A SPACE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING

THE OLD TESTAMENT REVISITED
By Roland Smyth

or

Things you are liable to read in the Bible...
They ain't necessarily so...

INTRODUCTION

The case for Biblically-recorded UFOs has intrigued me for over two decades, but like most others who have shared this interest over the years, I never really conducted any in-depth research into the matter. That is to say, I never read the Bible from cover to cover, verse for verse. Who, amongst us common folk, ever does? Like millions of amateur would-be Bible students before me, I found 95% of the Good Book to be rather dreary and boring. Hardly what you'd call enjoyable reading. So I satisfied my curiosity by reading only the more outstanding extraterrestrial-related excerpts which authors like Erich von Daniken brought to the world's attention.

As far as I was concerned these excerpts, like Ezekiel's wheels within wheels encounter for instance, were proof enough that extraterrestrial visitations were not all that uncommon in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. Naturally I assumed that these extraterrestrials -- or angels, or whatever you want to call them -- were here on official business, and that they were carrying on God's good work as best they could.

I further assumed that "God" himself was an especially advanced and highly evolved extraterrestrial who was acting on behalf of an even higher God -- the "real" God, you might say, otherwise known as the Supreme Creator. That this Old Testament "God" (Jehovah by name) was mistaken for the God by the ancient Israelites didn't bother me at all. It was all quite understandable under the circumstances, and I never really suspected that there was anything terribly unusual about the arrangement.

But then, as a simple twist of Fate would have it, I decided to tackle the Book of Books and find out once and for all, and on a first hand basis, what it was all about. Incredibly, I didn't give up halfway through Genesis as I had so many times before. On the contrary, I became thoroughly fascinated with the Bible. Then I became virtually obsessed with it. The darned thing was totally unlike anything I had expected. It was like reading a good science-fiction novel on every page! In every chapter! There were weird and bizarre stories everywhere, and I found that I was reading one of those kinds of books that you just can't put down.

I began stocking up on Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, Bible commentaries, archeological records of the period, and a whole assortment of similar reference books... anything that would cast more light on all the weird things I was reading. Exasperated by the outdated language of the King James Version, I went out and bought six different modern translations to make the going easier. No doubt about it. I was obsessed.

It's been three years since all this craziness started and I've sure learned a lot about the Bible as a result. I approached it primarily from a UFOlogist's point of view, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Along the way my attitudes about Jehovah changed drastically. Remember how he was always saying he was a jealous God, a God of vengeance and wrath? Well, he certainly wasn't kidding. A meaner character you're not likely to meet anywhere. No siree. Jehovah takes the cake in that department, and all the evidence you'll ever need to confirm that contention has dutifully been recorded in the Bible.

Now, the problem is that everyone, or just about everyone, assumes to some degree or other that this guy was the God. However, since he was merely an ambitious extraterrestrial this claim to fame is obviously a case of stretching the truth, and that's putting it mildly. I'm not even sure he was a legitimate representative of God, whomever you personally conceive God to be. I'll have more to say on that subject later. For now it's only important that you recognize that Jehovah was far less than he said he was. That much is obvious, is it not?

In any case, first things first.

This little booklet has been prepared in order that the overwhelming evidence of Biblical UFOs--or, more specifically, their occupants--can be presented from a perspective that is perhaps somewhat different from those you are accustomed to. I can't promise that everything you find herein will be fresh and new to your sphere of knowledge, but I think I can spring a few surprises on you just the same.

If nothing else, I should like to impress upon you how enormously serious this business of Biblical extraterrestrials is. The whole subject has lapsed into a sort of "ho-hum" holding pattern in recent years, and I don't think that's a good place for it to be. For let's face it, an extraterrestrial god is something we should all be deeply concerned about, particularly since that god rarely displayed a loving and compassionate attitude towards the human race. Not until the advent of Jesus Christ, anyway. Then everything changed.

There's something awfully disturbing about that... how a Deity can preach vengeance and war in one Testament and then suddenly switch to forgiveness and peace in the next.

To be sure, these and other reforms were quite an improvement over the old ways. But why was "god" so cruel in the first place? Were the Old and New Testament Gods truly one and the same Deity? Was Jehovah really the Father whom Jesus spoke of? To answer these perplexing questions it's time we faced up to what most of us believe in anyway: that the ancients perceived extraterrestrials as gods, and that from time to time an especially autocratic god was perceived as the God of gods, or simply as God.

Let us, therefore, take a closer look at the Old Testament for on close inspection it reveals a great deal more about extraterrestrial intervention than is commonly appreciated. It also says a lot of things about Jehovah which will make you sit up and take notice... things you were never taught in church or Sunday school.

One of them pops up in a passage which is familiar to even the most casual of churchgoers. Perhaps you too can recite it from memory, for it's the kind of line that once heard is seldom forgotten. I refer to verse five of the Eighth Psalm. It reads: "for thou (Jehovah) has made him (us) a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor."

That line doesn't come across as anything anybody should get too terribly excited over, but the catch is that the key word "angels" does not rightfully belong in it. It has been erroneously translated from--what else?--the Hebrew noun, ELOHIM. The quote, therefore (complete with the definite article HA), should read as follows: "For thou has made him a little lower than the gods..."

That kind of puts a whole new slant on the Eighth Psalm, wouldn't you agree?! I mean, here we have the Bible (the Bible!!) casually informing us that we were created a little lower than the gods (the gods!!). It's like I said before--the Old Testament reads just like Homer once you weed out even a few of the translational errors.

There are, incidentally, several modern Bible translations which--believe it or not--point out in footnotes the presence of HA ELOHIM here in the original Hebrew. Some of them even go so far as to offer the literal translation (ie., "the gods"--as opposed to the usual translation, "God"), but they quickly add that the author of the Psalm must certainly have meant the term to be understood in only a figurative sense. Thus, in most cases "the angels," or sometimes "the holy ones," has been retained into the actual text!

Mind you, in the New World Translation "the godlike ones" appears in the text, and in the Jerusalem Bible--which has the Vatican's full endorsement--the text contains "a god." So things are looking up. Someone might get it right yet!

Anyway, if you have access to several versions of the Bible you might want to check out the Eighth Psalm in each of them, just for curiosity's sake. It's interesting to see how different versions handle this very difficult passage.

In another example of translational adjustments, HA ELOHIM has been disguised in most Bibles (the King James and New International versions, for instance) as "the judges." thus, in Exodus 22:8-9 we have, or rather should have:

"But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the

gods to determine whether he has laid his hands on the other man's

property. In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a

garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, 'This is

mine,' both parties are to bring their cases before the gods. The one whom

the gods declare guilty must pay back double to his neighbor."

Interesting judiciary system, eh? Not unusual though for nations of the ancient Middle East--as the archeological evidence amply testifies.

In all fairness, it should be noted that some Bible translations follow the usual tradition of rendering HA ELOHIM as "God" in the above quote. However, at the same time they rather conspicuously fail to explain why the Supreme Creator of the Universe would bother involving himself in such petty legal disputes. Neither is any explanation offered as to how the procedure would work, nor why it was eventually phased out some time in the dim pat.

All in all, then, I'd say that translation the quote accurately furnishes us with a satisfactory solution to a situation which would otherwise remain somewhat puzzling. Indeed, in light of what has in the last three decades or so become increasingly obvious to the open-minded, there's nothing even remotely irregular about "gods" participating in the administrative functions of the ancient Israelites.

Even at that, it's really quite extraordinary--isn't it?--how a little semantic detective work can open up whole new fields of discovery in Biblical research. Ah yes, determining the meanings of words s they were originally intended to be understood can go a long way in unlocking many deep mysteries--as I trust the clearly misguided translations of ELOHIM have sufficiently revealed.

Well, we'll leave the inaccurate translations of ELOHIM for now and move on to a remarkable instance where--for reasons that are difficult to comprehend--an accurate translation somehow survived the censor's wary eye and has since raised embarrassing questions that church authorities have a tough time coming to terms with.

To be continued.
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A leading UFOlogical researcher said about this book, "it is one of the most important books I have ever read and should be read by everyone!"