Chapter 4
THE
REACTION TO SENSE LIVING
GENESIS 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and
11
Charles Fillmore
Mysteries of Genesis
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
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 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 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 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 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 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), 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 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.
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 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 (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 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.
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
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
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 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, 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 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
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, 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 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 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, 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
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 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.
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." 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,"
"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 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.
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.
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
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." 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.
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 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.
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," "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.
"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 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 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 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.
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."
"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.
