Before we pass from the more
religious to the more secular considerations, we should note that the
monotheistic patriarchs could not completely escape from the polytheistic
milieu that had engulfed the Near East since before the dawn of history, and
re-engulfed all the area (including post- Ikhnaton Egypt) with the exception of
Israel after the Amarna Age. When Abraham speaks with the Gentile Abimelech
(Gen. 20:13), he adjusts his language to his listener and speaks of the
polytheistic elohim, who had caused (plural hit’u) him to wander from
his father's home. However, for Hebraic ears, we find the statement that the
monotheistic Elohim healed (singular wayyirpa') Abimelech (v. 17). At
the head of the pantheon in Ugaritic text 107:1 is El-Beth-El; with whom the
angel of God is identified in Gen. 31:13; cf. 35:7 which has a polytheistic
ring also in the statement that the gods were revealed (plural niglu) to
Jacob there. (Cyrus H. Gordon, “The Patriarchal Age,” Journal of Bible and
Religion 21, no. 4 [October 1953]: 241)
