



Produced by David Widger






BIBLE STUDIES

ESSAYS ON PHALLIC WORSHIP AND OTHER CURIOUS RITES AND CUSTOMS

By J. M. Wheeler


     "There is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that
     esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean."
     --Paul (Romans xiv. 14).


1892.

Printed and Published By G. W. Foote




PREFACE.

My old friend Mr. Wheeler asks me to launch this little craft, and I do
so with great pleasure. She is not a thunderous ironclad, nor a gigantic
ocean liner; but she is stoutly built, well fitted, and calculated to
weather all the storms of criticism. My only fear is that she will not
encounter them.

During the sixteen years of my friend's collaboration with me in
many enterprises for the spread of Freethought and the destruction of
Superstition, he has written a vast variety of articles, all possessing
distinctive merit, and some extremely valuable. From these he and I have
made the following selection. The articles included deal with the Bible
from a special standpoint; the standpoint of an Evolutionist, who reads
the Jewish Scriptures in the light of anthropology, and finds infinite
illustrations in them of the savage origin of religion.

Literary and scientific criticism of the Old Testament have their
numerous votaries. Mr. Wheeler's mind is given to a different study
of the older half of the Bible. He is bent on showing what it really
contains; what religious ideas, rites, and customs prevailed among the
ancient Jews and find expression in their Scriptures. This is a fruitful
method, especially in _our_ country, if it be true, as Dr. Tylor
observes, that "the English mind, not readily swayed by rhetoric, moves
freely under the pressure of facts."

Careful readers of this little book will find it full of precious
information. Mr. Wheeler has a peculiarly wide acquaintance with the
literature of these subjects. He has gathered from far and wide, like
the summer bee, and what he yields is not an undigested mass of facts,
but the pure honey of truth.

Many readers will be astonished at what Mr. Wheeler tells them. We
have read the Bible, they will say, and never saw these things. That is
because they read it without knowledge, or without attention. Reading
is not done with the eyes only, but also with the brain; and the same
sentences will make various impressions, according as the brain is rich
or poor in facts and principles. Even the great, strong mind of Darwin
had to be plentifully stored with biological knowledge before he could
see the meaning of certain simple facts, and discover the wonderful law
of Natural Selection.

Those who have studied the works of Spencer, Tylor, Lubbock, Frazer, and
such authors, will _not_ be astonished at the contents of this volume.
But they will probably find some points they had overlooked; some
familiar points presented with new force; and some fresh views, whose
novelty is not their only virtue: for Mr. Wheeler is not a slavish
follower of even the greatest teachers, he thinks for himself, and shows
others what he has seen with his own eyes.

I hope this little volume will find many readers. Its doing so will
please the author, for every writer wishes to be read; why else, indeed,
should he write? Only less will be the pleasure of his friend who pens
this Preface. I am sure the book will be instructive to most of those
into whose hands it falls; to the rest, the few who really study and
reflect, it will be stimulating and suggestive. Greater praise the
author would not desire; so much praise cannot often be given with
sincerity.

G. W. Foote.




PHALLIC WORSHIP AMONG THE JEWS.

     "The hatred of indecency, which appears to us so natural as
     to be thought innate, and which is so valuable an aid to
     chastity, is a modern virtue, appertaining exclusively, as
     Sir G. Staunton remarks, to civilised life. This is shown by
     the ancient religious rites of various nations, by the
     drawings on the walls of Pompeii, and by the practices of
     many savages."--C. Darwin, "Descent of Man" pt. 1, chap.
     iv., vol. i., p. 182; 1888.

The study of religions is a department of anthropology, and nowhere is
it more important to remember the maxim of the pagan Terence, _Homo sum,
nihil humani a me alienum puto_. It is impossible to dive deep into any
ancient faiths without coming across a deal of mud. Man has often been
defined as a religious animal. He might as justly be termed a dirty and
foolish animal. His religions have been growths of earth, not gifts from
heaven, and they usually bear strong marks of their clayey origin.*

     * The Contemporary Review for June 1888, says (p. 804) "when
     Lord Dalhousie passed an Act intended to repress obscenity
     (in India), a special clause in it exempted all temples and
     religious emblems from its operation."

I am not one of those who find in phallicism the key to all the
mysteries of mythology. All the striking phenomena of nature--the
alternations of light and darkness, sun and moon, the terrors of the
thunderstorm, and of pain, disease and death, together with his
own dreams and imaginations--contributed to evoke the wonder and
superstition of early man. But investigation of early religion shows it
often nucleated around the phenomena of generation. The first and final
problem of religion concerns the production of things. Man's own body
was always nearer to him than sun, moon, and stars; and early man,
thinking not in words but in things, had to express the very idea of
creation or production in terms of his own body. It was so in Egypt,
where the symbol, from being the sign of production, became also
the sign of life, and of regeneration and resurrection. It was so in
Babylonia and Assyria, as in ancient Greece and Troy, and is so till
this day in India.

Montaigne says:

"Fifty severall deities were in times past allotted to this office. And
there hath beene a nation found which to allay and coole the lustful
concupiscence of such as came for devotion, kept wenches of purpose in
their temples to be used; for it was a point of religion to deale
with them before one went to prayers. _Nimirum propter continentiam
incontinentia neces-saria est, incendium ignibus extinguitur_: 'Belike
we must be incontinent that we may be continent, burning is quenched by
fire.' In most places of the world that part of our body was deified.
In that same province some flead it to offer, and consecrated a peece
thereof; others offered and consecrated their seed."

It is in India that this early worship maybe best studied at the present
day. The worshippers of Siva identify their great god, Maha Deva, with
the linga, and wear on their left arm a bracelet containing the linga
and yoni. The rival sect of followers of Vishnu have also a phallic
significance in their symbolism. The linga yoni (fig. 1) is indeed one
of the commonest of religious symbols in India. Its use extends from the
Himalayas to Cape Comorin. Major-General Forlong says the ordinary Maha
Deva of Northern India is the simple arrangement shown in fig. 2, in
which we see "what was I suspect the first Delphic tripod supporting a
vase of water over the Linga in Yona. Such may be counted by scores in
a day's march over Northern India, and especially at ghats or river
ferries, or crossings of any streams or roads; for are they not Hermae?"
The Linga Purana tells us that the linga was a pillar of fire in which
Siva was present. This reminds one of Jahveh appearing as a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

[Illustration: Fig. 1.--The Hindu Maha Deva, or Linga-Yoni]

So astounded have been many writers at the phenomena presented by
phallic worship that they have sought to explain it, not only by the
story of the fall and the belief in original sin, but by the direct
agency of devils.* Yet it may be wrong to associate the origin of
phallic worship with obscenity. Early man was rather unmoral than
immoral. Obliged to think in things, it was to him no perversion to
mentally associate with his own person the awe of the mysterious power
of production. The sense of pleasure and the desire for progeny of
course contributed. The worship was indeed both natural and inevitable
in the evolution of man from savagery. When, however, phallic worship
was established, it naturally led to practices such as those which
Herodotus, Diodorus, and Lucian tell us took place in the Egyptian,
Babylonian, and Syrian religions.

     * See Gougenot des Mousseaux's curious work Dieu et les
     Dieux, Paris, 1854. When the Luxor monument was erected in
     Rome, Pope Sixtus V. deliberately exorcised the devils out
     of possession of it.

[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Rural Hindu Lingam.]

Hume's observation that polytheism invariably preceded monotheism has
been confirmed by all subsequent investigation. The belief in one god or
supreme spirit springs out of the belief in many gods or spirits. That
this was so with the Jews there is sufficient evidence in the Bible,
despite the fact that the documents so called have been frequently
"redacted," that is corrected, and the evidence in large part erased.
An instance of this falsification may be found in Judges xviii. 30 (see
Revised Version), where "Manasseh" has been piously substituted for
Moses, in order to conceal the fact that the direct descendants of Moses
were image worshippers down till the time of the captivity. The Rabbis
gave what Milton calls "this insulse rule out of their Talmud; 'That all
words, which in the Law are written obscenely, must be changed to more
civil words.' Fools who would teach men to read more decently than God
thought good to write."* Instances of euphemisms may be traced in the
case of the "feet" (Judges iii. 24, Song v. 3, Isaiah vii* 20); "thigh"
(Num. v. 24); "heel" (Gen, iii. 15); "heels" (Jer. xiii. 22); and "hand"
(Isaiah lvii. 7). This last verse is translated by Dr. Cheyne, "and
behind the door and the post hast thou placed thy memorial, for apart
from me thou hast uncovered and gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and
obtained a contract from them (?); thou hast loved their bed; thou hast
beheld the phallus." In his note Dr. Cheyne gives the view of the Targum
and Jerome "that'memorial' = idol (or rather idolatrous symbol--the
phallus)."

     * "Apology for Smectymnus," Works, p.84.

The priests, whose policy it was to keep the nation isolated, did their
best to destroy the evidence that the Jews shared in the idolatrous
beliefs and practices of the nations around them. In particular the cult
of Baal and Asherah, which we shall see was a form of phallic worship,
became obnoxious, and the evidence of its existence was sought to be
obliterated. The worship, moreover, became an esoteric one, known only
to the priestly caste, as it still is among Roman Catholic initiates,
and the priestly caste were naturally desirous that the ordinary
worshipper should not become "as one of us."

It is unquestionable that in the earliest times the Hebrews worshipped
Baal. In proof there is the direct assertion of Jahveh himself (Hosea
ii. 16) that "thou shalt call me _Ishi_ [my husband] and shalt call
me no more _Baali_." The evidence of names, too, is decisive. Gideon's
other name, Jerubbaal (Jud. vi. 32, and 1 Sam. xii. 11), was
evidently the true one, for in 2 Sam. xi. 21, the name Jerubbesheth is
substituted. Eshbaal (1 Chron. viii. 33) is called Ishbosheth (2 Sam.
ii. 8, 10). Meribbaal (1 Chron. viii. 34) is Mephibosheth (2 Sam. iv.
4).* Now _bosheth_ means v "shame," or "shameful thing," and as Dr.
Donaldson points out, in especial, "sexual shame," as in Gen. ii. 25.
In the Septuagint version of 1 Kings xviii. 25, the prophets of Baal
are called "the prophets of that shame." Hosea ix. 10 says "they went
to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to Bosheth and became abominable
like that they loved." Micah i. 11 "having thy Bosheth naked." Jeremiah
xi. 5, "For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O
Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye
set up altars to Bosheth, altars to burn incense unto Baal."

     * So Baaljadah [1 Chron. xiv. 7] is Eliada [2 Sam. v. 161.]
     In 1 Chron. xii. 6, we have the curious combination,
     Baaljah, i.e. Baal is Jah, as the name of one of David's
     heroes.

The place where the ark stood, known afterwards as Kirjath-jearim, was
formerly named Baalah, or place of Baal (I Chron. xiii. 6). The change
of name took place after David's time, since the writer of 2 Sam. vi. 2
says merely that David went with the ark from "Baale of Judah."* Colenso
notices that when the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal are said
to have been destroyed by Elijah, nothing is said of the four hundred
prophets of the Asherah. "Also these same '400 prophets,' apparently,
are called together by Ahab as prophets of JHVH, and they reply in the
name of JHVH, 1 Kings xxii. 5-6."

That phallicism was an important element in Baal and Asherah worship is
well known to scholars, and will be made clear to discerning readers.
The frequent allusion to "groves" in the Authorised Version must have
puzzled many a simple student. The natural but erroneous suggestion of
"tree worship" does not fit in very well with the important statement (2
Kings xxiii. 6) that Josiah "brought out the grove from the house of
the Lord."** A reference to the Revised Version will show that this
misleading word is intended to conceal the real nature of the worship of
Asherah. The door of life, the conventional form of the Asherah with its
thirteen flowers or measurements of time, is given in fig. 3.

     * The "Baal" was afterwards taken out of all such names of
     places, and instead of Baal Peor, Baal Meon, Baal Tamar,
     Baal Shalisha, etc., we find Beth Peor, Beth Meon, Beth
     Tamar, etc.

     ** Verse vii. says, "he brake down the houses of the
     sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, where the
     women wove hangings for the grove." A reference to the Revised
     Version shows that it was "in the house of the Lord, where
     the women wove hangings [or tents] for the Asherah." See
     also Ezek. xvi. 16.

This worship certainly lasted from the earliest historic times until
the seventeenth year of Josiah, B.C. 624. We read how in the days of the
Judges they "served Baalim and the groves" (R.V., "the Asheroth"; Judges
iii, 7; see ii. 12, "Baal and Ash-taroth.) We find that Solomon himself
"went after Ashtoreth (1 Kings xi. 5) and that he builded the mount of
corruption (margin, i.e., the mount of Olives) for that "abomination
of the Zidonians" (2 Kings xxiii. 13). All the distinctive features
of Solomon's Temple were Phoenician in character. What the Phoenician
temples were like Lucian tells us in his treatise on the goddess
of Syria. The great pillars Jachin, "the establisher," and Boaz,
"strength"; the ornamentation of palm trees, pomegranates, and lotus
work; are all Phoenician and all phallic. The bells and pomegranates
on the priests' garment were emblematic of the paps and full womb.
The palm-tree, which appears both in Solomon's temple and in Ezekiel's
vision, was symbolical, as may be seen in the Assyrian monument (fig.
4), and which finds a place in Eastern Christian symbolism, with the
mystic alpha and omega (fig. 5).

The worship of Astoreth, the Assyrian Ishtar, and Greek Astarte, was
widespread. The Phoenicians took it with them to Cyprus and Carthage. In
the days of Abraham there was a town called after her (Gen. xiv. 5), and
to this day her name is preserved in Esther.

[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Asherah.]

It is she who is called the Queen of Heaven, to whom the women made
moon-shaped cakes and poured libations (Jer. vii. 18, xliv. 17.) Baal
represented the generative, Astoreth the productive power. The pillars
and asherah, so often alluded to in the Bible, were the palm-tree, with
male and female animals frolicking around the tree of life, the female
near the fleur de lis and the male near the yoni. Tall and straight
trees, especially the palm, were reverenced as symbols. Palm branches
carried in procession were signs of fruitfulness and joy.

[Illustration: Fig. 4.--From Layard, Culte de Venus, plate I, fig. 20,
depicts the mystic signs of their worship, and Dr. Oort* says of the
name Ashera, "This word expressed originally a pillar on, or near--not
only the altars of Baal--but also the altars of JHVH."]

Bishop Colenso in his notes to Dr. Oort's work remarks, "It seems plain
that the Ashera (from _ashar_, be straight, erect) was in reality a
phallus, like the _Linga_ or _Lingam_ of the Hindoos, the sign of the
male organ of generation."**

     * The Worship of Baalim and Israel, p. 46.

     ** Asher was the tutelary god of Assyria. His emblem was the
     winged circle.

[Illustration: Fig. 5.--The Eastern Christian palm, on which is placed
the cross and banners with the Alpha and Omega.]

There can be little doubt on the matter in the mind of anyone acquainted
with ancient faiths and the inevitable phases of human evolution, We
read (1 Kings xv. 13, Revised Version), that Maachah, the queen mother
of Asa, "made an abominable image for an Asherah." This the Vulgate
translates "Priape" and Movers _pudendum_. Jeremiah, who alludes to the
same thing (x. 5), tells that the people said, "to a stock, Thou art my
father, and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth" (ii. 27), that they
"defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks"
(iii. 9), playing the harlot "under every green tree" (ii. 20, iii. 6,
13; see also Hosea iv. 13). Isaiah xvii. 8, alludes to the Asherim as
existing in his own days, and alludes to these religions in plain terms
(lvii. 5--8). Micah also prophesies against the "pillars" and "Asherim"
(v. 13, 14). Ezekiel xvi. 17, says "Thou hast also taken thy fair
jewels, of my gold and of silver, which I have given thee, and madest to
thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them." The margin
more properly reads images "Heb. of a male" [tsalmi zachar], a male
here being an euphemism. As Gesenius says of the metaphor in Numbers
xxiv. 7 these things are "ex nostra sensu obscoena, sed Orientalibus
familiaria."

These images are alluded to and prohibited in Deut. iv. 16. It is thus
evident that some form of phallic worship lasted among the Jews-from the
earliest times until their captivity in Babylon.

It is a most significant fact that the Jews used one and the same word
to signify both "harlot" and "holy." "There shall be no _kedeshah_ of
the daughters of Israel" (Deut. xxiii. 17) means no female consecrated
to the temple worship. Kuenen says "it is natural to assume that this
impurity was practised in the worship of Jahveh, however much soever the
lawgiver abhors it." It must be noticed, too, that there is no absolute
prohibition. It only insists that the slaves of desire shall not be of
the house of Israel, and stipulates that the money so obtained shall
not be dedicated to Jahveh. That this was the custom both in Samaria and
Jerusalem, as in Babylon, may be gathered from Micah i. 7, and Hosea iv.
14.

Dr. Kalisch, by birth a Jew and one of the most fair-minded of biblical
scholars, says in his note on Leviticus xix. 29: "The unchaste worship
of Ashtarte, known also as Beltis and Tanais, Ishtar, Mylitta, and
Anaitis, Asherah and Ashtaroth, flourished among the Hebrews at
all times, both in the kingdom of Judah and Israel; it consisted in
presenting to the goddess, who was revered as the female principle
of conception and birth, the virginity of maidens as a first-fruit
offering; and it was associated with the utmost licentiousness.
This-degrading service took such deep root, that in the Assyrian period
it was even extended by the adoption of new rites borrowed from Eastern
Asia, and described by the name of 'Tents of the Maidens' (Succoth
Benoth); and it left its mark in the Hebrew language itself, which
ordinarily expressed the notion courtesan by 'a consecrated woman'
(Kadeshah), and that of sodomite by 'consecrated man' (Kadesh)."

The Succoth Benoth in 2 Kings xvii. 30, may be freely rendered
Tabernacles of Venus. Venus is plausibly derived from Benoth, whose
worship was at an early time disseminated from Carthage and other parts
of Africa to the shores of Italy. The merriest festival among the Jews
was the Feast of Tabernacles. Plutarch (who suggests that the pig was
originally worshipped by the Jews, a position endorsed by Mr. J. G.
Frazer, in his _Golden Bough_, vol. ii., pp. 52, 53) says the Jewish
feast of Tabernacles "is exactly agreeable to the holy rites of
Bacchus."* He adds, "What they do within I know not, but it is very
probable that they perform the rites of Bacchus."

     * Symposiacs, bk. iv., queat. 6, p. 310, vol. iii.,
     Plutarch's Morals, 1870.

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on 2 Kings xvii. 30, gives the
following:--"Succoth-benoth maybe literally translated, _The Tabernacle
of the Daughters, or Young Women_; or if _Benoth_ be taken as the name
of a female idol, from birth, _to build up, procreate, children_, then
the words will express the tabernacles sacred to the productive powers
feminine. And, agreeably to this latter exposition, the rabbins say that
the emblem was a hen and chickens. But however this may be, there is
no room to doubt that these _succoth_ were _tabernacles_, wherein young
women exposed themselves to prostitution in honor of the Babylon goddess
Melitta." Herodotus (lib. i., c. 199; Rawlinson) says: "Every woman born
in the country must once in her life go and sit down in the precinct of
Venus, and there consort with a stranger. Many of the wealthier sort,
who are too proud to mix with the others, drive in covered carriages to
the precinct, followed by a goodly train of attendants, and there take
their station. But the larger number seat themselves within the holy
enclosure with wreaths of string about their heads; and here there is
always a great crowd, some coming and others going; lines of cord mark
out paths in all directions among the women, and the strangers pass
along them to make their choice. A woman who has once taken her seat
is not allowed to return home till one of the strangers throws a silver
coin into her lap, and takes her with him beyond the holy ground. When
he throws the coin he says these words--'The goddess Mylitta prosper
thee" (Venus is called Mylitta by the Assyrians). The silver coin may
be of any size; it cannot be refused, for that is forbidden by the law,
since once thrown it is sacred. The woman goes with the first man who
throws her money, and rejects no one. When she has gone with him, and
so satisfied the goddess, she returns home, and from that time forth
no gift, however great, will prevail with her. Such of the women as are
tall and beautiful are soon released, but others who are ugly have to
stay a long time before they can fulfil the law. Some have waited three
or four years in the precinct. A custom very much like this is also
found in certain parts of the island of Cyprus." This custom is alluded
to in the Apocryphal Epistle of Jeremy (Barch vi. 43): "The women also
with cords about them sitting in the ways, burnt bran for perfume;
but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she
reproacheth her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself,
nor her cord broken." The Commentary published by the S. P. C. K. says,
"Women with cords about them," the token that they were devotees
of Mylitta, the Babylonian Venus, called in 2 Kings xvii. 30,
'Succoth-benoth,' the ropes denoting the obligation of the vow which
they had taken upon themselves." Valerius Maximus speaks of a temple
of Sicca Venus in Africa, where a similar custom obtained. Strabo also
mentions the custom (lib. xvi., c. i., 20), and says, "The money is
considered as consecrated to Venus." In book xi., c. xiv., 16, Strabo
says the Armenians pay particular reverence to Anaites. "They dedicate
there to her service male and female slaves; in this there is nothing
remarkable, but it is surprising that persons of the highest rank in the
nation consecrate their virgin daughters to the goddess. It is customary
for these women, after being prostituted a long period at the temple of
Anaites, to be disposed of in marriage, no one disdaining a connection
with such persons. Herodotus mentions something similar respecting the
Lydian women, all of whom prostitute themselves." Of the temple of Venus
at Corinth, Strabo says "it had more than a thousand women consecrated
to the service of the goddess, courtesans, whom men and women had
dedicated as offerings to the goddess"; and of Comana, in Cappadocia, he
has a similar relation (bk. xii., c. iii., 36).

Dr. Kalisch also says Baal Peor "was probably the principle of
generation _par excellence_, and at his festivals virgins were
accustomed to yield themselves in his honor. To this disgraceful
idolatry the Hebrews were addicted from very early times; they are
related to have already been smitten on account of it by a fearful
plague which destroyed 24,000 worshippers, and they seem to have clung
to its shameful practices in later periods."* Jerome says plainly that
Baal-Peor was Priapus, which some derive from Peor Apis. Hosea says (ix.
10, Revised Version) "they came to Baal-Peor and consecrated themselves
unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they
loved"; see, too, Num. xxvi. 1, 3. Amos (ii. 7,8) says a son and a
father go in unto the same maid in the house of God to profane Jahveh's
holy name, so that it appears this "maid" was regarded as in the service
of Jahveh. Maimonides says it was known that the worship of Baal-Peor
was by uncovering of the nakedness; and this he makes the reason why God
commanded the priests to make themselves breeches to wear at the time of
service, and why they might not go up to the altar by steps that their
nakedness might not be discovered.** Jules Soury says*** "The tents of
the sacred prostitutes were generally erected on the high places."

     * Leviticus, p. 364.

     ** That even more shameful practices were once common is
     evident from the narratives in Genesis xix. and Judges xix.

     *** Religion of Israel chap. ix., p. 71.

     **** Leviticus, part i., p. 383. Kork, Die Gotter Syrian, p.
     103, says the pillars and Asherah stood in the adytum, that
     is the holy of holies, which represented the genetrix.

In the temple at Jerusalem the women wove hangings for the Asherah (2
Kings xxiii. 7), that is for concealment in the worship of the genetrix,
and in the same precincts were the houses of prostitute priests (see
also 1 Kings xiv. 24; xv. 12; xxii. 46. Luther translates "_Hurer_").
Although Josiah destroyed these, B.C. 624, Kalisch says "The image of
Ashtarte was probably erected again in the inner court (Jer. xxxii. 34;
Ezek. viii. 6)." Ezekiel says (xvi. 16), "And of thy garments thou didst
take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colors and playedst
the harlot thereupon," and (v. 24) "Thou hast also built unto thee an
eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street," which
is