by: John Day
I saw others talking about posting book reviews and also think it a great idea I love to read and being retired now have the time
I loved this book. From the back jacket :
This important 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.
A few quotes:
”I conclude, therefore, that El and Yahweh were originally distinct deities that became amalgamated.”
”Yahweh himself does not appear to have been a Canaanite god in origin: for example, he does not appear in the Ugaritic pantheon lists. Most scholars who have written on the subject during recent decades support the idea that Yahweh had his origins outside the land of Israel to the south, in the area of Midian (cf. Judg. 5.4-5; Deut. 33.2; Hab. 3.3, 7) and there has been an increasing tendency to locate Mt Sinai and Kadesh in N.W. Arabia rather than the Sinai peninsula itself.”
Chapter list:
1 Yahweh and El
2 Yahweh and Asherah
3 Yahweh versus Baal
4 Yahweh’s appropriation of Baal imagery
5 Yahweh and the Goddesses Astarte and Anat (and the Queen of Heaven)
6 Yahweh and Astral Deities (Sun, Moon, Lucifer)
7 Yahweh and the Underworld Deities (Mot, Resheph, Molech and the Rephaim)
8 Conclusion: The Canaanite Gods and Goddesses and the Rise of Monotheism
One of the leading theories among scholars now is that the ancient Israelites were themselves Canaanites. They emerged from Canaan itself – any migrations in were small. The very Hebrew language itself is a Canaanite dialect.
El was the main God of the ancient Israelites as well. Isra el is a theophoric.
But, thru a desire to be distinct, gradually over time they sought to separate themselves.
Part of that process was having their own God, in this case Yahweh, who gradually took over from El. A Yahweh only movement developed that gained momentum and took more and more control especially in the post exilic period where Monotheism came into its full bloom.
A terrific book. The myth of the younger, more virile deity taking over from the old god is widespread in the Ancient Near East. Yahweh’s chief competitor was Ba’al, also a member of El’s divine council. Yahweh dwelled on Mount Sinai (or Zion depending on the tradition) and Ba’al lived on Mount Zaphon, both depicted as in the far north. Both had prophets and oracles and left a literary legacy. It’s clear the roots of Biblical theology were polytheistic.
That myth is widespread everywhere, basically. I’ve studied a fair bit of Celtic Mythology, and you can find it there as well. And of course, Zeus took over from his father, Cronos.
It’s an archetype, as Jung would put it. The same patterns recur, with variations, even when the people telling the stories have no contact with each other. Because there are consistent elements throughout all cultures, in spite of our differences.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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