The Ancient Tradition

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Music

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You’re listening to the Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production. Music provided by Joseph McDade. He is your host, Dr. Jack Logan.

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Welcome to the Ancient Tradition. I’m your host, Jack Logan. For the past two episodes, we’ve been talking quite a bit about kingship. And that’s because kingship is at the very heart of each of the major religious traditions that we see in the ancient world. In episode number 45, Who is God, a heavenly king, we saw that kingship was at the heart of the

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And then in our last episode, episode number 46, we saw that kingship was at the very heart of the ancient Mesopotamian religion. And in today’s episode, you’re gonna see that kingship is at the very heart of the ancient Canaanite, ancient Hebrew, and early Christian religions too. If you’re new to the program, we refer to things like this, the consistency in theology that we see across time and space, like we see here with kingship.

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as a stubborn bit, a theological tenant that stubbornly persists from generation to generation and from continent to continent and from culture to culture. In our next episode, you’re going to see that God’s understood as a king almost universally across the world among the Hurrians, the Hindu, the Persians and the Greeks, among the Aztecs, the Basques and the Celts, among the Finns and the Hawaiians and the Inca.

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and among the Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese people. Each of these groups attest that God reigns in the heavens as a king. It’s a very strong, stubborn bit, and this suggests, once again, that the religions that we see in the world today branched out of a common trunk or fount of some kind in deep antiquity. Anthropologist A.M. Hocart.

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I’ve mentioned him a couple of times on the program. He’s also listed on our companion website, thea under Scholars. Was the first scholar that I’m aware of who noticed that all of the major religions in the ancient world centered around kingship and kingship rituals. He wrote this amazing little book titled, fittingly, Kingship. In this amazing little book,

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Not only did the major religions in the ancient Near East center around kingship, he also found that kingship and kingship or chieftainship rituals were prevalent across the world regardless of time or culture. What’s even more remarkable is that he found that the conceptualization of kingship across time and culture was remarkably consistent.

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Kingship was not just seen as a political institution, but it was deeply intertwined with religious and cosmological concepts, like we’ve seen on this program, where the king acted as the mediator between human beings and the divine, and the king played the central role in maintaining social and cosmological order. The king was the embodiment of cosmic order.

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And all of this was done by way of important religious rituals. In the very first paragraph of kingship, Hocourt argues that the world’s earliest religion was a religion centered around kings and kingship. On page one, he writes, quote, the earliest known religion is a belief in the divinity of kings. I do not say that it is necessarily the most primitive.

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But in the earliest records known, man appears to us worshiping gods and their earthly representatives, namely kings. We have no right in the present state of our knowledge to assert that the worship of gods preceded that of kings we do not know. Now listen to this. Perhaps there never were any gods without kings or kings without gods.

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What Hocquart’s saying here is pretty interesting because he’s basically pointing out that from the beginning of history, gods and kings always came together in a tight religious package. One couldn’t understand who God was without understanding kingship. And one couldn’t understand the concept of kingship without understanding its connection to God. The two notions, God and king, were conceptually inseparable.

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and religiously inextricable. Hocart goes on to say, quote, “‘When we have discovered the origin of divine kingship, we shall know. But at present, we only know that when history begins, there are kings, the representatives of the gods.'” Hocart’s insight here is very important because it highlights the fact that kings and kingship

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mark the dawn of history and the dawn of historical religion. What this means is that we really can’t truly understand the theology taught in the religions of today until we first recognize that these two concepts, religion and kingship, rose together at the dawn of history until we recognize that as far back as we can go in the ancient texts, the key theological thread

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running through the ancient world was a theology of kingship. Kingship is the theological backbone that runs through the religions of the ancient world and which then ran through the theology and cultures of the world. The worldwide consistency in the way kingship was conceptualized and understood along with the remarkable consistency in kingship

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enthronement and coronation rituals across cultures, led Hocourt to hypothesize that the notion of kingship and kingship rituals spread across the world from a common center or source. He examined a number of coronation rights across the world and after he’d examined them he writes on page 57 of his book kingship the following quote

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I think enough evidence has been set out to justify us in deriving from one common source all the coronation rights we have passed in review and in suggesting provisionally what the parent right must have been like. What Hoare Court found was that there was substantial parity in kingship rights around the world. These rights included a victory and we know why.

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and admonition, clothing, communion, and anointing, and investing, and a procession. This is a little perplexing. So on page 98, Hocourt asks where these kingship rituals came from. Speaking of kingship coronation and enthronement rituals, he asks, quote, where did this first come about?

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from where did the popular form spread throughout the world? Well, that’s a great question. On page one, Hocourt freely admits that he doesn’t know where kingship or kingship rituals came from. He duly notes that scholars have not discovered the origin. Like we discussed in our last episode, Henry Frankfurt pointed out in his book,

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just sort of suddenly showed up in ancient Egypt in a fully developed, sophisticated form, seemingly out of nowhere. And so even though scholars like Frankfurt and Hocourt weren’t able to find the origin of kingship and kingship rituals, we actually do know the origin because the ancients themselves tell us right in their ancient texts. And as you’re gonna see in the new year, the establishment of kingship on earth

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is one of the most significant events that took place in the first time. I mention all of this to stress the importance of kingship in the study of religion. If kingship played such a central role in the world’s first established religion, and if that first religion was the true, pure, unadulterated religion, then

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kingship would have to play the central role in whichever religion today claimed to be the quote true religion. Any religion that has significantly departed from the central role of kingship and its associated kingship rituals has likely experienced substantial degradation and corruption over time. Because as Hocourt shows, from the dawn of history, the two notions, God,

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and king were conceptually inseparable and religiously inextricable. In the past two episodes, the ancients have taught us that God resides in heaven as a king, a celestial monarch. And this means that the heavens don’t operate as a disordered chaotic mess. As crazy as this sounds, the ancients are telling us that there is an actual government in heaven.

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and that that government is not a despotic government. It’s not even a democratic government, not even a democratic republic. The ancients are telling us that the government established in heaven is a monarchy, but it isn’t any old monarchy. The ancients tell us that the monarch who governs the heavens is a perfect being, one who perfectly upholds the cosmic law of righteousness.

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There is no wickedness in him. He is a God. The angels tell us that the man who reigns as a celestial monarch over the heaven and this earth, so perfectly upholds the cosmic law that his body shines beyond anything comprehensible in this life. He is a glorious being of ineffable light. What this means is that he reigns as a truly

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righteous king. In fact, as we’ve already learned in this program, he qualifies to govern as a celestial king precisely because he perfectly upholds the cosmic law and there is no wickedness in him. That’s what the ancients tell us and as you can probably already guess the kings who were given dominion over the earth, earthly kings, were likewise.

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expected to uphold the cosmic law and pattern their own reigns after the reign of the King in heaven. As above, so below. With that background, let’s jump back into where we left off in our last episode. In that episode, we were in the middle of examining the Ugaritic texts that established the ancient Canaanite belief that God reigned as a celestial king.

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When we make a list, like I did two episodes ago, of what the ancient Canaanites tell us a heavenly king spends his day doing, we get a very, very similar list to what we found in ancient Mesopotamia. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, L, the eternal king, like we saw, number one, presides over a council of gods, his offspring. The council of the gods is the royal court.

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L issues decrees. On page 110, Mullen notes, quote, his, and he’s talking about the high god L here, position and power are seen most vividly through his decree, which determined the actions of the gods. L’s proclamation of his decree is best displayed in his actions in the divine council, the medium through which the decree of the high god was proclaimed.

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According to Mullen, the High King presided over a council of his children. And within those council meetings, El determined what would be done. He issued his decrees. In Cuneiform Tablet 2.5, lines 38 to 39, we read the following about the High King. Quote, your decree, O El, is wise. Your wisdom is eternal.

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a life of fortune you decree. From this text, we see that L’s decrees were not seen as tyrannical or subversive. We see that they were understood to be wise, leading one to quote a life of fortune.

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Number three, just like we saw in ancient Mesopotamia, the heavenly king El gifts special weapons to his offspring to help them win their battle against the sea serpent. This is visible in really stark relief when the high god El’s master craftsman Kotar fashions two magical clubs and he gifts them to Baal so that he can successfully destroy the sea serpent Am.

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These clubs, we’ve talked about them on the program before, are named driver and router or expeller. Kineiform tablet 2.4, lines 11 to 13, where we learn of these special weapons, it reads, quote, “‘Your name is Yagaris. “‘Let him drive out. “‘Yagaris, drive out Yam. “‘Your name is Iyamari. “‘Oh, let him route.’

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ayamari route yam. And these special weapons, these clubs, driver and router, of course, play an absolutely critical role in Baal’s ability to defeat yam. In reference to these special weapons, Mullen writes the following on page 58, quote, “‘Significantly, Baal is not able to defeat yam alone.'”

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It was necessary for him to procure magical weapons from the craftsman god to ensure his victory. With the help of Kotar’s magical clubs Baal destroyed Yam and attained the position of king. As just a quick aside, two episodes ago, I shared a couple of clips from the Lord of the Rings.

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By the way, I’ve posted links to those clips on the webpage for that episode. So if you’d like to watch those clips instead of just listen to them, you can do that there. Anyway, while I was rewatching the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, I noticed that Galadriel, the elf, gave several gifts to the fellowship to help them in their quest. She gifts the elf Legolas a bow and arrow. She gifts the hobbits, Merry and Pippin daggers.

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the hobbit Sam, an elven rope, and she gives gifts to the others as well. But to the hero, to the hobbit Frodo, Galadriel gifts a crystal file, which contains the light of Arendelle’s star. And Galadriel tells Frodo that it will, quote, shine still brighter when night is about you, and be, quote, a light to you in dark places when all other light go out.

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And later in the story, the phial actually helps Frodo fend off Shelob. Shelob is a giant spider-like creature, which is the offspring of Ungoliant, a primordial being of darkness in the Tolkien mythology. Sam ultimately uses the phial to defeat Shelob after Frodo is poisoned. And the phial, of course, saves Frodo’s life.

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I know I’ve mentioned this before in the program, but JRR Tolkien did his homework. He was very familiar with the legacy left by the ancient tradition. Pretty much all of the gifting of special weapons and special armor that we see in the world’s greatest literature comes out of the ancient tradition. If you’d like to see a clip of Galadriel distributing these special gifts among the fellowship, you can find a link on the webpage for this episode.

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And if you’re interested in learning more about special weapons, check out episode number 20. And if you’re interested in learning more about special armor, check out episode number 21, the Cloak of Invulnerability. Number four, like we also saw in ancient Mesopotamia, the heavenly king, L, granted heavenly kingship to his worthy offspring. On page 140, Mullen notes, quote,

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The decree and sanction for kingship comes forth from El’s tent. In Cuneiform Tablet 6.1, lines 43 to 65, the actual choice and enthronement of a king occurs at the dwelling of El. El pronounces his decree using imperatives. To Adiroth, who’s his wife, he announces, here, give one of your sons.

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and I will make him king.” The god El controls the rulership over the cosmogonic deities through his decree, which comes either from his mountain or his mountain shrine. On page 144 and 145, Mullen continues, quote, “‘Only El delivers decrees that affect the rule of the cosmos. He declares kingship, grants palaces,

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and refuses kingship. One is only given dominion by the consent of El. In this text, we see the theology of the ancient tradition in full form. In Canaan form tablet 6.1, lines 45 and 46, where we just read that the heavenly King El tells his wife, quote, “‘Give one of your sons and I will make him king.'”

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We’re seeing an unmistakable reference to the theology that God grants heavenly kingship to some of his offspring. We learn in these texts that God also refuses kingship to some of his offspring, which we saw when the high god El refused to grant kingship to Yam, who is the Ugaritic rebellious son or dragon, the dragon who was willing to go to war to usurp the throne. Yam’s rebellion made him ineligible

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to govern others, so El rejected his appeal for kingship. And as we know, Yam is furious about this and he’s living on in his own shouting in the primordial waters where he was exiled.

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It’s worth noting that these Canaanite tablets make it absolutely clear that only the high god has the power and authority to appoint his offspring as kings, which he does when he declares, by divine decree, his son Baal, a king. There are absolutely no self-appointed kings among the ancient Canaanites. As Mullen said it, quote, “‘One is only given dominion by the consent of El.'”

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Like we saw in ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia, it’s always the high God, the father of the gods, who grants his worthy offspring the right to rule as celestial monarchs.

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And number five, just like we also saw in ancient Mesopotamia, the heavenly king, El, grants his newly enthroned offspring a dominion, dominion over a kingdom. El allots his newly coronated offspring in inheritance, which is a cosmic kingdom. Mullen refers to the heavenly king, El, as quote, the dispenser of kingdoms. On page 35, Mullen writes, quote,

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The concept of El, who himself is a king, as the one who dispenses kingship, seems on the surface to be contradictory. We shall see in the following sections, however, that the king of Baal, one of the sons whom El granted heavenly kingship, in no way impinges upon El’s reign. And why should it? If the cosmos are infinite, El would lose nothing by granting his worthy offspring a dominion too.

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In fact, it would only increase El’s own kingdom, because El would forever reign as the king over his son, Baal, and his kingdom too, in a grand royal celestial hierarchy.

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On page 40, Mullen writes, and I think I’ve talked about this on the program before, but he says, quote, “‘El’s function as the God who dispenses kingdom “‘is reflected in the sentientiathen. “‘In the Phoenician theogony, “‘El divides the land among the various gods “‘as their territory.'” I’m not gonna read the text, but in the text we see that God divides up the lands among the gods.

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I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the program yet, but we actually see this same theology affirmed among the ancient Israelites when Yahweh tells Moses in Numbers chapter 34 that he’s gonna give the 12 tribes of Israel the land of Canaan as their inheritance. Numbers chapter 34, verses one and two read, and this is the new international version, quote, and the Lord spake unto Moses, command the Israelites and say unto them, when you enter Canaan,

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the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries. And then the next couple of verses lay out the boundaries. But note in these verses how Yahweh tells Moses that this land, the land of Canaan, has been quote allotted to them as quote an inheritance. The emphasis in the text here on allotting an inheritance is hugely significant.

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because it’s meant to signal to the reader that what’s about to take place in the land of Canaan is a type or echo of what actually took place in the heavens in God’s kingdom, when God divided up his cosmic kingdom amongst the high council of 12. What we have going on here is an example of the Hermetic adage, as above, so below, as in heaven.

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So on earth, see Yahweh by commanding that the land Canaan, which is symbolic of God’s kingdom, be divided up as an inheritance among the 12 tribes of Israel, which is symbolic of the council of the gods like we discussed in episode number 18, is teaching the ancient Israelites what happened or happens in the heavens. As astounding as this is, Yahweh is teaching the ancient Israelites that

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and a lot’s cosmic kingdoms. Yahweh is teaching royal kingship theology. He’s teaching the ancient Israelites the same theology we’ve been discussing on the program. That’s what’s happening in these verses. Before Moses dies, Yahweh commands Moses to appoint Joshua as the leader of Israel. And Moses tells Joshua the following in Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse seven.

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and this is the New International Version. Quote, then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of Israel, be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give to them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. In Joshua chapters 15 to 19, the land of Canaan is divided up by lot.

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amongst the 12 tribes of Israel. Joshua chapter 18 verse 10 reads, and this is the new international version, quote, Joshua then cast lots. Note the casting of lots. We’ve talked about this before on the program and how in the ancient world, the dispensing of cosmic kingdoms was always associated with lots or with the casting of lots. Let me start the verse again.

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quote, Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord. So this casting of lots obviously took place within the temple in the presence of the Lord, which makes sense because in heaven as above this is where it happens. And there he divided the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions. If you would like to see a picture of how the land of Canaan was

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You can find it on the webpage for this episode. Again though, Yahweh patterned the allotment of the land in Canaan amongst the 12 tribes of Israel after the allotment of cosmic kingdoms in heaven, as above, so below. And let’s not forget that in the ancient texts, be they in ancient Mesopotamia or ancient Canaan, heavenly kingdoms are always inherited.

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We’ve talked about this on the program. It is the inheritance that is won by conquering the sea serpent. Something that the ancient Israelites spent 40 years in the desert trying to do before they were allowed into the promised land where they were actually given land. Which again is symbolic of a cosmic kingdom as their inheritance. You know, when you read the Bible,

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in light of the ancient Egyptian Mesopotamian and Canaanite texts, it’s actually so much easier to understand what’s really going on and the theological purpose behind what’s taking place.

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And let’s not forget that in the biblical passages that I just mentioned, that it is Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, not a minor figure who’s instructing Moses to divide the land of promise up against Jacob’s 12 sons as their inheritance, echoing the pattern in heaven, which means that right here in the Bible, the dispensing of cosmic kingdoms and royal kingship theology.

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is not only being taught in the Bible, it’s being taught by Yahweh Himself, the highest authority, the God of the Old Testament. It’s remarkable. All right, all five of these roles and responsibilities of a heavenly king I just outlined, presiding over a council, issuing decrees, gifting special weapons and special armor, appointing heavenly kings, and dispensing heavenly

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found among the Canaanites are the same roles and responsibilities of heavenly kings found in our last episode in the ancient Mesopotamian literature. Both of these ancient peoples are teaching the same things about what heavenly kings do, how heavenly kings rule the cosmos, what they rule over, who they rule over, and what they spend their time doing in the heavens.

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The Canaanite text emphasized two additional roles of heavenly kings, which I didn’t mention in the last episode, but these can be found in the Mesopotamian literature too. I just didn’t mention them. The first is God’s role as a heavenly judge. The Ugaritic literature emphasizes that God, as a heavenly king, serves as a judge and issues judgment. On page 146 and 147, Mullen writes, quote,

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patriarchal judge. L’s decree is connected explicitly with the Mount, his mountain, and his temple shrine. It is this location that judgment is passed. Second, we see that L has the sole power and authority to sanction temple building. We haven’t talked about this on the program yet, but the sanctioning of temple building is essentially synonymous with the sanctioning of kingdom building.

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of sanctioning the right to create, to create a world or a kingdom of worlds. I’ll explain this more in a couple of episodes. In what is known in the Ugaritic literatures, the Baal-Yam cycle, one of the major issues in these texts is whether or not the heavenly king will grant Baal or Yam the right to build a temple. Mola notes the following on page 46, quote,

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over the issue of kingship over the cosmos. Crucial to this issue is the theme of a temple for Baal. In the Baal cycle, even though Baal defeated Yam, he was not immediately granted the authority to build a temple. In the text, Baal appeals to Anat, his sister, and he asks her to persuade the high god El to grant him the permission to build a temple. So Anat goes and does this, and El is persuaded by her appeal.

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In Cuneiform tablet 4.4, line 62 to 65, El grants Baal the right to build a temple. The text reads, and this is El’s decree. Let a house be built for Baal like the gods and a court like the sons of Adiroth. Adiroth is more commonly known as Asherah, the king of heaven, El’s consort or wife. So Adiroth is the

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of heaven. Upon hearing this, Anat, the sister of Baal, journeys to Baal and she declares in Cuneiform Talbot 4.5, lines 87 to 91, quote, a house will be built for you like your brothers. This text indicates that Baal’s brothers have temples in heaven, which of course then attests that there are many temples in heaven.

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and we’ll talk a lot more about temple building in a couple of episodes, especially the temple building account that’s given here in the ball cycle. Suffice it to say, we see that the Canaanites taught nearly the same theology of heavenly kingship that we saw in ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Now there’s going to be cultural differences and some inevitable corruptions of the theology when we go between civilizations and over time. But when we stick to the stubborn bits,

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we find a perfectly cogent and consistent theology of heavenly kingship. A theology that I’ve pointed out several times is quite mind blowing in its implications. All right, now let’s turn to the Judeo-Christian tradition and see what the ancient Hebrews and early Christians taught about God and who God is. Did they also teach that God reigns as a heavenly king? Well, yes, they absolutely did.

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and they still do. The Hebrew word for king is melek, M-E-L-E-K, which is derived from the root milk, M-L-K-H, which signifies the act of ruling or reigning. This term, melek, is mentioned over a thousand times in the Bible. Most of the time it’s just in reference to human kings, but in some very important royal psalms,

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In a couple of other places, it’s used to describe God. Jews today actually use the title Melik when they address God in their prayers, when they say, blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe. If you pay close attention to what you’re reading in the Judeo-Christian scriptures, you’ll soon realize, like elsewhere in the ancient world, kingship constitutes the backbone of the theology.

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In this case, the backbone of the Judeo-Christian biblical canon. The canon speaks of a God who reigns as a celestial monarch over a celestial kingdom, a celestial monarch who establishes and maintains order in the heavens. And like we’ve already discussed on the podcast, we learned in Psalm 89 that the God of the Old Testament, just like we’ve seen with the ancient Egyptian God, Ray, where he gained his kingship by conquering Apophis.

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and where the ancient Mesopotamian God Marduk gained his kingship by conquering Tiamat, and where the ancient Canaanite God Baal gained his kingship by conquering Yam. Yahweh obtained his kingship by first conquering the awful sea serpent Rahab. Psalm 89 tells us that Yahweh, quote, “‘Broke Rahab in pieces like one that is slain.'” Then a couple of verses later, we’re told that Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, is, quote,

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This is in complete keeping with the ancient religious tradition that we find taught over and over and over again in the ancient Near East. That it’s by conquering the awful sea monster that one acquires the right to reign as a heavenly king and govern over others. In Psalm 89, after we’re told that Yahweh broke Rahab, the very next verse tells us that

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Yahweh created this world. The world that we learn in Isaiah chapter 66 verse 1 serves as his footstool. Isaiah chapter 66 verse 1 reads and this is Yahweh Himself speaking telling us about His royal heavenly throne. This is the King James version quote, thus saith the Lord Yahweh the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

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Where is the house that you build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? What Yahweh says in this verse is pretty interesting. First, he tells us that he has a throne, a throne that’s located in the heavens. He’s telling us himself that he reigns as a celestial king. And second, he tells us that this earth is his footstool. Now, take a minute and imagine this in your mind

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Yahweh is actually teaching us something very important about himself here. Imagine Yahweh sitting on his heavenly throne in heaven, his feet resting on the earth, his footstool. Note in this image that it is Yahweh himself, his body that joins heaven and earth together. This image becomes incredibly powerful when one thinks of Christ suffering on the cross, sacrificing his body.

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so that the wounds of all heroes, poppers, and scullery maids might be healed, so that they might be able to stand in heaven in God’s presence as perfect upholders of the cosmic law. Burn the image of Yahweh seated on his heavenly throne, his feet resting on the earth in your mind, because this is the same image that is being symbolized by the sacred tree.

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If you aren’t seeing how the two are connected, give it some thought and maybe even consider how the Maori son Tane Mahuta in episode number 42 did the same thing when he used his body like a tree to connect heaven and earth at their separation. This imagery and the theology that accompanies it is very, very important in the ancient tradition and we’ll discuss it in greater detail in an upcoming episode.

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After Yahweh tells us about his heavenly throne, he asks a very interesting question. He asks, where is the house that you build unto me? Where is the place of my rest? Note Yahweh’s reference to rest here. We learned quite a bit about the ancient Near Eastern conception of rest in episode number 22. In that episode, we learned that Yahweh’s place of rest, the place where he can rest free from Rahab’s onslaught, is his sacred palace temple.

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From the way that Yahweh is asking the question here, where is the house that ye built to me? It’s clear that Yahweh expects his people to build him a temple on earth so that he can have a place to dwell. As we just saw in the Ugaritic literature, temple building is one of the key privileges of newly coronated heavenly kings. A scholar by the name of A. Cappell Rudd in an article he wrote titled, Temple Building, A Task for Gods and Kings.

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published in volume 32 of the journal orientalia writes, quote, in the ancient middle Eastern world, temple building was the task and the privilege of victorious gods and Kings. Here we see Yahweh right after telling us that he sits enthroned in heaven, asking where the temple is, that his people were to build for him.

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Note how the entire context of temple building in the ancient Near East and here in the biblical canon is directly linked to the notion of kingship. We can’t understand the temples that the ancient Hebrews built to Yahweh, like Moses’s tabernacle and King Solomon’s temple, without first understanding how those temples are directly connected to Yahweh’s triumphant victory over

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exaltation as a heavenly king. The connection between the two will become more apparent in in the coming episodes. My point here is that Moses’s tabernacle and King Solomon’s temple cannot be understood outside of the context of Yahweh’s heavenly kingship. The two concepts, temples and kingship, are inseparable.

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Alright, let’s look at a couple more verses in the Old Testament that identify Yahweh as a heavenly king. If we turn to Psalm chapter 45, which is considered a royal psalm, we read the following description of Yahweh as a heavenly king. Starting in verse 6, it reads, quote, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.

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So here we learn that Yahweh reigns in the heavens as an eternal king forever and ever. Quote, the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. So here we see reference to Yahweh’s royal regalia to a scepter, which we know is made from the wood of a tree and represents a branch of the sacred tree, the tree of life.

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In this verse, we also see that Yahweh’s dominion is referred to as a kingdom. It says, quote, the scepter of thy kingdom. In this verse, Yahweh’s scepter is referred to as a, quote, right scepter. And this has reference to tzedek, to rightness, to righteousness. It tells us that Yahweh governs his kingdom according to righteousness. The next verse, verse seven, tells us the same thing. It says,

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Speaking of the King of Kings, quote, thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. This text tells us just like we see of kings in ancient Egypt, that Yahweh is a lover of Ma’a or Tzedek. Now listen to what else it says in verse seven, quote, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

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This verse is pretty mind-blowing because this verse is telling us that a kingship rite, r-i-t-e, was performed on Yahweh in heaven. That’s what this verse is telling us. Right here in the Bible, the Bible is telling us that religious kingship rituals are performed in heaven. In this verse, we’re told that in heaven, God anointed Yahweh with the quote,

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oil of gladness. Now you may have already figured this out, but the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh, is the Christ of the New Testament. We’ve talked about this on the program before, but the title Christ is actually the Greek word Christos, which means anointed one. So the anointing of Yahweh in this verse is referring to an anointing rite that took place in the heavens before Christ was born on earth.

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And this anointing was in preparation for his celestial kingship.

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Now, we just learned from the Ugaritic literature that only the high God, El, had the power and authority to grant one of his sons the right to reign as a heavenly king. And we saw the same thing in our last episode in ancient Mesopotamia, where only the high God, On, had the power and authority to anoint one of his sons as a heavenly king. So when Psalm 45, verse seven, tells us the same thing,

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anointed Yahweh, a heavenly king, in heaven when he anointed him with the oil of gladness, then it’s pretty easy to see in this verse that God here refers to Christ’s father, the high God, the King of the universe, God the Father. It’s Christ’s actual father who anoints Christ, a heavenly king, and grants him a

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Several episodes back, I mentioned an Oxford-trained biblical scholar by the name of Margaret Barker, who’s written over 20 books on the early beliefs of the ancient Israelites and early Christians. You can find her on our companion website, thea under Scholars. In one of her books, titled King of the Jews, she refers to an article written by Otto Eisfeldt, who was a German Protestant theologian.

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pages 25 to 37 titled El and Yahweh. And Eisfeld points out in this article that there are early texts which clearly indicate that in ancient Israel, El, God the Father, and Yahweh were considered separate deities. On page 69 and 70 of the King of the Jews, Barker writes, quote,

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Eisfeld pointed out many years ago that there is no rivalry in the Hebrew biblical texts between El and Yahweh, and that a group of early texts survive, many in Genesis, where El is clearly a separate deity from Yahweh. In the Exilic period, El and Yahweh coalesced. Now, the Exilic period refers to the time of the Babylonian exile, which was around 600 BC.

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Based off of the textual evidence in Eisfeld’s research, Barker is arguing that previous to 600 BC, El and Yahweh were identified as separate gods, but that around the time of the Babylonian exile, the time of Josiah, this doctrine was corrupted, and El and Yahweh were merged into one God, which is what I would also argue too, but not just because of what Eisfeld found.

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but because what I’ve found across the ancient Near East where the high God and the son are always separate gods, they are literally father and son. Barker continues, quote, “‘The religion of Israel in the time of the kings distinguished between El and Yahweh, and this distinction accounts for the two figures in Daniel’s vision. This distinction between El and Yahweh is important for understanding John’s gospel.”

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since it was Yahweh, the son of El Elyon, who became the Davidic priest king and was therefore incarnate as the king of the Jews. In that quote, Barker, like I’ve been arguing, is pointing out that the distinction between father and son is very important to a correct understanding of Christ’s kingship. All right, back to Psalm 45.

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which scholars believe was written around 1000 BC. So note that this is 400 years before the Babylonian exile when Barker argues that the doctrine of El and Yahweh as father and son, as two separate beings was corrupted. In Psalm 45, the end of verse seven and the beginning of verse eight, the distinction between El and Yahweh, father and son is pretty darn unambiguous. Now listen closely to what we learn about Yahweh’s heavenly anointing.

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quote, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh. That’s pretty great stuff. Interestingly, these very verses, Psalm 45 verses six and seven, which I just read, are quoted in the New Testament in Hebrews.

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In Hebrews chapter one, you can find them quoted in verses eight and nine. In Hebrews chapter one, we get more information about Christ’s anointing, all of which completely corroborates what I just argued. In Hebrews chapter one, verse two, we’re explicitly told that it was God the Father who, quote, appointed his son a king. The King James Version actually uses the word appointed.

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This is important because we established in this and the last episode that only the high god has the power, authority, and privilege to appoint heavenly kings. Heavenly kings are always and only appointed by the high god himself. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2 reads, quote, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir.

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There you have it, quote, “‘Whom he, God the Father, hath appointed heir.'” In one sentence, we see the high God, God the Father, doing the same thing. We see the high God, the Father of the Gods in ancient Mesopotamia, and the high God, the Father of the Gods in ancient Canaan, doing, appointing their offspring heavenly kings and granting them an inheritance. And

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what has God appointed Christ heir to? Well, let’s keep reading. Quote, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things. What did he appoint him heir to? He appointed him heir to all things. That’s quite a bit. That’s quite a large kingdom. The use of the word heir, H-E-I-R in this passage is really important because

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Why is Christ an heir? Why is he inheriting all that his father hath? Well, because as we’ve seen in the ancient world, this is the reward that’s bestowed upon those who conquered the sea serpent, which is something we’re told Christ did, like I mentioned in Psalm 89, but which is also reflected in scriptures like Psalm 92 verse 15, which says, quote, the Lord is upright and there is no

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wickedness in him. To have no wickedness in him is a clear statement that he won his battle against Rahab and because of that he was worthy to inherit all things a kingdom. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 4 Paul links Christ’s inheritance, get this to a better name. As we discussed in the last episode

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The theology taught within the ancient tradition teaches that no one can escape the battle against Rahab unchanged. No matter what, our nature will change. And if we come off conqueror, the high God will give us a new name that will reflect our new spiritually powerful nature. In verse four, Paul tells us that this is exactly what happened to Christ. I’m going to start in verse three where Paul describes how Christ’s nature.

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now matches that of his father. After which, Paul tells us that Christ sits down, which refers to his enthronement next to his father, the majesty on high, the king on high. So listen closely so you don’t miss the reference to Christ’s name change. Speaking of Christ, verses three and four read, quote, who, and this is talking about Christ,

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being the brightness of his glory, and his here refers to his father’s, his father’s glory, and the express image of his person. So in terms of corporeality, note how Paul uses the word person here, the express image of his person. Paul wants us to understand that Christ’s nature now exactly matches that of his father’s.

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and also that one’s nature is reflected in their countenance, in the glory that radiates from their body. Let me read it again. Speaking of how Christ resembles his father in every way, verse 3 reads, quote, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. Having conquered Rahab, Christ’s nature now matched his father’s.

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The verse continues, quote, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Having conquered Rahab, Christ takes his seat as a heavenly king on a throne next to his fathers. Now listen to what verse four says, quote, being made so much better than the angels,

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as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Okay, so did you catch the reference to Christ’s name change? Yeah, it’s not too hard, is it? In this verse, Paul tells us, quote, he, Christ, hath by inheritance, the inheritance that comes from conquering Rahab, obtained a more excellent name.

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We know from the New Testament that after Christ completed this life, where he clearly conquered Rahab, he ascended to heaven. And we know from the testaments of Matthew, Mark and Luke that three days after his death on the cross, Christ rose from the dead in a resurrected, incorruptible body of flesh and bone. And we talked about this in episode number 44, Who is God, a corporeal being. It was in that body.

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that Christ ascended to his father. In these verses, Paul tells us that Christ’s nature had changed. He now matched the nature of his father in every way. Paul also tells us in these verses that Christ was then enthroned as a heavenly king. And then Paul tells us that after he was enthroned, he was given a new name, a quote, more excellent name. A name that

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perfectly reflected his more excellent nature. All of this, everything in here is perfectly in keeping with the kingship theology taught within the ancient tradition. The apostle Paul knew this heavenly kingship theology. In these verses to the Hebrews, Paul doesn’t tell us who gave Christ his quote more excellent name.

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But if we had to guess based on what we learned two episodes ago in ancient Mesopotamia, we would have to guess that it was Christ’s father, God the father, that gave him his new quote, more excellent name. And that’s because we learned in ancient Mesopotamia that only the high god Anu, the father of the gods, had the sole authority to name what had been created by his hand. And we saw this when the high god Anu gave Marduk the new name.

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Osser Louis after he conquered Tiamat. Although Paul doesn’t tell us here in this epistle to the Hebrews, who gave Christ his new, more excellent name, he actually does tell us in the epistle that he wrote to the Philippians. In Philippians chapter two, verse nine, Paul tells us the following, quote, “‘Wherefore God,’ and Paul is talking about God the Father here,

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highly exalted him. Paul’s talking about God the Father having exalted Christ and given him a name which is above every name. So right here, Paul explicitly tells us that in heaven it was God, God the Father, who gave Christ his new more excellent name. And we of course are not at all surprised by this because this is

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taught across the ancient Near East, the ancient tradition. In Hebrews chapter two, Paul goes on to tell us that in heaven, God the Father coronated Christ with glory and honor. Verse seven reads, quote, “‘Thou,’ speaking of God the Father, “‘crownedest Him Christ with glory and honor “‘and did set Him over the works of thy hands.'”

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Right here in Hebrews, right here in Hebrews in chapter two is an astounding account. It is an account of God, God the Father, coronating his son, Christ, a heavenly King in heaven. That’s what we’re reading. And note in this verse how God, quote, sets Christ over the works of his hands. This is God the Father giving Christ royal dominion. Verse eight continues, quote,

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thou, speaking of God the Father, has put all things in subjection under his feet.” Here we see that God gives Christ supreme authority to rule over all things, but also note in this passage how God puts quote, all things in subjection under Christ’s feet. Note the connection between subjection and feet like we’ve talked about on the program.

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These verses definitely speak of Christ being given power, authority, and dominion by his father to reign as a celestial monarch. Now, let’s not miss the larger picture that Paul’s painting here. Paul’s basically telling us the same thing that the ancient Egyptians, ancient Mesopotamians, and ancient Canaanites have been telling us. That there is some sort of formal kingship enthronement right.

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that takes place in the heavens, and that Christ received those rights before and after His ascension. That’s pretty amazing. At this point, I want to stress from what we’ve seen so far in the Psalms, and there are loads of references in the Psalms, especially in the Royal Psalms that identify Yahweh as a king, and what we’ve read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that it’s pretty clear that

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is at the very heart of the Christian tradition. And not only that, what the early Christians taught about heavenly kingship did not differ, at least in terms of the stubborn bits from what the ancients taught. I hope you understand how utterly astounding this is and also quite perplexing

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the theology of kingship that runs through Christianity, so similar to the theology of kingship that runs through the ancient Egyptian religion and the ancient Mesopotamian religion and the ancient Canaanite religion. Because when we look at just the stubborn bits, we see that they are all teaching one theology, one. And this is just astounding.

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I of course on this program argue that all of these religions originated from a single source, an original pure religious tradition, which we refer to on this program as the ancient tradition. In each one of these traditions, God is described as a regal, glorious king, be he Nasut, Malchoo, or Melek, who reigns in righteousness and truth.

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over an everlasting kingdom.

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To close out today’s episode, I want to leave you with the words of the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, found in Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 to 5, who saw God with his own eyes, raining in the highest heaven in majesty and glory. These are the words of Isaiah.

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and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him. Then said I, woe is me, for mine eyes have seen the king. That’s it for me.

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I’m Jack Logan.

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You’ve been listening to the Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production.