hvered wrote: The Middle East does not have anything like the profusion of stone circles found in Britain. Israel has one known stone circle, part of a submerged Neolithic village near Atlit south of Haifa, and there's one stone circle in the Golan Heights in Syria.
Agreed, not many, but perhaps they've not really been looking until recently?
Archaeologists in Jordan have taken high-resolution aerial images of 11 ancient "Big Circles," all but one of which are around 400 meters (1,312 feet) in diameter.
These drones are proving jolly useful at finding things so big people on the ground can't see them.
There is an Old Testament tradition of circle-makers e.g. Honi the Circle-Drawer. In the Mishnah Taanit 3:8 ...
Once they said to Honi the Circle-Drawer, "Pray that rain may fall.". He answered, "Go out and bring in the Passover ovens [made of clay] that they be not softened." He prayed, but the rain did not fall. What did he do? He drew a circle and stood within it and said before God, "O Lord of the world, your children have turned their faces to me, for I am like a son of the house before you. I swear by your great name that I will not stir from here until you have pity on your children." Rain began falling drop by drop. He said, "Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill the cisterns, pits, and caverns." It began to rain with violence. He said, "Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of goodwill, blessing, and graciousness." Then it rained in moderation, until the Israelites had to go up from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount because of the rain. They went to him and said, "Just as you prayed for the rain to come, so pray that it may go away!" He replied, "Go and see if the Stone of the Strayers has disappeared." Simeon ben Shetah sent to him, saying, "Had you not been Honi I would have pronounced a ban against you! But what shall I do to you? You importune God and he performs your will, like a son that importunes his father he performs his will. Of you the Scripture says, 'Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her that bore you rejoice.' "
Ref : Honi the Circle-Drawer
http://josephus.org/HoniTheCircleDrawer.htm Literally-minded or fundamentalist people like those at
Beginning and End say that Honi is heretical witchcraft, and can't possibly be accepted, because he's mentioned in the Talmud but not in the Bible. I think they specifically mean the New Testament Bible as we know it, after much editing.
There is a very good reason for that. The Paulian Christianity, as passed to us via Flavius Josephus, had eliminated Paganism and competing religions. Roman Christianity eventually became the official state religion of all the inhabitants of the Roman Empire. Peoples from the Enochian traditions were definitely on the Pagan side of the fence. As was, by that time, some of the things associated with King Solomon.
Holy Stones
King Solomon is said to have built his famous temple in Jerusalem on a site that was already a Canaanite sacred sanctuary, which involved the Melchizedek priesthood. In the bible, we are told that Solomon adopted many Canaanite customs (and got into trouble for it with the orthodox Jews). These included sacred springs, mountain top and cave sanctuaries, and megalithic stone circles called Gilgal. While that term applied to any stone circle on Canaan, the Hebrews used it for one specific town that had the most important circle of them all, said to be about two kilometres north of Jericho, where Saul was crowned as the first King of the Jews.
“The stone heap of the wild cate” later known as Gilgal Refaim “wheel of giants”. Which is even more Pagan.
In Kings 18:30-35, we can read how the prophet Elijah repaired a stone circle:
“..Elijah took twelve stones..and built an altar … and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed, … and he filled the trench with water.”
That sounds like a Henge to me. It’s another curious coincidence that this stone circle tradition in ancient Israel so closely matches the same tradition in north western Europe.
Saul was crowned in a stone circle, because the Jewish traditional ritual of king-making included holy stones. As did the Druids, and as did the Welsh and Scots. That was, at least, until 1296 when Edward the First of England “acquired” the Stone of Scone from Moot Hill and took it to Westminster Abbey. In slightly dubious circumstances, and there seems to be a good chance the Scots had enough forewarning to fob Edward off with a substitute.
In Westminster Abbey, the (or a) stone became an essential part of the coronation of English Kings and Queens to this day; they have to be crowned while sitting above the Stone of Scone. The origin of this custom in Britain is said to be the “Stone of Israel”, and the “pillow of Jacob”. According to tradition,
“Jacob’s descendants kept the stone as a sacred national treasure until, when the Israel nation fell, its guardians fled with it to Ireland. There for nearly a thousand years the Kings of Ireland were crowned while seated on it. It was then taken to Scotland and used for the same purpose until Edward I took it to Westminster.”
A fantastic fairy story? Perhaps, but our current Royal Family still believes a Jewish tradition is an essential part of what gives them authority. Perhaps that's why Prince Charles (and a few generations that came before him) had been circumcised by a Jewish Mohel (the licensed remover of foreskins).