Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <cctr114 AT its.canterbury.ac.nz>]

>The Hebrews at Elephantine who were in communication with Jerusalem saw
>nothing wrong with their polytheism. The building at Kuntillat Ajrud in
>southern Judah from the eighth century BCE was a Yahwistic polytheistic
>sanctuary. Yahweh in his divine council in the midst of the gods is
>definitely not monotheistic.

Ian,

You've brought up Kuntillat Ajrud many times, but given what the texts
tell us about that time it would be very strange if we never found
evidence like this. The texts tell us that the exclusive worship of
YHWH alone was a minority position. Time and time again the texts tell
us the majority were polytheistic. One only need read Jeremiah to
realize how firmly entrenched polytheism was in Judah.

Bill Rea, Information Technology Services, University of Canterbury  \_ 
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