The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-03-16
their idolatrous practices.
go

While thinking of Joshua and his
conquest of Canaan it may be inter-
esting to glance at the religious life
of the Canaanites, which was brought
Immediately into conflict with the
worship of Jehovah.
In common with most of the heath
en- nations of antiquity, the inhabi-
tants of Canaan believed in two di-
whites, male and female, represent
ing the active and the passive forces
of nature, and often symbolized by
the sun and the moon, or gold and
silver. We should not be so greatly
shocked that the heather mind, i'm
pinged upon by the contrary and OPP
posing forces Of nature, and having no
light of revelation to guide them in
their search for great FIRST cause,
should post the generative princi-
pies in personal form, deified, and
worshipped as the gods Of their lands.
Thus we find the Canaanites actu-
ally sun-worshippers, adjoining the
sun god, Baal, to whom they offered
human sacrifices. He was the supreme
male deity of the Promised Land.
Ashtaroth was the principal female
divinity, and was identical with Istitar
of the Assyrians and Babylonians,
sometimes referred to as the "Queen
of the Heavens" or the personaliza-
ton of the moon. She became the
Astarte of the Greeks and the Venus
or Aphrodite of the Romans, and also
Diana of the Ephesians. She it was
in whose defense Demetrius the sill
yer smith at Ephesus raised mob in
opposition to Paul and his teachings,
the result of which threatened to de-
stroy the business of making silver
shrines for the goddess.
Ashtaroth had larger place in the
loyalty of the ancient world than any
other god or goddess. Her temples
were places of shameless, indecent in
diligence, gross immoralities that
could never be tolerated under the
dispensation of the Mosaic law.
The Baalim mentioned in the Old
Testament were images of Baal, and
the Asherah, images of Ashtaroth.
Baal and Ashtaroth made more trou-
BILE for Israel than any other gods;
they remained the gods of the native
population much of the time till the
Babylonian captivity, and were the
gods of the Syrians till the time of
Constantine.
Baal was worshipped by human sac
rifice, a custom observed by the Am
morites and Moabites in their wor-
ship of Molach, and later by the Dru-
ids in England.
Moloch, the chief divinity of the
Moabites and the Ammorites, was a
fire god. He was represented by an
image of brass, hollow within, so made
that the brazen body might be a re-
ceptacle for little children who were
burned in this horrible fashion as a
sacrifice to the god, while the wor-
shippers danced around, beating
drums to drown the cries of the dy-
ing child. He who said: 20, Lib
erty, Equality, Fraternity, what
crimes are committed in thy name,"
might we'll have added a fourth
Religion!
1t was inevitable that the power Of
the Kings of the North and the Kings
of the South should be broken by the
onslaughts of Joshua. for the spiritual
background of the Canaanites was
like sinking sand, while Joshua could
truly say, "The Lord is my rock and
my fortress, whom shall l fear; the
Lord is the strength of my life, of
whom shall 1 be afraid?"
Our readers who care to read some
choice selections from this book would
do we'll to select Joshua 1:1-9, and
Joshua's farewell address, Chapters
| 23:1-16 and 24:1-27.