Meet Mr. Resheph (Part 1)

Okay, you’ll recall that in this particular series, I’m exploring the mystery of Michael The Archangel. When I left off, I was talking about very early Israel, the period that would eventually give us the Book of Judges.

At that time, the people of Israel and Judah practiced Yahwism, which was sort of like today’s Judaism except it was not strictly monotheistic. Rather, God -- Yahweh -- was a supreme god presiding over a council of lesser deities.

You’ll recall that we were talking about who was in that council. There was his consort, Asherah, “Mrs. God,” if you like. Then, below here there were several different figures. Many were called Ba’al--a term the Bible uses for a nasty antithesis of Yahwah Himself, but at the time, “Ba’al” was simply a title, meaning roughly “Lord.” So, a lot of gods, and several people, get called Ba’al. (1) Though, the Ba’al most associated with Yahweh seems to have been Hadad, a god of storms and rain, who dates back all the way to the Sumerians.(2)

Then there’s Mot, who is kind of a god of death (very scary). We also have Shamash, a solar god; Yarikh, a moon god; and Astarte, a beautiful goddess associated with both sex and death. All of these, of course, were commonly throughout Canaan.(3)

But the one I’m interested in is not any of these deities...potent as they were...but another, maybe lesser entity. Specifically, I’m interested in a third-tier, minor league god, as opposed to the Major Leaguers like Hadad and Astarte.

I’m thinking of a chap named Resheph, who *seems* to have been present in that council of lesser deities.(4)

Resheph

About the photo: This is an Egyptian statue of Resheph probably dating to the New Kingdom period. The image can found on Wikipedia here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Reshef_MET_89.2.215_EGDP011775.jpg. It has been made availabl by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

He was quite ancient. He had been worshipped by Northern Semitic peoples all the way back to the Bronze Age.(5) By the time the Israelites were around, he was venerated throughout the Middle East, and, somehow, he’d become extremely popular in Egypt.

He was also one scary dude. He was a god of war, death, and plague. If you pissed off heaven, he was the tough guy who punched your ticket. His very name means fire and he was associated with weapons, like swords. (Swords and Fire. That’s a bit of foreshadowing, in case you were wondering.) And, in the Bible, his name is sometimes used to mean Plague.

So, not a chap you’d want to meet in a dark alley. Or anywhere else.

Except...well, things get complicated. We don’t know a whole lot about how his cult functioned in Ancient Israel. But, we *do* know how he was worshiped in Egypt and you have to ask if he wasn’t regarded similarly elsewhere.

At first, Resheph was a god of Kings and Generals, as you’d expect of a deity who can smite your enemy’s army with the Black Death or whatever.

But, then, his cult slips down the social ladder. He becomes popular with the common folk. First, soldiers adopt him, for the very good reason that if he can make the enemy catch diseases, well, he can prevent you from getting the same. From there, he moved into the civilian population, perhaps via military families, praying for the well-being of their husbands and sons.

From there, it seems, his cult spread through the population. To the poor, the laboring classes, the vulnerable of all sorts...

I’m guessing that before it was done, for every prince and potentate that asked Resheph for the destruction of their foes, there were a hundred mothers praying to him, desperately, for the health of their children.

In short, a great god of war...who could destroy whole nations with the flick of his wrist...had somehow become a kind, empathetic figure, sheltering the sad, the sick, and the infirm...comforting the poor and the powerless...and loving, perhaps most of all, children.

That’s quite a transition. But, in a moment, I’m going to suggest there’s a much bigger transformation coming up.

I’m going to suggest that, in a puff of smoke, and a flurry of feathers, Resheph will vanish...

And appear again as someone else entirely.

More to come.

Footnotes:

1. “Baal,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal

2. Hadad, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadad. Hadad is actually a pretty good analog of Michael. He, like Michael, is associated with a struggle against destruction, specifically, his evil brother Mot. Sound familial?

3. See “Pantheon,” in “Yahwism,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahwism

4. “Resheph,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resheph

Also, for Respheph’s presence in the divine council, see Mark S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (2nd ed., Eerdmans, 2002). Smith identifies biblical references (e.g., Deut 32:24, Hab 3:5) as survivals of Resheph’s personified presence and notes how his fiery and martial imagery later migrates into Yahweh’s angelic host.

5. See “Resheph,” Wikipedia. Resheph may have gotten his start in the Syrian kingdom of Elba, which was one of the earliest states in the region and dates all the way back to the year 3000 BC. See “Elba,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebla

Copyright©2026 Michael Jay Tucker

Care to help out?

I provide these blog postings for free. That’s fine and I’m happy to do so. But, long ago and far away, I was told that if you give away your material, that means you don’t really think it has any value.

So, to get beyond that, I’ve decided to make it possible for you to leave me a “tip” for my posts.

If you like what I write or the videos I produce, and feel you could make a small contribution to support my efforts, please go here:

https://michaeljaytucker.gumroad.com/l/lzumj

That will take you to a Gumroad page where you’ll have the option of leaving me a few pence by way of encouragement.

Again, I don’t mind if you don’t. I just want to provide you with the option so that I won’t feel quite so much like I’m just tossing my works into the wind.

Either way, thanks hugely for dropping by the blog :-)

~mjt

#StampOutEnnui #MichaelJayTucker #MarthaTucker #MarthaAndMichaelChronicles #StompEnnuiLikeItWasABug #explosive_cargo #Xcargo #StampOutEnnui #MichaelJayTucker #MarthaTucker #MarthaAndMichaelChronicles #StompEnnuiLikeItWasABug #explosive_cargo #Xcargo #Saint_Michael #Michael_The_Archangel #Angels #The_Bible #Bible #Biblical_Archaeology #Book_of_Daniel #Angelology #Apocalyptic_Literature #Ancient_Religion #Ancient_Israel #Israelite_Religion #Religion #Church_History #Religious_History #Folk_Religion #Popular_Religion #Archangel #Archangels #Christianity #Judaism #Jewish_History #Theology #Resheph