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Archaeologist Prove Cannabis Use In Ancient Israel
The Ancient Jews Were Using Cannabis
Ezekiel 47:12 "And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."
I was very excited to learn what I am about to share. I first discovered this fact in a book on Ethnobotany that I cite often on this website. I decided to dig for more facts on the subject and was able to find more scholarly sources to confirm. The ancient Israelites were burning Cannabis as an incense.[2] "The discovery near Jerusalem of Cannabis in the abdominal cavity of the skeletal remains of a young woman who apparently died in childbirth during the fourth century B.C. has led to speculation on the use of this drug in the ancient Middle East."[1] Upon digging for more information on this subject, I found this quote from another academic source: "Two limestone monoliths, interpreted as altars, were found in the Judahite shrine at Tel Arad. Unidentified dark material preserved on their upper surfaces was submitted for organic residue analysis at two unrelated laboratories that used similar established extraction methods. On the smaller altar, residues of cannabinoids such as "delta-9-teterahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) were detected, along with an assortment of terpenes and terpenoids, suggesting that cannabis inflorescences had been burnt on it."[2] Another scholarly source also confirms: "Ancient and Traditional uses of cannabis-based on archeological and written evidences are several, as it was used in the Middle East and ancient Israel for ritual and therapeutic purposes"[3]
I'm very thrilled to have found these facts because I've always believed it to be self-evident that the ancient Jews were utilizing Cannabis, and even psilocybin, which I'll discuss in another blog I think. "We live in an age when a divine vision is dismissed as an hallucination, and desire to experience a direct communication with God is often interpreted as a sign of mental illness. Nevertheless, documented history of ethnobotany illustrates that such visions and communications are fundamentally derived from an ancient and ongoing cultural tradition."[4] It makes perfect sense to me that the Ancient Israelites used Cannabis, because all the other indigenous cultures used these psychoactive plants, and God made them. Ecclesiastes 3:1 On that note, some may claim that all psychoactive plants are the forbidden fruit, but I believe that scopolamine producing plants, and other deadly deliriants were the fruits of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil.(yes plural) "A number of these authors believe this kind of use of consciousness altering plants provided the inspiration for initial human religious experiences, even perhaps three of the world's largest religions, Hinduism (Wasson 1968), Judaism (Dure 2001; Merkur 2000), and Christianity (Allegro 1970; Ruck et al. 2001).[4] "According to some classical scholars, Christianity evolved within the milieu of Judaic and Hellenistic healing cults, magic, and the Mystery initiations:" All four of these inevitably imply a sacred ethnopharmacology, with traditions going back to earlier ages of the ancient world"(see Ruck et al. 2001)"[4]
The Jewish scripture is clear on the proper use of Incense however, stating that: "Jeremiah 44:NIV. They provoked me to anger by burning incense and by worshiping other gods that neither they nor you nor your fathers ever knew. " It further clarifies that: "Jeremiah 18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths." It's very important to declare that your offerings(incense) are for the Most High, in Jewish tradition. In Exodus 30:34, God actually instructs Moses on how to mix certain Ethnobotanicals, like frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, aloes, to create a "Sacred holy anointing oil". It goes on to detail how it was used to anoint holy objects, that they shall become "sanctified" as holy. They even had alters where they specifically burned incense on: "And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth."(Exodus 30:1) Interestingly: Shittim wood, also spelled Shittah, refers to the wood of the shittah tree, which is believed to be a type of acacia, most likely Vachellia seyal or Vachellia tortilis.[5] The Ark that Noah built, was made of Acacia, according to the bible as well.(Exodus 25:10 KJV) Why is this interesting? It's interesting because Acacia species are notorious for producing controlled substances, and everything from DMT, to Mescaline, to Methamphetamines, to Nicotine, and others.[!] Apparently Acacia grew in Mesopotamia, the land of biblical times. Every bible just about includes a map of Mesopotamia in the back, for this very reason.
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Academic citations:
[2] Arie, Eran, Baruch Rosen, and Dvory Namdar. "Cannabis and frankincense at the Judahite shrine of Arad." Tel Aviv 47.1 (2020): 5-28.
[3] Koltai, Hinanit, Boaz Albo, and Zohara Yaniv. "Traditional uses of cannabis in the Middle East and the pathway to cannabis-based healthcare in Israel." Cannabis/Marijuana for Healthcare. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2022. 173-188
[4] Merlin, Mark D. "Archaeological evidence for the tradition of psychoactive plant use in the old world." Economic Botany 57.3 (2003): 295-323.
[1] Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, People, And Culture: The Science Of Ethnobotany. Garland Science, 2020.
Encyclopedia Sources:
[5] Plants For A Future Archive
Other resources:
M.A.P.S. Ethnobotanical Studies By Scholars
PubChem - pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov