BIBLE STUDIES

ESSAYS ON PHALLIC WORSHIP
AND OTHER CURIOUS RITES AND CUSTOMS

By J. M. Wheeler

"There is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean."
—Paul (Romans xiv. 14).

1892.

CONTENTS

PREFACE.

PHALLIC WORSHIP AMONG THE JEWS.

CIRCUMCISION.

MOSES AT THE INN

THE BRAZEN SERPENT, AND SALVATION BY SIMILARS.

RELIGION AND MAGIC.

TABOOS.

BLOOD RITES.

SCAPEGOATS.

A BIBLE BARBARITY.

BIBLE WITCHCRAFT.

SAUL'S SPIRITUALIST STANCE AT ENDOR.

SACRIFICES.

THE PASSOVER.

THE EVOLUTION OF JAHVEH.

JOSHUA AND THE SUN.

THE HEBREW PROPHETS.

OLD TESTAMENT MARRIAGE.

THE SONG OF SOLOMON.

SACRED SEVEN.

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1.—the Hindu Maha Deva, Or Linga-yoni

Fig. 2.—rural Hindu Lingam.

Fig. 3.—asherah.

Fig. 4.—from Layard, Culte de Venus, Plate I, Fig. 20, Depicts the Mystic Signs of Their Worship, and Dr. Oort* Says Of The Name Ashera, "this Word Expressed Originally a Pillar On, Or Near—not Only the Altars of Baal—but Also The Altars Of Jhvh."

Fig. 5.—the Eastern Christian Palm, on Which is Placed The Cross and Banners With the Alpha And Omega.

Fig. 6.—the Mystic Ark.

Fig. 7. Fig. 8

Fig. 9.; Fig. 10.; Fig. 11.

Fig. 12.

The Altar of Jehovah.

PREFACE.

My old friend Mr. Wheeler asks me to launch this little craft, and I do so with great pleasure. She is not a thunderous ironclad, nor a gigantic ocean liner; but she is stoutly built, well fitted, and calculated to weather all the storms of criticism. My only fear is that she will not encounter them.

During the sixteen years of my friend's collaboration with me in many enterprises for the spread of Freethought and the destruction of Superstition, he has written a vast variety of articles, all possessing distinctive merit, and some extremely valuable. From these he and I have made the following selection. The articles included deal with the Bible from a special standpoint; the standpoint of an Evolutionist, who reads the Jewish Scriptures in the light of anthropology, and finds infinite illustrations in them of the savage origin of religion.

Literary and scientific criticism of the Old Testament have their numerous votaries. Mr. Wheeler's mind is given to a different study of the older half of the Bible. He is bent on showing what it really