ARGUMENT 4: THE IGBO LEARNED HEBRAIC CULTURE FROM THE MISSIONARIES
This is absurd, for it has already been clearly established that the missionaries and white men on their first encounters with the Igbo clearly seen and described a Hebraic culture as depicted in the Bible like unto the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. And why or how could they have learned it from the missionaries when the missionaries purposefully hid and taught against a Hebraic culture by introducing Western Christian thought that such Hebraic practices such as dietary laws have been done away with by the advent of the Christ!?
In 1789 Olaudah Equiano, an Igbo and former slave who lived in London said in his autobiography that the Igbos were one of the lost tribes of Israel and cited the many identical cultural similarities between them and the Jews.
Missionaries when they came to Nigeria were dumbfounded to discover when they came to evangelize the Igbo People that the Igbo’s practiced many Hebraic/Jewish customs which they could not have learned from anyone else, it had to come from ancient practice of their people from antiquity; for they had no Bibles and met no one with a Bible until the missionaries came along.
They found that the Igbo’s practiced:
These among many other Jewish laws and customs that we will get into great depth here shortly were found to be kept by the Igbo people and sadly, the Christian missionaries forced them to abandon many of these Hebraic practices because though they resembled Biblical worship of G-d, they believed many have been done away with due to the advent of Messiah and they believed they practiced these customs unto pagan gods and as such should be abandoned. The Igbo’s are slowly beginning to return to the pre-missionary practices, desiring to return to their Hebraic roots.
One Igbo man named Avraham, a Cantor of the Natsari Jewish community in Nigeria said,
“In a nutshell, every law as stated in the Torah was being practiced by our forefathers before the advent of Christianity. Except that our fathers went into idol worship, but they still kept the tradition as was handed over to them by their forefathers.”
Israel as documented in the “Old Testament” was known for being a stubborn and stiff necked people (Ex. 32:9, 33:3,5, 34:9), rebellious, hard to govern and control by their many conquerors (Ezra 4:11-19). Igbos are known also for this trait and such a parallel has been observed and voiced by their former British occupiers, who were amazed at their native organizational and governmental structure and how well they resisted the British advance and attempt at control. This was also noted by the slave traders who could not control some of them and exiled them to Haiti or Jamaica.
In 1789 Olaudah Equiano, an Igbo and former slave who lived in London said in his autobiography that the Igbos were one of the lost tribes of Israel and cited the many identical cultural similarities between them and the Jews.
Missionaries when they came to Nigeria were dumbfounded to discover when they came to evangelize the Igbo People that the Igbo’s practiced many Hebraic/Jewish customs which they could not have learned from anyone else, it had to come from ancient practice of their people from antiquity; for they had no Bibles and met no one with a Bible until the missionaries came along.
They found that the Igbo’s practiced:
- Eating of animals that meet the Biblically clean requirements as well as the complete draining of blood from the animal as well as other laws concerning Kashrut
- The use of ritual washings like unto the mikvah
- Washing of Hand before and after meals
- Has a concept of clean and unclean, acceptable and abominable or taboo
- Animal sacrifice like unto the Levitical sacrificial system
- Believe in a Supreme, All-Powerful Deity (Chukwu) above all other deities
- Circumcision on the 8th day as well as had the naming ceremony of the 8 day old child
- Giving names that bear the name or title of G-d within it
- Separation of menstruating women
- Adah or Ada the name of the second woman mentioned in the Bible after Eve/Chavah (Gen. 4:19-20) and is also the title used to address the first born daughters of Igbo families
- The keeping a lunar calendar
- Shemita and Jubilee years: The annulment of debt and servitude every seven and fifty years
- The concept of a lifetime servant (Odibo) – Deut. 15:12-14, Ex. 21:2-6
- Burying their dead facing East, the direction of Jerusalem and the Promised Land
- Burying their dead as quickly as possible
- Sitting Shiva (seven day mourning period where one sits on low stools, remains unkempt and shave their head in grief)
- Belief in a resurrection
- Send the body’s home of Igbos who die outside of Igboland to be buried, like Joseph and Jacob desiring not to be buried in a pagan or foreign land
- Lengthy funeral ceremonies such as found in Gen. 50:1-3
- Preference of Inheritance and leadership was given to the first born and passed down through the fathers
- Sung prior to and carried a type of Ark into battle when they went to war
- Hospitality like unto the traditions and legends know of Abraham Offering water, meal and lodging to travelers
- The Yam Festival is like unto Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) and the Ovala Festival in the fall is like unto Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)
- Conversation and deliberate among men and leaders like that of Rabbi’s and students in a Yeshiva
- Levirate type marriages, brothers marrying deceased brothers wives to carry on the brothers name
- Marriage negotiations (Onye-aka-ebe) between families, like unto the story of Isaac and Rebecca
- Polygamy
- A type of, “Cities of Refuge,” where an Igbo who has committed a crime can seek refuge in his mother’s natal home, known in Igbo as, “Ikunne”
- The concept of Sanctuary, similar to the Igbo Osu caste concept where a victim of violence may flee to the altar (alusi) for divine protection (I Kings 2:28-30)
- Shunning of those who willingly break Igbo laws
- Shunning of those who marry outside of the Igbo people
- Laws against sexual perversion, incest and the like, they had to marry among their people but outside their immediate tribal clan
- Justice and punishment for certain crimes followed the lines of, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
- A rule of Torah (Law) was developed and was passed down by Eri
- No jails or penal system
- Rite of passage into adulthood
- Governance of the people by a conglomerate of tribal elders and judges prior to the institution of kingship dynasties
- The coronation of the Kings have rituals and customs that closely remember that of the coronation of Kings of Judah and Israel
- Symbolic attire and accessories of the Kings and Elders closely resembled that of Kings and Tribal leaders of Judah and Israel
- Igbo idioms are very much like, and carry similar meanings as Solomon’s book of Proverbs
These among many other Jewish laws and customs that we will get into great depth here shortly were found to be kept by the Igbo people and sadly, the Christian missionaries forced them to abandon many of these Hebraic practices because though they resembled Biblical worship of G-d, they believed many have been done away with due to the advent of Messiah and they believed they practiced these customs unto pagan gods and as such should be abandoned. The Igbo’s are slowly beginning to return to the pre-missionary practices, desiring to return to their Hebraic roots.
One Igbo man named Avraham, a Cantor of the Natsari Jewish community in Nigeria said,
“In a nutshell, every law as stated in the Torah was being practiced by our forefathers before the advent of Christianity. Except that our fathers went into idol worship, but they still kept the tradition as was handed over to them by their forefathers.”
Israel as documented in the “Old Testament” was known for being a stubborn and stiff necked people (Ex. 32:9, 33:3,5, 34:9), rebellious, hard to govern and control by their many conquerors (Ezra 4:11-19). Igbos are known also for this trait and such a parallel has been observed and voiced by their former British occupiers, who were amazed at their native organizational and governmental structure and how well they resisted the British advance and attempt at control. This was also noted by the slave traders who could not control some of them and exiled them to Haiti or Jamaica.