YHWH had a Wife?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2018
- YHWH...the God of the Israelites in the Hebrew Bible, and you shall have no other gods before him. But did some ancient Israelites worship another god, Asherah? Archaeological evidence suggests that some Israelites may have believed YHWH had a consort or wife.
Support the show on Patreon!
www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
religionforbreakfast
Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry
Instagram: / andrewmarkhenry
Sources:
William Devers, "Did God Have a Wife?" Eerdmans, 2005.
William Dever, “Archaeology and Ancient Israelite Iconography: Did Yahweh Have a Face?” in A.M. Maeir and P. de Miroschedji (editor), "I will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times”: Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar," 461.
Judith Hadley, "The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess," Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Critical Review of William Dever’s book: members.bib-arch.org/biblical...
Hershel Shanks, “The Persisting Uncertainties of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud,” members.bib-arch.org/biblical...
Dr. Erin Darby interview on pillar figurines: www.coursera.org/learn/bible-...
Source on standing stones: Stephen Herring, "Divine Substitution," "Chapter 3: Iconic Israel: Divine Representation, Idol Polemics, and the Awareness of the Relationship between Image and Presence in the Hebrew Bible," Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2013.
Next watch "Mandaeism: The Last Gnostic Religion?": th-cam.com/video/DMx_JKJbvJI/w-d-xo.html
Wow, Israelites committing idolatry. Big surprise, said no one who's read any of the Bible.
One of the great heresies, I think, including Manicheanism?
@@tintinismybelgian p
No God but yahweh and Asher are just his people
We know the Israelite people fell several times into the worship of false god's even while they worshipped the one true God, for example, look at Soliman during the fall of his rain. The age of this temple, pared with the timeline of the text actually matches well, the most empresive part is it's still standing, but we all know how the isrialits never could seem to understand the word "all" to mean " all" if you get my drift.
Jeremaiah actually complains about Israelites worshipping Asherah
Mitchell Rutherford The point is YAHUWAH may have a Wife other than YISRAEL
It was post break-up YHWH was really mad, and said no other god existed or had ever existed, and would deny any evidence to contrary..
It was not pretty breakup.
chained2it the heathens aka Babylonians believed their stone gods were inhabited by the spirit beings they represented. I study this so I am citing common knowledge of archeology. Standing stones would be in agreement with Babylonian heathen worship hence adopted by many. This is where Jewish Mysticism stems from. Tree of life in Babylon. Regenerating belief etc (not to be confused with Genesis Tree of Life).
Seriously this comes up in the Bible ALL the time. It would be a lot stranger if archaeologists could find no evidence of Hebrew idolatry.
@chained2it @Life-Lover is correct. I've studied it too. :-) You can still find this practice in, for example, Hinduism, where their idols are carefully dressed and fed. Further, these idols didn't necessarily have to be made of stone. They could be made from other materials as well.
I'm glad your channel exists. It seems like you are one of the only people I can find that doesn't just sensationalize this kind of thing for political reasons.
Yeah those types of TH-cam channels annoy the heck out of me. The archaeology is interesting enough already without putting a political or crazy spin on it.
no
@@messianic_scam yes
@@russhall1414 no
@@EnderElohim yes
The issue with the "Ashera = object" interpretation is that Ashera is a well-attested goddess. So she was a goddess at some point. And we do know for multiple sources that Israelites were polyteist before they came to only worship one god.
I mean Ashersh DOES mean an object multiple times in the tanakh, whether or not it meant the object or the deity here is still undecided
It is normal for people who recently gave up a habit, like smoking, child sacrifice or polytheism, to become the strongest antagonists.
Ashera with the lower cases A was a different concept entirely, according to the video. It never denounced her existence
@@kellydalstok8900 in what way
The Bible is all about the fact that Jews worship many gods and Yhwh punishes them
I’d always wondered who Ashera was and why it was so important to cut down Ashera poles when I read the OT
The kings of Juda saw what happened to the kingdom of Israel when the cultplaces were destroyed, the people of Israel lost their identity. So to prevent this and also to regulate the many way of Jewisniss by the fugitives from Israel a reform was neccessairy to tie the identity of the people to the Script and the autority of the priesthood taking care of the Script to one Temple. It sort of worked, Jerusalem stayed independant for a century longer and when the elite was deported to Babylon they were prepaired to take their Jewish identity with them in their heads. The "lost tribes" of Israel did not have that option as deportees could not bring their cultplaces with them and the ceased to be tribes of Israel deluted in the mass of slaved people.
Paganism .
Are these poles the giant trees that were cut down?
I just discovered your channel through your video on the cult of Mithras, and I have to say it's absolutely fantastic! I'm currently in the middle of binging your videos, they're all so in-depth and well-researched, completely fascinating. Cheers!
Jack Rackam woah didn't expect to see you here
Surprising to see you here
covid 19 brought me here
First, YaH Elyon DOES NOT have a “wife”, that is BLASPHEMY...
Asherah are the “Poles”, gathered at the “Alter” for burning of those who worship baal, at the “Sacrifice of Offering”.
Guys, HERE is the Original Semitic Text, PLEASE READ THIS
YaH The Heavenly FATHER was Who they Crucified for our sins and “HERE IS THE PROOF”
From the Ancient Semitic Scroll:
"Yad He Vav He" is what Moses wrote, when Moses asked YaH His Name (Exodus 3)
Ancient Semitic Direct Translation
Yad - "Behold The Hand"
He - "Behold the Breath"
Vav - "Behold The NAIL"
Interesting, I have a Mithril shirt given to me by my uncle.
I have taken Religion classes the past few semesters, and I found your channel at the right time! Keep being awesome!
What have you learned…
Thank you. Your objective neutral p.o.v. is a breath of fresh air.
Fun fact: Asherah in Arabic means companions or kinfolk.
no the word for kinfolk in arabic is asheerah with two E's
@@amshrx Isn't it rather to hard to transliterate Arabic due to it not having the same vowels as English?
Asherah in old Arabic meant either “wife” or “tribe” in Modern Standard Arabic it usually means companions and always references a plural and never a singular. The word most likely got incorporated into Arabic from other pagan Semitic languages of communities that used to worship the goddess and used the word to mean “wife” since asherah’s husband is Baal and “her Baal” in Arabic could mean “her husband”
no one cares what it means in your infidel language. - your friendly neighborhood Jew
@@hiroshima19 You're not a Jew 😆
Digging into proto-Judaism (and proto-Christian) beliefs is always interesting. I kinda wish more people saw it that way and not, you know, blasphemous.
(Also, IIRC, asherah poles were associated with the worship of Asherah, hence the name. If nothing else, they're likely remnants of Asherah worship.)
Agreed. I hope I don't get any accusations of blasphemy for this vid O_o
ReligionForBreakfast It’s quite interesting I’m of Christian faith and these studies are awesome
Wait, surely you've been accused of blasphemy before? I'd be shocked if you hadn't!
None of this would qualify as blasphemy so I don't see why you would
I got accused of blasphemy as a teenager for saying that God was genderless. There are people who reeeaaally like to throw that word around.
Speaking as a woman: I can state that a storm, sky, mountain-top dwelling,
god, represented by bull might not have much appeal to the women of
ancient societies. Their chief concerns were surviving childbirth without
complications and the welfare of their families.
Jacob's wife, Rachael, stole her father's household idols ("Teraphim").
Those idols were important enough for Laban to follow his son-in-law's
entourage and demand that the idols be returned to him.
It doesn't have much appeal to me either, as a man.
Strangely enough it sounds so much like Hindu God Shiva. Mountain residence- check, bull as a ride- check, storm and sky - check. The only two things we need to add is his love for meditation/sagehood and authority over destruction.
@@uselesshero.official it makes sense considering where we find the oldest civilizations, gods followed cultures as they migrated and the further they got from their origins, the more the gods changed. What's funny is how one god usurped all his contemporaries and then went on to over take versions of those contemporaries nearly 1000 years later in the form of the Nordic conversations
@@uselesshero.official Interestingly enough, Hinduism and Norse mythology have the same origins in Proto Indo-European mythology. We're all more connected than we think.
It's nice to see a show on religion that isn't openly biased, thanks :)
I like your channel because you´re unbiased, give sources, extra reading material, and make consistent points based on evidence.
In ohter words, your videos do show that you are a qualified religious studies teacher.
Keep up the good word.
Blessings and good wishes from a Muslim in Ecuador.
You've exploded in subscribers since January!! Good to see you finally getting recognition. Only a matter of time before 100k, good sir.
And none is good! None! No not one! You have all tore the heart! Broke the soul! Dont lie to yourself! Change! Change! Change! And face your judgement in nature. I apologize...
@talk2me9ja that was neatly said. Had to sleep on it. It's frustrating how judgements are cast; and some to death. Liberty is good from my eyes and i see God as a person that speaks and has already ordained what is to come howbeit humanity was created from and in the image of god. Yeshuah saves and is record for obedience to a falling world. And gods still don't get it...
First, YaH Elyon DOES NOT have a “wife”, that is BLASPHEMY...
Asherah are the “Poles”, gathered at the “Alter” for burning of those who worship baal, at the “Sacrifice of Offering”.
Guys, HERE is the Original Semitic Text, PLEASE READ THIS
YaH The Heavenly FATHER was Who they Crucified for our sins and “HERE IS THE PROOF”
From the Ancient Semitic Scroll:
"Yad He Vav He" is what Moses wrote, when Moses asked YaH His Name (Exodus 3)
Ancient Semitic Direct Translation
Yad - "Behold The Hand"
He - "Behold the Breath"
Vav - "Behold The NAIL"
You are intellectually AWESOME! Keep up the awesome study and dissemination of information.
Thank you for adjective videos this is exactly why I subscribed.
I've jumped down a rabbit hole with this channel 🐰🕳️
A rather fascinating rabbit hole it is lol.
Its not an rabbit hole but Suwer hole.
@@koksalceylan3934 for what reason
@@MohammedAli-hl4mr couse evey one who has tube apps can make his own "History".
@@koksalceylan3934 that's true to an extent, but you have no ability to study and no ability to understand who is making things up and who's not
Well, god is sometimes referred to in the bible as El. Curiously enough, when he's given different names he tends to have different qualities. Almost like they're distinct beings or something.
Or maybe had different authors and this character never actually existed
Maggie Lynn prove it
Maggie Lynn also which God?
@@verscarii3238 Someone has to be.
@@AvenjaysGuitar Oh boy, here we go again...
just found this channel and i must say from the few videos I've watched so far i really love the down to earth analysis of these subjects. Most documentaries and TV shows hype it up and present more questions then answers and try to make it a mysterious confusing mess. Your channel really is the proof that the scientific and real research is very exciting and engaging. I will most likely contribute through patreon in the near future. Keep up the good work and thank you.
I agree with you. This format makes history interesting.
This was fascinating, and so well presented. Thank you for enriching our lives with your content. :)
This video hooked me and subbed you...
The binge watching shall begin shortly...
👍🏼
i love that you look at things from an objective point of view w/o meshing opinions about it into the video. you give evidence for all sides and interpretations and that is really rare these days in any practice of analysis or teaching, especially in that of religion!
Hi, Just found your channel and this video is amazing! I can't wait to watch all others you have. What you think about the Anunnaki hypothesis?
Dear comment readers, please remember that the jews were rebellious to God back in the days.
Solomon also built many templeS for his wives. They worshipped many God including baal, el and other distorted versions of yahweh which was issued to have a asherah for a wife.
Ralph Joseph RJM And please remember that ideas about gods changed over the years. Yahweh could be considered a distortion of El... in fact the OT uses El and Yahweh interchangeably at times
@@scienceexplains302 El means God in hebrew. ELohim, israEl, michaEL, EmanuEL. I mean its obvious since the canaanites also knew God they just had other false gods.
Omen Dragon El means god in Hebrew, possibly because El was the chief god in the older society. Language works that way sometimes. But the Bible also refers to the chief god (they were henotheistic for the most part, e.g. Psalm 82:1) as El or some variation of El.
Please see El (Deity) on Wikipedia. It cites its sources.
As far as the evidence goes, all gods are apparently false.
"Back in the days," huh? One word... Kabbalah. It's everywhere now.
Omen Dragon but YAWEH and El are basically the same thing lol
Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.
"The inscription is a petition for a blessing," she shares. "Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and his Asherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."
Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."
Love your videos. Thank you for all your time and effort.
Never fails to provide amazing content. Thanks!
Loving your videos and learning a lot. Have you done a video on the historicity of King Solomon? You mention the temple built by him in this video. I had thought his existence, or at least reputation, was not well backed up by evidence. Would love to hear your take on it.
Clear, concise, on point, not a word or a second wasted, and as unbiased as is possible to be IMO. Fantastic presentation. Dr Henry, your channel is a beauty. I hope it goes from strength to strength.Great work.
Love the topic! The findings could unfortunately mean anything from YHWH's wife to that tree you mentioned. When I heard the tree theory it could shift the meaning of the sentence from YHWH and his Ashira to YHWH and his creation (tree of life). But I'm not a scholar and so take that idea with a grain of salt.
El-Elyon the God El is where you get the el ending in every Angel name ie Arch Angel Michia-el, Rapha-el, Uri-el, Etc. and so on.
Thanx again for another very educational video. Keep up the good work young man. You rock!
Great analysis. Really appreciate the links to further info.
Please continue. I love the discussion.
Really a great video, this is the content I subscribed for!
Very onformative and liked the way you explained yourself. Definitely sub. Thanks
Man, great content! I love listening to your scholarly perspective on the text and evidence. As a practicing Christian, I'm really enjoying your channel.
thank u for making this video with your great explanation-my gratitude for self taught scholars like myself
I like your approach.. concise, informative and so far UNBIASED... refreshing.. Cheers!
SUBSCRIBED!
Back in the day (1000 BC - 600 BC), the Israelites/Hebrews, Phoenicians, various Canaanite tribes, had many overlapping gods, believed in the power of their own god/gods, but also believed that other gods existed. This is called Monolatry (belief in many gods but worshipping only one). It wasn't until the second temple period when Judaism evolved into a more strict monotheistic (one god) religion. Just like life, language, technology, writing, etc... religion evolves over long periods of time.
What is the distinction between monolatry and henotheism? I've heard both terms but haven't quite been able to determine the nuance.
@@magicdog9523 Monolatry is a religious belief system where only one god is strictly worshipped, but also acknowledges that other, lesser gods exist.
Henotheism is a religious belief system where one god is preferred to be worshipped, but other gods who may be equal, greater, or lesser also exist.
When Akhenaten outlawed the other gods and only worshipped the Aten, that was an example of monolatry.
The Sumerians who worshipped the patron deity of their cities, such as Enki, Enlil, Inanna, believed that each of these gods were important and varied in their greatness. That is more like henotheism.
@@Emcee_Squared Thank you!
@@magicdog9523 i should clarify that the sumerian system is more polytheistic than henotheistic. A better example might be the Assyrians from the city of Assur, who worshipped their god, also named Assur, as their chief deity, but also believed in the validity of other gods and worshipped them as well, especially when visiting other cities.
@@magicdog9523Well that christian and Judaism. More over christian especially
Thank goodness someone I trusted investigated this topic. What a good starting off point into it!
Nicely put together! I've read a bit of the first book you mentioned, as a Christian I'll admit I found it a touch disturbing. However, it isn't at all surprising that Jewish people had a wide range of beliefs and their belief in additional gods was heavily scrubbed by the Yahwist camp. Could you by chance explain a bit more about what asherah lower case poles are?
@Mullerornis I have a theory that they may have been originally stakes for crops to grow up against, the way gardeners do with tomato plants. We see Asherah amongst vegetation all the time in the imagery,
@Mullerornis I don't mean THEY the ancient Hebrews were growing tomatoes. I am saying they were growing OTHER crops, and the way- WE modern gardeners -grow tomatoes... they used stakes to hold their plants up.
You are chirtian believe in a begotten so of god then wife of god in no problem 😄
@@xS146roarweirdo. let’s not shame other people’s beliefs and act like the adults we are. want to try again?
Enjoyed the video. If you haven't already, could you possibly do a video about the similarities of ancient Canaanite and Hebrew religion please.
The White Injun can you prove it that they had no similarity what so ever?
TWI is a troll who just threatens and harangues; best to ignore them.
The WHite Injun Which bible ? the version that you have ? that's been edited a thousand times ? or the hebrew one ? There are as many bibles as there are interpretation, each giving it a different twist and claiming the bible that they have is the perfect.
I don't see any reason to continue this any further so have a good day and bye.
The White Injun How many fucking comments on this video are you going to post? Get your head out of the goddamn sand.
The White Injun you've been corrected dozens of times in these comments. So shut the fuck up.
“Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah ( Ishtar, Ashteroh) poles." Ezekiel 34:13
"“Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images." Deuteronomy 7:5
Judges 6:28
When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built."
1Kings 18:19
“Now summon all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table."
Exactly. This was absolutely condemned, many times actually.
It is the cross!!!! Worship in spirit and truth!!!
@@landgdiscount the cross is a device used by the Egyptians or other occult religions to summon the spirits or also called necromancy and sorcery . The babylonians also used a cross the same way. So the cross has been used by the occult but christians think that the cross is holy or something . Christian have no idea what they believe in
@@TorahisLifeandLight we dont belivd the actual cross is holy. Were not out here worshipping the cross.
@@ntmn8444 of course it was. Yahweh was originally part of a polytheistic religion, so when the isrealites were trying to covert everyone to a monotheistic religion, they had to condemn other gods. It’s also why he’s sometimes known as El (head god of Canaanite pantheon) or Eloah/Elohim translating to God which gave him a more supreme standing compared to other religions, after all when power is resting in one position, it’s usually considered stronger.
Fantastic video, Friend!
Scholars have pretty much agreed: The bible stories of Israel in Egypt; the ten plagues; the Ten Plagues, the Exodus; The Wanderings and the Conquest are not historical. David and Solomon probably existed but as small-town chiefs, not kings.
It is really interesting to discuss the historical archetypes we've created around the concept of "Abrahamic" religions. People tend to think monotheism came out of nowhere, while the cultural and religious context of the ancient Levant shows a much more diverse picture.
T. Janssen we all know the Abrahamic religions that the patriarchs came first !
Sarah Nyb ?
Sarah Nyb I wouldn’t say that is the first monotheism, God has always existed and their have been the patriarchs before the jews who believed in the creator God who created all life. All other faiths came as a rebellion against the creator by worshipping the creation.
Sarah Nyb I know otherwise. God is very well alive and present today.
@transylvanian okay calm down
This was the subject of one of the episodes of the 90's TV show "Archeology", hosted by British actor John Rhys-Davies, during his gig between being the Roman guard who murders Tiberius in "I, Claudius", and Gimli, in "the Lord of the Rings trilogy". Glad to see this theory is still around since it makes perfect sense, considering all the other chief gods of the ancient world were husbands and wives.
Wow I'm not even religious but this channel is so interesting that it doesn't matter 😄
You don’t have to be religious to appreciate different religions and wanting to learn of those religions.
Religions are nothing but glorified history.
Refusing to admit the flaws of the past gives birth to religion.
The ironic proof parallell to this video:
It is the woman that has been vandalized, because women tend to bring up the past as examples.
I'm a closeted atheist myself and I love this channel. I love learning.
Same
Being agnostic actually makes these types of channels more enjoyable as you don't have to participate in any mental gymnastics
This is all very common knowledge, and has always been understood for the hebrew scriptures themselves which describe the ancient Israelites as worshiping multiple gods (ie engaging in idolatry.)
Right, the archeological evidence only serves to prove the Hebrew Bible right at the very least, since this was a very common complaint.
Not at all. The Bible transmits the notion that Israelis were monotheistic and the cult to Ashera was marginal. The fact that a temple had space for the worship of her is a BIG deal and not at all common knowledge
@@Dude408fRachel took her father's idols with her, the entire congregation (including Aaron) made bull idols (that matched El/Baal), and the book of Kings clearly states that there was a shift to idolatry. What you say is not correct -in the Old Testament it's constantly shown that polytheism was widespread among israelites, and it often leads to disgraces.
Great video
I'm always curious by this,
@3:51-4:20 Isnt's that just a plain reading of what the Tanakh says though? Why would it surprise any one who knows Jewish or Biblical history?
These visuals you got are super underrated!
Fantastic! Thank you for sharing! Sooooo many questions - I just want to pick apart your brain!!! 💫
The "Book of Kings" says the Hebrew Kings worshipped false Gods then God punished Israel.
So did Leviticus or Exodus
@Bronze Spectre Literally the same thing in the context of the Bible
God punished them careful how you say that.
there were multiple sources of what eventually became the Bible and a lot were not written in the days they narrated about.
Well, that proves the Israelis worshipped several gods, at least some Israelis and for some time.
I thought this would be about Jesus and Mary but instead it was something I didn't know about. I love this channel. I'm always learning something new
I would suggest an alternative explanation: The official religion of ancient Israel (and Judah, later on) was strict monotheism. However, there were a great many polytheistic cults, such as Baal and Ashera. These cults rose and fell in popularity, and at times may have even been practiced by a majority of the populace, and were often supported by the kings.
I think this meshes quite well with the evidence, as well as avoids the need to say that the Bible stories were created from scratch to set a narrative instead of reflecting the reality of the times.
Love your channel man!
Awesome and intriguing new findings. Really very interesting especially with what we find in the Middle East.
The Bible/ Tanach never say that YHWH had a wife named Asherah, these texts clearly mention these to be false gods/ idols. The Israelites did adopt them/ (idols) though.
It's because he killed her.
@@shadowreveled5107 How do you know this?
Except archaeology strongly suggest that the early Israelites were an indigenous Canaanite population and were polytheistic at first like other Canaanites and slowly through time evolved to become monotheistic. This is even supported by aDNA sequencing which shows strong genetic affinities between Iron age I Israelites and Canaanite populations.
It's far more likely that they were polytheistic and evolved into monotheism.
@@sweaspurdoddd5466 Show the evidence. Israelites may also, also be, "all righteous people". Israelites and Canaanites are two different people. They may have mixed, and the Israelites started to worship their gods. How can you compare DNA taken from Canaanites, do you know any Cananaaites today, to even take DNA from, for comparison, where are they?
By Ashera! It's the Grand Champion!
I cant believe it's you! Standing here! Next to me!
Would you like me to carry your weapons? Shine your boots? Backrub perhaps?
Very interesting and informative video. Excellent narrative. 👍👍👍
Most of the ancient world was pagan.
It goes deeper, EL condemned all watchers who undermined God. God then turned rapturing all souls before the Great Innundation, the Lord had no equal only Mother Mary is his wife even then she’s minor compared to the ALMIGHTY.
Great video. Well I have nothing to lose. Because I practice Wicca as well as Shinto and Zen Buddhism. However I was raised in a Christian family. I still have members of my family who are Christian. I did read the Bible both Christian and Jewish to get a better understanding of scripture when I studied it when I was young. I also read the book the Hebrew Goddess by Raphael Patai. My opinion is that the smaller incense altar is to Asherah. Because in the Torah they have only one incense altar to their God. Later kabbalists came up with the idea that Asherah was another name for the Divine feminine Presence known as the Shekinah. My thought they were secretly worshipping Her under the name of the Shekinah as well as Elohim a plural word expressed in a singular meaning. Which actually through the former means gods. Great video.
That is very interesting and I think the link to Canaanite polytheism is important. I have seen it argued (fairly convincingly to me, as a layperson) that the Torah describes a monolatrist rather than monotheist religion with other deities acknowledged by but not worshipped by the ancient Israelites. This view generally seems to view the differences between whether G-d is referred to as Elohim or YHWH as representing the relative status two competing monolatrist cults who were later revised to be the same G-d under multiple names once monolatry had given way to true monotheism.
Obviously, I am a layperson not a scholar of this field but I was wondering if you had some insight into that as it seems somewhat related to the continuity with Canaanite polytheism (which also seemed to show a strong preference for cities all worshipping a single patron god whilst acknowledging the existence of others) you mention here
What, no? I'm not doing any syncretism, I'm just asking about the degree of continuity and similarity in views on the existence of multiple deities between the ancient Canaanite religion and the ancient Israelite religion. Brahman is pretty much unrelated to that discussion
That's practical monolatrism but Ontological monotheism. Nothing here that would really shake up the basic blocs of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. You can actually do believe that those "deities" exist, as long as you don't believe they're atemporal, omnipotent, Omniscient, etc. And that's the thing.
Nowadays we input those things above in the very own meaning of the word/name "God", but at ancient times it wasn't like that. I've seen some evidence that "Elohim" (which is usually translated as "God" or "god") is actually better translated as "spirit";(if I remember well) even Satan is described as an elohim. So, as said ontologically speaking it is monotheist as long as it believes in a supreme, omnipotent, etc. creator. It doesn't really matter if there's belief in the existence of other spirits since even Christians believe in angels and demons.
The big thing in the video is that they believed Asherah was some sort of consort, although as the creator of the video himself said that's documented in the Bible as well.
Had to subscribe this is gold 💞
Extremely well informed video, thank you.
It isn't that well informed when it claims that the Jewish name for God is something that Jews don't recognize.
Asherah dumped El for Yahweh, but after a couple of thousand years, Yahweh grew tired of Asherah, and started looking for a bit on the side. That's when he got busy with Mary.
Joe Caner this makes sense
@J DV dipshits who have their heads embedded deep in their arse that spew bs without comprehension. These mental degenerates actually think they've made a breakthrough.
You must hate long stories!
First, love the clip, love the channel, thanks.
Second, quick comment I heard from someone one day regarding the phrasing of the first commandment. It says: לא יהיו לך אלוהים אחרים על פני, and it can be easily understood to mean 'don't have any god more important than me' (before me or on my face/front). So it could be read, in the contezt of that period, as meaning not a monotheistic command but a yahwa-supremicist command
i have heard that there were competing gods from different tribes in the region at this time.
My church actually had a bible study series completely devoted to the term "elohim" and the spiritual council surrounding Yahweh's throne
That's what I think as well, Genesis has Mesopotamian roots so the God of Abraham would logically be King of the Anunnaki instead of The Only God Ever.
@@autobotstarscream765 but the main point of the Scripture is that Yahweh is the only God worthy of worship. Don't worry about who the council is or how many elohim there are, worship Yahweh only
@@imakevideos5377 and the monotheists' claim was that the competing gods were not real, but that their god YHWH actually was real.
In semetic languages Ashera could mean the woman who lives with someone or as a metaphore who sleeps with him, it derived from the verb Asher that means live with someone, and the Ashera also means the close tribe members or your relatives who live close to you.
I will be giving praise and worship to Goddess Asherah *
Worship Jesus Christ 🙏🙏
Love these videos.. As a Jew I can tell you that the Israelites did not immediately go to one God they worship many gods for a long time before they went monotheistic so if God had a wife who cares it's fine with me
The White Injun the polytheistic tribal origins of Judaistic tribes aren't unknown
Ahh.. No wonder God was so mad at the Jews..
Mullerornis How do you know that?
the white: We are not here to deabte what is ultimatly true, but rather, what the Hebrew's of a certain time believed to be true. That is what this video is about.
the white: So you are speculating that the Hebrews of that time (who did not yet call tehmselves Jews) believed in more than one God, but that one God is greater than all the rest? That would make a certain amount of sense.
It's not monotheism, it's monolatry
Thank you for not having content like Bright Insight
Asherah was the Wife and it was a blasphemous faith according to the bible.
Curiously, she was labeled "Queen of heaven" just as we call virgin Mary today.
Just spent my day thinking about it. All I could figure it out is that Mary for real owns that title where this deity does not.
I am Christian and we don’t call her Queen of heaven 🤔 In Russian (I am Russian Orthodox) we call her: Bogorodiza which means “the one who gave birth to God” and not Queen of heaven
Am I crazy or is the Yhwh standing stone just gone when you were there? Somebody decided they needed god in their life in a very materialistic sense?
you are not crazy. they show two standing stones at first, and then the one on the left of us is gone. good eye.
I never heard of most of this. Please take some video around the place and upload it. I would like to know more about it and how it compared to King Solomon's Temple. In fact, I would like to know a lot more about King Solomon and his temple
I probably have 20 minutes worth of footage. I could upload a longer informal commentary of the site if that interests anyone...?
ReligionForBreakfast I'll be interested because I've never heard of that place to start with
ReligionForBreakfast interested!!
Interested!
ReligionForBreakfast I’m interested in pretty much everything you put up so please post more!
Really love somebody reviews about beliefs but with scientific proof and way.
thank you for this video!
This is fascinating, though I don't know a lot about ancient Judaism, so I can't comment much.
early hebrews ALSO had multiple gods. it wasn’t until the persians invaded israel that Zoroastrianism introduced monotheism to those same hebrews.
Yes, you are correct. It was their biggest contention & written about extensively. That's how they worshiped but that wasn't the intent of the way as it was written. It was done but a big no no. It's all through the early scriptures.
Abraham, the patriarch, believed in monotheism way before Zoroastrianism was even a person and/or concept.
@@shoeshinegirl101
it’s amazing how much the religious would rather believe a book of myths and nonsensical scriptures and superstitions…than actual scholars, historians, archeologists who have studied and are experts at this subject matter.
@@darthvirgin7157 I study Hebrew, Paleo Hebrew and the Greek languages for almost 50 years.
I do not support ANY man-made religions mind you. Been there and done that, lol! In fact, they give Elohim a bad name and/or reputation.
With that said, there is a lot of archaeological info proving the existence of the Bible etc.
Take care
@@shoeshinegirl101
and YET, unlike any MORE-on, i’m not going to take the word of some random individual in the comments section of youtube making unverified claims…OVER actual academics. specifically those with no “skin in the game”, especially the SECULAR ones.
" Y H W H of Samaria..." would be the Key phrase to this inscription, however.
The rift that developed between The Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah respectively, was over the issue of what the prophets considered Idolatry, part of which involved the worship of Asherah. From the Southern Kingdom perspective, the temple in the North was one of full on idolatry, but the temple thrived in the North in direct competition with Judah and in opposition to the direction of Y H W H in terms of 'form', per se, because they didn't just devote themselves to YHWH.
Of course the southern kingdom went full bore Ba'al and Asherah themselves under Ahab and Jezebel, too, but there were always splinter factions from the Exile from Egypt onward. It's part of the rub, so to speak.
YHWH is married to the Nation of Israel and from the mindset of the prophets and faithful and apparently the imagery of Her poets s well... She is a naughty girl.
But YHWH is the ever faithful Husband, the Issi, aka Jesse. Once Messiah is born out of Her Womb and accomplishes His Purposes of Redemption and Propitiation, He becomes the Reconciling Father of the rest of the world through His Own Son's Covenant.
So there are many variations of Judaism and Yahwism that were practiced across the Sinai from Midian to Cana and across the peninsula, even into Ethiopia. But The Vessel of those who would paint the prophetic narrative that would permit the Nation and ultimately the remainder of the Jews in the Disporia to recognize their Yeshua and spread the gospel of Repentance and Forgiveness that the sacrifice of His Son would bring was always Jerusalem and Judah based, whether in the kingdom divided or Unified.
It would then extend to the entire earth, not as much as a religion per se, but a Way of Life, serving our Heavenly Father and one another.
The Plan was Good.
The execution has been just as flawed as ever other good thing our Creator has given us.
But for prophecy fans, the End works out really well, whether you read it from the Old or the New Testaments.
I truly adore your approach, sir. Balancing the History is tricky this late in the game, but you do so very well.
Bravo.
Stella H
What a lovely encouragement.
Blessings to you and all you cherish!
Merry Christmas!
Thanks for rehabilitating the narrative of the prophets of Yaweh of the Torah. Yes Judah, or Judea at the time of the NT, was in contention with Samaria probably because of the differences in the belief systems. Christ said to the samaritan women "...ye know not what you worship but we know..." John 4 kjb. Pointing to mount Jerizim.
@Stella H Lol, okay yahwist.
Nice explanation of things
Bronze Spectre
I don't worry about being offended anymore, just try to speak truth in Love. I figure that's my healthier approach, but sometimes it's tough.. I never like hearing hurtful things spoken of or towards anyone I love, particularly my Creator.
There was a lot of diversity in ancient Judaism as is clear from the Bible. The prophets had to define the Judaism we know today.
This is something I've been trying to wrap my head around for a while. Apparently the different sources that may have edited the tanakh changed Gods name from El Elyon from the Canaanite Pantheon to YHWH, who originally was a War god and an Elohim, if I am not mistaken. Then there is the point that the Caananite pantheon may have been modeled after the Annunaki of the Sumerian Pantheon/Religion which is an even bigger possible blasphemy to all the people that follow Abrahamic religions.
I'm wondering what your thoughts on this would be. From what I've gathered there there is an interesting connection between Sumerian mythology, Israelite beliefs, and even the Gnostic beliefs which you had covered in a previous video.
I'm trying to figure this out without resorting to David Icke like conspiracy theories.
The White Injun not the response I am looking for at all but i got it from reading multiple sources (one being a lecture from a jewish religion studies professor at Yale) including what i found on wiki
"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. By the end of the Babylonian exile(6th century BCE), the very existence of foreign gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed as the creator of the cosmos and the true god of all the world."
Baccanaso, if you want to go deeper on the topic of the Hebrew bible and don't trust random sources perhaps you might be interested in the Yale course that is available on youtube.
th-cam.com/video/mo-YL-lv3RY/w-d-xo.html
This is the first video, you can find the whole playlist on the Yale channel I believe. It is twenty+ hour long lessons. I know it's a lot of material but you can browse through and focus on the parts you are interested in. Unfortunately I don't remember which video deals specifically with the Hebrew pantheon but there's one although references are scattered throughout the course. The professor is not a brilliant talker but she is not a conspiracy theorist, and as an academic she presents the various hypothesis biblical scholars have come up with and what the prevalent scientific consensus is.
Pat Pezzi Thank you Pat, that is the exact lesson I watched a while back, but did not know there were more lectures available from that professor. Thank you!
The White Injun yawheh is the shortened name for an ancient tribal deity meaning "I am he who musters armies", yahweh shabbat.
Mullerornis this guy am i right he keeps sayong that to everyone, to lazy to look it up and to much of a jerk to ask politely lol!
Maybe do an additional episode about the Jews in souther Egypt worshipping Yahweh and a goddess Anat (and another goddess it seems) as late as 410 BCE. Seems that Ezra's codification of the Torah with the injunctions about worshipping only Yahweh and having a temple only in Jerusalem didn't reach them yet at that time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantine_papyri
You would think they would’ve understood it from the days of Moses when Elohim spoke to them from Mount Sinai, “not to have any other mighty ones in My face!” Basically what the first commandment means.
@@shoeshinegirl101 Wait so whos yahweh
@@Iwillmakeitoutofhere Yahweh is the *name* of God. God is not a name - it’s just a title. The same with the word Lord. These are both “titles” and not names.
So when the Bible says “we will be persecuted for His NAME sake,” it’s not talking about God or Lord. If that were the case everybody on the planet would be persecuted including the wicked who use the “titles” all the time. I am a daughter, a sister and a mother. I am also an aunt etc., but my “name” is Jackie. I hope this helps you!
@@shoeshinegirl101 what about elohim?
@@Iwillmakeitoutofhere when reading the Bible when you see the word Lord that would be Yahweh, and when you see the word God that would be Elohim.
Chronicles 24:18 -And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. Dueteronomy 16:21-“You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make."
Israelites were known to fall into pagan religions fairly often....this would explain the paganized version of israelite belief system....
it is NO surprise that later period jews would "clean up" all references to Yahweh's (El's) Consort!!! These guys were constantly revising history, and historical artifacts, to fit with their current understanding! This even occurred in new testament references to supposed prophesies in the old testament But it was all just a slip shod plaster pastiche over obvious references to other gods and goddesses!
They know for sure, they just don’t wanna say
Very interesting !
what are your scholarly credentials!? Your educational knowledge and career is basically where all of my interests lie. Currently I am working on an anthropology degree, but my curiosity and passion lies in the religious impact on ancient culture s and generally the spiritual impact on humanity; which seems to be your specialty! I would love to know
Can you do something about the Nestorian Christians? They show up in all kinds of fascinating and unusual places in history (like being Mongol khans, for instance) and aside from the occasional mention of how they split off, nobody really talks about the development of Nestorian theology throughout that long strange history.
Those Nestorians really got around ;^)
it is also interesting the texts that quote the church being the bride or wife of God (the ASHEERAH OF YHWH) probably this was a very ancient way of reffering to the special relation between God and a chosen tribe or community.
Good observation. That aligns with the prophets' narrative. Israel or the Church being its Bride.
Good content.
Thks for the information
Fun fact: in the Talmud 'Ashera' sometimes refers to a tree or tree stump planted in heathen temples.
For that reason, some later Ashkenazi (European) rabbinical texts forbid planting trees in synagogues, to avoid "asherah worship".
In the grand scheme of history, though, the Sepharadi design of olive trees and hadas bushes in the synagogue courtyard won out.
you are right.
At the beginning you show and talk about two standing stones behind the two alters but later there is only one stone behind the smaller altar. ?
Asherah...the consort of El, was also known by other names: Elat, her most common epithet. The Greeks knew her as Dione or Rhea. The Canaanites knew her as Tannit or Hawwa, which is the same thing as Eve. Tannit the feminine of 'tannin', which would mean 'one of the serpent', Asherah carried a second epithet in the bronze age, 'dat batni', also 'the one of the serpent'. The Sumerians knew her as Nintu or Ninhursag. Her symbol is a serpent coiling about a tree or staff: the caduceus.
Im an Israeli archaeologist, probably gonna write my MA thesis on Tel Arad.
I love your work man
Quality content finally! Subscribed!
Ashera was a heathen god and the Bible states that God condemned His people for worshiping such gods she could not have been god's wife.
@@mingledingle1556 Gottem, lol.
This guy is not a believer so he would not understand that or read it or believe the scriptures to be true .
The church are the bride of christ.We await the marriage supper of the lamb .he will come to take us home he is preparing a place for us.
This is an old topic, it is well known that early Jews were polytheistic, like many ancient religions. Monotheism was fairly common in the Levant, well before Judaism
@@shawncarter5619 yes this s true ,but was the faith of Abraham" Judaisim" ? Seen as Judah as not born yet !
Jeremiah 7:18
King James Version
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
I'm not christian and very opposed to it but that is probably the coolest bible segment i have seen.
@@ReidGarwin This is the Word of God coming forth; Who Is, Who was and Who Is to come, The Almighty.
@@deborahkoller9463
You are a religiously dogmatic fundamentalist; the biblical scriptures were written and edited in different time periods to fit different ideologies. The Jews after the Babylonian exile (when they were greatly influenced by Zoroastrian ideas) were against the worship of other deities because they had a different understanding of their religion; Zoroastrianism was responsible for this. You quoting Bible passages without understanding the context and textual criticism behind them is rather pointless for you to do. The Bible was edited many times, and when a portion of it was first composed around the times of Hezekiah and Josiah, they probably had a monolatristic influence rather than a monotheistic one. It may be the word of a particular human-made deity; a Jewish one, Yahweh; however, it is not the word of an actual divine god; gods are unfalsifiable.
Considering that the Bible constantly talks about the Hebrews worshiping pagan gods, even though they weren't supposed to, this is really a non-issue. So we shouldn't be surprised when we see things like this. In fact, the Bible itself comes out and says that the Samaritans early on worship to both the true God as well as pagan gods at the same time. So there's frankly nothing to see here, unless you have some sort of misconception of what was going on.