Is Jahovah 'God of the Jews'? And not The creator of all, the universe, everything seen from the Hubble and beyond.:)


Not actually part of my thesis, just a really cool site.
http://www.hubblesite.org


Then again, maybe it is;
6,000 to 10,000 years. Indeed!

Is Jehovah 'God of the Jews'? And not The creator of all, the universe, everything seen from the Hubble and beyond.:)

Not actually part of my thesis, just a really cool site.
http://www.hubblesite.org

Then again, maybe it is;
6,000 to 10,000 years. Indeed!

Try this again:Ok, here's the idea: Could it be that Jehovah, while a powerful entity that a mystic such as Moses, trained in Egyptian Magic, (don't know about Abraham/Avrahm mysticism if any) contacted and enlisted its help to free the Jews, but is not the consciousness that created "everything seen from the Hubble" and beyond?

A god, but not God. FYI, I don't usually use the word God

Disclosure: I am a pantheist. Thumbnail: Take everything, all matter/energy, put it together and that is 'God'. As in 'God' is not seperate from existance. Rather a part of existence and more. Synergisticly speaking.
Back to the Greek 'Pan-all' & 'theos-God' & 'ist-ist'

pantheism |ˈpanθēˌizəm|
noun
1 a doctrine that identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God.
2 rare worship that admits or tolerates all gods.

Dictionary, Version 1.0.1 (1.0.1)
Copyright © 2005 Apple Computer, Inc.,

Is Jahovah 'God of the Jews'? And not The creator of all, the universe, everything seen from the Hubble and beyond.:)

[...] Try this again:Ok, here's the idea: Could it be that Jehovah, while a powerful entity that a mystic such as Moses, trained in Egyptian Magic, (don't know about Abraham/Avrahm mysticism if any) contacted and enlisted its help to free the Jews, but is not the consciousness that created "everything seen from the Hubble" and beyond?

A god, but not God. FYI, I don't usually use the word God

Anything is possible. But looking at it from a strictly mythological perspective, Jehova (a.k.a. Yahweh; a.k.a. Elohim) is the god of the Israelites and thus the god of both Christians and Muslims since both cults are derived from the former. Each of these cults have texts that claim this god is creator of all (Pentateuch and Koran).

Neither cult provides evidence to support their claim, so if there is a god in the universe that is a "creator," it could very easily be one that hasn't made itself known to man. But, as an atheist, I see no good reason to believe that the universe requires a creator at all and thus recognize the gods of Abrahamic religions as creations of man.

Is Jahovah 'God of the Jews'? And not The creator of all, the universe, everything seen from the Hubble and beyond.:)



Jehovah is no more God than is : Apollo, Odin, Artemis, Athena, Asar(Osiris), Isis (Aset),Pan, Zeus (Mr Dawkins fav:),Hathor, Aries,etc,etc....
Due to proper promotion as the "one true God",Jehovah is normally much more familiar to people than the others.
Personally I believe there are Gods/Goddesses with qualities that are a better reflection Of what God truely is than Yahweh.

A good history of the Yahweh cult:

"The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel"
by Mark S. Smith

But, as an atheist, I see no good reason to believe that the universe requires a creator at all...
So? Being a atheist doesn't give you any special powers of truth or reason either.
As an atheist you are someone who has a belief about god just as much as someone who has a belief in god.

Look, Just because one of the semitic tribes tribesman had contact with something greater than him and had someone else write it down a few hundred years later...

I am very much a theist who believes in the sanctity of life, and frankly Jehovah strikes me as either a violent psychotic or just plain malevolent.

His sanity notwithstanding, Jews tend to say something akin to: "Our god. No converts wanted, thank you."

BTW, atheist, you guys are the first to point out the contradictions within the Bible as a way to discount it.

Boyeeeee!

i will have to read up more about this subject before making a reply, i dont know enough about jahovah to describe his full function from the texts.

i will get back to you on it soon.


peace.

pantheism |ˈpanθēˌizəm|
noun
1 a doctrine that identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God.
2 rare worship that admits or tolerates all gods.


Anthropomorphization:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphization

So? Being a atheist doesn't give you any special powers of truth or reason either.

No. Those special powers come from my reluctance to buy into fantasies for no good reason; my critical thinking skills. These "powers" inform my atheism, not the other way around.

As an atheist you are someone who has a belief about god just as much as someone who has a belief in god.

True. But only in as much as I have a belief about the power of pigs to fly without the assistance of cannons; pink unicorn herds on the dark side of the moon; or fairies granting the wishes with the wave of their wands and a flap of their wings.

The difference between the beliefs of the reasoned mind and those of the credulous are the former bases them on evidence.

There is always a "head honcho", even of the universe.

Say what you will, but the mythical figures of Yahweh and Allah are both the same god. The evidence is that both the cults of Christianity (and, thus, Judaism) and Islam have the same core mythology regarding the mythical figure of Abraham.

Indeed, the very word "Allah" is cognate to the word, "Elohim." Allah comes from "al ilah," the feminine form of "the deity." Interestingly enough, the Aramaic word for "god" is "Elah."

So, you can pop in and say "false" all you like, it doesn't change the fact that each of these fictional characters are but different languages rendering the same thing. Clearly, you protest it since admitting such a thing would mean that you might need to recognize that your cult might not be the correct one and that one of your god's other cults is.

The evidence is that both the cults of Christianity (and, thus, Judaism) and Islam have the same core mythology regarding the mythical figure of Abraham.

Irrelevant. It's what these cults provide by way of "evidence" concerning Jesus Christ that is the issue.

Indeed, the very word "Allah" is cognate to the word, "Elohim." Allah comes from "al ilah," the feminine form of "the deity." Interestingly enough, the Aramaic word for "god" is "Elah." So, you can pop in and say "false" all you like, it doesn't change the fact that each of these fictional characters are but different languages rendering the same thing.

My declaration "False" regarding your equating of YHWH and 'allah' has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the particulars of your etymological red herring.

Clearly, you protest it since admitting such a thing would mean that you might need to recognize that your cult might not be the correct one and that one of your god's other cults is.

'Smells' of projection on your part...regardless, I "protest it" because the souls of fellow immortals are hanging in the balance. You are obfuscating the Gospel by proclaiming error concerning God, and I, concerned that some might be led astray through your error, have proclaimed the truth of the matter. Period.

Irrelevant. It's what these cults provide by way of "evidence" concerning Jesus Christ that is the issue.

They provide no evidence concerning "Jesus Christ."

My declaration "False" regarding your equating of YHWH and 'allah' has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the particulars of your etymological red herring.

Red herring? This would only be true if you had a pre-conceived conclusion to which all other data must be false because you allow yourself to be deluded by a mythical necessity. Etymology is anything *but* a red herring and your saying it is so doesn't make it so. Indeed, it is an ignorant and narrow minded accusation that denies reality.

... I "protest it" because the souls of fellow immortals are hanging in the balance.

LOL! No need to read any further with you! This is a clear statement of delusion! If I'm wrong and you aren't deluded, please cite the evidence that you are "immortal" as well as who your "fellow immortals" are. Failing to do this, please don't bore us with your deluded silliness. Even though this is the "Religion" subforum, there's no reason why we can't base our comments and discussions in reality.

But only in as much as I have a belief about the power of pigs to fly without the assistance of cannons; pink unicorn herds on the dark side of the moon; or fairies granting the wishes with the wave of their wands and a flap of their wings.
Had I been the one to bring up such fanciful notions this might be relevant...
Say what you will, but the mythical figures of Yahweh and Allah are both the same god. The evidence is that both the cults of Christianity (and, thus, Judaism) and Islam have the same core mythology regarding the mythical figure of Abraham.
So? This is a side track. As in: Very little to do with my question.
Originally Posted by Photizo: Irrelevant. It's what these cults provide by way of "evidence" concerning Jesus Christ that is the issue.
No it isn't. The issue whether Jehovah is the supreme being, or just an a powerful entity who made a deal with Avraham.

SkinWalker: Clearly, you protest it since admitting such a thing would mean that you might need to recognize that your cult might not be the correct one and that one of your god's other cults is.
Photizo: I "protest it" because the souls of fellow immortals are hanging in the balance. You are obfuscating the Gospel by proclaiming error concerning God, and I, concerned that...Please, Photizo: some might be led astray...lead them astray. Please find somewhere else to find converts for your religion of intolerance Photizo: ...through your error, have proclaimed the truth of the matter.
Hey Boys and Girls, Please take any discussion about the merits and/or flaws of whatever it is your arguing about to a more appropreate thread.
I have little use for the Gospels, and as I posit no individual/person as my profit(sic) I am not a 'cult' member.

:yawn: FYI, YHWH is God... :yawn:--and so is Jesus. :sleep:

They provide no evidence concerning "Jesus Christ."



Red herring? This would only be true if you had a pre-conceived conclusion to which all other data must be false because you allow yourself to be deluded by a mythical necessity. Etymology is anything *but* a red herring and your saying it is so doesn't make it so. Indeed, it is an ignorant and narrow minded accusation that denies reality.



LOL! No need to read any further with you! This is a clear statement of delusion! If I'm wrong and you aren't deluded, please cite the evidence that you are "immortal" as well as who your "fellow immortals" are. Failing to do this, please don't bore us with your deluded silliness. Even though this is the "Religion" subforum, there's no reason why we can't base our comments and discussions in reality.

"Your powers are weak, old man..."

:yawn: FYI, YHWH is god... :yawn:--and so is Jesus. :sleep:
*************
M*W: You speak of a god. Who is this god you speak of? Is he all powerful, all knowing, all present? Is he the god that created the universe? Who are you talking about? Allah?

If you really want to know the god of the universe, you should say so. Otherwise, who is this Jesus you speak of? Can he be proven to exist beyond reasonable doubt? Was he the miracle maker? Was he born of a virgin? Who was his father? Was he a bastard child? Was he a Jew who was circumcised? Surely, he has biblical records of this rite? Why was he born, and why did he die? What was his purpose on Earth? Weren't the Jews waiting for his return? Why were they waiting? That seems silly. Jews are silly people. Why are they like that? You'd think they would've figured all this out by now, don't you?

*************
M*W: You speak of a god. Who is this god you speak of? Is he all powerful, all knowing, all present? Is he the god that created the universe? Who are you talking about?

He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He (YHWH) will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see The Light.

FYI, YHWH is God... --and so is Jesus.

Your complete lack of evidence notwithstanding, of course. Your inclusion of "smilies" provides the same lack of seriousness as your fallacious assumption.

"Your powers are weak, old man..."

I nearly deleted this comment since it was trolling/meaningless and issued an infraction, but it seems more prudent to allow your lack of argument and completely illogical position to stand as a testament to your apparent delusion.

My apologies to the OP, but the fallacious claims of the religiously deluded cannot go unchallenged. Their ignorance must be shown for what it is.

To answer the OP's question, the god in question, "Jahovah" (sic) is the same god of christian, islamic and judaic cults. I stand by the etymological evidence provided as well as the fact that the mythical sources are the same. Christianity has since developed several new gods, including Satan, Jesus, the Holy Ghost, and various angels like Gabriel, Michael, etc. One can even argue that Mary and Moses are gods since prayers are uttered in their name and divine acts of magic and supernaturalism are attributed to them in mythology. Those deluded by the various cults of Christianity will, however, deny that there is more than a single god while in the same breath attributing supernatural powers of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence to other deities like Jesus, Satan and the Holy Ghost.

The bottom line is that the originating culture of the modern Christian "god" is Yahweh, which is the same thing as "Jehovah." The difference in spelling and phonology is basically a language thing and the fact that those deluded by this superstition were afraid to speak or spell out this silly god's name so they used the constants instead: "YHWH" and "JHVH" respectively. The latter being a Germanic translation of the former.

My apologies to the OP, but the fallacious claims of the religiously deluded cannot go unchallenged. Their ignorance must be shown for what it is.
OP- Original Poster?
And let's not worry 'bout what the raver has to say, and get on with an intelligent discussion.

To answer the OP's question, the god in question, "Jahovah" (sic)* is the same god of christian, islamic and judaic cults. as well as the fact that the mythical sources are the same. Christianity has since developed several new gods, including Satan, Jesus, the Holy Ghost, and various angels like Gabriel, Michael, etc. One can even argue that Mary and Moses are gods...Italics mine-OP Demi-gods maybe.
Actually there is much evidence that 'Mary' was a co-opting of the Mother Goddess archetype that was in Europe prior the the coming of the Christian Hordes,
tho I like your acknowledgment of Satan being a direct product of/from the christians.

Those deluded by the various cults of Christianity will, however, deny that there is more than a single god while in the same breath attributing supernatural powers of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence to other deities like Jesus, Satan and the Holy Ghost.

The bottom line is that the originating culture of the modern Christian "god" is Yahweh,
Again, So? As I am not a christian this isn't the issue for me. I know that the christ types worship Jehovah,
(*BTW I realized my spelling error and tried to fix it with later posts but don't know how to fix the thread title. If you do. pls share.)
My query is more to the effect of 'If there is a god, (I operate with/from the belief that there is one) are the Avrahm-ic cults deluding themselves by thinking that their "Jehovah" is it?'
Frankly, I don't see how any being that petty and jealous couldn't possibly be the creator.

M-W, While I mostly like your posts and am glad you found your way to this thread, could we please leave Jesus out of it?

Oh, and Photizo, if your not going to add any thing other than spewings from your book, please STFU!

M-W, While I mostly like your posts and am glad you found your way to this thread, could we please leave Jesus out of it?
*************
M*W: Why?

*************
M*W: Why?

Cuz Jesus has nothing to do with it.
Not in the equation of my question whatsoever.
Why are folks even bringing him up???
Is the question truly that unclear?
Would someone please repeat back what you think the question means/is about?

Jesus of Christian mythology is a separate character and isn't part of the discussion. Please refrain from off-topic posts. If you have something to say on the contradiction that Jesus is your god and not Yahweh, please start your own thread.

Hey Admin., Thanks for the spelling fix in thread title.:)

Anthropomorphization:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphization

What's your point?:shrug:

722 persons have viewed this thread and yet only 8ish have posted.

Why is that?

Much of th Old Testament is devoted to describing the origins and early history of the Hebrew people. According to the Bible, the Hebrews descended from a clan which lived in the Sumerian city of Ur around 2000 to 1500 B.C. The clan was befriended and ruled by a personality named Jehovah. The Bible claims that Jehovah was God.

According to the Biblical narrative, Jehovah encouraged the clan to leave Ur and settle in Haran—a caravan center in northeastern Mesopotamia. There, Jehovah later told the clan’s new patriarch, Abraham, to lead his tribe on a migration towards Egypt. The tribe complied, and over the ensuing generations it slowly made its way through Canaan towards the Nile River. Starvation finally forced the tribe to enter the Egyptian region of Goshen where the Hebrew sat first lived well under the pharaoh, but upon the coming of a new king to the Egyptian throne, the Hebrews were forced into slavery.

The Bible states that after four hundred years of servitude in Egypt, the Hebrews were led on an exodus out of Egypt by Moses under the watchful eye of Jehovah. By that time, the Hebrews numbered in the hundreds of thousands. After a long trek and many bloody battles, the Hebrew tribes returned to and conquered Canaan, which was the “Promised Land” pledged to them centuries earlier by Jehovah.

And so, according to the Bible, was born the Jewish religion.

Jehovah was clearly an important character in this Biblical story. Who was he? Was Jehovah God, as the Bible alleges? Was he a myth, as skeptics with a secular orientation would have us believe? Jehovah appears to have been neither.

The name Jehovah comes from the Hebrew word “Yahweh,” meaning “he that is” or “the self-evident.” This appellation conveys the idea that the Biblical Jehovah was a pure spiritual being; a true Supreme Being, if you will. But was he?
Old Testament descriptions of Jehovah have provided afield day for UFO writers, and for good reason. Jehovah travelled through the sky in what appears to have been a noisy, smoking aircraft.

A Biblical description of Jehovah landing on a mountaintop describes him this way:

. .. there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the sound of the trumpet was exceedingly loud;* and all of the people that were in the camp trembled.



* A trumpet-like sound accompanied many appearances of Jehovah.


And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain.


And Mount Sinai was altogether covered with smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke from the fire billowed upwards like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
GENESIS 19:16-19

If an ancient Hebrew were to observe the rumbling, smoke, and flame of a modern rocketship, the description would not have been much different than this Biblical narrative of Jehovah. A later visit by Jehovah contained the same phenomena:

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they moved away and stood far off.
GENESIS 20:18

Lest it be assumed that these descriptions might be of a volcano, further sightings reveal that Jehovah was a moving object:

And the Lord travelled before them [the Hebrew tribes] by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, or the pillar of fire by night, from in front of the people.
EXODUS 13:21-22

Exodus 14:24, 40:34-38, and Numbers 19:1-23 contain identical descriptions of Jehovah as he led the Hebrew tribes to the Promised Land.


The ancient Hebrew eyewitnesses responsible for the above descriptions were not able to get a closer look at Jehovah. The Bible points out that no one was permitted to approach Jehovah’s mountaintop landing sites except Moses and a few select leaders. Jehovah had threatened to kill anyone else who tried. The early Bible therefore contains only descriptions of Jehovah as eyewitnesses saw him from a distance. It was not until much later that one of the Bible’s most famous prophets, Ezekiel, was able to get a closer look and describe Jehovah in greater detail. Ezekiel 1:1-25

He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He (YHWH) will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see The Light.

When the Hebrew armies reached Canaan, Jehovah displayed a genuinely psychopathic bent. To establish the Hebrews in their new homeland, Jehovah ordered the Hebrew armies to embark on a campaign of genocide to depopulate all of the region’s existing cities and towns. Under the new leadership of a man named Joshua, the first city to fall in Jehovah’s seven-year holocaust was Jericho. According to the Bible, the Hebrew army, numbering in the tens of thousands, slaughtered everyone in Jericho except, ironically, a prostitute because she had earlier betrayed her own people by helping two Hebrew spies:

And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
JOSHUA 6:21

After that was accomplished:

.. . they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.
JOSHUA 6:24

The next target was Ai, a city with a population of 12,000 inhabitants. All of the citizens of Ai were butchered and the city was burned to the ground. This savagery was perpetrated city after city:

So Joshua killed all in the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the valleys, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.
JOSHUA 10:40

The genocide was justified by saying that the victims were all wicked. This could not have been the true reason because children and animals were also slaughtered. It is hardly fair to massacre an entire city for the crimes of a few; neither is it right to murder a child for the crimes of its parents. The real crime, according to the Bible, was that the natives of the region had become disobedient. The more obedient Hebrews were therefore elected by Jehovah to wipe out the natives and replace them.

There is some debate today about whether the Hebrew assimilation into Canaan was as genocidal as portrayed in the Bible. Modern archaeological digs into some of the battle sites named in the Bible (such as Hazor, Lachish and Debir) have revealed evidence of violent destruction during the time of Joshua. Other sites have yielded less conclusive evidence. Many people understandably prefer to play down the Biblical bloodshed as much as possible. To whatever degree the Biblical story of the conquest of Canaan is true, it does tell us something very important about genocide:

Genocide is often a tool for promoting rapid political or social change by quickly replacing one group of people with another. For this reason, genocide has emerged as a significant historical phenomenon in connection with many efforts at bringing about rapid political and social change.

People who are familiar with Jewish moral teachings may be surprised at the brutal behavior ascribed to Jehovah and the Hebrews. The most famous of the Jewish moral teachings are, of course, the Ten Commandments, which were reportedly given to Moses by Jehovah during the Hebrews’ trek to the Promised Land. After Moses’ death, Jehovah and the armies of Israel clearly violated the Commandments in a big way. Thou shalt not kill was transgressed when the Hebrews massacred the inhabitants of Canaan.

Jehovah was clearly an important character in this Biblical story. Who was he? Was Jehovah God, as the Bible alleges? Was he a myth, as skeptics with a secular orientation would have us believe? Jehovah appears to have been neither.


Not "literally" God as the Jews and Christians would have you believe but rather mythical in nature like all other Gods and Goddesses. Simply one version of God created by man to reflect the supreme being.


For a good historical look at the History of Yahweh and the Cannaanite Deities..see Mark L Smiths Book "The early history of God : Yahweh and other Deities in ancient Isreal."

As far as I know he is recognized as a leading scholar in this area,although many scholars disagree with his interpretation of events concerning the deity..the Goddess Asherah and her role in early Israeli culture.

Yahweh apparently came to Israel from Edom or another southern location (Smith discusses this in another book, "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism"). He was incorporated into Israel's pantheon, which was Canaanite: it featured the deities El, Baal, Anat and Asherah.

Smith's thesis is that the development of monolatry (which preceeded monotheism) in Israel began with a process of convergence and differentiation.


At an early stage, during the Iron I period, Israel was undifferentiated, a normal Canaanite society: "The number of deities in Israel was relatively typical for the region" In particular "Baal was an accepted Israelite god" and criticism of his cult only began in the eighth or ninth centuries.

There was a transition at some point from Baal being worshipped alongside Yahweh without conflict, to a struggle between their cults, to the final emergence of Yahweh's cult alone. This transition included Yahweh's taking over Baal's imagery as storm god.

The real historical question that emerges is not Jeremiah's 'Why did his people turn away from the Lord,' but 'Why did the prophets turn away from Baal?' We do not yet have a clear answer, only the certainty that Baal came to be seen as a "threat" by the priesthood.

As far as the Goddess Asherah and her role...Smith acknowledges that most scholars believe some goddess, probably Asherah, was worshipped during the period of the monarchy; but he believes she may have been forgotten already by the period of the judges. Her symbolism was obviously incorporated into Yahweh's cult ,...and later purged from it. Necessary, given the very patriarchial nature of the priesthood.

What we know of the basic elements of the Ba‘al myth actually comes from two groups of texts. The Babylonian creation hymn, Enuma Elish, describes a great battle among the gods, primarily between Marduk, the champion of the gods, and Tiamat, the primeval ocean or the "deep."

The second group of texts come from Ugarit, in northern Syria. They are chiefly concerned with the emergence of Ba‘al as the leader of the gods. Basically, Ba‘al was the storm god, the bringer of rain, and thus fertility, to the land. There was rivalry among the gods and a struggle erupted between Yamm, the sea, and Ba‘al, the rain. With the help of his sister Anat, the goddess of war, and Astarte, the goddess of earth and fertility, Ba‘al defeated Yamm, and his cohorts, Tannin, the dragon of the sea, and Loran (or Lothan, cf. Isa 27:1), the serpent with seven heads.

The gods began to build a magnificent house for Ba‘al so that he could be at rest and provide abundant rain for the earth. But Ba‘al was challenged by Mot (or Mut), the god of death and the underworld. Mot temporarily triumphed and Ba‘al disappeared into the underworld. Anat and Shapash, the sun god, found Ba‘al, brought him back to life, and restored him to his house.

This series of stories is even more clearly, especially in its details, an agrarian myth personifying the cycle of rainy and dry seasons of the Middle East. Like the Enuma Elish, these texts deal with the danger inherent in drought and ensuing famine. The disappearance of rain in the dry season (Ba‘al’s descent into the underworld) portended catastrophe if it did not return in the Spring.

But this myth is more explicitly concerned with fertility, specifically cast in terms of human sexuality. Worship of Ba‘al involved imitative magic, the performance of rituals, including sacred prostitution, which were understood to bring vitality to Ba‘al in his struggle with Mot. It takes little imagination to see the connection between the human sexual act and rain watering the earth to produce fruit. It is interesting to note in passing that the biblical traditions use these same agrarian images of being fruitful or barren to describe vitality in human beings.

While we have no surviving Canaanite religious texts, the accounts of Ba‘al worship in the Old Testament correspond closely to the existing versions of the Ba‘al myth and what we know of religious practices in surrounding areas. The influence of this religious system on Israel can hardly be overestimated. Contrary to how some statements in the biblical traditions are often understood, the problem that faced Israel through most of its history was not that the people totally abandoned Yahweh for the worship of Ba‘al. Rather the problem was syncretism, the blending of Yahweh worship with Ba’al worship.

The Israelites never abandoned the worship of Yahweh. They simply added the worship of Ba‘al to their worship of Yahweh (called syncretism). They had one God for crises and another god for everyday life. The actual worship of Ba‘al was carried out in terms of imitative magic whereby sexual acts by both male and female temple prostitutes were understood to arouse Ba‘al who then brought rain to make Mother Earth fertile (in some forms of the myth, represented by a female consort, Asherah or Astarte).

I couldn't have said it better myself.;)
'Cept for all the typing. :eek:
Jehovah-a god amongst many. I'll have to check Mark L Smiths Book "The early history of God : Yahweh and other Deities in ancient Isreal."out. Sounds cool.
Thx.

Unfortunately, what several reviewers (notably Boadt, Hess, Edelman, Handy, and the present reviewer) wrote of the first edition is true of the present one. Problems having to do with Smith's use of evidence and historical argument remain. Evidence is drawn from different times and places with little attention to context.

Biblical texts are too often treated as though directly representative of the period spoken of rather than primarily of the views of the
period when they may have been written. Smith accumulates references but leaves the
precise relations among them indistinct. It is often difficult to find a clear thread of
argument and adequate justification for the conclusions drawn.

Thus while Smith excels at accumulating references to all sorts of sources from a wide range of times and places (as well as bibliographical references in the notes), he generally skims over these superficially without developing a nuanced argument and giving only occasional attention to problems of interpretation on historical method and more attention to specific social and cultural contexts.

Unfortunately, what several reviewers (notably Boadt, Hess, Edelman, Handy, and the present reviewer) wrote of the first edition is true of the present one. Problems having to do with Smith's use of evidence and historical argument...
Do I understand you correctly, that you are disparaging a source that you cite?:shrug:

I see that over 1000 of you folks have viewed this thread, yet you do not post.(?)
Be Ye sluggards? ;)