Page 269 - Foundations

The prototypical pagan image of mother and child is that of the Babylonian Semiramis and Tammuz.
After Semiramis’ husband Nimrod was slain, he was declared to have ascended to heaven where he
became the sun-god. Semiramis claimed to have been impregnated by the rays of the sun-god, giving
birth to Tammuz who was fantastically claimed to be Nimrod reborn. In this we see an early type of
a woman becoming pregnant without human intercourse, bearing a divine seed. This concept of a
mother and her divine child has been present in many religions throughout the world. Alexander
Hislop writes:

The Babylonians in their popular religion supremely worshiped a goddess mother and a son who was
represented in pictures and images as an infant or a child in his mother’s arms. From Babylon this
worship of mother and child spread to the ends of the earth. In Egypt, the mother and child were
worshiped under the names Isis and Osiris. In India, even to this day, as Isi and Iswara; in Asia as
Cybele and Deoius; in pagan Rome as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer “Jupiter the boy”; in Greece as
Ceres, the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast, or as Irene, the goddess of Peace, with the boy
Plutus in her arms, and even in Thibet, in China and Japan...

The pagan worship of a divine mother and child are mentioned in the Bible. The woman bears many
names, at times being referred to as “the queen of heaven.” This is a title the Roman Catholics ascribe
to Mary, the mother of Christ. Perhaps the most ancient name for this divine mother’s son among
pagan religions is that of Tammuz.

Jeremiah 7:18
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes
for the queen of heaven...

Ezekiel 8:14-16
Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and
behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man?
Yet you will see still greater abominations than these." Then He brought me into the inner court of
Yahweh’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the
altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward
the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.

I believe many Christians in reading the Old Testament accounts of the idolatrous practices in which
God’s chosen people engaged, perceive the actions of the Israelites to be an outrageous departure
from the true, pure, and holy worship of Yahweh. Yet, few Christians perceive how this idolatrous
practice continues in the church today. Babylon continues to spread its leaven into the religious life
of God’s chosen people. Ezekiel’s mention of the women of Israel weeping for Tammuz finds its
modern parallel in the Roman Catholic observance known as Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday.
Placing ashes on one’s head has been a sign of mourning from ancient times. When the ashes are
applied in the form of a cross, or letter “t,” they are duplicating the ancient symbol for Tammuz.