Wenamon, Wenamun, Wen-Amun, Wen-Amon,
Amun-Re - Lucifer at Tyre
See Tom Burgess Appealing to Plutarch's Moralia for definition of the Greek Psallo
See Charismatic Worship
See Charismatic Music
Ramesses XI (Menmaatresetepenptah)1099-1069 B.C. 20th Dynasty
Ramesses XI was the tenth and the last king of the Twentieth Dynasty as well as the New Kingdom. The reign of this king was a period of turmoil. Ramesses was not a very energetic or vital ruler. The viceroy of Nubia, Panehsi, went from Elephantine to Thebes to try to stop the unrest that was arising from contention over the region that was between the high priest of Amon and others. At the same time there was a famine and was called the "Year of the Hyena." Hrihor was left in Thebes by Panehsi to control the affairs there. He soon assumed the role of the high priest of Amon and eventually became the vizier as well. This was the cause of the eventual downfall of Panehsi. Panehsi rebelled and stopped Egypt's domination in Nubia. Hrihor administered the affairs of Egypt while Ramesses XI remained in seclusion. Upon the death of Ramesses, Hrihor and Smendes divided Egypt between themselves. Ramesses was technically pharaoh until his death, but Hrihor was the ruler of Upper Egypt for all practical purposes. Ramesses' death marked the end of the Twentieth Dynasty and the New Kingdom. His tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings.
Wenamon was an official of Ramesses XI (1100-1070 B.C.) who wrote he Report of Wenamon (wenamun), which speaks of life at the time and especially of Tyre and Sidon which were the "commercial prostitutes" cheating and trading slaves, even Hebrews.
About a hundred years before Wenamon, the Egyptians had expelled the Sea People from Egypt and now Egypt was in trouble. The Sea people had settled in Phoenicia. The Wenamon event occurs within a few years of Saul. Within another hundred years Shishak would invade Palestine and remove the wealth from the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 14:25-26) and return it to the temple in Egypt.
Wenamon was sent to Byblos to buy wood for the sacred boat of Amon. He "carried along" a portable idol of Amon-of-the road. He landed in Dor and had his money stolen by a member of the crew. Wen Amon blamed the local government and therefore "appropriated" some money from a local ship as a "hostage" when he arrived in Byblos.
The ruler refused to see Wen Amon for twenty-nine days and finally one of Zakar-Baals had a frenzy of "prophesying" and demanded that they 'listen" to the idol and Wenamon (wenamun).
Not only did they try to deceive Wenamon with music, but Wenamon's idol got some help from a local charismatic prophet who was like the charismatic prophets in Canaan who "prophesied" ecstatically (spoke in unknown tongues) or in the sense of "singing with instrumental music."
Prophets were a common phenomenon in Syria-Palestine. In an Egyptian text (11th century BC), Wen-Amon (a temple official at Karnak) was sent by the pharaoh to Gebal (Byblos) to procure timber. While there, a young noble of that city was seized by his god and in frenzy gave a message to the king of Gebal that the request of Wen-Amon should be honoured. In another instance, an Aramaic inscription from Syria records that the god Baal-shemain told King Zakir (8th century BC) through seers and diviners that he would save the king from his enemies. These chapters reveal the close connection between sacrificial rites and divine inspiration. In the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapters 22-24, the Mesopotamian prophet Balaam (who may have been a mahhu) from Pethor, whom the Moabite king Balak had asked to curse the invading Israelites, is mentioned. In chapter 27, verse 9, of Jeremiah, another Old Testament book, it is said that prophets, diviners, and soothsayers were in the neighbouring countries of Judah: in Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon.
The report of Wenamon
Year five, third month of the third season (eleventh monty), day 16, day of departure of the "eldest of the hall," of the house of Amon, the lord of the lands, Wenamon, to bring the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, King of the gods, which is on the river... called: "Userhet" of Amon.On the day of my arrival at Tanis at the palace of Nesubenebded and Tentamon, I gave to them the writings of Amon-Re, king of the gods, which they caused to be read in their presence; and they said: "I will do it. I will do it acconring to that which Amon-Rey, king of our gods, our lord, saith." I abode until the fourth month of the third season, being in Tanis.
Nesubenebded and Tentamon sent me with the ship-captain, Mengebet, and I descended into the great Syrian sea, in the fourth month of the third season, on the first day. I arrived at Dor, a city of Thekel [a people kindred to the Philistines], and Bedel, its king, caused to be brought for me much bread, a jar of wine, and a joing of beef.
Then a man of my ship fled, having stolen:
- ...[vessels] of gold, [amounting to]-----5 deben
- 4 vessels of silver, amounting to-------20 deben
- a sack of silver----------------------------11 deben
- [Total of what] he [stole]----------------5 deben of gold
- --------------------------------------------- 31 deben of silver
In the morning then I rose and went to the abode of the prince, and said to him: "I have been robbed in thy harbor. Since thou are the king of this land, thou are therefore its investigator, who should search for my money. For the money belongs to Amon-Re, king of the gods, lord of the lands; it beloungs to Nesubenebded, and it belongs to Hrihor, my lord, and the other magnates of Egypt; it belongs also to Weret, and to Mekmel, and to Zakar-Ball, the prince of Byblons" [Gebal]. He said to me: "To thy honor and they excellence! but, behond, I know nothing of this complaint which thou has lodged wit me. If the thief belonged to my land, he who went on board thy ship, that he might steal thy treasure, I would repay it to thee from my treasury till they find thy thief by name; but the thief who robbed thee belongs to thy ship. Tarry a few days here with me, and I will seek him" When I has spent nine days moored in his harbor, I went to him and said to him: "'Behold, thou has not found my money, therefore let me depart with the ship-captain, and with those who go.....the sea. He said to me: "Be silent.......".....the harbor....
[I arrived at] Tyre. I went forth from Tyre at early dawn....Zakar-Baal, the prince of Bibylos [Gebal].
.....the....I found 30 deben of silver therein. I seized it, saying to them: "I will take [your money, and] it shall remain with me until ye find [my money. Was it not a man of Thekel] who stole, and no thief[of ours]? I will take it...... They went away, while I...... [I] arrived... the harbor of Byblos [Gebal]. [I made a place of concealment, I hid] "Amon-the-way," and I placed his things in it. The prince of Byblos sent to me, saying: "Betake thyself from my harbor." I sent him, saying, ".......if they sail, let them take me in Egypt.".....I spent nineteen days in his harbor and he continually sent me daily, saying, "betake thyself from my harbor."
Now, when he sacrificed to his gods...the god seized one of his noble youths, making him frenzied , so that he said:
"Bring [the god] hither! Bring the messenger of Amon who hath him. Send him and let him go."
Now , when the frenzied youth continued in frenzy during this night, I found a ship bound for Egypt, and I loaded all my belongings into it. I waited for the darkness, saying: "When it descends, I will embark the god also, in order that no other eye may see him."
The Harbor-master came to me, saying:" Remain until moring by the prince." I said to him:
"Art not thou he who continually came to me daily, saying ''Betake thyself away from my harbor'? Dost thou not say, 'Remain in the [land'], in order to let depart the ship that I have found? thou that mayest come and say again, 'Away'?
He went and told it to the prince, and the prince sent to the captain of the ship, saying: 'Remain until morning by the king'"
When morning came he sent and had me brought up, when the divining offering occurred in the fortress where he was, on the shore of the sea. I found him sitting in his upper chamber, leaning his back against a window, while the waves of the great Syrian sea bent against the.... behind him. I said to him: "Kindness of Amon!" He said to me:
"How long is it until this day since thou camest away from the abode of Amon? I said: "Five months and one day until now."
He said to me: "Behold thou art true, where is the writing of Amon, which is in thy hand? Where is the letter of the High Priest of Amon, whis is in thy hand?" I said to him: "I gave them to Nesubenebded and Tentamon." Then he was very wroth, and he said to me: "Now, behold, the writing and the letter are not in thy hand! Where is the ship of cedar which Nesubenebded gave to thee? Where is its Syrian creq? He would not deliver thy busines this ship-captain...to have thee killed, that they might cast thee into the sea. From whom would they have sought they god then? And thee, from whom would they have sought thee then?" So he sapke to me. I said to him: "There are indeed Egyptian ships and Egyptian crews who sail under Nesubenebdedd, (bug) he hath no Syrian crews." He said to me: "There are surely twenty ships here in they harbor, which are in connection with Nesubenebded: and at Sidon, whither thou woudst go, there are indeed 10,000 ships also which are in connection with Berket-el and sail to his house."
Then I was silent in this great hour. He answered and said to me: "On what business hast thou come hither?" I said to him: "I have come after the timber of the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods. Thy father did it, thy grandfather did it, and thou wilt also do it." So spake I to him.
He said to me: "They did it, truly. If thou give me something) for doing it, I will do it. Indeed my agents transacted the business; the Pharaoh,....sent six ships, laden with the products of Egypt, and they were unloaded in their sotrehouses. And thou also shalt bring something for me." He had the journal of his fathers brought in, and he had themn read before me. They found 1,000 deben of every 9kind0 of silver, which was in his book.
He said to me: "If the ruler of Egypt were the owner of my property, and I were also his servant, he would not send silver and gold, saying: "Do the command to Amon.' I was not the payment of tribute which they exacted of my father. As for me, I am myself neither thy servant nor am I the servant of him that sent thee. If I cry out to the Lebanon, the heavens open, and the logs lie her on the shore of the sea."
A long speech of Wenamon follows, in which he claims Egypt as the home of civilization, and claims Lebanon for Amon. He then continues:
"Let my scribe be broutht to me, that I may send him to Nesubenebded and Tentamon, the rulers whom Amon hath given to the north of his land, and they will send all that of which I shall brite unto them, saying: "Let it be broutht,' until I return to the south and send thee all thy trifles again." So spake I to him.
He gave me my letter into the hand of his messenger. He loaded in the keel, the head of the bow and the head of the stern, with four other hewn timbers, together seven; and he had them taken to Egypt. His messenger went to Egypt and returned to me, to Syria in the first month of the second season.
- Nesubenebded and Tentamon sent:
- Gold: 4 Tb-vessels, I K'k-mn-vessel;
- Silver: 5 Tb-vessels;
- royal linen: 10 garments, 10 hu-hrd;
- Papyrus: 500 rolls;
- Ox-hides: 500;
- Rope: 500 (coils);
- Lentils; 20 measures;
- Fish: 30 measures;
- She (Tentamon, the Queen) sent me:
- Linen 5........ 5 hu-hrd;
- Lentils: 1 measure;
- Fish: 5 measures.
The prince rejoiced, and detailed 300 men and 300 oxen, placing overseers over them, to have the trees felled. They speant the second season therewith...In the third month of the second season (seventh month) they dragged them [to] the shore of the sea. The prince came forth and stood by them.
He sent to me, saying: "Come." Now, when I had presented myself before him the shadow of his sunshade fell upon me. Penamon, a butler, he stepped between us, saying: "The shadow of Pharaoh....the lord, falls upon thee. He was angry with him, saying: "Let him alone!" I presented myself before him, and he answered and said unto me: "Behold the command which my fathers formerly executed, I have executed, althoug for thy part has not done for me that which they fathers did for me. Behold there has arrived the last of the timber, and there it lies. Do according to my desire and come to load it, for they will indeed give it to thee."
"Come not to template the terror of the sea, (but) if thou doest contemplate the terror of the sea, thou shalt (also) contemplate mine own. Indeed I have not done to thee that which they did to the messengers of Khamwese, when they spent seventeen years in this land. They die in their place." He said to his butler; "Take him, and let him see their tomb, wherein they sleep."
I said to him: "Let menot see it! As for Khamwese, (mere) people were the messengers whom he sent unto thee; but people....there was no [god among] his messenters. And yet thou sayest, "Go dnad see thy companions." Lo art thou not glad? and dost thou not have made for thee a tablet, whereon thou sayest: ;Amon-Re, king of gods, sent to me "amon-the-way," his [djivine] messenger, and Wenamon, his human messenger, after the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods? I felled it, I loaded it, I supplied him (with) my ships and my crews, I broutht them to Egypt, to beseech for me 10,000 years of life from Amon, more than my ordained (life), and it came to pass.' Then in future days when a messenger comes from the land of Egypt, who is able to write, and reads thy name upon the stela, thou shalt receive water in the west, like the gods who are there." He said to me: "It is a great testimony which thou tellest me."
I said to him: "As for the many things which thou has said to me, when I reach the place of the abode of the High Priest of Amon, and he shall see thy command in theey command, [he] will have something delivered to thee."
I went to the shore of the sea, to the place where the timbers lay; I spied eleven ships, coming from the sea, belonging to the Thekel, saying: "Arrest him! Let not a ship of his pass to Egypt!" I sat down and began to weep. The letter scribecame out to me, and said to me: "What is the matter with thee?" I said to him: "Surely thou seest these birds which twoce descend upon Egypt. Behold them@ They come to the pool, and how long shall I be here, forsaken? For thou seest surely those who come to arrest me again."
"He went and told it to the prince. The prince began to weep at the evil words which they spoke to him. He sent out his letter-scribe to me and brought me
- two jars of wine and a ram.
- He sent to me, Tento, an Egyptian singer (feminine), who was with him,
- saying: 'Sing for him; let not his heart feel apprehension.'
- He sent to me, saying: 'Eat, drink, and let not they heart feel apprehension.
Thou shalt hear all that I have to say unto thee in the morning."
Morning came, he had (the Thekel) called into his...., he stood in their midst and said to the Thekel: "Why have ye come?" They said to him: "We have come after the stove-up ships which thou sendest to Egypt with our.... comrades." He said to them: "
- I cannot arrest the messenger of Amon in my land.
- Let me send him away, and ye shall pursue him, to arrest him."
He loaded me on board, he sent me away...to the harbor of the sea. The wind drove me to the land of Alasa [Cyprus]; those of the city came forth to me to slay me. I was brought among themn to the abode of Heteb, the queen of the city. I found her as she was going forth from her houses and and entering int her other [house]. I saluted her, I asked the people who stood about her: "There is surely one among you who understands Egyptian?" One among them said "I understand it)it)." I said to him: "Say to tmy mistress: 'I have heard as far as Thebes, the abode of Amon, that in every city injustice is done, but that justice is done in the land of Alasa; (but), lo, injustice is done every day here.'" She said: "Indeed! what is this thou sayest?" I said to her: "If the sea raged and the wind drove me to land where I am, thou wilt not let them take advantage of me to slay me, I bring a messenger of Amon. I am one whom they will seek unceasingly. As for the crew of the prince of Byblos whom they sought to kill, their lord will surely find ten crews of thin, and he will slay them on his part." She had the peoplecalled and stationed (before her); she said to me: "Pass the night....."
Source: Barton, George A., Archaeology and the Bible, 7Th Edition pgs 449-452 By: Kenneth Sublett
The story is broken off here but we can be sure
that Wenamon reached Egypt or the story would not have been
told. Here is why Apollo or Apollyon forces the NEW STYLE SONGS.
"Hence, in Greek mythology Apollo was supposed to have played a "civilized" string instrument. The earliest surviving "new music manifesto" was written in 420 B.C. by Timotheus of Miletus:
"I do not sing the old songs: the new ones are the winners, and a young Zeus is king today."
Further, in Biblical records musical instrument are referred to on various occasions and circumstances. In Daniel 3:5. "That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up." one becomes aware of the variety of musical instruments which were used in the Babylonian Empire. Also, similar finds can be observed from Egypt to Greece.
According to Herodotus music and song for special festivities were as follows: "In social meetings among the rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a coffin, in which there is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted to resemble nature as nearly as possible, about a cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the servant sings, 'Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for when you die, such will you be.' "
Herodotus continues to say: "The Egyptians adhere to their own national customs, and adopt no foreign usages. Many of these customs are worthy of note: among others their song, the Linus, which is sung under various names not only in Egypt but in Phoenicia, in Cyprus, and in other places; and which seems to be exactly the same as that in use among the Greeks, and by them called Linus. There were very many things in Egypt which filled me with astonishment, and this was one of them. Whence could the Egyptians have got the Linus? It appears to have been sung by them from the very earliest times. For the Linus in Egyptian is called Maneros; and they told me that Maneros was the only son of their first king, and that on his untimely death he was honoured by the Egyptians with these dirge like strains, and in this way they got their first and only melody." Resource.
"This story would be contemporary with the lives of Deborah or Gideon. It shows that the city of Dor, which was situated on the coast just south of Mount Carmel, was in the possession of a tribe kindred to the Philistines, who soon afterward appear in Biblical history. We also learn from iut that Egyptian authority in Palestine and Phoenicia, which was at the time of the El-Amarna letters so rapidly decaying, had entirely disappeared. Zakar-Baal stoutly asserts his independence, while the king of the Thekel is evidently quite independent of Egypt. The way in which these petty kingdoms deal with one another is quite after the manner of the international relations reflected in the book of Judges. The expedition of Wenamon to the Lebanon for cedar wood illustrates the way Solomon obtained cedar for the temple.
"Lastly, the way one of the noble youths became frenzied and prophesied, is quite parallel to the way in which Saul 'stripped off his clothes and prophesied... and lay down naked all that day and all that night' (1 Sam. 19:24). The heed which Zakar-Baal gave to this youth shows that at Gebal, as in Israel, such ecstatic or frenzied utterances were thought to be of divine origin.
Later in Israel this sort of prophecy became a kind of profession, or trade. The members of these prophetic guilds were called "sons of the prophets.'
The great literaty prophets of Israel had nothing to do with them. Amos is careful to say that he is not a 'son of a prophet' (Amos 7:14)."
From: Barton, George A., Archaeology and the Bible, p. 453, American Sunday-school Union
This repeats the common model: "Let us sing and eat" so that we feel comfortable. Never mind, we will speak the truth some other day!
The phrase "eat, drink, and be merry" was part of a religious ritual common throughout the region--
"The traditional founder of Tarsus was Sardanapalus, who was worshipped, along with Semiramis, with licentious rites which resembled those of the Feast of Tabernacles. Paul had probably witnessed this feastival, and had seen, at the neighboring town of Anchiale, the statue of Sardanapalus, represented as snapping his fingers, and with the inscription upon the pedestal, 'Eat, drink, enjoy thyself. The rest is nothing." (Vincent, p. 278)
The phrase, like many examples of music, shows disrespect for the will of God--
And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' Luke 12:19
The feminine Egyptian music was to soothe Wen Amon so that he would lose his concern about his property while the prince could delay any truth-telling until later. This was identical to Laban who also wanted to steal Jacob's property during a feast with music but Jacob choose to obey God's command and not stay around for the going-away party with music.
We know something of the Egyptian music through Pfeiffer who says that: "The harp was the favorite instrument of the Egyptians. In the temple of Hatshepsut at Karnak there is a relief of a blind harper." During the Twelfth Dynasty society existed much as it did in Israel when Amos warned the people about their false worship and disregard for the social ill. For instance, in Egypt The Song of the Harper says--
"Increase still more the good things which you possess, and stop worrying. Do what you feel inclined to do and will give you pleasure. Enjoy yourself while you are here, and don't worry until the end comes. Enjoy each day to the fullest. For be sure no one can take what he possesses with him, and no one who has passed can return." (Fairservis, p. 118).
from: The Egyptian Way of Death, Mummies and the Cult of the Immortal, Ànge-Pierre Leca, Translated by Louise Asmal, Doubleday, 1981 (1979) (1976 French).
'But although death was very important to the Egyptians, life was considered to be more desirable. One sage of the period advised: "Enjoy your days. Delight your nose with balm and sweet perfume, offer lotus garlands to your wife to adorn her arms and neck. Let her whom you cherish be seated at your side, and let singing and music delight your ears. Cast care from you; think only of your pleasure until the day comes to enter into a world where silence reigns....For you must understand that no-one can take his worldly goods with him, and no-one has ever returned after his departure." The worst fear though was that the corpse might be destroyed, which would also destroy its chance of eternal life. "Die not a second time" was written hopefully at the bottom of some coffins.' [xvii].
This even occurred in the region of Tyre and it explains the sentiment of the leaders who were commercial-religious prostitutes. In order to lull merchants into a bad deal and Israel into slavery she used music.
Isaiah compares Tyre to a "harp playing prostitute" because she used music, purple dye, ship building, iron working and other arts to attract customers and then strip them of their money. Solomon accepted materials and temple designers from Tyre and in exchange had to sell whole cities into Tyrian bondage.
The king of Tyre as a personification of Lucifer religiously and commercially performed as a prostitute. His or "her" song went--
"Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered (as a male)." Isa 23:16
Barton noted that Wenamon wrote about the escstatic youth close to Mount Carmel and the musical diversion at the time of the Judges and the charismatic, tongue speaking "prophets" of Asherah and Baal employed by Jezebel to take Israel's inheritance from them and move them into a form of religion of the body:
"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)
"The ecstatic condition appears to have been normal to the prophetic guilds of the period of the judges and the early kingdom, and for the first time in 1 Sam. 10:5-10, 19:20-24 the contagiousness of the condition comes to light, in the case of Saul.
"Most likely, Israel first became acquainted with ecstatic prophecy in Canaan, where it was connected with Baal religion. The Egyptian story of Wenamon tells of a religious festival in the Phoenician port of Byblos where 'the god seized one of the youths and made him possessed'--that is, he fell into an ecstatic state.
Centuries later, prophets of Baal, imported from Phoenicia, worked themselves into an ecstatic frenzy on the top of Mount Carmel as they danced around the altar, cut themselves with knives, and raised their cultic shouts (I Kings 18:20-29). This type of orgiastic prophecy was also known in Asia Minor, from which it spread into the Mediterranean world and later took the form of the orgies of the cult of Dionysus" (Anderson, Theology of the O.T., p. 229).
However, of the true prophets who did not speak in tongues:
"The Old Testament prophet of God was a conscious, active vehicle of divine revelation--he was not an ecstatic, dervish-type of automaton in the hands of a higher Power.
"this lack of passivity and of intense emotional display served to distinguish the prophet of Jehovah from the prophets of surrounding heathen nations;
"one can easily see this by reading the account of the Egyptian envoy Wenamon (ca. 1100 B.C.), who, while in Phoenicia, witnessed a young prophet who was seized by one of his gods who was 'having his frenzy.' The ancient "Babylonians and assyrians had their machhu and baru prophets who, too, were 'possessed' by their gods and made to act in most irrational, uncontrollable ways. A more familiar illustration of this is the account of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, who, in their contest with Elijah, cut themselves with knives and lances 'after their manner' (1 Kings 18:28).
"We find demon-possessed Saul 'acting like a prophet' by becoming semi-conscious and immobile when attempting to apprehend David at Ramah (1 Sam. 19:23, 24). The context of this passage makes it clear that Saul's behavior was not the ordinary behavior of the true prophets of God." (Christianity Today, March 12, 1971, p. 541).
Paul quotes this common theme when he showed that if the dead are not raised then he might as well live like the pagans. In First Corinthians twelve he warned against the charismatic practice of the pagans, in chapter thirteen he compared this ecstatic speech (speaking in tongues) to instrumental music as "noise" and "clang" and urges faithfulness because of the resurrection. However, if there is no resurrection then he might as well sing "the song of the Harper"--
"If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 1 Cor 15:32
Sketches of Jewish Social Life by Alfred Edersheim Chapter 14
We can understand how those "blind guides" would often be as great a trouble to their own party as to others. "The plague of Pharisaism" was not an uncommon expression; and this religious sore is ranked with
"a silly pietist, a cunning sinner, and a woman Pharisee," as constituting "the troubles of life" (Sot. iii.4).
"Shall we stop to explain the opinions of Pharisees?" asks a Rabbi, in supreme contempt for "the order" as such. "It is as a tradition among the Pharisees," we read (Ab. de R. Nathan, 5),
"to torment themselves in this world, and yet they will not get anything in the next." It was suggested by the Sadducees, that "the Pharisees would by-and-by subject the globe of the sun itself to their purifications."
On the other hand, almost Epicurean sentences are quoted among their utterances, such as,
"Make haste, eat and drink, for the world in which we are is like a wedding feast"; "If thou possessest anything, make good cheer of it; for there is no pleasure underneath the sod, and death gives no respite...Men are like the flowers of the field; some flourish, while others fade away."
In discussing how the believer should conduct themselves "Out of Church" Clement wrote that those who imitated Paul in hymning immortality could just as easily leave the Word in Church and engage in the music of idolatry--
"Woman and man are to go to church decently attired, with natural step, embracing silence, possessing unfeigned love, pure in body, pure in heart, fit to pray to God. Let the woman observe this, further. Let her be entirely covered, unless she happen to be at home.
For that style of dress is grave, and protects from being gazed at. And she will never fall, who puts before her eyes modesty, and her shawl;
nor will she invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the wish of the Word, since it is becoming for her to pray veiled.
"They say that the wife of Aenuas, through excess of propriety, did not, even in her terror at the capture of Troy, uncover herself; but, though fleeing from the conflagration, remained veiled.
Out of Church.
"Such ought those who are consecrated to Christ appear, and frame themselves in their whole life, as they fashion themselves in the church for the sake of gravity; and to be, not to seem such-so meek, so pious, so loving. But now I know not how people change their fashions and manners with the place. As they say that polypi, assimilated to the rocks to which they adhere, are in colour such as they; so, laying aside the inspiration of the assembly, after their departure from it, they become like others with whom they associate. Nay, in laying aside the artificial mask of solemnity, they are proved to be what they secretly were.
"After having paid reverence to the discourse about God, they leave within [the church] what they have heard. And outside they foolishly amuse themselves with impious playing, and amatory quavering, occupied with flute-playing, and dancing, and intoxication, and all kinds of trash.
"They who sing thus, and sing in response, are those who before hymned immortality,-found at last wicked and wickedly singing this most pernicious palinode (ode to retract their church song),
"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
"But not to-morrow in truth, but already, are these dead to God; burying their dead, that is, sinking themselves down to death. The apostle very firmly assails them. "Be not deceived; neither adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers," and whatever else he adds to these, "shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Johannes Qasten, Music & Worship in Pagan & Christian Antiqity: Thus is it at a funeral meal when the gravestone of one recently deceased is anointed and crowned, while the funeral guests keep the wine and meal for themselves.
It was the same with regard to music at the meal of the dead. When at the end of the meal the funeral guests would resort to their own pleasures, to playing and dancing, it was because music was originally supposed to have offered comfort to the dead. The Egyptians believed this, as we see, for example, in the paintings of Neferhotep's grave at Thebes, where the relatives and friends of the dead man are sitting in festal clothing and adorned with flowers. They are eating and drinking, watching the dancers and listening to the song of the harpist, who addresses the dead man himself:
Celebrate the beautiful day! Set forth ointments and fine oil for your nostrils and wreaths and lotus blossoms for the body of your dear sister, who is seated at your side. Let there be singing and music before you; | cast everything sad behind you and think only of joy.
A similar situation existed among the Greeks, the Etruscans and the Romans. A Greek relief of a meal of the dead, dating from the fifth century before Christ and presently in the Museo Baracco in Rome, depicts a husband and wife reclining at a meal, looking at a Iyrist who attends them with his playing.44 The portrayals of banquets on Etruscan sepulchral monuments are well known, and music is rarely missing on them. The upper relief of a gravestone in the museum in Fiesole shows a meal of the dead, while the lower relief portrays a flutist and two dancing figures.45 The museum's inscription notes that this is a representation of the activities of the upper relief the figure who is eating is pictured in a reclining position. Since the living usually sat while the deceased were thought to recline, this clearly represents a meal of the dead.46 The music and dancing portrayed on the lower relief, like the meal, serve to refresh the dead person.
Frorn the Roman circle of culture there are sarcophagi with scenes of meals of the dead which portray the deceased at table, as they had been in life, accompanied by elaborate musical entertainment. A sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum in Rome shows a meal of the dead in which the dead man is at table.47
(Quasten, p. 154)
Counter added 11/12/04 3847 Rev 6.15.07 1150 7.18.07 1219 2.08.10 12000