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Chapter 20 The truth about religions (Part 1) Judaism
The dance of the planets
So regular and predictable
one might think they moved like this forever
What a contrast to things claimed by the first astronomers
of ancient Mesopotamia and numerous cultures that followed
They watched planetary motions with a compulsive fear
Why would diligent astronomers insist
that the planets were the towering gods of a prior time
Planets ruled the destiny of kings and kingdoms
and they were the agents of doomsday "the end of the world"
Ancient cultures the world over
insisted that an exemplary "sun" once ruled the sky
For the Egyptians this former power was the creator Atum - RA
ruling from the center and summit of the sky
In ancient Mesopotamia
we see the primeval "Sun" as a great turning wheel in the heavens
and the astronomers named this body as the planet Saturn
It was from the Romans that we received the planet's name Saturn
As improbable as it may seem...
this is were the Egyptians located their primeval "Sun God" Atum
This motionless spot in the heavens
is precisely where later astronomical traditions
from Greece to Persia and China
All claimed that Saturn had ruled the world...
a contradiction of every principle we take for granted today
the archaic name of Italy was Saturnia
And tradition held that this very name
was given to the original site of Rome
The Sabbath the special day of rest and reverence
was "Saturni Dies" Saturns Day
a day honored throughout the Mediterranean the Near East and beyond
The popular Roman festival "Saturnalia"
was a symbolic return to the Saturnia reign
Ancient traditions identify the Ugaritic and Hebrew "EL" as Saturn
And it was said that the Israelites
once saw themselves as "Saturns children"
It's almost impossible to believe
that ancient people sacrificed their own children
either symbolic or literally to the "planet god" Saturn
Saturn was remembered as the devourer of his own children
And as Moloch demanding sacrifice...
and as "EL" or the Elohim,
commanding Abraham to sacrifice his own son Isaac
Saturn mesmerize civilizations...
In 1979 the Voyager spacecraft
showed a perfect geometric form over the North Pole
In October 2006 the Cassini craft found that it is still there
It's just bizarre, it sits there a kind of still,
it doesn't move with the planet
the pole there is a hexagon feature
a 6 sided polygon that encircles the pole
at about 78 degrees North Latitude
and is sitting there as a set feature...
Saturn vortex can fit 4 Earths inside of it
and extends 60 miles deep, in to Saturn's clouds
and what's more bizarre, a voyager showed a little tiny cloud
going around at about 100m/sec, which is about 200miles/h
going around this race track
People thought, well maybe "a temporary thing"
how can it stay there?
It's been there now, for at least 20 years and we ask, what is it?
According to the Talmud a central text of Judaism
King Solomon possessed a magic ring
with a special symbol, called the seal of Solomon
Today known as the "Star of David"
This special ring, would allow him to accomplish
things beyond what mortals could usually accomplish
and part of what he can do with that ring with the seal on it
was control the demons...
In recent decades, biblical archeology
has undergone something of a revolution
A more scientific approach is informed
a younger generation of archaeologists
Israel Finkelstein Professor of archeology at Tel Aviv University
and Neil Silberman
Director of Ename center of public archeology in Belgium
The Old Testament tells the story of the Jews ancestors
"the Israelites"
After many tribulations a leader amongst them
a man called Moses lead them out of Egypt
They headed eastwards back towards Canaan "the promised land"
This famous journey,
forms the basis of the Old Testament books of Exodus and Numbers
Neil Silberman has come to discuss the evidence for the Exodus
with Donald Redford one of the world's leading archaeological experts
on Egypt's delta region
How you can explain the possibility
of a such a large group as described in the Exodus story
actually going out of the Egypt... Is that possible?
Well I couldn't explain it, if I subscribe to that theory
What you said is quite correct
Egypt for 5 centuries from the 15th century on
Egypt ruled an empire the largest at the time
which extended 2000 miles up to Euphrates river (to day Iraq)
The Egyptian army and occupation forces
and its economy were extremely strong
They held all of Canaan of course
their sphere of influence extended to the Greek islands and Crete
and there is no indication whatsoever
in the records, either archaeological or written
of any major hiatus, such as would have been created by the expulsion
of 2 million people if we believe the "old testament" record
that would have made such a hole in the population
that would have brought the economy to a standstill
it would certainly have turn up in a record somewhere
Now that's an argument from silence I understand
but nevertheless the silence is absolutely watertight
there is no indication whatsoever...
Joshua and the Israelites embarked on a 7 year campaign
during which they "conquered" 30 Canaanite cities
without doubt the most famous story is that of Jericho
I mean you have this wonderful description of the people of Israel
going with the Ark of the covenant with the trumpets...
and then the walls of Jericho collapsed in the 7th day, all of a sudden...
there is nothing there...
so this is not history, in the simple sense
And the case of Jericho applies also for other places mentioned
in the tradition of the conquest in the book of Joshua
many of the cities mentioned, were not inhabitant at all...
Once the Israelites had "established" themselves in Canaan
a "great empire" eventually arose over all their people
this unified empire was supposedly established in the 10th century BC
By David, he of David and Goliath fame
The idea of a great Davidic or Solomonic Empire
in the 10th century BC it's absolutely ridiculous
Because an empire needs a Capital
there is almost nothing in Jerusalem, a very small village
An Empire needs manpower
there is nothing in Judah a few small villages...
An empire needs administration
there is no administration, there is no scribal activity
Where is the empire?
The Israelites in both the Northern and the Southern kingdom
did share a common religion, but it wasn't monotheism
we know from texts and archeology
that traditional Israelite religion involved venerating the ancestors
the gods of the underworld so to speak...
we know from texts at least and from iconography
that we find in the ground
that traditional Israelite religion
involved venerating the stars and the planets
we know therefore the traditional Israelite religion was polytheistic
The name Yahweh is a name of an Israelite
God relating to Israel appears for the first time
in the inscriptions of around 800 BC, found in the Sinai desert
And one of the inscriptions is a dedication
to Yahweh and his Asherah...
that means Yahweh the god of Israel
in this description has a consort a wife...
called Asherah, just like the main god of the Canaanites
Standing isolated in the country side of northern Syria
there has been nothing to prevent the excavation
of these ancient remains
this temple is from the same period as the Jerusalem Temple
about the 10th to the 8th century BC
and it's remarkably similar in its dimensions and architecture
These are impressionistic plans of two temples
this one, is the temple I am sitting right now in Ain Dara in Syria
and this one is based on descriptions
in the "Old Testament" of the Jerusalem Temple
and when we compare the two, we can see how similar they are
This imposing creature is a Cherub
Genesis tells us, Cherub and God at the entrance to the Garden of Eden
and they do the same here
keeping watch at the boundaries of the Temple
and they were also in the Jerusalem Temple
In the book of Kings we are told
that Cherubs were found on every wall of the Temple
it portrays them as huge monstrous creatures
standing 10 cubits high with a wing span of an other 10 cubits
The god "EL"
the texts often described him as an ancient deity
the father of the gods with the long gray beard
for "EL" is also the god of the ancient Israelites
The "divine" name Yahweh is unique to ancient Israelite religion
but the reality is that that he wasn't always known as Yahweh
The "Old Testament" itself reveals that God
has the same name as the chief Canaanite God
The name "EL" occurs elsewhere in the Bible
but it tends to be hidden in English translations
for example here in the "book of Numbers"
the right to celebrate the tradition about god leading his people
from slavery in Egypt into the promised land
and in this verse it says "god, who brings them out of Egypt"
but when we turn to the original Hebrew
the same line...
Actually it says "EL, who brings the people out of Egypt"
So according to this poem
"EL" is the god of the Exodus,
is "EL" who liberates the people and bring them to the promised land
Here in the book of Exodus god is talking to Moses and he says
"I am Yahweh I reveal myself to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob
as "EL" of the wilderness
but by my name Yahweh I did not make my self known"
This text is really clear
It's asserting that Yahweh the god of the "Old Testament"
the god of the Israelites, used to be known as "EL"
The word "EL" is even found
in the name of one of the peoples and nations of this land "IsraEL"
With the elite of Judah removed to Babylon and Jerusalem devastated
the kingdom was destroyed
and the remnants of the population left scattered and leaderless
but the judahites taken to Babylon
managed to preserve the memory of their religion and history
Jerusalem or Zion remained central to their thoughts
the judahites or Jews as they now became known were led by priests
and one of them played an absolutely critical role
this priest, gathered together the various Jewish texts
which was still remembered
and put them in to the official compilation known as the Torah
He is a priest, he is a scribe he has access to the texts
and he's someone who has power because he is strong enough
to come to the Jews and say okay this is the Bible from now on
this is Torah...
And he stands the people up and they hold a tremendous ceremony
and he has the priest standup and read the text of the Torah
and that Torah that he created the 5 books of Moses
is the Torah that everybody has read
for a 2500 years since that time..
In the book "Circles of Power"
which is a practical guide to Cabbalistic, Jewish magic
the god of Old Testament, is invoked to perform magic...
The Tetragrammaton the most important,
of all the names of "god", used in Cabbalistic magic,
is the Tetragrammaton, the name of four letters.
It's spelled Y H V H.......
In magical tradition though,
another pronunciation was standard, until the modern period.
This is the Latin transliteration of the Tetragrammaton,
Jehovah, which in classical Latin is pronounced "Yehowah"......
In practical magic, the hexagram is used,
to work with the energies of the 7 traditional planets.