The idea of classifying world religions into different groups is a late idea. The word monotheism first appears in the 1600s. Nothing happened other than people deciding that you need to categorize things, and they created two buckets: polytheistic and monotheistic. They also layered on the idea of a kind of progressive evolution or quality as well, and of course the people doing this category put themselves at the pinnacle of progress.

To answer your question about henotheism I think you need to first define the word god. What does that mean? If you want to use the word god to describe a being who is immortal, who created the universe and everything in it, then there is only one, and He is the God of Israel and Christians. However, if that is your definition of god, then every religion other than Christianity has no god at all. Especially or particularly those of the ancient near east. None of them made those claims about their gods.

So then it's better to think of gods as those people did - spiritual beings who had powers that humans could participate in or interact with or even bend to their will (via bribery or magic or whatever).

In that regard then all of the ancient near east religions are absolutely henotheistic.

This is how you need to read all of those verses. The OT is very often in dialogue with other religions, so its claims can be seen as contrasting or correcting those of the faiths around them.

Yahweh is unique among the gods, because He is the Most High. Unlike their succession myths, Yahweh always was the Most High, and His Son never rebelled, and He certainly never lost. So to Isaiah's point, there is no before me, none after me... unlike the gods of the nations who had Most High gods before them, and would be succeeded by rebellious gods after them (El and Ba'al, Cronos and Zeus etc).

Yahweh is unique among the gods because He is Lord over all creation - heaven and earth, the living and the dead. Unlike the gods of the nations who have limited power in limited domains.

Yahweh is is alone among the Gods because He is properly the God of all kingdoms - because all the nations are His inheritance (Psalm 82)

There is no one like Him for all these reasons. When He says there is no God beside me it means equal to Him, like Him. Which is why Exodus says "Who is like you, O Yahweh, among the gods?" Or the psalmist says "For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods." There is none beside Him - there are many below Him. He alone is God because He is the one who causes things to be - including the other gods, who are His servants, even if they are rebellious. These are His hosts, because He is the Lord of Hosts... not the Lord of non-existent nothings.

To that end, that Psalm 96:5 translation is just wrong. St Paul references this in Greek like the Septuagint, that the gods of the nations are demons, not non-existent ("What the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God") or Deuteronomy 32 ("They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.") Elil doesn't mean non-existent, it means vacuous, empty, vain, worthless. There's a wordplay in Hebrew there, that your elim are elil, your gods are useless. So Deuteronomy 32 says - "bow down to him, all gods!" - not all nothings. Hence also He says He judges the gods of Egypt in Exodus 12:12 - of whom Pharaoh was considered one.

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Without giving it a great deal of thought, I've always assumed that the people around ancient Israel worshiped demons who did (and still do?) have powers, or, alternatively, that they worshiped idols of their own making to which demons may have given some power to further drive people away from the true God. Although those demons might have been supernatural beings with power, that did not make them divine.

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Yes. Exactly. The people around them worshipped beings they called gods who were, properly, demons. The idols they made were made by human hands and then rituals were performed to bring the demon into the idol as a body, a localization of that god, in order to interact with it.

You're using a particular word "divine" here, which is either so narrow as to define only the Christian God, or so broad as to include all spiritual beings.

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Also, I suspect that el or El may have originally referred to the one true God. But that word became corrupted over time as people drifted away from Him to false deities of their own making. Just as God chose Abraham and his descendants to be committed solely to Him, He may have also given them His true name in order to avoid the corrupted word "El". Just spitballin' on that, though.

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El just means god like you said. El was the name of Ba'al's father in the Ba'al cycle, just like "Lord" was one of Ba'al's titles. Hence the way the OT scriptures are clear that the Lord is Yahweh (not the Lord Ba'al) and El is Yahweh, the Most High, and so on.

The story in the scriptures is a little more complex than that. At one point God was with man, and in the fall man became corrupted. Then it got worse as Cain became enslaved to sin, then his descendants consorted with demons, until the whole world became so corrupt that it had to be cleansed - the flood. After the flood, God distanced Himself from the nations, dividing them at the tower of Babel and placing guardian angels over each nation. These became the gods of the nations, the demons which fell to worship (Deut 32:8-9). All the nations fell - so God who causes things to be (which is what Yahweh means, it is the causative or hiphil tense for to be) creates a new nation where there was none before. This is why over and over again He says I will do (x creative act) and then you will know I am Yahweh. He creates from nothing, and that is how He shows that He is the one who causes things to be.

But this is the whole gospel! The people were scattered, He creates a new nation from nothing to save the whole world. This nation was formed from one family, but when it truly became a nation at the Exodus a mixed multitude went out, people from many nations who became one new nation Israel. And, as St Paul sees in Romans, the majority of Israel was scattered and lost to the gentiles for being unfaithful - only to be grafted in as the gentiles came from all nations to reform All Israel. This was made possible by Christ ascending as Daniel saw, given all power and dominion over all nations - freeing the nations from being enslaved to those very same gods. This is why St Paul is so angry at the people enslaved to the idols in Acts 17:16.

It also clarifies these words from St Paul:

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...he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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Those power and dominions are those same demons. And the Church is Israel. Later St Paul says:

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For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

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Or in another place.

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He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.

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We were delivered from slavery to darkness, transferred to His Reign. And you see - Christ is the one who creates... visible and invisible, including those dominions and authorities, those gods. Those powers were the ones whos dominion we were under. Christ IS Yahweh, and there is none like Him.

Once you get out of the monotheism thing, so much of the OT and NT becomes richer and fuller, and the gospel itself is clear: the victory of Christ Jesus over His enemies, the principalities and powers of the world.

I think you're mischaracterizing the common beliefs of the ancient world by saying everyone or most people were henotheistic. There's very little evidence that most people within polytheistic systems had just one god that they focused their worship on which would be henotheism or perhaps monolatry depending on their exact views on other deities. Like I said before, worship was much more situational depending on what the concerns of the people were.

Furthermore I think the Bible itself shows that this was the dominant outlook among the Hebrew people. What's the typical story in the Old Testament like in the Book of Judges? There is peace and the people go and worship other gods like Baal or Asherah. But who are they? Well Baal is typically associated with things like weather and fertility, things that a people during peaceful times will be concerned about. But then the peaceful times end and some foreign, violent threat arises. And who do the people turn to? Yahweh, but who was he to the people? Consider one of his names: Yahweh Sabaoth. This gets translated usually into Lord of Hosts but is literally calling him Yahweh, god of the armies. And in war time that's who the people needed. So that's where they directed their worship. The cycle isn't characteristic of a henotheistic people but ones who adjust their worship as needed based on their circumstances.

The Israelites were notable because of their monolatry, but I think the evidence points to Atenism being an earlier form of that type of belief. Though whether the Israelites were influenced by Atenism I have no idea.

That isn't what we see in history though. Historically people worshipped their local god(s). Generally speaking they also were pretty cool with "counting" other gods as hypostases of their god. So your war god and my war god - wow totally cool, same dude.

I agree with the statement that people worshipped their local gods. That is not at all in conflict with the point I was trying to make. What I was saying is that which of the local gods they focused their worship on depended on the circumstances. A further example is that in many cultures you will see holy days throughout the year that focus on one particular god and yet they were observed by the entire culture. We don't see a lot of evidence of people saying they aren't going to celebrate that god in the pantheon because they only worship one particular god in the pantheon.

I think we don't really know much at all about what the average person did 3000 years ago. But we do know that gods declared war on other gods and demanded worship from people.

Strict henotheism? Yeah, probably not. But let's say… primary? Seems pretty likely.

I feel like henotheism really should mean more than having a favorite deity, because yeah I'm sure that was common. You don't think it includes at least some rejection of the other deities?

Probably just how you use the word. It doesn't have a strict definition. I'm using it in opposition to the idea that just because people worship one God doesn't mean they think other gods don't exist. I think that idea comes very late in history.

Many Christians today believe in the existence of demons. Based on your definitions, does that make them henotheistic?

Kiiiinda? I guess it depends on if they think demons are gods or not.

Where I might quibble with you is that it seems to me, based on the verses I quoted above, that the Hebrews didn't just believe that Yahweh was one of multiple gods, or even the most powerful of the gods, but that he was qualitatively superior and different to the other supernatural beings that the surrounding peoples worshiped as gods. He was not created, whereas the other gods were created.

Assuming that you are correct that the word monotheism wasn't first used until 1600, nevertheless that word probably does a fairly good job of describing the difference in the Hebrews view of God versus that of the surrounding peoples.

I don't disagree with your first paragraph. That is the claim. But the other gods are still gods. Many people think monotheism is there is only one god, then a lot of other people worshipping nothing.

The people in Israel frequently went and worshipped other gods. More frequently than when they were faithful…

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The people in Israel frequently went and worshipped other gods. More frequently than when they were faithful…

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They did, as do we. But that is a discussion for another day and different thread.

Some great discussions going on here. I have been listening to Michael Heiser who does a great job going to the Bible to dispel some misconceptions people have about angels and demons and gods.

The history of cuneiform, and the eventual phoenician...hebrew alphabets is not real controversial.

Now, since this thread is somehow about both the alphabet and demons, I must link something related to Irving Finkel, who may or may not have been around when the former was invented.



Ok, two;

If you're going to debate the details about language and writing systems I'd also point out that Hebrew isn't actually an alphabetic writing system. It's technically an abjad.

I was reminded of this because I saw Dr. Finkel speaking about the differences in a video somewhere. He's always interesting.

Well..."God's perfect timing."

Just gonna leave this here…

The Hymn to Ninkasi, Goddess of Beer #history #Ur #Sumer #Mesopotamiahttps://t.co/RuhR35w3tC

— World History Encyclopedia (@whencyclopedia) December 12, 2022

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The Hymn to Ninkasi is at once a song of praise to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer, and an ancient recipe for brewing. Written down in c. 1800 BCE, the hymn is no doubt much older as evidenced by the techniques it details which scholars have determined were actually in use long before the hymn was written.

Scholar Paul Kriwaczek states that the hymn reflects "the techniques of a thousand years earlier" and notes how, by the time the work was written, there were many different varieties of beer in Mesopotamia and new methods employed in brewing (83). The Babylonians had at least 70 varieties of beer and there were no doubt many more which were either left unrecorded or evidence of them has not yet come to light.

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In this poem, Enki loses face through drunkenness and, in the poem Enki and Ninmah, the goddess Ninhursag loses prestige when she is beaten in a drinking game by Enki. The inability to "hold one's drink" is regularly depicted as a weakness but beer itself is never criticized; it is the fault of the drinker if he or she is unable to maintain self-control while drinking. Beer was created to make the heart feel light and the goddess responsible for such elevation was Ninkasi.

As in the case of goddesses like Nisaba (patroness of grains, accounts, writing, and scholarship) Ninkasi was both the brewer of beer and the beer itself. Nisaba was not just the goddess of grain but the actual grain and, once she became goddess of writing, she was not just an impartial overseer of the craft but the craft itself; the same is true of Ninkasi. Her spirit and essence infused the beer produced under her guidance.

Ninkasi, and therefore beer, was associated with healing because she was born through the ministrations of the Mother Goddess Ninhursag when she was healing Enki, who was sick and close to death. As Ninhursag draws out Enki's afflictions, a new deity is born and, among these, is Ninkasi. Each of the supernatural beings born this way goes on to produce some great benefit for humanity, such as Nanshe - goddess of social justice and divination - and, in keeping with Mesopotamian tradition in which the clergy who served the deity were of the same sex, the clergy of goddesses like Nisaba, Nanshe, and Ninkasi were women.

The priestesses of Ninkasi were the first brewers and this is hardly surprising since women, generally, had brewed beer in the home until commercial production of the beverage began and men started taking over.

Most ancient depictions of brewers clearly show them as women in both Mesopotamia and Egypt although, once brewing became a commercial enterprise, males are shown supervising the female brewers.

Whoever supervised or brewed the beer would not have mattered to the goddess herself; her responsibility was to the end result of the finest drink possible. Ninkasi was said to make the beer fresh every day from the best ingredients and her priestesses would have followed suit as the hymn is, again, not only a praise song but also instructions on how to brew beer.

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That's really interesting. I have never heard of the Hebrew Yahweh described as a storm god before. Are you aware of any ancient references to him specifically as such?

One reason I ask is that Manfred Bietak found a cylinder seal at Avaris in Egypt. He had it examined by Porada, recently deceased, who was the worlds leading expert on ancient cylinder seals. Among many other characters on it, it had a figure that she characterized as a storm God and attributed it to the cult of Seth. However, a rabbi has written a paper and instead describes each of the characters as symbolic of one of the 12 tribes of Israel and claims that it is a Hebrew artifact left in Egypt.

If one could show that the Hebrews actually thought of Yahweh as a storm God, that might put yet another interpretation on the seal.

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God appears to Job in a whirlwind (tornado) and he is the cloud rider in Daniel...

Interesting alphabet…losers video.