In 1930 C.E., archaeological digs at Ras Shamra, about 5 miles north of the Port of Latakia where they are disarming the Syrian army of its chemical weapons, a whole new light was shed on the Late Bronze Age Levant, with specific ramifications for the early influences on the formation of Judaism. With these insights, we not only see what influenced the religions of Israel, but also how Israel eventually differentiated itself from the cultural milieu while still affirming parts of the religion of old. To be sure, Yahweh became the One god of Israel, but this was a formative process that can still be seen in the Bible today:
Exodus 6:2-3 NRSV "God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord (YHWH). I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my name 'The Lord' (YHWH) I did not make myself known to them." Richard Hess, an evangelical scholar at the Denver Theological Seminary, clarifies in his book Israelite Religions, "From the standpoint of the history of Yahwism, it is important to note that Exodus 6:2-3 confirms that Yahweh originally revealed himself as El, the traditional name of the chief god of the West Semitic pantheon. This was evident whether he was manifest as El Shaddai, El Elyon, or another El figure."
Deuteronomy 32:7-9 "Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High (Elyon) apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; the Lord's (YHWH's) *own* portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share." *own* was added by the NRSV to shy away from polytheistic connotations.
It is my contention that monotheistic Yahwism was not corrupted by polytheistic Canaanite religion, but rather that monotheistic Yahwism is a later divergent branch of the West Semitic group of religions. This can most clearly be seen in how the Israelite writers called upon god to act as in the days of old:
Psalms 74:12-14 "Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness."
Isaiah 25:6-8, 26:19, 27:1 "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all the nations; he will swallow up death forever...Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead...On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea."
The endorsement, utilization (albeit reworking) of the West Semitic Combat Myth in theologically important areas like Creation (Job 26), Exodus (Exodus 14:2,9; 15 and Isaiah 51:9-10), Conquest (Exodus 15:14-18, Psalm 114) , Establishment of the Davidic monarchy (Psalm 24, 29, 89), Restoration and Resurrection (Isaiah 27:1), and Apocalypse (Revelation 12) bear evidence to just how central Canaanite religion is to both Judaism and Christianity.
Exodus 6:2-3 NRSV "God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord (YHWH). I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my name 'The Lord' (YHWH) I did not make myself known to them." Richard Hess, an evangelical scholar at the Denver Theological Seminary, clarifies in his book Israelite Religions, "From the standpoint of the history of Yahwism, it is important to note that Exodus 6:2-3 confirms that Yahweh originally revealed himself as El, the traditional name of the chief god of the West Semitic pantheon. This was evident whether he was manifest as El Shaddai, El Elyon, or another El figure."
Deuteronomy 32:7-9 "Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High (Elyon) apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; the Lord's (YHWH's) *own* portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share." *own* was added by the NRSV to shy away from polytheistic connotations.
It is my contention that monotheistic Yahwism was not corrupted by polytheistic Canaanite religion, but rather that monotheistic Yahwism is a later divergent branch of the West Semitic group of religions. This can most clearly be seen in how the Israelite writers called upon god to act as in the days of old:
Psalms 74:12-14 "Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness."
Isaiah 25:6-8, 26:19, 27:1 "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all the nations; he will swallow up death forever...Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead...On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea."
The endorsement, utilization (albeit reworking) of the West Semitic Combat Myth in theologically important areas like Creation (Job 26), Exodus (Exodus 14:2,9; 15 and Isaiah 51:9-10), Conquest (Exodus 15:14-18, Psalm 114) , Establishment of the Davidic monarchy (Psalm 24, 29, 89), Restoration and Resurrection (Isaiah 27:1), and Apocalypse (Revelation 12) bear evidence to just how central Canaanite religion is to both Judaism and Christianity.
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