Exploring Mt Meron's Complex History-Part 1

It may not be possible to write a complete history of Mt Meron. There is much that will remain somewhat obscure. However we may begin to understand Mt Meron's significance at the time of Jesus, by exploring what we do know of it's history, within the context of the history of the region during the period of the 1st millennium BCE, paying attention to the diversity of religious practice and the geo-political forces of the rise and fall of powerful empires.

The history of Galilee itself is complex. Although at the time of Jesus, Galilee shared a very great affinity with Judea in the south, for much of the 1st millennium BCE, Galilee along with its immediate neighbour to the south, Samaria, together constituted Northern Israel and to a significant extent shared a common culture and history for much of that period. From the earliest centuries of the 1st millennium there was considerable diversity of religious practice and beliefs. The ancient fertility religion of the Canaanites centred on the cult of Baal or the baals and Asherah continued for many centuries. The cults of other gods also gained a foothold often as a result of outside influences. Then there was Yahweh the God of the hebrew people, Israel. However among all the diversity of religious practice and belief, there was one very significant feature which was common to all; they all centred their cultic practices on the "high places" which were usually mountains or higher ground where God or the gods were felt to be particularly present and accessible to humanity within the cult. Some of the high places had sanctuaries built on them. With others the cultic practice took place outside with possibly just an alter and a few cultic objects.

During the 8th to the 7th centuries BCE Northern Israel was a part of the Assyrian Empire. There is much debate among Biblical scholars to what extent Assyrian rule resulted in either a radical discontinuity or whether there was in fact substantial continuity in religious/cultural practice in Northern Israel. It is not the purpose of this blog to resolve those arguments; they can be followed elsewhere. However on the side on continuity, the following points which have a relevance to this particular exploration can be made. While the Yahwist Temple of Dan in the very far north of the ancient tribal territories of Israel was believed to have been destroyed by the Assyrians, the important Yahwist sanctuary on Mt Gerizim in Samaria remained standing and operational for a considerably long time, indeed for some centuries after the 1st temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The arcae0logical evidence is such to suggest that the Mt Gerizim sanctuary was wholly and exclusively dedicated to the cult of Yahweh. The survival of Yahwism in Northern Israel probably owes much to the presence and activity of Levites. We have a witness to that survival in the very pages of the ancient Hebrew scriptures, our Old Testament, in that a significant part has been constituted from traditions which came from Northern Israel. These reveal a vibrancy to their Yahwism and add much colour to the Old Testament, without which the Old Testament would be so much the poorer. The context though was one of considerable diversity both of population make-up and religious, cultural practice.

During the period when the region formed a part of the Persian Empire, around 500BCE a sanctuary was built on the peak of a southern spur of the Meron massif. While this is not the highest peak on Mt Meron, its position offers views down to the Sea of Galilee and across to the Mediterranean Sea. It therefore acquired the somewhat charming sounding name of Mispey Yamin or the mountain of the two seas. The archaeological study of the site found significant evidence of Egyptian cultic practice including images of Isis, Osiris and Horus. On a votive offering an inscription was found "made to Astarte because she heard the sound of my voice". Astarte was the high goddess of the Phoenicians and is often seen as being synonymous with the Egyptian goddess Isis. Sean Freyne states that "on the basis of the finds it was an important site, a high place" (1). Mt Meron has good communications in terms of being on a major, ancient route, linking Galilee to the Phoenician coast. On the grounds of the archaeological evidence it has been suggested that Mispey Yamin was a Phoenician cultic centre. It should be noted however that many of the finds were also similar to finds made throughout Israel.

With the collapse of the Persian Empire at the start of the 4th century BCE the sanctuary of Mispey Yamin fell into a state of dereliction. However it seems to have continued as an open air site for cultic practice. The site at Mispey Yamin seems to have experienced a final act of destruction, thought possibly to have occurred with the rise of the Jewish nationalist Hasmoneans in the 2nd century BCE.

The Hasmoneans gained ascendancy over Galilee, leading to a cultural/religious shift for Galilee and Mt Meron. We will go on to explore that shift, taking us to the most immediate historical background for the life of Jesus.

1. Jesus a Jewish Galilean by S. Freyne 2004 p82

Bibliography

The Sanctuary at Mizpey Yammin: Phoenician Cult and Territory in the Upper Galilee during the Persian Period by A. M. Berlin and R. Frankel 2012.

Jesus a Jewish Galilean by S. Freyne 2004

The Oxford Bible Atlas