Another Reference To A Goddess In The Bible

[BlackMagicalCat]

Well,ln the last year or so,as I read the bible,Im seeing more and more references to what apears to be Goddesses in the bible.How they survived all these years,I dont know.But I never saw them before,or read over them,and over looked them.

So,here is my latest discovery(im not sure if this is in the right forums to post this,if not Im confident it will be properly placed by the powers that be,thankyou)

So,does this sound like a Goddess to you,and if so,which one?
Wether you believe the scriptures as true or not,fiction or fact,nevertheless,this account sounds like a pagan story,Goddesses and all.

Zechariah 5:9
Then lifted I up mine eyes,and looked,and behold,there came out two women,and the wind was in thier wings,for they had wings like the wings of a stork,and they lifted up the ephah (bushel)between the earth and the heaven.

10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me,Whither do these bear the ephah?(where are they going)

11 And he said unto me,To build it an house in the land of Shinar,and it shall be established and set there upon her own base.

An ephah by the way,is a measurment(.65 bushel or 20.8 quarts)
Well,I have no clue what this is saying,all I know is it sounds paganish,and Goddessish(new words I have coined,LOL)
Any thoughts on what you see in this?

It looks hard to understand,and It looks like I will have to read before and after it,to find out.Sounds like 2 Goddesses are established in a certain area on the earth,a counrty perhaps,or a region,where they will florish and be established.Thats what I see.

And the bushel,or ephah,speaks of the element of earth,since bushels are used to measure grain,fruit,and the abundance of the earth.
An earth based religion perhaps,Im just guessing here.

And a side note to those who say there are no women in the spiritual realm,or in heaven,(I used to say that)this is one of many examples of women in the heavens,and another one that comes to mind is the -Great Wonder in Heaven,
A woman clothed with the sun,and the moon under her feet.And on her head a crown of twelve stars.She is in labor,and gives birth.The dragon trys to eat her offspring while she delivers her,or him.

Again,we see more paganish sounding storys,wether actual or not,they still have a pagan sound to them.Thats what happens when a Goddess touches your life,nothing looks the same anymore.

[OpenHands]

There are gods and goddesses specifically named in the OT, but these particular descriptions sound like they're referring to angels of some sort. Lemme dig out my bible and read these verses in context.

[Theres]

... 10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me,Whither do these bear the ephah?(where are they going).

hmmm... i'm gonna take a stab in the dark here and suggest that they might be angels.

[Toby Stimpson]

I agree these are indeed Angels...or atleast members of the malachi. There are though Goddesses and Gods mentioned in the old testament, not so much in the new testament...becasue after all it wasn't until the new testament that 'God' stood alone in heaven. The Covenant with the Israelites was that the Israelites would only worship the One God, but it did not disclude the other myriad of Gods still worshipped by other semitic and middle eastern peoples. I know that the monstrous statue of Baal is mentioned as well as the Goddess Ishtar. These are ofcourse denounced as demons but they are spoken of as Gods.

Tobias

[BlackMagicalCat]

There are gods and goddesses specifically named in the OT, but these particular descriptions sound like they're referring to angels of some sort. Lemme dig out my bible and read these verses in context.
Well,thats what I thought at first.But,we know Christ said that angels are niether male nor female,when we get to heaven he said,we would be as the angels of God.

So,it refers here to these here as HERS.And gives them feminine titles.
Mark 12:25 seems to say that there is no distinction between sexes in heaven.

I could be wrong I guess.Angels are ussually refered to as He,s ,and masculine,not feminine.

[OpenHands]

On my way out the door, but what bible are you using? Different versions will have slightly different linguistic interpretations and I'm wondering if that's where some of this confusion is stemming from. I'm currently using the KJV (can't find my Oxford Annotated version at the moment) and it doesn't use have the same wording.

To build it an house in the land of Shinar,and it shall be established and set there upon her own base.

Is this the "her" you're referring to? If it is, they're talking about the land of Shinar. My version says "To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place." Lands are often referred to in feminine form.

Read through that part a bit and I still hold that the beings described are most definitely angels. And angels may have no sex, but in prophetic visions or earthly visitations, they may reveal themselves to humans in a particular manner.

[BlackMagicalCat]

On my way out the door, but what bible are you using? Different versions will have slightly different linguistic interpretations and I'm wondering if that's where some of this confusion is stemming from. I'm currently using the KJV (can't find my Oxford Annotated version at the moment) and it doesn't use have the same wording.

To build it an house in the land of Shinar,and it shall be established and set there upon her own base.

Is this the "her" you're referring to? If it is, they're talking about the land of Shinar. My version says "To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place." Lands are often referred to in feminine form.

Read through that part a bit and I still hold that the beings described are most definitely angels. And angels may have no sex, but in prophetic visions or earthly visitations, they may reveal themselves to humans in a particular manner.Thanks friend,you sure seem knowledgable.

I was using the KJ version.

[Vincent Verthaine]

The ancient hebrews has Shekinah,(meaning=the glory or radiance of god),which was considered the feminine aspect of "God" and was worshipped by mainly the commonfolk.

That is,until the Yahwehist priesthood in the military siezed power,forbade her worship,destroyed her altars,and tried to strip her from all records.

[David19]

I think there's quite a few gods in the bible, especially the Jewish one, the ancient Hebrew's did have many gods (i actually got e-mailed something from a Hebrew pagan about the beliefs) so there'd probably be quite a few Hebrew deities (aside from Yahweh), Canaanite, and probably Sumerian, too.

[OpenHands]

"Thanks friend,you sure seem knowledgable.
I was using the KJ version."

Nah, I just pick up some bits of info occasionally and very occasionally they're actually useful. :) I've never read that part of the OT before so thank you for posting about it, that was educational

Interesting that you're also using a KJV. I wasn't aware that there are differences between them. *wanders off to do some research*