PART TWO

The School of Shem

NO REASON to beat around the bush. Er, I mean—stack of sticks. Our next encounter with Yahuah’s altar arrives with another infamous name. Two of them—actually. Avraham and Yitschaq. We read:

The circumcision was performed on the tenth day of Tishri, the Day of Atonement, and upon the spot on which the altar was later to be erected in the Temple, for the act of Avraham remains a never-ceasing atonement for Israel.

Legends of the Yahudim

I know what you’re probably thinking. No names were mentioned. And technically, Yitschaq wouldn’t be born for another year. It was Yishma’el who was circumcised with Avraham, along with Eliezer and his entire household. So, according to this, an important event did happen to Yishma’el on Mount Tsiyon. Let’s just not confuse Moriah with the Roman fort which people call the Temple Mount, which Islam claims as their own. If they have a hankering for Roman architecture, then it all theirs. They can have it. Or rather, let the Zionists fight them for it.

Also, the altar was nowhere to be found in the circumcision story. Only to the untrained eye though. As we shall soon see, it was still there.  What we ultimately learned however is that the altar for the Temple would later be erected. So, different altar then? Not necessarily. You’ll just have to keep reading to find out.

Now, when it came time for the sacrifice, Avraham had already been raised in the school of Shem, and therefore knew all about it. The history of the mountain had undoubtedly been related to him by Noach, but even Shem had lived there as a child. Every single illustration that I can find of the event shows Yitschaq as a beardless child, but it simply isn’t true at all. The child was nearing 40. 37—actually.

And Avraham took the wood and arranged it upon the altar, and he bound Yitschaq, to place him upon the wood which was upon the altar, to slay him for a burnt offering before Yahuah. Yitschaq spoke hereupon: “Father, make haste, bare thine arm, and bind my hands and feet securely, for I am a young man, but thirty-seven years of age, and thou art an old man.”

Legends of the Yahudim

His age is just a side note, but not really. It is important to figuring out the overarching narrative. You shall see why in a moment. At present though, it is the altar of Yahuah which makes another appearance. The altar which Noach rebuilt and which Yitschaq was nearly sacrificed upon are the same.

And they came to the place of which Yahuah had told him. And Avraham built there the altar which A’dam had built, which had been destroyed by the waters of the deluge, which Noach has again built, and which had been destroyed in the age of divisions; and he set the wood in order upon it, and bound Yitschaq his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Genesis 22:9 [Targum]

Rather difficult to argue now that Mount Moriah in the land of Yashar’el is anything other than the Mountain of Worship in the land of Eden. Somebody out there will most certainly try though. Come at me, bro.

If you’re paying attention, we learned two things. One, that Avraham did indeed offer Yitschaq upon the very altar which A’dam had built. And then secondly, that the altar had been destroyed in the age of divisions. That’s all we’re told about its destruction though. There is no other account that I have found which mentions who destroyed it and why. The age of divisions may very well be a reference to the tower of Babel. Unlikely though. Or the days of Peleg. Lots of dividing there. Perhaps even the war between Nimrod and the kings of Canaan. Then again, all three events are very likely related. The snowball that formed into an avalanche.

Seeing as how Shem was the Melchizedek of Salem, you’d think he would maintain the altar from time to time. It would only make sense then, given what we know, that circumstances beyond his control, like the post Babel land grab that led to War, would bring about its demise.

At any rate, Legends of the Yahudim gives us a similar account, but once again manages to add titillating details.

The place on which Avraham had erected the altar was the same whereon A’dam had brought the first sacrifice, and Cain and Abel had offered their gifts to Elohiym—the same whereon Noach raised an altar to Elohiym after he left the ark; and Avraham, who knew that it was the place appointed for the Temple, called it Yireh, for it would be the abiding place of the fear and the service of Elohiym. But as Shem had given it the name Shalem, Place of Shalom, and Elohiym would not give offence to either Avraham or Shem, He united the two names, and called the city by the name Yerushalayim.

Pause. Shem named it Shalom. Avraham named it Yireh. Why not combine the two names into one? That’s an origins story, right there. Just not the titillating part. Continuing.

After the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, Avraham returned to Beer-sheba, the scene of so many of his joys. Yitschaq was carried to Paradise by angels, and there he sojourned for three years. Thus, Avraham returned home alone, and when Sarah beheld him, she exclaimed, “Satan spoke truth when he said that Yitschaq was sacrificed,” and so grieved was her soul that it fled from her body.

Legends of the Yahudim

That’s the part I wanted you to read. Yitschaq was carried to Paradise by angels. Which is the same as saying he was carried to the Garden of Eden. The two locations are synonymous. He then sojourned there for three years. Before you protest, because there’s always one, I will remind you that the writer is in the very least being consistent. Mount Tsiyon is where heaven meets earth. Therefore, if the angels were to nab someone, you figure the location of the Temple is as good a spot as any—if not better.

That still begs the question. What was Yitschaq doing in Paradise for the length of three years? I’m glad you asked. I really am. This is the stuff that wakes me up in the morning. The Aramaic Targum answers any aching inquiries but then altogether riddles us with another perplexing question. Follow along.

And the angels on high took Yitschaq and brought him into the school of Shem the Great; and he was there three years.

Genesis 22:19 [Targum]

What the huh…? My thoughts exactly. Paradise or Shem School, which is it? Well, both. Figuring out this mystery will undoubtedly take further digging. Don’t be surprised if even more complications arrive. Here’s one. When Satan lied to Sarah and told her that Avraham had sacrificed Yitschaq, Sarah frantically went about combing the land. She had the bright idea to knock on the door of Shem. From this we come to learn:

⁸⁵ And she [Sarah] came with her maidservants and menservants to Qiryat Arba, which is Chevron, and she asked concerning her son, and she remained there while she sent some of her servants to seek where Avraham had gone with Yitschaq; they went to seek him in the house of Shem and Eber, and they could not find him, and they sought throughout the land, and he was not there.

Yashar (Jasher) 23:85 [Cepher]

Hmmm. He wasn’t there. So, he ascended to Paradise then? Technically, no. Yitschaq was still with Avraham by this point. While Sarah sought out Yitschaq, Avraham and Yitschaq sought her out. She died before they could reach her. We then read:

⁹⁰ And Avraham and Yitschaq wept greatly and al their servants wept with them on account of Sarah, and they mourned over her a great and heavy mourning.

Yashar (Jasher) 23:90 [Cepher]

From this point in Yashar’s narrative, Yitschaq disappears. When he again enters the stage, Lot is dead. Avraham has sent Eliy’ezer on an errand to retrieve for his son a bride. And then we read:

³⁴ And Eliy’ezer did as Avraham ordered him, and Eliy’ezer swore unto Avraham his adoniy upon this matter; and Eliy’ezer rose up and took ten camels of the camels of his adoniy, and ten men from his adoniy’s servants with him, and they rose up and went to Haran, the city of Avraham and Nachor, in order to fetch a woman, for Yitschaq, the son of Avraham; and while they were gone Avraham sent to the house of Shem and Eber, and they brought from thence his son Yitschaq.

Yashar (Jasher) 24:34 [Cepher]

I guess that means Avraham wasn’t lying to Sarah.

⁴ And Avraham came into the tent, and he sat before Sarah his woman, and he spoke these words to her: ⁵ My son Yitschaq is grown up and he has not for some time studied the service of his Elohiym, now tomorrow I will go and bring him to Shem, and Eber his son, and there he will learn the ways of Yahuah, for they will teach him to know Yahuah as well as to know that when he prays continually before Yahuah, he will answer him, therefore there he will know the way of serving Yahuah Elohayu.

Yashar (Jasher) 23:4-5 [Cepher]

So, he was in the house of Shem. But how long?

⁴⁵ And Yitschaq was forty years old when he took Rivqah, the daughter of his uncle Bethy’el, for a woman.

 Yashar (Jasher) 24:45 [Cepher]

The math adds up. If Yitschaq was nearly sacrificed at 37 years of age, and he spent three years, either in Paradise or the School of Shem, then he would be 40 upon the day when Rivqah arrived on the hump of a camel. That still begs the question, how could Yitschaq reside in two locations—the house of Shem and the Garden? Well, the City of Shalom was upon the Mountain of Worship. In the very least, we have already seen how heaven and earth were accessed there. I believe the following passage gives us the answer we’re seeking.

² Wherefore, I will send Noach unto thee in the tabernacle, and he will bestow upon thee the keys of this priesthood, for the city of Melchizedek will I take up from off the earth and there will be a new beginning in thee.

³ For I will greatly multiply thy seed and I will make them my ministers that through thy priesthood all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed.

The Writings of Avraham 110:2-3

I just love it when Scripture fits like a glove. When Avraham was told by Yahuah that the city of Melchizedek would ascend to heaven, he hadn’t taken Yitschaq to Mount Moriah yet. It happens later chronologically. We can easily deduce that the keys of the priesthood were transferred from Noach and Shem to Avraham at the time of his trial, and that the City of Shalom was removed from the earth shortly afterwards. Therefore, it is quite possible that Yitschaq was schooled by Shem in Paradise.

During the same event, the analogous relationship between Mount Moriah and the Mountain of Worship, as well as their proximity to Paradise, is established in another spectacular war. The ram which Avraham offered in the place of his son was no ordinary creature.

And Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a certain ram which had been created between the evenings of the foundation of the world, was held in the entanglement of a tree by his horns. And Avraham went and took him and offered him an offering instead of his son.

Genesis 22:13 [Targum]

So, the ram was old then. Very old. It shouldn’t be a leap of logic to conclude that it came from Paradise. That much is inferred. But if you notice, I took the red ink out on two separate and important need to know facts. The first is when the ram was created. The second is where: at the foundation of the world. What is Tsiyon again but the earth’s cornerstone?

The construction of the earth was begun at the center, with the foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah, for the Holy Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Yerushalayim is at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the center of the Holy City.

Legends of the Yahudim

The mere fact that Mount Tsiyon is the center of the earth is a definite clue as to the true location of Yashar’el. Not the sliver of land the Zionist tells us is the Holy Land. Probably didn’t think I was going there. I just did. But that’s another trail of breadcrumbs in and of itself. One which I hope to devote an entire paper to at another time, as the intent of this exercise is a biography of unhewn stone. It is the unhewn stone which connects the dots and forms the picture which very few seem willing to acknowledge. That the land of Eden and Yashar’el are the same.

Noel