“Sheol is naked before
God, and Abaddon has no covering.”
-Job 26:6
Well, I, and other students,
have already answered the question concerning Sheol...but what is
Abaddon? In this verse, as well as Proverbs 15:11, it is referred to
in conjunction with Sheol, which would lead us to think that it is a
place. The word Abaddon in Hebrew actually means “destruction”
or “ruin” (New Advent). If it is
a place, then it would have to be a place of destruction, much like
our perception of Hell. It is also considered to be a compartment of
Gehenna (AskDefine). The name Gehenna is derived
from The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, a place outside ancient
Jerusalem where children were sacrificed by fire to gods like Moloch
(Jeremiah 19:2-6). Gehenna in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic
tradition has become the destination of the wicked after death. Even
if Abaddon is just a compartment of Gehenna, then it is still a place
devoted to destruction of the damned. From this I think it is pretty
safe to say that Abaddon refers to Hell.
Abaddon has also been
personified by scripture. In Revelation 9:1-11, Abaddon is the
“Angel of the Abyss” and leader of an army of mutant locusts that
torture the unbelievers after the sounding of the fifth trumpet.
This is the only mention of Abaddon by name in the New Testament.
Some believe this makes Abaddon a demon, or even the Devil himself.
Jehovah's Witnesses argue that it can not be either of these
considering Revelation 20:1-3, which states the angel with the key to
the abyss overthrows Satan. They believe Abaddon is the resurrected
Jesus Christ.
I am more inclined to think
it is just a word synonymous with destruction. The six times it is
mentioned in the Old Testament, Abaddon can be replaced with
“destruction” just as “the grave” can be substituted for
Sheol.
While reading through Nehemiah, I started to see Mrs. Foster's favorite topic of discussion for class being brought up once again. Once when Nehemiah explains the damage done to the walls of Jerusalem upon their return from the Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 2:13), and again when he is reporting the repairs to the wall (Nehemiah 3:14). That's right, for the "I've lost count"-th time we have dung mentioned in the Old Testament. Why don't I remember so much poop being discussed in Sunday school? I guess they figured it would probably distract me the lessons they were trying to teach. Oh well, guess what, I get to ask the questions now...why the crap (heheh) was it called the Dung Gate?
First let's see the modern definition of the word "dung." In noun form it can mean either "the feces of an animal" or "something repulsive" (Merriam-Webster). The original name of the gate in Hebrew, Sha'ar Ashpoth, literally translates to "gate of the garbage," so at least in this instance we can rest assured we are not talking about excrement, but rather the latter meaning of the word, mentioned above (Bible Walks). During the time of the First Temple, this was the gate through which all the garbage and ash from the temple was removed. So that is how it got its name.
Nehemiah was allowed to repair the walls during Persian rule around 445 BC, but the present Dung Gate was built during the construction of the walls by Suleiman "the Magnificent" during the Ottoman occupation in 1558. When Jordanians controlled the city in 1948, following Israel's independence war, they widened the gate to allow for vehicle passage (Bible Walks). This is the form visitors can see today while traveling to the Holy Land.
Now the Dung Gate, though it has been called by different names since its creation, is the closest gate to the Temple Mount. If you were to walk through it today, you would "walk up directly through the security outpost to the
Western (“Wailing”) Wall plaza"and would be able to see the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque up close and personal (Pilgrimage Panorama). You would also be entering directly into the Jewish Quarter.
What once was the gate that only refuse exited the city is now the busiest entrance into the old city of Jerusalem. Named for its original intent and located closest to the Temple Mount, the Dung Gate has its own story to tell in history, from the time of Nehemiah's rebuilding to being used as an entry point by the Israelis during the 6 Day War in 1967 (Bible Walks).
For my second allusion I will continue
using references to the Old Testament in heavy metal. The artist I
am going to take a look at for this one is Otep Shamaya, namesake and
front-woman of the alternative metal band Otep. Her politically
charged lyrics use many allusions to not only the Bible, but
Hinduism, Egyptian and Greek mythology, and many other forms of
religion and antique literature. The song T.R.I.C. is on their first
album, Sevas Tra, which is “Art Saves” backwards. The
abbreviation stands for “The Revolution Is Coming.” The song is
an aggressive proclamation of her unique ability to melt your face,
so to speak, and simultaneously stimulate your mind. There are five
Biblical allusions I will address from this song
The first allusion is in the line
“Destroy like Revelations! Styles be liquid and flow like
irrigation,” in the first verse. This is an obvious reference to
the prophecy of destruction in the Book of Revelation in the New
Testament. With so much of it going on in the book it's hard to
pick just one passage to refer to, just read the whole book, but I
wouldn't recommend doing so right before bed time! One particularly destructive passage deals with the breaking of the Sixth Seal and the destruction of nature (Revelation 6:12-17). Anyway, this line fits
into the song at a time where she is comparing her lyrical styling to
a battle in which she will bring about total annihilation of weaker,
less meaningful lyricists. This can be seen with the next line “So
make the preparation, defeat is bittersweet, it's all you'll be
tastin'.”
The second and third allusion are in
the same line of the song, “Words burn with passion, mentally
enhancin', I'm David to Goliath or Delilah to your Samson.” This
appears in the second verse, and once again makes her lyrics
synonymous with destruction. In 1 Samuel 17 we can read the story of
how David killed the giant, Goliath in battle. Likewise, Judges 16
tells how Delilah brought about Samson's demise. I believe here she
is making a statement about going up against popular music. Her music
was relatively unheard of at the time, but she is saying even though
you are bigger and/or more powerful than me, I am still the better
musician; I can still bring you down.
The fourth and fifth allusions in the
song are also in the second verse:
“I'm callin' your bluff
-- is it freedom or death?
we're gettin' it on in Babylon, chokin'
on god's breath
the infinite connects true soldiers alive
the
tribe will survive when Armageddon arrives!”
God's breath is often used
as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, part of the idea of the Trinity in
Christianity, as seen in verses like John 20:21-22. Another way to look at this is the idea of the Bible being the breath of God, which can be seen in 2Timothy 3:16. Either way I feel like she is saying she is being “choked” by living under the rule of Christian leadership when she herself does not believe that way. Lastly, Armageddon is once again referred to.
Armageddon is said to be the site of the last battle on earth (Revelation 16:12-16). In today's culture, any "end of the world" scenario is referred to as Armageddon. She is saying that she and her tribe will
still be standing when it's all said and done. Once again I take this
to be another proclamation of her belief that her lyrical style is
superior to most others and will survive the test of time.
All of these allusions fit
together to show that she feels her words are superior to her peers
in the music industry. She also believes destruction breeds
creation, which is why she, being a creative type, uses allusions
that talk about destruction, not as something negative, but as a
catalyst for creating something better.
PS: I had a chance to interview this artist at the beginning of this semester, which was not easy considering I've been a fan for 10 years and it was my first interview with a major artist. Regardless, you can watch my mind get blown in the interview:
After returning to the throne in
Israel, and defeating the Philistines yet again in the story, David
sings a song of deliverance to the Lord. When referring to his
iniquities, David sings:
“For the waves of
death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed
me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death
confronted me.”
-2 Samuel 22:5-6
What
or who or where is Sheol? What does it mean to be entangled by its
cords? As we have learned of the Hebrew poetry, it uses parallelism
to express that ideas “are nearly synonymous in
meaning and are of equal force”
(Parallelism in Poetry). From
this we can assume that Sheol is associated with a feeling of dread,
like death and destruction. It is used this same way at least twice,
in Psalms 18:5 and 116:3. Here it is seen as something that
could ensnare you.
The King James Version of
the Bible translates Sheol to Hell in some instances, but not in all.
There is evidence that Sheol could be a place like we think of as
Hell, or Hades, or wherever bad people go when they die because “They
don't go to heaven where the angels fly” like Meat Puppets put it.
Here are some ways it is similar to our
perception of Hell:
Anyone not of Israel was
doomed to this horrible place. In the New Testament, we can see the
effects of this same thought process from when the Hebrew scriptures
were translated into Greek and the word “Hades” is used as a
substitute for Sheol. In this sense, Hades is not only the
underworld, place of the dead, but also the personification of the
evil it represents (The Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible).
In some sense, though, it is
believed to be the resting place of the dead, whether righteous or
wicked (Ecclesiastes 9:2-10). This excerpt from the book of
Ecclesiastes seems to me to have a certain sense of “carpe diem”
to it. Like Robert Herrick's “To the Virgins, to Make Much of
Time” and Andrew Marvell's “To His Coy Mistress,” it even
stresses the importance of sharing love with someone. The verses
advise in this manner because, according to the writer, no matter
what you do, you are going to Sheol.
I personally think that
Sheol was at once an actual place, possibly like a graveyard; and
that over time, as an afterlife in the absence of the protagonist,
God, was constantly compared to death (continually) that the meaning
of the name of the place became synonymous with the resting place of
a nonbeliever.
Seeing as how we just finished
presenting our allusion assignments in class on how modern works
allude to the Bible, and then noticing that another book is mentioned
in Joshua that is not part of the Bible, I was curious as to what
that book was and how many other books (not of the Bible) are
mentioned throughout the text.
“And the
sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took
vengeance on their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the
midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.”
-Joshua 10:13
The Book of Jasher? I don't remember that one from Sunday school.
I checked, it's not in the Bible. So what is the Book Of Jasher?
Unfortunately there is no way of knowing beyond doubt what the original text
contained because it was most likely lost. However, there are
several books with this title that are presumably reverse engineered
as a result of its reference in Joshua and 2 Samuel. Most believe
the book to have been a “collection or compilation of ancient
Hebrew songs and poems praising the heroes of Israel and their
exploits in battle”
(What is the Book of Jasher and Should It Be in the Bible?). It appears to be
recalled by David in some poetic form in the verses of 2 Samuel 1:17-27.
Whether you choose to believe one of the three versions of the Book
of Jasher currently in print are the actual text referred to in the
Old Testament is up to you, but note that it is never mentioned in
the Bible after the time of David.
So just how many non-canonical books are referred to in the
Bible? In the Tanakh, or Old Testament alone there are 23. For the
sake of brevity I will only mention a few:
The Book of Samuel the Seer, the Book of Nathan the Prophet,
and the Book of Gad the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)
The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (1 Kings 14:29)
In the New Testament, pagan authors are even alluded to besides
other non-canonical Hebrew writings. Paul quotes the Cretin poet
Epimenides in Titus 1:12
and Aratus in Acts 17:28.
These instances may lead some to doubt the divine inspiration
attributed to the Bible. Others may see it as the author using
materials from many different sources to make a point. The people of the Bible were not excluded from the rest of the world during its writing, they were in constant contact with other cultures.
