Nibhaz

☩Idolatrous Worship

Nibhaz was a deity introduced into Samaria by the Avites, whom Shalmaneser of Assyria settled there after deporting the Israelites.[1] When these foreign colonists were attacked by lions, they supposed it was because they did not know the manner of worship of the 'god of the land,' so they mixed the worship of Jehovah with their own idolatrous practices.[2] According to rabbinical tradition, the name is derived from a Hebrew root meaning 'to bark,' and hence the idol was represented with the figure of a dog or a dog-headed man, similar to the Egyptian Anubis.[1] Botta found a figure of a bitch suckling a puppy at the entrance of a temple at Khorsabad, and a colossal figure of a dog formerly existed between Berytus and Tripolis in Syria, suggesting this form of worship was known in the region.[1]