I've been reading the Book of Exodus, trying to understand a god whose name is stated as being "Jealous". It seems to me that if you know the name of something, according to the principles of western magick, you can control that thing. The God of the Hebrews, Christians and Muslims certainly needs controlling. He's asking for more and more blood sacrifices these days.

For years I have said that if any man were to exhibit the traits of the God in the Bible they would be considered psychotic. It seems to me that the description of the life of Moses is a prime example of a psychotic in control of a group of people, not unlike Charlie Manson, except Charlie only killed one man and sent his followers to kill for him. Like Yahew, Charlie is a jealous god and punishment for worshipping others is death.

So there in Exodus are all these nit-picking rules for everthing from cutting your hair to what food you can eat and how to prepare it. It's as detailed as a government manual and as vague in a way so a psychotic manager can turn it to justify anything they want to do. Go and read Exodus and Deuteronomy and see if all the rules and regulations don't seem a tad over zealous. The origins of Jealous, the name of the God of the Hebrews, is in fact zealous.
Here's a description of the BTK killer, recently captured and currently being held by the Kansas City police:

Two neighbors said that he was particularly hard on a woman dying of cancer, an arthritis sufferer. He repeatedly wrote her warnings and costly citations for not keeping her lawn properly cut.

"He knew my mother couldn't get around, and he would come down the street and measure her grass, and if it was a little bit over he'd write her a warning or a citation," said Joshua Thomas, who moved into the house after his mother died.

Neighbors' Perspective

"What little power he had, he abused. He was a very petty man," Reno, another neighbor, said. "It's kind of curious that dogs that were in back yards suddenly came loose when he was around, and then there he was to write the ticket."

Margaret Farmer said her daughter's garage burned down a few years ago, and within a day Rader was demanding she pay to have the debris hauled off. "I don't know anyone on the street that didn't despise him," she said. "He acted like his word was the only law. Everyone else was supposed to do exactly as he said and when he said."

Now, in the real world a person who was so zealous, so jealous, so controlling, was a dangerous man. After Moses snuck up on the Egyptian man who was beating his Hebrew slave/employee and murdered him, he hid in the sand/desert because the Hebrews were so frightened of him that they drove him away. He was a dangerous man. He didn't try to negotiate with the Egyptian, preferring to beat him to death. When he set out to rule over the Hebrews he made a deal with God. God would manipulate the heart of the Pharoh and Moses would lie to the Hebrews and eventually Moses was in control. Once he was in control he took them into the desert, isolating them from anyone else and making up rules to further isolate them. This is what that freak who captured Elizabeth Smart did. He, too, was a dangerous controlling religious zealot.

Now we have three cultures based on the rantings of a dangerous, controlling, jealous religious fanatic. And the convergence of those cultures is the Middle East, where babies scream near the bodies of their blood splattered mothers. Like Moses before them, our leaders speak religion while they gather up gold and power over others. Osama is precisely like Moses. The BTK killer would be right at home in the Old Testament.

So the Name of that God means "Jealous", a not-very nice emotion when found in a human and since we are all of us supposedly made in His image, we have a predisposition to be like Him: jealous, zealous and dangerous.

I wonder if perhaps all that crap about detroying all the temples to the Mother of Life might not be a family squabble, a manifestation of the jealousy He felt when His wife was offered devotion from others. She had communal sex, Her priestesses were encouraged to offer themselves to men who came to the temple, freely and without holds. He got jealous and He saw wasted opportunities there for money making, something He seemed very obsessed with. All those golden decorations described in the Old Testament and She just screwed anyone for free! Small wonder He turned to killing, to moving people to travel the desert killing and destroying. He was having a little shit-fit that has lasted all these thousands of years. Now we have a born-again Christian President who is following in His footsteps. Bush even has been described as "annointed by God to lead the people"... into where? why, the Holy Land, of course. Into Bagdad and the other holy cities of old. Still jealous after all these years, oh, still crazy after all these years.

Curious to note that when the Italian reporter was freed by others, she was attacked by American forces and only the self-sacrifice of her liberator prevented her death. Another curious irony in the ever-ending story of a Jealous God and a Zealous little man.... dangerous and nit-picking, controlling and not well liked, but too dangerous to oppose. I wonder if we dug up the Rose Garden if we would find a collection of skulls dating back over 200 years?