WHAT DOES THE WORD 'EASTER' MEAN AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM? Posted by Tracy Timm August 30, 2014 at 1:22pm Ever wonder where the word "Easter" came from? Well, believe it or not it is in the Word of God, but not where you may think. We can find the origin of the word way back in the book of Genesis and throughout the Tanakh / Old Testament. The word has evolved throughout history and varied among different languages. In the book of Genesis, it is referring to the name of a city called Ashteroth Karnaim. Ashteroth is the name given to honor the pagan goddess Astheroth, a Sidonian diety of fertility and sexuality. Karnaim means double horns. Genesis 14:5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in ASHTEROTH Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, The name then appears several times throughout the Tanakh / Old Testament. 1 Samuel 7:3-4 3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you return to Yehovah with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for Yehovah, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. 4 So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served Yehovah only. We can see here that somehow these false gods bled into the lives of the Israelites, and it would appear that they didn't really realize what they had done. David's son, King Solomon, even fell victim to worshiping this false 1
god as well as others. 1 Kings 11:4-6 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to Yehovah his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of Yehovah, and did not FULLY follow Yehovah, as did his father David. The scripture above said Solomon did not FULLY follow Yehovah, so therefore it would appear that Solomon still PARTIALLY followed after Yehovah, but he didn't FULLY follow after Him because he incorporated the worship of false gods with the worship of the one true God. So why is this important today? Well, although we may not know it, this very goddess has bled into the religious practices of Christianity even to this very day. As you may have guessed, I believe this very goddess is, in fact, "Easter." Now lets think about this holiday for a moment and the things we practice when we celebrate it. We like to color Easter Eggs. Eggs are symbols of fertility and new life. We have the Easter Bunny. Rabbits are also ancient symbols of reproduction and fertility. If we think about this logically, we should be asking ourselves "What on Earth do these things have to do with the death, burial and resurrection of our Messiah?" There are many more Easter traditions that are associated with this pagan goddess as well. If you read her story we can even see where the Easter Ham came into it. This in itself should be a red flag, since God declared swine unclean in Leviticus 11. Does it make sense that He would now WANT us to eat it in His honor? Depending on the language, the fertility goddess's name is 2
translated as Astarte, Ashtoreth, Ishtar... Easter. When God confused the languages of the people at the Tower of Babel these names may have changed, but the story and origin has stayed the same throughout history. What is important to understand here is that the Christian religion takes these pagan traits and the name of this pagan goddess of fertility and lays it over the resurrection of our Messiah. Like a blanket, or a veil hiding the truth underneath. Now, why would we do this when God Himself told us when to observe the resurrection of our Messiah? Passover is the appointed time of His crucifixion with the Feast of First Fruits being His resurrection. The Israelites in Moses day were saved by the blood of a lamb at Passover, and we too were redeemed and saved by the blood of the Lamb, Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) at Passover. But it seems that man decided that these dates, which are called "appointed times" of YHVH, weren't important enough, so man changed God's command by replacing His Holy Day with the days of pagan idol worship in order to bring unity with the pagans and bring them into "the church." Now, when being presented with the truth, many Christians will simply say "Well, God knows that that's not why I'm doing it and God knows my heart." But do we know God's heart? Which is more important? Scripture doesn't say that the eyes of YHVH run to and fro to find those who's hearts are made perfect toward themselves. It says that He's searching for those who's hearts are made perfect TOWARD HIM. (2 Chron 16:9) So how do you truly think this would make our Father feel in HIS heart? Does He not tell us He's a jealous God? It was for this very reason that Yehovah commanded the sons of Israel to utterly destroy the pagan places of worship, because He did not want it to bleed into their lives and how they worshiped Him. Deuteronomy 12:29-32 29 When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations 3
which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you DO NOT INQUIRE AFTER THEIR GODS, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. 31 YOU SHALL NOT WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD IN THAT WAY; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; YOU SHALL NOT ADD TO IT NOR TAKE AWAY FROM IT. " By overlaying these traditions on God's appointed days, are we not ADDING to His commands? By not observing and doing the things He DID tell us to do on His Holy Days are we not TAKING AWAY from His commands? God has made it VERY clear here how He feels about this form of worship, and He is looking for those who are chasing after HIS own heart. Not their own. What we do today is no different than what the people did in ancient times. Just like we do today, the people claim to fear and serve God while continuing to keep their old traditions of idol worship. 2 Kings 17:32-41 32 So they feared Yehovah, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33 They feared Yehovah, yet served their own gods according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. 34 To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear Yehovah, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law (Torah) and commandment which Yehovah had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel, 35 with whom Yehovah had made a covenant and charged them, saying: You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; 36 but Yehovah, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall 4
fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. 37 And the statutes, the ordinances, the law (Torah), and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe FOREVER; you shall not fear other gods. 38 And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. 39 But Yehovah your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies. 40 However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. 41 So these nations feared Yehovah, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day. Nothing has changed even to THIS day. When we say "Happy Easter" in the name of our Messiah who died and rose again so that I might live, are we not in reality saying "Happy Pagan Fertility goddess" in the name of our Messiah who died and rose again so that I might live? I do not write this to condemn anyone or to try to take away the fun of the holidays, but I write this in hopes of an awakening. Our Father is calling His children in these final days to wake up and break away from these man made traditions and lies, to repent and come out of Babylon. He wants us to follow in HIS Way which is NOT easy, and it is a very narrow path. Therefore, we should never take the practices of man and false idol worship and do those things in the name of our Father or His Son. Because our Creator deserves our WHOLE heart. He deserves better than that. 1 John 5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 5