BBS Samaritan Worship
Introduction
We begin with the fallacious idea
that Judaism and Samaritanism have a least common denominator. They do have a least common denominator,
zero, one cannot divide by zero. The claim
of commonality defies all of the real historic evidence, so we should disabuse
ourselves of this idea immediately.
The expression of activities at
Castle Tel Rehov are accurate enough, yet the analysis leaps to unwarranted
conclusions. Much more evidence is
necessary to develop a case for Canaanite-Israelite compromise, and that
evidence is biblical. We can only learn
so much from speechless clay figurines, but the biblical evidence comes with
its own built in provenance, and detailed, elaborate descriptions. In any case, Castle Tel Rehov is not Castle
Jerusalem, and their activities are not even similar. The principle difference between Castle Tel
Rehov and Castle Jerusalem is neither the king, nor the Temple; rather, the
difference depends on the Covenant, and even more on Yahweh, the giver of the
Covenant alone: there is no Covenant with Tel Rehov, nor will Yahweh meet His
people there.
Two significant advances of our
understanding of the Covenant have been provided. The Covenant is immortalized in the king’s
Son. The Covenant has been hopelessly
crushed out of existence. I spite of
these things the Covenant claims to remain mysteriously in effect.
Once again, BBS has failed to make
its case. The specific monotheism
authorized and specified by Yahweh is under attach: yet it has existed from the
ages of ages, and is not in the process of invention by men.
Script[1]
Samaritan
Worship (time 1:20:10)
N: And the ancient Israelites believed their
God demanded a very specific form of worship.[2] Evidence of this survives today on Mount
Gerizim in Palestine. The Samaritans who
live here claim direct descent from the ancient tribes of Israel. According to their tradition for over twenty-five
hundred years, they’ve been practicing the ancient Israelite form of worship,
animal sacrifice.[3]
Branham: The primary function is to make a
connection between our mundane world and the divine world. And the means for the ancient Israelites is
embodied in blood. Blood is the most
sacred substance on the altar. And blood
is the substance that embodies life. So
it is the most precious substance in the human world.[4]
N: But while the priests were offering
sacrifice to Yahweh in the Temple, many Israelites were not as loyal. At Tel Rehov[5] archaeologists are digging
in an Israelite House[6] that illuminates the religious
practices of its ancient inhabitants.
Amihai Mazar:[7] Well we just found this
beautiful exceptional clay figurine showing a goddess, a fertility goddess that
was worshipped here in Israel. Here in
this case she is shown holding a baby.[8]
N: Who is this fertility goddess? And what is a pagan idol doing in an
Israelite[9] home? Dramatic evidence as to her possible identity
first surfaced in 1958. Bill Dever was
carrying out salvage excavations in tombs in southern Israel, when a local
brought him an inscription that had been robbed from one of them.
Dever: When I got home and dusted it off, I
thought I was going to have a heart attack.
Executed in clear eighth century script, was the tomb inscription and it
just gives the name of the deceased and says, Blessed may X be by Yahweh,
that’s good biblical Hebrew; but is says by Yahweh and His Asherah, and Asherah
is the name of the old Canaanite mother goddess.[10]
N: More inscriptions associating Yahweh and
Asherah have been discovered: thousands of figurines unearthed throughout
Israel.[11] Many scholars believe this is the face of
Asherah. Dever concludes, God had a
wife.[12] Even hundreds of years after the Israelites rise
from their Canaanite pagan roots, monotheism has still not completely taken
hold.[13]
Dever: This is awkward for some people. The notion that Israelite religion was not exclusively
monotheistic; but we know now that it wasn’t.[14]
N: The Bible admits[15] that Israelites continue
to worship Asherah and other Canaanite gods, such as Ba’al. In fact the Prophets, holy men speaking in
the name of God, consistently rail against breaking the covenant made with
Moses, to worship only Yahweh.
R: “The more I called them, the more they went from Me; they
kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols.” — Hosea 11:2
Coogan: The Israelites had made a contract
with God.[16] If they kept it, God would reward them. If they broke it, He would punish them. He would punish them by using foreign powers
against them.
Covenant
Yahweh’s Covenant with Noah guaranteed
that annihilation by flood would not be used again to cleanse the world of sin.[17] Sin develops to a point when those who
believe in God, are threatened with becoming overwhelmed by sin and the
corrupted world. We who believe have the
promise of God that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear.[18] When such a threat looms, is when God intervenes.[19] God does not desire the death of the wicked,
he desires their repentance.[20] Yet, when the wicked threaten to overwhelm
believers, He destroys the wicked rather than letting believers fall into gross
sin. The wicked commonly believe that
God has no such right to destroy His own creation; so they commonly accuse God
of wrongdoing, of being a wicked God.[21]
Yahweh’s Covenant with Abraham
expanded the Eternal or Everlasting Covenant, guaranteeing to Abraham that
redemption, salvation history would increase his family to embrace a vast
multitude of people from every ethnicity, language, and nation, from all over
the world. Key to this promise is the
birth of a son.[22]
Yahweh’s Covenant with Moses
expanded the Eternal or Everlasting Covenant again, breaking the chains of
Egyptian slavery, and establishing a new nation, bound by Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex
Vivendi.[23] The Decalogue contains that which primarily
prohibits slavery: either to demons, idols, or other gods, on the one hand; and
on the other hand, slavery to humans in any form. The Yahweh provided remedy to all slavery is
right worship; so, from Exodus 20 through Leviticus, elaborate detail, a Lex
Orandi is provided. This Lex Orandi centers
around three major feasts: Passover (Pesakh), Weeks (Shavuot), and Tabernacles (Sukkōt). Passover is
about sacrifice for sin and looks for redemption in the death of the Son,
symbolized by the innocent lamb.[24] Weeks celebrates the blessing of Yahweh that
comes from the giving of the Law in its perfect fulfillment. Two things are learned in Tabernacles: after
forty years in the wilderness, the unbelieving are stripped from the
congregation; after forty years in the wilderness, the believing learn that no
one enters the promised rest of Yahweh without a life of hardship and
suffering: the road to bliss is through the dessert. It is the road of tribulation that hammers out
the real Lex Credendi,[25] leading
to Lex Vivendi. Anyone can believe on a
perfect day, basking in the beauty of the mountain tops, soaring with the
eagles. Yahweh wants us to believe
because we have endured the terrifying tempest, and learned to give thanks for
it. This Lex Orandi also provides for an
order of confession, absolution, forgiveness, and restoration; restitution is
also required; as well as punishment for gross or heinous sin.
Yahweh’s Covenant with David
expanded the Eternal or Everlasting Covenant, promising an Eternal Son.
Say to My servant David,
“Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“I took you from the
sheep-pen, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over
Israel. I was with you wherever you
went. I have cut off all your enemies from
your sight. I have made a great reputation
for you, like the reputation of the great men of the earth.
“Moreover, I will appoint
a place for My people Israel. I will
plant them, so that they may dwell in a place of their own, and wander no more;
nor shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore, as they used to
afflict them, since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people
Israel. I have also caused you to rest
from all your enemies.
“So the Lord tells you that He will make you a
house. When your days are complete, and you
sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall come
from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My Name, and I
will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My Son.
If He commit iniquity, I will punish Him
with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: yet My mercy
shall not depart from Him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be
established forever before you. Your throne
shall be established forever.[26]
Obviously, Solomon and all his
successors failed to be this Son. Each
of them was an icon of the Son; yet none was the true Son. So in 586 the kingdom comes to an abrupt end
in a great mystery. It appears that
Yahweh failed to uphold His end of the Covenant.[27] Not one of the kings of Israel or Judea
upheld the Covenant; yet some did better than others.[28]
Coogan’s analysis of this Covenant
development throughout the history of Israel-Judea from Noah onward trivializes
the whole subject. The central issues
are not a carrot and stick approach to religion. It is true that there are specified rewards
and punishments for behavior. That being
said, such incentives clearly have the intent of bringing about the maturity of
Yahweh’s children Israel-Judah. The
incentives are never an end in themselves: they are not the point of the
Covenant, which has yet to be completely revealed. Coogan wants us to rush past this Covenant
without giving it serious consideration.
What Coogan minimizes is the heart of the issue.
Monotheism
It is true that prior to 586 both
the Israelites and the Jews were unfaithful to Yahweh. By the same token we must be clear that there
were other forms of monotheism or henotheism in the world: there were many people
who were devotees of only one idol, even as there are today. We are not interested in those forms of
monotheism, which we have ourselves created: gods in the image and likeness of
man. We are only interested in that
monotheism which Yahweh has offered to us in free conversation and fellowship. So any form of monotheism that does not
originate in the Lex
Orandi that Yahweh has established is of no interest to us: it simply does not
square with the rest of the evidence.
On the other hand, monotheism is a perverse kind of
evidence: it readily shows how eagerly the human race runs away from Yahweh,
how eagerly the human race choses its own broad path. That being said, this pagan evidence does not
show that monotheism is the new “next best thing.” What it actually suggests by its repeated
path of degradation, is Adam and Eve started with a pure conversation begun by
Yahweh: a conversation from which they and their children rapidly strayed.
If the monotheism that supposedly develops after 516 were
the pure monotheism of Yahweh, and humanity was really bent on growth toward
glory, we would expect to see Judaism blossom into that perfect glory which
fills the world. Instead, we see a
deterioration into petty conflict,[29] and one
superficial kingdom after another throughout the period of Maccabees until at
last Judea becomes the vassal state of Edom, and via the puppet Edom, the
vassal state of Rome.[30] History returns full cycle to the irony of
Genesis 36: for Herod is an Idumaean (Edomite-Arabic mix), and
the temple he builds is an Idumaean temple.
So the lapses of the Israelites
throughout Judges (1396-1010); continue to plague David throughout his reign
(1010-970); overtake and pervert Solomon (970-930); divide the kingdom
(930-925); destroy Israel (925-722); destroy Judea (925-586); and never cease
from then unto this very day. The clay
figurines may be gone. Nevertheless, the
shrewdness of idolatry has only become more clever and devious. The evidence reveals that this is no sort of
monotheism worthy of the name. Yahweh’s Lex Orandi, however, continues
from Moses, with roots reaching back to Adam and Eve.
This Lex Orandi, this Lex Credendi, this Lex Vivendi
has nothing in common with Mount Gerizim or neo-modern Samaritan
worship,[31] which is simply more of
god in the image and likeness of man. The
one is born from human willfulness. The
other is born from gentle humble submission.
The distance between them is stellar, cosmic, infinite. They could not possibly more opposite. The Samaritans are not Israelites, any more
than Herod is a Jew. If the whole world
were filled with the blood of Samaritan sacrifices it would not suffice to
bridge the gap between Samaritanism and sincere Yahweh worship. That being said, the gap between Judaism and
sincere Yahweh worship is every bit as wide.
Fortunately, Yahweh still loves His children and has a solution; Yahweh
Himself will bridge the gap.
Conclusion
We begin with the fallacious idea
that Judaism and Samaritanism have a least common denominator. They do have a least common denominator,
zero, one cannot divide by zero. The
claim of commonality defies all of the real historic evidence, so we should
disabuse ourselves of this idea immediately.
The expression of activities at
Castle Tel Rehov are accurate enough, yet the analysis leaps to unwarranted conclusions. Much more evidence is necessary to develop a
case for Canaanite-Israelite compromise, and that evidence is biblical. We can only learn so much from speechless
clay figurines, but the biblical evidence comes with its own built in
provenance, and detailed, elaborate descriptions. In any case, Castle Tel Rehov is not Castle
Jerusalem, and their activities are not even similar. The principle difference between Castle Tel
Rehov and Castle Jerusalem is neither the king, nor the Temple; rather, the difference
depends on the Covenant, and even more on Yahweh, the giver of the Covenant alone:
there is no Covenant with Tel Rehov, nor will Yahweh meet His people there.
Two significant advances of our
understanding of the Covenant have been provided. The Covenant is immortalized in the king’s
Son. The Covenant has been hopelessly crushed
out of existence. I spite of these
things the Covenant claims to remain mysteriously in effect.
Once again, BBS has failed to make
its case. The specific monotheism authorized
and specified by Yahweh is under attach: yet it has existed from the ages of
ages, and is not in the process of invention by men.
[1]
What is for the most part an exact copy of the script, follows. There are a few places where individual
speakers could neither be heard nor understood: for this we apologize. Every effort was made to be precise: there
were just spots that defeated us. Since
this is a quote in its entirety it seemed unnecessary to mark it with quotation
marks. The notation for each speaker is
tedious enough: Narrator, Reader, etc.
If you discover bothersome errors please reply to this Blog and point
them out. You may verify the script more
easily by starting to replay it where the “time” stamps indicate discussion
begins. The second of these links is
free from advertising and thus easier to use.
This blog is found at:
http://swantec-oti.blogspot.com/
[2]
This is because Yahweh did demand a very specific form of worship which He
spelled out in elaborate detail.
[3]
Everyone roughly familiar with the record of Kings from 1 Kings 11 onward; or Chronicles
from 2 Chronicles 10 onward; as well as Ezra and Nehemiah knows that this is
not historically accurate.
·
The Israelites abandoned
the worship of Yahweh shortly after Solomon’s death in 930, as Jeroboam I
quickly moved to establish idolatrous cult centers to keep Israelites from
going to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:26-33).
·
In the days of Ahab, Israel
was so deeply involved in Baal worship that the prophet Elijah fled for his
life (1 Kings, Chapters 18 and 19).
·
In 722 the Assyrians came
against Israel and deported the Israelites, distributing them throughout the
Assyrian Empire. Only a handful of
Israelites remained in Israel, foreigners were imported, the Israelites lost
their tribal identities, and became a pagan people. The only Israelites that retained their
identities were those who had long since found asylum in Judea (2 Kings 17).
·
In 586 the Babylonians also
came and removed Judea.
·
In 516 when the Jews
returned from Babylon they were bitterly opposed by the Samaritans (Ezra 4, for
example).
·
When Jesus speaks with the
Samaritan woman it is clear that there worship is incorrect and strange (John
4)
We conclude that the Samaritan religion developed in a very
uncertain way and completely out of accord with anything in Judaism. Moreover, they continue with an emphasis on
animal sacrifice which is also foreign to Judaism, and long after the Jews had
ceased the practice. Already, in Psalms
we discover that the practice of animal sacrifice is already waning; it was
never more than a temporary typology, destined to be replaced by its living
reality. We don’t know exactly how or
when the Samaritans invented their new religion; but it was clearly not derived
from Judaism, or the worship of Yahweh at Jerusalem. Twenty-five hundred years indicates that it
was invented circa 485, after the return of the Jews from Babylon. Still, Jesus does take the time to bring them
into the true worship of Yahweh.
[4]
Surely, blood is a sacred substance.
That being said, it is not animal blood on the Mercy Seat that concerns
us; but rather the blood of Christ. It
is the blood of Christ alone which is the most sacred substance on earth. It is not the embodiment of life that
matters; but rather the embodiment of the life of Christ in us, that matters.
[5]
Tel Rehov is a tiny town, perhaps really a small castle or fort of slightly
more than 29 acres, hardly more than a small farm field, located near the east
end of the Valley of Jezreel (Jezreel is the site of Armageddon). It was attacked by Thutmose III (1487-1433)
and Shoshenq I (943-922). Thutmose,
being Mizraim (Egyptian), was most likely intent on driving the Nuhašše (Syrians) and Hatti (Hittites, central
Anatolia) away from his northern line of defense. Shoshenq, being Meshwesh, probably
desired to support Jeroboam I, helping to establish Jeroboam’s control of the northern line of defense. Thutmose is establishing his allies,
the Canaanites. Shoshenq is driving out
the Canaanites to establish Jeroboam and the Israelites, who were his allies. In between Thutmose and Shoshenq, towns like
this are occupied by a Canaanite-Israelite mix: for as the biblical record
faithfully shows us, the Israelites failed to drive them out (Joshua 13:13;
15:63; Judges 1:1-2:5, especially 1:31).
See also Numbers 13:21 (northern excursion of the spies); Joshua 19:28
(Asher’s border), 30 (Asher’s city); 21:31 (appointment as a Levitical city); 2
Samuel 8:3, 12 (David fought against Hadadezer in this
region); 10:8 (David fights the Ammonites and Syrians here); 1 Chronicles 6:75 (from
which we learn the shame that Rehov was a Levitical city).
It is possibly more significant that the Bible names Hadadezer, than that the Tel Dan Stele names David.
[6] That
it is or is not an Israelite House is an assumption that presumes the
conclusion. This could equally well be a
Canaanite house. We should remember that
a good number of Israelites still lived in tents at 1010 BC (Jeremiah 35).
[7]
Amihai Mazar (1942 …), Israeli archaeologist
at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Works: Tel Qasile, Tel Batash (Timnah, 1977-1989), Bet She’an
(1989-1996), Tel Rehov (1997 …). Eilat’s
Cousin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amihai_Mazar
[8]
This verifies the message of the latter prophets writing after 1000. If the message of the prophets is verified by
thousands of figurines found even in Jerusalem prior to 722 and prior to 586,
how is it that all the prophets preached from a law that did not yet
exist? If D (600) does not write until
after 722, how did Hosea preach from the law in the eighth century since the
law was not finalized until after 516?
How does he have such a high regard for a Torah, which does not yet
exist? How can the Psalms, many of which
are directly attributed to David, exist in part, beginning from the before the
tenth century; how can the Psalms be a collection of odes to Torah, which does
not yet exist?
Without the biblical information provided, we would have no
reason to suspect that this piece of pottery was anything more than an innocent
piece of art, much like a Dresden Madonna with child would be to us; or a
child’s toy, like a china doll. The mere
existence of this pottery does not show that this home had and used an idol
shelf, or that the woman portrayed is specifically Ishtar (Astarte). The prohibition is against “making any graven
image for yourself;” which is to say for your own private worship. This is not a general prohibition against all
art and beauty. We know from archaeology
that this object exists; we do not know how it was used. The probability of use comes exclusively from
biblical information about towns like Rehov, and about general Israelite
behavior in the region. Jeroboam I is
clearly breaking this commandment.
However, everyone who owns an object of art is not clearly breaking this
commandment. We must be careful not to
condemn, what Scripture does not condemn.
Excess scrupulosity leads to a harshness of religion which is equally
against the law: it is a form of false witness.
The Law calls us to freedom.
[9]
This is using a generic name to support an entirely subjective
speculation. An architectural style is
used to form conclusions about the people who lived there, then further
assumptions are made about the uses of objects found there. We know that the Israelites were deeply
involved from direct descriptions of their behavior in the Bible, particularly
among the latter prophets. These biblical
descriptions explain and support the idea that the figurine is probably an
idol, and not some innocent household decoration: not the other way around.
[10]
This proves nothing. This simply affirms
what we already knew from the Bible all along.
What this does indicate, consistent with Israelite practice from
Jeroboam I onward, is that Israelites worshipped Baal, calling him by the
sacred name Yahweh.
The word tomb leads us to suspect, what Dever is not telling
us, that this stolen tomb inscription actually came from the valley tombs, just
outside of Jerusalem; or else from tombs at Gezer, where he has worked. The supposed date and location tell us that
we must be careful in drawing inferences: neither Gezer nor Jerusalem are Tel
Rehov; the specific forms of idolatry are similar, yet not identical. On the other hand, the geography reinforces
the idea that such idolatry was widespread.
Although, we already knew that from reading the prophets….
[11]
We do understand that such idols and images are found all over Israel and
Judea, and even in Jerusalem. This the
prophets affirm (Ezekiel 9:4). In
fairness to the Jews, we must admit that some of these objects may have been
carried in after the Jews were deported to Babylon. What Ezekiel and the prophets affirm by the
record of mourning and weeping is that monotheism was nothing new in 586; it
was certainly not the invention of 500.
[12]
Of course God has a wife, His people Israel-Judah. The problem is that she, is committing open,
flagrant acts of adultery, not merely fornication, adultery with another. The pagan world fornicates with
idolatry. The believing people commit adultery.
[13]
From what was monotheism to take hold in the eighth century since, according to
Dever, no Torah was in existence to require it?
Even the rare presence of monotheism in the eighth century, establishes
the fact of Torah, already in existence.
The Bible thoroughly documents Israel’s corruption in pagan idolatry,
beginning shortly after 930 and Judea’s swift punishment in the matter at the
hand of Shishak (1 Kings 11:40; 14:25; 2 Chronicles 12:2, 5, 7, 9; see also
Isaiah 10:24, 26). For what was Judea
punished in 925 if there was no law? Why
was Israel’s worship considered perverted if there was no Torah to require
it? Why was a temple built in Jerusalem
if there was no Torah to require it? Why
are the Samaritans emulating a Torah and worship which does not exist until
after the second temple?
[14]
What is awkward about this is that our ignorance of the Old Testament is so
deep, and so profound that Dever is able to contort the truth and change it
into a lie. He takes what the Bible
openly declares and makes it seem as if he has just discovered it.
[15]
This is a gross understatement.
Persistently condemn would be a more accurate description. Elijah had four hundred fifty prophets of
Ba’al and four hundred prophets of Asherah slaughtered (1 Kings 18). Hosea delivers a blistering and scathing
condemnation of Israel, which compares Israel to a prostitute who is so loose
that she can’t even maintain fidelity while she works out her fee: in this
portrayal, Hosea is compelled to painfully act out the role of God
(Hosea). In Zechariah 3 the high priest
must be cleansed because he wears excrement stained garments. Each of the kings of Israel, the northern
kingdom, is characterized as being worse than his predecessor: it is plainly
stated that these kings led the multiple practices of idolatry (for example 1
Kings 14:16). Of the kings of Judea,
only about half are considered less than wicked. The altar at Bethel was itself condemned
along with Jeroboam I (1 Kings 13).
Jezebel was thrown from a window to her death, trampled by horses, and
eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9). How can these
be styled as, “The Bible admits”? Only a
person who has never read the Old Testament would make such a limp statement
seriously: not in sarcasm.
[16]
How and when, since in Coogan’s view, such a contact could not have been
finalized or firmed before 516. Coogan
does not disclose any understanding of this covenant.
[22]
Genesis 22:1-18, this is better translated, “God did test Abraham.” The word tempt sometimes used here conveys
the wrong idea.
[24]
Just as Yahweh provided a substitute for Isaac, so that Abraham could be
spared; now Yahweh provided a substitute for all the children of Israel: even
so, the day is coming when there will no longer be a suitable substitute. The future death of the Son is a prophetic
inevitability.
[25]
The common understanding of faith is trivial, easy believism, a path to heaven
on “flowery beds of ease;” a life marked by “health, wealth, and
happiness.” Nevertheless, the root word
for faith is the same as the root for pathology, which tells us what real faith
costs: namely, walking with Yahweh through the harsh experiences of life, a
mixture of joy and tears, pain and pleasure, all leading to the rigors of
death. Real faith is not so easily
acquired as believing that 1 + 1 = 2.
[27]
The great hymnologist and epic poet, Ethan the Ezrahite gives us a heart
rending analysis of this collapse in Psalm 89.
After the Covenant has been crushed out of all evident existence,
Jeremiah adds his epitaph to the gravestone of Judea in Jeremiah 33, especially
verses 6-8, 11, 14-17, 20-21, 28-26. And
St. John the Evangelist writes John 1:11.
[28]
We pause the discussion of the Covenant here, because this is the place at
which we have arrived in Israelite-Judean history. Even so, we are far from having reached the
end of our pilgrimage.
[31]
Samaritanism (485) generates the illusion of great age. In reality it is not as old as Judaism
(516). It has no roots in Moses
(1406-1366). Samaritanism is a modern
invention.
[32] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations,
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