- Oct 2023
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claudemariottini.com claudemariottini.com
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There are several occasions where the massebah is not associated with pagan worship. When the massebah is associated with the worship of Yahweh, the massebah is accepted as a valid expression of commitment to Yahweh.
Massebah for pagan worship: - Exodus 23:24 (https://hypothes.is/a/r3m5QmyDEe6SC8eLYcJE1Q) - Hosea 10:1 (https://hypothes.is/a/4PK2GGyDEe6wZg_r2YpVCA ) - 2 Kings 18:4 - 2 Kings 23:14
Massebah for worship of Yahweh: - Genesis 28:18 Jacob's pillow (https://hypothes.is/a/NF5p8Gx6Ee65Rg_J4tfaMQ)<br /> - Genesis 31:44-45 Jacob and Laban's covenant - Exodus 24:4 - Joshua 24:25-27
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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?)
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Absalom set up a massebah for himself as a memorial for he said, “‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance’; he called the massebah by his own name” (2 Samuel 18:18).
Use of massebah for remembrance of a name...
Potentially used for other factors? translation? context?
See also: https://hypothes.is/a/oqgH4mx9Ee68_dMgihgD0A (Rachel's massebah in Genesis 35:19-20)
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When Rachel died, Jacob set up a massebah at her grave; “it is the massebah of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day” (Genesis 35:19–20).
Use of a standing stone or massebah (pillar) to mark a grave in Genesis 35:19-20.
Certainly could have been other than to simply mark a location and may have been used to mark and remember the knowledge of Rachel as well as the family's experiences with Rachel, a practice which is still commonplace when visiting burial locations.
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In the Hebrew Bible, the massebah is generally associated with Canaanite religion.
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The only place in the Hebrew Bible where nasab is translated as a pillar is the case of Lot’s wife: “Lot’s wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). The Hebrew word nasab indicates that Lot’s wife was standing in place like a pillar.
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The pillars or sacred stones were stones set apart for religious use. The word massebah comes from the Hebrew word nasab, a word which means “to stand.”
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(Joshua 4:20).
connect this to:
The helps whereof by this art memorative, they would prove to be as effectual, by these conceived fictions in the eye of the mind,12 as those we remember by the visible eye of the body, for example whereof say they, concerning the latter we read in the holy Scriptures of 12 stones, that were erected in the river Jordan in memory of the wonderful transpassage of the Israelites, Josh. 24.27.—The Memory Arts in Renaissance England by William E. Engel, Rory Loughnane, and Grant Williams
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A special use of the word “stone” = ʼben was to designate a name of the God of Israel: Yahweh is “The Stone of Israel” (Genesis 49:24).
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When the people of Israel crossed the Jordan, Joshua commanded the people to set up twelve stones which were taken from the Jordan River as a memorial celebrating that defining moment in the life of Israel, the entrance of the people into the land God had promised to their ancestors (Joshua 4:20). The purpose of those memorial stones was to remind future generations of how the people “crossed the Jordan River on dry ground” (Joshua 4:22).
Description of the arrangement? Circle? Further or suggested usage?
Link to Genesis 28:18: https://hypothes.is/a/NF5p8Gx6Ee65Rg_J4tfaMQ
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When Jacob had a vision of God, he used a stone as a pillow, but after he woke up from his sleep, “he took the stone (ʼben) that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar (massebah) and poured oil on the top of it” (Genesis 28:18). That stone became a memorial of Jacob’s encounter with God.
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“If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it” (Exodus 20:25).
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When the ark of the covenant was returned to Israel, the people of Beth-shemesh set up a large stone upon which they offered burnt offerings and presented sacrifices to Yahweh (1 Samuel 6:14–15).
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Saul used a large stone to build an altar to Yahweh (1 Samuel 14:35).
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People used stones to carry out the death penalty against people who had violated laws forbidding adultery, apostasy, blasphemy, profanation of the Sabbath, child sacrifice, witchcraft, and soothsaying.
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Jacob rolled the stone off the opening of a well to water Rachel’s sheep (Genesis 29:10).
Tags
- 'ben
- masseboth
- colonization
- Canaanites
- Genesis 19
- songlines
- stone altars
- Canaanite religion
- memorials
- Yahweh
- Genesis 28:18
- hypocrisy
- what's good for the goose is good for the gander
- 2 Kings 23:14
- 1 Samuel 14
- stone circles
- orality and memory
- Lot's wife
- 2 Kings 18:4
- Genesis 28
- Jacob
- Baal
- grave markers
- massebah
- Genesis 29
- archaeology of orality
- The Covenant
- pillar of salt
- bible translation
- stone memorials
- Hosea 10:1
- Exodus 23
- 2 Samuel 18
- Rachel
- mnemotechniques
- The Stone of Israel
- Joshua 24:25-27
- Indigenous languages
- standing stones
- monuments
- Joshua 4
- Exodus 20
- pillars
- associative memory
- memorial stones
- translations
- Joshua 4:20
- Exodus 23:24
- biblical stones
- headstones
- sacrifices
- Exodus 24:4
- nasab
- Genesis 49
- Genesis 31:44-45
- Absalom
- Genesis 35
- talking rocks
- dressed stones
- capital punishment
- Hebrew
- 1 Samuel 6
- sacred stones
- stoning
Annotators
URL
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- Dec 2022
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lukechandler.wordpress.com lukechandler.wordpress.com