Definition
of Terms
The
term “pagan” has two separate but related definitions in
the English language, both of which are somewhat misleading when
applied to religions in the ancient Near East. The first definition
defines a pagan as someone who follows a less-established religion or
a person who is outside the mainstream of belief within a given
society. Applying this definition to an ancient Near Eastern religion
is somewhat misleading because often within biblical society the
Jewish or Christian belief system was the religion that was outside
the mainstream. Being outside the mainstream certainly was a fact of
life for first-century Christians, who often were persecuted as if
they were atheists and for their failure to acknowledge a pantheon of
gods, which was a mainstream belief. In OT society the competing
religions, especially the Canaanite and Babylonian pantheons,
certainly were more widely accepted and followed. Even within
Israelite society these non-Israelite religions offered a viable
alternative to the religion of Yahweh. Thus, if one were to use this
definition either in the OT or the NT, it likely would need to be
applied to the religion of the Jews and Christians and not the
prevailing religions of the Canaanites, the Babylonians, the Greeks,
or the Romans.
The
second English definition of the term “pagan” involves
the worship of the gods or forces of nature that control the world.
This definition is applied specifically to agrarian societies, where
the changing of seasons, the bringing of favorable weather and
growing conditions for the crops, the possibility for prosperity that
good weather brings, and a general desire for fertility are part of
the religious understanding and belief system. While this definition
certainly applies to many of the non-Israelite religions followed by
the Israelites’ neighbors and to some of the Greeks and Romans
of the NT, it also would apply to many of the followers of Yahweh in
the OT who saw Yahweh as the God of the mountains and storms in
direct conflict with the Baal myth, which ascribed these traits to
Baal (see below). Therefore, it is prudent to remember that the label
“pagan gods” is anachronistic and should be used with
care when discussing the religions described in the Bible.
On
a related note, the terminology of “idolatry” is also
often misunderstood. Most of the non-Israelite religions discussed in
the Bible would have understood the images of their gods to be
representations of the deity (or even a throne or meeting place for
the god) rather than an object of worship in its own right. While
they would have believed that the god dwelled in the object and was
present when worship was being performed, they would not have
believed that the object was the god. Most of the idols made in the
ancient Near East are indistinguishable from one another unless one
observes their specific weapons. This, coupled with the idol’s
anthropomorphic representation, rather than a heavenly
representation, suggests that the concern for early worshipers was
not to worship an inanimate image, but rather to see a representation
of the god who indwelled the image if worshiped correctly. It was the
presence of the god that was desired. Thus, the prohibition against
images in the OT is a prohibition against trying to depict Yahweh in
any physical form.
When
dealing with the non-Israelite gods of the Bible, it is helpful to
divide them into historical periods. Within the OT, the major
groupings of non-Israelite gods should include the gods of the
Canaanites and the gods of the Babylonians (which are very similar to
the gods of the Assyrians). To a lesser degree the gods of the
Philistines, the Egyptians, and the Persians can also be considered.
In the NT, the gods of the Greeks and the Romans (which often are
assimilated Greek gods with new names) can be considered. Along with
these somewhat artificial historical divisions are innumerable
personal gods and local gods worshiped by small groups of people or
even by a single town or village. For example, Gen. 31:30 references
Laban’s gods, which Rachel steals when she leaves home to
travel with Jacob. These personal gods likely played a huge role in
the day-to-day life of the average person, but most often they are
lost to history. Similarly in the NT, the mystery religions of the
Greeks and the Romans likely played an important role in the lives of
many people, but they are difficult to reconstruct because of the
limited amount of documentation that has survived.
Canaanite
Pantheon
There
is considerable overlap between the Canaanite pantheon and those of
the Mesopotamian cultures, and often this can create some confusion
about the deities being discussed, especially their names and
functions. Further complicating matters, the descriptions of gods
within the Mesopotamian pantheons often have fluid identities, as
different textual traditions conflict with each other at times. Both
the Canaanite and the Babylonian pantheons borrow heavily from the
Sumerian pantheon, which adds both to their similarities and to the
possibility of confusion.
Without
question, the most important god within the Canaanite pantheon was
Baal. The story of Baal, often called the “Baal Cycle,”
describes the life and deeds of Baal. The cult of Baal was a
fertility religion, and all the events of Baal’s life were
connected to the changing seasons and nature’s fertility. The
Baal Cycle also explained how the worship of Baal affected the
agricultural success of farmers. This detailed story of Baal was all
but unknown, except for a few details that could be gleaned from the
Bible, prior to the accidental discovery of the city of Ugarit and
its extensive library in 1928 by a farmer plowing his field. The city
of Ugarit appears to have been a major trading center between the
years of about 1450 and 1200 BC. Besides Baal, other important
deities within the pantheon were El, the elderly, long-bearded father
god; Asherah, El’s wife, or occasionally portrayed as Baal’s
wife or sister; and Mot, the god of death, usually represented as a
snake.
Baal
was the god of weather, especially thunder, lightning, and rain (Baal
is almost always depicted with a lightning bolt in one hand and a rod
of power in the other). Other representations or symbols of Baal
include the bull (the strongest and most powerful animal of the
ancient Near East), water, mist, dew, grain, oil, and any other
symbol of fertility. Worship of Baal was intended to keep him happy
in order to assure the coming of spring (preferably, early), the
necessary rain for crops, and finally the lengthening of summer so
that two crops could be planted and harvested. The second crop, which
often was the crop that a farmer could sell for a profit (the first
being reserved for the farmer’s own food), was especially tied
to the favor of Baal. Baal was worshiped not only in hope of
agricultural prosperity but also for family fertility in terms of
children and for help in battle. The primary means for producing and
keeping the favor of Baal was by offering the firstfruits of any
harvest to him. When the first portion of a crop was harvested, it
was expected that a portion of that harvest (most often a tithe) be
offered to Baal in hopes of receiving his favor and extending the
growing season. Not only were the first of the crops to be given to
Baal but also the firstborn of all herded animals. It was also a
common practice for the firstborn of a family to be given to Baal in
human sacrifice. Baal is often referred to as Molek in the Bible
(e.g., Jer. 19) when describing human sacrifice. Another practice of
Baal worship was ritual sexual intercourse between a worshiper and a
priest or a priestess. This ritual sexual activity was thought to
increase the fertility of the worshiper, thereby increasing the
chances of having more children.
Apparently
for much of the history of Israel, especially during the monarchy,
Baal worship offered an enticing alternative to the worship of
Yahweh. In fact, the stories of Elijah and Elisha serve as a direct
polemic against Baal worship. Most of the stories of Elijah and
Elisha use the symbols of Baal to demonstrate that Yahweh is much
stronger than Baal. By the time of the first century AD, Baal worship
was a thing of the past, but some vestiges of the worship remained.
For example, in the Gospels Jesus says that a person cannot worship
both “God and money” (KJV: “mammon”) (Matt.
6:24; Luke 16:13). The Greek word translated “money,”
mamōnas, is borrowed from Aramaic and actually refers to the
worship of Baal, but by Jesus’ time it had evolved to take on
the more generic definition “prosperity.”
Along
with Baal, the worship of Asherah, a female member of the pantheon,
was common. Although scholars are not completely sure of its form, it
is believed that the reference in the OT to “Asherah poles”
was likely a reference to a phallic symbol that represented fertility
(Judg. 6:26; 1 Kings 14:23). Recently, several references to
Asherah have been discovered in Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in
northeastern Sinai, dated to about the eighth century. These
inscriptions say that Asherah was the consort of Yahweh rather than
Baal, providing further evidence for the amount of syncretism present
in Israel during the monarchy. Another female deity, Ashtoreth (known
also by her Mesopotamian name, “Ishtar”), is called
“Queen of Heaven” several times in the book of Jeremiah
(7:18; 44:17–19, 25).
In
relationship to the infiltration of Baal worship into the northern
kingdom is the debate about the nature of the “sin of Jeroboam”
that was instituted by Jeroboam I when he, along with the ten
northern tribes, ceded from Israel (1 Kings 12:25–33). At
issue is whether Jeroboam was instituting a new religion based on the
calves, thus becoming syncretistic with these tribes’ northern
Phoenician neighbors (which would have been tantamount to introducing
Baal worship into Israel), or simply rejecting the centrality of
Jerusalem for Yahweh worship (which only a few years before had been
centralized in Jerusalem by Solomon’s temple, resulting in the
disenfranchisement of the Levites outside Jerusalem). Clearly, the
southern kingdom viewed the events as apostasy, but whether the
northern tribes did is unclear. Amos, for example, seems to focus his
criticism of the cult at Bethel not on the worship itself but rather
on the hypocrisy of the worshipers, who were not following the law as
prescribed in the Torah.
Babylonian
Pantheon
Although
debate continues over the exact relationship between the two, the
Babylonian pantheon had many elements similar to the Canaanite
pantheon. There are dozens of primary documents about the religion of
Babylon; the most important of them include the Enuma Elish, a
creation story and apologetic for Marduk the chief of gods; the
Atrahasis Epic, which has a version of the flood story in it; and the
Epic of Gilgamesh, which describes the quest for eternal life by King
Gilgamesh. Within the Babylonian pantheon, Marduk is the chief of
gods, who is also the patron god of Babylonia. The Enuma Elish, which
describes the creation of the world, deals primarily with the
ascension of Marduk to the role of chief god by destroying the forces
of chaos represented by the monster Tiamat and bringing order to both
the pantheon and the natural world. Marduk, like Baal, had retained
the most powerful cosmic weapons, which include water, rain, and war.
The Epic of Gilgamesh describes the journey of King Gilgamesh, who is
part human and part divine, in search of immortality. During the
course of his trip, he learns that eternal life is reserved for the
gods, and humans must make their mark on the world by what they do
during their lives. The Babylonian religion and pantheon exerted its
strongest influence on Israel during the exile. The biblical text
clearly has been influenced by these Babylonian beliefs. However, the
Bible consistently presents these viewpoints as contrary to the true
worship of Yahweh and insists that only Yahweh deserves worship as
the true creator of the world, vanquisher of chaos, and provider of
prosperity and life.
Other
Ancient Near Eastern Pantheons
The
Egyptian gods are mentioned only briefly in the Bible. The most overt
references to the gods of Egypt are found in the story of the ten
plagues, which most scholars believe was a direct attack on the
deities of Egypt by Yahweh. It is unclear if the calf described in
Exod. 32 should be understood as an Egyptian god, a completely new or
different god, or as a forbidden representation of Yahweh.
Little
is known about the Philistine pantheon of gods, but it appears to be
quite similar to the Canaanite pantheon (if not the same with local
variations). The Philistines’ chief god, referred to in the
Bible as “Dagon” (Judg. 16:23; 1 Sam. 5:2–7;
1 Chron. 10:10), likely also went by the name “Baal-Zebul”
(“Lord Prince”), which in the OT is mocked by being
changed to “Baal-Zebub” (“Lord of the Flies”)
(2 Kings 1:2–3, 6, 16). In the NT, this god is recalled
when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan (Matt.
12:24; Luke 11:15 [Gk. Beelzeboul]). Because the Philistines were
known as the Sea Peoples, it is not surprising that this deity had
several fishlike qualities (including a fish tail).
New
Testament Religion
In
the NT, the Greek pantheon that was subsumed by the Roman pantheon
was the common religious expression of the day. Like other ancient
pantheons, these pantheons tried to explain the natural world by the
involvement of various deities in nature. Proof that Jews living in
the province of Judah were under constant pressure to assimilate to
the Greek religion is provided in the reports of the books of
Maccabees that describe the Jewish revolt against the Seleucids in
what was essentially a religious war against assimilation. In the
Gospels, little is said about the Greek or Roman pantheons, but the
book of Acts contains several reports of Paul’s interaction
with the Greeks and their religious practices. Especially notable is
Paul’s interaction with the Athenians when he debated
philosophers who were followers of the “Unknown God”
(Acts 17:23). Three other deities are named in Acts, including
Artemis in Ephesus (Acts 19:24, 27–28, 34–35), whom the
Romans called “Diana,” and Zeus and Hermes (Acts
14:12–13), called “Jupiter” and “Mercury”
by the Romans, whom Paul and Barnabas were mistaken for in Lystra
when Paul preached and healed a crippled man.
Summary
The
problem of God’s people Israel worshiping other gods permeates
most of biblical history. These reports range over time from the
early story of Rachel in Genesis, to the period of the judges when
Micah’s images (Judg. 17:1–6) and Gideon’s ephod
(Judg. 8:26–27) were worshiped, to when Solomon and his wives
were worshiping foreign gods (1 Kings 11:5–8), to the time
of Ahab when all Israel followed Baal, whom Elijah vanquished on
Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:16–46). Depending on when one
dates the book of Deuteronomy, the strong prohibitions against
idolatry either went unheeded (if Moses wrote the book) or were a
culminating statement of the anti-idolatry Deuteronomistic writer
just before the exile. There is considerable debate about when Israel
became an exclusively monotheistic nation (if it ever did), but by
the eighth century BC, Isaiah and Amos castigate worshipers of these
false gods. Clearly, by the time of Jeremiah, some factions within
Israel (the prophet included) have begun to question whether the gods
of the other nations even exist (Jer. 2:28). Finally, with the
destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, ironically, the worship of
other gods is ended. It is certain that by the time of the first
century AD, the evolution to a monotheistic view is complete, and
Paul can claim that an “idol is nothing” (1 Cor.
8:4), and that any sin is tantamount to idolatry (Eph. 5:5).
