Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan

Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan
Author: John Day
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2010-06-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567537838

This masterly book is the climax of over twenty-five years of study of the impact of Canaanite religion and mythology on ancient Israel and the Old Testament. It is John Day's magnum opus in which he sets forth all his main arguments and conclusions on the subject. The work considers in detail the relationship between Yahweh and the various gods and goddesses of Canaan, including the leading gods El and Baal, the great goddesses (Asherah, Astarte and Anat), astral deities (Sun, Moon and Lucifer), and underworld deities (Mot, Resheph, Molech and the Rephaim). Day assesses both what Yahwism assimilated from these deities and what it came to reject. More generally he discusses the impact of Canaanite polytheism on ancient Israel and how monotheism was eventually achieved.

The Many Faces of the Goddess

The Many Faces of the Goddess
Author: Izak Cornelius
Publisher: Saint-Paul
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2004
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9783727814853

There are a multitude of female figures represented in the art of the ancient Near East and it has often been proved difficult to differentiate them. This study presents a collection of visual source material on godesses from Egypt, Ugarit, Syria and Palestine from c,1500 to 1000 BC. An introduction to the subject and previous research precedes a discussion of iconographic types (armed, seated, standing, equestrian and named women holding objects) and media (including reliefs, seals and amulets, bronze figurines, ivories and ostraca). Cornelius devises a typology of attributes for the goddess Anat, Astarte, Qedeshet and Asherah in order to define their individual qualities and provide a means by which these goddesses can be differentiated. Includes a large descriptive catalogue.

Dragon of the Two Flames - Demonic Magick & the Gods of Canaan

Dragon of the Two Flames - Demonic Magick & the Gods of Canaan
Author: Michael Ford
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 587
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 110571084X

A complete modern grimoire, this book begins with Luciferian Ideology and the modern practice of the ancient pantheons within. The history of the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Philistines, Hittites, Moabites, Eblaites, Mari and Ammonites including their associations with the enemy of their cults, Yahweh. The realistic and etymological source of the old gods and demons are revealed including how they may be invoked with offerings. The ancient enemies of Yahweh were great & powerful deities associated with the reality of nature & the individual mind. Gods such as Chemosh, Baal, Baal-Zebub, Astarte, Dagan, Leviathan & many other ancient deities are restored to their ancient purpose & meaning. With over 56 God and Demon illustrations, this book will appeal to not only Luciferians but also former Christians, Satanists, Wiccans, Thelemites and other Pagans. The Second half explores First Century Demonology all the way through Medieval Qlipoth and the emergence of the Devil.

The Early History of God

The Early History of God
Author: Mark S. Smith
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2002-08-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780802839725

There is still much disagreement over the origins and development of Israelite religion. Mark Smith sets himself the task of reconstructing the cult of Yahweh, the most important deity in Israel's early religion, and tracing the transformation of that deity into the sole god - the development of monotheism.

Monotheism and Yahweh's Appropriation of Baal

Monotheism and Yahweh's Appropriation of Baal
Author: James S. Anderson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2015-08-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567663965

Biblical scholarship today is divided between two mutually exclusive concepts of the emergence of monotheism: an early-monotheistic Yahwism paradigm and a native-pantheon paradigm. This study identifies five main stages on Israel's journey towards monotheism. Rather than deciding whether Yahweh was originally a god of the Baal-type or of the El-type, this work shuns origins and focuses instead on the first period for which there are abundant sources, the Omride era. Non-biblical sources depict a significantly different situation from the Baalism the Elijah cycle ascribes to King Achab. The novelty of the present study is to take this paradox seriously and identify the Omride dynasty as the first stage in the rise of Yahweh as the main god of Israel. Why Jerusalem later painted the Omrides as anti-Yahweh idolaters is then explained as the need to distance itself from the near-by sanctuary of Bethel by assuming the Omride heritage without admitting its northern Israelite origins. The contribution of the Priestly document and of Deutero-Isaiah during the Persian era comprise the next phase, before the strict Yahwism achieved in Daniel 7 completes the emergence of biblical Yahwism as a truly monotheistic religion.

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle
Author: Mark S. Smith
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 905
Release: 1994
Genre: Baal (Canaanite deity)
ISBN: 9004153489

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II provides a new edition, translation and commentary on the third and fourth tablets of the Baal Cycle, the most important religious text found at Ugarit.

Images of Egypt in Early Biblical Literature

Images of Egypt in Early Biblical Literature
Author: Stephen C. Russell
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110221713

This book suggests a regional paradigm for understanding the development of the traditions about Egypt and the exodus in the Hebrew Bible. It offers fresh readings of the golden calf stories in 1 Kgs 12:25-33 and Exod 32, the Balaam oracles in Num 22-24, and the Song of the Sea in Exod 15:1b-18 and from these paints a picture of the differing traditions about Egypt that circulated in Cisjordan Israel, Transjordan Israel, and Judah in the 8th century B.C.E. and earlier. In the north, an exodus from Egypt was celebrated in the Bethel calf cult as a journey of Israelites from Egypt to Cisjordan, without a detour eastward to Sinai. This exodus was envisioned in military terms as suggested by the nature of the polemic in Exod 32, and the attribution of the exodus to the warrior Yahweh, Israel's own deity. In the east, a tradition of deliverance from Egypt was celebrated, rather than the idea of a journey, and it was credited to El. In the south, Egypt was recognized as a major enemy, whom Yahweh had defeated, but the traditions there were not formulated in terms of an exodus. While acknowledging the reshaping of these traditions in response to the exile, Images of Egypt argues that they originated in the pre-exilic period and relate to Syro-Palestinian history as it is otherwise known.

A New Luwian Stele and the Cult of the Storm-god at Til Barsib-Masuwari

A New Luwian Stele and the Cult of the Storm-god at Til Barsib-Masuwari
Author: Guy Bunnens
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2006
Genre: Excavations (Archaeology)
ISBN: 9042918179

The present publication aims to make public a stele, carved with both a relief of the Storm-God and a Luwian inscription, that was discovered in the Euphrates river in 1999 between the modern village of Qubbah and the archaeological site of Tell Ahmar in northern Syria.

De-demonising the Old Testament

De-demonising the Old Testament
Author: Judit M. Blair
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9783161501319

Judit M. Blair challenges the common view that azazel, lilith, deber, qeteb and reshef are names of 'demons' in the Hebrew Bible, claiming that major works on the subject proceed from the assumption that these terms were demons in the ancient Near East and /or later, or that they were deities who became 'demonised' by the authors of the Hebrew Bible. Without questioning the validity of traditional methods she supplements the existing works by making an exegesis based on a close reading of all the relevant texts of the Hebrew Bible in which these five terms occur. Close attention is paid to the linguistic, semantic, and structural levels of the texts. The emphasis is on a close examination of the immediate context in order to determine the function of each term. The author notes different signals within the texts, especially the use of the various poetical/rhetorical devices: personification, parallelism, similes, irony, and mythological elements.