Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter Mattfeld" <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>]

Available is the following article at my website (if interested, click on
the url in my signature line below and navigate to the OT Menu):

Fiery Gods: Yahweh, Marduk, Asshur, the Queen of Heaven, Ahura-Mazdah, et.
al.

In this brief article we will explore the Ancient Near Eastern notion of
gods possessing fiery bodies and note the parallels with Hebrew concepts of
Yahweh as a fiery God.

The Pentateuchal narrator understands that the whole Israelite nation
assembles itself about the foot of Mount Sinai to witness God's descent in
full view of the nation and to hear him speak directly to them. We are told
that God appears in the form a great storm-cloud full of lighting and
thunder, and that when God actually descends upon the mount erupts into
fire. The nation is later reminded that they are to make no image of God to
worship because when they looked into God's great fire, they saw no image,
only fire.

The earliest hint we get of God's fiery nature is in Genesis, and Abraham's
encounter with God...

All the best,  Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg
Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany
http://bibleorigins.homestead.com/index.html