“Belly” in scripture has several meanings
· the whole belly, the entire cavity
· the lower belly, the lower region, the receptacle of the excrement
· the gullet… to be given up to the pleasures of the palate, to gluttony
· the womb, the place where the foetus is conceived and nourished until birth. And especially the uterus of an animal.
· the innermost part of a man, the soul, heart as the seat of thought, feeling, choice.
However, who cares about the belly unless it has significance. Every word in the original manuscripts of the Bible has meaning, albeit versions of the Bible may not.
For instance, Jonah found himself in the belly of a great fish or perhaps a whale (Jon 1:17). The Hebrew word for “belly” there is מֵעֶה meʻeh. From Strong’s Dictionary, it is found that meʻeh has the exact same meaning as koila.
The large fish kept Jonas safe for three days as Jesus indicated, “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mat 12:40). The belly of the whale kept Jonas alive. The point therein is that the womb of any animal, either man or beast, represents life. Surely Jonas was not harbored in the intestine of the whale and certainly not in its soul as animals do not have souls.
The most likely place for Jonas to exist would be in the main stomach of the whale. However, the great fish, from the original Hebrew was not necessarily a whale at all but a perhaps a miracle but that he was kept alive in a chasma, “chasm” in the English — a place vacant of water in the sea. God could have miraculously placed Jonas in a safe space among the rocks of the sea. However, the importance therein is that the “belly” represents life, and with that the belly in which Jesus was placed for three says was a chasm — a tomb within the earth.
Whatever, in scripture “belly” would most often represent life whether it be in the womb or tomb.
Now let’s consider Herod Antipas for a moment, the ruler of Galilee and Perea, and a tetrarch, ruling only a quarter portion of Judea. He was not king of anything but had thoughts of himself as king over all Judea rather than just a slice of it.
Since Jesus was the “son of David,” by ancestry, Jesus would be rightful ruler of all Judea. Like Herod the Great before him, Jesus would be an obstacle and his forerunner, John the Baptist,” the one whom as much as anointed Jesus. There would have been a struggle for power going on even if Jesus was not participating in the struggle. Jesus was a threat to Herod Antipas just as He had been for his father, Herod.
It was the birthday of Antipas when it happened, to wit:
And when a convenient day was come that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee, and when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, “Ask of me whatsoever you will, and I will give it you.”
And he swore unto her, “Whatsoever you shalt ask of me, I will give it you, unto the half of my kingdom,” and she went forth, and said unto her mother, “What shall I ask?”
And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”
And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, “I will that you give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her, and immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.(Mark 6:21-28)
First off, the “king” was not even a king; he promised her what was not his to give — half of the kingdom of Judea. Perhaps sensing that, the girl’s mother, Herodias, asked for something he could provide — the head of John the Baptist who in effect had anointed Jesus kingship of all Judea. Like any less important man, Antipas saw himself great like his father. With that, he could not back down.
However, this commentary is about bellies.
As a “damsel” in those days, Salome — both the step-daughter and niece — would have been from twelve to fourteen years of age. She was likely in puberty when her libido was beginning to rave. In other words, Salome would have been on the verge of fertility as she danced for the king. She had a womb for the would-be king, and she would have been showing him her libido and fertility.
Antipas was married before Herodias to a Nabatean princess who was apparently put away for infertility, among other things. He likely had no daughters or sons, but his brother Herod Philip I had a daughter — Salome, and as such, cunning Herodias knew what would certainly please him.
Herodias and Antipas never had children of their own. It seems that Herodias was offering up her daughter to Herod Antipas to provide an heir and even more territory which would come from Herod Philip.
“When the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod.” Now the following is critical; Salome would not have danced a dance of seven veils. That was a made-up dance much later. Although not named that until 1893, Salome would have been belly dancing; at that time already quite common in Syria and in the eyes of the Romans at the celebration.
At that time in Jewish society respectable women would have not danced before men, so her dancing would be vulgar to the Jews in attendance. Herodias did not care; her daughter would be a vulgar display for both Antipas and the Romans.
The “dance” in the Greek was orcheomai — a highly structured, planned performance; not something sporadic. Herodias had planned this cunning way to please her husband since she could not herself.
Think about that; if she could not produce an heir, she would be gone. Herodias was sacrificing her own daughter, “pimping” her own flesh to please the king and to expand his realm. The Romans described that dance:
These performers using rhythmic, undulating torso movements, shaking their hips, playing finger-cymbals/castanets, and sinking down to the floor with what Martial called "quivering thighs"—a direct historical description of a pelvic shimmy and floor-work. (Wikipedia)
The rolling of the belly would be like a sea wave. That is Syrian belly dancing for which the Romans were accustomed while in Rome and here it was also there in the palace of Antipas.
“Although technically the belly rolling is the Tahitian version of the dance, even with that, the hula is a language-driven, storytelling art form where every movement has a literal or metaphorical meaning. Dancers do bring the rhythm of the ocean into their bodies, but they do it through different muscle groups,” according to Sea Life Park Klua web site.
That is not to say that the belly dance and hula are the exact same dance form, but one seemed to have come from the other. In my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain, I proposed that the hula dance came from Cain’s descendants during the flood.
The motions of the belly and torso in belly dancing with its undulations, rolls, and shimmies, symbolize fertility and the cycle of life itself. It represents the earth itself. By tradition Salome would have been offering her female center as the source of life and creation. Like Eve so long ago, it was the girl that could provide life from the seed of a Herodian.
She was offering, not just her belly, but her womb to Herod: all her ova, her placenta, her womb and even her birth canal; not that it was her offering, but her low-life mother’s. Her “belly” would be the source of life to extend the Herodian Dynasty.
Now let’s compare belly dancing to the Hawaiian hula dance:
Hula is not just physical movement; it is a visual way to tell a story, express poetry, and share history. Every hand motion, step, and gesture has a specific meaning that represents elements of nature, historical events, or deep emotions. Historically, hula was a sacred practice used to honor the gods, connect with ancestors, and pass down genealogies. (YouTube: “Hawai’i History & the Meaning of Hula”)
Hula means “to dance” in the Hawaiian language and auwana hula a wandering dance.
It is the way to honor ancient gods. Among them Kane. [1] The physical movements of the belly are similar but whereas hula represents archetypes of the native Hawaiians, belly dancing represents life itself. It could be that belly dancing always existed since the beginning of time to worship foreign gods that were thought to provide life. As such, Eve’s name in the Hebrew, “Haua,” is pronounced much the same as “Hawaii” is for the Hawaiians.
The most famous native Hawaiian flood myth is known as Kai a Kahinaliʻi (the "Sea of Kahinaliʻi"). In this tradition, the volcano goddess Pele brought the ocean with her when traveling to the Hawaiian Islands. The ocean waters poured forth from her head, rising until they covered all the land except for the highest mountain peaks. This flood is named after Pele's mother, the sea goddess Kahinaliʻi, who originally gifted the sea to Pele to guide her canoes. (The Hawaiian Flood Myth — Bill Stifler’s Web)
In a separate version of the flood story—the myth of a righteous man named Nuʻu who escapes a great deluge on a boat—the supreme creator god Kāne does not create the flood but rather acts as a savior. He warns Nuʻu ahead of time to build a vessel and later descends on a rainbow to bless him. (The Hawaiian Flood Myth of Nu’u)
Pele refers to a volcano which would have caused the flood. She would be the goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes. Eve (Haua/Hawaii) would become a god (Gen 3:5) and if the myth is more than myth, she did just that!
Nu’u means “high place.” (In my book, I found evidence that Cain’s descendants escaped the waters by going to high places; in this case Moana Kea in Hawaii.)
The “father” god, Kahinaliʻi, would have caused the flood using the “mother” god whose belly would have inundated the waters.
I am implying that both hula and belly dancing are ways to promote foreign gods as the providers of life. Perhaps Salome was dancing to other gods and herself as the giver of life in the manner of Eve (Gen 4:1).
Jesus would have known the myths and what was the truth; God El brought the waters of the flood and the inundations were Elohim from Himself. Once the waters stopped, the Presence of God, Eloha, was there.
Aloha in Hawaiian is Eloha in Hebrew. “Aloha means hello, goodbye, and love, but it is also a deep cultural philosophy of living with kindness, unity, and respect” (The Spirit Behind Aloha — Roberts Hawaii). Eloha aptly describe the peaceful people of the Hawaiian Islands. Moana Kea may have been one of the many high places of the world to which Cane’s seed fled to be replanted after the flood.
The Hebrew letter mem in Elohim would be the inundation from the “Belly” of God, El. In theology that one letter represents “living water,” from Elohim, the Belly (El) of God.
That brings the readers to Jesus who encountered the woman at the well; one who had been married numerous times. She was there to obtain a pale of water.
Water is the element of life for life cannot exist without water. That’s why science always looks for traces of water when they explore the cosmos.
Jesus encountered a woman at the well who was there to draw water but had no way to draw the water. (She had only a water pot.) She seemed to have depended on Jesus who Himself had no bucket. (She failed to realize that Jesus was the “cup” that was filled with living water; Mat 26:39.)
Jesus said to her, “Whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). As soon as the woman told of the coming of the Christ, Jesus revealed Himself as Him.
Later, Jesus, speaking to the multitude explained to them:
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. ‘He that believes on Me,’ as the scripture has said, ‘out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’” (But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39)
From whom would the living waters come; from Jesus or those who believe in Him?
Just as Adam came from the belly of God (El) as Elohim, and Adam passed along Elohim to the woman, so it would be in the same manner with Jesus. Out of the Belly of Jesus would flow living water to all that believe, and from them, living waters would flow to others. (That is what God surely meant when he told Adam’s kind to multiply (Gen 1:28).
The woman at the well was merely seeking water, but Jesus revealed the existence of living water that would come from Himself as God.
The water would not be just for drinking but passing it along to others out of love for them.
Now to complete the comparison between the dance of Salome and the living waters from Jesus.
The “waters” from the belly of the young maiden would have been the inundations of her belly to cause sin in those who observed her crude, hedonistic dance at Herod’s court. She would have enticed Herod to do things not right in the eyes of the Jews but quite alright in the eyes of the Romans that were there. Her “living waters” were nothing more than mem from her belly, but the true living waters would have come from Jesus who John had baptized and living water appeared to go into Him, to wit:
The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a Voice came from heaven, which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased. (Luke 3:22)
Elohim from the Belly, or Bosom, of God had gone into Jesus and from Him would flow rivers of living water on the day of Pentecost. From that “cup” those who believed in Him would drink.
However, Herod Antipas drank from the “cup” of Salome and received her manner of living water — the spirit of Satan that had come unto her.
Salome wasn’t the evil one, but the same power that powered the Beast seemed to have gotten into her. Herod had not drunk living water at all but had drank, so to speak the unrighteous waters from the cup of Satan.
Although scripture does not connect those two events, it is obvious that one contrasts to the other. We all must understand that the waters, or spirit, of which we drink are truly of God.
[1] In my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain, I suggested that Hawaii might have been the destination of some of the seed of Cain, and that Hula fits quite well with the meaning of “Nod” — a wandering.
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