Hebrew mythology

Front matter

s #

H

M

Preface

HUMAN nature in every age and country is very much the same; though modified to some extent by the circumstances o f time, place an d degree of civilization. Hence the general resemblance of all the cosmogonies or creations found in the various mythologies of the world — the Hebrew not excepted. Impressed by these sentiments, I became strongly convinced that all were framed, in all their details, on the same general plan. Accordingly, nearly seven years ago, when turned of my sixtieth year, I began the study of the Hebrew language in order to discover, if possible, the lost key, by whose aid I might recover the rich treasure so long locked up from public view. My endeavor was, as I believe, crowned with a success as complete as one could desire — a success amounting in fact to actual demonstration, as many, if not most of my readers will come to see and acknowledge.

The labor of the study and composition of my work, though difficult, long and tedious, was one of love — of love, first, because of the intellectual enjoyment experienced in this most varied and interesting study of man's nature and motives — and second, because of the prospective good which may accrue, as the result of my investigations, to my fellow-citizens throughout the world. That the foundation of my system is stable, and able to resist any attack of criticism, I do not entertain a doubt, as its truth is based on my philological analysis of the word Elohim, and also on any amount of corroborative evidence. On this score, I may defy the assaults of criticism. Among the details of my expose, there may be, and doubtless are, some errors, or what may be deemed such. These may furnish food for the small critic.

My foundation, then, being established, its superstructure, if at all damaged, may be readily repaired. I trust, however, that my exposition will prove in the main correct. The person who shall attempt its overthrow will, of course, first undertake to do away with my analysis of the word Elohim, and so upset the rules of the Hebrew language. His next care should be to account for the uniform ease and facility with which my system

4 PREFACE.

proceeds to unravel each and all, even to the most difficult, problems of the Old Testament ; none being omitted because of their intricacy. Thus he will find plenty of work, — more perhaps than he bargained for, or can hope to execute.

Science is ever progressive, and but for theology, would become more general among the people, much to the advantage of all. As the case now stands, the very poor, except occasionally an individual of indomitable will (and of such come the most useful of every age and country), are completely shut off from science. The middle, but not wealthy, class are obliged to spend all they can spare in church-going, to find themselves at the end of a long life, as ignorant, almost, as at its beginning. Only the wealthy can afford to give their offspring a classical and scientific education. For this inequality of condition, a remedy should be provided. If knowledge is desirable and useful, as most people allow, its benefits should extend as far as possible to all. How \V may this be done ? Let the same amount of money, and time, and assiduity, now spent in church-going, in reading and commenting on the myths of the Bible, be spent in seeking out and cultivating the improvement of the poor and middle classes — in teaching them science, which they can understand, thus elevating them in their own estimation, and we shall have done for them and ourselves a lasting benefit ; we shall have made them more intelligent, more industrious, more useful and better citizens — J rendered their homes more desirable, their families happier, and the world altogether better. The grog-shop, the brothel, and all the paraphernalia therewith connected, would be cast aside, and crime of every description would quickly reach its minimum. Yes, let our churches be turne'd into halls of science, our preachers into teachers of the same, with apparatus for its illustration, and people of all classes would flock thither, eager to possess themselves of knowledge, — eager to join themselves in one universal brotherhood.

Ah! then we would have more teachers and fewer priests; more educated, and fewer ignorant; more books, and less whiskey; more sober, and fewer drunken; more moral, and fewer criminal — in fine, more of everything conducive to the ease, comfort, and enjoyment of the whole people, and less of misery,

disease, and premature death.

M. Woolley, Streator, 111.

January 23, 1877.

Chapter I. Creation

II. Adam and Eve,

III. Cain and Abel,

IV. Flood,

V. Tower of Babel,

VI. Abram and Sarai,

VII. Isaac and Rebekah, -

VIII. Jacob and Rachel,

IX. Jacob and his Sons, -

X. The Exodus,

XI. Sanctifying the Ftrst-born,

XII. Israel's Wanderings,

XIII. Joshua, -

XIV. Judges,

XV. Ruth, - -

XVI. Samuel, ' -

XVII. David, - - - -

XVIII. Solomon,

XIX. Elijah — Elisha,

XX. Jehoshaphat — Zedekiah,

XXI. Ezra, -

XXII. Nehemiah,.

XXIII. Esther,

XXIV. Job, - XXV. Psalms, -

XXVI. Isaiah,

XXVII. Daniel, - -

XXVITI. Jonah,

MAN, say our theologians, is naturally religious ; which is but to say, man is born naked, helpless and thoughtless, his mind being, as it were, a complete blank, but soon capable of receiving impressions, the earliest of which being all but ineffaceable. Hence the extreme anxiety manifested on the part of theologians to make these first impressions. All see and know this. Train up a child in the way you want him to go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. This is the rule hitherto, and still acted upon ; and this the ingenious reader will see at once is but a tacit acknowledgment of a doubt, at least, as to whether they teach truth or falsehood — more likely the latter.

But to return : When man first made his appearance upon this earth is not definitely known — tens of thousands, perhaps millions, of years ago. This much is made certain by the revelations of geology, — the old Patristic chronology can cover but a small fraction of the vast period referred to.

Man, the species I mean, is usually divided into three or more branches, termed races : The Aryan or Indo-European, the Semitic, the Turanian, etc. The first, which has always been the dominant race, gets its cognomen of Indo-European in allusion to the extent of the territory its members have come to occupy — extending from Persia, where it appears to have originated, west through Europe and thence to America. This Aryan race is subdivided into many groups, the first two of which — the Iranians and Indians, inhabiting Persia and India

— at an early period probably formed but a single group, whence their descendants have sprung.

Man, though born ignorant, but capable of improvement, would at the first learn by experience, afterward by his reasoning powers; but in proportion to the development of these. The ascendency which knowledge gives one man over his ignorant neighbor would induce its owner to appropriate its benefits wholly to himself. The most striking of the natural phenomena by which he is surrounded would be the first to engage his attention. In these the designing would see gods or devils, according to the season of the year — in summer, gods ; in winter, devils. In the Sun, Moon, planets, constellations, etc., he would see kings, queens, angels, giants, etc., and these again he would esteem good or evil, according to the season of the year. In the earth, in the ocean, in the lakes, in the rivers, he would find imaginary beings, good or evil, as his fancy might dictate. In the clouds he would see horses, elephants, camels, cows, sheep, etc., white or black, " ringstraked, speckled and spotted/' according to their form or appearance in the sky, or, as the time is day or night, winter or summer. Out of all these he might, and probably would, form a history, as of men, relating their offices, manners, customs, arts, etc. Peace and war, the great pastime of antiquity, he would make to succeed each other as regularly as summer and winter. This the Old Testament proves.

Thus a few designing men in collusion among themselves (and in the first ages they would be few), seeing their advantage, would embrace the opportunity to lord it over their less favored fellow-citizens. To perpetuate and confine the power thus obtained to the few, secret societies would be formed, more particularly on the introduction of writing, either by means of hieroglyphics or of the alphabet. In process of time, however, many generations having passed away, the key to their allegories or fictitious history would be lost. Thus commentaries would originate. These differing as they must, the priesthood would become divided, some supporting one view and some the opposite. Doubt would thence arise, first among themselves, afterward among the people. Hence inquiry ; and this being prosecuted, though ever so slowly, would inevitably end in the discovery that their theology or mythology was based on fraud and avarice. This result would be reached sooner or later by the people — sooner if the language in which their religion was expressed be the one spoken by them; later, if expressed in a dead and foreign tongue. Thus at the birth of Christ the popular religion of the Eomans had almost died out, notwithstanding " many nations, whose manners were savage and barbarous, were civilized by the laws and commerce of the Eomans. And by these the benign influence of letters and philosophy was spread abroad in countries which had lain before under the darkest ignorance" (MosheinCs Feel. Hist, p. 7). Religion didn't civilize and enlighten them. Wars and tumults had greatly diminished, and, what was very remarkable, their great variety of religions and of gods neither produced wars nor dissensions among the different nations (Ibid, p. 8). Keligion had become so low and degraded that not only the common people scouted it, but "the ancient sages derided it; after disguising its extravagance by the thin pretense of allegory" (Gibbon's Dec. and Fall, chap, xiv, near the end). Thus the whole people had learned the utter folly of all religion ; and it is not wonderful that " the wiser part of mankind," as Mosheim tells us, " about the time of Christ's birth, looked upon the whole system of religion as a just object of ridicule and contempt" (Eccl. Hist., p. 10). Kingcraft and priestcraft were near extinction. The people, having fathomed its mysteries, were about to abandon the shadow for the substance — theology for science, trickery for honesty, idleness for industry, and lying for truth !

Here, then, was a state of things which must be speedily looked to — or, good-by, priest ; good-by, king. But what was to be done? Answer: just what was done. A parcel of old Jewish fragmentary writings were collected together; for as a collection, they have not been traced farther back, under the name of Ta BiUia, or, The Books. This included, as is supposed, the Old and New Testaments, for God, priest, or king, of course, had a right to alter his will whenever he found it inadequate to his purpose.

In the first, or Old Testament, something is said of an expected Messiah (the anointed, or spring-Sun) ; in the second, or New Testament, something is said of a Christ {the anointed, scil. Sun) already come; both, indeed, being the same = the spring-Sun. The difference, if any, was as to whether the Savior or spring-Sun had really come or not. This, then, was, and is still, called the Jew-book — the Old Testament part at least. Much, if not most, of it was stolen from the sacred books of the nations among whom this scattered people sojourned; for "intercourse with the heathens had made some Jews ashamed of their fathers' faith" (Smith's Bib. Diet., Art. Messiah). Split into two factions, the Jews (those so called to-day) embraced the opinion that the Messiah, or spring, had not come. Those " ashamed of their fathers' faith " adopted the idea that he had come.

Thus stood the dissevered Jews — one faction stationary, the other conservative, though inclined to progress. The progressive pagans, therefore, if they united with either party, must join the latter. To this they were induced at the beck of their priests, under their murderer * chief, Constantine, surnamed the Great, accepting, at the same time, the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the latter being the offshoot of the former. The

* Constantino's list of murders runs thus: Maximian, his wife's father, a. d. 318; Bassianus, his sister Anastasia's husband, A. D. 314: Licinianns, a boy eleven years old, his nephew by Constantina, a. d. 319; his wife, Fausta, drowned in boiling water, a. d 320; Sopater, his former friend, a. d. 321; Licinius, his sister Constantia's husband, a. i>. 325, the very year of the Nicene council, when he was organizing the new religion; and Crispus, his own son, a. d. 326.

term Bible was prefixed to the whole collection by Chrysostom in the fourth century.

Here, then, we behold the humiliating spectacle of a race every way superior to all others, casting aside, at the instance of their priests and rulers, their national literature, rich in every department of science, to embrace the brutal, cruel, low and obscene mythology of a race ever scattered here and there over the civilized world ; and in every place, no matter where, always held in derision and contempt.

"0! what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason nourished over us."

So the new form of religion was firmly established, or, rather, the old form was dressed up anew. It was now dubbed the Christian religion. Its secret basis (natural philosophy) was now safely deposited beneath the idiom of a foreign and dead language — the Hebrew. All intellectual progress was checked, and the people again brought under the rale of priests and kings, so to remain for a long but indefinite period — until the amount of light, gathered up in infinitesimal doses, shall become sufficient to enable them to discern the cheat.

Ignorance, let the reader remember, is the basis of all religion. Says the Eev. S. Baring-Gould : " We find that a condition of the first importance to religious exaltation of feeling, is ignorance " (Orig. of Eel. Belief, vol. i, p. 357). Indeed, so thoroughly has priestcraft and kingcraft (twin brothers) in every age been aware of the importance of ignorance in enabling them to retain their hold, which they secured upon the people at an early age, that they have resorted to every means to conceal the truths of science from them, or rather, I should say, to prevent them from coming to their knowledge ; for science and religion ever have been, and always will be, antagonistic of each other. The two can no more unite than fire and water.

Hence the continual warfare which has been waged for centuries — even thousands of years — between Theology and Science in which, after the longest siege ever known, the latter is now happily coming off first best! And hence, too, all theological books abound in parables, allegories and myths to cover up the truths which science had forced upon the writers of the various mythologies, and so prevent them from coming to the understanding of the laity. Our Bible forms no exception to this remark, as my reader will come to see in the sequel. The Jewish Mythology runs in a line parallel with all other mythologies, whether Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Norse, or any other.

To become tolerably versed in religion, the student must have some knowledge of its principal forms. This the author, presently to be named, styles the " Science of Beligion," a paradoxical term, but true nevertheless. Max Miiller uttered sound sense when he said of religion: "He who knows one, knows none" (Science of Religion, p. 11.) Thus is the Christian reflected upon as being ignorant. However, I will add: He who knows all, believes none.

Let us next endeavor to ascertain, if possible, whether the professors, or teachers of the new religion as thus reformed and adopted, really believed it, or were sincere in their professions — even from the day of its adoption to the present : The Savior is represented (Mark iv, 12) as speaking in parables, " That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, but not understand." *

St. Paul says : " For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I judged as a sinner ? " (Eom. iii, 7.)

The apostolic father, Hermes, mentioned by St. Paul (Rom. xvi, 14), exclaimed, "0 Lord, I never spake a true word in my life, but I have always lived in dissimulation, and affirmed a lie for the truth to all men, and no man contradicted me, but all

* See Isaiah vi, 9.

gave credit to my words." (Quoted by Kev. R. Taylor, Diegesis, p. 45.)

Tertullian, an early Christian father, born about a.d. 150 in Carthage, thus witnesses against his profession: "I find no other means to prove myself to be impudent with success, and happily a fool, than by my contempt of shame ; as for instance, I maintain that the Son of God was born ; why am I not ashamed of maintaining such a thing ? Why ! but 'because it is of itself a shameful thing. I maintain that the Son of Cod died ; well, that is wholly credible, because it is monstrously absurd, — I maintain that after having been buried, he rose again; and this I take to be absolutely true, because it was manifestly impossible." {Ibid, p. 326.)

To the same purpose speaks Bishop Gregory Nazianzen to St. Jerome : " A little jargon is all that is necessary to impose upon the people. The less they know the more they admire. Our forefathers and doctors have often said, not what they thought, but what circumstances and necessity dictated." (See Volney's Ruins, p. 177.) This Gregory lived in the fourth century.

Says Bishop Synesius, born in Gyrene, Africa, in the fourth century: "The people are desirous to be deceived; there is no acting otherwise with them. For my own part, to myself I shall always be a philosopher, but in dealing with the mass of mankind, I shall be a priest." (Ibid, p. 177.) This bishop, says Gibbon, "loved profane studies and profane sports; he was incapable of supporting a life of celibacy; he disbelieved the resurrection ; and he refused to preach fables to the people unless he was permitted to philosophize at home" (Dec. and Fall, — note to chap, xx, sec. 5). His request was granted.

" This book of Genesis," says Maimonides, " taken according to the letter, gives the most extravagant notions of the Deity. Whoever, therefore, should perceive their true meaning ought to take care not to divulge it. It is difficult for any one, either from the text itself, or from lights elsewhere afforded, to keep off from a good guess at what it means; but then he ought to say nothing about it."* Reference lost.

So much, then, of ancient and medieval Christianity. I now approach our own times. In a recent work, " The Origin and Development of Religious Belief," by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould (vol. i, p. 232; New York, 1870), may be read the following: " To preserve equilibrium, the majority of men must be fools, and only the minority sensible, for the economy of society demands a coordination of manual labor and mental direction. Those who execute the manual labor, — building houses, tilling the ground, weaving cloth, — are subservient to those who direct the affairs of State. The laborer is a living tool." Mr. Baring- Gould is a prominent English clergyman, and, of course, truly reflects the sentiment of his caste, both in England and our own country.

Thus we find the same Christian sentiment precisely pervading every Christian age. The " sensible minority" must and will " direct the fools," if they can, and fleece them. The instrument which has always been used, and which the "sensible minority" purpose to continue the use of, is Religion. Religion — a word soon to be recognized as a synonym of ignorance — has hitherto always ruled the down-trodden laborer with a rod of iron; has ever arrogated to itself, under many names, the government of the world. No matter what its name or form, this fiend, Religion, has always managed to insinuate itself into every government set up by man ; the result being in every instance loss of liberty to the laboring classes, and this loss being, in most cases, the consequence of long, bloody and exhausting civil wars. So that the " sensible minority," by means of this mighty agent, have thus far succeeded in converting our beautiful world into a "slaughter-house, drenched with blood and tears" (Higgins'

*Prof.W. D. Whitney, of Yale College, seems to have acted upon Maimonides' advice, in declining to correspond with me on this suhject. He, however, vouchsafed this much: U I admire the ingenuity of your parallelisims." Letter to the Author, dated Oct. 19, 1873.

Cetic Druids, p. 299). For war, thus far, has ever been the pastime of the "sensible minority," or, as the sensitive Shelly has it:

"War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, The lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade."

"Religion and philosophy," says the Rev. G-. Oliver, D.D., a learned English clergyman, "were veiled under the impervious shade of hieroglyph ical symbols, unintelligible to the profane, and intended to lead them into a maze of error, from which it was difficult to extract a single idea which bore any resemblance to the original truth. These symbols were publicly displayed in the temples, beaming streams of light to the initiated; while to the profane they were but an obscure mass of unintelligible darkness" {Hist, of Initiation, p. 73). Such was then, and is now, the magnanimity of the " sensible minority."

"The priesthood of all nations had acted upon the system that it was necessary to deceive the mass of the people for their own good ; that it was not possible to guide them by the plain, open truth" (L. Maria Child, Prog, of Relig. Ideas, vol. iii, p. 167). "Guide them!" Where? Why, into the great whirlpool of ignorance and barbarism, such as the world experienced during the one thousand years of " the dark ages." when priests and kings brooked no opposition. Where else could deceit and lying guide them?

And now, my co-workers and fellow-citizens — farmers, mechanics, artizans of all classes and descriptions ("fools" in the estimation of the Rev. S. Baring-G-ould and his coadjutors), what do you think of the " mental direction " thus proposed to you, coming, as it does, from a class of men who never, as a rule, perpetrated a useful invention of the smallest moment — who never did the least thing intentionallv for the advance of civilization, but on the contrary have ever taken upon themselves the "mental direction" of your race in a way calculated to lead to ignorance and slavery, as above conclusively proven ?

16 INTROEUCTION.

Where, let me ask you, where had we all been to-day but for the great minds and hands which have occasionally, and only now and then, appeared as bright oases in the boundless desert of ignorance of the past ages, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and others among the ancients; Copernicus, Galileo, Columbus, Newton, Laplace, Lyell, Darwin, Huxley and Tyndall among the moderns — real philanthropists, who have both thought and worked for the benefit of the world ? Was there ever advancement except at the hands of such men ? No ! emphatically No! ! All progress thus far has come from those who have spurned the " mental direction " of theological mountebanks and kings; all future progress will come from a similar source.

As all advancement in civilization has ever been in proportion to the number of self-directing hands — slow at first because of paucity of numbers, may we not hope, from the continual accession of numbers, for a more rapid improvement in the future ? This, of course, will depend much, but not altogether, upon the working classes. If in connection with the scientists, their true friends, they work and think, their betterment of condition will be made sure. But if they work, and let those who do not work think for them, they will surely decline from their present condition, which is truly low enough, and become the tools of designing men. " The laborer is a living tool," says the Eev. S. Baring-G-ould.

Having truth, and nothing but truth in view, the inquirer should have some notion of the means for its attainment. For this purpose I know of no better instrument than the law of the development of the human mind, as first put in form by the French savant, M. Auguste Comte. A knowledge of this law, if put to use, will greatly aid the free-inquirer in his search after truth: "The law is this: That each of our leading conceptions, each branch of our knowledge, passes successively through three different theoretical conditions : The theological, or fictitious ; the metaphysical or abstract ; and the scientific, or positive."

Xow every one who has arrived at years of maturity, must have observed, that his mind was developed, if developed at all, strictly in conformity to this law. In his childhood, he was a theologian ; in his youth, a metaphysician ; and in his manhood, a philosopher.

This law is expressed by its author in bold and prominent language, whose purport cannot be mistaken by the reader; and although a later and very able writer, Herbert Spencer, affects to disagree with the Frenchman, it is merely in the matter of its •expression, as the upshot of his argument proves. For, in his treatise on Education, he enunciates this same law thus : " Of the three phases through which human opinion passes — the unanimity of the ignorant, the disagreement of the inquiring, and again, the unanimity of the wise — it is manifest that the second is the parent of the third." (p. 101).

It may be remarked that the theological stage of development is divided into Fetishism, the lowest and most degraded form of religion ; Monotheism, its highest and least frequent form, and Polytheism, the form in which it appears in the Bible. This last proposition may be objected to, but it cannot be disproved.

A careful study of many religions, or of all, will disclose the fact of their common origin — in natural phenomena ; — in the sky, the Sun, the moon, the constellations, the planets, etc. Thus, " the sky may be called not only the brilliant, but the ■dark, the cowering, the thundering, the rain-giving. This is the polyonomy of language, and is what we are accustomed to call polytheism in religion." (Max Muller, Science of Religion, p. 124.)

Thus have I, at length, brought Theology and Science face to face. The first covers up and hides truth to the degradation of man ; the last uncovers and brings it to the people for their improvement. "For it is true," says Macrobius, a philosopher of the fifth century, " that while the mythologists (theologians) stuff the history of their Gods with fables, the naturalists reduce their fictions to a rational sense." {Quoted by Banier, Myth., vol. ii, p. 183.) 2

As regards my subject, the Bible, I have taken the course of the "naturalists," and so have shown in the following pages that that sacred (secret) book treats of natural phenomena only. It can't treat of anything else, for there is nothing else to treat of. Does the infatuated theologian imagine a God ? The idea originated in Aries, the first of the zodiacal constellations. Does he imagine Bulls breathing flames of fire ? His image is formed from the Sun in Taurus. Does he picture to himself a Devil ? He obtains his prototype from the Sun in Scorpio ; and similarly of all the fictions of the sacred Book, and also of all the world's mythologies, by means of which one man wheedles his fellow out of his substance, and at the same time of his liberty.

But it will be objected to what I have written of the twelve tribes, that there is a small tract of land called the " Holy Land" east of the Mediterranean sea, divided into twelve parts, to each of which one of the Patriarchal names is assigned; and hence that I am wrong — intentionally wrong. This objection is readily met and set aside. The Hebrews never applied the name Palestine to the whole country so called, but only to the long strip of maritime plain inhabited by their encroaching neighbors, and this even is doubtful. Biblically, this name Palestine is a misnomer. Neither did the Eoman division coincide with the theological name, nor did the Romans have a distinct name for the Holy Land. (Bib. Diet., Art. Palestine.) "Soon after the Christian era this name took possession of the country " (Ibid). That is, I suppose, the country surveyed itself off into twelve districts and named them after the twelve Patriarchs — a miracle, to be sure, but nothing is impossible with G-od !