A question for bible scholars.....It's a REAL hard one!

by gumby 51 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  gumby

  Here is a little more info. on how pagan names are incorporated into "Israel".

  The Canaanite migrants brought with them cultic practices and images of their traditional gods. A major Canaanite god was El, and the phrase ?El has conquered? gives us the word Isra?el. The Canaanite god El had a ghostly presence in a host of Jewish heroes: Dan-i-El; Ezek-i-El; Sam-u-El, Ish-ma-El, El-i-jah, El-o-him, etc. God-inspired names were common throughout the west-Semitic language region. Other Canaanite gods included Baal (a storm god) ? also honoured in a host of Hebrew names, Asherah (a fertility goddess, consort of El), Shalem (a Syrian sun god ? later to be honoured in the name Jeru?salem ), Milcom, Chemosh, etc. Ru?shalimum is mentioned in records of the Pharaoh Sesostris III (BC 1872 - 1847) ? the settlement actually pre-existent long before the tribe of Hebrews made it their own. The site then appears to have been unoccupied for three hundred years until the Jebusites (otherwise known as Kereti or Peleti ? Cretans or Philistines) arrived. (See Karen Armstrong, A History of Jerusalem, 1997)

  Gumby
• 

  Wallflower

  Na, it's the Jews trying to convince us that their history is true.

  A quote from Simons Popup book of Biblical Trivia:

  "All thru history the Jews have been a little insignifcant bunch of nomadic sheep herders with no cultural history, surrounded by massive civilisations with amazing cultures, cities and wealth, with impressive histories of conquering and scientific advancement, eg, Egyptian, Persian, Greek,Babylonian, Roman civilisations. All the Jews ever did was wander around aimlessly and try not to end up with an ugly sheep at sundown.

  "Someone had the bright idea of inventing a history. So the cleverest, most inventive came round to this guys tent, with papyrus, ink and a quill and began a brain storming session. Within a couple of weeks most of the OT was on paper. The next problem was to get everyone else to believe it was true. So anytime anyone questioned the authenticity of the fictional history they said "It's real, honestly, it's real." After a time the phrase stuck, so the OT became known as the "History of Is'real". The nation of Isreal was born.

  Well, it's as convincing as the OT.