Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Irene Riegner <iriegner AT concentric.net>]

Concerning Dt 32.7-9:

How can we even intelligently discuss this whole question of Yahweh / El
/ Elyon without recourse to the extensive research in this area?  One of
the classics is Frank Moore Cross  _Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic_, who
has one chapter called "Yahweh and El" and another "Yahweh and Baal.  We
need to go well beyond the text into the local culture to approach this
issue.

How can we discuss this question without discussing the nature of
Israelite religion?  Is the model presented by the biblical texts---that
the worship of Yahweh was the religion of Israel and that the Canaanite
gods and cult were an intrusion into this pristine religion---an
accurate account of Israelite religion?  With all the imagery of
apostacy, one can only conclude that Yahwism, at least the Yahwism of
Deut,  was not the majority religion.

We need another model, one which accounts for the other forms of
Judahite religion.  One which represents this religion as multifaceted.
One in which Yahweh is worshipped along with other gods?  One which
accounts for the lack of archeological evidence in the Late Bronze and
Early Iron that would indicate the presence of a group that was
culturally different from the surrounding Canaanite culture

JBL just had two articles on Israelite religion, one by Saul Olyan and
the other by Baruch Halpern, both respected scholars.  Some years ago
Halpern wrote an article about monotheism in which he concluded that the
group that wanted Yahweh worshipped and only Yahweh (the Deuteronomic
circle) had to make the other gods which the Judahites worshipped appear
to be foreign gods when in actuality they represented the traditional
gods which the Judahites had always worshipped.  (I can't find the
article so I can't give a citation---maybe someone else can.)

Let's not assume consistancy in the ideolgy of the bible but look into
the biblical text to find out more about these alternative forms of
Judahite religion---one's which the bible would like us to believe were
foreign or were forms of apostacy.  One such is the passage under
discussion Dt 32.7-9, where Yahweh seems to be a son of the creator.
How about Ps 82, where god stands in the divine assembly and is
apparantly the leader who pronounces judgment  Or Ps 89 which also talks
about an assembly of gods.

Most of this discussion privileged the biblical text.  I would like us
to use this as but one piece of evidence and check out other literary
and archeological evidence and contemporary research.

i riegner