GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Statement of the problem
We live in a world where many people seem to lose focus of their vision and mission in life. African religions, Christianity and many other world religions testify to the fact that there is life after death but some people are only conscious of their physical existence. They put all their energy in satisfying their temporal needs like the Epicureans. While many people easily get used to the world to the extent that they neglect the fact of death, judgment, hell and heaven others question the reality of immortality. Today, there is a serious philosophical and scientific enquiry into the claims and beliefs of theology. While the subject of creation is being confronted with the theory of evolution, the question of mind, soul and immortality has become a debate between the dualists and the materialists. This debate has centred on the following questions and arguments:
The teaching of the Materialists Philosophers shows how some people can change the sign post that leads to salvation of soul to settling in the comfort of the material world. Fulton Sheen contradicts this with the analogy of architecture and courtesy which for him is a reflection of a philosophy of life. He states that the basic philosophy of the contemporary world is materialism, or the denial of the spirit. He added that
When faith in the spiritual is lost, architecture has nothing to express or symbolize. In like manner, when men lose the conviction that everyone is endowed with an immortal soul and, therefore, is worth more than the universe, there is naturally a decline in respect for the human. Man without a soul is a thing, and a thing is something to be used, not something to be reverenced. He becomes “functional” like a building or a monkey wrench or a wheel. The courtesies, amenities, urbanity and gentility that one mortal ought to have for another are lost, once man is no longer seen as bearing within himself the Divine image.
Fulton Sheen further demonstrated this with an analogy of the frog in one of his sermons. He says that if for instance, you take a frog; put it in water of the same temperature as it might have in nature, then heat the water imperceptibly, but day by day increasing the temperature, until the water is boiling. At no point in the increase of temperature will the frog ever offer resistance. It will never register that the water is too hot until it is dead. That is the way many people are spiritually. Some people just become used to the temperature of the world and they know not that it possesses them gradually, until they are in the hands of the world.
Materialism in some part of Africa is not a formal and a systematic ideology. However there is an attitude in Africa that portrays a form of materialism. This is noticed in the manner some African leaders clamp down on human dignity. People are being treated like material objects and human life is being wasted such that some people find it easier to kill a human being than to kill a mosquito. Even in some Etsakọ communities, women are treated without a sense of human value at the death of their husbands, Children begin to fight over the property of the parents and hatred is planted in the family.
This book, Eschatology and Anthropology in the Judeo Christian and Etsakọ Religions is a theological comparative enquiry into the destiny of the human person. It is an effort to call the human person back to the original purpose and end that the Creator intended for his sons and daughters. It is a call on humanity to be aware and be conscious of the divine nature in the human person. Etsakọ and the Judeo-Christian religions are used as a case study. The beginning of the Church in the apostolic era, cultural and contextual means have been used to make Christianity relevant to a particular people. Mathew used a contextual approach to make the gospel relevant to the Jews, Luke to the Gentiles and John to the Greco-Roman world. Philosophers and theologians employed Greek philosophy to transmit the gospel message to the Roman and Greek world. The effort of the Etsakọ comparative contextual method is to make a clarion call on humanity to reflect more on the vision and mission of life in a way that can easily be understood. For instance, some of the beliefs that are explained in different narrative styles could, like the Jewish Old Testament serve as a preparation for the teaching of the gospel. The faith of Africa has been described by Karl Rahner as a preparation for evangelization and teaching of the gospel. Our enquiry in this book therefore is an attempt to remind human beings of death, judgment, heaven or hell.
Death is the termination of human life on earth but life continues in a new form after the physical demise of the body. For one’s soul to live on eternally, faith in Jesus Christ and the moral disposition of a person is required. Faith and union with Christ which is couched in love, consequently becomes one of the yardsticks to judge the final destiny of the human person. Paul in his writing to the Romans says that “the wages paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6, 23). Ezekiel says that “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezek 18, 4, 20). In John’s gospel, Jesus says, “Any one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but any one who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: the anger of God stays on him” (John 3, 36). This has to do with the way the human being is able to show love since where love is there God is found. Consequently there are two types of death: Physical death and Spiritual death. The latter is a person’s separation from God who is the Supreme Being. The gift of everlasting life is not forced on any one. It must be desired and sought by those who willingly expose themselves to this God given gift. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul says:
You must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses. Now before God the source of all life and before Jesus Christ, who spoke up as a witness for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only ruler of all, the king of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal (1 Tim 6, 11-15).
Another problem this work is out to examine is the end of the world. Will the world really come to an end? We know that individual life physically comes to an end but the time and manner of the universal termination of the world remains a big puzzle. The Scripture is in apparent support of the universal end of the world while the Etsakọ tradition believes in the cyclic existence of the world, namely Agbọ’fo. It is hoped that this book will give more value to human life and make the world a better place with the attendant human dignity that is fit for eternal life.
1.2 Clarification of terms
1.2.1Eschatology is derived from Greek words “eschaton” (έσχάτον) and logos (λογος). Eschaton means last or final while logos means word or discourse. Eschatology therefore means the study of the last things. It is the study of the finality of the human life and the world. It covers the aspect of life, death, heaven and hell. It is specifically on how the human life and the world will come to an end. Eschatology in this study is a theological enquiry into the destiny of the human person.
1.2.2Anthropology is derived from two Greek words “anthropos” (άνθρωπος) and logos (λογος). Anthropos means man, human being, and person while logos mean word or discourse. Anthropology is the study of the human person or the study of a people or humanity. This study also includes the community and the environment where the human person lives. This human person has a goal and a destination that terminates at a final end or destiny which in Greek is telos (τελος). Anthropology as a study of the human person and his environment is about the widest in social sciences in the study of mankind. There are different types of anthropology. For example, “Physical anthropology studies features of the human body, such as types of blood, the form and colour of hair, and the shape of the skull, which often show relationships between different groups of people or races. Cultural anthropology is the study of the life style of a people. The anthropologist can learn about this by studying objects which man makes and uses. Social anthropology is concerned with the way people live together in organized societies, and with the customs and rules that are kept in these societies. Ethnology is an aspect of anthropology that studies particular societies or distinct groups. It is a comparative study of cultures. In some cultures, there is a sense of the transcendence that prepares the human person for a divine destiny. This destiny is often a final rest with the ancestors.
It is not possible to talk about the human person without God who in the study of religion is the author and creator of life. In this work, theological anthropology is used as an enquiry into the nature of man as a creature of God. The main focus is Judeo-Christian and Etsakọ anthropology. Michael J. Scanlon, even though acknowledges cultural, philosophical, social, political and other anthropologies as a means of understanding man and his environment defines anthropology within the context of Christology. He says that
For Christian anthropology Jesus Christ is the focal paradigm. The Christian is in the most literal sense the disciple of Jesus, the one who learns from Jesus how to live authentically. The biblical elaboration of this Christian structure of existence is rich and varied, and it includes both testaments since Jesus was a Jew, and his basic religious formation came from the traditions of Judaism, especially from the Hebrew Scriptures. It was the prophets of Israel who first introduced that structure of existence which we call personhood. Jesus would pioneer a “post-personal” form of existence demanding self-transcendence empowered by the Spirit and actualized in love of neighbour…This new knowledge has obvious consequences of a Christian anthropology for which Jesus is the illustration of a life well lived.
Eschatology and anthropology in the context under enquiry, is therefore the African theological effort to study the destiny of the human person within the context of Etsakọ understanding of a person ọya. This work is influenced by the elaborate burial rites or rites of passage in Africa using Etsakọ as a reference point or case study. The point of departure is the neglect of a person when he is alive while a fortune is spent at his or her funeral. One can imagine a person who dies wretched being buried with millions of naira. The Etsakọ people should realize that it is better as a preparation for eternal life to care for the living such that they have a taste of good life that their corpses may not taste, see, hear, smell and feel.
The Etsakọ people believe that there is heaven Ọgbanakido or Alimiafemai where the human person has a final rest in communion with the ancestors. However, no one can locate the road to Ọgbanakido without the rite of passage which is the sacrifice of a goat. It is only people who lived fulfilled human lives with good traditional ethics that reach the ancestral home.
1.2.3Theology: The etymology of the word theology is derived from two Greek words (λογος) and (Θέος). Λογοςmeans “word’, “talk” or “discourse” while Θέος means God. Theology therefore, means discourse about God. J.J. Mueller, a Jesuit citing Anselm of Canterbury defines theology as
faith seeking understanding (fides quaerens intellectum)….The task of theology begins with the faith experience of committed believers in a community in relation to God, and seeks to articulate it explicitly by understanding everything this relationship signifies, means, and implies. It is open to truth wherever it is….Faith seeks understanding so that understanding can contribute to a living, growing faith that makes a difference in life.
1.2.4 Etsakọ is the name of a tribe in Afemai, Edo State of Nigeria. Etsakọ is a compound word derived from Etsameaning to file, cut or to reach out and Akọ, meaning teeth. Etsakọ is the plural of Ọtsakọ (one who splits teeth). Another meaning of Etsa is to reach out, to wash clean and to be harmless. Literarily it means, they do not sting – etsa. Consequently Etsakọ means people that reach out with beautiful smiles such that the white teeth cannot be hidden.
According to J.A. Onimhawo, etymologically, Etsakọ is derived from the appellation Enetsakọ, meaning “Those who file or design their teeth.” In the past the Etsakọ people cut the tip of incisors thus creating a small space –ofeghene, between the two upper incisors of the teeth as a sign of marriage covenant. Onimhawo even recommends that this filing of the teeth should replace the wearing of rings as a marriage covenant. His reason is that while a couple can pull the ring and throw it away, the filed teeth are permanent till death.
Peter Inahoureme Omo-Ananigie gave the history of this custom in his book: A brief history of Etsakọ which was published in 1946. According to him, before an African of the Etsakọ extraction could be initiated into any age-class or marriage or any other social organization, the filling of teeth was absolutely necessary. Ananigie is of the opinion that this custom was also practised among the Egyptians and the Bantus of the Southern Africa about 16th century from where the art presumably had emanated to the Bini speaking people and there to the whole division occupied by Ikpe –Na-Azama’s children mistakenly called and then known as the Kukuruku Division. As this Division practised the art of filing teeth to such perfection, and formed part and parcel of their life both on political, social, ethical, and religious grounds they were called Etsakọ. More so the people were the most peace loving folk in the then Bini province. The word Etsakọ was also used to describe an emigrant group of men and women emigrating from Bini City and first settling at the Citadel called Ukutegba
Ananigie gave the process of filing teeth as follows: A professional teeth filer arms himself with a chisel, a hammer and a round or square iron. He approaches the filee or the applicant for the teeth-filing and puts a small iron rod across the applicant’s open mouth and then he begins to carve with a single tooth into a shape of a ‘V’ and also he deforms and shapes two or more teeth into an inverted ‘V’ and varies the ‘Vs’ into ‘L’ shape and ‘I’ carving some into the form of a right angle triangle. This operation varies with various styles, as the applicant for the teeth-filing requires. The fees paid vary with various grades of the teeth thus filed. This usually ranged from six pense (6d) to two pounds (£2) in English money.
Ananigie says that later the custom was simplified by just taking a chisel and a hammer and a round iron and gave one stroke of the hammer against one tooth in the upper and lower jaws of the Filee or the applicant for the teeth- filing. He gives four reasons for the filing of teeth: It was a racial pride for the Etsakọ person; It was a glorious deed and a landmark in the history of the Filee to enter into an age-class or matrimonial contract and other organizational activities; It was the height of fame and racial dignity for an Etsakọ to wear these lasting quality- the filed teeth; and It was one of the sweetest joy and gladness for an Etsakọ man to get up in social gatherings or clubs and say: I filed teeth for a noble Lady, yea, my wife and this also was a sign of philanthropy and universal brotherhood. This view is corroborated by Okhaishe N’Avhianwu a modern author on an aspect of Etsakọ as follows:
This restructuring of teeth consists in the multiplication and reshaping of the teeth by splitting the incisors. The word ‘Etsakọ’ translate ‘they that split teeth.’ Dental restructuring was practised by all, both males and females. One usually waited until one was married and both husband and wife had their marriage consummated by the ritual of teeth splitting. Even a divorce or separation would not remove the perpetual and holy alliance between couples as expressed by the words, ‘Ọni mha ts’akọ y’egbe uno (He or she with whom we performed on each other the ritual of teeth-splitting). This is consistently used by a spouse either to recall a first marriage or make a reference to one’s current husband or wife.
From the spiritual view point, Etsakọ means people who are conscious of their destiny hence the word for a person in Etsakọ is ọya, meaning one that is sent on a mission.
What makes a human person a creature of destiny is the ability to know where he is coming from, where he is and where he is going to! According to Peter Inahoureme Omo-Ananigie, it is believed that Etsakọ originated from Bini about the eighteenth century. That same century witnessed the breaking up and emigration of different clans in Bini kingdom. While keeping some of the traditions of the Bini Empire, they wanted complete independence with distinctive characteristics.
Omo-Ananigie while writing for his 1946 publication used oral tradition as his major source. From his oral sources he claimed that there was a man called Oluku who was the father of Uzairue, Ekperi, Ayawun, Weppa, Wanno and Azama. There was at that time in Bini a man and not a chief but rich and powerful, named Adenomo. He persecuted Oluku’s family so much that they fled from his wrath. They settled between the swampy river called Oleh, the present day Ukpella and Ibie Hills. Ikpe, who led the children of Uzairue, settled with his seven brothers in Ukute-gbabetween the present day Ikpe and Auchi villages. After three months there was rumour that Adenomo was still after them and would not leave them in peace. This further scattered them and Uzairue’s children each founded a village.
Omo-Ananigie said that Uzairue used to send tributes of leopard skins to Bini. It was discovered that those they sent to Bini never came back. This made them stop the tributes. They appointed Ogbualo to be their first chief who was later succeeded by his brother Omogbai. Unfortunately, this coincided with the Nupe ascendancy.
According to Aha Idokpesi Okhaishie N’Avhianwu, the father of Etsakọ was a Bini man called Azama who married Ughhiosomhe the mother of Imekeyo, Ikpemhi, Anwu and Omoazekpe. The second wife was Etso the mother of Eppa and Anno. Etso had married before marrying Azama. In that marriage, she had Uneme. When Azama died, Etso married a third man and gave birth to Ekperi. All these children lived together as a family. At this time Oba Olua (1473 -1478) died and Prince Okpame ascended the throne as Oba Ozolua (Ozoluwa). He ruled the kingdom about 1504.
Oba Ozolua’s reign marked what one might call a migration plague. During his reign mass migration of different tribes and at different times were recorded. The Edo speaking people of north-east of Bini City migrated to their present homelands in groups in Ozolua’s reign. Some had left to escape pain, conscription and for refusal to bring to the Oba leopard skins as the custom dictated. The migration of Etsakọ peoples – the Uzairues, Avhianwus, the Weppa-Wanos, the Ibies, the Auchis, the Agbedes, the Okpellas, the Avieles, the Jagbes and the Anwains – had been associated with these movements. So the early people of Etsakọ were Bini emigrants. All the children of Azama and their step brothers, who today comprise the Ivhiera communities, migrated with their families in this period late 15th century, and became the founders and progenitors of the clans that make up Etsakọ. Imekeye, Ikphemhi and Omoazekpe, the first, second and sixth sons of Azama became the Great Patriarchs of most of Uzairue Clan, Anwu, the third son of Azama, founded Avhianwu Clan while Eppa and Ano, the fourth and fifth sons of Azama, became the Great Ancestral Patriarchs of the clan today called Weppa-Wano. Their step-brothers Uneme and Ekperi founded all Uneme and all Ekperi Clans respectively.
Another version is that of Anaemhomhe in his history of Weppa-Wano. According to him, about the 13th century, the Etsakọ people were part of the old Bini kingdom. The Oba was a very strong ruler with powerful bodyguards. Each village under Bini had a warrior chief who fought wars and defended the kingdom. Adaobi was a warrior from the Etsakọ quarter. One day, the Oba announced that nobody in the land except his quarter should pound anything especially yam and coco-yam. Another law was that who ever killed a tiger was castrated in the palace and made a harem to one of the wives of the Oba. From here, Etsakọ people derived the proverb; that it is a person who kills a tiger that sends himself to Edo (Ọgbẹ’ẹkpẹ ọgie gbọ uso vhẹ Ẹdo). Consequently people started running away from Bini. One day, one of the generals of the Oba named Adaobi called all his brethren together and told them to prepare for a departure within five days. This was the Exodus of Etsakọ from the great Bini kingdom.
Ananigie said that the major or the Ivio-Adaobi emigrations from Bini was first and formost headed by Adaobi for political, economic and ethical reasons. Adaobi having travelled a distance of about 23 miles from Bini arrived at a place called Obada, and there settled. Within a few years, there grew up a teeming population in the settlement. The Oba of Bini had a change of mind and decided to crown Adaobi the king of Etsakọ. When the Oba arrived, every body including the sons of Adaobi Unoakorbe and Igbogbokor had deserted Adaobi. Ananigie did not give any reason for this action. It is possible that the people did not trust the Oba or they did not want to remain slaves to the Oba. It is also possible that the Etsakọ felt that Adaobi had betrayed them by wanting to accept the crown from the Oba thereby still remaining his subjects after they had delivered themselves from the Oba’s tyranny.
When the Oba arrived and met Adaobi alone, he was disappointed and stopped the coronation ceremony.
Adaobi in a fit of anger, in very strong asseverations and in the most provocative language and in unequivocal terms, cursed the inhabitants of the Town of Obada, particularly his sons, that after him, they should have no kings. Scarttered as they did, said the angry Adaobi, so scattered shall they be till the end of time. At once he angrily disappeared. But legends link the town Iviaru as the first place where he was first sighted and a subsequent discovery was made at Ivianopodi where a strong mansion was built for the honour and worship of Adaobi.
Today, Etsakọ is one of the ethnic groups in Afemai, Edo North Senatorial District of Edo State, Nigeria. Other ethnic groups are Owan and Akoko-Edo. Etsakọ, Akoko-Edo and Owan in early post colonial government were referred to as Kukuruku. The sound, kukuruku was a signal Etsakọ people made to warn each other and one another of impeding danger whenever they were invaded by the Zanama people who today are known as the Hausas. The sound was also a cry of the cock to announce the dawn of day. Okhaishe says that
Kukuruku Division which comprised Etsakọ, Ivhiosakon and Akoko – Igarra was formally renamed Afemai Division in 1956 by the then Western Region House of Assembly. The first District Council Election in the then Western Region of Nigeria in 1954 gave birth to Etsakọ District Council. Akoko-Igarra (or Akoko-Oki) was renamed Akoko-Edo in 1963 when it was carved out of Afemai Division as an independent Division until 1968 when Afemai Division was further split into two separate Divisions: Etsakọ and Ivhiosakon (renamed Onwan at its creation). Local government Areas were introduced in the federation in 1976 and Etsakọ at that time became one of the 19 Local Government Areas of the defunct Bendel State.
Etsakọ is currently divided into three local government areas namely, Etsakọ West, Etsakọ East and Etsakọ Central out of the seventeen Local Governments Areas of Edo State.
The people of Etsakọ believe in God and relate to him as almighty and transcendent. God is the creator of all that exist. The religion of the people depends primarily on the worship of God. The concept of God among the Etsakọ people is as old as Etsakọ itself. However, it is not documented like that of the Jewish people. The faith of the Etsakọ people is couched more in oral tradition. This tradition is transmitted through songs, folklores, proverbs, and aetiology. Thanks to the “moon” whose light the elders used in telling the stories about God and the heroes past to the children who then were willing to listen.
Belief in God among the Etsakọ people is a posteriori. This means that the existential experience of the people revealed who God is. Though the people venerate the deities and ancestors, they firmly believe in God. The names of God show who God is in Etsakọ. These names are Osinẹgba, Ọghẹna, and Ọmolua. The North Ivie of Etsakọ calls God Ishinẹgba. God manifested Himself through His mighty deeds in the life of the people of Israel. The concept of God is also derived from the physical reality of the world. The wonder of the thick forest, the power of the rivers, the magnificent rocks and high mountains with the attendant mystery of the human person all manifest a supreme power behind these physical realities.
Osinẹgba is the ultimate supreme and sacred name of God. It is synonymous to Yahweh in Hebrew. Every other name of God in Etsakọ is an explication of the name: Osi, and Ẹgba. Osi means, immaterial, spiritual and that which is not perceptible to the senses. Osi lives in the sky. No one knows His origin. He exists of Himself. He is not created, and not born by any parents. He is a “Transcendent Being”. This fact of the abstract nature of Osi made the Etsakọpeople pay less attention to Him. He was more or less an abstract concept. The Etsakọ people are pragmatic and empirical. They were not so metaphysically inclined as to relate directly with Osi an abstract metaphysical Being. In order to reach Osi, the mediatory role of Ẹgba was very necessary.
Ẹgba is a ring from Elephant tusk. The Elephant is conceived to be a very powerful animal. The skin is so tough that arrows cannot penetrate it. The elephant is also a mighty animal. Invariably, the strength of the elephant became a metaphor of God’s strength. Hunters and warriors wore Ẹgba, the ring from the Elephant on the upper arm. It was so potent such that it could direct travellers and protect families. Thus, Ẹgba has many functional meanings. For some people, Ẹgba means Agba: In this sense an assembly of a gathering of people. When a hunter (agiọde) with the aid of Ẹgba killed a big animal, the people gathered to congratulate him. They dance for him the music called (Isioko). Thus, the proverb emerged that “It is only one person that kills the Elephant that the entire community gather to slaughter” (Ọyọkpa lọ gbi’ni nẹ’ ẹwo kpo eva). If a warrior is victorious, he is called akhaokhọ. People still gather to celebrate his victory. In both gatherings of the hunter and warrior, sacrifices were offered to Osi through Ẹgba as a thanksgiving for divine protection.
Another meaning of Ẹgba is Ọgba, meaning “it is accomplished”, “it is perfect” and “it is good”. Ọgba (here the pronunciation is different from the first), means, “Fence”. A fence in Etsakọ is a symbol of protection. Our ancestors’ prayer was that God should make a fence around the children. Once this fence is destroyed the children become vulnerable. In the bible the destruction of the walls of Jericho gave the Israelites victory over the people of Jericho (Josh 6, 20-21).
Another word for Agba is Uka meaning a gathering or an assembly that is never exhausted. It is a gathering that never lacks people because the people gather for divine purpose. Today, Ovb’uka (a house that never runs short of people) is the name given to the church. It is possible that the word Uka is borrowed from Igbo language because the missionaries who first came from Onitsha to Agenebode through the river Niger were accompanied by some Igbo Catechists who were calling Church Ulouka. Another reason is that Ovu’uka in Etsakọ and Ulouka in Igbo has the same ending. However in Etsakọ Uka has a similar meaning to the word qahal in Hebrew and Ecclesial in Greek. These concepts mean a gathering of God’s people. In a discussion I had with Gabriel Dunia the Catholic bishop of Auchi, he said that it is perhaps possible that the word uka is derived from the word Eucharist It could be that the missionaries who came to Etsakọ through the River Niger from Onitsha used the word uka to mean the body and blood of Jesus. Jesus is the perfect manifestation of God – Osinẹgba.
Consequently, the concept Osinẹgba means the Supreme Being who is perfect and complete. With the addition of the nẹ, Osinẹgba can mean the Supreme Being that is Ẹgba. Some elders say that the initial name was not Osinẹgba, but Osinọnẹgba, meaning the Supreme Being that is more powerful than Ẹgba or the being who is superior to Ẹgba. This later name was to make the people know that Ẹgba is not God who made heaven and earth. Rather Ẹgba is a creature of God and his messenger. As a messenger of God, Ẹgba cannot have greater attention since “the okro cannot be taller than the farmer who plants it”- Ukhia vhọ ‘lẹmhi ne eme kọ.
Some elders in Etsakọ believe that the concept, Osinẹgbahas a historical development. Others believe that the emergence of the concept, Osinẹgba is etiological and mythical. Whichever way it is examined, the important thing is that God revealed himself to the Etsakọ people as Osinẹgba. It took time for our ancestors to arrive at this name. It is almost the same process it took the Hebrew people to arrive at the name Yahweh as will be examined next.
The inspired myth behind the concept Osinẹgba is the story of Erua, Ọdia and ọmẹgbai. These men were a set of triplets. They were warriors and were never defeated in many battles that they fought. The secret of their success was their dedication to the veneration of Ẹgba. They never go to any war or place without the Ẹgba on them. Their names also portray their dedication. Erua means “our father”, “Ọdia” means “it is right “and Ọmẹgbai” means “a wise child.
Erua, the warrior made a mistake. It was forbidden for any warrior to attack the maternal home. Erua threatened to wage war on Uzea, the clan of his mother. He was the youngest of the triplets. Ọdia and Ọmẹgba, warned him. Erua did not heed the counsel of his brothers. He marched on Uzea and apparently defeated the clan. On his return from this seeming victory, a weakly little boy (ukpọkhomhi egbọ’bẹ) who laid an ambush for him shot him with a poisonous arrow. He thought that the Ẹgba on him would save him. Before he arrived home, he started swelling. This was a bad omen because such people were not given befitting burials. However, Erua died with the Ẹgba on him.
The elders gathered to find out the cause of Erua’s death. For some elders, Ẹgba was not to blame since Erua was stubborn by committing the abomination of fighting the mother’s land. He paid for his disobedience. For other elders, they asked, if Ẹgba is what the people took him to be, why did He not give prudence to Erua to listen and heed wise counsel. They decided to consult an oracle. The oracle revealed that there is a power so mighty and supreme that the oracle itself cannot stand. This high power surpasses Ẹgba. This power is the creator of Ẹgba and the power is not caused or created by any other power. The name of the power was revealed as Osi meaning the transcendent that is above all things and that made all things to be.
From this revelation, some sages opined that God is superior to Ẹgba- Osinẹgba. Some sages emphasised the power of God by saying – Osinọnẹgba The God who transcendsẸgba. Because of the power of Ẹgba, some still stick to the metaphor Osinẹgba -The Being who is greater than Ẹgba. This metaphor has remained till today. Osinẹgba has remained the sacred name of God. Like the Hebrew’s respect for Yahweh, the sacred name Osinẹgba was not called often and anyhow. Therefore, other names of the same God were used and are still used till today. Osinẹgbawas mostly invoked in the shrines and solemn communal assembly. Consequently, Ẹgba even though was a divinity, became a medium to reach God – Osinẹgba.
Ọghẹna is another name for Osinẹgba. Some elders are of the opinion that the initial rendering was Ọkhẹna meaning “one who is not threatened in the face of evil.” Some elders are of the view that the Etsakọ Ọghẹna is likely to be a result of Urhobo influence. The Etsakọ and the Urhobo migrated from Bini. Ọghẹna strictly speaking has no meaning in Etsakọ language. The word Ọkhẹna is a verb in the sentence – “Osinẹgba nọ Ọkhẹna” meaning God who fears no evil. It was an expression used in prayers, incantation and invocation in the worship of God – when evil loomed in any form.
Cosmas Adomeh is of the opinion that Ọghẹna as a name for God is as a result of influence from Delta speaking people. Its acceptance in ‘Etsakọ is as a result of its aetiology which is similar to Osinẹgba in Etsakọ. For the Isoko people, Aghenue is the name of the highest being that cannot be seen. From it Ọghẹne was derived.
Ọmọlua is another name for God in Etsakọ. Ọmolua means the Being who is in charge of us. He is our father; he protects us from all forms of evil. Among Christians in Etsakọ today, Ọmọlua is often used when reference is made to Jesus Christ Because of the redeeming work of Christ, He is also called Ọrumua, meaning “Our Saviour.”
1.2.5The Jews - The word Jew in Hebrew language is yehủdỉ, while in Greek, it is Ίουδαίος- Ioudaios. In the pre-exilic books of the Old Testament, the term yehủdỉ referred to a member of the tribe of Judah. After the fall of the kingdom of Israel in 722 BC the title Israel survived only in Judah, which consisted of Jerusalem and his environs. From that time, the term Jew was used in a varied but distinctive manner in Palestinian and in Hellenistic Judaism. In Palestine, the term was a political and ethnological concept that designated the Jew as a member of a people; for the religious community, the term Israel was used.
In the first and second books of Maccabees the term Israel was only used in prayers and in the title “God of Israel”. In the first book of Maccabees in the alliance between the Jews and the Romans, the people of Israel refer to themselves as “the Jewish people” (1Macc 8, 20). The Jews see themselves as a people specially called and chosen by Yahweh, the only true God. They see themselves as a covenanted people. Thus they take the Torah to be sacred. The Torah is God’s testament with Moses. “All Judaisms identify in common the Pentateuch, or the five books of Moses (the Torah). The Torah explains “where it all began” and forms a critical component of the holy writings of every Judaism ever known” The Jewish nation has Abraham as a reference in terms of their origin (Gen 12) through the life of Joseph in Egypt and their slavery in Egypt from where they started their endless journey to the promised land.
The first major event that created a deep question and attendant awareness to the real identity of the Jews was the Babylonian Exile and their return to Jerusalem. In 586 B.C. E. the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed. Around three generations later, toward the end of the sixth century B.C.E. the Babylonian empire fell to the Persian one. The Persian emperor Cyrus, as a matter of public policy, sought to win loyalty of his diverse empire by restoring to points of origin, populations removed from their homelands by the Babylonians. Consequently, the Jews of Babylonia were given the right to return to the Land of Israel. These Jews made a start by rebuilding the Temple. In the middle of the fifth century B.C.E. (C.450 B.C.E.), a successor of Cyrus allowed a Jewish high court official, Nehemiah, together with a top bureaucrat and civil servant, Ezra, to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Today, the Jews form the modern Israel and the Palestinian Jews.
The name Jew is used for the Hebrew people. The name, Jew however portrays the Hebrews as primitive and uncivilised. Like the Etsakọ, the people of Israel gradually developed to the knowledge of the true God. For the Hebrew and the Etsakọ people, a name reveals the essence of a subject or a thing. What somebody stands for is manifested in the name that the person bears. The very significance of nomenclature made Moses to inquire about the name of God in the miracle of the burning bush (Exod 3, 13-15). The name of God clearly marked out the difference between the God of Israel and other gods. According to John Mckenzie,
It is more accurate to speak of “identity” than of nature; at the same time, a concept of the nature of the divine being is implicit in the biblical language and thought patterns which are explicit in assertions of the difference between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations on the one hand and the difference between God and man on the other.
Rodolf Bultmann says that “Hebrew thought, in its initial stages, was not monotheistic; it stood rather for henotheism or monolatry.” Henotheism is the exclusive worship of one God without necessarily denying the existence of others. Monolatry is the worship of only one God while admitting the existence of other gods. The Hebrews gradually developed the idea of one God as a result of their association with other nations and through the self-manifestation of God to the people of Israel. The Hebrews believed that God is invisible, immaterial and spiritual because He wills to be so. To see God implied death. Manoah said to his wife, “we are certain to die because we have seen God” (Judg 13, 22). Isaiah exclaimed in fear: “woe is me for I am undone…for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa 6, 5). Thus the concept of God among the Hebrews is derived from myths, revelation and existential experience. The Hebrew people like the Etsakọ people are not metaphysically inclined. They did not arrive at the knowledge of God through philosophical rationalisation. The Hebrew people knew God through His names and His relationship with their ancestors.
The names of God in Hebrew underwent a development from polytheism to monotheism. Thus, the understanding of the names developed from El, Elohim, to Yahweh. El was a personal name in the pantheon of Ugarit. El was a singular name used for both the God of Israel and other gods. This means that Israel, the Hebrew people were fully aware that their ancestors had worshipped other gods. Joshua said to the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, your fathers lived of old beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods” (Josh 24, 2).
Xavier Leon-Dufour interpreted this passage to mean that Elwas known and adored outside Israel. As a common name, it designates the divinity in almost the whole Semitic world. As a proper name it was that of a great god who seems to have been the supreme god in the western sector of the world, namely Phoenicia and Canaan. El when applied to the God of Israel qualifies what God is. For example, El Elyonwas the God of Melchizedek king of Salem. This El was treated identically with the God of Abraham (Gen 14, 20). Here El means “everlasting God”. For Leon-Dufour, “these facts show not only that the God of Israel is ‘the judge of all the earth’ (Gen 18, 25) but also that he is capable of being recognised and adored in reality as the true God even outside the chosen people.”
Elohim is a general appellative for God whereas Yahweh is the personal name of God. Elohim is the plural form of Eloha. Originally, it was the godhead as divided into a number of godly beings. K. Kohler is of the opinion that the distinctive worship of the God of Israel begins with Abraham and continued through Moses.
The name of God revealed to Abraham was El-Shaddai, meaning “God Almighty” When Abram was ninety-nine years old Yahweh appeared to him and said, ‘I am El Shaddai” (Gen 17, 1). The Hebrew word El-Shaddai is translated“Pantokrator” in Greek language. The implication of El-Shaddai is further explained in the command that followed the first verse of the seventh book of Genesis: “Live in my presence, be perfect, and I shall grant a covenant between myself and you, and make you very numerous. And Abram bowed to the ground” (Gen. 17, 2-3). Albright translated El-Shaddai as “God of the mountain.” The cosmic mountain in the ancient Semitic mythology was the home of the gods. For Mckenzie; Elohim was the super human world of being and power superior to man. This means that Elohim is the God that transcends human beings and the whole created world. In the above interpretation, Elohim is a plurality of forces. Joseph Ratzinger thinks that the plural, Elohim projects the Trinity since the “El faith” was accepted in Israel chiefly in its extension to Elohim that really indicates a plural. The Genesis accounts of creation, namely; “let us make man in our image” (Gen 1, 26) also alludes to this fact.
The name YAHWEH – Y H W H was revealed to Moses in the burning bush within the context of suffering. The Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. In the critical moment of their slavery in Egypt, God revealed himself as the Liberator. The theophany was a paternal dialogue between God and Moses. Moses asked for the name of the God that was sending him to Pharaoh. The name given to Moses was in consonants, YHWH and this was unintelligible since there were no vowels. Some Scholars interpreted this Tetragrammaton, that is, the four letter words as “Ehye asher Ehye” meaning “I AM WHO I AM” (Exod 3, 14). This is a being inaccessible, immaterial and incomprehensible. Some Scholars are of the view that “I AM WHO I AM” means “the present one”; the God who was, who is and who will be. For Joseph Ratzinger, the name involves a mystery. The name shows God’s uniqueness. Thus “I AM becomes the axis of the prophetic proclamation, expressing the struggle against Israel’s despair and his message of hope and certainty. ‘I AM’ describes His absolute superiority.”
John Murray, sees the meaning of Yahweh, I AM WHO I AM in the category of presence. The essence and meaning of Yahweh as revealed to Moses is the presence of God: The God who is with us and the God of our fathers.” In his exegesis of Exodus 3, 13-15, Murray arrives at the conclusion that Yahweh means God’s promise that he would be present with his people. He says that the verb “to be” is relational or inter-subjective. This is based on the fact that for the ancient Israelites, as for all primitive people, existence was an affair of community: “to be” was to be-with-the- others.
From the above analysis and following the salvation history of the Jews, Yahweh has become for them the only one and true God. The name Yahweh became sacred, divine and supreme. In fear and awe of the sacred name Yahweh, the Hebrew people dared not call that name except in sacred worship like the Yom Kippur. The Africans, in the same way do not call their elders by name. Consequently, the Hebrew people preferred to call God Adonai. This in English can mean either Lord or master. This similar reason led the Etsakọ people to call God Ọghẹna instead of the sacred name OSINẹGBA.
The difficulty in pronouncing the consonant, YHWH led to the mistaken concept Jehovah. According to Kohler, the name Jehovah however has no place whatsoever in Judaism. It was simply due to a misreading of the vowel signs that refer to the word Adonai, and has been erroneously adopted in the Christian literature since the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Yahweh is not a new God that was revealed to Moses. It was the concept of the true God who is Yahweh in Hebrew language. This God of history is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is one and eternal. The God of Israel is the God of Africa. Every nation knows this same God in their different historical and contextual experiences. God is not a subject of evolution. It is the knowledge and experience of God that develops in human beings. Thus who Yahweh is to the Hebrews is who Osinẹgba is to the Etsakọ, Olodumare to the Yorubas, Chukwu to the Ibos, and Ubangiji to the Hausas. This one God is the author of life and the one who ends the life of the creatures. It is this same God that creates life and takes life. According to Jacob Neusner:
Judaism responded to events within the pattern laid out by Scripture in the original encounter with the “single event” comprising the destruction of the temple in 586 B.C.E. and the return to Jerusalem in the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E. That event was, to begin with, interpreted as a paradigm of death and resurrection. The destruction of the Temple and the subsequent exile symbolized death, while the return from exile, with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and reinstitution of the temple cult, constituted resurrection.
1.3 Literature Review
In Christian theology, eschatology is the study of the destiny of created things, especially of humankind and of the Church, according to the purposes of God. In his book, Dogma 6, Justification and the last things: Vol. Six, MichaelSchmaus is of the view that “The word eschatology means a doctrine about the last events and final circumstances towards which the history of mankind and the life of each individual are directed.” This view of Schmaus only deals with eschatology within the context of the end time. It seems to exclude a realized eschatology where the human person finds fulfillment in the present moment. This work will add the Etsakọ cyclic view of existence whereby the last events and final circumstances are realized in the present. The Etsakọ contextual view, which this work is contributing, will give more meaning to Eschatology in the context of Etsakọ and also explain why the Etsakọ people name their children aighu, meaning life is immortal.
Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae, observed the teleological nature of created beings. He says that whatever has a beginning must surely have an end that is controlled by an eternal being. Here Aquinas attempts to prove the existence of God. This work intends to go further to enquire that the Christian and Etsakọ religions believe firmly that the origin of life and all that exists is God. It is not therefore the aim of this work to prove the existence of God. The Etsakọ people say, arọ ọmọ mio obọ natsọ; meaning that you do not show a child his hand. God is real to the Christians and the people of Etsakọ. Consequently the world must go back to the source and origin of being. The study of the origin of being is protology while the end of being is eschatology.
In Etsakọ ‘Market’ aki is used as a symbol to explain this basic fact. Whoever goes to the market must return home but the final market where one remains for eternity is heaven, the home of God. This home is called the eternal and perfect market, Ogbanakido. Even at that, the end in Etsakọ is not a definitive finished product because from the ancestral world some living dead still come back to life by reincarnation.
P. Haffner in his book, Mystery of creation, observes that the way the cosmos is to come to an end has even enthralled the minds and hearts of artists and scientists. He gives examples of the great Michael-Angelo who depicted this in his painting of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. He added that the painting of Angelo shows the centrality of Christ in the events which mark His Second Coming in glory. This view is interesting but this work will go further to recommend that the sacrifice of Christ should take the sacrifice of a goat as an efficacious means to usher the dead into his or her final destiny. Haffner goes further to express the view that some of the more pessimistic ecologists maintain that life on this planet will be destroyed by man’s heedlessness while others think that the end of the human world may come about as a result of nuclear war. He claims that:
Taking into account that the sun is a gigantic nuclear reactor, scientists have tried to predict how much longer it would last. On these considerations, the biosphere of earth would continue for at least another 100 million years. Recent estimates indicated that in about 100 million years’ time, the earth’s climate will become uncomfortably hot as a result of changes in the structure of the sun. However, the end of the solar system as we know it, which could also be occasioned by some other cosmic catastrophe, would not be the end of the universe as a whole.
This scientific view of Haffner is frightening. His enquiry into the “Mystery of creation” seems to play down the power of God who created and sustains the world. Although human manipulation can cause havoc to creation given that God respect human freedom, we should still affirm the power of God who is the author of nature. God is greater than what any human being can do to destroy the world. This work will therefore show that the destiny of the world is in God’s hand, not human manipulation and human mathematical calculation of natural events.
P. Davies, in his book the mind of God cited H. von Helmholtz who explained that according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the universe was using up all its available energy. At a particular finite time within the future, the universe will arrive at a final state of maximum entropy. When this occurs the so called ‘Heat-Death’ will have been reached where the cosmos and all creatures living in it will ‘die’. He says that more recent projections consider that if it contains enough matter, the cosmos will collapse into itself at the end under the force of gravity in what is commonly termed the ‘Big Crunch’. It would be fair to say that nearly all cosmologists now accept that we live in a universe that had a definite beginning in a big bang, and is now developing toward an uncertain end.
Davies tries in his exploration of the mind of God. However, the mind of God is so mysterious and deep that it is only with deep, prayer, contemplation and silence that the human person can approach God’s mind yet cannot entirely comprehend it. Therefore this work will add the aspect of worship which will be a step higher than scientific speculations. The work will make up for the lacuna of Davies by using Paul whose letter to the Romans state that:
The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but by the will of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom 8, 19-25).
D.A.Lane says that Jesus is a prophet pointing towards the end. It is as eschatological prophet announcing the reign of God that Jesus is put to death. The eschatological crisis of the cross is interpreted apocalyptically as the turning point of history. It was the new experiences after the death of Jesus that brought out the full force of the eschatological significance of the life and destiny of Jesus. Eschatology and Soteriology were very significant in the life of the Hebrew people. “Within Judaism, resurrection from the dead was one of the important signs of the end of time and the dawning of salvation” The Jews in their early history rejected faith in the resurrection. This faith was gradually restored and established with Jesus’ teaching and eventual rising from the dead. The limitation in the exposition of Lane within the context of this study is that Etsakọ do not have a clear teaching on the doctrine of the resurrection. The main emphasis in Etsakọ is reincarnation. This work therefore will enquire the place of Etsakọ in the understanding of the resurrection.
However, Lane’s position will contribute to the normative stand of this work, namely, the teaching of Christ and his work since Christ is not alien to any culture, tribe and tradition. In Paul, Christ is the full meaning of eschatology. The horizon is the permanent tension that exists between what has already taken place historically in Christ and that which is not yet fully realized. To the Galatians he says that Christ is the fullness of time (Gal 4:4). The fathers of the Second Vatican Council see the pilgrim Church within the context of Christ-centered eschatology. The destiny of the Church is to join the Church triumphant in the beatific vision of God.
The Church, to which we are all called in Christ Jesus, and in which by the grace of God we acquire holiness, will receive its perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things (Acts 3, 21). At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ (cf. Ep 1, 10; Col 1, 20; 2 Pet 3, 10-13). Christ lifted up from the earth, has drawn all men to himself (cf. John 12, 32). Rising from the dead (Rom 6, 9) he sent his life giving Spirit upon his disciples and through him set his Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. Sitting at the right hand of the Father he is continually active in the world in order to lead men and women to the Church and, through it, join them more closely to himself; and, by nourishing them with his own Body and Blood, make them partakers of his glorious life. The promise and hope for restoration, therefore, has already begun in Christ (Phil 2, 12).
In the book, The God of our ancestors: an approach to Etsakọ contextual theology, Omonokhua Cornelius views eschatology in the context of anthropology. He comparedEtsakọ and African eschatology to that of the Christian understanding. He says that life begins from the ancestral world to the physical world back to the ancestral world. He concluded that one is not completely dead in Africa. He believes that the dead is part and parcel of the living. This cyclic theory is responsible for the belief in reincarnation. Some Yoruba believe in the reality of Abiku, the Ibos, ogbanje and the Etsakọ, Omo’ghiato. The limitation of the book is that eschatology is touched briefly only in a chapter. This was pointed out by John Onimhawo who reviewed the book and recommended that this aspect should form a whole book. This book is a response to that recommendation to cover that lacuna by placing the necessary nexus.
F.A. Arinze, in his book, Sacrifice in Ibo Religion says that “Sacrifice is the soul of Ibo cult. If it is removed, Ibo traditional religion is almost emptied of its content.” This aspect of sacrifice will attract a lucid view in this work. In Etsakọ religion no dead person crosses to the ancestral home without the sacrifice of a goat. However, the question this work may ask is, since the goat did not give the free and full consent to be sacrificed, how efficacious is the sacrifice? Since Christ freely offered himself as the priest and the victim; should it not be better for the Etsakọ Christians to accept the blood of Jesus as an effective alternative? Paul wrote to the Ephesians that “Christ gave Himself up on our behalf, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as He offered it to God” (Ep 5, 2). This work will find the counsel of F.J. Sheen very useful. Sheen affirms that “Pagan priests, Old Testament priests, medicine men, all offered a sacrifice apart from themselves. But not our Lord, He was Sacerdos – Victima.” Consequently, this work will lean heavily on the priest victim-hood of Christ in the sacrificial life of the Estako Christian.
This review did not discuss the African authors like Bolaji Idowu, John Mbiti and many others. The reason is that many of their views about the subject of this work do not contradict the beliefs of Etsakọ’s contextual teaching on anthropology and eschatology. Another reason is that Africa shares so many values in common thereby proving that humanity is to some extent one. However this work will point out some cultural differences in very obvious cases.
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