The Bible Is Full of Other Gods

Summary

The video argues that the Bible’s “other gods” were not merely generic idols or fictional villains. Many were deities worshipped by Israel’s neighbors, with their own temples, priests, myths, and sometimes inscriptions. The narrator examines several of them, then traces how their worship was challenged, suppressed, and later associated with demons.

The gods and their roles

Dagon

• In 1 Samuel, the Philistines place the captured Ark of the Covenant in Dagon’s temple. Dagon’s statue is found face-down before the Ark on two successive mornings; the second time, its head and hands have broken off.
• The narrator says Dagon was probably an ancient grain and agriculture god, not a fish god. The familiar fish-like depiction, he argues, came from a later association between Dagon’s name and the Hebrew word for “fish.”
• Dagon also appears in the Samson story, when the Philistines celebrate him in a temple that Samson brings down.
• The narrator suggests that the “tumors” afflicting the Philistines in the Ark story may refer to genital disease, and that the golden objects returned with the Ark could have represented tumors or male sexual organs. These are interpretations, not settled conclusions.

Baal (Hadad)

• The narrator identifies Baal as a title meaning “lord”; the storm god’s personal name was Hadad or Haddu. Ugaritic tablets preserve the Baal Cycle, in which Baal defeats the sea-and-chaos figure Yam, later dies in conflict with Mot (Death), and returns, restoring fertility.
• Baal’s importance to the Israelites is explained by Canaan’s dependence on rainfall. Yahweh was associated with Israel’s history and covenant, while Baal appeared to offer practical help with harvests and weather.
• In 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenges Baal’s prophets on Mount Carmel. They fail to bring fire, while Yahweh answers Elijah; rain follows. The narrator presents this as a direct challenge to Baal on his supposed home ground.
• The video notes that later biblical scribes replaced “Baal” in some personal names with bosheth, meaning “shame.” Despite reforms and condemnation, Baal worship continued to be criticized centuries later.

Asherah

• In Ugaritic tradition, Asherah (Atirat) is a prominent mother goddess and the wife of El.
• In the Hebrew Bible, “Asherah” may refer either to a goddess or to a cult object, such as a pole or sacred tree. The distinction remains debated.
• Inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom include blessings invoking “Yahweh and his Asherah.” Scholars disagree about whether “his Asherah” means a goddess paired with Yahweh or a sacred object associated with him.
• The video points to biblical accounts of an Asherah image in Jerusalem’s temple and women making textiles for Asherah there before King Josiah’s reforms.
• At Tel Arad, chemical analysis reportedly found cannabis residue on a small altar. The narrator says this may indicate cannabis use in religious ritual, possibly connected to Asherah, but notes that the altar’s precise association is uncertain.

Astarte / Ashtoreth and the Queen of Heaven

• Astarte was a widely worshipped goddess associated with love, war, and fertility. The narrator explains that the biblical form Ashtoreth may reflect a deliberate alteration of the name’s vowels, using the vowels of bosheth (“shame”) to disparage the goddess.
• The Bible places her worship in Solomon’s religious landscape and says Josiah later destroyed high places dedicated to her and other deities.
• In Jeremiah, refugees in Egypt defend offerings to the “Queen of Heaven,” saying that life had gone better when they and their ancestors made them. The video says this figure may have been Astarte, Ishtar, or a blend of the two.
• Ezekiel describes women lamenting for Tammuz, a Mesopotamian deity associated with a seasonal death-and-return story. The narrator treats this ritual in Jerusalem’s temple as another example of religious practices condemned by biblical prophets.

Chemosh

• Chemosh was the national god of Moab, Israel’s neighbor across the Dead Sea.
• The Mesha Stele gives the Moabite king’s account of conflict with Israel. Mesha credits Chemosh with ordering military action, celebrates victories over Israel, and says he took vessels of Yahweh and presented them to Chemosh.
• The narrator observes that this account resembles the biblical explanation that Israel’s defeats resulted from its own god’s anger. He also discusses the biblical story in which Moab’s king sacrifices his firstborn son during a battle. The text does not clearly identify whose “wrath” then falls on Israel, so the proposed explanation—that Israel was judged for involvement in a condemned practice—is presented as an interpretation.

Molech / Moloch

• The video describes a scholarly dispute over whether Molech was a deity or whether the word referred to a type of sacrifice. One argument draws on Punic inscriptions; other scholars maintain that Molech was a god.
• The biblical setting for child sacrifice is Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. The narrator connects that valley’s name, Gehenna, with the later Christian term for hell.
• The video also reviews evidence from Carthage: urns containing cremated infants and young animals, along with ancient reports of child sacrifice. Modern researchers have disagreed about whether the remains show sacrifice or ordinary infant burials.

Other deities and changing reputations

• Other gods in 2 Kings 17: The narrator lists deities associated with peoples resettled by Assyria, including Nergal. He highlights the reported match between Nergal and the city of Kutha as an example of biblical knowledge that can be compared with external evidence.
• Ekron’s deities: An inscription found at Ekron names a goddess previously unknown to scholars. The video also discusses Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. It argues that the name may have been altered from a title meaning “Baal the Prince” into “Lord of the Flies,” a mocking wordplay later associated with Beelzebub and demons.

How the video says these gods “disappeared”

• Religious reform: The video describes King Josiah’s reforms as an organized effort to remove images and altars, end offerings to other gods, close Topheth, and destroy high places dedicated to deities including Asherah, Astarte, Chemosh, and Milcom.
• Exile and changing theology: The narrator says exile disrupted the older idea that a nation’s god was tied to its own territory. Biblical passages from Isaiah mock the making of idols, contrasting a carved object with the living God of Israel.
• Association with demons: The video traces a shift in which some biblical references to lesser gods or shedim (“demons”) were translated into Greek as daimonia. It connects this vocabulary to Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians: idols have no real divine status, yet pagan sacrifices can be described as offerings to demons.
• Long afterlives: Names such as Baal, Astaroth, Moloch, and Beelzebub continued into later Jewish and Christian demonology and literature, even after their ancient cults had ended.

Central idea

The narrator presents biblical polemics against other gods as part of a long historical and theological struggle—not simply a contrast between belief and “fake idols.” The video also emphasizes that some details, especially the meanings of certain inscriptions and rituals, remain disputed.

Speakers and sources featured

• Speaker: Nils Glenn, the video’s narrator.
• Quoted correspondent: “Jim,” whose email criticizes the narrator’s on-camera routine.
• Biblical and religious texts discussed: 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Judges, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the Gospels, and 1 Corinthians.
• Ancient and archaeological sources discussed: The Ugaritic tablets and Baal Cycle; the Mesha Stele; inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud, Khirbet el-Qom, and Ekron; the Tel Arad altars; Carthaginian urns and stelae; Assyrian records; and ancient accounts attributed to Diodorus.
• Named historical or scholarly figures: Rashi, Friedrich Klein, Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Otto Eissfeldt, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Patricia Smith.