The Druidic sacred rituals, like Levites, included the sacrifice of sheep, oxen, and goats, but no idol worship. The Canaanites in Palestine, as part of their worship, committed human sacrifice, and on the continent of Europe similar atrocities were committed as part of Druidic worship. But in England itself, there is no evidence that human sacrifices were ever committed. In fact, there is no record of martyrdom for any early Christian missionary, and it has been truly said that England was converted without the shedding of a single drop of blood. There is also an amazing similarity between the name of one of the Druidic gods, called "Yesu," and our own "Jesus." It has been said that Druidism was only accepting a fuller revelation through the adoption of Christianity.

In the Bible, the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 3l verse 21 instructed scattered Israel to "set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps," and thus we find a trail of unhewn stone monuments, called Dolmens, leading from Palestine (Gen. 35:14, etc.) across Europe, and into the British Isles, where they were used as places of worship by the Druidic priests. In England, according to Isabel Hill Elder's "Celt, Druid, and Culdee," each stone monument was called a "Si'on" in the ancient British language. The similarity between this and the word "Zion", which meant a stone fortress, is striking. Truly these are additional witnesses to the identity of God's people Israel in the world today.

But the religious customs of the Covenant people became corrupted with the religion of the Phoenician Canaanites. Noted 19th century antiquarian, Sir William Betham, made an exhaustive study of the ancient Celtic peoples, and states, "The principle deities of the Celtae were Phoenician Baal, who was their favorite deity... Taramis, or Taran, from the Irish Tolne, a great noise, and toleneac, thunder. The god of thunder, or king of the gods, called also Moloch, by the Phoenicians, and by the Irish, Molc, fire, to whom the Phoenicians forced their children to pass through the fire. So did the Gauls and Britons to Taramis, and so do the Irish... on the fires of the Baaltine, before alluded to, the children run and jump through them. Taram, in Phoenician, is thunder. " (p. 224) Betham devotes a large part of his book on the Celts, "The Gael and Cimbri," to the Phoenician-speaking colonizers of Britain and Ireland in ancient times, and the origin of the Celtic religion. For example, he points out that "Baal... has the precise meaning in Gaelic as in Phoenician -- the lord of heaven." (p. 226) Other customs hearken back to Palestine, as well, "even the cakes which the idolatrous Jews, in imitation of the Phoenicians, made in honour of the queen of heaven are still the most popular cake in Ireland under the old name of the barn-brack, or speckled cake." (p. 236)

Ancient customs and rituals are persistent among mankind, and therefore provide tangible evidence of a people's origins, even where no written proof survives. Betham comments, "Thus we see at this day, fires lighted up in Ireland, on the eve of the summer solstice, and the equinoxes to the Phoenician god, Baal, and even called Baal's fire, baal-tinnes, though the object of veneration be forgotten..." (p. 222-223)

In addition, archaeological proof points to a Hebrew-Phoenician origin of the Britons and Irish. Betham relates, "On an altar-stone, dug up near Kirby Thore, in Westmorland, is this inscription:"

"DEO BELATUCADRO LIB[ERUM] VOTUM. FECIT IOLUS."

The text translates as follows: "To the god Baal, the friend of man, Iolus made his free vow."

Numerous other stone altars to Phoenician gods which have been discovered in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul are discussed and translated in Betham's work. Some of the principal finds include altar-stones found in Northumbria and other parts of Britain. He states that these ancient monuments to "Baal, by the ancient British... are unanswerable evidences of the identity of the people of the two islands {i.e., Britain and Ireland] and Gaul, which the most unwilling and incredulous caviler at etymologies, can scarcely refuse to receive as conclusive. It proves more, for it shows an identity of the deities of the Celtae and the Phoenicians..." (p. 228-229)

Numerous other parallels exist between Celtic and Hebrew-Phoenician worship, including mystic well-worship, worship of sacred stones, and the veneration of the autumnal equinoxes. In fact, both the Phoenicians and Celts practiced autumnal sacrifices to Baal, which the Celts called, "Baal-tinnes," as previously mentioned.

British antiquarian, Aylett Sammes, writing in 1676, also noted that "the customs, religion, idols, offices, and dignities of the ancient Britons are all clearly Phoenician." John. Pinkarton, in his "Enquiry Into The History Of Scotland," (1789), also stated that Druidism was directly descended from the Phoenicians, while British antiquarian William Stukely, in the book, "Stonehenge," believed that it had the marks of Israelite worship and culture.

Stukely pointed out Old Testament references to oaks, which gave these trees symbolic or mystical attributes. Abraham's altar of sacrifice was prepared by the oak of Moreh. "And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain (lit: "oak") of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him." (Gen 12:6-7) Hoseh 4:13 further tells us, "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks..." The importance of worship under oaks in Druidism is well-known. Modern Celtic scholar, John King, in his book, "The Celtic Druids' Year," adds, "The Hebrew word for oak also means oath, and there is evidence that the oak signified a burial place. The golden calf or bull worshipped as an idol by the Israelites has its counterpart in the Druidical image of the god Hu Gadarn, or Hu the Mighty, who, like Noah, survived the deluge and first brought the skill of ploughing to mankind. Dibbuks, demons and lesser deities, some of which might seem to correlate to Celtic spiritual figures, have been pushed into the background by contemporary Judaism." (p. 26)

Perhaps we can do no better in summing up this part of our study than to quote the venerable Sir William Betham: "The connection of this worship with the historical traditions of the Pagan Irish is so evident, and so extensive, that it affords a subject of useful and pleasing discovery, as it strongly illustrates the Mosaic account of the progress of population from the plains of Sennaar [i.e., in Mesopotamia] to the western extremities of Europe..." (p. 242) The descent of the Celtic peoples from the ancient Israelites seems obvious, for no other people in history exhibited the peculiar mixture of true and false religion found in the Celts, except the ancient Hebrews!

III. GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND THE BIBLE:

Now let us look at the Greek mythology and see if the Bible is correct in I Maccabees 12:21, where we read, "It has been found in a writing concerning the Lacedaemonians (Greeks) and Jews (Judah), that they are kinsmen, and that they are descended from Abraham." The Greek religion before Christ should show us proof of its Israel origin as stated in the Apocrypha in the Bible.

The most well-known Greek God-hero was the one known as Hercules (the Latinized form of the Greek "Heracles"), whose most distinguishing characteristic was immense physical strength. Interestingly enough, the "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE CLASSICAL WORLD" states, "The tales of his heroic deeds lend to the supposition that Hercules was originally an historic figure." Who do we know in the Bible that exhibits a like characteristic? The answer, of course, is the Israelite hero known as Samson, whose life was detailed in the Bible in Judges chapters 13 through 16.

One important event in Hercules' life involved his escaping from the clutches of a symbolic woman, who is called "Pleasure." This seems to correspond directly to the troubles Samson got himself involved in with the harlots of Canaan.

But the most celebrated event in the life of Hercules involved the 12 labors he was ordered to perform by God through the Oracle of Delphi. What do you suppose was the very first labor Hercules had to perform? You might have guessed it! He had to slay a lion with his bare hands! Let me read a paragraph from the book, "Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece" by WHD Rouse:

"Heracles threw down his bow and arrows and leapt upon the lion's back. . .while he put his hands round the lions neck. . .gripped the lion's throat with his two hands, and bending him backwards, throttled him. There lay the lion dead on the ground." (p. 59). In our Bible, Judges 13:6 says that Samson actually tore the lion in two, but the ancient historian Flavius Josephus in his "Antiquities of the Jews" also tells us that Samson first strangled the lion, which is exactly as Hercules is said to have done.

I don't even know that there are any lions in Greece. The Biblical Archaeologist Magazine somewhat tersely comments, "Lions, we may remark, are not frequent in Greece." (59:1, p. 17) In fact, the Greek myths explain this one away as the offspring of a monster! But whether there were lions in Greece is not important; Hercules needed to find one anyway. Why? Simply because the Biblical Samson inspired the Greek legend called Hercules, and provided the basis for his life!

Another of Hercules' labors involved his live capture of a wild animal, which he brought home and threw at the feet of Eurystheus. In Judges 15:4, Samson is said to also capture live wild animals which he released in the cornfields of the Philistines.

A fascinating bit of additional information regarding Hercules is his connection with the Biblical tribe of Dan. The Bible Samson was born of the tribe of Dan. (Judges 13:2-25) Greek history tells us that a people called 'Danioi' came to trade and colonize Greece in ancient times, settling in a region called 'Argos.' The word Hercules in Greek is'Heracles,' which is virtually identical with the Hebrew plural word for traders, 'Heraclim,' and Heracles is said to have come from 'Argos,' himself! The Greek myths tell that the Danioi were descended from a patriarch 'Danaos' who was the son of 'Bela,' and sailed from Egypt. In the Bible, the Hebrew patriarch Dan was the son of the concubine 'Bilhah' (Genesis 30:3-6), and the Israelites were in Egypt at the time that 'Danaos' set sail to Greece from there! Heracles, further, is said to marry a girl named 'Hebe,' an obvious and well-known short form of the word, Hebrew! Since the tribe of Dan were traders and colonists who did so much sailing that they "stayed in their ships" (Judges 5:17), it is not surprising to find such connections with ancient Greece.

In another tale from Greek mythology, we read how God through the Oracle at Delphi seemingly ordered a king to sacrificially slay his son Phrixos, as a sign of his obedience to God. But let me quote the story from my Greek commentary: "The oracle said, kill Phrixos and Helle at the altar for a sacrifice, or your corn will grow no more. This was a dreadful blow to the king; but he had to obey what he believed to be god's wish, like Abraham and Isaac in the Bible. And in this case, too, there was a ram, but a different sort of ram from the ram which was sacrificed instead of Isaac. There stood at the altar the two children, ready to be killed; there stood the sacrificer with his knife; there stood the king, full of sorrow. . . and lo and behold, down came the ram, and up got the boy and girl upon his back, and away he flew into the sky." (ibid., P.92) This is obviously not an exact retelling of the story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac, but an historical kernel obviously exists, which was corrupted into the present Greek mythology over time.

Another interesting Bible comparison can be made with the Greek hero Achilles, who could only die by having his heel wounded. What a strange store to tell! That is, it would be strange were it not for the fact that we read such an account in the Bible in the form of a prophecy concerning the coming Christ in Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL." It can easily be seen how a misinterpretation of this verse (especially in the early pre-Christian centuries, before Christ's fulfillment of prophecy was made manifest) could inspire a story of someone dying through a wound in his heel!

The strong connection between Hebrew and Greek civilizations is well-known to scholars of ancient history. Perhaps the leading American archaeologist of the twentieth century is Cyrus H. Gordon. The Biblical Archaeologist Magazine (March 1996, p. 22) reported, "Professor Gordon had been delivering a popular lecture on 'The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations,' particularly about the Heroic Age both in Late Bronze Age Greece and in pre-monarchic Israel. Citing the Iliad of Homer and the Biblical book Samuel, he pointed out that the heroes David and Achilles performed essentially the same warlike exploits in search of imperishable glory, the only bulwark against oblivion. The milieu of Achilles and of David were therefore closer to one another than was that of Achilles to Classical Greece or that of David to the Age of the Prophets in Israel. Following the lecture, a little old lady, wide-eyed with astonishment and admiration, made her way up to the distinguished lecturer and asked, 'Does that mean, Professor Gordon, that Achilles was Jewish?'" Neither Jewish nor Judahite is the most accurate word to use here, but Israelite certainly is, since Solomon reigned over both Judah and Israel!

Near-Eastern scholar, Dr. Louis H. Feldman, concurs with this in a lengthy article in the same journal pointing out the connection between Greek mythic literature and its source in both the Bible and Mesopotamian religion. He states, "Likewise, Mondi (1990:187) cites the parallel between the Homeric shield of Achilles;

'And upon it he made the earth and the sky and the sea, the tireless sun and the waxing moon, and all the constellations which wreathe the sky.' (Iliad 18.483-485)

and Psalm 136:5-9:

'to him who made the heavens,... the earth upon the waters, ....the great lights, ...the sun..., the moon and the stars.'"

Dr. Feldman continues, "Furthermore, the scenes on the shield of a city at peace in which the leaders are dispensing justice, repelling aggression, and harvesting, while the king stands by watching happily, correspond to the description in Psalm 72."

Parallels with Assyrian and Babylon religion are also commonplace in Greek mythic literature. On this, Dr. Feldman comments, "Furthermore, there are parallels in motifs between Near Eastern epics and Homer. In the first place, as Professor Gordon, followed by Considine and Walcot (Gordon 1962:180-181; Considine 1969:85-159; Walcot 1970:273-5), has noted, there are eight striking parallels between the Baal-Anath text 137, where Baal is restrained from doing violence to the envoys by the goddesses Anath and Ashtoreth, and the scene in the Iliad (1.188-222), when Achilles is about to slay Agamemnon, but is restrained by the two goddesses, Athena and Hera." Dr. Feldman's article continues on these themes for many pages, proving without doubt the connection between Greece and the Near East, including Israel, in very early times. Feldman concludes by saying, "Some would say, as they did with Professor Gordon's 'Homer and Bible' (1955) and 'Before the Bible' (1962), that several of these parallels are commonplaces; but the total effect is what counts. There is now fairly general agreement that the Near East did influence Homer's alleged younger contemporary, Hesiod, increasing the likelihood it also influenced Homer." (ibid., p. 19)

Before closing this discussion on Greece and its ancient ties to Hebrew religion, it is interesting to mention that the Greek god-hero, "Adonis," also received his name from the Semitic word, "Adon" or Lord.

THE GOD WHO IS ABOVE ALL GODS

Greek heroes such as Hercules and Achilles were called children of God, but they were not immortal. They lived on earth, died, and their spirits were believed to sometimes be lifted up into heaven. Above these heroes in importance and power were said to be a pantheon of Gods. Yet, large numbers of Greeks also worshipped only a ONE TRUE GOD, eternal in the heavens, unnamed except to be called "THE UNKNOWN GOD." This corresponds to the Norse belief in the unknown All-father, for we read in the Norse Elder Edda:

Notice again that the Alfadur's name was too sacred to be spoken, similar to the Hebrew's belief that YHVH's name was too sacred to speak.

This brings us down to New Testament times, where we pick up the rest of our story in the seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles: (verses 22-23). "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mar's Hill and said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious; for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him I declare unto you."

Yes, these people were not adopting a new religion with the coming of Christianity; they were rediscovering their old religion in its purified form, as sent unto them by our Lord in the flesh, Jesus Christ. By God's design, our forefathers forgot who they were, where they came from, and what their past religion was, all in His plan of purifying and preparing them to again become united with the ONE TRUE GOD, who came unto them in the form of man, Jesus Christ.

LESSON: Psalm 144:1-8. These and other attributes given to God in the Bible are also prominent in the Norse legends: Odin the war-God, who subdues his people's enemies. Thor, "flashes splintering lightning;" "who rides on the heavens to your aid, and floats on the heights of the clouds!. . .He sweeps out the foe from your face and gives the command to destroy." (compare with Deuteronomy 33:26-27 and Psalms 97, Fenton translation).

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