Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 22/09/2004 20:02, Michael Banyai wrote:

> Peter, 
>
> an interesting online-paper by Baruch Halpern,"The Baal (and the Asherah) in seventh century 
> Judah", shares my views concerning the ancienty of Baal cult in Israel and the existence of 
> an ideologic warfare between "Baal"-adepts and Baal-rejecters.
> So to say both sides argued seeking support in the tradition.
>
> http://pages.sbcglobal.net/zimriel/Baal/baal1.html
>  

Thank you, Michael. Well, Halpern does accept that "Modern scholars, for 
the most part, have taken the Biblical testimony at its word." But you 
seem to think that this approach is my invention! And Halpern makes a 
reasonable case based on certain presuppositions which I don't share. 
For example, he implicitly rejects the historicity of the biblical 
descriptions of the religion of David and Solomon's time; although for 
some reason he takes the account of Jeroboam setting up calves as 
historical. But he may be right that much of the worship at "high 
places" abolished in Josiah's time was folk religion which had been 
practiced for many centuries, probably traceable back to the Judges 
period at least cf. Judges 17.

Although Halpern is being somewhat speculative, he does not share your 
flights of fancy about calf worship being normal during the Judges and 
United Monarchy periods.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/