Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT hotkey.net.au>]

Dictionary of Deities and Demons (DDD) has a good article on "Zeus", with an 
extensive bibliography. For the identification with Baal Shamaim (or Baal 
Shamem), see:

J. Teixidor, The Pagan God: Popular Religion in the Greco-Roman Near East 
(Princeton, 1977), 27.
Cf. Josephus, Antiquities 8.145-147.

I note the article also says that some associated Zeus with YHWH, including 
some diaspora Jews.

Best regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Lecturer in Biblical Languages
Southern Cross College
Sydney, Australia
(Moving to a post at Moore Theological College from Jan 1)


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Yitzhak Sapir 
  To: Heard, Christopher 
  Cc: b-hebrew 
  Sent: 24 August 2005 12:47 pm
  Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] God vs gods


  On 8/23/05, Heard, Christopher wrote:
  > Antiochus IV was no atheist, nor a proponent of atheism. He styled
  > himself "Epiphanes," and had pictures of Zeus and Nike minted on his
  > coinage; these are not the actions of an "atheist." Judging by the
  > narratives in 1 Maccabees and Josephus, when Antiochus IV defiled the
  > temple in Jerusalem, it was not by promoting atheism, but by
  > promoting the worship of Zeus Olympius/Baal Shamayim. Persecuting a
  > "rival" religion is unusual in the history of antique polytheism, but
  > it is not atheistic.

  Hello, 

  Is there any specific reason you associate Baal Shamayim with Zeus, as
  opposed to say, Baal Zephon or Baal Hadad?  Might you have references
  that I could read about Baal Shamayim?

  Thanks,
  Yitzhak Sapir
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>From gathas AT hotkey.net.au  Wed Aug 24 23:39:14 2005
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From: "George Athas" <gathas AT hotkey.net.au>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
References: <20050823202742.A49974C00B AT lists.ibiblio.org>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Vocabulary frequencies (follow-up)
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See also John D. W. Watts, Lists of Words Occurring Frequently in the Hebrew 
Bible (2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960).


Best regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Lecturer in Biblical Languages
Southern Cross College
Sydney, Australia
(Moving to Moore Theological College, from Jan 1)

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Joshua Luna 
  To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org 
  Sent: 24 August 2005 6:27 am
  Subject: [b-hebrew] Vocabulary frequencies (follow-up)


  Thank you for all the assistance, links, and suggestions from the list!
   
  After talking with the nice folks at BibleWorks I was given some easy
  instructions to generate the frequencies quickly through their application.
  All that was required was to generate a new list from the WTM database (with
  morphology off and vowels on) in the Word List Manager and then to sort it
  by frequency! For those with BibleWorks interested in the process:
   
  http://bibleworks.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4411
  <http://bibleworks.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4411&postcount=5> &postcount=5
   
  The only major hurdle left was identifying homonyms which was also turned
  out to be an easy task because the new morphology databases tag the homonyms
  :)
   
  Ironically it appears that John Allred has already created a similar web
  application using Flash. It appears *very* robust and has an extensive list
  of vocabulary groups (that can even be dynamically combined).
   
  http://home.earthlink.net/~vikn/
   
  Again, thanks for all the assistance and suggestions. Sincerely,
   
  Joshua Luna
   
   
   
   
   

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>From leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il  Thu Aug 25 01:29:46 2005
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From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] God vs gods
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The identification of specific gods in one culture with specific gods of
another culture was by no means universal. Of course, when state-supported
official cults made such identifications, such as the Roman state's almost
total "adoption" of the Greek gods, these identifications became widespread
and appear in many written sources. But on a more local level, many people
may have understood the identifications differently. Obviously, identifying
Zeus with the chief deity of any culture seemed "natural, and so most
manifestations of Baal were identified with Zeus. But not all. The Tyrian
Melqart, for instance, was identified with Hercules. The identification of
YHWH with Zeus would have been possible in times and places in which
cultural conflict between Jews and "Greeks" was at a minimum. Using a modern
analogy, "allah" means "god" in Arabic; "Allah" is the Muslim "God". In most
of the western world today, when a Jew or a Christian uses "Allah", he means
"the MUSLIM God", not his own. A Muslim, on the other hand, would emphasise
that Allah and the Jewish and Christian God are the same (most theologians
would probably agree). On the other hand, Jews and Christians in the
Arabic-speaking world regularly use "Allah" simply as an Arabic translation
of "God".

Yigal
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Athas" <gathas AT hotkey.net.au>

> Dictionary of Deities and Demons (DDD) has a good article on "Zeus", with
an extensive bibliography. For the identification with Baal Shamaim (or Baal
Shamem), see:
>
> J. Teixidor, The Pagan God: Popular Religion in the Greco-Roman Near East
(Princeton, 1977), 27.
> Cf. Josephus, Antiquities 8.145-147.
>
> I note the article also says that some associated Zeus with YHWH,
including some diaspora Jews.
>
> Best regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Lecturer in Biblical Languages
> Southern Cross College
> Sydney, Australia
> (Moving to a post at Moore Theological College from Jan 1)
>