# Ancient Near East Customs and Religious systems



## T.A.G. (Jul 7, 2010)

When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you

Does anyone have any good quick resources on these groups and evil customs that they did. I.e. Hittites sacrificing children etc. Any information about their pantheons and customs welcomed!


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## MRC (Jul 8, 2010)

Are you looking for generic info on the pagan customs or for theological reasoning for God's judgment on pagan nations?


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## T.A.G. (Jul 8, 2010)

kinda both, its for school

I am done my BA next month and have finished all my classes at my college but am transfering over an ancient world class from somewhere else this summer, but my school wont let me check out any books from them because I am done.


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## Willem van Oranje (Jul 8, 2010)

T.A.G. said:


> When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you
> 
> Does anyone have any good quick resources on these groups and evil customs that they did. I.e. Hittites sacrificing children etc. Any information about their pantheons and customs welcomed!


 
Maybe try the archealogical Study Bible for starters. And otherwise, check out a local university or seminary library. That would be my suggestion.


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## MRC (Jul 8, 2010)

It's a tough subject to get at directly, most of my reading on the topic of God's judgment of pagan nations was developed indirectly as I studied other topics. Personally, I have found my study of covenant theology very helpful in understanding this topic. Not everyone here will agree with me, and I will be fairly honest in admitting a developing _Klinian_ view of the topic, but I found the following helpful:
1. Christ of the Covenants, O. Palmer Robertson
2. Introduction to Covenant Theology, Michael Horton

I also plan to engage with, and have found people recommend:
3. Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, Herman Witsius
4. The Law is Not of Faith, Bryan Estelle

Good luck!


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## Grafted In (Jul 8, 2010)

Do you have access to the ATLA database? If not, let me know and I would be happy to search for some scholarly articles on the subject and then forward them to you via email.


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## Elimelek (Jul 13, 2010)

Hi Tyler

I think your request is a bit wide. Maybe I can help you with the Canaanites' pantheon, which was basically the same as that of the people of Ugarit.

*El* also called the bull, was the head of the pantheon. He is depicted as an old man that stands on a bull. Some scholars say that the story of the golden calf hinted to the Israelites who mistook the Lord (YHVH) for the Canaanite god, El. In Hebrew the word El also is the general word for "god." Some have conjectured that the preference for the plural form of El in the Hebrew Bible, 'elohim, is to differentiate the God of Israel with El, the head of the Canaanite Pantheon. (El took kings as his sons.)

*Athirat/Astarte* was El's female companion. She has been equated with the Asherahs that the Israelites were serving and which was an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. It is clear that some Israelites had a syncrenystic trademark, trying to marry the Lord with the Canaanite pantheon. This however was wrong in the eyes of the Lord.

*Ba'al* was the god of fertility and prosperity. He was also the stormgod that brought rain, rain was seen as the semen from heaven that fertilised the crops. When it was winter, the Canaanites believed that Ba'al was sleeping in sheol, the realm of the dead. Mot, the god of death and the underworld had conquered him. But Ba'al arose from sheol and brought rain and ensured fertility. When Psalm 121 says that the Lord doesn't sleep nor slumber, one can call the image of Ba'al to mind. Elijah also ask the Ba'al prophets if their god sleeps, thus mocking their believe. At a certain point in the Ancient Near East Ba'al started to replace El as the head of the pantheon. That is why Ba'al is so many times mentioned in the books of Kings and Chronicles. In some areas Dagon, or Dagan, the god of the Philistines and not El, was deemed to be the father of Ba'al. It is not clear where Dagon was worshipped and where El was worshipped.

*Reseph *was the god of pestilence. In the Hebrew language the name "Reseph" has been unpersonified and just means pestilence. One can conjecture that not all the Israelites took "Reseph" only to mean pestilence, but all in all there is no proof.

*Mot* was the god of the underworld and death. He reigned the waters under the earth.

*Anat* was another major goddess that was worshipped.

*Kothar-and-Khasis *was messenger gods that conveyed El or Ba'al's messages to morals.

These are just a few gods from the Canaanite pantheon. The information is very cryptic, but I hope it helps.

Regards


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