Identifying the "Beast of the Field", #2
IDENTIFYING THE “BEAST OF THE FIELD”, #2
Clifton A. Emahiser’s Teaching Ministries
In part #1 of this series, I took to task a video presentation by Allen Campbell of Belfast, Ireland entitled Who Are The Beast Of The Field? I’m not sure how long ago he addressed this subject, but it was announced that the video was being distributed by The National Video Network of Phoenix, Arizona, and I suspect that it has been circulating for several years. In general, I don’t have a great problem with Campbell’s premise, but I am very ill-at-ease, as he used Hebrew words that were not in the Scriptural passages he cited. About five years ago, around 2005, I had another run-in with a man named Campbell on this subject, and his name and address were Don Campbell, P.O. Box 301, Pipestone, Minnesota 56164. Don is since deceased, but I will never forget his irrational supposition that the nonwhite races were created by God at Genesis 1:24-25. Had Don ever read the Charles Thomson’s version of The Septuagint on Genesis 1:24-25, he could not have made that error! Here it is:
“[24] Then God said, ‘Let the earth produce animal life according to kind; four-footed beasts and reptiles and wild beasts of the earth according to kind.’ And it was so. [25] God indeed made the wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and the cattle according to their kind, and all the reptiles of the earth according to kind. And God saw that they were good.” There is absolutely nothing here about creating the nonwhite races!
This English translation of the Septuagint Bible was made by Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress of the United States, and one of the founding fathers of his country. On this translation, Thomson, one of the great Greek scholars of his time, a friend of Franklin, Washington and Jefferson, devoted twenty years of his life, from his sixtieth to his eightieth year. The Thomson Bible was first published in 1808. Although Thomson’s translation comes highly recommended, I still wanted to consult with another Greek authority on Genesis 1:24-25!
For this I used the Libronix Digital Library, opening up the Nestle Septuaginta-Morphologically Tagged Edition to Genesis 1:24-25 which was all in Greek. To get the correct definition for each Greek word, I first highlighted and right-clicked on a word, and then several options appeared, whereupon I chose “Display Information”. For the English words “beast” the Greek was “τετράποδα” and then “θηρία” and the definitions given by Liddell & Scottin Libronix were “four-footed ... a quadruped” and “a wild animal, beast”. For the English word “cattle”, the Greek was “κτήνη” and the definition given by Libronix was “flocks and herds ... in sing. a single beast, as an ox or sheep ... a beast for riding”. Therefore, there are absolutely no Greek words in these two verses to indicate the creation of the nonwhite races! To make this clear, I will amplify it thusly:
“[24] Then God said, ‘Let the earth produce animal life according to kind; four-footed beasts (‘τετράποδα’ fourfooted ... a quadruped’) and reptiles and wild beasts (‘θηρία’ ‘a wild animal, beast’) of the earth according to kind.’ And it was so. [25] God indeed made the wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and the cattle (‘κτήνη’ flocks and herds) according to their kind, and all the reptiles of the earth according to kind. And God saw that they were good.”
While Charles Thomson’s work in the Greek is quite excellent, The Complete Bible by Smith & Goodspeed is a good reference Bible when a passage is in question. While it is referred to as Smith & Goodspeed, the Pentateuch was actually translated by Theophile J. Meek, who along with Leroy Waterman, produced a translation from the Hebrew of Genesis 1:24-25 very much like what Charles Thomson rendered from the Greek. So what we have here are two different parties translating from two different languages at two different time periods coming up with similar results:
“24 Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the various kinds of living creatures, the various kinds of domestic animals, reptiles, and wild beasts of the earth!’ 25 And so it was. God made the various kinds of wild beasts of the earth, the various kinds of domestic animals, and all the various kinds of land reptiles; and God saw that it was good.” As anyone can see, there is absolutely nothing here about God creating the nonwhite races!
Yet another witness is at Josephus’ Antiquities 1.1.1, which reads: “On the sixth day he created the four-footed beasts, and made them male and female: on the same day he also formed man.” Please notice here that Josephus mentions absolutely nothing concerning God creating the nonwhite races in Genesis chapter one!
Another source on this passage, which some might frown on, but really shouldn’t, as it comes from the same Masoretic Text as does the King James Version of the Bible, is The Holy Scriptures as printed and distributed by the Jewish Publication Society Of America. Yes, the Canaanite-jews have the Old Testament in their possession! The point isn’t the fact that they have it, but how they interpret it! Here it is:
“24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind; and it was so. 25. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind; and God saw that it was good.”
Like Charles Thomson’s Septuagint, the Masoretic Text makes it very clear that the “chayah” of Gen. 1:24-25 are of three categories, (1 cattle, (2 creeping things, and (3 beasts. Those who promote that the “chayah” of this passage represent the nonwhite races divide these as, (1 cattle, (2 the nonwhite races, and (3 reptiles. They insist that the “living creature” of verse 24 (KJV) represent the nonwhite races only, while the “chayah” of Gen. 1:24-25 actually represent (1 cattle, (2 creeping things, and (3 beasts. Even a careful reading of the KJV on Gen. 1:24 will verify this, and I will insert the numbers for them:
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, (1 cattle, and (2 creeping thing, and (3 beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.” In other words (1 domestic cattle, (2 reptiles, and (3 wild beast! Actually, what the errant “chay-people” overlook is the fact that there are two words numbered 2416 in Gen. 1:24 thusly: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living 2416 creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast 2416 of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
For the reader’s convenience, I will repeat this verse slightly enlarged with the Hebrew inserted in parentheses:
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living (חיה) creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast (וחיתו>) of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
The reader will notice immediately here that the Hebrew characters are not exactly alike, although they are both listed by Strong under the number 2416. Let’s place these enlarged side by side:
H-#1 (חיה;) H-#2 (וחיתו)
For anyone who might believe this is incorrect, please check with Jay P. Green’s, The Interlinear Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament, vol. 1 of 4. The people who demand that the Hebrew #2416 is the creation of the nonwhite races fail to designate which of the two words above establishes such proof! In other words, is it the “living creatures” who are the nonwhite races or is it the “beast”? It is obvious that it can’t be both! So, is their research valid or flawed?
Had the KJV used the word “their” instead of “his”, as did the Jewish Masoretic Text, there would be no problem. You will notice that Smith & Goodspeed rendered the word as “various” rather than the KJV “his”, making it plural rather than singular! Read the KJV again, and you will notice that “his” equals, (1 cattle ..., (2 creeping things, and (3 beast (the three being plural)! You will also notice that Charles Thomson’s version of The Septuagint rendered it “their kind”, in verse 25, and therefore plural, which equals “four-footed beasts and reptiles and wild beasts.” Thus, “living creatures” is plural inasmuch as it is an adjective describing in Gen. 1:24 three categories of living entities: (1 cattle, (2 reptiles, and (3 wild animals! In other words; the “cattle” are living creatures; the “reptiles” are living creatures; and the “wild animals” are living creatures!
So we see again, Genesis 1:24-25 has absolutely nothing to do with God creating the nonwhite races. In fact, there is absolutely no record in the entire Bible that the nonwhite races were created! We do, however, have a prophecy of their demise at Matt. 13:47-50!
H-#1. Inasmuch as we are dealing with two different forms of the word “chay” (or sometimes “chayah”) in Gen. 1:24-25, we will have to consider them separately: Of the 592 times that the Hebrew word # 2416 “chay” or “chayah” is found in the Old Testament, a string search in Bible Works shows the following passages to be identical to H-#1 in Genesis 1:24, translated as “living creature”. Of these 592 times only 22 are exact contextual matches: Gen. 1:20, 24, 28, 30; 2:7, 19; 9:5, 12,15, 16; 18:10, 14; 37:20, 33; Lev. 5:2: 17:13;26:6; 2 Ki. 4:16, 17; Job 37:8; Eze. 14:15; 34:25. I will cite a few of these which are significant:
Gen. 1:30: “And to every beast (2416 חיה) of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”
Comment: Here, God is dividing His “living creature” creation into three categories: (1 animal, (2 fowl, and (3 reptile, and the “beast” at this passage has absolutely nothing to do with the nonwhite races!
Gen. 2:7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living (2416 חיה) soul.”
This verse is a reiteration of Gen. 1:27 with greater detail. Here # 2416 “life” does not match Gen. 1:24, but “living” does. The nonwhites have not the “breath of life”, therefore they have not a “living soul”, hence they are spiritually dead, or zombies!
Gen. 2:19: “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living (2416חיה) creature, that was the name thereof.”
Comment: Here the Hebrew word # 2416 “beast” does not match Gen. 1:24, but “living” does. As at Gen. 1:24-25, this verse is also speaking of animals and birds as “living things”, and has nothing to do with the nonwhite races!
Gen. 9:5: “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand (3027) of every beast (2416 חיה) will I require it, and at the hand (3027) of man (120); at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man (120).”
Comment: The Hebrew word # 2416 “beast” of this verse is speaking specifically of an animal that might kill an Adamite (120), which must be put to death, although it surely would include an idiomatic “beast (929) of the field”! Likewise, it is also speaking of an Adamite who might kill another Adamite! Although the Hebrew word # 3027 Yâd is translated 1359 times as “hand”, there are a host of other renderings such as “power” or “force”. Surely there are other parts of the body that could inflict death other than the hand!
Gen. 9:12: “And God said,This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living (2416 חיה) creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:”
Comment: Should one insist that חיהmeans the creation of the nonwhite races at Gen. 1:24, then it would imply that Yahweh must include the nonwhite races under all of His covenants!
Gen. 9:15: “And I will remember my covenant, which is betweenme and you and every living (2416 חיה) creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Comment: This promise is directed only to Noah and his three sons, not the nonwhite races! So “every living (2416 חיה) creature” must mean something else, or we would be speaking of eating negroids or mongoloids as food, (Gen. 9:3 “... be meat for you ...”)!
Gen. 9:16: “And the [rain]-bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living (2416 חיה) creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”
Comment: Once more, this is a promise by Yahweh never again to destroy Adam-man along with animal, bird and reptile! The nonwhite races are doomed to destruction at Matt. 13:47-50!
Gen. 18:10: “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life (2416 חיה); and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.”
Comment: Certainly there is absolutely no reason here to explain that the Hebrew word “life (2416 חיה)” has anything to do with the nonwhite races. Nor does it have at Gen. 1:24!
Gen. 18:14: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life (2416 חיה), and Sarah shall have a son.”
Comment: Again, what does Sarah’s “time of life” have to do with the nonwhite races?
Gen. 37:20: “Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast (2416 חיה) hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
Comment: It surely would be silly here to blame the nonwhite races for killing Joseph rather than a wild animal! It would be just as foolish to apply the Hebrew word 2416 חיהto mean the nonwhite races at Gen. 1:24!
Gen. 37:33: “And he (Jacob) knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast (2416 חיה) hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.”
Comment: Are we to believe that Jacob didn’t know the difference between a wild animal and the nonwhite races? Had it been a man of another race, such a one would have taken the coat from Joseph before killing him, not leaving the coat behind as evidence of the crime!
Lev. 5:2: “Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast (2416 חיה), or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.”
Comment: From these instructions, it is quite clear that God is dividing the dead “unclean thing” into three categories: (1 domesticated animals, (2 wild animals, and (3 reptiles. It really would be an insult to these animals and reptiles to compare them with the nonwhite races!
Lev. 17:13: “And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast (2416 חיה) or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.”
Comment: All those who still want to insist that “(beast 2416 חיה)” means the creation of the nonwhite races at Gen. 1:24, need to start bleeding out all of those unclean non-whites quite well before cooking and eating them! If it were a turkey, one would place it upside-down in a funnel to minimize its fluttering, and cut off its head!
Lev. 26:6: “And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts (2416 חיה) out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.”
Comment: The context at this passage is that if Israel would keep all of Yahweh’s commandments, they would have rain and the produce of their crops would be protected. One such way would be to keep away all the ravaging animals that would consume the year’s food supply. Again, this Hebrew word (חיה) has absolutely nothing to do with creating the nonwhite races!
2 Ki. 4:16: “And he said, About this season, according to the time of life (2416 חיה), thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.”
Comment: This woman’s “time of life 2416” (חיה), like Sarah’s had absolutely nothing to do with the supposed creation of the nonwhite races at Gen. 1:24!
2 Ki. 4:17: “And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life (2416 חיה).”
Comment: Again, I have to ask, What does this woman’s “time of life” have to do with the origin of the nonwhite races?
Job 37:8: “Then the beasts (2416 חיה) go into dens, and remain in their places.”
Comment: If these beasts have dens, so do the beasts of Gen. 1:24!
Eze. 14:15: “If I cause noisome beasts (2416 חיה) to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:”
Comment: This is proof positive that the “chayah” of Genesis 1:24 is speaking of wild animals such as buffalo, jackal, wolf, hyena, lion, bear, tiger, leopard & lynx, rather than the nonwhite races!)
Eze. 34:25: “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts (2416 חיה) to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.”
Comment: Here in the 34th chapter, Ezekiel looks down the corridors of time and prophesies against Israel’s pastors and compares them to “evil beasts” who feed themselves rather than feeding Yahweh’s Israel sheep. This is the literal situation we are experiencing at our present day. This is the exact same Hebrew word as used at Genesis 1:24, describing our present pastors as wild beasts who rend and plunder the flock. Instead of wild animals such as buffalo, jackal, wolf, hyena, lion, bear, tiger, leopard & lynx.Metaphorically we have vicious pastors who prey like wild animals on the Israel sheep! Surely, to describe this fiasco in any other manner such as “the other races” would be highly misleading! The topic of “the other races” is very serious and must be addressed in its proper context, as the nonwhite races are a mixture of fallen angel-kind and animal-kind!
This pretty well covers all the various shades of meaning where H-#1 (חיה) appears in Scripture. Let’s now take a look at two examples where H-#2 (וחיתו) appears. This won’t take very long as this same exact Hebrew word can only be found at Gen. 1:24; Job 33:18, 22 and Isa. 40:16 when doing a string search in Bible Works.
Gen. 1:24: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast (2416 וחיתו) of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
Now let Isa. 40:16 speak for itself:
“And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts (2416 וחיתו) thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.”
The 40th chapter of Ezekiel is written in allegory, showing how insignificant man is compared to Yahweh. At verse 13, the question is asked: Who did Yahweh either need or take to advise Him in any of His works, either of creation or His government of the world? Verse 16 is simply stating that there isn’t enough forests for fuel or enough BEASTS in Lebanon to supply sacrifices worthy of the glory of Yahweh! In this case 2416, “beast” represents animal sacrifices, not the nonwhite races! How absurd to declare otherwise!
