Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Yigal,

> While Yitzhak is undoubtedly correct in saying that the earliest strands of
> the Pentateuch seem to admit the existence of other gods, the authors could
> have very well have been referring to the conception of the existence of
> other gods. In other words, "there is only one God, but we know that a lot
> of people believe that there are others - whether 'true' or not, the very
> belief is a sin". Certainly, there is a strand (priestly?) that denies their
> existence and claims that they are but "wood and stone". The Bible often
> seems to claim that those who worship idols are fools, who think that "this
> piece of wood created me". But we know, that this was not the case at all;
> pagans never believed that the actual idol was a deity - the idol simply
> represented the deity and helped the worshipper "focus" - just as ritual
> objects do today, in many monotheistic faiths.


HH: I have read that people believed the deity came and indwelt the 
representation.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard