Comments: Text, Author & Report

Keywords: UFO, unidentified flying objects, Bible, flying saucers, prophecy, Paleo-SETI, ancient astronauts, Erich von Däniken, Josef F. Blumrich, Zecharia Sitchin, Ezekiel, biblical prophecy, spacecraft, spaceship, NASA, Roswell, aircraft, propellant, extraterrestrial hypothesis, Jacques Vallee, interdimensional hypothesis, Project Blue Book, Condon Report, ancient history, Jesus, Judaism, Christianity, Middle East, end times, engines, rockets, helicopters, space travel, aliens, abductions, alien abductions, crop circles, extraterrestrials, astronomy, economics, biology, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Space Shuttle, Apollo, stars, planets, solar system, scriptures, design, fuel tank, aerodynamics, fuels, hydrogen, oxygen, wheels

Comments on Chapter 7

Text, Author and Report 

Go to Chapter Part: A B C D E

Blumrich:  "In the discussion of Verse 4 of Chapter 9 it was pointed out there, for the first and only time, the commander is referred to as "the Lord". But the commander has already been clearly identified as "man" (Adam) on an earlier occasion. The new identification used here can therefore only be regarded as an error."

Here again, Blumrich demonstrates his total lack of knowledge of even the most basic biblical concepts and events.

Yahweh is the actual name of the God of the Bible, like Harry or Fred, or Mary. It is basically written YHVH. Scholars think the name means "Existing" or "Being", and it is sometimes translated "I AM". In English, Christians (not Jews) often pronounce it Jehovah, though that is actually incorrect. Because of certain religious traditions, instead of using either YHVH, Yahweh or Jehovah, when the Hebrew contains YHVH, usually the word LORD—all uppercase—will be substituted. ("LORD" is not a translation of the name YHVH.)

Christian theology states that Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God (John 1:1), that He existed before anything was created, and that around 4 B.C.^[1] He came to Earth in a physical human body. It also states that prior to that time  He occasionally appeared as the malach-Yahweh, a Hebrew term which can be literally translated either "the Angel of Jehovah" or "the Messenger of Jehovah" and is usually translated "the Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament.

1. By the time Christianity became widespread, original estimates  of Jesus' birth year were wrong by about four years.

The Old Testament records numerous instances of humans interacting with angels and/or the malach-Yaweh (Angel of the Lord). Contrary to popular myths, there are no reports in the Bible of angels that look like babies, children or females.

In Genesis Chapter 18, Abraham meets three "angels". All three look like human males. In fact, Abraham makes lunch for them and they eat it. He addresses one of them as Yahweh (translated "LORD") and ignores the other two (because they are just angels, not the LORD).

Later in Genesis, Jacob wrestles all night with someone who appears to be a man. Jacob later realizes that "man" was actually God and names the place of the events Peni-El. (Genesis 32:22-30)

In Judges 13, Sampson's mother and father meet someone who looks like a human male. They later realize He is the Angel (Messenger) of the Lord and they say, "We have seen God and lived."

So, whether or not a person thinks Jesus was the Angel/Messenger of the Lord, there are numerous instances in the Bible where the Lord appears as a human. For Blumrich to declare this "an error" simply shows his extreme lack of knowledge of even basic Bible events.

Of course, if Blumrich had not simply declared this "an error" and ignored it, he would have had to face the fact that God doesn't need a spaceship—He can appear in visions. If Blumrich's "Commander" actually is the Lord sitting on a throne, as the text expressly says, then Blumrich's claim that the Commander is a human-looking alien in a spaceship starts looking pretty ridiculous.

Juxtaposition of Verse Number and Contents
(Chart in Chap. 7, part B)

The chart is laid out slightly different from the one in Spaceships for clarity and due to limitations of HTML. The original is not color-coded and only the top line has numbered boxes. In the "body" of the chart, instead of numbered boxes it just has horizontal lines.

Regarding Blumrich's basic premise that verses are not in the correct sequence, Blumrich is not alone, nor is this the only place where such a claim is made. In the New Testament, it is clear to scholars that one of Paul's letters actually contains at least parts of two different letters.  

Torrey re pseudoepigraph
(Discussed at Chap. 7, part E)

A pseudoepigraph is a text whose authorship is falsely ascribed to a highly-regarded biblical personage, to give the text credibility. For instance, many books written in the second century A.D. are falsely claimed to have been written by Jesus' apostles, e.g., the Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Barnabas. Torrey cannot possibly be right that Ezekiel was written around 230 B.C. for a very simple reason—the entire Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek around 250 B.C., including the book of Ezekiel.