Christ Conspiracy_ The Greatest Story Ever Sold - Acharya S [61]
Like that of India and Egypt, the Levantine pantheon of the first millennium BCE was in fact burgeoning with deities. As noted, even Yahweh himself was not a single god, nor is "he" found in any one culture. In fact, Yahweh was at one point associated with the Indian elephant-headed god Ganesha, whose title was "Lord of Hosts," also a biblical epithet for Yahweh. As Yahweh is purported to have done in the later gospel story, in Indian mythology Ganesha "impregnated the Virgin Goddess Maya, who subsequently gave birth to Buddha."28 If Yahweh is the monotheistic father god who gave birth to Jesus, he must also have given birth to Buddha. However, as the Hebrew god Behemoth, Ganesha was later demonized by the Christians.29 Yahweh also took many of his attributes from the Babylonian god Marduk, who "created the world by separating the celestial and the abyssal waters."30 In fact, Marduk and Ishtar were worshipped by the Jews at Elam.31 Among these many gods revered by the Hebrews was also the Sumero-Babylonian goddess Aruru, who was worshipped in the Jewish temple.32
Furthermore, the word Israel itself is not a Jewish appellation but comes from the combination of three different reigning deities: Isis, the goddess revered throughout the ancient world; Ra, the Egyptian sun god; and El. As Hazelrigg says:
. . . Israel, meaning a belt or land of the heavens, the twelve tribes of which compare to the number of constellations that environ the ecliptic, and through which the Sun makes his annual circuit. . . . Issa-ra-el, the kingdom of the moon (Isis), Sun (Ra), and stars (El).33
In addition, the Syrian savior Tammuz was the god or genius of Jerusalem, where also the Greek god Dionysus was worshipped "under his Phrygian name of Zeus Sabazius."34 In fact, Jewish coins have been found with the images of Dionysus on one side and the word YHWH on the other. Walker relates that "Jews living in Asia Minor said their Jehovah was another form of Zeus Sabazius."35 The Hebrews are also reported to have sacrificed rams to Jupiter.36
Thus, as Wheless says, "The Hebrew-Christian One-God is a patent Forgery and Myth ..."37
The Imposition of Monotheism
The myth of Hebrew monotheism comes from the Yahweh propagandists who set about to formulate "the" Jewish religion. While the Elohim were the special gods of the northern tribes and kingdom of Israel, the Levitical Yahweh was in fact the local god of the southern kingdom of Judah. As such, Yahweh is made to elevate Judah above all the other tribes by making it the progenitor of the kings of Israel. In fact, Yahweh and Judah are basically the same word, as Judah is "Yahuda," which means "Yahweh, I will praise." This name Judah is also the same as Judas, which was thus likewise the name of the tribal god. Hence, it was the Jews and not all Hebrews and Israelites who were Yahweh-fanatics. The other nations, in fact, were frequently both disinterested in and repulsed by the violent, angry, jealous, zealous god that Yahweh became. As Knight and Lomas say:
For many, Yahweh was no more than the Israelite war god, useful in time of battle but a fairly lowly figure when viewed against the full pantheon of the gods. The names given to notable Israelites down the ages shows a strong respect for Baal, and even the most ardent Yahwist would not pretend that the Jews of this period believed in only one god.38
The Yahwists were in reality a rude bunch of marauders who pretended to speak for their "Lord" and who then spent centuries destroying the ancient Hebrew polytheism so they could hold total power over the people.