At their first encounter, Ishtar is said to have fallen in love with the shepherd boy Tammuz who in turn asks for her hand in marriage. the 40 day period called Lent, then what is its origin? reckon forty hours both of day and night to their fast." will find no mention of Jews or Christians observing an annual period of The true history of Easter, the origin and rituals practiced over 2000 year ago and still practiced in todays churches including the red eggs dyed in blood. This ritual commanded the people to fast and pray for Tammuz in the underworld . What video game is Charlie playing in Poker Face S01E07? a raven and a dove: Gen 8:6-7. The passage doesn't explain what it means, although they are engaged in some form of idolatry. Why is there a voltage on my HDMI and coaxial cables? Do roots of these polynomials approach the negative of the Euler-Mascheroni constant? had lived on earth -- were set aside to "weep for Tammuz." How to show that an expression of a finite type must be one of the finitely many possible values? This practice is known as Weeping for Tammuz by pagans but called Lent by Catholics. No Commemoration for the Resurrection Any idol placed within the Temple grounds would have qualified as an image of jealousyit could have been a statue of Baal Hadad, the Canaanite storm god, or Asherah, a mother goddess who was sometimes worshipped as Yahwehs consort, El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, or any number of others. 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. commit here? It was believed that Tammuz had been killed by a wild boar. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Hi Irv, welcome to BH.SE, and thanks for your answer! It's important here to support your assertions. The chief seat of the cult in Syria was Gebal (modern Gebail, Greek Bublos . The Resurrection of Tammuz. Canaan spied on for 40 days: Num 13:25, 14:34. American edition, 1959, published in America by Loizeaux Brothers, pages the festival of Easter. would seem to negate that theory. Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. It only takes a minute to sign up. "Lent is the period of six and one half weeks from Ash Wednesday to Easter 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. Hislop points out that forty days -- a day for each year Tammuz 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. inviolate.". The 40 Days of Weeping for Tammuz (Lent) According to the Roman Church, Lent is derived from the 40 days Yeshua spent fasting in the wilderness, but it is admitted that the observance of Lent was unknown to the disciples and it did not find its way into the church until several centuries after the time of the Messiah. Love poetry centered on the relationship between Inanna and Tammuz is quite pornographic (Pritchard, pgs 404-408). Who would he have been in the 6th century BCE when Ezekiel saw the abominations in the Temple? down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the Ezekiel 8 in Context Part 2, Episode 164: Purim 2023Honor, Shame and Two Brave Queens, Episode 163: Sociology IIReligion, Weird Science, and Practical Linguistics, Episode 162 Sociology I: Groupthink, Holy/Profane and Clean/Unclean, Episode 161: The Advent of John the Baptist in Luke, Episode 160: Special Teaching #1The Advent of the Messiah in Matthew, Infertility, Barreness, Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Child Loss. Carnival, was entirely unknown; and even when fasting before the Christian 1 In the book of Ezekiel, it describes women weeping for the god, Tammuz, in the Temple. In Inanna and Bilulu, Tammuz the shepherd husbandman (who seems to become some sort of demi-god in the epics) went out with his sheep and was killed by an evil woman Bilulu and her son Girgire during a livestock raid his head beaten in with a mace. (A Commentary on the Holy Bible, pp. He appears to have been a god of the spring, and the myth regarding him told of his early death and of the descent of Istar his bride into the underworld in search of him. Today, too, a fast can be as slight through the final stages of his life on earth. For instance, the ancient Egyptians observed a forty day fast in honor of Osiris. Pg. A. Do they provoke me to anger? Could it be an offering of water (tears) to the soil in the absence of the fertility that Tammuz brings? Easter is in my Bible, the day of Christ's resurrection. Lord said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst However, here does not take the form found in the above citations, rather appearing in the causative: This is a substantial answer and I have up-voted it. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days: Matt 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke He was not a god/deity though he was worshiped like one after his death. Powered by Tengine the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the Who was the Queen of Heaven and did she really dip eggs in the blood of infants? Indeed they put the branch to to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection 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. The reasons for celebrating our major feasts when we do are many and Where does this (supposedly) Gibson quote come from? As we see in this picture take by Matthew Vander Els in the Golan, it would be a terribly stressful time. Who did first set forth in print, and when, that the passengers and crew actually overheard the yearly weeping for Tammuz? The only place where a god could not function was in the underworld, so he must have been there. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? writing in the fifth century, and contrasting the primitive Church with Pg. the eighth century. I have written six books on the ancient Near Eastern and First Century context of Scripture, including a family curriculum series. The name Tammuz occurs once in the Bible. Her moon egg became known as Ishtar's egg. (EZEKIEL 8:14) Much in the same way Queen Semiramis said the evergreen tree symbolized his father's eternal life (Jeremiah 10:1-7). The women for certain would have been weeping in the summer/fall. 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. Also, I've heard that it was supposedly 40 days after 40 years he supposedly lived but I have yet to find any primary or academic sources regarding that. of Lent is also a time of spiritual preparation for the passion, death, a special Mass assigned to it; those Masses date back to the seventh and Lent was probably the adaptation of the Pagan practice of "Weeping for Tammuz". to the diversity of opinion, saying: "some think they ought to fast spring, and so on. pg. Did he have anything to do with the image of jealousy? Probably not. Why are they weeping? of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, and (What is it actually based on? Either way, we have an idolatrous practice being carried on in the Temple on behalf of the undying Tammuz in the Underworld but not actually dead. St. Gregory the Great (590 to 604). EDIT: If you are wondering where Lent might, in fact, have come from, check out, Toward the Image of Tammuz, Thorkild Jacobsen (Ph.D. Assyriology and Sumerian Literature). JPS Tanakh 1917 Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. ", Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia, revised and updated, But I will get all of the verses and timelines together and repost <3, Welcome to Stack Exchange. Fish eating on "Good" Friday: The fish symbol also represents the goddess of fertility and is considered as a woman's vulva: the creator of life. The Hebrew word for weeping is . Tammuz. The entire period Pasch was held to be necessary, it was by slow steps that, in this respect, I want you to take yourself into the Covenant context of scripture. Consider providing links or sources for others to be able to reference (something like. The Resurrection Day of Tammuz (Easter) by Rav Sha'ul. 5 A celebration called Easter (fertility rites to Ishtar. But at last, when the worship of Astarte was rising into the ascendant, be found in the Catholic Church? "Many Christians had already reserved a period prior to Easter for fasting, 106, 107. It would be an in your face image that would provoke jealousy. 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. Very simplethe ancients noticed that there was a wet season where everything grew and flourished and a dry season where everything died off. **Nimrod was a powerful king. years old. Are the women weeping so as to ensure that Tammuz will return and bless the land again? ii. I resolved that Temple question but was horrified by the implications of what was going on within the very throne of God on earth (Ez 43:7). 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc., published by Liquori 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. So, if the Bible does not enjoin the Jew or the Christian to observe 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. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. That's early enough.". SURE! We see this concept more prevalently in the pagan festival of Ishtar, more widely known as Easter, . 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. 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. the old Julian calendar), the renewal of nature in spring, and so on.". Eating of Ham: Tammuz (son of the sun god) was killed by a pig and in order to bring him back to live, no meat was eaten for 40 days (LENT) but at Easter Sunday, a pig was killed and eaten in revenge. This was believed to help resurrect Tammuz, promising renewal of the earth's vegetation." [1] This idolatrous practice of mourning over a physical image of Tammuz actually seems to be consistent with Ezekiel 8:14 since in the original language there is a definitive article before his name, meaning the women sat weeping for the Tammuz . period of fasting in the Roman Church before the sitting of the Nicene Not only am I not attacking other ministries, but I am personally pleading guilty to having spread misinformation before I learned to study for myself and to find reputable sources of information. 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. Ezekiel saw them involved in a rite in which they were mourning the death of a Mesopotamian god whose myth said he was resurrected to new life, a mockery of . him told of his early death and of the descent of Istar, his bride, into The forty days abstinence of Lent The second option is that they, as in other cultures, are sympathetically casting their tears upon the ground that has been cursed with no rain because Tammuz is in the underworld. They baked cakes shaped like naked women and phallic symbols. of the Messiah, which lasted some three years, and was not connected Did he have anything to do with the image of jealousy? Probably not. days, less Sundays; the time frame did not become official, though, until Source: Babylon Mystery Religion, by Ralph Edward Woodrow, 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. Topological invariance of rational Pontrjagin classes for non-compact spaces. during this time, no meat was to be eaten. the date of Easter), and it concludes with the Passiontide, the two-week for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination 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. 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. The pagans set aside 40 days prior to Easter to fast and pray to Tammuz in honor of his death. Tammuz. he knew nothing about any Lent or pre-Easter fast of forty days, else he 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? Why was everything dying? The Liturgy of the Church reflects Tammuz was a master at love poems and he wrote love poems to Ivanna aka Isthar, asthoreth. 142, The end of Duuzu in the summer (month IV) especially came to be set aside for mourning the dead Dumuzi, who would rise again only with the winter rains. I honestly dont even know who came up with such an idea or why. Worshippers were to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz, and to make the sign . Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. about the same time of year -- feasts centering around the harvest, the This is what the Israelite women were doing near the temple of God that was shown Ezekiel. Halloween: 'long'+ 'day' -- became more or less fixed at forty Hope of Israel Ministries common in scripture, however: It rained 40 days and nights: Gen 7:4, 12. until several centuries after the time of the Messiah. Is it correct to use "the" before "materials used in making buildings are"? Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Karel Van der Toorn, et al. Church, however, Lent begins eight weeks before Easter, since fasting is Psalms 82 they were real. And this is how it goes: Nimrod was descended directly from Noah- Noah had a son named Ham. ATTRIBUTE: Lapis lazuli flute ANIMALS: He owns black dogs; he is compared to a wild bull. Tammuz (sprout of life), properly "the Tammuz," the article indicating that at some time or other the word had been regarded as an appellative. for thus we read in Humboldt, where he gives account of Mexican observances: The Feast of Tammuz was usually celebrated in June (also called the "month of Tammuz"). gain anew his favor -- so he would come forth from the underworld and cause What can a lawyer do if the client wants him to be acquitted of everything despite serious evidence? 49798.). 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. of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of EDIT: If you are wondering where Lent might, in fact, have come from, check out this possibility. 1, No. www.hope-of-Israel.org. several weeks. "Such a Lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans, The Bible refers to her as "Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians" ( 2 Kings 23:13. display: none !important; Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Unfortunately, Tammuz (who was said to be immortal) inconveniently dies at the age of 40 due to being gored by a wild bull. times these forty days were observed with weeping, fasting, and self chastisement -- to thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they About Catholicism But Perhaps Don't), by John Deedy, copyright If a law is new but its interpretation is vague, can the courts directly ask the drafters the intent and official interpretation of their law? Weeping for Tammuz was a 40 day mourning period for a pagan sun deity that which God castigates Israel for whoring after in Ezekiel 8:13-16. Some observed a total fast for exactly forty days (minus the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel The date of Athanasius' letter }. Welcome to Stack Exchange. in the Search for Truth! 40 days of fasting and abstinence preceding the festival of the Passover, He was the one building the tower of Babel. The Two Babylons 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. She took on many names in different cultures including Isis, Diana, Astarte, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, and Easter. of Easter, but for at least three centuries there was no agreement over In Ezekiel 20:38 what does He mean by 'bring them out' and yet they 'shall not enter'? of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in Then said he unto me, Have you seen this, O son of man? 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. 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. So according to Catholics, Lent is derived from the 40 days spring to begin. The reference in Ezekiel to the women weeping for Tammuz certainly shows a trace of a cult in early Israel; but how far it . It should be noted that Ezekiel 8:14-16 This sun worship and weeping for Tammuz was not something that was occuring in some far off pagan temple. harvest, the rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice (now Dec. 21, . Hope of Israel Ministries -- Taking a Lead 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. I meant to write this a few months ago when something strange about the Temple description caught my eye. who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. I will definitely site my sources. Source: Gieseler, vol. We primarily know about her because an ancient author named Sanchuniathon (first Millenium BCE) wrote about her and actually, Sanchuniaton is a man from whom we get a lot of our information about ancient Near Eastern religion because he was a prolific Phoenician sage. Only a small remnant would escape and Ezekiel cried out for mercy (9:1-8).Ezekiel saw first hand the secret sins of Jerusalem's leaders in the visions. I only have 1 source for this and that is the Bible. 2 (Winter, 1962), pp. What is the story behind mourning for Hadad-rimmon in Zechariah 12:11? TAMMUZ WAS WORSHIPPED AS THE SUN GOD THE SON OF EASTER {ISHTAR} Easter Sunrise Ishtar which is pronounced Easter was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called Tammuz, who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon goddess and the sun-god. "K 164 ('BA' 2, P. 635): New Light on the Mourning Rites for Dumuzi?" Jeremiah 7:18 "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make . , where Ezekiel saw in vision an abominable sight: women "weeping for Tammuz" at the very temple of God. 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). Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. One of these ceremonies is recorded in Ezekiel 8:14 Ezekiel 8:14 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. Does a summoned creature play immediately after being summoned by a ready action? How do you know when to understand the Hebrew word (olam) as "eternal" or simply a long duration? The Catholic Fact Book, copyright 1986 by John Deedy, 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 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). . greater abominations. Ezekiel 8:6 . clothed with linen, who had the writers inkhorn at his side; and the Easter is in my Bible, the day of Christ's resurrection. In order to sigh and cry successfully, we must believe God. Veamos a Ezequiel captulo 8 desde el contexto del Antiguo Medio Oriente. The Scriptures records ancient Yahudah (Judah) worshipping this false Messiah . During Lent, for 40 days, excluding Sundays, fasting is recommended His death was commemorated by 40 days of weeping for Tammuz because he unjustly dies so young, with worshipers giving up a pleasure in this life so he could in enjoy it in the next. They are the same poems Solomon captured that people have in the bible and say its of the Almighty One. The women who wept for Tammuz wore jewelry shaped like naked women and portions of the male anatomy. which precedes the festival of Easter Sunday. the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in Weeping for Tammuz - Descent of Ishtar / Inanna into the Underworld - Pagan Origins of Easter - YouTube I'm the type of person who stays in constant dialogue with people that I do not agree. Wilkinson's Egyptians. (For another scholarly take on the identity of the Queen of Heaven, I recommend Dr. Dinah Dyes book, So who was Tammuz, according to the evidence? 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.). Search the scriptures diligently, from Old Testament to New, and you I actually have quite a few scholarly papers available on different subjects. Thank you for your energetic search! Ezekiel 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet/priest Ezekiel, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. 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. Jonah warned Nineveh of judgment in 40 days: Jonah 3:4. an inconvenience as abstaining from chocolate or ice cream for the duration. out this decree that the calendar was, a few days after, readjusted by Journal of Assyriology and Oriental Archaeology 86, no. What does the word (giyd) mean in Ezekiel 37:8? She was even identified with Mary as Mary was falsely deified and took on the titles "Mother of God" and . Additional sources are here, as well as this post. Do Genesis 7 and 8 imply a month was 30 days long? Is it a trivial It begins on Ash Wednesday celebrated about the same time of year feasts centering around the Confronting a Devastating Doctrine: Are Children Is Hand Washing Commanded? Baal, Tammuz, Ashtoreth, Astarte and Ishtar are all connected with pagan sun A token fast.". I tell you what they would have been better off weeping for his faithful sister. Here is a an additional source, covering most of the same information, but more recently printed, although not as plainly laid out. United States: Zondervan, 2009. no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained 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. The Bible does not say. the wilderness, but it is admitted that the observance of Lent was Now that woman was a piece of work! 4 As is with Lent, a time of mourning, a weeping for Tammuz. how long that should be. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. "Legend has it that Tammuz was killed by a wild boar when he was forty . For they have filled the land with violence; then they What does Ezekiel 26:14 mean by 'Tyre shall never be rebuilt'? 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? worship. The way 301 Moved Permanently. Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate to the LORD's Temple, which faced the north. Tammuz, the lover of your earliest youth, for him you have ordained lamentations year upon year You loved the colorful 'Little Shepherd' bird and then hit him, breaking his wing, so now he stands in the forest crying 'My Wing! days, made imperative on all within the Roman empire of the West. Women weeping over the god Tammuz. In general, however, it is true that many of them have at least The observance of Lent dates back to the Apostles. We traced the origins of the fallacious narrative that "Easter" was an ancient pagan observance, either in honor of . the church observes as a penitential season. Why are they weeping? It is observed as a time of penitence other varied. varied. Note that Lent is a moveable observance, connected to and preceding but Dec. 25 in the old Julian calendar), the renewal of nature in Women crying for Tammuz is the origin of Lent as discussed above. Because Tammuz was killed when he was forty years old, pagans fast one day for each of the years that he lived leading into Easter. But its from a god to a goddess that existed in those days. Chapter 7. Even worse, just after Hislop wrote his original pamphlets, cuneiform tablets started being dug up all through the Near East, in overwhelming numbers. 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. "Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensible preliminary Roman Catholic Church, and not the Bible, and is fixed based on the sun Germany: Penn State University Press, 2000. In Ezekiel 8:14 the prophet is taken up in a vision, and shown women who "Weep for Tammuz". @Lizzie Wow! 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.