His right hand sometimes both hands is raised, and he holds a lightning bolt, signifying both destruction and fertility. Baal has also been portrayed seated on a throne, possibly as the king or lord of the gods. Asherah was honored as the fertility goddess in various forms and with varying names Judg. The Bible does not actually describe the goddess, but archaeologists have discovered figurines believed to be representations of her. She is portrayed as a nude female, sometimes pregnant, with exaggerated breasts that she holds out, apparently as symbols of the fertility she promises her followers.
The Bible indicates that she was worshiped near trees and poles, called Asherah poles Deut. Baal's worshipers appeased him by offering sacrifices, usually animals such as sheep or bulls 1 Kings Some scholars believe that the Canaanites also sacrificed pigs and that God prohibited his people from eating pork in part to prevent this horrible cult from being established among them.
See Isa. At times of crisis, Baal's followers sacrificed their children, apparently the firstborn of the community, to gain personal prosperity. The Bible called this practice "detestable" Deut. God specifically appointed the tribe of Levi as his special servants, in place of the firstborn of the Israelites, so they had no excuse for offering their children Num. The Bible's repeated condemnation of child sacrifice shows God's hated of it, especially among his people.
Asherah was worshiped in various ways, including through ritual sex. Although she was believed to be Baal's mother, she was also his mistress. Pagans practiced "sympathetic magic", that is, they believed they could influence the gods' actions by performing the behavior they wished the gods to demonstrate. Believing the sexual union of Baal and Asherah produced fertility, their worshipers engaged in immoral sex to cause the gods to join together, ensuring good harvests.
This practice became the basis for religious prostitution 1 Kings The priest or a male member of the community represented Baal. The priestess or a female members of the community represented Asherah. In this way, God's incredible gift of sexuality was perverted to the most obscene public prostitution. No wonder God's anger burned against his people and their leaders.
Many, if not all, of the Old Testament gods had disappeared, at least in name, by the time of Jesus. Beelzebub, based on the Philistine god Baalzebul, had become a synonym for the prince of demons, Satan. Many of the ancient pagan deities lived on, however, now identified with the gods of the Greeks and Romans, the nations who controlled the people of Israel before and during New Testament times. It is not appropriate here to discuss all the gods and goddesses of the Greco-Roman pantheon; however, a few of them were significant in the first century, and some are even mentioned by name in the Bible.
The leader of the gods, Zeus Jupiter to the Romans , took on the role of Baal, the god of weather or storms. Artemis, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love, continued the Asherah cults under a new name Acts , but with worship practices that were as immoral as ever. It is said that in Corinth alone, there were more than 1, prostitutes in Aphrodite's temple. Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, became the namesake for the place of the dead and even for hell itself.
In Matthew , Jesus referred to the gates of Hades, or the underworld, believed by some to be the grotto at Caesarea Philippi, from which one of the sources of the Jordan River came. The grotto itself was part of a temple complex used in the worship of the Greek god Pan. Pan was depicted as an ugly man with the horns, legs, and ears of a goat.
Most stories about him refer to sexual affairs. The worship practices of his followers were no different. Pan was associated with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and orgies, whose worshipers continued many of the sexual rites of the Old Testament gods of the Baal cult.
The Canaanites were those who lived in the Promised Land prior to the arrival of the Israelites. The disciples want to send her away. It is interesting that Jesus does not do that. First, he is silent. Then he says that he listens to prayers, but only to Jewish prayers, not to the prayers of one such as her. Not long after this, the disciples will be confronted by the question of what to do when Gentiles, even those they had thought were enemies of God, exhibit such faith.
The conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10 was one of those times. What were the faithful, Jewish disciples of Jesus to do when confronted with the faith of a Gentile, one they thought was an enemy of God?
In Acts 15, they decided that faith was the sign that the Spirit had reached that enemy and made them a friend. I think the disciples looked back on what happened to the woman from this story and recognized that faith, not past works or affiliations or nationalities, made one right with God. There is a danger in this text. Often, this Bible passage has been used to say to people that if they had enough faith, they would get the answers they want to the prayers they make.
Many have wondered if a spouse, child, parent, or other loved one died because they did not have enough faith in their prayers. I would counter that there is another story in the gospel of Matthew about one with great faith who prayed and did not receive what he requested.
To our preachers, what will you preach about this Sunday? To those of you who do not preach, what do you take from this lesson? Feel free to leave your comments below. To me it seems like a lesson in love that has no end; until it does. Then I have found myself in a relationship like no other, with God as the common ground. Like a reconciled marriage where you have been the one never giving up, except there was never a marriage.
Not sure if that makes sense. This is a strange text in many ways. What does that mean in practice for us as individuals or churches? This includes removing anything that might weaken or compete with that devotion.
However, even in the Old Testament the problem was not foreigners as foreigners. For this purpose, I will assume that there are principles within the laws that we can study and attempt to apply in our context. For a more detailed discussion, see chapter 9 of C.
Nottingham: IVP. However, this is part of a wider issue within the Old Testament. For a discussion of the attitude to foreigners in the historical books, see D. London: Apollos. There is no single English word that covers the exact meaning of ger. There are other terms in the OT for foreigner with slightly different nuances, although ger is the most common. For more details, see H. Thanks, James! There are other laws in Exodus-Numbers, including the command to treat and love the ger as yourself Leviticus ; compare the more famous love of neighbour in Nevertheless, we can still be challenged by this.
For more on refugees, see F. London: Routledge. God is in a special relationship with Israel and therefore he loves them in a greater way than Edom, rather than literally hating Edom. Johnston eds Interpreting Deuteronomy. Nottingham, Apollos.
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