Pagan Origins of Judaism: Evidence for Israelite Gods, El, Asherah, Adonai, Baal, Elohim and Yahweh

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Uploaded: 21 Nov 2015 (11 years ago) · Shared: 16 Nov 2017

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Yahweh Elohim evolved from the Canaanite deity El. Judaism and Christianity are based in polytheistic

traditions.

Sources:
https://books.google.com/books?id=S1tQ5Larst0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=origins+of+biblical+monotheism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjK4bvPy-PSAhXEKiYKHSstCEIQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Mark S. Smith
Michael Cogan
Christine Hayes
William G. Dever
John C. L. Gibson

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Overview & Key Concepts

Who was Asherah?

Asherah in ancient Semitic religion, is a mother goddess who appears in a number of ancient sources. She appears in Akkadian writings by the name of

Asratu, and in Hittite as Aserdu or Asertu. Asherah is generally considered identical with the Ugaritic goddess Atirat. Asherah is identified as the queen consort of the Sumerian god Anu, and Ugaritic El, the oldest deities of their respective pantheons, as well as Yahweh, the god of Israel and Judah. Despite her association with Yahweh in extra-biblical sources, Deuteronomy 12 has Yahweh commanding the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of his worship.

What is Judaism?

Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, with the Torah as its

foundational text (part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship that God established with the Children of Israel.
 
Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah.
 
The Jews are an ethnoreligious group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2012, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14 million, or roughly 0.2% of the total world population. About 42% of all Jews reside in Israel and about 42% reside in the United States and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe.

What is Israel?

Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East. Located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern

shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest.

Who is Yahweh?

Yahweh was the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah. His exact origins are disputed, although they reach back to the

early Iron Age and even the Late Bronze: his name may have begun as an epithet of El, head of the Bronze Age Canaanite pantheon, but the earliest plausible mentions of Yahweh are in Egyptian texts that refer to a similar-sounding place name associated with the Shasu nomads of the southern Transjordan. In the oldest biblical literature, Yahweh is a typical ancient Near Eastern "divine warrior", who leads the heavenly army against Israel's enemies; he later became the main god of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and of Judah, and over time the royal court and temple promoted Yahweh as the god of the entire cosmos, possessing all the positive qualities previously attributed to the other gods and goddesses.

Who is Elohim?

Elohim in the Hebrew Bible refers to deities, and is one of the many names or titles for God in the Hebrew Bible. The word is identical to the plural

of el, meaning gods or magistrates, and is used for the pantheon of Canaanite gods, the children of El, and conventionally vocalized as "Elohim". The notion of divinity underwent radical changes in the early period of Israelite identity and development of Ancient Hebrew religion. The ambiguity of the term elohim is the result of such changes, cast in terms of "vertical translatability", i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods from 7th century BC, Judah to the emergence of monotheist Rabbinical Judaism in the 2 AD.

What is Pagan?

Paganism is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians. It was applied on populations of the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism

either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population or because they were not milites Christi (soldiers of Christ). Alternate terms in Christian texts for the same group were hellene, gentile, and heathen. Pagan and paganism were pejorative terms for the same polytheistic group, implying its inferiority. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry", and for much of its history was a derogatory term. Both during and after the Middle Ages, pagan was a pejorative term that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, and the term presumed a belief in false god(s).

Who is Baal?

Baal was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord' in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among

people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have shown that the name Baal was particularly associated with the storm and fertility god Hadad and his local manifestations.
 
Known by epithets like 'rider of the clouds' and 'Victorious Baal', he was associated with rain, lightning, wind, fertility, and kingship, and was often depicted in opposition to sea and death deities like Yammu and Mot. Worship of Baal spread throughout the Levant, Egypt, and the Mediterranean.
 
The Hebrew Bible includes use of the term in reference to various Levantine deities, often with application towards Hadad, who was decried as a false god. In the Hebrew Bible, Baal appears frequently as a foreign or rival deity, with prophets like Elijah opposing his cult, while in early Israelite contexts, the title may have sometimes referred to Yahweh.
 
Depiction as a false god was taken over into Christianity and Islam, sometimes under the form Beelzebub in demonology.

Who is GOD?

In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians

commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence.
<ul>
<li>In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe</li>
<li>In deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe</li>
<li>Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God</li>
<li>In pantheism, God is the universe itself</li>
<li>In atheism, God is purported not to exist, while deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. </li>
</ul>

Frequently Asked Questions

1.How was Christianity made appealing to pagan idol worshippers?

In order to increase the number of Christian converts, Christian missionaries deliberately adopted pre-existing pagan holy places, shrines, special days and even pagan statues of God.

Pope Gregory I (540-604 CE), a famous Christian leader encouraged accomodating pagan customs and beliefs. So if pagans worshipped a Tree or Spirit abiding in it, rather than shun the pagan worship, he urged priests to somehow link the worship to Jesus Christ, and allow them to continue their Tree or pagan idol worship.

2.How was 25th December celebrated by pagans?

December 25th was the most important of Sun Festivals, the new birth of the God, rising three days after 'dying' at the winter solstice. Today, the celebration continues and its many features can be witnessed. A few of these include:

* Excessive eating, drinking and merry was commin in Saturnalia festival
* Father Christmas (Red Man) - who was originally Apollo, the Sun-God or Thor God depicted as an elderly man, jovial or friendly, of heavy build with a long white beard who drove a chariot through the sky
* Fireplace - the fireplace in pagan homes was sacred to Thor God which he would descend though the chimney
* Giving of gifts - a feature of Saturnalia festival
* Christmas card bearing the cheeky robin bird (with its chest bearing the flame symbol)
* Snowman - who melts when the Sun comes out (is defeated by the Sun)
* Fir-tree trinkets and decorations, symbolising life in the 'dead' parts of the world
* Holly - to deflect evil goblins in winter solstice
* Ivy - the female version of the 'male' holly
* Mistletoe - used by pagan druids in their worship
* Yule Log - sacred to the Thor God which is symbolised today as a chocolate cake

3.How were the Triadic or 'Trinity-like' Pagan Gods presented?

The pagan Triadic dieties were shown as a single-head with 3 faces, 3 mouths but only 4 mouths. Such images were preserved across the Roman Empire.

4.Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties?

Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties? Yes. The core teachings of the Trinitarian Christian churches today do not come from Jesus.

The three-in-one Gods are pagan concepts that existed long before Jesus arrived. Later on, Christians adopted this concept and instantly made Christian doctrine an appealing alternative to the pagan God worshipping masses.

5.Why are their so many similarities between Jesus Christ and all the pagan Gods?

It is highly likely the reason why the Church priests burned and destroyed the earlier records of pagan Gods was to hide the evidence for the real origins of their own Christian mythology.

6.What Does Yahweh Mean?

On the premise the God of the Quran is the same as the God of all the Biblical characters, why does He never call himself YHWH? Or 'Yahweh' as the popular transliteration has it.God uses this several times, in Isaiah 42:8 he says "I am Yahweh, that is my name, I shall not give my glory to another." There are numerous other places where this name is used or revealed in the OT. The writers of the NT used Jewish tradition and used Theos (God) or Kurios (Lord) instead, so it is not found there.Why doesn't Muhammad's God reveal himself thus?

Read More

7.Where did the name Yahweh come from?

"Yahweh" is found in Exodus 3:14 where it is alleged that God says "I am", but the text really reads, "ehyeh asher ehyeh" or "I will be who I will be". The Jews took this to be God's name.

8.How did the Early Jewish-Christians practise their religion?

The Jewish-Christians practised three daily prayers, male circumcision, ritual washing for purity, fasting, attention to clean/unclean foods, giving charity and pilgrimage to a central temple.

9.Did Jesus claim to be 'King of the Jews'?

A placard where Jesus was accused of claiming to be 'King of the Jews' was nailed to his cross. Today this placard can be found at the Church of Santa Croce in Rome.

10.How was Jesus Jewish?

In many ways, Jesus was Jewish:

He did not preach a new religion He taught people to do the Will of God; not a new God
He never went to Church
He fully observed the Jewish Law
His followers continued attending and meeting at the Temple
His followers observed the dietary regulations of the Torah and continued the practise of circumcision

Therefore, the early Jewish-Christians did not give up Judaism, nor did Jesus every ask them to do so.

11.What did early Jewish-Christians think of Apostle Paul?

Paul's popularity was in decline between 55-66 CE because missionaries from the Church of Jerusalem publicly rejected his innovation and claim to be an Apostle.

12.Were the early Christians Jews?

Yes. Jesus himself and his immediate followers observed all Jewish law, customs and practise.

13.Did Saul kill the early Jewish-Christians?

Prior to becoming a Christian, Saul of Tarsus hated Christians. He made it his goal to capture, then bring Christians to public trial and execution.

1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
(Acts 8:1-3)

Saul believed that he was serving God by finding Christians, throwing them into prison, and even executing them when possible.

14.How did the Jews view Apostle Paul?

Paul's salvation theory was considered blasphemy by faithful Jews. The Jews knew Pauls teachings ridiculed all previous revelations from God as expressed through the Torah.

The Jews after all, were the one race of people in the world who were taught God was One, without form or substance, and did not bear the likeness of anything in the universe.

15.According to Apostle Paul, why did God give Jews the Torah?

Paul claimed God gave Jews the Torah so that they could be saved later on by believing in Jesus Christ. This was God's divine plan.

16.How did Apostle Paul differ with the Jewish Rabbis?

The Jewish Rabbis preached a person was saved so long as their intention was to remain within the covenant, and one truly repented and seek forgiveness for their sins.

Paul preached that every person was 'damned' until they was offered salvation. Mans problem was that he was 'in the flesh' in bondage to the Law, sold under Sin, enslaved by the fundamental spirits of the universe (ie. dead).

Paul preached the only cure was liberation from slavery and death by union with Christ, who had conquered death and sin.

17.How did the early Jewish-Christians view Jesus' resurrection?

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
(Acts 2:22-24)

The early Christians assumed Jesus had been raised by God, and not that he was God.

18.Who seperated Christianity from Judaism?

It was Paul's dramatic conversion to Christianity that resulted in the seperation of Christianity from Judaism. Within months of his disappearing, Jesus' teachings were changed.

19.Why Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah?

The Bible claims the Messiah will accomplish certain signs:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world�on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).

The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.

Christians counter that Jesus will fulfill these in the Second Coming, but Jewish sources show that the Messiah will fulfill the prophecies outright, and no concept of a second coming exists.

Read More

20.What does the Quran say about Jews and Christians?

The Jews say "The Christians have nothing [true] to stand on," and the Christians say, "The Jews have nothing to stand on," although they [both] recite the Scripture. Thus the polytheists speak the same as their words. But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.
[Quran 2:113]

21.How was Apostle Paul viewed by the Jews?

22.Does the Quran tell Jews and Christians to refer to their Scriptures (Torah and Bible)?

When the Quran refers to the previous Scriptures (Torah, Gospel etc.), this is understood to mean the original revelations sent to Moses and Jesus, and not the 'corrupted' versions we have today

23.In the time of Jesus, what qualities would identify the Messiah, to the Jews?

A human empowered by God. Not a God-man, a person of the Godhead or part of a Triune God (Trinity)
From the lineage of Abraham (Gen. 22:18)
From the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10)
A descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12)
A Lord under Yahweh, the God of Israel (Ps. 110:1)
From amongst their own people (Jer. 30:21)

24.How did the 1st century Jews view the Holy Spirit?

First century Jews believed the Holy Spirit was another name for God, similar to Yahweh, Elohim or El Shaddai - not a separate Person in the Trinity!

There is no record of Jesus ever trying to correct the Jews and prove the Holy Spirit was a third Person in the Trinity.

25.Jesus claimed to be God. The Jews must have understood this, as they accused him of blasphemy and were ready to stone him?

The Jews were mistaken. Jesus did not claim to be God, claim divinity or commit blasphemy. In the next verse (John 10:34), Jesus tells the Jews to read their own books, Psalm 82:6 where men in power, eminence, dignity, government, judges, magistrates, in high office posts are called Gods too. i.e. the term God does not literally mean GOD.

26.Why do Jews let the hair grow on the sides of there head?

In the Torah, God forbids the cutting of the hair on the sides and the beard

27.How did Jews view the Greek Bible (Septuagint)?

For the Jews, the Septuagint would always be a translation of the Hebrew bible.

28.In the time of Jesus, how were the Jews viewed by the Greeks?

Judaism was views as an inward looking, demoralized by centuries of Roman occupation, declining economic fortunes and ongoing emigration.

29.Who was the Babylonian Baal God?

Details of the Babylonion Baal or Bel God were found by German excavators in 1904 at the site of the ancient city of Ashur.

* Details of Baal's capture and his trial in the House on the Mount
* Baal's torture and being led away to his death
* The city broke out in fighting
* Baal's clothes were carried away
* A woman wiped away blood from the weapon thrust into his heart
* A weeping woman came to lament him at the 'Gate of Burial'
* Baal was brought back to life at the spring equinox

30.Who seperated Christianity from Judaism?

It was Paul's dramatic conversion to Christianity that resulted in the seperation of Christianity from Judaism. Within months of his disappearing, Jesus' teachings were changed.

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