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Mythological creatures8/18/2023 ![]() Read more about biblical monsters in BHD: A similar play on Baal’s name can be found in 1 Kings 1:3, where Baal is mocked with the name Baalzebub or “the lord of flies.” Indeed, Beelzebul is better understood as a play on the name of one of Yahweh’s chief rivals, the Canaanite god Baal. Although frequently associated with Satan, this equivalence is never made explicit in the Bible. Beelzebul: We can’t end this list without mentioning the prince of demons himself, Beelzebul.A mask depicting one of these gorgons has even been excavated at Tel Dor. Gorgons: Speaking of seafaring Greeks, did you know that the Greeks were trading with the southern Levantine coastal city of Dor as early as the sixth century B.C.E.? Besides trading goods, however, the Greeks also traded myths about Gorgons, hideous monsters capable of turning people into stone with a single look.However, could some of their myths have functioned to explain ancient fossils? By contrast, famously seafaring Greeks had plenty of myths about monsters that swam up from the deeps to devour ships and sailors. Sea Monsters: Although the biblical authors were not seafarers, the Bible still has several references to various sea monsters, most notably Jonah’s giant fish (Jonah 1:17) and the infamous Leviathan (Psalms 74:14).Yet, the idea of dead relatives returning from the grave was very common in the ancient Near East, with the oldest image of a ghost dating back 3,500 years to Babylonia. Ghosts: Except for the story of the witch of Endor and the ghost of Samuel (1 Samuel 28), ghosts are seldom discussed in detail in the Bible.Lilith experiences a transformation in later sources where she was reimagined as the first wife of Adam, and today is seen by many as a feminist icon. She does make one appearance in the Bible, where she is listed as a demon in the wilderness (Isaiah 34:14). Lilith: The story of Lilith begins in Babylon, where she was portrayed as a winged serpent preying on pregnant women and children.Nephilim: In Genesis, the Nephilim are described as the giant and mighty offspring of the sons of God and human women (Genesis 6:4), but could the biblical stories of these giants have been a response to the myths of demigods, such as Gilgamesh, from neighboring ancient cultures?.However, did you know that they are almost absent from the Hebrew Bible? These creatures, who show up many times in the New Testament and other ancient Near Eastern sources, are often portrayed as servants of divine beings. ![]()
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