A handful of 3000-year-old ‘male’ clay heads unearthed in Israel may reveal the first representation of the face of God.
The figurines were carved out of small horse statues and depict a bearded man with a flat head, protruding features, earholes for jewelry, and crowned with a crown.
The controversial claim comes from Professor Yosef Garfinkel, who references the biblical scriptures of God riding a horse to add weight to this theory.
However, Garfinkel’s idea has been rejected by several archaeologists who argue that the creation of “everything in heaven above” was prohibited during this period of time.
A handful of 3,000-year-old ‘male’ clay heads unearthed in Israel may reveal the first representation of the face of God
Garfinkle, a professor at the Hebrew University, bases these claims on the fact that the three figures dating from between the 9th and 10th centuries were found near horse statues and in areas of worship.
A head was discovered a decade ago at Khirbet Qeiyafa, about 20 miles from Tel Motza, where two more were discovered by Shua Kisilevitz and Oded Lipschits earlier this year.
Following the news from Tel Motza, Garfinkle began to wonder if the clay heads were related, is this a god and if so what?
And he looked at the book of Habakkuk and Psalms to find the answers.
The figurines were carved out of small horse statues and depict a bearded man with a flat head, protruding features, jewelry holes, and a crown with a crown.
Garfinkle, a professor at the Hebrew University, bases these claims on the fact that the three figures dating from between the 9th and 10th centuries were found near horse statues and in areas of worship.
Habakkuk 3: 8 says, ‘Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your anger against the currents? Were you enraged against the sea when you rode your horses and chariots to victory?
The second example he found was shown in Psalm 68: 4, which says’ Sing to God, sing praises to his name; Sing a song to the one who rides on the clouds.
‘Some biblical traditions, then, describe Yahweh as a horseman in heaven or clouds, exactly as in Ugarit. But some texts feature a new development where he’s riding a horse, ” Garfinkle shared in an article in the BAS Library.
The other clay heads found at Tel Motza were taken from a temple near Jerusalem and, due to Biblical instructions that prohibited such images, the team proposes that the area be used to worship a variety of different gods, ‘not just Yahweh ‘.
A head was discovered a decade ago in Khirbet Qeiyafa, about 20 miles from Tel Motza, where two more were discovered by Shua Kisilevitz and Oded Lipschits earlier this year.
A head was discovered a decade ago at Khirbet Qeiyafa, about 20 miles from Tel Motza, where two more were discovered by Shua Kisilevitz (right) and Oded Lipschits earlier this year.
Kisilevitz and Oded Lipschits wrote: “ Unfortunately, this article is sheer sensationalism that caters to popular, money-generating demand by presenting unfounded tentative identification and (at best) as objective as it ignores professional research and studies. existing, including avoidance of references to any of the excavator publications.
Garfinkel addresses that the Bible is very clear on the prohibition of the physical representations of God.
In fact, nearby settlements prayed to many gods, but ‘the Kingdom of Judah was a different story and based on two concepts: that there is only one god and not many, and that you should not make a statute, an engraved image of ” , shared.
About 3,000 years ago there were those who worshiped Yahweh and then there was the God of the Canaanite storm.
‘The Canaanites,’ writes Garfinkel, ‘did not represent a male god on a horse.
‘Only in the texts and iconography of the Iron Age did the horse become a divine companion animal.’
“Then, the iconographic elements of the figures correspond to descriptions of Yahweh in the biblical tradition.”
He also argues that the prohibition against creating Yahweh images was not adopted until the 10th century, when clay heads were in use.
Garfinkle has received widespread criticism for his claims, but said: “Like any discovery, some will accept and others will reject.”
The controversial claim comes from Professor Yosef Garfinkel (left), who refers to the biblical scriptures of God riding a horse to add weight to this theory. However, Shua Kisilevitz (right) rejects the claim that cites people who were prohibited from creating images of God during this time.
Kisilevitz and Lipschits reject their claims, although they agree that the figures were used for worship: the team describes them as ‘human figures’.
“ Although we cannot rule out the possibility that Motza and Qeiyafa’s human heads represented gods, they do not have marks, symbols, or attributes (such as horns, crescents, bulls), found in figures and visuals throughout the ancient Near East, which would identify them as divine figures.
‘Furthermore, when the gods were represented in animals, they did not sit on them (they do not need transportation), they stood on them!’ they wrote.
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