Shamash

Ancient Near Eastern cultic rituals located the presence of gods and divine messages in nature.

Despite its lengthy coverage of tzaraat, biblical “leprosy,” the Torah omits discussion of its cause, its infectiousness, and its treatment. Comparison to the Mesopotamian rituals pertaining to a strikingly similar disease, Saḫaršubbû, shows that these omissions were far from accidental.

Theologians of the ancient Near East made sense of idolatry through the ritual dedication of the statues that made them into gods.