Forlong - Rivers of Life

180
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
dwelt, and that the only God they knew of in Arabia, or until the.y got into Canaan,
Was El-Elohe or Elohim, after which they adopted the God Yachveh of the
Phenicians calling him Yahveh, Jahveh. or Jhavh or Yahuê, which perhaps was the
reason their Arabian brethren called them Jews. This change did not, however,
apparently take place for many centuries after the era which we are asked to accept as
that of the mythical Moses (1490 B.C.). It is most probable that the tribes of Il,
that is, “Is-Ra-El,” remained true to El and Arkite, or the more gross forms of
Phallic faith, until the period of full contact with the great Solar-worshipping nations
on their east, viz., the eighth century B.C., as the period treated of in 2 Kings xvii.
There we are told that the King of Asyria sent men, no doubt priests, from the strongholds
of Sun-worship, Ham-ath, Kootha, and Sepharvaim, all words which taken in
syllables or together signify the sun. A priest of El or of Beth-el went up to try and
stop the defection, but it was of no use, see verse 29th and onward, for they feared not
the Lord, who had “named Jacob, Is-ra-el or a son of El. Of course the change
had begun long before then, but this was probably the final flicker of the national
worship of El.
Dr Inman gives this subject much learned criticism in chapter x. of Vol I. Ancient
Faiths, and here I mean only to point the young reader’s attention to it, for I do not
write here for the learned, but only the ordinary orthodox public. Any cursory reader
will observe that in Samuel’s time there was a very apparent change in nomenclature:
Terminations ending in El are less frequent, giving place to Al, Ar, Ah. Jah and
Ja; whi1st Shams and Shemish or Esh—denoting a solar deity, then constantly appear.
Ths may be shown in juxta-position thus:
Micha-El (who is like God). Araka-El (The Marshal of God). Ram-i-El (Son of God)
Uri-El (Fire of God). Gabri-El (Strength of God). Abdi-El (Servant of God).
Bethu-El. Bebb-Shemesh. Beth-iah.
Hann-iel. Haum-bal. Jo-hannah.
El-Shemesh (The Sun is El). Ir-Shemesh (City of the Sun). En-Shemish (Fountain of S.).
Azri-El. El-eazar. Andru-bal.
Esh-Baal. Baal-jah.
Azar-iah. Jo-ezar.
Obad-iah. Abad-iah. Ab-deus (Tyrian).
These names have visibly gravitated towards the Greek ΙΑΩ, (which the Hebrews
preferred pronouncmgl IAOU); he who was Hades in winter, Apollo and Zeus in
early summer, Helios in the heats, and “loved IAO or AD-IONA or Adonis” in har-
vest. This subject will be found well worked up in Bishop Colenso’s excellent Lecture IV.
on the Pentateuch; see also the nomenclature: as developed in Judges ii, iii and vi.
All the above words if analysed would lead to very important results which I cannot,
however here dwell upon. Most of my readers probably know that ADONIA ynda
usually translated “Jehovah” or Lord is the Phenician GOD OF LOVE, and in Hebrew
signifies “a pillar,” that is Toth or the Jewish Seth; see Leigh’s Hebrew Lexicon. But