Thursday, July 29, 2010
Igbo Israel International Music Festival: Preparation goes into top gear.
Igbo-Israel musician Moore Black Chi Mmadike organises the Igbo Israel International Music Festival.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Igbo-Israel reggae artiste, Moore Black talks about the Igbos from Australia.
migrating to Australia), did not only help me to understand who we are &
how holistic our culture (Omenala) is; it opened up my eyes to how different we are from other "tribes" in Africa, even in the world!. Thus, it's not an overstatement to proclaim that we Igbos have something (s) no other people in the world have, with the exception of the Jews.
There were many Nigerians in Greece. A cursory look would show that
we (all Nigerians) have the same culture. However, whenever something
like death occurred, you find that Igbos were/are practically a unique people.
Everyone would rally round, boasting that it is aru (abomination) for any nwa
afo Igbo (Igbo son/daughter) to be buried in ala mba (foreign land). Then
people (Igbos) would be levied for the body to be conveyed home. I would
say as an eyewitness that the Igbo are the only African people that didn't bury their own in foreign lands.
In the case of the Western peoples that we always try to mimic, if for instance a
German national dies in a foreign land, the German people there wouldn't as
A DUTY (I said as A DUTY), unlike the Igbos, levy themselves to convey the
body back to Germany. Rather, the responsibility would fall on the family of the
deceased or the embassy...
Today, I see many Igbos, especially those who have immeasurably benefited
from Omenala, fighting against it. On my last visit to Nigeria (Igboland) I had a
discussion with Uwa, not his real name. Uwa is the last child of seven children.
Unfortunately, he was a toddler when his father died. His uncles financed his
two elder brothers' education, from the secondary school up to university. They
both finished with flying colours, secured very good jobs, and were able to support their siblings/the rest of the family. Owing to that Uwa is now a medical doctor.
In the course of our discussion, Uwa told me he loves the Western culture so
much & wished we could emulate the Western way of life. At this juncture, I had to remind him of his humble beginning...
In the Western culture, Uwa's uncle wouldn't have had anything to do with his
elder brothers and chances are that his mother would have found a new boyfriend, who might not like Uwa. In such scenario he (Uwa) might be put up for adoption or tossed around from one foster home to the other. The best possible scenario: Uwa's mother might remarry to someone that would tolerate him just as a stepson and not bother about paying for his education... And his elder brothers/siblings would be "EVERY ONE ON THEIR OWN."
However, I made him realize that it is our Omenala which teaches "Onye aghala nwanne ya" (be your brother's keeper or let no one forsake their brother/sister) that made him what he is today...
As a musician, student of archaeology/anthropology (Flinders University, South
Australia), and someone who has been to different parts of the world and is conversant with other cultures, I can say with PRIDE & CLARITY that other nations, especially the West, have a lot to learn from our Omenala, and not the other way round! It has always been my MISSION to revive Omenala, but because of our neglect of it I was on the verge of giving
up hope (due to the rate it's desecrated by some Igbo renegades) before I discovered Remy Ilona's work. When he (Remy) sent me the "Introduction To The Chronicles Of Igbo-Israel" I said to myself as I was about to open it "another history book." Alas! It wasn't so. Reading the book, 15,000km away from Igboland, was like reliving the Igbo way of life. Maazi Ilona was not just writing history, he was giving an account as an eyewitness; telling our story the way it should be told. That's why I called him the Igbo Josephus, and his book "Living History." I would say, Maazi Ilona is the only Igbo historian that has succeeded in keeping our record. Every Igbo man/woman can relate to the context in the book. Besides, some of the "outdated" practices therein are not of remote past...
Knowing Maazi Ilona infused me with a lot of hope. It's no longer GLOOM & DOOM! Here is someone with a clear vision and mission to restore the Igbo nation’s greatness by reviving their culture which is the only instrument that can give us unity, and greatness, and lead us back to idebe iwu Chineke (keeping the laws of G-D). It was Maazi Ilona's dedication to our people that inspired me to join the Igbo-Israel Union, which Maazi Ilona formed, since the group’s objectives if pursued vigorously can lead the Igbos to success, and happiness.
As the vice president (international) of the Igbo-Israel Union, I would like to thank the publisher of the National Times newspaper for his contribution to the community. Everybody knows the power of the press. Your newspaper has come at the right time. I pray it would be handed down to your children's children. Long live Times International! And while I am still at it I thank you for identifying with, and giving support to the international music festival which we at the Igbo Israel Union are organizing.
To the group Igbo Origin and Culture Research Platform; academics and professionals who have come together to support Maazi Ilona’s work I say jisie nu ike. We will all work together to ensure that we the Igbos are rescued from the present sad state that we are in.
To the founder of Igbozurume, Owele Rochas Okorocha, your contributions to the Igbo race have
echoed far & wide. The Most High will repay you ten-fold. I can't thank you enough. I wish
you all long life & good health.
Dalu,
Moore Black Mmadike
ISRAEL TO STOP KIDNAPPING IN THE SOUTH EAST.
Remy Ilona
08065300351, remy.ilona@gmail.com
Recently the newspapers were awash with news that the MOSSAD; Israel’s intelligence agency has been contracted by the Nigerian government to help rid the South East, and South South sections of Nigeria, of the menace of kidnappings, which is sending the Igbos into exile.
The MOSSAD is a successful secret service. Its role in enabling beleaguered Israel to survive, and even thrive cannot be over-emphasized. Surely it has a lot to offer Nigeria in terms of security. If Israel with little natural resources, location in deserts and semi deserts, religious and cultural diversities could be secure, Nigeria, with its endowments should.
MOSSAD would help to douse the fire raging currently by helping the Nigeria Police, and our other security agencies to keep abreast of the latest innovations in intelligence and information gathering. Surely this would stem the tide, improve security now, and allow concerned parties to settle down and give the problem a long-term solution. The kidnapping is a symptom of something which needs to be treated. The societies in which kidnapping for ransom has almost become legitimized are largely dysfunctional; with all forms of legitimate authority broken down. And all the institutions that could genuinely help to foster social harmony rendered sterile, and irrelevant.
For long-term solutions; among the Igbos who share a similar culture with the MOSSAD operatives, the Israelis could help by enabling the Igbos to see that their traditional social organization, which has been largely displaced without good reason, and which is presented in the essay A Brief Survey Of Ancient Israel: From The Igbo Perspective and Experience, has the potential of stabilizing the society, reducing crime to the lowest level and also make it easier for the police, and other security agencies to succeed in combating crime, if and when they occur. Criminals thrive in societies that ‘thrive’ on injustice. The Igbo society in its pure form has inbuilt mechanisms that ensure that injustice does not take root. The afore-mentioned study which compared the Igbo and Israelite societies shows that the Republic of Israel which owns the MOSSAD operates a society akin to the traditional Igbo society, and enjoys the consequent social harmony and equilibrium.
If the MOSSAD instructs the Igbos to reduce poverty, and empower more of their people by starting to practice those aspects of their culture which mandate the rich to share their wealth and opportunities with the poorer members of their community, they will have a listening ear, because many Igbos have started to realize that Igbo abandonment of Igbo culture has only led to problems. A look at the mission statements of Igbo groups such as the Igbo Israel Union, the Igbo Origin and Culture Research Platform, and Igbozurume will confirm what I just mentioned.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
CONCLUSION OF THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN
CONCLUSION of THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN
Remy Ilona
08065300351, remy.ilona@gmail.com
In the last edition of National Times I began to talk about the things that would be done before the Igbos would rise again. I dwelt so much on the importance of information, to the Igbos, because good information would give knowledge, and the knowledgeable person has a good chance to be wise. Without laying emphasis on it, any intelligent person would know that the Igbos have not performed well in nation-building, because we have not been united, nor well organized. Infightings have taken much of our time, energy and resources. And this has happened because the information we have assimilated, have been subtly given to us with the sole motivation to divide us, so that we would be more easily subdued dominated, and pocketed. The British used this tactics against us, by planting a knife in our middle, demonizing what held us together (our culture) after which we fell apart, and have continued falling since then. Since then we have been apart, and every year our divisions increase in degree, and severity. At times I have wondered if the Igbo of today who can hardly gather together for Igbo causes would have lasted three months if faced with the travails that the Igbos faced from ’66 to ‘70. Of course the Igbo of today wouldn’t have survived the shock, because the rallying institution; the culture; is almost gone; disrespected completely by we the Igbos! And without the culture, what is the people? Nothing! We are Igbos because we speak Igbo, and practice[d] Igbo culture.
However as the Igbo condition has deteriorated to the stage that we can say that Igboland is fighting the Igbos (many communities are under threat of extinction because of erosion, and other environmental problems), and the Igbos are almost lapsing into a civil war (well to do, and not so well-to-do Igbos are fleeing from Igboland because of the abnormally high rate of kidnappings and other violent crimes in Igboland), one can expect the Igbos to begin to ask hard questions, and to be ready to receive hard answers which will help us to analyze our problems so that we can begin to rebuild the Igbo society.
To rebuild successfully; mainly Igbo resources would be in the new foundations. This is where information, knowledge, and wisdom would help the Igbos. At this stage it is pertinent for the Igbos to ask: where would we have been if the British had not disrupted our society by instigating, and participating in our commercial enslavement, colonizing us, demolishing our institutions, and replacing them with the present models which have not only not given the greatest happiness to the greatest number of Igbos, but have bequeathed us with institutions that have institutionalized divisions among us. Who would have been our leaders? A pertinent question in an era when an Igbo could get up and say anything on behalf of the Igbos, or do anything, no matter how inimical his actions or words would be to the Igbos. Would we have been an independent nation, happy, proud, and free? And as we are a part of a state called
My soon to be published essay; A Brief Survey Of Ancient
I would say that we would have been among the first ten most successful countries in the world if we had not been subverted by colonialism. I would say so because my research informs me that we were guided by laws, rules, and regulations before the British advent. The same laws, rules and regulations that the Europeans borrowed and used to inspire the creation of the almost eldoradoic societies known as the Western world or developed societies that they have today, if we are looking at just their administration of justice and governance. I am referring to the legal and ethical provisions of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament to the Gentiles) Possibly we would have been the second nation after the Republic of Israel, the state which is the primary representative of the people who received those laws, rules and regulations because those very laws, rules, and regulations which secure Israel, and which have among other things made it the most innovative country in the world would have been our grundnorm. The Newsweek of November 23, 2009, on page 45, observed; ‘how does Israel-with fewer people than the state of New Jersey, no natural resources, and hostile nations all around-produce more tech companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India and China combined?’ I would say that had we not come under colonialism that we would not have become the disorderly people that we are today,- a nation where everyman behaves as he likes. I will illustrate what I am trying to say with the following example, and in order to highlight what I want to say I will compare the Igbo and the Hausa funeral/burial experiences. The above-mentioned communities have some things in common. Both were colonized by imperial
The Igbos funeral/burial customs are called akwa m ozu, or ikwa ozu. These mean- to mourn the dead. The most important part of the ceremony is the mourning. In Igbo traditions the pretence that death could be good, or not painful does not exist. As Igbos, guided by Igbo culture Igbos believe that everything possible should be done to preserve life. This gave rise to the Igbo saying; mpempe ndu ka mpempe onwu mma (a bit of life is better than a bit of death). Igbos would spend everything they have to ward off the evil, but when it comes eventually, the Igbos would mourn! They would mourn! Mourning would be manifest in every aspect of their lives for one year. This dread of death led to the Igbo advancement in medicine which saw them handling difficult cases like igbakwa okpukpu, (mending fractured bones), igwo otoro na kitikpa (curing two diseases that may be akin to HIV/AIDS), etc, before colonialism. Today the dread of death, and accompanying mourning is no longer so manifest when some Igbos are bereaved. Imitating mainly the Yoruba; the powerful people to their west who are exercising considerable influence over the Igbos presently, and who are most likely to assimilate them, the Igbos routinely describe funerals/burials as ‘celebrations of life’, ‘gone to glory’, dress in aso ebi and aso oke during funerals, and display huge billboards of the dead with their pictures, as if they were film-stars receiving advertisement. To put it succinctly the Igbo funeral/burial customs have been replaced with borrowings, which have turned the Igbo funeral into a carnival. And the consequence? Among the Igbos, anarchy as far as funerals and burials are concerned. Some Igbos who are intelligent and perceptive enough know that something very horrible and wrong had crept in, but many do not know what to say, or do, because they have no idea that Igbo culture contains funeral/burial traditions.
And what do the Hausa do? They have a standard set for them by Islam, their adopted religion. The state president, the billionaire, and the pauper go the same way when they depart. Among them the tension which is in the Igbo society, and which could be evinced from the agonizing cries of the mentioned Igbos would hardly manifest, because they have rules which they respect.
The Igbos have burial and funeral rules, but they are mostly forgotten. My forthcoming book; ‘From the Ibri to Igbo: Forty Million More Jews In
What I have just illustrated with funeral/burial traditions manifests in almost every aspect of Igbo life. Total disrespect for the only Authority that could and would save the Igbos. Disrespect for the elders; the only fairly identifiable body among the bodies that were appointed to be His representatives among the Igbos! Dereliction as far as observance of the laws, rules and regulations that would improve Igbo life, and the Igbo society is concerned! And what are we reaping today? Anarchy! Today the Igbos who are not fighting any visible war, who are not suffering drought, are nevertheless going into exile, and heir destination is the ghettoes of the cities in the non Igbo cities of
A clinical study of the following texts will help the reader to understand why I made the assertion above.
The Igbos: Jews In
Things Fall Apart, The Arrow Of God, The Only Son, The Potter’s Wheel, The Only Son, The Slave Ship, Torah For Gentiles, The Ropes Of Sands, The Purple Hibiscus, and many others which I will be listing in subsequent editions of the National Times.
All these texts need to be studied by the Igbos with the intention to get the messages which their divinely inspired writers wanted to pass to them.
And the Igbo who would be wise would always have a copy of J. H. Hertz’ Pentateuch and Haftorahs, and the National Times on his breakfast table. And playing softly to him should be music from intelligent Igbos like Show Promoter, Ozoemena Nsugbe, Moore Black, etc.
And because there is no time to waste; as we are studying we have to begin to apply what we get from studying by starting to rebuild, and intensify rebuilding where we have started. As I have striven to point out; we can only build what will last if we rebuild our own institutions, and indigenize the foreign ones that we must keep. The foreign ones that have caused us only divisions and problems we must ostracize, or ban. We can borrow a leaf from other Nigerians such as the Hausa and Fulani, and the Kanuri who realized that the Nigerian State would not try to obstruct them, either legally, or on grounds of equity, if they try to combat crime, and improve the morals of their people, and the resident aliens among them, by extending the applicability of the Sharia Laws to criminal matters. The Yoruba who spawned the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) as a militia to defend the Yoruba, have turned the organization into a crime-fighting machine, which works with the Nigeria Police, and promoter and defender of Yoruba culture and interests. Recently the Bini monarch Omo no oba Eradiuwa and the Bini chief priest Nosakhare Isekhure led the Bini people, and from inside the Bini religion and culture they activated forces that would reduce violent crime in
Also, very importantly some Igbo state governors have began to respect the Igbo clans, and their clan unions. Mazi Peter Obi, the governor of
In addition some have began to identify with the Igbo people practically. I was thrilled when I saw Chief Ikedi Ohakim, and the chairman of the Igbo traditional rulers Eze Cletus Ilomuanya discussing Igbo welfare with some Hausa and Fulani leaders in Gombe.
We need more of such, and we can only begin to see more when our people get more and more immersed in Igbo Studies. To see Ohakim and Ilomuanya showing concern for the Igbo trader is very touching. Every Igbo needs to be concerned about the welfare of the Igbo trader for that is likely to be the Igbo species in Gombe, and the Igbo common man generally. I have always wondered where the Igbos would have been without the Igbo trader; and the unsophisticated Igbo; those persons that used an Igbo customary practice; igba odibo; to speed up Igbo economic revival and growth after
In my efforts to unravel Igbo history in order to give relevant information to the Igbos, so that the Igbos would become knowledgeable and wise, and take back their life from their oppressors, I have seen prophetically that the Igbos will begin to recover and rise when the Igbos begin to study about themselves. We, the Igbos should begin to study ourselves and make the teaching and preaching of Igbo unity our Torah (Teachings), Gospel, and Quran truths. Daily Igbo prayers should include a call on Chukwu Abiama to turn the hearts of all the Igbos so that they will begin to see each other as brothers and sisters again. People give out what they take in. If from infancy all Igbos had been receiving the indoctrination that they are nwanne (brethren), in all the schools, synagogues, obis and churches that they attend and congregate in, we would not be who we are today- a people who could neglect their poorer brethren, destroy their land, drive their brethren into exile, to suffer endlessly.
To provide a school where Igbos should begin to study, the Igbo Israel Union and the National Times newspaper which is a national newspaper with an Igbo background, have began an Igbo Studies Institute. More information about it will be available to the Igbo public very soon.
THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN
THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN- Continued.
Remy Chukwukaodinaka Ilona
Tel: +234-8065-300-351
Email: remy.ilona@gmail.com
I began this series by drawing a brief outline of the failures, and reverses that the Igbos have suffered. Readers have been calling me, and National Times, about the expositions which should be self-evident, but which become more so, after they followed our article-‘That the Igbo nation may rise again’. One question has been coming consistently. The question is. Why is the Igbo society breaking up? I’ll try to answer this question before I’ll begin to proffer what are the possible solutions to the Igbos decline. And the steps already taken to halt the decay.
The Igbo society is collapsing because the Igbo people are descendants of Israelites who violated the Covenant they entered with the God of Israel; the God of their fathers, and are reaping the consequences of the suspension of diplomatic ties between them, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For proof that the Igbos are Jews readers should examine the following books:
The Igbos: Jews In Africa Vol 1, The Igbos: Jews In Africa: With Reflections on the Civil War and Solutions to the most critical Igbo problems, Introduction to the Chronicles of Igbo Israel-And the connections between the African Americans and the Jews, the following essay, A Brief Study of the Foundations of Ancient Israel: From the Igbo Experience, and the soon to be published books; From Ibri to Igbo-40 million more Jews and Uri’s Travels.
For more information readers can reach the writer at remy.ilona@gmail.com, and at 08065300351, and may also browse through www.igboisrael.com
For more evidence that the Igbos are in serious trouble, and that it is so clear now, consider the following which are exchanges between me and some Igbos who are resident in the United States:
[For Igbo eyes alone!
Change they say is the only constant phenomenon. In '66 the Igbos fled from
Nigerian territory to '
all places?
Today, Igbo elites; from traditional rulers, businessmen, academics,
scientists, lawyers, out of office politicians, etc, are on the move-away
from Igboland. And the first ports of call are
in
produced traditional rulers who 'rule' their clans from outside Igboland.
And what is responsible for this reverse Exodus? Abnormally high incidence
of kidnappings, and general societal dysfunction].
[Mazi Ilona:
You made the right call. ………………Build heaven o, build earth o, if your people are
fleeing the state due to insecurity to life and property, you have aided the
reverse exodus.
Sincerely,
[Magnus Ekwueme]
[Da'alu nwanne mmadu. It helps to see that there are still some who note that uno ndi Igbo na agba oku. The way I see it is that the 'governments' can help, but the people need to be involved. Too many of our people feel that they do not have any stake in the wellbeing of of the Igbos, and Igboland anymore. And perhaps they have no stake truly. Isn't it intriguing that a society that had very little crime when it was materially poor, dependent on subsistence farming, is today crime-ridden, in spite of the billions that flows into it. Social and economic security for the poor need to be factored into any Igbo programme.
Ilona R.C.]
[Mazi Ekwueme,
It is not the responsibility of the governors in the East alone. It is the responsibility of ALL individuals and ALL communities to begin to create conditions that will secure and sustain the security of lives and property. Government is a mere abstraction if there are no people or systems to organize and govern. The sheer economic, cultural, and social implication of what is happening now in Igbo land must be clearly placed before EVERYONE - and let us decide whether to live with or die trying to change it. It is better to die than to live without freedom. But the core important questions are these:
A) Who is driving the Igbo, especially its elite and middle class out of Igbo land?
B) Why? To what end?
There seems to me to be a real situation here in which the Igbo, once again unwilling to safeguard there own unique personal and collective interests will allow the massive evacuation of the Igbo people from their homelands into the margins of the urban ghettoes where they will live in fear and at the edge of culture. Perhaps the true equivalence of the "Jewish exile" is happening right before our very eyes, and we are busy complaining and wringing our hands. Two hundred years from now, when a new people have resettled Igbo land, and become more dominant, and we would have ceded the greatest gifts of our heritage - land and its culture - the Igbo would then be fully the rootless, homeless people of the future. But may our ancestors never permit that we allow this.
What is to be done? This is an emergency that must involve every Igbo HOUSEHOLD in a discussion towards a restoration of the land. We must FIND those who are doing this - and there are few of them with support from external sources - and we must DEAL with them in a collective fashion in the time-honored Igbo way. We must send the EGWUGWU after them. Organize our own faceless and dreadful counter-measure to hunt down anyone involved. That is my own suggestion. We must play the asymmetrical game with all these forces of crime and bad governance in Igbo land. There was a time in the 16th, 17th, 18th and some part of the 19th century when people marauded Igbo land to kidnap people whom they sold across the seas. Our Igbo ancestors knew exactly what to do. If we, in the 21st century do not know what to do to this kind of emergency, then we do not deserve to live, and probably deserve slavery and exile. It must be all hands on deck. It is not a work for the governors. The governors MUST today be like horses in our hands, it is up to us to send them to the stream. We must rein them and force them to take action, or otherwise, give way. That is the meaning of what we have always had: democracy. Perhaps we must return to the true democratic structure - the Okpu Umunna - reconstitute it through "igba-ndu" and "idu-isi." Perhaps we must begin once more the tradition of treaty making between one clan and other for treaties of mutual security and protection, and by that means create a powerful, people-based security umbrella in the East. It is time to act, and no longer time to worry. And it is each man's responsibility - for indeed, this is one implication: wer are all DEAD. But we dare not give up our homes to those who say we must not return otherwise the dowries paid for our mothers would have been better used to buy a she-goat.
Obi Nwakanma]
One could begin to wonder why the fate of the Igbos should be as it is. I repeat that it is so because the Igbos are Israelites who have not kept the Covenant that
Curses for Disobedience
However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. [a] The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The LORD will afflict you with the boils of
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.
All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God- the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of
Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The LORD will send you back in ships to
Holy Writ (the Hebrew Bible) should not appear as an abstract document to the Igbos. It should be terrifically real to them because it contains the written version of their culture. So there should not be any question of Igbos doubting even one iota of any of its provisions-be it the legalisms, or the prophesies. An Igbo who doubts anything in the Torah, Neviim, and Kethuvim (the Hebrew Bible), is like the Igbo who doubts that there is an Igbo people with a distinct culture and language.
I will continue the series by stating what is to be done for the Igbos to rise.
tT
THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN- Continued.
Remy Chukwukaodinaka Ilona
Tel: +234-8065-300-351
Email: remy.ilona@gmail.com
I began this series by drawing a brief outline of the failures, and reverses that the Igbos have suffered. Readers have been calling me, and National Times, about the expositions which should be self-evident, but which become more so, after they followed our article-‘That the Igbo nation may rise again’. One question has been coming consistently. The question is. Why is the Igbo society breaking up? I’ll try to answer this question before I’ll begin to proffer what are the possible solutions to the Igbos decline. And the steps already taken to halt the decay.
The Igbo society is collapsing because the Igbo people are descendants of Israelites who violated the Covenant they entered with the God of Israel; the God of their fathers, and are reaping the consequences of the suspension of diplomatic ties between them, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For proof that the Igbos are Jews readers should examine the following books:
The Igbos: Jews In Africa Vol 1, The Igbos: Jews In Africa: With Reflections on the Civil War and Solutions to the most critical Igbo problems, Introduction to the Chronicles of Igbo Israel-And the connections between the African Americans and the Jews, the following essay, A Brief Study of the Foundations of Ancient Israel: From the Igbo Experience, and the soon to be published books; From Ibri to Igbo-40 million more Jews and Uri’s Travels.
For more information readers can reach the writer at remy.ilona@gmail.com, and at 08065300351, and may also browse through www.igboisrael.com
For more evidence that the Igbos are in serious trouble, and that it is so clear now, consider the following which are exchanges between me and some Igbos who are resident in the United States:
[For Igbo eyes alone!
Change they say is the only constant phenomenon. In '66 the Igbos fled from
Nigerian territory to '
all places?
Today, Igbo elites; from traditional rulers, businessmen, academics,
scientists, lawyers, out of office politicians, etc, are on the move-away
from Igboland. And the first ports of call are
in
produced traditional rulers who 'rule' their clans from outside Igboland.
And what is responsible for this reverse Exodus? Abnormally high incidence
of kidnappings, and general societal dysfunction].
[Mazi Ilona:
You made the right call. ………………Build heaven o, build earth o, if your people are
fleeing the state due to insecurity to life and property, you have aided the
reverse exodus.
Sincerely,
[Magnus Ekwueme]
[Da'alu nwanne mmadu. It helps to see that there are still some who note that uno ndi Igbo na agba oku. The way I see it is that the 'governments' can help, but the people need to be involved. Too many of our people feel that they do not have any stake in the wellbeing of of the Igbos, and Igboland anymore. And perhaps they have no stake truly. Isn't it intriguing that a society that had very little crime when it was materially poor, dependent on subsistence farming, is today crime-ridden, in spite of the billions that flows into it. Social and economic security for the poor need to be factored into any Igbo programme.
Ilona R.C.]
[Mazi Ekwueme,
It is not the responsibility of the governors in the East alone. It is the responsibility of ALL individuals and ALL communities to begin to create conditions that will secure and sustain the security of lives and property. Government is a mere abstraction if there are no people or systems to organize and govern. The sheer economic, cultural, and social implication of what is happening now in Igbo land must be clearly placed before EVERYONE - and let us decide whether to live with or die trying to change it. It is better to die than to live without freedom. But the core important questions are these:
A) Who is driving the Igbo, especially its elite and middle class out of Igbo land?
B) Why? To what end?
There seems to me to be a real situation here in which the Igbo, once again unwilling to safeguard there own unique personal and collective interests will allow the massive evacuation of the Igbo people from their homelands into the margins of the urban ghettoes where they will live in fear and at the edge of culture. Perhaps the true equivalence of the "Jewish exile" is happening right before our very eyes, and we are busy complaining and wringing our hands. Two hundred years from now, when a new people have resettled Igbo land, and become more dominant, and we would have ceded the greatest gifts of our heritage - land and its culture - the Igbo would then be fully the rootless, homeless people of the future. But may our ancestors never permit that we allow this.
What is to be done? This is an emergency that must involve every Igbo HOUSEHOLD in a discussion towards a restoration of the land. We must FIND those who are doing this - and there are few of them with support from external sources - and we must DEAL with them in a collective fashion in the time-honored Igbo way. We must send the EGWUGWU after them. Organize our own faceless and dreadful counter-measure to hunt down anyone involved. That is my own suggestion. We must play the asymmetrical game with all these forces of crime and bad governance in Igbo land. There was a time in the 16th, 17th, 18th and some part of the 19th century when people marauded Igbo land to kidnap people whom they sold across the seas. Our Igbo ancestors knew exactly what to do. If we, in the 21st century do not know what to do to this kind of emergency, then we do not deserve to live, and probably deserve slavery and exile. It must be all hands on deck. It is not a work for the governors. The governors MUST today be like horses in our hands, it is up to us to send them to the stream. We must rein them and force them to take action, or otherwise, give way. That is the meaning of what we have always had: democracy. Perhaps we must return to the true democratic structure - the Okpu Umunna - reconstitute it through "igba-ndu" and "idu-isi." Perhaps we must begin once more the tradition of treaty making between one clan and other for treaties of mutual security and protection, and by that means create a powerful, people-based security umbrella in the East. It is time to act, and no longer time to worry. And it is each man's responsibility - for indeed, this is one implication: wer are all DEAD. But we dare not give up our homes to those who say we must not return otherwise the dowries paid for our mothers would have been better used to buy a she-goat.
Obi Nwakanma]
One could begin to wonder why the fate of the Igbos should be as it is. I repeat that it is so because the Igbos are Israelites who have not kept the Covenant that
Curses for Disobedience
However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. [a] The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The LORD will afflict you with the boils of
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.
All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God- the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of
Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The LORD will send you back in ships to
Holy Writ (the Hebrew Bible) should not appear as an abstract document to the Igbos. It should be terrifically real to them because it contains the written version of their culture. So there should not be any question of Igbos doubting even one iota of any of its provisions-be it the legalisms, or the prophesies. An Igbo who doubts anything in the Torah, Neviim, and Kethuvim (the Hebrew Bible), is like the Igbo who doubts that there is an Igbo people with a distinct culture and language.
I will continue the series by stating what is to be done for the Igbos to rise.
THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN
THAT THE IGBO NATION MAY RISE AGAIN
Remy Chukwukaodinaka Ilona
Tel: +234-8065-300-351
Email: remy.ilona@gmail.com
That ndi Igbo as a nation have not succeeded in
I will not be very detailed in narrating the reverses, defeats and failures that the Igbos have recorded since they became Nigerians, because of the above-mentioned reason. However I will give just a few clear examples of Igbo failures and shortcomings.
Since the European intervention in sub Saharan Africa, the various peoples that became the sub Saharan Africans have not been productive, in any kind of important capacity. This is most keenly manifest in
As meaningful production is non existent, resources are consequently very scarce, and there is cut-throat competition for the available resources. Individuals, nations and cliques which exist in the various states created by the Europeans consequently do everything to get what they consider as their fair share of the available resources. In this part of the world the surest way to sit atop the little resources that are available is to capture political power.
Whoever captures political power in this part of the world also controls economic power. In
In getting political power, the big three have faired thus. The Hausa and Fulani who lead and dominate what is known as
Can anybody say that the Igbos who definitely outnumber every other individual Nigerian group have faired well as far as acquisition of political power is concerned? A truthful answer can only be a resounding no. And from the look of things if Igbos get the presidency of
Economically the Igbos are loosing ground very fast. Truthfully, since the tragic and disastrous Nigeria-Biafra war, the Nigerian state has tried to cage the Igbos by promulgating and implementing policies that would weaken the Igbos. The Igbos who are by far the most commercially oriented of all the Nigerian peoples have been denied an international airport for reasons that are at best meaningless. Also because it seems to the persons that have led
The Igbos are the most-close knit of the Nigerian peoples. Their huge population; approximately 30-35 millions tends to make it unbelievable that all the Igbo people sprang from just one source-ancient
On the socio-cultural-religious front what we are witnessing is a disaster. I culled the following from The Igbos: Jews In Africa: With Solutions To The Most Critical Igbo Problems: “………………….There is trouble. Morals have been thrown to the dogs. The women who are the real pillars of the society are in my opinion seriously in need of moral rejuvenation. Nothing humiliates, denigrates and dehumanizes womanhood like prostitution. No wonder why it was not found in Igboland when Omenana held sway. Unfortunately it is a feature of Igbo life today. Some people have defended it as ‘modernization’, while others argue that prostitution is universal. And something is very worrying about it. An Igbo woman who is compromised by prostitution would still be very religious, and announce ‘where she worships’ before you even finish exchanging greetings with her.
We are not getting good reports from the universities, polytechnics and colleges. Un-Igbo practices like the one in question have become acceptable in our institutions of higher learning. When I was in a higher institution in
Another heart-rending eyesore is the presence of Igbo girls, alongside other Nigerian girls in the brothels and red light districts in
And worthy of mention is the (mis)behavior of many Igbo women during the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Program.
Also another sore point which fuels immoral behavior is that Igbo girls of marriageable age are not finding husbands easily. If the Igbos had understood and respected their own religion and tradition getting good spouses would have been very easy for Igbos. Igbo custom like ancient Semitic custom, as we saw from the Laban, Jacob, Leah, and Rachael saga, stipulates that the younger must not marry before the elder. According to my friend Sam Ozoekwe, if the Igbos had respected that tradition, and had not ignored it, today, as in the past, all Igbo ladies would have found husbands. But this rule was ignored, like almost all Igbo rules and today Igbo women are in trouble, and by extension the Igbo society is in trouble.
Most of the women who could not attract spouses suffer abuse and humiliation at the hands of unscrupulous men.
This not an easy issue to discuss, because it is easy to be misunderstood. I must make it clear at this stage that I understand that these women, or most of them do what they do, because their natural families and the Igbo community have not lived up to expectation. And have even ‘died’ in many cases. In the tertiary institutions there are Igbos, males and females. In the towns hosting the red light districts there are Igbo men and women. In the towns where Igbo women go for their national service, there are Igbos. If these Igbos recognize themselves as Igbos, they would have cohesive ‘Igbo unions’ that would help, police, protect and advance the cause of individual members?
But they do not have them. Why, one would ask. Answer: most Igbos would not respect the Igbo groupings. Some would not even condescend to belong to them. They would rather prefer religious groups formed by non Igbos that promise strange, esoteric and unrealizable objectives. There they would be milked of their little monies, abused in every imaginable way, and discarded when they are no longer useful”.
Prostitution has become a way of life among the Igbos. Igbo women even dress like prostitutes while going to church in Igbo land. In
I need not repeat that Igbos; including traditional rulers are escaping from Igboland, because every Igbo who could afford to eat comfortably is afraid of being kidnapped. And as most are leaving they leave with their investments.
Ironically kidnapping as a gainful past-time has reduced banditry, which is known as armed robbery in
We need to find answers to the following questions. Is prostitution an Igbo customary practice? Is kidnapping an Igbo practice? Is banditry Igbo? Igbo traditional rulers have to answer these questions. Igbo religious authorities need to provide answers to these questions. It is incumbent on Igbo scholars to help find answers to some of these questions. As an Igbo scholar I have looked deeply, and what I have found is that these crimes are imported. That they were copied from outsiders, but are becoming part of Igbo life, because the Igbo filtration mechanism, which is contained in Omenana has been broken.
I began this series by drawing a brief outline of the failures, and reverses that the Igbos have suffered. Readers have been calling me, and National Times, about the expositions which should be self-evident, but which become more so, after they followed our article-‘That the Igbo nation may rise again’. One question has been coming consistently. The question is. Why is the Igbo society breaking up? I’ll try to answer this question before I’ll begin to proffer what are the possible solutions to the Igbos decline. And the steps already taken to halt the decay.
The Igbo society is collapsing because the Igbo people are descendants of Israelites who violated the Covenant they entered with the God of Israel; the God of their fathers, and are reaping the consequences of the suspension of diplomatic ties between them, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For proof that the Igbos are Jews readers should examine the following books:
The Igbos: Jews In Africa Vol 1, The Igbos: Jews In Africa: With Reflections on the Civil War and Solutions to the most critical Igbo problems, Introduction to the Chronicles of Igbo Israel-And the connections between the African Americans and the Jews, the following essay, A Brief Study of the Foundations of Ancient Israel: From the Igbo Experience, and the soon to be published books; From Ibri to Igbo-40 million more Jews and Uri’s Travels.
For more information readers can reach the writer at remy.ilona@gmail.com, and at 08065300351, and may also browse through www.igboisrael.com
For more evidence that the Igbos are in serious trouble, and that it is so clear now, consider the following which are exchanges between me and some Igbos who are resident in the United States:
[For Igbo eyes alone!
Change they say is the only constant phenomenon. In '66 the Igbos fled from
Nigerian territory to '
all places?
Today, Igbo elites; from traditional rulers, businessmen, academics,
scientists, lawyers, out of office politicians, etc, are on the move-away
from Igboland. And the first ports of call are
in
produced traditional rulers who 'rule' their clans from outside Igboland.
And what is responsible for this reverse Exodus? Abnormally high incidence
of kidnappings, and general societal dysfunction].
[Mazi Ilona:
You made the right call. ………………Build heaven o, build earth o, if your people are
fleeing the state due to insecurity to life and property, you have aided the
reverse exodus.
Sincerely,
[Magnus Ekwueme]
[Da'alu nwanne mmadu. It helps to see that there are still some who note that uno ndi Igbo na agba oku. The way I see it is that the 'governments' can help, but the people need to be involved. Too many of our people feel that they do not have any stake in the wellbeing of of the Igbos, and Igboland anymore. And perhaps they have no stake truly. Isn't it intriguing that a society that had very little crime when it was materially poor, dependent on subsistence farming, is today crime-ridden, in spite of the billions that flows into it. Social and economic security for the poor need to be factored into any Igbo programme.
Ilona R.C.]
[Mazi Ekwueme,
It is not the responsibility of the governors in the East alone. It is the responsibility of ALL individuals and ALL communities to begin to create conditions that will secure and sustain the security of lives and property. Government is a mere abstraction if there are no people or systems to organize and govern. The sheer economic, cultural, and social implication of what is happening now in Igbo land must be clearly placed before EVERYONE - and let us decide whether to live with or die trying to change it. It is better to die than to live without freedom. But the core important questions are these:
A) Who is driving the Igbo, especially its elite and middle class out of Igbo land?
B) Why? To what end?
There seems to me to be a real situation here in which the Igbo, once again unwilling to safeguard their own unique personal and collective interests will allow the massive evacuation of the Igbo people from their homelands into the margins of the urban ghettoes where they will live in fear and at the edge of culture. Perhaps the true equivalence of the "Jewish exile" is happening right before our very eyes, and we are busy complaining and wringing our hands. Two hundred years from now, when a new people have resettled Igbo land, and become more dominant, and we would have ceded the greatest gifts of our heritage - land and its culture - the Igbo would then be fully the rootless, homeless people of the future. But may our ancestors never permit that we allow this.
What is to be done? This is an emergency that must involve every Igbo HOUSEHOLD in a discussion towards a restoration of the land. We must FIND those who are doing this - and there are few of them with support from external sources - and we must DEAL with them in a collective fashion in the time-honored Igbo way. We must send the EGWUGWU after them. Organize our own faceless and dreadful counter-measure to hunt down anyone involved. That is my own suggestion. We must play the asymmetrical game with all these forces of crime and bad governance in Igbo land. There was a time in the 16th, 17th, 18th and some part of the 19th century when people marauded Igbo land to kidnap people whom they sold across the seas. Our Igbo ancestors knew exactly what to do. If we, in the 21st century do not know what to do to this kind of emergency, then we do not deserve to live, and probably deserve slavery and exile. It must be all hands on deck. It is not a work for the governors. The governors MUST today be like horses in our hands, it is up to us to send them to the stream. We must rein them and force them to take action, or otherwise, give way. That is the meaning of what we have always had: democracy. Perhaps we must return to the true democratic structure - the Okpu Umunna - reconstitute it through "igba-ndu" and "idu-isi." Perhaps we must begin once more the tradition of treaty making between one clan and other for treaties of mutual security and protection, and by that means create a powerful, people-based security umbrella in the East. It is time to act, and no longer time to worry. And it is each man's responsibility - for indeed, this is one implication: wer are all DEAD. But we dare not give up our homes to those who say we must not return otherwise the dowries paid for our mothers would have been better used to buy a she-goat.
Obi Nwakanma]
One could begin to wonder why the fate of the Igbos should be as it is. I repeat that it is so because the Igbos are Israelites who have not kept the Covenant that
Curses for Disobedience
However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. [a] The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The LORD will afflict you with the boils of
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.
All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God- the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of
Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The LORD will send you back in ships to
Have some of the curses come on the Igbos? A study of the trans-Atlantic Slave trade, and of what the Igbos passed through in
Holy Writ (the Hebrew Bible) should not appear as an abstract document to the Igbos. It should be terrifically real to them because it contains the written version of their culture. As it contains Igbo culture so there should not be any question of Igbos doubting even one iota of any of its provisions-be it the legalisms, or the prophesies. An Igbo who doubts anything in the Torah, Neviim, and Kethuvim (the Hebrew Bible), is like the Igbo who doubts that there is an Igbo people with a distinct culture and language.
I will continue the series by stating what is to be done for the Igbos to rise.