The HB is not an unambiguously
monotheistic book, and neither is the religion in ancient Israel to be seen as
fully monotheistic. The HB refers to a variety of “other deities.” In the book
of Exodus, monotheism as such is not taught by Moses. A reading of the text
suggests that Moses did not want to preach a particular idea about God to his
people, but he wanted to witness his encounter with a liberating God acting in history.
Moses preached about YHWH as a living divine being who saves his people and
wants to live in a relationship with them. In other words, Moses wanted to
witness about his encounter with God-the-Savior. He did not elaborate on the
question of whether this was the only divine being in the whole universe. A few
glimpses of other divine beings can be seen, especially in the book of Psalms.
The Psalms in the HB strongly imply a symbol system in which only one God
should be venerated. Here too, the “forces of nature” have been particularly
secularized, as can be inferred from the role of the “sun” in Pss 19 and 72.
Some Psalms, however,
relate to a symbol system in which more than one god is venerated.
Psalms 58 and 82 contain the concept that YHWH stands among or above the other
deities. Here YHWH is part of a heavenly council. Of special interest is Ps 91.
This hymn on trust among the dangers and threats of life mentions YHWH:
He will cover you
with his wings
You will be safe in his care
His faithfulness will protect
And defend you
But in verses 5 and 6
we read:
You need not fear for
the terror of the night
For the arrow that flies at daytime
For the pestilence that goes around in the dark
Or the demon that destroys at midday
These four nouns, “terror
of the night,” “arrow,” “pestilence,” and “midday demon,” refer to threatening
demons. Despite the partial secularization of the forces of nature that took
place in the religion at state level in ancient Israel, these forces will still
have been seen as demons at the level of personal life. Life was not completely
disenchanted in ancient Israel.
Another text to be mentioned
in this connection is Ruth 1. During the well-known encounter at the border,
when Naomi wants Ruth to return to her home country, Ruth declares (Ruth 1:16-17):
But Ruth answered: “Do
not ask me to leave you!
Let me go with you!
wherever you go,
I will go.
wherever you live,
I will live.
Your people will be my people
And your ‘elōhîm will be my ‘elōhîm.”
I deliberately left
the Hebrew word ‘elōhîm untranslated. The word can be construed as a
singular form, “God,” or as a plural, “gods.” Most translations render with “Your
God will be my God,” taking Ruth’s vow as a monotheistic or at least a
monolatrous confession. At the end of Ruth 1, however, two gods are mentioned.
On return in Bethlehem, Naomi bewails her fate:
YHWH has witnesses
against me
And Shadday has made my life bitter.
Traditionally,
Shadday is rendered with “the Almighty,” taking the name as a qualification or
an attribute of YHWH. Religio-historical research, however, has made clear that
Shadday is the name of a divine being that had been venerated at the fringes of
ancient Near Eastern agricultural societies (see Ernst Axel Knauf, “Shadday,”
in DDD, 749-53). For Naomi, Shadday has left her with her bitterness
instead of protecting her against the evils of time. (Bob Becking, “More Than One
God? Three Models for Construing the Relations between YHWH and the Other Gods,”
in Collin Cornell, ed., Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH’s Ancient Look-Alikes [Pennsylvania:
Eisenbrauns, 2020], 60-76, here, pp. 61-62)
YHWH is the only
sufficient deity. Affirming YHWH’s sufficiency is one way to summarize a broad
pattern in the OT: advocacy of monolatry. Israel should have no other ‘elōhîm
beside YHWH (Exod 20:3; Deut 5:7), which covers anything from benign neglect of
YHWH to hostile rejection. Such a profile differentiates the OT from much of
the ANE tradition, with its various permutations of polytheism. Monolatry of
this kind is not, however, unknown, and some of Israel’s neighbors (e.g., Ammon
and Moab) may represent forms of it in their state cult.
YHWH’s sufficiency
with respect to other deities is maintained more particularly against rival
deities known collectively as “the baals” (Judg 2:11; Hos 2:19[17]), employing
a common Semitic noun with the basic meanings of “owner,” “master,” or derivatively,
“husband.” As with other appellatives and epithets, the term could function
essentially as the name of a deity and was widely used in the Levant as a
divine referent for gods and goddesses. In the category of forbidden deities,
the baals are the most frequently opposed deities in the OT. How is, or is not,
YHWH a baal? In order to explore that question, we ned not sort out definitively
such matters as how many baals were YHWH’s rivals, nor why for a time there was
such intense opposition to the baals among the OT tradents.
Evidence for invoking
YHWH as “Baal” is explicit in the eighth century, such as in the prophecy of
Hosea 2:18[16], where the practice is opposed (The prophet proposes that YHWH
can be called ‘îšî [“my husband”], but “no longer my baal.”). In this
instance, differentiation is not simply distinction but includes opposition to
a popular means of invoking deity when applied to YHWH. YHWH may share some of
the characteristics of the baals, but not the common epithet itself.
The practice of
invoking YHWH as Baal, however, is implicit elsewhere in the OT, and not always
opposed. Saul’s family had male members named Ish-baal and Meribbal, and David
has a son named Beeliada These theophoric names plausibly represent a cultural convergence
of religious practice in portraying YHWH as a divine baal, just as the name
Adonijah, another son of David, explicitly represents YHWH as a divine ‘ādôn.
Neither Saul nor David are portrayed as worshipping a “foreign” deity invoked
as “Baal.” A report f YHWH’s victory over the Philistines in 2 Sam 5:20 notes
that the place of battle is named Baal Perazim, because there YHWH “broke
through” (p-r-ṣ) David’s enemies. This etiological comment is most
naturally taken as a reference to YHWH as the baal (master) who defeated the
enemies of Israel and David. (J. Andrew Dearman, “Who Is Like You Among the
Gods? Some Observations on Configuring YHWH in the Old Testament,” in Collin
Cornell, ed., Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH’s Ancient Look-Alikes [Pennsylvania:
Eisenbrauns, 2020], 77-87, here, pp. 81-82)