Neither Elijah nor his biographer thought that the woman of Zarephath ought to give up the service of her Baal on the ground that there was no God but Yahweh. Chemosh and Ammonites: There is one passage where Chemosh is designated the god of the Ammonites ( Judges 11:24 ). In 2 Kings 3:27 Yahweh not only admits the existence of the Moabite god, Chemosh. #343. 32:8) divided the earth according to the number of heavenly beings who existed from before the time of creation. This apparently causes the defeat of Israel and their allied armies: 2 Kings 3:27, This is an example of failed prophecy in the Bible. God always holds up his end of the bargain, but Israel rarely if-ever gets their end right. Chemosh is one of the brothers of Yahweh, El is their father and according to his wishes, he had given each son a nation to dominate and lead, each nation had their God. ISBN links support NWE through referral fees, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Chemosh&oldid=1018011, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Chemosh. In this case, Chemosh allowed the Israelites to "oppress" Moab for many years, a reference to the events confirmed by the biblical account during the reigns of the northern kings Omri and Ahab, when Moab became a vassal state of Israel. These are rather to be seen as the literary techniques used by all scribes of the ancient Near Eastern world in an attempt to legitimate lands taken from other and/or indigenous peoples and to explain lands lost to other nations. Does Yahweh regret and change his mind OR does he not? So, defeated by the non-existent god Kemosh I can conceive of a greater being. 3) In Psalm 82 Yahweh depicts himself as God over all and kills his 69 brother gods. The Mesha Stele contains the earliest mention of YHVH, the God of the Israelites, outside of the Bible. In 1967, Raphael Patai was . (Gen 46:21; 1 Chr 7:6 vs Num 26:35), #260. The 8th 9th century Yahwist Tradition (Num 21:15-31), 2. I think the Documentary Hypothesis should be upgraded to aDocumentary Theory! The borders of Moab are from the Zered to the Jabbok, that is both the Moabite and Amorite territories of the J and D traditions. 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. In 1868, an archaeological find at Dibon provided scholars with more clues to the nature of Chemosh. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land." And perceiving this we thus move way beyond the confines of one text, one God, one perspective, one religion. Matthew Henry suggests that the sacrifice was inspired by Satan. 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. Elsewhere, however, the Moabites are seen as closely related to the Israelites, as descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot. 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. Chemosh (from Hebrew , pronounced /emo/), was the primary god of the Moabites (Num. I don't imagine that this will convince you, of course, but it's still adds to the overall discussion and gives added insight as to how we Jews have traditionally understood a potentially problematic episode. This is fitting, considering that God . Mesha vs. Omri and "his son") and god (Chemosh vs. Yahweh). Elyon, the father, divided up the earth and his son Yahweh received the portion of the earth that came to be known as Israel. So let's first correct the above translation by translating it literally from the Hebrew. Elyon, translated the Most High, is probably a separate god from Yahweh, translated Lord. That is each nationIsraelite, Babylonian, Egyptian, Moabite, etc.viewed and understood the flux of the geopolitical landscape as something controlled by their national deitybe it Yahweh, Marduk, Osiris, or Chemosh! Others sought to achieve a more uniform kind of nationhood through the one-God idea. The thing about interpreting history and prophecy is you have to understand what was not there. Certainly in polytheistic religions, gods do lose battles. His presence in the Old Testament world was well known, as his cult was imported to Jerusalem by King Solomon (1 Kings 11:7). Genesis 1 as a Test Case, The Growing Problem of Biblical Illiteracy in Our Country, The Biblical Texts on Their Own Terms Versus the Bible on Its Terms: Genesis 1 and 2 as a Case Study, Morals Dont Come From God: For This I Know Because the Bible Tells Me So, #178. Twitter. Before I get to this extra-biblical contradiction, let me briefly review what we have already treated. Rather the Moabites lost their land because Chemosh was angered at them (the Babylonian cylinder seal makes the same claim about the Babylonians losing their land to the Persians because Marduk was angry that they forsook his laws and commandments). Literature, as well as other arts, are an expression of mans desires, beliefs, perceptions of his realities, modes of understanding his world and circumstances, his spirit, his hopes and failures, etc. Throughout the ancient Semitic world, each family was aligned to a particular El. 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. 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. Except youre ignoring OPs argument. It is entirely within his abilities. . The vassalage had existed since the reign of David (2 Samuel 8:2), but the Moabites revolted upon the death of Ahab. 221:27-30; Jer. While he is most readily associated with the Moabites, according to Judges 11:24 he seems to have been the national deity of the Ammonites as well. Only later, when subsequent biblical authors began to embrace monotheism, were the original writings suppressed. The divine wrath might have been an even superior diety that prevented Chemosh worshippers from being eliminated by Johovah worshippers. Although HaShem abhors human sacrifice, he nevertheless realized the intention of the Gentile to honor him, wrong as it was, and punished Israel for the fact that the gentiles at this time were giving him better honor than they were. This does not seem likely since Jehovah had promised Israel would prevail over the Moabites. The attitude of Yahweh himself toward the nation of Moab in its worship of Chemosh, as expressed by the prophet Isaiah, is not devoid of compassion: The career of Chemosh may be best understood in light of the movement of Israelite religion from its origins in polytheistic Canaan, developing next through a period of exclusive worship of Yahweh as Israel's national god, and finally to the later tradition of Jewish monotheism. 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? 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. If Israel had pressed forward, they would've destroyed Moab. And in the present case, these cultures and peoples interpret the flux of their geopolitical world and the forces acting upon it as being guided and controlled by each ones national deity, most relevant to them was the possession and the loss of their landindeed the central focus of Deuteronomy and its covenanal obligations: so that you may live on the land is the refrain repeated throughout. 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. Just for the records, YHWH could destroy anything that he created or co-created with His Son. Support the show with bitcoin: fbn@getalby.com (Num 21:10 vs Num 33:41), #166. The gemara in Sanhedrin 39b discusses this and brings two opinions. In any case, to the biblical writers, the worship of Chemosh, "the abomination of Moab," was an inexcusable sin, as was the worship of any deity other than Yahweh. If I do not call her, she would still be keeping her end of the promise if she doesn't go on a date with me. Moab destroys the temple of Yahweh - shows us the importance of the gods to political entities at the time. And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I brought them before Chemosh.". The worship of Chemosh in Judah is traditionally thought to have been abolished in the time of Josiah in the late seventh century B.C.E. Did the Israelites travel 300 km to battle Midian and return to the plains of Moab all in the 11th month of the 40th year of the Wilderness period OR not? https://sites.google.com/site/yahwehelohiym/sons-of-god/the-el-of-a-family. You shall conquer every fortified city and every choice city; every good tree you shall fell, all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good piece of land you shall ruin with stones., It doesn't say, "Yahweh will fight with you", or "you will be mostly victorious. Another defence is to claim the verse is vague: "The language is so vague that a clear translation has eluded scholars." I wont hold my breath waiting for you to respond, but I wish you well in all your future endeavors. Smith says When Naaman begged a little earth that he might make a Yahweh-sanctuary in Damascus, how easy it would have been for Elisha to instruct him that the whole earth is Yahweh's and that the soil of Damascus is as truly his as the soil of Palestine. From this we can deduce a number of probable facts about Chemosh. Now, why would there be a great wrath upon Israel if the only god in existence were Yahweh? Israel may have been too vigorous in pursuing the war, pushing the Moabite king to this extreme action and causing Jehovah's wrath. in Early Christianity; D.E.A. It says, "And a divine wrath came upon Israel, so they withdrew from him and returned to their own land". Having said that, we've seen numerous examples of foreign nations defeating Israel that were not equated with that national deity defeating Yahweh. and our At this time in the biblical story, Yahuh (not Yahweh, the V in YHVH is pronounced as a U) god of the Yahudi people (Jews) was still understood as simply one of the Elohim, or Tribal gods fighting it out. Yahweh vs. Chemosh: Battle of the Hebrew War Gods in II Kings 3:26. (Gen 2:4b vs Gen 14:19), #327. in Hellenistic Judaism; M.A. This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Thus, it would seem that Semitic regard for respective national deities operated similarly from region to region. Yep Another story of People not trusting God. But grace is doing less than you are capable in the name of mercy and love. He was very respected and was considered by the people to be all-knowing and all-powerful. How could Yahweh be a good deity if he actively promotes and encourages war? The question, although understandable, is a bit odd nonetheless because it is founded on my interlocutors predispositions and assumptions. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Within the text, the inscriber mentions Chemosh twelve times. God Had a Wife? Mixing of religions, worship of many gods. This act by Solomon was no doubt to some extent a political one, motivated by a desire to honor his Moabite wife. How frequent and widespread such occurrences were is difficult to judge. Chemosh Beat Yahweh in a Battle Would you believe that sometimes Yahweh actually loses to other deities or armies in the Bible? Upgraded to aDocumentary Theory is you have to understand what was not there existed from the... High, is probably a separate god from Yahweh, and I brought them before Chemosh... Well in all your future endeavors extreme action and causing Jehovah 's wrath, a. 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