Introduction to World Religions

Abingdon Press

Chapter One

Baruch A. Levine

Religion of Ancient Israel

The Israelites of biblical times left us an exceptional narrative, the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), that relates how they came into being as a nation after taking possession of the promised land, governed themselves over a period of centuries, and survived empires. As part of that narrative, the Hebrew Bible projects the religion of the Israelites and describes it elaborately. The Hebrew Bible expounds on the will of the God of Israel by revealing God's plan for God's people, Israel, and for all humankind.

What is the religion's overriding concern? What makes the system self-evidently valid to the community of the faithful?

Biblical Conceptions of God

The national God of the ancient Israelites is most often designated in the Hebrew Bible by the Tetragrammaton Y-H-W-H, based on the verb h-w-h, "to be, exist"; in the causative stem, "to bring into existence," a meaning alluded to in the Hebrew Bible itself (Exod. 3:1116). It is most often vocalized in the Hebrew Bible as 'adonai, a form of the Hebrew 'adon, "Lord." Whereas the cultural origin of the deity named Yahweh remains obscure, Hebrew inscriptions as early as the late ninth century B.C.E. and the famous Moabite-Mesha inscription from the mid-ninth century B.C.E. attest to the consonantal Y-H-W-H and its shorter forms.

The Israelite God-idea has evolved, expanding in response to new sociopolitical challenges. These challenges first came from the diversified population of Canaan, then from nearby nations, and finally from world empires. In this context, biblical attitudes toward Egypt are curious. Egypt was a major power in Canaan at various periods, and Egyptian expeditions traversed Canaan more than once. And yet, we find less anxiety about how Egypt might harm the Israelites and more concern over the danger of periodically relying on Egypt as an ally against Mesopotamian empires. One cannot escape the impression that the emphasis on the liberation from Egypt in biblical tradition bears a religious agenda, namely, that "the gods of Egypt" (Exod. 12:12) had been invalidated long ago, when Israel's God defeated them.

Other approaches to ancient Israelite religion tend to harmonize progressive biblical conceptions of Yahweh so as to represent universal monotheism as the original God-idea, often in cosmic terms that express age-old notions of heavenly sovereignty. So we read that Yahweh, Creator of the world and of humankind, revealed himself to the patriarchs, beginning with Abraham, later to Moses and the Israelites at Sinai and in the wilderness, and subsequently to the prophets. In contrast, critical approaches to biblical literature bring into bold relief statements about Yahweh that are better understood as henotheist, rather than as monotheist, strictly speaking. That is to say, such statements command the exclusive worship of Yahweh by all Israelites, going to great lengths to condemn paganism and idolatry, while at the same time acknowledging the existence and power of other gods worshiped by other nations. As the Israelite God-idea subsequently expanded, "oneness" came to mean that Yahweh was the only deity in all the earth (cf., Zech. 14:9).

Although the transition from henotheism to universal monotheism has been difficult to pinpoint, its clear footprints can be seen in late prophecy. Deutero-Isaiah of the Exile transmits Yahweh's declaration to Cyrus the Great: "I am Yahweh, and there is none other; except for me, there is no divine being [Hebrew 'elohîm]. I girded you with strength even though you do not acknowledge me, so that it may be known from the rising of the sun unto its setting that there is naught except for me. I am Yahweh and there is no other" (Isa. 45:5-6; this and all subsequent translations in this chapter are the author's own).

Returning to an earlier period of crisis, we perceive how First Isaiah had expounded the doctrine that Israel's God rules over all nations. This was after Jerusalem had been spared from destruction by Sennacherib, the Assyrian king who was Yahweh's "rod of rage" (Isa. 10:5-15) to punish Israel; but in time, Yahweh would bring down the arrogant conqueror. Endorsing the doctrine of submission to empires, Jeremiah, about a century later, referred to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, who destroyed the Jerusalem Temple and exiled Judah, as Yahweh's "servant" (Jer. 25:9). In effect, First Isaiah's monotheist declaration introduced a new power concept, one that transcended military might and imperial power.

It is possible to identify three phases in the development of the Israelite God-idea: selective polytheism, Yahwist henotheism, and finally, universal monotheism.

(1) Selective polytheism. There is a fairly late tradition, preserved in Joshua 24, that the ancestors of the Israelites in Haran of Syria (Gen. 11:31) had worshiped "other gods." Of greater interest is the memory that the early Israelite settlers in Canaan proper, the patriarchs and the judges, had themselves once worshiped Yahweh, their national God, alongside familiar deities of the West Semitic pantheon, such as Baal, El, and probably a consort of Yahweh's named Asherah. We learn of this early phase primarily from biblical texts that raise objections to such practice, where both leaders and the people are admonished to worship Yahweh alone. However, there are nonjudgmental, neutral references as well. Thus, the patriarch Jacob worshiped El at Bethel (Gen. 31:13), and the Balaam orations credit El for the liberation from Egypt (Num. 23:8; 24:8). In contrast, the later poem in Deuteronomy 32 emphasizes that it was Yahweh alone who accomplished this feat: "Yahweh, alone, leads him on, and there is no other god at his side" (Deut. 32:12). Similarly, the Gideon narratives assure the hero that it is Yahweh who will bring Israel victory in battle, not Baal (Judg. 6). The confrontation between Elijah and the cult prophets of Baal epitomizes the henotheist commitment: "How long will you persist in straddling both of the hedges? If Yahweh is the [true] God, then follow him, and if it is Baal, follow him!" (1 Kings 18:21).

The prehenotheist mentality is also evident in early Hebrew epigraphy, such as in the inscriptions found at Kuntillet 'Ajrud, an ephemeral caravan site of the late ninth to early eighth centuries B.C.E., on the southern border of Judah. These inscriptions include blessings in the name of Yahweh as well as hymns to Baal and El.

It may be that in the early stages of settlement it seemed that coexistence with the Canaanites and other elements of the population was possible, and this prospect induced a more relaxed religious policy. But many battles ensued with Egyptians and so-called Amorites, and with Canaanites and Philistines, as well as with neighboring nations in the interior such as Midianites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Aramaeans. These hostile encounters gave rise to a problematic situation: Israelites were, in fact, venerating some of the same gods that their fierce enemies were worshiping! The response of some of the religious leadership was to adopt an exclusionary policy, breaking away from the commonly shared West Semitic pantheon. One who reads Deuteronomy with this subject in mind will perceive...