Weapon of Mass Distraction

There are seven specific activities described as “abomination to the Lord.” All seven were intended to “gain information from or influence over a divine being or beings.” The connection of the Molech cult to these activities and underworld entities identifies Molech as the entity we met earlier—Kumarbi, the god summoned from the abi, which, as we’ve seen, is the Hurrian original behind the Hebrew words for “ritual pit” (ʾôb) and the spirits of the underworld (ʾōbôt).

The last section of Isaiah 14 appears to refer to nation-states, specifically Babylon and Assyria. What I’m about to propose is something new: I suggest that the entire chapter is directed at those nations and the entity worshiped as the father of their gods: “I will rise up against them,”

The Assyrian kingdom emerged as the dominant political and military power in the ancient Near East toward the end of the tenth century BC, shortly after the division of Israel into the northern kingdom, which retained the name of Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah. For the next three centuries,

A new, just-published translation of an inscription discovered about a hundred and fifty years ago inside a temple on the summit of Mount Hermon adds more support for the theory that Saturn, under a variety of names, has had a profound influence on human history and will play a devastating role before the final battle of the ages, Armageddon.

A key connection between Dagan and his other identities is the god’s link to the netherworld. One of Dagan’s epithets was bēl pagrê, which has been translated “lord of the dead,” “lord of corpse offerings, lord of corpses (a netherworld god), lord of funerary offerings, and lord of human sacrifices.”

Dagan was very important in the ancient Near East, even if we don’t know much about his character. His cult may have been spread across the region in the twenty-fourth century BC by the great conqueror Sargon of Akkad, who led his troops from near modern Baghdad all the way to the Mediterranean.