Henotheism in Ancient Israel
Hi John,
If I may begin by thanking you for the time that you invest in raising awareness through your website and also through the Skeptic Bible Study series on Youtube about the wide variety of problems inherent in the biblical text, vis-a-vis what I would consider a far more rational outlook on life and the existence of God, myself also being a deist (rather recently so as I was a Christian, albeit a very liberal one, for many years previous).
I recently finished viewing your latest installment on henotheism in ancient Israel and if I might offer a few comments specifically as it regards two of your examples.
Firstly, the two passages in Deuteronomy 4 (verses 35 and 39) where Yahweh claims that he is God and there is none besides him. I don't feel the text in these two places is as ambiguous as you've suggested (ie. the affirmation of 'no other Lord' translates into the Hebrew as no Yahweh besides Yahweh, which would be a very difficult reading indeed, as far as trying to make sense of it). These two passages appear to me to be direct monotheistic affirmations and I would point to verse 28, which reduces these other gods to the wood and stone work of human hands, to cement that understanding of the target passages. Having said that, this section of Deuteronomy (4:1-40) is attributed by scholars to the post-exilic era where monotheism was beginning to develop in second temple Israel. The remainder of the Pentateuch and indeed pre-exilic writings elsewhere in the 'Old Testament' are most certainly henotheistic in their worldview, as you've pointed out.
Secondly, Genesis 1:26 where elohim is used in conjunction with the fiat 'Let us make humanity in our image, according to our likeness...' While the word elohim is indeed plural in grammatical form, when used in conjunction with singular verbs, it refers to a singular god (whether Yahweh or any other god). Before the fiat begins, the accompanying verb 'to say' (amar) is in a singular form (vayyomer), which means only one god is speaking: 'And God said...' (not 'And gods said...') I just wanted to clarify that one point before confirming that this passage indeed reflects henotheism in the sense that Israel's god appears as the head of and is addressing a council of other divine beings, in whose collective image the human couple were to be created. I wholeheartedly agree that to read post-CE Christian trinitarianism into this ancient Israelite text is a distortion of its intended meaning and how its original readers would have understood it.
I hope these comments have been helpful and I look forward, as always, to your next installment(s).
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan,
It's tempting to read the Bible thinking that the arrangement of the Books are in some kind of chronological order but as I've already learned, Revelation was written before the Gospels. Understanding this gives us some idea of proto-Christianity and the early developments of the Jesus character. I also know how the NT Books themselves were changed over time. I guess there's no reason to think the same thing didn't happen with the OT.
Hi John,
Indeed, the books of the Old Testament have also undergone changes small and large, moreso than even the New Testament books as they've had several more centuries of transmission history during which to be revised. The Gospel~Revelation thing certainly gives new meaning to the axiom "The first shall be last and the last shall be first."
Kind regards,
Jonathan
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended for us to forgo their use."
~ Galileo Galilei ~
The passage that always caught my attention with regards to henotheism was Chapter 7 of Exodus, when Moses and Aaron are meeting with Pharaoh. Aaron throws his staff to the ground, it becomes a snake, the Pharaoh's magicians do likewise, their staffs also become snakes, and Aaron's staff/snake eats the Egyptian staff/snakes. Practically a textbook definition of henotheism: other gods exist, but our God is more powerful than them.
I myself feel the more appropriate term would be monolatrism.And the bible does aknowlege the existence of other evil forces(such as Satan and the demons).
"When a bunch of screwballs think I'm a screwball, I must be doing something right"
-John Armstrong upon receiving his screwball award