Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Why is Yahweh's mother particularly denegrated?

In the religion of the Sea People 4500 years ago, Yahweh was one of the seventy sons of Elyon and his consort, Asherah, along with the other god-like sons such as Ba'al and Dagon. That family, the Ugritic pantheon, created the world in Genesis 1: they are the Elohim, the "sons of El". But then Yahweh became the tribal god of the Israeites, and was a jealous god, demanding that no other gods be worshipped. Yahweh was combined in identity with his father, El, to become the top god, just as Yahweh's son, Jesus, was later combined with him. Genesis 2 attributes all of creation of Yahweh alone. Yahweh's brothers were demonized. But Yahweh's mother, Asherah, was particularly denegrated. Her images were forbidden, and her presence in temples was essentially just erased. She essentially disappeared.

No comments:

Post a Comment