The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Re: Open Letter to Bob Griffin and Dean Kaliminou

Re: Open Letter to Bob Griffin and Dean Kaliminou
Posted by Tiglath (Guest) - Tuesday, May 1 2007, 4:02:24 (CEST)
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Dear Maggie,

This is what Jeremiah 7:18 states:
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

There is no mention of Ishtar/Easter in that passage.
And as for Queen Semiramis she is a Greek legend most likely modelled on Shammuramat, the Babylonian wife of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad V (ruled 811 BC–808 BC).
Her association with Ishtar, the "Queen of Heaven" followed in the same Ishtar and Tammuz myth. She was considered divine and would've imitated the Goddess of Love and war just as the Assyrian kings also imitated Gods such as Tammuz and Ashur as well as heroes such as Gilgamesh.

As for the word Easter being used by the Bible. It is only found once in the King James Revised version in Acts 12:4. Myself and my cousin Paul Younan debated this issue a while ago. I have included the attachments for your interest.

Best of luck with your riposte.

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Pascha not Easter

Paul Younan
Illinois

I would like to offer a small correction to the article entitled "Ishtar Eggs and Tammuz Trees." In the article, a claim is made that in Acts 12:4 the word "Easter" is present.
Actually, that reading exists only in the King James version. In both the original Aramaic and Greek manuscripts, the word used is "Paskha", which of course is "Passover" in English.
For some unknown reason, the translators of the English King James version translated this word as "Easter", even though in all other verses that contain this word, they translated it as "Passover."

Of course, the New Testament was not originally penned in English and we should check the original sources! Again, both the original Aramaic and the later Greek translations of the
New Testament have "Paskha" in Acts 12:4..... NOT "Easter" in any sense of the word.

The Jewish king Herod Agrippa, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, was a conspicuous observer of the Jewish customs and rituals, and since he was attempting to please the Jews
(Acts 12:3), it is obvious that this verse is referring to the Jewish Passover, not any sort of celebration dealing with Ishtar and Tammuz.

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Ishtar (Easter), Not Pascha (Passover)

David Chibo
Australia

In response to Paul Younan's letter of last week concerning the revelation of our true holidays I want to clarify the use of Easter in Acts 12:4.

In order to understand why Easter is the correct word and not Pascha (Passover), as was claimed by Mr. Younan, it is important to read verse 3 of that chapter which clearly states that Peter was taken during, "the days of unleavened bread." The next verse then speaks of "Easter" in the King James Version.

Now if the word is translated as "Passover," we have a problem because the Days of Unleavened Bread come before the Passover. In the Biblical use of the term, Passover came before the Days of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:1-8, 15, 19; 13:7; Leviticus 2:11; and Deuteronomy 16:4).
We have a problem with these verses if Passover follows the Days of Unleavened Bread.
However, the problem is solved when we see that "pascha" means more than "Passover" as has been shown above. Peter was held under Roman guard by a king who was appointed by Roman law and influenced by Roman customs that had been taken from the Babylonians. Contextually, it would seem that this "pascha" which followed the Days of Unleavened Bread was not the "pascha" (Passover) which preceded the capture of Peter. Instead, it can only refer to the
Roman celebration of Ishtar's resurrection, hence called "Easter."

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Pascha Redux

Paul Younan
Chicago

David Chibo's argument rests entirely upon making the "days of unleavened bread" a completely separate period of time from "the Passover." Unfortunately for his position, the term "Passover" is frequenty used of the entire celebration, including the days of unleavened bread after the actual sacrifice, in other places in scripture (note the term the "feast of the Jews" in verses like John 2:13; 2:23; 6:4 and 11:55.)

Mr. Chibo proceeds to cite Old Testament verses, in English nonetheless, to prove that "Pascha" and "Easter" must mean two different things. If Mr. Chibo had done his research into the history of English versions of the bible, he might have noticed that Coverdale's Bible, an English version predating the King James version by almost 100 years, in Ezekiel 45:21 reads " Upon the 14th day of the first month, ye shall keep Easter." Lo and behold! "Easter" was considered the correct English name for the Passover in 1535 England.

I understand Mr. Chibo's desire to find an Assyrian origin to everything under Shamash, but really - this line of reasoning fails linguistic, scholarly and especially scriptural tests.
Pascha means Passover in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and even Greek. It never means anything else - no matter what late English translations may or may not say. I challenge Mr. Chibo to find any other reference to this word being used to descibe any Pagan holiday - otherwise, I kindly suggest that he retract such statements as being unworthy of his scholarly reputation.



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