Biblical Hebrew Forum

["uri hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

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> People spend their time explaining away so much, that they are not giving 
> much of a chance to understand the writer. Is Mot simply metaphorical 
> language or are we dealing with a Semitic god also known from Ugarit? And 
> if yhwh had a consort before the exile, when did the situation stop? When 
> did people realise that yhwh was the only one? Who were the Bethel, Ashima, 
> et al. at Elephantine in the fifth century BCE? Instead of sweeping Ps 82 
> under the carpet, how does it really fit in? Can we get around the 
> obfuscation which has hit it, or which has turned Ashera into a tree or a 
> precursor of the menorah? A scholar needs to be able to answer these 
> questions.
> 
  Good questions, Ian. As for whether or not Yahweh was the only one
already in Iron age times, one may consider the Mesha stele, where he is
mentioned alone, or the many hundreds of theophoric names preserved in
extra -biblical bullae or seals. In the latter  the ratio of yhaweh to
other gods is preponderant, roughly nine to one.This ratio is practically
the same in HB texts, and provides one of the most striking illustrations
of  correspondence or congruence between biblical and archaeological
material.(if interested check Tigay's work on this)
  Yes, what about the asherah as evidenced in two extra- biblical cases?
Opinions, as you know ,are divided here becuase of the pronominal suffix.
  The syncretism in Elphentine is a totally seperate case in a distant
geographical location, where obviously not all Jews were monotheists. If
you are interested in this type of jewish syncretism you'll find much more
glaring examples in The Book of Secrets (Sefer Harazim) issued by
Margaliot. Here the material is written in clear and fluent Hebrew; I
remember particularly a hymn to a sun- god.
   As for Mot and other colleagues in biblical poetry - I think one should
keep in mind that we are dealing  here with poetry which abounds with
metaphors, as does some prose. When one reads, for example, the biblical
expression h(.)ara appo ,nobody takes it literally as 'his nose became
hot', but rather understands it as 'he became angry'. Of course, some
consider Mot et all when mentioned in biblical texts as gods. Not easy to
prove, one way or the other.

Uri

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