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Divine Being(s) in Ancient Israel

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by Henry E. Neufeld

Dr. Gerald Winslow; Philosophy of Religion; May 21, l979

I would like to ackhowledge my debt to Dr. Alden Thompson for an inter- view of considerable length in connection with this paper.  Also Elder Don Neufeld for discussions over 3 or 4 days during a visit, particularly having to do with inspiration in connection with the Psalms.  Of course, any heresies are mine and mine alone.

Divine Being(s) in Ancient Israel

Judaism is considered to be one of the main monotheistic religions.   This monotheism stems from the prophetic tradition in the Old Testament.   But were the Israelites always monotheistic?  Probably not.  Yet, if they stemmed from a polytheistic background, was the change instantaneous with the formation of the covenant, or did it develop over a long period of time?  If it developed over a long period of time, are there marks of the transition period left in the sacred writings of the Jews?  It is the thesis of this paper that the people of Israel developed slowly from polytheism, through a period of henotheism of varying types, and finally, at a very late period to the monotheism for which their religious tradition is known today; and that this progression occurred both in the spiritual leadership (more often than not the same as the political) and in the masses of the population, and is thus reflected in pronouncements concerning the Divine Being, It will not discuss the Hebrew concept of the nature of the Divine Being per se, that is, as an individual deity, but, rather, the concept of His relation to other possible deities.

Conceptual Difficulties:

Three terms will be used in discussing the concept of the Divine Being or Beings.  These terms are: polytheism, monotheism, and henotheism.  It is necessary to define them and give sone examples, as their recent uses have been too varied to provide conceptual clarity.

Polytheism as used in this paper, is the belief in many different gods who are not under the control of, or definitively inferior to, a supreme deity.  The Vikings had such a system, with gods in control of the various elements, but no god strong enough to take complete control.¹  Although the ancient Greeks had something very close to a supreme deity in Zeus, their concept allowed them to conveniently move him off to the side, and then the other gods could do as they pleased.²  The Greek city states, even so, were moving very slightly away from a pure polytheism in having a supreme God over a city.  However, the system was probably as good an example of any sort of sophisticated polytheism as may be found.

Monotheism is the opposite extreme to polytheism.  It is here that the difficulties begin.  Two examples may be accepted without reservation:  modern Judaism and Islam, both of which proclaim a single Divine Being of universal power, without modifications or exceptions.  The third major religion usually placed in this category, Christianity, has the problem of trinitarianism.  In order to keep out of that problem, this paper will not assume trinitarianism as a solution to any conceptual problems in the Old Testament.³

Henotheism fills in the gap between the two above concepts.  Imagine the concepts placed in a line, with polytheism on the left and monotheism on the right, (no political connotations) placing henotheism in the middle.  In its purest form, it is the idea that though other gods may exist, there is one God who is supreme.  The difficulty is to determine just how far one may progress from polytheism toward the center before the concept becomes henotheism.  Probably the initial development of henotheism is in the idea of a patron deity for a city or country.  This deity may be viewed as supreme in his or her territory.  Examples would be Athene of Athens and Bel or Marduk of Babylon.

An example of this type of feeling comes from the Babylonian Creation Story, Enuma Elish.  After the gods have fought over and created the earth (in that order), Marduk is proclaimed king, and is extolled by one of the other gods:

Then Anshar did extol, did proclaim his name 'Asalluhi'
'At the using of this name let us bow down in reverence;
Upon the opening of his mouth be all other gods silent,
His command shall be pre-eminent above and below.

'Be exalted our Son, even he who avenged us,
Let his authority be supreme, be it second to none:
And let him act as the shepherd of mankind, his creatures,
Who, unforgettinp, to later ages shall ever tell of his deeds.'⁴

This is, of course, placed in the mouth of one of the gods in order to demonstrate the exalted status of the god of Babylon over the other deities. At this point, the god of the city state has developed into full-fledged henotheism.

Moving right across our line, the development (conceptually rather than historically) would pass throuph a stage where one god becomes not only supreme, but the only one countinp for his particular territory.  The formation of this idea into monotheism is the result of universalizing the local religion.

One more notion needs to be cared for here.  That is "henotheistic literature."  This is literature written in praise and adoration of a particular god above others.  Henotheistic literature need not develop from a henotheistic culture (though it would not develop from a strictly monotheistic one), but may simply be an expression of praise, couched in superlatives, of one member of the pantheon, not necessarily even the greatest.  A similar practice, though having some large variations from the above in idea and background, would be the Christian practice of praising individual members of the trinity.⁵

Historical-critical problems in the literature:

The study of ancient Hebrew concepts is quite difficult due to the state of the literature with which one must deal.  There has obviously been some loss in transmission, and though less certain, there has very likely also been some editing.  Losses in transmission will not likely significantly affect conceptual problems, but later editors would come to the task with their own theological bias.  As it would require at least a major volume to cover tnese problems, if not a series of volumes, the author will simply state his basic assumptions, in order to facilitate criticism of the paper on this ground.

Israel's conceptions of God will be studied with three general periods in mind.  There is some overlap.

1) Early period, i.e. from the exodus (15th-13th centuries?) through the period of the judges (c. 1,000 BC).  The Biblical books having their literary origins in this period include the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges and I Samuel.  While some of this material was likely collected later it probably reflects the ideas of the periods listed.  Because of the probable corrections and omissions of editors, individual statements must be regarded with some skepticism, and the general tenor be taken as definitive, in opposition to isolated statements.

2) Monarchic period (c. 1,000-586 BC) The books of II Samuel through II Kings reflect this period.  The writings of the prophets of the same period do not reflect the general thought of the time.

3) Prophetic and post-exilic theology (c. 800 BC and on).  This reflects an early development of concepts in the spiritual leadership which are not reflected in the religious consciousness of the general population until long after the exile. The various Old Testament prophets provide the early literature, while intertestamental literature shows the later developments.⁶

Historical development of theology:

The names which vere employed to describe the deity were very important in ancient Hebrew thought.  There are, however, only three forms which are important to the present discussion.  These are:  Elohim, Yahweh, and El (pl. Elim).  Both Elohim and El were borrowings from earlier semitic backgrounds.  El was used as a designation of God as far back as in Ebla (3500-3000 BC).⁷  It is easy to distinguish in its uses as a plural form.  Elohim, however, a noun in the plural form, came to be used both in a plural and a singular sense.  It is by far the most frequently occuring word for God, and must be distinguished from its plural sense by a check on the verb.  Yahweh is the proper name for the Hebrew God.  It will be so used in all translations for this paper.  (All translations of Biblical texts in this paper are by the author unless othewise noted.)

The distinction of the plural and singular forms of Elohim by the number of the verb breaks down in several texts in the Old Testament.  For example, Genesis 1:26, "And God (Elohim) said, Let us . . . "  Genesis 20:13 "And it happened that when God (Elohim) caused (3rd person plural form) me to go out . . . " Genesis 35:7 " . . . Because there the gods (haelohim) were revealed unto me . . ."  All of these instances come from the early period of Hebrew history.  Genesis 1:26 is probably a reference to the court of the gods as well as a concession to grammatical form.  Genesis could be as above with perhaps a reference to a heno- or polytheistic concept. (The court of the gods itself may be or not be henotheistic in nature.)  Genesis 35:7 sounds almost polytheistic, though it is compatible with henotheism though not monotheism.

There are several concepts characteristic of the first two periods of Israelite history.  These were present throughout these periods, but with development directed toward monotheism.

The first of these is the concept of the "court of heaven."  This is best developed in the book of Job. Where and When it was written are not of great consequence, as it reflects literarily an early tradition.  Here, in the first chapter, God calls hie court together, and the satan or adversary is there too.⁸  They enter into controversy over the fate of some individual on earth.  I Kings 22:19-23 also reflects this idea, with the adversary included but not named as such.  Isaiah 6:8 also has its background here, but is not so explicitly developed.  The plural form of Genesis 1:26 can also be explaind, by this view of the court of the gods (or of God).

The Psalms also reflect this idea in various places. Consider the following:

0 Yahweh, illuminator of darkness
Destroyer of evil above and below

At thy appearance all princes are glad
All the gods rejoice over thee

5 Who penetrates into the sea except thee?
For the good and the wicked alike thou dost set up judgment.

Thou dost hold back the evil doer
Thou dost bring up one who holds judgment
By the true judgment, 0 Yahweh, which thou hast spoken
10 Glorious are thy pronouncements, they are not changed

The horn of the perpetrator of abominations thou dost destroy
He who manipulates the calculating of an account--
his fortunes will be changed.
The unrighteous judge thou dost make to see imprisonment.
The receiver of a bribe who perverts justice thou dost make to bear punishment.⁹

Good theology, isn't it?  However, this does not come from the Psalms, but rather from the "Hymn to the Sun-God" which was discovered in Ashurbanipal's palace (Nineveh, 6th and 7th centuries BC).  Yahweh has been substituted for "Shamash", Sun.

Now this is acknowledgedly henotheistic literature, and perhaps is not the theolopy of the Psalms, or is it?

Try this:

God will stand in the Assembly of El
He will judge in the midst of the gods (4)
How long will you judge unjustly? (9,10-14)
And show partiality to the wicked?
(Psalms 82:1,2)

The heavens praise thy wonders, 0 Yahweh, (3,4)
thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
Who among the sons of gods is like Yahweh?
a God feared in the council of the holy ones,
mighty and terrible above all that are round about him?
Thou dost rule the raging of the sea; (5)
when its waves rise, thou stillest them.
Righteousness and justice are the foundations of thy throne; (6-14)
grace and faithfulness go before thee.
(Psalms 89:5-7;9;14 OTL, proper name, Yahweh substituted for the Lord.)¹⁰

Numbers in parentheses indicate comparison to "Hymn to the Sun-God".

In Psalms 82, the second verse is addressed to the gods, as is the bulk of the psalm.

Thus, the Hebrew literature reflects the same type of background as other henotheistic literature in the ancient Near East.  The assembly or council of the gods was not an uncommon concept.  Inherent in this is also the concept that the god who is being praised is on top of the council, thus Psalms 82:1.

That the spiritual leadership was not worried in the early period about whether the people believed in the existence of other gods, (or even that Yahweh was not worried), but merely with their worship is probably best seen in the 1st commandment in Exodus 20:2'3, "I am Yahveh your God (Elohim), who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.  You shall not have other gods (elohim) above me."  The Hebrew word translated here "above" is ;al meaning "over or above" basically.  The word only means "in front of", or "before" in the locative sense when used with one person standing and the other sitting.¹¹  The idea presented is "I am your god, leave other gods to other people."

This involved both a concept of superiority and one of regionality, or at least of peculiarity to one group of people.  That it is at least became the concept of the Israelite people is demonstrated by the following incident from the time of the judges.  Jepbthah, in quarreling with the Moabites says,

"So then Yahweh, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them?  Will you not possess what Chemosh your God gives you to possess?  And all that Yahweh our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess."
(Judges 11:23,24 RSV Yahweh substituted for "the LORD")

II Kings 3 reflects the same idea, when the allied kings of Judah and Israel are attacking the Moabites.  They are quite successful until the king of Moab sacrifices his son, at which point they take off.  It may be assumed that they wished to excape Chemosh's land and return to Yahweh's territory.

It is generally acknowledged that durinp the kings period, the Israelites didn't serve their own God exclusively.  However, the type of view they took of the "pantheon" has been illuminated recently.  Ze'ev Meshel, an Israeli archaeologist, discovered evidence of a variety of religious practices at Kuntillet Ajrud in southern Palestine.  These included the possibility that Yahweh was represented as having a consort.¹²  This idea is also attested to in the post-exilic Elaphantine Papyri, which have an "Anath-Yahu", sort of a consort.¹³  These are definitely syncretistic elements, but may also have a background in a less than pure monotheism preceding.

It was the prophetic tradition and the exile that changed all this.  The earlier prophets such as Isaiah and Amos called the people back to the worship of their one God, and were the cause of many and various monotheistic revolutions.  Ezekiel (Chapter 1), and Daniel (Chapter 4) both moved to universalize the God of the Old Testament.  They bad been preceded by the earlier prophets, whose ideas had not caught on.  This more universal tendency, once it began to be accepted, would necessarily lead to the development of complete and thorough monotheism.

Question of Inspiration:

That the direction in which the early theology led was one towards monotheism is not questionable.  While this was not seen as clearly as it might have been by some, the diirection of events never lost its force.  God, in bringing the concept of Himself which He desired His people to have realized (as some of us do not) that he would have to work slowly.  Thus, a tension is evident throughout between the goal, and the progress toward that goal.  The leaders often were several steps ahead of the people.  As one writer put it,

"Written in different ages, by men who diiffered widely in rank and occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects unfolded."¹⁴

It is a wonderful thing to serve a God of this diversity.

Notes

¹ Wernick, Robert, The Vikings (Alexandria, VA:  Time-Life Rooks, 1979) pp. 25,26.

²  e.g. Homer's Iliad, where Hera puts Zeus to sleep so that other gods may help the Greeks.  Iliad XIV, 149-360.

³ Some Christian writers would attempt to explain the uses of elohim in the plural as an early expression of the trinity.

⁴ D. Winton Thomas, Ed. Documents from 01d Testament Times (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1958), p. 13.

⁵ One should not read any pejorative sense here.  The type of literature is merely similar.  "Jesus the very Thought of Thee", for example.

⁶ A check with a theologian like von Rad would show that my view of this is far from universal.  On the other hand, if one compares my view to tbat of the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commmentary, I am comfortably in the middle.

⁷ Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Bible in its World. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1977), p. 46.  This is confirmed by other sources.

⁸ Is this "satan" to be compared to the Christian 'Devil'?  Probably in spiritual reality, the same being or sort of being is referred to, but the two are distinctly different in concept.  For example, in I Kings 22, the adversary figure fulfills God's will.

⁹ James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts,(Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 1969), pp. 387, 388.

¹⁰ Arthur Weiser, The Psalma (Philadelphia:  The Westminster Press, 1962), p. 588.

¹¹ See the Holladay Hebrew Lexicon.

¹² Ze'ev Meshel, "Did Yahweh Have a Consort?"  Biblical Archaeology Review March/April, 1979.

¹³ Thomas, p. 257.

¹⁴ Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, CA:  Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1950.) vi.

Selected Bibliography

Eichrodt, Walther.  Theology of the Old Testament, Vol. 1.  Philadelphia:  The Westminster Press, 1961.

Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, God, names of.

Jacob, Edmund.  Theology of the Old Testament.  New York:  Harper and Row, Publishers, 1958.

Rad, Gerhard von.  Old Testament Theology, Vol.  1. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1962.

Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, "God".

Wright, G. Ernest, The Old Testament and Theology.  New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1969.

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