Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Thank you Steve who pointed out an error in the following. I should 
have referred to henotheism in the Ten Commandments. I would argue 
that the religion of Israel developed from a strict henotheism in 
Moses' time, acording to which there were various divine beings, but 
only one creator (Exodus 20:11) and only one who was to be worshipped 
(20:3-5). At least two strands developed: one was syncretistic and 
allowed the worship of other gods, and another gradually became 
monotheism, denying real existence to divinities other than Yahweh, or 
at the very least relegating them to the level of angels, demons etc.

Peter Kirk
     

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Subject: Re[2]: Historiography and Peter
Author:  Peter Kirk at IPOIP
Date:    17/02/1999 16:12


How do you justify the rendering of ):ELIYLIYM in Psalm 96:5 as 
"godlets"? Surely it is clear, at least in Isaiah 2 and Leviticus, 
that this word means idols made by hand from precious metals, rather 
than any kind of spiritual or supernatural entity. Thus this verse is 
a strong statement of monotheism. The previous verse of course looks 
like henotheism when taken out of context, but verse 5 makes clear how 
it was meant by the psalmist.

And Jephthah was very likely not an Israelite at all, and so cannot be 
taken as an argument for Israelite religion.

None of your evidence has any bearing on the religion of Moses' time, 
which was the point of my posting - except for the monotheism of the 
Ten Commandments which (unlike much of the historical record I grant) 
are explicitly stated as having been written down by Moses (Exodus 
34:28). Surely if anything survived from that early time, it would 
have been those tablet of ten words.

Peter Kirk

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Forward item:
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From: Peter Kirk
Date: 2/17/99 4:12:32PM
*To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu at internet
*To: yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il at internet
Subject: Re[2]: Historiography and Peter
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