The Chinese Language: Evidence of the Genesis Account

"Old Chinese, sometimes known as "Archaic Chinese", was the language common during the early and middle Zhōu Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC), texts of which include inscriptions on bronze artifacts, the poetry of the Shījīng, the history of the Shūjīng, and portions of the Yìjīng (I Ching)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language#History_and_evolution

"The oldest discovered texts are oracular sayings incised on tortoise shells and cattle scapulae by court diviners of the Shang dynasty beginning in the early 14th century bc; these are the so-called oracle-bone inscriptions. Although the writing system has since been standardized and stylistically altered, its principles and many of its symbols remain fundamentally the same.

Like other scripts of ancient origin, Chinese is derived from picture writing. It grew into a word-by-word representation of language when it was discovered that words too abstract to be readily pictured could be indicated by their sound rather than their sense. Unlike other scripts, however, Chinese still works pictographically as well as phonetically. Moreover, its sound indications have not been adapted to changes of pronunciation but have remained keyed to the pronunciation of 3,000 years ago. The building blocks of the system are several hundred pictographs for such basic words as man, horse, and axe. In addition, expanded, or compound, pictographs exist. For example, a symbol of this type representing a man carrying grain means “harvest,” and thus “year” (nian)."
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761565543_2/chinese_language.html


EARLY CHINESE EVIDENCE OF THE GENESIS ACOUNT

BOAT
The Chinese word for boat is made up of three components.

The left most character means "ship" or "vessel."

The upper righthand character is the Chinese number "eight."

The bottom righthand character is the word for "mouth" or "person." The first boat mentioned in the Bible is Noah's ark. Just how many people or "mouths" were aboard this ship or vessel? Genesis 7:13 tells us: "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." So Noah's ark was a ship or a vessel with eight people. The Chinese language records this fact in perfect detail.


SEPARATE
After the flood, the eight humans on the Ark settle down, have children, and eventually diffuse themselves throughout the land to form different nations.


TEMPTER
Genesis 3:1-5
First, we have a character with the meaning of "secret" or "private."

Then we have another variation on the character for "man" or "son."

In this character, you see an enclosed garden divided into four parts.

When we combine these characters, we see the meaning of the character for "devil." The devil was crafty, tricky, and secretive in his private approach to Eve in the garden -- he caught Eve when she was alone; when Adam was not with her, and could not counsel or advise her against the devil's tempting. He spoke to Eve with the voice of a man so that she could understand. This whole event takes place in the garden of Eden. Afterward, Eve also tempted the man, Adam, and he fell to the temptation as well.

To form the "tempter" character, we first top the "devil" character with two trees. Although there were many trees in the garden of Eden, only two receive specific mention: (1) the "tree of life" and (2) the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). Satan's specific temptation to Eve was to get her to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We then add the character for "cover" to indicate that this temptation took place under the "cover" of the trees of the garden. Again, Satan does not do his work out in the open light. The Deceiver comes to us in subtilty and craftiness.

So, 'secret' + 'man' + 'garden' + 'devil' + 'trees' + 'cover' = "tempter"


COVET

The word "covet" or "desire" pictures a woman making a decision between two trees. Genesis 2:8-9 shows us that there were two significant trees side by side in the garden from which to choose. The woman made a wrong choice as we are told in Genesis 3:6. She chose the tree which God had commanded her not to eat of. She coveted the knowlege which the devil told her could be hers.


FORBIDDEN

Here again we see the two trees at the top of the character for "forbidden." The bottom portion of this character is an abbreviated form of a word for God plus an added little "hook" (bottom center) which changes the meaning from "God" to "God commands or notifies." So the word "forbidden" means "God makes a commandment about two trees." God in fact made specific commandments forbidding Adam and Eve to eat from either of the two trees (at different times). He first forbid them to eat of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:16-17). After they fell to temptation, He forbids them to eat of the "tree of life" (Genesis 3:22-24).
http://bibleprobe.com/chinese.htm

Here are some others:

Eve secretly eats from the Tree of Knowledge with her mouth. This first sin marks the beginning of humankind's sinful fall and descent from holy relationship with God.


After eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Even become aware of their nakedness and hide in the trees. "Body is tree" characterizes this intent of camouflaging into the background.




All three of these characters mean "naked", and share the character for fruit as a component. If you were to design a language, why would you use the word for fruit to make the word "naked"? Genesis provides a contextual explanation for this choice. Adam and Eve hide their private areas with the leaves of a fruit tree; specifically, a fig tree.


God created human beings who could not only walk, but talk.


The first man was created from dust; the dust made alive.


Lamb + (above) me = Righteousness
In the Old Testament people sacrifice lambs for their sins. In the New Testament, Jesus died for our sins on the cross to offer us salvation. The only way to salvation is to accept Jesus who paid for our sins.

Also see this
FLASH PRESENTATION

Days and years in Genesis

Many people today discount the lifespans of those listed in Genesis, saying that its impossible that people actually lived that long. However, if the years in Genesis 5 are really shorter concerning men’s ages, then the days in Genesis 1 and 2 must be shorter as well, concerning the Creation account. Contrarily, if the days in Genesis 1 and 2 are actually thousands or millions of years, then the years of men’s ages in Genesis 5 must be thousands or millions of years!

Other ancient genealogies other than the Bible show long lifespans as well, during that time. The Sumerian Kings list mentions 3 kings that are said to have reigned 72,000 years each. Now, that is obviously exaggerated, but that very exaggeration makes more sense if people did live long lifespans back then. If they merely lived 70 or so years, such an exaggeration would make far less sense.

Genesis 7:4 says, “Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” If days were actually thousands or millions of years in Genesis, then it must have rained without letup for millions of years! That would mean that Noah was afloat in the ark with the animals for millions of years! On the other hand, if a 900 year genealogy is actually more like 90 years, then 40 days and 40 nights must only be a few minutes or less. This would mean that God flooded the entire world in just a few minutes!

Gen. 8:3,4 says, “The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” How could they be so precise and exact with time periods HERE, yet be so imprecise when reporting people’s ages, or the days of Creation, in earlier chapters? In other chapters, very exact measurements are given, as well. It’s ridiculous to think that they could be so particular and exact with dates, measures, etc., yet be so imprecise and inaccurate when notating the number of years that people lived, or how long the period of Creation took.

If the recorded ages of some of the people in Genesis reflects a longer span than the years they actually lived (i.e., Adam lived 930 years; Seth lived 912 years; Enosh lived 905 years; Kenan lived 910 years; Mahalalel lived 895 years; Jared lived 962 years; Enoch lived 365 years; Methuselah lived 969 years; Lamech lived 777 years; Noah lived 950 years), then why is it that after the Flood, when God announces that man's lifespan will be shorter from now on, the lifespan of people begin to be (eventually and somewhat progressively) more 'normal' as they are today?

Gen. 11:10,11 says, "Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters."

OK, lets say that 500 years was an exaggeration of, say, 5 times the actual years that Shem lived, meaning that he actually lived to be 100, and he actually had Arphaxad when he was 20 years old.

However, in verse 12, the next verse, it says, "When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah." Verse 13 continues, "And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters."

So, if you apply that 1/5 argument, Arphaxad must have become the father of Shelah when Arphaxad was 7 years old!

The same thing applies to the verses after that. Shelah became a dad at 30 years of age and lived to be 403. Eber became a dad at age 34 and lived to be 430. Peleg became a dad at age 30 and lived to be 209. Reu became a dad at 32 and lived to be 207. Serug became a dad at age 30 and lived to be 200. Nahor became a dad at 29 and lived to be 119.

If those ages of their lifespan were actually much shorter, then the ages they became a dad must have been much younger. So again, they must have fathered children when they were not even 10 years old yet!

Not only that, but notice that, in general, the lifespans become progressively shorter and shorter.

Adam, the Flood & the Tower of Babel

Turning just a few pages into the Bible, we
read about the first cities known to man after the
global flood of Noah’s day.

One of Noah’s descendants was a man by
the name of Nimrod, whose kingdom included the
cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the
land of Shinar. Asshur went forth and built
Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen in the
land of Assyria.

These first cities lay in a land modern historians
call ancient Mesopotamia, which means “the
land between two rivers.” The two rivers it refers to
are the Tigris and the Euphrates. This land would later
be the staging ground for two of the world’s most
feared Empires: Assyria and Babylon. That
land is what we refer to today as Iraq.
I remember during my college days taking a
class in Western Civilization, and the very first cultures
mentioned in the history book we were assigned,
was that of the ancient Akkadians and
Sumerians who lived in Mesopotamia. This
should come as no surprise, since the city-state
of Akkad, as well as the cities of Sumer, were mentioned
in Genesis 10:10-12, long ago.

One of the most amazing finds uncovered in
Akkad was that of a seal, which possibly shows that
the Akkadians knew of the story of the temptation
of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. George
Smith, of the British Museum, who lived during the
middle 1800's, wrote: “One striking and important
specimen of early type in the British Museum has
two figures, sitting one on each side of a tree, holding
out their hands to the fruit, while at the back of
one (the woman) is stretched a serpent. We know
well that in these early sculptures none of these
figures were chance devices, but all represented
events or supposed events, and figures ... , thus it
is evident that a form of the story of the Fall, similar
to that of Genesis, was known from early times
in Babylonia.”

Akkadian “Temptation Seal”
From 2,300-2,200 B.C.


The first city mentioned in the Bible as being
among the cities of Nimrod is Babel. And in fact,
the city’s name, as well as the Tower of Babel account,
is recorded outside of the Bible.

Fragments of an Assyrian tablet were discovered
at Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard, during the
middle of the 18th century, that closely parallel the
Biblical Tower of Babel account. The artifacts now
reside in the British Museum (registration number
K.3657) and reads as follows: “his heart was evil
against the father of all the gods . . . Babylon was
brought into subjection, small and great alike. He
confounded their speech . . . their strong palace
(tower) all the days they built; to their
strong place in the night He completely made an
end . . . In His anger His word was poured out . . .
to scatter aboard He set his face, He gave this
command, and their counsel was confused . . .
He saw them and the earth. . . of stopping not . . .
Bitterly they wept at Babi.”

Sumer’s oldest and most important capital
city was Uruk (biblical 'Erech'). Present day Iraq
possibly derived its name from this ancient city.
Uruk is recorded on an artifact known as the
‘Sumerian Kings List’ which also mentions the
Elamites. These are the same Elamites who descended
from Elam, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, as
listed in Genesis 10:22.

Sumer’s capital was later moved from Erech
to UR, the same city which Abraham later left to
go to the land of Canaan. The Bible calls this city
"Ur of the Chaldeans" in Genesis 11:31. An Inscription
from Argistis near Van verifies this title. It
states, “This is the spoil of the cities I obtained for
the people of the Khaldis (Chaldeans) in one
year.”

One fascinating archeological find at Ur is
that of a temple tower which the Akkadians called a
ziggurat. This tower found at UR was later rebuilt
by king Nabonidus of Babylon, who reigned between
555-539 B.C."

Ziggurat ruins at Ur


On inscriptions found at this ziggurat,
Nabonidus states that he had rebuilt the structure,
which he learned was originally constructed by two
kings who lived 1,500 years prior to himself. One
inscription also bears the name of another Biblical
Babylonian prince by the name of Belshazzar, who
would live to see God’s handwriting on the walls of
Babylon as recorded in Daniel chapter 5.

The ziggurat, which resembled a four-sided
stepped pyramid, was probably similar to that of the
Biblical tower built at Babel. Other towers in Mesopotamia,
such as the one at Ur, have been found at
Calah (Nimrud), Assur, Akkad (Sippar), Uruk,
Cush (Kish), Borsippa, Aqarquf, Khorabad and
Eridu, a city near Ur.

Inscriptions from various Babylonian kings
also record the construction of these temple towers,
which they say reached to the sky, with similar
wording to that found in the Bible’s 'tower of Babel'
account.

Hammurabi, who ruled nearly 2,000 years
before Christ, states: “He restored the temple
Emeteursag ... and built the temple tower
...whose top is sky high.”

Much later in the sixth century B.C.,
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, wrote: “I raised
the summit of the Tower of stages at Etemenanki
so that its top rivaled the heavens.”

We also know from Babylonian inscriptions
that these towers reached heights of up to 300
feet."


Archaeology in this region has also uncovered
one of the earliest accounts of the flood. It is
listed on an artifact known as the 'Sumerian Kings
List,' dating back to 2,170 B.C. The inscription
reads: “The flood swept over (the earth). After
the flood had swept over (the earth) (and)
when the kingship was lowered (again) from
heaven, kingship was (first) at Kish (Cush).”

What is interesting about this statement is
not only that the flood is mentioned, but it also mentions a
city founded by Cush (who was "the son of Ham, the
son of Noah"). The Bible, in Genesis 10:8, states that
Nimrod descended from Cush. The city of Kish
(Cush) was located in the area very close to Babylon.

Another artifact from the Sumerians was
found at Nippur (biblical 'Calneh') which states: “A
flood came over the cities to destroy the seed
of all mankind . . . all the wind-storms,
exceedingly powerful attacked as one. At the
same time, the flood swept over the culture
centers. For seven days and seven nights, the
flood had swept over the land. The huge boat
had been tossed about by the windstorms on
the great waters.”


Another fascinating artifact was found at
Nineveh, which was one of the cities of Asshur mentioned in
Genesis 10:11. It gives an account of the flood,
somewhat similar to the Bible’s account, showing
they also had a knowledge of the great flood of
Noah’s day:

“...build a ship, seek thou life . . . aboard the
ship take thou the seed of all living things . . . All
my family and kin I made go aboard the ship. The
beasts of the field, the wild creatures of the field . . .
I made go aboard . . .”Board thou ship and batten
up thy entrance!” That stated time had arrived: He
who orders unease at night, showers down a rain of
blight. I watched the appearance of the weather.
The weather was awesome to behold. I boarded the
ship and battened up the entrance. With the first
glow of dawn, a black cloud rose up from the horizon.
. . . Consternation over Adad reaches the
heavens, Who turned to darkness all that had been
light . . . For one day the south storm gathered
speed as it blew, overtaking the [people] like a battle.
No one can see his fellow . . . Six days and six
nights blows the flood winds, as the south-storm
sweeps over the land . . . On the seventh day the
flood subsided in battle . . . the flood ceased.
I looked at the weather; stillness had set in. And all
of mankind had returned to clay. . . . On mount
Nisir the ship came to a halt. . . . When the seventh
day arrived, I set forth a dove. The dove went back
and forth, but came back; since no resting place for
it was visible. Then I sent forth a swallow. The
swallow went forth, but came back; since no resting
place for it was visible. Then I sent forth and
set free a raven. The raven went forth and, seeing
the waters diminished, he eats, circles, caws and
turns not around. Then I let out (all) to the four
winds and offered a sacrifice. I poured out a libation
on the top of the mountains.”

Tablet number 11 of the Gilgamesh
Epic, dated to the 7th century B.C.,
found at Nineveh, gives an account of
a flood, with some similarities to that
of the Bible.


Another of Nimrod’s cities was Calneh which,
according to the Talmud, is associated with the site
of Nippur. According to Genesis 11:1-9, Nimrod’s cities,
which included the region of Babel, Erech, Akkad
and Calneh, was known as the land of Shinar.
The name 'Shinar' is found in Egyptian records
from Pharaoh Amenhotep II, who wrote: “Now
when the prince of the land of Naharin, the Prince
of Hatti, and the prince of Shinar heard of my
great victory, . . . they asked me to spare their
lives.”

To the Northwest of Shinar lies the cities
founded by Asshur, who was a descendant of
Noah’s son, Shem. His first city was named after
himself: Assur. And just like the ruins from Akkad
and Sumer, a ziggurat has also been uncovered at
Assur.

Another one of his cities mentioned in Genesis
10:11 is Calah. The existence of this city has
been found on a royal inscription from Assurnasirpal
II, an early king of Assyria, who states “I
took over again the city of Calah.”

The Biblical city of Resen, mentioned in Genesis
10:12, is believed to be the city known as Larissa
(Al-Resen or 'City of Resen'). In Hebrew, 'Resen'
means “fortified place." The historian Xenophon
recorded that Larissa was a great fortress located
between the cities of Nineveh and Calneh.

The city Rehoboth Ir is associated today
with the Assyrian city of Khorsabad.
And of course, last but not least is the great
city of Nineveh, which later became the capital of
the Assyrian empire.

http://www.biblehistory.net/Flood_Tower_Babel.pdf

Is there any confirmation of Biblical events from written sources outside the Bible?

"The most documented Biblical event is the world-wide flood described in Genesis 6-9. A number of Babylonian documents have been discovered which describe the same flood.

The Sumerian King List, for example, lists kings who reigned for long periods of time. Then a great flood came. Following the flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time. This is the same pattern found in the Bible. Men had long life spans before the flood and shorter life spans after the flood. The 11th tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic speaks of an ark, animals taken on the ark, birds sent out during the course of the flood, the ark landing on a mountain, and a sacrifice offered after the ark landed.

The Story of Adapa tells of a test for immortality involving food, similar to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Sumerian tablets record the confusion of language as we have in the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). There was a golden age when all mankind spoke the same language. Speech was then confused by the god Enki, lord of wisdom. The Babylonians had a similar account in which the gods destroyed a temple tower and “scattered them abroad and made strange their speech.”


More examples of extra-Biblical confirmation of Biblical events:

- Campaign into Israel by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-26), recorded on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt.

- Revolt of Moab against Israel (2 Kings 1:1; 3:4-27), recorded on the Mesha Inscription.

- Fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11) to Sargon II, king of Assyria, as recorded on his palace walls.

- Defeat of Ashdod by Sargon II (Isaiah 20:1), as recorded on his palace walls.

- Campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judah (2 Kings 18:13-16), as recorded on the Taylor Prism.

- Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17), as recorded on the Lachish reliefs.

- Assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons (2 Kings 19:37), as recorded in the annals of his son Esarhaddon.

- Fall of Nineveh as predicted by the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah (2:13-15), recorded on the Tablet of Nabopolasar.

- Fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:10-14), as recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.

- Captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in Babylon (2 Kings 24:15-16), as recorded on the Babylonian Ration Records.

- Fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:30-31), as recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder.

- Freeing of captives in Babylon by Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-4), as recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder.

- The existence of Jesus Christ as recorded by Josephus, Suetonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, the Talmud, and Lucian.

- Forcing Jews to leave Rome during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54) (Acts 18:2), as recorded by Suetonius."

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a009.html

Billions of People in Thousands of Years?

“How is it possible for the earth’s population to reach 6.5 billion people if the world is only about 6,000 years old and if there were just two humans in the beginning?” Here is what a little bit of simple arithmetic shows us.

Let us start in the beginning with one male and one female. Now let us assume that they marry and have children and that their children marry and have children and so on. And let us assume that the population doubles every 150 years. Therefore, after 150 years there will be four people, after another 150 years there will be eight people, after another 150 years there will be sixteen people, and so on. It should be noted that this growth rate is actually very conservative. In reality, even with disease, famines, and natural disasters, the world population currently doubles every 40 years or so.

After 32 doublings, which is only 4,800 years, the world population would have reached almost 8.6 billion. That’s 2 billion more than the current population of 6.5 billion people, which was recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau on March 1, 2006. This simple calculation shows that starting with Adam and Eve and assuming the conservative growth rate previously mentioned, the current population can be reached well within 6,000 years.

IMPACT OF THE FLOOD

We know from the Bible, however, that around 2500 BC (4,500 years ago) the worldwide Flood reduced the world population to eight people. But if we assume that the population doubles every 150 years, we see, again, that starting with only Noah and his family in 2500 BC, 4,500 years is more than enough time for the present population to reach 6.5 billion.

Evolutionists are always telling us that humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years. If we did assume that humans have been around for 50,000 years and if we were to use the calculations above, there would have been 332 doublings, and the world’s population would be a staggering figure—a one followed by 100 zeros; that is

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000.

This figure is truly unimaginable, for it is billons of times greater than the number of atoms that are in the entire universe! Such a calculation makes nonsense of the claim that humans have been on earth for tens of thousands of years.

Simple, conservative arithmetic reveals clear mathematical logic for a young age of the earth. From two people, created around 6,000 years ago, and then the eight people, preserved on the Ark about 4,500 years ago, the world’s population could have grown to the extent we now see it—over 6.5 billion."

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n2/billions-of-people