Gods (bible)

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In addition to YHWH , the God of Israel, a number of other deities appear in the Bible . They stand for the ancient oriental world of polytheism , with which Israel's belief in one God was concerned .

In the meeting of the different tribes, peoples and their religions there was an exchange of their ideas of God, whereby these were partly adopted by the Israelites , partly rejected and taboo. As a document of Israelite religious history , the Bible reflects this process.

The post-exilic historical image, according to which Israel only worshiped YHWH in its early days, then lost its identity and state independence through "apostasy" to the gods of Canaan , was recalled by the prophets to the 1st commandment , until the cult reform of Josiah finally enforced his sole status extra-biblical documents challenged. Today biblical research sees YHWH monotheism less as a starting point, but rather as a result of the emergence of the Bible, which began in the 4th century BC. BC came to a preliminary conclusion with the canonization of the Torah .

The most important names for the God of the Bible YHWH are dealt with in the article YHWH .

Old testament

Canaanite pantheon

  • El ("Strong, Mighty, First, Mighty, Leader, Lord, Head"): supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon , king of the gods and god of heaven, god of fertility, father of gods, "creator of the earth" and "father of humanity", head of the assembly of gods, sustainer of heaven and earth, depicted with bull horns, husband of Ashera, father or husband of Anath, brother of Dagan, later had to cede dominance to younger Baal because of the loss of his fertility in old age, with whom he was in competition and who sometimes also as his Son, also a Western Semitic generic name ( appellative ) for God or divine being, always associated with different cities or mountains, is part of numerous place and personal names in the Bible
  • Baal ("owner, master, owner, husband"): fertility, weather, rain and storm god, dead and resurrected god, whose annual death in winter was connected with some mourning rituals and whose rebirth was celebrated in summer and also child sacrifice were offered, husband and brother of Anath and son of Dagan and Ashera, sometimes also son of El, often firstborn bull sacrifices, his symbol is a bull mating with a cow, also Western Semitic epithet ( appellative ) for a god, often with associated with a certain city, mountain or place, occurs in numerous biblical proper names and place names, appears in the Bible as an adversary of Yahweh (for example the fight Elijah against the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel , which functions as a divine judgment ) Cult is opposed by the Old Testament prophets , in the Bible often also a general term for false god, " idol ", to which one should not be sacrificed, and In this sense, often also used in the plural, is often associated with cult prostitution (for example 2 Kings 18)
  • Aschera , from aschere (cult stake ): Symbols of the mostly naked Ashera are sacred cult objects made of wood, probably de-branched trees or stakes in the shape of a hollow tree trunk, which were either crowned with the head of the goddess or enclosed in a hollow the figure of the goddess , often used in this name in the Bible , wife of El, highest Canaanite goddess, goddess of motherhood, love and fertility as well as sky goddess, mother of Anath and Baal, is considered the "mother of gods" and embodies the earthly, childbearing principle , Jezebel had 400 prophets of Ashera who ate with her, women wove the tent of Ashera, Manasseh of Judah placed her image next to that of Yahweh in the Jerusalem temple and had her venerated there as his wife, was later changed by the cult reforms of Josiah from Judah removed from the temple again, referred to by Jeremiah as “Queen of Heaven” and “Lady of Heaven”, the star-shaped sacrificial cake g occasionally it is confused with Astarte and equated with it (2 Mos 34:13; 5 Mos 7.5; 16.21; Ri 3.7; 6.25.26.28.30; 1 Kings 14:15, 23; 15.13; 18.19; 21.3; 23.15; 2 Kings 17:10, 16; 21,3.7; 23,4,6,7,14.15; 2 Chr 33.3; Jer 7.18; 17.2; 19.25; 44.17)
  • Astarte , Hebrew Ashtoret : goddess of the Venusian star, fertility, love and beauty, mother goddess, sister, mother and lover of Adonis , cult associated with a holy wedding , in which she symbolically married the "King of Heaven", in the Bible as a female equivalent of the fertility god Baal, who personified masculinity, as a female principle in all its aspects and general term for female non-Israelite "idols" mostly in the phrase Baals and Ashtaroth , regarded there as the main goddess and "grayish idol of Sidon ," with sacred prostitution connected , which is criticized and forbidden in the Bible, sacrifices to them are forbidden, King Solomon introduced her cult for one of his numerous non-Israelite concubines, occasionally confused with Ashera and equated with her (1 Mos 38,21; 5 Mos 23, 7.17.18; Judge 2.13; 10.6; 1 Sam 7.3f .; 12.10; 31.10; 1 Kings 11.5.33; 14.24; 2 Kings 23.13; Jer 7.18; 44 , 17f.)
  • Anat : war, love, protection, fertility and love goddess, sister and wife of Baal, mourned, buried and bring this to his unsuccessful fight against death and Unfruchtbarkeitsgott Mot back to life, either daughter of El and Asherah or Frau des El, does not appear as a name in the Bible, but some scholars point out that the judge and prophet Debora developed from this war goddess and was thus demystified , and her image was also in the temple of the Nile island Elephantine , one Egyptian military colony of the Jews , in which they lived temporarily in Persian exile, next to that of Jehu ( Yahweh ) in his temple there, and was there as his wife and his heavenly will
  • Shamash : (the sun god , god of fortune telling and of justice, truth and justice): in the seventh century before Christ, chariots and horses of the sun god were placed in the forecourt of the Jerusalem temple for worship (2 Kings 23:11), does not appear by name, Astral cult
  • Atargatis actually Atar-ata , Roman Dea Syria ("Syrian goddess"): Syrian horned goddess and mother, protection and fertility goddess and equivalent to the Phoenician Astarte, her servants were the Galloi , emasculated priests in women's clothes, part of their ritual Among other things, a fire and torch relay in spring, formed a divine triad with her husband Hadad and their son Simios , their main place of worship was Hierapolis-Bambyke in Syria, in the Maccabees a sanctuary ( attergateion ) of the goddess in Karnajim is mentioned, that of Judas Maccabeus was destroyed, he killed 25,000 people there (2 Makk 12:26)

Babylonian pantheon

  • Marduk Hebrew Merodach or Mordechai : supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon, Babylonian creator and sky god as well as world ruler who defeated the mythical chaos dragon Tiamat , city god of Babylon (Babel) and imperial and main god of Babylon , father of gods, embodies the planet Jupiter (the Biblical Prophet Daniel reveals that his sacrificial foods are eaten by the priests themselves and defeats his dragon ), owned ziggurat Esagila from Etemenanki in Babel, on the New Year festival the king had to "take the hand of God" in a huge procession in order to benefit the state to secure (Dan 14 apocryphal )
  • Hadad also Baal-Hadad ("Lord of Thunder") nickname Rammon ("Groller, Donnerer") or Hadad-Rimmon in Hebrew disfigured to Rimmon ("Pomegranate"): Aramaic name for the Babylonian god Adad , the weather, wind, Thunderstorm, storm, vegetation and thunder god as well as main god of Damascus, with places of worship among others in Assur , Aleppo and Damascus , Zincirli and Dura-Europos , formed a divine triad with his wife Atargatis and his son Simios , a bull was considered to be his Symbol, numerous biblical place names such as Hadad-Rimmon or Rimmon-Perez ("pomegranate valley") are named after him, Aramaic kings such as Ben-Hadad ("son of Hadad"; 1 Kings 15:18; 2 Kings 6:24) or Hadadezer ( "Hadad is help"; 2 Sam 8,3) and Edom (1 Kings 11,14.19,21) have named after him, is associated with mourning rituals of this dead and resurrected God at one point in Zechariah mentioned , In the Second Book of Kings , the Syrian military leader Naaman asked Yahweh to be After healing of leprosy in the Jordan by the prophet Elisha to be allowed to kneel before this god in the presence of the king of Aram in the temple of Rimmon , because his king supported himself with his arm on him (2 Kings 5,17f; Sar 12.11)
  • Nabu biblically Nebo : Babylonian messenger of the gods, god of wisdom, science, astrology, writing as well as writer and owner of the tables of fate , son of Marduk and husband of Nanaja, embodies the planet Mercury , is mentioned at one point in Isaiah together with his father Bel called, whose "idols" had fallen and were given to the animals to bear, appears in numerous names of rulers such as Nebuchadnezzar , Nabopolassar or Nabonid , also the mountain Nebo , on which Moses dies, is named after him (Isa 46: 1; Jer 48 ,1)
  • Tamuzu Hebrew Tammuz : Babylonian spring, fertility and god of shepherds and husband of Ishtar , of dead and resurrected God, his annual death was with some sadness rituals and wailing connected that in Ezekiel are mentioned and criticized (Ezekiel 8:14)
  • Tiamat : Babylonian prehistoric chaos dragon and personification of the primal sea (salt water ocean) before creation, primal mother of space and mother of the first deities, defeated by Marduk, appears hidden in some biblical passages, although not mentioned by name, for example in the myth of Fight with the chaos dragon and also in the primeval tide Tehom , sometimes equated with Leviathan, to which this old myth echoes
  • Bel ("Lord"): Akkadian god of the air, ruler of all that is between heaven and earth, "ruler of the countries" and creator of the world and man, had the main cult place with temple Ekur ("mountain house") in Nippur , sometimes another name for Marduk-Merodach or Enlil , Baruch criticizes temple prostitution, which was practiced for this god, also an Akkadian word component in numerous god names, often in connection with city names, corresponds to the Syrian Baal (Isa 46,1; Jer 50,2; 51,44; Bar 6.41)
  • Nergal : Syrian and Babylonian god of war, hunting, underworld and plague as well as personification of the scorching midday heat and sun, who is listed at one point together with other lesser-known gods and their shrines, which the people built for them, mentioned, had a place of worship in Kutha (2 Kings 17:30)

Greek pantheon

  • Zeus Olympios and Zeus Xenios ("the Olympian or the hospitable Zeus"): In the Maccabees,the holy places in Jerusalem are said to beconsecrated to himat the instigation of Antiochus IV ( 2 Makk 6 : 2)
  • Dionysus (Roman Bacchus ): god of wine, god of theater, fertility and ecstasy, god who died and was resurrected, in the Book of the Maccabees the dissolute Dionysia / Bacchanalia are mentioned, the participation of which the Jews are forced to participate under penalty of death (2 Makk 6 , 2)
  • Apollo : Sun god as well as oracle and healing deity, in the Book of the Maccabees a sanctuary of the god, which he shared with his twin sister Artemis, is mentioned in Daphne in the Syrian Antioch (2 Makk 4,33)

Gods of neighboring peoples

  • Moloch also called Molech or Mol : God of the Ammonites (sun god), to whom human sacrifices or children were sacrificed according to the Bible at the cult site Tofet ("fireplace, hearth") in the Hinnom Valley south of Jerusalem, which was built solely for this purpose , which were burned for the god ("abominations of the children of Ammon"), a custom that is said to have also existed in the time of the kings, later this place was cursed by the biblical prophets, defiled by Josiah and turned into a place of punishment ("hell of fire ") Made, Solomon established a cult height for him , Ahaz and Manasseh let their sons go through fire for this god , name disfigured from Hebrew Melek (" king "), is usually represented as a hybrid between man and bull, the king was sometimes considered the son of Moloch , for Moloch probably means "for the cause or the life of the king" and refers to the sacrifice that was made during a holy marriage ritual (2 Kings 23:10; Jer 7,31f; 19,5-9)
  • Dagān also Dagon : Phoenician weather, grain, fertility and underworld deity, whose symbol is the ear of corn, literally "grain" or "grain", derived from dag "fish" in Hebrew and therefore often wrongly called the sea god and hybrid creature from the human upper body and fishtail depicted, father of Baal, brother of El, probably originally from Babylonia , main cult site Tuttul , whose image in the Bible fell on his face and which is removed from the ark , according to the Bible, had major cult sites in Gasa and Ashdod , Samson destroyed his Temple in Gasa and tore the door off its hinges, Dagan is powerless against it, his inferiority is felt several times, his temple in Ashdod is burned down by the Maccabees Jonathan around 150 BC, Saul's head is hung on the sanctuary of Dagan, according to the Bible as war and national deity of the Philistines (1 Sam 5.1-7; Jud. 16, 23ff; 1 Makk 10.83f .; 11.4; 1 Chr 10.10)
  • Milkom : tribal and chief god of the Ammonites , probably god of weather and war, from milk king. David captured his precious crown during a campaign against the Ammonites and put it on his head. Jeremiah mentions him as the owner of the people and land of Ammon . (2 Sam 12.30; 1 Kings 7.33; 11.5.7, 33; 2 Kings 23.13; Jer 49.1)
  • Kemosch also Kamosch or Kamos : tribal and main god of the Moabites as well as sun and war god, to whom human sacrifices were sometimes also made and who is therefore called the abomination of Moab , Solomon introduced his cult and under the cult reforms of Josiah his sanctuary was destroyed Moabites are considered the people of Kemosh , on a stele of King Mesha the god is mentioned eleven times (Num 21:29; 1 Kings 11: 7:33, 2 Kings 3:27; 23:13; Jer 48:46)
  • Beelzebul : actually "princely lord", biblically disfigured to "lord of the flies", god of flies, main deity and "prince of gods" of the Philistines, god of battle, city god of Ekron and oracle god , King Ahaziah asked him before a battle, later disfigured and in the Gospel of Matthew as Beelzebub downgraded to the evil spirit as well as "prince of demons", there also in the phrase cast out the devil with the Beelzebub (replace an evil with a greater new one) in the accusation of the enemies of Jesus ', who thus expels the demons (2 Kings 1, 2 - 1.16; Mt 10.25; 12.24.27; Mk 3.22.23.26; Luk 11.15.18)
  • Nannaia Biblical Nanäa Akkadian Nanaja : Persian , Parthian goddess meaning "goddess of female eros" or "divine mistress", moon goddess and goddess of war as well as goddess of sex, firstborn daughter of the sky god An and wife of Nabu, who also owned the temple of the goddess , In the Book of the Maccabees, their temple priests and their sanctuary are mentioned, which is said to resemble that of Artemis of Ephesus, Antiochus IV wanted to rob and plunder her sanctuary under the pretext of wanting to marry the goddess ( holy wedding ) and is in the process with some warriors outwitted and killed by the priests of the goddess (killed, dismembered and beheaded with stones thrown from the ceiling and then thrown at the feet of the king's soldiers waiting in front of the temple entrance who are about to flee), her temple was in Elymais , near the Persian capital Susa (2 Makk 1,13-15)

New Testament - Greek Pantheon

  • Zeus : supreme Greek god, father of gods and men, god of heaven and weather , the book of the Maccabees mentions that a temple for the god Zeus / Jupiter was built on the demolished Jerusalem temple , the temple on the Garizim should also be named after Zeus , according to the inhabitants of the ancient city of Ephesus in the Acts of the Apostles , he is also said to have thrown the image of Artemis ( Acheiropoeiton ) from heaven, is mentioned in the Book of the Maccabees as the ruler of Olympus and god of hospitality (Acts 14:12, 13; 19, 35; 2 Macc 6.2)
  • Hermes (Roman Mercury ): Greek messenger of the gods, leader of the dead and companion of the people and of Zeus, Paul of Tarsus is mistakenly mistaken for the god Hermes in human form by the pagan inhabitants during his miracle work (the healing of a lame man) in Lystra in the Acts of the Apostles (as he spoke), his companion Barnabas (who was silent) for Zeus in human form (similar to the story about Philemon and Baucis ), the priests wanted to offer them a bull sacrifice outside the city gates, where the temples of the gods were, as They realize that they were not gods and that Paul blasphemed their gods, they were driven out of the city and Paul was stoned (Acts 14:12)
  • Artemis (Roman Diana ): goddess of the hunt, nature, the moon, the forest, fertility and animals, of importance in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul criticized the cult of the main goddess there in the ancient city of Ephesus and the Greeks harshly for it attacked, the art and silversmiths, who live from the sale of the replicas of the temple, instigate a revolt against him and praise their goddess for two hours ( Great is Artemis of the Ephesians ), the residents believed that an image of the goddess dated Heaven was thrown ( Acheiropoeiton ), there was Artemision , one of the ancient seven wonders of the world , there Artemis was represented as a many-breasted goddess (2 Makk 4,33; Acts 19,24-35)
  • Dioscuri : the twin brothers Castor and Polydeukes, sons of Zeus, among other things, patron gods of seafaring, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles when Paul's crossing to Rome , is the ship's banner (Acts 28:11)

God-like mythical beings

  • Behemoth : a monster that resembles a hippopotamus and seems indebted to the Egyptian god Seth. It is considered an adversary of
  • Leviathan : a snake-like sea monster, which is probably originally owed to the Mesopotamian sea goddess Tiamat and the Canaanite Lotan . Lotan is defeated by Baal and Anat . Leviathan occupies a large space in the Babylonian Talmud (Ps 104:26; Job 40: 15-24; 25 - 41:26; 1 Hen)
  • Rahab
  • Tannin
  • Beliar
  • Reshef : plague personified (Hld 8,6; Hab 3,5; Ps 78,48)
  • Satan
  • Ashmodai
  • Lilith : in one place in Isaiah characterized as a night ghost (sometimes "night swallow") or a female demon , she appears when the judgment is announced against Edom , where she is supposed to mingle with other ominous beings of the night (such as wolves, owls and jackals) , staying in abandoned places and ruins, which will be their new home and which are from now on uninhabitable for people and should be avoided by them, the Jerusalem Bible mentions them at one point in Job , Lilith has become an old Babylonian goddess named Lilithu , too Aradat-lili called, ( Sumerian : Kiskil-lila , "the wind girl"), who was the goddess of calamity, misery, night and storm who seduced men at night and killed infants and those in the story of Inanna and the Hullupu tree as well as in the Epic of Gilgamesh , represented as a winged goddess (Isa 34:14; Jerusalem Bible Hi 18:15, 21)
  • Azazel : personified scapegoat and demon in the form of a goat, to whom the scapegoat is sent into the desert, mentioned by Leviticus in connection with the Yom Kippur festival (Lev 16.8,10.26)

Traces of polytheism in the Bible

Until the common acceptance of YHWH as the only God who created heaven and earth, the tribes of Israel went a long way, which is reflected in their traditions. In the Bible there are accounts of belief in other gods and the encounters and conflicts with the gods of the peoples and tribes with whom the Israelites came into contact, e.g. B. the Phoenicians , Canaanites , the Arameans , the peoples of Gilead , Ammon (e.g. god Milkom ), Moab (god of war Kamosh ), Edom and the Philistines as well as the Mesopotamians .

The Bible gives testimony to how the people of Israel have struggled to believe in the one God at all times. Sometimes parts of the people or individual tribes, but also Israel's kings and upper class including the priests and court prophets, repeatedly turned to these gods and goddesses in the sacrificial cult .

Scientists in the history of religion gather from Bible texts and archaeological finds that YHWH monotheism was not announced to the people of Israel all at once, but that YHWH only gradually became the only God of all the tribes of Israel. He was only identified with its creator and main god El in the process of settlement and settling in the cultural land of Canaan .

Most of the Canaanite gods are known through archaeological finds in the region, for example in Ugarit , as well as sacrificial sites, altars, wall paintings, statues, pendants, tombstones and personal names. Even before the Israelite conquest, they formed a polytheistic pantheon , headed by El. Biblical names of God such as Elohim (plural form of Eloha) and additions such as Zebaoth (Lord of the Heavenly Hosts) are the relics of this former main god. Among other things, he had a partner Aschera and a son Baal , who may previously be venerated in parallel with YHWH, but were later rejected. As a result, older reports of the worship of foreign gods by Israelites were subsequently interpreted as apostasy from the only God. Other researchers believe that the originally single YHWH already rejected his partner Aschera and her children when he was equated with El and only "inherited" their functions - especially fertility and blessings for the country. This process of enforcing and unifying the YHWH belief probably began after the division of the empire (around 900 BC), was accelerated with Joshiah's temple reform and ended with the fixation of the Pentateuch after the Babylonian exile.

Polytheism has socio-cultural roots in the history of religion among all peoples. It is based on animistic ideas, according to which all of nature is animated and animated and spirit beings dwell in all appearances . A presumably very old idea of ​​a “supreme being” is the Lord of the Animals . With the differentiation of society, the pantheon of gods and goddesses emerged. An example of this is the Mesopotamian myth of the god Enki , who was written entirely on a cuneiform tablet from around 1700 BC. Is to be found. Fragments of this myth can still be found on the remains of tablets from 700 BC. BC - so he stayed alive for at least 1000 years in the context of the Bible:

The gods commissioned the plague god Namtar to destroy the people. This began to kill her with the plague. The god Enki, however, who had pity on people, revealed a ritual to people atrachasis , with which epidemics can be conquered. Of all gods, people should exclusively worship the plague god Namtar and only sacrifice to him, until he is showered with sacrifices and abandons his deadly deeds. That's how it happens. Thanks to the victims, the plague god lets go of his rage and humanity lives on. Now the gods decide that the rain god Adad should no longer let it rain and that the grain goddess Nisaba, who was assigned to him, should no longer let any grain grow. That's how it happens. And again the god Enki reveals the ritual counter-recipe to the atrachasis: Now the people worship and sacrifice Adad and Nisaba alone, until it rains and the vegetation comes back to life.

This myth tells of forms of polytheism. Concerned about averting dangers such as epidemics and maintaining life-giving conditions such as rain , sun or the fertility of plants and animals, people are looking for ways to safeguard this through magical and ritual acts and, for the respective problem, gods and goddesses are approachable and influenceable personal Beings before. Some of the peoples imagine the gods in human form ( anthropomorphic ), some in animal form ( zoomorphic ), some in both forms and sometimes as hybrid beings. In the Mesopotamian and Canaanite pantheons, the gods and goddesses are almost always human. (Animal gods and human-animal hybrids, on the other hand, are strongly represented in Egypt, Indian and American cultures.)

Canaan and the exemplary Ugarit

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The ideals and myths of the peoples of Canaan exerted the deepest influence on the people of Israel. Their influence far exceeds that of the divine worlds of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The most profound insight into this godly world of Canaan is given by the almost completely discovered clay tablet archives of the city ​​of Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast in what is now northern Syria, which was destroyed by the sea ​​peoples around 1185 BC . This capital of a small Bronze Age state of the same name contained, as it were frozen, the religious ideas of this people, epics, myths, prayers, lists of gods and sacrifices, ceremonial texts and regulations. There are inquiries into the advice of gods by oracles . Several clay models of sheep's livers were found, along with hints to interpret them. Sacrificial ceremonies for various gods are described in detail. Funeral ceremonies are described very precisely , during which ancestral summons also take place. There are also incantation texts against harmful natural forces, illness , sterility , demons , the consequences of drunkenness and snake poisons .

Comparisons with fragments of texts from other Canaanite peoples and names of gods show these texts and ideas to be exemplary for the entire area from Ugarit to the Negev, i.e. all of Canaan , well into the 1st millennium BC. In BC , i.e. in biblical times.

The time section took place around the assumed times of Moses and the Exodus . The biblical reports up to the time of Joschiah testify that the Ugaritic-Canaanite mythology was also decisive for the tribes of Israel and decisively shaped the Bible. The editing of the Bible, which was created around this time, with the aim of uniting all the tribes of Israel nationally, was just in the process of dealing with the polytheistic worship of the gods of Canaan.

In the story of how YHWH gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai , numerous symbols of the Ugaritic / Canaanite religion can be found. While Moses is on the mountain covered by clouds (Adad's calf, Baʿal), a golden calf (Baʿal or the Egyptian Apis ?) Is erected and worshiped by the people at the foot of the mountain . When he returns from the mountain, Moses describes the calf as an idol ( monotheism , 1st commandment in OT: You should not have other gods next to me) and immediately destroys the statue.

The Bible is not very detailed about Baʿal. However, in this phase of the Ugaritic Trinity (Taurus-El, Baʿal-Hadad and Jam) the people changed to belief in the all-unifying biblical God YHWH (probably in the 7th century under Joshija ). Attributes of the deities around Baʿal-Haddad are transferred to YHWH. In the older text layers, the one god still carries all the adornments and attributes of the Canaanite-Ugarite deities. "Lord of the heavenly hosts" (= El), "Elohim" (= El), "Zebaoth" etc.

At a later point in the Bible, however, there is a sharp distinction: YHWH is not in a thunderstorm, a storm or an earthquake. In this sense, the biblical God is not an animistic spirit. Thus it cannot be seen as a simple summation of the Ugaritic nature gods. He has power over nature, but is not nature itself.

After the revision of the 7th century there is still the similarity of names between YHWH and Jam, but apparently that and the hostility with Baʿal is everything that these two gods still have in common. However, the prophet Habakkuk (Hab 3,5) describes the fight of YHWH, accompanied by Reschef and dævær (dbr) against the sea, in which YHWH takes the place of Baʿal.

“The sharp conflict between the YHWH religion and the Canaanite, in which this predicate of God was particularly popular, has, however, resulted in its elimination from Israelite usage to the extent that the profane use of the word, for example as 'Husband (owner) of a wife', 'husband' was frowned upon (Hos 2: 18-19). So Baal takes on the meaning "idol", and in the frequent cases where it occurs in the plural, often in connection with the "Astarten" (Judg 10.6; 1Sam 7.4), "Baale and Astarten" can actually be used with 'male and female idols'. "( Lit .: RGG 3 -Artikel)

The degradation of Baʿal finally went so far that one biblically identified Baal with the devil himself. Baal-Zebaot or Baal Zebul the Philistines becomes a Beelzebub .

A common nickname of ʿEl was ʿElyon ( the highest ); it is used, for example, in the psalms worshiping YHWH. Thus, the role and character of the god YHWH is even more in the tradition of the chief god ʿEl (and less that of Baal).

See also

literature

  • Walter Dietrich, Martin A. Klopfenstein (ed.): One God alone? YHWH worship and biblical monotheism in the context of the Israelite and ancient oriental religious history. University Press Freiburg, Switzerland, ISBN 3-7278-0962-0 .
  • Oswald Loretz: God's uniqueness. An ancient oriental argumentation model for >> Shema Yisrael <<. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1997.
  • Andreas Wagner (ed.): Primary and secondary religion as a category of the religious history of the Old Testament. (BZAW 364) W. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018499-0 .
  • Manfred Weippert: Yahweh and the other gods. Studies on the religious history of ancient Israel in its Syrian-Palestinian context. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1997, ISBN 3-16-146592-X .
  • Walter Beltz: God and the Gods - Biblical Mythology. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1990, ISBN 3-351-00976-3 .
  • K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst (eds.): Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 2nd Edition. Leiden, Boston / Cologne 1999.
  • Gerhard J. Bellinger : Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Anath, Apollon, Artemis, Ashera, Ashtoret, Astarte, Atargatis, Azazel, Baal, Baal-Sebul, Beelzebub, Bel, Dagan, Dionysus, Dioskuren, El, Elohim, Hadad, Hermes, Kamosch, Lilith, Maat , Marduk, Milkom, Moloch, Nabu, Nanaja, Nergal, Schamasch, Seth, Tammuz, Tiamat, Zeus , ISBN 3-426-66415-1 .
  • Bible ( standard translation of the Holy Scriptures ), edited by Hans Küng, Diederichs 2005.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entries: El, Elohim
  2. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Baal
  3. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Ashera
  4. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entries: Ashtoret, Astarte
  5. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Anath
  6. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Shamasch
  7. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Atargatis
  8. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Marduk
  9. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entries: Baal-Hadad, Hadad, Rammon
  10. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Hadad
  11. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Nabu
  12. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Tamuzu
  13. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Tiamat
  14. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Bel
  15. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Nergal
  16. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Dionysus
  17. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Apollon
  18. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Moloch
  19. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Dagan
  20. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Milkom
  21. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Kemosch
  22. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Baal-Sebul
  23. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Beelzebub
  24. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Nanaja
  25. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Zeus
  26. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Hermes
  27. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Artemis
  28. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Dioskuren
  29. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Lilith
  30. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Knaur 1999, entry: Azazel
  31. ↑ a b Ernst Axel Knauf: Is the First Bible Monotheistic? In: Manfred Oeming, Konrad Schmid (ed.): The one God and the gods. Polytheism and Monotheism in Ancient Israel (=  Treatises on theology of the Old and New Testaments . Volume 82 ). Theological Publishing House Zurich, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-290-17273-2 , pp. 39 ff . (274 p., Limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed September 1, 2017]).
  32. ^ Wilfred G. Lambert: Atra-ḫasīs. The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1969.
  33. ^ Sven Petry: The delimitation of YHWHs. Monolatry, ban on images and monotheism in Deuteronomy, in Deutero-Isaiah and in the Book of Ezekiel (=  research on the Old Testament . 2nd series, volume 27 ). Mohr Siebeck, 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149451-2 , p. 3 (with further evidence).