Who were members of the divine council?

[tonychanyt]

The concept of a divine council refers to a gathering of deities or spiritual beings who participate in the governance of the immortal and mortal world. This idea appears in ancient cultures, including the Hebrew Bible, Near Eastern societies, and ancient Chinese beliefs.

Wiki:

In the Hebrew Bible, there are multiple descriptions of Yahweh presiding over a great assembly of Heavenly Hosts. Some interpret these assemblies as examples of a Divine Council:
The Old Testament descriptions of the "divine assembly" all suggest that this metaphor for the organization of the divine world was consistent with that of Mesopotamia and Canaan.

Ancient China also had the concept of the divine council (天庭).

One difference, however, should be noted. In the Old Testament, the identities of the members of the assembly are far more obscure than those found in other descriptions of these groups, as in their polytheistic environment.

The OT divine council mentioned the LORD, the satan-adversary, and the sons of God. Smith's Literal Translation, Job 1:

The day will be and the sons of God will come to stand before God, and also the adversary [the satan] will come in the midst of them.

No one was properly named except YHWH. This emphasized the LORD's uniqueness and supremacy.

El and Baal were the presiding gods of the Canaanite divine council. Asherah was El's consort and mother goddess. Anat was Baal's sister. Yam was god of the sea. Mot was god of the underworld. Dagon was god of agriculture. Etc.

In the Chinese divine council, 玉皇大帝, the Jade Emperor, ruler of Heaven and all realms, presided over the 天庭. Members included 王母娘娘 (Queen Mother), 东方青帝 (Azure Dragon of the East), 太白金星 (Venus Messenger), 雷公 (Thunder God), 风伯 (Wind God), 雨师 (Rain Master), 二郎神, and a bunch of others, even some humans who were deified after death.

Israelite writers sought to express both the uniqueness and the superiority of their God Yahweh.[1]
The Book of Psalms (Psalm 82:1) states, "God stands in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods".

Divine Council was a common ancient Near Eastern and Chinese concept among polytheistic societies. The OT also described a similar concept but with a distinction: no members except the LORD YHWH were properly named. The Old Testament version maintained a strong monotheistic focus, while other cultures' divine councils were more explicitly polytheistic.

See also

• God is the judge of judges: Ps 82

 

[DennisF]

The ancient Chinese, according to Samuel Wang and Ethel R. Nelson in their book God and the Ancient Chinese write that the religion of ancient China (before Buddhism) was essentially that of the Shemite or Hebrew Patriarchs - the religion of Abraham, Melchizedek, Eber, Noah. The ceremonies were essentially identical and their doctrines were compatible. The first Chinese king was Yu of the first dynasty, Xia, in 2205 BC. Before this was the legendary period of the migration from the west of the five kings, notably Yao and Shun, about whom two of the later prophets of the Dao (the Way) of Shang Ti (God), King Wen and the Duke of Zhou, wrote (Wang & Nelson, page 14):

What I call the Dao is this: Yao taught it to Shun; Shun taught Yu; Yu taught Tang; Tang taught the Duke of Zhou; the Duke of Zhou taught Confucius; Confucius taught Mencius. When Mencius died, the Dao is no longer taught in full any more.​

The ancient Chinese were not pagan - that is, they did not worship multiple gods - but only Shang Ti to whom they offered sacrifices identical to those of the biblical patriarchs. Chinese writing has, according to Nelson and Wang and others, clues about Chinese cultural origin. For instance, the word in Chinese for "flood" is "8 persons in a boat", referring to the flood of Noah (Nu wa in Chinese - sorry; I don't have the pin yin tone marks).

This knowledge of the ancient Chinese connection to biblical history is being promulgated nowadays by Pastor LIn from Shanghai who can be found on YouTube. My knowledge of the subject comes from Wang & Nelson and those who knew Wang.

 

[tonychanyt]

The ancient Chinese, according to Samuel Wang and Ethel R. Nelson in their book God and the Ancient Chinese write that the religion of ancient China (before Buddhism) was essentially that of the Shemite or Hebrew Patriarchs - the religion of Abraham, Melchizedek, Eber, Noah. The ceremonies were essentially identical and their doctrines were compatible. The first Chinese king was Yu of the first dynasty, Xia, in 2205 BC. Before this was the legendary period of the migration from the west of the five kings, notably Yao and Shun, about whom two of the later prophets of the Dao (the Way) of Shang Ti (God), King Wen and the Duke of Zhou, wrote (Wang & Nelson, page 14):

What I call the Dao is this: Yao taught it to Shun; Shun taught Yu; Yu taught Tang; Tang taught the Duke of Zhou; the Duke of Zhou taught Confucius; Confucius taught Mencius. When Mencius died, the Dao is no longer taught in full any more.​

The ancient Chinese were not pagan - that is, they did not worship multiple gods - but only Shang Ti to whom they offered sacrifices identical to those of the biblical patriarchs. Chinese writing has, according to Nelson and Wang and others, clues about Chinese cultural origin. For instance, the word in Chinese for "flood" is "8 persons in a boat", referring to the flood of Noah (Nu wa in Chinese - sorry; I don't have the pin yin tone marks).

This knowledge of the ancient Chinese connection to biblical history is being promulgated nowadays by Pastor LIn from Shanghai who can be found on YouTube. My knowledge of the subject comes from Wang & Nelson and those who knew Wang.

Thanks for sharing.

Check out Ancient Chinese writings of God and Jesus

 

[Godsunworthyservant]

The concept of a divine council refers to a gathering of deities or spiritual beings who participate in the governance of the immortal and mortal world. This idea appears in ancient cultures, including the Hebrew Bible, Near Eastern societies, and ancient Chinese beliefs.

Wiki:


Ancient China also had the concept of the divine council (天庭).


The OT divine council mentioned the LORD, the satan-adversary, and the sons of God. Smith's Literal Translation, Job 1:


No one was properly named except YHWH. This emphasized the LORD's uniqueness and supremacy.

El and Baal were the presiding gods of the Canaanite divine council. Asherah was El's consort and mother goddess. Anat was Baal's sister. Yam was god of the sea. Mot was god of the underworld. Dagon was god of agriculture. Etc.

In the Chinese divine council, 玉皇大帝, the Jade Emperor, ruler of Heaven and all realms, presided over the 天庭. Members included 王母娘娘 (Queen Mother), 东方青帝 (Azure Dragon of the East), 太白金星 (Venus Messenger), 雷公 (Thunder God), 风伯 (Wind God), 雨师 (Rain Master), 二郎神, and a bunch of others, even some humans who were deified after death.


Divine Council was a common ancient Near Eastern and Chinese concept among polytheistic societies. The OT also described a similar concept but with a distinction: no members except the LORD YHWH were properly named. The Old Testament version maintained a strong monotheistic focus, while other cultures' divine councils were more explicitly polytheistic.

See also

• God is the judge of judges: P

 

[Godsunworthyservant]

Hey, Tony. Sorry about the last reply that was blank. Your post has several quotes but I can't seem to quote a quote to reply, so I decided to reply to the entire post and quote it all at once. When I did that, it quoted only the parts between the quotes and wouldn't let me even scroll up to see the quotes, making it impossible to comment on them short of memorizing them and that ain't happening. So, I guess I won't be able to reply for now except to say that, on the surface, I saw nothing in this thread that would tend to change my mind concerning what I said on the other thread. I tried several times and one of those times it posted the aforementioned blank reply. If you know of a way to get around the problem, please advise. Otherwise you might want to think about changing your formatting somehow for future threads. I'd like to reply in detail if you know of a way.