Ishtar, Easter and the Passover Exposed

Ishtar – Easter – Passover – The origin and Word Study.

Entrance to temple in Iran.

Entrance to temple in Iran.

In this article we will examine the origins of the infamous Ishtar (Easter) from the 12th chapter of the books of Acts.  Where did this come from?  Who is this Ishtar and why do we get this as a focus to be reading this article about?  what is the actual word behind Easter and how do I know it is true?

There is many origins for this name that can be traced to numerous locations through out the world, from the Norse goddess even into the reaches of both Hinduism and Buddhism religions.  This pagan goddess was carried out of Israel when the northern tribes fled before being taken into Assyria as others were.  They settled in the northern Black sea region and continued to migrate into Scandinavia and northern Europe carring their twisted practices of paganism and Torah for which they were being taken into captivity in the first place..

Who was Ishtar (Easter)

Ishtar was the ancient Sumero-Babylonian goddess of love and fertility. She is often described as the daughter of Anu, the god of the air. In most of the myths concerning her, she is described as an evil, heartless, women who destroyed her mates and lovers. Her greatest lover was the farm god Tammuz, who is similar to the Greek Adonis. After he died she went into the underworld to retrieve him but her efforts were vain and she returned to the living world alone.

Ishtar carving

Ishtar carving

Ishtar has many names throughout the Pagan world which the one we know best is the transliteration of the Babylonian world into Easter.  Other names include

  • Aphrodite, named Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two places which claimed her birth;
  • Ashtoreth from ancient Israel;
  • Astarte from ancient Greece;
  • Demeter from Mycenae;
  • Hathor from ancient Egypt;
  • Ishtar from Assyria;
  • Kali, from India; and
  • Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.
  •  Eostre from Germany

Ishtar was the daughter of Ninurta. She was particularly worshipped at the Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Ashur and Arbela (Erbil).

Goddess Ostara of Norse origin

Goddess Ostara of Norse origin

Like Ishtar, the Greek Aphrodite and Northwestern Semitic Astarte were love goddesses who were “as cruel as they were wayward”. Donald A. Mackenzie, an early popularizer of mythology, draws a parallel between the love goddess Aphrodite and her “dying god” lover Adonis on one hand, and the love goddess Ishtar and her “dying god” lover Tammuz on the other. Some scholars have suggested that the myth of Adonis was derived in post-Homeric times by the Greeks indirectly from Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylonia) through the Western Semites, the Semitic title ‘Adon’, meaning ‘lord’, having been mistaken for a proper name. This theory, however, cannot be accepted without qualifications.”

Joseph Campbell, a more recent scholar of comparative mythology, equates Ishtar, Inanna, and Aphrodite, and he draws a parallel between the Egyptian goddess Isis who nurses Horus, and the Babylonian goddess Ishtar who nurses the god Tammuz.

How did she get into the Bible?

This is always a good question and one that puzzles the masses.  we hear “but Easter is in the Bible” all the time.  While it is true that the word Easter is in some of the English translations of the bible, but is that the world used or it is a misinterpretation of the underlying word?

Get any good bible reference to show the words and language of the English translations.  If you don’t have one, go to www.blueletterbible.org and perform this word study so you can see this with your eyes.  In the search window, enter the word easter and click on search to see the results.  select the scripture reference to take you to the book of Acts at chapter 12, verse 4.

Click on the “C” for concordance and scroll down to the word Easter, G3957 and find the word pascha in the table displayed.  Click on the G3957 link and read the definition and notice that the word is used 29 times and only ONCE is it translated as Easter.  Look under the Root Word (Etymology) and click the link for this word, tracing back to the Hebrew and what do you find?  Pecach

What is the true feast behind Easter?

Pecach – Passover, is the actual holiday behind this word Easter and thus is the feast that is to be observed.  So in the King James authorized version, we see for some reason that the translators wanted to bring in a pagan goddess.  Since those translators are dead and gone, we can never know the reason behind, but we can know the truth behind the words.

Back to www.blueletterbible.org, at the top, change versions and look at some of the other English translations and see what they say.  The NKJV and NASB both call it Passover.  We are given a principle of establishing fact, it takes 2 or 3 witnesses to establish every fact.  Using this principle for the one time in the Word Easter appears, should have told us right away it was false.

 

One Reply to “Ishtar, Easter and the Passover Exposed”

  1. Pingback: Easter - A Holy Day of Worship or a Pagan Festival - Truth-Tradition

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge