CHAPTER XL 



ICHTHYOLATRY IMPROBABLE— FISH NOT IN SACRIFICES 



OR AUGURIES 



Although nothing is said of sacrificial fish, it is possible that 

 Ichthyolatry did prevail in Israel to some extent. In Deut. 

 iv. i8,i we find an express commandment or law laid down by 

 Moses against the making of a graven image of " the hkeness 

 of any fish that is in the water under the earth " : in Exodus 

 XX. 4, we read, " Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, 

 nor the hkeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is 

 in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." 

 If Ichthyolatry existed, it could hardly have sprung up 

 among a nomad people hving in the Desert, as did the Jews 

 for years before they entered the Promised Land. Such a cult 

 with other customs was probably adopted from the Canaanites 

 by their conquerors. Psalm cvi. 35 ff., expressly tells us, " but 

 they mingled themselves with the nations and learned their 

 works ; and they served their idols which became a snare unto 

 them." Any argument in favour of the existence of Ichthy- 

 olatry which rests mainly on Deut. iv. 18, and Ex. xx. 4, can to 

 my mind carry little or no weight. They simply embody a 

 comprehensive command against making a graven image of 

 any kind whatever, celestial, terrestrial, or aquatic. 



As to the observance of the commandment, Petrie writes : — 2 

 "It is often assumed that the prohibition to make a graven 



* Many hold that Deuteronomy was written not earher than the seventh 

 century, or even as late as 550 B.C., previous to which there had taken place 

 a large influx of foreigners, especially from N.W. Mesopotamia and Babylon, 

 where gods were represented by scores. 



* Egypt and Israel, pp. 60, 61. Objection to the use of images in Israel 

 was not apparently general till the latter half of the eighth century B.C. Their 

 existence may, perhaps, be explained by (A) the universal existence of such 

 worship among the Canaanites, (B) the proportion of Israelites to Canaanites 

 being about as small as that of the Normans to the Saxons in England. 



424 



