Matthew 1

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3)

These are the first lines of cuneiform trail known as the Code of Hammurabi, sixth king of the Amorite dynasty who lived and reigned in Babylon between 1728 and 1686 BC and was proclaimed king of Sumeria, Acadia and the four regions. Under his reign turned the small city-state into an empire that dominated Mesopotamia between Kurdistan and the Persian Gulf, between the lands of Mari to Susa in today’s Iran, beating the Assyrian capital Nineveh.

Babylon was called in Sumerian times Ka-dingirra, the Gate of the Gods. According to the Bible was founded by Nimrod, son of Cush, grandson of Ham and grandson of Noah. Each of the city gates held the name of a god: Shamash, Ishtar, Marduk, Adad, Enlil, Zababa and Uresh. In Nebuchadnezzar age, during the second Chaldean kingdom, was built the famous Ishtar Gate, leading to the temple of Marduk. This door was a fortified enclosure controlling access to the north of the city, then also housing one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient World: the Hanging Gardens, built to Amytis, monarch’s wife.

 

[JLG]

4)


The main Assyrian gods were Ashur, Anu, Enlil, and Enki. Ashur was the national god, originally the deification of the city of Ashur. Anu was the supreme god, and Enlil was the god of air, considered the head of the pantheon. Enki was the god of water and wisdom.


Here's a more detailed look at some of the key Assyrian deities:

Ashur: The national god of Assyria, originally associated with the city of Ashur. He became the most important god as the Assyrian empire grew.

Anu: The supreme god, associated with heaven and the sky.


Enlil: The god of air and wind, considered the head of the pantheon.


Enki: The god of water, wisdom, and creation. He was also known as Ea.


Ishtar: The goddess of fertility, love, and war. She was also known as Inanna.


Shamash: The sun god, known for his role as an arbiter of justice.


Sin: The moon god.


Nabu: The god of wisdom and writing.


Nergal: The god of plague, war, and the sun in its destructive capacity.







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[JLG]

5)


Babylonian and Assyrian religions, though sharing fundamental Mesopotamian beliefs, had distinct focuses. Both were polytheistic, with vast pantheons of gods and goddesses. However, the Assyrians placed a greater emphasis on Ashur as their national deity, while the Babylonians centered their worship around Marduk.

 

[JLG]

6)


Similarities:

• Polytheism:
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  Both Assyrian and Babylonian religions were polytheistic, meaning they believed in and worshiped multiple gods and goddesses.

Differences:

• National Deity:
  The Assyrians primarily focused on Ashur as their national god, while the Babylonians centered their worship around Marduk.

Shared Pantheon:


They shared a large and diverse pantheon of deities, many with similar roles and attributes.


Focus on Natural Phenomena and Human Affairs:


Both religions associated their gods with natural phenomena (like the sun, moon, and storms) and with aspects of human life (like warfare, agriculture, and governance).


Rituals and Temples:


Both cultures had elaborate rituals, including sacrifices, prayers, and divination, and built impressive temples to their deities.


Influence of Sumerian Religion:


Both Babylonian and Assyrian religions were heavily influenced by the earlier Sumerian religion, adopting many of their gods, myths, and practices.


Animism vs. Supreme God:


While both religions were polytheistic, some scholars suggest that the Assyrians had a stronger element of animism (belief in spirits inhabiting inanimate objects) than the Babylonians, while the Babylonians developed the concept of a Supreme God (Enlil).


Focus on Warfare:


The Assyrians, being a military power, placed a greater emphasis on gods of war, while the Babylonians may have had a broader range of deities associated with various aspects of life.


Religious Centers:


Babylon was the primary religious center for the Babylonians, while Assyria had multiple religious centers, including Ashur (now Qal at Sharqat).

 

[JLG]

7)


Sumerian religion was a polytheistic faith centered around a pantheon of gods and goddesses, each responsible for specific aspects of the world and human life. These deities were believed to be anthropomorphic, having human-like forms and motivations, and their influence was felt in both the natural world and in human affairs.

 

[JLG]

8)


Key aspects of Sumerian religion:

Polytheism:
Sumerians believed in and worshiped many gods.

Pantheon:
The Sumerian pantheon included deities like An (sky), Enlil (air, storms), Enki (wisdom), and Inanna (love, war).


Gods associated with city-states:
Each city-state had its own patron deities, often with unique roles and stories.


Rituals and Temples:
Sumerians practiced various rituals and ceremonies, including offering gifts and sacrifices to the gods. These rituals often took place in ziggurats, the temples that were the heart of Sumerian cities.


Belief in an afterlife:
Sumerians had beliefs about the afterlife, although it was not a particularly positive or hopeful one.


Cosmology:
Sumerian mythology included stories about the creation of the world, often involving deities who separated the sky from the earth.


Influence on later religions:
Sumerian religious beliefs and mythology influenced the development of Mesopotamian religions that followed, including Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian traditions.

 

[JLG]

9)


- In fact, when we read such information, it shows that the flood didn’t clean anything!


- In fact, it only slowed down man!


- Well, the demons had to leave the earth and their sons died with the rest of mankind!


- All the post-flood beliefs kept alive after the flood!


- There were only two ways to keep them alive!


- First, through Noah’s family!


- Second, through the devil and the demons!


- They have always been working hard till today!


- They are experts!


- That’s why a lot of cleaning is necessary to get rid of corruption which is everywhere in human society!


- We breathe and eat and drink corruption!


- Thus for the majority, it is normal!


- It is incredible to think that, through human history, faithful servants of Yah.weh have been faithfully serving Yah.weh!


- But they have always been a minority!

 

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- According to Revelation 12: 17, the woman has other children and the devil went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus!


- Thus we see a fight between the devil and the woman and the devil and the rest of her children!


- it is a continuity of Genesis 3:15 where Yah.weh says:


“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.”


- Now let’s go back to Revelation 12:10-12!


- First, the devil is in heaven with his angels!


- Second, there is a war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the devil and his angels!


- Third, the devil is hurled to the earth with his angels!

 

[JLG]

1)


- We must keep in mind that before the flood, some angels went down the earth and became demons by rebelling against Yah.weh!


- Of course, they were powerful!


- They married as many women as they wanted!


- They had sons who were giants and powerful too!


- They took control of men!


- They did everything according to their will!


- They organized everything according to their will!


- In fact, men became their slaves!


La Biblia menciona varios imperios a lo largo de su historia, incluyendo Egipto, Asiria, Babilonia, Persia, Grecia y Roma. Estos imperios jugaron un papel importante en la vida de los israelitas y se menciona su influencia en la historia del Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento.


- After the flood, one of Ham’s son was Cush and one of Cush’s son was Nimrod who was a mighty warrior or tyrant on the earth!


- He was also a mighty hunter before Yah.weh!


- The first centers of his kingdoms were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar!


- Then he went to Assyria where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah!

 

[JLG]

2)
Babylonian Mythology & Religion: The Empire
The Assyro-Babylonian religion
Beliefs and rituals in Mesopotamia

In spite of the name which one agreed to give to it, the Babylonian mythology religion goes back, in its origins and in its constitution, to a time well anterior to the blooming of the Babylonian and Assyrian cities.

From the beginning of the third millennium B.C., there existed in the lower basins of the Tigris and the Euphrates a flourishing civilization, due to the interpenetration of two neighboring and rival peoples: the Akkadians and the Sumerians.

The country of Sumer, situated on the edge and at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, which then advanced much further inland, had as its capital Lagash; the cities of Eridu, to the south, and Nippur, to the north, marked its extreme limits; as other cities, we must mention Uruk (or Erech), Larsa, Ur.

The Sumerians had probably come from south or central Asia. The country of Akkad, located immediately north of the country of Sumer, was populated by Semites, probably originating from Arabia or northern Syria. Its capital was Agadeh (or Akkad), and its main cities were Borsippa, Babylon, Kish, Kutha and Sippar, moving from south to north.

The part attributable to each of these peoples in the development of civilization is complex. In the religious order, which alone occupies us here, it seems that the religion of Sumer-Akkad is first of all that of the Sumerians, who in any case have provided a rich mythological base.

The Babylonian religion would thus result from the Semitization of a primitive Sumerian base. However that may be, there can be no doubt that there was reciprocal penetration between the religions of Sumer and Akkad. Without doubt, each city venerated its own deities, but it also welcomed those of neighboring cities.

 

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- Thus each city venerated its own deities, but it also welcomed those of neighboring cities!

- Of course, it comes from what happened before the flood!

- Thus we can imagine that the demons would take control of cities, divide the land into different territories!

- They were the first “gods” of the land!

- They told the inhabitants how to worship them!

- They would control every aspect of their lives!

- Apparently, they had some connections between each other because the different cities could mix their own deities and also those of neighboring cities!

- They would probably fight between each other as human beings have kept doing it!

 

[JLG]

3)

Moreover, the conquerors, when they subjected a region, implanted their gods there. These then ended up identifying themselves with the local gods; from there assimilations or, failing that, filiations, relatives.

It is from this mixture of Akkadian and Sumerian pantheons, completed by the contributions of later periods, that Babylonian mythology were formed.

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- We see a big difference with the Bible!

- Everything is clear!

- It should be impossible to mix!

- On the contrary, the devil and the demons have kept mixing everything!

- Fakes are thus nothing new!

- It was normal for demons to mix everything!

- I always say human tradition but I should say demon’s tradition!

- Thus men breathe, eat and drink demon’s tradition!

- Thus mankind keeps worshiping demons as usual!

- The Hebrews did it!

- Mankind keeps repeating the same tradition!

 

[JLG]

4)

The representation of the gods mixes zoomorphism and anthropomorphism in three different ways, according to the part that takes their animal or human character:

• The divinities could have been conceived simply in the form of animals, good or bad, useful or fearsome to humans: the bull, the lion, the large caprids. But these animals are represented in human attitudes: a relief shows a bull rowing in a boat or leaning on two small lions that he maintains by his front legs.
• One could also envisage deities in the form of half-animal half-human entities. Some characters of the Babylonian glyptics, for example, are represented with a man’s bust ending in a long snake’s tail, or having shoulders from which snakes are born. However, this tendency was, in Mesopotamia, much less represented than in Egypt.
• Finally, the gods appear as human beings. But they are then flanked by an animal attribute. Adad, the god of lightning and storms, is accompanied by his bull; Ishtar, goddess of fertility and also of war, by her lion and in some countries by the dove, etc.

The animal/human duality of the gods is also superimposed on the male/female duality. The male and female principles of fecundity thus appear linked in the primitive god of Sumer: Enlil and his parèdre Ninlil, who later became Ishtar with all her attributes.

But while these divine male and female principles, objects of a cult in the whole of former Asia, were adored under this aspect in Asia Minor for example, Mesopotamia granted rather to the male god the character of divinity of the elements whose action ensures the reproduction and the fecundity.

Ishtar, on the other hand, kept her aspect of goddess of fertility and preserved her place during the development of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon.

When the cities of old Mesopotamia were founded, each city had its own god; whatever his name was, his attributes remained more or less the same; sometimes it was his character of god of storms and beneficent rain that dominated, sometimes that of luminous god, vivifying the universe by his warmth, sometimes his qualities of wisdom and knowledge of all things.

This god, to be the god-patron of the city, was not an exclusive god, he admitted at his sides the worship of other divinities.

Sometimes, the fame of the god of another city was such as the city raised a temple to him in addition to that of its local god; sometimes, when a city, following a happy campaign, acquired the hegemony on the neighboring cities, it annexed, in a way, the gods of its new subjects; It is thus that in a short time each city had several official cults without counting the particular cults that the inhabitants come from abroad could bring with them; nascent Assyria honors a god since a long time famous: Anu, but it makes room in the same sanctuary for an important deity from the West: Adad.

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- Demons like to mix everything: men, women, animals, many deities!

- So different from Yah.weh!

- On the one hand, One God, on the other hand, a multitude of gods!

- Now look at religions today!

- Find the mistake!

- Yah.weh’s word or demons’ tradition!

 

[JLG]

5)
The Babylonian Mythology Pantheon
Thanks to the figurative representations we can conceive the time when the gods were represented by what remained their attribute: the god of the mountain, by the mountain; that or that of the vegetation by the grain or a shrub; those of war and destruction by terrible monsters or weapons; moreover the texts, by the epithets which they give to the gods, recall these primitive conceptions.

- Primitive conceptions?

- Or demons’ tradition?

- Remember demons participated in the creation!

- Everything was natural and in relation to natural elements!

 

[JLG]

6)

Here is the list of the principal divinities of the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, with for each god his predominant character. As dense as this pantheon was, one must take care that certain divinities have several names: the Sumerian name and the Semitic name, and that many gods can be brought back to a prototype of which they are only varieties.

- Different peoples, different languages!

- Complete integration!

- Many demons, many gods!

- They were distinguished according to natural elements!

 

[JLG]

7)
Anu
Anu is the ruler of the sky; he lives in the empyrean where he receives the gods when they need to hold a council; all power on earth comes from him and the insignia of earthly royalty are considered to be held by him. He is honored at Dêr, at Uruk, at Girsu, that is to say at Lagash, of which Girsu is the holy quarter.

 

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King of the gods
As polytheistic systems evolve, there is a tendency for one deity to achieve preeminence as king of the gods, for example by being their (sky) father. This tendency can parallel the growth of hierarchical systems of political power in which a monarch eventually comes to assume ultimate authority for human affairs. Other gods come to serve in a Divine Council or pantheon; such subsidiary courtier-deities are usually linked by family ties from the union of a single husband or wife, or else from an androgynous divinity who is responsible for the creation.

Historically, subsequent social events, such as invasions or shifts in power structures, can cause the previous king of the gods to be displaced by a new divinity, who assumes the displaced god's attributes and functions. Frequently the king of the gods has at least one wife who is the queen of the gods.

According to feminist theories of the replacement of original matriarchies by patriarchies, male sky gods tend to supplant female (motherly) earth goddesses and achieve omnipotence.

There is also a tendency for kings of the gods to assume more and more importance, syncretistically assuming the attributes and functions of lesser divinities, who come to be seen as aspects of the single supreme deity.

 

[JLG]

King of the gods in different cultures
Examples of kings of the gods in different cultures include:

• In the Mesopotamian Anunnaki, Enlil displaces Anu and is in turn replaced by Marduk.
• In the Ancient Egyptian religion, Amun was the official god of the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
• In the Canaanite pantheon, Baal (Hadad) displaces El.
• In the Hurrian/Hittite pantheon, Teshub or Tarḫunz or Arinna displaces Kumarbi.
• In the Armenian Ar, later – Aramazd.
• In Hinduism, the King of the Gods is Indra, The God of Thunder and lightning and the ruler of heaven.]
• In the Ancient Greek system of Olympian Gods, Cronus displaces Uranus, and Zeus in turn displaces Cronus.
• In Norse mythology, Odin assumes the role as the Allfather or King of the Gods, but Norse mythology has multiple tribes of Gods such as the Æsir and Vanir, and Odin starts off as only the leader of the former.
• Ancient Iranian Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians.
• Dravidian religions: the Supreme Being in Dravidian religion was usually Sivaperuman and had supreme gods and goddesses based on lands including Murugan, Kadalon, Vendhan, Korravai, Thirumal.

 

[JLG]

List of rulers of pantheons
The leaders of the various pantheons include:

Berber pantheon: old: Amun; new: Poseidon

Algonquin pantheon: Gitche Manitou

Arabian pantheon: Allah

Ashanti pantheon: Nyame

Australian Aboriginal pantheon: Baiame

Aztec pantheon: Huitzilopochtli, Ometeotl, Quetzalcoatl or Tezcatlipoca

Basque pantheon: Sugaar or Mari

Batak pantheon: (primordial) Debata Ompung Mulajadi na Bolon; (celestial) Batara Guru

Canaanite pantheon: El, later Baʿal (now usually identified with Hadad)

Carthaginian pantheon: Baʿal Hammon

Celtic pantheon: Dagda (Gaels); possibly Lugus (Brythonic/Gallaeci/Gaulish)

Chinese pantheon: Yuanshi Tianzun, Jade Emperor, Shangdi, Tian

Circassian pantheon: Theshxwe / Tha

Dahomey pantheon: Nana Buluku

Dravidian pantheon: Sivan, Murugan, Kadalon, Vendhan and Kottravai, and Thirumaal

Egyptian pantheon: Old Kingdom: Ra. New Kingdom: Amun

Finnic pantheon: Ukko, possibly Ilmarinen

Germanic pantheon: Odin

Georgian pantheon: Armazi, Ghmerti

Gondi pantheon: Kupar Lingo

Greek pantheon: Zeus

Guarani pantheon: Tupa

Haida pantheon: Raven

Hawaiian pantheon: Kāne

Hindu pantheon: Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, Indra or Brahman

Hittite pantheon: Arinna or Teshub

Hopi pantheon: Angwusnasomtaka

 

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Inca pantheon: Viracocha
Inuit pantheon: Anguta or Anigut but only among the Greenlandic Inuit
Japanese pantheon: Amenominakanushi, Izanagi-no-Mikoto, then Amaterasu-Ōmikami
Korean pantheon: Haneullim
Lakota pantheon: Wakan Tanka or Inyan
Lithuanian pantheon: Perkūnas
Lusitanian pantheon: Endovelicus
Mari pantheon: Kugu Jumo
Māori pantheon: Tāne
Mayan pantheon: Hunab Ku, Itzamna, Huracan, Kukulkan, Camazotz and Cabrakan.
Mbuti pantheon: Khonvoum
Meitei pantheon: Sidaba Mapu or Pakhangba
Mesopotamian pantheon: Sumerian: An, later Enlil; Babylonian: Marduk
Miwok pantheon: Coyote
Muisca pantheon: Chiminigagua
Nabatean pantheon: Dushara
Ossetian pantheon: Xucau
Persian pantheon: Ahura Mazda
Philippine pantheon: Bathala (Tagalog), Kan-Laon (Visayan)
Roman pantheon: Jupiter
Sami pantheon: Beaivi
Slavic pantheon: Perun or Rod or Svarog
Turco-Mongol pantheon: Tengri, Tngri, Qormusta Tengri
Vietnamese pantheon: Ông Trời; Lạc Long Quân
Vodou pantheon: Bondyé
Yahwist pantheon: El, later Yahweh (via syncretism)
Yoruba pantheon: Olorun
Zulu pantheon: Unkulunkulu, Umvelinqangi