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| Further contextual issues are raised by the interpretation of "the people of the name". This phrase is clearly supposed to apply to the followers of [[Ihoh]], in other words, the members of the Jewish religion. Taking a broader cultural view, one could argue that rather than a religious choice, Jews are born into a culture. In this view, the people group is synonymous with the ethnicity known as "Jewish" or "Hebrew", rather than being so focused on any particular religious belief system. With this in mind, one should logically be able to perform a word by word substitution of the word “Jews” for instances of 'semim' in the text. Let us examine a few examples of this process. | Further contextual issues are raised by the interpretation of "the people of the name". This phrase is clearly supposed to apply to the followers of [[Ihoh]], in other words, the members of the Jewish religion. Taking a broader cultural view, one could argue that rather than a religious choice, Jews are born into a culture. In this view, the people group is synonymous with the ethnicity known as "Jewish" or "Hebrew", rather than being so focused on any particular religious belief system. With this in mind, one should logically be able to perform a word by word substitution of the word “Jews” for instances of 'semim' in the text. Let us examine a few examples of this process. |
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| Examining the first instance of 'semim', the semim are mentioned in the very first sentence((Genesis 1:1)) of the Hebrew corpus, one which is typically rendered "//In the beginning the [[alehim]] created the **semim** and the earth//". If one takes a traditional approach to translation, but embraces the "people of the name" interpretation, we get something to the effect of: //In the beginning the [[alehim]] created the **Jews** and the earth//. This statement raises a rather important question - if the Alehim were the creators of the Jews specifically, then who is the creator of the rest of humanity? Was there a parallel group similar to but distinct from the [[alehim]] who created other ethnic groups? The invoking of a variety of "creator gods" to create different "races" smacks of many problematic ways of thinking, including but not limited to [[wp>critical_race_theory]], discrimination, and [[wp>eugenics]]. There are of course many corollary problems here as well. Traditionally, the Hebrew people trace their ancestry back to Isaac (the son of Abraham) but exclude Abraham's other son, Ishmael. This interpretation pushes the creation of the Jews back all the way to Adam((see [[adem]])), all but destroying any semblance of the fundamental "chosen people" motif of Judaism. Could this problem be solved by a "better translation" of the context? Using the Bara Translation, we arrive at: "//the established division divided the Alehim with The Semim with territory//". | Examining the first instance of 'semim', the semim are mentioned in the very first sentence((Genesis 1:1)) of the Hebrew corpus, one which is typically rendered "//In the beginning the [[alehim]] created the **semim** and the earth//". If one takes a [[traditional]] approach to translation, but embraces the "people of the name" interpretation, we get something to the effect of: //In the beginning the [[alehim]] created the **Jews** and the earth//. This statement raises a rather important question - if the Alehim were the creators of the Jews specifically, then who is the creator of the rest of humanity? Was there a parallel group similar to but distinct from the [[alehim]] who created other ethnic groups? The invoking of a variety of "creator gods" to create different "races" smacks of many problematic ways of thinking, including but not limited to [[wp>critical_race_theory]], discrimination, and [[wp>eugenics]]. There are of course many corollary problems here as well. Traditionally, the Hebrew people trace their ancestry back to Isaac (the son of Abraham) but exclude Abraham's other son, Ishmael. This interpretation pushes the creation of the Jews back all the way to Adam((see [[adem]])), all but destroying any semblance of the fundamental "chosen people" motif of Judaism. Could this problem be solved by a "better translation" of the context? Using the Bara Translation, we arrive at: "//the established division divided the Alehim with The Semim with territory//". |
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| Once we have removed the flawed idea of "creation ex nihilo" and read the text for what it actually says, we find that a **division** (see [[bera]]) of two people groups is a more accurate translation of what the original author wrote. It is now possible to interpret the narrative as the Alehim parceling out a specific land grant to the Hebrews. Yet, if this is true, and the land grant occurred at the beginning of the story, why is so much of the narrative in the Old Testament about the Hebrew people's quest for land. Abram leaves his homeland, as does Jacob, as does Moses, who spends the rest of his life wandering. The next several hundred years focus on trying to invade and keep control over lands that are already occupied. | Once we have removed the flawed idea of "creation ex nihilo" and read the text for what it actually says, we find that a **division** (see [[bera]]) of two people groups is a more accurate translation of what the original author wrote. It is now possible to interpret the narrative as the Alehim parceling out a specific land grant to the Hebrews. Yet, if this is true, and the land grant occurred at the beginning of the story, why is so much of the narrative in the Old Testament about the Hebrew people's quest for land. Abram leaves his homeland, as does Jacob, as does Moses, who spends the rest of his life wandering. The next several hundred years focus on trying to invade and keep control over lands that are already occupied. |
| Nevertheless, the Semim are most known simply for their fame or infamy; they are "the Legendary Ones" characterized as the primary characters of some ancient, presumably long lost legends. It is possible though that some of these legends may have never been truly lost or are yet bubbling back to our consciousness through archaeological discoveries. | Nevertheless, the Semim are most known simply for their fame or infamy; they are "the Legendary Ones" characterized as the primary characters of some ancient, presumably long lost legends. It is possible though that some of these legends may have never been truly lost or are yet bubbling back to our consciousness through archaeological discoveries. |
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| | ====More to Investigate==== |
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| | 2 Kings 23:5 implicates the army of the semim with "overlord the sun moon constellations" and a mysterious group called "the Stirred Ones" in a burnt tower in the territory around Jerusalem. |
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| This page is part of a series - see [[im]] backlinks for a dynamic list | This page is part of a series - see [[im]] backlinks for a dynamic list |
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| FIXME consolidate 8064, 98034 | View this word and its instances in our [[https://berasit.org/cgi-bin/lex.php?transliteration=semim|interactive lexicon]] |
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| [[https://bara.foundation/cgi-bin/lex.php?lexid=98034|98034]] | |
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