I was asked by one of my students why during the time
of Eli was the high priestly line transferred from the
descendents of Eleazar to the line of Ithamar, since
it is obvious that the line of Eleazar continued to
have descendents according to 1 Chronicles 6:3-8?
From uhurwitz AT yahoo.com Sun Jul 18 12:18:25 2004Return-Path: <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
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From patrina AT bestmail.us Sun Jul 18 20:38:38 2004Return-Path: <patrina AT bestmail.us>
Your first point: correct, I too don't remember Aten mentioned in the
Canaan EA letters. But the issue, as I understand it, is diffrerent.
Both Aten worship and Yahwism share an important aspect , that is
intolerance of other deities. And since by biblical tradition this
intolerance started in the Egyptian sojourn - a tradition that can be
fully accepted in outline -- there would be a clear connection between
the two.
To observe that the intolerance of other gods starts in the Egyptian
narratives, one need only to take a look at the very different picture
of this aspect in the Patriarchs outline history in Genesis (with one
brief exception -- Gen. 35: 2-4 -- that would underscore this, and
deserves more discusssion).
As for the second point: yes, Atenism was brief, but its influence and
reverberations continued long after its demise according to De Moor and
Kitchen's works I'd mentioned before. That is a 'theological' push
toward a single overriding deity continued. Both authors provide
examples.
Monotheism can be approached frrom quite a few perspectives. From my
point of view the intolerance of other gods is the connecting thread
between it and and its various manifestations such as monolatry,
henotheism and so forth. Atenisn would certainly fit within its
framewrok.
Kol Tuv
Uri
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