TRUTHS OF GENESIS HIDDEN IN THE CHINESE CHARACTERS
After the Flood the whole earth was one language, and of one speech. Hebrew was the only language in the beginning. However, when God found an evil desire in man's heart to build a civilization without God, He scattered the seventy nations who stemmed from Noah's three sons; Shem, Japheth, and Ham. Accordingly, all of them conveyed the common information of the Flood and of the prehistoric accounts to their newly immigrated lands. A group from the descendants of Shem moved to the ‘region of Sinim (China)’ and built up their own civilization there.
Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.”… And now the LORD says― he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honoured in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength― he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” This is what the LORD says― the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel― to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: … “in the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar― some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Sinim (China).”
ISAIAH 49: 1-12.
This article was first issued in Aug.’04 (No.106 Huldah Letter).
China is believed by some commentators to be contemplated in verse 12, the land from which the remnants of Israel will be returning to the LORD and their homeland in the end of time. Examining how early and how influential Israel was in China far before the Christian era is very fascinating.
The ancient Chinese were monotheists around 2500 BCE when their written language was being formulated. It was only around 500 BCE that religious mixtures of idolatry, ancestral worship, superstitions, myths, divinations, magic, polytheistic cults of Taoism, philosophy of Confucianism, and Buddhism blossomed in China. Evidence of their monotheistic belief of the ancient Chinese is clearly inscribed in none other than the attested relic, their written language.
The ancient Chinese served a Supreme Heavenly Ruler as shown in their characters of God, ShangTi 上帝, which consists of 上(above, Heavenly) and 帝(Emperor). During the first three dynasties from 2205 to 255 BCE, interestingly上帝 was also designated as Tien 天(Heaven) and occasionally as Shen 神(God, a spirit). Confucianism records in the Book of History that Emperor Shun sacrificed to ShangTi in 2230 BCE. It is said that it was custom for the Emperor to participate in ceremonies of the “border sacrifice” as high priest on the northern border at the summer solstice and on the southern border at the winter solstice respectively for nearly 4500 years. ShangTi was believed to be eternal, self-existent and to have existed before the creation of the earth and heaven. He was worshipped and praised because of His loving kindness.
The ancient Chinese served a Supreme Heavenly Ruler as shown in their characters of God, ShangTi 上帝, which consists of 上(above, Heavenly) and 帝(Emperor). During the first three dynasties from 2205 to 255 BCE, interestingly上帝 was also designated as Tien 天(Heaven) and occasionally as Shen 神(God, a spirit). Confucianism records in the Book of History that Emperor Shun sacrificed to ShangTi in 2230 BCE. It is said that it was custom for the Emperor to participate in ceremonies of the “border sacrifice” as high priest on the northern border at the summer solstice and on the southern border at the winter solstice respectively for nearly 4500 years. ShangTi was believed to be eternal, self-existent and to have existed before the creation of the earth and heaven. He was worshipped and praised because of His loving kindness.
One of the terms for God, a Spirit is written神. The left portion of this character can be written in different forms: 示 orネ, which conveys the meaning of ‘to proclaim, to exhibit, to manifest and to reveal.’ The right side of the character 申 means ‘to speak.’ As the creation of the universe started with God’s utterance of a command:
Let there be light’, ‘Let there be an expanse…,
so God is the One that speaks and intervenes to this world and human-beings.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. …For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm (Ps.33:6…:9).
‘God ’ in the Hebrew of Genesis is expressed Elohim in a plural term that is uniquely used for the multiple aspects or personalities of the deity of Israel. The New Testament interprets this unique God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, while all these three Persons of the Godhead already appear in the first verses of Genesis 1, where God, Spirit of God and the Word of God (Christ) were all active in creation. The word Spirit 靈（霊 in current Japanese）is made of three independent units: 雨 (rain), 口 (mouth), and 巫. The horizontal stroke ―at the top of雨 represents ‘heaven’, which indicates where the Spirit came from. The second stroke 冖means ‘cover’ and the remaining portion, ‘water’. Therefore, 雨 conveys the creation account;
the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Ge.1:2).
Rain is indeed a symbol of the outpouring of the Spirit in Scripture. The three numbers of the next unit口in the figure imply that three persons are speaking via the Spirit. In other words, it underlies the doctrine of the Trinity and reflects Jesus’ words;
the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me (Jesus) (John 15:26).
More precisely, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is an ambassador of the Father and the Son and represents their mouths as well as His own. The final unit巫 (worker of magic) is made up of the two men 人,人 and 工 (work) whose upper horizontal stroke represents ‘heaven’ and whose base stroke indicates the ‘earth’ and the vertical stroke of which depicts a person working in its original composition. Therefore, there is again an image of three persons actively working together in creation. However, if it is used as an independent figure, the whole character 巫 means a worker of magic rather than three men. The figure is today also applied to a witch or the demon-possessed. The source of supernatural power and revelation seems to have become confused and muddled with demonic ones during the passage of time.
It is a sad reality that the original Chinese faith in the only one God, ShangTi 上帝 has been supplanted by the concept of ancestor worship and polytheistic services. During more than the past two thousand years three religions or teachings; Confucianism (儒教), Taoism (道教) and Buddhism (仏教) developed in China. The former two teachings are indigenous to China and the latter entered China around 67 BCE. A system of myths, magic, deviation and superstition and all sorts of gods connected to material interests were brought in with Taoism. With the passage of time, original worship of ShangTi 上帝and its rituals were altered, and thus, original meanings of the characters began to be applied to expanding mystical ideas of spirit deities, inspired by Taoist and Buddhist concepts. However, despite the altered, muddled and blurred application of concepts, the terms designating the three Persons of the Godhead in the Chinese versions of the Bible still preserve unscathed concepts of Elohim; ShangTi 上帝 (the Father), Shen 神 (the Son) and Sheng Ling聖靈 (the Holy Spirit). The original beliefs of the Chinese have been handed down by oral tradition and then recorded in this way so as to contain the same historical knowledge of Hebrew Genesis accounts. It is worth examining as many Chinese characters as possible according to the study by C.H.Kang and others (‘Genesis and the Chinese’, K. T. Khang, Hong Kong).
For a basic introduction, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the basic structure of the Chinese character. It uses several radicals (classified偏、旁、冠、脚) as the basic units to make up the whole character. The radicals counted up to 214 kinds are the most primitive form of the written language, many of which are pictographs, easy to remember. For example, 田(field, garden) , 木(tree, wood), 人、イ、儿(man, person), 土(dust, soil, clay), 大(being great, full grown) etc. 夫 (husband; made of two independent unit, 二 &人) might be created from an idea two men (written in 二人):
Man becomes the husband after being united in one with woman (Ge.2:24).
As shown above, Chinese characters reflect the early chapters of Genesis, the biblical accounts of Man, Garden, Marriage, Devil, Temptation, Fall, Death, Noah’s Flood, The Tower of Babel and so on. Looking at another example, the character for to create, 造 can be analysed as a unity of four components: the small downwards strokeノ, indicating movement or life, dust or mud土, mouth口 and being able to walk 辶. Accordingly, this figure造 corresponds to the account of Genesis 2:7;
the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
The other character 福 [happiness, blessing; ネ(God) & 一(first) &口 (mouth, representing a person) & 田(garden)] indicates the meaning of true happiness for the first man in the Garden to be with God. Despite the ability of creating more than one couple at the beginning to populate the earth rapidly, God created only one couple, male and female, who was the beginning of the human family. The character 元 [beginning, origin; 二(two) & 儿(man)] reflects that story. 安[peace; 女(woman) & 宀(roof)] reflects the story that Eve’s presence under his roof made Adam peaceful and fulfilled in companionship. Their home was 宮[palace; 呂(pair) &宀(roof)] and God’s creation work was completed [完(complete, finish) consists of 元(beginning) & 宀(home)] with the ideal extension of God’s family:
Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule…over all the creatures… (Ge.1:26).
As God regarded a companionship of the couple as a unity of 肉[flesh, which uniquely and pictographically represents a surgical incision as if God’s hand were going inside(入, to enter) Adam’s body; 冂(border) & 人(man) & 人], so significantly, various primitive verbs of action contain two persons as a part of their constituents. For example, 來[(来 in current Japanese)to come; 人 & 人& 木(tree) ] depicts two persons coming from behind a tree (Ge.3:8). 坐 [to sit; 人 & 人& 土(soil)] pictures two persons sitting on the ground. 從[to follow; 彳(two persons) & 人 & 人 & an abbreviation from足(foot)] pictures two persons following one after another.
Out of the Garden [園consists of土&口& 从 (two persons, portraying a manイwith a second personく issuing from his side) & 囗(enclosure)], however, Adam and Eve were expelled [赶 consists of 走 (to run, to travel) & 干(offender)] and had to go some distance [遠consists of辶(walking) & 袁(robe); depicting the loss of the garden enclosure], wearing their garments that God provided:
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them…So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden… (Ge.3:21-23).
The radical田(garden) and木(tree) are used in other characters such as 鬼(devil), 果(fruit), 裸(naked), 魔(tempter), 魂(soul), 禁(forbidden, to warn), and 婪(desire, to covet), all of which is almost impossible to think of other than a reference to the Garden of Eden.
When God provided Adam and Eve with the garments of skin, He also taught them how to kill the animals and how to present them to the one Supreme God, Elohim or Yahweh or Shaddai in Hebrew. According to Genesis 4:4, 羊(lamb, sheep) was the first “sacrificial animal”[犧(犠 in current Japanese); 牛(ox) & 羊 & 秀(beautiful, unblemished) & 戈(spear-head)] and the animal for a sin offering, as clearly depicted in the character, should be perfect:
Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the LORD (Lev.9:2).
It is noteworthy that the characters indicating a sense of value such as 善(good, virtuous), 義(righteousness), 美(beauty), 祥(happiness, auspicious) and 詳(to judge, to examine with care) contain 羊(lamb, sheep) as the basic unit. An ancient writing of善, i.e., 譱 apparently consists of 誩 or 言(words) and羊, which suggests that the lamb’s words are good! 詳[(to judge);言(words) & 羊] conveys the idea of examining, the components of which corresponds to the declaration of John the Baptist about Jesus Christ as
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
by baptising man with the Holy Spirit and fire, in other words, through salvation and judgment (Matt.3:11). 義(righteousness) pictures 我(I, me) beneath 羊(sheep), as if it is portraying one kneeling before the Lamb of God acknowledging that only through him can one be made righteous.:
There is no-one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no-one who does good, not even one (Ps.14:1-3).
It is interesting that the word我(I, me) consists of 手(hand) & 戈(spear-head). This appears to specify that the slaying of the lamb is by my hand with a spear-head, which might be interpreted as; ‘it was my sins that brought the Lamb of God to death’, exactly as Isaiah prophesied:
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed…the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Is.53:5-6).
In ancient China, as it was with the Hebrews (Ex.29:39), both morning (9 a.m.) and evening (15 p.m.) sacrifices were observed. While the Hebrew appeared to largely forget the observation of ancestral rituals and ceremonies during the long habitation in Egypt (though such rites of sacrifices were reinstituted at Mt. Sinai around 1446BCE), the Chinese continued these rituals up to modern times. According to research it was only after China’s monarchical reign ended and the Republic of China was established in 1912 that the “border” ceremony of ancient sacrificial system ceased.
Peter used the analogy of the Flood of Noah’s day to stress the validity of God’s prophecies about the end of time when God would directly intervene in global judgment, while he anticipated that the majority would doubt the validity of biblical catastrophes and the promise of the Lord’s Coming (2Pe.3). As Peter taught
the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor.1:8)
with firm confidence, to dispel the contemporary spirit of scepticism, the Flood was an attested example of that later to come. Six New Testament passages confirm the Flood described in Genesis. Jesus compared the flood with His Second Coming (Matt.24:37-42, Lk.17:26-27). Peter referred to it as a supernatural origin, i.e., God’s cause. Noah’s Ark, which was 300 cubits by 50 cubits (approximately 450 feet by 75 feet) is understood to have been the largest vessel ever built until the late 19th century and its ratio of length to breadth, “six to one” is thought stable enough for such a big vessel designed not for speed, but
“admirably suited for its purpose of riding out the storms of the year of the great Flood” (‘The Ark of Noah’, Henry M. Morris).
Its size of carrying capacity and proportions, enabling us to imagine a very gigantic flat-bottomed barge, themselves seem to uniquely suggest that the Flood was not an invented story at all. But for God’s revelation, Moses could not have described such dimensions of the Ark as it was sufficiently able to accomplish His intended purposes.
The Chinese character for their vessel is 船, which consists of 舟(boat) & 八(eight) & 口(mouth). This figure illustrates only eight people in the Ark. They experienced雨(rain) for the first time falling from heaven and they might have been impressed by 水(water) bursting out of the great deep:
On the seventeenth day of the second month ―on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened ( Ge.7:11).
The other radical of water is氵and significantly, the ancient form of water is pictured 巛, vertically but not horizontally, all of which appear to reflect fountain-like water rising to a height from the deep. The character 洪(flood and vast) signifies that the Flood involving eight people was universal by adding共 [total; 廾 (united) & 一(earth) & 八(eight)] to 氵.
Exemplified above is only a part of the studies by Rev. C. H. Kang and others, which has fascinated me. Through my research I have also found quite a logical formation of the radical 赤(red, naked, bare), which is enigmatically comprised of 土(dust) and the rest of the unit (man). The first man Adam(אדם in Hebrew; man, human-being) was made out of ‘dust’ (adamah, אדמה) and also, there is a theory that the name of Adam was derived from related Hebrew words meaning “red”(אדם; be red, turn red, redden). Accordingly, Adam may have had a complexion like that of a “red American Indian,” in other words, he may have been a medium-dark coloured man. This theory would genetically make more sense if Adam was indeed the ancestor of all people groups.
In Japan these Chinese characters are still designated for daily use today and my research continues.