The study of religious or heroic legends and tales. One constant rule of mythology is that whatever happens amongst the gods or other mythical beings was in one sense or another a reflection of events on earth. Recorded myths and legends, perhaps preserved in literature or folklore, have an immediate interest to archaeology in trying to unravel the nature and meaning of ancient events and traditions.
But we do know the Chaldean astrologers/astronomers worked with the Hebrew priesthood
Between 586 and 539 BC...after which there were no Chaldean astronomers as Babylon became part of the Persian Empire. And "worked with" is probably the wrong way to phrase it.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
But the idea that the Hebrew priesthood remained in ignorance about astrology is unrealistic when it was the practice of the day in the priesthoods of neighbouring countries. This perception is also probably part of the false siloism, now dissolving, that what happened in the land of the Hebrews was unique.
There are also enough exhortations in the Bible against it to show that they were at least aware of it:
Astrology is not specifically mentioned in the Torah, the five books of Moses. There are two commandments which have been used by some authorities as a basis to forbid the practice.
"You shall not practice divination or soothsaying." (Leviticus 19:26, New JPS)
"When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of the nations. Let no one be found among you who...is an auger, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorceror, one casts spells.....For anyone who does these things is abhorrent to the Lord..." (Deuteronomy 18:9-12, New JPS)
These commandments are understood by some rabbinic authorities as forbidding astrology, while others limit these mitzvot to other forms of soothsaying, and thus view astrology as permissible.
In the Hebrew Bible the prophets scoffed at "star-gazers" (hoverei ha-shamayim) in Book of Isaiah 47:13; Book of Jeremiah 10:2.) Astrologers from Babylon were called Kasdim/Kasdin (Chaldeans) in the Book of Daniel. In rabbinic literature, the term Chaldeans later was often used as a synonym with those who practiced astrology.
Also, do you remember this?
A zodiac from the floor of a 6th century BCE synagogue at Beit Alpha, complete with sun god at the centre.
My guess is that the Yahwists tried to stamp out astrology along with polytheism.
Bah - I always read "shall not" as future tense. And I figure the promised land is the place after this life - so of course when you're there you "shall not" do any of those things - ya can't - you're dead
It never said "do not do this"! Future tense is not present.
i'm not lookin' for who or what made the earth - just who got me dizzy by makin it spin
The mosaic floor of the synagogue was discovered in 1929, when members of Kibbutz Beit Alpha dug irrigation channels for their fields. Excavations were carried out the same year, exposing mosaics preserved intact for almost 1,500 years. Later excavations, in the early 1960s, exposed remains of some houses, indicating that the synagogue had stood in a Jewish village of the Byzantine period (5th-6th centuries).
Still....the point remains. Why are Jews depicting pagan gods in any era.
The article goes on to state.
The Zodiac appears in the central panel. These astrological signs, though condemned by the prophets, were widely used as decorative elements in both churches and synagogues of the Byzantine period. The twelve signs are arranged in a circle and accompanied by their Hebrew names. In the center of the zodiac, the sun god Helios is represented seated in a chariot drawn by four horses. The four seasons appear in the corners of the panel in the form of busts of winged women wearing jewels; they are inscribed with the Hebrew months initiating each season: Nisan (spring), Tamuz (summer), Tishri (autumn) and Tevet (winter).
But that doesn't really answer the question, does it?
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
This mosaic is an embarrassment to the current Jewish establishment. But it shows how the worship of the common people varied from the strict
adherence to the various “Books” of faith.
This is a classic example of the black and white, with no gray, attitude taken in today’s religious world.
Be it funambulist Christian, fundaments Islam, or whatever.
The concept of only my way is right, and you have no right to your beliefs, is just not very common to the world of the pre-Islamic time.
Unless whipped up into a patriot frenzy by someone, the common attitude seems to have been “You believe what you want, and I will believe what I want.”
(BTW, I am not saying I think this is, or was, the correct way of thinking. Just that seems to be the common way of thinking for many years.)
The whole "synagogue" issue is one of great interest, though. The whole point of pre-70 AD Judaism was the temple cult. The synagogue serves a purpose after the temple was destroyed and there is a great argument going on over whether or not there were actually synagogues in the first century or before.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
kbs2244 wrote:This mosaic is an embarrassment to the current Jewish establishment.
I think they should be proud of it!
kbs2244 wrote:
But it shows how the worship of the common people varied from the strict
adherence to the various “Books” of faith.
This is a classic example of the black and white, with no gray, attitude taken in today’s religious world.
Be it fundmentalist Christian, fundamental Islam, or whatever.
The concept of only my way is right, and you have no right to your beliefs, is just not very common to the world of the pre-Islamic time. Unless whipped up into a patriot frenzy by someone, the common attitude seems to have been “You believe what you want, and I will believe what I want.”
Perhaps that's why Yahwehism ultimately failed, in that it was never fully accepted by the countryside polytheist pagans, and thus the temple crowd were never able to eradicate El from the mythology. Maybe the OT is a compromise between these two groups.
Once again, Bill Dever's "Did God Have A Wife" should be required reading on this subject.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Hmm...why do you say that? It seems that ultimately it succeeded to the point where Antiochus was so offended by, what he considered, their barbarous religion that he took steps to put a stop to it...and also helped himself to the alleged temple treasure as compensation for his pains.
I do think Davies has a point that the final canonization of the OT occured in response to Antiochus' provocations in the second century BC. By then, the populace seemed to have been brought into line and when the Hasmoneans annexed Galilee and Idumea later on they implemented a policy of "forced conversion" to Judaism. It may not have lasted long but they did seem to "succeed," however briefly.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
I think it failed because the state the Bible is in. There are so many contradictions - even to when Yahweh revealed himself - that the whole document smacks of a compromise by a committee made up of various vested interests.
I've worked on enough of those myself to know what they look like.
I doubt that the priests who wrote it ever expected it to undergo the scrutiny it gets these days. When they wrote it, they were the only ones who read it. The whole point of Judaism was temple sacrifice and it wasn't until the temple went bye-bye that they had to come up with a fallback position.
By then the horse was out of the barn.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
My impression, though, even from the Bible, was that getting the people in the countryside to abandon their 'idol worship' was always a bit of a problem. And I think it likely that the further away they were from the centre - ie Jerusalam - the more likely there were to remain unchanged.
The same thing happened in Britain when the Romans came and tried to turn everyone into Christians. Apart from a particuarly nasty massacre by Paulinus of the Druids in their stronghold on the island of Angelsey, the pagans just went underground in their practises and carried on ...particularly in Ireland where the Christians never really eradicated the Celtic practises there even to this day.
Remember history is written by the victors, or those who think they're the victors.
My impression, though, even from the Bible, was that getting the people in the countryside to abandon their 'idol worship' was always a bit of a problem.
You've got to read Dever's "Did God Have A Wife." He'll explain why that was so.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
BTW, Suetonius Paulinus was c 60 AD. Well before the Romans gave two shits about xtianity.
In fact, probably a decade before it even existed!
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
