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  • From: ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben and Jo Crick)
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: RE: El Shaddai
  • Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 14:35:39 +0000


On Tue 24 Dec 2002 (09:45:12), djefferi AT chorus.net wrote:
> I've always found the connection of Shaddai and "breast(s)" following
> from a "lost" goddess/consort image very interesting (though I don't
> have bibliography at hand to share). Any comments on why this is
> apparently seldom considered?

Dear Daryl

There are images of Diana/Artemis as a multi-breasted figurine, especially
associated with the Temple of Diana/Artemis in Ephesus (Acts 19:23ff).
This was probably a meteorite which "fell from heaven" (Acts 19:35).

$aDaH is a root not used; the Arabic cognate means "to water copiously".
Thus the dual $aDaYiM (cstr $:DeY) means the female breasts.

This is "seldom considered" because of the known aversion of YHWH to the
sexual fertility goddesses of Canaanite religion. Asherah the consort of
Baal was a snare to the Israelites (Judges 3:7). The wooden statues or
sacred trees to Asherah were commanded to be chopped down (Exodus 34:13)
or burnt (Deuteronomy 12:3). No Asherah was to be permitted anywhere near
the Altar of YHWH 'eLoHiYM (Deuteronomy 16:21).

Did the Canaanites refer to Asherah as /'eL-$aDaYiM/ ? Who knows?

Maybe the wooden goddess Asherah was the butt of Isaiah's supreme sarcasm
in Isaiah 44:9-20.

We need no Romulus to account for Rome; we need no breasts to account for
'eL-$aDDaY. There is a well-known representation of Romulus and Remus
being suckled by a she-wolf.

Shalom
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
<ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm







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