Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

    Since it was discussed on the list a couple
 of weeks ago, I  recieved a few private mails on the
 subject.
 
   As there may be some more interest on the matter, I
 tought of posting on the list, with George Atahs's
 permission, a brief exchange about this between us
which was initated by me.

    This includes the ending of my post, and his full,
succinct answer: 


    " ... I don't understand your support for 'polytheistic
 thinking" in this poem.
   Apart from the contentious two verses, Yhaweh
 appears seven times  alone in the poem;  foreign would-be
 gods are mocked.

   One of my interests is the development of
 intolerant Yahwism. Det.32 is an excellent example of it."
      
                                           [UH]  



    "What I was trying to say was that those who included the
 poem within the Pentateuch probably read it from a purely
 monotheistic-Yahwistic point of view, such that Yahweh is
 understood to be the only deity referred to in the poem.
 However, the poem itself may come from an originally
 polytheistic setting in which Yahweh was viewed as one of
 the gods, perhaps even one of the sons of El. Despite this
 possible origin (and we have no way to confirm if this was
 the case), the current poem in the MT is solely Yahwistic.
 
 GEORGE ATHAS Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)"



    Uri Hurwitz                          Great Neck, NY