The parashah we read yesterday features phrases which appear to recognise gods other than the God of the Torah. First, Yitro declare that “YHVH is greater than all the Elohim” then the second of the Commandments requires that “you shall have no other gods before me”. Verses such as these have led to claims in certain quarters (see link at the end) that the Torah’s system of belief is most correctly labelled “Monolatrism” – demanding belief of a single God while recognising the existence of multiple deities.
How might traditional Judaism respond to such a claim? Does the Torah’s use of the term “El” in reference to God imply any sort of recognition of ancient Canaanite religion with its pantheon of deities headed by the supreme “El” creator-god?
The Torah’s very first mention of God at the start of the Creation narrative presents Him in terminology which raises questions. “El-ohim” can be seen to contain the Canaanite term for a deity while also appearing to take on a plural form (albeit following a singular verb “bara”).
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch examines this term in the context of what is often considered to be Torah’s primary agenda – negating pagan belief and practice. R’ Hirsch notes how paganism fragments the natural world into many competing forces and phenomena, each of which is headed by some kind of deity – whose conflicts and clashes are reflected in the dynamic natural world that we encounter.
Yitro returns to his people soon after – his theological convictions can be debated. The Torah’s views on the matter are, however, far less ambiguous. The book of Devarim in particular emphasises God as being One, as well as describing Him as “YHVH is the Elohim in the heavens above and the earth below” and “there is none beside Him”.
Nevertheless repeated biblical passages, supported by archaeological evidence, make it clear that the Torah’s monotheism presented an enormous challenge to the Israelites, a challenge which a significant portion of the nation appears to have failed for much of the first Temple period. In rebuking the idolatrous Israelites, the prophets repeatedly reiterate that these gods “are vanity, a work of delusion” (Yirmeyah 10:15). Further details of the idols’ incapacity are related by the Psalmist (chap. 115) as well as in the second chapter of Habakkuk:
“What did a graven image avail that its maker has graven it? A molten image and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusted in it to make dumb idols? Woe to him who says to the wood, "Awaken!"; to the dumb stone, "Arise!" Shall it teach? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and no spirit is within it.”
Even for those Jews who resisted the popular allure of outright idol worship, the corrosive Canaanite influence infiltrated even mainstream Jewish practice to the extent that, for the masses, it was often difficult to differentiate between legitimate divine worship and Caananite idolatry. Radak describes, for example, how Jews were influenced by the Canaanite custom to perform sacrificial pagan rites "on high mountains and hills”, until this practice became adopted by those attempting a genuine worship of God on private altars (bamot). Malbim adds that this adopted practice led to a joint ‘shituf’ practice in which the worshippers saw no contradiction between the idea of serving a supreme God on the one hand, and mimicking pagan recognition of ‘his intermediaries’ such as Ba'al and Ashera.
This confused synthesis of monotheistic belief and polytheistic practice is perhaps most graphically demonstrated in the dramatic episode of Eliyahu on Mount Carmel. Confronting the idolatrous Northern Kingdom which was riddled with Ba'al worship, Eliyahu challenges the gathered audience:
“For how long will you skip between two opinions? If Hashem is God, follow Him, if Ba’al is God follow him”.
Eliyahu appears to be emphasising that his audience cannot claim loyalty to and “skip between” two incompatible theological beliefs. They must choose between a pure, monotheistic conception of God and pagan polytheistic worship. His audience appear, at least briefly, to have grasped this principle. Echoing Yitro’s words they solemnly declare “YHVH is the Elohim” – thereby affirming that the forces of nature deified by polytheism have no power beyond that granted by God.
Returning to the Ten Commandments, the wording mentioned above prohibiting the worship of other gods now appears to be very precise. Rather than simply outlawing idolatry the Torah says “You shall have no other gods before Me” – targeting, it would seem, the syncretic shituf of attempting to combine the Torah’s monotheism with the pagan pantheon of the Canaanites. The very same practice concerning which Eliyahu faced off against the priests of Baal in order to expunge from Israel.
While some archaeologists have argued that the significant quantity of idolatrous shrines and figurines uncovered from the First Temple period makes it unlikely that the early Israelites were prohibited from such practices, others such as William F. Albright attempt to put this in context:
"...Polytheism had a popular appeal in many ways like that of the dominant secularism of our own age. The wealth, science and aesthetic culture were lined up on the side of Canaanite religion. All the sinister fascination of the elaborate proto-sciences of magic and divination was marshaled in defense of polytheism...The extraordinary thing is that the way of Moses survived in Israel despite all of the forces drawn up against it".
"When the Jews believed in other gods" (Elon Glad, Haaretz) here.
First posted to Facebook 23 January 2022, here.
