FOOD FOR THOUGHT: "Ignorance and ignorants are at the root of our problems."
	YOU ARE IN DARKNESS.
old testament page 5

* Then, a third movement of the tribes who fled Egypt (these were the Aramaean tribes who migrated to Egypt), entered Canaan from the south and the east toward the end of the 13th century BC. Declaring to be the descendants of Abraham these tribes claimed that the Egyptians had employed them as slaves and the God of their leader Moses, YHWH, has taken them out of Egypt. These tribes joined the Hebrews living in Canaan and came to be known as Israel. The Old Testament shows us clearly that Israel was formed by various ethnic groups bound together by their loyalty to YHWH..

It is probable that the Aramaean nomads who entered Canaan together with the house of Joseph established a sacred union around the Ark of the Covenant, comprising of six tribes. It is possible that these six tribes were the Joseph, Manasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin and two more Aramaean tribes. When those other tribes fleeing the heavy-handed administration of the Canaanites joined them the union may have become crowded, and turned into a union of twelve tribes. In the meantime it was impossible for the Canaanite culture not to have an influence on them. These Aramaean tribes which just left the nomadic way of life and animal husbandry took over the language and the superior culture of the Canaanites that were not very much different from theirs. It is extremely possible, or rather almost certain, that the story of the sons of Israel coming from the twelve sons of Jacob was a myth invented by the kohanim (priests) to establish stronger and closer ties among the tribes. The foundations of the Jewry were laid down during the Babylonian exile. Jews in Babylon were supposedly the full and only representatives of monotheism. The only religious rule they could observe was the Sabbath. The name sabbath seems to have its origin in Babylonia. It may be a loan word from the Babylonian Šappattu or Šabattu - the fifteenth day of the month. But it is possible that both words are derived from a common source in a pre-historic Semitic tradition. The Israel in Babylonia were faraway from their Temple, thus they were unable to make offerings and observe their religious festivals, which were all tied to the Temple itself. That is why the present day 'extreme' observance of Sabbath was developed in Babylon. The outlook of the prophets were also changed there. The fiery spokesmen of YHWH hurling threats all around changed into optimist messengers promising the 'coming of the saviour' - the 'Messiah.' When Cyrus the Great / Kurus / Kyros (Koresh in Hebrew) destroyed Babylon, he let the Jews return to their lands. The 'messengers' - prophets - back in Israel never mentioned the Mosaic Law, because they did not know it. The Old Testament appeared only after the Babylonian exile. The prophets in Babylon did not recognize a strange and 'bad' idea like a covenant between God and His subjects. The Babylonian exile of the Israel was very short when measured against history. But this period and the eventual return to Jerusalem of the deportees has completely changed the history of the mankind. If this return of Israel had not taken place there wouldn't have been an Old Testament. Sons of Israel would have disappeared as a separate entity by mixing with other peoples like Hittites, Assyrians and the ancient Iranians, and numerous other peoples. The dawn of the line of monotheistic belief systems would have been delayed, and completely different belief systems may have emerged, the regional belief systems may have continued. There wouldn't have been a Judaic belief system, and no Jewry. Those who have a properly functioning intellect and reasoning may have detected the inference here.

Israel rebuilt its Temple and the sacred city. But it was clear immediately that the times of those powerful rulers were gone for good. The only way they could preserve their existence was to uphold their religious union. The rules of the Law should be observed to the point. The 'chief rabbi' of the small theocracy in Palestine will not be involved with the 'worldly affairs' in the coming centuries. The Old Testament don't tell us anything about the following events. The history of Israel has stopped. The Israel will start living in the past. They will become an inward looking society and turn their backs on politics. But Judaism survived the loss of the Hebrew autonomy. Because the majority of the Old Testament canon was finalised around middle 400 BC. In the end the Hebrew kingdom was revitalised under the leadership of the Hasmoneans (168-42 BC.).

Who were these Canaanites and Hebrews? Let's start with the land of Canaan, and the Canaanites. Canaan is the narrow, mountainous country to the west of the river Jordan / Yordan / Erden. The land of Canaan linked Egypt to Asia. The Land of Canaan does not exist among the Semites in the list of nations given in Genesis. Some scholars say that it was given the name 'Palestine' because it was home of the Philistines (Egyptian Pulesati) who threatened Egypt in 1194 BC. Due to its strategic position on an important trade route it was invaded by Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and the Greeks. When Hebrews invaded the land the northern part became Israel, and the southern part was called Judah. With the Roman invasion in 63 BC. the invaders changed its name to Palestine. In ancient times the region was ruled by different tribes and numerous tribal chiefs and princes. The most important among these princes were the Indo-Aryan (Kurgan) princes who ruled the region in the 15th and 14 centuries BC. Some of the names of these princes which were preserved on the tablets found in Tell El-Amarna were: Suwar-datta, Inda-rutta, Birash-sinha, Birya-vaza, Biryi-diya. According to some researchers Canaanites adopted the religion of the Indo-Aryans. These tribes worshipped numerous Gods and Goddesses. In their worship of Astarte (Astaroth of the Old Testament) hey used the tantric rituals of the Hindu Shaktas. All the matters related to sexuality was under the control of this Goddess. Like the Aryans these Canaanite tribes also worshipped sun, moon and other lesser deities. There were altars in their temples and statues of many Gods and Goddesses. In each temple there was a column like the Hindu temples. These columns were called the lingam, or the phallus of Shiva.

Hebrews are called Hebraeus in Latin, Hebraios in Greek, Ebrai in Aramaic. The word Hebrew means, a member of or descendent from one of a group of northern Semitic peoples including the Israelites. It also means the Semitic language of the ancient Hebrews or any of various later forms of this language. Who are these Semites? They are the present day Jews and Arabs, ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, Aramaeans, Canaanites, and Phoenicians. Hebrews are said to have been living in Palestine since ancient times. Some scholars say that they were called Habiri / Habiru / Apiru in their nomadic period. Present day Jews are the last remnants of the Hebrews. They are called Judaeus in Latin, Loudaios in Greek, Yhudai in Aramaean, Yhudi in Hebrew, Yahud in Persian, Arabian, and Kashmiri, and Yahudi in Turkish. This name derives from the fourth son of Jacob and Leah - Jehuda. According to the Old Testament Abraham is Hebrew, but later on in the Book, this group of people will be known as Children of Israel deriving from Jacob who is called 'Israel'. Jacob supposedly had twelve sons. Eight of them were from his legal wives: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin. These eight sons claimed a superior lineage. The other four sons from Jacob's concubines were Gad, Asher, Dan and Naphtali. They were considered of an inferior lineage. These two groups, the twelve sons of Israel were known as the 'Sons of Israel - Ban-i Israel'. These sons became the chiefs of the twelve tribes of Israel. They fought amongst themselves. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah (Judea) were overthrown eventually by the invaders. But the Judeans slowly but surely regained the sovereignty and played an important role in the history of the Children of Israel. Thus their belief system was recognised as Judaism and the believer of this belief system were called Jews.

Those Hebrews who emigrated to Egypt were not speaking Hebrew but Aramaean which is a mixture of languages. But in those days ancient Greek was lingua franca around the Mediterranean and the tens of thousands of Hebrews living in Alexandria in Egypt started speaking Greek as well. The language of Torah in the synagogs was a completely strange language for these Hebrews, and they decided to translate Torah into ancient Greek. According to the legend the chief rabbi in Jerusalem sent copies of the Old Testament to 72 scholars. Each of these scholars did separate translations of the Book, and reportedly all the versions were found out to be identical (this is impossible of course, it is a myth) That is why the first Greek translation of the Old Testament is called the 'Septuagint' ('Seventy'). The Christian Church Fathers accepted this Greek version also as God's revelation (ignorance!).

Contrary to the general opinion the origin of the Hebrew alphabet is not the Phoenician alphabet but an ancient Semitic alphabet found in the ruins of worker dwellings found in Sinai. We do not have a single specimen from the archieves of the state of Israel, because papyrus leaves were used for writing on, and they were not durable as the clay tablets. The oldest forms of north semitic script are found in Brahminical characters, which were introduced betwen 890-750 BC by Indian merchants from Mesopotamia. The Indian merchants brought north Semitic characters to their homeland. They also introduced the Semitic legends. Some of these legends could be found in the Brahmanas (8th-7th century BC.), the oldest vedic writings. There we read the story of the Babylonian Flood (Stapatha-Brahmana), which seems to have got to India by way of the same relations. The language proximity among the Semitic peoples is obvious. Heading the list of mutual characteristics among the Semitic languages is the lack of vowels in the roots of the words, and generally three letters making up the root. Three ancient types of writing were found in the Land of Canaan:

This evidence suggests that a Semitic language was spoken in this region since the beginning of 3000 BC. and at least four Semitic dialects were present in the first half of the second millennium. According to these texts many religions and myths of the local people have influenced the Old Testament and the story of Abraham. Ugaritic language is very close to the ancient Hebrew. The names of their Gods and Goddesses, and the amended forms of their myths become obvious as one reads the Old Testament.

There were Canaanite tribes (Phoenicians), living in Palestine towards the end of 3000 BC. The Semites were already settled in Palestine and Syria around 2400 BC. Then suddenly nomadic tribes of semitic stock from the heart of the Arabian desert launched violent assaults on the north and north west, on Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. These Amorites ('Westerners') attacked the kingdoms of the fertile crescent. Empires of Sumer and Akkad collapsed 1960 BC. Amorites founded a number of states and dynasties. One of them was eventually to become supreme: The first dynasty of Babylon, a great centre of power 1830-1530 BC. Its sixth King was the famous Hammurabi. One of these tribes of semitic nomads was to have fateful significance for millions of people throughout the world. Suppoesdly it was a little group, perhaps only a family, the family of Abraham, forefather of the patriarchs.

The southern Arabs have founded important states after the 13th century BC. People originating from southern Arabia went to Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia) and settled there in pre-history. We can consider the raids of Moslems in the 7th and 8th centuries as the last Semitic migration in the history.

As the official version of the events tell us in he Old Testament, Jacob takes two daughters of a tribal chief called Laban, and he gets 12 sons from these two women and from some of his concubines. So he becomes the father of the twelve tribes, and the Patriarch of Israel. His God enters into a contract, a 'covenant,' with Jacob. Jacob calls the place where this happens Beth-el ( 'EL's house', 'EL's place' - EL is the God of the Canaanites). Scholars have proved that this section of the Old Testament was written in the days of the kings of Judah. There is a very strange part of the Jacob's story (Genesis 32:22-32) which shows the primitive origin of the beliefs of Israel and the concept of God they had in the beginning: Jacob had left Laban, and started off with his two wives and eleven sons (Benjamin was not born then), they left the Jabbok pass behind, he was alone ('he sent the others over the brook'), he wrestled with someone until daybreak, this someone was unable to defeat Jacob so he touched the 'hollow of his thigh', Jacob was injured, but he survived, called the place 'Peni-El' ('I've seen El face to face'). The God, EL, had touched the thighbone muscle and the sons of Israel don't eat the muscle over the femur. ....The Genesis story in the Old Testament is a strange piece of literature which still carries the traces of the ancient myths of Israel's predecessors - the Semitic tribes. These tribes have not yet accomplished the concept of a 'sole' God either for themselves or the world. There concept of God was still comprised of the beliefs of primitive peoples. There are still Elohim (Gods). EL is the chief of the Gods. Gods came down to earth, appeared as humans, and conversed with man. Gods had created mankind in their image (because the inventors of this concept had no reference around except themselves to shape their gods). They descended and ascended from and to their celestial abodes. One of them wrestled with Jacob. They sat down and ate together with mankind. They were jealous of the mankind since the beginning because of them having an intellect. The only thing which separated Gods and mankind was (and still is) immortality, and even that would be irrelevant if mankind had managed to eat a bit of the 'tree of life.' This is naivity to the extreme. Naivity not for the people of those days but for us! After all those years and the development of the human mind if these stories are still the substance of a belief system what can one say without being impolite: Only naivity!

In the Old Testament one comes across the description, 'Lord of Gods.' Which means that the God of The New Testament and Qoran is not different but the same 'Lord of Gods,' and 'Rabb-el Erbab' (God of Gods) respectively. In other words there is not a 'sole' God, but a group of Gods. This is polytheism. But Moses ben Maimonides(Moses ibn Maimon - Jewish thelogian) understood this description as the 'Lord of Angels.' If we go by this explanation, than in line with the description in the Old Testament angels become Gods. But Maimonides maintains that the word 'God' used for the angels is a metaphor. Again there are other expressions in the Old and New Testaments literally meaning the 'God of Gods.' Maimonides understands these expressions as the Lord of the Heavens, Lord of the Stars, because Maimonides considers layers of heavens and the stars as angels. If angels are in there on the same level with the Gods, how could one accuse the Sabians of heathenism, whose belief system is the predecessor of the 'belief systems of the book,' and one of the main sources for all the other regional belief sytems. Yes, these Sabians were accused of heathenism because they called the stars and planets 'Ilah', 'Rabb' (God, Lord) with the hope that these may be instrumental in taking them closer to their real (!) God. Angels in Qoran are on par with God or share the same realm with Him in a covert fashion. When we have God speaking in the first person singular in Qoran, he says 'we' and not 'I' when talking about the things He had done. When God is made to speak about himself He uses 'I'. From here we can deduce that angels are partners to the deeds of God.

Polytheism and the adoption of other people's myths and legends show everywhere in the Old testament. Here is another example: According to the Sumerian mythology, thousands of years ago, God of Wisdom Enki was jealous of the fact that Sumerians and their neighbours living in abundance and peace were praying to God Enlil in the same language. Enki ended this beautiful era by creating enmity and causing wars among human beings, and by introducing different languages prevented communities from understanding each other. This story is told in Genesis 11:1-9. But Enki in the Sumerian story is replaced by 'Lord'. In Genesis 11:7 we read (the Lord speaking): "...let us go down.." The Lord is openly calling on the other Gods to descend to earth with him. This is polytheism. This is another example of the incompetence of the writers of the Old Testament. They claim to be monotheists, they claim the existence of a 'sole' God, but they forget this when they are editing and adapting the ancient stories, myths and legends of the region, and leave polytheist statements intact.

The 'Shema' is the Jewish confession of faith. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we read: "Shema Jisroel Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echod" or "Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Ehad" (Adonai replaces the unspeakable name YHWH). In English it is "Hear Israel, Adonai is our Lord, only Adonai." If the uncanny similarity of the Egyptian Aten/Aton, the Hebrew Adonai, and the Greek Adonis is not pure chance, and something which originates from a common root, or a common identity in the pre-history, then replacing 'Adonai' with 'Aton' gives us the following confession of faith: 'SHEMA JISROEL ATEN ELOHENU, ATEN ECHOD/EHAD.' The English translation of which is 'Hear Israel, Aten is our God, only Aten.' There is no monotheism here. There is henotheism, which means, there are others but 'this one' is ours.

According to Joshua Israel were polytheists in Egypt. They had the images of their God - the golden calf - before them when they danced naked on the slopes of the Mount Sinai. When Moses made a graven image of a serpent (Numbers 21:9, 2 Kings 18:4) Israel were polytheists. Before entering Israel Joshua felt the need to ask his followers to put away their Gods (Joshua 24:2, 24:20). Period of the Judges was a period of wide spread polytheism (Judges 6:25, 11:24, 13:1, 17:5), so was the period of Kings. Temple of Solomon had two pillars which represented the fertility cult of Asherah. Asherah was the Lady of the Sea - a Goddess - of the Baal cult and was considered the wife of YHWH. Until Hezekiah (Hiskia) destroyed them, YHWH's ark in the Temple stood among others, side by side with Moses' brazen serpent Nehustan (2 Kings 18:4). YHWH had to share his Temple with Baal, Asherah and the heavenly bodies like the sun (2 Kings 23:4-7). Jeroboam set up cultic bulls. Manasseh built altars to the sun, moon, and stars in the Temple (2 Kings 21:3-5). Ahab worshipped heifers 100 years after Solomon (Josephus 8:13). Ahab's wife Jezebel was a devotee of Melkart (A Canaanite god).

Talmudic Judaism believes that this God has a continuous effect via His creative force and calls Him 'ever living' (Hay/Hayy) God. This God has shown His power to the world and mankind by saying 'be!' and they 'became.' Judaism stays away from the philosophical thoughts like whether God has created the world ex nihilo or via a material transformation.

Judaism believed that good and evil came from God. The Christian idea of evil emanating from Satan did not exist in Judaism. Everything becomes and develops according to the purpose of God. Another doctrine which appears beside the 'soleness' of God is His omnipotence. One of the conditions of the Jewish confession of faith says that God is ever-present and all-seeing. This never means that God is one with the world and bound by it. Talmud says, 'God is the abode of the world but the world is not His abode.' One of the attributes of God is that 'He knows everything.' He knows even the most secret acts and thoughts. Another attribute: 'God is ever-living and has no beginning or end.' Judaism also has the idea of the 'kingdom of God' which could be established by the work of mankind under the leadership of God. In this kingdom all personal and social injustices will be eradicated. This is the key to the existence of and the mystery surrounding the Jewish nation. Jews deriving on their historical traditions believed that the founders of this ideal state would be God and themselves. The Heavenly Kingdom will be founded by the coming of the Messiah.

Deutero-Isaiah was the first one to have a statement on the 'universal' sole God. Here the concept of the false Gods is introduced also for the first time. Declaring all the other Gods as 'false' is fundamental for monotheism. At this point Spenta Mainyu would like to point out again that Judaism has always experienced a tension between the Jewish nationalism and monotheism, which could not co-exist. Why? Because Hebrews were polytheists, Israel were polytheists. They had their own local Gods, and the implant of monotheism resulted in a contradiction between these local Gods of a 'chosen people' and their omnipotent God excluding all the other Gods. The pre-exilic God was a bloodthirsty, vengeful, jealous, anthropomorphic tribal God, spreading fear. Post-exilic God is completely different. This God is so far away, so high-up, so removed from this world that, he needs interfaces (go betweens, messengers) to communicate. This is not the tribal God YHWH anymore, He is the perfect universal 'supreme creator', the Zarathustran God, Ahura Mazda.

The last sections of the Old Testament were written after the Babylonian exile. Perhaps the most important effect the exile had was about their understanding of God. In Hosea 13:2 we are told that Israel has gone back to their old Gods: 'And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, let the man that sacrifice kiss the calves'; In Hosea 13:4 Israel's God addresses His people: "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt and thou shalt know no God but me: for there is no saviour beside me." Israel's God is still fighting to become the only God of his people. In Hosea 14:3-4 Israel is addressed: "Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our Gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy"; In Amos 3:2 Israel's God warns His people: "I have known you only of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." This also shows us that YHWH considers Himself still a tribal God; In the third section from the end (Zephaniah 1:2-4) God says: "...I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord..I will also stretch mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests"; in the penultimate section, in Zechariah 14:9 (In the second year of Darius' reign) the fundamental change in the Jewish thinking about their God is evident: "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one "; Israel's God is on the way to become the God of all. In Malachi 1:10-11 the writer of the section signs and seals this fundamental change in their understanding of God: "..I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand... my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen.." This is the final word: Israel's God has won His battle against the other Gods; those other Gods must be abandoned (they are not, yet); Israel's God will become the 'sole' God. Again this 'sole' should not be understood as the 'only' God, there are still other Gods, but 'this' God - Israel's God - should be the God for all. Who had decided on this? Mankind of course! The author of this section.

The Babylonian exile for the Jews was the beginning of new hopes for a New Heaven and a New Earth. Peter Clark writes (Zoroastrianism, An Introduction to an Ancient Faith.): "The exile had meant that the Jews were for the first time separated from their God, and so as their captivity continued they began to reconsider how they should understand him." They had a covenant with their God; they were the 'chosen people' of their God; their God had promised them a 'Promised Land'; their God had identified Himself with them; their God fought for them and with them against their adversaries. Now it is unthinkable to suggest that this God, their God, had left them. But they are in exile..There is no Temple, no offerings.. They are able to keep Sabbath only. So Jews had no choice but to start thinking about their God in different terms. A more universal God seemed more reasonable. This God could not be confined to one geographical area. His exclusive identification with one ethnic group is doubtful. Cyrus the Great must have brought some Zoroastrian beliefs with him into Babylon, because he was also influenced by the Babylonian practice. It is only natural to think that the Jews were also affected by the prevailing religious beliefs, and practices. According to Raphael Patai (The Messiah Texts) "About half a century after Ezekiel, there lived in Babylonia the anonymous prophet of consolation and Israel's national restoration, usually referred to a deutero-Isaiah (second Isaiah)." Scholars assign chapters 40-65 of the Book of Isaiah to deutero-Isaiah.

"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me... I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things... Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it." (Deutero-Isaiah 5th c. BC.).

Zarathustra/Zoroaster had celebrated Ahura Mazda in Yasna 31:8 in a remarkably similar fashion: "Yes, although Thou are the First One, I realized Thee to be (ever) young in mind, Wise One, when I grasped Thee in a vision to be the Father of good thinking, the real Creator of truth, (and) the Lord of existence in Thy actions." (Paul William Roberts, Journey of the Magi)

The section of Isaiah which includes the verse above was written after the exile. Before Isaiah Jews seldom thought of YHWH as the God of all tribes, let alone all of Hebrews. Beelzebub / Baalzebub was the God of Ekron. Ammon had Milcom as their God. Moabites believed in Chemosh. Spenta Mainyu knows that some people out there will read this and say that there is nothing strange here, because these names represented the 'sole' creator himself, only the names differ from community to community. No way!

Jews were neither a political nor a racial group. They were just a mixture of peoples of the region. The only thing that made them stay together was the worship of YHWH. YHWH was a tribal God, and not the 'sole' God but one of their Gods. The only thing that tied them together was their religion. If YHWH is given an equal treatment with other Gods they would cease to be Jews. Covenant and the First Commandment have critical importance at this point:"You shall have no other Gods before me." Deuteronomy 4:25-28 makes it clear that the priests have understood this perfectly. This First Commandment is also the evidence that Jews were not monotheists yet. If there were no other Gods worshipped by the people, the writers would not have felt the need to include this rule. It applies only if there are other Gods. So, polytheism existed.

The full concept of monotheism, making YHWH the 'only' God, the 'supreme creator' would come with Isaiah. In Isaiah 43:10-13 we read: "...before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour...I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange God among you, therefore you are my witnesses..that I am God." Jeremiah 10:1-16 carry the same message; there is only one God he is all-powerful, the molten images are all results of errors and they will perish in the end.

Persians and Jews had enjoyed considerable contact during the exile. In the period leading up to the composition of deutero-Isaiah, Ahura Mazda's universal nature and the Jewish awareness of it must have conditioned their perception of YHWH as evidenced by the new concept of 'sole' creator formulated by the writer called deutero-Isaiah. Author known as deutero-Isaiah came from Mesopotamia and his texts were influenced by Zarathustran ideas. This is most evident in Isaiah 45:5-8 which clearly shows the influence of the Zoroastrian dualism (quoted above). Part of what is known as trito-Isaiah (Isaiah 6:17) even describes a Persian ceremony.

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