Origins of Biblical Monotheism


Yahweh appears as just one among El’s many divine children (Psalm 82):

One biblical text that presents Yahweh in an explicit divine council scene does not cast him as its head (who is left decidedly mute or undescribed, probably the reason why it survived the later collapsing of the different tiers). This text is Psalm 82. Here the figure of God, understood as Yahweh,62 takes his stand in the assembly. The name El was understood in the tradition—and perhaps at the time of the text’s original composition as well—to be none other than Yahweh and not a separate god called El. In any case, the assembly consists of all the gods of the world, for all these other gods are condemned to death in verse 6. Here Yahweh in effect is asked to assume the job of all gods to rule their nations in addition to Israel.63 Verse 6 addresses the gods as “the sons of Elyon,” probably a title of El at an early point in biblical tradition (cf. El Elyon mentioned three times in Genesis 14:18–20). If this supposition is correct, Psalm 82 preserves a tradition that casts the god of Israel in the role not of the presiding god of the pantheon but as one of his sons. Each of these sons has a different nation as his ancient patrimony (or family inheritance) and therefore serves as its ruler. Yet verse 6 calls on Yahweh to arrogate to himself the traditional inheritance of all the other gods, thereby making Israel and all the world the inheritance of Israel’s God.

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  1. https://ixtheo.de/Record/133547384X
  2. https://www.academia.edu/17136869/When_the_Personal_Became_Political_An_Onomastic_Perspective_on_The_Rise_of_Yahwism

If Psalm 82 is the only text in the Hebrew Bible that directly narrates the rise of monotheism, its main themes are old and attested in a variety of ancient West Semitic texts over at least a millennium. When Yahweh accuses the rest of the divine council of being unjust rulers, he voices an ancient West Semitic political trope: that a king’s divinely granted rule is entirely contingent on his publicly performing legal judgment in favor of the poor and weak. This theme first appears around 1800 b.c.e. in the famous letter from the storm-god Hadad to king Zimri-Lim (A 1968); then in the 13th-century Kirta epic in Yaṣṣibu’s challenge to his father (KTU 1.16 vi); and finally in Absalom’s accusations against David (1 Samuel 15) and Psalm 82.17 But even in the Old Babylonian period, this mythological trope was already sufficiently established as a norm or cliché that it was being politically manipulated in its earliest known attestations.18 The political myth of king as just judge coincides in Psalm 82 with an equally old and related but independent mythic theme, the ability of the chief god to dethrone subordinate gods.

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https://www.academia.edu/83790603/PSALM_29_A_CANAANITE_HYMN_TO_YHWH_IN_THE_PSALTER

For Reinhard Müller, “Remnants of Ancient Hebrew literature attesting the early veneration of YHWH are found more often in the book of Psalms than in any other book of the Old Testament” (R. MÜLLER 2017, 208). Henrik Pfeiffer is even more radical, in granting reliability only to poetic works concerning the early identity of YHWH, his origin and his cult in ancient Israel: “Only the cultic songs of the monarchic period – according to current scholarship most likely the oldest texts in the Hebrew Bible – preserved in the Psalter provide a secure traditionhistorical basis” (H. PFEIFFER 2017, 143). These claims are not surprising, some of the biblical songs being apparently dated from the early Israelite period (e.g. the Song of Deborah, Judges 5). The ancientness of the song of Deborah emanates from its linguistic singularities see:

See B. HALPERN 1983; L. STAGER 1988, 224 and J. SCHLOEN 1993, 20; F. CROSS and D. FREEDMAN 1997, 9-14. Focusing on a military conflict with the Canaanite cities of importance at the Late Bronze Age (Megiddo, Taanakh, and indirectly, Hazor), the song probably belongs to the period of emergence of Israel. It identifies Israel as a coalition of autonomous tribes, refers to Dan settlement on the shore, and ignores the tribe of Judah, all characteristics belonging to the early period of Israel. K. SPARKS (2007, 602) concludes that “…the Song of Deborah can be comfortably placed into the Late Bronze/Iron I milieu. To be sure, dating the song’s tradition this early is a scholarly judgment rather than a fool-proof conclusion. But it is a reasonable and sensible judgment, based on converging lines of evidence.”

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  1. Nevertheless, on the basis of the use of prefixed verbal forms in biblical poetry, Ygal BLOCH (2009, 67) calls for revisiting the ancientness of some songs, such as the Song of the Sea, the song of Moses, and 2 Sam 22 / Ps 18, frequently dated to the 10-13th centuries BCE. He rather concludes that these songs were probably composed between the 9-7th centuries BCE.
  2. This ancientness of some pieces of biblical poetry is especially is especially important, today, because many of the biblical sources initially dated from the pre-monarchic and early monarchic period are now consedered exilic or post-exilic compositions (e.g. G. GARBINI 1988; R. KRATZ 2005; P. DAVIES 2007).

Some hymns claim an origin of YHWH from the desert area southward of Israel (mainly the Sinai, Arabah and Negev), especially the Song of Deborah (Judg 5:4-5), the Song of Moses (Deut 33:2-3) and the Hymn of Habakkuk (Hab 3:3). These testimonies, combined with further indications, suggest a southern origin of YHWH. Among recent scholars identifying a Southern origin of YHWH, see:

L. AXELSSON 1987; K. VAN DER TOORN 1999; J. BLENKINSOPP 2008; M. MONDRIAAN 2010, 406-442; T. RÖMER 2014, pp. 57-66; M. LEUENBERGER 2017; J. TEBES 2017; F. PFITZMANN 2019. Mark SMITH (2012, 8) even extends these testimonies beyond the ancient biblical poetry: “… the biblical prose story “narrativized” the ancient tradition of YHWH’s origins in the south, the setting of Yahwistic cult among a southern people other than Israel, and the secondary contact of Israel with this god.”

However, based on other hymns, further scholars deduced a northern origin of the god of Israel ( e.g. M. KÖCKERT 2001; R. MÜLLER 2017; H. PFEIFFER 2017. This theory is now defined as the Berlin hypothesis, in contrast to the Midianite-Qenite hypothesis arguing a Southern origin of YHWH. See M. STAHL 2020, 9-10).

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Three main characteristics of the figure of YHWH in ancient poetry justify this hypothesis. The first argument comes from psalms interpreted as praising YHWH’s power over rain (e.g. Psalms 18; 29; 36; 65; 68; 77; 93; 96–98) (M. SMITH 2017, 32, 37-38; H. PFEIFFER 2017, 127, 143-144; R. MÜLLER 2017, 208- 209). They draw a parallel between YHWH and those characterizing Baal-Haddu, the storm god originating from the Northern Levant (and his homolog from Anatolia, upper Euphrates and Mesopotamia) (A. GREEN 2003; D. SCHWEMER 2008, 2009). Elizabeth WILLIAMS-FORTE (1983, 19) argues that “Rather than multiple gods of weather of distinctly Anatolian or Syrian nature, there appears to be a single, vigorous, young weapon-wielding storm god identifiable by his attributes (the bull, the mountains, and the snake) and most critically, by his actions or battles, on artifacts from each of these regions.” Second, many psalms refer to YHWH fighting his enemies (e.g. Psalms 18 and 68, the Song of the Sea [Ex 15: 1-21], Habakkuk 3). This representation of YHWH as a divine warrior recalls the warlike attribute of many storm-gods, and especially the figure of Baal (E.g. M. WEINFELD 1983, 121-124; E. GREENSTEIN 1997, 54; J. DAY 2000, 91-127; A. GREEN 2003, 258-275; T. RÖMER 2013, 35-37). Third, the mention of YHWH subduing a mythical marine animal (e.g. Ps 74:12-17, Ps 89:10-13) echoes the combat between Baal and Yam, or between Morduk and the sea-monster Tiamat (F. CROSS 1973, 147-194). For example, Mark SMITH (2001, 84-85) argues that some elements of the Jerusalem temple, such as the Sea of copper, explicitly refer to Baal’s victory over Yam praised in the Ugaritic mythology.

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Problems with the storm God identity:

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