Worthless Deities in the Hebrew Text
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Worthless Deities Listed in the Hebrew Text by Kathryn QannaYahu I would like to thank my daughters Leviyah and Genevieve for their support, both encouragement and financial so that I could work on this study full time. I would also like to thank the Bozeman Public Library, especially Mary Ann Childs, who handled well over a hundred of my interlibrary loans during these two years. Subcategory Links Foreign Language Intro Study Intro Proto-Indo-Europeans and the Patriarchy From Clan Mother To Goddess Ancestor Worship/Cult of the Dead Therafiym Molek/Melek Nechushthan and Sherafiym Astral Cult Seal of God – Mark of the Beast Deities Amurru / Amorite Ugaritic / Canaanite Phoenician / Felishthiym [Philistine] / Carthaginian Syrian / Aramean Babylonian / Assyrian Map of Patron Deity City Names Reference Book List Foreign Language Intro This study incorporates many textual elements that need their own introduction because of all the languages presented. For the Hebrew, I use a Hebrew font that you will not be able to view without a download, unless you happen to have the font from another program. If you should see odd letters strung together where a name or word is being explained, you probably need the font. It is provided on my fonts page http://www.lebtahor.com/Resources/fonts.htm . Since Hebrew does not have an upper and lower case, another font used for the English quoting of the Tanak/Bible is the copperplate, which does not have a case. I use this font when quoting portions of the Tanak [Hebrew Bible], to avoid translator emphasis that capitalizing puts a slant on. This font is also on the font page for download. So if you are seeing quoted text in all lower case, you need this font as well. As to the variations in spelling – there are many different groups within Hebrew. The Ashkenaz, predominately originating from north and eastern Europe, use a different pronunciation than the Sephardic Jews, which originated in Spain. For example the word shabbath [shiyn, beth, thau] can be written in the English as shabbath, sabbath, shabbat, sabbat, etc... Add to that the fact that the Hebrew language was a new one in comparison to many of its neighbors archaeologically, and you add to the diversity of the English transliterations. Also, scholars have not come to any standardization as to English transliteration and that adds to the amount of various spelling of the same word. While the Semitic letter Shiyn is traditionally an SH rendering in pronunciation, some scholars render it as an S with a diacritical mark caron or hacek over the S, indicating that it is supposed to be pronounced as SH. Sometimes it appears more semi-circular than v’d. This is not a Windows supplied character in their fonts. This transliteration situation occurs with Th/T, K/Ch and F/Ph. Vowels are also written and transliterated between the Semitic languages variously. That is why you will see some of the deities names with an A, E and I, when they are basically the same name. While not a foreign language note, it is pertinent to the study and is of the languages of scholars, which to some, may seem a language all itself. Since the dating system of B. C. and A.D. refer to a Christian dating system, many scholars have adopted a less religious dating abbreviation. B.C.E is Before the Common Era, which relates to the time period of B.C., C.E. is Common Era and relates to A.D. I have chosen to follow the scholars dating and use BCE and CE in dating. With that said, I have hoped to avoid as many questions as possible with this study, providing maps and such, but I know there will still be questions, so please do not hesitate to ask. Study Intro This study grew out of a need to list the worthless deities mentioned in the Hebrew text of the Tanak/ Hebrew Bible, during my work on the Perpetual Idolatry study. It was originally going to list, for reference purposes, their names, associated cultural pantheon and passages of text that mentioned the deities, or were associated with them prior to the Hebrew text being written. While many Hebraic sects, Christians and Muslims would view themselves as being devout followers of El, Elohey, Eloah, God or Allah – different titles of the Creator, they might be surprised how this study’s ancient deities and their practices are incorporated into modern belief systems, even so far as aspects of our day to day living. In many ways we are no different than the early Canaanites or surrounding nations, though the names we apply to our beliefs have been changed to protect the not so innocent. No sooner had I typed them up and began researching the passages they occur in, did this study explode. This subject was far broader than I had expected. As I have mentioned in the other studies, what began as one study became three simultaneous studies, which are very interconnected – Perpetual Idolatry, Rule Over Us and Worthless Deities. The beginning sections of this study examine Proto-Indo-Europeans and the Patriarchy, From Clan Mother to Goddess, Ancestor Worship/Cult of the Dead, Therafiym, the worship of Molech/Melek - King, Nechushthan, Astral Cults and Seal of God and Mark of the Beast; all of which involves far more than most would realize in their current faith and the Bible. The following portion of the study defines the worthless deities, arranges them by cultural pantheon, and includes pertinent associated scripture, as well as personal and city names that reveal their houses of worship. At the end of the deity section there is a map showing city names that deal with a particular deity’s houses of worship that are listed as being the territory of Israel. Lastly, there is a list of reference works I researched, for those of you that would like to look into these matters more fully, hoping that no one takes my word for it. I also cite quotes immediately after the quote, regardless of the “proper” method of footnoting and placing the sources at the end of the page, chapter or book. As a diligent researcher of the footnotes, I hate flipping around in a paper or book for the source, so I write as I would like to read. In my faith with YHWH I am not fond of the issue of idolatry. Unfortunately, in this case, it is a “necessary evil” to deal with, to prove issues that still continue, even unknowingly, so that we may remove these stumbling blocks and walk closer to YHWH. Practices that may have derived from something originally innocent, ended up becoming cultic and idolatrous. “Other activities, which we would tend to describe as being ’magic’ rather than ‘religious’, were also a feature of everyday life in both country and town. Sickness and misfortune, whether due to the anger of the gods or the evil activities of hostile men, were a constant hazard, and to counteract such things elaborate rituals, making much use of ‘sympathetic magic’, were evolved for every purpose from averting impotence to persuading a reluctant deity to return to his shrine.” – The Hittites, Macqueen, pg. 112. This is like the story of the newly wed husband, watching his wife cook for a family get together, he sees her take a ham, cut the end off, placing the rest in the large baking dish. He asks her why she cut the end off and she says that it is what her mother always did. Curious, when the mother arrives, the son-in-law asks her why she cuts the end of the ham off and places the rest in the dish. She answers, that is what her mother did and to ask her when she arrives. When the grandmother arrives, the son- in-law asks her and she states that the baking dish she had was too small for the whole ham, so she would cut the end off so that it would fit in her dish. The daughter and granddaughter did not know the reason for cutting the end of the ham off, but continued the “tradition”, even though they had larger baking dishes that would have accommodated the whole ham. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, we don’t eat pork, I am relaying an old story about traditions. Traditions and rituals are far too easy to begin. In fact, it seems more difficult to avoid beginning them in the first place. Keep this in mind as we deal with the subjects involving the deities. Be aware that a number of deities cross boundaries of nations, which shifted themselves. Baal is Canaanite/Ugaritic, but he is also in the Phoenician pantheon. His counterpart in Assyrian/Babylonian is Tammuz. Also, some deities merged at times, such as the blending of Athene, Anat, Astarte and Ishtar. The Tanak, the bulk of which is a much later writing than any of the Ugaritic texts or other cultural texts, adds the additional problem of inconsistent blending of multiple elements, by the hands of various editors with their own agendas, into one element and then there is the very late dating vowel pointing for pronunciation of the Masoretic Scribes. This can be helpful in showing the different text sources and hands of the different schools of editing. In the Tanak the lines blur between El and his son Baal. Asherah is the wife/consort of El in Ugaritic texts, but in the Tanak, characteristics of El and Baal are blurred, as well as the pairing of Asherah with Baal in some cases.