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.
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).
@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.
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'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 UA-cam channels annoy the heck out of me. The archaeology is interesting enough already without putting a political or crazy spin on it.
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.
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!
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"
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”
Speaking as a woman: I can state that a storm, sky, mountain-top dwelling, god, represented by a 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. Therefore they sought the help of goddesses. 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.
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.
bible teachings... you can't have woman without man, vice versa, how can we have a Heavenly Father without his wife. And obviously why would her name be listed, as His name and His Son's name have been dragged through the mud for a very long time.
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.)
Maybe in the modern era of gender equality, but...well, most of the defining events in Abrahamic religion did _not_ occur in the modern era. There's a reason Adam was created first and Eve was tempted.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
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."
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"
1:18 Yahweh of Samaria and his wife Asherah 1:57 Did god have a wife book by william g dever 2:55 the cult of asherah by judith hadley 3:24 dr erin darby
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.
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.
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.
“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."
@@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
@@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.
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.)
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. 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.
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.
Well listening to this you basically said it. Someone inscribed that but it wasn’t Yahweh. There is only 1 True and LIVING God! And he will NOT be mocked!!!!! God is a spirit! As far as this Deity (ashera)being talked about in the Bible it’s an idol!!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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?
_"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."_ (Jer. 7:18) _"But we will certainly do [they said] whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?"_ (Jer. 44:17-19)
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.
True story: the Bible admits to polytheism in the book of First Kings (I'm pretty sure it's in chapter 11 but I might be wrong about that), King Solomon was polytheist, It also admits that a Moabite deity called Chemosh literally straight up overruled one of Yahweh's prophecies.
At one point, the Israelites began to take on the surrounding religions. They didn't forsake the worship of Yahweh all together, but rather they would worship Baal, Asherah and others alongside Yahweh.
Yes, they did. You are correct. He just states that they shall have no other gods before him. They can have their other gods, but they have to worship him, first, and primarily. All other gods are secondary. Ba'al was also the son of Asherah, in some of their local texts. The Ba'als are usually noted as being El's sons. Asherah is El's wife.
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. ua-cam.com/video/mo-YL-lv3RY/v-deo.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!
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.
Question: At any time in Jewish and Christian history, was the God of the Bible viewed (even by heretics) as pantheistic, similar to the way Hindus view Brahman or Taoists view the Tao?
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.
@@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.
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.
@@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!
I always took YHWH saying 'I am your god and you have no god before me' was basically an admittance that there were other gods and to renounce them in favor of himself. Is there anything in the original texts that would dispute this?
Not to renounce, necessarily. Simply that they are inferior. God is to be worshiped first. Any other god is secondary. However, barring idols and depictions of other gods does effectively diminish ability to worship. So technically, you can worship them, you just can't make any idols of them. How convenient for Yahweh, right? This makes it as such that all heavenly deities seem but one in the same being for new believers, whilst allowing believers in the prior pantheon to continue their general worship, so long as Yahweh is given highest deference first. This is typically see as a commandment stemming from the syncretism of old and newer tradition and the active attempt to suppress the older beliefs to transition to a more henotheistic and eventually monotheistic tradition. Obviously, it was very effective. If you can't put an image to the various deities, they eventually become a blur. Forgotten. Their stories linger on, but now with Yahweh as the central character.
" 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.
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.
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.
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.
The Bible already answered this. Some Israelites deviate in monotheistic belief and would adapt gods from other religion in foreign countries. It would be depending on the kings of Israel and Judah on how they are treated some are tolerant others destroy these "sects" of cult and religion. Just as in the case of King Hezekiah and Josiah.
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.
I have also read in a few books over the years that Yahweh was a War God and would send countries to battle against each other as he and his consort 'Ashtorah' would sit in the background and watch. Ashtorah and Astorah are also found in Kabbalah writings.
hei is indicative of a noun that feminine but not all feminine nouns ends in hei and it doesn't count for pronominal suffixes. Her "noun". (Belonging to her) will also have a hei. In short, Not all feminine nouns end in h and just because there is a hei doesn't indicate it's female. This also only applies to singular nouns.
@@screamtoasigh9984 Thank you. I talked to my Rabbi about it recently, but he just said, "No," without any explanation of why. And I'm the kind of person who doesn't respond well to answers like that. You gave me a more thoughtful response. I still need to study that subject more to get a better grip on it, and I wish the Rabbi would have been more forthcoming with the information ~ Can you please point me to a good source for a better understanding of Hebrew words ending in HE?
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.
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.
Hard to deny that during the early history of Judaism that other deities were still venerated, since the Jews basically were Canaanites and brought with them some of their deities, like YHWH, El, and Asherah. Here's a bit from a good article that shows how wide spread the myth of Asherah was and how it influenced Judaic practices. Notice the bible passages in this article, so you can go and look them up for yourself: "According to the biblical record, these sacred poles or stylized trees associated with Asherah were erected by the Israelites throughout most of their history, especially during the premonarchic (tribal) period (Judg 6:25-26, 28, 30)) and during the period of the divided monarchy, both in the northern kingdom of Israel (1Kgs 14:15; 16:33; 2 Kgs 13:6; 17:10, 16; 23:15; and parallel references in 2 Chronicles) and in Judah, in the south (1 Kgs 14:23, 15:13; 2 Kgs 18:4; 21:3, 7; 23:6, 14; and parallel references in 2 Chronicles). These sacred poles were situated in various locations. In Judges 6, a sacred pole of Asherah is said to have stood beside the altar of the Canaanite storm god, Baal. The Bible also connects sacred poles with the “high places” (open-air cult sites?) and frequently mentions that they stood “on every high hill and under every green tree” (1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10; 18:4; 21:3; 23:13-14; 2 Chr 14:3; 17:6; 31:1; 33:3, 19; 34:3; Jer 17:2). Both of these phrases are stereotypically used by the biblical writers to describe sites of idolatrous worship, implying, as does Judges 6, that the worship of Asherah was an apostate behavior in Israel and improper for followers of YHWH." jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asherahasherim-bible
My world history teacher in college put it the best. “Don’t have any other gods before me” doesn’t mean you can’t have other gods. It means you can’t put other gods first. The hebrew Israelites put all kinds of other gods first and made idols.
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
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
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.
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.
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
Judaism is not a monotheistic religion. It is the worship of a god out of many gods, a pantheistic religion. Elohim is plural. In the beginning Elohim (the gods) created the heavens and the earth (this it is the correct original translation). Let US make man in OUR own image. Again, plural. Yahweh is just one god out of many that said "I'm the head honcho" and "you will have no other gods before me". Notice this wasn't a prohibition against worshiping other gods, but that Yahweh always come first in worship line.
Well, yes, YHWH DID have a WIFE...wagging tongues say that before ASHERA, YHWH used to visit the harlots; but then the two were matched, and they DID marry. So, yes: YHWH definitely had a wife, but unfortunately, it didn’t last: they were happily married for well nigh a millennium, but then got a divorce during Hellenistic times (the gossip mongers say that she ran off with some Greek, and then YHWH divorced her @$$).
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
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.
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."
I'd like to think that in Christianity She's known as the Holy Spirit/Ghost due to patriarchy, when it makes more sense for it to be The Father, The Mother, and The Son. A Heavenly Family watching over us.
That's a very bad interpretation. The Holy Spirit is in the Old Testament, and the Bible does nothing but condemn the worship of Asherah. It's mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, specifically, and always condemned.
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!
Asherah is very close to an Arabic word عشيرة (Asheerah) roughly translated to clan/kin/tribe. Considering Arabic and other languages in the region are related, I'm curious to see if this was ever considered.
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.
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
I don't understand why people are debating here lol. The simple fact is that the Israelites definitely were polytheistic, and yes, it did take a long time for the complete transition to monotheism. There is nothing to debate there. This video is not trying to establish that fact...we already know it. This video is shedding light on the fact that the god of Israel may have had a wife, which I personally find fascinating, and this video clearly explains the two differing theories, namely that their god did or didn't have a wife (Ashera or an ashera) in a very concise and straightforward manner. The video tells us of two experts with these differing views, and shows us their related books for further reading. I find that online, people are usually biased in some way, and sifting through videos on UA-cam which are designed to educate and enlighten us are hard to find. This is why I would like to thank the person/people who made this video. Keep up the great work!
Next watch "Mandaeism: The Last Gnostic Religion?": ua-cam.com/video/DMx_JKJbvJI/v-deo.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.
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'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 UA-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
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?
Thank you. Your objective neutral p.o.v. is a breath of fresh air.
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…
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 😆
It's nice to see a show on religion that isn't openly biased, thanks :)
Speaking as a woman: I can state that a storm,
sky, mountain-top dwelling, god, represented by
a 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. Therefore they sought
the help of goddesses.
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.
bible teachings... you can't have woman without man, vice versa, how can we have a Heavenly Father without his wife. And obviously why would her name be listed, as His name and His Son's name have been dragged through the mud for a very long time.
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
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.
Maybe in the modern era of gender equality, but...well, most of the defining events in Abrahamic religion did _not_ occur in the modern era. There's a reason Adam was created first and Eve was tempted.
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...
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
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.
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
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."
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
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"
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.
1:18 Yahweh of Samaria and his wife Asherah
1:57 Did god have a wife book by william g dever
2:55 the cult of asherah by judith hadley
3:24 dr erin darby
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
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.
Thank goodness someone I trusted investigated this topic. What a good starting off point into it!
“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.
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. 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.
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?
Well listening to this you basically said it. Someone inscribed that but it wasn’t Yahweh. There is only 1 True and LIVING God! And he will NOT be mocked!!!!! God is a spirit! As far as this Deity (ashera)being talked about in the Bible it’s an idol!!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
"yhwhh share ashera with baal occationaly when el was not around" .... seach for it
🕵️
Never fails to provide amazing content. Thanks!
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!
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
Weren't Yahweh and El conflated? Just think of all the Biblical names that have "el" in them as reference to God
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.
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.
Really a great video, this is the content I subscribed for!
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?
_"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."_ (Jer. 7:18) _"But we will certainly do [they said] whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?"_ (Jer. 44:17-19)
Can you tell us about Ashtaroth (Ashtoreth) who was also a Canaanite mother goddess (of fertility), another consort?
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.
You are intellectually AWESOME! Keep up the awesome study and dissemination of information.
Please continue. I love the discussion.
True story: the Bible admits to polytheism in the book of First Kings (I'm pretty sure it's in chapter 11 but I might be wrong about that), King Solomon was polytheist, It also admits that a Moabite deity called Chemosh literally straight up overruled one of Yahweh's prophecies.
Yes, I think that Chemosh is the Sun, if I remember correctly.
At one point, the Israelites began to take on the surrounding religions. They didn't forsake the worship of Yahweh all together, but rather they would worship Baal, Asherah and others alongside Yahweh.
Yes, they did. You are correct. He just states that they shall have no other gods before him. They can have their other gods, but they have to worship him, first, and primarily. All other gods are secondary. Ba'al was also the son of Asherah, in some of their local texts. The Ba'als are usually noted as being El's sons. Asherah is El's wife.
It's like a famous star getting exposed by paparazzi in a scandal that he actually had a secret wife.
and a secret son with... what a scandal !!!!
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.
ua-cam.com/video/mo-YL-lv3RY/v-deo.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!
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.
Question: At any time in Jewish and Christian history, was the God of the Bible viewed (even by heretics) as pantheistic, similar to the way Hindus view Brahman or Taoists view the Tao?
Yes.
Thank you for adjective videos this is exactly why I subscribed.
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.
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.
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.
Really love somebody reviews about beliefs but with scientific proof and way.
I always took YHWH saying 'I am your god and you have no god before me' was basically an admittance that there were other gods and to renounce them in favor of himself. Is there anything in the original texts that would dispute this?
Not to renounce, necessarily. Simply that they are inferior. God is to be worshiped first. Any other god is secondary. However, barring idols and depictions of other gods does effectively diminish ability to worship. So technically, you can worship them, you just can't make any idols of them. How convenient for Yahweh, right? This makes it as such that all heavenly deities seem but one in the same being for new believers, whilst allowing believers in the prior pantheon to continue their general worship, so long as Yahweh is given highest deference first.
This is typically see as a commandment stemming from the syncretism of old and newer tradition and the active attempt to suppress the older beliefs to transition to a more henotheistic and eventually monotheistic tradition. Obviously, it was very effective. If you can't put an image to the various deities, they eventually become a blur. Forgotten. Their stories linger on, but now with Yahweh as the central character.
I will be giving praise and worship to Goddess Asherah *
Worship Jesus Christ 🙏🙏
@@marciacharles2639how bout you atleast get his name right 😅
" 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.
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.
Rayza S
Thanks!🤗
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.
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
The Bible already answered this. Some Israelites deviate in monotheistic belief and would adapt gods from other religion in foreign countries. It would be depending on the kings of Israel and Judah on how they are treated some are tolerant others destroy these "sects" of cult and religion. Just as in the case of King Hezekiah and Josiah.
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 ;^)
I like your approach.. concise, informative and so far UNBIASED... refreshing.. Cheers!
SUBSCRIBED!
Book of isaiah talks about destroying the pillars/altars of asherah and idols
I have also read in a few books over the years that Yahweh was a War God and would send countries to battle against each other as he and his consort 'Ashtorah' would sit in the background and watch. Ashtorah and Astorah are also found in Kabbalah writings.
Someone on here is teaching Hebrew, and they said: The letter He as a suffix signifies a feminine noun.
hei is indicative of a noun that feminine but not all feminine nouns ends in hei and it doesn't count for pronominal suffixes. Her "noun". (Belonging to her) will also have a hei. In short, Not all feminine nouns end in h and just because there is a hei doesn't indicate it's female. This also only applies to singular nouns.
@@screamtoasigh9984 Thank you. I talked to my Rabbi about it recently, but he just said, "No," without any explanation of why.
And I'm the kind of person who doesn't respond well to answers like that.
You gave me a more thoughtful response.
I still need to study that subject more to get a better grip on it, and I wish the Rabbi would have been more forthcoming with the information ~
Can you please point me to a good source for a better understanding of Hebrew words ending in HE?
This was fascinating, and so well presented. Thank you for enriching our lives with your content. :)
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.
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.
The object was probably named Ashera for her, and introduced to delete the lady god because of “reasons”.
Hard to deny that during the early history of Judaism that other deities were still venerated, since the Jews basically were Canaanites and brought with them some of their deities, like YHWH, El, and Asherah. Here's a bit from a good article that shows how wide spread the myth of Asherah was and how it influenced Judaic practices. Notice the bible passages in this article, so you can go and look them up for yourself: "According to the biblical record, these sacred poles or stylized trees associated with Asherah were erected by the Israelites throughout most of their history, especially during the premonarchic (tribal) period (Judg 6:25-26, 28, 30)) and during the period of the divided monarchy, both in the northern kingdom of Israel (1Kgs 14:15; 16:33; 2 Kgs 13:6; 17:10, 16; 23:15; and parallel references in 2 Chronicles) and in Judah, in the south (1 Kgs 14:23, 15:13; 2 Kgs 18:4; 21:3, 7; 23:6, 14; and parallel references in 2 Chronicles). These sacred poles were situated in various locations. In Judges 6, a sacred pole of Asherah is said to have stood beside the altar of the Canaanite storm god, Baal. The Bible also connects sacred poles with the “high places” (open-air cult sites?) and frequently mentions that they stood “on every high hill and under every green tree” (1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10; 18:4; 21:3; 23:13-14; 2 Chr 14:3; 17:6; 31:1; 33:3, 19; 34:3; Jer 17:2). Both of these phrases are stereotypically used by the biblical writers to describe sites of idolatrous worship, implying, as does Judges 6, that the worship of Asherah was an apostate behavior in Israel and improper for followers of YHWH." jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asherahasherim-bible
Esoterica has a great episode about the amalgamation and evolution of YHWH.
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.
My world history teacher in college put it the best. “Don’t have any other gods before me” doesn’t mean you can’t have other gods. It means you can’t put other gods first. The hebrew Israelites put all kinds of other gods first and made idols.
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.
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.
Doesnt legend of keret , as ugaritic legend mention a goddess atherat ?
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
In clasic árabic Asheerah means: "PEOPLE, FAMILY, CLAN, TRIBE"... it could have a relation with the canaanite being both arabo-semitic languajes...
Hebrew Asherah is actually cognate with Arabic Athirah
It's not monotheism, it's monolatry
Judaism is not a monotheistic religion. It is the worship of a god out of many gods, a pantheistic religion. Elohim is plural. In the beginning Elohim (the gods) created the heavens and the earth (this it is the correct original translation). Let US make man in OUR own image. Again, plural. Yahweh is just one god out of many that said "I'm the head honcho" and "you will have no other gods before me". Notice this wasn't a prohibition against worshiping other gods, but that Yahweh always come first in worship line.
Well, yes, YHWH DID have a WIFE...wagging tongues say that before ASHERA, YHWH used to visit the harlots; but then the two were matched, and they DID marry. So, yes: YHWH definitely had a wife, but unfortunately, it didn’t last: they were happily married for well nigh a millennium, but then got a divorce during Hellenistic times (the gossip mongers say that she ran off with some Greek, and then YHWH divorced her @$$).
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!
thank u for making this video with your great explanation-my gratitude for self taught scholars like myself
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.
This video hooked me and subbed you...
The binge watching shall begin shortly...
👍🏼
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."
I'd like to think that in Christianity She's known as the Holy Spirit/Ghost due to patriarchy, when it makes more sense for it to be The Father, The Mother, and The Son. A Heavenly Family watching over us.
That's a very bad interpretation.
The Holy Spirit is in the Old Testament, and the Bible does nothing but condemn the worship of Asherah. It's mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, specifically, and always condemned.
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!
Wow YHWH must have gone through a messy divorce.
Asherah is very close to an Arabic word عشيرة (Asheerah) roughly translated to clan/kin/tribe.
Considering Arabic and other languages in the region are related, I'm curious to see if this was ever considered.
Actually Hebrew Asherah is related to Arabic Athirah.
Im an Israeli archaeologist, probably gonna write my MA thesis on Tel Arad.
I love your work man
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.
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?
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 !
I don't understand why people are debating here lol. The simple fact is that the Israelites definitely were polytheistic, and yes, it did take a long time for the complete transition to monotheism. There is nothing to debate there. This video is not trying to establish that fact...we already know it. This video is shedding light on the fact that the god of Israel may have had a wife, which I personally find fascinating, and this video clearly explains the two differing theories, namely that their god did or didn't have a wife (Ashera or an ashera) in a very concise and straightforward manner. The video tells us of two experts with these differing views, and shows us their related books for further reading. I find that online, people are usually biased in some way, and sifting through videos on UA-cam which are designed to educate and enlighten us are hard to find. This is why I would like to thank the person/people who made this video. Keep up the great work!