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  • From: a.c.smith AT juno.com (Andrew C Smith)
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: (text) Monotheistic?
  • Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 05:31:58 EST


We've debated about monotheism before in this B-Hebrew list over the last
few years.

Please note that the text of the Tanakh itself implies that the nation of
Israel was practicing polytheism until the return from the Babylonian
Exile.

Over and over again, starting with Moses, and then the Judges, and then
the Prophets, the people have to be brow-beaten into monotheism, but soon
fall away again. Clearly, Israel was essentially a polytheistic society.

The monotheistic YHVH-ists were clearly small minority. But note the
following:

Israelite society was polytheistic.
The world-view of the Tanakh is monotheistic.

Thus the Tanakh represents a minority view-point: the embattled but
stubborn group of monotheists, loyal to the YHVH of Sinai. (Imagine if a
group of Amishmen wrote a history of the U.S.A. - a small, loyal, and
stubborn group of religious purists writing the history of a nation prone
to idolatry.)

Monotheism became the majority view after the exile. The truth of the
Tanakh finally was recognized by the majority of the people.

a.c.smith AT juno.com
http://www.lcms.org
http://www.lcms.com
http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/5680


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