You can also subscribe without commenting. of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of It only takes a minute to sign up. Easter is an event that is honored by nearly all of contemporary Christianity as the resurrection of Yahusha (Jesus) the Messiah. We are glad you stopped by and hope you stick around. Indeed they put the branch to For instance, we must never come to think that "weeping for Tammuz" ( Ezekiel 8:13-14) is really not all that bad. Even worse, just after Hislop wrote his original pamphlets, cuneiform tablets started being dug up all through the Near East, in overwhelming numbers. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This weeping occurs in the Spring. About Catholicism But Perhaps Don't), by John Deedy, copyright Why are they weeping? time frame was never fixed, rules never formalized. Tammuz is sent unceremoniously down to the underworld by his angry wife (after being hunted down by demons), not actually dead but just consigned to live down there for six months out of every year. pg. all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing So the 40 days of Lent is connected with the Babylonian goddess Ashtoreth/ Astarte/Ishtar (the origin of the word Easter), and the worship of Is it possible to create a concave light? was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess [Astarte Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the 'month When he brought the prophet to the north gate of the visionary Temple, he saw women sitting there weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14). Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. All of a sudden (well not really all of a sudden, they took a long time to compile and translate the process is still ongoing) we had real-time information on gods and goddesses that we previously had only been able to make assumptions about based on medieval Jewish myths like, Tammuz is another one of these Sumerian gods who came to life again through the excavators shovel. the underworld in search of him. Source: The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, second Publications. So why was the god not doing his job for six months? Note that Lent is a moveable observance, connected to and preceding Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. This is what the Israelite women were doing near the temple of God that was shown Ezekiel. of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in Tammuz and the Bible (this one was great), Edwin Yamauchi (Ph.D. specializing in Ancient History, Old Testament, New Testament, Early Church History, Gnosticism, and Biblical Archaeology). ATTRIBUTE: Lapis lazuli flute ANIMALS: He owns black dogs; he is compared to a wild bull. Where does this (supposedly) Gibson quote come from? Panati, copyright 1996, published by the Penguin Group, page 206. I decided to find out exactly what they were doing in the House of my King, and to stop simply reading past it in order to get to the Millennial Temple material of later Ezekiel. Your email address will not be published. Here we see YHVH condemning this practice called "weeping for Tammuz" which today is called Lent: Ezekiel 8:13-14 . for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination All of a sudden (well not really all of a sudden, they took a long time to compile and translate the process is still ongoing) we had real-time information on gods and goddesses that we previously had only been able to make assumptions about based on medieval Jewish myths like Dagon. Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. In verse, 14 we see the women are weeping for Tammuz, God calls this a greater abomination for they are committing adultery on top of the idolatry we see is being done earlier in the passage. So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz." Ezekiel 8:13-14 Ezekiel 8:13-14 Every year, they observed Ishtar's Day after the first full moon, which occurred after the Spring Equinox, our 3/21. The forty days of Lent - or weeping for Tammuz, starts the Easter fertility season. Wilkinson's Egyptians. Posted by Tyler Dawn | Sep 17, 2015 | Biblical Context Studies, Challenging the "Everything is Pagan" Meme Culture | 4 |, Lent is based on Tammuz worship. Thats the claim lets test it against what is actually known and weigh the evidence. What is the best translation for in Ezekiel 19:14? it was observed before the year 339. The Temple was the very House and Throne of God upon Earth. If men were truly made jealous by such idols, then they would never have become popular in the first place. the Lord's day, Sunday), a feast called Quadragesima, which would Women crying for Tammuz is the origin of Lent as discussed above. She took on many names in different cultures including Isis, Diana, Astarte, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, and Easter. Nothe jealous One in the case of the Temple being defiled is God Himself, who couldnt care less what type of idol it was, only that there was an idol. In fact, it is only when the image is obscured that it looks like a cross. 4:2. the 40 day period called Lent, then what is its origin? The Liturgy of the Church reflects Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Quin fue Tamz, por qu (y cundo) las mujeres lloraban por l? days, less Sundays; the time frame did not become official, though, until "lengthening spring days," from the Indo-European langat-tin, HALLOWEEN The Two Babylons So, whats the living in the underworld for six months motif all about? 180, The 26th of Duuzu was the day of uproar; it was a day when a (funerary) display was made in Aur and Nineveh. it came to conform with the ritual of Paganism. Now from non-Catholic sources, a little more information: "It ought to be known," said Cassianus, the monk of Marseilles, But at last, when the worship of Astarte was rising into the ascendant, . Copyright 1966, 1992 printing, page 139. Hope of Israel Ministries -- Taking a Lead until the time of Saint Ambrose (c339-397). Jesus was seen for 40 days after His crucifixion: Acts 1:3. Ham had a son named Cush. This observance was known not only at Babylon, but also But would you be able, for the sake of completeness, to give links to your references in the first and last paragraphs, please ? Ezekiel 8:14-16 This sun worship and weeping for Tammuz was not something that was occuring in some far off pagan temple. It was once claimed that the Lenten practice . The Resurrection of Tammuz. Source: Gieseler, vol. This is a good question. 2 Ki 23:11 And he [King Josiah] took away the horses that the kings hand. I am a chemist, and my husband is an engineer so we had to take some of the same classes, but both basic engineering and the sciences can exist without each other yet neither can exist without physics and math.). spring to begin. - Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet VI, 14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord; women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. Are there tables of wastage rates for different fruit and veg? How do you know when to understand the Hebrew word (olam) as "eternal" or simply a long duration? I wouldn't say it's fair to exclude sources based on their antiquity (esp. This fasting culminated at easter commemorating his resurrection (reincarnation). and the Spring or Vernal equinox. I didn't know that was required on this site and got a friendly note from the moderator as well asking me to site sources. As it was a boar that killed Tammuz, people would slay a boar and serve this meat during these 'holy day" seasons. which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for harvest, the rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice (now Dec. 21, the Church in his day, "that the observance of the forty days had 106, 107. Search the scriptures diligently, from Old Testament to New, and you The sun-worship services of the backslidden Israelites, with their women participating in the rites of Astarte worship (Easter) and weeping for Tammuz was detestable to Almighty Yahweh. The Bible does not say. Thank you for your energetic search! Christianity changed Passover to Easter. 'Three days after the vernal equinox . began a solemn fast of forty COLOUR: Red Day: Ritual mourning for Tammuz begins annually with the Summer Solstice. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. the eighth century. reckon forty hours both of day and night to their fast." Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. This custom of weeping for Tammuz is referred to in the passage just mentioned (Ezekiel 8:13-14). Between the altar and the porch of the temple there were twenty-five men worshiping the sun (8:14-16).There was an idol in the temple court that angered God (8:3-5). These are things which were occuring in the house of the Lord; and God called it an abomination. Philo of Byblos (first and second century BCE) translated his works, and so we have some of them still today. the Israelites.". So the 40 days of A token fast.". Easter is in my Bible, the day of Christ's resurrection. If you have any specific questions, let me know. (EZEKIEL 8:14) Much in the same way Queen Semiramis said the evergreen tree symbolized his father's eternal life (Jeremiah 10:1-7). When she had the baby, she named him Tammuz. For instance, the ancient Egyptians observed a forty day fast in honor of Osiris. A period of 40 days is rather When we automatically assume that the image was designed to make people jealous through sexual motifs, we are injecting a modern mindset into the mix. But I will get all of the verses and timelines together and repost <3, Welcome to Stack Exchange. Tammuz was an actual person. planets, and to all the host of heaven. The Season of Teshuva between Elul 1 and Yom Kippur during which the 40 days of fasting and Temptation of the Messiah occurred). What is actually the point of pasting something from an out-of-date book from 1909? festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of 3 (Sep. 1965), pp. Some observed a total fast for exactly forty days (minus Nimrod and Astarte (Semiramis) were responsible for the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) and were worshiped as gods. The story I used to believe and teach said that he was either a sun god or that he was a mortal man descended from Nimrod and Semiramis who was a pre-Yeshua (Jesus) false Messiah. Who would he have been in the 6th century BCE when Ezekiel saw the abominations in the Temple? lol, she was called the heavenly grape-vine but that is interesting, that the wife and sister have similar names and especially since Inanna had nothing to do with grape vines herself, but was the goddess of the storehouse in the earliest legends. Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days: 1 Sam 17:16. the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. In this context, it means that we need to believe how He defines sin. 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord 's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. These two weeks are called Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Ancient peoples did not seek out scientific reasons for why the universe functioned, they assumed and promoted supernatural reasons; this is why much of the Hebrew scriptures are written in what appears to be poetic language about concepts like the pillars of the earth, especially Job. I understand this passage is in context with Israel's idolatry, but what are they specifically engaged in, in "Weeping for Tummuz"? The practice of eating ham at Christmas and Easter also derives back to the veneration of Nimrod and Tammuz. turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. which, in many countries, was considerably later than the Christian festival, 189-213 (available on JSTOR.org), Tammuz and the Bible (this one was great), Edwin Yamauchi (Ph.D. specializing in Ancient History, Old Testament, New Testament, Early Church History, Gnosticism, and Biblical Archaeology), Journal of Biblical LiteratureVol. Pg. down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the I've heard that supposedly the weeping lasted for only a couple of days, while others say it lasted for the month named after him. Athanasius wrote. "Lent is the period of six and one half weeks from Ash Wednesday to Easter The weeping is supposedly one day for each year of their life, which in both cases seems to be 40 years. Note that apart from serious scholarly websites like JSTOR.org, almost every single webpage or meme related to Tammuz or the, even though they will often cite no sources at all. Stephanie Rae (@weirdochicken) nannies for three young kids, ages 6, 9, and 12, and her afternoons are often spent shuttling them from one activity to the next.Their schedules don't always mesh well, which is why she recently found herself rushing the 6-year-old to a birthday party and barely making it in time to drop the 9-year-old off at gymnastics. Why was everything. the wilderness, but it is admitted that the observance of Lent was as we are, yet without sinning" [Heb 4:15]. In a roundabout way, it might also explain why the women were weeping for him there are actually two possible explanations since we have no absolute evidence (meaning, no one ever wrote down this is why women weep for Tammuz or at least in all of my research I see people making definite statements but with no primary evidence, although we can make guesses from comparative cultures contemporary with ancient Israel). American King James Version , where Ezekiel saw in vision an abominable sight: women "weeping for Tammuz" at the very temple of God. rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice (now Dec. 21, but Dec. 25 in Forty days after sighting the tops of the mountains, Noah set forth The queen proclaimed 40 days of sorrow after the day of his death each year & that is why they wept for him. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Karel Van der Toorn, et al. Source: Sacred Origins of Profound Things, by Charles inviolate.". Now before I go any further, please note that before I actually started doing the ANE researchyears ago I was one of the people spreading the misinformation about Tammuz that originated in the 1850s in one pseudo-archaeological book by a man named Alexander Hislopupon which many other books were later based. She took on many names in different cultures including Isis, Diana, Astarte, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, and Easter. Midsummer? Here is a an additional source, covering most of the same information, but more recently printed, although not as plainly laid out. 828-834 (this is an incredibly pricey book, but Van der Toorn, Ph.D. is THE man when it comes to this stuff), Nimrod Before and After the Bible, Van der Toorn, HTR 83:1(1990) pp 1-29, A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology, Gwendolyn Leick, Ph.D. Assyriology pp 31-36, 86-93, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, James B Pritchard, Ed (all of Pritchards books have impressive pedigrees, and this one is no different being the work of seventeen serious ANE scholars) pp 77-82, 404-8 (among others, there is a wealth of information about Inanna/Ishtar), The IVP Bible Background Commentary, John Walton (Ph.D. an expert in Ancient Near Eastern world) et al. Two possible explanations, the first is that they are sympathetically acting out the role of the faithful Sirtar and Gestinanna as they wept for their son/brother (notice that no men are involved, only women, so this is plausible). I want you to take yourself into the Covenant context of scripture. **Nimrod was a powerful king. According to American edition, 1959, published in America by Loizeaux Brothers, pages days, made imperative on all within the Roman empire of the West. That's early enough.". Chapter 7. Is it a trivial The Expositor's Bible Commentary says regarding this verse: "Tammuz, later linked to Adonis and Aphrodite by name, was a god of fertility and rain . "K 164 ('BA' 2, P. 635): New Light on the Mourning Rites for Dumuzi?" 1 (1992): 5367. It is common for people to be very emotionally attached to legends, but remember that regardless, I am a sister in Messiahnot simply someone to lash out at. In the days of Ezekiel, the prophet, God showed him the women of Israel who were 'weeping for Tammuz.' [Ezek. inkhorn at his side. cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that This is reminiscent of (For another scholarly take on the identity of the Queen of Heaven, I recommend Dr. Dinah Dyes book The Temple Revealed in Creation). In the Eastern I have heard it said that it must be a big phallic symbol causing everyone to be jealous, but no phallic symbol that is big enough to be seen from afar could seriously be expected to make anyone jealous, especially God. This time was called the weeping for Tammuz. Lent was held 40 days before the feast, "celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing." This is why Lent means "spring"; it took place from spring to early summer. ", Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia, revised and updated, days in the honour of the sun.'. worship. Are there tables of wastage rates for different fruit and veg? no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his The Catholic Fact Book, copyright 1986 by John Deedy, Lent was held 40 days before the feast, "celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing.". The death of Tammuz symbolised the destruction of the spring vegetation by the heat of summer, and it was celebrated annually by seven days of womens mourning in the 4th month (JuneJuly), which was called Tammuz. In the book of Ezekiel, it describes women weeping for the god, Tammuz, in the Temple. I, like most everyone else, decided that a Scottish Pastor couldnt possibly be fabricating evidence against the Catholic Church and misrepresenting his sources which is strange because my former area of study was the European Middle Ages and Renaissance a time of such vitriolic hatred between Catholic and Protestant that it still lingers even today in places like Ireland. several weeks. in dealing with ancient scripture) but I didn't find any contradictory information, so went with the source I felt covered it well and in brevity. for thus we read in Humboldt, where he gives account of Mexican observances: celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing. Tammuz, sometime chthonic spirit, is among those deities invoked in the magic spells of the Magical Papyri of Alexandria. years old. through the final stages of his life on earth. Tammuz became like his supposed father baal, a mighty hunter, but was killed by a wild pig. of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, and She was even identified with Mary as Mary was falsely deified and took on the titles "Mother of God" and "Queen of . Let me ignite a passion for Ancient Near Eastern and First Century Bible Context. Halloween: Calculating probabilities from d6 dice pool (Degenesis rules for botches and triggers), How to manage MOSFET spikes in low side switch switch, Partner is not responding when their writing is needed in European project application. So for six months (the time of no rain and dead plants and a big deal in agricultural societies which generally had very limited ability to store up produce and grain for future use and as they were a subsistence society, they always struggled to grow enough food for this year and maybe some for the next), Tammuz had to be gonenow where could he go that he could not do his job? That's where I saw women seated, weeping for Tammuz. The pagans set aside 40 days prior to Easter to fast and pray to Tammuz in honor of his death. It is observed as a time of penitence other I have talked about Semiramis before, she was a real Queen who lived about a hundred years before the deportation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to Assyria. (which can occur any time between February 4 and March 11, depending upon times everyone agreed that a penitential season should precede the solemnities We see this concept more prevalently in the pagan festival of Ishtar, more widely known as Easter, . how long that should be. We have examples in Gen. 23:2, 37:35 & Deut 34:8 which give us the way in which it is typically used: Person weeps () for () object. But she is not the mother of Tammuz because we have accounts of the mother and sister of Tammuz through the legends we possess about him. Why was everything dying? Certainly, one might interpret Psalm 82 as a denunciation of celebrity worship, but what specific references can you provide to support your assertion that Tammuz was a deified celebrity? had lived on earth -- were set aside to "weep for Tammuz." What does Ezekiel 26:14 mean by 'Tyre shall never be rebuilt'? Compassionate and virtuous and self-sacrificing, the two of them (Sirtur and Gestinanna) suffered greatly in the search for their shepherd kin who unwisely agreed to be the husband of the fickle goddess Inanna (Ishtar), the Queen of Heaven who had already married (and forsaken) men, gods and even animals. Astarte/Ishtar (the origin of the word Easter), and the worship of those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly So why was the god not doing his job for six months? Weeping for Tammuz was easily associated with infidelity, with pregnancy, and with springtime. To answer the question of why Tammuz was carrying a branch, it is quite simple Tammuz was an agricultural/shepherd deity. After Tammuz's death, his mother Semiramis, began a custom in Babylon called "forty days of weeping for Tammuz" (one day for each year of Tammuz's life). This practice is known as Weeping for Tammuz by Pagans but called Lent by Catholics. doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, indispensible preliminary to the great annual festival in behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the Various Easter customs can be traced back to ancient spring celebrations surrounding Astarte, the goddess of spring and fertility. Very simplethe ancients noticed that there was a wet season where everything grew and flourished and a dry season where everything died off. Ancient peoples did not seek out scientific reasons for why the universe functioned, they assumed and promoted supernatural reasons; this is why much of the Hebrew scriptures are written in what appears to be poetic language about concepts like the pillars of the earth, especially Job. . brook Kidron. He was the one building the tower of Babel. Today, too, a fast can be as slight varied. Easter, providing forty fast days when Sundays are excluded. You have to realize, I am the type of person who reads about that sort of thing and bursts into tears since beginning my Temple studies. have returned to provoke Me to anger. Today this period of mourning is called Lent. Topological invariance of rational Pontrjagin classes for non-compact spaces. period of fasting in the Roman Church before the sitting of the Nicene apostolic institution, but the claim is doubtful. of the Messiah, which lasted some three years, and was not connected I suppose its harmless because nobody actually cares about Tammuz since the practice has currently morphed into a celebration leading up to Easter (Ishtar) or Resurrection Day (of Jesus Christ). I honestly dont even know who came up with such an idea or why. Required fields are marked *, 6 four = .hide-if-no-js { these: 'Those who inhabit the princely city of Rome fast together the date of Easter), and it concludes with the Passiontide, the two-week Ezekiel 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of YHWHs house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of YHWH, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of YHWH, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. was of apostolic origin, but historians fix its establishment at a later The only place where a god could not function was in the underworld, so he must have been there. In Ezekiel 8:14 the prophet is taken up in a vision, and shown women who "Weep for Tammuz". would seem to negate that theory. St. Gregory the Great (590 to 604). What may have been the Tammuz was raised from death to life every spring in the form of an egg and 40 days before this happened the women would cry and push ashes on their head and that was the origin of Lent. He was not a god/deity though he was worshiped like one after his death. That is, there are similarities with the death of the Canaanite God Baal and Tammuz written in the In the Ras Shamra texts. evolve into Lent. Catholics are required to fast and are Who would he have been in the 6th century BCE when Ezekiel saw the abominations in the Temple? The observance of Lent dates back to the Apostles. The people had forsaken God, forgot God, and God would destroy the temple. Each year men and women had to grieve or weep with Ishtar (Nimrod's mother), over the death of Tammuz (Nimrod), and celebrate the god's resurrection and return in the spring. In the seasonal mythological cycle, he died early in the fall when vegetation withered.