Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 08:51 PM 8/23/2002 +0200, Ian Charles Hutchesson wrote:
>Shoshanna,
>
>> >El is one of G-d's names, Adonai is also one of G-d's names.
>
>This is why El is the chief of gods in the Ugaritic pantheon and why
Adonai has replaced yhwh in nuerous places since the time of the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
>
>> >To a totally monotheistic mind, 
>
>Such as the one that worshipped at the high place outside Jerusalem all
through the period of Josiah?
>
>> >the one and only G-d, 
>
>Does that include Mot or Asherah?
>
>> >has many aspects which He/It reveals to us, in history, in our lives, 
>> >in the Torah, in the spiritual worlds, and the different names are 
>> >used to refer to different aspects, (ie, when Lovingkindness is in play, 
>> >when Stern Judgement is in play, etc.) and this does not at all fragment
>> >the unity of G-d.
>
>When did that "unity" hit the press and how do you know?
>
>----------------
>
>Yigal,
> 
>> Exactly what I meant. However in "academic" scholarship the assumtion  has
>> often been that the authors of (some of) the Bible were less  "totally
>> monotheistic" than traditional exegesis has assumed. Living in  a
>> polytheistic world, they were at once able to claim that YHWH  is the only
>> True God, and at the same time picture YHWH as competing with 
>> other gods, thereby assuming their existance. 
>
>This is why the commandment says, not that there is only one god, but that
you may have only one.
>
>> Of course, a lot of this has been edited
>> out, but Ps. 82, without rabbinic exegesis, seems to be a good 
>> example (assuming that at least the first "Elohim", of vs. 1, is to be 
>> identified with YHWH).
> 
>Unfortunately, if you're attempting to use a historical approach,
rabbinical exegesis has no necessary relationship with the text which is
under consideration.  Our problem is to understand what the writer was on
about, not what the rabbis thought the text was about (though this may be
of use).
>
>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.
>
>
>Ian
>
Ian, I agree with you. I was answering Shoshana.

Yigal



Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.