Is 14:12-14 have stirred the imagination of Xtians for hundreds od years. Lucifer the arrogant fallen angel. NOT!
Poor translating and ignorance of Canaanite mythology have concealed the point that the author was making. The Hebrew consists of three words meaning "Helel son of(ben) Shachar". The translation of "Lucifer" was carried over from the reading in Jerome's Latin Vulgate, not the Hebrew text.
The NET Bible offers the following comments concerning this passage:
This whole section (vv. 4b-21) is directed to the king of Babylon, who is clearly depicted as a human ruler. Other kings of the earth address him in vv. 9ff., he is called "the man" in v. 16, and, according to vv. 19-20, he possesses a physical body. Nevertheless the language of vv. 12-15 has led some to see a dual referent in the taunt song. These verses, contain several titles and motifs that resemble those of Canaanite mythology, including references to Helel son of Shachar, the stars of El, the mountain of assembly, the recesses of Zaphon, and the divine title Most High. Apparently these verses allude to a mythological story about a minor god (Helel son of Shachar) who tried to take over (S)Zaphon, the mountain of the gods. His attempted coup failed and he was hurled down to the underworld. The king of Babylon is taunted for having similar unrealized delusions of grandeur. Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted. (Footnote 23 of Isaiah 14, found at http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm).
We know nothing about this Helel other than he seems to be related mythologically with Phaethon the presumptuous young go that died trying to ride the chariot of the sun. Other commenter have linked Helel with Venus because it is the last defiant star to resist the sunrise's light. Shahar his father is better known. In Ugarit myth he is the god of the Dawn. For this reason Helel is linked with the Babylonian/Greek Phaethon whose father was Eos the "Dawn". In the Ugarit mythology Shahar is the twin of Shalem son of El. Shahar is AKA Baal. As the netBible comment earlier mentioned the entire passage relates to Baal mythology. The throne of god(El) is on Mt. Saphon (mistakenly translated as Far North in modern Bibles). See also Ps 48:3.
Helel's father Shahar is entioned only one other time that I'm aware of in the OT. At Psalm 139:9. There the author expounds upon the all seeing eyes of his god. There is no escaping his vision. In verse 9 he says that if he could take the "wings of Shahar" he could not fly far enough to be out of his god's watchful eye.
So much of the OT becomes clearer when we understand the culture and cultic influences of the writers.
Using mythology to understand obscure passages
by peacefulpete 7 Replies latest watchtower bible
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peacefulpete
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Love_Truth
Yeah, well the fact that Bugs Bunny says "What's up Doc?" doesn't mean I'd study cartoons to understand Medicine.
I choose to study the Bible as the inspired word of God, and I fail to see how mythology is going to "shed light" on understanding the God-given book that says not to add anything to it.
Sounds like you could be on the way to forming the next "JW" movement. IMHO.
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frankiespeakin
Thanks Pete!
I think this valid at least as far as I can see you make a very valid point about "Myths" so many Christians feel it is a sin to say the Bible is full of mythology, they think "Myths" are something bad.
They forget the Bible was written by people that had believed in "Myths" Science had not yet developed very much back then, and "Myths" served a very valuable purpose, and let not forget that the teaching of Jesus had a profond effect on thinking over the last 2000 years as well as influences from pagan wise men, has bought us out of "Myths" only to a minor degree, we still beleive in "Myths" today with only a slightly less sceptasism.
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Narkissos
As far as I can remember (cause I can't check it now), the reference to the deity Shachar has been suggested by some commentators in other occurrences of the apparent noun shachar = "dawn"; perhaps Job 41:18, "the eyelids of Dawn" (= 3:9), Song of Salomon 6:10 (paralleling Sun, Moon and Constellations?) and a number of obscure and probably corrupted texts (Isaiah 8:20; Hosea 10:15; cf. also the use of the term in the Baalistic "liturgy of the third-day resurrection" in 6:3). One interesting instance, although somewhat obscured by the Masoretic pointing (reading mishchar), is the reference to the "womb of Dawn" in Psalm 110:3f, in the context of the begetting of the Jerusalem king-priest "son of god", typified by Melchizedek, who appears as king-priest of Shalem (= Shalim, interpreted as a place name and identified to Jerusalem in Psalm 76) and El-Elyôn in Genesis 14. However, the expression in Psalm 110 would suggest a female deity (different then from Ugarit's Shachar)...
Of course it is never easy to distinguish mythological allusions from secular poetry. However (and as a response to Love_Truth), even if the Bible texts were "the inspired word of God" (which I doubt), the fact is they did not fall down from heaven unrelated to the cultural (including mythological) universe of their writers.
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peacefulpete
Thanks Narkissos, I can easily see how Hosea 6.2,3 may be reference to the god of the Dawn. Job 3:9 and41:18 also in the context of Leviathan is using the metaphor. In all these cases it seems the writer as using imagery that was familiar but sterile. By the time these passages were written Shahar and Baal had become nonthreatening to Yahwist cult. Jacob Rabinowitz saw these late casual references to other deities as evidence that by this time the cult of YHWH had gained secure dominance.
Don't worry about Love-truth he didn't both himself with reading the posting, he just saw the title and got excited.
Your welcome frankie. -
Carmel
Peaceful,
Just as a side note, Hilel (now spelled Hillel) is a one way street on the side of Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel. I thought the name was for a famous Jewish military leader, but alas, you've educated me as to its earlier roots.
cheers,
carmel
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peacefulpete
Rabbi Hillel was an outstanding and influential teacher in the 1rst c BC. He was undoubtedly the roads namesake. He was famously in debate with Rabbi Shanmai who was the actual author of the words at Matt 7:12 attributed to Jesus. These rabbis and most others were not anything at all like those depicted in the NT.
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Leolaia
Peacefulpete....Thank you for reminding me of a very fascinating topic in the OT. I recall reading about this many years ago but for some reason, despite all my reading since then, I forgot all about this connection between Helel in Isaiah and the Ras Shamra texts.