Monotheism
Review of the previous post
The previous post, post number 14 of 22, discussed an alternative reason why the authors of the Bible would push and emphasize monotheism.
Preview of this post
This post, post number 15 of 22, discusses some other influences on the concept of monotheism.
Other influences
King Hezekiah is credited in the Bible (2 Kings 18:4, Numbers 21:6-9) with destroying sacramental objects. Since King Hezekiah reigned (727-699 B.C.E.) prior to the Babylonian exile, the discussion in the Bible seems to be subject to the above-discussed writing of history as a theocentered history with an overarching objective of showing a progression from Yahwism to Monotheism[1]. Thus, King Hezekiah’s destruction of idols, stelae, sacred trees, etc could be viewed as an effort to change the religion towards a prophetic religion. Such a transformation would be a significant step along the path from Yahwism to monotheism. Certainly, the elimination of local sacred objects and the substitution of Jerusalem and the Temple at Jerusalem as the central sacred place of worship is a significant step away from Yahwism practiced at a local level to a single, overarching, religion which does not require a local sacred object. This elimination of local objects and the substitution of the Temple in Jerusalem also tended to create a pilgrimage mentality under which people traveled to Jerusalem to worship for specific holidays. This pilgrimage mentality meant that the Yahwist religion was becoming less and less rooted to a particular piece of earth and more and more rooted in the conception of “the people of YHWH.” These steps, which are supported by archeological evidence and albeit not a total or final step, definitely move toward a prophetic religion where YHWH is the only god and is not bound to any particular place or thing.
Illustrating the goal-oriented drafting of the Bible is the treatment of King Hezekiah’s successor, King Manasseh. In 2 Kings 21:3-6, Manasseh is described as re-erecting many of the structures that Hezekiah had destroyed, he practiced soothsaying and augury, he dealt with mediums and wizards. This portion of the Bible was probably written, or at least edited, during the Babylonian exile. It seems clear that the history of Manasseh was written in such a way as to make Manasseh’s actions evil and make Manasseh responsible for the fall of the kingdom to Babylonia in 587 B.C.E. and not, King Josiah, the king who was in power at the time. Josiah tried to institute practices that had begun under Hezekiah, and thus was considered a “good” king by the drafters of the Bible. This pattern is present in many of the “histories” of the kings of the Norther Kingdom – they are portrayed as “evil” because they allowed, and even encouraged, the people to move away from the path to monotheism, and the stories related in the Bible are written accordingly.
In fact, reading he books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the history books that chronical the Israelite presence in the Promised Land, during the reign of Hezekiah, the Book of Deuteronomy was “discovered” (although there is some line of thought that because Hezekiah followed the teaching of Deuteronomy so closely, that book may in actuality have been written during his time) and the laws of this book were carefully followed. This included destroying all idols and swearing allegiance to the Jewish God. However, Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh re-instituted idol worship. The Book of Deuteronomy, or the Mishneh Torah, or the repetition of the Torah or copy of the Teaching, is a summary of and a recapitulation of the events described in the other books of the Jewish Bible. Hence, the authors of the Bible in the Babylonian Exile would have had a ready resource of the stories which they could edit and manipulate to reflect monotheism. Thus, it appears that from the end of the Exodus to the Babylonian Exile, monotheism was alien, or at least contested in Judaism. It might be said that Jewish monotheism began with this discovery. Since the discovery is detailed in a history book, its discovery might be based on fact. Since Hezekiah instituted policies that were monotheistic and the Babylonian Exile followed this episode, it might appear that those portions of the Bible that were authored during the Babylonian Exile were significantly influenced by this monotheistic belief. These authors then drafted the Bible to reflect this belief. Hence, it might be that the birth of monotheism occurred during the reign of Hezekiah but was based on the concept of Yahwism already extant in the land when the Israelites entered that land. Jewish monotheism thus had its birth in the hills of Israel before the Jews entered the land, had its infancy in the Jews and the indigenous people as they mixed together, its development during the period just prior to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, and then it final maturity during the Babylonian Exile.
Preview of the next post
The next post, post number 16 of 22, briefly discusses the concept of monotheism for the nation of Jews.
[1] Indeed some scholars have questioned the historicity of the Hezekiah reforms as reported in the Bible. However, archaeological evidence from sanctuaries at Beersheba and Arad suggest that at least some of Hezekiah’s reforms were put into effect.