אל al, as the English have a feminine to the word God, in Goddess, or the Romans in the words Deus and Dea? And why should not God be of the feminine gender as easily as of the masculine? Who knows what gender God is of? Who at this day is so foolish as to fancy that God is of any gender? We have seen that all the Gods of the Gentiles were of both genders. We find God called Al, Ale, Alue, Alim, and Aleim—more frequently Aleim than any other name. It must be observed, that God nowhere calls himself by any of those names, as he does by the name יה Ie or Jah, or יהוה Ieue, which is the only name by which he has ever denominated himself. Dr. Shuckford, on Genesis xxvi. 25, makes Ieue,[1] mean Preserver or Mediator.
The God Baal was both masculine and feminine, and the God of the Jews was once called Baal. The learned Kircher[2] says, “Vides igitur dictas Veneris Uraniam, Nephtem, et Momemphitam, nihil aliud esse quam Isidem, quod et vaccæ cultis satis superque demonstrat proprius Isidi certe hanc eandem quoque esse, quæ in historia Thobiæ Dea Baal dicitur quæ vacca colebatur; sic enim habetur, C. i. 5, Εθνον τῃ Βααλ τῃ δαμαλει. Scilicet faciebant sacra τῃ Βααλ juvencæ seu vaccæ, quod et alio loco videlicet L. iii. Reg. C. xix. ubi Baal legitur feminino genere; Ουκ εκαμψαν γονατα τῃ Βααλ—non incurvaverunt genu Baali. Hesychius autem Βηλθης inquit, ἡ Ἡρα ἡ Αφροδιτη, Belthes, Juno sive Venus, est cuicum juvencam sacrificârint Phœnices, veresimile est, eandem esse cum Venere Ægyptia, seu Iside, seu Astarthe Assyriorum, sicut enim Baal est Jupiter, sic Baalis seu Belthis est Juno seu Venus, cui parallela sunt, Adonis seu Thamus, et Venus seu Astaroth; (quorum ille Baal Assyriorum hæc eorum Beltis est;) quibus respondent Osiris et Isis, Jupiter et Juno seu Venus Ægyptiorum; eternum secuti בעל שמים Baal samim est Jupiter Olympius, ita בעלת שמים Baalet samaim est Juno Olympia, scilicet, Domina cœli seu Regina: quemadmodum Jerem. vii. 44, eam vocant Septuaginta Interpretes, quod nomen Isidi et Astarthi et Junoni Venerive proprie convenit: uti ex variis antiquarum inscriptionum monumentis apud Janum Gruterum videre est.”[3]
Parkhurst says,[4] “But Al or El was the very name the Heathens gave to their God Sol, their Lord or Ruler of the hosts of heaven.”
The word Aleim אלהים has been derived from the Arabic word Allah God, by many learned men; but Mr. Bellamy says this cannot be admitted; for the Hebrew is not the derived, but the primitive language. Thus the inquiry into the real origin or meaning of this curious and important word, and of the language altogether, is at once cut short by a dogmatical assertion. This learned Hebraist takes it for granted from his theological dogma, that the two tribes of Israel are the favourites of God, exclusive of the ten other tribes—that the language of the former must be the original of all other languages; and then he makes every thing bend to this dogma. This is the mode which learned Christians generally adopt in their inquiries; and for this reason no dependance can be placed upon them: and this is the reason also why, in their inquiries, they seldom arrive at the truth. The Alah, articulo emphatico alalah (Calassio) of the Arabians, is evidently the אל Al of the Chaldees or Jews; whether one language be derived from the other I shall not give an opinion at present: but Bishop Marsh, no mean authority as all will admit, speaking of the Arabic,[5] says, “Its importance, therefore, to the interpretation of Hebrew is apparent.
- ↑ Which means self-existent. Vide Celtic Druids, Ch. v. Sect. xxxvii. and xxxviii.
- ↑ Œd. Æg. Synt. iv. Cap. xiii. Vol. I. p. 319.
- ↑ Proserpine, in Greek Περσεφονη, was styled by Orpheus, (in his Hymn Εις Περσεφονην,) Ζωη και Θανατος, both Life and Death. He says of her—φερεις γαρ αιει και παντα φονευεις, Thou both producest and destroyest all things. Porphyry and Eusebius say, she said of herself, “I am called of a three-fold nature, and three-headed.” Parkhurst, p. 347.
- ↑ Lex. p. 20.
- ↑ Lecture XIV. p. 28.
K 2
