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  • From: Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: (text) Monotheistic?
  • Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 01:06:22 -0500 (EST)



Was it such a small minority? It certainly seems to have been an
influential one at times, e.g. under Hezekiah and Josiah. So I wonder
if a better analogy would be with the (actually existing) histories of
the USA written by the "religious right"? As an outsider (from
England) how should I judge these? (Not to be answered on this list!)

Peter Kirk


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Subject: (text) Monotheistic?
Author: a.c.smith AT juno.com at internet
Date: 13/01/1999 05:31


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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