Chapter 13. PROPHETIC DREAMS
After his
wanderings and battles, Abraham settles in “Mamre’s oaks in Hebron.” Following
these events, he experiences a divine “word in a vision” and a dream promising
him lands “from Egypt’s river to the great river, Euphrates.” His family
relocates to a desert along the Shur road, near the well “Beer-Lahai-Roi,”
between Kadesh and Bered. In another divine appearance, Abraham is commanded to
circumcise all males’ foreskins, rename Sarai as Sarah, and is told he’ll
father a child at 100, despite Sarah’s barrenness at 89. That day, Abraham
circumcises his son Ishmael, household males, and, at 99, himself.
In Mamre’s
oaks, during “daytime heat,” a mirage foretells fatherhood. The dream shifts,
showing Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction and Lot’s miraculous rescue. It ends
with “Abimelech, king of Gerar,” targeting Sarah, echoing Egypt’s ordeal.
Post-circumcision, Sarah bears Isaac in “Beersheba’s desert,” in “Philistine
land.” God then directs Abraham to “Moriah” to sacrifice Isaac, where two
mystical visions occur, and a ram, found in a thicket, is offered instead. At
37, Isaac mourns Sarah’s death in “Kiryat Arba, aka Hebron, in Canaan,” where
Abraham buys Machpelah’s cave as a family tomb.
Three years
later, at 40, Isaac marries “Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from
Paddan-Aram.” Abraham sends his servant “Eliezer of Damascus” to his homeland
for a bride, targeting “Nahor’s city” in “Aram-Naharaim.” Bethuel, Rebekah’s
father, is son to Abraham’s brother Nahor, whose wife Milcah was Haran’s
daughter—not Abraham’s brother. Rebekah, Isaac’s cousin, likely younger,
settles with him at “Beer-Lahai-Roi” in “Negev.”
Like Sarah,
Rebekah faces early infertility. At 60, she bears twin sons. Famine strikes,
prompting a move to “Gerar’s Philistine king.” After Abraham’s death, Isaac
inherits and expands his wealth. Around 100, he goes blind, likely earlier. He
dies at 180 in Hebron, buried in Machpelah’s cave.
Abraham and
Isaac are pivotal Old Testament figures, foundational to major religions, yet
appear human upon scrutiny. Their long lives—Abraham’s 175, Isaac’s 180—clash
with God’s 120-year limit, reflecting literary exaggeration akin to Sumerian
kings’ millennia-long reigns. We believe they, or their prototypes, existed,
their tales echoing Near Eastern upheavals and medical insights, clarifying the
biblical epic’s era and settings.
The
patriarchs’ fortunes suggest foresight, education, and morality. Abraham,
depicted as authentic and modern, is credited with epic deeds, clouded by
mystical visions and divine dialogues, likely self-reported. His poetic
accounts rival Homer’s, but unlike the Greek’s mythic basis, Genesis draws on
familiar, deeply felt events.
Abraham’s visions
vary: sometimes seeing God, others hearing Him or angels, spanning adulthood
and regions. At 75, he hears God in Haran—realistically 25–30 per our timeline.
God appears in Shechem; in Bethel, Beersheba, and Moriah, only voices manifest.
His final vision occurs at ~110–115, likely 65. Four vivid mirages strike in
Hebron, one prefaced: “as the sun set, deep sleep fell on Abram.” We infer
divine encounters were dreams or hypnagogic states.
The brain
generates vivid dreams, especially during REM sleep, intensified by hypoxia.
Psychoanalysis, per Freud, decodes dreams to reveal past thoughts. Dreams can
involve walking, flying, sensing smells, or conversing with the dead,
reflecting creativity. Abraham’s dream of “horror and great darkness” suggests
nightmares, possibly from hypoxia caused by poor sleeping posture, blocked
airways, or hot, oxygen-scarce air.
In Hebron’s
heat, Abraham’s longest, vibrant dream features three strangers, predicting
Isaac’s birth and Sodom-Gomorrah’s fall, with Lot’s escape and daughters’
scandal. It reimagines Egypt, substituting Abimelech for Pharaoh, cursing
Gerar’s women with barrenness, healed by Abraham’s intercession. The
Sodom-Gomorrah tale’s fable-like quality contrasts with geological details:
volcanic “sulfur and fire,” earthquakes, a salt pillar, and smoke “like a
furnace.” Abraham likely witnessed such in Judaea’s desert, Dead Sea, Wadi
Araba, or Barqat al-Buwayridah, part of the seismically active Dead Sea Rift.
Mud volcanoes there form salt sculptures and flaming pillars, blending into his
dream’s tapestry.
Abraham’s
distress over heirlessness, with Sarah barren, may stem from their half-sibling
bond, increasing recessive genetic risks. Studies on Arab populations link
consanguinity to postnatal mortality and congenital defects. Infertility
factors include age over 25–30, disease, and kinship. A rare recessive gene may
explain their childlessness.
Per our
timeline, Abraham settles Canaan in 1730–1729 BCE at 32–36. Eleven years later,
at 43–47, Ishmael is born (1719–1718 BCE). Thirteen years on, God decrees
circumcision and predicts Isaac’s birth (1706–1705 BCE), when Abraham is 56–60,
Sarah 46–50. Abraham led many, including 318 fighters during Lot’s rescue.
Assuming stable numbers, plus boys from eight days old, ~320–350 needed
circumcision in a day. With 16 daylight hours, each took under three minutes,
Abraham likely self-operating last to avoid pain halting him. Without modern
hemostatics or sutures, this pace seems implausible.
We doubt
Abraham performed over 320 surgeries alone. Assistants, likely barbers skilled
with blades, helped. Mesopotamian cuneiform notes barbers’ medical
interventions. Though Genesis omits Abraham’s medical training, he may have
intuited circumcision’s need from phimosis, paraphimosis, or balanitis, common
in unhygiene conditions.
His
pastoral life taught animal anatomy and ailments. He treated livestock with
cuts, cauterizations, or extractions, gaining surgical savvy from sacrifices
and butchery. Castrating bulls or fixing herd leaders’ foreskins honed skills.
He knew complications—shock, infections, necrosis—from veterinary work. Human
circumcision deaths, like from tetanus, persist today.
Someone,
possibly an Egyptian from Abraham’s Nile days, advised circumcision’s fertility
benefits. His diverse followers, many Egyptian, included a paramedic vital for
injuries, like during Lot’s campaign. This medic likely orchestrated the mass
circumcision, preparing tools, bandages, and pain relief. Wine, known since
Noah, served as an anesthetic, possibly with herbs. A modern case—a Mexican
woman’s self-cesarean after liquor—shows alcohol’s numbing potential. Genesis’s
“P source” (715–687 BCE), unlike “J” (828–722 BCE), overlooks Abraham’s medical
limits, suggesting editorial embellishment.
Neanderthals
used yarrow and chamomile for healing, with anti-inflammatory and sedative
effects. Mesopotamian surgeons lacked anesthesia, but Assyrian texts cite
mandrake and opium. An Egyptian-trained paramedic likely used Nile’s
pharmacology—mint, chili, or poppy-derived opioids. Sumerians grew poppies for
opium by 3000 BCE; cannabis spread later. Egypt knew henbane, mandrake, and
opium, yielding potent analgesics. Abraham’s “operating room” likely used
herbal sedatives, possibly with wine.
Egyptian
circumcision, depicted under Djedkare (2388–2356 BCE), was routine, seen in
Amenhotep I’s mummy (1525–1504 BCE). Initially priestly, it became universal
for “external purity,” unlike Mesopotamia. Strabo noted Egypt’s dedication to
it. High healthcare enabled this, preventing foreskin infections in hot
climates, later theologized.
Abraham’s
Mesopotamian roots, per Hammurabi’s code (~1760 BCE), included medical
exposure. Leaving after 1740–1737 BCE, he learned from professionals. Egypt’s
ban on human sacrifice, unlike Ur’s practices, shaped his rejection of it,
elevating human value. Circumcision, adopted for health, aligned his tribe with
Egyptians, possibly Hyksos, fostering cultural bonds.
Isaac’s
sacrifice ordeal, set in 3000–1100 BCE when human offerings occurred, is harrowing.
Artifacts from Ur, Kish, and Levantine sites confirm this. Genesis spares
Isaac’s terror, subtly condemning ritual murder. Isaac marries Rebekah, his
cousin from Nahor’s city, possibly spared Ur’s fate (1740–1737 BCE). Rebekah,
born ~1700–1694 BCE, is younger, her beauty captured in a 1850–1500 BCE Ur
relief.
Rebekah’s
origin—Aram-Naharaim or Paddan-Aram—creates ambiguity. Later edits may favor
northern Euphrates ties over Babylonian captivity’s stigma. Her infertility,
like Sarah’s, may reflect genetic overlap, resolved with twins, born ~1670 BCE
when Isaac was ~35. Famine, likely drought, drives them to Gerar. Isaac’s
blindness at “100,” likely 50s, suggests trachoma or cataracts. Dying at
180—perhaps 60—he rests in Machpelah.
Isaac’s
visions, absent until 60, contrast Abraham’s lifelong ones. Parasitic brain
cysts, like cysticercosis or echinococcosis from livestock, may explain
Abraham’s hallucinations. Prevalence in goats, sheep, and cattle supports this.
Dietary laws, later Mosaic, curbed such infections, reducing later visions.
Abraham’s dreams, like AI’s errors, misled without scrutiny.
Abraham’s monotheism, legal acumen, and Egyptian-inspired hygiene—handwashing, clean animals—cut zoonotic risks, boosting his tribe’s health. Egypt’s medical legacy shaped Genesis, enhancing human survival and cultural progress.
Retelling done by Grok, an artificial intelligence developed by xAI.
Author:
Arkhipov S.V. – candidate of medical sciences, surgeon, traumatologist-orthopedist.
Citation:
Архипов С.В. Дети человеческие: истоки библейских преданий в обозрении врача. Эссе, снабженное ссылками на интерактивный материал. 2-е изд. перераб. и доп. Йоэнсуу: Издание Автора, 2025.
Arkhipov S.V. Human Children: The Origins of Biblical Legends from a Physician's Perspective. An essay with references to interactive materials. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Joensuu: Author's Edition, 2025. [Rus]
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Keywords
ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, history, first patient, injury, damage, Bible, Genesis
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