Feacturing Aileen Garoutte
SATURDAY,
OCTOBER 21, 2006
A
SPACE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING
THE
OLD TESTAMENT REVISITED
By Roland Smyth
or
Things you are liable to read in the Bible...
They ain't necessarily so...
INTRODUCTION
The case for Biblically-recorded UFOs has intrigued me for over two decades,
but like most others who have shared this interest over the years, I never
really conducted any in-depth research into the matter. That is to say, I never
read the Bible from cover to cover, verse for verse. Who, amongst us common
folk, ever does? Like millions of amateur would-be Bible students before me, I
found 95% of the Good Book to be rather dreary and boring. Hardly what you'd
call enjoyable reading. So I satisfied my curiosity by reading only the more
outstanding extraterrestrial-related excerpts which authors like Erich von
Daniken brought to the world's attention.
As far as I was concerned these excerpts, like Ezekiel's wheels within wheels
encounter for instance, were proof enough that extraterrestrial visitations
were not all that uncommon in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.
Naturally I assumed that these extraterrestrials -- or angels, or whatever you
want to call them -- were here on official business, and that they were
carrying on God's good work as best they could.
I further assumed that "God" himself was an especially advanced and
highly evolved extraterrestrial who was acting on behalf of an even higher God
-- the "real" God, you might say, otherwise known as the Supreme
Creator. That this Old Testament "God" (Jehovah by name) was mistaken
for the God by the ancient Israelites didn't bother me at all. It was all quite
understandable under the circumstances, and I never really suspected that there
was anything terribly unusual about the arrangement.
But then, as a simple twist of Fate would have it, I decided to tackle the Book
of Books and find out once and for all, and on a first hand basis, what it was
all about. Incredibly, I didn't give up halfway through Genesis as I had so
many times before. On the contrary, I became thoroughly fascinated with the
Bible. Then I became virtually obsessed with it. The darned thing was totally
unlike anything I had expected. It was like reading a good science-fiction
novel on every page! In every chapter! There were weird and bizarre stories
everywhere, and I found that I was reading one of those kinds of books that you
just can't put down.
I began stocking up on Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, Bible
commentaries, archeological records of the period, and a whole assortment of
similar reference books... anything that would cast more light on all the weird
things I was reading. Exasperated by the outdated language of the King James
Version, I went out and bought six different modern translations to make the
going easier. No doubt about it. I was obsessed.
It's been three years since all this craziness started and I've sure learned a
lot about the Bible as a result. I approached it primarily from a UFOlogist's
point of view, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Along the way my attitudes
about Jehovah changed drastically. Remember how he was always saying he was a
jealous God, a God of vengeance and wrath? Well, he certainly wasn't kidding. A
meaner character you're not likely to meet anywhere. No siree. Jehovah takes
the cake in that department, and all the evidence you'll ever need to confirm
that contention has dutifully been recorded in the Bible.
Now, the problem is that everyone, or just about everyone, assumes to some
degree or other that this guy was the God. However, since he was merely an
ambitious extraterrestrial this claim to fame is obviously a case of stretching
the truth, and that's putting it mildly. I'm not even sure he was a legitimate
representative of God, whomever you personally conceive God to be. I'll have
more to say on that subject later. For now it's only important that you recognize
that Jehovah was far less than he said he was. That much is obvious, is it not?
In any case, first things first.
This little booklet has been prepared in order that the overwhelming evidence
of Biblical UFOs--or, more specifically, their occupants--can be presented from
a perspective that is perhaps somewhat different from those you are accustomed
to. I can't promise that everything you find herein will be fresh and new to
your sphere of knowledge, but I think I can spring a few surprises on you just
the same.
If nothing else, I should like to impress upon you how enormously serious this
business of Biblical extraterrestrials is. The whole subject has lapsed into a
sort of "ho-hum" holding pattern in recent years, and I don't think
that's a good place for it to be. For let's face it, an extraterrestrial god is
something we should all be deeply concerned about, particularly since that god
rarely displayed a loving and compassionate attitude towards the human race.
Not until the advent of Jesus Christ, anyway. Then everything changed.
There's something awfully disturbing about that... how a Deity can preach
vengeance and war in one Testament and then suddenly switch to forgiveness and
peace in the next.
To be sure, these and other reforms were quite an improvement over the old
ways. But why was "god" so cruel in the first place? Were the Old and
New Testament Gods truly one and the same Deity? Was Jehovah really the Father
whom Jesus spoke of? To answer these perplexing questions it's time we faced up
to what most of us believe in anyway: that the ancients perceived
extraterrestrials as gods, and that from time to time an especially autocratic
god was perceived as the God of gods, or simply as God.
Let us, therefore, take a closer look at the Old Testament for on close
inspection it reveals a great deal more about extraterrestrial intervention
than is commonly appreciated. It also says a lot of things about Jehovah which
will make you sit up and take notice... things you were never taught in church or
Sunday school.
One of them pops up in a passage which is familiar to even the most casual of
churchgoers. Perhaps you too can recite it from memory, for it's the kind of
line that once heard is seldom forgotten. I refer to verse five of the Eighth
Psalm. It reads: "for thou (Jehovah) has made him (us) a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor."
That line doesn't come across as anything anybody should get too terribly
excited over, but the catch is that the key word "angels" does not
rightfully belong in it. It has been erroneously translated from--what
else?--the Hebrew noun, ELOHIM. The quote, therefore (complete with the
definite article HA), should read as follows: "For thou has made him a
little lower than the gods..."
That kind of puts a whole new slant on the Eighth Psalm, wouldn't you agree?! I
mean, here we have the Bible (the Bible!!) casually informing us that we were
created a little lower than the gods (the gods!!). It's like I said before--the
Old Testament reads just like Homer once you weed out even a few of the
translational errors.
There are, incidentally, several modern Bible translations which--believe it or
not--point out in footnotes the presence of HA ELOHIM here in the original
Hebrew. Some of them even go so far as to offer the literal translation (ie.,
"the gods"--as opposed to the usual translation, "God"),
but they quickly add that the author of the Psalm must certainly have meant the
term to be understood in only a figurative sense. Thus, in most cases "the
angels," or sometimes "the holy ones," has been retained into
the actual text!
Mind you, in the New World Translation "the godlike ones" appears in
the text, and in the Jerusalem Bible--which has the Vatican's full
endorsement--the text contains "a god." So things are looking up.
Someone might get it right yet!
Anyway, if you have access to several versions of the Bible you might want to
check out the Eighth Psalm in each of them, just for curiosity's sake. It's
interesting to see how different versions handle this very difficult passage.
In another example of translational adjustments, HA ELOHIM has been disguised
in most Bibles (the King James and New International versions, for instance) as
"the judges." thus, in Exodus 22:8-9 we have, or rather should have:
"But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before
the
gods
to determine whether he has laid his hands on the other man's
property.
In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a
garment,
or any other lost property about which somebody says, 'This is
mine,'
both parties are to bring their cases before the gods. The one whom
the
gods declare guilty must pay back double to his neighbor."
Interesting judiciary system, eh? Not unusual though for nations of the ancient
Middle East--as the archeological evidence amply testifies.
In all fairness, it should be noted that some Bible translations follow the
usual tradition of rendering HA ELOHIM as "God" in the above quote.
However, at the same time they rather conspicuously fail to explain why the
Supreme Creator of the Universe would bother involving himself in such petty
legal disputes. Neither is any explanation offered as to how the procedure
would work, nor why it was eventually phased out some time in the dim pat.
All in all, then, I'd say that translation the quote accurately furnishes us
with a satisfactory solution to a situation which would otherwise remain
somewhat puzzling. Indeed, in light of what has in the last three decades or so
become increasingly obvious to the open-minded, there's nothing even remotely
irregular about "gods" participating in the administrative functions
of the ancient Israelites.
Even at that, it's really quite extraordinary--isn't it?--how a little semantic
detective work can open up whole new fields of discovery in Biblical research.
Ah yes, determining the meanings of words s they were originally intended to be
understood can go a long way in unlocking many deep mysteries--as I trust the
clearly misguided translations of ELOHIM have sufficiently revealed.
Well, we'll leave the inaccurate translations of ELOHIM for now and move on to
a remarkable instance where--for reasons that are difficult to comprehend--an
accurate translation somehow survived the censor's wary eye and has since
raised embarrassing questions that church authorities have a tough time coming
to terms with.
To be continued.
_________
A leading UFOlogical researcher said about this book, "it is one of the
most important books I have ever read and should be read by everyone!"
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