It is likely that the Egyptians of the New Kingdom Period classified all of the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, Amalekites, Midianites, Kenites, Hapiru, and Israelites as Shasu. Peace is God's ideal, yet the Old Testament affirms that the God of Israel is also a "man of war" ( Exod 15:3 ), who is "mighty in battle" ( Psa 24:8) and stores up weapons for the fight ( Job 38:22-23 ). 19-20. [11] During the Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as taboo,[12] and Jews instead began to substitute other words, primarily adonai (.mw-parser-output .script-hebrew,.mw-parser-output .script-Hebr{font-family:"SBL Hebrew","SBL BibLit","Taamey Ashkenaz","Taamey Frank CLM","Frank Ruehl CLM","Ezra SIL","Ezra SIL SR","Keter Aram Tsova","Taamey David CLM","Keter YG","Shofar","David CLM","Hadasim CLM","Simple CLM","Nachlieli",Cardo,Alef,"Noto Serif Hebrew","Noto Sans Hebrew","David Libre",David,"Times New Roman",Gisha,Arial,FreeSerif,FreeSans}, "my Lord"). Canaanite God of the Sun. [47] Other scholars hold that Yahweh and Qs were different deities from their origins, and suggest that the tensions between Judeans and Edomites during the Second Temple period may lie behind the omission of Qs in the Bible. in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 48 (2005), pp. Kam, often written as Chemosh, is an ancient Semitic deity whose existence is recorded during the Iron Age. Yahweh worship can be traced back all the way to the ancient religion of Canaan. [44], Unlike the chief god of the Ammonites (Milcom) and the Moabites (Chemosh), the Tanakh refrains from explicitly naming the Edomite Qs. And through the skies in his majestic glory. 26-27. The mountains quaked at Yahwehs presence, 22, No. When used for nomads living in these areas, the term Shasu seems to have been used by the Egyptians almost exclusively for people groups that can clearly be identified as Semitic herders. [8] In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated and El-linked epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone,[9] and other gods and goddesses such as Baal and Asherah were absorbed into Yahwist religion. [7] The early Israelites were polytheistic and worshipped Yahweh alongside a variety of Canaanite gods and goddesses, including El, Asherah and Baal. And the Biblical narrative, as believers and critics alike recognize, is one centered around war. As Israel codified itself, in war, Yahweh took on prominence and displaced the idols en route to Yahwism. The Hebrew/Christian god Yahweh, prior to taking on wholly monotheistic attributes in the 6th century BCE, was a part of the Canaanite pantheon in the pre-Babylonian captivity period. The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life: Passover with the birthing of lambs, Shavuot with the cereal harvest, and Sukkot with the fruit harvest. If the group in question were Yahweh followers who never went to Egypt, why are they absent in topographical lists from the early period of the 18th Dynasty, for example, from the extensive topographical lists of Thutmosis III? He is also a God who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. 3. Note too that these Shasu tribes were settled, after they crossed the border into Egyptian territory, at Per Atum in Tjeku, or, to put it in Biblical terms, at Pithom in Succoth.3 In addition, it should be noted that these Shasu Edomites were animal herders and that they were also, of course, Semites. There is even a reference dating to ca. a descendant). In the land of grain and new wine; [74], Yahweh-worship was famously aniconic, meaning that the god was not depicted by a statue or other image. The texts flanking the scene are largely rhetorical, praising the virtues of the king. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel, pp. The Canaanite pantheon included many gods, the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon being El. Joshua was a warrior. The war god thesis has largely been revived since the late 1990s. 1400 BC fits perfectly with the Early Date of the Exodus, but this fact presents major problems for those scholars who believe that the Exodus took place during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses II in the 13th century BC. The reason may very well be because the Shasu of Yahweh were indeed the Israelites and that they were still living in Egypt in the early 18th Dynasty. However the Ugaritic text is read, the verbal play on the similarity between yw and ym (the sea-god Yam) must be recognised". The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, Art, Culture, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, and Literature. 1400 BC. Evidence for Inerrancy from a Second Unexpected Source: The Jubilee and Sabbatical Cycles, Is It Time to Throw Away Your Bible? Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The topographical lists that are of most interest are the group of texts which read t3 Sh3sw of X, or Land of the Shasu of X, where X is normally a place. Ashima. For an excellent study of the use of the term Shasu in Egyptian texts see Kenneth R.Coopers two part series of articles titled The Shasu of Palestine in Egyptian Texts that appeared in ARTIFAX.5 As Cooper points out, most Egyptologists derive the name Shasu from an Egyptian verb meaning to wander and thus translate it as nomads or Bedouin., However, the vast majority of scholars who have written on the Shasu stress that they were a people who were not totally nomadic. ; 8:i; 9:6; II:8; 12:4-6; I5:II f.). But it seems to me, from those studies and contemporary renaissance of books on ancient Israel, Judah, and David, that this thesis is the in vogue belief among the professoriate. James J. ODonnells The Ruin of the RomanEmpire, The Implicit Humanism of BiblicalCriticism, https://paypal.me/PJKrause?locale.x=en_US, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1725297396, How Yahweh Became God: The War God Thesis Discourses on Minerva | Die Goldene Landschaft, From War God to Cosmic Deity: The Evolution of Yahweh Discourses on Minerva, The Origins of Yahweh: The Kenite-Midianite Hypothesis Discourses on Minerva, Yahweh, Genesis, and the Kenite-Midianite Hypothesis Discourses on Minerva, Reading Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah, PartVIII, Reading Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah, PartVII, Reading Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah, PartVI, Reading Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah, PartV, Reading Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah, PartIV, Reading Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah, PartIII. El. Astour correlates the Amarah list of Rameses II with the Soleb list of Amenhotep III. Throughout the mature Old Testament narrative, God is constantly invoked as a God of War. [73] Shiloh, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah and Dan were also major sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making of vows, private rituals, and the adjudication of legal disputes. [29] An answer many scholars consider plausible is the Kenite hypothesis, which holds that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along the caravan routes between Egypt and Canaan. Given that the late-Exodus to Davidic narrative centers on the formation of a united kingdom in Jerusalem, whose Temple is dedicated to God, we must ask who is this god that the United Kingdom of Israel worshipped and credited for its emergence on the international stage (leading to marriages with the daughters of Egypt, Phoenicia, and others)? It thus appears very likely that the Shasu of Yahweh, who are mentioned in the topographical texts at Soleb and Amarah-West, were the Israelites who by about 1400 BC had settled into their own land (t3) in the mountains of Canaan. This association is furthered by his identification with Lotan the Leviathan, the monster who churned the seas. Seir. The Context of Scripture (Leiden: Brill, 2003), Vol. This article was originally published in the Autumn 2009 issue of Artifax. This question is taken from the New American Standard translation, but we have substituted Yahweh from the Hebrew for the word LORD. We will return to this point later. (LogOut/ The first, Sa-a-r-ar, is difficult to identify on linguistic grounds. Support Wisdom:https://paypal.me/PJKrause?locale.x=en_US, My Book on Literature:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1725297396, My Book on Plato:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BQLMVH2, Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/paul_jkrause/(@paul_jkrause), Twitter:https://twitter.com/paul_jkrause(@paul_jkrause), Editor-in-Chief of VoegelinView. [62] In 539BCE Babylon in turn fell to the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great, the exiles were given permission to return (although only a minority did so), and by about 500BCE the Second Temple was built. From humble beginnings as the Storm God Hadad, he grew to occupy top position in the Canaanite pantheon, taking charge of War and Heroic Action Adventure.. His consort is Anath (later Astarte), the Goddess of Fertility and Sexuality.She's also his sister, but Gods don't worry about that kind of thing. There are a few references in Egyptian texts to Shasu nomads living in the area of Nubia south of Egypt, but the vast majority of references are to Shasu living north of Egypt, and it is these Shasu who are the focus of this paper. The Yahweh-religion thus began to separate itself from its Canaanite heritage; this process continued over the period from 800 to 500BCE with legal and prophetic condemnations of the asherim, sun worship and worship on the high places, along with practices pertaining to the dead and other aspects of the old religion. In Egyptian art, Astarte is depicted standing on a horse, with a crown on her head, and holding various weapons. [71] Prayer played little role in official worship. In any case, these references to Yahweh have been ignored for far too long by both conservative and liberal biblical scholars. The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Two): Digging for Truth Episode 201, The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part One): Digging for Truth Episode 200, Joshua's Conquest of Canaan (Part Two): Digging for Truth Episode 199, A Monumental Fortification Tower & Militaria: Late Hellenistic & Early Roman Military Architecture & Equipment Discovered at Khirbet el-Maqatir, Israel, Zebulun by the Sea? 5. Now let us draw some conclusions regarding the Land of the Shasu of Yahweh. Ancient Levantine deity from Edom and national god of Israel and Judah, This article is about the ancient Levantine deity. Mesha rather records how he defeated Israel, and plundered the temple of Yahweh, presenting the spoils to his own god, Chemosh. 1 and 2 Samuel are filled with violence. [10], Towards the end of the Babylonian captivity, the existence of other gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and sole divinity to be worshipped. Joshua is filled with violence. Baal (/ b e. Perhaps originally none of the terms indicated by the phrase the land of the Shasu of X were place names, including the name Yahweh. [54] During the reign of Ahab (c. 871852BCE), and particularly following his marriage to Jezebel, Baal may have briefly replaced Yahweh as the national god of Israel (but not Judah). Habbakuk 3 and the God Resheph in the Hebrew Bible. Canaanite God of War. First, there is no doubt that the name of the Israelite God Yahweh appears in these hieroglyphic texts at Soleb and Amarah-West, and also probably at Medinet Habu. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cases, monolatristic. [4] Whether the god was named after the place, or the place named after the god, is undecided. In addition, the German scholar Siegfried Herrmann, who translated the above text, has identified the area of Tjeku, where the Shasu Edomites were settled, with the general area of the Land of Goshen mentioned in Genesis 46:34.4 The treatment of the Shasu Edomites by the officials of Pharaoh is reminiscent of Pharaohs earlier treatment of the Israelites in Egypt during the time of Joseph. There is also no biblical reference or ancient historical source that mentions a topographical site named Yahweh. The issue of the Israelites and their relationship to the Canaanites is actually very contested in nuances versus the broad generalizations often found online. [63], Towards the end of the Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as taboo. And that god was Yahweh. The Hebrew/Christian god Yahweh, prior to taking on wholly monotheistic attributes in the 6th century BCE, was a part of the Canaanite pantheon in the pre- Babylonian captivity period. When Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, the jubilant Israelites sing to God, calling him a man of war: The LORD is a man of war. The triumph of God in the Exodus narrative is battling with Pharoahs army and defeating ita characteristic of war god literature also tied to the Kenite-Midianite thesis of Yahwehs origin as an Arabian war deity (Moses meets God in the direction of Arabia and his father is a Midianite, etc.). What an interesting and insightful perspective, I love it dear. It is generally accepted that the term Shasu means nomads or Bedouin people, referring primarily to the nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples of Syria-Palestine. Reshef, a Canaanite god of war and thunder, seems to have been introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos. A Study of Several Passages of Scripture, The Ancient Document Rule and the Flood of Noah's Day. [14], A coin issued by Pompey to celebrate his successful conquest of Judaea showed a kneeling, bearded figure grasping a branch (a common Roman symbol of submission) subtitled BACCHIVS IVDAEVS, which may be translated as either "The Jewish Bacchus" or "Bacchus the Judaean". The dedication of the Solomonic Temple to Yahweh makes sense. (Book of Judges 5:45, 20, WEB World English Bible)[42], From the perspective of the Kenite hypothesis, it has also been suggested that the Edomite deity Qs might have been one and the same as Yahweh, rather than a separate deity, with its name a title of the latter. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Wow. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel, p. 272. University of Washington Press, 1998. Yahweh [a] was an ancient Levantine deity, and national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Here enters the famous David, King of Judah and father of Solomon. "Yahweh" in K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, tgr.il.bnh.tr [ ] wyn.lt[p]n il dp[id]. See also Clyde E. Billington, Goliath and the Exodus Giants: How Tall Were They? Text from a loose block which may belong to this scene reads in part, Presentation of tribute by His Majesty to his father Amun, [when] he returned from the land of despicable Retenu (Syria), and the chiefs of the foreign lands. And as that god became centralized in Jerusalem, and as that Temple stood and was rebuilt in Jerusalem, that god became the sole god we now simply call God. He was simply head of the Canaanite pantheon. This idea is based on an old tradition (recorded in Judges 1:16, 4:11) that Moses' father-in-law was a Midianite priest of Yahweh, as it were preserving a memory of the Midianite origin of the god. 1 and 2 Samuel, according to modern scholars, honors the memory of the northern warrior tradition (Saul) but pedestalizes David (for having been the figure who united the disparate Israelite tribes under a single kingdom). As king of the netherworld, Reshef was thought to bring plague and war upon humanity. In this inscription, Yahweh is not presented as a Moabite deity. [15] The shortened forms "Yeho-", "Yahu-" and "Yo-" appear in personal names and in phrases such as "Hallelujah! Later, Mot, the god of the . Redford not only assumes that the Land of the Shasu of Yahweh was located in the general area of Edom, but he also assumes that the earliest worshippers of Yahweh were Edomites. [84] However, as coins minted with such iconography ordinarily depicted subjected persons, and not the gods of a subjected people, some have assumed the coin simply depicts the surrender of a Judean who was called "Bacchius", sometimes identified as the Hasmonean king Aristobulus II, who was overthrown by Pompey's campaign. Boyarin, Daniel. Theological dictionary of the Old Testament: 5 p 510 ed. Most historical critics believe that the Exodus narrative, while inflated, depicts a refugee Canaanite community escaping Egypt and enteringfor the first time in their lives as the offspring of enslaved Canaanitestheir ancestral lands. The third place name and the one that is of the greatest interest to us is the Land of the Shasu of Yahweh. Astour makes no attempt to locate this people group, and for a good reason. Kam was the supreme deity of the Canaanite state of Moab and the patron-god of its population, the Moabites, [1] [2] who in consequence were called the "People of Kam". Answer The idea that Yahweh started out as an Edomite, Midianite, or Canaanite deity is a modern myth promoted by secular scholars. The Canaanites, by contrast, were destroyed at the direction of God and primarily because of their sin. The city of Rameses was also the 19th Dynastys capital of Egypt. Rabbinic sources suggest that, by the Second Temple period, the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on the Day of Atonement.[17]. [55][56], In the 9th century BCE, there are indications of rejection of Baal worship associated with the prophets Elijah and Elisha. on How Yahweh Became God: The War GodThesis, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Who Really Destroyed the Western Roman Empire? When the Israelites enter Canaan, Joshua is their warlord leader and most of Gods commands to Joshua and the Israelites are militaristic in nature, furthering the depiction of God inherited from Moses and the Exodus. [67] These probably pre-dated the arrival of the Yahweh religion,[67] but they became linked to events in the national mythos of Israel: Passover with the exodus from Egypt, Shavuot with the law-giving at Mount Sinai, and Sukkot with the wilderness wanderings. [78] The early supporters of this faction are widely regarded as being monolatrists rather than true monotheists;[79] they did not believe Yahweh was the only god in existence, but instead believed that he was the only god which the people of Israel should worship. Nevertheless, the full name t3 shsw tu-ra-ba-ar appears after the place mentioning Yahweh on both the Soleb and Amarah lists. Yes, the clouds dropped water. ilt, translated by Mark S. Smith in Simon B. Parker, ed., Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), 89 ", sm.bny.yaw.ilt [] A concordance of Ugaritic words, 3 Vol.3Jess-Luis Cunchillos,Juan-Pablo Vita,Jos-ngel Zamora p1684, Johannes Cornelis de Moor The rise of Yahwism: the roots of Israelite monotheism 1997 - 445 13-20 [J yp 'r] Sm bny yw 'ilt = My son [shall not be called] by the name of Yw, o goddess, [Jfc ym smh (?)] Astour questions translating Sa-a-r-ar as Se'ir because of the way that it is spelled in the list at Amarah. A possible explanation is that Yahweh was seen by the Egyptians as an enemy God, of an enemy tribal group which was a part of the hated Shasu peoples who lived north of Egypt. Notes. 1400 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For Redford, this explains how Yahweh became the God of the Israelites.9. In the earliest Biblical literature Yahweh is a storm god typical of ancient Near Eastern myths, marching out from a region to the south or south-east of Israel with the heavenly host of stars and planets that make up his army to do battle with the enemies of his people Israel:[19], "There is none like the God of Jeshurun (Israel), A Book Review, Book Review: The Genesis Creation Account and Its Reverberations in the Old Testament, Book Review: Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology, Book Review: From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology: Part II, Evolution and the American Abortion Mentality, Canaanite Child Sacrifice, Abortion, and the Bible, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Commentary, The Tel Dan Stela and the Kings of Aram and Israel, Mount Sinai is NOT Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia. 22. A list of Egyptian place names from the temple of Amon at Soleb (see also Shasu of Yhw), from the time of Amenhotep III (1402-1363 BCE) is the earliest possible occurrence of Yahu.
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