Ä Area: COMP.ORG.C ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
  Msg#: 102                                          Date: 07-03-96  05:25
  From: (eynshalom)                                  Read: Yes    Replied: No 
    To: All                                          Mark:                     
  Subj: PAGAN GODS
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

Path: nserv.micronet.org!miwok!imci4!imci5!pull-feed.internetmci.com!news.inte
From: (EynShalom)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.chaos
Subject: PAGAN GODS
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 05:25:08 GMT
Organization: ADRIYEL-ELYON
Lines: 400
Message-ID: <31da041c.24644927@netnews.worldnet.att.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 145.atlanta-3.ga.dial-access.att.net
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent .99d/32.168

PAGAN GODS 

 The false gods and idols worshipped by people during Bible
times-- especially the false gods of Egypt, Mesopotamia (Assyria and
Babylon), Canaan, Greece, and Rome.
 Religion has always played an important part in civilization;
in the ancient world it was a powerful force. The pagan civilizations
of Bible times worshipped many gods. They had male and female deities,
high and low gods, assemblies of gods, priests and priestesses, and
temples and sacrifices. All the forces of nature that could not be
controlled or understood were considered supernatural powers to be
worshipped and feared.
 Our knowledge of the pagan gods of the ancient world comes
from the religious literature, idols, and other objects discovered by
archaeologists. We have also learned from the meanings of names found
in the literature from this period. People in Bible times were often
named with sentences and phrases; sometimes they used the name of
their favorite god in the compound name. Thus, names very often
reflected popular religion. Most of the people of the ancient world
were polytheistic; they worshipped more than one god.
 The people worshipped these gods in the form of representative
idols. This practice is called idolatry. The nation of Israel,
however, was forbidden to make graven images of the one true and
living God whom they worshipped . The pagan
nations made statues or images to represent the powers which they
worshipped. Most of these idols were in the form of animals or men.
But sometimes these idols represented celestial powers like the sun,
moon, and stars, forces of nature, like the sea and the rain; or life
forces, like death and truth.
 Belief in these false gods was characterized by superstition
and magic. The people believed that what happened to their gods would
also happen to them. Puzzled by the workings of nature, they assigned
the causes of various natural happenings to their gods. Rain was
absolutely essential to life in agricultural societies. If it rained,
they believed this was caused by a rain god. If it did not rain, they
thought this was because that god had not sent the rain. They prayed
and sacrificed to the god to send it.
 In time an elaborate system of beliefs in such natural forces
was developed into mythology. Each civilization and culture had its
own mythological structure, but these structures were often quite
similar. The names of the gods may have been different, but their
functions and actions were often the same. The most prominent myth to
cross cultural lines was that of the fertility cycle. Many pagan
cultures believed that the god of fertility died each year during the
winter but was reborn each year in the spring. The details differed
among cultures, but the main idea was the same.
 According to the Old Testament, God was a jealous God who
permitted no rivals: "You shall have no other gods before Me" . God's will is all-powerful and man must submit to
it. He reveals Himself when He pleases and to whom He pleases,
demanding that man obey His revelation. Nevertheless, the Hebrew
people sometimes gave in to temptation and worshipped these pagan gods
from the surrounding cultures.
 The many pagan gods that served as a temptation to the Hebrew
people may be conveniently grouped into four distinct types: the false
gods of (1) Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylon), (2) Egypt, (3) Canaan,
and (4) Greece and Rome.
 The Pagan Gods of Mesopotamia. The biblical references to
pagan gods begin with the statement that Terah, Abraham, and Nahor,
when they dwelt on the other side of the River (that is, in
Mesopotamia), "served other gods" . Ancient Mesopotamia
covered the region that is roughly equivalent geographically to
present-day Iraq and Iran.
 The prominent gods in Mesopotamia were those over heaven, air,
and earth, personified by Anu, Enlil, and Enki (Ea). Another group was
made up of those that controlled the heavenly bodies: the sun, the
moon, and the planet Venus (the "morning star"). In fact, Ur, the city
from which Abraham came, was the center for worship of the moon god
Sin. As Mesopotamian religion developed, each god had his own star,
and the worship of the stars became popular with the development of
ASTROLOGY. Many of the astrological texts and charts of the ancient
Babylonians read like modern horoscopes.
 The worship of the sun, moon, and stars eventually spread
across the entire ancient world. The Egyptians, Canaanites, and
Phoenicians all incorporated features of this form of worship. Place
names in pre-Israelite Canaan reflect the practice. Beth Shemesh
 means house of the sun [god]. Jericho 
probably means moon city. Joshua's miracle of the sun and the moon
standing still takes on greater significance in light of this fact. It
was a demonstration of the sovereign power of the Lord God of Israel
over the pagan gods identified as the sun and the moon, worshipped in
pagan cities .
 Another god of ancient Mesopotamia was Adad, who represented
the storm-- either the beneficial rains for the crops or the
destructive storms with hurricanes. Identical with Adad, or Hadad, was
Rimmon or Ramman, the Assyrian god of rain and storm, thunder and
lightning. The two names, Hadad and Rimmon, were combined in one name,
Hadad Rimmon, in one Old Testament reference . In the Old
Testament Rimmon was an Aramean (Syrian) god who had a temple at
Damascus. Naaman and his royal master worshipped this pagan god <2
Kin. 5:18>.
 The ancient Babylonian and Assyrian goddess Ishtar symbolized
Mother Earth in the natural cycles of fertility on earth. Many myths
grew up around this female deity. She was the goddess of love, so the
practice of ritual prostitution became widespread in the fertility
cult dedicated to her name. Temples to Ishtar had many priestesses, or
sacred prostitutes, who symbolically acted out the fertility rites of
the cycle of nature. Ishtar has been identified with the Phoenician
Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoreth, and the Sumerian Inanna. Strong
similarities also exist between Ishtar and the Egyptian Isis, the
Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus.
 Associated with Ishtar was the young god Tammuz, considered
both divine and mortal . In Babylonian mythology Tammuz
died annually and was reborn year after year, representing the yearly
cycle of the seasons and the crops. This pagan belief later was
identified with the pagan gods Baal and Anat in Canaan.
 Another kind of god in both Babylonia and Assyria was a
national god connected with politics. In Assyria it was Ashur, and in
Babylonia it was Marduk, who became prominent at the time of HAMMURABI
(about 1800 B. C.). The ancient ideas about the ordering and governing
of the universe were taken over by these two gods. Marduk, for
example, achieved his prominence by victory over Tiamat, goddess of
the sea. This cosmic conflict, described also in ancient Sumerian,
Indian and Canaanite myths, was believed to have estabiished order.
Marduk established order by destroying the goddess Tiamat.
 In contrast, the Bible makes it clear that the forces of
nature are not pagan gods that war with one another annually to bring
about an established order of the universe. They are part of the
Lord's creation .
 The Babylonian god Bel  is the
same as Marduk, the chief Babylonian god. The Babylonian god Merodach
, an alternate spelling of Marduk, was the god of war and
the patron deity of the city of Babylon.
 Nebo  was the Babylonian god of education,
literature, writing, wisdom, the arts, and sciences. The special seat
of his worship was at Borsippa, near Babylon. The Akkadian form of
this name is Nabu.
 Nisroch <2 Kin. 19:37; Is. 37:38> was an Assyrian god with a
temple in Nineveh. The idol representing this pagan god had a human
form with an eagle's head.
 Sikkuth ; (Sakkuth, RSV) was a name given by the
Babylonians to the planet Saturn.
 Succoth Benoth <2 Kin. 17:30> was a Babylonian goddess,
identified by some scholars with Zarpanitum, the mistress of Marduk.
Other scholars believe this god is a designation of Marduk himself as
Sakkut Binuti, the supreme judge of the world.
 When SHALMANESER, king of Assyria, deported the inhabitants of
Samaria to far-flung regions of his empire, he also imported into
Samaria settlers from afar to colonize this area of Palestine. These
people brought their religion and their pagan gods with them. Among
these gods were: Adrammelech <2 Kin. 17:31>, an idol of the
Sepharvites worshipped by child sacrifice; Anammelech <2 Kin. 17:31>,
another god revered by the Sepharvites; Ashima <2 Kin. 17:30>, an idol
worshipped by the people of Hamath; Nergal <2 Kin. 17:30>, the war god
of the men of Cuth; Nibhaz <2 Kin. 17:31>, an idol of the Avites; and
Tartak <2 Kin. 17:31>, an idol also worshipped by the Avites.
 The Pagan Gods of Egypt. The gods of Egypt were a constant
threat to the Israelites, both during their years in bondage and
afterwards. Their deliverance from Egypt was described by the Bible as
a great spiritual victory, with the sovereign Lord of Israel defeating
the gods of the Egyptians .
 Egyptian religion reflected the same pagan ideas that were
popular in the ancient world, but with different figures. Horus was
the god of Egypt's western delta; he was a human figure with a
falcon's head. Hathor, the corresponding goddess, had a cow's body and
a woman's head. The god Set had a man's body and an animal's head.
Anubis had a man's body and the head of an ibis. Besides gods that
were composite with animal forms and human forms, some Egyptian gods
were portrayed as completely human. For instance, Min symbolized
fertility. Amon, the famous god of Thebes, was the chief Egyptian god.
 In ancient Egyptian religion Osiris was the god of the lower
world and judge of the dead. He was the brother and husband of Isis
and father (or brother) of Horus. Osiris was killed by Set, who was
jealous of his power. Isis, the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility,
persuaded the gods to bring back Osiris, her dead husband. The myth is
therefore an ancient vegetation cycle.
 The Egyptians portrayed many of their gods with animal images.
But they also had their cosmic deities. The Egyptians envisioned the
earth as in the shape of a dish with their fertile region (Egypt) in
the center. The Nile River flowed from under the earth, bringing
fertility to the land. These elements of nature were personified as
gods. Geb, earth, was portrayed as a god lying down. Nut, heaven, was
a goddess who arched her body across from mountain to mountain. Shu,
the air, stood erect, holding up the sky.
 The Egyptians also worshipped the sun, moon, and stars. Ra
(also Re), the sun god, was the supreme deity of the ancient
Egyptians. He was represented as a man with the head of a hawk or a
falcon, crowned with a solar disk and the figure of the sacred asp or
cobra. Ra appears in the Old Testament in the name of Joseph's
father-in-law, PotiPherah , priest of On, a city
called Heliopolis ("city of the sun") by the Greeks-the principal seat
of the worship of the sun. When Ra is absent, Thoth, the moon, is
prominent. But the moon is definitely inferior to the sun.
 The Egyptians had many other pagan gods. Notable among them
was Maat, representing the abstract idea of truth, and Bes, a
grotesque god who watched over childbirth. The worship of all the gods
also involved magic and superstition. The purpose of these gods
apparently was to explain the cycle and forces of life and to insure
stability and fertility.
 The great PLAGUES OF EGYPT before the EXODUS 
struck at the heart of Egypt's religion. Their fertile land was struck
with plagues; their sacred river was turned to blood; their glorious
sun was darkened; and even the son of the "divine" Pharaoh was killed.
The wonders that God brought against Egypt clearly demonstrated that
their gods were powerless before the true and living God of Israel.
 The Pagan Gods of Canaan. The pagan peoples who inhabited the
land of Canaan before the Israelites arrived also worshipped many gods
and goddesses. The Canaanite literature discovered at RAS SHAMRA (on
the site of the ancient city of Ugarit) on the Syrian coast provides
abundant information about several gods mentioned in the Bible.
 The Canaanite god most often referred to is Baal, which means
"lord" or "master." The word could be used as a title for any person
who owned something, or any god considered to be a lord or master. But
the word Baal soon became identified with various regional gods that
were thought to provide fertility for crops and livestock. As a god
who symbolized the productive forces of nature, Baal was worshipped
with much sensuality .
 Baal appeared in many forms and under many different names.
The Bible often makes reference to the Baalim (the plural of Baal;
KJV) or to the Baals (NKJV; ).
 The word Baal was often used in forming names, such as Baal of
Peor ; (Baal-peor, KJV). Peor was the name of a mountain in
Moab. Baal of Peor was an idol of Moab (probably to be identified with
Chemosh) which Israel was enticed to worship with immoral practices.
In several passages the idol is simply called Peor .
 Baal-Berith, which means "lord of the covenant," is a name
under which Baal was worshipped in the time of the judges at Shechem,
where he had a temple. In  he is called simply the god
Berith.
 Baal-Zebub, which means "lord of the fly," was "the god of
Ekron" <2 Kin. 1:2-3,6, 16>-- the name under which Baal was worshipped
at the Philistine city of Ekron. This god was worshipped as the
producer of flies, and consequently as the god that was able to defend
against this pest. In the New Testament, reference is made to
Beelzebub, a heathen god considered the chief evil spirit by the
Jewish people . The Pharisees
called him "the ruler of the demons" , and Jesus identified him with Satan.
 This word Baal was also used in personal names, but when the
worship of Baal became a problem in Israel, Baal was replaced by
Bosheth, which means "shame" (probably because it was shameful to have
the name of a pagan god as part of one's name and because Baal was a
shameful god). For instance, Merib-Baal <1 Chr. 8:34; 9:40>, the name
of the son of Jonathan, became Mephibosheth <2 Sam. 9:6-13>, and
Esh-Baal <1 Chr. 9:39> became Ishbosheth <2 Sam. 2:8>.
 The Canaanite god Baal was known as Zebel Baal ("prince Baal")
or Aliyan Baal ("Baal the strong"), as well as by a number of other
titles. Baal was considered the god who brought rain and fertility
(especially good harvests and animal reproduction). In a number of
passages in Canaanite literature he is identified as Hadad, another
god believed to bring the rains, storms, and fertility. This god Hadad
is the god Adad of Assyria.
 Archaeologists have discovered rock carvings that show Baal
holding a club in his right hand and a lightning flash with a
spearhead in his left. These symbols identify him as the god of rain
and storm. Baal is also known as the "rider of the clouds," a term
showing his power over the heavens. , "Extol Him who rides
on the clouds," gives this title to the God of Israel-- a declaration
that the Lord, and not the false god Baal, is ruler over the heavens.
 Baal and related deities are also portrayed as a mating bull,
symbolizing fertility. It is no surprise that while Moses was on Mount
Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments from the Lord, the disobedient
Israelites fashioned a golden calf to worship . Jeroboam I,
king of Israel, acted in accordance with this pagan idea by making two
calves of gold, setting up one at Bethel and the other at Dan <1 Kin.
12:26-30>.
 During the history of the Israelites, a rivalry developed
between Baalism and the true worship of the Lord . Perhaps
the best example of this rivalry was the conflict between Elijah and
the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel <1 Kings 18>. Elijah's challenge
to them to bring down fire from heaven was appropriate, because the
Canaanites believed that Baal could shoot lightning flashes from the
sky. Elijah's mocking of Baal struck at the heart of their claims; he
knew that Baal was powerless, that the prophets of Baal had misled the
people, and that only the Lord God of Israel was alive and able to
answer. In the struggle to the death between true religion and false
religion, Elijah knew that Baalism and its prophets had to be
destroyed.
 In Canaanite mythological texts Baal is sometimes called the
son of Dagon. Dagon  was the
chief god of the ancient Philistines, a grain and fertility god whose
most famous temples were at Gaza and Ashdod. With the recent discovery
of documents at ancient EBLA in Syria, it is clear that Dagon, or
Dagan, was a much more ancient and prominent god. These texts show
that Dagon was being worshipped before Abraham entered Canaan about
2000 B. C. Dagon continued to be worshipped by the Canaanites up to
the time of Christ. In the APOCRYPHA mention is made of a temple of
Dagon at Azotus in 147 B. C. <1 Macc. 10:83-84>. Azotus was a later
name for Ashdod, one of the five chief Philistine cities.
 Like the myths of so many pagan religions, Canaanite stories
claim that Baal came to prominence by defeating other gods. One of
Baal's enemies was the sea monster known as Lotan. The Old Testament's
reference to Leviathan 
corresponds to this word. But in the Bible Leviathan is simply a
powerful creature in the sea that man cannot control, and not like
Lotan-- a pagan god in the form of a twisting serpent.
 Baal's mistress or lover was Anat (or Anath), the goddess of
war, love, and fertility. She was the virgin goddess who conceives and
was also the victor over Baal's enemies. With the help of Shapash, the
sun or luminary, Anat rescued Baal from Mot (the god of death). Her
victories in battle were vicious; she is described as up to her hips
in gore with heads and hands from the enemies stacked high. Thus, Anat
was the driving force in the annual fertility cycle of Baal.
 Anat is sometimes identified with the queen of heaven, to whom
the Jews offered incense in Jeremiah's day .
But some scholars identify the "queen of heaven" with the
Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Anat was the patroness of sex and
passion, lewd figurines of this nude goddess have been discovered at
various archaeological sites in Palestine.
 The goddess Asherah <1 Kin. 15:13; 2 Chr. 15:16>;
 (Asherahs, ) was portrayed as the wife of El (or
sometimes Baal) in Canaanite mythology. Asherah was a favorite deity
of women. Some of the wives of David and Solomon worshipped her <1
Kin. 15:13>, as Ahab's wife, Jezebel, also probably did <1 Kin.
16:31-33>. King Asa suppressed the worship of Asherah <1 Kin. 15:13>,
and King Josiah destroyed "the articles that were made for Baal, for
Asherah, and for all the host of heaven" <2 Kin. 23:4>.
 The word asherah also refers to a wooden pole, or cult pillar,
that stood at Canaanite places of worship-- perhaps the trunk of a
tree with the branches chopped off-- and associated with the worship
of the goddess Asherah.
 Other pagan gods in addition to Baal and his companions were
worshipped by the Canaanites. Molech was the national deity of the
Ammonites , whose worship was accompanied by
the burning of children offered as a sacrifice by their own parents.
The god Molech also appears in the Old Testament as Milcom <2 Kin.
23:13; Zeph. 1:5>; (Malcham, KJV) and in the New Testament as Moloch
.
 Chemosh  was the national god of
the Moabites and Ammonites. This deity was apparently compounded with
Athtar, the Venus star, and so is thought to be a pagan god associated
with the heavenly bodies. Chemosh has been identified with Baal of
Peor, Baal-Zebub, Mars, and Saturn, as the star of ill-omen. Dibon
, a town in Moab north of the River Arnon, was the chief
seat of its worship.
 Like Molech, Chemosh was worshipped by the sacrifice of
children as burnt offerings, but scholars believe it is incorrect to
identify Chemosh directly with Molech. Solomon sanctified Chemosh as a
part of his tolerance of pagan gods <1 Kin. 11:7>, but Josiah
abolished its worship <2 Kin. 23:13>. Human sacrifice was made to
Chemosh, according to <2 Kings 3:27>, which reports that Mesha, king
of Moab, offered his eldest son as a burnt offering on the wall of Kir
Hareseth, the ancient capital of Moab.
 Ashtoreth <1 Kin 11:5,33; 2 Kin. 23:13> was the ancient Syrian
and Phoenician goddess of the moon, sexuality, sensual love, and
fertility. In the Old Testament Ashtoreth is often associated with the
worship of Baal. The KJV word Ashtaroth is the plural form of
Ashtoreth; the NKJV has Ashtoreths ; (also
see Ishtar above).
 Remphan ; (Rephan, RSV, NIV, NEB; Rompha, NASB) was
an idol worshipped by Israel in the wilderness. This may be the same
pagan god as Chiun ; (Kiyyun, NASB; Kaiwan your star-god,
RSV), or Saturn.
 Nehushtan, literally "bronze serpent-idol," was the
contemptuous name given by King Hezekiah to the bronze serpent made by
Moses in the wilderness , when people began to worship it
<2 Kin. 18:4>.
 Gad ; (Fortune, RSV, NIV, NASB; Fate, NEB) was a
heathen deity worshipped along with Meni ; (Destiny, RSV,
NIV, NASB; Fortune, NEB). Scholars are uncertain about the exact
identity of these pagan gods.
 The Pagan Gods of Greece and Rome. Only a few of the ancient
Greek and Roman gods are mentioned in the New Testament.
 Zeus ; (Jupiter, KJV) was the supreme
god of the ancient Greeks. According to Greek mythology, Zeus was the
ruler of heaven and father of other gods and mortal heroes. He was
identified by the Romans as Jupiter.
 Hermes ; (Mercurius, KJV; Mercury, NEB) was the
Greek god of commerce, science, invention, and cunning. He also served
as messenger and herald for the other gods. Hermes was identified by
the Romans with Mercury, who was generally pictured with winged shoes
and hat, carrying a winged staff. He was the protector of roads and
boundaries and he guided departed souls to Hades.
 When the apostle Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra, the people
of that city declared, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness
of men!" They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the
chief speaker .
 Diana , in Roman mythology, was the
goddess of the moon, hunting, wild animals, and virginity. Diana is
the same as the Greek goddess Artemis (RSV, NIV, NASB), virgin goddess
of the hunt and the moon. When Paul preached in Ephesus, the Ephesians
were in an uproar because the gospel threatened to destroy the profit
of the artisans who crafted silver shrines of Diana.
 The Twin Brothers ; (Castor and Pollux, KJV, NIV,
NEB) is a translation of a Greek word which means "boys of Zeus." In
Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux were the twin sons of Zeus. After
Castor and Pollux died, they were transformed by Zeus into the
constellation Gemini. They were regarded as the special protectors of
distressed sailors. The Alexandrian ship in which Paul sailed from
Malta to Puteoli had a carving of the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.
 In both the Old Testament and the New Testament the people of
God were surrounded by pagan gods. The apostle Paul declared to the
philosophers of Athens, "I perceive that in all things you are very
religious" . In the city of Athens, idols of pagan gods
stood on every street corner. The Athenians, perhaps fearing that they
had slighted some deity, had even erected an altar "to the unknown
god" .
 "The One whom you worship without knowing," said Paul, "Him I
proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since
He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with
hands" .
 Only the sovereign Lord God has the power to rule the world;
only the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to rise from the dead as the
conqueror, establishing once and for all our everlasting life with
Him.