Fascinating word! It means "holy", in the sense of a man (Kadeshah - קדשה - in the feminine) who has consecrated himself to whichever deity, by "setting himself apart", which is the real meaning of the root.
However, it generally means it in the sense of a sodomite [1], i.e a man who has consecrated himself to Astarte/Venus and participates in the copulatory fertility rites in her honour; cf 1 Kings 14:24 and 15:12; Job 36:14. The correct term is hierophant, and in the feminine a Kadeshah (קדשה) means a hierodule (Genesis 38:21 et al), likewise consecrated to the deity, usually the mother-goddess; but not a prostitute or a harlot, in the sense of a woman who sells sex to earn a living, which is a Zonah (זונה); for which see, inter alia, Deuteronomy 23:18 and Hosea 4:14.
Kadesh (קדש) in Genesis 14:7 and 16:14 refers to the town in the Negev desert also known as Eyn Mishpat (עֵין מִשְׁפָּט).
There is also a Kadesh-Barne'a (קדש-ברנע) in Numbers 34:4, Deuteronomy 1:2, 1:19 and 2:14. Kadesh-Barne'a is understood to mean "the holy place of wandering", though I am at a loss to know where this etymology is sourced; there is no four letter root in Yehudit that yields ברנע, nor any connected word that infers "wandering".
There are innumerable towns which bear the name Kadesh or Kedesh (קדש); and not surprisingly, given the universality of goddess-worship and therefore the development of local shrines into towns. One such Kedesh was a sanctuary town in the south of Yehudah (Joshua 15:23). Another was found in the Galilean territory of Naphtali (Joshua 12:22, 19:37 and 21:32, and 1 Chronicles 6:61); Judges 4:6/9; specifically names it Kedesh Naphtali. Yet another of the same name was found in Yisaschar (1 Chronicles 6:57); though this latter is known as Kishyon (קשיון - Keshion is most English transliterations; the word means "hardness" and is probably a description of the soil) in Joshua 19:20 and 21:28. We can presume it was first a shrine to Astarte, and that the law of sanctuary was applied to it, as it was to all shrines.
Clearly the word has its origins in the rites of the various fertility goddesses (Astarte, Anat, Ishtar etc) and was taken over by the Beney Yisra-El at some point. (cf Numbers 25:1).
The Jewish people are often referred as Am Kadosh (עם קדוש), "the chosen people", though the term really means "holy people"; and the concept of holiness does not mean "sacred to YHVH or Elohim" so much as "set apart"; however it does not mean set apart for ritual copulation: the Yisra-Eli concept comes later, after the (attempted) abolition of the pagan rites. For the elements of Kedushah and Kaddish in the Jewish liturgy, see my books "A Myrtle Among Reeds" and "Day of Atonement".
[1] not necessarily in what we understand as the act of sodomy (anal penetration), which may be a rather more Roman interpretation; these were probably more like sacred jigolos, and intercourse was likely of the missionary, in the sense of evangelical, position; the term "sodomy", when used in the Bible, is an allusion to the city of Sedom, one of the five Cities of the Plain destroyed at the time of Av-Raham and Lot (Genesis 19), the other four being Amorah (Gomorrah) Admah, Tsevo'im and Bela. It is not actually known why these five cities were regarded as worthy of divine destruction, but the understanding is that they were locations of the "pagan" practices associated with goddess-worship, including the May-King May-Queen sacred fertility rituals, or "sodomy". In reality, it was probably a volcanic eruption, the one that caused the Dead Sea.
[1] not necessarily in what we understand as the act of sodomy (anal penetration), which may be a rather more Roman interpretation; these were probably more like sacred jigolos, and intercourse was likely of the missionary, in the sense of evangelical, position; the term "sodomy", when used in the Bible, is an allusion to the city of Sedom, one of the five Cities of the Plain destroyed at the time of Av-Raham and Lot (Genesis 19), the other four being Amorah (Gomorrah) Admah, Tsevo'im and Bela. It is not actually known why these five cities were regarded as worthy of divine destruction, but the understanding is that they were locations of the "pagan" practices associated with goddess-worship, including the May-King May-Queen sacred fertility rituals, or "sodomy". In reality, it was probably a volcanic eruption, the one that caused the Dead Sea.
Copyright © 2019 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
No comments:
Post a Comment