Talk:Chemosh

I'm a bit out of my element discussing specific Moabite beliefs, but I do know that the Moabites did not practice an Abramic religion, as the Edomites. . . sometimes got credit for doing, if the Scripture writer was feeling generous. Given the obscurity of the POD--we know that Goliath beat David but we don't know why David was fighting for Moab instead of Israel--I guess it's possible that Moab conquered Israel at an earlier date and imported elements of Judaism into their religion, just as, according to the "OTL" provided by Judges, Israel imported elements of the religions of the Moabites and the various others at whose expense it expanded (leading the judges and prophets to insist on brutal ethnic cleansing if not flat-out genocide: charming!) But for the Moabite chief god to become synonymous with YHWH, we'd need an adoption of a conquered people's religion that was at least as dramatic as the Romans turning to worship the Olympians after they conquered Greece. In fact the Moabites would have to get as close to Judaism as Christianity and Islam are today, and monotheism is an indispensible prerequisite. But if Chemosh is only the "principle deity of the Moabites," they're not monotheist. Now the section says "many fanatical Moabites" believed Chemosh was the only true god; we can discount the modifier fanatical since it comes from a POV who is the Moabites' enemy, but many remains, and many isn't all.

I still haven't read this story in full, I think it's going to be one of those that I learn about primarily through this project, like BIDM or HtB. So I know I'm at a disadvantage and that you'll always know more about it than me, but from the way the section to which this article redirects is written, I feel it should be moved here and treated as a separate article. If there's more evidence that Chemosh is indeed YHWH, some clarifying points need inserting. Turtle Fan 05:39, June 23, 2011 (UTC)