Posted on 03/18/2011 5:31:09 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
Where he mocked the Baal worshippers: “maybe he’s sleeping, yell louder!”.
Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal, at the end of 1 Kings.
I suspect it was ruder than that. "Where's Baal, huh? Nya-nya! Yell louder! Maybe he's taking a craaaaaaaaap!"
We know some Israelites strayed to pagan worship and some did not, and the language recorded was used by both groups.
Moses returned and put things right, and then the record was put right.
You know Molech.. the God that Amalekites boiled their first baby while an infant in a pot of boiling oil.. as a sacrifice.. That was part of the Amalekite culture.. as well as other culture in that area.. You know Molech the Moon God.. which eventually became Allah.. They didn't "eat" the baby.. they buried the baby in a pot in the cornerstone of their newly wed house.. as a blessing!..
Isn't that special!?... Them Arabs are such knuckleheads..
“I bought a ‘30 Ford wagon and we call it a woody
(Surf City, here we come)...”
The cult adapted to technology...
And Fur Shur God has absolutely no interest in female human beings, right?
From the NKJV, and then Darby's Literal Translation, all 40 references that I could find in multiple translations:
Judges 3:7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.
1 Kings 15:13 Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
2 Kings 21:7 He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;
2 Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
2 Chronicles 15:16 Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
Darby's literal translation and related versions also have:
Exodus 34:13 but ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs.
Deuteronomy 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire.
Deuteronomy 12:3 and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place.
Deuteronomy 16:21 Thou shalt not plant thyself an Asherah of any wood near unto the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Judges 6:25 And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Take the young bullock, which thy father hath, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it;
Judges 6:26 and build an altar to Jehovah thy God upon the top of this strong place in the ordered manner, and take the second bullock, and offer up a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah that thou shalt cut down.
Judges 6:28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered up upon the altar that was built.
Judges 6:30 And the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.
1 Kings 14:15 And Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their Asherahs, provoking Jehovah to anger.
1 Kings 14:23 And they also built for themselves high places, and columns, and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree;
1 Kings 16:33 And Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did more to provoke Jehovah the God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
2 Kings 13:6 Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin: they walked therein; and there remained also the Asherah in Samaria.
2 Kings 17:10 And they set them up columns and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree;
2 Kings 17:16 And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of the heavens, and served Baal;
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
2 Kings 21:3 And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars to Baal and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
2 Kings 23:6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, outside Jerusalem, to the torrent of Kidron, and burned it at the torrent of Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder upon the graves of the children of the people.
2 Kings 23:7 And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, which were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove tents for the Asherah.
2 Kings 23:14 And he broke in pieces the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their place with the bones of men.
2 Kings 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and burned the high place, stamped it small to powder, and burned the Asherah.
2 Chronicles 14:3 and he took away the altars of the strange [gods] and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs;
2 Chronicles 17:6 And he took courage in the ways of Jehovah; moreover, he removed the high places and Asherahs out of Judah.
2 Chronicles 19:3 Nevertheless there are good things found in thee; for thou hast put away the Asherahs out of the land, and hast directed thy heart to seek God.
2 Chronicles 24:18 And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
2 Chronicles 31:1 And when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the columns, and hewed down the Asherahs, and demolished the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. And all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession, into their cities.
2 Chronicles 33:3 And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
2 Chronicles 33:19 And his prayer, and [how God] was intreated of him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places in which he built high places, and set up Asherahs and graven images, before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the words of Hozai.
2 Chronicles 34:3 And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the graven images, and the molten images.
2 Chronicles 34:4 And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the sun-pillars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherahs and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust [of them] and strewed it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed to them;
2 Chronicles 34:7 and he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherahs and the graven images into powder, and cut down all the sun-pillars throughout the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
Isaiah 17:8 And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor have regard to what his fingers have made, neither the Asherahs nor the sun-images.
Isaiah 27:9 By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin: when he shall make all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are crumbled in pieces, -- the Asherahs and the sun-images shall not stand.
Jeremiah 17:2 whilst their children remember their altars and their Asherahs, by the green trees, upon the high hills.
Micah 5:14 And I will pluck up thine Asherahs out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy cities.
Perhaps it is too subtle for this Oxford scholar to catch, but I detect a different emotion than matrimonial love in these passages. I have never met anyone who feels this way toward a beloved wife and few who hate even their ex-wives so much that they would destroy an entire city because of the ex-wife's presence.
I will agree with the article's comment that,
"The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News, 'with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historic events of 586 B.C.' In that year, an elite community within Judea was exiled to Babylon and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. This, Brody said, led to 'a more universal vision of strict monotheism: one god not only for Judah, but for all of the nations.'"
That failing is emphasized frequently in the Bible as a central message that I do not believe could have been "edited in", with the Jews being punished for those regular excursions into the polytheism of their neighbors.
It looks to me like perhaps some of those who failed to conceive a child (the ancient version of social security for old age), some of those who liked the fertility rites (the ancient version of hooking up), and some who just liked diversity and multicultural ways "worshiped" Asherahs. That is far different from the report of God having a wife in the press.
Jeremiah suggests we take the shamen (called "doctors" these days) and break their bones and burn them over their own altars.
Interesting that the US government PROTECTS Ba'al worshippers and their evil practices.
Total nonsense. God doesn’t share His glory with other “gods” and “goddesses” and “deities”.
This is what an Oxford and Exeter education will do for someone. God took sheepherders, fishermen and tax collectors and made them wise beyond the education temples man has built. #1 there is no sex in Heaven. No gender and no sex. No need for procreation. The thought of God having a wife is blasphemous. We need simple clergy preaching a simple message. These high falutin' seminaries are turning out people who study God but don't know God.
Molech WAS Ba'al indeed.. as well as other names in different regions..
Yep agreed. Ditto...
Think of the Middle East as part of “the West” ~ it’s just another region. Actually it’s the first region in the West, but it’s not really different than Europe or America and Japan.
"Perhaps he has 'gone aside'", but yes, you have the correct understanding of the Hebrew.
The NLT translated it like this:
"About noontime Elijah began mocking them. "You'll have to shout louder," he scoffed, "for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or he is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or he is asleep and needs to be wakened!"
Elijah was always such a timid fellow....
/sarc
I've wondered that myself.....signed, the Pope
true.. more or less..
You can always tell when it’s getting close to Easter. The dumb bunnies all come out and lay colorful eggs like this.
Asherah, isnt that the totem pole that the Philistines worshipped?
Wow, incredible they just discovered idolatry.
What is new about this? The Bible criticizes Solomon for putting other gods in the Temple. In the pantheons of the region, consorts were the norm. The Israelite faith was novel is breaking with such forms of worship and teaching not only monotheism but the one, personal God of Abraham as the only true god. All others were false. Weaning the people away from polytheism was a constant struggle. The Scripture is full of prophetic denunciation of such backsliding.
“Scholars” are both liars, and foolish, as well as unintelligent!
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