Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Henry Churchyard" <churchh AT usa.net>]

> Subject: Re: Miscellaneous minor points (El vs. YHWH, etc...)
> From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
> Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 18:00:45 -0700

>> I'm not sure what the point of positing a strong opposition between
>> "El" and YHWH is.  In Canaanite languages, "El" is both a general
>> word for "a god", and also the proper name of the god who is
>> vaguely conceived of as the highest god, or overall ruler of the
>> pantheon (without any particularly close approach to a monotheistic
>> theology).  YHWH is the name of the god of Israel.  As the god of
>> Israel comes to be considered the highest (or even only) god, some
>> of the "El" high-god terminology naturally becomes associated with
>> YHWH (though in the Bible "El" standing by itself is not as
>> frequently used to refer to YHWH as is "El" in special compounds
>> and phrases -- and of course the related but different "Elohim" is
>> more common by far).

> I notice the phrase "As the god of Israel comes to be considered the
> highest (or even only) god" and wonder if you see this as a
> diachronic development as some do.  Do you think it's possible that
> Hebrew culture, however it may have developed, *began* as an
> experiment in monotheism?

Actually, I was carefully trying to be vague on points on which I
don't really have a definite opinion and/or any particular expertise.  ;-)
I'm not sure I have any special insights to offer on the
origins/development of Jewish monotheism, other than the rather
obvious one (probably more a truism than an insight) that the Bible
itself pretty much clearly states that strict monotheism was
originally mostly the posession of a somewhat small elite (and
sometimes even members of this elite did some backsliding -- Aaron and
the golden calf, etc. etc.), and that strict monotheism didn't have
all that much strong and lasting impact on the practices of the mass
of the rural Jewish population until Josiah; and that even after
Josiah, there still existed Jewish groups outside of the emerging
mainstream that were defiantly non-monotheistic (Jeremiah 44,
etc. etc.).  So I'm not sure that the Bible can be used to support a
claim that the mass of Hebrews/Israelites were profoundly monotheistic
at any early date (leaving aside Genesis, where there isn't an
Israelite population as such, but only named patriarchs); rather the
Bible seems to say that there was a cadre of monotheists who had a
fluctuating degree of influence on the rest.

(That's why I used the term "prophets", Ian -- by which I didn't
necessarily mean very much more than "strict religious reformers of
unspecified pre-Hellenistic date".  When archaeologists turn up
shrines to YHWH and his Asherah, they're actually providing clear
support for the factual historicity of the Bible ;-) .)

--
Henry Churchyard   churchh AT usa.net   http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/