Were the Hebrews Protected by Space Aliens?
Thursday, December 31, 2015
QUESTION: I was told that the
Talmud speaks of another planet called Meroz which is inhabited by advanced
alien species who were to come to Earth and help the Israelites fight in their
battle against Sisera, however, they refused to come to Israel’s aid and were
subsequently cursed by General Barak. Do you know of this story and what do you
think about its validity?
ANSWER: It is self-evident that life propagates to the utmost
recesses of the galaxy. Scientists have discovered many earth-like planets with
the potential to harbor carbon-based life and even our own moon has underground
water with microbial life. Life is not so extraordinary as Science once
believed but life is the prerogative of the nature of existence. Accepting the idea that other species of life exist upon other planets within our vast Universe seems more likely than not. However, this
idea that Meroz represents a planet other than Earth is highly unlikely. The
place of Meroz and the curse upon its inhabitants is mentioned in the Book of
Judges wherein Deborah sings of the victory of Balak over Sisera. The identity
of Meroz and the explanation of it being an alien planet is discussed in
Shavuot 36a; Moed Katan 16a and was more recently taught as a truth by the late
Lubavitcher Rebbe. However, this explanation is absurd in the context of
history and quite anti-intellectual. Modern scholars have identified the likely
identity of Meroz as El-Murussus, a village northwest of Beisan, north of
Jezreel. The close identification with the stars is merely the ancient
association of people-groups with astrological influences hence the recognition
of a curse upon the town which failed to assist Israel in her battle against
Sisera.
There is no mystery as to the
historical identity of Meroz and no need to accept an imaginative story of an
ancient interstellar galactic federation being sent to help Israel fight an earthly war.
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