The Israelite tribes during the period of the guidance and leadership of Moses and Joshua mainly had to contend with nomadic tribes; in their contacts with such groups, they absorbed some of the attitudes and motifs of the nomadic way of life, such as independence, a love of freedom to move about, and fear of or disdain for the way of life of settled, agricultural, and urban peoples.

The Canaanites, with whom the Israelites came into contact during the conquest by Joshua and the period of the Judges, were a sophisticated agricultural and urban people. The name Canaan means "Land of Purple" (a purple dye was extracted from a murex shellfish found near the shores of Palestine). The Canaanites, a people who absorbed and assimilated the features of many cultures of the ancient Near East for at least 500 years before the Israelites entered their area of control, were the people who, as far as is known, invented the form of writing that became the alphabet, which, through the Greeks and Romans, was passed on to many cultures influenced by their successors--namely, the nations and peoples of Western civilization.

The religion of the Canaanites was an agricultural religion, with pronounced fertility motifs. Their main gods were called the Baalim (Lords), and their consorts the Baalot (Ladies), or Asherah (singular), usually known by the personal plural name Ashtoret. The god of the city of Shechem, which city the Israelites had absorbed peacefully under Joshua, was called Baal-berith (Lord of the Covenant) or El-berith (God of the Covenant). Shechem became the first cultic center of the religious tribal confederacy (called an amphictyony by the Greeks) of the Israelites during the period of the judges. When Shechem was excavated in the early 1960s, the temple of Baal-berith was partially reconstructed; the sacred pillar (generally a phallic symbol or, often, a representation of the ashera, the female fertility symbol) was placed in its original position before the entrance of the temple.

The Baalim and the Baalot, gods and goddesses of the Earth, were believed to be the revitalizes of the forces of nature upon which agriculture depended. The revitalization process involved a sacred marriage (hieros gamos), replete with sexual symbolic and actual activities between men, representing the Baalim, and the sacred temple prostitutes (qedeshot), representing the Baalot. Cultic ceremonies involving sexual acts between male members of the agricultural communities and sacred prostitutes dedicated to the Baalim were focused on the Canaanite concept of sympathetic magic. As the Baalim (through the actions of selected men) both symbolically and actually impregnated the sacred prostitutes in order to reproduce in kind, so also, it was believed, the Baalim (as gods of the weather and the Earth) would send the rains (often identified with semen) to the Earth so that it might yield abundant harvests of grains and fruits. Canaanite myths incorporating such fertility myths are represented in the mythological texts of the ancient city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) in northern Syria; though the high god El and his consort are important as the first pair of the pantheon, Baal and his sexually passionate sister-consort are significant in the creation of the world and the renewal of nature.

The religion of the Canaanite agriculturalists proved to be a strong attraction to the less sophisticated and nomadic-oriented Israelite tribes. Many Israelites succumbed to the allurements of the fertility-laden rituals and practices of the Canaanite religion, partly because it was new and different from the Yahwistic religion and, possibly, because of a tendency of a rigorous faith and ethic to weaken under the influence of sexual attractions. As the Canaanites and the Israelites began to live in closer contact with each other, the faith of Israel tended to absorb some of the concepts and practices of the Canaanite religion. Some Israelites began to name their children after the Baalim; even one of the judges, Gideon, was also known by the name Jerubbaal ("Let Baal Contend").

As the syncretistic tendencies became further entrenched in the Israelite faith, the people began to lose the concept of their exclusiveness and their mission to be a witness to the nations, thus becoming weakened in resolve internally and liable to the oppression of other peoples.

The Canaanite alphabet

The two Canaanite branches may be subdivided into several secondary branches. First, Early Hebrew had three secondary branches--Moabite, Edomite, and Ammonite--and two offshoots--the script of Jewish coins and the Samaritan script, still in use today for liturgical purposes only. Second, Phoenician can be divided into Phoenician proper and "colonial" Phoenician. Out of the latter developed the Punic and neo-Punic scripts and probably also the Libyan and Iberian scripts.

The term Early Hebrew is used to distinguish this branch from the later so-called Square Hebrew. The Early Hebrew alphabet had already begun to acquire its distinctive character by the 11th century BC. It was used officially until the 6th century BC and lingered on for several centuries more. In a stylized form it was used on Jewish coins from 135 BC to AD 132-135. The most ancient example of Early Hebrew writing is that of the Gezer Calendar of the period of Saul or David (i.e., c. 1000 BC). The oldest extant example of the Early Hebrew ABCs is the 8th-7th-century-BC schoolboy graffito mentioned above. A cursive style reached its climax in the inscriptions at Tel Lakhish, dating from the beginning of the 6th century BC. The Leviticus and other small Early Hebrew fragments found in the Dead Sea caves, which are probably from the 3rd century BC, are the only remains of what is considered to be the Early Hebrew book, or literary, hand.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Phoenician alphabet in the history of writing. The earliest definitely readable inscription in the North Semitic alphabet is the so-called Ahiram inscription found at Byblos in Phoenicia (now Lebanon), which probably dates from the 11th century BC. There is, however, no doubt that the Phoenician use of the North Semitic alphabet went further back. By being adopted and then adapted by the Greeks, the North Semitic, or Phoenician, alphabet became the direct ancestor of all Western alphabets. Only very few inscriptions have been found in Phoenicia proper. This rarity of indigenous documents is in contrast to the numbers of Phoenician inscriptions found elsewhere--on Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, and Sardinia, and in Greece, North Africa, Marseille, Spain, and other place.


What more do you know about the canaanite culture? I find it interesting.

Good article. The fact that the Israelites were drawn to the sensuality of the religion is why they had to be wiped out. They would have corrupted Israel. Well, actually they did.

It appears the fallen angels were in this area and probably handed this religion to them personally. I mean very personally as in impregnating the women and producing giants. Could they have built this city. Why was it so huge?
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In Lebanon, at a height of 1150 meters above sea level,
lies the largest temple ruins of the world.
Baalbek is the city of the sungod Baal or also known
as Heliopolis, the site of the greek god Helios.


The complex includes the remaing temples, like for example, the Bacchus Temple,
which is larger than the Acropolis in Athens.

The remaining 6 pillars of the neighboring Jupiter Tempel
and its platform on which it was constructed, have exterior dimensions
as if they were built by people for "giants".


On some days these giants were on earth, and even later,
after the sons of the gods! mated with the daughters of men!
and these gave birth to children. These are the heroes of the eons, the famous men.
(Genesis Chap. 6 Old Testament)


Here one recognizes the dimensions of the platform on which the Jupiter Temple stood.
It is still not known how these stones were transported from the quarry kilometers away and
built at this height. It is also unknown which technical tools and transport equipment one used.


The largest stone (the largest building block of the world) is about 21.36m long,
4.33m high, 4.6m wide and weighs about 1200 and 2000 tons. It was transported up the terrace
of Baalbek and has the name 'Hajar el Gouble' (Stone of the South) or 'Hajar el Hibla'
(Stone of the Pregnant Woman).

This stone and the other cuboids of the terrace of Baalback give the
archeologists and other scientists and engineers big mysteries. It is unclear how such huge
stones were broken, transported and placed exactly in the foundations. This also applies for the technical
possibilities in the ancient world as well as for today's modern methods. Known displays from
Egypt and Mesopotamia show how stone blocks were transported by thousands of workers with the help of
ropes and wooden rolls.

But these stones only have a tenth of the mass of the stones from Baalbek.
Moreover, the smaller stones were transproted over a flat route with enough movement space.


The area in Baalbek rises upwards, cliffy and curvy, and offers
no space for manuveours. It also cannot be proven that the area was once flattened in ancient times. Furthermore, the 1000 ton stones had to be lifted and placed above each other in the foundations.
It is theoretically possible that ramps, scaffolding and pulleys were used, supported from thousands
of men and draft animals.

The construction of the Egyptian Obelisk in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
can be used as an example. The architect Domenico Fontana constructed this 327 ton stone in the
Renaissance period with the help of 40 huge pulleys, 800 workers and 140 horses. However he had a
free and flat area. These advantages cannot be found in Baalbek. Even if ramps were avaiable -
why are these not available nowadays?

It seems clear that the terrace of Baalbek is not from Roman times.
There are no Roman sources that mention the construction methods or data and names of the patrons, engineers, architects and builders of the terrace. The monolith of Trilithon (3 blocks each weighing
over 1000 tons, stacked with 6 blocks on the west side of the terrace) do not display any ornaments
or structures that are similar to those of the Roman era. The limestone blocks of the
Trilithon have strong traces of sand erosion suggesting an earlier construction

Ancient Arabic legends report:
"The stronghold on the mountain of Lebanon is the oldest building of the world.
Cain, Adam's son, built it in the year 133 of creation in a fit of madness.
He gave it the name of his son Henoch and populated it with giants
who were punished with floods for their outrageousness.
After the flood, as Nimrod ruled over Lebanon, he let the giants come
to build the stronghold of Baalbek again, named in honor of Baal,
the god of the Moabites, who worshipped the sungod."

Corrupted Israel?

It probably would have SAVED them!

They could have used a more sensual society to be sure. The male chauvinists were the ones who wouldn't tolerate. Based on how the biblical stories go much of the authority of the church was drive by sexual control and deprivation. Making people feel guilty about the sexual world was their calling card.

So yes, the the authoritarians had to wipe out any religion that offered freedom of expression and condoned the sensual as being divine. That would have drastically reduced the power grip that the Mediterraneans had over their people via sexual oppression and guilt.

It's too bad the Canaanites hadn't won that war. They probably had no idea how ugodly their enemy was. The Canaanites has no agenda other than to live, enjoy life, and let live. They had no clue that someone was actually using religion to control the masses using fear and sexual oppression.

So they were probably totally unprepared for war. Even the Bible verifies that the Israelites were on the offensive and the Canaanite were on the defense. It was an all-out attack of one culture onto the other. Just more of the same typical Mediterranean mindset.

This is more the reason they had to be wiped out. Its what they did with the babies that was so evil in the eyes of Yahweh. And I think the Israelites were having plenty of sex. It just had to be with your wife. They reproduced in Egypt so fast, the Pharoh got worried and wanted to start killing babies.
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On the surface, it might appear that with all the wealth and influence of Carthage, children became a mere inconvenience. But there is far more than that behind the Moloch worship that developed in this "jewel" of the Mediterranean.

How did Carthage adopt the worship of Moloch? We don't know for sure, but historical archeology tells us what happened during the horrible sacrificial rites this god demanded. The hideous idol of Moloch apparently had a man's body with the head of an ox. Its arms and hands extended out in front. In the idol's lap was a fire that heated a metal plate. The priest would take a child, given by its parents, and lay it across the outstretched aims of the idol.

The child was bound so it could not wiggle away. Other priests played music and beat drums very loudly while everybody cheered frantically - all to drown out the screams of the terrified child. Then the priest manipulated the arms of the idol until the child was over the plate - which was now white-hot. Then he would release the idol's arms so the child would drop to a horrifying fiery death.

Now, Moloch is one of the oldest names for the ancient deities associated with human sacrifice, nature worship, and fertility. Others were Baal, Asherali, and Ashtoreth. As with Moloch, it is difficult to find too much recorded about them in ancient texts. One reason is censorship. Early archaeologists who came across their sites of worship were shocked and horrified by their discoveries.

They found entire cemeteries full of babies that had obviously been sacrificed in some kind of ritual murder. Some archaeologists would not even report the details of sights they found in professional journals. Some even wrote in scholar's Latin because they felt it was so pornographic and so ugly. That is why you so rarely found detailed descriptions of the secret worship of Moloch, Baal, Ashtoreth, and Asherah.

Why Worship What Is Evil?
What we know without question is that the worship of the followers of these deities like Asherah and Ashtoreth focused on sexual reproduction. The "sacred" groves were places where sexual immorality was carried out for the purpose of worship. It was a very attractive sort of religion for people in love with money and power. You went to the groves for sex and food, you danced in the grass nude, you had an orgy, and you made it religious. Then later you sacrificed your children because, supposedly, these gods of nature had given them to you - and now they wanted them back.

While reading about these rituals, what type of people do you think were taking part? People with bones through their noses? Clubs and animals skins? No. We're talking about a highly advanced civilization - the one that ruled the world at that time. We're not talking about primitive people. We're talking about highly intelligent and well-to-do men and women.
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Just like today. People who practice this stuff would surprise you. Mainly our world leaders.

That's silly. Nothing could top the atrocities that Yahweh committed himself and permitted his followers to do in his name as well. Of all the God in history Yahweh has more blood on his hands than all the others put together.

It was just one evil God against another. Neither of them having any morality at all in terms of what most humans would consider to be moral. All the Gods that the ancient men created were evil beings.

If there's any hope for humanity it rests in the hands of the moral superiority of the atheists.

As odd as it may sound to anyone, I believe the Canaanite's where probably influenced by Eastern Mycstism.

I know, I know everyone thinks I am crazy, but think about it.

Their culture was truly peaceful in many ways.

I personally believe that the baby sacrifice myth is nothing more than a Christian conspiracy in an attempt to justify the Biblical actions of Yahweh. According to the Bible the vast majority of humanity had turned against Yahweh and hated him. Everyone except the Israelites, of course. But does it really make any sense that the vast majority of humanity would knowingly reject their true creator in favor of worshiping false Gods?

In fact, in theory they'd have to know precisely what they were doing, otherwise they couldn't he held responsible for having made a free will choice.

The exceedindly lame excuse that the the devil blinds people and misleads them is precisely that. LAME!

If people are being mislead into believing that they are worshiping their true creator then clearly they are people who have good intentions and are trying to do what's right but have been confused through no free will choice of their own.

The religion that accuses these people of knowingly turning against their creator in favor of worshiping a false God that doesn't even exist is truly absurd.

This is just one of a myriad of examples of how Christianity (and it's foundational Old Testament) has twisted history into a matrix of lies in an attempt to justify the religion.

Based on the history of the religion, and the teachings of the Bible, if we recover large graves of murdered Canaanite babies it was most likely done by the Christians (or the Biblical crowd). After all, Yehweh was the one who commanded his people to mudered the Canaanites, every man, woman, and child, with no mercy!

That's a God that supposedly cares about babies?

Yeah right.

We know that the Biblical God didn't give a damn about the Canaanite babies for the Bible tells us so!

So much for a concerned Yahweh.

In the end it is a sad part of history that could have had a different turn to have avoided many of the atrocities we know now in history.

Well, clearly all the murdering seemed to be done for the sake of religious beliefs.

The Canaanites were supposedly killing their babies as a sacrifice to the Gods. That's a religious belief.

But then the Israelite claimed that their God, Yahweh didn't like the Canaanites murdering their bibles so he told them to go murder the Canannites AND their babies!

Strange solution to a problem, but that typical of the way of Yahweh. The greatest lesson that the Bible teaches is that that divine method of solving problems is to always increase the violence.

One of the indigenious tribes of Mexico or South America used to wars between themselves solely for the purpose of reducing the populartion. I think it was the Mayans that did this. They used to arrange to have battles between themselves for the sole purpose of killing off people.

It was their genuine belief that there were only so many 'souls' available. So to make room for new babies people had to die. That's a truly crazy belief that came out of nowhere for no apparent sound reason. Unless, they were experiencing a period of infertility perhaps due to diet or something and they thought it was because there were no more soul available for the new born babies.

It still makes no sense to me. Why not just wait until people died off naturally? Maybe they had far too many young people and not enough old fogies.

Who knows?

These are all strange beliefs to be sure.

Religions most certainly can be dangerous, and unfortunately often are.

I've just been realizing today actually, my biggest 'complaint' with life is lack of good mentorship. Now, obviously if we see something that we feel is wrong we should act to make it better. So you might think the solution would be to become a mentor.

The only problem with that is that the type of mentoring that I feel is needed would never be accepted by our socieity. For one thing we'd truly need to teach our children to to have a very deep respect for Mother Earth, Nature, and all living things.

But more than just revering them, we'd need to act as genuine caretakers of the planet and the wildlife. This is something that many proponents of the Bible actually claim that has been assigned to us, yet their religions never focus on this aspect of life at all. On the contrary they tend to preach that the world is the realm of Satan. It's truly an oxymoronic religion that is in self-conflict with some of it's very own supposed principles.

The other thing that we should be mentoring our children on is the idea of cooperation instead of competition. But that's precisely the oppositive of the society that we live in. We compete for everything and we demand that everything be made into a competition. Even our educational system is a form of competition for credentials to compete for a career. The whole competition attitude is just wrong, IMHO.

So if I were to mentor children I would mentor them to respect nature, and to be cooperative rather than competitive. These are two things that fly in the face of our modern society.

So it's a bit depressing not to be able to offer anything to improve the world simply because the resistance against it would be profound.

They were not a peaceful people. The spies were terrified of them when they first saw them. They wanted to turn around! IT is only through divine intervention the Israelite were able to beat them in battle. Remember David and Goliath!

Part of the reason is that the fallen angels also taught them the art of war in addition to their religion.
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The Book of Enoch It’s history, fallen angels, UFO connections

Since it’s English translation in the 1800’s from texts found in Ethiopia in 1768, The Book of Enoch (known today as 1st Enoch) has made quite a stir in academic circles. 1 Enoch has been authenticated as existing and in wide use before the church age (most scholars now date it at 200 BC). Multiple copies were discovered in 1948 in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This of course has caused many to wonder why it is not included in modern Bibles…

Particular to this site, parts of The Book of Enoch tell the story of wicked angels who abducted and mated with human women, resulting in the hybrid race known throughout secular and Biblical history as the Nephilim (giants, KJV).

While this account encompasses only the first four verses of Genesis 6 (but see also Genesis 3:15, 2 Peter 2:4-6, Jude 6-7), Enoch 1 relates this story in great detail. It lists the names of 18 “prefect” angels - of 200 - who committed this sin. According to the text, these angels also taught mankind the “making of swords and knives, shields and breastplates (metallurgy); … magical medicine, dividing of roots (medicinal and hallucinogenic use); incantations, astrology, the seeing of the stars, the course of the moon, as well as the deception of man.”

By Noah’s time, “The earth also was corrupt (wasting - KJV notation) before God, and the earth was filled with violence… all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Gen 6:10-11. Afraid of the consequences, these angels appeal to Enoch to intercede with God on their behalf; God instead uses Enoch to deliver a message of judgment against them. Aside from the “taking of wives,” God states that he would not forgive them for teaching mankind magical arts and warlike ways. As summarized by Pastor Chris Ward:

“According to the Book of Enoch (Not a Canonical Text), God judged the angels for producing the Nephilim. God decreed that the fallen angels (Watchers) were to be cast into Tartarus. The Nephilim were also judged and it was determined that their bodies were to return to the earth in peace but their souls were doomed to wander the earth forever (as) wandering spirits…” (Visit Pastor Chris’s Enoch page which reprints this dialogue between God and Enoch, and The Origin of Demons for more.)

The increasing acceptance and popularization of this important book among theologians helps cast light on the extra-terrestrial hypothesis (ETH) in general. Enoch is an ancient writing which states that angels (not true space aliens, as stated by many UFO cults, and popular modern authors Erich Von Daniken and Zechariah Sitchin) visited ancient Earth and polluted mankind’s DNA. While this case can easily be made solely from the canonized Bible (see Relevant Bible Verses), Enoch is yet another witness against these bad interpretations of Earth’s predelulvian era (i.e., before the flood of Genesis 6). The fact that they also gave mankind technology which supposedly “advanced our race” (but which we actually used to destroy each other, and to incur God’s judgment), lends itself to a more sinister understanding of today’s UFO phenomenon…


The idea that Jesus said that angels cannot have sex is a very common objection to The Book of Enoch and the angelic understanding of Genesis 6 in general. However it is also a very common misinterpretation of what he actually said. Go Here to read what he said (Matt 22:30), and to study this topic. Beyond that misunderstanding, there is no doubt today that The Book of Enoch was one of the most widely accepted and revered books of Jewish culture and doctrine in the century leading up to Jesus’ birth.

It is usually noted first that New Testament author Jude directly quotes from 1 Enoch - “Behold he comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment …” (1 Enoch 2, Jude 14-15). Additionally, “the citations of Enoch by the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs… show that at the close of the second century B.C., and during the first century B.C., this book was regarded in certain circles as inspired” (1).


With all of the evidence in, we have to own the fact that 1 Enoch was not merely “rejected for canonization.” It was buried. Flat out suppressed. It was quite intentionally lost to history, with all copies destroyed or left to rot 10 stories deep under the Vatican. Enoch was not merely “left out of the Bible.” It was dropped like a bad habit.

Okay, only for those who have come the distance, now let’s talk dirt…

Point blank, Origen was right. Enoch was suppressed and labeled as heresy specifically to hide the truth of the fallen angels’ past, present and future activity on earth.

Forget Roswell. Forget the X-Files. The most successful, enduring and damaging cover-up of “The Truth” about our planet’s frequent visitors - has come from within The Church.

The idea that divine intervention had anything to do with it is again asburd.

If a divine being wanted to intervene with a culture said being could easily do so via desease, plauges, or merely by giving the undesirable people heart attacks.

Clearly, the biblical stories are nothing more than the Israelites recording their history with wishful thinking added. It turned out to be a lie in the end anyway because they never actually defeated anyone.

As it turned out the people they were trying to 'classify' as Canaanites actually turned to be the entire european culture. They never did succeed in defeating anyone. All the did was steal a piece of land that they claimed had been 'promised' to them by their God.

In fact, the very idea of a God delivering people to a 'promised land' only to find it inhabited by another people is ludicous to begin with.

What kind of an inept lame God couldn't even deliver a prime piece of real estate that wasn't already inhabited by another culture. That doesn't say much for the power of God.

On the contrary the Bible demands that Yahweh was extremely inept and totally clueless to what was actually going on with his other children.

After all, the Canaanites would have also had to have been the 'Children of Yahweh'. To believe otherwise would imply that tehre was more than one creator. So all the Bible does is claim that Yahweh failed many of his children.

It's a non-salvagable story. It's simply history though the eyes of the Israelites. They always made out like God would be on their side. Don't forget this is the same God who would have also lost the entire Egyptian culture too!

If this God is in competition for souls with a fallen angel, then clearly the fallen angel wins the the vast majority of the time!

It's just a non-workable picture. The God of the Israelites would necessarily need to be the biggest loser of any God in all of history.

It makes no sense to have a supposedly "all-powerful" God at war with a measly fallen angel who is constantly BEATING HIM!

Even the idea that he had to have his own son nailed to a pole in order to 'defeat' the fallen angel would be a proclamation that the angel did indeed post a REAL THREAT!

Having your only begotten son nailed to a pole to save your creation can't be seen as anything less than an act of desperation.

The story is necessarily about a DESPERATE God who clearly loses the vast majority of souls that it creates to a measly fallen angel.

How anyone can believe in such an utterly absurd story is beyond me.

The story demands that God is truly a lame desperate loser.

For the Bible tells us so!

There's no getting around it.

How do you guys explain the mystery of the city of Baalbek? Bigger stones than the pryamid. Biggest stones ANYWHERE in the world! The one stone is even called "the stone of the pregnant woman". Imprednated by whom is my question.

Somebodys idea of a big joke? Built by giants? Built by people to honor giants? Built by the fallen angels?

Just curious how you all exlplain it? You can't deny it exists.

I don't feel a need to explain how ancient cultures moved their rocks around. I've moved enough heavy machinery in my day to know that really heavy things can be handled quite easily with the application of a little bit of wisdom.

From my point of view questions of why a supposedly all-powerful, all-wise, and all-loving would have created 'fallen angels' in the first place is far more absurd.

We have a book that claims that heaven is 'Perfect' why it also claims that a fully third of the angels that lived there didn't think so.

No there's something that needs an explanation!

If angels did think that heaven was so 'perfect' then why should we believe that we'll find it to be 'perfect'. Clearly there's something going on there that even angels don't like!

So it's far easier to believe that humans moved rocks than to believe that fallen angels moved them. That just brings in far more unbelievable stuff.

Besides, didn't archeologists discover that the Wooly Mammoth Elephants may have actually lived during the early parts of human history?

I think it's far easier to imagine these people using mammoth elephants to get their rocks off than to restort to the idea that fallen angels were required.

So there you have it. Mammoth Elephants is the answer.