Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SAKKUTH

A name (skwt) occurring as Heb. sikkûṯ in Amos 5:26 followed by Kaiwan (kiyyûn). The Masoretic pronunciation suggests that both are idols (abominations). Early Jewish tradition (LXX, Qumran) interpreted the word as a holy object. Modern translations therefore differ between “Sakkuth your king” (NRSV, NJB) and “the shrine of your king” (REB, NIV). If Kaiwan is the deified planet Saturn, Sakkuth might have been another planet, or a star, associated with the Babylonian god Ninurta. A god Sakkut (˂ ^dSAG.KUD), cup-bearer of the gods, sometimes identified with Ninurta, is known. His name may be of Elamite origin. The same god may also be mentioned in the composite divine name Sukkoth-benoth (skwt, now pronounced as sukkôm), perhaps originally Sakkut of (the goddess) Bānîtu. Both gods are suggested to have been worshipped by the Babylonians resettled in Samaria (2 Kgs. 17:30). It is unclear whether this astral cult of Sakkuth spread west before or after the Neo-Assyrian expansion in the 8th century b.c.e. If it arrived with the settlers, it implies that the text is a later insertion in Amos. However, the forms of the names suggest a West Semitic intermediary.

Bibliography. M. Cogan, “Sukkoth-benoth,” DDD, 821-22; M. Stol, “Sakkuth,” DDD, 722-23.

Meindert Dijkstra

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SAKKUTH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)