20. For protection from the Avenger of blood, what must those in the antitypical city of refuge do?

²⁰ For protection from the avenger of blood, unintentional manslayers had to stay in a city of refuge and not stray beyond its pasture grounds. What about those in the antitypical city of refuge? For safety from the great Avenger of blood, they must not leave the city. Indeed, they need to guard against enticements to go to the edge of the pasture grounds, so to speak. They must be careful not to let love for Satan’s world develop in their hearts. This may call for prayer and effort, but their lives depend on it.​—1 John 2:15-17; 5:19.

Goddesses of Fertility and War

DURING an archaeological campaign at Ebla, Syria, a relic portraying Ishtar, Babylonian goddess of fertility and war, was discovered. Archaeologist Paolo Matthiae describes it as a “cylindrical seal with a cult scene depicting a veiled priestess before a singular divine image . . . with its head fixed on a tall slender support.”

The discovery is significant, for the image dates back to the beginning of the 18th century B.C.E. According to Matthiae, this offers “conclusive proof” that Ishtar worship spanned some 2,000 years.

Worship of Ishtar began in Babylon and in subsequent centuries spread throughout the Roman Empire. Jehovah commanded the Israelites to eliminate every trace of false religion from the Promised Land, but because they failed to do so, worship of Ashtoreth (the Canaanite counterpart of Ishtar) became a snare to them.​—Deuteronomy 7:2, 5; Judges 10:6.

Although Ishtar and her counterpart Ashtoreth no longer exist, the traits that they represented​—immorality and violence—​are rampant. We may well ask whether modern society is really so much different from those ancient civilizations that worshiped these goddesses of fertility and war.