- Joined
- Nov 27, 2019
Judaism has no connection to cows at all. And the Hebrew name for G-d isn't even close to Baal.If you’re open to heresy, I have done some contemplating having read about older religions and the Old Testament
I suspect that a lot of religions, especially in areas with Indo-Europeans are connected and have similar roots. Just they ended up separating over time, gained or changed doctrines, and evolved with their societies. I’m doing my best to simplify this as much as possible… From Hinduism to the Greek Pantheon to Christianity, there is a shared religious heritage thanks to their common ancestors.
There are notable parallels between some of the gods like Zeus & Baal, notably they’re storm and fertility gods. A number of scholars agree that the two are often connected. Cows are often associated with them. Cows are also regular fixtures in Indo-European religion, most notably in Hinduism but often pop up in the symbology of the Old Testament.
Set is also a storm god and a god of “foreigners” so I suspect that his worship was introduced by nomadic Indo-Europeans and we know Baal was worshipped in Egypt at one point in time. Worship of Baal was also spread throughout North Africa by the Phoenicians and I suspect that Baal worship was reintroduced multiple times over the centuries.
Baal was once indistinguishable and shared titles with the Jewish deity we call God. Some evidence of this is shown in their names. Baal was once a common compound of Jewish names. The judge Gideon was named Jerrubaal, and so were a number of other old testament figures. Due to Jezebel being an annoying slut as well as religious divisions, caused the Jews to replace names compounded with -baal to -boshet or shame.
There are some other parallels. One for example is how Baal would often struggle with the god of death and stagnancy. If he succeeded there’d be seven years of prosperity but if he failed there’s be seven years of drought. We can see parallels with Joseph’s dream of the 7 fat cows and 7 skinny/dead cows.
And I could go on.
TLDR indo-European religions from Hinduism to Christianity have shared roots.
Baal was the god that the Israelites worshipped when they went astray.