THEOLOGICAL
EXCLUSIVITY IN EARLIEST ISRAEL
In this section, we will survey
the evidence that scholars have found of the earliest biblical theology of
exclusivity that, even so, did not insist on elevating YHWH above other divine
beings. Perhaps the best-known example is Deuteronomy 32:8-9. In the Masoretic
Text, these verses read as follows:
When the Most High gave to the
nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the
bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel (Heb. benei
yisra’el). For YHWH’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
The "bounds of the
peoples" is alluding to a tradition like that which appears elsewhere in
the Bible, that there are exactly 70 nations in the world." These nations
include familiar names such as Egypt and Canaan along with many that are less
familiar. This same number, 70, is also the number of "the house of
Jacob" that went down to Egypt as reported in Genesis 46:27 and Exodus
1:5, "All the persons of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were
seventy." So, when Deuteronomy refers to fixing "the bounds of the
peoples according to the number of the children of Israel," it means
making 70 nations just like there were 70 in Israel's house. The verse claims
that when "the Most High," apparently to be understood as an
appellation for YHWH, established these nations, he set the total number to 70
because he knew the number of the house of Jacob would be 70. The rest of the
text implies that the reason that he fixed the number of nations to match the
number of Jacob's house is because Israel is YHWH's people and it is fitting to
fix the number of nations according to its number.
So the Masoretic Text. Yet
evidence from textual variants strongly suggests that this is a scribal
modification. Witnesses from both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint prove
that an earlier version of the Hebrew had “sons of Elohim” in place of
“children of Israel.” That is, the text read as follows:
When the Most High gave to the
nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the
bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Elohim (Heb. benei
’elohim). For YHWH’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
The "number of the sons of
Elohim" still means 70. But rather than intending the 70 children of
Israel, it would seem that the intention is 70 divinities that are called the
"sons of Elohim." According to the earlier biblical text, then,
"Most High" and Elohim are referring not to YHWH but to El, the head
of the West Semitic pantheon known from the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, who merits the
title owing to his position in the pantheon. El, along with Asherah his
consort, rules a family of 70 divinities, among them, apparently, according to
this reading, YHWH. El allotted to each of the 70 a nation of their own, and to
YHWH he allotted Israel. Thus, the theology reflected in this text is certainly
exclusive because Israel is exclusively bound to YHWH. But it does not insist
on elevating YHWH beyond Israel's unique commitment. Other nations also have
their own, not explicitly inferior, gods. Apparently, however, this implication
was offensive to the theological sensibilities of later scribes, and so they
made the change that ended up in the Masoretic Text. (David Michael Grossberg, The
Evolution of Jewish Monotheism: “God is One,” From Antiquity to Modernity [Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2025], 41-42, emphasis in bold added)
