Shahar (god)
{{Short description|Canaanite dawn deity}}
{{About||the moshav in Israel|Shahar, Israel|the Israeli triathlete|Shachar Sagiv}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Canaanite
| name = Shahar
| god_of = God of dawn
| image =
| caption =
| parents = El (father) Asherah (mother)
| siblings= Shalim
}}
{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}
Shahar "Dawn" is a god in Ugaritic and Canaanite religion first mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, Syria).Golan, 2003, p. 82. "The name of the Canaanite deity of the setting sun Salim, or Salem, [...] The names [of Sahar and Salim] are rendered in modern scholarly texts as Shakhar and Shalim [...]"
William F. Albright identified Shalim as the god of the dusk and Shahar as the god of the dawn.{{cite book | last=Albright | first=W.F. | title=Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths | publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press | series=G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=1994 | isbn=978-0-931464-01-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qa2AMXzHUAwC&pg=PA187|page=187}}; cf. the Akkadian word for sunset, šalām šamši.
Shahar and Salim are the twin children of El. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.{{cite book|last=Hinnells|first=John R.|title=A Handbook of Ancient Religions|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=122}}
The names Shahar and Shalim are masculine (although Shahar in modern Hebrew is a unisex name), and it appears the gods are as well.
Name
=Hebrew=
Sutton recently says the word {{lang|he|שחר}} is used 43 times in the Tanakh. These include 23 as a noun (dawn, tomorrow, the morning star) 6 adjectivally (black) 12 as a piʿel verb ("to seek, to desire") or qal ("to become black" or "to be intent on"). "This indicates that within the etymology of {{lang|he|שחר}} in the Hebrew Bible it is primarily used as a primary noun (sometimes) descriptive of the god or goddess Shachar."(Ruppert 2004:576)
=Arabic=
In Arabic, the word saḥar ({{lang|ar|سحر}}) refers to the predawn period and comes from the same Semitic root. This root is also visible in suḥūr ({{lang|ar|سحور}}), the predawn meal Muslims eat during Ramadan.
=Etymology=
Hebrew šaḥar is a primary noun. The Akkadian šēru(m) II and the dialectal Assyrian form šiāru(m), meaning ‘morning,’ argue against a verbal derivation since the substantival form pirâs only generates primary nouns. Furthermore, Old South Arabian śaḥar, which means "dawn, daybreak", does not suggest a causative form. Variations found in Qumran include Middle Hebrew šaḥar (1QH4:6: kšḥr, 'like the dawn'; 11QPsa 26:11: establishment of the dawn [kwn hiphil
=Theophorics=
The form šaḥar also appears as a divine name in personal names, including Ugaritic ìlšḥr "šḥr is (my) god"; Phoenician ʽbdšḥr, šḥrbʽl,{{cite journal |last1=Sutton |first1=Lodewyk |title=The dawn of two dawns: The mythical, royal and temporal implications of dawn for Psalms 108 and 110 |journal=HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies |date=6 November 2017 |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=7 |doi=10.4102/hts.v73i3.4463 |language=en |issn=2072-8050|doi-access=free |hdl=2263/66078 |hdl-access=free }}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}Ruppert, 2004, p. 576; cf. Sutton, 2011, p. 547.
Hebrew אחישחר ("brother of Shahar")1C 7 10 and שחריה ("Yahweh is Shahar.")1C 8 26HALOT entry 9524. BRILL
The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, CD-ROM Edition © 1994-2000 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden
Sources
=Tanakh=
"Traces" of the deity can be found in the canon; HALOT 9524 names Isaiah 14:12, Psalm 139:9, Job 3:9 and 41:10.
==Isaiah 14:12–15==
Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could also be referred to as Lucifer.{{cite book|last=Day|first=John|title=Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan|year=2002|page=166|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|location=London|isbn=9780567537836}} It refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus in the phrase "O Shining One, son of Dawn!" ({{langx|he|הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר|Hēlēl ben Shāḥar|exalted one, son of Shāḥar}}, translated as Lucifer in the Vulgate and preserved in the early English translations of the Bible.)
This understanding of {{bibleverse|Isaiah|14:12–15|NKJV}} seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the New Testament, as well as among early Christians such as Origen, Eusebius, Tertullian, and Pope Gregory I. It may be considered a Christian "remythologization" of Isaiah 14, as the verse originally used Canaanite religion to build its imagery of the hubris of a historical ruler, "the king of Babylon" in Isaiah 14:4.
The role of Venus as the morning star was taken by ʿAṯtar, in this instance referred to as "son of Shāḥar".{{cite book|last=Day|first=John|title=Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan|year=2002|page=171|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|location=London|isbn=9780567537836}} The reference to Shāḥar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah.{{cite journal|last=Poirier|first=John|title=An Illuminating Parallel to Isaiah XIV 12|journal=Vetus Testamentum|date=1 July 1999|volume=49|issue=3|pages=371–389|doi=10.1163/156853399774228047}}
=Ugarit=
==KTU 1.23==
The conception and birth of Šaḥar-w-ŠalimKTU 1.23 on page 68 gives šḥr.w šlm with ḥ on line 52 and šhr.w šlm with h on line 54 are found here. The story fits on one tablet without being cramped.
There is a short invocation of the gods. A mt w šrMotu- or Mutu-wa-Sharru (A few significations are available to Pardee, like a single being called "death and leader") joins, and appears to harvest grapes with a "staff of widowhood." Pardee makes room for others' suggestions of circumcision imagery.Dennis Pardee, The Context of Scripture I.87, DAWN AND DUSK (The Birth of the Gracious and Beautiful Gods)
There's another invocation. Two women, apparently human worshipers, entice El. He seduces them, after a hunting ritual in which he roasts a bird he shot out of the air. In time they give birth to Šaḥar-w-Šalim, whom the goddess nurses. Hungry, they have their lips at the birds of the sky and fish of the sea.
== RS 24.244 ([[Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit|KTU]]<sup>2</sup> 1.100) Ugaritic liturgy against venomous reptiles<!-- wikidata: Q123588420 --> ==
Message to Šaḥru-wa-ŠalimuPardee, Dennis | COS 1.94
She again calls to her mother Šapšu:
Mother Šapšu, take a message
to Šaḥru-wa-Šalimu in the heavens:20
My incantation for serpent bite,
for the scaly serpent's poison:
From it, O charmer, destroy,
from it cast out the venom.
Then he binds the serpent,
feeds the scaly serpent,
draws up a chair and sits.
See also
{{Portal|Mythology|Asia}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091026224536/http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2938/ShShrit.html The Ancient Ugaritic Ritual-Poem of Shahar and Shalem and the Gracious Gods]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Children of El (deity)