Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>]

Dear Uri,

An interesting observation. I wonder if the later Exilic or Post-Exilic
Jewish adoption of Akkadian month names could be in any way related to
Ezekiel's statement about the worship of Tammuz by Jewish women at the
Jerusalem Temple ? Not only did later Jews adopt Akkadian/Babylonian month
names, they apparently also adopted Akkadian/Babylonian names for themselves
like the Jewish prince Zerubbabel (1Chr 3:19; Ezr 2:2; Neh &:& Hag 2:21; Zec
4:10), then there's Mordecai (Ezr 2:2; Neh 2:5). Perhaps Ezekiel _is_ making
a valid observation of alarm about just how "quickly" Jews in the Disapora
were _assimilating_ to foreign customs, calendar names, personal names, and
grafting on foreign worship concepts (Tammuz) to the Yahweh cult ? If there
was an assimilation of concepts from the Tammuz cult, and if these came to
be fused with the Yahweh cult by some Jewish sects, then perhaps this
mechanism would explain the remarkable similaritities between the
resurrection of Jesus "the bridegroom" and Tammuz "the bridegroom" (and his
bride Inanna, "the queen of heaven") ?

Regards, Walter
Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Uri Hurwitz
  To: Walter R. Mattfeld ; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 12:07 PM
  Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Tammuz, image of (Ezek 8:14)


        Walter, did you know that "Tamuz" is thge name of one of the months
of the Jewish calendar? In fact, all other names are also Akkadian.
Interesting that  ancient Yahweh worshippers , possibly post-exilic, didn't
mind adopting a name of  a pagan deity fo their month!

        There were earlier names for months in the HB : the ordinal ones,
such as the "first month' etc, and another incommplete set such as "the
month of the spring" and so forth.

        The earliest extant Heb. or Canaanite calendar division into units
of two months each may be that of the Gezer Calendar, C. 10th cenury BCE.

        Best,  Uri



  "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net> wrote:
    Some might have an interest in an impression of a cylinder seal
portraying
    the god Tammuz that apostate Jewish women mourned in the Jerusalem
Temple
    according to Ezekiel (Ez 8:14) in one of my latest articles. Cf. the
    following url if you've _never_ "seen" Tammuz (also called Dumuzi, which
    means according to some scholars "righteous son.").

    http://www.bibleorigins.net/TammuzDumuziDamuSeal.html

    Regards, Walter

    Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.
    mattfeld12 AT charter.net
    www.bibleorigins.net