"We know that Canaanite prophets were organized in guilds centered on the larger sanctuaries, as, for example, 'the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred,' with whom Elijah had memorable dealings on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).
Similarly, Israelite cultic prophets were to be found in and around the sanctuaries, roving about in rowdy troops, working themselves up into frenzies by dancing and music, and uttering semi-coherent oracles which the credulous accepted as divinely inspired." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday Life in the Old Testament, p. 221, Scribners)
When Omri became king he wanted to cement relations between Israel and Phoenicia and arranged for his son, Ahab, to marry Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre.
Ahab brought Jezebel to Samaria and built a "temple of Baal," with an image of Asherah, the mother goddess (1 Kings 16:32-33). The Baal was Baal-Melkart who was the official god of Tyre.
"The Canaanite Baalism which had been practiced since Israel came into the land now had an official sponsor at the highest levels of power. Jezebel was not content to worship in her private temple but imported hundreds of prophets and put them on the public payroll just as God had warned. She went further to kill the prophets and tear down the altars for the worship of God. She was typical of the foreign wives who brought ecstatic worship into the nation of Israel and Judah. Of her it is said--
"But Jezebel was not content with maintaining a private shrine where she herself might practice her own religion; she appears to have organized the worship of Melqart on a fairly large scale and maintained a large staff of cultic officials, who enjoyed positions of influence at court. The worship of Melqart was essentially Canaanite in character, and its introduction into Israel led to a great revival of Canaanite worship of Baal and Asherah." (Bruce, Israel, p. 44).
"... the violent dance which, as it went on, induced a frenzy... in Hebrew it generally means 'to limp,' which is... to 'bend the knee or the ankle.' A passage from the Greek novelist Heliodorus tells us more about these actions. He describes a feast at which Tyrian sailors made celebrations for their god Herakles:after the banquet they danced to music in the Syrian fashion, 'Now they leap spiritedly into the air, now they bend their knews to the ground and revolve on them like persons possessed.'"
"Now compare with the passage in 1 K 19:18 where God promises Elijah that he will spare 'those who have not bent the knee before Baal.'... This also explains Elijah's reproach in 1 K 18:21 where he accuses those who would serve both Baal and Yahweh at the same time of 'hobbling first on one leg, then on the other." (de Vaux, p. 241).
"All these texts point, explicitly or implicitly, to the fact that the dance had a musical accompaniment. Even though the Bible makes no mention of it we must assume that the movements of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel were made with an accompaniment on certain musical instruments... There is an obvious satirical intent in the biblical story and we could find no better illustration of a similar attitude than a rather curious bas-relief in the Museo delle Terme in Rome which derides a ceremony of Isis. In front of a row of images of the gods, men and women are dancing with grotesque contortions; their knees are all bent their heads thrown back and their arms upraised;
they are holding castanets or the double flute. An aged choirmaster and a group of spectators mark time by clapping their hands." (de Vaux, p. 242).
The relligion of the first century Jews in the temple was under the "kings" while the religion of the people was practiced "outside the camp" and in the synagogues. This was like the ancient contest between Jezebel and God. She had taken the civil kingdom by force and was attempting to force her own pagan religious "kingdom" on Israel. God sent Elijah to speak the quiet words to do battle with the agents of force.
Therefore, Matthew wrote:
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. Matthew 11:12NIV
And from the time John the Baptist began preaching and baptizing until now, ardent multitudes have been crowding toward the Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew 11:12LIV
Jesus makes this connection to show that the agents of force were identical to the agents of Jezebel:
- For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Matthew 11:13
- And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. Matthew 11:14
- He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15
After identifying John the Baptist as the anti-type of Elijah, Jesus identified the Jews and especially the hired clergy as fulfilling the type of Jezebel and her prophets (singers, instrument players and dancers)
But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, Matthew 11:16
And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. Matthew 11:17
Scholars note that the worship in the temple in Jerusalem was quite identical to that of Baal in many respects:
"We have evidence of ritual dances in the context of other Syrian cults. One of the Ras Shamra poems, in a passage...mentions mrqdm 'dancers' apparently in connection with a sacrifice. Herodian depicts Heliogabalus at a sacrifice to his god of Emesa, 'dancing round the altars to the sound of every kind of musical instrument; with him certain women of his country performed a sprightly round, with cymbals and tambourines in their hands. At Dair ee-Qala'a, near Beirut, there was a sanctuary dedicated to Baal-Marqod, 'Baal of the Dance' whose cult evidently involved dancing. An inscription relating to the sanctuary mentions a deuterostates, a technical word for one who stands in the back row of the choir." (de Vaux, p. 241).
"This is how Apuleius describes the cortege of the Syrian goddess '...they began to howl all out of tune and hurl themselves hither and thither, as though they were mad. They made a thousand gestures with their feet and their heads; they would bend down their necks and spin round so that their hair flew out in a circle; they would bite their own flesh; finally, every one took his two-edged weapon and wounded his arms in divers places." ( de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 242)
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. Matthew 11:18
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children (Translated:"you are liars.") Matthew 11:19
We noted above that Judas' hanging himself is consistent with the "prophets of Asherah" who wounded, emasculated or even killed themselves as a way to "arouse the gods. The prophecy of Psalm 41 is that Judas would not triumph over God Incarnated as Jesus and that "triumph over" is to blow wind instruments and make a loud noise of rejoicing or weeping. Now, the Judas Bag is for carrying the mouth pieces of wind instruments. You can see the leopord- or fawn-spotted flute case and the little box or bag on the side is the Judas bag. The worship of the eternal wine-god demanded eating and drinking. Jesus said: "You are liars."
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Matthew 11:25
Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. Matthew 11:26
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Matthew 11:27
The Baal or Dionysus worshipers believed that the gods would reveal themselves to anyone who could "make themselves vile" (i.e. the praise of David) with a new wineskin religion including musical praise. We noted that Isaiah said that Messiah would not be attracted by sight or sound. And Jesus puts the revealing of Himself solely in Himself.
Because the Jewish worship was often an attempt to force God to arouse Himself or to awaken and come and meet their needs, if we can hear Jesus we will hear His warning against force to continue to fit the model of Baal worship. which, in turn, was merged with the "like the nations" temple worship demanded by Israel and certainly practiced in the temple in Jerusalem:
"The priest stands on the threshold (of the temple) and awakens the god calling to him in the Egyptian language." This is how Arnobius mocks the ritual of Isis:' Why these revels you sing each morning to awaken him, accompanying your songs on the flute? Do the gods go to sleep, then, that they need to be awakened?' At Delphi the Thyads went to waken the young Dionysus, just as at Rhodes Bacchus woke gently from his sleep to the sound of the hydraulic organ." (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 246).
"We even have a mention at a later date of a similar custom in connection with the cult in Jerusalem, where certain Levites, called me'oreim, 'arousers,' sang (every morning?) this verse from Ps 44:23: "Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever."
The Talmud tells us that John Hyrcanus suppressed the practice because it recalled too readily a pagan custom." (de Vaux, p. 247).
"A similar practice is attested in connection with the cult of Herakles-Melkart. According to Menander, as he is quoted by Josephus, the king Hiram, who was a contemporary of Solomon, rebuilt the temples of Tyre and, 'he was the first to celebrate the awakening of Heracles in the month of Peritius. It is very likely that an inscription from Amman contains a reference to an 'arouser' of Herakles... In an inscription from Cyprus... there are references to important personages who bear the title Mqm'lm which we can translate as 'arouser of god."
"The Hithpa'el of nb', in the ancient texts, refers to ecstasy and delirium rather than to the emission of a 'prophecy,' 1 Sam. 10:5; 18:10; 19:20f). (de Vaux, p. 243)
After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: 1 Sam 10:5
And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned (perverted) into another man. 1 Sam 10:6
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Sauls hand.18:10
And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 1 Sam 19:20
"The 'arousers' of Melkart referred to in the Carthaginian inscriptions are very important personages who are usually suffetes, i.e. supreme executive magistrates of the republic, perhaps even the heads of the state. At Tyre, we are told by Menander, that the office was filled, or at least was filled for the first time, by the king in person." (de Vaux, p. 249).
Later, the king of Tyre as the earthly agent of Lucifer would repeat this:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king:after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Isaiah 23:15
"Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. Isaiah 23:16
David praises God in a very similar way but turns the practice away from self-inflicted wounds to demand that God cut his enemies:
Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, Psa 149:3-7
Remember that when Israel "fired" God as
their Theocratic ruler they were forced to rely on their own
effort. As a result, the people were put into virtual
slavery -- as God promised -- and what they called worship
was actually defined by falling prostrate.
The Psalmist agreed:
THE Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalm 23:
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2To lie down in Hebrew is:
Rabac (h7257) raw-bats'; a prim. root; to crouch (on all four legs folded, like a recumbent animal); by impl. to recline, repose, brood, lurk, imbed:- crouch (down), fall down, make a fold, lay, (cause to, make to) lie (down), make to rest, sit.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake. Psalm 23:3
Leadeth is:
Nahal (h5095) naw-hal'; a prim. root; prop. to run with a sparkle, i. e. flow; hence (trans.) to conduct, and (by infer.) to protect, sustain:- carry, feed, guide, lead (gently, on).
Still is:
Menuwchah (h4496) men-oo-khaw'; fem. of 4494; repose or (adv.) peacefully; fig. consolation (spec. matrimony); hence (concr.) an abode:- comfortable, ease, quiet, rest (- ing place), still
That means, "stay at home with God and your family."
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Psalm 23:5
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Psalm 23:6
That and not make work rituals and programs is the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ who came to tear down our reliance on "place" as worship and to give us the rest which is the only way you can meet with God in His Holy Temple.
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath (spirit) at all in the midst of it. Hab 2:19
But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. Hab 2:20
This is what Jesus made a key to the gospel:
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Jn. 4:23
God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Jn. 4:24
This is what Jesus practiced:
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. Luke 10:21
Fred Peatross: Clapping and Raising hands.
Heredotus and Hand Clapping: Background to Mount Sinai
Hand Clapping to Replace the Amen: Rubel Shelly
Escaping God's Grace into Legalism: the Musical Burden
Christ Died To Give us Rest
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