Resheph was quite a popular god in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC - especially in Syria - but during the 1st millennium his cult became extinct. Finally it was only maintained in several peripheral and isolated sites, such as in the Palmyra desert and in Cyprus. Maciej M. Munnich presents the written sources which mentioned Resheph and analyzes the features of Resheph's cult. He emphasizes that there is no confirmation for the theory that Resheph was a lord of the netherworld. Resheph was a belligerent, aggressive god who used diseases to attack people, but who could also heal. Because of the long period of the cult and the geographical range, one can notice some local features: In Egypt, for instance, Resheph originally was venerated as the deity supporting the Pharaoh in battles, but then he was summoned mainly because of illness and everyday needs.

The excavations of the last eighty years, especially at Ugarit, Ebla, and Emar, have accumulated an exceptional amount of source material referring to the Syro-Canaanite god Resheph, whose history can now be followed during three thousand years. Chapter I deals with Resheph in the Ebla texts, already witnessing his assimilation to the Mesopotamian god Nergal, while Chapter II is dedicated to his consort Adamma. Western Asiatic sources of the second millennium B.C., in particular those from Mari, Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani, and Emar, are presented in Chapter III, while Chapter IV concerns the Syro-Canaanite iconography of Resheph. His cult in Egypt during the second millennium B.C. is examined in Chapter V, while Chapters VI and VII deal with the first millennium B.C. and the later references to Resheph in midrashic literature. Aramaic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Egyptian, and Greek sources are surveyed in detail with a particular attention to biblical texts. Several indices help using the extensive onomastic and cultic data collected in the book, always with references to the original or most recent publications of the pertinent epigraphic, literary, and iconographic material.

This multivolume work is still proving to be as fundamental to Old Testament studies as its companion set, the Kittel-Friedrich Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, has been to New Testament studies. Beginning with father, and continuing through the alphabet, the TDOT volumes present in-depth discussions of the key Hebrew and Aramaic words in the Old Testament. Leading scholars of various religious traditions (including Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish) and from many parts of the world (Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) have been carefully selected for each article by editors Botterweck, Ringgren, and Fabry and their consultants, George W. Anderson, Henri Cazelles, David Noel Freedman, Shemaryahu Talmon, and Gerhard Wallis. The intention of the writers is to concentrate on meaning, starting from the more general, everyday senses and building to an understanding of theologically significant concepts. To avoid artificially restricting the focus of the articles, TDOT considers under each keyword the larger groups of words that are related linguistically or semantically. The lexical work includes detailed surveys of a word s occurrences, not only in biblical material but also in other ancient Near Eastern writings. Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Ethiopic, Ugaritic, and Northwest Semitic sources are surveyed, among others, as well as the Qumran texts and the Septuagint; and in cultures where no cognate word exists, the authors often consider cognate ideas. TDOT s emphasis, though, is on Hebrew terminology and on biblical usage. The contributors employ philology as well as form-critical and traditio-historical methods, with the aim of understanding the religious statements in the Old Testament. Extensive bibliographical information adds to the value of this reference work. This English edition attempts to serve the needs of Old Testament students without the linguistic background of more advanced scholars; it does so, however, without sacrificing the needs of the latter. Ancient scripts (Hebrew, Greek, etc.) are regularly transliterated in a readable way, and meanings of foreign words are given in many cases where the meanings might be obvious to advanced scholars. Where the Hebrew text versification differs from that of English Bibles, the English verse appears in parentheses. Such features will help all earnest students of the Bible to avail themselves of the manifold theological insights contained in this monumental work.

From Greece to Palmyra, Tyre to Babylon, the names of the gods reveal their fields of competence and action. Through the study of divine names, the twelve chapters of this book unfold a gallery of portraits that reveal the changing aspects of the divine throughout the ancient Mediterranean.

This masterly book is the climax of over twenty-five years of study of the impact of Canaanite religion and mythology on ancient Israel and the Old Testament. It is John Day's magnum opus in which he sets forth all his main arguments and conclusions on the subject. The work considers in detail the relationship between Yahweh and the various gods and goddesses of Canaan, including the leading gods El and Baal, the great goddesses (Asherah, Astarte and Anat), astral deities (Sun, Moon and Lucifer), and underworld deities (Mot, Resheph, Molech and the Rephaim). Day assesses both what Yahwism assimilated from these deities and what it came to reject. More generally he discusses the impact of Canaanite polytheism on ancient Israel and how monotheism was eventually achieved.

This massive, 585 page grimoire begins with historical, mythological, authentic origins of the Gods & Demons of ancient Bronze Age/Iron Age Canaanite Pantheons throughout the Levant. The Gods are described as 'Deific Masks', representations of a type of energy/power which manifests in nature & in relation to the individual. -Descriptions, Cult 'Names of Power', locations of temples including authentic modern rituals and workings with realistic goals for material and spiritual development. -Maps, architecture examples of Baal, Chemosh, Dagan & Baal-Zebub temples, consecration rituals, sorcery, necromancy and demonology and the rites of divination including communion with Dagan and Baal-Zebub by dreams. -Ancient Magickial scripts using authentic Aramaic, Moab/Philistine & Ugaritic cuneiform to inscribe 'Words of Power' for spells.