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  1. Oct 2023
  2. claudemariottini.com claudemariottini.com
    Standing Stones in the Old Testament
    3
    1. chrisaldrich 17 Oct 2023
      During the establishment of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel, the people were commanded to destroy the sacred stones of the Canaanites, “You must demolish them and break their sacred stones (masseboth) to pieces” (Exodus 23:24).

      In neighboring cultures in which both have oral practices relating to massebah, one is not just destroying "sacred stones" to stamp out their religion, but it's also destroying their culture and cultural memory as well as likely their laws and other valuable memories for the function of their society.

      View this in light also of the people of Israel keeping their own sacred stones (Hosea 10:1) as well as the destruction of pillars dedicated to Baal in 2 Kings 18:4 and 2 Kings 23:14.

      (Link and) Compare this to the British fencing off the land in Australia and thereby destroying Songlines and access to them and the impact this had on Indigenous Australians.

      It's also somewhat similar to the colonialization activity of stamping out of Indigenous Americans and First Nations' language in North America, though the decimation of their language wasn't viewed in as reciprocal way as it might be viewed now. (Did colonizers of the time know about the tremendous damage of language destruction, or was it just a power over function?)

      massebah masseboth sacred stones biblical stones Exodus 23 Canaanite religion The Covenant orality and memory colonization Exodus 23:24 Hosea 10:1 2 Kings 18:4 2 Kings 23:14 Baal songlines Indigenous languages
    2. chrisaldrich 16 Oct 2023
      Israel was forbidden to set up sacred stones, pillars: “you shall not set up a pillar (massebah), which the LORD your God hates” (Deuteronomy 16:22).

      Relationship to the first two commandments against worshiping other gods and the use of idols?

      How does this relate to the standing stone found in the room at Khirbet Qeiyafa from the time of David?

      Dates of this text with respect to Khirbet Keiyafa?

      Canaanite religion massebah pillars Deuteronomy 16 Khirbet Qeiyafa orality and memory archaeology of orality sacred stones sacred texts open questions
    3. chrisaldrich 16 Oct 2023
      In the Hebrew Bible, the massebah is generally associated with Canaanite religion.
      massebah Canaanites biblical stones Canaanite religion
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