The Queen Of Heaven

by Wayne Blank

The "queen of heaven" is a very ancient, and very modern, pagan religious term that is described in the Scriptures as the worship of the Babylonian idol Ishtar (pronounced in the original language as easter, but also known as Astarte and Ashtoreth) throughout the ancient world. The Jews were corrupted by it during the Old Testament time, as shown in the Scriptures below, just as are a great number of Christian-professing people today who now claim the same term, by the same reasoning, for Mary, a very righteous woman who would be absolutely horrified (if Mary weren't still among the dead, on earth, completely oblivious to what the living are doing, see What Happens When You Die?) to see herself idolized, prayed to, or regarded on a divine level by millions of grossly misled and deceived people.

What Did God Say About The "Queen Of Heaven"?

Idol Worship of the "queen of heaven" is a confusion of people that angers God:

"The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. Is it I whom they provoke? says The Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own confusion?" (Jeremiah 7:18-19 RSV)

The Jewish people were plainly told not to do it, but they defiantly continued anyway, just as millions of supposed Christians still do today.

"As for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of The Lord, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 44:16-17 RSV)

Even once-wise King Solomon was corrupted by those who were corrupted by it:

"For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not wholly true to The Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of The Lord, and did not wholly follow The Lord, as David his father had done." (1 Kings 11:4-6 RSV)

Worship of the "queen of heaven" involved idols and sun worship:

"So I went in and saw; and there, portrayed upon the wall round about, were all kinds of creeping things, and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up."
"Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, every man in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us, The Lord has forsaken the land.'" He said also to me, "You will see still greater abominations which they commit."
"Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of The Lord [see "My Father's House"]; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these."
"And he brought me into the inner court of the house of The Lord; and behold, at the door of the Temple of The Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the Temple of The Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east." (Ezekiel 8:10-16 RSV)

Fact Finder: (a) Who alone is to be worshipped or prayed to? (b) What is idolatry?
(a) See The First Commandment (b) The Second Commandment

Daily Bible Study Back-Issue Library
	Jesus Christ Bible History Prophecy Christian Living Encouragement	Eternal Life By The Book Bible Places Curiosities The Spirit World

Daily Bible Study
Copyright Information
Contact the Author or Web Site Administrator