Monotheism
Review of the previous post
The previous post, post number 2 of 22 and discussed some thoughts on the origins of monotheism.
Preview of this post
This post, post number 3 of 22, is post number 1 of 7 posts discussing Yahwism and introduces the topic.
Yahwism
Introduction
A full discussion of the connection between Yahwism and Monotheism is far beyond the scope of this essay. However, for a more complete discussion of the genesis of Yahwism from the concept of El and then a more complete discussion of how this Yahwism became Monotheism, see The Origins of Biblical Monotheism by Mark S. Smith, Oxford University Press, (Oxford, NY, 2001). This book posits the following account of how Yahweh developed as the god of the Israelites. The original god of the people we now identify as Israelites was El (this book notes that the basic name chosen is IsraEL, and not some form which incorporates Yewheh) with El being the name of the god in many West Semitic languages with El being regarded as the pre-eminent god and Yahweh being a warrior god. El was the head of the early Israelite pantheon, then El and Yahweh became identified as a single god with the merger probably taking place at different rates in different parts of Israel (with the area associated with the book of Judges leading the way) with El disappearing as a separate god and YHWH assuming the characteristics of both gods. Thus, this book posits that YHWH was not the original god of Israel, it was El. Hence, this book posits, and presents evidence, that it was El, not YHWH who was the god of Exodus with the two gods coalescing later.
The earliest epigraphic information regarding Yahwism is the Amarna Letters found in Middle Egypt at Tell el-Amarna and dating from the Late Bronze Age (16th century B.C.E. to the early 12th century B.C.E.). These documents evoke some divinities and theophoric names such as Anat, “Asherah, Baal, Dagan and others and indicated that the Canaanite religion was polytheistic. This seems to be confirmed by texts excavated at Ugarit. It has been noted that the Amarna Letters mention a people named Habiru who lived on the fringes of Canaanite society in the central hill country of Israel.
Since Abraham is described as Ibri in the Bible, it appears that Hairu religion is partially reflected in the oldest patriarchal biblical traditions which implies that groups related to the patriarchs had no knowledge of Yahweh. It thus appears that the groups that would form the clans of the patriarchs worshipped the “god of the father”, that is, a family or clan god that eventually became associated with a local sanctuary near the clan[1]. The traditions surrounding the biblical patriarchs seem to have been connected to specific geographical areas. These religions could be classified as sacramental because physical elements, including stelae, alters, even sacred trees were associated therewith. Monotheism as we know it is a prophetic religion which detaches God from physical objects as discussed further in this essay.
The Patriarchs were wanderers and thus they could not adopt a god who resided in one place or at one time. The god of the Patriarchs thus had to be portable, but compatible with the gods found in the places where the Patriarchs took residence, albeit temporarily. The co-existence of the gods could thus be viewed as a first step toward monotheism. However, the change was probably gradual and uneven so that people may have believed in both before gradually shifting away from sacramental and monolatry to prophetic and monotheism. That might be why, for example, Rachel could take gods from Laban’s house and not really worry about it. In fact, that might be why Laban himself could have other gods in his house. That could also be why the Egyptians could worship one god, such as Aten, and not have that god infiltrate the Jewish belief in one god. As stated by Sarna: “The text unequivocally speaks of judgments upon the gods of Egypt. The Book of Genesis ignores the theme of the struggle against paganism. The Patriarchal narratives exhibit no tension between the religion of the founding fathers and that of the nations with whom they come in contact. The belief was that their one god was superior to all other gods, even while other gods existed[2].”
A reading of the Bible appears to indicate that the people under the Patriarchs were monolitors[3], that is, they worshiped one god, and tolerated other people who worshiped other, or many, gods and basically ignored those other gods. Yahweh co-existed with other gods. Currently, some scholars believe that the stories which we now identify as the Bible were first written down by the J and E authors sometime around and after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, around 722 B.C.E,[4] but there may have been redacting and assembling of stories done in the exilic and post-exile period. Based on the stories of the Bible, the Jews appeared to already have had a strong sense of monolatry, that is, as discussed above, they worshiped one god, and did not really care about other gods and generally tolerated, if not ignored, the gods worshiped by others, such as the Babylonians or the Assyrians or the Egyptians….live and let live, a type of co-existence, if you will. However, since written authorship of the Bible seems to have been initiated by the J and E authors around 722 B.C.E.[5], they certainly would have been aware of the danger to the country, and the Northern Kingdom in particular, from the Assyrians, and, if the references to God were further developed and inserted later, to Judah from the Babylonians, both of whom were polytheists[6]. It would be fairly clear to those living at this time, especially those authors who were drafting the Bible, the so-called J and E authors, and certainly to those authors who lived later, that the Northern Kingdom would fall to the polytheists and idolaters. It can be assumed that the Jews had a strong sense of one God, but this sense, it might be argued, was monolatry, similar to the monolatry of Aten (and Akhenaten) in Egypt and similar to the monolatry practiced by the patriarchs. Thus, the authors were faced with the daunting task of explaining how the god of the Jews was all-powerful, but yet His chosen people could be conquered by people who did not believe in Him.
Preview of the next post
The next post, post number 4 of 22, is post number 2 of 7 post discussing Yahwism, and discusses Yahwism after the time of the Patriarchs.
[1] This “god of the father” concept applies to Moses, and his clan, as it relates to YHWH and monotheism, with Jethro being the priest of the sanctuary where Moses had his revelation (the burning bush).
[2] See, also, M Smith The Early History of God “Monotheism was hardly a feature of Israel’s earliest history.
[3] Monolatry, itself, was a development. The characteristics of many deities were combined to become “Yahweh-only” monolatry. According to Smith in The Early History of God, there is evidence that the early Israelites were strong monolaters with Yahweh being Israel’s most popular Deity thus forming a Yahweh cult so to speak. This cult probably evolved from the various cults existing at the time, including cults centered on Baal and Ashreah as well as others. Monolatrous Yahwehism probably evolved from Canaanite religions with changes accommodations and outright rejections of various religious principles occurring in ways that might even be similar to the ways evolution of species occurs in nature. There may even have been a blending of religions into the Yahweh-only cult. Yahwehism could thus be viewed as parts of a polytheistic environment. Certainly, there would not have been a sharp dividing line between monolatry on one hand and a Yahweh-only belief on the other hand among the people. It probably occurred over time, with monotheism changing as a further blending process occurred. However, the Fall of the Northern Kingdom and then not long after that the nearly complete conquest of the Southern kingdom in 701, might be identified as a major turning point, albeit not the final and total turning point, from a type of Yahweh-only monolatry to full monotheism. Certainly, no change in belief of this magnitude occurs spontaneously.
[4] See Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman, page 61: “The first two sources, J and E, were written by two persons who lived during the period I described in the last chapter. They were tied to the life of that period, its major events, its politics, its religion and its catastrophes.” I note that it is likely that J and E were prophets because the stories reflect the teachings of the prophets at that time: protect the defenseless, help the widow and the orphan and do not take advantage of your position and power of others. Thus, the stories were drafted to show how this is the teaching of God and how the people prospered when they followed this teaching and were destroyed when the ignored it. The fall of the Northern Kingdom is the perfect example of this and was probably used as the paradigm.
It is also likely that the J and E “authors” were not single men, but “think tanks” such as our colleges of today where men went to study, learn from others and write to pass on knowledge. These “schools” were like the schools of ancient Greece, such as Aristotle’s “school” or Archimedes’ “school” that had numerous students and numerous teachers, with the students going out after graduation and spreading the knowledge they gained in the “school”. The other authors of the Bible were probably similar to this.
Furthermore, as noted by Christine Hayes in her book Introduction to the Bible, “some scholars argue that biblical religion (Yahwism, as opposed to Israelite-Judean religion) may have originated in the activity of zealous prophets in the northern kingdom of the ninth century who violently opposed attempts to establish the worship of Baal or combine Baal worship and Yahweh worship – prophets like Elijah and Elisha who were exclusive Yahwists tolerating no other deities.” Page 242. Perhaps the Yahwism that we know today was given birth during the six-century B.C.E., during the Babylonian exile by Deutero_Isaiah.n
[5] Some literature dates the first references in the Bible to monotheism from the later monarchy and the exilic period (587-538), see The Origins of Biblical Monotheism by Mark S. Smith, published in 2001 by Oxford University Press. However, since the Bible was written, amended and re-written several times, it may be difficult to determine when the belief in Yahweh as a monotheistic religion actually began in practice as opposed to when it was written down. As we know, history is often written well after an event actually occurs.
[6] In fact, the period of 750-700 B.C.E. probably witnessed not only the actual fall of the Northern Kingdom to a foreign power and the exile of the residents in 722, this period also witnessed the virtual total conquest of Judah when virtually all of Judah, with the notable exception of Jerusalem itself, was conquered and over 200,000 people were deported from Judah to Assyria thereby reducing Judah to a conquered kingdom in all but name (see, e.g., “A History of the Jewish People,” edited by H.H. Ben-Sasson, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1976, page 145). Therefore, the J and E sources were probably clearly aware that their entire country was about to be conquered by a foreign power which did not believe Yahweh was supreme and its people were exiled to that foreign power. However, there is a great deal of controversy and difference of opinion regarding both the sources of the Bible (see for example, Documentary Hypothesis (DH) which is implicitly used here and which credits authorship of the Bible to several sources over a course of many years. Source criticism is far outside the scope of this work) and the accuracy of the reports in the Bible (see, “A History of the Jewish People” pages 142-146).