Judaism was Polytheistic/Henotheistic

[Telstar]

You’re right. I just have always had this idealistic view that the Jews were monotheistic from day one, which I need to purge from my mind. All of the information I’ve gotten so far from this thread, and through some independent research of my own, has really made me rethink the whole issue. In a strange way, I find the idea of the henotheistic Jews slowly being nurtured to truth very beautiful. It’s like how parents teach their children about the world.

Maybe I’m being a little too optimistic, but I tend to believe that there were always some descendants of Adam and Eve that held onto the truth, and believed that there was only one God. Even if it was a very small minority, I truly believe they were there. I also believe that they worshiped Him in some way. As the population of the earth grew, there had to be some small remnant that remained faithful. God certainly would not have abandoned anyone that made an effort to seek Him out, even if it was just to ask for His blessings in some crude way.

God has always loved us. We’re the poor, lost little creatures that He made in His own image. So, to think that He wouldn’t have made Himself known to anyone, seems impossible to me. If we believe that God has always had a plan, and we have always been a part of that plan, then why would we ever think He would leave us on our own for so long? I believe that small remnant were among the earliest Jewish people. I believe there were always at least some people among them, who always held onto the truth about there only being one God, and remained faithful to Him, even when some of them strayed away to worship false gods. The Jews do trace their lineage all the way back to Adam, don’t they? Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.

 

[SyroMalankara]

Not only you, but Scott Hahn says the same. The children of God (Sethites), if you will, of whom Noah descended.

 

[beleg]

“Elohim” is plural for “El”. What interests me is how Judaism became patriarchal. Apparently there was a period in which the cult of Astarte, Asterith (from which Esther is derived) was rife. These statues were almost all of them destroyed, although some of them pop up from time to time.

Our second-person pronoun “you” was originally plural, but it was also used when talking to someone of a higher social rank than oneself. I suspect that something similar was going on here in the original Hebrew, especially since it was usually paired with a singular verb when referring to God.

 

[icamhif]

This is a very interesting thread. It makes a lot of Biblical and historical facts add-up well.

 

[Robbinson]

The key distinction is between what some jews believed, and what “Judaism” and the Hebrew scriptures reveal. The latter is clearly monothiestic - references in the Hebrew scriptures to not worshipping other “gods” is not indicative that there are in fact other gods, rather that there is only one true God who should be worshipped. That is clear throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Even the golden calve episode was not the worship of another “god” but a blashemous creation of an image (and false one) of God.

Contrast that with what some jews actually believed throughout history - they were surrounded by poloytheistic cultrues and their worship of false “gods” is recorded in the Hebrew scriptures. This behavior is criticized by God and the prophets in the Hebrew scriptures.

Blessings,

Brian