“The Horns of the Altar” and bulls?

[JairCrawford]

There's alot of speculation about the specific name used in the ot, yeah. It's probably a bastardization - it may be intentional (like calling the bulls calves) or it may be incidental. It probably refers to some god with a similar sounding name - just one (relatively unimportant) detail that the ot authors got wrong in a vast sea of things they got wrong. Or maybe it refers to some god that the authors community thought other canaanites believed in - like any number of contemporary conspiracy theories about people today from the religiously afflicted.

Well I know we have different areas in the OT that mention the Ammonites and their chief deity. Multiple mentions of “Molek”, but some verses refer to the deity as “Milkom”, which is, quite different.

[The Grand Nudger]

Same link, just a bit further down.

While the names are indeed similar, the Old Testament text clearly differentiates between these deities on several occasions, most notably when referring to the national god of the Ammonites as Milcom and the god of human sacrifice as Moloch (1 Kings 11.33; Zephaniah 1.5). Further, the Old Testament mostly refers to Molech as Canaanite, rather than Ammonite. The Septuagint refers to Milcom in 1 Kings 11.7 when referring to Solomon's religious failings, instead of Moloch, which may have resulted from a scribal error in the Hebrew. Many English translations accordingly follow the non-Hebrew versions at this point and render Milcom.

Thing is, there isn't much that the OT has to say about canaanites that holds water. The people the ot is purportedly telling us about were canaanites. They just didn't enjoy that fact and, clearly, sought to change that situation.

[JairCrawford]

Same link, just a bit further down.

While the names are indeed similar, the Old Testament text clearly differentiates between these deities on several occasions, most notably when referring to the national god of the Ammonites as Milcom and the god of human sacrifice as Moloch (1 Kings 11.33; Zephaniah 1.5). Further, the Old Testament mostly refers to Molech as Canaanite, rather than Ammonite. The Septuagint refers to Milcom in 1 Kings 11.7 when referring to Solomon's religious failings, instead of Moloch, which may have resulted from a scribal error in the Hebrew. Many English translations accordingly follow the non-Hebrew versions at this point and render Milcom.

Thing is, there isn't much that the OT has to say about canaanites that holds water. The people the ot is purportedly telling us about were canaanites. They just didn't enjoy that fact and, clearly, sought to change that situation.

True, which is ironic considering the OT actually arguably preserves the Canaanite origins by having Abraham settle there.

Regarding the horns and what you said earlier about horns simply being important to the religious culture of the time… couldn’t that in and of itself be a connection right there? Or is it assuming too much on specifics we don’t have?

[The Grand Nudger]

I suppose it gets weedy. The description of the construction of the altar is a just-so story meant to explain some state of the altar (and altar culture) in the then-present with respect to a mythical or legendary past. The authors of these stories didn't actually know why the altars were constructed the way they were. They likely had no connection to and no knowledge of what we might call the foundational iteration of their faith - which must have already been divergent from it's outset by definition.

[GrandizerII]

Same link, just a bit further down.


Thing is, there isn't much that the OT has to say about canaanites that holds water.  The people the ot is purportedly telling us about were canaanites.  They just didn't enjoy that fact and, clearly, sought to change that situation.

True, which is ironic considering the OT actually arguably preserves the Canaanite origins by having Abraham settle there.

Regarding the horns and what you said earlier about horns simply being important to the religious culture of the time… couldn’t that in and of itself be a connection right there? Or is it assuming too much on specifics we don’t have?

If the connection you're referring to is what you pondered about in the OP, then yes, you might be assuming too much on specifics we don't have.

Of course horns had symbolic meaning in the Old Testament. The horns on the altars dedicated to Yahweh in the Bible were not there for no reason. What was the meaning exactly, I personally have no clue. Christians have their own interpretations to do with Christ, but they are most likely wrong there.

But I do know when I last read the Old Testament, there was a lot of mentions of rams and goats in addition to bulls.