Is Yahweh any Different from the "other gods (Elohim)" in the Old Testament?
According to 1 Kings 11: 1-8 Solomon is cited as turning to “other gods”. Moreover, in 1 Kings 9: 6&9 Solomon is told that the future Kings of Israel will turn to “other gods”.
If Yahweh is theologically the “only true God “(contra the concern of the first of the “Ten Commandments”), and Yahweh did all the mighty deeds as remembered in the annual feast followed by the Israelites; then just why is it that this one true and “historically active Gods” is so quickly shelved by so many major Israelite Kings including Solomon himself? Was there really anything there?
It appears that God (Yahweh) was no different than the other gods (elohim) and was created different in the final redacted accounts of God (EL / YAHWEH) as simply a combination of Israelite’s polytheistic past.
It has long been know in the field of scholarship on the Hebrew Bible that the many divine names ascribed by evangelical Christians to Israel’s God are specific names of local deities (such as El-Shaddai). Again, notice the concern of the First Commandment about the use the Hebrew phase “other gods (ELOHIM)”, plus the fact that Yahweh is also called “EL” and the use of term throughout the Hebrew Bible ascribed to not only the god of Israel, but all the other gods. (For an excellent discussion see both: John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan and Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel).
If Yahweh is theologically the “only true God “(contra the concern of the first of the “Ten Commandments”), and Yahweh did all the mighty deeds as remembered in the annual feast followed by the Israelites; then just why is it that this one true and “historically active Gods” is so quickly shelved by so many major Israelite Kings including Solomon himself? Was there really anything there?
It appears that God (Yahweh) was no different than the other gods (elohim) and was created different in the final redacted accounts of God (EL / YAHWEH) as simply a combination of Israelite’s polytheistic past.
It has long been know in the field of scholarship on the Hebrew Bible that the many divine names ascribed by evangelical Christians to Israel’s God are specific names of local deities (such as El-Shaddai). Again, notice the concern of the First Commandment about the use the Hebrew phase “other gods (ELOHIM)”, plus the fact that Yahweh is also called “EL” and the use of term throughout the Hebrew Bible ascribed to not only the god of Israel, but all the other gods. (For an excellent discussion see both: John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan and Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel).