Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

The "Babylonian" names of the months have been "converted" to Judaism since
the
Second Temple period, and no more thought is given to their pagan origins
than is given to such names as January or March (after Janus and Mars) or
Sun-day, Moon-day, Woden's-day and Thor's-day by Christians.

And the use of the Zodiac and related symbols in Jewish synagogue art and
liturgy also goes way back. We have plenty of 4-6th century Synagogue
mosaics featuring the Zodiac, complete with Helios himself. Apparently by
then these symbols had already lost their pagan significance and were no
longer seen as being in violation of the Second Commandment.

Yigal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 10:14 AM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Tammuz, image of


> 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
>
>
>
>
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