Ever wonder why there are so many references (hidden and overt) to Moon deities in ancient (even modern) lore? It appears that the various Moon deities (or perhaps many names for one deity) were omnipresent in so-called biblical days. We're talking about Nannar of the Sumerians, Yerah/Yeru of Ugarit, Sin patron of Harran, Kusuh of the Hurrians, Ilumquh of the Sabeans of Yemen, Soma of the Indo-Aryans, Yaho - and many others - even mellow ol' El.
http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/sin.jpgFor starters, let's have a look at digs of Abram (Ab-Ram = Ab-Sin = Moon Father). He is supposed to have come from Ur, which was a cult center for, guess what, the Moon deity. It appears, however, that his family's digs were at Harran, another Moon-cult center, which is where he and his siblings returned to after a flap occurring at Ur. Even ol' Jacob returned to Harran and spent fourteen years there looking for a wife/wives.
So, where does Abram journey from Harran? Well, off he goes to Zedek/Zadek, which is now called Jeru-Salem (as in "Peace of the Moon Deity") where he meet Melchi-Zedek. Also in the area is Jeri-cho/Yeru-hoo) city of the Moon deity. That wasn't far from the Sin-ai (Land of the Moon Deity).
Interestingly enough, the name of the 18th Dynasty Pharoah Ahmose I who chased the Hyksos out means "The Moon Deity Is Born" - Iah/Yah being a name of the Egyptian Moon deity (Have a look at:
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/yah.htm)
Sounds a lot like the first part of 'Yahweh' doesn't it? That ain't by accident. Ever hear the term 'Hallelu Yah' yelled out by the Fundies? Huh . . . "Yah"?
Associations with the Moon deity were often designated by putting 'horns' on the figure to represent the crescent moon - even good ol' _____Moses. See:
http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/horned.jpg AND:
http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/merbah.jpgSo, who sez only Boogermen have horns?
Of course, the crescent moon can still be found on almost everything Muslim. Moon worship was extremely common among the Arab peoples long before 'The Prophet.' In fact, the term "al-ilah" is far older than Islam. In olden days, Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called "the daughters of Allah." These three goddesses were called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat. There was once a statue of this Moon deity at Mecca and all the Moon-worshipping Arab people bowed toward Mecca to pray - long before Muhammed made the scene.
Finally, let's have a look at the place the Yahwist scribes inserted a reference to YHWH being the same as El: (e.g. “I am Yahweh”, Gen. 15:7). So far it simply looks as though God has a bunch of names, but in Exodus 6:3 YHWH tells Moses, “and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by My name, Yahweh, I did not make Myself known to them." What's the deal here? The deal is the struggle between the Yahwists and the Elohists - that's the deal.
I'm not even mentioning the flap between the Yahwists and the Elohists after the death of Solomon, when Jeroboam led the northern ten tribes out of alliance with Judah. I'll deal with that some other time.
Anyway, there could hardly be a greater difference between the two deities: El the mellow Caananite deity and Yahweh, the desert deity of the Arabian Penninsula. Contrasting El with the ill-natured, mysogynistic Yahweh, reminds me of a quote by comedian Lewis Black: "Yahweh was a real Prick!"
To put it in a nutshell, Moon-worship was the primary religion of the ancient world. Its implications still exist today. Although theologians try to tap-dance around that fact, it simply won't go away.
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