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영어

The Cult of the Moon God in Ancient Israel Seung-Il Kang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Theology Hannam University The moon is the most prominent luminary in the night skies. This gives the moon a special place in Mesopotamian myth and ritual. Major time periods and holidays were set to the phases of the moon, the new, the quarter, and the full moons, and the king participated in the associated festivals along with the priests and the public. Accordingly, the moon-god enjoyed a high-ranking position in the Mesopotamian pantheon. Some iconographic representations show that the moon god was worshiped in ancient Israel, too. They include the stele found at Hazor containing the symbol of a lunar deity in low relief with two human hands raised below the symbol, the bull-headed figure in a stele found at Bethsaida, and stamp seals with various lunar symbols with Israelite names, etc. Biblical data condemning lunar cult mostly stem from the late pre-exilic period or thereafter, such as the Deuteronomistic texts and Jeremiah, which indicates that the cult of the moon became very popular during the 7th century BCE and onwards. Archaeology essentially reveals the same picture. The vast majority of seals with astral symbols originate from the period between 730 and 630 BCE. Although the Assyrians did not impose religious obligations upon their vassals, it is likely that the imperial presence of the Assyrians in Palestine prompted the kings of Judah to voluntarily adopt the Assyro-Aramean religious practices. And this may have contributed to the resurgence of the worship of the lunar deity in Judah during the 7th centuries BCE.

한국어

이 논문은 구약성경의 증거뿐만 아니라 고고학, 도상학적 자료들을 통해서 이스라엘의 민간신앙에서 달신 숭배가 행하여졌음을 보여준다. 이 논문은 또한 아시리아-아람인들의 군사, 종교적 활동의 간접적인 영향과 이에 대한 이스라엘 백성들의 자발적인 수용이 주전 7세기 경 고대 이스라엘 사회에 달신 숭배가 확산된 배경임을 제시한다