Hinge Points of History. John Hunsuck
use the name Abraham instead of Abram. As was the ancient custom of Covenants, Jehovah put part of His name into Abram and created “Abraham.” This change took place when the “seed” of Abraham was planted: Isaac. This Covenant is truly a blood Covenant. The bloodline of Abraham is with us today in the personage of the Jews. It is through these people that the revelation of the Creator’s intent to mankind and the history of the world is made known. Isaac’s son Jacob had the Covenant reiterated to him after he had fathered 12 sons. God then changed his name to Israel.
We leave the details to the reader ... any good Bible will fill you in. Just start at the front of the book!
The 70-member family called Israel moved to Egypt because of a drought, and over a period of 430 years grew into a nation of 600,000 adult males. If you add the women and children, we come up with about 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 people. Moses was chosen to lead these folks out of Egypt and into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham and his seed over 500 years before.
The world during this time was trying to become organized in different ways and in different places. Kings and emperors, using both battle and official “families,” were writing edicts and laws to govern their “subjects.” The “Code of Hammurabi” may have been written in this era or may have preceded it a few years. The point is that men were struggling in new ways to establish security and justice. Most of the efforts had a simple theme: do it my way or die.
Moses led the Israelis to the desert of the Sinai to the foot of the mountain where he received a new chapter to the Covenant: the Ten Commandments. A new era of law had begun, although it took the Jews over a thousand years to begin living up to the law. Even then, it took a trip to the woodshed (called Babylon) (Ref 6) to work the idolatry out of them. Why do we call the Ten Commandments a Covenant? Read Exodus 24:7. This and other references show that the Covenant really was one and continues today.
We end this chapter with the consolidated Covenant as it stands, because Israel was established as a nation of law.
ADAM: Genesis 2:15-17, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Genesis 3:19, In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread ...”
NOAH: Genesis 8:22 and 9:11, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. ...I set My rainbow ...”
ABRAM: Genesis 15:18, On that day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates: ...” Genesis 17:4, “As for Me, behold, My Covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; ...” Genesis 17:10-12, “... you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised ... be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.”
ISRAEL: Exodus 19:5, “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My Covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; ...” Exodus 20:1-17, The Ten Commandments.
Exodus 24:7, Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”
Thus, the nation of Israel accepted its part of the Covenant with God and its inhabitants became the people through whom the whole world would someday “... be blessed.”( Ref 6)
Chapter II
Covenant To Covenant
Moses to Jesus
At this point in history, the inventors and explorers of the world have established several things which will allow accelerated progress:
1.Written communications and translations
2.Libraries and the recording of documents and histories
3.The basic four functions of mathematics: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
a.Geometry and some trigonometry
b.The Golden Triangle: 3:4:5 (to set squares)
c.A close approximation of the ratio of perimeter to diameter of a circle, we call Pi
d.The simple tools: lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, wedge and windlass
4.Standards of weights and measures
5.Time and season tabulations
6.Astronomical prediction (eclipses and conjunctions)
7.Government structure and money, coins of gold and silver
a.Representative government, Magi (or Senators)
b.Provincial governors and judges
c.Treaties and conventions
8.Codes of Law and punishment (Hammurabic and Mosaic)
9.Transport, trade and signals
10.Armed forces and simple weapons of war
11.Simple musical instruments
12.Poetry and song, beer and wine
13.Rudimentary hand tools of bronze and iron
14.Wells and irrigation, pots and buckets
a.Canals and water lifts, i.e. Archimedes screw
b.Dams and diversion weirs
15.Rudimentary food preservation, i.e. salt and drying
16.Agriculture and animal husbandry
17.Several religions, one monotheistic
18.Metal casting, bronze and iron articles
19.The Ten Commandments
20.Some healing arts, mainly herbal and some crude surgery (Ref 1)
Medical Arts
The future of mankind and the future of medicine are thought to be intertwined. Some people feel that the burden of helping mankind live more productive lives has fallen on the shoulders of the medical profession, supposedly relieving the individual from personal responsibility for his well being. Little is known about the origin of medical knowledge. It is believed to have developed from many uses of herbs and ritual practices.
Early health practices to fight disease were begun about 5,000 years ago in the Middle East by the Sumerians and were adopted by the Babylonians of Mesopotamia. Later, the Egyptians were influenced by these beliefs and practices. Myths and magic were mixed into the treatments of the sick. (Ref 1)
The ancient Chinese adopted the system of treatments based on opposing principles: the Yan and the Yin. The Yan principle was positive, masculine, assertive and light. The Yin principle was negative, feminine and passive and was signified by darkness, earth, moon, cold and moisture. The Chinese medical aim was to restore internal harmony. They used large amounts of herbs and potions, including some of the familiar ones used today. Opium was used as a painkiller and Kaolin was used for diarrhea. (Ref 2)
In the ancient Greek civilizations from about 1000 B.C., medicine was strongly influenced by the belief in numerous deities. Aesculapius is believed to have been a medical expert that became so venerated that magnificent temples were built in his honor along the Mediterranean Sea.
Many eminent physicians and scientists have made important changes and improvements in medicine, but only a few have had an influence that has lasted for centuries. Hippocrates is one of the earlier pioneers whose work continues to have an influence on society. He lived and worked at a medical school on the Greek Island of Cos. Born around 460 B.C., he was respected for being a great physician and teacher. The famous Oath attributed to him is based on the code of ethics