The Origin of God

February 5, 2013 at 8:25 pm (Abrahamic Religion, Religion) (Abraham, Christianity, Religion)

The religious complex more important of our time, is without any doubt, the monotheist system of the Abrahamic cults. Christianism and Islam originated from Judaism, today declare about 3,600 millions of followers and constantly raise because of the increment of the population of the world. The paper of these beliefs in the events and conflicts of the present day, from the end of the Cold War cannot be more clear and outstanding. But, from where they come? What kind of deity is that? How appeared the god of the Abrahamic religions?

From the old Jews.

The exodus didn’t happen.

Yes, it is a pain because the story is incredible and the superproduction of Hollywood was great. But all the historic and archaeological signs point that never existed a great mass of Jews in Egypt, neither going out from Egypt, neither travelling for the Sinai during I don’t know how many years. And much less the 603,550 “prepared for war” that says Numbers 1:46, or the 600,000 “footmen, without counting the boys” (and also it is to imagine neither the women and the girls…) indicated in Exodus 12:37, that could sum up 2 million people in total.

There is the circumstance that the Egyptian scribes were like a kind of Germanic accountant with obsessive-compulsive syndrome that they took note of everything and they were storing a copy of everything. And in whole Egyptian history there is no reference, even indirect, to a fact of that importance: the unexpected emigration of the 66% of its population of about three million people during the period of the New Empire and roughly seven million towards its final of its existence. In fact, even they do not mention the notable presence of Jews in Egypt; in reality, only they talk about them like another peripheral people more. The most looking reference is something remotely similar to a “plague”, topic that the ancient people were keen -and the modern, too-.

Neither exists an archaeological register of such human mass moving in the deserts of Sinai during decades(and less even in the population told in the Torah), no way to tally al Pharaoh of Exodus with no one of the reality(saving the usual fantasy exercises), neither in fact, of any form to track the original text before the middle of the first millennium before our era.

In fact, results really obvious that the Exodus is not other thing that a myth of Hebrew national foundation like -there are many others–. If something happened vaguely similar that could inspire his authors, clearly was not in the second millennium BC(how it should be to set up the foundation of Israel) but in the first, when Israel already was existing for a while. The exodus politics is from the first millennium, not the second. The Exodus geography is from first millennium, not the second (in the second didn’t exist even many of the towns indicated by the Torah). Y la necessity the First Exodus is from first millennium, not second: from the exile in Babylonia, around the VI BC. That is, in fact, when the Jewish religion is founded that we know: is not possible to track any of his texts before the century V b. C. And probably its complete today’s form neither is previous of the II century b. C.

Never existed intersection of the Red Sea, manna raining from the skies, Law Tables, the Ten Commandments, Alliance Arc, golden calf neither anything similar. It’s very possible that neither existed King Solomon or the First Temple of Jerusalem (at least, without the meaning that is told) What existed is a conglomerate of Canaan people in the called cultural complex of the Levant, linked to Assyria and Mesopotamia for a side, and Egypt for the other and to Turkey and the Greek islands for sea route. The culture of the earliest Israelite sites is Canaanite, the pottery belongs to the Canaanite local tradition and the alphabet is early Canaanite The only difference among the Israeli settling and the rest of the Canaanite is the absence of pig bones, yet is not known why(but without any doubt it remembers to the prohibitions of Judaism and Islam). Further all this reasonable doubt, one or a mix of this Canaanite villages are found in the origin of the modern Hebrews.

These Canaanite villages shared the same gods, and of a notable way one called Ēl, that was an old generic term for “deity”: an ancient god, many times represented by beard, that appears sitting in his throne. Is more commonly cited in plural,Elohim, because the Canaanite people were fundamentally polytheist. No, it is not a majestic plural. Is polytheism: the gods.

Ēl, Elohim, Alá.

Look that many have insisted in the Lectures of the Dead Sea, and the less that has been talked about the cultures ugarítica y eblaite, that they left us an enormous documentary register about the Canaanite people of the third and second millennium: exactly when was starting to create this Jewish religion that after would become in Christianity and Islam. Results that the Elohim were already ugaritic, eblaite and the rest people of the region deities. In the Levantine pantheon, these Elohim are seventy sons of Ēl, a conglomerate of deities worshipped in whole zone from prehistoric times. And, significantly, with a clear Acadia-babilonic component.

Ēl, singular of Elohim, already appears presiding over the list of gods in the ruins of the eblit Real Library (archaeological deposit of Tel Mardik), about 2,250 b. C. That is much before that nothing started to bring the name of Israel or even the Jewish adjective(and don’t say Christian or Muslim): we talk about the contemporary people of the Old Egypt Empire when the pyramids were semi-new. Ēl, a bull-god, is at same time a cognate from Acadian Ilu or Ilum and is about probably the same god what Baal-Hammon, that the Phoenician -other Canaanite- were sacrificing burning alive their babies front of Moloch

All these words, in fact, are modern versions of how all these things were pronounced. Because the truth is that all these Semitic and protosemitic languages always have been written only with consonants. And when are only written with consonants -that is how it was done- all result identical between each other: varieties over the roots ‘L and L-M. Ēl, Elohim, Eli, Ilah, Ilu, Ilum and other divine expressions are anything else than diverse of ‘L and L-M: the god, the gods.

These protosemitic roots not only travel until our time through Elohim of the Torah and the Old Testament, or Eli of the new, but also from the way of the Arabian cultures that were developed in the same territory and surroundings. The god of the Muslim is the same Abraham god that the Christian and Jews’ one; and this name of god is transported by this L root, becoming in Ala(that means exactly… God). The famous shahada of Islam “there is no other god than God and Mahoma is his messenger” starts literally lā ‘ilāha ‘illā-llāhu…; it is, there is no more iLah than aLá. Islam, of course comes from the Semitic root S-[L-M], and means “submission [to Elohim]”).

Yavé.

Nevertheless the Jews and Christians claim that their Ēl have another name, that this name is Yave, Yahveh, Yehová(Jehovah) or other invention by the Hebrew “tetragramaton” YHWH. Normally, what they do is combine YHWH with different vocal games extracted from Elohim or Adonai(“Lord”). But for what I know, could be told Lloví (furnished like Yohvíh), Brings (Yehvah), Key (Yahveh) or any other combination in use; because, the name of his god were so sacred and so, so secret that has been lost the original form. This, for what is seen, is very important and is different from the rest of followers of the old bull-god from Levant; besides, it is a term in singular and it goes away from the uncomfortable cananic polytheist. plural Elohim.

The origin of this name YHWH is darker but non more exclusive in Levantine territories than the very vulgar Elohim. To start, already in the Old Testament appears fifty times another shorter variety, normally told Jah o Yah (YH): twenty six alone and twenty four how a part of the word alleluia (allele-yah, “praise to Yah”). There are three curious circumstances. The first is that the biblical texts where predominantly appears they tend to be computed among the most ancient(like Psalms or Chant of the Chants), what suggests a primitive form of the name. The second that existed is an ancient Egyptian god of the Moon also called Yah, and the Egyptian were in command in Canaan during various important periods of their history(with an extensive influence in its Meridional regions…). And the third is the consonantic root YW (Yav) shows up already in ugaritic Baal’s epic and in some eblait as a version of the sea god Yam.

But leave the speculation. This YHWH god is a Southern god of the Edomite, other Semitic people that lived in the part of the Negev Dessert and finally was assimilated by the Jews. Notable archaeologists assert identified YHWH in Egyptian texts refereed to the shasu, a Bedouin people that were nomad cattle-raisers surrounding these desserts, but other people think that this word YHWH makes reference to their camps(thing that is not necessarily exclusive.) In any case we are front of a southern levantine god emerged in the territories where before wandered the Shasu and later worked the copper the Edomite… that curiously they are in the Sinai part, where according the biblical version of this ineffable name “was revealed to Moses”. The first text where is found this god YHWH of the Jewish is a moabit stele  conserved in the Louvre Museum and it is not really good: it explains how they were defeated and how the YHWH sacred cups are dragged before a Moab’s god. 

(Click to expand)

In any case, results really obvious that the god of the old Jews is a mix of the supreme bull-god common to all Canaanite people, Ēl (in his polytheist form Elohim) and a dark secondary god in the southern territories absorbed by some moment of his history. In practice, there is none important difference between the southern Ēl adored by ugarites or eblaites and Ēl-Yahveh adopted by the Jews. This old Canaanite deity is the same that continue worshipping almost four thousand million people in XXI century.

The missing goddess.

Yes, a goddess, something that today is very popular in commercial literature, but all the ancient gods had their respective goddesses; and Ēl-Elohim-Yahveh was not an exception. In the southern cultural conglomerate, the mother-goddess of Ēl was era Asherah, also known by other variants like Ashratu o Atirat. In the Ugaritic Epic of Baal, Asherah is the creator of the Elohim. 

Asherah appears in the Bible, and specifically in the Second book of Kings, where is explained how was destroyed her cult and burn “all the objects done for Baal, for Asherah and for all the heaven’s army” (2 R 23:4-7) during what seems to be the violent story of monotheist repression in Taliban plan raping Budas (well, worse…). In other points appears translated as cipo(memorial stone) that must not be planted near the Yahveh temple..

And looks like that the cult to Asherah like consort goddess to Ēl-Elohim-Yahveh was generalized by the ancient Jews; exists an extended archaeological register to this, and in fact, any one would say that she was a very popular goddess before the monotheists destroyed everything by sword and fire. Neither let’s go to idealize some things: there is the certain possibility that Asherah enjoyed with the human sacrifice like her daughter in law Anat/Tanit, that according to what is said she was excited smelling a cooked youngster in the Tophet. The truth that between a bunch of polytheists ready to sacrifice a kid to satisfy a goddess and a bunch of monotheists ready to sacrifice everybody to impose themselves, I keep myself with an AK-47  and that the sun raise for the East. Yes, the past was a shit.

But the truth is that the old Jewish loved Asherah, how prove numerous archaeological discoveries. Even there are inscriptions where she is directly linked to Yahveh, like a VIII b. C. century’s Ostracon discovered by Israeli archaeologists in 1975 where is read “I bless you for YHWH of Samaria and his Asherah” (Horvat Teman site). Other, from Khirbet el-kom (near to Hebrón), says: “Beloved Uriyahu for YHWH and His Asherah; from his enemies was saved!”. All this can sound a bit heretic, but are discoveries endorsed by prestigious archaeologists like Israel Finkelstein –professor and ex director of the Archaeology Department of the Tel Aviv University, and co-director of the excavation of Megiddo  and probably the major alive expert in the Hebrew Copper and Iron Ages– or Neil A. Silberman, of the Archaelogy Department of Massachusetts University. Whom, of course, the biblical literalists and other fanatic of the style cannot see them in no way.

Copy of the ostracon of Kuntillet ‘Adschrud (Horvat Teman, Sinaí, South of Israel). In the inscription (old Hebrew) is read “A[shy]o to R[ey?] said: say to (X) (Y) (Z), that you become blessed by YHWH of Shomron(Samaria) and his ASHERAH”.

There was a goddess of Israel. In reality, probably, there was many among those Canaanite Elohim. That every thing of that was swept away by monotheism and now is being pretended that never happened, it doesn’t substract not a whit of veracity. But, what happened? How it was? And, why?

Monotheism.

Today we have the Israelite as outstanding warriors, but this has not been very common during the history. During a long time they were a small and late civilization, that received many KOs, resulting in numerous exiles. For example, the Roman. The Jerusalem that today many credulous visit, thinking that they are in the city of Jesus is in reality the Arabic development de Aelia Capitolina: a Roman colony built from zero – including the layout of the streets – after the Imperial legions got tired with the Jewish,  and completely destroyed the city and finally they sent them to diaspora for the next nineteen centuries. Few jokes with the people of Latium. Yes, until the Harming Way is a Roman street without connection with the old Jerusalem, how the rest of that place; to be exacts, an offshoot of decumanus maximus according to the standard Imperial urbanisation. The assumed location of the actual sacred places Christian, Jews and Muslim already constitute a kind of sacrilegious joke for what the people looks ready to continue killing themselves.

It was not the first time. Approximately six centuries before, in 587 b. C., the Babylonic of Nabucodonosor made the same. Jerusalem was looted, the Temple was destroyed and the Hebrew were taken to Babylonia as slaves. Is during this time of slavery when arises the Abraham religion whose come from the today’s Jewish, Christian and Muslim. Was subjugated in Babylonia or after where were written the most part of the Torah and the Old Testament (including the Genesis, Exodus and Pentateucus legends). and is also in this time when is developed the sole and exclusive monotheism that define them.

Let’s go in situation. We are in the period of my gods are better than the yours because I defeated you. And the Hebrews were defeated; but defeated at all, as much as his Nazi enemy two thousand years later, with the conquest of the Reich-stag and all that. But, if you pressurize me. Following the time’s logic, the Elohim-Yahveh should have been absorbed by the umbrella of the “caldeo” pantheon; neither should have been really difficult, because many of the southern Elohim were parallel to the Babilonic gods and goddesses..

But that was losing completely the identity and disappear as a nation; one more in the winds of history. In this context appears a new thing (and, another time, there is no historic or archaeological piece of information that permits to think what happened before.) For one side, is created a strong national legend that drinks from the Babilonic mythology: the Flood is a direct copy of the Sumerian epic similar to Genesis 1 drinks directly from Enûma Elish and Genesis 2 from Atrahasis, Adan is similar to Adapa (and both are also cognate), the snake shows strange similarities with Ningizzida, and like this with everything. By other hand, Elohim-Yahveh becomes an omnipresent, omniscient, all powerful and unique god; and all that happened to the Hebrew -his elected people- is only part of his plan, pre-designed from the origin of the times. Even his enemies work for him without knowing. With that are also disappear the mythological stories of gods and goddesses, because they already don’t have any sense.

This is, without any doubt, a new thing in the human history that is not clearly documented in other moment or place (however exist parallelism with some Hinduism traditions). This god is not exactly supernatural, but extranatural; everything is justified in him and through him. It is not more than a form of circular thinking (to not get confused by the circular reasoning of Aristotle), but certainly powerful. Because, although in the beginning it is not anything else than rarity in people of Antiquity, half of millennium after would start to become the essential religious subtract of most part of the world. Until our days.

Angels and demons.

And what happened with the rest of Elohim? Then they became demons. Beelzebub, for example, is Baal Zebub, god of the flies, what also could be a corruption more or less scornful of Baal Zebul (the god of the height). Leviathan is most probably related with the Ugaritic monster Lotan o Lawtan. Nevertheless, there is no evidence from where extracted the names of the angels. III Century’s rabbi Simon Ben Lakish  recognized that the old angels didn’t have name and the today denominations come (too) from the exile in Babylonia. In any case all them are teoforic names that include the mention of Ēl; Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, the Muslim Azrael, etc.

Place all these angels and demons in the new monotheism always resulted really complicated. Of singular form, appears a major evil angel (Satan, Lucifer, Iblis) that of a devious(twisted) form must be an agent of the all powerful, omnipresent and omniscient god (or, by the contrary, this god could not be all powerful, omnipresent and omniscient.) All these entities are legacy of the precedent polytheism. The Abraham religions share various levels of angels (archangels, Serafin, cherubs…), one or various demon levels (that the Muslim call shaitan), a “major demon” (Satan, Iblis…)and, in the exclusive case of Islam a quantity of genies. (djinn).

Christianity multiplies again the number of divine entities with the Trinity(Father, Son and Saint Spirit, three gods in one, that such contradictory and inexplicable way is considered a divine mystery). And in some denominations like the Catholic, incorporating something that can be interpreted like a demigoddess (the Virgin) and a calendar of saints’ days. Many members of other religions or people without religion consider these incorporations a form of weak polytheism to make easier its integration in traditionally polytheist. territories and less close to the southern cultural environment.

Monotheists and Empires.

Because the success and extension of these new religions (in their time) it’s closely linked to the expansion of the empires that they adapted as own; of notorious way, the late Roman Empire, Omeyan Caliphate and -after- the places where arrived their successors, conquerors and traders. In the beginning, during more than a millennium, this Abrahamic monotheism was not any more than a Jewish rarity and would have been if it followed being exclusively Hebrew. In its transmission to Christianity and Islam what would make to become in a global religion.

Has been insisted many times that this idea of unique and all powerful god sticks specially well with the social organization of pyramidal and imperialist type, but in my opinion it does not result evident by itself. There was big empires in the Antiquity perfectly pyramidal and perfectly imperialists that were polytheists or any other similar thing. Is not obvious the reason why the Abrahamic monotheist was accepted by so many people in so many different places (however its strong proselystic character and his high grade of theological elaboration could give some light); neither why achieved to penetrate in some important territories darmic y oriental and they were not moved by military conquest or, in some case, trading).

Looks like if this Abrahamic monotheism would have been specially able to destroy or absorb with easiness the polytheist. animism and paganism (making major or minor concessions), but would have it much more difficult to fight with other complex philosophic-theological systems. From the half of XIX century, its geographic expansion was interrupted in general terms. The British Colonial domain of India, for example, didn’t result in significant levels of christianization (neither moving the Islam from where already was, like Pakistan), in difference to what happened during the America’s colonization or was happening in the Sub-Saharan Africa. The strong colonial presence in China during the same period neither produced an effective christianization. And it was not for the fault of missionaries and proselytisers, neither in a place neither in the other.

From the XX century, the abrahamic monotheism starts to move back to its origin’s places. By one hand there is sinchretic phenomenon with a part of these oriental religions, in what is usually called globally New Era, mainly in Europe and North America; and meanwhile a process of fast secularization and really significant in Europe and Israel (and during a time also in the Islamic world, before the new form of fundamentalism emerged during the fights of the Cold War; a tendency that United States are not alien.) 

In beginning of XXI century, the old god Ēl of Canaan continues being the deity most adored of the world, under any of its aspects, alone or mixed with the edomite Yah; and, however, it totters in the developed countries. Probably none of his original followers, for or five thousand years ago dreamed that would arrive so far in any of his diverse forms Until today.

Bibliography:

• Lemche, Niels P. (2008) The Old Testament, between theology and history. Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY. ISBN 978-06-642-3245-0.

• Finkelstein, I; Silberman, N. A. (2007) David y Salomón: en busca de los reyes sagrados de la Biblia y de las raíces de la tradición occidental. Siglo XXI de España Ed., Madrid. ISBN 978-84-323-1296-0

• Davies, Philip R (2006) In search of ‘Ancient Israel’ (2ª edición). Continuum, Londres. ISBN 978-1-850-75737-5.

• Finkelstein, I; Silberman, N. A. (2003) La Biblia desenterrada: una nueva visión arqueológica del antiguo Israel y de los orígenes de sus textos sagrados. Siglo XXI de España Ed., Madrid. ISBN 978-84-323-1124-6.

• Day, John (2002) Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan. Sheffield Academic Press Ltd., Londres. ISBN 978-08-264-6830-7.

• Smith, Mark S. (2002) The early history of God: Yahweh and the other deities in ancient Israel (2ª edición). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids MI. ISBN 978-08-028-3972-5.

• Smith, Mark S. (2001) The origins of biblical monotheism. Oxford University Press, Nueva York. ISBN 978-01-951-6768-9.

• Van der Toorn, K.; Becking, B.; Van der Horst, P. W. (1999) Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (2ª edición) Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden. ISBN 90-04-11119-0.

• Coogan, Michael D. (1998) The Oxford history of the biblical world. Oxford University Press, Nueva York. ISBN 0-19-513937-2.

• Keel, O.; Uehlinger, C. (1998) Gods, goddesses and images of God in ancient Israel. Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis MN. ISBN 0-567-08591-0.

• Olmo Lete, G. del (1993) La religión cananea. Ausa, Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-86329-89-1.

• Thomson, Thomas L. (1992) Early history of the Israelite people. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden. ISBN 90-04-11943-4.

Translation of: http://lapizarradeyuri.blogspot.com.es/2010/07/el-origen-de-dios.htm