| The Sabians of Hurran in Mesopotamia, who were of Achaean origin, put the days to the seven celestial deities and Cronos was the Saturday at the end of the week. This Saturday became the Hebrew “Holy Day” of worship. Therefore, Cronos must be identified with Saturn and the god El. El and Jah are interchangeable names for the Hebrew god. (22) As to the ultimate origin of Jehovah, Graves brings our attention to the Israelite Jehovah of Tabor or Atabyrius, who was Dionysus the Danaan White Bull God which Graves asserts is attested to by the Classical authority of Plutarch. Quoting Graves: “In Plutarch’s Convivial questions one of the guests’ claims to be able to prove that the God of the Jews is really Dionysus Sabazios, the Barley-god of Thrace and Phrygia and Tacitus similarly records in his History (v.5) that some maintain that the rites of the Jews were founded in honour of Dionysus.” Graves continues: “The historian Valerius Maximus records that about the year 139 BC, the Praetor of Foreigners, C. Cornelius Hispallus, expelled from Rome certain Jews who were ‘trying to corrupt Roman morals by a pretended cult of Sabazios Jove’.” According to Leclercq’s Manual of Christian Archaeology, cemetery burials confirm the existence of the Jewish Sabazios sect. Thus, Jehovah, being the “Lord of the Sabbath,” and also of Sabaoth, “of hosts,” in fact, ties directly back to the Dionysian mushroom worship and veneration. In Phrygia he was Attis, the son of Kybele. Graves also mentions an inscription of Jewish origin, found in Rome which reads: “To Attis the Most-High God who holds the Universe together.” The favorite animal of Sabazios was the serpent, whose symbol appears in the rod and staff of Moses, the brazen serpent Nehushtan, which was ultimately destroyed by King Hezekiah. (23) Yahweh was also the “rider on the clouds” as the Lord is addressed here: “Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord. (Psalm 68:4) The storm was always the weapon in which the hero god wins victory. (24) Baal whom we already reviewed, was also the “Rider on the Clouds.” Asherah seems to occupy the same position as Anat, being another consort of El. Her epithet was “Creatress of the gods (Elohim),” “Lady Athirat of the Sea.” (25) She was also referred to as Elat or Elath (the Goddess) and may also have been called Qudshu, “Holiness.” (26) We find the word Asherah used to denote god’s consort as well as the shaped wooden trees that were made and left at altars and worship sites. This fact should be kept in mind wherever the word occurs. (27) From Judges we read: “…Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. (26) Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” (Judges 6:25-26) |
There is a Sumerian inscription, dating from 1750 BC, in honor of Hammurabi where Asherah is referred to as Ashratum, the bride of Anu. (28) Anu and El were both gods of heaven therefore, it’s safe to conclude that these were the same deities, removed only by a few centuries and several hundred miles. For about six centuries after the arrival of the Jews in Canaan until the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, the Jews had worshiped Asherah as well as other goddesses, gods and deities. (29) From the 14th century BC, on Amarna Tablets from Ras Shamra, the names Asherah and Astarte interchange and this has led to some general confusion. The Amarna Letters mention a King of the Amorites called Abdu-Ashira i.e. “Slave of Asherah.” (30) Some of the cities where she was worshiped were Tyre and Sidon, both capitals of independent states and also important Mediterranean seaports. King Solomon was a Goddess Worshiper When the Jewish faith was just beginning, there were many small disputes between the Levite priesthood and the Kings of Israel. This comingling and oftentimes quarrelsome marriage of church and state would play out to more extreme episodes during the Roman era. During the time of Solomon at least, the struggle was recorded in Old Testament writings. In 1 Kings we read: “(4) As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. (5) He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. (6) So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.” (1 Kings 11:4-6) (31) Then, shortly after that, Ahija was speaking to Jeroboam and quoting the words of “the Lord”: “(32) But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. (33) I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.” (1 Kings 11:32-33) (22) White Goddess p. 118 (23) White Goddess, p. 335-36 (24) Wake of the Goddess, p. 89-90 (25) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 76; Anat-Baal Texts, 51: I: 22; III: 25f; 29f.; IV, 31f; (26) Hebrew Goddess, p 55-56; https://www.britannica.com/topic/Asherah-Semitic-goddess (27) In the Wake of the Goddess, p. 159-160 (28) William F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, Baltimore, 1942, p. 78 (29) Hebrew Goddess, p. 34 (30) Hebrew Goddess, p. 37, 38; ibid., p. 37-38; Entz, Miqrait, s.v. Asherah; ANET, 483-84 (31) ibid, 40-41 |