ANGEL OF YAHWEH SESSION 10 11/11/2020
Read Exodus 2. 1. To which nation-territory-land did Moses flee? - From whom does this tribe originate? (Genesis 25:1-2) - What important role does Moses’ father-in-law play in Israel’s story? (Exodus 18)
1. Where and how does Moses meet his wife, Zipporah? - What other significant Hebrew encounters have already happened at a well?
Read Exodus 3. 2. What was Moses’ job in Midian? Where does it lead him? - Other names are used interchangeably for this mountainous region. What are they? (Deuteronomy 33:1-4; Habakkuk 3:3-7; Judges 5:4-5) - What will be ‘the sign’ that Yahweh is with Moses? (v12) - Who is it that has ‘come down’ because of the misery of the Hebrew people? When else did Elohim (God) “come down” in order to take action? What was the action?
3. Who ‘appears’ to Moses in a flame of fire in the midst of the bush? - Who ‘saw’ that Moses turned aside to see this great sight? - Who ‘called’ to Moses from the bush? - Who else in the OT is told to take off his sandals because the place they are standing is ‘holy ground’? (Joshua 5:13-15). How is the person who appears to Joshua described?
Read Genesis 16. 4. Who finds Hagar and speaks to her (v7)? - Where does he find her? What is significant about this? - What does he say? Who typically offers this kind of blessing? - Who does Hagar believe is speaking to her? (v13)
Read Genesis 22. 5. Who calls out to Abraham from heaven? - Who blesses Abraham for his obedience?
Read Judges 2. 6. Who is speaking to Israel? - Who led Israel up and out of Egypt? - Who did Israel disobey? Why did they weep?
Read Judges 13. 7. Who appears to the wife of Manoah? How is he described? - What does the narrator tell us about this visitor? (v.16) - Who do Manoah and his wife believe they have seen? (v22)
Read 1 Kings 19. 8. Who appears to Elijah in the wilderness? (v5-7) - Who appears to Elijah in the cave at Mt. Horeb? (v9) - Who tells Elijah to ‘go out and stand on the mountain’? Why? (v11) - Who does Elijah believe is speaking to him?
Read 1 Chronicles 21. 9. Who does David see ‘standing between heaven and earth’? - To whom does David believe he is speaking? (v16-17)
Read Exodus 23:20-2 10. 6. Who will bring God’s people to the place he has prepared for them? How is this angel described?
Read Exodus 14. 11. Who traveled in front of Israel’s army? What was the visible manifestation to the people of Israel?
Read Exodus 15. 12. How is the LORD - Israel’s deity - described in this poem?
Read Daniel 7. 13. What is the scene? Who is in the throne room? (v 9-10) - Who arrives on a cloud? How is he received? What is his role? (v13)
Read Revelation 19. 14. What is the scene? - Who is on the white horse and how is he described? What is his role?
Read Exodus 13. 15. Who struck down all the firstborn in Egypt?
Read Jude 1. 16. Who, according to Jude, ‘delivered his people out of Egypt’? (v5)
17. There is no reference to ‘the Angel of Yahweh’ in the New Testament. Why do you think this is?
You’ve covered a lot of scripture this week! Good job! What questions do you have? How has the Holy Spirit helped you to “walk in the way” of Wisdom? (hokma = humility + obedience)?
Shalom to you and yours!
Kim Outline - Canaanites and Moabites Week 10
1. Who does Israel encounter next? Canaan
a. Battle of Hormah
b. Canaanite religion
● El
● Baal
● Asherah
2. Next up...Moab
a. Genealogy
b. Geography
c. Moab in scriptures
● Numbers 22-24, Judges 3: 12-30
● 1 Kings 11: 1-8
● 2 Kings 3
● Ruth 4: 17-18
Week 10 -Canaanites and Moabites
Numbers 20:22 - 21:3 Edom had come out against Israel and did not allow them passage. They came to Mount Hor near Edom. The lord said to Moses and Aaron that Aaron would be gathered to his people and not enter the land because both of them rebelled at the waters of Meribah. Aaron was to take his son Eleazar up to Mt. Hor, remove Aaron’s garments and give to Eleazar and Aaron would die on the mountain. They mourned him for 30 days. They then made their way around Edom.
A C anaanite king of Arad who lived in the Negev (Num 21) heard Israel was journeying on the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some of them. Israel vowed to the Lord that if He would deliver them into their hands, they would totally destroy their Canaanite cities. The Lord listened and they completely destroyed the towns. This battle victory at Hormah (Num 21:1-3) is in the exact same location as the earlier battle that Israel lost when trying to enter Canaan without the Lord’s blessing after the incident with the spies refusing to conquer Canaan(Num 14:39-45) and Israel was forced to flee.
There is a question as to whether Canaanite means an ethnic designation or a geographic designation. We really don’t have much information about where they may have come from or when they entered the land. Early in the Iron Age, they were replaced by the Philistines (1200BC) who became the great enemy of Israel. It appears Canaanites were only in the land during the 2nd millennium Bc. The Canaanites developed the alphabet very early in their history and this was thought to greatly influence Israel’s history. The western boundary of Canaan was the Mediterranean Sea which was a stormy body of water and very unpredictable. In their local mythology, the sea was the abode of a malevolent deity much like a leviathan. The land began at the Brook of Egypt in the south and ran up to Hazor and Lebo Hamath in the north.
Religion - The city of Ugarit is located just north of the Canaanite boundaries and the beliefs of those in Ugarit are probably much like those of the Canaanites. Hundreds of documents that have been found at ancient Ugarit give us some glimpses of the lives of the people of Canaan. Their worldview included a cult of the dead, the worship of many gods.
The earliest deity recognized by the peoples of the ancient Near East was the creator god E l. He was seen as a wise and benevolent god from whose residence flowed fertile waters.His mistress, the fertility goddess A sherah, gave birth to many gods, including a powerful god named Baal ("Lord"). There appears to have been only one Baal, who was manifested in lesser Baals at different places and times. Over the years, Baal became the dominant deity, and the worship of El faded. -Baal won his dominance by defeating the other deities, including the god of the sea, the god of storms (also of rain, thunder, and lightning), and the god of death. Baal's victory over death was thought to be repeated each year when he returned from the land of death (underworld), bringing rain to renew the earth's fertility. Hebrew’s also viewed the sea as evil and destructive, so Baal’s promise to prevent storms and control the sea, as well as his ability to produce abundant harvests, made him attractive to the Israelites.
When the Israelites entered Canaan, they found a land of farmers, not shepherds, as they had been in the wilderness. The land was fertile beyond anything the Hebrew nomads had ever seen. The Canaanites attributed this fertility to their god Baal,and that is where the Israelites problems began. Could the God who had led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness also provide fertile farms in the Promised Land? Or would the fertility god of Canaan have to be honored? Maybe, to be safe, they should worship both; Yahweh wasn’t replaced, but Baal would simply have come alongside him.
Baal is portrayed as a man with the head and horns of a bull, an image similar to that in biblical accounts. His right hand (sometimes both hands) is raised, and he holds a lightning bolt, signifying both destruction and fertility. Baal has also been portrayed seated on a throne, possibly as the king or lord of the gods.
1 Kings- with King Ahab of Israel, Baal worshipping, though it was already commonplace, became accepted practice, bringing Ahabs’ kingdom much closer to the mainstream religious practices of the ANE. Standing against the acceptance of Canaan’s gods was Elijah, the champion of Yahweh’s kingship.
In 2 Kings, the Lord tells Elijah to go to Samaria and ask the king why he is consulting Baal-Zebub? In Matthew we hear of this same deity referred to as Beelzebul. This Baal - Zebub, one of the local manifestations of Baal. Zebub means “flies”. This literally means Baal - Lord of the Flies. Baal-Zebub is a title indicating mastery over flies, spreaders of pestilence and so this means a god over the curing of disease. ● 1954 Pulitzer Prize novel Lord of the Flies - William Golding (group of British boys stranded on island and their attempt to govern themselves)
Asherah was honored as the fertility goddess in various forms and with varying names (Judg. 3:7). The Bible does not actually describe the goddess, but archaeologists have discovered figurines believed to be representations of her. She is portrayed as a nude female, sometimes pregnant, with exaggerated breasts that she holds out, apparently as symbols of the fertility she promises her followers. The Bible indicates that she was worshiped near trees and poles, called Asherah poles -A Asherah was worshiped in various ways, including through ritual sex. Although she was believed to be Baal's mother, she was also his mistress. Canaanites believed they could influence the gods' actions by performing the behavior they wished the gods to demonstrate. Believing the sexual union of Baal and Asherah produced fertility, their worshipers engaged in ritual sex to cause the gods to join together, ensuring good harvests. This practice became the basis for religious prostitution (1 Kings 14:23-24). The priest or a male member of the community represented Baal. The priestess or a female member of the community represented Asherah. Thus the practice of ritual public prostitution. Dagon was also a canaanite god and he is associated with grain and corn. He was the principal deity of the Philistines.
Back to Deut 2:8 - 18. Israel journeyed south around Edom and Yahweh instructed them to travel along the Arabah road, up from Ezion Geber, and travel along the desert road of Moab. He tells them to not provoke the Moabites for he has given them Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.
Who are the Moabites and where do they live?
Moab is descended from Lot. Moab and Ammon were the sons of Lot from his daughter's incestous relationships. The Moabites and Ammonites receive favor and are protected as Israel travels through their land because the Lord remembered Abraham. Given the incestous origins of Moab and Ammon, it is no surprise that contact with these peoples often brought trouble for the descendents of Abraham.
Israel and Moab do share a common great-grandfather, Terah, and Deut 2:9-12 gives Moab a similar history to Israel...Moab displaced an indigenous race of giants, the Emites, to claim the land given to them by Yahweh. Emites were considered Rephaites , a race of giants. By the time Israel entered Moabite territory, there was only a remnant left of these people in Bashan, to the north. Og, King of Bashan, was one of the last and these people were destroyed by Israel right before entering Canaan.
The Moabite national god was Kemosh or Chemosh. He is known as the god of war and he stood in opposition to Yahweh as Moab did against Israel. His cult is similar to Yahweh’s and he too was credited with providing victory in battle and land to his people, but is more like Baal in nature.
Moab is east of the Dead Sea and can be divided into three regions. The northmost section is northeast of the Dead Sea, the middle is eastward of the Dead Sea and is tableland around 2000 ft elevation and the southernmost section is over 4000 ft elevation and extends from the Arnon River to the Zered River. The whole land is about 39 miles, north to south. The border with Ammon and the Ammonites is near Abel Shittim, the sight of the Phineas story from last week.
This is where Israel arrives after skirting the Moabite border...back in Abel Shittim. The Moabite women lead the men of Israel into sin and to worshipping Baal.
The Moabite king Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel in Numbers 22-24 and a later Moabite monarch, Eglon, oppresses Israel until he is assassinated by Ehud of the tribe of Benjamin. (Judges 3:12-30)
Later on, Moabite women lead Solomon into sin (1 Kings 11: 1-8). The offspring of such unions are barred from entering the assembly of Yahweh even after 10 generations (Deut 23:3).
Elisha prophesies water in the desert and victory over Moab and Moab is destroyed, but not before the king of Moab sacrifices his first-born son as a way to obtain a military victory. 2 Kings 3.
The prophets Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all prophesy the destruction of Moab.
The biblical record does show some more favorable Israel/Moabite stories. The genealogy of David is traced back to Ruth, the most worthy of Moabites (Ruth 4:17-18).
And David sent his father and mother to take refuge with the king of Moab while he was on the run from Saul.
Moab became a vassal of the Assyrians, just like Edom, in the late 8th century BC and was conquered by Babylon in 582. At this point, the Moabites disappear from history forever.