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296 the relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon in_ their orbits—was originated. Scholars have recognized that our present-day calendars derive from the original Nippurian calendar. All the evidence shows that the Nippurian calendar began circa 4000 B.C, in the age of Taurus. In this we find yet another confirmation of the umbilical cord con- necting the Hebrews with Nippur: The Jewish calendar still contin- ues to count the years from an enigmatic beginning in 3760 B.C. (so that in 1983 the Jewish year was 5743). It has been assumed that this is a count "from the beginning of the world"; but the actual statement by Jewish sages was that this is the number of years that had passed "since counting [of years) began." We suggest that it means, since the introduction of the calendar in Nippur. In the ancestral family of Abraham we thus find a priestly family of royal blood, a family headed by a Nippurian high priest who was the only one allowed into the temple's innermost chamber, there to receive the deity's word and convey it to king and people. In this regard the name of Abraham's father. Terah, is of great interest. Seeking clues only in the Semitic environment, biblical scholars regard the name, as those of Harran and Nahor, as mere toponyms (names that personify places), holding that there were cities by such names in central and northern Mesopotamia. Assyri- ologists searching the Akkadian terminology (being the first Se- mitic language) could only find that Tirhu meant "an artifact or vessel for magical purposes." But if we turn to the Sumerian language, we find that the cuneiform sign for Tirhu stemmed directly from that of an object called in Sumerian DUG.NAMTAR —literally, a "Fate Speaker"—a Pronouncer of Oracles! Terah, then, was an Oracle Priest, one assigned to approaching the "Stone that Whispers" to hear the deity's words and communi- cate them (with or without an interpretation) to the lay hierarchy. It was a function assumed in later times by the Israelite High Priest, who alone was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, approach the Dvir ("Speaker"), and "hear the voice [of the Lord] speak unto him from off the overlay which is upon the Ark of the Covenant, from between the two Cherubim." During the Israelite Exodus, at Mount Sinai the Lord proclaimed that his covenant with the de- scendants of Abraham meant that "ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests." It was a statement that reflected the status of Abra- ham's own descent: a royal priesthood. Farfetched as these conclusions may sound, they are in full ac- cord with the Sumerian practices whereby kings appointed their THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN