THE WORSHIP OF YAHWEH AS A BULL
In the artistry of primitive religions the gods were depicted with definite characteristics that set them apart as deities. Hindu gods were distinguished by their sky-blue skins and multiple appendages. Egyptian gods were animal-headed, and they grasped the ankh, or crux ansata, symbolic of immortality. Medieval artists distinguished Christ and the saints by means of halos.* As for ancient Near Eastern deities, they were characteristically horned. From the time of Sumer down to the eclipse of the Ugaritic pantheon, the heads of divinities bore the horns of either bulls or rams.
When the Hebrews invaded Canaan they lived for centuries alongside native worshipers of the mighty bull god, Baal. And as time passed, it was inevitable that Yahweh should come to resemble His chief antagonist in the minds of the people. This melding of faiths was accurately described by the novelist James Michener:
In fact, when the average citizen...prostrated himself before Yahweh he could scarcely have explained which god he was worshiping, for El had passed into Baal and he into El-Shaddaiy and all into Yahweh...**
It was explicitly stated in the Book of Numbers that God (Elohim) had “the horns of the wild ox” (24:8 RSV).*** And His throne was guarded by human-headed bulls called cherubim. In fact, bulls were set up as golden images of Yahweh in the two rival temples of the ten northern tribes of Israel (1 Ki. 12:28-29). And while it is true that this was scandalous in the eyes of the southern Judæans, who made no molten images of God, it is beyond question that they also carried this bull-god conception in their minds.
*The halo, aureola, or nimbus was developed from the Hellenic convention of placing a sunburst crown on the statues of deities - as with the spiked crown of the Statue of Liberty.
**The Source by James A. Michener, Random House, 1965, p. 205
***The “wild ox” intended here is, in fact, the primeval beast known as the aurochs, a giant-sized, untamed bison that was deemed more dangerous than a lion in ancient times.
This situation was well described in a novel by Gladys Schmitt:
A household image stood upon a pedestal opposite the bed - Yahweh in the shape of an angry bull rearing in rage against a host of unseen enemies, hewn roughly and in visionary fury from porous reddish stone. (David) gazed in wonderment at the image. Such things were forbidden in Judah, nor was it considered any excuse for them that they were beautiful or reverend with age.
And suddenly he felt the presence of the God of hosts, the great body of the Warrior, covered with dragon scales and blowing the hot breath of the bull. The God of Battles was with him, panting for blood.*
No greater zealot for Yahweh’s integrity can be found in the Old Testament than the prophet Amos. And yet, all the evidence shows that Amos tolerated the worship of his God in the form of a golden bull.** This rough Judæan preacher burst into the rival temple at Bethel and railed against everything evil in the northern kingdom, but he never directly attacked the cult of bull worship. The following allusions show that the bull image must have been acceptable to Amos.
...in the house*** of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Yet I (Yahweh) destroyed the Amorite before them... (2:8b-9a)
Even though you offer me (Yahweh as the golden Bull) your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them (because of your unjust treatment of the poor - not because of the bull image). (5:22)
I saw Yahweh standing beside the altar... (9:1)****
The golden calf of the Exodus has been thought by some to have represented the Egyptian god Ptah incarnate in the sacred bull, Apis. But the Zondervan Bible Dictionary takes another view:
*David The King by Gladys Schmitt, Dial Press, 1946, pp. 96, 263
**Actually, Yahweh as a Bull is no more offensive than Christ as a Lamb or the Holy Spirit as a Dove.
***Note that the “house” was the temple that enshrined the golden bull.
****Note that the Deity is seen standing beside His bull statue.
Aaron made a golden image of a male calf in order that the people might worship Jehovah under this form (Exod. 32:4). It is very unlikely that the Golden Calf was a representation of an Egyptian deity. The feast held in connection with this worship was “a feast of Jehovah” (Exod. 32:5).
After the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam set up two golden calves in his kingdom, one at Bethel and one at Dan (1 Ki. 12:29) because he feared that his people might desert him if they continued to worship in Jerusalem. He was not trying to make heathenism the state religion, for the bull images were undoubtedly supposed to represent Jehovah. In time, these images, at first recognized as symbols, came to be regarded as common idols (1 Kings 12:30, Hosea 12:11).
The historian Will Durant has elaborated further:
The Bible scholar Harry Emerson Fosdick has also explained:
...even in the central temple at Jerusalem...grew up the worship of Yahweh under the likeness of bulls, such as Jeroboam set up at Dan and Bethel. The story of Aaron and the golden calf in all probability was written in this later age to help understand the polluting identification of Yahweh’s worship with the adoration of bulls.**
*Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant, Simon and Schuster, 1954, p. 309.
**A Guide To Understanding The Bible by Harry Emerson Fosdick, Harper ChapelBooks, 1965, p. 16
In keeping with this idea, one may compare the two rival accounts of the Decalogue given in Exodus, chapters 20 and 34. The Exodus 20 version, from Israel, denounced “other gods” and “graven (stone) images.” But the Judæan version in Exodus 34 was explicitly directed against “molten gods,” doubtless in reference to the metalic bulls of Bethel and Dan.
The archæologist William F. Albright confirmed this view.
...the erection of a “golden calf” at Dan...refers to an attempted return by the Israelites of Moses’ time to the ancient practice of representing the chief divinity in the form of a storm-god standing on a young bull...though we do not know whether or not the figure of the god standing on the young bull was supposed to be visible or invisible. The latter was true later. In view of the archaism of Exodus 32 and Jeroboam’s obvious intention, over 350 years later, to restore pre-Solomonic faith and practice rather than to create a new paganism, it is much safer to assume that the Israelites did not erect a visible image (of Yahweh atop the bull) at either Bethel or Dan.*
Now, it should be noted that whenever a god was shown standing on a bull as his totem animal, he often incorporated the horns and tail of the animal with his his otherwise human features. Thus, he remained himself a bull god. In fact, the chief god of Babylon, who was identified with both the bull and the dragon, carried the meaningful name Marduk, which signified “Young Sun Bull.”
Finally, bull gods were always associated with cow goddesses as their consorts. And thus, Baal’s mistress was the bovine deity Anath. So, it is significant that when the old god of Canaan, Baal, was dethroned by a new King of heaven, Yahweh, it was natural to some of the Hebrews that Yahweh should acquire the harem of the vanquished.
*Yahweh And The Gods Of Canaan by William Foxwell Albright, Doubleday, 1968, p. 197
Evidence for this wife-stealing in heaven comes from documents attributed to a Jewish military garrison at Elephantine in Egypt. These old records, written about 500 B.C. bear witness to the fact that the soldiers had built for themselves a temple for their God, Yahu (Yahweh), and for the goddess Anath-yahu. Thus, they had married Yahweh to Baal’s former wife, the cow goddess of Canaan!
PLURALITY IN THE HEBREW GODHEAD
The first name for God given in the Bible is Elohim. It is a plural word having the primary meaning of “gods,” and, thus, it reflects the lingering influence of polytheism in the Hebrew Scriptures.
In Egypt religion evolved toward monotheism and did so by first grouping nine gods into a Paut, a “great Company.” (The nine-fold Pautof Heliopolis, the center of sun worship, consisted of the deities Ra, Nut, Shu, Seb, Tefnut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set.) Gradually this Ennead (triple Triad) was merged into a single Godhead by the name of “Neter.” The hieroglyphic symbol of Neter was an Axe, and this word is now translated as “God.” Thus the ancient Egyptian Godhead was a Triple Trinity, and it seems obvious that this idea must have had some influence upon the Hebrews’ choice of the plural term Elohim.
It is also likely that the concept of the Ennead resurfaced in medieval Judaism as the pluralized Divinity of Cabalism. These Jewish mystics conceived of the Godhead as a Triple Trinity, the Persons of which were named as follows: Wisdom, Reason, Beauty, Mercy, Severity, Foundation, Victory, Glory, and Kingdom.
When the Hebrews constructed a golden bull during the Exodus from Egypt, the high priest Aaron proclaimed, “These are your gods(elohim) that brought you out of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4). That is how English translations render it, but since there was only one golden image, Aaron would have really said, “This is your God (Elohim)...”
Another pagan contribution to the plural term Elohim was the concept of the Divine Assembly. In ancient Mesopotamian scriptures, any major undertaking of the gods was first preceded by calling together a Great Council of the divinities. It was just such a Council that decreed the selection of Marduk to fight the Cosmic Dragon. Also, another one made the decision to bring on the great Flood. Thus, in the Bible when the Hebrew God, Yahweh, is about to perform some wondrous act, He also convenes a Council, and He speaks as though the Council were manifested in Himself - a pluralized Being.
Let Us make man in Our image... Gen. 1:26
Behold, man has become like one of Us... Gen. 3:22
Come, let Us go down... Gen. 11:7
The idea of a Divine Council was retained by the Hebrews, but they set their God at its Head as the chief Deity, i.e., “the God of gods.”
Yahweh is greater than all gods... Ex. 18:11
Yahweh your God is God of gods and Lord of lords...
Deut. 10:17
God has taken His place in the Divine Council. In the midst of the gods He holds judgment. Ps. 82:1
Who among the sons of gods is like Yahweh, the God feared in the Council of the holy ones. Ps. 89:6b-7a
Have you listened in the Council of God? Job 15:8
Who among them has stood in the Council of Yahweh...?
Jer. 23:18
Plural terms in Hebrew could also connote magnitude. For example, the name of a mythical creature, Behemoth, should be understood as “Great Beast,” but its simple meaning is just “beasts” in the plural. Likewise, Elohim may be “Great God,” or simply “gods,” or even “angels.” This has caused diverse renderings of one particular psalm.
You (God) have made him (man) a little less than the gods (elohim).
Ps. 8:5
In translating this verse the Septuagint rendered elohim as “angels,” and this was also the choice of the King James Version. In the Revised Standard Version, however, the term elohim in this psalm is rendered as “God.” (There are no capital letters in Hebrew, so the distinction betweenElohim and elohim cannot be made.)
A plurality in the Godhead was also recognized in the creedal Jewish statement of faith, the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God(Elohim), the Lord is a Unity (Echad). The Hebrew term dc=a3 (echad) means “one,” “one of a kind,” or “unity.” It is taken from the word dc-a= (achad) meaning “to unify.”
Christians maintain that the Threefold Nature of Godhead was revealed even in the Hebrew Scriptures:
a. The world was made by the Triune God, according to the Psalmist (33:6). His Names were “Yahweh” and “Word” and “Breath (Spirit).”
b. “Holy, holy, holy,” was the threefold adulation of Godhead by the Seraphim (Isa. 6:3).
c. To Abraham the Patriarch, three mysterious “Men” appeared (Gen. 18:2), and the Three were called “They” (18:9) and “He” (18:10) and “Yahweh” (18:13). These Divine Beings promised Abraham an heir.
d. To Samuel the Prophet, God called three times in the night (1 Sam. 3:4-9).
In the New Testament, the Man, Jesus, came from God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Richard L. Atkins
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THREE-MAN GROUPINGS
Three “men” appeared to Abraham.
Three youths were thrown into a fiery furnace by a Persian king.
Three gentile Wise Men worshiped the baby Jesus.
Gifts of the Magi: Gold Frankincense Myrrh
Representing Jesus’: Royalty Divinity Mortality
Aspects Of Godhead: Father Holy Spirit Christ
Names of Wise Men: Caspar Balthasar Melchior
Their National Origin: India Arabia Persia
or (per Bede) Europe Africa Asia
Racial Representation: Japheth Ham Shem
(Biblical) (Aryan) (Hamitic) (Semitic)
THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN
The biblical names of God, “Elohim” and “Yahweh,” are both masculine gender. The masculinity of the chief Deity was assumed by all ancient patriarchal societies, and it followed that He should be accorded female companionship. Heavenly consorts included the following:
ASHERAH:
The Great Mother of the Canaanite religion was the wife of the chief god, El. In the Hebrew faith, El was replaced by Elohim, and this identity meant that what had once belonged to El now belonged to Elohim, including his wife. A drawing from Kuntillet Ajrud shows a bull-headed deity standing near a woman playing a lyre, and the inscription above them reads: “I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and His Asherah.” Yahweh, more powerful than El, had stolen his wife.
ELAT:
The Godhead could be defined by Hebrew terms taken from the Canaanite pantheon: El (Father), Elat (Mother), Shaddai (Son). Just as El means “God,” so does Elat/Elath means “Goddess.”
ASTARTE-ANATH:
Astarte was the Canaanite Venus, and Anath was the Canaanite Athena. The first was Baal’s cousin, and the second his sister, but both were his lovers. Together with Asherah they made a divine Triad - combined as the single goddess Ashtoreth or Atargatis or Qadesh, the Queen of Heaven. Yahweh, more powerful than Baal, appropriated these goddesses to Himself. A fifth century B.C. garrison of Jewish mercenaries in Egypt worshiped two goddesses, Anathbethel and Anathyahu, who were evidently regarded as consorts of Yahu (Yahweh).
SHEKHINA:
God’s “Dwelling” or “Presence,” given by the feminine word Shekhina, implied a female component of the Godhead. (God as Shekhina dwelt - shakhan - in the cloud over the Tabernacle - mishkhan.) The Shekhina took the form of Pharaoh’s daughter to draw the infant Moses out of the Nile. Legend says that her name was Batya (Bath-Yah: Daughter of God.) At the death of Moses, the Shekhina took his soul by kissing him on the mouth.
BINAH-SOPHIA:
Binah is the Hebrew term “Reason,” and Sophia is the Greek word for “Wisdom.” Cabalistic Judaism and Christian Gnosticism, accepting the Zoroastrian concept of Æons or Archons, identified Wisdom as the female Companion of Yahweh. According to the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom was co-creator with Yahweh as well as His Playmate (8:22, 30). In medieval times, she was Anima Mundi, the “World Soul.” The trinitarian Godhead of mystical Judaism was Adonai (Lord), Messiah (Anointed One), and Binah or Hokhma (Wisdom). For Christian Gnostics this triad consisted of Kyrios (Lord), Christos (Anointed One), and Sophia (Wisdom).
MALKUTH:
In the cabalistic Godhead, Malkuth, “Kingdom,” is the tenth Sephira (Emanation) and can be identified as the Shekhina, the personified female “Presence” of God.
MATRONIT:
The Matron, the Lady, the Queen, the Divine Woman. The chief angel, Metatron, was her offspring. God, the King, copulates with Matronit once a week at Friday midnight. This produces a soul that may enter a child conceived by a pious couple at that time. The Talmud advises eating garlic on Sabbath eve, because it makes one happy, arouses love, increases semen, and kills jealousy.
HEY:
The Hebrew letters y (Yod), h (Hey),v (Waw), h (Hey) are the Tetragrammation, YHWH This is the Divine Name, which defines the Godhead. “Y” is Father; “H” is Mother, “W” is Son, and “H” is daughter. In Cabalism Yod is Hokhma (Wisdom), Hey is Bina (Understanding), Waw is Tiferet (Beauty), and Hey is Malkuth (Kingdom).
LILITH:
Adam and Lilith were created at the same time, and Lilith became the man’s first wife. She refused to be his subordinate, however, and, as an owl-like creature, flew away. While Adam was created from dust, Lilith was made from filth and sediments. She was known as the First Eve and also as Naamah, “the Charmer.” She tempted Solomon without success in the guise of the queen of Sheba. The book of Cabalism, the Zohar, reads: “The Shekhina is at times called the Mother (Matronit), at times the Slave-Woman (Lilith), and at times the King’s Daughter (Malkuth).” According to Cabalism, when Matronit was separated from the King, as She followed Israel into Exile, Lilith, the Queen of the demons, attached herself to Him.
SABBATH:
Matronit remained closely concerned with her children, the Jews. She took the form of “the Bride” and joined them each Friday at dusk. In Hebrew liturgy the Sabbath is called “the Virgin,” “the Bride,” and “the Queen.” She is joyfully welcomed each Friday night into Jewish homes and places of worship with the words, “Come, O Bride.” Shimeon ben Yohai said that Sabbath asked God why each day had its mate, while she had none. The Master of the Worlds replied, “The Community of Israel is your mate.” Ethiopian Falashas say, “The Mediatrix of Christians is Mary; ours is Lady Sabbath.” Cabalists made Her the Wife of God, however. One commentator said that the prayer on Friday means, “You betrothed the Sabbath to Yourself.”
ISRAEL:
The Knesseth Yisrael, Community of Israel, is of feminine gender and is married to Yahweh. The embodiment of Knesseth Yisrael is Matronit. The marriage state is beulah, but it has been marred at times by Israel’s infidelities with other gods.
JERUSALEM/ZION:
Zion was the Mother City (hence, the divine Spouse). Her counterpart was the Daughter of Zion, who represents Israel, the Bride. The Book of Revelation says, “I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband” (21:2).
VIRGIN MARY:
Catholic Mariolatry exalts the Jewish maiden to the status of divinity and even accords her such titles as Queen of Heaven and Mother of God. St. Peter Damian said that Mary had such charm and beauty that God sang the Canticles (Song of Songs) in her praise. St. Bonaventura did not hesitate to call Mary “the Spouse of the Eternal Father.” Also, Islam takes the Christian Trinity to be God, Mary, and Jesus.
ECCLESIA:
The Church is the Bride of Christ. As “New Jerusalem” she is adorned in pure garments to meet the Bridegroom at His coming (Matthew 25:6, Luke 5:34-35, Revelation 21:2,9).
HOLY SPIRIT:
The Holy Spirit is usually called “He” in the Bible. He hovers over (fertilizes) the Cosmic Egg in the primordial waters at the Creation, and he penetrates (impregnates) the hearts of believers. As the Third Member of the Trinity, however, the Spirit takes on femininity, because the Family consists of Father, Son, and Mother.
ANIMAL FORMS OF GOD IN THE BIBLE
Theriomorphic (animal-formed) deities were common in antiquity. Egyptian gods had animal heads, and Mesopotamian gods wore the horns, ears, and tails of the animals they represented. It remained for the Greeks to provide a pantheon of generally anthropomorphic deities. Since most early views of divine beings assumed animal likenesses, it was only natural that, in the Bible, God was sometimes described this way as well. Some Bible references are given in support of this observation.
GOD AS A BULL
God...has as it were the horns of the wild ox (aurochs). Numbers 24:8
And he (Aaron) received the gold from them and fashioned it with a graving tool and made of metal a young bull; and they said, “These are your gods (or, This is your Elohim: God), O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh (as a Bull).” Exodus 32:4-5
So the king took counsel and made two young bulls of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods (or, Behold your Elohim: God), O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 1 Kings 12:28
GOD AS LION-LEOPARD-BEAR
Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. Job 10:16
The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion,
But his favor is as dew upon the grass. Proverbs 19:12
Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey...
So shall Yahweh Sabaoth come down to fight for Mount Zion...
Isaiah 31:4
...as a lion, so will he break all my bones... Isaiah 38:13
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait,
And as a lion in secret places. Lam. 3:19
For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion,
And as a young lion to the house of Judah. Hosea 5:14
They shall walk after Yahweh. He shall roar like a lion...
Hosea 11:10
Therefore I will be unto them as a lion.
As a leopard by the way will I watch them.
I will meet them as a bear...
And there will I devour them like a lion... Hosea 13:7-8
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah... Revelation 5:5
GOD AS A LAMB
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter... Isaiah 53:7
Behold the Lamb of God... John 1:29,36
...of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish. 1 Peter 1:19
...and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb
as if it had been slain... Revelation 5:6
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain... Revelation 5:12
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and
the Lamb is the light thereof. Revelation 21:23
GOD AS A DOVE
...and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and lighting upon Him. Matt. 3:16, Mk. 1:10,
Lk. 3:22, Jn. 1:32
...and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2b
The dove was the symbol of the love goddess in the Canaanite system. It was this bird that brought the gift of pregnancy to females, just as in Europe the stork was the carrier of new babies. In the Genesis account, the Spirit of God was said to be hovering over the water, evidently fertilizing it so that the Earth Egg would be produced. Likewise, the dove of the goddess Asherah was believed to fly down and touch the belly of one who would conceive. As a consequence, in modern Arabic lands, the word “dove” has the double meaning of a man’s genital member.
Should an alien from another planet walk into a typical Christian church and observe its stained glass images, he might imagine that the people were worshiping a White Bird as their God. Is such an image any less faulty than the old Hebrews’ use of a Golden Bull to represent Yahweh?
Richard L. Atkins
THE IMPORTANCE OF MYTHOLOGY
Myths are important to study, because they show how our ancestors thought and what they believed. Myths are our religious roots. They are, therefore, keys to understanding our culture.
Note: There are Two Keys to the understanding and appreciation of Western culture: the knowledge of Biblical and Classical literature. Education in times past included instruction in the Bible, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the languages in which they were written: Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. These sources influenced the works of Dante, Milton, and Michelangelo, and so, they remain of vital importance.
Some Myths spiritualize ideals or concepts. The Greek goddess Nike was the personification of Victory. (Her Roman name was Victoria.) The blindfolded goddess with scales is Justice. The goddess that stands in the New York harbor with a torch in her hand is Liberty. These divine figures were never living persons.
Other Myths have some basis in fact. Many of the gods were deified heroes. These are euhemerist myths. Examples:
a. Imhotep the pyramid architect became the god of engineering, science, and writing.
b. Æsclapius the physician became the god of medicine.
c. Odin may have been a human youth named Adonis, said to be the lover of Venus.
d. As to the three sons of Noah: Shem was named for ancient Sumer, Ham for Cham (ancient Egypt), and Japheth became the Greek titan Iapetos.
e. Sigmund Freud said that God himself is a deified Ancestor - the tribal Patriarch, the Father of a nation, or the elderly Judge.
f. The archæologist Heinrich Schliemann used Homer’s Iliad to find the lost city of Troy. And the Bible is still used to find forgotten cities in Israel.
Some Myths gave pre-scientific explanations for natural phenomena. These are ætiological myths. Examples:
a. What is the rainbow? It is a god’s warbow for shooting lightning arrows (Hebrew and Babylonian belief), or a necklace of the love goddess (Sumerian and Egyptian belief), or a bridge to heaven (Norse or Japanese belief), or a cosmic serpent (Phœnician belief).
b. Why does a sunflower turn toward the sun? It is a transformed maiden who was in love with the sun god.
c. Why do men hate snakes? A primeval snake stole the gift of immortality from the first man.
d. What causes harelip? A rabbit crosses the path of a pregnant woman, and its features are imprinted on the embryo.
e. Why do people have various skin colors? The sun chariot got off course and scorched some people (Greek), men were made from clay and baked at different durations (Indian), sin caused a darkening of the most sinful people (Mormon).
Useful Myths are everyday expressions that add colorful terms and poetic or fanciful notions to common speech. Most people do not actually believe these myths any longer. Some of them are:
a. Heaven is “up.” (celestial or ethereal realm, “above the clouds,” “over the rainbow.)
b. Emotion comes from the “heart.” (heartfelt, hearty, heartless, sweetheart, “with all my heart.”)
c. Happiness comes from the stars. (lucky star, guiding star, star-crossed, “wish upon a star.”)
d. Personal well-being comes from “fate,” “destiny,” or “luck.” (fortunate, destined, fated, lucky charm, “his number was up.”)
e. Light is “good,” and darkness is “evil.” (brilliant, fair, sunny, enlightened, benighted, “the dark side of nature.”)
Education in mythology enables one to identify myths, to think for oneself in religion and be able to sort myths from historical reality. Examples:
a. One can accept the historicity of George Washington but discard the legendary beliefs about him: that he never told a lie, that he could throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, and that he could bend a coin between two fingers with his thumb.
b. One can view a painting with a religious theme and spot errors or fables or misrepresentations of that religion. Take, for example, Michelangelo’s painting of the Creation of Adam:
1. God is shown animating Adam by touching his finger. But the Bible says life was blown into the nostrils of the first man. (This alternate creation method was based on the Bible account that a dead person might sometimes be revived by the touch of a holy man - such as Elisha or Jesus.)
2. God is depicted as an old man with a white beard. On the contrary, He is an omnipresent Spirit, not localized in a body anywhere - except when an incarnation or theophany occurs.
3. God is shown wearing a robe that enfolds boys and girls. The youthful figures in the painting represent the souls of the unborn offspring of Adam and Eve. This idea is not supported in the Bible. It is based on the Jewish legend of a place in heaven called “the Guf,” where unborn souls reside. The figures in the painting are of various ages - youths and infants. They should all be infants.
4. Adam is pictured as a beardless young man. He is shown to be clean-shaven because that was the ideal of manly appearance among the Romans.
5. Adam is depicted with a navel. Since he had no mother, he would have had no navel.
All Religions are based on factual Truths, but intermixed with their historical origins are Fables, Legends, Folklore, and Mythology.
Every religion has a mythology.
Common Myths of most Religions are:
God is an old Man (Why not a God of eternal youth?)
Heaven is in the sky. Heaven is “up.” (Where is “up” on a globe?)
Mountain tops touch the sky and are thus sacred - venerated as the homes of divinities or as sites for worship.
The Sky is supported by a solid structure (or by a cosmic giant such as “Atlas”), and it can fall down. It is a firm firmament.
Hades is in the earth - the abode of dead spirits or dread spirits (demons). Ghosts can arise from the underworld and can haunt burial places or wilderness areas.
There are good spirits (angels) and evil spirits (demons).
There are monsters: dragons, gigantic animals, multi-formed animals, and deadly beasts in far lands and forbidden places.
Some objects and places are taboo - too sacred to see, to touch, to hear, or to eat (dietary taboos).
Offenses such as disregarding taboos or breaking arbitrary religious rules are sinful and subject to divine wrath.
Divine wrath can be placated by making sacrifices - throwing objects of worth into a fire or into bodies of water.
Portents and natural disasters are viewed as “acts of God.”
Fate, or personified Fates, determine the destinies of human beings.
Spiritual merit can be gained by asceticism or self-torture.
Scriptures are holy, venerable oracles of divine truth. (All of the myths listed here must be explained away.)
Mythology still exists in the beliefs of many people. Religion can be purified by distinguishing factual concepts from those that are allegorical, symbolic, legendary, or mythical. Good religion is purged of superstition, magic, anti-intellectualism, life-negating philosophies, pre-scientific worldviews, repressive taboos, fanatical militancy (hate), and inferior theodicy (attributing evil to God).
Some myths of the Bible are:
Heaven is “up,” and Hell is “down.” (A flat earth is presumed.)
God sits somewhere on a “throne.” (God, a Spirit, is not localized.)
There is a “bottomless pit” in the ground. (Not possible in a spher- ical earth).
Rain falls through “windows” in heaven. Heaven sits on “pillars.”
The sky is a “firmament,” i.e., a flat, firm ceiling or a dome that will “roll up like a scroll” at the end of time.
The elements (weather) are controlled by “elemental spirits.”
Heaven is a walled City with gates (of pearl) and streets (of gold). (Since walls keep out enemies, this belief presumes that God fears an invasion of heaven.)
The Universe was created in six days. (Since the sun was not created until the fourth day, the concept of “day” cannot apply until that time. Actually the universe is fifteen billion years old.)
One-third of the stars will fall and hit the earth at the end of time.
Death and Hades are persons. (These are the Greek gods Thanatos and Hades. Such pagan deities do not belong in the Bible.)
Dragons, satyrs, unicorns, multi-headed beasts, and giants exist.
God defeated a dragon named Leviathan before making the world.
The first Man was made from dust. (Actually Mankind is part of the Animal Kingdom. He is a thinking mammal - a primate with a soul.)
Life is in blood, so it is forbidden to eat blood or to touch it (taboo). The blood flow of females makes them ceremonially unclean.
Certain animals are unclean and cannot be eaten.
Sin entered the human experience by eating a Forbidden Fruit.
Jesus as an Infant never cried. (“The little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes” - words in a Christmas carol. This is a Gnostic myth contradicted by the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.”)
Some myths of the Quran (Islamic Scripture) are:
Islamic Cosmology is pre-scientific, being based on that of the Bible.
The Sky is a canopy that will roll up “like a scroll of parchment” at the Last Day.
The Heavens, divided into seven Levels, are supported by invisible pillars.
Devils continually try to climb to heaven on invisible ladders.
Angels repel the devils by throwing shooting stars at them.
A Black Meteorite embedded in a wall at Mecca is venerated.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to be Miriam, the sister of Moses.
The Christian Trinity is composed of Jehovah, Jesus, and Mary.
Senseless ceremonies, such as running back and forth at a shrine and throwing stones, are said to be essential.
Some myths of the Vedas (Hindu Scripture) are:
The venerable Cow produced a Sea of Milk in primordial times.
The Earth was created by being churned up like a lump of butter from the cosmic Sea of Milk.
The Earth rests on the backs of four Cosmic Elephants which stand on the back of a Cosmic Turtle.
A Cosmic Serpent encircles the Earth with its tail in its mouth.
Gross sexuality, immorality, and cruelty among the gods is accepted.
Society is divided into Castes - divinely-sanctioned discrimination.
Astrology, Numerology, Divination, and the use of Charms and Talismans are valid practices.
Certain animals are taboo and cannot be killed or eaten.
Spiritual merit can be gained by self-torture.
Some myths of Buddhism are:
Buddhist cosmology is pre-scientific, being based on that of the parent Hindu religion.
The Earth was formed on the Cosmic Sea as skim forms on milk.
Buddha spoke and walked immediately after he was born.
Buddha fasted until he could touch his stomach and feel his spine.
Buddha had a third eye in his forehead.
Buddha left his footprint in a rock on a mountain in Ceylon.
Astrology, Numerology, Divination, and the use of Charms and Talismans are valid practices.
Some myths of Taoism are:
The first Being was a cosmic giant whose body was congealed from a primordial Cloud (identical to Norse mythology).
When the Cosmic Man thrashed about in the Cloud, it separated into fragments of yang and yin. Yang went up to make the sky and yin went down to form the earth.
Three cosmic animals - a Dragon, a Phœnix, a Tortoise - made things on the Earth. A Dragon-goddess made the human race.
Some myths of the Book of Mormon are:
Native Americans are Semitic - descended from Jews who migrated to America. (Anthropologists class them as Mongoloid.) (Mosiah 15-16a, 1 Nephi 15:12b, 18:22-23)
Sin causes human skin to darken, and this was the cause of the colored races. When a dark-skinned person becomes a Mormon, his skin becomes lighter.
(Alma 3:6-9, 2 Nephi 5:21, 3 Nephi 2:14-15, Moses 7:8,22, Pearl of Great Price)
The God of this universe has a harem of goddesses, and when a Mormon man dies, he becomes a god of a different universe, which he peoples through the offspring of his harem.
(Brigham Young’s Journal of Discourses 1:50, Abraham 4:1,PGP,
Doctrine & Covenants 132:19-20,52,55,62, D&C 131:1-3)
A woman must be married in order to go to the highest heaven of the gods; otherwise she becomes a slave of the gods (a “minis- tering angel”). (D&C 132:15-17)
The Book of Mormon was written in “reformed Egyptian hiero- glyphics” and translated into English by means of reading through magic spectacles. (1 Nephi 1:2, Mormon 9:32,34, Mosiah 1:4a, Origin of the Book of Mormon at beginning of the Book)
There is magical efficacy in the secret rituals practiced in the Mormon temples, even though such rituals as practiced by other secret societies are condemned. (Helaman 6:22, 3 Nephi 3:9)
Some myths of Wiccanism (Witchcraft) are:
Human beings can have the power to control Nature (through sorcery or magical ceremonies.)
Human beings can bless or curse other human beings.
Human beings can summon dead spirits and evil spirits (demons).
Human beings can levitate (fly, as with a broomstick).
Human sex acts can make crops grow and livestock reproduce.
Magical power is stronger on seasonal transition days.
Magical power is strengthened by use of blood or human sacrifice.
Magical power is infused into amulets, charms, and potions.
(Note: Wiccanism shares many beliefs with New Age occultism, and it easily develops into Satanism.)
PARALLEL MYTHS
BIBLICAL EXTRA-BIBLICAL
The Rivers of Paradise in Eden The medieval Fountain of Youth
The Tree of Life in Eden The Apples of the Youth Goddess
Lucifer, the Angel of Light Lucifer, the Morning-Star God
Fallen Angels put in Tartarus Titans imprisoned in Tartarus
The Snake, the wisest Creature The Owl, the wisest Animal
The talking Serpent of Eden Æsop’s fabled talking Animals
Eve’s Curiosity about a Fruit Pandora’s Curiosity about a Box
The Flaming Sword of Eden The Fire-Ring of Brynhild
Cherubs (human-headed bulls) Sphinxes (human-headed lions)
The Rainbow, the Warbow of God The Rainbow, Ishtar’s Necklace
Earthquakes of Yahweh (Jehovah) Earthquakes of Poseidon (Neptune)
Ezekiel carried by an Angel Aladdin carried on a Genie’s back
grasping his hair
Satyrs dancing on the ruins of Babylon Satyrs living in the hills of Greece
The Symbols of the Hebrew Tribes The Signs of the Greek Zodiac
Winds controlled by Angels Winds are Four cosmic Titans
The Archangel and the Dragon St. George and the Dragon
The Trumpet of Gabriel The War Horn of Heimdal
Note: You don’t have to believe everything literally in Genesis and Revelation. Some things are right out of Hollywood, thrown in for spectacular effect.
Richard L. Atkins
THE RAIN ARC IN MYTHOLOGY
The curving band of prismatic colors arcing across the sky after a rainstorm is such a wonderful display that it merited treatment in all ancient mythologies.
In English, the term “rainbow” comes from the idea that the multi-colored arc is a weapon for shooting arrows of lightning by the divine Archer. During a rainstorm, darts of heavenly fire are launched by means of the Bow, and then after the tempestuous violence is spent, the Weapon is hung up in the sky as a sign of victory over the chaotic elements.
In the Babylonian Creation Epic, the champion of the gods, Marduk, used a variety of weapons to subdue the cosmic dragon, Tiamat.
He constructed a bow and marked it as his weapon.
He fixed its bow-cord and attached thereto an arrow.
He raised his mace with the grasp of his strong right hand.
At his side he let hang the bow and quiver.
In front of him he set the lightning,
And with a blazing flame he enveloped his body.
Then he made a net in which to snare Tiamat...
After his victorious combat, Marduk was acclaimed by all the gods, and his weapons were admired.
Enlil then raised the warbow of Marduk
and laid it on the table before them.
Then he exhibited the net of Marduk,
and all the gods, his fathers, saw it.
When they saw the bow, how skillfully it was made,
The fathers all praised the workmanship he had performed.
Raising the bow, Anu spoke to the great assembly of the gods,
And he kissed the bow, saying, “This is my daughter.”
Then he gave all the names of the bow as follows:
“Longwood is the first name. Rainbow is the second.
Bow-star is the third, and in heaven I have made it shine.”
He placed the bow in the heavens,
where all gods, Marduk’s brothers, could see it.
The similarity of this account to that of the Flood story given in the Bible is striking.
A SUMMARY OF RAINBOW MYTHS
RAIN-BOW:
A divine warbow for shooting lightning arrows (Babylonian and Hebrew belief).
RAIN-JEWELS:
A divine necklace of the love goddess (Sumerian belief) or a pectoral ornament of the gods or the pharaohs (Egyptian belief).
RAIN-BRIDGE:
A bridge to heaven (Norse and Japanese belief).
RAIN-SERPENT:
A cosmic serpent that holds up the sky (Phœnician belief).
THE WOMB OF MOTHER EARTH
In ancient times it was believed that the Underworld was either the nether home, i.e. “haunt,” of spirits or the great womb of Mother Earth. This latter concept, especially, gave some hope of resurrection - the possibility of being born from the womb a second time. Since the Mother’s dead offspring were crammed in her belly, like pips in a pomegranate, to the point of bursting, the resurrection had to occur when her distended womb could hold no more.*
An apocryphal scripture, called variously “Second Esdras” or “Fourth Ezra,” presented the concept that souls would be born from the great Womb of the Earth Mother at the end of time.**
(The angel Uriel said to Esdras): “...the age is hastening swiftly to its end.” (4:27) Then I answered and said, “How long and when will these things be? Why are our years few and evil? He answered me and said, “You do not hasten faster than the Most High, for your haste is for yourself, but the Highest hastens on behalf of many. Did not the souls of the righteous in their chambers (in the underworld) ask about these matters, saying, “How long are we to remain here? And when will come the harvest of our reward?” And Jeremiel the archangel answered them and said, ‘When the number of those like yourselves is completed, for He has weighed the age in the balance, and measured the times by measure, and numbered the times by number, and He will not move or arouse them until that measure is fulfilled.’” Then I answered and said, “O sovereign lord, but all of us also are full of ungodliness. And it is perhaps on account of us that the time of threshing is delayed for the righteous - on account of the sins of those who dwell on earth.” He answered me and said, “Go and ask a woman who is with child if, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the child within her any longer.” “No, my lord,” I said, “it cannot.” He said to me, “In Hades the chambers of the souls are like the womb. For just as a woman who is in travail makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these places hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning.” (4:33-43)
*Also, the men of old saw that a dead body returned to dust, and so to them it was obvious that the first man must have come up from dust in the beginning. It followed that at death, being thrust down into dust again gave the likelihood of yet another ascent from dust.
**Taken from Second Esdras ( or Ezra IV), as translated and formatted by B. M. Metzger, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Edited by James H. Charlesworth, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983
He (the angel) said to me, “Even so have I given the womb of the Earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so have I organized the world which I created.” Then I inquired and said, “Since you have now given me the opportunity, let me speak before you. Is our Mother, of whom you have told me, still young? Or is she approaching old age?” He replied to me, “Ask a woman who bears children, and she will tell you. Say to her, ‘Why are those whom you have borne recently not like those whom you bore before, but smaller in stature?’ And she herself will answer you, ‘Those born in the strength of youth are different from those born during the time of old age, when the womb is failing.’ Therefore you also should consider that you and your contemporaries are smaller in stature than those who were before you. And those who come after you will be smaller than you, as born of a creation which is already aging and passing the strength of youth.”* (5:48-55)
(The Lord said): “For the age has lost its youth, and the times begin to grow old. For the age is divided into twelve parts, and nine of its parts have already passed, as well as half of the tenth part. So two of its parts remain, besides half of the tenth part. (14:10-12)**
“For the weaker the world becomes through old age, the more shall evils be multiplied among its inhabitants.” (14:17)
In ancient Greece, the Womb of the Great Mother was physically manifested at various locations. At Delphi, there was the entrance to the Womb, and at Mycenæ, so-called “beehive” tombs were constructed as wombs of stone to receive the dead.
At Delphi, the temple of Apollo with its Oracle was located on the east side of Mount Parnassos, away from the Itean Gulf and the town of Delphi. One reason for this location with an eastern exposure was to catch the sunrise, since Apollo was the god of light. But the most compelling feature that made it sacred to the ancient people was the crevice of the Castalian Spring (Krhnh Kastalia) that was seen as the genital aperture of the goddess Gaia, Mother Earth.
*Adam and the antediluvians were believed to live for centuries and to be of giant size. After the Flood people became smaller and lived normal lifespans - reverse evolution.
**The end time can be calculated from 2 Esdras by taking the assumption of 12 “days” as the span of the earth’s existence. Each of these heavenly “days” would equal 360 years in human time. Thus, the 2 1/2 times remaining would be 2 1/2 x 360 days, which is 900 “days” or “years” from the time of Ezra. Taking the prophet’s lifetime to be at about 457 B.C., the end would be due to come in 443 A.D. (Calculation: 900 - 457 = 443.) This time was projected from the time when the book of 2 Esdras was written, about 70 A.D., to be just about three centuries in the future. Obviously, the world did not end at the time foretold by Esdras.
The ancient Greeks, the Achæans, were a matriarchal society, unaware of the male’s role in sexual reproduction. Their primary worship was of the Great Mother. Women were believed to become fertilized by touching a flower or eating a particular fruit or sleeping under a certain tree, or even being impregnated by the wind (the Spirit-wind, PneumatoV, in the case of the Virgin Mary). The early settlers also saw the crevice as a mouth of Hades - another name for the underground Womb - and so this gave it a double meaning and significance.
The layout of the sacred grounds at Delphi was patterned after the body of the Earth Mother. At one end was a round stone called theOmphalos, her Navel. In the middle, the cliffside had a hollow that suggested the shape of her womb. And at the other end, was the crevice of the Castalian Spring that was her vaginal opening.
THE LAYOUT OF THE HOLY SITE OF DELPHI
Stadium
Theater Crevice of the
Castalian Spring
Omphalos
Apollo
Temple
Athena Pronaos
Temple
Pleistos Ravine
NAVEL WOMB GENITAL FISSURE
The Omphalos was the Center of Earth, the spot from which distances were measured in all directions. In the hollow cliff, the Womb, the Greeks built a semicircular theater, for religious dramas and festivals, as well as the temple of Apollo, the chief god of the shrine. And opposite the crevice of the Spring, the temple of Athena, the primary deity of Athens, was situated. Thus, the temple of Apollo was in the “womb” and the temple of Athena was set at the lower end of the genital fissure. The spring that flowed from the crevice provided holy waters where pilgrims could wash their faces and hands in ceremonial purification before offering sacrifice or consulting the Oracle.
The name “Delphi” supports the “womb” concept, because there is a double meaning for the name. These two derivations are as follows:
1. Taken from Delphinos: “dolphin.” The god Apollo was born on the Island of Delos and was transported to land on the back of a porpoise (dolphin), hence as “the boy on a dolphin,” his name was Apollo Delphinos, and his shrine was at Delphi.
2. Taken from Delphus, “womb.” The word for brother, adelphos (adelfoV), means “from the same womb.” (Cf. Philadelphia, the “city of brotherly love.”) It is likely that delphus also meant the female genitalia. (This is true of the Sumerian word sal, that means “vulva,” “womb,” and “woman.” Also, the Latin matrix carries the meanings “female cavity,” “womb,” “matron,” and “mother.”) Hence, Delphi was the womb, the genitalia, and the navel of Mother Earth, all at the same time. This made it a very holy place.
At Mycenæ, the famous beehive tomb of the ancient Greek kings was on a hill adjacent to the city. Its domelike construction was a deliberate attempt to represent the womb of Gaia (L. Gæa), Mother Earth. The long entranceway had walls on both sides, sloping upward to the mound of the tomb, a perfect representation of the upper thighs sloping up to the pregnant belly. The door to the tomb was a narrow slit that represented the genitalia. And over the door was a wedge-shaped indentation, the pubic triangle, which was inverted to form a niche for the image of the Tree of Life guarded by two Lions. (The sculpted figures formerly in that triangle are now missing, but this Tree of Life motif can still be seen, because it was duplicated over the main entrance to the city itself, the Lion Gate.) The great size of the monumental vault, built like a massive Eskimo igloo, was impressive. The Great Mother’s womb was a cool place, even on a very hot day. The dead rulers of Mycenæ once lay all around on the floor with their faces covered with masks of gold - an obvious attempt to mimic the golden sarcophagi of the Egyptians.
About 1500 B.C. a proto-Celtic culture developed in the British Isles, and round-barrow tombs like those in Crete and Mycenæ were introduced. (A barrow, also called a tumulus, was a burial mound of the prehistoric inhabitants of northern Europe.) Previous to the round-barrow era, the ancient people had preferred long barrows, likely developed from ship-burials. The idea of interment in the Great Mother’s womb was to prove the more popular custom, however, because it was probably a more comforting belief.
In the old days, a lifespan was not “from womb to tomb,” but “from womb to Womb.”
THE OMPHALOS AT DELPHI
(The Navel of Earth)
THE CREVICE OF THE HOLY CASTALIAN SPRING
THE LION GATE OF MYCENÆ
In the triangular niche above the gate, two lions guard a stylized Tree of Life, atop which there once stood an image of the goddess Athena. The city of Mycenæ was dominant in Greece from 1600 to 1100 B.C., at which time it was overthrown and destroyed by fire. Its most famous king was Agamemnon, who led the Greek forces in the Trojan War.
A ROUND-BARROW TOMB IN DENMARK
(Note the triangular stone above the entrance, which resembles the niche above the doorway to the beehive tomb at Mycenæ.)
ANGELS
The study of angels, angelology, is related to demonology, because fallen angels are evil spirits, or demons, and because they both belong to the legendary realms peopled by fabulous creatures and nature powers - which are called “elemental spirits” in the Bible. These may be categorized, according to Paracelsus, into four groupings corresponding to the four elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire:
“ELEMENTALS”
EARTH Creatures, in Latin, Gnomi:
Gnomes, Dwarfs, Trolls, Ogres, Pigmies, Satyrs (Heb. Sa’ir: “hairy” - one of which is Azazel), Fauns, Pans, Kobolds, Durdalis, Sylvans, Werewolves, Hamadryads or Dryads (in trees), Oreads (in mountains), Meliads (in ashes), Elves, Brownies, Pucks, Leperchauns, Imps, Goblins (from their king, Gob).
WATER Creatures, in Latin, Undinæ:
Undines, Nymphs, Mermaids, Sea Maids, Selkies (seal people), Krenaiads (in springs), Naiads (in brooks), Limnads (in ponds), Potamids (in rivers), Nereiads (in seas), Oceanids (in oceans), Water Sprites, Sirens, Gorgons.
AIR Creatures, in Latin, Sylvestræ:
Sylphs, Fairies (Pers. Pheri, Peri, Fravashi), Sprites, Pixies, Angels of the Elements: Rain/Wind/Snow/Hail (Spirit Powers of Nature), Angelic Heralds, Angelic Guardians, Astral Angels (“Heavenly Host”), Angelic Warriors (Sabaoth), Cherubim (Heb. cherub: in form, andro-bous:“man-ox,” or, later, medieval putti: “baby boys”), Valkyries (Raven Maidens), Swan Maidens, Hyads (in rainstars), Hesperiads (in sunset clouds), Houris, Incubi, Succubi, Harpies, Vampires, Nightmares, Gremlins.
FIRE Creatures, in Latin, Vulcani:
Seraphim (Heb. seraph: in form, andro-ophis: “man-snake,” or Fiery Serpent), Fire/Lightning Angels, Lucifers, Phosphors (Fireballs, St. Elmo’s Fire), Genies (Jinni), Salamanders, Lares, Penates.
Angels originated in antiquity when there was a limited view of God, such that His omnipresence had not been conceived. It was thought that God’s throne was so elevated above the earth that human activity down below was beyond His vision. Thus, He had to either “go down” to see what was happening, or else, He had to employ invisible informants to observe conditions and report back to Him.
And Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language...Come, let us go down, and confuse their language...” Genesis 11:5,7a
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set...And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And, behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 28:10,11a,12
The angels on Jacob’s ladder were coming and going from the heavenly court, bearing messages from the Throne or bringing information back to it. Thus, angels played the part of heralds that were sent out in all directions by an earthly monarch to announce royal decrees throughout his realm. Accordingly, the Hebrew word malach and the Greek word angelos both meant “messenger” or “angel.”
Also, in the opening verses of the Book of Job, Satan is seen in the role of a divine spy, who takes notes on the activities of men and reports back to Yahweh. The narrative does not take into account the omniscience of God, which would obviate His having to ask Satan where he had been. Also, the omnipresence of God would have allowed Him to observe the movements of Satan anywhere in the universe.
Yahweh asked Satan, “Whence have you come?” Satan replied to Yahweh, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” Job 1:7
Angels were also called the “heavenly host” (Heb. sabaoth or Gk. stratia), and this was an ambiguous term that could mean either “stars” or “armies.” In this dual role, the heavenly luminaries were said to take part in battles against the enemies of Israel. This means that Hebrew angels were envisioned as mighty masculine warriors of terrible aspect, wielding weapons of fire.
From heaven fought the stars, from their courses they fought against Sisera. Judges 5:20
So Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire...
2 Kings 6:17b
And it happened that overhead, in all the city (Jerusalem), for almost forty days, there appeared golden-clad horsemen charging through the air, in companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords - troops of horsemen drawn up, attacks and counterattacks made on this side and on that, brandishing of shields, massing of spears, hurling of missiles, the flash of golden trappings, and armor of all sorts. Therefore, all men prayed that the apparition might prove to have been a good omen. 2 Maccabees 5:2-4
By New Testament times, the idea of a multiplicity of heavens was commonly accepted. God lived in “the heaven of heavens,” and Paul said that he was caught up to “the third heaven,” which he called “Paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:2-3). Subsequently, a cosmology of “crystal spheres” developed, and angelic inhabitants were assigned to each of these cosmic levels in groupings that were called “choirs” or “orders.”
ANGEL ORDERS (Eph. 1:21, 3:10, Col. 1:16, 2:10, 1 Pet. 3:22):
1. ARCHANGELS (Seven Spirits before the Throne of God, Rev. 4:5, 8:2)
(The first Four are “Voices” speaking to the four corners of the earth, Isa. 40:3)
Michael: commanding general
Gabriel: herald and minstrel
Raphael: cupbearer, healer, and peoples’ advocate
Uriel, Phanuel: torch bearer and mover of the sun (Rev. 19:17)
Raguel: prosecutor and keeper of the lots (Urim and Thummim)
Sariel, Saraqael: executioner, the Death Angel
Remiel, Jarahmeel: treasurer and dispenser of largess
2. THRONES
3. DOMINATIONS (DOMINIONS, LORDSHIPS)
4. VIRTUES
5. POWERS (AUTHORITIES) (in Third Heaven: Paradise, 2 Cor. 12:2-3)
6. PRINCEDOMS (PRINCIPALITIES, RULERS):
Seventy Patron Angels are shepherd-guardians set over the Seventy Nations of Mankind (Gen. 10, 25, 1 Chron. 1:4-27) and subordinate to the Seven
Archangels.
The guardian Prince for Israel is Michael (Dan. 8:25, 10:13, 12:1).
7. LOWER ORDER ANGELS (Menial Laborers and Caretakers):
Elemental Spirits: Nature Powers of Weather and Water
(Gal. 4:3,9, John 5:4, Rev. 7:1, 16:5, Ps. 104:4, Heb. 1:7)
Paul called them “weak and beggarly elemental spirits” (Gal. 4:9).
Watchers: Pages and Errand Runners
(Gen. 6:2, 28:12, Dan. 4:13, Matt. 18:10, Acts 12:15)
THE AUTHORITY FOR NAMES OF THE ARCHANGELS
The definitive source for the names of the seven archangels was the Book of First Enoch. Relevant passages are given below.
(Note: The Book of First Enoch, written about 170 B.C., was the most important extra-canonical writing of the first two centuries before Christ. It was quoted by the Epistle of Jude as scripture (Jude 14-15 quotes 1 Enoch 1:9). St. Augustine wrote that “we cannot deny that Enoch...wrote some inspired things, since the canonical Epistle of Jude says so.” Also, the Coptic Bible includes Enoch, inserted after the book of Genesis. The influence of this book is seen throughout the New Testament - especially with the messianic title “the Son of Man” and the visions of the Book of Revelation.)
And these are the names of the holy angels who watch: Suruel (Uriel), one of the holy angels who is over the world and Tartarus, Raphael, one of the holy angels who is over the spirits of men, Raguel, one of the holy angels who take vengeance on the world and the luminaries, Michael, one of the holy angels who is set over the best part of mankind (Israel) and of chaos, Saraqael, one of the holy angels who are set over the spirits who sin (fallen angels), Gabriel, one of the holy angels who oversee the garden of Eden, the seraphs, and the cherubs, and Remiel, one of the holy angels whom God set over those who rise. (20:1-7)
And after that I saw a hundred thousand times a hundred thousand, ten million times ten million, innumerable and uncountable, who stand before the Lord of the Spirits. I saw them standing on the four sides of the Lord of the Spirits. Also I saw another Four Presences among those who do not slumber, and I came to know their names, which the angel who came with me revealed to me, showing me all the hidden things. Then I heard the Voices of those Four Presences while they were saying praises before the Lord of Glory. The first Voice was blessing the name of the Lord of Spirits. The second Voice I heard blessing the Elect One and the elect ones who are clinging onto the Lord of Spirits. And the third Voice I heard interceding and praying on behalf of those who dwell upon the earth and supplicating in the name of the Lord of the Spirits. And the fourth Voice I heard expelling the demons and forbidding them from coming to the Lord of Spirits in order to accuse those who dwell upon the earth. And after that, I asked the angel of peace, who was going with me and showing me everything that was hidden, “Who are these Four Presences which I have seen and whose Voices I have heard and written down?” And he said to me, “The first one is the merciful and forbearing Michael, the second one, who is set over all disease and every wound of the children of the people, is Raphael, the third, who is set over all exercise of strength, is Gabriel, and the fourth, who is set over all actions of repentance unto the hope of those who would inherit eternal life, is Phanuel by name.” So these are his four angels. They are of the Lord of Spirits, and the Four Voices which I heard in those days. (40:1-10)
Cf. Isaiah 40:3:
A Voice cries, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make straight a highway for our God in the desert.”
In Islam, the Quran gives the names of four archangels:
Gabriel, who reveals and writes decrees.
Michael, who fights battles of faith.
Agrael, the death angel.
Agrafil, the trumpeter of the Resurrection.
Some first century Jews did not believe in either angels or demons.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit... Acts 23:8a
The Apostle Paul disliked Angels, because:
They were being worshiped (angelolatry)
(Col. 2:8,18,20, Rev. 19:10).
They might possibly stand between a person and God
(Rom. 8:38).
They are subject to falling and becoming demons
(Gen. 6, Jude 6, 2 Pet. 2:4).
They lust after human women
(Gen. 6:2, 1 Cor. 11:10).
They can be deceptive and harmful
(Job 4:18, 1 Ki. 22:21-22, Ps. 78:49, Gal. 1:8, Col. 2:15, Rev. 9:14-15).
They are unruly elemental spirits, controlling “the elements”
and causing good or bad weather at their whim
(Mark 4:39, Gal. 4:3,9).
They are all to be judged by righteous men in the afterlife
(1 Cor. 6:3).
Dr. James Leo Garrett, Professor of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote: “Those who are concerned about the potentially dangerous, as well as any beneficial results, of the current resurgence of interest in angels may be interested to learn what the Protestant reformer of Geneva, John Calvin, after expounding what he regarded as biblically based teaching about the nature and functions of angels, offered a warning to his generation: ‘For as God does not make them (angels) ministers of his power and goodness to share his glory with them, so he does not promise us his help through their ministry in order that we should divide our trust between them and him. Farewell, then, to that Platonic philosophy of seeking access to God through angels, and or worshipping them with intent to render God more approachable to us.’” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 ed., LCC trans., 1.14.12)
Also it should be understood that angels are equivalent to the pagan gods. (Helios the sun god equals Uriel the sun angel, and Hermes the divine herald equals Gabriel, etc.) In the Greek Septuagint, the Hebrew terms malachim (messengers) and elohim (gods) were generally translated as “angels.” The corresponding terms in Greek are angeloi and theoi. So, in Psalm 97:7, “Worship Him, all ye gods,” could be translated,“Worship Him, all ye angels.” In the text that admonishes, “Thou shalt not revile the gods” (Exodus 22:28 KJV), the word elohim could be translated “angels” or “God.” According to Hebrews 2:7, Christ was made “lower than the angels,” but the quotation is from Psalm 8:5, which reads, “...lower than elohim,” which could also refer to “gods” or “God.”
ANGELIC MISCONCEPTIONS
Angels are now popular among certain religious people and in the entertainment industry, but their images and activities in movies and television programs are seldom correct.
The angels that are depicted in stained glass and in Christmas cards and decorations are commonly blond females, but there are no feminine angels in the Bible, and the hair of purebred Hebrews was black. The two angels that are specifically named in Scripture are Michael, a warrior with a flaming sword, and Gabriel, a herald with a trumpet. Another divine being, the Angel of Death, would have been a terrible executioner with a bloody sword. The Greek word for angel was a masculine noun, angelos, and the Hebrew term sabaoth designated “hosts” or “armies” of God, obviously all male.
Actually, female angels came from classical mythology. They are a form of Nike, the goddess of victory. Her Roman counterpart was Victoria, and her most famous image is the “Winged Victory” that stands in the Louvre museum. Nike carried in her raised right hand a circlet of laurel leaves, the victor’s crown, and in her left hand a palm frond, another symbol of victory. (It is still customary to say that a winner “gets the palm.”) When the Bible stated that after death, the faithful believer would receive “the crown of life,” this gave way for the introduction of Nike, the goddess of victory as an angel, giving out awards and prizes to those who had run the race of life.
Likewise with cherubs. Commonly depicted as baby boys in religious artwork, they are little winged cupids, modeled after the Roman god of love and, thus, adopted from paganism. To the contrary, in Bible times, cherubs were terrible monsters - winged, human-headed bulls, like those that guarded the palaces and temples of the ancient Babylonians. “Cherub” derives from karibu, the Babylonian name for a dread demon-creature. Its closest counterpart in Greece was the minotaur, except that the cherub was a man-headed bull rather than a bull-headed man. Its counterpart in Egypt was the sphinx, the human-headed lion. Thus, a cherub can be termed an “andro-sphinx.”
Also, the idea that people become angels in the afterlife is incorrect. Jesus said that the dead are “like angels” in that they do not marry. In a letter of St. Paul, it was stated that the faithful will one day sit in judgment on fallen angels that rebelled and became demonic minions of the Devil. Actually, Paul had little use for angels, because they were being worshiped by superstitious people in his day. He discounted them as “beggarly elemental spirits,” that is, divine beings who performed, like slaves, the menial tasks of moving the elements; wind, rain, and clouds. Paul believed that “Angels, Principalities, and Powers” (various angelic categories) should not stand between mankind and God.
For I am sure that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities...nor Powers...will be able to separate us from the love of God... Romans 8:38a,39b
Just as the Magi at the Nativity were not Arabs on camels, but Zoroastrian priests astride white Persian stallions, and just as the Devil is not a red-suited satyr, so are angels and cherubs mistakenly represented in common pictures, paintings, and sculpture today.
Richard L. Atkins
DEMONS
The belief in demons is one of the oldest superstitions known to man. This is borne out by archæological findings of grotesque figures depicting therianthropic (half animal - half human) monsters in clay and stone. Also there are drawings of these creatures, along with magical inscriptions, amulets, and charms to be used against demonic threats, that are found in the ruins of every ancient settlement. The demon was part of a vast folklore that included ghosts, genies, vampires, werewolves, dragons, unicorns, satyrs (Hebrew sa’irim), griffins, sphinxes (Hebrewcherubim), basilisks (Hebrew cockatrices), flying serpents (Hebrew seraphim), harpies, centaurs, minotaurs, and other legendary beings.
Demons originated in the infancy of the human race, in a period when men were afraid of the dark, of the howling winds, and of strange places. Evil spirits were blamed for bad luck, accidents, diseases, insanity, famines, freaks of nature, and every other ill known to man. They were the embodiment of fear.
Even after people came to believe in God (or the gods) they were unable to shake this primitive obsession with imaginary spirits. Even those who recognized God as a loving heavenly Father still retained the use of hex signs, talismans, exorcisms, and spells to ward off malevolent creatures of darkness. The same enlightened Christian who will laugh at the African witch doctor’s mumbo-jumbo and voodoo dolls will himself let a priest sprinkle him with holy water and make the sign of the cross over him to ward off demons.
The problem, of course, in getting rid of a belief in demons is that they exist in all of the world’s holy writings - which gives them a degree of sanctity and acceptability. Demons people the imaginary world of the Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and Christians, no less than that of the most benighted Australian aborigine who has no scripture at all. The scriptures of all people everywhere are contaminated with beliefs from the savage past, a time of blood sacrifices, mutilations of the flesh, cultic murders, magical rites, dietary taboos, and fearsome monsters of the supernatural world.
The ancient Hebrews were desert-dwelling nomads who believed that spirits inhabited rocks, trees, and streams. They believed that a rock could hear (Gen. 31:52, Josh. 24:27), that tree-spirits were to be venerated (Josh. 24:26, Jud. 9:37), and that water-angels caused geyser-like upwellings (John 5:4, Rev. 16:5). They also venerated “elemental spirits” that caused the wind to blow and rain to fall (Heb. 1:7, Rev. 7:1, Gal. 4:3, Col. 2:8). In stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus spoke to the wind (spirit-angel-demon) and commanded it to be still (Mark 4:39).
These are all examples of a primitive animism that caused every object of nature to be inhabited by a spirit (nymph, dryad, oread, naiad, undine, sylph, sprite, gnome, elf, fairy) or, if the object were harmful, a genie, troll, or demon. The acceptance of the existence of these foul beings naturally required some explanation as to their origin. According to the Hebrews’ tradition, it was as follows.
Just before the days of Noah, a lower order of angels called “Watchers” was sent down to instruct men in righteousness. These divine spirits acted as guardian angels or as voices of conscience to guide and protect mankind and teach God’s laws. At least, that was their mission. But they failed in this charge and, instead, were themselves corrupted by mankind - and the power of Satan in the world. They began to lust after women. And since they appeared to the women as tall, beautiful males, the women desired them as well. The fruit of their illicit unions was a tribe of Titans, those called Anakim, Nephilim, Emim, and Rephaim in the Bible (Gen. 6:4, Num. 13:33, Deut. 2:10-11, 3:11). These giants were a mongrel race of evil super-humans, and it was precisely to rid the world of such monstrous demigods that God decided to drown the world in a flood. That the Flood did not entirely wipe out all of the giants, however, was evidenced by their continued appearance in later scriptures.
Now, the Watchers had become fallen angels, and they were all rounded up and chained underground in the pits of Sheol or Tartarus (2 Pet. 2:4). In the agony of their confinement and torture, these gigantic beings sometimes would thrash about and cause the earth to crack, smoke, and quiver in what men came to call earthquakes. As to their descendants, the ghosts of the giants who succumbed to the Flood were still inhabiting the airy regions of earth in the spirit-forms called demons. Thus, for the Hebrews most of the demons were the evil souls of the antediluvian Titans. Other types of hellish beings were the legendary creatures of mythology (satyrs, sphinxes, and night prowlers). One of the satyrs named in the Bible was Azazel: a goat-man of the wilderness, a “hairy one” (Heb. sa’ir). The most prominent female demon was the night hag Lilith. (She had been the Babylonian wind demoness, Lilitu, but in Hebrew legendry, she became Adam’s first wife before Eve. Refusing to accept the authority of her husband, she was transformed into the night hag, the screech owl, the “terror that flies by night” - Psalm 91:5, Isaiah 34:13) Among Christians it became common to accept Paul’s reasoning that the Greek gods were also demons (1 Cor. 10:20).
Ancient apocryphal literature went overboard in the realms of angelology and demonology. This came about after the Babylonian Captivity period when Judaism came into contact with the Zoroastrian faith and its full pantheon of angels and archangels. Like the Persian Magi, the Jewish writers provided abundant details as to the names and offices of long lists of angels and demons. These were organized into bands and cohorts with leaders and captains. Every level of heaven and hell was said to be populated with distinct groupings of spirit beings. In Paul’s time, these “elemental spirits” (nature angels) were receiving worship, and the Apostle spoke out against the practice (Col. 2:8,20). It was, in his eyes, a reversion to pagan polytheism. (After all, there is little difference between a solar god and a sun angel, a weather god and a rain angel, etc.)
The Book of Enoch was very influential on the thinking of the Jews in New Testament times. (In the canon of the Coptic Church, Enoch is placed after the Book of Genesis.) This writing presented a lengthy catalog of fallen angels and the various ways they corrupted mankind:
ANGEL ACTIVITY
Jeqon (“Inciter”) Ruler of a Hundred, led the angelic rebellion
Asbeel Ruler of a Hundred, gave evil counsel
Gadreel Ruler of Fifty, enticed Eve and taught murder
Penemue Ruler of Fifty, taught writing and science
Kasdeja Ruler of Fifty, taught abortion and slander
Kasbeel Ruler of Fifty, used God’s name in magic
Twenty Chiefs of Tens (Supposedly, a total of two hundred angels fell)
Semjaza (Samjaza) taught enchantments and herbal lore
Samiazaz
Arakiba (Artaqifa) taught earth signs
Rameel (Rumjal)
Kokabiel (Kokabel) taught knowledge of the constellations
Tamiel (Tumael)
Ramiel (Rumael)
Danel (Danjal)
Ezeqeel taught knowledge of the clouds
Baraqijal (Baraqel) taught astrology
Asael (Azazel) taught metal work, weapon-making, ornaments
Armaros (Armen) taught understanding of enchantments
Batarel (Batarjal, Busasejal)
Ananel (Hananel)
Zaqiel (Neqael)
Samsapeal (Simapesiel) taught sun signs (cf. Shamash, Babylonian sun god)
Satarel, Turel (Turael)
Jomjael (Jetrel)
Sariel taught courses of the moon
Other writers saw demons as personified sinful attitudes. For the writer of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, demons included the following: a demon of fornication, a demon of gluttony, ...of fighting, ...of obsequiousnes, ...of pride, ...of lying, ...injustice, ...fantasy, ...jealousy, ...deceit, ...wine, ...lust, ...desire, ...profligacy, ...filthy lucre, ...vainglory, ...angel, ...hatred (Test. of Reuben 1:24-30, Test. of Simeon 1:8, 2:9, Test. of Judah 3:3,24,47, Test of Dan 1:6-8,20, Test. of Gad 1:24). That every sin should have had its own evil-spirit counterpart bespeaks belief in a high degree of specialization in the demons’ organization. Such a listing of sins (or demons) could obviously be extended indefinitely. It might be made to include a “dozing-in-church demon,” a “driving-too-fast demon,” an “algebra-aversion demon,” a “Polish joke demon,” in short, a demon for every major and minor weakness of the human personality.
That Jesus (or the Gospel writers) also believed that diseases were evidence of demon possession can be seen by several references (Matt. 17:15-18, Mark 1:26,34, Luke 4:39, 11:14, 13:11). But commentators since that time have argued that Jesus was only accomodating His language to the pervading mindset of His time. Had He come in our day, He might well have addressed a disease by its own name - cancer, leprosy, epilepsy, atrophy, or insanity - in effecting its cure. The primary point of every cure was to bring about an individual’s or the onlookers’ spiritual regeneration. The physical state was only incidental. Also, one might argue that while on earth Jesus was not omniscient. He did not know for sure the day of His returning (Matt. 24:36). He had to grow “in wisdom” just like His fellow schoolmates (Luke 2:52). Also, in the Incarnation, God had “emptied Himself” of omniscience (Phil. 2:6-7). Furthermore, to believe that Jesus was totally divine while in the flesh is the heresy of Docetism, which has been condemned by the Church from its earliest days. As to demons, it is possible that much of what Jesus believed about them was learned in the apocryphal literature, in the synagogue, and at His mother’s knee.
Inside the Jefferson Memorial there is inscribed a motto that could well apply to the subject of demonology: “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” The purification of religion should be the highest goal of every believer, and this can only be achieved when the last vestige of savage superstition is eradicated. It has been well stated by our World War II President that we really have nothing to fear but Fear itself. And too long has mankind been in bondage to this dreadful fear of demons. Mark it well, the best “exorcism” is to recognize demons for what they really are, mere figments of the imagination.
Another Paul is needed today to condemn the morbid obsession of many in our society with occultism and demon possession. Such people are beset with a childish fear like that of being afraid of the dark. For them, God is not really on His throne, and His world is being run by hellish powers out of control. Such a belief is unworthy of the enlightened Christian, because it is an insult to God’s true sovereignty and a denial of the victory won on Mount Calvary. Richard L. Atkins