The Essene enlightened teaching was known as THE WAY. This teaching became the final interpretation of the Law and the Prophets, as revealed by Yeshua Messiah. The Way also became the transitional teaching of the early church. 

P A G A N S  A N D  S Y N C R E T I S M

For centuries, the Jewish people waged a spiritual battle against syncretism.  This off-and-on conflict always divided and weakened the Jewish people and the Jewish state.  Ezra initiated strong marriage prohibitions on syncretic marriages (450 BC).  As the Temple was rebuilt and the restoration of Jerusalem completed, the legal drift Ezra established continued until the time of Jesus.

In the pagan world, Baal was understood as the god of the sky, particularly the god of storms or rain.  His presence or dictate brought the rain, the wind, and good weather.  Good harvests would be attributed to Baal.*  Since ancient peoples relied upon crops for prosperity, including feed grain for their animals, the god of the sky was their most important god.  Thus, Baal and his consort Asherah, the fertility goddess, were the two most common pagan gods.

*Ba’al (master, lord, or possessor), a sun god, Phoenician, whose worship spread to surrounding countries.

These gods also went by other names.  Lilith was the Hebrew Bible’s name for the Canaanite Asherah (Astarte, Babylonian).  Baal is the reference Jesus gives when he mentions Satan (Lucifer) falling from the sky.  Lk. 10.18: Yeshua said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (19) Remember, I have given you authority; so you can trample down snakes and scorpions, indeed, all of the Enemy’s forces; and you will remain completely unharmed. Nevertheless, don’t be glad that the spirits submit to you; be glad that your names have been recorded in heaven,” CJSB (Complete Jewish Study Bible).*

*First mentioned in Isaiah 14.12, “How art thou fell from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!”  It is taken today as a prophetic scripture referring to Jesus, who could ‘make Satan fall’; not to be confused with ‘morning star’, which references Venus (feminine).  Satan, Baal, and Lucifer are masculine.  Jesus often referred to Isaiah during his ministry, both scripturally and prophetically.  Among the Jewish people, Isaiah was considered the greatest of the prophets (speakers).

Syncretism, the practice of worshiping within conflicting religions, is prevalent throughout the Bible.  The making of the golden calf during Exodus (Ex. 32.4-8) is a good example.  In later times, Baal became the preferred god of the Jews.  Baal oversaw people’s daily life; Baal was Lord of the Sky.  Serving a different need, the god of “I Am That I Am” became the god of special events, as the Exodus illustrates quite clearly.  YHWH was the god you took into battle; He was the god who rescued you from danger or the pit.

As mentioned, mixed marriages accounted for much of the syncretic influence.  By mixing with those who believed in other gods, especially prevalent in the northern regions (Israel), it became easy for the Jews to lose their spiritual pathway.  Teachings become mixed, and rituals become mixed; thus, the pathway diverges.  It is also true that sexual rites would hold a great attraction to syncretic practices.  Various attempts were made to keep the Jewish religion-ethnic group separated from other ethnicities and those who worshiped other gods.  This attempt often failed.*

*See the Gideon series.

Unlike Baal, the god of the sky, and Geb, the Egyptian god of the earth, the One True God was everywhere, all at once, ever-present, and in every place. Later, those qualities became determinants of the One True God’s supremacy. But what did this omnipresence mean in the daily lives of the Jewish people?

If you look into the sky and perceive Baal but then look at a tree and perceive another god, you may conclude a unified hierarchy of gods.  Regardless of this apparent unity, they are never one, and as tradition has it, are known or believed to fight with one another.  By the nature of the thing itself, one can never find true peace and Oneness by pursuing the many gods.

For example, a pagan may be a tradesman.  He would place the ‘god of honesty’ in his trading room.  As tradition would have it, plotting dishonesty before such a statue was unacceptable.  But if you wanted to speak of dishonest matters, you could remove yourself from that room to hatch such plans.  By contrast, and as the development of Judaism continues, especially when there was no syncretic influence, the One True God lived with you, even within your tent.  There could be no way to avoid His presence.  He would know your comings and goings.

G O D  O F  T H E  T E N T

Abraham’s people were tent people.  Praying to YHWH would not require any particular place or time.  YHWH knew everything about your family and yourself.  He knew when you ate, what you ate, and who might have eaten a pomegranate that day.  YHWH lived with you in your tent, just as would be the case today.  There were no idols, no writing of His name, and no speaking of His name, due to the possibility that His name might be misapplied.  ‘Adonai’ (Lord) was used instead of directly stating His name, YHWH.

YHWH’s omnipresence made Him sacred in a manner no other god could be.  He was whole, at one within himself.  It was accepted that he understood each person’s circumstances.  He does not play favorites between one person and another.  Your personhood, He respects equally with others.

But there is another tradition that is not always mentioned.  Within the Yahwist tradition, unrighteous speaking, or even mild blasphemy would cause a caution from another, the reason being that the One True God, as omnipresent, is aware of your words and your behavior.  There is no place you might go that He cannot hear you.  He is perceived as a protector and comforter who is always with you.   Thus, with Him, each person shares a certain commonality.  This value of commonality extends into every form of social commerce.  For the Jew, God oversees all events and all persons.

YHWH was the first god who could grant not just favor but grace (Noah, Gn. 6.8).  He did not depend upon man to preserve the remnant of Himself on earth but could preserve the remnant as He saw fit, as the story of Noah, and later Abraham, illustrates.  He was not the god of your configuration.  He was self-evident.  He was “I Am that I Am.”

This shift in consciousness had a profound effect on humanity.  The enlightenment into Him and His ways opens doors to spiritual understanding, allowing a depth of thinking that could not be reached by contemplating the activities of a sky god or the pleasures of Asherah.  Mankind enters a new level of intelligence, one that is more cognitive and abstract, paving the way for similar understanding in areas such as mathematics, metalwork, and agronomy, as well as the harnessing energy through invention.  Abstract thinking, as well as cognition, enables the pursuit of study into  further illumination concerning God.

In revealing the message of god’s nature, Jesus equates God with love.  He tells us to love God with our heart, mind, and soul (Mk. 12.30), noted as the individual’s first commandment.  However, the previous verse (29) is not mentioned so often. It alludes to the unification and oneness of the teaching named the Way: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one [Lord].”  Verse 31 is accounted as the second commandment, “Namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”*  That God is equated with love is an expansive view in which all men may freely participate; thus, God is Unity.  He is at one with Himself, and therefore, you operate within His creative principle and are at one with Him (Jn. 17.22-23).

*Love and Oneness

In the ancient pagan world of the Middle East, none of the above attributions seemed to have much sway on the earth scene.  The very concept of “I Am that I Am” had never been truly explored.  People understood the various gods by what they were used for!  We may speak the Word (Spirit) and pray in supplication, but we do not use YHWH.  Whom today we call Father, He is above our use but may answer our prayers.  He is above our words, for the Word came from Him.  He is above our conception, for He is His conception and thus endless, and there is always room to understand more about His qualities.  He becomes endless knowledge; He is endless-love-the-great-creation.  He does not possess faith; He is faith—faith thus becomes embodied and interwoven within the nature of the universe itself.

YHWH becomes the God-of-the-tent, ever-present, ever-faithful, complete, and full of grace.

More on this subject?  Why were the Jews cautioned to spread out?

https://youtu.be/qBV1pYn75io

God Bless!