Israelite Culture and Canaanite Syncretism · 2019. 11. 16. · Syncretism with Canaanite Religion Baal, Asherah, Molech These Ancient Judahite Ostracon from the Arad fort (near Dead

Israelite Culture

and Canaanite

SyncretismJONATHAN NUMADA, PHD

Theological Contextualization

Major Approaches to Theological Contextualization

1. The Translation Model 2. The Anthropological Model

3. The Praxis Model 4. The Transcendental Model

5. The Synthetic Model

Things Fee and Stuart Don’t Like

Fee and Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, 107-109

1. Allegorizing 3. Selectivity 5. Misappropriation 7. False Combination

2. Decontextualizing 4. Moralizing 6. False Appropriation 8.Redefinition

1. Why are these fallacies dangerous for theology? (or, are they?)

2. Aside from these examples, what are some other ways that we tend to

abuse OT historical narratives?

Discussion Questions

1. Where does one draw the line between helpful Contextualization and harmful Syncretism?

Follow-Up

a. What is the difference between meeting needs in the culture, and realigning or compromising Christian values for the sake of becoming acceptable to the culture?

b. Is it possible for one to THINK they understand Scripture’s teaching, but instead believe in something with is contrary to Scripture? If so, how? (and how do we avoid this?)

Evaluate the Following Video Clip.

Consider the following:

1. Do the Characters make valid epistemological and hermeneutical claims about the culture?

2. Do the Characters commit any linguistic or anthropological fallacies?

3. Do the Characters address any genuine concerns that arise when communicating the Gospel to a cultural context different from their own? If so, what are some ways we can mitigate these problems?

Silence (2016)

Evaluate the Following Video Clip.

Consider the following:

1. Do the Characters make valid epistemological and hermeneutical claims about the culture?

2. Do the Characters commit any linguistic or anthropological fallacies?

3. Do the Characters address any genuine concerns that arise when communicating the Gospel to a cultural context different from their own? If so, what are some ways we can mitigate these problems?

Israelite & Judahite Folk Religion

Background

Joshua

Hypotheses of the Emergence of Israel

1. The Conquest Model

2. The Immigration Model

3. The Revolt Model

4. The Gradual Emergence Model

A series of remains of Jericho’s walls

(3 levels; Tel es-Sultan)

Background: The Conquest

Background: Dating Joshua

Conquest:

Early date: 1405 to 1385 BCE

Late date: c.1200 BCE

Early date for Joshua: 1000 to 970 BCE

Saul/Samuel/David?

Late date for Joshua: 600s BCE?

“until this day” (4:9; 5:9; 7:26) not by Joshua


When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you

are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many

nations before you-- the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites,

the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,

seven nations mightier and more numerous than you–

It was not because you were more numerous than any other

people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you--

for you were the fewest of all peoples.

Deuteronomy 7:1, 7


Are We Mis-Reading Joshua?

Chapters 2-10 take place in Benjamin

Jebusites are in Jerusalem in Judges 10:8 and 21

The Canaanites not driven out from many places (Judges 1:21-36)


Joshua 4 Israelites set up altar

Joshua 5 circumcision

Joshua 6 the conquest of Jericho

Joshua 8 the conquest of Ai

Joshua 9 Treaty with Gibeon

Joshua 10 the Five Kings defeated

Joshua 11 Summary ending the War

Joshua 12 31 defeated kings

Joshua 13:2-3 unconquered areas

Joshua 13:15-end “Good-bye Speech”

Jericho

GilgalAi

Jerusalem

Gibeon

Makkedah

Note:

how many cities

are not

destroyed.

Madon?

Named Destroyed Cities

Hazor (v.10)

Hebron (10:37 & 11:21)? 2x?

Debir (10:37 & 11:21)? 2x?

Anab (11:21)?

Note:

how many cities are not

destroyed.

Josh 13:3

Josh 13:4

Josh 13:5

Background: The

Conquest

13:2 "This is the land that remains: all the

regions of the Philistines and Geshurites,

3 from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to

the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it

counted as Canaanite though held by the five

Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon,

Gath and Ekron; the territory of the Avvites

4 on the south; all the land of the Canaanites,

from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek and

the border of the Amorites;

5 the area of Byblos; and all Lebanon to the

east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to

Lebo Hamath. (Josh 13:2-5)

Josh 13:3

Josh 13:3

Josh 13:4

Josh 13:5

Background: The

Conquest

Joshua: Remember how I have allotted as

an inheritance for your tribes all the land of

the nations that remain-- the nations I

conquered-- between the Jordan and the

Mediterranean Sea in the west. The LORD

your God himself will push them out for your

sake. He will drive them out before you,

and you will take possession of their land, as

the LORD your God promised you. (Josh 23:4-5)

Cultural Backgrounds

Covenant and Law in Israelite and

Jewish thought

A Jew, and an Israelite, are not the same!!!!

Israelite—pre-exilic Israel and Judah

Israel—the United Monarchy of David and Solomon

Israel the Northern Kingdom

Judah the Southern Kingdom

Jew—a post-exilic Israelite (usually tribe of Judah, or country of

Judea)

Judaism—religion of Judah and Judea


Jewish thought

Ancient Israel

No Synagogues

No Scriptures or Bible Reading

Storage and preservation of the Pentateuch

unknown

“high places”: Many local shrines until King Josiah in Judah

Syncretism with Canaanite Religion

Baal, Asherah, Molech

These Ancient Judahite Ostracon from the Arad fort (near Dead Sea), c. 600 BCE, suggest literacy widespread in Judah before Destruction of 586 BCE


Jewish thought

Ancient Israelite religion was probably different from Judaism.

Judaism, as it is recognizable today, did not exist until Ezra’s reforms

in the Persian period (c. 515 BCE).

prophets and priests

likely practiced parts of what we know as the Law

worshipped the One God only

Promoted the One God over other gods? (YHWH as, or vs, EL?)

Deuteronomic historyCultural Background

Gods were seen as a “technology” for economic and political

advancement

“Baal Cycle” and Agriculture

Asherah and Fertility

Micah 4:1-2

In days to come the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established as the

highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall

stream to it,

2 and many nations shall come and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of

the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and

the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.


Jewish thoughtDeut 12:2-4

You must demolish completely all the places

where the nations whom you are about to

dispossess served their gods, on the mountain

heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 3

Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn

their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the

idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name

from their places. 4 You shall not worship the LORD

your God in such ways.

Baal, a Canaanite god.

Or is this EL?


Jewish thought1Kings 12:26-29

Then Jeroboam said to himself, "Now the kingdom may well revert to

the house of David. If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in

the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn

again to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and

return to King Rehoboam of Judah.“

So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to

the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are

your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” He set

one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

The Mosaic Covenant in the

Pentateuch in Outline

Exodus

The Law at Sinai

“You need make for me only an altar

of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt

offerings and your offerings of well-

being, your sheep and your oxen; in

every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you

and bless you.”

Exod 20:22-26

The Mosaic Covenant in the

Pentateuch in Outline

Worship before Sinai

Gen 31:53-54—improvised shrine

Exod 5:3—improvised shrine? (c.f.,

8:25).

Gen 28:19-22—Bethel = “House of

God”.

Improvised shrine.

Later a temple (1 Kg 12:28-33).

Remains of temple / “high place” at

Dan

(Bibleworks)

Archaeological Evidence

Deuteronomic history

Micah 5:10-15

10 In that day, says the LORD, I will cut off your horses from among you and will

destroy your chariots;

11 and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds;

12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more

soothsayers;

13 and I will cut off your images and your pillars (Baal idols) from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands;

14 and I will uproot your sacred poles (Asherah idols) from among you and destroy your towns.

15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not

obey.

Israelite Household Religion

Judges 17:2 2 [Micah] said to his mother, "The eleven hundred

pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered

a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his

mother said, "Blessed be my son by the LORD."3 He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother,

and his mother said, "I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to

the LORD for my son to make a graven image and a molten image;

now therefore, I will return them to you."4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two

hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made

them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in

the house of Micah.5 And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and

household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might

become his priest.6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:1-6)

1.What is the intent of the

idolators?

2.What is the function and purpose of the idol?

3.Note where the shrine is

stored and its household function.

4.Note

(a) who Micah recruits

in Judges 17:7-13

(b) what he does

(c) what kind of conclusions are drawn.

Household Religion*A household cult room (12th century, BC) at Ai. Ai had

become an Israelite settlement at this time.

William G. Dever, Did God have a Wife? Archaeology

and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, kindle loc. 1539

For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols.

Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

Hosea 3:4-5

Household ReligionLEFT:

Household altar from Megiddo (10th C BC; Dever, Loc.1582).

Local, or home sacrifice.

Another possibility is they balanced an incense bowl.

BELOW:

Incense Burner (8th C BC; Dever, Loc.1643). Note resemblance

to Bovines.

Household Religion

Drawing of a silver rolled amulet from late 7th C BC Jerusalem (Ketef

Hinnom). Found in a tomb. Dever, loc. 1696.

Numbers 6:24-26 Ketef HinnomThe Lord bless you and keep

you.

May YHWH bless you and

watch over you.

The Lord make his face to shine

upon you, and be gracious to

you:

The Lord life up his

countenance upon you,

May YHWH make his face to

shine upon you:

and give you peace. And give you peace.

Household Religion

Dever, loc. 1768. Figures of El.

*El was a Canaanite god. In OT

YHWH sometimes referred to as El.

*think El-Shadai, El-Olam, etc.

The Mosaic

Covenant in the

PentateuchThe Golden Calf

Exod 32:5 – Good Intentions?

Exod 32:30—atonement

Exod 34—covenant renewed


Jewish thought

Reconstruction of

Jeroboam I’s altar at

Dan (Moody Bible

Atlas, Bibleworks 9)


Jewish thought

Levine, Jewish Identities in Antiquity, p.25.

A Picture of the Problem?

• Dates from about 800 to 600 B.C.

• Accompanied by Inscription (top

left): “Yahweh of Samaria and his

Asherah”

• Found at a “local shrine” (temple) at

a “truck stop” for Traders in the Sinai

Peninsula

• Note that Yahweh has the face of a

cow (like Baal)

El(ohim)? Asherah? (genitals missing in some

reproductions)

Yahweh

Asherah?

YHWH TMN

Yahweh of Teman

“God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” (Habakkuk 3:3)

King Josiah’s Reforms (2 Kings 22-23)


Jewish thoughtThe State of the Temple at the Time of King Josiah

The king commanded … to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the

vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he

burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried

their ashes to Bethel.

… He brought out the image of Asherah from the house of the LORD, …

… He broke down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in

the house of the LORD, where the women did weaving for Asherah. …

(2 Kg 23:4-9)

Conclusion


Jewish thoughtCovenant and Law in Israelite Thought

Judahites and Israelites were confused about difference

between the Canaanite Gods and YHWH due to linguistic

reasons/similarities

Best explanation is people did not know the Law (2 Kgs)

Hilkiah the Priest finds the Law (2 Kgs 22:8)

High Priest didn’t know where it is?

Josiah, after reigning 18 years, didn’t know the Law (2 Kgs 22:10-

11)

May have known about the Law, but not its contents


Jewish thought Continuing worship at Temple and High Places suggest

Israelites did know about the Covenant and the Exodus

Idolatry bad theology

Theological Illiteracy looked to Canaanites for theological

inspiration

State-Sponsored Shenanigans:

Solomon Accommodation to Idolatry (1 Kings 11:1-11)

Jeroboam golden Baal calves = YHWH (1 Kings 12:26-29)

Documents

Israelite Culture and Canaanite Syncretism · 2019. 11. 16. · Syncretism with Canaanite Religion Baal, Asherah, Molech These Ancient Judahite Ostracon from the Arad fort (near Dead