TLDR;
This video explores the complex religious landscape of ancient Israel, arguing that its beliefs are rooted in Canaanite culture and influenced by various neighboring civilizations. It examines the evolution of Yahweh from a Midianite metallurgy god to a supreme deity, influenced by Platonism and syncretism with other gods like Dionysus and El. The video also touches on the impact of political and philosophical trends on the development of monotheism in Judaism.
- Israelite religious beliefs are rooted in Canaanite culture, with shared practices and language.
- Yahweh evolved from a Midianite metallurgy god to a supreme deity, influenced by Platonism and syncretism.
- The rise of monotheism in Judaism was influenced by political and philosophical trends, particularly Platonism.
Intro [0:00]
Abram's journey to Canaan is described, noting the presence of Canaanites in the land and God's promise to give the land to Abram's descendants. The religious beliefs of Israel are rooted in the shared culture of Canaan, with unique attributes that differed from the Canaanites. The Old Testament's embrace or rejection of Canaanite elements means that Canaanite religious influences still affect us today through biblical narratives.
Chapter 1: Canaanite Religion [2:21]
Before the findings at Ugarit in 1928, knowledge of Canaanite religion was minimal and largely from indirect sources. The Old Testament mentions Canaanite deities and rituals, but often in a negative light, making interpretations challenging. Excavations at places like Biblos and Megiddo give us glimpses, but only a fragmentary picture. Thanks to the discoveries at Ra Shamra ancient Ugarit North Syria the Canaanites tell us their own story. Hundreds of clay tablets found here, written in a dialect close to the Biblical Hebrew, and offers Rich insights. Canaanite religion was more of a public affair than a personal one, with rituals mostly centered on ensuring fertility.
Chapter 2: the God EL [5:33]
The Hebrew word for God is the supreme god and Creator and shows up as Allah in Arabic. In Northwestern Semitic cultures L was a term for any deity and also specifically for the primary God. Using the name L can be confusing because sometimes it refers to the main god and at other times to different gods. Some believe that various authors change stories from polytheistic context into monotheistic ones, causing many inconsistencies in the text.
Chapter 3: Divine Craftsman [7:14]
Several ancient texts and inscriptions mention l or connect him with other deities from different cultures, indicating his widespread recognition and influence. The Egyptian god Pata shared an epithet with L, and an ancient script described L as the god of Eternity. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, does have some interesting things to say about the God Pata who he calls by his Greek equivalent have faced this. When you take a look at l or Yahweh being a god of Metallurgy and craftsmanship in the uncreated one like ta there's might be some connection here.
Chapter 4: PTAH, Demiruge [10:38]
Pata is an Egyptian deity responsible for creating the world, manifesting it through potent force of spoken words. Worship then moved beyond the borders of Egypt all the way into Syria and was exported throughout the Eastern Mediterranean through dissemination by the Phoenicians. The priesthood in Memphis and crocodopolis and the elephantines have competing mythologies that make Pata the self-created demiurge who creates the other gods and humans.
Chapter 5: Elephantine Jews [12:48]
Porphyry once said at the city of elephantine there is an image worshiped which in other respects is fashioned in the likeness of a man and sitting it is of a blue color and has a man's head and a diadem bearing the horns of a goat. Nakunum who Pharaoh Khufu was named after the famed builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza almost seems like a perfect synchronization between the competing Creator Gods Amun ra and Pata. The Temple of elephantine was dedicated to kunum as consort satis and their daughter anuket. The elephantine City where we found older Jewish Aramaic fragments than any existing fragment or manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in existence but also it shows that the Jews at elephantine in the fourth and 5th Century BCE were still polytheistic.
Chapter 6: Yahweh, Midianite Metallurgy God [17:27]
In Exodus the presence of fire and smoke is paired with the mountains quaking. Yahweh's Revelation is always out of Mountain, whether called Sinai or Horeb the event pictured like a volcanic eruption. Jacob Dunn even theorized that Yahweh was once an Arabian volcanic deity. This ties into the theory that yahweh's Worship in Israel has midianite roots. Moses's father-in-law is portrayed as a midianite priest suggesting Moses might have adopted local religious beliefs from him.
Chapter 7: YHWH vs. Ba'al [24:59]
The kenites seem to have been skilled metal workers. Historically deities linked to Metallurgy were also connected with volcanoes for instance hephaestenus was linked to Mount Aetna in ancient Greece. The persistent use of volcanic imagery when describing Yahweh implies a deep-rooted metallurgical aspect to his earlier identity. The writings in Zechariah support this idea the book starts by sternly rebuking the earlier prophets of Israel accusing them of abandoning the paths of Yahweh and ignoring his call.
Chapter 8: Dionysian IAO [32:18]
Yahweh is nowhere to be found in any of the ugaritic or Northern Canaanite texts or inscriptions, which are dominated by L and Bell. Yahweh is most likely local to the southern Levant near the Sinai desert Midian. This could also help explain the biblical author's attempts to polemicize Baal as an evil opposition to Yahweh considering how popular Belle was to Northern Israel. The numerous metal artifacts in the Jerusalem Temple aren't just symbols of grandiore their context largely detailed in Exodus via the depiction of the Tabernacle specifies about the metals used hint at deeper theological importance they held.
Chapter 9: Dionysus of the Desert [37:54]
Plutarch posited that the Jews revered Dionysus and celebrated the Sabbath as a tribute to sabazios. Herodotus describes a local religion somewhere between Mount Sinai and phenicia possibly midianite territory who have a similar ritual as described in the Hebrew Bible such as the priests wearing similar white and blue robes with golden tassels. In both cases the blood is sprinkled or smeared exactly seven times to seal the oath.
Chapter 10: Yahweh Inscriptions [39:57]
And a jar found a kuntalet Ashwood under the inscription Yahweh of Samaria and his Ashura dated to 800 BCE possibly the male and female pair that Herodotus thought was Dionysus and Aphrodite. Yahweh in the form of Yao frequently invoked in Greco-Roman magical texts dating from the 2nd Century BCE to the 5th Century of the Common Era most notably in the Greek magical papyri under the names Yao Adonai Sabato and Loi. The oldest manuscripts of the Greek Septuagint Old Testament in Greek before the church editions came in the 4th century show Yao in them for Leviticus 3 27 and 427 these are replaced with the uniform curios or Lord in the 4th Century Church codexes of the sinaiticus Alexander kiss and vaticanus.
Chapter 11: EL, King of the North [42:50]
For Canaanites in the broader levantine region region L was the highest God fathering notable Gods like Bale and yam. In ugarit L was married to the goddess asherah but no Temple was dedicated solely to him. Numerous titles and attributes describe L from being a Creator and King to a wise Elder. Regarding the god l he was seen as the preeminent deity residing Atop The Monumental Mount saffron where all gods convened similar to Mount Olympus.
Chapter 12: Saturn, King of ELOHIM [45:45]
The belief system of the Canaanites a group of Semitic peoples from the ancient Levant spanned from the early Bronze Age up to initials centuries of the common air. Philo of biblos in the first century Phoenician writer who cited Sako nietin of Beirut priests from the Bronze Age apparently identified the chief Creator God as Elian. Kronos then who the Phoenicians call L who was king of the country subsequently after his decease was deified as the star Saturn. An archaeologist and Canaanite Scholars claim that the practice of child sacrifice was rampant among Canaanites in the first millennium BC.
Chapter 13: Old Gods - BAD [53:57]
Moloch sometimes written as Molech was a Canaanite god mentioned in the biblical accounts with child sacrifice. In the Old Testament bash it is often used as an alternative name for the widely recognized God Bell who translates to Lord. This text directly connects Saturn with moloch in the following way sikhuth is a Celestial God recognized from the on Godless discovered at ugarit originally sourced from nipur and various Mesopotamian Origins here. In the Hebrew scriptures moloch is depicted as a foreign God who occasionally found a foothold in Israel's religious practices due to the adoption of synchronistic beliefs by some of the Unfaithful Kings.
Chapter 14: Breasts of Gaia (2 Mountains) [58:00]
Canaanite Tales two mountains targisi and Thera Magi support the sky and enclosed terrestrial ocean. W.f Albright suggests that the term El Shaddai stems from a Semitic origin found at the Acadian words Shadow meaning mountain and Shadow translating as Mountain dweller. Harriet lutzky offers another Viewpoint linking should I with the Hebrew word Saad meaning breast this suggests a connection with the Semitic goddess posits the twin mountains as symbolic breasts of the Earth. The religious beliefs of the Canaanites were shaped by their geographical location nestled between Egypt and Mesopotamia these neighboring regions significantly impacted Canaanite spirituality.
Chapter 15: Jewish Polythesim [1:01:27]
If we bring our attention back to the elephantine Jews living in Egypt in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE we notice that Judaism at this time is still polytheistic. In the top part of the steli the Egyptian god of the underworld Osiris sits on the throne recognizable with his characteristic Crook in flail.
Chapter 16: Rise of Monotheism [1:03:22]
How is it that when we get to the time of Ptolemy II the creation of the Septuagint that we all of a sudden had the monotheistic approach to theology from these Israelites. The popular philosophy of any given time period is going to dramatically affect the Theology of that period. At the time when the pentateuch was being put together platonism was on the rise along with Aristotle School of the peripatetic and the skepticism of Pirro. Thales was the first master School of Athens he was known for traveling to see the greatest minds of his day in Egypt and Babylon he taught that water was the first principle RK in which life can spring from. Plato wrote a dialogue called Timaeus an exposition of cosmology in which the Demi urge the agent who takes the pre-existing materials of Chaos arranges them according to the models of Eternal forms produces all physical things of the world including human bodies.
Chapter 17: Demetrius Phalerius [1:19:25]
What solid evidence do we have that platonism has any influence on Judaism. The next three School of Masters after Plato is Aristotle who after the conquest of Alexander the Great is sent into Exile by the elwazinian priest who charge Aristotle with blasphemy against the gods. Theophrastus was the student and new master of the school who taught Demetrius valarium Dimitrius of hilarium was also exiled and he moves to Alexandra with Piero the skeptic. Demetrius Valerius who was Library keeper to the King was now endeavoring if it were possible to gather together all the books that were in the habitable Earth.
OUTRO: Plutarch on 'AMEN' [1:26:16]
Plutarch is proposing that the term amen is a shout or chant that is used to call on any of the Gods not just Amon but any of the Gods including the Supreme invisible one. He also cites hecateus of abdara for this very idea and it turns out that hecateus vaddera is the oldest fragment that we have citation of Moses outside of the Hebrew Bible.