Loomis

And how come the author of Psalm 82 used the word elohim is such disparate ways?

Didn’t he know what the word meant?

Loomis

I’m having trouble understanding why YHWH would need to fly on cherubim if he had wings of his own.

Were these wings like “ostrich wings” or something?

The best explanation I can come up with is that the verses that portray him as having wings were borrowed from El myths, and the verses that portray him as riding on cherubs were borrowed from Baal myths.

Also, speaking of cruelty, do you think YHWH was a prototype for Godzilla? After all, they both blew fire out their mighty nostrils.

Right?

Sheshbazzar

You can go on, and on, and on, and on.......I find it pointless to debate these issues with you, given your habit and practice of rewriting entire texts to conform to your theories, coming up with myriad "creative" new translations for hundreds of verses that are not supported by any commonly accepted translations.
You regularly engage in "verse shopping", overlooking and disparaging the renderings employed in all readily available versions, to seek out a single variant one that you can hitch your cart to.
Even spin, (whom NO ONE, reading these threads, would mistake as a being a defender of me, or of my beliefs) would not support your mangled so-called "translation" of Psalm 29:1.
The name and subject of this thread is; "Cruelty of Yahweh debate help", NOT "How Loomis perverts and reinterprets the entire Tanaka"
So if you care to join in the discussion of the "Cruelty of Yahweh" focus on those verses that pertain to the subject rather than with your fascination with pre-Israelite conceptions of El.

Loomis

What are your thoughts on Psalm 89:6-10?
What is going on here?

It looks to me like Yahweh is being cruel again.

How come Yahweh had to split Rahab in two like a carcass?

What did Rahab ever do to deserve to be treated like this?

Didn’t they have some sort of mediation clause?

Isn’t this an intentional tort?

Isn’t this malice?

What do you know about Rahab?

Is it a “he” or a “she?”

How come Yahweh had to split it in half?

And how come El is “dreaded in the council of holy ones?”

Why do the “holy ones” dread El?

Certainly you must know. Tell us! :notworthy:

Loomis

Check this out. Look at Isaiah 51:9. Once again YHWH your “Supreme Commander” (to whom you have publicly pledged your allegiance) is beating the shit out of Rahab.
This just doesn’t seem right to me.

Do you think maybe Yahweh isn’t the real perpetrator?

What about the “Arm?”

Maybe it’s the Arm of Yahweh that’s actually cruel. :thumbs:

Waddia think?

Loomis

And then of course there is always this gem: Isaiah 27:1 says Yahweh will punish a Leviathan.
How come? :banghead:

Isn’t this just more cruelty? :banghead:

How come Yahweh will punish Leviathan? :banghead:

How come Yahweh will slay the dragon Yamm?

What did it/ they ever do to deserve this? :frown:

And when will this happen?

August 2009?

Also: Do you ever wonder if Yahweh’s destructive, great, and powerful sword and the arm of Yahweh might be the same secret weapon?

Loomis

Okay. I have to confess. :blush:

I think I know the answer here.

Yahweh is doing all this cruelty because he’s trying to out-do Baal.

Evidently Baal was cruel too.

Loomis

Nope. Never mind.

I’ve got a better theory.

It’s even simpler and explains even more.

YAHWEH SIMPLY IS BAAL.

They do the same things because they are (in many instances) the same character.

Astreja

You know, that explains more questions than it raises. A refreshing change from the norm. But I don't think it's right.

I've recently been reading Ugarit and the Old Testament (or via: amazon.co.uk) by Peter C. Craigie. Baal was probably the most popular male deity worshipped in the (now Syrian) city of Ugarit, possibly because he was a fertility god. So popular that, even after Ugarit was destroyed, the worship persisted and eventually became a thorn in the side of Yahweh's priests to the south. (In this article on Baal there's even a demonization of the god as Beelzebub.)

The big question is, who in their right mind would have a beef with a fertility god? Makes one wonder what kind of social turmoil allowed the priesthood of Yahweh to rise to prominence. A prolonged famine, perhaps?

Jedi Mind Trick

I like the idea that says Yahweh is Yaw/Yam one of the seventy sons of El...
Also corrusponding to Ea/Enki.