Qos (

Edomite Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; he, Wiktionary:אדום, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan (region), Transjordan, located between ...

: 𐤒𐤅𐤎 ''Qāws'', later ''Qôs'';

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ''Qōs'')Lévi Ngangura Manyanya. (2009)
La fraternité de Jacob et d'Esaü (Gn 25-36): quel frère aîné pour Jacob?
''Labor et Fides'', p.257. also Qaus ( akk, 𒋡𒍑 ''Qa-uš''), or Koze (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Kωζαι ''Kōzai'') was the

national god A national god is a guardian divinity whose special concern is the safety and well-being of an ethnic group (''nation''), and of that group's leaders. This is contrasted with other guardian figures such as family gods responsible for the well-be ...

of the

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

ites. He was the

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...

n structural parallel to

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he poss ...

. The name occurs only twice in the Old Testament (if a possible allusion in an otherwise corrupted text in the Book of Proverbs is excluded) in the

Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible; which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed rabbinic bibles of the ear ...

and

Nehemiah Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC). The name is pronounced o ...

as an element in a personal name, ''Barqos'' ("son of Qos", compare the Hebrew " Benaiah" meaning "son of Jah"), referring to the 'father' of a family or clan of perhaps Edomite/Idumaean ''nəṯīnīm'' or temple helpers returning from the Babylonian exile.E. A. Knauf. (1999). Qos nKarel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst ds.br>''Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible''
pp.674-677. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: “This clan or family must have been of Edomite or Idumaean origin.” (p.677). Outside the Bible, Qos is frequently invoked in names found on documents recovered from excavations in Elephantine, where a mixed population of Arabs, Jews and Idumeans lived under the protection of a Persian-Mesopotamian garrison.

Origins, meaning and cult

The word "Qos" is never used on its own in the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe ('' sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρα ...

2:53 and

7:55 as ''Barqos'', "son of Qos". The name ''Qōs'' itself may mean '' bow''.Bert Dicou
''Edom, Israel's Brother and Antagonist: The Role of Edom in Biblical Prophecy and Story''
A&C Black 1994 pp.167–181, p.177:"Gestalten der syrisch-arabischen Wettergottes, zu dessen Attributen der Bogen genauso gehört wie der Sturm." Qōs became identified with

Quzah Quzaḥ (Arabic: ) is a pre-Islamic Arab god of weather, worshiped by the people of Muzdalifah. The pre-Islamic rite of the Ifada celebrated after the September equinox was performed facing the direction of Quzah's sanctuary. A lasting reference t ...

, "the archer" in the north Arabian pantheon, worshiped both as a mountain and a weather god. The similarity of the name would have permitted an assimilation of Qōs to the Arabian god of the rainbow, ''qaws quzaḥ''. The worship of Qōs appears to originally have been located in the Ḥismā area of southern Jordan and north-western Arabia, where a mountain, ''Jabal al-Qaus'', still bears that name. He entered the Edomite pantheon as early as the 8th century M. Rose speculates that, prior to Qōs's advent, Edom may have worshipped Yahweh—early Egyptian records reference a place called ''yhw3w'' in the land of the Shasu—and the former then overlaid the latter and assumed supremacy there when the Idumeans lost their autonomy under Persian rule, perhaps compensating for the destruction of national independence, a mechanism similar to that of the strengthening of Yahweh worship after the fall of the Jewish kingdom. Qōs is described as a "King", is associated with light, and defined as "mighty". His works are described as ones where he "adorns, avenges, blesses, chooses(?) gives."

Morton Smith Morton Smith (May 28, 1915 – July 11, 1991)Neusner, Jacob, ''Christianity, Judaism, and other Greco-Roman Cults. Part 1: New Testament'', ed. J. Neusner, ''Studies for Morton Smith at Sixty, vol 1, New Testament'' (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975), p. ...

. (1984). "Jewish Religious Life in the Persian Period" nW.D.Davies, Louis Finkelstein ''The_Cambridge_History_of_Judaism:_Volume_1,_Introduction:_The_Persian_Period''
_pp.219–277,_p.240._Cambridge_University_Press.

''The_Cambridge_History_of_Judaism:_Volume_1,_Introduction:_The_Persian_Period''
_pp.219–277,_p.240._Cambridge_University_Press.

Costobarus">Costobarus_I,_whose_name_meant_"Qōs_is_mighty"_was_a_native_Idumean_descended_from_a_priestly_family_attached_to_this_cult._After_Herod_the_Great.html" ;"title="Costobarus.html" ;"title="ds.
''The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 1, Introduction: The Persian Period''
pp.219–277, p.240. Cambridge University Press.

Costobarus">Costobarus I, whose name meant "Qōs is mighty" was a native Idumean descended from a priestly family attached to this cult. After Herod the Great">Herod had placed him in command over (στρατηγὀς) Idumea, Costobarus, supported by Cleopatra, eventually tried to prise the kingdom from Herod's Judea. In order to garner local support for his defection, he revived the old cult of Qōs, perhaps to get Idumea's rural population, still attached to its traditional gods, to back him.Sean Freyne. (2003). "The Revolt from a regional perspective." nAndrea M. Berlin, J. Andrew Overman ''The_First_Jewish_Revolt:_Archaeology,_History_and_Ideology''
_pp.43–55,_p.49._Routledge._The_name_recurs_in_the_Nabataean_Aramaic.html" ;"title="ds.
''The First Jewish Revolt: Archaeology, History and Ideology''
pp.43–55, p.49. Routledge. The name recurs in the Nabataean Aramaic">Nabataean language in an inscription at Khirbet et-Tannur, where he is syncretized with the deity Dushara, who is represented flanked by bulls, seated on a throne while wielding in his left hand a multi-pronged thunderbolt, suggestive of a function as a weather god.Javier Teixido. (2015)
''The Pagan God: Popular Religion in the Greco-Roman Near East''
p.90. Princeton University Press. He is also on an altar in Idumean

Mamre Mamre (; he, מַמְרֵא), full Hebrew name ''Elonei Mamre'' ("Oaks/Terebinths of Mamre"), refers to an ancient religious site originally focused on a single holy tree, growing "since time immemorial" at Hebron in Canaan.Niesiolowski-Spano (2 ...

. The deity's name was used as the

theophoric A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...

element in many Idumean names, including the names of the Edomite kings Qōs-malaku, a tributary of

Tiglath-Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...

and Qōs-gabar a tributary of

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of hi ...

Qos and Yahweh

Unlike the chief god of the

Ammon Ammon ( Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in ...

ites (

Milcom Milcom or Milkom (Ammonite: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤌 *''Mīlkām''; Hebrew: or מַלְכָּם ) was the name of either the national god, or a popular god, of the Ammonites. He is attested in the Hebrew Bible and in archaeological finds from the forme ...

) and the Moabites ( Chemosh), the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' The omission may be explained, according to some scholars, by assuming there were close similarities between Yahweh with Qōs, that would have made rejection of the latter difficult. Multiple poetic refrains in the Hebrew Bible claim that Yahweh embarked, in some form, from Se'ir in the region of

. Recently, the view has been advanced that Yahweh was originally a

Kenite According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites ( or ; he, ''Qēinī'') were a nomadic tribe in the ancient Levant. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. According to some scholars, they are descendants of Cain, Harris, Stephen L., Underst ...

god whose cult spread north of

Midian Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...

to the Israelites. According to this approach, Qōs might possibly have been a title for Yahweh, rather than a name.James S. Anderson. (2015 )
''Monotheism and Yahweh's Appropriation of Baal''
p.101. Bloomsbury Publishing. A further point connecting Yahweh with Qōs, aside from their common origin in that territory, is that the Edomite cult of the latter shared characteristics of the former. Thus, we find that

Doeg the Edomite Doeg ( ''Dō’ēg'') was an Edomite, chief herdsman to Saul, King of Israel. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible book of First Samuel, chapters 21 and 22, where he is depicted as an antagonist of David responsible for the deaths of a large num ...

has no problem in worshiping Yahweh, he is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries. Circumcision, an essential Jewish rite, was practiced in Edom. Additionally, supplication of Yahweh is not uncommon where mentions of Qos are lacking: a pottery sherd from the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE at Kuntillet Ajrud blesses its recipient by "Yahweh of Teman", which some have taken as implying that, at least from an Israelite perspective, Qos and Yahweh were considered identical, though it by no means necessarily proves it. On the other hand, there are some discrepancies which make a direct association between the two difficult. The identification of names in the Egyptian list of Shasu clans in Se'ir creates a continuity problem, since Qos names only emerge some 500 years later. Oded Balaban and Ernst Axel Knauf have claimed that certain names found on

Ramesside The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radioca ...

topographical lists are theophoric and contain references to Qos, which if true would put the deity's earliest attestation more than 600 years before Yahweh's.Oded Balaban
''Egyptian references to the Edomite deity Qaus,''
AUSS 9 (1971 pp.47-50).

References

{{Reflist West Semitic gods Edom

Origins, meaning and cult

Qos and Yahweh

See also

References