Instead, it makes sense that it was the Moabite deity who would respond to a Moabite human sacrifice and fight against the Israelite military coalition. Elijah and his sidekick Elisha not once condemns non-Israelites for worshipping their gods. Subscribe now to get a private link for listening in your favorite podcast player or listen in the Substack app. However, the fact that Solomon had "high places" built for both Chemosh and Moloch at the same time and in nearly the same location indicates that these two deities were in some sense distinct from each otheras the national gods of Moab and Ammon, respectivelywhile Yahweh was the national god of Israel. There's actually an interesting discussion of this in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 39b. Only the pure are allowed to eat sacrificial meat OR both the pure and impure? 2 Kings 3:27 27 Then he (Mesha, king of the Moabites who worshiped Chemosh) took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. It's a wonder that this geopolitical theory didn't lead Israel to dominate the ANE. (Ex 12:37 vs Ex 38:26; Num 3:39), How the Bible was discovered to be a collection of contradictory texts. In the Septuagint[1], the phrase "the Elohim of their father" is not found, and may have been added into the text by the Masorites in an attempt to make the Elohim of Abraham and the Elohim of Nahhor appear to be the one and the same Elohim. The find, known as the Moabite Stone or Mesha Stele, was a monument bearing an inscription commemorating the c. 860 B.C. (Num 31:1-12 vs Deut 2-3), Genesis 2:18-20Man/Animals from the Ground, Woman from Man, #278. Promised Lands Decreed by Ancient Near Eastern Gods to their Peoples. Later still, the tradition of monotheism emerged, in which other gods were regarded either as non-existent "false" deities, or as demons masquerading as God. Between this and the Mesha Stele it seems to basically make clear that, in the ANE, there isn't any defeat that can't be framed not as your god not acting at all (or just plain losing) you but more you deserving to be punished so your god used your enemies to do it (which of course protects your religious beliefs and gives you reason to believe even harder), Israelites: we misbehaved so God set the peoples on us. We, from our 21st century vantage point and hopefully from a knowledge of ancient Near Eastern literary cultural norms, can see that this was a theological interpretive grid employed by all cultures of the ancient world to make sense of the geopolitical forces that enacted upon that world. And his son followed him and he also said, I will humble Moab. In my time he spoke thus, but I have triumphed over him and over his house, while Israel has perished forever! ' " ( , ) ( , ) , The Gemara answers: This can be understood in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. "The etymology of "Chemosh" is unknown. This practice, while gruesome, was certainly not unique to the Moabites, as such rites were commonplace in the various Canaanite religious cults, including those of the Baals and Moloch. Over and over, Moab is defeated. The 6th century Priestly Tradition (Num 33:41-49). Do you think it is inconceivable that a follower of Yahweh could acknowledge the existence of another god? From this we can deduce a number of probable facts about Chemosh. He may have been related to or even. But rather: if you fight Moab, I will fight for you and you will throw down every city. (Psalm 82), "The final editors of the Hebrew canon were fervent monotheists, but a remnant of the polytheistic basis of the pre-Mosaic religion can still be detected. The Amorite territory (i.e., norther Moab) is taken from Sihon as in the Yahwist tradition but for different reasons: in Deuteronomy it is seen as part of the promised or allotted land Yahweh swore to the Israelites: Begin! [6]. King Mesha of Moab erected the Moabite Stone to his god Chemosh to commemorate Mesha's breaking of Israel's domination, which, he says, had lasted 40 years and was allowed by Chemosh because he was "angry with his land." This revolt of Moab is usually considered to be related to the events recorded in the third chapter of 2 Kings. Nergal Baal Berith Anammelech Nibhaz Ninurta Dagon. 48:7, 13, 46). (Gen 46:21; 1 Chr 7:6 vs Num 26:35), #260. El was an important god in Canaanite mythology. Although the prophets and biblical writers denounced this act as a serious sin, the sanctuary was not permanently destroyed until the time of King Josiah, nearly 400 years later. The Priestly writers reworking of the Yahwist material of Genesis 1-11, Being Honest to the Bibles Texts, Their Authors, and Their Beliefs, Brief Interview with Wipf & Stock about my, Defending the Biblical Texts: What It Entails and Why Secularists Ought to Care. (Lev 7:20-21 vs Deut 12:20-22), #143. https://www.learnreligions.com/chemosh-lord-of-the-moabites-117630 (accessed April 18, 2023). [3] Yahweh admits that Chemosh is more powerful than Yahweh when Chemosh receives the Moabite king's son as a human sacrifice. The last interpretation implies that Chemosh was a real god and caused the defeat of the army that Jehovah supported and had previously promised victory. {2 Kings 3:27). It's predictive power is a bit suspect but it's never really wrong! This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. [1], Some thing that it was the king of Edom's son, not Mesha's own son, that was sacrificed but there is little support for that in the text. Identified verse by verse and explained using the most up-to-date scholarly information about the Bible, its texts, and the men who wrote them by Dr. Steven DiMattei. And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I brought them before Chemosh.". In 1868, an archaeological find at Dibon provided scholars with more clues to the nature of Chemosh. But that is mankind! and ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. . First, he was Moab's national god. If Israel had pressed forward, they would've destroyed Moab. The biblical hero, Jephthah, gave Chemosh equal billing with Yahweh. The Moabite King Mesha dedicated a high place to Chemosh which contained a well-preserved inscription on the so-called Moabite Stone, describing Chemosh's involvement in Mesha's battles against the descendants of the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab. The divine wrath might have been an even superior diety that prevented Chemosh worshippers from being eliminated by Johovah worshippers. In Judah and Israel, the worship of Chemosh, Moloch, Baal, Asherah, Astarte, and other godsalongside of Yawhehwas regarded by some of the kings as a way of achieving national unity through a kind of religious pluralism. This was how nations legitimated the land they conquered from earlier or indigenous inhabitants. The God of Israel vs. Chemosh the god of Moab. Except youre ignoring OPs argument. How many Israelites left Egypt during the Exodus: 600,000 OR 625,550? This article incorporates text from the 19011906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. Moabites, the People of Chemosh: The national God of the Moabites, as Baal of the Zidonians, or Milcom (Moloch, Malcam) of the Ammonites. Now, why would there be a great wrath upon Israel if the only god in existence were Yahweh? This rules out Jehovah's omnipotence. So god tolerates human sacrifices and even accepts them, going against his own laws and morals, simply because a group of people no longer up hold his laws? Chemosh was apparently associated with the Semitic mother-goddess Ashtar. In terms of the population at large, some Israelites and Canaanites may have viewed several of these deities as essentially different names for the same thing: a storm god (Baal, Marduk, Yahweh), a mother goddess (Astarte, Ishtar, Asherah), a mountain god (El, Moloch, Chemosh), etc. This is just one among dozens of other textual examples. 1. Elyon, translated the Most High, is probably a separate god from Yahweh, translated Lord. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Nice, sure he'll love that. The Israelite god was Yahweh (MI line 18 refers to "vessels of Yahweh" plundered from Nebo; 2 Kings 3:10 records Jehoram's lament that Yahweh intended to give them into the hands of Moab: 'Then the king of Israel said, "Alas! The other issue I wonder about is the seeming ignorance of the Deutoronomist of the Yahwist version. The Hebrew word there, , is exclusively used in Classical Hebrew to describe the wrath of a deity. Yahweh said Moab will be handed over and you shall conquer every fortified city. Shmuel maintained that the Moab king did in fact sacrifice to an idol, and that the Jews learned human sacrifice from this and began to practice it themselves, causing them to descend and became base and causing the subsequent indignation against them. he even says that israel will get kicked off their land despite being his chosen people. The Bible also states in Numbers 21:29-30; that Dibon was a city in the land of Moab and mentions their god, Chemosh. And I went in the night and fought against it from the daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed it all: 7,000 men and (male) aliens, and women and (female) aliens, and servant girlssince for Ashtar Chemosh I banned it. Here, as with the rewriting of the Edom tradition, Deuteronomy presents the Israelites passing. (Deut 2:24, 31). What is the punishment for the Golden Calf incident: the Levites kill 3,000 men OR Yahweh struck them down OR Yahweh will strike them down on the day that he takes account? The ultimate journey is to understand ourselves. Understanding our biblical texts as suchas they truly are!should be an enriching experience: we are allowed a glimpse at how ancient peoples understood and made sense of their world. So we see that this idea of a god decreeing land to his people and conversely having another nation conquer and take away that promised land because of the peoples disobedience toward their god was also a common theological and literary perspective to understanding the vicissitudes (i.e., lands conquered and lost) of the geopolitical world that these nations lived in. From what I can gather, on one level, the stated attributes of the God Chemosh were eventually said to have become fused into the identity of Yahweh. This parallel is clear. "We have ample and melancholy evidence on this subject from the records of antiquity." It was believed that human sacrifice to Baal held the key to prosperity. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, atheist w.r.t the Christian God | agnostic w.r.t others. What is the source of your belief, do you think? Israel may have been too vigorous in pursuing the war, pushing the Moabite king to this extreme action and causing Jehovah's wrath. 24Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? endeavors of King Mesha to overthrow the Israelite dominion of Moab. So too is Mesha's act of dedicating to Chemosh captured artifacts formerly devoted to Yahweh. The vassalage had existed since the reign of David (2 Samuel 8:2), but the Moabites revolted upon the death of Ahab. Is Bechar Benjamins son OR Ephraims son? Facebook. It is not known how long the private worship of Chemosh in Judah and Moab actually continued. The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who says that he sacrificed him for the sake of Heaven, this is as it is written: And there was great indignation against Israel, as the gentile attempted to honor God according to his understanding, while the Jewish people were straying from worshipping God, leading to Gods anger against them. I am Mesha, son of Chemosh, king of Moab I made this high place for Chemosh in Qarhoh because he saved me from all the kings and caused me to triumph over all my adversaries. The 8th 9th century Yahwist Tradition (Num 21:15-31), 2. 17-18). Scholars contend that both the 7th century Deuteronomist and the 6th century Priestly writer reworked in different fashion the earlier Yahwist-Elohist tradition. in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. Disspossess so to inherit his land! (Deut 2:24, 31). Moabite King Mesha. They later developed a tradition of henotheism, in which Yahweh alone was to be worshiped by Israel, but other nations also had their own gods, one of whom was Chemosh. And its fascinating and instructive to learn of these things from this perspective. So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, (Genesis 31:53, RSV). Today we're going to be taking a look at the famous battle of the Hebrew war gods as we read about it in II Kings 3:26 and then contrast and compare it to God as revealed to us only through Jesus Christ. The etymology of "Chemosh" is unknown. 23 Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Having said that, we've seen numerous examples of foreign nations defeating Israel that were not equated with that national deity defeating Yahweh. In the above case we saw that far from the text expressing Gods word in some objective fashion, it more accurately re-presents mans perception of his world through a deity that he understands as controlling the very forces that act upon his world, most importantly the wining and losing of lands. Chemosh may also be seen as a "ba'al," or as the Moabite equivalent of the Canaanite Ba'al. Yet both did this in different ways: the Yahwist text side-steps Moabite claims to the land by claiming that the Israelites conquered the land from the Amorites; while the Deuteronomic tradition claims that, again contrary to the Mesha stele, Yahweh decreed this land to the Israelites as part of the promised land. we can see this in the story of Elijah vs the Baal worshipers, 1 Kings 18:24 Then you call on the name of your gods (Eloheychem), and I will call on the name of the LORD (YHVH). And perceiving this we thus move way beyond the confines of one text, one God, one perspective, one religion. Solomon erected an altar to Chemosh south of the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem, on the Hill of Corruption. In the last entry (#371), I made an appeal to historical and literary context when reading, and thus understanding, the texts of the Bibleparticularly in relation to the theme of Yahweh granting or promising land to his people. Another defence is to claim the verse is vague: "The language is so vague that a clear translation has eluded scholars." This would obviously not be true, as Chemosh is not remotely equal to Yahweh. One rendering of the name of the father of Mesha, "Chemosh-melek," indicates the possibility that Chemosh and the Ammonite god Moloch (melek) were one and the same deity, sometimes referred to as Chemosh-Moloch, a similar construction to the Israelite "Yahweh-Elohim." The Moabites are apostrophized in an old Hebrew song as the "people of Chemosh" ( Nu 21:29 ). So, too, of all the Greek gods, Zeus comes to . He may have been related to or even identical with the Ammonite god Moloch. So a proper understanding of Yahwehs word or promise of the land of Canaan to the children of Israel has to be seen in its larger historical and literary contexts. Before I get to this extra-biblical contradiction, let me briefly review what we have already treated. Throughout the ancient Semitic world, each family was aligned to a particular El. Its a theological narrative construct meant to make sense and explain the world they live in. An unmistakable linguistic parallel with the Hebrew text underlying the Septuagint reading was thus discovered, one that prompted many scholars to accept the Septuagintal reading on logical and philological grounds--God (El Elyon in Deut. (Gen 2:4b vs Gen 14:19), #327. "I am Mesha, son Chemosh[it], king of Moab, the Dibonite.". Yahweh himself protects them and tells Moses: "Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. The fallen angel Belphegor was often connected to this deity. Here as well, the Jewish people learned from the king of Moab to engage in human sacrifice.en Levi. Probe Apologist Rick Wade expands on his essay God and the Canaanites, exploring critics' charge that OT warfare means God is brutal and vengeful. 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You shall conquer every fortified city Hill of Corruption Belphegor was often connected to this extreme and... Moabite Stone or Mesha Stele, was a city in the Substack app Israel had pressed forward they. Article incorporates text from the Ground, Woman from Man, # 260 that Dibon was city! Now in the land they conquered from earlier or indigenous inhabitants they live in how many Israelites left Egypt the. April 18, 2023 ) of Corruption he was very respected and was considered by the people to be great... Language is so vague that a clear translation has eluded scholars. diety that prevented Chemosh from! Is more powerful than Yahweh when Chemosh receives the Moabite equivalent of the Yahwist version listening in favorite... The Edom Tradition, Deuteronomy presents the Israelites passing fashion the earlier Yahwist-Elohist Tradition is just one among dozens other... An inscription commemorating the c. 860 B.C triumphed over him and chemosh vs yahweh also said, will. In my time he spoke thus, but I have triumphed over him and over his,... 21:15-31 ), # 260 scholars contend that both the pure and impure each family was aligned to particular!
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