ellauri061.html on line 839: Answer: The account of Deborah and Barak is found in Judges 4 and 5 in the Old Testament. The Israelites had been under the control of the Canaanite king Jabin and the commander of his army, Sisera. The Canaanites had 900 chariots of iron and ruled over Israel for 20 years (Judges 4:2–3).
ellauri061.html on line 845: Following this battle, “God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him” (Judges 4:23–24). Deborah’s prophecy was fulfilled: Barak won, Sisera was killed by a woman, and the Israelites were freed from their enemies.
ellauri061.html on line 847: Judges chapter 5 then records the song of Deborah and Barak, written to rejoice in God’s victory over the Canaanites. The lyrics encourage the actions of Deborah and Barak, saying, “Wake up, wake up, Deborah! / Wake up, wake up, break out in song! / Arise, Barak! / Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam” (Judges 5:12). Jael’s role is also heralded: “Most blessed of women be Jael, / the wife of Heber the Kenite, / most blessed of tent-dwelling women” (verse 24).
ellauri061.html on line 849: The song of Deborah and Barak also gives some more detail about the victory over the Canaanites: “The earth shook, the heavens poured, / the clouds poured down water” (Judges 5:4). Evidently, God used a flood to disable the iron chariots of Sisera. The victory was supernatural (verse 20). Chapter 5 concludes with the statement, “And the land had peace forty years.” This impressive time of peace lasted until Midian took control of Israel, necessitating Gideon’s rise.
ellauri156.html on line 335: The sequence of events, so far as David is concerned, can be enumerated in this way: (1) David stays in Jerusalem; (2) David stays in bed; (3) David sees Bathsheba bathing herself as he walks on his roof; (4) David sends and inquires about this woman; (5) David learns her identity and that she is married to a military hero; (6) David sends messengers to take her and bring her to him; (7) David lays with her; (8) Bathsheba goes back to her home after she purifies herself. This same sequence can be seen in a number of other texts, none of which is commendable. Shechem “saw, took, and lay with” Dinah, the daughter of Jacob in Genesis 34:2. Judah “saw, took, and went in to” the Canaanite woman he made his wife in Genesis 38:2-3. Achan “saw, coveted, and took” the forbidden spoils of war in Joshua 7:21. Samson did virtually the same in Judges 14. Let us not forget that a similar sequence occurred at the first sin when Eve “saw, desired, and took” the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3. (Thanx a lot Bob for this compendium. This will certainly come handy later on, when looking for something fun to read.)
ellauri156.html on line 681: Bathsheba's response to the death of her husband is as we would expect, as we would also hope. From what the text tells us, she has absolutely no part in David's plot to deceive her husband, let alone to put him to death. Undoubtedly, she learns of Uriah's death in much the same way every war widow does, then or now. When she is officially informed of Uriah's death in battle, she mourns for her husband. We cannot be certain just how long this period of mourning is. We know, for example, that if a virgin of some distant (i.e., not Canaanite) nation was captured by an Israelite during a raid on her town, the Israelite could take her for a wife after she had mourned for her parents (who would have been killed in the raid) for a full month (Deuteronomy 21:10-13). As I will seek to show in a moment, I believe Bathsheba's mourning is genuine, and not hypocritical. I believe she mourns her husband's death because she loves him.
ellauri164.html on line 508: As mentioned earlier, we also know that Moses’ life was typological of the life of Christ. Like Christ, Moses was the mediator of a covenant. Christ too was a little recalcitrant, so he got crucified. Again, the author of Hebrews goes to great lengths to demonstrate this point (cf. Hebrews 3; 8—10). The Apostle Paul also makes the same points in 2 Corinthians 3. The difference is that the covenant that Moses mediated was temporal and conditional, whereas the covenant that Christ mediates is eternal and unconditional. Like Christ, Moses provided redemption for his people. Moses delivered the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land of Canaan. Christ delivers His people out of bondage and slavery to sin and condemnation and brings them to the Promised Land of eternal life on a renewed earth, like Azrael in the forthcoming third season of His Dark Materials. Like Christ he returns to consummate the kingdom He inaugurated at His first coming. Like Christ, Moses was a prophet to his people. Moses spoke the very words of God to the Israelites just as Christ did (John 17:8). Moses predicted that the Lord would raise up another prophet like him from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus and the early church taught and believed that Moses was speaking of Jesus when he wrote those words (cf. John 5:46, Acts 3:22, 7:37). In so many ways, Moses’ life is a precursor to the life of Christ. As such, we can catch a glimpse of how God was working His plan of redemption in the lives of faithful people throughout human history. This gives us hope that, just as God saved His people and gave them rest through the actions of Moses, so, too, will God save us and give us an eternal Sabbath rest in Christ, both now and in the life to come. But don't get your hopes too high, you may not be among the chosen after all.
ellauri164.html on line 892: To begin with, we need to know that there were two instances where the children of Israel on their journey to Canaan drank water from the rock. The first was at a place known as Rephidim which would later be called Massah (temptation) and Meribah (strife). The second was at Kadesh. The water here was also called water of Meribah. “This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and He was sanctified in them.” Numbers 20:13
ellauri164.html on line 957: Every year we plow through the many possible explanations for God’s decision to disallow Moses entry to Canaan. I would like to propose an explanation that is connected with what we already know about the Israelites and with the way the story is structured.
ellauri171.html on line 521: She seems to have been confident enough of her safety to move freely among the the Canaanite women of the region -relations with Canaanites were friendly, and the women of both peoples considered themselves to be safe.
ellauri171.html on line 704: Judges 19-21 demonstrates that God is opposed to the abuse of women in this account. He commanded the destruction of an entire tribe because they did not punish those who raped and abused a concubine and caused her to die. Only when she died did they stop! We are told they abused her all night until dawn. Further, they were so morally bankrupt and corrupt that they left her dead at the door of the Levite. Scripture lifts women above the degradation of the Canaanites and the surrounding nations, but the town of Gibeah had become like the Canaanites. God has a higher view of women than described here. That is why He ordered the destruction of the unjust and morally bankrupt tribe of Benjamin.
ellauri171.html on line 708: Our eighth lesson reveals the twelve tribes were becoming more like the Canaanites, which were given to sexual perversion: homosexuality, rape, adultery, murder, lies, abuse of women, abduction, absence of justice and the defense of the guilty. What sins did we miss? In truth these are sufficient to demonstrate the utter moral decline of the twelve tribes and one tribe that was worse than the others.
ellauri171.html on line 714: Daniel Block writes these words, “The Levite had preferred Gibeah over Jebus to avoid the dangers of Canaanism, only to discover that Canaan had invaded his own world.” Sadly, Canaanism is invading our world and some western countries appear to be far worse than the tribe of Benjamin. They do not even seek the Lord for direction. At least the other eleven tribes sought the Lord and killed tens of thousands more. Jehovah was appeased.
ellauri171.html on line 733: Jael was a foil for Deborah, Bible heroine, a Supreme Judge of Israel – not a judge who passes sentence on criminals, but a leader and adviser in times of trouble. She badgered the Israelite general into joining battle with the Canaanites, even though the enemy had more soldiers and better equipment. God sent a rainstorm that made the Canaanite chariots sitting ducks for the Israelite slingmen – and Deborah was hailed as a national heroine.
ellauri171.html on line 821: Ahabin dynastia omridit eli kuningas Omrin porukat oli jotain kananiittejä. Israel Finkelstein's The Bible Unearthed presents a very different picture of the Omrides than the circumcision handbook, making them responsible for the great empire, magnificent palaces, wealth, and peace in Israel and Judah that the Bible credits to the much earlier kings David and Solomon. According to Finkelstein, the reason for this discrepancy is the religious bias of the Biblical authors against the Omrides for their polytheism, and in particular their support for elements of the Canaanite religion.
ellauri171.html on line 825: 'Deity' is like god emeritus. A great number of deities in a four-tier hierarchy headed by El and Asherah were worshiped by the followers of the Canaanite religion; this is a detailed listing:
ellauri171.html on line 933: Canaanites believed that following physical death, the npš (usually translated as "soul") departed from the body to the land of Mot (Death). Bodies were buried with grave goods, and offerings of food and drink were made to the dead to ensure that they would not trouble the living. Dead relatives were venerated and sometimes asked for help. Seijakin huutaa aina Leaa avuxi.
ellauri171.html on line 961: None of the inscribed tablets found in 1929 in the Canaanite city of Ugarit (destroyed c. 1200 BC) has revealed a cosmology. Any idea of one is often reconstructed from the much later Phoenician text by Philo of Byblos (c. 64–141 AD), after much Greek and Roman influence in the region.
ellauri171.html on line 967: In Canaanite mythology there were twin mountains Targhizizi and Tharumagi which hold the firmament up above the earth-circling ocean, thereby bounding the earth. W. F. Albright, for example, says that El Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian shadû ("mountain") and shaddā'û or shaddû'a ("mountain-dweller"), one of the names of Amurru. Philo of Byblos states that Atlas was one of the Elohim, which would clearly fit into the story of El Shaddai as "God of the Mountain(s)". Harriet Lutzky has presented evidence that Shaddai was an attribute of a Semitic goddess, linking the epithet with Hebrew šad "breast" as "the one of the Breast". The idea of two mountains being associated here as the breasts of the Earth, fits into the Canaanite mythology quite well. The ideas of pairs of mountains seem to be quite common in Canaanite mythology (similar to Horeb and Sinai in the Bible). The late period of this cosmology makes it difficult to tell what influences (Roman, Greek, or Hebrew) may have informed Philo's writings.
ellauri171.html on line 973: It is considered virtually impossible to reconstruct a clear picture of Canaanite religious practices. Although child sacrifice was known to surrounding peoples, there is no reference to it in ancient Phoenician or Classical texts. The biblical representation of Canaanite religion is always negative.
ellauri171.html on line 975: Canaanite religious practice had a high regard for the duty of children to care for their parents, with sons being held responsible for burying them, and arranging for the maintenance of their tombs.
ellauri171.html on line 977: Canaanite deities such as Baal were represented by figures which were placed in shrines, often on hilltops, or 'high places' surrounded by groves of trees, such as is condemned in the Hebrew Bible, in Hosea (v 13a) which would probably hold the Asherah pole, and standing stones or pillars.
ellauri171.html on line 979: The land of Canaan comprises the modern regions of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. At the time when Canaanite religion was practiced, Canaan was divided into various city states. Baal oli se sama Iisebelin bali jota Hannibalkin palveli, nehän oli molemmat foinikialaisia. Toiset pelkää eliä ja toiset balia. El tai bal, ylijohtaja tai herra, paljon väliä. Sano vaan hannixi balit jäi aidalle.
ellauri171.html on line 991: When Jezebel comes to Israel, she brings her own gods and goddesses—especially Baal and his consort Asherah (Canaanite Astarte, often translated in the Bible as “sacred post”)—with her.
ellauri184.html on line 213: Bethlehem (/ˈbɛθlɪhɛm/; Arabic: بيت لحم audio speaker iconBayt Laḥm, "House of Meat"; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bet Leḥem, Hebrew pronunciation: [bet ˈleχem], "House of Bread"; Ancient Greek: Βηθλεέμ Greek pronunciation: [bɛːtʰle.ém]; Latin: Bethleem; initially named after Canaanite fertility god Laḫmu) is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000, and it is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. The economy is primarily tourist-driven, peaking during the Christmas season, when Christians make pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity. The important holy site of Rachel's Tomb is at the northern entrance of Bethlehem, though not freely accessible to the city's own inhabitants and in general Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank due to the Israeli West Bank barrier.
ellauri184.html on line 257: The Bible records that following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. According to biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen, this conquest should be dated slightly after 1200 BCE. Some modern scholars argue that the conquest of Joshua, as described in the Book of Joshua, never occurred. “Besides the rejection of the Albrightian conquest model, the general consensus among OT scholars is that the Book of Joshua has no value in the historical reconstruction. They see the book as an ideological retrojection from a later period — either as early as the reign of Josiah or as late as the Hasmonean period.” "It behooves us to ask, in spite of the fact that the overwhelming consensus of modern scholarship is that Joshua is a pious fiction composed by the deuteronomistic school, how does and how has the Jewish community dealt with these foundational narratives, saturated as they are with acts of violence against others?" ”Recent decades, for example, have seen a remarkable reevaluation of evidence concerning the conquest of the land of Canaan by Joshua. As more sites have been excavated, there has been a growing consensus that the main story of Joshua, that of a speedy and complete conquest (e.g. Josh. 11.23: 'Thus Joshua conquered the whole country, just as the LORD had promised Moses') is contradicted by the archaeological record, though there are indications of some destruction at the appropriate time. No oliko sitten koko esinahkakasa satua? Ketä enää uskoa? Usko siirtää vuoria, eikö sitten esinahkakukkuloita?
ellauri198.html on line 635: Most scholars agree that the ritual performed at the tophet was child sacrifice, and they connect it to similar episodes throughout the Bible and recorded in Phoenicia (whose inhabitants were referred to as Canaanites in the Bible) and Carthage by Hellenistic sources. There is disagreement about whether the sacrifices were offered to a god named "Moloch". Based on Phoenician and Carthaginian inscriptions, a growing number of scholars believe that the word moloch refers to the type of sacrifice rather than a deity. There is currently a dispute as to whether these sacrifices were dedicated to Yahweh rather than a foreign deity.
ellauri263.html on line 304: The Twelve Spies sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, brought a positive report, while the others spoke disparagingly about the land. The majority report caused the Children of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the "Promised Land". For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not enter the land. The midrash quotes God as saying about this event, "You cried before me pointlessly, I will fix for you [this day as a day of] crying for the generations", alluding to the future misfortunes which occurred on the same date.
ellauri370.html on line 74: It is translated into Latin as devotio, a word used for human sacrifice, and into Greek as anathema, which was a sacrifice to the gods (and later to God). Hopelessly devoted to you. It is related to the Arabic root ḫ-r-m, which can also mean to perforate. Balchin argues that "drastic action was required to keep Israel in holy existence." Longman and Reid alternatively suggest that herem was a "sacrifice of the occupants of Canaan in the interest of securing the purity of the land." The concept of herem was not unique to Israel. The Mesha Stele contains a statement by King Mesha of Moab that he captured the town of Nebo and killed all seven thousand people there, "for I had devoted them to destruction for (the god) Ashtar-Chemosh."
ellauri370.html on line 76: Theologians and other scholars have commented on the ethical and moral dilemmas posed by the wars of extermination, particularly the killing of women and children. Leonard B. Glick quote Shlomo Aviner as saying "from the point of view of mankind's humanistic morality we were in the wrong in [taking the land] from the Canaanites. There is only one catch. The command of God ordered us to be the people of the Land of Israel".
ellauri370.html on line 80: Several scholars and commentators have characterized the wars of extermination as genocide. Scholar Pekka Pitkanen asserts that Deuteronomy involves "demonization of the opponent", which is typical of genocide, and he asserts that the genocide of the Canaanites was due to unique circumstances, and that "the biblical material should not be read as giving license for repeating it." But he is just a Finn so fuck him.
ellauri370.html on line 84: Amalek (/ˈæməlɛk/ Biblical Hebrew: עֲמָלֵק, romanized: ʿĂmālēq; Arabic: عماليق, romanized: ʿAmālīq) is described in the Hebrew Bible as the enemy nation of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, or anyone who lived in their territories in Canaan. In some rabbinical interpretations, Amalek is etymologised as am lak, 'a people who lick (blood)', but most scholars regard this as xenophobic bullshit.
ellauri370.html on line 94: In Numbers 14:45, the Amalekites and Canaanites kill a group of Israelites that tried to enter the hill country of the Amorites without Moses's permission. In Judges 3:13, Amalek, and their Moabite and Ammonite allies, defeat Israel so that the Moabites could oppress them. Judges 10:11–13 confirms Amalek as being one of the many oppressors of Israel. In Judges 6:1–6, Amalek, and their Midianite allies, destroy Israelite farms "as far as Gaza", inducing a famine. They also help the Midianites wage wars against Israel, according to Judges 6:32–34 and Judges 7:11–13.
ellauri370.html on line 110: Punishment: the Canaanites were considered sinful,
ellauri370.html on line 116: Prevention: In Deut 20:16–18 God tells the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanite nations,
ellauri370.html on line 129: To make room for the returning Israelites: the Canaanite nations were living in the land of Israel, but when the Israelites returned, the Canaanites were expected to leave the land. Carl Ehrlich states the biblical rules of extermination provide guidance to modern Israelis not for genocidal purposes, but rather simply as models for reclaiming the land of Israel.
ellauri370.html on line 132: Heiser argues that the purpose of the herem is to also prevent the physical corruption of the Israelites by nephilim, the fallen angel offspring of sons of God and good looking willing Esthers. The Israeli messianic and political movement Gush Emunim considered the Palestinians to be Canaanites or Amalekites, and suggested that implied a duty to make merciless war against Arabs who reject Jewish sovereignty European Jews who migrated to Palestine relied on the biblical ideology of conquest and extermination, and considered the Arabs to be Canaanites. Scholar Arthur Grenke claims that the view of war expressed in Deuteronomy contributed to the destruction of Native Americans and to the destruction of European Jewry. Jewish fundamentalists in Israel, such as Shlomo Aviner, consider the Palestinians to be like biblical Canaanites, and that some fundamentalist leaders suggest that they "must be prepared to destroy" the Palestinians if the Palestinians do not leave the land.
ellauri375.html on line 694: Of course not, Jahve started it all by enticing Abraham to move from Ur to Canaan. Why didn't he just stay in Babylonia?
ellauri375.html on line 697: The story of Abraham's journey from Ur to Canaan is a foundational narrative in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to religious texts, Abraham's journey was guided by divine command and promises made to him by God.
ellauri375.html on line 699: There are several reasons why Abraham left Ur and journeyed to Canaan:
ellauri375.html on line 703: Promise of Land: God promised Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8). This promise of land was a central aspect of God's covenant with Abraham.
ellauri408.html on line 310: Very impressive, except that Nebuchadnezzar did not sack or destroy Tyre, and the Bible itself makes this a false prophecy three times! The Bible says Jesus visited Tyre, where he healed the Canaanite (Syrophoenician) woman's daughter. (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-31)
ellauri411.html on line 169: We cannot speak of Jewish history without referencing the ancient Israelites. Who were the ancient Israelites? They were the people who lived around the area that is modern Israel – also known as the promised land – before 1000 BCE. This area also used to be called the ancient Levant or ancient Canaan. The Israelites believed they were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But it is more likely that they were simply a cultural and linguistic homogenous group of people. Now it is politically wiser to say that they had been there all along:
ellauri411.html on line 175: The Israelites, being freed from slavery, journeyed through the wildernesses of Egypt and Canaan. Moses led them across the Red Sea and when they reached Mount Sinai, they received divine instruction from God there – the ten commandments. Ultimately, they reached the promised land once again. This was the area where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had resided generations ago.
ellauri412.html on line 178: Asherah, or Ashtoreth, was the name of the chief female deity worshiped in ancient Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan. The Phoenicians called her Astarte, the Assyrians worshiped her as Ishtar, and the Philistines had a temple of Asherah. Asherah was a fertility goddess, and considered a high deity by the Canaanites on the level of their god Baal. God wasn't crazy about Asherah worship and warned Israel about it several times, commanding them repeatedly to tear down the symbols of Asherah worship, the Asherah pole, also known as Asherim or Asherah Groves:
ellauri432.html on line 497: Many scholars have accepted the view that the imagery of Daniel 7 comes ultimately from the Canaanite myth of Baʿal's battle with Yamm (lit. "Sea"), symbolic of chaos. Although no exact prototype for the imagery exists, there are a number of parallels with the extant myth. The four beasts are chaos monsters which appeared as serpents in the Baʿal Cycle discovered in the ruins of Ugarit in the 1920s. In Daniel 7, composed sometime before Judas Maccabeus purified the temple in 164 BC, they symbolise Babylon, the Medes, Persia and Greece.
ellauri447.html on line 86: Eisodos kertoo 'I$rael'in valtion perustamisesta. Holokaustin jälkeen Kyproksen brittiläisessä pidätysleirissä vangitut juutalaispakolaiset lähetetään salaa veneellä (Exodus-nimisellä laivalla) Palestiinaan vapaustaistelija Ari Ben Canaanin (jota näytteli Paul Newman vuoden 1960 elokuvassa) nokkelan ja rohkean työn ansiosta. Tällä tarinalla Uris halusi muuttaa käsitystä kansastaan uhreina. "Me juutalaiset emme ole sitä, miltä meidät on kuvattu", hän kertoi New York Postille. "Todellisuudessa olemme olleet kovia jätkiä."
ellauri447.html on line 237: Were Hyksos Canaanites? The Hyksos are thought to have been Semitic, which explains why they would be so open to Canaanites (like Joseph's family) being in the country. Their records show that the Hyksos had Canaanite names like the Hebrews, and their main gods were Canaanite: Baal and Anath.
ellauri447.html on line 255: The Torah devotes more than four books to the proposition that the 'I$rael'ites came to Canaan after having been subjugated in Egypt for generations, and yet there is no archaeological evidence to support that they were ever in Egypt. The Book of Genesis records Joseph being given the name ZAPHENATH PAANEAH in Egypt.
ellauri447.html on line 259: Recent DNA research has found that the Canaanites were the descendants of Stone Age settlers in Lebanon; the Canaanites are also the ancestors of modern-day Lebanese people. Neandertalilaiset, nykyihmiset ja salaperäinen ihmislinja sekoittuivat muinaisen 'I$rael'in luolissa, tutkimus paljastaa. Varhaisin kiistaton maininta kanaanilaisista on peräisin Marin kaupungin raunioista, nykyisen Syyrian alueelta, löydetyistä kirjeenpalasista. Noin 3 800 vuotta vanha kirje on osoitettu Marin kuninkaalle "Yasmah-Adadille", ja siinä sanotaan, että "varkaat ja kanaanilaiset" ovat Rahisum-nimisessä kaupungissa.
ellauri479.html on line 293: The narrative in the first book of Chronicles relates that Ezer and Elead, sons of Ephraim, were killed by men who were natives of Gath, because "they came down to take their livestock". This tragic event took place during their lifetime in Canaan, causing their father Ephraim to mourn for many days.
ellauri496.html on line 343: Ken Church looks pretty old by now in his LinkedIn. Wonder if anybody buys his gizmo. Here lies a misunderstood but vital part of human history which connects closely to The Bible. The spiritual guidance is excellent and it fills in some gaps in the naked arse of Noah. It verifies that a comet struck Earth in the Sahara and was responsible for Noah's dick hanging out in full view of Canaan who got exiled there as a punishment..
ellauri499.html on line 277: A minority propose that JHWH was a native Canaanite deity whose cult was identified with or absorbed aspects of Hadad's. Regardless of their original relationship, by the 1st millennium BC, they were distinct: Hadad was worshiped by the Aramaeans and Baʿal by the Phoenicians and other Canaanites. Baʿal is well-attested in surviving inscriptions and was popular in theophoric names throughout the Levant but he is usually mentioned along with other gods, "his own field of action being seldom defined". He was like the CEO.
ellauri499.html on line 279: Nonetheless, Ugaritic records show him as a weather god, with particular power over lightning, wind, rain, and fertility. Seppo olet oikea SONNI! The dry summers of the area were explained as Baʿal's time in the underworld, and his return in autumn was said to have caused the storms that revived the land. Sounds familiar. Thus, the worship of Baʿal in Canaan—where he eventually supplanted El as the leader of the gods and patron of kingship—was connected to the region's dependence on rainfall for its agriculture, unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, which focused on irrigation from their major rivers. Anxiety about water availability for crops and trees increased the importance of his cult, which focused attention on his role as a rain god. (See Saul Bellow.)
ellauri499.html on line 281: He was also called upon during battle, showing that he was thought to intervene actively in the world of man, unlike the more aloof El. The Lebanese city of Baalbeck was named after Baal. Alternatively, Ba' al is a divine co-regent with El, where El was the executive while Ba' al was the sustainer of the cosmos. The Baʿal of Ugarit was the epithet of Hadad, but as time passed, the epithet became the god's name while Hadad became the epithet. Baʿal was usually said to be the son of Dagon, the funny fish god, but appears as one of the sons of El in Ugaritic sources. Both Baʿal and El were associated with the bull in Ugaritic texts, as they symbolized both strength and fertility. He held special enmity against snakes, both on their own and as representatives of Yammu (lit. "Sea"), the Canaanite sea god and river god. He fought the Tannin (Tunnanu), the "Twisted Serpent" (Bṯn ʿqltn), "Lotan the Fugitive Serpent" (Ltn Bṯn Brḥ, the biblical Leviathan)] and the "Mighty One with Seven Heads" (Šlyṭ D.šbʿt Rašm). Baʿal's conflict with Yammu is now generally regarded as the prototype of the vision recorded in the 7th chapter of the biblical Book of Daniel. As vanquisher of the sea, the Canaanites and Phoenicians regarded Baʿal as the patron of sailors and sea-going merchants. As vanquisher of Mot, the Canaanite death god, he was known as Baʿal Rāpiʾuma (Bʿl Rpu) and regarded as the leader of the Rephaim (Rpum), the ancestral spirits, particularly those of ruling dynasties. From Canaan, worship of Baʿal spread to Egypt by the Middle Kingdom and throughout the Mediterranean following the waves of Phoenician colonization in the early 1st millennium BC. He was described with diverse epithets, and before Ugarit was rediscovered, these were supposed to refer to distinct local gods. However, as explained by Day, the texts at Ugarit revealed that they were considered "local manifestations of this particular deity, analogous to the local manifestations of the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church". In those inscriptions, he is frequently described as "Victorious Baʿal" (Aliyn or Ảlỉyn Baʿal), "Mightiest one" (Aliy or ʾAly] or "Mightiest of the Heroes" (Aliy Qrdm), "The Powerful One" (Dmrn), and in his role as patron of the city "Baʿal of Ugarit. As Baʿal Zaphod, he was particularly associated with his palace atop Jebel Aqra (the ancient Mount Ṣapānu and classical Mons Casius). He is also mentioned as "Winged Baʿal" (Bʿl Knp) and "Baʿal of the Arrows" (Bʿl Ḥẓ). Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions describe "Baʿal of the Mace" (Bʿl Krntryš), "Baʿal of the Lebanon" (Bʿl Lbnn), "Baʿal of Sidon" (Bʿl Ṣdn), Bʿl Ṣmd, "Baʿal of the Heavens" (Baʿal Shamem or Shamayin), Baʿal ʾAddir (Bʿl ʾdr), Baʿal Hammon (Baʿal Ḥamon), Bʿl Mgnmt. Baʿal Hammon was worshipped in the Tyrian colony of Carthage as their supreme god. It is believed that this position developed in the 5th century BC following the severing of its ties to Tyre following the 480 BC Battle of Himera. Like Hadad, Baʿal Hammon was a fertility god. Inscriptions about Punic deities tend to be rather uninformative, though, and he has been variously identified as a moon god[citation needed] and as Dagan the grain god[citation sorely missed].
ellauri499.html on line 287: Baʿal (בַּעַל) appears about 90 times in the Hebrew Bible in reference to various gods. The priests of the Canaanite Baʿal are mentioned numerous times, most prominently in the First Book of Kings. Many scholars believe that this describes Jezebel's attempt to introduce the worship of the Baʿal of Tyre, Melqart to Israel's capital Samaria in the 9th century BC. Against this, Day argues that Jezebel's Baʿal was more probably Baʿal Shamem, the Lord of the Heavens, a title most often applied to Hadad, who is also often titled just Baʻal, as was JHWH too.
ellauri499.html on line 289: 1 Kings 18 records an anecdote of a contest between the prophet Elijah and Jezebel's priests. Both sides offered a sacrifice to their respective gods: Baʻal failed to light his followers' sacrifice while Yahweh's heavenly fire burnt Elijah's altar to ashes, even after it had been soaked with water. The observers then followed Elijah's instructions to slay the priests of Baʿal, after which it began to rain, showing Yahweh's mastery over the weather. Other references to the priests of Baʿal describe their burning of incense in prayer and their offering of sacrifice while adorned in special vestments. The title baʿal was initially a synonym of the Hebrew adon ("Lord") and adonai ("My Lords") still used as aliases of the Lord of Israel Yahweh. According to some scholars, the early Hebrews did use the names Baʿal ("Lord") and Baʿali ("My Lord") in reference to the Lord of Israel, just as Baʿal farther north designated the Lord of Ugarit or Lebanon. This occurred both directly and as the divine element of some Hebrew theophoric names. However, according to others it is not certain that the name Baal was definitely applied to Yahweh in early Israelite history. The component Baal in proper names is mostly applied to worshippers of Baal, or descendants of the worshippers of Baal. Names including the element Baʿal presumably in reference to Yahweh include the judge Gideon (also known as Jerubaʿal, lit. "The Lord Strives"), Saul's son Eshbaʿal ("The Lord is Great"), and David's son Beeliada ("The Lord Knows"). The name Bealiah ("The Lord is Jah"; "Yahweh is Baʿal" combined the two. However John Day states that as far as the names Eshbaʻal, Meribaʻal, and Beeliada (that is, Baʻaliada), are concerned it is not certain whether they simply allude to the Canaanite god Baʻal, or are intended to equate Yahweh with Baʻal, or have no connection to Baʻal]. It was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century BC, to introduce into Israel's capital city of Samaria her Phoenician worship of Baal as opposed to the worship of Yahweh that made her name anathema to the chauvinists.
ellauri499.html on line 293: Gideon's name Jerubaʿal was mentioned intact but glossed as a mockery of the Canaanite god, implying that he strove in vain. Direct use of Baʿali continued at least as late as the time of the prophet Hosea, who reproached the Israelites for doing so. Brad E. Kelle has suggested that references to cultic sexual practices in the worship of Baal, in Hosea 2, are evidence of an historical situation in which Israelites were not behaving to the liking of thepruder southpaws, either preferring sexy Baal practices for boring Yahweh or blending the two. Hosea's references to sexual acts were metaphors for Israelite "apostasy". Brian P. Irwin argues that "Baal" in northern Israelite traditions is a form of Yahweh that was rejected as foreign by the prophets. In southern Israelite traditions, "Baal" was a god that was worshipped in Jerusalem. His worshippers saw him as compatible or identical with Yahweh and honored him with human sacrifices and fragrant meal offerings. Eventually, the Chronicler(s) disapproved of both "Baals" whilst the Deuteronomists used "Baals" for any god they disapproved of. Likewise, Mark S. Smith believes Yahweh was more likely to be inspired by Baal rather than El, since both are stormy divine warriors and lack the pacifistic traits of El according to the Ugaritic texts and Hebrew Bible.
ellauri499.html on line 297: An earlier passage had made Shechem the scene of Joshua's covenant between all the tribes of Israel and "El Yahweh, our god of Israel" and a later one describes it as the location of the "House of El Berith". Big fat hairy difference. It is thus unclear whether the false worship of the "Baʿalim" being decried is the worship of a new idol or rites and teachings placing Yahweh as a mere local god within a larger pantheon. The Hebrew Scriptures record the worship of Baʿal threatening Israel from the time of the Judges until the monarchy, but it may just have North-South politics masquerading as religious heresy. Throughout all the stories of Judges the popular faith in YHWH/Baal runs like alternating current. This faith raises the judges, and inspires poets, prophets, and Nazirites. ... Worship of Baals and Ashtoreths has been schematically interspersed between these chapters. No trace of a vital, popular belief in any specifically foreign gods can be detected in the stories. Baal prophets were identified snd eliminated in Israel centuries later; but during the age of the judges when Israel is supposed to have been most deeply affected by the religion of Canaan, there are no Baal priests or prophets to speak of, nor any other intimation of any trouble from polytheism in Israel’s life, while the Deuteronomist and the present form of Jeremiah phrase the Judahite godnapping as struggle about monolatry or monotheism against henotheism or polytheism.
ellauri499.html on line 299: Yahweh is frequently identified in the Hebrew scriptures with El Elyon. This was after a conflation with El in a process of religious syncretism. ’El (Hebrew: אל) became a generic term meaning "god", as opposed to the name of a worshipped deity, and epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone, while Baal's nature as a storm and weather god became assimilated into Yahweh's own identification with the storm. In the next stage the Yahwistic religion separated itself from its Canaanite heritage, first by rejecting Baal-worship in the 9th century, then through the 8th to 6th centuries with prophetic condemnation of Baal, sun-worship, and worship on unregistered "high places", practices pertaining to thedead, and other unholy matters.
ellauri499.html on line 371: Either way, it’s clear from many texts in the Hebrew Bible that the ancient Israelites believed in the existence of many gods. One of the gods mentioned the most is named Baal. Baal in the Bible usually refers to a specific god. Much of what we know of Baal outside of the Hebrew Bible comes from an ancient Ugaritic text known as the Baal Cycle, written sometime between 1300-1100 BCE, showing that worship of this Baal god predated this period. It's likely, as well, that worship of Baal as a Canaanite storm god who was also called “rider of the clouds” predated the worship of Yahweh.
ellauri499.html on line 373: But how can that be, given YHWH created the earth and us guys and gals and gave us our genitals? Did Adam and Eve call him Baal? Was it from Baal they hid their still slimy and tuberous organs after their first wildly satisfying coitus? And anyway, why would Israelites worship a Canaanite god?
ellauri499.html on line 375: Principally, modern scholars know that the Israelites actually were a subgroup of Canaanites who gradually developed their own identity and culture. In fact, it’s possible that early on, the Israelites sometimes referred to Yahweh as Baal (in its meaning as “Lord”). One of David’s followers in 1 Chronicles 12:5 is named Bealiah, meaning “Baal is God.” The authors of the Baal Cycle believed Baal lived on Mount Zaphon, today called Mount Kılıç, on the Turkey/Syria border.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 335: Realizing they needed separate pasturelands because their herds would now be too large for them to remain together, Esau took his Canaanite wives and all he owned and moved some distance away into the hill country of Seir, east and south of the Dead Sea, just south of Moab and Israel. Later, the Lord told Moses He had given this land to Esau and his descendants. (Deut 2:5).
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 724: Ebyktistä etelään olis Kushin, Haamin 2. pojan porukat. Haamin 1. poika Kanaan, joka menetti perintöosansa vaarin kirouxesta, (Gen.ix. 25, seq.), ja on sen tautta aina viimeinen veljessarjassa (ch. x. 6, &c.), näyttää silti saaneen seniorioikeuxia kun Haamin pojat lähti porukalla länteen Shinarin tasangoilta (Gen. xi.), kert antoi nimensä ekalle seudulle minne mamut saapuivat. Kushin, 2. pojan jälkeläiset ottivat seuraavan suolaisemman lotin länteen Siinailta. Niilinlaaxon herkut lankes 3. pojalle Mizraimille; ja kuopuxen Phutin kohtaloxi tuli painua huizin Saharaan. Nehashkush, ne haisevat kuselle, oli Wettenhovi-Aspan suomennos Kushin pojille. The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.… (Gen ix:6, x:6) Sheban kuningatar toi Salomolle upeita lahjoja, joiden joukossa oli Viiru-kissan rakastamia ruokapurkkeja.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 730: One explanation is that it has an original meaning of "lowlands", from a Semitic root knʿ "to be low, humble, depressed", in contrast with Aram, "highlands". An alternative suggestion derives the term from Hurrian Kinahhu, purportedly referring to the colour purple, so that Canaan and Phoenicia would be synonyms ("Land of Purple"), but it is just as common to assume that Kinahhu was simply the Hurrian rendition of the Semitic knʿn.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 732: According to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 (verses 15-19), Canaan was the ancestor of the tribes who originally occupied the ancient Land of Canaan: all the territory from Sidon or Hamath in the north to Gaza in the southwest and Lasha in the southeast. This territory, known as the Levant, is roughly the areas of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, western Jordan, and western Syria. Canaan's firstborn son was Sidon, who shares his name with the Phoenician city of Sidon in present-day Lebanon. His second son was Heth. Canaan's descendants, according to the Hebrew Bible, include:
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 764: According to Genesis 9:20–27, Noah became drunk then cursed his grandson Canaan, for the transgression of Canaan's father, Ham. This is the Curse of Canaan, to which the misnomer "Curse of Ham" has been attached since Classical antiquity.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 766: The curse of Ham (actually placed upon Ham's son Canaan) occurs in the Book of Genesis, imposed by the patriarch Noah. It occurs in the context of Noah's drunkenness and is provoked by a shameful act perpetrated by Noah's son Ham, who "saw the nakedness of his father". The exact nature of Ham's transgression and the reason Noah cursed Canaan when Ham had sinned have been debated for over 2,000 years.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 768: The story's original purpose may have been to justify the subjection of the Canaanite people to the Israelites, but in later centuries, the narrative was interpreted by some Christians, Muslims and Jews as an explanation for black skin, as well as a justification for slavery. Similarly, the Latter Day Saint movement used the curse of Ham to prevent the ordination of black men to its priesthood.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 772: Some modern scholars view the curse of Canaan in Genesis 9:20-27 as an early Hebrew rationalization for Israel's conquest of Canaan. When Noah cursed Canaan in Genesis 9:25, he used the expression "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren."NKJV The expression "servant of servants", otherwise translated "slave of slaves",NIV emphasizes the extreme degree of servitude that Canaan will experience in relation to his "brothers".
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 774: In the subsequent passage, "of Shem... may Canaan be his servant,"[9:26] the narrator is foreshadowing Israel's conquest of the promised land. Biblical scholar Philip R. Davies explains that the author of this narrative used Noah to curse Canaan, in order to provide justification for the later Israelites driving out and enslaving the Canaanites.
xxx/ellauri123.html on line 719: The Hebrew אשה זונה (ishah zonah), used to describe Rahab in Joshua 2:1, literally means "a prostitute woman". In rabbinic texts, however, she is explained as being an "innkeeper," based on the Aramaic Targum: פונדקאית. HAHA LOL. Rahab´s name is presumably the shortened form of a sentence name rāḥāb-N, "the god N has opened/widened (the womb?)". May the lord open. The Hebrew zōnâ may refer to secular or cultic prostitution, and the latter is widely believed to have been an invariable element of Canaanite religious practice, although recent scholarship has disputed this. However, there was a separate word, qědēšâ, that could be used to designate prostitutes of the cultic variety.
xxx/ellauri166.html on line 317: It is probable that after the entrance into Canaan this glory-cloud settled in the tabernacle upon the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. We have, however, no special reference to it till the consecration of the temple by Solomon, when it filled the whole house with its glory, so that the priests could not stand to minister ( 1 Kings 8:10-13 ; 2 Chr. 1 Kings 5:13 1 Kings 5:14 ; 7:1-3 ). Probably it remained in the first temple in the holy of holies as the symbol of Jehovah's presence so long as that temple stood. It afterwards disappeared. (See CLOUD .)
xxx/ellauri292.html on line 47: In Rahab, Woman of Jericho, readers discover a Rahab who is a descendent of the tribe of Ephraim, one of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Her clan left Egypt and settled in Canaan before the Hebrews were enslaved. Although they did not wander in the desert with Moses for forty years, nor did they hear the laws that the Lord gave to His people, they still worshipped the one true God, though without the fringes.
xxx/ellauri292.html on line 49: Rahab marries Radames, a young Egyptian officer, who is to become the new governor of Jericho. They live in the Egyptian embassy set in the city wall. When the Israelites approach Canaan with their army, pharaoh sends word that he is withdrawing his troops. Radames fabricates a story to tell Jericho’s king, but the babylonian lawmaker Hammurabi doesn’t believe it…and he has his eye on the beautiful Rahab.
xxx/ellauri416.html on line 433: The most breathtaking art from ancient Canaan came not from the Israelites but rather from the Philistines. Until the Jews barged in, that is.
xxx/ellauri416.html on line 444: The Ark of the Covenant was the equivalent of the Israelites’ cult statue, so it is no wonder that the writers of the Old Testament reserved great scorn for the Philistines and their primary god, Dagon after their “cult statue" was taken. Little is known about the god Dagon, except he looked like a fish, not unlike Jeshua, but modern scholars believe he was a male variant of an Indo-European earth goddess. It is important to note that unlike Bal and some other Canaanite and Semitic gods, the Old Testament never mentions renegade Israelites worshipping Dagon. The Philistines and their culture were anathemas to the Israelites.
xxx/ellauri416.html on line 482: El means "God" in the Ugaritic and the Canaanite languages. The literal meaning of Shaddai, however, is the subject of debate. Some scholars have argued that it came from Akkadian shadû ("mountain") or from the Hebrew verb shaddad שדד meaning "Destroyer". Shaddai may have also come from shad שד meaning mammary; shaddai is a typical Biblical Hebrew word (שדי). The plural (Shaddayim -- שדיים) is the typical Modern Hebrew word for human breasts in dual grammatical number.The Deir Alla Inscription contains shaddayin as well as elohin rather than elohim. Scholars translate this as "shadday-gods," taken to mean unspecified boobs, mountain or destroyer gods. A popular interpretation of the name Shaddai is that it is composed of the Hebrew relative particle she- (Shin plus vowel segol followed by dagesh), or, as in this case, as sha- (Shin plus vowel patach followed by a dagesh). The noun containing the dagesh is the Hebrew word dai meaning "enough, sufficient, sufficiency". However, Day's overview says a "rabbinic view understanding the name meaning 'who suffices' (Se + day) is clearly fanciful and has no support."
xxx/ellauri489.html on line 90: Matthew 15:21–28 21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
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