Thanks Gita. I am vaguely aware that there has been a definite monotheistic trend in a number of basically polytheistic cultures. It is also apparent in the increasingly monistic development of Greek philosophy, including a singular theos which later met Hellenistic judaism and Christianity. However, in relation to this thread I just wished to point that this is far from being universal. In Buddhism, as far as I know, polytheism is surpassed though not by a "God". And in many cultures polytheism remains active (even when it features a supreme god such as the ancient semitic El, who is not "God").
Is Jehovah an invention of Jewish imagination??? The fact seem obvious!
by frankiespeakin 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Leolaia
I am far from convinced that the yw of the Ugaritic texts is Yahweh. For one thing, it appears to be an epithet of Yamm -- the enemy of Baal. The linguistic connection is also problematic and aside from the similarity in name, I have not heard much that links the two. Viewing yhwh as of southern origin is also attractive owing to the otherwise general absence of -yhw, -yh as theophoric elements in Bronze Age Levantine names and the traditions of Yahweh as originally worshipped by the Midianite enemies of Judah and Sinai/Horeb as a holy mountain in contrast to Zion, which satisfy the criterion of dissimilarity. And while the nomadic element was very small, it did exist -- specifically re the Kenites, who appear to have a central place in the initial Yahwist primeval legend and who likely constituted one carrier group bringing Yahwist, nomadic, and wilderness traditions to Judah.
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Hyghlandyr
Let's start this by stating that a challenge to a person's claim to divine inspiration, is not a challenge to the divine. The question about the invention of Jehovah, leads us thus to question the claims made about her by the bible writers, and her historical developement from tribal deity to Monotheistic God. It also forces us to question those that translate, or mistranslate, those writers. Are our translations accurate? Do they present the view that the writers of the extant documents had? Do the documents that we have now, even if in the original languages, reflect correctly those writers, or were they changed through the centuries? Are the things we have been told that they said, truly what they said?
If we start with the belief that the extant manuscripts are accurate, we can then proceed that they contain, at least, what their writers believed to be true, or what they were trying to convince others of. This is crucial. Why? Because there are many things we are told that they believed, which upon closer examination, we must be very dubious about.
One of those things, is that Jehovah was the Monotheistic deity of the Hebrews. That any time they worshipped other gods, they were doing so in disobedience to the religion of the hebrews, whether or not their deity was real. That the bible contains information on how to worship this deity, Jehovah. It is filled with the history of her creation of the world, heavens and earth, her dealings with her people Israel, her punishments of them for their disobedience and her rewarding for their worship. That she solely created everything, was almighty, the mother of the hebrew people, their sole deity. That she refused to share her place with any other. The lead question then here is, was Jehovah promoted in the hebrew writings as a monotheistic god?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1
This seems pretty certain. Assuming that the copies of Genesis that are extant are as accurate as originally written, there it is, a single monotheistic god. Except that the word translated god there is no El, god. It is Elohim. Now many of you who were Jehovah's Witnesses know that Elohim is plural. You are also aware of the Christian and Jewish arguement that in this and any other instance wherein Elohim is claimed to apply to the monotheistic Hebrew deity, it represents a plurality of majesty, not a plurality of persons or deities. The very same word Elohim, when applied to any other nation, is always then to represent a plurality of deities. Not a plurality of majesty. When I say men, in speaking about Irish people, I mean only a single Irish person, namely me. When you say men speaking of spanish people, well clearly you mean multiple spanish people. Interesting.
Elohim throughout though is not used to mean majesty. Only in those instances when a monotheist is confronted with the bible writings clear indication of polytheism of the worship that it is promoting, is this claim made. Elohim is applied not only to Gods and Goddesses, but also to Judges, Angels, Kings, Divine Ones, and others of authority. In each of these instances it is always plural. Only when it is applied to one of the many deities that the bible promotes, is it claimed that it is singular, but plural in majesty. Never, for instance, is King David referred to as Elohim.
Another place this leads us, in examining the name of Jehovah and her interactions with her people israel, are her supposed other names. El Elyon for instance. Or El Shaddai. In all dozens of claimed names for her in the hebraic old testament. In all of these, they are claimed to be explanations of her various qualities, her majesty, her way of dealing with her people, her promises, her power, her righteousness, and other aspects of her actions or her personality. But always, we are told, they point to the single hebrew deity, Jehovah, Yahweh, Eloah, Elohim, El.
It is interesting to note though that in each case these supposed descriptors of JHVH are identical to the names of the many deities of the peoples that were living in her land. The single deity of the hebrews is called by the very same names as the deities of the other tribes living around them! Yet we are told that these names are only names of a single deity when applied to a god of the writers of the hebrew testaments. Many deities when the writer is writing about his enemies. The customs, clothing, names of deity/deities, marraige relations, religious morals, codes, laws, languages, sacrificial practices, temple settings, are all nearly identical among all of these tribes, including the hebrews. Yet we are told once again that the hebrews are to be distinguished from their neighbors as being monotheistic instead of polytheistic. And of course thus superior. This despite the very same names for hebrew deity that exist for canaanite deity.
On polytheism there is often a misunderstanding that so-called monotheists have. It is believed by them usually that polytheists believe literally in the existence of this or that deity as a walking breathing person interacting with other persons. That this or that deity is in opposition to another deity. That in that opposition is an attempt to acquire worship and so forth. Often however, not always, polytheists believe that each deity is simply a reflection of some aspect of life. Sometimes the deities are allegorical in nature and thus archetypes. Other times they are believed to be literal incarnations, but while appearing to be in conflict, as in a water deity or spirit contending with a fire deity or spirit, they are ultimately merely reflections of the circle of life. In many polytheistic circles the ultimate spark of life is from the grand deity, or energy. We are all in many of these cultures as divine as the deity, in fact we are the deity. Thus he made them in his image. (Our image...the image of the Elohim, the Divine ones)
The examination of the production of jehovah requires much more space than we have here. And there are many books on this subject already. Briefly though consider the facts above, along with the fact that few of the claims made in the old testament are verifiable. None of the miracles are verifiable. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs. The mere statement of someone that a miracle occured is not evidence that it did. Any more than it is evidence that the miracles of the Canaanites occured because canaanites claimed that they occured. Jehovah was one of the deities promoted in the old testament. The deliberate mistranslation of these writings by monotheists obfuscate this important fact. While she was indeed a prominent deity among the hebrews by the times of its writings (at the babylonian captivity or later) she was in no wise the only deity. Later she was combined with the other Elohim of the hebrews, masculinized, and moulded into a singular deity, hiding in her, all of the other hebrew deites.
Why? Power. High places were used throughout israel to worship. A priesthood stood to gain wealth, and power, by forcing all commerce to come through Jerusalem, rather than the various other markets throughout the tribal lands. you and I eat as we pleased. Many ancient peoples dedicated their meals to the Goddesses and Gods. Without their blessing it would have been unthinkable to eat. By centering all worship in a central place, a singular religion of the hebrews gained control over the mass of the populace. But they, like the masses that eventually came to be forced to worship the false gods of the romans (Jesus, Mary and such) only went into this arrangement at the hands of great violence, which the old testament itself proclaims and that proudly so! None of the little ones were to live, from old man to young they were to be murdered, their women raped, enslaved, sold. Not the mark of a righteous deity, but that of a blood thirsty one.
Is jehovah an invention of the jewish imagination? No, she has existed in various forms in many cultures in various names, but with similar qualities. The question really should be, is the exaltation of Jehovah above all other deities in all cultures, including the Hebrew, and are the claims about her almightiness and her demands of exclusive worship an invention of the Jewish imagination? Of course the answer to that is obvious to all.
Goddess bless (thyself.)
Namaste. -
Leolaia
Here is a good article:
http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/MSmith_BiblicalMonotheism.htm
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Leolaia
The deliberate mistranslation of these writings by monotheists obfuscate this important fact. While she was indeed a prominent deity among the hebrews by the times of its writings (at the babylonian captivity or later) she was in no wise the only deity. Later she was combined with the other Elohim of the hebrews, masculinized, and moulded into a singular deity, hiding in her, all of the other hebrew deites.
It is sometimes amazing how the inherent monolatry and/or polytheism is obscured by translation. But I question why you posit Yahweh as an originally female deity? What is the evidence? Much of the early polytheistic extracanonical evidence of Yahweh pairs "him" with Asherah, a female deity. National patron deities also tended to be male in the Near East. But there are definite female qualities in Yahweh in some of the later sources which likely were acquired through a conflation between Yahweh and Asherah.
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Phantom Stranger
Gotta go with L here... what I've read and heard points to El, who became Yahweh, as the consort to Asherah.