Ancient Religion

Introduction

The study of ancient religions is a fascinating study to the student of Bible and theology, especially when one encounters the stern warnings against meddling in the religions that surrounded Israel’s neighbors. Throughout the Bible, Yahweh is seen as a jealous God who abhors the worship of the pagans’ gods and desires his chosen people to worship and serve him alone. In this paper, the writer seeks to address the assumptions underlying Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) religion. He will further assess ANE religion found in the Hebrew Scriptures and will shed light on the critical points of difference between Ancient Near Eastern religion and the biblical view.

 Assumptions underlying Ancient Near Eastern religion

The Ancient Near East appears to have been chiefly polytheistic. Archaeological finds and documents that have reached the current generation seem to collaborate the historical evidence in the Bible and other religious books of antiquity. The value of studying such assumptions is that they enable the student of the Bible to understand the Bible in its given context and will help clarify some of Yahweh’s pronouncements that appear to be harsh against the people who interacted with the nation of Israel. As a result, biblical admonitions to holiness can also be understood.

 As one approaches the available texts on ancient religion, it becomes apparently clear that the ANE had an “entrenched commitment to pagan religion.”[1] Religion played a crucial role among the ancients. As one writer observed, “Religion was an intricate part of their daily life.”[2] Lynn has observed that it “permeated the society, becoming part of festivals and influencing law.”[3] Of particular interest, is the fact that religion was hinged in polytheism! People in the ANE served and worshipped a pantheon of gods that were believed to be the givers of life in this world. Thus, for continued peace, progress, and welfare, these gods had to be served. There is an abundance of evidence that these ancients worshipped natural elements such as the sun[4], wind, fire, water, and mountains. Idolatry was so rife that archaeologists have unearthed several stone deities that are believed to have been worshipped during these periods. There were plenty of gods, organized into pantheons that administered blessings and curses to those who would follow their paths or not.

 In his book, The Religions of Babylonia and Assyria (page?), Pinches is of the opinion that the Sumera-Akkadian people were the ones who developed the idea of a pantheon of gods and united them with those of the Semitic Babylonians who had their own fewer gods. Thus, some gods were elevated to be higher than others, e.g. Merodach as the king of the gods. For the Assyrians, the goddess Aššur headed the pantheon and became the chief of the gods and the emblem of her distinct national aspirations. Monotheism roughly existed in the minds of a few individuals, but the influence of polytheism could not be resisted.

Moreover, most of the religion was based in mysticism and had a “complex mythology” that was based on the relationships of the gods. For instance, during the Babylonian New Year Akitu, gods were believed to wed and have sexual unions in the temple.[5] The gods were associated with local or particular cities and were thus worshipped in temples in those cities. Wolkstein and Kramer (1983further believed that these gods were seen as human forms of natural forces. The Kassites, for instance, are believed to have worshipped over thirty known gods by name. Forces of nature were worshipped by the ancients because they felt that they can worship that which they cannot harness or control.[6]

 The assessment of Ancient Near Eastern religion found in the Hebrew Scriptures

Since the Hebrew Scriptures portrays the Israelite nation as having its roots in the ANE, there is no denying the influence and impact of ANE religion among the Hebrews. Interestingly, the book of Joshua suggests that the Hebrews too disdained the religions of their time. Joshua’s decision is informed by the religious atmosphere of his time and argues that their fathers served idols (c.f. Joshua 14:14,15). The Ten Commandments introduces God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. In it, Yahweh makes it clear that the Hebrews were not supposed to make any form of images or idols (c.f. Exodus 20). Moreover, in Deuteronomy, it is evident that those who participated in the worship of the ANE religions were an abomination before God (c.f. Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

From a biblical perspective, the ANE religion had distorted the true worship that was meant for God alone. Paul, a Hebrew, and Pharisee clearly presents this argument in Romans 1 and asserts that those who serve idols have exchanged the glory of God to that of brute beasts and dumb idols. Thus, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, Yahweh is seen to have a controversy with other gods and his anger is poured out on those that serve them. Israel is forbidden to engage in idolatry; forsaking God and turning after “strange gods” is condemned as prostitution and the makers of idols and their worshippers are denounced in very strong terms as the death penalty is called for them.

Not only are the Hebrews forbidden to worship other gods, they are specifically instructed not to intermarry with the pagans who served other gods since their influence will end up profaning Yahweh’s people. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel failed to heed this as it goes after “strange women” and gets enticed to serve idols. In the book of Numbers, the Israelites went into fornication with the Moabites at the urging of Balaam. King Solomon was turned away in his old age by the foreign women he had married to serve other gods and it has serious repercussions for the nation whose kingdom was split in half because of that (1 Kings 11). The Northern kingdom under the leadership of King Jeroboam went after following strange gods and intermarrying, and God sent the Assyrians to punish them, bringing the kingdom to an end in 722BC and the southern kingdom of Judah went into deportation in Judah in 586 BC (c.f. 2 Chronicles 25).

Worshipping other gods was strongly condemned by Yahweh. Even after the exile in Babylon, Ezra and Nehemiah had to castigate and punish those from the priestly family who had married foreign wives. As already discussed in the first part of this paper, religion was the center of every social and civic life of the ANE. Thus, marrying anyone who did not serve the same God as yours would be disastrous. In Genesis, Jacob had the unpleasant circumstances that brought Rachel’s death after stealing the teraphim, the gods of her fathers. Thus, the beginning of the Hebrew nation starts with Abraham who was called by God to leave Ur, a civilized city of ancient Babylon that was a center of idolatry. God did not want his people to remain bound to worthless idols; he wanted a new people that would obey him, serve him faithfully and be the beacons of light into a world that was trapped into idolatry and religious bondage.

In the book of Daniel, there appears to have been a divine confrontation of God against the Medo-Persian gods. Of particular interest is the way Daniel describes the failure of the Medo-Persian priests, magicians, sorcerers, and wise men to interpret the king’s dreams and how only the true God of heaven is able to do so. When one remembers that several ancients gods were worshipped in Babylon, the supremacy of Yahweh against the gods of Medo-Persia suggests the futility of serving dump gods. Likewise, Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was also a battle of the gods – Yahweh against the gods of Egypt. Yahweh triumphed and the gods of Egypt fell to a great extent that those who served other gods trembled. Likewise, the story of Elijah against the gods of Ahab and Jezebel is another demonstration that ANE gods were nothing but figments of human imaginations empowered by demons. However, there is only one true God among all the gods of the nations, the God of the Hebrews.

The critical points of difference between Ancient Near Eastern religion and the biblical view

While the study of ANE religion is a fascinating study, it has to be observed that there are critical differences between the historically documented stories of religion and the Biblical view. Firstly, in ANE religion, people served and worshipped idols. All forms of idolatry are strongly condemned in the Bible and Yahweh is seen as judging those who serve idols. Secondly, most of the ANE religions had the abominable practice of human sacrifice. Even children were sacrificed in the fire in honor of the gods such as Molech. The Bible condemned the practice and several Israelite kings who did so were severely punished by God and king Josiah had to kill the priests of this cult. Thirdly, while religion was an integral part of the society and family unit, ANE religions had no a holiness code. For instance, there were temple prostitutes in the cults of Sumer and Babylon and Yahweh condemned such practices. The Hebrews had to teach their children to fear God, abstain from adultery and fornication in the fear of God. Fourthly, Yahweh chose his people to worship him unlike in the religions that surrounded the Hebrews where people had to chose a god to worship.

Interestingly, there appear to be some similarities in the ANE religions and the biblical view of worship presented in the Hebrew Scriptures. For instance, the idea of animal sacrifice, in particular, the use of sheep as the choice animal of sacrifice is present among the Hebrews. Sacrifices and offerings of grains, animals, and the firstfruits are also similar. The critical difference lies in the purposes, motives, and to whom these sacrifices were done too. Another difference is that people in ANE worshipped their gods out of fear or coercion. They sought to please the gods so that favors could be dispensed to them. Interestingly, the Bible makes it clear that Yahweh cares for all his creation, the good and the bad – all derive their livelihood from him. The fear that the Bible teaches is a reverential fear that is conditioned by love. Unlike in pagan religions, it is not a fear-conditioned by the negative repercussions of an angry god whom one has deprived of worship.

The biblical God does not give into marriage and is not a sex maniac like the pagan gods who have festivals for sex made for them in their temples e.g. Baal, Merodach, Assur, etc. Nowhere did Yahweh ever hinted of his wife except that He has a son (Proverbs 30) which the New Testament says is begotten of the Father (John 3). The ANE religions do not provide salvation. Their major focus was in dispensing goodwill and fortitude to the worshippers. The biblical God seeks to save humanity from sin through his son Jesus Christ for which animal sacrifices and offerings prefigured. While there is no record of a mutual fellowship between the gods and the people, the biblical God seeks to tabernacle among His people and be with them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it has been the purpose of this brief paper to show that there are several underlying assumptions in the ANE religion, and that the Hebrew Scriptures also shows the effects and influence of ANE religion and the consequences of meddling in it and how there are some critical differences between the biblical worldview and that of the ANE. Where the ANE religion is compared with the Bible, the Bible’s view is far more superior.

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References

Oppenheim, A. Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago, IL:   University of Chicago Press, 1974.

Pinches, Theophilus G. The Religions of Babylonia and Assyria, London:    University College, undated.

Frankfort, Henri. Kingship and the Gods: a study of Ancient Near Eastern   Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature, Chicago: The       University of Chicago Press, 1978.

Wolkstein, Diane, and Kramer, Samuel Noah. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and          Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, Harper & Row: New York,       1983.

[1] Mac Lynn, MRS 101 The Ancient Near East, a class module taught at Nations University, p.8.

[2] See http://www.sarissa.org/sumer/sumer_s.php

[3] Ibid.

[4] The Sumerians served the sun God Utu, Dumuzi was the god of nature, Enil, god air, Tiamat, the god of chaos, etc.

[5] See a discussion in Henri Frankfort, Kingship, and the Gods: a study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 1978, page(s).

[6] See http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/ancientmiddleeastreligion1.htm