The Lost Qos

by peacefulpete 16 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • peacefulpete
    peacefulpete

    EdenOne..What you described pretty well sums up the classic position. One of the slight refinements proposed are that worshippers of YH/YHWH might have from earliest times been regarded as somewhat exclusivist, as was apparently the case among metallurgists in neighboring cultures. This might explain the trend toward monolatry as well as the profuse copper associations. As the cult was introduced to a wider audience through commerce, naturally local forms evolved. Hence in time "Yahweh of Samaria" and "Yahweh of Teman" and Qos became separate yet homologous identities.

    Amzallag goes so far as to link the metallurgist deity to those of other bronze age cultures such as Egypt and Elam to explain passages like (Jer. 49.37-39) which promises to restore Elam (whose chief god Napir was a metallurgist) after a period of punishment and (Isa. 19.22 and Ezek. 29.13-14) that says the same about Egypt (specifically Noph which was founded by metal crafter Ptah). IOW in the minds of some Yahwists, these people all worshipped the same god known by different names.(Napir and Ptah) and therefore Yahweh had vested interests in the fate of those people as well.

    No doubt the work of syncretism and substitution resulted in conflation of Yahweh with indigenous Canaanite deities like El and Baal, but the supposition that Yahweh was regarded a son of El in earliest times is being challenged. Often Deut 32 is cited as support for this, however according to the most recent proposals, Deut 32 is a preYahwist model of El (as Father of the gods) being utilized to account for the Yahwist's monolatrous worship of an imported deity. He is "slipped in" as one of the gods under El and assigned to Israel. It is a snapshot in time, a very short time, when he was explained as one of the gods of the Canaanite pantheon of El, but at the same time the only designated deity of Israel. Yahweh's absence from Ugarit deity lists belies this however. It was an artificial attempt to domesticate Yahweh. In reality, his existence requires we look outside Canaan, and the evidence points south.

    llubrevlis2000....Well, you have a point that the demons and angels of later (second temple) Judaism were in fact the gods of the earlier polytheistic times of Canaan. This is a conscious result of monotheistic reforms. The second temple keepers of the Yahwist cult recast the one-time rival gods into subordinate spirits, angels (messengers) and demons (ironically 'daimon' Greek for lesser deity).

    It is also ironic that the reverse began to happen in late antiquity with 'arch'angels becoming more godlike nearly returning to a polytheism of sorts. Corollary to this was the hypostatic conceptions of a 'son of God", 'son of Man' and 'Wisdom' character that substantially equated God with a second figure that eventuated in Christianity.

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    So it is possible that Qos evolved/morphed/been absorbed into Yahweh, in which case the Israelites may have worshipped Qos first ? or have I got that wrong ?

  • peacefulpete
    peacefulpete

    The suggestion is that Quos was an epithet of Yah in the south of Judah or perhaps an associated name. Qos seems to be connected with the word 'bow' as in the weapon, so it's possible Yah/Yahwh was depicted as a warrior or maker of arrows (if the metallurgy connection is also correct)?? Yahweh is said to draw a bow and arrows in many passages in the OT. In many of those, the arrows are clearly lightning bolts. This might also connect him with the storm god elements. Sadly while a connection seems probable the details haven't yet been uncovered.

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    But one can't overlook the association of Yah with storm / clouds / wind. Yah is also, at least at some point, a storm deity.

  • peacefulpete
    peacefulpete

    I added a line in the above post that agrees with you. The arrows are lightning.

    For example:

    “The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound (thunder): thine arrows also went abroad.”Psalms 77:17


    “And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.”2 Samuel 22:15

    “I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.”Deuteronomy 32:23

    “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”Genesis 9:13 (he stopped the flood storm by hanging up his bow)

    Psalm 7:11-13 God...will bend and string his bow.

    13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
    he makes ready his flaming arrows

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne
    Judges 5:4 "When you, Lord, went out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured down water; The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai"

    Seir, Edom, Sinai .... all south from Israel. Yahweh comes from the South, commanding a storm.

    Deuteronomy 33:2, 26: "The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes (...) There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you, and on the clouds in his majesty."

    Again, Yahweh comes from the south, commanding lightening and clouds.

    Habakuk 3:3 - 11: God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran (...)His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. (...) He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble (...) I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. (...) Sun and moon stood still in the heaven, at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear."

    Again, the same imagery: Yahweh comes from his dwelling in the south to save his people, commanding the weather as he storms past the tents of his peoples' (southern) enemies, causing earthquakes and floods.

  • peacefulpete
    peacefulpete

    Qos...The name recurs in the Nabataean language in an inscription at Khirbet et-Tannur,where he is represented flanked by bulls, seated on a throne while wielding in his left hand a multi-pronged thunderbolt, suggestive of a function as a weather god. (Wiki.)

    An old friend from this forum who went by Narkissos gave me some sage reminders that the inscrutably complex way local cult and culture develop has to be acknowledged. While we crave certainty, it's just not possible when studying ancient history. He pointed out that a particular deity name like Yahweh or El, often have very different dimensions and theogeny in the very next valley, much more so when dealing with centuries and nations of separation.

    Still, it's fun to try.

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