Brahman

BRAHMAN: THE DISCOVERY OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM: M. M. NINAN
wrought columns, such as those erected in the Temple of Solomon or in the Phenician sanctuaries.
A number of simple stone columns have been preserved. Thus there is a Phenician boundary-stone
from Cyprus, in the form of an obelisk, and set on a small pedestal; others have been found in the
excavations of the Deutscher Palästinaverein at Tell al-Mutasallim, the ancient Megiddo. The
sanctuary at the latter place had at its entrance two stone columns, simple quadrilateral monoliths,
tapering slightly toward the top, and very similar to the maẓẓebot at the entrance to the place of
sacrifice in the ancient Edomite sanctuary at Petra.
Phenician Maẓẓebah.(From Benzinger, "Hebräische Archäologie.")Belief Involved.
The original signification of the sacred stone is well illustrated by the account of the one at Beth-el
(Gen. xxviii.). Jacob slept with a stone for a pillow, and dreamed that the Lord addressed him.
When he awoke he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not"; then he anointed the
stone, or, in other words, rendered an offering to it. This belief in a maẓẓebah, or in a stone, as the
habitation of a deity is spread throughout the world, and even the designation "Beth-el." was
adopted among the Greeks and Romans, under the forms βαιτύλιον and "bætulus," to denote a
stone of this character. At a very early period the stone served likewise as an altar of sacrifice, and
the offering laid upon it was by implication given to the deity that dwelt therein. It must also be borne
in mind that originally, even in the case of a burnt offering, it was the blood and not the act of
burning which constituted the essential of the sacrifice, and that the shedding of blood on the
sacred stone served the same purpose as anointing it. There was no idea, however, of identifying
the deity with the stone, as is shown by the fact that a number of stones, or trees, sacred to a
divinity might stand together. Where specially chosen or prepared sacred stones took the place of
natural landmarks, they expressed an invitation to the deity to take up his abode in them (comp.
Hos. xiii. 2). Among the Greeks the sacred pillars of stone were developed into images of the deity,
and received a head and a phallus; but the Israelitish maẓẓebot, did not pass through this evolution.
Relation to Altar.
It is clear that the maẓẓebah and the altar originally coincided. When the Arabs offered bloody
sacrifices the blood was smeared on the sacred stones, and in the case of offerings of oil the
stones were anointed (comp. Gen. xxviii. 18, xxxi. 13). The same statement holds true of the Greco-
Roman cult, although the black stone of Mecca, on the other hand, is caressed and kissed by the
worshipers. In the course of time, however, the altar and the sacred stone were differentiated, and
stones of this character were erected around the altar. Among both Canaanites and Israelites the
maẓẓebah was separated from the altar, which thus became the place for the burning of the victim
as well as for the shedding of its blood. That the altar was a development from the sacred stone is
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