The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts
Mark S. Smith
Published:
2001
Online ISBN:
9780199834655
Print ISBN:
9780195134803
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The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts
Mark S. Smith
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Mark S. Smith
Pages
135–148
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Published:
August 2001
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Smith, Mark S., 'El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus', The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (
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Abstract
This chapter begins the discussion on Israelite monotheism by noting the deep impact on Yahweh of the god El; the formative traditions of Israel, now largely lost in the mists of time, camouflage a complex relationship between El and Yahweh. The chapter turns in particular to a seminal question in the religion of ancient Israel: who was the original chief god of Israel? Thanks to the pioneering work of B. A. Levine on El traditions in Iron Age Transjordan, it is possible to explore further old traditions about El in early Israel. Because the name of the god El appears as the divine element in the name of IsraEL, it has been supposed that El was the original god of Israel, and some evidence may point to El as the god associated with the Exodus from Egypt in some early biblical tradition. The implications for the religious origins of ancient Israel are profound, and they raise basic questions for anyone, scholar and non-scholar alike, who takes seriously the complexity of the biblical witnesses to the god of Israel. The chapter also addresses the origins of Yahweh and the problems surrounding their reconstruction.
Keywords: El, Exodus, god of Israel, Israel, Israelite deities, Israelite monotheism, monotheism, original chief god of Israel, religious history, Transjordan, Yahweh
Subject
Biblical Studies
Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online
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