Author’s Note: The second in my exposure of “incest” in the Old Testament (Torah) – with a footnote which appears to inject Jewish humour into the procedures! The Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in Palestine during 70 CE exploded the myth of Jewish racial and spiritual superiority. This led to some Jewish people seeking a different – more peace-loving – way that renounced war and claims od divine dominance. Of course, Jewish-Christians (the first “Christians” – c. 1st century CE) practiced circumcision and maintained many of the Torah practices and attitudes (although in a toned-down manner) – before all this Torah-perspective was rejected by the Gnostic Christians (2nd-3rd century CE) people who left the cities and towns and departed into the desert to take-up meditation in caves and purpose-built “cells” (a practice which may have had an influence from Buddhism). This practice of humility has survived down through the ages in the traditions of Christian monasticism which exist within Roman Catholicism and the various Orthodox lineages (all practicing celibacy and rejecting any form of sexual contact). Christianity as we know it today (Roman State) dates from around 350 CE and the fixing of the received Bible. This process built on the fixing of the Jewish Bible which occurred in 100 CE – both activities rejected many Testaments and Gospels for political and theological reasons. Fortunately, many of these texts were discovered in the immediate post-WWII period in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls (Palestine) finds – representing the Old Testament – and the Nag Hamidi Library (Egypt) – clarifying the New Testament. Not all of these texts had been missing – with some being known from other sources – and surreptitiously passed-on behind the scenes as it were. The Ethiopian Bible contains the largest collection of these texts as a standard tradition – but those interested to learn more about this subject can reference JR Porter’s excellent book entitled “The Lost Bible – Forgotten Scriptures Revealed – the Unknown Jesus – Visions of Apocalypse – Prophets and Patriarchs”, Duncan Baird Publishers, (2021). ACW (8.4.2024)
‘The Origins of the Moabites and Ammonites
And Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the hill country with his two daughters, for he dared not stay in Zoar. He lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. The elder said to the younger, ‘Our father is an old man, and there is no one in the land to come in to us in the way of the world. Come on, let us ply our father with wine and sleep with him. In this way we can preserve the descendance of our father.’ That night they made their drunk, and the elder slept with her father though he was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving. The next day the elder said to the younger, ‘Last night, I was the one who slept with our father. Let us make him drunk again tonight, and you go and sleep with him. In this way we can preserve the descendance of our father.’ They made their father drunk that night too, and the younger went and slept with him, though he was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving. Both Lot’s daughters thus became pregnant by their father. The elder gave birth to a son whom she named Moab; and he is the ancestor of the Moabites down to this day. The younger also gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-Ammi; and he is the ancestor of the Bene-Ammon down to this day.‘ (f)
Footnote (f): Two Hebrew puns: Moab from ‘me ab’ meaning ‘from a father’, and Bene-Ammon from ‘bene ammi’ meaning ‘sons of my kinsman’.
Holy Bible, Revised New Jerusalem Bible – Study Edition – Darton, Longman, and Todd, (2019), Pages 30-31 – Genesis 19: 30-38
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 