How was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed?

Genesis 14: 1-3

At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim, these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea). [Heb. Hamelach Yam]

NOTE: Zoara, the biblical Zoar, previously called Bela (Cp. Genesis 14:8), was one of the five "cities of the plain" – a pentapolis apparently located along the lower Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea plain.

Genesis 14: 10a

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits (bitumen), and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them.

NOTE: Bitumen- (also known as “asphaltum” or tar) is a black, oily, viscous form of petroleum, a naturally-occurring organic byproduct of decomposed plants. It is waterproof and flammable, and this remarkable natural substance has been used by humans for a wide variety of tasks and tools for at least the past 40,000 years. Natural bitumen is the thickest form of petroleum there is, made up of 83% carbon, 10% hydrogen and lesser amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and other elements.

It is a natural polymer of low molecular weight with a remarkable ability to change with temperature variations: at lower temperatures, it is rigid and brittle, at room temperature it is flexible, at higher temperatures bitumen flows. Bitumen deposits occur naturally throughout the world--the best known are Trinidad's Pitch Lake and the La Brea Tar Pit in California, but significant deposits are found in the Dead Sea, Venezuela, Switzerland, and northeastern Alberta, Canada. The chemical composition and consistency of these deposits vary significantly. In some places, bitumen extrudes naturally from terrestrial sources, in others it appears in liquid pools which can harden into mounds (Cp. Genesis 14: 10a), and in still others it oozes from underwater seeps, washing up as tarballs along sandy beaches and rocky shorelines.

Genesis 19: 12-13

The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19: 15-17

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

NOTE: Why was there such an urgency?

Genesis 19: 18a 19b

But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! …and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.

NOTE:Is Lot now too elderly (infirm) or injured where he can't make the journey? He mentions that the disaster will “overtake” him, so does he know what kind of destruction it will be, and/or had it already started initially?

Genesis 19: 21-22

He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.

NOTE: The town of Zoar was promised to be saved and not destroyed.

Genesis 19: 23-26

By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur/brimstone (Heb. gaph`r'ith) on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Heb. n'tsib melach).

NOTE: The same Hebrew word here is also used in chapter 14, so lot's wife's body was vaporized or disintegrated into some kind of form like a pile salt crystals (glazed over with a silicon-permeated saline crystallized substance??

COMMENTARY: Sulfur has been known since ancient times. In the Bible it is called “brimstone.” It can be found in its elemental state around volcano vents. Sulfur is also believed to have been a component of ‘Greek Fire,’ a weapon similar to a flamethrower used by the Byzantine Empire. Sulfur burns with a very satisfying blue flame – its old name is brimstone, which means ‘burn stone’ or ‘stone that burns.’ When sulfur burns it produces sulfur dioxide, a poisonous gas. Let's just imagine for a moment, outside of supernatural or divine judgment, ancient catapults launching burning stones of sulfur, where the explosive, fiery impact releases poisonous gas destroying all life; human, animal, or vegetation. Not only, that, but since these cities were in the vicinity of tar pits (bitumen), if a fiery missile of sulfur hit those pools or mounds of tar, that could have been quite frightening, as well as deadly. This bombardment would have possibly engulfed the entire plain with dense smoke, exactly as described in Genesis 19: 27-28, which reads: Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

This reasoning has some merit, but a better scientific explanation is that the destruction was caused by the ignition of combustible gases and hydro-thermal explosions by earthquakes from shifting of tectonic plates in the area; which can be found in the Open Source scientific research paper below:

Reference:

Citation: Gilat AL, Vol A (2015) Sodom and Gomorrah: Fires Created by Ignition of Combustible Gases by Earthquake-Impelled Thermobaric-Hydrothermal Explosions. J Geol Geosci 4: 202. doi:10.4172/2381-8719.1000202

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St Apt 701

Tacoma, WA 98402

January 29, 2018

robertrandle51@yahoo.com

Does the Bible mention anything about Fate or Destiny?

Judges 11: 30-31, 34-36, 39a

Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD’S and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot take it back (Cp. Numbers 30: 2).” So she said to him, “My father, you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you have said, since the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made.

NOTE: Was the sacrifice of Jephtha's daughter random chance, bad luck, fate, or was it her destiny?

1 Samuel 6: 9

"Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance." (Heb. miq'reh)

1 Kings 22: 29-34, 35b-37, 38

So the king of Israel (Ahab) and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up against Ramoth-gilead. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle. Now the king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, “Do not fight with small or great, but with the king of Israel alone.” So when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely it is the king of Israel,” and they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. Now a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the fight; for I am severely wounded.” and the king was propped up in his chariot in front of the Arameans, and died at evening, and the blood from the wound ran into the bottom of the chariot. They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood (now the harlots bathed themselves there), according to the word of the LORD which He spoke (Cp. 1 Kings 21: 19, 27-28).

NOTE: Ahab's end was prophesied but was the manner that this event happened to him by coincidence, bad luck, random chance, fate or was it destined to conclude exactly like it did?

2 Kings 20: 1-2, 4-6a

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD. Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.“ I will add fifteen years to your life.

NOTE: The “death sentence” was pronounced by the prophet but God changed course; so, was King Hezekiah able to change his “fate” or just delay it for a few more years? He was still “destined” to die anyway??

2 Kings 13: 14-19a, 23b

Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.“Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it.

NOTE: This is very interesting because the actions of King Jehoash determined the fate or was it destiny of Israel and his reign.

2 Kings 23: 29 
While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

2 Chronicles 35: 20-24a

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers.

NOTE: This is also interesting because King Josiah didn't have to die and King Neco tried to talk him out of fighting against him. Why didn't the Lord send word for him not to do this, and so, his actions sealed his fate; or was it destiny?

Job 20: 24

He may flee from the iron weapon, But the bronze bow will pierce him.

NOTE: Does this mean you might be able to effect, alter, or escape your “fate” but your “destiny” is unalterable?

Isaiah 65: 11

"But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD and have forgotten his Temple, and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny, NLT

NOTE: Gad is the Babylonian god of Fortune and Meni is the god of Destiny. Amplified Bible

Jeremiah 15: 2

And it shall be that when they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you are to tell them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.

NOTE: The Hebrew translator used the word “asher” (who), which I think he didn't want to consider the word “destiny.”

Job 20: 24-25

24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

NOTE: Is this Destiny or Fate?

Ecclesiastes 9: 11

I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.

NOTE: This seems to say that one cannot escape the unavoidable grip of “destiny.”

Luke 13: 1-3

At that time, some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. To this He replied, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? (Heb. Kadabar) No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.… Berean Study Bible

NOTE: You can change your “fate” by repentance through the choice of freewill, but that doesn't necessarily make you immune from destiny

Acts 1: 23-26

So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

NOTE: The voice of the Lord or the Holy Spirit did not command the Apostles to choose Matthias but they left the decision up to “Fate” (casting of lots/ or chance??)

Acts 25: 8, 10, 11b-12; 26: 32

while Paul said in his own defense, “I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. I appeal to Caesar.” Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.” Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."

NOTE: Paul would have been released and not have had to make the trip to Rome at this time, but along the way he was “destined” for other experiences (Cp. Acts 27: 1 – 28: 16).

Acts 28: 4-6a

When the islanders saw the snake (Heb. 'eph'`eh) hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the (Spirit)/goddess Justice (Heb. w'ruach naqam) has not allowed him to live. However he shook the creature (Heb. ha sherets) off into the fire and suffered no harm. But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him.  NIV

Romans 9: 22

In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. NLT

John 17: 12

I have kept those whom you gave me, and no man among them has perished, except The Son of Destruction, that the scripture should be fulfilled.”

John 18: 9

This was to fulfill the word He had spoken: "I have not lost one of those You have given Me."

COMMENTARY: I wanted to conclude this study with the passages from the gospel of John as a challenge to understanding fate and destiny. Did Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus, really have a “choice”

(Cp. Mark 14: 21). The Bible makes it clear that God is All-Powerful and All-Knowing but there are passages that also reveal that chance, circumstance, fate, and destiny are part of reality as well. Adam and Eve were told about the tree of the knowledge of “Good and Evil” but their conscience was a blank slate until they experienced what it meant. Was this their “destiny?” And what if God had not made this prohibition known about that one particular tree, or what if the Serpent didn't ask a 'negative' question to Eve, would she and Adam have partaken of the forbidden fruit? There are people who believe that God is actively involved in human affairs, but in what way; or rather, if God is, then why do certain events happen to some and not to others? God does not show partiality (Cp. Matthew 5: 45b; Romans 2: 11), so if this is not the case, then our exercise of freewill sets in motion, like the tumbling over of dominoes arranged in an infinite set of patterns, which go this way or that way, and the result is what we call-either; fate, bad/dumb luck, chance, or circumstance. I think that an event can be “predestined” but not a person, and at the end of the day, God controls “Destiny” because no matter what we do, we can't escape or outrun it.

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St Apt 701

Tacoma, WA 98402

January 28, 2018

robertrandle51@yahoo.com

Are the "Flat Earthers" right or is the Earth round as it appears to be?

Genesis 1: 2

The earth was formless (Heb. thohu) and void (Heb. bohu), and darkness (Heb. choshek) was over the surface (Heb. p'ney) of the deep (Heb. th'hom), and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters (Heb. hamayim).

Genesis 1: 6-8a

Then God said, “Let there be an expanse (Heb. raqi`a) in the midst of the waters, and let it separate (Heb. mab'dil) the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated (Heb. yab'del) the waters which were below (Heb. mitachath) the expanse from the waters which were above (Heb. me`al) the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven (Heb. Shamayim).

Genesis 1: 9-10a

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place (Heb. maqom), and let the dry land (Heb. hayabashah) appear” (Heb. thera'eh); and it was so. God called the dry land earth (Heb. 'erets), and the gathering (Heb. miq'weh) of the waters He called seas (Heb. Yamim).

NOTE: The Earth is simply the “dry land” as opposed to the gathering of the waters called “seas” and has nothing to do with the planetary body.

Psalms 136: 6a

To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters;

Isaiah 40: 22

He sits enthroned above the circle (curvature??) of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. NLT

NOTE: Do these terms relate to a spherical or non-spherical shape?

-Alternative translations:

Isaiah 40: 22

He is the one who sits on (above??) the earth's horizon; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, and spreads it out like a pitched tent. NET

Isaiah 40: 22

It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain. And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

New American Standard 1977

Job 9: 6

He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble.

Job 38: 4-6

Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across (not around??) it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone

NOTE:This seems to imply linearity and not spherical.

Proverbs 8: 27

When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth:

NOTE: Does this refer to the Freemason compass and straight edge instruments to make such measurements?

COMMENTARY:

The controversy regarding a “flat” Earth or a round one is perhaps simpler than most people are willing to accept. In fact, both sides are right; but only partially. The Bible does really support both viewpoints. I think the land called “earth” is flat and it is surrounded by an canopy or dome that is spherical or circular in appearance, and it gives an illusion, like that of the end of a rainbow. This effect seems like the circumference of the planetary body as one looks at it from space, but this is a distortion caused by refracted from the twin light sources of sun and moon. The earth is probably, at the best guess, shaped more like an ellipse than anything else.God never said for the earth to have light in and of itself, but rather to receive it. There are those who will say that the Hebrew words for land and earth are used interchangeably, and that might be in a very few cases, but remember that earth is always translated as 'arets or 'erets, and land is “yabashah.” In Job 37: 3; 38: 13 the Hebrew word “kan'photh” does refer to ends of the earth, in the general sense of the word. However, in Ezekiel 7: 2; Isaiah 11: 12; Revelation 7: 1, the Hebrew uses the specific term “'ar'ba`ath kan'photh” four corners (as in structure or foundation) of the earth. Besides all of this, wouldn't surveyors instruments have to be adjusted with a pre-determined offset to account for the earth's curvature if it were round? Hebrew word reference website: bayithamashiyach.com

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St Apt 701

Tacoma, WA 98402

January 25, 2018

robertrandle51@yahoo.com

Is the claim of a “Hollow Earth” just fantastical mythical lore?

1 Samuel 28: 11-12a

Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? And he (King Saul) said, Bring up Sh’muel (Sh'muEl/Samuel) for me. When the woman saw Sh’muel, she cried out with a loud voice;

1 Samuel 28: 13

The king said to her, Do not be afraid; but what do you see? And the woman said to Shaul, I see [an??] elohim being coming up out of the earth.

NOTE: This is very curious, and not what one envisions coming up from the grave or dreaded Sheol??

1 Thessalonians 5: 23

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit (Heb. ruachkem), soul (Heb. naph'sh'kem) and body (Heb. guph'kem) be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NOTE: Why do none of the words in the passage use “elohim” or similar root as in 1 Samuel 28?

1 Samuel 28: 14

He said to her, What is his form? And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe. And Shaul knew that it was Sh’muel...

NOTE: Saul wanted proof that this was not some kind of deceitful magical or demonic trick, and it was authenticated by the robe that the departed Samuel wore before he died.

1 Samuel 28: 15

Then Sh’muel said to Shaul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Shaul said, I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war against me, and Elohim has departed from me and has not answered me any more, neither by the hand of prophets nor by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.

NOTE: Since Elohim (God) had departed from Saul, why would a desperate king break the law and risk death by using a medium (witch) to summon the spirit of a dead and departed prophet to help him in the “land of the living,” or did he know something that we do not?

1 Samuel 28: 16

Sh’muel said, Why then do you ask me, since YHVH has departed from you and has become your adversary?

NOTE: Why the switch here? Is YHVH one of the Elohim?

Job 2: 1-2

Again there was a day when the sons of the Elohim came to present themselves before YHVH, and the satan also came among them to present himself before YHVH. YHVH said to the satan, Where have you come from? Then the satan answered YHVH and said, “From roaming about [on] the earth and from walking around [on] it.” SEE also Job 1: 6-7.

NOTE: The Hebrew tries to be faithful to the correct translation, but in this case I think the words should be [through] and [in].

Genesis 6: 4

The Nephilim (Heb. haN’philim) were on the earth “in those days,” and also afterward, when the sons of the Elohim came in to the daughters of the man, and they bore to them. They were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 10: 25

Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided (Heb. niph’l’gah) ; and his brother’s name was Jothan.

NOTE: In Genesis 6 and 10 the same Hebrew root (“niphl”) has to do with some kind of “division” (separation, gulf, chasm, impassable region,  or barrier between types of unique 'kinds' of people. There could very well have been surface dwellers and those semi-divine beings that lived “inner Earth” or “Hollow Earth" or Middle Earth after the Tolkien series. "Middle-earth", or Endor in Quenya (Ennor in  Sindarin) - and in The Book of Lost Tales the Great Lands -are the names used for the habitable parts of Arda after the final ruin of Beleriand, east across the Belegaer from Aman.

Genesis 2: 8a, 10-14

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

NOTE: Havilah is associated with southern Egypt and Gihon is thought to be in Ethiopia. That one river for these other 4 must have been one powerful flow of water, and what was it's source, anyway?

1 Peter 3: 18-20

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive in the spirit, in which He also went and preached to the spirits (Heb. ruchoth) in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls (Heb. n'phasoth), were saved through water.…

NOTE: The particular people were part of the inbreeding with the sons of God and daughters of men (Cp. Genesis 6: 1-7a). Everything on the “surface” of the earth was going to be destroyed but what about those who lived “in” the earth?? This does not pertain to those of us who die because when we do we are asleep (Cp. Daniel 12: 2; Matthew 27: 52; John 11: 11). Hebrew root words taken from bayithamashiyach.com

COMMENTARY:

The legendary garden of Eden might very well have not been on the Earth, but “in” it or perhaps Cain's punishment to be a restless wanderer “on” the earth and worrying about someone (??) finding him and slaying him (Cp. Genesis 4: 12-16). In that same chapter Cain not only finds a wife in the land of Nod, east of Eden but instead, builds a city; quite a feat I would say. Not only that, but I would think he met some people in the land of Nod where he found a wife. This is before Adam had other sons and daughters (Cp. Genesis 5: 4-5) and when men began to increase “on” [ not “in”] the earth and daughters were born to them (Cp. Genesis 6: 1-2). The land of Uz of the prophet Job, which seems like quite an ancient text, at least in it's deep and profound perspective on God (Elohim) could be an 'inner/Middle-earth)” literary work. The land of Uz could be on the Earth's surface but the conversation between the Lord and the satan and the meeting with the sons of God at an appointed time could have taken place in the “Hollow Earth..” One last point is found in Isaiah 37: 12, which reads: Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar (Cp. 2 Kings 19: 12)? Was this Eden and its people on the earth or "in” the earth?

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St Apt 701

Tacoma, WA 98402

January 23, 2018

robertrandle51@yahoo.com