the false god is not the false god

[novapsyche]

While researching background information for "The Concubine", I came across this source on Middle Eastern history, specifically for the Hebrews for the period from Abraham to David (to 1000 BCE). One section reads:

The First Book of Samuel, 9:15, describes Saul as the Lord's choice. And in Chapter 10 of the First Book of Samuel, Saul is described as one of Yahweh's prophets. Saul appears to have been close to the worship of the Canaanite god Ba'al. He named one of his sons Eshbaal (meaning Ba'al exists) and another son he had named Meribaal (meaning Ba'al rewards). Also, one of Saul's Benjamite clansmen was Bealiah (which meant Yahweh is Ba'al).

This is incredibly interesting, etymologically and otherwise.

Comments

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

did you ever notice that the commandment says "Have no other gods before me?" It doesn't claim that no other gods exist or even that you can't worship them. You've just got to put Yaweh first.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Ha! That is interesting. Now, is that just our modern, legalistic interpretation? Might there be an issue with the original translation? What you imply is at odds with Judeo-Christianity being intrinsically monotheistic.

[the-leewit.livejournal.com]

According to Barbara Walker (so YMMV and salt liberally), "Ba'al") merely meant somewhat generically "mountain god," and Yahweh/ el Shaddai fit comfortably within this part of the Venn diagram...

[the-leewit.livejournal.com]

But yeah, theologians will sheepishly admit if you prod them long enough that the original language of the Old Testament is less, "there are no other gods," and more, "look, you're MY people, so stop looking and straying and oh my ME is that a golden calf or a golden ass? Because either way, you are SO eating the likeness, I don't care WHAT Pales says."

[the-leewit.livejournal.com]

Also interesting: in several places, the word God seems to refer to a couple of entities--- Yahweh, el-Shaddai, the Shekinah. Theologians generally say this is a case of "different hats for different roles," but it's also not incompatible with them being separate entities entirely, one of whom is referred to as distinctly feminine.

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

Current non-Orthodox Jewish scholarship is that we were not monotheists prior the reign of King Josiah who undertook a religious reformation that enforced the ban on worshiping foreign gods that had previously been observed in the breach. Before Josiah we were monolateralists who believed other gods existed but they were all subordinate to our God. The Hebrew word Elohim is a plural form of the word El (god), and is found in parts of scripture that were written in the northern kingdom of Israel which was destroyed by the Assyrians a century before Josiah undertook his reform in the southern kingdom of Judah. When God is referred to as YHVH we know the writer was from Judah. YHVH is derived from the Midianite deity Yahu; Moses' father-in-law was a Midianite priest. The Hebrew word ba'al means master, husband, or owner. In one form of monolateralism the other gods are like spouses of our God. Prior to monolateralism (in the early chapters of Exodus and quite a few Psalms) God was a tribal war god; when we won He won, and when we lost it meant some other people's god kicked our God's butt. The idea of a single universal God took hold during the Babylonian exile where our defeat was explained as our own fault and punishment for our sins by our God (who is the only God). In this new perspective the Babylonians were mere instruments of Divine will and their gods are no gods at all.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all of this info. Apparently I need to thoroughly research Josiah. I had no idea his reign was so influential.

Similarly, I will need to read up on Yahu.

[kittenkissies.livejournal.com]

Oops. "Sorry, I named them all before You came to visit."