Chemosh

Chemosh (pronounced /ˈkimɑʃ/) (from Hebrew כמש, pronounced /χeˈmoʃ/), was the primary god of the Moabites (Num. 21:29; Jer. 48:7, 13, 46).

Moabite source

Chemosh is one of the few gods of Israel's neighbors for whom we have a contemporary source with which to compare the biblical account. Account to the Moabite stone, and inscription of the Moabite King Mesha, Chemosh was the supreme Moabite deity who brought victory in battle when his people honored him properly, but allowed their victors to prevail when they fell into sin. Also known as the "Mesha Stele, this remarkable monument was erected about 850 B.C.E. as a record of Mesha's victories in his revolt against the Kingdom of Israel after the death of his overlord, Ahab. Mesha identifies himself as the son of Kemosh-yatti, who had ruled over Moab for 30 years. He attributes his successes to his god to whom he has dedicate a lofty shrine at "Qarcho."

The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone

"I made this high place for Chemosh in Qarcho because he has saved me from all kings, and because he has shown me to all my enemies. Omri (the father of Ahab) was the king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab for many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son (Ahab) replaced him; and he said, "I will also oppress Moab"... But I looked down on him and on his house. And Israel has been defeated; has been defeated forever... Chemosh restored (the land) in my days. And I built Baal Meon, and I built a water reservoir in it... The men of Gad lived in the land of Atarot from ancient times; and the king of Israel built Atarot for himself. And I fought against the city and captured it. And I killed all the people of the city as a sacrifice for Chemosh and for Moab. And I brought back the fire-hearth of his uncle from there; and I brought it before Chemosh in Qerioit, and I settled the men of Sharon there, as well as the men of Maharit. And Chemosh said to me, "Go, take Nebo from Israel." And I went in the night and fought against it from the daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed it all: seven thousand men and (male) aliens, and women and (female) aliens, and servant girls. Since for Ashtar Kemosh I banned it. And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I brought them before Kemosh.

From this we can deduce a number of probable facts about Chemosh. First, he was Moab's national god. Like the Israelite god Yahweh, he punished his people by allowing neighboring tribes or nations to subjugate or harass them. In this case, Chemosh allowed the Israelites to "oppress" Moab for many years, a clear reference to the the events confirmed by the biblical account during the reigns of the northern kings Omri and Ahab. However, Mesha boasts that Chemosh has blessed him with success, apparently the result of his piety.

Chemosh communicated with his people, probably through a form of divination similar to the many biblical references to the Israelites "inquiring of the Lord." Also similar to the Israelite tradition is Chemosh's direct involvement in military decision such as his telling Mesha to "go and take Nebo from the Israelites."

Mesha does so, slaughtering all of the town's inhabitants and placing it under a "ban." Here we see a direct parallel to the policy of holy war practiced by the Israelite commander Joshua, King Saul, and others, in which no booty or slaves could be taken, but a city's who population would be killed in Yahweh's name. Indeed, Saul was reportedly rejected by God for failing to carrying such a ban fully enough when he slaughtered an entire population of Amalekites but allowed his men to capture cattle instead of destroying them along with the human population.

We also see that Chemosh was associated with the Semitic mother-goddess Ashtar, and she with him, probably in the relationship of husband and consort. "Ashtar" here is equivalent to "Astarte," the Canaanite fertility goddess. Some, however, believe that "Ashtar" is could be a masculine name here, and another name for Chemosh—the compound "Ashtar-Chemosh" being formed like "Yhwh-Elohim" (translated as "the Lord God in English).

Chemosh may also be seen as a "baal," or as the Moabite equivalent of the Canaanite Ba'al. Some hold that the Moabite god "Baal-peor" of Num. 25:3 is essentially the same god as Chemosh, who is also identified with the name (or place) Baal-meon above.

Biblical data

The biblical attitude toward Chemosh is mirror opposite to the vision present by Moab, and as such, not completely dissimilar to it. An ancient poem, twice quoted in the Old Testament (Num. 221:27-30; Jer. 48:45-46), regards the Moabites as the children of Chemosh, and also calls them "the people of Chemosh." Elsewhere, however, the Moabites are seen as closely related to the Israelites as descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot, and Yahweh himself protects them.

"Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession." (Deuteronomy 2:9)

The etymology of "Chemosh" is unknown. The name of the father of Mesha, Chemosh-melek ("Chemosh is king"), indicates the possibility that Chemosh and the Ammonite god Moloch were one and the same deity. Indeed Judges 11:24 speaks of Chemosh as the god of the Ammonites, and the two tribes were both supposed descended from Lot.

Solomon apparently considered the worship of Chemosh in Israel to be acceptable, for he is said to have built a sanctuary to Chemosh on the Mount of Olives (I Kings 11:7). This movement by Solomon was no doubt to some extent a political one, motivated by a desire to honor his Moabite wife the mother of his heir Rehoboam. It made the worship of Chemosh a part of the religious life of Israel for nearly 400 years.

On critical occasions a human sacrifice was considered necessary to secure his favor. During the time of Ahab's son Joram, the king of Moab (perhaps Mesha himself) is described as sacrificing his son in order to gain the upper hand when he was in dire military straits. Even the biblical writers are force to admit that the strategy succeeded:

"Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land." {II Kings iii. 27)

The Israelite judge Jephthah had offered Yahweh a similar sacrifice—his virgin daughter—to fulfill a vow he had made to his deity prior to gaining victory over the Ammonites (Judges 11). Israelites engaged in human sacrifice as late as the time of the prophet Jeremiah, who says: "They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded it, nor did it enter my mind." (Jeremiah 32:35) Apparently a good deal of confusion existed in the minds of the Israelites concerning the relationship of Yahweh, Molech, and Chemosh—and concerning what was expected of their people.

Nevertheless, to the biblical writers, worship of Chemosh, "the abomination of Moab," was an inexcusable sin, as was the worship of any deity other than Yahweh. It was for this crime that Solomon's kingdom was divided in the days of his son Rehoboam, and the northern kingdom given to the care of Jeroboam I with the support of the prophet Ahijah.

In fact, the worship of Chemosh was not abolished until the time of Josiah in the late seventh century B.C.E. (2 Kings 23:13).

Critical views

However, according to II Kings xi. 7, evidence is given that Chemosh and Moloch were two different gods or perhaps two manifestations of the same god, at least to the peoples who worshiped them. Solomon had "high places" built for both gods at the same time and in the same location, "on the mountain which is East of Jerusalem." Both Chemosh and Molech may have had the same origins but if so, by Solomon's time they had been denominated into differing objects for different peoples, Chemosh for the Moabites and Moloch for the Ammonites. Interestingly, according to Genesis xix. 30-38, both the Moabites and the Ammonites were descended from the two sons of Lot (themselves half-brothers by his two daughters), Moab and Ben-ammi. It is not unreasonable then to speculate that the origins for Chemosh (and Moloch) were borrowed from gods worshiped by the inhabitants of Sodom in which Lot's daughters had lived prior to its destruction.

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This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

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