Chemosh, also spelled Kemosh,[a] is a Moabite deity mentioned in the Bible and attested in Moabite inscriptions such as the Mesha Stele. Chemosh was the national god of the Moabites, who were also known as the "people of Chemosh", and the Moabites interpreted foreign domination by Israel as anger from their god.[1]
According to the book of 2 Kings and the Mesha Stele, Moab, under the leadership of King Mesha, revolted against Israel and was able to successfully gain independence; according to the Mesha Stele, Mesha revolted due to a command from Chemosh. 2 Kings 3:27 states that Mesha sacrificed his firstborn son, presumably to Chemosh, after which there was "great indignation against Israel" and the Israelite forces withdrew; the Mesha Stele's accounts of the same event do not mention any such sacrifice.
Another mention of Chemosh in the Bible is Judges 11:24 (part of a message from the Israelite judge Jephthah to the Ammonite king), which refers to Chemosh as the god of the Ammonite king.[b] 1 Kings 11:7 states that Solomon, the king of Israel, created an altar for Chemosh in Jerusalem, which would later be destroyed by Josiah, the king of Judah, in 2 Kings 23:13. Lastly, Chemosh is mentioned in Jeremiah 48 as part of a prophecy concerning the destruction of Moab.
The compound name "Ashtar-Chemosh"[c] is mentioned in the Mesha Stele, which suggests that Chemosh and the god Ashtar were identified with one another;[2][3][4] less likely[3][4] is the possibility that Ashtar instead refers to Chemosh's consort.[5]
Kazuma Kaneko has stated that Chemosh was taken from John Milton's Paradise Lost.[6]
Design
Chemosh's design resembles certain illustrations of Moloch, such as the illustration of Moloch in Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652) and the illustration of Moloch in Johann Lunn's Die alten jüdischen Heiligthümer (1704).
According to Kazuma Kaneko, Chemosh was designed with the image of Moloch because that was the origin of Chemosh,[6] though this statement regarding Chemosh's origins is not accurate.
出身地：ヨルダン 死海の東岸に住んだモアブ人によって崇拝された太陽神。後にキリスト教によって悪しき存在におとしめられる。 ケモシはソロモン王の神殿にも祭られた神で、アンモン人の神モロクと同一視されることもある。アッカド人はこの神をシャマシュと呼んだ。 唯一神に対抗する１柱であったため、太陽神から「憎むべきもの」に落とされ、ついに悪しき存在になる。 後世の悪魔祓いの祈祷師らは人々にとりつく悪霊を、しばしばケモシの名で呼んだ。Translation: Place of origin: Jordan A sun god worshiped by the Moabites living on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Later, he was vilified into an evil being by Christianity. Chemosh was a deity worshiped in the Temple of King Solomon, and he is sometimes identified with the Ammonite god Moloch. The Akkadians called this god Shamash. Because he was in opposition to the One True God, he was lowered from a sun god to an "abomination", and lastly became an evil being. Later exorcists often called evil spirits possessing people by the name Chemosh.
↑This appears to be in error. Elsewhere in the Bible, Chemosh is correctly identified as the god of the Moabites, not the Ammonites, and the god of the Ammonites is called Milcom, or, in one instance, Molech (assuming that Molech refers to a deity).
↑"Chemosh's Wrath and Yahweh's No: Ideas of Divine Wrath in Moab and Israel", Divine Wrath and Divine Mercy in the World of Antiquity (2008), Reinhard G. Kratz. Published by Mohr Siebeck. pp. 92-121. ISBN-13: 978-3-16-149820-6.
↑"Kemosh, the god of the Moabites, is referred to on the Moabite Stone as Ashtar-Kemosh. Ashtar in Canaan was the god of the morning star, so that Kemosh may have been associated with astral deities." The Book of Jeremiah (1980), J. A. Thompson. Published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 477. ISBN-13: 978-1-4674-2303-8.
↑ 3.03.1"West Semitic Deities with Compound Names", George A. Barton. Journal of Biblical Literature, 20(1), pp. 22-27. Published June 1, 1901. doi:10.2307/3268988
↑ 4.04.1"The possible connection between Ashtar in the Mesha Inscription and the goddess Astarte or even Ishtar is intriguing, but in the end, there is simply not enough evidence to make that leap. On its own, Ashtar is the name of a male god, not a goddess. Moreover, in context, it is clear that Ashtar-Chemosh is used as an alternative name for Chemosh, and not as a reference to any other deity (male or female). [...] It would not make sense for Mesha to devote the city to a deity other than the one who commanded him to conquer it, especially when the Mesha Inscription never refers to a deity other than Chemosh. If anything, the name Ashtar-Chemosh might reflect the assimilation of characteristics of a deity Ashtar into the deity Chemosh." "Chemosh Looks Like YHWH, but That's Okay", Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH's Ancient Look-Alikes (2020), Josey Bridges Snyder. p. 122. ISBN-13: 978-1-57506-744-5.
↑"Mesha reports that he obeyed and slaughtered 7,000 inhabitants and 'devoted it to ‘Ashtar-Kemosh' (לעשתר כמש החרמתה, l. 17). Gerald Mattingly suggests that עשתר כמש is likely 'another name of Moab's national god,' who is mentioned eleven times in this inscription. [...] However, it is also possible that the insertion of Ashtar distinguishes this deity from Kemosh and connotes a goddess (a form of Astarte [עשתרת]?) who is a consort of Kemosh." "The Moabite Prince (2 Kings 3:26–27)", Cover of Valuable and Vulnerable: Children in the Hebrew Bible, especially the Elisha Cycle (2013), Julie Faith Parker. Published by Society of Biblical Literature and Brown Judaic Studies. p. 110. ISBN-13: 978-1-946527-01-1. doi:10.2307/j.ctt14bs6db
↑ 6.06.1"ミルトンの『失楽園』に出てくるケモシです。元をたどるとモロクに行き着くので、この絵ではモロクのイメージで描いてみました。いけにえを捧げるための祭壇で、焼却炉になってます。地獄のイメージですよね。体には窓が付いてて、ここから罪人の「熱いー、助けてくれー」って叫び声が聞こえるんですよ。(金子)" Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner World Guidance (1996), Daisuke Narisawa and CB's Project. Published by SoftBank. Japanese. p. 63. ISBN-13: 978-4-7973-0084-0.
Japanese