Shalim Explained
Shalim (Šalām, Shalem,) is a pagan god in Canaanite religion, mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, Syria).[1] William F. Albright identified Shalim as the god of the dusk and Shahar as the god of the dawn.[2] In the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Venus is represented by Shalim as the Evening Star and Shahar as the Morning Star. His name derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root Š-L-M ("whole, safe, sound, peace").
Ugaritic inscriptions
An Ugaritic myth known as The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods describes Shalim and his brother Shahar as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore. They are both nursed by "The Lady", likely Asherah, and have appetites as large as "(one) lip to the earth and (one) lip to the heaven." In other Ugaritic texts, the two are associated with the sun goddess.[3]
Another inscription is a sentence repeated three times in a para-mythological text, "Let me invoke the gracious gods, the voracious gods of ym." Ym in most Semitic languages means "day," and Shalim and Shahar, twin deities of the dusk and dawn, were conceived of as its beginning and end.[4]
Shalim is also mentioned separately in the Ugaritic god lists and forms of his name also appear in personal names, perhaps as a divine name or epithet.[3]
Many scholars believe that the name of Shalim is preserved in the name of the city Jerusalem.[5] [3] [6] [7] [8] The god Shalim may have been associated with dusk and the evening star in the etymological senses of a "completion" of the day, "sunset" and "peace".[9]
See also
Bibliography
- Book: Yahweh and the gods of Canaan: a historical analysis of two contrasting faiths. William Foxwell Albright. William Foxwell. Albright. Reprint. Eisenbrauns. 1990 . 1968 . 978-0-931464-01-0.
- Book: Prehistoric religion: mythology, symbolism. Ariel. Golan. Ariel Golan (Original from the University of Virginia. 2003. 978-965-90555-0-0.
- Book: Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD . Karel. van der Toorn. Bob. Becking. Pieter Willem. van der Horst. 2nd, revised. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 1999. 9780802824912.
Notes and References
- Golan, 2003, p. 82. "The name of the Canaanite deity of the setting sun Salim, or Salem, [...] The names [of [[Shahar (god)|Sahar]] and Salim] are rendered in modern scholarly texts as Shakhar and Shalim [...]"
- Book: Albright, W.F. . Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths . Pennsylvania State University Press . G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series . 1994 . 978-0-931464-01-0 . 187.
- cf. the Akkadian word for sunset, šalām šamši.
- van der Toorn et al., 1999, pp. 755-6
- van der Toorn et al., 1999, p. 222.
- Book: Jenny Kien. Reinstating the Divine Woman in Judaism. 2000. Universal-Publishers. 978-1-58112-763-8. 65– . Royal names with the s-l-m root, such as Solomon and Abshalom, suggest that Shalim was still worshipped in the 10th century BCE, and that the early house of David participated in this cult. . 27 October 2020.
- N. Na'aman, Canaanite Jerusalem and its central hill country neighbours in the second millennium B.C.E., Ugarit-Forschungen Vol. 24 (1992), pp275-291.
- L. Grabbe, Ethnic groups in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem in Ancient History and Tradition (Clark International, 2003) pp145-163.
- John Day, Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan, Sheffield Academic Press 2002, p180
- Book: Helmer Ringgren. Heinz-Josef Fabry. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. 2006. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 978-0-8028-2339-7. 24–. 19 June 2015.
