Monotheism

Review of the previous post

The previous post, post number 3 of 22, was post number 1 of 7 posts discussing Yahwism, and introduced the topic.

Preview of this post

This post, post number 4 of 22, is post number 2 of 7 posts discussing Yahwism, and discusses Yahwism after the time of the Patriarchs.

Origins of the Yahweh-only religion after the Patriarchal Period

According to the Bible, the Moses-led Hebrews adopted the Yahweh-only religion when they left Egypt and brought it with them to the Promised Land as the People chosen to teach the world about Yahweh. However, this may have been a hindsight reconstruction of events by the authors of the Bible (who lived and were writing hundreds, perhaps six hundred, years after this event. This reconstruction of events was done for several reasons: to teach the present audience about a history of how that audience arrived at its present place and time in partnership with their god; and/or to reconstruct the origins of the Yahweh-only religion that that present audience had. These authors knew the people came from the land identified as Canaan and wrote the story of Exodus to get them there.

The discussions in other parts of this work are usually based on this Biblical interpretation.

However, there may be another basis for the origins of this Yahweh-only religion which may be found in the social, political, and economic exigencies of the times. Common defense may also play a role.

Therefore, in the interest of completeness, this last-mentioned theory will be presented. The reader can make his or her own decision about what to believe and how to use that conclusion in reading the other posts and series in this work.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 5 of 22, is post number 3 of 7 posts discussing Yahwism, and discusses the origins of Yahwism in the people who were living in Canaan when the Jewish Nation immigrated into that region.