site. Even this is becoming gradually untenable. The lavish funerals have the same effect on me

as the oh-gushing tributes that I feel are more for self-aggrandizement than the bereaved. It is

mainly for my own sanity that I do limit my participation at these occasions. About six years

before that funeral in Kagiso, I attended another service which took my breath away. The

preacher, after taking the congregation on a guilt ride, asked us to raise our hands if we think

we are ready for God’s call, should He “remember” us. I took this to mean that all those who

are ready to go now, and I mean right now, for that great day of judgment and tribulation. If we

are ready, we should come up to the podium and fess up right now.


11

I was not ready. Just that morning I had overdrawn my bank account and bought a few

music cd’s I did not need. But I had felt I would need music after a depressing day attending a

funeral. It turned out I was right. But for wholly different reasons. Having posed this challenge,

the man of God stared at us, daring anyone to rise. I also looked around. I was not the only one

with these small skeletons in his cupboard. In the large church building no one had moved.

Everyone was looking around in trepidation. The man of God had struck a nerve. People clearly

dreaded a visit from God. I heard myself mutter “b*** ***t” under my breath. An elderly

woman who had been sitting next to me heard me, rose and moved to sit somewhere else. I

learned later that this had become a prominent feature of funerals, this “Altar Call.” The altar

call has now become an effective recruitment tool. It is an elaborate process involving a sermon

laced with ideas of condemnation for sinning, for straying from the Path. With Heaven ever

receding behind the pulpit, it is not below the preacher’s dignity to feign flame-throwing

towards the congregation for good effect. With the specter of leaping flames of hell palpable,

piercing questions are then put to the congregation on whether they think they will find

acceptance in the eyes of God.

Some have perfected the act, allowing for appropriate pauses in-between for some reflection

on individual readiness, ungodliness, and doubt on the eventual outcome. It is at this time that

people are then invited forward to “accept Jesus as their personal Saviour.” It is beyond the

believable that agents of God see it fit to use fear and deathly images of eternal fires to draw

people to God. If God is Love, and all religions say that He is, why does man need to be cowered

down with sheer terror to surrender to His Will?

It is perhaps stating the obvious to say that this idea is clearly incongruous with a Loving

Father. Even on a human level, a parent can never hope to win the commitment and affection

of a child by bullying them into submission, or can they? Such practices could never find their

source of inspiration in love, human or divine. As for “accepting Jesus as personal Saviour,”

the New Testament is abundant with examples of how people were converted and received the

Holy Spirit. When many people approach the altar, they have a sincere intention to be instructed

in the way of salvation (however you define that.), that they may find the path to life. This is

the great object of this life after all.

The church, however, appears to harbor other desires and is turning to clever and expedient

devices to fill up the church benches. There are other incidents early on in my childhood and

even after Kagiso that made up my mind to have nothing to do with the God of modern religion.

Not least of all was the death, as recent as 2004, of one of my other sisters and yes, it involved

religion. The circumstances of her death are so incredibly painful that even fourteen years after

her death it is hard to understand why her death happened at all. It is impossible to talk about

the matter objectively. For one, my nieces and nephews were too young to understand what

really happened. My sabbatical in Mpumalanga over the last fourteen years has also made it

difficult to piece together the events that led to her gruesome passing. The children are now

grown and there is more information from those who were around my sister at the time. With

the consent of her family I hope to be able disclose private details about that family tragedy in

the current series of my book.


12

A lot of time has also passed since Kagiso and I have come to the conclusion that we really

do not know much about this God. Let me talk now about the Unknown God.

The Unknown God

I would like from this time onwards to synthesize my thoughts on the unrealistic God of

modern religion. As we proceed, perhaps we shall together come to some understanding, and

may the real God stand up then! That God that modern religion is trying to sell to us, no matter

how many times and shapes they spin Him - and it certainly is a He - He could not possibly

exist. There is just too much mindlessness about this individual. He is a creature of a fertile

imagination born out of a hatred for women and all “others” except men. He is propositioned

as being prejudiced against homosexual people and has a deep-seated bias against women. This

God has no basis in Scripture.

He is a political God created to hold back the woman and all others who do not fit into the

male agenda. He was created and gifted to the church during the reign of the Roman Emperor

Constantine I (272-337 AD). Constantine orchestrated and convened the council that

formulated the Nicene Creed. He not only presided over the opening session but also actively

participated in the discussions. Known as Constantine the Great, he was the first Roman

emperor to convert to Christianity. He lived most of his life as a heathen and only joined the

Christian faith on his deathbed. Constantine presided over the council that accomplished

consensus on the divine nature of God the Spirit, God the Son and their relationship to God the

Father.

The result was the grammatical construction of the first part of the Nicene Creed, clarifying

crucial tenets of the Christian faith. The Creed asserts a set of beliefs that Christians should

hold about their God, the Holy Spirit and themselves as God’s offspring. Constantine need not

have participated beyond this stage. His work was done and the die was cast the moment there

was agreement on the nature of God, the Holy Spirit and His creations. This first part

determined the flavor of the resolutions to be adopted at the end of the process. This is not a

critique of the correctness of the council’s outcomes.

This whole book, the first in a series entitled The Unknown God, is a scrutiny of the God

handed down by those that came before us. By the end of the series I hope to have established

the grounds for a viable conceptual framework to define the nature of God. It really makes no

difference to me that Constantine was a heathen, we all are, being defined by the ego. I am,

nevertheless, disheartened that the church, glossing over this fact and feigning sanctities,

expresses strong disapproval of others for being “bad,” even if they were born that way. There

is operational failure in logic on the stance by the church when it comes to the prejudice against

others. The church ought to first decide whether people are born gay, black, (I really do not like

this term) female or choose this after birth. If born this way, surely to spew hatred and

intolerance towards them is a moral judgment on God. Am I missing something? The church is

like this bad neighbour who is abusive towards your child but wants to be invited to dinner.

How does that work? In 2005 my family moved into a housing complex where my two boys

befriended two other boys who were siblings.


13

My youngest was always bullied by the other sibling when he went over to visit. This had

occurred in the presence of the parents who did nothing about the situation. I took a stand. If

my son was not free to visit, there would be no visits to my house by the neighbor’s children.

That bully was put right instantly. The parents came over under pressure from one of the

siblings and we resolved the matter and even developed a friendship at parental level. This was

a white family. When it comes to religion, however, common sense seems to leave the room

when God shows up. I am even less hopeful that even the most brilliant minds among us, are

quietly watching the theological meltdown, considering it blaspheme to question the vacuity of

this type of religious dogma. Following the Nicene Council, the church has gone on to write

volumes of books to sanctify what happened there.

Take for example the Nicene Council’s blunder to establish uniform observances of the

date of Christmas, a distinctly pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia.5 Following the first recorded

date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th (the first was in 336) modern religion

has gone on to give this further credence by continuing the celebrations. Cherry-picking from

this poisoned tree, the “birth of Jesus” was then used to determine when other church festivals

would be observed including Easter. There is now convincing argument that the birth of Jesus

occurred around March, the same month of Abib, the month of the Exodus and the Passover.6

Not in December, as this event is widely celebrated. The issue surrounding the birth of Jesus

is central to the core beliefs of this, one of the most popular religions of this world. Errors

creeping in on that level threaten the very foundation of Christianity. We know what happens

to the structure when foundations are shaky. It is important that we understand the meaning

behind the birth of Jesus and its connections to the Old Testament events that are symbolic of

the coming of the expected Messiah.

All these events appear to relate to the month of Abib, the first of the Jewish ecclesiastical

year, and the seventh of the civil year.7 The first and the seventh digits spell a beginning and a

perfected end respectively. Nisan, the proper name of the first month in the Jewish calendar,

renders as, “their beginning.”8 It is for this reason that after the captivity, Abib was called Nisan,

because the harvest had begun, the sign of which was the gathering9 of barley, an essential

ingredient of bread mostly used by the poorer people. Bread, as we have learned from the Last

Supper, represents the human body. Thus Nisan, the month of gathering, is put for the

commencement of the process of learning by experience through the human body, a poorer

cousin of the completed works at the Last Supper.

Barley is a grain much cultivated in Egypt, the metaphorical earth. The grain is a

characterization of the rich blessings of the returned exiles who have “accepted the Lord as

their personal Saviour,” after relinquishing the ill-natured human ego. It is typified in the New

Testament by the return10 of the prodigal son.11 This month, then, is all about the Institution of

the Feast of the Passover, a symbol of renewal. The concept is captured in the idea of a new

moon and the first day of the month. God’s meaning12 of Passover for us really begins at

sundown,13 in preparation of a new dawn.14 This is a call to “clear out”15 the human ego from

the place God has chosen to reveal Herself to us by establishing Her Name there.16


14

In the morning, man if successful, becomes the Morning Star, literally a planet, and having

authority over the nations,17 the choicest and the most vital part of the Abrahamic Covenant.18

Clearing out the ego is how we prepare for the “new allotment,” the Kingdom given to

human persons19 in the form of the Promised Messiah. We clear out the ego by “casting lots,”

an integral part of the Day of Atonement Offerings. Through the “at-onement,” man makes

amends to God, restoring the friendly relations that existed before the Fall at the Garden of

Eden. The at-onement also restores the Covenant reached with our progenitor, Abraham.

Aaron, whose name is synonymous with the Ark of the Covenant, received crisp

instructions on how to clear the ego out and make way for the King of Glory immanent in all

human beings. The etymology of the word “ark,”20 translating as box or coffin, comes from a

verb that means “gather together or collect in one place.”21 This, and I shall discuss its full

meaning shortly, means being arranged in a particular order according to a rule or standard.

The “new lot” or allotment, is synonymous with the name of “Lot,” Abraham’s nephew. The

expression, “lot” also denotes a “covering,” and the expression is used of the cover of the Ark

of the Covenant. Located in the Holy of holies, the cover was sprinkled with the blood of the

expiatory victim as a sign and pledge of compensation for wrongdoing against God and “others”

on this, the day of the at-onement.

Covering the Mercy Seat22 with their wings and facing each other, are two Cherubims,

representing conforming forms of living things aligned to the image and likeness of God. The

two Cherubims meeting this way represent man and “another” or brother in the sense of

covering or making reparation for wrongdoing caused the “othering” by the offensive ego.23

Only through this act does God commune with us in mercy.24

The mercy seat, therefore, represents our singular approach to God.25 We can only come to

the Throne of Grace through complete forgiveness and in the acceptance of the “other.” For

this reason, the materials out of which the covering is made must be a freewill offering, that is,

done without bribery or threats of hell fires.26 In fact, these threats are wholly reprehensible and

perverse not only because they aim to cause man to turn to God through moral and intellectual

pressure. First, they are aimed at persuading man to avoid hell, whatever that is.

Second, and more seriously, they are way off the mark, because the object of life is not the

avoidance of hell. We are on a path to Godhood.27 A misunderstanding of this is the classic

definition of sin, “missing the mark28 and wandering from29 the path of uprightness and

honour.”30 Being human, as opposed to being “divine-human,” is the actual sin.31 Here, we

discover that Tagore has been vindicated. Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet, philosopher,

and Nobel laureate, said that God would prefer man to return to Him in “his physical and mental

organism.” Note here the double inflection reflecting man’s twofold nature, “Mind and Body.”

Thus, we have, on the one hand, God, making the Promise through Abraham, offering mankind

a Personal Kingdom,32 if they would have it. The church, on the other hand, tries to intimidate

man into signing up with it, marshalling the entire Heavenly armory and misrepresenting

Scripture in the process, then threatens man with eternal damnation in hell if he does not

succumb. Wow!


15

In the Aramaic language, the concept of “the lot”33 translates as “the inner man,” alluding

to the “male and female” aspect of human beings, the “associates” we have been solemnly

admonished not to pull asunder.34 Nevertheless, on the Day of the Atonement, Aaron was

required to “cast lots” and select from two goats, one for the Lord and the other for

Azazel. Aaron, and by extension mankind, was to make the decision as if it was the Lord making

the decision. That is, when faced with everyday life decisions,35 man ought to think, “What

would God do now?” The one goat’s name, “Azazel” means, the “goat that disappears,”36 or

the “entire removal” of the goat, a symbol of complete forgiveness. A decision made this way

would not be tainted by the human ego. Indeed, in the Greek language Azazel translates as

“deliverance” or “liberty,” also implying the forgiveness of sins. This is “letting them go as if

they had never been committed.”37

By “gathering” or assembling himself according to his true nature, male and female,

mankind is causing the entire removal of the appropriately named “scapegoat,” the human ego

from his heart. This is the removal of sin. Man is taking personal responsibility for his own life,

instead of scapegoating the ego, or, as most people are prone to do, blaming the devil. The

expression “lot” denotes a “covering,” an expression that translates as, “dweller in tents,” or a

“tabernacle,” 38 and thus, “the sacred tent used in the worship of God.”39 In the last chapter, I

elaborate further on the full meaning of “cover.”

This, then, is how the human being is required to have a proper relationship with God. The

same expression, “covering,” comes from a root that means, “be clear, shine.” The Ancient

Hebrew had a picturesque approach to describing complex subjects such as the cosmos and

God. Covering was expressed by a symbol representing a shining star and the picture of “a man

with his arms raised looking at a great sight.” There was also a “shepherd’s staff representing

the idea of “toward” as the staff is used to move a sheep toward a direction.”40 The Ancient

Hebrew understood this as guidance for man.

We are to look towards the light of the stars on the heavens in the great distance and think,

“That is me…that is who I am becoming.” Just as travelers use the stars to guide or shepherd

them, directing their way home or towards a destination. In the New Testament the magi, known

as philosophers, or men of learning, who are also known to observe the movement of the

heavenly bodies, were regarded as sages who came from the east looking for the new-born King

in the town of Bethlehem, a metaphor for the human body.

While there appears to be differences of opinion about their number, I readily agree with

Pope Leo the Great, A.D., 450. This Pope said that there were three magi’s who came to

Bethlehem to find out about the birth of Jesus.41 The significance of three, the number denoting

completion, appears to corroborate this averment. Abraham, whose Covenant with God

triggered our presence here, is our best form of reference. Abram and Sarai’s inability to bear

children - these are Sarah and Abraham’s names before the change of state comparable to a

new birth - appears to be connected to what religious devotees call our “fallen nature.” The

birth of Isaac, not in the human manner of coming into being, was the fulfillment of God’s

Promise, which was fivefold, the very essence of a star. God promised Abraham that She would

make of him a great nation that would bless the whole world.42


16

Then She would give to us, Abraham’s descendants, the land of Canaan after becoming

slaves of the owners of that land,43 and then She would multiply us greatly.44 Abraham would

be made the father of the Promised Seed,45 with Sarah as the mother next to him.46 The birth of

Isaac was the commencement of the fulfilment of God’s Promise, the fivefold Promise of a

Seed. This fivefold nature can be readily observed in the make-up of the fivefold star, and in

the human, the pattern of a star. The birth of Isaac was the commencement of the fulfilment of

God’s Promise because the birth of Isaac came thirty years after the call was made. Then there

was the exodus, a period of four hundred years and the Temple of Solomon coming into

existence only four hundred and fifty years after Abraham’s descendant left Egypt. The duration

of the Exodus and the construction of the Temple of Solomon are corresponding by design and

should be regarded as one concurrent process, totaling to a period of four hundred years. Both

these periods involve reconstruction and regeneration after a period of disorder. The promise

of Isaac and his eventual birth is a process similar to the Exodus and the construction and

completion of King Solomon’s Temple. If Isaac had lived, he would have been four hundred

years when the Exodus occurred. The seed of Abraham would have been in a strange land for

these four hundred years.

The land is the human ego, serving in the world in an impaired state.47 The impaired state

denotes diminished strength, quality, or fitness of purpose. After this period, God had assured

Abraham that the Promise of the land would be realized. This is after Abraham asked, “how

shall I know that I shall possess it?”48 God informed Abraham the terms under which this event

would occur, the particulars are part of a formal Covenant regarding the Promised Land. These

include the necessary destruction of the ego, referred to as animal sacrifice.49

The three year old heifer, female goat and ram makes sacred what had been defiled by the

ego, because three is the number of completion. Three denotes the perfection of the human into

maturity.50 Their division into two refers to our twofold nature, male and female, the image and

likeness of God. The Covenant is said to be between two parties who participate in the rights

which it guarantees.

Man would not enter the Presence of his Creator without the “other.” The two birds are

undivided because they signify pure spirit. The three, the heifer, the female goat and the ram

with the two birds make up the fivefold star. There are therefore, two conditions of the Covenant

which extend purity to mankind: the human animal that must be slain and divided.

Put differently, the human ego must be done away with, to be replaced by man’s original

twofold nature, male and female. This represents the unity of body and mind, in recognition of

our twofold nature. On the outside it is the restoration of the dignity of “another,” the

acknowledgement of the dignity of the dehumanized race groups. Most importantly, it is the

ending of all oppressive measures against women, according her the status of life giver and the

breath of life. The two are literal characteristics. The destiny of mankind, as we shall see in

Chapters 7 and 8, is in the womb of the woman the Chalice of Salvation. The woman is the

Holy Grail.


17

Infographic 2 Isaac - The Fivefold Star

The woman has repeatedly demonstrated that she is capable of bearing the burdens of life

and she is the place where the existence of the human ego ends, completing human life prior to

godliness.51 Combining with our other nature, the woman, represents the only method and

manner through which man can meet the Covenant Conditions. God purposefully designed a

four-step process suitable for earthly conditions for achieving the goals of the Covenant:

1. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a strange land that is not theirs;

2. and shall serve them (those of the land);

3. and they (those of the land) shall afflict them (thy seed), and

4. four hundred years. (this constitutes your food-supply in Egypt as given by God)52

The four steps are really reminders and “four,” the world number, corresponds to the four

corners of the world. This is the number of material completeness, denoting “the number of

things that have a beginning, of things that are made, of material things, and matter itself.” It

appears entirely appropriate, therefore, to have four steps when preparing man to preside over

things that are made. The period of four hundred years was from the birth of Isaac to the exodus.

Four hundred is the product of eight and fifty. Fifty represents a divinely perfect period. The

number “eight” is comparable to infinitude and translates human life to eternal life through

regeneration and completion, denoting new beginnings. The eighth digit represents a new first

day on which the Seed of Abraham arises through God’s doing.53 The process of “accepting

Christ as personal Saviour” is not only intensely personal but it is also between man and God.

No man, therefore, could extend Salvation to another when he himself needs to be saved. The

physician must first heal himself. Man’s salvation lies in the woman, the proverbial “other”

who combines to from the image and likeness of God.


18

Man and Woman is God manifested in the flesh. Change happens inwards and moves

outward to heal the world. Deepak Chopra rightly points out that YOU are at the centre of the

universe. Thus, eight is associated with the Acacia tree, out of which comes wood that resists

decay, becoming a symbol of the “human body of the Saviour.”54 Fifty is representative of the

Holy Spirit. In God’s universe, then, there will always be some sort of trial going on for

individuals and groups. The trial of Israel was forty years in the wilderness, for a third of Moses’

life.55 Hence we say, “life begins at forty,” an adage recognizing the first forty years of one’s

life are about suffering while trying to figure out who we really are.

Moses was the perfect example of the human ego, the kind of animal to be sacrificed and

could, therefore, not enter the Promised Land but had to see it from afar.56 So emphatic is God

about this that, Moses died at the age of one hundred and twenty,57 a number that defines as a

divine period of probation, and his grave cannot be found. Succeeding Moses is Joshua, whose

name means “a savior.”58 Joshua is the antitype of the ego, heralding God’s Promised Messiah.

It is clear - from the account of Moses, the psalmist and the Book of Acts – that God and His

people were and are still having difficulty communicating with each other.59 The psalmist calls

upon Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector. The expression

“praise” is from Middle English “preisen,” to measure and evaluate.

This is a precept very much like “worship,” because praise means to determine the nature,

value, quality, ability, extent, or significance of God in our estimation. This estimation varies

from person to person, salvation is a personal matter between the person and God. This is

because God would manifest to you according the perception window through which you

compass Him. Praise, then, is a call to remember the Lord Your God as He is to you, (notice

here the twofold nature) a call to worship and obey. You would do well to expand that window

through which you perceive not only others and God but also the universe.

This has to do with the forty years, 40 = 10 x 4 of trial, that is, critical subjection,

examination and evaluation. While forty is the number of probations, ten, on the other hand,

magnifies personal experience as man’s responsibility on earth. This is the completion of divine

order, or ordinal perfection. I shall discuss shortly how Abraham heeded this call and how he

came to be “clothed with righteousness” and was found to be in “right standing” with God.60

There now remain two periods to be explained: the thirty years before the birth of Isaac,

and the fifty additional years for the construction of Solomon’s Temple. Thirty, that is, 3 x 10,

signifies completion and divine order, respectively. This number, thirty, exemplifies a higher

degree of the completion of Divine Order, “marking the right moment.”61 Three other Biblical

figures appeared on the stage, marking the right moment at the age of thirty. Jesus Christ

commenced His ministry at age thirty.62 Joseph - a type of Christ - was the same age when he

“went about his duties through all the land of Egypt.”63 King David also, when he began to

reign, he was thirty.64 Fifty is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, a figurative representation of the

True God Who is Spirit.65 It is for this reason that King Solomon, having completed the

Temple,66 can appropriately claim the title, the “Wisdom of God.”67 Building and completing

the Temple is synonymous to the acquisition of Canaan, the land that has been Promised and

assigned to the descendants of Abraham.


19

But before occupation, Canaan had to be humbled and be subdued first.68 I must hasten to

add that this has nothing to do with the view of “subordinating” the land as is often erroneously

conceived of “Mother Earth” whose natural resources have been rapaciously plundered. This

has also come to be used as an excuse to do the same to the woman, literally raping even babies

because they are female and thus weakened. What is meant here is the humbling of the ego,

turning man into the Kingdom of God that he is.

The human ego needed humbling because God said He would only dwell with those who

are of a contrite and humble spirit.69 The humbling, God had said, must happen “when you

cross the Jordan,” the river of judgment,70 only then can the land be turned into an everlasting

possession.71 The “river of judgment,” the Jordan, is the ability to judge with justice, the only

way the human ego is humbled, by arriving at own conclusions by way of deduction or

judgment. This is why the formulations of volumes of books to “praise God” must be regarded

as flagrant sedition because it removes the power of personal decision making based on these

experiences. The church may be telling the you something completely different from your

experiences when it says “Trust God.” This is an instruction that does not automatically

translate into “doing.” Each person, given their personal accumulated experiences and what

they make of those life experiences, need to be able to arrive at some conclusion about what

trusting God means to them. God is another word for Life.

Of course, you should trust God but you first need to learn how. Saying so does not make

it so. An inability to benefit from the cognitive process of acquiring knowledge would reduce

life in the human body to a state of great suffering and distress due to adversity.72 This is what

the lived experiences of billions of people on our planet is; a life full of adversity and pain. This

is the reason why the search for God is an intensely personal matter. Destroying “all the

inhabitants” of Canaan73 entails choosing God and “the other” over all distractions the

showpieces the world parades before our eyes. Destroying the ego is loving God and all men.

To produce a love to God and man is the whole design of the commandments.

The reconciliation of man with God depends on these two commandments. No other

commandment is greater than these two.74 While trying to figure out who we are in relation to

the world, man would be “first, strangers in a land not theirs.” And now, to conclude the

argument on the number of the magi who came to see and pay homage to the new-born king,

Jesus in Bethlehem. The expression, “Bethlehem” means, “house of bread or food.” Bread is

often translated “food,” all kinds of food. Hence to “break bread” or to “eat bread” means to

partake of a meal. In the human body, symbolized by the little town of Bethlehem, the magi

knew that the ideal human creation, Christ, is indeed a reality to be pursued and attained. For

us, this means while living in the human body, we are to desist from passing judgment on one

another.


20

The Unknown God Bibliography

21

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24

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The Unknown God Notes

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26

NOTES

High Noon in Kagiso 1 1 Kings 10:1; 2 Chronicles 9:1, See also, 2 Chronicles 9:1-12; 1 Kings 10:1-13; 2 Kings 20:13; Ezekiel 16:14; Ezekiel 23:42

2 Bhuti is a careless interpretation of the Afrikaans noun ‘Boet’ or brother in English. Only after her passing did it occur to

me, and it was humbling, that Gogo considered me her brother. Once, after our family went through a difficult time, she held

my hand and held my gaze as she called me her father. It seems as if Gogo thought the world of me. I will never forget her.

3 A shebeen is a small business activity that sells alcoholic drinks and sometimes pub-lunches. Most of these places were

operating illegally during the apartheid era, particularly the ones in the African townships. Patrons could buy drinks and pub

lunches cooked on an open fireplaces to consume on site or take away.

4 Acts 17:23

5 (Biblical Studies Press, [2006; 2006])

H24 (Strong, 1996) (abiyb’) ָאִביב 6

7 (Easton, [1996, c1897])

8 H5212 (Strong, 1996)

9 (Easton, [1996, c1897])

10 Ruth 1:22, See also, 2 Samuel 21:9; Exodus 9:31-32; Genesis 11:31; Genesis 35:19; Ruth 2:23; Ruth 4:5; Ruth 4:10

11 Luke 15:2, (Wilson, 1957), See also, 1 Corinthians 12:26; 1 Timothy 5:6; 2 Corinthians 4.10; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

12 Deuteronomy 16:6-8, See also, Genesis 15:12-18; Genesis 28:11-18; Exodus 17:12-16; Exodus 22:26-31; 22:36

13 Deuteronomy 23:11, See also, 1 Peter 3:21; Ephesians 5:26; 27; Exodus 29:4; Ezekiel 36:25; Hebrews 9:9; 10; 10:22;

14 1 Corinthians 5:7, See also, 1 Peter 1:19; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Exodus 12:3-6; Exodus 12:21; Galatians 6:15

15 Deuteronomy 16:5-8; See also, 2 Chronicles 35:13; 2 Kings 23:23; Deuteronomy 16:2; Deuteronomy 12:15;

16 1 Kings 8:29; 1 Peter 3:12; 2 Kings 19:16; 2 Samuel 7:13; Daniel 6:10; Deuteronomy 16:2; 2 Chronicles 6:20; 35:7

17 Revelation 2:26-28, See also, 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 John 3:2; 1 John 4:2; 1 John 5:10; 2 Peter 1:19; Daniel 2:44

18 Genesis 15:5, See also, 1 Chronicles 27:23; 1 Kings 3:8; 1 Kings 4:20; 2 Chronicles 17:14; Deuteronomy 1:10-11

וָכב 19 DBLH 1598, #3 (Swanson, 1997) (gôrāl) גֹּ

ון 20 H727 (Strong, 1996) (arown, ’aron’) ֲארֹּ

H717 (Strong, 1996) (arah’) ָאָרה 21

22 Exodus 26:34, See also 1 Kings 6:5; 1 Kings 6:16; 1 Kings 8:6; 1 Kings 8:9-12; 2 Chronicles 5:14; 2 Chronicles 6:1;

23 Leviticus 21:23, See also, 2 Chronicles 31:16; Exodus 19:6; Ezekiel 20:12; Exodus 25:8; Exodus 28:41; Exodus 31:13;

Exodus 38:1;

24 Exodus 30:6, See also, 1 Chronicles 13:6; 1 Chronicles 23:13; 1 Chronicles 28:11; 1 Kings 6:22; 1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Kings

19:15;

25 Exodus 25:21-22, See also, 1 Chronicles 13:6; 1 Chronicles 28:18; 1 Kings 6:5; 1 Kings 6:16; 1 Kings 8:9;

26 Exodus 35:5, See also, 1 Chronicles 18:11; 1 Chronicles 29:5; 2 Corinthians 8:3; 2 Chronicles 31:5; 2 Corinthians 8:11-12

27 Psalms 32:1-2, See also Psalms 29:1-2

28 Proverbs 19:2, See also, 1 Samuel 25:13; 2 Samuel 16:4; Ecclesiastes 7:9; Ecclesiastes 12:9; Hosea 4:6; Isaiah 27:11;

H2398 (’chata) ָחָטא ,ח ְטָאה ,ָחָטא 29

30 Matthew 1:21, 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:1-2; 1 John 2:12; 1 John 3:5; Acts 3:26; Acts 4:12; Acts 5:31; Acts 13:23

31 (Smith, 1998) p. 228

32 Exodus 19:6, See also, 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Deuteronomy 7:6-7; Deuteronomy 12:25-27

וָרל 33 or [shortened], H1486 (Strong, 1996) (,gowral) גֹּ


27

34 Matthew 19:6, See also, 1 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 7:10-14; Ephesians 5:28; Genesis 31:50; Hebrews 13:4

35 Daniel 12:11, See also, 1 Kings 18:36; 1 Peter 2:5; 2 Kings 16:15; 2 Timothy 3:1; Daniel 8:11; Daniel 8:12; Daniel 8:26

H5799 (Strong, 1996) (ʻăzâʼzêl) ֲעָזאֵזל 36

37 ἄφεσις (aphesis) G859 (Strong, 1996)

ל 38 ה H168 (Strong, 1996) (ohel’) אֹּ

ל 39 ה H168 (Strong, 1996) (ohel’) אֹּ

40 H168 (Strong, 1996)

41 1 Kings 4:30; Genesis 25:6; Isaiah 60:3; Jeremiah 23:5; John 1:49; 18:33-37; Luke 1:5; 2:4; Matthew 27:11; Micah 5:2;

42 Genesis 12:1–3

43 Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:13; Genesis 17:7; Genesis 24:7

44 Genesis 13:15–17

45 Genesis 15:4

46 Genesis 17:19; Genesis 18:9–15

47 Acts 7:6

48 Genesis 15:8, See also, 1 Samuel 14:9-10; 2 Kings 20:8; Deuteronomy 12:20; Deuteronomy 19:8; Exodus 3:12;

49 Genesis 15:9-11

50 Ezekiel 16:7, See also, 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 14:20; 1 Peter 3:3; Acts 7:17; Daniel 8:8; Deuteronomy 1:10;

51 Psalm 144:14, See also, Deuteronomy 28:7; 25; Jeremiah 13:17-19; 14:18; Job 8:13; Judges 5:8; 6:3; 6; Zechariah 8:3-5

52 Acts 5:36; Acts 7:6; Acts 13:20; Acts 21:38; Galatians 3:17;

53 Leviticus 21:8, See also, 2 Chronicles 31:16; Exodus 19:6; Exodus 25:8; Exodus 28:36; Exodus 28:41; Exodus 31:13

54 (Wilson, 1957)

55 Deuteronomy 8:2-5, See also, Acts 13:18; Psalm 95:10

56 Deuteronomy 34:4, See also, Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:18-21; Psalms 105:9-11; Deuteronomy 1:37

57 Deuteronomy 34:7

ע 58 ושֻׁ H3091 (Strong, 1996) (Yâhowshuwa`, Yâhowshu`a) ְיהֹּ

59 Deuteronomy 8:2-5; Psalms 95:10; Acts 13:18

60 Genesis 18:19; See also, Galatians 3:8; Genesis 18:23; Jeremiah 5:1

61 (Bullinger, Number in Scripture: Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance, Fourth Edition, Revised., 1921)

62 Luke 3:23 cited in (Bullinger, 1921)

63 Genesis 41:46

64 2 Samuel 5:4

65 John 4:24, See also, 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; 1 Corinthians 15:44-45; 1 Samuel 7:3; 1 Samuel 16:7

66 Ezra 5:11, See also, 1 Chronicles 17:12; 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 4:12; 1 Kings 6:1 - 1 Kings 7:51

67 1 Kings 3:28, See also, 1 Chronicles 29:24; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Kings 2:9; 1 Kings 3:9-12;

68 Numbers 33:52-53, See also, 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:14; Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:32; Deuteronomy 6:19

69 Proverbs 11:2, See also, 1 Peter 5:5; 2 Chronicles 33:12-13; 2 Chronicles 34:27; 2 Corinthians 1:4; 2 Corinthians 2:7

70 (Hitchcock, [c1869])

71 Genesis 17:8; Genesis 48:4; Isaiah 61:7

72 (Hitchcock, [c1869])

73 Exodus 15:15; Exodus 16:35; Zephaniah 2:5

74 Matthew 22:40

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