Monotheism

Review of the previous post

The previous post, post number 12 of 22, was post number 3 of 4 posts discussing the prophets and their relation to monotheism, and discussed Isaiah as a second specific example.

Preview of this post

This post, post number 13 of 22, is post number 4 of 4 posts discussing the prophets and their relation to monotheism, and discusses Ezekiel as a third specific example.

Ezekiel

As discussed, another step in the process of moving from Yahwism to monotheism occurred during the Babylonian Exile^[1]. In fact, this seems to be one of the most important steps: the belief that YHWH had the power to act beyond the geographic borders of the land of Israel. This belief allows one to believe that YHWH is so powerful that the gods of other societies are not gods at all, i.e., monotheism. Much of the credit for this step might be given to Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 6:3-4 and 7:8, Ezekiel states that YHWH will destroy the people even in Babylonia. This implies that YHWH can reach beyond the borders of the Land of Israel. Deuero-Isaiah is also a significant contributor to this step when he taught that YHWH was the “first and the last” and that “there is no god but Me” (see Isaiah 43:10, 44:6, 45:21-22^[2]) which implies that YHWH created the entire world and thus has power over it and everything in it, including any gods that were “invented” later by people inhabiting the world. These authors added strict prohibitions against images and added passages to other sections of the Bible which are consistent with strict monotheism^[3]. It would appear that telling the story of Exodus in the way it is reported in the Bible is consistent with this re-editing toward monotheism.

Of course, even if we could reliably trace the beginnings of monotheism to the Babylonian exile, we could not be sure that it was immediately accepted by all Jews. Those living far from Babylonia may not even have been aware of the changed belief and continued to practice whatever form of religion they, and perhaps their families, had been practicing. Even in Babylonia the acceptance of a Jewish god who reduces all other gods to nothing may have been resisted, if not ignored, and at best, unevenly accepted.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 14 of 22, discusses an alternative reason why the authors of the Bible would push and emphasize monotheism.

[1] There is some evidence (see Herodotus who propounded that unlike the Greeks, the Persians never considered other gods as comparable to their own) that the Persian religion at this time resembled monotheism. Thus, the question is raised: Did the Persian religion influence the Biblical monotheism or did the Biblical monotheism influence the Persian monotheism?

[2] “Then there is no god beside Me” “For I am God, and there is none else.”

[3] See, e.g., Deuteronomy 4:35, 4:39, 1 Kings 8:60.