Sir Isaac Newton on ancient history

Compiled By Brian Forbes

Sir Isaac Newton, a father of physics, who discovered the math of gravity, was interested in early history. He summarized it by saying that kings were made into gods by their citizens. Kings of cities were deified by their cities, and kings of nations by their nations.

He said that this practice didn’t happen over time from the bottom up, but right away from the top down. He said that the original religion was given by Noah, but Mercury changed all that in honor of Osiris & Isis. He said that the historians of Egypt made the gods more ancient than they really were, and that many were ruling during the reign of king David of Israel.

Further, he said that Egypt was a land divided by Ham, the son of Noah, between his four sons. “Hercules is Chus, Osiris is Misraim, Antæus is Phut & Busiris is Canaan…” He said that the names of these men were corrupted, and that name changes happen frequently in history. Nations were named for their kings, and they were renamed with every succession of a new king.

Noah’s religion consisted of sacrifices and prayer.

“…every family in travelling from place to place carried with them a sacred fire for sacrifices, the father of the family being as well Priest as king.”

This practice of carrying sacred fire continued into the building of temples. They replaced this religion of Noah with that of Idolatry, or the worship of figures carved out of wood or stone.

“…they made the images of the kings & building … set up the Images in the Temples & worshipped them as inhabited by the souls of the dead kings.”

They also put the names of their kings and heroes onto planets and constellations, such as Jupiter and Orion. The planets moved in ways that were not always predictable to these ancient people, so they claimed that the spirit of the god was moving the planet around.

Newton claimed that the early earth, being ruled by men, was divided between the kings.

“…the Island Atlantis fell to the lot of Neptune who made his Eldest Son Atlas king of the whole island…” In mythology, there is symbolism, so when Hercules took the Globe from Atlas the author of the poem meant that the nation of Atlas was conquered by Hercules. The Egyptians painted Saturn with two faces, because he reigned over two kingdoms. It is also interesting that the founders of all these ancient nations were known to historians. Newton said that the first founder and first successive king were called Saturn and Jupiter.

It turns out that the first founder of Egypt (Noah) had a wife named Titea, and her children were called Titens.

If the nations had known founders at known times, you wouldn’t expect large populations near the beginning. Newton points out two details from the Bible. The nations of Shinar and Elam were defeated by Abraham with an army of 318 men. Egypt was so thinly peopled before Moses that Pharaoh said that the Israelites were more and mightier than they were.

Newton wasn’t the only one to see the correlation between the pagan gods and the Biblical patriarchs. He built his history on the same foundation we all use, listing and verifying his sources.

Many modern historians trust the dates of the Egyptian kings. Newton said that the Egyptian and Latin histories were not as reliable as the history of Israel. The modern historians are using the exact history that Newton warns us not to use. They want to undermine the Bible. Newton, though, a scientific thinker, always put the Bible in the place of higher dependability. It is clear that this scientist, at least, believed the ancient, written history of mankind.

Direct Quotes from Newton

Sir Isaac Newton summarized early history this way,

“For it was hitherto in fashion… to deify the founders of their kingdoms.” “The kings of cities were worshipped by the cities & the kings of Nations by the nations.”

On Egypt,

“So then if the Ægyptian Priests understood the originalls of their own kingdom (& what nation I pray had more ancient records then they?) the Worship of their Gods crept not in by degrees among the inferior people… but was ordeined by their first Kings… we have the… corrupt ion of the religion of Noah…”

“Mercury who was secretary & Counseller to Osiris & Isis… ordeined the worship… of the Gods…” “…the Ægyptians made their deified kings very ancient, though they were no older then the days of David Solomon & Rehoboam.”

False religion had a beginning,

“In this tradition the Egyptians honour their father Osiris with the whole administration. If you correct them in this point & make Ham the Lord of all & conceive that Osyris took this journey southward to search his inheritance you will here have the division of the Countries of Ham amongst his children. For Hercules is Chus, Osiris is Misraim, Antæus is Phut & Busiris is Canaan as I find by other records compared with this.” “Corruptions of names are frequent in history.” “…in those days kingdoms changed their names with every king.”

Before the false, there was the true,

“In the religion propagated… from Noah… worshipped one God with prayers & praises… every family in travelling from place to place carried with them a sacred fire for sacrifices, the father of the family being as well Priest as king. Whence it became the custome of all nations to keep perpetual fires in their sacred places … And this seems to have {been} the religion of the world before the rise of Idolatry.  …they made the images of the kings & building … set up the Images in the Temples & worshipped them as inhabited by the souls of the dead kings.” “…they set on foot the worship of their kings & great men in the Planets, signes & Constellations, as if the souls of those men resided in the Stars & animated them.”

The nations were named for their kings, and many were famous,

“He saith also that in those days the Gods by consent divided the whole earth amongst themselves partly into larger partly into smaller portions, & instituted Temples & sacred rites to themselves & that the Island Atlantis fell to the lot of Neptune who made his Eldest Son Atlas king of the whole island… ” “And So when Hercules took the Globe from Atlas it is to be understood that he took his kingdom from him…The Egyptians painted [Saturn] with two faces becausse he reigned over two kingdoms an old one & a new.” “For the ancients gave the names of Saturn & Iupiter to the two first kings of a kingdom…”

Some were forgotten in the Bible,

“[Egyptians] say also that [Vranus] married his sister Titæa or Terra & by her had many children called Titans…”

If the nations had known founders at known times, you wouldn’t expect large populations near the beginning,

“…in those days [nations were] so thinly peopled that four kings from … Shinar & Elam … were pursued & beaten by Abraham with an armed force of only 318 men… And Egypt was so thinly peopled before the birth of Moses that Pharaoh said of the Israelites, Behold the people of the children of Israel are more & mightier then we…”

“The time of the Argonautick expedition is confirmed by Astronomy.”

Newton wasn’t the only one to see the correlation between the pagan gods and the Biblical patriarchs. He built his history on the same foundation we all use.

“These are the oldest historical books now extant… the Chronical Canon of Ptolomy…Tobit, Iudith, Herodotus Thucydides, the Annals of Tyre & Carthage… Diodorus, Strabo, Pausanias, Iosephus, & a few others, can give us light into the history & Chronology of the first ages…”

Some Modern historians trust the Egyptians,

“The Egyptians in contending with other nations about their antiquities have made their monarchy many thousands of years older then the truth.”

Some deny Herodotus, “…but I had rather trust to Herodotus.”

Newton trusted to the “scriptures”. It is clear that this scientist, at least, believed the ancient historians.

FromNoahtoHercules.com

Notable Quotes From Ancient Historians

The gods of Greece and Rome were men:

“Most of the writers who discuss the same topics that Homer discusses, and also most of the various local traditions, can teach us that these matters are not fictions of poets nor yet of prose writers, but are traces of real persons and events.” ~ Strabo

They were extraordinary men:

“For some readers set up an unfair standard and require in the accounts of the ancient myths the same exactness as in the events of our own time, and using their own life as a standard they pass judgment … and estimate the might of Heracles by the weakness of the men of our day…” ~ Diodorus

Eternal gods vs. deified heroes:

“Men of ancient times have handed down … two different conceptions: Certain of the gods, they say, are eternal and imperishable, such as the sun and moon and the other stars of the heavens… But the other gods, we are told, were terrestrial beings who attained to immortal honour and fame because of their benefactions to mankind, such as Heracles, Dionysus, Aristaeus, and the others who were like them.” ~ Diodorus

Heroes were worshiped:

“On the death of Lycurgus they built him a temple, and ever since they have worshiped him with the utmost reverence.” ~ Herodotus

Some gods ended up in the Bible (Gen. 10:8-12):

“They say that Ninus was the first to rule over all the inhabitants of Asia, except for the Indians.” ~ Eusebius

The religion of paganism is false; the history that started it is not:

“…they followed fables, and by their discourses transferred the most reproachful of human vices unto the gods, and afforded wicked men the most plausible excuses for their crimes…” ~ Josephus

Mankind couldn’t have been around for more than a few thousand years.

Click for bigger view:

Obvious truths to show humanity is young.

It seems that many Christians are afraid to defend the Bible against old earth “science”. There is nothing to fear. Nobody has to spend their entire life on the topic to see how simple it is to refute Darwinism and an old earth.

Scientific arguments:

1. This doesn’t stem from a mere theory, but the laws of thermodynamics (heat transfer).
   1. Matter and energy cannot come out of nothing. Either it’s eternal or its origin is outside nature’s laws.
   2. All usable energy will have eventually been spent.
   3. If (a+b), all usable energy would have been spent in eternity past, thus matter and energy came from outside of the scientific, testable laws of physics.
2. Gas expands and gravity pulls it back. This expansion is described by Charles’s law.
   1. Newton’s law of gravity shows that the force gets exponentially weaker with distance.
   2. The Big Bang would require high temperatures, thus a greater expansion of gases than in nebulae.
   3. Gravity is insufficient to hold an atmosphere to the moon, big as it is, and the problem gets exponentially larger with the mass of a hydrogen atom and the astronomical distances in an explosion.
   4. Stars could not have formed by themselves. Period.
3. The rock layers: They’re flat.
   1. This shows the flat layers of sediment across the globe. It shows the sea floor with dunes.
   2. You can see with a retreating wave at the beach that sediments are laid flat when water is flowing fast.
   3. Slow currents do not grind down rock to make sediments.
   4. Thus, the flat layers of sedimentary rock across the globe were created by fast flowing, sediment laden waters and not by regular ocean currents.
4. Convergent Evolution.
   1. If evolution is true, there are hundreds of features that would have to have evolved more than once. Here are just a few examples. Flight (fly bat, pterodactyl, and bird), bioluminescence (fungus, bugs, and fish), camouflage (lizards, bugs, cuddle fish), and brains (animals, etc.).
   2. Natural selection can only select for mutations that exist. These features statistically couldn’t exist even once by mutation, let alone in multiple taxonomic kingdoms. They had to have been designed.
5. Ponder this. Sexual reproduction could not have evolved, but “it did” many times: birds, bees, flowers, trees, us!
6. Evolution is statistically impossible. Mutations are almost always harmful. (See: org)

Historical arguments:

1. Paganism is everywhere across the globe, from South Africa to Argentina.
   1. Pagans deified their ancestors (apotheosis), or called them gods after death.
   2. There are common stories everywhere, such as a flood to purge mankind, and a confusion of languages.
2. We can trace the genealogy of the monarchs of England back to Noah, not through Shem, but through Japheth.
   1. We can trace the descent of many of the kings of Europe to Noah. (See the free book: After the Flood, Bill Cooper)
3. We know when and by whom cities, temples, and people groups were started by reading written history.
   1. Eusebius wrote: “In the second book he lists […] ten kings, which […] lasted for longer than 400,000 years. Anyone who believes that these writers are telling the truth about such a huge number of years should believe all the other improbable stories that they tell. […] who can doubt that these stories are merely ravings and myths?”
   2. Ancient historians thought that it was ridiculous to think we were around that long.
   3. Most of the dates they calculated for different groups came to within a few hundred years of the same date for the start of mankind. They usually started their lineage with some “god” or other.

1. Pascal’s wager says that our lives are short compared to eternity. A betting man would place his money with the small cost, huge benefit of devotion to Christ, and not with the huge cost, small benefit of atheism.
   1. No other religion compares with that revealed by Jesus. No other can pass intellectual muster.
   2. The objection to this argument suggests that a God would honor an honest commitment to primitive impulses over a personal choice.
   3. This objection is countered by revelation. Jesus rose from the dead, and his disciples died for that truth. They said to reject sinful impulses.
   4. As with the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, we all have a choice. Is it worth the gamble?
2. Scripture interprets Genesis as a literal plainly written history.
   1. In the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God, God used the historical event of the 7^th day rest to support his requirement of a 7^th day rest for Israel. (Ex. 20:11)
   2. Jesus, when questioned about divorce, used Adam and Eve (“God made them male and female.”) as a historical support for a moral principal. (Mt. 19:3-8)
   3. In Heb. 11, the faith chapter, he recalls that Abel is long dead, bringing what might have been fiction into the realm of reality. He also mentions Enoch and Noah, who both lived to “impossibly old” ages.
3. There are prophesies of our time. The most impressive is in 2 Peter 3.
   1. Verse 4 says that people will say that everything is exactly the same since the world was created. You can safely read uniformitarianism, otherwise known as extrapolating current processes into the past.
   2. Verses 5-8 talk about a future people denying Creation and the flood. God is patient (v. 9).
   3. There are many other accurate prophesies of our time. Don’t be taken in by the skeptic’s rhetoric.
4. This flier was designed for Christians, especially this last argument. You have to remember that we’re doing spiritual battle in this world. We have an enemy, and he is planning his battle strategy. Why does he spend so much effort on this issue? If you even try to put your foot in the door, you’re shouted out of the room or laughed off the stage. The enemy knows that Genesis is the foundation of our history, and our history is the support for our moral positions. The Bible is our source of truth. If he can discredit the account of the fall of man, he discredits the purpose for which our Savior came to earth. If he can sow the seed of doubt about the age of the earth, our conclusions will be supported on a shaky foundation. Our enemy knows, the battle of Christianity is lost without Genesis. Take some time to look into the history of man. You won’t regret it.

These arguments are for those who are honestly looking for evidence. These arguments are not acceptable to anyone who has made their choice against God and is looking for reasons to reject the supernatural. Truth will be true, no matter what you think about it. Conform your mind to truth. (Eph. 4:17-18) Conform your actions to righteousness. (Mt. 5:20) Align your desires with God’s. (Luke 22:42)

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Ro. 12:2)

Brian Forbes

History proves that the Earth is young.
I have read as many ancient texts as I could find about the start of mankind. There are many things these historians disagreed about. Their speculations were often laughable. There is a consistent theme, though. They all agreed that mankind had a beginning, and that beginning was inseperably tied to the birth stories of their gods. They unwaiveringly and unashamedly listed their genealogies back to common ancestors, kings, and gods. Their lists spanned hundreds or thousands of years, and they scoffed at the idea of an eternal earth. After reading the words of these ancient historians, the theory of evolution seems like ignorant, unsubstantiated speculation.

Before you read anything else:
I used to be of the opinion that people believe in evolution because of a lack of education. Anyone who was exposed to well placed, well articulated arguments would be convinced of the truth. After years of arguing a wide variety of topics, I have discovered that their stubbornness (or mine, for that matter) is not a matter of education or good arguments; it’s a matter of blindness. It’s not in how we present this evidence, but in how it’s received. If you find this information compelling or convincing, do not be shocked when you find that others do not. There will be those who are inclined to believe it, and they will receive it with joy. There are those who are inclined to doubt it; expect irrational ridicule. There are those who are somewhere in the middle. For those who are not already inclined to a direction, this will be like a gentle wind that will blow them one way or the other. With a slow and gradual process of accepting one evidence, rejecting another, and keeping some for later, they will slowly expose the deeper workings of their souls. In the end, it usually doesn’t have anything to do with whether Herodotus was trustworthy or the layers of sediment were laid down by fast flowing water. We choose our loyalties. We will answer for that choice.

“Let the man who does not see these things mock me for saying them; and I will pity him while he laughs at me.” – Confessions of St. Augustine (Book 10, ch. 12)

So what? Why does this book matter to me?
Forgive the oversimplification, but if you are in one of these categories, this is why I think it matters to you. It matters to the atheist, because it shows that God sees us even when we can’t see God. It matters to the Hindu, because it shows the origins of their gods. It matters to the Buddhist, because it makes sense of the world. It matters to the immoral; it reminds us of the past and coming judgment. It matters to the corporate fat cats; money won’t satisfy us forever. It matters to philosophers; it shows us why we’re here. It matters to theologians; it shows us how to interpret scripture. It matters to Muslims, liberal Jews, and old earth Christians; it confirms the truth of their religious history. Most of all, it matters to those who already believe a plain reading of Genesis. We have the choice between walking through the gallery to glance at the artistry, or we can study it. We can photograph the beauty, and tell our friends. We don’t learn this information to hoard it for ourselves. We learn it to share it with others. There is hardly a greater gift you can give than showing your friend that Darwin was wrong. Simply put, it should matter to everyone. If only everyone looked into the things that matter.

If you have read the front page, the fliers, the papers, and the Q&A page, you have graduated.
Read my book: From Noah to Hercules, What History says about Early Man.