-
Sacred PoleAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
along, who “removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars to pieces and cut down the sacred pole.”—2 Ki. 18:4; 2 Chron. 34:7.
ASHERAH
The Ras Shamra texts identify this goddess as the wife of the god El, the “Creator of Creatures,” and refer to her as “Lady Asherah of the Sea” and “Progenitress of the Gods,” this also making her the mother of Baal. However there apparently was considerable overlapping in the roles of the three prominent goddesses of Baalism (Anath, Asherah and Ashtoreth), as may be observed in extra-Biblical sources as well as the Scriptural record. While Ashtoreth appears to have figured as the wife of Baal, Asherah may also have been so viewed.
During the period of the Judges, it is noted that the apostate Israelites “went serving the Baals and the sacred poles [Asherahs].” (Judg. 3:7, NW, 1953 ed., ftn.; compare Judges 2:13.) The mention of these deities in the plural may indicate that each locality had its Baal and Asherah. (Judg. 6:25) Queen Jezebel, the Sidonian wife of Ahab the king of Israel, entertained at her table 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the sacred pole or Asherah.—1 Ki. 18:19.
The degraded worship of Asherah came to be practiced in the very temple of Jehovah. King Manasseh even placed there a carved image of the sacred pole, evidently a representation of the goddess Asherah. (2 Ki. 21:7) Although Manasseh profited from the discipline he received by being taken captive to Babylon and, upon returning to Jerusalem, cleansed Jehovah’s house of idolatrous appendages, his son Amon resumed the degrading worship of Baal and Asherah, attended by ceremonial prostitution. (2 Chron. 33:11-13, 15, 21-23) This made it necessary for righteous King Josiah, who succeeded Amon to the throne, to pull down “the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women were weaving tent shrines for the sacred pole.”—2 Ki. 23:4-7.
-
-
Sacred PronouncementsAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SACRED PRONOUNCEMENTS
This expression occurs only four times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and translates the Greek word loʹgi·on (meaning “little word”), a diminutive of loʹgos (“word”). Originally loʹgi·on meant only a brief sacred utterance, but in time came to signify any divine communication or oracle. Certain English versions render loʹgi·on simply as ‘oracle.’ (AS, AV, RS) Wuest’s translation uses “divine utterances” at Acts 7:38 and Romans 3:2.
Stephen spoke of the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai as “living sacred pronouncements.” (Acts 7:38) The apostle Paul referred to the entire Hebrew Scriptures and evidently also to all the inspired Christian Scriptures written up to that time, saying: “What, then, is the superiority of the Jew, or what is the benefit of the circumcision? A great deal in every way. First of all, because they were entrusted with the sacred pronouncements of God.” (Rom. 3:1, 2) Therefore, the writing of this body of inspired Scriptures was committed to Jews, writing “as they were borne along by holy spirit.”—2 Pet. 1:20, 21.
In the letter to the Hebrews the writer includes as “sacred pronouncements” the teachings delivered to mankind by the Lord Jesus Christ, his apostles and other inspired Christian writers. (Heb. 5:12; compare Hebrews 6:1, 2.) Peter also reflects this broad scope in speaking to the followers of Christ, at 1 Peter 4:11: “If anyone speaks, let him speak as it were the sacred pronouncements of God.” He also classifies writings of the apostle Paul as of equal authority with “the rest of the Scriptures.”—2 Pet. 3:15, 16.
The Septuagint Version frequently uses the word loʹgi·on, as in translating Psalm 12:6 (11:6, LXX): “The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings.” Bagster’s English translation of the Septuagint reads, at this verse: “The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles.”
-
-
Sacred SecretAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SACRED SECRET
[Gr., my·steʹri·on, from my·eʹo, to initiate, to instruct in things unknown before; used as a technical term for the ancient mystery religions. My·steʹri·on therefore means primarily that which is known to the initiated].
In the ancient mystery religions that flourished in the time of the early Christian congregation, those who wished to take part in the mystery celebrations had to undergo initiation; the uninitiated were denied both access to the so-called sacred actions and to knowledge of them. Those initiated into them were bound by a vow of silence, not to reveal the secrets. However, there was also a secular, “everyday” use of the word, such as for a private secret, a secret between friends, family secrets, and so forth. The apostle Paul uses my·eʹo in this latter sense when he says: “I have learned the secret [literally, “I have been initiated into secrets”] of both how to be full and how to hunger, both how to have an abundance and how to suffer want.”—Phil. 4:12.
GOD’S SECRET DIFFERENT FROM MYSTERY RELIGIONS
Concerning the Greek my·steʹri·on, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, by W. E. Vine (Vol. III, p. 97), explains: “In the N.T. [New Testament] it denotes, not the mysterious (as with the Eng. word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by Divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those only who are illumined by His Spirit. In the ordinary sense a mystery implies knowledge withheld; its Scriptural significance is truth revealed. Hence the terms especially associated with the subject are, ‘made known,’ ‘manifested,’ ‘revealed,’ ‘preached,’ ‘understand,’ ‘dispensation.’”
The sacred secrets of God, and other “mysteries” of the Bible, such as that of Babylon the Great, are therefore things, not to be kept secret forever, but to be revealed by Jehovah God in his own time to those who look to him and to whom he chooses to reveal them. The apostle Paul discusses this aspect of matters at 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. There he speaks of the “sacred secret” of God as “hidden wisdom,” revealed through God’s spirit to his Christian servants; it is something that the spirit of the world or the human wisdom of physical men cannot fathom, but that is spoken and understood by those ‘combining spiritual matters with spiritual words.’ Jesus Christ earlier pointed out to his disciples: “To you the sacred secret [Gr., my·steʹri·on] of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those outside all things occur in illustrations, in order that, though looking, they may look and yet not see, and, though hearing, they may hear and yet not get the sense of it, nor ever turn back and forgiveness be given them.”—Mark 4:11, 12; Matt. 13:11-13; Luke 8:10.
The great difference between the sacred secret of God and the secrets of mystery religions is, first of all, in content: God’s secret is good news, and not a lie or man-made deception. (John 8:31, 32, 44; Col. 1:5; 1 John 2:27) Second, those who are chosen to understand the sacred secret of God are bound, not to keep it secret, but to give it the widest possible proclamation and publication. This is revealed, as noted in the foregoing, by the Bible use of terms such as “preached,” “made known,” “manifested,” and also “declaring,” ‘speaking,’ and so forth, in connection with the “sacred secret of the good news.” The Christians exercised the greatest vigor in telling this good news containing the understanding of the sacred secret to “all creation that is under heaven.” (Eph. 6:19; Col. 1:23; 4:3) It is God that determines who is not deserving and withholds understanding from such. God is not partial when he does this; it is because of “the insensibility of their hearts” that God does not open up to them the understanding of his sacred secret.—Eph. 4:17, 18.
-