by patio34 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Hi Seedy and Sargon,
There has been a resurrection . . . of this thread. Amazing about the meaning of the word "El." And about Hindus.
Actually, i'm reading a couple of excellent books on this by Gary Greenburg that is specifically and exhaustively on this very subject. It's doubtful, in his opinion, that any of the patriarchs literally existed but were invented by the Jews to replace Egyptian gods/goddesses. Even Dinah! It's a fascinating treatise on the whole subject.
Pat
Hi Patio34,
Resurrected this thread because its right up my alley. Speaking of good books there is one i saw in the library called 'YHWH and the Gods of Canaan" that is fascinating. I can go check and find its author and ISBN if you are interested. I beleive that Psalm 82 refers to the gods of Canaan in its 1st verse, what do you think?
Also, as far as Akhenaten wasn't really monotheistic, I think he knew that there were other gods its just that he was pushing for the worship of the one god, Aten.
I know it's only Rock n' Roll...
The book "Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan" is by William Foxwell Albright. I cant find it's ISBN but it is still on sale in the USA and many librarys have it in stock. it makes for very interesting reading if you wish to explore the early roots of Judaism.
I know it's only Rock n' Roll...
Thanks Sargon,
I am very interested and will check for this book. My area of interest lies more in the bible and its roots than the WTBS, although both are interesting. I checked on Amazon and it's out of print, but they have one used for 29.00.
Actually, Gary Greenburg asserts in his book that the Hebrews weren't really monotheistic either, as they believed in angels and demons, which are really lesser gods.
i haven't read Gary's book, but will probably check it out. I tend to agree that the early Hebrews weren't montheistic either, and there are numerous places in the bible itself to support this view.
I know it's only Rock n' Roll...
This post is really good...SEE, every should bring their research to the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses. Raise their hand and repeat their research. Great!
And by the way, the Egyptian, Moshe (Moses) was the first person in the scriptures to use the expression, "Amen" after a prayer. It was already in use by all good and religious Egyptians. And we still honor Amon Ra today with the expression. Even Jehovah's Witnesses do also. But we, as a people are permeated with such things even in our daily lives.
No biggy
Hi SableIndian,
that's a great point about saying "Amen." I had forgotten about that, but gave it a lot of thought when I was reading about the Egyptian/Israel connections.
Pat
Hey folks,
"Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan"
It is interesting to note,that the Hebrews actually borrowed much of the ideal about god from the canaanites and mixed it much with the Egyption, Babylonian, and Persian religious reasoning and practice.
The YHWH has actually been found to be a part of the Canaanite pantheion. He was alesser son of the Almighty El who was the Chief God of the Canaanites. That actually makes him the brother to Baal, but Baal became a more prominant god to them then did YHWH. The Hebrews took this God YHWH and promoted him to the Almighty position during the time of Moses (if there was such a man) and gave him the identical personage as the Canaanite El. a Quote from http://www.theology.edu/ugarbib.htm
El was the chief god at Ugarit. Yet El is also the name of God used in many of the Psalms for Yahweh; or at least that has been the presupposition among pious Christians. Yet when one reads these Psalms and the Ugaritic texts one sees that the very attributes for which Yahweh is acclaimed are the same for which El is acclaimed. In fact, these Psalms were most likely originally Ugaritic or Canaanite hymns to El which were simply adopted by Israel, much like the American National Anthem was set to a beer hall tune by Francis Scott Key. El is called the father of men, creator, and creator of the creation. These attributes are also granted Yahweh by the Old Testament.
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Other deities worshipped at Ugarit were El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Berith. All of these names are applied to Yahweh by the writers of the Old Testament. What this means is that the Hebrew theologians adopted the titles of the Canaanite gods and attributed them to Yahweh in an effort to eliminate them. If Yahweh is all of these there is no need for the Canaanite gods to exist! This process is known as assimilation.
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There is one Ugaritic text which seems to indicate that among the inhabitants of Ugarit, Yahweh was viewed as another son of El. KTU 1.1 IV 14 says:
sm . bny . yw . ilt
The name of the son of god, Yahweh.
This text seems to show that Yahweh was known at Ugarit, though not as the Lord but as one of the many sons of El.
Anyway, I got interupted so many times during this post, that I forgot the total points I wanted to make LOL, but it's some more food for thought.
Seedy
