Shahar (god)

Shahar is the god of dawn in the pantheon of Ugarit. Shahar is described as a child of El along with a twin, Shalim, the god of dusk. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.[1]

For the moshav in Israel, see Shahar, Israel.
Fertile Crescent
myth series
Mesopotamian
Levantine
Arabian
Near Eastern Religions
The Levant

Etymology

The name is a cognate of the Hebrew word Shahar (שָׁ֫חַר) meaning dawn.

In Arabic, the word for dawn is “Sahar” (سحر) and comes from the same Semitic root. This root is also visible in “Suhoor” (سحور), the pre-dawn meal Muslims eat during Ramadan.

Isaiah 14:12–15

Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could also be referred to as Lucifer.[2] It refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus in the phrase "O light-bringer, son of the dawn." (Helel ben Shaḥar, translated as Lucifer in the Vulgate and preserved in the early English translations of the Bible.)[2] This understanding of Isaiah 14:12–15 seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the New Testament, as well as among early Christians such as Origen, Eusebius, Tertullian, and Gregory the Great.[2] It may be considered a Christian "remythologization" of Isaiah 14, as the verse originally used Canaanite mythology to build its imagery of the hubris of a historical ruler, "the king of Babylon" in Isaiah 14:4.[2] It is likely that the role of Venus as the morning star was taken by Athtar, in this instance referred to as the son of Shahar.[3] The reference to Shahar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah.[4]

See also

Notes
  1. Hinnells, John R. (2007). A Handbook of Ancient Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 122.
  2. Day, John (2002). Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan. London: Sheffield Academic Press. p. 166. ISBN 9780567537836.
  3. Day, John (2002). Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan. London: Sheffield Academic Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780567537836.
  4. Poirier, John (1 July 1999). "An Illuminating Parallel to Isaiah XIV 12". Vetus Testamentum. 49 (3): 371–389. doi:10.1163/156853399774228047.
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